The Earl of DURHAM has caused legal proceedings to be
instituted against the editor of the Durham Advertiser, for the insertion of the following paragraph in that paper. " The Earl and Countess of Durham, who have arrived at Lambton Castle, took a drive in that neighbourhood a few days ago; when hating occasion to pass through the village of Philadelphia, their progress was somewhat impeded in consequence or a number of pitmen, who had assembled to witness a game at quoits, having uninten- tionally stopped the way. The Noble Earl, as a 'Liberal,' could not brook this insult; and, in the excess or his auger, he loudly vociferated from the carriage-window, I Will not again suffer this interruption ; the village shall be removed and that this was not an unmeaning threat, is proved by the subsequent fact of his Lordship having, as we are informed, actually given orders to sweep the devoted village from off the face of the earth !"
The Durham Chronicle says, in reference to this story, that the whole
is a mere fabrication. •
" Lady Durham has not been driving through Philadelphia with Lord Durham. Neither has his Lordship been in a close carriage at that place. He and Mr. HeAworth Lambton drove through it one day, on their way from Houghton-le-Spring; and the only individual they spoke to, or saw (for there happened to be no quoit' players), was a person who addressed them in a civil manner, and informed them that a train of 'waggons was just coming up the railway which they were about to cross !'
There can be no doubt that the paragraph in the Advertiser has a direct tendency to render Lord DURHAM odious—to hold him up to popular contempt and hatred, in his immediate neighbourhood and else-. where ; the statements contained in it are, moreover, utterly false ; it is therefore a libel, beyond all question, in the eye of the law. Whether a verdict of Guilty will be obtained against the defendant, very much depends upon the temper of the Jury before whom he is tried. But Lord PuttitAm has no choice ; he has taken the only course which will lead to his vindication and prove the falsehood of the libel. His Lord- ship has written the fallowing letter to his solicitor ; which shows that he makes the right distinction between a full and free discussion of his public acts, and wanton misrepresentations of his private conduct.
" Lambton Castle, 10th October 1833.
" Sir—I perceive that a systematic attempt is making in the Tory press to libel and calumniate me, by imputing to me, in private lire, wools which I never tittered, and actions which I never committed. I am determined to bring the question at once to an issue, and ascertain whether the law or the country authorizes these base and cowardly proceedings. Of the fullest and freest discussion of my public conduct I never will complain. nor should I notice any comment, however unjust, on what I really do or say in private life; but I cannot submit to the continued publication of that series, not merely of misrepreseutat;ons, bat of actual falsehoods, with which I have been for some months assailed. You will therefore be pleased to institute legal proceedings against the editor of the Durham Advertiser, fur his libel on me, in his paper of last week, the whole of which is utterly false. " Your obedient servant,- " DURHAM."
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