The Sun.
London, England, 1825-08-16 00:00:00

ASSIZE IN"I'ELLIGENCE.

BRIDGEWATER, AUG. 13.
CROWN SlDE.—Befiv /lir. Justice LITTLEDALE.
PERJURY.

THE KING, ON THE PROSECUTION OF JOHN GIBBS,'
_ _ _

V. SAMUEL 'OW LEY.

.
This was an indictment for wilful and corrupt perjury, and
it was set forth, that in an action for a trespass and assault, in
. which John Gibbs was plaintiff, and Robert Ford defendant;
and which had been tried at the Wells Assizes on the Ist Sep-
tember, 1824, it was material to prove whether the plaintiff was
in a gig with one Wm. Evans in the month of November,
1823 ; and whether the said plaintiff was thrown out-of the gig,
the said Wm. Evans then and there falling on him. The in-
dictment then went on to state, that the defendant', Samuel
Rowley, was duly sworn to give evidence touching these mat--
ters, -on the occasion of the trial aforesaid, and that he falsely,
wilfully, and corruptly, gave evidence in substance to the effect
following, namely—" That in the month 'of November, as
aforesaid, the plaintiff, John Gibbs, was in a gig with Wm.'
Evans, of the Angel Inn, which gig broke clown while he, Sa-
muel Rowley, was within a few yards of the spot, and that the
plaintiff fell out of the gig, and William Evans upOn'him"—
whereas, in fact and in truth, the plaintiff and Wm. Evans
were not in a gig which broke down, as described, in Novem-
ber last; the defendant was not within a few yards of them;
and neither the plaintiff nor Wm. Evans fell out Of the gig,
as had been falsely sworn by the present defendant. The de-
fendant pleaded not guilty.
Mr. C. F. WILLIAMS (with whom `was Mr. Moody), pro-
ceeded to state the case to the Jury for the prosecution. It was
a very trite, but not on that ra:count less true observation,
that on the due administration of justice mainly depended the
prosperity and welfare of the country, and all that was dearest
to Englishmen ; property, liberty, and life itself, were closely
connected with this grand principle in our free Constitution_
an equal distribution of civil rights to every subject of these
realms. But the equal administration of justice could not be
accomplished without a strict regard to the sacred and binding
nature of an oath, a proposition so clear-and self-evident, that
the'necessity of maintaining the inviolability of that obligation
must be apparent at once to the most hunible as well as the'
most elevated individual. Under. these circumstances, when
the sacred barrier of an oath was broken down, and a wilful and
corrupt perjury appeared to have been committed, it was proper
that an offence of so grave a nature should he dal considered
by, the proper tribunal, and adequately . punished.' Such, he
pledged himself to prove, was the present case—one in which
the most daring, flagrant, and cea. upt perjury had been openly
committed, for purposes the most shameful that could well be
conceived. An action of trespass and assault, in which Mr.
John Gibbs was the plaintiff, and Mr. Robert Ford the defend-
ant, had been tried at the Wells Assizes for 7824, and in- the
course of this action it was material to inquire whether Gibbs
had sustained injuries of a very serious nature, occasioned by a
--violenakick received from.the defendant' on the lower part of.
his back. The,injuries which formed the ground of the action
were of a nature so serious and calamitous in their effect upon
the unfortunate plaintiff, that from- the time he received them'
up to the present moment his life had been one scene of suffer-
ing, with but little prospect of mitigation or relief. Such was
the nature of the plaintiff's case at the Wells Summer Assizes
of last year, and in the progress of the defence it became im-
portant to Ford, the defeadant, to prove that no such injury had'
been inflicted by him, . and thp.t the miserable and unhappy
plaintiff was merely affecting sufferings he never felt, for the put.
pose of bringing the charge brought against the defendant into a
profitable speculation, in order to gratify his own mercenary de-
signs, or else that the injury had originated from a cause dif-
ferent fromthat assigned. However, the,Jury, who would have
Giblis placed betbre them, would have it in their,power to
form their own estimate of that rniaerable man's situation, and
could therefore come to their own conclusion on the subject.—
On the occasion of the original trial, in order to spew the plain-
tiff's illness,-did not arise from Ford's assault; but another, and
distinct cause, the, present defendant, Samuel Rowley, was
brought forward as a witness, and deposed that he had seen Mr,
Gibbs with Mr. Evans of the Angel Inn, in a gig, on the 13th
of November, on which occasion he swore the gig sons over-
turned, and Mi. Gibbs fell out first, and Mr. Evans on the top
of him. In this manner it had been intended to persuade the
Jury which tried the cause, that the sufferings of Mr., Gibbs did
not arise from the kick inflicted by Ford, but from the conse-
quences of this pretended accident; but on. the previous trial
the Jury perceived there wan not one syllable of truth in the do-
fea dant's account, and they laughed his evidences to scan. The
fact Was, Mr. Gibbs and Mr. Evans were not, asaleacribed by
tile prisoner, in a gig at the time stated, and at -no period of
their lives had they even suffered any such, accident as that de-
scribed in the evidence or the present defendant.. This being
the case, it appeared equally a public as well as a private duty
to-bring this prisoner into a Court of Justice, Ivhere he would
be likely too- receive the reward of his shameful and audaeious
conduct. Perhaps the Jury would be astonished to hear that ,

