The Sun.
London, England, 1826-12-04 00:00:00

Return to sa Addram of the House of CoinmnPl. )04 7,
1826, for a Return of the several persons who bare been com-
mitted to the custody of the Warden of the Fleet Prison and
other Gaols in England and Wales for contempt. ondereeetsi
issuing out of his lirfajesty's Courts of Chancery and Et vier,
since 11th July, 1820, with copies of their respective commit-
ments with respect to such contempt., stating what persons
have died, or have been discharged, and at whet time, sail how
many remain in custody; also, a Return of the number (Apar•
sons that were confined for contempt on the 11th July, 1220,
and how many of them have died, been discharged, and at
what time, or now remain in custody.
As the particulars of this Return occupy a folio volume
of 185 closely printed pages, it will be at twee perceived
how utterly impracticable it would be to trandv it entirely
to the columns of a newspaper. We have therefore eti.
deavoured to condense the matter of this Re turn as much
as possible, and present the annexed statement as con.
taining all the moat important features of the full Return
made to Parliament.

~;

This Return consists of three Parts—let, The names of
the pereons, and the time when committed to the-respec-
tive county gaels,: for contempt of 'Court, between- July
11, iB2o,'and March 26, 1826, and the dated their dis.
charge ;,,=.2(1, Copies of their respective commitments;---
end 3d, Numbers of persons that were cunt lned for con.
tempt on the 11th July, 1920. In condensing this Re-
turn, the names of 'the parties): the dates of their commit-
ments and discharge, and the copies of the commitments,
is all that has been suppressed. Oat of the whole num.
her of persons committed under the process of the Courts
of Chancery and Exchequer in contempt, 21 only remained
in custody on the, 26th March, 1820. But, it is to be re-
collected, that the Return of the Fleet Prison is not
amongst the number, and that a great many of these per-
sons have been removed by kabeas corpus from the cus-
tody of the Sheriff to the custody of the Warden of the
Fleet. The excuse of the Warden of the Fleet for not
obeying the orders of his Majesty's Home Secretary is
want of time and the pressure of term business ; and this
excuse; insufficient and idle as it is, is -couched in language
which is, in truth, scarcely intelligible. This latter fault is a
fault of Mr..Browres education, and we are therefore little
disposed to press it against him... But as to the excuse of
want of time, we confess we hold it as utterly without weight.
He received the order somewhere about the 10th or 12th
of March last, and this extenuating letter is dated 28th of
April. Every other officer. found time to make hie return
before the end of March or the beginning of April at latest.
The Warden's return is of all such returns the most im-
portant, as without that the others become but little more
than waste paper. The Fleet is the peculiar prison of the
Courts of Chancery and Exchequer, and must, therefore,
be supposed to contain a far larger number of the victims of
owr present Equity system than any other gaol. Ad-
mitting:, however, that the Warden's excuse is a valid one,
the inference thence to be drawn is that the number of
prisoners for contempt must be unprecedeutedly large.
The Returns for Cornwall and Surrey are certainly not
the most perspicuous hi this volume, and might have been
framed in a way to convey the information they do con-
vey in a more comeatable manner. Hereford, however,
shines, and might serve as an example to the less diligent
Sheriffs of the two aforesaid counties. Suffolk, we appre-
hend, is, blessed with a son of Erin for its•Sheriff,lor under
the column headed, "_When discharged," he very inno-
cently writes," remains still in custody."
What object was proposed by procuring this return we
cannot soy, unless it.was to shew additional cause, of out-
cry against the equitable jurisprudence of the Courts of
Chancery and Exchequer. If this was in truth the design
we feel bound to say that we think it has failed, unless
indeed the arrear still to be brought up shall very much
add to the number of parsons now in custody for contempt.
The attachment for contempt sounds particuisrly odious
and oppressive, but its operation in money eases is not more
0 mischievous-;m that of a common executive writ against
the person from it,CourcolLaw. The attachment for not
answering is, however, objectionable, and so indeed may
all other attachments be called which are not sued out to
enforce the payment of a SUM of, money. 'lite Returns
given in this paper for the most,part disclose attachments
for not answering, and such like' but the terms of confine.
ment under each never exceeded three or four years fit
most, and that must have been occasioned in many in-
stances by sheer unyielding blind obstinacy. With these
remarks we disiniss the subject, to snake room for the sub-
joined:— •

Account of the Number of Persons committed for Contempts of
the Court of Chancery and the Court of Exchequer.

gc-LER•':*
County
g 6
•fr

Remarki.

Bedford none 6
Bells 2 9

Bucks none 1 Was confined on lrfith March,
16.

Chester -
Chester City none 4
ill
Cornwall* none 240
si
defectiveTOOhnnwieesaspltireruocot frnndnotfithrteduiraz.enttscnio
comfor.
mitred.
Derby
Devon .. . ......... . .
8 28 One removed by Habeas Corpus.
Dorset 2 9
Durham ,2t 7 $ 'One of thole two removed by
j Habeas Corpus.
Essex ... 2 25 Two removed by nab. Corpus.
Fleet no return.
Gloucester .

Cumberland .

3 4 3 S (inc still confined, and one re-
' 4 rooyed.
Gloucester City none 0
2 Both ennuaitted iwne day, t
Dee. 182 A.
One removed.

Haute

Hereford
Hertford
Huntingdon none 16

Kent Done 4
Lancaster I 14 Three remain in custody,.
Leicester . none 49
Lincoln none 4
Monmoutli 1 6 One still in custody.
Norfolk no return.
Northampton none 19 One still in custody.
Northumberland none 14 One removed. •
Newcastle-upon-
none $
Tyne
Nottingham none S
Oxford none IS
Rutland no return.
Salop
none 3 One retztored.
Somerset
Stafford tll ss :
Three:loa ,
Inel
istitititill
it! ,
tidintiet a ir
custody,dnee custody.
bd
debts.
o but 0 cf ha
whomr g ed
are a mother end a daughter-
_ ... .