The Sun.
London, England, 1837-02-10 00:00:00

KING'S BEN-61-.-(TIIIS DAY.)

(Sittings at Nisi Prins before Lord DENMAN and a
Special Jury.)
LIBEL.
DE ROOS V. CUMMING.
.The trial of' this case, which has excited so much interest
tl
le fashionable world for the last two or three months,
came on this morning '; and at an early hour all the avenues
leading to the Court were crowded with persons anxious to
hear the proceedings.
Upon the Bench were Lord Alvanley, Lord Grosvenor,
Mr. Byu;t, and several other Noblemen and Gentlemen ;
and the Court was densely crowded in every part.
'Mr. -WIGIITMAN opened the pleadings—The plaintiff
was the Right Hon. Henry Wm. Lord Dc Roos, and John
Cumming was time defendant. The Declaration stated that
the_ defendant, had published of the plaintiff a foul and mali-
einus libel, charging him with unfair play at Graham's Club
House and elsewhere at cards, to which the plaintiff had
pleaded that the charge was not true.
The ATTORNEY-GENERAL stated the case as follows :
—Gentlemen of the Jury, I have the honour to ap-
pear before you as Counsel for the plaintiff—and con-
fident, as I am, in the truth and justice of my cause,
it is impossible for me to rise to address you without
feelings of the deepest anxiety. Upon your verdict to-day
depends the fate of the Nobleman, illustrious for his descent
equally as for his private virtues. Gentlemen, the plaintiff
is Lord De Roos, son of Lord H. Fitzgerald and Lady Dc
Roos, whose title is as old as the reign of Henry the
Third. The plaintiff is their eldest. He was educated
with great care, and studied at Eton and Oxford. He
afterwards travelled ; and I believe I may say, in the
hearing of many noblemen and gentlemen well acquainted
with hips, that there is not a more accomplished man
in Europe. Gentlemen, about six years ago his father
Lord Henry Fitzgerald died, when he came into the pos-
session of a large property. Two years afterwards he lost
his mother, when he had a considerable accession to that
fortune. He had nothing wanting to his enjoyment, except
that he was afflicted with an• illness which subjected him
occasionally to ii:9 greatest pain and agony. Gentlemen,
Lord de Roos, with all those advantages, and labouring
under this infirmity, was a member of most of the fashion-
able clubs. He was a memLer of White's, Noodle's,
Brookes', and Graham's. Play with him was only an
amusement. He joined in it merely to pass away an idle
hour—nothing he won could add to his enjoyments—no-
thing he lost could create any anxiety. Gentlemen, in the
winter of 1835 and beginning of 1836, he was at Brighton,
where he had been ordered by his physicians. He remained
there till the beginning of Feb., 1836. He came to Lon-
don rather improved in health, but still obliged to observe
a regime, and keep early hours. He was, as I said, a member
of Graham's Club'; and that Club, and that only, of those
I have enumerated, was one at which there was morning
whist. Gentlemen, whist is a game to which he was very
much attached, and a play at which, I believe, it was al-
lowed on all hands that Lord De Roos was most able. He
was accounted tile best whist player in Europe. He used
to go there and spend an hour or two, when he was not
otherwise engaged, before dinner, playing this game which
he was so much attached to. It would appear that in that
Club, in the beginning of the season, and before Lord Do
Roos came to town, whispers were circulated of unfair
play ; and various persons were, in those whispers, sup-
posed to have been guilty of this crime, There was a deter-
mination formed that the Club should be dissolved and re-
constructed, leaving out the names of certain persons who
were suspected. It was a great object to the master of the
Club, and those connected with it, that its character should
be clear; but it also was an object that some person should
be made a scape-goat, in order that the character of others
might be vindicated. Gentlemen, I shall show you, before
this case is over, that a deliberate plot was formed for the
removal of Lord De Roos. On account of his great
celebrity as a whist-player, there was a certain degree of
jealousy and envy excited—it was desirable that he should
leave the Club, and it was accordingly decided that upon
him this charge 'should be laid. Not long after Lord De
Roos's arrival in town he received an anonymous letter,
which we have received notice to produce, cautioning him
against continuing to play at Graham's, and inti-
mating to him that, if he did so, measures would be
taken that he would have reason to repent. Gentlemen,
what would a guilty man have done in such a case ? He
' would have been glad to make his escape without such an
exposure. If he- had to continue to play, Gentlemen, and
that he had been guilty, he would at all events from that
time have been upon his guard'; and he would have cauti-
ously and religiously abstained from practising those vices
to which he was supposed to be addicted. Lord De Roos
felt as a man of honour—be was determined to brave any
man who might bring such a charge against him ; he at-
tended the Club several days after that more sedulously
than before, and he continued to play till the end of the
season, in the beginning of July. No charge was brought
against him—he had no reason to suppose that any charge
existed, or that any person even suspected his honour.
