Star. — London, England, 1821-07-25 00:00:00

less, therefore, there was one law for her brother, whose agent she was, and another for her, she could tr.: he found guilty on the present occasion. The de fence then went on to state, that she was not now in dicted on the Statute, but on the Common Law, v7hich latter was a common abuse.— Mr. Justice BEST—The defendant must be aware that in the discharge of my duty, and consistent with the oath I have taken, I cannot sit here and hear any part of the law of the land thus spoken of. The de fendant had better take back her defence, and ex punge such parts of it as she must know are inad missible, and cannot he read. _ _ The Defendant—This is my defence; if I am not allowed to read it I have no other. I cannot alter it. One of the Jury—Miss Carlile, you are only doing yourself an injury. You had better do as advised. Mr. Justice BEST—Your friends will advise you as to what parts it is necessary you should omit. The Defendant—l have no friend with me. Mr. Justice BEs - r—Any Gentleman at this Bar, I am convinced, will be happy to assist you with his advice. You had better retire with some one. I will allow you all reasonable time to make such altera tions as will render your defence serviceable to you. One of the Jury—You had better be advised, Miss Carrie. You are only doing yourself an injury. The defendant retired, and after being absent about three minutes, returned, and handed up a writ ten paper, which was read by Mr. ABBOTT, and was to the following effect: " have only now to say, that thia is my defence. If the Court decides, that as an Englishwoman, my defence is not to be heard, I llttnt abide die consequences. Ills Lordship says he will not hear my defence : I have no other to offer." Mr. Justice BE:;-r —I have said no such thing. I am anxious that you should make your defence; and shall be happy to hear you justify your, , elf in the opi r.ion of the Jury; and that you shall have the aid and assistance of some Gentleman of the Bar ; any one of whom will be most ready to advise you. A .Juryman—Miss Carlile, you are acting very wrong: you are doing yourself an injury. The lk•fendant-1 have no other defence. Mr. Justice-Bwr then proceeded to sum up to the Jury, and commented on the nature of the publica tion, and its mischievous tendency, us he proceeded. It, however, the Jury could consider this as a fair dis cussion of the merits of the Christian Religion, then the defendant would be entitled to their verdict. fheJury immediately found the defendant Guilty. THE KING V. MARY ANN CAELIGE. Mr. TYNDAL suited, that this was an indictment against the same defendant, for the publication of a nicked and seditious libel of and concerning the ad ministration of the htws and constitution of the country. Mr. GURNEY said, the nature of this indictment had been fully stated by his Learned Friend ; and he must be permitted to say, in addition to his Learned iend's statement, that never, in his opinion, had he, in the whole course of his profession, met with any publication which embraced so much of criminality in so small a space as this publication did. It pur ported to be written by Richard Carlile, at present a prisoner in Dorchester Jail, from whence it was dated January 1, 1821, and was published by his sister, the present defendant, at the shop in Fleet-street, where she at present carried on business. As he be fore , rated, it was dated " Dorchester Jail, January Ist," to which was added " S..cond Year of the Spa /id' Revolution." It was entitled, A New Year's Address to the Reformers of Great Britain; and it could not be lead without seeing that the object of its author was not Reform, but absolute Revolution, in this country. The Learned Counsel then pro ceeded to read extracts from the publication, and to eel/rent on them, and urged the aggravated nature of the libel, and the tendency which it had to lead to the overthrow of all the Established Authorities of the country, and proceeded to call the following wit nesses to prove the publication by the defendant, as alleged in the indictment. Jaales Regnald proved the purchase of the publi cation now put into his band, in the evening of the 9 t h ~f Much last, at the shop of Miss Carlile, No. 55, Fleet-street. Miss Carlile was in the shop. Cross-examined by Mr. COOPER..—I am an agent of the Society for the Suppression of Vice ; I also acted in this instance for the Constitutional Society ; I ant not paid by that Society, but I made a charge for my time ; I did this and several other jobs for the Society ; 1 cannot say exactly what I received of the Society, but I know it was between seven pounds and seven guineas; I went about to several booksellers' shops, and purchased publications if I thought fit; I expected to he paid ; I did not do it entirely from patriotism or loyalty, I expected to be paid for my trouble ; I have been in the employment of the So ciety for the Suppression of Vice a year and a half; I was, previous to that, in the Customs ; I get my living honourably ; but I have now lost that situa tion; I am 56 years of age, but have no pension. H. Orton purchased the pamphlet now produced on the 10th of October, of Mary Ann Carlile herself. Cross-examined.