The Sun.
London, England, 1803-05-06 00:00:00

MR.. GIB AS troved for the Judgment of the Court
Oil rhum,is Bert et ta, cony iCted of `ohstruCting
Off -:ts cif the'Revtnuvif Excise in the due.eXecu.
their duty. , • • •
is appeared, that the Defendant was. one of a
gang* of. Licit, who, hid attempted to rescue a
go :tor y, of S,• ts, at the dnor almost-of the Excise
; anti that the Defendant had. attempted .to
at, of the OEc > with the but-end of a loaCi.
ti missed him ; upon which hi was,struck
a cuttasi, and wounded, by which lie was af.
:ads identified, tor the Smtigglers' then made
their escape:.
.•
The Defendant was conviCted of this assault and
, ;obsituetion of the Officers, at the last Assizes fur the
County ofCrtmtvall.
TherChutchwarden of the, Parish Wherein the I>.
fendant lived, gave him a good.charader,. by A.
Atvit, and mated biM to be an honest,. !laid-Work-
industrinUs man, with a wife and four children
dept rnlent upp ti:him- for support.
A Surgeon also stAted;"in his Affidavit, the
Defendant had been afiliaed with phreOzy, after,
he watt apprelterttled,.•and had been deranged in his
irte leas, but when he had lucid intervals, he ex.
ptebsed great sorrow for his offence.
EKY Vt. spOce in initigm ion of ynnishMent.
"Mr. DALLAS observeA„ on the part of the Prost.

cutoiras to the Defendant having only a whip,
and the fitters of the Revenue having pistols and
cutlasies, it was to be observe:di that loaded whips,
in the hinds Of such persons, used in the way they
were accustomed to use them, Weie nearly as deadly
pisulls Of Cgtiasi,es. As in the chataaer which
was given. to the Defendant. there was no Smuggler
Who had a bad one. lie should' like, try way of
Singularity, to see &Smuggler with .''bad charafter.
As to the phrenzy which had been mrmione,i,
there
appeared to be -none of it until the Defendant was
appochended for'his crime, and felt the approach of
ip4r:olitorilt. If this was to be received as an ex-
cuse, there was no clout!, but that All detekied Smug.
glers wouhilw seized with a phrenzy, and the Court
ww,Y hive periodical accounts of this Cornish In.

auenza.
Lvlr. GID DS observed, on the same side, that with

regard to 11 ese cloth and whips which these Smug.
leers used, and their having no swords or-pistol),
Yr Wa` %cry clear they had a reason for it.—they
were too good lawyers on the subjeft of revenue
to have them, for they knew if they had them, and
in resisting the Officers, wounded one of them, they
would he guilty of an offence for which they would
'suffer Death—but in this they night pethip, he
mistaken, for the Statute which provided against
this offence, stated pistol, sword, &c. or other
Offellbire weapon.

[Here he react part of the Aft of Parliament ‘vhich relates
.to this °lleac; in support of this observation. 3

In another case of a similar nature, Mr. PitYLL
addressed the Court for the Dekndant, and said he
bad cued itoro ignorance, which was not wonder.
for they did not read the Statute:l. at large.
Mr. DALLAS bait!, he did not know. whether
them: persons read the Statutes at large or not, but
;Obi be knew, they.i/lid not observe theM. This.
was another instance of a Smuggler having a good
character, by which it ivould seem as if none but
persons of the best characters could become Smug.

stets.
Mr. GI uus observed also, that these Smugglers
need not read. the Statutes at larg..; because they
could state their cases to his Learned Ftiend, and
Amy would have every information they wanted.