their whole conduct has falsified those expectations. They sided openly, strenuous- But their con ly, forwardly, officiously, with power, rectly the rein the oppression of a woman whose verse.

duct was f

great marvel that he did not rightly know the real history of their conduct, until about three quarters of an hour ago, when the truth burst in upon us that all the while they were generously attached to the cause of weakness and misfor-wrongs this day they, for the first time, pretend tune!

from their funotion, to have felt thus

tion to the reigning Monarch, Head of the Church, and Dispenser of its Patronage.

to bewail in their attempt to cozen you out of a Gentlemen, if the country, as well as Mr. verdict, behind which they may skulk from the Yet they ought, Williams, has been all along so de- inquiring eyes of the people. Silent and subdued ceived, it must be admitted that it is in their tone as they were on the demise of the not from the probabilities of the case. unhappy Queen, they could make every bell in Judging beforehand, no doubt, any one must have all their chimes peal when gain was to be exexpected the Durham clergy, of all men, to feel pected by flattering present greatness. Then exactly as they are now, for the first time, ascer- they could send up addresses, flock to public tained to have felt. They are Christians; out- meetings, and load the press with their libels, wardly, at least, they profess the gospel of char- and make the pulpit ring with their sycophaney, ity and peace; they beheld oppression in its foul-filling up to the brim the measure of their adulaest shape; malignity and all uncharitableness putting on their most hideous forms; measures pursued to gratify prejudices in a particular quarter, in defiance of the wishes of the people and the declared opinions of the soundest judges of each party; and all with the certain tendency to plunge the nation in civil discord. If for a moment they had been led away by a dislike of cruelty and of civil war, to express displeasure at such perilous doings, no man could have charged them with political meddling; and when they beheld truth and innocence triumph over power, they might, as Christian ministers, calling to mind the original of their own Church, have indulged without offense in some little appearance of gladness; a calm, placid satisfaction on so happy an event would not have been unbecoming their sacred station. When they found that her sufferings were to have no end; that new pains were inflicted in revenge for her escape from destruction, and new tortures devised to exhaust the vital powers of her whom open, lawless violence had failed to subdue-we might have expected some slight manifestation of disapproval from holy men who, professing to inculcate loving-kindness, tender-mercy, and good-will to all, offer up their daily prayers for those who are desolate and oppressed. When at last the scene closed, and there was an end of that persecution which death alone could stay; but when not even her unhappy fate could glut the revenge of her enemies; and they who had harassed her to death now exhausted their malice in reviling the memory of their victim; if among them had been found, during her life, some miscreant under the garb of a priest, who, to pay his court to power, had joined in trampling upon the defenseless; even such an one, bear he the form of a man, with a man's heart throbbing in his bosom, might have felt even his fawning, sordid, calculating malignity assuaged by the hand of death; even he might have left the tomb to close upon the sufferings of the victim. All probability certainly favored the supposition that the clergy of Durham would not take part against the injured because the oppressor was powerful; and that the prospect of emolument would not make them witness with dry eyes and hardened hearts the close of a life which they had contributed to embitter and destroy. But I am compelled to say that

In this contrast originated the defendant's feelings, and hence the strictures which Hence the form the subject of these proceedings. ures of Mr. I say the publication refers exclu- Williams. sively to the clergy of this city and its suburbs, and especially to such parts of that clergy as were concerned in the act of disrespect toward her late Majesty, which forms the subject of the alleged libel; but I deny that it has any reference whatever to the rest of the clergy, or evinces any designs hostile either to the stability of the Church or the general character and conduct of its ministers. My learned friend has said that Mr. Williams had probably been bred a sectary, and retained sectarian prejudices. No argument is necessary to refute this supposition. The passage which has been read to you carries with it the conviction that he is no sectary, and entertains no schismatical views against the Church; for there is a more severe attack upon the sectaries themselves than upon the clergy of Durham. No man can have the least hesitation in saying that the sentiments breathed in it are any thing but those of a sectary. For myself, I am far from approving the contemptuous terms in which he has expressed himself of those who dissent from the Establishment; and I think he has not spoken of them in the tone of decent respect that should be observed to so many worthy persons, who, though they differ from the Church, differ from it on the most conscientious grounds. This is the only part of the publication of which I can not entirely approve, but it is not for this that he is prosecuted. Then, what is the meaning of the obnoxious remarks? Are they directed against the Establishment? they meant to shake or degrade it? I say that no man who reads them can entertain a moment's doubt in his mind that they were ex- These strict cited by the conduct of certain individ-ures were de uals, and the use which he makes of injure, but to that particular conduct, the inference Estab: shed which he draws from it, is not invective against the Establishment, but a regret that it should by such conduct be lowered. He says no more than this: "These are the men who do the mischief; ignorant and wild fanatics are crowding the tabernacles, while the Church

