William Borthwick was the man proceeded against initially by James Stuart of Dunearn on account of defamatory articles in Borthwick`s newspaper. To escape prosecution for libel, Borthwick provided Stuart with the originals of the offending articles which led the latter to identify Sir Alexander Boswell as the real author. Borthwick was then imprisoned for the theft of the manuscripts at the instance of the Lord Advocate, Sir William Rae, on behalf of Robert Alexander, Borthwick`s partner in the ’Sentinel’. After the acquittal of James Stuart, Borthwick was freed, following a lengthy imprisonment without trial. The Lord Advocate, whom Henry Cockburn accuses of political bias in prosecuting Borthwick, narrowly escaped a vote of censure on his conduct in the Commons.

The volume contains printed papers ordered by the Commons on the case (folio 2; see also ‘Parliamentary Papers’, 1823, volume XV), and manuscript copies of the papers drawn up for William Borthwick`s defence (folio 76).