The Sun.
London, England, 1803-12-29 00:00:00

set, that his Lordship's valuable that of the
Jury, not much less valuable, should be occupied
in the trial of this Trumpery and infilmnos :cam:
lie said, be, called it deliberately by that nadne.
The circumstances of it were utterly-disgraceful to
the administration of Justice. The Noble and
Learned Judge had already intimated what-must be
the end of it. ,The Defendant cannot justify what
he has done, and therefore there must he a verdia
for the Plaintiffs with nominal damages. His apoldgy
for addressing tiers at all was thisotO request. them,
that by the verdict they might give such a denomi,
nation of costs as to mark the feelings,of their mind.
The very respeftable Persons who attended (Qfficers
of the Navy) boAcoold not examine for the purpose
for which they were called ; namely, to shew,.that
whatever might be the stria law, which the Jury
must receive from the Noble - and Learned
Judge, that whatever might be the strict Law,
the, universal ,understood praftice, the uniform
course of the Navy was, • w,hen- seamen were
about to enter into-the King's Ships to endeavour
by, all means to get their wages, and every thing
that belonged to them- from the Master of that,mer.
chant ship (int of which they were pressed. -And.
it' tvoudbe extremely dangerous if the. Captain-of
the King'.s Shit) did not Obtain at all hazards
ever belonged to those.men. There. was not a more
meritorious -Officer in Ht IVlajesty'a Navy than
Captain Lewis; and he wes obliged to attt as he did,
even at the hazard of being, ;brought into a-Court
of Justice by a crimp at Minorca. Ir wouq be ex-
tremely insecure to go to sea, it wou;.! ht extremely
dangerous oo go to sea on any expedition, and it -
would_ha ve been extremely hazardous to go Fitz that
set.. ice, in which Captain Lewis was then engaged,
which he !‘ad vet distinguished share in that
glorioth 'at tke Nile. It would have beeb very
pc, , : . . sea with a crew,, a considerable
oi !lad been impressed from merchant,
it • , I sims unsatisfied, and who were
tu.: : ...in the' power of their Com..
:CC tho,se claims. It wc,uld have been
dangerous to have .sailed with such crews, under a
full persuasion. that their Commanders had paid no
attention to these claims. .What was the nature of
this case ? Two men have been pressed out of the
Eliza ; their clothes and a chest of tools, are on
board, and their wages are unpaid. When Atrare
going out of port in that, situation, Captain Lewis
sends a boat, to stop them till they, settle with these
two men, He does that which the law of the
country will not justify. He did not ask that. ver.
diet. But in the case of these poor fellow:,, whom
the owner ought to 'have pekd, Capt. Lewis only
interfered in order to procure for them what was
their just'demand. lie trusted, in this case, in order'
to matk this aflion,. the Gentlemen of,
.the Jury
would not give; one shilling, which was the usual ,s4rn
in, the case of oominal damages, htit
~thet they would
only give one farthing.
. • Lord ELL N BOROUGH observed, that this was an •
:iffiest% of trespass, to recover damages for detaining, -
at Port Mahon, a schooner, called the Eliza; and
if this had been an injury, received under circuits.
stances of oppressioh and harshness. against the
Master, he- should certainly have advised the Jury,
and he had little doubt that they would have at.
tended to that advice, to have visited the case
with considerable -damages. But, said his Lord.
ship, let us look at what this case is : the-Captain
of a Man of War impresses two Seamen, and tie.
!tunas theie clothes lod some wales that:were due
JO them; he sends his boat, and fires a.gun for them
to heave to. There was also a box of tools belong.
bloc) one of them on board ; he told them, malest
these articles tvere delivered to the its ene-and their
wages paid, he should detain the vessel. -The de.
tendon at that time was only proved inievidende.
But it did not appear that 'any' man was put on
board, or any measures taken to detain her, -and that
she might not have sailed the very next hour. The
Merchant says, he would not pay at that time. In a
day or two, or in three of four/ days, at most, the
Captain of the man of war sails. This aaion was
brouglst to recover damages, and special damages
were laid, in being prevented- to sail to Cagliari, -to
bring home their rites. His Lordship said, One
'could not
.help suppo6ng this aftion, was • bieught
with -a view to' avail themselves 'Of the preitultees
that might exist against persons-armed with these
authorities, and with the hopes, of having this con.
sidered as a great abuse-and stretch of power.' And,
'said his Lordship, if we were to have anions brought
,for every man drit was pressed, rind every gun that
was fired, under such circumstances, by the-Captain
of a man of wee, -there is not one of .she honourable
persons who bear his Majesty's commission, and
who do so much honour to that-emmmission, and so
much service- to the Country, who must not 'min a
jail : For there is not one of them who would .not
,becovered with trespasses from head to font. This
is' for be considered-as a case of nominal 'damages.
There was no stria. legal right-for-she Defendant ter'
ati as he did,' and therefore your verdkt must be for
the Plaintiffs:—Vetdin for'Plaintiffs is. (The
damages were laid at too,0001.)-

COURT OF COMMON
icwp.x'!v. uo OD N GTO N.

Serjeant SIIIPTIERD, in this. case, moved for a
Rule to phew cause why an order of Mr. Justice
CM nM as a should not be set aside.

Thii was an aCliorrfor usury which was-formerly
mentioned. Pefendant, a Weat.lndia
chant of.rMinenef;' had, as was stated, •lent money
to the Plaintiff at'usurious interest. The Plaintiff,
therefore, brought his aCtion of ?Ai; ram, to recover.
the penalty and retain, the principal. When, the:
cause came on, the Defendant obtained 'an o9ler front
Mr. justice itiwre, wl6ch•was afterwards sustained
by' the Court,- to be allowed eight-days-to plead.
Bus !titled 'that time; the -Learned Serjeant stated,
they had applied to Mr. Justice CHANta e, and
obtained a further delay ot. one Month. • This; he
contended, waiutterly unreasonable. The •Plaititiff
had two material witnesses who,- in all probability,-
might be called to the West Indies 'ii the mean
time, ani he ' could neither examine nor subptina
them 'while the order was in force. He stated,
however, that they had no objettion to the delay,