The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1853-01-11 00:00:00

Mr. HUNTER stated the case at great length, remarking
that it was a very complicated one, and that the evidence
was not such as would be adduced in ordinary cases.
The prosecutor in the present case was the Rev. John
King, incumbent of Christ Church, in Hull, to whom
the prisoner went on the 9th of November last, and on
the strength of representations which were fraudulent,
succeeded in obtaining from the prosecutor the sum of
one pound. The learned counsel detailed the course pur-
sued by the prisoner, from which it appeared that he
shewed the prosecutor a document setting forth that he
had been requested by the Providence Protestant Church
in Monrovia to solicit subscriptions in England; and also
another document of Liberia, authorising him (the pri-
soner) to receive subscriptions in England in aid of the
Providence Protestant Church. The document also con-
tained several other signatures of government officials
and others in Liberia, ail of which he (the learned coun-
sel) should prove to be forgeries. Another document
which the prisoner produced to the prosecutor was a book
of subscriptions for the completion of Providence Protes-
tant Church, in the city of Monrovia, and republic of
Liberia. The signatures in this book, he should also
prove, were forgeries. He should call before them Mr.
Anson, who at the date of these documents was her
Britannic Majesty's consul to the republic of Liberia, and
he would prove that the• signatures of Mr. Roberts, presi.
dent of the republic, of the vice-president, and others,
upon these documents, were not genuine signatures.
The prisoner had represented to the Rev. Newman Hall,
an " Independent" minister at Hull, that his (prisoner's)
congregation consisted of 2,000 persons, at Monrovia ;
whereas the entire population of the place was not more
than 1,500. Mr. Anson would tell them that, as a part
of his consular duties, it devolved upon him to count the
houses, and to make an estimate of the people of Monro-
via, and send the account home for the information obthe
government; and that there was a Baptist congregation,
of which the prisoner officiated a& pastor, consisting of
about 40 or 50 persons. The prisoner bad variously re-
presented himself as an Episcopalian Protestant, as an
Independent, or as a Baptist, just as it suited his purpose.
He also told Mr. Newman Hall that the Baptists in this
country would not assist him because he was an Inde-
pendent, and yet he (the learned counsel) should prove
that he told a gentleman in Liverpool that he was a Bap-
tist, and that he was introduced to a Baptist by that gen-
tleman in Liverpool. He also told Mr. Newman Hall
that George and Eliza Harris, in ".Uncle Tom's
Cabin," were members of his congregation at Li-
beria, and that he attended the death-bed of Cassy.
Now, when he (Mr. Hunter) showed them that George
and Eliza Harris were fictitious characters, and that the
report of the existence of such a book as " Uncle To in's
Cabin" had not reached Liberia at the time when the
prisoner left, they would judge what credit was to be placed
upon his statement of having been requested by any church
whatever in Monrovia to collect subscriptions. Another
gentleman in Liverpool, acquainted with the signature of
the President, and the seal of the Republic, would state
that the alleged signature of the President in the document
found upon the prisoner, although a close representation
of the genuine signature of the President, was not his.
Having gone over the various facts of the case,the learned
counsel concluded by observing to the jury that if, after
hearing the evidence which he should submit to them,
they should be of opinion that any of the documents
were not genuine, it would be sufficient to find the

The fact of the money

prisoner guilty. having beet.
received fro,n the prosecutor was not disputed. If the
jury believed that the prisoner made to Mr. King the
representations which he (the learned counsel) had stated,
and that by such representations he induced Mr. King to
part with his money, they would convict the prisoner.
The Rev. John King, the prosecutor, was then called,
and deposed to the facts named in the opening statement
of the learned counsel. Witness gave the prisoner the
sovereign in the full belief of the truth of his statements,
-";nPness of the documents produced by

and of the