The Sun.
London, England, 1818-06-23 00:00:00

SAINT DOMINGO.

The following is. an Extract of a Private Let-
ter from Jamaica, containing some intetesting in-.
formation with regard to the actual state of af-
fairs in St. Domingo :
" On the death of Petion, Sir Home Popham
,dispatched a 11:411 of war to Port-an• Prince to
assist the merci.ants, who had nearly a million
and a halt of property in their ports. The new
President scut one of his Aides-oe-Camp to Sir

Home, announcing election, with all sorts of
attachment to the English interests and the no-
rm'. 00 thiS mission the Einglidi merchants at
port-au. Prince, Jagnemel, and Aux Cayes were
in a stare of suspense scarcely tr, be described, for
it Sir Home Popham had treated the Aide-de-
Camp harshly, they would all have been ordered
to quit the country. On the contrary, Sir Home
was very civil to him 3 Tor returned highly grati-
fied, and the President deelmes that he will do
any thing for the British merchants., Lie baths
the idea that lie holds out an asylum for our
ilayes ;- he never wishes to see one of them. Ills
great offers asked after Mr. Wilbetforce. . Lle
nidired all his ports to be shut avarnst any
armed schooures under Independent lUgs, for
tear they should be pirates, aiid that he might
thereby offend the English ; and the very large
hoigs, he even examines their papers with the
greatest acuteness. captain Pidicnt's, uceount is
Innst vontabie.; the Lugltsh merchants enjoy his
fullest '1)1 oteetion.

" It was reported that Christopheintended to at-
tack the new Preodent ; they both teere exa-
mining their outposts. Preparations were making
At Gonaives, fur Christophe, who really travels in
preat pomp. suite, including the Royal
1' only, &c. consisted of 5000 persons ;

Cie best houses in the town ‘vere marked for tine

1\ iI i'tets of State, and so match afraid were they
this a,rhitray monster, that every wart, wornatl,
the neiehhotarhood were putt in regtii-
b:.aota to catty stone to !mild stables for him,
" JA,; hetore lie lift Cape Henry, it is said that
1 mined the Hornet American sloop of war natt
port, ha catkse she brwight two 6enaletnen
(~,tinnterci;ll a,;ents front A nierio,t, whose let-

t, iu ut clrd lice were directed to " Oct:vial
io io,ttniti of the " Ring of Hayti."
icy were expccted to proceed to Pori.ao-h iiiiee.
trio di!' this, not thought ti
6. Lick % Liu 1143 the full ,coutitfeut tat Li)

;„ wy.

LAW IN7 ItAAGENCE.

COURT OF KING'S BENCH, Ju 22.

LIBEL.
• .YOLLANt) V. CLV7sIRT..

This was an action against the defendant, as
Proprietor rtf " The Obs4eriiir," Sunday News-
paper, for printing and publishin;; on Sunday, tare
`7th of -April, 1817, to Libel of and Concerning
the plaintiff, purporting to •be an account of the
proceedings of the Insolvent Debtors' Court, in a
case wherein the plaintiff, as atewatd of the Earl
of Morley, appeared to oppose the discharge of
man, nan►ed Carswell, an insolvent debtor, who
had beets charged in.execution at the suit of the
Noble Lord for tent due to him for a tarot, of
which Carswell had. been tenant. The defendant
pleaded, Ist, not guilty, and 2dly, that the pub-
lication in ApleStioll VVIS a fair aid COI Feet atcouot
of what took place Ott the occasion.
Mr. SC4RLETT stated the case to tf►e Jury, and
recapitulated the circumstances which gave rise to
the proceedings in the Insolveut Debtors' Court,
the Report of , which formed the subject...ol'llre
Libel. The insolvent, Carswell, had .heen
nant to Lord Morley of a tarn►, and basijug .be-
come indebted fur rent, the plaintiff, as the Noble
Lord's steward, distrained upou the tenant's
farming utensils and other property, which were
found it►suflicient to pay the amount of the distress.,
in consequence of his. having (as was alleged)
cow rivcd to remove away some of the propel-Iy,
so as to deteat the process. Some time after this,
Cut swell was arrested, and having given notice of
itoet►tion of taking the beinefit of the Insolvent
Debtors' Act, at the DevOnshireQoarter Sessions,
the plaintiff appeared at those Sessions, to oppose
his discharge, and after the case had been fully
heard, the Sessions remanded Carswell, on the
ground of fraud and concealment of his effects.—
Atter being remanded be got bail, and ca►ue up to
London, and was Oleo lodged in the King's Bet►cb
Prison, and at the expiration of three mouths he
gave the usoal notice of his intention of taking the
benefit of the Act before Mr. Serjeant Running-
ton ; on that occasion the plaintiff appeared again
to oppose his discharge, on the ground of
,hiS
former remand by the Quarter Sessions.
Counsel for Lord Morley was Mr. Bassett, ,and
Mr. Heath .appeai.ed for the insolvent. On tl►e
following Smoky a statement appeared in the de-
fendant's paper, which purported to bean account
of the proceedings before Mr. Serjeant Ronoitig-
ton, but which was alleged to be an inaccurate
ac-
count of what really passed. The publication in
question wholly omitted what appeared favourable
to the-plaintiff ; it exaggerated .vf►at was proved,
anti stated what never had appeared in evidence,
or had been uttered by the Counsel in the case.—
It was contended that the character of the plaintiff
was implicated. in this publication, inasmuch as it
teudtd to sbew that he had acted with the grossest
oppression and cruelty towards the insolvent. The
principal inaccuracies relied upon were state-
ments professed to have been matte by Mr. Heath,
who acted as Counsel for the insolvent.

