The Sun.
London, England, 1827-07-16 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

We revert, though rather unwillingly, to the
cause of ".Scott v. the Morning Chronicle."
We suppose that every one will allow that the
plaintiff has got quite as much, in the way of
damages, as she was entitled to get. It, is diffi-
cult to conceive what can have been the inten-
tion of this woman, or of those by whom she
was set on. If the vindication of her character
was all that was sought for, this might have been
done by an action against one Paper : why
threaten actions against four ? Or if the Misses
Long had failed in their attempt to rescue the
children from the custody of the father, through
false imputations cast upon this witness, they
might have acted rightly in attempting to prop up
her character. But they have succeeded by the
highly proper decree of the late Chancellor. A
father who deserts the path of virtue and pro-
priety; deserts that path in which his children
ought to be placed; he, therefore, deserts them.
The man who misuses the mother, is not likely
to act justly towards her offspring. The melan-
choly late of the late Mrs. Long Wellesley af-
fects every British heart with son ow, and did,
during the period of her sufferings, bring tears
into many eyes that had never viewed her.
Peace to her shade ! which would not be at
peace, if -it knew that her children were
in tie power of the authors of their
inotheila wrongs. Mr. Justice Best very
properly remarked upon this subject—" Could
a father bring up - his children virtuously
and religiously, who had come into Court yester-
day, showing that he was still connected with a
person who had lately been proved in that court
to have beenguilty of-adultery-with him ? lavish-
ing upon her attentions which would have ap-
peared ridiculous even if they had been bestowed
upon his legitimate wife ?" It is remarkable,
that, (so far as we can perceive on. reading over
the trial) the defendant is not charged with. any
malice or ill-will against the plaintiff. What
motive, indeed, could the editor of the Nor-

ning Chronicle have to injure such a person as
Mrs. Scott, a woman totally unknown to him ?
And had any casual error crept into his columns
(a misfortune which, notwithstanding every pos-
zible care, will sometimes take place), this might
and would soon have been rectified on the first
mention. The chief subject of complaint is,
that the affidavit was published before it was
read in the Court of Chancery. This might
have been the subject of reprehension from
the Judge of that Court ; but if the very affida-
vit that was filed were correctly given, it could

not in any degree aggravate its effect upon the
character of the plaintiff. We know not why it
'...fhotild have been insinuated that the proprietor
and editor of the Morning Chronicle was not
the real defendant, or that he would not have
had the damages 'and costs to pay if any tiling
con,liderable had been giVen. -We believe there
is riot the slightest -ground- Ter the insinuation.
He' did not seek the action, but was
obliged to defend himself: whereas we have
;shown above, that the woman Scott could
have no Personal motive for Commencing
the suit, nor .had she, we 'would suppose, any
funds for carrying it on. It is easy to throw out
insinuations of the nature to which we allude,
but we have never yet found any Quixotism in
others to share our responsibility or risks ; and
)2,ave the greater right; therefore, to look to that
'which is the only-prOte6tiimi of a free press in all
Europe--a,i honest British jury: This unhappy
cause has somewhat revived a question which we
bad thought decided, and which is in truth de- ,
by" the good sense of the country repre-
3ented chiefly by itsF jurymen. That question
regards the propriety and utility of publishing
legal proceedings, as they come out, during their
course. The 'objection seems noW chiefly to be
confined to the publication of the police reports.
But we should be leave to ask, whether the de-
fence is not heard as well as the cLarge by the
,committing or acquitting magistrate, I)4ore he
o,,Ommits' or acquits, at our police-offices ? If the
accused chooses, as is often the case, to reserve
his defence till the day of trial, can a stronger
practical proof be aforded, that he does not fear
all that ill effect which is said to result from suf-
fering unanswered charges to be propagated and
sink deep into the public mind? Thetruth is, that
a defence is often the more effectual, from the cir-

cumstance of its being reserved till the first force of
the charge has evaporated and spent itselfhy diffu-
sion: Nor can any reason be alleged why the rela-
tion of legal proceedings should be suspended
till their close, which will not apply to the greater
part of all the other occurrences in the world ;
because these are no occurrences in which it

may not be asserted that you will, to a certain
degree, affect the issue by yoUr publication of
their progress. With respect to a free press, let
any man come forward boldly, and say, " I hate
a- free press ; it is OD:, bane of a free country ; it
is destructive-of civil liberty ; I wish for its total

