The Statesman. — London, England, 1810-12-20 00:00:00

rip of at a. it h., 'll '' Ld 1 . 1 i t 'VTE 4LWAIiCZ, -isos A r GUILDIIALL, w , , hom p o i" T . - . D iso. is\ 5,. DE44. V. OrtiNt.., Toprf NG stated, that this Was SO &mkt* of br o ught by Mr 'H . ugh Bell, a respectabl e ii: , ; „, iii this City, against Mr. NiChnlas yrne, r .4 „1 rt.pprictor of the paper called.nic The Defendant was charged, in Alle de. with publishing a false and scandalous t t h e injury •of the Plaits tig - (isolinii and • • • . - 1• JJ•lf• ll ' leter. • • Ned Counsel, 'flea SOM.. 01164 Ozer. vale,„', went into the history of dig transaction. .bt the period when the arrest of Sit Francis w r ielt engrossed so mph, of the public attention, s poinlen re, Welly consiatinclo( letters and under the name of Kr. H.uger o:Con hd%l ~!;.eared in Cobbett's Political Register. 4.2peared in l'he Morning Post of the ~f ItW 11 ay, purporting to be an abstract or re •ort of tlx si ,eech of the Attorney-Gener a l for I,lod, at the time wit - mit* motion was made in the i r j,h Hoot! of ConNuna telatise teL Mr. O'Coonor aid 0 0 40 State Prisooess. The speech compre. k o deisevera, l letters, slopwhig the connection be- ige.'.l the Irish State Prisoners and wants perions vh , h il d attracted the attention of the overt!. scat in this country: These letters, were Jul. 1 00 1 in the article, by comments on,. the aurae. sets alluded to ;, and the comment attached to Mi. gell l s name le the Wide, watt & that he had been co ofned on a charge of high treason, in Begland s. , Fibrairy, 1708: • This was totally untrue; and 1 t its effect uputt lhu character of apeaceable and respectable man must be most serious, if it were outdone away by the sacaaarria which were now * toed, at once to clear the Plaintiff's character awl to punish the Dyfontiiiit. lie (Kr. Topping) , Lew very little. of The Morning/1 1 00,ns it seldom fill way ; but kt•stratt apparent that the circa. tgi,on of such a charge, in 16pridni, mast be NAV it'etri.oental to any man e in a country where repute. cum was the great unsafe of a Mall. But the cha /Eta of a due regard and obedience tch the laws and reernment under - which he'tired was most essential, and it was that important branch of character that 4,Apidur 4 the libeller was intended to cutaway. I n t h e present instance, there could be no defence s, pAO there might, be a feeble attempt at justi leafier,. But that woathl sink • ander the ads°. pie, and this. Jury would only hate to, consider, !lot sh•fald, be:the - compensation to the flu MAO WAS. AIM many eircurostanoNi a singular re; but oOt the . least of its shiguratities we, that jt produced the Attorney.Qetteral in the new cha. nct.r of defender of q gross, malicious, slander 0, sisal. That Learned Counsel had been used to whet exertion of his great powers : he had now to al the Oa of one screening the malevolence of t 11),,Iler. At other times, that Learned Counsel vac seen, pressing in a different direction, and mus t:6.lg the.whole of his strength to beat down the ow of the accused. Of these efforts, ono must thy, in the see tinteat of Shakespeare., WO 1 It is ezeellem " To have a gisat'sstre , nch ; bat it is tyrannous " To tusklike &giant. Sousa, in the present instance, even Ms toescsamet fail I defence was a new field to him ; )p ppi rwor perform on a new , instruments and ire would probably be es awkward a performer, spa that as he was upon the flageolet case, yester. dry. The present case was, oit' the part of the. Plaoiff„ of the simplest order. 01. reputabld man iwl ben traduced—the injury' had been offered Omagh a medium that must make it the must ex tensive. A compensation for that injury was sought of the Jury, and there could be no doubt that they mid do what justice rcluired e •• , _ A Fort fro* the Stutp-ofAce attended to prole the paper of the 15th of May. - The part of the article to which the cmtekei - for the Plaintiff particalarly eatery:ell, was *Acne/ from Mr, Arthur ()Tonna to his bream+, Mf.' I. O'Connor, mentioning • that be had Aimed, of low property to Sir pvniett s and poieting out the present Plaintiff as the agent to Whom.he lull left the conduct of the sale, and other particu larhnsiness of the same kind. This was followed by the comment of. the Irish Atterney.Generld, that the persons iho were alluded to in the corres. penitence