The Sun.
London, England, 1814-02-08 00:00:00

LOSS OF THE QUEEN CHARLOTTE.

,
By the Fang cutter, whlch brought over flit,
Pa.ssages Mail of the 18,th ult. ‘;‘,C have learnt
some particular's relative to the unfortunate wreck
of the Queen Charlotte packet, in'tbe harbour. of
St. Sebastian's. •

It appears that at noon on the 16th ult. a gaits,
of wind suddenly arose frOm the' N. W. and tliat
at four P. m. she parted from her anchor, and
.was
retained by a small.anchor and cable for half, an
hour ;, brit before others of a sufficient strength.
could be got up and prepared, she was driven. on
shore at five, and about ten or half-past ten at
night, went to pieces. Every exertion was 'made
by the very active and' intelligent Agent for Pac-
kets at rassages,• Mr. SEBRIGIIT,. to afford
assistance to the. :crew of the packet. A
.party of artillery drivers were immediately march-
ed down to the beach by their Wficers. A party
of artillery were ordered by Major Dvea to act. as
:a guard, and prevent confusion, and the cre..v of
a gun-boat, with several seamen of transporits also
attended. It was, however, found impossible to
send boats to her from the mole, on accoiwt of
the night; and although, by the exertions of the
Packet. Agent, a boat was brought round on
men's shoulders from the mole- to the beach, it
proved impracticable to use it. The Sirrgetni
on shore at an 'early period ;• and the Master and
two men we're picked up from the wreck. The
others who were on board, seventeen in namber;
including Captain Muncie, the Commander,
fortunately met with.a watery grave. The mow:
der of the crew had, luckily for them, recei•
permission to go on shore on the previous (' .y,
and had not been able to join the ship.--r-The
greatest praise is due to the activity and exer:ions
of the artillery; drivers and artillery, who were
•
present : the former,' in particular, stow: for hours
up to the Middle in water, the slid every instant
breaking over them; and the lives of the men
saved are 'stated to be entirely owing A.) their
services

EPIGRAM

On the Detection of Lord BynoN's Plagiarism, in Tug Su of
► Friday last.

That BYRON boil-in:kr verses is well known,
But his misanthropy is all his own.

The LORD CHANCELLOR'S first attendance on
the PRI,NCE REGENT, since • his Lordship's severe _
indisposition, at-Carlton-House, on Sunday last,
was (as is alleged in a Morning Paper) ." upon'
the important measure of his•-ltOyal Highness's
intended message to • Parliament respecting' the
proposed matrimonial union between the Princess '
CHARLOTTE of WALES and the Hereditary Prince
of ORANGE. The nuptials are expected to.he 'so-
lemnized immediately after the Plutvcc REGET,IT's
proposal , has received that/ legislative sanction
which the Constitution requires. The Illustrious
Pair had several interviews 'before the Prince, went
to join his father's standard in Holland, which, it
is understood, progressively led to that union of
-sentiment, front which true conjugal felicity may
naturally be expected to flow. The Prince is a
handsome military character; with an anim-ated
countenance, and has more than once displayed
in the field the heroism which has
guished his llthstrions House. Such an Ifni-,tl
holds out a prospect highiy flattering to the Prd-
testant succession of this country. This "loyal
• Union will he found alluded to in an•MdresS front
the Protestaut Ministers of Tholert to his Royal
Highness the Duke. of CLARENCE; 01.1 his' arrival,
'in that town on the 19th of January, which ap-
pears .under the bead of Dutch Papers."
The services of the gallant Str ROBERT WILSON:
have been-transferred from the head-ctuarters of-
thegrand army, 'to those of Count BELLEGARDE;
in Italy.

The Duke Of Yonx visited the 'PRINCE REGENT
yesterday.
The Earl of LIVERPOOL arrived in towa yester-
day morning from Combe Wood.
Letters from Amsterdam state, that licenses will
be „granted on application, pernritting a direct
trace, in Dutch vessels, from the Colonies in the
East and West Indies to Holland, .and that such
vessels, on coming to England, will have protee~
tion given their' by British convoy.
.BREAD.--The price of Bread for the ensuing
week to remain without alteration.

BoxEtts.-7Th‘... first pugilistic boutest this season
will take place on.the first tlirtirtesday in May,
between Painter, the Lancashire-;elan, and Oliver
the gardener, the two first on thek list of the day.
Painter sent a challenge from O•egson's to the
Gardener, which was received. The match Will
be for 50/. out of die fund 'of the pugilistic

LAW REPORT.

