The Sun. — London, England, 1812-11-28 00:00:00

LAW REPORT. COURT OF EXCHEQUER, Nov. 47. COMMISSIONERS OF LINCOLNSHIRE SEIVELIS V. DIMMOT In this case a Rule bad been applied for and ob tained on the part of the plaintiffs, to show cause why the verdict for the defendant should not be • aside. Mr.COPLEY appeared to shOw cause against the ,and stated the circumstances of the case. During -the nailiatnentary sittings of -1802. and 180'3, .a number of Gentlemen petitioned for and obtained from Parliament a Bill to amend the na gatioa of'"the-river Bagne, in the county of Lin , . coin. This bill was entitled the Horncastle Ca nal Bill, and empowered the Company to con- - struct such works, and make such alterations along the river itself,, and on banks, as might appear beneficial- to their undertaking. The power of abandoning those works was likewise granted in the Bill, but the estates upon which they had heen constructed, were to be restored as nearly as pas sible to their original situation. During the exe cution of their plans-, it was- found necessary to deepen and extend a large ditch along the lands of the present defenclant,by which the loops of the river were united, where it made a hold sweep through a low tract of country. The ditch was cut for the purpose of regulating the height of the water in the canal, by carrying away what was superfluous, and discharging it again into the river at a considerable dis tance. The Act of Parliament,. while it per mitted that canal to be constructed, took' the jurisdiction of the river where the locks were made, and the sluices and ditches which ap pertained to it from the Com Missioners of Sewers, and gave it to the Company. Such being the situation of the canal, and• the estate of the defendant, the Commissioners of Sewers, some time in the year 1807, ordered Mr. Dimmot to clean the ditch from the mud which was choak ing it.. Ire refused, alleging that the ditch apper t lined to the Hornea,stle•Canal Cohipany, and was not within their 'jurisdiction; They immediately -levied the expenses of cleaning the ditch upon the defendant, for width he entered an action against them, and olAained' a verdict _accordingly. Ile had, therefore, in the present posture of affairs, r to support the cause of his client against the ap plication of his Learned Friends, and, .be hoped to do it effeetnally. He had obtained, far the pur pose ofshewing their Lordships that the ditch was tiotiwithin the jurisdiction of the-Commissioners, the deposition of the Engineer of the Horncastle Canal. Company, which set forth; that the ditch in , •question‘waS extremely,necessary for the safety of the canal, for in the time of a' high flood, it. carried away the superfluous waters, which otherwise would have burst the lrcks, and inan claled-the country. , But the ditch itself, accord ing to the-description which he had received of it, .suffieiently testified that it still remained ac carding to the Act of Parliament, under the do 7 minion of the Ilorncastle Canal Company. In-, stead of- restoring . it to its original • situation, they had permitted it to remain at the width and depth which they had:cut it,'thereby disobey ing the express stipulation of the Charter -of their Company. On the whole, therefore, he main tained, that the Commissioners of the Sewers had no jurisdiction over the ditch 'in question, and prayed that this Rule might be discharged. Mr. Serjeant V.tvaiAN followed' on the same side, and.observed, that the question resolved it self within very narrow limits—" Whether, when the Commissioners of the Lincolnshire Sewers gave. an order to clean out the ditch, it was under their jurisdiction."' Now, the present appearance of the ditch manifestly proved that it still apper tained to the Canal Company, because it was not restored to its original state, according to the stipulation of the Act of Parliament, and the de- position of-the engineer put it entirely into their bands.; therefore, he prayed, that the Bale might be discharged. On the part of the application, Mr. eLinkt maintained, that the. Commissioners of Sewers-for the county of Lincoln were a-number of,Gentle men, nominated by (government to superintend the. ditches, the proper management of Which Was of infinite advantage_ to the county. By means of these ditches, the county was preserved from ;inundation, and the most scrupulous attention throughput the whole department was necessary to keep them in repair. In the present-case, the Commissioners perceived that the ditch upoii the defendant's estate wanted cleaning; and, on his refusal to - clear away the mud, he was fined.— They had applied to the Horneastle Navigation Company, woo informed theni, that they had dis contintled to make use of it, ,for they had only employed it dUring.the period when the canal was *instructing, - to carry away the surplus waters which impeded the progress-of the work. These Gentlemen merely vindicated the rights of the cNunty,' which they were commissioned to-pro tect ; and they abhorred to appear in a vindictive prosecution against any individual. The LORD CI-LIEF BARON said, the Proprietors of the canal could not discontinued the employ ment of any of their erections or excavations, by a mere assertion that they had discontinued . it.— it became their duty to renounce the possession, and to -restore it to its original appearance, nei ther of which have been done in the present case. They cannot begin 'and disarrange the possessions of individuals, and .then abandon them Without either compensation or amendment. Here the Company took a little ditch, excavated it wider and deeper, and extended it through a narrow headland, so that it became extremely beneficial to their canal, and they must not:be permitted to resign or disclaim it at pleasure. The ditch cer tainly was not under the Commissioners' jurisdic tion.---Rule, d ischarged . COURT OF KING's BENCH, Nov. THE KING V. JOHNSON. The defendant, who was convicted of seducing eoldiers to desert, in order to gain a bounty upon entrance into the sea service, was brought up to receive judgment. HuLto6K ) . for the defendant, addreed the Court in mitigation of punishment, and urged that the case. admitted of some palliation, inasmuch as the motive was not a seditious one ; and that the men seduced still were in the service of their coun try, in the navy instead of the army. SOLICITOR GEIOIIIAI,., in reply, contended, that this was'an aggravated case, inasinuch as the army were defrauded of their men, and the navy of their boupty money. The , Court sentenced the defendant to he im prisoned three months in -the Gaol of Newcastle, andlo stand once on the pillory ; and for the . second .offence, to pay a fine of TX. Thursday, Nutember 2G. "POINT .OF PRACTICE. - V. NEWCOMBE' Me. RICHARDSON shoved cause against a rule 'obtained' by Mr. tie Icier in this case, by which the defendant's bail asked for farther time to ren der the defendant. The return clay of the writ on which day the bail ought to have rendered the person of the defendant was 17th June, being the last day of last Trinity Term. On-diat day,' the bail having previously procured a writ of Ha beas. Corpus, directed to the Sheriff of Notting- ham, calling on him to bring into Court the body of the defendant then in his custody, produced in Court a-return to the writ, froM which it appear ed that Newcombe was in such 'a state of bodily health that he could not be removed even to the ili*tanee of one :mile from his then plaae of cus tody, without endangering his life. Upon the faith of this return to the writ of Habeas the Court, on the application Of the bail, enlarg edthe time for rendering the defendan ill the fourth day of the present term ; when Wanafsi daVit stating a continuance of the same impossi bility on the part of the bail to renderthe body .of the principal, a rUlelliSi was moved for, and ,obtained, extending the time for rendering the ilefendant till the fourth day of next term. • Mr. ILI c umussoN - Ain %hewing - cause. against this rule, relied on tii6• case of Wynne and Petty,. where it was held by the Court, " though there was a positive affidavit of a 'surgeon, - stating;, that the defendant could not be rentaved to the effect of rendering bins in Court 'in ,discharge of his bail, without almost a certainty of