The Statesman.
London, England, 1810-07-06 00:00:00

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werth.y.,sons,, the brace and palriatic. Itasieims,
thaf master of human reasoning, Loci e ; and that
English classic, A nelson.' These allusions (though
in the Theatre of Oxford) did not pan tvithout
their immediate public reward. Before such an
audience, composed of their fellow and -rival
students of their masters and teachers, of (turner._
ous strangers, and of their mothers and sisters
anaiouslf witnessing their exhibitions, and ready
to spread-their fame the whole country round; it
molt naturally be supposed that they tried their
sexy bintet delivery. Young Cnurssay seamed,
iq this respect, to carry the palm., His - air.
is a little too studied ; but heithey he nor Lord
i Arsr.EV is at all incommoded by thainlmost nsur.
mountable ditficnlty to many Oratorical Essayists,
dOldeiscet which somewhat daMped tha.theritori.
ous exertions of several Others. Earl DFLAWARR
%hate vevy 'considerable merit. The Noble. Chan-
ccllov bpolced at, 'listened, and bo.vied; With great,
attention and pr.litencss, not 'unmixed with dig:.
nity, to'all his juvenile panegyrists. His Lord..
'ship's task certainly derpanded, more -self-posses.
%ion than that of any othiit person in the Theatre;
for, it retinites no small degree offortitude to sit
above two Intirs', hearing fourteen promising,
young gentlegier.j;cehanst ituaginstions and
their numbers, kn, Ins)neratieg onses owe. werita
and' virtues !. But. Ilde is. Out: CUSOM on sqch great
occasions. Very general satisfaction prevailed
.amcing the auditors, *hi; cheered all the orators.
The w.hole cerempny concluded With' 44 G6d.save-
the King,"'by CA/444k and Co. aceompauied
by a Tull . • . - •- • •

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COURT 01P-KING'S BENCH, Jorr,.s.
TiIrALING P. COSSET?, &C. •
The ATTORM.GINCRAL moved for the judg-
ment of the Court on William Cobbett,. T. P.
Hansard, Richard Bagehaw, and John Budd ; the
first of these being the Author, the second the
Printer, and the other two Publishers and Venders
of a periodical work, kidded, Cobbett's Poli-
tical. Register," for a Libel inserted in &number
of that work, published in June,,lBo9. •
Lord ELLENtioaOuon read the Libel, ind his,
notes of the proceedings ow the trial,' at which'
Mr. Cobbett trite found guiltyi'all the othei
reactants having: auffeted,--pdgment to go 'agaittst
them by default, , • ,1
Mr. Coinsure being asked if he bad any affida-
vits to give in on his part,:aoswera in. thinega-
. .
liT'Ae.ffidavitt Were 'given oli terra Riamed
Begshaw, statingollat he wits alleneral ventlei of
all the moping ankttuntiiii daily. and Weekly OK
pers, and other periodical puttlicetioes. -That he-
did not suspect or. imagine,,,that there was any Li-
bel iQ thd number cOntainlia *the publication in
question, buttliat he lied never 'suffered a single
copy of it to be void Usietr' die information wiy
bled.- His sole reesoo..for selling 'the work in
cktiestion was, the Kepi attending the-publication
or vending of kt, and tiontilts.beiag in.the way of
. ids buslnesi. a-severe cough and difficulty
of breathing, and, wes,otheewise in a bad,state of
.health, being beside of in 'dewed age, upwards
of sixty year; old, and had never before been
called to receive judgment in that Court. An
affidavit by the medical pertion whO attended him,
proved that lie had an asthma and abed cough.
A4davits were also filed by Mr. Budd, stating
that the publication was sold by him in the way of
his business ; that he had no knowledge of its li.
bellous tendency; that he was not the publisher
appointed by Mr. Cobbett, nor did he receive any
other profit' from selling it than what all other
news venders did. His presence was necessary to;
the carrying on of his business, and, in addition,
he hail had the misfortune about five years agO to,
have a ruptured blood vessel, and had since been
occasionally, afflicted with spitting of blood, which
would be increased. by confinement. The affidavit
of the medical person by whom he was attended,
corroborated this statement.
