The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1833-06-04 00:00:00

LAW REPORT.

COURT OF KING'S BENCH, THURSDAY, MAY 30.

INQUEST ON CULLY, THE POLICEMAM.
The Solicitor General said, that he had a motion to
make on the part of the Crown, which was, that the in-
quisition taken before Mr. Stirling, one of the Coroners
for Middlesex, on the body of Robert Cully, might be
quashed.
The Lord Chief Justice—What is your objection, Mr.
Solicitor )
The Solicitor General said, that he objected on the
ground that the jury had found a verdict not only con-
trary to the facts, but totally at variance with the law of
the They had found a verdict of justifiable homicide,
upon the very face of the inquisition itself, signed
with .ei
their
w
n hands, it was evident that the verdict
ought to have been murder or manslaughter.
The Chief Justice—A difficulty that presses upon the
Court is upon whom the rule ought to be served. It
might be served upon the coroner, certainly not upon
the Jury,
The Solicitor General.—Certainly upon the Coroner.
The Lord Chief Justice—What is the object of your
motion, Mr. Solicitor ?
The Solicitor General—That the inquisition taken
upon the body of the policeman, which was contrary to
law, should be entirely quashed; the jury, from the best
of un-
supported by any thing which they had stated upon the
facemoofties,
their had come to a wrong conclusion, one
hetr inquisition, and his motion was for the pur-
pose of quashing it, in order that it might not remain as
a record in any of his Majesty's Courts.
Mr. Justice Littledale inquired what object the Crown
could have in view by-the motion?
The Solicitor General said the Coroner's inquisition
was evidence for various purposes, and he believed it
was: the prerogntive of the Crown to sne:ll upon tint
uriclonbteit jurcidietion to set asiLi
any thing in an inferior court that was contrary to law.
There were many cases where such proceedings had been
quashed, and he apprehended that there was cause
enough in the case to show that that Court ought to be
called upon to exercise its supreme authority.
The Lord Chief Justice had never known any appli-
cation of that kind, except on the part of some indi-
vidual.

The Solicitor General said that the inquisition might
be given in evidence at the trial of any person against
whom the Crown might proceed; but he apprehended
that even putting that aside, if an inquisition was bad,
'either in Point of fact or law, it was the duty of the
Crown, as the guardian of public justice, to bring it.for-
ward for the consideration of that Court. The • learned
Solicitor General then read the inquisition and verdict.
which are already before the public, and said there could
be no doubt that the facts were as there stated, that
Cully, while in the execution of his duty—while acting
as a constable in the discharge of his duty-7-was by some
person, unknown to the jury, stabbed on the left side of
his breast, which caused Ms death, thereby constituting
either a manslaughter or a murder.
Mr. Justice Littledale—R does not appear upon the in-
quisition that it was either a murder, or in fact any fe-
lony at all.
The Solicitor General—No; it simply stated the facts
lie had given ; that the man was acting as a constable,
and in the discharge of his duty, when lie received the
wound which caused his death. The jury then went on
to state why it was they found the verdict of justifiable
homicide. It was not because the man who was stabbed
had given any provocation in the first instance, but be-
cause the Riot Act had not been read, and that the go.
vernment had not taken any steps to prevent the meet-
ing, and that the police had acted with brutality. These
were
verdict the tact, upon which they stated they had found
their .
The Chief Justice—There is not a word in the verdict
about the man Cully, or how he came by his death.
The Solicitor General said there was not a word to
show how he came by his death, but, on the contrary,
the jury gave their reasons for coming to such a conclu-
sion.

