The Sun.
London, England, 1802-12-16 00:00:00

jAW REPORT.

CRINI. CON.

FOOTE ,V. JONES.

AN inquisition, awarded in the Court of King's
Bench, was yesterday evening executed before S.
COLLINRIDGE, E-q. and a Special Jury of Mer-
chants, in a cause in which Edward James Foote,
Esq. was Plaintiff, and Owen Jones, Defendant, for
criminal conversation with the Plaintiff's wife.
The Damages were laid at zo,oool.
Mr ERSIC,INE said, he was Counsel for the rain_
tiff in this Cause, in which the Defendant, without
making any defence, had suffered judgment by de-
fault, and in consequence of his confession of his
crime, the Jury were assembled to assess the Da.
mages. Plaintiffs had formerly suffered much in-
convenience from the course pursued by adulterers,
in suffering judgment to go by default, and with-
drawing the question from the superior Tribunals.
This had not been the case of late, because, in con-
sequence. of a Rule of Court, the same Gentlemen
were called upon to decide upon an inquisition,
who would have formed the Jury upon a trial before
the Chief Justice. There were circumstances in
this case peculiarly affecting. The Plaintiff was
Captain of one of His Majesty's ships of war; he
had been 2Z years in the service of his Country,
some of them in the most perilous but glorious times
England ever knew. During the whole of that pe-
riod he had been little mere than two or three years
ashore. Deprived of all those comforts which sweeten
, human life, he had nothing to support him in his ab-
sence from his family, but the satisfadion that he
was doing his duty, and acting a part not only be-
neficial to the profession in which he had been bred,
but to the Public at large. He had hoped, that
while he was protecting his Country, his Country
was protcding him. It was impossible, said the
Learned Counsel, to avoid adverting to what had
once been said by one of the most eloquent men
he had ever heard, and the more eloquent, be-
cause every thing he said proceeded from the
honesty of his heart. It was in the cause of Sutton
against 7ohnsoli, in which the Plaintiff complained
of the •:Delendant's having deprived him of his
command, and ruined him. On that occasion Mr.
LEE had described the Plaintiff as labouring under
every injury, but the one which formed the subject
of the present action--he had represented him as
walking to and fro' upon the deck, with the moon
shining over his head, full of affi:ttion and sorrow, and
comforting himself with this refiedion, " Well, thank
God ! I shall one day meet him face to face before my
Country ; and that Country you are." This observa-
tion, so eloquently delivered, had the effect of elettri-
city on their minds ; they felt as if desirous of having
their victim delivered over to them. The present
Plaintiff asked only sobriety of thought on the part
of the Jury, and the conscientious discharge of their
duty. The Plaintiff had, in the year 1793, mar-
ried the daughter of Sir Robert Herries, an eminent
' Banker. She was his natural child, but she had
been bred up under the eye of his wife, and so much
care was taken of her education, and pains bestow.
• ad rtu..:tlstii ..virttiO9s principles in bet mind, that
when she became marriageable, she was considered
to be a fit wife for the Plaintiff; the brother of Lady
Herries. They were married by the Chaplain of
the British Ambassador, at Madrid, in 1793, and
re-married in this Country. Captain Foote was af-
terwards obliged to vlasent himself in the service of
his Country. He was in the Channel service; but
anxious to dedicate as much of his time as possible to
his wife, he purchased a place between Portsmouth
and Southampton, called Warsash, where, on his
ship's coming into harbour, he might fly to the em-
braces of his wife and children. He had by her a boy
and two girls. He was called on by his duty to go
to the East Indies, and sailed in September 18ot,
leaving his wife under the protedion of Sir Ro-
bert Herries, her Father, and Lady Herries; she
was left with a comfortable and satisfattory esta-
blishment, wanting nothing ; on the contrary,
she had an unlimited credit to draw on her Fa-
thei. She was in this comfortable situation,
and might, but for her subsequent condutt,
have been now in the arms of her husband,.
who was serving his Country at the most aw-
ful period it ever knew, in hopes of returning
to the bosom of the woman he loved, and en-
joying the blessings of that Peace, which I pray to
God (said Mr. Erskine) may give satisfaction to us
all. [AMEN ! exclaimed several of the Auditors%)
What could be more affecting, than that this Gen-
tleman,-on his return to England in 18oz, found that
he had been robbed and plundered, his wife gone,
his children abandoned, and a considerable part of
his property wasted, in consequence of her adul-
rel. with the Plaintiff. She had gone off in the
month of August, having drawn on her hus-
band's Banker for two different sums, one of
:eacisal. and another of wool. She went first to
ilrighton, then to Shoreham, and lastly to Dieppe,
vviiere she was when her husband returned. Shortly
after she sealed her husband's dishonour by the
birth of a child. With regard to the Defendant,
he happened to live in the village between Ports-
'mouth and Southampton,
.in which Mrs. Foote re-
sided. He had a wife and six children, whom
he negleded in order to pursue his adulterous inter-
course with this Lady. The only question for the
Jury was the damages a Plaintiff who had sustained
such an injury ought to receive. Inadequate as pe-
euniaty damages were, yet, as the law knew no
other mode of compensation for such an injury, it
was the duty of the Jury to give Damages up to the
event the Plaintiff demanded them, unless theDe-
fiaadant,could bring forward some ground of mitiga.
ton.- He did not mean to contend that the De-
fendant was a man of fortune; he had formerly held
place in the Custom-House, from which, for his
Disctinduet, he had been removed. He should call

such Witnesses as were necessary on a Judgment by
default, and he was persuaded the verdia would
yc satisladory to the Plaintiff, secure the chastity
if married life, proteft the morals of the country,
tnd operate as an-example to keep pure the sources
of all those comforts from which society derived a
Local habitation and a name.

Admiral PATTEN, Lieutenant WEMYS, and Cap-
tain BOWYER, proved that the Plaintiff and his wile,
up to the month of September, xBo 1, liveri upon
terms of the utmost harmony, love, and affeetion.
The 'ast witness said the Plaintiff reloicca to RO to