e had been the aggressor; so much the
more reason was there to regard the war as purely defensive, and end it
when the aggression ended. Pitt said that he would no longer pledge
himself that England would not interfere in the internal affairs of
France. So long as the existing French government was in power, there
could be no security that the system of aggression and propagandism
would cease, or that treaties would be observed. Fox's motion was
defeated by 187 to 47. Earlier in the session the government brought in
a bill against traitorous correspondence, to prevent intercourse with
France, and specially such acts as the purchase of French stocks, which
tended to support the enemy. Some of its provisions were unusually
restrictive, and the penalty of treason was attached to the breach of
any of them. The bill was passed without material alteration. In spite
of the strong feeling against societies believed to advocate
revolutionary principles, Grey, in accordance with his notice of the
last session, moved that the petition of the Friends of the People for
parliamentary reform should be considered. His motion, which was
supported by Fox, was defeated by 282 to 41.

Violent efforts were made by the government to crush the effects of the
French propaganda, by prosecutions for uttering, printing, or publishing
sedition. The attack was indiscriminate; spies were employed, and idle
words of obscure persons were made grounds of indictment. Both in the
superior courts and at quarter sessions severe penalties were inflicted.
One Frost, a broken-down attorney, and a pestilent rascal enough, though
convicted merely of saying in a coffee-house that he was "for equality
and no king," was sentenced to six months' imprisonment, to stand in the
pillory, and be struck off the roll. A dissenting preacher, found guilty
of using seditious language in the pulpit, was sentenced to fines of
L200 and four years' imprisonment; and Ridgway, a bookseller in
Piccadilly, was awarded the same penalty for selling the _Rights of Man_
and two other pamphlets of a kindred tendency. In Scotland, where the
government business was managed by Dundas, the parliamentary
representation was extremely unsatisfactory; the reformers were violent,
and belonged to revolutionary societies. The sedition cases were mostly
heard before the lord-justice clerk Braxfield, who behaved with
scandalous harshness and severity. One Muir, who had been expelled from
the society