Atter the formal proms were gone through of
the introductory matter of the decimation,

Air. Boyce and Mr. Hughes, who teere pro-
fessionally employed it-1 the opposition of the in-
solvent, proved that the, publictitiou in question
was not an accurate account of the proceeolnigs of
the Insolvent Debtors' Court in the case iu (pies-
tion, and they pointed out the particulars in which
it teas a dCpalitire from accuracy.
Mr. GuRNEY, for the defendant, addressed the
Jury at considerable length, and slated that he
should be able to prove that the publication in
question was not only in substance, but to the
very letter, cot feet in every particular.
Edintiods, a persou occasionally employed by
the defendant, stated, that he had reported the case,
in question, and it was in substance correct. He
swote to the accuracy of ihr particular passages
objected to on the part of the 'plaintiff. • On his
"""s-vNKl4Onatiour however, he admitted that he
had seen Air. Heath's brief in Court, but he de-
Hied that he bad taken it home with him. He bad
read the brief in Court atter tl+e ca..e was over.—
He denied tirro he had said to Mr. Bassett that he
should give the plaintiff a tritutnitigon his account
of the proceedings.
Mr. Samuel Emery, an agent practising in the
Insolveot Dentots' Court, depos-ed to the accu-
racy of the report ia question, but on Iris cross-
examination he stated, th-at he had handed Air.
Heath's brief to ftlr. Edmunds, and did not re-
ceive it hack again from hint for a week. •
kir. Bassett, the barrister, being called, stated,
that ht certainly did not consider the•statemeto in
question as a taillawl report of the proceedings
before the losolveilt Court, and pointed out seve-
ral particulars in which it teas inaccurate , the re-
port had wholly clouted the examination in chief
of the Insolvent, and ascribed oh.ervations to
Mr. Heath which had not been uttered by that
"Wattled Counsel.

Mr. SCARLETT was heard in reply, and contend-
ed that the case proved on the part of the defeod-
ant was an aggiavation instead of a mitigation
of the injuries of which the plaintiff bad tup,m-
plain.
Lord ELLENBOROUGH charged the Jury, that
the justification attempted to be 1114C.0 91q had
fallen under the defendant, It was not sufficient
to show that the report was substantially correct;
it must be shewn that it was correct to the very
letter. Theplaintiff was clearly entitled to a ver-
dict, but it was for them to say what te:isonable
recompeose the plaintiff was entitled to under all
the circumstances of the case.

he Jury, af►er about five minutes considera-
tion, found a verdict for the I,laiutiff—da►uages
1001.

BANK OF ENGLAND.

BROOK V. WARWICK.

This was a case of the utmost importance to
the public, as it respects the power assumed by
the Bank of England of impounding Bank Notes
supposed to be forgeries. It was an actiou 'by a
tespeetable pawnbroker, residing in Holborn,
against the defendant, an Inspector of Bank Notes
to the Bank of England, for falsely, maliciously,
and
.t%itbont arty- reasonable or probable cause,
chatging the plait.titl- with feicniipusly ltdv 14 in
pubsu3siuu a ctztaiu and forged Bank of

England Note for the payment of one pound,
whereby the plaiutil was imprisoned for the space
of 24 hoot's.

1 lie case of the plaintiff was conducted by Mr.
CARL.N.TT, Mr, BRODERICK, And Mr. CHITTY.

