Star.
London, England, 1821-05-28 00:00:00

THY ICING V. THOMAS FLYNDALL.

The Souciroa-GanuAl. moved the Court for
Judgment upon Thomas Flyndall, of the Western
Luminary, who was convicted at the last Assizes for
the county of Devon, held at Exeter, of a false, scan-
dalous, and degrading libel upon her Majesty the
QUEEN ! (Our Readers will recollect that Mr. Wz-
ruzaaLL brought this case before the House of CoM-
mons at the time of the publication, and we forbear
to repeat the epithets applied by the defendant to her
Majesty in this libel).

The defendant put in a long affidavit, stating that
he had twelve children, nine of whom were dependent
upon him for support, and that if he was imprisoned
for any length of time at a place distant from that
where he carried on his business (Exeter), it would be
ruinous to himself and family.—The affidavit con-
tained nothing else of moment.
After the affidavit was read,
The defendant addressed the Court at considerable
length from a manuscript which he held in his hand ;
but in so low a tone of voice, that he was scarcely
audible to those immediately near him. We under-
stood him to state, that the publication in question
occurred in the regular discharge of his bounden
duty as Conductor of a Newspaper, which re-
quired his notice of public events. That his
attention had been called to the subject by the
publication of the Report of the Committee of the
House of Lords, appointed to investigate charges
against the Queen, which Report impugned her Ma-
jesty's conduct in severer terms than he had used in
commenting upon it. He was, therefore, utterly at
a loss to understand how he was to be selected by
his Majesty's Attorney-General for prosecution
" against the peace of our Sovereign Lord the King,"
for using this language, when the Law Officers of the
'Crown had used more violent expressions respecting
the Queen in the presence of the House of Lords.—,
As to the insinuation that his (the defendant's) ex-
pressions
were calculated to prejudice her Majesty in
the eyes of the House of Lords, he thought it was a
libel upon the hereditary Counsellors of the Queen to
make such an insinuation upon their judgment and
character. He then complained that the Attorney-
General had made an invidious selection in the Paper
in question, and put a passage in its unconnected
shape, which, if read with preceding passages, and
taken with the context, would not bear out the con-
struction which had been put upon the expressions.
He had in the same Paper expressed the pity which
everybody must have felt for her Majesty's situation,
and also vouchsafed a hope that her future days might
be spent in peace and comfort. The defendant then
(after expressions of his poverty) reiterated the ruin
which must befal him and his affairs, if he was im-
prisoned at any distance from his usual place of re-1
sidence, and also called the attention of the Court
to the injury he had already sustained by assault and
popular violence, in consequence of this prosecution.
He submitted, that he had already suffered enough
for his offence, which, he repeated, was not inten-
tional. object merely was, in his capacity as a
public Journalist, to uphold the moral character of
his country. He had uniformly been the supporter of
the Royal Family, the Laws, and Government of his
country; and the Jury before whom he was tried,'
and who knew his character in the country, had most
earnestly and particularly recommended, that he
should suffer the most lenient punishment which the
law could possibly inflict. He was now extremely
sorry for the offence he had committed.
The defendant appeared here so overpowered by
his feelings, that he sat down.
The SOLICITOR-GENERAL, in reply, declared the
difficulty in which he was placed, by being unable to
hear the greater part of what the defendant had ad- ,
dressed to the Court. He denied the peculiar right,
claimed by the defendant of acting upon, or even
publishing the Report of the House of Lords. As a
Journalist he (the defendant) contended for his right'
to comment upon public events. It was true that he
had Ibis rift—certainly not peculiarly, but in com-
mon with all the subjects of this free country.—
But it was not fur the free exercise of such a right
he stood there for judgment this day, but for a foul
and infamous libel upon her Majesty the Queen, and
which was published at a period calculated more

than any other to aggravate the offence. It would
be recollected that when the publication took place,
a Committee of the House of Lords had brought in
a Report recommending an inquity into the conduct
of her Majesty, and the form and mode and ti me of that
inquiry had been fixed by the House of Lords.—
At such a moment, and before the inquiry took place,
was it befitting that the defe:,,lant should not only
have assumed the guilt of her Majesty upon the
charge then in progress, but have superadded to it
other charges of a degrading nature to which ,tbe
Lords' Report had no reference ? It was, therefore,
quite clear that there could not be a more foul and
infamous libel, than that of which the defendant had
pleaded guilty. It was true he had been recommended
by a Jury of his neighbours to great mercy and lenity.
He (the Solicitor-General) had no desire to reduce
the value of that recommendation, which, he pre-
sumed, was given by persons well qualified to form
a proper judgment of his general character and con-
duct. He had also sworn that he had a family of
twelve children dependent upon him for support.
, These were circumstances upon which the Court
would exercise their discretion; and as the defendant
had expressed his contrition for the offence, he had
no wish to aggravate the circumstances of the case.

