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foundest secrecy on money matters, and requesting the matter might be unknown to any person but his lordship and the writer, until the marquis should return to England. This letter was sent to the marquis's town residence. He was in Ireland at the time he received this letter; and, on his return, he was not surprised that a knowledge of his pecuniary embarrassments should have reached the writer.

He there

fore answered the letter, and desired a personal interview; but Walker was in such a state of rags and wretchedness, that he could not appear; and yet those wealthy gentlemen, who were so ready to procure for the Marquis of Headfort 60,000l., could not, amongst them, raise money enough to purchase a suit of clothes in which to dress their chosen actor for the purpose of playing his part at the proposed interview; and therefore another person was chosen, whose name, in charity, he would not mention, because his evidence this day might be adduced in further exposing the machinations of this foul and fraudulent conspiracy. Upon some further consultation, it was agreed that Walker had blown up the plot, and another person, named a Mr Edward Meyer, a count, by titular assumption, was chosen at the recommendation of Mr Sedley, and a second letter was sent to the marquis from Meyer, proposing to lend the money.

In this letter Meyer recurs to the accommodation proposed by Richard Walker-offered, as he states, to the mercantile house in which he is a partner: but as his partners have rejected the business as out of the way of their concerns, he (Meyer) states, that having solely taken, on his own private account, a business wholly unconcerned with his partners' export trade, he is, if his lordship stands in need, ready to accommodate him with 6 or 80001. for four or six months; after which time he would renew the secu

rities for four or six months longer; and do the like again, if it should not be perfectly convenient for his lordship to pay the money. This letter is da ted the 14th of December, 1809, from 21, Little St Thomas Apostle's; the very counting-house, which, as he was ready to prove on the testimony of the widow from whom it was rented, had been taken by the prisoner Kieruft, and the rent paid by Sedley, both of whom were frequently there together. This letter also enjoins profound secresy; it appears to be copied in the hand-writing of John Sedley, the son of the prisoner; and the original draft, in the prisoner's own hand, is found amongst his papers, on his apprehension; so loosely and incautiously will such persons sometimes act, when wrapt up in an imaginary security from all discovery. The marquis, in conse quence, agrees to an interview. Mr Walker's absence is accounted for by a statement, that he is in the country, confined with the gout. The Count Meyer comes to the marquis elegantly dressed, and being a man of specious ad dress, found no difficulty in imposing on the credulity of the marquis, nor would, perhaps, on the discernment of persons much more acute and conversant with the practices of such persons. The marquis asked Meyer how he proposed to accommodate him; and Meyer answered, by purchasing merchandizes for the securities, and then turning them into money. The noble marquis however, decidedly objects to this mode, and to every thing like having his securities brought into the mercantile market; but insists, that whatever was the amount received must be in money. Upon this Count Meyer took his departure; but on the very next day the marquis receives another letter, the contents of, and the circumstances connected with, which, it would be of the utmost importance to the jury to attend to; because it would develope a

sort of bye-plot, still deeper than any stratagem hitherto practised; and under the pretence of personal knowledge of and respect for the marquis, to guard him against imposition, by a manœuvre, which was obviously and insidiously calculated to lull all his suspicions, and to lure him into the very trap against which it pretended to guard him. This letter was signed by the name of a person calling himself O'Brien, and pretending to be a wealthy merchant. It is not addressed to the marquis, but to a lady then in his house, who, it was naturally supposed, would communicate its contents to his lordship. It professed an intimate knowledge of his lordship's family, and his property; it states a knowledge of Meyer having visited his lordship, and cautions him against any money transactions with Meyer, whom it states to be an artful usurer, extremely rapacious, and who had amassed an immense fortune by usurious transactions, and who would exact the exorbitant terms of 8 per cent. It stated, that this Meyer had advanced in this way large sums to certain branches of the royal family, and in particular 50,0001. to the Prince of Wales; that his mode of negociating securities was by pretended purchase of merchandize, of which he usually made fictitious sales to his clerks, at a pretended loss of 8 per cent, and charging the loss to the borrower: thus artfully pretending to guard his lordship against usurious extortions, to which he knew he must submit, while it insinuated that Meyer was a man of immense wealth, who had the means in his power of accommodating his lordship in all events, and thus lulled all suspicion of insecurity in trusting him with his acceptances. The draft of this letter was found amongst Sedley's papers, and the letter sent to the marquis is in the handwriting of his son John. Immediately after this comes a letter from the same

