The Sun.
London, England, 1826-03-23 00:00:00

ASSIZE INTELLIGENCE.

YORK, TuzspaY, MARCH 21.
John Clayton, aged 3,2, was indicted, charged on the oath of
John Simpson, overseer of the poor of Ledsham, and James
Sunderland, constable, with having, on the 24th of September
1824, intermarried with Sarah Robinson, of Ladsharnl • SarS,
Milne, his former wife, being then living.
William Dixon, curate of East it rdsley, in the Test Riding,
on the Bth of Novernb.er, 1813, married the prisoner to Sarah
Milne, and they continued to reside in the salvo varish for four
or five years.
Sarah Robinson first became acquainted, with the prisoner
about two years, ago, and was then living at Dlaplewell. Shortly
after she went with him to Rothwell, and was married to him,
and returned with him to Maplewell, where they continued to
live together for about six months. She then went to bedsham
for a short time, and on her return, found his other wife with
him in the house, who beat her with the tongs, and would not
permit her to stay.
On cross-examination, she admitted they had been living te_
gaiter as man and wife at Maplewell before they were married.
James Sunderland, assistant constable of Wakefield, produced
copies of the registry of the prisoner's marriage with Sarah
Robinson, at Mahwah On the 6th of October last, he took
the prisoner into custody ; his first wife was then with biro, and
went with them to the place of confinement. She said, sooner
than have any bother, she would give him up at once, and let
the other wife take him. The prisoner said at the time he had
another wife.

On being asked if ke had any thing to say in his defence, the
prisoner called Mr. Samuel Setley, who knew the primmer fur
14 years, and remembered Sarah Milne, his first wife, leaving
the prisoner, and eloping from Maplewell with a men named
Barker.. She remained about two or thtee years, and it was
reported she was dead, and it was not till then that the prisoner
had married Robinson.

31r. Baron ilur,Locx having summed up the evidence, the
Jury found the prisoner Guilty.
The Learned Judge then said, " Prisoner, you have been
convicted on very clear evidence, but there are circumstances in
your case which are sonte mitigation of the offence. The sea..
tense of the Court is, that you be imprisoned for six calendar
months."

CIVIL amt.—CLARK V. JOHNSON AND LAYTON'.
'his was an action to recover the sum of GO/. paid by. the
plaintiff to the defendants under the following circumstances:
Mr. Hove stated the case to the Jury. The plaintiff, Miss
Clark, in the year 1010, became the mother of an illegitimate
child, and before her confinement was required by the defend-
ants, overseers of the parish in which she resided, to indem-
nify the parish against the child becoming chargeable at any
future time. The plaintiff, unwilling to expose the father of
her child, raised the sum of Gill., which she paid to tl.e defend-
ants. The defendants placed it in the Scarborough bank, and
paid the plaintiff the interest of the money till the year 1822,
when the bank failed. On that occasion the defendants re_
ceived a dividend of tis. in the pound, amounting to I.a. lie. 3d.
which they had paid into Court, and thereby reduced the
plaintiff's claim to 451.45. 9d. The child has never yet been
chargeable to the parish. The cause had been tried at the
last Assizes, and under the direction of the Learned Judge who
presided on that occasion, as well as the present, a verdict had
been found for the defendants. The opinion of his Lordship
kid been since overruled by the Court.of Common Pleat, atsd
the cause had been directed to be subniitted to a Jury. The
evidence for the plaintiff having fully established the case
stated by Mr. Ilolt,
Mr. Sea aLtre addressed the Jury for the defendant*
Mr. Justice BAYLEY, in summing up, observed that there
was no question for the consideration of the jury. He was
nut before aware that his opinion had been over-ruled by the
Court of Common Pleas, but had no difficulty in stating, that
the plaintiff was not entitled to recover, as no evidence had
been given that she had offered a bond or any other indemnity
to protect the parish against the child becoming chargeable. He
theretbre directed the jury to find for the defendants.
Mr. Hour signified that he should tender a bill of exceptions;
against the direction of the learned Jude.
The Jury seeming to hesitate in following the learned Judge's
direction, a proposal was made by the defendants' ci.eusd, and
agreed to by Alf. Holt, to refer the whole matter to Mr. Patter -
son.—Referred accordingly.

