The Sun. — London, England, 1820-09-02 00:00:00

t AA nd b as to- Ara a On 011 p etch of alt v° at. bc c eded bad In id iat bee"' lid k COnSi l lips Li tile r ill° 10 1° f the • j e ,fort ouusel j;rit e jowl! , poieJ RdaviC ne"; ininea it was 1i f o 119 a ,_ Pe b est g ot , be 11 ' 4 tf/ i.og I ove t - i ø (1 1 9 0" s r P a e 4 .011° it• that e te ily bo ' 1- cO - 1 1 VII' 0 / t iot 45. 0 sc { r iti e oS , O a ,2•11 a 1 ea' Ao ,tiovt In his handwriting. rx it were denied then it t night be Proved by other parties, and thus the credit of the_ witness might be altogether de-. , tr eYed: He Wish6d the question new raised to le referred to the Judges.' - The . questioo to be !nlnitted 'for th e ir c o nsideration. was, whether . is the Court s , br.flow — during a c r oss-examination, l etter cook' be put in and read; and 'a witness as ked if h e h a d wr itt en - words to that effect, Nvi thout first showing The letter to the witness, mn d askin g if that letter, or the superscription, the haridwritin,g of the. Witness. fora DoNoucnnoat: said., if the witness ad- Z i l tt ed th e l e tt er , the cross-examinatiou would regular; but he objected to the same use -4 1iiiade of this.unproved letter, as would have ,'4" glade of it, if it had been regularly proved. e C'.aunsel for the defence acting thus, endea -1.0 Il t " u to discredit the witness by anticipation ; s° 'far as the examination on this unproved — t e r went, he must contend:that the,person under ‘'xan iitiation -was an uncontradicted witness.'lNt R ' A l at had t a k en place would, hoWever, go'forth b' i serediting her testimony, because it Would ul lderStood that the paper had been proved. was i t . only sorry that the'cross-exainit►ation•on t 1 , 41 (.1 be en su ff ere d t o go - on so long, and wished t tl i • l ave the dpinions of the Judges on the ques 'ell that h a d been raised: Earl of LifinEnDALE said a few words as ri t he form o f th e -q ue stion proposed. 4 he Earl of LivEfteocm . wished to ask another 4~tlf_a.line or two of any letter be read sl; wi'tnes's, and .acknowledged to •be his hand cei'dingf whether that. would be a good and stalltil - t admissions of the hand-Writing, and whe t, ez 'ilFion such acknowledgment - , it' was compe ti;:e4 to examin e the witness to the contents of whole paper. He threw this out as a point, 41 lid ' he thought worthy the consideration Of the e arlied Judges. i n 'III fitEn'EDALE 'spoke a . thort time, but was a i t tdi ble.below the bar. ttna " l 7 4 ERSKINE, was Of opinion,, that if only a Part of, the letter were shown to the witness tt ,i n 4 ,, c4 "oWledged, the witness could be exa t• to that part. and O . :that part only.' h ad ; ',._ l4 :BAlrll'6ll.T observed, that if these letters li ra , b een .written by the Witnessythey had been , tr a „ , nslated into English, andthenre-translated erench by the'lnterpreter ; so that it Was coPPobable. that 'she could speak clearly to ,the "tents Without first seeing the letters. li on '''Loun .. CifaxcELLOß then read the oues -411.). and the Learned Judges retired for about e el). minutes, When they returned, and Tie • s p LORD CHIEF JUSTICE said, that with re- N , er e t to the first question, the Learned Judges 43 -e litfauimously of opinion that it should be- 1 4. 13 `"red in the .negative'. The .reason on which etxt t 4tisio.n was founded was shortly this. The ii, o lte nts of any .paper . coald be proved by. that - ti r er 4,10ne: .If, isolated. parts of it were read, re , Th ? - ; 'night produce different effects, than when 4 - , :‘ 'With and explained by the whole. The th .- „ ts e°n r a .question which had, been submitted to - I ;earned Judoes 'mist be divided into two Par 0 „ ' — gtrstiv, if a paper were produced in ti l j zt i end. a witness acknowledged to one or Pu p a- writing. "es/ whether that would go to prove the i‘ i v , ri C in g. of the paper; to which they unani lir:s 3- re ply the affirmative. Secondly, 1 1 % , ,' be adwission,,it would be competent lj upon the whole contents of the paper. ury.t.his Part the Judges are unanimous in d.ecid in ,the negative. ope :PO LIVERPOOL SLlZ t gested, that it vas now \vi lk t er the co n sid e ration of their . Lordships, those"er the ev id e n ce s h ou ld no t b e re c e ived, and li t , c , 3 Parts expungedY which had .been elicited ntradiction to the