c, •
The Lord Chief Justice—They in effect say that one
man might be killed, because another had acted impro-
perly ; there is not a sinale word on the face of the in-
quisition to show that Cublly had in any way given pro-
vocation for the assault upon him.
The Solicitor General said he only, applied for a
rule to show cause, in the first instance, why the inqui-
sition should not be quashed.
Mr. Justice J. Parke observed, that upon. the pre-
mises set forth on the inquisition, a verdict of excusa-
ble
homicide could not even be maintained.
Mr. Justice Patterson said there was a case in Strange,
where an inquest was quashed, and it did not appear
that on that occasion any rule to show cause had been
applied for. It was made absolute in the first instance.
The Lord Chief Justice—No ; there never is. It can
never be, for where the Crown applies, as in this case,
there is no other party concerned. I was not here yes.
terday when the certiorari was moved, and I think there
would be some difficulty in the case without some one
was before us; but, as on the face of the inquisition,
there is no finding, and, acting upon general principle,
considering the Crown to have an interest in the gene- •
ral dispensation of justice, I am of opinion that the in-
quest is not valid, and ought to be set aside.
Mr. Justice Littledale considered there was no
i va-
lidity whatever in the inquisition. On the face of
(t_ it
_
was stated that a person unknown to the jury wounded
the man, of which wound he died, and vet die jury had
found a verdict of justifiable homicide, because goc:ern-
ment had taken no care to revent the meeting. That
did not justify the verdict. To make it a good finding it
must be shown that Cully bad first offered provocation.
The inquisition, in his opinion, was altogether a nullity,
and must be set aside.
Mr. Justice J. Parke was of opinion that the inquisi-
tion was bad, because the jury had found justifiable ho-
micide upon premises which would not, as it appeared
to him, justify a verdict of even excusable homicide.
Mr. Justice Patterson was entirely of the same opi-
nion ; nothing was shown by the inquisition to justify
such a verdict as had been found. There was nothing to
show that Gully had been guilty of any provocation
whatever.

The inquest was then ordered to be quashed.

A short time ago one of the under-masters at the College of
Louis-lc-Grand wrote to a gentleman in the same situation at
that of Henry IV., saying, "I shall go this evening to the thea-
tre, and afterwards shall drown myself,—have the kindness to
go to-morrow to the Morgue and claim my body." Since the
day on which the letter was written the writer has disappeared,
and though the police were immediately informed of the cir-
Ounistauces, and have made every. search, he has not yet been
found.—Paris Paper.
BODY 1)G 1N G —TO send a man to prison fur debt is to
pawn his body for a specific Alto. The gaoler is the pawn-
broker; instead of three balls, his sign is a bunch of keys.—
Pawnbrokery is, however, a rational proceeding, for the pllylge
retains the value for which it is engaged. But body-pledging
has this folly in it, that the moment the body is pledged it loses
sometimes the whole of its value, always the greater past. Put-
ting an 'honest man in prison is like taking the cork out of
champagne and double-locking it iu a coal cellar.

The annual festival in commemoration of the birth of the
illustrious William Pitt was held ou . Friday, at the City of
London Tavern, William Ralph Cartwright, esq. 11. P. for
'Northamptonshire, in the chair.
On the Chairman entering the room, accompanied by the
venerable Earl of Eldon and other noble personages, there was
a loud and general burst of approbation. The Duke of Wel-
lington did not arrive until atter dinner had commenced : but
the moment his name was announced the whole of the company
rose, and when he entered the room rung with shouts of adia,
ration.
The chairman gave with much emphasis " The King," which
was drunk with three times three, and followed by the national
anthem of God save the King.
The next toast was "The Queen," which was received with
hearty applause, and drunk with three times three. The ex-
cellent glee of here's a health to the Quaea followed, and wail
much applauded.
"The Princess Victoria and the rest of the Royal Family,"
was then drunk with three times three.