Are

signed, not to benefit the

Church

66

is deserted," and he traces, not with exultation, | structure. These are times when men will inbut with sorrow, the cause of the desertion of quire, and the day most fatal to the Established the Church, and the increase of conventicles. Church, the blackest that ever dawned upon its Here," says he, "I have a fact which accounts ministers, will be that which consigns this defor the clergy sinking in the estimation of the fendant, for these remarks, to the horrors of a community, and I hold up this mirror, not to ex- jail, which its false friends, the chosen objects cite hostility toward the Established Church, nor of such lavish favor, have far more richly deto bring its ministers into contempt among their served. I agree with my learned friend, that flocks, but to teach and to reclaim those partic- the Church of England has nothing to dread from ular persons who are the disgrace and danger of external violence. Built upon a rock, and liftthe Establishment, instead of being, as they ought, ing its head toward another world, it aspires to its support and its ornament." He holds up to an imperishable existence, and defies any force them that mirror in which they may see their that may rage from without. But let it beware own individual misconduct, and calculate its in- of the corruption engendered within and beneath evitable effects upon the security and honor of the its massive walls; and let all its well-wishersEstablishment which they disgrace. This is no all who, whether for religious or political interlawyer-like gloss upon the passage-no special ests, desire its lasting stability-beware how they pleading construction, or far-fetched refinement give encouragement, by giving shelter to the of explanation-I give the plain and obvious vermin bred in that corruption, who "stink and sense which every man of ordinary understand- sting" against the hand that would brush the roting must affix to it. If you say that such an one tenness away. My learned friend has sympadisgraces his profession, or that he is a scandal thized with the priesthood, and innocently enough to the cloth he wears (a common form of speech, lamented that they possess not the power of deand one never more in men's mouths than within fending themselves through the public press. the last fortnight, when things have happened to Let him be consoled; they are not so very deextort an universal expression of pain, sorrow, fenseless-they are not so entirely destitute of and shame), do you mean by such lamentations the aid of the press as through him they have to undermine the Establishment? In saying that represented themselves to be. They have largethe purity of the cloth is defiled by individual ly used that press (I wish I could say as not misconduct, it is clear that you cast no imputa- abusing it”), and against some persons very near tion on the cloth generally; for an impure per- me—I mean especially against the defendant, son could not contaminate a defiled cloth. Just whom they have scurrilously and foully libeled so has the defendant expressed himself, and in through that great vehicle of public instruction, this light I will put his case to you. If he had over which, for the first time, among the other thought that the whole Establishment was bad; novelties of the day, I now hear they have conthat all its ministers were time-servers, who, like trol. Not that they wound deeply or injure the spaniel, would crouch and lick the hand that much; but that is no fault of theirs-without fed it, but snarl and bite at one which had noth- hurting, they give trouble and discomfort. The ing to bestow-fawning upon rich and liberal insect brought into life by corruption, and nestled patrons, and slandering all that were too proud in filth, though its flight be lowly and its sting or too poor to bribe them; if he painted the puny, can swarm and buzz, and irritate the skin Church as founded upon imposture, reared in and offend the nostril, and altogether give nearly time-serving, cemented by sordid interest, and as much annoyance as the wasp, whose nobler crowned with spite, and insolence, and pride-nature it aspires to emulate. These reverend to have said that the Durham clergy disgraced slanderers-these pious backbiters—devoid of such a hierarchy, would have been not only gross inconsistency, but stark nonsense. He must rather have said that they were worthy members of a base and groveling Establishment-that the Church was as bad as its ministers-and that it was hard to say whether they more fouled it or were defiled by it. But he has said nothing that can bring into jeopardy or discredit an institution which every one wishes to keep pure, and which has nothing to dread so much as the follies and crimes of its supporters. Gentlemen, you have to-day a great task committed to your hands. This is not the age-the spirit of the times is not own worst en such as to make it safe, either for the country or for the government, dom of remark. or for the Church itself, to vail its mysteries in secrecy; to plant in the porch of the temple a prosecutor brandishing his flaming sword, the process of the law, to prevent the prying eyes of mankind from wandering over the

Peroration:
The English
Church is its

emy in seeking to crush free

force to wield the sword, snatch the dagger, and destitute of wit to point or to barb it, and make it rankle in the wound, steep it in venom to make it fester in the scratch. The much-venerated personages whose harmless and unprotected state is now deplored, have been the wholesale dealers in calumny, as well as largest consumers of the base article--the especial promoters of that vile traffic, of late the disgrace of the country-both furnishing a constant demand for the slanders by which the press is polluted, and prostituting themselves to pander for the appetites of others; and now they come to demand protection from retaliation, and shelter from just exposure; and, to screen themselves, would have you prohibit all scrutiny of the abuses by which they exist, and the malpractices by which they disgrace their calling. After abusing and well-nigh dismantling, for their own despicable purposes, the great engine of instruction, they would have you annihilate all that they have left of it, to secure

guarding their corner stone. Defend the Church from her worst enemies, who, to hide their own misdeeds, would vail her solid foundations in darkness; and proclaim to them, by your verdiet of acquittal, that henceforward, as heretofore, all the recesses of the sanctuary must be visited by the continual light of day, and by that light its abuses be explored!

