Star.
London, England, 1803-03-24 00:00:00

AORFOLK ASSIZES.

THETFORD, MARCH 2: _
ASTLEY, ■ART. V. HAM° 10, FSQ
DIFA MATION. Mr. M'INTOSH open, .d the
pleadings : He (*aid, this was an aCiion hronght
by Sir Jacob /Utley, Bart. againß W. I). Har-
wood, Efq. and the declaration Hated, that a !bort
time before the fpeaking and publifloing the fa!te
Ind fcandaloos words therein con•..r•:ed, the

tiff had leered in a former Parliament, as ;:li;g1:
of the Shire for the county of NorfOlk, and at that
time was a candidate for a feat, as fuch Knight of
the Shire; in the prcfent Parliament ; that the Li-.
fendant, well knowing the premitee, but can Pris.
ing to injure the plaintiff in the aeon of the free-
holders,and to cattle and procure him to bel soked
' upon as a man of no integrity, and as an attiftin,
and a murderer, did, on the 6th day of July Lift,
publicly Rate, that the laid Sir Jacob Miley was
A liar, an Altai% a coward, a li:oundrel, and a
murderer, and that he had murdered his own fa-
ther—to the damage of the Plaintiff of too:mi.—
The defendant had pleaded Not Guilty,and ui,on
that Woe was joined.
Mr.EitsKlNE—•" Gentlemen of the Jury, I have
the honour to attend as Counfel, at the desire of
Sir Jacob Miley, Ban. by your favour and indul-
gence one of the Reprefentatives of this County.
I attend to fubmit to your judgment and confide.
ration an attack made on his honour and charac-
ter—an injury at all times, and under any circum.
(lances, moll grievous, but heightened greatly in
the opinion and feeling of the Gentleman who ap-
plies for your verdict, inafmuch as this attack was
made in the public face of the world, and at a
time when lie was not prefent to enter on a vindi-
cation of himfelf. Above all, at a period wbenhe
was foliciting the fuffrages of his fellow fubjefts to
reprefent diem in the Great Council of the king-
dom—a troll which, permit me to fay, nothing
thort of the molt unfullied integrity ought to a&
or receive from the judgment, wifdom, or favour
of the people of any part of the empire. The cir-
cumfiances which go to the conliitution of this
caufe, are fo pettedly notorious, that there is not
a mail, if my voice was loud enough to extend to
,he limits of the county, who would not be per-
feed), acquainted with them—confequently all the
oblervaticms and reflections which 1 fliall have to
addrefs to von, mull have occurred to every perfon
preient ; and it is for this reafon, I feel myfelf under
no (mall degree of embarraliment in performing
the duty which is required of me. Gentlemen,
notwithftanding the hot debates which have taken
place at various periods in this land, on the fubjea
of the liberty of voting and (peaking, with refe-
rence to public characters, and fubjedsofil public
nature, yet as regarding private Gander, nothing
has ever been brought into queftion. Lawyers,
moralifts, and all crafTes of mankind, have uni.
formly been agreed. The reafon is plain ; there is
an invincible tenfibility in the mind of every human
being, for the good opinion of his fellow creature ;
it is a principle implanted in the brealt of every
individual, for the moll beneficial purpofes; it fits
him for focial life : it fo llrongly pervades every
department of life, that there is no perfon, what-
ever may be his rank, birth, fituation, talents, or
qualification, who is not aiftuated by it. It is the
principle villtich, operating on the human break
is the parent of every focial duty, and awakens
every fentiment that is great and good. If I were
to a& you what, at the late awful and critical pe.
clod of the country, has Simulated our brave
countrymen to deeds of fplendid and glorious at.
chievement ? What is it, when the thrill fpirit.flir-
ing trumpet founds to battle, urges man againft
man, army spina army, and navy again(l navy ?
What is it has made Bridal valour triumphant in
every part of the world ? What is it but that prin-
ciple, the effedsof which I have Sated. Do yon
think a man fits down to moralize upon the duty
he (hall perform to his country, by athfting in a
well fought battle ?—No : he confiders only how,
when he returns to his native home, he lhall be
received by his friends, and how his name will be
refounded from mouth to mouth; and the fame
he (ball have acquired, and the glory he (hall
have atchieved, be celebrated among thofe of
whore eacem and good opinion he is molt anx-
ious. If we look back to former times, we may
find the truth of what I am Sating exemplified, in
the conduit of the Chrillian martyrs. When they
felt the flames that were on the point of cnnfuming
them, it was not only the reward of an heavenly
crown they anticipated, but they looked forward
to the applaufe and admiration of after ages. In
fhort, the love of reputation, and the defire of a
good name, is the foundation of all public and
private worth ; and it is therefore that the law of
this country, ever attentive to the bell intereas of
Society, gives an action to a man who receives a
reproach from another, of that which if true may
fubjed him to punilltment. It does this that So.
cicty may live in peace and tranquillity ; for it is
in vain a man is in the enjoyment of riches and
the luxuries of life, if in confequence of his cha-
rater being dedroyed he cannot look his neigh.
bour in the face. There are the principles which
mull govern this caufe—The fads I ought rather
to refer to, than Rate—they are familiar to every
one of you. With thefe preliminary otsfervatkins
I will, however, now proceed to Sate the fads—
The Plaintiff and the Defendant had been compa.
nions and friends for as yeats—They lived to-
gether during the remoter part of that period in
habits of friencilhip, which are or ought to be habits
' of confidence. There is no confanguinity half In
endeared, as the fpontaneous confanguinizy of
friendthip ! A man Eves himfeif not in one of the
common fituations of life when he is with l.'s
friend, be feels he is with his brother. I do nut
fpeak of any obligations which the Defendant re-
ceived from the Plaintiff. He was not, I admit,
in a lunation to require them; bathe received his
hofritality, and every favour urged by friendthip
which ought to have made an imreffron on his
mind. You know that Sir Jacob Miley
rented the County in former Parliaments, upon
the advancement to the Houle of Peers of the
worthy and Hon. Gentleman whom he fucceeded.
Yon know too, that Sir Edward Miley, the
father of the prefent Plaintiff, recently died, and

