The Statesman.
London, England, 1818-10-17 00:00:00

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the Eng%blow, betkort they saletnniie then, in order this to
avoid the risks of challenge, and of criminal prosecution. • '
According to these view.. the original deliverance on the pre-
Watactinn. Oren by the whole Members of this Court; did en-
tertain this suit in respect of Abe decision in the Court of Re-
view, in the case of Rowland, to which allusion has been made.
A Judze. officiating singly in this Tribunal during the ram-
.sinn of the other Judiemareseconsequently has no question
still before him upon which lie can even consult his breihren ;
and a sentence restoring the Pursuer to the rights and freedom
p, tot single newton. as if her hnshaud were naturally dead, and dis-
solving their marriage as to him likewise, must, therefore, go
forth, on account of the adultery committed by the Defender
with the woman proved to have been his paramour.
These observations are not made to express the pain felt in
reflecting open the ronsequences whieh have actually followed
on a similar occasion, nr which may ensue from this decision,
if the parties shall trust in its validity in their own land ; nor
would it be proper, In this place, to descant upon the evils to
which the British People at.large might be expose', were a
matter of such vital importance to them to remain iu this predi-
cament. Nth ugh to all of them, in every rank and class,
ihatever affects the rights and security of marriage, legitimacy,
and divorce, as well as the coarse ofjust ice, the stability of the
Law s. the credit of the judicatures, evidently must be deemed
of the very highest moment. But it is necessary to explain the
present state of the different laws as to divorce, which now pre-
vail in the several kingdoms of this United Empire. for the
purpose of putting these individual parties upon their guard
against the dangers that must infallibly arise to them-elves. and
to their innocent offspring, if they shall overlook the collision
which exists, and shall enter into new marriages under the ju-
risdiction of the law of England during their joint lives. They,
it is probable, have severally returned to England, as soon as
their attendance here ceased to be necessary for the purpose of
carrying through this divorce ; and their connection with this
.llndicattwe, which commenced with the present ease, will ter-
minate for ever, when the decree which the clerk is ahont to
read shall be subscribed. It is, however. the daisy of a Solici-
tor, which no doubt v. ill be well fulfilled, to inform his client
as to the opinion of the Court, the notes of which, as now deli-
vered, he may have for abut use.

STAITSICIAN

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AN' titkOCIOUSC.ISE PRJUD.

Maststorrationr.—A man named John Powell was brought
before the LORD M•YOR, 00 a charge• of having robbed his fa-
ther of 1,3751. The Prisoner appeared to be near)y 40 year. of
sage, his father is upwards of 70, and labours under many infir-
mities and miteortunes.
It reached the ears of Mr. Hodson, a respectable Solicitor iu
Or:iy-5 Inn, that the old man who had been the dupe of many
strangers, wart at Lot imposed up.•n by his own son, aim put a
finishing stroke to his lathe'', pecuniary calamities. by &pris-
ing him of every farthing he had in the would. The father is
now in Whitecross-street Prison u, On an execution, which Mr.
Hudson's deo k said was issued against him b) a pretended cre-
ditor, who first Omitted posse►sion of some building leases
which the old man had, and then, by wry of r comaence, threw
him into prison on air imaginary obligation. it thus became
indispensanly necessary for Mr. Powell to employ some
person to receive the interest. of bis property in the Batik,
which lay ill the ifeduced 'three per Cents., and pro-
duced about.4ol. per annum. He appointed his son to this otti. e,
and signed the documeut, which he wits given to understand em-
powered that person to receive the dividend. Upon enquiry at
the Bank, however, it was foun t that the deed atahonsed lite
Pri-oner to receive the 0116011, instead of the interest ; the
instrument to which the old mau's name was annexed tieing no-
thing less than the power of attorney, transferring the whole
amount from thefather (tithe son. Although it was well known
Out nothing was further fano the elder Mr. Powell's intro ion
than this mode of disposing of his property, yet his signature
*tout the bottom of the deed, and the p oprrty became subject*
to the controul of the son, and immediately disposable as the
new prop, imor-s will. In thi- extremity it was thong :t neces-
sary by Mr. Hodson to have the Proimer apprehended, and
Is 'might before the Loid savor.
Mr. EMIR(' clerk to Mr. Hodson, described the old man as
bending under bis infirmities, in fact, dying by inches; and
stated, that though he was exceedingly illiterate, he perfectly
well onderstiood the instinetions he had given his son with re-
gard to the property. Nilson, he said, brought to him a paper,
taut ming him that it was no authority to receive the di v 'dead.
Without any suspicion of its real to dency, the father signed
this paper, observing to him at the same time; he was metric to
receive the dividend, to pay 101. a week to his father, and to
appropriate the remainder to his own uecroilies. Mr. Elliott
aito said that a person mimed Cannon had mentioned to I%in
some circumstances which proved beyond a doubt the guilty
c aiduct of the Prisoner. This Cannon was, it seems, by his
own ackno% 'ragmen!, present when the deed was signed by
the father, nod declared that the son presented it to him as a
ower to recede therlividend, at the same time knowing that
it was of the sweeping injurioas nature described. This person,-
who allowed such an act to be done w idiom even awakeiiiiig the
suspicions •f the father, also declared that the two w finesses to
the iniquitous transfer were presented by the Prisoner with a IL
note each for their sery.Ces. The pr spec sof the father might
he itringibed from the tact, th it Of the last half year's dividend,
his on had given him no more than Si. 19s.
M.. Rooker, clerk to the SoliciturS for the Bank, unaided at
the retrest of the Loud Mayor, who wished to know whe•her
the Prisoner could toot he indicted fax forgery. To this Mr.
Rooker ti•plied, utat in his opinion the case was ant one of for- ,
eery. He was po-itive that it was a very gross conspiracy to
commit fraud, and mentioned the fart of the present to each of
the witnesses as a ►'rong evidence of the fraudulent intention.
The Lono Maxim observed, that the case win: indeed an
atrocieu• one. The Pi homer, lie said, should stiffer the utmost
punishment if he reamed the re-tran.fer the property to his fa-
ther. In hi► Lordship's opinion the life of the matt (Wore him
Was in jeopardy, and probable the Bench might he dit ided on
such a case us to the decisive nature of the punishine. I.
The Prisoner said, his father had given him the whole sum,
but he was determined to give his father the use, or interest of
it, as long as he lived. He hesita:ed upon the proposal to
refund.
Mr. Minna rated, that the Bank had, upon the representa•
lion just made, ordered ,hat the transfer should not be acted
upon for a day.
The LAD MAYOR said, he trusted the Bank would act de-
cisively on such an occasion. They knew the transfer as
fraudulent, anti surely they would not nitwit it as binding.
Mr. HODSON agree,' that 'he menus taken to procure the sig.;
nature were illegal, bet observed that the signature was that of
the father. _ _ . _

The Loan MAYOR.—In sech a ease, I would defy all conse-
quences, and act from mere impulse.
Mr. Flliott saic4 he should enquire particularly; into the
grounds of the old man's imprisonment.
Tile Pr.tener's "inter said, her brother's object was to keep to
Wincelf all the nroper,y which her father intended to divide
mango seven children.
The rri,on r was committed for further examination ; after
vrliich he will certainly be indicted, if he persists in his refusal
to re-transfer the i;risi. •