Star. — London, England, 1804-12-08 00:00:00

'll4. 7 , at itt Mr. :Arl uE 3ICt. LLIA*4 family lcd by f Deal. NJ very 1g on a n being. out ut Put .._„ r Gael (In e 1 OLD 14ILE Loll' INIEL LIMN CZ. eons of ()led to Ilellerday Ed. Kay, anciAnd. Cailbn f ' . were tried U i ;St . T l. Ci li e , lt it !NG'S BENCH. DEC. 7. for finding so pounds of l ea d, from the e r fli tp Ganges, rite RIN G lying off Blockwall, the p ro p ert y o f M r . Perry. The TAYLOR, AND R I CHARD LATHSURY . property was trace d to an old iron Ahoy, where y ' it had This RIOT, RICHARD Nasals, JOHN was a criminal information inhitut d by his been fold by the prifoners. The Jury found the prifoner,—Guilty, and the MAJESTY'S A TT O RN sr G rweitoe , f or t h e p aragraph which appeared in th e T rue Beans, of De c bee the RECORDER fentenced them to be fined i s . an d &I I Ith rte , 1803. to the following drat :-- m charged. They were immediat e ly b oun d over to give evidence againh the receiver, at the prefent Middle. R.• fox feilions. channels daily acquir.s new credit. Indeed, from the variety of report of the detention of Admiral Lino's by Admiral Omelette Feels oat pond guilty of robbing the till has Once come bound, little doub t How much then Is di:i from which the intelligence abet mailer, Wm. .afttrs, a cheefemonget in Sr can be entertained of the fad. John's-hreet. The profecutor had been ill for ' lko --i the fp rit of his eondud; for countrylt Is a fad w to likh arß r llsa i r t s;l ini b e : t: days prior to the sth of Noteht _bet, and f wa s una ble e soo tier nan ee 't t nat bat leas, inro b rma y th t e im Adtral he w ty ar ,u w o a til s ° jig:le t to elPirat eh lea nYb oltw im o . months. There was a tegularly to attend his (hop. danger in taking to Haden fo great • fare He fu petle that his till had been frequently robbei, and marked tome of rerlieullnliltr; but this was quite =Wilk= with Ms a character. The benefit which the country derives from this m ez n er l ! film and halfpence ; and on the day Rated 4.5. 6 . d. tin of his fpirit, mutt excite much gratitude, arid will he Gander was miffing ; the property was fohnd on her, which ed equally horwureme to himfelf, and bcoefielal CO Ma c count r y, - was (worn to by the profeeutor. W. Gill was indicted for healing a bag of flour, the too certain public department, from the negtigmee of which the however difgraceful the eircuin ft ance vrhichgave rife to it may b e property of Mr. Wilffin. cheefernonger, at Ifleworth. non." abroad have been left pretty much to their own dlfere- The Wisner was fervent to the profeeutor ' a a n o elt e h r e After or Mr Jams had opened the pleadings in the bag had been delivered to him to carry too cn m ufual f The profecutor was informed, that the ptifoner had The ATTORNEY G rofe, and raid. "This offered a bag of flour for Pale; which he Lad left at was a libel directed against Lord St. VINCRRY, and p the houfe of a woman named Arnold. The tlrofe. the Gentlemen ap pointed for his ;I:Rorke at the eutor was called to (wear to the flour, which he hated Board of Admi e ry' alt paragraph which bad was of the fame quality, but not the fame in quantity been recited, li ttlerequiredcomment, becaufe it was as that delivered to the prifoner. He, however, be. not in one particular only, but in every feature that lieved the bag to be the fame as that delivered to the it bore the character of a true libel. Libels, in our prifoner. own time, had appeared under various lhopes, but Mr. Warsox, Counfel for the prifoner, obferved, the fame general principle operated in all thole who that as it had not been proved that the Flour was not undertook works of this defcription. A private libel delivered, there could be no felony. The Judge, how. commenced and concluded with one object, the de coct, thought 1 1 . e cafe fufficient to go to the Jury, Carnation of a particular individual ; a p ublic libel who, after a Abort deliberation, found the prifoner extends further. but has one property in common, Guam viz. to lower the reputation of Come individual; hut Cilerler B. Pale, and nor. jetfono Filber were in- if this be the oftenfible, it is not the ulterior de fi gn. elided for healing toll?. of Cheefe, the property of The individuals are, perhaps, degraded in the public Philip Crannis, Illingtons effimation : but this is not all ; they defame a tingle The prifoners, in their defence, pleaded that their peens, perhaps high in office under Government, carrying off the