his sufferings; he took a most extraordinary antipathy to Dr. Parsons, and at last almost persuaded himself that the medicines he had taken of him, had killed him; and that, in fact, he had been poisoned. There were about the deceased, occasionally, some persons who seemed to have been not very backward in encouraging the anger he had conceived against Miss Bauden, on account of her having recommended him to avail himself of doctor Parsons's assistance. Mr. Vigurs, another medical gentleman, stated in his evidence, that the medicines were calculated to have a good effect on the deceased's complaint; but had not, in fact, had a fair trial. However, under some momentary anger, probably, the will of January 1821 was written, but it was discovered, afterwards, cancelled by the deceased. That cancellation was quite consistent with the affectionate declarations he on several subsequent occasions made of his unabated attachment to "his beloved Miss Bauden;" with his inquiries of her at other times, whether the will of August 1807 was in existence, and his satisfaction at learning that it was; with his declarations in the presence of servants and others, of his intending to leave Miss Bauden as well off as ever she had been with him; with various acts and expressions, clearly proving his own reference to, and cognizance of the existence and the effect of that will, to the latest term, almost of his own life with the cancellation of other subsequent papers, as unfavourable to Miss Bauden, as that of January 1821; and with his repeated manifestations, to the last, of his regard for her. Such being the construction, the learned judge added, which he felt himself VOL. LXVIII.

bound to put on the circumstances of this case, and on the intentions of the testator; he pronounced for the validity of the uncancelled will of 1807, which had been propounded by Mrs. Frances Bauden, as the sole executrix named therein.

COURT OF EXCHEQUER, MAY 16. The New Custom-House.

The King v. Peto.

The Attorney-general addressed the jury. This was a proceeding against Mr. Peto, to recover the penalty of a bond which he executed to secure the amount to the Crown, on behalf of the public, and which would become forfeited, provided Mr. Peto failed in building the new Custom-house, in the city of London. By the contract, Mr. Peto was bound to complete the work for the sum of 165,000l.; exclusive of the charge of 12,000l. which he was entitled to make for the piling of the building. The building was commenced in 1813, and was completed in 1817 or 1818-and the charge of building, including that for piling, amounted to 370,000l., a charge more than double the amount that Mr. Peto contracted to execute the building for; and of this, 24,000l. was apportioned for piling. The commissioners were extremely dissatisfied with these charges; and thought they had reason to complain of Mr. Laing, their surveyor; and, after having paid upwards of 300,000l. they thought they could not, with justice to the public, pay Mr. Peto any farther sum of money. Mr. Peto, in consequence, commenced some proceedings against the commissioners, but before these pro

B*

ceedings were concluded, apprehensions were entertained for the safety of the building; the walls cracked in several places, and it appeared to be in a tottering state, and at length the greater part of the building fell. The site was formerly a part of the bed of the river Thames, but it rested upon a solid stratum of hard gravel, which was 12 feet deep, and into which it was necessary that piles should be driven for the support of a building of such weight and magnitude as the new Customhouse. From the specification it appeared that the builder was to provide a necessary number of engines for the purpose of boring down to the gravel, to ascertain the firmness of the foundation; and he was also to drive the piles into two feet of the stratum of gravel, for, unless those piles were driven into this stratum, they would not afford support to the building. These piles were all to be cut the same length, and levelled. Instead, however, of these piles being of the proper length, to reach the sleepers, some were shorter than the others. There was no complaint made of the external appearance of the building. An immense chasm was, however, discovered in the King's warehouses and the Long room, and before the cause could be ascertained, one pier sunk nine feet, and another four feet. The warehouses then sunk into the cellars, and this circumstance, he was sorry to state, would put the public to an expense of one hundred thousand pounds. The piling was then examined, and it was wonderful how the piers had stood till the work was completed; for instead of the piles being driven two feet into the gravel, they did

