The Sun.
London, England, 1802-01-09 00:00:00

LIBEL.---111E KING v. CH4lttEsltlcys.„

This was a prosecution at the 'instance 6f the
ociety.for prnioting Christian Knowledge, against
the Defendant, -who is proprietor or a book-stall
under the Duke of Portland's wall, Piecadilly) for
publishing ;1 certain filthy and 'obscene Libel, to the
manifest prejudice, subversion,' and &ttruCtion of
His Majesty's Subjects, caged "'The Man of
Fashion's - .
Mr. BOSANQUET stated the case on the part of
'the -Prosecution. •He observed, hOu,r, necessary it is
to check the publication of Works which, "like the
,present, tended
,to hurt the rnotaN of mankind.—
The Law had provided a punishment adequate to
tle offence,. which he had no doubt, - would' be. in-
cided upon.the Defendant, if the Jury, after hear,
ing the Evidence, were, satisfied of his-guilt.
John Kennedy, a. Police Officer, stated, that he
bad a Warrant against.the-Defendant on. the z9th of
April ; -he accordingly went to execute it. The

Defendant solt 11,3ogs' Odd. the 'Dake of Portland's
Wall, in Piccadilly. The Witness produced a
Book entiiled, I‘ The Man of Fashion," which he
found on the Defendant's stall. He said, it was
obvious to any one, and that any person might have
read. it that chose to stop at the stall.
• The book contained the most obscene stories..
Mr. ALLEY here submitted-that, the- charge had.
not .been Proved, as ' the• Defendant had not pub-
lished the book. The Witness was in faa guilty of
a trespasi in taking away the book. I-le said any
person,. if this evidence was :to be toyrated, might
be indkled for having a libel in his possession, even
though he did not publish; it to the world. He ad-
mitted it was a libel. -
Mr. BOfANQUET contegeed,l ibat 'the book /al'
exposed 'on the stall 'Of the Defendant, and was
published, in consequence of such exposure, as
much as- any-print that was exhibited in a shop-
window. •
, - The CEAIRMAN was of opinion, the fact of
publishing was proved. He confessed he did not,
know what publishing was, if this case .was nor
clear.
Mr. ALLEY addressed the Jury in.favour of: the
Defendant. He contended that no case had betn
made for the prosecution, and that the :Defendant
having the book in his possession did not snake
him. the 'publisher- of it. The 'Witness had tact n
guilty of a breath of the laws in taking it away.
Montesquieu, in his Law of-Libels, had expressly
stated, that unless a person sent a libel forth into
the world, he could not be construed guilty of it ;
:set in this case, the Defendant ,:had nor ushered it
. forth, and. consequently could. not .be &uilty. He
had purchased this book in an old lot which a gen-
tleman had sold ft) him a few days before,- and, had
nor an opportunity of reading ir, .consequently did
not know its contents. He shook{ call a number'
of respedable Witnesses'sto, prove that -the -ge-
neral charaCter of the- Defendant was above re-
proach, both'-in a -moral and honest point of view,
The Learned Gentleman, then addressed himself to
the feelings of the jury. He represented the De-
fendant as a poor 'man who had been reduced in
business, and obliged to maintain himself by selling
old books, added to which htbelel a small office un-
' der the parish of St. jameslinvsith -these two occu-
pations be contrived to stn3port his wife and-family
without burthening the parish.; if the Jury were to
find him guilty he-would be deprived of his usual
support, and his wife and -children, who looked up
to him for their daily• maintenance, would- naturally
be throwndefenceless upon the wide world, without
a protedor and.father, .as the Law'in this case de-
nounced the most heavy judgments, and extended
to pillory, and even heyondsthat. *He trusted they
, would be convinced of his innocence, as it was not
very probable' he would publish or expose to sale
what was certainly a gross, and inistmOus Libel, un-
der the walls of the residence'of the Secretary of
State. The Prosecution, he was ready to admit,
had been instituted from -the purest of motives, by
a Society, of which a Nobleman was at the head,
he begged to Corte& himself; he meant a Gentleman-
(Mr: Wilberforce), but who'nevertheless was noble,
for ‘. Virtue alone is true Nobility." This Society,
he had no doubt, , would not wish' to prosecute any
farther, if they were satisfied the- Defendant had not
intentionally transgressed the LaWs: He there
ore
left the case in the hands of the Jury, fully- satisfied
that their decision would be consonant to the stria
principles of Justice.
A great number of respectable honse-keepers in
the neigbourWood gave the Defendant an excellent
moral charader: Among these were some of the
Officers of the Parish of St. James, Who.' had knoi,Vn
him near fifteen years.
The CHAIRMAN said, the charge against the De-
fendant was for publishing- a gross Libel. It had
been admitted by the Defendants's Counsel. that
the book was a Libel, therefore the only ';question
in the case was, whether he was guilty of publish-
ing it, and what a publication was ? It had been
said, that the manner in which this book lay on
the. Defendant's stall, was not a publication. He
would wish to know if a person introduced a book
for the perusal of- the whole world, whether that
did not constitute the Publishing ? It was proved
that this book lay among others on the Defend-
ant's stall, in the most populous part of the town,
Where numbers -of all ages and sexes continually
-stop to, lounge away their time, by reading the.
books which are thus exposed. ,This was in his
mind a clear case of publishing._.. (The Learned
Chairman then .read the index of the book, from
which it appeared that it was of the most mis-
chievous tendency.]—He observed that the De-
fendant's Counsel - had said he was not apprised of
the contents of the .borik : that was no excuse, for
he ought to have made himself acquainted with
them, before he offered it for sale, or, he rendered
himself liable for the consequences. The Jury would
consider on the case, and if they were of his °pi_
nicin, they must find him guilty. .
The Jury, after consulting-a short time, returned
a Verdict, finding the. Prisoner--Not

