Northern Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1859-08-19 00:00:00

hat he had unlawfully

rnprisoned, assaulted,

aid detained, for the spice of ninety-eight clays, on the
high seas, Benjamin Vicuna M'Kenna, Angelo Custodio
Gallo, Manuel Antonio Matta ; and also that he had
conspired _with others, to the jury unknown, to take mid
convey the gentlemen named against their will from
their own country. The defendant pleaded not guilty.
Mr. Attorney-General Bliss, Q.C., and Mr. Aspinall
were counsel for the prosecution; Mr. Overend, Q.C.,
and Mr. DeightQn were for the defendant. The case
excited great interest. The defendant sat with his
solicitor at the table oc the clerk of the court.
The Attorney-General

in opening the case, said—The
charge which you arc now-to try against the defendant
in this indictment is the charge of false imprisonment—
that is, of unlawfully. imposing restraiYA upon the person
-raer the protection of the laws of England-
-flitted upon shore in England or upon

of a ill
which,

the high season board a British ship, is, I take it to be, an ot.
fence, and an offence of:a pubhc nature, to be punished upon
indictment. As this is a case somewhat novel in many
of its circumstances, it is necessary for me to open to
- - I;,‘, nAq conceive it, and the facts, as they
With regard to

on both the

will be proved in ovidence before you
the law of the east

of course, will take it frOm my

Ind it is with all submission to
I propound it, that every restraint -en the
free man is an imprisonment. It is so laid
r Lord Coke, second Institute, 482 ; and also

lord upon the bend

that if "a man be imprisoned without cause, there will
Lgainst him that did the wrong,
ute of Magna Charta, as also laid
the second Institute, 55. The

be an indictment
according to the s
down by Lord Col

let me remind you, is
Autos of the realm, and is

Charter of our liberties. It
us all, though we have lost

sight of the Charter in the lapse of time, and in the
great improvement in our institutions since then—the
precious clause which ,says that no free man shall be
imprisoned, except by process of law and judgment of
court. And if the statuteibe followed, as in the present

His .Lordship : Magna Charta itself was founded upon
the themexisting fundamental laws of the kingdom.
The Attorney-Geterid continued: In the same insti-
tute it is provided that for every breach of the peace by
false imprisonment an indictment will lie. Now, gen-
tlemen,. the false imprisonment in this case consisted in
the prisoner taking on board his ship four subjects or
citizens of a foreign state, who, involuntarily and against
their will, and by violence, were put on board his ship
. .

them in the ship from their own country,
"c Ocean, being in the State of
)f lllflny•thousand miles—to Eng-

and brin,
situated in the Paeit
Chili—a long voyage.

land, during the `whole of whiCh time the
and imprisonment in the eye of the h

Gentlemen.

this captain beyond that of bringing themaiaTnsitthei;
own will, from their own, country, a voyage so long, and

or so many days, to such a distance as this. Gentlemen, the
defendant in this case, W. Lesley, was:the masterof a Bri-
tish ship called the Louisa Braginton, a ship which is
registered at Bideford, to which place she belongs, and
of which ship the defendant is not only master, but part
owner. At the end of the year 1858, lie was at
Valparaiso. From that place to this country it was that
the imprisonment took place; and he arrived in this
country- some time in June or July last. On his arrival
here, the four persons whom he had brought as prisoners
from that country went before the magistrates, and
made a complaint which is now to he tried :before.yon.
These four persons arc the •prosecutors in this case.
They are gentlemen of high respectability, of,character,
of position, and fortune ir. their own country. They
are all natives of Chili ; two of them are iumobers of
the legislature of that state, and the other two
are men of letters, connected with the !public
journals of the country. In December, last year,
there was a public meeting in Santiago, at !which
these four gentlemen were present, when the
-overnment of that country surrounded the meting
Armed force, arrested these four gentlemen.
mprisoned "iem, and kept them in imprisonment
'r brought them down to
board the defendant's
--eminent made

with an armed force, and

when 0