The Sun.
London, England, 1825-09-21 00:00:00

POLICE INTELLIGENCE.

MR. MARTIN AND MORNING CHRONICLE.
BOW-STREET.--Yesterday, when Sir RICHARD BIRNIE
had disposed of the night charges, and there was little or no-
thing to occupy his attention, Mr. R. Martin, M.P., entered
the office, and having exchanged a few whispering words with
the Chief Magistrate, the Hon. Legislator took a station in the
centre of the Bench, and delivered himself to the following
effect :—" Sir Richard Birnie, I have called here this morning
for the purpose of informing you of my intention to appear be-
fore your honourable self and your colleagues to-morrow, at-
tended by my solicitor, in order that I may have the advice of
the first bench of Police Magistrates in Europe, as to the best
mode of making the proprietor and editor of the Morning Chro-
nicle newspaper, Mr. Clement and Mr. Black, amenable to the
law for publishing a series of libels, reflecting in a high degree
upon my character as a man, a gentleman, and a legislator.—
It is by this time pretty well known, Sir Richard, all over the
kingdom, that lam the author—the father I may say—of an
Act of Parliament, for the prevention of cruelty to animals ;
and I think it not a little hard, your Worship, that because I
have chosen to interpose my humble exertions for the protec-
tion of the inferior animals against the brutality of the supe-
rior kind, called (sometimes nicknamed) men, I should be
held up to public ridicule and contempt, and libelled in all
sorts of ways in the columns of the Morning Chronicle. Such
however is the fact, as I shall shew you by and by. I shall
shew you that Mr. Clement, and his man, Mr. Black, have
pursued a systematic course of libellous abuse and invective
against me. It is well known that I have very often had
occasion to appear as the prosecutor of offences under
the Act which I was the means of bringing into Parlia-
ment, and I appeal to every Magistrate in London before
whom I have appeared, whether I have not always conduct-
ed myself with fairness and moderation ; and yet I am al.
ways abused and libelled in the Morning Chronicle. It is
no matter whether I charge a man with battering the ribs of
a half-starved cow—with half fracturing the skull of an over-
driven sheep—with endeavouring, by the use of the whip, to
make serviceable, as an animal of draught, a poor devil of a
horse that is fit only for the knackers, or with beating out the
eye of an unhappy ass--it is all the same, the Chronicle is sure
to be at me. Now, mark what this paper said the other day,
when I prosecuted a ruffian for beating out the eye of an ass ;
it commenced its account of that transaction with " Mr.
Martin and another unfortune ass"—meaning, of course,
to couple me with the long-eared quadruped. Whether I de-
serve to be placed on a level in character and intellect with
that very useful but much-abused and unfortunate animal, the
public, in the course of the long life which Providence has
enabled me to enjoy, have had an opportunity of judging ; if
they think I do bear any affinity to the ass, why I must e'en
be content to sit down quietly under the burden ; but if they
do not think so, I shall be perfectly satisfied with their opi-
nion in opposition to that of the Morning Chronicle. Any
abuse which that journal may choose to heap upon me I am
aware can do me no harm : it falls, I may truly say, like the
dew-drop upon the lion's mane—'tis shook into air ; but still
Mr. Clement, who I believe is a great capitalist, had better
cease his invectives against me, or he will be injuring his pro-
perty very materially; for I appeal to the public—that public
to which the Morning Chronicle is indebted for its very exist-
ence—whether the Journal, in its abuse of me, is not running
counter to the good sense of all the nation. I verily believe
that all the good part of the community think my efforts laud-
able, and if the Morning Chronicle continues its virulence
against me—if, I say, it persists in opposing, by every species of
calumny, that which by the community is deemed laudable and
praiseworthy, he will in no very long time find that the 40,0001.
which' he says (how truly God only knows) he gave for the
Chronicle; has been thrown away, and that 40 pence is 3s. 4d.
more than it. will be worth. No, Sir, to show the animus, I
will mention to you another article which has appeared in the
Morning Chronicle ; but at the same time I beg to acquit
Mr. Clement or his Editor of being the author of it,
because it is avowedly copied from a very scurrilous
publication called Blackwood's Magazine. Now, this ar-
ticle is not confined to mere abuse, it does not merely
hold me up to public ridicule, but, your Worship,—and, per-
haps, you will scarcely believe such a thing—it contains an
attempt to excite and stir up a certain description of persons to
commit the crime of assassination. And this, please your
Worship, is not an indirect attempt ; the exhortation is not put
hyperbolically; the article does not say, as a man might in
mere figure—" Hoot him out of society," or 44 tear him in
piedeS," or " exterminate him," or " annihilate him ;" but it
goes at once plainly and undisguisedly to say, 44 Why don't
you kill him ? ' " Why don't you kill him ? ' repeated Mr.
Martin, in a subdued tone, three times over. I should tell
your Worship, however, that the Chronicle (and I cannot help
admiring its moderation) does not actually insert this atrocious,
this murderous toaragraph, but stops short at it, and says, 44
the
rest is too terrific for us to trust in our columns." But then
your Worship will see that it immediately tells its readers
where the remainder is to be found by referring to the pages of
Blackwood's Magazine. This, Sir, is the libel of which I have
more particularly to complain. After talking of my punishing
a man for beating the sides of a fat ox, the article says, 44 why
don't you kill him at once ? "
Sir R. BIRNIE.—Pray, Mr. Martin, may not that mean the
ox, and not you ?
Mr. Martin.—Oh no, my dear Sir, it means me—clearly
me. In conclusion Iwoubl observe, that men in my rank in
life have another mode than that I have adopted of seeking; re-
dress—namely, by an application to the Court of King's Bench
for a criminal information ; but I claim no other privilege than
that of a man, and I shall seek no other remedy than that which
would be open to the compositor who set the vile libel of which
I complain into type.
Sir R. BIRNIE.—I apprehend, Mr. Martin, that you have
mistaken the regular way of proceeding. Your proper course
would be to go at once before the Grand Jury, and prefer an in-
dictment.

„Mr. Alartin.—l am informed it is too late for this sessions.—
Ibive taken counsel's opinion, and am prepared to make de-
position of all that I have stated ; and to-morrow I shall take
the liberty of attending here with my legal adviser for that
purpose.

Sir R. Br dare say you are well advised, Sir, and I
shall of course listen to you with attention.
Mr. Martin.—One word of advice to Mr. Clement, in con-
clusion. If he likes his property better than Mr. Black and
Mr. Blackwood—and I am informed he likes his money pretty
well—let him cease to cherish those gentlemen, or he will be
deserted by all the three before long.