The Sun.
London, England, 1826-08-15 00:00:00

SPIRIT OP THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

•
We have been led to understand that a new trial will be
moved for in the case of the idiot Smith, wherein `a ver-
dict of 4004 was given the other day against a provincial
newspaper for an alleged libel. The ground of the motion
for a new trial will, it is said, be the " predetermined bias
of one of the jurors" in favour of the plaintiffs. Of the
truth of such a charge against a certain Member of that
Jury, we shall offer no opinion ; not because we have
formed no opinion —no very decided opinion with
regard to it; but because Me charge itself is to constitute
the foundation of a grave proceeding in one of the Courts
at Westminster. That some sort of iniluence—we do not
aver a corrupt or unlawful influence—will be presuMed by
many people to have swayed the minds of the above Jury,
`is probable, from a curious circumstance which occurred
the same day and in the sarse Court. Soon after the ver-
dict for 4004 damages had been delivered against the Bir-
mingham Paper, for copying the statement of the idiot's
wrongs from another public print, the SalOpiart Journal,
the original publisher of the narrative, had to sustain an
action of damages, brought by the same plaintiffs, and for
the- publication of the libel; the same evidence was read,
by the Judge, the same topics of exeuation dwelt upon,
and a verdict recorded for 100/.! The original circu-
lator, therefore, of a disgraceful ,history, is criminal to
the extent only of one hundred pounds; while he who
depends on the authority of the first historian, so
far as to repeat what he has asserted, must suffer
to four times the amount; and, by consequence, the
copier from the copy is criminal to the amount of
1,6001. Now if such be the progress of dainages for each
remove of a story from its source, what can it at length
result in, but a stop to the transmission of all intelligence
from one part of the kingdom to *mother ? And here we
must, with due reverence to his station, advert to the
language of the Learned Judge, uuder whose tutelary and
presiding genius the two actions in this case were tried.
Mr. Justice Burrough is reported to have said, that it is
" no justification of adefendant" to say that heohas copied
a giVen statement from another paper. Rigidly speaking,
a legal justification, on which to found a verdict of acquit-
tal, we may, indeed, imagine that it is not. But does
the learned justice mean to say that it is no moral insti-
fimtion ?—that it is nothing towards palliating an offence,
or towards mitigating the amount of damages? If Mr.
juitice Burrough Means that, we are directly- at ,issue
with him. We do affirm, that in common sense, and by
strict moral necessity, the severest punishment—if any
punishment—ought to be visited on the first publisher of
an obnoxious narrative. The person who originally cir-
culates a paragraph containing eriminatory matter, is
bound to exercise ordinary judgment in examining the pro-
bability of its truth or falsehood ; and if there be not a
prima facie balance of evidence in support of the truth, he
owes it to himself, to the party, and to the public to sup-
press it. But what is the duty of the second circulator ?
—why,. to consider the responsibility resting on the first,
and the general credit due to him. It is physically ims
possible for journalists in distant parts of an exten
sive country, to know, as Justice Burrough seems
to require, the truth or falsehood of a story at
first sight. If they published nothing for which they
could not personally vouch, they would exhibit a precious
vacuity. of columns, /paucity of readers, and deficit of con-
tributions to the revenues of the StamP-office. No; a co-
pying journalist relies on the general respectability of the
print from which he copies. He gives the foes! news-
paper credit for a knoWledge of what passes in its own
neighbourhood, which it would be presumption in him to
doubt; and this reasonable degree of credit is as indispen-
*able to the preservation of aright intelligence and popular
sympathy throughout the kingdom, as credit of another
and more easily pervertible kind is to the existence of its
commerce. The mischief of a private libel 'being mostly
confined to a single spot, the carelessness or malice which
has thrown it into circulation, ought to be there, if any
where, visited- with 'seventy. The vermin Oates as it
travels—heenmes more spiritless anti harmless as the no-
velty of the flavour passes away ; and, above all, where
names and localities are unknown, loses nine tenths of its
vexatious power. But Mr. Justice Burrongli asserts be-
fore the country, -that a plea of justification only aggra-
vates the wrong, unless every part of it can be proved in
evidence—and states such a plea as matter of aggravation
to the Jury, Now, here two remarks of considerable

