The National Register. — London, England, 1811-02-24 00:00:00

I 2 6 the month of July there had been a run on the bank for several days. On the 30th of July, Mr. Noble, one of the,. partners,. came to him at four o'clock, and asked him if he had sufficient money to pay that evening ; he replied in the affirmative. on which Mr. Noble desired him to continue paying, but on the next morning the house must stop payment : that the witness and the other clerks must come to the banking-house on the following morning, as the partners could not, they being afraid of an arrest, and desired that they might be denied to evert person who ,called. Mr. Barwick, one of the partners, was pi-eient ; 4% would not undertake to. swear that Mr. Croft, another of the partners, was present. On the morning of the 31st, Messrs. Noble and Barwick were in the banking-house before nine o'clock in the morning, and desired themselves to be deni&d. He did not see Mr. Croft until the Ist of August, when he also desired himself to be deni...d. On both days he denied' the partners to all persons who came. The first that called was Mr. Heath, of Golden-square, who kept an account at the house; he told him the house had stop- Ted, and he 44 , not know where the partners were. Several persons called"Svich draughts to the amount of 10,0001. Thomas Close also made a demand on the Ist of August. Mr. Dawes was out of town at the time the bank stopped, and he had never .seen him since; but he received a letter, directed to him and the Other clerks from him, on the morning of the Ist of August, to the following effect :—" That on finding that the banking-house had stopped, on his return to town, he could not, with safety to the liberty of his person, attend ; and for them to say, when. he was inquired for, that he Was in the country, or elsewhere they pleased. •On his cross-examination by Mr. Parke, he said, the letter %vas received from Mr. Dawes on the morning of the Ist of August ; he did not open it, nor would not swear it was not trought by the Solicitor for the Commission. Mr. Dawes was the senior partner, and could not recollect whether he had seen him for a week before the issuirtg of the Commission, which was on the Ist of August. He did not know before the 30th, that the house'Was insolvent. Mr, Noble deposed, he was one of the partners trading under tke firm of Devaynes and Co.; that he was the holder of stock for the defendant, and that he sold it on the 19th, 20th, and 21st \lav, and did not communicate it to the defendant until the V/th of July, which was by letter, which we have before stated. 4)o his cross-examination by Mr. Topping,, he said, that on %he - f.nst of May he enclosed the bonds in a cover, sealed them up, and put them into an iron chest, with other securities. He did not know that his partners were acquainted with the cir fanms!anzie but they might have known it if they pleased. The 14.- l aage was directe&—" The property of John Balfour ' Esq." and it was considered by him as a collateral security. He had rir)t an idea - that the house would stop payment until the 30th of Ju!y. in the life-time of Mr. Devaynes, they were in the habit lai selling the Exchequer Bills when they wanted money. Examined by Mr. Attorney-General in chief. He said it was or account of the failures in Liverpool that his house failed. phimiti's case closed here. 'Mr. ?tithe, Counsel for the defendant, contended that the tietendant had a lien on the bonds from the moment they were lodged in the iron chest. Lord EL 1.1.:N ISOROUGH—" Gentlemen of the Jury, it is cer tainly a very severe case, as it respects the defendant. It was In:ach of confidence on the part of the Bankrupts; I do not Irk.: to speak hard of persons, who by the pinch of the times were obliged to commit certainly not a legal act. If the bands had been deposited with the defendant, he might have an equit able eiaim. But by its being done the day before the insolvency, *bewcd that it was certainly a fraudulent preference. lam cer t4nly sorry for the loss of the defendant ; but the law is not to yield to the losi of an individual; therefore you must return a verdict for the plaintiffs." Which the Jury accordingly did. Lord ELL,. NBOROUGH—" I have just received a note from the 1 ord Chancellor to attend the Privy Council, to take into consideration the report of the Recorder relative to condemned. p isoners, therefore must postpone the other causes until to !morrow." FRIDAY, FEB. 22. LIBEL. THE KING 'V. JOHN HUNT AND LEIGH HUNT. This was a Criminal Information filed against John Hunt the Printer and Publisher, and Leigh Hunt the Editor of Tu Exi.lllN for printing and publishing a Libel. The Air OR N Ev-G ttN Eit,i 1. stated the case. It was a libel Calculated to do the must serious injury to the cow - try, by sow ing discontent- in the army. The discipline of the English troops was compared with that of the French; and in this comparison a most decided preference was given to the French. I rlie article in The Lratuincr proftscd to he a disquisition on THE NATIONAL REGISTER. • the mode of punishing English soldiers ; .and it was _ an extract from his (the Attorney-General's) speech Trial of Cobbett. The words of the motto vver , gressors were not treated as Buonaparte would has refractory troops." That was the 'burden of the wl. tion ; and its tendency was to obtain an improper mil the minds of the soldiers.. The articles commenced