[List-Cumbria] Carlisle Patriot, 15 Feb 1823 - Court of King's Bench - The King v. ADDISON (2)

[Petra Mitchinson]

Saturday 15 Feb 1823   (p. 3, col. 1-4)

 

COURT OF KING'S BENCH, FEB. 6. 

  

THE KING v. ADDISON. 

 

[continued] 

 

Mr. SCARLETT, as we have said above, this day shewed cause against the rule. He said he held in his hand the affidavits of five
persons, all in respectable situations of life, and when he had stated the substance of their depositions, he apprehended the Court
would not hesitate for a moment in dismissing the application. Mr. ADDISON had lived at Caldbeck many years, and though he dealt in
tea, resided upon his own estate, as well as Captain BACKHOUSE, which descended to him from his father; he was the owner likewise of
other property. Disputes between the parties had existed since 1817, in the spring of which year, Capt. BACKHOUSE requested the
defendant to give some land, in order to widen a road leading from a County Bridge, called Gate Bridge, at the opposite end of which
the Captain has a dye-house, dwellings, and other tenements, distant only about 100 yards from his own residence. Mr. ADDISON
immediately consented, provided he could have a sufficient wall built to secure the bank behind from falling in; to which Capt. B.
replied that he was well acquainted with William NIXON, the County Bridge Surveyor, and would take care that all was right. Sometime
afterwards, Mr. A. met Mr. NIXON and Capt. B. at the latter's house, where the matter relating to the wall was arranged. About the
end of October, the same year, defendant and John GREENUP, of Caldbeck, yeoman, were appointed surveyors of highways for the
township; the ground was subsequently staked out, and the wall begun in the winter of 1817-18, but the defendant considered the
foundation insufficient for supporting the mass of earth in the rear, and stated his opinion to Mr. NIXON, the Bridge-Surveyor, and
the Rev. James LYNN, the rector of the parish and a magistrate, without due effect. In the spring of 1818, Mr. ADDISON represented
the irregular and insufficient manner in which the wall was built to GREENUP, who replied that he expected it would be so. Asked to
explain, he further said he had a reason, but to state it would breed disturbance, and he should be blamed. On being further pressed
by Mr. ADDISON, with a pledge that his name should not be used without his own consent, GREENUP declared that when the road was set
out, he heard Capt. BACKHOUSE say to NIXON, that "if the road was only well done on his (Capt. B.'s) side of the Bridge, it was no
matter how the work was done on the other side." In May 1818, the defendant made a formal complaint about the wall to the Clerk of
the Peace for the County, who directed him to attend the Midsummer Sessions and seek for redress; and also again mentioned the
subject to Mr. LYNN. Shortly after this conversation, and before the Sessions, Capt. BACKHOUSE called upon Mr. ADDISON, and
requested him to give notice of a vestry meeting, to be held in the same week, to consider the propriety of the Township making and
keeping in repair about half a mile of road leading from Caldbeck to Hesket-New-Market, which had been repaired by Capt. BACKHOUSE
and other owners of adjoining lands, by reason of tenure. Mr. ADDISON called the meeting. Mr. BACKHOUSE was present, and asked
defendant what he thought would be a fair remuneration to the township for taking the road? Mr. ADDISON replied, that whatever the
inhabitants were satisfied with, would satisfy him (defendant). Captain BACKHOUSE seemed displeased at this, as it did not
sufficiently second his views of throwing the burthen upon the Township, and the meeting broke up, without coming to any decision. A
few days afterwards, Captain BACKHOUSE, accompanied by Mr. LYNN, called upon defendant, and told him, that as the road in question
was much out of repair, he was come to give him notice, as surveyor, that he (Capt. BACKHOUSE) would repair it for the present, but
that such repair was not to be considered as throwing the liability upon him. Mr. ADDISON replied that, as surveyor, he should
consider no such thing, and represented the inutility of such a notice. Capt. B. said the defendant acted unkindly. Mr. ADDISON
observed that perhaps he might have some reason to think that Capt. B.'s behaviour respecting the wall had been more unkind; some
words followed, and Mr. ADDISON told the Captain what he had heard, who said it was a lie, and requested the name of Mr. A.'s
informant, but this was refused for the reasons before stated. Soon after this conversation, Mr. LYNN, Captain BACKHOUSE, and Mr.
NIXON called upon defendant, and said that if he would go with them and point out what part of the wall was defective, that part
should be taken down, provided he would not appear at the Sessions; to which Mr. A. agreed; and a considerable part of the wall was
taken down and rebuilt in a more substantial manner; and Mr. ADDISON, feeling that he might incur the imputation of having brought a
charge against Capt. B. which might be deemed by some to have originated with himself, if the author's name were not given up,
several times requested John GREENUP's permission to mention his name, which was refused; but the words having been afterwards
repeated by GREENUP in the presence of Henry Grayson ROBINSON, the son of a respectable yeoman in the neighbourhood, Mr. A. wrote
the following note:- 

 

"To CAPTAIN BACKHOUSE. 

