The Sun.
London, England, 1825-07-14 00:00:00

LIBEL.

" The charge of a low origin and ignorance' (with however
odd a grace it may come from such a quarter) is not restricted
to Nath. Pearce : two respectable Germans, who seem to have
committed no other offence than that of having been assisted by
Mr. Bankes, in the very same manner as the writer himself
was, almost immediately afterwards, are described as young
men, who were evidently persons of low origin and Confined
education, and their manners WERE DECIDEDLY VULGAR.'
• Although travelling (he indignantly adds) without any pro-
fessed object beyond their own pleasure, they were both so poor
and destitute as to suffer Mr. Bankes to pay their expences. It
is to be hoped that Mr. Buckingham does not intend toupbraid
them, in this,place, with a degree of SUFFERANCE which he
soon found it convenient to imitate, more-especially as we have
the best assurances, that these yovg men neither violated the
confidence of any employers to whom they were responsible,
nor abused the indulgence of their benefactor, by procuring
tracings from his papers, iesjorder afterwards to turn them to
account."
"Mr. Buckingham had undertaken to carry letters for a mer-
cantile house to. India, overland, by the most direct and eipe-
elitious route, and with all attention to economy, the firm agree-
ing on their part, to bear his expences. From the first moment
however, of his setting foet.in Asia, we find him acting as if
both his time and funds were his own. How he may have
ice arranged matters with his tried and well-loved friends at
AJexandria, .we know not ; but this we do know, that so soon
. as his conduct reached their ears, Mr. Barker, the British Con-
, sal at Aleppo, was authorized to take from him the dispatches,
and to dismiss him ; and that he being now already on his way
to Bagdad, a Tartar was sent expressly after him for his recal,
but died accidentally upon the road! So that it is to the timely
death of this Tartar ' that the Asiatic Societies at Calcutta, and
Literary Societies at Madras and Bombay,' are indebted for
sheir distinguished member."
" Hie transactions with Mr. Bankes seem to have been an
episode in his plan. We have not only the statement of that
gentleman with respect to them, but have seen also the deposi-
tion on oath of his servants (the same who are spoken of in this
work), that Mr. Buckingham bore no part whatever in the de-
positions or the expences of the journey beyond Jordan, Sin. •
that he never made a single sketch during this time, nor had
materials for doing so, and has, moreover, been heard to la;
nient his inability ; that the plan, which is the ground-work
of :bat here given of Djerash, was made by Air. Bankes, and
traced, by his permission, at a window of the convent of Na-
tereth by Mr. Buckingham, upon a direct promise that it
should not be published."
" Buckingham (J. S.) Travels in Palestine—notice of an
gregious blunder in the title-page of this work—remarks on the
blunders in the preface—geographical blunders respecting the
site of Ramat' aud Bosor—specimens of his ignorance and
book-making—profane and infidel allusions to the Scriptures—
his account of the Lake of Tiberias, false—blundering accounts
of the ruins of C&sarea—ignorance of Arabic—incorrect ac-
count of the convent of Jerusalem—illiberal disparagement of
Nathaniel Pearce—dishonourable conduct of Mr. Buckingham
towards his employers, and Mr. Bankes's note—arrival of the
latter gentleman and of Mr. Buckingham at what the latter
calls the ruins of Geraza, which, most probably, are those of
Pella—blunders committed by Mr. Buckinghom in his account'
of the antiquities actually discovered there—his plan of them,
and transcripts of inscriptions pilfered front Mr. Bankes—fur-
ther specimens of Mr. Buckingham's blunders—the ruins of
Oomkais, which he gives for those of Gamala, proved to be the
ruins of Gadara—remarks upon the ignorance displayed in his
-plates, which are pilfered from those of former travellers."—
•k Index.)
" The map is with all its errors; for it is one
of the least correct of the productions of that extraordinary ge-
n:us ; and the ground-plans of Jerusalem are taken out of a
t:.anslation of Josephus. Upon the whole, we are compelled to
say of this dull and tiresome volume, which we have gone
through with more care than it deserved, that the plates are
wrathy of the letter-press, and both of them, we verily believe,
of the Author.

