The Sun.
London, England, 1812-02-20 00:00:00

3IIDDLESEX SESSIOAS, FEB. 19.

John 7'ubb, and Rebecca his wile, were indided
at the suit of the Parish of St. Pancras, for inlaurna-
nity and cruelty to-their children. - •

The evidence upeti.the trial, however) only went
to affea the condu& of the female priSoner, against
whom it appeared, that she had frequently .exposed
two of :hert.hildren 'to the inclemency of the win-
ter, without food or raiment and that on one oe-.
casion she nearly strangled the' with a leatH-z
strap, to prevent the doleful cries of her
offspring, when exposed to' her, unnatural tmtba-

The Jury acquited the bustiand, and found the
ife Guilty, when the Court sentenced her for six
months' imprisonment in the fioust of Correaion.

Mr. PONSONEY, we are happy to annonace, was
yesterday considered in an improved state of curiva-
__
lescence.

CORN-EXCHANGE, FEB. ICJ. .This day we have
some further arrivals of Wheat, with tolerable le-
maining supplies, fine samples nearly support late
prices, but the trade heavy sale for interior ; 13m-lor
bully at .fie late increase in price ; fine Malt dearer;
White PcaS •Itardly at last prices ; in Grey-and:Beaus'
,but little fluctuation; there 'are likewise some-fur-
ther arrivals of Oats, but, from the demand, this ar-
ticle nearly supports the last quotation ; in Flour 1113
alteration.

Wheat a 64s a 86s ions Tick Beans (new) Vs a 56s
Nine ditto 114 s a t iSs Ditto (fine old) -57 s a
5Ss
Rye -52 s aOs Oats - 3os a 34s aOs
Barley 50s a 389 Poland ditto - 3gs a 4os
Malt - 84; a cos Potatoe ditto 4is a2s
WhitePeas,boilers 76s a 2s Rape Seed -60 l a 651.
Grey ditto - 5Ss a . 64s Fine Flour gos ysS
'hays 54$ a 6Qs Secemls Ss S' 995

JUDGE DOIVNES'S CHARGE.

(Continued from our l'apet of Yesterday,)

denOemen, the legal qus:stion arises upon the
construct ton of an Att of Parliament made in the
year 1793, " entitled an eket to prevent the Ele&ion,
or appointment of unlawful Assemblies, tinder pre-
tence of preparing or presenting public Petitions,
or other Addresses. to his Majesty, or the Parlia-
ment." It is not imputed to the Traverser, that
lie has been guilty of any degrading, unworthy, or
immoral at ; or any aEt illegal, abstratted nom the
'consideration of the Ad" of •Parliamenr, which I
am going to state ; but the question will be, whe-
ther he hes violated the provisions of that Ate.
Gentlemen, it is an ad made in great political
precaution, and with respell to this aa, like all
others; we, who sit here, not to alter, make, or
correa the law, but to declare it, are to suppose
that this-, like all other laws, bas been made. .upon
doe consideration, and upon principles of sound
public policy and necessity. ,It is not for us,to op-
pose the declared will of Parliament; to discuss the
anhjea upon topics fit only for Parliamentary de-
bate, or to set our understanding in competition
with the wisdom of the Legislature; but it is our
duty to pronounce upon the law, as we find it and
feel it ; and even though it may bear hard upon an'
individual, we are not to be influenced by jhat con-
sideration ; but it is our duty to pronouoce what
the law is, in all cases Whatever, however we may,
in some, feel for the accused.
Gentlemen, this is an Ad of Parliament, having
for its object, not so much the punishment of the
members ot such assemblies as are described in it,
as the thus' prevention of the existence Of such
assemblies; it is not that a representative assembly.
is to meet, and that the officers of the law and the
Government are to wait and see, whether they will
do any thing hostile to the laws; but-the object of
the ea is, the prevention of a representative assem-
bly, having such objets as are mentioned in the
statute, from ever meeting.—lt declares, that if
such assembly meets, it is an unlawful assembly
and attacks the very commencement of its forma-
tion, with a view to prevent its existence.—lt does
trot do this, upon the notion that such assemblies
are always, and of necessity, mischievous ; that
they cannot meet without doing wrong ; but it is a
precautionary ad, and it recites that the election or
appointment of assemblies, "purporting to represent
the people, or any description, or number of the
people of this nation, under pretence of preparing
or presenting petitions, complaints, remonstrates,
declarations, and other addresses to the King, or to
both or either of the Houses of Parliament, ;Or al-
teration of matters established by law, or redress of
alleged grievances in Church and State, may be
made use of to serve the ends of factious and sedi-
tious persons, to the violation of the public peace,
and the great and manifest encouragement of riot,
tumult and disorder. This preface of the ace is not
introduced, or accompanied by a statement, that
such assemblies are in their own nature necessarily
productive of mischief ; but that such assemblies
are readily capable, when met, of being turned by
factious persons to improper or mischievous pur-
poses, and, therefore, the statute has .declared and
"enacted, that all assemblies, committees, or -other
bodies of persons elected, or in any other, manner'
constituted or appointed to represent, for assuming,
or exercising a right or authority to represent the
people of this realm, or any numtter or description
of the people of the same, or the people of any
province, county, city, town, or other district with-
in the same, under pretence of petitioning for, or
in any other manner procuring an alteration of mat-
ters established by law in Church and State, are-un-
lawful assemblies.
It then prece-eds, if possible, to prevent the exist-
ence of assemblies, and the means taken are
by enacting that, if any person shall give, or publish,
or cause, or procure to be given, or published, any
*written•or other notice of election, to be holden, or
of any manner of appointment ot any person, or
persons, to be the representative, or representatives,
delegate, or delegates, or to at by any other name,
or description whatever, as representative or re-
..presentatives, delegate or delegates, of the inhabi-
tants, or any description of the inhabitants of any
province, county, city, -town, or other distrid with-
in this kingdom, at any such assembly, shall be
deemed gully of a high misdemeanour; from which
it seems to us, that the Legislature has made it a
distinct, and substantive offence to publish a notice
of sock inteudecl election, acrd it -equally makes it
an otKmce to attend,.an3 -cote, and act at such elec-
ttoo‘, and it seems to us, that this is a dislind and

