The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1805-11-25 00:00:00

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42 eminent end exalted persons entrusted by him with by the gentlemzn who was the amliew or the libel ;
the higher funaions of the State. From traesterring . e could rot be mistaken or imposed uprn, as the
his tribunal from Dublin to Middlesex, I fad 1
e most Judge, was never out of his sight during the whole
sincerely for him. Ido not mean now to enter into i time This, ate said, was done for the purposes t f
.1
any discussion urn n this point. By a late Aof this cause.
Parliament. he rs to be tried before a Jery in the Dr.diodgkinson, examined by Mr. ',nese A yr:
county of Middlesex. If he could have tranverri4. said, le was ii senior Felines of the Univerat7 of
you to Dublin, he would he much better sriisfied ; ' DAM, and a Bari ister ; he had known .1 tidgeJohn-
not that justice can be dispensed any better son, intimately, for npwards of twenty years; lie
than by an English Jury, assisted by an Eng- wai. his bother-in-law ; corresponded with him the
lisp Court of Judicature, but lie would have had whAle time-without any interruption. Having mi-
the opportunity of bringing forward his friends I nutely examined the manuscripts presented, he de-
from everyquarter, who could have spoken tohis cha- oelared, they were totally i:iirrent from the Judge's
ratter ; but, from the enormous expellee of the Law, i hand-writing, and he had no hesitation in saying, he
he was only able to bring over a few for this par- 1
disc not believe it to he his.
pose. After 'Le act of Parliament hrd received the Upon his cross-examieation by the Sot ICITOII.
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(loyal assent, in June, 1804, a bill of indictment was
preferred agains him, and he did agitate the ques-
tion befere Ole Judges in Ireland, as to the tight of
bi ;Tieing him here ; when three Judges, in one Court,
out of tour,were of opinion, he could not be sent here
to be tried It he bad not tried that question, they
would not be able to compel him to take his trial
here; and it was of importance to him, to ascertain
whether he would have the assistance of all those
pnsons. There is no question for yen now, whether
the matter contained in this publication is libellous or
not. You are vested with the power of pronouncing
guilty, hut anothertribunal is vested with the poor'
of punishment. It has been truly said by the At-
torney-General, that it could tio! be c( ntended,
that this publication was not a libel of the most
scandalous description. The resul: of the question
for your enquiry will arise from prohabili:ies ; and
when you will hay* heard the contrariety of evidence
you will have to determine whether Mr. Justice
Johnson could have written such letters. You are
trying this gentlemen, and not the writer of the
publication, acrd we must support our case by
negative proof ; how is this to be made our,
but by proving every nessative inconsistent with
an affirmative ? And if he be to go farther, he
' most account for every hour of his life, from
the transmission of the libel to England, till the
present hour. In cases of mere belief like this,
the witnesses may speak with the spirit of an angel,
and yet speak false ; they may he deceived in the
hand-writing ; sail, although the Col may be sworn
to, the matter may be total's false ; there may be a
possibility of a nits eke; and there is no mode of
encountering this evidence, but br those witnesses
who will vete a contrary hrlief. He then observed,
upon the general evide .cc on !he part of the pro-
secution, and remarked, that none of the wit.
nesset had seen the Judge write for tht'se last
five years; he was grow ng old, and had a bodily
infirmity, which might have altered 11;s hand, and it
was rather singuLir that !hey had calied no pelvs,
who, from his situation in life, or muse-Rion with
the Learned Judee, could have a recent intimate
knowledge of his hand-writing. No clerk from the
Post-Office was brought to state the method of his
franking letters, Sec.. The Learned Counsel ens-
cluded, that 'he question of the 114enJant's crime.
nality consequently depended upon the c mpara-
tive reliance to be pieced on the testimony of the
Witnesses. As the Crown had prods:: ed only
four Witnesses, who, speaking from their know-
I.dge of the Defendant's hand-writing, S. or
six years age, conceived that the manuscript
was written by him ; he should, in opposition to
their testimony, produce morethan ass equal number
of witnesses, who had been the intimate Live& of
the Defendant during the whole course of his life, to
the present moment, and who were as intimately
acquainted with his hand-writing, asv.ith the features
of his face. These would prove that the libel, in-
stead of being the produAion of the Defendant's
pen, had not the least tesemblance to his manner of
writing. The proof then would be equally balanced ;
and, as the first principles of justice were not to pre-
sume guilt, when innocence was equally probable,
en he trusted the Jury would take into their consi-
deration the chereeter and long habits of life of the
Defendant, and the utter impossibility of his being
capable of publishing so defamatory a libel, and in-
cline to that decision which would restore the De-
fendant to that rank in society which he fermerly
enjoyed.
