The Sun.
London, England, 1864-02-26 00:00:00

ASSIZE INTELLIGENCE,

OXFORD CIRCUI .—READING, Feb. 25.
CIVIL SIDE.
(Before Mr. Justice Keating and a Common Jury.)
KELBY V. LAWRENCE AND ANOTHER.

This was an action to recover damages from the de-
fendants for illegal imprisonment by them, through their
atom., of the plaintiff, on a ca. sa. issued against one Ignatius
W. Italy.

• • -
j. O. Griffiths and Mr. Harrington were for the plain-
tiff; bir. Gray, Q.C., for the defandants.
The plaintiff Was name;
Michael Kelly, and. in the em-
t, carrying on busi-
ploy of a Mr. Hall, a commission agt:.:
ad
ness at Printinghouse •yard, Loudon] and ti;.: defendants
were the late sheriffs of London. An action of dem: bad
been brought in Ireland,and judgment obtained there against
Ignatius W. Kelly. On this judgment an action was
brought here, and a writ of summons issued. and was served
on the plaintiff in this action, under the impression that he
was Ignatius W. Kelly. The plaintiff told the process
server who served the writ that ho was not Ignatius Kelly,
and he went to the officer of the attorneys who issued the
writ, but did not see any of them, or afterwards write to
them, and, in fact, took no further notice of the summons.
Judgment was subsequently signed in that action, and ca.
sa, issued agaiast Ignatius W. Kelly, of Printing-house-
yard, commission agent. On the 23d of May last the sheriffs'
officer went to the place of business of Mr. Hall and took
the plaintiff into custody as Ignatius W. Kelly, and took
him to Whitecross-street. The plaintiff protested that he
was not Ignatius W. Kelly, and when the officer said that
he (the plaintiff) had come from Richmond, denied it ; and
Mr. Hall, who was present, also told the officer that the
plaintiff was wrongly arrested. On the 26th of May the
parties appeared before Mr. Baron Martin at chambers, on
a summons which the plaintiff's attorney had taken out, to
show cause why the plaintiff should not be discharged. The
summons was adjourned to give time for a person to co.ae
from Ireland to identify the plaintiff, and on the 29th
of May the plaintiff was discharged. An action was
then brought by the plaintiff for the above illegal im-
prisonment, and damages were claimed for his detention
in prison for six days, and the cost of the attorney who
was employed to get his discharge, and for the loss of
his situation with Mr. Hall, who, it seems, though he be-
lieved it was an illegal arrest, discharged him on the 25th
of May and refused to take him back again. The plaintiff
considered his situation at Mr. Hall's worth about £lOO a
year in all, and since his discharge had only been occasion-
ally employed by that person, and not made more than £lO
by him. Mr. Hall stated that he knew the arrest to be a
mistake, but that he found after the plaintiff had been taken
away that he could get on well enough without him, and
that partly for the latter reason he would not take him back,
The case came down for trial here at the last assizes before
Mr. Baron Martin, but that learned Judge ruled in effect
that as the plaintiff had been served with the writ of sum-
mons as Ignatius W. Kelly, and had not appeared to that
writ, or procured it to be set aside, a plea of the defendants
justifying the taking of the plaintiff under a valid ca. ea.
on ajudgment in that action had been proved, and a ver-
dict was found for the defendants. A bill of exceptions to
this ruling was tendered by the plaintiff, and the Court in
Error thought the ruling incorrect and a venire de novo was
awarded.

Mr. Gray, for the defendants, now urged in mitigation of
damages that the sheriffs' officer was not to blame, because
the writ bore the direction it did ; that the plaintiff ought
to have set aside the writ of summons; and that the die.
missal of the plaintiff was not a bona-fide dismissal in con-
sequence of the arrest, but introduced in this case to swell
the damages.
The learned Judge summed up, and said that there was
no obligation on the plaintiff to set the sheriffs' officer right
so long as he did nothing o mislead him ; the sheriffs'
officer must take care and serve the proper person ; nor
could the onus be thrown upon him of setting aside the
summons in consequence of the officer's mistake.
The jury found a verdict for the plaintiff—Damages, £2O.
CROWN COURT.
(Before Mr. Baron Pigo't.)

