The Statesman.
London, England, 1812-11-20 00:00:00

dant knew nothing of the libel till home time after it
was inserted ; and that the firilt Ptak it was commu-
nicated tO him, he ekpresied fiat. Doily his surprise,
but his conceru and indignation that such an amide
should have appealed iii his Journal: As semi as it
was brought within his knowledge, he not only
expressed his disappeohation of it, bit he inserted
a counter statement to de aWay the effect cf the
former publication ; and he took those steps
which have been stated to you immediately after
he kit •w the lirst 'letter had been published, and
the second Letter had been left for insiertiou.—lt
cannot he thought that this was invented at the time,
inr order to be afterwards stated in mitigation of
punishment; or to be submitted to the Transport
Board for the purpose of deprecating their proceed-
ings against him ; for no one who censiders the
situation of this Defendant can doubt that those sen-
timents of concern and indignation were the natural
feelings which actuated his mind; for he was at that
moment suffering part of two years imprisonment, tO
which he had been sentenced for a former publica-
tion ; and he was morally certain, that if this was
considered to be inserted by him, he would setter
the sentence of the law again, and that he would be
liable to be prosecuted for its insertion. Therefore
I argue (rota the situation of this unfortunate De-
fendant ! that from the moment he was made cog-
, Dissent of the insertion of this paper, without his
knowledge, and of the other Letter written to con-
tradict. the statements contained in the forrrier, his
speedy insertion of the latter, and his sorrow and
indignation at the publication of the former, clearly
manifest that his conduct was influenced by those
feelings of regret, which the reflection that his
paper had, without his knowledge, been made
the medium of slander, naturally excited. I am
not here to defend this libel.—lf I could have
so preposterous an intention, the Defendant,
by having suffered judgment by default, has cut that
topic from under my feet. I can only express the
same feelings which he has expressed in his private
conversation with his Editor, and in his letter to the
Transport Board—feelings which he is ready to ex-
press in any other way that may be requited of him.
I can only repeat his own sentiments—th:y are sen-
timents of as strong reprobation of this publication,
as can be expressed : bet my object is to submit to
you, that there is all the difference in the world be.
tween the question ef, whether this is a libel or not ?
for that is altogether out of Court, and what punish-
ment you are celled upon to inflict. It is upon this
second question that I submit the observations I have
made to your Lordship. There is a great difference
in the degree of guilt, and of cease there ought to
be in the punishment of a person who, with his eyes
open, publishes that which he knows to be a libel,
and a person who, from negligence, to a certain ex-
tent culpable, but who, without his knowledge, or
any act of his own, has unwitting'y been the means
of a libellous publication seeing the light. The De-
fendant stands in this more favourable situation ;
and in the facts he has sworn he is justified, not only
by the oaths of the two persons who hit‘ e made affi•
davits, hut he is completely borne out by all the
probabilities of the case, by the former statements
contained in his paper, and by the situation of the
Dsfendant himself. AU these cireumo'nnces prole,
that hail he known any thing of this lib !, he. woulst
bate been the last man in the world to have pub-
lished it. I therefore submit, that as it apppears he
was ignorant of this publication,—that the =meta
he knew of it he took all the means in his power to
repair the mischief his paper had been the unfor-
tunate instrument of propagating,—that he adopted
every measure calculated to express his contrition,
and his submission to the Transport Board, he has
strong claims to that mercy which is extended, when-
ever circumstances will justify it. lie also states, by
his medical attendant, that his health is in such a
situation, that as soon as his second year's imprison-
, meld is expired, he will require the enjoyment of air
and exercise; and that his life must inevitably been.
dangered by the continuance of his confinement. I
trust that these observations, with respect to which
I have confined myself strictly to the affidavits, will
have au influence, not only on your Lordships, but
that they will be entitled to the consideration of my
Learned Friend, who will have to address yeu. f
trust be will follow the example set by his learned
predecessor, who treated with lenity a person whom
he had deemed it his duty to prosecute foist libel on
the Transport Board. I hope he will shew the same
mercy which was shown by his predecessor on a si-
milar occasion, when, at the instance of the Tsai.--
port Board, he dropped a prosecution for a Libel,
thong?' it had a tendency to excite mutiny in the army.
The SOLICITOR-GENERAL said, that in discharg-
ing this part. of his public duly, for the first time, he
returned thanks to his Learned and Hun. Friend,
for the credit he had given to his humanity and feel-
;egg, nor had he any desire, in calling on their
Lordships for judgment, to outstrip the line of mer-
cy. Ile had not intended to make any observations
on the case, but now he felt that he meld not other-
wise discharge his duty. His Learned Friend had said,
that were he to speak to the nature of the offence, he
would have to repeat what the Defendant had Already
expressed. His Learned Friend, in his opinion, had
rather injured than served the Defendant's cause. It
had neser occurred to the Defendant that this libel
was so foolish, so absurd, and ridiculous, as his Hon.
Friend had characterised it. The Defeiiiiatit had
given it quite a different character. He had called it
a wicked. end unfounded libel. The truth was, it was
a most unfounded and unprincipled setaek on public
men.. What has this libeller stated, but that the
war was continued to serve the purposes of those
ho have the care of prisoners of war in this
country ; that they apply to their own cse the al.
lowances made by the country to these unfortu-
nate prisoners, and that those of this country im-
prisoned in France. had those miseries they en-
de, ed inflicted on them in retaliation: The Tyra t
of France could do no wrong it stem d. it was in
this couetry that these nnsiirlt-s originated. His
Learned friend had expressed a hope, Chit Le and the
Transport Board would not urge the punishment that
was due: Bet it was impossdele that the Transport
Board should not apply for judement, without ac-
knowledging the truth of this infamous libel—with-
out dig:lnflaming themselves. If we had taken any
step of this sort, the Board must i eve cenfesssci the
guilt and
For my

1 infamy imputed to it by '• iIoNE•Te3." • IT
• own part, I have not tip: power to decline
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