The Sun.
London, England, 1804-06-08 00:00:00

LAS' t - PORT.

C. URT OF KING's BENCH, PINE 6.

TI E AGNEW AND STEVENS.

John Agnew and Jam's Sic-
se,Tts,ll E
Espet.ends,
qrs.wdenrte brought into Court tram the
King's Bock Prison.
Lord ELL E NBOROUGH delivered the Julgthent of
the Court on the Motion in Arrest of jadgineni,
which the
_Court were of opinion should'be over-
_
ruled.
Lord ELL ENBoROUGH ObSCrVett,' that where the
sense was clear, nice exceptions ought nor'to be re„
garded, even in cases of indiamedt or information,
provided the statements of farts or averments were
not repugnant to each other. - •
The ATTORNEY GENERAL then prayed the judg-
ment of the Court upon the two Defendants for the
offence of which they had been conviaed ; which
was that of extorting' the sum of geoacto rupees
from a Prince. in India, while they were resident
there, in the charaCters of Supervisor and-Commer-
cial Resident, under the East India Company ; the
amount of which was about ro,oool. sterling. "
Lord ELL:ENBoRoUGH reported the substance of
theariid, by which it appeared AgnetVreceived she
money in. the first instance, and ilr. Stevens afier-
waids acknowledged that, he hathg4t it, saying," I
?have got the lack of rupees,liieh is, in fa Fl,
roo,ooo, but about 25,0001. worth of 'rupees, in
pepper, was to have made a part, whiCh it did not
appear that the Defendants had received, and there_
More the Jury, nnder the diretliem of Lord Et,thi'sr.
BOROUGH, dedeeted 25,000 rupees andfound theM
guilty of receiving 85i0oo rupees.,
Lord ELLENBoROUGH having gone through as
much of the Report as went :to establish the-Corpus
aiked if the paTtiei Wished-him to read any
other part ?---Uphil Which it-was desired that the
charatlers of the Defendams might be stated, which
appeared .to be' that of a very •go iod :one n 7etrery•
other respectthan that for which they were now be-
fore the 'Court.
.Itappeared by the Affidavit Agnew, that
he came home from India some years ago, with a-
;
Moderate fortune, enough to keep himself and fami-
ly comfortable ; that he embarked the whOle of it
!, in trade, and the firm of the house became bank-
rupt, sn that the Whole of his Anoperty became vest_
esi in his Assignees.
I The Affidavit of Mr. Stevens stated,' that he had
been in various occupations' in India„in the service,
of the India Compary, for upwards of thirty years,'
and had always condom rd himself with propriety ;
that he was appteinted to assist in the President},
until. he was deprived of it,-and dismissed the ser-
Vice, in conseepeece of the blisiness. which now
brought him lanthre :rtie Court., That his fortune was
Only moderate, &c. &c.
Mr. DALLAS addressed the Court- in a short neat
speech in, behalf of Mr..Stevsns-..
• Mr. Tottocitsczorox followed on the same side.
Mr-SThitElasoN deliYered a very interesting Ade
dress-for the Defendant, Mr. Agnew.
The ATTORNEY G %SI E I2AL nihde a very able
speech for the ProsectnioO in thecourse ofh which
he obServed, it was quite impossible, that rite Ad-
dressesjost delivered to the Court could fail shOrt of
making a deep impression. on all who heard thein ;
and it Was impossible their Lordships could hear
this case without feeling great compassion and great
regret ; but he was sure they felt 'it to be one Of the
most important dinieS 'they had to discharge in the
administration . of CriMinal :Justice, to take care
that die benevolent and compassionate sentiments
of their minds should nut- Obairud them in the full
and manful discharge of their essential duty, that of
protediug the innocent, by punishing the guilty,
'which was a great arid important part (4* the duty
ofa Judge. He said, he should have no occasion
to trouble the Court at any great length ; the to-
pics to, which he had to refer` would not require
much developing or detail, but they were of great
importanee, for it-was of great importance to the
'Honour arid C4iaraoereraf British: Justice, in the An,
nals of the World, and the Record Of the Trah.sac,
tions'of Mankind. It was important also-to -thou-
sands, and even to millions of dependent Shitjeas,of
this Empire, to have it recorded, that crimes of this
nature shall be duly iiunishe'd by the Laws of E6g,.
hind. The question now Was, Whether this-Pro.
secution was to remain as a blot, or stain, a stigma,
and dirgrace, on the Administration of British Jos,
tice, as demonstrating its incapacity. to. heat, down
the crimes brought before it ? Whether this was to
stand as a Marie for our discredit for ever ?
whether British Justice was strong enough to beat
down crimes-like theseoand to support its Honour ?
This was a national.concerno.andheoch depended on
the manner in which the Court shoirld deal with the
present case. He then took-a, view cf,the crimes of
extortion and peculation of which the Defendants
had been guilty, calf expressed hid suspicion that
more of it was committed in the distant territories of
a mighty Empire than there were means of deice-ling,
which arose &gen:the great difficulties that were in.
separable Irvin the prosecution of a case like this,
so covered -With circurnstia.ees ai• to length of time,
distance of place, &c. all whichswerecon"siderations
leading to severity of punishment by Way of ex,
ample; otherwise, instead of terror, a, trial in this
Country Would be only art indoceMent to commit
.crimes in India. In such a case, a slight, punish.
'ment would operate as•a shield to protect
This was a case that should be signally rhatketkib'y
severity, by way of example. With resped to the
character of Mr. Stevens, there waSOo doubt it was
highly respeaable, and that Made the case the more
lamentable ; fur it only chewed' that men, in every
other respett of good moral' charaCter, could recon.
cile themselves to the most barefaced afts of pecula-
tion and extortion in India,; and that was the case
here, for this an was done in the open face of day.
.Ten thousand pounds had been extorted from a
Prince, in order to give him-possession of his own
'Estate ; and as to the effect of this, although the
Prince himself might not be in a situation to feel it
immediately, yen thousands might feel it in his de..
term:nation, to reiniburse,l4imieif at the expend of
his own dependents. Having dwelt on these aid
nyiny other topics, he pressed the Court for a seterr@
and exemplary punishment.