The Sun.
London, England, 1816-12-07 00:00:00

COCRT OF itiNG'S

Middle Ber Sittingst aft r Alichnebnos 'lam; blfore
Lord Ellentdorough rewi Npetiqi
KING ty, WM. C,ol;', .',tits Vie-01.CATITER.
anldietnit'lli 10.1tIreil by' 1.111 Lou
compsay, *against the defeliaitßyst
:their
scryrlnts---the .otie a lriarction,c-Leeper and the
other a lubottrer, for a c!!ityir,imy iti lit fratlll tike
Clllllli tlOtig it,.ftke w.right, io,respvrt
pf
crasiiol sir oiiiorteil, tor vt:iiit:lt a bounty wits
miluwed by tioveinnicti; to- pkic expottivg,plcr-

chant.
~ase opettrikby•the ATTORNRY4iIiNERM.
fitt t; ~Io3kctitlon, was, hi t;ifixt aa
_ •

Act of ivarliaritent, passed during the ivite ;Tear,
Government allowed a bounty to merchants ex-'
porting wirat is calle t crashed, or temp sugar.
powdered ; and in order to obtain the allowance
of bounty, the course of business was for
the exporting merchant t 6 send 'his sugar,
in the casks, to a deposit warehoose belonging to the London Dock Company, where
the ..sugar being taken out, the cask was weieh-
ed in order to -ascertain the tare ; which being
esceriained, the sugar was replaced, and the whole,
being again weighed, the bounty was allowedlw
respect of the net weight, deducting he weight
of the cask. In weighing these. casks, the de-,
fondants, whose duty it was to superintend the •
operation, were alleged cleodestinely to have put
into the opposite scale a weight called the Llack
pigeon, apparently of no. more then 54 ponmds
gravity, hut which, in tact, weighed 5t pounds,
by the fraudulent contrivance of inserting, into a
cavity of the weight two .pounds of. lead )thereby
colouring the transaction so its to enable them,
by representing the cask to Weight mute than it
did, to obtain an allowance of the 21h. in the net
weight of the sugar, and appropriating the sub-
traction to eheir own account, us a perquisite.
This contrivance was stated to have been. carried
to a very-considerable extent,
BOLLAND appeared as Counsel on the other
side, and the defence suggested was,..--thut the tle-
lendants had acted in the way alleged, without any
fraudulent ititentiou, fur their own benefit. It
was, admitted by the only witoess examined Ott the
part of the prosecution, tha: it very frequently
happened • the colts were wet when they came to
be-weighed, nod consequently, when in thaecomli-
, tion. their epecioc wavily was more than in justice.
ought to be allowed, for the benefit of the iner-
chant, whose bounty was regulated Ity.the actual
weight of-the sugar. To obviate this itkiustice, the
defendants had of their own mere motion, in .con-
sequence of repeated rentonstraoces front the titer-
clients to the Pock Company,* resorted to the use •
of the weight in question, to.correct thelnequaliiy
of the weight, tin; without intending to appro.
prima the, tlifference.to their owo porposets, •
Lord ELLLOI4IOIIOVGII wirs-mt opinion, that even
supposiug the defendants had derived no personal
advantage to themselves from- this courrivauce,
still they had acted illegally—for they had no
right. privately to• redress .* wrong by a public
crime, However, his I.,orriship suggested the
propriety of taking H .verdict .of guilty piton the
4th count of the il)diCtlnetlti..WhiCll Was a
fraud, and not for a coospireey, . leering it oven'
to the defendants to urge such matter in mitiga-
tion of the sentence when brooght
as might appear to discharge them_ of the intim.
tatiou of personal advantage.
Accordingly, epon tire 4th count the defendants
were !Quad Guilty. • • •

