The Sun.
London, England, 1823-01-07 00:00:00

LAW INTELLIGENCE.

COURT OF KING'S BENCH, JAS.C.
xrNa V. JOSEPH ;TAPLEY.
This was an indictment against the defendant for a violent
assault on a female. Before the opening of the case, he consent..
ed to a verdict of guilty, which was accordingly taken. The
circumstances, therefore, which have, we believe, been already
before the public, on the trial at the Sessions of one of the par-
ties charged with aiding in the assault, 'were not disclosed on
the present occasion.
r4uKr,R.
Mr.—Ci3stYN stated, that this action was brought against an
attorney by his client, for the amount of a debt which he had
recovered and refused to pay over., The plaintiff, a poor Nyo.
man, employed Mr: itutson to obtain a debt of 12/. 13a. duo to
her friom a Lieutenant Joyce ; he obtained this money and the
costs from that gentleman, and- had' since refused to pay this
sum to his client. lie hail offered her six pounds by instal-
ments, and when she refused to take this, alleged, by way of
defence, that he was not an attorney. Be had put the poor
woman to the trouble and expence of proceeding to trial, but he
did not now appear to defend the action. •
The retainer of the defendant was proved by the plaintiff's
nephew ; and the payment of the money by Lieutenant Joyce.
No Counsel appeared for the defendanti The Jury imme.
diately found a verdict for the plaintiff—Damages 12/. 13s.
DAWES V. ItAPKIN AND WIFE.
Mr. COMMON SEHJEANT opened this as a case of aggra-
vated
assault, committed in Union-court, Borough, by the two
defendants, in consequence of some dispute respecting the be.
haviour of the children of the parties, tOr which he trusted the
Jury would give fair and reasonable damages.
The Lonn Cm EF JUSTICE adverted to the form of decla-
ration, to which he thought there was a fatal objection in point
of law. The three first counts alleged the asaults to have been
committed both by the husband and wife, which he thought
erroneous ; and the last count stated that it was committed by
" the said defendants," without particularizing which of them.'
Mr. Scant:l:TT, for the defence, acre& to withdraw a Juror,
to which the COIXION S E JI: A T acceded. A juror • was tic.,
cordingly withdrawn.