foregoing decisions. - DONOUGIIMORE expressed a hope that the b I th il which the Judges had just given would ir rev , means of preventing the recurrence of the , th, n iarity w hi c h : it ap p eare d by that opinion, C ounsel had fallen into. He thought,. how r t ecs : that so l ong as t h a t opinion remained on Nvi i i e d ) they should not suffer the irregularity h ts: ',' had tak en ' p l ace t o s t an d on their J ourna l s h s o e u lt i It would be unjust to , one party that 00 11 1 4 ; go forth .to the • public. He had no 11 , 4 s a tacit the object of the Learned' Counsel, na otiY o f fair one,. to discredit thecould testi ' b at i t saf all important • witness* if they ; tvide_ ce was thei r Lo r d s hips' duty to prevent any kik e ! I which was improperly obtained from th ese tul g the c r edit or c h arac t er o f a witness. On th e ,‘ g rs mlads he should move that the whole of tai r "s - exaniination of the witness, .froin'a cer -- Point, b e discharged.nOx L i d n rd st • 413. 4En0w..., thought that they could rlke .out of th e ir minutes.what Counsel had J et. °ll , l l, with out - b ear i ng ,C ounse l on the sub -11(± s h o 4 , f the Noble Lord persisted in his motion, 114 1 move , that Counsel.be heard. Earl- 1) 0NO u agreed with the Noble `.ors GIIMOTIL ~ ! 0 ,, e th us , to the propriety of hearing Counsel be ' ‘villt,2Y filially' decided on the subject. Ile was LA 1 5 t f 2. his motion until'after Counsel -e (m. heard. - - - to E N tlmught it would be dangerous ext,4 ) glii.ze the principle 'of., striking out to the lou9t,;cPreposed. If they began at all, they 4 .144' - hack to the ve‘ry . coninfericeinent, of the t te ; and, indeed, it was impossible to fore ner.. . i, l this amputating ; brsiness: would' , end, % t . "sti o .:',l ) ..rohability till they had ctitaWay every b9u,,,i i .° ` the proceedingsi At the- same. ime he t the Counsel had a right to be heard.' t L Oli rs ANSDOW N thought, 'that - adopting the 14 °re.; `Proposed by the Noble Earl (DonOuglia. 1)1 . 1 g t , 1/°11,1 (1 he doingshatwhich was most i•e'• 4 4`,.` a 1 1 t to s ti the interests of . justice. it would w ept •• le whole of the cross)examination to be' "nY• 'e • viIIANCELLOR said, that the quesh r whether this portion of Abe, evidence til os „ u .e struck out or not , . was no doubt.one of `.,'lnportan t description. urin 1 1, Pro perit, wi k,NN , ILLE thought that it rested-more IN Part s t u Cfminsel to object to and point out it might;be -desirable to expunge. i h e tl t tg..l m it h i i t ch did not belong to their Lordships ca se to • strike out any thing but what was pointed out by Counsel, question by question, and article by article. The Earl of CARNARVON said a few words in a low tone of voice,,which were inaudible lieiow the bar. Earl of DoNounnmoitE said, it appeared that he stood alope'ou the question—one simple Lord among many. If, however, their Lordships Were willing to allow that to remain on their Minutes 'which-the Judges had decided was no evidence at all, he could have nothing to say, His Lordship's motion was withdrawn.—Coun sel having been called in. The 'Lour) CHANCELLOR informed theth that the House directed that they .should not cross examine the witness as to any fact which had not previously appeared in evidence. Hp was also di reCted to inform them'that no questions could be Put as to the contents pf'a letter which had not been shewn; nor could they allow . any question •to be. asked respecting it without sheaving the whole. But if only a part were shewn, as only one - or two lines, the littless could not be asked •as to.that part upleSs the whole were shewn to her, and she admitted it to be hers. The Cross-examination was then resumed. — The following questions were successively put to the witness, and all received answers in the affirmative : Is that letter your hand-writin. , ' ?—the next sheet,—the next,—even to the end,—and the address also,—and the date and place ?