The Sun.
London, England, 1807-06-02 00:00:00

THE KING V. JOHN THEODORICK.

This, case wasi. called on for argument, and the
question was, whether an information, in the nature
Of a writ of quo warrant°, should be filed against the
Defendant, requiring ,him to shew cause by what
authority he claimed, to be a member of the coal-
monalty of the Borough ,of Thetford ?
The affidavits on which the motion was originaly
made by ,Mr. Wilson, set forth the constitution of
the 'Borough, and stated,. that a Meeting of the Cor-
poration. was summoned on - the 14th of Jana iv,
1802, when the resignation of the faller of the
Defendant was received, and the Mayor, the Re-
corder, and the Coroner, without any further no-
tice, adjourned to another apartment, and imme-
diately elected the Defendant to the vacant seat in
the commonalty.
Mr. GAR ROW, in opposition to the rule, contended, ,
that this prOceeding was perfeelly regular. It was in
evidence, that a meeting of the wholCorporate Body
was summoned, and that after the resignation of
one member had been accepted, the seleet body,
whose duty it was, viz. thet.Mayor, the Recontzt
(the Duke of Grafton), and the Coroner, retir:d,
and introduced the name of the Defendant among
the list of the Commonalty, with the concurrence of
every party.

The ATTORNEY-GENERAL and Mr. WILSON, on
the contrary, insisted that such an ele&ion was not
only illegal by the common law, as laid down in the,
case of the King v. Carlisle (Lord Raym. 1355.), but
lils:ewise in opposition to the established custom of
the,Borough of Thetford for it was sworn on-the.
fac,t of tho afftd wits. that it had been the i.ivAt;abL:

usage to give sepayate notice of-the meeting of the
select body for the appointment uf one of the Corn-.
mon'alty: -' ' • •'. tr: ':' -
The Courfdeferred giving anytlecision, that they
might have an opOortutikry otlicx)king more minutely
into the case' of the King v. Carlisle.

LINTON V.

• • •
The question in this case Was, whether the Plain-
tiff's Attorney, "of 'the name of .Ed \•vardlltishworth,
should tipt pay, the Defendant his,cogfs, and likewise
answer the .matters'eontained in the affidavits..
The
,affiday* Citaz•LO Mr. RuShworth :with mak-
ing uSe: Of the 'titime,s'Of his ifeliendents in corn-
mencitig. !jai tam aalons against country Gentlemtl,
to recover pen4.lties under the Game Laws: This
pra('',lide:W been folloWed with respect not' only to
the betkliciant, but, to:a Mr. How hOddy and others.
In, the s,,t..,4gaiist Mr. Itushworth had
failed, the Plaintiff
.wais tak•lt' in exec.itidwfor the
costs, and' was now • COfined 'in Lincoln •County

The --.:AITTOhNEY--GiNFI-14t, and Nrr.
t the 11,"' afiid f 'Mr Rusk-
agains. t t,l .
and INIr; Wak6, dir'e6,tly COtitra-
dil:thig every sr:gen:ept on, the other side, cieiiyin
that 1\1r: nusip.vprtl) Sad:any interest in the event'of
the trial; further-than for his costs; as Ole Attorney
for the ' '

Ir. q.knit-iiw waq rriceeding to re'pl;tt.6 tes-
whetf he was stopped by the CH t JUSTICE,
Who; on account of, ti)e:latenesq of the libur, deferred
the consiacration o the case untirto-i-noYro. •
i<,.

COIfItT•O.F CONIMON,,P.LEAS, WESTMINSTER,
The Court was occupied.a consi&rable tittle this
tlayin hearing disctisSions' Of no general. inifortance.
-Lord Chief -justice 111Ak'srtElai gaVe'hiS:opinion,
aCconsideraSle.lenth,-in the AssuranCe Case, Nor-
ville .v. St. Barbe ;' the resnlt of which was, that .no
netw trial was to be ,granted.
At one o'clock the-ourt-adjourned-to Guildhall.

