The Sun.
London, England, 1829-07-03 00:00:00

"TO THE HONOURABLE COURT OP ALDERJIEN.

" Your memoralists beg leave to draw the attention of
the Court to the following statement of circumstances
connected with a prosecution they have recently been en-
gaged in, and they consider the case of sufficient import-
ance to occupy the attention of the Court, as it appears to
them that the due administration of justice has been Im-
peded by itnrioi‘er influence or interference, and that a
sentence-has been passed having no reference to the crime
committed. On the first of June your memorialists re-
ceives' an anonymous letter, stating that a person in their
employment was not acting honestly, and that by referring
to the bills and receipts of a Mr. Potter in Watling-etreet,
they should find that gnosis were had, and no entries made.'
Your memorialists did apply, and discovered the informa-
tion to be correct, and that Samuel Watts, their ware-
houseman, had been in the habit irom January, 1827, of
selling goods to Mr. Potter, giving him a bill of parcels,
and receiving the money, but snaking no entry in your
memoralists' books, or only a pit-tie' one. They found
that no less thln 33 cases of fraud had been practised in
this way by Watts, who, upon being questioned, acknow-
ledged his Olt. and after much hesitation confessed that
he had received money in a similar manner from three
other persons, but not to a similar extent.
" Your memorialists felt that under such circumstances
they could not, consistently with their duty to the public,
forego a prosecution, and applied for a warrant. Watts
was brought before Alderman Brown, and committed upon
two charges selected from the number. Mr. Sheriff
Copeland was present at the committal, and inspected -the
bills of parcels and books with Alderman Brown, and was
acquainted with the circumstance that a selection of two
cases was made out of the whole series tar the convenience
of prosecution. Watts was arraigned and pleaded guilty,
and being brought up for sentence on Friday last, was
fined one shilling and discharged. Mr. Conway, one of
your memorialists, between the time of conviction and the
lime of sentence, was tad by Mr. Sheriff Copeland that
the Recorder had noted down the punishment, which
would be two years' confinement to hard labour,' and
further that the prisoner would be useful as a scleooltuaster
in Newgate. Soon after hearing the sentence, your me-
morialis:s applied to the Recorder to express their surprise,
and to ascertain the grounds of a scutence so dispropor-
tioneei to the offence; to which he replied, that he
had been deceived—that the recommendation he had re.
ceived was from such authority as to induce him to
pass the lenient sentence, which he now much re-
gretted. Your memorialists having entered en this
prosecution (at all times an unpleasant task), and
having refused It sign any petition in Watt's favour, know-
ing there was no palliating circumstance to sanction such
an interference, feel assured that your Honourable Court
must agree with them, the sentence of the Recorder has
not been properly obtained, and indeed may fairly,,he con-
sidered as a reflection upon the prosecutors; and they
trust that the Court, roneidering the extent to which de-
predation is well known to be carried on against the trade
of London, and the difficulty of conviction, will be of
opinion that some inqu'ry into the circumstances of this
case is neceseary; and that the Recorder shall he requested
to state the reasons of his decision, and also the high
authority of the recommendation to which he has referred.
Your feet-nod:diets will lie ready to afford any further in-
formatien or explanation which Your Honourable Court
may require.
(Signed)

" THOMAS CONWAY.
"JOHN PHELPS.
" JOSEPH RAM'S.

" Maiden-lane."

" THOMAS HAYWARD,.

Several Members of the Court expressed an opi-
nion, that under the circumstances represented, it
would have been proper in the Recorder to have
communicated with the Alderman who committed,
before a sentence of a nature so disproportionate to
the offence was passed. The Court, however, was
obliged to content itself with expressing► a disappro-
bation of the sentence. It could not call upon the
Judge to vindicate himself, or state the grounds
upon which he 'sentenced to be fined a shilling and
discharged a person who had been guilty of robbing
his employers, and had pleaded guilty in two in-
dietmeats of that serious nature.

The RECORDER said, that he had been led by the
statements made to him relative to the former cha-
racter of the prisoner, and the assurance that he
should be taken into immediate employment, to in-
flict the nominal punishment. He regretted that
there had been occasion to complain, but he con-
sidered at the time that he was doing what would
prove most advantageous to the prisoner, without
subjecting the public to injury.
Some of the members of the court thought that
the public were likely to sustain serious injury from
the setting at liberty a man who had been guilty of
several depredations upon his employers.
The subject dropped here.
Alderman VENABLES, after making some pointed
observations upon the manner in which the sen-
tences upon the prisoners at the Old Bailey were ar-
ranged and passed, gave notice of a motion, that the
Clerk of the Peace, the Clerk of the Arraigns, and ,
the Court, should be furnished with sentence papers,
so that confusion and mistakes, which
.were con-
stantly occurring to the disgrace of the Court, might
be effectually prevented.

CUTTING OF SILK RENEWED IN

BETHNAL-GREEN.

At the Worship-street office, yesterday, John
Harrison, a silk-weaver, residing at 35, Wilmot-
street, .Bethual-green-road, with his wife, were
brought before -Mr. TWYFORD, the Magistrate,
charged with having feloniously cut from a loom in
their possession a piece of silk entrusted to them
for manufacture by their employer, Mr. T. Cole, of
Duke-street, Spitaltields.
William A ttfield, an officer, said that he took the
prisoners into custody, and brought them to the
office. He did not lock them up, and by order of
the chief officer he went to the house of Mr. Cole,
and from thence to the residence of the prisoners.
In the mean time the female prisoner effected her
escape from the office, and got to her residence be-
fore he could reach it. What object she had in
view, or what instructions she there gave, he could
not tell. It was, however, but an act of justice to
say, that she voluntarily returned to the office.
After the defence had been heard,
The Magistrate observed, that there was no case
of felony whatever established against the prisoners,
and for the present they must be discharged, which
they were accordingly.