Star.
London, England, 1823-08-09 00:00:00

LAW INTELLIGENCE.

VICE-CHANCELLOR'S COURT, AUGUST 8.
DON JUAN.----.LORD BYRON V. DUODALE.
The Court was occupied with cases of little public
interest until two o'clock, when
The VICII-CHAISCELLOR, seeing the defendant .in
this cause in Court, asked him if he was then ready
to proceed ?
The defendant then said that he had to apologize
to his Honour for appearing in person to plead his
own cause, which he would not have done, but
would much rather have availed himself of the legal
ability of some Gentleman at the Bar, had he been
in possession .of the means of employing Counsel.
He trusted, however,-that this circumstance would
nor operate against him with his Honour, if he made
out a fair case for the consideration of the Court,
Which he had no doubt he shoed be able to do. The
injunction which had been obtained against him was
granted upon an es pane statement, and upon a
statement which, he would confidently assert, was not
borne out by facts. For what did the opposite Coun-
sel state as the ground of his application, but that the
book for which he required the protection of the
law did not contain anything contrary to decency,
morality, or the religion of the land; whereas it only
required to be looked into to convince any man that
it was fraught with scenes which were of a tendency
the most immoral, dangerous, and destructive to the
community at large: If he should establish this po-
sition, if he should prove that the wot k in question was
not only immoral, but that it attacked all our most
venerable institutions, both in Church arid State, he
trusted he should have made out such a case as
would convince his Honour that it did not deserve the
protection of the Court, and that the injunction
which had been obtained against him ought to be
dissolved. Indeed so convinced were those who were
concerned in the original publication of this work of
its equivocal character, that they refrained from
putting their names to it, and Mr. 'Murray, although
he did not scruple to sell several copies of it in hi'
shop, did not, however, dare to affix his name to the
title-page, or avow himself to be the publisher. Thus
wa,, with the first five cantos. With respect to
t hose which formed the subject of the present' case,
were they not published in such a way as to invite
piracy, or at least to convince the world, that the
author and his publisher did not consider themselves
as possessing any very strong claim to the protection
of a•court of law ? There were three separate editions
published; one sold for nine shillings, the second for
seven, and the third was, according to the.adver-
tiseinent, publis:ied at one shilling, in order to pre
vent piracy! Did this shew that the author and his
publisher were conscious of the justice of their cause?
Was it not rather an acknowledgment of their
guilt, and an anticipation of that against which they
were aware the law would afford them no protection?
was an argument which he was sure would,
weigh most forcibly a ith his Honour. To come now
to the law of the case, which he would confess he
approached with dillide:;ce ; but al hough no lawyer,
and consequently unacquainted wilt precedents,
there was one case to which he would beg leave to
call his Honour's attention, in l 5 hich the clear prin-
ciple by w hich such cases ought to be decided, was,
he humbly conceived, laid down. It was where Mr.
Lawrence, the celebrated surgeon, had obtained an
injunction to iearain the publication 3f a pirated
edition of his Leclares on Physiolry, 4c, On this
occasion it was argued by the Counsel 'against Mr.
Lawrence, that his book was most dangerous, as,
under the mask of philosophical research, he en-
deavoured to propagate the doctrines of materialism,
and thus to sap the foundation of all moral. and reli-
gious belief. Under those -circumstances, the Lord
Chancellor declared, that he could not affirm the
decree, and accordingly dissolved the injunction. He
would now, with his Honour's permission, examine
the three last cantos of Don Juan, and he trusted he
should be able to prove them unworthy of any pro-
tection from the court. In the first Of those cantos
the hero is conducted through the most licentious
scenes, where vice is aiiinted in language the most
likely to mislead the youthful mind of either iex.
Ile would not ttouble his Honour with qUiatinTrdits,
that part of the book which described the 1 urkish'
harem, but there could be nothing of a more im-
moral or highly dangerous tendency to the rising 1?e-
-iteration. it was not, however, in immorality alone,
tiiat this won k abounded. It was pregnant. with
doctrines of the most revoliitionary tendency. Its.
author belonged to that new school, which arrogated
to itself, exclusively, the possession of those senti-
ments which struck at the existence of every well
Government, and encleavotire4ftir attain,
its object by holding t9s to ridicule characteri. the
most venerated for their virtues sthatheir-fink.
fur example: the author bf these 'Cantos 11'0 tieated,
the respected Monarch of England, would be best
seen from the following extract:—
' Het still there is unto a patriot
hich loves Se well its Country ;bud its King,
A Object of sublintest exultation,
Bear it, ye Muses ! un your brightest wing!
lldwVer the mighty hicust, Desolation,
Strip .your green fields and to your harvests cling,
Gaunt famine never'shall approach the throne,
Though Ireland Starve, great George weighs twenty stoner
What was' theobvious intention of this passage, but
to excite hatred and contempt against the Govern-.
'tient of this country and the head of it, by insinua-
ling, that, whatever •might
.be the distresses of the
'nation, and'of Ireland in particular, the Ministers
were 'peifeetly indifferent to those distresses, and could
lodic and listen with npithy to the people's groans,
provided'therpossessed the means of enriching them-
selves, and enabling their Ruler to revel in all the
luxury of sensual gratifications. If a work like this
were indeed to protectinn, with equal justice might
protection be claimed foi the works of Tom Paine,
Profeisortivrience, or .the Adventures of Faublas,
works Which, he would contend, did not contain half
'the mischief thiliorglity, religion, or Government, as
did the present work. Was there, for example, any
thing which 'had a stronger tendency to encourage,
justify, and ferment revolution, in the works of Paine,
than in the following"stanzas ?••••
6 'But never mind GOD save the King!' and Kings !
For if he don't I doubt if men will longer,— -
think I hear 'little bird who sings
The people by and by will be the stronger.
The veriest jade will wince whose harness wrings
So math into the star as quite to wrong her,
Beyond the rules of :posting,—and the mob,
At last fall sick of imitating Job.