The Sun.
London, England, 1827-11-02 00:00:00

LAW INTELLIGENCE.

'COURT OF KING'S BENC-F., Nov. 1.
BIALTIIONT. AOAIATST TIiWAITES.

This was an action to recover (6thages for a libel.
Mr. HterciiiesoN opened the pleadings. The de-1
claration steted, that before and at the pnhliration of
the libels, the plaintiff (J. T. Barber Beaumont)i
was the treasurer and director of the
_County Fire.!
office, and that the defendant published in the;
Morning Herald newspaper the libel complained of.'
The defendant pleaded the general issue.
Mr. Bleouoneet.—l cannothelp rejoicing on be-
half of the plaintiff, that he has, through me, the
gratiea'.ion of addressing himself to a Jury of such
peculiar respectability, because it is a great and
much-to-be-envied satisfaction, that the case of this'
plaintiff, who is a gentlemen, a man of honour, and
magistrate of 15 years' standing in the county,
that the case in which he has put in issue, the
amount of pecuniary coulpensation to be made to
him for an outrageous attack upon his character, is
to be tried before gentlemen whose feelings are alive
to the value of a good character, and which feelings '
will not pervert but guide their judgment. You
will observe that this libel appeared its a newspaper
of great respectability, got up with great care and
much learning—a newspaper that is not confined to
one age, as is proved by a letter which > see in-
serted in one of its columns, the purport of which I'
wish the editors, ansl also the Commissioners of In-
quiry, had practised—a letter from the younger
Pliny to his friend Maxitnus, on his appointment to
be Governor of Greece ; and not content with the
vernacular tongue, there is in th 6 same journal a let-
ter from a correspondent who signs in a Hebrew
character, in which language is written one half of ;
what he' communicateis I mention these matters to
show the respectability of the journal, and that it is
not confined to the reading of the ignorant and illi-
terate, but . finds its way, into the studies of
the...most- learned men; ao that it has carried
the calumuies, far and wide, and made them
of much greater weight. The libel pre-
tends to be extracts from the Revenue Com-
missioners, the .14th report. It does not pre-
tend to be the. whole of the report, nor to give what
it does give in regular order: all the extracts are on
one side; and I apprehend the defendant will be
obliged to call Mr. Hansard to prove that there is
such a report, and that where the defendant has
taken upon himself to slander Mr. Beaumont be-
hind
his back, he has done so by publishing extracts
from that report. It is no justification to a libel
that it is the print of a speech in the House of Corn-
reons,but none can deny that it is a mitigation. The
defentlent, however, has not pleaded that he has co-
pied the report. I do not mean to have recourse tol
the vulgar -subtlety and special pleading of urging
that because it has not been pleaded there is no
such report. I will at once admit there is such a
commission, that they did inquire, and that they re-
ported their 14th report., But there are two ways
of copying a document : one is a fair method, that
is, to copy the whole of it, the good and the bad,
both sides together, the antidote with the bane, the
evidence of all the witnesses, the calumny with the
contradiction, for truth and common fairness require
the whtile of what the witnesses say, one after an-
other, in regular order, to'he and riot 'to pub-
lish all that is saidagithist a man, Without a single
tittle of whateisafor him. If the defendant had
given the whole of-the report-e.if he had'published
what was toldon both sides in the same paper (for
a man is not to be calumniated on Saturday and ex-
cused on Monday),eif all had been done fairly, he
would have pleaded a justification, and he has not
done so, upon the store only of his own well-
grounded coneeiousheis that he could not have
proved such plea, on account of the garbled man-
ner in which the extracts are published. I wish
to speak with the greatest respect of the liber-
ties of the press, and should be sorry to bear any
thing advanced against its operative use, as long
as those who wield its great power conduct
it fairly • and honestly, and do not deal in insi-
nuatiOns, in sin-Mises, in groundless and abomi-
nable falsehoods: I alloti generidly that newspapers
have the right to insert in 'their columns public re,"
ports, but I'do not admit that if even the whole of
