The Sun.
London, England, 1817-06-06 00:00:00

LAW INTELLIGENCE.

COURT OF KING'S 13ENCIT, 'nit! RePAY, JUIS S.
London Sittings before lift. Justice ABBOTT.

LIBEL.
THE KING V. THOMAS JONATHAN WOOLLeR.

The trial of this Defendant, (wlvlch excited
very great interest) for a Libel upon the' Kiug's ,
Ministers generally, in the administration tit the
asks of the State, and upon Lord Castlereagh
and Mr. Canning personally came on this day at
before Mr. Justice ABBOTT and a
Specinl Jary. Mr. WooHee was without any pro.'
fessional assistance.
F will be recollected from the proCeetlings of
last Term, that the alleged libel in question ap-
peared in a periodical publication Catlett The Black
Dwarf, of the 241 at April lust, of which the. de-
fendant was. printer and proprietor. The tendency ,
of the production was aid(' to he to bring the Ad•
ministration of the country into hatred and con-
tempt, by charging the Ki!rg's servants with a
corrupt violation of the Cculstitution, Ste. end to •
charge the Ministers above-mentioned with a
.Corr opt tnalversation of the public resources of
the country.
The ATTORNSY.GRNBRAL, the SOLICITOR-GB*
NORIO,' Mr. RICHARDSON, and Mr. Saarneao,
conducted the prosecution.,
Amongst the passages set forth in the
,f rst
count, which were inserted in an article under the.
head, " The post, the
.present,, and the future,"
werethe following :
We•start from the.contrast of what we wete
With what we are, with as murk astonishment' us
if we could not have anticipated the danger. But
those who will not attend, to their own affairs,
must lake front experience the lesson that others
will invariably deceive or betray them. Our Mi-
nisters' have. tione both. The nation has to re.
protich 'them with the most iofamons duplicity,
the roost dreadful treachery. They promised us
thif they 'vtould fight our battles, and they have
fought 'their own. They talked at patriotism when
they meant plunder, and told us we were•fightint;
the battles of regular government abroad, when •
they hiive been reduced to the necessity, even:
in the boasted success of our arms, to destroy
,that Constitution tbetnseti.es 'Which they pre-
tended they called upon us to pay and defend.
The Constitution which France could not assail,'
nor, even wished to injure, luss perished at Stel.
Jlhers'a, perished ignobly, 'and without a struggle'
fttioang the Representathes of the people, the guar.'
ainns of the public: purse. Have our Ministers any
further object to achieve ? or will they be satis-
fied With the annihilation of our. Most itoportant,
laws ? Will they be itisfied with our toil as
slaves, or must we bleed to tippease 'their hatred of
the cause of freedom and ReforM 3 if 'we must,
we', brae only to request of them, in the 'lan-.
goage of Ajax,. to destroy us in the' open light of
Heaven, breathing an appeal to the-God of Free-
dom whist the agents of slavery and despotism.`'`
The sesond count, charging a libel personally
against Mr. Canning and Lord Castlereagh, set
forth the fidlowing, amongst othetpassages, of au
article headed by " Mr% Canning's Joh!"
"'The appetite of our Statesmen' for plunder.

