The National Register.
London, England, 1809-07-02 00:00:00

JULY 2.

THE NATIONAL REGISTER.

429

last she was prevailed upon to accompany the defendant to
Lon-
don, where her ruin was accompliAted in a brothel. The se-
ducer users a man of rank and family, almost twice the age of
this unfuriunate young person, and though the injury she ha 4
sustained ruts irreparable, yet he trusted that the Jury, who
were tiIeIWCIVCS mostly the fathers of families, and therefore
could feel in its full force the loss which his client had sustained,
would give such exemplary damages on the-present occasion, as
would _hew that the peace and happiness of families were not
to be invaded with impunity.
The first witness called on the part of the prosecution was
Miss Strange, the young woman herself, whose appearance was,
very pretty and iuteeesting. The purport of her evidence was,
that she had first seen Capt. Gore at Kingston, but had not spoken
to him sui that occasion. In January last she had gone upon a
visit to a Mr. Bue, at Hampton Court, ‘Thete Capt. Gore was
quartered. When walking out with a maid servant of the name
of Jane flicks, she met him uear the Barracks, when the Cp-
tain introduced himself to her. A few daya tater she again met
the defendant, who made advances to greater familiarity with
her, such as kissing her, and swearing that he never saw any one
whom he liked so well, and that he would go to her father for
his consent. After this he sent her, at Mr. flue's, a present of "
some grapes, tett he sent also a one pound note to the servant
maid, Jane Hicks. A day or two after this she was prevailed
upon to go to the Captain's lodgings at 11 ampton Court w ith one
of her female companions, where he got her to drink some n
and staid so late that site began to get alarmed, and said that
she was afraid logo home to her father's. The Captain said he
would take her to a young Lady with whom he was acquainted,
and begged her not to be at all alarmed. The defendant ac-
cordingly accompanied her and her companion from his lodgings,
pretending that he would take her to this Lady's house; and
after having gone a little way, a Nlr. Let rester, an Officer of
the same reginsent, came up, and found means to walk off with
her companion, so that she was left with Captain (lore. After
walking together sonic way. she did not know where, they got
lute the high road, and near Hounslow the Captain procured a
post-chaise, which he prevailed upon her to eet into, and 4tey
drove to London. When in, London he carried her to ChandoF„.
street, where they supped, and where the defendant accninpl:sh-
,ed his purpose. The next night Captain Gore carried her to a
house in Suho-square, and the following tine to another in St.
Martin's-lane. tie then took lodgiagsc for her in Thanet-court,
near Temple Bar, where they paused a; man and w ife, and from
whence, on being discovered a fel- days after, she was taken,
home again hy her father. While at Hampton Court the Cap-
tain had written a great many le!ters to her, which we full
of the strongest expr-ssionsof atfectiou and regard.
On her cross-examination by Mr. Best, the stated that afters
her mother's death, some veari ago, her father had taken infer
his house a feMale, who sat at his table, and whom she looked
upon as her methtr- in-la w. She acknowledged, however. she-
had heard from people in the town of Kingston, that this woman
was not married to her father ; that she hnd been a hear-maid tat
some neighbouring inn, and that she had lately left her father's,
and now went under the name of Wood. She also acknow-
ledged that the first time she saw Capt. Gore, at Kingston, she
nodded to him, though he had not spoken to her, and that her
female companions sometimes called her Mrs. Gore in jest.—
She had also express. 'a w ish to leave her home, but that
was when she was teased by her hrathei and others. She
acknowledged also, that when walk Sae out sy i:h th is Jane H
ut Hampton-Court, that female had thrae, it alt small gravel
against the Captain's window:: in the room w here he lodged;
upon which she ran away, and the Captain 'came out, and fol-
lowed her, and overtook them. But this was a mere frolic of
the maid, and nothing improper had then taken place.
Miss Budd, who keeps a boarding-school at Richmond. said, •
that Miss Strange had been two years at her school, whichshe
had only lately left. Her behaviour had been always proper
and becoming a modest young woman.

Mary Brtt-Ce deposed-to C-a.ptaia Gore having takzn lodgings
at her house for himAelf and Miss Strange, where they passed as
a married couple.
Mr. Sedeant Best then addressed the Jury with his usual
ability on behalf of the defendant. He commented with great
severity on the conduct of the plaintiff, who had brought into
his own house a prostitute from the-lwr of an ivn, with wlmin
he had lied in open fornication, and by thi. rontatninatiag
example had sapped the foundations of hi. dnultr•ter's virtue, of
which he was the natimil protector. A malt sts regardless
his daughter's virtue could not feel very ocotely 1(,-.r its loss, ar.A•
though reparation should be made to this unt7i,prunate )i)kirg.

illi .
.._ . _
450
----......