  

                                                                             Caldbeck, Monday Afternoon, July 13, 1818. 

SIR,-I am sorry I have not succeeded in my endeavours; but the bearer of this will be able to satisfy you, that what I have said to
you was not a fabrication. I expect you will allow that his veracity is a good guarantee for my concealment of the person's name;
and that you will be equally satisfied with his relation of what he has heard that person acknowledge. I have no motive in sending
the bearer with this but to satisfy your mind that I have said no more to you than I had heard myself;-and as a truth that I did
hear it, I must always defend. I heartily wish a better understanding; and am, sir, your obedient servant, 

                                                                                                          "RICHARD ADDISON." 

 

This was sent by Mr. ROBINSON for the express purpose of enabling him to communicate to the Captain what he had heard the day
before, but as the latter was not home, the note was left at his house. About one on the following day, Mr. ADDISON received the
subjoined in the Captain's hand writing:- 

 

"To MR. RICHARD ADDISON. 

 

"SIR,-After what has already been said, I think it unnecessary for me to make any comment on your note left at my house last night.
I'll thank you to send me your account for the Tea I stand indebted, otherwise a charge of defraud may possibly next be brought
against me, which might at present be done on much sounder ground than the one you already advance, on the authority of a base,
cowardly incendiary, and, as I have before told you, a liar. If you have any pleasure in the friendship and society of such, I leave
you to the full enjoyment of them; and am, sir, your obedient servant,                          T. BACKHOUSE. 

 

"Tuesday morning." 

 

This was immediately answered as follows;- 

 

"To CAPTAIN BACKHOUSE. 

 

                                                                                                          "Tuesday 2 o'Clock. 

SIR,-From the tenor of your's, just received, my note must have conveyed a meaning to you, unintended by me. The bearer will explain
to you, I hope satisfactorily. I believe my associates (I mean those who are really so, not those you may assign me,) are men of
honour, and as little of cowards as you are. I am your obedient servant,                 RICHARD ADDISON." 

 

ROBINSON was also the bearer of this letter; and he was sent by Mr. ADDISON on this occasion that he might, if he saw the Captain,
satisfy his mind that defendant was not himself the author of what had been said respecting the wall; but Capt. B. was either from
home, or denied, and, of course, not seen.-On the 20th of the same month, Mr. ADDISON addressed Captain BACKHOUSE thus:- 

 

"To CAPTAIN BACKHOUSE. 

 

                                                                                                                   "July 20, 1818. 

"SIR,-Enclosed I send you your account, which would have been sent sooner had my time permitted it. Your insinuation that if this
account was not settled, a charge of defraud might be brought against you, is as contemptible as it is unjust. I have never charged
you with any thing except a want of sincerity in your behaviour to me; but I have told you what others have charged to you, of the
truth or falsehood of which I have no right to give an opinion. These things I have told to yourself; and it is somewhat strange
that you should, in two instances, turn your back upon the very information you made so much to do to obtain; and because I have
told you, it is imputed to me as a crime. Perhaps you may be of opinion that I had no right to take the least notice of it, even if
the truth of it could be made appear as clear as the sun at noon-day; and perhaps you may be right, for, nine times out of ten, it
is better to put up with an injury, and even with an insult, than to seek redress for the one, or shew resentment at the other; but
it is not every mind that can on all occasions bring itself into such refined subjection. When I was asked to lend my assistance in
a matter nearly similar to what this relates, and in which you were chiefly concerned, I imagined myself becoming more and more the
dupe of a most contemptible duplicity. The distance which fortune has placed betwixt us might lead you to believe it was my duty to
obey you; and in some instances, perhaps, it might, for it never was a wish of mine to break a single link of the natural chain of
dependence which holds society together; but it never can be a duty in any man to act with duplicity; and whilst the same spirit
animates me which does at this moment, it will never gain ascendancy over me. The latter part of your letter plainly infers that I
should not presume to write any more to you; but the abuse it contains is of so novel a nature that I consider myself as having a
claim upon your attention. You abuse an unknown person by calling him "cowardly incendiary and a liar," (it is not my business to
say whether he be so or not), and then you insinuate that he is my friend and associate. My habits will show that he is not the one;
and I have more right to say he is the other than you have. This is giving abuse by proxy; but if you think I deserve such abuse, it
would be more honourable in you to give it in a direct way. If, as I said before, you had not twice turned your back upon the
information you so much desired, I might have been saved the trouble-which never can be any satisfaction to any one. I am, &c.
RICHARD ADDISON." 

 

 

[to be continued] 

 

 

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