The Sun.
London, England, 1814-03-17 00:00:00

lAA\V IN' r if, T,Lt`(.7,E''NCE.

COURT OF (IrT ‘NCEIIY, MAReit 16.

WM. ROBERTS, in the matter of WM. ROBER,TS,.4

Bankrupt

'Sir
SAMUEL
nOmILLT, supported by Mt. HART
and i4lr. Wirroviitn, stated this was the petition
of the -bankrun. Y praying .that hf: might be al=
lowed to snriender to the commission of, hank-
rriptcy itainst him. The einnnstanets were
these commission • iiits -taken out on the
of May last, by a person a the name of
- Walker, of Nortley", in the parish of
Leeds, York, on behalf .of himself and Lis
. itartner,; Mr. William Coggel,,.- who is. in, New".
York-, in the , tnited States of
'Walker was chosen.the sole assignee nrider the
. commission, _and the petition alleged, "that if a
fair account was taken between the bankrnpr.and
the petitioning creditor, it would appear there
was nothing due to the latter, ,and-, .of course,
there could be no petitioning creditor's debt; that
'Walker was the only person who had proved a
debt under the connitission, and the petitioner be-
lieved there were •one others that. intended 'to
do so. The petition-also set'forth, that the bank-.
rapt had 'never been a trader, and did not-come
under the Bankrupt taw; that the act. off' bank-
ruptcy alleged to have been .committed by him,
was lying in past:in:on ',aft arrest .on ali illegal
'award ; that on the 14th Aug. lie Attended in the
• custody of the Tipstaff of the Marshal of the
King's. Bench, and surrendered himself at the
meeting of the Commissioners at LeedS th4t"he
told them there was not a legal petitioning credi-
-tor's debt, and that he never had been t a-_rater
and eV 'en if - the commission were a valid one, be
teas not_prepared.to pp” his final examination, -as
te:inrended to try the validity of the commission.-
e out of ignorance of the effects' of-the
Bankrupt Laws, which made him also refuse to
be. sworn and examined before the Commissioners.
lie was then 'committed to prison (York Castle),
Where .be still remained. That the whole of
.his
pr'operty coifsisted of money lent to hiS father,
Jas. Roberts; of Ftirsley, in the county of
woollen-manufacturer, to the amount of six thou-
Aland five hundred potindsi "that althatigh he did Sur-
-, Vendsttunder the commission, he had been infor cried
that it viraS the intention of Win Walker, the as-
signee, to prefer two indictments against him for
felfo7n'k—one' on the ground that he had not sur-
rendered hiniself, and the other for not making
the disclosure and discovery -required of him un-
der theeomniiision, whiCh indictt4nts were to be
-tried at York Assizes, on thel9tl,.ofthe present
month. That'in Easter Term, 1813; be filed e
'bill in the 'Court Of ExChequer, to set ,aside the
award which the petitoning creditor's debt was
founded .on, and to restrain him from proceeding
at'law, and the Court granted hint art-injunction
to that effect ;that also' in Hiliry Term, 1814, he
commenced- an action of Trespass in the Court of
King's Bench againsttheCommisSioners, Messen-
ger,Bolicitor, and Assignee under the Commis-
•simi, which action he intended to bring to trial;
that -he had,also presented a petition to his Lord-
ship.to•supersede the commission, on the ground
that there was no petitioning creditor'N debt; it
was dismissed, as he was 'advised, because lie•had
not surrendered hiinsell; he therefore prayed that
his Lordship would. give
.him liberty t- surrender
-himself wider the' vinnmission, and make a dilo-
Lure and discovery of his property. Under those
• eircumstances„the Leatned Counsel trusted that
his LordSh?;rwould grant the firtlyer, of the pe-:
•• - •

Mr. HEALD, Counsel for the assigq.,-, said,

;under tote present circumstances it Was not his
wish to say any thing severe of the bankriipt ; bat
• it ,Wcathi be necessary to Mention a few fact's ; he
r2vgas sent by Mr. W. tO'Ne\t‘ York, on -a Thereat'.
tik speculation- to sell cloth. Mr. Walker re-
.ceived no return ; he found it necessary to scud
bis partner, Mr. Coggel, to New York, to seek
—atter him ; he found him, bsjt was noi able to get,
an account from him until the very day he sailed
from New York to this country ; and that he ad-

mitted he was indebted to Mr. Walker, in the
• such of 4,7001; When he arrived in thii coun-
try, ?t was It3't to arbitration, and the award
was for that sum ; he told Walker he would.
or co:Ild not pay him without he took some.
clothes he had at Liverpool; which worild amount
to 4,0001. i but never told in whose posses-
sion they Were. It could not have been- through
ignorance that he did not surrender himself, and
submit to,an examination ; for he had a Solicitor
,with him, when he was,before the Commissioners.
They tendered him the,hook, and he refused to
be.sworn on it. They then took the pains Of,
reading the Act of Parliament, the sth of George
the Second, and explaining to him the • section
which made it felony if he: (lid not make a dis-
covery of his property ;'still he refused to take
the oath they asked him if he would allow him-
self to be examined without being sworn, and he
answered in the negative.

Mr. HART—" We are perfectly ignorant of the
proceedinp under the commission; if they were
intendt d to be made use of, we ought to have had
notice, and to be all"-ved to have inspected them."