The case opened on the part of-the plaintiff was
this :—On the 28'h of December, 1816, the de-
fendant came to the plaintiff's shop, rod produced
a tinged Bank Note, and asked him if be knew
any thing,- of it ? The plaintiff immediately recog-
nized it as one which he bad received - in the
course of his bnsine.s.from a person named Gan-
bold, had passed away to a Mrs. Ball. He
gave every information in his power apon the sub-
ject, and offered to go with the defendant to the
qffetent persons through whose hands it had
passed. . T lie defendant accompanied hint to Mrs.
Bull, to Mtom the plaintiff gave another note in
lien, and she also gave every information upon the
subject ; and (you their return to the plaintiff's
shop, -the defendant insisted upon the former giv-
Mg up the note, but he peremptorily refused, say-
ing, that lie Should keep it for the purpose of
tracing it. The defendant theta said, that if the
note was not delivered up, he should- apply to a
Magistrate and charge with a felony ; but
the plaintiff still persisted in keeping possession of
the note.—The defendant went away, and in the
course of the evening the plaintiff received a sum-
mons to appear before Mr. Baker, the Magistrate
of -ILAtton Garden Office, the next morning, to
answer to a charge of felony. Next morning he
accordingly appeared, and upon the investigation
of the case, be was conttnittted by the Magistrate
to Clerkenwell prison On a charge of felony; but
the next day was liberated, the plaintiff.-conseot-
ing to leave the note its Mr. Baker's hands, to be
forthcoming when called tor, The Magistrate
had offered to admit the plaintiff to bail, but he
peremptbrily refused to Colnpromise the matte: in
that way, and insisted upon going to prison, if
the Magistrate thought his duty called upon huts
to proceed to that extremity. No proceedings
.were afterwards taken against the' plaintiff, and
the present action was brought by him to recover
damages lot. false imprisonment.
On the opening of the case, Lord ELLEN-
uottcmGH intimated a clear opinion that the de-
fendant had acted erroneously, and strongly re-
commended that the plaintiff should have a ver-
dict with nominal damages, in order to avoid a
discussion,- which might be attended with un-
pleasant consequences to the Bank of England.
Mr. SCARLETT expressed his readiness to ac-
quiesce in this suggestion, but
Mr. ToPPING, with whom were Mr. Gurney
and Mr. Setjeaut Bosampiet, expressed his deter-
mination to go through wish the case, stating,
that the whole of the facts were not disclosed.

The cause then proceeded, but the facts were
in no degtee varied by the evidence called. 'l.he
witnesses examined were, John Bennett, the plaits
tiff's shoptuan ; Mrs. Bull, one of the persons
through whose, bands the note bad passed, and
Robert Baker, Esq. the Magistrate.
Lord ELLENBONoUGH, in the course of the
cause, repeatetEy intimated his opinion that there
was no pretence for the conduct observed towards
the plaintiff. His Lordship on one occasion said,
" The sole question seems here to be, whether
we are to assert the -rights and liberties of
the people. rather than that a clerk of the
Bank should be found to be in the wrong." On
another occasion, his Lordship said, "1 think-the
commitment in this case is unfounded in law, and
the man wlt) urges a commitment under the cir-
cumstances of this case is crassa ignorentia, and
that .is

Bolt of these observations produced involun-
tary bursts of applause from the spectaiors.
Beeby, assistant gaoler at Clerkenwell
Prison, pr►►ved that the plaintiff was confined in
that prison troru fi-e o'clock in the afternoon of
one day until One o'clock the next day.
Mr. ToPPING went to the Jury with consider-
able ability, upon the question, whether thine was
any pretence fur saying that the defendant had in
this case acted n►aliciously- and without any pro-
bable cause ?_ Fie fultchided, that as the defend-
alit had acted upon the advice of the Magistrate,
he was not answerable for the consequences.
Lord ELLE N 110 HouGn censured, very Strongly,
the proceedings which had beet► instituted ar•;aiust
the plaintiff, who, he ►observed, was clearly en-
titled to a verdict, lie, how ever, warned tl►e
Jury against giving vindictive ►latnages:
The Jury immediately returned a verdict for the
pljutitf---,diatuages 501.
The verdict was received with great satisfaction
by a very crowde4 Court.

VICE-CHANCELLOR'S COURT.

PLATASIONL V. STAPLE, ESQ.

Mr. Roe PELL, for the plaintiffs, stated that this
Cause was illSl kill CA by the Count and Coonteis
of St. Antonio to prevent the defendant from
pinceeding at law for the recovery of • the arrears •
of a rent charge granted to him by the late George
3ohtts'oue, Esq• An injunction had been ob-
tained on the ground that I& deed had been ex-
ecnted solely with a view to qualify the.defendant
for a seat in Parliament, but front circumstances,
which had since transpired it was clear the plain-
tiff had acted under an erroneous impression in ie-
sistiug this claim. In his answer the defendant
had stated.that it had not only been executed with'
a ‘iei.v to a qualification, but that it was likewise
intended as a mark of friendship, and-that tie was
requested to ciaini payMent .tinder it. Circum-
stances had since transpired which at the time
were unknown to the plaintiffs or their agents,
and which, highly to the honour of the defend-
ant, unquestionably proved the truth of that•which
he had asserted. •it now only remained for hnn
to move, that the Bill be. dismissed, each party
paying their own costs.
Sir A. I'IGGOT, for the defendant, stared, that
from Inc handsome manner in which the plain-
tiffs had admitted the just and equitable claiht of-,
'the defendant, he should not press for costs in the
suit, which the defendant would otherwise be un-
doubtedly entitled to.

SINGULAR COINCIDENCR.-Last week the Post
Masters Ge-neral of England, Ireland, and Scot-
land, in the persons of the 111Iapis of SAtts-
BURY, the Earl O'Natt., and the Earl of CAITH.;
NsSs Wet together accidouolly a. Cl.4.lLciiiiiAL4 bpi+.