The Sun. — London, England, 1817-12-19 00:00:00

in the whole conduct of his life, there had been any thing which could ,earrant such an imputation. A Lt ,in hr spurned the imrtation of blasphemy or in !Iginn ; and It. should shew that his character was the very opposite. The Secretary of State had risen night after night in the House of Lords, denouncing him and his publications, and holding hint up to the public odium and prejudice. This_ was a conduct hp could not en 3 templ:cre without indigna!ino. He had indeed frequently differed from those with whom he associated ; and his in dependoice of mind had produced hint many ene miv.s.; but he never did any man an injury ; and it there was any injury in the present book, it hap pened from mistake, and not evil intent ion. No mao had a greater respect for the Constituted Authorities of the Country. If he differed front persons in ; - rower, nut - niters of the most respectable people differed also from them. Ile should sit down and acknowledr.e himself guilty, if the Attorney-General could point out any of his f6rmer publications that contained any thing libellous or impious. The greater part of these.had been wri , tco by hirn , elr.; and .when a man was always in the habit of - •uriting, he must s'ime way or other have disclosed his real sentiments, if such "were of an evil and impious n.uture. But although be had often written in a hurry to procure bread for his fatuity for a week, he never uttered a dis loyal or an impiOns thought. The defendant next proceeded to notice the mode in which Juries were struck by the Master of the Crown-Office. Mr. Justice ABBOTT asked him what relation this t. ,, pie had with the tutestion which the Jury pow had to try. He conceived it • was an unne cessary trespass on the time of the Court. The defendant replied, that he conceive,! what he was about to state as very material. He then renewed his complaint which he had made before recpceting the manner in which the Master of the Crown (Mice had struck a Jury to try hint. The Judge again said he could not see how this topic was relevent to the defence on the question before the Court. Due of the Jury expressed his opinion that the defendaut might assign a reason for ►vhat he was about to state ; and then the Judge said he would allow him to do so. Mr. Hone then went on with the narrative of what he had already stated, some time ago in the Court of King's Bench, respecting the mode in which the Jury was struck, and he contended that it was most un j ust and unconstitutional for any oriTeer of the Crown to possess such a power. He assured the Jury that lie had not the least objec tion to any of the gentlemen who then sat to try hint; and that he considered himself as safe in their hands as with any other men : but be felt it ne cessary to state the facts lie witnessed, in order to stiew the efforts that had been made by persons acting under the Crown to procure convictions. He again impressed on them the necessity ofjodging only as to what his intention was. If he had no other consideration but for himself, lie should feel very little affected by the result of this trial, if it should go against hint ; he might probably pass his time patiently with his hooks in one of Mr. Jones's small rooms ; and indeed he had already experienced many Civilities and accommodations front Mr. Jones ; but then, he had 'a large family who loOked to him solely for support. He had passed all his life among books ; from a book readerhe became a hook-seller; he,was not brought ; up to any handicraft employment and the selling of hooks became his sole employment ; but it pro b.iibly was his misfortune, that be was more fond of reading books than a bookseller ought to have been. He had read a great many old books which were publisheii before as well as after the time of Eliaarret - h; many of these abounded with parodies. There were many parodies which did not ridicule the parodied ; and such was the description of parody now charged against hint. He then held in - his hand a work published last August by Mr.- Blackwood, a most respectable bookseller iii Edinburgh. In this work, entitled the Edinburgh INlitgaztie, there was a parody which he would read. 'lt purported to be the translation of an ancient work contained in a library at Paris ; it was a written imitation of a chapter of Ezekiel ; awl its object %vas to ridicule certain rival book sellers and writers at Edinborgh ; and gave 'an allegorical description of the new magazine. He read another parody on a passage iii the Bible, wherein the Edinburgh, Review was described by being comrred to a horn. INIr. Black wood, the publisher of the- work, was a most respectable maw _ _ INlr. Justice ABBOTT said, his respect for, him was' not increased by the publication just quoted. The publication was in itself improper, and this was only defending one publication by another. The ATTORNEY GENERAL said, that, in point of law, no man could be suffered to justify one libel by reading another ; and be contended, that Mr. Hone should not be allowed to read other libels in justification of