The Sun. — London, England, 1812-12-17 00:00:00

t i.e man bf the Wiirrior (Lee); and the sail -itiaker. T he witness hail been §ince tried, and sentenced tQ receive . 200 'ashes, but 'his punishment had, een remitied.' Croft-eianziiied . bii Mr. DA . mriEl.--7-Said he con ceived that at Messina all the crew wished to leave his Lordship, but cbuld not. T. Fisher, cOckswain of the Montagne had been Seaman from 1802 :, recollected being taken on e4ard by Lee, the second Mate of the PYlades.-=:-- ,41 Sligo saw them, 'and tOld them to give in any M aine's, it did not signify what, as he knew by t neir dress they belonged to the Montague : knew Zee and Lloyd, as he had often seen them in the gig -boat of the Warrior. • Lordship said, he 'vislied he had twenty or thirty more such brave f ejlows, and that he would sooner pay 10 or l 0 i i,ooo/. than that any of them' should come to 'atrms He confirmed the testimony of the last witness in every material point. Cross-examined by Mr. ScARLETir-=Said , none whose to leave the Marquis at 'Messina, when he gave them the option. The signal for sailing had oeen hoisted At Patmos, - and a gun fired; never heard Lord Sligo say they were a troublesome crew. Dennis Sullivan, Win. Brown, and Christopher 4.4 ace, all seamen of the Montague, confirmed the testimony of the above witnesses in almost the same Words. Richard Cooke, of the Montague, deposed, that e bad been met or shore by aservant of the Mar quis who asked him to go and see his shipmates 0 11 board the Pylades. He went, and saw Lord When he wishedto go back, telling his Lord ship that he was a man-of-wait's man, Lord Sligo said be did not care a d—n : he said be wished to go on shore, and called a svaternian for that push Posh ; but Lord Sligo drove away the waterman (a Sicilian), by two blows on the cheek, and or tiered the witness to go below. He was prevented .from going on shore at Messina by armed senti nels : after the search by the officers of the Active, the Marquis boasted that be had done them all. . The witness underwent a long cross-examina tion by Mr. DAUNCEY, in which he confessed, th at he said that on Lord Sligo's refusing to take Them in_ at Patmos, that it should be sorrowful ( lay stated also, that he was hired by a livery servant, of the Marquis hut it appeared that he meant only that the servant meant or of fered to hire him. Capt. Hayes (who was Lieutenant of the Active at the time of the search) stated, that he went on board the Pylades ; saw Lord Sligo, and told him Isis reason for coming on boa:al, which was for deserters ; his Lordship said he had none, and de sired him to search ; he inquired for the ship's articles ; Lord Sligo told him he had none, hat gave him the watch list ; he mustered the Iria n by this roll, and asked his Lordship if all his men were included in it ? he answered on his word, or honour (he did not recollect which) 'that they were : he had a list of the deserter 4 from the Warrior and the Montague, but saw by the -appearance of the men, chiefly Italians,- that they Were not the men he was seeking for : be sent two reidShipmen below, who stated that they found only one man sick; an Italian, in his hammock. - Lieutenant Hawkey was one of the Midship hien employed in the search ; he stated that Lord Sligo went before them, and carried a candle : he torched for a quarter of an hour without success. Lieu inaut Loo deposed to the same purport. Mr. DanNchv then addressed the Jury on be half of the . 6a - end:mt. He did not, however, stand forward ro defend the whole of the conduct of his Noble Client, who, thoug prepared to prove that be had not seduced these men from the King's Service, yet was ready to acknowledge, that they had remained with • him, and he had not given them. up when be had reason to suppose that they were desetters. At the time when all this happened, Lord Sligo was a very young damn, hardly come of age, and had hired a brig, while at Malta, in the summer of 1810, for the pur pose of making a voyage through the .Medi terranean, and visiting the Greek islands so famous in ancient ,history. Newly come from4he seats of learning and education, such was the laudable object of which he was in eager pursuit. The accusation began with a charge, that all thesei.l4 or 15 men had been :seduced to desert from the King's ships lying at Malta, by his -Ldrdship.. On that part of the charge his Lord did not feel himself guilty. He had neither seduced, nor knowingly received into his brig, the men who belonged to the Wan ior, at Malta. Why, indeed,-should he have taken the pains to seduce persons-who were in the habit of leaving the King's ships daily at that station ? Even ac cording to the evidence of Capt. Spranger, of the Warrior, himself, the sear en Avere for ever doing so. It was too true, that seamen, whether from their natural, restlessness, or the temptation of high wages, were often eager to quit the King's ser , vice, and get into any other. It, then, these sea men came on board the Pylades (for that was . the name of Lord Sligo's brig), not as deserters, which he trusted he should be enabled to establish, there vas an end at once of the charge of seduction. The Learned Cohnsel then proceeded to comment, at great length, on the evidence given in support of the prosecution. He particularly dwelt on the expression that had fallen from one of the seamen, when refused to he received again into the Palades, that th at sh o uld pro ve an unfortunate dayto hisLord hship, as'arguing a doermination to be revenged, by • blackening the character of his Noble client. They imagined, no tioubtethat they would exculpate them sslves, by throwing, at least, part of the odium on his Lordship. Some of i.he witnesses had declared, that they were taken on b'eard Lord Sligo's brig, in a state of intoxication ; and one of them (Elden). went so far as to assert, that they were kept there by force, or at least against their consent. What, then, was to prevent them from _leaving, and going ashore the moment the vtssel reached Palermo, for there they were 'safe ? At' Palermo the crew was • mustered and examined by an officer front ' the Cumberland, then lying there, and who was sent in search of a deserter. Had his Noble client been tonscious of having seduced these men to desert, would he have submitted then to the in spection of that officer ? There was one charge attempted to be insinuated by the evidence of the witnesses, which he must rebut with, indignation. -It was this, that when the Pylades reached the i sland Tattuos, his client left these men on deserted; money or clothes; their teStinninV Might .nnt at any future time be glven agairist film. •Tiais was ad fliptitation Ofso base and black.a dye' ; that it ought not:to have Cbme out collaterally; but should hA,e formed the suhstanee of the chargeitself. low did thiS ttitn out on tbecioss-exliminatioti ? Why it -ippeared., that there were only five or six men . left at Pit- inoS, while the rest of the fourteen deserters came off in the PvWes, Whose testimony would have been quite Sufficiolt; and therefore the imptitation was 3s false as malignant. The fact was, as he Should prove, that every sigi.!.l of departure was given these men.; the blue Peter was hoisted, two or three guns -Weis./ fired, and the ship made tacks off the island the greater part of the night, that these men might come on board if they pleased.• When the Pyladcs afterwards touched At Scio, these men came off in a boat with tbe English Consul ; and though' Lord Sligo refused to receive all ''of them on board, yet all their clothes were handed to them, and they received, their wages, though they were ehtitied to none, as having broken their contract, and left the ship. Let not, then, the imputation to, which 'he now . alluded, go out into the world without, its indig nant refutation, or ever be breathed hereafter to darken the character of his - Noble client. These seamen not only had their clothes and their money, but they were put into the way of goin back to Malta, the place from whence they came. It was on this occasion, that Elden, one of the witnesses, declared it should prove a most unfortunate day to his Lordship ; and full of this rancour they got back to the vessels from which they had deserted. Hence originated the present inquiry ; and though these men have been sentenced to a certain pu hishmeht, yet they hope, and probably with rea son, that it never will, be inflicted. One of the witnesses, of the name of Cooke, had acknow ledged that he was hired at. Malta, by a servant of Lord Sligo ; but what would the Jury say, when they heard, as they should hear, that this man offered himself, and voluntarily went on board the Pylacies ? Still .there was one circum stance which he should not deny, anti it consti tuted the very head and front of his Noble client's offence : it was this, that when the Pylades was boarded by the Active frigate, his Lordship 'con sented to*the concealment of these men, some of whom he had then reason to believe were de serters. tlad his Lordship acted according to the rigid principles of e abstract justice, he would have pointed out these 'men to the officer of the Active. Upon the principles of stern and Roman virtue, he ,ought to have done so But 'was the turning informer so pleasant an office, that' a Gen tleman might not hesitate before he assumed it These men had been received ()This Lordship on board his he•iee—they had declared that they would stand by huff ; and when he thus had them corn pletely in his power, he would put it to the feel ings of the Jury themselves, whether they would have thought it possible that his Lordship could have given them up. In the letter from his Lord ship to Captain Sp . ranger, which hart been read as evidence; his client had declared this to be his motive, adding, at the same time, that he would put the money he might afterwards be obliged to pay for such'concealutent, to the score of 'mina nity, and congratulating himself that his fortune • was ample enough fine to ',bear such a