The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1824-01-23 00:00:00

THE GREEK CAUSE.

The following letter, from the London Greek Committee,
to the Chairman of the Aberdeen Branch Committee, in
acknowledgment of the receipt of the money subecribed at
Abenleen, with a general account of the application of the
funds raised, gives a cheering prospect of the favourable
issue of the cuntevt:—
" Greek t'ommittee Room, London, Jan. 6, 1824.
St a,—The Greek Committee have the greatest satisfaction In
acknowledging the receipt of fifty pounds, as a second remittance
to the London subscription, from Aberdeen, in addition to their
first remittance of 1301. Their thanks are due to the subscribers,
and especially to yourself, for the exertions which have been made,
and made so sucentsfully.
" It cannot but be pleasing to those, who have so warmly sup.
po red the Greek cause to learn, that accounts have been received
of the safe arrival of the stone, which were sent by the Committee
la August, to Greece-.they consisted of printing presses, typel
dGreek and Roman), mathematical and surgical instruments, me.
ivine, fee., and there accompanied them, tone German engineer
officers, and a very intelligent young surgeon, who has bec-i•ne the
Correspondent of the Committee. The second stores, whl^"t sailed
iu a vessel chartered by the Committee in October, must have ar-
rived by this time, and amounts are expected daily of such event.
These latter consisted of a very large quantity of materials for cont.'
posing rockets, and every species of destructive iire-works--two bri.
jades of mountain guns—mathemstical, surgical (both naval and
military) instruments--printing and lithographic presses--types
and medicines—books of military instruction. A fire-maner and
eight artificers accompanied them, to construct the rockets, dic. and
to instruct the Greeks in the use of them, and a surgeon alsb sailed
with this expedition. All the above were directed to the care of
lord Byron, or the lion. Colonel Leicester Stanhope, who have
undertaken to act as the representatives of the l'ornmittee in
Greece.
" The Committee feel confident as to the result of the struggle;
yet the touvistacce which they &Word, and which they still hope to
afford, Is of the highest importance, as the means of encouraging
' the Greeks in their glorious, but hard contest ; as the means, in
fact, of shorteningfact, a war so marked with barbarism, anti all that is
most revolting to humanity.
" The Greek Co 1111 l dace reiterate their expressions of grati-
tude, and hope that a farther assistance of their labours may be
derived from the influence at the noble example set by the sub-
scribers in Aberdeen.
We have the honour to be, Sir,
" Your very devoted Servants,
" .11)S El', 1 111'31E, Chairman.
"J(111\ 1101Y1113IG, Hon. Sec.
" To Alex. Bannerman, Esq. &c."

A letter from Odessa, dated Dee. 23, states, that the
Sultan hail made a formal request to Englund to mediate
between him and the Turks, and that Lord Strangford
continued to enjoy much influence in Constantinople, not-
withstanding the conduct of Great Britain towards the
Tu-
nisians, who are the faithful allies of the Turkish Govern-
ment. _ -

Alexander has permitted the erection of a monument
to the memory of fiusciusko, near Cracow, which has be-
come an object of extreme veneration to the Poles.
1415110 N, DEC. 2S.—Ottr ♦omuerce to the Brazils has
received the last death blow ; Cocht.ow has taken seven of!
cur ships.

TO GEORGE CIIETWYNI). ESQ.
CIIAIRSIAN OF THE QUARTER SESSION ,o, ANP RE-
PRESENTATIVE OF THE TOWN OF STAFFORD.

Sta—There are some moat disgraceful rumours in cir-
culation relative to a recent transaction in this county, in
which yourself and the magistracy in general are said to be
implicated. As I am not now a Magistrate, I have no
means of preventing abuses of authority proceeding from
what should be the Bench of Justice; nor can I interfere,
with authority, to protect the unfortunate inmates of a
prison from the tyranny of meaner minions of the law.
But although it has pleased his Majesty's Ministers in ge-
n cal, and my goal Lord Eldon in particular, to erase my
name from the Commission of the Peace, I still hold a rank

and situation in the county, which not only authorize me,
in cases that seem to bear the stamp of oppression, but
which imperiously call upon me so to do in behalf of my
less fortunate fellow-countrymen.

