Star. — London, England, 1811-01-25 00:00:00

i LAW INTELLIG.ENCA. COURT 0! XING'S BENCH, lAN. 11. The early part of the morning was occupied in bearing the cases of several insolvent debtors, who xi= up to be discharged under the Lords' Act. Tt happened, however, thin not one of them was dis charged out of custody, because their respective cre ditors, by themselves, or by their Attoruies, attended, and paid them their sixpences ; whereupon they were ; severally remanded to prison. , . • SIR CHARLES HUME 4. DUDLEY. After the affidavits on the part of the real plain. tiff, (Major Flay) were read, and Mr. Gmutow and Mr. LAWI:3 had been heard on that side, Mr. Serjrant SHEPHERD argued forcibly on that of the defer.Liant, to shew that he was entitled to a, new trial, having been precluded in the former one, of a very material evidence, from its being brought on contrary to the expectation of the said defendant, at that time in Ireland. Lord ChtefJusticeELLENBOROUGH" Brother SHEP HERD, if you have not tried the cause, we shall be ready to give you the means of obtaining the real justice of the case ; but sre must see Sir Charles Blicke's an swer in equity to the defendant's bill ; let the matter therefore stand over until that answer is put in." HABEAS CORMS. In a case where a writ of Habeas Corpus, for brin7- ing up the body of an impressed man, had been moved for during the last term. and the Rule had been en. larged to the present term, at the request of the Ad miralty, Mr. Jinvm stated, that understanding that the man had been drafted for a vessel intended for foreign *service, he had himself made personal applicatiOn on the subject to Captain Barlow, in consequence of which a letter had been sent to Plymouth yesterday, to prevent the man trom being sent abroad, and he hoped the letter would arrive in sufficient time for this purpose. Lord ELLENBoaoutut said, this was a thin- not to be lightly treated. A Rule had been ranted by that Court, and, to accommodate the Admiralty, they had enlarged it to another Term. His Lordship begged it to be understood, however, that in every instance where this was done, the Court granted the indulgence solely on an understanding, or more properly on an undertaking, that, in the mean time, the person on whose account the writ was moved for should not be sent out of the country, or placed beyond the autho rity of a Writ of that Court. He understood from the Learned Counsel (Jervis), that a telegraphic dis patch could not have been made yesterday. He did not believe, however, that such was the case to-day. He therefore hoped i: would still be made, as it would even now anticipate the letter alluded to by the Learned Counsel, and would chew that the Writs of that Court were not to be di ,regarded. Mr-l Elms assured his Lordship, that a messenger should be immediately dispatched to the Admiralty, with instructions similar to those suggested by his Lordship. HARRISON V. KING. Mr.ToPpivo moved for a Rule to shew cause why the Writ of Capiar ad Sathfacieidum in this case should not be set aside, on account of irregularity, and why the money in the hands of the Sheriff should not be, paid over to the defendant ? The Learned Counsel' observed, that if the facts stated in the defendant's . affidavit were correct, then had he been most scan; dalowly and ctneily treated. The sum for whieh the execution had originally issued was £1687 and a fraction. In satisfaction of this sum, there had been levied at different times to the amount of £ll7 70d. Of issu and of 11 4 297, making in all £1364. Is. 6d. besides Sheriff's poundage and costs. On the 17th of the present month, however, the plaintiff, in virtue of the same Writ of Ca. :a. caused the Sheriff again to enter the house of the defendant, and to levy on his goods to the amount of £1267 and a fraction, al.: though £322 and a fraction was the whole amount of the sum then due. Mr. Justice BAILEY said, it would be ben& for the Learned Counsel to move, not that the WI it of Ca. sa. be set aside for irregularity, but that the levy be re duced to the amount of the sum due. Lord ELLENBOROCGII—" It will be better that you should take a Rule to shew cause why the Ca. sa. should not be discharged, or why so much of the sum levied under it, as exceeds the sum actually due, should not be returned to the defendant."—Rule to shew cause granted. BIGFIELD •v. PROCTOR AND ANOTHER. Mr. Serjeant VAUGHAN moved the Court to set aside the verdict in this case, which was an action of trespass tried before Mr. Baron Thompson, at the last Nottingham Assizes, wherein plaintiff was non suited. The particulars cf the case were these : Plaintiff was the proprietor 'of a certain close, called the Vicar's Close, in the aforesaid county. Defen dants were Surveyors acting under the Highway Amendment Act for the repairs of a certain extended line of road in the parish wherein plaintiff resided.