Gentlemen, it happened that in the beginning of the
'month of July, Lord De Roos went from Park-place,
his town residence, to his villa in the Regent's Park,
and there he gave a great fete on the Bth of Juy, that was
attended by all the fashionables of the metropolis, and it was
attended by those who now come forward as the accusers of
-Lord de Roos. It will appear, gentleman, that those who
now come forward as his accusers affected to be his friends,
and continued to, court his intimacy down to the last me-
meet of his remaining in London, without ever having whis-
pered one suspicion that might affect his honour. Gen-
- tiemen, after that fete had been given, Lord de Roos paid
a visit to some of his relations in the country, and by the
advice of his physician, he went to Germany. He first
went to Stutgard, where he had a sister, the wife
of the Minister, residing. He afterwards went to Baden.
It was on the 14th of August he left town, and up
to that time there had not been more than a whisper. But
when his back was turned—when the seas divided him
from those who plotted his ruin, then it was that there was
a yell raised against him, and the most monstrous stories pro-
pagated and loudly asserted by his accusers. A resolution
was formed to drive him from this country, so that he
might never be able to face his accusers, or clear his
reputation. These stories being thus in circulation which are
allowed now to be false, they gained publicity in a news-
paper called the Satirist, and in this instance I must say
that the Satirist only embodied the rumours that were raised
against him. 'The Learned Counsel here read the article
.which appeared in the Satirist newspaper, which stated that
on the '2sth of September a great sensation had been
created in all the. Clubs, by a circumstance which took
place a short time since at Graham's—that a Noble Lord
was detected. in a quick movement affecting his character
as a gentleman and a man of honour—that they
gave the report as they had heard it, extenuating
nothing, and setting nought down in malice. The para-
graph went on to state, that Lord de Roos was play-
ing at cards with Lord George Bentinck and Mr. Cumming
'--that after playing a considerable time, suspicion was ex-
cited in the mind of one of the party, who very quietly
Placed his hand upon the cards, called the waiter and or-
dered him to seal them up, with the view to deliver them
into ',the hands of the Committee—that this had such
'an effect upon the accused party, that he immediately left
the Club, and quitted town as soon as he could make the
necessary arrangements for that purpose. Now this article
is what may be called a multitudinous lie—it represents
that Lord de Roos was publicly detected and exposed in
committing a fraud at play ; that it was publicly insisted by
his accusers that the charge thus publicly made against
him should be publicly investigated, and that he had fled
from that investigation. Gentlemen, this excited horror
as time friends of Lord De Roos—they wrote to him, he
hieing then at Baden, and he, as you may suppose, was
thunder-struck at that charge. Lord De Roos acted upon
that occasion, as be has done in every stage of these pro-
ceedings, like a man of honour-and spirit—he returned to
this country immediately. In what shape was he to meet
it ? By indictment ? By criminal information, •in which
the truth of time charge would not come in question ? No, he
.brought an action against the Satirist newspaper, which
contained that and other general allegations, with which it is
lint necessary to trouble you—giving theSatirist,and those who
contributed to the Satirist, or who had uttered or circulated
those rumours the most ample opportunity of proving that
those charges, or any part of them were true, or that on any
occasion Lord de Roos had conducted himself contrary to
the laws of honour. Gentlemen, this proceeding was well
known in the world—it was known that Lord de Roos
had brought this action, but his enemies had deter
rained that he should not have the benefit of that action.
'An association was formed, of which Mr. Cumming, the
defendant, is one, and I must say in defence of Mr. Cutn-
Ming he is the tool of others, and that ho himself is made a
dupe, and the worst I shall say against him is that I he-
heve he comes forward on this occasion rather from a
morbid wish of notoriety than from any predetermined
!bailee against the plaintiff. You will see by-and-by who
is the dole fabricator, and that it is not Mr. Cumming. In
the month of December a letter signed George Payne, B.
lireville, G. Cumming, and H. Bentinek, was addressed to
Lord de Roos, (dated White's, Dec. 2, 1836.) The
Learned Counsel here read the letter.
White's, Dec. 2, 1836.
to MY Lord—The charges of unfair play which have been
!lg- circulated against you did not originate with ourselves,
o
were late and reluctant believers in them ; neither, when
Convinced of the truth, did we propagate the report, which we
were anxious to suppress—our personal feelings, and the con-
vetton of the injury that would be inflicted on society by the
exposure of a person of your Lordship's rank and station,
Prompting
us to forbearance.
All that we reuired, injustice to others, was, that you
should abstain from play, and, at a meeting attended by Lord
nry Bentinck, Mr. Payne and Colonel Anson
who mu also
reluctant) y convinced of the truth of the accus'ations, it was
agreed that no further measures should bo adopted by us, unless