his own. Mr. HONE replied, that what he bad read was • not a libel, °null it was proved to be such by the verdict of a . Jury; nor was the publication charged against him a libel ; and if be had thought it to be such, ha would not have been there that day ; for he had been .at large on his own reciignizance, and lie might have gone away, or quitted the country. But he would not flinch front the prosecution, and he wished to shekv; in the best manner that he could, that' publication was not a libel. That was the point, aid the only point, on which he rested his defence. The moment he heard that the publication was disapproved of, lie stopped the sale of it. •It was published on'the 14th, and was suppressed by him on the 22d of February; and be trusted the Jury would feel that there was too much good sense in the world, to suppose that theipublic.could be affected by. a publication of this kind. The defendant next•quoted a.little pa rody, written by Doctor Lettsom, recommending temperance ; and it was written in. imitation, of Scripture. He next quoted a parody, written by Martin Luther, to whom the whole Protestant world: was indebted for the reformation of our Religinn froth all corruptions and abuses ; and this man wtnte a parody. Martin Luther was a Spparodist as Well as William Hone. He ridiculed 'lris adversariel'by a parody on one of the Psalms, Blessed 'is the man wlio walketh not in the,&c." Ile next quoted a parody on the Lord's Prayer, which was Mivered from the pulpit— The JUDGE.—" I hope there is nothing offen sive in•it." Tile defendant said, it was uttered by Dr. Boyce, Dean of Canterbury, in the reign of James 1. lie begat► to read it, when— 'The Judge said, the parody was most improper, whoever the author was. The defendant said, he could produce instances of most learned and pions men, who inculcated in struction in that way. Bishop Latimer had pt cached two sermons with a pack of cards each time under his hands ; anti he illustrated his text by the cards, as well as the tiiumph which pious men were liiie to obtain. . The trump, he said, was the triumph ; and he desired his hearers to cast their hearts on that card. He Tart; ed several parodies on Prayers and the Seriptioe, all of which Weie.of a po litical tendency ; one of these was found in the 'works of that excellent man Lord Somers ; it was an)anitation of the genealogy of Christ, in the first chapter of 'St. Matthew, and con tained an .allegorical • account of the family and birth of the Reformation. Lie next quoted a parody on the first Psalm, entitled " Political Merriment," published in 1714, in favour of the Bruns wick.family, which had then come upon the Throne of England, and that 'parody was exactly similar to his. The Reverend Mr. Croxall, while at Oxford, had written a book containing religious parodies ; the title was the " Fair Circassian," and it was well known to most men of academic teaming. After quoting passages from several other books, he came to a collection of papers, which had been published 24 years ago, by the Association then held at the Crown and Anchor, fur protecting Liberty and ['rol:erty against Re publicans and Levellers. Arnow.: these was a pa rody on the Catechism, by John Reeves, Esq. who was ar the head of the Association; it was entitled the " Freeholder's Catechism ;" it was all of a political tendency, anti was all almost exact imi• tation of the Christian Catechism., The history of the Westminster Election also abounded with parodies on Scripture, and on the Book of Com mon Prayer, and none of the authors of any of the parodies he had quoted, had ever been prosecuted. A parody entitled the'Chronicles of . the Kings of England,' &c. was published in the year 1740, and afterwards republished by Dodsley, than whom there never was its England a more re ligions, loyal, or moral man. This Book gave a very humorous sketch of the Sove reigns in England, their history, and genealogy ; and was written entirely in the style of Scrip ture. The same book was afterwards continued down to the time of the French Revolution, and alluded to Thomas Paine, William Pitt, &c. A celebrated work entitled The Rolliad, in an allu sion to the Westminster Scrutiny, contained a passage exactly similar to the publication now be fore the Court. It was a ludicrous description of what passed at the Scrutiny, and written in the Scripture style. If the system of prophanc paro dies had existed so. long with impunity, and if they had been delivered by eminent clergymen front t be pulpit, how, he would ask, was he to know whether Ice had . acted criminally in publishing his parody ? He did not attempt to defend all these parodies ; but lie should prove that the moment he heard his parody had been offensive, he stopped the publica ; he would not even let an intimate old friend have a copy when he called for it. Ilad lie gone on with, and not suppressed that publication, he should have made a large suns of money, which would have enabled hint to fee able Counsel to defend him that day. He quoted a parody in the. same style with. his, published for the use of the troops