Star.
London, England, 1819-04-27 00:00:00

LAW IN7'ELLIGENCB,

COURT OE' RING'S BENCH, APRIL 28.,
LEWIS V.OLEMICET.
This, it will be recollected, was an action brotizlit
by Mr. Lewis, an attorney of Canterbury, against Mr.
Clement, the Proprietor of The 06sCrver Newspaper,
for an alleged libel published in that Paper, against j
the plaintiff, imputing to him certain infamous and
fraudulent Conduct towards a poor man, who was
discharged under the Insolvent Debtors' Oct, and
upon whose evidence the supposed libel was fourided.
The defendant had pleaded a complete justification ,
of the alleged libellous matter, and at the Summer ,
Assizes for the County of Kent,. ISIS, the Jury, ail
ter a full investigation of the cae, found a general
verdict for the defendant, but a verdict was entered
for the plaintiff, upon some of the pleas, without da--
mages. In Michaelmas Term last, Mr. MaxtuvATT
obtained a rule nisi for entering a verdict for the
'plaintiff upon those counts upon which the Jnry had
found fur the defendant. The queition, hi substance
and effect, which the Court were called upon to de;
cide was, whether it was libellous for the Editor of
a , Newspaper to publish the report of the proceed-
ings of a Court of Justice, which tended to e.,...p05e
the misconduct of person implicated in such pro.
ceedings ? a question of vital' importance, as it re-
spects the welfare of the Public.
Mr. ADOLPHUS and Mr. PLATT were heard against
therule, and both of them displayed great learning,
ability, and er pence, in advocating the intere,ts of
the ptiblic in this important question.
Mr. MARRYATT and Mr. CHITTY were heard on
the other side. -
As the Court postponed its judgment on the ques-
tion, we forbear enteringat present into the detail of
the arguments. Judgment will be given early in the,
ensuing Term, when the whole case May with more
propriety be laid before our 'leaders. ••
COURT OF COMMON PLEAS, DUBLIN, APRIL 21.
SEDUCTION. •
BIRCH D. MEREDITH.
This cafe, which excited a very lively interest, came
on to be tried, this day, before Lord Nosteunv, and
a most respectable Special Jury ;—Alderman-Wesr
Foreman,

Mr: BURROWER, in a most pathetic address, laid
the plaintiff's case before the Jury, and Mr. GRADY
replied on behalf of the defendant:
There was but one witness called, Sarah Birch,
daughter to•the plaintiff, and the object of the action,
a very pretty interesting English girl, of 19 years of
age, and apparently extremely fascinating in her
manner and address. She un'ierwcnt along and mi-
Inge itvestigation, of which the following is a sketch
of the ;ezlcling facts of the case :
The plaintli was the proprietor of an hotel in the
small town of Broads,.zirs, Ramsgate, within halfa
mile of which his daughter Sarah resided, at the
house of her aunt, a respectable 134 ; she had two
sisters older than herself, one of whoa: had been
married to a gentleman of forterie, the other ti; a Cap-
tain in the Navy. In the month of August, 11.;25,
the, defendant, a young Irish gentleman under age;
who had lately becznue, by the death of his father,
the owner of an estate of 4 or f.:SO(X) a-year, arrived
at the plaintiff's hotel in a harouche and four, and
having seen the plaintiff's daughter, then but 1.5
years old, at her father's, where she sometimes went
of messages fiom her aunt, and been struck with h"r
personal attraction, he soon eXectecl an acquaintance
with her. After a few interviews, he contrived one
evening to induce her to take a drive in his barouche,
but she finding he was taking advantage of her ex-
treme youth and inexperience, when he had driven
her about the distance of two miles, got Alarmed,
and asked him where he was taking her ti, He gave
Ismail evasive answer; renewed prornisesolniarriage,
he had made to her before, wad continued driving on
until they arrived, at eleven o'clock at night, thirty
miles from Broadstairs, where they alighted ; and,
after supping, they retired to their respective rooms.
While the young lady, however, was in the act of
locking her door, the defendent made his way in, and
in despite of her remonstrances, completed the ruin.
After taking her to different places in England,.they
went to London, and stopped at Batt's hotel, Dover-
street, where they were pursued by her brother, who,
however, did not succeed either in rescuing his sister
from her seducer, or obtaining satisfaction for the
injury he had done her family. The defendant made
his rptege disguise herself in the dress of a house-4
maid, and contrived to avoid being taken up by the
police officers, who were brought for that purpose
by her brother. He then came over to Ireland, and
after stopping at one or two places for a short time,
he took a house for her at Ranelagh, where she was
confined in July, 1816, of a boy, who was called
after his father, Joshua Paul Meredyth. Hitherto,
and for some time longer, the 'defendant treated her
with kindness, although f a very jealous disposition,
so that for sixteen months that she was in that house
she was never permitted to cross the threshold. In
August, 1817, be drew a kind of'will, in the shape
of a letter, miserably ill written and spelt, in which he
mentioned her with great affectian, and settled all his
disposable proßerty on her and his child, whom he
confided to her guardianship. However, his affection
at length abated, and his conduct towards her ch:tng
ed ; and she stated that he even beat her cruelly.--'
He sent a friend of his to tell her, sit last,.that
must pert with her, as he was going to get married,
and had therefOre taken lodgings in town for her, her
child, and a couple of set rants, and would settle an
annuity of 4'MP-upon her, •and give her a sum of
money in hand. His promise,however,he did not think
fit to perform, and she removed to her new abode
with no more than five shillings in her pocket. Here
she remallued for several'erontlis, without his coming
near her, or givjng her any, money for, her support ;
except on one occasion that she went to 'him at an
hotel in Capek-street, when he gave her a pound note,
and on another, after an interval of some week., when
he gave her two pounds. She was consequently corn-,
pelted to pawn her watch, seals, pelisse, and several'
other articles, even to her child's flocks, to enable'
her to procure the scanty means of sustaining
—The witness, in stating this, pulled the duplicates
out of her put se,, at which the Learned Counsel who-
was exaniining her (Mr. (irOOLD) was so much etre( ted
as to be unable to refrain from shedding tears; is
for the wretchnd girl she, at different periods'

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~'~> ti

''• •
• •••••

. . . 1
"At bitterly, and, indeed, every
•.. .4.4° 4.°7. 1 2
of her exzettnvon, ..,,,
Indy. in Court appeared deepiro." -(rePial.e the fatal
indiscreticn that had reduced this lovely :oung crea-
ture to 'such premature misery.

In charging .the Juri, the Noble Jtkdge,After de.
precazing the con,iuet of gi the 4001ler wh4 eould first
ro!i the ro,e of all its sweets, and. then fling' ii, like.a
loa:hsome weed, away;" a+ed, what must be -the
feelin7s of the parents at losing such a child; whose
education, it was plain from her deportment on the
table, was far front being neglected,vven at the ten-
der age at which she had fallen? His Lordship was
30 oi.;Tpowered by his. feelings, that he was obliged
to stop and weep for several minutes before he could
proceed. tie concluded by cautioning the Jury against
suffering themselves to be led away by their feelings
as he had been by his; at the same time us mark their
sense of the defendant's conduct, by awarding such
damages as v;aatild chew that crimes of this nature
were not to pass, unpunished. Verdict—Two Thou-
sand Paunds damages—Sixpence costs.

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