" So much for Buckingham!"
Mr. AIIItOTT having commenced reading the note to page
3fil, containing one of the libels set forth, was interrupted by
the Attorney-General, who said his client regretted very much
having published the article now complained of; that he was
willing to withdraw his justification, and to consent to a verdict
-for s►ol. _

Mr. SCARLETT—My client instructs me to accept of that
apology, and to say that this mode of terminating a proceeding
of which another termination might engender hostility, was the
more agreeable, as his anxious desire was to stand well with tile
Loan CHIEF JUSTICE—The result is a proof of the advan.
cages of conducting causes with the temper and moderation with
w...;c11, I must say, causes in this Court are generally con-
cu sted.

A. verdict was taken for the plaintiff—Damages .501.

ICING AND QUEEN' OF THE SANDWICH ISLANDS.
HILL AND OTHERS V. STARBUCK.

Mr. SCATILETT said, that this was an anction brought by'
the plaintiffs, to recover damages for loss occasioned to them by
the defendant's breach of contract. The plaintiffs were the
owners of a South Sea whaler, called L'Aigle, and the defend-
ant had been employed as Captain of the vessel, in a voyage
which she'performed in 1823-4. The plaintiffs complained,
ti at in consequence of the defendant's neglect, they had been
deprived of 25 tons of oil, which they might have had if he had
exerted himself, and that from the same cause s:.veral tons of
oil which they did receive, were in such a damaged state, that
tney were obliged to be sold at a very reduced price. In a for-
in,:r voyage, the vessel had brought home 285 tons of oil ; but
previous to the voyage in which the defendant commanded
e was repaired, and her capacity of holding oil increased,
so that it was fairly calculated that she could bring home
from 300 to 320 tons. The plaintiffs had suffered a loss on
the general state of the cargo, but upon that they did not
found the present action ; indeed, they had cut down ti!eir just
-demands to the lowest possible scale. The defendant was ap-
pointed commander of L'Aigle on the 2d of January, 1822,
and the contract into which he entered with the plaintiff,
bound him to proceed round Cape Horn, 'and to use his ut-
plost exertions to procure a cargo of oil in as short a time as
possible, which he was to bring-home -with- all reasonable dis-
patch. The defendant was to receive 12 per cent. on the net
proceeds of the cargo, besides 12 per cent; on, any bounty which
might be received from the Government. It would appear that
the defendant had been misled by two passiona.whith often found
their way into very honourable minds, namely; love and ambi-.
tion. The defendant could not resist these passions, and hehad

become etheirvictiin. Of all mankind, a sailor should be the last

to yield too readily to the solicitations of the tender passions,
whilst he was on a voyage and had a stern and rigorous duty to
perform. No sailor in the King's service was c.llovied to take
his wife on board ship with him, lest in her society his attention
ahould be distracted from his duty to cares of a different nature.
He apprehended that no commander of a vessel could be jus-
tified in selecting an object to bestow his particular attentions
on during a South Sea voyage, unless with the consent of the
owners. The defendant set sail in January, 1823, and in the
spring of the same year he arrived at the Sandwich Islands.
He did not stay there any great time, hut it was long entaigi
to lose his heart. From the Sandwich Islands he went on his
first whale-catching expedition, but soon returned, borne on
the wings of love. The Sandwich Islands seemed to resemble
the island of Circe, which those persons who had once visited
it could never keep away from. On his second arrival at the
' island, the defendant took on board a young woman of very
fine form, it was said, whose personal attractions increased to
an. extraordinary extent whilst she remained on' board. The
defendant again set forth in pursuit of whales with his fair
companion, and on September the 7th he wrote to his owners
that he had 275 tons of oil on board, a.rut that he expected
to complete the lading in two months. In the meantime,
tie said fte.was going to the Sandwich Islands *to recruit
the health of some of his men, who were ill with the scurvy.
The defendant, however, had another reason for going to
the Sandwich Islands—it was to put the young lady ashore,.
where it was supposed her accounchement, could take place
more conveniently than on board ship. When the young
woman arrived in her own country, she spread the
Captain's praises so industriously, that he soon became a
prodigious favourite with the ladies of the Sandwich Islands.