IraMut, yet the Jury, if they .gave any damages, could have no
ieCurity that they would be appropriated to her benefit. linked,
the father, by his own conduct, had cut off all hopes of an
honourable alliance far his daughter, for w hat respoctahle parent
would wish his son to marry into a family where such an ex-
ample had been set before the daughter. Lt was her own father,
and mit his client, who had cut off her hopes of a respectable
marriage; Ile was sorry also to add, that the conduct of this
unhappy girl was such as might hase been expected from such
an example before her eyes. She confessed that she had nodded
and beckoned to his client to hen an utter stranger to her ; she
had gone under the appellation of Mrs. Gore among her com-
panions at Kingston, and by her forwardness she seemed quite
ready to fall into the arms of Captain Cote; or of any one else.
The fruit was so ripe that it was ready to fall without plucking;
and though he would not extenuate the conduct of his client, yet
he wished that the Jury would make some allowance for the cul-
pat& imprudence of a young man not more than 28 years of age,
whom passion and opportunity had incited to conduct that was
certainly criminal. Ms client, like many other branches of
noble families, though amain of rank, was poor ia pocket ; and
• though he allowed that the Jury must find a verdict for the
plaintiff, yet lie trusted that the circumstances w h;ch had come
• out would induce them to give very moderate damages.
The Chief Baron, in his charge to the Jury, then proceeded
to sum up and comment upon the evidence. They had been told
by-the Learned Counsel for the defendant, that if a man seta sad'
au evil domestic example as this plaintiff appears to have done,
it could hardly be supposed that bis feelings could be very acute,
or his loss great, on an occasion of this unhappy sort. But it
was to be considered, on the other hand, that the plaintiff had
brought this woman into his house at a period when his daughter
was a mere child, incapable of remonstrating on her father',
conduct ; and also that this y.oung woman was only lately re-
turned from school, where her mistress had given a very g 44444
areount of her conduct and behaviour. We had also heard of
several levities on the part of Miss Strange, which were unbe-
coming a virtuous girl. But here the Jury would probably
think it but fair to make some distinction. Were a woman of,
the age of ter entv, or more, to nod to a Man she did not know, it
might be perfectly significant, and easily understood; but it
wonld he third to interpret too severely the levities of this girl,
who in fact was a mere infant, of little mute than fourteen years
cCage. They would carefully distinguish between the signifi-
cant >ies of a grown up woman and the levities of a child.--
Tilers was a great deal of the appearance of inirigue going on in
the business. The defendant first applies to the servant mail,
Jane ii:cAs, anJ gains her 0 v.er to his purposes. While he send,
to Miss Strange some grapes, he aecompanies them w ith a one
pauod note to this Jane Tile business was pretty nearly
done when he got this young creature to .drink wine saith him at
his lodgings, and the conduct of Leycester, in getting a way her
companion, had very much the appearance of a settled plan for
the seduction of this unfortunate girl. It was quite clear, that
a verdict mustbe given for the plaintiff, and he left it entirely to
the goad sense of the Jury to determine the amount of the
damages.
The Jury then withdrew for n few minutes, rini on their re-
turn gave a verdict for the plaintiff—Datnages 15CO1.

COURT OF COMMON PLEAS, THURSDAY. JUNI; 28.

LIBEL.

TUE EARL OP LEICESTER V. TUE PROPRIETORS, &C. Or TILE

kIORNING lIERA I.D.

This was an action for a libel again,t the printer, publisher,
and proprietors of the Morning Herald, for a libel. '11;e damages
were laid at 20,000!.
Mr. Serjeant Best stated the case on the pnrt of the Plaintiff.
it was an action against the publishers of a new simper, fora libel
of such a nature and such malinity, pt-r:mps was never
before complainei of in a Court of Justice. %Viten he stated
that the damages were laid at 20,0001. he would add, that he
did nut think justice would be done to his client, if any thing
less than that sum were awarded. No dainavi could be a re-
paration for the injury which the character of his client must
suffer from such a publication ; the libel was not only false, but
must have been known to have been false by those who pub-
lished it. From the enormity of the offences imputed to his
Lordship. the libellers must have known it was•tintrue ; or if
they aonld be supp'osed capable of inserting such falsehoods,
without making the slightest enquiry respecting thew, they
ought not to be permitted to conduct a newspaper for another
day. They had added to the libel itself, (Arr.,. thing which

THE NATIONAL ItEGISTERi JULY 9.

