The Statesman.
London, England, 1812-06-10 00:00:00

LAW INTELLIGENCE.

COURT OF KING'S BENCH, Stre&
GILBERT E. STYES.
BET ON BONAPARTE'S LIFE.
Mr. TOPPING she wed cause agidist the rule for a
new trial in this case, which arose óät 'of a bet made
about ten years ago, at the table of the Defendant,
Sir Mark Aykes. The report
.stitettt that after din.
ver, the Plaintiff, whoa was alt Cla,rolians was Pt&
• I
sent with others, and •the bottle earOlatin; Pretty
freely, the affairs of the Continent, end the supposed I
precnriou•ness of the situation, of Bonaparte, came
under discussion;, upon which Sir Mark said, he
would give a guinea a day for his life. fox a hundred ,
gui:4 as. Upon this the reintiff said, " done—
The company present exclaimed, " no bet.", The
Plaintiff* said, if Sir Mark mead ask it as a favour,
be should " be off;" but Sir Mark replied, Iteseeald
never ask a favour at his own table, The next day
the Plaintiff sent Sir Mark'Sybes 10A1- witch la ar-
cepted, and paid the bets up in the Ist of January,
1801, amounting to 0151. without the income tax ;
after that he ceased, and this action was brought for
the arrears. The Jury foun4 for the Defendant.—
A rule was granted to set this verdict aside, on the
ground that it was against evidcoce. Mr. Topping
and Mr. Scarlett now chewed cause against the rule,
mid then argued that it was a bet against law, inas-
much as it gave an interest to the Plaintiff to pre-
serve the life of Bonaparte, and in the event of an
invasion be would have an interest against the gene.
ral interest of the state. They also argued, that it Ma
either an annuity or au insurance on the life of Hobe:
parte. If it were an insurance on his life, it was
void by statute, because the Plaintiffhad no interest
in the life insured. And as an annuity, it was also
void, because it had not complied with the neces-
-tary formalites of the Annuity Act.
Mr. Har.r.oca was about to hare argued the case
on the same side, bat was stopped by
Lord ELLENBOROUGII, who said, they would hear
the argument further to-morrow ; but he expressed
his wonder, that it had not been argued on the ground
of interest the other way. It went to mite an in-
terest much more horrible than the .one stated. It
went to excite an interest to the crime of assassina-
tion. The person win) thus paid an annuity on the 1
life of ati enemy, was interested to put a period to
thatlifel and as he might dir it against an May,
withotit being answerable to the laws of his owl,
country, ft etickestly promoted an interest, by far
more end moat to be guarded against by all civilized
Stales; namely, en interest to assassinate. lie
wished the Coensel to consider the question in this j
view on the next argument. The argument was then
adjourned, and Mr.'Justice BAILEY tried some un- I
important causes at Nisi Prius.

The following articlo is extracted from the
Ply-
mouth Telegraph :—" On Wednesday was commit.
ted at the Town Hall, by the Rev, Mr. Justice Wit_
!inns, Jame:
.Gilson, first mate of the Queen trans.
port, for the waist murder of Patrick Fitzgerald,
boy about I I years of age, during a voyage to Port
Mahon, in January last. This murder seems to
have been of the most unprovoked description.
I)uring their voyage, a signal was made to the
transport by the convoying ship to carry more sail,
which was answered by the former ; but, in lowering
the pendant, it •became entangled in the main stays,
and Fitzgerald was ordered by Gilson to proceed
aloft in order to clear it. Fitzgendd. unused to the
sea, did not execute the taoc so quickly as Gilson
Avished, in consequence of which, he was ordered to
stand on the msintop.gallent yard for several hours,
by way of punishment. The weather at this time
being peculiarly inclement, the boy, terrified by his
situation, and shivering with cold, cried most bitter- I
ly, when Gilson went up himselfwith a rope to beat
hits; but the' boy, in endeavouring to avoid him,
' lost his hold, felt into the sea, and was drowned.
litottdarse'maght, Daniel 'Redesh sold his wife in
4Shelfield market-place for six-penile, and actually
delivered her to the purchaser In a !Wail Which cost
nine-pence.