The Sun.
London, England, 1804-06-14 00:00:00

WFtrNESDAY, JUNE 13.

. THE KING v. WATHEN AND OrkitßS•
, ThiS was a Rule calling on the Defendants,'Na4.
thaniel Peach Wathen, Henry Perry, and Joseph
Cam,- to chew cause why a Criminal information
should not.be filed against them for sending a Chat:
lenge to a Gentleman of -the name of Burden.
The parties are all Members of two Volunteet
Corps of Riflemen in Gloucestershire, the one called
the Severn, the other the King's Stanley Corps; whrS
went out 19 shoot at .a...target,...the loosers to pay
for the dinner of both. When they returned they
dined and drank together, and the -whole day was
devoted
.ro harm'inv. The D'lendanr, Mr. Wathcni
however; gave a Toast—" 'May the Gallic Cock
never roost on the British oak ; but should he sue::
'' reed in his attempt to land, may the Severn
" Riflemen do their duty, and the Striley standia
" the rear to look on 1--Afterwar'ds an account
appeared of the proceedings' of the day in thd
okm:ester Paper, which account Was sent 1,1
Mr. Burden. It was alledged by. the Defendant'
to he an inaccowte account, .upon which
cation was made to .him, and he wrote an apo;
logy,
,and professed- to have no intention of OfFeridL
B,:c. and speaking very handsomely of all th 4
Corps of Volunteers, and the cause in whiCli.they‘
were engaged, &c. But the Defendants insisted:mt
his signing a written apology, to be inserted. in' :die
same Paper, acknowledging that the -account' was
inaccurate,
.burnot specifying wherein the inaccu_
racy consisted ; which Mr. Burden declined, on the
ground that he had already made an apology ; u on
which he received two challenges, onel-o fight
Cam, and another to fight Mr. Perry, and these
challenges were much proniaied by Mr. N. P. \Vu_,
then.

A meeting of the Officers of the Corps to which
Mr. Burden belongs was held ; and they determined
that he ,hould not fight, and he abided by their de.
termination, and preferred this application to the
Calm:

\

Mr. GARROW and Mr. WIGLEY shewed cause'
against the Rule, and maintained that the har-
inuny of these two Corps of honourable men,
united together
.for the glorious defence of their
Country, would never have been interrupted if it
had not been for the ottcious publication of the pro-
ceedings at the lon, which were not correctly re.
presented by .the Prosecutor, Mr. Burden, who is
a Drawing-master at Gloucester, and who had
indu:g,eci his pencil a little in a Caricature, &c.
in this case. That there was. now no disposi.
tion Jo persist in this spirit to commit a breach
of the peace, bur, on the contrary, that tilt Defen.,
dints, had themselves inserted In the same Paper
a paragraph, intimating that harmony was te_
stored bet Ween the Companies, &c. and that they
did•not do this in consequence .of the present appli-
tatiOn to the Court hanging over their heads, but
before they had any intimation it was intended to
make any. For these reasons they hoped the Court
would TilOt think its extraordinary interference ne-
t
cessary.- .
Mi. ERSKINE supported the application for a Cri..
minal-InfOrtnition, with his usual ability.
Lord ELLENP.OR9UCH observed, that although
there We're 'some things in the case which one could
Wish to have been otherwise, yet the Prosecutor was
'entitied-to* this' extraordinary interference of the
'Court. '''He did 'not. look upon the paragraph of the
Prosecutor as 'a libel, yet it would have been better
'if it had not appeared; for what passed in a private
tooth, although on A public subjeft, was not a fit
'matter of poblication in print, because upon all such .
occasions there was' a' great chance of a mistinder.
'standing ;' this, therefore, might produce-a degree of
irritation which it was desirable to avoid ; but here,
after an ,apology had been made, another apology
had been dielated, and-on the--party refusing to •
sign it, he was callenged to fight two duels.—
This was a very great and deliberate breach of the
Peace, for. it was in cold blood, especially on the t
• part of rite Defendant, Mr. N. P. Wathen, for he
appeared to instigate the matter when there was
:.no quarrel personally with him, and he was • not
himself the person proposing to fight. HiS Lord.
.ship thought at any time, but particularly at this
time, the Court might interfere in such a case, ,to
preserve the peace among men, when so many bun.
Bred thousand of them daily met ,with arms in their

_ .
hands.
Rule for Criminal Information absolute.