Star. — London, England, 1814-11-04 00:00:00

J9URN.4 I . ej as JEXCURSiON to FRANCE, IN A SERIES OF LE I TERS ; fiNTAINiNG REMARKS IkIORAI., HISTORICAL, TOPIXHIA• pincAL, ETC. (Celtinued from the Sr Al of Yesterday.) I.rTTFR VT. PARIS, 1811. D 7.111 Sai—ln my last letter I gave you a short descs prim of the-brazen column raised by Bonaparte, to perpetuate the splendour of his victories. As the Emperor always betrayed, or affected a high vene ration for the helves of antiquity, and, no doubt,. emulated same of them in their military glory, it is probable that he first borrowed the hint of rearing this column from the precedent of a similar pillar having been erected, though from different motives, to the civil and military character of the Emperor Trajan. No two persons, however, could be more different than these, when weighed in the balance of true greatness. The apotheosis of Trajan, you know, was the free and spontaneous tribute of love and ve neration bestowed on him by the Roman senate and . the Roman people, for his virtues, when he was no more; and posterity has never questioned the justice of that award a while, on the other band, it cannot be denied that the erection of the column of Bona parte, a man notorious for his vices, WAS nothing but a compliment paid to his pride and military vanity, the idea of which criginated with nobody but himself. Trajan's pillar was erected in the forum which he himself had built, and it covered the golden urn which contained his venerated ashes. Bonaparte's pillar stands also in the middle of a square, within a few yards of the entrance Of the two fine broad streets opened by himself, to afford a view, and to form a communication between the gardens of the Thaiile. ries, the Place Vendome, and the Boulevarde de .• , Catmint : so far there may be some shade of resem blance in the circumstance of the position of the pa ' lays of these Emperors. It was feared that the ebullition of popular fury would have got to such a height on the resignation or abdicatiOn of Bonaparte, as to endanger the ex istence of the column. This monument, however, .will now be preserved : and, indeed, why should we • deny to this extraordinary man, though blackened With crimes, the mad of valour, and of many splen did victories ? FrOm this you may see that I am of opinion this elegant pillar should pot be thrown down. 0 4 Palo' am qui soursit,.ferat." As there is no man, howsoever virtuous, but has his enemies, so, it may be also said, ths:re is no man, however.vicious, who has not his friends and abettors. Thus it is with Bonaparte. Notwithstanding the enormities of his crimes, I observed that there are many persons here who regret his downfal. These persons mostly consist of men of desperate fortune, and disappointed hopes and expectations ; produced by the sudden and eventful changes which have lately' taken place in the government of France. But, hide. pendently of other considerations, Bonaparte is re gretted as a man of genius, by many other persons who are not so particularly affected by the change-- 'Two ofhis principal faults are acknowledged to have ban his boundless ambition, and disregard of advice. • j am informed that Talleyrand, dreading the temerity of his master's resolves, endeavoured to dissuade him from carrying into effect his invasions of Spain and • ilusaia ; and it is said, that his northern campaign / was the sole and unadvised result of his own deter mination; planned and digested in his own closet at St..-Cloucl, his favourite place of residence. In a. word, the reckless and fatal schemes and projects of• this usurper, had plunged France into such a critical state of danger, that it became imperiously necessary for those who had uniformly condemned his policy, • toltep forward at last with all their patriotism and ; :}energies, to save the military character and existence POtthetr,dear and sinking country from utter annihi "%Witt% bF every sacrifice that was in their power ; tfausjavoluntarily, as it were, making common cause '. 'ay - 40U ty - ranacrus usurper of their throne, the du ' itroyer a( mankiad, and the murderer of their fellow citizens. This will alone, I think, account for France ' hiving been enabled to carry on the struggle so long, with such an host of foes. Iltnernft home by the Rue.de-la-Paix, my e) es were attracted by seeing the words' PucesTravaill,raes' painted over a shop door : 4 Working Fleas.' 