thereby losing his life"—that the CoUrt could not on that ac , count relax from the policy-of their general rule. Though the band of God might, in a I...rtjcular instance, as in 'the case in' oisestion, impose a hardship upon . an individual, the Court: could not, to - reinedy that' individual hardship, throw open their general rule. •" Mr. 14aDER, on the other hand, relied'on*a va riety Of cases, in which not only the time for rendering principals by their bail had been, en larged, but even where, on grounds of no greater urgency than the present, an exonerator on the bail piece had been allowed to be'entzred. Among! others, he instanced a case where a, defendant having been turned out of the country under the • Alien 'Act, an exonorator was allowed to be en tered on the hail bondithe bail having:been there perfected. In .1 - 1 e case •of, Wood and Mitchell, where the defendant. received sentence of 'trans- pprtation, a shitilar relief was 'afforded to his bail ; and the Court had also laid dOWn a simi lar doctrine in the more recent case of cock and Bell. Lord ELLENtORCHIGii said, agreeably to the decision in the case of Wynneand Petty, the Court were bound to act up to that strict role of point, which they had chalked out for themselves, and without an adherence to which they could not protect.themselves against daily hnpostures: They had neier, however, gone beyond the rule laid down in that case, which in- his, opinion they would do, by refusing the present rule, by which they were not called on to go the same . length they had alread gone, in cases no . , more distin— guishable from that of Wynne and Petty than the present case was. In tilt present case, the ma- • nu-caption. was not within the power of the bail; which it confessedly was in the cpe of Wynne and Petty. Ilere the power of rendering the per son. of the defendant was- not in. the party (the bail), but in the,. law. In the case allUded to there was only a sort of niorat impOssibility on the part of the bail to render their, principal : here thefe Was a legal invossibility ; and though the Court could,uot with safety attend to a plea of moral impossibility, they were. bound to attend to a case of legal impossibility, as to which they could not, in the nature of, things be de ceived. Rule 'made absolute. Military dispatches.were'vesterday delivered at the Horse-Guard,, from Major- General CLAY, cominanding his Majesty's forces in the Island of Antigua. A letter from ati Officer on hoard the Blake, dated off Tarragona, the .12th ult. after detailiiw, the particulars of het attack on the enemy's vessel's in the Male, states, that since that period, the Baron ERoLEs; with- a few of his troops, fell in with 520 Frenchmen ; they were in the act of athering their contributions - at a - . .place called .onido, 20 miles from Tarragona.- Ile killed 271, took: prisoners 179, escaped 70-- . --totals2o. Stvindling.—Two genteelly dressed men took up their ahode,.a few nays, since, at the Featherslnn, near Cheshu..;, attended by a, servant in livery, and bythe appendage of Selfmade titles, they got acquainted with sonic persons of consequence in the neighbourhood, purchased 'a. freehold estate, &c. and astonished the. neighbourhood. Besides getting upwards of 2001. in ready money, they decamped with a valuable 'pair of horses, in a good chaise, which they hired for a week, as well as - with a hackney for their servant, no doubt an accomplice, and have not since-beeb heard.of,— They have been announced as answering the de scription of two Swindlers who committed frauds to a great amount,. in the neighbourhood of Ox ford, a few months since, but, unfortunately, jus tice has not yet overtaken them. FELONS EXtRAORDINARY.-There are at present confined in Durham gaol, a prisoner for felony at the age of-ten years; another nearly ninety ;- and 'a female possessed of one . linndred and fifty thou sand pounds; for stealing an article not" worth more than eighteen-pence ! ItNitiS, (Continued trom otir Paper of Yetterday.) NoW; Sir, I should be glad to know by what kind of reasoning it can be pioVed, that there is a power vested. in the representation to destroy his immmediate constituent ; from whence could he - possibly derive it ? A courtier, I know, will he ready enough to maintain the affirmative. The doctrine suits him exactly, because it gives an un limited operation to the influence of the crown.