After the judge had summed up to the jury, they retired, and remained inclosed for above five hours. They then returned the following special

their escape. They have the incredible assur- things, the stability of our institutions, by well ance to expect that an English jury will conspire with them in this wicked design. They expect in vain! If all existing institutions and all public functionaries must henceforth be sacred from question among the people; if at length the free press of this country, and with it the freedom itself, is to be destroyed—at least let not the heavy blow fall from your hands. Leave it to some profligate tyrant; leave it to a mercenary and effeminate Parliament-a hireling army, degraded by the lash, and the readier instrument for enslaving its country; leave it to a pampered House of Lords-a venal House of Commons-verdict, viz.: "Guilty of so much of the matter some vulgar minion, servant-of-all-work to an insolent court-some unprincipled soldier, unknown, thank God! in our times, combining the talents of a usurper with the fame of a captain; leave to such desperate hands, and such fit tools, so horrid a work! But you, an English jury, parent of the press, yet supported by it, and doomed to perish the instant its health and strength are gone-lift not you against it an unnatural hand. Prove to us that our rights are safe in your keeping; but maintain, above all

in the first count as charges a libel upon the clergy residing in and near the city of Durham, and the suburbs thereof; and as to the rest of the first count, and the other counts of the information, Not Guilty."

Mr. Brougham now moved for a new trial, and obtained one; but the prosecutors did not again appear, and no judgment was therefore pronounced in the case. Thus Mr. Williams was let go free, as if he had been acquitted altogether by the jury.

SPEECH

OF MR. BROUGHAM ON THE INVASION OF SPAIN BY FRANCE, DELIVERED IN THE HOUSE OF COMMONS, FEBRUARY 4, 1823.

INTRODUCTION.

A CONSTITUTIONAL GOVERNMENT was established in Spain by the Cortes, or states of the kingdom, in the year 1812, and was recognized as legitimate by England, Russia, Prussia, and other leading powers. After being set aside by Ferdinand VII. in 1814, it was proclaimed anew in January, 1820, by the Spanish military, headed by Riego and other gallant officers, who rebelled against the tyranny of Ferdinand, and were sustained by a large part of the kingdom. The flame spread into Naples and Piedmont, where constitutional governments were also speedily established. This alarmed the Allied Powers, embracing Russia, Austria, Prussia, and France, who at once decreed the overthrow of the whole system. Naples and Piedmont were successively overrun by Austria, and the new governments destroyed. The fate of Spain was deferred two years longer, and was committed to France.

Ferdinand, in the mean time, had yielded to the wishes of his people, and in March, 1820, had sworn to maintain the Constitution, and to administer the laws according to its provisions. But his friends, with his connivance, attempted, in 1822, to restore him to absolute power by an insurrection; and failing in this, they established a regency in Catalonia, near the French borders, in the name of the "imprisoned King." France had before this begun to collect troops on the same borders, first under the name of a sanitary cordon to prevent the introduction of disease, and afterward of an army of observation. In December, 1822, Louis XVIII. demanded of the Spanish government to restore Ferdinand to absolute power, under penalty of an immediate invasion of the country by the French troops. Austria, Prussia, and Russia united in this demand, and urged it in the strongest terms. The government of Spain replied, on the 9th of January, 1823, in a note addressed to the different powers of Europe, repelling with indignation this interference of the Allied Sovereigns in the internal affairs of Spain.

Parliament met about three weeks after, February 4, 1823, and Mr. Canning, the Secretary of Foreign Affairs, had the same abhorrence which was felt by the nation at large for this crusade against the coastitutional government of Spain. Within forty-eight hours after he came in as minister (September 18, 1822), he had sent the Duke of Wellington to the Congress at Verona with a remonstrance against the proposed intervention; and he now brought forward the subject in the King's speech, “His Majesty has declined being party to any proceedings at Verona which could be deemed an interference with the internal concerns of Spain; and his Majesty has since used, and continues to use, his most anxious endeavors to allay the irritation subsisting between the French and Spanish governments, and to avert, if possible, the calamity of war between France and Spain." The ground taken by the government was highly gratifying to the Whigs, and Mr. Brougham expressed their sentiments in the following speech. It is one of the most striking specimens we have of his leading characteristics-strong argument intermingled with bold declamation, scathing invective, irony, sarcasm, and contempt.

of the last speaker.

orable course taken by the ministry.

