Star.
London, England, 1825-07-25 00:00:00

siYmMER ASSIZES.

• YORK:JULY 21.
LIBEL. AND SLANDEII-DELL v. HILL.

Mr: thousialAst opened the pleadings.
Mr. SeastLerr stated the case.—The plaintiff in this
action was a young woman, residing at. Shields, in the
county of Northumberland, and was in partnership
with her brother in the china trade; they were persons
belonging to the Methodist persuasion, of great repu-
tation, and universal good character. Hill, the defen
dant, was a preacher in that district, a min who ever
cised a great influence over the Methodists, who formed
a great proportion of his Majesty's subjects in that part
of the country. The country was parcelled out into
districts, over which a preacher was appointed, and
then there was a circuit preacher over these, who de-
rived a handsome emolument (equally the object of the
Clergy as of other professions) Item his labours. Hill,
the defendant, presided over the North Shields circuit.
He was in great authority, and made use of it for the
double purpose of personal inteiest, and a species r f
official influence. The complaint now made by the
plaintiff was, that Hill, from some unworthy mo.ives,
had interfered to prevent the union of the plaintiff with
a respectable man residing at Hull. It would seem
that Hill and the brother of the plaintiff, who was a
local preacher, had had some difference; and in o•der
to revenge this difference, Hill endeavoured to destroy
the brother, the sister, and the entire family of the
Bells. He obliod.them to gait their residence, he de-
s.royed her brother, and having sought Elsa means, he
accomplished the object of the plaintiff's injury, and
the ruin of her family. He invited the attention of the
Jury to this ca-e, for sure he was that a case calling
for more special consideration could not be well,
brought before a Court of Justice. A more base, a
more scandalous, or a more wicked case. never perhaps
occurred, and whit gave it a dye of dee,:er malignity
was, that the defendant, a malicious and worldly-
minded man, had committed all this michief under
the cloak, and as if under the sanction of religion.
While he libelled the plaintiff, he was pia) ing to GOD ;
and while praying to GOD, he was blasting the
plaintiff's prospects in life, and carrying on a system
of unrelenting persecution against her entire family.—
This Minister of GOD, as he styled himself, was propa-
gating the foulest slander, and that to gratify one of the
basest passions of the fiend—revenge. In the year 1821
an intercourse had subsisted between a Mr. Sissison, of
Hull; a respectable man in trade, and the present plain-
' tiff (Miss Jane Bell) ;he was attached to her, he offered
her marriage, and the ceremony was to have taken place
. in.the month of June of that year. Mr. Sissison had
abondant means to make them comfortable; and his in-
tended
_partner happy fir her life. She was a young
Lady of amiable manners, and could boast of very con-
. .-siderable personal attractions. However, before the
• wedding day arrived; Mr. Sissison received al anony-
. moos le• ter, addressed to the care of a preacher at llull ;
and in a• short time after, another similar letter, ad-
dressed to another preacher, calumniating this young
• 'Woman in the most scandalous and unfounded manner.
. These letters professed to come from a sincere friend of
Sissison, and warned him of the danger which he would
run in forming any 'connection with the plaintiff or any
offher family. Stich letters, upon strong minds, would
paillapa 'have had no influence—perhaps they would
have been shewn to Mss Bell or some of her family,
;who, would instantly have refuted such scandalous in-
sinuations; but NI r. Sisiison became alarmed, he dreaded
.alre. existence of some mystery, and teemed to think
itiat slighted warnings would turn into deadly curses.—
Such were the terms in which he wrote to a friend at

