The Sun.
London, England, 1803-09-16 00:00:00

STAGE COACHES.

THE MAYOR, ALDERMEN, R.C. or CARLIsLP v.
WILSON AND PATRBAIRN, AItoPRIETORSoF THE
MAIL COACHES, &C.
The perusal of this trial may be of use to the
proprietors of stage coaches.
This action the (merits of which were tried by a
Special fury) was brought by the Plaintiffs, to ascer,
rain and. establish a claim of right, which they •be-
lieved they possessed, of exaaing payment of toll
for all merchant goods brought into, or carried
through Carli4e, on horses, in carts, waggons, or
any other vehicle,- at the rate of one penny for every
horse load of goods, of the value of thirteen.pence
halfpenny, or more ; of two-pence for every cart
load of tnerchandize, drawn by one horse : of four.
pence, if drawn by two horses ; and so on, in pro-
portion to the number of horses in each cart, wag.
gon, or other vehicle, bringing goods into, or passing
through the city. As mail and other coaches have,
for many years past, been used as vehicles, not only
for the carrying of persons, but for the more speedy
conveyance of certain kinds of tnerchandize from
one place to another ;. and as the mail coaches which
On between London and Glasgow, passing through
Carlisle, are made use of to carry saleable commit-
: dities in them, the Plaintiffs thought themselves
entitled to roll for goods eirried •in this manner.
Accordingly' the Mayor,• and other persons, not of
the Corporation, Went to Messrs. Wilson and Fair-
bairn,.propriefors of the mail coaches, and demanded
of them the toll of one penny for a box of muslins,
diret!ted to Mt% James Buchanan and Co. London.
• The demand •Was'net complied with by the Defend.
. ants, who said they, would not pay one farthing.
This refusal obliged' the Plaintiffs' to have their
claim discussed antkletermined in a' court of law.
The Plaintiffs endeavoured to establish by writ.
ten and parole evidence, their rigitt'to 'inn for
goods thus
.earried, The written evidence adduced
consisted of an inquisition tat en in tk! 25:11 year
of the reign of EnwAttollt. in whiCh it is found,
that the Citiiens had a right of exading toll for.
goods coming into, or passurg through the town ;
this is called in the Latin'of that age, latrinwciirs
et ForeNte ctim Thurfgl 4.—e. into and
through, or through toll, which is confirnied by
a charter of 26,th Eow not) In. 'reciting the inqui-
sition, and :repealed in the Charter of the Corpora.
lion granted by CHARLEs I.
The parole evidence consisted of the testimony
of several witnesses, some of whom said, that the
streets of Carlisle are kept in repair and cleaned at
the expence of the Corporation, they having been
employed and paid by some of that body ; others,
who farmed and colleeled the villa themselves, said,-
.
the aboye.mentioned 'rates of tolls have always been-
levied on gOods coming into, or passing through the
• city ; and the evidence of those who had followed
the occupation of a carrier from Glasgow to Car.
lisle, went. to prove that they paid the rates raltolls
forty years ago ; that they sometiriteS made an
agreemencwith the for Mer of it to pay by the year.
One of the Witnesses, who had farmed the toll,
said, he once received toll flow' a servant of the Pro.
prietors, for fish which was carried in a coach. That
he attempted to stop the mail.coach, to examine
if there were any tollable goods in it, but was obliged
to desist, by the guard threatening to fire at him.
As the onus Arabella; tested with the Plaintiffs,
no peroin was called to give evidence on the part of
the Defendants.—Verditt for the Defendants.

---
At the London Sessions at Guildhall on Monday,
Mr. Robert Simpson; a debtor. from the Fleet Fri_
son, w,►s. brought from thence .by the Governor, of
the Fleet, petitioning by Counsel that l►e might-be
discharged under the Insolvent Debtors' Bill, say-
ing he had conformed ro all the Regulations of the
At of Parliament. This application was warmly op.
posed by Mr. GURIT ty, the Counsel for the Creditor,
who explained that Mr.. Simpson had been a prisoner
in the Fleet near three years ; that he was possess-
ett of more money than. would have paid the debt,
which was only 3801.; that he took 2001. into
prison,with him, and had declared at chat time he
was determined never to pay a shilling of this debt;
that in the first schedule of his effects given in he
had concealed an annnity, which he had since sold
for tool. To the disposal of this money, Mr.
Simpson was exatnined, and confessed what Mr.
GURNEY had stated ; but said he had paid other
Creditors with this money, and he did not offer any
part of it for this debt, riot thinking it a just one,
arising from lottery transadions, &c.
The Court, after consulting upon the case, said
they were. of opinion that the selling the annuity
for tool. without sharing it with his Creditors, was
Pot conforming to the Ad of Parliament, and there-
Cie he could not be entitled to the benefit of it.---
He remanded.

An Eccentric Charades.; from the Edinhisrgh Pa.
tern,--A Gentleman, fortrierly in: the Marine
, Ser.
vice, arrived in this City a few days:ago from France,
where he had been:for above twel-ve months. When
BoNArnitresfial was issued for .arresting and Ile.
taining all British Subjeds, this Gentleman had the
address to pass himself as cook to. an.Harnhurgh vessel,
a character lie sustained with such lints as to elude the
vigilance of the Corsican's ' hellhounds,' though a
party of them once dinedin the vessel, when he both
dressed and net the principal dishes .on the table in
their presence. The Gentleman alluded to, is the
lineal descendant of a celebrated Scotch Thane.
When very young he entered into the service, of, his
country, sirtd was the, first man who leaped on shore
from the ,British armament at the taking of Que-
bec, where glory shut the eyes of the immortal
woLvE ! .After the Peace in 1703, his aeronomy
was such that, he fancied himself If passing rich
with forty pounds a year 1,1 .(the half pay of a
• Lieutenant) and, on that resource alone, travelled'
114 Continent .of Europe l Returning to , the place
`of , his nativity, he found the tirkirtgi
)7,ers
and of
.ah sstieirf
(1a)1 f hail gone
ne
natural h i.to
use of tlleirbittli:right.—Appealing,
however, to the benignity of the laws of his
country, he produced a ragout with such flavour as
put all to. rights; after which he f f finished the
hash" with an berme poem,-giving all_ his enemies
the merit 'they, deserved.• .

LON OON: Prbucti by .P.,1 JCIIAN/!al mtm L 1,4 NI, (of //,,w,stract, Coceint-CAr.ltn); and Published by W.' LE. 111 M Atutoe.n. ScrtlPPs, (Of South Molt
At the Suw.OFir tC I, NQ. 11z, S'lrafrd; where dcheititenigNis, Oftltrs fur the Paier; Lrtterr fur tb; Editor, 44,