Star.
London, England, 1813-09-03 00:00:00

ASSIZES.

NEWCASTLE.
ASSISTING FRENCH PRISONERS TO ESCAPE.
• Jame: Hunter was indicted for aiding and assisting
in the escape of the French prisoners, Benoit Poulet
and Jacques Gerard, from the town of Jedburgh, on
the 3d of June last, where they had been on their
parole of honour. •
After the Clerk of the Court bad read the indict-
ment, Mr. PARKE, for the Crown, addreised the Jur),
to the following purport ;•.." I hope the statement
which has just been read must satisfy every one that,
for the safety, the welfare, and happiness of the Bri-
tish nation at large, no one should escape who has
thus traiterously connived at the liberation of the
enemies of our country. lamat a loss to conceive
how those who glory in the name of Englishmen,
could restote their swords to their most inveterate
enemies. This is a case which will require a great
deal of minute investigation. The Act of Parliainent
which had been passed a short time ago concerning
the escape of French Piisoners, makes that crime a
felony which was formerly but a misdemeanor. The
prisoners of war, as these had done who escaped in
the present instance, sign a payer, in which they
pledge their honour, that they will not transgress the
bounds marked out for them, viz. that they will not
go off the high road, into bye lanes, fields, and re-
tired enclosures rand moreover affirm, that they will
not escape, nor attempt to escape, from his Majesty's
dominions, by means of any boat, ship, &c. &c.—
But all this those Prisoners have violated ; and what
can we think of that Briton who thus assists his ene-
mies ? 'rhe space over which Hunter has conducted
these men is more than 60 miles ; indeed, he has
crossed the whole of Northumberland. The Prisoners
escaped in the beginning of June from Jedburgh, as
they were at muster on the Ist. Hunter, the pri-
soner, lives at Whitton, near Rothbury, with a man
and woman of the name of Balmer. He had inform-
ed this woman that he was going to meet two gen-
tlemen who had to fish with him ; and it will appear
in the course of this trial, that the fishing rod and
basket which he took away with him, and which
were afterwards used by the Frenchmen, were taken
with no other metive than as a cloak to conceal their
real intentions. On the 3d of June, a gig came to
the door, with a dark coloured poney in it ; Hunter
drove the gig ; the Frenchmen walked out of town,
one carrying the rod, and the other the creel, as might
best give a colour to their escape. We have little, if
any evidence, till they came to a town on the north
side of Whitton, called Shilmore. Hunter will be
proved to have been there ; he was well known in the
country ; he came there in his gig, and there was in
company with him his nephew, of the name of Rob-
son, driving two covered carts. After lie left his
own house, he stopped at Coldriffe, where he drank
some beer in his gig ; the Frenchmen were carrying.a
fisteng basket and a rod, and the person of the house
thought they were foreigners. He then proceeded
towards Newcastle, on the way to which a man of the
name tf Robinson, mending the road, sew them,
when, as before, one was carrying the basket and the
other the rod. That same afternoon they came to a
public house called Belsay Redhouse, where they '
stopped to dinner. Hunter wished a room to himself.
One of the people who were with him spoke to Mrs.
Charlton, the woman of the house, when she imme-
diately exclaimed to Hunter that they were foreigners,
to which he replied, they were Captains of foreign
ships, relations of his, who were fishing with him.—
_I then trace him to the turnpiLt at Ponteland.
The keeper of that gate did not know 1-ini, but there
was a person there who, having keown him before,
rec, gnised him instantly. Sometimes one rode with
him, and sometimes the other ; this is the last place
to which we trace him, till we get him into Nevcas-
tle—he and the Frenchmen arrived in this town tit the
eveiai.g, between nine and ten, where every thing
was C( nducted with secrecy. Hunnr, it seems, had
previously written to one Brown, an inn-keeper in,
this glace, to order a roam fur the Fienehmen and
himself, out e hen they art ived, it appears the room
was not et leisure. They were, however, shewn
into the front dimig-room, where the:e was no com-
pany. However, as soon as they` got the room which
had been assigned them. they never quitted it, though
it wa., a bedeoem, except to go into the one adjoin-
ing till their beds were made. Nobody came to them
but through Hunter or Brown. Hunter, it will now
be found, went to a person called Charlton, who,
though a principal evidence in this cause, is by no
means an innocent man. In short, Gentlemen, lie
is an accomplice, and none of the most guiltless of
accomplices. He was introduced to these gentlemen
and told that they were Germans ; but it was admit-
ted that they were brought by Hunter from Jedburgh,
anti that he wanted them out of the kingdom.. The 3
police officers, by this time, were dogging them, and 1.
Hunter, f r his own safety, was obliged to take re-
fuge in the waiter's house in Silver-street. The"
Frenchmen too, were, in consequence of this alarm,
removed* also to the waiter's home; Charlton and
Hunter soon after went to Shields, and they, together
with otherisersons, contrived to put those prisoners
on board a foreign ship, which had previously gone
to sea. By this means those prisoners made their
escape ; which, it I can prove, there will be sufficient
ground to criminate the prisoner at the bar ; but
should you not find that evidence sufficient, I doubt
not but you will honourably acquit him."
A great number of witnesses were examined, for
the purpose of tracing the prisuher with the two
French tugitives, and establishing of his accompany-
ing them, and assisting their escape.
His Lordship, in summing up the evidence, cau-
tioned 'the Jury against regarding the penalty or
pueishment consequent upon this offence, but to
weigh the facts of the case. First, it did not appear
what. was the ebject of the journey, except to assist
the Frenchmen in their escape. his true, Hunter
said he was going to Stagshaw-bank Fair, but from
what the %genuses had said, there was not the slightest
reason to believe he had ever been there. He no-
ticed the suspicious circumstance of their having
been shut up, and no person allowed to see them
but the servants, or such as were to assist them in
their escape. Another thing which created strong
:suspicion against Hunter was, that no other Pri-
:sonersitactescaped from that depot, at or near that
time, except those two. His Lordship concluded by
saying, that if they. (the Jury) thought titers was
sufficient circumstantial evidence horn Jedburgh to

