Now it is clear that there is no play yet written, or possible to
be written, in this world, that might not be condemned under one
or other of these heads. How any sane man, not being a professed
enemy of public liberty, could put his hand to so monstrous a
catalogue passes my understanding. Had a comparatively definite
and innocent clause been added forbidding the affirmation or
denial of the doctrine of Transubstantiation, the country would
have been up in arms at once. Lord Ribblesdale made an effort to
reduce the seven categories to the old formula "not to be fitting
for the preservation of good manners, decorum, or the public
peace"; but this proposal was not carried; whilst on Lord
Gorell's motion a final widening of the net was achieved by
adding the phrase "to be calculated to"; so that even if a play
does not produce any of the results feared, the author
can still be punished on the ground that his play is "calculated"
to produce them. I have no hesitation in saying that a committee
capable of such an outrageous display of thoughtlessness and
historical ignorance as this paragraph of its report implies
deserves to be haled before the tribunal it has itself proposed,
and dealt with under a general clause levelled at conduct
"calculated to" overthrow the liberties of England.
POSSIBILITIES OF THE PROPOSAL
Still, though I am certainly not willing to give Lord Gorell the
chance of seeing me in the pillory with my ears cut off if I can
help it, I daresay many authors would rather take their chance
with a Star Chamber than with a jury, just as some soldiers would
rather take their chance with a court-martial than at Quarter
Sessions.
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