The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser. — London, England, 1803-02-21 00:00:00

THE.4TRZS. Or tlk A-110USE. The new Ballet of Lavrate went off with great triat upon Saturday night. The minuet by the Lanottir:, was executed in a mast elegant style, and displayed ease, grace, and agility. Monsieur G AI. LET, the composer of the piece, has shea•n in it much taste and genius. Madame CouALLI, his pupil, also does him much credit, and contributes not a little to the success of the piece. The house was fashionably attended. fRI•RV-f. %NE. Saturday night a new Historical Play, in three acts, intitled The Hero of the North," the produc CCM of Mr. Dimond, jun. WAS represented for the first time.— charadets are as follow Gustami Vasa Mr. P Tr. CaN•Air Prthe , ,Aki Mr. W rougluon. L'ariou a r . Mr. Raymond. Breluiemar l'giomuold q . Calmar Uthrse.l Mr. Dowtnn. .4ore.of _ _ _ Lein ... Mr. Secirgirriek. Pri/treu n C.10'114.41 Mrs. Yout'g• Dante 4 114-414 0 ,w Frederica linheiv.ki Mrs. Wont Am. Pauline Alice 1116,n " The seise opens after the battle, in which the fortune , of G us t atu srlid, the Hero of the Piece, had proved adverse, and at the. period when he was labouring in the mines. Fee d, tea, his beloved Mistresv, 3ori Catimir 1-146.r,Nkr, her father, are seen entail ig the cottage of .Yveref, a loyal peasant, who ',rote& dteot fto.ii the punt* and veniperice of Carlo-sit:, the urping Governer of 'b provitt^t of Dalecei4, in which the dt-e.e is Ird. F.rdeslea and CeAvoir are conveyed to the mines fur vafztv, whetethey meet, and sects:zit:zit the disguised natorres nisei/dr, hi: sister, and t:Mitress cf :tigiongter, is at this period retcued front a Crnvent by lever, lust Slit' w-s in the ad or ea.king the veil ; but tip, are interee; tel in tl'.eir flight, an' fall inns the hands of the Governor. Geo mut and his natty am view routed i n to *Rico, and, gather :Li( stren4th, the: obtain possessiem of the fortress Tar first eflicer of the Governcr, however, still retains possession of r",:,ima ar yl and threatens their destruction, hat the 6,vezr.fl( C:CTIOW:ti, who hart been previo bl y tkarmed, "pi:ears, and insists upon the nommen - in of the lady Gostaing ore to bs outdane in gmcrosity, vstotes Car/owes his sword, -2.3 d challenges him to deLide the right to the throne by finale cambat ; but the latter, overcome by such gre.atocs: of 'till, declines the c , ...ntest, and acknowltdgzs Gesta,,ea for his lawfu; Prince.' 8!:ch are the incidents of a plot, which displays neither ingennity in its construction, nor excites in its progrciss the slightest interest. Any attention which it commands, is produced by means entirely foreign from those of the legitimate drama. They consist of wu'ic, various scenery, and magnificent decorations. In bustle and activity, no pantomime excels the Hero of the North ; in embellishment it is interior to few of our mast splendid rifreitudes.— Under such circumstances, it cannot be conceived that performers, however great in merit, should have an opportunity of displaying it. to advantage. Mr. RAY MO N n and Mr. Nei; bad a few scenes for declamation. The rest had to do little more than strut their hour upon the stage" in their gaudy trappings. We mean so far as respeCts the dia logue ; for the vocal powers of the corps were, in many scenes, exerted to great advantage. In this department, Mrs. MouNT am stood pre-eminent in caste, in talent, and execution. Mrs. $L AND and MisS TY REP. are also entitled to praise. The piece is by much too long, but it maybe easily compress ed to great advantage. Should it be brought for ward in that improved state, we have no doubt but tsar it will repay, by its success, the great expense with which it has been got up. There has been sel dom witnessed a greater pressure for place 7. This was, we believe, owing to a report that Mr. ST:L. *roam had revised the piece, and improved it by the introduCtion of a speech for Giutavut Vasa, si milar to the celebrated one of Rolla. Wersdia not, however, perceive any rays of his splendid genius in the scene. The Play was heard throughout, and announced for future representation with great ap plause. On Thursda7 morning, about two o'clock, a coach was seen to stop at the back-gate of St. Thomas's Hospital, in .Toiner-street. The watchman observing 2 man in the let of taking out something in a sack that excited suspicion, he sprung his rattle for as sistance ; the night-constable of St. Olave's parish came up, and found two dead bodies in sacks, and another uncovered. Before