cheefe was only a drunken frolic , n o t w it h any points - al malice at this Officer, but with and as their charaders had been hitherto good, would the view to cut up, root and branch, the conffitution. reit on the indulgence of the Court. Certain it was, that no charge of this kind could be The two mailers to whom they were refpedively applicable to the prefent libel. The malice. on the apprentices, gave them a moil excellent charades-, as prefent oceafion, was much more contraded, and well as Come other refpedable gentlemen. perhaps, on that very account. much wort effedual. Mr. Baron Gee wan fa* little reafin to doubt of The malice is fufficiently ezeofed by the falfehood the validity of the evidence; their being drunk.even of the denims; but to give it currency, as is fuppofing that to be true, which did not wetly ap. °fuel in fuch cafes, it was blended with a por pear'fo from a view of the whole cafe, could be no tion of truth; for if it Co happen, that mifreprefenta roftification. On account of the good characte r . tion be intimately conne ct ed with obvious and noto. "however, which had been given them by the p erfons rious fads, public feeling and eurisifity are imme bell qualified to do fo. be left it to the Jury to deter- , diately excited, and circulation is not only a proba• mine whether Come turn might not be given to the ble, but an unavoidable and need's*, confequence. verdict in their favour. The Jury would with the utmoft facility difeern— On their being found guilty, after a fuitable ad- 111, The malice of the publication: adly. The at monition, the Judge informed them he would inflict tempt to degrade the individual at the head of the a light punahment, and hoped that any puniflament, Admiralty, and the public officers with whom he however light, would be fufficieot to produce the was affociated : telly, The falfehood of the repre proper effect. fentation. The primary object was to difhonour Ann Garobbo and Mary Rockwell, for healing the noble and gallant perfon who held the higheft five guineas and a quantity of lace. the property of (lotion in the Admiralty. It was not for him to Benj. Jacobs; S. Wilmot, for (leafing a Caddie and enter into the WISTiES of that ditlingulffied Officer ; WAG, the property of G. T. Stewart, Efq.; W. even to Rate than without thofe comments which the Wood, for healing a copper boiler, the property of natural warmth of his feelings would dictate, might S. Holmes ; R. Gregory, for healing out of a ready imply that his salons requited Come applaufe they furnithed lodging one pair of sheets and a towel, the bad not yet received. When the libel was poblifhed, property of E. Plumb ; and W. Turnffile, for healing this illithrious Admiral was already in poffeffion of two watches, the property of G. and S. Blogg. as large a 'anion of the general refped and admire iirstfiam Awns was iodated for forging and uttering don as had ever been bellowed on any Britilh fabled aa order for payment of 201. los. with intent to de- in the protracted catalogue of naval heroes.— fraud Meffrs. Vert. Lucadou, and Co. W. Haynes, This officer, in an exalted Ration of troll and a boy of ta years of age, hated, that on the soth of telpotifibillty, was to be dragged from his poi,, November the partner met him oppolite the banking and expofed td public contempt and ridicule.— houfe of Vere and Co. and deed him to carry a pipet it was true, that the conduit of Lord St. Via- . 10 No. 7 7 (oppofite). Witnefs gave it to a Clerk in cent was peculiarly etpofdd to malignant obfer the houfe. - who perceived it to be a for g er y , and on station, not from the vices, but from the virtues of the boy informing him from whence he had it, he his Adminidration. By his manly and patriotic en defired him to tell the perfon to come to the houfe.— deavours to bear down abufes and peculation, he had Withers informed the partner what had pallid, when railed up a hull of foes, who wen equally enemies he walked off, and witnefs faw no more of him until to him and the l abufir country. ith events tradive the Mr. Hawkins, Clerk to Vete and Co received a public curiofity. It would be recolleded that forged draft from the boy, whom he followed out, port prevailed of the detention of Admiral Linois, and on tieing the prifoner walk off, he pnrfued and were,dmiral Rainier, and the capture of the former detetled him, when he denied the fad generally et:petted. It was on this rumour that Mr. J. Lucadou faw the forged draft, and