The Sun.
London, England, 1807-02-12 00:00:00

CURIOUS CI USE.

Lords Of the. PAvy ._;ouncii held a Court or
Appeal, on Tuesday, at the COOtii,ofgee;
hall, which its attonded by the LOI.ID.I9RESIDENT,
Sir JOHN ANSTRUHER, Mr. Barnuftsi,,ani;lMre
TREVOR. An appeal front the Court of Madras, of
considerable importance, came on to be beard, in
which Rungay Pillay, a native and inhabitant of that
place, was the Appellant) and the East India Corn-.
pally Respondents...

• •t •
, The substance of the' Cane, as stated by the So&
itcia'Ott-GEsteasr. and another Barrister, was, that
in the year 1 atm, Mr. Jackson, an Agent of the Com..
,pany-,- employed the Appellant to colic& dues, &c.
froM some INabobs, due to the Company; and Mr;
JaCkson /mint, procured several favours to Le,
granted,to. a Nabob, the latter gave two sums, at
different tithes,' to the Appellant, as, presents to
Mr. Jackson, amounting to 1,000 pagodas, which
the Appellant paid 'to Mr. Jackson, who, in a short
tinieafter, sailed for England. The circu a ,ce
'coming to the knowledge of the Board of Revenue
and fresideht.of the Council; they summoned the
Appellant to appear before .thefit, and to par the
pagodas which he had received' froth the Nabob
into their hands, for the use of the East India Coln-
pany. The Appellant, at this time, was extremely
ill, and could not attend the summons. He sent a
written answer, stating, that he was not a registered
Dubash In the Company'S service; that he was
merely employed by Mr. Jackson, to whom alone
he was accoainable, and to whom he had given all
the presents Which he had received from tilts Nabob
for him.. The PreiiOnt and Board- of Revenue
were not satisfied with this, and sent some of the
Company's Physicians 'to ascertain the state of hit
health. They reported that the, journey from his
residence -to the Board might endanger his life ; yet
this did not avail, and he wa forced to appear;
when he persisted in his statement, that he had re-
ceived none of the presents for himself.. The Board
and Cohhcil, in consequence,, ordered him to swear
to the truth of this, which he hesitated to do, being
conscious` of his. ineecences and an oath in the
Elihdoo religien being administered with a great num-
her of religious ceremonies, anuel man in that coun-
try who, is not helieved_ without an oath having a
stigma attached to him, through like, as it is con-
sidered that he, has, undergone a kind of purgation.
The Appellant was, in consequence, cast into
prison ;-when, after some time, he paid the pagodas;
and, because he still: persisted that. Mr, Jackson had
the pagodas, he was obliged to undergo the degrad'
tug religious superstithjus cerethenies of an oath,
and swear disgrace to. himself. After this was corw.
plied ,with, he was still detained, in consequence of a
letter, from' Mr.. Lushingtop, who succeeded Mr.
Jackson, stating, if, the Appellaot. was liberated,
persons would :not be. so trilling to come forward to
make complaints agaihst him, as if be was in con-
finement, The Appellant made-another Appeal
against the,Board of ReVenue. He was.employed by
a person to make out his genealogy, to give him a
title to large principality and estate;
,which he did
according to lass employer's direakon, and which en-
abled him to get possession of the principality and
estate. His employer rewarded him with a present of
1000 pagodas. It turned out that the gettealogy was
not correa ; but this was not proved by any legal
evidence, but merely on the report of Mr. Raven-
shaW, who had his account . from the man who
wanted to dispossess the possessor. For this the
Board of Revenue had thought :proper to assume a
power, ,and fine him 2500 pagodas, charging him
with having been guilty of immoral conctuta.--
He then brought the case before the .Court at
Madras ; but the poor oppressed, Appellant had
no chance there, fur every Counsel was, retained
against him. The Court, however, remitted the
fine of 2500 pagodas, which had been infli&ed by
the Board of Revenue; considering it illegal ; but re-
fused to interfere in the, affair of, the Presents, con-
siderieg them to spring out of an illegal transadion,
and likewise refused costs.

The SoLitton-GBNRHAL, on behalf of the Ap-
pellant, contended, that admitting the transaionst
to be illegal, the Board of Revenue could not pos-
sibly havelany. thing to do with them.
SirJottx ArtrrauTnEx asked,- if a highwayman
could be robbed ?:

The SOLICITOR GENERAL replied, certainly. One
robber could not take the property that another had
been stealing, Without being guilty of the same of-
fence. The Learned Gentleman concluded %vitt'
praying their Lordships to order the immense sums
that had been extorted from the Appellant by the
Board of Revenue; with interest, the costs in India,
and the 'costs of this appeal; to be restored to him.
Sir JOliN AN.srauTnEß said, .that the Lord:Pre-
sident himself, and all the Lords present, considered
this an application of very great importance ; for
his part, he had but lately come from Itidia, and
he never heard of such coodua as that represented
to have been pradised by the Board of Revenue, as
they could not possibly possess any more power than
any indifferent person passing in the street ; it W::3
-therefore their wish to be in pc,ssession of all the
original proceedings, and every document relating to
the business, to peruse them before t they. came to a
decision ; and adjourned hearing the Attorney-Ge-
neral, for the East India Company, to a future day.

The following dreadful accident happened on
Tuesday se'nnight, at Sandhurst,, in Kent :—Two
boys, sons of a labouring man, named Sevus, being
left alohe, in the absence of their mother, amused
themselves by throwing shavings on the tire, which
soon blazed, and communicated the flame to- the
clothes of the youngest, about four years old,
which his brother, in attempting to blow out with
the bellows, so increased, that the poor child was
soon enveloped hi the lanes, and in that situation
discovered by a miller, Who casually called at the
house with his grist, and who lost no time in his
endeavours to extinguish the fire--which, by the
help of water from the kennel, he at length a
complished—but not till the little sufferer was so
miserably burnt, that 4e expired in . great .agony
soon attr.

Llst week a poor man at Tarvin, neat Chester, in.
endeavouring to lift. up a shovel with dung, d:-upped
down and expired immediately : and a wan at A. 5.11-
tun, in the same party!:, was found dead on Sa-
turday se"nnight, ,supposed to have been tr;z2n to
death.