Pedder C.J., 25 October 1824

Source: Hobart Town Gazette, 29 October 1824

HABEAS CORPUS.

Supreme Court of Van Diemen's Land.

On Monday last, an individual, named Thomas William Warton, entered the Court in Mr. Bisdee's custody, and having appeared by a writ of Habeas Corpus below the Bar, claimed his discharge.  It seems that the applicant had for some time past been Superintendent of Prisoners at Macquarie Harbour, in which character, as many prisoners had recently escaped from that Settlement, he felt himself justified in scrutinizing, according to his implied general directions, all suspicious correspondence between the prisoners and their friends in Hobart Town, that he consequently opened the annexed letter, and that having subsequently quarrelled with Charles Taw, who commanded the Colonial brig Duke of York, and to whom he had mentioned the circumstance of opening the said letter, he, the said Charles Taw, on arriving in Hobart Town, deposed on oath, that the said letter had been feloniously stolen by the applicant, although his seizure of the same could not have been known except by his own avowal to Taw. - That the applicant was in consequence taken before the Superintendent of Police, who refused to take bail, and committed him to His Majesty's Gaol for the County of Buckinghamshire, on a charge of felony.  That the applicant afterwards finding no application for a writ of Habeas Corpus, except on oath, could be attended to humbly addressed the Honourable Chief Justice Pedder, who condescended to enter the Gaol, and take his deposition. - On the case being entered into, there appeared three points at issue. - First, had Mr. Warton opened the letter with a felonious intent? next, was the act of opening such a letter felony with the Statute? and lastly, what was the intrinsic value of such a letter?  These questions were ably discussed by the learned Attorney-General (J. T. Gellibrand, Esq.) and His Honor the Chief Justice, who were decidedly of opinion that this case was one of neither felony or larceny, and therefore ordered Mr. Warton to be discharged.

Under these circumstances, we cannot help regretting that bail had not been accepted.  It is no very pleasant task to superintend the banished, at any time; but the irksomeness of such a duty is almost unbearable when it may not be discharged without greater danger than would attach to its non-performance.  If (but not otherwise), if, as we are told, Mr. Warton's sole object in opening the letter was to prevent the escape of any prisoner, and thereby realize the intention of His Honor the Lieutenant Governor in appointing him, we heartily express our sorrow for his sufferings, and our hope that his claims to consideration may not be unnoticed.  But we cannot say more on the subject now, except that His Honor the Chief Justice is entitled to general esteem and affection, for the excellent Magisterial example he has set by visiting the captive, and affording him a legal opportunity to move for his deliverance.

``Dear M. A. - Send me the F- -s, and plant, them in some tea and sugar. - All will I hope soon be well. - Direct them to M----y."