The Sun.
London, England, 1846-05-28 00:00:00

SINGULAR CASE AT GUERNSEY.

(From the United Service Gazette.)

A judicial occurrence has recently taken place in the
Island of Guernsey, which we feel it a duty to visit with
what we conceive to he well-merited censure.
_ _ .

It appears that a private of the depot of the 27th,
named Thomas Curry, was arraigned before the Royal
Court for inisden.eanour, and near the close of the trial
witnesses were called to character. One of them was the
captain of the soldier's company—Captain Cole, who
spoke favourably in defence of the accused. One of the
jurats of the Court in giving judgment on the case, said,
" He found in all the cases brought before the Court,
that the officers gave a good character to the accused.
These gentlemen perhaps only looked to the qualities of
the men as soldiers, but certain it was that they gave
good characters to the worst men. Fossey, of the 48th,
was one of the worst men in the corps, and yet he re-
ceived a good character from his officers ; and so it was
in almost every case which occurred. He therefore could
allow no weight to the testimony which had been given
in favour of the prisoner."
A more glaring piece of absurdity, in utter mockery
of law and justice, it has seldom been our lot to contem-
plate ; and though the matter ought to be canvassed in
calmness of spirit, yet it is almost impossible, whilst pe-
rusing such gross and insulting remarks, to refrain from
giving free vent to indignation. The Learned Jurat no
doubt considered himself perfectly safe upon the bench
whilst uttering his totally unfounded calumnies upon brave
and honourable officers of the British army. Capt. Cole
could not refuse to come forward and give his testi-
mony, and to whom are the privates to look for kindness
and protection if it is denied to them by their superiors?
But it would be monstrous to suppose that a gentleman
over whom such restrictions prevail should falsify his
oath, his honour, and his veracity, to screen the guilty.
Captain Cole holds her Majesty's commission, and must,
consequently, be esteemed a man of firm rectitude, on
whom the imputation of a falsehood would be destruc-
tive to character—he speaks on behalf of the prisoner,
and Justice Midas Dobrea coolly insults, not only him,
but the entire British army, from the misnomered
" judgment- seat." We scarcely know in what terms to
speak of this totally uncalled-for indignity upon gentle-
men infinitely superior to the individual who presumes
to perpetrate it. 'With this and other glaring facts
before their eyes, the Government at home cannot fail
to adopt some measure for cleansing the Royal Court ;
for it is monstrous that a Jurat should decide that the
received evidence of good conduct from the officer of a
prisoner, given on oath, shall have no weight whatever
in the judgment he purposes giving. A writer in the
Guernsey Advertiser of the 18th offers the following
remarks:—
TO THE EDITOR OF THE GUERNSEY ADVERTISER.
Sir,—Junius, in one of his letters to Chief Justice
Mansfield, has the following note :—" In one of them
(referring to a political trial of the day), Judge Aston
had the unparalleled impudence to tell Mr. Morris, a
gentleman of unquestionable honour and integrity, and
who was then giving his evidence on oath, that he should
Lay very little regard to any affidavit he should make."
Thus spoke the indignant Junius, of a corrupt judge.
After a long lapse of years, it has been reserved to a
Jurat of the Royal Court of Guernsey, to adopt the
" unparalleled impudence" of Judge Aston;—Mr. Jurat
Dobree has had the ambition to earn for himself this un-
enviable distinction. Upon the trial, which has just taken
Place before the Royal Court, of a soldier of the 27th
depot, Captain Cole, to whose company the man be-
longed, was called as a witness for the defence. Captain
Cole's sworn testimony was favourable to the character
of the accused soldier ; but Mr. Jurat Dobre?, dis-
regarding alike the sacred office of the Judge, and
the sanctity of an oath, dared to proclaim, from the
judgment seat, that " He could allow no weight to the
testimony which had been given in favour of the pri-
soner." Captain Cole's testimony was in favour of the
soldier, and, for this special cause, Mr. Jurat Dobrie
presumed to cast discredit upon a British officer—t qual
in rank—equal in honour—and equal in integrity, to
any one of the jurats of the Royal Court of Gurnsey.
A greater and more unjustifiable indignity could not be
put upon any gentleman ; and no judge would so betray
himself, if he felt the sacred, and responsible attributes
of his office, and also if he felt what he owed to his own
honour. To mark more strongly the partisan spirit of
Mr. Dobre3, as a judge, he went back, without right or
necessity, to an old case of a soldier of the 48th depot,
formerly quartered in Guernsey, with the sole motive,
that he might cast an insult and indignity upon the
officers of that regiment, not now in this island. Mr.
Dobres, from political hostility, has deeply compromised
the honour and character of the judicial institutions of
this island ;—he has struck a blow, fatal for the in-
tegrity of the Royal Court of Gurnsey—fatal it may yet
prove—to its future existence as a judicial body.
Judges," says Lord Bacon, " ought to be more advised
than confident. Above all things, integrity is their por-
tion and proper virtue."
Guernsey lately saw the testimony of an abandoned
woman—a self-convicted felon—eagerly courted and
implicitly credited] by Mr. Jurat Dobree and others, in
order that—through this polluted witness—they might
strike at the innocence of a soldier, then under trial for
an alleged petty offence. Upon this disgraceful woman's
evidence, the Royal Court of Guernsey found this inno-
cent soldier guilty, and sentenced him to imprisonment
upon bread and water. The result was announced with
a shout of triumph in the Guernsey Star, whose unprin-
cipled editor is the acknowledged hireling of the faction.
