312 ANNUAL REGISTER, 1809. 



hi{,'Iiness'sdetermination, and which 

 tie had neverfora momentlost sight 

 of in any one part of this transac- 

 tion, had been to prevent (in these 

 times of great and necessary ex- 

 penditure) an J' debt of his own or 

 any other for which he might be 

 considered liable, becoming either 

 directly orcircuitously a burden up- 

 on the country. That he had been 

 likewise greatly influenced by the 

 desire of seeing justice done to the 

 creditors of the princess, although 

 under no legal obligation whatever 

 to pay those debts. — On these 

 grounds the prince of Wales gave it 

 to be understood to those of his 

 majesty's ministers concerned inthe 

 transaction, that his royal highness 

 wouldspontaneouslytake upon him- 

 self the payment of the sum of 

 8,000/., in addition to the sum of 

 4;'], 0001., formerly undertaken to 

 be liquidated by his royal highness 

 upon the indemnity being given to 

 him; and by so doing his royal 

 highness had the satisfaction of pre- 

 servingthepublic fromany burthen, 

 directly or indirectly, and of seeing 

 justice done to the creditors of the 

 princess, who had no other means 

 whatever of being relieved, but 

 through the voluntary interposition 

 of his royal highness." — Mr. Adam 

 then observed, that the whole debt 

 of 49,000/. being thus assumed by 

 his royal highness, the prince gave 

 directions to Mr. Gray and himself 

 (Mr. Adam), to make the instal- 

 ments as liberal as possible. In 

 consequence of which 10,000/. has 

 now been paid, and the second in- 

 stalment would be paid in the first 

 week of January. 



24. Hertford Assizes.— George 

 Earl of Essex v. the Hon. and Reve- 

 rend IViltiam Capel. Before Lord 

 Ellenborough and a Special Jury. 



— Fox Hunting. — This was a cause 

 which excited a considerable degree 

 of interest, and there was scarcely a 

 gentleman of rank for many miles 

 round, who did not attend for the 

 purpose of hearing it. 



Mr. SerjeantShepherdaddressed 

 the jury on the part of the plaintiff 

 in a most able and eloquent speech. 

 He lamented that the jury should 

 be called upon to decide a question 

 of this nature, between two persons 

 who stood in so near a degree of re- 

 lationship to each other; but inas- 

 much as the earl of Essex was un- 

 der the necessity of bringing this 

 action, for the purpose of protect- 

 ing himself in the enjoyment of his 

 property, and as Mr. Capel had 

 stood forward as the manager and 

 principal person of the Berkeley 

 hunt, he had rendered it absolutely 

 necessary, that he should be the 

 first person attacked by the earl of 

 Essex. The complaint was, that 

 thedefendant had committed a tres- 

 pass in breaking and entering his 

 grounds, called Cnshiobury Park, 

 and withhorsesand hounds destroy- 

 ing the grass and herbage, and 

 breaking down his fences. The de- 

 fendant justified himself this way 

 — he said, that he had started a fox 

 on other ground, which was not the 

 property of the earl of Essex, and 

 that the fox being a noxious animal, 

 and liable to do mischief, he for the 

 purpose of killing and destroying 

 him, and as the most effectual means 

 of doing so, broke and entered the 

 park with hounds and horses, and 

 hunted the fox. The answer of the 

 earl of Essex to this was, that the 

 defendant's object was not to de- 

 stroy the fox, and that if it was so, 

 hunting was not the most effectual 

 means of killing the animal ; but 

 that on the contrary,his motive was 



the 