EXECUTION OF JOIIN

been passed upon this unfortunate man,. and he had been rc-
As soon as the awful sentence of the law had
he manifested on his trial save way. lie horst out into bitter
moved from the dock to the prison, all that sturdy firnmees whicli
weeping, and positively alhrmcd his innocence. Bat on being in-,
formed of his awful state, that lie must soon appear befor. Him
to whom the secrets of all hearts arc known, end dint these &du-
rations would be totally inefketual to stop the execution of the
law, he remained silent, lie was immetliately afterwaeds visited
by the Rev. Air. Rowley, the chaplain of the prison, to Whom
he confessed in u frank and open manner the justice of the
sentence passed upon him, Ile acknowledged that the bloody
deed was perpetrated by' himself' alone; although he ne.nu-
mined that the subject of the robbery was first suggested to
hint by Ralph Weston. lie could not tell the exact time at
which he arrived at the house of his unfortunate victims; he
stated, however, that he remained for a considerable time at a
small bridge near Ashworth, before he went to their house,
but that lie did not see John Chadwick, who swore on the
trial that he left the old people about ten o'clock in the even-
ing l • although there is no doubt that he must have arrived
at Alarcroft immediately after that time. According to his
own account, he accomplished his sanguinary urpose whilst
under the influence of liquor; and he said he thought that he
p
did it with the poker alone,. and never used the spade, which
it was intimated by the surgeon must have been employed
in cutting the old man in the way he was fennel, but, of that
he could not speak with certainty. As to the stick Stated to
have been found in the house, lie said it must have been
there before he went, for it was not taken there by him.--
bring perfectly well
ed them, in order, as
known
rl histo Toleuo tobjectiie old teas
people, plunder;liearl,)ltii,r
he conceived, that no testimony should rise up against him for
the robbery. That lie searched as much as he could let
motley; but the appearance of the old people, after their
murder, so horrified him, that he seized the first article that
came to his hand, and then tied with precipitation. That ever
since lie committed the murder, the remorse and gnawing of
his mind were indescribable. That he was determined to deny
laid guilt till legally convicted ; and that now, having dis-
burdened his mind front the load, he felt inure tranquil. LH-
ntediately on his committal to prison, the chaplain
exhorted
him to prepare for the worst consequences, and being quite il-
literate, every means was made use of to teach hint to read ;
and these efforts succeeded so far as to enable him to make
firm ;
out for himeelf any striking passage of Scripture that was
pointed Out to him by the clergyman. On fiunday last he
attended the chapel, in enountleisia.nyonwiitilit!,
John Smith, and humus 31artin, who are also left fur exce
elation for
filiter appeared to to be quite composed and
etho : bitterly
rcsi
el iifir)eolt r
withl
the tijr:cesn teSriirrirgl Simpson
and there
was very little, if ally, alteration in his general appearance
Mr a length of time. He brought a prayer-book into
opened it, 1
from what it was at the time of the trial. Ott his being placed
in the apartment appropriated for condemned felons, he wept
yaa
night;
it
g.
deliveringll
t appeareda n d 0 ;
an
onl
eieperuset:ttyi
ni
it
gi 1
ftievenins:
l2ltithlectioelart.P,sl;.iulainicidh:7apter, 301 verse, lie slept very'
during the
composedly the whole
ing the Chaplain again visited hint. About eleven o'clock the
sacrament was adatinistered to him, and soon afterwards he WAS pinioned in the motel way. Exactly at twelve o'clock he came
upon the fatal scatfold, and after the burial service had beets
read over by the chaplain, the drop fell, and he was launched
into eternity. Ile appeared to struggle very little.—(sllo,
cheater Mcrcurv,)

DESTRUCTIVE Fruts.—Short ly before 1 o'clock
this morning, a most destructive fire brok out in
the shop of Mr. STAnn.Es, oil and colourman, of
Drury-lane, which entirely destroyed the same.
So rapid was the fire, that the only inmate in
the house, narrowly escaped with his life by
jumping from a window. Monday evening
the premises of Mr. OttusE, butcher, in A 1;-
dersgate-street, were discovered to be on tire.
but, by the laudable activity of the neighhout9
and watchmen, in bringing the parish ,engia::
got ahead, and but trifling clannige
with great prompitude, it was extinguisher ere
+v33 SUSlin-
ed.-r-A fire broke out yesterday morning, at four
o'clock, in the house of Mr. Sparrow) t" sign of
d
the Blue Posts, the corner of lianway-lard,
which eotirely destroyed
Tottenham-court-yard;
the building.

The Board of Works are lending
out the
framework of a large storehouse to the island of
Ascension, for the convenience of vessels tonclv:
ing there on their ontward.bound vorigs'

'UDR LONDON JOUILNALS.

DAILY
istracisfrom the Morning P9ers,March 23,1826.

rTHE TIMES.j
In the forthcoming charges against Lord
'Charles Somerset, a good deal, we have been in-
formed, is likely to depend on the evidence of
Mr. Burnett, and on the weight and efficacy' at-
tached to it by those who will sit in judgment on
his Lordship. A certain personage, therefore,
wise in that well-known generation of which he
has long been a distinguished member, would no
doubt employ more than common pains to get
rid of the testimony of the above-named much-
injured individual. " But for Burnett's evi-
" deuce," quoth he, in his professional dialect,
64 I should canter over the course." The public,
then, and above all, the members of a great as-
lOwibly, cannot search too suspiciously for mate.
• /WS illustrative of the arts and tricks put in
practice to destroy Mr. Burnett's credibility.
There is no more decisive expedient in jockey.
ship than to bribe the adversary's farrier, and so
get the horse we are most afraid of lamed before
the race begins-. If, accordingly, we hear of at-
tempts to blacken the character of this fatal
• witness, to run, him down by emissaries sent to
• England from the Cape, and thus raise a preju.
dice against Mr. Burnett, in relation to his trans-
actions with Lord Charles Somerset, we shall
know what to think about it ; and, moreover, so
shall the British publish public.

