[list-cumbria] Carlisle Patriot, 17 Jan 1824 - Cumberland Sessions (7)

[Petra Mitchinson]

Saturday 17 Jan 1824   (p. 2, col. 5 - p. 3, col. 3)

 

CUMBERLAND SESSIONS. 

 

Wednesday, Jan. 14. 

 

[continued] 

 

The case of Mary MITCHELL, who refused to give evidence, was reverted to. The Chairman thought she ought to be committed till next
sessions. Mr. WYBERGH considered a shorter period of punishment sufficient. 

 

Mr. MATTHEWS-We cannot remand her for any specified time: we must either remand or discharge. This is the only power given by the
act. If we send her to prison till next sessions, we can then resume the consideration of her case and as we think proper. 

 

KISSACK, the police-officer, was again called. He said it was probable that the prisoner might have been threatened from the
character of the parties to whom she alluded, but he did not know that the case was so. 

 

She had been in custody only two days. 

 

It was put to the vote whether she should be remanded till next sessions or discharged with a reprimand-the latter branch of the
proposition was carried by six to four. 

 

Mr. WYBERGH then addressed the prisoner. He said-"You have met with great indulgence; for though a majority have voted for your
discharge, a number of most respectable magistrates voted to remand you. It is a great offence of which you have been guilty; let it
be a caution to you and others. You may depend upon it, if you ever come before this Court guilty of a similar transgression, your
punishment will be severe indeed." 

 

The question of Mr. HOLMES's fine was also reagitated; and Mr. BLEAYMIRE was permitted to address the Bench. He contended, that as
the Clerk of the Peace had not yet made any return to the Exchequer, the Magistrates had the power of remission; and in support of
his argument he said that the same thing was done after every assize for the county. No longer ago than last assizes, some jurors
were fined for non-attendance, and Mr. CAPES said that if affidavits, alleging a sufficient excuse, were sent to him before the next
term, nothing further would be heard of the subject. 

 

Mr. WYBERGH repeated his opinion that the Court had no power; he thought the matter coram non judice. This was not the same Court
which imposed the fine. They were not all the same Magistrates; they had assembled under a different precept. 

 

Mr. E. W. HASELL said he  knew of cases himself where fines had been remitted after the assizes, as stated by Mr. BLEAYMIRE. 

 

Mr. WYBERGH.-If you can show that a fine imposed at one assize, was remitted at the next, your case would be in point. Can you show
that? 

 

Mr. BLEAYMIRE.-I have no case of that kind: but this Court is the Court of Quarter Sessions, and the same in fact as that previously
assembled as to legal power. 

 

The Clerk of the Peace said he was quite sure the Court had no power of interference in this late stage of the proceeding. 

 

The Chairman.-It is perfectly true that the typhus fever was in Mr. HOLMES's family at the time. I will put the affidavit into my
pocket, and again mention the subject to the Magistrates in the course of the afternoon. 

 

The Court then (about three o'clock) adjourned for the transaction of the private business of the County.-We have not heard what
decision was finally made in respect to the affidavit. The question is one of public importance. 

 

The following correspondence took place in Court between two gentlemen-one official, the other closely connected with the business
of a Noble Earl:- 

 

          QUESTION. 

 

"Do you, or do you not, intend to let us have a new Court House?" 

 

          ANSWER. 

 

"Does the County of Cumberland intend to build a new Court House, or does it not?" 

 

So it seems that each side looks to the other for better accommodation. We believe the whole kingdom cannot supply a public court so
miserably inconvenient, so utterly inappropriate to its annual purpose, as the Cockermouth Court House. The proceedings are any
thing but public-a little wedged-in knot can alone hear them; and many of the magistrates themselves are obliged to stand. Oh blot
upon the liberal spirit of the age! Wipe it out, in the name of all that is rational, ye to whom it belongs, and let there be in the
ancient and far-famed borough of Cockermouth a building into which the magistrate and the suitor may enter without danger of being
squeezed to death, or of catching a mortal malady in the shape of catarrh and cold. On Wednesday last, the 14th day of January, the
audience was so closely packed during the hearing of what was called the "great goose case," the heat almost made one tremble on the
recollection of the gunpowder-store below. It was this which recalled the circumstance to the mind of the worthy magistrate who
joked on the occasion. Cockermouth Court, however, may provoke wit; but it is certainly any thing rather than a joke: It is a
serious evil, which loudly calls for remedy. 

 

 

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