The Sun.
London, England, 1802-09-22 00:00:00

OLD AIL Ek.

SIXTH DAY"-"TUESDAY, AUG. 21.

SPECIAL tbimmis'3l6N4,

. ,
' Ilimly. . Reti, 3. G: Beaumont; ;-....'.1d :ictis Morgan
were breught to die narto be tried upon anlndia-
'tient, Charging -them with: the wilftil' tnntder 'Of
John Brenner; who fell in a duel; •in Which Mr.
Rea was Principat, and the otter rwo Oentlemen
were Seconds, at the -Cage. of. CoOd-HOpe; 'on the
4.th of March lasrs'..l(-7'-i ..: ' '' • ---. ''
The list of the Jury specially: summoned for this
purpose being ca,lkcLomerr3..smeral of them were ex-
cused.serving on account of challenged...by,the.
Prisoners' Counsel; after- whiCh the Jury was corn-
posed,Of the following Gentlemen : ..:.;: •.: -; ---
Samuel Halstead, . Wm. TilornburY.BroWn, .:
Samuel Osborne,• . - Henry Scavenard,
-Christ. Pines Hayes, _lnnis I. Yingaiitd, ,
Samuel Thorn, ' Waiter West,
:Thomas Ovey - , - ' ChfistOPhd SMith;
Win. Rich, - Samuel Brande, .
Me..PEAKE opened the Pleadings for •the.CroWn.
The ATTORNEY:GE NE RAL opened the Case.--
He said, 'that the occasion' which called for their
assistance in the administration -of Justice; and the
call for their discharge of duty, they had learnt
-from the Indiament they had heard read. by the
4iCe,r, as well as by the opening of the Pleadings. r;
it; was owing--to the deStli of a Gentleman of the
name of John Brenner. The Prisoners at the Bar-
steod.charged. with his murder.' ' The death of Mr.
Brernier was occasioned, as 'should appear before
the Jury in- evidence, and look place at the Cape 9f
,Good Hope on the 14th of March last, in a duel, in
which
.Mr. Rea, who was first named in the Indid-
'mentwas the principid ; the other tivo Prisoners
were assistants 'in that duel, that is to say, they
were Seconds of the Parties who -fought it. The
,death.:which the Jury' has-to-inquire Into happened
at the Cape of Good Hope there was -no .oppor.
'tunity of trying the Priioners there,. and therefore
the Commander in Chief upon that station sent
r
them home fothat purpose ; and the Court Was now
assembled undefillnitatkiiritx of a Law of which he
would shortly teke notice..,3l:fLas the-Statute of the
33d of Het-P. vilnll4-itteri -provides for cases of
this description. It provides, th.'t Whenever Air-
der or High Treason is committed on any of His
Majesty's. Subjects beyond Seas, a Commission shall
issue for the trial of such ofEnce in any County in
England. A--Commission • for that. purpose had
-issued, and under that Commission the Jury. were
'now impannelled to .try the Prisoners at the Bar.--
lie did not think it would be necessary for him to
trouble the Jury with • many o6servations in the
opening of this case : he, had already stated, that
the death they were to inquire of was occasioned
by a duel. He need not tell such a Jury that by.
the Law of this Country, if two persons delibe-
rately and with a purpose aforethought, meet to
decide any former quarrel, or to decide any quar-
rel when their passion -may reasonably lie supposed
to have been cooled, so that reason may be expeaed
to -assume its powers over human aftions, and they
fight, and in consequence of their so tighting.one of
their i is killed, it is Murder in the Enrvivnrr,c them.
It syki.hciWever iriapOssible to deny, that although_
this *as the Law of this COuntry,' it was known at
the same time, that there was what was called the-
Law of Honouri and that
,the feelings which men'
had uPorr thar-Law, were at variam:e with) the.,Law
of the Land ; and it was inipossible for men Wile
had at all mixed ..in the affairs of -the world not to'
lament the severe afflietions -which sometimes were
endured under the fierce rules and affected sandion
of what were called the Laws of Honour:, The
Jury must therefore have very different feelings
when they were ;ailed upon t-o . try a case-of this
description from an ordinary _case Of murder : but'
in stating this, he I.:l,gged they would not so far mis-
understand him, as to suppose he was considering:in
any degree the LaW of Honour ai :governing this
case ; for the law of honour was not : the law
which-the Jury were upon their oaths-bound to ad-
minister in that case„ but the law of thelandf_ and
if that law, in its-general' provisiOns, was too se-
vere for cases 'orlfilllthicrizt)ion," it was to the
LegiNsfatore aliiiitep:lt knairon,dought 'id be made to:
mollify its rigogi.'! if,inUiy-,Oartieular case the law,
A
might be supposed to -be too severe, it was to the
mercy of the Crown that appliCation ought,-to be.
made in such particular ease: but Juries were to
discharge their respeaive dtities according to.the
law of the land only. Be should, therefore, pro-
ceed to state to them shortly the grounds on which
he considered the law of the land to rest in such
cases : lie should-then state to them, likewise, .the
fads of -the present case, which he should, give in.
evidence : 'he should then apply the law of the case.
to such fads, and then call upon therh to administer
the law, after they had heard it stated from better
atithotity.than his, from the Bench. He then pro,
ceded to read the opinion of Mr. Justice Black-
stone upon the 'Objea of Duelling, the substance
-of which was, that if two persons deliberately meet
in cold blood, to settle any dispute whatever, and
deathensues, it is Murder in the surviving party,
and net. only Murder in such survivor, but also -in
the Seconds, and ..all who may be aiding and assist_ -
ing in it. He read the whole of that opinion, as it .
appears delivered .in the works of, that Learned
Judge, , He also read, at length, -the opinion of Mr.
Justice .FOster 'upon the same - subject, - which
was of the
.same tendency. The evidence; -he said,-
which he had to lay before the Jury,--related to the
transaaions of the night before the -duel- was fought,-
which was the i3th of March... He should: prove
to them that the Prisoner, Mr. Rea, ordered his
. . •
servant to call hiti hup,mt„three• o'clock the' next
morning ;- that. tile4rjhafbi,obedience to, his,
'master's com*Osicswegt/t2 1115. ,for that purpose,.
bdt-found him-tipc'vt.A one of the.other Prisoners at.
the. Bar, Mr. Readtnont ; -ift'at 'Mr. 'Rea gave the
servant a bag containing abrade of pistols; told the '
servant to' follow him, which he did, abOur a guar,.
ter of a- mile in What- is called the Com'pany's,. Or.
Government Garden, at the Cape - that on theirar;
riv-al at the garden,- Mr. Rea- and iVir. Beabintiin t were
seen' by'this.• servant in deep'ciinversation i. that the
Wanesil then laid- down on' 'the ground with the
losag containing the pistols under his head,. and fell
as leep-; that afterwatds -he -Was awakened by his -
mister with the bat undef bis . head i that his'