His reputation reached the Court circles, and her Majesty of '
Sandwich was highly interested by the account which the
young female gave of the pleasant manner in which she spent
her time on board the vessel. What did the defendant do
next ? It would hardly .be believed, but he abandoned the
prosecution of his trading voyage to receive on board his
ship the King and Queen of the Sandwich Islands, their
prime Admiral, Secretary of State, and other distinguished
individuals. In order to accommodate the royal train, it.was
necessary that additional provisions should be taken on board ;
consequently the vessel was stocked with about 400 hogs, a
proportionate number of goats and sheep, and 45 tons of
water, the supply usually kept on board being only 10 tons.
The owners were kept in perfect ignorance of these proceed-
ings; and the first intimation they received of them was, an
annunciation in a newspaper that the King and Queen of the
Sandwich Islands had come to England in L'Aigle, and
taken up their abode at Osborn's hotel in the Adelphi.—
What had inilticed the defendant to bring the royal personages
to England—whether it was the hope of being made a peer of
the Sandwich Islands, or of obtaining some pecuniary recom-
pense—the owners did not know. It might be supposed that
when the defendant got the royal party on board the ship, he
would have come to England by the shortest route ; but that
did not accord with his ambitious ideas. He determined to
show his august visittrs something of the world, and thinking it,
best to begin with that part which was new, he proceeded to Rio
de Janeiro, and introduced them and himself to the Emperor
of the Bra'ils. The whole party was received at Court there,
and it was related by history that a like honour attended them
in this country. By this imprudent conduct of the defendant,
the owners of the vessel had been injured, and for the injury
which they had received they now came to that Court for re-
dress. He understood that the ground upon which the defend.
ant intended to defend that part of the case which related to the
taking on board the young lady of the Sandwich Islands was
most extraordinary. It was to b 0 urged that the defendant was
justified in taking the female on board, on account of the sin-
gular keenness of her vision, which enabled her to spy out the
whales which the captain was in pursuit of. If this plea should
be successful, it must be understood that in future a young
woman of the Sandwich Islands was a necessary part of the
outfit of a South Sea whaler: It would be proved in evidence,
that after the defendant left the Sandwich Islands, he might
easily have completed his• cargo, bedause the ship fell in with
several whales; but he was not in a condition to do that, having
thrown overboard the utensils for boiling the oil, to accommo-
date his royal friends. It would also appear, that the defend-
ant had taken 29 months to complete his voyage in, when he
might have completed it in 24. If the facts which he had stated
should be proved, he trusted that the Jury would give the
plaintiff's such damages as should compensate them for the loss
which they had sustained by the defendant's misconduct.
Tire Learned Counsel then called evidence in support of his
statement.

The ATTORNEY•GENERA-L addressed the Jury for the de-
fendant. He said that unless he was deceived by his instruc-
tions, he would be able to give a complete and satisfactory
answer to every part of- the plaintiff's case. The Jury could
not fail to have been struck with one circumstance during the
progress of this inquiry—namely, that out of all the persons
ccmposing the crew during the voyage in question, not one indi-
vidual except the two apprentices of the plaintiffs had,been
brought forward to give evidence. The defendant had been
most hardly dealt with by the plaintiffs. During the three
years that he had been in their service, he had earned from
1,2001. to 1,4001., of which he had not yet' received a single,l
sixpence; but, instead of paying him the plaintiff's had treated
him with the present action. The evidence which would be
produced on the part of the defendant would he of the most
satisfactory nature, though unfortunately it was not oral but
written evidence ; for the parties who had given it being
obliged to leave the country, their evidence had been obtained
in anticipation by interrogation. The evidence to which be
particularly alluded was that of the person who acted as mate
on board L'Aigle at the time the defendant was commander.—
This person was now on -a voyage in the service of the plaintiff's,
and it could. not, therefore, be alleged that he was subject to
an undue bias towards the defendant. The evidence of that
Man would prove that the defendant had been most indefati-
gable, in his exertions ,to procure a cargo, and that he in no
way neglected his duty in consequence of having on board the
female who had been alluded to, although he did not mean to
defend his conduct in that respect. The plaintiffs never com-
plained of the defendant for bringing the King and Queen of
the Sandwich Islands to this country for several months after
they knew of the circumstance. In fact, it was the plaintiffs
themselves who escorted the King and Queen to Osborn's
Hotel. The present actions had originated in feelings of spleen
towards the defendant, because the plaintiff's had
_discovered
that he was applying to - the Treasury for remuneration for
bringing the King and Queen to England, at the same time
that they themselves were making application for a similar
purpose. The plaintiff had a direct interest -in bringing home
as large a cargo as possible, because he was to receive a per cene.
age on the amount. The voyage had been, perhaps, a little
longer than usual, but that was owing to a storm which the ves-
sel experienced off the coast of 3lexico, and in which she lost
all her boats but one. It would be fully proved that at the
time the vessels left the Sandwich Islands she had, as large a
cargo of oil as she could carry.• The decrease of quantity ob-
servable on her arrival in this country, was to be accounted for
by supposing that there had been a- loss by leakage. He had
almost forgotten to state, that when the King and Queen of the
Sandwich Islands came on board. the vessel, they stocked it, as
well as another vessel belonging to the plaintiffs, called the
Princess Mary, with provisions, free of expence. That was a
clear gain to the plaintiff's, but not one word had been said on
. the subject by his Learned Friend. After some further remarks
the Learned Counsel concluded by saying, -that after the Jury
had heard his evidence, he would confidently leave the case in
their hands.