not even reach that gravel, and it was impossible, therefore, they could have been the least support to the pier. Upon examination it was ascertained, that, out of one hundred piles, not one exceeded six feet in length. It was impossible, therefore, they could reach the gravel, and the consequence had been, that the whole of the piling had been removed, and a great part of the building had been taken down, to guard against a similar accident to that which had already occurred. The commissioners were dissatisfied with the conduct of Mr. Laing, and they had thought proper to commence proceedings against him. They also thought that his conduct, and that of Mr. Peto, had been such as not to entitle them to their confidence. The accounts were all made up in a hurry; the greater part was demanded, and paid in a hurry; and when the accounts were disputed, they were suffered to remain four years without being rectified by Mr. Peto; and then, when the building falls, Mr. Peto, for the first time, says, it was a mistaken charge, and it was also by mistake that the spandrels were filled up with rubbish instead of brick-work. had another complaint to make against Mr. Peto, for the improper mode in which he had laid on the roof of the building. The materials for the roof were to have been of the best quality; but it seemed as if Mr. Peto had collected all the old boards he could find in London. Some of those boards were ornamented with play-bills and other papers, and some were pieces of old boards, and in a very decayed state. He also begged to call the attention of the jury to the flooring of the Long-room, and which

He

was charged as six-inch stone. It was certainly six-inch round the skirting-board, where it could have been detected if the boards had been removed, but some of the flooring was only five inches thick, and some three inches. This would make a deficiency in the charge for the flooring of 1,100l. These facts he should prove to the satisfaction of the jury, and he trusted, that, when the case was closed, the jury would decide upon it according to its merits, and according to the evidence which would be laid before them.

The bond and specifications having been produced,

Mr. R. Smirke was called, and examined by the attorney-general I am an architect, and have been in that profession for many years. I was called on, in the latter end of December, 1824, to examine the Custom-house. I found several of the piers had sunk into the gravel; all of them had sunk more or less. There is a row of cellars, over which is a row of warehouses, and then the Long room. The arches of the cellar and warehouse rest upon piers. I have read the specification, and my attention has been called to that part of the specification which relates to the piling and to the sections. It describes that there shall be nine piles under each pier, and that they shall be placed three feet apart longitudinally, and every architect would draw that conclusion from the drawings which have been made. Under every part of the building that I have examined, I find there is a stratum of hard gravel. I found all the piers a little sunk, and, about a month after I took my examination, two of them fell in. Under one of the piers, I found only two piles; when

that pier fell, one of the piles was removed out of its place, and that was the one that chiefly supported the pier; the other touched part of the footings which projected from the pier, and did contribute a little to the support of the pier. The others did not at all support it. That pile which was under the pier did not reach the gravel. It was eleven feet long, and the gravel is invariably twelve feet deep. The piles were not twelve inches square, the mean diameter was seven or eight inches, and which was very little more than half the area of nine inches square. Under the next pier, which fell, there were only four piles which contributed to its support. The exact position of them I could not speak to, as one of them, in falling, removed the others out of their places. Not one of the piles penetrated two feet into the gravel; all of them did not reach the gravel; the piling under the walls was of the same description, not reaching to the gravel, very crooked, and in several instances the pile did not reach the sleeper, and in that case a piece of wood was put in to fill up the deficiency. There were seventy-eight of the piles less than six feet long, and it is surprising how they supported the building so long; 1,247 were taken up from under the walls and piers, seven hundred and sixty-four were not eleven feet long; 78 were under six feet long; and some of them were only three and four feet long; only one pile was sixteen feet seven inches long, and the others which were under that size, did not go into the gravel, and could not be of the smallest service. I conceive, that, if the directions in the specification had been followed, there would cer

tainly have been a safe and solid foundation. I attribute the falling of the building to the badness of the piling, and the bad manner in which the piles were driven. When this examination took place, Mr. Peto's foreman attended, and some people employed by him checked the examination. I should think that the charge of 24,000l. for the piling is more than sufficient. 1 examined the spandrels of the arches, and, instead of being filled up with solid brick work, they were filled up with lime rubbish, grouted in and covered, sometimes with one or two surfaces of bricks. About 250l. was quite sufficient for that work, when I consider the manner in which they were filled in. If they had been filled up with brick-work, the charge would have been 1,600l. I examined the boarding under the slating on the roof of the house; that boarding was quite otherwise than according to the specification. The greater part of it was materials that had been used before; some quite rotten-some were three inches long and tapering and they varied from twelve to three inches. A great many of them were decayed. I am employed in doing that which is necessary for putting the building in a proper state; I have looked at the items of charge; in the account, the spandrels of the arches are charged as solid brick-work.

