The Sun.
London, England, 1808-02-15 00:00:00

faas; and it was really impossible :to :account

for the Captain's seemingly .partieular malice to
Mr. Paul, at once so unbecoming a man, a,Cons-
mender, and a Gentleman. Upon' the Isth of Jinn,
between five and six o'clock in- the evening, Aker
the company had retired from dinner, at the Cap-
tain'i table, where sobriety was always observed,
the Defendant went to the quarter-deck, or poop,
and having previously 'Ordered' a carpenter to nail
up a board-s-he amused himself by firing at .a living
fowl
.suspended to it, in the presence of several of
the passengers, amongst whom was the Plaintiff.
The Defendant ebserved to a Mr. Charles %wag,
fifth-mate of the Fortune, " dist it was necessary
be (the Defendant) should get into practice, as Ito
might heve .something; to do- with these jockies
(meaning the passengers around him) at St. Helena,
and diet he should not seish for better sport than to
sit opus the'guns, drinls a glass of wine; and ex-
diangeshots with them across. the 'deck." During
this title, neither M:. Paul, nor any 'other person,
'spoke so the Defendant, 'tsar in any misuser what-
ever •give him the least offence. .171 e, however,
then. acdressing himself to the Vaintiff,. said; " By
G—d, 1 should like to, take you first, Mr. Paul ;"
and immediately after put a pistol into his hand, and
-ordered his servant to bring up wine. Mr. Paul
very civily asked him " If lie .was in earnest, and
meant to challenge him ?"—To that he replied,
" Certainly, by cir—d." Mr. Paul then requested
to see-Mr. Gott, a fellowl.esaenger, who was then
leelow, and who, on being sent for; as. a friend to
'Mr. Pant, observed to the Defendant, that that was
a ver' improper place to fight in, and advised the
Plaintiffamt to do it there. Upon this the Defend.;
ant went up to the Plaintiff in a great passion, and
holding his pistol in a menacing manner to the
Plaintiff's face, said, " 13—n you, I would not fight
with such a: blackguard, scoundrel. 'lt would be
an. insult to any Gentleman to fight with such a
old • blackguard." 'Mr. Paul then asked the
CiPtain, who it was he called a blackguard
svottudrel ? To which the latter direCtly answered,
"Why, you; d—n you," Mr. Paul. being irritated at
this gross itingeage, retorted the same terms upon the
Defendant; who immediately threw down the pistol
which he held, abd, running .at Mr. Paul (who is
sixty years or age, iiind twenty years older than.
the Dafendaet), seized hims by the collar, and
struck him two or three violent blows with his fist
on the Lace. 'rho c.onsec.tenets of this were, a
black eye, and his face otherwise disfigure.l. The,
Defendant still, however, thirsting for. further re-
venge, was attempting
.to repeat -his blows, when
two of the Gentlemen present, Mr. Gott and Mr.
Willed (the first mate,) interposed, and prevented
him. 'Mr: Gott, as a 'friend, advised Mr. Paul then
to quit the poop, and go on the gun-deck, which Mr.
P. immediately did, and continued walking there.
The' Defendant then addressing himself to Mr.
notavithstanding the 'Plaintiffs peacable
departure, cried out, " Kick him down, kick the
old 6-r down," and leaning over the breast rail of
the poop, in a loud and abusive strain, and in the
hearing of all on deck, exclaimed, a D-Ln your
eyes, you old scotindrel, you are bathing, but a
blackguard ..Frenchman, a thief; a vagabetid, and
a swindler; you were \kicked out of Catcutta for
swindling,• and I can prove it till, d---a you. Kid
I not ,a ship alongside of us, and you would not
tight, you. blackguard ? I'll shoot you in your
cabin, if you . say a prcvent you going
ashore till you are in England, and then you shall
be sent to the Alien Oflice." To this shameful
language the Plaintiff made 'no 'answer whatever.
The Defendant, however, unsatisfied with the in-
jury he had done Mr. Paul,' ordered- him to be
taken into the custody 'of two centinels. The Plain-
tiff was accordingly confined to his own cabin, with
centinels placed over him with cutlasses, and thus
continued in confieement from seven o'c,:lock in the
evening- tilt eight o'clock the next *morning, when
he was liberated. Now it was fur this offence
~(centinucd the Learned. Counsel) that they were
Called :upon to give damages to the Plaintiff. It
was a case which he had by no means exaggerated
for it would appear that thire was much more rea-
son for hint to desire them.to be moderate than to
give exoessive damages. He asked nothing out of
the ordinary way, but merely a reparation to a gen-
tleman of Mr. Paul's respectability, who had been'
struck, abused, disgraced, and imprisoned, on
board a ship, without ,having given the smallest
provocation.,.., 'He concluded with cautioning them
against being swayed .by any assertionl that might
be made, by the CoCmsel on the opposite side, un-
less subitantiated by evidence. They were to attend
to the faets only as they appeared upon proof; and
he had no doubt • of subitantiattng his case to the
utmost extent, and that they would give their judg-
ment accordingly. ,
In support of the above statement,, Mr. BURROUGH
called as Witnesses Mt ..lohn Wedderby, a passen-
ger on board the Fortunt.; William Angostus Gott,
.Esq. also a passenger ; and Mr. John Willed, First
Mute of the above kre.;sel. It is only necessary to
state that the testimony of all these Witnesses went
not only to substantiate the fads, bet even to aggra-
vate the 'gross miscondiiet and'unprovoked aggres-
sion of the Defendant, beyond the narrative 'given
the Plaintiff's Counsel.'
Mr. I'ADDx then addressed the Snry as Counsel
for the Defendant. He begao by stating that. it
was-impossible to attempt a total .justievation of his
Client's conduct„ he itaviog already allowed judge
meat to go by default, thereby acknowledging his
w"slUilily of the offvuce he hitt: c;.intinnted. Ile

