Star.
London, England, 1827-07-11 00:00:00

LAW INTELLIGENCE.

COURT OF KING'S BENCH, Jinx 10.
usts..-111110HT I. WHITING AND SWIFT.
This was an action brought by the plaintiff, who is
a member of Trinity College, Cambridge, and the
author of a work entitled Alma Mater; or, Seven Years
at the University of Cambridge, by a Trinity Man, to
recover from the defendants, who are the proprietors
of the Atlas Sunday newspaper, compensation in da.,
mages for loss sustained by the plaintiff in consequence
of the defendants having, in the said newspaper of the
11th of February last, published a false, scandalous,
and malicious libel upon the character of tht plaintiff.
The defendants pleaded the general issue.
The ATTORNICT-GENRRAL and Mr. Hove conducted
the case for the plaintiff. Mr. BROUGHAM appeared
for the defendants,

tiff, in introducing into his work his College friends by
their College names ; and if Mr. Wright had done so
with the view of giving pain to his old College com-
panions, he (the Attorie)Ge•ieral) would agree with the
reviewer, that Nlr.Wr ight had shewn very bad taste; but
what he complained of was, that the reviewer, under
pretence of reviewing a work, should, influenced, in all
probability, by private feelings, make an attack upon
the personal character and appearance of the plaintiff,
and state that which every body, who had ever been in
College, must know to be false—namely, that the plain-
tiff, a member of the University, was in such a degrad-
ing state of poverty as to be compelled to accept pre-
sents of furniture from the College servants, and of old
clothes from Fellows aad others. No man who could
condescend to receive those presents could live in the
University ; and he should„ upon that part of the state-
ment, merely say, that it was utterly without founda-

. . . .
Mr. HOLT having opened the pleadings, lion, and that the man who could accept such presents
The AT roe/um-Gomm. stated the case for the would be exposed to such ridicule and contempt as
plaintiff. The article of which the plaintiff, by this would render life not endurable. He should not again ,
action, complained, appeared under the head of " Li- read the libel, as it would be read by the officer of the
terature." and purported to be a review of a new work, Court, and it would be for his l.eartied Friend, Mr.
Alma Mater, in two volumes, written by the plaintiff. Brougham, to point out any passage quoted in this •
He knew that he stood upon tender ground when he newspaper which could justify the observations con•
contended that an article under this head, and purport- tented in the libel. lie had no doubt that his Learned I
ing to be a review of a work sent forth for the instruc. Friend would make an eloquent and ingenious speeds
tion or amusement of the public, might be made the in defence of his client; but it would be for the Jury to I
foundation of an action for damages. He had always say whether or not the author of the libel was actuated i
said, and always should maintain, that the press should by personal malice, and had gone beyond the limits of •
enjoy perfect freedom in discussing all subjects, and fair criticism. If the defendants had gone beyond those I
that, if there was any one subject more than another limits, this was a proper case for the consideration of
upon which it ought to enjoy the greatest latitude, that the Jury, and he (the Attorney General) had no doubt
was criticism upon works of literature, of science, and that the Jery would award a sufficient compensation in
'of art. He had in this Court, on a former day, laid damages for the injury done to the plaintiff.
down that doctrine, and successfully contended for the ,blr. Hansard.-1 publihed 4h.ca Mater for the plain.
right of the press to exercise that power; and he was tiff, who is the author of it, and who gave me the ma-
not now disposed to depart from that doctrine, hut on nuscript. I have read the criticism in the Atlas of the
the contrary to adhere to it, whenever it should appear 11th of last February, and I believe it applies to the
that, as on the occasion to which he had alluded, a plaintiff's work, which I now produce.
work of art or of literature had only been subjected to The defendants'admission of the proprietorship of the
the lash of fair criticism; and he should be the last man Atlas, and of the publication of the alleged libel, hay-
to find fault Kith any article, however severe, which ing been put in and read,
might appear to him to come under the head of fair Mr. BELLAMY read the alleged libel, which was in
criticism. Whilst he admitted this, he was satisfied that the following words— -
the Jury would agree with him, that a writer in a Re- "/tens Mater; or seven years at the University of Cambridge—
view or a Newspaper, who, under the pretence of eof those publications, which, for ulterior ends, one
writing a criticism upon the work of an author, should does not regret has been published, but which no person will
make an attack upon his character and upon his per- write who has not already lost his place in the society he describes.
