Star. — London, England, 1805-06-29 00:00:00

Thole negotiations condoned through nearly the whole of the period (frown the 9th September 1801, 1 *to the sth •of May *803), during which the latter of th e qualion took place ; and Mr. Goldfmid h as i n f or p.eti your Committee,that, during the nego ciati.otat a loan could not have been made hut on terms 'era advantageous, by the difference of Item ten to twelve per cent. than thole on which it was af terwards concluded.. The refpeaite ellimates of the Navy Debt, made up to the 3111 of Decembir, in the years 'Soo and 1801, were, in the anal way, laid before Parliament; and the firs item of each contained, as ufual, an ac• eonnt of the Navy Bills then nut Banding ; including at each period, thofe negotiated by Mr. Goldfmid, but without dillinguiflaing them from others. In the etbmate for the year 1802, none of there !aft-mentioned Bills were included, having of cootie been all paid off before that ellimate was prepared. Wish refpe& to the whole amount of the Bills ne gotiated by Mr. Goldfmid, from the 24th of October, 18co, to the sth of May, 1802, it appears, upon ex amination of fire dates of the feversl iffues,that though the aggregate of all the fums which they focceffiveiy reprefinted at different periods, is correctly Dated in the Eleventh Report at 4,300,0001. the fum actually applied to the difehargc of Navy Bills, by the iffue of new ones, was no more than 2,200,c001, viz, 900p001. between the 24th of O.lober and the 7th of March, aBot, and i,30c,0001. between the 9th of September, 18ot, and the sth of May, 18oz ; the difference aril kg from taking into the larger account the frefh bilis iffired from time iodine, as others which became due were paid off. It appears, that the meafttre of airing the Navy Bills in Ticino': (how or by whom fuggened, feem, a matter of no importance) Was authorized and di reeled by the Trcalury, boils at firfl, and on the QC cation of each fuhfccient individual Mile ; and, with regard to the cnndut9 of the Treafury in that refped, the C , ,nliticrations which have occupied the attention of your Committee, have been—How far the meat fui e was expedient and beneficial to the public ; how far it was regular, in whatever fenfe that word is to be underltood ; and, how far it was flridly legal ? As to the condua of the Navy Board, the r•nly ma terial (Ned of attention has been, how far they were juriifi.ble and lawfully warranted in executing the orders they received from the Treafury, direling them to carry the meafure into effed ? The Commitlioners of Naval Enquiry have Rated that thir tranfidi•in appeared to them irregular, that the circumfiance of inferring " ninety days intereft in the bills in Tieilion," (to which bills one of thofe gentlemen, in his examination before your Commit. tee, has Applied the term fiditious) " had been ad ded to give Dieu' the femblance of regular bills, but that there was this effential difference between them, that the regular bills Dated the particular kind of Bores, or fir vices, for which they were given in pay ment, while there bills espreffed only that they were for fundry Naval Services." With regard to the - queflion, how far the meafure was of urgent expediency and benefit to the Date, your Committee have been the more anxious in their investigation, in confequence of the following paffage in the Eleventh Report " It was certainly proper that the public credit fbould be firpported ; but . we cannot admit that this meafure w ac indifpenfahly neceffary for that purpofe, nor can we allow the validity of the reafon given by the Comptroller, namely, that no funds were exclu , lively let apart for the payment of ninety-day bills ; the amount being uncertain, it is in the nature of the thing that an eflimate Mould be uncertain. All the Supplies for the Navy are annually voted by Parlia % runt on eilimate, and the amount paid by ninety-day bills, forming no inconfiderable part of the Navy Expenditure, min of courfe be included in the general provilion for Naval Services." Your Committee conceive, that the expreflions 4 indifpenfably ;leceffary," in the palfage jolt quoted, and •• abfoluttly neceflary," in the evidence of the Compirdler ri the N:rvy (inferted in No. I, p. 498, of the Appendix to the Eleventh Report) mutt be Under hand ro mean politically neceffary, or, in other words, highly expedient and beneficial ; for it cannot be furpofed that, on loch a fubje& thole exprcffions could have been intended in the more firia and ac curate fence of phy fical or moral neceffity. Refpefling the urgent expediency and public bene fit of the nicafure, the Commiffioners were Faired of the opinion of the Comptroller of the Navy, as appears by his evidence jult referred to. Your Corn tnittee have heard, and rtperted in the Minutes of the Evidence taken before them, his confirmation of that opinion, with the reafons on which it was formed. 