- r Yes. The Counsel was now proceeding to examine the witness upon the contents of the above letters. The ATTORNEY-GENERAL said, his Learned Friend had admitted that he was about to exa mine as to the contents of the „letters, which he submitted was ina' proper. The LORD CHANCELLOR said, that one of the first principles of law was, that if the contents of a letter were proved, those contents were evi dence of themselves. It did not appear, there fore, that there was any occasion to pursue the coarse the Learned Counsel was about to pursue. Mr. WILLIAMS addressed their Lordships at some length in defence of the line he was pursu ing. He trusted to their Lordships' indulgence to he allowed to explain, as far as he understood the nature of his Lehrned Friend's strange ob jection. If he understood the matter right, there never was a more important question, as it affect- ed the interests .of justice throughout the whole country, before their Lordships or ank,,other tri bunal in the kingdom. And however he might be inclined to submit to the authority of the Learned Lord on the Woolsack, he should feel ashamed of himself, if he did not on the present occasion, fearlessly and openly state what he conscientiously thought on: the subject. It *as the common practice to adduce written au thority, if any there were, for an objection on a point of practice ; but, as his Learned Friend had not quoted any authority, in the absence of his statement, he must conclude, that there was none to quote. He • must, therefore, remind their Lordships of what was the rule recognized in all Courts of Law on this point. And he could fear lessly state, that.on no rule whatever were writ ten documents admitted as evidence, except on the party interested .being able to spew that such documents contained a contradiction of what the witness in another manner stated. No letter could be taken as evidence, nor what was said to any person in any one place, except in compari son and contradiction of what was said in• an other place, or to another person. He could state plainly to their Lordships what was the law on this point, such as he had himself practised, known, and suffered. it. How could the contra diction be made out, unless by sheaving that the witness denied what she had written. The•wit ness must, in' fact, not only be proved to have written the letter, but to have denied what she or he had so written. Of the import ance of this point, he would be excused in saying a child might judge a and it was as fresh in his recollection as though it had happened only the other , day, that a question of this kind arose before a Judge, who, he might say, with Out fear of offending, was exceeded by none in the khowledge of the Law of Ettg,land. He remem bered perfectly that he had a witness called against him to prove a certain fact, in Contradic tion of which fact he possessed a letter, written by the said witness. The examination and cross examination were allowed to pass without ques tioning this witness as to the contents of the fet ter, and when after this he produced the letter as evidence against the witness, Mr. Scarlett ob jected to the produc,tion, saying, with a taunt which he acutely. felt, that he had alloWed the only time that he could have made' the instru ment evidence to pass, and must therefore suffer for the act of folly which he had so. imprudently and illegally.comKiitted. lie 'did stiffer in con- Sequence, for,Mr. Baron WoOd ruled against him.. It was the same in all cases ; if you let a Witness escape from the box before you make him cert., tradict himself, in what you have written or pa role testimony to establish' against him, that tes timo'ny will not serve a tittle in , point of evidence. By the same' unerring absolute analogy it' was in the present case, if they alloWed that woman to . escape without contradicting these - letters, then With a hundred-fold ;weight Might it be said, you haVe , allowed the only thing' which could make them evidence pass by, and you must thank your own folly if you receive a' verdict against you., • With the help of what little share ofcom mdn sense he possesSed, - he vowed - to God he could see no reason for the objeCtion whfch had been raised. Mr. BROUGHAM followed' on the same side.