The Sun.
London, England, 1802-07-23 00:00:00

CORN EXCHANGE,

, July 23.
• THrs day there are note many fresh arrivals of
Wheat ; that article continuing a ready sale, best
Samples are a trifle deirer; the supply of Barley
and Malt' is rather short, and they go off briskly ;
as do Pease and Beans; Oats are in great plenty,
and with the many Buyers, sell at a small advance ;
Flour is rather dearer.

1
Wheat 525 a 62S'a 745 od Beans -34 s a 37s od
Fine do. ~, 75s a 77s od Tick ditto - 3os a 33s 6d
Malt -465. a 48s a 52s od Oats - 145 a.2os a 24S od
Fine ditto -53 s a 54$ 6d I Poland do.
'. ,255 a 275 od
Barley -• , 325 a 365 od Ripe Seed, 321 a 36l per last
Raley - - 345 a 375 od. Fine Flour 55s a 58s per sack
White Pease 355 a 41s od Second do. sos a s'ss per do.

Saturday morning last, Mr.' Butler, of Chelsea,
hothouse builder, by accident fell from his, gig,
near Frome, in Wiltshire, and was so much injured
as to survive the accident only a few hours.
On Wednesday night, about' nine o'clock, two
Gentlemen,, returning to town. in a post-chaise,
were stopped on Blackheath by a single highway-
man' who demanded the Gentlemen's money; which
they delivered to-the amount 'of 301. in notes and
cash, with which he rode off full gallop. He was
Well mounted on a brown horse, was armed with,
pistols, and wore a crape.

A Shoemaker, named Ratcliffe, of Loughbro',
has been sentenced to be publicly whipped for
leaving his wife and family chargeable on the
Parish. Not long since, in the same County; a
man was transported fora similar offence.

kAW- REPOT

GUILI73iALL, L07160N.
sirriNcs azroxE .PEclAr.

juky, rituitsrsAY, JULY 2i:

