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

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

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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 ELLEN 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 ext 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 barge ; and tt was
rid.ared to their Foreman to value the freight.

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