he alto the libel was founded, and the neglect of the Board law the prifoner when he was brought back to the was immediately connected with that circumflance. houfe. Witnefs asked the prifoner how he came by What would be the crime of the Admiralty if the af it the at firh made no reply ; but at length faid he fenion were true ? It would not be cafy to 'knish; wrote it himfelf, and that he lived with a Mr. Wad- whether the folly or the knavery of the members of del, a warehoufeman, in Lawrence-lane, who kept that department would be the greater :if they were money in the houfe of Vere and Co. On going out guilty of this omiffion, it mull either be from infa of the Loufe with a conliable, he exclaimed, " I fluty or from treachery. Without it were thus ex wrote it, but meant it as a joke." The draft was plained, how could his Lordthip, knowing the rife, kept by Mr. Lucadou, until the prifoner was cm- progrefs, and conclulion of the negosiatton, fo far abandon his duty, as not to communicate the event mined by the Lord Mayor. proved that the hand writing on the 1 to the Commander of the Britifli Navy, in one of the Two wit nc ffes moll important Rations. But by what means could draft was not that of the perfon reprefented. The prisoner in his defence Rated that he had found the libeller acquire this information of the negled in the interior of the Admiralty ? From no channel the note. 1 oitnefres gave the patter an excellent but from Come menial of the office, who was m el: S or e :rt. and defcribed him as a young man of a prefeming the conduit of his Mailer. to anfwerforne very relpeeoble family, and Rated that he was ashen- linifler defign and the falfehood might be naturally fuggelled from the channel througli which it was plc youth. then read in his allrefs to the Jury, Rated, conveyed." [The ATTORN ar G The RECORDER , over the feveral paragraphs of the libel, making a a y ble doubt could pniliblY attic , few etincife and pointed remarks upon the feveral that the evidence i WAS ye: y lining o gaiod the p t , Inner, hot I any re ona th ,., wou ld l o ot the prifoner she benefit by their po fi tions it comprifed. after which he proceeded as an hour. and follows :]— , i The 101 l (entente has in • view Come. verslid. The Jury reotitreGdoifinity.nfotloy the wri i - Jilt be • thing beyond the Noble Lord, and the Board at returned a verdid—N in f thewhich be fided and lot; pronounced, the Court was an uproar torn huazoing and ci a pp in g of the fpelators. extended object. Ido not fay, that it is not open to Elisaivib Brettrra, was in- every MAD to difeufs the meaftwes of Government, Ekofisk Sfiemet's alias CY ' but falfehood moil not be employed. and made dieted for healing four tsble o loth the property of as long as they are examined with truth and decen M t fireet h , Piccadilly. GeorThgeellololigecluets'ort,lWlhro fl ee el - ilindelf to be an actor- the foundotion of abufe. Enquiry into fanned of o iy, and tht aria to e ha re • . e been his (errant, on defence. at the time when the &corky of the State is l' d to a Mrs. Ball, ; endangered, is perfedly natural, aml is not lab COM • f the Pi ifouer, and from 1 mendable than ufeful ; but if fads ire to be invent• milling the fa il articles, bad app le whr was an acquaitoonce 0 in order to vilify men in high public Reborn, had been pawned. i ea, (he F d received table•cloths ;these can be no fafety for thofe on whom the prefer. be t learned where the table cloths Mn. Ball how( that . vation uf the nation immediately depends. With a a nd ES k b ! n ! d i E p h i a e l d riad d dude obfervations, firengthened by your pan coo at diffei •. t t ittles froth the .Pritotil.oer, theca on her account IC/redeem I llruttion on the contents of this libel, I leave the the Paid , ufed cafe in you handl, in the full confidence you lAill bcen taken from the lodgings fh pr e if to oor . d r oc . c opied b c y cr u goiug to Mr. Di.lliklet-.. es. and was formerly kept do shot Office which is expeded from you.. li to be in better et:Tmos tan now in Trinidad. It op- The witneffes were then called, who were cu b/ ' military cnteend,%\oessoe, however, that the Psi• milled hy Mersa. ElSllllli, GARROW, and 1) , Pea"'-4-- r the Frofecutor as a friend, that on the put of the profecution. toner had l ive d w ith A ,),,, sn i c ks for her own ufe, Thomas Porter [Aid. bchought the Newfpaper on t.. B. had Pawf l e".7l o du li — to redeem belong- the i 7th of December Id, a the office of Me I'm unn.i: