The Sun.
London, England, 1833-12-07 00:00:00

put in the pamphlet, as he mild not tract it to tkt P'
ticular defendant.. 110 would rely on the neviroPlP.rro
Mr. HUMIREY then submitted several ohjee."°
the different counts of the declaration. Mr. 01140
.„gi
caged an acting attorney" of this Court ;it t 1,"" is
mitted that Mr. Briggs should prove his adtniss°
the Court.

16y b-livve
*hich they
had hem th
Iti%h to ben
Young offe
appeared
thanker in

r Sir JAMES SCA R LETT contended that haying :lit. 3,0001.bei
described an " acting attorney" of the Court sys'l,,,'S bends, 3,01
, sufficient, especially as there was something talked the remain
motion to strike his name off the Rolla of the Cout4'heto dates ; or,
Tse LORD Curer JUSTICE said, that it might n°ll3 Partly in bi
strike him off the Rolls of the Court of King's Benerioll; down on t
Mr. HUMFECY—Perhaps it meant off the those perec
Court. es Paper, wit(
,
foe objection, however, was overruled ; and s Poll Paid down
was sworn in order to prove that 31r. Briggs that it wa
f filled the character of an attorney of the G,urt. Counsel)
now complete,
The caos for the prosecution being
Mt. :lUNIFEF:Y proceeded to address the Jeir 01 believed 3
i/gll the assign
behalf of the defsnd tnt, BA, who, he was exert tie 13,0001.,
sorry to say, warn prevented from personally addrefoiessal they heli,
Jury in consequence of having met with a very 10°e00 Mr. Brig
situ at fatal accident. Upon all occasions an ad, ia to take hil
felt that a deep responsibility was imposed on blibr equal obje
undertaking. the cause of a defendant who was charkisfly' • from allot
, criminal information for libel; but it was e"Pe,,as Was topa
advantageous that a defendant, when the ,
~i'l Briggs 'ha
i traced to himself, should have the op10::oeth bail wish
of stating his case to the jury personally. He v`ois Young ha
however, that the jury would give Mr. Bell ever,' °ter. been take
• &ration, and the benefit of any doubt they might eni,el at which
tain ; because, if he had addressed them himself, be. rt cifered 1
no doubt he would have secured a verdict in his l'ehlal:r Young ic
He bad some reason to complain of the mode in Whiciee tiled his
James Scarlett had conducted the case for the prosere'dif had filed
He had assumed the tone of the moat perfect candour' -101 and the
he ha 1 a desire to investigate the whole partic:efl, deprive
of these transactions ; at the same time knowing vet./ '-os out a Im
although the Jo. y, who were unacquainted with the Pot derived •
in criminal proceedings, were ignorant of the faet,:o believed
the Court would not allow him to go into the transactil;te parties k
This tone of candour was adopted because it was and Win
hated to produce on the minds of the Jury an imprertbs all they c
in favour of the prosecution. He knew nothing had they
character of Mr. Alderman Winchester or Mr. Pr7st eel, did r
except as evolved in the course of those transactions; of. Briggs a
his Learned Friend had eulogized the one as the most rs bf and witr
lent assignee, and the other as the most praiselere of they mu
attorney, that had ever been employed in a commissie ri had they
bankruptcy, because he knew very well that no i",.(kurei call thei
into the truth of it could be permitted. It was not "Lys Chester
early to embark in his cause the prejudices of the ""eteet their o
The prosecutors were represented as men of the gee; oe Winche
uprightness and integrity, when the defendants to than the
opportunity of making other statements in opposit'epei fluent
those of the prosecution ; and the whole of their '
e• the asst
rested on being able to elicit certain facts from the Prot. The lib,
cutora themselves, in order to turn to them the It t them w
Lion of the Jury. With respect to the questi°,° :6 keeping
issues, there was another thing he had to cons Plaints ,s benefit
which lie considered had been partly in the nature ngr, deuce,
after-thought—be meant the putting into the WI 0) no dui
Murdo Young. His Learned Friend (Sir James Sesrleo, of higt
had stated that he would put into the box Mr. stiderta his has
Winchester ;he would also put into the box Mr. Brigf„°l,l would
and after he had ascertained that the defendants could " this na
enter into the whole transaction, he said be where would
call Mr. Murdo Young. There was safety-- 3"„ o and M
was great advantage--in putting him there, hero",ll proved
it was known the defendants could not inquire intet-bs Mr. 'I
his share of the transaction. But besides aatimiling II made
inerit of putting Mr. Young into the box, he had alb es-be to whit
another objection to make to the mummer in which 0 his ha
case for the prosecution had been conducted. al I did
not help thinking that it was not for his Learned reh.,- e met
to extract from the book now before him, a passage "c(;-te said b
he chose to call a libel, which he should have Pr°re hen produ
have been written or published hytwo of the defendanisl.i t have
he hail not ventured in his information to make any eurnP ;rod a kid, '
on e subject; and as his Learned Friend had chosen tc'to be for a m
that passage to them, which certainly seemed to him t° requif
a most carefully selected one, he should take the libel. ;.ge of a
reading the passage preceding it. There was no Pieees. absur
that could be made libellous, if only the half of it was rho. -
That was another complaint he had to make against
,„ .10
But the greatest complaint of all which he had t° as
was, that Mr. Winchester and Mr. Briggs, desiroauf
the
