The Sun.
London, England, 1801-11-24 00:00:00

LAW ALTUNI.


COURT OF KING'S BENCH, Nov. sl

•SMUGGLERS.

AT the Sitting of the Court, the Keeper of New.
Pte.brought in twelve or thirteen Prisoners, who
been committed to, his care, and ordered to be
brought up this day to receive the Judgment of the
Court, for obstrutting Officers of the Revenue, &c.
The case of each of them had been discussed at
'the time he was formerly called in, and the Court
°ad remanded them all for the purpose of consider-
!ng what Judgment ought to be pronounced upon
them ; previous to the passing of which; their
names were called over, and then
• Mr, Justice GROSE addressed them in an appro.
Triate Speech, of which we have, at present, room
°flly for the substance. He said, they, and each
.91 them, were, and was to receive the sentence of
that Court, for the several offences committed by
them against those Laws which had been declared
necessary by the Legislature for the protection of
the Revenue, and for the benefit of the industrious
Part of the Community. He'said, he was grieved
to observe; that the greater number of those who
"'ere now before him to receive Judgment, had no
better mode of livelihood than that of an uniform
Iktlation of the Law of the Land : in some instances
tt was owing to accident alone that the life of the
14ficer, who was appointed to protect the Revenue,
41d who was himself entitled to the proteetion of
the law; was not lost. One observation the Learned
~,judge said, was fit for him to make, and for the
Defendants to bear in constant remembrance. He
Meant, that if, in .the course of their illicit prac-
tices; Murder had been committed by any one of
these Defendants, the life of every one of the others,.
who were present, aiding and assisting, would have
°ten forfeited to the law. Thomas Micklefield and
Thomas Miller, two of those who now stood be-
fore the Court, the Ilearned Judge said, should re-
Lt ,ett, that they were indebted to mere chance, and
the good constitution of the Officer, whom they had
unmercifully beat, and not. to their own humanity,
that they were not called upon to atone for what
:they did by the loSs of their lives. The Court had
therefore looked upon their cases as the most aggro-
't'ated of all those who were before it. The Court
,had.eonsidered of their several cases, and the ap-
,POrtionment of. theiy.respeetive punishments, and
`inthat apportionment hadmade allowances for
411 could be urged. in mitigation. —Some,
there were whose offencei were greatly agr
gravatecl, not only from the circumstances •by
11'hith their crimes became enormous, and from
:4'hich society was ,in danger, but by the attempts
they had Made to mislead the Juries who tried
Ihem, by the evidence, of perjured Witnesses : this
4stcrime was a great aggravation of the one -was
attended to conceal, and could never fail to draw on
'tht perpetrator of it the severesentente oftheLaw;
Wilful and corrupt Perjury in the defence Drevelibtla.
the Court from attending to circumstutes of mid.
tation, which might otherwise have had some
affect. These observations were particularly ap_
likable to tirl- aes of Micklefield arid Mil-
had acted with the utmost cruelty to.
`tvards. the Officer of the Revenue. With regard
to the charatter which persons of the descrip.
•tion of the Defendants had received, little, he
feared, could be said in favour of that, for little
tould fairly he said in favour of those who earned
th'eir livelihood, and who were in the constant
'abit of subsisting by pradices tfiat were an open
vijolation of the Law ; this observation applied to
t_sitm all, but more forcibly to those of them who
children ; it was a. great aggravation of. their
k)ifence, for they set a wicked example to those
'•'hom it was their duty .to bring up in the paths of
l )611qt industry. It was impossible not to shudder
at the probable effect of setting such examples -to
those; who for want of experience, might be led
‘vay to vice by the constant exhibition of it before
.them; by those from whom they naturally would
t;lke example: The Court having considered the
tsircutnstances of all the cases of the Defendants,
(1.4c1 order and adjudge, That Thomas Micklefield
1.°(1 Thomas Miller be imprisoned in the Common
for the County of Essex, for Three years,
at the expiration of that term, they enter into
7recognizance of tool. for their good behaviour for
e years.—That Richard Purchase be imprisoned
Newgate for Two years.—That John Robinson
IA William Hart be confined in the Common Jail
the County of Kent for two years. That
:.jeliard Hook be imprisoned in Horsham Jail for
years.—That Thomas Holmes be imprisoned
irs'lxeter Jail for Two years.—That John Holden
rimprisoned in Horsham Jail for Eighteen calen.
months.—That John Ward be imprisoned in
'Maidstone Tail for TWelve calendar months.—That
'4.°Eeph Totherfield and Job Stokes he imprisoned
in fiorchester Jail for Twelve calendar months.—
that Thomas Hughes and James Hughes be im-
.P]isoned in• Newgate Three months. There was
ne other person, whose name we could not hear,
'rdered to be imprisoned for Nine months.
The Court then, after hearing some Motions,
Proceeded to dispose of those which were made for
new trials.