The Sun.
London, England, 1804-02-11 00:00:00

THE RING V. BOSTON.

•
This was an indidment for perjury, committed
by the Defendant in. arl,answer which he put in to
a bill filed in the Court of Exchequer against him,
wherein he denied the payment of a stun of Money
which the Prosecutor alledged he had 'paid to the
Defendant, who was tried before the Ca IFF BARON
at Cambridge, :Ind found guilty. -A motion was
made and asrule obtained to slew Cau3e why. the
Defendant should not have a new trial, and the case
was this day ably argued by Mr. WI r.SoN, who
sheaved cause against the rule, and Mr. ,Serjeant
SEIAON, who supported
The Motion w4s tmde upon two grounds: Fir;-,
that the erosectitor of the Indiament, who way ex-
amined at the trial, was not competent to be a
ness, because he was 'a Complainant in this case, i 3
a Court of Equity :—Secondly, that the verdidwas
against evidence.

The Court decided, that as there was no one case
in all the Books, by which it appeared that the Pro_
secutor could give in e idehce, or in any deg,ree
avail himself of this verdict to support his case in
Equity—or that the verdi,‘.l c.iuld in any manner be
made use of either for or against him, he was a com-
petent Witness in this Prosecution. This dotlrioe
was completey:earablished in the case of Bent and
Baker, and of Smith, qui tarn against Prager—cases,
the law of whlch the Court wished to be understood
to recognize. as .the undoubted law of the land upon
that subject, and considered as having set that mat-
ter at rest. As to the verdict being contrary to the
weight of evidence, the Court was of opinion, that
nothing appeared in the case to warrant them in,say.
ing, that the Jury, the proper Judges of all the cit.
cumstances of the case as they appeared in,evidence,
were wrong in the conclusion which they had drawn
after an ample hearing of the case, and..therclore the
Rule for the new trial was discharged.

ufficieat answer to any argument which had been
or could be adduced on the other side. This was
not a mere question of salvage, but a claim- fur a
campensatian tor uncommon services. Ile na-
tural call on every person. who might happen
to be a passenger on toetst:a ship, to give
every assistance to the'QfParain and crew in
preserving the vessel, could mat be denied. The
present, hawever, was not a case of that kind; here
the. Plaintiff had performed no common or Ordinary
service;, he had not in this c ,se been called on, as
a common passenger, to lend his assistance in pump-
ing or holing a rope. He had not merely assisted
the Captain w ith his advice in managing the vessel ;
but, atter .the Captain had abandoned his charge,
unakr the belief that the ship would immediately go
to pieces ; at a period of extreme danger, when the
pilot was incapable of performing his duty, the
Plait- tiff, at the request of the passengers and crew,
dea, t el from his private station on board the ship,
and sot-k on him the situarian and responsibility of
its Cominataler. Yar his services and skill in this
situation the Jury had found him entitled to 4°ol.
That part
.of the' Rule which charged, the damages as
excessive the Court had refused, it would therefore
be unnecessary for him to enter on that point. The
argument of his Learned Briber seemed to bea that
the Plaintiff, having been on board the vessel at the
time the. accident happened, and not having volun-
teered his services from on shore, could not he en-
titled to any remuneration. That, however, pas.
seng,rs.were not regarded in this light ; but that
they Might perfirm services for which they would
tic' entitled to c •mpensation, he could shew from
dill rent cases, determined by Sir WILLI am Sceara
in the Court of Admiralty.- He particularly ad.
educed the case of-the ship 7-,ara Friends, captured-by
the -French ; the Captain and crew, a•sisted by a
passenger of the name of Miller, having risen in,
the capwrs, andre-takta the vessel, Miller brought
an action for salvage, and recovered. lie quoted
also 6 e case Of the ship Beaver. In both the
claim of' salvage was sustained, on the ground that
the claimants grearly exceeded what was incumbent
on them in the discharge of their duty. These
cases, the -Learned Serjeaat (-amended, were clearly
in•poirit. lae distinttian between a rescue, 'which
was the case in the instance to which he had alluded,
andpeeservi, g what had been given over as lost,
which was the case now before the Court, he was
at a loss to figure. The Captain of the Beaver had
recovered his vessel after it had become the property
of. the Franch ; the Plaintiff, by his skill and ex-
ertion, had saved the Betsey, after it had been
abandoned by its Captain, and been esteemed the
property of the -devouring waves.
Mr. Serjeant HEYWO,D followed on the same -
side.