Ao Affidavit by the other Defendant) Mr. Han-
sard, stated, that he was the ?Rioter of The Po:
Mad Regithm, bat that, from the ;manner in:
which he received die copy, it was Impoesible for
him to suggest any alteration, even had he !mei
able to discover objectionable matter. Mr. Cob.
-butt principally lived at Botley, in • Hanipshirej
and did not send the copy of a particular part of The
I. Register tilt Thursday's post, so that -it was ge-
'werally past post time on Friday befOre the printer
received it. 'flare being then little enough time-to-
print it, so as to have the psiblicatiOn•ont at the
proper hour, he was obliged infmediately.to-diatri.;
bete the Copy among the corn positars, stied weer
,had an opportunity of reading it in a connected
Series, but saw it only 'in detached and disjointed
slips. By this means he was prevented frosa,know-
ing that theremetimy thttig Improper in the pub.
lication, and he did not know that it. was of the
offensive nature it now seemed to tie) till after
,more attentive perusal. He had no interest in the
publication, farther than receiving the ordinary
'publication,
for the rinting the same, as he would
be paid for any other book of seine dimensions.
• Mr. CoaarrT being asked If he had any thing to
offer to the Court in mitigation of punishment,
'said he had nothing at present with which to trail.
ble them on his own account. He oply begged
leave most solemnly to declare, that neither of the
other throe Defendants had ever any previous
knowledge or consultation of any kind ,with re.
ppect.to any thing which was to appear in the Re-
gister, except, perhaps occasionally; Mr. Han.
sard. He could also declare that, during the so.
yeral years he had known the other Defendants, he
had never on any qne occasion heard them . speak
'in disrespectful terms of the Government of the
country, or those connected with it.
The Arroom.Gesitaat, observed, that Mr.
Cobbett had said he had nothing to trouble the
COurt with at present. -It was proper that Mr.
Cobbett should understand, if be had any thing
_it all to state to the Court, that this was the time
-for doing so' and that he 'could not have. the op.
portunity, tit any future stage of the proceeding.
Lord • EGFENBOROUGaI informed Mr. cObbett
.that such was the rule of proceeding.
Mr. Coisecrr laid, •he knew this and, the
case' had airebdy been determined, he ,as
hiid nothing
with 'which to trouble the Court.
M
r, Buttaoyou for Mr. Hansard, Mr: Got.
,NEY for Mr. Budd, and.hlr. flews& for Mr. Beg
Shaw, briefly addressed the Court in, Mitigation.
Mr., Bowces Wheal; whiCh, • thhhgh.lilse the,
Others, was little roore than a relletiling. of Ltlic"
affidavits, was deliYered with a very unusual
lag and impressiveness. 'He stated his Client:di
• man much bowed with, and. to Atli*,
sending eo 'confinement !Willi be, ssefileg to'dbe
trim.
The ArroniszT.Gisnosar. aped 114.• Plll4l.
had beeniaid'by his Learned Friends, in &giant of
the three-Defendants; for WhoM they appetted,
to the distinction between their guilt itud thit of,
Mr. Cobbett, as to whom he, ihould !speak by and
by. They had allowed judgment to go against
thern by default; they had never denied that the'
publications was a libel ; nor that they themlelval
ih their concern in it,'had acted a criminal part.—
They had not made their defence a vehicle for other
calumnies and slanders, al theft as bad as the original
'libel. In all these respects, their case stood contra.
dist ldguished from that of Mr. Cobbett. There's}
also ipnother distinction between their case and that
of most printers and publilhers: They had not mi.
p .the author, as some printers and publishers,
did,Nit Oh author had employed them. Yet thepe.l
,j2lefendantSinkl every Other person who might chance
j to Mao&i jq the character of printer Or publisher).
Must uniterstepil, that these circumstances Wild
lacver eatultiate fp4llo. All,!cho lend-themselves its'
114 'publiaardis o o;..writiovvbatevar,
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