The Sun.
London, England, 1802-12-01 00:00:00

CLERKENWELL SESSIONS.

14ICKN'S.HALL, TUESDAY, NOV., 30.
. OITSCENE PRINTS.
Baptista Rertuchi, an Italian Itinerant ltender of
Prints and Drawings, was this day put to the Bar,
charged with uttering and publishing certain ob-
scene prints, tending to deprave and corrupt the
morals of His Majesty's Liege Subjefts, an the 4th
of September last.
Mr..KteowLys, who opened for the Prosecution,
*iced it to have been instituted.at the instance of
the,Society established for the laudable and benefi.
cent purpose of the ProteCtion of Morals. It was
composed of a number of humane and worthy per_
~sons, who finding that the circulation of Points and
other incentives to lasciviousness•was diffusing itself
very widely and systematically through all parts of
the country ; and that Obscene Prints, &c. were
.becoming a regular branch of commerce, by agents
in correspondence and ,partnership with each other ;
that they were generally produced to youthful and
inexperienced persons, particularly women and
young children, tending thus rapidly to destroy in
early and weak minds the seeds and foundations
of morality and social happineishad associated
with. the view of eddeavouring to come at the root
am+ source of this prgnant evil, and puniSh the mis-
creants engaged in such abominable traffick with all
the severity of the law. Heretofore some persons
seemed to doubt whether the existence of this prac_.
tite to so great an extent, might not have been in
some. measure imaginary ; but two late convittions
in that Court, and at Westminster, were sufficient
to satisfy the most sceptical upon its reality ; and
in confirmation, they would find, in the tkiurse of
-the present trial, that tut of the Prints exhibited
by the Defendant,- eleOen of then; belonged to an.
other fellow in the same made. It was therefore
evident. that in any well-regulated State, paying
due regard to the preservation of morals, and the
essehtial interests of social life, no cause of greater
importance could be submitted taa Jury ; but as the
'S.Jciety to which he had alluded did not expect to
prevail upon any of the parties concerned to give
ieviknce, they were necessarily obliged to have re-
course to a person employed expressly to discover
these pernicious praaices, whose testimony would
be confirmed by several other Witnesses. He con.
chided his observations by enumerating, as usual, the
points of evidence meant to be brought forward.
Daniel Bishop the first Witness called, said, he
was an Officer of Police Office, Worship.street,
and, by order of the Magistrates; on the 4_th of
September, attended Gray, the Society's_ Agent,
to the Mermaid, at 1-!ackney, to meet the Defend_
ant, who was brought sou ..ifier by Gray, who
represented the Witness as Captain or Mroßrown,,
who wished to purchase some of his plaures to
take with him to the East Indies. The Defendant
then took out of his portfolio about three or four
dozen indecent prints, of•which Bishop agreed, to
purchase two, at the price of six shillings. These
prints were produced and submitted to the Magi-
strates, but not exhibited openly in Court, where
there were a great number of women. The De-
fendant, in Making the bargain, said, he was then
selling to him at three shillings each, what he
usually sold at half a guinea to• young Ladies, who
were his best customers, and never thought of giving
him less ; and that were it not for two or three
good Ladies' schools, it would not he worth his
while to go to Hackney. Being asked how he
contrived to introduce such prints amongst them ?
He said, he first shewed something of another kind,
such as a landscape of Virginia, which he had then,
with other modest prints, about him. They usual-
ly asked him next it he had any game ? upon which
he produced some game birds, such as pheasants ;
And then, if they said that was not the seer, he at
length exhibited these representations of the most
obscene sensuality. He always took occasion, when
the waiter came into the room, to put some modest
prints at the top of the others ; and upon Gray's
asking him the reason, he replied, that he was
obliged, *bour four years ago, to abscond from
Eton, under apprehension of being taken up for
selling prints to the young Gentlemen. After mak-
ing his purchase, the Witness and Gray marked the
prints with their initials; and Bishop, making an.
other appointment, said, he would buy more, if he
would get them more highly coloured, Gray at the
same time leaving the Defendant his address.
On his cross-examination, he said, he attended
that day upon a Habeas, being confined in the Mar.
thalsea Prison for debt ; that he had no expedation
of gain, and only aded by the direetion of the Ma-
gistrates ' that be had only known Gray for about
a' fortnight befog this transadion ; and had no
knowledge of his having been an United Irishman,
nor of his having been ever taken up as a Spy.. The
whole plan, he said, was entirely of Gray's own ar-
_
tangement.
Gray, being next called, said,' that he had known'
the Defendant for some time, and had agreed to deal
with him for some prints, if he would colour them
more highly, which task was readily undertaken.
In pursuance of the arrangement he made, he accom-
panied Bishop to Hackney, and 'represented him to
Bertuchi as a Mr. Brown, who wanted some prints
to t:ke with him to India. A number of prints
were accordingly produced, many of which were
modest, but forty-one were of a similar obscene de-
scription with those purchased by Bishop, to whom
he (Gray). handed the parcel over, as being the
person desirous of dealing for them. He then de.
scribed the transadion and conversation nearly in
the same way as represented by the former Witness,
, but with some few additions. The Defendant said,
,:iteolies were his best customers, always giving
61. or-zos, 6d. for each Print, as the young
Ladies at Boarding.schools, who could afford it,
did not mind the money r they were also more un-
willing to expose them, or say any tiling about it,
than the young Gentlemen at Eton. After selling
Me two Prints to Bishop, the Defendant complained
of the Witness for not purchasing them all, as he
had taken mulch pains with, and finished them in the
first stile. Bishop undertook to buy another set, if
be would tyke them more perfect, vdthe Defcn-

