REVIEW

OF THE

APOLOGY FOR THE FREEDOM OF THE PRESS,

PUBLISHED IN

THE CHRISTIAN GUARDIAN:

AND

MR. HALL'S REPLY.

[PUBLISHED IN 1822.]

REVIEW

OF

MR. HALL'S FREEDOM OF THE PRESS.*

Extracted from the Christian Guardian for Jan. 1822.

"THE political principles of the Bible are simple, distinct, and plain. The sacred writers enter into no niceties, draw no lines of exact demarkation, meet no involved cases of civil casuistry; but, speaking of mankind generally as alike depraved and unruly, and of governments as the creations of God's providence, they inculcate, without qualification, reservation, or restriction, the obvious and indispensable duties of submission, honour, and obedience.

"It has been, however, very much the fashion of late to get rid of these unpleasant and 'degrading' injunctions by pleading the change of time and circumstances, and the difference between the laws and system of government under which we are privileged to live and those of the apostolic days. Now, as to the general duty of obedience, it is obvious that it must apply rather more than less strongly to those who live under a paternal government than to those who live under a tyrannical At the same time we are ready to allow, that the system of freedom which, in this country, gives to the people a share in the legislature and an influence over the government, renders the submission due from them less implicit and uninquiring, at the same time that it increases the obligation to its cheerful payment.

one.

"But although it be conceded that under a constitution which renders the people a party to their own government, it is lawful and proper for laymen to interest themselves intimately in political concerns, and even to a certain extent to participate in political contests, there is one body of men whom we could ever wish to see taking no other part in these matters than as moderators, instructers, and peacemakers.

"The ministers of the gospel must, in the discharge of their duty, they must, if they will declare the whole counsel of God,' sometimes touch upon those passages of Scripture which inculcate the duties of subjects. While St. Paul, in the days of Nero himself, was led by the Holy Spirit to write, Submit to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake;' and to pronounce, without hesitation, 'He that resisteth the power,' tyrannical as it was in the extreme, 'resisteth the ordinance of God;' and while similar passages abound in the inspired volume, it cannot be thought consistent with the character of a preacher of the gospel to maintain an absolute silence on these topics. But there is one rule which, in our opinion, ministers would do well to follow, and that is, to go no further than the Bible will carry them. The war of parties and factions, the continual struggle of political leaders, the various questions of constitutional casuistry, are subjects which lie beyond this boundary, and with which they would do well not to embroil themselves. The servant of the Lord is exhorted not to strive,' but 'to cut off occasion

* In order that the propriety of Mr. Hall's reply may be fairly estimated, it has been thought righ to reprint the original article that called it forth.-ED.

from them which desire occasion:' and, assuredly, he will find that the bare discharge of his plain duty in these things will expose him to sufficient obloquy and reproach.

"Entertaining this view of the subject, it is with sorrow that we observe the republication, under his own immediate sanction, of Mr. Hall's 'Apology for the Freedom of the Press.' This work was first given to the world about thirty years ago, and has been long since forgotten, or remembered only as one of the sins of its author's youth. Since its disappearance Mr. H. has so much better employed his time and his great talents, that he may now be considered as standing in the very first rank among the non-conformists of the present day. And is it not a lamentable thing to see such a man stepping forward, in the ripeness of his years and at the height of his well-earned reputation, to obtrude himself on the public in the degraded character of a violent party-scribe :-and yet, in what other light can we consider the man who, in so uncalled-for and gratuitous a manner, and at so comparatively peaceful a period, sends into the world, with the sanction of his name, and of his latest corrections, a new edition of such a pamphlet as this?

"He indeed states, as an excuse for the republication, that the term of copyright being expired, it was no longer in his power to prevent the reprinting of this work. The law, however, is not so; the power of perpetuating its oblivion lay still in his hands. But had he even been correct on this point, where was the necessity for his being an active agent in this reappearance?

"To characterize the tract before us appropriately we need only observe, that the principal topics discussed by this 'minister of the gospel' are, the right of public discussion, the propriety of political associations, parliamentary reform, the rights of men, the character of dissenters, the present discontents. The work is extremely personal, and great bitterness is shown towards the late Bishop Horsley, Mr. Burke, and Mr. Pitt. We shall not imitate Mr. Hall's example by entering into a discussion on the subject of Mr. Pitt's political character; but we should have hoped that the reflection of his undoubted integrity and of that perfect devotion to his country which led him to sacrifice even life itself, in its service, might have spared him, at the distance of sixteen years from his death, a new volley of bitter reproach from one whose vocation is 'the gospel of peace.'

