The Sun.
London, England, 1847-06-30 00:00:00

Mr. Ricardo—Mr. Porter states that the sailing ton-
nage has, since 1824, increased 618,000 tons, and that
the whole British tonnage has increased 1,500,000 tons,.
Examination continued—He would say that ship-
building has inci+ased generally in the ports of the
north of England since the passing of the reciprocity
treaties with foreign countries. It had not increased in
Newcastle, but it had in Sunderland.
By Mr. Mitchell—He was aware that sugar was
allowed to be imported into Prussia, in English ships,
from Havannah and Cuba, but he did not consider that a
proof that the Prussians treated us with more liberality
than we treated them because it was a mere nominal
trade.

By Mr. Liddell—He believed that the shipping of the
ports in the Adriatic was increasing in their trade with
this country.

By the Chairman—He thought that Parliament was
right in adopting any measures which it thought calcu-
lated to benefit the people in the way of providing food
for them or otherwise; but he did not think that the
navigation laws hindered the importation of corn when
there was no duty on it.
By Mr. Liddell—He did not believe that freights had
been lowered ls. a quarter for corn since the navigation
laws were suspended.
•
The Committee then adjourned.

IMPORTANT LIBEL CASE.
COURT OF QUEEN'S BENCH—Dublin, June 24.
THE QUEEN, AT THE PROSECUTION OF THE EARL OF
LUCAN, V. THE HON. FREDERICK CAVENDISH.
This was a criminal information, filed at the instance
of the prosecutor, for libels published of him in his ca-
pacity of Lieutenant of the county Mayo, and which ap-
peared in the Castlebar Telegraph, of which the defendant
was the sole registered proprietor.
Mr. Napier, Q.C. (with whom was Mr. Holmes),
stated the case for the plaintiff: The libel complained
of consisted of three articles which appeared in the
Mayo Telegraph of the 14th of October. The first
article, which was headed " Public Works," after
alluding to the suffering of the people, went on to state
that their hopes of employment were frustrated by the
conduct of the Earl of Lucan, who, in his capacity of
lieutenant of the county, convened a meeting of
the magistrates of the county, at which resolu-
tions, prepared by himself, condemning the pro-
visions of the -Relief Act, were carried, and
a deputation was appointed to proceed to Lon-
don to remonstrate with the Government against
the provisions of the Act being carried into
effect. " This proceeding, suggested by Lord Lucan,
and aided by the influence of other landlords throughout
Ireland, induced the Lord-Lieutenant to violate the pro-
visions of the Labour Act, by which the employment of
the people has been so long postponed as to drive them
in some instances to acts of desperation which has caused
the shedding of blood." * * * "We do not hesitate to
say that Lord Lucan has exercised the influence he pos-
sesses as lieutenant of the county to deprive the poor of
that prompt relief which the Legislature provided for
them. On his Lordship rests an awful responsibility, as
his remonstrance against the provisions of the Relief Act
has endangered the lives of thousands who are now
sinking under famine and disease." The next article
rrferred to a letter inserted in another part of the paper
from M. J. A. Browne, J. P., D.L., and stated that the
writer was entitled to public gratitude for the "expo-
sure of conduct extremely offensive, and of the most un-
heard-of nature,
.pursued by the Earl of Lucan ;
the power that is conferred on Lord Lucan, as
Lieutenant of the county, has been used by
him in a manner insulting to the Roman
Catholic clergy, and to gentlemen of property, of rank,
and undisputed respectability ;" it concluded by recom-
mending a strong remonstrance to Government for the
removal of Lord Lucan from the office of Lieutenant of
Mayo. The third article complained of contrasted the
conduct of Lord' Ltrian and certain magistrates in the
county of Cork, with respect to their anxiety to provide
employment for the people, and thus concluded :—" Hear
it, famishing Roman Catholics of the barony of Carra—
three Protestants—the landlord, his Caleb Quotern, and
the rector of Aglish, sitting in committee, for what pur-
pose may be easily inferred, from the fact that they would
transact no business while your reverend clergymen
Messrs. Geraghty and Curley remained in their
presence !"
The Earl of Liman and- some-other witnesses-were
examined, after which
, Mr. BUTT, Q.C., addressed the jury-for the defendant.
He dwelt forcibly on the circumstances of frightful ne-
cessity in which the country was situated at the time the
articles complained of were written. He thought the
jury would be of opinion that the charge of delaying
the relief operation was not too strong to have been
brought against the Earl of Lucan, when the people
were dying of starvation. In these articles, written by
the Honourable. Frederick Cavendish in his capacity as
the editor of a newspaper, there was not one word of
personal or private attack on the prosecutor. The charges
made against him were in his public capacity, and the
jury should not judge of those charges by the same rigid
rule that they would judge of charges brought against
private character. A justification had not been pleaded,
because it would be inconvenient, and in its nature very
difficult to sustain ; but they would remember that the
very moment he sought to show the circumstances con•
necred with the case, he was stopped by his Learned
Friend ; and he begged to draw their attention also to
the fact, that a letter of Mr. J. A. Brown, addressed
to the Earl of Lucan, complaining that he and
his father were excluded from a private meeting
held at his (the Earl of Lucan's) residence, was not in-
cluded in the indictment, because the matters stated in
it could be put in evidence. He begged of the jury to
consider the circumstances under which the articles were
written—they were written when the county Mayo was,
in common with other parts of Ireland, reduced to a
state of extreme destitution, when the people of that
county were in a state which was a stigma on a civilized
people. The Labour Rate Act—however inefficient it
might be in many respects—was at that time the only
means of saving the lives of thousands who were pe-
rishing with hunger ; and any step which tended to de-
lay the relief of the people then, no matter how expen-
sive the mode of relief might be, ought to be reprobated.
If the jury put themselves in the .place of the defendant
when he wrote these articles, with the people perishing
about him, their indignation would not be more mode-
rate than his at the conduct of
.the Earl of Lucan. Mr.
Butt went through the various articles paragraph by
paragraph, and contended that none of them were
libellous.
The Chief Justice, in charging the jury, read several
passages from the articles complained of, and then said,
that if the defendant meant to impute to Lord Lucan
that he was actuated by mercenary views by postponing
the operation of the Labour Rate Act, that was in the
opinion of the court a libel. The question whether the
articles were, in point of fact, libellous or not, was entirely
for the jury. Upon that the court gave no opinion. The
Chief Justice concluded his charge by expressing his re-
prehension of the practice of counsel making appeals to
particular classes of jurors, as being of one religion, or as
entertaining particular political opinions. He adminis-
tered justice without knowing the opinions of any man;
and nothing was likely to be more prejudicial to the
calm and true discharge of justice than appeals to pre-
judices and feelings which were associated with the reli
gion or belief of any man.
i ll'he jury retired at four o'clock, and in an hour re-
turned to ask if the articles imputed corrupt motives,
but there was no malice on the part of the defendant,
did this constitute a libel ?

The Chief Justice observed, that if corrupt motivcs
were imputed the law implied malice.
The jury retired, and a after a considerable time came
into Court, and handed to the registrar their verdict of
" Not Guilty."