THE INCk HOi'Vi,ool) XN6

•
Mr: GAtirtove opened this case for the Preseetii
lion. He said it was an Information filed- by His
Majesty's Attorney-General against the Defendant
RObert Hopwood, the Mate, and Skelton; the Cap,
twin of a ship called the runt), for assaulting and
obstinaing • a person of the narne of ,Tolleff, an
Officer of the EXeise,, in the tine execution of hi. 4.
duty, on the zd of April last, ,on the Cdstoni4eitise
Quay. This Prosecution, he .said; was instituted
for the proteaion of'-the ,Officers of the Revent'e
against assaults; and this, he :laid he was instructed,
would appear in eVidence., to 'be one of the,
most provoking and unproVoleed assaults that;
perhaps; had for a long time been brought Before
the Court he had now the himour 'of address-
ing ; such , as His Majesty's high Law Officer 4
the Attorney-General, thotight it would he a
derelktion 'of hiS if Ile did not brin4
it before the Jury in this solenin manner ; for unless
protectionwas duly afforded to the Officers of the
Revenue, there ,w6t.ild be an end to all public Se.
entity; becatiSe theie must be an end to the Revenu6
by which that Security was supported. The business
of this -day -was-to hear the particulari of the case;
and if the Defendants were found gnilty, he believed
the circumstances of this case were such as would
call on' the Court hereafter, in the discretion which
belonged tait; to inflict on the 'Defendants a severe
punishment. The person on whom the assault was
Stated to be made, Was an Officer of the Excise ; he,
together with another Officer; was ordered by their
Superior to examine several hamperS of Wine;
Champaign and Burgundy on the CuSrom.HOuse
Quay, which it was necessary for them Co unpack
while they were upon this important duty,
Hop Wood entertained himself by throwing very
large bUndles of hoops upon them.-The Officers
first of all begged. he would remove' these hoops;
because; besides the inconvenience they occasioned'
to. the Officers in- the execution of their duty, it
was dangerous to the wine which. dies' were ex.:
amining, for it was much of 'it in bottlei, which; -.
from their situation, were liable to be broken.
The Officer; .therefore, desired HOpwoOd to desist
from throwiog:these hoops about. The answer td
this, civil request was, that of throwing, with
great violence, some more of theie. hoops; and
hitting the Officer with them; Upon which the
Officer went up .to Hopwood, and; without, any
violence, laid hold of him by the collar, and then
called out for a Constable; but no Cons-table carne.
While the' Officer had' thus hold 'al Hopwood, he,
knocked the Officer down, and his'head fell between
the -wheelS'of'a cart, 'and it was-, by -mere- aecident
he escaped with life;' had he lost-it, the.Defentitnis,
would-now.be brought to' the Bar of another Court;
to answer ,to a charge of Murder it Was; however;
providentially othowisee; The other' Defendant;
Skelton, came afterwards up and assaulted thiS,
Officer. 'Upon • this matter, as, it regarded; the
collettion of, the. 'Revenue; •th
eJury were bettei
judges than. he. was: 'They knew best thebusi..
ness of this Country- could .be carried on, if those
who are the Officers of,kevenue, are to be insulted.
in
.the discharge of their duty. He considered the
conduct .of the Defendaots in this case; for Wan..
tonly insulting these Officers in the nue,and peace•
able execution. of their duty, • worse • than that of
Smugglers; for thiswas a piece of wanton insolence;
whereas Smugglers, although their coridua wait
much to be reprehended, and-salways.*WaS so when
they were found guilty of obstructing. Officers of
the Revenue, yet they generally acted under a no.
tidn, which, although a false one, was to be re.
ceived as some extenuation 'of their guilt, for they
always looked upon- it as if they were defending
their Propeay: There was no such Plea here, for
this was a wanton
.piece of -insolence and wicked_ '
ness, where theSe Sailors made a pastime of assault.
iug the Officers of the Reienue : a, practice that ought
to be checked, and that Was the Main object' of
this Prosecution, He should cal Witheisei fei
prove the case on behalf of the down ; Upon"
which the Jury, he'had no 'doubt; would find the
Defendants guilty. Whatever- could lie
was
w
mitigation of punishment (if indeed it as possi.
ble that any thing could mitigate ptiniiiiitient -in
such a case) should be offered at Another place..
George Tolfrey said, he was an Otfic. er ofExcise,:
and Pori Guagerebelonging to the Port Of London.
He was employed at the Ctistorti.liouse Quay, onthe zd of April last,`-to examine some wine that •
was then,landed, and which was in hampers. He
saw the Defendants, Hopwood and Skelton, there,
at that time. 'When the Witness and his companion;
an-OfficeralSo, of the name of Hill; were on their
duty, he' ner!eived HopwoOd had thrown several
large bundle's of hoops on the hampers, large wonders
hoops, He toldllopwood that lie must not throw
them on the. haMpers,, for that' obstructed them in
the execution of their dirty; they ivere. bound ter
examine, as well as take,care of the hampers that he '
was, throwing these bundles upon. He still persist-
ed in throwing the bundles of hoops down. At last ' ,
he took one, and struck the Witness ()ter his loins
with'it, which almost prevented his drawing breath.
Mr. HiIY, another Port Gatiger, Who Was with
the Witness, asked Hopwood: how he dared to throvi
these things.on them ? Upon which he threw an'othet
immediately , and threw several others at them both;
twice at the Witness,- and three times at
There were large packets of wines in bottles on the
ground,., taken out of the hampers; Which they had •
done in order to a.scertain the ditty Upon them, and
which might have been broken by these honps
ing on iheiri, and therefore the Witness-, and his
brother Officer were airxiotts that no-mord should he
thrown upon'.the wine, which was valuable Cham..
paign and Burgundy; as well -is for their own safety;
Hopwood cOntinted throwing these bundles, not..
withstanding all that was said to him about
Upon Which the Witness thought it adviseable to
charge the Constable with Hopwood; for which
purpose he went round and took hold of Hop Wood
by the ja,cket, and called out for a Constable; but.
none answered: Hop Wood pulled hack itUrriediate_
lye and his .waistcoat was torn; as. the. Witness had
n- •
hold of it ; upon which; without another word;
Hopwood-struck th Witness a bloW, so violent,

!hat he fell down under a cartwheel; and as soon
he got up again, HiTe,ood repeated his blow
He;then withdrew, aid the Witness went
baik t.) his ditty ; and Oterw.trds, in purwance of
advice, the Witness went to theWharanger's Count..
ilg-house, to learn the name of the- than who as-
saulted him, for he did nor then
.(now his name.—,
In this pursuit; he n et the other Defendant, Skelton,
with the DAeudary, HopwoOd.
The Witness, addre,sing himself to the
,Whitr-
fii*er's Clerls, asked it he would be kind enough
to give to the Witoess the name of the Captain or;
11/late of. the Juno ? 13th before he_ could receive.
any answer, Skelton, addressing himself to the Wit_
ness, with an oath, said, ".Wltat do you want with
the Captain olthe Juno ? lam the Captain:"
he Witness told him he did not address himself
to him, but ihat.he wanted to speak 'to the Whar-
finger's Clerk. The Whalfinger's -Clerk did nor
'ipealc. a wurd.,. Skelton interrogated the Witness
Strongly ; upon which he went back' again to his
business. Skelton followed him, and swore that if
`he had been" there at the time the 1111 ate and the
Witness had the skirMish, he would have beat the'
Witneis ten times more than the
_Mate had done.
Bill was at that time with the Witness. Hill ad-'
dressed Sell to him, saying, " Here is no tho-
ioughfare—you must not Conte to interrupt us."
The Witness was then standing near the bottles

on the Custom-House Quay, arid Hill was standing
by 'the Cask-,'to count the bottles, upon which Skul.:

/on stood by the side of him and'shoved him with

his elbow, and.. pushed him nearly off the casks;
and told him that he had as much right as Hill there.
lie challenged Hill and offered to fight him, and
said he would. cut Off-the Officer's heads altogether
if he had been' there when the.sculiktonk place be,'
tween. Hopwond::ar,d- the -Witness. He said they
Were a set, of blond::SUcking Rascals, and that they
sucked the blood of the country; He challenged
Hill, but not the Witness; and,continued there near
i quarter of an hour, 'during which the business of
the Officers ‘n•iis `certainly stopped. Hopwood was
not then there. They were
.not together at the
time of :the_.assault.' _

Upon :this Lord
,EL,LENBOROUG said; as these
Delend;;nts were not together at, the time of any asr
sault being committed, the Prosecutor could nor,
upon pursue them both, lie must
therefore,make hiSeleCtion now,
.against which of.
them he would proceed.
Mr. GArtßoiv said, they should pabeeed against
tropw6od.
The Witness then underwent .a long cross-ex-
aMination. by Mr. EI6KINE, in' which h,.." main-
tained, most_positivelyonat the assault; by throw-
i;ig, these hoops, was commenced wantonly by Hop_
wood. That he had. nor the slightest provocation
for• it, &c. That the Witness went to Hopwood,
and laid hold of him after he was assaulted, for the
zriere..purpose of securing him, and ch;irging a Con-
sinble with hiM, and that in the 'endeavours of Hop_
Wood to get away, his waistcoat was torn, which
was owing, entirely., to himself. That the whole
a'spure arose purely from the wanton insult which
these mrn offered to the Excise Officers, ace.

Fiv‘e other Wiri esses.corroborited. this evidence
in every .material point whatever.
On the part of the Defendant }:i.oowood, the case
against Skelton being given up, _Mr. ERSKINE ad-
dressed the Jury, and ccnteded, it wyuld
that the Officers of the Revenue were the original
Aggressors in- this cases and therefore,he submitted
his Client ottght to be acquitted. •
A number, of Witnesses were then ,called, who

belonged chiefly to the.ship Juno, and some of them
Were pinti.:rs at the Ouay. They swore, that there
,were casks, &c. at this place, and the con-
fusion was very great, there not being room enough
to. clear away ail that was there. -That one ship
vas in .th.s. ate of being loaded and the other of being
amloaded, &c. That these hoops were put upon
some casks •by the 'Defendant, and thrown down
again -by ,the Excise Officers ;upon. which, high
;VORIS arose, and.ill language past for great while
on both sides ; that the Witness, Tolfr4, jumped
from the top of Some casks and zeized. the De-
fendant 1-1...pW00d, and. collared him violently, and
,tOre his waisteoat. That,-as to the Witness, Tolfrey,
by the eartwheel,, that was impossible, for
there was not tooth for him to fall, that' they did
not see flopwood assault Tolfrey, in the first,in-
Stance, but that if he happened to be hit by the
i hoops, t must have. been from accident, &c. for
that it • could • not be from design, Without their
INe'eing it, &c..—That• Hopwood ,was so fir from
knocking l'olffey down by the side of the cart, he
Drily puslicelhim.gently with his open hand in order
t 6 get tree from him, who was 'then collaring him.
• one
.01 two instances these'witnesks con-
t6ektcd e;ich other, the one of them imputing 'to
Tniirey, that which the other said was done by
f Till. Several of them swore 'also, that amongst
the abu:,it languoge used by the Excise (..*ers
- towitrdi the Defendants, who are said-. to be
shiremen, they said, this phras'e was Live
Yorkshiretnan a halter,, and he will find !wise,"
•
ke.

Toifrey. being called up again, positively
iv‘ ore ;hat wai'adually ,knocked down by the
'si'de of the cart-Wheel, and struck again by Hop,
Wood..—He persisted in it 'rrio;it seriously, that
shw men had. no provocation whatever for the
`assault which they committed on him.. That he
not say any thing whatever to Hopwood before
11-* wasstruck.by a bundle of these hoops.—He ad-
mitted thal Hill, his brother Officer, did say to. the,
D4.‘irdantS,
,":Give a yorkshirethan a halter, and
be will find a horse."