tonal appearance, with intent to hold him up to the Had the notorious Harriette Wilson been still qualified to carry on
eti c infamous
or
v e
tiooe trade,
of
her shepar
aw would not betrayed
author
eonar names and
p forfeited
ridicule of the public, was exercising a degree of licencenotHhaadvenot
which ought not to be encouraged. He was willing to somehow or other the friendship and acquaintance of the Gentlemen
give the greatest lat tude to the critic, because the ten- whom he introduces by name, and without ceremony, before the
dency of his labours, when honestly employed, was Public, he would not have 'entered to expose them. at very slender
to correct and also to improve the public taste,
examination
hichore
ithe wca
ed,teei‘acabarmlealy us
pdtsetteoetcotnheeeallla•nfloarofin oath:
and to prevent the works of a certain description place be mentions the initial letter as W. and on another occasion,
attetm o
of authors from obtaining, with three fourths of he speaks of himself as included in an enumeration of six names,
mankind, that currency which they probably would only one of which begins with W. and that name is Wright. Of
acquire if their errors and absurdities were not pointed the standing the author describes himself, we are informed there
was a Sleet. in Trinity Collece, of this name, who, front the mean-
out to those who, of themselves, were not sufficiently ness of his personal appearance, and,h pet baps, from the poverty of
learned to decide upon such works. As there were but his means and the lowness of his connexions, was further desig-
few who were capable of appreciating the merits of oared as Wretch Wright. So that to the author's groups of Ism
works of literature, mankind was indebted to the honest Bailey,r noLif "811eVrWetakechiV Feast
right w
hNol acaTualeeryw,
we are e musttold
d was
universally
atihie
reviewer, who, without any feelings of a personal na- person
in his college, as' appeaearing to be cut out of that heap
cure, pointed out the merits and the defects of such which usually graces the door of a stable. It is but right that the
works, and though the reviewer might chew himself to author's pictorel should be Sited up. Can it be from modesty that,
be comparatively ignorant of the work which he under- in the
ocaurimtreshldisr. Wright has drawn, h
no e should Invent:toddy kftias
took to review, he (Mr. Attorney-General) was ready blunt
not 'a chartline
ge iroll: areol:paose appearance?
bringe against tberal7Trinity aa,'
to admit that he ought not to be called upon to answer for, acclrding to his own account, be is net only stored mentally
in a Court of Justice for any observations which he with all the knowledge that education can bestow, but he has the
might make, provided those observations were confined invention and qiiickness of a Newton—every accomplishment Is
tcnthe work, and were not to gratify feelings of malice pureyisanotnl
wahmusicalhiTatpruptateaerent.
aa
sighortofstringed
lodatestl tat heu
cannotthe;vended to the personal character of the author, for the the best part of the society he enters to court 'his acquaintance;
Purpose of holding him up to public ridicule and scorn, and in the comparatively unimportant point of dress, we learn that
With respect to the work written by the plaintiff, he her dressedandtoan.e:hteo-ilet
1 that theyao w
ewlie were and were
oeir; tra t er thesolitary ‘ it;italisehi rßaetet en -
(Mr. Attorney-General) would not go the length of irra.s. a
They whOrememoer the exceedingly contemptible figure of
saying, that although the author had been educated at the insignificant person, who went by the name of reads Wright
an University, there were not introduced into the work —they who remember the unhappy and almost degrading state of
some passages susceptible of ridicule, and which might Poverty in which he lived, and which extorted presents of furniture
very fairly be held up to ridicule as very foolish and
efrveemn it
h e Fehlleosewrsaaants
niotehiersthes tomthe
egwe'lmandobosef articles of
tboabhilifemosewot
absurd; but he would say, that the fact of a work con• book, that he was indebted to the generous charity of one Allow
tanning passages of that description, did not, in his (Mr. for tuition, who stole an hour from sleep between six and seven
Attorney-General's) opinion, justify the writer of this in the winter mornings, that be might bestow it gratuitously; and
article in makinran attack upon the personal appear- tto
another, fora
,
stir
anildporfohlOihi.litpTer antnuomf ahvisowordwoly
pooeuthoetf chari-
tablelteti
ance, and personal character, of the plaintiff. He should scarcely know whether to laugh at the vanity which dictated such
inform the Jury, that the plaintiff, in the course of his paragraphs as the following, or to be indignant at the want of be-
wink, had alluded ir. a good-natured way to some of ceacy and honesty which they indi.nte."
