20 JUNE 1829, Page 3

LIBEL ON THE LORD CitascET.Loa.—The Attorney-General presented him- self, on

Friday, before the Court of King's Bench, to move, on behalf of the Lord High Chancellor, for leave to tile a criminal information against the proprietors

and publisher of the Morning Journal. " Your Lordships," said Sir James Scarlett, "are well aware that the important and laborious duties of the Lord Chancellor's office make it quite impossible that he should spare the time that is necessary to become acquainted with the numerous calumnies that of late have been levelled against him. He could not bestow sufficient time to make himself acquainted with the productions of the daily press, more especially that part of it which, struggling into a new existence, and becoming candidates for notice and for popularity, adopt the tried expedient of libelling individuals, and bringing forward personal slander as the means of procuring circulation and wealth. He has selected the case I am now to offer to your Lordships' consideration, not as one containing general charges, which in their nature can hardly be met by specific allegations, and which are for the most part published only to awaken curiosity, and excite the attention of the public to the paper of the following day, in the ex- pectation that a solution may there be found of the enigma which has been pro- mulgated the day before. He has thought it fit to select a charge in which the pub- lisher has condescended to state a specific fact, which fact can be made tine subject of Issue in a court of justice ; and it is his judgment, and upon that judgment I act to-day, considering the noble Lord as my client in this case, to apply to your Lordships for the purpose of bringing the fact into discussion, and inviting the parties who have thought fit to charge him with this fact, to bring forward the evidence they have in support of it. My Lords, 1 have further to add, that in the course of the administration of may duty in the office I hold, I sincerely wish I may be enabled to conduct it, as to this department, with the same degree of mildness and moderation that distinguished that noble Lord when he held the same office—mildness and moderation which, when they do not degenerate into weakness, are the most attractive ornaments of thc (ration ofjustiee. But at the same time I cart assure your Lordships, I shall make it my endeavour to discharge my duty with a firmness not to be daunted by any personal fears of the consequences tomyself; and I trust not to be shaken, on the other hand, by any treacherous allurements of popular applause. Upon the present occasion I obey the directions of the noble Lord, who pre- fers appearing before your Lordships as a suitor, leaving it to your Lord- ships to judge whether the case he lays before you, or that which may be furnished in answer to it, may be a ground for your Lordships' interference or rejection of his suit. My Lords, the libel complained of is in a paper called the Morning Journal. Lord Lyndhurst, in his affidavit, states that it only came to his notice the 13th day of June. The paper was published on thie 30th of May. It alludes to the recent appointment of my colleague in office; and an imputation is made upon the Lord Chancellor, according to the general understanding of every man who reads this paper, that that appointment was made from some corrupt arid improper motive in the mind of the Lord Chan- cellor. In proof of which a specific fact is insinuated, in terms so manifest as to leave no doubt, as it appears to me, on the mind of any man who reads it. I proceed to state, that the fact itself is denied in the strongest terms by the Lord Chancellor. The allusion is to my learned friend and colleague, the Solicitor- General ; and it is intended to be stated that lie has been appointed to that high office by means of some personal corruption, or some private and improper mo- tive. The Lord Chancellor has sworn, and he is confirmed by that learned per- son, that he never hail, directly or indirectly, my himself, or by any agent, in the remotest manner, the slightest communication of a pecuniary nature with Mr. Sugden • that he never inn any degree, or hi any manner, or at any time in his life, expressed or entertained the slightest desire or wish to obtain from that gentle- man any thing like pecuniary accommodation. I need not state to your Lord- ships, therefore, that tine charge itself is denied in the most explicit terms. After making remarks upon some other persons, with which I need not trouble your

Lordships, the paper proceeds-

" Mr. Sugden is to be Solicitor-General. The reasons which led to this promotion are really so natural, that we beg leave to explain them, as Sterne would have done, by the mouths of his inimitable Uncle Toby and Corporal Trim :— " Uncle Toby—if a paymaster, or a barrack-master, lend money to his commanding officer, what should he expect ? " Trim—To be promoted of course, your honour. " Uncle Tulv—If a captain, a tall broad-shouldered fellow for instance, who Inns married a rich dowager, should lend a thousand pounds to his colonel, what does be look fur? "4 Trim—To be made a major first opportunity, and, as your honour knows, God bless you, to be placed in the way of higher preferment. " • Uncle Toby—A naif a major should lend his general all his fortune, say thirty thou- sand pounds for example, what then ? " Trim—To be placed in the general's shoes, your honour, before the cnd of the cam- paign.'

