Star.
London, England, 1827-06-29 00:00:00

Information, charilng him with having published, hi
November, 1824, in a peeiodical work, called El Ports-
gen, a libel upon the Marquis de Palmell4, the Por.
tuguese Minister, appeared to receive the judgment of
the Court, which was moved against him by Mr.l3notro
HAM, who said, that the defendant was brought up tol
judgment in the Michaelmas Term that followed bia
and that he had, from the forbearance and huma-
nity Odle prosecutor, been discharged, upon his entering
into his own recognizance to come up and receive the
judgment of the Court when called upon. The Noble
prosecutor had hoped, that there would not have been
any necessity of enforcing this recognizance, but the
defendant had thought fit to write and publish ether
atrocious libels against him ; and he now felt that it was
not possible for him any longer to abstain from calling
upon the Court to pronounce their judgment against
the defendant upon the libel of which he bad been
convicted. _ _

Lord TINTIRDtN read the report of the trial, by which
it appeared that in a number of El Poriuguex, published
in November, 1824, it was stated that the Marquis had
received from this Government a sum of flo",00td. being
the amount agreed upon by the Portuguese and British
Govprnment for the share of what the Portuguese army
were entitled to out of the spoils taken from the French
by the allied army under the command of the Duke of
Wellington' in the Peninsular war, and that he had not
distributed this sum amongst the Portuguese army, or
remitted it to Portugal for that purpose, but had divided
it amongst himself and two of the Portuguese Ministry,
and that they had appropriated the whole sum to their
own use. At the time this was published, themoney,
which had been invested in Exchequer Bills, had never
reached the hands of the Marquis, but was in the Bank,
where it remained until December, 1825. • I

An affidavit in aggravation+ was put in, but Mr.
Brougham said that the affidavit was very long, and set
out sev sal atrocious libels upon the prosecutor, which
the defendant had written since he had entered intohis
own recognizance, but that he would not occupy the
time of the Court in having it read, as the libel of which
he had been convicted was of so gross and atrocious a
nature as to preclude the necessity of setting forth any
isobeequent libels in aggravation.
The COMMON SERGEANT, for the defendant, in miti-
ation, said that he mould not attempt to offer any pal-
Iffistion for the libel upon the distinguished-person who
done himself so much honour by the mode in which
be had conducted the prosecution ; but he would beg
to submit to the Court the situation of the defendant,
who was a scholar, a literary man, and a.member of
his own profession, who bad been exiled froin his coin;
try for political reasons, and who was in a state so for;
loin as to call for compassion, deriving his entire sup-
port from the sale of the Poring:ter, the circulation of
which was very limited. and the profits, if any, were
very small, and he hoped the Court would, in their sets.
toner feel some commiseration for the condition of the
defendant, and extend to him their astral humanity.
Mr. BROUGHAM, in aggravation, sa;d his Learned
Friend had adopted for but client the best course, in ab-
staining from the mefess attempt of offering any pallia-
tion for his conduct, and in merely recommending him
to the merciful consideration of the Court; but it
was his duty to press upon their Lordships the atro-
city of the libel, which did not consist of mere vague
and general abuse, but accused the Marquis in the
most specific manner, and without the slightest founda.l
Lion, of a charge which, if believed, would not only'',
have brought upon him the contempt of every hooesel
man in every part of the world, bee would have Ivel4
bins up to the hatted of his own country, and particuwi
lady of the soldiery, by whom be would run the risk rfi
being torn to pieces, as a man who had defrauded them
of the reward obtained by their valour, perilr and caws-
Mr. Justice BAYLEY passed the sentence of the Court.
The libel imputed to an individual who held a distin-
guished situation in this country, and had a high cha-
racter in his own, the greatest degree of baseness, and
was particularly calculated to excite against him the
indignation of the Portuguese army. No man had a
right to cast a heavy imputation upon another without
being thoroughly satisfied of its truth ; but there was not
the slightest foundation IA this charge, than which no-
thing could be mare likely to raise, among all who be-
lieved it, the deecest indignation; for the money he was
so accused of appropriating, and which had been earned
with the blood and at the peril of the Portuguese army,
had never reached his hands. It was due to the protection
that this country had be.towed open the defendant that
he should have abstained from a breach of its laws. The
Court lamented that he had placed himself in his present
situation, and it also lamented that, instead of having
endeavoured to atone for his offence, he had, after the
humane conduct of the prosecutor, persisted in the same
course of attack ; but it also felt that he must be taught
rat he cannot do that with impunity which, for his
own sake, and out of duty to this country, he ought to
have abstained hom doing at all. The sentence of the
Court was, that he be imprisoned one year, and give
recognizances for his good behaviour for three years,
himself in 4001. and two sureties for 2001. each.
rug XING V. CLEvERLY, MILLS, AND MILLBURN.
The Arrostitiv-Genzaat prayed the judgment of
the Court upon the defendants, who had been convicted
at the Middlesex Sittings after last Term, before Lord
Tenterden, of having entered into a conspiracy to give
to the defendant Mills, a creditor of the defendant Cle-
verly, and his partner, a fraudulent reference over the
other just creditors of the said Cleverly and Co. in anti-
cipation of the bankruptcy of the said Cleverly and Co.
On the part of the defendants, affidavits, stating that
Mills, having afforded considerable pecuniary accom-
modation to the defendant Cleverly and his partner, was
a bone fide creditor to the amount of 6881. and that
what the defendants did was in ignorance of the law of
conspiracy, and for no other purpose but to secure to
the defendant Mills the repayment of the advances
made by him to Cleverly and his partner.
Mr. BaoccniAm having addressed the Court in mid-
gatien of punishment on behalf of defendant Cleverly,
The CoMMoN SERGEANT addressed the Court on
behalf of the other defendants, and submitted the pro
priety of the defendants having an opportunity, in
another place, of satisfying the creditors of the bank-
rupts for any loss which they might have sustained by
an act done by the defendants in ignorance of the law,
and without the intention of. doing wrong, as the con-
sequence of a judgment of this Court must be attended
with the most ruinous consequences to Mr. Millburn,
one of the defendants.
The ATToaIsZY MINIMAL said, the prosecutors in
those proceedings wale influenced by no feeling, except
a wish to promote the ends of public justice, and Ise
(the Attorney General) bad no objection to accede to
the suggestion thrown out by his Learned Friend.
Lord TINVIRDRN—Then let all the defendants be