The Sun.
London, England, 1817-12-03 00:00:00

THE KING V. CANE.

This was proecution for an. assault. The
.rirosecAtnr was a tahnuring man, •and the defend
lint Was a gentleman occupying land at Ester, 16
Middlesex

J an.§ 'rooky said .he bad been once in the.ser--
ilde (-,f'Mr.'.l:boaras C.lne,ihe defendant. .011 the
27th of as! lie was returning from Norwood
Church,lre. and others saw a water-rat on the
bilks of a ditch in Mr. Cane's grotinds.—the wit 7.
ness-took up a stout,-and threw it at the rat. Mr.
Cane was at spine little distance; he came up to
the-witness, and said he wnst.go along witli
at the. same -time he laid hold of him by the col
tar, dragged him to his front gate, and struck
Witness several times over the head with a stick.
He said before the week was out, he would lipng
twa or. three of them on the Green, and'eharged
witness with being one of those who stOle bis
-
Pigs•

Lord t..I.ENBOROUGH said the Assault .was fully.
provt4, and ihe defendant must be found guilty ;
but it was to be hoped that lie would make such
compensation to Ow prosecutor.; •:ts,ta rentler. it
unnecessary to Ming hint befarg.tileJcvuragain.,
Verdict, Guilty. r'! - .

COURT OF CONINION4I,EINS, Dec. 2;

STACEY V. SIR HENRY WILSON'.

The Plaintiff, who keeps he K.lll's Head pub-
lic-house, in St. Paul's Cliuteh.yard, brought his
action against Sir Heury. Wilson, to recover'
71. 7s. 2d for meat and drink supplied to several
persons who had %otes for the Borough Of Bar;-
staple. It occurred to the defendant, that a vft-

eancy 'night happen in the representation' of the
Borough► of Barnstaple; awl ►hat a-new Member
niigt►t be elected in lieu of Sir Eyre Conte. It
was consequently his intention to stand a contest
for the said Borough, and be authorised a person
named Stanhury, to act as his agent, and do all
that was necessary ►o advance his interest. Stan-
bury, tinder such authori:y, selected the plaintiff's
house as a proper place for the reception of voters..
On the 3►f of January, a supper was given at the
plaintiff's house to 70 or 80 persons, and Sir.
Henry Wilson was the President. The bill,
amounting to 301., was. immediately discharged..
Mr. Stacey we►►t on- providing the voters with re.--
freshmeitts,•until the demand accrued which this
action was brought to recover.

Mr. Serjeant BEST described his Client, Sir H.
Wilson, to be a man of large property, but, he
added, if " his fortune was equal to the National
Debt, and he were to leave the Barnstaple voters
whofreqiented the plaintiff 's house to drink at
his expence, they would swallow it all. They
ought to be called voters of the borough of Guzzle
down." It was true, he said, that Sir Henry
Wiisonlntended to offer hinisell as a candidate for

the horMigh of Barnstaple, but he was desirous
of coming in by the assistance of respectable per-
sons, and not by men who did nothing without
hard.drinking. Finding no bottom to the throats
of the 111 rll who met at !Stacey's house, he_ was
obliged to put an end it, it. He therefore sent
Captain Clarke, an Officer in the Navy, to inform
the plaintiff that he revoked the order given for
styplying• the voters with meat and drink, and
that he would pay for no more in future.
;CaptaityClarke.being called, stated tliat
hecall-
ed ow Stacey, and told hint Sir 11. Wilson would
not he answerable for any more refreshments he
might afford Abe voters. lie did this at the desire
of Siral. Wilson, long before the plaintiff sup-
plied the articles, which constituted his demand.

The Jury,.under all
.the circumstances, found a
vewlict for the defendant.

ADMIRALTY COURT, DOCTORS', COMMONS, Dee. 2.

SEIZVEI3 OF A FRENCH 'VESSEL OFF MARTINIQUE

LADEN WITH SLAvES.

This itnportan► question came on to be
.furtl►er.
argued in an Appeal from sentence of condeama-
lion passed by the Judge of the Admiralty Court

. .
of Sierra Leone, whereby the vessel, containing
300 skive's, was confiscated to. Qur Government,
with one:half to-the slaves 'on board, whose libe7.
ration. besides, took place under the 47th of
Geo. II!. • .

Dr. DonsoN was heard this 45 on Oe same
side with Dr. Loshington (beard on a tornier day),
in answer to the King's Adi,ocate. He laid much