—l went to purchase the pamphlet' by direction of Mr. Murray, the Solicitor and Hono rary Secretary to the Society ; I am Clerk in the Se cretary's Office ; I formerly assisted my brother in his country correspondence; I received money of him as I wanted it ; in my present honorary situation my salary is not fixed; I do not work for the Society without expectation of fee or reward, but I have re ceived nothing since; I can hare £5 at any time if I want it, but not of the Society • I can have it of my brother; I have done a job of this kind as regards a man named King; I believe it was before the pur chase of this pamphlet; I cannot tell how many jobs of this kind I have done since the 10th of March, tEey are so numerous. Mr. Sharpe is Assistant-Ho v)rary Secretary of the Society ; I have sometimes =teal under the directions of Mr. Sharpe. The libel was then put in and read. Amongst ether passages which it contained were the follow. ing : " To talk of the British Constitution is a sure proof of dishonesty. Britain has no Constitution." Again—" Her laws are corrupt and partial in them setves, and they are administered in corruption, as plain as the sun at noon-day." In a subsequent part the writer adds—" Reform will be obtained when the existing Authorities have no longer the power to resist it, and not before. We shall get it as soon without petitioning as with it. Something more than petitioning is necessary. At this moment I will say nothing of insurrection ; but I strongly recommend naion, activi:y, and co-opezation. Be steady and be ready to take advantage of any occnrrence which' selves ready for active and Zealous co-operation, and may arise."—The libel having been read, I contended that it only required to have the next pas- Mr. COOPER rose to address the Jury on the part sage of the publication read to explain this ; when it of the defendant. He was some time ago applied to would be found that it was not a serious recom by the defendant to become her advocate on this oc- met:dation to hold themselves active to co-operate in casion, and for some time supposed he was to have I an insurrection, but to co-operate with the Mooches the conduct of the case ; but time passed on, and he ter and Stockport Union Rooms, where the young heard nothing more on the subject,.. and supposing `were instructed, and adults taught one another. The either the defendant had selected some other Advo- author recommended these Rooms as a model for sate, or intended to conduct her own defence, he dis- imitation ; but was that to recommend insurrection ? missed the whole matter from his mind ; and it was So also with regard to that passage which said we not until last evening that he received renewed in- had no Constitution, he contended that the author structions, and had been obliged to devote the hours was justified in what he had said on this subject.— required for rest to collecting his ideas on the sub- The Constitution ceased to exist in proportion to the pct ; and now came before them but ill able, and invasions made on its theory by those who had to but little prepared to perform his duty towards his carry it into practice. The author said, corruption client, ortowards the Court and Jury on this important in the Constitution was as plain as the sun at noon occasion. No blame was to be imputed to the de- day. Now, the author had the highest authority fendant for this ; for she had been deceived. All her for his assertion. Lord Colchester, when Mr. Ab other prosecutors had given her a notice of at least bon, and Speaker of the House of Commons, used three weeks previous to bringing her to trial : she ex- this very expression. petted the same courtesy from the present prosccu- Mr. Justice BEsr.—Where do you find your autho tors, but they bad thought right to withhold that in- rity for this, Mr. Cooper? dulgence, and brought on this case with only the Mr. Coonen.—My Lord, I speak of it as a matte' bare notice which the strict letter of the law required. of history. —He was aware that, in this case, he had great diffi- Mr. Justice BEST.—But where do you find these culties and prejudices to encounter. He knew that words recorded, as having been used by Mr. Abbott? there was a prejudice existing against the name of Mr. COOPER.—My Lord, in the daily Prints, in Carlile; but he was persuaded the Jury would dis- the Reports of Proceedings in Parliament. miss those prejudices from their minds. He was Mr. Justice BEST.—Then you are not justified in certain that, as in the beautiful allegory of 7'he Pil- citing them. We cannot know what passed in Par grim, it was represented, that immediately on his liament. passing the gateway, the pack sprung from off his Mr. Coopen.—My Lord, I submit I have a right back, and he was relieved; so, also, he was persuaded, to advert to it as a matter of history, in my cause. as soon as the Jury entered the gate of the Court, Mr. Justice BEST.—If Mr. Abbott said this in his their minds were relieved from the pack of prejudices place in Parliament, we can know nothing of it. If which they might have received ; and he was sure the out of Parliament, he is liable to prosecution for a defendant would not now suffer because she chanced libel on the Constitution. This has been repeatedly to bear the name of a man who differed from a great decided in the Courts of Law. Lord Abingdon was portion of society in his religious and political opi- committed even for publishing his own speech. nions. That political prejudices went far he was Mr. COOPER.—My Lord, that speech contained a aware, and he did not expect to escape for the part libel on a private individual. he was about to take in the present prosecution ; Mr. Justice BEST.—And can it be contended that especially when he recollected that that great States- a libel on the Constitution is less an offence than a man, Lord Erskine, had suffered before him, for the libel on a private individual ? part he had taken in defending Paine, the author of Mr. COOPER.