The Sun.
London, England, 1844-08-02 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, FRIDAY EVENING, AUGUST 2, 1844.

of an experiment with his invisible shell at 2,700/,
to destroy the two privateers must, therefore, have
cost him at the very least 5,4001. Where a sub-
officer of the Nautilus could get so much money
we have perhaps no right to inquire, but we must admire
the generosity that could give so much to the public
service without asking one farthing of remuneration ;
the modesty, too, which in the moment of triumphant
success restrained the captain from apprising the Ad•
miralty of the extraordinary power of which the in-
ventor was in possession. That was the time to bargain
with the Government for the sale of the secret.
Neither at that time, nor in 1816, when Lord .Ex-
mouth's expedition was fitting out ; nor in 1828, when
Sir Edward Codrington was prOceeding to the Medi-
terranean ; at no period within sixteen years at the
least, did Captain Warner think of placing at the
service of his country, or applying to his own
profit, an invention which had proved so successful
at St. Malo and St. Vallery, and which he estimates
at 200,0001. Few other men would so long lie out
of so much money, or lose the opportunity of war-
like preparation to bring so precious an instrument
of war into the market, - reserving its sale for a
moment of profound peace. We must now, however,
come to the long range, an invention only twelve years
old. The first circumstance that will appear remark-
able to most observers is the increased fondness with
which Captain Warner adheres to his invisible shell,
notwithstanding the later discovery, by which the
use of that, and, indeed, of all other instruments
of war must be superseded. What in the name of
common sense can be the use of invisible shells, or
any other shells, against fleets, forts, armies cities, and
mountains which you can disperse into atoms from a dis-
tance of six miles. Every one has heard the story of the
mountebank who sold powder to kill fleas (privately ex-
plained to operate by being put into the insect's mouth),
and the rebuke of the clown, who said, that when he had
caught the flea he wanted no help from doctor's stuff to
kill him. So it seems to us, that if you can destroy
your enemy at six miles' distance you may spare the
trouble of creeping under his feet to set traps. As
there is no allegation of any authenticated trial of the
long range power, we may say the less of it. For the
rest we think that the whole tenour of the correspondence,
as it was given in the debate last night, proves the reverse
of a willingness on Captain Warner's part to come
to the test of a fair experiment. There is always some
hitch suggested by the captain's suspicions—suspicions
which, in our opinion, do not always treat her Majesty's
Ministers as gentlemen ought to be treated. It is plain
that they must trust Captain Warner, or Captain
Warner must trust them, and it is no imputation upon
any one to say that he is less entitled to confidence
than the responsible Ministers of the Crown. With
respect to the exhibition at Brighton, as far as our ex-
erience goes, it has rather damaged than served Capt.
Warner in the judgment of scientific men. The opinion
among such men is, that though it is possible that the
destruction of the John o' Gaunt may no doubt have
been a bona fide operation, the result might with perfect
ease have been produced by preparation, contrivance,
and sleight-of-hand.

field, where he officiated as managing clerk to an attorney
of the name of Thomas, at whose death he passed into
the service of a Mr. Richard Grafton, and upon that
gentleman's death, the business being purchased by the
defendant, he was taken along with it, and the consi-
deration to be paid was his articles, and a salary of 601.
per annum for the five years he would have to serve. This
arrangement was come to in the early part of the
year 1841. It appears that in the early part of 1842, the
defendant on his return from Lincoln, where he had been de-
tained for a fortnight or three weeks by ill health, thought
he had reason to complain of the conduct of his clerk, and
shortly after the plaintiff was dismissed from his employ, and
lost the other advantages guaranteed to him, and this dis-
missal was notified in a letter sent by the defendant's bro-
ther. The grounds of dismissal as set forth in the plea were,
that the plaintiff had been guilty of a breach of duty in hav-
ing combined with one Joseph Gratton, attorney, living at
Chesterfield, to deprive the defendant of the benefit that
should result from his purchase of the business aforesaid ;
also to induce persons to employ the said Joseph Gratton in
preference to the defendant, and also that the plaintiff had
personated the defendant, &c.
The plaintiff called the Joseph Gratton alluded to in the
plea as a witness on his behalf; but on his cross-examination
it appeared that Gratton and Mercer had been too intimate,
considering the relative positions in which they stood to Mr.
Whali, the one being a rival attorney, and tile other Mr.
Whall's articled clerk.

The Learned Judge summed up very carefully, and the
jury, after a short consultation, found a verdict for the plain-
tiff—Damages, 3001.
CROWN COURT.—(Before Mr. Justice CourmAx.)
Isaac Dakin, aged 22, was charged with ravishing Harriet
Hartshorne.

