Star.
London, England, 1818-10-27 00:00:00

tnd ich
trials

- ;

- 'ot i Counsel in his opening speech has told you, that e
- traneous __.. has been introduced, as is ; volume of abuse ad been thrown out by me against
always the case in _ of this kind by the Leahted 1 Mr. Dowling; and that man has sworn that there
Counsel, in his opening speech, and without retaliat. I were above a dozen witnesses who saw the attack I
ing in the slightest made upon him in fat. Clement's Church-yard. Now,
degree on the insidious epithets,
by which he has attempted to run me down, I shall Gentlemen, where are those witnesses? and where
content myself with simply stating my own case. I are the witnesses to prams that I threw out a volume
will not insult the Court, or you, Gentlemen, byfol- iof abuse against Mr. Dowling? Why did not Mr,
lowing such examples as thei
Counsel has set, by mi. 1 Alley call witnesses to prove his assertion? The
taxing a conduct, which, however it might have been Counsel and prosecutor, then,have stated facts which
intended to do me an injury, must have been in they dared not call witnesses to prove. Why has not
reality an insult upon you and the Court. When I Mr. Clement been called? I saw Mr. Clement in
,see you sitting in • that box, lam confident I see Court here this morning—and I again ask, why he
twelve honest Englishmen, who will calmly and dis was not called as a witness? Where are the seven
ssioaately consider my case ; and, therefore, with
P 4 • or eight Gentlemen who were said to have been pre-
the utmost confidence I call on you, as unbiassed sent at the affair in question? and why has not Mr.
raen, to give me a verdict. lam not personally ac- Alley called them? Mr. Alley took special care to
quainted with any Gentleman in that box ; I may avoid doing that. He is too well acquainted with the
have seen some of you, and most of you may often duties of a Counsel to call any such witnesses. He
have seen me. I call upon you, however, as English. knows perfectly well, that had he called them, they,
men, after you shall have heard my case, to pro- as honest men, would have told the truth, and con-
nourice me not guilty of this charge, on the ground tradicted the statements of that man there (Pointing
that I shall have made out a complete justification. I to Mr. Dowling.) When I came into Court this morn-
have a number of witnesses now attending in Court, ing, the Learned Counsel insisted that I should be
who are ready to prove that an assault was made obliged to stand at the post. His expression was—
upon me at the hustings in Covent-garden during " We insist that he shall stand at the bar." Heiden-
the late election. I attended on these hustings as a tifies himself with the prosecutor, and uses the words
public character ; and in the situation in Which I; " We" and ". LTs," as if he were a party in the busi.
-'as then placed, I was, by the law of the land, enti- -ness. Every thing must be done by .4 Us."--This
tied to offer myself as a candidate to represent the mode of expression reminds me of the well-known
city of Westminster in Parliament. I was standing story of the organ st and his bellows-blower. The
on those hustings to receive the•votes of the electors, first of these was liaying upon the organ in a cathe-
and many of them had given me their suffrages, i dral, and his perfarmance was very much approved
before that man, who is now the prosecutor, came to ' of. On this the bellows-blower, who was a mere
offer me violence." . idiot, cried out o the organist—" I think we have
Hare, Mr. HUNT having begun to censure, the done very well to-day."—" We!" replied the latter:
High Constable, Mr. ALLtY interposed. He said " You! you dog! you had no share in it." The next
he was sorry to be obliged to interrupt the defer- time, however, that the Cathedral service commenced
dant, but he must remind him, that any transaction the performer could not proceed, because the blower
which might have taken place at the hustings in Co- refused to touch the bellows. The performer cried
vent-garden, could-have no connexion with the pro- out to him—" Ah! you dog, go on." On which the
ceedings before the Court that day ; and therefore he blowerapopping his head from behind the organ, ex-
tontended, that the defendant could not be allowed claimed—" Shall it be we then?"—(Loud laughter.)