, Robert Smith was indicted for feloniously and maliciously
setting fire to a rick of barley, the property of John Porter, at
Sheen, on the 28th of January, 1864.
Mr. Lawrence was for the prosecution ; the prisoner was
not defended.

At about dusk on January 28 Mr. Cherry, a magistrate
of this county, was riding along the road from Newbury to
Hungerford. By the side of the road, separated from it by
a bank, stood a nine-acres barley rick of Mr. Porter, and
when about 300 yards from it, Mr. Cherry saw a light in
the centre of the rick, about the size of his two hands, and
breast-high distance from the ground. When he got close
to the front of the rick ho saw the prisoner and spoke to
him. The prisoner appeared to be passing the rick, and it
was impossible to have seen him before if he had been going
along the road. Mr. Cherry insisted upon his going with
him to a publichouse near there to get assistance. Two boys
had seen a man earlier in the day lying under the rick, but
could not tell whether the prisoner was the man. Another
witness saw a man lying there, and described hint as a spare
man, dressed in a dark jacket like the prisoner's. The pri •
soner's jacket was taken from him at the publichouse some
time afterwards, and barley heads found upon it. No one
else had been seen near the spot A policeman found a
lucifer-match box on the mad on the Newbury side of the
rick, and prisoner stated to a policeman on the road to gaol
that if Mr. Cherry had not come up and obliged him to
throw away his box of matches he had intended to set fire
to three other ricks. He conducted himselt at the trial with
great levity, but denied that he set the rick on fire.
After the learned Byron had summed up, the jury found
the prisoner guilty, and his lordship sentenced him to four
years' penal servitude.

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

POST.—The Dano-German war will still con-
tinue, and a Conference of the principal European
Powers may possibly take place. Such is the sub-
stance of the reply given in the House of Commons
last evening by Lord Palmerston to a question put
by Mr. Darby Griffith. For such an announcement
we prepared the public, and those who choose may,
welcome it as a confirmation of those prognostica-
tions of peace in which some have seen fit already
to indulge. The Government of this country have,
as the Premier observed, been unremitting in their
endeavours to effect a pacific solution of those dif-
ferences which now array Germany and Denmark
in arms against each other. Until hostilities had
actually commenced they ceaselessly strove to pre-
serve peace by counselling mutual concessions, and,
after blood had been shed, they importuned the
belligerents to consent to an armistice. But the
success which they deserved was denied them, and
each succeeding day saw the breach between Ger-
many and Denmark still further widened and the
peace of Europe will be more seriously jeopardised,
In this extremity one hope was still left to the
English Government. If the belligerents would
not consent to an armistice as preliminary to a Con-
ference, possibly they would have no objection to a
Conference as an accompaniment to a campaign.
If you are obstinately bent on fighting, gratify
your inclination, but meanwhile nominate a few
disengaged diplomatists who will quietly discuss
your differences round a table in our Foreign-office.
Such was the latest proposal of the English Cabi-
net, and the chief of that Cabinet last evening ad-
mitted his inability to state its probable result.
Austria and Prussia have signified their assent, pro-
vided they are to be permitted to pursue unchecked
their career of invasion, and the latter Power is
said to annex other conditions to her compliance.
On such terms we should have been indeed sur-
prised if the astute statesmen who direct affairs at
Vienna and Berlin had refused to send their repre-
sentatives to a conference of diplomatists.
" France," said Lord Palmerston, " I believe, will
assent to our proposal, and Russia, I fancy, will
adopt the same course. This language is sanguine,
but it can scarcely be regarded as reassuring.
.In
speaking, however, of the Dan;sh and Swedish
Cabinets, the Premier frankly acknowledged his
ignorance of the course they would follow, and did
not venture a conjecture as to their possible accept-
ance of the English proposal. Such, then, is the
stage of the Dano-German dispute at which, after
ceaseless negotiation, we have at length arrived.
The war is to be pursued with no less rancour than
before, and the contest is to be prolonged, though
the attacking and the resisting forces stand to each
other in the ratio of five to one. Whilst, however,
thousands of human lives are being uselessly sacri-
ficed, a Conference may possibly take place, and if
it does an agreement may just as possibly be arrived
at which may satisfy the belligerents and bring
hostilities to a close. In other words, war is a cer-
tainty. and peace a remote contingency.
HERALD.—There is nothing so inconvenient as
law. It interferes with oppression, it checks vio-
lence, it prevents evil doing, it even sometimes mars
rquity and justice. But for all this it is the safe-
guard of the people. The English are a law-reve•
rencing nation, and to maintain this character they
often choose to put up with injury and obstruction.
But they know that there is no medium between
the absolute will of a tyrant and the recognition of
enactments which shall bind every one. It is not
enough to say that such and such a deed, if it be
executed, would be unjust or disagreeable, or a loss
or a calamity, unless at the same time it present the
necessary conditions which are admitted to violate
law. Mere suspicion will not suffice. This is the
ready instrument of tyranny, unsuited to a free
people. It is as well that these plain principles of
legal right should be understood and asserted, even
in our very liberal age; for it is evident that a set
attempt has been made against the very palladium
of English liberty. We are told in unmistakeable
terms, and by strong facts, that it is justifiable to
seize property, if suspected of being converted to a
use calculated toexoite war against us. And when the
Government, who have actually possessed themselves
of the goods, are asked to produce the papers which
may warrant their suspicions and justify their act,
they turn round on the House of Commons and de-
clare that, pending litigation, the people's repreaen-