FREE3IAN V. MONEY.
C. F. Witt.faus stated, that this was an action, for
causing the plaintiff to be imprisoned without any reasonable
or probable mime.
The COMatOX SERJEANT represented this as a case of
serious injury. The plaintiff was a servant in the family of
the defendant, who is an attorney in the city; but on account
of some disagreement was about to leave her place. On the
evening of the filth of September one of the windows of the
house was broken, and the defendant insisted the plaintiff must
know by whom it was done. She denied all knowledge on the
subject, when Mr. Money thought tit to charge her with felony,
to send her to the Comptes, and to bring her, after two day's
imprisonment, before the sitting Alderman. There he produced
some parcels of ten and sugar, which were found open in the
kitchen, and which,, therefore, he presumed the cook maid
must have stolen': She was remanded till Tuesday, when she
was discharged; after an attempt to fix upon her a ludicrouti
charge of stealing two sheets of paper. • Fctr her character in-
jured, for imprisonment sustained, for anxiety endured, she now
you ht such damages as the justice of the case demanded.
.rohn Lacey Hawkins, one of the City Marshalmen;
stated, that he remembereti Ann Freeman ;coming, in Septem.
her, to Guildhall for a stfinmom In consequence of that ap-
plication he went to Money's house and saw his wife. He saw
the plaintiff afterwards in custody before Mr. Alderman Cot,
on Tuesdny, and Mr. Money was present. The Alderman told
Mr. Money if' he could not swear to' the small parcels of tea
anti stone-blue, he could nut send her for' trial. Mr. Money
said he was very sorry to press it, but unless the Magistrate
committed her, all his windows would go to rack. Ile turned
to the girl and said, " If you'll tell me who broke my windows,'
I will notprosetatte." Ile then turned to a young man, took
front hint two sheets of paper, and said they were of the same
water-mark as those in his counting-house, and had been
found in the kitchen drawer. The Alderman said "Alter&
might be cartloads of that:" upon which Money produced u
little seal, and said it was found on the kitchen mantel-piece.—
The Magistrate discharged her.
Robert Hart Smith, one of the officers ibr the Ward of Crip-
plegate, stated, that the boxes of the ,plaintiff were searched,:
but nothing found in them.. On Saturday evening, Money
asked her who broke his windows: she said she did not know;
he said he thought he should send her to the Compter ; but if
she would tell him who broke the windows, he did not know
whether he should not be more lenient. Mr. Money gave her
in charge on suspicion of felony,. and she was taken to (lilt.
spur-street Comptes. She was detained till Monday, when Nhe
was taken before Alderman Cox, examined, and remanded at
Mr. Money's wish. On Tuesday she: was again brought up,
the Alderman said, as the .Grand Jnry were not sitting, he
could not commit her, and she was sufibred to depart:
On emu-examination, the witness said that the plaintiff
was charged by Mr. Money with having admitted a young
man into the house on the evening when the windows were
broken, which she dill not deny. When the search was made;
some tea and coffee were found, which she said she had bought
from a man down the street, but she said she did not know
his name. The witness asked what quantity there was? She
said she did not know. When the box was searched, a hand-
kerchief was shown by Mrs. Money with tea, coffee, and sugar;
site was asked how she came by them; she said they were given
her, one parcel by her last mistress. Young Mr. Money pro-
duced tea, and asked the witness to compare it with that found;
they resembled each other. Before the: lagistrate, Mr. Money
declined to swear to the articles, and the Magistrate said he
could not commit the plaintiff to lie six or seven weeks in pri-
son, and Tiered the tea to be kept. The plaintif admitted
that she had been out nil the evening with a young man, whose
name she did not kno*, and bad not parted with hint long be-
fore the windows were broken.
On re-examination, the witness said the ten was about a
quarter of a pound, and the coffee taken front an open
He went to see if the person who had broken the windows was
there.
The release to Hawkins being produced, he was called back.
and cross-examined. He denied that the letters produced were
his hand-writing, or that he knew the plaintiff before he saw
'her at Guildhall. Ile took the case, because it made his blood
boil 'with anger.; .
'Mr. SCARLETT.-0 yes; he instructs Mr. COTEMOR Ser.
jeans to say all these fine things.—(A laugh.)
John Tomkin produced the articles found, which consisted
of lump sugar anti brown sugar in four parcels, three parcels
of tea, starch, and coffee; all except the moist sugar and
coffee were found tied up in a handkerchief,
Mr. ScitrtLETT addressed the Jury for the defendant. lie
attributed all the indignation and all the eloquence of his
Learned Friend to Mr. Hawkins, who took an romantic a
fancy to
,Miss Freeman at first sight, and had so liberally
espoused her cause. The Learned Comte' urged the grounds
of suspicion, 'which the circumstances presented, and con.-
tended that the justice of' Ate case would be satisfied by no.
mina! damages.
The Lc" CHIEF JUSTICE recapitulated the evidence
and left the case to time Jury, with observations on theconduci
of the plaintiff'.
The Jury found a verdict for the plaintiff—Damages It/.

-------
The following is an extract of a letter from a
highly respectable character, received from Columbia by the
last Jamaica packet
," BOGOTA, OCT. 17...41 must appear- strange in Europe,
that the Spaniards, beaten as they were, and cooped within
the' fortress of Puerto Cabello, should suddenly Make them-
selves masters of one of' the most important places on the'
coast, and jeopardize the •tranquillity of the whole coun-
try. To account .for this, It is necessary to take into con..
aideration, that the Army of the Republic, necessarily
small, was much weakened, after the action of Carubobo,
by the expedition to Quito, while the part that remained was
scattered along an.iinmense extent of coast, any point of which
the.Spaniarda,hy having the command of the sea, could attack
with a relative superiority, and shift the scene of their opera-
tions with little loss or hazard. Such, moreover, is the state
of opinion in this country, that every partial success' is sure
to procure them partizans among the natives, who are easily
swayed, both by their own prejudices, and by the artifices of
the Priests, who are very generally Royalists. Under these
circumstances, a spark kindled in a distant province rapidly
becomes a flame before the means can be procured to extin-
guish it, so that the final result of an enterprise is very often
extremely disproportioned to its beginn rig. Energy, public spirit,
and individual strength of character, are still lamentably deficient
in all classes. The mass of the people is ignorant, timid, and
superstitious, and their Chiefs but rarely form exceptionato the
general rule. The capture of hfaraclybo is both directly and
incidentally, a heavyloss to the Government—loss of immediate
revenue—loss in expenses necessary for recovering the place—
loss of public confidence, consequent animation of the Royal-
ists, and loss of public tranquillity—loss of labour withdrawn
from commerce and agriculture—loss of credit abroad. Con-
nected with the latter point is the inisflirtune of M. Zee's hum-
bug Loans, the whole delusion of which will, ere you receive this
letter, have been opened to the public. Neither had he powers to
raise Loans, unless lie forged them ; nor had the Government
here any knowledge of the manner in which he was compro-
mising hl. Gum., the hlinister for Foreign Affairs, has
I written a justificatory Memorial on the subject, which, finis- ,
4ine, will reach England."