1 think I hear you exclaim--' What can this mean ?' Yes, try friend, it is absolutely the case. The asamishing genius of the French people has been such as to ex tract pre . fitabis labour even from the physical powsis of a nasty flea. I had heard of this surprising effort of French ingenuity before, and was determined, now that I had an opportunity, to ascertain whether it was a cheat or not, by ocular demonstration. I hasten. ed into the shop,for fear of being observed going into such a paltry exhibition, and was immediately con vinced, by the evidence of my own senses, that there • was no deception in the case. The flea-driver pro dined a small box, from whence he took several of these insects, one by one, with the help of small pliers, as watchmakers do the minute parts of a watch, and laid them upon a sheet of paper on the table for ex hibition. The animals were connected by a small but very visible chain, an inch or more in length, to a .little; chariot, or piece of mounted artillery, in minia „lmre, only one to each carriage, which they contrived reo drag slowly, and to a very short distance, skipping 1111)0Ut occasionally to the length of their chain. The .aize and appearance of these minute carriages greatly .surpassed, you would think, the strength of the in seem; and though they seemed to labour with great effort, it is wonderful that they could do so much as iloatethern t'all." I saw a magnified figure of one .nt.thcanhatahl, yoked to, his golden chain, which is 511ame440084 ganef its thighs, if I may so call it.— sliwasagiienito:learnahata person employs himself in yoking these light-footed ininialculcs, and I was di , rected i to s the:iai-litiretrOt /lf OW niOrt art, but I had already Oa/ugh of tga'hight. rntieed I shall neither deny to Frenchmen tern erseritatite important disco very that fleas tae work, nor wili• • I envy the nation all the advastaget to be clai'ved front it. Jar& des Ptanteiv4;.:Phis is, as you well know, the great national 'botanic' Garden, and is situated un the left bank of the Seine, not far from the new iron :)titrge, built by Bonaparte, and called Pont Austtr/dz. A toll of one sol for each foot passenger, and five soh for every carriage, is collected for passing this The Jardin des Plantes is pretty spacious, and con tains many fine specimens of indigenous and exotic trees and plants; besides wild boasts, rare quadru peds, and birds. Of this garden, you will recollect; the great naturalist Buffon, the French Pliny, had the charge. He was appointed Intendant of the gar den and cabinet in 1739. Under his direction they contained one of the finest collection of natural curio sities in the world, taken from the three kingdoms of nature. We have nothing of the sort in England, that is, of a public kind. The garden was first planned out in the reign of Louis XIII. that is nearly two centuries ago. It should be more properly called the Garden of Natural History. Indeed there is so much to be semen here, that you must excuse me for giving you but a cursory description of it. The first thing shewn to us were the wild and other animals, some of which genera I had never seen be fore, although I have visited many menageries in dif ferent countries. Of quadrupeds are to be seen the elephant, buffalo, leopard, lions, tigers, hyenas, pan then, bears, wild-boars, wolves, otters, goats, camels, dromedaries, dogs, a porcupine, baboons, monkies, eagles, owls, parrots, cockatoos, &c. in great variety. Two of the dromedaries, we were told, were brought from Egypt by Bonaparte, so that they are now pretty well stricken in years. A dog has been shut up with one lion for twelve years, and they appear to be very fond of each other. Some of the animals have a large court, or parterre, to move in. The bears are Not the worst off in this respect, for they have large parterres to roam in, and dens to sleep in. The following story may, I think, be relied on : one night last winter, a French soldier, posted as a sentinel near the den of two bears, in these gardens, thought he saw, with the moon-light, a piece of money glisten in the bottom of the large fosse, or parterre, about eight feet deep. Regardless, or unsuspicious of danger, the bears appearing to be quietly asleep in their retreats, and not in sight, the avaricious wretch descended ; but scarcely had he invaded their territory, when the ferocious animals darted forth and devoured him, before he could escape. These very hears were walling about the ditch, when I saw them, catching crusts of bread from the passengers, and standing on their hind legs to reach them, like a dog. Poles are placed upright in the ditch for them to climb up.—Adieu, for the present. LAW 11V7'ELLIGENCE. ,COURT OF CHANCERY, NOV. 1. TAE ATTORNEY•GENERAL OF THE PRINCE OF WWII, V. STEVENS. Mr. HART stated that he had a motion to make in this case, but which he was requested to postpone, on account of the absence of Sir Arthur Pigott. The motion he was instructed to make was, that an in junction obtained by the Attorney-General of the Prince of Wales, as Dnke of Cornwall, restraining the tenants of his Royal Highness from working cer tain quarries, and from carrying off stones from the lands situated within the said Duchy, occupied by them,. should be dissolved. It was material to his (Mr. Hart's) clients, that the matter should be disposed of; but he had no objection to postpone the motion, tor the accommodation of his learned friend, Sir Arthur Pigott, who was leading Counsel for his Royal Highness. 