The Sun.
London, England, 1811-08-20 00:00:00

lUDGMENT.

The LORD CHANCELLOR—I' This case has oc-
cupied twu.days in disetsSing,.dnring which I have
taken the opportunity of reading all the, affidavits
on both, sides. I think it better not to lend myself
to these family disputes, bet Ween the parties, but
simply to state my opinion. When I read the pe-
tition of Mrs: Anne Le Heup, I understood it as a
petition that she might be .the sole committee of
the person of.the lunatic"; that I find was merely a
mistake in the prayer of her petition, and I am glad
of it, because, in attending to all that has been re-
presented, I find all parties. have treated her charac-
, ter with the respe& which I think due to it, and I
would not wish to exposes her to all the circum-
stances of being the sole commit tee of as lunatic has- •
band, to take the sole care and arrangement of him
in his affli6tion ; and I do think the Master was
1, quite. right in not .appointing her the sole commit-
tee, upon the ' 105unds on which this case has
been argued, and taking', it for grantee a dislike
existed in the Mind of the lunatic, Which frequent-
ly happened to persons suffering tinder- hisaltction
toward, those to WhoM they were most attached in
times of society. No consideration of that kind
seemed to excitidd Doetor Waddington; we are
11,4, however, acquainted With the. reasons which
induced the Nlaster to 'appoint that Gentleman
the joint committee of the person ; and I think
it due, in' justice to that Gentleman, and to
the Other parties whose names ,have been men-,
tinned .in the course of these' proceedings, to state,
that the statements did contain a variety of bias not
material to'the issue of this cause. I think it due
•0 Dr. WA idi.ogtori and those other persons to state,
that I sce to grounds whatever, either as it regards
e it11.1.€4 or the happiness of the lunatic to ex-
Dr. Waddington from the comMitteeship of
iiee,tate, or of the ,perion of this lunatic, for it
Woold he inviring with an: acuteness,, which 'does
not beeOtne me, into all:the...disputes and *Mashies
of this large f roily, whiCh are founded upon nothing
that should induce me to 'forget that they are still
relations., I certainly agree that there is aeonsi-
derable difficulty; fur-at thiS mentent Mrs. Aerie
Heup
,has one view;of her duty,' and Dr:Wad-
dington another; but Mrs. A. Le Kehl), meaning,
I, am sure, extremely wd,l4;;,Jsis neverth'eleSs been
misled in her view of tail'auty which devolves on
her. Yet I cannot lt9lpentertailing an.opinion, that
when she knowsois:l am Ore she-will, that what-

• •
ever her afreciton may be for her husband, that
she must,.aS the Committee of the lutiatic-, entrust
the medical care of his health to some person who

