The Sun.
London, England, 1808-12-01 00:00:00

LAW REPOlfr.

• ,
public Officers, in such city as London, obe cor-
recting and retrenching those things which bad been
given by their predecessor -; but conSideribg ihw prey
sent price of things, great merit—bel6nged to that
man wilt), had coorageatet fortitude enough to do it,
and to resist those claiins for which there- wa, tto
foundation, except the practice of 20 years. For ale
though this was stated to be a custom, a custom, to
be good, must be immemorial s it must, besides, be
reasonable. Tiere. most t)c in it a quid /Tr() (riv.
of the City of London wA3 the
(T)lthie ccS,rwootrd- ar
the
ebeLoerrd
Mayor, and never attended the
Sheriffs but when they attended the Lorci Mayor.
He was one of t be household of the Lord Mayor, and
therefore the Lord May, r was, ilany ()oily was, tianie
for the perquisites of the•Svvord-bearer. Mr: Alder-
man Staines: had been called a rough diatn6ue
Was indeed a very plain, but a very sensible and a very
honest man, and great merit belonged to him for the
retrenchment which he made in the expences of the
Old Bailey: The reform was a ety good one, and
although it was unpleasant to be reflected -on for
keeping his money in his pocket, yet he knew how
to lay it out on objeas much more in need of it
than such men as the Sword-bearer of the City of
London. This Gentleman had a gallery at the Old
Bailey, and the housekeeper bad ptoved that . she had
uniformly delivered to him all the. emoluments
Whieh were derived from admissions into that gal=
lery, into which any body who paid the price and
fixed the day might enter. Nay, he had no hesita-
tion in declaring that he had seen it sometimes filled
with notorious pickpockets. He believed that the
notorious Wentworth was apprehended thew—Pt
happened to be . another gallery]. However th'at
might be, nothing was more clear in the Law and
the .Cotistitution of England, than that the galleries
of .the Old Bailey, and the galleries of all the Courts
of Justice in England, are supposed to b,•,. and ought
to be, open and accessible (until filled) to all hi,4
Majesty's subje6ts who behave proi;erly, and that
without the payment of any money whatevet.. if
any person in the Court in which he wAS now speak-
ing, any Officer of it, were to be found taking money
of any other for adatission into it, and that person
were brought before his Lordship for so doing, he
would soon have reason to repent of what he did.—
This Plaintiff ought to' have had the sense to remain
quiet on this occasion..

[ -
-VitTRT, OF IciNC'S- BENCH, Nov: gs.
CofTEREL, Esti. V. WELCH, KNT.
The ATTONEY-GENERAL stated this .CZIC on the
• part of the Plaititiff, which, be said, was a case very
:easily turned.' into ridicule, although it was a very
serious one to 'his Client. The Plaititiff, , Mr. Cot-
. terel,. was-the Sword-bearer Of4l4.fe'City of London,
and he, in that capacity, . was the 'Housekeeper of
the Session House at the Old ;.11aily; and the occu-
pier, of the cellar there; that, iii %Irate of his office,
he claimed a variety of perquisites and emoluments,
. ~
and among them that for which this a'Etien was
brought, namely,' three bottles of Port Wiee for
every day that the Sessions were held- at the. Old
Bailey. He had two tables, one at the Mansion
House, which Was furnished by the Lord Mayor,
of whose.: household he was'an officer; and when
the Sessions were held at the Old Bailey, he had
also a table there, consisting of from sixteen weigh-
teen persons, who were amply supplied with wine;
• but the Cause for which this action was brought was
that of three bottles of Port Wine during each day
of •the last Sessions held there, and which three
bottles per day were usually delivered to him on the
last day of the Sessions. The office of Sword-bearer
Of -the Lord Mayor, or of the City of London, was
a saleable office-in the City, for which a large sum
of money had been paid, to the amount, he under-
stood,. of 10,0001.; and therefore it was not rea-
sonable to expeti that he should give up the emolu-
ments of such an office. He attended the Lord
Mayor arid the Sheriffs in their processions—be at-
iended'at the Old Bailey Sessions. There were .dif-.
telent houses fair different officers' in the City; that
.flrtToi‘l:is
intended
which was assigned to the Sword-bearer was at the
Old Bailey, called the Sessions House. When the
Sessions were held there, the Lord Mayor and the
Sheriffs had the use of the cellar. It had been the
custom, time immemorial, for these three bottles of
Port Wine per day to be delivered to this Gentleman,
until recently,
.wheti, in several instances, and first
by Sir John Eatner; the Custom 'was resisted. It
,was 'not so ,mucti,fer the value- of this Wine, as to
,establish the'Plaintiff's right to it, that this ealien
Was 'brought'; =for if -his claim td this Wine was.
