The Sun.
London, England, 1801-11-19 00:00:00

O'BRIEN v. COOPER.

This was an Aaiun upon a Bill of Exchange,
dated the zoth of Deceniber, 1800, payable three
months after sight, for 250 guineas, draWn by R.
Slade, and accei,ted by the Defendant;
The Defence was, that this Bill was negotiated
or. discounted by the Plaintiff, for Mr. Slade,
Who was a dealer in pi lures ; but who had become
Bankrupt ; that the Plaintiff took, upon such dis-
counting, usurious interest ; that is, he had taken
interest for the Bill for I'2 months, whereas the
Bill had only 3 month.., to run, which -was four
times as much as he was entitled to by Law. '
Mr. Slade was called, and he stated that the
Plaintiff called upon him and requested to know
yltether he wanted any Bills discounted? to which
. the \Vitnes replied in the affirmative, and tendered
him the one in question, for which the Plaint iirgave
hiin aDraft upon his Banker for 2301., thereby se_
serving to himself the sum of 321. tos. the interest
being only
It was contended on the part of the Plaintiff; that
:this Witness was not worthy of credit in this case ;
but

. .
consisting of a speech only, a..as not to have match
weight—:Christian Charity entitled it Witness to
credit tkbilc he gave his evidence in t Court
of Justice decently and properly, unles What he
.stVIDIT was encountered by some other evidence. In
this case theWituesi had no intc;est whatever i 3

telling a falsehood, and if the Jury helievei w!),+:
he swore] the Defendant would be eiititlea to a
Verdict. The Eiti had no usury in its origin, -but
if there was usury in it in discoubting, there was
an end of the Plaintif's Case.
Verdi e.± for the-Deflindont.

• RICUARDSON el,. CRAIGHEAD.
This WAS an Action to recover tool. being the
penalty for non.perfounnuce of an agreement which
the Defendant hnd enterer into tut taking -
house, which was let to him by the Piaintilr on
the Li.th ofof.tober.
It appeared by ;he evidence a Broker, that this
agreement was entered into between the grin ties,
reduced to writing,. and duly stutnred; but which
he hadlOst : he had, however, taken a copy of
which he produc&i. He said, that at the _time the
a greanent was entered into, the Plaintiff' and the ''-
Defcndant had some conversation about the q...L;nzi- •
tity of beer sold and liquor consumed, and' that the

PlaintiffotTered to shew him °his hooks to .see the
amoent of his trade, bat the Defendant said ht.-.
Would not look at them at all, that he,did not want
to look at them.
The Defence was, that the Defendant found he
had been impuicd upon by, the:faise r.prc,:ethation
/which the Plaintitr made of the trade of:t.;.e

Lord KENYON. said, that if a man chooses to !-;:ti
his head against a wag, 'no body could heip h.--
Here he did not clime to look at the b.toks, aid if
he was imposed upon, the Ctuit was his own--U !:e
made-a bad bargain nobody could help it, and there,
was no reason why he should not conform to his•
engagcmentS. _ -

He had paid zol. deposit, and therefore that stun
being dednded, the Verdict was for the Plaintiff—
Damages aol.

PUPLIC_OFFICE, BOW-STREET.

Tv EsbAY eliening three young men were lrotight
in custody to this ()like, by Mayhew and another-
of the Patrole, who apprehended them the same
evening in the fields near the Shepherd and -Shea_ '
herders, City_Road, on suspicion of being tOotpatlS.
On the exatnindtion of the Prisoners before Mr.
BOND and Sir Wm.Pta“o us, it appeared that trey
were found standing together in a held, and at
which time it is suppoied they were loading their
pistols, one being found on them, with a quantity
of po-u,,der, - and another with some cartridges of
powder, close 'to the spot where they stood. The
Prisoners names are Thomas B :ckingham, Daniel
Buckingham (btothersh and Winiain :dills. zubc
account they gave of themselves to the Mrgistrates
not being at all satisfactory, they were c,,mmitted
for further examination on Tuesday next.
A+armer was conviaed for selling 33 trusses of
hay short of weight, and was adjudged to forfeit
the full penalty of ss. per truss, and cysts,
Yesterday an information, brought by Sitllwood,
the common_ Informer, against a Pawnbr,:ker, for
taking more interest .than allowed by the late A6t
of Parliament, came on tt4 be heard before Messrs.
GRAHAM, REID, KrtinteartD, and Nion, the
Sitting Magistrates.

Mr-. KNAPE attended for -the..prtr.ecuzion, and in
his opening, acknowledged that the prosecution was,
carried on by a common Informer, for the purose
of recovering the penalty.

Mr. ALLEN, the Clerk of the Peace for West-
minster, who attended for the Pawnbrokets, took
an objealon on this ground, on account of there be.
ing a clause in the AEI of Parliament, which says,
that when the party is aggrieved, they shall dpply-
to a Magistrate, who shall dire the Churchwar.
dens and Overseers of the Parish where the party
resides, to carry on a prosecution, and in case of a
convittion, one moiety to go to the party, and the
other to the Poor of the Parish.

Mr. KNAPP, in reply, contended, that the Le-
gislature never could mean that no informers
should prosecute under this A6t, because, if they
did, the whole Aft of Parliament. was only waste
paper ; for there was hardly an instance known of
a prosecution being commenced by an aggrieved
party, and that the meaning of the Parish Officers
being direaed to carry on the•prosecution wgs, that
in case the party was too poor to pay the expehce,
the Pawnbroker should not go unpunished ; besides
there was another clause, which said that no person
having been found guilty of n frltud, extorting mo-
ney under false pretences, or felony, should be ca.,:
pable of informing,
.which ceriainly must have had
in view an informer.

The Magistrates not agreeing in their opinion,
the Question was adjourned to a focure day, and on
this will depend .47 other informations, which are
commenced by the same Informer against a number
of other Pawnbrokers.

On Friday night 'some villains broke into th-:
King's Bench Oilkse, Temple, by getting over two
gardens from the River, and opened all the do in;
and drawers, but found nothing of value.
The Duke of Kent, Porter, from London to South.
Georgia, was well on 28th Sept. in lat. Z. N. long.
24.. W.

The Kent, Bunker, from London to the South
Seas; ~and the Cartaret, Scott, from ditto to CNN:: of
G6od Hope, have arrived at the 'staid of Mayo,
Where they: each lost two anchors And cables.
Thr John (Transport), Burdon, is lost on the
Rocks near Marseilles. The people and ship's ma...
terials saved. •

The Albion, Have, from Newcastle to London,
is lost near Yarmouth, and the crew. drowned.
The Allison, Burn, from Newfoundland to the
West Indies, has been taken and 'retaken by the
Beaver and O:ter, arrived at Surinam. _

The. Spcedwell, O'Brien, from Waterfoid to
Newfoundland, foundered at Sea,—Crew saved,

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