Mr. Wildman prosecuted, and Mr. Dennison conducted the
defence.

Verdict—Guilty. Sentence deferred.

POLICE INTELLIGENCE.
(YESTERDAY.)
MANSION-HO USE.

Sir JOHN KEY stated that he had received a commu-
nication from the Duchess of St. Alban's, on the subject
of frauds which no doubt were extensively practised by
some persons in Ireland, who enclosed fictitious declara-
tions, purporting to be signed by magistrates, to people
of rank in England, whose names and addresses appeared
in the Red Book, accompanied with letters entreating
relief. Her Grace had received one of these letters ;
and would have sent a remittance for the service of the
writer, had not her steward intimated to her that Lady
Key had received a letter in precisely similar language,
with the exception of the names of the writer, and the
ship in which the writer stated she had been wrecked,
and of her address, as well as of the address to which the
relief was requested to be remitted. The correspondent
of Lady Key called herself Margaret Cope, Black Rock,
Dublin ; and the same person subscribed herself to the
Duchess of St. Alban's, as Ellen Willoughby, of Bed-
bourne, and begged that her Grace's answer might
be transmitted to the care of Mrs. Hensler, No.
46, Meath-street, Dublin. In both letter& were
inclosed certificates, written in the same hand, stating
that each lamentable account was strictly correct, and
that the poor woman was an object of great compassion.
The appeal was strengthened by the assurance that the
applicant was anxious to get out to her husband on a
distant station, but was detained by the sickness of her
child, and the failure of resources in a strange land,
where no sympathy existed. Sir John also stated that
he had received a letter from Sir George Thomas, from
Weymouth, stating that Lady Thomas had been favoured
with a like application from a person, who subscribed
herself Margaret Wilson, and desired that an answer
should be directed to the care of Mrs. Cronan, 36, Mar-
rowbone-lane, Dublin. •
From the following letter, which Sir John Key read,
it appeared that the imposition had succeeded :
"Lady Cockerell's compliments to Sir John Key;
having observed in the Morning Post of this day that
Lady Key had been imposed upon by a woman, who had
written to her Ladyship in the name of Margaret Cope,
supplicating pecuniary assistance, Lady C. begs to in-
form Sir John that she has received a similar letter,
which she has no doubt is from the same person, though
signed by another name, as he will observe by the ac-
companying letter inclosing a certificate, which by her
desire Lady C. returned to her on the 23d of 'July, with
a Post-office order for 21., to be paid to her in Dublin,
as Lady C. thought it to be a case of urgent distress.
" Hyde-park-corner, July 27."
Sir JOHN KEY added that Lady Key having, at his
request, refrained from sending a remittance to the ap
plicant until he should make inquiry into the case, was
favoured with another epistle from her correspondent,
expressing the pangs of want, and still more earnestly
soliciting assistance. He feared that so ingenious a plan
would, if not most powerfully exposed, prove very suc-
cessful. He had himself ascertained at the War-office

that there was not a syllable of truth in the whole his-
tory before he had received the foregoing evidence.
Sir J. KEY then stated that he had received the half of
a 51. note for James Thomson Irvine, who had lost all
his property at Hamburgh, when Bonaparte confiscated
the property of the English merchants trading in that
country, and who had since that period been struggling
amidst the most awful misfortunes to support his chil-
dren, whose mother was in a lunatic asylum. The be4;-
volent person who had sent the inclosure skid that • n
he should see that it had been received, he should 'nit
the other half of the note ; and he requested Sir ./ohn
would acknowledge the receipt in the Morning. Pos—
t Ady, who became so notorious some Amino,
by his correspondence with people in all parts of the
world, whom he informed he could communicate some-
thing to their advantage, upon the payment of a
certain sum of money, and finally referred to the un-
claimed Dividend Books at the Bank, on a wild-goose
chase, appeared on Wednesday before Sir Peter Laurie,
in conseqence of a summons which had been sent to.him
by that indefatigable Magistrate. It was generally ex-
pected that Ady would not appear. Indeed many have
thought that the sentence at the Old Bailey had induced
him to change the line of business in which he had so long
been engaged ; but at the groper hour he walked into
the public room, and took his accustomed station before
the Alderman.
Mr. Haldane, a gentleman in the commission of the
peace, who had written to Sir Peter Laurie on the subject
of one of Mr. Ady's circular letters addressed to Mr.
William Haldane, in Scotland, soon after the death of
the latter, attended upon the occasion. lie produced
the circular, which was as follows:
" L.B. page 3.