The first Witness called on the part of the de-
fence, was Sir Henry Jebb, an eminent and respeA.
able physician erti surgeon of the city of Dublin,
who holds a high rank in the Conege of Surgeons.
He was examined be Mr. PARK e. and said, he had
known Justice Johnson for near thirty years; and,
during the whole of that time, was in the strufest
habits of intimacy with him. He was a ruin of
very bad health, and the Witness always attended
him ; he had had a paralytic stroke about two years
ago, which left him in so weak a state as made him
apprehensive he had got a pressure on the brain.
They had kept up a constate correspondence during
the whole time, and lie could not, by any possibility,
be mistaken, he was so familiarly acquainted with
the Judge's herel-writing. The first paper pro-
duced to him, ke thought bore some little s•mili7ude
to it, bet Mr. Justice Johnsen wrote a lager and
freer hand. The second paper was still more dis-
similar, and his belief decidedly was, that neither
was the hand-writing of the Judge
Upon his cross-examination by the A TT OR N /Y.
:ENetAL, he said, there was a general similitude
between all hand-writings: some persras might
think there was some likeness between the manu-
script and Judge Johnson's hand-writing. There
was no material difference in his writing now, and
before his illness. He had seen essays written by
the Judge, and briefs closely noted by him, but no
writing prepared fur the press. lie had seen writ-
ing vet y like Judge Johnson's, and had an oppor-
tunity of knowing it was not Isis hand-writing ; but
it was so like, he could not distinguish the one
horn the other. This writio was produced to him
at his own howe, in Stephens-green, 11,ibliri, by a
Ceielemaa who brought it from the person, who,
he understood, was the equal author of the libel,
and would hive come for el to avow it, hut his
father held a situatitaii un •r Government, and such
a disclo ore would be the :Me of his family Mr.
Thomas Johnson, the )udg-'s brother, a Mr. Irvine,
the Judge, and himself, were present, when they
signed their initials in the cornet of some blank
paper, which V.. 3 carrieu away he a gentleman of
the same of (Aord.• of Chetharntereet, iu Dahl n ;
and wes again twoirehe kick 'it' a few hours, smitten
all over, la a bate/ so like Judge Jehnson's, that,
wheo et ropared, these multi not be distinguished
bon sacs tome. kid: tiri.tattoott it m be Ned=

GE,:lit A L, he said, there might be some Rise "blaster
between the hand-writing; he never had particular.
ly noticed the manner the Judge spelled the words
'could and would. He som.aimes spelled them with-
cut the I, sometimes with, and sometimes without
an apostrophe ; he saw a letter, and annotations on
two briefs, like the handwriting of Judge Johnson ;
the former he saw with Mr. Toni Johnson, and the
'latter with Sir H. Jebh, and since his coming to Lon•
don, he saw them at the lodgings of Judge Jvhn-
son ; t'ley were so like he Judge's hand-writing, it
r was almost impossible to discover a difference. He
L bad come to London upon his owls domestic con-
cerns, and did not know he was to be called as a
witness, until he was subpeened, in Westminster( lall,
on Monday last.
Sir Henry Je'sh was again called, and stated, that
briefs were also marked, and sent along with the
blank p iper, and were returned with those annota-
tions upon them.
Mr. Mervyn Archilall was next examined by Mr.
Riettanoson. He he had been in habits of
stria intimacy with Judge Johnson for about four-
teen or fifteen years, while he was assistant to Mr.
Waller, Solicitor to the Revenue, and had frequent
and constant opportunities of seeing him write
Opinions, Letters, Aas o' Parliament, &c. After
examining the manuscripts, he declared they were
by :n means like Judge Johnson's writing, and he
could positively say they were not his.