Sir JA TES' .NINSFIELD sat' at Nisi Fritts; and se-
veral uninteresting cases were submitted to the judg-,
rent of a 'Jury. The only case worthy of notice
was.' the, following':--

BURNET V. MORE. `.
, NEWSPAPERS. , • .
This was an action upon a BiliOf Exchange, dated
so far back as the 20th of AuoliSt, 1792, drawn. by-
the Plaintiff, and accepted by the. Defendant, for
51. ss. 11d. at three mouths date, for value received.
It appeared 'from the arguments of Counsel,. that
the consideration, for which this Bill was granted
was illegal, it•having been incurred by the.. Plaintiff
lending out Newspapers to read, at so moat per day,
contrary to The ecpress words ~of the Ace of Parlia-
ment, passed in the year 17a9, beingtbe 29tli of
the present King, which prohibits hawkers or any.
other.persons from lending Newspapers out to hire,
on 'account of that, praatce, obstruaing the sale of
such publications; and it is thereby enacted,
any person doing so shall forfeit the penalty of 51.
The Plaintiff, eorge Burnet, was a bookseller, bin-
der, and statiOner, , in' the Strand, near Temple Bar,
and dealt in Newspapers : he bad supplied the De-
fendant, with Papers for upwards of two years pre-
vious to the year 1792, being no less than 15 years
ago, but bad never'till now insisted on making good
his claim. •
_ _ _

It was argued by Mr._Serjeant BEST, on the part
of the, Plaintiff, that the alledged, illegality of the
claim was. a scandalous defence set up by the De-
fendant for,the. purpose of avoiding the payment of
a:bill justlY.due ; and, that if there was any illega-
lity in the transadion, he (the Defendant) was in
'a'manner a party to it. At all events the Plaintiff was
entitled to'. recover the sum of 41; .17s. which was
stated in the relative account in such__ a manner as
to* leave it undetermined. whether: it was' due, for
NewSpa'pers. or not.. AsAlle Plaintiff was a stationer,
might it not be .reasonably. inferred that this sum
was for stationary goods. • The Defendant had been
indulged, year after year, and now came for the first,
time to set aside that .security which he had grant-
ed,under the idea that; it was an illegal transaationi
but before he could entirely get rid of his bill, it
was necessary for him to prove that the whole sum
therein coMprehended was claimed, for an illegal.
consideration. Besides, at this distance of time, it
could not be ascertained, by the account yendered,
whether the major part of it had not been contrael-
ed previous to the passing of the Ad: -Besides the
aboveTtnentioned sum, -there was also an article in
the4ccount charging for a single Newspaper sold
to the Defendant, , the sum. of four-pence, which
Was at that time_ the price of such. periodical pub-
lications; and also for a stamp the. Slam of six-
pence. The plea of illegality could not be alledged
against these charges.
- •
Two Witnesses only were called, the one a Mr.
Owen, to,
.proVe • the 'hand-writing upon the bill ;
and the other a •Mr 4.. Temple, the Defendant's,
daughter, who proved the daily delivery of the
newpapers, and the fetehing them away about noon.
This traffic, she said, continued_ fOr two_years and
upwards, and her father had no other dealings with
Mr. Burnet.

Lord Chief Justice MANSFIELD, in addreSsing the
Jury, observed, that it seemed impossible to recover
money upon this bill, on account of the illegality of
the transadion.. The circumstance of the Plaintiff
not having brought his anion at an earlier period
betwixt the year 1792 and 1307, cast a degree of
suspicion upon his motives and condud. There
was no evidence whatever during that time, that
the Plaintiff ever conceived that he bad a legal
demand of even one shilling against the Defendant.
—lt appeared, frOm the evi.lence of Mr. More's
daughter, that .the whole demand must be illegal,
her father never having had any dealings with the
Plaintiff, except the lending of these papers. Upon
the whole it must have been a strange trade, and a
pretty. lucrative one, as the Plaintiff must hal,T been
charging at the tate \ of two-pence for, tile, reading
of each paper, which was in those. days half the
price of them. It was, in cases of smuggling,
the 'Same. as in the present case, the law forbids
newspapers to be let out to hire, as being injurious
to ;the sale of newspapers, and conseouetitly to the
Revenue; and, in the same manner, the; law pro-
hibits smuggling, as injurious to the Revenue. If
a man brings an anion • against another for payment
of smuggled, goods, although the transaction, as
j betwixt the seller' and• buyer, be just enough,, yet

