before the armament
arrived, should be ordered to attend the house; and when this was
negatived, he moved an address to his majesty, praying that the house
might be acquainted at what time reparation was first demanded from
Spain, which likewise received a negation.

PARLIAMENTARY PROCEEDINGS OF THE LAW OF LIBEL.

The sentiments promulgated by Lord Mansfield on the law of libel, in
the case of Woodfall, had created much discussion among the legal
profession, and had met with much obloquy among the people. They were
represented as an attempt to infringe the rights and powers of juries,
and to reduce their verdicts to a mere echo of the opinions of judges,
inasmuch as they were merely to inquire into the fact of printing and
publishing, and not allowed to judge whether the matter in question was
a libel or not On the 28th of November, Lord Chatham denounced this mode
of directing juries from the bench, but Lord Mansfield justified it, and
laid it down as an axiom, "that a libel, or not a libel, was a matter
of law to be decided by the bench, and the question to be left to the
jury was only the fact of printing and publishing." Mansfield demanded
a call of the house for the 10th of December, and when that day arrived,
he laid on the table a paper, drawn up with great care and precision,
containing the unanimous opinion of the court of king's bench in
Woodfall's case, in order that their lordships might, read or copy it as
they pleased. Lord Camden inquired whether this paper was intended to be
entered on the journals, and submitted to debate. Mansfield replied it
was merely intended for the information of members, and he then suddenly
moved an adjournment and quitted the house. On the next day, Camden
considering the paper as a challenge to himself, endeavoured to provoke
a discussion, by addressing six queries to the chief-justice, but Lord
Mansfield declared that he would not answer interrogations, and the
matter dropped.

In the house of commons, the power of filing _ex-officio_ informations
by the attorney-general in cases like Almon's, elicited the praises of
Burke, on Junius as a writer, in these terms:--"How comes this Junius
to have broken through the cobwebs of the law, and to have ranged
uncontrolled, unpunished through the land? The myrmidons of the court
have been long, and are still, pursuing him in vain. They will not spend
their time upon me, or upon you, when the mighty boar of the forest,
that ha