tt,l:abtatbieorPlarer wigrass.rmici i mm ifoler 9a" ...... !' Gui l ty , Britge, in the Suand. Mr. Knight prodoced the affidavit frnm the Stamp-office, of the partici concerned in the publi cation of that paper. Mr. Madden Paid, he had been Principal Secreta ry to the Admiralty about eleven months ; before that time he was Under Secretary, and was entering on the dates of the communication to Ado,. Rainier on the .... fi!hjepof the War, when be wits interrupted by the Chief Jo flice. Lord ELLEN BOIOUG H. You need not depofe to thofe particulars. I fhould be very forty if we were to get into the habit of thefe fort of esplana tions; yet I do not ray, if the matter were preiTed by the Codnfel for the Defendant. I flsould rejca them." Mr. Marfden.—" I know the Commander in Chief on tlie (talon in the Eait Indies h.td information in . . dred perfons, will. from all, derive a different flare. The CondiMors of Newrimpers mulL often depend upoollhafly and even anonymous communications, and the danger to which they would be eipofed would indeed be moll ferious, if they, under ever, error, were made penally refpontible. His chem. were clTa ly intitled, in every view, to the acquittal he (aright, as malice had not been proved, and with out malice there could lw no libel. The Arroasisv , in reply, contended, the malice need not he proven, and that it was quite tufficient the/ it (birds' he inferred from the contents of the libel, what, : indeed was itfclf the molt fatisfallory form of proof. He was furprifed to hear the proceedings in Parliament adduced as an apology I*.r. the Defendants. This very enquiry was clearly indicative of the malice of the Defen dants, for it was in conlequence of the fabrication of thefe rumours that the matter WAS introduced into the Councils of the land. ..... due time, — and the anfwer to the Admiralty was re. gillarly received.! i Mr. Richard Riley delivered to the Clerk of the Court to be read, the Commiffion under the Great Seal, by which his Lordship, and the other Com ntiffioners of the Admiralty, were appointed. Mr. Serjeant &sr, for the Defendant, here took an objection to the form of the information, as not correfponding with the patent jolt read, of the Inch February, 4111 Geo. 111. In the one, a Commit fioner was defcribed as William Elliot, Efq in the other as the Hon. William Elliot, Co that , the iden tity was not efiablifhed. This objection was over-ruled, Mr. Marfden hav ing further depofed, that the. perfons whnfe names were read from the patent were thole who were ern —_ Lord Et:Aliso/tone “—" This is ao informal:kat exhibited againft thefe perrins. They are charged with having cau fed to be printed and publifhed a certain libel. That Admiral Rainier is the Com. mander in, Chieron the Eallern Ration has been pm ed, and Mr. Marfden has correfponded with him in that charader. The 'cilia= of the report on which the libel bottims Kell, has alto been proved. There is no queillon about the inuendo. Thus all the liminary prodf is fatisfizd on the part of the tion. The purchafe is afcermined ; the affidavit is ' produced; and the identity of the parties i. detennin- . ed. The only queftion, therefore is, if the publics. don be or he not a libel f In any publication which draws another into difcredit, the law pre-dimes ma lice, nnlefs there be Come evidence to repel this cow ftruft ion. Malice, in this fenfe, does not mean e vul gar fpecies of (pile, but it implies a bad and unjulti• fiable motive. When I come to the language of the publication, yon will have no difficulty, I think, in determining if it be malicinas in the contemplation of law. Now on this fubjeft can there be any thing more injurious to public officers, than to fay they are fo negligent, as for two months after the commencement of the war, to withhold the in. tclligence of that event from a Commander in as important Nation, perhaps the mod valuable depens dune of the empire, where the vigilance and enter prife of the enemy has been remarkably exerted; foe the wall fcheme againft Egypt was only pities:Led to extinguith the power of England in her Enders do main. If the Officers, who are the appointed par• dians of our exterior protection, Ihould be guilty of fo grofs a nelleft, there is no punithosent adequate to the expiation of their offence. There can be no queltion on the criminal conduct of the perfons in • office, if this writer be corral ; but indeed he does not leave it to conjecture, for he hinafelf denominates