"As to the character of Bishop Horsley, it is now placed far beyond the reach of his adversaries; and the Christian world will know how to appreciate invectives against such a man from one who is at the same time the eulogist of Priestley and Price, the Socinians, and of Mary Wolstonecraft, the female libertine and Deist.

Looking, then, upon this work as one of which a critical analysis would be ill placed in the pages of the Christian Guardian, we shall conclude with a specimen or two of the political creed of Mr. Hall, and of the manner in which he supports it.

"He is, then, as far as professed doctrine can make him, plainly and clearly a radical reformer. He pleads for annual parliaments,' for universal suffrage, for the unfettered publication of every kind of blasphemy, for the exclusion of the relatives of noblemen from the House of Commons, for the overthrow of all ecclesiastical establishments, and for 'the sovereignty of the people.' In what part of the sacred volume he has discovered the least sanction for any one of these notions we are at a loss to imagine.

"In fact, the whole pamphlet is an argument in favour of the supremacy and infallibility of the people, and of the necessity of paying the most implicit obedience to the least expression of their will. Now, could these notions have been carried into practice at the time they were written (soon after the Birmingham riots), and could a legislature have been formed upon Mr. H.'s universal suffrage plan, the necessary and inevitable consequence would have been, that as the feeling of the multitude ran violently against all the friends of the French revolution, Mr. H. and most of his fellow-labourers and admirers would have been silenced, banished, or hanged. So much for the effects which might be expected to follow Mr. Hall's plan. And as for the principles upon which that plan is founded, we find him broadly stating in the latter end of this work, with admirable consistency, that 'calumny and reproach are usually the lot of distinguished virtue,' and that 'the unpopularity of a cause is rather a presumption of its excellence.' Now, if the fact

be so, it cannot be for the good of the people that this perpetually erroneous criterion should govern the affairs of the state.

"Mr. Hall concludes his prefixed advertisement with the hope that the reader will recollect, as an excuse for the warmth of his expression, that the work is an eulogium on a dead friend;' which is asserting, in other words, that the press is enslaved and its liberty departed. And, having written this some years since, he now coolly republishes it, after witnessing the acquittals of Hone and Wooller, and while the wretched Carlile is braving every effort that can be made to stop the torrent of blasphemy which has so long issued from his warehouse.

"Again, Mr. H. assured us, thirty years since, that we had then at length arrived at that crisis when nothing but speedy and effectual reform could save us from ruin.' Now, since the first publication of this prediction we have maintained a contest of long duration with the greatest conqueror of modern times, and have fairly subdued him. We have immensely augmented the extent of our empire, and increased its ratio of population. We have tripled our commerce and our revenue. We have improved, it is to be hoped, the state of our internal population by the establishment of schools and the increase of places of worship; and we have made some progress in the commencement at least of the great work of evangelizing the whole world.

"And after all this, Mr. Hall comes forward with much admirable simplicity to tell us of this wonderful prophecy of his, delivered only the third part of a century since, that without immediate reform in parliament, ruin was then inevitable. Now, it is certain that this same immediate reform has not yet taken place, although one whole generation has passed away since the promulgation of this prediction. Has the dreadful alternative then fallen upon us? Have we been crushed by this inevitable ruin?

"The present comparatively prosperous and improving circumstances of the kingdom answers No! to this question. The general state of the country, the average condition of the great mass of the people, is better, and not worse, than at the time when Mr. Hall first published this direful presage.

"If there be any exception to this state of general improvement, it is to be found in the depression of the agricultural interest of the country. But we are told by those who ought to be judges that the evils which threaten these classes have arisen from the want of sufficient legislative protection. And do we not know from the conduct of the mobs of 1815 that a reformed parliament, a universal suffrage parliament, according to Mr. Hall's plan, would have withheld even the partial protection which has hitherto been granted, and would have thereby made what is now distress and perplexity, absolute ruin and destruction? So much for the necessity and the effects of reform.

"It is with the most painful feelings that we are thus compelled to animadvert on this uncalled-for and altogether unnecessary republication. We repeat, that the general principle upon which we disapprove of it is, that a minister of the gospel will always best consult the interests of his flock and the dignity of his own character by abstaining from any political discussion which transgresses the bounds prescribed 'n the Holy Scriptures. Mr. Hall has overstepped these limits, and has plunged into the thickest of the war of party politics. He has also chosen, we apprehend, the side which is generally found in most direct opposition to the Scripture injunctions of peace, quietness, and obedience. And as the weight of his character and the authority of his name render error from his pen trebly dangerous, we have felt only the more imperatively called upon to enter our protest against the principles which he has endeavoured to lay down, and to unmask the sophistry of the argu ments by which he has attempted to support them.”

VOL. II.-G