The National Register.
London, England, 1822-05-20 00:00:00

.:::~

LAN INTELLIGENCE.
--o-

COVET OF BING'S BENCH..
UAS 17.
THE JOHN BULL NEWSPAPER.
allll Slap U. waAßaar SUACILFLL. •ND
The Commou Sergeant proved the jedgnseut of the Cued
oo these duce defendants. who were found guilty at the
sitting before List Hillary term, at Guildhall, of See libels
WI liff lute Wl:ijesty.
The Lord Chief Jaidee read his notes of the evidence, by
which irappenred that Ave at-tic:es. reflecting in gross terms
on the late Queen, were beetled in the Juks liall iir•isspaper
at intermit betueen the latter end of February and the end
of May, leil, and Shat the defendant.' were the proprietor.
primer, and publisher of that journal. The libellous pus.
sages were set forth in our report of the trial.
On the part of the deft odant Arrowunith, an affidavit of
a medical gentleman was read. statism, that he laboured
louder au indisposition which imprisonment bad akendy
ln-
ereased. and which further imprisoonsent would probably
render dangerous. No affidavits were pat in nu die part of
the oilier defendants.
On behalf of the prosecution an nedimit was read, stnting
ant the deponent. named William Allen, had regularly
purebasi d the numbers of the John Dell almost from its
euninoweement t that the paray,raphs selected- were only
pads of a regular system of calumny carried on agalust the
kale Q.seet't idol the defendents, baying been convicted of
a libel non deceased lady. and senteured to imprisonment
and Site. boasted of their indepondeace of prosecutions, and
icaerted that they bad receit ed 900.. its sulit•cri pitons toy/aril,.
itttieutetrying them mg:iliac loss. It also Muted. that in oar
of 'heir pavitt it way stated that more thou 470.000 copies
of the newspaper bad been .old.
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The defei4l4;ots being severally asked whether they wished
to urge any taing la mitigation of punishment, booed res-
pectfully to the Court, and intiomsed that they bud nosiness
to olTer.
The Common Sergeant tien.addressrd the Court in aggra-
vation of the punishment. The defendants hail. be said,
mimed a very discreet comae in waking no wham.' to the
Court—s coarse which, nn doubt, experience had showu
them to he the wisest. !lard as ir was to attack those who
made no resistance,. he should be guilty of on abandonment
of that duty which first ciimpelled him so brier these disrusi.
tog parlieuhus even into discussion, if he were induced by
any personal consideration to say nothing of the henious
crime of which the defendants stood convicted. It had
been thought uecessary for the public good, to bring for ward
these individuals furju.tice, as they had gratified the matig-
uity of the must muliguant, against the highest subject of
the realm, now ou more. The libels of which they were
timid guilty were five in number—of the grimiest and most
infamies kind ; and yet these were sworn to be but n sample
of that venomous invective which could not be impended evea
by the death of its victim. After she bid been consigned to
the silent mother her ancestors, they still pursed her me.
irony with the same unrelenting slander with which they
had inst.itsend 'ter life. In these libels, they dared to cho-
lla( !nine the first subject of the realm use shameless woman
—as a•female lost to sit sense of propriety and decency—
us use-now sunk into ohlisiun, iu which site would do well
to remain for shelter—as heartless, hardened, an " example
of profligacy, astiuess, and depravity!" The imputed to her
iiitensperanee the host disgusting, wantonness the most
odious, profligacy the most apes and bold. Could it be per.
'bitted es any one human being to speak in such terms of
another e Even if tillfhese imputations wete ns trite as they
were scandalously false—even if these defendants bad been
uppuinted judites of the ease of their vlctim—moult. .they
lisstc heen justified lh tieing •rangaiere, ftur more degrading,
indeed, to the pony using it, than to the party against whom
it was adopted a Judge were called upon to express
his mural reprobation of the conduct of an Initividanl beferis
lola, he availed himself of that right, or rather of that prat.'
leg,, with the temper, cahoot..., and moderation. becoming I
his Mike. If an advocate, required to defend any eines
fame which he might nut shrink with tmour, war, in the'
course ut his duty, compelled teranimadvert on the coadaell
of the adverse party—if he were called to give vent to *
moral indiguation,maidst all the -cattlemen which a zeal
for his client would enkiadle—yet if he could he tempted to
direct against a female calumnies like T hese. instead of retiring
with the boast that. be bid viadteated the lindepend ace of tits'
profession, he would be cousigaid to univeral mid to meriteir
infamy. As the defesidauts had said molting on this acclaims.
lie would only speculate on those topics which might pins
Ably occur to their lordships' minds, In extenuation of ski
enormous offence before them. Could it be said that the
just liberty of the press authorized these slanders? No s-!
there was not among them one shadow of discussion—not
'young these or all which proceeded from the same saint,
one vestige of argument—soothing, but foul invective
which could gratify the basest malignity, or minister
pleasure to the must vitiated appetite. Would it hr main-.
trained that libels on one side could only be put down
lay libels on the other? In the first place, he denied
that the annals of the purse furnished any parallel
to the system titivated by the Jahn Boll; and, were it
otherwise, he should only say that the interference of the
Coen was more decidedly called for to prevent individual
obarsicter from being destroyed betsveen the combatants.
It lied been said by an eloquent friend of his (Mr. Den-
i.iii7s) in reference to this topic, that vermin could only
be destroyed by vermin; but surely if those vet •
crawled to the throat auntie noble ;mina', they required
prompt destruction from mightier hands. The •pruseco.
Lion was co 11111 l enced soon alter the publication of the last
of these libels'; the counsel fur tier Majesty "'talented, so
long as any thing like discussion was inter ttt i t igLed with
the slander, Irons prosecution ; but no one email read
over this series of calumnies a about feeling that their
duty to their Royal Mistress compelled them at least to
bring her slanderers to justice. The great feature of the
system of this infamous paper was cunsistently sustained
Here was no rootrition—no statement that the
Journal was suspended—no disclaim of an intention to
poi:veil in a • •lar course ; bat the same machinery was
still at work, and hopes were yet sherished that fines
would be paid from some unknown soma., or that other
individuals would come forward to sustain the burden.—
Who was the author of this contemptible stuff, he knew
not the parties stated in pilot that they received no as•
sidance in their detestable labonis.
hir. Justice Rayley.—There a no affidavit of that, Mr.
C ,miuoit Sergeant.
The Common Sergeant.—No, my Lord ; but it is in the
J 'An flail. This, howeser, is sworn to, ti at the papas
contents a boast that tens of 118001104 of English mamma,
wan would lIIVC believed lit the innocence of the Queen,
bai bers undeceived by the labours of the editors; and •
shim, that if any woman should dare to give her pnblist

