The Sun.
London, England, 1805-07-05 00:00:00

• 1,..411' REPORT.

'.

COURT OF 'KING's-BENili, fuLy 3.
,

This. being the day of Trinity Tenn, a great
rannber of insolvent debtors were brought ul_and
diseharged:'. • , " '

KING V. THE ROpEET JptiNSOIST.
Thc, on the part ,of 'the
prosecution in this cause, informed the Court, that
the befendant had pleaded in bar to the indiament.
He therefore moved the. Court, that their Lordships
would aPpoint 4 day, in the ensuing Michaelmas
Terw, for the trial:at bar. . •
The Court fixed M onday, the itith of November
next, for that purpose.

THE KING V. JAMES CHARLES MITCHELL, AND

°Tim Rti.

This was :i conditional 'rule for a criminal infer-
nation Igainst the Defendints, .h.nrics Charles Mit-
chell, 1 hirry Styles, Mathew Walker, and William
Snail, for composing, wfiting, and publishing, a
libel,. -by, way of a diymn or sung, against Mr. W.
lizard, of Brightheltastone, coal-merchant. We
have already given a report ,of this in a
former Paper.
GArtho v.- moved to Make the rule absolute.,
lite SOUR; ITOII-GENERAL Said, on the part of ,
the Defendants, Styles and Walker,
.he had read
their affidavits, front which he found he could not
attempt to chew cause. against making the rule ab-
solute. • .
NU person appeared on the part of the Defendant ,
Smith, and 'Mx, stated,, that the affidavit
of service, upon this hitter Defendant, was special,
and from it it appeared that he haaconecaled
.at his mother's 110;ise :it lrightlielinstone, to
order to avoi.l being ser%.etl with the rule.
, • Mr. fi»* att.! other Defendant Mitchell,
shev..ed Cause agairiAt this rule. Trout the other
Defendants not. venturing to skew cause, lie thought
there was a great probability thy were guilty of
publishing this libel against Mr. lizard, which he,
In the first instance, admitted to be one, and tended
"to turn that Gentlepran into ridicule, and Ins cha—
riaer a 4 an hottest man into dkrepUte, as it attacked
him on the score (.;.f knavery well as' religion ; the
reference of I. enf isle alluding' to, his besing a
methodist. Mr. I zzaid. had brought three ;talons
lkfi..nd;ints Styles, Walker, and Smith,
•for delatnation, but for some reaS6ll4 afterwards
• withdrew,his re( He had another action with
. one Hargrave, which Was net then at issue,
,and fig
whom the present Defendant Mit,thell was attorney.
It had been sworn by lizard, that being at a public
house in Brighthelntstone in the latter end. of I\ arch
last, lie, heard the Defendants Styles and. 'Walker
endeavour to sing .this libel: aloud, and afterwards
;bi.,! heard Walker Sing it at another public douse, and
Isome person there said it was Mathew Walker's.
girl'S, writing, that one thousand copies would soon
'be• ptiblWied, and then there would be enough:for
titeni all. He had alsd sworn .that Mitchell called •
on hits to pay a mini of Money for 011 e Jones ; that
he charged Mitchell with the libel,• and that heac-
knowledged he was the author, and offered tfi give
him a copy if he liked. Mr. Mitchell's affidavit,
ort the contrary, stated,' that, he did not write, or
compose, or print, or pUblish, or cause to be written,
cornpiised,' printed, or published, nor Was lie con,
vented in the writing, composing, S're. nor. did, he
know the author, or any ti ring about at; in sla
he denied explicitly any, knowledge whatever of the
tr.,.nsaftion. He lufther stated, that he received a
packet of •th,ose libels by the stage froM London,
but , was perfeEtly ignorant by. whom they were ,•
sent. , 'When he .read then), perceiving they were of
a Maiicii..ms tendency, he Carefully put all the comes
In had received, except (mt!, in a closet, and locked
'them up., and. me% Qt. had taken one out since that.
The next morning:he wen'. to the Library at
the Stehle to read the newspapers, with this one in
Ifis• pocket, and told Mr. Gregory,. the assistant,
who had made an affidavit on the part of. 17j.ard,
what he had. received ; and he persuaded him to
read it, which he accordingly did, and ininiediattly
put it again into his pocket, and' afterwards destroy(Al
it. There *ere but two other persons present. As
to his confemion of being the author, that he wholly
denied: be -wept to pay a sum of money for his
client to lizard, who retitsed to take, it, and,.afier he
was gone, he hollowed opt to him that he had said
be was the 14:rit..er of the libel. It was rofiterial to
Observe, that It great number of 'Woe sougs ar
hymns were sent by post to sc,Veral persons, both'. of
rank and dktinalon, at Bri,;.:,litheirstone (he .11?!--.
verend Mr, Sneyd, vicar at llrighthelnistone, Lady
Mary Stewart, • and several others, received copies.
talon the .whble, he contcwle:l iliac. Mr. Mitchell
was not privy Or instromentA Clrculating or pub,
fishing this libel ; and the qttc:.tion for the Court was,
whether the reading of it at the library,-in presence
of three ta;rsons cult', (Inc of wliont;compelleci
to wad it, WaS, a i!:u31),1114atio1l in the critni-
°Lal sense of the word ? Mr. Mitchell was a most
ry:petStable attorney residing at Magdalen College,
()Nt.oo, of which he Was steward, and if he deli,
verel'liirnielf, at .-111 trotu the clarge; it II as at the
iinvlrd- of a vroiec ;,6tt for p!rjut.Y. He had slice
111- inpisk pemitiie cleldal to the charge,
and f.r 1 i.Y.,1-titcit.P.it hare Joi,4coneeikeil the'busi-
nlH,:; t Gi.!ntlermin. lie
l',ok fiir gLinted 'that the Court wottld
00;. cnil,;(l,l- hint ail object. fret' a c;-in:,isi,ll informa...
ton.