stress on the,principle, r hick is—idunded on the
law of nations, with respect-, to the ships of one
nation being subject to be visited or searched by
those of another upon • the,.higli seas in time of
peace. The only authority - which could be le.-
gally set up was an authority from the Go-
vernors of Colleges, anal their authority must
be derived under an Act of Parliament.—Here
the parties resisted the search; and mud) blood
was shed on both sides. The Act of the 47th
Geo.- 111. could only. apply. to. British subjects
carrying on .the. Slave Trade, and could not apply
to the commission of this offence in any other na•
tion upon which the right of search could be
maintained, and • much less:of condemnation. it
the right of search existed in, -British cruisers to-
wards neutral vessels, the same right existed in
other. nations to visit and search, British ships..—
What was the foundation of this right ? Only to
see.if there were contraband goods on board The
empire of the- seas was. said to' be in the British
nation ; but this was erroneous. The sea was the
• property of nations ; and they had a right
to navigate withottt any molestation whatso-
ever: Then with- respect to resistance on•the part
of this vessel, that resistance was-justified bysel&de•
fence. Numerous authorities were cited upon this
subject. Where the-right of-search het ween nations
commenced was between the English .East India
Company_ and the Portuguese and Dutch in the
East Indies ; but then. they were looked upon to
be at war...Vattel, book 2, page 130, says, the
English • Company were . fur excluding all other
Nations. In the .year .1550 (Camden's Eliza-
beth) a war. broke out with Spain, because the
Spaniards claimed the right- of search • towards
British ships in the Bay of Honduras ; which was
strenuously resisted, not only by the.Miuistets and.
by the Throite, hut by the Nation at large ; and it
was expressly stipulated in Convention between
uf, and Spain, as-the condition of-peace,,to make
good the loss sustained by British subjects ; and
in which it was determined that Spaiu had no.
right, or any other nation (as. contended-by this
country), towards.nentrals, to mike this- visitation
or search in the time of peace. :Another seizure,..
in which. that dactrine.was .maintained, was in

Nootka,§ouud, in which the Spanish Government
agreed. to make
.restitution. A like right was
claimed by Sweden to be exempt froth search, but
was refused by Great Britain. These authorities
were so far in 6ppo'sitioh. 'The next'sauthority
cited by the Learded Advocate 'Was the 'Corre-
spondence between Lord Cattlereagn, the Duke
of Wellington), and. Lottii XVIII., by which it aro-
peared that Monarch refused to. abolish the Slavt
Trade till five years afterwards. Bvonaparte im-
mediately'after.thisreturniog froin Elba,-issued his
Decree abolishing:. it from the F.reiich Colonies,
and for ever after that date ;.but Louis being re-
. stored after 'the battle of Waterloo; declared. this'
edict 'of thee Usurper as null. and
however, afterwards consenta to the ,entire,abo•
lition for ever, froM and after-the issuing of that,
Edict. Then this 'Edict -was.. not -effective, as re-•
hated to this.vessel, -until the. French-abolition of
Slave Trade hairr7pctid Martinique ; for no law
was made to 'apply ex parte facto to the offeuces,.
it meant to punish: The Learned Advocate „coo-.
tended,. under various •autborities.-and:precedentz
cited with analogy to the law of nations, that4he.
Court beloti had acted %it-bout jurisdiction, and,
therefdre praYed'in behalf of the captured, that'
. this sentence of condemnation'. should be set aside,
with costs, and the property restored,:
Sir 110 CHRISTOPHER ....OBINSON‘(Kin.'s Advocate)
replied to Dri. Dodson acid Lusl7higton. lie
knew of no prop&ty in the captured kgally eon:
stituted which the Court could interfere to re-'
store, much less to award cost's of condemnation
as against the captors. If
,there was no legal pro-
perty in these slaves,. the owners or crew of the
captured vessel could not come ' into 'a Court 'or
Justice with their hands'etained with oppression,
and with blood, and deMand thoSe rights which
they had violated. 1-his Friend s(Dr.'Dmlson) hatf
argued upon general prineifiles with analogy ,
to the law of nation's, which 'had no applica-
tion to the present_ case. The mere purpose for
which this vessel set out on her voyage, 4-the
implements of slavery found on board, wag- suth--

cient to warrant her condemnation. The Court
had three courses---it might either not
.chuse to
interfere with the transaction, on the score of il-
legality in the trade ; it might affirm the condem-
nation and jurisdiction of the Court below ;•
upon the merits of it, might .say there 'was no le-
gal property in the, vessel which the Court was
called upon to restore, and that the'cipfais
acted inconformity to the law of nations as at pie-,
sent established for the total abolition of this traffic,:
upon the principles of natural justice and hunianity,:
and upon the broad basis of morality; it was the.
duty of all and every °nation to put a sto10:0,
'such an inhuman and unjust practice—the s'Attie,
as ever" one, upon the principle of our Wonicipal
Jaws,. would not oniv' be ' justified, .but is strictly
,commanded to -arrest criminals, and to °assist in
the apprehending and securing of: persons'in. the,:
act of committing assaults or other 'critties. •

Dr. ADAMS was heard on the same side.
Sir Wm. SCOTT appointed to, give judgment on
au early, day.

Extract of a leiter from Demerara, dated 28th
September, 1817 :—" Our preseht pursuits are
considerably paralyzed. From our internal 'situ-
atiou we are daily doing military. duty in conse-
quence of the events which are passing among the
Spaniards in our neighboinhood. •-.The Patriot
forces have been completely triumphant, which
has causetrinany of thelloyatist• fugitives to. fly
within our frontiers for an asylum ;;and•as a pre-
cautionary measure; our principal military-force
is stationed oa the lines, in order to protect the.
plantations from plunder. We find the duty very
hard froth the state of the weather ; 'for theAast
two months we have bad only One shower oiraini
and as ~,we have no other -water within forty miles
of- the town, it has for the last fortnight been.
selling at 6d. a gallon. The hettt.:at.prosent is
most intense; from 100 to 110 degrees, whi::h,
contrasted with the cold dews at night, makes' a
powerful impression on the constitution."

PRICK OF BULLION.-:—New Doubloons were
yesterday at 41 and Nero Dollars' -aud SilVer jn
bars, standard, at ss. 31(l.