The Sun.
London, England, 1830-05-08 00:00:00

LORD JEFFERIES.

One of the most barbarous of the many cruel
executions which took place at this time was
that of Mrs. Lisle, a gentlewoman of upwards
of seventy years of age, who had been, ira fact,
guilty of no offence whatever. She had har-
boured two men who had escaped from the rout
at Sedgemoor ; but it did not appear that she
was acquainted with their participation in the
rebellion. One of the witnesses for the prose-
cution was a person of the name of Dunne, a
Presbyterian, whom Jefferies suspecting to be an
unwilling witness, attacked with a coarseness of
language and violence of demeanour, which ap-
pear almost to have deprived the man of his
senses. A few passages will sufficiently illus-
trate the temper of the Chief Justice. " Why,
thou vile wretch I dost thou think, because thou
prevaricatest with the court here, that thou
canst do so with God above, who knows thy
thoughts ? And it is infinite mercy that,
with those falsehoods of thine, he does not
strike thee into hell I Jesus God ! there is no
sort of conversation or human society to be kept
with such people as these are, who have no re-
ligion, but only in pretence." Soon afterwards,
addressing himself to the Jury, he said, " I hope,
Gentlemen of the Jury, you take notice of the
strange and horrible carriage of this fellow ; and
withal you cannot but observe the spirit of that
sort of people, what a villanous and devilish one
it is. Good God ! that ever the thing called
religion (a word that people have so much
abused) should ever wind-up persons to such a
height of impiety, that it should make them lose
the belief that there is a God of truth in heaven !
* a< 0 A Turk is a saint to such a fellow as
this ; nay, a Pagan would be ashamed to be
thought to have no more truth in him." Col.
Penruddock having stated that Dunne, the wit-
ness, had asserted that he apprehended the per-
sons who had taken refuge with Mrs. Lisle to be
rebels, the following examination took place :--
JarrEares—What do yoc say to that, Dunne? It
seems you told Barton that you apprehended them to be
rebels.

" Dunne—l apprehended them for rebels, my Lord !
" JEFFIRIES—No, no; you did not apprehend them
for rebels; but you hid them for rebels. But did you say
to Barton that you took them for rebels ?
" Dunne—l take them to be rebels
JEFFKRIKS--YOU blockhead ! I ask you did yon tell
him so ?

" Dunne—l tell Barton so !
" JzFreatEs—Aye, is not that a plain question ?
" Dunne—l am quite clattered out of my senses; Ido
not knew what I say.
" JEFFSZIES-Bus to tell the truth would rob thee of
none of thy senses, if ever thou badst any ; but it should
seem that neither thou ner thy mistress the prisoner had
any, for she knew nothing of it neither, though she had
sent for them thither."

At length the case went to the Jury, who
manifested a desire to retire ; " upon which the
Lord Jefferies expressed a great deal of im-
patience, and said he wondered that in so plain
a case they would go from the bar." Having
retired, " he would have sent to them with an
intimation, that if they did not come quickly,
he would adjourn, and let them lie by it all
night." The jury in about half a❑ hour ap-
peared, but it was only to express a doubt as
to the sufficiency of the evidence. Jefferies
told them that the fact they referred to had been
proved. The foreman replied they did not re-
member it. Jefferies repeated his assertion, and
added, that "if there were no proof, the cir-
cumstances and management of the thing were
as full proof as need be." Upon this the Jury,
after some deliberation, brought in a verdict of
guilty. It is stated by many historians, that
the Jury, three several times, brought in a ver-
dict of acquittal, which by the threats of the
Chief Justice they were induced to retract ; but
the fact does not appear from the report in the
State- Trials.—Dr. Lardner's Cabinet Encyclo.
pcedia, Vol. VI.

A communication from Algiers says :—" The
fortifications are now so strengthened, that a most obsti-
nate resistance may be anticipated. forties of Bedouin
Arabs have been taken into the pay of the DST, and these
have been appointed to oppose the debarkation of the
French along the whole line of coast, at various points of
which batteries have been raised. The Castle in which
his Highness has deposited his treasure is mined, and, from
the known haughtiness and determination of his character,
it is not unlikely, should matters become desperate, but it
will form his funeral pile."
HOUSE OF CORRECTION, COLD BATH
FIELDS.-At a meeting of the Middlesex Magistrates cm
Thursday, it was resolved " That felon-conviets, convicts
for fraud, mothers of bastards, committed for punishment,
and idle and disorderly persona, who conduct themselves
in a refractory manner, and do not conform to the prison
rules and discipline, shall, at the decision of the Visiting
Justices, after hearing evidence upon oath, hare the hair
shorn off their heads."