Star.
London, England, 1810-12-24 00:00:00

General's) sftuatien, wai, slanderous and scandalous; Lord ELLENDOROTIOIf stated the nature of the ac-
but as there was, it Was to be presumed, nomalicione tioolo the Jury, and observed, that in measuring their ,
intention, it should receive an answer. What ! was dam ek they would consider that the defendant tie-
the charge of professional severity, of pusblng hied ver had it in his contemplation to animadvert on the
against the persons accused of libel, to be laid *peon conduct of the plaintiff. He crime in only collate-
hrrrt He declared, that though it fell wills lot frOsef rally in another contest. If, however, he was libelled
his official situation, often to be obliged ee prosecute though it were but incidentally, he was entitled to a
libels, yet he was as warm a friend to the Liberty of recompense in damages ; but in measuring these cla-
.the Press as any the Court could boast. He wished mates, the Juty would take these circumstances into
that liberty to be carried to the extremest point of their consideration, inasmuch as it repelled all pre'
'fair discussion, in all political, moral, or religious sumption of malice in the defendant. ' The deferaant
subjects ; and it was only the abuse of it to which he had also pleaded a justification, but he thought it
was an enemy, or which he ever wished to see prose- was not.quite made out. The libel was, that the
cuted ; and he appealed to all who knew his public plaintiff was confined on a charge of High Treason.;
and private life, whether he ever uttered a sentence the evidence to support the justification vests, that he
of a contrary tendency. In justice to himself, he felt was in custody on suspicion only of Treason. Suspi-
•he was bound to. say thus much, lest it should go cion did not amount to a charge. If the defendant
abroad that he was an enemy to fair, free, and honest had produced any affidavit, or shewn any charge
discussion, of any subject whatever. The whole on which the warrant, was issued, he should have
course of his professional life was before the world. thought that it amounted to a proof of the justifica.
He was known from his boyhood, and there was tion. It had been stated, on behalf of the plaintiff,
not an hour of his life that had a stain upon it ; he that he was prejudiced by the wide circulation of the
bad never pressed the law. He would make no' Morning Post newspaper, but they would recollect
other reply to the singular and most unnecessary ex. ; that the prejudice first arose from the publication of
pressions which had so hastily escaped the Counsel the libel in the Dublin Journal in the year 1798,
on the opposite side. It was to be presumed, there and it did not appear that the plaintiff had ever be.
was no malicious intent in this ; and the plaintiff in fore complained of the slander bntil it appeared in'
the case ought to feel in the same way. There could the London Paper. They would take all these cit.-
be no intention to injure him ; the publication t,f the cumstances into their consideration, and say what
paper was for a purpose with which he had no pos. damages were an adequate compensation for the
sible connection. There was no imputation of treaa, plaintiff ?
son meant now to be fixed on the plaintiff. He was The Jury found for the plaintiff—Damages 45C0.
exonerated from it, and of course the injury was no-
thing. It would be admitted, that loyalty was a COURT OF COMMON PLEAS, DEC. 15.
valuable part of the character of a British merchant,
- JONES U. JOKEY AND ANOTHER.
or of a Brit:sh man ; but the Jury would consider the, This was an action for the salvage of a ship. The
desire to injure, and the injury done. If they came
plaintiff had sailed with the defendant in the quality
to the question of damages, they would make it a of a supercargo with goods to Walcheren. In con-
short one. The case seemed clear, and the Jury would
sequence of a violent storm the ship was rendered on-
proportion their judgment accordingly.
fit to stand the perils of the sea, and when the British
Mr. Pasley, from the Secretary of State's Office,
evacuated the island, orders were sent to barn all
was called to give evidence of the warrant for arrest. •
ing the plaintiff, in March, 1798. the vessels of the British which could not be got out.
The defendants had abandoned the ship to her fate,
The warrant was read : it directed that Mr. Hugh
tell, of Charter-house-square, should be arrested on but by the exertions of the plaintiff, she was worked
suspicion of high treason. The warrant was signed out of the harbour, and brought to Yarmouthin
k safety. It was contended, on the part of the defendant,
as a defendant,
by the late Do eof Portland. Mr. Pasley knew no-that Jones had done no more than his duty
sca-
thing of the trial of Arthur O'Connor, at Maidstone.
: man belonging to the ship, and consequently. not en-
Cox, a King's messenger, received the warrant on
the Gth of March, 1798. He arrested Mr. Bell at • titled to more than his wages. The Jury retired to
consider their verdict, and on their return found for
eight o'clock in the morning of the 7th of March.— the plaintiff—Damages e2oo.
He searched the bureau and desks for papers, and
intercepted the prisoner's letters. At eleven he con-
veyed his prisoner to the Secretary of State's OxEce :
Mr. Wickham was there : did not think he saw Mr.
Canning. About half-past one, prisoner was discharg-
ed from before the presence of the Privy Council.—
Witness had then nothing more to do with him, and
heard no more of him till this time.