under Lord Wellington, and that was a Ministerial parody. Mr. JostiCe ABROTT—Sir, I do not wish to hear any more of that. read. 1 know nothing of Ministerial parodies. Mr. Hone replied, that it. was most natural for hint to state that circumstance, because he was convinced that had his beer, a ministerial parody, he should not have been In ought there that day. Another paper which he produced, was a placard now handed about the streets as a Christmas carol at this season of the year, and it purported to be a letter from our SAVIOUR ; this publication had, to his knowledge, been in existence for thirty years. The ATTORNEY-GENERAL took up this paper, declared it to be an impious libel, and not fit to be read. Mr. Justice ADEOTT was of the same opinion. Mr. Hone expressed his surprise that this paper had never before been disapproved of or noticed by any of the civil or ecclesiastical authorities. Before lie concluded he should quote one mole parody, and that was written by a man who was now a Cabinet Minister, one of his persecutors (for this was a persecution carried on against him), and a man who ought now to be in his place in that Court. The man he alluded to was Mr. Canning, who published a parody in the Anti- Jacobin. _ . . Mr. Justice ABBOTT conceived it improper to mention the name of Mr. Canning or any other person : as it did not appear that Mr. C. was the author. Mr. Hone said he was the author, and proceed ed to - 'read the passage from the Anti-Jacobin, in which the Opposition were abused in the Scripture style. • This very passage was quoted by Lord Grey, in the House of Lords, when shortly after his (Mr. Hone's) commitment to the King's Bench prison, that Nobleman expressed his disapproba tion of the conduct of Ministers, in beginning to prosecute for such parodies as those for which he (the defendant) had then been taken up. Although Lord Grey then wished to have a copy of his book, he would not send him one, so cautious was he in suffering one of them to get abroad after he heard that the publication had given of fence. Mr. H. next noticed the circumstance of many profane tunes having been set to sacred hymns, and sung in Chapels. Such tunes, for instance, as " God save the King," " Rule Bri tannia," " Lullaby," and " Drink to me only, &c." - Now, with respect to the publication in question, he did nut attempt to justify it ; in point of taste, he did not himself like it ; but•in pub lishing it, he was as innocent of any evil inten tion as the boy who would throw.. a squib into the street on an evening. It was • very easy to perceive who the parties were to whom he al- luded ; they were the Ministers-of the country, and he never had the slightest intention of attack ing the Religion of the country; yet that was the very offence,chargcd against him by the Attorney- General. Why were not the multitudes of paro dies similar to his, which hid been published so long, prosecnted by the Government ? and why should he be the first .person to be singled out and made a victim ? He knew that the Attor ney-General, in the rectitude and integrity of his mind, secretly disapproved of this prosecution ; and whether he should that night go home to his family, or to prison, he should feel the most per fect consciousness of his own innocence: The law of libel was altogether undefined ; it was a shadow ; no one 'knew what it was ; and a thing charged to be such was not a libel until it was declared to be such by twelve men in a jury box. A parody was written some years ago by a Mr. Jekyl, now a Master in Chancery, upon the song of Black-eyed Susan, in which he alluded in a humOurous manner to' Lord Castlereagh and Sir W. Curtis, while in the Downs. The Judge did not suffer the defendant to read this through, since public characters were not to be unnecessarily ridiculed in a Court of. Justice. The defendant next produced a parody on Mil ton's Address to the Sun, supposed to be spoken by the Devil ,at St. Helena. He also produced a caricature, describing Mr. Fox, Mr. Sheri dan, Sir Francis Burdett, the Duke of Bed ford, &c. in the most odious manner. After a variety of other quotations too numerous to be noticed, he maintained that it had been the constant usage in this country to publish such parodies as that he was now charged with, and that not one of them was ever before prosecuted. He therefore would say, that it was a disgraceful thing in the Ministers of the Crown to select a poor defenceless individual like him, and mark him out for the vengeance of a law., the existence of which he had been wholly ignorant of. Had he written such parodies in favour of the Mini sters, they never would have meddled with him : but he was prosecuted only on pretence of his having made an attack upon Religion ; whereas, the real cause was the attack he had made against public corruption. The defendant was npwarda of four hours ad dressing the Jury. Several times in the course of his speech, the populace, who filled the inside part of the Court, applauded him, and particu larly when he concluded. He then called the following witnesses:— Mr. George