the report had-been .givenit Would have been a jus-
tifiable publication.• It may be fit that Government
should make inquiries;—it may be fit that Mr. Wal-
lace (whom I have the hOnour of knowing) and his
brother commissioters should be vested with author
rity to inquire into the collection of our immense re,
venues. They are excellent inquiries,—they. form a
new era in our history,—they date their conitnence-
ment from one of the greatest men the country ever
produced—the late Ea.ri St. Vincent—fo: I hold
that that illustrious captain did not perform a greater
service to his country by conquering her enemies on
the seas than by instituting these inquiries and inves-
tigations into the peculations of those who batten
upon their country; but it by no means follows that
all the stories told to - these commissioners should in
their details he made rublie, and f6i this reason-,
they make their inquiriei behind people's beaks,
they receive ex-parte statements ;"they call witnesses
before them whom they do not examine by the rules
of legal evidence, and whose testimony is not sanc-
tioned by any cross-examination ; they trench on that
most sacred principle of justice which commands us to
hear both sides, and on that other almost equally sacred
principle, which teaches us to do all matters of inquiry
in public, and 'to do nothing in common with the
barbarous and secret inquisitions of other nations.
The inquiries they institute are necessarily in the
dark ; and if their results are an attack upon cha-
racter, especially if they go" beyond the four corners
of their instructions, and inquire ihto a private in-
dividual's conduct, not -towards the public, but to-
wards his own employers, and if they publish such
ex-parte inquiries to the world, either from a desire
of showing their own industry, or of injuring a rival
establishinent, or from any private malice,—if ac-
tuated by any of these motives, the Commissioners
themselves; even if their characters stood as high as
that of the great man who originated them, should
b't brought before a jury, who would decide upon
their conduct, and tell them that even they must
not expect -to slander others with impunity. In
these extracts there are the examinations of Wm.
Kappen, Godfrey Sykes, and William Campbell,
Esqrs., one of whom, Mr. Sykes, I have long
known. All that lie bas said he wasbound to say;
it was his duty to ant ;evidence which might
lead to the diicovery of slitisiss4 but it was no part
of the duty of those to WhoMhe'gavei his report to
publish it, and still less wis if any piirtorthe 'dnty '
of this newspaper, which was the• only newspaper
.that did publish it, to publish Mr. Sykes's bare sus-
picions and surmises. Mr. Brougham here read Mr.
Sykes's evidence--
" Will you detail the inquiries you have made with re-
spect to the return of duties to the County Fire-office ?—I
think it happened about the middle of May that accounts
had arrived at our Board that improper practices were
prevailing at the County Fire Office with regard to the re-
turn of duty : it was communicated to Mr. Mawe,bieoy.prin-
cipal clerk. He immediately gut the particular k now
before the Board to see what the amount of duty was, and
the first thing that struck us was, that there appeared a
very great difference of duty between the return to that office
and that to others. This gave a prima facie appearance
that they could not be right. Upon this I consi,lered in
The own mind what was best to be ascertained ; the person
making the communication sent certain papers cwitaining
• the numbers which he had got from a book called the Pre-
-miuth Return Book. These papers (producing them),
which are copies, containing: the numbers of the policies,
the Amount of the duty, end. the period for which. the du-
ties were withdraWn; at the same time he gave certain ex-
tracts
,whicli 'Were'taken 'from this beak, explaining the
circumstances iespee 'tided* slumbers,' appear.
ing from these papers thaiduties had been withdrawn,- the
firstthing that appeared, iierankiry to be done was to inquire
whether'' the
the
policies Were actulasiibduring
the liCies
period* for 'Which .the -had been withdrawn;
of these papers relates. paiiiipelty Ito "Edinburgh, sad
neighbourhood ,of Edinburgh,. andranothen to Sussex ;
thought: first of sending &clerk: dcn%l4 some, to see
whether the, policies, were. stibeisa44 but, upon sag-
ges tion of the personi wlio gave this information, linit I had
butter inquire at Edinburgh (the policies ilifielia4ingiicen