— The close in question contained within it a stone pit, which defendants found highly advantageous for the purposes for which, as public servants, they were apt pointed ; and in consequence entered upon it, dug therein, and carried away such quantities of the re pairing materials as they considered requisite for their work. Plaintiff' considered their entry into his inclosure a trespass, and brought his action thereon, which wis decided as above. Mr. CLAnxit and Mr, Rianen, Counsel for the de fendants, pleaded the 'licence of the Highway Act, IS Geo. la. sec. 27'and 29, empowering surveyors, in case of necessity, to Make'entry into suclosures by the most convenient method.; and- pointing out the modes of compensation for the dattrage which the land may sustain theteby, 17ta'Penrue4 Counsel contended against the itiputitioti of Marti/thrown out against their clients by the Learned Serjeant on the other side • and asserted, that the defendants pro ceeded opno the -. e premises of plaintiff by an ordinary; and, (o each party, a convenient-avenue. Ftoin the statement of a survey upon the premises in question, Mr. Scrje:mt VAUGHAN denied the proceeding of • Defendants by a road of contiguity, and therefore deduced the malicious intention of an extended injury to the Plaintiff, in consequence of a previous junta: between them. The arguments on both sides consisted in a refer ence to the clauses of the. Act, upon the matter of *tensity and convenience. The cbensei for defen: 'Lints insisting upon fro li bilil±y to . attion'df trespass, • • as tiny had paid in edintentation 24*. and therefore if any action, would lie, tt could be only ea the case namely, the * sufficiency of compensation. The Learned Bench seemed to think wish the De fendants' Counsel upon the point of Ltir t aad the Rule was dismissed. COURT OF COMMON PLEAS, JAN. 24. BURNSIDE Iv WARDLAW. • This was an action brought to recover damages for an assault and battery. Mr. Serjeant Comma. stated the case. The plain tiff was Steward on board the Lord Duncan East In diaman, and the defendant wasgunner of the same ves sel. On the voyage to India they had been very good friends ; but, on their homeward-bound passage, some ' disputes had taken place between the parties • and, in the month of May last, when the vessel was lying at St. Helena. the defendant hid, without any provoca tion, forcibly pushed the plaintiff from a coil of ropes, on which, in the execution of his duty, he was sitting, and hurt his face very much. This was not a case trumped up for the purpose of procnring exorbitant damages ; but, as the assault had been made without any provocation (which he would prove by a person who saw the whole transaction) he trusted the Jury would, by their verdict, compensate the plaintiff for the insult and injury he had sustained. John Lewis, the Carpenter's Mate on board the Lord Duncan, was then called. He recollected the dispute between the plainte and defendant in May list, when the vessel was lying at St. Helena. He Saw the defendant pull the plaintiff off the coil of rope, which was about eighteen inches or two feet high ; he threw him on his lace en the deck, and plaintiff by the fall broke hi: nose. The plaintiff gave him no of fence ; he desired the defendant to go away, as he did not wish to have any thing to do with him, but the defendant refused. The plaintiff at the time the as sault took place, was inspecting some people who were at work in the lazaretts of the ship. On his cross-examination by Mr. Serjeant BEST, he stated, that the bridge of the plaintiff's nose was not broken—he only meant the skin—his nose, however, bled a good deal. He was within three yards of the parties, and did not hear plaintiff make use of any abu sive expressions to the defendant. Defendant came and asked for some liquor for the people, which the Plaintiff not procuring immediately, the Defendant threw him from the coil of rope. Plaintiff was not exceedingly drunk—if he was, he could not have got upon deck to complain to Captain Young, which he did. He did not see Captain Young turn Plaintiff away, and call him an idle drunken fellow." He heard Defendant say, after he had committed the assault, that he had a great mind to give the Plain tiff a good hiding. Richard Stennett, assistant to the butcher on board the Lord Duncan, merely deposed to having seen plaintiff's nose bleeding. He could not swear whe ther the plaintiff was drunk or sober. Mr. Serjeant BEST shortly addressed the Jury.— He allowed that a verdict must be given against him, as the slightest touch, in law, constituted an assault—but it was a case of that description in which the smallest damages would suffice. He had offered to permit his Learned Brother (Cockell) to take a verdict of One Shilling.—lf, however, the Jury were of his ' opinion, they would deduct 1 from that sum, land the remainder, he thought, would be damages sufficient. The Jury, however, could not so readily agree in their verdict—they retired, and were locked aft for four hour: and a half! —when they returned a verdict for the Plaintiff—Damages Five Pounds. SHEERING V. JORDAN. This was an action for the sum of £32 4s. as the amount of goods sold by plaintiff to defendant. The plaintiff is a wheelwright, residing at Vaux hall..