tration, wishing for promotion, pleaded his long services but as it was known, that, during the whole time, he had never so much as opened his lips, or even rose from his seat, excepting when the Council broke up, in consideration, nevertheless, that his case might be rather hard, it was determined, that, in future, when he came into the Council, instead of a single, he should have the privilege of sitting upon a double cushion. Curious Account of Richard Plantagenet, natural Son of King Richard the Third. Taken about Michaelmas, 1720, by Dr. Brett, of Spring-Grove, from the Parish-Register at Eastwell, into his Almanack, when the said Doctor made a visit to the late Earl of Win chelsea; contained in a Letter from Dr. Brett to Dr. Warren, President of Trinity Hall, Cambridge, dated September 1, 1733. When Sir Thomas Moyle built the House, (that is Eastwell Place,) he observed his chief bricklayer, whenever he left off work, retired with a book.-Sir Thomas was desirous to know what book the man read, but was some time before he could discover it, as the workman always put up the book when any one came towards him; however, at length Sir Thomas caine upon him by surprise, and snatched the book from him, and looking into it, found it to be Latin; here. upon he examined him, and finding he understood that language pretty well, he enquired of him how he came by his learning. The man replied, as he had been a good master to him, he would venture to trust him with a secret he had never before revealed. He then informed him that he was boarded with a Latin Schoolmaster, without knowing who his sparents were till he was 15 or 16 years old; only a gentleman, who acquainted him that he was not his relation, came once a quarter, paid for his board, and took care too that he wanted for nothing.-And one day this gentleman took him to a large noble house; they passed through several stately rooms, in one of which he left him, bidding him stay there.-Soon after, a man finely dressed came to him, asked him some questions, talked kindly to him, and gave him money.Then the fore mentioned gentleman came to him again, with a and told him they must take a horse and proper accoutrements, journey into the country. They then went into Leicestershire, and came to Bosworth-field, and he was carried to the seat of King Richard the Third. The King embraced him, and told him he was his son;" but, child, (said he,) to-morrow I must fight for my crown; and, assure yourself, if I lose that, I will lose my life too; but I hope to preserve both: do you stand at that place, (directing him to a particular spot,) where you may see the battle, out of danger; and when I have gained the victory, come to me and I will own you; but if I should be sa unfortunate as to lose the battle, then shift for yourself as well as you can; and take care to let nobody know that I am your father, for no mercy will be shewn to any one so nearly related to me.". Then the King gave him a purse of gold, and dismissed him. He followed his direction, and when he saw the battle was lost, and the King killed, he hastened to London, sold his horse and gay apparel, and, the better to conceal himself from all suspicion of being son to a King, and that he might have means of gaining an honest livelihood, put himself apprentice to a bricklayer; and having competent skill in the Latin tongue, he was unwilling to lose it; likewise having an inclination to reading, and no delight in the conversation of those he was obliged to work with, he generally spent his leisure hours in reading by himself. Sir Thomas said, <6 you are now grown old, and almost past your labour; I will give you the running of my kitchen as long as you live:" to which he answered, "Sir Thomas, you have a nume. rous family, I have been used to live retired; give me leave to build a house of one room for myself in such a field, and there, with your permission, I will live and die; and if you have any work that I can do for you, I shall be ready to serve you." Sir Thomas granted his request, he built his house, and continued there till his death. This Richard Plantagenet was buried at Eastwell the 22d day of December, 1550. DISUNION OF PUBLIC MEN. - In our last, we had occasion to remark upon the misunderstandings and disagreements of public men, and upon the dangerous results therefrom to the cause of Freedom in general. The moral conveyed in the fable of the bundle of sticks cannot be more strikingly elucidated than in the fatal dismemberment of those, who should, by their collected and inseparable endeavours, strive against the inroads of despofism, and prove themselves at once the safeguard and the supporters of Liberty. While a unity of spirit is preserved, it is strong, and may be irresistible; but if once suffered to be divided, it will quickly be destroyed. This disunion, it is melancholy to be observed, has of late become too prevalent:-a mischief-working spirit is abroad, spreading its poison through every channel, confounding and converting the pure efforts of patriotism, and bringing disgrace and dishonour on the very name and principle of public spirit.