The Sun.
London, England, 1819-12-27 00:00:00

COURT OF OYER AND TERNIINEtt,

• For the District of Quebec and the !idiom Territories.
Opened by Commission under the Gi,.ar
dated 29th April, 1818, and contino,,d
by
,arl-
Journment to the 21st of Octohet, 1819.
It appeared in the cpurse of this 86sion under
'tlrat-Coinmistion, that' in November, 1818, a Me-
morial was pi et.ented to his. Grace' th-f, Duke' of
Richmond. on•the part of the North IVesi-Com.
piny, praying that a special Court of Oyer owl
'Terminer should take place,-.. the trial of of-
fences charged to have been comotitted in the
Indian Tervitotita; An early rPply veas• given
tha; a Court would open Tor that purpose on the

-21st of October, 1.819, and that the Crown world

in doe time give.notice to ►be 'r.,rtiei. On 'flit:
'24th of. MAy kit, the etarvo gau!, notice; tltttt
4Cosirt wolild be held for that ptirposn'at Q4etee,

the 2d of November instant, This nutire was
immediately acted upon by the North West Com-
pant.; was forth,vith dispatched into 044.?,
retior, and those ivaplieated iu the 'accusations
*bronght by-the Earl of Selkirk, apprised thereof,
,as far as time and. .distance would allow.. It ap-
peared, however, also, that „some time after the
notice had been given to the North West Com-
pany, tbe_akent of *the Zarl of Selkirk, noc,..ith-
standing Isis Lordship isarl„ as appeared by his
printed memorial produced' in Court, also peti-
tioned iovernment in October, 1818,-that a coin-
mission should* i,sue*‘fi'sr the Same purpose, had
explicitly 'Stated to *GovernMent that the private
prosecutor was not ready, and that probably lit—
earliest time -when he would he'ready, might he
the autumn of 1820. An intimation 'to this effect
was in consequvnce given on the 20,15 of June,
to the principal agent of the North West Company,
then absent from thr,. province, .and actually itr
the Indian Territories.) at a period when it was
much-too' late even had the thing- been in it st It
reasonable ; and the -preparations -for the tiiT.
poaching expected trials necessarily went on,
pursuant to the first notice. However, on the
24 of October, the parties accused found. it ex-
pedient to lay a memorial before the President,
against any furtber.protraction of their trials, in
reply to which his Hontiur staled, that a Commis=
sion of Oyer and Terminer for the trials of of-
fences committed in the, Indian Territories had
issued on the 29th of.• April, 1818,' and was cots.
tinned by adjournment to the 21st of October,
1819, and would open- on that clay, " where legal
course and redress mist be • sought •for by the
parties interested therein." •
Accordingly several gentlemen belonging to
the North West 'Company, with upwards of- 20
witnesses, collected front 'distances of from two
to five thousand miles appeared on the opening
of the Court, when the names of the accused, viz.
Archibald Norman NPLPod, James Leith, Alex-
ander WCallum, Hugh M'Gillis, Simon Fraser,
and Job() Severight, were recorded by consent:

The Court continued by adjournment till Thurs-
day last, when the Counsel of the North West
Company stated the circumstances above set
forth, from Affidavits, which were filed in Court,
and moved, that those of the accused who were
under recognizance should be discWarged from
their hail, and those not under recognizance, by
proclamation, as the Crown had declared that
there was nothing to object against any one of
them. After a discussion of some length, the
Court- adjourned to consider of these motions tdl
the following day.; when, with the exception of
one of the accused (Mr. M`Lellan) who happened
to he under recogniz'ance in that Court, the Bench
decided that the applicants should take nothing
by their motions. In the course of the anima&
versio.ns that fell front the Bench, and from the
SoliciOr-Genesal, it appeared, that they consider-
ed that the Court had no jurisdiction to interfere
with offences alleged t 6 have been committed in
the Indian Territories, unless brought forward by
the Crown.

Early in the Session two Bills of Indictment
were preferred `by 'the Crown, and found -by the
Grand Jury,-_ against Mr. Mr. John
Clarke, Mr. John M(Leod, Captain Matthey, Ser-
jeant Vitchey, and several Menroto soldiers, ail in
the service of the Eat I of
.Selkirk .or of the flud-
ion's Bay Company, for the assault and false im-
prisonment, in the month of June last, at the
Grande Rapid, in the Indian Territories, ofMr.
thaw, Mr. M'Tavish, Mr. Campbell, Mr. Fro-
bkher, and Mr. M‘lntosh, .partners- of the North
West Company, and several of their head canoe-
men.— -

On Friday the 29th October the Court adjourn-
ed till the 24th of January next.

MONTREAL, Ovf. 30f 1919.