is skilled in, the treatment, of persons suffering nn-
der such an 011116tion ; and that when' disputes arise
respeting the treatment Which is to be obitrved to-
wirds thulunatic Or his restoration and, recovery,
that •it will be for those persons, and not for her,
to determine.what righ't or what is Me"-
theally • wrong. And it may happen,' and, indeed, ,
we may collect faint the evidence of Mr., Warbur-
ten, who tells her, that nothihg May be More proper
than to sever from him for a time those with whom
he was formerly cmitteciid' and in habits of inti-
macy with ; it might be neLessary for the restora-
tion of the lunatic, which would make it medically
right. I have lead her Affidavit, eat now say again
what I have said before, 'that from my heart I do
not blame .her for any thing she has done. 1 But
what I labourat is, to wilt-nate to her that as I can-
not biirig myself to take 1,06-1 her the committee-
ship of her husband, that Elie will recoiled the
duties. site has' to perform.; and that if any doubts
or difficulties should Arise in the perforMatice of
these 'dillies, that this Court is alwAys open to her,.
and she will have no ration to suppose that the
Court will 11421 t. attend' to lieri-etamplanes with the
greatest readiness, and that its wish is to co-operate
l,h heriin that sort of conduct which wily be fur
thet:icht of the lunatic. With,rese4ct to Dodlor
Waddingtoo, I am. glad to hear that •he will be con-.
tent to vb-operate with her. I shall take care that
the authority of the,Ceurt shall not be abused,'And
I do not ,think that I am doing,wrong in placing the
committeeshie (If the person where the Master has
placed.it: With respect to Mr. Cockshead's affida-
vit, it is made in terms for.which I am extremely
sorry ; and the memorial alluded to in that affidavit
has" nothing. to do with, thin question.. And Mr.
Benjaheld has a right to know from me that his
character has been, as it has been tepresented in
some of the affidavits, ancl I. do consider him, as
there .represented, to be a man of" charaaer and
probity, from the affidavit of Mr. Godbold i(Lihink
the name Is), and the ether person who• speaks
to the same I am to take it khat,the motive
or Which he 15 represented as tiding, Was a pledge
'of honour that tic would net decline the office
Fhould he be nominated to it ; 'and when I differ
troM the' Master upon this point, I cko not mean to
intimate a 'ilitierence • of. opinion founded on the
charatlerof Mr. Benjaheld ; but if it had been his
'misfortune to have one of his own faintly in a st
initar sitUition with this unhappy geetleman, and
•that Dr. Waddington, standing in no degree of rela-
tionship, should be proposed as the committee of
the estate,. on the same principle that I should
oppose theeppointment of Dr. Waddington, outfit's

I do now oppose
_the appointment of M,

field.—Dr Waddington doea not appear t
be an ituproperyer,on to be the joint t:,,,!11.:

the person, and the committee of the esiato
lunatic. _ Noe of those wounds which are obkatotia
able as regards Mr. Benjaheld, are obj -diotyible with
regard to Dr. 'Waddington, nor are there ahy grounds
on which I can refuse to permit him to be the coin=
mittee of the estate; and-I will not-do in this case
that which the Court would be extremely unwilling
to do in any case, make Ate appointment of ibis
Gentleman the grounds off' severance between the
unhappy lunatic and the several branches of his
family; nor •.will it be expeFted of me that, I
should make a judicial declaration, that a Court
of Justice has seen that which I have not'seen,
grounds in the condua of this family for jakifig
from it that which the Court never took from any
family. in a similar, situation. 0,1 these ground.),
and on these only, do I fipprove of the appointment
of Dr. Waddington- in preference to that of Mr,
Benjafield ; and let it be understood from me that
not a scintilla of objection arises in my mind to the
appointment of that Gemleman from any thing
that may appear on the face of these affidavits as
regarding his charatter,butbecattse there is nothit g •
in t his ca,e which authorizes me toitate tint( in his osvn
family and connection there cannot be fotinct
person' fit and proper to take care of his person
and property. And in my mind it would be next
to impossible to appoint a stranger to such a
tuation without transferring to him that influence
and family interests which ought, in my opinion,
to be confined to the family alone. For these
reasons, I think Dr. Waddington a fit and proper •
.person to be appointed to the committeesnip of
the person, along with Mrs. Anne Le Heap, and
-also the sole committee of the estate; but if it is
the wish of the iartitly, I can 'see no objedion to
the appointment of Mr. Hasted jointly with him in
tlid committeeship of the estate. With respect to
that part of the motion, for taking the affidavit of
Mr. Cockshead off the file; it being a question in
which the characters of the parties are involved,
I shall read the affidavits over again with atten.
tion, and give my opinion upon them smite other
opportunity.