:.2.otiolt—J' why did he not burn
instelut of h)si:lng them

tip

r.
Afr t.Lept them, lest he
:ihoni,t, t:puu in a in,..:y4.1 woy.
I . u L., On Olt:. :.1 1)(! obV.INVC%tIIII.t.
trit, ap-
-elred-f I 11•0 \l't An
wiTe lit: 2.. othcrs. This attfark,
therelov,, veils wit,:!, to Cie rest. The ft:nu
hori ri-!ild thy , librdry wa,cll.;:if
When
olltl~''thtcc'prescut ; 1.11 ,:re,
cfAild a publication, at least a
Plalicious ; i t ;_iere, was not one faL
catuie.i:i.g2 that Gentleman with the'lither;,.
Mr. (..-;:thltOW, in support of therflule,
with re-Tat, to the time of tiling the Atiidavits, it
Irevently lappeneth, that it was ticce;sary

c't lil thc

Coosel to revise and correka Chem ; and come -
(ineptly some delay must take place. In this case,
Mr. Mitchell had gone to the public library, here.
sort of half the town; where he excited the public
curiosity, and then read this libel. Till's was all
that was necessary. All the other persons mention-
ed, had only received a copy each—hut Mr. Mit-
chell got a whole packet sent him, enough to sup-.
ply the whole town, which he did not destroy, but
locked up prefully in a closet.. He certainly had
most explieitly•denied being the author or publisher
of it ; but -there was no Printer's name at the bot-
tom—and la; confessed be knew the tendency of
them to be of a criminal nature.

Lord'ELLEsaottouott.—" To the -question of
.his.
being the author, he has given a most.distind and
positive answer, and the only question is, whether
the publickion of it at the library was so unadvised--
ly done as to require the interferenceof this court?
lle amts Upon it, in'the first instance, as a thing of a
mischievous tendency ; hp goes to the library, tho'
not at the' time of publie.resort, with this in his
pocket. Wly'did he carry it about him,-,being ap
prised of its mischief, but to communicate' it to
Gregory ? Though it .is admitted the latter asked
for it. If he had put all by, and, in the course 'Of
conversation, had gone htnne fi.if it, then it would
he considered only a venial publication, and the.
Court would not interfere; but having got the a.pfia-
ratus of mischief about hini, he 'goes to-the library
Of public resort. We cannot ,suppose the publica-
tion so venial as not to require the mterfence of the
Court."

All the. other Judges rigrecing with his Lordship,
the Rule for a Criminal InformatiOn wits male abso-
lute against all Defendants.

SITTINGS. RESORZ LORD RILF,NItOROUr,iI, IN WESTMIN.
STL.R•IIALL, JULY 4.

