282 ANNUAL REGISTER, 1818. 



accounts which he had made, 

 and which was left in the hands 

 of his father, the vestry clerk. 

 The beadle usually took the 

 notices read in church to the 

 parisii clerk. 



Cross-examined. — He did not 

 know who b!cu;j;ht the notices 

 to his fathei-'s office : the general 

 practice was for them to be sent 

 by the churchwardens and over- 

 seers. 



Samuel Ames, sen., parish 

 clerk. — It was part of his duty 

 after prayers to read notices in 

 church. He had read the notices 

 on the 22nd of August and 3rd of 

 April, the first respecting Mr. . 

 Merccron's expenses in the in- 

 dictments, and called the vestry 

 to consider of the propriety of 

 defraying them ; but the second 

 was general, and silent upon that 

 particular subject. 



William Francis Piatt deposed 

 that he was a dissenting minister 

 in the parish of St. Matthew, 

 Bethnal- green. He had resided 

 nineteen years in Wilmot-square. 

 He had attended the vestry on 

 the 23rd of August, 1813: the 

 notice was always read before the 

 vestry proceeded to business. 

 He had drawn up the resolutions 

 for defraying the law expenses 

 of the officers, and he had pro- 

 posed them, and being seconded, 

 they were carried 7iem. con. He 

 had also attended the vestry on 

 the 6th of April, 1814 ; he was 

 present when the defendant's 

 book of accounts was produced, 

 and he had held the book and 

 went through all the items ; to 

 his recollection he called over 

 every item, and among them, 

 " Dann and Crosland, 925/," 

 .obser\nng aloud, with a shrug, 



" This is a monstrous business." 

 He spoke in such a tone that 

 everjr body might have heard — 

 such was his intention. The 

 meeting was numerous : he be- 

 lieved he ticked all the items as 

 he passed them, and cast up the 

 pages. A resolution of thanks 

 was passed to Merceron : no 

 person made objection to any of 

 the items. 



Cross-examined. — He had been 

 a dissenting minister nearly 40 

 years : it had always^ been his 

 only occupation : he was not 

 conscious of having had any 

 communication with Mr. Mer- 

 ceron between the 16th and the 

 23rd of August. He could not 

 State who had told him of the 

 notice read in church on the 

 22nd of August : he could not 

 swear that it was not Mr. Mer- 

 ceron. On the Monday morning 

 he went to the vestry at about 

 11 o'clock: he usually rose very 

 early, at 5 o'clock, and he be- 

 lieved he wrote them on the 

 Monday morning before he went 

 to the vestry : he could not swear 

 it : the resolutions rose spontane- 

 ously in his own mind : no doubt 

 he had had communication with 

 some persons, as the parish was 

 in a state of great confusion: he 

 had not communicated with any 

 persons on the Monday morning : 

 he could not positively say that 

 he meditated the resolutions be- 

 fore Monday morning. He had 

 not then seen Dann and Crosland's 

 bill : he did not know that Mr. 

 Merceron had already charged it 

 to the parish: he never had at- 

 tended vestries until the unhappy 

 differences which rose about ten 

 years ago : he had frequently 

 written resolutions since : he had 



never 



