Star. — London, England, 1824-01-16 00:00:00

LAW INTELLIGENCE. tomtit OF ICING'S BENCH, JANUARY SS. 1,011) SYRON'S VISION or. JusgarzNir. THE KING 9. HUNT. Few cases of libel have occurred, exciting a greater degree of public attention and curiosity than that of Mr. Hunt, which came on in the King's Bench yesterday. The interest it Created was se intense that at an early hour the. Court was filled in all parts; the several ave nues were crowded, and a little after ten o'clock, ingress or egress to and from the Court was quite impracticable. Several Ladies of elegant appearance were present. This. was a prosecution instituted by the Constitu- tional Association, against John Hunt, bookseller, Bond street, (Loral Byron 's publisher) for the pnblicAtirns of a number of The Liberal, containing g , The Vision bf Judgment." Extracts from the Poem, which were al leged to be libelous, were spread on the face of the tecor d,....The Jury were. sworn a few minutes before ten o'clock : Robert Rogers, Matthew Lloyd, Robert Cook, Rich ard Horsepool, and Charles Constable, Esqrs. ADOLPHUS prayed a tales, and the following Gentlemen answered to their names: James Chambers. John Ironson, William Hussey, Thomas Jones, Thomas l3eartice, George Edward Dalton, William Trougb,and William Ei Mr. Anoienns stated the case on behalf of the pro secution. He commenced by observing that the law of England not only shielded the fame and good character of the living from calumny, but also protected the roe•+ mory of the dead. This protection of the good fame of the dead secured. the peace of. the living, and enabled them to pass through the world, and discharge their duties with confidence. The present libel was scanda lous; disloyal, false, and impious. Nothing could bo said in defence of the libel, whatever might be said. of the responsibilitr`of.the defendant. The libel was one affecting the King and his family. He w aware that it would be attempted to censure the prosecutors; and it was much easier to censure the one party than. to vindicate the other. It might be saidthat the Attor ney-General ought tohave prosecuted if the libel really affected the Royal Family. But there might be many things affecting the Royal Family which the Attorney. General might not find it fit to prosecute, but which public-spirited individuals would not suffer to pass. The only question for them and for him was. whether this was a mode of prosecution by which the defendant was more likely to" sustain injustice than any other ? Now it was quiCe the contrary.: A. Grand Jury had found the bill. Is came before them too this day, not withthe, autho stity) power, or ability °Elbe Attorney-General. There *as a very high advocate Counsel fOr the defendant.— If it could be shewn that his instructors were mistaken; that the view he took of this subject was a mistaken one; if it could be shewn that it was not scandalous, if not disloyal, if net impious, atone would rejoice more than he, or retire with more Satisfaction to find that the memory of his late Majesty was not affected. It was known'to the Jury that George the Third died in 1820, after a reign of 60 years. For a long period before his decease he was afflicted by the hand of HZAvaN, by the deprivation of his undemanding. At thecend of his fif tieth year his reign: was celebrated by public rejoicings. Sech.was the subject selected by , his libeller for the ex ercised hii talents. ) , Was there a man in any ordinary case who would not express sympathy with the suf• ferings of another so aglitter)? Yet these sufferings were Metopes selected as the ground-work of the present 'poem by this libeller. For a long time it was thought It to make personal attack: upon his present Majesty, but this plan of operation was changed, and in pun-. seance of the new system, a publication, entitled, " The Liberal, or Verse and Prose from the South," appeared in the beginning of the year 1822. It was a pro duction sent forth by those Idiom distance makes valiant, and indifference to character regardless of consequences ;• and who, from a spirit of malice, were capable of outraging all feeling and ransacking even the very grave. lu the first number of The Li beral there is a poem, called The Vision of Jridgnient. In this poem the author presumes to lay the scene in Heaven, and with a degree of levity and wantonness— a depth of impiety that would disgrace a pot-house, shelved an utter diaregard'of that reverence which was due to the SUPREME Basso, and a total neglect of - the awe which His idea shouldcreate. When he (Mr. Adol phus) began his address, he wigs admonished in a whis per not to go beyond the charge in the indictment; but if he found that the libel had another character besides that ascribed to it in that document, and 'one that he could only regard with horror, be did not know