The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1804-08-31 00:00:00

.INSOLVENT DEBTORS

Before the Rocottote, At. We. for the pur-
pose of disehargiNg Debtors sod hearing Apfrestle.
Mr. ALLEY applied to the Court that the War-
den of the Fleet Prison might amend his return, so
far as it respeeted the several persons who had gone
nut of the Rules of the Fleet since the first of Janu-
ary last : He grounded his application upon the first
and fourth CI 'uses of the present Aft, and contend-
ed, that althrugh the persons in ques!:in had gone
out of the Rules, yet, as they again r-torned, :tnd
were in aeloal custody, they came within the mean-
ing of the a 5, and %ete entitled to the benefit °lit.
The Learned Counsel very ably supported his appli-
cAtinn by a number of arguments. lle stated, that
&ring tern] a Prisoner might fo iOO yards from the
prison, provided he returned within due time ; that
a. loog as the Warden had the controul over his
prisoner, he came witlim the Aft, and also, that an
ocli,n could not he maintained against the Warden,
if the De endant previou.iy returned into his ctr.to-
dy. He then went largely into the nature and
rne.toi,ie of volunt.try and neg:igent escapes; and
con:Au•ied, t' At as the ordert had received de-
t•i •rs tgailt one cdthese persons La whom he was
since January last, he ti.ereby acknow-
did4ed him to heir his ;Ottlall custody. Upun these
.:,•unds he submitted, that tie person in question
entitled to tie isenetii of the as.

_ .
Ilectienca Misr' wed, that there never was a
c.tse than the one before the Court. The
ap, lication was, that the Warden might amend his
.t as to the persons who had gone out of the Rule;
I tie Fleet. He most properly had applied on
the first day for the direition of the Court relative
to his taking the oath ; and he observed on that etc-
cation, as he had done on a former, that from the
general charaslter and conduel of the getiticman,
he was well convinced he would do nothing but
with the greatest propriety. The persons now ap-
plying. after transgressing the law, had the audacity
to state that they were entitled to the benefit of the
act, because they had returned within the Rules
ey applit el upon very fallacious grounds indeed
neither the Warden, nor the person, applying, could
take the oath prescribed by the Aet of Parliament.
The Warden could not swear that these persons had
been in adlual custody to the best of his knowledge
and belief ; it any of theat had been seen out, he
ought immediately to be prosecuted for wilful and
corrupt perjury. He therefore felt himself justified
in the judgment he pronounced yesterday, that the
several persons in question did not come within the
meaning of the aft.
The discharge of Daniel Blake and William
Smith, prisoners in Ludgate-prison, and late part-
ners, was opposed on the stoutish of fraud, as
they (being shoemakers) had not stated in their
schedule that they had any effeets whatever, el.
though they had obtained a quantity of goods tram
their creditors.

It appeared, however, that they aeually had no
property whatever, and had been made bankrupts,
And passed their tl.ird examination. They therefore
were discharged.
No person appearing against William Baker,
from the same prison, he was accordingly dis-
charged.
The cases of Thomas Moss and Robert Ren-
shaw, from Giltspnr-street ('ompter, upon applica-
con, were postponed until the next commission.
Colonel Nicholas Boscawen, a prisoner hum the
fleet, had been remanded yesterday, his debts ap-
pearing to amount to more than the Ad of Parka-
ment prescribes. Mr. Cori% r, as Counsel for the
Prisoner, observed that he had been charged with
the penalty of the bond, instead of the principal;
but he had procured a dodge's order for the reduc-
tion of the debt. Mt. Nixon, the Warden of the
Fleet, observed that the order was incorrect, in as
much as it direeed him to amend the return of a
hahres corpus, which was not in his custody. The
Court, therefixe, was under the netessity of re-
manding the Prisoner until the next sssions, by
which time the mistake was to be reetified. This
delay was much regretted, as the Colonel was want-
ing at head quarters, where he held a very im-
portant command under General More, and had
frequently been enquired after by the Duke of
York.

Maria Douglas, who was remanded yesterday,
w.ts then brought up ; she was a very handsome
young vraman, of about twenty.:even years o( :
her manners, easy and graceful, were rendered
peculiarly interesting, by an elegant mourning
dress.

