The Sun.
London, England, 1818-01-23 00:00:00

THE Gat:A r E (W MANSFIELD.

The followin truly admirable Speech *as de..,
livered by this venerable Oracle of the IfAw, ou
an application for the reversal of the _Outt..vit'Y
in the Case of Mr. WlL*.es. It was Most p.m-
tably published At the period in question, but it
may %veil he revived in these times, not oblitis

Abe productiott of a t4Teust titan, uu-hb would have
'done to any age, butt as tin
exhortation t
JUDGPS to he firm in their decisions, to JuttlEN
to discharge their duty with unbiassed integrity;
and TO l'Eopmt to he obedient to the -Lars and
'Constitution of their Colintry

" I have now gone through the several errors
assigned by the defendant; and which htfve been
ingeniously argued, and confidently relied on, by
his Counsel at the Bar : I have given my semi-
news upon them, and if, upon the whole, after
the closest attention to what has been said, and
with the strongest inclination in favour of the
defendant, no arguments which have been urged,
to cases which have been cited, no reasons that
occur to me, are snfficient to Satisfy me, in my con-
science avid judgment, that this outlawry 81,„„hi
he reversed, lam bound to atlitm it. And here
let me make a pause,
" Many arguments have been suggested, both
in 'and riot of Court, upon the, ronsequtfuces or
estahlittring this outlawry, either as they maYarfeet
the defendant as an individual, or the public in
general As to the first,. whatever they may be,
the defendant has brought them upon himself; they
are inevitable consequences of law arising from
his own act ; if the penalty to which he is th,,eeby
subjected is more than a punishment adeqiiate
to the crime he has committed, he Should not have
brought himself into this unfortunate predicament,
by,flying frunr the justice
,of his country
thought proper to do sti, an:l he must 'taste the '
fruits of his conduct, howevee bitter and unpalat-
able they may be; and although we may be hear,
tily sorry for.any person wild has brought biniselt
into this situation, it is not in our power,. God
forbid it ever should he in- our power, to deliver
bin] from it ; we cannot prevent the.ju,dgment of
the law by .creating•irregularities in Ole-proceed-
ings ; we eptint prevent the consequences of that
judgment by pardoning the crime ; if the defend-
; ant has any pretensions tuercy,. those pre-ten-
sions must he urged, and that power excited, in
another place, where the Constitution has wisely
and necessarily vested it.,
" The Crown will judge foe itself; it does not
belong to us to iotertere with punishment, we
have only to declare the taw ; none of us had any
concern in the'prosecution of this: busitiess,, tine
any wishes :upon the event of it was not our
fat,lt that the defendant was prosecuted for the
libels for which he has been convicted ; I took
itce Share in another place' in :the measlircs .ohich
were taken to roseettieliirn‘ifor one of them ; it
was tih.t our fa•lt that he fled; it was Ilbtour
fault that he w;:s outlawed ; it was not tiur'fattlt
that he surrendered himself tip to lust ice ; tome

of us revived the prosecution against bila,.tior
' 'cod(' any of us stop that pmseention wbe-n it -Wi4i
revived I it is not our fault that there r art not any
errors titiou the record, nor is it in .our power to
'create any if there .ate none ; we are lconint by
folir olth, and in our consciences, to give such a
J'itrclgtnent' as the law will warrant, nud as onr-
reason can 'approve; such judgment as we must
srand or t4ll by; in• the oiril4ion of .th-e presei;t
times, and of posterity; in tioing it.theretare we
`!host have regard to our rept'? Ation as honest men,

and men of -skill 'and knowledge competent to

the 'stations we hold; no considerations whatever
thotild atislead us froth this great °Neer, to which

'we ever ought, and, I trust, ever 'shill -direct orur
attention. But consequences of a F►ublic nature,
'reison's'of state, political ones, hare been strongly
jurg'ell- (private anonymous, letters sent to the
I -shall pass over), open avowed publications,
xs.ll.ich. • have been ju►iicially noticed, and 'play
therefore be mentioned, have endeavoured to in-

er.e or intimidate. the Court, and so prevail
upon us to trifle and prevaricate with God, our
concienres, and the public. It has been