,Pe erns t t,e nnances: ofrthe State
dlininiih. The retrenchment to which they have
been compelled to resort, hats masiced only in
the uninst liismissal of the poor ioril meritorious
servants of the State, that the SalatjeS of their
vlieless Superiors mignt he inereaied, and silcit men
at Castlereagh hrib4 au,:ll Men as Canning;
to iissociate in a league for the onrression of
their eoitiory Such is sate unblushing_ impu-
dence of Canniror's brlzen features, !hat he darts to
sit,a4 a Ceci.tAtor in at) assembly, from which he
ought to he distuisNed 'with execration. What
C0'11)4E1600 Call be tnaoe in point of setnal guilt
keern thy miserable being who commits a 'llene!:
theft wider the influeup, of distress, and the
8111tt'fillrati advitritaLte of a Oefird-trust
to h. trJv the confidence of a nation, and prey like
is vulture Ott the life blond of fhe e:npirc ) !Mien
the gilbbet is prepared for the one, the heatrold
should hr ready for the other ; the sacred Pa'nte
of Juittce should not be profaned by the
!inner lt-
nrent of the One, tt bile it is mot ked by the escape
of tire other. A country that would prosper
should always remember that the vices of high
life, which occasion the distresses of the lower
orders, ought to ha visited ill their origin, and not
in their effects. A r...retch ti ho is driven to vio-
lence to obtain food, may he pitied and pardoned
without any particular extension of charity ; but
the eilloiu of choice is deserving of condentna.
tion without pity, and &Hal withont remorse."
The defendant admitted the writing, printing,
and publishing of the alleged libel, and that about
1000 copies had been sok
I.lr Grown, a conveyancer of Lincoln's Tom,
alleged the application of the matter which Ve46.
the 3sihject of the prosecution, to the King's Ad-
ministration,' and to Lord Castlereagh and Mr.
The defendant tieing called upon for his defence,
aticiressed the Jury in a speech of two hours in
length, characterized by great natural powers of
elpyience, and distinguished, in some pants, by
such irvesistable touches, as to call forth the spon-
taneous plaudits of the auditory, who not with
standing the rcpeated threats of commitment by
the Court for disorder, could not he restrained
froth expressing their coincidence in the send-
mews expressed bY the defendant. kl'e lament
thar our return will not permit a detail of the de-
itiodancs address to the Jury.
Mr. Wooller contended, that the paper, which
Was dig 4uhivet of the information, was nothing
more,il4in 4 tree inquiry into the conduct of his
Ilajetity's Ministers, who, as public functionaries,
were constitutionally Viable to the animmitelstomi
of the penvie. Having once accepted a public
post, rhe private character of nierged
:ft that of the ostensible servant of the Crown,
and aoy observations passed upon his conduct,
however 4vere, would be Justified; if that con-
duct 'appe-ared to be dangerimi to the irate.
Yenta of the' people, Stich was else motive with
Which 'the present paper wain written: Jr was
OW 'lnc language of the passages selected for pro.
sedition was strong, but itrwas such as the nest's-
, SAY of thie case required, in order'to.awaken the
Ministers of the Clown to a sense., of their duty
towards the public. Th,, re had been allow t wen y-
numbers of tite $4 Black IJ:wart " published, and ,
since its first appearance before the I,uhlie, it had
always -expressed. limlar• sentiments' le. (NM
wilieh had now placvd the author muftis- hisila.
jetty's special protection. Ilut it was 'rather ex-
, traordinary that.the.ollicos 'dl the grown should
wait until the publication of Aire tenth number
Wore they thought' the author worthy of notice;
and it was probable that his exertions for the

public 'would not have tittreCted the consequence
now attributed to them,' but for the persecution
, of one of his own ciamory agents, who had'heen
convicted by the Rev. Mr. Powis in the sum
801. for sellint, unstamped newspapers' and since
"
the Mods Dwarf " WAS
.brotiglit under the no-
tice of that worthy Divine, who had himself shire
been the Fuljert of a et iminal information in the
Court of r' Bench for that very Conviction.
Mr. Auatr interposed, anti raid that it
%VAS tint competent for the defendant to allude to
the conduct of any person not immediately con-
nected with the case under consideration.
.0 -The defendant, after a great variety of oftserva-
tions, concluded by a strong appeal to the July,
in 'whose bands he fearlessly placed himself; with
a firm persuasion, that as guardians of their own
rights and liberties„ they wotdd not consign a fel-
low-subject to the horrort+ of a dtingeon, upon
the Attorney-Generals inuendos—that they would
stand between the oppressors and the oppressed--
and that they would save the advocates of public
liberty from the consequences of as unjust con-
.t?lction, of which, however, he would rather be
the victim, than disavow principles and senti-
ments in the meintenatiee-of which he was willing
to die.
'flee defendant concluded amidst the tumultuous
acclamations of an unusually crowded Court.
The 1-lon. Mr. Baron GARROVV, who bad been
marooned by the defendant as a witness, and brie
on the right hand of Mr. Justice Abbott, now
enquired whether the defendant required his fur.
tiler attendance, find upon receiving au answer in
the negative, the Learned Baron withdrew,
fiord Castlereagh and Mr. Canning, who bad
also been sithlicettaedhy the defendant (the latter
of whom had sat for some time on the Bench,
during the eat iy part of the trial, but had retired),
came into Court, and made a similar inquiry of
the defendant, and, being told that their evi-
deuce was not.tvanted, Were dismissed.
Tlte SONICIDOit-Gft4llB4l. replied.-I.lr. Justice
Anurr chargcti 114 e Juicy, aunt gave his opialon
that the production was a libel.
The Jerry then withdrew ; and a Singular oc-
currence afterwards took place.
defeodaut was charged with a second in-
formation for another libel on the right of ped.
tiorting. in this Number-he ridiculed the idea of
tiny benefit resulting to the people front petition-
ing, and treattd the t.ttificet in a ludicrous min-.
nev, with mue sarcdstic observations on the
'number of the Lai: V6itiollti lot. n11.141=1141)7
Reform.

-
In like mariner he adniltted himself the author
and publisher ef this alleged libel.
While tie was; adAressiog the Jury, the former
Jury returned itt:o Cgurt, and ouly a part,catne
tbrough ate door 4c4tr the The PoKellum