2:4WEAIBER 3. EV.PARTE GRAY IN Tug MATTER OP WHYTE. !Or LEACH stated this to be an application on the part of the Petitioner, who was the assignee of a per son 'of the name of John Raine, a creditor of the bankrupt's, but who had himselrbeen lately discharg ed under the Insolvent Debtors' Act, to have the bankrupt's certificate stayed, and that time might be allowed to the Petitioner, as assignee of ltaine's estate, to come in and prove a debt of £BOO, due to Raine by the bankrupt. This debt would he suffi cient to turn the certificate, and there had been no improper delay in offering proof of the debt, Raine himself having been in prison at the time of the bank ruptcy, and there having been - no meeting under tiie commission since the assignment by Raine to the Petitioner. Mr. HART was satisfied, when his Lordship should !ha: the affidavit in answer, he would be of opinion that the Petitioner was entitled to no farther time in this case ; still more when he was told that the Peti tion; r, since the date of the assignment in his favour, had hell the bankrupt to hail for this sum in an ac tion at law, that he would think it wrong that this Petition should have been presented. The affidavit stated, that xt the two first meetings under the com mission, Raine and Gray both attended, but neither of them offered to prove any debt ; and that when Raine was asked by a person named Thomas if he meant to prove any debt under the commission ? he said he did nor. At the third meeting no person at tended on the part of Raine, and though the assign ment in favour of the Petitioner was dated so tar back as the 3d of May, the present Petition was not presented till the 20,h of August, the bankrupt hav ing been arrested for the debt in question at the suit of the Petitioner in the month of July. The LORD CHANCELLOR said that was an answer to the Petition. The assignment in. favour of the Petitioner was executed in May ; the Petitioner nr rested the bankrupt in July, and instead of coming to the Court immediately with his Petition, lay by till the 2Uth of August, trusting that in the mean time the bail might be fixed. It these facts were so, the certificate could not be stayed. The assignment having been executed in May, and the Petition not having been presented till now, it was obvious that the dal' must have been with the view of fixing the Mr. I.cncrt was not aware of the fa( ts which had just been mentioned. He wished to lx indulged till to-morrow mornirg, that he might have an opportu nity of eapiiring into the truth of them. If he should find them to be as represented, his Lordship should hear no more of this Petition. The Loan Croarcettou ordered, that if not men tioned again to-morrow, the Petition should stand dismissed with costs, and desired that, in.the mean time, no step should be taken to fix the bail. WALTERS V. LIAUNDE. The greater part of the day WAS pccopied in bear ing Counsel in an appeal from the judgment of the Master of the Rolls in this case. In the year 1'794' Sir Charles Booth, by his will, left his whole real and personal property, being to a great extent, and of vArinits descriptions, to trustees, to he try them ma naged for 15 years, at the expiration of which period they were dirscted to divide the whole among his next of kin who should be most deserving. The trustees all died within the 15 }ears, and without exercising the right of preference given them by the will. Bills in Equity were, of course, tiled, and the Master of the Rolls having given judgment in Li , your of certain persons who were the next of kin at the time of the decease of the last surviving trustee, Petitions of Appeal were presenter against this judgment, to the Lord Chancellor, by the other parties. Mr. AGAR, Mr. FONBLANQUE, Mr. WINGFIELD. and Mr. BELL, were this day heard for several of the claimants, and the farther hearing was posTontAl to a future day. COURT OP KING'S BENCII, NOV. 1. GO NI kZ V. TUN NO. This was an action upon a policy of insurance up on goods on board the Spanish ship Union, of which Messrs. Fissen, brothers, were owners, from Vera Cruz to the H-avannah, and back to Cadiz or Malaga.