The National Register. — London, England, 1814-02-13 00:00:00

fl) COL I? I' OF KIN G's BENCH, MoNna v. FEB. 7. TRE KING r. MAEY ANNE CLAnt&E. The Alton ey-Getteral this day moved for the jull , rmetit of their Lordships lo t ion Mrs. Mary Anne Clarke.-1 . he i:ourt atel its aVCIMCS Were much crowded, and it Was with tireat difficulty that Mrs. Clarke could be brought Italia: di the multitude to the floor upon which she was to receive sentence. She was dreSY , Ca in a lar,e • white lace veil, a chip h it, scarlet velvet spencer. and white gown. Site did not can ti-ey to the Bench; but on being led hi by a friend and the tipstaf, she took her stand under the Jury•box, folding her arms. Judgment hat in:; been allowed to eo by default, the indirtment was read, (-longing the Ortendant ttiili being the author of a like, reandidons, maneimis Bunt I, ion:tiding to - delittne and v 34 Right lion. Williem Fitzgerald, ( kneel:or of the Exeliegfier for 11 eland, kr. It was contained in a pamphlet, purporting to be a ktter to that ...;entlemini. It stated in substance " Toot the character elf Mr. Fitzgeral 1 needed no additional re-- 11 ' 1714 c disg l.ol - 4 ': it was already of so deep a dye as pot to regnit r ilil foreign shades to atld to its Wad:miss . . NV:iat, it Unwired, innst the world in gvberal thin,. of him who seduces the wife of his isiti )tutte friend, causes the husband to he sent to a distant and un healthy climate, that he might the sooner a victim to the hand of death, then indulges his .Ih-cations passions, and when their tf- frets began to be apparent, by deleterious stud poisonons thaw, at tempts to destroy the Mut cent for the guilty ; that hiN avarice might he spared the charge of educating his o ffspring at-ions ! Can such a cold ;dot:ode:I m itster exist Such a monster east exist--but who will believe (it inquires) that it will he found in Vie person of a senater, of 11. e Chancellor of t h e Irish Excliegner, lof at Lord of the Ticasury," &e.—it went on to observe, that Ms. Fitzgerald !nest he ignore Mar she was not speaking without a thistungh ham ledge of the L e i, pot of ilk ehariacter : throtiOcut she t gild ti stile to ILe until of these a-sections, and 0:e aidhority she %email adduce to pro% e them wo u ld h e his awe. %%lien the se - happy victim was hotgoishing ender the deleterious eCcets of the drags he had admiuiste red, nod was hasteeing in the flower a her oniii to a PI omit floc grave (it asserted) that Mrs. Choke was em ployed by Mr. Fitzgerald to use her influ;:tice to procure an asylum for the unhappy female." In another part of the same letter, she Unwired- 1 " "%VII() was the grandfather of Mr. Fitz:..erald, but a pet tyfogging attorney at Ennis, who got his living by sning out ditty writs ; his nude wes hanged for horse-stealing, and his aimt mid sister were common street -walkers. It now remailied to be seen (added the letter) whether the people of Great Britain and Ireland will allow such a mili tate to exist, whose vows and enticements were as common as the air he breathed, who hail committed a crime for %Odell oor gauge had no name, who was a deliberate destioyer of the naborn." The readirg- of ;he indictment (dating which Mrs. Clatke often smiled) hav nig been eonelndell, she pat in ;in affidavit, which Al loth, that—" She felt great concern that she had been betrayed i•ito a violation of the law ; that she had been intimatt lv af“raioted with the prosecutor and his father few many years ; that his father introduced the pro-emit or to he r before le went to coEege, consi dering aat she (livid do him much service in his progress in life ; that the deponeot eid render him malty important services, and that ti.cy were upon a looting of great intimacy; that she had been long in habits of correspondence with the prosecutor and Isis tailor, and that by these means she became possessed of many of bin letters, and which It tters, in a late legally, were salunitted to the notice et . the I louse of Commons ; that the contents of some tat thow let ters during that inquiry, transpired, and it Was suggested to Mr. Voneral,l, that if those letters; were disclosed it would lie highly detrimental to him and to his firmly, and that he would be no longer aisle to reprem sit in Pariiiinicot the bornugh of Ennis, which bad cost hint considerable sums of money ; that by these suggestions the prosecutor was much alarmed ; and, in cc - Inciience, the proeentor came to the deponent in grfat distress and agony of mind, and obtained possession of,tbe greater part of his letters, on a promise of reward and fayOur,;aud the letters were destroyed in her presence; that thedepottent -having great confidence in the prosecutor's lather, eutrusted him with various letters and papers of importance, as well as a letter front - a person of high anthority, resin Ctieg a provision for . his only soft ;, after he had obtained this emiespen 'enee, time father of the n prosecutor withdrew, and front that time to the pit sent, lie had abstained_ trom the thenelly inter eimise that hail before existed between them ; the proseilitor nei ther w vote or called, and was no longer that, friendly visitor he had previous!) shewu himself; that the lathcr uf the prosecutor assured 1111• J. LA IV. INTELLIGENCE. TII