Star. — London, England, 1820-06-19 00:00:00

TILE CIVIL POWER CALLED IN TO PROTECT TIIE MILITARY.: PRESTON, JUNE 18, 1820. The Manchester Yeomanry Cavalry, of Peterloo renown, arrived here yesterday, and in the evening the inhabitants paid them their respects in verbal salutations, which called forth, this morning, the fol lowing placard for their protection: " Boootiou or Parsrox, _l6rn Juxs, 1820. " Whereas, a great number of persons did yesterday unlaw telly assemble in the public streets of the Borough, and insult the Military. and conduct themselves In a riotous and disor derly manner. The Mayor and Magistrates feel it their duty to caution persons from assembling in that manner in future, and in case any instance of disorderly conduct should occur, the offending patties will we apprehended, and proceeded against according to law. Ily Order of the Mayor and Magistrates, " RICHARD PALMER, Town Clerk." An end seems now put to the right of thorough fire, which the Public have so long possessed, through the King's Mews. The gates and different avenues to it are this morning marked with " No Thorough fare: This change is, no doubt, the consequence of recent events. We regret to announce the death of the Right Ho nourable Lord DIiNDAS, at his seat, near Richmond, in the evening of Tuesday last. His Lordship had been for some time past in a very precarious state of health. This melancholy event occasions a vacancy in the representation of the City of York, by the ele vation of the Hon. L. DUNDAS to the Peerage. Mr. CIIA LONER, we understand, starts for York in the Whig interest. Wednesday evening, the York Whig Club unani mously resolved, that a Requisition - for a General I , Meeting of the Inhabitants of York, and its vicinity, should be forwarded to the Right Hon. the LORD MAYOR, to taste into consideration the propriety of addre,sing her MAJESTY the QUEEN. It was accord ingly prepared, and was on Friday presented to his Lordship, with 589 signatures—such a number as was scarcely ever before attached to a Requisition.— The LORD MAYOR appointed Monday next, and a very numerous Meeting is confidently anticipated. Thursday last, pursuant to Requisition, a Meeting of the Freeholders and Inhabitants of the county of Northumberland was held in the Town Hall, Mor peth, " to take into consideration the propriety of preparing and presenting Petitions for a temperate and constitutional Reform in Parliament," WIC CLARE, Esq. High Sheriff, was in the Chair. Sir J. E. SwlN auaxE,Bart. C. W. BIGGE, Esq.and Sir C. MoNcx. se verally addressed the Meeting, which was conducted with the utmost harmony, none of an opposite mode of thinking taking any part. The Hall was but thinly attended. _ _ _ Advices have been brought by a Leeward Island Mail of the defeat of a Spanish corps under Colonel ARANA, at Santa Clara, in the province of Cumana, by the Patriots, under the command of Generals SAREZA and MONEGAS. The loss on the part of the Royalists was considerable, and they lost, by desertion, after the engagement, 200 Men. Accord ing to the latest intelligence from General BOLIVAR, it seems that he had gone to intercept General LA TORRE, who was supposed to be stationed in the neighbourhood of Merida. Upwards of 90,000 stand of arms reached Angostura in the months of March and Apia. A Meeting-of Noblemen and Gentlemen, connected with Ireland, took place on Saturday, at the Thatched House Tavern, St. James's-street. The Meeting was convered for the purpose of adopting some means by which the distress created by the failure of several of the Banking Establishments of Ireland might be alleviated. This object was, however, in a great measure anticipated by the proposition of the CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER on the preceding evening in the House of Commons, when he pro posed that a sum of £500,000 should be granted for the relief of Ireland. Lord DOSOUGHMORE briefly adverted to the liberality which Government had shewn in coming forward, at so critical a moment, With relief, and therefore wished the Meeting to se parate without proceeding to any vote. The great majority of the company felt the propriety of this ad vice ; and, after a few observations from the Earl of LIMERICK, Mr. S. TIGHE, and Major Toaaews, the Meeting broke up. Amongst the assembly were, The Earl of Blesinton ' Lord Mount-Charles, the Earl of Li merick, the Earl of Donoughmore, the Marquis of Lansdown, General Hart, Mr. Vesey Fitzgerald, Mr. S. Tighe, &e. IRELAND.—" THE BANKS.