IRELAND.

The Dublin Papers are chiefly filled with
reports of the judicial proceedings which have
grown out of the atrocious-attack on the Marquis
Wct.LEst..tv. We stated yesterday that the pr;
.soners fad beetLadmitted,to bail, pending th
new proceedings about to be instituted against
them in the Court of king's Bench by ex officio
'hiformations. —The following are the Speech of
the Attorney-General, and the Address of the
'Judge, on the application of the prisoner's
Counsel for their discharge or adm'iFtion to bail,
on the 3d intiftliii":l-the Attorney-deneral has
abandoned the capital part of the charge :—.
TheAr TOItNEY,GENETIAL —.My Lords, I shall trouble yoti
with a few, and but a few, ehservations in reply. 1(1 have col-
lected rightly, Mr. Driscoll and Mr. Scriven have moved the
Cetirt for 'the diScharge of the prisoners, flandwich and Gra-
bens ; Mr. Driscoll offered bail, if I have understood him, for
flandwich and Graham ; I do not know Whether Mr. Scriven
mentioned hail or not. Mr. Johnston and Mr. Blackburn
moved for the discharge of Mr. Forbes. Mr. johnstone stated
that Mr. FOrbes was ready to give sufficient bail, and
Blackburn movedj for his absolute discharge. It has been
said that the priioners were capitally committed, but that in-
dictments were sent up against them only for a misdemeanor.
My friends, however, did me the justice to say that I had dis-
charged fairly what I considered to be my duty. It has been
said that the course adopted by the legal Officers of the Crown
had the effect of making punishment precede trial ; but
whilst I am sheltered by my Learned Friends from the
charge of wilful intention, I owe it to myself to shield my
character from the imputatiens of less charitable persons. In
the discharge of my duty, in investigating the circumstances
of the present ease--:-and a painful and laboriotis duty it was—
I was ,Usisted by persons of considerable Information, un-
doubted talents, and extensive knowledge. By and with the
advice of those per Sons, and after a protracted and painful in-
vestigation, I felt it.to be my duty, as the King's Atterney-
General, to prefee bills of indictment against Handwich, Ora-
liam;and Forbes, charging them with having entered into a
conspiracy to mender hii Excellency the Lord Lieutenant.--
I did afteiwards hold .it to be my duty to have the bills of
indictment preferred against those persons for a misde-
meanor only, and I will not now be betrayed into a
disclosure of the causes which induced me to adopt this
mitigated proceeding. As to the enormity of the guilt,
I felt not the shadow of a doubt; as to that guilt Meriting
the highest punishment the law awards, I felt no doubt; but'
I felt it: wotild be much better that the public prosecutor
should be charged with tameness and feebleness, than that he
should be criticised for hisseverity. .1 hold myself respon-
sible :to the Court ,and to the country for not proceeding on
thecapital indictments. It has been said by Counsel, on the
part of Mr. Forbes, that if those persons are innocent, they
have been punished by being imprisoned. Will any Gentle-
man say, that, if the bottle which had been thrown at the head
of the Lord Lieutenant had struck his Excellency, a few hours'
imprisonment would be adequate punishment for theoffendere ?
Or if the instrument 'of wooti which struck his Excellency's
bolt had strode his person, that the rioteri and conspirators
Should not be detained in custody ? In such a case as that
will it be said that the punishment of Mr. Forbes is more than
commensurate to the crime charged ? The outrage has left
a stain upon the country, sufficient to affix a charge of barba-
Ham upon the people. Mr. Blackburn has said, that we can-
not conjecture on what grounds the Grand Jury ignored the
hills. rwill Own, my Lords, that, for myself, lam utterly
at a loss to conceive on what principles of law or justice. they
could arrive at such a conclusiOn ; and I trust your Lordships
are equally so. Some persons, -perhaps, may have a vague
idea; they have, ' however, discharged their duty as public
functionaries ; they have decided on their oaths, and, as I
have before Said; T leave them to their consciences and their
God. Bill. of indictment beingignored by a Grand Jury, does
not, however, amount to an acquittal of the parties accused.
The King's Attorney-general, by law., is empowered to stand