why he should not advert to it. He would not have expected from any English writer a production of such a cha racter as this, in which the scene was the very floor of Heavek and in which the author's profligate muse af forded a striking example, that Fouls rush in where Angels fear to tread." The Vision of Judgment begins thus : " Sam Peter sat by the celestial gate, His keys were rusty, and the lock was dull, So link trouble had been given of tate ; /lot that the place by any means was full, But since the Gallic era' eighty-eight; The devils had tees a longer, stronger pull, And a pull altogether, as they say At sea—which drew most souk another way t" And so.it goes on. The recording angels wings are plucked to make pens, and he has six cherubim: ap pointed to be his clerks, with a dozen of under-clerks; and in this way does this libeller proceed. It then goes on to state, that a general noise and rustling is heard, and, on inquiry being made, the answer is, that George the Third is dead. One of the parties then gives an ac coant of hint; in which his character as a King and as a man is grossly abused, and he is reproached for the calamities with which he was afflicted by Hsavirr. Sa tan is then brought forward as his accuser, and, in the , George the Third slinks into Heaven by stealth. This is the publication which they (the Jury) were 'tolled to pronounce their verdict on. Of the publica tion by the defendant there could be no doubt; and with respect to his motives, it was. not material. It was not necessary to prove that the defendant was actuated by personal malice towards George the Third, or per sooal hostility towards his present Majesty George the Clinch. If the Poem had the effect of making their enemies rejoice,. -and their fiiends mourn, it was not the less culpable, whatever might be the motive.— kle had adverted to the origin of this publication. It was entitled " Verse and Prose from the South," and it would seem there was some author behind who was - not known, and could not be reached. It was no slight ag 4;tavation of the defendant's offence, that' he put forth Il lat which had been sent from a distance, and the real ialthois of which were safe. If there is an author whose Lints might have raised him to a high rank in litera ture, and who might have taken his place among the List , piiits of the age, connected with this publication if there is such st person. he was truly to see hits degraded t o a • l eve l with the basest re ptiles. s He was truly sorry to see a high arid glorious name so debased; to see great talenti that might have been better em ployed; so occupied. He trusted that such a use of his abilities was to be ascribed to indiscretion, and that the world would still have to rejoice in their better empler ment. He had read to them some parts of the poem. Satan was the character in whose mouth the accusations against George 111. were put ; and it might be said, that as Satan is the father of all lies, the fact of the charges proceeding from such a source, imported that there was •no malice in the breast of the author against the lste King. This might be said; and it would be perfectly true, if the tone of the poem throughout corroborated such a view of the case. But, in point of fact, this was a most flimsy disguise, and could only cover the malice beneath. It might also be said that t he c ha ra c ters of Kings belong to history; but it k not to be said that the character of either dead or living Monarchs is to be left at the mercy of any daring libeller. If an historian should write the reign of George 111. and bring brief charges against him, lethim prove those charges, and he will not be called a libeller. If, like some Roman Monarchs, George 111. had been lost in effemin a t e pl e a sures ; if the flames of persecution had raged under his sovereignty ; if he had been governed by favourites; if his power had been ar bitrary and tyrannical; if (as in this poem it was directly insinuated) he was ruled by rival ice, the beggar's vice;" if this could be said of him, let him rank with those whose names cannot be regarded without loathing ; but if the whole course of his life was milted by religion, by abstinence, by generosity ; if there was no moral stain upon his character; if all which this publication said of him was utterly libellous, they, the Juw, would pronounce upon it accordingly. This was The view that he entertained, and he hoped they would not suffer any artful address to divest them of that cool judgment with which they ought to regard it.