effected .by persons in trade, I might get the information
more easily) ; I s,:nt a copy of several of those timicibetS to
Edinburgh, with a letter to Mr.• Brnnte.!:, .flesifing him to
make the necesmy ilitiftirE4..
What Vviis the result of those inquiries ?—The result of
those inquiries was, that some of the-persons had become
bankrupts, and no information could he obtained feelingres
them ; but, with respect to No. 30,134, I got et account
of payments of premium and auties for the years 1814,
-1815, 1816, tc.td 181'7 ; and for the year 1815, which is
one of those years, Mr. Bremner sent me a copy of the re-
ceipt, signed by the agent of the Society. According to
the informer's account, the duties were r,iftiYiieti from the
years 1816 and 1817. 1 la t 1 thought that when .11r.
Dean first went 'flown to the County Fire Office, we had
riven hiM.a list of only one-half of the numbers, with di-
rections to ascertain when each policy commenced, and
when it terminated. The answer he made to me was, that
he found those numbers were correct; hut, on further in-
quiry, I heard, that the first time he went he saw this hook,
which I wanted to get hold of; and in that very book he
found the same account of the premium withdrawn for the
years 1816 and 1817, as had been communicated to me;
and we also found those same numbers among the qusrterly
returns ending the 22d of March, 1823, an interval of six or
seven yeat-s after the policies had been effected ; so that,
connecting these circumstances, I have a case as to that par-
ticular number.

That number hpll hten claimed upon for a return of duty
as having ceastd in 1815 and 1816 ; you sent to Scotland
and found them so claimed ; it had been an existing, policy
in those years, and the premium paid ?--Yes ; and I found
the receipt for the years 1815-16 ; and when Mr. Dean
went to examine the book, he found that number (30,134)
as subsisting, and he found this on the very page to which
the informer refers me in that very book.
Can Mr. Dean swear to the book out of which he copied
it ?--I have no i:oUbt he can. I also found this true as to
one Other number.