COURT OF KING'S BENCH, FEB. 7.

REX.v. MARk•ANIy CLARKE,

The ATTORNEYGENERAL prayed thejudgment
of the Court upon this defendant, who had suf-
fercfl it to pass at!ainst her by default, upon an
indictment for publishinv a upon the Right
Hon. William Fitzgerald,' Chancellor of the Irish
Exchequer, in a Nraphlet, entitled a Letter to
that Gentleman.

The libel .Was read by \Jr. Dealtry, Deputy-
Clerk of the Crown-office. It accused the pro-
secntor of seducing his friend's wife, procuring
the husband to 'be sent to an unhealthy climate,
and of other matters (not fit to be mentioned in
,a newspaper.)
The defendant then 'put in the fonowini affi-
davit, which was read :---
Mary Ann Clarke maketh.oath, that she feels
great concern at having been betrayed into a vio-
lation of the law : that she bath been intimately
acquainted with the proseeutor and his father, for
many years : that his father introduced the pro-
secutor tO her previous to his
.going to College,
as from tine v
situation in Ihich this depnnent then
lived, she might do him much service in his pro-

gress through life.
That deponent did render him many and essen-
tial services, and a great degree of intimacy sub-
sistediretween her and the prosecutor's said fa-
ther, to whom she also rendered many services,
and with whom she was in the habit of cones-
ponding-fOr a great length of time, and that she,
by this means became possessed of a great num-
ber of his letters; and which. _letters were after-
wards, on occasion of,a certain investigation, sub-
. milted to a Select Committee •of the House of
Conimons, that the .:ontents of someof these letters
transpired ; ,and as defendant was informed by the
prosecutor, it was suggested to him by a member of
his Majesty's Government, that if those letters
were-exposed to the public "they would be highly.
detrimental to_ the prospects of the prosecutor and.
his father, and the former would• be no longer
able to represent the borough of Ennis, which
had cost Jiim a large sum of money ; that the
prosecutor became alarmed as to these letters ;
and immediately after they were ordered to be re-
stored to this deponent, the prosecutor came to
her in the greatest distress and agony of mind, to
request the destruction of those letters•; and the
greater part of which he Obtained' possession of ;
and under promise§ of reward and favour, this
deponent permitted them to be destroyed in his
'presence, after he had made himself acquainted
with the contents. That deponent having great
confidence in the prosecutor's said father, entrust-
ed him. with the keeping of many letters and 'pa-
pers of great public importance ; and,
_amongst
others, she entrusted bim-,with a letter from a'
person in high authority, conveying his assurance
:for providing' for deponent's only son. That,
sOon.after the prosecutor had gained hs
by procuring the destructiOn of said letters, he
totally withdrew himself from her as a friend
and visitor, where he had been previously a con-
stant and almost a daily one, and estranged him 7
self from all friendship toWatirs her; and-instead
of the reward she had been promised, he, and
his father, refused to return her papers, which
had been deposited in trust, and time prosecutor's
fattier assured her he Invidestroyed them, and had
burnt the said letter containing, the promise of
provision. And this deponent further saith; that
the letters which she now hathin berpossession,
in the hand-writing of the said prosecutor and his
father, clearly prove the truth•of the' above 'mat-
ters, respecting their .correspondence with, and
obligations to this deponent., both before and since
. the proceedings in 1809; during a period of about
fourteen years. That deponent repeatedly rerno'n-
• strated with him on these matters, but finding
those remonstrances unattended to, and being
vexed and disappointed in her expectations, and
treated with 'contempt and ingratitude-, she under
that influence published the letter which is the sub-
ject of this prosecution, which has been very little.
circulated. ,
That' this deponent at first pleaded not,guilty to
the indictment, but beirig advised she could not
defend herself under that plea, withdrew it, and
suffered judgment to go by default, and thereby
wholly subunit herself to the consideration of this
HonOurable Court. That this deponent bath two
daughters, one of them approached the age of
.womanhood. That she hath hitherto, under many
adverse circumstances and misfortunes, given them
an education, and brought them up in honour and
virtue. And that, Should this Honourable Court,
in its wisdom, deprive her said .daughters of her
protection, they will be loft totally destitute; and
• she humbly hopes, that these circumstances, and
the state of her health, and that in the_ present
case she •has been actuated bv no views of a poli-
. tical nature, but solely by time treatment received-
. from the prosecutor_ in his private capacity, will
be taken into the consideration of this Honoui-
_
able Cot,rt.