'They have alto heard, and reported, the opinion of Mr. Goldfmid to the lame effeB, together with his reafons ; and likewife the opinions and reafons of Mr. Long and Mr. Van fi ttart. who were Secretaries to the Treafnry at the refpeeive periods when the dif ferent iffues took place. Mr. Goldfmid had been ex amined before the CommiMoners, on thole faCts of the tianf ittions which fell within his knowledge; and he appears to your Committee to be a perfon pecu liarly quallF.ed to have informed them of the circum. fiances which might have induced the adoption of the meafure, and alto to have formed and delivered an opinion, concerning its expediency in a financial point of view. That Gentleman has Rated to your Committee. that he did at: Nally communicate to the Commit - - fioners, in the eolith of the converfations which took place between him and them after he was fworn, both Lis opinion on the fobjeCt, and the reafons on which that opinion was founded. On the other hand, two of the Commißioners who have been examined by your Committee, have no recolleltion of fuch communication having been made ; and one of them has declared, in the molt exprefs terms, that he does not believe that any fuch communication took place. Your Committee, however, collelt, from the tef timnny of both thole Commillioners that they did not think it their duty to invelligate ;his part of she fubjeft ; and that, in their opinion, any information concerning it, would have been fo irreleiant .to the objeft of their enquiries, that they would not have Wetted it in their proceedings, ur.lefs the examinant had " offered it as evidence,' and required it to be taken down as a part of his examination ; which Mr. ' Goldfmid does not appear to have done, nor (as he has exprefsly faid) to have thought himfelf autho rized to do. It may be proper here to obferre, that Mr. Gold . • . • fmid's evidence is of a rofitive„ that of the Commit (loners of a negative kind ; and that, as they would have cnnfidered any con munication of the fort in queflion as irrelevant, it is very pnaible that it may have been made, and yet have cleared thcir atten tion ; efpecially as they have informed the Commit tee, that what Mr. Goldfinid Paid, while tinder ex amination, was extremely ditfufe and digrellivc ; and it is alto very poflible, that when his anfwers came to be formally reduced into writing, he may have seen unwilling to propfe, that what he had Ilated as his reafons and opinion in favour of the meafure, fliould be taken down ; rightly conceiving, that the Commiffioners were the bell judges of the extent of their duty, and the proper ()Netts of their invetliga lion. This explanation is countenanced by Mr. Goldfmid's declaration, already referred to, that he did not think hinsfdf entitled " to order them as to what they &mild think pope' to lay before the public." But whatever may have paffed between Mr.Gold fmid and the CoinmiiThiners, your Committee cannot agree with the Commit!loners, as to the irrelevancy of the quedion of the expediency and utility of the meafure which,they were invefligating, to the ()Ned of the Report which they were to make upon it. If they thought it their duty to form and report an opinion, that the meafitre, whatever department of Government fhould appear to he refporitible for it, was fo irregular and (as the context of the Report teems to imply) In little confonant to law, as to be a It matter to be fubmitted, on that account, to the confihration of his hhijeity and the two Houfes of Parliament, your Committee fubmit to the Houle, whether they ought not alfo to have enquired fully into every circumliance which might have tended, in refpe& of expediency and utility, either to juflify, extenuate, or (as the cafe might have been) to ag gravate the blame belontring tu, the adoption'of fuch an irregular or illegal measure. The Committee think this was the more incnrribent on the Commiffioners, as they did, in franc degree, inform themfelves on the pint in c i tteition, and have in fact reported the opinion concerning it, which has been Rated. With regard to the queftion of irregularity, that wont b cer tainty of no ow definite Import : thr mcafure undoubtedly was, as listed by Mr. Long, new; and