'mated, that eorts'equences'• of a frightful nature
will flow from the establishment of this outlawry;
'it the people expect the reversal, that the
teirtrer of the times demands it, that the multitude
t~ ill hAte it so, that the eontinna;ion of the out-
laWry- in fUll force will not he endured, the execu.
tion'of' the !aw utmti the defendant wilVbe,resist-
ed ; these are arguments which will not weigh
feather with me. if insurrection and rebellion
are -to follow our determination, we. have not to

answer for the consequences, though we should he
-the innocent cense—we can only say, Filltjastitia
• ruat- mittin ;. we !hall discharge our duty', without
expciations of approbation, or the apprehension's
of censure if we are subjected to the• latter un,
justly, we'must submit lair ; we cannot prevent it ;
we will take care not to deserve it.' Ile trrnst he a
weak Man indeed,' wbo can be Staggered by such a
consideraiion. The misapprehenSiou or the lni3re-
preientation of the ignorant or the wicktd, the
mendat: infanta,' which is t lac consequence .of both,
• are equally indifferent to, unlvor thy the attention
'of, and incapable of Making any tinpression on., men
of firmness and intrepidity. Those who iinagine
Judges are capable of being' influenced ' by such
unworthy, indirect means,•most grossly deceive
theMSelves ; and for my own part, I trust that my
temper,- and the colour and conduct! of my life,
clothed me with a 'Snit of -armour to shield
pit; hum such arrows. If I have CITE supported
the icing's measures, if I' have ever afforded any
assistance to Oovernment, if 1 have discharged my
(WI," Ai .8 public. or Trrietfte character, by endi2a-
vonying to preserve pare and. perfect the principles
of the Constitution, maintaining unsullied the ho-
' stony of the • Courts o'f Justice, and by an upright
administration of, to give a due effect to-, the
la Ws, I have hitherto done it without any other
gift or reward, than that most pleasing and ho-'
Pourable one, the conscientious convietiott of
doing what WAS right. I do not affect to scorn
the' opinion of mankind; I wish earnestly for po-
. pularity ; hut I will tell yon_how I will obtain it,
—I will have that. popularity which follows, and
~not that which is Jun after. It is not the ap-

o.t it pot 1tti77713:n
that can give ft IlliMlent'S Sat kfZIVII,YII in 14 fa-
tiopat bi ing ; that man's mind must indeed be a
u'eak one, and his ambition of .a inost depraved;
sort, who can bo 'captivated by such wretched al-,
lurements, or satisfied with such Inomentary gra.
tifirations. Vsay with the Roma!) Orator, and
can say it with as lintel' trurh as he did, " P,g
hoc uni,w; fui; rirtute partam,.
gloriunt non infinnium, putmen" the threats
have been carried further ; personal violence has
been denounced, unless public humour be com-
plied With. Ido not fear such threats ; IdO not
believe there ;.s any reason to fear them. It is the
/genius of the ATorst of men, in the s,,rst of times,
to proceed to such shocking extremities. But, if
such tin event should irippen, let it be so, even.'.
sash ati event might be productive of wholesome
effeetA.; such astroke might rouse the better part,
of the nation from their lethargic condition to a
.
state of activity, to assert and 'execute the law,
andputtish the daring and impious hands that had,
violated it ; and tbose who now supinely behold
the danger which threatens all liberty, from the
most aliandOned licentiousness, might, by such
an event, be awakened to a sense of their situa-
tion, as drunken men are sometimes stunned into
sobriety. If tbe.security of our per ohs and our
property, of all we hold dear and valuable, are to
depend upon the captive of a giddy mithitnde, or
be at the disposal of a giddy mob ; if, in pow-,
pliance with the humours, and to appease the
clamours of those, all civil and politicai instittt-,
lions are to be aisregarded or overthrown,--a life
somewhat•more than sixty is not worth preserv-
ing at such a price ; and be can never die too ,
soon, who lays down his life in support and vitt-,
(Hendon of the Policy, the Government, and the
Cdnstitution of his Country.—

LAW IN fELLIGENCE.

COURT OF KING'S BENCH, JAN. 22'.

