The Sun.
London, England, 1827-05-14 00:00:00

LAW INTELLIGENCE-(THIS DAY.)

COURT OF CHANCERY.
Nothing of importance occurred this more.

COURT OF KING'S BENCH.

JUDGMENT AGAINST THE WAKEFIELDS.
Mr. E. G. Wakefield and Mr. W. Wakefield were
brought up this morning for judgment. No sooner was
the Court opened than it was crowded to excess : the
galleries were filled with ladies and gentlemen.
At twenty minutes past ten o'clock, Lord Tenterden
asked Mr. Sergeant Cross if he had anything to move?
Mr. Sergeant CROSS—I pray your Lordships for judg-
ment against Edward Gibbon Wakefield and William
Wakefield, who were convicted at the last Assites for the
county of Lancaster of a conspiracy against a young lady,
under age, named Ellen Turner, arid thereafter carrying
her away by fraud; without the knowledge or consent of
het father.
Mr. Justice LerrigoaLt then read the indictment, at
the conclusion of which, he observed that the prisoners
were found guilty of all the counts in the indictment, ex-
cept the third count. His Lordship then read over the
whole evidence adduced a the trial, daring which Mr.
W. Wakefield did not evince any symptoms of anxiety ; but
his brother, whose external conduct was composed, seemed
to suffer much mental pain, for he was occupied the most

of the time in reading, at intervals, a book which was lying
on the clerk's desk. They both looked very well. Mr. E.

G. Wakefield was dressed in a blue surtout, with a black
velvet collar, and his brother in a blue dress coat, also
with a velvet collar.

When Mr. Justice LITTLEDALE had finished, Edward

G. Wakefield addressed the Court from a written docu-
ment at great length, and was followed by Counsel for the
prosecution ; but of these statements we musgpostpone our
report till the Second Edition, as we are unwilling to de-
prive our readers of a full report of the Judgment at' the
earliest moment, and which was delivered by Mr. Justice
BAYLEY in a most impressive and feeling manner in the
following words :
Edward Gibbon Wakefield and William Wakefield, you
are to receive the sentence of this Court, after having been
convicted of an indictment which charges that you, for
the sake of lucre and gain, did conspire and combine to
take away Ellen Turner, a maid unmarried, and
within the age of sixteen years, out of the pos-
session of a lady of the name of Daulby, and
conspiring also unlawfully to get her, so being such
maid, to contract the most sacred obligations which
can be contracted—to contract matrimony with Ed.
ward Gibbon Wakefield, unknowing and without the
knowledge of her father, who must of necessity be inter-
ested in the welfare of his child, and who ought to be con-
sulted before that child should marry. A conspiracy
of a more aggravated description, and from baser motives,
I can hardly conceive to have entered into the mind
of man. A child between the age of fifteen and sixteen
years, incapable of judging for herself, placed by her
father under the care and tuition of persons who might
direct her morals, and who might qualify her to be a com-
fort to her parents and to be properly associated for life
with a man not of cunning and of art, and of intrigue, but
with a man of probity and honesty ; and a man who has regard
to truth ; a man who will not be guilty of fraud ; with a
man of whom the father may not be ashamed of introdu-
cing to his own connections and acquaintances. With a
conspiracy of this kind entered into, not upon those
honourable principles and feelings by which a man may be
drawn in hastily to contract a marriage ; but to
contract a marriage with a man who previously
bad no acquaintance with her, and who previously
bad never seen her, and with a man who previously
had never spoken to her. By what name is a
conspiracy of this kind to be characterised, and what
is the description of a man who boasts to be able to
make that child his wife for the remainder of
his life; a man who has been guilty of the practices which
are detailed and proved in evidence in this case? The pro-
ceeding begins by a forged letter being sent to Miss
Daulby, a letter well written, and a letter well calculated
to impose and to succeed in that imposition. There-
fore the first act of that man, who is to be this
lady's husband for life, is an act of FORGERY-not
merely falsehood—but an act of plain and direct FORGERY ;
intimating that a letter came from Doctor Ainsworth,
who had never written that letter, and intimating to detail
a series of facts, which facts were, from beginning to end,
without foundation. The transaction of forgery does not
stop there ; but the man who is the agent—the man who
is to carry the letter, has with him a carriage, importing
to be Dr. Ainsworth's—has with him the livery, importing
to be the livery of Mr. Turner ; and he goes there
with falsehoods in his mouth, to impose upon
those ladies who' have the care and custody of the child ;
there is, therefore, not only falsehood in the letter, but there
is subornation of falsehood in the person who is employed
to convey the letter. Pause for a moment and consider
whether a man who can so far have conducted himself—so
far forfeited the principles of honour, rectitude, and truth,
as to practice falsehoods and forgeries to that extent, and to
that extent only, is a person to be introduced to a respectable
family? Is he to be introduced to an innocent, artless, un-
suspecting young woman, as her associate for life? The
very outset of the transaction shows the malignity and con-
spiracy which at that time was going on. A lady of years
is imposed upon ; the child is sent home in that carriage;
she is sent under the expectation that she will meet her fa-
ther, whom she is fond of—that she will be able to meet
him at Manchester. Is there any deception prac-
tised there ?--any fraud there ?—any repetition
of falsehood there ? There she is met by the two defend-
ants, who are now to receive sentence, and then a new
fabrication is formed—that her father is not there,
that he has been under the necessity of leaving his
home, that he has been under the necessity of absconding,
and that he will be fouad at Halifax. Then this young
woman who has been harrassed in travelling from Liver.
pool to Manchester, is taken off to Halifax, where
it is said there will be at any rate a letter. Is there any
letter there ? No—an additional fraud is practised that he
will be found at Kendal. Then she is harrassed more