THE. KIND V. Tire" atty. JOSHUA KING AND OTHERS
This was an indictment against the Rector, o
the parish of Bethnal-green, J. ,Wilsou, J. Hoy
dell, god W. H. -I)rewitti three of his, parishion
ere, for publishing two 'libels of and concern
ingloseph Merceroo, El. a. Magistrate of the
Eastern Division of the county of Middlesex, and
many yeart,trettsurer of the parish iu queition.
The ArroaNav-Gettaaal. Shoed- the case lot the
prosecution. lie repteeentedhis client as It Gen-
tleman nilo) had been for Many years in the cam-
mission of the prate, during' which Line he butt
also filled in his.pavish many•important offices of
trust, to-which he had: been.succesi4vely elected
by the voices of his fellow_ parishioners, whose
approbation of his condnot must • be eonclosise,
'tom his continuance for many years in the ,
irn-
portant sitoation of treasurer of the parish, • The
libels' irt,question had been published in a place,
the most improper for the indolgetica of any
other feelings- than those- whiCh the mild 'lac-
reines'•- of thristianil y inspired- and dictated,
namely, in a place of divine worship. Un-
doubtedly the xritih 01•11etlinal.greert had been
long agitated' by, patty 'hostility upon parish
affairs, which:, bowever, he (the Attorney-
General) had 'totemic to introdnee on the present
occasion. His duty ",vas confined to that of an
advocate in the oeuse•of that justice which' the
prosecutor sought by the verdict of
Libels in question, which were tad its number,
had been' published in the church is the defendant
who, ootwo differenr•Sundays', &livered them to
the per4on officiating airclerk, to be read to' the
-congregetion, having previously stated to the
clerk in the robing roeut of the church', that he
had been requested by %note of his parishioners
from whom they had been received, to caast Otto:
to. he react in church as matters of public notice
.tor the benefit of the parish. The Learned At-
torney having commented upon' the' tendency of
the publication., concluded by sayhig, that the
sore Object of his client vitas the vindication of his
character, which had been sO improperly attacked
by the publications in question.
The first Uhel,,which was signed by the defen-
dants Wilsou, Boydell, and Drewitt, and about
•
twenty. other parishioners, was to the following
effect
o We the undersigned, rosvernrfili isriti Vestry-MOO of the
Pitri?li of St. Matthew, Ileilinal!grecn, protesting ugitinst the
illegal and arftkirstry procewliv al. the Vestries held in the
:VefArY-roinri of the said Parish, oar Monday the 150, Toes-
tay the it" mai .W4dausitay the ittit days of April last, do
require*Vestry to, he Failed for Thursday the lath
May,inst. itt the Vestry-fie-on at six o'clock in the evening
precisely; for the purpose id taking into cousliteration the
proceedings ni the stool Vestries, and the 3rbitritry 41rerbeAr-
IV-01'10'4 Of Joseph Mereeron, Esq. us well at those Ves-
trie, alts upon all 'other such oecasioni, and tit thicitie U pp!'
the propriety of snaking an-application to the Court Mule.*
lietielt fur a NI antlaustisolirecting the Vestry-inen of the Parish
to elect *Treasurer and other proper Officers fur the present
year (the Election on Easter Monday being illegal, litiving
ta't.eo place before the time appointed for the Vestry-
own to meet for that purpose.): And also to. take into
piusideration the conduct of -the Mereeron,
in withhetding ^t pytiptr supply of Money to the Oyer-
seers ea the sold Parish to enable theta to relieve tile Poor,
or thereby. enropelling the said Overseers to either advance
oteu. priyaie money for that purpose, ,or suffer the
Poitr.4i -gp,noreliered, whilst the said :Joseph Merceron,
Ttlinsitier,' holds very large balances in his hands an-
applied to this and other purpiists intended. And further to
taiii; into consideration the nei:4,,,,itor or .4 Were minute Audit
Host investigetinn of the Accounts of the said 414Sepit Mer-
rem; so Trestsitrer, itt order to prevent his s'o
lasge halitnees,,whila the DehtS.thie trout the refl.-
moist unsatisfied. And to deciffe the
,propriet,( sif Print,
ing,likica,t, annually, tin ilatiout 'omit tiro. Receipts
nod Dishinsemienls of thesaid Joselds Merceron; set-oissit
of the said PArish, to be publicly di:itrittittcid tci :tilt. I't try
inert thlovin*. Anil for thopurpose of soaking an Order, that
.frnni time.lo time hereafter when awl so often as the Tyra-
‘isrer (for th time tieing) Ina), have of the Naafi, T,inn es
litintiff lit the amount Di mi. or upenirds,.he shall
yarthp.iih oty,the swan jute, the I.4tylt of Eng;Auli, in the