dant agreed to it, Auld to-furnish the= at zs.. each,
if either of them would agree to give a'half-a.guinea
deposit, which they both declined. Gray asked if
he had any more of those Prints he had sold him
before I TO which the Defendant replied, they had
a great sale, .and he had sold or engaged them all.
The Witness wished to know if he could supply his
friend with
,some of those books, such as " Miss in
her Shift," which he had sold to him ? But the
Witness answered, that he-could spare .none at pre.
sent, for there was a great.demand for them, and
all he had remaining. were bespoke. was then
describing how, on the Bth of the, same month, he
introduced to him Vickery, another Police Officer,
as the friend of Mr. Brown, at the White Horse
Public-house, in Turnstile, where the Defendant
lodged. A similar display of curiosities was there
exhibited, of which Vickery bought two, and af-
terwards, under pretence of leading, him. to Mr.
Brown's, took him to the Public-office in Worship_
street, where he was examined, and the remainder
of his Piaures seized.

,On his cross-examination, he said, -that he had
been a' COMmision-broker and i‘lanufadurec at
Manchester ; that he afterwards removed to a shop
in London, where he failed, but had stock in trade
enough to support him till the last six months,
when he entered into the service of the Socie:v,
upon being assured that he was to receive no grati-
,fication from any penalty imposed by Penal Statutes.
Without this condition he never would have ac-
cept-ed of the office. From Manchester ire went
frequently to Ireland, for purposes of trade, but
never was an United Irishman, nor a Government
Spy upon them. He gave information to G')vern-
ment respeling Some-Cons'piracies in Manchester,
of which place he was a native, but was Compelled
to give that information ; for as he then kept 1,20
men at work,, he was sent to by a Magistrate, who
being informed that several of his men were en-
gaged in the Conspiracies then going on, concluded'
that he was likely to be acquainted with their pro-
ceedings ; but he did not apply for this purpOse him-
self,•nor make a tender of his services to the Society
for the Preservation of Morals. He never was en:.
gaged in any other than gentlemanlike, tradesman:.
like business. He never was arrested for Sedition,
nor detained in the custody of Mr. Walsh, in the
service of the Foreign Office. He lived indeed in
the house of Mr. Walsh, but was under no restraint,
but went wherever he pleased, and sometimes at-
tended by Mr. Walsh for his security, as the 'times
were dangerous. -He paid Mr. Walsh nothing for
his living, as GoVernment allowed for his expences.
He wished to decline telling-the nature of any infor-
mation he gave Government, as that would he con_
• trary to the instrudions given him by the Cabinet.
(Being pretty closely pressed on the nature of any
intercourse he might have had with the United
Irishmen, his Counsel objected to it, and the Court
ruled that no man should be compelled to give any
testimony that may criminate himself). Being asked
if, while at Mr. Walsh's, he saw any person fire a
pistol at his wife, and for what reason it was done ?
he said, that it was a matter of delicacy, which he
would explain, .if the Court ordered him so to do.
(The Court thought the question improper, as a
man, by admitting himself to have firei a pistol at
his wife, would be confessing himself guilty of a
capital offence).
Vickery, a Police-Officer, swore to his having
purchased two indecent prints of the, Defendant, in
Turnstile, on the Bth of September, when intrd-
duced to him by Gray, as the friend of Mr.
Brown. These prints he identified, and offered to
produce.
Mr. 114,LEY, for the Defendant, obje&ed to this
question, as well as Mr. SYLVESTER, contending
that it alluded to a transaction subsequent to that
at Hackney, which was the ground-work of the In-
dietment.