E NATIONAL RECTSTEIi._ FEB. 13. the deponent that he had destroyed the letters with which she had entrusted him, by burning them. If those letters had still been existenve, they would establish the as-ertions she had made alio:re tf tranAactions during the last fourteen years. Vexed and di. ap. philltPd in Iltr expectation, and deeply hurt at the ingratitmle of the prosecutor, for the fitvours she had b‘ stowed upon his:, she wri)e and- published ine libel in gnest!oil, which loot been but lit ;: t . eire; Lied. 1t torther set forth, that the deponent had two d a s ig :,.. tut', one 1,1 them approaehing to the of wennanivAid, whom had hith: rto brought op, and e;'neateil in honour and .it the ; that the con-eqat sees might be very injorions to them, if they v% ere now &prised of her care and protection ; that in puldishing the libel be-611e tin. Court, sbe was ;equated only by a tipling of re-ent meat at the contittet of the prot.ectitur in his private capacity, nod did not at all mean to impeach his conduct ins his laiblie situa tion k sLe theta tore left her ease to tiie mercy of the Com I." Air.,lltorney Geou rah 11 I .Parke, and Mr. Seal lett, then addres.-ed the Court in support of the prosi cation. The Attorney-General elial.e.tetised the libel aq the most 11 i'rant thlt (nail ever appeared in a Court of J u‘tice, us It accwed llw pi 0- seentor e f nothing less than felony. `none WWI 110 doubt til;:1 was as directly meant for all C. 1 1 .4 111 e for the purpose of extol lir money, as if she haul commanded a •um to be pot under a stone, limier ducat of the bhp ITVC.II4C. Revenr,e, indee wal St:tle:l to he the motive Of the pamphlet; mid the public is always the bar to which these drag their victims. The A :tot -Ciert rag hoped the sentence of the Court wid.i, at least, tear); het to bold her hand, and to refrain from the publication of flame libels. Brot:Aan., tot the dehrulaut, ob-ereril that the present was distin!mished from the ewe of a politiral libel, although it at tacked a man in a political spin re. It appeared, it %%a, sworn*, and not coetradicted, and the:efore mu-t be taken for hull!, that there %rag a de ieute connection between the proseeotor's fattier and the defendant, that it dr-cen icel to his son, and berame a tort or ft milyvonnection. It was also st;:tril, that for a time them was a great intimacy, ;old Not a reciori,,:it); eat bees tits, list the ser% ices were all rendered by one prrtv. Twit the present prosectit ar ' introduced to the defendant as to one w;;0, in hies' then situation, could advance his views in lite. Ali this w swan), and must he (shun for troth, lor it was iincoltya:liele.l the prosecutor. Nei ther had he denied that he had szippreed impat taut letter com mitted to his care. And it was in anger for these injuries that the defcmlant had been irdured •to ;be libel which she now deplored. fie could not nri. , :e any argument arising from her sex, because %shell she forgot the timidity of the female sex, she forfeited nil title to its protection. But there was another topic in bet afll-. davit to vvltich she might cppeal. She was a mother, and she avowed her feelings as a moater, and (lodated she educated her daughter:: in that path of virtue, which, perhor, she now , repented herself had ever forsaken. Having urged these topics with muck !'orcc, the Learned Counsel tleprvated any severe judgment on her head. The printer, of the name of Mitchel!, was alto brought up for ptinting the `ante lib( I. ?Jr. dostiee LE 1;1„t ?IC then pronounced the judgment of the Court. Having conmented on the liwe nature of the libel, and the foul crimes with which it eliarg,ed Mr. Fitzgerald, he lam. Neil that the judgment of the Court should fall in its elket on her chil dren ; bat the aim of justice , must not be restrained, b c r;,ns.e it world efroct tl,c posterity of the offender. It often happened that 11 . e sins of the parents Were visited on the children ; and that the Court, considering, all the circumstances of the ease, awarded that she should lie impri?7oned in the King's Bench 6)1• nine months, and to find security for her ,good behaviour for three years. Mitchell, the printer, was sentenced to four months imprion- molt. Mrs. Clarke eontineted herself with her usual Il'ippaney, curtsey ing ironically to the Attorney-General at the colielosion of his speeeli. Ou entering the (7oilut she threw her veil back. and sop puled t h e. ardent g:e4e of the young liarfisters At WI the greatest composure. She rem ived the jirignictit of the Court with vet teet on it, and. retiring„ bowed to their Lordships most graettully and euadescentalley. Court, and all the alewes to it, as well R. Wv'tn insier was crowdt d at an earl) . hoor of the iveriiibg with persons anxious to obtain a view of this celebrated ternalr. Thursday, Wm: Earle, %Ilia had sutiered judgml nt to proceed fig.:l4 . st him by default, under an. iodictincht fur printing and publishing a libel in The Scourge, upon .1. C. Puirclitiardt, jeweller, was brought up to feceive the judviuctit of ti:e Court of the Bench. '1 he libel ch4rged Mr. llockluirdt with being the progeny at a Dwelt fisherman and an oyster wench. of being educated in vice and beggary, of being scut vat ef in• own gaunt• y for frequenting s;:tlitioaa