The evidence of .John 31‘Adam, the mate, and Wm. Roots,
one of the crew of L'Aigle, was then read by the clerk.
Joshua Williams deposed ( viva voce) that he was surgeon
on board L'Aigle, during the voyage in, question. During the
hole of the voyage the Captain exerted himself to the utmost.
—Whilst the young female was on board, the Captain never
negles:ed his duty. Before the vessel proceeded to the Sand-
wich Islands, 19 of the crew, which consisted of 35 men, were
ill with the scurvy. The vessel did not remain longer at the
Sandwich Islands than was necessary to restore ele health of
the crew. Before the vessel. left the whaling-ground several of
the men were unable to work, owing to illness. The ship was
as full of oil as she could hold.

Cross-examined by Mr. SCARLETT —lle was in the vessel
during the voyage which she made previous to the last. On
the former voyage there were two girls on board. He did not
keep one of them. He would not swear that he had not told
the plaintiff's solicitor that the ship was not full of oil. In the
former voyage the vessel brought home 282 tons of oil. he
was then crazy. In the last voyage she was in excellent con-
dition; she then brought home 271 tons.
%Vm. Chaplin, .the master of Osborn's hotel, proved that
within a day or two after the arrival of the King and Queen of
the Sandwich Islands at his house, Mr. Boldcott, one of the
plaintiffs, came to visit them. He repeated his visits frequently,
and was attentive to their Majesties.
One of the Jury asked who paid the bill, and Mr. Gurney
said that Government paid it.
Perkins, a waiter at the hotel, stated, that he heard Mr.
Boldcott ask the King for money, as payment for his passage.
The King had about 3,0001. in his possession.
A clerk of the Bank proved that Mr. Boldcott and the King
of the Sandwich Islands came to the Bank, and vested 2,100/.
in the name of the King.
Several South Sea Captains stated that two years and four
months was not .a long voyage for a ship going round Cape
Born. ...
Mr. SCAItLETT, in order to meet the statement made by
the Attorney-General, that the ship was provisioned for the
home voyage by the King of the Sandwich Islands, by which
the plaintiff's had profitted, produced a charge in the de-
fendant's writing upon the plaintiff's for the provisions for the
home voyage.
Mr. SCAItLETT then shortly replied.
The Loitn CHIEF JUSTICE summed up the evidence, and
the Jury, after some deliberation, found a verdict for the plain-
tiff—Damages, 210/.—The Court rose at eight o'clock.

Lord LTLFORD is said to have died in COnSp-
quence of a cold, caught by being exposed to the
torrents of rai❑ which fell during the late review
at Hounslow.

Thursday night, during Miss FooTE's Per-
formance in Dublin, Peace Officer Ga/og/y took
into custody a young man of genteel appearance,
named J. RUSSELL, living at Summer Hill, on a
charge of using obscene language to Miss FooTE.
The prisoner entered into recognizances to abide
his trial before the RECORDER.

Mr. Joitx CRAVEN, a farmer at Galisetey, had,
during the day, been assisting his brother in the husbandry bu-
siness, .and in the evening retired to sup with him ; during the
time they were at supper. his nephew, a youth about lt; years
of age, took up a gun, which had not been used for a consider-
able titrie, and presentinglit at his uncle, said, " Uncle, I will
shbot you,;" when, to his consternation and horror, the piece
went off, and shot his unsuspecting relative dead on the spot—
The shot paSsed through his cheek and part of the head, and so
instantaneous was his death, that he expired before he could
complete the instinctive movement of raising his hand to his
Head.—( York Courant.)