York, when asking his advice upon the subject of these
letters. At the time those letters were written to Mr.
. Sissiton, he had no acquaintance with Hill the defendant,
who had artfully contrived to request a reference to be
.made ao him as to Miss Bell's character and connexion.
Mr. S. had known the wife of Mr. Hill since his child-
hood, and thus the trap which was laid had eminently
succeeded. The anonym .us letters he would this day
prove to be in Hill's hand-writing, and upon these let-
ters.no commentary would he necessary. They were
• conceived in malice, and they ended ip fraud of the most
wicked description. Hill had a personal motive to gra-
tify, and he scrupled not to take the most extraordinary
means to attain it.—Here the Learned Counsel read the
two anonymous letters, warning Mr. Sissison from
forming any connexion with Miss Bell, requesting him
to make inquiry as to her character, and conjuring him
to pray to the LORD to give and assist him in the coice
of a wife; for (added the anonymous correspondent) he
was sure he never could'be happy with that Lady. Mr'.
Sissison was attached to Miss Jane Bell, and perhaps the
stronger his attachment the more easily could his sus-
picions be awakened. However, he sent one of the
anonymous letters to Shields, and with this circum-
stance the defendant, in some way or other, became ac-
quainted. He had his eyes open in every direction, and
his hand ready to seize upon every weapon which might
inflict the fatal blow: The defendant also wrote a let-
ter to Mr. Sissison from Shields, abusing the writer of
the anonymous letters, calling him a " Radical
rascal," little, perhaps, thinking at the time, that
he ss as so accurately depicting his own character.
in this letter, also, he begs that the preachers at Hull
may not be made acquainted with the fact of his
corresponding with Sissison; he called the plaintifF 'a
hypocrite; the described her to be poor and sanctified,
and vituperative, and exulted that her brother John was
• off the .plan," or, in other words had been suspended
from preaching ; and all this, he concludes his letter by
saying, he had done ,4 in the fear of Goa!" not to gratify
arry revenge, but purely out of love for Mr.Sissison, and
his duty to his Maker ! While these letters were passing.
Miss Bell thought it right to make some inquiry. An
appeal was made to the preacher and those who knew
her best, as to her character and conduct, and they gave
her the most unexceptionable testimonials. But the
defendant is still at his work of infamy ; he gradually
infused the poison into the mind of Mr. Sissison, aslago
does into the mind of the generous Moor, until at last
he so works him up, that murder becomes the fatal ca
tastrophe, as the picture is drawn by our great dramatic
poet. He (Mr. Scarlett) would not now trouble the
Jury with the perusal of all the letters—they proceeded
as they went along with greater fervour and warmth—
they strewed that Hill found out he was suspected of
being the WI i ter of the anonymous letter, and that lie
feared an action might be brought against, himself for
a libel, or against S:ssison for breach of promise of
marriage, although he warns Sissison of the danger of
evealing his correspondent's namc,as libel; , if known, to

_ .
hinges think of engaging himself with. Miss BA. In-
quiry was then set on foot ; Hill -teas found to be the
author of these anonymous letters, and an action was
brought against him.At that time, however,Sissison, only
hewed one of the anony :Irani letters, and when he came
into Court at the trial, he could not swear that it was
the hand-writing o' the defendant. Sissison furihei
adied, that these letters were not the only cause fnr -
his breaking off the match, and the plaintiff was non•
stftei. Miss Bell then retired under an impression uf
great misery and anxiety ; then was Hill triumphant ;
but Sissison becoming 'satisfied that these anonyMous
letters were Hill's, and considering h;s conduct to be
base, treacherous, and calumnious, he put all his letters
into the hands of his calumniated victim. Hill's own
letters, under his own name, were the cause of Sissison
withdrawing his affection from the plaintiff, and no
doubt she would be entitled tri a verdict. He (Mr. S).
very much feared we were fast approaching to that
time when religion Mould be made a cloak for the
commission of every species of horror. He would not say that the
Methodists as a body shared this feeling, there were many of them
liberal, ►incere, and able men; and if the body wished themselves
well, if it was thtir wish to stand well with society and the world
at large, they would hold up the conduct of Hill to execration.
The evidence in support of the plaintiff's case was then'examined,
and the anonymous letters read.
Mr. Pou.ocx addressed the Jury for the defendant. The Jury.
after a quarter of an hour's deliberation, returned a verdict fur the
plaintifF—Damages, #7,00.
The trial excited an unusual degree of interest, and the Court
was crowded daring the whole of the day. The defendant was in
Court, and he seemed to be popular amongst the Methodist con-
nexion in the North of England.

STAFFORD, JULY 23.
ORME AND WIFE v. KNOWLES.

This was an action for assault and battery.
Mr. CuawooD stated she case to the Jury, which was
this!—Mrs. Orme was retntaing from Walsall Races
on the 30th of September last, in a cart, in company
with the defendant and other persons. The defendant
was drunk, and his hat falling off once or twice, and
getting wet, a dispute arose between -him and Mrs.
Orme, and after spitting in her face, he struck her in a
most ferocious manner on the breast, with one of the
chairs in the cart.