" The undersigned is able to inform you of something
he believes considerably to your advantage, on receipt of
five shilling 4 for his trouble by post-office order on
Whitechapel or otherwise.—Respectfully,
" JOSEPH ADY, accountant, No. 5, York-
_street, Charlotte-street, mile east of
Whitechapel Church, London.
" June 23, 1844. -
" No letters received unless post-paid."
The above letter contained the following blank re-
ceipt : •
" Received this day of 184 ,or
pounds shillings, pence, for information
received, which fee I promise to return if no benefit
result, and in case of any difficulty the Right Hon. Sir
Peter Laurie, Knight, and late Lord Mayor of London,
will see justice done to any client of mine, without any
fee or charge whatever. " JOSEPH ADY."
Mr. Goodman (the chief clerk) observed, upon look-
ing at the communication, that Mr. Ady had acted with
a great deal more caution than he had manifested in
days gone by.
Sir PETER LAURIE—He has derived advantage from
his experience, but I shall certainly watch him narrowly.
Well, Mr. Ady, I thought you and I were never to meet
again? Ady—Well, what is all this about? What am
I come about? What have I done now?

Sir PETER LAURIE—It is to me personally you are
responsible in this matter. When you were sentenced
to transportation at the Old Bailey, and that sentence
was subsequently commuted to imprisonment for twelve
months, upon condition that you would not annoy the
public again, you gave your solemn assurance that you
would adhere strictly to that condition. How is it, then,
that you not only continue the practice, but you au-
daciously use my name for the purpose of assisting you
in your attempts at imposition? Ady—lmposition! No,
no; I have done no harm.

Sir PETER LAURIE—I never in my life heard that you
had done the slightest good.---(Laughter.) On the very
day this gentleman (Mr. Haldane) wrote to me I re-
ceived this letter from Ireland:—

" Macroom, Ashgrove,'July 24, 1844.
" Sir,—l have lately received two or three letters from
Wm. Joseph Ady, of York-street, Whitechapel, London,
acquainting me that he can give information to me as
the heir-at-law of the late William Ashe, by which I
can procure a sum of money, and has referred me to you
in one of his letters.—(Laughter.) I am well-known in
the County of Cork. where I rosida, and take the liberty
of applying to you to know whether I may rely on Mr.
Ady to transact the business—(A burst of laughter)—
and to give me any further information in your power.
I beg to apologise to you for taking the liberty, and I
hope you will excuse the trouble I give. I also beg to
inclose the paper he sent me in one of his letters.—l
have the honour to We, Sir, with great respect, your
obedient humble servant, " RICHARD ASHE.
" Sir Peter Laurie."

Now I trust that the newspapers will convey my an-
swer to all who correspond with you and take for
granted that you are authorised to use my name, or the
name of any of the Court of Aldermen, that I know you
have perpetrated a vast deal of mischief, and caused infi-
nite misery, by making statements to poor people in dis-
tant counties wholly destitute of truth.
Ady—No, no, people mistake.
Sir P. LAURIE—I think you have had quite enough td
do with me to believe that you ought to be cautious of
mentioning my name at all. In my mayoralty the
Court of Aldermen found it necessary to caution the
public against you, when you referred falsely for your
character, integrity, and responsibility to Sir William
Heygate, to Alderman Copeland, who, you said, would
be security for you to the amount of 1,0001, and to our
late respected chief clerk, Mr. Hobler.—(A laugh.)
Ady—Well, well.
Sir PETER LAURIE—I wish to know from you now
whether it is your intention to continue to use my name
in your letters in this manner ? Ady—No, I'll promise
you I won't use it any more.
Sir PETER LAURlE_you'll find the law too strong
for you. Recollect the result of your trial.
Ady—Oh, they were all false witnesses. Not one of
them was to be believed.—(Laughter.)
Sir PETER LAURIE—The arts you have resorted to
would be most ludicrous, I admit, if they did not cause
heart-burning and sorrow. Why, Sir (to Mr. Haldane),
he told every body at last that his name was James
Laurie.—(Great laughter.)
Ady, who did not show the least inclination to smile,
repeated that he would not use Sir Peter Laurie's name
in any letter of his, and he also declared that he should
use the same sort of respect towards the other Alder-
men.

Sir P. LAURIE—Very well. Remember this pledge.
If you violate it, the course I shall take will prove most
disagreeable to you.
My (nodding to Sir Peter Laurie)—l promise you I

won't break my promise. I sha'nt use your name at all
on any account.
The defendant then suddenly walked away amidst
laughter.