The Sun.
London, England, 1842-12-13 00:00:00

COMMON PLEAS.-(THIS DAY.)

, SMITH V. GORDONS.—F_ILSE IMPRISONMENT.
The Court was occupied the whole of the morning
with this case, which in its general bearing is of an
unusual and somewhat important character. It was
conducted for the plaintiff by Mr. Sergeant Tal-
fourd ; and Sir T. Wilde appeared for the defendants.
It appeared that the plaintiff, in 1833, was captain
of an East India trader, the Frances Charlotte, and
in that year received from the defendants a letter of
credit for 1001. upon their agent at Ilobart Town, Van
Dieman's Land. On touching at that port, the credit
was duly honoured by the agent, Mr. M`Laughlin,
who on payment of the 1001. received from plaintiff a
bill of exchange drawn upon a merchant in London,
named Kane, his owner, on whose behalf the letter of
credit was given for the necessary disbursements of
the ship at Van Dieman's Land. This bill of ex-
change was to be remitted to Messrs. Gordon, and in
such cases it was the practice of Mr. M'Laughlin to
have the bill drawn in three parts or duplicates, en-
dorsing each of them ; and to remit one by the first
ship, another by a second, and to retain the third.
On this occasion the first part was put on board the
ship Rifleman, which is supposed to have been lost on
the passage, not having been heard of since 1838.
The defendants having informed their agent in the
colony that the bill had not been received, he remitted
the second part, which, however, he had forgotten to
endorse ; but this did not reach England until 1835.
"When the defendants sent the bill to the house of
Kane for acceptance he could not be met with ; and,
after considerable delay, the defendants took out a
writ against Captain Smith, and arrested him on
board his ship at Sheerness, in his cabin, at eight
o'clock of the morning on which his vessel was to sail
with convicts to Van Dieman's Land. Smith, who
was well known at Sheerness, where he possessed pro-
perty, paid the amount of the alleged debt and costs
into the hands of the Sheriff, and the case proceeded to
trial, when the defendants failed to establish their
claim as against him. The present action was ac-
cordingly brought for that arrest, as unfounded and
malicious,plaantiffpou nthe fact,considerable
that thestress dbefienngdanlaits dby the
the arrest until the ra orninagve when
en he was about t
postponed
o
sail ;mNovihitehrseasbeftohreey
incouLlndnhdon
aato
arrestedndthhe him any
and
for d,
time of the arrest were calculated aunvedreyr bad
effect upon his officers and the convictsve
his
care upon the ensuing voyage.
The defence now was that the ground of action
against Captain Smith was real and bona fide, and
that the defendants had waited to the last moment in
the hopes of obtaining their money without harsh
measures.
The LORD CHIEF JUSTICE said that, although the
defendants had not made out their claim in the action
against the plaintiff; yet that did not show that they
had not such reasonable ground as would justify them
in the steps they had taken. But he thought that, as
the bill had not been duly presented or accepted, they
had not such reasonable ground; and it would, there-
fore, be for the Jury to consider whether they were
actuated by malicious motives, and what compensa-
tion the plaintiff was fairly entitled to.
The Jury then retired to consider their verdict, and,
after some deliberation, found for the plaintiff—Da
mages, One Farthing.

SPIRIT of the PUBLIC JOURNALS.

FROM THE EVENING PAPERS OF THIS DAY.

GLOBE.—The contemporaneous occurrence of dis-
putes of discipline in the Church of England, and in
the Scottish Kirk, and the simultaneous sort of appeal
which both seem making, or about making, to the
Legislature—to improve either their jurisdiction, or
their means of enforcing it within its own pale—
afford occasion to examine the principles on which
the Legislature should proceed in such matters.
The first observation which strikes us, is that the
high claims of each Church exclude each other; and
that, if the Legislature listens to the one, it must
spurn the other. For the high Church champions
of each of these Establishments assert a title supe-
rior to all secular authority, and above all control
by it. According to these, the Church does not
depend on the State, but the State on the Church ;
the obedience of the members of the latter is
due, in the first place, to itself; and only second-
arily to the Government, provided its corn-
mands coincide with Church laws. Now we do not
mean. to cast any derision on this pretension. in a
certain sense, we consider it well founded. The fact
that a man belongs to a Church involves the conse-
quence that he holds its precepts " wisest, virtuous-
est, discreetest, best," and follows its spiritual guidance.
If a Government, therefore, should ordain anything
directly opposed to that guidance, passive obedience is
the utmost that a Churchman (really persuaded of his
Church's precepts, which, however, Church autho-
rities should remember their flocks seldom are on all
points)
—passive obedience, w e say, is the utmost a de-
voted Churchman could give such a Government,

THE LONDON GAZETTE.
(THIS EVENING.)

ADMIRALTY, DEC. 12.