PRICt SEVENPF,Ntir

'.•1• no such occurrence as that sworn to by the prisoner -ever 'toon
place, and that at the time when the overturn of the Rig" was
stated to have occurred, the unhappy man, whose just clainia to
compensation it-wat, meant to destroy by means 'of Perjdty, y,a3
stretched upon his bed, and quite incapable of rising therefrom,
in consequence 'of the effects of the outrage he hail previously-
experienced front the-defendant Ford. • It was an act that coull
scarcely be characterised as it deserved, to step forward -far the
purpose of cheating Mr. Gibbs of the inadequate compensation
in the power of the lair; to afford him for the grievous injury lie
• had sustained. This had been the conduct of' the men now at
the bar, and he called on the Jury-to prove by their verdict the
cause they entertained of the enormity of the offence that-,had
been committed, and to hold out to the prisoners, and all other
persons who were disposed to trifle with the serious agitation of
an oath, that a departure from truth was always certain sooner
or later to carry its own 'punishment along with it.'
The evidence for the prosecution fully supported the Learnen
Counsel's statement. Among the witnesses examined was:
Mr. John Gibbs, at whose instance this action, was instituted,
and the plaintiff in the former cause. lie was here carried into
Court. He appeared quite helpless from the, effects of the ie-
juries he had 'received; "and was partly supported on crutches
arid partly by atteodantsWhile he gave his evidence. lie was
Placed near the Bench; on the left hand of-!l4r. Justice Little.=
dale, and the side nearest the Jury ; and exclusive of the inju-
ries he seemed to have sustained, was a fine-looking titan, an-
patently about 50 yearS of age.
Mr. Ensiri :an addressed the Jury for the,defence. It" was
not his intention to- attempt to controvert the general observa-
tions of his fiend Mr. Williams, as to the Maenitude of the
crime imputed to the prisoner, and the urgent necessity, which
existed to check the heinous offence of perjury,, whenever it
should be clearly established AS having' been committed: He
was, on the contrary, ready to concur in the observations of nit,
Learned 'Counsel on this subject most fully and cordially, and
he also admitted with him, that where the offence bad been
committed,-the heavy punishment of the laic should ftilloW it.
`'But,
on this account, if on no other, and becatiae perjury" was
an offence so serious and weighty, and punishable so severely,
the Jury should listen with the otniost caution and ciactun.
spection to all that had been urged by the Counsel for the pro-
secution, and take good care not to•permit their feelings to be
carried away by the most poWerful and impassioned speech of
his Learned Friend onnhe-present occasion: Every effort had
been used to awaken their passions, and mislead their feelings;
but he trusted those efforts would not- be successful. A forcible
appeal had also been made by his Learned Friend to their feel.
ifigs of humanity and, compassion ; for he had' deScribed, in
the most glowing and affecting phraseology, thea,ufferingsand
injuries sustained by Mr. Gibbs, and the unfortunate person
had been placed before the Jury as if merely for the purpose
of adding strength to the appeal. It did not signify, as far as
the present inquiry was concerned, whether the injury suffered
by Mr. Gibbs -was in consequence of the assault ot Ford, or
any other cause. The only matter for tile consideration of
the Jury was, whether or not the prisoner was guilty of wil-
ful and corrupt perjury, in having sworn that on a certain day
he saw Gibbs and Evans in a gig, that the gig was overturned,
and the persons in it thrown out in consequence of the accident.
Mr. Justice LITTLEDALE charged the Jury, and previous
to summing up the -evidence, observed, it had beets stated .by
the prisoner's Counsel, that the Jury could not rely on the
proof given of the evidence of the prisoner in Gibbs v. Ford,
because that proof was only furnished by the supposed testi-
mony of a single witness. Ho*ever, lie could see no reason to
doubt the evidence of that witness, and' thought the fact was
sufficiently established by him, and, therefore, corroborative
evidence was not necessary. It had next been contended that
the whole of the prisoner's evidence bad not been proved, and
that it should have been stated in every part ; but he thought
quite enough had been stated for the purposes of this inquiry.
The next question was as to the materiality of the prisoner's
evidence, or, in other words, whether it was likely to affect the
verdict of the Jtiry or not, and he thought that fact also este=
bished. The action was to recover compensation in damages
for an assault, and-if the illness of the plaintiff appeared to re-
sult solely from the violence of Ford, lie would be entitled to
larger damages than if' it arose partly front the kick and
partly from a sttbsequent accident with which Ford had alo_
thing to do. In this way the testimony of the prisoner had
been material to lessen the damages. The /it xt _point was 'as
to whether the prisoner's evidence in the trial between Gibbs
anti Ford was or was not false. In order to contradict his tes-
timony, there must be the evidence of more than one witness,
for in these cases, in the view of the law, one man's oath was
quite as good as another's. Two witnesses were called to
rebut the evidence of the prisoner, and they were fully sup-
ported by other testimony on several collateral points of consi-
derable importance. There could be no doubt then that the
defendant-swore falsely, and the only remaining point was
open 'for the. consideration of the Jury, viz. whether the
prisoner gave false evidence wilfully and with a corrupt mo-
tive ? It' it should appear that a person swore falsely,
out a probable motive, then it was fair to attribute die
false swearing to mistake or misapprehension, and that not
coming under the description of perjury, the priecnier must be
acquitted, Where no motive was apparent, he would disposed
to indulge considerable doubts on the subject of the perjUry.
BUt although no motive should appear, yet if the false swear-
ing appeared to be wilfully conimitted, it would be quite
correct to infer the correct motive, altliOttgli it was not in evi-
dence that it existed. In that case some secret motive must •
be presumed to exist, ;for no man would swear falsely without
an object. No misapprehension could be alleged; for the'de-
fendant stated himself to be within two or -three yards of the
parties when the accident occurred, so that there was no room
to suppose any mistake could, have possibly occurred.
The Jury found the prisoner 4ilty, without hesitation, and
the Court sentenced him to twelve months' confinement. to hand -
labour in the House of Correction.

