The Sun.
London, England, 1854-05-16 00:00:00

LA TV INTELLIGENCE,—May 15

COURT OF QUEEN'S BENCH.

;Sittings at Niai Prius, before Lord Campbell and

•
Common Jury.
THE QUEEN V. BAKER.
Mr. Edwin James, Q.C., Mr. Ballantine, and Mr. H.
Giffard appeared fur the prosecution ; and Mr. Sergeant
Kinglake and Mr. Rodwell for the defendant.

The defendant, John Baker, Was charged with wilful
and corrupt perjury, committed before the committee of
the House of Commons appointed to try the merits of a
petition presented against the return of Mr. Waddington
and Mr. Peacock as members for the borough of Har-
wich. It appeared that those two gentlemen had been
returned as the successful candidates at the election
which took place for the borough of Harwich in the
month of July, 1852. A petition was subsequently pre-
sented to the House of Commons against their return,
upon the ground of bribery, &c., and this petition having
been referred to a committee of the House, the defendant
was examined as one of the witnesses iii support of the
charge. The result was, that Mr. Peacock was unseated,
upon the ground of a corrupt contract into which he had
entered in reference to the seat; but, the charge of bri-
bery not being established to the sati.faction of the com-
mittee, no evidence was called to rebut the charge of
bribery, and Mr. Waddington retained his seat. The
defendant, when examined before the committee, had
made a charge to the effect that one Parrick Daniels had
bribed one William 0 b nal, the younger, by giving hi,
two 51. notes to vote for Peacock and Waddington. lie
stated that he was present in the yard of the Three Cups
Inn, at Harwich, on the night of the nomination, the
6th of July" when be h and Osborn addreseuPaitiels .an,
active partisan of Messrs Peacock and Waddiogton, and
say how long he had been waiting, and that he had heard
Daniels in reply s ty, " I have spent all my money, and
will go and g,t some more." He added that he after-
wards saw Daniels come from one Alfred Haste's house,
when he (Biker) asked him if he was not ashamed of him-
self; and that he afterwards saw Osborn and Danielsagain
at the Thre-i Cops, whea Daniels said to Osiairn, " Here,
old fellow," at the same time holding out his hand. He
stated that Osborn said, " What a time I have been wait-
ing," to which Daniels replied, " I could not get it bi-
fore ;" and that what was passed from the one to the
other was two bank-notes. On the part of the prosecution
Patrick Daniels was c.illed, and directly contradicted the
whole story told by the defendant Baker when before
the committee. He said he never saw Baker at the
Three Cups at all that night, and that at ab int 12 o'clock
he went, in company with a man named Ruunacles and
others, to walk round the town, and prevent the voters
from being kidnapped. He never went to Haste's
house, but when he was passing along the street, coming
from that direction, the defendant Baker did cry out
from the other side of the street, "Are you not ashamed
of yourself, bribing with that money 2" He totally de-
nied that anything had happened at the Three Cups, as
the defendant had sworn ; he never saw Osborn there,
and never gave him any money, or promise of money,
for his vote ; but he (Osborn) voted freely, having pro-
mised his vote about a fortnight before the election,
when canvassed by the witness and Mr. Waddington.
The evidence of this witness was confirmed by a young
gentleman named Runnacles, an architect, who had
spent the whole night with Daniels in going about the
town to prevent the kidnapping of voters, He posi-
tively declared that nothing of the kind had passed such
as the defendant had sworn, and that he must have
seen and heard it if it had, as he was constantly in
Daniel's company till 9 o'clock the next morning.
Osborn himself, a mariner, was also put into the box,
and swore that every allegation made by the de-
fendant respecting him and Daniels was untrue. He
said he bad not seen or spoken to Daniels that night,
and that no money had been given or promised to him
by Daniels or any one else for his vote. He voted for
Waddington, because he said he approved his "princi-
ples," but, on being questioned as to what his principles
were, he seemed quite at a loss for an explanation. A
man named Dawson and' several other witnesses were
called in continuation of the case for the prosecution.
They proved, among other things, that Daniels was not
at Haste's house at all on that night, as alleged by the
defendant in his evidence before the committee..
• The defence was, that the evidence given by the wit-
nesses for the prosecution could not be relied upon to
convict the defendant ; and several witnesses were called
who contradicted that evidence as to some of the cir-
cumstances in the case. A wan named Gledding, who
had been employed in the interest of Mr. Bagshawe, one
of the candidates, proved that he saw Daniels talking
with Osborne at the Three Cups on the night of the
nomination ; and that, about two months after the elec-
' tion, Osborn told hint that he had received 101 for his
vote. Several witnesses a!so proved that they had seen
Daniels come out of Haste's house that night.