— But we, Mr. Wilkes, must hold a different lan guage. is no answer to me to say,- that the 1)41; ,when it passes the notise of Commons., is the act of the majority; and not of the representatives of the particular boroughs, concerned. If the majority can disfranchise ten boroughs, why not twenty ? Why should they not make their own Seat.- in Parliament for life ? When the. Septennial Act passed, the .legislature did what apparently and palpably they had no power to do ; but they did more than people in geAeral were aware of they disfranchised the ‘Vhole' kingdom for font. - years. ~ - 'For argument's sake, I will now suppose, that the expediency of the pleasure, and the power of Parliament were Unquestionable. Still you will find an insurmountable difficulty in 'the execution. When all your instruments of amputation are pre - paredwhen the unhappy patient lies hound at your feet, without the possibility oT resistance, by what infallible rule will you direct the opera tion i Are There any cutain limits, in fact or the ory, to inform you at what point you must stop — at what point the mortification ends -1. , To a - man so capable of 'obsenation and reflection as yfiii are, it is 'unnecessary to say all that. might 6c said. upon the subject. ,Besides that.l approve higi:ly indeed of Lord Chatham's idea of " infusing' a portion or new health into the constitu tion to enable it to hear its infirmities," (a brilliant expression, and full of intrinsic wisdom), other reasons concur in persuading me to adopt' it. I have no objection to paying him such com pliments as carry a Condition With them, and ther bind him firmly to the cause, or become the bitterest reproach to hint if he deserts it. Of this last I have not the most distant suspicion. There is another man,. indeed, with whose conduct I ain not so completely satisfied. Yet eve:: he has not I think, resolution enough to do any thing fla grantly impudent in the face of his country, At the same time that I think it good policy to pay those ;compliments to Lord' Chatham, which, in truth, he hasnobly deserved, I . should be glad to mortify' those contemptible cre::tures who call themselves noblemen; whose worthless' importance depends entirely upon their influence over boroughs which cannot, safely be diminished, but by in creasing the powers of the: counties at large. Among-these men I. cannot but distinguish the meanest of the human species, the whole race of the Conways. I have but one word - to add,—l would not give representatives to those great trading towns which have none at present. If the merchant and the manufacturer must be really represented, let them become freeholders by their industry, and let the representation of - that - town be increased. - Yon will find- the intt.‘rruption of business in those towns by the triennial riot and cabals of an elec tion, too dear a price for the nugatory privilege of sending members to,Parliament. The remaining articlys will not require a -long discussion ;—of the fourth and fifth I have spoken already., Article 6.—The same measures recommended in the sixth are unexceptionable. My only doubt is, how Can an act apparently done by the House of CamniOns be fixed; by sufficient legal evidence, upon the Duke of Grafton or Lbrd North, of whose guilt lam nevertheless completely • satiitied. As for Lord Weymouth and 'Lord Barrington, /heir own letters are s n fii lent ground of impeach- , ment. Article 7.