The Sun.
London, England, 1827-06-12 00:00:00

LAW INTELLIGENCE.

COURT OF KING'S BENCH, Jura 11.
THE KING. U. RICHARD DOWNING RICHARDS.
This was a criminal information for a libel on the
Earl of Glengall, which appeared in the Age Sunday
newspaper, on the 29th of October last.
A clerk from the Stamp-office produced the affidavit of
the defendant that he was sole proprietor of the paper.
:IL•. BROUGHAM objected that the handwriting of the
Commissioner before whorl the affidavit was made, should
be proved.
Lord TENTERDEN said he would take a note of the
objection.

The libel was then put in, and read.
It commenced with stating " that Earl Glengall had
been in league with an obscure journal," and proceeded to
say, " that at Southampton, at the office of the Herald
paper, in that town, he had been in continual converse
with a rascally sweep of the name of Molloy, who is get-
ting a few shillings a week for scraping together the false-
hoods of the town, for that expiring periodical, and will
continue to do so until he is kicked from his service, as be
has been from every other journal he has been in the em-
ploy of. Does this dirty Lord imagine that a man who is
acknowledged to be the greatest liar in England will be
listened to among a set of distinguished persons?" and con-
cluded with stating, that, " not satisfied with traducing
every woman's character in whose company he has had the
good fortune to have been, he has had the unparalleled as-
surance to bully the person, to beg another's pardon, to
fight a third, and to wind up all by snaking the whole af-
fair the subject of a regimental Court of inquiry."
Mr. BROUGHAM said his task was rendered more diffi-
cult by the remarks of his Learned Friend, who had dwelt
upon one topic which was never urged before upon a crimi-
nal prosecution ; for he had not confined himself to the in-
formation then before the Court and Jury, but had travelled
back a stage or two, and reminded the Jury of what had
previously taken place, and had stated tha.. the information
was granted on an affidavit of the prosecutor, to which no
answer was made, and even added that this must have been
so by the practice of the Court. But he (Mr. Brougham)
would beg leave to say, that to a general and vague charge
of being contemptible, the Court does not require of any
man to do such a ridiculous act as to make oath that he is
not a contemptible parson, or that he is not a dirty lord.
Mr. Brougham then read the libel, and observed, that his
complaint against these papers was, not that they were
libellous and hurt the character, but that they were small
printed, and hurt the eyes. lie admitted that it was the
foullest libel to call a man the greatest liar in England, but
these words were applied to Molloy, and not to the prose-
cutor. With respect to the term "Dirty Lord," Dean
Swift was called by Mr. Pope, in the address in which he
dedicated to him his greatest work, the Dunciad, "Most
dirty Dean." However wrong it may have been in the
defendant to have used such a term, the Jury would hardly
convict him upon that. A man of delicate feelings would
not have made use of the phrase "bullied ;" but it is not
so bad to say of a man that he has bullied <another, as to
say that he has been bullied. There was never a slighter
case offered to a Jury.
The Jury immediately found the defendant guilty.
The ATTORNEY-GENERAL moved that the defendant,
who was in custody on civil process, should be committed.
Lord TENTERDEN.-Let him stand committed.

THE KING AGAINST RICHARD DOWNING RICHARDS.

This prosecution against the same defendant was next
tried, for a libel in the Age newspaper of Sunday, the Ist
of October, upon Mr. Easthope.
The ATTORNEY-GENERAL, in stating this case, said the
defendant thought fit to publish, in the most offensive
manner, in his paper of the Ist of October—" That on
Thursday last, just as the Stock Exchange was about to
close, Mr. Easthope brought a large quantity of Cbilian
Bonds into the market and sold them, with full knowledge
of the information Messrs. Hullet and Co. bad obtained."
Had the charge been true, it would certainly have been a
great fraud upon the public. The Court would never have
granted the information, if Mr. Easthope had not cleared
himself by affidavit; and now, if the defendant can prove
that Mr. Easthope had any dealings in Chilian Bunds
within a month of the specified time, I will give him leave
to produce such proof.
Mr. BROUGHA Sr called the witnesses, and was proceeding
to examine them, when
The COMMON SERO 'CANT said, that there had been ap-
pearances which were calculated to create suspicion ; but
that Mr. Easthope had certainly removed them by hie
affidavit, and lie expressed his hope that the proof would
not be proceeded in, or the matter go farther.
Mr. BROUGHAM said, he could not enter into any com-
promise.
The COMMON SIVALO/CANT said, he would consent to a
verdiet-against his client, and hoped it would not be the
worse for his client that he had so done.