—My Lord, I still submit I have a the Rights of Man. If Lord Erskine was wounded, right to proceed. how could be expect to escape? He would only say, Mr. Justice BEST.-..Mr. Cooper, I have told you whatever he might suffer on this occasion, he would my opinion; go on, and say what you please. suffer most readily and willingly. Having said thus Mr. COOPER resumed, and proceeded to comment much, by way of introduction, he would now go to on the celebrated speech of Mr. Abbott, when Speaker a consideration of the case, and to the expediency of of the House of Commons, on the subject of selling this prosecution. He would deny the expedience in seats in Parliament ; and contended, that no doubt this case. The defendant was here prosecuted for a could exist in the mind of any man, but that the nuisance, and they were told that former Juries had author of this publication had Mr. Speaker Abbott's found persons guilty for similar nuisances ; but was words in his mind, when he wrote this passage. And that any reason why the present Jury should come to surely that would not be considered as illegal in the a similar decision ? The law gave to the Jury the mouth of an humble individual like Mr. Carlile, right of deciding what was, and what was not libel. which had been considered as constitutional and legal His Lordship would give his opinion, and to that in the mouth of this great and eminent man with opinion the Jury would pay all that respect and de- whom it had originated. The Learned Gentleman i ference to which authority of such weight was enti- then proceeded to cite the opinions of Lord Erskine, tied ; still the Jury Were to decide was this a libel or Locke, Dr. Johnson, Lord Loughborough, and other not? If it was not a libel, it was not a nuisance ; eminent men, to shew that much greater evils re and though it might, under former circumstances of suited from prosecutions for libels, than any which the country, have been a nuisance, still the changed could arise from suffering them to pass unheeded and state of society might now make that wholesome sink unnoticed into obscurity. It was only in Eng which formerly was considered as poison. He would land that this opinion prevailed ; for in America, in only instance one case in point. Hops, when first the State of Virginia, the preamble to one of their introduced into this country, were considered as Acts of Legislature declared prosecutions for libel as deadly poison, and strong penal statutes were enacted wholly unnecessary. against their use :—convictions took place upon Mr. Justice BEST.—Mr. Cooper, you must be aware that statute, and punishment followed; but change we, in this country, can have nothing to do with the of circumstances and progress of time changed men's Acts of the Legislature of Virginia. ideas. Hops now formed a principal ingredient in Mr. COOPER submitted he had a right to advert to the daily beverage of the population of this country; it in the course of his argument ; he considered it as and would it now be argued, that, because Juries material to his case. bad formerly found persons guilty of nuisances for Mr. Justice Besr.—You may do as you please, Mr. using hops, that, upon a prosecution for doing so Cooper, but you are acting against your better judg now, aJury were bound to come to a similar verdict? ment, and know full well I shall be bound in the dis- He would apply the same doctrine to the present charge of my duty to tell the Jury they must lay all case; he would contend that a publication like the these things out of their consideration. present, though formerly it might have been mis- Mr. COOPER resumed—He was aware his whole cbievous, was now, on the contrary, wholesome ; and argument would be subject to his Lordship's animad being fairly explained, he should confidently look to version, and with that proviso Ise submitted his whole the Jury for a verdict. The Learned Counsel then argument to the Jury. He continued to argue on proceeded to comment or. the conduct of the Society the impolicy of prosecutions for political opinions. for prosecuting in this case, and strongly to condemn Prosecution was mischievous, since it only rendered their proceedings ; and, in the course of his observa- a man more devoted to his opinion. Carlile was dons, adverted to the case of the Dean of St. Asaph, himself an instance of the impolicy of these prose in which, he said, the Marshal of the King's Bench, cutions. He was now suffering, perhaps with stub though he had nothing whatever to do with the bornness, but it was a stubbornness arising out of pro question at issue, was the prosecutor; and he was secution. This was no new doctrine; for it was said proceeding to comment on the conduct of the Mar- the blood of the martyrs was the seed of Christianity. steal as prosecutor in that case, when Prosecution would no more succeed in putting down Mr. Justice Besr said, he would put it to the libels than severe revenue laws would operate to put Learned Gentleman to say, was this a fair course down illicit distillation. If men could not write in which he was pursuing, thus to drag forward and the city they would flee to the mountains,and would make comments on an individual who could not be come down in the night and scatter their mischievous present to answer, explain, or defend himself ? doctrines in the streets; he now looked confidently to Mr. COOPER submitted he was in a course of fair the Jury for a verdict, by which this Society of self observation. constituted prosecutors would be dissolved, and sent Mr. Justice BEST could only say, that to attack back to their original