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    ALLEGED LIBELS IX XEWSPAPEHS.

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    fpHERE are certain disadvantages in being free , and it is perhaps A impossible altogether to . neutralize them . All we ean do is to keep them to a certain extent suppressed , and to be on the watch to apply the remedy as soon as the mischief appears . Among these disadvantages , ' one is , and probably ever will be , the abuse of freedom on the part of the press . A free press is so important a part of our institutions , it serves so many and such momentous purposes , that we all watch with the most righteous jealousy over everything that even seems to threaten it ; and in a country so enlightened as ours , we are as careful to rebuke its occasional excesses as we are to protect it from oppression .

    In general , the tone of an English newspaper is singularly gentlemanly and temperate : it rarely imputes unworthy motives ; it abstains ( except in the ease of what are called religious newspapers ) from publishing details of private life and personal scandal . It judiciously separates individuals from bodies corporate , and pronounces on acts without deciding on character . When we regard the . extent pf the surface over which its commentaries , extend , the depth and philosophy of many of its disquisitions , its calmness on political questions , some of which are of the most exciting character , and its singular avoidance of offensive matter , we may well be proud of the fourth estate , and rank it as the first of . influences for good among us .

    But it is impossible to publish news without impugning the character of those who do evil , and it sometimes becomes the duty ;—the disagreeable ,, but not the less bounden duty—of the journalist to put the public on its guard against those who prey on its carelessness . In what way this in ay be done , and to what extent , is a question of no small interest at the present time , and as it may be looked on from two totally distinct points of view , we shall devote a column to its consideration . Everybody knows that more than htrir ^ he ^ iTH * ief ^ onenn- <^ e ^ oi 4 ^^ Falsehood and malice can find no more convenient weapon than the tongue of the unscrupulous ; and if the press be employed in the same causethe mischief is of course greatly increased . Our law of

    , libel does what it can to apply a remedy to this evil ; but the expressive advice , " Only throw plenty of dirt , some of it will be sure to stick , " ( bids a vast multitude of followers ' at the present , just as it has ever done in all past time . The respectable Scotch clergyman who commenced a sermon on the text , " I said in my haste , All men are liars , " with the words , "Ah , David ! gin ye had forgathered wi' my parishioners , ye might ha' said the saino very much at your'leisure , " ' was not a whit more severe than the state of most parishes would warrant . It is , therefore , quite right that character should be protected and slander punished , as far an such objects can be obtained , by legal enactments . We have spoken so fourth estate

    highly , and yet , as we believe , so justly of the among ourselves , we compare it with so much satisfaction with the Irench and American press , that wo may presume to give—and the conductors of the periodical press may afford to hear—a little sentence of qualification . Our journalists are not perfect ; they are not all gentlemen , nor are those who are gentlemen always in thought ; and hence there aro many actions brought in the course of a year against the conductors of newspapers for libels on personal character . A'skilful and practised writer will avoid giving any handle to such—he will know how to castigate fraud and to satirize folly without laying" himself open to a chtirgo of libel ; and it generally happens that , whon an action of this kind is brought it fulls to the

    ground . ,, Wo have such an instance before us . A dealer m " marine stores published a bill , annqimcingl what pricesjjio . waBwiHingto PJiy for certain articles in which lie dealt ; . Among these figured cundleends , taHow , sperm nnd wax , drippingr , kitchen-stufl ; rags ^ l ass bottles , old metal , nnd many other things which domestic servants aro apt to consider as t ^ eir perquisites . This bill fell into the hands oi a not particularly " wise magistrate , who commented tin it with perhaps more zeal than discretion ; his remarks were taken up by a morning paper , and an artiolo was founded on them , sotting- forth the great incentive to crime which was furnished by shops like the one m question , nnd taxing a majority of their proprietors with being yery little bettor than receivers of stolen goods . Tlio individual whoso

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    This report was accompanied by the minutes of three decrees . Tie first referred to the future government of the Eternal City , and was sketched out in the following articles .- — " Art . 1 . Borne is a free Imperial city . . . . "Art . 2 . The palace of the Qmnnali with , its dependencies , is declared to be an imperial palace . ¦«* ' Art . 3 . The confines between the territory of Rome . and pur kingdom of Italy are to be determined by a line , which , starting from Arteveri , passes through Baccano , Palestriua , Marino , Albano , Monterotondo , Palombara , Tivoli , and thence , keeping always at a distance of two miles inland from the sea , returns to Arteveri . " Art . 4 . The lands of all communes intersected by the above line form the territory of Rome , excepting all lands that lie between the line and the sea coast . " Art . 5 . A Senator and a Magistracy of forty Conservators are to form the Government of the city and its territory .