, -
• FIRES —This week has been particularly fertile
in aeciffents by this formidable elerneut. We had
only time, in oqr last Wedneiday's half-sheet, to
sketch the more prominent features of the
disaster of that morning.—Since then we have
made every inquiry that. might
.enable us in pre-

8800

LOSS BY THE TWO FIRES.
By the Phoenix Office,:
By the Montreal Office,
•l Houses of Mr. Bertbelet estimated at

8450
3800
2000

Total LO'ss

k 14250

In this -statement we have not included Mr.
Russange'sloss in moveables, the amount of which
we have not been able to rivet rain, but have heard
estimated at about 2001, so that the grand total
of losses sustained by the two fires, may. be fairly
'stated at 14,5001. The latter'disaster is said to
have been occasioned by a lighted candle.having
'Erten left unwatclied in the back store.

Many inhabitants of this city assert that, on
Thursday. last about• 25 minutes past 7 o'clock A.
M. they perceived in their, houses a tremulous
motion„similae to that caused by ati,eartliqviake ;
the
.duration of which tves sor 6 seconds, Ati
our •informants resided in various parts
,of the
pity and. its Kitinity, and as a partial cause would
not, probably, have produced the general sensa-
tion,
.we are inclined to believe it such as it, has
been supposed. Its course appeared to be from
the South7West to North-East.
kletter, the authenticity of which we, moy
depend upon, there appears to have been several
shocks of
,an earthquake , felt at La-chine, ou
Thutsdaylast. Our inforniant states, that,it hap!
pened about halfpast 7 o'clock in the morning,
and that there. were four or five shocks dis-
tinctly felt. They were so, violent as to move
!hose 'lying in bed, and produced a tretnying,mo-
lion; and noise, among be furniture in the room.
We have not beard of any, injury., it had done;
nor that it had been perceived in any other place.

[to be continued.]

LAW INTELLIGENCE.

SHERIFF'S COURT, BEDFORD-ROW.

•BREACH OF PROMISE -OF MARRIAGE.

CObIPTON V. WINKWORTEI.

This was an action to recover compensation in
damages for a Breach of Promise of Marriage.