suostauti:e oence in the parties so a6tiog, the very
Moment such election made, •and before the as-
sernbl y, to which the persons have been so cleated, has
actually niet.—The statute then proceeds ro except
and provide, that nothing shall be construed to ex-
t 4 rid- to, or affect elections to be made by bodies cor-
pot aie, according to their charters and usages, and
also that nothing in the ad contained, shall be con-
situed in any manner to prevent or imp;:de the
u,doubted right of his Majesty's subjeds of this
ram, to petition his Majesty, or both Houses of
either House of Parliament, for the redress of any
F bltc or private grievance.
Gentlemen, we have already, upon a former oc-
casion, declared cur opinion, upon the true construc-
tion of this law ; we have, however, allowed fur-
titer discussion upon it, by the Consul to the.Tra-
terser ; and I will advert, to most, or of all the ob-
jt ct ions, which have been made to the construction
given by us to the atl.
li has been argued, that any assembly, to fall
tiff ir bin the penalty of this act, must be a represen-
tiohe assembly, representing part of the King's sub-
jects, and meeting, under pretence of petitioning,
and the argument urges, that the meeting, must be
under a lake pretence of petitioning.
Gentlemen, in my apprehension, that construc-
tion would but little accord with the provisions and
objects of the Ad—the objection is founded won
the meaning of the word "pretence." It cannot
be denied, that the word " pretence," in various
instances, is used with various significations,
ac-
cording to the nature of the subject matter to which
it is applied; it occurs in various Acts of Parlia-
ment, in soma instances, with the epithets false;
in others, simply, as here, " under pretence; and

it
is contended that in all instances whi-re it Oeciirs,
especially where it means she motive of the mind,
it must he understood as connected with the epithet
false,"-:—lnstances of the use of the word, where
the epithet " talse," could not be intended, have
been cited upon the part of the Crown from Ads of
Parliament ; instances have also been adduced,
where the epithet " false," has by the Legislature
been applied to it, where the'Legislai ore did not
choose to leave the word simple and at large, ar d
an exceeding strong instance has been adverted to.
by the Counsel for the Crown, because it occurs in
an At made ix pari 'Valeria, the English Ad of
Parliament of Charles 2d, to prevent tumultuous
meetings " under pretence" of petitioning the
King, or the Parliament : there, most manifestly,
the word " false," could not be understood; but
in truth it is a word of very various significations,
'and is used in various Ads of Parliament, either
simply, or with the epithet false, annexed to it
according to the purposes for which it it intended.
To suppose that wh:re it means the mottve of the
mind, leading to do an ad, it must always mean
"• false," does not appear to me to establish a
general rule of construe-lion which can be sup-
ported by reason or authority, or by fair obser-
vation, on all or any Ad of Parliament, where the
word occurs. Besides the instances which have
been alluded to, I am reminded, every day, of a
particular instance where the words " under
pretence," have been used by the Legislature,
where it is not possible to annex the epithet "fa!ste"
and where it so plainly signifies the motive of the
mind, that you might with little injury to the
phrase, and noneto the'sense, substitute motive in
its place. I refer to an Ad of Parliament of the
very same date as that in question, and which has
been urged by the defendant's Counsel, to have
passed on the SlTtfle day with this Ad in question,
sheaving that the same Parliament, and even the
same men (for_ eeen with respell to that circum-
stance, some observation has been made, as if the
word as used in ancient statutes, had by modern use
varied its meaning) made use of this word "
pre-
tence," where the epithet " fakes" could not be ap-
plied to it. I allude to an Ad of the year 1793,
which gives various beneficial privileges to the Ro-
man Catholics, upon the terms of swearing an oath,
which is set out in the Ad at Parliament, and by
that oath, which is administered here 'almost every
day, every petson, who takes it, s A ears that he ab-
jures, condemns, and detests, as unchristian aed im-
pious, the principle that it is lawful to murder, or
destroy, or anywise injure any person whatever, for,
or under the " pretence" of being a Heretic ; and
that no ad in itself unjust, immoral, or wicked, om
ever be justified, or excused, by, or under " pre-
tence," or colour, that it was done, either for the
good of the Church, or in obedience to any eclesias-
tical power whatsoever._ . .