PRIVILEGS OF SPEECH AT THE BAR.
noDG,som, Gen€ v. ScARLETT, Esq.
This. was.an action brought by the plaintiff, an
Attorney, to recover from. the defendfint, an mi.
pent King's Counsel, rf comnensajon in damages,
for certain slanderous and malicious words, alleged
to have been spoken by him, in the course of a trial,
in tvhich the plaintiff acted as Attorney for one Of
the parties.. The cause was tried !mime Mr. Baron
Wool>, at the late Yolk Assizes, when the plain-
tiff was non-suited. The deelara,ion eonsired.of
two counts. In the first, the defendant was, al-
leged to have said-7" Some actions ere founded iu
folly, some in knavery, and some i 4 both, some
in the folly of the Attorney—and some in the folly
and knavery of plaintiff. Mr. Peter.liolgson
was the A. trolley for the, parries. He,drew a pro-
missory note trandulenily, and got Mr Bratimau
to pay, into his hands,lsol. for the benefit of the
plaintiff, which be. retained. It was one of the
most fraudulent things I ever recollect au Attar-
ncp have committed.," In the second count, it
was merely charged that the .delemiant it l said,
44 Teter Hodgson is a fraudulent and snicked A -
,tornev." In the course of the last Term, Mr.
Raine inaved for, and obtained, a Rule Nisi for a
new trial.-
Mr. TOPPING and Mr. I-113t-LocK were this day
beard against it. They contended, that the words
complained of being pertitietit 1.0 thecase-!--heing
by no meaos extra. rir4t-2-1)1a !sting clearly. called
tar by the evidence addueeti in Court, could not 'he
made the subject of action. Au support of this
doet title, they cited mit,tiy cases, in which it had
tit'en held, that words used Cattosel,— in the
coarse of 'a legal investi'gatlon, if pertinent,to the
matter in dispute, could not be visited by an ac-
tion, since it was to he presumed that Counsel
used. theta for the benefit of the client, and not
with a malicious intention. .
Mr, RatNE and Mr. RICH A R SOt., in support of
the rule, 4rgned, that some hoi-nlar y ought to be
set to the observations of Counsel. Undoubtedly,
s cons:derable lati tide ought to be afforded to
them, but it was their, ditty to.aiake a discreet use,
of it, and not to exercise their power for the pm.-
verse of wantonly destroying character and reputa-
tion.
was necessary, if
Lord ELLErts,oanuqn. sa.d, it
a ;person ‘vished, to, fill a situation in arty indi-
vidual's service, that he should give a4qcrence, as
to eltaraeser—end what passed, in ;the fair in-
tercourse between the'persoo referred to, .and the
person about to engage the servant, hot envei '
disadvantageous it might be to him whose
character, was the subject of inquiry, could not lee .
made the subject .of action, if it were well-founded.
But, it the statement made were untrue, it it were
known to the party utter ng. it to be, untrue, and
it appeared to
.hare been unnecessarily iptro-
•duced, then certainly an ,aetion could be sea..
twined.• The, case was, similar with respect, to
a Counsel who conducted, in Court, the
ness of those,who could opt e:-rey on Ihcir own
cause-. , He received ,iiiforma,tioo—fortr: Hpse .
.who employed hind,, and: that
,infortnatinn, .he
used consisteutly with the nature of pase ~,b e
:had. to, suite or to , tielend. , 11, in the . course
s.f his,proceeditig, teade, use of his, informa-
tion, bona -.llt:theaancc of,• the caus,y—it
he did notizittg exteer,uiron—if •he ietroduced only
waspectinent—an action eo4d. not be
'Maintaitied against hint fur, words spoken under
tat se circumstances. They were then to look to.
this particular case,-.ood, to inquire, whether the
words uttered by I\lr, Scarlett bore, on the facts of
the cases and whether he had sufficient reason for
using them. It appeared that‘the present plaintiff
tviis not only.the At trey iu the original cause, lint '
that he knew'of .the coucoction of the promissory
note, and, the, efore, was possessed of information
wbich ought to. have restrained him from proceeding
with the action. In consequence of that promissory
note, he had got a stint at money greater iu amount
than what era* lately receivable front the defen-
dant-. Upon titiS circumstance, and looking also
to the situation which ire held in relation to the
parties in the cause, llr. Scarlett had a right to
animadvert on his conduct.---it was impossible
for him to state all the circumstances connected
with the promissory note, without adverting'
strongly .to the present plaintiff. He. Oki not,
therefore, introduce his name and character
cessarily. If he had done so, it would have left
the plaintiff strictly a right to maintain his action.