extinction—for the prohibitkm of printing and
writing altogether, or at least for a censorship of
the most severe kind." Such a a'e should
honour for his frankness, though we -night per-
. haps think him in error. But against th...% class
of people who commence every attack upon the
free yress of the country, by pretences that they
are its friends, we would most strongly caution
the Public, and particularly that part of it on
imposed the task of discharging uncom-
Peliiitea- duties, to be on their guard. We
know their haeknied phraseology too well-4-
" "They are as'much friends, forsooth, as any to
a free press, none more attached to it, but" 4
- that but always. means they nct only detest a. fre`e
press, but every other freedom ea right which
Britons enjoy. Your but in this case, if those
who use it could have their way, would be more
of a peace-maker than jour if; fOr it would sink
us all into base and unresisting submiosion to
::ny oppression or tyranny that might be exercised
or zet
Sir W. D. Best observed at the close of the
proceedings on Friday, " If this case should last
fOur or five hours longer, I cannot endure the
fatigue. I never was a strong man, and the little
strength I had is now gone in the service of my
country." Suitably impressed, as we trust we
are, with the, great value of the services which
this learned, upright, and impartial .Tudge has
rendered to his country, we cannot hear such a
declaration unmoved.- 'We have to regret, in
common with many others, that the ardour or
the venerable Judge hurries him but too fre-
-cluently into exertions which are so dispropor-
tionate to his remaining strength, •and which are
the more to be lamented, as they are not only
4ot -called for; but are often even out of place,
observed by
,a contemporary, (The
Globe) that. " the opinion of the Jury formed
Af it (the character of Mrs. Scott) makes it the
more lamentable that a Judge should, on such
an occasion, condescend to the passionate ear-
nestness in which, on similar questions, Sir W.
Best seems too prone to indulge.": Patsion may
be a luxury' for the young and 'strong, but it Is
peculiarly aancrPrniic for those who have ex-

hausted their strength, either, like Sir W. Best,
in the service of their country, or in any other
service. If the venerable Judge could but re-
strain that ardour which impels him to an un-
necessary waste of strength, the country might
indulge the hope of the enjoyment of his services
for a long period to come. It is observed by
the most acute of all the English philosophers,
Hobbes, that " Eloquence is nothing else but
the power of winning belief of what we
say. And to that end we must have aid from
the passions of the hearer. Now, to demon-
stration and teaching of the truth, there are re-
quired long deductions and great attention,which
are unpleasant to the hearer. Therefore, they
who seek not truth, but belief, must take another
way, and not only derive what they would have
to be believed from somewhat believed already,
but also, by aggravations and extenuations, make
good and bad, right and wrong, appear great or
less, according as shall serve their turns. And
such is the power of eloquence, as many times a
man is made to believe thereby that he sensibly
feeleth smart and damage when he feeleth none,
and to enter into rage and indignation without any
other cause than what is in the words and posses•
sion of the speaker.
the faculty of speaking powerfully consisteth in
an habit, gotten of putting together passionate
words, and applying them to the present passions
of the hearer."—ln an advocate, this power over
passionate words, and applying them to the passions
of the hearer, is serviceable to his client ; but
the passionate earnestness of the advocate is not
required from a Judge, and the endeavour to
conquer impassioned eloquence with the exer-
cise of the judicial power—that is, the power of
weighing carefully and accurately the value and
bearing of the faith and argument adduced by
the respective parties in a cause, is a work
of supererogation, to which (however suc-
cessfully performed by Chief Justice Best)
few men can be supposed equal. We trust
the venerable Judge will take our suggestion in
good part, that it might be as well in future to
relieve himself of that part of the conjoined effort
which more properly belongs to the advocate
than the Judge. His power of judging impar-
tially may not thereby be improved, but his strength
will not be unnecessarily wasted ; and as there is an
idea that ardour is incompatible with the due
exercise of the judicial faculty, his opinions will
not lose in popular estimation. Maitre Ja,.ques,
in The Miser, throws off his insignia of Valet
and appears as Cook in the twinkling of an eye.
A Judge may in like manner take a part " in
the struggle now going on between the Press and
the Justice of the Country," and yet appreciate
correctly the conduct of the Press. But it is given
to few to make these rapid transitions with safety.
But if the venerable Judge were even to confine
his ardour to the matter strictly before him, our
apprehensions on his account :would not be so
Leen. But his sympathies are so warm, that they
may be said to boil over on every object with
which he comes even incidentally in contact. In
his generous ardour too, lie is quite forgetful of
the principle of reciprocity. For instance, in his
charge to the Jury on Friday, he lavished a full
quarter of an hour's eloquence in an uncalled-for
defence of the sentence pronounced by Lord
Eldon in the Wellesley cause. This tribute to
the judicious excellence of Lord Eldon is the
more honourable to Sir William Best, as, in the
course of that very cause, the Judge whom he so
highly 'compliMents on more than one occasion,
pecked himself, and encouraged his Bar to peck
at a little oversight of the Chief Justice, in his
charge in the case Bligh v. Wellesley, namely,
the confounding the injury supposed to have
been done by Mr. Wellesley to his own wife
(which was not the subject of trial) with his con-
duct towards Mr. Bligh, whose loss formed pro-
perly the subject of consideration for the Jury.
Lord Eldon, on these occasions, did not, cer-
tainly spare Sir William Best, and the generosity
of the latter is the more striking. But perhaps
the venerable .Tudge is not aware of what took
place in the Court of Chancery, and might have
exclaimed, like Voltaire, who, on complimenting
Haller to one who had just come from the latter,
was told it was very generous on his part, as
Haller did not speak well of him, answered,
" Perhaps we are both of us wrong." We know
not how Lord Eldon may feel when lie learns
what a debt of gratitude he owes to Sir William
Best for his eloquent endeavour to satisfy the
country of the propriety of his Lordship's deci-
sion. His Lordship may pei haps think that
this display of eloquence, like other displays in
the charge, was not called for. There is one
consolatory circumstance for the Press in this
struggle with the justice of the country, that
allowance begins to be made by Juries for the
effects of that impassioned eloquence which
bursts through all the bounds which have
hitherto been set to efforts on the Bench.—
, Morning Chronicle.