— The libel had been published some time, and it might be said that the subject was pow stale, and that there was no necessity to revive it; but, continued the Learned Counsel, the delay had been unavoidable, and was net owing to any fault on either side. He now left to the Jttry the ease of a libel upon a Monarch, who descended to the grave lamented by all classes ;—upon a King who justly obtained the title of father of his people;— the case of a libel affecting British fame and feeling on the high point of venerating the memory of theit fa thers. He left it .to them to say, forgetting whether George 111. was ever King, whether when he descended into the grave his ashes were to be raked up? They, he was sure, would do their duty on their oaths, and he was satisfied that he had faithfully, though feebly, dis charged his duty. The following witnesses were then called. John Piader sworn : went to the defendant's shop, No. 22, Old Bond-street, on the 2cl of December, 1822, and purchased two numbers of 7'he Liberal. I bought a copy for Mr. Murray, and another for Mr. Maule; Mr. Stafford employed me to get the copy for Mr. !Maule, that was before I bought for Mr. Murray; Mr. Stafford directed me to buy that copy ; I saw Mr. Murray in his own house, John. street, Bedford-row; he is not Solicitor to the Treasury; Mr. Murray paid me for loss of time; he did so several times before. Mr. Stafford always employed me; I understand he is an attorney ; I believe be purchased for the purpose of pro secution; don't know who employed him; don't know whether he is a Member of the Constitutional Associa tion or their Attorney; I have been paid too at other times by Mr. Sharp; I never. saw Sharp and Murray together; I might have seen them . together in Court in the very case in which Sharp paid me; I believe I did. Was Sharp a Manchester Bankrupt ? Mr. ADOLPHUS objected. The CHIEF JUSTICR thought this begged- the question. Mr. SCARLETT—I only want to know what is become of Mr. Sharp?-(A latish.) Witness—/ can't tell whether Mr. Murray is attorney for the Constitutional Association. I believe he is. I have not, that I remember, been employed to boy a book called Southey's Vision of Judgment: I have read part of that book. Mr. SCARLETT read the passige-4Asmodeus carry ing Southey up). Witness—l never read, or heard Mr. Murray, read it. Mr. SCA RLETT next read stanza 102. Witness—l never read it, or heard Murray read it. I don't know that the poem was written in ridicule of Southey's poem. Mr. SCARLSTT asked if he knew these two " •But stuck fast with his lint hexameter, Nor one of all who* gouty feet would stir." Witness.—l do not. Mr. SCARLET r.—Do you know what an hexameter means?—l believe I am an hexameter--(Laughter). Mr. ADOLPHUS wished the passages charged to beread. Mr. SCARLSTT thought the whole must be read. The LORD CHIEF JUSTICE said, the best way would be to have the passages charged as libellous read first, and compared with the -record, and then the whole could be read, if Mr. Scarlett wished it. Mr. Sciatarer agreed, and looked at the record while the passages id the indictment were read. Mr. SCARLIITT desired the whole to be read, though he regretted to have his Lordship detained so long. Mr. ABBOTT rose, and. Lead slowly, audibly, and with most correct emphasis, the whole Poem. James Buckmaster was called, and spoke to the iden tity of Mr. Hunt. Cress-examined.—l am an army-clothier; I read the Liberal ; I am not a subscriber to the Association. I am called by Mr. Murray here. Mr. SCARLETT.—And only to say you know Mr. Hunt? Yes.—Gon bless me! I thought it was to give your opinion of this Poem ?—No. Mr. ADOLPHUS said that was his case. Mr. Scesturrx began by saying that if he possessed any of that sort of talent which his Learned Friend bad ascribed to him, this was not an occasion on which he should make use of it. He would not attempt to increase id their minds the ridicule, contempt, and in dignation, which such a charge as the present must have excited in their minds, and in his opinion in the mind of every honest man. Newer, on any occa sion, had he lamented more his want of those talents ; and if he possessed them, be never felt more sensibly that the very energy of his own feelings would depress the exercise of them. He never expected-to hear it gravely urged in an English . Court of Justice, thlit the publication of any opinion or sentiments of a deceased Monarch was a libel, and a libel affecting -the living Monarch. His Learned Friend had very anxiously abstained from the law of this case, and With good po licy left the law to his Lordship. Instead o( stating the law, he betook himself to fine fields of. declamation, to topics.which might raise their feelings, and excite some whet of party-teeling. He wished he bad conducted their understandings to a true definition of the of libel, and peintea out under what head of that this prosecution was founded; that they might hate notions on the sutiect, and that he might have the nefit of ascertaining their value. He had _declaimed demerits not in the indictment, but he had left to him (Mr. Scarlett) the