Mr. Justice Ashhurst addressed the defendant to the following ef fect: John Smith, you have been convicted of publishing one of the most villanous and atrocious libels that ever appeared in a court of justice. That libel is contained in a pamphlet intituled, The Duties of Citizenship, and which has been so lately before the court, in the case of one of your brethren, John Birks, that it is quite unnecessary for me to repeat any part of it, for every man who heard it must remember, and remember with horror, the nature of its contents; the tendency of which is to undermine and destroy all law, all government, and all religion; from the further publication of such materials, the world can never derive either amusement or edification, it is therefore much better to bury it in oblivion; indeed the only edification which others can derive, ei ther from you or your conviction, is, that of learning from your punishment and example, that it is far better for them to endeavour to earn an honest livelihood by honest industry, than by endeavouring to debauch,the minds and contaminate the morals of his majesty's subjects. But you have made an affidavit, in which a physician and a surgeon join with you, stating that the state of your health is such, that a long imprisonment must necessarily occasion your death. When you published the wicked pamphlet, which is the subject of the present prosecution, you paid but little attention to the cause of humanity; for had it succeeded to the extent of your wishes, it might have endangered the lives of others, whose safety and welfare are far more important to society than yours; therefore an ap peal to the humanity of the court comes with an ill grace from your mouth; but this court will never lose sight of humanity, even to the most undeserving. You alleged that the condition of a certain prison was such as would occasion your death, if you should be confined in it. We therefore caused to be made diligent inquiry as to the state of the prison at Clerkenwell, and we are informed by Mr. Mainwaring and Dr. Glasse, that although it has been represented to us an unwholesome prison, where people are daily dying, yet the fact is not so, and that although Joseph Birks was sent there in a bad state of health, yet by the discipline of the prison he is restored to health; and that although 149 prisoners have been confined there for several months, there has not been one death, except that of one person who was brought there in a dying state. This intelligence has relieved the court from an anxiety which was the effect of its feeling and humanity. But our duty to our king and country demand from us to take care not to suffer to be let loose upon the public such monsters of iniquity as you are. The court having considered the whole of your case, doth therefore adjudge and order, that, for this your offence, you be imprisoned and kept to hard labour in the house of correction, in Clerkenwell, for two years, and that, at the end of your imprisonment, you do enter into your own recognizance in the sum of 1000!. for your good behaviour for five years; and I wish you to keep it in mind, if you are guilty of any offence in that time, so as to forfeit that recognizance, you must take it upon yourself, and not upon the court that imprisons you. Lord Kenyon-After the misrepresentation presentation which has taken place, and from what we now know of the prison at Clerkenwell, we were called upon, and we think we could not do better, than to send this person there. This prison, I verily believe, is admirably regulated. I wish that every other prison was in the same condition. I wish that every keeper of a prison would re. collect and feel, that he owes a duty to the public, that is, to see that the prison under his care is duly regulated. Instead of this, I am sorry to hear that, in many prisons, there are some of the most shocking scenes of riot and confusion: that in some of them are committed offences of the greatest enormity. I wish the keepers of such prisons to remember, that their inattention in such cases is highly criminal in them. That such inattention in the keeper of a prison is, by law, an indictable offence. That there must be a reformation, a speedy reformation, in these things, or else severe punishment must follow. The prisoner said, I will not detain the court for half a minute. This sentence is equal to a sentence of death upon me. Lord Kenyon.-We have examined, with a minute anxiety, into the condition of this prison, and of this prisoner, and we have found the whole that has been represented by him is a gross imposition in every part of it. All that has been said by him with respect to the prison is grossly false. We have the examination of a physician respecting the state of the health of this very prisoner now standing upon the floor. That physician was asked, Whether the state of the prisoner's health is such as that his life would be endangered if he was confined and subjected to the discipline of this prison? That very physician, who attended him for this very purpose, has answered that question in the negative. 