The Sun.
London, England, 1818-03-17 00:00:00

He was acquitted on the capital indictment,
not on the ground of the prosecutor 'having acted
illegally, but for want of proof of the pistol hav-
ing been loaded with shot, or any hard substance,
and consequently being loaded with gunpowder
only, the case did not embrace the me,:ningof
Lord,Ellenburough's Act, or the Black Act, and
this, added to the warrant not being produced, On
the trial, induced the Judge very properly to di-
rect an acquittal. But not a word was then
proved as to the prosecutor acting illegally. As
the case, s now reported, it seems that the de-
fendant was acquitted at Cambridge on the in-
dictment for the common assault, because it ap-
peared to the Court at Ely, that the prosecutor's
act was unlawful, which is altogether a misrepre-
sentation. As the Editor has chosen to state,
that the prosecutor's act was illegal,: it would on-
ly have been proper to have communicated to the
Public on what ground he acted illegally.
The Learned Judge, it is true, appeared at first
to scruple the legality of breaking the outer dom
of the.Hoase An which • defendant was arrested,
but his, doubts were obviated, on reference to the
law,
,ansfevery:lawyer must allow him to be a
correct expounder .of the laws. The defendant
was arrested in a• stranger's house.. Are we not
informed by our laws; " That although every
man's house is his castle, a person cannot take'
the benefit of sanctuary in a stranger's house,
particularly after an Officer glies"iltie notice of his
business, and dent ands admission, and is refused ?"
And does not the law-further teach us, " That
after such -refusal, Abe- sheriff or his officers may.
break open the house, end execute the, process
without any danger of law.?" Admitting that
defendant was a lodger in the house (which was
certainly not the case), the outer,. door, of his
apartment, which would then be considered as his
castle, etas not broken, but the outer door of the
stranger's house, and his OWI9 private apartment
(if he hadany).was then peaceably entered. De-
fendant was secreted behind a sliding partition in
one of the rooms, and the prosecutor and his as-
sistants having forced open the slide (as they were
justified in doing)', he was ihitnediately arrested.,
and discharged the pistol, giving unto the prose-
cutor a wound in the side, and bustling his clothes
entirely through. Upon the prosecutor discover-
ing his wound not to be fatal, he immediately
read his warrant over to the defendant.
The -great and-learned Judge, 'Sir Matthew
Hale, tells ns, " That a_ bailiff or officer, jams et
conus, may arrest a man without shewinu his war-
rant, and a private bailiff need not sheen his war-
rant on the arrest, till the Party arrested demand
it ; and therefore, if the party'arrested kill a man
upon the arrest,-Withoutsuch a warrant shewn, it is
murder," That the slide of this. partition should
be considered as the outer door of his apartment,
and that stick partition should (if he was a lodger)
be his domicile or ordinary residence, is too futile
to need explanation.: Will any lawyer state the
aforegoiag acts to be illegal ? If so, to quote
the authority of an eminent Judge* stow no more,
" The rule that every man's house is his castle,
when applied- to the case of arrests upon legal
process, bath been carried as far as the true prin-
ciples of political justice will warrant; perhaps
beyond what in the scale of sound reason and good
policy they will warrant."
Upon cross-examination by-Mr. Storks (whose
abilities are well known on such occasions), the
prosecutor certainly did not give his evidence .so
perspicuously as he might have done, 'ind:the
Court having considered &ohs such evidence that
defendant. was a lodger,. and having discovered he
had beau before tried capitally and, acquitted, the
Learned Judge directed the Jury to acquit him on
the indictment for the assault, adding that he had
been punished for the offence; but:that .the prose-
cution was a very proper one. I have been longer
on this case than I intended to have been ; but the
doctrine I have advanced is consistent with trial.
and the known rules of law upon which all civic
government is founded and must subsist. I con.
gratulate the defendant on his acquittal; but it
must not be attributed to the illegality of the pro-
secutor's acts, but to the lenity of the Learned
Judge (Sir Robert Dallas) before whom he' was
tried, and who (to his honour and integrity) le
the defendant have the advantage of such doubts
I am, Sir, your's &c.
March, Cambridge, March 14, IsIJURIS-CONSULTUS.
a. ,

* Judge FOSTER.

In a late debating conversation, a Gentleman
was vindicating a change of sentiment. Oh, said
be, I like alterations, and indeed if I did not, I
should not esteem so highly " ROWLAND'S Es-
sence of Tyre"-r-which, l do not blush to say,
has changed my grey hairs to black.—What
is that name ? (exclaimed another Gentleman)—
is it Rowland ?—Why, I can astonish you more
by telling you, that this quantity of hair (taking
off his bat) was produced on nearly a bald head,
by his Macassar Oil.

