Star.
London, England, 1818-04-06 00:00:00

FRANKFORT, MARCH 29.

We learn from Berne, that the misunderstanding
between the Grand Duke of Baden and the Swiss
Confederation, has bees satisfactorily adjusted. On
the 19th of March the Baden Government took off
the sequestration that it had laid on Swiss property.
Private letters from Wurtemburg say, that his Ma-
jesty the King continues to reduce, as much as possi-
ble, all the expenses of the public administration.
and gives himself the example in his own household,
His ordinances give general satisfaction. But this
Prince, notwithstanding his good will, has not been

•
able to introduce a national representation. Self-in-
terest and intrigue here oppose his Majesty ; but it is
hoped that endeavours will soon be made to accom-
plish this important object. Great pains are also
taken to improve the system of public instruction.
We learn from Lausanne, that the festival of the
Reformation is to be celebrated also in Switzerland.
The Government of Zurich has decided that the so-
kninity shall take place there the IS of Jamiary neat.

FORGERY OF XANg-NOTES,
At the Old Bliley Sessions on Saturday three per-
sons, viz. John Rogers,. agedl9, Thomas Smith, aged
40, and another, aged 17, were arraig'ned on chars*
if having Forged Notes in their possession. They at
at first pleaded Not Guilty ; but a compromise, as
in the cases brought before the Court on Friday,
having soon after been effected, they were again
brought to the bar, when they desired to withdraw
their respective pleas, and were accordingly recorded
—Guilty. Thus they will probably be sentenced to
Transportation only.
Same day George Downes was indicted forftrging
and putting away a certain counterfeit note, purporting
to be a One-pound Note of the Bank ofEngland. It
will be recollected that he is the young man who was
apprehended in September last passing forged notes
in the City, and who made his escape from the con-
stable, and three or four months afterwards was taken
into custody for uttering other forgeries in Middle-
sex. No less than eleven forged -notes were proved
to have been passed by him. Three notes were pas-
sed off by the prisoner at Mr. Harrison's, the pawn-
broker's, in Wardout-street, on the 12th of Novem-
ber. Next day he passed three more at Mr. Dobrees,
pawnbroker, in Oxford-street.
The prisoner, when called bpon for his defence,
denied that he was the person who presented lhe
notes at Mr. Dobree's, and proposed to call his fa-
ther to prove an alibi. His father was Shen called
under the name of Claxton, and appeared in the wit-
ness's box, but was advised by his Counsel, Mr,
ALLEY, to withdraw, as his evidence would be una-
vailing on the whole. Several persons, who had
known the young man several years, spoke favour-
ably of his character as to industry and honesty.
Mr. Justice DALLAS summed up the evidence.—
The Jury then examined the several notes that had
been produced in Court, and, without hesitation, re-
turned a verdict—Guilty of uttering a forged Bank-
note, knowing it to be forged.
At the Assizes for Leicester of 25 persons who re-
ceived sentence of Death, five were left for execution,
one of them for burglary, and the other four for
forgery.
At the Derby Assizes an action was brought by a
Mr. GUPPY, a horse-dealer, against two persons for
an assault and imprisonment. The plaintiff had had
the misfortune to pass a one Pound Bank Note in
payment for a horse, and in consequence had, as he
conceived, been exceedingly ill used, being stripped,
searched, and hindered front following his business.
After the evidence was gone through, Mr. Serjeant
VAuottaa for the defendants, contended that the da-
mages ought to be very slight. He dwelt particu-
larly on the circumstance of a consideraNe number of
forged notes having been issued during the fair of Ash-
bourne, and one of those notes having been proved to
have been passed by the plaintiff, who immediately
afterwards quitted the town: With regard to the
respectability of the plaintiff, which his Learned
Friend had described in such glowing terms, all that
could be said was that he was a horse-dealer, and no
class of men had greater facilities for passing forged
notes. Upon the whole, he submitted that there was
a fair ground of suspicion against the plaintiff, and
that under that suspicion the defendant, POTTER, was
fully justified in taking him into custody, and calling
upon him to explain how the forged note had come
into his possession.
Mr. Baron GARRow, in summing up the case to
the Jury, remarked, that at the Fair of Ashbourne
several forged Bank Notes had been put in circulation.
One of tl.ese was subsequently found to have been
paid to Mr. Mellor, in payment for a colt. Mr.
Mellor stated, that he had received it from the plain-
tiff, who, it was discovered, had' quitted the town'
immediately afterwards. These circumstances, it did
not appear how, had come to the knowledge of Pot-
ter, the constable, who requiring the assistance of
another person, went in pursuit of the utterer, of the
last-mentioned forged note at least, and brought him
back to Ashbourne, in order that he might give an
account of the manner in which the note had come
into his possession. It was true, Mr. Guppy ap-
peared to be a person (and they should so consider
him) of respectable character, and out of the reach
of suspicion; but the history of the present Circuit
proved, that whatever respectability might attach to
him, persons were in the habit of assuming the same
character, for the purpose of circulating forged notes.
—This was the case at Northampton, where two men
now awaited their doom, who had been convicted of
uttering forged Bank of England notes to a very large
amount, under the guise of a horse-dealer and his ser-
vant. At Chester, too, where he presided, before he
had the honour of being called to the office which
he now held, a case had come before him in which
a man had actually taken a farm of 3001. a year,
upon the speculation of being able with greater faci-
lity to put off forged notes. He stated these facts
with a view of sheaving, that respectability of ap-
pearance should not at all times be considered as a
criterion of innocence. If a man had the misfortune
to pass a bad note, having inadvertently received it,
and that a Constable made a stalking horse of such a
circumstance, for the purpose of gratifying some pri-
vate malice; in such a case he thought that the da-
mages to be given could not be too exemplary ; but
where there was, as he observed before, a fair ground
of suspicion, he was far from thinking that there was
a just ground of actioe against such a man. The