The Sun.
London, England, 1802-02-23 00:00:00

. Al REPORT`.

COUItT OF KING'S BENCH, Fzs. 22.

1,1 G S E 0%2 E fit.Z'

jiIS,T ICE c frqs ND -A •SP,ECIA

JURY, Ili W.I4:STAIINSIEtt-HALL.

THE kl-*.G fiLAIE; AND OTFJI.M.S,

The ATTORNEY-GENERAL Opened this Prosecu-
tion, which was'against Blake arid lot:it others; tbr
aconspiracy-to persuade a Witness of the name of
DurnpleY, otherwise called Donoilliotigh; a Private
in the EaSt Middk.sex Militia, to absent 'himself
frotri the trial of a• person of the name of isaa6
who stood.charged.with uttering' base seven shilling
, pieces, , kr:owing them "to lie counterfeited, • Sec:.
They •had tampered; he said; cvitii this Witness;
and Offered him anon c,pon several. occasions, and
to purchase his discliarge for Six guineas be:.
sides offering. sometimes lifteen guineas; and some::
times twenty,fitie, for going out of .-the way; •ini
stead of appearing on the lie pretended to
give. Way; but 4rst-acquainted•his',Officer;
rant: Kirkman; of the ease, who,cOrtimunicated it .
to the CoMmanding 'Officer; and behaved very hp,
notirably; the result of which was; that this
mess was 'put under arrest, andkeptineustotly until
the time of trial; when he was. brought Intel Court
and examined ; but: owing,' the -Attorney-General
,said, to a Charge . deliVered by theßecordertO the
jury on that occasion, the PriSoner, Isaac Wise;-
was acquitted, -lie had
.bad long acquaintance
with that Learned Officer of the CoOrt.at the Old
Bailey; and much esteem for him ; but he ve9tureel_
to say, that lie had ruis.stated the Law as it applied .
to this paiticular'ease ; and he viionld go further,.
and say, that if the Law ..was as then stated,: no.
-convidion for uttering bkrie nionercotild once:in an.
hundred instances. of real guilt; take plaCe at all.
The course which had been &sued . to dere& these
utterers, was :,,ny of them became the
subjet of stispiciOn;a petiOrt employed: by the Mint
pretended he wanted to bily-some bad Money of such
person; an appointtnent was made for that purpose.
The person -employed for this business niarkedsome
good money; -.Which he gave in- exchange for the
bad, made his piirchase with the utterer; ..paid hire
with his marked Meney, and then, upon 'a signal
given, the Otticers 'of 'the -Police carne forward, took
up the :utterer at once, and found this money on
him, which; together with the .bad money bought,
by the pe,rson thus employed by the Mint; for this
detedionl made up CoMplete•evidenCe against the
utterer. To this, the objeetion which had been
started, and iithichlhad been fiital- to some pcoecu_
dons tried before that Learned.dfficer he had
ready alluded' tb, Was; ‘e That this..i;ass a Mode,Of
unfairly entrapping a man into the commission of a
criMe; and then turning hii teMpter into his accu-
ser."--But to this it was to. be answered, that no
innocent than could be ever entrapped
for no innocent man could have ,i 0
,his ,po,ssesston ,
:such a number of base pieceS as. to be able to„traffic
in them, .nor would any honeSt than sell the if he
did possess them.; so that this was :not a Mode of
entrappirigfinnoeence, but of dete4itig guilt.
In the_ease of the persons now. chargediiii this
. •
conspiracy to; keep
„away a Witness from' giving
evidence? it •WAS true they failed of their objeCtv
and the-Wittiess4s,nifas..exarriiried.4 ;bin that':'cild-not
alter, this Case, because the. crime. was. in the con-
spittle), tondo t!ris tinlawful :aft; and whether: they
accomplisliedi pr failied, made ho difference as to •
their added, that ,nnlesS theadministra..;
tion,ol.justice,:rould .be secured. from these atiacks
upon it,lvain. would it be to keep Courti of Cri,
mtnal justice open:.
The acconiplices in this- offence;• and-who had
beett•Originally charged with it, biltwho- the At-
torriey4General had made WitnesseS foi7-the Crown,
by enteting'a Not. Pi7ql. regard to therm, re-
lated the whole case, by which it appeared that the
Defendants had endeavotired to keep, this,Witnes4
away, and the evidence of these persons was .corro-
borated in Many., material parti by Lieut.:Kirk...
man; who, gave his evidence with great ,candouri
and received the:•approbation of the whole. Court;
leor both his testimony in the cause; and his con:.
dua in the.transadion:
. .