it criminal. Then the defence is, there had been a report; and this is merely a comment upon that report. This paper was publithed in December sy, 1803 ; Lord Whitworth returned from Paris in May preceding. In the mint interval, then, of fevers months, no anfwer could, in the ordinary conrfe of events, have been returned* to a notice of the war fent out to India. From this view no judgment - could be r.rnsed on the conduft of the Board at the time of the publication of the Paper, and the infer ence Items to be wholly without foundation. If men lull difeull piblie meafures, they are at lead to take care they do not impute heftily fuch groG iniquity to perfons in office, which, if the accufation were true, would demand the interpofition of Parliament - to inflict condign punishment; and if the charge made in this Paper be coned, I can conceive no atrocity greater. But it is Paid the dircuffion on thole reports was introduced into Parliament. It is highly probable, that it was from thefe reports, echo ing in different dire)ions, that the appearance of truth was given to the affair; and thus, what was at fill mere vague imagination or malice, obtained attention and credence. The quellion is, if the mat• ten contained is this criminal information be libel. ions? and I have no hetitation in declaring, that, in point of law, it ought to be fo confidered.—Verdia —Guilty. THi RING V. JOHN HiIIIGT, RICHARD alleglill SCRIPPS. AND sucrunan re.wittan. ___ _ ployed in the Admi;alty. Mr. Booth was next called to give teftimony to the report which prevailed of the detention of Linois's tquadroa, by Admiral Rainier. This wittier% then produced various newfpapers, in which the rumour was circulated prior to the dateof this libel. Mr. Serjeant Best- then addreffed the Court and Jar on behalf of the Defendants. He Paid he was • ediy content with the law as laid down by his arned Friend, the Attorney General, and was fa tisfied that under that law his clients fhould be tried. He had confeffed, that malice was a neceffary ingre dient of all libels, and that before the Jury could find the Defendants guilty, they mull be fatisfied the publication proceeded from malice. This principle mull either be diredcd againfl the individual, or atgainti the public, under the appearance of perfonal malice to force individual. A nearer examination of the fads of this cafe would (hew it was utterly im poffible this paper could proceed from deliberate malice. The quellion was not, if the affertions be trne or falfe, but if they were made With an inten tion to degrade the perfons againll whom the libel was Paid tobedirated. He begged here to be dil -1 Sadly underflood. It was an ad of jullice to the it lultrions Nobleman who had been fi often allnded to to declare, that there was, and c , .uld be, no founda tion in truth for the contents of this paragraph ; and he fhould not only declare this from the reverence he himfelf felt for that dittinguifhed officer, but he was authorized and intlruded to avow the fame, in the moll explicit term% fur thole for whom he now ap peared ; and it wa s , perhaps, an unhappy change for this country, that this exalted character, at fuch a period of public difficulties and danger, did not now occupy the fituation which he lately filled with fu much honour to himfelf, and glory to his country. It other expreffions had occiii red to him more for cible on this fubft, he fhould have availed himfelf of them ; and lie fhould not fulfil his own wilhos, or the expeetatione of his clients, if he did not make this public acknowledgment. The plain ground of defence then was—that what was inferted was fo in troduced froth Mere miflake and inadvertence, and that the (melted portion of malice did not mix itfelf with the affair. But it would he,alked if a man may, from a rniflake, wound the feelings and injure the reputation of another ? To which he would reply, certainly hut. But this was not the form of aftion in which a man was called upon to anfwet under this circubsflance. There wise two modes of proceed ing : the one in, the Civil, the other in the Criminal Comte. The enquiry in the tint is, what had been the injury to the patty complaining ? In the 'aft, what had been the motives of the party offending ? fu that, by the former procefs, if any damage be fa tained, a complete remedy is prlivided, ancrthe De fendant mull pay for his own incaution. One proof had been adduced, which would 41111 the Jury in their conarudion of the motive. The matter, it now appeared, did not wholly miginate with the De fendants ; a report had before prevailed, that Admi ral Rainier had detained the !hips of Linois ; of this rumour there was no pretence to fay the Defen dants were either the contrivers or the fabricators. — In what predicament were they then fuppofed to be detained ? The Jury would obierve, these was a ma• terial didindion between detention and capture, as applicable to this cafe. Why did he detain them ? The reafoa feems naturally to fledged itfelf to be.