ale former cannot reccoirera faffbitig from. the latter.
The law will not. permit a man to recbver money for
goods he has got by .committing a crime. In the
present instance, the bill being founded upon au
transadion, was perfedly.void. If the Plain-
titf could shew that anyof the papers so furnished
to the Defendant, had been supplied to him previ-
ous to the passing of the ket, then he might legally
have a rightto recover to tbat extent. It was thke-
fore the Plaintiff's own fault that he had not
brought evidence :upon that point. As'the matter,
however, at present stood, his Lordship could not
see any means by which they could distinguish what
part of the' Plaintiff's account was legal, -and what
illegal. The proof now adduced spewed that
nothing but Papers was the foundation,of the claim.
At all events; the Plaintiff ought tohave.brought his
adion-against Mr. More within a reasonable time,
so that the particular items of. his claim.might have
been more easily ascertained. He thought that the
Defendant was extremely well justified in resisting,
the demand: at such a distance.oftime.---Verdid for
the Defendant.

COURT OF CHANCERY, jubrxj,
EX—PARTS JOHNSON, "A BANKRUPT.

The Petitioner, Mr. Johnson, . the smuggler,.
moved the Court; thraug-ly`Sir SAmuEt..

fo-be discharged out of. die custody of the Warden'
of the Fleet Prison, 'on. the oround of • having
Warden,been, taken, :by the. Deputy some, time
back, its- he was returning-. from his examina-
tion before the Comtnissioners of Bankrupts,
before' whom he attended, under, Sand by
tue of, an order from • the Lord' Chancellor.
for enlarging the -• time 'for lui4 "'submission -and
examination,. the forty-two days allowed for such -
examination, by laW, having elapsed before he had
finished such examination. The imnortance of this
case to all -the ; unfortunate class of bankrupts is
great, and the circumstances of it' in themselvei are
interestinv, insomuch,- that Mr. Jutstice BLA'I4C
Sat with ther Chancellor to deliver his opinion as' to
the law part of the question; and Counsel ,
on both
sides argued with fig and zeal. It was con-
tended, on behalf of Mr; Johnson, that having
obtained an : Order- under the Great Seal to
surrender and be examined, after the usual time, in
Consideration of his services abroad, he came under
the construction and intent of the Act of Parliament
of the 511). of George IL which empowers the Lord
Chancellor to enlarge the time of forty-two days to
fifty days longer, or to such further time as the
Chancellor may, in his discretion, think fit, and that
it was common to make orders in such cases for a
Year, or- otherdpnger time, in cases of persons being
detained abroad; that it was a privilege allowed to
the and not to4he bankrupt himself ;' and
that the At of George H. "could not fairly be con-
strued to mean a limitation' of the Chancellor's
power to fifty clays only, against the express words
in a subsequent "clause, granting him discretionary
power in all such cases. Cases were cited to shew,
that arrests made in this way were held to be a con-;
tempt of this Court ;' and the bailiffs so arresting,
upon relnsing to discharge the bankrupt, were com-
mitted to the Fleet 5' and in' the cases" of- Hawkins,
John King,--and Others; in particular, it was ruled,
that not only the first arrest or detainer laid in such
cases was illegal and against privilege, such privi—
lege being both special under the Ad of Parliament,
and general or original in this Court, but that all•the
subsequent detainers raid against the party' in-thein-
terim, were likewise void, and followed the tate of
the -first detainer. - -