—We have again the pleasing task of announcing to the Public, that all the Private Banks of this City yesterday found the business comparatively light, and that entire confi dence is now almost restored ; so that we anticipate the immediate removal of further alarm or uneasiness in the minds of the Public in the present crisis. One Dublin and ten Country Banks in Ireland have closed since the Ist instant."—Dublin Journal of Friday. The Lublin Evening Post of June 15, says—" By the Cork met., it appears, that in consequence of the total stoppage of business, including manual labour, in that city, the masters and labourers prayed the Mayor and Local Authorities to dismiss some country workmen, employed at the new County Jail, the result was, that sixteen countrymen, ten labourers and six mas ters, were dismissed, to make room for those of the town." FASHIONABLE ARRIVALS. Lord and Lady Anson, at the St. James's Hotel, Jermyn strett, from their seat, Shugborough, Staffordshire. The Earl of Harcourt, at his house in Cavendish-square, from his seat in Berks. _ _ _ Lord Henniker, at his house in se.t in Suffolk. from his 11. Howarth, Esq. M.P. at his house in Berkeley-street, frem his seat, lianstead. At Thomas's Hotel, Berkeley-square--Lord and Lady De Clifford, and family, yesterday, from Paris; Sir Edward and Lady Poore, from their seat in Wilts. DEPARTURE& The Earl and Countess of St. Germain's, from their house in St. James';-squAre, to their seat at Blackheath. The Earl and Countess of Arran, and family,from their house in Dover.street, to their seat, Arran Lodge, Bognor, Sussex, fur the summer. Lord l.cnedoch, to Cosgrove Priory, Suffolk. Lawrence Dundas, Esq. M.P. and family, from their house liertfora-street, May-fair, to their seat, Asi Hall, Yotkshire. (Wont I and Mrs. llallam, from the St. James's Hotel, Jer nlyn-strett, to their seat in I lett% _ _ Sir Charles and Lady Morgan, for Ireland. OXFORD MUSICAL FESTIVAL.—The Grand Musical Festival, on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday last, in honour of his MAJESTY'S Accession to the Throne, v. as well attended ; and all the Performers exerted their talents with the happiest effect. At the termi nation of each day's performance, the national and popular air of GOD says Me King was sung at the re quest of the company.—On Thursday evening there was a Ball at the Town Hall. Nearly 4.00 persons of Cashion and distinction were present. , AN& _a. _ . t, LAW INTELLIGENCE. . COURT OF KING'S BENCH, JUNE 17. THE KING V. SIR FRANCIS BURDETT. The ATTORNEY-GENERAL, at the sitting of the Court, stated, that he had to shew cause against a Rule obtained in this case by Mr. Phillips. Mr. Justice BEST read his notes of the - trial, and repeated the points upon which he had left the cause to the Jury. The ATTORNEY-GENERAL contended, that if any part of the charge had been made out, that partial proof would be sufficient to sustain the verdict. If it had been satisfactorily established (which could not be denied) that Sir Francis Burdett was the author of the letter in question, and that the letter had been written in the county of Leicester, the ver dict must inevitably stand. The author of the libel was guilty of an offence as well as the publisher ; and where a man was charged with writing and com posing, it was necessary to lay the venue in that county in which the act of composing or writing had been performed. In the case of the King v. Lambe, which would be found in Coke, it had been held that the contriver:the procurer, and the publisher of a libel, were each and all guilty of an offence ; and Lord Holt, in a subsequent case, the King v. Bere, had hell that the writer was the contriver. Upon the authority of those cases he should contend that the composing a libel was in itself an offence ; and if the publishing only constituted the offence, as had been contended by the Counsel for the defendant, to what end were the writing and composing charged in the indictment ? In the case of the King v. Knell, which occurred in the time of George 11. it had been held that the mere printing of a libel was, without publi cation, an offence per se; and the case of the seven Bishops, which had been cited by the other side, formed an authority directly against them, for the evidence there was that the writing took place in Surrey ; and no evidence appeared of publication in Middlesex, where the venur was laid ; but if there had been evidence of writing in Middlesex, that would have been sufficient, and such had evidently been the impression of the Judges. It had been said by the defendant's