kTIONAL REG:

sanction, site would be laid' open to publ:e obloquy. In-
spection, and contempt. Was there any tine.; equal to
this lathe whole history aide press? No wonder if her
Majesty wait -nhfatoutebly received at the opera—no
wander easitrld ladles. whoiwoold have been proud and
happy to united her the consolationt of their soeioey,
shrunk back; for these defendants threatened an expos
sure which no female mind errata brave, and to defy which
required an heroic courage scarcely consistent with the
softer virtues ()Ellie sex. The detemlants, aceordorg to
their own statement, had made large profits—something
near 3,0001. (setting the subscriptions against the iledirc-
lion fur fines) by their detestable and unmanly traffie.—.
He would well believe they were not only the publishers
of the nook, but its authors; for he declared before God,
that lee would accuse nu mall of so revolting a crime w itle.
out the clearest proof. He felt That he could not pursue
the topics which this cane suggested a We that temperance
which he was hound to i e and therefirre he would
. forbear. The national morals, the national character, the
public peace, aN iolated by le defendants, called ow the
Court to sustain them. Their Lordships would nut allow
these men to glory in their ill-gotten wealth ; they would
not suffer them to enjoy the thonght that they would be
indemnified by their readers, who thought their mass of
atrocity an ex,ellent Sunday repast, from all harm. If
one of the defendants should suffer peculiarly from impri-
sonment, It was matter of regret; but the Court had
scarcely any option, now that another mole of punishment
was abolished, but to inflict Imprisonment or fine. He
called on the Court, on behalf of she living and iliedead,
for that protection.which the living, and the memory of
the dead, bad ever received from their bawds.
Mr. Brougham followed on the smut side. The Collet
would, he said, perceive at once that the defendants had
been guilty of a most deep and trebles offence, for which
they had expressed no. co 'on; the Motives of their
labour was avowed—their tendency was °henries—their
edicts were matter of lameretahle history. 'Eisele Mande, s
had tended to Whitler. If not shorten, the life of ihe first
subject of these realms. They had been engaged in a
conspiracy to mellow that illustrious lady flone thus society
of her fellow-subject', and had vaunted of their IIIIC:e411 to
the world. They had degraded tire press, that hest in-
strument of public instruction. and hat, made it their
boast that they introduced into it one mighty mass of cor-
roption. if they were holden to be the most atrocious of
criminals who poisoned the wells of a great city, what
should be said of those who infected the springs of know-
ledge at the fountain head, and made its waters fit only
for unnatural and degraded appetites to banquet on ?
They might or might not be the authors of these odious
works; and If they were only the base hirelings of mis-
creants lurking is the back grined, the Court omelets re-
gard them with no less indignation. Their sentence mould
reach these miscreseits..ifseich they were, and wunlel place
them in such a situation nut to be envied by the lowest of
human beings. They would know in the hands of what
agents their secret was deposited; they mould t.. amble
bossily for its disclosure; null when that disclosure
come, as come it must, they would be pointed at with
mingled feelings, which were 'usually incompatible, of the
uttermost contempt. and she interment Moire', sod. would
be peersned with the indignation and sculls of the high-
' led English people.
The Lord Chief Justice, after consulting with the other
Judges. amid, " Let the defendants be brought up fur
judgment on the last day of Teem."
MR. CUMILES SIUCRAY.
Mr. Roteb moved, on Wheeled the parties who originally
intersected Mr. Murray in the c..se•of appeal to tic. High
Court of Admiralty, her re rule to show cause ahy he should
not account to them for money received, nod pa, over she
admitted balance In his hineds.. The upi.lecatioN lie appre-
beaded, was free from those formal sohjections a limb proved
fatot he his late rule.
The Court granted the rule, but intimated that if it should
appear that the real -applicants Mere the WIMP no sin the
former repplientiou„.the same erhj •ction would againarise.
The Lord ChiefJustice•.ns the Judges were retire:, in-
quired of Mr. Retch if his aM .avit Stated that Mr. Morley
had refined to account, to which he repliedin the ufßrounive.
SAIMIDAT, MAT IS.