Mr. Serjeant Coci:ELL, Mr. Serjeant BAutrE,
and Mr.-Serjeant BEsT, all spoke in reply. The
.cases instanced by Serjeant SHRFHERD, they main_
taip-ed, did not app!y. In the case of Miller, he
wits tow,d entitled to salvage equally with the Cap-
INTovv, here, the Cw.,tain could have been en.
ti led to no s..ivage. In. the other case, of the Cap-
rain ; t the Be,i,ver, the crew who assisted him, were
als,i f ond Lnittled to salvage, yet it was not con.
tetAeti that in the present case the crew had any
claim, a,osongh it was -t,bvious, that unless they
lia.l executed the Plains 's orders, the vessel could
not have been saved.

The A gument of Mr. S'rjeant HEYWOOD went
the lenrh even of saying, that the crew were here
entitled io salvage. flow dangerous such a dotlrine
must be it was winecessary to state. The Legisla-
ture i.va, so, well aware of it, that it had declared
slily con, lan or promi,e entered into by the Captain
with the Seamen, during a storm, void and of no
effeet. It by i o means hound, that where a person,
in entieav,:uring 'to eff:duate his own• safety, kept
by the ship, and she came into port, that he should
in that event• he entitled to salvage for the ship.,
As to he idea that the Plaintiff might have'effl-duat-
ed it.. Ltv by taking himself -to the long.boar;
that•rTy dis'pnted, aid maintained, that the crew
wou,d not have been elitirfed to allow him to carry
it atk ay. The Plai‘diff in this case had merely
exerted hiroelf for his own safety. li, in doting so,
be benefited another, he was not entitled to any. re:
muneration or recompense on that account.

The Court were 'dearly of opinion; that, in this
instAneei, a very important and meritorious service
had •hcen, vellortned by the Plaintiff fie had gone
beyond the duty incumbent on him, and had incur.
red A ioponSibility for which, hvi he aded amiss,
he might have -been called on to answer. On this.
ground-he was entitled to a remuneration for his
serviceS—•- cervices to which the preserVation of the
ship could alone he a;tributed.--kade discharged.

. MANSION HOUSE.--FORGED DOL,LATIS,—On
WMDCSCIity
.74,1 Levy was brought before the LORD
MAYOR, by Mr. PARKINS, a Pawnbroker, in
Bishopsgate.strert, who stated, that on Tuesday
evening, he was applied to by the Prisoner, who
offered him two or three pourd. worth of stamped
dollars, which, from the scarcity of silver, Mr. PAR-
Li Ns was willing to take ; hut, on looking closely
into them, he observed the stamp to be different froth
others, and on seeing the same stamp upon a Rus-
sian coie, he suspeaed them to be forged, when
he detained the twelve he held in his hand,. and sent
for a constable, who searched the prisoner, - and
found seventeen more of the same sort, and one of
base metal. His Lordship asked. the' Prisoner how:
he came in possession of them ? who replied, that he
was a dealer in watches, &c. and•had received them
from two sailors at the India House, in exchange
for two. watches; which came • to 71. and positively
denied having the least knowledge of a forged stamp.
This being the first complaint of the kind,' his
Lord.hip did not choose to proceed hastily, but, re.
tri•ntied him for.antither examination.

Yesterday jch.n Levy was re-examined. The
Solicitors. of :he Mint and the Bank attended,
neither of whom chose to take up, the prosecution.
The LORD MAyort finding that the dollars had
been issued without an An. of Parliament or King's
Proclamation, as the lawful coin of this realm, dis.
charged the Prisoner, and ordered the dollars which
had been taken from him (excepting one of base
metal, found among them) to be teturned.