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Trial of william cobbett for Libels on the Right Hon. philip Earl of hardwicke, Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland; the Right Hon. john Lord redesdale, Lord High Chancellor of Ireland; the Hon. francis osborne, one of the Justices of the Court of King”s-Bench of Ireland; and alexander.marsden, Esq., one of the under Secretaries in the Office of the Chief Secretary of the said Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland; tried by a special Jury before the Right Hon. Edward Lord Ellenborough, Lord Chief Justice of HM”s Court of King”s-Bench, at Westminster, on Thursday May 24:

State Trials Cited authorities 1 Cited in 5 Precedent Map Related
Vincent
JurisdictionEngland & Wales
Judgment Date01 January 1804
Docket Number670
Date01 January 1804
CourtState Trial Proceedings
670
STATE TRIALS, 4c. 4C. 670. Trial of WILLIAM CORBETT for Libels on the Right Hon. Plum, Earl of HARDWICKE, Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland ; the Right Hon. JOHN Lord REDESDA LE, Lord High Chancellor of Ireland ; the Hon. FRANCIS OSBORNE, one of the Justices of the Court of Kings-Bench of Ireland ; and ALEXANDER MA RSDEN, Esq., one of the under Secretaries in the Office of the Chief Secretary of the said Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland ; tried by a special Jury before the Right Hon. Edward Lord Ellenborough, Lord Chief Justice of his Majestys Court of Kings-Bench, at Westmin; ster, on Thursday May 24: 44 GEORGE III. A. D. l804.* Counsellor the Crown. Mr. Attorney-General [The Honourable Spencer Perceval, afterwards first Lord of the Treasury and Chancellor of the Exchequer] ; Mr. Solicitor-General [Sir Thomas Manners Sutton, afterwards Lord Manners and Lord Chancellor of Ireland] ; The Honourable Thomas Erskine [afterwards Lord Chancellor Erskine] ; Mr. Garrow [afterwards a baron of the Exchequer] ; Mr. Dallas [afterwards Lord Chief Justice of the Common Pleas] ; Mr. Abbot [afterwards Lord Chief Justice of the Kings Bench]. Counsel for the Defendant. Mr. Adam Iafterwards Lord Chief Commis- sioner (lithe Jury Court of Scotland] ; Mr. Richardson [afterwards a judge of the Common Pleas]. See the next case and the proceedings against the Honourable Robert Johnson A. D. 1805, infnl. VOL. XXIX.THE INFORMATION. Pleas before our lord the king at Westmin- ster, of Easter Term in the forty-fourth year of the reign of our sovereign lord George the 3rd, by the grace of God of the United Kingdom of Great-Britain and Ireland, King, Defender of the Faith. Amongst the pleas of the Roll. Middlesex. Amongst the in-?BE it remembered that the formations of honourable Spencer Per. ceva Attorney-general of last Term. S our present sovereign lord No. the king who for our said lord the king in this behalf prosecute in his proper person came here into the Court of our said lord the king before the king himself at Westminster on Mondaynext after the Octave of Saint Hilary last past and for our said lord the king brought into the Court of our said lord the king before the king himself then and there a certain information against William Cobbett tale of Westminster in the county of Middlesex gentleman which said information followeth in these words (that is b say) Middlesex (to wit) Be it remembered that the 8] 44 (GEORGE III. Trial of William Cabe,/ for Libels on the F4 honourable_ Spencer Perceval Attorney-general of our present sovereign lord the king who for our said lord the king in this behalf prosecideth in his proper person eometh here into the court of our said lord the king before the king himself at Westminster on Monday next after the Octave of Saint Hilary in this same term, and for our said lord the king giveth the Court here to understand and be informed 1st Count. That William Cobbett late of Westminster in the county of Middlesex gentleman being a malicious and ill disposed person and unlawfully and maliciously devising and intending to move arid incite the liege subjects of our said lord the king to hatred and dislike of our said lord the kings administration of the government of this kingdom and to insinuate and cause it to be believed that the people of that part of the United Kingdom of Great-Britain and Ireland called Ireland were oppressed aggrieved and injured by our said lord the kings government of the said part of the said United Kingdom and to traduce defame and vilify the persons employed by our said lord the king in the administration of the government of the said part of the said United Kingdom, and especially the right honourable Philip Earl of Hardwicke our said lord the kings lieutenant general and governor general of the said part of the said United Kingdom and the right honourable John Lord Redesdale our said lord the kings lord chancellor and keeper of the great seal and one of his most honourable privy council of and for the said part of the said United Kingdom on the fifth day of November in the forty-fourth year of the reign of our sovereign lord George the 3rd by the grace of God of the United Kingdom of Great-Britain and Ireland King Defender of the Faith at Westminsfer in the county of Middlesex unlawfully and maliciously did print and publish and cause and procure to be printed and published a certain scandalous and malicious libel in the form of &letter entitled Affairs of Ireland containing therein divers scandalous and malicious matters and things of and concerning the said part of the said United Kingdom and the people thereof and our said lord the kings government thereof and also of and concerning the said Philip Earl of Hardwicke so being such lieutenant and governor as aforesaid and the said John Lord Bedesdale so being such chancellor and privy counsellor as aforesaid and also of and concerning Alexander Marsden esquire then and there being one of the under secretaries in the office of