task of stating the law to them. He trusted, therefore, for their indulgence, while he at least endeavoured to explain this point, and to prove that the record of 'this indictment was a disgrace to a Court of Justice. A libel was defined to be a libel, s , because it tends to a breach of the public peace." Why did it tend to do so ? Because it excited a desire of vengeance inconsistent with the public peace. If this were not pre vented, we should be brought back to a state of nature. A charge against a living Monarch was not a libel, be cause he could not be supposed to feel a desire to break the peace. He was entitled to reverence, and duty, and all outward forms of submission. Therefore any at tempt to bring him into contempt was sedition, not be cause it tended to break the peace, but to weaken the ties of submission to' Government. Government was the result of public opinion, and it might therefore be of importance to check every attempt to bring its head into contempt. His Learned •Friend had said, that the good fame of the dead must be protected on account of the living. It was so, because attacks upon our fathers tended to excite us to break the pub lic peace. Could that be said of a Monarch ? Pie hoped never to see the day when the maxim would be received in a Court of Justice, that any observations on a deceased Monarch were a libel on the living Mo narch, because if it be, there would be at once an etid of the truth of history, of liberty of opinion, and of the very best principles on which social institutions were founded. When a Monarch died, then it was of the utmost importance to have the opinion of the times.— Kings were connected with history ; their records were lessons of morality to rulers and nations. The divinity which I hedges in a King,' shuts out truth while he lives, but when he is mixed with the earth, and lies undistinguished in mortality, it was . of the utmost importance to mankind, and deeply interesting to their liberty and safety as men and as Englishmen, that he should be subject to free and full discussion. But was it only praise that must be said of him ? If anything in the least affected his character, or of fended his successor, was it a libel f If so, there was an end of truth and freedom. If nothing was to be said of a deceased Monarch but what was pleasing' to his successor, there would be an end to historical truth. If we were to be condemned only to panegyrics, what faith would be due to those who gathered fi om the past rules for future Governments? The greatest of ancient histo rians (Tacitus), the most perfect master of historical wis dom, said, that in the time of Augustus there were not wanting persons who could tell the truth, but that adu lation prevented them. Should that be said in this coun try ? Should the verdict of a Jury sanction it? But let him not be misunderstood ; if any man wrote respecting a deceased • Monarch, with a view to insult the existing Monarch, it was criminal, and ought to be punished ; and if the defendant had done so, he should consent to a verdict against him. But that was not so. If all the virteesof his predecessor were stated as a contrast to in sult the living Monarch, it would be criminal. His Learned Friend had said that this'prosecution proceeded not from the Crown, but was the effusion of one of its subjects. He gave no opinion of political characters or measures ; but the present King was surrounded by the advisers whom the late King bad raised to office, for time and power. This Poem was not adapted for - the vulgar, nor indeed would it be read by them.- -There was not one of his Majesty's Ministers who had not read it, and who did not feel it a pity to bring it for ward in this way. He used the argument to sliew that no man of letters, no statesman, and no man of high station had put the construction on this poem which Mr. Murray, the attorney,-had put upon it. Who was Mr. Murray ? He had brought into Court what was •wee prosecuted before. With all respect for aJory, he (Mr. Scarlett) did not consider the character of a deceased being, or a criticism upon a poem, a fit subject for a Jury. Mr. Murray might be a judge of the minks of an attorney, but he knew nothing of the merits of a Statesman, a King, or a Poet, and he evidently under stood not a word of this poem. If this were a libel, then to say anything of the grandfather or ancestor of the King would be a libel. Shakspeare drew Richard the Third a murderer; in the opinion of Mr. Murray, this must have been a political libel. His Majesty was descended of James the First; yet Sir Walter Scott, one of his late novels, he begged pardon, an un known writer, described that Monarch in the most ridiculous and contemptible character. Did Mr. Mur ray know that there was such a book as Shalt. speare's, that there was a King called