On this page
-
Text (1)
-
Untitled Article
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
-
-
Transcript
-
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
Untitled Article
qie ^ jfy < W& * tibete , W ** passed i » the ttirtyr ^^ coiid year of George the Third . 1 U&I ststfute declares " that pa . every trial of an indictment or information for a libel , the jury may
give a geneJ ^ ai verdict of guilty , or not guilty , upon the whole matter in issue , a ^ nd shall not be required or directed by the judge to find the defendant guilty , merely on the proof of the publication x > f the " paper charged to be a libel , and of the sense uscribed to it in the record / ' *
Another pleasing feature of the reign qf George the Third , was an attempt , on the part both of individuals and of the Legislature , to mitigate " the horrors of the gloomy gaol , " to improve the construction and the discipline of
prisons , to reform juvenile offenders , and to reduce the number of capital punishments and of crimes . For the promotion of these highly interesting objects much has already been effected $ \ yhile yet more remains to be done . And it is to the honour of our nation
and our age that such wise and humane undertakings have engaged so considerable a degree of sympathy , and that measures for the advancement of them are still in progress .
Science , in its various departments and applications , has been more generally spread throughout the country in the period of which I am treating than before : it was liberally patronized by the departed monarch ; nor perhaps
chiring any tract of time was its mutual alliance with art so frequently , so copiously , so beautifully and so advantageously illustrated . For the justness of the statement , let me appeal to the philosophical journals of these islands and of Europe , Astronomy , in particular , has received the most essential
* r Blackstone , &c «> ut supra JV . 151 , Note . I ) ow eloquently and how strenuously this doctrine was contended for by the present Lord Erskine , some time before the passing of Mr . Fox ' s Libel Bill , ia known to all wh 6 are acquainted with the professional life * Of that most
distinguished advocate . But the same point was also maintained with great ability and success at a still earlier period . S ^ G t he powerful and intrepid speech of l ^ rvHappiilton , in the case of , J , t J&Sen- * && * $ ¦ $ & * York , for a libel , as reported iil 4 | ov « reiys State Trfe !* ' XVIfc « T 5»—763 .
Untitled Article
benefits from the improved construction of telescopic glasses , from voyages undertaken for the express purpose of making observations and discoveries ,
arid from the genius and perseverance of scientific men at home , whose labours were , in like manner , encouraged and rewarded by the bounty of George the Third . The eminent services
rendered by some of his subjects to chemical philosophy it is not possible to describe within this essay : these too are numerous and valuable beyond example . For the same reason I can only glance at the greatly accelerated progress of Natural History and Knowledge , nor least of Geology , Mineralogy and Botany .
Not only all those mechanical arts of which Science is obviously the basis have been carried to wonderful perfection among us throughout the last reign : the fine arts also were prodigiously improved beneath the smiles of
a Sovereign who could estimate their importance to society . Sculpture , Painting and Music were patronized by George the Third with that judicious liberality which evinced his knowledge of their comparative usefulness , and of the regard due to yet higher considerations . He was sensible that
within just bounds these pursuits contribute to the glory of a nation , and to the rational happiness of individuals . As the effect of the increased diffusion of Science and the Arts , the comforts of life have been multiplied in a degree not merely unknown , but of
which it was previously difficult to conceive . The superior ease and rapidity , for example , with which intelligence is at present conveyed from ofae end of the United Kingdom to the other , have exercised an amazingly salutary influence on the happiness ana
general improvement of nearly every rank of people . I do not indeed affirm that the benefit has been unmihgled : this is not the condition of human affairs and human beings . The predominance of the good , must be a theme of grateful recollection .
During the last reign ethical science was rendered more popular , and , I cannot but think , more definite and correct ; while political cecanomy , ignoraace and errors respecting which are so fatal toahe interests of nations , has been developed with singular exactness and perspicuity , and i ) egiQ $ to
Untitled Article
of 646 Esmy on the Reign of George IJTI .
-
-
Citation
-
Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Nov. 2, 1820, page 648, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2494/page/20/
-