The Sun.
London, England, 1809-09-28 00:00:00

, . • • .
CH. SI:1111ClEk. ASSIZES, ./11.'G, %),

Befoce t:ze 11:0n. Sir RODEII r DALLAS, arz' a
• Special Jury.

PAYMENT OF OLD DEBTS.

NICHOLLS 2'. WARD.
The Attorney-General, Mr. MAN LEY, opened
this case. It was, he stated, an issue out of the
Court of Chancety, dire&ed by the Lord Chancellor,
for the purpose of ascertaining whether three bonds
for very considerable sums of money, which h;id:
been giVen by the late Sir George Wynne, had ev,,e
hden paid to the party of whom the Plaintiff was the
representative. The bonds in question ‘ver:.! dated
as long back as the year Mg. It therefore wnuld
naturally be asked tO --Avila the delay in endeavour-
ing to obtain payment of,them, was attributable ?
The fads were these :—Sir George Wynne was a
Gentleman wuo made a very conspicuous figure in
life, some time after the commencement of the last

century. He was not, it was true, eminent as a
Statesman, or as a member of any of the learned-
professions; but: he acquired immense wealth by
the discovery of a.valuahle lead mine upon one of his
estates, This mine was so produEtive, that, in the
language of une of the witnesses, the money from 7;
it cause in by horse . loads. Unfortunately for .Sir
George, produeive as it was, it was not equal to his
extravagance ; his .p!aces of residence, in town .end
country, were the mansions of splendour and gene-
ral hospitality; Princes. and Noblemen.were his com-
panions at the table, and he lived altogether as if he
thought his mine of leadwas a mine of gold, which
would never be exhausted. In this he was mis-

taken the mine soddeoly wiled, taut .Sir George

continued his style •of living, and his hasits of ~ex-
pence, long after the, source. which Supplied then% ,
had been drained. He became embarrassed, an.l
borrowed money
.wherever he could . on mnrtgage,
bond, and personal securities. At. length executions
seized his propiply,; ..hislionses and rich furniture.;
were taken possession of by his creditors ; he was
obliged to ref ire. to, the
,Isle of M.an. lie afterwar4
came to Lolutony and sought .refuge the
limits of the linar.clxs Gree4Lcluth; but. finally, .he
wits arrcsted, and thro7.% tOnlo t e King's Bench,
w.nere ,continued.till wain a yeek;o( his.death,
when : his crvditors finding itiere were, no hopes of
their being .paid, or of his :hying much.longer, con-;
sented.tn reh.ase him. . Sir, Genrge, soon after-his.
-enlargement, died at the louse: ot.:bis
Among a valiely of securities, he kat' given the three
&ands,
,with reference to which
..the, present issue w as
direaed: I\;().'N,, though the presqniptinn,of
arising from thejapseoltime,.was, that:those bonds.
:were satisfied, yet, it a sufficient, reason could. be
shewn for•the party not having demanded payment
of them,
_that would: repel. the presumption ot,
went, and entitle tire present holder of the securi,
ties to demand.and xeceice satisfaction for them.
The reason helad to,shew was the state of poverty
in which Sir George.had continuedlduring the iawp.
part of his lite, and, indeed, nearly trout the time the-
bonds were given. it would have, been of n'o.nse IQ
have attempted to enforce them, because be was, t.Q
all appearance, utterly insolvent. After his death,
some of his estates, respeding which law-suits had
been long,depending, turned out to be adequate.to
the payment.of his dehts4 but till those which wero
due on mortgages were discharged, the bond creditors
could not. claim. The mortgages had , all. of them
been recently paid, and now the representative of
the bond creditors insisted on their right to havethe
bonds settled, and the Plaintiff as one of them. The
Learned Counsel said, he should shew that these
bonds never could :have been paid, and he should
then be entitled to a verdid. .
The bonds were them put in and read ; after
which, in' order to shew tl distress to which Sir
George had been reduced, tittle was examined an
old woman of the age of fourscore and ten, who
had been at the sale, of his effeas when Ow werq,
taken in execution by the bailiffs; she brought with
her a large pewter platter, about the size of an ordi-
nary round table, which she had bought at the
sale, soon after her marriage, and entering upon.
house7keeping; it had .Sr George's crest, a dolphin,
embossed on it, and she. seemed_ to ...consider it
,as a
great treasure; she said they took every thing clesn
out of the house, and then .Sir George left the
country, and went to the Isle of Man. The other
circumstances stated by the Attorney• General were
.tullY-proved.
Mr. OLBADZ, who appeared for the.first time on
this CirCuit, made an ache speech, on the part of
the ' D,Aendant". He contended, that to.repel the
presdination of law, there must be positive proof
the bonds had never been: paid. There had been
periods when Sir George tii.ight have paid them.—
His
.friends might have paid them. And he con-
-sidered, that it the Plaintiff had not been satisfied
they had' been paid, he would have had resource
to measures for their_ recovery, at a much earlier

period.
Sir RoArttur DALLAS complimented the Learned
Counsel on the in&enuity of his reasoning but he
was 01 opinion, that the Plaintiff had sufficiently ac-
Counted for the suit not having been betoie institut-
ed ; by sheaving that the pectunay embarrassments
of Sir Gorge, in his life-ticnc, and the involved
state-Ot his property atter his death, would have ten-
dered it lruitiess and unavaillible. . -
The Jury were al,O Opinion, that the bonds nad
never been paid, and 110:y accordingly bound a ter-
did for the Atin4fil_ •

.
A distressing event happened in America about
two. months ago. At South% ich, in Savannah, were
drowned-four young ladies, three of them from I 5
to 16, and one 17 years old. They. had assembled
near a.pond for the purpose of' picking eherries, but
finding them scarce, entered into a boat with a view
to collect pond lilies; by sotr.e crieans they overset
the boat, and before assistance could b.--• afforded,
they •all perished. Their bodies the next day, in
tie; ar•tte coffins, were laid side by side in the same
grave.

. .
. Hit ohe apd have 'em all is.completely verified in
the present State.. I,ctiery ; for; it the .purchaser of
four Tickets of: the fi2 me number. should .he lucky
enough to hit one 20,0001. he will takefour. • Tue
Public, however, seem detc.rtnin.ed...l.llat,.thry.tihall
buy them quickly or not Et t all ; for, by the reset
clematidrthere will not ba more than oue Ticket of
any nu.tubtly left iu a short time.