The Sun.
London, England, 1821-07-26 00:00:00

ATTACK ON LIEUTENANT-GENERAL EDEN.

Yesterday Thomas Patmore was put to the
Bar, on an indictment, containing three counts,
charging him with, in the first instance, cutting
and stabbing, with intent to kill ; in the second,
with intent to disable ;
,and in the third, with
cutting and stabbing with a knife, on the 14th
of June last,iu the parish of St. George, Hanover-
square, Lieutenant-General William Eden.
Mr. ADOLPHUS opened the case for the prose-
cution, and detailed the facts as afterwards
proved. General William Eden is a Lieutenant-
General in his Majesty's service. The prisoner
had been servant to him for eight years, and, left
him in March 1814 ; the prisoner married the
servant of Mrs. Simpson, the sister of the General,
and he thinking they would be more happy to-
gether than apart, the wife came to live with him.
They left him about eight months afterwards,
but not finding their expectations realised, Mrs.
Patmore again returned to live with Mrs. Simp-
son, about two years and a half ago. The
General returned on the 21st of May, from
abroad, and on the 3d of June the prisoner came
to his house and inquired for him ; the conversa-
tion turned to the wife of Patmore, and the
General seeing him to be very, much intoxicated
ordered him to go away ; he refuied, and in
order to get yid of him a constable was.sent for ;
he did not see him again until the 14th of June, when
the prisoner came to his sister's house, where he
happened to be, and asked to see him ; he went
into the hall, where he saw Wm. Hamilton, the
servant of his (the General's) sister, in some
measure opposing the intrusion. To a question
of the General, " What do you want with me?"
the prisoner said, " You have seduced my w ife,
and I have proof of it." Witness replied, " Upon
my word and honour it is false, and if you have
any proof of it, produce it." The prisoner was
quite sober, but appeared very wild in his looks.
The General was about to retire, and stepped
back about three paces, without taking his face
from the prisoner, when he saw him have a large
knife in his left hand ? He immediately put him-
self in a defensive posture, and Patmore ran at
him, and thrust the knife about two inches and a
half into his right breast. Ile also made several
other stabs at him, which he parried, and in doing
which his hands were most severely cut. William
Hamilton at length pinioned prisoner's arms from
behind, and the three having closed, fell together,
and for some moments struggled on the ground.
Another person and Sir William Eden came to
his assistance, and the prisoner was secured, and
sent to the Police-Office.
Cross-examined.—The General described the
wounds he had received, particularly that in the
breast, which he uncovered to the Jury. Ile
did not suffer any pain from them, otherwise
than lying down the same afternoon, in conse-
quence of the loss of blood, amopnting to 30 or
40 oz. The prisoner, after the act was com-
mitted, said he was sorry for it. The General
did not notice the knife until he saw the prisoner
running at him. lie had not seen him for seven
years, though he had given him a written cha-
racter in 1816. The prisoner did not appear at
the time to labour under any extreme agitation
or distress of mind. On the 3d of June he was
beastly drunk) but on the 14th, the day of the

outrage, he appeared perfectly sober. The offi-
cer was not sent for until the wounds had been
inflicted. The prisoner did not attempt to run
away. He expressed great sorrow for what he
had done. Ile, General Eden, did not use any
coarse language, though he could not say thatte
might not 'have called him a drunken fellow.
—[Here the destructive weapon was produced.
It was about six or seven 'lnches in length, co-
vered with blood, and had the appearance of a
butcher's sticking knife.]
Sir William Eden saw the General, William
Hamilton, and the prisoner, struggling on the
ground. William was in the act of pulling the
prisoner off; he Sir William, with the help of a
servant,pulled the prisoner up.
Mr. Hamilton deposed to the prisoner calling
at the house of his mistress, and asking for the
General, who desired the witness to say that he
would not see him. The prisoner said, he wanted
an answer, yes or no ; and the mistress said,
" then the General's answer is, ' No.' " The
General at this time came into the hall, and the
prisoner accused him of cohabiting with his wife.
General Eden, denied this, and said, 44 You ac-
cuse me of a thin°. which I know nothing at all
about, and you have' no proof." The prisoner
said in reply, 64 I have plenty ;" to which the
General answered, " then fetch it." The wit-
ness's evidence then went to corroborate the tes-
timony of the General, with the addition that
the prisoner said, " this has come to something
at last."