Mr. George Rennie, examined by Mr. Solicitor-general.-I am an engineer, and attended at the Custom-house to examine the state of it after the pier fell in; I examined the piling under the piers that had given way. Under one which had given way, there was one whole pile, and one at the corner, which, in a small degree,

contributed to the support of the pier. The one under the pier was broken. I examined two of the other piers, and the piling under them was not proper. Under one there was only one bearing pile, and the other two piles were placed at the corner. Under the other pier there were four piles, and part of another. That number of piles was not sufficient to sustain a building of that weight and magnitude. I examined the sleepers, and found some of them in a decayed state, and some of them bent. I attributed their being bent to the tops of the piles not touching the sleepers, so that the pressure was not equal. Some did not touch at all, and some did not touch uniformly. This was not a workman-like way of doing business. I found the brick-work in a crumbled and crushed state. I attribute that crumbling and crushing to the pressure occasioned by the weight of bricks which ought not to have been there. Stone ought to have been placed there, and a larger bearing. Several of the piles were bent, therefore not fit to be placed in a situation of that sort, as their being crooked detracts from their strength and solidity. I saw some of the piles after they were taken up. One was only three feet long, and they varied up to five feet. The piling was not executed in a proper and workman-like manner. I attribute the falling of the pier to the badness of the piling.

The statements of Messrs. Smirke and Rennie were confirmed by the testimony of Messrs. Walker, Milne, Morrice, Baker, and Austen, surveyors, and Mr. John Atkins, carpenter.

The receipt of Mr. Peto for 12,900l. for the piling having been

produced and read, the case for the Crown closed.

Mr. Scarlett stated the case for the defence.-Mr. Peto, he said, got directions in writing, followed them to the letter, and, in the opinion of the inspector at the time, had completely done his duty. In every thing he followed the directions of the Crown agents. It was contended that the spandrels of the arches should have been filled up with brick-work, but there was no stipulation to that effect in the contract. As to the materials employed on the roof to support the slates, they were approved by the government architect and inspector: They consisted of boards which had been put up during the progress of the building for the convenience of the workmen and for holding their tools, and which had been used as planks for scaffolding, or other such purposes. Mr. Peto was compelled by the Crown agents to purchase that timber from the government for the express purpose of applying it as he had actually done.

Mr. John Cook examined by Mr. Common Sergeant.-I was in the employ of Mr. Peto in 1813, and was his general foreman. Mr. James Day was clerk of the works in the year 1813, acting under the orders of Mr. Laing, the architect. I received orders from Mr. Day with regard to getting the level of the old vaults. After clearing away the rubbish, we began to dig for our footings under the direction of Mr. Day; 4 feet 6 was the depth we were to go; below that level we found a great number of old walls; some were of brick and stone, and some constructed with oak and chalk. When they resisted the piles, we applied to Mr. Day, I heard Mr.

Peto several times speak to Mr. Day about the discovery of old walls; I heard him say it was better to take them all away, and place York landings. Mr. Day said he would take away the walls where he thought fit; he gave such directions regularly. The first pile was, I believe, driven about the beginning of July; it was of oak. Mr. Day said there should be no more oak piles; the timber was to be beech. There was no beech then driven, and the work waited until they were supplied. I saw the beech timber supplied; it was of a very good quality, and was driven under the directions of Mr. Day. I heard Mr. Peto tell Mr. Day, when the pile-driving began, that he wished he would appoint some person to see to the pile-driving, as he (Mr. Peto) could not attend to it. A person named Mullins was appointed by Mr. Day; who came about two days after the beginning of the pile-driving. The pile-driving for the long room commenced about three months after. Mr. Day gave Mullins orders to see that the monkey struck the pile-head a certain number of times. In the first instance, we cut off with an axe the projections on the piles, and did so for several days; we were afterwards ordered not to hew off the knots, but to preserve the bark, and only to sharpen the end where the shoe was to go on. It was a very laborious operation, and the works were suspended for seven weeks. I did not perceive at the time that the oaken timber was injured; but it was not used, in consequence of the objection of Mr. Day, and new timber was then brought. There were from 120 to 130 loads of the timber not used. Mr. Day was at the