The Sun.
London, England, 1803-11-28 00:00:00

REPORT.

COIJR7OE.KIN(4'6.IAN'CiI, Nov.. 26. -
tlititaoini mov'eci fOr have to tile a Criminal
information ag orist Jt kson Bands, Ktgis,
trate fof rite County of Sussex, f 4 it libel aghtosi
the.,Officars tint men of the t4:11- Regiment of
Dragoons, who, he sail, were now the advanced
guardof Englatld art 3 of honour, in the County of
Kent, in the.sertiechf. their Ctuntrv, an
have-thought it would have occurred to a M rate,
tharin the resent state of thisworld, if short at
all, it was but very little short of high'ireason, for
any man deliberately to set
.to work, to vilify the
whole or arty part of the. Army, whether the re.
gular force or those, whose hereditary,
.courage was
roused for sits protection, so as to reduce them hi .
'their own opinion, dr in the opinion of their foes,.
or any of their neighbours, by scandalous misre.
presentation. ,This was indeed the.only sureway
of...rendering such force formidable only to those
whom.it is their duty to proted.. Mr..Gaititow theri
proceeded to state the circumstances of the libel, of .
which he said this Magistrate was the author. It
was contained in a letter *written, to Mr. York*,
the late. Secretary at War, on the 7th day of July
last, upon.a subjed.which occurred, as the autlige:
of the letter stated,; so long ago as the Year- aSot.
It charged these Officers, while they were enearupeg
in Essex, with most outrageous condud by theM.
selves and,men : that they had spotted, in the field
fur game amongst: the standing corn, had fished ia
Gentlemen'it ponds, committed great havoek,
ried away fish', &c. &c. charging them with.little
less than felony, Ste. All„ Mr. GARnow said, was
Most positively denied by these Gentlemen, as the
Criurt might .naturally even. This charge was
maliciously rustle, he said, on account of some
threats the author said he had received, ' &c.

• This motion was taken aye with grev pirit, fur
Mr. ERSICINI. Mr. GI pus, and joust of the Gen-
tlemen within the Bo were retained in it.

The Court, however, deblined interkting, since
however libellous the matter of this letter no4lit be.
upon these honourable persons, it did not appear to
the Court that the,letter was not written, however
mistakenly, in the, spirit of information and in-
telligenceinstead ofcalumny. For if it was tvritten
as an article of information, however unfounied it
might he, the Court would not interfere in this ex.
traordiriary Manner, because that would be roistop
up all channels of communication which' Might be
made in'conlictence in any case. Not that the Court
meant in the most distant degree to convey any idea
there was any foundation for what had been bete
stated. The Court was the less disposed to inter:.
fere in this case, as these parties had their remedy
by indietment. 41N••••.••*•

xtNo jottN,LTTTLik.
The Defendant was brought in. to receive the .
judgment of the Court for having endeavoured to
provoke John Thurston, Esq. of Lewes, to fight a
duel. This insult arose froM the circumstance, of
Mr: Thurston having .given his evidence at the,
Assizes at Horsham, in. a cause in which he was
suhrcenaetfas.a Witness, and in which Mr.J.,ittle •
Was 'Charged with assaulting another person. On
which occasion, the Defendant had sent for the Pro-
secutor, charged him with having been the instiga.
tion of thin' ausiness ; whertMr. Thurston assured
the Defendant, that he, was not,;, on which the De..,
fendant said, that ho :Wils a scoundrel ; that lie
wanted.no law, but wished the Prosecutor to take
notice of the words. in a gentleman:dike manner, &c.
Upon which case,
Mr. Justice Garise saidiseahould make one oh.
nervation which was, that, the Prosecutor had taken,
notice
of the words of the Defendant in a true.'
Gentleman-like Mantierilf by Gentleman-like roma
ner'wai to be understood obedience' to the Law,
tentiort to the rules of decorum, and a desire.to pre.
vent the eff'usi'on of human bloOd. To have done
otherwise might have stamped on the Defendant or
on himself the charaoer of a murderer, and if the
Defendant had provoked, as he -intended to provoke .
the Prosectitorto.fight a duel; the Defendant might
either* have lost his life in the Confliet, or his future
life knight have been entbittered by the , refiedion
that he had shed the blootbof a bran who had never.
injured him. In hit forbearance to accept that
challenge, he had thewn that he was a true Gentle..
man, unless it was the only way to assert the cha..
meter of a Gentleman to assume that of a isiluederert
for, undoubtedly, had this challengerbeen aCcepted,
`andone had fallen, the. charger of Murderer would
have been fastened uport the survivor. It was
most unfortunate that some men would not remem.
her
,this undeniable truth, which•wasi that he best”
deserves the eharatier of a'Gentleman, who is not
prone .to take offence. and .never means to give it.
Having made softie comments upon the
,facts of this
case, and alto on the impropriety,of treating with
violence persons who only do their duty accOrtting
to the exigencies of justice, as the Prosecutor did
in this case, It thing insufferable in society,
- The Learned joage pronounced the Judgment of
. the COW; which was, that the Defendant do pay
• to the" King a fine of ten marks, and, be imprisoned
in the King's
,Bench prison fur twelve calendar,
rnonths, and, find sureties for his -gond behdttiour
for three years,- himself in 3001. and tvvo Sureties
in ;001, each, and that he be further imprisoned
until
.144 tine be paid, and such security given,