were of the must suspicious order, such as Sweeny, a state prisoner, Hugh Bell, a man Oohed been arrested in London, in February, 1 798, on a charge of high treason, &c. This re. port was reprinted in The Morning Post of the 15th of May last. The ATTORN&T.GsmutA . i., on the part of Bhp s Ddeadatit, said, that as the Counsel for thp' nation had professed to give a simple statement, it should be met, on his part,. by a simple defence, The circumstances of the publication were few, In., artificial, and . such ;s most perfectly do away the tinge of particular malice against the Plaintiff. When on an oration which was probably fresh in the memory of. the Jory, Mr, Roger O'Connor Ind brought himself into the public eye by certain Cerilpontlences; it hecaine the habit of his filen& titsl; of hire as a man of uniin peached loyalty. Those !"'esitendessees were canvassed in the different pub.. he prints; and among the rest The Morning Post, not having, probably, the same faith in Mr. O'Con. kit'sraerits, gave its readers a. report of a 4peech / P''keni by an eminent Law Officer in the House of Commons of Ireland. The report touched upon swe cirennistauces of his connection with personi highly reputable as loyal or hones t subjects.' Phis report was taken from the DebliaJouinul of lu "'e years back. The Jury had already heard 'how fat the present Plaintiff's name was animadverted on. It was merely in a cursory and accidental manner ; sittiout any peculiar allusion, without any peculiar 'nark of malice, but merely as a part of the e 'rrott paragraph. If the printer had exercised anY thing like thought upon the subject, he ivonht P r u s ably have omitted the Plaintiff's name. ' I hea t whole statement was taken from a paper openly, published, openly circulated, and yet untainted by, the Plaintiff i n hi s zea l f or v i n di cat i on . If theretver had been ev il i n t h e thi n g, it had been done, and 14 d. p 3 SSeil away in the years which had sinco passed. This was to he looked to, and to be the Ire!' consideration with the Jury. The trial of the >al 'clout intention lay with them; for the chargf . - o(malire was only to be substantiated by proof of inteution. It was, in, this sense that he (the Attorney.Q.eneral) was inclined to judge of the language which had been so singularly used by the Learned Counsel on, the opposite side. It was impossible not to consider it as extraor. dinavy, as very extraordinary and strange.— The proper name. for a charge of that nature 1 coming against. a ..person in his (the Attorney. Geueral's) situation, was, stapderous and scanda. Was hut as there was, it was to be presumed, no malicious intention, it should receive an answer. What ! was the charge of professional , severity, of pushing hard against the persons accused of libel, to . be laid upon, him ? The whole course of his professional life was, before the world. Me was known from his boyhood, and there was not an hour of his life that had a stain upon it; he had never pressed the law ; he would make up. other re ply to the singular and most unnecessary expressions which hatlso hastily escaped the Counsel on the op posite side. It was to be presumed.there was no ma. . licious intent in this;, and the Plaintiff in the case ought to feel in the sane way. Wheve could.be nOin kention to inlisre him ; the pilblication or the paper was fora pskrpoile,-with which ho had no possible connection. Thecci was no imputation of treason meant now to be fixed on the Plaintiff. He was exonerated from it, and of course the injury was nothing. It would be admitted. that loyalty was a •valuable part of the character of a Britisfi merchant, or of a British meal but the Jury would consider the desire to injure, and the injury dune. kf they came to the qudstion of damages, they would Make it a short one. The case seemed clear, and the Jury would proportion their judgment accordingly. Mr. Paley, from the Secretary of State's Office, warealled tirgive evidence, of the warrant fur ar. resting the Plaintiff, in March, 1798. ° The warrant was read ;it directed that Mr. Hugh Bell,• of Charter-house square, should be ar. rested on suspicion of high-treason. The warrant was signed by the late Duke of Portland. - Mr. Paley knew nothing of the trial of Arthur O'Cun 7 nor, at Maidstone. . Cox, •King's Messenger had received the warrant on the