CIVIL SlDE.—(Before Mr. Justice GAEL EE.)
N.IPPEIt,v. SNAPE.
This was an action of replevin, on occasion of a distrt ss taken
by the defendant, Mr. Snape, on a farm occupied by the plain-.
tiff, Mr. Nipper, as tenant. •
The question turned upon the terms of the tenantcy, whether
the rent was payable yearly or half-yearly, which wah proVed by
the defendant's &tighter, Miss Elizabeth Snape.
Mr. Sergeant WILDE examined this witness at considerable
length, who gave her evidence under same embarrasiment,
but apparently with truth, • and was corroborated by Other
witnesses ; and the Learned Sergeant commented largely upori
her evidence and manner-of giving her testimony, in his ad.
dress to the Jury..
Mr. Sergeant PELT., in reply, urged the credibility of her
evidence. " Gentlemen, the witness has cord acted herself with
great propriety. YOu saw her manner. .8316 stood at the bar,
twisting her handkerchief round her thumb, whilst she was
twisted by. my Learned Friend. My Brother Wilde corrnitiiris
of her embarrassment. Gentlemen, can this be-wondered at in
a simple country girl, who comes into a Court of Justice ibr the
first time ? Even I, who am an old stager-1 had almost
an old broken-down, post-horse, find it often very difficult to
throw off my Learned Friend; he frequently drives sharp rowels
into roy sidesand can it be matter of wonder that he is art
overmatch for 'Betsy Snape? Gentlemen, this is the :rue a..ei
particular account and adventures of Mr. Sergeant Wilde and
Elizabeth Snape!"-
Verdict for the defendant.
This closed the Bridgwater Assizes. On Monday the Bristol
commission is opened, and on Tuesday business commences.

••
THE tfARVEST. —(F rem the New York GiA-
'zeta of July 15.)—1n this and the neighbouring counties, says
a Newburgh paper, our Farmers are busily engaged in their
harvest, and the weather, so far, has been.every way favourable
to the ingathering. A progessive improvement in the cam-
.vation of the earth is every year visible among the farming in-
terest. This season has been peculia:ly favourable to, their
wishes, and never has this district of country produced -Buell an
abundance, the earth is literally buried in the various produc-
tions of wheat, rye, oats, ,flit*, grass, &c, In no former year
has so much wheat, by perhaps one-third, been sbwn, and never
have we seen it so productive. The•fall-harvest of corn &c.
promises to be equally plenteous with the summer; the abun-
dance by which we are .surrounded, offers the greatest cause of
congratulation to the Giver of all geol.
QUEBEC, JUNE 7he Crops.)—Accotots
from several parts of this District state, that the crops are suf-
fering by the present drought and heat, which has nowieonti-
nued ftir nearly three weeks. The plants of both grass' and
grain are forced into 'a state preparatory to coMing.into ear,
before they have had time to spread. The wheat. will be•thift
rnd short, although probably of a gooci.(piality: The :great
heat has had the effect of accelerating all fruits: Wild• sirs*,
beries were ripe. as early as the 15th of this month. Green Peas;
sowed in the open ground, have been fit for the table for some
time past.