THE KING 11. JOHN LOCKFR AND °TRIM*
John LoCI:t John ;Locker Wheeler, anti Isabella
Wheeler, hip Kite, were brought into Court from
the fleet Prison, to plead to an information filed
by the ATTOKNVY GEWRRAL) fora conspiracy to
accomplish •a marriage hetWeen John Locker, a mon
who appeared to be between 6o and io,•and Mary ,
Pearce an- infanf'of the age of 19' years, going t 4)
Gretna Green, and adualty performing that ceres_
many without the coment 'and against the will of
the Guardians of .the said Mary Pearce, wtio. is
stated to be entitled to 4 fortune in real,and per.
sonalostate to the amount of I s,oool. To which
Infortnation the Defendants pleaded Not Guilty;
and 'were rounded.

Robert Braithwaite received the Sentence of tl e
Court for having in hi 3 posle32ion NAval Store,,
to 2 lb, of cordage, Ice.—lmpriBonment in the
mon Jail of the county of Southdavton for that
calendar months.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE SUN.

Slit,

THERE is not a Lord Lieutenant in the kingdom
,who is.rnere indefatigably employed for- the public
welfate„ at this Critical time, than the Duke of
NbRTHUMBERLANCv, who still continues at Ain,
wick Castle, where every precaution is 'taken to
retard a daring Enemy from making any progress,
case of their 'making an attempt to invade the
Coast of North:,mberland. The military abilities
of- the Duke of NORTHUMBERLAND are too well.
known to need' any comment. Supported .by r so°
of his Grace's Tenantsptindet arms at an hour's no..
tire' (the clothing and pay of whom are at his own
erpenee),-and as fine and well disciplined men as
any in the kingdom, and the numerous. bodies of.
Volunteers in the County, Northumberland. is •in
no danger. His Grace is also ably assisted by .his
Deputy Lientenantsi &C. with whom he has constant
coesultations.
At Ainwick Caitle the Flag is twice a:week un-
furled, as a signal of general invitation. Sundays
and Thursdays are fixed as public. days, where ,the
Northumbrian', Without discrimination, attend on
their Graces and their Family to dinner, where a
princely and: itnnOtiotis repast is provided. On
those public days, fecm sixty to eighty generally
sitdown to table with 'the Doke and DutChess of
NORTHUMBE itLAND. and their Graces are never
more pleased than 4' hen their guests are very nume.
TOO. In point of afrahility aokl politeness, the
Dutchess stands unparalleled ; ano for entertaining
a company at table with good humour, sound sense,
and sterling' wit, with the exception of His Royal
Highnesss the PRINCE Of .WAnrs, the Duke 6f.
NORTHUMB aRLAND" has hardly his equal. As for •
the Poor, during
.the residence of the Duke at
Aln`ivick Castle, 'soup, meat, bread and beer are,.
in great plenty, given out every 'day to ,whoever
calls-for it, and the Castle gate is oficircrowded
by• the nameeous appellants,' with huge cans to re-
ceive those dainties, who all go away satisfied.

