Star.
London, England, 1802-11-19 00:00:00

drtffed the Ci urt—he faid it was important to the
queftion,ao confider the light in dhich the profe-
cutor Neat this indictment appeared before their
leordlhips, demanding judgment againft the de-
fendant. He prefented himfelf as a Magiftrate of
the county of York, and a perfon of considerable
fortune. It would have occurred to him, if he
had taken any other than his own advice, to have
commeeeed the profecution for this libel, by a
motion for a criminal information ; but lie was
aware that the Court would have required from
11:m a fpetific affidavit of the falfehood of the
libel. If his objea had been the vindication of
his chaeeder, he might have brought an anion,
and if no justification had been put on the record,
or if a juttification had not been proyed, fearce
any damages could have been large enough to
have coropenfated him, but it tlead of having re-
conne vet:idler ref thefe modes, he had preferred
an indiCtrvnt at the Sellions, in which- his own
oath was not at all neceffary. It was remarkable
that in framing this indictment, though it defcrib-
ed the libel as wicked and malicious, the word
falfe was no where to be found ; the perfon who
chew it was aware that the profecutor had endea-
voured to defraud the revenue'. The fait was, the
profecutor had attempted in the return of his
income, to impofe on the Commiffioners, flatter-
ing Lundell his fraud would not be difcovered.—
It was one of the molt infamous fpectilations that
could he imagined, and he trufted that through
fame medium or other, the Attorney-General
would hear of it. What could be more difgrace-
ful than that while every honeft and confcien-
tious man in the Kingdom •was paying a
tenth of his income towards the exigencies of the
State, and the fupport of the country, a perfon
.the fituation of a Magiftrate, and poffelling.an
immenfe property, should be meanly attempting
to defraud the Revenue of a fum, in the than
fpace of two years, of not lets than aeol. The
Learned Counfel entered into the detail of the
Profecutor's actual returns, and the furcharges of
the Commiffioners, as Rated in Mr. Dawfon's af-
fidavit, obferving, that the Profecutor, confcious
of his impofition, had not, upon the lift occafion,
.ventured to appeal. He confidered the Defen-
dant as a perfon to wham the public was highly in
debted, and the Profecutor as a man who, by his
condua, had difgraced and rendered himfelf in-
famous—as one who had no right to appeal to the
Court for a judgment againa a Defendant who
had written nothing concerning him but what was
true. He regretted Mr. Sutcliffe, in his letter to
Mr. Radcliffe, should have done more than Rated
the bare facts—had he confined himfelf to them,
nn indiament could have reached him, but upon
this part of the cafe there was a materiality in the
affidavit of Mr. Ingham. It was Rated, that the
Profecutor had charged the Defendant as having
defrauded him out of feveral hundred pounds, and
had deferibed him in terms the Moll opprobrious.
The Defendant; goaded by this reprefentation,.
had, in writing the letter containing fats adniitted
to be true, retaliated, by tiling language nt,t ftriae'
ly cone'. The Profecutor in bringing up the De'
&Oust for judgment, had made public, a Rory
which iefleaed on him theme, difhonour, and dig
credit—he had admitted himfelf: on the Records
of the Court as a man juitly meriting worfe epi.
thets than thofe he had beftrtYeed on the Defen-
dant. He added, that the Profecutor, in order
to harafs the Defendant, and put him to expence,
had removed the indictment into this Court by
Certiorari; and he terminated his remarks, by
again urging the importance of the fervice the
Defendant had rendered the public, and by ex-
preffing his deteftation of the infamous condua of
men of rank and wealth, whO ought, to' be moll
forward in fiipporting the Government.iti times of
difficulty and danger, bafely, for the fake of raving
a trifling fum, withholding the fair and juft return
of their incomes,
Mr. HoLLorn enforced his arguments by others
equally pertinent and applicable. •
Mr. Serjeant COCKLE, for the Profecutor, faid,
he really thought while Mss Perk will addreffing
the Court, he had mistaken his fituation, and that
his Client was the Defendant inftead of the Profe-
cutor, for in fpeaking of him, the Learned Coun-
fel had (pared no epithet that was harfls and op-
probrious. Their Lordibips were not fitting in
judgment on Mr. Beaumont s condua, but, on the
Libel of the Defendant. It might be true that
Mr. Beaumont had been furcharged in confe-
quence Of an infufficient return of his 'income, and
yet he.might not be decrying of the abufe and I
cenfurc he had received. He believed that ;levee,'
mei in this Metropolis was to be called an infif
redu:s fcoundrel becaufe he had not returned hid
income, the calumny would be widely exted'd-
cdd The Profecutor might have intended to have
acted ,cotifiientioufiy, and yet have been miftaken
in his return.
t.% • •
Lord ELLsshowpw -Lis He has excluded hitn-
Vrisin the betrier kf,"thtte remark by the fabler-
ye:Wee:that if the Commiffioners knew the quail-
timber he had Cold, they would play the de-
li with him." •
'Serjeant Cis itt4 :fripeated, that it was the
condua of the Defends `Use Court had to confi-
der, He denied him atiY.'nferit for what he had
done, on the face of 'his own affidavit, for it• ap-
•peared be had been.invited to make the difbovery
of the Profecutres income to the Commiffionen.
The Defendant had exprefsly. faid he went,before
the Commiffioners nOn"compulfion—fo far from
his deferving thofe encomium's by which his Ccien-
\Tel had endeavoured to exalt his charafler, the
whole burthen of his affidavit was,!that his
,infor-
' 'nation had not been voluntary. The Iseened
Serjeant proceeded to infer the malice of the. D-
efendant by the extraneous matter introduced into
his Libel refeeaing the fupper at Whitley Hall,
and theePeolecutor's boaß of getting drunk every
night and not attending. his church. Such invi-
dipus remarks,. he faid, chewed the Defendant's
clbven foot, and that his object was not to justify