Another instance of the fatal effects of impri-
sonment for debt has occurred in the Fleet Pri-
son. Little do those who pay their way in the
world know of the lamentable state of those who,
through error or misfortune, do otherwise. For-
midable as our Criminal Code is represented
we will venture confidently to affirm, that
nineteen .-‘rentieths of criminal offences are not
half so severe..., nunished as in the civil offence
of debt. Many a ..,,rant who, by robbing his
employer, and thereby
-^ing him to ruin, has
not, after having been tried aids. n •
llof
'nVlCte the
offence, suffered one-tenth part of 11epu,.;sh-
ment which the insolvency of the latter, L-,ught
on by the treachery of the former, has brouglA
upon him. The evil, great as it is in itself, is
more than doubly aggravated by the shameful
state of those crowded receptacles of misery, and
nurseries of vice, called Debtors' Prisons, While
every degree of sympathy, to the most nauseous
extent, is-excited towards the really guilty occu-
pants of every felon's gaol from Newgate to the
Hulks, and when the wants of these real outcasts
of society are more attended to than those of the
unfortunate inmates of hospitals and workhouses,
the dei,:or is allowed to pine in wretchedness
and disregard, herded with his co-mates in mi-
sery like pigs in a si,`Te, often urged to suicide
and every kind of desperation, or consumed by
disease, brought on by every species a mental
and bodily agony. As far as the Debtor Pri-
sons in London are concerned, we cannot help
thinking that a degree of blame, not to say of
criminality, attaches in higher quarters than those
of gaolers, marshals, wardens, or turnkeys, Of
course we cannot venture to say to whom we
allude ; but if, instead of calling forth the re-
sentment which plainer terms might draw upon
us, we can awake " the still small voice of con-
science," where its lowest whispers would be so
useful, we shall at least have done some service
in the cause of true humanity. Of all the ad-
vantages of a free Government,
none is more
valuable
than that which assures to misery in
every station the certainty of its complaints being
heard, Of the wretchedness we allude to, no
small part, we fear, is never known or heard at
all ; and of that which is known, the Press may

fairly lay claim to the merit of being almost the
sole promulgator.—Morning Herald.
On Saturday, Sheen, the murderer, was, as
we had anticipated, acquitted. The evidence
brought forward proved clearly that the child
with whose death he was formerly charged, was
as well known by the name of \\Tm. Beadle as
Wm. Sheen ; that, in fact, the corpus delicti in
both trials was the same. In the plenitude of
our wisdom, we are apt to deride the institutions
of our ancestors, but a more careful study of
them, will in many cases, as well as this, con-
convince us that they were not so purblind as
the vanity of their sons may at first sight con-
clude. The appeal from the intricacies of law
to the arm of the strongest, was extremely natu-
ral in a bold and martial people, and at a period
when Courts of Justice were notoriously cor-
rupt. Our Courts are now pure, but they are
still beset with technicalities, and when these, in
the grave case of murder, interpose between the
shedder of blood and the justice of the country,
it is very much to be regretted, that some means
analagous in their effect to the rough remedy of
our fathers, should not be devised for enabling
us to escape from them. We think this might
have been provided, in most cases, by leaving
the appeal in case of murder, but limiting it to a
new trial, abrogating only the wager of battle. In
that case the technicality which had prevented
conviction in the first case, might have been got
over in the second. We hope that this, or some
other plan, will be suggested by those who are
better vested in such matters than we pretend to
be, to prevent common sense from being shocked
a second time by so monitions a result as the
acquittal now under our consideration.—New
Times.

