The Statesman.
London, England, 1812-04-21 00:00:00

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11

JAW INTELLIGENCE.

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LINES .
ADDBEESED TO MR. JOSEPH LANCASTER.'
0, virtuous man: ittipleti with heatenly grace, ..
Thy country's pride, thin: friend of hninan rSre : t
Our warmest praise thy bright example claim;
Babes et tinhorn shall live to bless thy name.
In moilr..t garb,-just emblem of thy nand,—
Thou socii'st not rank, nor riches from mankind:
I'or dii‘),,tit aims thy useful life is pass'd ;
Blest w it: success, CI labour:a crow n'd at last.
Fur ages vitt a inisy vapour spread
Tae film of darkn os o'er the pour man's head f
But thou a,,pear'd with gladirnitig, rays of light,
Withdr..w the yell that wrapp*d their mazy sight.
Thy win tiy lame, through distant climes shall ;
Though Ilion art mortal, yet thou unit nut die.
. For :linnet to earth thy mortal p..rt bc giv'n.
On anger wings thy soul shall mount to hcav'n I
E.linburgii, 'April 17, Isl 2. E. D.

ANAGRA.II.
I WILL ENRICH MANI%
These Leter., if trawspos'd aright,
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is' ill bring, a person's same to light,
Whlse dc, d'—(you'll thiuk with me, I hope),
&amid be rewarded with-La rap •.

COURT OF KING'S BENCH, APRIL 20.
'THE KING V. FLEET.

The ATTORNEY-GENERAL moved for leave to file a
criminal iiifornnztion against. Mr. Fleet, the proprie-
tor and publislr:r. of The Brighthelinstone
for a moat gross, indelicate, and scandalous libel upon
bliss Somerset, the daughter of Lord Charles henry
soinersei. In making this application on behalf of a
young lady, Weir Lordships might easily conceive
the unpleasant situation in which she was placed, she
was either compelled to put up with a most serious in-
jury, and wanton attack upon her character, or come
LAO a Court of Justice to seek redress, and those
were the advantages which the calumniator had over
those whom- they sought to injure; either they must
give a sanction to the truth of the calumny, by their
silence, or 'were reduced to what was (he was ping
lb say) almost as humiliating, to the condition of
comi.ig to this Court for redress, and thereby give a
fart;ier publication to the calumny. The libel he
complained of, appeared in the publication in ques-'
tion iir the month of March last, under the title of
a "Fau.rras, in high life, by which two noble fa-
milies were likely to have a misunderstanding, the
gentleman, who was of a noble family offered mar-
riage, but his father was so much enraged, he threat-
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et* to. disinherit him ; the lady's father was a Lie&
tena.-6.-tre,eral in the army ; but, it was hoped, the
t flair would he made up." Lord Charles Somerset
v. as a Lieutenant-General •in the army, and Com-
manding Oilicer of that district, and that the young
on whos^ behalf he makes the present applicas
lion, was the person pointed at in this paragraph,
appeared from the couf'ssion of the Defendant him-
self, for one 4.f the affidavits (Mr. Patterson), on
which this motion was grounded, stated, that a feW'l
of .'r the paragraph appeared in print (on the
1 of March), Mr. Patterson called CI the De-
fendant, and, in the course of conversation, asked
him, had he heard any thing of Miss Somerset and
Captain Windhlan ? Mr. Patterson replied lie had
not. 'the D..*eutlant then asked him, if he had not
heard of the fa:lx-pas between her and Capt. Wind-
ham, who offered her marriage, but the father
threatened to cut him a with a shilling, and then
he went on to add, that he was informed she was two
mont7aa gone with child. fie (the Attorney-Gene-
ral) wished be could reach the author of so foul and
Lifarnous a calumny, but the Defendant found it
more lucrative to stand furn'ard himself, and since he
did not chuse to give up the author, he must take
the ewe...gamier.. The Court, however, before their
Loidsiiips would grant a-rule for a criminal informa-
tion, would expect of him that he should deny the
story, he did deny it on the most positive terms, by
an affidavit made by the young lady herself. The
Court might' also ask, why Captain Willilltalil had
not made an affidavit also denying the story; but the
fact was, Capt. Windham, an Officer and a Gentle-
man of high Sank and high spirit, had called upon the
Defendant, threatening to- horsewhip him if he did
not give up the author, the Defendant refused to
give up the author, and Captain Windham was as
good as his word, and horsewhipped him most
soundly. lie (the Attorney-General) coup. not
&iv, but that this conduct on the part of Captain
Windham was unjustifiable. Whatever his feelings
might be as a man, yet, as a lawyer, he was bound to
say, that Captain Windham had no right to take the
law into his ()fill hands. lie certainly admitted he
had done so in this instance, and did nut deny OW he
hail horsewhipped hint most severely. There was a
still further reason why Captain NViutlham had, not
joined in the affidavits. The Defendant hadcom-
meaced a prosecution against Lim for an assault, and'
therefore he did
.fiot.think it would be altogether pro-
p'. for 'rim to makoony affidaVit upon this occasion.
Ui der these circumstances, be __trusted the Court
would grant the Rule.

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