weight present themselves. L What plea, but one of
justification, can be naturally put upon the record by tin
hohest and. bona fide defendant ? The more implicitly a H
man believes the truth of any statement that ho has. been
induced to publish, the greater must be his confidence In.
the' validity of , his plea of justification. Is it •
sible that a Judge, • who has fir so many years as counsel
been in the habit of -observing, and if he had any zeal for
his clients, of feeling the frequency with which the most
upright Cathie breaks down from accidental failures of 'the
evidence—is it possible, we say, that such a man ran
seriously charge it as blameable in a defendant, that he be-
lieves something more than it turns out that he can prove
in his own justification ? 2. It was to the jury that the
Learned Judge represented an unproved plea of justifica-
tion as a circumstance aggraVating the original injury.
For what was this ?—that they should make a correspond-
ing increase to the damages. Now we shall never bring
ourselves to recognize or understand the justice of such a
principle. The jury are called upon to try whether a cer-
tain publication was a libel; they are not sunummed into
court to ascertain whether that libel received subsequent

aggravations from the species of defence which the coun-
sel advised' the defending party to rely upon. In that
case the defendant would be punished for the non-attend-
ance, perhaps the death, of witnesses—at all events for
matter subsequent to that which forms the•subject of the
trial. What. is worse, the jury would have •to decide a
new question, superit:duced upon that which was t egu-
'arty raiserl for their consideration, and virtually- to bring
in.a verdict upon an issue which they are not sworn to
try.—Times.
The Chancery Bar would seem to entertain a suspicion,
that the patience of the Lord Chancellor is like to prove as
ruinous to their constitutions, as it has hitherto proved to
the fortunes of suitors. Mr. I fart confessed yesterday that
he was fairly worn out, and Mr: Horne observed, that if
his Lordship went on with the business, it must be with-
out the presence of Counsel. Mr. Agar touched on what
was rather a sore place; namely, that his Lordship might
be detained in town on some political business ; though we
have no doubt it was thrown out with a view to appease
his'brethren of the ha, who might thence be led to infer,
that the more attractive pursuits of politics really kept him
in town, and not any wish fairly to knock up the Bar.—The
Chancellor, however, seems always very impatient when his
political labonrs are alluded to, and to be us unwilling to
hear of his diligene in the Cabieet, as a Methodist to
hear himself charged with an affair of gallantry.—ln the
Vice-Chancellor's Court yesterday, an observation was
made by Mr. Heald, kom which we may infer, that in
the.opirtion of that gentleman, frequent decisions would be
better Wan protracted. sittings. In the ease Scott r.
Hanson, he said, with relpect to an Observation made by
the Vice... Chancello—
r.
" Ile was glad: to hear such an observation corning from a
.
Judge. /VOL a prabge,. of an much experience as his Honour, and
too, who had decided almost all. the cases have beta de.
cided late years a» the Court of Chancery."
The signs of the times are portentous.. What arc we
to infer from this general eagerness to tell unpleasant
truths to his Lordship ? The case of partners proving
against each other (ex-parte Sillitoo) was again brought
forward yesterday by the Vice Chancellor, who professed
himself still unable to comprehend the principle of the
Lord Chancellor's decision. The point is of the utmost
importance to the commercial world, and therefore, we
trust, Our. readers will excuse us for reverting so often to
this case,
"to the ease of Gina°. (said his Ifonour) six persons were
partners in a bank, but two were traders, as ironmongers, and
they only had credit at the Bank of England for diaconate.' When
tba,baain concern got into difficulties, they procured 8,0001. in