The following missing dispatch, from Vice-Admiral
Sir William Parker, addressed to the Secretary of the
Admiralty, has now been received :
Cornwallis, at Chapoo, May 23, 1842.
Sir,—My letter of the 11th instant, No. 84, will have
apprised the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty of
the evacuation of the city of Ningpo on the 7th, and
that the troops were embarked in the transports off the
island of Just-in-the-Way, with the intention of com-
mencing the prospective operations of. the combined
forces by an attack on Chapoo, where it was : scertained
that a large Chinese force; mid a considerable store of
arms and provisions, had been for some weeks collecting.
The fleet reached an anchorage between the Sesham
and Fog islands on the evening of the 13th of May ; but
the unfavourable state of the weather, and the velocity of
the tides during the springs within the entrance of Hang-
choo-foo bay, did not admit of any further movement
until the 16th, when a very satisfactory reconnoissance
was made of the defences of Chapoo in tha Phlegetlion
and Nemesis steam-vessels; and on the following after-
noon the ships of war, named in the margin,* and the
transports were all anchored in Chapoo bay, in con-
venient positions for the disembarkation of the troops,
which commenced at daylight on the 18th, in a sandy
bay, within two miles of the city, and at the eastern
termination of a range of heights which flanked the field
works and strong, positions held by the Chinese outside it.
Commanders ellett and Collinson, who have been
indefatigable in surveying every part we have had to
navigate, succeeded during the night in thoroughly
sounding between the anchorage of the ships and the
shore, which enabled the Cornwallis, Blonde, and Mo-
deste, while the troops were landing, to take up excellent
positions against the sea batteries, consisting of two works
mounting seven and five guns, about one third of the way
up a steep hill at the eastern extremity of the suburbs, and
crowned with a joss house, occupied by a large body of
men, and three other masked batteries, mounting thirty
guns, in front of the suburbs, making a total of forty-
two guns of different calibre ; the whole were thronged
with Chinese soldiers, who also lined their defences on
the heights to a considerable extent with matchlockmen
and numerous gingalls.

Against these field-works the Sesostris was anchored
for the purpose of dispersing them with shells, as our
troops advanced ; and the inhabitants of the suburbs and
city were duly warned to retire out of the line of our fire
By the exertions of the Nemesis, Phlegethon, and
Queen steamers, and the boats of the covering vessels,
Starling, Columbino, Bentinck, and Algeriue, togetheJ
witl; those of the transports, conducted by Lieutenant
Somerville, the troops were all put on shore in admirable
order, under the able direction of Commander Charles
Richards, of the Cornwallis, by nine o'clock, when ,the
General, with his aceustomed energy, immediately
pushed forward at their head ; the ships, by a pre-
concerted signal, opened their fire at the same time
on the batteries. A few shot, however, put the men
stationed in them, and at the joss house on the
summit of the hill opposite to us, to a precipitate flight,
and not a moment was lost in landing the seamen and
marines of the squadron under Captain Bourchier, of the
Blonde, and the officers named in the accompanying list,
who got possession of the batteries before the mines,
which were prepared in them, could be sprung ; and,
having succeeded in cutting off several of tee Chinese
troops that were endeavouring to reach the suburbs,
joined our land forces in their approach to the city. By
the General's rapid advance, in Iwo columns, they had
already gallantly carrled 01 the positions on the heights,
and, the retreating parties being intercepted in every
direction, the Chinese suffered very severely ; but a
body of several hundred Tartar troops, having thrown
themselves into a large joss house between the heights and
the city, resisted with such desperation that they were not
subdued until the buildings fell in ruins over them, and
not more than fifty men were brought out alive ; nor
was this, I regret to add, effected without considerable
loss to the combined forces, who have to lament the
Gallant Lieutenant-Colonel Tomlinson, of the 18th
Royal Irish, and several men killed ; and Lieutenant-
Colonel Mountain (the Deputy-Adjntant General) and
many other brave officers and men severely wounded.
The loss of the Chinese cannot be accurately ascer-
tained, but from various accounts their force was not
less than from eight to ten thousand men, of whom one
fourth are supposed to have been Tartar troops, many
hundreds have been slain or wounded, and several
officers and men made prisoners ; the latter will, how-
ever, he released before our departure.
_

It is with sincere pleasure that I have again to bring
under their Lordships' notice the spirited and valuable
services of Captains Bourchier and P. Richards, and the
several Commanders, Officers, and men of all ranks of
the navy and royal marines of her Majesty's squadron,
and the Indian navy, under my command on this occa-
sion : the whole of whom are justly entitled to my best
thinks and commendation.

Commander Watson, of the Modeste, having been sent
forward with his division by Captain Bourchier on first
landing, was able to reach the advanced party of the
troops in time to assist them, in boats across a canal, to
enter the city ; and Sir Hugh Gough has expressed him-
self much pleased with his exertions on this and all occa-
sions in which his services have been connected with the
army.