without' much inconvenience. In the indictment his client was charged with disloyally meaning to' weaken his Majesty's navy, by the seduction of these sea men. This might be called the mere technical 'lariguage of the charge ; but surely,. the cir cumstance of a young Nobleman hiring and Man ning' a brig, on an excursion of pleasure ,and liberal curiosity, had not the most distant resem blanceof such an intention. So far was he from any Wish to lower the British flag, that he even procured a letter of marque for his vessel, from the wish of making the Crown and Navy of England more respected in all those islands which he meant to visit. But who was the man thus technically cherged with the disloyal design of lowering the British Navy ? It was Lord Sligo, a Nobleman of high rank, the grandson of Lord Howe, who had car ried to so high a pitch the glory of that Navy.— Surely, then, his client, trout the illustrious blood which ran in his veins, nitts,t have 'been the last man' who could have enterta.ned such an idea.— Mr. Dauncey concluded 'his speech by admitting, on the part of his client, that he had offended against the letter of the law . ; he was only anxious to be liberated from the charge of deliberate se duction 3 and so far, at least, he trusted the Jury would deliver a verdict in 'his favour. The folic wing witnessei were then called on the part of :he defence : James Needing, - who AN'aS ,now a servant of the Marquis, :.td who was with him in .that capacity At Malta, in May 1310, deposed, that when his Lordship hired the 1.-)Ylades, he directed witness to . procure men for her. He told witness to get as many English or 'American seani . en as possible, but not to take airy King's ..men, or seamen from the King's.shtps. Wittnls was told to be particu lar in his inquiries, and ask them whether they were so three or four times. They were to. re ceive about 18 dollars a month, the usual pay of merchant seamen at Malta. Witness followed his instructions and recollected. having kept two men in his Lordship's house at Malta, whom ; in the course of a few days, he learned to be deser- , ters from Captain Spranger's ship ; with this he acquainted his Lordship, - who ordered them to be given: some money s and to join their ships. Wit ness hired none whom he suspected. RecollectS having been in a wine house, at • Malta, on the 13th of May, when he hired two men, and took them on board ; fell in with three others the lame evening, oneof whom Was the witness Elden, and who represented himself as having been dis Charged from a Icing's ship for the loss of an eye. -Not, One ,of these three was intoxicated when they went on board the brig; they were only merry and jovial, but knew very well what they were doing. They went up the . ship's side of them selves, by the use of a rope. Not certain whether Lord Sligo saw them that night; which Was the night of their sailing; but he was sure hiS Lord ship never knew that they were King's-m&. Wit ness recollected the search by the Active frigate ; he had suspected that some of the men were de serters before then, butt they always denied it till then. Was on deck at the time • when, before- the search, they were ordered _ . down ; they-all Went doWn ekCepi. who said ?! be- wimld be cl—d if lie went doWn j he did dot care for , any Captain in the navy ; but he al - teracards went dowel. Witness was with Lord .Sligo during the WhOle of,the'cr'uise, and remem bers that at Rainfos the men had leave . to„ go on shore i saw sonic Of them ,On shore the same evening the vessel sailed: Witness - knew :hat the brig was to sail tliat day, ar.d - . told Elden of it artiOng the Others knows . that a mail was sent to bring then' back, who said they ref Used to come. Saw the blue Peter hoisted, which he knows to be the signal fOr sailing; two or three guns were also fired ; other signahl Oven as to the sail,- in.g. The brig stood off and On 'for' fOur acid was- indeed close in with the harbour all night. '-‘l,'itneSs reniernbers, while at SciO, boat eMning off with smile of the men who staid behind at' Patmos, Lord Slido said they LA behaved ill, and ref Used to ttdniit them ; sate no speaking-trumpet used to, communicate with . the boat, but heard theie inen teiiing the sa:!ors where their clothes were on board-ship, which they hail given them, .and also so many days' pay and provisions. They were left with the English Consul at Scio. Cross examined by the ATTORNEY-GENERAL. — Witness procured Live of the men in qaestion, three of whom were now in .Conrt ; did not know who, procured the rest. Lord Sligo himself did . not hire auy but one man from the Aurora mer- . chantman. -His Lordship had two other servants then with him, of the names of Mowbray and Welsh ; but did not know whether they also were employed on that si!rvice, Neither of these ser vants was.at the wine-house at Malta on the 13th of May : witness began to suspect that- some of the men were deserters from ships of war, when the brig layat' Messina,: when at Palertrio these men