Wag, however, instrAed to expreAg Capt. Moore's
7 sorrow for what hatthanpan.!:!. Aft-rdinne!r,,
...tteti
-shooting at a trrark, thtt Plaintiff rather itieautious'l,
„.came •up to him, and entered:into a converidioim. 1
.which-occasioned some altercation taitake place ot ed
1 the Plaintiff was the first person who spoke of chal-
lenging. One circumstance, •he observed, which
t tended to chew that the Defendant did not Moan to
it
challenge the Plaintiff was, that the pistol he, the
1 Defendant, put into his, the Plaintiff's, hands, •was
found, upon subsequent examination, not to Le
I loaded. Although he could not justify the Defena- '
ant's condua in striking the Plaintiff with a pistol,
1 and putting centinels over hint, he could ve-tai.wc- iv
_say, that the. Defendant was not originally serious in.
Meaning by hiS expressions to offer an insult.' Tne
subsequent confinement had been intended to pre-
.vent further mischief from ensuing during the re-
mainder of the Voyage ; 'and the fita tvas, that .the
' Defendant had concluded. himsoll peaceably durin.;
tlie"Whole of the sub Sequent iperiod. It was evident
, thatthePlaintiff had suffere.d no material injury of a
durable nature, as they ' now saw him before thein
,withobt a. black eye, or a discoloured face. The
question before them was, what• Was the real 'amount
of the injury sustained by the Plaintiff)- They 'wet*
not to judge of criminal ease, nor to ascertain, by
their verdict, whether the Captain had transgreed
the rules of propriety, but they were tper,,ly to juke
of, an insult said to have been offered by bitn, after
dinner, when it. might he sca:)posed he was heated
by wine. Upon the whole, it seemed to have ori-
ginated in perfe& good-hitmour ; and to olake 0.1.pn
the more convinced of this, it was Only necessary for 1
him to add that the'Captain was an Iri3hinan,- and
therefore; however.good-buniutated he might be •at
the commencement of the conversation, he wonld
naturally become of a warm dud irritable temper,
when provoked by any eipre,.:ion which be inis)ht
deem insulting during intoxication.
Mr.Buattooon, inihis rtply, observed, that none
of the circumstances he had 'stated were by any
means contradicted by the evidence addncedfor the
Defendant.. • ' ' , _ .. .
_

J. • But4-tti4t.L, Esq., theti.,sumined up, the evi.
deucc;. Atier which the Jury returned a verdid, for.
the.Plairailf—Darnages 2001.

rvE§rittasTEß SESSIONS.

On Saturday, the adjournment day for the City
and Liberty Of Westminster; was held at Guildhall,
King-Street, Westminster._ Mr. Ma INWAIIING, and
a number of Magistrates, appeared on the Bench.---
The principal business of the day to be brought be-
fore the Venn; was the obje&ion 'taken by tine
Counsel .fot Bill &awes, and two of his gang Harry
Woodford and Bill White, in consequence of an at-
ledged mistake in copying the preamble of th., At
of Parliament called the Police A. in substituting.,
the Magistrates at the Thames Police Oifipt!, in-
stead of the Magistrates of the Thames Police Oifio.
They were accordingly brought from Totltillliel<ls
Bridewell, and ?laded at the bar. Mr. M N
ING addressed them, . and said that the Coort-liad !to,
doubt bf their condud coming within. the Apt csf
Parliament, and all men
,Of. :their Charaeter, bring
found in the streets in company together ; -howe-ier,‘
he was sorry to say, trifling as the variance of the.
recital' of the Ad of Parliament might, alliwar, it
Wasdeetriad fatal to the convidion. They .weru: ac
cordingly discharged, with' a suitable admonition.
If Soames is apprehended under 'Similar circum-
stances, he will be tried as an incorrigible rogue,
and consequently liable to transportation,:as he has
been twice conviatd.

A fine young woman, on. Friday se'nnight, about
noon, absented herself,froin the service of her cm-
ployer, in North-street, Chichester; and was disto-
vered, by one of her shoes being found on Sunday
at the edge of Fletcher's pond, in the field leading
from East-gate to Southgate, to have drowned her-
self therein.
,She had been dejected fur a long time,
and a-reprimand from. her mistros is sni..po§:d to
have affected her so, as to induce her to this rish
act. Vordict.-4nacy.
Great damage has been done op the coast by the
storm which commenced early on Friday, morning.
Three vessels were sunk off. ltyde (Isle of Wight),
and four driven on shore. I\rearly 'the whole of the
vessels in the Downs (not less than t 5.0. sail) were
forced to cut. 'their Cables and rnn‘ dOWn Channel.
At' Margate; the Lord Keith cutter, and three other
vessels, were driven on Shore. A gun-brig .was
driven so near the rocks that it was expected the
must go on shore. Several otheis,hal drifted near
the'ihore with the loss of masts.
In' consequence of the heavy fall of snow on Fri-
day, the Mails on Saturday were several, hours be-
yond the usual time; some of them did, .not arrive
till a We hoUr. at night. The 'Eketer Mail was
obliged to stop it Overton—the Gloucester and
Worcester near Benson, and the Liverpool at Chalk--
bill 3 the bags were forwarded with difficulty on
horseback, „

On Friday morning, during the storm, a consi:
derable part of the Prince of Wales's wall, iu
James's Park, near the centinel boxes,, was blown
down. Several trees in the Queen's garden were:
torn up by the roots. ,