I therefore take the liberty of asking you a few questions
relative to the case of Mr. I7harles Flint ; and 1 shall ex-

pect that you will answer them, as will'become a Magis-
trate, a Legislator, and a man. That lam somewhat late
in putting these questions you will attribute to my expec-
tation that you would ha►e felt it necessary to put forth a
:justification of your conduct, as it has been represented by
the public press ;• for I could not suppose a man, with
the obligations of senatorial_ and magisterial responsibility

upon his shoulders, would hsve suffered such re. presenta:
tions to remain for one hour uncontradieted if th.y were

-
not true. This wits ,ny opinion. And, if there was no

explanation due to the public, surely your own consti-
tuents—those whom you affect to represent—had a right to
an explanation at your hands. But, since I have seen no-
' thing in the shape of defence, I am induced to come for-
ward, and inquire into the facts, that you may not shelter
yourself under the pretence that it is net your duty to reply
to indefinite reports.

It is said that you, as Chairman of the Sessions, with
the concurrence of the rest of the Magistracy present, have
sentenced a respectable professional gentleman to three
months' !wed labour at the tread-mill, who had committed
no other offence than that of demanding from a constable a
sight of the authority upon which he had arrested a client.
I could not believe this possible when I read it ! I thought
the journalist was giving an imaginary case; and when I
was compelled to believe there was some truth in it, I felt
as indignantly as I have often done in perusing the instances
of perversbn of the law to an instrument of private ven-
geance, in foreign countries. I looked most carefully over
the reported evidence against Mr. Flint, and I found none
to warrant the conviction. I know, however, of what ma-

teriale a Sessions Jury were compose' I, and I did not won-
der that they should look rather to the summing up of the
Chairman than to the evidence of the witnesses ; but I did

hope that, on the bench, there would have been discri-
mination and honour enough to have made an accurate dis-
tinction in the case of Mr. Flint, who was present in his
professional character, and who had an undoubted right to
act as he did act, whatever custom may have determined

the legal courtesy to be.
I shall not enter into any detail of the evidence ; but
had I been a Magistrate, I should have felt it my duty to
have told the Jury that there was no proof of riot against
any of the prisoners ; and that there was evidence to prove
that Mr. Charles Flint, instead of being riotous, had ac-
tually endeavoured to repress the sour, which was tortured
logo riot.t I rimed have told the Jury that it was not a
licentious use of the tongue, nor a trifling indecorum of
:manners that constituted a riot in England. We have
grown wondrous delicate of late. When a respectable
man, whether knave or foul, will swear that he is alarmed
at the conduct of the multitude, the Authorities exclaim,
" A Rios. ! A Rms.!" and " away with them to prison!"
Mr. Gtattage gave you, Sir, a very proper answer to year
seerdsti,” to whether he was "disturbed in his own house by
41111.aaa He told you he was disturbed, but not alarmed;
it does not appear that any further mischief was done or
• • plainest of, than keeping Charles Clarke, Esq. out of his
'bed an hour later Man usual. Yet yOu, Sir, in your sum-
ming up of the evidence, are made to say, that "it was
sweetly Ismaili* to conceive a more outrageous breach of
the peace; and, in support of this, you refer to Mr.
Charles Clarke's evidence, calling him " a gentleman of
fortune norlays Connected with the parties:* Now what
was his evidence? " Ile would not go to bed at ten
o'clock, his usual hour, because there was a Boise!" Why
did you not point out also to the Jury the declaration
• tiratlsse. Arius said, "that although thee
noise, it did not alarm him ?" Did you find the restlessness
of Mr. Clarke a better prop to a lame cause ?
I would also ark why you concurred in the opinion laid
down by Counsel, that "the dispute between Cooke sled
Jerningliam should be put out of the question." You
must have known that could not have been correct, if you
afterwards made use of the language set down for you.
via. that you (the Magistrate) "had considered the case—
first, with reference to the duty you owed to Me defend-
ants; secondly, to the duty which you owed to the pub-
lic; and thirdly, with reference to the duty which you
owed to Sir George Jentinghain, the prosecutor ; and
lastly, with reference to the duty which you owed to your-
selves." A plain man might have thought the duty you
owed to the public included all the duty which was re-
quired to be performed ; and it is difficult to assign the
particulars of the other duties to any creditable bearing on
the case. Your duty to the prosecutor, to the defendants,
and yourselves, was to administer strict justice between the
parties. Was it then justice to order the most degrading
punishment that the law awards to the vilest felon, to be
inflicted upon a professional gentleman—one who tn.,
hereafter rank even above the pre,ent all-powerful Magis-
trate who has dared to inflict this insult upon his feelings
for an alleged ofFetice, which, if fully proved, and ten
times u aggravated, has been hitherto considered by the
law as sufficiently atoned for by imprisonment and fine,
without the addition of mental and bodily torture?
Your duty to Sir G. Jerningliam evidently csnsiatal in
putting his opponents into custod f ; but what queer ditty
was it that the magistracy owed to itself? Are you, Sir, or
any of your Colleague', holders of any portion of the an-
cient barony of Statlbrd, now claimed by " the Cookes ?"
Did you begin to fear for the " consequences" of such pro-
ceedintrs towards " yourselves," and " others having
lands; ' points you are reported as having pressed very ear-
nestly upon the jury? after having agreed that Me cause
of the alleged riot was to be kept entirely out of view !
I would further ask you for the reason which yourself
and your colleagues had, for passing the same sentence
upon Mr. Flint as upon the others, when you also are
made to state that you " had found semi at circumstances
of mitigation in his ease?"—when you admit that he was
there " on business," and " did not come purposely to aid
in the riot." You had read the preamble of the 'trespass
Act to the jury. and you had there found that " persons
must assemble with a mutual intent to assist one another
against all who shall oppose them," before they can be le-
gally accused of riot; yet you see Mr. Flint accused of
riot, and pass sentence upon him, allowing that he was
there on business ; and his business being to ascertain that
his client, the prisoner on the charge of trespass, was not
unfairly dealt with. Is not this monstrous, Mr.Chetwynd?
But if the report of the proceedings be true, there is some-
thing more monstrous still; for you state, in the paper, that
" one little admonitory word from him might have pre-
vented the occurrence!" Why, Sir, you have it upon oath,
and upon the oath, too, of a constable, one of the leading
witnesses for the prosecutions, that Mr. Flint did request
the people to be quiet! What demon of Inconsistency sat
at your elbow, and prompted you to give utterance to such
contradictory nonsense? But I must not yet believe you
capable of this; and I ask, whether these nunistrosiiies can
be true?
'L'he worst of the questions, however, are yet to come.
I have read of practices which almost led me to think that
" Bridle" had ben appointed Governor of Stafford Gaol,
and the Magistrates of " llchester" transferred to this
county. Is it true, that Mr. Charles Flint, a respectable
professional man, was not only sentenced to hard labour,
but absolutely put upon the tread-mill, under the sanction
of the Magistracy, with Mr. Chetwynd at its brad?
Is it true, that Mr. Charles Flint was put upon the pri-
son allowance of food, and prevented from supplying him-
self, at his own expense, with any addition to it?
Is it true, that Mr. Charles Flint- fasted forty hours,
because his appetite could nor brook the fare set before
him ?
Is it true, that Mr. Charles Flint reported himself un-

