Star. — London, England, 1821-08-31 00:00:00

ASSMES. 'NEWCASTLE, AUGUST '2l. Yesterday morning the Judges attended Divine Service at St. Mary's Church. The High Sheriff and a numerous train of Gentlemen were also present. The Church was exceedingly lull, and the congrega tion consisted of the principal ic.habitauts of the place. SMUGGLING. This morning .Iti.a Diet, otherwise Alin Replids, was put to the bat, indicted on suspicion of felo niously shooting at the Swallow Revenue cutter, on the high seas, on tlee 27th of February last. This trial has excited uncommon interest in the town and the Court, which, Neforc eight o'clock, was very much crowded. The prisoner, who has suffered great pain by the amputation of his leg, in conse quence of the fracture he received in the engagement with the cutter, looked exceedingly unwell, and was accommodated with a chair during the trial, which lasted nearly eight hours. William P. St • . •. be first witness, is a Master and Commander • . Majesty's service. On Tues• day, the 27th of leesuary, he commanded a cutter, in the er v ice of the Customs for the prevention of smugglinsT. About nine o'clock in the morning of that day lie saw a vessel, which he took to be a smug gler, to the north-west, near Newbiggin; shortly af terwards he made sail after her. She altered her course, and made sail from him ; he neared her, and before noon he hoisted the colours, and fired a shot to bring her to. It was the col o u rs that are ap pointed for the Revenue service he hoisted. Some time after he got within gun-shot, and fired at her ; she hoisted Dutch colon's, and returned the shot, and got her sweeps out; several shots were ex changed; they must have seen our colours. The sweeps are large oars used in pulling in calms or light winds. They hauled her ports up, and he could distinctly see four guns (cannon) and many men with muskets on deck. About half-past three, when he judged himself within pised-shot. he directeda broad side to be discharged at her, which the smugglers immediately returned, and gave three cheers. The colour' were still flying in both vessels. The engage ment continued on both sides, and finding the smug gler increased her distance, he left off firing, and made more sail ; they had bees engaged three quar ters of an hour. The smuggler commenced throwing hales and tubs overboard. About the middle of the action one man, named George Easterley, of the Swallow, fell down from two wounds in his head. Thomas Thompson, a mariner, also received a blow from a grape shot. Many shots had struck the Swal low in her hull, sails, and rigging. Ween it came dark, shortly after seven o'clock, he found he got nearer the smuggler. He directed musketry to be , fired at her, not being in it situation to bring the great guns into action. He discovered a boat leaving the smuggler, and fired into her, but soon lost sight of it. They proceeded oa, and got possession of the smuggler about eight o'clock, but there was no per son on board. The chief mate, who had boarded the smuggle!. I —"c2. and said he had found papers on boat d ; wht , )1c her, the nearest land must have been betw:.c!. wbiggin and Blyth, about four dicta leagues di' 'Myth light was the first light they made. As soon as it was day-light the next morn ing, witness went on board the smuggler, and re-, coved the papers that had beers found in her. The; vessel appeared to have been in an action, and there had been several shots passed through her bulwarks, mast;, sails, and rigging ; blood in several parts of it, and articles of dress that must have been worn by persons who had received gun-shot wounds. There were on board her four large gun-carriages, 21. muskets, a quantity of powder, some musket-car tridges, some nine-pound shot, bags of musket-balls, some loose grape-shot, and part of a cargo of contra band goods. There were ontpenters tools on deck, recently used in repair , . The cargo consisted of up wards of 700 five gallon (and under) kegs of spirits (casks of that size are prohibited); 47 bales of to bacco, three kegs of tea, and provisions for a consi dernble number of men. There was also a slate found on board. There were three boots, two had been cut off the leg, and had blood in them, and the i third had been perforated with shots. Some oertifi-1 eves and several letters were handed over to the wit- 1 tress, and have remained in his possession. Cross-examined by Mr. WILLIAMS.—IIe is a Com mander in the Navy. He received his authority to command the Swallow from the Customs and the Admiralty, and had an authority, as to the extent of his orders, from the Customs. He hoisted a colour of a particular description, with a red ensign, and a legal crown in the field. That is its proper descrip tion. There was also a pennant of the same kind at the mast head. The first fire was at two gun-shots distance, and was to call her attention. The second was at her, but fell shot t. She ought to have brought to at the first fire. Ile saw there were mote than three men on board ; they looked like Englishmen, especially when they gave three cheers. There is a tune of voice in an Englishman when he gives three cheers that cannot be mistaken. There was one man particularly active, and shook a glass at witness, but he could not say it was the prisoner. No man could have got a wound below, as there was no shot passed underneath her deck. He could not say that the pri soner was actively engaged. Re-examined.