Counsel, that the proposition which he was maintaining would go to the length of saying that a man who wrote a libel and kept it in his desk would be punishable. Was there anything very ex traordinary in that? What was the law in cases of forgery ? It had been held that a man who com mitted a forgery, and kept it in his desk, without any publication at all, was guilty of felony; and in the case of the King v. Crocker, a man had been con victed under such circumstances. The third and last ground of the Learned Gentleman's opposition was— that, taking the offence in question to be of a com pound nature, granting that the publication, which formed one part of the offence, had been committed in county A, and the writing or composing, which formed the other part, in county B, it was competent to the prosecutors to lay the venue in either _county. In support of this position, he would put the case of a windmill in one county overhanging a highway in another, and annoying the passengers on that high way. In indicting the mill as h a nuisance, it would be necessary to prove the building in one county, and the nuisance in another. In which county should the venue be laid? Doubtless it might be laid' in either. The Attorney-General then concluded by de claring, that he esteemed the publication of a libel as no farther important than as it served to shew the a.:i mus with which it was written ; and that nothing but the anxiety which the case had excited could - have induced him to trespass so long on the valuable time of the Court. Mr. DENSIAN observed, that the Attorney-General had entirely overlooked one of the grounds upon which the present motion had beta addressed to the Court—that evidence of the truth of the publication had been rejected. The ATTORNEY-GENERAL thought that paint so clear, that he would not argue it. The LORD CHIEF Aimee and Mr. Justice BEST were of the same opinion. The SOLICITOR-GENERAL followed on the part of the Crown. Mr. SerjeantVa trona ri declined to address the Court. Mr. SCARLET?, at considerable length, supported the Rule. The duty which, as a professional man, he owed to the defendant, was scarcely inferior, the Learned Gentleman said, to the duty which, in the present case, he owed to the Public. He trembled even at the thought that there was a bare possibility that the Court might concur in the arguments of the Attorney-General. The principles which the Attor ney-General had broached on that day had slept in darkness for fifty years, and certainly he had never expected to have heard such principles attempted to be revived. That attempt, however, had been made, and made with a degree of energy and zeal which could not have been surpassed even in those fatal times which had witnessed the operation of those principles—in times which England had survived, and which he had hoped that England had forgotten. The Learned Counsel then proceeded to discuss the Roman definition of libel, and deprecated ref to the civil law, as to a code constructed upon a sys tem of casuistry, and fit only to torture the minds and consciences of those who should rely upon it.. If the Learned Attorney-General chose to go back to Lambe's case, and to the other cases which he had qucted, he must take—not the particular parts of those cases which were likely to serve his present, argument—he must take the cases as they stood for better or for worse. Would the Learned Gentleman agree, that in future no man who merely published a libel should beheld guilty, unless it could be proved that he knew it tobe a libel at the time when he published it? Such a confession would be contrary to all modern decisions; for, however fit it might be that a differ ence should be established between the contriver and the mere publisher, no such difference had ever been admitted. If the argument on the other side was approved by the Court, the Attorney-General would say next, that any man who found a libel became' subject to punishment, unless be destroyed it upon the spot, or carried it before a Magistrate. Autho rity even for that position might be found in Lord Coke. According to the case of . the King v. Payne, if one man wrote a libellous epigram, and another took a copy of it and kept it for his private amuse ment, the man who so kept the copy would be punishable, because the thing might at some time afterwards be published. It would be about as rea sonable to indict a man for keeping a gun in his . - house, because at some "future period a person might be shot with k. According to the_same case, if one man wrote