-Is it not strange, that men, professing the same desire and intention, displaying the same energy, governed by the same principle, should so far forget the essence of that principle, and the grand purposes for which it is designed, as to suffer the interference of petty jealousies and fears to mislead their efforts, and turn them in hostility against each other?-Are not the enemies of our rights already much too potent, their emissaries far too vigilant, that they need be aided and assisted by the bickerings and follies of those, whose better purpose it should be to league in constitutional firmness against the common enemy, Corruption, till, by an unremitted perseverance, it shall be overcome, defeated, and rooted out?-We are led to these remarks by the late proceedings at the Annniversary Commemoration of the return of Sir Francis Burdett by the Electors of Westminster. It is much to be deplored, that, even on such an occasion, where the harmony of opinion might have been imagined complete and incorruptible, that even there the fervor of party-spirit should have intruded to the discomfiture and disturbance of the friends of liberty and the triumph of the corruptionists. There is often times more essen tial mischief done to a cause by the violence of ungovenable and illjudging partizans then in the whole collected force of a host of declared adversaries. Unanimity is the bulwark of a virtuous cause, while disunion is a species of self-destruction, as culpable as it is dangerous and disgraceful. It fell to our province to offer a few observations upon this subject on a former occasion, we mean the separation of two individuals, hitherto so firmly cemented as to have become identified in one common peril, and fellow-sufferers in one common cause. We reviewed the grounds and occasion of this separation, as far as the same was submitted to the public inspection, and could only decide, that, so Jong as public men shewed no tendency to a dereliction of principle, so long as each determined on a regular pursuit of his public duty, and in no degree deserted or betrayed the great cause, which it is so much our interest and our obligation to uphold, there is no necessity for any in quiry into the private motives of individuals as to whether they desire to act separately or otherwise; much less does it become such individuals to render those concerns a public discussion, or to obtrude them upon the public regard.-Not that we would infer that such has been the exact case of the parties before us, Messrs. HART and WHITE, the Proprietors of the Weekly Papers, "The Public Guardian" and "Independent Whig;" the only document put forth in this case being that of Mr. Hart, who, in a complaint against his former colleague, charged him with a nefarious attempt to frustrate his public endeavours; and which, in our minds, was the only matter which concerned us to consider. The right of every man is indisputable, is even lauda ble and just, to proffer his exertions in the public service, and the odium reverts to those, who, by any palpable obstruction, or the more insidious and dastardly means of secret influence, attempt to undermine or destroy such efforts. Mr. White has borne to be publicly accused of this attempt, and has not ventured a denial: he had indeed, as it appeared, put forth a Paper, which set evasion aside, and proved he had so acted. Mr. Hart, after defending himself and his motives, to evince the purity of his intention, and silence the whispers of detraction, consented to withdraw the pretended object of Mr. White's concern, namely, the similarity of Title, and to avoid every tendency. to confusion, every appearance of affinity or connection. And, as if to prove, more particularly, that there existed in his mind no other desire than a plain and conscientious discharge of his public duty, beyond all mean and unworthy considerations, he put forth the following Address through his own Journal, calculated to prove at once his own independence of mind and his regard for public justice.-This Address was published during the period while the sentence of the Court on the ostensible Proprietor of "The Independent Whig" was under consideration; and displayed a liberality of mind in the Writer that must for ever set at rest the insinuations of any secret adversary that personal hostility and not public spirit had been the sole motive of Mr. Hart's entrance into public life 1813.] Letter to the Judges of the Court of King's Bench. 207 TO THE JUdges of thE COURT OF KING's BENCH. (Extracted from "The Public Guardian" Newspaper of May 16, 1813.) Appearances may govern Law, MY LORDS, As the deputed Administrators of Justice, upon whose grave and intelligent decisions not only the individual offender but the collected body of the community must in an especial manner depend, it is the common privilege, nay the undoubted right, of every friend to the laws of civilized society, and more particularly to those laws which are founded on the principle of Liberty and chartered independence, to offer such observations to your high consideration as may suit with the importance of the subject and the furtherance of justice. The sentences for Libel, which unhappily have been so frequent of late, I cannot but believe have imposed upon Your Lordships a most bur thensome and unwelcome task; and the more so when it is considered, that in those sentences there appears no