Now one would be tempted to ask, whether any
man of the thousands of all ranks and conditions,,
who have honestly and conscientiously taken that
oath, ever connected, the -word " false," with the
word '' pretence" in that oath, and whether the
Parliament in framing that oath, could possibly have
meant the " false pretence" of being a Heretic, or
the " false pretence" of being serviceable to the
Church. It is used as synonimous with " colour,"
" cloak," under the allegation of."—lt has been so
taken by thousands of as honest men, as any in
the community, without conceiving that the epithet
" false" was understood. In those instances, it
would be absurd and monstrous to add it. _ In. to,
you may apply to the word pretence, without in-
juring the sense in these instances, almost any epi-
thet of bad import, except false. You may call it
a base, Wicked, impious, absurd, or foolish pretence;
but you cannot call it a false pretence; if you.do,
you make the sentence nonsense. These instances
answer what had been said by the very able Coun-
sel for the defendant, that whenever the word pre-
tence is used to designate a Motive of the mind, that
is must mean false pretence7—for you might, in both
these instances, substitute the word.motive without
injury to tie sense.
But.l do not wish to be suppoSed to argue that,
because in these instances that I- have mentioned,
it .is impossible to conceive the word cs pretence"
to mean false" pretences" therefore, it conclusively
folkaws, that the word cannot mean " lalse pre-
tence," in this Aa which passed on the same day.
Very far from it—it would be absurd to say, that
any such conclusion would ine%itably follow ; but
as the word has various sign;fications, though it
should be admitted that it some time may mean
false pretence, those instances • shew that it cannot
be asserted always to have that signification, but
it may mean, and when used simply, often, if not
generally, does mean, colourof allegation, abstract-
ed from the truth or falsehood of it, colour, cloak,
or holding forth, or other sense that might be put.—
But this I do say, that where a word has v,trioussig-
nificetions, the fair way (in this instance, as in all
others) to get at the athial sense in which it is used,
whether in Aas of Parliament or other writing, is
-an examination of the context, and if we find, as in
the present case we do, that by construnig the word
pretence, to mean false pretence, we should Emilie
one half of the provisions of the Act impraaicable
to execute, and the remainder inefficient for its ob-
jea, we must bold it 'impossible to construe the
word pretend, to mean false pietencv, -in this
Aa.

(To be continued.)

The following accident happened at Broadstairs,
on Friday last,;—During a heavy gale, a sloop off
that place made a signal for assistance, when three
boats put off from Broadstairs pier; two of them
had got to the vessel, and put some hands on board,
when, just -at the moment they had done so, and
were laying alongside the sloop, A tremendous sea
struck one of the boats, threw her up a considerable
height, upset her, and she fell into the other boat
and sunk her also; the third boat being near, saved
the liveS of several, but, unfortunately, two men
were drowned. One of them, named Oldfield,
whose father and brother, we are- told, expetieneed
the same fate, a few years ago, very near the same
place; the other sufferer was named Job. This ac-
cident happened so near' the shore, that the friends
of must of the boat's crew witnessed this dreadful
scene : there were 15 or i 6 men floating about,
and when the two boats sunk, tbe cries on shore
were truly distressing.

[FURTHER EXTRACTS.]
VALENCIA DE ALCANTARA, JAN. 24.-,--.The Alf-
ferent officers, civil and military, appointed to Ciu-
dad Rodrigo have, set out for that fortress, as has its
Governor ad interim, Brigadier Don Dionysis Veirs,
Colonel of the gth provisional regiment of the 5 t
army.

