The National Register. — London, England, 1809-12-10 00:00:00

tIE NATioNAL REGISTBIL Learned Serjeant had seen of common Juries, he thought them quite competent to the task; but; as it was, he was glad of the tircumstaace; as a special Jury web composed of men in the same rank of life with the Plaintiff himself; men who could jedge of every honoorabte feeling; who knew what was due to the honour of a Gentlemaa; and who, would woke him such re• paration for any - attack swan that honour as they themselves should expo& under similar circumstances. Mr. Serjeant Slime gals addreised the Sul, as Counsel foe the Defendant. Mr. Brandon had been described to them as a liervant to the Proprietors and Menagers Of Covent Garden" The atre, and had in that capacity, in the honest discharge of hit duty, directed the Police Officers to take Mr. Clifford into Cus tody. Ilis Learned Friend had accused the Proprietors of ex tortion and injustice, and tyranny in the extreme, and he had gone so flsr as even to warn the people how they bent before this net of oppression, lest it should be the preface to still more base submistion. For his part, when he saw that Couit, crowd ed as it was, and reflected what an effect such a declaration, coining from a man of his Learued Friend's authority, might have upon an inflamed and misguided multitude, he trembled for the consequence; he trembled to think on the depredatinFjuris diction of lawless assemblies acting as self-constituted Judges.. God forbid the country should be so reduced l If tyranny or ex fortiori was practised upon any British subject, he had wise laws and upright Judges to resort.to,.much more capable of affording him a satisfactory relief thaw the wild tritnult, outrage, and ex cesses of unrestrained revenge. It was said Mr. Clifford was a man of rank—he knew it; of talents—he knew it; of respecta ble profession—he knew it also: and he had only to lament that such rank, such talents, and such legal knowledge, should be prostituted to the instigation of such riotous violence. It iratigiv ing it the sanction of rank by his birth, of wisdom by his abilities, and of law by his profession. What ! could it be said for a mo ment,,that Mr. Clifford did mot encourage the riot, when he con descended to wear the ensign of the rioters ? Ifany mean person had done so; if the. Attorney's Clerk, for instance, bad done soy it would have been of little moment;—but when a man of com parative consequeflce; a alas of education; when the honest Counsellor—he, to whom the vulgar would naturally look up for guidance and instruction ;—when he did so'; le, who could not plead ignorance in extenuation of crime, how widespread ing must be the destructive induence of his example It could not operate so even upon the most ignorant, autAf it was found thus unjustifiably influencing a man of information, the more exemplary should be his disgrace, and the more justifiable of course was his client in Selecting him for an example. The question now for them to try was, not whether the Proprietors of Covent Garden were tyrants or not, but a hether those persons who had embarked their property in the Theatre to a vast amount, should be ruined by caprice. As to the extortion, that were no question at all; if the public had a right to reduce the prices &bin ieven shillings to six, they might aid; as muck justice reduce t Lem to sixpence. Constitute the right once, and it did not ignify what was the minimum : that would be just as the whim of the moment dictated. As to the question of the private boxes, that was not one either to be debated in the theatre; for if it was one hundred men would have as good a right to judge one way as another hundred men would have to judge another way, and then how would the dispute be decided? Why, of course by tumult, and perhaps, ultimately, by death. Then, indeed, might original principles be resorted to : then might trial by battle, divested of its ceremonies, be introduced, and those savage conflicts anterior to the regulations of society be renewed. The Proprietors act under a patent: if that pas tent were rtbused, it could be brought into Court by a seire fusing, and investigated how far that abuse had taken place. Thus if the public were injured by the monopoly, they could have re dress: but certainly not by their own hands. The patent could easily be seen : any person who chose to take the trouble of go. ing to the Enrollment Office, aright even have a copy of it ; and any lawyer, whose curiosity might be excited, could take it home to his chambers, and searcblout as many flaws in it as be might think proper. The Theatre then was a public Theatre, and now the only questions were, whether there was a riot at it, and whether Mr. Clifford encouraged that riot? There was no way to judge of men's meaning but by theiractions; they had no window in their breasts through which their hearts could be Seen. The Jury would thenjudge by Mr. Clifford's actions. The first witness had met Mr. Clifford, and he proposed to him to go to the Theatre; they went to the pit he thought that it wetras ther an odd time for a man of Mr. Clifford's rank to go to the pit, and to