Mr. ATTORNEY-GENERAL, Mr. PARKE, and
Mr. SpittLirrr,-then addressed the Court in sup
pOrt of the prosecution. The ATTORNEY-GE—
NERAL characterised the libel as the most flagrant
that had ever appeared in a Court of Justice, as it
accused, the prosecutor of nothing less. than fe-
lony. There was no doubt that/ it was as directly
meant for an engine for the purpose of extorting
money, as if she had commanded a sum to be put
under a stone, under threat of the like revenge.
Revenge, indeed, was stated to Ige the motive of
the pamphlet ; and the public is always the bar
to which these libellers drag their victims. " As'
yet," said Mt s. Clarke, " 1 have.shewn up no one
who (lid not richly deserve to be exposed to the
public : this is the only revenge;. am desirous'
of taking on those by whom Lam ill-treated ;
and inning brought them before that tribunal,
I rest perfectly satisfied tleat impartial justice.
will be administered.— " This hint," she pro-
ceeds, 'I have just thrown out by the way, as a
.caution to those who either do. not know; or re-
quire to be reminded,. that _it is._,,nOt my disposi—
tion to sit down quietly under, the studied injury
of ingratitude, and. the. neglect of promises given
to. dupe or cajole me,
_by men who never meant
to perform them,or who think that they may at
tuy tine be broken Witb:inquaity. 'For the

•
befit, 'therefore, of all whotn It may- concern, T
here announce my iut,ention of submitting to the
isublic, in a very short time, two ,or three volumes,
which may be. followed by whets, tts opportunity
shall strit, or circumstance require." So that the
whole N('ere at the mercy of Mrs: Clarke's
opportunities and circumstances. Tile Attorney-
Gene,ral hoped the sentence of :the Court • tvonld,
at least, teach her to hold her hand., and to refrain
from th publication of future libels- -7
Mr. IinouGHAM then addressed the Court in
Mitigation of the defendant's punishment. She
stood on the floor to receive the jndm gent
,of the
Court for having ptthlished .a libel
,against, a pri-
vate individual.; and although her Counsel was
not permitted justify her criminality„whiCh she
had confessed by' su,iferingjudgment to go by de-
fault, and had no.int.ention. to deny her contrition
for, that criminality, •NVIIiOI, she had avowed by
her agidevit that had just been read, still she was
entitled fo, urge all circumstances Which, in any
-with Case of libel by one private individual against
aunt ber,the Court would feel it their duty to take
into their consideration, in apportioning the pu-
nishment to the offence. 'ilk was not the case,
then, of a wanton and unprovoked attack upon the
private character of an individual, for the sake
of ministering to _the public appetite for domestic
slander. This publication arose out of a long_
connexion between the partiesi. commencing
•with an .acquaintance _with the prosecutor's fa-
ther ; an intercourse, the Learned Counsel was
not entitled to say, consisting in reciprocal
obligations, for ihe'favours scented to be all
on one side ; .the family of the prosecutOr had
founded their hopes of preferment in.another con-
nection of the defendant's, of a still more delicate
nature. was a connection of 14 years standing,
of their seeking, not hers, and as .far as-regai:ded
the prosecutor, founded upon his father early in-
troducing,. him, to her patronage and protection,
as likely to assist him in his progress through pub-
lic life. All these things she distinctly swore.—
Her oath had formerly peen believer! in this
Court, when in competition with the swearing of
others. It would-now he believed not the-less,
that she was' tmcontratlieted by any. affidavit of
the prosecutor, to whom the Court would un-
doubtedly have given time for the purpose, 14 he
been disposed or able to deny the statement. The-
letters- under the hand of the prosecutor, "band his
Lather, further substantiated these things ; and
'they, too, were mentioned in the affidavits.