.

where Hauer met the Frenchmen, u well 13 evi-
dence from that time to the Prisoners going off, he
should expect a verdict of guilty ; if not, of the con-
trary..

11he Jury retired for a few minutes, and brought
in a verdict of—Not Guilty.
As soon as the verdict was delivered, several per-
sons in tte Court expressed their approbation very
riotously ; and on the three other Prisoners being
arraigned, Mr. Pm= arose, and spoke nearly to the
following effect

•" Gentlemen of the Jury—You cannot have any
doubt of your verdict being satisfactory to me, for if
it had not been so, you know my power of impan-
ueling another Jury, and submitting to them a case
similar to that you have last heard ; but .1 conceive
that in your consciences you believe you have dis•
charged your duty between the Crown and the Pd.
soner, and therefore 1 am satisfied. lam desirous
to say a few words to the people who have just now
manifested their approbation of your verdict in so
tumultuous and disgraceful a manner. I am the
more anxious to do this, because, from tire tumult
that at the moment prevailed, the excellent semi.
:bents expressed by the Learned Judge on the occa-
sio • could not be distinctly heard. I hope that those
.ignorant and deluded people, who expressed their ap-
probation of the verdict in so indecent a manner, ma)
feel that shame and confusion which will prevent the
repetition of such conduct in the town of Newcastle.
[Here something followed, in substance the same as
the words afterwards used by Mr. Justice CHANIIRSI
I have the honour of standing here lona Government
which is the glory of the world, an4f whose object it
sever is to have its subjects condemned but upon evi.
dente satisfactory to the Learned Judges who pre.
side, and to the conviction of the Jury, who are
sworn to make a true deliverance between the King
and the prisoner ; and it is never the wish bf that
Government, to press the prosecution of any indivi-
dual, without there appears to be full and unequivo-
cal evidence to support it. Under dies:: circum-
stances, and exercising that discretion with which the
Crown has thought fit to honour me and my brother
Counsel upon this occ.•t'sion, I shall not think it pro-
per to occupy any more of your time, and that of
his Lordship, by the trial of the Prisoners now at
the Bar; but I think that the liberation of a Prisoner
in such a situation, ought not to be a matter of in-
decent exultation, but rather of thanksgiving to his
Goo."

Mr. Justice CHAMBRZ approved of what the Learn-
ed -Cou isel had just said, and of the lenity he had
shewn,q and hoped the people of Newcastle would
profit by the excellent lesson which had been given
them ; adding, that. for his own part, he was sorry
to be.obliged to observe, that he should have thought
himsilf sitting in a French rather than a &Wish Court
of Justice.