counting-house, signed by the name of Edward Meyer, dated 20th December, 1809, purporting, that he could now purchase, on very low terms, a quantity of port wine, very good, at four and six months credit, which he could sell in a few days again at risk'; and if his lordship would allow him to draw upon him for 30001., one half at four and the other at six months, he would purchase the wines, and his lordship might draw upon him for 28001. at 21 days, which would give him time to put the wines again into his own stores, and sell them again to the trade, without giving the business the appearance of a money transaction; and as soon as his own acceptances were paid, he would shew the account, and settle the balance to his lordship's satisfaction. This also was in John Sedley's hand-writing, and so little disguised, that on the slightest examination it might have been discovered to be the same hand with that signed O'Brien. This was followed by a series of other letters, signed by Meyer's name, and written in the hand of young Sedley; which ended in the obtain ment from his lordship of the bills in question to the amount of 50001. A day or two after those bills were passed, a letter comes to the marquis, signed by G. Kieruft, dated from No. 4, Panton-square, January 3th, 1810; in which the writer states, that he has received from Edward Meyer his lordship's acceptance for 5001. which he very much wished to convert into two bills, and he drew and inclosed two for his lordship's acceptance at 6 months, the one for 3001. the other for 2001. and saying that on Monday afternoon following, on receiving those bills accepted from his lordship's porter, he should leave with him that which he held. The letter concludes with this remarkable paragraph, that when the bills became due, he should, if required, renew them, according to Mr Meyer's

engagement with his lordship. He received the two drafts as he requested. Kieruft, however, had denied all connection with Sedley or Meyer.

Here Lord Ellenborough interposed. His lordship said, he had no doubt of the correctness of the statement, but still, from the whole, it did not appear there was any fact to sustain the charge of a felonious taking against either of the prisoners; and if even the fact of felonious, taking had been proved against Meyer, if he were present, the most that could attach upon the other prisoners was, as accessaries, or as receiving the property knowing it to be stolen: but the charge in this latter case was obviated by the circumstance of exchanging the bills with Lord Headfort, upon whom, no doubt, a most grievous fraud had been effected. But the court were now met to decide upon a charge of felony, which could not, in his lordship's opinion, be sustained upon the circum stances stated. What force those circumstances might have, if proved upon trial for a fraudulent conspiracy, was quite another affair; but that case was not now before the court; therefore, although the court would not now give any opinion as to what might be the result of another and a different form of proceeding, the felonious stealing charged now could not be sustained by the circumstances detailed by the learned counsel.

Mr Alley, with great deference, stated, that the impression on his mind had been, that constructive guilt of conspiracy and combination could be brought home in this case, as well as in that of libel or burglary; where, although the party accused is not guilty of actually breaking open the house, yet, if it shall appear to have been broken open by his procuration or stratagem, it is as much his guilt as if he actually forced the doors.

Lord Ellenborough admitted this

principle with regard to felony; for, whether the party charged was waiting at a distance from the remainder of his gang, or whether by tapping at a door he induced the master inside to open it, and thereby procured entrance with a felonious intention, the guilt was the same as if forced open by himself; but constructive proof could not be admitted to prove a felony under the present circumstances, although it might be an act of trespass: beside, the exchange of the bills put the charge of felony out of the case, with regard to Kie ruft; for his having any lien or property in the bills for one moment obviated all charge as to his felony, whatever might be the effect of those circumstances, if proved under another form of proceeding..

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Mr Alley then proceeded to state another part of the transaction which he termed still more atrocious than all the rest, and calculated, when Lord Headfort, refused, by the advice of his friends, the payment of those bills out of which he had been defrauded, to terrify him into the payment by one of the most abominable insinuations ever devised for such a purpose. A letter to Lord Headfort, signed by a person subscribing himself John Yeates, stated, that some friends of his held three of his lordship's bills for 15001, drawn upon him by Edward Meyer, which they very much wished to get rid of, having lately discovered that Meyer was a person notorious for propensities the most unnatural and abominable, and had been twice punished under the sentence of the law for unnatural crimes. It stated, that the writer and his friend were well satisfied that his lordship was unacquainted with this character of Meyer's when he accepted those bills, otherwise his lordship would not blend his name on paper with such a ruffian's; neither did his friend, who took the bills from Meyer, know any thing of his character at the time, or

they would not have had any thing to do with him. The letter concludes, by offering to introduce his lordship to a man who would lend him 10,000l. for any length of time, provided he would agree to pay the 15001. out of it. This letter was in the hand-writing of the prisoner Sedley, and dated from his residence, No. 5, Gray's Walk, Lambeth, zd of May, 1810. His lordship treated this letter with the contempt it deserved; it was afterwards followed up by several other letters of a like tendency, signed by the name of John Phillips, dated from 14, Swithin's-lane, Lombard street, all tending to terrify his lordship in the same infamous way; and the last of which, after endeavouring to induce his lordship to pay those bills, under the dread of blending his name with that of a man so implicated as Meyer, artfully submits the copy of a posting-bill, advertising the acceptances of Lord Headfort, paid by Meyer to Mr John Williams, and by him to the said John Phillips, stating Meyer to be a common swindler, notorious for another abominable crime, who never had any residence at 14, Little St Thomas Apostle's; had been twice pilloried for the crimes already stated, and offering a reward of 201. for his apprehension, payable by this John Phillips, at 14, St Swithin's-lane. He proposes to send thirty of his own workmen to paste up ten thousand of these handbills all over London and its suburbs. This by way of assisting his lordship, whose consent he asked for the publication, to lay hold of Meyer, and get from him the money to pay acceptances which he gave his lordship in exchange for his; or, in all events, obliging him to pay the bill in Phillips's hands, which was paid to him for a valuable consideration: thus endeavouring insidiously to terrify the noble marquis to pay those bills, under the menaced alternative of paving