. . . „
- Mr. ERSKINE made' an able speech for the De.:
fiendants, for two of whom only he, was Counsel:---
He represented, the ftrs.t Informer. in this. case; as a
disappointed villain, Who wanted to get, not Only hii
• discharge, which he adually pUrChased at • the ek...
pence Of these Defendnts; but also the .tWenty:
five guineas he said he Wasat.ene time prornised.—
This very man had lieeti examined- before the-Re-
ecirder and the Jury Who tried Isaac WiSe for the
Uttering of die base Money: he. was not' „then be:.
lieved, for Wise was acquitted.; and being acquit=
ted; he must, by )I.l'rilles of. Law..'nd. Justice; be
said to be innocent.-L-If this •Witnesi Wit..tiot
Hewed then; why shduld be be believed now:,?:.&-c. &c:
..The ATTORNEY GEN •iii his reply., ititent
• ,over, • all ;the, niost material obseoations...of;,l Iro
~Etis # N E; t Afin);.: occasio to.rake vai'ticular rro.:
..,tice of-an expresSion Which; he. thoght;..prUdefice
bad long ,ago rest,
,e very Mit lit
acquitteciin rk.of Justice,. must be taken, to ;be
innocent."--A sentiment which could . not .be site_
ported for - The. legtrL;efrcet of an ac.
qaittal was a persoolcould neiier be
tried • ag;ain Npon that c114rge,"...4.44•thai wfas,. all
the provision of the, LAW, .upon,,,it. But there,
were a... thdttspod.-Ways,. such as• the alri'
a material Witness-'— Perjuty....inthos.q wbe; might
be , in the ReCQM; and so .td.
an endless variety, .•by, whiCh i -.prisoner Might.
.be acquitiek and might be entitled; by the rules of
LaW,,to be- acquitted,, and ' yet there trright not,
morally speaking; remain a' particle of doubt of his
gnilt; even by.. those who 'were. called .tipon by: the
rules of law to. ;pronounce him. not guilty slris
was so cleir,and plain, that the
.contrary _had-never
been asserted it had
,nevet- been alledged,ilrat be-
cause a man, is acquitted, it- must be takeny.for all
moral purpOses, as well as legal rules, .tha:t 'he is
inpocent, until some late State Trials, when those
who were brought as, sinners...and 'traitors from
their cells,. to the Rat of a Court of Justice, were
'carried 'away.. from. it
.as Saints' anti Fatriots.
4.‘ That every man is morally innocent, .because
he is found Not.Gttilty," was a proposition, which
those who
;asserted it, repented of their.: audacity
after they were.anwered. It was indeed alledged
aftetwaxas in another- placei _ 'where its a's'sertenlift:c

no'better fate, and to which he would not allude
any further. He could only say it was a proposi-
tion that was not to be found in any book, that ever
was written upon the Law of England, nor ever,
until the time he mentioned, maintained by the
most wild and extravagant asserter of unfounded
sentiments. It was a proposition for which 'there
was no scintilla of reason. He then justified the
condua, of the' Mint- on these prosecutions, with-
out which, he said, these cases could never be
brought to light,, and maintained that the Defen-
liants ought to be found guilty. .
- Mr. Justice-GRosE stated the nature of this In-
diament to the Jury; which he said was of great
importance to the Public. Whether a Witness Cvas
tampered with to prevent his going before a Judge
and Jury upon Trial, or before.a Grand Jury upon
a.Bill of Indiament, or before 41. Magistrate upon
an accusation,
_ the offence was .highly dangerous,'
,and ought to be suppressed. This Case was therefore
important in that view. It was very important in
another view, as it related to. the issuing of base'
coin. We all knew what sort of coin.we were
continually subjea to take. He had had some
reason to be particular in this Case. He had seen
men tried for this offence at the Old Bailey. He
had afterwards seen the same persons tried for the
same Offence in the 'West of England, and part of
the same gang, again in the Midland- Counties.—
He knew that one person who was lessee of many
turnpike-gates, was concerned in this infamous traf
fic,.ztad by whose aid much base coin had got into
circulation, .for which reason prosecutions of this
kind were certainly important. As to the prac-
tice of the Mint, he thought. it-was made necessary
from the very extraordinary circumstances of the
traffic, just as the Officers of Bow-street had been
made to go out in a post-chaise, to-be robbed, for
the purpose of apprehending some extraordinary
highwaymen. The Learned, Judge then went
through the whole of the evidence, and left the case
to the Jury, who were to judge-for themselves.
- The jury found all the Defendants Guilty.
The Learned Judge said, he was- perfealy satis—
fied with. their Verdi. He then cliteaed that the
Catises which stood in the Paper-for to-morrow,
Should mine on as they stand, and the remainder of
This day, :to stand over until Wednesday, and on
Thursday to go to Guildhall.

