APPENDIX TO CHRONICLE. 



163 



REMARKABLE TRIALS AND LAW CASES. 



LIBELS. 



Court of King's Bench, June 5. 

 TheKingv. Thomas J ouathanWooler . 

 — This was an infoimation filed 

 against the defendant by the At- 

 torney-general for printing and 

 publishing a libel. His plea was. 

 Not guilty. 



The Attorney-general said, that 

 the libel charged in the informa- 

 tion was contained in a periodical 

 paper called The Black Dwarf, of 

 which the defendant was the au- 

 thor and printer. The number 

 comprised in the libel was dated 

 April 2d, and the information 

 contained two counts : the first 

 was for a libel on the ministers 

 employed by the king in the ad- 

 ministration of the government; 

 and the second was for a libel 

 on two distinguished individuals, 

 members of that administration. 



The Attorney-general, after 

 some remarks by way of prelimi- 

 nary, proceeded to read the libel 

 in question. He particularly dwelt 

 upon the charge, that the admi- 

 nistration " talked of patriotism 

 when they meant plunder;" and 

 that their object in embarking in 

 a war against France was not to 

 conquer that country, but our- 

 selves. And he appealed to the 

 good sense of the jury, if the 

 whole were not a gross, scanda- 

 lous, and seditious libel, calcu- 

 lated to bring the government of 



the country into contempt, and to 

 stir up the people to disorder and 

 sedition. He afterwards noticed 

 the libel upon Lord Castlereagh 

 and Mr. Canning, arguing that 

 the purpose of it was the same, 

 though its malignity was restrict- 

 ed to two individual members of 

 the government. 



Benjamin Steill was next calltd 

 to prove the publication, but it 

 was admitted by the defendant as 

 his own act. 



Mr. Law tlien read all the parts 

 charged in the accusation as libels. 

 The defendant tlien commenced 

 his address to the jury; and it 

 cannot be denied that the spirit of 

 it obtained the applauses of a great 

 part of the audience, which the 

 sheriffs found it difficult to re- 

 press. 



Mr. Justice Abbot, the judge, 

 whose office it was to charge the 

 jury, began with staling the gene- 

 ral nature of the crime of libel. 

 It is open (said his lordship) to 

 every subject of the kingdom to 

 discuss the measures of govern- 

 ment, provided it is done reason- 

 ably, fairly, and impartially; but 

 if he chooses to issue forth to the 

 world slander and calumny, he is 

 a libeller, and becomes amenable 

 to the law. He then noticed 

 various observations made by the 

 defendant which were not correct 

 in point of fact ; and he concluded 

 with expressing his opinion very 

 M 2 decidedly 



