284 ANNUAL REGISTER, 1812. 



they were at sea, what names they 

 should assume, and that his lord- 

 ship sent them below for the pur- 

 pose of concealment when the Ac- 

 tive's boat came in sight. 



After Dr. Robinson had replied 

 on the part of the prosecution, 

 Lord Ellenborough recapitulated 

 the evidence, and commented on 

 the pledge of his honour, which 

 his lordship had given to Admiral 

 Martin, that there were no men- 

 of-war's men on board, when, on 

 the faith of that pledge, a protec- 

 tion was granted him for forty 

 men. He also observed upon the 

 particular description the captain 

 of the Warrior had given him of 

 the two men who had deserted 

 from his ship, who could not but 

 have been known to the defendant, 

 as being part of a boat's crew 

 •whom he had often used, and 

 whose appearance he had highly 

 praised. After a variety of re- 

 marks his lordship left it to the 

 jury to determine on the probabi- 

 lity of the evidence on both sides. 

 The jury after a short consulta- 

 tion, found the marquis guilty on 

 all the counts in the indictment, 

 expect that for false imprisonment. 

 On the following day. Lord 

 Sligo appeared in court to receive 

 sentence. An affidavit was put in, 

 exculpating him from part of the 

 charge, and expressing his contri- 

 tion for the offence. Sir William 

 Scott then in an impressive speech 

 pronounced the sentence of the 

 court, which was, that his lordship 

 should pay to the king a fine of 

 5,000/. and be imprisoned four 

 months in Newgate. 



Benjafield v. JVeeble. — Court of 

 King' s-Bcnch, Dec. 22.— Special 

 Jury. — This was an action against 



the printer and publisher of the 

 County Chronicle and Weekly Ad- 

 vertiser, for a libel in that paper 

 of the 3rd of March, 1812; to 

 which the defendant pleaded not 

 guilty, and a justification that the 

 charges contained in the said libel 

 were specifically true. 



Mr. Solicitor-General stated the 

 plaintiff's case, who, he said, was 

 now a magistrate for the county of 

 Suffolk, residing at Bury St. Ed- 

 munds. He had been originally 

 an officer of the King's yeomen of 

 the guard, and subsequently ob- 

 tained a commission in the Kent 

 militia through the late Duke of 

 Dorset. In the year 1788 he \va3 

 editor of the Morning Post, which 

 he conducted at the time of the 

 then prospective regency, on ac- 

 count of that illness from which 

 his Majesty happily recovered. He 

 soon parted with his share in the 

 newspaper, however, to Mr. Tat- 

 tersall, and retired into the county 

 of Suffolk, of which he had been 

 many years a magistrate. In a 

 controversy respecting the com- 

 mitteeship of a lunatic, into which 

 it was not necessary for the solici- 

 tor-general to enter, circumstances 

 occurred which gave rise to the 

 following libel, for which the de- 

 fendant was responsible, as he had 

 not given up its author; but of 

 which the Solicitor-general did not 

 suppose him to be the author : he 

 only wished he could discover that 

 author. 



»' We understand that Captain 

 Benjafield, who was formerly editor 

 of the Morning Post, has been charg- 

 edbyhisbrother magistrates for the 

 county of Suffolk, with obtaining, 

 during that editorship, an annuity 

 from the Prince of Wales, for the 

 suppressing of articles sent to that 



paper, 