the constable arrived, all the parties had made off, except the coachman, who was detained. He was taken to bat as he appeared to be ignorant of the contents, and of the parties, he was discharged. The bodies were taken to St. Olave's xvatch-house, where they were recognized. They proved to be the bodies of two men. this were interred on Sunday se'nnight, in St. John's chutch-yard, Southwark. It is no. a fortuight ago that the same constable stopped two men with two bodies (a man and a woman) in a sack, in Tooley-street, but before he could procure assistance they made their escape. Thomas Goddat d, a fisherman, and John Sands, a waterman, who resided in the neighbourhoOd of Billingsgate, lived in the greatest habits of intimacy. Yesterday seinnight Sands died, and on Wednesday he was buried. Goddard followed as one of the chief mourners, and at a late hour on Thursday night he was stopped by a watchman in the Bo rough, in consequence of his having a sack on his back, which proved to contain the corpse Of a man ; and on an investigation before the Magistrates at Union-Hail, on Fitlay, it proved to be the body of his deceased friend, whom be had been attending as chief-mourner - the evening before, and lie wa. going to sell it to a surgeon. Letters received from the Raves, of 18 guns, dated December 12, at Malta, mention, that tran sports were expeEtcd shortly to sail for Alexandria, to take in the Briti.h trovs in that quarter, in the event of Egypt being evacuated. SIMACT UT A PRIVATE FROV A MEM RIR OF THE HELViTIC CONGRESS AT PARIS. --- - Sixty deputies front d; Brent Cantons have come to Paris, to ass's in the plans of the FIRST CoNsuL of France. Forty-five of these demand, that the Government lately established should be made permanent. Fifteen wish that the old Government should be 'restored, nearly in its primitive form. In the first forty-five, are three Deputies from the Helvetic Senate, rwerity-nine from Diets of the Can tons, seven from different rural Cantons ; from .Ar. - tn, a prisilegel . city ; five who are in the Depu tation, hecluse they were before ia official authority. 'The other p.►rty consi to of live Deputies from atis vcr.itie Cantons ; aud seven from privileged cities. 1..4W MITELLIGENCE. COURT OF KING'S BENCII, WESTMINSTER ; Ft. 19. Before Lord ELLEIIBOROCCIII. THE ICING ovule BAPTISTA BERTAZZI. MORAL. DM °WITT. When this was called on, the Ladies in Court were preparin to retire, hat they were informed, nothing would be stated in the least offensive to female delicacy. Mr. Gsaitow—" Gentlemen of the Jury, I am called upon, after having had a pretty lone • e rience of the profession to which I have the .. • ar to belong, to perform, or rather to assist 1 . ship and you, in performing the most ie• • ant duty that can possibly be cast upon those the administration of the criminal jurispru2ence et the country is entrusted. lam called on to ley before you a case, in which I demand from your justice, that you should deliver over to a severe and exemplary punishment, the Defendant who stands before you, and who is charged with publishing, one of the 'mist mischievous, infamous, and diabolical that ever issued from the press; a publication of such a nature, that if not visited by your vengeance, can not fail of being attended with cJnsequences mere destruaive and dreadful to Society than imaginati•in can possibly conceive. This prosecution is an effort made by a society of most respthable persons, who have viewed, with concern and Alarm, the en creasing prevalence of the offence it is their ohjee to repress. They have formed themselvts into n association, to assist in carrying the hw into ere cntion, against persons guilty of the crime charged. against tie: Defendant. Though associated but for a short period, they have aheady had the exp. rience, that it requires many and severe int.:melts, to operate on the minds of those who have them selves been couvkted, and to deter others from the commission of their offence. I hope the import ance of the case will render any apology unneces sary, for the length of time I shall consume. shah not do so from any vain supposition, that - any thine. I can say will be of value ; but Ernst the confileit espeaation, that it will call forth from his Lordship, those observations which will produce essential benefit to the community. The society I represent have hitherto thought they might obtain their objet by prosectione; to the Courts below... They hoped, that the judgments pronounced in those courts would have had the effort of reforming the manners of offenders, and at the same time of re forming the times ; but they have to lament, that no sooner do those men, who are of the class of the defendant, escape from their confinemnt, than they immediately resort to their wholesale ware houses, for their pernicious poison, and, v•ith in , creased adtivity, disseminate it. 