his

own

the walls of the metropolis with ten thousand posting-bills, in conjunction with that of a proclaimed swindler and reputed monster. Now all these letters from Phillips would, he said, be proved to be in the hand-writing of Sedley, and that the drafts of them were found at his house.

Here again Lord Ellenborough interfered, and said, that still it did not appear there was any proof of felony against Kieruft in this case.

Mr Alley admitted the case as against Kieruft was not quite so strong as against Sedley; and not being able to sustain the felony, he should relinquish that part of the case as to him. If he had sooner seen the indictment, he would have indicted Sedley at the Quarter Sessions, as an accomplice before the fact, and Kieruft as an accessary after it.

Lord Ellenborough repeated his former opinions as to the grievous fraud upon Lord Headfort; but the question now to try, was whether a felony could be proved. It would be first necessary to prove the facts as to how the property was obtained, and then see how the law applied. If the bills were handed to Kieruft merely as a servant, or agent to obtain the money, and he had embezzled them, then the felony would be complete; but the fact of exchanging them for the bills with his lordship, repelled the charge of felonious taking.

Mr Alley then declined pushing the prosecution further, after the opinion expressed by his lordship; and no evidence being offered, the jury, under the direction of Lord Ellenborough, acquitted the prisoners of the felony.

Mr Alley immediately addressed the court, and declared his intention of prosecuting both the prisoners at the next Middlesex Session for the conspiracy, and therefore moved that they be detained. He afterwards, however, consented to Kieruft's being enlarged

upon his former recognizance, in 8001., until trial at the sessions.

Sedley applied to the court to be discharged upon his recognizance; but the court refused, until it should be known whether the grand jury should find or ignore the indictment for the conspiracy.

Kieruft, who had been out upon his recognizance, appeared so extremely agitated when first put to the bar for arraignment, that he burst into tears and was near fainting. He is a man of a gentlemanly appearance, and on being given the choice usual to all foreigners on such occasions, preferred a jury of all Englishmen.

Sedley betrayed no want of firmness. His counsel, Mr Adolphus, applied to the court to have his papers restored; and he himself stated, that a printed book had been taken away with his papers, of inestimable value: but Lord Ellenborough said, he could make no order to restore any papers which might risk the destruction of evidence on either side. The papers must therefore remain with the clerk of the court, where the prisoner might have access to them for the purposes of his defence; but it was more peculiarly incumbent, his lordship added, to refuse to restore those papers now, as he had just been informed by the respectable magistrate of UnionHall, who committed him, that a great number of the papers seized at Sedley's house were of such a nature, that he felt it his bounden duty to lay them before the Secretary of State, in whose possession they now were.

At the assizes last week at Thetford, for the county of Norfolk, the judge, in his charge to the grand jury, after congratulating them on the very few great crimes contained in the present calendar, observed, that in a calendar which had as usual, and very properly, been sent to him, he remembered a name which did not appear in the calendar now before him; it was a

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man named Baldwin, accused of a rape; that man had since been bailed: the bailing of a person charged with capital felony ought not to be; there was no power given to bail in such cases. If it was a groundless charge, applica tion should have been made to the Court of King's Bench. His lordship added, that he noticed this, because he was afraid the circumstance originated in some mistake as to the right of magistrates to take bail; but he hoped such of them as heard him would take care that a similar occurrence did not again take place.

THE MAPLESTROM. -A Danish paper states, that this dreadful whirlpool, situated to the westward of the coast of Lapland, has, within the last two years, increased its phenomena. It now stands fifteen minutes every fifth hour. Vessels at the distance of eight or nine English miles are no longer safe; and its attractive force, when agitated by a storm, will even reach them, or the larger kind of animals, at the distance of ten miles, and impetuously hurry them to certain destruction in the gulph. Two vessels, from Norway to the Vigten Islands, having been driven last summer within nine miles of the Maplestrom, and imagining themselves secure, as its operation was thought to be confined to six miles, were on a sudden carried away by the torrent, and with their crews entirely lost.

At the April meeting of the Morayshire Farmer Club, they bestowed their annual honorary rewards on the following six faithful and attached servants. These rewards consisted of a coat to each, from the manufacture of Messrs Johnstone and Sim, of Newmill, (of the same quality as is worn by all the members of the club) with plated buttons bearing this inscription "The reward of faithful service."

James Gray, 36 years farm servant to Sir James Gordon, Bart., of Let

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