given up, all 'the 'different perquisites of his office
might-soon fall. • .- . - - - --
It appeared.in evidence, that this Gentleman suc-
ceeded Mr. Heron Poney in' the office of-Sword-
hearer to the'CitY, on the 13thnf MarCh, 1787, and
that he was entitled to' all the profits and einolurnents
to .which his, predecessor was entitled, and which
belonged to the.office. '
Mra.,Piget proved that she isrhe honsekdeper of
the SessiencHoose at the .01d-Baileyeunder the pre,
Sent Plaintiff; has been so for the last twenty years;
was appointed to that situation by the COrronissiona
era el the City Lands, and paid by them. That
the three bottles of Wine sought by this;e6tion had,
until sortie .late instances, which she etiumerated,
.
been delivered during all that time. Thewine'Was a• - ee• . ,
...elle.
.eth Dragoons have been ordered
.6 squadrons,aimmediately*ier b Canterbury
r.
y
ft
oorttsmtioi,utftiir,s
tto;:lievniisitanr,kmfoarrtSipilin
Port Wine, a'ntl-ilie Wine w-a-s-giveu fur the use of:
• , \ ,-si
the cellar. , .
on Altgeiday ;rite, remainingesterda division, . also two
Cross-examined.,esShesaid, there were at the See=
• sions-Hodie two rooms for dither; ()nein Which •
that the 3d . Dragoolis should have preeeeded first,
the .Lord .filaiora the Sheriffi; and: the Judges, ' 'squadrons,. proceeded_ y y. - .._
dined—in the other, the Sssord-bearer Dia his' corn-
. their number. of (blackiherses; the:34 130:ractoon
but. their march. is stiteeticied a cr'A ;'• • • patty. That until! of 'late years, the usual qoantity a •• • - • from • '--Lls',l(rY in
"•for the SwOrri-bearer's company %vas-two- dozen cid.
• • , ' . Guards has, in consequence, been orkiere'4 from
va mcnester to Portsmouth -to embark; and it is ex-
Port `Vine per day ;- but of late it liad4beeli limited „,. ,
•to a dozen and an half each day , and now, •in con-
. p.eeted will he brigaded with the
.4th Dragoons.
sequence of . a reform '.by. Mr: Alderman =Staines,
when Loriii:mayot,,,who -was •a plain sensible mao, Depredations to a very ' large extent havd lately
but rather alough diniontl, who took 'ii4•in hishead -.been. Ocielmitte.d .on the stores of the Victualling
to reform-able ri.404i,•410 alteration W-as -inainie. He i Office Irt • Chatham, which have fortunately been
told the Judges and Sheriff's one day,-as•they sat down deteeftet -in. the followirig manner :—On Saturday
to dinner-in his-a
-Oohs; he hoped they would excuse :night the: Ageni Vianaller coining hbine at an un-
him from dining with them that day, and he would ' expetled hour, saw one:of the :watclmien: ill lie ad
explain to theth the. reason lbr it atter%vards; and . Of carrying a quantity of cheese from the, store-house,
then, in his gold chain, went into the Sword-bearer's and immediately seized the robber. The 'man, in
room and-sat in his chair at the head of the table,, the first. impulse of his terror, owned-that he was
and told the 'company there was aisufficient quan- I not the an'ty- oneaccincerned, arid discovered who
thy of plain roast and boiled ineare•and it any body's. were his associates in iniquity :he also ,:aave-infor-
stomach- was too tender to eat that, there were two matioraof those who purchased the stolen goods,
• boiled chickens for hine-but nothing of the kickshaw amonc, whom is a person in aleage way of business.
kind—th eif there were any too delic ite to eat the Severe') of the persons concerned were, on Monday,
Roast Beef of Old England,"•and plumb pudding,. • examined before .1: Thomases:, 'Esq. Mayor o:Ro-
om boiled meat andehicken, he had a lEirge family-a- chester, and were remanded -for a furthee hearing.
[the Prisoners3—on the-otner side of the wall, who • Late advices frdm Mexico have been :received,
were in great want of those articles ; and that Gen-
.which state, that intelligence of the'.glorious : resist.