could sharpen its sting, and add io its venom. :It was to be re-
membered, that in the reign of Charles the First, there was a
• monster of the name of Lord Andles, wno had been tried, cons
if tril, and executed for unnatural offences, and for as offenee
w Licit (ibaills (lad) there had been ao inststace of since that
time—that of assistieg his servont iu cominitting a rape npon
his nwn w ife. The libel in the Morning Herald was a para-
graph in the fid of December, ISDS, to the following effect :
" Articles have been exhibited against a Noble Lord by his
Lady, similar to the articles w bleb were exhibited by Lady
radars against her Lord, upon which he was convicted arid
deservedly executed ; but in the present instance, there were
rircum‘takees of far greater atrocity." Now, as to this libel,
he should first ask, is it true or false ? It was unquestionably
false; for, if such articles had been exhibited, the Defendants
could have proved them from the office, at Doctors' Commons,
tv here such articles must have been filed. This ;barge, then, as
false as it was wicked, the Defendants must have known to be
or they could easily ascertain that it was false, by taking
taking the pains to iequire at Doctors' Commons, before they
iaserted it. On the sth of December, the fallowing ;.aragrapll
was bisected ;—" The wretched son of an English Marquis lizs
absconded, on charges which Lady C. (Chantey heiog his title,
when the old Marquis of Townshend was-alive) has oxhibited
against him. A special warrant has been issued for apprehend-
ing this Lord, whose infamies have long rsudered him a disgrace
to human natter." This special warrant, for ap prehenditi the
Pli;sntifT, was a pure invention of the writer of the paragraph.
As a proof of the .malicious motive in which these publications
origheced, he should state, that in the month of April preced-
ing, a paragraph had been put in the Morning Herald, announc-
ing the separation of Lord Chariley and his Lady, at a time
en they were living affectionately together. For this libel,
however, they apologized; and the being obliged to apologize
for that libel, and having been forgiven on account of such apo-
hog v, should have made them circwaspert, and prevented them
asain from libelling the same Noble Person, without inquiring
into the truth of the matter which) they inserted. It appeared
to hint, that every thing they had dune since the publication,
a 9 well as before it, shea ed the malice by which they were actu-
ated. For that purpose, except increasing the anguish of his mind,
and the distress of his family, could 1 he de feadants have subpannied
(as theyhave done): he Marquisov Ito was the father of theplainia,
Iris d .4111(1 almost all iris relations, to be their witnesses ? They
also knew that his elieot, who was only a Lord by coartesy, bad
not the privilege of peerage ; and that his affairs were so much
cooharras•ed, that he mast he immured in prison for debt, if his
residence w known, and therefore they had even applied for a
Judge's summons, in order to discover hi. residence, nut their ap-
plication was refused. They doubtless wanted, by the threat of
having bizn imprisoned for debt, to beltice him to abandon this
act'on. In considering the malignity of this libel, and the injury
it %ca.; likely to do, it must be recollected what a horror the
British nation entertained against the vice so imputed (and God
preserve that horror.) It was so great, that let a man, charged
with this vice, prove his innocence of the charge ever so fatly,
still a certain degree of suspicion was attached to hint, and he
te•ver could ;4,aia move ill society with the same comfort to him-
self, or the same respect from others, which be was used to meet.
Ile trusted, therefore, -that the Jury wosld consider both the
rank of the I,:rson injured, and the greatness of the injury which
had Leen iodieted, and relied upon their finding a proper
verdict.

Air. Mills, Solicitor to the plaintiff, said, that he believed the
parn:;raplis which Irtd been read,. to apply to the plaintiff, lle
11:n1 no ddooul►t at all of it. _ _

eross-e‘amined by Mr. Setjeant Cockle.—He had been
acquainted about four Pare Is it is plaintiff, to whom he had been
introduced professionally. Ile had dived with bim three or four
times at his house in Gloucester-place, and in company with
Lady Leicester, after the paraghtph about the separation. Ile
had seen a Mr. Neri, whom he understood to be his Lordship's
secretary. The first time he saw Mr. Neri, was after having
sent in his account to the plaintiff; Mr. Neri called upon him
about the settling of it. He had met at Lord Leicester's table,
Mr. and Mrs„Gardiner (the father and mother of lady Leiceiter),
the Marquis of Townsbend, and the two Lady Townshetars, in
the winter of 1807, the marriage having been in the month of
May of that year. The reasons why he believed the paragraphs
to apply to his client were,, that he knew no lather son of as
English Marquis who had proceedings depending in Doctors'
Commons ; and also, because he found every body whom hp
~poke to on this subject al,O applied them to the plaintiff.
Besides these reasons, he confessed, that there were tly

I

I 1~. ~

,II lttl tlollol ai all OE it.
Cross-e‘amined by Mr. Setjeant Cockle.—lle had been
quainted about four }Par: IS II is plaintiff, to whom he had been
!minced professionally. lie had dived with him three or four
nes at his house in Gloucester-place, and in company with
Lily Leicester, after the paraghtph about the separation. Ile
AI seen a Mr. Neri, whom he understood to be his Lord.hip's
-rctary. The first time he saw Mr. Neri, wai after having
tt in his account to the plaintiff; Mr. Neri called upon him x.
out the settling of it. He had met at Lord Leicester's table,
r. and Mrs„Gardiner (the father and mother of Lady Leiceiter)l
e Marquis of Townsbend, and the two Lady Townshetars, in
e winter of 1807, the marriage having been in the month of
ay of that year. The reasons why he believed the paragraphs
apply to hi, client were,, that he knew no ether son of as
tglish Marquis who had proceedings depending in Doctors'
minions ; and also, because he found every body whom hp
nice to on this subject al,O applied them to the plaintiff. 11
!tides these reasons; he confessed, that there were lly in