his old college companions, and• had mentioned them Mt. BROUGHAM addressed the Jury for the defend-
by their college names. One of those companions the ants. His Learned Friend the Attorney-General, in the
plaintiff called " Beast," another " Bear," and so on; exercise of that kindness which he (Mr. B.) always ex-
but he always spoke of them as his best friends, and, petienced at the hands of his Learned Friend, and
there could not be a passage pointed out in the whole which he endeavoured to repay as far as lay in his
work, from which it could be inferred that the plaintiff, power, had been pleased to tell the Jury, that they
by mentioning those college names, which were given would hear from him an eloquent and ingenious
by gay and volatile young men to their companions, had speech in defence of his clients , but he could assure his
the slightest intention of degrading his former compa- Learned Friend and the Jury, that he had never known
nions. The plaintiff also introduced the name of Mr. an action, the defence of which less called for ingenuity,
Brass, one of the Fellows of Trinity, and a Gentleman or in which ingenuity would be more superfluous or
whose name could not be mentioned in the hearing of misplaced. There could not be a plainer case, not for
' those who had, as he (the Attorney General) had the ho- a verdict for nominal damages, but for the defendant;
flour and happiness of knowing that meritorious indivi- such a verdict as his Learned Friend, the Attorney
dual,without calling forth the greatest reverence and re- General, obtained a few days back in a similar action,
spect. Of that Gentleman the plaintiff spoke throughout in which lie (Mr. Brougham) was engaged for the then
the work with the greatest gratitude for obligations re- plaintiff, Mr. Serene. The plaintiff, ill-advised as he
ceived at his hands ; but as the work was one of a gay was, beyond all the ill-advised persons whom he (Mr.
and light description, some of Mr. Brass's peculiari- B.) had ever known—unrestrained as he wds by those
t*es were spoken of with, perhaps, too much levity ; bonds and trammels which regulated the actions of or-
but no man who knew Mr. Brass, could, for a moment, dinary men,had thought fit to force his way to the floor
think less highly of him from a perusal of this work ; of a Court of Justice, there to seek for reparation in
nor was it, in the most remote degree, the intention of damages, for an attempt to hold bins up to public ridi-
Mr. Wright to give the slightest pain to that respected cule and contempt—a 'man who ought to be justly held
Gentleman, much less to do any thing which could, by irp to ridicule and contempt, for having attempted to'
possibility, have a tendency to lower his character in make a base and sordid. profit, by revealing 'to the eyes
the eyes of his friends or of the public. The Learned of the public, of the profane, the cold-hearted, and the-
Gentleman here read the libel, and commented upon it disinterested—to the reading part of his countrymen—
as he went along. What, he would ask, was there to all the little foibles of men whilst students at the
justify the reviewer in making a comparison between University, by laying bare to the public gaze those,l
Mr. Wright's work and a certain publication, which was private slanders which the most worthless men,
one of the most flagrant and audacious works that was who gained their livelihood by the most degrading
ever published in this or any other country—a work means, bad hitherto looked upon as sacred, and had
which was a disgrace to the press from which it issued? not ventured to detail, and probably never would
What grounds had the reviewer for charging Mr. have been detailed, if the plaintiff had not come
Wright with the loss of the friendship and acquaint- forward to degrade the name of author, and to make
ance of his College companions? If Mr. Wright went the name of a man of education, and a member
by the name of " wretch Wright" at the University, he of a University, disgusting, disgraceful, and despicable
was not aware of it ; but of the mention of his name in beyond description. The plaintiff had thought fit to
that way, he did not complain, because Mr. Wright break down the ordinary barriers, and to expose, now
was well aware, that to those College names there was for the first time, and he (Mr. Brougham) hoped for the
no meaning attached, and that they were not the con- Last, to that publicity to which Courts, Camps, the
sequences of any malicious or bad feeling. But Houses of Parliament, and Courts of Justice, only had
though the reviewer might be justified in mentioning hitherto been liable, the cloisters of the College, and
Mr. W.'s name with this College addition to it, what the habits and pursuits of its retired, respected, pious,
right had he to intro..tuce Mr. Wright's personal ap- 'and learned inmates—he had done that which, instead
pearance, and to say that his face appeared to have of giving more publicity to his conduct, by appearing
been carved out of the most disgusting and noisome in a Court of Justice as plaintiff in an action for cia-
composition—a heap of stable dung? Was there any mages, he and his Blend. (it the author of such a work
thing in Mr. WriAhes woe k which fairly called forth could have any friends left) ought to be the most anxi-
uch a statement? He did not complain of the ous to withiraw from public notice—lie had exposed to
rev:ewer for haring exposed the bad taste of the plain- the public glare the sacred haunts of science, the places