The LORD .C,lANcisLoit observed, Ike never
beard a: case with more anxiety ; if he refused
the motion, he was afraid it plight have an effect
on the criminal prosecution; there was an incon-
sistency in the petition iz. .the h.:Ay of it—it said
be had surrendered, and it prayed that he might
be, nrmitted to surrender.

Afr. WitioriELD.—" The bankrupt is not to
blame in.that ; if there were any, it was his own,
for he -adviSe'd conceiving that if the bank-
, ~, .
lup.t refused to be examined, he had not surren-
clued."

mr. HART said, he_ was confident that in such a
case, where the life of an individual was at stake;
his Lordship would not look at the technical error
in the Petition.

CINANCELLOR—" Who rtas the Soli-
with him before the cpannissioner3, when
Jle refused to he sr ern ? Suppose, Mr. Hart, you
'take a cn:lifled order fbr the bankrupt to be exa=
mined before the Commissioners, if they think he
bad surrendered himself."

Jr
HiALD,—` The,l3,anly....ipt,, before that or-
iel.. is ntkide, ought to tell us whet has become of
the prolvrty he irul Tit., ILlTerijobl. -it. is s4'orn by
)me Keep& of York Castle, that amongst other

property that had. been in the possession of the
trankrupt since he was committed there, he had a

England note for 10001.
the LORD GHANCELLOR—" I think you ought
to 'have that discovery; -and I think it would he
=necessary to have the affidavit of the Solicitor who
went before the Coimm ls
issiOners with the hau-
rupt., Whether lie did, or di'd not, advise him not
tel submit to an-examination."

Sr. WINGII-ELD-"" It was the Solicitor in the
country ; if your Lordship will give us until the
day after to-morrow, We will procure that Op
tidavit." •

The LORD CHANCELLOR--" Take what length
of,time you please under the present circumstances.
lam sorry it ever came before me. I may do an
injury by my decision, for it may be the mesns
of creating- a bias in the minds of others, on thoss
-important trials That are to take place at the York
Assizes. I could wish, Mr. Hart, that you
.would, between this and to-morrow, consult with
your Learned Friends-, whether it would be .of
service to the Bankrupt to have the qualified or-,
der, for my predecessors on this Bench have told.
me I cannot go- further."

KENT ASSIZES.

MAIDSTONE, TUESiDAT,MARCIL t 5.:

Last night the Lord Chief BARON and Mr.
Baron RICHARDS opened
.their Commission. this
morning, alter Divine Service, they proceeded. to
their respective Courts.

CRIMINAL SIDE--Before Baron Ralf Aims,

Andre 11.12gnott, a French prit.(,ner of war, "as,
capitally indicted under Lord Ellenborough's Act,
for cutting and stabbing. John Ashby, a niarine,
on board of- his Majesty's, ship Sampson-, at Gil-
lingham, on the river Medway.
It appeared in this case, that John Ashby was
the sentinel *(in deck on board the ship in tines:,
tion, on the 25th, of February last, and that while
on, duty. the prisoner came on deck with
.a knife,
with which he btabbed the prosecutor in the arm.
Ashby finding himself wounded, and the.prisoner
running Away, purSued lain to the:other end o+ibe
ship, where he
,was stopped by one of the officers
of the ship, who ordered him to throw down the
knife, which he did aectirdingly:
The prisoner, in his defence, stated, that he was
intoxicated at•the time, ant that the wound was

. ,
given by accident—Guilty-Death.
William May was indicted for an attack on Rd-
bert Hulley, a serjeant of marines, with a sabre,
And cutting him on the head, so as to separate a
branch of the temporal artery, and Wm. Stokes
and Peter Dew, for aiding and abetting May in
committing the said felony.
The prisoners in this case were sailors belong-
ing to the Hero transport, at Ratnsgate, and it is
the duty of all seamen of this description to be on
board their respective ships by eight o'clock. at
night, or they are liable to be impressed. Lieut.
Duncan of the Navy, who was on the impress
service at Ramsgate on the 7th•of March instant,
being -out on duty with Hully, the seijeant, and
two privates, between, eight and nine o'clock at
encountered the prisoners and some others,
v.71i0 had formed a plan to transgress Cieir duty.
prisoners were armed with cutlasses, and
Stokes made a push at Hully, which missed, upon
which Holly wrested the sword from him, and-
knocked him down. He called for assistance,
.and May came up with a cutlass, with which he
made a blow at Hully, which cut through hi hat,
and gaie him the wound charged in the indict.:
merit. After doing this mischief, they all ran
away, and, favoured by the. darkness of the
night, got on board their ship. A search, Ithw-
ever, ---as soon afterwards made, when the two
priso.,ers, May•and Stokes, ‘vere identified, and
one of the privates attending Lieutenant Duncan,
iiamed.Clifton, identified Dew, as having aimed
a WOW at him In the Course:Of the scuffle.

If appeared, however, from the evidence of one
of, 'the .:ieat-tran Of the Hero, that it was probable
that Dew had not on that night quitted the ship,
and •that Clitou had-- been mii4talien,in the person
who struck at hili

Mr. Baron RICHARDS seemed to thibk, that al.
though this was a most outrageous assault, yet
that there did not appear to him 'to be any serious
intention in the priioners to coy :ilit felony,, upon
which the Jury found them Not-Guilt!). •