—The seventh article is alsci very proper and necessary.. The impeachment of Lord Mansfield, upon his own paper, is indispensable. Yet suffer meta guard you against'the seducing idea of concurring in any vote, or encouraging any bill, which may pretend to ascertain, 'while in reality it limits, the constitutional power of juries. I would have their right to return a general - ver dict in all cases whatsoever, considered as a part of the constitution; fundamental.,. sacred. and no "more questionable by the legislature than whether the government of the country shall he by 'King, Lords, and Commons. Upon thispoint,an Enact ing Bill would be pernicious ; a Declaratory Bill; to aay the best of it, useless. Article think the eighth article would be more properly expressed dans :—You shall grant no money, unless for services known to, or 0- prtived by Parliament. The Honse of Commons are indeed too ready in granting large sums under the head of Extraordinaries it - int-red, a nd not provided for. Put the aceounts'lie before them ; it is their own fault if they do not examine them. The manner in which the late debt upon the civil list‘vas pretended to be iiici'r,red, and really paid, demands a particular' examination. Never was there a more impudent outrage offered to a pa tient people. Article 9.—The ninth is indispensable ; biit I think the matter of it rather fit - for instruction, than for the declaration you have in view. lam very apprehenSive of clogging the declaration, and tanking it too long." (To be c ont inued .) BUONA PARTE ordered his servile Bishops to ad dress thanks to the God of Armies for his victo ries in Rus'sia, but he 'will live more reason to offer up thanks if he and his myi'midonS' should ever escape from that country. A. lady of good connections, and the Widow of an Officer of first rank in the Army, was taken into custody on Wednesday, charged with bigamy,. in intermarrying with the said Officer, her fin-- .mer husband being still alive. The lady was taken before a . Magistrate, and held to bail until a fu-. ture day, when the case will be entered into, and much legal discussion is expected to take place on the authority of the first marriage, which took. place in Scotland. Some heavy pecuniary affairs are involved "in the question, Pouffe MARLB( BOUGH.-STIIEET.—It was stated ye;,te•- day, that the Widow of a cieceat'ed General was io •custody, charged with bigamy, in having inter married With Geuerall.).--, her former husband, A- 7 ---n, being then and still alive. The prisoner had been admitted to bail to appear at this re examination. The folloWing is briefly the history of this novel case :—The prisoner had been dir• vorced froth , her first husband, Mr. A--, a.-- cording to the Scotish Law . ; and on the legality of such divorce a question arose.. They were in. respectable, if not in affluent circumstances.-- Some time about twelve months ago the deceased ~ General, at the age of SO, became the suitor of the fair prisoner, whose age was about 35 . ,' and ' after a sh - ort courtship they were married. • Tha General died a few months after the marriage, and bequeathed his property, which was immen , ;(!, to th€ prisOner, to the exclusion of his otl.:. i relatives. The case was truly interesting to the r,irfie.A ; and it excited much phblic curiosity, but we can- , not give further particulars. Mr. NEVE, the prel siding-Magistratc; disiriissed the charge-. BONV-STRERT.-Yesterday Charles tirheler, well-known character, was brought to this Odiee i by, Humphreys, charged with having defrauded a farmer of 601. ,by die stale trick bf picking up a parcel, ,containing acr'oss, - Accompanied hy a pre tended jeweller's bill, in which a . large price was affixed to it. The credulous ctiuntryman, -sup posing the bubble ito be a'diamond cross, as it was d6igriated in the bill, didLnOt hesitate to give up all the money he had Aboat liim, for Ai . share in t=uch a valuable prize whicri, however, he .ultimately discovered to be worth only, .a few shillings. The prisoner was also charged with obtaining two one one-pound - .totes; from a person in Hat tan-pardon, by a simila'r pretence. He was re. mantled for further examination. A meeting of tanners, shoe-manafacturci•s; &c. was held in •Stafrord, on 'Wednesday last, when it. was resolved to present a petition against the ad ditional duty laid on the leather in 'the last l'ar lament. And on the following day the ion holders of that borough resolved to present a .petition to Viscount Sidmouth, praying his Lord, ship to submit to the consideration of his Ma jesty's Government, the proprietyof increasing the allowances now made for soldiers billetted upon the petitioners.