Were they both found true in Scotland ?--.Both of them.
Have you applied that inquiry to any numbers in Eng-
land ?---I then got Mr. France to write down to Horsham,
and the account there is, that the books are not to be found
at present ; but the Scotch cases appeared to me so clear,
I did not go further. Mr. Dean went again to inquire
about this particular hook, and to pursue his inquiries fur-
ther ; upon that occa,sion he was told that Mr. Barber
Beaumont was gone to Paris, and that he had left directions
that no book should be examined. Being thus denied ac-
cess to the books, I saw that I could not prove my case;
it coming to Mr. Beaumont's knowledge that I was inves-
tigating this business, he sent me a letter, stating that he
understood that inquiries bad been made at Edinburgh and
elsewhere on this subject; that he conceived it improper
to have made the inquiry, as it bad been made without first
inquiring at the County Fire-office ; that he conceived I
ought to inform him of the names of the informers, and
the particulars of their information ; and refers to two per-
sons whom he supposes had given me the information.
The way in which the matter arose was this :—A person
who had been a clerk in the County Fire-office told Mr.
Spike, the solicitor for the Beacon-office, that whenever
country collectors failed, Mr. Barber Beaumont ordered
lists to be made out, and claims to he made for returns of
duty, to the amount to which the agent hid failed ; that
this was with the knowledge of Johnson and Shepherd ;
that Johnson had refuses], but that Shepherd had done it.
This was communicated by Spike to a member of our
board, who is one of the Directors of the Beacon Coin-
patty. Having considered the subject for some days, I
went into the Board-room, there being present Mr. Hallam,
Capt. Montagu, and Mr. Addington. I stated that I had
received Lis paper, with which I believed they were ac-
quainted, and that I thought of is riting to Mr. Bremner
to get information. I wrote on the 22d of May; a week
after that it was mentioned by Capt. Montagu and Mr. Ad-
dington to the Chairman, who thought that though he was
connected with this office, he ought not to be kept in the
dark abou,-, it ; the Chairman then came out to me with a
great deal of good temper, and asked me what was going on.
I said there was a very awkward charge against Mr. Bar.
ber Beaumont, for having w:thdraWn large sums from
this office, when policies were subsisting. I said, " You
may think it strange I have not mentioned this to you;
but understanding that you was intimate with Mr. Barber
Beaumont, and a Director of that office, I did not feel
myself at liberty to mention it." He said Mr. Barber
Beaumont was not a particular friend of his, and that he
would follow up the inquiry ; and that the best way would
he to wait till the time for a fresh return of duties, and then
to examine into it. I do not think I mentioned at that
time that I had written to Mr. Bremner, which I had done
three or four days before ; that was on the Friday evening ;
it was too late then to get at the hook in the Comptroller's-
office, and he said the next morning he would look over
that book, and examine into the alleged disparity between
that office and others. I did not see him the next day ;
we'did not happen to be in the office the same time ; I
had no further conversation with hint till the Tuesday fol-
lowing. On the Tuesday I received a letter from Mr.
Bremner, disclosing the information he had obtained; I
took the letter into the Board ; the Chairman was ex-
tremely angry to think that I should send to Scotland to
make inquiries on this subject ; he said the proper way
would have been to have gone to the office, and asked for
the books ; I said, " We may differ, perhaps, a little upon
that. If it had been found nut, on the books coming before
you, probably that is the way which would be adopted ;
but if a person comes and gives information, putting it in a
strong way that fraud has been committed, the first thing
is, to ascertain whether fraud has been committed or not ;"
that was 'all which passed. He was touched personally,
thinking that an imputation would be thrown upon his
conduct; and that it would lie thought he had sanctioned
the frauds ; whereas I am perfectly satisfied he knew
nothing at all about them. We then began to make in-
quiry, through Mr. Dean, of the Comptroller's office. Ott
Tuesday the 22d of June, It having come to his knowledge
that I had mentioned the matter to the Parliamentary
CoMmissioners of Inquiry, he sent immediately for me to
ask me what inquiry was going on. I was going on to
say, that in consequence of Mr. Barber Beaumont having
refused the inspection of his books, and finding there
was no authority to inspect them, and knowing the
powers of the Commissioners of Inquiry, (I had men-
tioned the matter to the Commissioners,) this caused
a great deal of altercation about the improper mode
of doing this, and we got both a little warm. I said,
"Pray, Mr. Chairman, did not you see Mr. Barber Beau-
mont the Friday after I saw you?" He said, " Yes, I did,"
"Did you give him any papers?"—" No, he said he had
not seen him since the Friday, nor given him any papers ;
he had no communication with him." I do not think
anv thing particular passed, but when I went out I said to
Al;•. Mawe, "Did you not tell me you garo two particular
numbers to the chairman?" for I directed Mr. Masse to
give him only two numbers, not to give him the whole.—
He said, " Yes." He said, " I gave him two particular
numbers, and that paper Mr. Dean saw in the hands of
Mr. Barber Beaumont at the County Fire-office." I then
went into the hoard-room, and desired Mr. Mawe and
Dean to be called in ; I asked Mr. Mawe first whether lie
had not delivered to the Chairman a paper, containing two
particular numbers. He said he had ; that is a copy de-
livered to him (producing it) ; that contains the particu-
lars on the subject of those numbers. Mr. Mawe having
stated that he had given the Chairman this paper contain-
ing the numbers, and that he had not had it back from the
Chairman, I asked Mr. Dean whether he had seen the
paper with two numbers in Mr. Beaumont's hands ; he
said, "Yes, he had ;" but after a great deal of cross-exa-
mination, all he could say was, " That he had seen a
paper with numbers in my clerk's handwriting,. that being
the only paper Mr. Sedgwick had had." It was strong
presumption that this was the paper which reached Mr.
Barber Beaumont's hands; the clerk in copying made a
mistake. I believe that Mr Sedgwick sent this paper to
Mr. Barber Beaumont in a letter ; for about an hour
terwards Mr. Sedgwick sends for my clerk, and says there
is a mistake as to one of those numbers that is not the
number ; and in looking at it, it appearad that the number
really ought to be 30;134 ; the clerlaad copied it 30,314.
That, I think, shows clearly that this paper must have
gone from Mr. Sedgwick to Mr. Barber Beaumont, and
that paper put him in possession, in a great measure, of
the evidence that I had.