'I hey have found, that men; just descended from the pillory, repaired to their magazines of mischief, and travelled through the environs of the metropolis, for the infamous purpose I shall state to you, with a view to the prevention of their having such means in future. I would not say this to prejudice a man against whom I was asking a first convktion ; but I will prove it out of the beiendant's own mouth, that he is an old offender, and that all he was desirous of was, that he should be allowed to go on, unre strained, till he should have amassed an immense • fortune. I am extremely happy, that the respeet able prosecutors of this indiCtment, have thought it necessary to withdraw it from the Courts below. 'lts importance demands the consideration of thishigh tri bunal.—The consequences to the public demand that the offence should be tried here. The necessity of in creasing the punishment will be impressed on the mind of the noble, learned, and illustrious Judge ; for I am of an opinion, not lightly taken up, but forced on my mind by a painful review of cases of this sort, that nothing short of a power in the Court to deliver the country of the presence of offenders such as the Defendant, particularly for a second offence, will eradicate the evil. We live, Gentle men, in times of extraordinary and alarming licen tiousnesi: much of the time of Courts of Justice is occupieu in trying Libels, whose objects are to de stroy private peace, and individual happiness, and to break in upon the comforts of domestic life.— Much of the time of our learned Judges and en lightened Juries is employed in the discussion of Libels, which have for their obje6t the crumbling into ruin that happy Constitution and well consti tuted Government we have derived from the labor and wisdom of our provident ancestors, and of in volving the country in one general state of anarchy and confusion. These Libels are nothing (and I say it deliberately), compared with the one which is the objeCt of the present prosecution. No case of a private libel—no attack on the existing Government of the country—nothing in the shape of a Libel the most flagitious that can he conceived, is so capable of doing its office so eifeCtually, as the crime which I inipute to the Defendant. The charge on this Libel, (with reference to which I hope I may be forgiven if I say a few words) is, that it is a composition of a nature the most heinous and diabolical. I observed the learned Judge just now cast his eye upon it, and I think I am able to conjeaure what passed in his mind. I thin!: that when, upon barely looking over the re cord, he discovered enough to tell you it was an in famous and abominable libel, he threw it aside, as if furful of contaminating his sight by the contem plation of so horrid a subje& I have not had the good fortune to be able to do so ; I have been under the painful necessity of reading it, in order that I might describe it to you. It would doubtless be an improvement of the law, if in future times, persons who looked at our records should not find them dis graced by the recital of such a publication as this is. It wyald be an wholesome provision, if it was sufficient for the purposes of justice, to state merely the substance of what none, except those for whom it is expressly written and printed, can read without detestation and horror. I have observed, on former proceedings against such men as the Defendant, that those who attend to what passes in Courts of Justice fur the purpose of informing the public of them ! a privilege than which nothing can be more beneficial while it is properly exercised, have inno cently, I make no doubt, increased the mischief in tended to be prevented. Upon a former trial, I ob served the title of the book mentioned in the diurnal reports. Now this is precisely what such miscreants as the Defendant wish to have done—it operates as an advertisement for them. There are thousands of our fellow-subjects living in innocence of such pub lications, hecaetse they are ignorant of them. To those who wish to destroy the root and branches of Society, it is an objet of gratification, to have it pointed out wises* such publications may iee pro cured. They