• Mr. G.3RROW ha in replied on the part of the
Prosecution, ,
Lord ELLENBOROUGH summed ,up the case to
the jitry, Nchich, he Said„became, more important
frOm the course it took, .than it was originally.; it
became so froth the Evidence on the one side and
the other, which were absolutely irreconcileable to
each other. The dirlerencecould not he att til4uted
to
.mistake--one' side or other must . be in
this case.—lt was true, there was
,often a great
deal of confusion at the Custom-House Quay: but
th (parties who were exami;ied disclaimed all 'pre,
tension to excuse from mistake on that account,-

because they. unflerto.4-10
sWat positively to' all
cnat had happened.;, and_ had,- ta.k, of them main-
tained, that they saw clearly how 'very hing hadi
happened on .this occasion.--4: w,. theetbre the
task of the jf!ry to say who was atmwlit was not
guilt:,vof Perjury in this case.—His Ltdhip then
.proceeded to. detail the evidence, and tu take ob-
servations upon the various heads of it, rri then
left, it to the JUry•to decide upon the wholenatter.
Mr. I3ARNAVELI., one of the Gentlemetof the
' Jury, asked his Lordship; "Can We distiguish
between. the simple Assault, and obstrudirp the
Officers in theekecutiOn- of their duty, my. Lot ?"
Lord I.T.ENUoRoUGti said, he thought -hey'
could not. That the Officers ,of the Revenue /ere
employed upon their oflices,was a point whichvas
not controverted.--He should have made that
tis-
tini`iion in his address to the Jury, if thelVitneses
had afforded room for that distinction in their 'vi-
donee.; but
.they had excluded that distinelion by'
their testitnony.-4t was evident that this aftay
happened while the Officers were examining his
wine, and while they were examining it, as it vas
allowed they were examining it, they were in the
exetution of their duty. He should. also tell the
Jury, that obstralion to the duty of a pthlic
Officer varied in its
.criminality according to the
nature of the duty, and the sort of obstrudion given
to it. The Court would hereafter consider raose
matters and apportion the punishment accordingly.
The Jury deliberated a few minutes, and found
both Defendants—Not Guilty.

SCOTLAND.

EDINEUAGH, JULY 19.

The Marquis of HUNTLY is arrived 'in Town,
and dined .ar the Mess with his old Regiment, the
4.zd, in the Castle.

The Commissioners of Excise and Customs have
got an addition of zoo!. a-year to their salary ;
which is now Soo].

The Fraser Fencible .Regiment have been dis-
embodied 'at Glasgow.
On Friday last a' melancholy accident happened
at Bruntisland. Among many others' who-were
expressing their zeal and afFeaion for Sir JAMPS,
ST. CLAIR ERSKINE, to be their Member of Par-
liament,,Mr. St vtv,:ittotir, Surgeon in that place,.
was assisting, after the.horsei were taken out, to
draw the Baronet in his carriage through the streets,
when be fell, and the wheels_ going over him, he
was killed upon the spot, - -
A very Melancholy accident • took, place in the
neighbourhoOd.6lKelsoon Wednesday night. Two
persons of the names of Scott and Wilson, were at-
. tempting to cross the Tweed, at Hempseed.ford, a
Utile below the town, in a one-horse cart. The
water being considerably swelled, the cart, which
was old and crazy, was overturned at 'the top of
the stream. Previous 'to the accident, Scott, Who
had seen 'it impending, payed from the cart into
the river, and, fora few 'seconds, was seen by
Wilson, standing very deep in the 'water, strug-
gling to keep his balance.' But the current was too
rapid; and, after, a•single
_exclamation to his com-
rade, of " Lord have mercy upon us ! We are lost 1"
his strength failed—he fell forward, and was tar-
ried down the river. Wilson meanwhile clung to
the cart, and was fortunate enough to gain the
bank. . • -

Immediately on hearing of the accident, Robert
Kerss, tenant of the Kelso Ferry,. took a•boat, and
hastened to give his assisoncc. After a short.in-
serval, he succeeded in discovering, and dragging
out the body- of Scott. • Nledical assistance was
quickly obtained, and the. methods prescribed. by
the Humane Society in such eases,- were applied for
several hours, but in vain; Lite was irrecoverably
fled.

The unfortunate deceased, who was a meal-maker
'in Kelso? Irts-left a and six children to lament
his loss. Wilsouis-cOnfined to bed by the bruises
he received ; but his hurts arc notdAngerntis.