The Sun.
London, England, 1852-07-30 00:00:00

ment, as the horrors, related in the richest nigger style,
are as good as a pantomime, and to be chary in giving
creeence to the astouucting Red horrified details with
which Box Brown overwhelms his wide-mouthed and
wonder-gaping audiences. A gentleman present esked
Mr. Box Brown what part of Virginia' The Dismal
Swamp' was in. Well, he daint sactly know—taint
somewhere in de middle of de State." Bat,' continued
the interrogator, is it not on the borders of North and
South Carolina?" Well, he daint know; you might put
it in Carolina, but he taut it was in Virginny.' Much
laughter followed this confab, but, after that section of
the exhibition was over, the proprietor said, 6 There was
a swamp in Virginia, but not the Dismal Swamp,' a
fact, w© presume, which may be predicated of every
State in the Union. Such is the character of the pano-
rama, and we deeply regret that the public should be
gulled by that which can only give them a very partial,
unfair, and decidedly false view of American slavery.
The bondage of slavery is very bad, and the principle
wicked enough, without evoking from the bottomless
pit shades dark and gloomy, and auxiliary horrors to
dress up and horrify with this foul blot on the star-
spangled banner."
On the 24th of the same month the following ap-
peared, and this was the second libel complained of.—
" THE NIGGER PANORAMA..—It is gratifying to hear
that the good sense and discrimination of the inhabitants
of Wolverhampton have led them to bestow such an
amount of patronage on this vile caricature of American
scenery as its inherent worthlessness and disgusting
exaggeration so absolutely deserved. We learn from
our reporters, for we have not returned a second time to
witness so foul a calumny in colours on the slareholders
of the Southern States, that the nightly attendance has
been meagre in the extreme, and that a beggarly ac-
count of empty boxes,' has contrasted strangely with
that in which the celebrated Box Brown played, with
ludicrous and semi-baboonish agility, his nocturnal an-
tics, to the delight and merriment of the juvenile raga-
muffins, who for the most part make up the darkey'b'
audiences. As we may be thought to strain a point
against the bejewelled and oily negro, whose obese and
comfortable figure and easy nonchalance remind one of
various good things and sumptuous living at the ex-
pense of those whose marvel-loving developments have
been called into lively exercise' by the terrible won-
ders of this sea-serpent-surpassing and fire-and-brim-
stone-smacking exhibition, we will give an extract or
two from Mr. Brown's lecture, and leave our readers to

judge of its eloquence, poetry, and truth.' Speaking of
elaveholders, Mr. Brown says that a part cf them give
their slaves money to buy rum to get drunk on the
Sunday, in order to prevent them from attend-
ing a place of worship; that others preach to them on a
Sunday, like his own master did every Sunday morning,
as follows:—' My dear brederen, the white man was made
by Gor Amity with sish white, delekit hands that he saw at
once he was not fit nor able to work, and he therefore made
the blackman to work for dem, but the blackman were
so idle he no work, and Gor Amity give him a whip to
make him work, cos he was such a nasty idle nigger he
no work. But he could no work with his hands, and in
answer to the prayer of the white man, Gor Amity sent
a shovel and a hoe, and I shall sing a song about it
gemmen and ladies, dat is ladies and gemmen, at de close
—a shovel and a hoe in a bag, so dat de damn'd idle
nigger should hab no one for not working.' Now,
den, dere's a pretty master for you. Dere be oders at
dis moment who put de slaves on de tread wheel, and keep
dem at work 14 hours a day, only allowing of them one
minute in every hour to rest, and if dey grow faint or
tired, and leab off or fall off de wheel, den dey break
deir ankles. Den dare is de burning of slaves to deal'
for stealing, and den beating dem with hard wood bored
troo wid holes, which dey put into bilin hot water, and
slap de buttocks of do female slaves till dey aro ono masa
of bery great big blisters as big as fingers and turns. Den
dere is de wippin with de lash till the blood bathes the
ground, and dey swim in it, and den the bane in which
they cure de bacon of dere back. Like an old-fashioned
beefsteak is de parson's face when ho preaches to de
slaves, and like it will dey be roasted in the fire, and be
done infernally brown.' Such is a verbatim specimen of
the lecture, whose unadorned eloquence and poetry melt
all eyes to rivulets, and whose truth and pathos make a
Niobe of every schooless daughter of the slums and
alleys. The fact is that, bad as slavery is, the condition
of the American slave generally is infinitely superior to
many of our agricultural and even our bettomied slaves,
and all reliable testimony corroborates it; but that the
principle of slavery is bad, vile,
and abominable enough
in itself, there can be no question. Supernumerary hor-
rors are not wanted to add to its inhumanity and un-
christian character; and, as a reverend friend of ours
says in speaking of this subject, all exaggeration in de-
picting the evils of Slavery should be avoided; they are
bad enough in themselves, without attempting to make
them worse than they really are. To caricature the
devil is the surest way to destroy all faith in his exist-
ence.' It would be difficult to make any sensible man
believe that slaveholders would destroy ;their valuable
property in the barbarous and devolish way depicted by
the self-styled ' American Kossuth,' Box Brown, simply
for the indulgence of a vicious propension or a contemp-
tible and inhuman tyranny."
The effect of theee publications was to drive the plaintiff
from Wolverhampton, where his receipts began to fall
away immediately after the publication or the first libel;
he had previously been in the habit of receiving from 50/.
to 701. a week.
The plaintiff himself was examined as a witness; and,
though his dress was rather fine, and be displayed some
jewellery about his person, his manner of giving his evi-
dence was quiet and creditable, and hie pronunciation
altogether very correct. A schoolmaster at Wolver-
hampton, who had visited and admired the plaintiff's
panorama, was also examined, and stated that the plain-
tiff, in delivering his lecture, did not speak in the ridi-
culous manner imputed to him by the libels.
Mr. Sergeant MILLER. addressed the jury for the de-
fendant, and urged upon them that the alleged libels did
not exceed the reasonable and fair limits of criticism
upon a very trashy and mischievous exhibition. It was
part of the duty of the press to guard the public, and
especially the young and ignorant, from such exagge-
rated, preposterous, and, to a certain extent, indecent ex-
hibitions, as this panorama evidently was.
The Learned JUDGE, in summing up, observed to the
jury that the question was whether these two publica-
tions came within the limits of reasonable and lair cri-
ticism; and he advised them, is considering that ques-
tion, not to scan too nicely the language used with re-
gard to the panorama itself, because it was important
that the right of public criticism upon books or other
works should not be fettered or restricted; but when
they found observations made upon personal character
they must weigh them with more rigour, because no
man ought to attack the character of another without
taking the utmost care to ascertain that he was right.
The jury found a verde: for the plaintiff—damages,
100/.
Two causes only remain to be tried, and the criminal
business has been completely disposed of.
July 29.
Mr. Baron Alderson had disposed of the two remain-
ing causes by the middle of the day; and thus termi-
nated the business of these assizes, and of the Midland
Circuit.

