The Statesman.
London, England, 1822-06-28 00:00:00

. .. . .
,
i - •
{.
.• . .
..._
r ' -
- M.-, - --
-.
‘•4 : 1,11/emmemeeela '
' ' PSTITION,OPI KNIGHT.
COMPLAINING GI ILL•7I4IAISI4IMIN LANCIIIIIIR GAOL.
.."'"IP.7-iia
A Petitiosof John Knight, .etyanchester, lately' a CM/11
, 1
prisoner is the Castle of Lancaster, was presented;
setting forth that the.petitioner, Isola:aunt of baying Prins 1 n
.. • attended a public and peaceable meritieg at Haberghani
il i Eaves, was arrested on the let of Diteeer. 1819, and whic
h
on the 3d of the same month committed to the Castle of
• Lancaster on a charge of High Treason; that the peti- .COUP
Goner previous to his commitment. was ;Opt about forty
days in a small and solitary cell, without fire or candle.
pen.ink, or paper, sort also without seeing either!. War-
rant, Gaoler, or Magistrate; and that when be arrived
1 is the Castle of Lancaster he was eosin put infestation TA
and solitary cell without fire or candle, although the
,(1.
member was so extremely cold, and the cell soisk , _
rk, 'Pe
that he could neither keep his body warm nor #ll to to rero
- read therein: vet he was kept there fire day, air six keeper
•
night, which had such an effect as to deptire him 4_ol and h
• appetite for fond. That, on the 20th of Pb.i18•20...41e 4fendan
petitioner was informed that Government, 'On the rep. „cisme
dente they then had, did not intend to proceed against
..id
..,
t him on the charge of High Treason, but on that of mis- ' 1:
demeanor only, upon which sureties were offered and 'hi' u•
accepted for the petitioner's appearance at GM time right I
of trial, notwithstanding which the petitioner's !Minos 'mobil
ir-is kept in confinement, merely because he bad beeittf6m- bored 1
1 Milted on a charge of High Treason; that dugdc years 1
the period the Petitioner remained under the. chg. ,eleg,
6f High Treason, neither friend nor relutive was •°,._,,.
•
permitted to see or speak to him; that be bad neither ~---",
I chair nor stool, nor any moveable seat, to sit on, 'ate at
1 tor knife not fork to est with, hut was lodged, clothed, oecail.
, .
•1 and fed, precisely like cosueou thieves or murderer& ,rfew
That his day-room and sleeping. room were both of them they et
, . (Old and damp; that ie the latterlie was confined from script;
Morn to seventeen hours out of the twenty-four ; and, the 0,1
that, under these unhealthy and afflictive circumstances, ~,,, li&treat portion of the Petitioner's body wasted away;
ii '4" ..
that. nitlioegh the Petitioner was neither sentenced to the ji
II ltbeur nor to live on breed and water, yet, on the Bth of tomtit'
1 11' 'iv, let he was required to work,
1 and for refusing to mien.
• . do so; •iat Ali count!' allowance of provisions was next dozen
.•
laY tailtsbeld from him, and, excepting two days, coati- men.
. „ nail to be so withheld.notil the 14th of September fol.
. • stated,
, - • Ibirtagvbeing eighteen weeks ; and from the said lath
„ -
of September to the end of his imprisonment, being more gate-pt
• 04 a year soda halt.bis only allowance was one pound 1 con
erwheaten bread per day. that on the 24th of May, former
1820, 'the Petitioner and two of his fellow prisoners Ibe
•::-. sent each a Petition to the house, complaining of suodry estate,
.• .
griecetwes, and oa the third day after that act they. and lei,.
•, '. A -.e........_ they only were removed, and ordered to sleep in ceps- The
- ' hid and solitary cells, into which they were pat without
- , li t about half-past seven in summer, sad the Pod. 3 &el°
, . • ti 's cell was so dark that he could not read therein. Plitiali
Mr tthhis removal the Keeper never assigned any reason,
. although be was repeatedly requested so to do; that in COE
'' ' -•-- ' • • Mtg. 1820, the wife of the Petitioner wept more than 50 •
pelts for the sole purpose of seeing him, yet they E
l' .
3' • were never permitted to he alone, nor .to be togs-
.