that previous to his death he had, in con(':qiicnce
of expences he was led into, ftcquenil tiii,4cr
difficulties, but at no time hail thole di lietiltiLs
produced any thing dilhonourable on his pin I.—
When the eleCtion was proclaimed, and the Plain-
tiff was fteking the suffrage of his count) y men, al-
low me to ark this queltion, what is the fituation
er any man at inch a period, in such a country as
Great Britain? You do not meet like the people
of Switzerland, to chafe a Landamman, who de-
mands your fuffrages with the fword in his hand ;
you chute the man, whom you conceive compe-
tent to legiflate for you, to proteCt you ; you chufe
him, not beeaufe he i. forced
tattle yon approve of him. lam addreffing you
as men who, as freeholders, occupy fituations fuch
as are tilled by no race of men under the canopy
Gt. Heaven, except the inhabitants of the United
States of America. It was at this particular mo-
ment, when, as I have Rated to you, the Plaintiff
foliciting the fuffrages of the freeholders, the
1 ii.ifentlant, who was at a ball at Norwich, elevated
as on a r2/Frum—called aloud for filence ;
and having obtained it, applied thele epithets to
the Gentleman I reprefent. Speaking of Sir Jacob
Atiley, who was not then in the room, he ufed
there words He is a liar, a coward, and af-
faffin, a feoundrel, and a murderer ; and he mur-
dered his own father !" I :A you what any man
mutt have felt under there circumllances ? From
whorl did the Under proceed ? Had it come from
fume man who was a Mountebank, or in a low
tuation of life—lf filch a one had Paid Sir Jacob
Ailley was a liar, he would have been kicked out
cf 'lie room ; he would have been confidered as a
man who could have had no acquaintance with
bins or his family: but, on the contrary, every
one who faw Colonel Harwood in that situation
in which (I am lorry to fay) he ever was placed—
a man who was bred in the family and acquainted
with all that confidence could communicate ; who
had lived under the roof of Sir Edward Miley to
the moment of his death ; who was acquainted
with all the tranfaelions of that Hon. Houfe :
every one, I fay, who faw and beard him, mutt
have concluded, that there was fome foundation
for Inch an affertion. What mutt have been the
feelings of my Hon. Client, when thefe things
were reported to him ? I think he mull have felt
that fentiment, fo beautifully expreffed in the
Divine Poetry of the sacred Pfalmift:
•• It is not an open enemy that bath done use this dithonour,
tx then I could have borne it.
Neither was it mine adverfary that did magnify himfeif
what me, for then peradventure I would have hid myfdf from

"But it was even thou my eonspanion. my guide, mine own
familiar friend."