Mr. Vanfittart, when the re newal of ilfues like chore on the firit occafion was fuggefted to him, obferved, that fuch a mode appeared to him irregular. If this defcription was meant to aptly to the form or lannuage of the Bills, your Committee di not find that the form in which' Navy Bills Mould be drawn, has ever been the fubjtdt of any pofidve law: the form in ufe before the Statute of 34 Gen. 111. C. at. was totally different from that which has fence obtained ; and neither that Mt, nor the luldequent Statute of 37 Gco 111. e. 26. prelcribed any particular form. It is true that in the Bills iffued in the cantle of payment to contraetors, merchants, trader men, &c. it is the cuftom of the Navy Board to mention the commodity or fereice fur which they are iffued; but when if rued by way of impreft in advance, they are in a more general form •, viz'. B4ing for fundry works performed by him to his Majcity's flip fo that the form tired in the bills to (Arany, and to Donaldfon and Glenny, b-ing, as Rated in the Eleventh Report ; viz. on account of fundry Naval Services," was not mote general than that laft -mentioned, except that it did not hold out a femblance, which would not have been confonant to tha fad, of their having been ((Coed for Cervices performed by them. If, by irregularity, is to be underftood the eircumftance that the bills in queftion were made payable to perfons. who were not adtually Creditors of the Navy board, it is to be obfcrved that they were drawn with the view, add for the purpofe, of the pay ment of bills for which flares had bait fupplied, or Cervices per formed: and that the holders of any other Navy Bills after in dorfement are no more creditors of the Navy Bdard, in reference to the adtual fupply of ftorca, or performance of Cervices by them (elves, than the holders of the bills indorfed by Mars. Doualdfon and Glenny were. • In both cafes, the money is due on the bills on account of Na val Stores or Naval Services orighr!ty furnifhed or performed ; but not turnifhed or performed, in whet cafe, by the holders to whom the payment is to be made. On the whole, therefore, it appears to your Committee, from the clrcumftances of the Woes in queftion, as they have been shave explained,that the wools oh ferved upon by the o.mmiffioners of Naval koquirV, a true defcription of the confideration on account of which the bills were iffued. The remaining queftion on the fubjeft of thane rifts is, whether it was lawful, either for the Navy Eloatd to . obey the diredions they received from the 'lreafury, or the Trcafury to give thole di tedious ? and here it is to he obferved, that the word irregular,as applied by the CommilEouers of Naval Enquiry to the tranfaz tions, according to the molt probable interpretation, feems to your Committee to convey the impreffion that they confidered t hem, in °neer other of there rcfpedts, as contrary to law. . It is certain, as has been be6•re exil-dned, that the Navy Board may contraa debts and Mile Navy Bills on the terms preferibed by the Statute 37 Geo. 111. to whatever amount (beyond the 'el tent of the fums granted) the. Executive Government in their clic cretion lhall think neeefrary ; the czercife of that difcmion bring of courfe fubjedt to the fubf.quert review and fandtion of Parlia ment, when the Navy Debt comes to be laid before them, as it molt unavoidably be, in order that pruvilion may be made fur its difcharge. • • It is no queflion, on the prctent occafion, whether the nary Debt incurred during the currency of the years 'Soo and aim re fpi.dtively, beyond :he amount of the rcfpedtive grants of thufe years, was contrasted on fufficiernt grounds. Haying ['ten con• traded, it feems to yur Committee, that the Tritrury, as the fupretne financial departmentof the Government, was the natural and only authority to dircdt the Navy Board as to the belt method of providing fatisfadtory (comities, cunfiftently with the law, to the creditors to whom the debt Co contradti..l was due. The Commiffinners of Naval Enquiry Bate, that they do not conceive the Navy Board can, without the exprcfs authority of Parlimicnt, Mike hills to raife money to be applied to the fenice of the Navy, or any other fervice ; that, not being aware of any power in the Navy Board to draw bills of the defcription of tbofc Med to Glenny, and Donaldfon and Otruoy, for the purpae of railing money, they had fought information from the Comptroller oh the Navy on the fubk et, and that he had revred them, for the authority under which he and the Navy Board had acted, to his Majefty's Order in Council in