The Sun.
London, England, 1810-12-20 00:00:00

Poarsmou, 17, *rngC. g. --.-Arrived this cloy his
kijesty',. ship Llama' dryad.

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9 of

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,LAIF REPORD:
•

COURT 01. ',INC.'S 13ENCII, DEC. 19.

BELL V. BY NE.

Sailed ail; dty his Maje4t-y's ships Tartarus, Cro-
Antelope, Laviicia, Stately, and Saturn, for the
•\lttliterranean ; and his Majesty's OOP k"en,4; eur for
Citiize off Cherboura • -

IVIr. TOPPING slated this to be an aElion brought
by a respeaable 'Alerchant in this City, against the
'efendarit, who, it appeired by the affidavit at the
°arrip Office, was the sole. Proprietor and Printer of .
a Daily Paper called thefor/ling Post, for printing
',.od publishing in his paper of the: 1W) ivuy last:a
4'llel highly reflecting on the character ot the plaintiff.
picAtion in questin was li(led,
" Connorandubl Sir F. Burdett ,'and purported to give
0 account of . a speech of--7 1-t;e4Aitorney-petteral ot
Breland, delivered in the !rid' House,of Commons
Ottthe 19th February, 1799, on an al Plicotion for,
t release of Mr. Roger O'Connor, and
~stated to
Ave been extratted from the Putiin foianal the
gist Feb, 1799. The part of the publication
fig the libel complained of, purported to he a letter
joni'Arthor to R.O'COnnor, dn'ed Feb. :44, 1798,
thefollowing words: " I have sol.l all my pi (puny
'0 Burdett, yet tt may still go OD in my wnee, and the
rents are'be transmitted to Hugh Bell, Esq. Charier-
rmouse,squai:e. Mr. Bell has been for,some time past
ultfined in tngland on a charge of High Treason."
A
more grds4,icandaiuus, or Wanton libel than
a`itist any man in. the, respectable situation Of the
Plaintiff', at tt distance too, of so tnany years from :he
44te of the- trao,adi,o, couid hardly be ligurtd. The
taPer in which the lioci iri cluestion appeared, he
ad never been atieitstomed to read, nor even to
'eruse any part of iis'contents, unless such as. he
found te•Copted, for ',he purpose of comment into'
torte other paper. 'He therefore could not be sup-
Posed to have any pleittdiee either against the paper
~‘r against its, proprietor.
The defendant bad piit into this declaration,
!itsf, the general plea ot riot gutty, and alSo
3'litification,- in which lie aped ed, that, in point of
161., the plaintiff had been apprehended and detained
tome time in custody. on a charge of high tret.bon..
Aeither of these pleas, however,'li•ls. trusted, would
avail the delendan't to-day. Indeed, I.le was utterly
41 a loss to conceive what course the defendant meant
t° steer. He was aware of the unpleasant situa-
tion in which his .f..c.artcl Friend (the At't-orney-
"'
~eneral) Must feel himself placed, in haN;iirg this
to defend so in famous a libel-, accosiumed as he ,
"d lately been To carry on sb many. prosecutions
ainst the diurnal press of this country. He was
litiald his Learned Friend would feel. himself k-
ward in his-prt sent attempt• to defend a libel as
he had yesterday been in,his attempt to play on the
;"'Provedj,a'ent flageolet, 'nit his Learned Friend,
the prosecutions.ne hat carried on, had gone lie-
the stria line •of his duty, he (Mr. Topping)
'ps far from'Suppcsitig. Imew_that his Learned
ilend possessed
,a giant's strength; but he
I‘'as also axvo're, that wilily; his Learned Ft iend 'knew
thatl,. pos-ess the s:rength ot a giant was noble,. he
'as not ign4ant. that w4s:Ctud to use it as a •
taut.
being
was given of the- faaiof the defendant's
the sole proprietor of the No./ding Poi, and
Of the ptiblicatiOn of the libel in that payer.
The ArroitsF.Y.G t•:l,?EttAt.,,,, for the defetidant,
nl!!ended.that the plaibtli Most be nOnsuited, it
11,
eing charged that.this was pablication of and
voneerning the plaintiff,. whereas tt was given in,a
aPeech by the Attorney-Genet-ill of Ireland.
Lord ELLENBOROUthi put Ella party on his Pc-
lellee, reserving to the Attorney4.;etrentl this point,
11 lie wished it. • •
The ATTORNEY .GENERAL could not but express.
his regret and his surprise,' that hiS,Learned
h: lend
(Mr, Topping) had kith himself to the slanderous
and scandalous imputations attempted to be dimwit
c)a him. He appealed to every action' Liti ins lite,
!torn
his boyhood up to the present moment, In
°fitradiction of any imputation of improper, di4lo-
~'l4urable, or partial conduct observed by him, par-
Licularly in the discharge of, his public ditties. He
Which
proceeded to argue, that the present pUbitciition
which his client was sorry had not been suppress-
ed so far as the name of the plaintiff was conc'ern-
", was not meant to apply to him, but to Sir Fran-
!is Burdett and Mr. O'Connor, and to lilt them
1°,4,n from the stilts on which they had presumed
'0 elevate themselves. He should, however, shew,
that in point of fact, the present plaintiff had been
aPprehended, detained, and extnined, on a charge
'l3t treason ; which he submitted, must Justify the
• publication in question, there being a yostificakion
the Record. •
Evidence was then adduced toprove that a War-
‘vas issued against the pliintiff oo the sth March,
17We, which was delivered to the officer on the 6th
'11(1 executed on the 7th of the same month. The
krosecutor was carried to the Secretary of State's
"„ffice, where .he was examined before the Privy
`'Quncil, and was then discharged.
Mr. TOPPING 'replied, with considerable warmth,
'0 the observations of the Attorney-General.
Lord ELLENBOROUGH briefly stated the evidence.'
kit' had appeared that a warrant was oat the charge
of high treason, the justification would have been
itbac6 out, and a verdict must have gone for. the
C:lfendant : but the warrant only was, on suspicion

high itreason. It was certainly improper, that a
..person's name should have been introduced as the
tlaintitrs was; but the Jury would take it into
their serious consideration, in •apportioning da:.
Zages., how the evil was palliated, b its having
ettt done so long since by the consideration of the
tutnour having extended as- widely as probably
it would ever extend. The Dutlin Jpurnal came
°Lver to London, and was probably s'olnetitnes in the
"atidi of the present Jury ; so. that the addittOnal
lit:tilation by the Morning, Pbs.t.eoula not have the
‘trect of much additional injury. kverdict_must
'fie found for the plaintitf.
Tip: Jury found for the pl.iintiff. Damages 5001.