— Had it not been 'for'the 'extraordinary objection which bad, been made,' he should' not even have troubled their Lordships with the few words it was . hisintention to deliver. To whatever deci sion their Lordships should come on *this- subject,, he trusted - they would bear in mind' that the rule now to be laid down would affec the whole pro ceedings-in such matters', ' not only in the High COurfOf Parliament,'but iu gradual descent down to the most humble tribunal. The rule Of evidence, such as it had been stated by his Learned Friend before him ) he tools to be clear ; and laid down as uniform, and was such, -he was sure, as 'not to .sanction the rule contended for by the Learned Gentleman on the other sides One dis tinct and, principal feature of it was that nothing could be received as :evidence against a man which he had not himself in gOllle way or other contradicted; In the case of a written Instru ment, therefore,• it was obvious this could, not be done, without putting questions to the witness as to the contents of that document. And the reason of this rule was obvious, for a party would not be fairly dealt by who was not warned that an examination was, to take, place, for the pur pose of contradicting his evidence. if, without giving any. sort of notice, Counsel could -• be al lowed to take. a letter out-of his pocket,' whose contents should be totally different from What any witness had before stated, it w0u,14 be certainly giving a. very unsafe and unjust latitude ; for, had the witness had due notice of what was about to be brought forward, be' might have been able to relieve himself froth the opprobrium of incon sistency or contradiction on his character, by making some explanation which he alone could make. Being placed on his guard, with respect to something lie may have forgotten, by stating some trifling circumstance, he may be able to remove this staiti upon his character. The whole of the common sense of the matter he conceited to be with his Learned Friend and hiMself. If the rule were other than it was, it was plain to see that one consequence would be that it would be competent in all cases to bring every letter that a man ever wrote against him, without one single, question being asked to lead his Mina to any one point they were intended to prove. If their Lordships decided for such a rule, they would only impose new shackles on them ; then sending them forth with this additional fetter round their necks to sink them in 'every Court of Justice in the kingdom, their bodies would he the property of their Lordships, their reason re mained unconuinced. The ATTORNEY-GENERAL contended that all authority was in favour of his Objectiori in this case. lie could not understand what more his Learned Friends could want, than that these let ters should be allowed to be read as evidence. This they had already got ; for as soon as they were put into the hands of.the witness she ad mitted they were hers. They bad taken good care to do what Mr. Williams had omitted in the case before Mr: Baron Wood. The letter ought to be produced. His Learned Friends could not enter upon the contents of it in the way they were attempting. They could only shew whether the witness bad spoken that which was true or untrue by producing the letter. They must bring forward evidence - of contradiction. The course pursued by his Learned Friend was irre gular. Papers must be introduced at the proper • time. • .. , Lord ERSKINE said, when the case of the ac cused came after the case. of the accuser the prac tice.had been to take care the rules for the pro- tection of tire subject were not broken down.— The witness•hatla right to hear the letter read, and the Noble and Learned Lord did not see how - the house could withhold that right. After the letter had been. read the witness might be asked how she reconciled the matter she had stated, and that she had written ? The LORD CHANCELLOR then submitted to the Learned Judges the , point of. law, stating the situation of the witness, and asking at what stage of a similar proceeding in the Courts below, should the letter be read by Counsel ? The J udges decided that Counsel had no right to put questions to the witness respecting parts of the letter,- unless the letter itself was read. In delivering that opinion the Judges did not lay down any new rules of evidence ; but they founded their opinion, on the strict rule of evi dence long sanctioned by the law, namely, that the contents .of a written instrument must be proved by reading it. . . The LORD GIANCELLOR observed, that' if Counsel, in cross-examining, suggested that he wished to have the letter read in order to pro pofind other questions, he might hav - e the letter read, subject to all the consequences of making it