What observation did Mr. Sedgwick make?—He eras
rather overcome with that. I left him soon after.
Did he attempt to reconcile that with the statement he
had before made, that he had not given him any paper ?
No, he did not; all inquiry that I could prosecute with
Mr. Beaumont was at an end after this.

Has Mr. Sedgwick any Servant; does he use a mes-
senger generally? (Mr. Happen.)—He ha a servant.
Mr. Sykes.—My informer tells me that this has been
regularly done in the County Fire-office, and has been well
known to the amount of 2,0001. a-year constantly; and
he tells me further, that since This begun they are now
making out new hooks in the cffice—complete new sets of
books; and it is an exceedingly singular thing, one clerk-,
the senior clerk, Mr. Shepherd, has disappeared ; it ap-
pears as if he is gone off on a charge of bigamy. that is the
statement now made but I suspect Shepherd having the
charge of those books, is making fresh books. Mr. Schab-
mr came to our office about a fortnight ago for au affi-
davit; fir an extent to issue against some of their debtors,
and he inquired of one of my clerks whether he had seen
any thing of Shepherd, or had paid him any money lately ;
he said he had been off for a week. I rather sti,p,:t

is some fraud Aoiii it: My informer tells me he bas seen
one or two clerks, who stated that his wife has been there
with a certificate of a former marriage, and that he is off
in consequence ; but the clerks said we have had an in-
spector from Somerset-house, he was very near getting at
it, hut he did not do it ; I suppose. that refetA to their get-
ting the !!tiA Of his way. I have had another letter
from Mr. Ilremner, dated the 22d of June, from which it
appears to Inc there has been some tampering with
the
people who knew the facts; he states, that,with regard to
the insurance, of (=rant, nothing is td be hOPed ; that
lie cannot find any receipts; that he appears to have some
idea of having suspended his insurance; that Mr. Gordon
had promised to look for receipts, &c., but when called
upon for them, he evidently evaded the inquiry. It rather
strikes me, that knowing the particular numbers, Mr.
Beaumont tnny have thrown impediments into the way of
our inquiries with respect to them. Those policies were
effected in 1815-16, and it was not till 1822 that he ap-
plies for a return of the duty:

Mr. BkiatiGitam proceeded--There is a duty of
three shillings upon every policy : it is not paid di-
rectly by insurance-offices in general, but it, is paid
directly by the County Fire Insurance Office, of
which, for a very small salary, Mr. Beaumont is the
managing director. The offices are called upon un-
der penalties to make the return of these duties every
two months, upon all the insurances they make from
the Land's End to John O'Groat's House. The of-
fice sends a certain number of policies, say 100,
into the country : it does not therefore follow that
they are all used, but they have always made it a
rule to pay in the whole duty, as if the whole was
due ; but when, at the end of the year, they find
from the return of their agents how many are used,
say SO, they claim the return upon the remaining
20. I pass over a great deal more of the extracts,
throwing out the vague suspicions of Mr. Sykes,
things very proper for .him to report, but becoming
groundless, and foul calumnies, in the face they as-
sume when the Commissioners of Public Inquiry
venture to give them publicity; and becoming far
worse when they have still further publicity from a
newspaper. I have gone over a part, and only a
very small part, of the evidence of Mr. Sykes,
enough to stamp a proper character on the proceed-
ings. Mr. J. Hubbard is examined. " What situ-
ation are you in now ? lam net in any situation
particularly : I hold a commission in the militia."—
" What situation were you in as connected with the
County Fire Office ? I was chief clerk of the town
department." He does not say he was a dis-
carded servant of the office. I never yet saw
a man who was turned away. But I ask, what
business had the commissioners to inquire into
the private conduct of Mr. Barber Beaumont ?
They might as well have inquired into the business
of any private banking-house. The book-keeper
might have been a witness : if the commissioners did
not call him, their conduct was blameable; if they
did call him, his evidence ought to be in the report ;
and if there had been a shadow of foundation for the
malignant suspicion of that discarded servant, Hub-
bard, the defendant would have called him before
you. Mr. Brougham made several other observa-
tions about the evidence of Stevens'and of the other
clerks of the Fire-office, especially Lye's evidence,
who might have been called before the commis-
.ior.ers, whose evidence might have broken down,
for which reason perhaps it was, that he would not
be called that day, although his evidence was in the
columns of the Morning Herald. Suppose, gentle-
men, you were editors of a newspaper, and suppose,
from private malice, any one brought a report and
asked you to insert it, to give it a greater circula-
tion, what would be your first consideration ?
Would it not be whether it would be right to give
circulation to such vague unfounded suspicion as the
words I have read convey ? Ought not such a
thought to have occurred to the editors of a news-
paper, who were called upon to give circulation to
the collected venom and elaborate slander of these
commissioners, sufficient to reach the character of
even a better known man than the plaintiff ? If an
honest man were asked to spread this. slander, he
would have answered, "God forbid!" If told it had
been collected, he would have said, " So much the
worse." Other newspapers felt in this manner. You
will look in vain among their files for that which bore
upon its front a caveat against its insertion ; but the
defendant published it, and he is this day brought
before you to answer farthe, .publication. I -need
hardly take up your. time by mentioning
.another
libel in another newspaper, in a letter from the dis-
carded clerk, Lye. The plaintiff was examined be-
fore the Commissioners, but he was not examined in
a way to do him any good. He was informed that
there was soMething about him ; and he desired to
be heard, but the Commissioners did not tell him
of what he was accused. But Mr. Beaumont's evi-
dence was omitted; so was the evidence of Mr.
Sedgwick, Johnson, Schabner, and Stevens. Mr.
Lye's letter begins with large characters, not his
own name, but " Mr. B. Beaumont, of whom you
have heard so much, and of whom you-shall now
learn something more." Mr. Brougham read some
extracts from this letter, and said, the letter is not
confined to Mr. Beaumont's public conductl--to his
duties in the fire-office, or to- his transactions
with the Stamp-offiee. But you may judge of
the feeling which animated this wretched man,
when I tell you that he had the baseness, in
this letter, to go back to the parentage of Mr.
Beaumont, and to twit him with having been born of
an artist. My friend, the Attorney-General, naturally
shrinks back from this as incredible; and as you
may have the same doubts, 1 shall read the passage ;
Mr. Beaumont's father was a painter. It is no
shameful accusation to be called the son of a painter,
and I have heard the highest legal officer in the king-
dom, in the presence of the highest birth in the land,
boast that he was descended from one. Mr.
Brougham read some further extracts—" Were you
not artist expert enough to invent a suitable colour-
ing to destroy me without resorting to materials like
these; wretched dauber, foul-mouthed bespatterer
of the character you envy." The law gives Mr. Beau-
mont only one method of recompense ; but recollect,
gentlemen, according to the amount of that compen-
sation will the public estimate your opinion of the
puin
overrt iht yeti
:ova fth ho
great
aomtf motives
loil‘yh. i
emt
ah
re
sn\in et,
thh
clh%h, e has h
he
ceh has
upwardsa
sacted.lf
in
presided
off
a million of money has passed through, his hands,
and more than 90,000 policies have been granted,—
if there had been respecting any one of those trans-
actions on any one of the days of those 20 years, one
sore place or suspicious feature, one solitary circum-
stance that would not bear the most severe search
and scrutinizing examination, he would have been
indeed not a bold man, but a mad man, to have de-
fied to the investigation of his conduct such a host of
adversaries with such a magazine of aermnse,lanislueeo,
little scruple to use them; but he has defied all his
—he has
accusers—he has faced all these witnesses
dared their investigation, and it is they who have
shrunk, and not he; for in pleading the general
they have admitted the falsehood of the slanders
they have dared to publish. I have spoken meekly
as become me, of the tribunal in whose name these
slanders have been sent forth. I regret, that by a
course of erroneous inquiry, and extra-judicial inves-
tigation, that by overstepping the hound of their
commission—by reporting hearsay surmises about
what they had no right to examine, and.by printing
what they had no right to report, they have brought
discredit upon that magnificent system on which I
have taken leave to speak—on which public economy
and retrenchment so mainly depend ; and I am sorry
I have ever seen the day when the wise institutions
of that great captain and greater statesman have
been obscured by the conduct of his unworthy co-
adjutors.