June 17,6, for regulating the duties of the feveral Members of the Navy Board, and to the Patent by which they arc appointed; and that from thole documents no loch authority is derived. In another part of the Report (under their fecund head of en rulry) the Commiffioners Rate, that the Navy Board, by their patent of appointment, arc required to follow filch orders and M- I ftruttions as they may from time to time receive from the Lord High Admiral, or the Complain/ere for executing the office of Lord High Admiral for the time being; and that it does nor ap• pear that they. are authorized to follow direetions which may b.; given to them by any other department of Government; and they hem, by another part of the paff..ge lalt referred to, to hare thought it clear, that the ~ffeel of the pat, nt was to place the Navy Board " exclufivety" under the controul of the Admiralty. Your Committee have deemed it necelfary to call for the patent of the Navy Board ; and ago for the Order in Council of the Bth of Jure, 1796 ; an the Orderer Letter of Infltudions from the Lords of the Adaralty to the Navy Board of the 17th of Augult, a 796; and that they find that, in the laid patent, betides the fpe• cial direßions therein contained, by which the Board arc com manded to follow fuch inittudions as they mail at any time re. eeive from the Admiralty thete are general " empowering them to do all things appernining to the principal Officers and Commiffioners of the Navy to do," and granting fuli power to the Comptroller to execute the duty appertaining to that office, " and which was, or ought to have been performed by any former Comptroller of the Navy, excepting fuels pans thereof as by the patent itfeif had been entreated to the Board at large, to be con duetted and managed by them in fuels manner as the Admiral.; hodd awe, and alto Inch as mould thereafter, by warrant of .4 Admiraky,bc committed to the we of anger perfor, or per- Foos." It tbould lien), front a view of thole eludes, that if it hae bent euliomary for the Comptroller or Navy Board to ad under direct ordas front the Treafury, z e nfotmlty to loch ufage it rather fandioned than prohibited by the Intcat, at leaft your Committee have not &from:red any where In it loch an expects prohibition or excluflon of the authority of the Treafury as would render the exercife of filch authority, it couformable to afar, contrary to law. And as to the ufage, it was la evidence before the Coto ntiffioners of Naval Enquiry, upon the examination of the Comp troller and Seeretai y, that the Navy Board had 'le en in the con ftaat praCtice of receiving and following diredions from the Trea fury, without any atemaunicatioo of thofe orders to the Admi ralty ; and it will appear from the minutes hereunto annexed, that evidence has been given, by the Secretary, to the fame err feet, before your Committee. Your Committee have thus Rated what has occurred to them as material, relative to the legality of the teastadtioao, as far as concerns the Comptroller and the Nary Board, or the queftioo whether they are bound or lawfully authuriled to obey orders re lative to fuch matters, Itappohng thole orders to be legal, which they may receive from the Treafury. As to the orders themfelves, your Committee fubmit, that they cannot difeover any fair ground for confidering them as illegal, tither in what has been previoully Rated relative to the particu lars of the tranfadtions, or in the evidence they have received, or in any astute or rule of law with which they arc acquainted. s. The Commitlinnets of Navel Enquiry have infittdcd the fe mod h ad in their Report. r 1..0fs arifing from the mode of paying ate Interelt on Navy and Tranfport Birs." Your Committee have not deemed it necefrary to enter into much enquiry, in addition to that which the Commiffioners have thought fit to inititute, with regard to a fubjed, which does not appear to your Committee to have required the very particular and elaborate inveftization they have bellowed upon it. - - - The Haute have before them the trafons Rated by the Navy and Victualling Boards. for the different conftrudions which they had put upon the Ad of 3? Geo. 111. e. 26. and It alto appears, that the Navy Board, to long ago as the t gth of December tßot, adopted the pradice which t►e Vidualling Board had previoudy followed, and of which the Carnmiffioners have themfelves ap proved. Your Committee will therefore tate the liberty to difmifs this matter, with only two obfervations—Firft, that in a queltion concerning the true coaftrudient of' a ftatute, the