tieing two or three cases of fl.ggings among our rious parts of England, and on those the author h; to comment, and to contend that flog in; soldiers to break thew spirit, and degrade them in the eyes , low-comrades. The tendency of the libel, however mischievous ; for it went to sow discontent and, insul among our army. Such being its tendency, he was Jury would think with him, that the interest of the the honour of the army, required that such a Jibe: punished. The libel was then read. It stated, from a Stamford that a man of the name of Curtis, a corporal, had been to 1000 lashes, and that 200 lashes of that sentence flicted on him, when the man commuted the remaining his sentence, by consenting to enter the foreign next Court-Martial sentence noticed was, where a sentenced tolooo lashes and who had received 800 of his sentence. On diese sentences the author comment, observing, that they were more cruel than that the French hakhad recourse to, &c. Mr. Brougham thin rose to address the Jury on defendants. In advocating the cause of the defend much to contend against—he had to contend against influence, and high office of tht Attorney-General. Gentleman here commented at considerable length sent state of the press. The licentiousness of the tamed a height that it had never before attained, or in any other country; it certainly never had The licentiousness of the press was now such th; person, however humble, harmless, or lowly, those venal persons who bring individuals before for the purpose of satisfying their insatiable curiosity to feast on scandal. Though he censured this venali) far from saying that there was nothing to be extenuation ; the public themselves were much There were many who only wished to exist for being stared at and talked of ; and this circurnstart stimulated the desire to feast on, and provide ' scandal. So eager were the Public after privat, they were known to pay those well who were derers ; those who provided a great deal. This Public was it, that promoted, if not caused, the lip the press; and that it was th,j,t„ would tend to . friends. 'With respect to the libel itself, he wf counselled the defendants to come forward in the; he not been convinced that they could make a good merits of the case. It was for the Jury to decide whr - in question had been published with the intent information. By their verdict it would be decide , Englishman should continue to enjoy the privileg. all public measures—whether he should be privileged his comments on the policy of and general system ment proceeding. By their verdict it would be tiler a person possessing a strong 1 ve of coup. mently impelled to raise her glory, should be privilqed to point out any little defect that he might find in the conduct of . Governors. By discussion alone could the defects and flaws of system be discovered, and their verdict would determine whe ther the people of England should continue the right of free discussion. It must he known to the Jury, that the perfection of our military had almost engrossed the whole attention of our Government for many years past. For that purpose many plans had been submitted to their consideration. ro a publication respecting the army he would turn their attention. It was written Sir Robert Wilson, and published in 1804 ; and it was entitled, Upon the Means of Improrin r , and Re-organizing the Ferre (f the Country. It was addressed ' to Mr. Pitt. In that publication the author spoke with a warmth of language that became the subject, but with more warmth if possible than had the author of the libel then before them, yet no one had ever thought of prosecuting Sir R. Wilson fur a libel. To prove this assertion, the Learned Counsel quoted many passages. In one part, the author censured the enlistment for life, in strong ..1 language. then expressed his hope that that " charnel. house" (the West Indies) would be closed for ever. Though Sir R.. Wilson made use of such language, did any one ever say that he was endeavouring to promote sedition among our troops i in that part or the world ? Sir R. Wilson then proceeded to describe the evil effects Intern:ant on that system of . flogging 1 which characterized the British service. This he did in strong i language. " The floggin; of men was a sight too frig htful. for 1 humanity to look upon." 46 No mode of punishment,' said he, L in a...other pan, "is so disgraceful WI 1t caused dal • • . ...' • 1.44 ik to. /as headed by speech on the !re—" The ag- ave treated its whole produo. influence over iced with no-. r troops in var. bad proceeded s only tended es of 'their fel- rver, was most nsubordination as sure that the ie country, and )cl ought to be amford Paper, been sentenced :e had been in- 'mining part of service. , The a man bk 4 been 00 lashes, part r proceeded to than any thing in behalf of the endants by had inst the talents, I. The Learned ;th on the pre- ie press had at- , either in this in this country. hat scarcely any -, could. escape the public view Dsity and desire enality, he was be adduced in ch to blame.— r the purpose of ance was it that food for public its: scandal, that successful slan- is temper of the licentiousness of alienate its best would not have eir defence, had good one on the whether the libel nt alleged by the ided whether an !ge of discussing ivileged to make item of Govern- e decided, win.- intry, and vehei ivile,ed to point conduct of her ~..te oars fitlll7C of