The Sun.
London, England, 1809-07-03 00:00:00

, LIBERTY OF TA SUBJECT.

,sArriq v. DE BURCIL•ESIat AND OTHER'S:
11Th:.. PARK opened this case, which he said was
very different. that of- yesterday, against Mr.
Conant, the Magistrate, and would have, he be-
lieved, a very different result. It was an a&ion for
the falseltnprisonment of the plaintiff, by Mr. De
Burgh, Sir Christopher Baynes, and ,Mr: Ferry, three
Magistrates .of the county of Middleiex, sitting at
the Petty 'Sessions at Uxbridge, in 06tober last.
The ;Plaintiff was the son of a horse-dealer at Houn-
slow.; way driving with his horse and cart, he riding:
on the'shaft :. the cart was werturned; and he ill
treated the horse, for which he was subje6.l to a
tine of. ten shillings, by ACt of Parliament ; but, in-
stead of taking the fine, These Magistrates had sent
him on hoard the Tender, whence he was conveyed
to the Nore;-and WAS kept for about five Week-s,
and until he wag liberated by Habeas tf'ot pus. Mr.
`PARK said,, he was an advocate for submission to the
anthority of Magistrates, supreme and subordinate;
but This was a wanton eAcess.of authority, the.like-
to which he had never, witnessed tor the thirty years • '
he,had attended the Bar; and for. which, he called
for serious damages, for the protettion of the line. y
of the subject. 1•

Nlr.:Aikinson, a farmer, and friend,to the Plain-
titf'-s father, was before these Magistrates ?.t the Se-
ssions; where Mr. De Burgh stated, that this yOung
man, Sarin, was rkiing.on the shaft of his cart ; was
c:r by one horse ; and through the lad's own mis- .
management, the horse tell, and then he heat him.
ithicruelty ; by which,- as he was riding on the
shah, he had incurred • the penalty of ten shillings,'
by tht Act ot-Pailiattient ; and the•yoring",man was
the ~tiniess, s‘iid, :they Loped . the.,' Magistrates
would he pleased to inttigate their sentence, and
not send -hirA to the ; that they would pay
ihe tine, whatever it was. The Magistrates ordered
&I-Ought hetrc then') for this Offence. The money ,
%t as put :•00wn at one time, but they told him he
night iake it tip, .atid he, must. be sent to The
cig., and taken from • thence_ to the Tender.
On whiL:4 bath the ,young min and his friend,
tf,em both out, and ordered the Plaiwitf to be taken
to •t he eagr., where he was kept secure. The wit-
ness was kept'out 2.hout an tour and a half ; he was
then admitted, and all the Magistrates were still on
the Bench; that is, Mr. De Burgh, Sir Christopher
Baynes,;and Mr: Perry. The witness-said, that the
young man was sorry for what. he bad done,' and
hoped,they would Mitigate their order, and that he
was ready to pay any fine. "And I," said the wit-
ness, "'would be bound for him forany sum whiclis
they would require.'? At the time I made this offer,.
the yotnig man was in the cage, and had heen.. t4r
stated to them that the young
niatti was then' in the cage, but I hoped,i hey would
inligate their order,'and let him go hotne with me;
fit that .1 wou)d pay any fine,.and be bound for his
furore good behaviour:, Mr. De Burgh' made in-
swer, It was done by .the whole Bench, and it could
not be altered."/ And this. was in the hearing of the
'whole Bench, for they were then sitting all. togethtir.
ferry said, he should go dn board- the tender,'
and go to sea. I told them, that he had good friends,
and that it would be a good deal of trouble to get him
back again. Mr. De Burgh said, I had been to a Mr.
Walford, an attorney, to acquire that knowledge how
to get him back ; and that, .for my pains, it would
cost me a pretty expense. Says he, " What a' pretty
expenre the lawyer will bring You in for it, if you
dol" and then Said thattl might go home, for that
he should goon board the tender.'. On which
went home;. but first went to the, young man,-and
told Lira that he oust go on, board the lender, and
thiit I should go to his•friends; ktiowingit -wag in myl
road. lat terwards'rnade-an affidavit of the faits be-
fore my Lord Ellenborough."
John Wa'ts, a conitable, proved the taking this
young tom to the cage, ,and of his being kept there
for about an hour art4.,,a half, and then handcuffed
by and •t of the other constabl, and then; by order
of these ..luoices, taken •on board the Enterprize
Tender, tht-n tying off the Tower:
Captain Rich oell, who commanded the Enterprize,
off the Tower, proved this young man, the Plainnff
Sapin, was brought to him on • the evening of the
17th of October last ; remained under his care,uniil
.about"the 2 d, when he was sent to the Nore, to
Admiral Wells'; whither they are 'sent from the
Tender as fast asipos:,ible. There are 'no beds for
them on board the Tender. • ,

Lieutenant Antrim received, this yotmg 'man at
Depifard, in whose carehe was .a few dzys,, and
thence he was sent to the Ceres at the Nore, and
where it appeared, he was kept until the 12th
of November, and then discharged by Habeas Cot-
•
. pus.