ZXTRACT OF A LETTER FRONI AYR, DECEMBER
18, zBox.

gl I take this opportunity to acquaint you, that
arrived here on Saturday night, the r.ath inst. in
Majesty's Cutter Prince Augustus Frederick,
Capt. DowrE, on this station, after being .ship_
wrecked on Lady Isle, near the mouth of this har-
bour, aiNd Mere taken up by him.

" I left Quebec on the' zst of November,, in the
Brig Nancy, 'iosOti RE ID master, bound for this
port,, with 'whor6 rprOceeded on the voyage till the
unfortunate accideut happened, not without pre-
vious 'danger and Fatiglie, which 'may be- learnt
from late similar accidents,- and some still more
fatal happening'on shores not rethote from us. We
struck on the rocks on Ihe morning of the i t th,
about sixo'cloCk, in a violent bare of wind, which
sprung-up.about two the same morning, with hail,
snow, and thick weather. We endeavoured to
get her off, backing sails, and waking every other
effort the. Captain and, Crew had in their power-;

finding them. ineffeettial, the Ship- heatitfg,vio:.
lently against the rocks; and receiving much da-
mage, the tide also falling, we, hadto .consult „our
own safety:with as muchejcpedition as gossif)le,And
to save some of our baggage, The mind lulling-a
little,- and being on the lee-side of. the Island, fa-
voured our endeavours. _ .
" People in such circumstances hold, themselves
first in view. Five men got on shore, principally
with their own and.the rest of the crew's baggage.
While the boat was gone, those
.on board howled
up from the after-hold all the baggage belonging to
the cabin-passengers .and the Captain, which we
piled together on' the quarter-deck, ready to .throw
into the boat,.. with ourseives,*orrher return. .Four
of the passengets got to town the night before,- the
weather being fine and moderate, I then..rernained
Ole: only passenger onboard. The boat: returned
in leis than.. an hour. for us : ,by this time the tide
,had fin;: c9nsidci-ably, and the lee-side of the ship
be.:omiilg :Inaccessible to the boat, she had to. take
d7c weather side; the. wind
.also 'springing up
and VOient, with difficulty W2S she kept froin
(I,l,lung to litres against the ship's side. We had
in tins situation. to 'take to flight, without delay ;
and in less than four minutes shipped ourselves,
abandoning our baggage, and unable to hand a Sin-
gle.i)ackage•into the boat.,
" The -Master, overwhelmed with sorrow for
his loss, was with difficulty dragged out Orthe
ship, and I, in getting our, tho Ugh I. hadnothung
half a minute by the ship's side, was dragged by
the heek into the' boat by the second mate, 'who.
bad a just.sense of the danger we were in, and the
necessity of dispatch to save our lives'. Inashort
time., we fortunately made the shore, upon a bar._
len, uninhtibited island, not a. house; -habitation,
orhut upon ii, nor So much shelter as would colter
a cat, blowing a hrricane from the North, With
heavy showers of hail beating upon- us'; 'the
shoWers ceasing at.intervals. Had we delayed our
flight ten minutes', we must inevitably have pe-
rished. - We made our landing about nine o'clock.
In this situation were we from•six in the morning
till half past nine .at night, (aboard and- onshore.)
exposed to bitter storms, wet, thinly clad.; without
fire, without provisions, Without'any fresh water,
we could find:q?, more bread.-- than would serve
us fora meal,
.t.zsMbling and benumbed ; and after
having escap4,..the fury of the waves, ready to
perish from the excessive inclemency of weather,
and without hope, any-prospect of relief. But
the Beneficent Author of all things, unexpe*edly
to us; graciously interposed in our behalf, and fa-
voured our •safety and escape from this dreadful
catastrophe—a relief was miraculously
_thrown in
our way, as if calculated to meet_ us in this perilous
situation..
. •