tfth of March, 1798. He arrested Mr. Bell at eight o'clock in the morning of the 7th Of Mar . ch. lie searched the bureau and desk for papers,,and intercepted the. Prisoner's letters. At eleven, he conveyed his Prisoner to the Secretary of State's Office : Mr. Wickham was there : did nqp think he saw Mr. Canning. About half-past one, Prisoner was discharged from before the pre. sence of the Priv . ). Council. Witness had then nothing more to do with him, and heard no more of him till this'time. _ _ AP. TOPPING ' in reply, could not repress his astonishment at the manner in which the Attorney. General had taken up words which he had used in the opening statement. It wax not becoming a mats, 'to bring his personal feelings before the Court ; but he would be unfitting his station—he would be unAttins the gown he wore, as King's Counsel—if' he could be silent.tinder the language which the At. torney.General had used. No ; he was tint to be. deterred, he was nut to be inttuenced by the ". vulgar instantis tyranni."—" Scandalous and slanderous !" Did the Attorney-Getters! think he was to stand up, and to " Bestride the Bar, • 04 Like It Colossus, whilst others " Were to talk under his huge legs, and pe ep about, " To find themselves dishonourable graves. ' No; life was not to be endured on such a covenant. To use the words of the great poet again, " I had as lief not be, as live to he • " In awe of such a thing as myself." 'the Attorney.Gcueral should be made to feel this. I.l4i:raid bets lesson to him the longest thy he had to live. Lord, Et.LaNSOROI7qII.•—" Mr. Topping, it is perhaps better aut to pursue this line. The words which occurred could not have been meant so strongly as you think. They merely passed as 1 things of that kind generally do ; it is painful when they excite such notice as at present." Mr. ToertNak..". My Lord, the language was not tq be enditred, or passed over. I owe a vindi cation to the Court, I owe it to myself." Lord ELLENBOILOUGU.—_-" I know, Mr. Top. ping, there is. no malignity in your disposition. I cannot doobt that ; hut it is' better that things of this kind should go to as little length as possibly'." Mr. TOPPING.—" My Lord, I have the highest deference ftir . the Court ; and 1 will not enlarge on what has been said. But I know that what passesl here must go forth to the public; and I owe it to my profession, I owe it to myself, to throw•off so de grading an imputation as that thrown upon me by the Attorney-General. The sentences shall be brief and few. " But I must not sink before any man who think, to browbeat me into submission." Mr. TOPPING proceeded :--tle had but few op. `pcirtunities of addressing a Jury, vesd he now could not suffer any thing like a stain to be fixed on him. The Noble Judge upon the Hench had known him from his youth up. lie hail nothing to conceal from any m4O ; there was nothing that could authorize insulting language ip his professional habit; or pro. fessional life. He had not charged the Attorney. General with persecution ; be. had nut charged him with malignity ; and the sudden burst of that Learned Counsel's opinion was perfectly willed for by any thing which had occurred. lie had on. ly said, that the Learned Counsel must find himself iii a new sitstation ; that defence of libel must be less easy to him than its accusation. A few loth. Brous allusions had been made to his rant of ease and practice on the flageolet, and no observation had been made that ought to have disturbed him.— If he had thought the Attorney-Getters; ono who pressed the severity of the' laws against the unfor. tuuate persons who incurred their punishment— i f be had thought him malignant to . that degree—he' could not have associated with that officer; and yet they walked .home side by side yesterday. He 4Mr. Topping) was not fond of speaking of hiM. .eelf; but he must be allowed for once to say of bias .self, that he would fasten an unjust charge on . no man, and bear it from no mall. de then recapitulated the facts of the case, and concluded by saying that the. Defendant, from even i the justificatiou which he had put in, must have been conscious of ttio falsehood of the charge ) and .STA'fIiSMAN. • . that the Jury should -consider the c.tiall . •liff • as that which might be their Um', . Lord ELLENIMOUGH briefly staled . , . fr it had appeared that the