APPEAR/INCE OPSPECfRES,
OR PHANTOMS OCCASIONED•BY-DISEASE,

Ishcoti.z, a Member 'of tlic Royai Society of
Berlin, some time since presented to that Institu.
tion, a Memoir on the subje6 of a complaint with
which he was afredeci, and one (if the singular Conseil
quences of which 'was, the representation of various,
Spectres. lvi. Nicolai for some years had been sUb.
jet} to a:congestion in the head, and
,was bloOded
_frequently for it by leeches. After a • detailed ac:
Count of the state Allis health, on which he grounds'
mach medical as' well as psychological reasoning, he
gives the following 'interesting narrative : •
In the first two months. of the year rlo 1, I was
much affeCted in my mind by several incidents of
very disagreeable' nature; and on the 24th of Feb.
a circtonstance occurred which irritated me extreme.:'
ly. " At ten o'clock in thelbretioon my Wile and
another person Came to console me ; I w,:it in a vio.:
lent perturbation Of miod, owing to a series of inci_
dents which had altogether wounded toy moral Teel.
ings, and from which I saw no possibility 'ofrelief ;
when. suddenly I observed •at the distance of ten
paces from toe a figur.—the figure of a ,leceased
petltoo. I pointed at it, and asked 'my Wife whet,
ciler She.did not see it. ' She s,iw nothing, but,being
11 a rmed ; enikavoured to compose me, and sent
fbrthe f'hysician The figure remained, some seven
or eight minutes, ,and' at lenghth I iiii,atne', litile
more' calm ; and .as extremely exhausted,l
soon
,afterwards fell into a}roubled k?nd of. slumber
Which tatted for half ali'hour. The :vision•was 'as.
cribed to the great agitaliOn of mind in Which I had
been, and it -was suhtiied I shobld have nothing
Mriretei-apiSrehend fioni that cause'; brit the Violent'
affeeilon_having hit my nerves into 'sonic nrniaturh
qaa.te, frbm• this arose turther consequences Which re
uire a more 'detailed description. • •'• '''• ••
lii jilti afternoon, tle. after fotir'ONl,belcV the
figure Which I had' secs in the'rnornitig.agiin ap.
feared.
ared I was alone when this happened ; a -cit.
.cumstance which, as maTbe eaiiTy conceived, could
• riot be very agreealole, went•therefcirt to the apart.
ment of my wife, to whom I related it. But thither
also the figure pasued me. Sometimes it was pre.
sent, sometimes it vanished,: but it was,,always the
same standing figure., ,A little after .six o'clncl;
sevaal stalking figurps,also appeatedi. botaherhad
na colineflion with .the standing *gore. I do assign
no other reason for: thia. apparition:, than that,
though much snore composed in my mind,,l.lia4 not
'bettooable so.,soon entirely' to .forget the,cittise
' Mich deep. and distressing vexation, 'and had refie(t.
ed on the consequences of it, in order, if possible,
to avoid them ;.,41nd that this harpencd three boort,
after dinne4 at the time. when the digestion juu
begins. .
At,length I became more composed with respe6l
thrhe.drisagreeable incident, which had given rise to
24F)aflti4;13,dgtedugli I haa liTed 'Very ex..
cellet4 eedicitie?,'arid'ibun'ti myself in'ether'reSpeds
iierfetilyvitell, yet the apparitions did niit diminish,
but 'on the contrary rather •encreased and'
were ttatisforined,iti.the most extraordinary manner.
Aftor..i had recovered from the first impression
of terror, I 4iever,,fclt myself particular)), agitated
by these,:apparitiOns,,as 1,, considered .thero to. be
What they really iwcitze,. this extraordinary. tonc.
quences of indisposition ; on the contrary, I en.
deaVourett as much as possible to preserve my corn.
insure of
,inind,:that I might remain (tisane-HY con_
ciotisof Whai'passed within me. lobserved these
ph6toins, with great accuracy, and very often re.
Ogled on previous thoughts, with a view to dis.
:cover some law in the association of ideas, by Which
• eXac:ily these' or other figures might present them.
!selves' to the itnaginatlon. Sometimes I thought I
'had made a discovery, especially in the latter periati
of Mr visions ; but on The whole, I•Could trace no
cohnthion which the 'various figures that thtis
appeared and disappeared to my sight, had, either
with'my stare of mind, or with my employment,
'and the.othet &tights which ,engaged.my attention.:
'After frequent accurate observation_ori the subjgt,
having fairly proved, and maturely,consideredit, I
could form no other Concluslati cause and con.
SCCilleflge no
01,kuch aar.tio‘ns t that when rite
it ~
nervous system is weak, and at the' same- tithe too
much
,excited, 'or," r ttlter deranged,,.Siniilai; figures
appear in such,a 'wooer as if they 'Were aattally
sepn and heard ; zfrit iltese visions, my case were
not the c,ifisequeriqjlf" any known I:a‘y of reason,,
of the in..l4inatiOn; pr rif the otheiWise usual asso.
elation of ideas ;' and such also it the Cabe with
testier men, ai.lar as we can reason from the few`ex.
aMples we, know.
The otigin of the individual pictures which pre.
sent themselves to •us, must Undoubtedly be sought
for the struaitte of that organization by which
we ; but this will alwaysrtmain no less inex.
;.plicable to us than the otigin'-of these poWers: by
which consciousness and fancy are:iiiade to exist