The Chairman said he had then to propose as a toast, "To
the immortal memory of the late Right -Hon. William Pitt."
(Great cheering.) That toast had beep so often and so elo •
quently given from the chair he had then the honour to fill,
that he could not hope to advance anything either novel or
worthy of the occasion. It was, indeed, a strong proof of the
high estimation in which the principles and the conduct of Mr.
Pitt were held that for seven and twenty years those meet-
ings had been continued. (Hear, hear.) Nor was that all.
He sincerely believed that at no previous period had the ser-
vices of Mr. Pitt been more highly appreciated than they were
at the inesent moment. (Cheers.) How many were there who
had aflected to think lightly of these services in the days of se-
curity who now came forward, alariiied at the danger which
threatened them, anxious to bear testimony to their worth ?
Many who had once spoken triflingly of the exertions and of
the doctrines of that great man now lamented that he was no
longer living to take the conduct of the helm, and to rescue the
country from that headlong and blind course to destruction .
which it had been launched, and along which it was now hurry-
ing with such fearful precipitancy. That was the first meeting
which the club had held since the period when that measure,
which some had called a revolution, others a new constitution,
and was generally known as the Reform Bill, had been adopted.
Such being the case, it was natural on an occasion like the
present to compare the conduct of Mr. Pitt with that of those
of different principles upon a somewhat similar occasion. (Hear,
hear.) What had been the conduct of Mr. Pitt after the first
French revolution ? Himself a reformer, but a reformer of a
very different complexion to those now in power, Mr. Pitt saw
the'danger of fomenting and encouraging, even of allowing the
spread of those principles which had unsettled and rendered
wretched France, and therefore lie availed himself of the loyal,
spirit of the country, and put down all societies which had for
their object the propagation of French politics for the uproot-
ing of the English constitution. (Applause.) Mr. Pitt did not
resort to vain and empty proclamations, but he obtained his
object by strong and effective measures. (Hear, hear.) And
what was the consequence? Why, he was enabled to carry
the country through the greatest difficulties; to rescue it front
the most appalling dangers; to give to it a fame, a prosperity,
and a glory altogether unprecedented; and, above all, to pre-
serve entire and uncorrupt its constitution. (Cheers.) And
what had been the conduct of the present Government ? Why,
from the first it had courted popular approbation. (Hear, hear.)
Further, it had yielded to pupu.ar clamour—he would not say
it had fomented it. (Loud cheering.) They had brought in a
bill which outran the wildest dreams of the wildest democrat,
and in the end had appealed to physical force for support of
that unlooked-for boon to revolution. (Great cheering.)
He liked, when examining the conduct of a liberal government,
to try it by the test of liberal writers. Now he would not long
detain the meeting with extracts, but there was a passage which
occurred in a well-known and highly-reputed author to which
he must solicit attention. The writer he alluded to was Mr.
Hallam, and the book was of the right stamp, for it was dedi-
cated to the Marquis of Lansdowne. (The hon. gentleman then
read the extract, in which Mr. Hallam stated that that form of
government was the happiest and the most beneficial which
avoided the extremes of despotism and democracy, and that no
pure democracy ever had proved, or ever could prove, perma-
nent.) The more he reflected, the more he weighed the position
of the country, the more he was convinced that the only way to
reinstate it in prosperity and security would be to restore to pre-
dominance the principles of Mr. Pitt. As he understood those
principles they embraced a system of government which gave
security to property and to person, uplie!ii the civil and reu-
ses institutions of the country, protected colonies and com-
merce (loud duce put iill••ers.ra.n"4 Letup-Ala., ef
insubordination, anarchy, and revolution. (L'oud and general
cheering.)
The toast was then drunk with four times four, and amidst
entinoiastic applause.
The health of the Duke of Wellington having been drunk
with enthusiasm, .
His Grace begged to return his best thanks for the honour
conferred ou him. They had met there to celebrate the birth
of the late Right Hon. William Pitt ; and his hon. friend the
chairman had stated, in a manner which became his subject,
the merits of that great man, and the claims he had to the grati-
tude and veneration of his country. They had met there in
token of their admiration of the principles of Mr. Pitt, and more
especially of those Conservative principles which were the only
ones that could give security, and.))rosperity, and peace to any
country for any considerable period. (Loud applause.) His
hon. friend had also drawn their attention to the blessings of
'reform (laughter),• and had sketched a picture from which their
future respects might be judged. • He was not inclined to bad
forebodings, but lie must confess that when he looked back upon
what had transpired, reflected on what was going on, and consd.er-
ed what was but too likely to come, he looked forward with a feel-
ing of gloom and despondency. He would nut draw invidious
comparisons; but he must say that he looked at the kind atten-
tions and the flattering marks of approbation of the present
company with redoubled pride and pleasure when he contrasted
their principles with those of the men who had brought the
country to its present, state of difficulties. (Great cheering.)
The Chairman said he was quite at a loss for words to propose
in adequate terms the next toast. It was the health of a vene-
rable earl (a burst of applause) near him ; one whose name was
so identified with the club as to be almost inseparable from it.
Need he say he meant the Earl of Eldon ? (Renewed cheering.)
That noble lord had long been the personal friend and the con-
fidential law adviser of the great man whose birth they were met
to commemorate, and he had intimately known. rightly valued,
and steadily adhered to his erinciples. (Great applause.)
" The health of the Earl ut Eaton" was drunk with three times
three, and rapturous applause.
The Earl of Eldon returned thanks, and said he remembered
perfectly well that when Mr. Pitt determined on resisting the
Knead of the revolutionary mania, it was said that the fleets of
Britain, the colonies of Britain, and the commerce of Britain,
would sown be prostrate before the power of France. What was
the fact ? The fleets of France were victims in our ports, the
colonies of France were yielded to our arm and the commerce
of France was absorbed by the British merchants. These were
triumphs, but they were not the greatest that Mr. Pitt hail
achieved. By the valour of a Nelson and a Wellington the fleets
and armies of the world might have been reduced, but it required
a stronger power to check that accursed spirit that blinded every
country. it spread in. Mr. Pitt saw and appreciated the difficulty
of his situation, but he regarded no effort as too onerous which
had for its object the preservation of his country. To the loya -
ty, to the good sense, and.to the patriotism of England he ap-
pealed. He did so not in mere form, but in the spirit of power
and of truth, and his call was answered with triumph. The
strength of le nation came forth to his assistance, and enabled
him to confer upon his country the greatest of all earthly bless-
ings—the preservation of the constitution. (Cheers.) It was
to nurture and to uphold the principles conducive to the maiute-
'lance of such a constitution that Pitt Clubs were founded.--
They had existed now for '27 years. and when they first were
founded, he pledged himself never to be absent from their meet-
ings as long as he was capable of attending. To that pledge he
had adhered, and ever would adhere; for in his conscience he
believed that no statesman ever lived whose conduct and whose
principles were more conducive to the public welfare than were
those of Mr. Pitt. It was in this spirit that be proposed " Pros-
- perity and perpetuity to the Pitt Club." The noble earl re-
sumed his seat amidst much cheering, and the toast was drunk
with three times three.
The Duke of Wellington proposed the health of the Chairman ,
who returned thanks ; after which the healthy of the Earl of Hare-
wood, (the President of the Club,) Lord Kenyon, the Duke of
Newcastle, the Marquis of Salisbury, Lord %lop, and Earl
Bathurst, were also drunk. •