Cross-examined—Mrs. Patmore and her sister
live with Mrs. Simpson. Prisoner came frequently
to see his wife, and was several times denied. Mrs.
Simpson occupied Gen. Eden's cottage part of
the year ; she once took the servants with her.
He remembered Mrs. Patmore going to the Lying
in Hospital, and the prisoner calling during the
time she was there. He told him .she had " sore
eyes," and had gone to the General's cottage.
She was evidently pregnant before she went, but
it did not appqr so when she came back. Her
sister also had had a -child. It. was Mrs. Pat-
more's wish not to see her husband.; who, on
being told that she had gone to the General's-
cottage, said, " he would foot it after her."
The General had never directed him to deny
Mrs. Patmore, nor had the prisoner told him he
came solely to inquire who had injured him.
Re-examined--Believed the General was
abroad at the time of Mrs. Patmore's Pregnancy.
The General positively never gave any directions
relative to the Patmores. His mistress had di-
rected him not to let the prisoner into the houe.
Mrs. Patmore was never at the General's cottage,
until after the attack upon him. It was in De-
cember that Mrs. Patmore went-to lie-in. The
prisoner often saw his wife during her pregnancy,
but he never beard him upbraid her with it.
They were often together for an hour or an hour
and a half.

Mr. H. HEARNE deposed as to the state in
which he found the General. Had the blow on the
breast been struck with +he right hand, it would
probably have proved fatal. The wounds on the
hands would not of themselves have been par-
ticularly dangerous. The General, he had no
doubt lost two pints of blood.

The General was again called, and denied in
the most pointed terms any connexion either
directly or indirectly kith either Mrs. Patmore
or her sister. He had in fact been out of Eng-
land during the whole period since her return to
his sister's'service, until the 3d of June.
This was the case for the prosecution. The
prisoner left his defence to•his Counsel.

Mr. ANDREWS called Charlotte Lewin, the
sister of the prisoner's wife. She deposed to the
circumstance of the prkoner's frequently calling
at Mrs. Simpson's to see his wife. In the winter
of last year prisoner's wife went to the Lying-in
Hospital ; witness did once deny his wife to the
prisoner. This was after the wife had been con-
fined.---Several witnesses spoke -to the character
of the prisoner, and described him as a mild,
kind hearted, and inoffensive man.—This was
the whole of the evidence offered on the part of
the prisoner.

Mr. Justice BURROVGII summed up, and the
Jury returned a verdict of, Gzizlty.

Election of a Treasurer to St. Bartholomew%
Tiospital.—The numbers were,
For Thomas Courtenay Warner, Esq ll5

For William CroughtiM,
-Extract of a letter from the Agent to LLOYD'S
at, Cape Ilaytien, dated 17th June:—" The
Dutch ship Harriet, ElucKsoN, left this on the
3d instant for Goneives, and : was boarded the
mho' day off Port-auTaix, by a schooner pri-
vateer, said to belong to the squadron under the
command of A URY, who haS been cruising. off this
coast for some days with ten or eleven Vessels of
various descriptions. The Supercargo and Captain
of the Harriet, together with a passenger, were
treated with great cruelty. After keeping pos-
session of the vessel some time, and plundering a
few articles, she was at last liberated and arrived
in safety at her port of destination."

Some uneasiness has been felt by the Govern-
ment of the United States, in consequence of the
necessary instructions not having been forwarded
to the Floridas by the Spanish Government ; and
doubts have been entertained whetherFEanixAND,
notwithstanding the ratification given to the
Treaty, had not repented of the cession of this
valuable territory. It would appear, however,
that there are no grounds for supposing that the
King of SPAIN would be guilty of such a breach
of faith, as we learn, by letters from the Ilavan-
nab, of the recent date of the 2d of last month,
that the necessary orders for delivering up both
East and West Florida to the troops of the
United States had just arrived out from Cadiz,
and were forwarded on the Ist June to the
Spanish Commandants in the Floridas.
The Mails from London to Dover are in fu-
ture to be conveyed in ten hours, and forward-
ed from Dover to Calais by steam-packets, which
it is calculated will cross in about two hours.

In a country church, where it was the custom
to separate the men from the women, a Clergy-
man, being interrupted by loud talking, stop-
ped short ; when a woman, eager for the honour
of her sex, arose and said—" Your Reverence,
the noise is not among us." " So much the better,
(answered the Priest) it will be the sooner over."