On his cross-exasninattin by Mr. Ea setter, he
said, it was about ten years since he left the Reve-
nue ; he resigned his enap:isyment, and ever since
did business for a Mr. Barlow, an eminem. Attor-
ney, in North Great George's-street, ttiola.:ci-
sqoare. lie thought there was a similitude between
all h.tnds, as there was between faces. fie had
seen some writing very like Judge Johnson's. A
Mr. Giffard, whom he did not know, called one
day to his house, in Cuffe-street, and brought him
to Smock-alley, to see a gentleman write ; he frank-
e I some letters, in -his presence, in the name of
.ludg. Johnson, so like, that he scarcely could dis-
crumi tate betwec I them. Mr. Giffard Was .1 total
stranger to him at the time ; he did not hesitate to
go with hill, as he was afraid of no man.
\fr. John Giffard was next examined by Mr.
ADAM. He said, he was generally a resident of
üblin ; had known Judge Johnson most intimately
for thirty years, and was perfeAly acquainted with
his hand-writing. On a minute examination of the
m sisuseripts, he said, he did not believe they were
written by him ; there might be a little similitude in
the first one that was ,hewn to him, bat not the
least in the last. ('he Judge wrote what he termed
a more large and dishing hand.
Upon his cross-examination by Mr. Gaseous. he
said, he was not of any profession at present ; he
lately held a situation in the revenue, and the cause
of losing it was, that Lord Hardwicke had turned
him out, because he was a Protestant, aced had pre-
sented a petition to the Imperial Parliament, praying
His Majesty to support the cnnstituti in of the coun-
try. He asserted this, he obsessed, upon his oath ;
and Lord llardwucke avowed his reasons in his
presence. He then said, he thought
.there WAS a
similitude in all English-writing,as there was between
the human rountenance.
Q. Mr. G•satuw--.. And between Irish writing,
I suppose?" A. --•• I thought we were an United
Kingdom, netw, Sir."
Q. Mr G AItROW--." And you think there is the
same similitude between faces as between writing ;
pray Jo you think there is any likeness between Tenn
face and mine ?" A. (perf.asafile dewing)
id Yon do me a vast deal of honaur, Sir."
This answer excited much laughter.
He then stated, that he knew Alderman Fleming,
of Dublin. intimately well; but the gentleman in
Smock-alley, who, he understood, was a relation of
the Alderman's, and had taken his name, he knew
very little about. They had only a passing iic-
quaintance, never having met him but once or twice
at dinner.
Mr. D tvid Cassidy, an apothecary, residing in
Lon.lon, was last examined He had known Judge
Johnson intimately fur several years, and was in the
constant habit of corresponding with him. He did
not think the manuscript produced was like his
hand-writing.
Here the evidence on the part of the Defendant
was clo,ed.
The Ar roareLy-Geacitat. made a most able and
impressive reply. He considered that, however
heavy the original charge against the Defendant
was, it was rendered ten times more disgraceful. by
the defence set up; and'he did not wonder that the
Learned Judge shrunk back in the hour he was to
bear up against it. by auch testimony. The charge
was nothing ia comparison with the defence, nor
could even a child be imposed upon by the story
made nut ; it was a plan of perjnry, to impose upon
a British Court of Justice, and a British Jury ; an!,
he asked, could' this Gentleman be innocent, who
had been playing off such tricks upon a Cum of
Justice? After observing, at great length, span the
whole of the evidence, ire concluded, by saying, it
WAS impossible the Jury could have any doubt spun
the subject.
Lord ELLSNIIOROCOII then addressed the Jury.
lie said, the only questions for their consideration
were, first, Whet) r this paper, averred to he a libel,
was written and published by Mr. Justice Johnson?
and then, if it were, whether it were a libel? With
'repo& to the latter q.iestion, he would first offer
some observations, as it involved little or no
doubt. It certainly was a libel, as it tended to de-
fame the Lora, Lieutenant cf Ireland, by describing
him as a man of a weak capacity, and incapable or
rigbtly administering that Government which has
been entrnsted to I.is care. It also defamed the
Lord Vharacellor of Ireland, describing him as ptac-