they were of inquiring into all the circumstance', die
case, and of not getting a verdict upon anything butbait
merits of the case, should have chosen by ti
own inclination, and not forced to it by any rules of ot
to have adopted that peculiar course which shot out
t"0
inquiry into truth. His Learned Friend had gate
them, that by the rules of law, before the infornasti°A,
which had been asked for could be granted, the prosecut°o
must have denied the truth of the libel. There wo to
doubt about that ; but although he must have denied
truth of it, yet the July would recollect that by this br
of proceeding he alone could have been heard. T,,,t
were aware there was a mode of proceeding the in'tio,
approved, because the most satisfactory, by which
characters of persons, when they were attacked, ,fligyr
he protected, and when the value of the char°bacl
upon which they complained that an attack o
been made, might and did enter into the considerlios
of the Jury. What was there to have prevented
deb
Briggs., an attorney of that Court, from adoptinl
tild
a course, upon whom, therefore, army attack been
have been most probably visited, if it had Leods
false, with very grievous damages at the ',coo
of the Jury, but which if it was not, he would I's° "oola
out of Court with time smallest damages the jury „%rtis
Marti-
have given ? Why was that course not adopted, and r. to
cularly on the part of persons who were so sn%ieu"da
examine into the truth ? Their anxiety took a veil b,cl
course. Anxiety to inquire into the truth ! VeYbeen
chosen the only mode by which the truth could have both
excluded. Why did not Brigga or Mr. Winchesters tbe
of them holding high and respectable situations, put 1W•
matter into the shape of an action, in which us°, eea
Grant, Mr. Bell, and Mr. Ager, would have hl
permitted to justify their conduct, and °lvo
have been permitted to say, " true it is the
did charge you, Briggs, being the solicitor to, the
contmissiou, and you, Winchester, being one of
ed
assignees undsr the commiasion, with having endeavnu'ti,o
to make, not the most of our paper, for the benefit uf_
creditors, but with putting up a purchaser of your owl" „
whom you were to sell this paper, to deceive your a:4
ditors, and we will prove it to you ?" Why, vi"
that the thing which Messrs. Winchester and Briggs P.-
fessed to desire to have done ? But why did they not adohi
that course of proceeding which would have enabled t
defendants to prove it? The defendants would then hgv--
been entileed to their verdict, and to have given evidel
that, although they had said this of Briggs, or asserte
that of Winchester, it was not a false and malicious state-,
ment, and they were willing to justify it. Butt thei)j
had not thought proper to adopt that course. He w"
ask of the Jury whether they could assign any motive fir
their not having done so ? They preferred that cour,, °,
proceeding where truth was excluded, and where trot'
could not be heard, in preference to that in whit!,
the real merits of the case might have been gone lute':
He was at a loss to give any explanation of it exceP,'
this—that professing, as they did, by their Caunse':
their anxiety to examine into the truth, they were Peru
liarly afraid that the truth would have been inquired int°.
Now, with respect to the libels themselves. The libels
!_
were charged, and be called on the jury to exercise their
judgment on that, to be false libels. First of all, tbeY
would have to say whether they believed them to be hiuisei..
Next, whether they believed them to be false o
we r id
With respect to the question of libel, his Lordship
direct them on that suhjsct, and it would be for them,
seriously, to follow his directions, but at the same tindiel.
judge for themselves. Ile would ask them how they u(nii ,
their bands on their hearts and say they were false'
wellen
the prosecutor himself prevented them from inquiring Hattt
the truth ? Now, what was, according to their own ac-
count, the situation of the parties ? Here was Mr. Grant,
a gentleman of property, of family, and of character ; and
Mr. Bell, a gentleman of high respectability--5
of literacy attainments, connected with time paper—an'l
they stated what they truly, sincerely, and conscientiously
thought, that Messrs Briggs and Winchester had so much
mismanaged that to which they looked for the support of
themselves and their families, as to have deprived them
of it, by their wilful inistnanagement or gross
carelessness. It appeared, that on this paper there was
gentleman
a Mr. Young who bad bone share in it. It appeared
also, that Messrs. Briggs and Winchester were accused of
selling the shares to f,lr. Young. This fact had come out
from Mr. Briggs, that Mr. Young offered 7,6001. for it,
Ind offered to pay dawn in inooey—What ? 2001.
Two hundred pounds down in money ! They had this fact
also, that fur this very Paper, at a subsequent meeting of
the creditors, there was offered no less a sum than 13,0001.
Mr. Young himself having bid above 12,0001. for
!,lie Paper, which he Was desirous of getting into
leis possession, and which they were desirous of letting
him have for the auto of 7,5001. So that
with respect to the observations of his Learned Friend, with

respect to the defer' lants, that they ILid caused this Piper
to be utterly depreciated, and that they had prevented the
creditors from getting the full value for it, it totally fell. to
the ground. Who had prevented them from getting
;he full benefit of it ? Why, Alessre. Briggs and
Winchester. lie would, therefore, ask them idithSt