,'• The figure of the deceased person never appeared
to me after the first dreadful day ;:'but several other
figures skewed -themselVes afterwards very distinCt-
ly ; sometimes such as I knewouostly, however, of
persons-I did .not. know, and amongst those known
to me, were: the semblance of both living and de.
Ceased persons, but-mostly the-formep ; -and I made
the observation, that: acquaintance - with whom I
daily ,cooversed,, never appeared to me as phan.
twims ; it wacalways such as were at a distarice.
When these. appaations bad continued some weeks,
and.," could regard ;hem with. the greatest compo,
sure, 1 afterwardi, endeavoured, at my awn plea,.
sure, to call forth phantoms of several acquaintance,
whom I for that reason represented, to my
nation in the Most lively mintier, but in vain,___ or
however accurately I pititured to. my mind the
'fivres-of 'OOll persons, I' never once could succeed
in my desire of 'seeing tliem'ixtirwa4y; though I
had i. 01114 short rime before'seen them as phan'tOms,
and they hail perliapi afterwards- unexpetteillfpre.
seated themselves to me in the- same manner. • The
phantasmi appeared to 'rtie in' every, ca,,e invoinn. i.
wily,' as it they had been presented externally, a'
like the pheniiMena in nature, thougfi thr.yerraiilyy
had 001Prigin internally ;
_and
.at the same time I:
was Alwaysitble, to distingbiib with the mr„,"
precision. phantasms from phenomena-, Indeed I:
never once erred in this, 'as Wai genered per

