The Sun.
London, England, 1825-02-21 00:00:00

PRIVY COUNCIL.

wtl. !MUCH, ESQ., SERJEANT-AT-LAW, COMPL,III7.:TA.NT
31.1J0R-GENERAL JOHN MURRAY, RESPONpn .t_
e•us
This case, which has excited considerable intercetast
of the
lic mind, in consequence of the rank and respe
r
parties, came on to be heard on Saturday befoye the
The ord
Lord-
Pre-
sident, and a Committee of the Privy Cpucil.
ships having ordered Counsel to be called inn,
be
to open the complain-
The COMMON SERJEANT p
ant's case. He appeared, he
- President of the Court of
-sraZtlc,e before their Lordships on
behalf of Mr. Sergeant Rough,
Criminal and Civil Justice of theel:ureanitehtly Choilmon
yagoafinDstellmlearjaorra-
and Essequibo, on a charge p t
rvernor of that Colony ; and the
General John 'Murray:
grounds of his complaintstihe ewtileroe
outrage thbeys e.srh—ae
without
lamednpu tdelinocifutehne.
illegal and unwarrantable
shadow of legal or moral guilt, he was
cy or charge, withiosunt
ffice of President ; he complained of every
suspended from h
aggravation by which such a proceeding could be accompanied,
he complained that his Secretary had been turned out of his apac-
which were forcibly seized' ; that his own libra. ,
meats,
and papers, had been violently taken from him ; that
sslispension had been blazoned forth in an unneces-
aairi'ry proclamation, published in the Royal Gazette : that
.his place had been filled up by an appointment most illegal
and improper ; and that a mock procession and a vulgar
riot, by which his enemies celebrated their triumph over him,
the law, and public peace, had been encouraged and applauded
by the Governor,
whose own lawless violence had occasioned,
and thus gratified their wanton malignity. After observing
upon the manifest duty and necessity of a Governor affording
his utmost support to the judicial authorities of a colony, the
Learned Counsel proceeded to detail the facts of the case. In
the year 1816 Mr. Sergeant Rough, having previously been ap-
pointed to the Presidency of the Court of Justice of that colony,
went out to Demerara to undertake the duties of his office.
Major-General Murray was then Governor. They continued
for some time upon terms which evinced no displeasure on either
side towards the other ; although there was subsequently reason
to believe that the mind of the Governor had conceived certain
feelings, not of the most friendly nature towards the President. In
the year 1820, various calumnies began to make their appearance
in a paper called the Guiana Chronicle, reflecting upon the cha-
racter and conduct of Mr. President Rough, and the Court ofJus,
tire, over which he had the honour to preside; and charging its
officers with the receipt of illegal and exorbitantfees. Now if there
were any thing supposed to be wrong in the mode of charging
fees, the proper course of proceeding would have been to have
preferred a complaint in the first instance to the Court itself;
and it' their decision were unsatisfactory, they might then carry ,
it to a higher tribunal. But most undoubtedly it was highly
improper to circulate vulgar calumnies of this nature upon the
administration of justice through the medium of a public jour-
nal which was in the hands of every individual in the colony.
If such charges were made in this country, they would be
comparatively of little moment • because there were tribunals
here by which the interests of Al parties would be sure to be
protected : but there the case was different. It was, however,
in the power of the Government to prevent the publication of
• those calumnies; notwithstanding which, the Guiana Chronicle
went on without interruption, to impute-practices to the Presi-
dent and the other members of the Court of Justice, which
were illegal and improper. In making this complaint of the
conduct of the press, he begged their Lordships to recollect,
that the case of the press there was the case of the Government.
The Colony had no free press, for the Governor was invested
with the power of censorship over it. Indeed it hardly pos-
sessed materials for collecting public opinion. There were
two papers in the colony, one of which was invariably sub-
mitte'd to the Governor's inspection, and the other he had
opportunities of constantly seeing ; and when he beheld in
it these libels upon the character of the President, it
was his bounden duty to have interposed with his censor-
ship, and
.protected him from such calumnious attacks.—
Did he so interfere ? On • the contrary, he permitted them
to continue under his eye, and it would even be shown that he
was not ignorant of the hand that wrote them. Nay, more,
it would be shown that General Murray was actually at the
bottom of them himself. If the charges against the Court had
arty foundation, an inquiry into them ought to have proceeded
in a legitimate course; but here it wanted the very first step
towards such a course, for there was no accuser. General Mur-
ray actually thought proper to ground his most unjustifiable
proceedings upon an anonyhmus letter. Now when he re-
ceived a letter of that description, he ought instantly either to
have flung it into the fire; or if he thought it worthy of any
notice, he ought to have handed it over to the President of the
Court, as the proper authority to inquire into the circumstances
to which it referred. Instead of which General 3lurray's con-
ituct upon the occasion was such as afforded strong grounds for
suspecting that it wags he who had procured the letter to be
written to himself ; for he actually made it the ground of public
pioceedings, and issued a proclamation, stating its contents, and
saying that he was ready to hear all complaints on this subject ;
without having made the slightest inquiry as to who was the
author, who was the base and cowardly assassin, who could
thus assail the character of respectable individuals in the dark,
without daring to shew his face. When the Governor thus gave
encouragement to this anonymous accusation, could it be as-
tonishing that the newspapers continued to pursue their course
of'slandeis ? Day after day these calumnies were poured forth
with unceasing malignity. Nor were they confined to the
press ; public rtd4fings were held, where speeches were made
and resolutions proposed, of the same libellous character. A Mr.