, . •-• • • • •
joint remits of:Nita:elf and Six of the Giovern3ry of the
Poor of the said Parish, and to direct that an Account be
opened with the Rank of England for that purpose; and
further to order, that' nu :Wines be permitted to be drawq
out of the Bank hat• on a" Cheque, having the sigq"4"
of the said TreaSurer, and' at least 'Circe of the °overran's,
or Four of the SixrUovernors without the Treastirer."
The second libel, which was signed by the above
named defendants and upwarni of 40 other pa-
rishidners, was 'preceded by the foregoing libellous.
alai continued as tollows
" And further to talc in consideration the disgraceful and
scandalous measures adopted bY the said JosepliThreeton and
his putty, to lin:vent fair ausl open discussion oCthe .subject.
.or subjects upon which Vestr ivs are called., whenever ouch'
~iiivjed or xab,jects militate against his plani or tend to exim.e
the system that has been tyrannically adOpted and persevered
in fur years past, and. particularly:manifested in the proceed-
ings at the Vestry called on Wednesday the 94th of April
last ;- and to consult on the bed mode to ha adopted to obtain,
that fair and impartial discussam on the affairs of the:parish,
which every Vestey,man has aright to demand. And ur order,
to prevent the intrusion of per Fons who are not VFstry•tuelit
and boys being admitted into Vestries whenever the said,
Joseph .Merceron wants a SheW of hands in his farnii, the
Collectors of the Poor Rates for the said Parish, are hereby.
requested to attend with their Books, and present the a -
mission of such persons mit being Vestriatneo of the said;
Parish. And on other special affairs."
The parish clerk proved that he had read these
libels in the -Church, after Morning service. was
over, by the direction • of Mr. King, who had pre-
viously informed him, that he had-received them
from some of the parishioners, with a request that
'they should be given out amongst the usual pa-
rish notices read in Church after the publications

. .
of banns.
DF.NMAIII and Me. STARRIP. appeared as
Counsel for the defendants ; and the ocurse r 4; de-
fence snegesten was, that the publication of -these
notices in Church, was the legitimate and ordinary
mode-of calling together Ow parishioners for the
purpose of discussing p;1, othial matters, and for
this they cited 'Burn's Ecclesiastical Law, which
expressly hod down 'Ads as the proper mods of
publication, it being rerptisite, that the object of
the required, meeting should be expressly and dis-
tinctly annotmced in the notice.
Lord ELLnilaottoo4ll coneurred in the pro-
priety of the ride so laid down ; bat expressed his
belief, that the learned writer referred:to did hot
go on to odd, that the notices s..Pliblislied might
legally.be the %chides of detantmoil matter. It
was impo‘silde to carry Old doctrine to that.ex-
tea. 1-tat! the notices tinestion heetypuhliiiiied
merely in the presence of Vestry-men, and not
publicly in church, when strangers tO the parish
were assembled, perhaps a greater lilt itud2 of ex-
pression might be allowed than-woohl he tolerat-
ed in a notice given out to a mixed congregatina,
It was probable thaLthe signers of These requi-
sitions had n very limiable.objeet in view, but in
their zeal to attain their purpose, tlini had over.
stepped the line of prudence,: and had u:ed
gunge which, in point of law, was illegal. Witl
the merits of the case, the Court in this stage o

..._..._ _ _
the proceeding had nothing' to do. 'However, his
Lordship' thought, considling the delicacy of the
situation in which all }Emirs were olaeett, that it
was a prosecution which Would nor answer any
usefttl. -purpose ,by being, persevered in, rota he
therefore asked the Attorney-General whether his
client wished to proceed.?
The ATTOENRY-GnitiltAL, after communicating
with Mr. 'Merceron, that this .was a matter
t% hick he referred to his client's own judgment, as
he (the. At tetriley-Benertil) considered himself: as
the mere (16T:carotin ti e uccasion.•
'lke case then proceeded; and the signatures of
the other defendant* being proved,
Mr. DENMAN said, that after Lord Encabo-
fough's opinion ite.Ahottld not go to the Jury, but
Should 'reserve the CA,(: of the defender-its, with a
view to. mitigation, it the prosecutor tiove
for intigment.
The Jury, tinder Lnrd ELLENBONOUGInS
tlon, found the defeittlairts Unilty.
41)11 •

• 41.1 iii was OttactitwagianSt the detendant for.
publishing Several defotit story.lettersi, -lAnti Con•
cerning the plaintiff. it .appeared.thst hotil par-
ties were tote.gnets by birth, the plaintiff being a
Lieutenant-Colorfe4 With temporal y rank in the
'British service, and tilling the office of Soperin-
tendant of the Cnvishy,Pepartment of the Artil-
lery Corps at. Woolwich, where the defendant,
who was a Lieutenant, of the Bet Dragoons on
half-pay, had been permitted to reside in barracks,
for the purpose.of improving himself in experience
of the artillery service. Some misunderstanding
httd arisen between them, and the defendant Wrote
an unsealed lettersto the plaintiff, and other kt,
tees to Genes at Lloyd, the Commandant at Wool,'
with, and one to bard Mulg, ave,'• the tendency of
which leas, to impute to;. the plaintiff' the
_moat
dishononrable and improper, conduct in his situa-
tion at Wookvich—charging hint with trend, its-
decency of demeanour, and stigmatizing hint al a
low blackguard and scoundrel.
The defendant did not appear to defend the
action, and the Jury, under Lord ELL,i;NnORCKTGII.t
'direction, found a 'verdict left' the plaintitl,-Da,
triage, Fiwe flainfred Poundi.