--the defendant, a dealer of old iron, living at Wandsworth. The defendant, in May last, had pur chased SO cwt. 2 qrs. I 41b. of old iron from the plain tiff, at the rate of Bs. per cwt. which was regularly weighed in his presence, and afterwards ( with the ex ception of a quantity which the defendant himself de sired should be left behind until called for) put into a cart which defendant had sent for that purpose, and carried away. He had, however, never paid for the iron thus obtained—nor had he sent for the quantity which remained,although it was ready to be delivered. The defence set up was, that defendant had made a tender of £32, to plaintiff, which he had refused— (this sum he had paid into Court)—and that his mo tive for refusing to pay the 4s. (which, in fact was the whole matter now in dispute) was, that, on the iron being re-weighed at Bull Wharf, it was found to be' 244r5. and Itilbs. deficient in weight. This defence, however, failed—as the only tender which defendant appeared to have made was a conditional one—that, provided plaintiff would allow him (the defendant) and two of his friends, a guinea each for their trouble in purchasing the iron, he would pay the remainder; which plaintiff refused to accept—and the iron hav ing been lying at the wharf two days before it was weighed, it was not impossible that part of it might have been stolen from thence. The Jury, however, returned a verdict for the plaintiff. A tall fellow standing up in the Pit a few nights ago at the Hibernian Theatre, in Dublin, was repeat edly entreated to sit down, but would not ; when a voice from the upper gallery, called out, " Let him alone, honey, he's a tailor, and he's resting hinuelf." The new aqueduct bridge of the Grand Junction Canal, over the Ouse river, below Stoney Stratford, at Wolverton, which has been some time in prepara tion, •of cast iron, in lieu of that of brick, which fell down in February, 1808, was opened on Monday lir -the passage of boats. The whole length of the iron work is 101 feet ; it is wide enough for two boats to pass each other, and has a towing path of iron attach ed to it ; it is firm and tight in every part, and dis plays not the least appearance of straiu from its vast weight. Yesterday evening, about seven o'clock, as a gen tleman's carriage was going through Temple-bar, the horses took fright and ran with great violence against a hackney coach, near Fetter-lane, by which the gen tleman's carriage was overturned, and a poor wo man, standing by her fruit-stall, was so shockingly bruised as to be taken to a Surgeon in the neigir bourhood without any hopes of recovery ; and the coachman, who was thrown from his box, *as mate rially injoied. . . CATALOPILIN PiiPtlte'r XELVA, NOV. 111. • • General Belford, Governor of Madrid, it is repor ted, has been killed in the Absence of King Joseph with his royal gUard. He was universally hated, on account of his cruelties, At one time, he murdered in cold blood 151 persons taken by his soldiers in Castile. By accounts from Fremwell, it should seem that the greater part of the French garrison there has left it, for the purpose to oppose a body of about a thou sand patriots, who have taken a great number of pri soners an.l a large booty. The narrow escape of Joseph in the end of Octo ber has occasioned many thousands to rise even in the heart of Castile ; near Pragoe, a body of 500 •French were beaten by about halt as many Spaniards, who killed 30, and took 90 primers. The half of the re mainder were killed in the sequel by the pesantry. In the neighbour/y:lNi of Ordima, a French escort has been intercepted, and the valuable acquisition made of 10,000 muskets and 14,000 suits of clothing. Letters from other parts of Biscay mention that the new duty on colonial produce is so unpopular, that every man that could escape has joined the skirmish ing parties. The atrocities of the French, without respect either to sex or age, are continued. If Eu rope does not soon open her eyes to our calamities, she will soon have another employment for then', in weeping for her own distresses. MANRESA, NOV. CO. Fourteen waggon loads of provisions, sir pieces of artillery, and seven carriages of ammunition, were sent into Barcelona by the enemy on the 20th instant. —They were escorted all the way from Lerida by 5500 men. From Urgel, we find that a body of only about 70 patriots] have crossed the Pyrennecs, and commit ted much depredation in the rich French provinces. The met with little or no resistance, at►d have acqUi. red booty to the value of 20,000 dollars. A very no ted Captain is at the head of them, named Philip de Polgrado, who has been wounded in different engage ments during the war. The enemy possesses no ground in the whole of Arragon but Saragossa and Daroca, and two or three small places near the frontiers ; the patriots have driven the French out of All the rest. TARRAGONA, DEC. I. The force of the French army before the brave Tortosa has been found hitherto inadequate to their purposes, and will remain