Star.
London, England, 1802-05-24 00:00:00

LAIC'I.YTELLIvANCE.

COURT or KING'S BENCII. MAY :2.

THE KING V. VISFPH CA roFt,
The judgment of th.: Court was moved againa
the defendant, for Navin; pobll led leveral libels
in the form o• letters, addreiCzd to Mr. and Mr;.
Jacklon, of Beckenham, in Kent.
Mr. ADAM, the defendant' Connfel, I dicited
the indulgence of the Court till Monday, in order
that lArarren Efq. nti,4lit have an oppor-
tunity of making an affidavit in favour of the de-
fendant. The Conit teemed inclined to have
granted it, but the Connie' for the profecution in-
lifted, that as the Defendant had been brought up
in prat:lnce of his own appointment, he was not
entitled to any further favour.
Mr. Juftice LE BLA%C read the report of the
trial. It was an indiamcnt tried at the laft Af-
lizecforMaidltone,before Sir BEAUMCI.THOTHAM,
and a Special Jury—the particulars have been al
ready amply detailed to the public.
The defendant produced near thirty affidavits
made by the moll honourable and relpeetable per-
lons, among whom were his Grace the Duke of
Ancaller, General Albemarle Bertie, Captain
Bertie, of the Navy. Major Scott, Cullen Smith,
Efq. Henry Davidfon, Eiq. of Bedford-fquare,
Matnice Swabey, L. L. D. and Robert Jenner,
Efq. of Doaors' Commons: they uniformly bore
taimony to the defendant's b.:ing a man of vir-
tuous charader, and incapable of a bale and dif,
honourable aaion.

Mr. ADAM addreffed the Court on behalf of the
defendant, in .t fpeech of ennfiderable impreflion
and feeling. He ohferved, that it was a circuit'.
fiance particulat ly unfortunate for the defendant,
that the elevation of the Noble Lord (Elleubu-
rough) thould have deprived him of lo dittinguilli-
ed and able an advocate, but on the other hand
it was a fource of confolat:on, that the very high
character the defendant had received from the re-
fpeflable perfnns, whole affidavits had been read,
rendered it infinitely lefs difficult for a Connfel to
recur to topics of mitigation. He was aware, that
as the Jury had thought proper, upon the doubt-
ful proof, by comparifon of handaeriting, to find
a verdict contrary to the uniform tenor of the de-
fendant's life and conduit, !lie Court, however
they might think juffice had not been done, were
bound to pronounce fuch judgment as the &num-
(lances of the cafe appeared to render necelfary.—
The Learned Counfel then entered into a general
review of the life of Mr. Cenr from his youth,
when he left this country, till his act:pinion of an
independent fortune by his prnfeflion as a mer-
chant, and his exertions in the fervice of the EaR
India Company, and from that period till his fub-
fequent fottlement at Beckenham with his family,
where his univerfal gond conduit, conciliating be-
haviour, and urbanity of Manners, had gained him
net only the efteem of the honourable perfnns who
had come forward to bear tetlimony in his favour,
but of a numerous circle of acquaintance, among
whom he had the pleafure of enumerating the
learned and highly honoured Nobleman vim had
fo many years preluded in the Court of Chancery ;
he meant the prefent Lord Thurlow. He then
took oceafion to advert to the parochial diviiions
which had agitated the inhabitants of Beckenham,
ohferving that the defendant, whateverhis brother,
Mr. John Cator, might have done, had fludinufly
•voided entering into any of them. With regard,
therefore, to the libel, he could have been actuated
by no poffible motive in writing it; but even cup.
poling he had imprudently been led to become the
author ruf the letters, their tenor and tendency were
of fo ludicrous and ridiculous a nature, that they
were not calculated to excite any other fentiment
than that of aflonifhment, that a Gentleman like
the defendant thould have thought it worth his
while to have entertained himfeif with Inch trifling
vroduftions. That the defendant had no malici-
ous intention, was amply proved, by his not having
publifhed the letters to tl'c world, but fent them
rented to the parties, who, had they acted wifaly,
would have committed them to the flames. Hav-
ing dwelt upon the various pacts of the cafe, and
fhcwu by fair dedtuFtion, and a legitimate feries of
arguments, that this was not a qucftion of a ma-
lignant libel, but of an abfurd, idle, harndefs, and
inoffaniive produftion, which was neither intended
or calculated to do mifehief, he concluded by lay-
ing, that the Court had before them a Gentleman
the advanced age of 75 years, who had lived an
unfullied life—who had a large, numerous, and
vomiting family, which he had educated in prin-
ciples of virtue. He milled that the jultice of the
cafe would be fitisfied by a mitigated fentence,
that fhould not lead to thole calamitous cireum-
fiances which would have the effeet of bringing
his grey hairs with furrow to the grave, and ofde-
ftroying the hopes of his virtuous family at their
entrance into life, by depriving them of thofe con-
tieftions they had been taught to look up to for
fupport and protection.
Mr. Cori ST followed on the fame fide, and (poke
with no lefs feeling of the unfmtunate fituation in
which the defendant was placed by this profecu-
tion. He principally adverted to the evidence of
Mr. Smith Barwell, an Eaft India Direflor, upon
whole crofs•cxamination at the trial it was endea-
voured to be inferred, that the defendant had been
difmitfed for niiiconduft from an honourable office
in India. This circumflance he fully explained
by the affidavit of Mr. Barwell himfelf, and fhew-
ed, that fo far from its having depreciated the de-
fendant in the opinion of the Ealt India Directors,
they had, after due contideration, deemed him
worthy to be appointed to a tituation of fuperior
truft and confidence. _ _ _

Mr. IMre• (fon of Sir Elijah Impey) alto pro.
nounced a very eloquent and argumentative ap-
peal to the Court in extenuation of pnnithment.
The Counfel who condulted the profecution
fapported the principle upon which it was found-
ed. and repeated mon of the arguments he had
fuccefsfully addreffed to the Jury. He contidered
the liiv4 as nne which was not entitled to be treat-
ed with levity, but as injurious, in the highett
de-
g,ee, tl the commercial reputation and &Indic
peace of the profecutor._
_ _ _

Mr. ELMO! alfe addreired the Coon ht aura: