The Statesman.
London, England, 1818-02-02 00:00:00

'IIIE STAIrESMAN:

XdPLIf INTELLIGICNCZ.

PORtSMOUTIE, Pea. 1..,--Yll#lll4ll.y. sailed the
Juliana, Ogilvie,. for' Batavia ; and to.day she has
pot back, after esperieneing a very hooey gale last
night off the Wright, and lost most of Inv_ sails; she
is now safe at anchor at Si.. llaloa's•—rThill. whole of
the outward-boamf are well. • )(.,
FALIMUTII, JAN. 29.—ArrivINI, be Chichester
packet, with Mails, from New York in 17 din,
JAN. 30.—Arrived the Fos packet,. with Meils
from Malta and Gibraltar, in 16 days farm the lattefs'
place; the Mike of Kent packet, with Nlails,frop,l
Lisbon in nine days.---wiled his 14.1arn's ship tollf;
and Dwarf cutter, on cruises.
Wetusoorw, JAN. 31...—0 n TessideLievening
we experienced a very homy gale freinthe westward,
attended with torrents of rain, and occasionally
thunder, but I am happy to say that nedsmage has
been done on our coast.--The Lindsay, --, of,
and from London, fur Madeira, is In our roads
wind boultd.
littnnEroan, JAW. 31.—The sloop William, of and
Ifflom Milford to Swansea, laden with oats and.cheese,
got on shore on our Bar this morning; part of the
cargo will be saved, and the vessel, it' is expected,
will be got off next springs if the weather keeps fine.

MENACING TUMULT AT BRIGHTON.
• •-At the Sitting of Magistrates at the Town-hali so
Thursday, the Supervisor, Mr. 1101011 P, Mr. Charles
Wrentmore, an &cite Officer from Alfriston, and a
Mr. Haynes, belonging to the Excise also, from Sea-
ford, attended for the purpose of lodging informations,
*ad punishing certain individuals in this town, fur
selling spirits, to the detriment of the Revenuer and
the injury of the fair trader, without licences. Of
fear cases, one ooly was pursued to toovictioer that
of anelderly woman, named Ilasuivell, in the Wei-
peed penalty of live pounds ; one was &misted for
an error in the information, anti two stand over for.
isseetigat ices end decision hereafter. During the pro-
' ceedittgi of the Bea* an immense confluence of.
mantis Sad .collected without, .aod es ,the Excise
Officers retired from the Hall, the behaviour of the
populace became insufferably rude end insulting. In
Market-street, rotten eggs, and othet offensive might
Biles, mud, turnips, &c. disfigured the 'versional
of the individuals named. and • the. reproaching,
epithets " Common Informers," were rife with
the assailants. Near the Chimney's Inn, the
~
Supervisor was separated from Mr. •Wrentmori,
against whom the popular fury seeined more pars
titularly directed. The latter . endeavoured to
reach the King an'! Queen Inn, by a route through
Castle-square, errors the Steyne, &c. but found the
task Impracticable. lie several times petitioned to'i
mercy, but it. *as not grated to him ; io the agony
be suffered, he sneght refuge in several houses, bet
was either expelled, or drugged from them by hie
pursuers, while his supplications were soswered only
by renewed discherges of mud and rotten eggs, until
it 'was impossible to distinguish
,arc particular fea-
ture in his face. At the Segue front of the Palace,
he. sought the protection of the centinels, but the
Many hundreds assembled rendered the interposition
of two men as nugatory ; and after rootting the
gauntlet of scattered filth and itidiscriinioate. assanits,
the sufferer, nearly ethausted, presented himself to
the centinels of the Pavilion south-gate. Here the
soldiers again tried to shield him front. the rage of the
rioters, which now was at its climes, and heavy
stones and fragments otbrick, hurled with desperate
force, menaced frightful danger, wounds, and death.
At this time the High Constable, Mr. John Williams,
'add his posse of Ileadhoroughs, forced their way,
'with greet difficulty, and at the rick of their lives,
through the crowd, to Mr. Wrentmore's assist-
ance, and at last succeeded in bearing him Welt
to the Town-ball dreadfully disfigured and bruised,
and delirious from alarm and pain. The High Coe-
stable .washurt by the flying missiles, in the spirited,
I humane, and successful efort, he and his posse
had made in the execution of their ditty, but, pro.
dentially, neither materially. The condition of poor
Wrentnaore requiring the immediate aid of s surgeon,
Mr.Battcock was sent for, who bled him, and erdeted
that lie should be put to bed. 'He complained mecli -
of his head, and was for some time nearly insensiltin..,
No bones were broken, but the surgeon, from the
violent siteeks he had sustained, could tint positisity
say that no stternal hurts had been 'received.' Int
the Weill!). Mr. Hams had.escapettahe fury of the
'.414b by mating his wiriest* Stschretrbeisse -of Mt.
er to*-44ettege.street, and Wheece, by letting
,Ilderself. sot of. the back part of „the premises,
slcollog a wall or two, he contrived to escape.
•Miggittietear 3. If, Bites en-I IL Hurst, MO. a I
:Ws itneliltiossa proceedings were in recess, -Mos
Iltrriltd.•the Aced in the immediate train• of the
'High Constable., by calling out the officers and men
'ef the night wrote, and giving such directions is
' persoo as appeared most likely to quell the uproar ,
send restore tranquillity to the town. The rescuing;
If Mr. Wrentmore, and the disappearance of Mr.
Haynes, tintrater; put an end' to the disorders, pod
ittraeivoided whiled* dispersed. In the everting
(here wastroother meeting at the Town-hall, upon this
subject, when T. Attree, Esq. the Vestry Clerk, was
directed by the Magistrates, in their names, end threw
of theßigh Constable, and Officers of 'the Pollee, to
address a tetterto the' Honourable Commissioners of
his Majesty's Boareof Excise, stating the painful et-
tovreetees of the day, and with an assursnce, that all
possible :mesa, on their part should 'tie used, to
identify the offenders; and bang them to justierio-i-
-tO this meeting, 114 r. Wrentiore had been is
:into'* tintsscheise, at his ows request, *bough coo-
tinning very ill, and driven off for Lewes, the High
Constable and his Officer-protecting the carriage be.
. yond thwlieviteof the-town, and algott twl4, atilastao
.the teed o Palmer., ..
The sopervister stated to-the Magistrates, t a
ill.treatedand unfortunate Mr. e.
not oily an 'Enid; Officer, stationed at ',Wrists/NI
but that be Miura the most reapectable connections r:
and a nephew of the Bishop of Bath and Wells.
-At an act of justice, it is requisite- to state, that
almost the united-body of the respectable inhabitants
and housekeepers of this Place, are indignant at the
new disgrace which the Shove affair his brought upon
their 'town, and add their hopes to the efforts of the
Police, that the -ringleaders of the outrages may Jo
te/It
• identified, and visi by the cheitioemeuts they tia.
verse.--(Brighton 1011711411.)
•

LdIV OF. LIH.E L.

. •

LET PER It.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE STATESMAN.
Ste,—lt Ms not been went of good »HI, lint

want of leisure alone that has prevented me
from replying sooner to the Letter of your Correi

*pendent under the signature of a COUNTRY MA•
alma**. The opinion entertained by that Gen.
Oman is, I am sorry to say, much too common:—,-
•iie seems to think that whatever comes under the
general denomination of Law Is entitled to an equal
degree of attention and respect from i Juryman; sod
that a person discharging that important office is to-
totally exonerated from the necessity of making any
investigation respecting the due application of the
• Law, which it is the duly of the Judge to point out,
whilst that of the Juryman is implicitly to receive it,
and on that confidence to ground his verdict ; so that
if the dictation of the Judge should prove wrong,
still he (the Juryman) should be held blameless,
not merely in the public estimation, bet also free
from any reproaches of his own conscience. To this
doctrine I cannot subscribe, because I hold in very
different estimation those ancient Laws which con-
stitute the franchise of the land, or were enacted
by otos general consent of the People—Cot/mins
utentium, as Bnacrox espreisesit —and thorse judi-
cial constructions which, however various and con-

tradictory they may be, have all beesbeld to be Law
at some time or soother.

1 beg leave to refer your Correspondent, who
calls himself aMagistrate, to his own sob of office,
by which Ise promises to "do equal justice to rich. and
poor after the hest of his rewiring, wit, and power,
and after the Laws and Customs of the Realm and
the Stainteethereof made." That is, after the Cour-
mon Law and the Statute lAliff because thaw lowa,
and those Laws only, have received the consent of
the People, and fur that plain reason the People are
bound by them. The preamble to an old Statute,
when Acts of Parlismesst were written in Norman
French, says, " Na! Li La) oblige le Ample
Lague ceo que est fait par consent del People,"
is, •‘ no Law obliges the People but those made with
the consent of the People." IVhert we hail Justices
in Eyre, the oath they rook was, " Ye Justice shall
swear that well and truly ye shalt de right to your
power, to all people, as well to poor as to rich ;
and that for highness, nor for riches, nor for hatred,
nor for good deed, gift, or promise of anypersen,
neither by craft nor by maligny, the right of any per-
son ye shall not disturb nor respite against reason,
nor the Lewes of the Land, but without regard of any
estate, or person, truly ye shall do right to every
person after the lames and customer of the land."—
, See the look of Ouths, p. 235; see also the Oath of
' a Justice to hear and determine, p. '233 and VG...-.
The Judge most swear " well and truly to serve the
King AND lIIS Peort.s in the office of Jestice.".-‘
Mind, Reader, he is to serve, not only the King, but
the PEOPLE likewise well and truly. And how is
he to serve the People ? Why, by well and truly ad-
ministering to them, that Law which has heels very
properly called the Law of the Land (Lex Term),
in consequence of having received its sanction from
all the People dwelling in the land. This sanction is
given two ways—at the Coronation, when an Oath-
is proposed on the part of the People to the King,
that he will maintain their ancient laws and customs ;
or in Parliament, where all the People are supposed
to be either in person or by representation. And on,
the same ground it is, that the preamble to another
ancient Statute declares. that " the People of Eng-
land are governed by no man's lairs." Such, iss•
deed, is the Constitution of our Government—an
Eeglishman being obliged to conform only to his
own laws, that is, to those by which he has volun-
tarily bound himself. In fact, it is essential to the
condition of a free also to be bound only by such
laws as have been submitted to his approbation.—
To be governed by laws proceeding from the will, or
the caprice, or the professional construction of an-
other man k the essence of slavery ; and of all she
many different forms and modes of slavery, that, in
my opinion, is the worst which proceeds from the
arbitrary construction of a Jutlge ; as un the other
band that I conceive to be the beet, •r rather the
least oppressive, which proceed, from the absolsrie
will of some Sultan, Mogul, ley, or other despot ;
because these " gods upon earth," give People warts!.
log ; their thunder precedes tt.eblow ; they ausiounre
their will before they strike; and they strike only
those who rebel igaiest it ; they do not indeed coo•
ceive it necessary to assign any reason for that will,
dot pro ratione coluntas. Like the ancient Bour-
bon shivery, before the Revolution, it is sufficient
for them to say, Car ninsi me plaitit—car lel est
mon.bon plaisire, &c. But the man who falls a sa-
crifice to the arbitrary construction of a Judge, has no
warning of the blow that carries with it his destruction.
lie may be conscious of basing given no offence to
shose.Laws,which alone "oblige le Peuple" brooms-
quence of having been made "par consent del Peo-
ple." The Common Law and also the Statute Law,
be has not, we will suppose. trenagressed.. No; his
transgression only exists in the quibbling. Ocoee
!courtly Judge, who, by forced constructions wishes
like Chief Justice Weisner, in drams of the Seven
Bishops, or Levi trlitaseurt.n in that of the London.
Rioters, to give • greeter estenstio to the Lsw of
Libel, or that of nigh Treason.
Sir W. BLAIIKSTONEhAS asserted dialed'. titles of
England emanate from the voice of the Peep?", every
man is punished by Laws to vs hicb.he has given hie
consent. This is sound Constitutienil doctrine; but
all the ingenuity of this plausible Commentator-
would have failed him, had be attempted "to apply
to those punishments unknown to our ancestors, and
which have originated entirely from the new inter-
pretations of the Law set op by qiiibbling Judges.
A modern Poet bas compared Law too forest, where,
says be—
The twelve liferberrne every day
Are changing still the peNtr
Yet if we mho our ease, and - •
We itkevatis penalties ;gar."

It is very true that the veraterers here allotted to
The to; 'iciest time past .wecopied themselves in
making skews, changes in the public way! gist it has
hew become gloriously tar:certif., and the led
guides hate become quite useless. 'A
famous Old
Bailey Pleader, now on the Bench, not long since,
declared that BLACKSToNE Meisel( could no longue,
be considered a safe direction pest. Certain it is
that many a hapless traveller, who never intended to
commit a trespass, has been grievottsly Punished_ for.
mistaking bis way in this horrible labyrinth. , Now
this is really abominable, because the officers brtill
alluded to, ere designed to be the conservators Vas
ancientroads, and not the makers of new ones. By
forming seinen', mazes they betray that trait for
which they are so liberally remunerated by the Pub-
lie, who are, in fact, the proprietors of thesejoadat
and without whose COlisPnt they ought nOt 'to be
Mitred in any chaps. In short, the People base a
right to go Abe way their ancestors went before them.
At a Mrs trial for a libel some of lite Tory con-
certed in verdict of guilty in ceesequebefs 'as they
openly stated la Court, of the Judge Lavin declared
that Troth was et Libel. ilad I been on that Spry.,
such a declaration from the Judge would not have
satisfied my conscience, because basing taken as
oath "to well and truly try and make a TRUE deli.
Terence," 1 should hate thought that oath Idolater*
if I had madta deliverance on TRUST. Without Hitting
isp my plow opioioo hist the opinion of the Jodie
AOried she cause, J Should kg** Pxlgtithed le him
the necessity that a coatictioshoeuid exist in ioy
mind of the accuracy of his opinion, berme I could,
meat upon the strength of a fellow-citizen to punish.
eite,ol. I shoold have said as Mr. Home did, " Chit
la only your Lordwitip's'opiiii3o." bet the standard . .
,•4, Which I se ltd form my verdict is 'MUTH, and
*ld. opirtides.• Etery •Judge has had his opinion.;
-Tni.smststro and -Jscrsots's lute bad their's as
mil ariber Lordetip; cease Judges of a different
4leseriptinvefrotis talks,. ate POWELL and HOLLOWAY,
ion ;lie ' tkito4i of die 'Sett a Bishop', declared- au upit
pins the very reverse of that which you .hate been
pleased now to deliver. I trust year Letdship will
.see Ale necessity, therefore, of my eskieg you to es•
plaits, the grounds of the opinion you have delivered
before I can accede to it. As it is the offive of the '
Jury to 'apply the law, and that of the Judge to es-
i•lain it to *him, it necessarily follows that the Judge
ought to explain it to their entire satisfaction, fot
unless that satisfaction •is fill and complete, they
cannot eiply it--inasmuch as they must well and
-truly try and give a verdict on their own conviction,
not upon a mere belief in any man's Opinion Or as.
**siker, however respectable the party making such
au assent 'n may be. Without. therefore, meaning
any thing like pet sonal disrespect to the Judge pre..
siding on this cause, I find it nee:lslay to say, that
my sense of duty requires some better foundation
for a verdict than that of a dictum announced from
' the Bench, unattended with any reference, reason.
Ing, proof, or espnsition, to support it. If your
Lordship can satisfy us.that the ancient Common
' Law of Euglaud, or the express enactment of some
' Statute; has made Truth a Libel, it will be our im-
perative duty to apply that law to the party, because
'he was bound to obey it. But if this disclaim of
truth being a libel is law derived only from the con.
striittl;et Of a Judge, or the practice of the Courts,
and from no other origin whatever, the party a&
cured 'was not bound by the Constitution of this land
to obey it, and we should be traitors to the British
Constitution, and violators of the oath we base
taken, -if we delivered him over to punishment for
t breaking a law, which, not having been made with
the COMSEaT OF THE PEOPLE, can have no 0111t.IGA.
Ttun UPON THE PEOPLE, for, my Lord, you •oust
i:now, that nut lui oblige le People lorsgne ceo quo
est fait per consent del Peupk.
By the Salon system " the Empire of Troth and
Justice was established amongst us." Vice was
curbed while virtue rfiAned triumphant : a proper
dis:ance was maintained between the tee kingdom!,
'dist itsguished by the names of LIGHT end DARKmess ;
air.i I believe no instance can he produced wherein
our ancestors withheld that allegiance dee to the God
of Truth, for fear of offending the Father of Lies.
ALFEED, its his Laws, c. 43 and 44, says, Simper
trite: mendaciuni, end Judica Jusiumn Judicium.—
They enjoin us always to avoid falsehood, and to
give just judgments, which can only be founded on
Motif. The scourge of Justice was applied by the
Sasoe-Law to him only who dealt io Felsekooci, bet
we oppiy, it the chariaements of offeisaiveTeetlit..--
Why A Because Troth is obeeiioes . tOliad NM in
petrel.; sod so iodeed it ;bray! was, and alwais will
be; lA, do el. And no instance le the SezoO Jells•
ptutiOsiClS of this scourge having been applied to a.
speaker of unsavoury truths, lest he should put bad
' Ministers, or bed men, its a passion, and provoke
thews to e breach of the peace. Breaches of the
pear. eight to hove been very frequent its those days,
if thedoctritie set up to justify our Anti-Christian per.
secidiou of.the Troth had any foundation in it, but it
le.plain that it has pone; for at that time the pease was
kept mach better than it ever has been kept stave; ma
Wee to
Ilse testimOny.of histoiy is most decisive.—
Wee to reasonable men this 'lull very consistent, be-
' cps's, men who 'employ theft meson most perceive,
Fiore their' obiervattens upon the world, that bad
intni",,re checked Sy the circulation of Truth ; bet on.
!Ike contra? become more violent, anctostrageously
" •.8. .
'W '''C'` 'VI4 'tWI 'Mid that they can avail themselves
bt thus lA, of Libel to "lash, perhaps ruin, those who
eppese tU Tiii
.. s Modern Law of Libel, therefore,
.• Y r • ,
iatteadt .rnitiOli%g 'Oa bid pasiions Of powerful
men, .an !enact° increase ibex rlt miNtiloiaplast
ilie cifu Of tri'm Religion, arid gives aia tali*
Gla".4:an bre tiei Fothorof Fulsihood, Hypocrisy,
aid Friusd. Tidsto'nie the triangle for the correction
of which the lisliof the Law was originally placed in
the bands of is British Jury ; but to scourge Truth
beceeso it may lead to the detection and violent resent-
ment of fratidulent and hypocritical persons, what Is
it, Met IsitiOus ;but to throw off that allegiance
w MeV' sieorie to tire doe or TRUTH, end imptoettly
and idotatreesly to bend the twee to Baal.
• 1- - TIMOTHY TRUEMAS:
. Barkingtramstlite,loo. S 9, ISM •
. .

• Taunt ut.t A and-the o4ber 11 Jodie% all declared that
it was treason for any Member of IParliaiseat.hro debate open
any "abject SJI she 114411.e.e0111111ey to the Kineitnash
The twelve' Judges also innoloansly declared Ship Money to
be lawfal. • On these ortasioset the practice bas ulnas& been to
aorsoutsce the Law to be so and so, wultout emeriti( lota any
:pose to minify the Peopk how it tome/ to bt to.