by being taken off, and travelling night and day
till she reaches Kendal. Then there is again an ad-
ditional fraud; there is again an assumed letter, inti-
mating that her father had to go forward, and that
they must go forward too; and there a declaration
is made to her—still conducted with great art, calculated
to impose upon an ingenuous woman, and likely to operate
upon the good and kind feelings of a feeling and
an affectionate daughter, being told that her father
is greatly embarrassed by the failing of a bank ; she
is induced to suppose that the person who is in the carriage
with her is the nephew of a kind hearted man, of a man
who has stepped forward in the gap, and wl.e has lent
to her father, under his embarrassed circumstances, no less
a sum than 60,0001. ! Why, is not that calculated
to make her look upon the person with whom she is at that
time in company, as if he were a person who from having
been kind to her father, was entitled to kindness fro' her ?
Then there is an insinuation that Mr. Grimsditch, the
attorney of the father--whether a relation of the fa-
mily or sot I do not know, but he was in the
confidence of the father, had suggested as an expedient
that she should become the wife of the person at that time
in the carriage, and he pressed her for an answer
over and over again. She hesitated, as well
she might, to one whom to that time she had never seen,
of whose disposition she was wholly unaware, who
might be a man of great art, of great talent,
and great attraction, but who might be a man,
without that which alone is likely to make mar-
riage happy without principle, without a regard
to truth, and disregardless of honour. Should
any woman be drawn in hastily to give consent
to a marriage under circumstances of such suspicion ? They
arrived atCarlisle, the stage before they reached the borders of
Scotland, they etopt there ; a communication is made to
her tbather father is there, that he must not be seen, that Mr.
G. the attorney, is there, but that she must not see them ;
that those are bailiffs who are around the carriage at the
door, who are waiting for her father; that he had been
attempting to cross the border but had been prevented,
and that no hope of his escape was left but that which had
been alluded to. Now, that is the detail of the transaction,
till the period at which they arrived at Gretna Green.
It has been insinuated, that though she had remained per-
fectly untouched so long as she remained within the con-
fines of this kingdom, yet that that did not continue
afterwards. Now let us see for one moment, taking
that to be the case, whether that does or does not recom-
commend the individual who now stands for judgment for
his crimes. I have already said, that regard to truth is
one of the most important things in every man's character
and conduct ; that no woman with any degree of prtidence
can associate herself with a man disregardless of truth, and
that no father ever willingly can assent to his daughter
being associated with a man in whom the sincerity of truth
is not deeply impressed. To meet that insinuation, you will
see whether there be any additional circumstances
which aggravate the case, or which show the impropriety
of that individual becoming the huband, and she becoming
the wife of that man. He says to Mr. G. " I assure you,
upon my honour that Mi-s Turner is the same Miss Tur-
ner she was when I took her away—there has been no
consummation of the marriage." Now that is true or
false ; if true, my observation does not apply, but there is
an insinuation to-day, that if it is not true, the conspiracy
is to associate her for life to a man who will declare,