Mr. TOR PING, in reply, could not repress his asto-
nishment at the manner in which the Attorney-Ge-
neral had taken up words which he had used in the
opening statement. It was not becoming a rn:tn, to
bring his personal feelings before the Court ; but he
would be unfitting his station—he would be unfitting
the gown he were, as King's Counsel—if he could be
silent under the language which the Attorney-Gene-
ral had used. No, he was not to be deterred, he was
not to be influenced by the 46 vultus instaatis tyranni."
44 Scandalous and slanderous !" Did the Attorney-
General think, he was to stand up, and to
s' bestride the bar, .
"Like a Culo.oua, whlst others
" Were to walk under hls huge legs, and peep about,
"To find theniselves dishonourable graves."
No, life was not be endured on such a covenant.—
To use the wnrfle of the great poet again,
I had as lief not be, as live to be

" In awe of such a thing u myself."
The Attorney-General should be made to feel this.
It should be a lesson to him the longest day he had
to live.
Lord ELLENBOROUGH.I4 Mr. Topping, it is per-
haps better not to pursue this line. The words which
occurred could not have been meant so strongly as
you think. They merely paced as things of that kind.
generally do ; it is painful when they excite such no-
tice as at present."
Mr. Toemo-14 My Lord, the language was not
to be endured, or passed over. I owe a vindication
' to the Court, I owe it to myself."
Lord Eux.snottouctt.—,4 I know, Mr. Topping,
there is no malignity in your disposition, I cannot
doubt that ; but it is better that things of this kind
should go to as little length as possible."
Mr. TorioNo.—i, My -Lord, I have the highest de-
ference for the Court ; and I will not enlarge on what
has been said. But I know what passes here must
go forth to the public ; and I owe it my profession.
I owe it to myself, to throw off so degrading an im-
putation as that thrown upon me by the Attorney-
General. The sentences shall be brief and few, But
I must not sink before any man who thinks. to brow,
brat me into submission.'
Mr. Tolima proceeded :—He had but few oppor-
tunities of addressing a Jury, and he now could not
suffer any thing like a stain to be fixed on him. The
Noble Judge upon the Bench had known him from his
youth up. He had nothing to conceal from any man;
there was nothing that could authorize insulting lan-
puage in his professional habits or professional life.
He had not charged the Attorney-General with perse-
cution ; he had not charged him with malignity ; and
the sudden burst of that Learned Counsel's opinion
• was perfectly uncalled for by any thing which had
occurred. He had only said, that the Learned Coun-
sel must find himself in a new situation; that de-
fence of libel must be less easy to him than its accu-
sation. A few ludicrous allusions had been made
to his w;:nt ofe.ise and practice on the flageolet, and
no observation had been made that ought to have
disturbed him. If he had thought the Attorney-Ge-
neral one who pressed the severity-of the laws against
the unfortunate persons who incurred their punish-
ment—if he hadlhought him malignant to that de-
gree---be could not have associated with that officer;
and yet they walked home side by side yesterday.
1.1-it (Mr. Topping) was not fond of speaking of
self ; but he must be allowed for once to say of him-
self, that he would fasten an unjust charge on no man,
and bear it from no 'man.
He then recapitulated the facts of the case, and
concluded by saying that the defendant, from even
the justification which he had put in, must have been
conscious cf the falsehood of the charge, and that the
Jury should consider the case of the plaintiff arthat
which might be their own.