At the Norwich Assizes, /tile was found
guilty of manslaughter, in furiously driving his mas-
ter'a.,waggon, in consequence of which the horses
came 'on the footpath, and trampled Mary Overton,
an elderly woman, to death. The prisoner WHg Ac'/I—
tenced :to six mouths imprisonment. !Wert Hader
was indicted for having uttered a forged quarterly
bill. for 131. and-. 6d. on the Commissioners of the-
Navy; purporting to be for the net personal pay' due
to him as Assistant Surgeon of the gain-prig ficariy.
The indhlruent laid the offence as 'a misderneanonr,,
but the Judge said it was capital, and refused to try
it. , -

At the .Norfolk Assizes, J. plowman, a dissenting
preacher and schtiolmaster, was indi&ed for a cll.
minal assault Oon one of his own pupils, a 'boY at
seven years ,of age ;...but unfortunately the tend, r'
age of the prosecutorprecluded the possibili'y of
substantiating the capital part of the charge, he was
acquitted. Oa, the reconiMendation of the Jude,
however, a fresh.bill" of indictment wsa preferred'
for the assault, on which he was tried and epnviaed,
and received sentence to be impiisoned two years.
C.. W.' eh -Aker, caphally • e oniiiaed of robbing
Messrs. Dunbar' and Yallop, was reprievcd by the
Jurit!e.
At'Nraririck Assizes, on Wednesday last, a marl
of-the naniebt.Wilkes was ainviaCd of bigamy, its
.having inarrie.l tour wires. •

'Friday evening,. at seven o'clock, the prisoners
confined in Reading Gaol, consisting of five trans-
ports; and six for trial -at the ensuing March As.
sizes, attempted to make their escape' in the Most.
reolate:'and formidable way.: The turnkeyandeiog
proceeded to the ward' where, they were secured di
the day, opened the doer 'to remove them one at' e
time to the close cells for the night, When one catn4
forward, and was locked up. They.then proceeded
for the second; immediately.as the door was open-
ed, eight of them rushed out', seized the' 'turnkeys,
and fastened them intethe cloSe cells adjoining their
want' The keeper's Wife, who was sitting in the
kitchen with a debtor, ran to secure the door which
led into the keepers. house,, to prevent their sp•
proach, but was not in time ; they entered it ; se-
cured her, and forcing the'debtor on thefloor, drag.
ged them both out, and bolted them into a solitary
cell. The keeper, who was writing in the Magt-
strate's room up stairs, seeing them drag.out
wife, immediately descended, fastened the door of
the house, ran up stairs into the room he had previ-
ously left;. and collected his fire-arms in the window.
The whole of
,the prisoners were now in a body,
trying to force. the door. calling, out for the keeper,
who answered, Hera I am, and shall shoot every'
one of- you," and , pulled the trigger of one of his
pistols at. airansport, who, stooping his head, the
halls missed him, and they ran towards their ward
with fury, swearing, but again collected themselves
',to attack hitin, when he quickly opened the door of
his house with his fire-arms, which were very formi-
dable, consisting of three brace of pistols, and a
musquet with a fixed'hayonetf and drove them into
-the wattl, where they hid .themselves in the best
manner they could. The keeper now released the
two turnkeys, his 'wife, twO'debtors, and three: w .
men, whom they -had shut up in the close cells as
before described. This keeper's wife, immed.atrly
after her release; brought feursdebtors into the house to
his assistance, but he had previously rushed into the
ward, and presented bia'firiPerms at them, threat-
. ening to shoot the. firstjnxtr who; resisted going to
his nightly abode : they.obeyed, and with the aft.
sistrince he .had noiv procured, he was enabled to
secure everyone with extra froita, and fasten them
,clewn to the floors of their tespellve cells.
-On Saturday morning, about nine o'clmk, the
body of a man was found hanging on a post at the
back of a stonemasoq's yard, in tire Five Ileitis,
Chelsea. It appeared that the deceased 'was so de-
termined on destroying himoelf,s that in consequence
of the place he tied the rope to not being sum.
cienily high, he drew his legs up to break his neck.
He proved to be a Gentleman's servant, in Harts.
place, Chelsea, where he left 'on Friday evening.—..
NO reason was assigned for the rash aa.

Yesterday se'nnight a large Jstack of bay, the pro,
duce of 80 acres, belonging to Mr. Read, of He*
veringtand, took tire, from being put together too
wet, and was nearly all consumed.