FOR THE SUN.
MR. EDITOR,--The projected Expedition to•
wards the North Pole is now an object, of such
interest with the Public in general, that I trust
you will find a corner for a short hint connected
. .
in some measure with its ultimate streesa: espe.
cially as
.the point in question will thereby be.
come more generally •.known to the scientific
world than if the communication were exclusively
made to the Board of Longitude.
In the very interesting article in a late Quar-
terly Review, so frequently alluded to by the
daily Press, it has been juirly, observed, that on a
near approach to the Pole the compass will be•
comenselessi—tbat the stars, being invisible, cm
afford no astronomical data,—and that time will
be the only guide to ascertain the pr,,je.tiOn of
the meridians from the Pole; hie it is at the same
..inte.specified, that the probable haziness of the
torizon, and the equability of altitude of the sun,
during his daily revolution, will render ail solar
observations for apparent time totally impracti-
cable, so that chronometers set to Greenwich
time will be the only guide for our modern aro-
nauts. But, Sir, even with the most accurate
chronometers, a fatal error may take place—one
which, Igrant, is not, very likely to happen—but,
as the old Logicians,correctly assert, that what-
ever is in Posse, is.also in ,Ess.e, or that whatever
can happen may happen, one which, certainly
ought to be.guarded against. To.explain this as
briefly, as possible, let us consider that the ships
will leave the river with
_chronometers set to
Greenwich time, and that they will keep so-near
to the Greenwich meridian in their progress to-
wards the Pole, that the time both at Greenwich
and on board the ships will always agree within a
fewminutes; for the difference of real, mean, and
apparent time, will not materially affect the pro.
blem. Of course the hour of twelve on the chro.
nometer will eithetpOint to noon or midnight on
'board the the one case the sun will be
_seen on the meridian, between the ship and. Green.
wich, and in the other case, he will be below the
horizon, and on the opposite meridian... But as
they approach the arctic circle, the sun will never
set,.and the meridian of Greenwich will be point.
ed out by his highest altitude. On a closer ap-
proach to the Pole, however, the sun will make
his daily revolution at such, an equal height from
the horizon, .;hat he will no longer act. of him-
self, as a guide to the meridians, and it will only
be by a reference to, the chronometers that noon
and midnight, or the meridian of Greenwich and
its opposite, can be distinguished from each
other.

But let us suppose that the ships arrive at the
Pole, and that by any fatal accident, for such
may occur, the relative value of the twelve on the
dial-plate, as regards noon ur midnight at Green•
wich, shall be lost lam aware that on board a
man olwar, with scientific and careful officers,
the Logboard and Logbook will be so duly kept
as to regulate this important point ; yet, on a
voyage to unknown regions, and under circum-
stances which cannot be foreseen, such an error
may arise, the consequence of which might be
that the ships would return on the Greenwich me.
ridian, instead of pursuing the opposite one, and
would be unable to ascertain the mistake until
the season should be too far advanced for a second
attempt. To guard against the possibility, of such
an error, I propose-that one or two good chrono.
meters shall be sent out, whose hands shall
rn4,ke but one revolution, instead of two, in the
tour-and-twenty hours, the dial-plates being also
marked from 1 to 24: Such a chronometer, either
set to astronomical and nautical time from noon
to -noon, or 4o _common time from' midnight to
midnight, will always point out the precise noon
or midnight at Greenwich, and thereby, provided
-there is no haze and- the place of the sun can be
ascertained, will always point out the Greenwich
meridian and its opposite of ISocleg. Longitude, by
12 and 24 whilst 6- and 18 will point out 90 deg.
East or `Vest; the 'intermediate hours ascertain-
ing -with equal correctness the intermediate me.
ridians by the apparent place of the sun, without
any necessity of dependance upon the Lol:board.
When they have passed the Pole, the direction 11
which they have passed it being ascertained by
this new chronometer, it will he no longer speci-
fically necessary for their guidance, turless indeed
that they shall be forced -to return by the route
already passed, when the approach to the Pole
will render it a second time a most useful adjunct
to their astronomical apparatus.
A reference to the hour circle fixed in the North
Pole of a Terrestrial Globe will illustrate this
problem in the-gimplest manner ; and I have only
to add, without a pun, that should your Sox tend
to correct the errors of its namesake, for errors
will arise in spite of your motto, it will be a high
gratification to your Old Correspohdeut,
IGNOTUS.