14. The London Gazette announced the capture of La Sanspeur, French cutter privateer, of two swivels and 18 men, by the Siren, capt. Gosselin. Philadelphia, Feb. 8. The president of the senate thus addressed the two houses: Gentlemen of the senate, And gentlemen of the house of representatives, By the report which has been made to congress by the tellers appointed by the two houses to examine the votes, there areVotes for John Adams Thomas Jefferson Jeremiah Iredell 71 68 59 30 15 11 7 5 2 2 2 2 1 The whole number of votes are 138; 70 votes, therefore, make a majority; so that the person who has 71 votes, which is the highest number, is elected president; and the person who has 68 votes, which is the next highest number, is elected vice-president. The president of the senate again addressed the two houses— In obedience to the constitution and laws of the United States, and to the commands of both houses of congress, expressed in their resolutions passed in the present session I declare, that John Adams is elected president of the United States for four years, to commence on on the 4th of March next; and that Thomas Jefferson is elected vice president of the United States for four years, to commence on the 4th day of March next. And may the Sovereign of the universe, the ordainer of civil government on earth, for the preservation of liberty, justice, and peace among men, enable them both, conformably to the constitution of the United States, to discharge the duties of those offices with conscientious diligence, punctuality, and per severance. 15. In the Court of Chancery, the attorney general addressed the court as follows: My lord, In the cause of Burke and John Owen, I am humbly to move your lordship, that the defendant, together with his servants and workmen, may be restrained from publishing a work, intituled, A Letter from the Right Honourable Edmund Burke, to his Grace the Duke of Portland, containing fiftyfour Articles of Impeachment against the Right Honourable Charles James Fox.' That the defendant and his servants may be restrained, by the injunction of this court, from publishing such work, as also such other of the plaintiff's letters as are in his hands. It is stated, my lord, that in the year 1792, the plaintiff composed a work, consisting of a letter to his grace the duke of Portland. That it was never printed by the order of the plaintiff; that he never gave the defendant order to print or publish it, and that the plaintiff never parted from his property therein; and that therefore he ought to have the possession thereof; that the defendant obtained such letter, and has advertised the publication, and is now publishing and making sale thereof. My lord, I do not trouble your lordship. with any observation of mine upon this case; my mind is hardly equal to framing observations that would sufficiently describe this transaction. I have an affidavit of these facts. They are positively sworn to, not by the plain tiff, for he is at present in the coun try. The affidavits were then read. Lord Chancellor.-These injunc tions have been very commonly granted, I believe, for printed works, or publishing private letters.-Take your injunction. 18. The London Gazette announced the capture of the Buonaparte privateer, of seventeen guns and eighty-two men, by the Espion, captain Dixon; and of the Jean Emilie, of ten guns and sixty-two men, by the Triton; and of the Recovery, French privateer, of fourteen guns, and forty-six men by the same. 21. Announced in the London Gazette the capture of the Difficile privateer, of eighteen guns and 206 men, by the Phoenix, Triton, and Scourge; of Le Tartane privateer, of sixteen guns and sixty men, by the Greyhound, captain Young; and of the Le Flibustier, French lugger privateer, of fourteen guns, and six swivels, by the Eurydice, capt. Talbot. 22. In the court of King's Bench, Esten v. The duke of Hamilton, This was an action brought to recover damages of the defendant, for criminal conversation with the plaintiff's wife. Mr. Gibbs opened the case on the part of the plaintiff; he stated that this action was brought by the plaintiff, Mr. James Esten, against the defendant, the duke of Hamilton, to recover compensation for an injury which he had received, in consequence of what the jury had heard stated from the declaration. The circumstances which ought to govern the conduct of a jury in estimating damages in cases of this sort, were different in almost every case from those which went before it; but the principle upon which these damages were to be estimated was always the same. The jury would apply the circumstances of this case to that principle, and then they would examine what compensation was in their opinion due to Mr. Esten; whatever they thought was due they would give to him, and with that they would be content. Mr. Esten, in the year 1783, was the purser of a ship in the navy, and not opulent. He became acquainted with Mrs. Esten about this time, and in the year 1784 they were married; they lived together in England, where they had a daughter, the issue of the marriage; in the year 1787, they went from hence to Dublin; during all this time there was no imputation upon either Mr. Esten, or Mrs. Esten's honour; he continued to support himself and his family from his situation, which, as had been observed already, was that of a purser, and not a very opulent one. Mr. Esten was at this time incapable of making for his wife and daughter such further provisions as he could have wished; and Mrs. Esten imagined she had, and as it appeared she had, talents