The Sun.
London, England, 1801-06-04 00:00:00

L.AW REPORT.

OGFIT OF KING's BENCH, juNt
SITTINGS PLEORE. LORD KENYON AND A SPECIAL JURY

IN GUILDHAtL, L9:41)01,1

THE KING rv. THELLIMSOr•

THIS was an Indiament against the Defendant,
charging him with Wilful and Corrupt Perjury ; and
the substance of the charge svaSc• that the Defendant,
George Woodtbrel Thellusson, Esquire, hadsworn
that- one Richard Coppinger, did owe to him and
his Brothers, .Partners in Trade, the sum of Two
Thousand Pounds, upon the balance of accounts be,:
twccu them,, whereas in. truth, he knew, the said
Richard Coppinger did AM • owe him any sncirsum
of money in balance. notrer, cliarge in the In-
dietment stated, that the said George Woodford
Thellusson had..sworn that he was -the ,sole;„bwner
of a tShip called the Gnardian;:whereas in fad he the
said George Woodford Thellutson 'well kniw that
Richard and William Coppinger were tile Propries.,
tars of the said Ship, Sze. a. -
These assignments ofTerjary Were founded upon
very tong and complicated, accounts between the
House of Messrs.. Thellusions-and a person of the
name of Richard Coppinger, _who was once the
owner of the Ship Guardian, which had been em-
ployed in - the West Trade, on which vessel
Messrs. Thehlussons advanced the sum of t cool. and
the. which not being paid, an assignment was taken
of thz vessel to Meslr.v. Thellu,sons, and the proper
instruments were made out to manifest the change of
the property in the vessel to, Messrs. Thellussona
by the assignment of rdr. Coppinger;
The .case for the'Prosecationssias condated ,by.
Mr. ALLY, Mil 'Mlirtyrosit, and Mr. FsitousoN.,,
The address to the Court and Jury was male by
Mt At.t.y , but as to. :that part of the Indictment
which related to the Ownership of the Vessel being
in Mr. Thellusson, it appeared, that he took it by .
virtue of assignment, made to him by Mr. Cop.
ginger, on account. of the Money advanced by him
to Mr. Coppinger, which assignment contained. .a
provisoe of
:redemption, stating, " That when the'
money advanced by.' Mr. Thellusson on this*ca-
sion, and all future sums that might hereafter
affed the Ship, should be paid, the property 'in the
Vessel should be recotiveyed to the Original owner,.
Mr. Coppinger." &c.
. Lord KaNYON said, cr That in the case of a chat-
tel interest, the usual ft= of the proviso of redtimp-
tion was, "That on payment of the tnoney, -which
was the consideration of the assignment, and other
charges, by the Person making the assignment; the
deed of assignment should he void, and the property
re-vested in him who made the decd.'''. It was tithet-
, wise in the ease of real =property, and there must be
' a re-cnnveyance-7-that, is,„a . re-assignment. But
here the' part Y must te-assign, although the interest
was only a clrattel..inte*,' 'because the form of the,
pray ilio.was,enot,;," Oaf, on payment.of the - money
the deed of assignmentlhould be void," but, that-
the partyl•csh'opld re.convey :''' There was po such
reconVeyabee, and, therefore, s6pp9sing the balance
of accounts to ,be in favour of Mr; Coppinger,
when Mr. Thellusson's affidavit (by-which- he stated'
himself to ,be the Owner .of the Ship). was. made, it
. was as clear as the sun, that he, Mr. Thellusson,•
war, by-Law;the sole-Pnwietor of the Vessel and.
I ,
cheviot; theft wai an Od 01-that put of the .inA

t,..
i I. b , CIIA,IiIO. n t i:}101 'ssikiiia ileiiiry onIVI- Theira
son's,. having sworn himself to isc tree 'sole 'own' :(4`
the Vessti—he was that Owner ,by Law, ‘nWr:rioilla
there hi Any other while the assigntient 'corittfiiiia,
in force'.

Theirosecutoi's Connie were tfien driven t 0
charge of Perjury, on the statement Mr. Thellnss'nti
had made of the batanee of account% bet a:ein bii
House and Mr. Coppinger, and aftei a long invest
tigation `of that part of the 'case, it was Manifest
there was no foundation for any charge of Perjury.
against Mr. Th el luss on ; Mr. Coppinger hiinself
having been Ciarnined, and having 'related the case
at full length, ill the course of which he swore,
Tha't in preferring this Bill of Indiament against
Mr: Thellusson,- he 'aded Mider the direction and
advice of Counsel Whom he had consulted; Mr;
Serjeant.Besr, Mr. KNAPP, and Mr. KNOW LEW'
SCC.