a libel, and another approhd it, the ap prover Was guilty. This case was really worth the attention of his Learned Friend the Attorney-General; it created a new class of offenders. • The principle laid down by Lord Holt, in the case of the King v. Bere, was no less detestable. According to that case, a man might purchase a book in a shop, and place it in his closet, and if it were found that that book' contained matter , libelous upon any hutean creature, the onus of proving an innocent intention was thrown upon the unhappy possessor. What a position was this ! There was not, perhaps, a book in the libraries , of their Lordships, not even the Prayer-book itself, from which something libellous might not be ex tracted—libellous upon some individual, some go vernment, or some system. The very notes which he (Mr. Scarlett) was then taking might, in due time, if not destroyed, become libellous. They might, by accident, be locked up among his papers, and, after his death, his posterity might be prosecuted for pos sessing them. The LORD Cutry-Jusvcs.—Those are cases, Mr. Scarlett, which could not now be quoted in any Court of Justice. You must be aware that they would not be listened to. Mr.SCARLETT observed that those cases occurred, in point of date, iramediateli previous to the cases of the King v. Payne, and the King v. Bere, which had been relied upon by the Attorney-Generil. Mr. Justice BEST.—But then the Revolution came between. Mr. SCARLITT, at half-past three o'clock, was pro ceeding to cite some decisions of Lord Chief-Justice Jefferies, and of Lord Chief-Justice Scroggs, which he thought might have biassed the mind of Lord Holt in his decision upon the case of the King r. Bere, when the Court adjourned the further argu ment of the question to a future day. • CRIM. CON. SHERIFFS COURT, RED LION-SQUARE. W. MILLER V. R. HAWKER. • Mr. CAMPBELL opened the pleadings in this case. It was an action brought by the plaintiff against the defendant, for criminal conversation with his wife.— The damages were laid at £10,000; and the de fendant had suffered judgment to go by default. Mr. SCARLIMT said, that the plaintiff, Mr. Miller, was a gentleman of considerable landed estate in the county of Gloucester. The defendant, Mr. Hawker, was the son of an opulent dyer, resident in the same neighbourhood, and at the time when he became acquainted with the plaintiff, was a Fellow of one of the Colleges of the University of Oxford. He had the advantage of Mr. Miller as to years, but to no very considerable extent. Mr. Miller, in 1808, be came acquainted with his present wife. She was a lady of noble descent, of gmt beauty, and, he might add, highly accomplished. She was the niece of a Noble Lord whom he saw preknt (Lord Egremont), and, as far as illustrious birth and connexions went, she had everything to recommend her. When the plaintiff was first introduced to her, he was 24 or 25 years of age. He met her at the house of her father; the Hon. Mr. Wyndham. In point of family, she was certainly a most desirable match for Mr. Miller: bin her fortune did not correspond with her situa tion in lifer This, however, made no difference in the maid of an affectionate suitor, and an opportu nity was thus afforded him of shewing his attach. ment, by making her a most ample and liberal set tlement. In the year 1809, they were married at the house of the father of the lady, in Montagu-place. Mr. Edward Bloxam, the Solicitor of the plaintiff, produced an attested copy of the regkster of the mar riage of the plaintiff with his wife, at the parish of St. George, Bloomsbury, in 1809. Mr. Nash. Pearce Wathen deposed as follows :—I am one of the trustees under the marriage settle ment_ executed by the plaintiff. When I first saw Mrs. Miller she was about 20 years of age, a beauti ful and accomplished woman; Mr. Miller was about 26. I had frequent opportunities of, seeing them after their marriage; my late wife and I visited them ; Mr. Miller was a kind and attentive husband. Mr. Miller is a gentleman of considerable fortune in Gloucestershire ; he lived in style, and kept a re spectable establishment. Mrs. Miller had a horse and a carriage for her own use, and was treated by her husband with every indulgence. I know little of Mr. Hawker: he is a Gloucestershire man. I know his father; he is a man of opulence in trade. I went to Scotland; and, while there, Mr. and Mrs. Miller paid me a visit. They appeared to me to live hap pily together. Cross-examined by Mr. Setjeant• Vitusuraw.