are of a.description which would find no readers aentnig men of our age : no matron who has the gnod fortune to he at the head of a family, or a seminary of instruClion--no daughters of ho nourable families, who have received good educa tions, would peruse them. They are written by some demon in human shape, not less bent on the ilestruetion of mankind than the first enemy of our race : and but for such men as the Defendant, they would remain an unprofitable burthen on the shelves of their publishers. You will have it from the au thority of the Defendant himself, confirmed by t . A6ts which cannot lie—namely, by the means of ad dresses to respectable persons of female seminaries, and found upon him at the time of his apprehen sion. 'chat his mode of maintaining his infamous traffic W 44 this. It is happy that those who have the care of the best interests of the British empiee— these who have the guardianship of youth, particu lerly female youth, and who are bound to instruct them in a religious and virtuous course of life, will now have en opportunity of being cautioned against the crime they ought to have prevented, and of be ing informed, that doily and hourly mischievous spirits, like the Del:lidera, find their way into their establishments, to undermine and destroy the morals and happiness of those confided to their care. The course of dealing, then, is this. After the composi tions, such as I have described, are put to press, these men, prepared with port-folios, as itinerant dealers in maps and prints, travel the country, in a ea-ay almost calculated to excite pity. One is led to exclaim at seeing them, " what a miserable life these poor wretches lead, travelling alone from city to ' city !" If, urged by compassion, any Lady should stop her carrie to purchase of him some article in which she might suppose lie dealt, he would offer something tliat should not offend her—perhaps a map of England or Ireland, a landscape, a print of a par tridge, or some such innocent subject. In this disguise they are permitted to find their way into the schools appropriated to female education—they produce a few landscapes : the ladies do not want any : they pass them by, and ask whether they have not other sorts of prints ;' upon which these monsters take the opportunity of introducing such prints as no adult person can look at without abhorrence. They are sure of a sale, and the unfortunate females who cast their eyes on them, are but too ready to give whatever price is asked for them. Now it may be said, what is the mischief of an indecent print or book, and how dies the interest of Society require they should be prosecuted ? Let any one read this beek and then say what ma.chief it is likely to pro duce! It is calculated to destroy all that nature in tended for the preservation of the sex, and the en joyment of social iife ; it is written for the purpose of exciting ideas nature never intended should be ex cited. It suggests the means of obtaining sensual gratification, and paints, in glowing colours, scenes which these young persons arc invited immediately to engage in. Those who have passed much e . f their time in the world, cannot but have had me lancholy experience of the effect these things pro duce. Every care ought therefore to be taken to keep youth ignorant of that whlth nature will at her proper season teach them. By not doing so, ideas are excited, before nature has had time to do her duty ; and what are the conse quences ? Every virtuous and moral sentiment is destroyed, and the parties engage in a gloon:y in tercourse of vice, which grows and increases, and cannot h' left off till attended by that train of miserable corporeal disorders, to be found in the catalogue of quack doctors' medicines, which tend to increase rather than abate the mischief, and, at lest, the only daughter of an ancient and honourable family, is brought to an untimely grave, in conse quence of having had her youth poisoned by such pro ductions. Those who have the misfortune to at tend such early victims, in their latter moments, generally find, that their corporeal sufferings are but too much aggravated by the stings of their con science, and that mental anguish which none but those who have witnessed can describe. The learned Counsel then proceeded to state the manner in which the Defendant had been dote, ted, and made some observations, informing, that the wit ness he should produce was above all suspicion. He added, that the Defendant, who was suffering under a Judgment in a Court below, had been