- 7 -(Birmingharn Chronicle.) The remains of the late Mr. JERNINGHAM were, on Wednesday last, .placed in the vaults of.Gros , venor Chapel, South Audley-street, where the remains of his mother, Lady SERNINGIIAM, Lad ' also been deposited. Sir GEORGE JERNINGHAN, Bart. and. EDWARD JERNING HAM, Esq. his ne phews, with two younger branches . of the family, were all who attended. The funeral was very properly confined to the immediate relatives of the deceased, for if his higher numerous friends and connections had been invited on 'the occasion, the ceremony might have appeared somewhat ostentatious, however well the departed gentle - - man is entitled to every mark of respect for his , Inemory. The following Epitaph on-Robin. Hood was lately taken from the tomb-stone, in K irklees Plantation, adjoining the park and hall, in York shire : Heart underneath dis laitl Stean Laz liubin Earl •of Huatingtua. Ne'er arcir as hie sa braid, And Pip kauld im;robiu Houd: Sick utlawi as hi and is inert Vil England si vg:eii. - Obiit.•24 kai. Dekembris 1247. BREAD FOR THE ARMY --Each soldier is to t-- ceive, as his allowance for four days, a well-lo loaf, weighing six pounds, made of flour prepared with a twelve-shilling seamed cloth, farm good wheat, for which.loaf the soldieris to be charged fivepence. KEEN .AND Salurday a young-bear, brought, from Greenland, was conveyer! froth Leith to a den prepared for its reception in the' college grounds. We understand that it Juts been' presented by the ProfeSscir of Natural history to . the Aluseuth ; and that the Magistrates, as pa . tron3• of the University,. having determined • that it should be ; kept alive ' until it shall have, at tained its: fall growth, very liberally 'gave direc tions for the construction of 'the den, in which it is now securely lodged. In a-year it will be fully eight feet long. BIRTHS. On Saturday las, at .A.) , ot St. Lawrence, Hells,. the Lady of Peter Touchet, Eiq. of a Daughter. On the 23d inst at Shenstoue-House, The Lady, of Healy Case, Esq. of a son. • On Thursday evening -Ole Lady of J.H. Gliding, Esq. of Doctors' Counnons, of a daughter. ... , . MARRIED, DIED. LONDON: Printed by TIIONIAS WOOD, of Russell-court, Brydges-street, Cgrent-garden; trublisiled by WILLIAM ARNIIGgIt GrosKenor.squafe, At the Sox Oppicr, N0.)12, Strand, where 4dvertisenumix; Orders for the Pi/par, Laters tor the Editor, &c, (fioWpiir.), must be addressed. On the gin of September last, at St. Croix, in the West In - - . diei, Lieutenant Whittbv, of the 961 - 11 flegiment, to• Miss Ju lianna Kibblewhite,‘of Liddiard, in the County of Wilts. On the ifrth inst. at Aberdeen, Mrs, Chiva.s, wife of Alex ander Chivas, Esq . . of the Commer - Cial Bank. On Sunday, the Bth inst. Harriet itierttius, wife of Thoma* Cocke, Esq. of Weston Colville, Cambridgeshire, and only daughter of the late ThomaS HiryWaid, Esq. of London. On Tuesday last, Charlotte Barton, ,yourigest: dauglitet` of Hugh Barton, Esq. of Baker -street,. - Portman-square. On Wednesday last, Miss Elizabeth Stanhope, sgcouddaugh ter of the Hon,.H. F. lt.,,Stanhope, at the house of her fa ther, in Curzon-street, Mdy. fair. • The same day, at the Bev. _Lower near Canterburyi.in the 59th year of her age, in coosemen, of an.accident.from a carriage ' Mrs: Ranthal, of Hind-street, Manchester-square, wid o w o f the late John Randall, Esq. of Great Cumberland-stieet. Nov.,COAL 11121111 SET, v 27. Ships at Mantet. Ships - viht. - Price. ,7 Newcastic . . . 4 , . . . 40s. 0d.,t0 : 525. C!, 3 - Snillicrla)lCl . . . 3 . . 445. 6,1.: to 425. (Li. PRICE OF STOCKS YESTERPI Y.l, .• Bank stock, 217 216.1 India Bonds, 2s. 3s. dis. Navy 5 per Cent. 90111 ' ,Sonth:Sea Stock, Gah - . 5 p-r Cent. 1797, 994 . Exchequer Bills, 34d. per day, 4 ,per Cent. 7318 . 2s: pr. 3per Cent. Red. .571,-k . Ditto, 31d. per clay, as. 6s. pr. 3 per Cent. Con. 58iii - • Oruninrn,"q 5 pr.' 13ank L. Ann. 14 15-160 s i Imperial ,Inn. 4i: India Stock, . Cons. for 19th Jun. 59-/I1 HIGH WATER A'l' LONDON BRIDGE TO-MORROW. . , Morqiug,23 Minutes after 10. Evening, 48 minutes il:tcr 10. i t