[MORNING HERAI.n. j
There is no country under Heaven kr which
the base species of patronage called Jobbing is
so prevalent as in Ireland. It taints every branch
of public and private business, and even the
minds and habits of the people. But it is espe-
cially and rankly prevalent there in what is de.
nominated the System of .Public Education. The
votes for this purpose increase by thousands,
from year to year. The scandalous misapplica-
tion is denonnced by some, and admitted by all,
even by the representatives of the Irish Govern.
meat ; and yet, after the facts stated by some,
and the arguments used by others, these sums
continue to be voted upon the puerile undertak-
ing of the Irish Secretary that such naughty
doings shall not take place in future. It would
be an injustice to Mr. Goulburn to say that he
{ems any personal interest or inclination even in the
vote he gave, and the flimsy reasons he was re-
duced to, the night before last, in the Reuse of
Commons. The fact is, that those who have all
interest in the job of disposing of the Funds
voted for public education, have strength; tIUM•
ben, and influence, which he is afraid of offend-
ing. The babblers in cant are, in :Ireland, •of
every profession and condition, and of 'both
sexes ; and they are actuated by the two
strongest of human motives—lucre and vanity.
It is unnecessary, after what was stated in the
debate, to mention the dexterity with which the
money is touched, and duties to be performed
for it are evaded. There is something even still
ranee contemptible in the, system of tnakinovatt-
gelical zeal and graceful oratory the means of
making partisans, profit, and reputation, It has
become in Dublin the common road to practice
ernong the faculty—and still more, it is said, tt
the Irish Bar. The party at the Bar is so nu-
merous as to have obtained a jesting soubriquet—
the point of which is so entirely local, that it
will be lost in the explaining. In Ireland Me-
thodists are called swnddlers—there is a place
in that country called Swaddling Bar—and this
lest denomination has been transferred to the
quarter of Dublin which the evangelical portion
of the Irish liar have chosen, by n sort of gene-
ral consent, for their residence. It would ap-
pear from an account of en Irish circuit, that this
cant has found its way. even on the Bench. A
prisoner is receiving sentence of death for some
atrocity committed in a desperate access of fa-
mine or revengeand his Lordship deplores that
the peace of the country and the prisoner's life
had not been saved by the• panacea of an evan-
gelical education and.the Bible, without note or
comment----whilst the Bar, during, this edi-
fying scene, are divided—one half devoutly
sympathising with the pious judge, the other
smoking him " with their tongues in their
cheeks." It is no wonder that the Irish Secre•
tary is afraid to encounter and provoke this wide-
spread and unforgiving party. But it is to be
regretted that the House did nut withhold a
large vote from the public taxes—or, at nil
events, that it. did not secure the funds voted
from the abuses of cant, and vanity, and scanda-
lous misappropriation, which have hitherto pre-

[NEW TIMES.]
The eh, Gnicle is quite indefatigable in its
attacks—not content with flying at the Lord
Chancellor of England, it yesterday made a stoop
at the Schoolmaster of Shadbally ! What versa-
tility of talent does not our encyrlopediral con-
temporary possess; in one and the same sheet—
alsrussing the merits of the first legal authority
in the land, and the disciplinarian capabilities of
an Usher in an Irish Charter.house School. in
respect of the Chancellor, the matter is settled
and set by- -" ire know that he is not only not
learned, but not possessed of knowledge suffi-
cient to conceal his ignorance"---so says the
Chronittc. Somewhat similar, and equally deci-
sive, was the finding of certain serial) deer men-
tioned by the poet,

" The Mb/it and fide, in full assembly joined,
Deelare,inen. dis. the keen-eyed Eagle blind !"
The case of the " Dorninief.' is not so completely
put to rest as that of the Lord Chancellor, for
it lacks the oracular—" We know." And it may
certainly admit 'of a question with some folks
how an allegation of cruelty,: disproved by the
umsnimous.verdict of a jury, should of necessity
render its object n .bad teacher of mathematics.
Or, why the 'Governors of a school should re-
fuse the situation of roaster to iti person eminently
qualified for the task, because a 3 charge of cruelty
against. binshad been completely
preferred
dis-
,pr4vecj. We have no doubt, however, that the
Cheoniek can reconcile this quite satisfactorily.

