The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1822-12-17 00:00:00

NUMB ER 6242 .

1

a

NEW THEATRE ROYAL, DRURY-LANE.

THE INDEPENDENCF OF THE BAR.

/VMS EVENING, TUESDAY, December 17,
Isis Majtsty's Bermists will perform the Comedy of
THE WAY TO GET MARRIED.
Tsar • I • Mr. Ellillott ; Toby Allspice, Mr. Dowton ; Cap-
tain'? a e Ord lime), Mr. Cooper ; Caustic, Mr. Terry;
Dirk Da...tail, Mr. Pi sic, ; M'Query, Mr. attic. Julia
Faults.. time), Mrs..ll. llerlwa ; Clementina Allspice,
Mrs. Glover ; Leidy Sorrell, 141 rs.
After lk ( !nil time), a new Divertisement. called •
Tlllat HALT OF THE CARAVAN.
Pnarigfilibutclirs, Mr. Noble, Mr. Oscar Byryie, Mrs. No.
Lie, Mrs. Oscar 113 rue, and Miss Tree.
To conclude u il6 Oth time), a new Farce; called
01. D AND YOU NO.•
Mr. Wilton; Mr. 'ferry ; Charles Mowbray. Mr. Meng ;
Peter,
_Mr. Knight. Peggy, Mrs. Omer; Matilda Mewling,
Cbitil Catcninio g the Characters of Master Hector Mosrhray,
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Boxes, Is. • Secoad Price, 34. cd.—Pit. as. ad. ; Second
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Gallery, ta. ;' Second Price, ad.
Places for the Boxes to be taken of Mr. Spring, at the
tx-Office„ht the Ritusda, from:Fen till Wart where. Family

There is nothing which those who revere the prin-
ciples of legal jaitice would be more ,anxious to pre-
serve than a willing and respectful regard towards
those appointed to preside in the seats from which
those principles are administered ; we would wish,
however, to find at all times a spirit coupled with this
feeling. which shall fearlessly preserve the indepen-
dence of the Advocate and the integrity of the Bar.
1 t is on this ground that.we admired the firm and
manly resistance of Mr. Wetherell theother day, in
the case of Nun and others, to what he felt to be an
unwarranted interruption; eorn the Vice-Chancellor,
while pursuing his argument In the cause in which he
was engaged.
The Vice-Chancellor, conceiving that the argament of the
Learned Counsel was irrelevant, twice tattrruntett him, and,
after baring read Ike passage, Mid—" I do rot know how any
tomptaso.amaAis ammo oison /tare ts oothiwt tr, Mlle a
doubt upon. .(r you are not nominee(' by reading the
passage, I can expect no more. That is my view of the
cue.,,

Mr. Dealky—" Before Mr. Justice lisyley."
Lord Elleoborough —" Upon what was the Defendant
sworn ?"

Mr. Wetherell (with much energy)—" I have a right to be
beard, and I will be heard."

The Vice-Chancellor—"l am always desirous to hear you ;
but it is for the Judge to see that you do not apply your
arguments to points about which there is no doubt or diffi-
culty."

Mr. Wetherell—" In support of my public character, and
for the sake of the privileges of the Bar, I contend for my
right to be beard, and to state my view of the case ; and I will
not submit to be put down by your Honour. lam may spool,-
My the sentiments of the Bur when I say, that year Honour
decides eases without sufficiently hea,ing them. It is the unani-
mous complaint of the Bar, ►hat your Honour will not permit ,
Counsel to exercise that right, without which it is impossible
that they can do their duty to their clients; and petitions are
presented complaining that causes have not been properly
heard by your Honour."
The Vice-Chancellor—" Mr. Wetherell, you do not address
yourself to this subject with your usual good sense and gen.
llemanly manner. In order that Counsel may do justice to
their clients, it is necessary that they should know what the
real difficulty in the case is, and apply their Arguments to
that point."

Mr. Wetberell—" I trust I have done nothing ungentleman
like ; but I must repeat, that I will net submit to receive my
views of the case from your Honour. I bare a right, and I
will nut be prevented from exercising it, to pursue any line
of argument which I think necessary to the interests of say
client."

The Vice-Chancellor—" I have endeavoured to direct your
attention to what I conceive to be the real difficulty of the
cue. Having done so, I shall upon this occasion, as I do
upon every other, permit Counsel to adopt their own coons
of argument."

Mr. Wetherell proceeded in his argument to the
conclusion, uninterrupted by any remark trot• the
Court.

A Juntas, for the sake of his own character, as well
as the reverence due to his station, should never sub-
ject himself to a justifiable and deserved rabska boas
the Bsa. We base seen but too many instances is
which Judges, from personal or from party feeling,
have attempted to exercise an authority which they
could not support, and have been obliged to bow in
silent mortification to the spirited resistance they have.
' provoked. It is not for the Court to dictate the course
of reasoning which a Counsel shall adopt, whatever its
opinion may be as to its bearing on the case. How
far that reasoning may or may not influence its deci-
sion, will be seen on pronouncing judgment. In the
mean time it is the Counsel's duty to draw forth the
most prominent facts of his client's case, and to shape
the inferences to be deduced from them in the man-
ner which may appear to him best calculated to pro-
duce a correspondent impression. Any attempt from
the Bench to turn him to the right or to the left is
unauthorised, and an intrepid Advocate need only
resent it with firmness to resist it with effect.