Though we have not received officially the parti-
culars of the important capture of this place, we
can, however, assure the public that there have been
few enierprizes so rapidly conducted, and so suc4
cessfully completed.
The last accounts speak of some advantages gained
over the enemy in the Asturias, and of the return of
Dorsenne from Burgos to Valladolid, without d,ubt
in order to inform himself more particularly of the
catastrophe of the Imperial'arms in Ciudad Rodrigo.
The Superior Junta of this province --has teceived
the following dt,patch from General:Hill, elated Por-
talegre, Jan. 17 :

‘SENotts,—l have the honour to announce to
your Excellencies that I received the letter which
you thought proper to transmit to me by the hand
of the Marquez Da Alameda, and to assure you
that the expressions it contains are to the highly
uttering.
" I -return your Excellencies thanks for having
destined to accompany me. the Marquez Da Ala-
meda and the Colonel of Engineers Fuentespita_ of
whose zeal and activity I ha,e, dining the campaign,
had repeated proofs, co-operating mitt me with the
utmost .alacrity in every operation.
" I assure your Excellel,cies that I shall always
have the greatest pleasure in bring useful to the
province of Estra madura as far as shall be compatible
with the general dispositions of the allied armies.
" I avail myself orthis opportunity to renew to
your Excellencies the drclaration of the sentiments
with which I shall ever be your Excellencies servant
and friend,

" 11. Flutc, Lieut.-Gen."
".:To the Deputies of the Superior !mita
„ of Lstraniadu-ra."

LISBON, FEB.. 4.-To-day we have received an
account irbm Beira Alta that the two breaches in
the walls of Cindad. Rodrigo have• aheady been re-
paired, and that Mannont had began to retreat.

EXTRACT OF A LETTER FROM LORD WELLING•TO

TO D. MIGUEL FORJAZ.

" G allegos, Jan. 2r.

" I have received accounts informing me_ that
Marshal Marmout, having arrived at Valladolid on
the t ith, was made acquainted on the 15thwith
our operations against Ciudad Rodrigo ; and I per-
ceive, by an intercepted letter, that he designed to
be this day-at SAamanca. It at the same time in-
forms me, that the said Marshal had given ordeis to
colletU . upon the Tonnes the army under his com-
mand, with a view of relieving Ciudad Rodrigo.
General, Dorsenne was, to_ accompany Marmont to
Salamanca, .where he was t his day expeEted ; but I
do not considerit probable that any tioops of the
army of the North have descended to the-Tormes,
except' the division of Genet:al Thiebault.

" The divis*on of General Bonnet has retired from
the Asturias, and has been joined to what is called
the army of Portugal. These troops are at present
marching' in the direkaion of the Tormes, and had
already passed Benavente, when I received the last
accounts of them.

" The division of General Sonham, which has
constantly-remained in Castile, between the rivers
Tormes and Douro, since the enemy anew suc-
cours into Ciudad Rodrigo in the month of Septem-
ber last, has also been joined to the above-mention-
ed army.
[Lord Well;ngton then gives an account of the
information which- had reached him as to the de-
feat of Blake before Valencia, and proceeds as
follows]
:
Ii has .been said, that Suchet was reinforced
with troops from Madrid ; and in a letter of General
Mihy, dated Aleira, of the 27th I.lt. and pti'llished
at Cadiz on the t tth instant, I observe it stated,
that Suchet had been reinforced with troops from
the army under the command of Marshal Marmont.
But what I have mentioned already, concerning w hat
is called the army of Portugal, will shew your- Ex-
cellency, that although a part of the said army
marched for Valencia, yet. it returned without- en.-
taring that kingdom, and dirt:tied its march to
Castile."

[FROM THE CONCISO.]
SITTING OF THE CORTES OF FEBRUARY 1.

Several Addresses were read from the principal
Authorities and public Bodies of this city, congr,
tuiating the Cortes on having terminated their la-
bours in forming the constitution.
A proposition was read, -addressed to the Cortes
by the War-Minister, to the effea.that Lord Wel-
lington should be promoted to the rank of Grandee
.of Strain of the first class, with the title of Duke of.
Cludrid Rodrigo ; and the same was voted by accia--
mation in a sectet sitting of the Cortes.

Senor Valcarcel after calling the recollec-
tion of the Cortes to the extraordinary merits of the
heroic inhabitants and brave di:fenders of Ciud,d
Rodrigo, prdposed that the Regency should com-
municate to these patriotic Castilians how touch his
M..jesiy- had, been gtdtified by their concitEl and
that the Cot tes hoped, from the zeal of the Regency,
that they would reward, as soon as circumstances
%mild admit, those who • had distinguished them-
selves in the first siege of Ciudad Rodrigo.
• Appioved.