Henry VIII. —Did he know that none mentioned his reign as ithout describing his tyrannical conduct? . Had he heard of the Memoirs of Waldegrave, one of the late King's tutors? The • Memoirs of George I. by Walpole?, It was quite new to , bitn—it was never before pretended that there was any libel in saying that a Kiag died un lamented. It was a delicate subject to speak upon. He knew not whether the late King died regretted or not. For himself he entertained for him the fullest respect; and he thought the Poet was wrong. But it was true, that people were not generally much grieved by the decease of Monarchs? and why? The condition that made a man a King, placed him out of the sphere of those solicitudes, cares, and attentions which were felt for ordinary individuals. If History spoke truth, tears did not often fall for Kings. He had beard that on the' death of his late Majesty, the persobs who attended at his funeral expected they would be displaced in twenty-four .hours; it was not therefore probable they would be so deeply affected as to shed tears, except those caused by the solemn occasion. \ When Louis the Fifteenth died of the small pox, 'his at. tendants ran away from him. The indictment, after setting forth the passages complained of, stated that it was thereby intended to disturb and disquiet the mind of our Lard the now King, and to bring disgrace upon the descendants of his late Majesty. The publication was not charged as seditious or treasonable ; and be had no idea of any otherlibel on a King but one of a seditious or treasonable nature. To say that the late King was a bad King (not a bad man), after his de.• cease, and that the saying must of necessity wound the peace of the present King, was absurd. Let the charge be put into plain prose, and let the Jury see whether any one might not say in that shape what the Poet had said in verse. The Learned Gentleman then took a rapid sketch of the events of the late King's reign in the same sense as the Poet bad. Were those to be pro. nounced guilty of libel, then, who spoke their opinions on these facts ? At this moment the whole of Europe, except; indeed, this happy . country, was unsettled, and on one of the dreams of those who supported the war ' il . Jetty tapir* pense of 200 millions of money ; taxation was enor mously increased ; the Habeas Corpus Act was repeat. edly suspended ; and many of the laws and safeguards, under which Englishmen were accustomed to repose, were taken away. Mr. Adolphus might, indeed, write a history about it, and contend that everything was jus tifiable, and that the event was happy—this might be the opinion of the Jury, and they had a right to hold it; but was it not fit that others should have an equal right to express their opinions, though they might be different ? Every one was aware that the public acts of the King's Government were not to be ascribed to the will of his Majesty; their responsibility rested upon his Ministers. But such was the fate of Kings, that though exempt in their life-time from responsi bility, they could nut escape after-retribution. Look at the reign of Elizabeth ? she, indeed, had her Cecile and her I3urleighs ; but posterity points to her name as the common centre of all her glory. The reign of George the Third was marked by a waste of trea sure, by domestic division and wars, but towards its close one maa had arisen who had thrown over it an unexampled degree of lustre—Wellington; corn• mencing his career at the extremity of the Continent, he had advanced step by step, overthroa ing the ablest Ge nerals in Europe, and firwlly conque•ing and over whelming their master. Such a series of military glories never fell to the lot of one man before. If the matter in this publication were put into prose, there would not appear anything in it but what had been often said and felt. His Majesty, brought up in the true spirit of the Constitution, under the guidance of a man now in his grave, and who was never exceeded in his attachment to the principles which seated his family on the throne, which he hoped they would long continue to adorn, could never be supposed to sanction such a prosecution as this. The Learned Corm,el here proceeded to read extracts from the poem, offering remarks as he went on. He concluded by an appeal to the Jury not to pro nounce a verdict that would go t , blast all literature, destroy all energy, and subvert all liberty. The Loup CHUM Jim= lett it to the Jury, whether the tendency of this Poem was not calculated to wound the feelings of the existing Sovereign, and disturb the public peace, by bringing him into contempt and ha• tred. The Jury would exercise their own unshackled judgment. The Liberty of the Press was a privilege the people of this country enjoyed above all others, and the Jury would say whether the object of this Poem was temperately to discuss the measures of Government ? His Lordship could not hut express his decided abhor rence of the terms in which this Poem was couched—as reflecting, in a high degree, upon the deceased Sove reign. These were also other passages, reflecting on his present Majesty, which no man of feeling but must be affected by.