The Sun.
London, England, 1849-11-16 00:00:00

Viitrb Vbition

SUN OFFICE, Seven ci Clock.

"
EXCHEQUER.—(THIb DAY.)
(Sittings in Banco.)
COBBETT v. SIR GEORGE GREY AND ANOTHIR.
This was an argument on demurrer in an action of
trespass. The plaintiff pleaded his case in person.
Mr. COBBETT, in support of the demurrer, complained
that Mr. John Hudson, the keeper of the Queen's Pri-
son, acting under the authority of the Secretary of State
for the Home Department, had wrongfully treated him
(Mr. Cobbett) as a first-class prisoner, in confining him
in a part of the Queen's Prison set apart only for pri-
soners of the first class, incarcerated for offences not
bailable. He contended that the Secretary of State had
no power by law to give a command, or the said John
Hudson to obey it, for placing him (Mr. Cobbett) in that
part of the prison, inasmuch as there was no such thing
as a contempt for not paying costs, with which he was
charged, and that there was no power in the Court for
Relief of Insolvent Debtors to make an order upon him
(Mr. Cobbett) to file a schedule ; that in fact no single
Commissioner had power so to act under the Act of
Parliament. He submitted that the pleas put upon the
record by the defendants furnished no answer to his de-
claration at all, inasmuch as they had not traversed the
declaration at all, but merely went on to justify them-
selves in putting him in a first class department.
Mr. Baron ALDERSON said the only point was whether
what the defendants had stated was an excuse for what
they said they had done.
Mr. Commrr said the defendants did not admit in their
plea that prisoners of the first class were not bailable, and
he contended therefore that their plea was bad. He sub-
mitted, secondly, that there was no warrant of commit-
ment shown, and that he was c3nfined in the part of the
prison in question without any sufficient warrant of com-
mitment. There was no warrant of commitment either
from the Bankruptcy or the Insolvent Debtors' Court,
for not filing his schedule, and the Secretary of State
had no power to supply the want of a warrant from a
competent court.
Mr. Baron ROLIE said there was an Act of Parlia-
ment which said that persons who refused to file a
schedule in the Insolvent Debtors' Court should be con-
fined as first-class prisoners. Mr. Hudson had alleged
that he (Mr. Cobbett) had refused to file such a schedule;
and the only question was, whether Mr. Hudson was
right in treating him as a first-class prisoner.
Mr. Baron PARKE said either Mr. Hudson's act was
justifiable by the Act of Parliament, or not. If it was
justifiable, he did it under the san,ction of an Act of the
Legislature, and not by the authority of the Home
Secretary.
Mr. COBBITT, regardless of these adverse intimations
from the Court, went on for several hours urging that
he had been wrongfully treated as a first-class misde-
meanant.
At the conclusion of his address, Mr. WELSBY was
about to speak on behalf of the defendants, when
The LORD CHIEF BARON intimated that the only
point on which the Court had any doubt was whether
the attachment, which was the foundation of the whole
proceeding, was set out with sufficient fulness; and Mr.
Welsby would please to confine himself to that point.
Mr. WELSBY said the plea did not set out the writ at
length, but it said that the plaintiff was under and by
virtue of a writ of attachment issued out of the High
Court of Chancery committed to the prison of the Fleet.
The Fleet was the proper prison for imprisoning parties
charged with contempt of the Court of Chancery. He
therefore contended that the attachment was set out with
sufficient amplitude.
Mr. Cern:taw briefly replied, and
The LORD CHIEF BARON said the Court would take
time to consider, and deliver its judgment on Wed-
nesday.

TAT TERSALL'S—TH IS EVENING
Six o'CLocs.

CHESTER CIIP.

The follAving are all the beta laid:-1,000 to 20
agst Whim colt; 1,000 to 15 each agat Lady Evelyn,
Idle Boy, and Canezou; and 1,000 to 10 each agst
Melody, Kennington, and Pendulum colt.

The New Gazette of Prussia states, on authority
of a letter from Vienna, that a few days ago the mu-
nicipal authorities, having been asked by the military
governor if in the event of the state of siege of the
city being raised they could answer for the mainte-
nance of tranquillity, unanimously answered that
they could net. The letter adds that in the faubourgs
the populace still display a bad spirit, daily resist
patrols, and otherwise oppose the authorities.
TheiA.ustrian Government has definitively appointed
M. de Kubeck and General Schcenhals to be its
Commissioners in the new Central Government of
Frankfort.
The Austrian Lloyds announces that warrants for
the arrest of seven other individuals suspected of
having taken part in the assassination of the Count
de Lambert, have been issued. One of these persons
is an advocate and ex-deputy, named Ballogh.

DENMARK AND THE DUCHIES.
The Kolner Zeitung states, from Berlin, of the 13th
inst., that there is a strong probability of the Prussian
troops being recalled from Schleswig before January
next. It seems determined that the Prussian Cabinet
will not consent to engage in another Danish war on
the subject of the Duchies of Schleswig and Holstein,
because no less than the utter ruin of the Prussian
Baltic province is expected to result from the renewal
of hostilities. On the other hand there is a likelihood
of the Prussian garrison at Hamburgh being reinforced.