The Sun.
London, England, 1808-12-07 00:00:00

THE KING V. SANDERSON.

Mr..GURNiv, tor.- the. Prosecution, stated -tha.t
this Was a prosecnt ton for a ltbe.l contained in a work
;,he Defendant, enti•led " A Political
Akcount of .the Island t.,f Trinidad," published by
Nle,srs.lia,4sons, of Cornhill, which contained
sc.er.:l strictures upon the charatters of Messrs.
Black amt -Begorratf, who belonged to the Govern 7
.rnent Council and Cabilda of that Island.
Upon the slot mai proof being'given, and the Li-
-13,:l being read, it appeared that in every ono of the
c.tiors the Pleader had insertedseveral notes, which
ru:curfcd in ttl.e. work, as a part. of the text, but not
At the places where the.tnat ks of
,reterence•aGlually
occurred, but at the ends of the sentences.

'pon this 0)e. RE,co“nER and the CommoN SER-
JE&NT, before whoa) the case was tried, prevented
ail fin tl'er proceedings, saying that it would be an
thing to make. any publication a libel if you
could transpose the various passages of it.
Mr. Marryatt, General ;Pic.ton, and other •
persons :connected with the concerns of Trinidad,
were attending, in order to giveevidence as to the,
State of the Island, &c. •

Mr. NOLAN for the Defendant, regretted that he
had not been enabled to go into the defence of a
work which, he said, he should ever consider as a
most valudble history.
Toe Defendant was acquitted. .

THE KING" v WM. WINSTANLEY, P. CHELL, AND

VRANCES CHELL:

Mr. KN APP opened the prosecution,, which was
zip incliament for a conspiracy, to procure•the escape
of Winstanley from the Fleet Prison, where he'had•
been confined' in 'execution for debt. ' The indid-'
went stated, that the conspiracy was' effetted by
Eances Ciiell, -the Wife of P. Chell, a fellow pri-
soner, lending Winstanley some female apparel, by.
which -he escaped- to his lodgings, in Wardrobe,
place,. DotEtors' Comrnons. • Atter he was- gone; a.
washer-woinan called upon Linn with some thin s,
grid finding that itaaca he had escaped, she Went to
inforrn Mr. Nixon, • the Deputy Warden, in order
• that she might not be accused of
_Conniving- at
. She then went, by the direclien of Chell, who had
told her that Winstaniey was gone off, to his !orig-
. ings, where 'she found Mrs. Chell tying up a handle,
which appeared to C 0111343.2 gown. When she told
Winstanlev. that she -had. be..en 'tp. the Fleet, he said
she had -spoilt ail, and begged her to, take back a let-
ter to Chell; but this she refused to do, saying she
1. not tune: -1-lOwecer, s. 'e after'sv_ards went to the
Fleet tol'nfortri Mr. Nixon thin she had seen-Winstan-
ley.--.--Win"stanley Was then sent for by Mr: Nixon,
Lken back to prison, and was put in 'the strong
roor-n, aniitibt the hisses of his fellow-prisoners. Upon
bei'ig asked hOw- he escaped he said he had his
joke otitill•tvomaWs clothes, as any man might do-.
Cnell Was atikwards: placed for seyerol days in con-
fi...etnefit tn:thestl'ong room, from which. "})-lace he
write aiester to Mr. Nixon, speaking in iiigh terms
of his- btan,.:nity, imploring his commiseration, and
atik.c„ -that ".the assistance he gave-to 'Winstanley
.was troao_:.e belief that it was indispensihly neces-
sary be. sltauld .return to his lodgings, and that he
viould orire back to the Fleet ; and that he (Chen)
rs a man for what he had done." Chell
•was soon !itet i iL•-ct. Winstanley also wrote to
Nixon, si•log, that if nobody should suffer but
,bialseV, he would - tell him.truly bow he escaped,
aril whose assistance..
Mr. REYNOLDS, as Counsel for the prisoner, Win-
.stanty, and Mr. SMITH, for the other prisoners,
took several onjt6tions to the indiatinent • and the
evidence, which were over-ruled.—First; that the
patent.should be produced by which tyles was
a:-:;oilited Warden of the Fleet.—Secondly.,. That it
'bei g avowed that Winstanley escaped against the
consent of E.,yles, :he should he produced-as a wit-
nesS to support that allegation, in order that he-
might •be cross-examined. They each • afterwards
addressed the Jury, and contended, that no conspi-
racy was proved. As to the letters, they said they
contained no t;recise admission of thtt fact, or of the
mode-of the escape, or who had assisted Winstan-
_ley, or how he had been assisted. They urged
also"with great feelitig,•that it Would behard-to con-
vict men of a conspiracy upon the evidence olletters
written in a state of confinement, ad-dressed with a,
view to. tla•ter the I)erson who- had the power of
releasing •them from their prison. Of Mr. Nixon;
the gaoler, they spoke in high terms of commenda.
tion. • - - - -

was :.soir

Mr. SMITH, in explaining the law respeCiing
conspiracy,. said, that to,convict one man of it, was
like-the lolly of the Irish Man who called himself
singly a Committee.
The RECORDER summed up, and relied strongly
upon the' letters in evidence against the Prisoners.
Winstanley. and Chell.
The' Jury, after some hesitation, pronounced a
Verdid of acquittal as to all the Defendants.
Same day the Sessions ended, when sentence was
*passed on the folio% ing Prisoners, viz. Mary Ann
Parker, John Clark, Mary Gee, Mary Curtis, Tim,
Walden, Whitton, Jathes Hawkey, William
Clark, John Flinn, Moses, Copeland, Robert Fen-
ton, 'alias Robert Atkinson -Fenton, Mary Webb,
Lois' Worley, Thos. Hurren, and James Leek,
whose judgment _ was respited last Session, were
ordered to be transported beyond the seas for . the
-t ray of seven years.
Harriet Spike, Mary Jones, and Widget Lewin-
ton were ordered to be imprisoned in the-House of
CoJeCtion at Clerkenwell, for (w/o years each.
Five '.v ere ordered to be imprisoned in. Itie same
Gaol for i year, each-17 to be imprisoned for 6
calendar mouths-,-12 to be imprisoned in Newgate
for various periods 9 to be privately, and 3 pub-
licly whipped-4 fined-is, and discharged— 2 judg-
ment respited—and i 4 were discharged by Pro-
.
clamation. _ .

A.lj,,urned to.the•ltth day ofJainnfry next.