The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser. — 1804-05-04 (London, England)

ATTORAI EY GENEII AI. admitted the offer of pleading Gail!/ had been proposed to him by Se'- . jeant Besr but it proceeded horn an expeaation of mercy, which the Defendants thereby hoped to obtain, and prevent the matter coming before the public. He said there appeared to him a misunder- • standing with respea to the recommendation of this Jury • if the Jury recommended mercy as to the • second publication, it was conceiving sentence had been passed upon the first. The Libel, he insisted, was published for the purpose, and with a view to influence the minds of the Jury ; it does not merely .. give an account of faas ; they go further, they out step all bounds of moderation : it is not sufficient to state the death of the unfOrtunate smuggler by the Excise officer, but they call the officer a polisher and informer, and his shooting the young man was .. premeditated, and here the publication can only it . viewed as having a natural tendency to mischief ; the death of the man was proved to have been demo in self defence, in the discharge of his duty ; but what does the second publicauon ? :dm many opprobrious epithets, he even goes so far as to insinuate It was a premeditated and bloody intention of murder. The affidavits which were produced, he hoisted, were a further aggravation of the offence. Mr. GARROW made several observations OA the same side with the ATTOLNEV GENERAL, with his , usual ability ; he declared his astonishment at the Learned Serjeant (Belt) stating that the libel. was , truth. But how were the fads? The sante Judge tried both cases, the Jury judged of them. He , supposed it would be contended, and indeed some have even gone so far as to assert that it would be very hard, forsooth, to be prevented publishing pri- _ vate slander ; that the trade could not be cased on without it. The libel in question was published for • the very purpose of preventing justice, to prejudice the Magistrates, theWitnesses,and the Jury, to cause it to be believed the exciseman was guilty of wilful m'trder. The Learned Counsel then expatiated very largely on the liberty of the press ; and cow, , eluded with observing, that the Court would rend a severe and necessary lesson to the public, in punishing these gentlemen according to their de-orts. Lord EL esistioeotost—ss It appears to rat an offence the most enormous in its nature : the first publication tends to poison justice, by a statmaant so mixed with circumstances, that a person re:= it must be biassed against the party ; the tends to digrace and draw into disesteem even pc. tice itself, and to defeat the effea of the verdia of a jury. I can hardly conceive a crime of greater . enormity. Let the Defendants stand committed, and let them be brought up on the last day of term." Richard Possess, William West, Thomas Teague, Richard Teague. William Smith, and Joseph Cvrangy, were all severally brought up to rionve the judgment of the Court. They all had bees convisaed of similar offences, that of assaulting and olsstruaing Excise Officers in the discharge of their duty. They were ordered to stand committed, and to be brought up again on the last day. of Term. •