Geoffrey Bindman QC celebrates Daniel Isaac Eaton: a champion of free expression
As the Leveson inquiry examines the misdeeds of some media organisations, with a view to some form of regulation, it is as well to be reminded of the courage of journalists and publishers who resisted the efforts of past governments to regulate and restrict press freedom. We must not forget our long history in Britain of governments using law to suppress dissent. Leveson beware!
Daniel Isaac Eaton, born in 1753, went to prison for publishing the works of Tom Paine. In the aftermath of the French Revolution, he was the leading printer of pamphlets advocating democratic reform. He vigorously defied the efforts of the government to silence him. Between 1793 and 1812 he was prosecuted no less than eight times.
It was a dangerous time for those who sympathised with the aims of the French republicans, even if like Eaton they opposed the use of violence. The government of William Pitt responded to the alarm of the upper classes with repression. Radical publishers were a particular target.
In 1790 Edmund Burke