the chief secretary of the said Philip Earl of Hardwicke so being such lieutenant and governor as aforesaid (that is to say) in one part thereof according to the tenor and effect following (that is to say) " Sir Equo se credite reacri was the advice which in a dangerous moment Lao-coon gave to the Trojans It will be remein -tiered that the equus against which that sagacious adviser cautioned his countrymen was a wooden one His countrymen did not regard l.aocoon They received the wooden representative of wisdom They approached it as if it possessed authority and power Its wooden head towered above their houses But though the machine itself was innoxious wood the credulous Trojans found its hollow head and exalted sides were nothing less than receptacles for greedy peculators and hood-thirsty assassins The ingenious author of the story did not mean to confine the lesson which it inculcates to the tale of Troy alone He meant to take advantage of that easy metaphorical expression which by the common assent of mankind has moulded itself into most languages and by which a certain species of head (which the moderns by various moral experiments have ascertained to be a non-conductor of ideas) has been denominated a wooden head Ile meant to caution future nations not to put trust or confidence in the apparent innocence of any such wooden instrument and not to suffer themselves to be led to exalt it into consequence or to pay it any respect He meant to tell that any people who submitted to be governed by a wooden head would not find their security m its supposed innoxiousness as its hollowness would soon be occupied by instruments of mischief When I found sir this portion of the kingdom (meaning the said part of the said United Kingdom) " overwhelmed by such consequences to our property as the rapacity of Mr. Marsden " (meaning the said Alexander Marsden) " and his friends and such consequences to our lives as the pikes of Mr. Emmett and his friends have lately produced when I could trace all these evils as the inevitable issue from the head and body of such a government as that of lord Hardwicke " (meaning the said Philip Earl of Hardwicke) " and I am told of his innoxiousness and his firmness I still reply the story of the wooden horse and I shall still notwithstanding the fate of Laocoon raise my voice to my countrymen and cry Equo rat credite Teucri Not sir that I would be understood literally I do not mean to assert that the head of my lord Hardwicke" (meaning the said Philip Earl of Hardwicke)" is absolutely built of timber My application like that of the original author of the tale is only metaphorical Yet at the same time I cannot avoid suspecting that if the head of his excellency" (meaning the said Philip Earl of Hard wicke) " were submitted to the analysis of any such investigator of nature as Lavoisier it would be found to contain a superabundant portion of particles of a very ligneous tendency This sir is the lord Hardwicke of doctor Addington against whose government not a murmur of complaint has been heard while our property has been subject to the plunder of his clerks and our persons have been exposed to pikes of the rebels Stilt and others. A. D. 1801. mince issuing from one of their coffee-houses say to such an answer from a British minister Why sir the walls of St. Stephens and the chambers in Downing-street would be made to ring with their vociferous reproaches And yet sir to this situation is that portion of the united kingdom (meaning the said part of the said united kingdom) reduced on the strength and vigour of which at this moment not only his own safety but as I have in my former letter stated the safety of the British empire and consequently I may assume the safety of Europe does en. tirely depend Against the truth of the de. scription I have given of its rulers I may challenge the most daring supporter of the present government to produce me one single act in the lives of either of those truly great characters of the Doctor" (meaning the said Philip earl of Hardwicke and John Lord Redesdale) " which can entitle them to claim one particle of trust or confidence from the public beyond the bounds and limits within which I have encircled their exploits On the chancery pleader" (meaning the said John lord Redesdale) " perhaps I may have laid too great ft stress he is not of the first consequence though in a future letter I may perhaps point nut to you the mischiefs which the intermeddling of such a man in matters out of the course of his practice may occasion But with respect to lord Hardwicke" (meaning the said Philip earl of Hardwicke)" it may be replied that my challenge is unfair because it is impossible to justify his having been ap. pointed to the government of Ireland by any instances of former political ability as the ac. ceptance of his present office was his first political essay What ! Is he one of the tribe of the Ilobarts Westmorelands and Camdens? Is he one of that tribe who have...

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2 cases
  • R v Lemon R v Gay News Ltd
    • United Kingdom
    • House of Lords
    • Invalid date
    ...Magistrate, Ex parte Deakin [1978] 1 W.L.R. 1008; [1978] 3 All E.R. 252, D.C. Rex v. Lord Abingdon (1794) 1 Esp. 226. Rex v. Cobbett (1804) 29 St.Tr. 1. Rex v. Creevey (1813) 1 M. & S. 273. Rex v. Eaton (1812) 31 St.Tr. 927. Rex v. de Montalk (1932) 23 Cr.App.R. 182, C.C.A. Rex v. Rahard [1......
  • LibertyWorks Inc. v Commonwealth of Australia
    • Australia
    • High Court
    • 16 June 2021
    ...[ 78 ER 147 at 147-148]. 101 Blackstone, Commentaries on the Laws of England (1769), bk 4, ch 11 at 151. 102 Trial of William Cobbett (1804) 29 St Tr 1 at 103 Holt, The Law of Libel, 2nd ed (1816) at 59-60. 104 Historical Records of Australia, Series IV, Section A, Volume 1 at 682. 105 (199......

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