APPENDIX TO CHRONICLE. 



285 



paper, reflecting upon his Royal 

 Highness. This Mr. Benjafield 

 positively denied for a time, but 

 upon investigation, and upon the 

 production of two explanatory let- 

 ters from Earl Moira and Captain 

 Coxhead, the fact was completely 

 established. It is true that the 

 annuity did not appear in the 

 Prince's household accounts; but it 

 was granted through Mr. Weljie to 

 Mr. Tattersall, the other proprietor 

 of the Morning Post; and from 

 Mr. Tattersall, and subsequently to 

 his death, from his executors, Mr. 

 Benjafield has continued to receive 

 the annuity for more than twenty 

 years," 



The publication of the libel, and 

 the defendant's responsibility were 

 first proved in the usual manner. 



Mr. Wayman, clerk to the ma- 

 gistrates of the hundreds of Fingo 

 and Thedwastry, in Suffolk,was then 

 called upon; and Mr. Holt, leading 

 counsel for the defendant, being 

 permitted by the court to ask him 

 whether he had ever heard the 

 charge made against the plaintiff 

 before it was brought by the de- 

 fendant ? he said that it was the 

 subject of pretty general conversa- 

 tion previously to January, 1812. 



After some technical objections 

 had been disposed of, Mr. Holt 

 addressed the jury in behalf of the 

 defendant. He desired tiiem to 

 consider the present action as jus- 

 tified by a plea which he should 

 presently prove, and that the ques- 

 tion for their determination was, 

 liow much of rightful character the 

 plaintiff had lost by this publica- 

 tion, and what was the value of 

 that character ? The defendant 

 belonged to the same trade which 

 the plaintiff had once exercised, 

 and if he chose to hold up those 



derelictions from principle by which 

 the plaintiff had disgraced that 

 trade to the warning and example 

 of others, although he might have 

 been called upon to answer cri- 

 minally for such a libel, yet when 

 civilly sued for damages, he had a 

 right to set up this justification of 

 truth. The learned counsel then 

 proceeded to give a character of 

 the plaintiff as he had been editor 

 of the Morning Post, in which ca- 

 pacity he was in the habit of shoot- 

 ing at exalted persons under the 

 shelter of innuendo; andhewaspro- 

 ceeding to read paragraphs from 

 that paper, when he was inter- 

 rupted by the Solicitor-general, 

 and was warned by Lord Ellenbo- 

 rough not to travel out of the re- 

 cord for the purpose of calumny. 

 He then proceeded to observe upon 

 the notoriety of the charge against 

 the plaintiff, and its frequent dis- 

 cussion at Bury by the magistrates 

 assembled there, by whom he was 

 desired to purge himself of it. He 

 alluded to the testimony of Lord 

 Moira, shortly to be given, and con- 

 cluded with considering the ques- 

 tions of malice, and of damage, 

 arising out of the libel. 



Lord Moira deposed, that in No- 

 vember, 1811, the plaintiff wrote 

 to him to request a meeting, and 

 at that interview mentioned the 

 calumny which had been reported 

 among his brother magistrates, re- 

 specting his having extorted from 

 the Prince of Wales a sum of mo- 

 ney, and grant of an annuity, as a 

 consideration, for suppressing cer- 

 tain articles which he had threaten- 

 ed to publish in his newspaper re- 

 lating to the Prince and Mrs. Fitz- 

 herbert. He stated to his lordship, 

 that there was no foundation 

 whatever for this calumny, which 



had 