warrant- was ' • j . of high treason, the justification woul made out, anti a - verdiet must have gone for top;De, fendent ; but the warrant only was, on staftkiOn. of high treason. It was certainly improper, that a person's name should, have been introduced as the Plaintiff's was ; but the Jury would take it into their serious consideration, in 'apportiptlingilamages, how the evil *as palliated, by its having been done so long since, by the consideration of the rumour having eatendqd as widely as probably, it would ever extend. The Dwblin Journal came over to London, and was probably sometimes in the hands of the present Jury; sathat the additional circula. tion by the Morning Post could not have the effect of much additional injury. h-verdict must be found for tho .The Jury, without leaving the box, found fol. he Plaintiff—banantrev 5001. SIIERIFF'S COURT; 111 - i'diiies;ix.—Dace 19. . • , BOLTON AND °TURN/ N. 17,114 L. The Plaintiffs in this case are p‘oprieteis of the• coaches from the Goldcw.cross, Chariag.cross. The ] Defendant is a coachman lately employed by them in driving one of their stages. It appeared in evidence, that in Aprik last an action . . had been brought against the proprietors, by a parson to re, cover damages for the injury he had sustained hi consequence of their servant (the present 'Defend. ant) having driven their coach against him while on hurseback i whereby he was thrown from the horse and much hurt, and the horse killed ;'end in which action it being proved that the accident arose through the extreme negligence and inuiroper conduct of- the coachman, the person injured reco vereddames against the proprietors, who there. fore brought this action against the coachman, to rcc ,ver back the amount of the damages incurred by them through his improper conduct.—Damages fur the Prop turn, 1381. 9s. NVe itoye this verdict may be a salutary lesson to the drivers of stage -coaches in general. EAST-INDIA-qOU,SE, &cc. 19. This day a Quarterly Court of Proprietors was held, IVALTEtt ASTELL, E'q. in the Chair. The proceedings of the former meeting were read 'over, and the first Resolution adopted was, that a dividend of 54 per cent. shOuld be paid upon their capital. The salary of Captain James Salmon, Military Secretary, was, on the motion of Mr. JACKSON, ordered to be increased from 10001. to 15001. a year. • Silt Ge..Oli,GE 8A114.0W. Mr. P. Moon* said, that he rose with a view to give Os is notices; but as the mode of his proceed ing must be, in a great meastre, regulated by in formAtion which he then hoped to receive, he should, with the permission of the C still, propose two preliminary questions, relating to the subjects of the notices he intended. The first subject ma.. tecially implicated .thie hoeing, the character, the Conduct, and, a bore all, the justice or the Execu lite Trust of the East India Company ; for the &edit end the privileges of which htelaad uniformly been the unremitting and disinteregted advocate in that Court, and elsewhere; tei the Members of-, the Court must themielves testify : he shotild, there fore enter upon the consideration orthat point first Mr. Mooce Gilds it would be in the recollection of the Court, that at the General Quarterly Court of March last s at which he was present, an Honour able Proprietor, who sat on the Bench below him (General Brown), who had done honour to the mike I tary establishment of the Company anq the Stet4V by lung, faithful, and successful services, bad mull,- fested his anxiety for the honour of the military profession and his brother officers, whose sonjoint services had added another world in fact to our Em. pire, then labouring under what he conceived most unmerited suspetision.from the Compaqy's eervice ; and humbly requested from the Chair some infor- 'station as to the state in which the Court's pro . . •ceediags good relative to the case of those Officers. In reply to which, the Firm Gentleman who then filled the Chair, stated, that the Court oi Directors waited for further dispatches from India, which were expected to contain further information rela. five to the euspouded Officers. It was, on the other hand, retilarknit by some Gentlemen of the Direc. tion, !het, the Court were in possession of all the documents that could beiecessary in the case, and that no more information could be requisite on the subject.