. tbeesenre than two hours in one day, and that is the The
• .
pleasant of sense third person, and is a . place where Court
, .. Others were frequently passing and remain'. That in
real i
i 1
October 1810 the petitioner, g
etitioner, en condition of his paying
10s., was removed into a more comfortable room, but in of Itch
1 . ' September 1821, he was again removed, fbr which re- ant, a '
• moval be could never obtain any reason, although lie Act of
. . ,
~ . applied both to the Keeper and to the visiting Mafia having
. . mates for that purpose: that the room into which the sion 01
1 .-, • ..- , petitioner was then pot was nearly deprived of the rays heie,, I
i • • ':i •-*.i...„ ',• ' of the sun by a large tower which stood south of, and 5
, , , • mac to, tbeonly window of that room, which rendered
above
4 . ' \ ties coons no dark there was no reading therein in the °rats°
ri rioter season, except at or near the window, and so his pos
danip,that salt tould set be kept in a dry state; the that al
. -. yard, too, allowed the petitioner for air and exercise, to eigh
, . bad so high a wall en the lamberts side that the sun ,i,„„ i,
could sever send one single ray to any 'part of the that dm
, ' i ground thereof even at noon-day. for more than siatees
wicks about tits winter solstice. Umdir these cistern- this."
1 ' stances the petitioner became affected with rbammatie °.ll the
pains, wide cootintsed 1 months, and made him Melillo
lame; that be Las been afflicted in a similar manner been c 1 • ,aisles hie liberetiou, and has too winch reason to fear of the I
that be shall be troubled therewith the remainder of his bat a d
life, he being now in the sixtieth year of his age • that ..
. whin the petitioner became afflicted with the rlietna- .t
whin w'
tins he repeatedly informed the Prison Doctor thereof, the I:"
and requested to be allowed some cordial to mix with his British
1. • common beverage, water, but this the doctor refused to was dii
grant, although he knew that without his express order that th
. Hie ifetitioner's beverage was confined to milk and water, spirit*
*or was the petitioner ever removed from that cold,
Br h
1 11 damp, sunless situation, until the expiration of his irn- ~, ~4
il.l - "e'''',te
tiener's confinement, be was obliged to deliver all his as tue,
4
ti letters-unsealed to his keepers, and that all letters ad- I Cnien
t. ; dressed to him were broken open previous to their being were DI
to
1 delivered. him, and those friends who favoured him the ins!!
!' with a visit were generally obliged to see and speak to
.. ,leo tool
1 presence of a third person ; the petitioner therefore ear-
gul
him through an aperture in a door, and always to theatio
nestlyprays, That the House will take the preceding lush al
• feels into their serious consideration, and adopt such
t ,'
Irish di
I pleasures as shall in future prevent any such restrictions counter
e a and privations from being imposed upon such prisoners, centaur]
•
. ,
and also grant to the petitioner such redress as the ma-
over in
nifold hardships and injuries he has endured may appear
allowec
to require.
„, ---
44
tight u
1 A Lists/INa FIRC.—(From the Kent Herald.)—On The wl
. ll
t f Tuesday, about six o'clock in the evening, the even. the Ac
l sire stack-yard belonging to Mr. William Minter, of 6th art
. . lckham, was discovered to be on fire at the batik, te-
of the
n 1 ' Wards the fields, which being to the windward, In a 'diet be
1 I - (ew moments communicated from stack to stack, and plete n
ii i barn to barn, so that the whole square was • continued manic
was
neaSS of dame: the devouring element quickly cow- couotr]
• • manicated to an adjoining cottage, inhabited by a the oth
poor mechanic, which it entirely demolished; in a &c.; a
5 , few minutes the workshop, dwelling house, out- tervaili
i.
buildings, of widow Sharp, a carpenter and wheel- maim!
,
li• ' right, became a prey to the devouring element: and ration I
• $ now the scene became truly awful, and the probable wire 14
consequences very alarming, fur bat a few yards die• headed
tent, across the road, in the direction of the wind, every I
•
i . 4 were an extensive range of farming buildings, with recting
ti
large wheat and bean stacks, which continued far ed few.
i i hours in extreme jeopardy. A little before 7 o'clock be pail
• an express arrived at Canterbury for aid. In about tilled i
'i •
20 minutes two engines reached the scene of degree- tits. ye
Wiwi. The attention of the conductors was directed could
4 tp allay the limiting. masses, which, with infinite la- vieweti
6. !
1,..cr, they accomplished between the hours 4.f 2 and ;its.
ii o'clock an the folioning. morning. A very line cow, view o
. ~.
• a , l k favourite pony, two greyhounds, some poultry, rah. other .
bits, &c. were burnt in the devouring element. The article
1 1
'cries of die poor pony, while he was enveloped in procit,
1 . flames. were of the most heart-rending description.Tbe two cc
:.
,
stacks consisted chiefly of seeds, straw, &.c. The loss in this
1 falls very heavily on the widow Sharp, whose house is street
'burnt to the ground, and all the yard a mass of in. would
'i, 1 I I . jnred timber. The cense of the fire is involved in tags.
wiptery, but suspicion attaches to an individual which
(whose tame, from motives of delicacy, we forbear to or eel
• mention) wh.. was teen near the spot where the firq ha n
commenced, and who is said to be deeply tinctured said I
with iusanity. the Is
,
~,,
.. vto. .