The Sun.
London, England, 1830-05-21 00:00:00

Now Mr. Westniaeott swears that he did not know any
Ling about the article in question, or that Mr. Holmes'
n tme wa, mentioned in It, eta it was brought In the
.ffice Isy its author, Mr. Bertie Ambrose. There Was an
.ffitlavit also of two persons in the Age office, and of Mr.
Westmwott, which stated that Mr. Scanlan called at Vie
Age office on Thursday, after the article appeared, and
t‘keil Mr. Westmaeott If be would oblige him with an
wder for the theatre.

Lord TYNTERDEN—What do you mean by an order
fir the theatre ? Mr. WILLIAMS—The nawapapei s are
;ii the habit of giving critiques on the performances, fir
vhich they receive orders of free admission. At this
nterviesv, Scanlan never mentioned any thing Am the
irticle, or that be had named the conversation which had
iassed between him and SVeatmse'ott to Mr. Micintaggart,
the Editor of the Courier. Scanlan said to Westmacm.X
in their conversation, " I suppose you will noon have a
•lap at Billy Holmes." And he (Mr. Williams) would
.4y, that this article was nothing bat a goad-natured slap
at Billy Holmes.
Lard TENTER/MN-11e says that he manages the 104.
ness for Ann Durham.
Mr. WiLmaats—Yea, my Lord, lie is as agent, awl ifs
4gency is sufficient to make him responsible, every person
connected with the newspaper must he liable. Mr: Sennian
lead said that Mr. Holmes was a friend of Mr. Machttag.
,art's, and that he (Mr. Holmes) was also a good ft/end
of his, (Mr. Scanlan) and that he was a good fellow.
The defendants again wished to disclaim all intenting
to injure or wound the feelings of Mr. Holmes, an
hoped that their subsequent conduct had been inch, that
their Lordships would not feel called upon to mete the
rule absolute. It was very well for gentlemen of the bar
when they wished to obtain a verdict fur their clients to
speak of the licentiousness of the press. But when
such statements were made seriously by the Attorney-
General, holding the high situation that be did, many
people would be inclined to believe that he really enter-
tained them. He was convinced enough had been done
to satisfy justice, and the Court would never sanction any
proceedings of resentment or revenge.
The COMMON SIRJICANT followed on the same sidc.
The great question was whether the Court would think
the apology made sufficient, or that the matter should
proceed further. From the affidavit of Mr. llohnea,
it appeared that he considered being placed in
a public office, that it was his duty to bring the
matter before the Court. It was expressly denied that
was the attention of the paragraph to impute to Mr.
Holmes any application of -public maiden in an improper
way. It was clear that this was not the battle of Mr.
Holmes, but of the Courier newspaper. These two papers
Ind entered into hostilities against each other, and it war
their battle that was being fought, not that of Mr. Holmes.
It was stated that hostile feelings existed between Messrs.
Scanlan and Westmacott. The Learned Serjeant con-,
chided by trusting that the Court would not think there
vets sufficient evidence before it, to induee it to make the
rule absolute. _ _ _ .

Mr. ToLaETT, on the same able, understood that the
Attorney-General bad applied for this information on two
grounds, first, that Mr. Westmacott was the author of the
paragraph, and also that be was a proprietor of the paper,
The Court, before it made a rule absolute for a criminal
information, always required proof that the inaivitbial
against whom that information was applied for, was respite.
silile for the subject matter of that information, and hr
submitted, upon the nffidavitg of Ann Durham, it wa%
clearly shown Mr. Wcstmacott was not responsible, as it
had been positively known tint he was not the printer,
publisher, or proprietor of this newspaper, but had only
written for it. at a weekly salary mince the time of its mile
to Mr. Baylis.
Mr. BAccim was on the same aide.

Lord TENTERDEN—ReaIIy, I cannot permit four gentle-,
men to address the Court on an application for the pur-
pose of making a rule absolute. Can Mr. Bacon state
any other facts to the Court than what hare already been
detailed ?

Mr. BACON would occupy the Court but a few minutes,
He felt anxious to say a few words upon the apology that
had been made. He submitted that that apology was as
ample as any apology could he, and clearly shelved that
110 malice whatever was intended. One point only could
be rested upon as a proof of malica, namely, the conversa-
tion represented to have taken place with Scanlan at the
theatre, which he considered must be put entirely out of
consideration.