—Heusedthe proper Revenue colours. Thomas Caine was on board the Swallow cutter as a seaman on the 27th of February. When he went on board the smuggling vessel, he found a black tin box in the middle cabin, on the larboard side, and gave it to Mr. Ennels, the Mate. Thomas Ennels.—He is the Chief Mate on board the Swallow, and was on board the smuggler when the last witness gave him a tin box. He opened it, and found papers in it, which he delivered to Cap tain Stanley. James Dabney was in the engagement, and after he came isto Shields, he found a letter in a seaman's jacket, w;..ch came from the smuggling cutter. He said he handed it from the one vessel to the other.— He gave the letter to John Polhill, a deputed mariner, on the deck of the Swallow, on the starboard side. Captaia Stanley said, he was present when the let ter was handed round from the last witness, and he had kept it ever since. Crospesamined by Mr. HoLT.—Hc was about ten yards diAttia when the letter was handed from Pol hill. He did not know where the Jacket had been toms Tee eLy to Pr.!`r d.ty, wi:en the letter was given to hie:. Tie two were lying leesi49 each other in Shields harbolr. The port of Blyth is about ten miles distant. He also produced the slate which was on board the smuggler ; it was delivered to him by the Chief Mate. Thomas Ennels re-examined.—Thomas Thompson found the slate in the cabin on the Tuesday. Cross examined by Mr. Wthuasts.—The Captain did not receive the slate till Wednesday morning. Mr. RAINS proposed to produce the slate as evi dence.—Mr. WILLIAMS objected. Mr. Justice HoLnovo said, it should be proved that the slate was in the same condition as when it was first found. It was not admitted. Air. Skillett, a clerk to an hospital ship, at Chat ham, proved that the prisoner was discharged from his Majesty's service on the 91st of October, 1818, for debility, and that at that time the prisoner was furnished with a discharge. Thomas Caine, re-examined by Mr. WILLIAMS. Five persons from the Swallow had got on board the smuggler before the witness boarded her. After they ' had been on board it was that he found the tin box. Thomas Patterson is a fisherman at South Blya He was out on the 27th of February (with a compa nion) fishing, and in the course of the afternoon (be tween three and four) heard some great guns firing to the east. Seton Sea is about three quarters of a mile from Blyth ; and, between six and eight o'clock, he saw the flashes, and heard the report of musketry and large guns about three miles o ff . Alter he landed they still heard the tiring, and it occurred to him that two vessels were e.igaged. At seven o'clock it was coming on dusk. The next morning he left his house at six ; it was a hazy thickish morning. Tlieie was a great deal of sea, and he did not leave myth. They went through the Luff, and saw a large Scotch boat, as he supposed, a kind of oyster.boat, not of the description used on the Northumberland coast; she was painted a lightish colour. He first saw her in a very dangerous place ; they hailed us to come to them, but n itnel- told them to pull to him, as he could not reach them in safety, which they did. They have no name on that coast for boats of that kind.— There appeared to be about this ty persons on board, and eight oars. The witness asked them where they wanted to go ? and told them they were at Blyth.— They asked after a particular hill, which the witness called the East-hill. They repeated Blyth several times, and one man said, he knew they were wrong, and asked how far they were from Coquet Island ? Ile informed them they were a long way out of their latitude, not less than 15 or 18 miles from it. When the witness got alongside, they asked witness to drink ; one of them said, " Let's give him a tub ;' and ano ther replied, that they did not know what they stood in need of themselves. They asked if witness had anything that would hold some gin in ? he said he had not; but they gave him some in a dish. Witness told them that he had heard a great deal of firing from seven to eight o'clock the night before ; and one of them said, " Ah ! was it so t" and said, he supposed it to have been an engagement between a Revenue cutter and a smuggler ; and witness asked it they had heard anything of it? but received no answer. He could not find any name or place painted on the boat ; and in the after part of her there was a glass and a compass ; it was not light, and he could not see whether there were any the-arms on board her. They appeared like West of England people (persons coming from the coast of Ken;. &c. &c.) — One of the men said, " Let's set the love .ail," and on of them desired him to hold his tongue, as he said the witness knew best how to conduct them. — They then said, they had got in among the rocks all night, and could not tell how to steer themselves clear. They were pumping hard. Witness did not observe that they were much fatigued. They set a large sail, and left the witness, returning him thanks for the information he had given them. They said they were going to join a Greenland ship. They steered to the north and the east; and he told them when they turned Newbiggin-point it would be light, and they would see all the danger b e f ore them. He was not more than ten minutes with them. Cross.examined.