" This is, we admit, quite satisfactory. There is reason in this merit, and Store is point too in the argument, which Mr. Sugden and another learned personage will be at no loss to comprehend."

My Lords, the Lord Chancellor states in his affidavit, that upon reading this passage, it appeared to him that the intention was to impute to his Lordship some corrupt and improper motive regarding the appointment of the Solicitor-General to his office. I stated before that the facts are denied by both parties in time most explicit manner. Of course these facts need not be denied either before your Lordships, or any member of the bar, or before any one gentleman who lives in decent and respectable society. But the circulation of tine calumnies extends all over England, and goes beyond the limits of the country which ‘ve inhabit. Nobody can calculate the effect that may be produced in the minds of the ,illgar and the ignorant, by calumnies uttered, and propagated, and reiterated only to

extend the sale of a paper. On this account, the Lord Chancellor, feeling de- sirous that those who think fit to libel his Lordship. in the way in which he has been attacked of late, should be met by some sort of notice, was anxious to select the only specific fact upon which thmy think fit to rely that he might grapple with that fact, and give all the satisfaction be can to the public, that the foundations of the charge are as false as they are calumnious and injurious." Lord Tenterden—" Have you the proper affidavits of the parties ? " Mr. Attorney-General—" Yes, my Lord, I have the proper affidavit, stating that John Fisher, Robert Alexander, and John Gutch, are the persons who appear on the files of the Stamp-office to be so connected with this paper as to make them the responsible persons." Lord 'fenterden—" Take a rule to show cause:!

CLERICAL IMMORAT.ITY.--.A suit promoted by Mr. Burgoyne, to have the Reverend Dr. Free deprived of the Rectory of Sutton, and which has been be- fore the Arches Court in one shape or another since 1824, was finally heard on Monday last. Dr. Free was inducted into the living of Sutton in 1808 ; and the gross indecency of his conduct first became apparent in two years after. From 1810 till 1823, he seems to have carried on a criminal intercourse with various women, his servants. One of these bore him three children ; he had two by other women ; and a fourth was prematurely delivered of a child of which he

was the father. Only one servant durini.* that period resisted his advances, and she remained with him only a few days. Some other gross indecencies were also imputed to this reverend person. It was alleged that he was given to drinking spirituous liquors, and to the use of profane language; that he neglected his cle- rical duties, and prevented vestries from being held in tine church, according to time custom of the parish ; that he desecrated the church-yard by alto ring his swine to feed in it and turn up the graves ; that he stripped the lead off tile roof of the church, and sold it for his own use ; that in several instances he refused to bap- tize children until a fee was paid, and also refused to read the burial service; that the gross immorality and impropriety of his conduct had given such offence to his parishioners that they refused to attend the parish-church of Sutton; that only two or three poor persons still continued to attend the church ; and that when the sacrament was administered there were no persons to receive it but the de- fendant and the clerk. All these charges were proved by evidence. Dr. Free rested his defence as to the alleged incontinence on the 27th Geo. III., cap. 44, sect. 2, which, as he construed it, protected any clergyman from having snits instituted against him for incontinence, if such suits were not brought within eight months after the alleged offences; and as to the other charges, he denied them altoge- ther. Ile indulged in tirades against Mr. Burgoyne ; and threatened to publish a. pamphlet entitled " Burgoyneiana, or Memoirs of the Burgoyne family, ' which would make Mr. Burgoyne blush, if he could blush. Sir John Nicholt decided that the libel had been proved ; and sentenced Dr. Free to be deprived of his living of Sutton, and to the costs of the suit. Dr. Free announced that he meant to appeal against the sentence.

