Star.
London, England, 1821-11-12 00:00:00

POLICE.

4LLEGED MISCONDUCT ?fa CLERGY MAIN.

ARCHES COURT, NOVEMBER 10. .
Ws ()MC& OF TOIL ♦UDGE PROMOTED BY SAUNDBR,

AGAINIIT THE REV. SAMUEL G. DAVIES', CLERK.

This was a case which had been removed by letters
of request horn the Consistorial Court of the Diocese
of Oxford to the Arches Court of Canterbury. Se-
venteen articles were presented against the Rev. Mr.
Davies, Curate of Charlbury, and Minister of the,
parish and chapel of Chadlington, in the county of Ox%
ford, charging hiswith a variety of acts of profane"
ness, immorality,' drunkenness, indecency, and hide.'
Corum, both in his private conduct and in the dis-
charge of his ecclesiastical functions. •
• It was alleged that the Reverend Gentleman, on
Various occasions, had sworn most grossly in conver7
sation with various persons ; that he had appeared at
Vestries in a stare of such complete intoxication, that
a parishioner was obliged to take the Chair in his
stead; that upon one occasion, a Vestry, held on the
24th of April, being Easter Tuesday, and there being
a question as to the removal of the body of a pauper,
the said Griffith Davies publicly•exclaimed, to the
great scandal of the Church, and the manifest endan-
gering of the morals of his parishioners—,, Give me
a good horse and five shillings, and I will ride to hell
and back again in two days, and lace the old Devil!"
that, about the year 1814, Mr. Davies took into his
house, as pupil, a young Gentleman, seventeen years
old, who continued to reside with him for three years,
when he went to pursue his studies at Oxford, and
that during such residence he frequently lay all night
between Mr. Davies and his wife, and at his return
from the University Mr. Davies often suffered him to
go to bed with his wife—facts stated to be notorious
to all the servants in the house. It was farther
char ged in the articles, that for several years past the
Reverend Gentleman had been in the habit of per-
forming Divine Service in the most indecorous
and hasty manner—insomuch that he has frequently
travelled through the whole of the prayers and the
se; mon in the short space of fifty minutes. It was
alleged also, that he would, at his own pleasure, fre-
quently commence Church Service at a different
hour from the customary one, beginning sometimes
at ten, instead of eleven; or, after proclaiming eleven
as the hour for its commencement, beginning it at ten.
The articles concluded with the usual prayer, that the
said Clerk, in a suit touching his soul's health and the
reformation of his manners, might be duly admo-
nished and restrained, &c.
Dr. LUSHINGTON, on the part of Mr. Davies, was
proceeding to take several material objections to the
admissibility of some of the articles, when he was in-
terrupted by
Sir JOHN Nicnot.n, who observed that there was
a very obvious omission in the commencement of
them. It should have been stated that the party was
a Minister in Holy Orders of the Church of Eng-
land. It might, indeed, be inferred that he was, see-
ing that he was described as Curate of Charlbury;
but it was highly proper that it should be stated;
and being omitted, a good objection might lie against
the articles.
Dr. LUSHINGTON here observed, that he had not
anticipated that the Court would paint out this omis-
sion. He had intended to have availed himself of it
at a future stage of these proceedings, after the ques-
tion of admitting the articles had been disposed of.
This was a criminal suit, and such an objection must
have been fatal. The Learned Counsel then proceeded
to object, that though the articles charged his client
with various acts of swearing, and with being drunk
atvarioustimes, not one specific fact was alleged, with
one exception, as to swear ing, which he should pre-
sently notice. This required, he submitted, to be re-
formed ; such a mode of pleading was quite inad-
missible. An improper conversation was alleged to
have occur; ed between his client and Mr. J. Adams,
relative to the Parish Clerk of Charlbury. He (Dr.
Lushington) objected altogether to this article. It
was not a public scandal, and therefore the Court
would not be cognizant of it; and it was not spoken
in the presence of any witness, therefore it was not
sustained. If the Reverend Gentleman had used the
words imputed to him about riding to hell, they un-
doubtedly were highly improper and indecent; but
if they were uttered in a Vestry, met in a room in a
public-house, and in no way publicly, as in an eccle-
siastical place, he did not very well see how they
could be construed into an ecclesiastical offence. As
to the case of the pupil, it was most strange that so
profligate and scandalous a violation of morals and
decency should now have been alleged, for the first
time, the facts being said to have occurred between
1812 and 1816. Nothing happening in this period
was admissible in the articles; they could only plead
any facts arising after the young Gentleman's return
from Oxford. But he entirely objected to this ar-
ticle. The Court must see that the proof of such fla-
gitious conduct could rest only on the evidence of
servants; and if it only looked to the possibility of
discarded servants, from a motive of revenge, de-
posing to such monstrous facts, ir would seebow care-
tully an article of this kind should be accepted. On
the face of it, he contended, it was inadmissible. As
to the alteration of the hours'for performing Divine
Service in, would any one contend that it was not
competent for the Minister to fit or change those
'hours, according to the convenience of himself and
his parishioners, without consulting the Diocesan?—
Here was no evidence of any capricious alteration;
and on the whole of these circumstances, the Learned
• Counsel contended that the articles, in the present
form, were inadmissible.
Dr. PHILLIMORE, 04 the other side, replied, and
'contended for their admissibility.
The Jadge directed the 2d, 7th, Bth, 9th, 11th,
12th, and 13th articles to be reformed, for the pur-
pose of being pleaded in more specific and technical
terms ; which being done, he declared he should ad-
snit said articles.