— The insurance was effected on the 21st February, 1810, at eight guineas per cent. ; and on the 27th of July following, a permission was indorsed upon the policy, and signed by the defendant, Er the ship to change her destination from Old Spain to any port in the United Kingdom, if it should be found expedient. The ship sailed from Vera Cruz on the llth March, and arrived at the Havannah about a month after wards, where she found great difficulty in procuring a cargo for Old Spain, on account of the intelligence from the Mother Country. Consequently a letter was written to the Insurance Broker, dated 19th of June, desiring him to alter the insurance, as the ship was not to returq to Old Spain, but to some port in the North, for which she could more easily procure a cargo. She was more than a month taking in her cargo at the Havannah, and waited three days for convoy. In the gulph of Flor'da she met with a her ricane, and was wreckeu WI the ‘LiLil of Oc: , ber, in company with 150 other ships, five only of her crew escaping. It was proved by the defendant that after the 31st of August commenced the winter risks, for which a higher premium than eight guineas was paid. Mr. PARK, for the defendant, admitted the length enment of the risk by the permission endorsed upon the policy ; but contended that it did not permit an alteration of the terminus h quo of the insurance, which was still from Vera Cruz and the Havannah, and not directly from the Havannah, and that it was not contemplated that the ship had not then her cargo on board. Lord EL4ENBOROUGH held that the underwriters must be taken to have contemplated the possibility of all the political changes which had taken place, and which might take place, with relation to Spain, and that they had consented to the ship's procuring a cargo for England, if she could not get one for Spaip. It had been proved that it was impossible to get a cargo a: all for the latter country, and sooner for the former. The Jury would say whether the waiting Three days for convoy was not protected by the liberty is the policy to join convoy.—They found their verdict for the plaintiff. SAM? V. REIM - This was an action, under the sanr circumstances, upon the ship. Mr. PARK, for the defendant,'contended, that the letter of the 19th of June did not cmivvy to tlic un derwriters such information as would induce them to turn a summer risk into a winter one. The liberty given by the policy was to touch and unload ; and if the underwriters had ban informed that the ship would have run the chance of lying five months at t!ie Hay ttmt.th, they would never have undertaken the risk ; they merely meant by the indorsement on the policy to give the assured full opportunity of changing their destination. litrd'ELLENßoitouinu laid it down, that a policy of insii ra ace contemplated the performance of the voyage with all reasonable expedition ; but if a voyage were protracted to a subsequent year, if this were dcne toriafile, the underwriter would still be liable. He remembered a case before Lord Kenyon, where a ship not being able to put into a port in the north, actually came back to Engl.ind, and tried again the next year, and the assured having used no undue means to pro tract the risk, the underwriter was held still respon sible. No doubt the present became a winter risk ; but if this were by no fault of the assured, but by the extraordinary cccurrences of events, to which the assured was not cr.ntributory, or over which he had no contreul, he was still in a situation to recover upon the policy. Upon the letter of the 19th of June, it appeared that the assured had abart. Boned the idea of a cargo for Spain, but if -,ne had turned tip he would still have ta%en it in ; and the de fendant's agreement was procured to p,Tinit one for England, as late as the 27th of July, “sif it shoul I be found expedient :" this was bearing upon a winter risk, which it had been proved commenced on the 31st of August. It now appeared by the evidence that the convoy for which th.: ship wkited ryas formed by a mass of merchant ships themselve-, arid did not c,,nsist of a ship or ships of war ; and for the collec tion of such a convoy it was necessary to wait—had it been the case of armed ships, it might have been said that waiting for was different fromjoiniag r but there must necessarily be some time spent in collect.' ing such a convoy, as this ship waited three days for. The question was, whether the assured had abrised this liberty, and made it the colour for delay ?—The Jury found fur Cie Plaintiff. NOVEMBER 3. TILE KING V. TAYLOR. This was an indictment against the Proprietor of one of the slaughter-houses in Warwick-lane, for a nuisance in obstructing the regular thoroughfare, and in otherwise annoying the whole neighbourhood by killing cattle, &c. The prixecution was instituted by various inhabitants in Warwick-lane and War wick-square, who declared that they were constantly and grievously annoyed by the continuance of the nuisance, and that their property was very extensively injured by it. The ATTURNBY-GENERAL, in opor.iag the case, stated, that the nuisance was so well knovn that it did not require description ; for the italvliitaati wexe not only positively unable to pats to their hunt% and almost %Leached out of their habitations, but OK lane was su occupied by Oil slaughterers, that it bad almost ceased to be a ptthl:c thoronOtfare. Common report might be sufliLient to ect::!)lkh