Star.
London, England, 1822-04-15 00:00:00

said, " Everyeatortion is an actual trespass, and an
action of trespass will lie against a man for frighten-
ing another out of his money. If a man will make
use of process of law to terrify another out of his
money, it is such a trespass as an indictment will lie
for ; and there was judgment for the Crown, though
the indictment did not aver the innocence of the
party threatened. In an anonymous case, reported
in 12 Modern Reports, 602, the same illustrious
Judge fined' a party who had .compromised a public
indictment, and took expressly the distinction between
public and private wrongs. In the case of Collins r.
Blantern, 2 Wilson, 347, the same doctrine was sup-
ported. The next instance he should rely on was that
of a man named Wardell, from whom 571. had been
taken as the costs of two indictments preferred against
him by the Association--a sum far beyond any costs
that could be awarded on taxation. We now • began
to see daylight thrown on the real intentions of the pro-
jectors—of this bankrupt Commissioner and Attor:
ney in no large practice—who thus extorted not only
concessions and oaths, but money. How. many be-
sides these had thus purchased theist repose, it was
impossible to ascertain. .Nor was this all: severities
such as the public functionaries would disdain to em-,
ploy were used against defendants—to soften them,
no doubt, into compliance by those potent instru-
ments imprisonment and prison-fare. Mr. Thelwall,
for example, learned by accident that he was in-
dicted : his Solicitor, on the Friday, sent a letter to
Mr. Murray, couched in the most gentlemanly terms,
stating that his client was ready with sufficient bail,
and requesting that he might not be harassed unne-
cessarily by an arrest. To this Mr: Murray, wrapped
up in his own self-importance, did not vouchsafe an
answer. On Saturday evening, Mr. Hayward, the
Solicitor for Mr. Thelwall, learned that a warrant was
issued, and informed the officer that he was provided
with bail to whom no exception could be made—Sir
Richard Phillips and Mr. Adams, of Dean-street,
Soho—one of whom could have given security for a
hundred times the sum required. On Monday for-
mal notice of these bail for Wednesday was given to
Mr. Murray ; yet this man, resolving not to wave a
drop of blood or an ounce of flesh, sent a bailiff that
very night to Brixton, where Mr. Thelwall resided,
and arrested him in the midst of his family and pu-
pils: he remained that night in custody : the next
day he attended before Mr. Justice Holroyd with his
bail, but Murray was not there, and the Learned
Judge, with great kindness, appointed a meeting for
five in the afternoon at his house, when the bail was
taken. Mr. Dolby was nearly accepting the Society's
terms. They required him, among other concessions,
to stipulate not to publish any work that they should
deem improper. To this.most extraordinary stipu-
lation Dolby objected, and asked how he could know
what he might sell—for example, Cobbett's Register?
Here Mr. Murray wisely drew back ; for it was im-
possible to predict on which side Mr. Cobbett might
write six months from any period, or from week to week.
At length, however, Mr. Dolby was ready to sub-
mit, and all appeared to be settled ; when some one
put his head into the room where they were, and
called Murray out, who, on his return, said that the
negotiations could go no further. Of a man named
Turner it would be shewn, that 1.:24 was. demanded
for costs, and that the prosecution was carried on
upon his refusal to pay. Was not this a proof of a
conspiracy to use legitimate process for unjust and
corrupt purposes? Who were the parties claiming
these new prerogatives? Sharpe had avowed himself
the libeller of a distinguished person in the City : and
though the maxim " Set a thief to catch a thief"
might be very just in the lower departments of the
law, it could hardly he applied to its higher officers.
He should neither select this man nor Murray to fill
the station of Attorney or Solicitor-General, or to
perform the delicate task of guarding the person and
character of the Sovereign. If they were suffered
thus to proceed, they would soon become the virtual
licensers of the press. Supposing other men, sit-
u acted by their impunity, should associate to put
other classes of laws in action—one Society protecting
the Customs, another the Excise, a third prosecuting
all offences against one favoured class of society—we
should be reduced to a state of distraction and
wretchedness such as no country ever yet groaned
under ! Had they subscribed in aid of the Consti-
tuted Authorities, to bear the burden of prosecutions
instituted by the Attorney-General, and relieved their
impevirished country from the burden of legal ex-
penses, or even to procure information and lay it be-
fore the proper officer, they would have incurred no
censure. But when they usurped the great functions
of the Crown—when they libelled Government by
their conduct as no Government ever was libelled be-
fore—when they strove to displace that leniency
which was a Government's truest safeguard—:when
they strove to awaken animosities by prosecuting all
that the wisdom of Ministers had passed over, and
which their prurient imaginations deemed seditious;
they were attempting to destroy the most sacred bond
between the Government and the people. He would
now add no more : some of the charges which he
should substantiate must compel the defendants to
call witnesses, who would give him an opportunity
of replying.
The signature of Mr. Sharpe to a printed copy of
the circular letter, addressed on behalf of the Asso-
ciation to Magistrates, and to the affidavit made to
procure the warrant for the apprehension of Atkinson,
were proved, and the documents read in evidence.
James Atkinson was then called, and on his exa-
mination by Mr. DENMAN, gave the following evi-
dence :—I am a bookseller, and live in London-road,
St. George's-fields. On the 23d March last year, I
was arrested, as about five o'clock in the afternoon,
and taken first to Serjeant's Inn Coffee-house, and
afterwards to kemp's Lock-up-house, in Serle's-place,
where I passed the night. The next day 1 was brought
before the Lord Chief Justice at his chambers. I was
then accompanied by my bail, Mr. Bradshaw and
Mr. Fussey, and found Mr. Murray, and Mr.Gilibons,
the officer who had taken me into custody Gibbons
said that he knew me and my bail, and the Lord
Chief Justice observed that he saw no objection to
their being immediately taken. Mr. Murray said that
' he must have 48 hours notice of bail. His Lordship
said that he thought no notice was necessary; and
that, if any were required, 24 hours' notice would
suffice. Mr. Murray replied that the prosecutor must
have 48 hours' notice ; and on this I was committed
to Hcrrsenrenger-lane Jail. I went to prison with-Mr.
Gibbons in a hackney-coacht the fare of which I paid