The Sun.
London, England, 1841-02-22 00:00:00

back was in a shocking state, and it was a long time before it
got well. Francis was a very good man : I never knew him to
give insolence to the Captain, or to refuse to do his duty.
John Campbell, a sailmaker on board the Greyhound, said I
recollect the last boat load of pepper coming on board at Aleppo.
Francis was boatswain, and had the management of the men
who were stowing the pepper into the hold. The Captain was
standingat the starboard side of the main hatchway on the upper
deck. Ihe first thing that attracted my attention was the
Captain damning some one in the hold. He seemed in a great
passion, and jumped down to the 'tween decks. I was mend-
ing a sail on deck, and continued my work. I heard the Cap-
tain sing out for help, and several of the Lascars bundled
down to the hold. There were about a dozen of the
Lascars, for one Englishman would not allow two or three of
them to handle him.—(A laugh.) They brought Francis on
deck, and the Captain sent the boy for his sword. He then
ordered them to seize him up to a gun, and while they
were doing so, and while holding his arms, the Cap-
tain gave Francis several punches and severe blows with his
fist. He was then seized down (p ied) hands and feet to the
gun. Tne Captain told th,m to give him a d--d good flogging.
The serang (the boatswain of the Lascars) then flogged him
with the end of the maintop-gallant brace. —( Witness here pro-
duced a portion or the rope, which was a thick heavy rope. )
He gave no insolence whatever while on deck. He com-
plained of his wrists being seized too tight, but the Captain
told them to go on. He said to the Captain that he would
be sorry for that when he returned to England. The Cap-
tain said " If you threaten me, I shall give you four dozen."
The serang gave him two dozen. The flogging was a very
severe one. His eye and face were marked with the blows,
and his back covered with large wheals. After he was flogged
the Captain told him to go forward—that he should not do
any more duty as boatswain in the vessel, and desired him
never to come abaft the windlass while lie remained on board.

lie never did except to get his food, and on one occasion to
attend the burial service of one of the men. Francis was not
drunk at the time.

Cross-examined.—l do not know what occurred in the hold.
Ido not recollect where the chief officer was at the time.
The windlass was about eight or ten feet from the head of the
ship. When Francis was brought on decli, he did not break
from the Lascars and go towards the Captain. Francis did no
duty after the flogging ; he was not allowed to do any.
liy the Jury—There was no angry feeling between the Cap-
tain and the plaintiff prior to this occurrence.
Mr. Fish, a law-stationer in Chancery-lane, proved that
Francis applied to a Mr. Leary, a ship agent, for his wages,
and was refthed them, because he claimed more than Leary
was authorised to pay.
This was the case for the p7aintiff.
Mr. THESIC ER then proceeded to address the Jury on behalf
of the defendant. He could well appreciate the difficulties
with which he had to struggle in endeavoaring to bring the
minds of the Jury to a calm consideration of the case, after
they had been influenced by the powerful expressions of his
Learned Friend, who had excited the feelings of the Jury
against the defendant, by describing him as a tyrant, who had
been induced fr,m ill feelings towards the plaintiff to inflict
the punishment he had done. One of the witnesses for
the plaintiff had stated there was no ill feeling between
the plaintiff and defendant up to the period at which
the occurrence took place. It was clear, therefore, that
there must have been some improper and mutinous con-
duct on the part of the plaintiff to induce the defendant to in-
flict the punishment upon him he had done. He (Mr. Thesi-
ger) felt confident that he should be able to show that the
plaintiff had been guilty of so great a dereliction of duty as to
deserve the punishment he had received. The principal ques-
tion for the Jury was, whether the p:aintiff had been guilty of
such disobedient conduct as to authorise the punishment that
had been inflicted, and that would depend not alone on the
evidence for the pla ntiff, but upon that which he should ad-
duce on behalf of the defendant.

William Wheeler—l was chief officer of the Greyhound when
the ve4sel was at Aleppo. The plaintiff assisted in stowing
away the pepper. I asked him if he could take any more down,
as we had a great quantity on deck, and another boat along-
side. He said he could not. There appeared a great many
rohings (bags) in the squw e of the hold as I looked down from
the main hatchway. 'The Captain had just come on board,
and I told him what plaintiff said. The Captain said what
use was he (plaintiff) if he could riot take any more dowo ?
Ile then directed them to lower down more bags. Two were
struck dow ti into the hold, and Francis came out of the hold.
The Captain asked what he was coming up for, and Francis
said You ordered me up. The Captain said he did not. I did
not hear the Captain order him up. lie said If I ordered you up,
I now order you down. Francis said You ordered me up, and
I shall come up. The Captain jumped down 'tween decks and
collared Francis. He did not strike Francis. There was a
slight struggle and they both rolled down into the hold. I saw
the Captain's arm in the evening, it was bruised and disco-
loured. I jumped down with eight or ten Lascars to rescue
the Captain. The Lascars seized Francis and took him up be-
tween decks. He was then brought on deck, and got away
from them more than once. I did not see him put himself in
any attitude. His jacket was off, but his clothes were not taken
off when he was flogged. I thought the punishment was ne-
cessary for the preservation of the discipline of the ship. The
plaintiff was then disrated, and did no more duty. He was or-
dered not to come abaft the windlass or the mainmast. I don't
recollect which.