In the memorable case of Captain l3aillie, a Lieu-
tenant-Governor of Greenwich Hospital, who was
prosecuted for a libel in a publication addressed to.
the General Governors of the Hospital, detailing the
then gross abuses which were practised in the ma-
nagement of that Institution, and the system of fraud
and peculation carried on by the persons presiding
in it—

Mr. Erskine, who was counsel for the Defendant, felt it bis
duty to animadvert in terms of severity on an individual of
high rank at the bead of that establishment. "The Defend-
ant," said this able and eloquent Advocate, "the Defeodaot,
not a disappointed, malicious informer, prying into official
abuses, because without office himself; but himself a man in
office; not troublesomely inquisitive into other men's depart-
Einnta,but conscientiously correcting his own, doing it per-
Want to the rules of law, and, what heightens the character,
&Wig it at the risk of his aloe, from which the effrontery of
power has already suspended him without proof of his grill;
a conduct not only unjust and illiberal, but highly disrespect-
ful to this Court, where Judges sit in the double capacity of
Ministers of the Law, and Governors of this sacred and
abused Institution. Indeed, Lord has, in nay mind,
acted such a part * * ****** ** * **• • * •
• • •—[Here Lord Mansfield, perceiving the Counsel
heated with his subject, and growing personal on the First
Lord of the Admiralty, stopped him, and observed, that Lord
was net before the Court.)—l know it," said Mr.
Erskine, indignant at the interruption, " I know that be is
nut formally before the Court ; for that very reason I will
bring hien before the Court ; be has placed these men in the
front of the battle, i■ hopes to escape under their shelter ;
but I will not joie in battle with them; their vices, though
screwed up to the highest pitch of human deprmity, are not
of dignity enough to vindicate the combat with me. I will
drag hiss to light, who is the dart mover behind this scene of
iniquity. I assert, that the Earl of -- has but one road
to escape out of this business without pollution and dis-
grace; and that is by publicly disavowing the acts of
the Prosecutors, and restoring Captain Baillie to his
command. If he does this, then his offence will be no
more than the ►oo common one, of having suffered his
own personal interest to prevail over hispanic duty, in plac-
ing his voters in the hospital. But if, on the contrary, lie
continues to protect the prosecutors, in spite of the evidence
of their guilt, which has excited the abhorrence of the nume•
Ms audience that crowd this Court ; if ■R RUM TRU !N-
-AMUR man *I; *** EDRD, OR DARES To TOMS ?MAT SVITENOIOR
PITO A REMOVAL, I saau. TRAM MOT OCREPUI TO DTCLARO lasY

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MI ACCOMPLICE IN THAT OCILT, ♦ SHAMELESS OPPRESSOSI, A
DISGRACE TO HIS RANI, AND A TRAITOR TO HIS TRUST*.
Erskine was not an Advocate to be (righted fronsi•
his purpose by the frown of authority. In the pre-34;
sent instance Lord !►lansfield, whose talents as a "
Judge were of the first order, shrunk from the effort
of a second interruption.
Mr. Brougham stands distinguished lean Advocate
whose independent spirit reflects honour alike on him-
self and the profession to which he belongs. We re-
member an exemplary instance of this in the case of
the King v. George Houston. tried in the Court of
King's Bench before Lord Elenborough in 1814:
This was a prosecution for a libel on the Ch►istian •
religion. An affiadvit made by the Defendant was put
into the hands of Mr. Dealtry, the proper officer.
Lord Elleoborough—" Before %time) is the affidavit
sworn ?"

Mr. Brougham, for the Defendant, said, that if a person
professed any other religion than the Christian, he might
still be sworn according to the forms of that religion. If the
oath was informal, he requested time to amend it.
Lord Ellenborough—" It is not informal, Sir ; it Is bad in
substance. I remember the case of a woman Mho said all
religions were alike to her, and Lord Mansfield repelled her
from takiug an oath. Are you prepared to suggest, Sir, whet
belief the Defendant has by which he may be swore ?"
Mr. Brougham—" My Lord, I have no knowledge what-
ever of the Defendant's principles but what I collect from
my brief ; and I desire that your Lordship will not mis too op
with those whose cause it is my duty as so Advocate to plead,
since whatever the Court may say in the spirit of that insi-
nuation, I will always repel. I repeal, that Itoow nothing
of the Defendant's faith or omit of faith, but if his aMdavit
can be amended, I ask of the Court delay till it can be
amende.l."'

Lord Elleaborough—" There was no insionation. Your
request insports, that at a farther time tic may be tibia legally
to take an oath ? The Court wishes to know bow.*
Mr. Brougham—" I stated what was required by a rererd
for my character on a eery delicate matter, sad only what wee
due to it after the remark that has been made. 1 repeat it,
in the face of this Court, that as often as I hare sedi Jubila-
tions, I shall use the ant moment and the stroatost esproa-
sions,distincUy and peremptorily to repel them. I am -hero
as the retained Advocate of the Defondant."
Lord Elleoborougb said, the Learned Counsel was per--
fectly correct. He may recant to allude to him as Hie Advo-
cate; and it was quite proper, and his duty, to obtain delay,,
in order to confer with his client on the subject.
This subdued tone, on the part of the Bench, is the
usual result of this sort of contest. It is too often
the infirmity of Judges to have their temper a little
too strongly tinctured with the overbearing. We
have witnessed their attempts to intimidate the Coun-
sel from his line of argument, when he has appeared
likely to unfold too mach, or to strike too hard in a
direction from which they have been desirous to ward
of all attack. But this misapplication of madiority
is always anwise, because, when overmatched, as it'
often is, the defeat is humiliating, and, with the ta-
lent and courage which distinguishes the English
Bar, it is not often likely to be successful.
• In the Court of zing's Bench, Soy. la, 17S11. Er:Sine's
Speeches, vol. i. p. *a.