The Sun.
London, England, 1802-06-12 00:00:00

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LAW REPORT,‘

COURT OF KING'S BENCH.

sITTINGS BEFORE LORD ELLENBOROUGH WESTMIN—
SIkR HALL, THURSDAY, JUNE 10. •

M'LELLAN V. FIELD.

The Plaintiff is a surgeon, and was employeli as
Inspeinorof Seamen, to report who were and who
were not in a fit .state of health to be received into
His NiAjzsty's Navy, pand has,laeen, for many years,'
stationed,at Plymouth Dock. The Defendant is a
man Of prpperty there, and Commissioner for the
Management of the Poor, &C. in:Work•houses.
' This was an action brought to recover damages
of the Defendant, for his having written a Libel
on 41-. e Plaintiff, in a Letter written to the Right
Honour ,tile William Pitt, as Prime Minister,. and
received by him a little while after he quitted office.
The geixral tenor of the Letter was maccuse the
Piaintiff of being a Traitor, by. alledging that the
•use, he made of his irfluence with the seamen who
came under his inspe6tion, was to endeavour to se-s.
,tluGe them' from. their dins., to make them despise
their Officers, to recommend to them for imitation'
equality of France, and to hold out an,expeia-
tion of the landing of Bonap:ive in this Country,
. •

Mr. Pitt caged this Letter, which was an ano.
nymous one, to be laid before the _Lords of the Ad-
miralty, w,ho made inquiry into the subject, and
finding the .insinuations in it against the Plaintiff
grouno,s, delivered the Letter over to him in or-
der to: afflrd hiM an f)ppniluni,x of discovering the
author., which he raid I':ihewing the Letter to his
neighbours, whO declared on seeing ir, that it was,
the hand-writing of the Defendant. Upon which
he brought action.--It was agreed, as Mr. Pitt
was indisposed,; his attendance should be .dispensed
with, on hiS writing a letter stating.his having re.
ceived the letter cont'aininti, the_ libel, which he did.

• This Case is in its nature much too important
to be described within the limits we can afierd it at
prevent, but whieh we shall detail the first oppor_
turti tv.

fhe Ilry found a verdia for the Plaintiff—
danv2,es 5001.

JUNE I I.

CAREY KEARSLEy.

Tit.was an Aftion for copying and pirating the
book of the Plaintiff called" Carey's Itinerary,"
by a publication of the Defendant called the " Tra-
veller's Companion,"• exc.

it appeared in the course of examination of the
two Publications, that the Defendant's book con-
tained much of the matter which before was to he
found in- no other publication than the Plaintiff's
and therefore was taken from it, but that not a
pa e, alii a'as selected in which the copy was not ac-
compl:nit,l k-r: substantive mattes that was original,
and the wlfole arrangement of the Dafendant's book
was 'Efferent front that r‘f the Plaintiff; indeed they
were both taken ,:,)ok of Pat tersoU's Roads;
upon the whole Lord EL L NBOROU GU was of
opnion, that
_upon this issue, 'the Plaintiff had not
nwde out hie Case, for that there was no evidence
that the Defendant's book was a piratical publica-
tl,,n,.or copy of the Plaintiff's book, and this, his
LOniship said, he was prepared to submit as his opi.
to the Jury.
Upon ‘vhich the P:aintiff's Counsel observed, that
the rn.iin Ohjctd of the Adion was, to proted Mr.
Carey in his- exclusive right .of publication of his
own Book ; and as this was deemed not 'to be a
coPv of 'it, that right remitted entire, the Plain-
tif'f's anxiety was at an end.
Lord ELL E N BOROUGH said, that, certainly, this
cause did not touch
,The Plaintiff's right to the pub-
lication'of his Book ; that right remained in the same
situation as it stood in before this Attiori was
brought.
The Plaintiff was then—Non-suited.

FUBLIC.OFFICE, 80111-STREET.

THE GYPSIES.

'TR E extraordinary tale of the kidnapping of Eli-
zabeth MarY Kellen, by gypsies, from Plymouth,
is, in some reapeCts, placed, in rather a question_
able shape, as, by the answer already received
from that place. on the subjel, it does not ap_
pear there ever wa's a Commissioned Officer belong-
ing to the Marines -stationed there of that name.—
The girl, however, positively persists in the first
account She'galte',llich she repeats with the greatest
precision, and de'scrilws the exatq, uniforM of the
M,,rines ; but, from her Mentioning that her father
wore a sash of three colours,, and that he had been
employed in the recruiting service,.both in Ergland
and Sootland,. there is some reason to believe he was
only 'a setjeanr.
There has not yet been sufficient time to make
the necessary, inquiries after the person at Stoke,
near Plymouth, where she said she was. going to,
on the twirning she was taken away and stripped
-by the Gypsies: This point will certainly, in a
a great degree, develope• this doubtful case. •Let-
ters have been for Warded,, for this purpose, both
from Sir RICHARD Foßn, and Mr. F. the Gentle,
mn who •so humAnely received and supports this
girl, until the faa is ascertained. An Officer of
the,Marine, who was at Plymouth all last winter,
and who WaS present. Thursday, said.that there was
7:ing of gypsies in that neighbourhood about the
time stat'et.'lby the girl, and "that it was reported
Ley kihapped • several children ; he did _not know
CornraisioncdOfficer of the name of Kellen, in the
M-arines.