The Sun.
London, England, 1804-08-21 00:00:00

CLONMEL

SATURDAY, AUGUST 1.1, 180+.

BAGWELL V. POWER.

TRIID atFORE LORD MEP JUSTICE LORD NORBORYv

This was an Afion for Defamatory Words, in
which Colonel BAgwell, M. P. for. this County and
Colonel of the County Militia, was Plaintiff, antl.
Edmund Power, Printer of the Clonmel Gazette and
Munster Mercury, vas
,Defendant. The damagee
were laid at joool. and a'pout ten o'clock on Samm
day, the following Gentlemen were sworn of the
Jury:

Thomas Barton, Esq.
William Latium, Esq.
1. P. Duckett, Esq.
L. 1-1. lenlison, Esq.
Peter Smithwiek, Esq.
E. T. M. Butler, Esq.

Denis 01/feagher. Esq.-
E. Powe,, Esq. Tipperary.
lames ibl Orton, Fsq.
Samuel Morton, Esq.
Wm. Biker; Fsq.
Denis, Duane, Esq.

An objeEtion was mil& by the Defendant's Coun..
self to Mr. Barton, in consequence of a declaration
said to have been made .by him, that he wished to
avoid being on the Jury ; and two triers
been appointed by hi, Lordship, for the purpose of
investigating Mr. Barton's competence, and his
own testimony being tendered, as to.the fag. above
stated, it was over. ruled by the Court.
Mr. BURROUOIIS stated the Piaintiff's case with
great force, accuracy, and animation, and illustrated
the malicious objedt of the present publication, .by
a reference
.to other articles reflecting on Colonel
Bagwell, which also appeared in the same Newspa-
per.. The words in, question, inserted in a Compost_
Lion signed " C6Nregltor," were as follow
(4 What say the Patriot and the Soldier I that a
person honoured by a Commission from long sought"
(long sought from, would appear the meaning) " the
most gracious and glorious Sovereign in the world,
seeks to weaken the loyalty of those under his corn.
mand, by with-holding that Sovereign's bounty ?"
Mr. BEJRROUGHm dwelt with great impressiveness
on the immeasurable mischiefs to be done by an ac-
cusation so heavy as this, if it were not fully and
perfedlly repelled, by the effed of the.present trial.
He urged that Colonel Bagwell, commanding a Re-
glthent in His Majesty's Service, was, •if this ac.
cusation could be substantiated, ineradically
.hibited to the world as a traifot,,as well as a plun-
derer : for it charged him, in the high situation
wherein His Majesty's favour bad placed him, as
conspiring ,vith the common Enemy of his Country,
by alienating the minds of the Military from their
Sovereign and his defence, and traitorously de_
stroying that very force, which it
,was his peculiar
duty to increase'. He pressed it upon the minds of
the Jury, that however wild such accusation wan;
the more eminent was any man's Station, the more
was he an object for observation and censure, for
envy and malignity; and however he might be
guarded by a shield of conscious innocence, yet
the calumny, if suffered to pass unnoticed, would
be whispered with confidence, and heard with ere.
dulity. To vindicate his chandler, he chose'this
mode of action, because in it alone could the De.
fendant sustain his assertions, if they were capable
of support. And he therefore preferred it to a
criminal information, because in the latter case,
the Defendant would be punished, though the ca-
, tuMny were true', and the plaintiff in this case,
would not be satisfied by the punishment of /he
Defendant, withunr the acquittal of himself:. Por.
or against this acquittal, by a poWerfel reparattOn
in damiges, all the evidende was to apply, becauSe
the Defendant in his pleading, had on the face of
the record justified himself in using the words
before stated, with the assertion that they were
true, and that he was ready to prove them, Mr.
BURROUGIIS here went into a statement of the
case, so far as prOof was to be giien, reapedink
Thomas Hogan, James Murphy, and Michael
Nagle, the men in whose names the Defendant had
justified himself for saying that their'bounty -wait
withholden by Colonel Bagwell. This jostificatioN,
he said, Inuit be .true or false, and by its truth or
falsehood, they were in .either case bpund to a
strong and latal finding. They must either send away.
one of the parties without a charmer, or the other
without property.
The Defendant, having pleaded not guilty, as
well as a justification, the trial waS considcraWylle.
tamed by the proof on the part of the plaintiff, 41sat,
Edmund Power was Printer and Tublisher'of the
Paper prodUced. In support of this fad; was call.
„ed Mr. Nowlan, Distributor of Stamps: for the
County
to theryofTinperary, who produced these Newspa.
pens
reading of Which Mr. Cult RAN took -1
ohjedion, as it was not proved that they were de.
livered to this Office by the Defendant, of that the
Defendant 'hail signed them, there being no name in
writing, on the Papers, and he relied on the autho4
rity of the case of the Printer of the Northern Sian
where it was ruled on a plea of not guilty, only,
that the printing and publishing should be ad-tualry
proved against the Defendant, at the time of the'
publication. Mr. Nowlan swore, that within a year
he had repeated conversations with the Defendant,
as Proprietor of the PaPer, on the subjea of Duties,
which in that capacity he owed at the Stamp 01,
ficc. Mr. CURRAN'S objections being however
relied on,

Thomas Quin Esq. a Magistrate of the County,
was produced, who proved that the Defendant swore
before him an ailidoit, stating himself to be Pro. ,
!victor of the Clonenel Gazette and Altiniter
cosy. Mr. Quin also proved, that he had a conver.
sa'tion with the Defendant pre. Onus to the publication
of the composition signed "Coatrastor," in which the
11.11,:luti lit said, he was induced by the importunity
of several persons in clonmel to put forth such es
publication, in consequence of compttinta male re.
speding the tolls and taxes brit% raised n thein.
He said, . that on,recumtuentling to the Defendant
not to meddle with it, the Detentlant said he could
not Well get over it, as he was under a kind of ob..
ligasion to several people in Clonmel to publish it,
On his cross.exstutnation by. Mr. GRADY, '.\./1
Quin said, he hCard there were 'complaints against
the cxaaion of tolls and taxes.. He could not swear
that the conversation related to the Paper signed
Contrarstar," and no part of that conversation re.
laced to withholding the King's bounty. tie heard
something of such withholding, and heard publicly
that some ,of the privates complained after the con.
versaiion, •but did not believe it, nor that Colonel
Bagwell woultrglite' foundation for it. Hi know