to enter into such topics. It is just so, Gentlemen, in the present case, the per-
The CHAIRMAN gave it as his opinion that the former and the blower—the Prosecutor and the
Counsel was warranted in the objection which he Counsel are both alike, one cannot go on without,
took to the conduct of the defendant. But still be the other. Gentlemen, you have heard of an intention
thought that Mr. Haut had a right to refer to trans. to provoke me to fight a duel ; you are capable of
actions that had taken place between bim and Mr. forming a judgment of the feelings of men placed in
Dowling, previous to the affair in question. The my situation. I ask, what would you have said,
Court certainly did not wish that any extraneous what would you have thought of me, if I had gone
matter should be introduced into cases of this kind : out and fought a duel with this man, knowing the
but perhaps the good sense of the Learned Counsel infirmity under which he labours, knowing that he is
would point out to him that as Mr. Hunt was a lay- short-sighted? What would his friends have said,
man, and that as he was defending his own cause, it and what must you have thought, if under such cir-
might be as well not to interrupt him in the course cumstances, he had fallen by my hand ? Yonmay,
of his defence ; as every Gentleman must know that easily conceive what my situation must be, in such a'
a person placed in the situation in which he then case, and ask yourselves whether I was boand to
stood, could not be perfectly acquainted with the accept his challenge ? Had Mr. Dowling fallen into
forms of a Court of Justice, and therefore little de- good hands, he would have been advised never to
viations like these were pardonable. He should, come into this Court : but certain persons, who acted
however, advise Mr. Hunt not to overload his case as his advisers, are themselves so degraded, that they
by too many allusions of This kind, or by the unne- wish to bring every body else to their own level ; and
cessary introduction of extraneous matter ; for by they have brought Mr. Dowling this day, to keep
so doing he might injure, but could not strengthen them company in their disgrace. Gentlemen I shall,
his cause. not call any witnesses, the Counsel has saved me that
Mr. Husa.—" Sir, I return you my sincere thanks trouble. I shall leave my case entirely in your hands,
for the impartiality and justice you have now dis- fully relying on your justice.
played. It was nothing less than what I expected The CHATRMAN summed up the evidence to the
from your justly-acknowledged integrity, and from Jury. He observed, that at the commencement of
the high character to which you are so well entitled. the trial, a very unpleasant altercation had occurred,
With regard to the interruption I have met with, I which he very much wished had not taken place. It
must observe, that nothing in the world is so con- arose out of an observation which might, perhaps,
mon as the practice of Counsel interrupting each have been spaced, particularly at that moment, when
other; because by so doing they think they can con- the person against whom it was directed was within
fute each other, and therefore I ant not at all sur- hearing. Mr. Hunt had made a very able defence,
prised to find the Counsel anxions to interrupt a man and had conducted himself with much address, but
who, as the Chairman very properly observed, must he had stated what he, as Chairman, was bound to
have been unaccustomed to the forms of the Court. correct. Mr. Hunt had observed, that the assault
I shall, however, pursue that course which law and here alluded to, as having occurred in St. Clement's
justice allow me to do; and although lam not under Church-yard, ought to be considered as part of that
the protection of a gown and wig, Ido not think that transaction which took place at the Hustings, in Co-
any of those Gentlemen who am so armed will be vent-garden. He endeavoured, therefore, to prove
tole to put me off my ground. In one respect, lam that Mr. Dowling was the first aggressor, and that
like the prosecutor, Mr. Dowling. When that man he had merely retaliated the affront: but the affair
at the Hustings in Covent-garden took place so long
Piet me in Mr. Clement's shocron the day in question,
he said he expected some such thing as happened at prior to this assault, that it was impossible to consi-
der it as one and the same transaction. Re then re.
ahat time. In the same manner, I have come here in
capitulated the evidence to the Jury, and remarked
expectation of meeting what has just happened; but
t that the testimony of Mr. Dowling appeared to him
at the same time, I conic here determined not to lose
my temper. You have, Gentlemen, heard the oath to be a regular connected story, which he had no
of Mr. Dowling—you have heard him-say on his oath reason to disbelieve. In the cross-examination of Mr.
