The Sun.
London, England, 1834-11-29 00:00:00

ters should go out at once, or after the disgrace and
ruin of another rupture, in the face of the assembled
Parliament ? These interrogatories require to be an-
swered otherwise than by fraudulent evasion or paltry
abuse—to be answered • in the affirmative or negative,
and by those who know what they are asserting, which
it is manifest that some of our contemporaries do not.
One word on another point. A paper (the Courier)
which at first showed a very honourable disposition to
view the present state of things with•a candid eye, has
within a few days adopted a somewhat impatient
tone, and calls upon the Duke of Wellington for
an immediate declaration of his intended policy. Is
this reasonable ? We do not say that the whole pc).-
pulation of England is not, and ought not to be, most
anxious about the projects of the new Government ;
but when it is known that the Duke has merely taken
office temporarily till Sir Robert Peel arrives, is it
decent, is it just, to call upon a provisional locum
tenens to obtrude upon the public his individual no-
tions as the deliberate objects of a Cabinet yet un-
formed ? We have no doubt that as soon as Sir R.
Peel arrives, the Cabinet will be formed and come to
a speedy decision, and that the first possible opportu-
nity will be taken or made to explain that decision to
the public. What that decision may be, we of course
cannot tell ; but we repeat what we have stated from the
first moment of the dissolution of the late Ministry, that
we believe it must be such a decision as will satisfy every
honest and sensible reformer throughout the empire.
We repeat also what we have as often stated, that our
course is plain and straightforward. We support
measures, not men ; least of all do we support men
who have neither courage nor sincerity enough to
carry those measures to which they had pledged them-
selves. The moment that the Government of the
Duke of Wellington, or rather of Sir R. Peel, shall
take one step in retrogression—the moment that it
shall attempt one act to impair the efficiency of Par-
liamentary Reform, or to impede the progress of such
rational reforms in Church and State as enlightened
and honest men of all parties have for a long time
demanded both in Parliament and out of it—we shall,
as ever, be found at our post, fighting the battle of
liberty and reform, with that ardour and determination
which have hitherto procured, and will, we have no
doubt, always procure, for us the confidence of our
countrymen.—Times.

COURT OF KING'S BENCH, Nov. 28.

VRIMI6TON V. NEWCOMEN.

This was an action of a ssztnipsit, brought to recover It
large sum of money, claimed to be due from the defendant,
for the maintenance of Eliza Newcomen, his daughter.

The ATTORNEY-GENERAL stated the case: -He felt a
more than ordinary into:est in the event of this trial, for
upon it depended the question whether a young lady should
be supported in some degree in a manner fitting to her rank
in life, or whether she should be suffered to drag out the
remainder of an existence that had never been happy within
the walls of a workhouse. The plaintiff was the widow of
a Captain Urmiston, who had been in the service of the
East India Company. The defendant was her son-in-law.
In 1803 the defendant, an Irish gentleman, with a property
of between 2,0001. and 3,0001. a year, married Miss New-
comen. In 1810 she left her husband's house, and went
to Douglas, in the Isle of Man, where she was followed,
if she had not been conducted thither, by Major Strat-
ford, since become Earl of Aldborough. When she left
her husband's she was pregnant, and a child, a daughter,
the unhappy female whose board and maintenance formed
the subject of the present action, was born after her ar-
rival in the Isle of Man. For some time this child re-
mained with the mother, it was then removed to the care of
the father, it was afterwards taken into the care of the
mother ; it then went to the house of the grandfather, in
Kent ; it was again sent to Ireland to the father, and by
him consigned to the care of the steward ; it was removed
from the steward's custody, where it suffered every species
of indignity, and was actually covered with vermin, and
after being cured from the loathsome state into which the
iil-treatment of the father's steward plunged it, the child
was taken back to the house of the grandfather, where it
remained for some time, till it was capriciously claimed by
the mother. The child then beginning to grow up was ac-
cordingly sent to the mother, and was by her almost as ill-
treated as by the father's steward. The poor young girl
indeed was so shamefully misused that one occasion she en-
d.lavoured to put a period to her own existence. After
some time she escaped from her mother's house and took
refuge in the house of her grandfather. This was in 1825.
While he lived she continued with him, and had since then
resided with his widow. That widow had been reduced in
circumstances, and was, therefore, compelled to bring the
present action, the more especially as the defendant's daugh-
ter was suffering from ill health to such an extent as to be
deprived of the use of her limbs. The plaintiff now claimed
at the rate of 801. a year from Easter, 1825, up to the com-
mencement of the action ; and that claim the Jury could
have no hesitation in sanctioning by their verdict.
Mr. FOLLETT, after ably recapitulating the case, con-
tended first, that the plaintiff's grand-daughter was not the
daughter of the defendant, but of Major Stratford. Se-
condly, that if she were in consideration of the law his
daughter, still that he was not liable to maintain her after
what had passed on the subject.
Lord DENMAN thought that the evidence of illegitimacy
was not satisfactorily proved. He had never, in the history
of romance, heard of a poor creature made to suffer to such
an extent for the vices and crimes of others. He then left
the question of damages in their'hands.
The Jury returned a verdict for the plaintiff—Damages
four hundred and eighty pounds.
The defendant's Counsel had leave to move the Court
upon the points of law.