Commirlioners (probably through inadvertency) have not accurately Ilatcd the prorifioa of the Ad: their words are," That it is thereby dired ed, that the Bills Mall be made payable on a certain day to be ex puffed In each Bill, which day (ball not be later than three calen dar months from the day 0 , the date thereof. and that every fuch Bill mall carry an littera. after the rate of 34d. per centum per diem, to commence from the day of the date of each Bill. But the words of the Aa. arc, which day fhall not be later than three calendar months from the date of Inch lilil ; and that every fuch Bill (hall carry an intereft after the roe of aid. per centum per diem, from the date of eat fame. The words of the former Ad Are indeed, " that the interelt than commence from the day, &e." and they are correctly Rated by the Commiffioners. The fccond tibfervation is. that the lois Paid to have been fur tained by the public, from the imputed over payment on the 90 day Bills, Included in the period between the 16th of December, 1796, and the loth of December, 18ot , will be found *cs have been calculated by :he Commiffioners at a fum (not con flderable indeed) beyond its real amount. 3. On the third bead in the Report of thc Commiffioners, which Is inrituled, " Money impreßed by the Navy Board for Secret Naval Services ;" your Committee have confim:d thernfelves, In ' conformity to the exception in your order of reference to the Me of Mood. for a fecret Service, which makes the fuhjedt of the fe cond queltion and anfwer in the examination of tht Earl of St. Vincent, N‘.23 of the Appendix to the Eleventh Report. • The CommiMoners have taken noti.e, in this part of the cafe, of an ornitlim in the Order or Letter of Inftrudions front the Ad. miralty to the Navy Kurd; dated t7th Anuft [196, and have Rated " thso this omifTion fhould be redliflei, as they are of opi nion, that it is of confiderable importance, that the (event (oboe dinate Boards Mould have predfe Information, not only of the ex tent of the authority vefted iu them, but of the authority under which they are to set." Your Committee have already mentioned, ands the Brit bead, what has occurred to them in gene ral, relative to the pierce of the Treafury to give diredtions to the Nrvy Board, and the duty of teat Board to obey them. • Undoubtedly the Order of Coun.:ll of Bth of June, T7O, does contain the chute omitted in the inftrudlons of the 174 h of Auguft ; but your Commotee have to ohferve, that the Board of Admiralty, in their laid letter of i hfiruißions,.did exprelly Rate, that the Order in Coencil had (Heeded that thc (corral arrange ments fuggeaed by them (a which the claufe in petition formed a par.) Should be adopted and carried into execution In lath man ner as they Should judge proper, and that they had inclo(ed there. with a C"py of the raid Order in Cruncil. for the farther throe. mation of the Navy Board I; will, thereroce, be for the confide• rattan of the Houle, whether fuffi, lent unite was no• thus even to the Navy Beard if the cnaitirin that secret Services were to he performed under the authority of the Heft Lord of the Admi ralty." and that fuch condition, though not repeated in the in ftrudlions, had adtually made part of the plan recommrnded by the Admiralty itfelf, and was iandlioned by the -Ad of his Mi kity in C. until, under which authority the whole of the titanic dons of the 17th of Auguß war eflabliffied."' • As to the queftion. how far the fervice to which the i6.000t was applied. was fandioned or authorifed by the ERR Lord of the Admirrity, and with a kffnwiedge that the expence thereof was to be defrayed, in the firß inflame. by the Compri - one-tor the Navy; your Committee avoid entering into any difcailion, referring folely, in addition to what appears in No. at of the Appendix to the Eleventh Report, to the evidence cuntaineti id the Minutes and Appendix hereunto annelid; having inferted in the Appendie fuch prvt of the corrcfpondehee on the frbjecl, •fs •hey have uf , lertiond could be laid before them, witbou• the (inger of reverting what it plight be inconvenl ot fur the ill wefts of the Public to have diiclofed. Som.. variances having been olifervcd between the cap rid:lona of the copy of the letter from the Comptroller of the Navy to the Commiflioners of Naval Enquiry,bearing date nn the inth of No vember, 1104, at printed by the order of the Houle or the 29th of April ha, and thole of the letter Welt, as it appears to have been adtuaUy fent to and received by the Comnsitli mere. arid which was produce.: to yoUr Committee by one