fedly calm and self.colleaed on the ocerai;on. I
knew extremely well, ..when it only appeared Act me
that the door was opened, and a phantom entered,
and when the door really was opened, and-any. per-
son, carne
It is, also to be inoted, that these figUres appeared -
to, me at all tides, and under the most different
circumstances equally distina and clear.. Whether
I was alone, or in company, byy-broad day.lfglir
eqUally as iri the night time, iri trey' own as well as
in my ileighbOttr's house yet when ,I was at 'an.
whet' Person's hOuse, they were less freqitent ; and
when I:walked the public street, they very seldom
appeared.- When I shut my eyes,' sometimes the
figures disappett:red, sometimes they remained even
after I had cloSed them. If' they vanished in the
former case; on ripening my eyes again, nearly the'
same figures,appeared which I had seen before. '
I som;times conversed with my'physician and my
wife,: concerning, the fthantasms which at the rinse:
hovered around me,; for 'in general. the fortns.ap.
peared, ottener, in motion . that at , rest. They did
not always -continue present---they frequently!kft
me,7 altogether*. and againlapp;:;tred for a. shorr.,:or
longer 31),IC; a t int,!, singlYigr, more -at once ;
in general, several appearedjogetlicr., k'or the milk,
part Imaw human figureeof both,soccs 1 they corns.,
mordyrassed to .and fro, as:,if eahey. )iail no eormec.
!ion with each other,,like .peovte at, a fair 'Where. all
is buAtle ; .sometinies they appearsd to have. busin.
ness with one•another: Once or 1 w ice I saw aregnvt
them persons on , horseback,: and t.blgs and, birds ;
, these. figures appearekto,-me t-heir,,uot.irill
s,ize, as ilislindly as if thev-h* existed in real Atte;
ith .the,several tint's on ;bp. uncov erect parts 4,she
body, all the different of P(410!Irti1of
Clothes. attar. Li.think,shovrever, shalt ,the,•cUl*rut.s,s
‘Vere.somiwbaqvil.er than,diey,arc,.irs„,nature.„
None of the figureslll(l4llly distinguishing cha..
they tit ri# neither terrible, tudicnousi
nor repulsive; most cl,f4lietti.svere,ordinary in- their
appearante-,,tiams'iv'emexo?aglets4t)iess
On the 'whole, the iongeasflutioutul in, ;his ta;S,'
the ,morel did 'the number,pfiphanetasnyv.einereaso;ianir
the.iapparitiona became more ,frvtprtit. About
eeks''.s after marls, -I began; los them. speak,,th
sometimes
_the phantastnt spoke witiLoirei,apoflio
hilt for the most part they aild,retsscdiithantOrpsito
ntre.tchose speeches wiereilin, gene-141;00ft* .3.114.9 r:
ver contained. any' hing tlisagrseabli,film4i4gent •
and respe4ted trieticis,ofteo apl and; toATIS, 3.44)
deavouresi- -to -console,:.me ira .niy, grief, which still
:left deep traces in my,;roind, 'This speaking L,heard.
rmost ft-equently yvittnll was ;done ; though I s'ome,y
times- hearil it (101Alp.iny,.; imertpix,c‘i with the
conVersation of real persons,4' frequently in single
'phrases only, but soruetimrs cv,en in conneaol dis.
dowse..
Though at this time I enjoyed rather:a
,good,
state of health, hotly in, bodfand mind,.: arid had
4ecomeao Very familiar. with these phantirsrniotha ;
at Jette,therdid. not excite the least slisagrepable.
emotiotv, but on, the contrary aff)rded me frequent
subjellihi:-amosetnent and mirth ; .yet 33 Ilia dis.'
ordej .seßsihly, encceased, and the figures ,
to me for whole days together, and even during the
night, if I happened tO awake, I had. recourse to
several medicines, and was at last again, obliged to
have. recourse to the application of leeches to the
anus,
:This was performed on !he 20th of April, at
eleven o'clock in • the i'otenuon. I was alone with
the Sorgenn, but during the „pperation the room
swarmed with human, forn)s of every description,_
which crowded fast one on another ; this contir.Ued
till half past four o'clOCk--, e-x-a-Eity the time when
digestion commences; I then-observcd that the .
:figures began to move mare-stnwly ; soon afterwards
,the-colottri becathe iraduallipaler ',• And c‘44,:seiiran
minutes they,losi rnove'and moie of: rhea. intensity,
without any, alteration in the distintefigura orthe
apparitiobs. Ate about lialf•pajt itix o'clock ;all ilie
figirreswere.entlrely white, and movett v'eryNiittje ;-
yet the' forms appeared pettedly distinct ; ,by de.
green they becitthe visibly less plain, -without
_de.
cre'asingln.nunther, as had often fortnerly been the
,case. The-figores. (Hit: not _move off, neither .did
they vanish, which also' had usually happened on
'other occasions.

In this instance they disiolved immediately into
air ;. of 'tOttle even whole pieces remained- for a
length of time; which' also by-degrees were lest-to
the eye. At bnut eight o'clock there did nocre.
Main a vestige of any of them,. and I have never
since experienced 'anyikkipearance of the: same kiOir.'
`Twice or thrice since that time .1 lave felt a pro.
pensity, if I maybe So allowed to express myself,
'or a sensation, ash I saw something which in a mo.:
ment- again was gone. I was even surptised by this
sensation whilst wri:ing the present accOunt, having,
in order to render" it more accurate, pet-Used the
pokers of 1791, and recalled to my 'memory all the
circumstances of that time. So little are we
times, even' in the greatest dumpEntire:Of mind,.
masters of out imagination.