340 ANNUAL REGISTER, 1818. 



could mention many anecdotes 

 showing how Mr. R. Gurney and 

 his son have profited in the school 

 of corruption. I shall only add, 

 that he demanded various sums 

 of money, from the suitors over 

 and above the fees of Court, in 

 the only two causes which he 

 ever decided, viz.Lopes v. Doubt- 

 free, and Whitehair v. Webb. — I 

 am, Sir, " An Enemy to Cor- 

 ruption." 



It was impossible, he appre- 

 hended, that a more injurious or 

 scandalous libel could be pub- 

 lished against the character of 

 any man. He should be able to 

 prove the publication, not merely 

 in the usual way, but by means of 

 a subsequent letter addressed to 

 the editor, in which the libellous 

 matter was distinctly acknow- 

 ledged. The brother of the 

 defendant had been secretary to 

 the vice-warden, and upon his 

 information she had ventured to 

 charge Mr. Gurney with bribery 

 and corruption ; and with the spe- 

 cific act of extorting 20 guineas 

 from the parties in a cause which 

 he refused to decide till the sum 

 in question was paid. The worst 

 part of the libel it still remained 

 for him to state. It was contained 

 in a subsequent letter, and must 

 fill every well-regulated mind with 

 a sensation of disgust. The 

 defendant thought proper to in- 

 struct the editor that Mr. Gurney 

 had been outlawed, that this 

 outlawry had not been reversed, 

 and that he was incapable of 

 bringing an action. He was 

 sorry to see a lady of an under- 

 standing and talents so conspicu- 

 ous in the situation of the present 

 defendant ; but he felt himself 

 bound to say, that no slanderer 



had ever aimed a more deadJj 

 blow at the reputation and cha- 

 racter of a gentleman. The 

 defendant, he understood, would 

 be her own advocate, and was a 

 woman of no ordinary under- 

 standing. He had to lament 

 that she did not make a better 

 use of the faculties with which 

 Providence had been pleased to 

 gift her; it was not too late to 

 make atonement, although that 

 atonement must follow a verdict 

 of guilty. He would not dwell 

 with any peculiar emphasis upon 

 the nature of a newspaper publi- 

 cation, because he thought such 

 publications most important and 

 beneficial to society ; but he 

 would state, that in his opinion 

 the surest means of preserving 

 that invaluable blessing was, that 

 the freedom which it involved 

 should not be abused. 



Mr. E. Budd, tlie editor of the 

 West Briton, was then called, and 

 deposed that the defendant had 

 in conversation acknowledged the 

 original statement to be her own. 

 He received it by the post, but 

 had subsequently seen her, and 

 in talking upon the subject she 

 had admitted the former writing 

 to be her own. It had been sub- 

 mitted to him with a discretionary 

 power of altering or omitting such 

 passages as he might deem unfit 

 for publication, and he had 

 accordingly made considerable 

 alterations. He had certainly re- 

 ceived a pledge from Captain 

 Woolridge of the Navy, the 

 brother-in-law of the defendant, 

 that no prosecution should be 

 instituted for any letter, except 

 that which was printed in the 

 JVest Briton. 



The Lady now rose, observing, 



that 