After the Judges had consulted for about Fen mi-
nutes on the Bench,

Mr. Justice BAYLEY rose to pronounce judgment.
He said, that the defendant had been found guilty of
what was truly described as being a fdul and infa.
mous libel upon her Majesty the Queen—a libel
too, which was published at a period well calcu-
lated to aggravate the character of the offence....
It was at a time when a Committee of the House of
Lords had recommended an inquiry into certain con-
duct imputed to her Majesty, the defendant said,
that as a public journalist; he felt authorized by the
Report to publish the libel in question; but he should
have known that inquiry was not in itself identified
with guilt—he should have known, that when a
form of proceeding, in furtherance of that Report,
was ordered by the House of Lords, where wit.
nesses were to be seen, examined, and their testi-
mony sifted, it was his bounden duty to have ab-
stained from criminatory remarks upon her Majesty,
until the result of a constitutional investigation had
decided upon the case. There was nothing snore im-
portant to the due administration of justice, than that
the party whose conduct was impugned, should
go unprejudiced before a constitutional tribunal...-
It was the wisest and most leading maxim of the laws
of this kingdom, that a person should be presumed ir.
nocent until the contrary appeared in due course of
law. The defendant had not only disregarded this
maxim of law, which it ought to have been his first
duty to have obeyed, but had added other charges
against her Majesty, which were properly designated
in the indictment as being calculated to defame
and slander the character of her Majesty the Queen.
The defendant had said, that he had uniformly sup-
ported the reigning Family upon the Throne: be
should have recollected that her Majesty was the
Consort of the King who sat on that Throne, and
that Ae was nearly allied to the Royal Family fbr
which he professed so devoted an attachment: The
Learned Judge in conclusion said, that the Court had
taken seriously into its consideration the very strong
recommendation of the Jury, who must have known
the defendant's character in his neigh bou rhood,and that
that recommendation had materially weighed with
them in pronouncing their judgment, which was—
That the defendant should be imprisoned in the
county jail of Devon, at Exeter, for the space of
Eight Calendar Months, and that at the expiration
of that term he should give sureties to keep the
peace for three years, himself in £5OO, and two suffi-
cient sureties in £250 each.

The defendant then withdrew, in the custody of the
tipstaff of the Court of King's Bench.

Three hundred ejectments on different lands were served in
the county of Waterford, since Christmas, for non-payment of
rents.

Prnertamotsas.--Tuesday se'nnight, a Black undertook to
run nine miles in one hour. The road selected was one mile
out of Taunton, towards Bishop's HulL The man started a;
three o'clock, and ran in uncommon good style, but lest the
wager by two minutes and a half. The first three miles were -
performed in 21 minutes, the neat three in the same time, and
the last three in 20k minutes. He ran without shoes.
Erreacnunnoas Pxaroau.saca—A young man of thename of
Skeels, of 'March, in Northamptonshire, undertook, last week,
for a wager, to jump, at a single jump, 20 feet, which he ex-
ceeded by three inches, to the astonishment of the spectators.

Coats Ere wawa, MARK-LAWS, MAT £B.—Having a large
supply of Wheat this morning the sales were heavy at the prices
of this day se'nnight, and only the finest qualities were disposed
of. The making season being now nearly over, and the supply
of Barley being rather large, the denund was very trifling, and
even the finest samples with difficulty obtained last Monday's
prices: the inferior sorts are li. per quarter cheaper. Oats are
Is. per quarter dearer than on this day week, but the sales were
not so brisk as on Friday.—Current prices as under :'

ENGLISH.
Wheat, Kent and
Essex 361 62s
Suffolk 36s 60s,
Norfolk 44. 54.
Rye 26s 28.
Barley 2os 27.
Malt SO. 56s
White Peas 3os 84s
--, Boilers 36s 40s
Orey Peas 26s 808

Small Beans ......... ...2es 30s
Tick ditto ........... 234
Oats, Potatoe .........24s 2611
Poland ... 241
-- Feed - 141 20s
Flour, per ..... 4.511
Rapeseed, per Last £32 seili
FORZIGS.
Wheat, Dantsic...... .54. 808
Baltk Red, Hambro' or
Brabant red .. SOs

B.IIITIsIPIELn MARKET, MAT 28.—Beef, 33.6 d. to 4s. 6d. per
stone of tabs. ; Mutton, ss. 6d. to 4s. 4d. Veal, 4s. 6d. to ss. 6d.
Pork, Si. 6d. to ss. 4d. Lamb, ss. N. to 6s. 6d.—Cattle at Mar_
ket, Beasts, 2250; Calves, 220; Sheep and Lambs, 16,160; ptg.,
240.—Hay and Straw per load, Hay, 31. 10s. to 41. 41. Clover,
41. Os. to 54 54. Straw, 11.8.. to 11. 12s.

The fall of lambs has this season been in some districts very
great: upon a farm in Essex 81 sheep produced 1.58 lambs, 150
of which arc now alive.