ASSAULT AND FALSE IMPRISON MENT.—Alr. Dickson, ironmonger, St. Alban's, had dealings with Mr. Plenty, who carried on the same business in London. lit June last year, their dealings ceased, and Mr. Dickson sent a friend to Mr. Plenty's manufactory with a sum of money as the balance of his account 3 but the money was refused as insufficient. Subsequently Mr. Dickson and his friend went to the manufactory and demanded some patterns. The workmen refused to givc them up in•their master's absence ; but Mr. Dickson nevertheless took them away. ' In the course of the day, Mr. Plenty and AR officer took him into custody on a charge of robbery. The Police Magistrate reffised.to entertain the charge ; and M Dickson, the plaintiff, brought an action in -Mel:land of Common Pleas to recover compensation for the outrage. It was urged for the defendant on Monday,When the case was tried, that the plaintiff coming to his shop and taking propeity 'on which he had a claim remaining unsatisfied, naturally led to a suppo- sition that the plaintiff had been guilty of a felony. The Lord Chief Justice thought it impossible such a supposition could be entertained. The Jury found for the plaintiff—damages 100/.

LIBEL—Gould, the plaintiff, was insolvent, and obliged to take the benefit of the Insolvent Debtor's Act. Huline, the defendant, was an opposing creditor for a .sum of less than 1/. The defendant wrote a letter to the Chief Commissioner, charging the plaintiff with fraud, which letter the Court handed over to the plain- tiff. An action for damages was therefore brought in the Court of Common Pleas ; and on Saturday the Jury gave a verdict for the plaintiff—damages lc

IsisitearicE.:—In the Court of King's Bench, on Tuesday, Mr. Winder brought an action against Mr. Wise to recover on a policy of insurance on goods to the amount of 500/. on board the brig Anne, on a voyage from Liverpool to Buenos Ayres in 182G. The insurance was effected by the plaintiff, as agent to a person named Grogan, at Liverpool, with the agent for the South Devon Insurance Company. The policy was signed on the 3d of February 1826 ; the vessel sailed on the 4th; and having met with tempestuous weather, lost some spars, and had the carpenter drowned, arrived at the port of Bewnwre in Islay. Before the vessel sailed, there was a rumour of the intended blockade of Buenos Ayres by the Brazilian squadron ; but nothing certain was known about it. The captain Was detained about twenty days at the island of Islay before he sailed. When the Anne arrived in the river Plate, the blockade was in force. The vessel, though seized, was liberated, as it did not appear to the Brazilian authorities that the captain was aware of the blockade when he sailed ; but the cargo was irre- coverably gone. Mr. Brougham for the defence, admitted the facts ; but he proved that the captain was well aware of the blockade before he sailed from islay. The Attorney-General could not resist the evidence, and consented to a nonsuit. It was laid down as law, that the captain of a vessel was not entitled to proheed if' he was aware of a blockade before he sailed.

JOINT Sl'OCK Damn-ff.—It may perchance be recollected, that in the prosperity year of 1825, a joint stock company was formed to open a spacious street from BlackfEars-bridge to the northern parts of the metropolis. It was called the "Fleet-market and Saffron-hill Improvement Company ;" but the panic which

followed put an end to the project. Mr. Flail was appointed Secretary to the Company. and did the duties of his office, but received no salary. To recover from 2001. to 3001., the value which he put upon his labour, an action was brought in the Court of King' Bench, and tried on Monday. The defendants were the Honourable B. M. Curzon and four other gentlemen, who alone of all the Directors refused to contribute any thing towards the liquidation of the Secre- tary's claim. Five speeches were made by as many counsel for the defendants. In the end, Lord Tenterden recognized the plaintiff's right to remuneration ; and the Jury found a verdict for him for 125/.