of thole Commiffioners, your Committee have tinuight it right to inf•rt Roth, in the fuhjoined Appendix ; and the examinations taken by them relative to that eireumftance, form s.ise concluding part of the minister of the evi. deuce. [The Angara of EVidaff air Mardiry.] The Commit-rat of Stetter, to who'll fo much of the Fie 'tenth Report of the CoMMISSIONCILS Of NAVAL ENQUIIT, wanes to the advance of te0,e931. for a feeret naval fir• vice, was referred, and who were empowered to report their opinion and obfervationsthereupon to the Houk ; have agreed ■pon the fallowing Report Your Committee have taken Into their awillderation the fubjedt referred to them ; and having examined 741113t1g perfons, and cal. led for, and perufed certain ktters and other documents relative thereto, ih-1 , have agreed on the following - At foliation , Ref..lved, " That It is the opinion of this Committ:e, that the Paid tropecL was advanced for an object, to *filch the fupplies granted for naval Cervices were applicable; that the application thereof te that objedt wan a mmfure in which the inttrefts and honour of .this country were concerned; that it wal.ii...ted by the Comptroller of tl.e Navy, under orders from the L.•rds of the Treafury, with the knowledge and authority of the Titft Lord of the Admiralty. and the fittell mode for anfwering the end propo fed ; that the clearing bill for 95,00°1. part of the laid Cum of wa• granted on just and proper grounds—ghat the cir oumftances of the application of the money were of fuels a nature that a diftlofure of them, either at the period when they took place, or at any time Once, would have been attended with public inconvenience ; that it milli be matter of regret. if any thing has occurred in t..e mean time, which may have tended, in any do. gree, to fuch difclofure; and that the reefers againft fuch dif , clofure 1141 eor.:Atie, and render it the duty of the Committee to abfialn from totcrirg into say futtka particulars on the fobjett." • I LONDON. SATUaII.tY, JUNE sq. Sr Parts—Holiday at the Pubic 0111.ec. The Hamhurgh Mail due on Wedneflty Csinuie.t arrived this day. . M. 800 menu s, the French Minifter at Ha-nhin, b, lately prefented a Note to the Senate, urgently ,! e ., manding th.tt Magiftracy to &I - cover and comma. nicate to him, the names of all the Frenchmen its that city, who had not yet paid their rcfpeas to him, as the Reprefentative of the Emperor, nor put them (elves under his official proteflion. His requell can. not be refufed. It is expelled that tome meafure of extreme feverity will be inßantly recurred to againft the French Emigrants at Hamburgh. They will be every one compelled to leave that city, tin der pain of feizure, conveyance to France, and punilhment with deith, if they continue at Hamburgh.— Perhaps even domiciliation, as fubjeik of other States, and the protection of other Minißers, m a y not be enough to Pave them. MADRID, MAY 24..—More than 3o flips of the line are now lying in our ports, the greater part of them ready to fail, ♦iz. t t at Ferrol, betides s French Sipe which are there ; to fitted out at Cadiz ; sat Co. runna, and 6 at Carthagena, under Rear• Admiral &tap°. To thefe are to be added a proportionate number pf frigates, and other (hips of war. Every thing indicates that the part we than take in the war will be fplendid and glorious. HAGUE, JUNE t t.—According to the reports we have here, Lucca will be incorporated with the king. dom of Italy. Private letters from Holland (late, that M. Sento. 741141m0 :sea has procured the removal of the French Commiflioners - .vho till now refided in every Dutch port i and that in confluence thC trade with this country, under certain rettrisSions, may be expeCtcd to be carried on with lef' feverity. American papers to the 26th of May have arrived. Our readers will rec . olfeek that the New York parer of the :oth May, received Rime days ago, Rated thdt, three days before a Captain LIGHT left the Havan nab, the Captain of an Atherican veal arrived there had depofed that he paired through a French fleet of nineteen fail'of the line off Cape Nicola Mole five days before ; and that a rumour of the capture of Jamaica, founded on *the - repo; t 'Of 'another American Captain, was circulated at the fame time. The following' extraBs are from the New 'fork pa pers of the 2111 of May : •• Captain FAIICYILD whO arrived yeflerday from the Hermit oak, alter nine daps paffage, informs, that the combined French and Spaniflt fquadrons were off Jamaica, and had fummoned the illand to furrender, allowing 24 hours to confider