evidence. Counsel were called to the bar ;' and • The LORD CHANCET:LOR said, he was directed to inform them, that the witness could not be examined whether'she did or not in a letter make certain statements,' but thO letter must first be read, to manifest whether she had written the parts to which Counsel referred. in cross-exa mination the HouSe would Suffer such letter to be read, subject to all the 'consequence& of having it made part of the evidence. Mr. BROUGHAM took the liberty, of handing-to the . Lord Chancellor. a case, 11th State Trials, page 140, in wliich Counsel for the prosecution cross-examined from a letter not read in. Court. The witness was again put to the bar. Further: Examination qf Madame DumclNT. 1 7. it Y l o o i n t gh:rv?eiciitclayouieu hate been from home about thirteen months Yes: away in July twelve months, Were yon, ever in England before this tune?-.Nn. , • Who came with yof?-My sister and two friends, Mr. paget and Mr, Croft.: You came to England at the same time ?—Yes. From ?—From Switzerland : . Yon have been at Vienna ?—I have not been there since I' was there with.hcr.Boyal were you examined at Milan ?—:-Yes. 'v v as Vihriacarti one Of the Connie) there?—Yes. Was Mr. Pawl there ?—Vilanacarfi anti three ethers were ',regent. Were there any more ?—I do not know. ',yes Mr.• Bowel there ?- - --Yes. Wag Colonel Brown there?—:-Yes, he was there. Were you examined Foote than once ?—1 was examined once. Where ?—At • Anv where else?—Only at Milan. How long ago ?—ln the month of January or•Febrnarv. where did you go from to be examined ?--L1 w en t from Switzerland. • Yon had been at your owa home ?—Yes.. Not in service ?—1 lived at home. • I-lace von finally agreed what yon are 't o h ave f or g i v i ng evidence') "L•Tbey have premised .me .rlgthing -for giving. evidence. you Caine away lrony::eyetylotyjui.6.nimal t o a l e t n d t t k , h , e r:y:s o n t a i rany o r tplf'aix)n-pßtelelbtee before r ri c g e . i o 6 f r my r•ogag•c• • giving eVidence ?--I exriet 'nothing at all • • r , this coming to f r N coQeibeiltl'hYti e o ra r en. p d referment?—l expect nti benefit for coming here. Litt& not believe, on your oath, that you are to receive anylooney or bore& for corning to England ?—I expect no advanta g e for comin g here, only that they should pay my ex petters, and no more., is pat alt yuu believe you are to get ?—I expect nothing further. ' And you' believe you shall Imre nailing' more do not shall have any thit,g more. I think you told 1.13 youltad never . been in,service since you iclt the Princess of Wales have been in 'no other service. Here Counsel pr4osed•to read the letters. The Earl of LIVERPOOL suggested that the letters be read first in rrehch, and then trans lated. . . • _ • The SOLICITOR-GENERAL observed, that ,it was to'be understood Counsel,. in reading the letters, brought themselves within the rule laid down. The letters were not to be read ,unless questions were to be put. .. Mr, WILLIAMS said, he did not mean to assign over any interest he might have in the letters. rt was not assignable property. The SOLICITOR-GENER 1L expressed a hopti that there was no intention to get the letters read, and afterwardS evade the rule laid down, by a plea of not understanding it. The Lorin CiiiiNctr.Lon. observed, that no Counsel would think ,of putting question 3 for evasion.' Perhaps it would he as well to tau.: time to consider and read the letters to-morrow. They might Also then determine what they would do to prevent any evasion. The Earl of DONOUGHMORE expressed a strong desire to prevent any precedent or rule of a dart gerous tendency from being ad'opted. • The LORD CIIANcELLOR intimated' that the, rule_ called upon the Counsel to state to the House his' belief that it was exyertient, for the purposes of cross-examination, the House Should permit the letters to l Aq read. The Earl of DONOUGHIMORE. - Counsel might mean to bring himself within the verge . of the rule„ but the document could not be 'read unless under a bona fide statement that the reading -w-2,s necessary. Counsel did not state that it was ne cessary, but that he would -bring himself Within the rule of their Ludships. He might ask, what was , the meaning of that reserve ? The LORD CHANCELLOR observed, that it was open to their. Lordships to adopt any further rule which