Mr. KNM, as Counsel for this lady, observed,
that it was impossible Any objea:on could be made
to ,uch a person ; however, Mr. Cuawoon objeiled
to her discharge, upon twrs rounds;g the first was
upon the 39th tialiou of the present Ad. which
enilled, tha! uo prisoner, who had taken the benefit
of the Lords Ad, and had made a false oath, could
b. entitled to the benei: of this A. The other
grounds were, that she the:: came up, under the
name of Nlaria Douglas, and had rm.de a previous
affidavit in wsother name.

As to the first, he would prove that she had been
br.iught up nnder the Li rds' Aft, a d gave in a
schedule, wherein the stated she had no property,
and swore to it; this oath sea; false, its as much as
she had property.
As to the second, he would prove that she had
sworn an affidavit on a former occasion in the name
of Maria Minkwitz, wife of John Baron Minkwitz.
Mr. Bishop, an attorney, being sworn, produced
the copy of an affidavit sworn by the prisoner,
wherein she signed her name Maria MiAwitz : he
al,o stated, that she sided herself Baroness Mink-
wits, wife of John Baron Minkwitz, and he had
heard her declare, that sh was entitled to an estate
in Norwich of the value of 14.0001.
Mr. Egar, on the pan of another creditor, Eliza-
beth Hay, genticw,,man, whom he declared he did
not know Whether she was maid, wife, or widow,
iihjeaed to the prisoner's enlargement, on the
grounds of fraud, having under false pretences ob-
tained furniture, as it were, upon hire, and after-
s% ar s Nailed them ; the pretences were, that she
;lad this estate, and w is about to sell it, and pay all
her debts, but the norer did either ; and upon this
pretence she obtained credit.
Air. KNAPP observed, that the had been married
to the &myth but was then Lying separate from him.
He contended, that as she bad been charged in the

if • • te
name If Math Douglas. dor auditors should ahids
by theft eledion..
The Court remanded "the Prisoner. and direbti
that she might again adrertistin both noses.
Thomas ItsWs discharge Was opposed by' Mr.
Gurney, on the pert of Mr. Wet ~wt. his eredi..
tors, on the grounds rif fraud. He stated, that Mr.
Shee had a property to dispoie of, which 'the pri-
soner proposed to purrliase, telling him ke • had a
large sum of money in the Bank of Ireland belong-
ing to himself, but lodged in his mother's name s
upon this representation, he agreed to take the pri-
soner's bills on bankers in Cork for the property he
had to dilm.se of, .ine, in the mean • rime, directed
his sister to caution the bankers not to.psy the
bills.

The RECORDER observed, a difficulty appeared to
I.im in the money Lein lodgod iu the Bank in anothcr
name, and documents to that purport had bees
sheen to the eteditor.

•
Mr. A 01) the part of the Prisoner, stated,
that an awar.l Lad b?co made by Mr. Serjeant OM&
LOW, to whnm the matter had been referred, and he
had dheaed, that those documents s'ould be givia
up to the Pi isoner.

'1 wo i ,:sans, Mr. and Mrs. Ra...t, were pro-
duce.i t.• ove his expressi.uss relative to his pro.
perry, and his declarations relative to his creditor's
also, of his having two gold watches, which he did
not account for in his schedule. These Witnesses
not being able to swear sufficiently to the fads, the
Prisoner was discharged.
Aaron Juda, who uas remanded yesterday, hoe-
ing detainers lodged against him on Tuesday last.
which made his debts amount to upwards of 1.5001.
WAS brought up. •
Mr. Ai. ter, as Counsel for the Prisoner, entered
into a very long and able argument upon the e,,ws
strudion of the Ad of Parliament—and contend ,
that the Legislature meant, that those detain
should only affeet the Prisoner previous to the pasta
ing of the Ad, which was on the 30th of July, awl
nut at any time before the Sessions and return of the
Warden.

The Court was decidedly of opinion, that the
Legislates* did not refer to the passing the Aft, but
to the time of holding the Sessions ; lie might, how-
ever, go before a Judge.
The Prisoner was remanded.
Ten other Prisoners were opposed, upon fraud awl
other groulids, five of whom were discharged, and
the test remanded until the next Sessions. .
The whole number dissharged this day were,
three itoni Ludgate Prison ; two from the Poultry
ar.d six (mom the Meet.

The Cot; K r then adjourned to the 10th of Sep-
tember ; on which day the Rzcoao ma will appoint
a day specially, for the further consideration of In-
solvent debtors' cases.