SACRILEGIL—It was yesterday discovered that same
villains had contrived to enter Si. Paul's Cathedral,
and plunder it of all the sacramental and other plate,
to the amount of nearly 1800 ounces. To eff!et this,
they had opened eleven locks, nine of which they had
resecured ; they then came to an iron repository fas-
tened with three padlocks, two of which gave way to
their efforts ; bnt the third being constructed on a plan
which baffled their exertions, they contrived to force
open the repository with an iron crow. The villains
seem to have acted with the most cool deliberation ;
as, not satisfied with this immense booty, they strip-
ped the silver ornaments from lie covers of a valua-
ble Bible they met with in the course of their seat ch.
The intrinsic value of the plunder is not the only
thing to be lainented, as a great part of it was of the'
most curious antique workmanship, being presents'
from different Deans and other pious persons, and
might be c-snsidered as specimens of the workman.
ship of the different ages in which they lived. The
precise time of the robbery cannot be ascertained.—
On Friday there was an ordination, at which time it
was used, and on opening the Cathedral for service
yesterday the loss was discovered. •
The quantity of land lost by the &II of the,Cliff
from the late i ains, between Dover and. Folkestone,
is estimated at six acres.
Bow-sTneer. Gae,ler was committed for break.
itig'open the stable ofMr. Baxter, coachmaker, of
•;Long-acre, with whom he formerly lived, and steal-
ing a horse and some harness.
ilfr. Wilton, auctioneer, of Queen-street, was charg-
ed with assaulting a Mr. Shaw, of Turnstile, Holborn.
The cogiplainant attended• a sale, and had a pair of
plated candlesticks knocked down to him, for 11 s.
which he put in his pocket, after paying for them ;1
when a Jew stating them to be silver, the clerk said 'I
he Would decide the doubt by cutting one of them ;
to this Mr. S. objected, and stated them to be his pro-1
perty ; when the clerk, two porters, and Mr. W. at-
tempted to take them by force, during which Mr. S:
was knocked down.—ln consequence Mr. W. was i
ordered to find bail.

The Keeper of Kensington Turnpil,:e-gate was or-
dered to find bail for assaulting R. Ellison, Esq. M.P.
for Lincoln.

Seven miserable objects were charged with being
concerned in a Little-go inVine•strcet, Chandos-street.
It appeared that insurances, even at the low rate of
lid. were taken to return 25.7 d. and it was reported
that one woman, who could not raise eves that paltry
sum, had deposited a muffin as her stake. No direct
evidence being brought against six of them, they were
discharged, and Elizabeth Bryant, who occupied the
room, was committed as a rogue and vagabond.
WMlTitinlA.M.—Friday a Portuguese sailor was
fully committed, charged by Mr. Bolingbroke, the
lindlord of the King's Arms public house, East-
'Sniithfield, with attempting to stub him.

IbiTTON Gaiumw.--Friday T. Farley was fully
committed, charged by Mr. Chessey, with whom he
lived as errand boy, with having received several sums
of money on his master's account, and converted the
same to his own use.

Saturday IV. Goodwin was fully committed, char-
ged with stcahng from the premises of Messrs. Cook
and Martin, linen-drapers, in Great Warner-street,
where he had lived a porter, a quantity of shawls,
linens, &c. •

UNION HALL—Saturday two men, named May-
lord and*Child, leather.dressers, at Bermondsey, were
committed for trial, charged with a detestAhle offence;
and E. filler and D. lf,CciriN, ($n a charr of felony
and murder, at Rotherhithea were remanded for Ano.
titer examination.

William Rendall, farmer, in the parish of Rendal,
was, upon the 18th ult. lodged in the Tolbooth of
Kirkwall, on a charge of having bruised and wounded
John Rendall, a neighbouring farmer, in a scuT.r,
about a month ago. The said Rendali lan-
guished underitis wounds till tht ltith ultimo, wilts
he died.