the subject might require. Mr. BROUGHAM said, as it was,near the licur their Lordships had fixed for adjournment, he ' , wished to postpone the reading of the letters till to-morrow morning: , This suggestion met with the approbation of the House, and an .adjOurnment immediately ensued. KINGDOM OF THE TWO SICILIES. German Journals to a late date have ,arrivut.l. They contain some very afflicting accounts from Sicily, which Island was a prey to all the hor rors of anarchy and civil is ar. The Provisional Government established• at Palermo after the expulsion of the Kingly Govpmment; was a mere shadow, and all the power was in the hands of the mob. But still more dreadful is the ais, order which prevails in the interior of the ISland. —The following is given as an authentic private communication from Palermo of ale - 30th - J my " The inteoor,of Sicily is not a theatre of war; but of dts . - rastation and death; entry one plUndersand.burns.the estate of his nriglkbour, with arms in hand the fury of the po pulace is unbridled. A report is in circulation that several, Sicilian cities, after the example of Palermo, likewi'se - demand the independence of the island. -Sn'much is certain, that the, .Prince of Valgnarnera has arrired•bere front .Castania. witts _ . fail powers, sighed by above 7000 persons, alt dem:hiding io dependence. The cities of . .... 4 )raense and Calsinnisettr, enter tain-the:Rattle wish. Hete (at ralernid) the richest-persons are daily laid under contribistion by the snob, and must ransom I heir . - lives by the payment of large sinus. The latest. countS•frotia Naples (Tub instant) are not Much better. - The eonfi4euoe in the apparent.transiniltiq which prevails there. diminishes daily. Many of the principal people have sent away their wives and' families. The whole people is - armed, all kinds of weapons are. bought =up, and the armourers cannot supply tbe demand. At the same time., the city is divided into parties; .even the Carhobari are very disunited among. themselves, and divide into Constitntitinalistsand Republicans. The I.ndtze of the Revolutionary Star, one oft he most, furiou4i, has seceded front the test, and holds its meeting,s in the Field of Mats, where, with one Chierienne for' - P,resident, lately deliberated on - the necessity of removiug the - presint 'Ministers. This Ciuli was, however, dispersed by the Govern ment. In the streets and squares armed,groups assemble to judge the measures of a new Government, which has evidently not •stren,ith enough.. to stem- the tide ,of• events. The late Minister of the Finances, Medico, has obtained passports lot Barcelona, whither he intended to•set out on the ath nut a troop of Carbonari has hitherto opposed his•dOartuiL, and keeps a strict watch over him!' Num' erou3 corps of Austrian troops are pro ceeding into Italy.. The strongest cbturnn is al ready on its march. through Bavaria and.the Ty 7 rol. Another is assembling at Tlieste, to be embarked there. Actounts frorn.Smyrna, of the I.7th July, say, that on the 13th 250 houses were destroyed by fire in the qtiarter of the Turks. DUTCII MAIL. A Dutch Mail arrived at a late hour lagt. night; with Papers to Monday last. The folkwing are extracts : " VIENNA, AVG. 16.—The chnip, - at Pest, i 3 to consist entirely of cavalry ; the infantry in tended to form a part of it has received another destination. The attempts of the Revolutionists, who have. come from 'pitire, to persuade the in 7 fantry of Lucca to give her dominions a derco ; cratical Government, have entirely failed.. The Piedrnontese troops at Turin and Genla lave loudly expressed their abhorrence of the-tumui tuons scenes at Napies. " The-States of •ttw Chukchi e3petially the Legations, as well as Tuscany, Parrnfi, and Mi:b , dena, enjoy, accordixn to the latiaSe!acrountc, perfect. ranquillity. " The command of . the Italian army-is given to Count Frimbnt; but, case of war, it is probable that the command will be:transferred to Count Bianchi, who Obtained so Much reputa tion in the war of Mb; " FRANKPORT, AUG. A3.- - Count Thirtlenberc, Panoverian Ambassador to - the court'nf Vienna, arrived here,' yesterday,: from 4,6 s Ex- e e lleney came over with the ,Duke of CArnbridge. There are few instances of , B)*§pi;edy .passage, for they crossed from Dover to Calais in two hours and a half."