went a-sh Ore every day : never heard them express a desire to return to theft ships. John Mowbray, another servant of the Marquis was next examined. Witness was not employed to hire men : heard the men often talk of a stow hole, which he understood to be a place to con ceal themselves in : first. suspected that some of theta were deserteri, on being boarded by the Active. • Patrick \'fe:•,h, another servant of the Marquis of Sligo, had. got two men for the Pylades, who told him they were Americans. His evilence was to show that the men entered voluntarily—were not in a state of intoxication on coming aboard, and that they were not known to be men-of-war's men at that. time. Philip Shee, had been engaged as sail-maker in the Pylades, and thought the men, when they came on hoard, were not so intoxicated as not to know what they were about. He was one of those who were left in the island of Patmos, but he was afterwards one of the four whom the Marquis of Sligo permitted to rejoin the ship. On this witness being asked, Why he stopped in Patmos after the signal was made fur sailing, he answered, that he got drunk ; and oa being ask ed, whether that was an infirmity he was subjesA to, he said, he never refused-a glass of grog. John Lewellyn, the- acting commander of the Pylades, on his direct examination, said, that the men had sufficient opportunities at Palermo, and Messina, to leave the ship, if they thought pro per', anti that: althOu:i he li.aself always - sups- . posed the men to be Men-of-war's men, yet he did not know that the Marquis believed it before their sailing. On his cross-examination; however, upon the evidence being read _to him, which he formerly gave at 'the Court-martial, he acknowledged, that it-was settled between the Marquis and the men on the first . day they had, been at sea, what names they should assume, and also that his Lordship re quested them to go below'for the purpose of con cealing themsdves when the boat of the Active came in _ . The evidence for the defence being closed, Dr. ROBINSON replied, at considerable length, blithe part : of the Vosecutiori. He dwelt at some length on the plea of humanity set iip in his Lords'hip's letter, and thought that this humanity might have been exerted at the Isle of Patmos, where he left 14 of his crew, absolutely destitute, for no Other reaso% but because a sudden signal for sailing %V aS not instantly attended to, although, in his Lordship's .tour - of pleasure, it appeared very indifferent whether be sailed half an hour sooner Or later. Lord ELLEN'BOROUGII recapitulated the whole of the evidence to the Jury, and made 'many corn thents on the pledge which the Marnuis had given Of his honour to the Admiral, that there were no men-of-war's men on hoard, when, on the faith 'of that pledge, the Admiral granted him protection for a crew of 40 men. He also observed upon the particular description that the Captain of the War rior had given him of Cie two men who deserted from his ship, and yet ; notwithstanding the obli gations he prolOsed himself under to that officer, those very two men *ere admitted that very night as part of his crew. those men the Captain of the Warrior Might well suppose he knew, as they were part of a boat's crew which had often rowed him to and from that ship, and whose appearance he had highly praised. In fact, the Captain had such strong suspicions that those men were on board time Pylades, that it was merely his relying on iris Lordship's wort! that they were not there, and that he would not employ them, that he ab stained from searching the Pylades. In compar ing the case of . the prosecution with the defence, he must say, that the former was• a plain intelli gible story, supported by some Witnesses who were quite above suspicion whereas, on the part of the defendant, the witnesses were (with the exception Of .Shee) participators of the crime, if crime there was, which was charged On tire de fendant. After a variety of observations, he lett it to the Jury to 'determine on the probability of the evidence on both sides. After a shOrt consultation in the box, the Jury found his Lordship Uoilp of all the counts in the indictment ; except the one- for false imprison ment. The Judge (Sir NATlvt.Scovr) then ordered, that , his Lordship ; Who was•in . Court, should enter into , recognizance to appear to-morrow to receive judgment. The trial lasted till near two o'clock this Morning. IMPF:11 TA L PARLI IMEN T. HOUSE OF LORDS, ivEDiaBn.ty; DEC. 16. THE ROYAL AssENr WaS given by ComMiSsiOn to the Sugar Pretvery and Starch Manufacture Bilis. The Lords Com missioners were the Lord 'Chancelldr, the Earl of Harrowby, and Lord Waisinghoth. Conn Set were further heard in the Appeal Causes - the East India Compny v. :Antrobus etri others, Clerks; viz. 'MI'. Attorney General onti:e part of theitespOndents, and Sir Arthur in part of his reply on bt.:half of the Appellants.