The Sun.
London, England, 1818-03-31 00:00:00

LONDON SESSIONS.

Yesterday the General Sessions of the Peace for
the City of London were holden.at Guildhall, and
the Grand Jury were sworn in.

ASSAULT AND FALSE IMPRISONIVIENT.—Richard
Coates and John Collins were indicted for assault,
rug john. Taplin, acid detaining him in custody
against his %%ill. The following circumstances
were proved in evidence. The prosecutor is a
respectable coal merchant at Drayton, and on
the 19th of January last was in attendance at
the Old Bliley, to prosecute two persons for
felony. While waiting in the a%-..atte to the
Court, the defewlants, who are constables of
Marylebone parish, accompanied by a brother-
in.law of .one of the men about to be tried,
came up to him, and Collins addressing him said.
" We want you, you are charged with receiving
stolen hay." - On inquiring afterwards, the charge
which they had trumped up against • the Prosecutor
was found to be totally void of foundation, no
such insinuation_having ever been thrown out by
any individual.
The RECORDER having summed up the evidence,
the Jury, without the slightest hesitation, found
both the defendants Guilty.
They were severely reprimanded by the Court,
and.st.ntence3 each to pity a fine .1 51., and to be
imprisoned until such fine he paid.

, POLICE INTELLIGENCE.

BOW- STE EET. —Yes t v Gala Walter Marri-
ton was brnught to this Office, charged (vitt' vio-
lently assaulting. and wounding. Martin Lynn, a
seaman, on the high seas ; and some extraurdi-
nary cirettmstancrs wcre connected with it.

• It appeared that, in the year 1813, ti,e ship rice'
Atlas, of Whitby, was hired by the Agents of
Government to carry convicts under sentence of
trar,postation to Botany Bay. At the Isegiotting
of the month of December, supposed to be the Ist
or 2d, she cleared out ft on) Gracesenrl with con-
victs on board for Botany Bay, where the Atlas
arrived safe in the- month of July ; the
convicts were landed, &c. The Atlas remained at
Botany Bay till the month of September, when it
left, the prisoner taking away with, hint on board
his ship tour women and two men convicts, who
were secreted until the ship had completely got to
sea. When the Atlas reached Batavia, the pri-t_
sorer took one of the female core ,•iets, who was a
young girl, on shore with hint. The three other fe-
male and two male convicts were allowed to go on
shore at Batavia, and did not return to the ship. They
remained at anchor some time at Batavia, to take in
freight, and while theyswere thus stationed, one
night, which he had every reason to believe was a
Saturday night, but he could not tell the day of the
month, between ten and eleven o'clock, the pro-
secutor was prabtising a song which he had learnt
at Botany Bay, when Mr. Mackey, the mate of
the ship, ordered him to go below he excused
himself from going by telling the mate it was his
watch. The mate then left hint, and in a short
time after the prisoner came to him with great
speed, and seized hint violently by. the throat with
both his hands, anti held him so !tight and so long
that he was nearly choked ; and after he let go
his hold of his throat,-he ordered the prosecutor
to leave the ship and get into the boat,. for the
purpose of being put on board one of the East
India cruizers : the prosecutor refused to comply
;
but the prisoner ordered thc- boat to be manned,
and to he in readiness to leave the shie. 'fie
prosecutor continued to refuse to go, unless his
wages were first paid, and he had time to pack up
his clothes, and-take-them with- him. The pri-
soner then armed himself with a pair of pistols
and a cutlass, and presented one of the pistois at
the prosecutor, who still refused to leave the
ship, except on being paid his wages, and being
allowed time to take his clothes with him ; the
prisoner then aimed a blow at his head with the
cutlass; which cut open the right side of his head
just above his ear, which caused him to bleed
profusely ; and being am: %rounded, he was
obliged to comply with the orders of the prisoner,
and get into the boat without either money
clothes, and with nothing on halt a jacket and
trowsers, being without shoes or a hat. The pri-
soner proceeded with him its the boat to-the East
India Company's cruiser, anti when the prose-
cutor got Ott board the cruiser, the gonner of that
ship put hint in irons, at the desire of the pri-
soner ; be was only allowed to be on the quarter-
deck, where he was kept all night, without any
covering, except the- clothes he had on when lie
left the Atlas. The weight and coldness of the
irons remaining on his legs such a length of time,
he was completely disabled. The prosecutor
sailed in. the East India Company's cruiser to Cal-
cutta, where the prisoner was with his ship,—
When the prosecutor arrived at Calcutta, he found
there was a new master, Captain Mountcarr, with
the shin.; and the people on board said, the old
master had left the ship at Angero P-Stint, and had
gone home in another ship, and that: the mate
had returned back with the ship to Batavia,
where the new Captain, Mouutcatr, took posses-
sion of her.

Sir N. COgANT, the Sitting Magistrate before
whom the charge was investigated, was doubtful
whether there was any existing power to autho-
rize coercion. He was confident there was none,
except it Was under some special Act of Parlia-
ment, from which alone it could be derived.

The prisoner and his solicitor urged that there
was no (kills of the power to use coercion in cases
of mutiny.

The Magistrate denied that any thing like mu-
tiny had been proved.
'1 he prisoner was ordered to find bail to answer
the charge at the next Admiralty Sessions.
The prosecutor's statement was confirmed by a
sailor who was one of the crew of the Atlas at the
time, and rowed the prosecutor on board the
cruiser by, order of the prisoner; but on account
of the darkness of the night he could not see if the
prisoner was armed, and he was not allowed to go
on board the cruiser.

A contradictory statement was made as to the
fate of the Atlas ; the prosecutor and his witness
said she wds 'kit, and the prisoner and his solicitor
deified it, and said she was within tiate yet.