The Sun.
London, England, 1808-06-17 00:00:00

upon which, if they stood aloets, the party might
have been fbund guilty.; and by suppressing others
which led to the verditt of an acquittal ;. then -by
holding out the Jury as the objects of /Alive:l-sal de-
testation, and inferring that their motives were base-
ly corrupt ant unjust. The Learned Counsel con-
chided by saying, that he should prove' the pnblica,
iions, • and he had no doubt the Jury would think
with him, that they were highly libellous, 4:1:1 thet
the authors:ought to. be punished.
• The Independent Whig of the 17th and 24th of
January, 1808, were then put in and read, a tier-the
same. hail been proved tb be publishd- by: the pe4
fendant, and the libels were in•substance as follow :
The first was 'a letter signed « Hurnanitmi," in-
serted on the 17th of January, from a supposed cor-
respondent,, calling upon the Editor of The 11%. No to
exercise his pen 111)011 the subjen of Chapman's ac-
quittal ; which the writer describes to be a murder
etfeaed by acruel and systematic torture of a poor
sick lad; and infers that the verditt proceeded upon
judicial corruption. " flenceforth (says the writer)
away with the foolish' Erskinean boast of trial by.
Jury."—The letter concludes by saying—" that it is
reported Mr. Thomas Lovedey, baker, of Alders-
gate-street, has the merit of persuading his fellow
Jurymen to this acquittal."
The second libel was inserted the 24th ofJanuary,
1808, and contained a letter addressed to Sir
-Le Blanc. The letter began by calling his Lordship's
attention to the trials of Bennet and Chapman, both.
charged with the . crime.of murdet, and both ac-
quitted. The writer says, the verdiets have filled
the country with astonishment, and excited one uni-
versal sentiment cif. horror. He then proceeds as
follows i-7." Be not deceived, my Lord ; lay not the
flattering unction to your soul, that these horrible,and
atrocious at% will elude the enquiring gaze of public
observation ! No, my Lord, the laws and constitu-
tion, the principles. and jurisprudence of England,
have received a wound which threatens their,destrue-
tion. Magna Charta, and the hill of RighLs, are
almost rendered useless ; the liberties, the lives and
safeties of individuals have, been trampled upon,
and made the wanton sport of "malice ; and the
chief blizssing of Our immortal Alfred, the Trial
by Jury, has been perverted and destroyed.
The libel proceeds I shall hereafter sinew, by
comparison of the law of evidence hithertoestablish-
ed, and the doctrines recently held out on the above
trial, that it. will be in future -utterly impossible to
produce proof of guilt, or procure the conviction of
murderers anti assassins." • *
The third libel was also inserted on the 24th Jan.
addressed to the Jury on Chaptnan's trial. 'lt tells
them the public indignation is excited at the ac-
quittal, as the horrid ads were substantiated by the
dearest testitnany : and attributes their decision a to
the overwhelining Authority of judicial corruption.".
This concluded .the case for the part of the prose-
cution, when
Mr. ADOLPHUS rose and addressed the lay at
great length in defence. He began by saying, that
he knew of no immunity or chatter to prevent the
Public from animadverting on the dc-iiiees of judi
riot tribunals, or of reviewing tame lath, that lead
to the conviction or aO9LIHt:fI of 4 public cri7
initial. Trials of great public importance had at
all times been made- the subject of public ani-
madversion, ant; the opinions of inaiViduals upon
their results had, from_ the earliest periods, been
published to the world. The Defendant, in the pre-
, sent case, had done no more : they had discussed,
through the medium of their newspaper, the fads
and the result of the trial of a murderer; and he
would insist that none of the inferences not interests

set farth in the infbrmation could be adduced from
that discusion. Instead of bringing the trial by Jury
into contempt, they wished, it possible, to make it
more pure and perfect. The writer of the letter to Sir
• SiMon Le Blanc, said the Lea:ued•Counsel, calls upon
leis Lordship to retie& upon that inestimable blessing,
the Trial by Jury ; he wishes to preser‘-.0.. it pureand
Uncontaminated ; that it Shohid be what the immortal
Alfred intended it should be, the safeguard of oui
lives, our liberties, and our properties, and not merely
,R tavern toast, or the motto to a Peer's coat of arms.—
The writer,.in his address to the Jurymen, he added,
had only evinced an honest and tetnporate zeal in giv-
ing advice to them, not be too yielding to the direc-
tions .of the Judge, but to exercise their own consti-
tutional privilege, free from prejudice. or bias. " In
short, he had only used that right ordiseession which
the Constitution alloWe+him ; and though he might
have fallen into error, nuthing,jof malice could fairly
be imputed to hitn. The Learned Counsel then gave
history of the trials of Bennet and Chapman, and
wasputting their cases in so strong a light to the
Jury, that he was called to order by the Judge, who
reminded him, that • the Verdids' upon those men
would remain for ever, and the arguments he was
then adducing were calculated to impeach those ver•
dials, and not to benefit his Client's defence. '

Mr. ADOLPHUS apologised, and coutinned; by per-
sisting that there was nothing in the publications to
prove that tl'e writer intended to arraign the admini-
stration of 'justice, or bring the trial by *fury into'
contempt. At did appear to him that the, case of
Chapman was one in which a "verdict of acquittal
ought not to have been given ; but he was far from
imputing corrupt motives either to the Judge or
Jory.. The writer of the letters in question felt that
to be the general feeling, and considered himself
justified in discussing the propriety of the verdid.
The same thing had been done in the case of Steel's
murderers; •a pamphlet had been written, the ver-
dio- was questioned, and yet nothing had been done
by the Attorney-General. He should therefore re-
peat. that- be knew of no immunity or charter by -
which tbe verOios of Juries were not to be temp—
rarely discussed', and the fat% revised; and he did,
agree ‘‘ nit the quotation made by the writer,

That mercy's murder, pardoning these who kill."