—lt appeared like a two-masted boat, but the masts were not up. William Twizoll is a fisherman at Cresswell, eight miles north of Blyth. On the morning of the last day of February he saw a large boat with one love sail, a mile out, about nine o'clock. It was not like those used on that coast. She was a kind of light or lead colour. She hailed witness and his companion, and inquired which side of Coquet Island they were to go? Witness told them, when they thanked him, and said they were going to Greenland. The wind' was southerly. The boat was high out of the water, and he could see twelve or fourteen persons ; they were working three oars. The sea was very coarse after they left. There were about half-a-dozen men in the fore part of the boat, but he did not see any thing particular. He could trace them near to the island. On the evening before they had heard firing off myth. Thomas Brown is a fisherman of Cresswell. On the morning of the last day of February, about ten o'clock, he was near Bondacre-rock, a little to the south of Loxley-point. He saw a large boat, painted light; it had a large love sail set; there were five oars at work. When she came near witness they inquired the road to Boulmer, and on which side of Coquet Isle they should keep ? Witness told them on either, and they went on the inside. He thought there were fourteen or eighteen men in the boat. He saw the boat last about two miles from Boulmer, about eleven o'clock. One man was pumping. lie tween six and seven o'clock the night before, it was dark, and they heard firing off Cresswell,to the south ward of Newbiggin. George Carr, Esq. lives at Boulmer Hall, and saw a boat about a mile distant, coming ashore ; it was large, deep, and painted light ; it was differently built from the boats on that coast. He saw upwards of twenty men land, and he observed some persons car rying a man up the beach. Ile heard one of the men swear, and say, " We have lost her, but we have had fair play." They carried the man to a boat, for the purpose, as appeared, of adjusting him and carrying him more easy. One of the man's legs hung down, and the other was straight. He did not know where they went. He had heard there was a dead ra.ut in the boat ; it was very stormy and tem pestuous weather, and he returned. About a quarter of an hour afterwards he saw, from his door, some men carrying something square. When he last lost sight of them they were about twenty or thirty yards Item Matthew Stanton's hvse, going towards it.— 'The same evening he. went to Stanton's house, and found Mr. Wilson there, examining the leg of a wounded man, who was lying on a bed. The day preceding he had heard firing to the south-east about three or four o'clock ; it sounded like heavy guns. The prisoner is the person who was lying wounded at Stanton's house. Elizabeth Stanton the younger, the daughter of Matthew Stanton, said, she saw a wounded man at! her father's house in February last. Her sister Do rothy told her, in the presence of the prisoner, that some men had brought a wounded man in, and he was put to bed ; he remained at her father's, and a Surgeon was brought to him. John Embleton, a Surgeon, said, before he was examined, that what he could give as eviJence was communicated to him confidentially. The Cor•aT informed him he was bound to state all he knew. Witness.—ls a Surgeon at Alnwick, in partnership with Mr. Wilson. In consequence of shat he heard the amputating instruments were sent to Stanton's, where the witness arrived about six. Ile there saw the prisoner at the bar, wounded in the leg ; he asked him when he had received the wound? and he said, the day before. After Mr. Wilson came they examined the right leg, and found it fractured below the knee, in the ft ont of the leg. It appeared to him to have been a :run.shot wound. Mr. Wilson felt for the ball, but the man said he was sure it was not there, for he knew that after it had struck his leg it had gone through the companion (the case that covers the stairs leading to the cabin); he said he had been all night in a boat. The question was asked, where he had left the vessel? and he said, between Newbiggin and Shields ; he said that he had been alongside another vessel fighting, and that he was shot close alongside the vessel. He said (the witness believed) that they were engaged three quarters of an hour, and that he had a boot on at the time he was wounded, which was cut off. Witness and his partner thought ampu tation necessary, but the prisoner would not submit to its being done ; it was, however, obliged to be done on the 11th of March, and if it had been done earlier it would have saved him much pain. He was tOcen to Stewart's stables, and there found a dead man; his death was occasioned by a wound in the thigh ; a ball was extracted of about three ounces in weight. The prisoner never named the vessels that were engaged. Cross-examined.