' His Majesty's cutter, Capt. Powtr„ chanced
to- be at sea, bound to Belfast; by command of the
Board, but was put back by contrary winds, and
returning about one otclock, or befom, saw a sail
in distress across the island, bore down to see her
situation,,pd those who might belong to her, at a
hazard to himself and his brave men. We salsr,
him, and got up _as_ near as possible to the spot at
which he stood off, exposing ourselves,to his view,
made signal, by ,waving our hats, of the fnrlorn
situation in which we stood ; he returned it ; he
hovered a while as if' he. had comoassinn Lynn us,
and wished to give us relief, 'if praaic-able, at any
hazard : but at this 'time the sear ran so high, and
the waves beat so 'furiously upon the shore, that 'a
boat 'could not live upon the water, nor dare to ap_
proach the coast. We .saw it, and expefted no re-
lief.

cc At the same time the seas dashed against the
ship, and washed her incessantly from stem to stern,
the seas'running top-mast high,, which they con.
tinued to do full three hours, with the greatest yin.
lence, and nearly the same the whole day. The
noise of the billows and tempestuous winds, it
would be supposed, would silence any report from
the shig; but now the black tempests from the
North began to a& upon the sails, set back from
morning ; they burst one after another, and some
of theta being new, made reports greater- than
heavy cannon tired off,, charged to their full corn,
riernevt, and were quickly turn-to tags.--ofifter.
a while, Captain, Howie bore away, out of sight,
but was too anl4ous for our deliverance not to re-
turn in a short time, and kept in sight of us, as if
to keep us in- good heart; he traversed a consider.
able time the bay, and some short time before the
approach of night, he anchored near the spot where
we first satw him. Still we were without hope, the
winds continuing to blow furiously. We little
imagined what was intended for us.' ' A son of
Sir Wm. Cunningham, a passenger 'bound to Bel-
fast, commanding a small party of the 21st Regi-
ment, seconded with great spirit the Captain?s ge-
nerous intentions, When 'night' came op, and the
wind lulled somewhat, Captain Down E took
to the boat, and 'braving danger, twice, attempted
a landing, but ineffeaually, so despera'te was the
storm.

•
. _
At length, between eight and nine ofclock, a
voice
.was heard from the shore, we started at the
happy alarm; the Cutter's Boat landed, apd one
of the tnon came up, ordering us, on' board fotit- or
five at • a time, Kee. obeyed the glad summons, -and
at three trips we embarked op board the Cutter at
half past nine. The Captain received us with, the
utmost tenderness and hospitality, had good fires
prepared. for: us, with comfortable refreshritent, and
provided beds.
•
" One of the Cutter's crew had• almost lost his
life.—The Boat at one of the landings was, ley the
violence of the surf, overset, and one of the men
thrown uporil; a rock, which could not afterwards
be approached, though the boat. was immediately
righted ; he remained in this'situation about three
quarters of an-hour, washed by the waves-; at last
a.rOpe.was thrown to him, which-lte,fastened round
his. body, and theveby he .was dragged through the
water 'to. the. bolt., as a fish out of the sea. by a
net.

c‘ By, these exertions were the lives of twelve
persons happily preserved, who rnua inevitably
have perished."

A singular clirc,Vmstitinee Attepded one of tht
to,ocol. Prizes, shared by SWIFT and Co. in the
lastLiStrt4ry.l=-...-A. Tradesman in -the neighbourhood
of 13upd.st1eet,
.went into:the city to, take up g
Bill of ,Exchauge, and.offered.a Eank.Posi Bill.
ICI. which the. Bankers refused, alledging that
was their custom to take only Bank Notts or c4Fh
in such eases: Her .was..returning, home much 'per.
'lexecfs, when :the Lottery Office in the PooltrY
struck his attention,; he wept in, and related the
particulars of his situation, °Tering'. to purchisg:
Sixteeoth.of an Irish Lottery Tickets if they would
give'hiM cash. for the Bill. This: they coroplie4
with,, and. the small.stun of Eleven Shilliggs and
Six-pence, by this accidental circunlstance,p‘Odfc4
hinl between Fire and Six Iluidred YOunitg.,
r

SHIP Ng PPS .

CRAVEsEND, JAN. 6.

Passed by—thq Selina, Reynolds, from Matta.;. Friend.;
ship, Dayis, from Guernscy ; .Yoniig Harry, Overton, and
Rose, Barnet, from Rotterdam.
Salled—rtlie Leander, Brown, far Grenada; Princess It oyalt
Ritchie, for Attica ; Mary Ann, Shaw, for. Gibraltar ; Ben-s
)fin,, for BOurcleaux ; William, Pinkerton, and
Ifewington,,for Belfast. • .
.14s. 7. P,,issed by—the l'erseverance,Walker, from
; Lotd Salton, from Cork ; Young John,
from. 4,404ie ; einhoids, °Wiens, from Hambro' ; a-
coba, from 'Rotterdam ;
,Venus,, rohnsun, and VreW
Abi ii, Fisher, from A,nsterdam.
Sailedi,the Charlotte, Rogers, for Dublin.