go accidentally too! No denbt sr. Clifford pay all g%veu to (rico , to preset ve the fri.edian of the public : and the moment that has traa;pled upon, their patent ought co share the same fate. These private boxes were no privileges for Nobi lity ; and he would be bold to say, that they would be fur the most part reserved, not for Ladies who had a life-interest in their Lords, hut for those, who. possessing their ascendancy over theta but for a season, would make that season as profit able as passible. These were the purposes to which the pri- . gate busies would he applied. If there were a place in the Theatre where no foot b.t that of Royalty trod, the Learned Serjeant would be the first to honour it, and to wish it might be for ever sacred; but it was well known that the Ring's box it, our Theatre *as Open to the public; and any one of the Gen tlemen of the Jury might inhabit it with his family the very 'tight after his Majesty had filled it. Ali idea of exclusive pos session in a while Theatre was inconsistent with the original patent; which in its terms said, or must say, that the Theatre is for the public, high or low, virtuous or otherwise. If the Managers had no right to advance their prices of ad mission, and their appeal to the public she wed they had not, then the Jury would find the Managers in the wrong; and this was the cause of the riot. The Learned Serjeant did,notjustify riot; but Englishmen must be taken with their virtues and their faults: it was to the riots of Englishmen that we owed some of the most valued privileges of our land ; and when Englishmen ceased to riot iu a just cause, they would cease to preserve their liberty from oppression at home, and their rights from usurpa tion abroad. If they used this spirit for one purpose they would fur another. The Learned Serjeant doubted, however, whether the uproar which had prevailed in the Theatre amounted to a riot. if it could be shewn that a single chandelier had been broken, and that the damage of sixpence had been dune to the Theatre, the Learned Serjeant would allow it to be called a riot; but for his part, he never saw a more harmless set of peo- , ple in his life than these same rioters; and where he felt most , strong was, that his client was not one of them. The Learned Serjeant knew it had heeu sworn otherwise ; and he should be happy at some other tune to meet the gentlemen_ whose names be had been upon paper; for he knew they had been guilty of gross perjury. Ile could prove that the Plaintiff .took no part in the riot, and only wore 0. P. in his hat; and the Learned Serjeant submitted that, if there was a riot, this single circum stance could not make a man one of the rioters. The law says that a rioter could he taken up only durante deticto, and even then not without a Alisistrate's . warrant. The Defendant was no constable ; and the Learned Serjeaut believed that Taunton was none: the Defendant, however, was the man that gave the charge, and he, at least, was no constable. If a !eau saw a riot. it was his duty togolu a Magistrate,and,arm with his autho rity, to interfere. But the moment the rioters Eeparated, there was an end Of. the riot; and the Learned Serjeaut would spew the Jury, that at the time the Plaintiff was apprehended, he bad left the Theatre, and was walking home with the gentleman with whom be eutered the Theatre. At that moment it was eertaiu that nobody could seize him as a rioter, without the warrant of a Magistrate ; and if the Plaintiff, instead of heir; n peaceable and good-humoured man, had been violent, and had resisted the assault, the assaulter and the Proprietors of the Theatre would have had to answer for whatever blood might have been spilt. Before the Plaintiff wa, apprehended, the platy was over and the curtain down, and he himself had left the bourse. This bad been sworn otherwise; but the Learned Cowl- NI would prove it to be as be stated it. The Defeneant eter 4.R to Tauntou, who was with him , " That's Clifford, hke him." Tauutau remonstrated, " Why, he's been doing nothing rnii night." " Never mind," replied the Defendant," D—n your (yes, sieges Clifford—take him." He was therefore taken be citilit lee was Mr. Clifford. Dlr. Read, the Magistrate, debited i4l Room with what the Plaintiff was;eharged ? Taunton said he bad no charge against him; and, by-and-bye, after being sent for, the Defeadaut came, and very flippantly said, that the Plain tiff scat a rioter, and bad been encouraging the riot the whole sight long. The Plaintiff, with a great deal of temper and mo deration, coolly asked the Defendant if be would swear to w h a t he had said ; and wire had dope so, be would have been exalted upon a stage somewhat higher than that of Covent-garden The atre. The only question fur the consideraikm of the Jury would be the amount of damages; and was 1001. too much to give to a Gentleman, w Ito had in the midst of this city, ander the eyes o(all his acquaintance and friends, and under the eyes of the Judges before *hum he practised, been conveyed before a Ma gistrate, who bad discharged him at once ? The Defendant had WWI& Special Jury to decide ship Cute. ,Fens irks% the Dtc. 10,