• See the RritiA Press of January fo, 1624.
t Robot Jones. a constable, swear* that Mr. Mit told the peo•
ple to bo quiet, and not to make a noise.

Well to the Doctor of the prison, and that no notice was
taken of his condition?
Is it true, that Mr. Charles Flint was compelled to put
on the prison dress?
Is it true, that when Mr. Merles Flint had prepared a
statement of his treatment, the Governor, during the pre-
sence of the prisoner at chapel, stole such statement, and
deposited it in your hands, Mr. Chetwynd ?
Is it true, tit& Mr. Charles Flint was afterwards de-
prived of pen, ink, and paper, that lie might have no
means left of making !•is family, and the higher authori-
ties of his country, acluainted with his miserable condi-
tion ? And is it further true, that his friends were denied

access to him ?
If these things are trite--,mod they are boldly stated in a
London Journal—then is the county of Stafford as much
disgraced as any county in England, not excepting even
Lancashire, Cheshire, and Somersetahire; and Mr. Chet-
wynd may take his station linong the Tratfords, the Hays,
the Ethelstones and the Warrens. I have Font these viues.
lions publicly, because they demand a public answer; sad
because my name has been erased from the list of the ma-
gistracy ; for had I been Magistrate, I can hare no hesi..
cation in declaring that such abuses COVLD NOT, SHOULD
NOT have occurred. I might not have been able to have
shielded the parties from ill the effects of passion and pee.
judice ; but they should not hare been degraded, they
should not have been tortured, while I had stood by
armed with my power to restrain oppression. Those who
were instrumental in depriving me of the power, are con,
sequeutly parties to these outrages, If they here been per-
petrated: and it may be imagined that those who could
perpetrate them, are not sorry to have bad a troublesome
check upon their arbitrary propensities removed.
The Lord Lieutenant, it is publicly stated, has been
defeated by yourself and friends, in an attempt to inquire
into these circumstances ; and thus even the Home Seca+
tory cannot prevail against the supreme authority of Mr.
Chetwynd, in Staffordshire! If this be correct, I can emir
the more regret that I was not in a condition to enter the
lists with you ; for, be assured, I would hare prevented
these abuses, at whatever responsibility to myself.
I relish*, Sir;Nntird, &c., &c.
January It, lIU. CHARLES WOLSELEY.

POLITICAL CIIA-11-ACTi iS of Me LAST REIGN.