Andrew Cochrane Johnstone, whose name had acquired a cer-
tain degree of notoriety, and who had settled in Demerara was
one of the most active persons in getting up these assemblies.
There was a class of people in every country who were always
ready to gratify their disposition by bringing charges against per-
seas of high rank in life. There was no difficulty, therefore, in
getting together meetings of this kind, and accordingly they were
held frequently; money was raised at them ; and inflammatory
petitions sent in to the Government, which, instead of suppressing
or checking, actually encouraged these slanderous anti mischiev-
ous proceedings ; /and some of its own officers were amongst the
most active proniOters of them. This went on for some time un-
til at length seyeral gentlemen of the Court declared that they
found it impo‘sible toremain in office if these proceedings and ca-
lumnies were permitted to continue any longer. It was therefore
desired that Mr. Stevenson, the printer of the Guiana Chro-
nicl,:, should be prosecuted for one of these libels, which was of
eo g:oss a description that the Government could not refuse;
hat while this person was in prison for one libel, be continued
to issue others containing the grossest calumnies, for which
fresh proceedings were desired to be instituted against him.—
But this was refused by the Government, upon which three
gentlemen of the Criminal Court tendered their resignation,
declaring that it was a mockery of the Court to attempt to
administer justice to others, when they could not obtain the '
support of the Government in procuring justice and protec-
tion for themselves. There being then no longer a full court,
capable of proceeding, it was thought necessary to notify
upon the walls of the court that the sittings were for the pre-
eere. suspended. This fact was much relied upon by General
11l array ; for he said that Mr. President Rough had pre-
vented the Commissaries from sitting. But so far from that,
the suspension of the sittings was occasioned by the cir-
cumstance of these gentlemen having resigned front feelings
which did them credit, in consequence of the proceedings
which were so systematically carried on against them through the
medium of the press and public meetings, and all of which
were sanctioned by the Government. When, therefore, Ge-
neral Murray stated that Mr. Sergeant Rough prevented the
commissaries from sitting, he gave a false colour to the fact;
for they had no authority flir sitting, for want of a full court.
But even supposing for a moment the fact to be as he stated. to
whom was the blame to be attributed—to the President and his
brother Judges, who had declined to continue to sit while they
were charged with extorton,- or to him at whose door all these
proceedings were to be laid ? It might be conceived that when
meetings were held, and petitions poured in upon him couched '
in the most inflammatory language, it was possible that the
Governor's mind, poisoned and misled by the individuals by
whom he was surrounded, might have been carried away with
a false impression ; but if it could be shewn that all the pro-
ceedings had been caused by himself—that he had actually in-
vited accusation by a public proclamation, what then was to be
said of Governoe'Murray.'s conduct? Now with respect to the
fers, which had been made the ground of complaint, it was only
the. Court that had a right to regulate them. The subject had
been brought under the consideration of the authorities in Eng-
land ;
.and in theyear 1817 Lord Bathurst wrote to Gen. Murray,
,requiring him to eensult with the President respecting the regu-
lation of fees, and to communicate the result of their considera-
tion to his•Lotdship. nothing certainly could have been more wise
or more easy' than to remedy a grievance of this nature. But
would their Lordshipa-believe, that insteadof communicating that
letter to the'President, he never said one syllable about it, and
••
it was not until the year 1820 when these libels were in circula-
tion, that the President-first heard of it ?It was impossible not
to see from this that there was something in the mind of General
Murray which indisposed him to act towards Mr. Sergeant.,
Rough as he ought to have done. that letter of Lordd
.e.liathurst's had for some' time escaped his memory, the anony-
mous letter could not have
failed to remind him.of it; and it
was his duty then, since he had not done so before, to have put
ethmzetn4t9ttohli mh;
proper that letter into his hand, instead ofgiy,i intgweanscotruzg
roper.and scandalous proceedings.
was said attributing personal corrupt motives to the President,
and that a disavowal of such an imputation was rather
pom-
pously put forth. But notwithstanding that disclaimer,
which
was sometimes adopted as an artful mode of conveying the
very insinuation which it affected to disclaim, every body look_
jug from a distance at the proceedings would be Inclined to
regard his charactcr,ivith suspicion ; for they would naturally