On the other side it Ivas contended, that the-order
of the Court was pot mandatory on the Bankrupt,
but merely permissive, giving him power, if he
would, Co surrender and submit to exatnination'y and
that-such Order did in no case 'do away the capital
felony previously committed by any Bankrupt who
corninitS wilfUl default,• refuses to make diseovery,
-or conceals twenty pounds.. It was also contended,
that bail may arrest their principal in his way to the
Courts, and produce Ern for examination, if sub-
peened as a witness; but that if the Bankrupt were
at large When coming in to surrender, the officer
,arresting him ,wasliable 'to five pounds per clay, dUr-
Ing hip detention of him, and that the Bankrupt
might have his Writ of Habeas Corpus at the same
time, notwithstanding such penalty -against the
Officer. An application had been made to Lord •
EasKttir. in this case, who recommended an-applica-
tion to-the Court of King's.. Bench for an Habeas
Corpus, Which was refused, the Lord Chief Justice
having stated that if it was a contempt at all, it was
a contempt of the Court of Chancery.
Mr. Justice LE BL ANC here gave his opinion on
the Aa df Parliament and common praCtice of the
Law, and 'said, that the time intended by tke Star
tote only extended to 92 days—that Creditors might
arrest the Bankrupt, or take hire up under an escape
warrant, and so might a gaoler.

The CHANCELLOR' said,' that Johnson was not
taken. up by any Creditor, but that being where it
was•not competent for him to own or avow himself
to be at the time he was taken up, there appeared
no contempt of this Court in the case..
The motion was refused. •

On Saturday last an inquisition was taken at Bi-
cester, befOre Mr. Gough, one the Coroners of Berk,
shire, on view of the body of William White, who,
in driving a young woman in a gig from .below Ban-
bury, to see her friends at Brill, stopped on the turn-
pike-road to give the horse some corn they had pur-
posely brought with them; he desired his fellow-
traveller to alight, as he must take off the bridle ;
and.while the horse was eating the corn, he. return-
ed to the gig to take something out of it, but, in
setting his toot. on the step, the horse took fright,
and set off full speed, and the man's fool slipped
through the iron step, which it. was utterly impossi-
ble he could ever disentangle himself from, by.which
means he was dragged upwards.of two miles, till
the turnpike-gate at Bicester stopped the horse:,—
The man she wed :some. faint signsoflife and instant
ly expired. •

•
TirE irt.,Y IN 1.-URNIPS.,—Sir W. 3. JERVIS, Of the
County of -Kildare, in Ireland, has tried successfully
to prevent this wide-spreading mischief, by sowing
flowerml3uniper with the seed: :This is found to
destroy, the ova or eggs of the insea, by which the
damage is occasioned.

Bow -ST n n :ebb *aggt.Z.. ne't
'llO was knocked di'awn,And• wifiose waggon was at-
tempted to be robbed, on the:,night of yesterday
seanight, in High attended at the office 3
his evidence was taken dawn, but it did not appear
that be had any knowledgel of
_the men'S persons
who commttted the offence, or should know them:
again; if he saw them.