Mr. KNOW LYS contended for its propriety,
.and
illustrated his argument by a proceeding very usnal
in the Cour:s, as, if a man passes a had shilling, his
being taken up in a few days afterwards with a
quantity of bad silver about him, it is admitted as a
corroborative evidence of his former guilt.
The opposite Counsel denied the applicability of
this precedent to the present case, where the second
transattion was no part of the corpus delith of the.
Indittment, and the Court acquiescing in the ob-
jedion, it was suffered to prevail.
Armstrong, another Police-Officer's testimony,
went to little more than the fad of the Defendant!s.
apprehension, and a quantity of obscene prints hav-
ing been found upon him. •
The evidence for the Prosecution being closed,
Mr. SYLV ESTER. addressed the Jury on behalf of the
Defendant. From his own experience, he said, he
had known of Societies instituted for the most laud-
able and beneficial purposes, whose proceedings, from
the respzetable Gentlemen who' composed them,
suffering themselves to be over-reached and deluded
by crafty and_ unprincipled men, were sometimes of
more disadvantage than service to society. Such,
he feared, was the case in the present instance,
where every proceeding appeared and was admitted
to be the plan of Gray, who was a person unfit to
be brought forward as evidence in any Court of Jus.
tice. 'the main objea the Learned Serjeant seemed
to aim at, was, that Gray had been the artificer
and manufaEturer of the whole, who ingeniously
contrived to entrap. and ensnare this unfortunate and
ignorant Foreigner, into a condutt, the immorality
and illegality of which he was not well aware of,
and, then trumped up a story, by no means credible.
What business had this poor man to go out of his
way, without any necessity of doing so, in order
*to relate his commerce with Schools and Women,
when it was by no means called fore Gray, how-
ever, had his objea in these embellishments, well_
knowing that the public odium was greatly excited
by the supposition that vile and profligate scenes of
this disgraceful nature had found their way into
Female Boarding Schools. Of this, however, no
evidence at all was given beyond that of Gray him-
self, and the Police Officer ; for if there had, he
would have controverted it by the testimonies of
the Ladies who kept Boarding Schools in the neigh.
bourhood of Hackney, and were attending in Court
in case they should be called upon. It was happy
for the Jury, that they were under the direttion of

one of the most upright. intelligent, and impartial
Judges shat ever sat upon any bencit, and -whose
situation there gave the highest satisfaction-to every
loyal subject. Under his correction, he would con-
tend, that thiscase could not amount to the crime of
publishing ,a Libel, as averred in the-Indiament;
,‘ tending to -corrupt the morals of His Majesty's
liege Subjects." It was proved, that, on the:con-
trary, the Defendant was furnishing these prints for
an East India Captain, whom he, had reason to think
was -carrying' them to the East, where such things'
were not . prohibited, where they might, perhaps,
affet:no nther,-rnorals than those of the subjeas of
the Great-Mogul, as much as any other.
Several respectable Witnesses were then called,
• many of whom had known the Defendant a consi-
derable length of time, one not less- than sixteen
years; and all gave him the charatter of an honest
man, and so modest, that he never could bear ob-
scenity to be spoken in his presence. Many of
them had also often examined his port-folio, and
been in his apartment, but never saw, any thing in
them of an immodest nature.

The Chairman, in .summing up, observed, that
the charge was certainly of a very important na-
ture in any Society, but most of all in England,
which for the superior happiness it enjoyed over all
neighbouring nations, was not more indebted to its
Municipal Laws than to its attention to morals.
The regulations, cif moral order were ordained by a
Supreme Being ; but when his injunctions were
negle4ed; the Laws themselves must come in aid
for the preservation' .of purity and decorum., Yet,
however great may he their odium of such detesta-
ble practices, Juries must be careful in applying the
Laws ; they should not strain them beyond what
the necessity of example and prevention required.
It was undoubtedly evident, that the Defendant
might have been so guilty, if he had been employ-
ed by Gray for the express purpose of providing
these Prints and Drawings ; and the Law. never
meant to authorize that we should prevail upon a
man by encouragement and . mptation, and after-
wards aggravate his offences, and come upon him
with all the severity of punishment. If the Jury
were therefore of opinion, that the story of. the
School's was merely a fabrication of Gray, and that
he had been entrapped into what he had done ; and
also,:. Mathis selling them as an India venture was
a not Publication, they would give him the benefit
of his good character in delivering their verdict,
whatever may be their detestation of such proceed.
ings under other circumstances.

The jury, after deliberating. for about half an
hour or better, returned a verdia of Guilt], but
recommended the Defendant to the mercy of the
Court, on account of his having been entrapped into
the business.

The trial lasted for ufiward's of six hours, Mr.
KNOWLYS and Mr. KNAPP conduCted the "Prosecu.
tion ; Mr. SY LV ESTER and Mr. ALLEY the Defence.

There was also one trial for an assault, with an
intent to commit Murder, in which the Defendant
was convkted of the assault, and sentenced to three
months imprisonment. Another Defendaut, on a
charge of astualt and battery, was acquitted..