tatives have no right to any such information.
other words, that the grossest wrong might be.per-
petrated, that ships worth a quarter of a ranter
sterling could be detained on suspicion, and aft° r
wards seized, at a loss of some £2,000 a month 05
more to the owners, and that no legal proceeding
ought to be commenced to legalise this absolute act
till nearly six months after the first detention, enct.
full four months after the capture of the propertyd,
and that all this is to take plaee on English grenn;
and. against Englishmen of positicn and charactel;
with perfect impunity to the perpetrator s,. a." °fi!
on the fiction called Ministerial responsibi;:tY; ;• to
that the House of Commons is not eoropett'n' 0.
inquire into the grounds of so monstrous
ceeding. We regret that this assembly, even Pb
he very narrow majority of 25, should have backede
the Gov:mount in a course so clearly uncoustliry
tienai. Tito 'uestion to be considered viras. yew.
properly narrowed Sir Hugh Ceirns, in the
minous series of incontrove:tible ergo menis,he Go.,
one great point at issue—the conduct of rit.misson
verument anterior to the seizure of the E: oas
and El Monassir. Surely, theHortae Co'* ids
will entirely denude itself of its functions if it
its prerogative and right to demand from Goren'et
ment the ful.est attainable information on ten 6 a
decidedly illegal and avowedly perpetrated 0..
British soil against a British subject.. The (Peed
tion, of course, does not refer to the Messrs. balr
alone, but to every shipbuilder in the kingdo,te:
The Government have proclaimed their right toper d
tain vessels on suspicion. They fling law
ones!
board. Their mouthpiece, the Atzorn era
resVatt_
declares. that they have done so on their o‘N'n
sibility, and, of course, are willing to abide the
sequences—that is, that they have a right to g assls
every shipyard in the country and keep back vbe
on the. mere suspicion that they are built, to
equipped and armed afterwards at some 1/,
place, for the Confederate American service.
the determination of this matter, so far as the
Tousson. and Ei Monassir are concerned, is a yen?
nice question of fact as well as of law ; D0:6,e%;
over, is still under judicial investigation—and Into
our absotute Government have presumed to dem.:
.both. law and fact on their own individual renn°ll,l;
Imlay. They not only detained the vessels withe'n
a shadow of legal right or authority, but they °e1...-
them, and may actually withhold the trial for „-
twelvemonth from the time of seizure. That
othel
nave gone into a law court at the expiration of n.l
t e
our months or six from the date of the detainer t
more the result of their dread of Parliament OP.
through any regard for English right or liberty
they do not pay the costs; the public pays thein
and the injured owners have to sustain the bards
for the time, depending on a favourable judgmee
But then there is, by way of set-off, the gratin
atonement of ministerial responsibility. What tl.g
comes to let the vota of Tuesday night explao• "d°
long as we have laws they ought to be respee.te
and observed. Above all, let us guard agale°,.
allewing the Govornment to wrest them to thel!
own crooked views and purposes. Let us not revive
again the odious practice of general warrants, fe,
to this we are approaching. If our laws are foul:till
to beinadequate on calm consideration they sbn.tl'u
be amended, but not at the dictation of any O°
rel
Government.

