The Sun.
London, England, 1823-06-21 00:00:00

BEACON. NEWSPAPER.

HOUSE OF LOIIDS, FRIDAY, JUNE 20.
IN THE APPEAL OF. THE SUBSCRIBERS TO TUE BtACON

FOND V. GIBSON CRAIG.

The LORD CHANCELLOR took his seat upon the woolsack
atliall.past ten O'clock this morning, and immediately pro.
ceeded to deliver his judgment in this case. After stating the
proceedings which have occurred in it from the commencement
of action down to the interlocutor of the Jury Court- pro.
nounced on the 28th of May last (an account of which wo
uhlished in our paper orrhursday), his Lordship said that the
petition of the defenders 'affirmed that the Jury Court had.
acted erroneously, and contrary to law and equity, in not re.
mitting back the whole case to the Court of Session, in tonne.
(pence of their having pleaded that Mr. Gibson, since he had
Commenced his action against
_ them, had recovered a solalium
or compensation from Puncan Stevenson, the printer of the
Peacon newspaper, for the injury complained of, and therefore
was not entitled to recover damages of them ; and his Lordship
further added, that upon such affirmation the petition prayed
Chet they might be allowed to lodge their appeal in that -House
against the interlocutor of the Court below. Now, without
pronouncing any opinion on the point of law, on which the
he
defenders in
that tllietotzinal action rested their ground of appeal,
preliminary point which the House had
to settle was this—Can it 'proceed upon an appeal against an
interlocutor of the Jury. Court under the Acts of the 56 th
and the 69th of the late King ? The Learned Lord then
read over the principle .clauses in those two Acts, and comment:
ed tqu'll them as he went along, showing in what cases and
of what stages appeals could be received from the different
courts in Scotland. Prowl. the Interpretation which he thought
ought to be pia upon those two acts, he declared it to be his
°pillion that the. House .was not competent to receive any
appeal against an interlocutor of the Jury Court, much less
to receive the priwint appeal from the persons who were
charged with a combination or conspiracy to support the
publiiation of the Beacon newspaper—an appeal, too, which
was remarkably 'deficient in the specification of dates and
other circumstances that were absolutely requisite to the forma.
tion of a correct judgment on its individual merits. He was
theirther uoeforevuiolf oippsintoioen;netrlitaati:lttiele petition
al i
eptpiteiOnotf the defenders in the
original action must be dismissed, as it was not competent for
prayed for.
Tidy juilgmenebeing senctioned by the other Lords present,
was accordingly pronounced. The eflbct of it is to send back
the case to the Jury Court, which will, we understand, have to
decide whether Sir W.
,Ree and others did enter into a bond
to support the Beacon, and' to determine, if they did, what
damages they ought to pay to-Mr. Gibson Craig for the injury
which they endeavoured to inflict upon his character.

A duel was fought on Thursday morning on
Wimbledon-common, between Capt. S---t —A and
Mr. The dispute is said to have ori-
ginated at a gaming-house in the neighbourhood
of Pall Mall. The Captain was shot in the right
side, but the ball did not lodge, The parties
were attended by Mr. Hughes, a surgeon, who
dressed the wound on the ground, and which is
note dangerous.

I It ELAN D.

tFrom the Dublin Correspondent, June 171

The following dreadful occurrence illestrates
the deplorable conilition to which the acerbities of party hatred;
have brought this most devoted of an countries. It would be
unavailing labour to comment upon-a transaction which indi-
cates how high is the crest of the Ribbonman ; how atrocious
and deadly his enmities are to the opposer of his political creed.
What we subjoin is extracted from the Belfast Commercial
Chronicle, a respectable and accurate print ; it differs in many
respects from the version of this transaction which appeared in
a Morning Paper of this day :-
46 FATAL RIOT AT MAGHERA.

" We are sorry to have to state, that on Thursday last, at the
fair of Maghera, Derry, disturbances, originating in party
spirit, broke out to an alarming degree. Three or tour letters
on the subject have been received in town, and having been
kindly permitted to avail ourselves of their contents, we are
enabled to publish, the following outline of the deplorable oc-
eurreonces

It appears that about six o'clock in the evening an immense
number of Ribbonmen assembled in the town, and proceeded
to attack a house in which an Orange Lodge meets, and broke
thowindows, &c. A small party of the 77th regiment, con-
sisting of an Ensign, Serjeant, and eleven men, stationed in
Maghera, were called upon by the Rev. Mr. Colthurst, Curate
of the parish, and acting Magistrate in the absence of Mr. Knox,
to endeavour to quell the riot. They accordingly proceeded to
the scene, but were assailed by vollies of stones by the Ribbon.
men; the Clergyman was struck in the face with a stone and
much injured, and Ensign Elliott received a severe contusion
over the eye, and was knocked down ; upon which the soldiers,
for the purpose of intimidating the rioters, fired four shots, and
retired to the barracks. The rioting continued, and the win.
dows of almost every Protestant's house in the town-were broken.
The soldiers were again called out by the constables, and some
respectable inhabitants ; but on repairing to the spot the officer
found both parties extremely violent, and many of them intoxi-
cated; ,he therefore retired with his little party to their quar-
ters. The fighting and rioting continued in the most furious
manner, the Ribbonmen attacking the houses, and the Orange.
men, who were few in numbers, defending themselves with
difficulty, were driven into the houses. Shots were fired from
the windows of the Orange Lodge-room on the assailants.
Late in the evening a party of yeomanry having entered the
town, from Tubbermore, the Orangemen rallied, and, assisted
by the yeomanry, charged and fired upon the Ribbonmen, and
finally succeeded in driving them.out of Magliera. The riot:
ing did not entirely subside till two o'clock in the morning cf
Friday. The Ribbonmen suffered severely; nine are known
to have been killed, and between 60 and 70 wounded.
" We have heard that one Orangeman from Castledawson
was. killed, and that Several of that party have been Severely
wounded: _ _

" On Friday morning a party of ampulla from the neigh.
bourhood, accompanied by a Magistrate, arrived in 3laghera,
and an Express was dispatched to Lieutendrit Douglas, who
commands the detachment of the 77th in Catledawson. No
attempt, however, to renew the, disturbances had taken place
when the last accounts came away. The yeomanry have been
under arms night and day since the riot.
"- The coolness and forbearance of Ensign Elliot seem to
have been very creditable to so young an officer. Only three
or four shots were fired in the direction of the barracks ; but
had the Riblionmen succeeded against their opponents, the
little party in tlN,harracks, it was expected, would have be.
come-the next object of attack. Ensign Elliott Communicated
every particular by express as soon as possible to Colonel
M'Laine, in Belfast, who commands the regiment.
": We have not heard what was the result of the Coroner's
InqUeit on the bodies of the unfortunate men who were shot ;
but it was feared that some disturbance might take
_place at
their interment. A strong reinforcement of the 77th, therefore,
under the command of a Captain and Lieutenant, left this town
at six o'clock on Saturday evening, to proceed, by forced marches,
to Illagliera, where they were to arrive at nine o'clock yesterday
evening.
" A Meeting of the Magistrates of the district is to take place
to-morrow at Maghere, to investigate into the particulars of
this lamentable transaction.
" We are informed that at Magherafelt, onthe same day,
(Thursday,) party rioting also *lt place. No lives were bat
there, though one man is said to have been desperately wounded
with a hatciet.'