brought into this,. in order that an high example should be laid down, as to the offence and the mea sure of punishment. He concluded by saying, it is a case which appears to me to be of the last imaort ance. I wish I could believe, that it did not ori ginate in various and diffused sources ; but I fear it is only part of a conspiracy against the peace of Society. That licentiousness has been the ruin of States, experience has shewn ; but let us do our endeavours to prevent its making further in roads. if our endeavours should be unsuccessful, at 1 east let us have tile comfort which arises from a consciousness of having done our duty. Let us say, " it is not our fault ; we have done our best to prevent a mischief too great for us to suppress." Robert Gray, the agent or servant employed by the Society for the Suppression of Vice, said, lie knew the Defendant. He saw him on the 6th of August, near Camden-town ; he had some prints in a port-folio. The witness proceeded to describe his conversation with the defendant, the result of which, on the part of the defendant was, that he had been in the habit of selling indecent books and pic tures at the different hoarding-schools round town. , He stated, that he had sold a print that morning to a lady for a guinea, and that he might soon get a fortune, if he had a free trade. The witness pur chased the hook in question, and two prints; after which, under pretence of meeting a Captain Brown, who was to be a wholesale custoiner fur the East India market, he invited the Defendant to Accom pany him to Worship -street, where Vickery and Armstrong, two officers of justice, apprehended him. The witness was cross-examined by Mr. Ally, but nothing came out to his discredit. The witness was cautioned against mentioning the name of the book. Vickery, the officer, confirmed his evidence. The libel was shewn to the Jury. Mr. ALLY censured the condua of the Society in hunting for prosecutions ; he contended that Gray was not worthy of credit, and inferred that the story told by him was improbable. Lord Ett.Emeosouon.•-•"" This is an indilrnent against the Defendant for publishing an obscene libel, the contents of which have been sbewn to rm. If you have read enough of it to satisfy you of its tendency, it is uanessary for me to derail or comment upon it. I have seen enough of it to con vince 'llya& what tae obvious tendency of it is ; have been restrained, by the disgust sud' a subjeet excites, from reading More Than was necesatj, enable me to form a judgment of it ; but I have ' read enough to state to you, that it is an obscene libel, that .deserves the severe punishment of the Colin, in case you shall he of opinion the defeind ant published it. The fal of the pub;icatiors molts on the credit due to Gray, subjed to the observa tions you have heard. You find, however, that he is confirmed by Vickary, who has given his evidence respelling the Defendant's mode of getting ateess to the boarding-schools, exactly as the fad was e..ar hibited to you by Gray. If you believe that the Defendant was embarked in this most abominable traffic, you will find him guilty " His Lordship ex pressed his approbation of the condua and motives of the Society who had instituted the prosecution. The Jury immediately found the Defendant Guilty. A second indiament charged the Defendant with selling an obscene print. Mr. GAAROW addressed the Jury for the prose cution. It is only necessary to state, that, in contra diaion to what fell from Mr. Ally, he expressed a wish that the proceedings of this day, particularly what fell from Lord Ellenborough, should be made public. The manner in which they had been con ducted, precluded the possibility of any but his Lordship and the Jury knowing the name of the book which formed the subjed of the last india ment ; but he. was perfealy persuaded, those who at ten,led to publish what passed in the Court, would not, after what had been said, divulge it,even, if by having heard it, they had been enabled to have done so. The evidence of Gray proved the fad. Mr. ALLY made a few observations on behalf of the Defendant. Lord EL LEN POROUG If .