~~

6atway, which they advanced to their partners, and when both
houses failed, the creditors of the iron aerie naturally thought
they had a right to prove for that sum upon the assets of the
banking house. The question had been brought into that Court,
'and he had pronounced an opinion that they had; but, upon ap-
peal to the Lord Chancellor, that decision was reversed. His
Lordship had then said that there was a general rule, by which no
partner could prove against a banking *tin rem peOtion with the
creditors, because the creditors of that firm must be considered as
his own, and that this rule mast' be without any exception, except
when partners traded and dealt in two distinct abodes of trade.'!
To an ordinary understanding, the reason of this
tation seems utterly incomprehensible. If 'the assets of
the Ironmonger concern were diminished by 8,0001. ob-
tained through discounts, for the sake of the Banking
concern, to refuse the creditors of the former to prove on
the latter, seems to be favouring one set of creditors at
the expence of the other. The nature of the commodity
in which the advance was made seems_ of no earthly con-
sequence when the competition is between creditors and
creditors. The utmost confusion must be introduced into
commercial affairs by the distinction without a difference
of the Lord Chancellor's decision. Hitherto an inspec-
tion of the books of a concern has been supposed' to sup-
ply the means to creditors of forming some judgment re-
specting the state in which it is. For instance, a creditor
of the ironmonger concern had, before the decision of the
Lord Chancellor, only to be aware of the advance to the
banking concern, and to judge of the credit of the bank.
But now &creditor must seek for information not appearing
on the books, before he can ascertain whether sums at the
credit side of a concern are to be considered as among its
assets.—Morning chronicle.
In the midst of the grave discussions about political
economy and national distress, it might perhaps be well
to unbend ourselves a little occasionally, and seek for some
subject that would call for less mental exertion on the
I Part of our readers. Little as .the more ponderous class
of writers are disposed to value the daily lucubrations of
the periodical it
press, there is certainly no species of writ-
ing in which is less easy to trifle. The newspaper
writer is always praising or blaming—always aiming at
the production of some effect on the opinion of the public,
or on that of men in power. The reviewer has his book
before him, and on all the contents he is at full liberty to
enlarge as he pleases, whether those contents be purely
speculative or directly practical. Writers in magazines
are allowed to sweep over the whole range of • science and
literature, All they have to do is to find, if possible,
something new in this wide range, or to dress up some-
thing old in a new shape. None of them are bound like
the newspaper writer to. watch the topic of the day—
to direct their thoughts only , to what attracts the public
attention for the moment—to determine, at least in a plau-
sible manner, what in all great public questions is the proper
course to be pursued. If the subject be considered atten-
tively, it will be found that the conductors of a newspaper
ought to possess more qualities than Cicero's orator. They
ought to be philosophers, orators, statesmen, generals, ad-
mirals ; for they are obliged to give opinions on all subjects
connected with these different departMents. In short,
they ought to be what no human being ever was or will
be. When we consider this, we are apt sometimes to swell
into a sort of imaginary importance. Inhabiting the same
forest, we begin almost to fancy that we belong to the
more noble herd. Like the philosopher in "Rasselas," or
the fly on the wheel, we 'are apt to imagine that the mo-
tions which we see about us are the result of our own vo
lition, and we are willing to trace every event to the. hints
and suggestions which we hav-e throWn out or inculcated.
We have heard the names of some of our Conternporaries
mentioned, whose. sphere of action is not much more ex-
tensive than our own, who
,yet fancy that no political
event takes place but from their counsels—thatnepoint is
carried .in the Cabinet without reading their leading ar-
ticles, 'arid no unfledged project cherished by Ministers
hut what has been originally hatched in their columns.—
Yet, in the midst of this swelling, the affairs of the nation
are going on just as if these heroes of the single sheet did
not oxin_jost as if the Times and the courier bad come!
out blank---juht as if the art of mystification had never
been discovered, and the demi-offielal tone never assumed
at hazard. It ix a little mortifying, after we, have sub-
Mined to the labours of a Minister of State---after we have
balanced contending interests at home and abroad—'after
giving our nights and our days to the affairs of the nation—
that the nation should concern itself as little about our
af-
fairs as. it -does about those of Interior Africa. Indeed„
the interior of a newspaper-office is to most people a terra
incognita, and few who read our labours ever drearri of the.
weary watchings which they have cost us. Well may a nation
be proud which can 'command the efforts of so many for
sixpence. Every thing is brought to the market in one or
other of the Journals., All palates are suited. Thousands.
of well-educated men have no earthly business to perform
but that of- contributing to, the zest of their breakfast.
Heaven and earth arc ransacked for, the sake of a single