Lord TENTERDEN—I can say that, gentlemen, there
could be no answer to this prosecution.

The Jury found the defendant guilty.

RIO DE LA PLATA MINING COMPANY.

A special meeting of Shareholders was held yesterday at
the London Tavern, Mr. HATHOAN, one of the Board of
Directors, in the Chair, to receive the Report of the Com-
mittee appointed in February last.
The Report detailed the progress of Captain Head's
(their commissioner's) operations in Buenos Ayres, and at-
tributed the failure of their plans entirely to the injudicious
conduct of that gentleman who left the country, according
to the Report, at a time when everything promised favoura-
bly for the affairs of the Association, and returned without
permission to England, leaving things abroad in a most me-
settled state, The Report adverted to the loss which the
Company had sustained, amounting to 54,0007., but stated
that Mr. Bunster, of Santiago de Chili, to whom the Com-
pany bad advanced the sum of 50001. towards working
their two mines in that country, was now willing either to
return that sum and work the mines for himself, or give
the Association an opportunity to partake, in an equitable
manner, of the profits arising from their produce. The
Report recommended the adoption of the latter plan, and
after enumerating the number of Shares on which the se-
cond deposit of 21. 10s. had not been paid, in conclusion
stated, that the Directors had given their services gratui-
tously.
Mr. HILL, one of the Committee, moved the adoption of
the Report, and a resolution that the Directors be requested
to act on the recommendation it contained.
A long discussion then arose between several of the
Shareholders on the propriety of proceeding further with
the undertaking.
The Report was finally adopted, as was the resolution
recommending the Directors to act upon it, without a dis-
sentient voice. The meeting then adjourned.

Sir W. Dixie, upon entering into his own
recognizance of 1,0001. and two sureties in the
sum of 2501. each, was liberated, on Saturday
last, from Leicester gaol.— /Vat-wick Advertiser.

EARTHQUAKE IN THE EAST INDIES.—
On the 29th of October the valley of Nipal was
convulsed by a violent earthquake. The first
shock is described as tremendous, and it caused
every house to shake for some seconds after it
had passed away. It destroyed six houses in the
city of Catmandhoo, burying under them seven
human beings. It rased to the very ground a
temple near the city. It destroyed fourteen
houses in the city of Patun, but happily no lives.
Of the buildings of the Residency there is hardly
one wall left without a crack in it, and most
of the higher and ornamental parts of the Resi-
dent's own mansion are either broken off, or so
injured as to require taking down. The sound
seemed like ten thousand horse artillery thunder-
ing over a drawbridge, at full speed, or like a
deluge of water sweeping down a mountain-tor-
rent's channel, and carrying with it huge masses
of rock. There was a continuous roar, over
which more sudden and violent noises, at inter-
vals prevailed, and it came forward with the speed
of light. This horrific sound seemed to the
writer to approach him from the South. In an
instant or two it swept past the city of Cat-
mandhoo, and the Residency, which is a mile
to the North of the City. The shock followed
_30,000 human voices from the city rose in
one peal, the voice of the earthquake passed on
to the North, and there it was answered by the
echoes of a thousand mountains. The whole
city of Catmandhoo was celebrating the Dewali
with the customary gaming ; hardly a soul was
in bed ; the laugh and the jeer were broken by
the threat of nature's dissolution ;. ai:d in one
instant every voice in that. thickly., peopled town
was raised in deprecatory despair.—•S,outh-
amptorz Herald.