definable rule to regulate your judgements; a perplexity the most irksome to a just and generous mind, since what depends upon the will alone incurs a double portion of responsibility. Were there once estabilished some positive guide, some rule of license, some well-defined and absolute law, in cases of Libel, which would alike point out the line of offence as well as the measure of punishment, then would the Public Writer have some legal safe-guard, and you, My Lords, be eased of that ungracious burthen, which imposes on you the uncontroled disposal of the Liberty, I had almost said the Life, of a Fellow-Creature. That there does not exist that guide, it is our common fate to deplore; that there does exist that arbitrary power, there are some among us who can bear the most ample testimony.In the absence of law, the degrees of offence are confounded; and where the judgement rests upon caprice, it is the more in danger of perversion. I would ask Your Lordships, nay, I would have you ask yourselves, whether the root of the mischief be not the real object of offence; the only object which justice should consider? And, though evasion may elude the rod, will it be justice to let it fall with its full force upon the innocent ? The Law, indeed, may surrender up the victim, it can be governed only by appearance; but may not the grave perception of justice discriminate beyond the forms of Courts? Is it not high time, My Lords, that some sort of regulation were established to prevent the attachment of offence to those who never thought to have offended; nay, who probably would not have given offence, had not some stronger motive than worldly interest direct ed and controled the will? By the Sentence of your Court, I passed Three Years in dreary banishment for another's act (I cannot call it crime); the Law surrenderd me to your discretion, nor did I shrink from the responsibility; - for, though I shared in nothing but the punishment, I never deemed that punishment a disgrace!-The action was not mine, but I approved it-the cause was virtuous, and I gloried to uphold it. Yet even here, My Lords, it might have been no stain on Justice to have interposed, and granted some distinction between the agent and his principal. But may there not occur a case, where neither principle nor inclination join, but where an over-ruling impulse shall conspire to plunge the guiltless into danger? may there not be a voluntary victim, who might consider obedience a duty, however harshly it were exacted, and with a blameless motive, or a devoted confidence, rush into error, free from the stain of moral guilt, of gross premeditated crime?-I tell you yes, My Lords, there may be such a case!-where confidence, the most excusable, sanctioned by nature, strengthened by affection, shall lead to danger, error, and misfortune; and such a case is now, My Lords, before you!-I know, and can aver, there is no moral guilt stampt on the Individual that now abides your judgement !-His was not the will, nor yet the deed, although the Law has so received it:-and most true was the remark, made by his Counsel, though destined only to raise his Prosecutor's smile,-most truly did he say, that his Client had ingenuously declared, (a declaration which he well believed,) that he did not participate in the offence, no, nor in the principle upon which it had been founded!-This, My Lords, I know, and can and will avouch it :-and, if the moral guilt be the aim of Justice, I solemnly proclaim the shaft is ill-directed!-Thus much I may in honour state, and deem it due in justice. The case, My Lords, is now before you; you are the arbiters that must decide: let, then, the principle prevail, that not to seeming only, but to Facts, the ear of Justice should incline. J. H. HART. It will be recollected, that the Libel charged upon Mr. H. White, jun. was designated as one of the most heinous and detestable, against every rule of morality and justice, and such as, if encouraged, would go to the utter subversion of the peace and security of society; and such indeed must have been the opinion of all who read the Libel, and the apology which had been made by the Counsel for its publication: but none could better judge of the degree of criminality attached to the Publisher, that the person who had been so closely connected with Mr. White as to know the real grounds upon which the insinuations rested which were put forth in this Libel, and knowing this, the attempt was most generous as well as just to state them at such a time, and alleviate, if possible, the weight of responsibility, where he knew in justice and in truth it should not lay : and we cannot but congra tulate him as well on his intention as on its success, since we know that the Public, and, we doubt not, even the Defendant himself, must feel a degree of surprise in the lenity of the Court, so contrary to the general expectation. The sentence pronounced by the Court of King's Bench on an insinuation charging His Royal Highness the Duke of Cumberland with the Murder of his Valet, Joseph Sellis, was a fine of 2001. to the King, aud an Imprisonment in Newgate for 15 Calendar Months!-A most striking contrast between Three Years' banishment and penitentiary suffering for an alleged Libel on their Lordships themselves! |