Martha Williams, among other witnesses, proved these facts
substantially.
Cross-examined by Mr. CAMFML—Mrs. Orme was merry;
she led the fun; when the defendant's hat fell off, it fell into some
.water, and got wet (here the witness Isughed).—Mr. Castesett.
New I see, Martha, you like a joke as well as Mrs. Ortne. Had
you it in your hand? (laughter) No.—Mr. CAMPULL : Whether the
hat went to the water, or the water went to the hat, was the water
warm? (laughter.) Witness : I don't know whether it was or not.
Another witness who was in the cart proved the assault.
Cross-examined by Mr. CAMPIILL4—Saw the Ladies laughing,
but did not know what the joke was; the next slay morning he
heard the defendant say that they had made an Improper use of his
hat ; the bat did get wet.
Mr. John Towke, a surgeon, of Wolverhampton,
proved that he was called in on the 3d November, to
'examine Mrs. Orme's breist he saw bruises on it,
which had been inflicted by violence; she was not in ill
health, but he applied leeches to herbreast. •
Mr. CAMPBELL ac.lrissed the Jury for the defendant,
and contended that this was the roost disgraceful action
ever brought into a Court of Justice. What was the
story made out by the plaintiff ?—Why, it was this:',
Mrs. Orme, who was the leader of the fashions• on this•
occasion, and was at the top of the " ton," as they called
it, wished to have a fashionable party to take a. jaunt to
the Walsall Races. She got a cart for this purpose...and
then, the next thing necessary was to fill it. Sheletc
up a party, among whom was the unfortunate difend-
ant. The day was spent very comfortably, until., they
were returning home, and then Mr. Knowles wanted to
stop at Wheatenhall to get a cup of tea—a little hyson
or bobea ; but Mrs. Orme would not agree to this, no.
thing would serve her but she must get out of the
,cart
and walk. She did so; and then, when they overtook
her, and she again got into tl:e cart, she became sulky ;
she cursed and the defendant- cursed. He spit in her
face, and she gave him a douse in the chops, and then it
was asserted that this drunken man struck her on the
breast with a chair, in the cart. Such a representatioh
was most improbable. He submitted to the Jury, that
his client had been jeered and ridiculed, and that, the
Ladies having passed his hat round, and made a sort of
use of it which was not quite consistent wish decorum ;
and he having become annoyed with it, that sort of '
scuffle ensued which it would have been much better
should never have been brought into Court. In cor, o-
boration of this probability, the Jury would recollect
that Martha Williams would not say whether the water
was warm or not. He once heard that a near relative
of an Honourable Member who travelled this Circuit,
having made a tour ef Ireland, in the publication of it,
he represented that the Ladies in the sister had thick
ankles ; on which they became so enraged, that they
had the tourist's pot trait delineated in the bottom- of a
certain vase, accompanied by these words—
" Come, let us ---
On good Mr. Twiss."

He would leave his hearers to fill up the couplet ; but
the Gentleman, on seeing himself thus treated, ordered
another vase to be made, representing himself as look-
ing upwards, and exclaiming—
,. Ah, sue !
What do I see ?"—(Loud laughter).
He left it therefore to the Jury to say, whether this was
nut a case in which the defendant had been enraged by
his hat being appropriated to that purpose for which
another sort of vase was usually employed? At all
events, it. was one in which the smallest damages would
answer the ends of justice.
Mr. Justice 13uftaovou, in charging the Jury, said,
he never heard so bold a speech in his life as that which
Mr. Campbell had made, and in which the Learned
Counsel gave his own conjecture without any evidence
whateler to support it. An insinuation had been made
that the hat of the defendant had been made use of fer
a certain indecent purpose, by Mrs. Orme, but to prove
this there was not one word of evidence. Such things
served to raise a titter in a Court of Justice, but they ought not to
bias the Jury in giving a fair compensation in damages, where a
verdict must be given for the plaintiff.
The Jury, after a deliberation, said they found—One Farthing
damages.
Air. Justice Boaaotrow—Are you all of that opinion, only a
farthing? One of the Jurors now said," We give sixpence;' and
a verdict for that amount was accordingly recorded.

Mr. JAMES CAMPBELL, the Bank Director, has gained
400,003/. by the decision of the Lon) CMANCELLOEI
relative to the will of the late Mr. HOLFOED.
The late arrests at Rome arc stated by the Austrian
Obsetuer, to have taken place in consequence of the attention of the
Papal Government being drawn to a meeting of Carbonari, under
the name of " White Pilgrims," who .had their head-quarters
at Pesaro _

HIN4