gistrates differently from other offences for
which bail may be required, with the alternative of imprisonment. On the
other hand, it is hardly becoming for a home secretary to interpret the
law, and, since the forensic triumphs of Erskine, it had been declared
by an act of parliament that in cases of libel, as distinct from all
other criminal trials, both the law and the fact were within the
province of the jury. At all events, William Cobbett, feeling himself to
be at the mercy of informers and the crown, took refuge in America in
December, 1817. Hone, an antiquarian bookseller, was thrice prosecuted
for blasphemous libels, in which the ministers had been held up to
contempt. All these ill-judged, if not vindictive, prosecutions ended in
signal failure. Ellenborough, the chief justice, before whom the two
last trials were held, strained his judicial authority to procure a
conviction of Hone, but the prisoner, with a spirit worthy of a martyr,
defied the intimidation of the court, and thrice carried the sympathies
of the jury with him. His triple acquittal led to Ellenborough's
resignation, and perceptibly shook the prestige of the government.

In the year 1818 there was a temporary improvement in the economic
condition of the country. The depression of the preceding year was
followed in this year by a rapid increase of revenue. The importance the
ministry attached to finance was emphasised by the admission to the
cabinet in January of Frederick John Robinson, afterwards prime minister
as Lord Goderich, who had been appointed president of the board of
trade and treasurer of the navy. The chancellor of the exchequer and the
master of the mint were already members of the cabinet. The suspension
of the _habeas corpus_ act having expired, the reform agitation revived,
but assumed a less dangerous character, and no serious outbreak
occurred. A bill of indemnity was passed to cover any excesses of
jurisdiction in arresting suspected persons or in suppressing tumultuous
assemblies. A parliamentary inquiry showed both that the disorders of
the previous year had been exaggerated, and that, after all, the
extraordinary powers of the home office had been used with moderation.
Nevertheless, the early part of the session was largely occupied by
party debates on these questions, the employment of spies, and
apprehensions for libel. Parliament was dissolved in June, and the
general election which followed resulted in a gain of several