WESTERN CIRCUIT.—Exeter, July 28.
(Sittings at the Guildhall, before Mr. Baron MARTIN.)
Andrew Heath was indicted for the wilful murder o:
Elizabeth Heath, his wife, on the 11th of June las:, a'
the parish of St. Mary's _Major, Exeter.
Mr. Lopes and Mr. Kingilon were counsel for the pro.
secution; Mr. Ring and Mr. Sparkes defended the pri.
sorter.

peered
fta.heatts
tehfetphrisiscoaaseer
wwaesrea
feshwoetamhuadireisrim, plilevinglt wait%
his wife in Preston-street, Exeter;
some time, frequent
chil-
dren, and it appears I had not lived happilyeytogetherhetw between
them. On tho 7th of June a womandinitmPe'7adc°Goss, who
lived near the prisoner, heard them I -violently
mrre ling
and heard the
murder her, end should be hung for it. The wane: a
spoke to him, and said he ought to be ashamed to us,
his wile so, when be abused her. Shortly afterwards
she saw the deceased at the window with her infant in
her arms and another child by her side, crying for
begging her
quarrelst,ktr,dthree f
her and using
mercy, and the prisoner near her, with a poker in hi,
hand raised as if to strike. She afterwards saw the
she again beard quer
day she
say
phouosrbawnodmtaon
letin thheersitnre;ethowiwthash er
abusing children,
to his
rolling,bad l a n gaunadg eh.o a
rOd On t
hthe
prisonernext da
wife that he would murder her. She went up into the
pri-
soner's room, and remonstrated with him for ill-using
with hls
wife, when he abused her, and ran after her
knife, and said he would rip her guts out if shetha
p in roomhe -
inter-
fered. Another woman, named Dork, deposed dto seeing
'
on
the 7th ot,
and her
J.andt the deceasede.
Shehaatd the
a windowai
Hair
of bellowso f her
husband was standing by her with a pokerr in his hand.
The wife put her head out of the win
her loft temple, which was cut and ow and pointed to
"This is what he has done with bleeding, saying,
the poker," and fur-
therecause she had asked for
said that he had done it b
her own. He said, " You whore, 1,11 be your butcher,"
and tried to strike her again,
with the bellows. Between but she defended herself
en that day and the 10th fre•
quent noises were heard
a neighbour going in ill
the prisoner's room, and
mercy. On the heard the woman crying for
he said she was prisoner. being remonstrated with
wished she was deadlocking up such a hubbub he
, and he did not mind going to
the gallows for her. A woman named Sprague also
house, went to the r.
woman', left . and seeing a wound on the poor
teatple, said, "Do all of you be quiet, and
meon." Taelet
put a poultice.
prisoner was there, and
said, " Serve her ri ht • ,he shall have worse if she does
not hold her tonguge:being
: k On asked how he could
strike his wife with the poker? he scid ho did not do it
with the poker, but with the bellows. The witness said
4,
I think you have killed the woman--I think she is
dying." He replied, '6 Dying; yes she has been dying
since three o'clock this morning., and is not deal yet."
At another time he slid that his wife had struck him
with the bellows, and that he struck her with the poker
in a passion, not knowing what he did. A surgeon wsa
called in on the Witt to attend the poor woman. She
lingered until the next day, and then died. On a post
mortem examination being made, a lecture was found in
the skull on the left side of the temple, and a small round
hole mt.de; and on the poker found in the prisoner's
room being compared with it, it fitted exactly. The
surgeons expressed their opinion that the fracture
caused by a blow with the poker, and was the c'3:a3
of
death. On cross-examinaaion endeavoured
it was u-
-
to be
shown that the deceased was a violent woman, and had
on some occasions struck the nrisou
.. er
) but this entirely
failed.
Mr. RING addressed the jury for the prisoner, con-
tending that the crime prisoner committt d
, 13.3- the
did
not amount to murder, but only manslaughter. It was
evident that quarrels had continually tzken place be-
tween thane, and in one of these the prisoner had given
the deceased the blow which caused her death, not at
all contemplating doing her any serious injury, and that
he had no preconceived '
tntmucu of causing her death;