The "action Was originally brought in the" Court
of King's Bench, kit the defendant had suffered
judizioersi to go by default.
. Mr. ADpi-PHUS rose to Address the Jury on the
art of the plaintiff. They were, he said, as-
sembled for the purpose of inquiring what de=
usages ought to be 'assessed in the present case.
It was a. "subject which, though not uncommon,
was still, very fortunately, neither so frequent as
to hi stale from repetition, nor so uninteresting
as to•deaden the sis tit of inquiry.- They were to
determine what damages a young and .vittuous
woman was to receive at their hands for being
kept by constant, warm, and frequently renewed
promises; in expertation'of mutriniony ; and then,
without any cause givenasn.her part—without any
reason assigned
.on the other---wit hunt the slight-
est pretence for such conduct, rejected, thrown
back upon society as a slighted woman, with her
peace for ever broken,
.her hopes blasted, her
heart withered, and left to langoisii under all the
painfol feelings 'that Were the natural and un-
avoidable consequences 'of her situation. The
intoortaot facts of the case, as he should state
hem, being ad.itted on the record, rendered.it
utinecessary that be should, go, into any great
length of proof. -It was not decried ihar promises
of matrimony- were made by the defendant---.that
he so tar acted upon. them as to make,: prepare-
tionkfor the event—and that subseverrly, with-
out any reason 'assigner:, without a shadoW '
of
preteoee,..he sod:let-1K broke off .he engAgeme..t,
and f-nleted i to raa'rimon,.4 connexion tvidi
another person. Ti,ere was no s,,bject which
regtrrrrd more carts tins and serious consider's-
itiois• on the part of a Jut y than this, nor was
less eaution necessary 09 khe- part of those
who addressed them. To treat it as a•matter
only pecuni'al consideration—as a mere
affirir of business, in which feeling or senti-
ineot waa to have no share, from . which every
thing 'connected with the heart should be -ex;
chided, this would be to descend from its real
importance. It tvouirl, on the other hand; be
equally iniudiciotis7—it would he. unworthy of any.
person, placed is his situation,' to attempt to in-'
serest the' jodgment thrfwg.h the ittliaetire_ of the
iina'ginatiou, by • the empty. 11,i;fera rhetorie,
by the language •:.f 'leclaiwitioW, or by romantic
aplieal to sliOitr,:' 7)uSding love. A cat)l
address to their reason, to the sense' which, as
lath rs, 314litotilers', as men, they most entertain
of such an' iiijury,Was all'he should 'attempt. It
was, in his Hand, the most indielons 'way :of so_
"pealiog io aYauryonder circumstances of 'this kind.
But fholigh reason should govern, it nett, ii;
he expected that the interference'
.erffeelitrgcOuld
be etareci shut nut. It was not necessary, for
the purptises ofJutice„ that they should enter
into all the romantic .misery of situation in which
a young female must be placed whose' heart has
been interested—Wbose hopes have been raised to
prospects Ofliappiness by the promises of one to
'whom her nosuspecting innocence has given, core
fidenee—whb'haS been led to think that the day
cif» their union Was at 'hand," and then suddenly
castOff,''plOnged'into the agottieoif despair, and
field' ntrto the scorn of the world ai'an object Os
Worthy of that connexion fo"wliich `site had bOuud..
ed her prospects in life. Here was a youngWottan
filled with pleasing and virtuous anticipations; all
at once, and Without cause, thrOWn into the froien
region of bitter contempt, to bewisil that most
,painful 'Of all slights; Which' fem.aleorforgei:Wifti
,most difficulty—which, in truth, they' never cease
to remember. Sirch was the effect it Its < upon
her mind that had it not beers for the•vigilance
of her friends, sits would ha a succeeded in ter-
minating by suicide hated'iLxisrence. She irai
obliged to leave the country, and was sent to
some distance, to avoid the shame of being point...
ed.at as a 'person rejected and scorned by the man
•whom all that knew them .16oked upon as her fu-
ture husband." But change 'of place Would not
change her feelings ; could not cure th.e wound so
wantonly and cruelly inflicted: She still bore
about her the pain of
,rejection, of withered
hopes, of remembered love ; the sense of
riled contempt, and the recollection of-perfidious
promises. 'Where could a person in her situation.
seek for consolation Not in the society of
friends whOm she tonarb.e ashamed to meet—not
in the anticipation of a new attachinent, for an
indignity' like this, withoet carise,or excuse,
would naturally, in her mind, give every profes-
sion,; however sincere, the colour of a falsehood.
She would naturally suspect that every man was
like him by whom she was so cruelly deceived.
Under these circumstances, he looked to the Jury
for large., and liberal damages. sls Englishmen,
as•fathers and brothers, he called upou them to
say what they would award to a
_young woman
upon whom so much pain had been inflicted with.
out
.cause or excuse. , • •
Mrs. Compton,—l am the mother of the Plait).
tiff in this action ; she. was one and twenty last.
!lay;; the Defendant paid his addresses to her ra-
ther more than
.two ycars ago;, at that time my
daughter was living with me; I am a widow, and
carry on-the farm that .was my husband's ; the
defendant wrwe to my daughter, :and Isaw the
letter; I thought him a very-respectable young
man, rind had no objection to, her receiving his
addresses; I; knew that my daughter received
many letters,; he came often to my house ; his
addresses were perfectly sanctioned by the ; he
never made any
.complaint of my daughter's
conduct ; lie said. he • should: .make her his
wife as soon as he was in business; my
daoghter. aml he continued -acqoainted, upon
those terms for. a • year and a half ; at the
end of• that, time he called upon my daughter,
and. I understood he wished to break off the
match; I asked him the reason, and he said,he
had no, reason, and might again visit my dasighter ;
lie .has since married another person. The effect
produced upon my daughter was very serious ;
she was very much krill she could not be left by
herself; her mind was so' distracted that I less
afraid she would make Away with'herself; she was
obliged to leave that part'of the country; and now

lives in Lonclon-i the ring produced was given by
the defendant .to my daughter.
Cross-examined by Mr. DENMAN-4 lost my
husbaml four years ago ; I was the head of.the
family, and gave my full aPprobatiOn to the:ad..
dresses of the defendant. It was. about a twelve.
month last June he talked of breaking off the cote
section ; he was then about 21 -; I did not knogr .
the defendant's father ; I have seen him,A3ilf never
spoke to him on the subject of his ion'i marrlige
with my, daughter ; my daughter told me that the
defendant bad asked for his letters and his ring;
I asked the defendant what reason he hid for
breaking .off the match ? I believe he spoke softie-.
thing of his friends having some objection; that
was in June twelvemonth; he was married iu
Sepiernher, last ; my daughter now 'lives its Lon
dots,. and keeps a haberdasher's shop, and I Jiiie
with her. She had learnt that business.
The 'following letters, spoken to by the irst
witness, Were now put in and read. They ate li-
teral. copies
" Guildford, April it, 1817, (Friday Evening-.)
My ririktt Ilitrire'ri,—.-Hope you will excuse
the liberty-1 hareaarken•by writing these few Hoes
to you, .which. twist ,express the'real meaning cif
my heart ; that is, I really am very much in love
with you, and have been ever !mice I 'saw you first
as Air. St rad wiek's ; and hope • the next time L
see you we shall, settle one way or the other-=-
whether you %I'd! accept of my offer or not;
shall want a tVite by and by, and have not the
least doubt belt what you will make me a very
good one—Ami,hle, Charming. and eoucere Wife.
My
.dear_ H. it's my wish to set. into your Fa-
mily, and have .not the least ,doubt hot what rove
should lire very happy together and it I thought
we should trot, I etrtainly would not offer myself
to you. I really do *not know what to.do with
myself and shall nor until I hear or see you,
which hope will be in a day or two, and then hope
you will ease the numpink of my heart. ,Vcio not
mean tor you stop ,the bumping till* ever, but
to bump, bump, stump easy. My Dear are
you engaged next Sunday ? If not, I will do. my-
self (t,e'plea,ore of coating to see you infthe after-.
.I),'if it is agreeable ; it not, please send word
by Butler, and I'll call tor it 10-1110TtOtt evening;
and if you do not send word, I shall c. one. 1-I pa
you did not increase your cold last Mondiy,4l,ght,
your -mothet got loipe quite safa the next
morning. I should have gone with her had I known
she meant to have gone so soon in the moruitig;
it Was my intention to have cared.the coat borne
myself yesterday morning, .but. found it was sent
by Butler ; hope we shall agree in the tray I wish,
if not I shall' make op my mind to be a fusty old
hacihelor-; I shall not try another yoking Lady,
and that. have told you before. Please give my best
respects to your mother and Caroline, and tont
you will accept my love.—And remain, Dr. IL
your`S'sincevely. •