—Bearing in remembrance the substance of that disetission, Mr. Moore begged to cull the attention of the Court to a paper which he then • held iChis hand, and which purported to be the copy Of a Resolution of the Court. of Directors of the Ath of December, eso9, pledging the Court to proceed, at a future day, to the dismiss t 1 of t' , ose °facers whose cues were before them ; but . who at. that period T ere.e)theard and eticharged, who had no opportunity of offering deface or .egplanation, net then • being arrived in England. • Air. Moore viewed this imputation as a sedans inipeachment of the honour, the dignity, the' moderation, aiiii thejustiecby which the proceed. inks of the Court Of Llitectors'bud uniformly been distinguished and he.eossld not but feel the great.' est anxiety to remove a charge so foul and so dis graceful. In order that there might nut exist any mistake respecting the substance of the paper, and that the Court might be fully apprized of the extent of the subject, Mr. Moore begged to read at large the Resolution to whiCh he halt alluded. 116 then' read frotn'a paper, dated Igth November last, as follows • " At a Court of Directors, held on Tuesday, the selehf December 1809, it was, on Motion, " Resolved Ballot, That flit Court having, conformably to the intention expressed in the Military Letter of the 20th of September last, tariff( Si. George, resumed the emaideratioa of thircave of certain Officers suspended from the service by thaainveraltent, on the gronads stated in their Secret Lettered the 12th of-iday, 1909, ate of opinion • • " That the ofteners with which those Officeri.cire charged are off' the most 41.ingerous and criminal matte, subversive of all legitimate authority, and ought always to receive the 'seve rest punishmeat whicirthe Court of Directors can Jolliet, race lenity' in and It a case to iudividualt. would prove most detrimep- - ' I. ... - I i. —"•—', -, cri.7 -- . -- ': -- -r-4"...,4,600. . , f . , ..r ... .. tad and perideinds to the rilvoliir iiieresis of ills Army, .the la. diawaosernment, mid the alt ion. ''' ' A I" That, ia ttt eircumKanees in which the doverament of. Forl Si, George were Marled, and. nadir the eriairction.theil • had fart evidence before them, the measmres they adopted with respect to those Officers were proper and necessary. " That those evideoces, so far as they are brought I:rfore a ' the Court, d.. appear clearly to establish the,guillof the dif.. fereut parties to whora they aerate, and to Skew them w or thy of dismission: " That it is therefore proper to pi..weed to the act of dis mission; and that, agreeably to the standing rule of the st 4. -. vice, which requires notice of a msmiou 'of Quondam, the Court do on a future day proceed to the said act—narnely,the dismission of Colonelt.utfyer, Major D. Morgan, Capt. Mar sha I, Capt. Groat, and Zieolen:o3Ptliiliiiiel Martin (stow at b orne , wh o was equally implicated, and upon the same evi . denee, he t ‘ be v atfroce for which C a pt a i n Marshall was mi.' praded, w ho would have been tospiolded in like mutter; had : be been in Willa, nod whom the'Yort St. George Cosertiniou recommead it to the Court to dionas with lbe other Officers), h e , until the final' consideration of .their case comes on, su.. pended, as they. tire, from the Company's servic::.." Mr. Motto then proceeded to state, that he filmed it impossible to reconcile the declaration made by the Chairman in March last to the Conziti tuent Body, with the ResOintiou just read, di rectly, profe,sing a final decision open a sialiject, wbieh, almost four months afterwards, 14Ch i •iir. man declared the Court's inability to decide from want of information; and as he inferred that there MUSL, be some gross imposition somewhere, .he re. quested that the Chairman would have the goodness to in arm the Coutt, whether a Resolution, MOCti as that he had then read, had been passed by the Court of Directors on the sth of December, 109?