r't tittt COonset
" a fraa4olent an;l wicked. attoruey." Perhaps'.
f.hes.e,yrords were.m 1)
,too troug to. he.luatle use of
between twin. Akidat!—,;,z it coucd fitit he said
there reason for haleing'iß!borse.to.
them; Since the...l.:More of .the ttansactioh cnned,
thcol.forth,--and,, iil consecoence, it appeared...to'
.the reamed 3ifilge h the triafi n6lisuic'
.shoOld he entered. Ilftt'et he directed a nonSi
the Learned J,toi;.;e !fad aii Oposition of the rites'.
invcstigirted at ;1 e. trial, and Tiewiog,
them, he wasof he plaintitf Could
not maim/1111 his action--a sentiment in whi.c'h
Lordship perfi•e•tly concurred.
Me, Justice. BAYLEY teas o tile. Sarre opinion.
Ile.thou;h_t that the tine which had been
laid down: by his Lordship e7,temieil
!night be "said by .Counsel, if it were. pertinent ro.
the matter. at .issue—,and no wisOtief could arise
frc►ay allowing the„rt4e to ,be acted on to th-,lt. cx
tent. Counsel undoubyedly had a rit,iht to cont.-,
tuent on•al; the facts of
,a case, is'provi!d in cvi
(tepee. -.Js) this instanee,"One 'mist be led to sup
pose, that, as all the circumstances of tip, former
trial had ()centred in the presence of, the Counsel
who witnessed the action fordatr!ages, their in-
formatiOn would be accurate On' the soOect-L.-and
the Learned Jorge would be apprised of every'
thing that had taken.pleee. Whatever ti•ere the

rein facts of the ta,se, veas necessary to take.
those facts into Consideration now—hecitise the
propriety or impropriety of using the woods coin-.
plained,of must:he decided by a reference to the
circumstances that were disclosed
.at the former
(dal, and not on new facts. The original ac
don was' brought to recover ,propor-
tion of_money, which, it appeared, HOdgrn
had received in part payment for a ship: be.
whole at the money was to be paid to two
persons, Messrs. Spittar and Cornick, and
promissory note was_ given for . that purpose,
drawn by Hodgson, who, therefOre, knew that
Spittar and Cornick were to 'receive this money.
liodgsoo had received on that owe lu4l, which
lir paid, 'lotto Spider and Cornick, but to a man
:tamed Norris, who was also connected with the
transactioo. Perhaps it was a harsh expressiOn to
say that this was frandnleotandkuavish—btit cer-
tainly the facts of the case Which disclosed this
ioqn oper Payment %void() warrant it; for liodgSOn
must have knoWn to whom this 150,1, ooglit iohave
been paid. Admitting that this was
.a harsh ex-
pression,. still the Learned jtid-ge thOnght, that
tinder the circumstances, it was on more than the
privilege of the Cohnsel justified him in stating,at
the time..; ,The expression did not abide to:at,ts
(tile by ,Hodksot: in other cases, btu evidently
attached to hi's conduct in consettuence of :ch.-
.cumstances that were disclosed ita the course Of
that particular investigation. The facts a'p'pear-
in;,, as they did in evidence, the ilieartied Connsel
was justified in stating whet he did, althougli
militated egains,t 'the character and cololuet. of
Hodgson, as tPie:i:were connected 'this cause.
be ;node of giving a character to a 'sun vant, had
be same litnitat,ion. The auSwer Willahe'per-
tieeet the 'clkiet ion asked. lf an imputation
mete hro onti irrOev.of the tyle:;tiol of
character,,Aere the party would not be warr,int-
ed but otherwise, the Pf,tttli.f.ti 'Jodie vi a; of
opiLiiim an itittivida4 Wc.!,11,1, be jittifi,?d, if be-
eotifined. himself, sttictly to eie,,,,,er the tin( s! lop
tientalitied Of,tiim, in statiog inatt ers hunt ii to
the:character.of pie person who •made the refer-
ence, provided they were fttei.
Mr. Justice ila-Boaer sioil, I.todt.eson was not
only the Attorney in the former.ttial, but was
also cognizant of the; fact. pt a prOMissory note
ha% ingbeen drawn,
~reo., which he' st,.!m of tnoitcy
was• paid into his It psis,
,Which. he handed ((P
(me for whom .it W.HS, not int' thetear
ed Judge, before whom the late action was
tried, looking to the circuntslanee, conceived
that• the words t.poken by Mr. St,.a4et_L
1.,:t were
,u.itl,
pertinent. nod relative to , the s,i
that bring the (rise., held that the action could
not he tu;tint iued—an Opinion which, apPear-
ed to him to he correct. •It was Saitt,. that
that. Learned Judge took the observations of COtetr-
sel in a larger and more c‘inpreheiiiiie Sense
that) he, onght to have done. It could not, how-
ever, be denied, that he
.knew perfectly well what
pased tine. first arid' was, there ore, per-
fectly capable of deciding whether they'were really
pertinent (Pl' 110 i. Hodgson
,haring been cogni-
zaot of certain, facts connected with the first
:cerise,
.to which lie ought pot, particularly as he
":,k 411 attorney employed by one of the parties;to
have been at all pvivy, his conduct indirect! the
Learned coons.el to speak of
,hirri with some sever
tits---and, the expressions haVitig beeni4ed the
discharge ot his duty, (hiring a jUdicial investiga-
tion, anact ion could not .he sustained on,them,
ks.s it could .be shewn that, the bearned:Coiinsel,
in ,aping the obnnxions vi)yds, meant to give vent
to 591.11 t PeM):l4l,tuallce„ which he entertained
ogal.rtst. Mr. 11odgson, at, the motoeta,. It was int.
poFsible. that justice could beproperlyathuititster
,ed-7.it, was
_impossible, that judicial hosittessould
he cat ried OH as it ought to Counsel were
.Ij4ble to be called on to answer for the too
.great
e.,treng,th of any expression they might use,` such
expression, behig relevant and pertinent to the
toittt crim dispute. This
,being his opinion, he
eonceived tliat:there ‘yas no ground for' sending
the ease again before a Jury.
Mr. Justice HoLaov a concurred in the opinions
of his I,earned,,,4ret,hren. Evidence " had beeit
given, on which the er.ords spoken by Mr, Scarlet%
were founded--511(1, therefore, he would not send
the case back for further itivestigatiOn. Tile ex-
pression was a mere comment or ohierration on the
facts disclosed in evideuce,, and was offered to the
Jury in order to bring over their mittds. to view the
Case in, a particular light.. lie agreed perfectly in
the doctrine laid down
,by.the Learned Baron be-
fore whom the act ion was tried--Paruely, r Ii at words
were not actionabletiolesi spoken wit It a maticiotp,
iiitentipp—and here they were tittered, Writ wiilt
that Inulictiotr fexiiiig, but with teletc,nc6 to facts'
ad-hiccti io evi:lcuce. apprelieti4ett That Coorst
sal were placed lit the same situation in which the
parties employiog theut would stand, if they:eal...,
ried. on their causes theme& yes. tourist:l hail a
riot
_to go as, far as the pat tiest hernseives would
proceed,--hut, of course, their superior knowledge
would teach
,theta, to restrain
,their observations
more than thoDe not used .to act profeSslonally
would be inclined to do. Now; jt. 'was -rifit