— that he had received information of a war through tome irregular channel, which might jidlify the de tention, but not the capture of the (hips. Such an accident might happen in the communication of dif patches to a remote part of the world, depending upon the vieitttudes of the fealons, without the (*mallet culpability on the part of the Government. This was merely Rated to (hew, that there was nut only fuch a teport, but fume fealible grounds to ex plain the conStrudion upon it ; but it was not merely a rumour, for it has been fence confirmed, that Li nois went into Pundicherry, that Kainier appeared I off the coaff, and that the former, apprehensive of the confequerices, flipped his cables during the night, leaving lights in the harbour in clode the vigilance of the &hills Admiral. But diJ thefe Defendants alone give credit to theft reports, and the concern the Admiralty was fippofed to have in the affair Were they not the foundation of a folemn inquiry in the Houfe of Parliament, and with this fad before the Jury, would they be fur priced at the credit given to prthlic rumour by the eondliflors of there daily publications, prepared and uffiered into notice under the preffiire and hurry of the hour The Learned Gentleman had acknowledged individuals might properly difcufs the meneutes of men in power ; theft difcnftlnns might have fur their batis come fads, or they were nugatory ; and to what a contemptible condition this privilege Englifhmen would be re duced, if thefmallett minake in fuch fads, coliefted as they mull be, bum public report, fhonld expore the commentator on national affairs to penal conic quenees. The difficulty of afcertaining truth at any time is 1164110111Cdrd dory, mixed 1a4.2.14.16 This was a criminal information for the fame libel inferted in 71* Sim Paper. The Arroassr G laid, this was a libel re tam whir, the fame as the lati. Seeing fo many Gentlemen of the Jury who decided on the former cattle, and prefuming the others had been in Court, he would not detain them with any comments as be half of the profecution. Mr. Serjeant Brsr declimd making any defence for his clients, altar the determination already given. The proofs wet: then gone through in the dud form, and the Jury intlantly pronounced the verdiet - -Guilty. THR RING V. IDWAAD AND HEART DAVIS. This was an indittment charging the Defendanta, nnter feveral counts, with a «Sri re.. 7 Lo• his Majelly's Revenue in the Stamp Duties. The ATTORNEY GI NFRAL noted the nature of the deception which had liven praftiled. Several pieces of thin wove paper were conneCted by a very deli• cate cement, io a, to one mats of thick paper. In this (late the paper was taken to the Stamp-office, to receive the impreffion. After it had keen fo done, the 14oiina were feparaizi, and thus three or four Ramps were procured at the price of one. The Learned Cauniel lamented this mifapplication of in genuity, and then called Mr. Eflcourr, Solicitor to the Stamp Office, and numerous other srittieffes, to fupport of the peak- cution. Mr. Pr the Defendants, made a long and able defence—h.!, however, found hind& under the necedity of abandoning the eau fe of :be 6rft De fendant ; the oil er, a youth of the age of iF, he en deavoured to YindicAtr, en the ground that he was under the guidance of hi, elder brother, in whom he had come trim Wales a'acut a year and a half ago, and was fo intsperie ,- -4 in this mighty Metropolis, that he could LarJl, ir-ak its current language, and lied no pAriacipAti , -.e.•hcr in t'w crimecr emoluinen . . Serval g 4 ,e 'h; Defendant Henrys pod charaaer, anJ taia that he v I.. , stlyfervart to his bro ther Edward, who krpt a S'.ationer's Ihop in King lir. et , w o t at t n it e t, t,,, was a ferjeant in the Infantry Cnmearry, of the St. Margaret's and Sr. John's Voltmteers. Ihe Jury found both the Defendants Guilty. lot beg 4 ed leave to recommend Heavy, the youutei. to , • S. 3 . Y I I f ; I • , • •••„,;,. • el IT VC A