—He concluded the Jury would exercise their own calm and dispassionate judgment, and say, if 'his was that malicious or malignant libel, tending to disturb the peace of mind of the reigning Sovereign, by bringing his character into the ridicule, hatred, or , con tempt of his subjects, as charged in this information. Tile Jury having retired, at half-past two, found the Defindant, John Hunt, Guilly. The amount of revenue of Customs at Grangemouth for the year ending. the sth inst. is nearly 8,0001. more than the preceding year ending sth Jan. 1823. PARRlClDE.—December 31st, towards eight o'clock in the evening, Barbe-Rose Chatelet, 26 years of age, of the Commune of Dugny, on the road from Verdun to Bar, killed her father, by filing at him with a pistol. The muzzle of the piece was close to her unhappy fa ther, and the deed was committed at the corner of a road, where she had concealed herself, knowing that he would pass that way. The ball passed through the bowels of the old man, who died six hours afterwards= declaring his daughter was his murderess. The Pro. carrier du Rol immediately proceeded to Dugny, where this unnatural daughter confessed her crime, and said that she had been induced to commit it by a desire to have no loner a pension to pay for the suppoit of Ni colas Chate let, which she and all his children paid. She was on the following day conducted to the gaol of Verdun.—Journal des Debuts. The authenticity of the following particulars respect ing the attempt to, assassinate Mrs. Mitchell, in the Putter-row, Edinburgh, is said to be unquestionable:— Mrs. Mitchell resided with her aged mother, and kept a young girl in the capacity of a servant. Mitchell used frequently to call at the house; but his wife, apprehen, sive of his brutal usage, always refused him admit tance, and kept the door secure against his approach. As it was necessary to dilpatch the girl at times upon • messages, it was arranged that, when the girl returned, she should rattle the handle of the door by way of sig nal to her mistress. This came to the knowledge of Mitchell, who, upon the evening when the atrocious act was committed, and while the gad was from home,came to his wife's door, and making use of the signal, was readily admitted. He at once seized hold of - a lighted candle, and rushed into a back room, the window of which he threw up with great violence, commanding his wife at the same time to come and speak to him. She refused ; he approached her, and her mother took hold of her, to prevent her going; upon which Mit chell required to know what rrght she had to detain his wife from him ? The old woman replied, that her daugh ter was under her protection. " Then," said Mitchell, , f 111 soon put her out of your protection;" and drawing a table-knife from beneath his sleeve, he brandished it in her face. At this time the girl returned; and Mrs. Mitchell, upon seeing her, cried to her to run for assist ance. Mitchell hearing this, dashed the girl to the ground, and at . the same instant plunged the knife into his wife's side, and rushed out of the house. Mrs. Mit chell is a woman of superior talents and acquirements ; and, before the perpetration of the crime which has en dangered her life, had formed arrangements for teach ing French and sewing, for the support of her aged mo ther and infant children. CORN EXCHANGE. MARK.LANR, JAN. le. The arrivals this week are monerate. Wheat 2800 qrs. Barley 45.50 vs. Oats 9700 qrs. Flour 3250 socks. There is not muck good Wheat for sale, and the prices of Monday are fully supported for this article. Ba rley for malting sells freely, and readily coin wands last quotations. Beans and Peas are rather dearer. The weather being sharp occasions a guod.demand for Oats, sad they a , I I fre e ly at Monday's prices. SMITHFIELD MARKET, JANUARY lit. There was a good supply this morning. particularly of Otte, and owing to the weather setting in told last market day's prices wets obtained for cattle of good quality. but the inferior sorts were not much sought after. Beef. per stone of Illbe. 3s. 4d. to 4s. 4d. Minton, Os. 4d. to 4s. 64 Veal, 4s. 6d. to Ss. id. Pork, 44. Od. to ss. 04. . I,llgl 1 . - t •~.~ ~ r~`,~ I T .; •••,, law had. approched to realisaticio,.. Though Greg e the law Third . singlt have possessed m y virtue, and in a more his eminent degree than other men, It coold ant bst denied be. that his reign was full of war and spoil. We had lost don dosing that time a mighty euspirs abroad, with an ex- , 7... c •