g, W. VINKWORTH."
• '
In the followin'ilie addressed her as his wife-.--
" Guildford, May 11, 1815.
"MY DEAR WIFE---I write these few lines to
inform you I got borne quite safe last,Evg. by. a
little pest ten O'clock'. I am very unwell, its-
deed, to•day; have a very heavy ,pain itt my-sto%
mach'; hope you are well, and hope you will ark
go to fair to-morrow, has I think you will over-
fatigue 'yourself. think ,you ought to stay at
liOnhe a little more, and not run about so ultra ;
-have sent some plaister, which forgot to leers
Evg, with rove from your Intended Hui-.
hand. Ido not care bow soon.

• " W. WINICWORTH."
[Several other letters, written in the tame cis-
gant'style, were also read.)
After some other'witnesies were examined (one
of whOM proved that the 'stock which was pure
chased by 'lie defendant of his uncle, was worth
upwards of 20001. ; and that the business was
rather increasing than diminishing),.
11r. D 3.11 14 A addressed or Jury in behalf at
the defendant.. He observed, that from the law'
gnage of this young man, Which was of the 01131,,t
absurd description, it would seem that he was
himself extremely incompetent to judge of'what
sort of connexion might ultimately hr for his owa
adven,age. The letters which had.beets read, it
was trae, bad been written by him when in his
minority ; and even allowing that, they were ter-.
tainly beneath the usual run of the human mind
at that age. Wlicti such a declaration as this—.
" If you loves I, has I loves you,
No kiiife shall cut our loves in two."

was made—and whe.n, in another letter, he talked
of his heart going "bnmp, hump, bump," and.
" that he did not know what, to do for love," were
considered, but a poor evimate indeed could be
formed' of such a lover ; and in his opinion, the
young lady had riot mnch to regret in having been
relieved froth. his importunities; at least he thought
such a suitor was extremely ill-suited to a deli..
sate minded young lady. • •••

Mr. IletiCtibrArt, the Under• Sheriff, now prol•
ceedcd to sum pp thecase to the Jury;.in doing
which, he remarked; that the defendant's Counsel.
had that clay, found an excuse for his conduct,
which he had been unable himself to find whets
he cruelly hrblie,off his connexion with the plain!.
tiff without:the slightest misconduct on her part.
The defendant had acknowledged his offence, and
the Jury had only to estimate the damages, to
which the plaintiff, for the very. serious injury
which she had received, .was entitled, In doing
this, they -wdold• look to the- property of the dr
fendant, who, :it would seem from the eyideucc
brought forward, was worth at least.3ooo/.
The Jury. retired, and after a short absence" re`
turned and stated, -that they had assessed- the "aa'
mages at Three Hundred Pounds. .

. .
On ''Friday evening between seven and eight
o'clock, Eliza Johnson-, a woman who stood com-
mitted from Bow-street to Bi idewell tor behaving
disorderly at St: Martin's -Workhouse, was folifol'
hanging in the Strong: Boom attached to the
office: It appeared tiiat the unfOrtunate woruari
had tied herself up to .one
.of the iron rails of th 6
window, and Was mened from impending- ilealb
.
by an officer who happened to be in attendance.

LONDON: Printed by.). B. CARS'r AIRS, of No. 29,
Great
Orniond-street, Quern-squire; and published by
SCRIPPS, of No. 7, Smith Alolton-street, at THE Sub Office, No. 112, Strand ; where Adveitisements, atders,..!
Leiters, etc. (post-Paid) must be aJdressrd.

I