PREROGATIVE COURT, FEs.

BEFORE THE RIGHT HON. SI'R-W.WYNNE.

BISHOP ROACH.

THIS was the case of a.codicil which was writ-
ten at the-bottom of the will of Lieut. col. Hodges,
deceased. This codicil was propounded- by Mary
Roach,- and opposed by the Executor of the de-
ceased's will, bearing date the-31st of March 1795.
The codicil, bearing date the 19th of August 1797.
wasin those•words, " I leave to Mary Roach the,
annual sum of 301." It appeared that the 'Testator,
at the time of-his death, and for some time befbre,
lodged in the house of Mr. Rbach, whose daughter
was the party benefited by this codicil, and for
whom,• it appeared, the deceased stood godfather,
notwithstanding ir was in evidence that the young
Lady was seventeen years of age when the de-
ceased first went to Icldge at Mr. Roach's house. It
also appeared, that this paper was 'Written in a very
scrawling hand, except the signature, ". John
Hodges," which' was written in a very fair hand.
It was submitted by the Counsel on behalf of the
Executor, that the Court could not entertain any
doubt whatever, from the evidence and exhibits
produced in the cause,' but that
•this codicil was a
mere fabrication.

•The Court, after reciting the evidence, and
comparing the hand-writing of the deceased with
other papers proved to haveTheen written by him,
was clearly of opinion that this codicil was a fabri-
cation, and therefore condemned the party in costs.

ADMIRALTY COURT, DOCTORS COMMON-6, FEB. r 6.
TH IS day the Right Hon. Sir WILLIAM SCOTT
proceeded to the adjudication of the' following

causes .
Carl Walter, SMITH master.—This was a Danish
ship, laden with a cargo of hides, going from Lis.:
bon to Sr. Andero, a Port in Spain, which cargo
was claimed as Portuguese property.
It was contended'on the part, of the captors, that
there had been no transfer of the property, and,
therefore, this was Spanish colonial produce going
to the Mother Country ; and, as such, was sub.
jea to confiscation. On the pate of the Claimants,
it, was 'submitted that thegoods had been' duly im-
ported.

The Court said, there was the strongest proof
that this was an Enemy's transadion, and a fraudn_
lent business, and, therefore, had no hesitation' in
condemning the property.
The Doris, master.—This was a ship like_
wise laden with a cargo of hides, which the Court
condemned on the same grounds.
Potrivor, ----, BA B EK master.—This ship was
also laden with a cargo of the same description,
but being distinguishable from the above two cases,
the Court ordered further proof.
Prow Elizabeth, , ACKERMAN master.—lt
appeared in this case, that the ship had been re....
stored, and, an offer of restitution of the cargo, on
the payment of the Captors' expences, which cargo
hacl;suffered very much (being of a perishable na-
ture) from-its detention.
The Court said, it must sallow 'some demurrage
and damages in this case, and_therefore referred it
to the Register and Merchants.

It appears to give general satisfaaion when the
great Prizes in any Lottery are divided into Shares.
in the last Irish Lottery, four Ten Thousands Were
the highest PrizeS, and two of them were shared-at
the old Office of SWIFT and Co., in the Poultry,
from which fourteen persons (some of them for Clubs
and Societies) derived advantages in 'various pro-
portions, frail: a Half to a Sixteenth. TWo Other
capital Prizes were sold at the same House, in whole,
Tickets.