paragraph to astonish or amuse. From the horrid mur-
ders, dreadful catastrophes, shocking events, unmitural
/Times, which figure in the columns of one of our contem-
poraries, to the monotonous complainings of another on
the abuses of criminal and correctional law, there are a

great number of shades distinguishing each of the rivals
from its fellows; though the object of all is one—to please
the palates of their readers, This we are willing freely
to confess, on our own parts, in all cases where our read-
ers' pleasure and profit 00 not disagree. This is is all the
merit we aspire to. (British Press.]

Hoc sat erit. Scio me Dana's e classibus unum,
Et bello Iliacos fatenr petiisse Penatea.

EXECUTION.

Joseph Ebbe (aged 23,) Edward Taylor, (ID), and
Edward Eines, (28), convicted at our last Assizes of a
burglary in the dwelling-house of Mr. Thomas torus, of
Alcester, yesterday, Underwent the awful sentence of the
law, in front of the County Gaol, in this beroUgh..
At an early hour in the morning, the Chaplain, the Rev.
George Childe, who has been unceasing in his attentions
to the unhappy men, visited them in their cells, and was
engaged in prayer,with them for nearly two hours.
At a few minutes before eleven they. were conducted
to the scaffold, where their behaviour was such as, became
their awfUl situation. Hines did not evince so much for-
titude as the others, but behaved with the greatest pro-
priety; He first mounted the platform, and on surveying
the preparationrfor terminating his life, was evidently
much affected. At this moment the attention of the un-
happy man was attracted by the agonizing cries of his
brother, who was in the crowd. His eyes glanced for a
moment upon the spectators below, and then towards the
heavens, in which was heard the rolling of distant
thunder.—Elwell and Taylor, who mounted the scaffold
a few minutes after, displayed considerable firmness.
Neither of the culprits indicated any desire to address
the sl)ectators • but while the ropes were adjusting, the
action of their lips and hands showed that they were ab
sorbed in prayer. Every thing being now ready, the fatal
signal was given and the platform fell : Hines died al-
most instantaneously, Elwell struggled a little, but Tayloi
was convulsed for a considerable time after his unfortunate
companions had expired.
The unhappy men persisted to the last in saying, that
neither of them fired a pistol at the prosecutor, as he de-
posed on the trial; and Hines, the night before his death
wrote a letter to him, in which he charged hint with false
swearing. He implored Mr. toms to see the lad who had
"worn that he saw one of them put a flint
the night of the robbery, and beg of him " for the sake of
hist soul, to pray for forgiveness front the Almighty, for
into a pistol on
_eh: crime he had committed in taking a false oath." The
wter also_ stated that the steel chain which Wm.lorns had
ats °Billirnttoinl7l
These unfortunate his brother's property, he (Hines) had bought
Birmingham, some months before
and had been for
with a gang length of time connected
'ate n)" were all natives.
of Birmingham,
of notorriVdle'ra'le
thrice before convicted,$
thelor mice,
tyvioves there. Hines had been
since returned from transportation.—A4-
times, of various crimes,and Elwell three
.t
same Court; and the la
ter had not long
Jolt Express.