    " Art . 6 . The executive power resides in the Senator ; the legislative with the Magistracy of the Conservators . The Senator has the initiative in all projects of law . " Art . 7 . The office of the Senator is for life ; that of the Conservators for four years . The Magistracy is to be renewed every year for one-fourth of its members . In the first three years , lot is to decide who go out ; afterwards , the members shall retire by rotation . , ¦» ¦ , " Art . 8 . Ten Conservators , at least , shall be chosen from the different communes which compose the territory of Rome . " Art . 9 . The Senator is always to be nominated by us and our successors . For the first election alone we reserve to ourselves the right of nominating the Magistracy of the Conservators . Hereafter , as vacancies occur , the Senator shall nominate the Conservators from a double list presented to him by the Magistracy .

    given to the proposed arrangement , so as to keep alive the prospect of a great kingdom , of which Rome should be the centre . He deprecates enforcing an oath of allegiance on the clergy , on the ground that " all priests / will consent to obey the civil government ; but all will not consent to swear allegiance to it , because they consider obedience an involuntary act , and an oath a voluntary act which might . compromise their consciences . " He finally , recommends delay , under present circumstances , till some decisive viCr tory has crushed the hopes of the priest party . This delay was fatal to the scheme . After the battle of Wagram , ^ apoleoit resumed the . project , and resolved to increase the Pope's income to two millions of francs . Then , however , there came , unfortunately , the protests of Pits VII ., the bull of excommunication hurled against the Empekoe , and a whole series of petty insults and annoyances on the part of the Pope : such , for instance , as walling up the doors of his palace , and declaring , like his successor and namesake , his anxiety to . be made a martyr . Passion seems to have prevailed over Napoleon ' s cooler and better judgment . The Pope was carried off to Savona . Rome was made part of the French empire , and Aldini ' s project slumbered till , fifty years afterwards , it has been revived , though without acknowledgment , by M . La Gtjebeoniebe , in his pamphlet of " Le Pape et le Congres . "

    " Art . 10 . The judicial functions are to be exercised m the name of the Senator , by judges nominated by him . Their appointment shall be for life . They cannot be removed , except for fraud or neglect of duty , recognised as such by the Magistracy , or on being sentenced to any disgraceful or penail punishment . " Art . 11 . Five Ediles , nominated after the same fashion as the Conservators , shall superintend the preservation of the ancient monuments and the repairs of the public buildings . For this purpose a special fund ( the amount to t > e determined by the Government ) shall be placed yearly"at their disposal . ' "Art . 12 . Between the Kingdom of ' Italy and the Roman State there shall be- ' no intermediate line of customs or duties . The Government of Rome may , _ however , impose an octroi duty on victuals at the gates of the city . . . „ " Art . 13 . For *———— years no ecclesiastic can hold a civil office

    in Rome or its territory . " — . — . ' r The second decree declam that the Papal States , with the exception of the Roman territories above described , are irrevocably and in perpetuity annexed to the Kingdom of Italy , and that the " Code Napoleon" is to be the law of the land . - The third is headed , " Dispositions with regard to his Holiness , " and disposes of the Papal question in this somewhat summary manner :- — " We , Napoleon , by the grace of God and by the Constitution , Emperor of the French , King of Italy , Protector of the Rhenish 1 ^ 5 feileTatfofiT ~ "" """"— ~ * "" — T ~ ' ~—— - " Having * regard to our first decree concerning- Rome , have decreedand decree as follows : —

    , " Art . 1 . The Church and the Piazza of Sfc . Peter , the palace of the Vatican and that of the Holy Office , with their dependencies , are a free possession of his Holiness the Pope . " Art . 2 . All the property of the Capitol and the Basilica of St . Peter are preserved to those institutions , under whatever administration the Pope may please to appoint . " Art . 3 . His Holiness shall receive a yearly income of one million Italian francs , and shall retain all the honorary privileges he has enjoyed in past times . " Given at our Imperial Palace of St . Cloud , " this — day of Sept . 1808 . " '

    In the midst of the Spanish campaigns , these documents were perused and approved by the Emperor , who wrote to Aldijti , at that time in Italy , and told him to make private inquiries as to whether the time was opportune for the promulgation of these decrees , and whether it was expedient to require the clergy to take an oath of allegiance to the new constitution . Aldini ' s reply contains the following remarkablo passage : — " The Pope , who has never enjoyed the good opinion of the Roman public , has succeeded in these latter days in winning the sympathy of a few fanatics , who call his obstinacy heroic constancy , and wait every day for a miracle to be worked by God in his defence . " Except these bigots , and a few wealthy persons who dread the possibility that , under a change of government , their privileges might be destroyed , and the taxes on property increased , all classes are of one mind , in desiring a new order of things , and all alike

    long for its establishment . . „ "I must not , however , conceal from you that this universal sentiment is chiefly due to two causes : — -Firstly , to tjie idea that the payment of the interest on the public debt will be resumed , as in truth a great number of Roman families depend oh these payments for their income ; and , secondly , to the hope that Rome will become the capital of a great state , a hope which the Romans know not how to renounce . " - Under these circumstances , Count Aldusu goes on to recommend that hopes should be held out of an early resumption of payments on the national debt , and that a provisional air should be

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    June 23 , 1860 . J The Leader and Saturday Analyst . 589

    Alleged Libels Ix Xewspapehs.

    ALLEGED LIBELS IX XEWSPAPEHS .

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), June 23, 1860, page 589, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2353/page/9/