HALIFAX PITT CLUB.
The Halifax Pitt Club held its annual meeting at the White
-Swan Inn, on Tuesday last, the 28th ult., to celebrate the anni-
versary of the birth ('this greatest of British statesmen; W. J.
Norris, Esq., iu the Chair, and John Staveley, Esq., \* ict -
Chairman.

The company sat down to dinner at five o'clock. After Non
nobis amine had been sung, the Chairman gave the following
toasts The King, and may he be blessed with many happy
returns of the day."—"The Queen."—" The illustrious me-
mory of the Duke of York."—"The Duke of Cumberland and
the other branches of the Royal Family."

In proposing " The' immortal memory of the Right Honour-
able William Pitt," the Chairman saia, It cannot have es-
caped the observation of any individual who has the use -of the
common faculties of our nature, that the great mass of our po-
pulation has long been the subject of dangerous political excite-
ment, and that amidst 'all the advantage's of education and mo-
ral instruction which it has happily been the object of many
among us to promote, there have been numerous agents of po-
litical evil at work, whose exertions have been attended With
too much success, whether the results are considered with regard
to the party purposes to which they have been applied, -or to
those feelings of discontent and disaffection which they have
but too extensively produced. lam not, I trust, about to speak
in a party spirit; for I consider that, in what I am taking the,
liberty to advance, all honest parties are equally concerned ;
and that the interests of all point in one direction, if only a e
, can agree to think so and act accordingly, fashion of the
The
day would make every man an active politician ; for the special
purpose, too, of raking up all the grievances, probable, possible,
past, present, or to come, that can be imagined; to attribute all
evils to the misrule of our statesmen; ano to see no remedy for
them but in the self-exalted wisdom of the people. Far be it
from me to disparage the judgment of any man in any station
of life whatever; but allow me to say, that those are' not the
friends of the people who would make them' politicians rather
than useful members of society; who ohm: before them every
disadvantage of their station, and conceal Irma their view the
comforts and all the happier immunities of their lives."
A lumber of appropriate toasts w,•••e Riven during the even-
ing, and the meeting, having been addressed bx several ineve•
hers of the club, separated at a late hotly, • - • •

rumour prevails among the /taut ton, that Lady Honour'
Cadugan, one of the lovely daughters, of Earl Cadogau, is about
to give her hand to the Hon. Sidney Herbert, M.P.. brother
ha:f-blond to the Earl of Fernbruie.