, tlemen who might- have no appetite for-these things ance of the Spanish Natioti had•been received,• and
that• day, might take them the next ; but as to the • that King FERDINAND had been proclaimed there
frippery of.custards, blenc-mange, Bcc. none of them • with universal exaltation. The Government of that
should . appear—and thus a reform' was eifefiled in Colony is said to have come to a formal resolution to
this particular. - • . -indemnify Great Britain for any expences .she might
: It appeared farther in evidence, that formerly the incur in assisting the Mother Country. '
Officers of the Court had vvinei• not exceeding lour Letters from Sicily, by the last Packet, state, that
bottles a day ; that the Sheriff's' Officers, and other- an Expedition was ready to sail from Messina, but
persons, had a certain portion of wine at . this place :the destinatiOn was unknown. .
during-Sessions ; that there was. formerly allotted to - • -It is stated in prisate 'letters from Holland of the
the Jury a certain portion of wine male into negus, -23 d last, that it was the determination of the Go.
and which was called ti Cool Tankard. This had i %eminent to enforce the Embargo on all Shipping in
also been discontintied: since which, it had been the Dutch ports, with the greatest possible rigour.
found that a Jury can do.their duty inahe adminis- An ,alarining and destruaive fire ' broke out on
Monday evening last, in the house of P. Fordinge,
tration of justice, :from
,nine o'clock in the morning
Esq. at Cruthersharch,BuCks, which was oceasiOned
gliuttg 'tobetehne idncaweultliionngs-lhyo-ulesfet, inw which
until three in the afternoon, without taking any
thing between their breakfast and their dinner.
It appeared in evidence farther, that the Sword- I
,anadndwhthoehamdafnaliewnhoasiheeapd
admission i':ll")!'csbto)aisblLscsuatnciiodcllelettei d to some straw. 'lt happened about
bearer had a• gallery, the profits of
which were appropriated by him; that the house- I twelve o'clock
gone to feedtheathePrsigesh:
keeper attended -that gallery -for him ; that some- I
in the stables, fell a prey to the devouring element.
tfiherehinoetshe;
times, but very seldom, half-e-guinea was paid by .
Mr.. -Fordinge's family, consisting of eleven persons,
_chuol ouuses ebsecianpge
chottntphlee t
Ltioyp
oo
nf
each person, for admission ; but whatever was paid,. .
she delivered the whole of it to the Sword-bearer at
the conclusion of the Session, and received a him
..
mihae4desia.elmlitirr;
for her trouble ese6d. per day. . • lower part before iin alarm prevailed: ' A maid ser-
Mr. GARROW, on behalf of the Defendant, said, 'rant of the name of Soames broke an arm in esoap-
that this Gentleman, the Sword-bearer of the City in _g ,
and the premises, whiCh were immense, were
of London, had either been very ill-advised, or, in entirely
•
despite of good .advice, had aeled Very indiscreetly • ..
Married at St. -George's, Bloomsbury, on Nov. 1,
in following his own judgment. There was a grand .
the - •
recipe ,for persons of this description given by . .
I gee, Lieutenant-Col. KNIGHT, of Barrels., in the
County of vr arwicß, to Miss JULIANA BoULTON,
late Mr. Christie, in an answer he made to thee •
daughter of HENRY Boutros, Esq. of Thorncroft,
Noble and Learned Predecessor of his Lordship,
late Lord Kenyon. When Mr. Christie was called by
in the Coenty of. Surrey. ,
a brother Auttioneer as a witness, for the purpose. of " Till you can erase," says Shylock, " this name
proving an Auctioneer's_ right to 5 per cent.commis- from off the hoed," &e.—so stern moralists may
aims' on every thing he,sold, he, was asked by that. rail till they ,are hoarse against State Lotteries ; tor
Nobleand Learned Lord, whether he (Mr. Christie) t 'unless they.can erase from the minds of adventurers
had ever brought an action upon such a claim as that multitudes of them suddenly acquire, in every
Auetioneer ? Mr. Christie shook. his head, and said, , Lottery., independent. fortunes by stakes of little
" Certainly not, my Lord : 1 take 5 percent. when- : cost ; .and unless they can prove that the present
ever a Gentleman is willing to pay it tee; and when Scheme, now so close at issue, does not stand unpa-
he is not, laim glad to take two and an half, or two." ralleled for a double interest of great money prizes,
It was a great pay the present Plaintiff was not in- and a thousand Lottery Tickets in addition, they
piree by the Sartre eauraments. It was odious for.. maysts well hold their peace, ' '

Lard ELLENBOROUGH was clearly Of opinion,
that there was no pretence for bringing this action.
He was entirely at a less to see the Con,;ideration
which the Sheriff -received for this ilairn made by
the Plaintiff; or to' see what duty the Plaintiff per-
formed for tht.- Sheriff.--Verdict for the I),!fendant.
Lord ELLEN.BORifUOII.:—." Gentlemen, if you had
-found a verdid far the
,Plaintiff on this occasion, I am
afraid we should hsve had a claim set up in the same
manner to all the suros which are received in alt ao,e
galleries of this Sessions House, and that it would
have been 4tlpported 'by the same evidence."