—l knew that differences had arisen between Mr. Miller and his wife. I have heard Mr. Miller speak of those differences. They were three or four years married when they separated. Mrs. Miller left her husband, but they were brought together again by the mutual interference of friends. I never was present when Mr. Miller took up a carving-knife to his lady. The father of Mr. Hawker is a dyer; he has two daugh ters by a second wife. Re-examined.—The separation did not arise from jealousy. I understood that she went to her father, in the Isle of Man, who sent her back to Mr. Miller. When she returned, Mr. Miller continued to be fond of her, and was happy at her return. The Rev. Richard Huntley stated, that a second separation had taken place, but that there was no impeachment of the lady's honour, and that Mr. Miller continued fond of her. John Ford examined.—l am Mr. Miller's butler. I have been so for four years. Mr. Hawker, the de fendant, began his ;tusks about a year and a half or two years ago. He was at first accompanied by his stepmother and sisters. His visits afterwards became more frequent. He was received by Mr. Miller with hospitality and kindness. On the 4th of February last, Me. Hawker was on a visit at my master's house. At eleven o'clock in the forenoon he was in bed. — My master had gone out hunting with Mr. Paul, who was also visiting in the house. Immediately after Mr. Miller went out, I observed Mrs. Miller leave the drawing-room, and go up stairs to Mr. Hawker's bed-room; I saw her go in and shut the door; I cannot say how long she remained. Mr. Hawker had ordered his servant nbt to call him till two o'clock; he had a cup of tea taken up to him. Mr. Hawker remained on that visit till the 9th or 10th of Fe bruary ;he came again on the 4th of March. Mr. Hawker and Mr. and Mrs. Miller went out riding ; when they returned, Mr. Miller went to his dressing- mom,. which was trelow stairs ; Mr. Hivrker and Mrs: Miller went along the passage together, and up stairs towards.the bed-room of the former. In about ten minutes or a quarter of an hour I observed Mrs. Miller pass very quickly. as from Mr. Haw ker's bed-room to her own room ; my suspicion was . excited, and after Mr. Hawker had left his room I went up to it, and saw marks on the side of the bed as if two persons had been there. On March 6, which was the day of the Election of Members for Gloucester, Mr. Miller went to attend the Election. Mr. Hawker and Mrs. Miller remained at home.— They came down to breakfast about eleven o'clock, and continued the rest of the morning in the draw ing-room alone; the blinds were down ; the weather was dull. I had occasion to go to the drawing-room about half-past twelve. I tapped at the door, and opened it immediately without waiting. I heard a rustling of dress. Mrs. Miller was standing at a little distance from Mr. Hawker. She was much confused, blushed uncommonly, and trembled. Mr. Hawker was sitting in a chair with his back to me. I did net mention these circumstances to my master . till the 7th or Bth of March. In cross-examination.—After I had stated to Mr. Miller what I had seen, Mrs. Miller stopped in the house about three weeks. She had a separate apart ment. She had made a great many attempts to come to my master, but he did everything in his power to prevent the communication. They had separate beds in different parts of the house until Mrs. Miller was taken away by her friends. Mr. Edward Bloxam again examined.—l„,was first applied to on this affair on the 22d or 23d of March. Mrs. Miller was then in the house. I advised Mr. Miller to continue her in his house until her friends could be induced to receive her, or to point out a proper place for her reception. There was a good deal of correspondence by letters with her friends (her cousin, Lord Ducie, and Lady Carnarvon) on the subject. Her own friends having refused to re- . ceive her, I advised Mr. Miller to find a place for her, which he did. I think it was on the 30th of April she went. I consulted Mr. Campbell on the subject, and I acted by his aivice. Maria Woodcock.--I was Lady's maid to Mrs. Miller for three years. I remember when my mis tress went toWeymouth, at the latter end of August, 1819.—[The witness described circumstances confir matory of the butler's suspicions.]—On the 10th of March it was my mistress's intention to have quitted my master. My master went to Mr. Shepherd's on the 10th of March. On his return he had a separate bed, and never slept with my mistress afterwards.