The two publications in the /I/ord./1g Herald Of
the 11th of October and 31st of October, 1826, the
latter being the letter of Francis I,ye, were put in
and read. The reading occupied upwards of an hour.
Thomas Schabuer, the cashier and chief clerk of
the County Fire-office, proved that the plaintiff was
the managing director; the office was of large emo-
lument. Francis Lye was book-keeper, and etas
dismissed.
Cross-examined—There are GO directors altoge-
ther. Several of them often attend. Mr. Beau-
mont is the managing director. The clerks axe en-

tirely under his control. Witness did not know from
Mr.. Beaumont whether he had or had not deter-
mined to bring his action before the appearance of
Mr. Lye's letter.
The ATTORNEY-GENERAL was under great diffi-
culty, as, indeed, tirety defendant was, who had to
contend with his ,Learned Friend; beeitise his inge-
nuity, talents, and eloquence, always enabled him to
dress his case so As to captivate his auditors ; but in
this case; he had been so energetic that he (the
Attorney-General) hardly knew whether his calmer
manner would make any impression ; for after a long
-experience he could never so completely identify
himself with his client as his friend had done; but
he envied those who could feel a real passion, and
from the instructions of their clients possess that
degree of pathos which enabled them to run away
with the feelings of all who heard them. lie had
been considering what could have been Mr. Beau-
mont's object in bringing the action, for very little
had been said about damages. His friend had con-
fessed that the Morning Herald was a most respecta-
ble paper, and admirably conducted. He himself was
not in the habit of bestowing upon newspapers any
extraordinary praise, eren when he was concerned
for them, and he left his client's in this respect to
the testimony of his friend, for which he was grate-
ful, of which he had a right to avail himself, and
which he hoped the Jury would remember. He
could, however, now account for Mr. Beaumont's ob-
ject in bringing the action ; he wished Mr. Brougham
to make a speech for him in vindication of his con-
duct, and that might sooth his feelings. His object
had been satisfied, he must consider it accomplished,
and he-would now, doubtless, be satisfied with a verdict
against him. It was not the conduct of the commission-
ers, nor the conduct of Mr. Beaumont, that the j ury were
to try ; they were not now called upon to do repara-
tion to Mr. Beaumont for any imputation that might
have been made upon him in the course of that
inquiry, but their business was to see if there were
any thing in the present publication of which be had
a right to complain. All I will say at present (said
the Attorney-General) is, that it is sufficiently
certain that he diet make complaints against the
Commissioners of Inquiry, which I have not the least
doubt he will show in the proper time, and at the
proper place, to be well founded and effectual. I
say the proper time and place—for will any one tell
me, that the publiCations which he himself has
issued through the medium of the newspaper vehi-
' de, will have the effect, of answering'the charges, if
charges are made against hiin—of explaining-7-of re-
butting—of, in short, completely defending him from
the allegations of the Commissioners ? I say they
will not. I say that in spite of what he has written
prematurely, these allegations will remain as they
were. Mr. Beaumont will still not be the less
obliged to enter upon his justification. The Com-
missioners will still carry on their investigations, and
the Government will proceed as if nothing of all
this exculpation had appeared. Then -Why is this
action brought ? Why, gentlemen, but for the
sake, pending this inquiry, of showing that what
has been alleged against him is founded in malice,
is unjust and untenable ? This is Mr. Beau-
mont'; real object in this action against the
proprietor of the Morning Herald. Why, gen-
tlemen, is it that i• -Mr. Beaumont will not
wait until the proper time and place shall be afforded
to him when he shall be fairly called on for his de-
fence ? If to entertain any wish to anticipate the
public judgment by prematurely entering upon his
defence, let him do so if he can—hut, Gentlemen, I
only hope that yours are not the hands through
which that unseasonable justification will be accom-
plished. Gentlemen, we have heard Mr. Brougham
expatiate on a vast variety of subjects, some of
which were already sufficiently well known to you.
I will not attempt to follow him, but simply now put
a question to him, to which I would, if it were proper
for me in this place to do so, demand an answer.
Mr. BROUGHAM—Put your question, I shall be
happy to answer it.
The ATTORNEY-GENERAL—Then, Gentlemen, I
would ask my Learned Friend this question—Will he
state that he is of opinion that if he presents a peti-
tion to the House of Commons, which contains im-
putations affecting the characters of - other persons, is
my Friend of opinion that the newspaper which
publishes my Friend's speech, and the substance of
the petition, ought to be-liable to an action for libel ?
Will he say that that is his opinion ?.