COUNTRY MARKETS.

-

MANCHESTER—THURSDAY.
.A fair attendance at market, and English wheat
tamed the lurrency of this day week, with a moderate c'urie,
sumptive demand. Foreign wheat was neglected, sucitfidi
changed in price. Indian corn steady. Flour wet. .ted
a dull sale at former rates. Oats and oatmeal were
in request, and in the former the turn was in favour of to
buyers. English beans declined 6d per qr.

BURTON. ON-TR;
' There was a moderate atte]
fair show of grain, but very lit
Old white wheat..44s to 47s I
New do. ..44s to 46s I
Malting barley....34s to 38s I
Grinding d0.....28s to 31s I

ENT—THURSDAY.
)ndance of the trade, with °
ittle business.
I Old red wheat, ...40s
to I
New do. ..393 to 4„07.
I Oats ....... 2'2s to 2r
I Beans .......... 36s to 40D

BIRMINGHAM—THURSDAY
supply .
tvilestrt
This morning there was a large pply of Englism. -
and the prices of this day s&nnight receded 6d to Is
.Pe
qr. Barley still cheaper. Oats and beans at late Pr°36'66.s
—English wheat was sold at 40s to 46s for white, anda to
to 40s per 36 stone for red. Barley, new malting, 'moo
40s per qr ; grinding, 24s to 28s Oats, old, 22e nr.
per 30 stone ; Irish, 180 to 245. Beans, 38s to 42s Per
Peas, 36s to 42s per 36 stone.

BRISTOL—THURSDAY.
There was a fair show of wheat to-day, and sales Were
slow at about previous quotations. In other articles tile
was no matffial change.

EDINBURGH GRAIN—FEB. 24.
To. day there was a gocd supply of wheat, whichLetr!
slow sale, at is per quarter under last week's prices. .0r
ley met a ready sale tor fine malting qualities, at fore.
prices; seconds rather cheaper. Oats sold slowly, best
scriptions as before, but other sorts were 6d to Is per quarts
lower. Beans a slow sale.
Wheat on the top Os 6d up... ..average Is 33 down,
Barley on the top Os 6d up..... average Os 9,1 "W
Oats on the top 6d up....
....average Aovr.
Beans on the top 4s Od up average Os va
Avei age Prices. 21a Ud
Wheat.
Barley .. 237sss 63dd I
Boeaatsn.s. .................

Total Supply and Sales.
Wheat ..1569 qrs Sold 982 Vs
8ar1ey........1470 qrs Sold 996 q"
Oats
Beans 407 qrs
Flour sells as follows :—Whites, 41s SoldOd; ex2t7r7a5q,7394 (XI
superfine, 37s Od ; fine, 35a Od.