Earl FITZWILLIAM has liberally contributed the
sum of Fifty Pounds towards the completion of the
Catholic Chapel at Barnsley.
SUDDEN Ihatn.--Satur day morning, about half-
past two o'clock, Mrs. PETIIER, wife of Mr. PETREL
grocer, on Clerkenwell-green, having got out of bed
to assist her husband, who laboured under an attack
of the gout, the suddenly exclaimed, " LORD have
mercy on we and instantly expired. Mn. Parnaz
has left a young family to lament her loss.

BOW•STRIST—TH It BRIDGE-STREET ASSOCIATION.
—On Saturday, a decently-dressed youth, who said
his name was Horatio Orion applied to the Ma-
gistrates on behalf of Mr. fihrope, the Secretary of
the Bridge-street Association, for a warrant to issue
against Mr. PHIPPS, thepruprieu'r f The News, Sun-
' day Newspaper, in order that he might appear tai
give bail to answer a charge intended to be preferred'
against him at the. ensuing Sessions. It will be re-
collected that at the last Sessions two bills of indict-
ment were preferred before the Middlesex Grand
Jury, by Mr. Sharpe, against Mr. Phipps, for a libel
upon his character, which bills were thrown out. On
the following Sunday The News contained some com-
ments upon the conduct of Mr. Sharpe and his em-
ployers, which they deemed a foul libel.—There were
four Magistrates on the Bench, namely, Sir R. BlIt•
NIE, Mr. Mrasnum., and Mr. HALLS, of this Office,
and Mr. ROGERS, of Ilatton-Garden ; and they pro-
nounced this to be the most singular application they
had ever heard of. Sir RICHARD BIRNIE, addressing
the applicant, said—" When we have brought the
Editor betoi e us, suppose he should refuse to give bail,
would you wish to send him to jail?" The applicant
said, it was not for him to suggest what course they'
would feel it their duty to pursue in such a case.—
Sir R. BIRNIE said, it was pretty apparent that this
appliCation was made by way of experiment, but the
applicant might be assured that the Magistrates
would not lend themselves to the views either of Mr.
Sharpe or his employers, by countenancing such an
irregular proceeding !—ln these sentiments the rest of
the Magistrates declared their most hearty concur-
react, Mr. MINsIIuLL observing, that the Associa-
tion had got themselves into a cleft stick, and now
wished the Magistrates-to get them out again. They
might, if they chose, try the experiment over again
elsewhere, but he thought they would meet with the
same success as here. The Agent of the Association
looked exceedingly sheepish at this reception, turned
on his heel, and walked out of the Office.
Moses Levy, a notorious duffer, was fully com-
mitted for trial, for a fraud on a countryman, named
John Piltow. The prosecutor had lately come from
the country in the hope of " bettering his fortune,"
and as he was carelessly sauntering along the Strand,
on Thursday, he saw the prisoner, dressed in the
garb of a sailor, followed by a Jew, who appeared
earnestly prevailing on the sailor to take £8 for his
watch. The prisoner rejected his proposal, and
• jawed" him for following him, but at the same
time winked at the countryman to step on one side.
The foolish fellow complied, and was then told by
the prisoner that he had given fourteen guineas for
his watch at Liverpool, on coming on shore, but
having run aground, and being about to leave Eng-
land, he wanted the " brass" to take him to his ship.
The Jew, he said, had offered him £8 for it, .but the
Jews were such a set of rogues, that he feared he,
should receive half bad money for it ; and concluded
by offering it for five pounds. The countryman
agreed that a fourteen guinea watch for five pounds
must be cheap, and, without hesitation, gave the
money; and, on having the prize inspected, its value
was ascertained to be about 30s. By diligence he
procured the apprehension of the prisoner, and the
result we have above stated.