The ATTORNEY-GICNERAL rose to support the rule. He
had a host of Learned Gentlemen to contend with, all of
whom had endeavoured to attack him from every quarter.
In his opinion Mr. llolmes had acted in this affair as a
every honourable man would have done, and erectly as he
(the A ttorney-General) would have advised him. Though
he had been attacked by so many Learned Counsel, yet
none of them had yet stated what the libel was, and he
should therefore read it to the Court.—(The Attorney-
General here read the libel.) Now (observed the
Learned Gentleman) could any man, much more
a person standing in Mr. Holmes' situation, put
up tamely with such a charge as this ? It was
libellous and scandalous in the highest degree.—
Could such an apology, if it was deserving of that name,
as had been here given, at all compensate for such an at-
tack. It was a most singular circumstance that no person
came forward to swear to that apology, except Sir Thorns,
Champneys, and he (the AttorneyiGeneral) conceived,
that if Mr. Holmes had been satisfied with it, he would
have acted unworthy of himself and of the high station
which lie held. Wse a person to be told, when lie was
charged with a criminal offence, and upon that charge had
?pplird to the Court for a criminal information, that he
was not entitled to that criminal information because
in the next paper, the person who had made that
serious charge against him had made an apology. He,
the Attorney-General, had no doubt that the paper, con-
taining the charge, had been read by hundreds who had not
not read the apology. He had no doubt that the
charge of perjury, as between Scanlan and Westtna-
cott, that a charge of perjury rested somewhere. Could
there be any doubt in the object of putting forward
this lady as the proprietor of this newspaper ? it was
done for the purpose of concealing those who were at the
bottom of all this, and the question was, whether Westma-
cote had not such a controul over the newspaper as made
him a party to this article. Taking all these facts to-
gether, he submitted there was sufficient before the Court
to warrant, nay loudly to call upon the Court to make
this rule absolute. He c..►nsidered the libel a most atro-
cious one, and the apology a gross insult.
Mr. ADOLPHUS rose to address the Court on the same
side, but did not proceed on account of their Lordships
congilting together.. After a short interval,
Lord TENTIADEN said, that there could be no doubt
that the publication was a scandalous libel, and it was
equally clear that it was untrue. He was also prepared to
.ay that any gentleman whose character bad been traduced as
this gentleman's had been, ought not to be satisfied with
such an apology as had been offered. It was true that on
the Ist of May the name of the real author had been com-
municated to Mr. Holmes, which it was stated he would
receive on the 4th, and it was equally true that the
rule had been move! for on the bah, but what of
that. He (Lord Tenterden) was clearly of opinion, that
as to two of the defendants the Attorney-General was
clearly entitled to the rule being made absolute, and
then the question was, had Mr. Westmacott stood
in that relation to this newspaper, as that the rule
ought also to be made absolute against him. He (Lord
Tenterden) thought that a prima facie case had been
made out against Mr. Westmacott, which he had
not rebutted, and his opinion was that Mr. Holmes
was entitled to have the rule made absolute
against all of them if he thought proper to press
for it. If, however, he felt himself satisfied with what
had been done, and chose to have the rule discharged on
the payment by the defendants, of the costa, that might be
master of consideration.

The Comfort SKILIZANT, on the part of the defendants,
etated that if the rule were discharged, they were per-
fectly willing to pay costs.

The ATTORNET-GLNIRAL said that if Mr. Holmes
agreed to any compromise which money could give, he
should consider him totally unworthy of the high station
which he held ; and he, on his part, refused altogether
acceding to such a proposition.—Rule made absolute.

His Majesty's packet, Reynard, arrived from
Halifax, brings confirmation of the less of the William
and Henry of London, which was wrecked on the
Key, West Bahamas, on the 10th January, CHRISTOPHER.
GWINN, the Mate, being the only person saved.

CHARLES 1.---The third and fourth volumes
of Mr. D'lssAlm's Commentaries on the Life and Times
of CHARLES the First may be soon expected. The author
we understand has been assilted in his researches by the
use of many manuscripts Which have never before been
thoroughly examined, and he has consequently been able
to throw a new light on some of the most interesting sub-
jects in our history, suck as the trial and condemnation of
Lord STRAFFORD, the numerous plots bfwhicilt,tholCasso,--i
was surrounded, the political influence of ifieQuiwo;44)
Scots' invasion, and numerous . •
Lord .JAMES STUART'S parne was lay
.Tnis.
take inserted in the list of the Miptur ity of 147 upon Sir,
J. GitAnAat's Motion, his LordshiPTltving voted in favour
of the CIIMICEI,I,9II 91 thc (Algitialei-A41144411:11t.

;.-7`

-
. ;=7„,,.1