SPEECH, &c.

from their effects, still I think no man can deny that the country is at present approaching to a crisis such as has not occurred, perhaps, for above a century, certainly not since the French Revolution. Whether we view the internal condition of the kingdom, and the severe distress which press upon that most important and most useful branch of the community, the farmers; or cast our eyes upon our foreign relations, our circumstances must appear, to the mind of every think

true, soon wear a better aspect, and we may escape the calamities of war; but he must be a bold, and possibly a rash man, certainly not a very thoughtful one, who can take upon him to foretell that so happy a fortune shall be ours.

It is the deep consideration of these things which induces me to come forward and Necessity of make a declaration of my principles; be ready and to state that, with a strict adher- for war.

England's

I rise in consequence of the appeal made to every member of the House by the gallant officer [Sir J. Yorke] who has just sat down, to declare Answer to my sentiments. I answer that appeal, the appeal which does credit to the honor, to the English feeling of that gallant officer; and I join with him, and with every man who deserves the name of Briton, in unqualified abhorrence and detestation of the audacious interference to which he has alluded; or, if that execration is at all qualified, it can only be by contempting man, critical and alarming. They may, it is and disgust at the canting hypocrisy of the language in which the loathsome principles of the tyrants are promulgated to the world. I have risen to make this declaration, called upon as I am, in common with every member, but I should ill discharge my duty if I did not mark my sense of the candor of the two honorable gentlemen [Mr. Childs and Mr. Wildman] who have moved and seconded the address, and express my satisfaction at what, in the House, however dividedence to the most rigid economy in every departupon other points, will be almost, and certainly ment, the reduction of establishments, which I in the country will be quite unanimously felt to am at all times, if not the first, at least among be the sound and liberal view which they have the foremost to support, and which is so necestaken of this great affair. Indeed, I know not, sary in the ordinary circumstances of the counWise and hon- circumstanced as they were, that they try, must now be recommended, with a certain could go further; or even that his modification, in order to adapt our policy to the Majesty's ministers, in the present present emergency. I am guilty of no inconstate of this very delicate question, ought to have sistency whatever in thus qualifying the doctrine gone beyond the communication of to-day. That of unsparing retrenchment; indeed, the greater communication, coupled with the commentary of the chance of some extraordinary demand upon the honorable mover, will be the tidings of joy, our resources from the aspect of affairs abroad, and the signal for exultation to England-it will the more imperious is the necessity of sparing spread gladness and exultation over Spain-will every particle of expense not absolutely requibe a source of comfort to all other free states- site. Economy to its utmost extent I still recand will bring confusion and dismay to the Allies, ommend as politic, and urge as due to the peowho, with a pretended respect, but a real mock-ple of right; and every expense is now to be reery of religion and morality, make war upon lib-garded as more inexcusable than ever, both beerty in the abstract; endeavor to crush national independence wherever it is to be found; and are now preparing, with their armed hordes, to carry into execution their frightful projects. That Spain will take comfort from the principles avowed in the House this evening, I am certain; and I am not less clear that the handful of men at present surrounding the throne of our nearest and most interesting neighbor [Louis XVIII.] (who, by-the-way, has, somehow or other, been induced to swerve from the prudent counsels which had, till of late, guided his course) will feel astonished and dismayed with the proceedings of this day, in proportion as others are encouraged. Cheering, however, as is the prevalence of such sentiments; highly as they raise the character of the nation, and much as may be augured

1 Louis XVIII., as here intimated, was, in the early part of his reign, a friend of constitutional principles, and pursued a policy which gained him the support of men of liberal sentiments throughout his kingdom. But at the assassination of the Duke of Berri in 1820, his feelings became alienated, and the ultra Royalists gradually gained the ascendant

in his councils.

cause the country is suffering more severely, and because it may become necessary soon to increase some parts of our establishment. I say I am certainly not prepared to propose, or to suffer, as far as my voice goes, any the least reduction of our naval force, to the extent even of a single ship or seaman; on the contrary, I fear the time may not be distant when its increase will be required. Any such augmentation of the army I can not conceive to be justifiable in almost any circumstances; for, happen what may, a war on our part, carried on with the wasteful and scandalous profusion of the last, and upon the same vast scale, or any thing like it, is wholly out of the question.

[Mr. Brougham entered at some length into the internal state of the country-the indications of distress at the various meetings-the inconsistency of the violent attacks made upon the Norfolk Petition by those who had passed the Gold Coin Bill of 1811, which enacted the parts of the Norfolk plan most liable to objection-the inadequacy of any relief to be obtained from repeal of taxes that only affected small districts -the absolute necessity of repealing a large