. .
JlloG7aftle ON Tien Rini. o' 'vatelltaTill•
Oo llr. Jnttice B qltry taking his seed sia the thatch, the
&tendons being called, appeared on the boor of the Court
for its lodgment. • • •
This ease, its tow senders may remember, stood over ft om
last term to give She pros. eater, Mr. Wood. xn amigo hinny
of answering the matter contisiiied in the alliiinvit pat In by
thenohledeendnnt, which imputed to Mr. Wood previous
word. of defiance: nada' course of iiiteacienee %%ilk the
concerns of his Lordshp's femitt. AthdaVii% is reply weir
now rend on the part of Mr Wood, den3ing or explaining
the chief puiiihs-in the affidavits for the defendants.
The noble defendant begged to make a fesrotnervations in
justification of his .condur I...mid read iron Mille papers
several pas:lees to that eireet, non concluded b% rlionk,ng
their Lord-hips for the indulgence they had granted him.
Mr. Janice Bayley, in proninmeing judgment, toed
at great length ou the ottent.e a hick the detention had com-
mitted ; nod observed it was n very painful duty. he hld
So p. rform, on a pi.esniiwf his rink.aisd Intent. Tim Court
had taken the case into their mint serious cuinidorntion
and under all the circumstance s, doth order ni d adjudge, to,
t ihs off.sice you he imprisoned in the custody of the Marshal
of the Munsholseu ort he Court of King's Bench. for a
period
o' three months, and at the expiration of that time you
enter into your own security for three years, to the Suns at
%0001. and two sureties in 3001. each.
Tae well-konwei Samuel W.iddissoun as brriogi.t no in
cuunily from the new prison, to plea,' to an iilictm.
(erred agaiiht him by the Society fur the Sappressinit of
Vire, in plibtishing a hla%pliemous work e dined," Painter's
Principles of Nature."
The cterkvf the Court read the libel and caned upon the
defendant so plead.
Waddington sus about to make a long spa eh, and Prn•
duecd u bundle of papers and some law b.niks, tied he did
not %alit to plead, only to show how he had bred irealeck
they had sent him to prison, and •by refusing to reeeise his
bail had troubled their Lordships by sending hits before them
this day.
The Chief Jodice intetrupted him and said the (Court
could not hear him say any thing now, he ocusi 00.
Wadd:ngton replied lie %jibed to explain tile allow his
Lordship must be aware that n road mint be made before he
tout,' walk upon it. Ile should explain the petal statutes
as.they alined to him.
Toe Chief Justicc.—Yon most plead now or 3 ou can base
four dais to Wend.
Waddington after some forth( r said he should
plead out guilty.