The firft queftion I would afk, (and I humbly
implore the attention of the honourable and learned
lz.:111ge to it) is, are thefe words fuch as mull have
noticed in one way or another ? I repeat thefe
words with as much emphafis as I am able—Muft
they have been noticed in sac way or maker P.—Will
my learned fi iend's prudence permit him to fay that
the 1r ords,ufed by the Defendant, inftead of being
tried in a Court of Juftice, (hould have had a trial
in another Court, a Court of Honour. This is a
tribunal the law will not hear of. What ! if a man
accufes me of murder, am Ito become his murderer,
or he mine ? I thank Goo there has been on this
fubjed a confiderable alteration in the public opi-
nion—lt is owirig to the noble Lord who fo long
adminiftered the juftice of the country—l meanthe
late Lord Kenyon, that we are to attribute a difufe
of the pralice charaEleriftic only of the molt bar-
barous people. Since that noble Lord's time, Offi-
cers whom I could mention—Officers who have
been carrying the fame of the Britifh army to the
remoteft corners of the earth—Officers who have
placed in the (bade the atchievements of former pe-
riods, have come to the Court of King's Bench, ap-
pealed for protection to the law, and referved their
courage for that caufc in which the exertion of
courage becomes a moral and religious duty. The
law has Paid, that the firit perfon who (hall meet
and deftroy his adrerfary in the field of honour,
falfely In called, (ball expiate his offence with his
life. But what is it induces a man to ruth into the
field and Main his foul with his ;brother's blood ?
It is reputation—fame—a fenfe of public opinion.
There is no danger a man would not brave, rather
than that the hand of acorn fhould point its flow
and moving finger at him ; there is no man knows
what the dread of public opinion may drive him
to; and a man will be juftified in taking the law
into his own hands, when it will not afford him its
proteCtion. This olifervation is as old as the Re-
volution ; for whoever will look into the Reports
of Lord Raymond, who I;vcd abchit that time,
will find that it was laid by the Lord Chief Juilice
Holt, when an attempt was made to explail away
words, and give final damages, 4, I am," (faid
he) always, for fupportirg actions for words ;
for I remember a laying of Mr. Juftice Twit-den,
who was prefent when judgment was arreted for
words, and the Plaintiff exclaimed, if I had thought
I would have had his iilood!" Such was the
opinirm produced on the mind of that able judge
bf the cireurn:tance I have mentioned, and there-
fore it dues appear to me, that this is a cafe of ,
a fimilar defeription. But you have a further
duty to perform—That duty is ti hear both fides
of the cafe with impartiality. I know there are

topics of defence which will nccur to an ingenious
man, and laic): my I.eianed Friend, in :he pref.
fure of the cafe, will not tail to have recourfe to.
—1 fhall therefore, ati I may have no opportunity

of a reply, endeavour to anticipate the argument;
he will probably addrcfs to vou. The Learned
Counfel fuppofed that the firft topic urged by the
Advocate for the Defendant, would be drawn
from the circurnfiance, that the charaelcr of the
Plaintiff Lad not been injured by the afperlion of
the Defendant. It might alto be Paid, that the
!Linder was uttered in the evening, at a Ball, and
at a time and place, when perfons throw afide
thole reflraints they carry about them during the
hours of birlinefs. It might alfo be inferred, that
the Defendant had offered an apology to the Plain-

...-
tiff. Having Rated thefe fuipofesd topics of de
fence, and replied to them at conii&rable
he concluded by laying, "I have to appologice fir
the time I have occupied. I am aware tl..it a
great part of what I have laid may be unneceifary;