The injured soldier was soon proved to have been inno-
cent ; and the Chief of the Court—the Presiding Judge
on,r the trial—felt it his duty to represent the case to the
,O.l.vns and her Majesty immediately commanded the
soldier to be instantly set at liberty.
England will now hear, with one indignant feeling,
that, While the Royal Court of Guernsey implicitly re-
eeived the testimony of a polluted witness, in order to
convict an innocent soldier, a Jurat of the same Court
has Openly, and from the Bench, attempted to cast dis-
credit upon the testimony of a British officer of the
highest honour, because this officer's evidence was fa-
vourable to an accused soldier. These are now facts in
the history of Guernsey, and few will think that they
reflect honour upon the administration of justice in this
dependency of England.
Identified with the British army by past recollections
and associations, I know its honour. The honour of
British officers stands firm and erect before the world,
and bids a proud defiance to those who attempt to tar-
_nish it. lam not personally acquainted with Captain
Cole, or any of the officers of the 27th Depot ; but the
army feels that they support and uphold the honour
and character of British officers ; and Captain Cole, I
have no doubt, feels that the indignity cast upon him
by a Jurat of the Royal Court of Guernsey, equally in-
volves the honour of the British Army ; and I am con-
vinced he has considered it his imperative duty to the
service to bring the conduct of Mr. Jurat Dobre under
the notice of the Head of the Army in this island, with
a request that it may be submitted to her Majesty's Go-
vernment. The honour of British officers may be safely
entrusted to General Napier, who is honoured by his
Sovereign as one of her most gallant soldiers—a soldier
sans
eur et sans tache ; and Sir James Graham is not
the49inister who will permit an indignity to be un-
justly cast upon the army.
In a
course former letter I expressed an opinion that the
day,
of events passing in Guernsey would, at no dis-
tantthe ay, call forth the power of the Sovereign, and of
has
notlmperial Government and Legislature. That opinion
At • been unjustified. It is now certain that her
Majesty's Government have issued a Royal Commission
to inquire into the several institutions of Guernsey, more
especially the constitution of the judicial tribunals, and
their administration of justice ; and it may be safely
trusted that the British Parliament will make such
organic changes in the constitution of Guernsey, as are
demanded by the advanced intelligence of the age—
eh anges much wanted, in order to secure to the middle
and lower classes the possession and protection of all
their just rights, and make their interests no longer
subservient to any privileged class. Guernsey will then
appointed to take its proper position amongst the
other dependencies of England.
F. HAMILTON,
Formerly Captain and A. D. C. to Sir J. Hope.
Guernsey, Feb. 16, 1846.
The feelings expressed by Captain Hamilton are
echoed, not alone by the army—they are taken up by
the English press, and the British Parliament. A most
unwarrantable indignity has been offered to every officer
holding her Majesty's commission ; but we already see
the day of well retribution approaching. Her
Majesty's Government will vindicate the honour of
British officers, and will teach Mr. Jurat Dobree and
the Royal Court of Guernsey, that they will no longer
be suffered to insult honourable witnesses with impunity.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE STAR.
Sir—lt is with very great surprise that I find in your
paper of the 9th of February, 1846, the following words
ascribed to Mr. H. Dobree. Mr. H. Dobre) said :
" That he found in all the cases brought before the
Court, that the officers gave a good character to the ac-
cused. These gentlemen, perhaps, only looked to the
qualities of the men as soldiers, but certain it was that
the) gave good
of the 48th regiment,
to the worst men. Fossey,
corps, and yet hewas one of the worst men in the
officers." received a good character from his
If Mr. Dobree „ expressed himself (I sincerely hope
he did not),
he attempted to take away the charac-
ters and gentmlemen, and eimpogned the veracity of uffi-
falsehood. ommitted himself to a direct
Private Fossey, of the 48th •
is
nreed to, as a
invent, bore an excel-
lent character at the time referrQ
as a good soldier. There good man and
Mr. Dobree
soldier being a bad man, howeyseurch thing as a good
may think fit to depreciate the militmaruyebhranch of her
Majesty's service.
The „,„
Royal Court of Guernsey (always
Dobree). believed the testimony of the oeffie-pting Mr.
r
48th Regiment, and I have no doubt will eeons of the
continue to
do so.
Mr. Dobree, in his place as jurat, is at liberty to ex-
press his sentiments on matters brought before the Co ;
in so doing he had better confine his opinions to the laws
of his country, and things he can form some estinials.
of, and leave the conduct and character of the British
army alone.

" Ne sutor ultra crepidan"

I have the honour to be, Sir, your obedient servant,
CAVENDISII BOYLE,
Lieut. 48th Regt., and Adjutant of the depot
dAring its service in Guernsey.
Kingston, Jamaica, April 3.

CIRCULATION OF FORGED CHEQUES.—On Friday the
police of the city aryl metropolitan forces received additional in-
lormation of the ci:culation of forged cheques of the house of Ilankcy
and Co. It appears that a man about twenty-eight years of age,
five feet seven inches high, fair complexion, small whiskers, and pale
face, in a black dress coat, grey trousers, light waistcoat, and gentle.
manly appearance, has been rather successful in passing them. The
same individual got rid of two in one (lay at the shops of Mr. Smith,
linen-draper, Shaftesbury-terrace, and ill r. Gunter, Lowndes-street.
Both
spurious documents were drawn for the sum of 121. 15s. each,
and at each of the ahave-named places he made purch(thes to Lime
amount of 51., and received the difference in change.