APPENDIX TO CHRONICLE. 



279 



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I 



roation and calamny. He then 

 took notice of some of the particu- 

 lars of the attack upon the Prince; 

 and with respect to the charge in 

 the Hbel of his being a violator of 

 his word, he said he was sorry for 

 the indiscretion of the defendants' 

 advocate, wlio confirmed it by say- 

 ing, that he told untruths as a 

 prince, as if that mended the mat- 

 ter. Invested as he was almost 

 with the regal character of his fa- 

 ther, could any thing be more ca- 

 Jumnious or disgraceful towards 

 him? He then alluded to the charge 

 of his being " a libertine," and the 

 " companion of gamblers and de- 

 mireps;" respecting which, Mr. 

 Brougham had dwelt at some 

 length on the conviction of a no- 

 bleman about the Prince's person, 

 of adultery in its most heinous 

 form. The following words, if 

 accurately reported, will scarcely 

 be read without surprise and re- 

 gret, as pronounced from the bench 

 of the Lord Chief Justice of Eng- 

 land. " The libeller was not de- 

 fended by saying that the Prince 

 had taken into his councils some 

 person who had, at a remote time, 

 been guilty of adultery. There 

 were venial circumstances con- 

 nected with that offence ; and was 

 his Royal Highness the only per- 

 son who had done the like ? Let 

 us look back upon his Majesty's 

 reign, distinguished as it had been 

 for bis private morality, and see if 

 no person was ever intrusted by 

 him with counsel who had incur- 

 red a similar misfortune. He chose 

 to call it by that name ; for there 

 were circumstances which rendered 

 the crime of adultery either enor- 

 mous or venial." 



His lordship concluded a charge 

 much more forcible against the 



defendants than the speech of the 

 Solicitor-general, by apostrophising 

 the jury, that •• if there was 

 one man of the twelve, who, 

 pledging only the veracity of a 

 gentleman, could say this was not 

 a libel, he must remind that man 

 of the more sacred sanction of an 

 oath, which bound him to admi- 

 nister justice according to that law 

 by which he pronounced this a 

 foul, atrocious, and malignant libel.'' 



The jury being called upon for 

 their verdict, the foreman said, 

 they were all agreed but one. Af- 

 ter retiring for about a quarter of 

 an hour, that one not having main- 

 tained his dissent, they returned 

 with a verdict oif^idlty against both 

 the defendants. 



At the next term they were 

 brought up for judgment, when 

 they put in an affidavit, stating 

 that they had been actuated by no 

 personal malice or love of slander, 

 in what they had done, and were 

 conscious of none but honourable 

 motives. They also gave some 

 statement of their pecuniary cir- 

 cumstances, in mitigation of any 

 intended fine. Mr. Justice Le Blanc 

 then addressed the defendants, and 

 after some observations on their af- 

 fidavit, pronounced the sentence 

 of the court, which was, that each 

 of the defendants should be impri- 

 soned for two years, one in Cold- 

 bath-fields, and the other in the 

 Surrey county gaol in the Borough ; 

 and at the end of their imprison- 

 ment should each pay a fine of 

 500/. and find security for their be- 

 haviour for five years more. 



Trial of the Marquis of Sligo. 

 — Admiralty Sessions. — Old Bailei/, 

 Dec. 16, 1812.— At ten o'clock Sir 

 W. Scott entered the court, accom- 

 panied 