[MORNING
t ii rea Ily astonishing that the Law of a Coun.
try, so extensively commercial as this is, should,

to almost all commercial matters, be the very
height of absurdity. One would have thought,
that if there was any subject respecting which the
law would not be at variance with common sense,
it would be partnerships. What have the lawyers
been about, that it has been' neces'sa'
ry for Mr.
Huikisson to make such an appeal to them
as that, 'of last night ? lie said—" He would
avail hiniself • of this opportunity Of stating
his' anxiety, that the Jaiv of partnerships,
in which application's of this kind were main-
ly concerned, and which were in many in-
stances the ground of making them, should un-
dergo some material alteration. The law upon
this subject was extremely inconvenient and de-
fective ; and he would be most happy to see the
alteration and improvemet of it undertaken by
some person more competent than himself to such
a task. What would be more inconvenient than
in proceeding against a Company ?—if any num-
ber of the partnership were absent, the proceed-
ing must be stayed until a writ of outlawry was
executed against the absent persons, and the exe-
cution of it sometimes occupied a twelvemonth.
Whilst this writ was executing, another member
of the partnership might be absent, and it
would be necessary to adopt a similar le-
gal course respecting him. Then it was
necessary that the names of all the partners
should be entered in the proceedings ;
and if the Christian name of any of the par-
ties was wrongly inserted, or he was otherwise
improperly described, a plea of abatement was
entered up, and the plaintiff should abide the
issue of that plea before he could take any fur-
ther step. If the issue were against him, he would
be obliged to bear all the foregoing expences,
which, in prosecuting his suit, he had been liable
to begin de novo. Many other inconveniences
attended the present law, which he would be
most happy to see remedied. Besides, great dif-
ficulty often presented itself in ascertaining who
were all the partners, as this could only be ascer-
tained from the partners themselves, who were
also defendants, and who could not, therefore,
give testimony in' the case. Whether tins could
be remedied by having registry of the number of
partnerships, or whether, in actions of this kind, it,
would notsuffice to have an action brought against a
member of a partnership, and oblige the other
members to abide the result, he was not, at that
moment, prepared to say but the interests of
commerce and manufactures, and a due protec-
tion of the interests .of the public, materially
required an amendment of the law of Partner-
ships."—We should think Mr. Huskisson could
find little difficulty in procuring the knowledge
necessary to give effect to his wishes. Mr. Peel
found in the learned profession a Mr.Gregson to
assist him—and surely the President of the Board
of Trade may light on another well-disposed
lawyer. Mr. Peel has no monopoly for tile pro-
curing this sort of aid.

[MORNING eosT.]
A subject which must prove highly gratifying
to the hovers of the fine arts was introduced in
the house of Cornitions last night by the Chan-
cellor of the Exchequer. The Hight 'Hon.
Gentleman, in proposing a vote of 0,0001. for the
purchase of some pictures to be added to the
collection in the National Gallery, explained that
those picture's, three in number, were from the
universally admired ' pencils of the Celebrated
POUSSin, Carucci, and Titian, and that the most
competent judges had pronounced them to be richly
Worth at least the Sum which it was proposed -the
nation should give for them. Indeed the late Mr.
Angerstein, whose refined taste in regard to the
Arts was acknowledged by all, was willing to
give 5,0001. for the. Titian alone. Our readers
will be gratified to hear that these fine and beau-
tiful specimens of the Art have already been
placed in the National Gallery for public exhi-
•bition, and that the sum required for their pur.
chase (9,000/) was voted amidst the warmest
approving cheers of the Bouse.—A short dis-
cussion took place upon the question for re-
ceiving the Report of the Welsh Mining Corn.
patty Bill, in the course of which Mr. flask's-
son felt himself called upon to explain the evil
effects upon trade of the glaring errors in the
present law regarding partnerships—than which
it was impossible any thing snore injurious
could exist. If it happened that a partner
was absent from the country, the firm to which
he belonged could not be sued until a writ of out-
In wry hail been obtained against him. Thu writ
could not be obtained before the expiration of
twelve months, and if in the meantime another
partner should have gone abroad, the same pro-
cess must be pursued with respect to him. Then
when the party had brought his suit almost to an
end, it was sufficient, to stay all proceedings that
a plea of abatetnent was put in, stating that some
person unknown as a partner had not been
named, or that all the Christian names had not
been properly described. If the unfortunate
party suing then went to the issue, and the plea
of abatement was proved, he must submit to a non-
' suit. On the other hand, if he commenced de
novo, he would perhaps have to make those
persons defendants upon whose evidence he had in-
tended to rely, and who could not then be put
into the witness box. These defects in the pre-
tient law he justiy considered as extensively inju-
rious to the spirit of enterprize and industry. in
the country, and therefore; very properly called
upon the House to apply an adequate remedy to
SO serious an evil.