The Sun.
London, England, 1834-06-17 00:00:00

COURT OF EXCHEQUER.-(THIS DAY.

(Sittings at Nisi Prius, before Lord LYNDHURST and
- a Special Jury.)
THE ATTORNEY-GENERAL V. CLEAVE.
This was an information filed by the Attorney-Ge-
neral to recover penalties from the defendant for pub-
lishing a paper containing news, be not having lodged
the affidavit at the Stamp-office, which was required
by law.
The SOLICITOR-GENERAL and Mr. SHEPPARD con-
ducted the case for the Crown.
Joseph Wintle and John Hawker, clerks in the
office of the Solicitor for Stamps, proved that they
bought certain numbers of the Weekly Police Gazette,
which they did by orders from their superiors.
Benjamin Beckley, an inspector of stamps, also pur-
chased some numbers at No. 1, Shoe-lane. He, in
his cross-examination, stated that he had never been
ordered to purchase either the Mirror of Parliament,
the Atheneum, the Literary Gazette, or Northcroft's
Parliamentary Chronicle.
J. H. Imcombe, a clerk in the Stamp-office, had
searched the office, and found no affidavit from Mr.
Cleave with reference to the paper in question.
The papers were then read, and contained the acci-
dents of the day, police and law intelligence, &c.
The defendant appeared to conduct his own case.
He said he appeared there under great difficulty, for
he felt that his case had been prejudged previous to
coming into that Court, and the very first opportunity
had been taken also to warpsthe minds of the jury.
He would prove to the minds of 'the jury, that his
paper could not by any possibility come under the
description of a newspaper, as given by all the dic-
tionaries that he had yet seen. In them 'all, from
that of Bailey, published in 1782, down to the most
modern, news was described as being intelligence
never before published. All that appeared in his
paper was copied, and therefore it was not possible
that it could be news. It contained no accounts of
the markets, shipping, or births, deaths, and marriages ;
and he would only suppose the case of the foreman
of the jury, who he would suppose to be a merchant,
on some Saturday morning laid up with the gout, and
sending out John for a newspaper, so that he might.
see the effects of the storm upon his ships, the last
price of the funds, or anything he might be anxious
about. John returns with one of his twopenny
papers ; then how he would storm and call him
a very stupid fellow ; would he then consider
that his paper answered the purposes of a newspaper,
as that was one of the counts in the indictment ? He
complained bitterly of the fact that the Penny Ma-
gazine had, for so long, been allowed to be published
so quietly, merely because it was the property of the
dirty Whigs, who made a good property of it. After
a very violent attack upon the Ministry and Whigism
in general, he concluded by leaving his case in the hands
of the jury, trusting that they would not be bound
by any thing they might hear, even from the Chief'
Baron, but exercise their judgments as free and honest
men.
The SOLICITOR-GENERAL replied, and said, his
duty consisted not in saying a word upon scarcely any
subject touched upon by the defendant ; he had merely
to show the Jury why it was that he called the paper
before them a newspaper. They would find there a
variety of articles of information which might be
copied, but they were aware that all papers copied from
one another; but in the one he held in his hand there
lwieaNseadn
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dg without
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; but
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the case with them, with perfect faith that they would
take care of the interests of the fair dealer, who regu-
larly supplied the public in a lawful manner.
The LORD CHIEF BARON summed up, leaving the
case entirely with the Jury, whose province it was to
decide whether the paper contained news within the
meaning of the Act.
The Jury looked over the papers for a short time,
and returned a verdict for the Crown on the third
count, that was, finding the defendant guilty of
publishing a paper answering the purpose of a news-
paper.

We must correct an error into which some
of our contemporaries, especially in Scotland, have
fallen, in stating that Mr. Abercrombie will gain
1,000/. a-year from his appointment as Master of the
Mint. The salary attached to that office was reduced
by a specific Act, 1 and 2 'William 1 v., c. 10, from
3,0001. to 2,000/., which is exactly the amount of Mr.
Abercrombie's retiring allowance, as Lord Chief Baron
of Scotland. Mr. Abercrombie will, therefore, gain
nothing whatever by the appointment.

A WHIG ACCOUNT .OF A TORY

INSTALLATION.

Gadzooks ! who would swear to the truth of a song ?"—Poi oe

Yes, I've seen the Show, and never
Saw so clumsy an-endeavour
To patch up the tattered glories
Of our tax-inventing Tories ;
Snobs and Peers were there by scores,
Belles and beaux, and Blues and bores,
There was bishop, dean, and doctor,
Soldier, lawyer, bedell, proctor,
Fierce, carnivorous country squires,
Caught half wild in Tory shires,
With lots of parsons from their dens
In the Isle of Ely fens,
Striving all, like lads at school,
Which the best could play the fool,
And repudiate the Graces—
Making such strange sounds and faces,
Hissing now, and now huzzaing,
Yelling—screaming—roaring—braying—
You'd have sworn they'd just got free
From the Tower Menagerie.
In the centre, on a throne,
Sat his Grace of Wellington,
But without a College wig,
Which was surely infra dig;
Perplexed he looked, and somewhat mulish,
And at times uncommon foolish ;
But 'twas comforting to see
The rest looked just as wise as he.
Much his Grace in Latin tongue
Spake (I think he should have sung) ;
Holding grammar at arm's length,
Shearing sense of all its strength—
As a butcher shears an ox,
Or as parsons shear their flocks—
Playing, without check or curb,
Such strange tricks with noun and verb ;
Issuing blunder after blunder
In such knowing tones of thunder,
As if he'd made some wondrous hit,
That I thought I should have split !
Well, the Duke's oration o'er,
Up jumped Doctor Phillimore,
Looking sage, but shy, alas !
As a goose at Michaelmas;
Long and loud before his face,
He praised the virtues of his Grace,
How he was the greatest Pat
Ever heard of, and all that, •
Growing hourly bright and brighter,
Beating Caesar as a fighter,
Cicero in eloquence,
Solomon's own self in sense,
And born on an auspicious day
To rescue Britain from the sway
Of that wicked Whig, Earl Grey ! !
Next rose a poet, and when he
Had closed his drowsy minstrelSy,
His audience heard St. Mary's chime
Toll out the hour of dinner time,
So forthwith scampered, one and all,
To join a wiser festival.
-Dire was the crush, amidst the din,
A curate kicked a bishop's shin,
Which made his Reverence, smarting sore,
Clench his pious fist and roar :
A Royal Duke too, as he rose
Fell on his " Illustrious" nose,
And falling, 'mid a general laugh,
Stuck his spurs in Wynford's calf'.
So closed this scene of cant and pother ;
(Pray heaven I ne'er see such another !)
Throughout, the only sights, i'fegs,
Worth seeing, were the ladies' legs,
Which, as they hurried from the fane,
Showed to advantage in the rain.f

* " The Duke of Cumberland, on leaving his chair to
speak to a lady close to the rising semicircle, saluted the
floor with more precipitation than grace."— The Sun of
Saturday.
" It rained very heavily when the audience came out
of the theatre, and as there were neither sufficient flys
nor sedan chairs for one-fiftieth part of them, there was
nothing left for the ladies but to run for it."— The Sun of
Saturday.