The National Register. — London, England, 1812-02-09 00:00:00

• ""'lr TIIE NATIONAL REGISTER. LAW REPORT'S. EXCHEQUER CHAMBER, SATURDAY. Fics.B. WRIT OF ERROR. - - SIR FRANCIS BURDETT V. THE SPEAKER or Tut HOUSE 07 COMMONS. The Judges met yesterday at the Exchequer Chambers to hear the arguments of Counsel in support of a Writ of Error, brought against a judgment of the King's Bench in the case of Sir Francis Btu sett v. the Speaker of the House of Commons. Mr. Cligiird spoke at considerable length in support of the Writ. He argued, first, that the arrest of Sir Francis, and the proceedings against him were not necessary, nor was there sufficient authority in the House to justify them in any Court of Law. Secondly, That the Resolution of the House of Commons, declaring Sir Francis Burdett guilty of a breach of the privileges of that House, was exceeding the powers vested in the House of Commons. Thirdly, That the Warrant was not exe cuted in strict conformity to the order of the Speaker, which directed the Serjeant at Arms to arrest Sir Francis, and, in consequence, the ar r• it should have been effected by the Serjeant and his Messengers only, the Serjeant at Arms having no power to call in the assistance of the military. Fourthly, That the breaking of Sir Francis's house door was illegal, this .being a simple process for contempt, in which the King was et) pal te. Mr. Richardson on the other side supported the judgment of the King's Bench also at considerable length. He adduced ionumerable Tree( dente to prove that the right of committing persons for contempt, ohstruction, end libe', which last WPS considered as having a tendency to create obstruction, was exercised from time immemorial, by the House of Commons, and the Courts of Law and Equity. He also quoted authorities, to prove that the Serjeant at Arms, when execnting an Order of the House of Common., was considered as the King's Of ficer, and as such authorised to call fur the assistance of any of his Ma jesty's liege subjects. He went back as far as the reign of Henry IV. and from that period deduced a line of authorities to prove that the breaking, of a door was perfectly legal, when the interest of the public required the apprehension of the culprit, and this was the strict line of demarkation between private and public actions. There remained but one argument more, if it could be so called; his friend, Yr. Clifford, had argued, that the execution of the \Varraut ha I been vitiated by Ile interferrence of the militar, but he was sure that objec tion would Uwe' nu weight with their I.ordskips. Sir JAmes MAN S:'IELD—" Certainly not, soldiers are citizens also, and as such, they • owe their assistance to a ' , abbe officer having legal authority.' On account of the hour (it being half past three o'clock), the Judges adjourned the further cuffsideration of the case to the first Error day in nest Wan. COURT OF KING'S BENCH, FEB. 7. THE KING V. THE A RCHBISoOT Of CANTERBURY, ON THE ABDICAI lON or 111 E RYV. DR. PUVAH. This cause came on, and lastcd the whole day. It was argued on behalf of tl:e Archbishop, by the Attorno , -Gencral, Mr. Dampier, and Mr. Abbott; a:ld for Dr. Pov;:h, by Mr. Garrow, Mr. Warren. Mr. Cornyn, and Mr. Brou l ,hum, the latter of whom made a most elaborate speech. On behalf of the Archbishop, it way contended, that it lay with hint alone to license or not to license any lectureship, and that he was the only Judge to decide upon the fitness of the candidate; and by the affidavits it appeared, that Dr. Pervah had appealed to the Bishop, who had refused to license him. On the other hand it was argued, that the Bishop was not the sole judge in matters of temporal concern, such as the right of precentation, &c. ; that Dr. Povalt had never been heard by the Bishop in his own defence ; that the Bishop had entertained vague charges aaiiirea him ; first, that he had preached aaainst the neceity of infant baptism; that Dr. Povah had offered. in refutation of this cliprge, the manuscript sermon, supposed to contain the obnoxious doctrines : next, that he had read the absolution, not being in Priest's Orders ; this he also futed : and las!ly, that he had not produced the necessary testimonials. To obviate this, he produced many testimonials—and it was insisted, that the itia,‘:!(7llis ought to go, that the Bishop might make a distinct return of the ground of objection, in order that it might be questioned in a Temporal Court. '1 he Court said, they should take time to consider of it. SATURDAY, FEL 9. THE KING V. 't HE BISHOP OT aoNnota. At the Sitting of the Court this morning, Lord Et.x.r. amtonon pro ceeded to pronounce the jtalgment of the Court in this en.ic. His Lord ship stated, that la t an,g oa,turely considered the irovi , ions of the Sta tute, and the several cas' :teti upon the occasion, the rest of the Court c incurred with his La. :Irat the rule for a mandamus should not • be made absolute.—Tivre was no applicai . m of thi> nature ever t:efor_ made to the Court, and the case itself entire ly depended upon the con it taac ion of the Act of Cnaformity, at a time whet: the Legislature was extremely jealous or and attentive to the affect of the !. aflicting onfai cts on religious subjects. By this Act, the Legislature :tad riven a taa minion to the Mithops a e'er tha right of granting licences, and to ap prove or disapprove of the appliaatiun fur wail Lattice ) no other power FEB. 9. - bad dominion over the Bishop in this respect than his own conssiencs, which alone was to be the object of his guide.—The Act did not r e . quire that he should examine witnesses, and if it did, it would be p (r _ fectly nugatory in that respect, as he had not the power by law to con:. pel their attendance, or to administer a., oath.