Lieut. Wm. 11. Maitland; commanding the Algerine,
and Lieut. Bate (additional) attached to the Bentinck,
after assisting in landing the troops, accompanied them
on their advance, during which two officers (or inferior
Mandarins) fell in single conflict by the hands of the former,
who bids fair to rival the gallantry of his lamented uncle,
that bright ornament of our profession, the late Sir Fre-
derick Maitland ; and Lieutenant Bate, by his spirited
exertions, succeeded in making prisoner a Chinese offi-
cer, holding the rank of Colonel.
The city was escaladed, and occupied with very little
resistance ; and a large quantity of arms, of every de-
scription, gunpowder, and provisions, have been found
and destroyed, together with the guns in the batteries
and arsenals, with the exception of eleven of brass, which
have been embarked.

A list is enclosed of the ordnance which has been
found.

The steadiness and good conduct of the combined
forces has been most satisfactory, but the plunder and
devastation committed by the natives from the moment
of our entering the city, has, perhaps, exceeded that
of any place we have yet visited ; now can the Tartar
portion of the population divest themselves of the appre-
hension of being massacred, under which unfortunate
impression, many, after destroying their infant children,
have committed suicide.

I inclose, with concern, a list of two killed and four
wounded in the squadron, the latter, I am happy to say,
are doing well ; but I fear the casualties in the army
amount to nine killed, and fifty-two wounded, many of
them severely.—l have, &c.,
W. PARKER, Rear-Admiral.
To the Secretary of the Admiralty.
P.S. Fourteen war junks have also fallen into our
hands.

A list of Officers belonging to her Majesty's ships and
vessels, and those of the Indian navy, employed on
shore at the capture of Chapoo, under the command of
Captain Thomas Bourchier, C. 8., of her Majesty's
ship Blonde, on the 18th of May, 1842.
HER MAJESTY'S SHIP BLONDE.
Captain Thomas Bourchier, C.B. ; Lieutenants Charles
Starmer and Edward Crouch ; Messrs. Alexander
Anderson and J. F. C. Hamilton, Mate," W.
Mr. John
Simpson, Assistant-Surgeon ; Hon. 0. W. M. Lam-
bart and Mr. Henry I'. Lyon, Midshipmen ; Mr. Cor-
nelius Fox, Master's Assistant.
Royal Marines—First Lieutenant C. C. Hewitt,
Second Lieutenant F. C. Polkinghorne.
HER MAJESTY'S SHIP CORNWALLIS.
Captain Peter Richards; Commander Charles Richards;
Lieutenants Grey Skipwith, James Fitzjames, and
Charles It. Carter ; Messrs. Samuel Fowell, Augustus
P. Greene, George H. llodgson, Nicholas Vansittart,
and Henry A. Hollinworth, Mates ; Mr. O'Neil Fer-
guson, Senior Assistant-Surgeon, attached to Brigade;
Mr. Hugh H. Monk, Additional Assistant-Surgeon ;
Mr. William Bowden, Volunteer Ist class.
Royal Marines—Brevet Major J. Uniacke, commanding;
Captain Francis S. Hamilton ; First Lieutenants George
Elliot, W. S. L. Atcherly, Henry Timpson, and F. T.
White.

ITER MAJESTY'S SCHOONER STARLING.
Commander Henry Kellett ; Mr. Henry S. Hillyar,
Mate.

HER MAJESTY'S SLOOP MODESTE.
Commander B. B. Watson ; Lieutenant T. P. Birch ;
Messrs. P. A. Halkett and H. H. Crofton, Mates ; Mr.
H. S. Wilmott, Assistant-Surgeon.

That is to say, he would suffer what it might do con- I gingalls, matchlocks &c., found in the arsenals, and
trary to the tenets of his Church, but he would not destroyed by the artillery.
act so as in any manner to aid or abet such its A Return of Killed and Wounded belonging to her
jesty's Ships and Vessels, and those of the Indian
Ma-
doings. This passive state is that which High Church- jesty's Ships and Vessels, and those of the Indian
men, both Scotch and English, seem in these times Navy, in Action with the Enemy on Shore, at the
Capture of Chapoo, on the 18th day of May, 1842.
contemplating. Indeed it is the only attitude they
CORNWALLIS.
can well take towards the State ; since the basis on Wounded—l private, Royal Marines, dangerously ;
which they rest their respective claims, we have said, 1 seaman,
exclude each other. If the State listened to one, it
must put down the other. severely.

MODESTE.

Wounded-1 acting corporal, Royal Marines, slightly,

QUEEN.
Wounded-1 seaman, slightly.

NEMESIS.

Killed-1 corporal, Bombay Artillery ; 1 gunner,
Bombay Artillery.

WHITEHALL, DEC. 6.

An Address, upon the occasion of her Majesty's
visit to Walmer Castle, from the Mayor, Alder-
men, and Burgesses of the borough of Gravesend,
in the county of Kent, having been transmitted for
presentation to the Right Honourable Sir James
Graham, Baronet, one of her Majesty's Principe
Secretaries of State, was by him presented to her Ma.
jesty, who was pleased to receive the same very gra.