MANSION-Houss.—A case which excited great in-
terest came on for hearing on Saturday. Mr. Pickers-
gill, who is extensively engaged in the silk business,
was robbed some time ago to a great amount, by a
servant named /Angora, who was in the habit of
booking articles as sold, when, in fact, he had con-
verted them to his own use. A discovery at length
took place, and Mr. Pickersgill accidentally found
out that much of the stolen property had been
pledged. He traced three duplicates to the possession
of a person of the name of Wilson, who it appeared
had sent a boy to the shop of Mr. Purse, the pawn-
broker, for the purpose of redeeming the goods.—
Under these circumstances Mr. Pickergill had Wilson
apprehended, and sought to recover the goods from
Mr. Purse without further expense. It appeared
upon examination, that Mr. Pickersgill had volun-
tarily suffered Longuett to go at large after he had
confessed the robbery, under the hope of recovering
more duplicates. The prisoner stated that he had
been a servant to Longuett, and that he had found
the duplicates after he had left Longuett's service.—
The LORD MAYOR said, that no case of felony had
been made out against the prisoner, and ordered him
to be discharged.
GOILDHALL.—Saturday, Samuel Harris; was fully
committed for trial for stealing a watch from W. Por-
ter, farrier-major to the 15th Hussars, in Bridge-
street, while he had his hand on his fob, as the Lord
Mayor's Procession was passing on Friday.
Two boys, named Miller and Smith, were charged
with picking a woman's pocket of some silver, while
the Procession was passing. The money fell on the
round, and the woman went on without discover-
ing her loss. No prosecutor appearing, Alderman
WAITRMAN discharged them with an admonition.
Thomas Clark, a respectable looking. stout man,
was charged with attempting. to commit a robbery,
while the Procession was passing, on a Gentleman in
Cheapside, who, having his hand on his pocket-
book, felt the prisoners finger, and immediately
missing his watch, secured him, after a stout resist-
ance.—Committed.
Joseph Benjamin was committed for stealing a gold
chain from the neck of a Lady, while standing on
chair in the door-way of a shop on Ludgate-bill,
when the Lord Mayor was going to take water.
W. Wright and S. Barkley, two boys, for snatch-
ing a ridicule from a young Lady ; and John Hardy,
for stealing a handkerchief, were committed ; and
several others were discharged or remanded for want
of evidence.
UNIoN-HALL.—The Surrey Theatre was thrown
linto great confusion cn Friday evening, during the
time-Mr.Bengough and Miss S. Booth were perform-
ing in the most interesting scene of Marlette, by a
fellow who threw an apple with great strength from
the gallery to the stage. Miss S. Booth most nar-
1, rawly escaped feeling the effects of its force, the apple
having been shattered into pieces at • her feet. Mr.
Bengough immediately stepped forward, and offered
a reward for the apprehension of the offender. Smith,
the officer in attendance, proceeded to the spot and
secured the man, but not till after considerable diffi-
culty in preventing the speetators visiting the cowardly
action with a sunanat y punishment. On being

brought to the Office, the prisoner said that he bad
purchased the apple in the Theatre, aior:it 'being un-
sound, he threw it with an intent to strike the man
from whom he had bought it, but that he had mis..ed
.his aim, and it had passed on to the stage. On his
making an apology to Miss S. Booth, 'Alr. llibdin,
and Mr. Bengough, he was discharged.
An oil and colourman, of Windmill-street,Haymar-
ket, appeared to answer to an information, charging
him with having in his possession a quantity of illicit
spirits, which had been unlawfully run, not having
paid the duty of importation ; for which he was ~..Ihj-
ect to a penalty of £lOO. He was convicted in the
mitigated penalty of E5O.
The following case was heard, on Friday before the
Magistrate at this Office; Some weeks ago a poor
servant girl named Barbara Torrens was robbed of
her clothes and all her property by a woman who
practised on her the stale trick of pretending to find
a ring in her presence, and proposing to divide its
value With her. A jeweller's shop was resorted to
in order to ascertain its value, and while the servant i
girl was so engaged, the woman made off with the
property. The thief escaped. Yesterday, as the girl
was passing through the Borough, she observed the
woman who had robbed her in company with a
sailor, and charged her with the robbery. The sailor
stood forward in defence of his companion, who
escaped down one of the narrow lanes. An officer
who was passing at the moment took the sailor into
custody, on the charge of having aided and assisted
in the escape of a person accused of felony. The
sailor, whose name is Williatit Scott, when brought
before the Magistrate, declared that he had no know-
ledge of the thief beyond the accidental acquaint-
ance of that day. The officer who apprehended him
stated that same duplicates had been found in his
possession ; that he admitted they belonged to the
woman who had been accused of the robbery, but
declared that she had thrust them into his pocket
without his permission, and that he was wholly inno-
cent of any offence. The sailor's Captain gave him
a most excellent character, and said he was now
going out to the coast of Africa with him.—Mr.
CHAMBERS attended to this recommendation, but de-
clared, that as it was evident that the sailor had
acted with great impropriety, he should not go with-
out making the poor girl some reparation for her
loss.—The Captain became responsible for the sum
suggested by the Magistrate in the event of not find-
ing the thief.