so. It has been augmented by Me French and Italians, who it appears have ar rived from the south of Italy, where they before were engaged against the English. The latter were disaf fected to the French cause, and have already begun to desert. They joined Suchet on the 21th Novem ber. The garrison of Tortosa amounts to between I() and 12,000 men, but the Fi each are nearly 17,000 si rong. AMERICAN PAPERS. MR. PIWKNEY TO MR. SMITH. " SIR—On the 27th November, Mr. Brownell de livered to me your letters of the 11th, 14th, and 23d, of the preceding month, and on the Saturday follow ing I had a conference with the Marquis Wellesley, in the course of which I explained to him fully the grounds upon,which I was instructed to request Mr. Jackson's immediate recall, and upon which the offi _ . cial intercourse between that Minister and the Ame rican Government has been suspended. “ Lord Wellesley's reception of what I said to him was frank and friendly, and I left him with a persua sion that we should have no cause to be dissatisfied with the final course of his Government on the sub jects of our conference. 66 We agreed that the interview could only be in troductory to a more formal proceeding on my part ; and it was accordingly settled between uc,that I should present an official letter to the effect of my verbal communication. • 66 Having prepared such a letter, I carried it my self to Downing-street a few days afterwards, and ac- companied the delivery to Lord Wellesley with some explanatory observations, with which it is not, I pre sume, necessary to trouble you. You will find a copy of this letter inclosed, and will be able to collect from it the substance of the greater part of the statements and remarks which I thought it my duty to make in tl,e conversation above mentioned. • 66 Although I w,as aware that the answer to my letter would not be very hastily given, I certainly w as I not prepared to expect the delay which has actually occurred. The President will do. me the justice to believe, that I have used every exertion consistent with discretion, and the nature of the occasion, us shorten that delay, which though not ascribable, as.l persuade myself, to any motive unfriendly or disre• spectful to the United States, may, I am persuaded, have been productive of some disadvantage. A copy of the answer received on the day of its date, is inclosed. 66 Between the delivery of my letter and the receipt of the reply, I had frequent conversations with Lord Wellesley, some of which were at his own request, eind related altogether to the subject of my letter.— The rest were on other subjects, but Mr. Jackson's • affair was incidentally mentioned in all. A particu lar account of what was said on these several occa sions, would scarcely be useful, and would not fail to be tedious. It will, perhaps, be sufficient to ob serve, that although these conversations were less sa tisfactory to me than the .first, there was always ap parent anxiety on the part of Lord Wellesley to do what was conciliatory ; and that in the share in which I took in them, I was governed in the opinion, that although it might become my duty to avoid with more than ordinary care the appearance of my being a party to the ultimate proceeding of the British Go vernment on my official representation, it could not be otherwise than proper in any turn which the affair could take, that I should avail myself - of every op portunity of bringing to Lord Wellesley's mind such considerations as were calculated to produce a bene ficial influence on the form and character of the pro ceeding. 6.6 .In. what light the President will view the course, which after so much consideration, this Governnient has adopted, it will not become me even to conjec. . . 1 n tare.: tf its manner or effect it - should urn A expectations, I shall have to regret, that the % of my humble endeavours to make it what it t to be; has not been proportioned to nay aril 4A. ..- ligence. 4g Of my letter to Lord Wellesley of the 2d of Ja nuary, I have very little to say. I trust it will be found faithful to my. instructions; and that while it maintains - the honour of my Government, it does nit neglect what is due to conciliation. I ant not sure that I ought to have quoted in it your letter to me, of the Ist November, of which the substance of it is undoubtedly given in the quotation of your subsequent letter of the 2d of the same month. But I saw no objection to a repetition of the just and amicable sentiments expressed in these quo tations ; and as I had been induced, at my first inter view with Lcrd Wellesley, to read to his loirddiip each of the passages, I thought that I was in some sort bound to the introduction of bOth in my written communication. soMy letter avoids all discussion, and all• invita tions to discussions op the business of the Chesapeake, on the Orders in Council, and on topics which cir cumstances have connected with both. It does not, however, entirely pass them by, but contains such references to them, as I had supposed were likely to be useful. lam assured that in this respect I have acted in conformity with the President's intentions.