ROUS u, emu %

This was an aetion for assault brought froth Stam-
forti, in Lincolnshire, to be tried here, which Mr.
M 414 LY, the Plaintiffs Counsel, stated to be on ac-
count of the witnesses having come to reSide in and
near the metropolis. It was an :talon for an assault.
The Plaintitrliv'es opposite to 'a breWery, of Which
the Defendant 14 a Clerk. Some dirt before the
door of the Plabitiff being ordered to be removedby
the servants of the brew-house, while they were
doing it the Plaintitf opposed them, and some weir&
arose between him and the Defendant. The Plain-
tiff had a spade in his hand, and held it tip in a pos-
ture as if to deLud.hirnself Nainst an attack, or to'
be ready to strike with it, The Defendant imme-
diately struck him on the lip with 'a shovel, and cut
him desperatrly, on which he fell and bled much.

. •
Lard EI.I.I:NBiiROU
,held, that the attitude of
the Plaintiff ,beink that of a 'menace, it amounted,
in law, to an assault, and therefore he could not
maintain this aaion on the present forth of the.
pleadings, be&nlisrt the Defendant had pleaded. that
the Plaintiff jad assnulted him firSt,' to Which plea
the Plaintiff ought to have made a new assignatent,
stating, that the upon: the Defendant 'was a
distill& assault of itself ; to be sure it.,was' a
vage excess, if the matier was faithfUlly represented
in evidence :,on which St:Count a verdia was about to
be giVen for the Defendant, bat the,Plaintid's Coun-
sel preferred a monsuitd* Plaintiff nonsuited.

DALE V. GPAY

An Aaion for Trout, for the Defendant's having
converted, the Plaintiffs watch to his own Use. The
Plaintiff and Defendant are rviill-wrights. The Plain-
tifflaid a wager of a guinea concerning a question,
Whether sonic part of their work u as contrary to an
Aa of Parliament. was agreed that .the money
should be depOsited. Pianniff riot having a
guinea• in his possesSion, „deposited his watch With
the Defendant, to answer it. The Defendant pawned
the watch, spent the money he got on it, and gave
the Plaiptiff the duplicate. The wager was •. never
decided ;' but as the. terms of 'it- were reduced into
writing, acid the , Writing not produced, no parole
idence cu' id be given of its contents.---Baintiff
uonsttited.

.:Nlll7 V. I.REENIAN.

Mr. Tor eiNG, stated this to he. anAaion ,on the
Game I ,aWs, to, recover the penalty of ,5L on account
oldie Defendant,having kept a gun for the destruc-
tion of pine on _Sunday the 10th of Fel,rtiarylast
a praaice which lie maintained .ought to be Sup•-
prescd.
it appeared on the evidence of Mr. Samuel Ben-
nett, Gathe-I.ceper of the Manor of Sutton, under
the Deputation of the Dean of St. Pant's, that his
.brothcr„. the Plaintiff irt thiS Mien, rents a farm of
,200 acres at Chiswick, part. of which adjoins the
Tark of the. Duke of DevonShird, afid a Cover, where
are hares,.patridgesi . and pheasalits. That the 1A.,.
lendant, together with a Mr. Constable, each With a
gun, and two boatmen, came on the field of his
brother with four dogs; a pointer, or something. like
a pointer, a !.setter, and a spaliir l ; that they were
ranging for game 5 he earue up to one of them, Mr..
Constable, and' insisted 'on knowing who he Was,
and: not receiving a satiSfaaory seized his
gun, on which the ,Defendant came up and claimed
• the gun as his : a scuffle ensiled between Bennett
and COnstable, and the thriller wrested his gun' out
of his hands, and n'ik..it' away.; and Freeinan took
oti•his coat to tight Bennett,. who went home, rind
iced his brother to bring.this Aktion to voted
him as Gamekeeper..
GBannW, for the Defendant, insisted, that
• neither keeping a dog, or a gun,.eapable,,of destroy-
ing game, was: enough .to support this .adion, they
must: be used tbr the desmaton of. game : bore nu
such. thing had. taken place ; these persons had gone
ii? the in a boat ; they were gunsmiths ;. the
Defendant had gone with Mr. Constable for the pun--
of stdling a gun to a customer recounnenaed by
Con.:ai_ible. They had with them no pointer,
settcr, or spaniel, but a mere humdrum New-
foundiand clog, wilt) would not travel twice his (min
length ,aft.::r tt hap...—wlio .knew-nothing" more, of
g<itti t th,an of the game laws They had, however,
theinsAves- With shooting a few larks.. Con-
stable only had done ; f9r the .Defendant had
itanallv-not fired his ,lowling,pieee, as it was called
()lice (icy .the bye it was -a musket). 1141%GAltRow
said tlicy init;Lit as well bring an iiaion against h•un
for heeitit! a gun and dog -foe the. destruelion Of
• near his country-house, by the sea-
he •iomet:ines amused himselfwith firing, at a