out of such an interemirse, sought by them for
their own purpose; and Ceinented by various acts
of kindness-on her part,—kindness always freely
acknowledged in their letters,—the quarrel arose
which led to this offence. On getting possession
of the letters, both 'of those the publication of
which would Prove ruinous to him, -and of others
in trust : the former, she, at his „earnest, nay,
impassioned entreaty, and to relies'e the agony of
his mind, allowed to be destroyed ; the latter; af-
fecting others, he obtained, and privately de-
stroyed, without her permission. Among then'
was one containing promises of provision for her.
son. The Learned Connsel had•not urged in ex-
tenuation, of her yielding to such feelings of pro-
vocation, .and under great irritation doing an act
of violence, or. it night be said spitefulness ;
in palliation of this act of womanly an;mosity
he had not urged; that the parson who had
committed it was a woman, lest _ it might be
said, that.. when the sex no longer imposed
a restraint, it should cease to afford a protection, .
—but he Would say (and ,the remark was, not
liable to any such objection) that she.was alno-
ther, and intreat their ,LordslCips to reflect on the
effects other punishment on those whom she had,
notwithstanding. her 'Own errors, brought up-in
honour and virtue, by giving them that educatiOn
.and those habits .of which, if she did not already,
she possibly might live to feel the want: When
the Court took these things into the account ; the
long standing and origin '9f the connection ; the
steps by which it led to the offence; that the
libel originated not in any desire of gratifying the
public malignity at a stranger's expense, or any
wanton, gratuitous desire of mischief towards. one
who had not put himself in 'the way of it.; still
less in base views of a meicenary kind, it was
hoped that their Lordships would mingle the por-
tion of justice which those considerations might
affix, with a merciful regard to the interests of the
guiltless.
Before the Court pronounced judgment upon
the defendant, Mary Ann Clarke, the ATTORNEY=
GENERAL thought it his duty 'to intimate that he
it ad also to pray judgment against Win. Mitchell,
who had suffered it to go by default, under an in-
dictment for printing the fore-mentioned libel. At ,
the same time the Attorney-General heliev.ed him
to be the 'ignorant agent of other• persOnS whose
names he refus-ed to give up; and he had nothing
to Inge agai?tst him beyond the mere fact of his
being the printer of this atrocious libel.

The defendant said that he was seventy years
of age, and had never received any profit from the
sale oil the libel.
Mr. Justice LE BLAwc pronounced the judg- -
merit of the Court upon both defendants, who,
he said, had acknowledged themselves guilty, the
one of being the. author and publisher, and the
other,the printer and circulator- of a libel against
a private individual, .of so foul a nature that the
Court would not repeat, it the charges-, if true,
would render the prosecutor unfit for the situation
he holds, or, indeed, for any other. There was"
no doubt of the libellous tendency of diis publica7
Lion ; and there could be as little that the motive
in which it originated, and which-induced the threat-
of those Other volumes which the defendant..
Mary Ann Clarke, stated herself to,have in .~
tation, was the desire to raise money by the pur-
chase of their suppression. His Lordship holed
this would be a warning to the world how they
formed hasty and imprudent connections ; and for
the,defendant herself, he trusted the solitude and
confinement to which it would be the duty of the
Court :to sentence her, would induce her to review •
her past life, and repent of those errors which had
brought her to her
.present situation. It was al-
ways painful to be obliged to visit the sins of the
fathers upon the children ; but in some cases
the separation of the, latter from the former
might be attended, with beneficial results ; whe-
ther that might be the case in this instance, it
was not for the Co-0a to inquire. • Taking all the
circumstances hito ita consideration, the Court-

. . .
ditl. order and-ndjodge flafthe 'defendant, 11Ery
Ann'Clarke, shoisild be committed to the custody
of the • Marshal, of .the, Mrshalsea (the King's
Bench Prison) for the space of nine calendar
months, and at the end of that period enter intn
security to --ep the peace ,for three years, in
recognizance, herself in 2001. and two sureties in
1801.. oachi and 'be further imprisoned till that
security be giren ; and that the defendant, Wil-
liam Mitchell, should be imprisoned in the same
raol for four calendar months. .
Mrs. Clarke conducted herself with her usual
flippanCy, courtseying ironically to the Attorney-
General at the Conclusion of his speech. The
age and appearance of the eiompanion with W 1 '0
in
misery had made her acquainted stemed to enter-
vim her very much ; but when Mr. Justice lA4
llc.-ANc came to speak of irnprishinent, hen gaiety
tailed her, and she shed a few tears.

COURT OF CHANCERY, FED. 7.

We have the gratification this day of announc-
ing to the public the recovery of the Lortp
cELLoR from his late indisposition, so .far as to
sit and transact his usual •business in his private
roam, adjoining ,the Court of Chancery, at West-
minster.—His Lordship heard the lunatic case of
'Edridge, judgment upon which is to be delivered
to-morrow. •

COURT OF KING'S BENCH, DUBLIN, FEB. 8.

This day Mr. JoriN MAGEE was tried and found
guilty of a Libel, for publishing, in The Dublin
Evening Post, the 'Resolutions of the Roman Ca-,
tholics of the County and- CiVy of of
the 4th August last. The Court was extremely
crowded.