that be came to the hustings in Covent Garden for the Dowling, certain facts were admitted by that Gen-
express purpose of horse-whipping me, in order that tleman, which were undoubtedly favourable to the
lie might provoke me to call him out to fight a duel. case of the defendant, and would have their weight
This man now brings me into Court, and he em- at the proper time. The, Learned 'Counsel for the
ploys Mr. Alley, who understands matters of this kind prosecution had very fairly and justly stated, that this
very well, and who knows all the tricks and quirks was a gross assault, accompanied as it was, by ex-
of the law, to conduct his cause. Gentlemen, when tremely provoking language ; but the blow itself was
a man appears in this way as a prosecutor in a Court very trifling. It was true, indeed, as Mr. Hunt hac!
of Justice, it is always expected that be should come stated in his defence, that the damages wonld not be
into Court with clean hands ; and after what you enhanced by the doctor's bill, but still it was an. act
have heard, I now put it to you whether you can on which no Gentleman could bear from another with
your oaths declare that Mr. Dowling does come into patience.
this Court vith clean hands? lam ready to admit The Jury, after a short deliberation, found the de-
that I did strike him a blow in SLClement'sChurch- fendant—Guilty.
yard; but at the same time yenmust recollect what The CHAIRMAN Men remarked, that there could
he himself admitted, that I had been previously struck be no doubt but that Mr. Hunt had received a great
by him with a horsewhip, at the hustings in Cwant. provocation, in consequence of the horsewhipping at
Garden. He struck me at a lilac whets I expected the hustings: yet, it was impossible not to remark
no such thin —when I was off my guard—vrith a how degrading it must be to a gentleman in Mr.
whip which he had concealed under his coat. Imme. Hunt's situation, to act the part of a common pu-
diately after lie struck me, I was seized by a set of gilist, and offer to engage in a boxing match in the
constables, and prevented from retaliating upon him public street. No doubt he had received a strong
on the spot, which otherwise I should have done, as provocation ; but between that provocation and the
assault in question, a long space of time elapsed, du-
the law would have warranted me in doing. I was
immediately after conveyed before a Magistrate, on
ring which all passion must have subsided. He then
which occasion that man acknowledged that he had pronounced the sentence on Mr. Hunt, which was,
come to the hustings for the express purpose of horse- that he should pay a fine of Five Pounds, and be
whipping me, and with the intention of provoking then discharged.
me to fight a dual ; and also paid, that he would have Mr. HUNT immediately paid the fine to the proper
given me more of the horsewhip if he had not been officer, and before he withdrew from the Court re-
•prevented. I did not at that time bind Mr. Dowling turned thanks for the candid manner in which he had
been treated by the Court, and for the strict impar.
over to keep the peace, but he knew very well that
I was determined to finish the horse-whipping bust- tiality with which the Jury had been charged by the
ness the first time I should meet him afterwards.— worthy Chairman.
Accordingly, I availed myself of the circumstance of
meeting him in Mr. Clement's shop, gave him a
slight hlow in the face, and asked him lf he would
resent that blow by fighting me, not with pistols, but
with fists? Did Mr. Dowling follow up this blow
by accepting my offer ? or did I thee thrash him, or
even strike him a second time, as he deserved? No,
Gentlemen!—lt would have been cruelty in the ex-
treme to have beaten a coward a second time ; and
therefore I did not repeat the blow. The Learned

The house of Mr. Down, in Prince's-road, Lam-
beth, was broke oran on Sunday night, and robbed
of a large quantity of linen and wearing apparel.
Saturday night, as Mr. MACORORGE, of Queen's-
place, Kennington, was passing the Sessions House
there, two men of genteel appearance pushed vio-
lently against him, and before he cotdd recover him-
self they attempted to rob him of his watch; but by
the breaking of the chain, they obtaincd only she'
a Ws, with which they decamisd.