Butler said he lived at Castle-street in the Borough. lie said he applied at Mr. None's shop tor a copy of the pamphlet, and Mr. Hone refused to let hint have one. Witness and de fendat►t had been long intimate ; and .thfs affair produced a coolness between chem. Witness could not recollect the day of the month, but it was in the early part of this year. William Macdonald lived with Mr. Hone as shopman. He went into his service in the mid dle of April : he had been repeatedly applied to for one of the pamphlets, but was not allowed to sell any. Benjamin Griinston lived with "Mr. Hone when the parodies were published in Februa!y last., A t km. the 22d day of that month, none of them were. sold, although numerous applications had been made for them by booksellers and . others. This witness went away in April, and was succeeded by Macdonald. Jamei Hitchin said, fie had, in the end of Fe bruary, applied three or four times for one of these pamphlets, and could not obtain any. • He went to purchase a copy merely for curiosity. The ATTORNEY-GENERAL said, he should exer cise the ptivilege he possessed of replying to sonie of the observations made by the defendant.' fie had no pet sooal enmity to Mr. Hone, or any other person in his situation. Here the Learned Gentleman entered into a defence of the practice of striking Juries by the Master of the Crown Office. With regard to Mr. Hone being allowed to be at large on his own recognizance, that was an indulgence ‘vhich did not proceed from any in tention to stop the proceedings against him ; for, from, the thne the information was filed, the pro ceeding went on regularly. Defendant was the author and the first vender of this poi Son ; and he was the proper person to be prosecuted ; he sent it forth and had not the power to stop it. Mr. I-lone had alluded to a great variety of other pub cations, but no man could justify himself by the evil actions of others ; and he, had no hesitation in saying, that these were libels, which it was much to be regretted had ever appeared. Even the publication of that great and excellent man, Martin Luther, was improper; but it was known that the attacks made then by hostile parties against each other, were carried on by great vio lence on both sides. When Dr. Boyce parodied the Lord's Frayer, he did wrong in doing so. As to the publication in question, no man could read it without perceiving that it was calculated to produce the worst effect on the public, and to shake that reverence which all persons 'ought to feel for the Christian Religion ; and he was asto nished to think, that a man with a family of young children, would send forth such a work as this. Mr. Hone bad said, that nothing was a libel until declared to be such by a Jury. According to that doctrine, no person could ever have been con victed of a libel ; and he felt confident that the Jury were bouni; to find the defendant guilty. Mr. Justice ABBOTT, in his charge to the Jury, declared it to be decidedly his opinion, that the publication in question was an impious attack on the Christian Religion ; it was an attack on the law of GOD and of the Country. And with re gard to the intention of the defendant, a man's intentions must always be judged of by his acts. A great number of similar parodies had been quot ed ; many of them were gross libels ; and if none of them had. been prosecuted, it did not follow that such another libel should not at any future time be prosecuted. , The defendant had certainly stopped the publication soon after it appeared, but that was no defence, and could only be adduced in mitigation of punishment atiome future period. The Jury retired for about half an hour, and returned with a verdict ut—Not Guilty. • The moment the verdict was pronounced, the most tumultuous shouts were uttered by the mob who filled the further end of the Court and the passages adjacent; and it was in vain that tba eiv4otEcets attempted to stop the dapping a° stamping, which continued for a considerable titneg Hune is to be tried'on two other indictment,. COURT MARTIAL. On Monday, the Ist instant, a General (%oil ri Martial was held in the Royal Marine Barrack% Chatham, for the trial of Lieut.-Colonel R icharo Lee, on the following charges,- viz.— t ist, For conduct un4coming the character of an Office, and a Gentleman, having on or about the 31st of ocl"b e i and 3d of November last, in the Office of the CommandOr of the . Chatham Division of Royal Marines, asserted Major-General Winter had granted him leave of absenc e over Sunday, the 26th of Octobei last. t ° 2d. For using provoking and disrespectful langu4 • Major-General Winter, his Commanding °dicer, on or abut 7. the 31 st of October, and 3d of November last, in the office the said Major-General Winter. ad. For having been absent from his duty without tal e .from the 26th to the 31st of October last. The Court found the Lieutenant-Colonel plait of the charges, with the exception of that part , A the Ist charge which imputes to him unoffice and ungentleman-like conduct ; but in considers' tion of• their firm conviction that he acted und er the erroneous impression and full persuasion or having obtained his• Commanding Officer's lead of absence beyond the return dr,y, together will! the very excellent testimonials and character laid before them, the Court only sentenced 'him to 10 publicly admonished by the hesidew. The admonition was delivered in the nu , st hand' some manner by Colonel Foley, the hcs!deato who, on returning Colonel Lee his sword, expl'W sed that he had no doubt but that he would agaill wear it with that credit and honour to his cowl' try and himself he had ever done. . LIMERICK, DEC. 10.