the propafttioth This was brought by an eaprefs from St. ago de Cubs." . Captain BONN iTT, of the fawner Venetia, from Martial% informs, that it was rsi .trted there, when* he' failed, that the French fleet, under Admiral O Sala: conGfting of 1t fail of th e line, bad failed front Breit for Jamaica. A fri g ate had ar. rived there from Breit, and 'andel 300 artillery men. " Captain HAIaADtN, who arrived yefterday in 12 days from the Havannab, informs. that two or three days previous to his leaving that place, it was reported and believed by the firft mer. chants in the place• drat a French fleet, of eleven fail of the and eight fri g atei. had landed troops on the north Gdc of the Oland of lamaica; that they had taken two or three of tote Gnat& pats, and were oo their rowels to /Chiffon. On the 6th inflate, Captain H. (poke an Engliat hoop One day out from New Providence, the Commander of which informed him, that Jamaica had been takers by the French." We g ive to the public the report as we received it from Cap• Liam HA *RADII*. whore. veracity DO one who 'knows him will tionbs"l--Saks Real?. • It is our du. y to lay the above before our readers. We'ought however to add, that the intelligence re ceives and iventitled to no more credit than it was before. Another New York paper iyf the 22d obferv. in g upon the tufuedred capture of Jamaica, has the following article ; .• " Notwithftandlng the repeated rumour of a French fleet of great force having app,aral of that Mind, we are not difporcd to give cr..dit to the report. The accounts on this faded have come ola the Havatinah, and have probably all originated In the mißatement, deGgned or unintentional, cif fame perfon that had arrived there from the South-wait. That the Toulon fleet, which, accordin g to late advices from Europe, bad put to fea, was der tined for the Weft-Indies, is by no means impnafttle ; but it It very improbable that this fleet, either by Heir, or atter having formed a jundtion with the Rochcfort (quadrat, could have reached Jamaica without having been fern by Admiral COCII• KA Ns's fquadran (in whlelacafe intelligence would inftantly have been fent to the government of the !fluid). Our accounts, aired from Jans'ica, it ought to be obferved, are down to the be g inning of this month, and news front that place, by Havannah, could fcareely be later." The reports from America on this fubjea mad be falfe, particularly as intelligence from New York tO the llt of June, b y the Oliver Ellfworth, arrived at Liverpool,*affords no reafon to credit the account to which we allude. The New York Papers mention the arrival of the homeward•hound China fleet at St. Helena, and as they were to fail about the beginning of April, they may be (portly ex:•etled in England. The following notice has been iil'ued by our Con- Cul at Philadelphia, dated May 21, 1805 : • His Britannic Makßy's Conful General for the Middle and Southern States of America gives this public information to the merchahts and traders whom it may concern : • • " Notice having /teen publifiled and circulated about f. cr months fince, throughout the United States, of a ref, : lotlon hear ing date the 2IR of November laft, which bad be, ti palled by the Lieutenant-Governor and Council of the Wand of Jamaica, pro hibiting, after the expiration of fix months from that date, tb:: importation of provifions and lumber in American or other neu tral vcreis; and it having. beet, reprefented, at the fame time, that the above•mentioned refolution had taken place, in conk quence of inftrudtiona from his Britai,nlei Majeßy's Government of fo peremptory a nature, as not no leave the Governor and Coun cil any latitude to attend to the renionfirances which have been made againft laid refolutlon, by the inhabitants of Jamaica. it is thought proper to declare, that no orders have brat fent by his Majefty to the Governors of his Colonies in the Welt Indies, by which they are deprived of the difcretion formerly entrufted to them, of refacing, under certain eircumitancem, the rigid.provifion of the navigation laws; and that it is therefore prefumable, that, as Coon as the explanation on this fiabJedt (hall have reached J:1- susaica and the other Britt& colonies in the Welt holies, where it is believed they may have already arrived, the importation of pruvi lions and lumber will again be permitted in American or other neutral mircia. (Signed) e' P. 20ND." LONDON: Printed and Pubilthed by LEVEL KENT (of Can terbury-place, Lambeth), at the CT* II OfFICE. Na t, CAltr Ana. PubAlimict alto u the ST4III WWI, Tegripeeasr.