Cross-examined—l don't think the punishment was a severe
one. I should say the rope now produced would hurt one se-
verely, if struck with the force of a man's arm.
The depositions of Ameer Nathan, a Lascar, who was exa-
mined through an interpreter, were then read. His evi-
dence was that the Captain, when 'tween decks, ordered the
plaintiff to go into the hold, and that he refused, saying, "If
he was obliged to go, he would drag the Captain with him,"
and then laid hold of the Captain and pulled him into the
hold—that Francis was a little drunk at the time. He added
that the Captain had given him (the witness) money to buy
the clothes he then wore, and had promised him some money.
He did not understand English.
Mr. Platt replied, and Lord Denman having summed up,
the Jury returned a verdict for the plaintiff—Damages 100/.

POLICE INTELLIGENCE.

MANSION-HOUSE.

THE INDEPENDENT AND WEST MIDDLESEX LIFE
AND FIRE ASSURANCE COMPANY.—Sit P. LAURIE sat
on Saturday in the Justice-room, and stated that the
cases of distress, arising from the fraud of the " West
Middlesex Company," crowded in upon him daily. He
bad not, he said, heard of the report given from a
country paper, stating that the Marquis of Wellesley
bad purchased an annuity of the Company for 30,0001.,
voted to him by the East India Company. Ile was
happy to state, from what Mr. Farquhar had mentioned
to him about the principal annuitants, that the Mar-
quis of Wellesley had not placed a farthing in the hands
of the schemers. Indeed, he did not know how any
one who thought for a moment of the nature of the
terms on which the Association professed to grant an-
nuifes could be prevailed upon to give credit to its
solvency. Sir Peter Laurie then !mentioned that the
Lord Mayor had rceieved the following melancholy
epistle from a poor invalid in Ireland :

" 32, Lower Ormond-quay, Dublin,
Feb. 12, 1841.
" My Lord,—Events occasionally occur in society
which compel the most timid persons to appear before
the public ; if not to defend themselves against unjust
imputa'ions, at least to claim their sympathy for un-
foreseen misfortune-. This latter is unfortunately my
prese it fate. An all-wise Providence has been pleased,
now upwards of five years, to visit me with a disease
called chronic g,:stritis, or chronic inflammation of the
stomach, which is one of the most distressing to which
humanity is heir. This unhappy malady is supposed to
be occasioned in part by the translation of rheumatic
inflammation to that vital organ. This rheumatic affec-
tion, in an aggravated form, I had previously la'mured
under for a bngthened period. About four years back I
was compelled to decline busicess from these complicated
evils, not however witbott having submitt,:d to the most
harassing trials of such remedial tnelsures as are at
present known t-) the beding art for relief, but in vain.
My savings, amaunting to the sum of 6001., I, at an
unlucky hour, deposited with the ‘Vest Middlesex Asso-
ciation, who held an office here, for the purchase of an al-
nuity during my wife's lite and my own, first making
known to them the state of my present health. This
annually being our principal support, and unable, from
the continuance of disease, to take any further exer.
tions for our maintenance, I leave you, my Lord
Mayor, to judge what our present feelings arc. Pre•
viously to handing over this, my all, and fur which I

received the Company's bond on a 61. stamp, registered
in the Court of Chancery, I consulted some friends
conversant in commercial affdrs, whose sanction I
then obtained for so doing. I further took advice as
to the future solvency of the Company. My friends
observed that their prospectus and advcrtiserrents
gave reference to several Acts of Parliament extend
ing over a period of upwar,ls of forty years, which
should be looke I upon as a sufficient guarantee. It is
here needless to observe that these references to the
said several Acts were all fraudulent fabrications,
in-
tended the more fully to deceive, as appe kred by the
recent exposures ; their continuance in business not
having exceeded a period of four years. From these fear-
ful and notorious facts, it is not, on my part going too far
to expre: s s ! alguine hope that Government wi 1 irnmedi
atelypassan Act to protect the avd, helpless, and infirrr,
who are confessedly that Becton of the public mest en t Wed,
under such trying circumstances as the pre ent, to sym-
pathy and cornmisr•ratien—against the plundering de-
signs of such merras composed the" West Middlesex"
Company, and that Government will further, by the
agency of an envoy throughout Europe and America,
make every exertion to have tease men detected and
hell amenable to justice. Up to this your Lordship's
exertions, Sir Peter Laurie's, and the other benevolent
gentlemen who have felt so lively an interest in the cause
of suffering innocence, is above all praise. We fondly
hope these exertions will ult mat ly bring to light any
concealed property of the Company's, and in devising
such ether means as will rescue the helpless annuitants
from ultimate ruin.
I remain, my Lord, your Lordship's very obedient
servant,
" “
M. L. LARKIN, Apothecary, &c."

Sir P. LAURIE observed that he had, whit I in the
Chair, received the following communication :
" Brentford, Feb. 19. 1841.

"Sir,—ln the capacity of age3t is the town to an ohl
established fire-office, I rcce:v(:ti with a prospceus the
enclosed tempting cffer from the worthy Secretary of
the Independent and %Vest Middlesex Insurance Com-
pany. The bait did not take w.tb m.", but lam sorry
to find that in some other quarter it proved too power-
ful to be resisted.

" Your obedient servant, S.

" To Sir Peter Laurie."
"Indepeaderit and West Middlesex Fire and Life As-
surance Company.
" Sir,—l am directed to inform you that the Inde-
pendent and West Middlesex Fire and Life Inforance
Company %sill make the lolllwing allotvances. For all
transfers of fire insurances, 50 per cent. on the first
year's premium. On life insurances 20 per cent. on
the first year's premium, and five per cent. on annuities
or the gross payments.
`,hi am your (bcdient rervant,
" Oct. 1, 1836.
27, Baker-street, kpl4or laLmLa
nI
.As
qMu a r 2 LL, Secretary.
Just as Sir P. LAuatE had concluded the reading