The Sun.
London, England, 1863-12-24 00:00:00

ASSIZE INTELLIGENCE,

NORTHERN CIRCUIT, LIVERPOOL, Dee. 23.
CROWN COURT.
(Before Mr. Justice Willes.)

A LANCASHIRE MAGISTRATE SENTENCED TO IMPRISON-

NEN T.

William Standish Carr Standish, of Duxberry Hall, near
Preston, who had been out on bail, was indicted for un-
lawfully and maliciously wounding Jchn Hesketh and Jas.
Burke, on the highway near Ormskirk, on the Bth of Sep-
tember. A second count charged him with an assault
causing grievous bodily harm ; and a third with a common
assault.

Mr. Holkar, for the prosecution, offered no evidence on
the first charge ; and the prisoner pleaded guilty to the
other two charges ; and after some discussion he was placed
in the dock for sentence.

Mr. Attorney-General james,•Q.C., for the defence, said
that in both cases the injuries sustained by Hesketh and
Burke were of a trifling character, and whatever might be
the judgment of the Court, Mr. Standish was prepared to
compensate them to the fullest extent. Mr. Standish had
for several years past suffered from congestion of the liver,
a complaint always aggravated by residence in warm cli-
mates, yet in spite of this he served with his regiment in
India and wos present at the siege of Lucknow. There he
became so ill that the Commander-in-Chief, at the request of
his colonel, Sir W. Russell, gave him permission to return
to England. While at Calcutta, en route for home, he had
a sun stroke, which shattered his nervous system dread-
fully. On his return home he continued very ill, and his
liver complaint caused him such agony that he could not
sleep, and he smoked often to excess to try and lull his pain.
It was after an unusually painful attack that Mr. Standish
committed the offences to which he had that day pleaded
guilty. He (Mr. James) would therefore express a hope
that taking all the circumstances of the case into considera-
tion, the ends of justice would be answered by Mr. Standish
giving security to such an extent, and for such a period, as
would protect the public from a repetition of similar acts.
Mr. Standish and his friends were also willing that he should
be placed under whatever medical restraint and treatment
should be thought advisable.

The learned Judge, in passing sentence, said—William
Standish Carr Standish, you have pleaded guilty to an in-
dictment for an assault committed upon a person of the
name of Hesketh, and also for an assault against a person of
the name of James Burke. Your learned counsel has urged
upon the Court various reasons why they should pass a
lenient sentence upon you, and you may depend upon it,
notwithstanding the course which the Court feels itself com-
pelled to take in this case, that all which has been urged on
it has been favourably received, and that the contents of the
affidavits containing the substance of what the Aelorney,
General has just stated have been fully and anxiottely
considered. You are here to answer for two assaults
causing actual bodily harm, and there is also a cunt for
common assault against you in each indictment. There
can bo no doubt that you did on the Bth Sept. last mount
your horse, attired in the uniform of a distinguished yeo-
manry corps in this county, and that you did proceed to
the country in a way which caused alarm to great numbers
of her Majesty's subjects, and that you did in the course of
your career fire off a pistol, and that you did also draw your
sword and flourish it about, one man receiving a trifling in-
jury—an injury trifling in itself, as has been truly stated
by your counsel, but an injury serious from the character
of the weapon with which it was inflicted, and above all (as
you yourself must most deeply feel) from the uniform which
was worn by the person who committed the act. These are
circumstances which, unless some substantial ground is
submitted to the Court for the purpose of inducing it to ab-
stain from doing so, would call for the most serious sen-
tence, and none the less because you are a person occupying
a high position in the county, representing as it seems an
ancient family, and you yourself being a person whom the
Court cannot doubt from the affidavits has been received
with favour and affection amongst the most distinguished
people of this country. The Court, however, while it must
take what I may properly call a professional view of the case
—it is its bounden duty to do so; while it must, in passing
sentence, look to the security of the people, and take care
that no person who is answerable for his actions—and I have
no doubt, upon the affidavits, and everybody must rejoice to
hear it, that you are now answerable for your actions, should
escape an adequate punishment; the Court, while it roust
take care that the public is secured by a substantial sen-
tence upon persons who so seriously interfere with the
public peace of the county, must not forget what it is that
has brought you into the state in which you committed this,
which I may permit myself to call, extraordinary and
singular escapade. The Court must also consider the pro-
bability and improbability of similar acts being done either
by you or by any person who would be in a position to do
them. With respect to the latter, I repeat the act is of an
extraordinary description unlikely to recur, and in that
respect, though the Court must pass upon you a sentence
most serious to you, they would not feel bound to pass upon
you a sentence of a more serious kind. With respect to the
former, there can be no doubt that the frenzy—as it has
been properly designated by the Attorney-General on your
behalf—in which these acts were committed, although
in part it must have been occasioned by something which
you had taken, is also in almeasure to be attributed to your
having suffered from serious illness in the East in the ser-
vice of the Queen, and that is the feature of the case to
which the Court looks with the greatest satisfaction and
with a desire to allow it all due weight in passing sentence
upon you. It is also true that upon looking at the deposi-
tions the evidence makes it clear that the pistol which you
fired was not loaded with a bullet. The other pistol which
was found you appearsto have had no bullet in it. Whether
there was anything else in the pistol is not so clear. One
may suspect and speculate upon it—but it is clear to my
mind that the pistol was not loaded with ball, and that the
person who was hit with that pistol was not even wounded.
It appears to have been fired close and the contents to have
reddened his shoulder, t must say here that I commend
the course taken by the able and discreet counsel who con-
ducts the prosecution, in not proceeding with the graver
charge upon that indictment, for it appears to me clear upon
the evidence that you could not have been convicted of the
graver charge. With respect to the injury inflicted upon
the other man, it was fortunately also of a slight character,
and upon that also I think a proper course has been taken,
looking at all the circumstances of the case. I have now re-
viewed all the facts, and it remains for the Court to say
what sentence shall be pronounced upon you. The Court
in this case has a discretion:vested in it to sentence you to
fine or to imprisonment,or to require security for your future
conduct. I am bound to say that I do not think the office of
the Court would be judiciously exercised in requiring secu-
rity for your future conduct, for you are a person of fortune
and friends,and no doubt yourself a person of education and
of discretion, such as the experience of your life must have
given, and the Court has a complete assurance from these
circumstances, much more than from any security for your
good conduct, in saying that such a security would in this
case be nugatory. Then comes the question whether you
are to be fined, or imprisoned, or both--and I very touch
lament to say, that having given this case my most
anxious consideration. although the Court thinks that to a
certain extent a fine may be substituted for imprisonment,
it is of opinion that looking to this having taken place on a
public highway, and it being impossible to treat you as a
person not responsible for your actions,
it is necessary to
pass some sentence of imprisonment upon you, even looking
at it from the point of view which must be taken with re-
ference to the mere police treatment of the subject. The
Court, however, has determined with reference to that cir-
cumstance, which has been already adverted to, and suffi-
ciently dwelt upon—the fact of your having suffered in the
East, an illness brought on by that having IJad eo much to