that eitste'S, •t'ebere ji./1;!'"
'
Wert) that parties theinseaves ind%;-,14:
Ur or stafliialoo rilatfrr. not Ilitbk t"
hir> an action, far- &MAO'. in Ist ,firri'7.
Ste. 8. it w:ls I.IXI (tow)), " th,“
scandalous nutter, eitilitained in •a to. 4r;
.;iantetit; • or i:itrodrced i!! !fie reguiar courie ''
jud?ciaritroeeedin.g, lie eisitcd by scout'''
because it is kit to Pa! liainent and to the,
eicamine inti thekruth air allegations.'' In
ItOW's 87-4PldeituLi 4, it was liCj
that an action on the .CkliSd, rlitl Itot lie, under o}."'
follow ing circenistAnceS : In a judicial
.proece''l,
tug A. was caber} out to'itiae an aliidarit—attd
sA of It was h e would c!'?"
by 40 witnesses. It wa.s adjudged by the Cowl, tip
this case, on a motion of judgment, d'"
though these words—Wete all.et'zetl to have bee?
uttered maticioesik, art as they. Were given in 60"
swecto'a (;,trr of .0 jadircial .proeeeding, in w1,1'.41
B. was implicated,, anti, as be said be would pl."!
the truth of his statement by.torty witnesses, that'
therefore, !here was trot a sufficient ground
action:' In Ist Sthtn[hrs-, p. 132', it laid doiroi.
(4.11 the preseniing a Petition to. Parliament 1,1,9
lawful; although the Matter was false and
oils, because it was laid before those Who colt'
examine Whether- allegations were snit °
not. d'ou'bt' he're was, whether !lie
printing the Periticu; and handing it. to 11'°
individual Members of a COMMit tee, %VAS 01 "4:
not ittSttitlJtiliT?—and it was ultiinaieFT held that
it Was so: In. conclwion, the LeErned Jdage
observed, that unless exike'ss iii ice criold
proved tigait.ist the detendantunfess rt apt-ore'
that the words used Were not pertinent and rFelr
vant, but were introduced for tirposes foretgY
to the
_justice of (tie case-then the Pell
brou,Llsr by the pfainiitr is as not ttiaiutairirabi
Mule discharged.