: Five men were apprehended by' the officers, in
the. course of tile.. week, on suspicion ,of .being ;he
perpetrators of the horrid outrage upon 'Mr. Nitatkin
son and the watchman. Several of the by-standers
Of the ..barbarous ad -atteirded7,l4nri. declared them'
hot to be the men., They. were ,23c,c.yrdingly.
charged. .
We are h4py heptis' are 'eritdrtaiiied
the recovery of. Mr,..Watkinson., 'The utiv& two, re ,zl..
Main very doubtful. -
, •
Early oh' SundaY inbMing—the '.lll-1' tilt.' a 'marl,
long, known in the- ne -ittafbolithoisdclbt Neiligton; in
Scotland, by the, name-. of Symk-Pi4,!aliasiV.',44.;•
IT kite, was found- dead about from the
I'l gil-
lage of eilston; on tcr he gfeaf roakaAing to'Ste- •
warton. When: tbund, there Was. a 'd4 fraEttire iii
his4rehead, oecabioned,, seemingly; by. hi Si fall ing,,
from his mare, on a sharp poiNi,ted stone in the road,,
Where he hly. stone I,Vas sprinl;l4wl~li his
blood, and the' "griiiind 'around' it. There' "was no
other wound or mdrk of hurt upon hich, cot :any'
thing thatcould.rai the slightest suspiitcion thatAis
was murdered. tie was such an"oblect Orpityand
compassion that it was impossible for the most- wan-
ton wickedneSs to,attack 'and treat :hhu.with inho-
manity.:.,,lo2s.wert;.., his cpvf4-it-igottif,l the most ah-
jeti pciverty -apeared in 'his' whole person. His
mare was of a piece ksiltliiiiniikf,'brintaf ske*-erl
and•her bones almost stiCkirlifthrough the! sitiM7';,4,,.'
In,,his pockets, were found
,two shillings; and.aip-y,
pence of bad .silver, and some half-pence, in
,the
paniers; 'on his' mare, with mu' large''COats. -of a
greyish colour. •

Ethczordinary flispetith ire the-discharging; EtstiL
loading aShip;---On Ahe cgt.l3n)tqb,out three o',clock,:
in theafteruPon, arrived atliverpo9l,a Guine iman„,
laden with-Coffee, cotton, sugar, and rum :.her car-
giCwas-landedfabout tvvelvoVcrock the same night;
she was.l94f.lpd again with •a cargo for 4frica by
twelve. the following day, and Cleared out: at the
custom-House at three o'clock; being exactly twen-
tr-four hours ft-pm-the thne Of'her-arriVal. '

In d;ccribin the State of "French Secrety;
Pinkerton, in his " RecolleOions:,of sqs,
It is well. known, and universally acknowledged,-
that social intercourse is more agreeable in
.Franc'e
than in -any other part of the Globe: The violent
and :sanguinary Revolution'which has taken place,
has rent the. ties of friendship., and-even the confi-
dential intercourse of relations.. The reign of terror
has introduCed- such -mutual distrust, that ahno3t
everyman •looks tipit .another with a doubtfultind
jealous eye. This *lousy is -fur:ther augmented,
by the precarious tenure of every office and situa-
tion, the potseSsors being obliged to use as 'much
assiduity! and •intrigue to retain, 'as the :Calididates
use to obtain. 3. Yet, amidst all these obstacles,
there is :a charm in French society, which.is no:
where eSie to be found. This prOdeedS, in a great
measure, from that extrerrie-' urbanity tivhich has
been introduced by the perpetual society of women;
the French Ladies being of such free and ,unatfe.ated
conVersation, rind of such excinisiie, grace in all'
their Manners, 'that 'if is no woiVder they harepo-
lished -the 'men •-in:n superior • 'degree., L-WhateVer,
may be the sentiments of rivals, or even of enemies,
nothing is more rare in French society, than thpse'
sly pieVes'of malice, *Which are launched in the:cer-
tainty:that no .reply, can be. given, because even 'a'
repartee would, acknowledge the justice of the
sar-
casm. Flence any guch attack is detested as alike
insidious and 'Cruel ; 'partaking, more of the baseness
'of .poisoning, than even of the courage of assassina-
tion. The hopr of dinner being, ie late at Paris, -
the formerly enchanting meal of supper has become .
-almost unknown. 'Hence it is generally in the half
hour of the'desert, when the rosy or white elram-
paign sparkles in the glass, that' the French Ladies
display their most fascinating powers. Assuming,:
ag'it Were, the ch:iraaer of aaresses, they attack the
men, or defend' themselves, with the mast brilliant
corruscations of wit and humour ; of atTeaed 'sim-
plicity, or refined shrewdness and discernment Of:
charaCter. 'Their eyes also become se extressive
and impassioned, that they seem to wield, like Circe,
the-rod of eachantment."