COURT OF COMMON PLEAS, Nov. 28.

HUMPHREY V. WOODHOUSE AND OTHERS.

This was an action of trespass to recover damages for
unlawfully imprisoning the plaintiff.
The plaintiff in this action is a broker,
residing at Brix-
ton ; the defendants, Mr. Woodhouse, a gentleman of for-
tune, residing in Montague-street, Russell-square ; Gomm,
an auctioneer, residing at Hammersmith ; and Fisher and
Stilwell, two policemen. The circumstances of the case are as
follow :—On the 15th of April last, a Mrs. Hassan, wishing to
break up her establishment at No. 4. Hammersmith-terrace,
employed the defendant Gomm to sell her goods by auction,
which was accordingly commenced on the premises. During
the sale the plaintiff made his appearance in his character of a
broker, and on coming into the house was smoking a cigar. He
continued to do so, standing on the stairs by the front par-
lcur, which was filled with respectable ladies and gentlemen
resident in the neighbourhood, until a lad named Lane told
him he could not be allowed to smoke there, whereupon he
ceased to do so. Mr. Woodhouse, one of the defendants,
hearing the controversy, came out of the room, called in
the policemen, and insisted upon their taking the plaintiff
into custody ; in this he was aided by the auctioneer, who
left his rostrum on the occasion, telling the policemen " to
do their duty." The plaintiff was accordingly conducted
by them to the police station at Brook-green, where he was
locked up, and he remained there from three in the after-
noon until seven in the evening, when he was taken, con-
ducted between the two policemen, before the Magistrates
at Queen-square, charged with having smoked a pipe in
Mrs. Hassan's house, and the Magistrates immediately dis-
missed the complaint. This was an action to recover com-
pensation for the injury which the plaintiff had suffered in
consequence. _ _ .

In support of this case several witnesses were called, who
corroborated the facts narrated.

Mr. Sergeant SPANKIE then addressed the Jury gene-
rally for all the defendants. He admitted that there must
be a verdict against Mr. Woodhouse, but he contended that
the other three defendant had in no way been concerned in
the injury which the plaintiff was stated to have suffered.
What injury was it that he complained to have suffered ?
That he had to walk between two policemen. He did not see
much disgrace in that, for he himself often saw most respect
able men walking with policemen ; and policemen, dressed
very genteelly, looked very much like gentlemen now-a-days.
—(A laugh.) They were bound to follow the directions
given by Mr. Woodhouse ; but what was it Mr. Gomm had
done? He told them "to do their duty ;" and was there
anything wrong in telling men to do their duty ? It was
proved that the plaintiff had come into this lady's house
smoking a cigar ; that he was standing puffing it into the
room in which most respectable people were. What would
any gentleman of the jury say, if persons came puffing
their cigars into their faces ? As far as he himself was con-
cerned, he would knock the fellow down that would do so
if he had strength. He could only compare the scene to
something that he had read in " Peregrine Pickle," where
it was stated that " a party, puffing and blowing together
were all in a devil of smoke."---(A. laugh.)
At this stage of the proceedings, his Lordship thought
there should be an acquittal of the policemen.
Mr. Hums.REY replied. He must say, that he had never
before seen such a charge, or complaint, entered against an
individual as the one against this plaintiff ; he begged par-
don, he did once, and he would tell them what that com-
plaint was. The history of it was well known to his Lord-
ship. A magistrate, better known for his kindness and bene-
volence than for being well versed in legal attainments, made
out a commitment against a man (would they believe it ?)
to this effect :—" Commit so and so, for that he did felo-
niously jump over a wall, and that he did
in my presence most
wickedly and feloniously threaten to jump back again."..—