In the action brought against the proprietor of
the Morning Chronicle and Observer, for an
alleged libel on Mrs. Honoria Scott, the Jury,
under the direction of Chief Justice Best, re-
turned a verdict for the plaintiff,—Damages,
One Farthing ! The case was very fully detailed
in the evidence and pleadings given in the New
Times of Friday and Saturday. Mrs. Scott was
one of the numerous witnesses produced in the
Wellesley case. Her affidavits were considered
to bear very strongly against Mr. Wellesley's
claim, and, in order to meet them, two counter
affidavits were filed in Court, which charged Mrs.
Scott with adultery and theft. The publication
of these affidavits constituted the libel for which

the exemplary damages above mentioned were
awarded. There was also a police report, in
which Mrs. Bligh was represented to have re-
peated the allegations of adultery and theft con-
tained in the affidavits ; but this was evidently
brought forward to bolster the other part of the
charge. It is not necessary to follow the argu-
ments of the Learned Counsel on either side,
for, except in so far as they applied to the
special faets of the case, they were of the same
character as have been used in numerous in-
stances before ; nor can we suppose that our readers
are yet to learn what may be said against, and what
in favour of the Press. That that powerful engine
has its defects—that it may, sometimes from
carelessness, sometimes from ignorance, some-
times from misdirected zeal, and sometimes from
motives utterly indefensible, erect itself into the
tyrant of that public of whose liberties it is the
most efficient protector, we readily allow. Iden-
tified as we are with the Press, though not more
so than the community with whose well-being it
is indissolubly linked, we are not blind to its
errors ; we are its admirers, not its worshippers.
If, therefore, Chief Justice Best had limited his
censure to the case he was trying, which, al-
though a jury of independent Englishmen did
not, notwithstanding very strenuous endeavours
used to influence them, the Chief Justice might,
without imputation on his judgment regard
as one deserving punishment, we should have
been the last to stand forward and criticise his
expressions. Had we even perceived a desire
manifested by the Chief Justice, by needless in-
terruptions of Counsel, by impatient remarks,
by unfounded objections, to force a verdict for
the plaintiff—had we beheld him, under the in-
fluence of that feeling, exhibiting, not the grave
impartiality of a Judge, but the heated zeal of an
advocate, still had his zeal been confined to the
case immediately before him, we should have ab-
stained, out of respect for the judicature of our
country, from remarking on his conduct. But
when Chief Justice Best, instead of directing
his attention to the party before him, goes out
of the record. and tells the Jury, then impan-
nelled to try a newspaper Editor, that at present
a struggle is going on between the press and the
justice of the country—when he says, in so
many words, that not only is the defendant in
Court, but all others connected with the press,
engaged in so unhallowed a struggle—we feel
compelled to vindicate ourselves, and—for on
such an occasion our interests are common—
our contemporaries, from so foul an aspersion.
If the character of the press of England were to
be judged by the number of libels that of late
have been tried, there might be some semblance
of reason for the Chief Justice's remark. But we
are sure, that it cannot have escaped so very acute
a mind as Sir Wm. Best's, that there is such a
thing as throwing encouragements in the way
of complainants—that there is a strong temp-
tation for him who has nothing to lose, to
gamble in law, where the chances, from
able known disposition of the Bench, are decidedly in
his favour. To adduce an instance in point :--
'hat so long as it is known to the public that
there e, iudge, 0,-,a he a learned and
one,
who looks press avia,
'n evil
an eye, that
he does not hesitate publicly to cieo.., the
that it is
at war with the justice of the country, arm, ..„
sequently, deserving of absolute proscription ;
there will never fail to be complaints against it,
nor will that judge ever fail to have them brought
under his cognizance. To the Jury we would
say one word. Are they aware of the value of
the farthing which they on Satin day gave to heal
the wounded character of Mrs. Scott ? That
farthing will cost Mr. Clements five hundred
pounds. An acquittal would have saved him at
least half that sum ; it could not have saved him
his own expenses, for who was to pay them
Should they again be placed in such a pre-
dicament that they must punish the pro-
' prietor of a newspaper or an attorney, we
would beseech them to consider whether it
might not be worth while for once to lean towards
the former, though he be an opponent, and his
antagonist a retainer of Justice. Nothing can
well be more desperate than the case of a news-
paper, when dragged before a Court. If the
proprietors be respectable, and the paper have a
high character, the Jury are called on to award
heavy damages, for the character of the libellers
gives double force to the libel. If the character
of the proprietors or of the print will not stand a
rigid inspection, then, too, they must give heavy
damages, as a punishment due to the offenders,
if not to the offence. We had hitherto thought
that the hardships to which this dilemma exposed
us admitted of no aggravation ; but we were

mistaken. We were safe from its operation
while we kept out of Court. The Chief Justice
of the Common Pleas is not content with
crushing him that ventures to confront him, but,
like the wonder-working hero of Cornwall, he
throws his noose over the heads of the giant and
his brethren at once, and hangs half a dozen in
the same halter.—lbid.