—From Sunday night on' til Monday evening it blew a most tretnendou , storm from N. N. W. accompanied with railw' All the low grounds were flooded, and the (lA' mage sustained was confined to the shipping i° our harbour, viz.—a vessel at Mark's Quay fa° foul of the brig Nancy, of Greenock, which car' lied away her sprit-sail yard, chain plates, star' board, and store her two small boats; some of the, carved work of the head of ti,e brig Hero , of Chepstow, was carried away, and the stern of the sloop Raven, of Liverpool, was much injured. The sloop Neptune, of Yarmouth, lying at Nil" rush', in the storm, cut both her cables, ran the liver, and is now at the Quay. EXTRAORDINARY CHARACTER.-Died lately, 111 Ayr, Mr. James Gregg, at a very advanced age' who, for many years, was well known in Ayr' shire, Galloway, and Dumtries-shire, as an erni" neat teacher of dancing. He was a man of, happy temper, and of considerable originality 01 genius. He was remarkably skilled in niusic., and performed with great taste and execution 01 the violin; and besides " Gregg's pipes" an d " Strathspeys," which'bear his name,. be cony posed many other excellent pieces, which his mo" det , .ty prevented him front acknowledging, thong!' he contributed to many musical publications. 1 1 1 had a taste for painting, mechanics, and natural history, made and improved telescopes, had do in' considerable knowledge of mathematics, and we's, frequently employed as a measurer of land , u ntil his advanced years rendered him incapable bearing the fatigue. He taught dancing until, •14 old age, he could scarcely see his own pupils, 0f hear the tones of his own violin.—He was art sf' fectionate husband and father, sober in his liabi!6, mild and gentle in his manners, and much esteetn' eel by all who knew hint. • The last letters from the Earl and Countess 01 CRAvEN mention, that after a pleasant vovatte from Malta to Catania, they had a stormy and ficult passage from that port to Palermo. Tileact they had a' delightful voyage of .4 days to Naples.. It was their intention to be at Rome during De' ceutber, and to proceed from that city by laud 'to Florence. Their yacht, in t'he mean time, would proceed to Marseilles, and the Earl ;till! Conntess 'would travel to that port, in the spring, visiting first Genoa, Milan, Turin, and Nice. Atte% sailing from Marseilles, their first landing is intend' ed to be at Gibraltar, their next at Cadiz, and their third at Lisbon. They may, perhaps, touril at some of the French ports, in coming home, witich they hope to reach in July. • Mr. HUNTER, of Edinburgh; has invented ail instrument which is of great importance to the navigator. From two altitudes of the sun, and the interval of time bet ween the observations, he can determine, within five minutes after the second observation, the latitude of the place, the 'boor from noon, and the variation of the compass.-- According to the common form of calculation for double altitudes, the latitude by account is suppos ed to' be known, which in the use of this instru ment is not necessary. It has been tried in se veral examples, and always found the results very' near the. truth. If a vessel is driven frotn her course by storms or by currents, if the reckoning is altogether lost, and the' mariner could not get a meridian observation, - with this instrument and a chronometer, he could, in a few minutes atter the second observation, ascertain his pOsition ota the ocean with accuracy. An invention of so much utility in navigation is worthy of encourage ment from those concerned in the commerce of the country. A few days ago a shocking accident happened at the Marquis of BATH'S. As Lord EDWARD THYNNE, one ot bis Lordship's sons, about 12 years old, was standing near the fire with a flask in his right hand almost full of gunpowder, a spark flew into it, shattered the flask to pieces, blew the thumb almost off, and tote the hand in a terrible manner. Mr. HEAVISIDE was sent for immediately; who entertains some hopes of being able to save the hand, his Lordship having gone on hitherto as favourably as could be expected un der such circumstances. DIED. Yesterday morning., Nancy, the eldest daughter of Mr. Millar, of Drury-Lane Theatre, aged 8 years. LONDON: Printed by J. B. CARSTAIRS, of No. 29, Great Ormond-street, Queen-square: and published by W. A. SCRIPPS, of No. 7, South Molton-street, at THE SUN ()dice, No. 112.. Strand ; where Advertisements, Orders, Letters, &c. I .sust-paid) Must be addressed. r 4 , isme..l feitl. 'TETI I, P! , Pri 40is '.xth