—" lam called upontnstate my opinion of this libel. My opinion is, I dare say, the same as you have yourselves formed. It is, that it is a most indecent and immoral one, and has all the qualities asciibei to it by the indictment. There have been two topics referred to, which omitted to notice. The one is, the probable mis chief that may attend the disclosure of these trials to the public. I must give the credit due to the. learned Gentleman who is counsel for the Defend ant, for having prevented any such mischief, by conrenting to the libel not being read. By su doing, he has lent himself to the moral objects of the pi o secution ; but, even had the evidence gone the length of stating the name and contents of the book, I should hope, from the attenticn those who are in the habit of taking notes of what passes here, pay to any hint thrown out by the Court, that no person would have transmitted the nauseous part of the libel to the public. There is rio reason to be lieve they arc not men alive to a sense of their moral duties, and without the least intimation of any penal consequences. Ido not think any thing will result from these trials, that can, in the remotest degree, affect the interests of the community." The De fendant was found guilty. THE KIM: 'V. ANN AIK:N. Mr. GARROW stated, that this was an indictment for publishing an obscene drawing. He observed. that the husband of the Defendant was suffering t! punishment of the law for a similar offence, rot withstanding which, the Defendant had, since his confinement, continued the business as usual. The La was proved by Mr. Stebbing, one of the Society, and Gray, the witness on the former trials. The Defendant pleaded the family she had to suppart.—he was found guilty. Lord E I. LE S DO ROW: One hardly knows what to do with those people: punishment seems to have no cffeft on them." Addressing Mrs. Aikin he said, You must turn to another course of life-- the law will not endure the corruption of the public morals, in order to support you and your family." In reporting these trials, we trust, we have only been atuated by the desire of becoming secondary instruments in ameliorating the morals of the pub lic. Neither the noble Judge or the learned Coun sel can be more averse to the utterance of immodest or indelicate words in a court of justice, than we are to the pollution of uur Paper by inserting them. COURT OF COAMON PLEAS. Siting: at Nisi Price, before Lord ALVA LEY. • MASON aga'n.rt WIGRAM and other:. This was a Special Jury cause brought by the Plaintiff, who was owner of a barge calls 4 the Hope, which ran from London to Maidstone, and which was, on the 7th of February 1802, run down by the Defendant's vessel, called the Retreat, to recover the value of the barge. Two elder brethren of the Trinity attended his Lordship, in order to ex t la . is such fads relative to the navigation of the river, as he might be unacquainted with. The Plaintiff's case was, that on the evening of Sunday, Feb.?, his barge was going down the river, and, in endea vourhig to avoid a brig which was coming up the river, ran foul of the brig London, of Boston, which was at anchor to the eastward of liolyhaven, about ten milts below Gravesend : the brig's bowsprit passed through the barge's mainsail, and, in swinging round, the rudder was caught by the hawser, by which means they were fast entangled. Whilst they were lying in this situation, the Retreat coming down the river, WAS observed to be bearing right down upon them ; and was hailed, both front the brig and the barge, to go to leeward ; no attention bein,„-, paij, however, the ship's bowsprit struck the brig's foremast, and carried it, together with the bow. sprit, over the side ; then striking the barge aft, sent her a little distance from the ship, where she imme diately sunk ; and two boys who were in her, the Captain having gone on Ward the brig, were left floating on a spar, which they had picked up a little before in the river, for several hours after. The same Attorney who brought this action, had also commenced two others against the Defendants, for persons who had freight on board the barge, to tvcc ver the value thereof; but the Defendant's Counsel appealing to his Lordship whether this heaping up of actions, when one was sufficient to decide the whole, should be allowed, it was agreed, th tt the present aetion should go to the barge only, and that if there should be a verdid for the Plaintiff, e freight should be valued by one of the Jury, a:4 paid by the Defendants. After this settlement, e Defendant's Counsel proceeded in the defence, whi h went to prove, that the sinking of the barge was a . cidental, and not through any negligence or unski'. fol management of the crew of the Retreat. e Jury found a verdict fur the Asititatf, damaEcs 28t: being the proven value of the barg e ; and tt was rid.ared to their Foreman to value the freight. . . • , , 1 1111 . > T .ij, 1 s . II II , .~ - .~