--:- Vurther', hearing to-morniw. The afar aita and 'St. Domingo Intercourse Pro hibition Bill was read a second time, and com mitted for to-m04T0w..:---Artjourned. Their Lordships stand summoned for to-tuOr; , rOvv, relative to the Gold Coin Bill. • HOUSE. OF COMMONS, WEIjNESDAY, DEC. 6. The House was summoned to the HOuse of Lords to hear the Royal ASsent eiVen by Cam= mission to two.Biils, for which see. LovdS. A Petition was resented from the Inhabitants of the County of Kent; for. leave to erect a Gaol. The Petition was read, and ordered to lie upon the table. Sir F. BURDETT presented a PetitiOn froni Captain EngEs,. of the Colonial fri,gaie the De thin, complaining that his 'crew, whO all had protections, having been attacked by a prey 7 gal!g, succeeded in beating Omni off ; that he, in conse qnence, Was summoned to the Thames Police Office, and transmitted from thence to the Cler kenwell Prison, where he was confined among felons, and suffered- many, other hardship's. hi the Petition he referred for a character of him to Admiral Hunter, and many other persons of high respectability. The SPEAkER suggested to the Honoiirable Ba ronet, that as the Petition, appeared to be very long, it lrould be better, before it was read, t 6 have it returned to Captain Eaglis, for the pur= pose of compressing it within narrower limits. •Sir FRANCIS assented, and the Petition was withdrawn for the present. The 14th. Report df the Com Missioners ap pointed to inquire into the State of the Schools in . Ireland was laid upon the table. Mr. DAVIS GIDDY presented a Petition from, the . Booksellers, complaining of the hardships to which they were subjected, in being obliged to supply the Universities with copies of every new . work.--Ordered s to lie on the table. Mr. ABERCOMBY moved that there be laid upon the table an account of all the 'Decrees passed. int the Court of Chancery, from the 12th of April,' 1812, up to the latest period.—Agreed to. Also an account of the -number of Bills. filed in each :,year, from the Ist of January, 1810. — Agreed to. -Mr.:WHITBREAD said, he . was desirous of ask ing a question, suggested to him by the speech of the President of the United States, lately re 7 • ceived in this country ; however, as he under- stood the Noble Lord (Castlereagh) Was indis posed, he shouldnot press it unless the Hon.Geii tleman opposite (the Chancellor of the Exche quer) saw. no objection to answer. The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER said, that his Noble Friend (Castlereagh) would be' able hi the course, perhaps, of to, morroW,- to answer the question himself. • Mr. NlTurrnitE,6 wished to know when.the ad= journment was to take plate ? The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER said not before Tuesday or. Wednesday next. He was not aware, however, that any new matter would be brought .forward 'in the House after Friday next, Mr, VirtlyretteND desired to know, what amount of Exchequer Bills would be outstanding in the month of February next ? The enAschuma of the EXCIIERITER sail it depended upon circumstances. ,The'uniount out standing may be at that , tipiie about 2,600,090/. Mr.CRE,EVEY ‘wished to know the produce attic Cot:solidatcd Fund and the. War Taxes up to the last quarter.. He should make a motion to that purport to-morrow, unless the Chancellor of thc Exchequci• staid he was ready to bring forward the account necessary to discover what their produce was.' lie thought it would bell great convenience if the property tax appeared upon t..5.-o schedules, one stating the amount arising front land, and the, other that arising from trade. The CIIANCELIIOII of the EXCHEQUER Said, he could haVe no wish and no interest in withholding from the public the accounts alluded -to. Mr_ CREEVEY desired to know if the deficiency in the revenue was ) in reality not' more than. what was stated .on a former night, namely 90,0001. _ _ _ The CHANCELLOR of the Excusciuta. replied; that the accounts Would be very soon before the House, when it would appear that the deficiency. was riot more. than 90,00,0/. a great part of whir. it fell . upon .the Excise. The Malting Bill, the Chocolate Bill, and the West India Indemnity Bill, were then read 'a third time and passed. The third reading of the Household Bill was put oil until to-inorrOw. Mr: WHITBREAD desired to be informed, whe ther the oath, appointed to he taken by those who had the direction of his Majesty's Privy Purse, against employing it for Electioneering purposes were regularly taken ? He gave.' notice that he mould to-morrow move for into' mation upon that Subject. The HoUse the went into a Committee of &la. : . ply, and Lord Palmerston proposed an ad:litionj grant of 2i700,000/. for the army, gr. WHITBREAD eiCillpt. it strange, that in 4S hours after another grant had been made, the Noble Lord should come again to the House with such an application. Lord rAttvliasToN said it was his business to take the estimates from the other- denartngents. He had no other means of calculating the sum for . which he should apply. What he proposed the oth i er night he thought would .be sufficient. Upon