—The - prisoner did not appear to be in great pain when he first saw him, both the bones were broken. He must have suffered a great deal of pain by that wound. He was first in custody in Alnwick about six weeks past, and had remained at Stanton's up to that time. In the course of the month he was in a state of convalescence. The pri soner was questioned the same evening as to when, where, and how he received his wounds ? He did not understand the prisoner meant to say that he had been personally fighting on board the vessel. Mr. George Wilson, the partner of the last witness, said, he extracted the hall produced from the thigh of the dead man. It was about three ounces in weight. (It was produced). Captain Stanley had used such balls in the engage. meat with the smuggler on the 27th of February; he was off the Northumberland coast the whole day, and no other engagement could have taken place without his hearing it. John Stewart lived at Boulmer: somemen urgently requested him to allow him to le .ve a dead body in his stable. There was about twenty or thirty men in the whole, but about four came to his stable. The whole of them afterwards ran off towards Alnwick. Cross-csamined.—He saw the boat before she came on shore; she had only one mast. Captain Stanley.—A thwart was produced, which witness said was used for the purpose of strengthen ing a boat from side to side, when a mast is put up to carry a sail; he found it at Boulmer, in a fisher man's yard. It is not the kind of thwart used in Northumberland; they are generally used in a tub boat (smuggling). One of those boats are soon broke up, as they are built slightly. John Grice is a constable at Boulmer, and he re• ceived the thwart from Captain Stanley, and it has remained in his custody ever since. Robert Remmett, Esq. a Solicitor to the Customs, produced a copy of the condemnation of a ship, sup posed to be the Ida, in the Exchequer, and also of her cargo. John Jones i a Sub-Lieutenant in the Navy, said he first saw the prisoner in January, IS2O, who then resided at Rye, in Sussex, and was known by the name of John Reynolds. He saw the prisoner at Stanton's house in February last. Mr. /UTNE here wished to read the letter as evi dence, which was found by Dabney in the jacket, but The Court held that, as the letter had not been traced into the possession of the prisoner, it could not be read as evidence against him. Mr. WILLIAMS and Mr. HOLT made a similar ob jection to the reading of the contents of the tin box, the ship having been wholly in the possession of five persons of the Swallow cutter, before it was given over to Captain Stanley, and they not being present ;rove it was in the same state in which it was Mr. HOLT instanced the case of the persons were tried for breaking into Mr. Beckwith's on Snow-hill, where papers were rejected as, L v idtoce. Mr. RAINE and Mr. Lusts argued the contrary. The Com t, after a consultation with Mr. Justice BAYLEY, decided that those papers could be received. The certificate of the prisoner's discharge from his Majesty's service was then read, which was found in the tin box in the cabin of the smuggling vessel. Here the case for the prolecution closed. Mr. WILLIAMS then ro‘.e to make an objection: he stated that the Act of (2-irh of the late King, which empowered a Revenue cutter to shoot at supposed smugglers, had appointed a particular pennant to be used, the field of which was to be blue, and which Act was subsequently improved by the 56th of the late King, and by that Act the colours were to re main as heretofore, unless an order in Council, or a Royal Proclamation was issued to the contrary, In the present case the field of the Revenue cutter's pen nant was red, and no proof had been adduced by which that alteration was justified, and therefore, he contended, that the prisoner was entitled to an ac quittal, as the offence was thus entirely taken out of the Statute, under which he was indicted. Mr. HOLT followed in the same line of argument Mr. Justice HOLKOVD concurred with them, that the same authority was essential to justify the devia tion that had been introduced ; but as his Majesty's subjects and the Court were hound to bear all Orders in Council and Royal Proclamations in rec , llectio:l, he thought the prisoner was not entitled to an acqui:- tal because that authority had not been produced by the prosecutors. His Lordship said the prison.?: .should have the advantage of having this point con sidered in any place. He then summed up the evi dence most minutely, leaving the Jury to return their verdict upon the evidence, and reserving the point of law for the consideration of the Judges. The Jury, in a quarter of an hour, found the pi i soner Guittll, but recommended him to mercy, oa account of the sufferings he kid already borne. His Lordship said the iccommendation of the Jury should be attended to. SUSSEX. GILBERT V. BLARE. This was an action for slander. The plaintiff is a surgeon and apothecary, at Wording, and the de fendant a journeyman to Mr. Hotting, a butcher, of that town. Smith Hanson, while with come other persons at the Royal George Inn, in the above place, said to one of the party present, who complained of rheumatism- 6, Why not apply to 1)r. Gilbert ? I think he would give you some relief." I';mn which, T. Blake, the defendant, observed to Sntith Hanson, " Whey you see Di-. Gilbert, ask him when he saw Mr. Duke last ?"