insignificance; or, if they still absent persons was a course he had never known to persisted, that they would be sent back to proceed prevail during the time he had had the honour to be with the burthen of a verdict against them round at the Bar. their necks. He looked forward for such a verdict, Mr. COOPER assured the Learned Judge he in- as necessary for the establishment of the freedom of tended no attack oil Mr. Jones ; on the contrary, he the Press, without which freedom could not long bad only intended to comment on a case upon record. exist in this country. if he had made such an attack he regretted it, and The Learned Judge summed up, and declared his was ready, in Mr.Jones's absence, to beg his pardon, opinion, that the publication was a libel of a most and thus the cure for the injury would spread as wide mischievous tendency. as the wound which he had inflicted. With respect The Jury retired at four o'clock, and after being to the libel, as it was called, and its publication, lie out an hour, a note was delivered to his Lordship, submitted that there was no evidence whatever of its who, on reading it, desired they would come into publication, except by the act of the agents of this Court. On their coming into the box, honorary and honourable Society, as it was called.— His Lordship said, Gentlemen, lam sorry to find These agents obtruded themselves, and obtrusively you cannot agree. I will readily assist you, if ycu published that which, but for them, never would think I can help you out of your difficulty. have been published. Foreman—My Lord, there is no chance of our Mr. Justice BEST.—I suppose you will give evi- coming to an agreement. dence of this fact ? The Judge--I am sorry for it ; but on that point I Mr. CoopEa.—My Lord, I take it on the evidence can give you no assistance. as it now stands. One of theJury—My Lord, I think our Foreman was Mr. GURNEY.—Which evidence is directly the con- premature in troubling your Lordship ; with a little, Crary. The witnesses stated, that they were laid in more discussion we might have agreed. large piles on the counter in the public shop. Another Jury man—My Lord, there is obstinacy. Mr. COOPER resumed.—But there was no proof of Second Juryman—My Lord, Ido not stand alone; any publication, except the two copies which the pre- it is an invidious observation ; there are four of us. sent defendant was tempted and betrayed into selling The Judge—Gentlemen, you must see the impro by the agents of this honou7able Society, who had priety of this public discus-ion ; you must retire again, acted the part of tempters and seducers towards this and endeavour to agree amongst yourselves. unfortunate woman. The Learned Gentleman then The Jury again retired, and at eight o'clock com proceeded to comment on the several passages of the municated to the Officer their wish that information libel as set forth in the indictment, and particularly should be forwarded to their families, that it was not on that passage which urged the people to hold them- probable they would return home before the morning ! COURT OF KING'S BENCII.-TIIIS DAY. " CONSTITUTIONAL" ASSOCIATION V. MISS CARLILE. The Jury continued locked up, without being able to come to an agreement, till half-past eleven o'clock this forenoon, when they sent an Offieer into Court to inform Mr. Justice HOLROYD, who was sitting on the Bench, that they could not agree in an unanimous verdict, and that there was no prospect they everwould. Ills Lordship repeated this communication to the Counsel for the prosecution and for the defence. Mr. GURNEY and Mr: COOPER had then some con sultation together, after which Mr. GURNEY informed his Lordship that he had agreed with his Learned Friend tilat, since there ap peared no likelihood of obtaining a verdict, the Juty should be discharged. Mr. Justice HOLROYD then ordered the Jury to be called in. The Jury having come into Court, and their names being called over, His Lordship said that he was happy to be able to relieve them from the state of difficulty in which they found themselves. The Counsel for the prosecu tion and for the defence had agreed that they should be discharged, and he discharged them accordingly. The Jurymen, as they retired from Court, were much cheered by numerous groups who were anxi ously waiting the result; although but few of them could have any claim to participate in the compli ment. We understand there were eight for convict ing and four for acquittal ; and that the honour of standing out against the majority is particularly due to one of the four. The discharging of the Jury without a verdict is., we believe, equivalent to a verdict of not guilty, and puts an end to the prosecution, the first of those instituted by the :oi-di:ant Constitutional Associa. tion, which has been brought to trial. The Jury were nearly twenty-four hours confined, and appeared much exhausted. They were heard warmly debating the matter, with but few inter missions, from the time of their being first inclosed. —At four o'clock this morning they sent to Mr. Blades, the officer, who was in attendance, request ing that some refreshments might be sent into them ; but this the officer, as in duty bound, told them could not be allowed. Yesterday. the Duke of BEDFORD entertained the Duke of YORK and a distinguished party, at his house in St. Janies's-squate. Yesterday, the principal Inhabitants of the parish of St. James's, Westminster, dined together at the Thatched House Tavern, to celebrate the Coronation of his MAJESTY-Mr. HAMMERSLEY, the banker, in the Chair. M. 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