-The-Jury being iietieftly saddled ,Oere Was no
foundation for the Prosecution, tuns the Defendant
George Woodford Thellusson--:•Nor

214ELCUSSON) ESQ.. iv:`COPPINORR:

was an, action brought, in which George
Woodford Thellasson, Esti. who was DefendAt iii
the abOve Indidment, was the Plaintiff, arid Richar,i
Coppinger, the ProsecUtor of that Indiament, was
the petendant ; and the anion was brought to re-
covet a dompensition in damages Of Mr. Coppin-
ger, for his having maliciously Ilreferred again#st
Mr. Thellusson an Indidinent felt Perjury, upotS
the saffie subjea as that which had just been dis:.
posed of, and of which Mr. Thellusson had 'beeit
acquitted in November last in that Court, tre.
All the circumstances of the Case as they had
been disclosed upon the Indidment just now dis-
posed of, were gone through again, when it appear-
ed that there was no pretence in evidence for saying
that Mr. Thellusson had aced otherwise than pro.
perly by Mr. Cappinger ;--ethat as to the balance
of the Accounts between Mr. Coppinger, and the
House .of-Nlessrs.. Thellussons, Mr.. Peter Isaac
Thellusson, a Witness called by -Mr. Coppinger
himself in this Cause, proved, that there never'svas
a period, since the commencement of their dealings,
and the taking the.assignment of the Ship Guardian, ,
to them„ in which Mr. Coppirger did not owe
them 20001. or very near it --that he was at
this very hour indebted to them in 30001. and
upwards tee- that they were ready at all times,
and now most desirous, of delivering the Ship,
the Guardian, to the Defendant in' this action,
Mr. Coppinget, upon payment of the balance due
from him to them.—That Mr. G. Thelluson's
having entered into a connection with Mr. 'Cop
pinger, was a thing lamented by the whole of Mr:
Thellusson's family, who conceived it to be a dis.
grace to them, &c.—lt then appeared from' the evi-
dence of Mr. Serjeant &sr. and Mr, KNAPP, two
learned Gentlemen whom the Defendant Mr. Cop-
pinger consulted on the subjed of ttris ,coniplaint,
that they Were clearly of opinion on'the 'ease, as it
was stated by him, his only remedy, if any, was by.
Civil Adion, and they ,disstutded him from any
course of a criminal process ag tinst Mr. 'Thellusson.
These Gentlemen's Evidences ‘v,ei produced
by mere accident, they happening to 'l)c in the
Court or Common Pleas this day, and Were sent
fot in censeqUence of what Mr. Caplinger bad
sworn relative to his having at u: der their ads
vice in proceeding' criminally against Mr. Thel-
lusson in this business. These Learned Gentle.-
men, however, could not ha re been examined if the"
Defendant, Mr. Coppinget, had not thought lit to
release them from all obligations of secrecy, arising
from the communication being made between him
and, them in the conAdence which is always allowed
to subsist between a suitor of a Court of Jfistice
his-Advance, Attorney, eec.e—but Mr. Coppinger
desired they might he examined.
Mr. COppinger concluded this Cue for himself,
and had no Counsel in it. He addressed the Jury
in a speech two hours in length, and having es.-
ambled some evidence,
The ATTORNEY GENERAL replied.

,Lord KENvort delivered a short Charge to the
jury, for which we are sorry we have no room at
present ;`in which his Lordship gave it as his opi-
nion, that this was a case, not for outrageous,
although for large damages, to mark, nut their.
dignation, but the sense of the jury of such mali-
cious condua IA this, and to secure the Public, as
well as the Jury could, from 'a repetition of such
slander as this.

The ►►rye withdrew, and in about ihalf an hoar,
returned with a Verdia for the Plainttfr—aunages
One Thousand Pounds.

On IVlooday the 34th regiment of Foot, Lieu.
tenant-Colonel FORiTER) 706 effective men, on.
barked in the boats of the Men of War in Plymouth
Harbour, on board the Amalotioar, of-74. guns, and
Mommoreth, of 6$ guns, in Cawsand Bay, to sail
direct for Egypt.
On Friday and Saturday last the Rifle Regiment,
commanded by Colonel MANNINGRAM; marched In
two divisions, from the Barracks at 131etelikngtoo,
on their route for WeymouLb, where it is expected
they Will In encamped.

. •.,
FRENCH PRISoNERS.7—.4II Inflammatory para.
graph having appeared in ,sonig late French Papers,.
and translated into some of ours, stating, that, a
number of French'Prisbners had lately been brought
over to Cherbourg, it a 4plorabte condition, add
that the English Government leave, to perish, by
famine, all' the French which- Iry fall jilt° ti,eir
hands, we ',have authocity to inform the Public,
that the Prisoners in question, amounting to about
;!00, were stlledetl by Medical persons at Porti.„
mouth, :and releasetl, Exchange, 'upon the
mere comideration aaf thcirts.itimess,, and with the
view of restoring thrit to lie:tith, by a speedy
transmission to their Native Country , their Oisor.
ders beinirP chiefly of the Pulmonic „kind, which
•
their native air only could giVe the chance of
moving. The refkaions, therefore, which the
French ,News-writerr.ll.lve chosen to tnake upon the
Occasion are but an requital for the CompassiOn
shown to their CoUntrymen here, and evince rather
a desire to keep up' the animosity rocr4eeply rev;a .
lent already in France, than to state 4v hat, if fairly
stated,' would only, prove the humanity of this
-ctrantry, anti its generosity to the miserable.