Mr. GARROW said, he was very
,mitch concern- 1
ed for these Magistrates, for whom he was Court- I
sel,' but whom lie could not defend against a ver-
di&
in this case ; and it would only be to their
disadvantage to try to justify their conduct in
this instance, however respectable they might
be in their general charaaer. They had cer-
tainly mistaken the law in this case ; the truth
was, that this young man was driving his cart' in
such a manner as to endanger his' own life and the
lives or others his Majesty's subjeels. The horse
had fallen, and he had ill-treated the animal for that
Which was the effect of his own fault, and.was there-
fore a proper • subject sof animadVersion, and might
hare teen tined; but the Magistrates had gone be-
yctnd the limits of their power by law, in sending
him on board the Tender; but as there was here
the absence of all-malice, and this was a tiaere error
in judgment, he trusted the damages would be mo-
derate.
Lord ELLES3OROUGII..--" This certainly is a case.
deserving of very serious damages ; for we shall all'
hold our liberties upon an extremely precarious tenure,
upon such pretences as these, any of his Majesty's
subjectsareto be thus treated with impunity by any
class of OUR whatever. This tg a fit case for alit plc re.

ILtt ion.

ere is a young man torn

1"0

rp

.1

tirr~ end hotne, manacled like a felori4 and ra,t ;rote
a pris(iii-ship, where he has tTo bed. IdO not rbean
to insinuate that he was thefe treated will). alit
more than the _ordinary, • and, perhaps, necetsai*
rigour of such a-place; but ~,,s is a niscplah.
which this young man is not subject by law ; and
therefore he has a right. to comi)i.,in of ii, and to
compensation for his insulted foelings; for all his
sufferings have been the consequence of the miscon-
du& of the Magistrates. At the same titne, Gentle.
men, you will in no case be outrageous in your re-
sentment of the misconduti of those who cortie'be-
fore youi. nothing will lead you to -A.bat may be
called excess; but, this 'young man :has a right to
ask of you th make .him a fair, adequate, and ample
'reparation in datifages.--
Verdid.for the Plaintiff—Datniges 5001. whit;.~
was the sum laid in the deelafation.

The Milbank idtrtel arrived on Friday night at
Portsmout,h;from Morlaix. Colonel WASHINGTON
MORTON, who sailed in her from Poitsinouth:
with dispatches from ,the American Government,
for that of France, landed there 'on the 21st last,
but. it was with great • difficulty that he' obtained
permission to go on .shore. A Gentleman nho
came. in • the Milbank, and was aoParis on the„cth
June, states,- that -various piivate letters were re-
velvet! from 'the -Fteneh-- army,- from which
is al,-
pears that they had 45,000 of their -best troTs
killed and drowned in the battle of* the 2(11; 3/id
tbeirjoss is so severely felt by the EDiIPExoE, that'
almost eyefy soldier in France, except some Gens
di-Prows; who/are detailed to bring on the con-
. scripts, are on their march to join the-Emrutiort in
Germany. About 130,000 confcrints bad been
raised within the last six months. s:inie lot-
.ters state that MAssirot (D lee of firt-(J,9 was
wounded in.the acorn of ti a x2l, 'on the Danube,;
and that four Generals of Division were and
above sixty other Officers of rank, were killed
and wounded 'on that day. Of twelve Aides-de,-
damp, who .attended, Marshal LASNFS,
.11/1)0 was
mortally- wounct d, and -iinee -dead, only one es-
Caped unhurt.' BONAPARTE'S favoutite corps. of
'cuirassiers '(horsemen, armed with polished steel
coats of mail), and OuorsoT's division-olgrenadierS,
Were almost to inn., cut to pieces.. The war-with
Germany which was before. unpopular, is now cried
out against most v;olently. -kis rather-an extra-
ordinary- ciicumstance, that a.grand expedition frouvr
England was generally expected to appoar
,or. the
French &List, a.id was. every w here spoken of. Its
was supposeo to he' intended, in
,the first n!starce,
for Flushing, and afterwards to go t,p the Elbe.
Coiontal produce is very high at Mu: ;' sugar
sells for five !hires (4s. 40.) per pound ; and coffee •
half-a-guinea p r pound. The bratery of our arm!
in Spain is highly spoken of in France ; and the
death of Sir JOHN iVIOORE was reg, cited., Our Sea-
men, •w ho are prisoners in France, are we it d
-Sir Jon MORSH EA D came passenger in the Milbank t
he was liberated by a spcial order from BO N APA TE : .
he has been chiefly confined eVersailles, since toe
departure of Lord WHITWORTH from Paris.
The Officers of the gth Regiment of FOot have
tillbseryerib:hdedf( r)ar
tronoonienitillieetilnot tit
(i).lfecpaollc. es.,lruit,tta`C.Tab:tvitchro.
fell in Portugal.
A number of the persons Coasned at Verdun
have succeeded in' elfeaing tie ir escape.
KING'S THEATRE.—The new serious- Opera -of
Sedagero was repeated on Saturday, and TRAMAZ-
zatin received great applause tar the sktli,and expres-
sion with which he gave the airs, and the force and
pathos of his acting. The Duchess of YORK and a
very nuinerons-audience were present.

the attacks that are every day made upon the
Earl of CHATnAm, because Ile is to have the.chief
command of one of the Expeditions, now on the
eve of being carried into effed, aro only degrading'
to the writers. This Nobleman is known to he pos-
sessed of high intellectual powers, congenial to those
which rendered his brOther the qbjee-t of esteem and
adMiration to all friends of civilized society, as well
as to, the Country whose dignity and' independence
he solong preserved,. notwithstanding/all the hosti-
lity of France, and ail the arts of domestic enemies.
But such, is the miserable state to which the fol-
lowers °fa certainsParty are reduced, that if the En' }
of CuArit A m'4 abilities were not so well known, the
eery: circumstance of his being kin obit-ylit for t6eir de-
famation, would he sufficient to con Vince the ptiniic
that. somOthing'heneficial to the Country, may be
'peeled from the exertion of
.his talents..