in the place of a Grand Jury; and, in .case of a Grand Jury
not finding bills on indictments, which the Law Officer of
the Crown may deem sufficient, he has full privilege, by
virtue of his authority, to supersede the functions of the Grand
Jury altogether, and, .by filing ex.-officio informations, put the.
parties accused on their immediate trial. I now declare it as
my fixed deterMination, by, and with .the advice of those tit.
lented and intelligent persons with whom I have acted, to
bring those cases into the Court of King's Bench, by filing ex-
officio informations against all those persons. The Grand
Jury have taken on themselves to ignore the Bills ; 1 now
stand in their place, and I am here ready to proceed against
'those persons by ex-cfficio information. We are now, my
Lords, in the vabatirin, and I ant bound to wait for tie com-
mencement .of Term. Mr. Blackburn asks the Court frog
they are to know what the grounds are on Which the bills have
been ignored by the Grand Jury ? This I did not expect Motu
the acute mind- of Abe intelligent Gentleman.—The Court is
empowered to look into the indictments, and use its diacretion
as to bail for any persons therein charged. I require, that, in
thepresent case, the several persons charged may enter into
ritiffeinnt ball, to answer the criminal informations which I
shall file against them in.the Court of King's Bench.
Mr. Justice Motinu, said, that it had been the practice in
England for the Judges to look into the indictment, for the
Purpose of emoting their Charge to the Grand Jury word-
ing thereto. " I have," said his Lordship, " looked into those
indictments, and .I will say, that evidence of so disgraceful an
outrage, and so base a conspiracy, never yet tame before me.
It appeared to me, that there was evidence in those indict-
ments of a conspiracy to riot, certainly sufficient to warrant
the sending them for trial, if the Grand Jury believed the
witnesses ; if they had any legal doubts, they thould have ap.
plied to the Court for information. My astonishment at the de.
ciston of' the Grand .Jury was such, that if there was no law
Officer present at the ,time they ignored the one indictment,
and rendered the other in effect, abortive, I would have asked
them on what groundsAhey had come to that decision, and re-
quested of them to have re-considered the cue laid before them'
The Attorney:Gcneral was, however, present at the time, and
the ;interference of the Court was of course unnecessary—
When we consider of the bludgeons that were prepared--.the
inflammatory printed liana-bill that were circulated through
the House—the union of persons acting in concert, and sta-
tioned in different parts of the Theatre-:-and. that it was
known beforehand that a riot would take place at the Theatre
that night—l say, when ell this is considered, who is there
that will say there was not evidence of a conspiracy ? Some
persons were guilty of having entered into a conspiracy ;
and it is due to the persons accused, if they be innocent,
that the evidence against them should be made known. The
public ought to be satisfied—which they are not. There is
yot a good man in the country who has heard of this disgraceful
and abominable outrage, but must be convinced that a con-
spiracy existed. I lament that the consciences of the Grand
Jury could not reconcile it to themselves to find the bills on
the evidence laid before them. I say I lament it. The iittor.
ney-General has declared, however, his determination to pro-
ceed by ex officio information, and the persons accused must
of course enter into sufficient , bail to appear and answer to the
chance.
Mr. BLACKBURN, on the part of, Mr. Forbes, offered that
he should enter into 1,0001. security himself, and two sureties.
In 5001. each.

The ATTORNEY-GENERAL expressed himself satisfied at
the security offered on the part of Mr. Forbes, provided the
Crown Solicitor was satisfied the surities were solvent.
Counsel for Handwich and Graham then offered that they
should enter into security, themselves in one hundred pounds
each, and to give two sureties in the sum of one hundred
pounds each.

• This proposal was acceded to by the Attorney General.
who stated that 24 hours' notice of bail would be required ; and
that the Crown Solicitor, on being satisfied of the solvency of
the sureties required, would receive It. —The term commences
on the 22d inst.