- The CHAIRMAN declined to reply to the goes. Obi; 'and after some further conversation, Mr. Moons said, that he should take an Dppor. tunity of bringing the subject substantially bet. Rs the Geocral Court on a future occasion ; and then rroccede to propose- his -second. question, which i ais—Wh her Sir G. Barlow, th e G overnor o f Madras, hail beep 'recalled fr o m I n di a ; or w h e th er ' t ho had been incited to come to &gland ? The CHAtitst)tais replied-, that he did not know of any recall or any ;Invitation of that nature basing been, scut to Sir G. liarle*; upon which Nr. Menai gave notice, " That ho shook!, at a future General Qouri t move the question of the Re call of Sir G. Barlow." ATRITERS, STUDENTfi i AND' CAPETS. , Mr. AaCsisom moved the readiog of the Risot t o.. tions of a former Court of Directors, ,as to the great progress made by the Students in general its the College at llertfurd, both in the civil aud.mili. tray departments. These Resolutions being read, . Mr. JacKsox expressed his high satisfaction at the information. Ile concluded his observations by moving-- " That this Goal has heard with great satisfactiou, from the account given by the Court of Directors, die state of the College at Hertford, and the considerable progress made by fh,e Studeins iugenerak; mid has peculiar pleasure in. recording the names (jibe follnwitrg young Cikentleineww au signalised thew `lrftca (i.. diesa . mes grate M he lowered). ;: And that - the Court is oot less satisfied with the occona; gkven of toe Semi ' nat.; imemied for educating Cadets for the Artillery and 441, neeril Departmeats. And that Copies of this Resolution be • sent to the Heads of these Semioaries; in order to be read to Elhaltaferata. "—Carried unanimously. next moved— " Thatiliks Court, taking into considera‘ion ;he represents- • lions made by the .Court• of Directors, respecting the conveolence they experience from the circumstance 'at itit Writers, Student., one Cadets being examined by them e pursuant to a Resolution dated Oth July 113 0 9, are of o f al:. nion that they should be examined sty the Committee of tSO Co . urt of. DirectUrs already appointed to supetiotend Hertford and the Military Seminaries: but that there shoat, be nit deriation'froni the usual and approved mode of exatols nations; that the said Committee be considered as an oyes; Committee ; rind that five lar a quorum." This 'Resolution was unanimously carried, an 4 the Court adjourned. • As Colonel LEE and Mrs. Lea were 'taking airing on horseback, yesterday, in the Park, op. ing to speak to a Gentleman of the name of 131. , rxd; Mrs. LEE'S horse became suddenly restive, anal kicked and plunged tit a most Vicious manner. •Mr. liciptie . cdught hold of the Wilted animal's bridle Kitit<one hand, and held . At'l• 143 on tli.c.sadt4e the other, for soma time, endeivolirieg to discutaii. gin key foot from the stirrup. Finding this im~iosri: .hie s with:considerable presence of mind, while - was endeavouring to quiet the horse, ho extricated the unfortunato Lady from her Fossilous situatioi • by cutting the girths with his pocketknife ; on which Mrs. LEE, with some little difficulty; ' ceeded in reaching the ground, with little or nd in.: . • jury than that of a violent fright. Mr. B. receifeel only a contusion on the shoulder, but colonel Lae * in his endeavour to keep hold of the Imam, attar hid L a dy had been edtricated, fell wish ,jealliolcuice on the ground, and received. d' !ever* 4urt oq the k ne e, by the horse kicking him . after 11 Wits hewn. , DUEG,•-••••Early on Tuesday, morninglast, a was fought in' a field not far from the.eight mile stone, on the Rumford road, between two Gentle., • men unknown, one of whom was dressed jo a naval uniform,_ Ind the other in a louse coat and hunting. cap. The parties traveltrd to the place or action from London in chaises they exchanged three idiots, when the'person in the loose ,cont appeared to have beets wounded, as hp %!'39 tcd to :his chaise by his antagonist assisted by his second, and the post-boy acne off the coed:sty way from town. • Yesterday aftermion, fl ai tWo,Gentlemen's coach. men were driving fertMialy along the Strand, near Bp.tleigh.street, a young man -was crossing Oa street, when one of the carriages.kdocked him Awn,. • and passed over him, by which means his head and right - leg were exceedingly cut. Be was conveyed to his friends in a coach. • Yesterday aftertinon a decent middle...aged wourin weirinto the' tillop of e poulferti, - at (he back. of •Exeler 'Chetigi,ltraml, and kele it goose; and 'rad off with it : she was immediately imrsaed, and the goose foundupon'her. It was liken froinher, and she was sent away, with'a cantion never to be sees there again. la ' •