—,, What shall I say to him when he has given me an answer ?" was the reply of Hanson. Blake then made the following statement, which constituted the ground of action:— " When Gilbert, one day, visited Mr. Duke's, he wanted a basin and spoon for the purpose of mixing up some medicine ; a servant girl took the basin and spoon in to him, and Gilbert used them in mixing up the medicine. A few minutes afterwards the basin and spoon were missed, and an alarm v:as given. At that moment Mr. Duke came in, and asked what was the matter? The girl told him that a basin and sil ver spoon were lost. , Do you think I have got the spoon ?' said Gilbert. I should as soon suspect you as the girl,' answered Mr. Duke. Gilbert then in sisted on being searched; Mr. Duke did search him, and found the spoon on his person : itimn this Mr. Duke pushed him out of doors, and horsewhipped him off his ptemise.i." On hearing this statement, the witness said he would inform Mr. Gilbert, the plaintiff, of it. " Do," replied the defendant, " and tell him that I told you ; for I had it from good au thority." On the cross-exami•iation of this witness, it appeared, that a brother of tlio defendant had been prosecuted by the plaintiff, for a similar libel, and damages recovered against him. Mr. W. Verrall corroborated the above evidence!. Mr. Duke was then examined.—He said, that he lived at Leominster, near Arundel; that it ,w•-ts true a spoon, which had been used by the plai.tiff, was lost in his house ; and that a person had been searched, and the spoon found in his possession; b•:: that per son was not Mr. Gilbert. _ _ _ Mr. MARRYATT, for the defendant, reminded the Jury, that his client had not invented the slander with which he was charged ; he had merely, through mi take. substituted the name of Gilbert for the actual thief; and this mistake had originated with the de fendant's brother, of whom the plaintiff had recovered damages, and, by so doing, had fully vindicated his (Mr. Gilbert's) character. The Learned Counsel thought the present action altogether uncalled for on any reasonable ground, and confidently relied on the Jury giving the most trifling damages. The Learned JUDGE, in his address to the Jury, said, small damages in this case would never do; IC would cause the Public to suppose that there was some truth in the story. If the defendant was unable to pay in pocket, he must pay in person, otherwise pc. verty would become a licence for calumny. The slan derous expressions which had been so clearly proved against the defendant, were peculiarly calculated to injure the plaintiff in his practice; and the Jury must be well aware, that when a man—a professional man particularly—was once supplanted in his busi ness, it was very difficult to recover the patronage he had lost. This consideration ought to influence the Jury in their decision, as to the amount of da. mages they should give. The Jury, after a short consultation, retutned a verdict of £5 damages, and Is. costs. VAGRANTS.—An Act to amend the Vagrant Laws which was passed in the late Session of Parliament, provides, that for a year after the Ist of Septembet next, it shall not be lawful for Justices to pass any vagrants to their place of settlement; that no reward shall be given for their apprehension exceeding ss. that it shall not be lawful to commit any vagrant firr more. than three or less than one month, unless at the Qutir. I ter Sessions, or unless to remain in prison until the Sessions; that every offender shall be kept to hard la.‘ hour during imprisonment; that every offender shall at the discretion of ajustice to commit or discharge any person brought before him, though an act of vagrancy be proved. That when any vagrant shall be committed 'for the Sessions, the person apprehending the offender may be bound over to prosecute, his expenses to be paid by the County. That when any offender shall be discharged after imprisonment, the visiting ju,. tice may order such portion of his earnin:;s to be paid to him as they shall think fit, the sum to be repaid to the jailor by the Treasurer of the County. That wherever it shall appear to two Justices, that any pe: son apprehended as a vagrant, and directed to be charged without imprisonment, ovn-ht to be passed :5 a vagrant to his or her place of settlement, it shall Ite lawful to pass them as before. The Act not to alter the 59th of Geo. 111. cap. 12. nor the mode oi . pausing persons born in Scotland, Ireland, Guernsey, &c. w:to I may become chargeable in England, orstn any wey to alter the mode by which poor persons not having com. i mitted acts of vagrancy are directed to be removed. CORN Excn.immt, Art, Abors4 7.l.—The unsettled acd very unfavourable state of the weather, with ,hurt 41 Wheat, caused a brisk demand for that article this morning, at d prirue samples sold from 4s. to 51. per quarter hieher than on Mond.r,s; and the inferior qualities obtained Zs. per quarter mote than on that day. Barley and Pea•. are es. and Oats ft am to :e. per quarter dearer, and the sales of each of these .irricles were brisk at chute advance-4 SIIITHEIELD MARKET, Auc. 51.--Feef, Is. Od. to is. 01. p•r :tore of glbs.; Aluttoo, 25. I. to 3s. 3d. lit a. 3s od. to 4'. IP. Irrk,ls.od. 75.10 d. 34. 4q. ;it ?I. s e ket, Beaw, 150 - .O; Sheep3rJ L 11,1 to , 1 ~ 1410 - /131 ai,d Inv, "4. ltei. t 01.:...: ., a. Lu toh 6iL•W ti. La. tv it 1