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LORD ELLENBOROUGH'S CHARGE.

GENTLEMEN OF THE JURY,

The case both on the part of the Prosecu-. tor and of the Defendant being now closed, it remains for me, in obedience to the injunctions of the law on the subject, to give you my opinion on the whole matter in issue, in the same manner as I am required to do in all other criminal cases.

The matter in issue includes three things: 1st, the fact of publication; 2dly, the truth of the allegations in the record; and 3dly, the nature, quality and tendency of the papers themselves.

Gentlemen, this information is filed against the Defendant for several passages, that have been selected from the publication called the Ambigu, from the first and third numbers of that publication. Several of these papers have been read, first in the French language, and then in an English translation, the faithfulness

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of which does not appear to be materially impeached.

As to the first thing, the fact of publication, that seems to be proved by the evidence of Mr. Deboffe, who published, and acted under the orders of Mr. Peltier, the defendant. It is unnecessary to detail the particulars, because it does not seem to be matter of contest, that he was the publisher under the orders of Mr. Peltier, and therefore he is liable, if these are libellous publications. That Napoleon Buonaparté was the Chief Magistrate and First Consul of France is admitted. And that the relations of peace and friendship subsist between us and the French Republic, and did so at the time of these publications, is also admitted. And, indeed, they were capable of easy proof, if they had not. Their notoriety seems to ren der the actual proof very unnecessary.

The next, and only remaining material point for your consideration, is, the nature and quality of the publications themselves. It has been attempted by the learned counsel for the Defendant to represent them as ironical and satirical papers, written as against some particular factions in France, and not immediately directed against

against the character and person of the First Magistrate of that country. It will be for you to say, on the fullest consideration of all the circumstances of this case, whether you are not satisfied these papers do contain matter reviling and highly reflecting on that considerable magistrate, and hold out a direct incitement and encouragement to assassinate his person.

Gentlemen, it is my duty to state to you, that every publication that has a tendency to promote public mischief, whether by causing irritation in the minds of the subjects of this realm, that may induce them to commit a breach of the public peace, or whether it may be more public and specific, and extending to the morals, the religion, or magistracy of the country these are all cases of libel. But more particularly, as in the present case, by defaming the persons and characters of magistrates and others in high and eminent situations of power and dignity in other countries, inconsistent with amity and friendship, expressed in such terms and such a manner as to interrupt the amity and friendship between the two countries -every such publication is what the law calls a libel. Cases of this sort have occurred within all our memories. My Lord George Gordon published

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published a libel on the person and character of the Queen of France; and another person published a libel on the late Emperor Paul, in both of which cases there were prosecutions. In the first case there was a conviction and punishment followed. The other case went the length of a conviction, and in respect to the legal effect of both these prosecutions, I am not aware it was ever judicially questioned. And therefore I lay it down as law, that any publication which tends to degrade, revile, and defame persons in considerable situations of power and dignity in foreign countries may be taken to be and treated as a libel, and particularly where it had a tendency to interrupt the amity and peace between the two countries. If any publication contains a plain and manifest incitement and persuasion addressed to others to assassinate and destroy the persons of such magistrates, as the tendency of such a publication is to interrupt the harmony subsisting between two countries, the libel assumes a still more criminal complexion,

Now let us look at the Ode which is attributed to Chenier. This is immediately prefaced by a declaration that he would collect all the materials he could employ on the edifice he

was

was to raise to the glory of Buonaparté, such as should be suitable to his glory; so that his object seems to have been to libel the character of Buonaparté. It is not to be supposed these verses were written by Chenier. Such things often appear under feigned names; and it will be for you to say, whether these words do not import a direct incitement to the assassination of that Magistrate?

“Oh! eternal disgrace of France! Cæsar on the banks of the Rubicon, has against "him, in his quarrel, the Senate, Pompey, “and Cato; and in the plains of Pharsalia, "if fortune is unequal-if you must yield to "the destinies, Rome, in this sad reverse, at “least there remains to avenge you, a poinard the last Romans."

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Now, does not that express a lamentation, a wish, on the part of the person, that writes this, that they (the people of France) would use the poinard against the supposed oppressor and usurper of their government, which had been used with effect against Cæsar, the usurper of the Roman Government?

And, in another part of this publication,

he says, "As for me, far from envying his "lot, let him name, I consent to it, his wor"thy successor; carried on the shield let him

"be

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