—He was therefore to sa. tisfy his conscience, and he bad a right to make use of whatever know. ledge he might possess. The Court could not therefore require of Oie Bishop to act as the mandamus would direct, as that would be requiring to do that which his conscience disposed.—The Bishop had declared he had received the application of Dr. Povah, that he had heard him and examined into the merits of his application, and u ;. )n full enqui r y an d deliberate consideration, he was conscientiously of opinion, that that Rev. Gentlemen was unlit for the office, that he was :Ictuated by no motive but a conscious discharge of his duty, and the-r, :ore had refusd the licence. And were the Court to grant this mandamus, it would be no more nor less than an absolute repeal of the Act, by which this case was governed.—Rule refused without Costs. PROUINCIALS. A curious and rather an extensive system of swindling has bees carried on in the town of Leeds, since the 7th of December last, by three Female Adventurers—a Matron and Ler two dashing daughters, residing in Park-square. Those ladies , who describe themselves a; the widow and daughters of a deceased Officer, have had the address ta insinuate themselve into debt with a vast number of shopkeepers; anti have, in the short space of about six weeks, obtainer! fron• different dealers property to the amount of from three to Jimr hundred plunds ! without expending twenty ! Their creditors include innkeepers, upholsterers, milliners, grocers, butchers, bakers, fruiterers, confectien ers, stationers, music-sellers, ironmongers, mercers, drat ere, and a lorg et cetera, who have all fallen into the wily snare oE,theae adepts in the swindling art. To lull suspicion, their first step was to take a handsome house in Park-square, and the g iisral process then was, fur one or both of the Misses to go to a shop and order a quantity of goods which were directed to be sent to Park square, with a note, which Mama would call to settle soon, as it was her custom to pay monthly ; and in this way goods to the amount we have mentioned have been obtained. Not content with cheating the people of their property, the heroines mixed honour with their fraud. and hoaxed those they had cheated. For this purpose, Monday-week last was appointed as the day of payment, and their trades-people were requested to bring in their hills, and receive payment on that day : so welcome a summons, in these pinching times, was not to be neglected, and in thejnotning of Monday not fewer than fifty of their dupes repaired to their levee, when, to their 7reat surprise and consternation, they found that the whole family hasi decamped on Sunday, having previously emptied their house of every thing portable, and left their deluded 2reditors to laugh, if they were in the humour, at each other, and to take a lesson of caution for the government of their future conduct. So complete a thing we never knew in this place befor-; in London indeed such maneuvres are not uncommon, but in the cowl try, where we are always an age behind the metropolis in knevery, as well as in fashion, they are very rare, and the general cry was, 66 Who could have thought it ? Thursday evening, the folloWne dating attempt at robbery was made at the Rev. Mr. Oldershaw's, at Stasrton, near Harleston, ..'orfolk As that gentleman's nephew, Mr. Douglas, was reading in the library, the:door of which opens into the garden, and was not fastened, a man masked entered the room, and presenting a pistol to Mr. D. demanded the money in a bureau which stood in the room; Mr. Douglas re plied, that there was none in it, and that he bad but seer:, Attie in his pocket. The villain immediately seized Mr. D.'s gold watch, which accidentally laid on the table, when Mr. Douglas very coolly observed, that if he took the family seals it might lead to a discovery, but the robber persisting, and sti.: holding his pistol in a menacing manner, Mr. D. instantaneously seized the poker, and made a desperate blow at I the villain, whose pistol missed fire, and Mr. D. repeated his veE orts, which the fellow avoided, and drawl's!! a large knife from his side, plunged it at Mr. Douglas's body, who luckily drew back far citotoh to prevent the attrociuus intention, but it ripped open his waistcoa t and, shirt. The servants and Mr. Old e r s haw being now alartaed, the man fled, but was so closely pursued as to drop Mr. Douglas's watch in the garden. A pig, the property of a poor men at Downham Market, having fallen into a well, a person of the name of Sarituel Hall, a chimney sweep, offered his services, and descended the well by means t the crevices and interstices of the en-rounding :.Nick-work; on getting be low, the whole po.alerous mass instantly gave way and ;inniured hint therein. No sooner was it known, tams a vast concourse hastened to e the spot, aid by the assiduous and ener g etic endeavours of about twenty taco, the object of their arch was extricated front ins tub terraneen prism!, :aria, eecept some slight bruises, (the consequence of the pressure ay ich hedged ".ins in) unhurt. et lllP,miman.e. FEBRUAT.)..Y the lfth, all the 6 lAtr. LOTTERY will be Dra..vn, only &100 eine contains Two of 20,4 001.;. Two ef 4,C001.; 1 iur of 1,0001.; and 1,594 Prizes from -VII. to 151. RICH; RDFIN, GOODLU 'K. and respectfully inform the Publ: that Tic;:eti ant Share are no Salc fur the above Lottery. at their Offices, the Confer of & b ilk-buildings, curb sill, anti facing the King's Mews, Charing-mai& ;.-. th es uF ga vi Sn U in 111 it t: t a' I f fi ti a a UM MN 1 J'.