— Indeed, if I had acted otherwise, I should have com plicated and embarrassed a question which I was or dered to simplify, and forced into combination the peculiar difficulties of several subjects, to counteract the wishes of my Government on each. I should have done so too without inducement; for I had no authority to make any demand or proposal in the crises of the Chesapeake and Orders in Council, or to act on any proposal which Lord Vtrellesley might be inclined to make to me—and it is perfectly clear that these sub jects were not susceptible of any very material written illlustrations which they had not already received. I do not, however, imagine that I was to make no use of the reflections upon them which you have furnished in your letter of the 23c1 November. I was, on the contrary, convinced that it would be proper to sug gest them occasionally in conversation, with a view to dispose Lord Wellesley, and through him the British Government, to seek such fair and liberal adjustments with us as would once more make us friends. " Accordingly in my first conference I spoke of the affair of the Chesapeake and the Orders in Conn. cil, and concluded my explanations, which did not lose sight of your letter of the 23d November, by ex pressing.a wish that L9rd Wellesley would allow me an early opportunity of a recommuuication with him on these heads. " From the dispositions evinced by Lord Welles ley in the notice he took of these suggestions of that wish, I was inclined to hope that it might be in my power to announce to you by the return of the cot. vette, that a new Envoy would be charged, as the successor of Mr. Jackson, with instruction adapted to the purpose of lion hirable accommodation. My letter to his Lordship was written under the influence of this hope, and concludes, as you will pm ceive, with as strong an appeal to the disposition on which it rested, as could with propriety be made. a I recurred in subsequent conversations as often as occasion presented itself, to the attack on theChesa prake, and to the Orders in Council. It soon ap. peared, however, that a new Envoy would not in the first instance be sent out to replace Mr. Jackson, and consequently that arrangement of these subjects was not in that mode to be expected. A special mission would still less be resorted to, and it. was not likely that approaches to negociation would be made thro' a Charge-d'Affaires. " It was still barely possible that though I had so powers to negotiate and conclude, the British Go vernment might not be disinclined to make advances through.me, or that Lord Wellesley would suffer me so far to nnderstand the views of his Government, as that I might enable you to judge upon what condi. tions, and in what mode, arrangement was practica ble. This was possible, though not very probable ; hat it finally became certain that no definite pro. posal would, for the present at least, be made to us through any channel, and that LordW.eljesley would not commit himself on the details to which I wi.h I him to speak, but upon which, of course, I did not press him. " It only remains to refer you for the actual senti ments of this Government, with regard to future tie. gociations ; with regard to the concluding paragraph of Lord Wellesley's letter to me, which is substan- Wally the same with his recent verbal explanations; land to add, that in a short conversation since the re ceipt of his letter, he told me that if I thought myself ! :empowered to enter upon and to adjust the case of the Chesapeake, he would proceed without delay to con sider it with me. " I have not supposed that Lord Wellesley's letter requires any other than the common answer, and I I.have accordingly given the reply, 'of w hi c h a cop y i s 'bow transmitted. " I have the honour to be, with great consideration, Sir, your most obedient humble servant, (Signed) " WILLIAM PINKNEY. " The Honourable Robert Smith, &c. &c. The following is an extract of a letter from a re spectable Gentleman at Fort Stoddert, M. T. dated Nov. 12, 1810: " The account of Pensacola being in possession of the British, is false. Should England be disposed to take pOssession of that place, and of Mobilee, this is doubtless the period at which such a step seems most probable most to be apprehended. The Baton-Rouge Floridan Army is said to be on its march to take these•places. Col. Kemper, and some other Chiefs of this new army, are now in the vicinity of the fort, associating with such of our citizens as affords much ground to apprehend there is something wrong amongst them.. If we have a war with England, Pensacola and Mobilee must be mire, or New Orleans will fall, At no place could the enemy find so con venient I rendezvous for his vessels horn which to senoy . New Orleans as Pensacola, an the cattle and hay and corn of this country, and the Cteek and Chocktaw Nations and the savages of these nat i ons , .who love the English, would contribute not a little towards the support of such a rendezvous." II