407. LEONARD WILSON proceedingsdefend was indicted for feloniously stealing, on the 3d of May , a silver tea-spoon, value 2 s. and a watch called a dumb repeater, set with brilliants in gold, value 37 l. the property of Sir George Stanton proceedingsvictim , Bart.

Sir GEORGE STANTON < no role > , Bart. sworn.

The prisoner attended on my son's person, and he spoke Latin to him; my little boy speaks Latin, and this man is conversant in Latin; I have other masters to him, but he dressed and undressed him, and also spoke Latin to him; my son is eight yearsold; on Sunday the 3d of May, he asked me leave to go out to see a friend in the afternoon, I gave him leave, and desired him to be at home time enough to put the boy to bed, he was at home about half after 8 o'clock, and went up stairs and put him to bed; about half after 9 o'clock I was informed he was gone out again, which I was surprized at; after waiting some time I ordered my door to be shut about 12 o'clock; he did not return that night; on the next morning my wife took notice her watch was missing, I went up to the usual place where it hung, and it was not there, I went to the watchmaker's who had it to repair, in order to know the name and number which I had forgot; the same day I went to Bow-street, hearing the man had been seen in town; as I was giving an account of the robbery, Mr. Heather, who is now in Court, came in and produced the watch, which he said he had stopped on a person that had sold him a spoon; that person I afterwards saw was the prisoner, on producing the watch I perceived it was mine.

JOHN BECK HEATHER < no role > sworn.

I have two shops; on Monday the 4th of May, the prisoner brought this spoon into my front shop about noon; he offered it to sell; I gave him two shillings and three-pence for it; then he went into my back shop and produced this watch to one of my young men, that he wanted to buy a watch exactly like that; when I went in, I asked him what he pleased to have, he held the watch at about a yard distance; I said, let me see it; as soon as I opened it, I asked him where he lived, and how he came by it; he gave me the watch into my hand, and I asked him if he knew the maker's name of the watch; he said it was made in Dublin; I asked him some more questions how he came by it, and in a passion he snatched violently at the watch, but I did not part with the watch; I stopped him immediately, and sent down to Bow-street, I took the watch to Bow-street, and found Sir George there; the prisoner was immediately taken to Bow-street, he never got away the least in the world; Sir George immediately owned the watch.

(The watch produced and deposed.)

PRISONER's DEFENCE.

My Lords and Gentlemen of the Jury; I shall tell the affair what gave rise to it, and also to my taking it; I received permission on a certain Sunday from Sir George, to visit a certain number of friends, being obliged to quit their company at 7 o'clock to put the young boy to bed, I made a promise to return again to the company; having occasion to go into my Lady's room, I saw this watch hanging up, I judged it might be convenient for me to put it into my fob to know the hour of returning, I went to them, we happened to stay out longer than I imagined, then it was too late for me to return back to Sir George's; in consequence of which we were about to spend the whole night drinking and revelling; in the morning I was so drunk I did not know what I was saying, but that my taking the watch did not proceed from any villainous intention, can easily be seen from certain circumstances that attended it and my apparel. At the shop I sold a little tea-spoon which I found the morning before in St. James's-street, the pawn-broker never asked me whether that spoon was found by me, or whether it was my property, or whether it was stolen or not; or if I had any intention of selling the watch; however I never offered to sell it or pawn it; it may easily be seen from that circumstance alone that my intention was not either to sell it or pawn it; I could have no great diffidence at the time with respect to the pawn broker's buying it, for he bought the spoon; secondly he asked my address which I readily gave him; if I was any way apprehensive, I should have given him a wrong address, but I gave him my right address: I have not many acquaintance in this country; Sir Georgehad a very good character with me, and that person that gave him the character, is the only person that knows me.

Sir George. I know nothing of him except from the character that an usher at an academy wrote to me of him. The prisoner appeared very distressed when he came to me, and as I knew that men may be very honest though very much distressed, I was cautious, I wrote to a man the name of Lawrence, an usher at Greenwich, and he wrote me a letter that had very much the appearance of candor, and said he doubted not but he would behave very well, unless he got into the company of some of his own countrymen, who were great cormorants, speaking of some of the lower sort of Irishmen that were in London; I understood he had been bred in Paris with intent of being a priest, but did not chuse it, he speaks latin very well.

GUILTY .

Prisoner. The gentleman, the pawnbroker, says I made a violent snatch at the watch; I never thought of it; besides he allowed that I never offered either to sell or pawn the watch, nor asked the value of it; all that I said of it was, had he such a thing in his shop.

Court to prisoner. You have been convicted upon the most clear and satisfactory evidence of a crime, attended with such circumstances of aggravation, that if, as from the circumstances of the crime, you had been indicted and found guilty of the capital offence, I certainly should not have recommended you to any mitigation of that sentence which the law would have inflicted; and it is highly probable, from his Majesty's attention to justice as well as to mercy, that your life would have been forfeited. Most unquestionably humanity stands foremost in the list of virtues; yet I cannot give entire approbation in this case to the conduct of the prosecutor, arising from that motive; I think Sir George Stanton < no role > , in not charging you with a capital crime, has sacrificed a good deal of public justice at the shrine of humanity. It is my duty therefore to enforce the justice of the country, as far as the law will now permit me to do it; and I cannot shut my eyes against the circumstances attending this fact. You were admitted into the house of Sir George Stanton < no role > under a double trust; you were received in distress from motives of humanity, you were admitted in the double trust of a servant, and the still more sacred one of an attendant on his child: you were admitted on account of having had an education superior to your apparent rank and situation in life, which it was supposed might have qualified you, if your disposition had been honest, to have been useful in the family, and to have been of service to yourself; but your own wicked disposition broke through all those ties of gratitude and of confidence, and induced you to avail yourself, contrary to that light and knowledge which education ought to have thrown into your mind, to plunder the property of your master and benefactor. Under these circumstances most unquestionably the sentence of justice must necessarily be the severest the law will permit; had you been capitally convicted, I should most undoubtedly have recommended it to his Majesty to have ordered you for immediate execution; as that is not the case, it is my duty to go as near it as I can, and you are therefore sentenced to be

Transported to the coast of Africa for seven years .

Tried by the second Middlesex Jury before Mr. RECORDER.