The Court of Queen's Bench, on .Mooday, sentenctal 3Ir. 11 - atts,
proprietor and editor of the United Service Ga:citc, to a fine of 50/. for a libel on Admiral Onminaney. The judgment was delivered by Justice Littledale in the following terms- - Alexander Ahab: Wittt,, you are called upon to receive the judgment of the Court for haying, on the tith of July, published in ill,. United Su/Tice Gazette, a libel reflecting on the honour and character of Sir John Onimaney. The libel in question related to the supposed condurt of Sir John Ommaney ott the °evasion of her Majesty the Queen Dowager's vi-it to .1Ialta. Now if your had believed the statement published in the ItitulpAire Aelrert;ser to be true, and on the faith of that supposition you had inamle your mmoomments, you would not have been justified. The statement, however, bad been contra- dicted by that paper, and proved to be untrue." Mr. Watts—" Time statement, my Lord, wos not contradicted by the Ircoap- shire Adrertiser, but in another paper of different politics." Mr. Justice Littledale—" It has been contradicted. And with regard to the imputations on the conduct of Sir John Ommaney, they were of a nature that, if not contradicted, it was almost impossible to suppose they could be true. He was charged with insulting the Queen Dowager ; and it' such charges were copied by the editor of one newspaper into another, he must take the con- sequences. It was incredible for a moment to suppose that a British cont.
mender in a foreign station could have acted in the manner imputed to Sir John Ommaney. There was no justification in publishing such rumours, and making them the ground of attack upon a gallant officer: and surely if it was intended to comment upon the supposed &tits, it was your duty in the first place to ascertain whether they were true or not. You, however, call Sir John Ommaney a driveller—that he was unfit for any command, and useful only to a party for political purposes. Now it was impossible for Sir John Ommaney to look over statements like these. It appears that on the 22d of July last year, you published a contradiction to the original libel, and stated that the charges were not true. You ought also to have apologized at the same time to Sir John Ommaney for the comments you had made on his cha- racter, but you had not dune so. It is true, when the rule was applied for, you admitted the allegations were without foundation; and it appears that you have not since offered any further insult, or reflected upon Sir John °mummy. Under these circumstances, the sentence of the Court is, that you pay to the Queen a fine of 501., and that you be imprisoned in the custody of the Marshal of the Marshalsea until such tine be paid."
Mr. Watts immediately paid the fine, and retired from the Court.
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