The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser. — 1818-01-19 (London, England)

SHERIFFS COURT, BEDFORD-ROW, SATURDAY, JANUARY 17.  LIBEL.  Sir Frl IX Afillt mein otters latatc.elf for Said!may st the respelling election. Tit re a ou founilatuns fur the report stated in F.%elatog raper, that Mr. Consis:a is leave Ins pia await Ohre fur that uf Trett•uler of liar Navy. The I tarsals r (Sir I )Avill NI and 41p.acvsPit. ',111.-al I Halifax, for Beraniaila, on th• ar is al I:l,saa, to winter. The turth was to *niter at A I s tiered SHei ll gee Bank Car the county is about to he forsiscd in Chas town, under the molt respectslale ''u rain'. The Institut. already established in Oster wry, Wellington, &e. tarnmi,e to be extensively use fut. The 50511 ra1.1.15/. was deposited in she Ablwy Savings Yank on Monday, by the Ibrusidens Society at gaddiogtoil.—(.Nlirercsbary thromirle.) The first Quarterly Meeting of the Nlanaiters rf the Coldwater Saving Houk was held em ol.ev. A report was wade of Ow isroceeaLf?% a:s the Institut ttttt since the Nth of Nov,anto:r. a le-. a'aepoit. were but pond ill. By tine at ippc.irrtl Ili at the stalorriptions fur defraying the expenses :AIN trat to:J., sand that 1,977/. its. al. bad been receaveal Irons 117 depositors of every elm.* intended to be benefited by ibis very excellent e‘tablo.:astent. Frrascit eggs brought into the port of Portsmouth, elik 11w sth January. 1617, to the 5111 .I,entuery, 1.;10-.-111rele mslliuos fifty-three ,aosl toilettes', Which, at the rate of IU fur VI weetnunt to 9,5404 13s. Bid. Au instance of suicide took place last evening, Ivetorras sweets and eight o'clock. us Norfulk-Arent, Mrs Id. Th, unfortunate griatleinasta's name was anti Is, he Known. MO a Ireottleul of Westminster. lir Bur pistol sumo has month. which, on expire. mina, a :swot! instant death. Surgeon: \TEIINOSTES Illtialed on the list show.  micanditiothilly pardoted, anti soon after re:torv.l to their professiois. %Viten a fe!low-sulajeet was unhappily involved in 6114,11 an Lai as this, lie WWI to every good tnin, to every item cf true honour and humanity, an object mit (11.:y of sympathy, but of protection, 111111 the last 111.. e against whom the charge of " foul murder" should be wantonly aml malevolently flung. When he said this, he spoke of what was termed a fair and honourable duel, which was nut the fault of the party iuvolved, but was imposed upon hint by the rigid mks of society. That this duel was of the character he described, it was manifest from the pardon extender, to the Prisoners, and the opinion of the Judge at whose recommendation it was granted. Such, however, was nut the feeling or opinion of the Defendant*: for they, at a distance of time, when even if the adlair were not us pure as it undoubtedly was, would, if they were like ordinary minds, have merged their angry feelings thought proper not only to revive the topic, but to attach to It a character which it never deserved. So much for this branch of the libel.— Now for that pert of it which sent the ['Windt' on a voyage to Bigamy Bay for forgery ; on tins point, much a. he generally dreaded the exercise of his Learned Friend's (Serjeant Copley's) talents and ingenuity, he was tinder no apprehension that in this case the indignation of the Jury would be turned away from a proper consideration of this imputation OH the Plaintiff. The character of the latter stood as high as that Of any man in the community ; he could adduce the testimony of the first military and mercantile characters in his behalf; and was it to be e'tdured that such a man should be sihgled out for public obloquy and detest iti 111 l . He could hardly anticipate the sort of defence which his Learned Friend meant to make to this libel. It would, perhaps. be said, that the Defetailatits were Editors of a Newspaper ; that they were often isecessarily obliged in the hasty and sometimes careless manner in which they sent their papers to press, to publish matter without revision, on the authority of others; that they had nothing to do but to till their columns with the daily news, and in this way to gratify the uppetitee of their various readers well, be it so—let them say, "this is the craft by which we live." The Editor of a Newspaper, in his (Mr. Brougham's) opinion, filled a most useful and respectable station—one which was essential to the existing state and welfare of society. Let him use all manner of liberty in his description of, or anintedversion upon, public events; let Lim take great latitude with the characters of public men; nor would he advise such individuals to be over-jealous or captious with an Editor, if he deviated a little into their private characters in discussing their public pretensions, if it was done within proper bounds. Ile, for one, if he were more a public man than he could pretend to be, would give an Editor this full latitude. [Here the Learned Counsel pursued his description of the various and complicated duties which devolve upon an Editor, and defined their portico. lar nature.] Now, as to any defence being set up on the ground of carelessness. and that a man cannot he un his guard at all times. and that he must trust to chance ; well then, he would answer, let him take his chance ; if it turns up welt • he is a winner; if his luck proves against him, then let him pay for the slander he has disseminated. The situation in which the parties stood left no tenable defence on the ground of carelessness. The convict ship iu which the printer thought proper to put Mr. Gilchrist, was within sight of his printing press; he might have sent or gone on board in five minutes, and at once ascertained the truth of the inforination communicated to hint. Was it likely that he should have assumed this license of insetting a paragraph of this kind which reached him with the same facility, and indifference, and inatention, which he would have shewn to a paragraph of the price of stocks, or the arrival of the Alms, or the sailing of the Betsey, or any thing shout which nobody cared ? But how (lid it happen that these Editors never heard of the exumination at Bow-street, or of the trial afterwards of the party whom they thus found arrived from GILCHRIST a. THE PROPRIETORS OF THE lIAMP• the hulks? Do trials in this city escape without the notice of the Newspapers ? Could au officer in his