The Statesman.
London, England, 1809-12-07 00:00:00

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IMMM

COVENT GARDAN.
, ,Immirmaso .
CLIFFORD, ENS. r. BRANDON.-
--e...--
COURT OF COASION PLEAS, Dec. 5. -
[Continued from TA kgra rzsx AN qtpesterffdia]
Mr. Stais.AuT /11,11eRti ruse to eddies
lr
the Jury, on behl of Mr. Brandon, Mei
of the •servents of the tropticturs and Mosseetee
of Covent Garda* Theatre, who, conceiving Isigs.
self to be in the honest exercise of his duty, had
(aa cootainly was proved) desired a peace officer
to take Mr. ClOiird into custody, for which net
this action bad been commenced. . Whather, no.
der the circumstances Of the case, as they had been
detailed in evidence, tlie Defendant, was justified
in point of law, for having so done, the Jury most
decide. They must decide this question, accord-
ing to the principle of law, which in that, as in
other costs, he helped, they would receive from the
directions of his Lordship ; because, if his Lord-
ship, or any other learned Judge, should iplapri
to mistake the law, any advocate for the ' s
to whose disadvantage the misdirection bed been
given by any such Learned Judge, thank Ged, had
the Court to apply to, su is to have any error, if
seek should be funtid,corrected. The Jury, he was
sure, would sue, that it was 111, the law in thi‘,
se in all other cafes, shuuld be laid down by
those, who are the Judo's of the lira ; and, that
it should nut vary, (ruin illy to •iliy, with the
opinions of Gentlemen who arc motioned, from
time to lime, to perform the functions of Jury.
men. Nielatichuiy, indeed, would it be fur the
Constitution, and for this, or any other country,
governed by law, were there nut a tribunal, coin-
posed of persons competent to decide upon all
questions of law—men, whose lives had beim
dedicated to the study of the law the for-
mer part to the practice, and the latter part to the
honest, upright administration or that law. Not
one of the Jury, he was sure, would go home
satisfied, w ere they but to fancy, that from any pre:
conceived opinion, however honest such opinion
might be, they bed given a verdict contrary to the
law of the country in which they lived. A
speech snore directly addressed to the passious 01
a Jury, than that of his Learned Friend, he had
never heard; and, not wily had he addressed
himself to their passions, but also to those pieju-
dices, which, having crept forth into the world,
have for weeks and months, been acted upon, by
persons who, in other respects, may be respect.
able members of society ; but who, in those par-
ticular instances, had disgraced and degraded
themselves, and limit familics. Ile should nut,
Itelts4ver) follow the exeunt& of his Learned Frielid,
in addressing himself to the pgssions of the Jury.—
His Learned Friend, had talked a great deal about
the Proprietors set having acted legally—of their
extortion,—and then, he added inadvertently, he
.• was suss that, if tyranny of ewe species wore
. suffered to exist, tyranny of another would nem..
, .ly follow,—but when he saw what opinions
• Ilid gone forth, and the great number of persons
le that Court, who had been misguided—he
Bfor the effector the speech of his Learned
est tho peoelo might suppose, that because
• -the Managers had in their opinion fired In etc
• turtionate price en the admissiou to the Theatre,
soil had been guilty of tyranny, then the multitude
lit take the law into their own hands. God for.
bid that such an ides should go forth, for if it did,
what might nut be the consequence ? If any man
io this country were guilty of ceturtion, the law
knew how to repress the evil,---but it was not
fur a number of persous, collecting themselves
either in the Theater, and by force, tumult, or
riot, or out of the 'llicatre, to take the judgment
of the conduct of others into their own hands,
even though extortion or tyrann: did exist. His
Learned Friend, bad stated,\lr. Clifford to be a
Gentleman of high rank.and family, of high talents,
and of great respectability, in which he heartily
concurred. Mr. i litford wasa member of his pro-
fession, and ho hoped, that that very circumstance
was Sufficient to Confer ..ti any wait the character
of a Gentleman, and he must lament that a man so
gifted with talent, a man, of whose legal kuuw.
ledge the world had some opinion, should have so•
perverted those talents and that knowledge, as to
have encouraged and instigated the disturbances
which had taken place at Covent-Garden Theatre.
By his pres,nce, he had given to the anthers of
those disturbances the sanction of his authority.
The sanction of a man of learning, a 'limn oft wis-
dom, and of a lawyer, so . that they might sup-
pose whit they were about, was legal. It was a
man of this sort, who had been seen standing for-
ward with an ensign of riot in a public Theatre,
and countenancing the proceedings of the rioters.
Had the Attorney's Clerk, whose evidence they
had beard, mood lawasard with the letters 0. P. in
his hat, the people Would have said poh ! Li
knows nothing aboot the law, what should an
Attorney's Clerk know about the law. But Mr.
Clifford, a num of rank, a lawyer, a learned
esseasellor, he has given his opinion that there is
no harm in wearing 0. P. he has one in his ow,
hat, may we nut safely do the same ? Ilis Learned
Friend had insinuated that Mr.- Brandon was a
more tool of power, but what power could have
entrapped Mr. Clifford to give that opinion and
advice which he gave in the Pit to the strangers
whom he sabered to place the ensign of riot in *
• . bat? Ilis own free will, and that it was, whit*
imarked him out to the particular observation and
attention of Mr. Brandon. If the wearing et
these things were not lawful, the fittest of all ob.
gets to apprehend, is that person, whose weight
and talents must naturally mark him as a person
fomenting the disturbance. The peanut question
was simply, whether men embark* their pro.
perty in a public Theatre, art, or are sot, to be
protected in the preservatios of the property so
embarked, from the attack of self-createdjudps.
It was not a question of whether 6 shallop or 7
shillings should be the price of admission. For if
the Public had a right to make them ruble* the
price at all, they have a right to reduce the price
toe pence. The right, he maintained, was the
same. if there were a right, it meet be vested ;
sad thew could be nu difference whollses the Pub.
tic insisted on going in fiat 6 shillings or g pence.
With respect to Private Bos', and whetlser the