The Sun. — 1801-11-21 (London, England)

THE KING V. WEST.  THE ATTORNEY GEN:ERAL prayed the judgment of the Court on the Defendant John Clayton West,. who was tried a good while ago before the Lord Chief, lilAitox of the Exc uNttE ft, at the Assizes for the County of Norfolk. The Defendant was Purser of a Ship of War, called the' Sirius, and is such entitled to an allowance of one halfpenny 4: man,per day. That as such Purser, thelndidnient stated, he made and forged, and counterfeited and' published as true,. a certiLate, purporting to have . been signed by certain Officers: of the Ship, bywhich he obtained. wrongfully 571. is: Bd., the money of our Sovereign Lord the King, as money due to him the Defendant, whereas in. truth *id in fad:no such money was dub Sze." Upon this Indiament the Defendant was found guilty, there being no defence made at the Trial. Mr. ERsKix-c now said, that he held in his hand an affidavit made 'by the Defendant, with a view of presenting it to the Court as matter for tion of punishment; but as part Of- that ,affidavit, was found to clash with the verdia which the Jury had-pronounced on the Defendant, he knew not whether it might not be as well for him not to give it in to be read.  The A-rroNiv GENERAL said, that if any part of the' affidavit. was ,to be made use' of, the whole ought to be read. " •  The affidavit was 'accordingly read; in it the Defend-ant stated, that he had been seventeen years in, the service, eight of -which he had been in the capacity of Purser ; during all which time he had conduAtd. himself! well, and had never been the subject of -complaint. That once, at the risk of his life, he siezed certain letters '.-which were intended-to convey information' to the Enemy, and sent them up-. to .the. Puke of Portland, who bf means ;of his Secretary had acknowledged the receipt of them,- and was pleased to afyrove of the uondu6l of the'Defendint in that pa-rticular. That on'acCount of pressure for the money for the pay'merit of stores, he did sign the names of the Officers mentioned to the certificate, but that in to 'doing, }he hnd no intention of committing any fraud whatever. -Thatindeed-he had• leave to do this on behalf of the Ocers; Who did not Wis%,that their 'absence should lie always taken notice of by their superiors, -which must have been the case if he had not siLined this certificate. That this was a'custom for along time established in-the service, but which he was unable, from' the pressure of. his circum. stances, to p'rove at the Trial, and therefore he was 'convided; bat, that since- his conviction he had suffered ten months imprisonment,' in which his' wife had fallen a sacrifice to -sorrowt That for himself he had fallen into unmerited-poverty and contempt, and was subjected to insult, and to every evil which human nature was organized to receive. That he never was accused of any other-offence, &e. Mr. ERSKINE then, on behalf of the Defendant, addressed the Court in mitigation ri,l punishment,  The Plaintiff is. an _eminent Attorney in Chan. , cery.tarie:.:Some years since !L.!. rurchased an Estate in Esser, at a public Audion, by Messrs-Skiitner And Dyke., purporting to; be .theEstatei, in fee simple,. of Thomas Rudiaud,;the elder ;= a Convey'. ance was made to him of this- Estate:-by Thomas . Rudland the, elder; and the rnon4 ter which it was knocked down paid over' to him by. Mr. Collet. .IRudiand, the elder, died in the year 1/80, 'Mr. collet's 'Tenant being then in .the peaceable,and undisturbed possession, without any knowletige of previous iiicumbtancesi •and in 1791 Ejeftments were served upon him, first by John Hyams, .as a  After stating-several, other Legacies, he desires the residue of- his -fortune to be divided between Simpson's Hospital and the House of Industry ; and it is remarkable; that he bequeathed tol. each to. the two.servants living with him, who are the identical perkins now accused with his murder. The post-boy conveying the mail from Carrickmacross to Ardee, was stopped on the 9th instant, between the Mill ,of Louth and Tallanstovvn, by two armed men,, who -knockd him off his hurse, and robbed him of the whole of the Mail,• containing the post-bags of Aughnachy, Ba4bay, .Carrickmacross, Coote-hill, Derry, Monaghan, N. Limcvady, N. T. Stewart, .Omagh, and Strabane. —A reward of tool. has been offered for the ap. prehension of one or both of the Offenders, by the Post-masters Genetal. • On Saturday several persons were taken into Cils . Cody for the 'wider of ,Mr. Barry.. • • ,  . I,ONDON : Printed by