Mr. BROUGHAM—It certainly is &very odd mode
of proceeding to call on an individual to answer ques-
tions in this manner.

The ATTORNEY-GENERAL.—You have challenged
me to put the question:
Mr. BROUGHAM.—I should certainly say that the
publication of ex-parte charges, pending ulterior
proceedings, is highly improper, and such publication
would be treated by either house as a gross breech
of their privileges.
The ATTORNEY-GENERAL.—Bot my Friend has
not yet answered my question. I ask, therefore,
again, if he presents a petition containing injurious
allegations against a particular party, • and that he
condescended to print' his own speech made on the
occasion in the House of 'Commons, does my Friend
mean to say that an action ought to lie for such
publication ?_
Mr. BROUGHAM.—It is very well known that
speeches made in Parliament, and afterwards pub-
lished, have been made, subjects of proceedings in
Courts of Justice. Lord Abingdon for a speech
made in the House of Peers, and Mr. Creevy for a
speech in the House of Commons, were afterwards
published by the authors, were prosecuted, convic-
ted, and sentenced in Courts of Justice.

The ATTORNEY-GENERAL.--Rut my Friend has
as yet abstained from stating his own opinion, which
was the drift of my question.—(A laugh.)
Mr. BROUGHAM—I-have no hesitation in saying
that the publications described by my Learned
Friend ought to be made the subject of an action,
and if I were on the Jury at the trial, I would not
only give a verdict, but-large damages to the plain-
tiff.—(A laugh.)
Lord TENTERDEN—And I should have no hesi-
tation in giving my opinion that an action in such a
case would lie.

- -
The ATToRNF.v-GENERAL—Gentlemen, I shall
not, for my part, give any opinion upon that point.
Lord TENTERDEN—No, that is not expected of you.
The ATTORNEY-GENERAL—And when ultimately
an opinion is to be delivered by you, I am sure it
will be with due deliberation.
I,ord TENTERDEN—Yes.
The ATTORNEY-GENERAL—Let me, Gentle-
men, if you please, recur to my question. If a Noble
Peer, or a Member of the House of Commons, after
delivering a speech in Parliament, reflecting on an
individual, were afterwards to take the pains to pub-
lish it himself, no doubt an action would lie. But
when my Lord says, that if a Member of Parliament
makes a speech on a petition, and if the Morning
Herald should, in the ordinary course of proceeding,
publish that speech and petition, the Paper is liable
to an action—
Lord TENTlittnEN—I have not stated any thin,
50 comprehensive, my expression was more qualified.'
The ATToRNEY-GENERAL—I am glad, Gentle-
men, that I have reverted to the subject as it has
produced a correction of a misconceptiOn under
which I certainly laboured. You will, however,
Gentlemen, remember that I (lid not put my ques-
tion
to my Learned Friend, until I found that he
wished me to put it. Now, Gentlemen, I do beg
you to consider that the matter of this alleged libel
is matter that had been put together and framed
exclusively by the Commissioners, who were autho-
rised to institute an inquiry of great public importance.
The publication before the Court was not intended
by the defendant to ea,t the slightest reflection on
Mr. Beaumont ; it was part of the fruit of that great
tree which Lord St. Vincent had planted; the
public, who had a feeling in the success of all econo-
mical reforms, had a right to be acquainted with it,
and the editor, who had simply communicated it to
them in a more convenient form, was not therefore
subject to an action cf. slander. It might be Mr.
Beaumont's object to strike the first blow, but he
was mistaken in supposing that the report necessarily