— My mistress remained in the house three weeks after wards. She made several attempts to get to my master. She saw him once or twice. My mistress wrote a great deal. I refused to convey the letters to the post. I knew she packed up all her jewels on the 11th or 12th of March, and addressed them to Mr. Hawker, at Oxford. By my mistress's desire I hid them in one of the best beds ; but my master found it out, and insisted upon having them. Ido not know that Mr. or Mrs. Miller disagreed. WS:Miller idways did as she liked. Cross-examined.—My master was fond of my mis tress, and was very indulgent; she did as she liked, Mrs. Miller was very affectionate to her husband when I 'first lived with them ; after Mr. Hawker be came intimate in the house, I thought I observed a great difference in my mistress's conduct towards her, husband. Mr. Serjeant VAVGIIAN then addressed the Jury on the part of the defendant. He did not mean, on the part of his unhappy client, to deny that the charge imputed to him was of a serious nature; he came there not to justify his conduct, but as much as possible to diminish that weight of aggravation which had been attempted to be heaped upon him. Men, as well as women, had their weak moments ; and unfortunately the defendant, in an unguarded moment, forgot the duty which he owed to himself as well as to the plaintiff. For this he entertained the sincerest regret. He meant not to utter a syllable to the prejudice of the plaintiff or his wife, and was willing to submit himself to that verdict which the Jury, upon a conscientious view of the whole facts, might feel themselves called upon to give. It was said he had been a Fellow of one of the Colleges at Oxford. This had been the case, but he had resigned that appointment, and was, in fact, possessed of no property whatever. He was aware of the maxim, " That the man who could not pay in his purse must pay in his person." He was ready to subscribe to its wisdom ; but he conceived in the present instance that temperate, and not vindictive damages, would best meet the eel justice of the case. The Jury, after some consideration, assessed the damages at Twelve Hundr,ed Pomade. Monday, the Chamber of Commerce of Edinburgh unanimously agreed to petition the Board of T r ade to remove the restrictions on the trade to China and the East Indies, in order that British vessels may be placed on an equal footing with those of foreign coun tries. The Petition, which is extremely well drawn. up, we hope to be 'able to give at length to-morrow. Some detached parties of troops throughout Spain have been guilty of overturning the stones erected in commemoration cf the Constitution Yes pietres Cos stitutionsella). A Madrid Paper says, that hitherto " these stones have been made of trood, which renders their destruction extremely - easy I" There are a great ' many Hibernians in Spain. Peturmuumsn.—Yesterday, a young man undertook, on the Walthantstow-road, to walk 48 miles in ten hours. He COM. mewed his task at three o'clock in the morning, and completed It in eight hours and 55 minutes. The wager was for at2o. • Sonars Des:rm.—Au awful circumstance occurred yesterday morning in Bethnal-green Church. A National School, for the education Of 2000 children, has lately been establiched in that Pariah, and the Bono, of Loirsom undertook to preach the first Charity Sermon for the Benefit of the Institution. • The Master of the School, Mr. Howe, bid been indefatigable in preparing the children for the occasion, and just before the Psalms com menced, he attempted to rise, but fell down dead in the pew. C oan _geenneas, Maas-taxa, Jim 19.—Our market closed heavily on Friday for 'Wheat, having had large arrivals in the course of the week, for which the demand was very inadequate. The supply this morning was considerable from Beset, Kent, and &drolle, and last Monday's prices were with difficulty eb. Pined eves for the finest samples from the former county, and all oiler sorts were neatly unsaleable, at a decline of 2a. per qr. The arrivals of Oats continue exceedingly abundant, the sale of width article was very dull, at a decline of Is. per it Fi ne fresh Harkey being scarce, fully supports the prices of this day. as'onight. In Deans, Peas, and other articles, no alteration. Satmeemco Maaxxv, Jose 19.-13.ef, 4a. Od. td a.. Od. pee stone of Sat ; Mopes, 4a 6d. to . ss. rid. Vial. as. Oriao ds. Od. Pork, Nod. to oo .og. Lamb, ea.lod. to Os. 10d. Catdest Market Beasts, 4100 ; Calves, 250; Sheep and Lambs, 21,000; per, 220. -, f , ~~,a. . % I. z • ' • • • 1 I 1 ; ti i , 1 .1 1 • 0: I .1 ? ! I • . ' 1 ''. !' .1 • I 11 i 1 I ; i ll II :,