for the stage, she tried such talents at Dublin, and she was successful, and consequently was soon enabled so. support herself handsomely; but Mr. Esten, not choosing to be a burthen upon his wife, and his embarrassment having increased on him, and finding that he was incapable of supporting his wife, and thinking it improper, if she was ca pable, that Mrs. Esten should sup.. port him, although so well able to support herself, determined on looking out for means whereby to better his fortune. Had Mr. Esten been left to his own choice, nothing would have contributed to his happiness so much as that of living with his family, but it became necessary for him to try to improve his fortune, and, therefore, a temporary separation between him and Mrs. Esten took place. Mrs. Esten was accordingly left with the child at Dublin, and Mr. Esten returned to England, pursued the line of life which had been already mentioned, and continued from that time to the present without the least im putation upon his character. In the year 1789, Mr. Esten went as purser in his majesty's ship the Europa, from England to Jamaica, and from thence to St. Domingo, and entitled himself by his conduct to the regard of those under whom he acted, and was advanced to a situation of trust and profit, by which his fortune was much improved, which improvement he might have enjoyed with his wife, but for the conduct of the duke of Hamilton. But for the act of that noble duke, Mr. Esten might have enjoyed the society and comfort of his wife, and with that respect which he wished. Mrs. Esten continued on the stage until the year 1793. She quitted the theatre in Dublin and came to Edinburgh, and from the time she went on the stage to the moment he was about to speak of, the breath of scandal had been never directed towards her name; no imputation had been cast upon her, that she had been faithless to her husband's bed; and Mr. Esten hoped he would have been able, as he would have been but for the conduct of the 1 the defendant, to return to the domestic comfort which it was his object to prepare when he separated for a time from his wife; as he fairly left, so he hoped upon his return to find the honour of his wife. In the year 1793, as he had stated already, Mrs. Esten apeared on the stage in Edinburgh; there the duke of Hamilton met her; what means he used to corrupt her, he knew not, but the facts he had to state of her were these: that the duke of Hamilton went from his palace in Scotland to the theatre in Edinburgh, and openly, publicly, and in the face of day took Mrs. Esten into his carriage, and carried her with him in triumph to his paJace, where they afterwards lived together publicly and avowedly as man and wife, and from that time to this the duke of Hamilton had cohabited with Mrs. Esten as his wife. The means by which he practised on her virtue he could not state, as he knew nothing of them. He was stating only the facts, for he knew of nothing else in the matter. These being the circumstances of the case, the only question for the jury would be, the damages they would give to Mr. Esten for what had happened: in speaking upon that subject, he should not deserve credit with the jury if he stated this as one of those aggravated cases which sometimes appeared before a jury. This was not a case in which the defendant, the duke of Hamilton, had become the acquaintance with the plaintiff, been received into his house as a friend, and then, under the mask of friendship, had converted the opportunity which the plaintiff's hospitality had given him to the use of seducing his friend's wife, and afterwards had carried her away from that friend's house, in which he had been received as a guest. It was not a case in which there was that species of malignity. But the defendant was a man of high rank he trusted the jury would think on the effect which the conduct of great men was sure to have on the morals of the lower classes of the community. It had been justly said by the noble and learned judge, that it was in vain for the higher ranks of society to expect their inferiors to be correct in their morals by mere precept; the great should set to them an example of good morals. It was their duty to do so; every intelligent man expected it of them, from the advantage of their education, and from the comforts which their fortunes so easily procured for them, so as they had less distress they had less temptation. He desired the jury to look at the situation and conduct of this defendant, and also at the situation and conduct of this plaintiff, at the time when this injury happened. The plaintift's wife, it was true, was not torn from his bosom ; but while he was commendably endeavouring to improve his fortune, and had hopes of returning to his wife to enjoy it, this injury was done, which destroyed all his hopes. That he had great hopes of enjoying happiness with his wife, was evident, which he wrote to a friend when he was informed of what had happened: He said in that letter, that he could scarcely give any answer to his friend upon the subject. He said that the temporary separation from his wife was absolutely for his fortune. He thought he should have been happy to return to a wife whom he adored. That he had always thought her immaculate. God only knew what means had been used to accomplish her ruin, &c |