the rdii,ance, hut he would prove it by whole neigh baurbood, and having provid that tact, he should hold himself entitled to t verdict. That such a nei. wee was contrary to I.lw, he tlionwlit was heron I dispute, hut he was tore the ,lure would be told from the Bench that it se.ts contrary to law. Mr. Crowder, of Warwick 7 square; Mr. Wheble, and ?Nil-. Shirley, the distiller, of .Warwick.laae. - proved the nuisance, statia4 that the lane was oftca so completely impassable as to render it impotsibla for them to get to their residences; and added, that the smells alone which proceeded from the sl.sugh ter.houses constituted an extensive mid unbearablt nuisance. Lord ELLENII.:TIOUGII, interrupting the course of the prosecution, when there were about thirty other witnesses ready to prove the same facts, observed, that according to the St itntes cii te subject, it was illegal to slaughter cattle within any welled town, Berwick and Carlisle excepted ; and Ciat the nuisance and its illegality were tiierefore now beyond dispute. But as the practice of killing cattle had continued in Warwick-lane for so long a period as to . giee most the appearance of a legal proceeding, and as the proprietors of the sl 4ughter.houses would, no doubt, acquiesce in altering their conduct, his Lord. ship recommended that the matters in dispute should be referred to some gentlemen connected with the City, and competent to decide on the case, to SAT what should be dyne. The parties having consulted for some time agreed to refer it to Mr. William Montagu, the City 6u2. veycr, for him to say how the nuisances complaine I of were to be reformed, and how the business of tbs slaughterers should be ccnJacted in fitures and a verdict c)f . Geiity was :ett,rned, subject to such re. ference. THE KING V. K:Na V. SIIILPPERSON. Thew were inclictnierys 315') naisuit, the.proprietors of slaughter-houses in ‘Vrivick.l.ine, for like n , ii. sance, and they were also I he referred i.c) Mr. Montagu. CCURT OF COMMON PLEAS. BO I O. CUAPMAN. This was an act ' , 1.1 brought to recover . ' /CM one. bond given to stews the payment of that amount due from Mr. Evans to Messts..Rothwell; but its pay: anent was resisted en the ground that Mr. Evans had been induced to Frocure this bond from 14father-in law, the Defendaa, to save bins from a prosecution fur forgery. Mr. Scrjeant SHEPHERD stated that Messrs. R. were considerable creditors, and on attempting It) get security for the payment of the money due to them, it was stated that Mr. Elsworth, another creditor, held a bill accepted by Evans, which was charged to be a forgery. Whether this bill was a forgery or not he should not enquire, because that bll never was the property of the Plaintiff's. Re'pecting the bill.a ciinstable had carainly been empliyed ; hut to prove that such officer was not used to territ) Evans to pro cure the bond, he need only state that Evans re mained in the constable's custody on that ch irge alter the Plaintiff had procured the bond. As that was so, he maintained that he was entitled to a ver dict, for to deptive him of it, the fact must be shewn that the bond was a corrupt bat zain, to sniathcr the charge of forgery, with which •H: t:nd no thing to do ; that, in truth,. the Plaintiff bad coin pounded felony. Mr. JoNv.s, the Plaintiff's attorney, prr:ved the exe cution of the bond the 13th of Octobet, 143, and added, that when it was obtained, notbiag was said about the forged bill. Atter procuring the bond Mr Evans was lett as much in the constable's custody respecting the bill held by Mr. Llsworth, as eve he had been. Messrs. R. had nothing to do *hit Mr. Elsavorth, nor had they ever rssessed the bill al !edged to have Im•en a forgery, or Any interest in that Isecurity. Mr. Evans was the sou-in-law of Mr. C. who gave the bond. ' Mr. Serjeant Va colt AN said, that the fact of some. thing like a forgery having been charged against Evans, was bin too strongly supported by.the fgct of the parti;s• proceeding with a constable at their elbow ; and it t!.e circumstance of such charge,were made use of to induce Evans to get his lather to gin the bond in question, th it was a corrupt trauSaction, and he maintained that the validity of the instrument was thereby destroyed. That such a charge was made was now beyond dispute, for in consequence of its being suspected, to use no harsher phrase, that a variety of instruments which were out in the world had been forged by Evans, that person went abroad, and had not since been heard of ; but the question for the Jury was, bad the charge cf forgery, on the abandonment of that charge, been used to prevail on Evans to get the band from his father - in-law ? • Mr. CL:AI:KE S.,id that he had no doubt in his own mind that the bill held by Elsworth was a forgery i but lie advised Mr. Elsworth nut to prosecute for :rich iorgery, as Mr.. C. had espres.ed• himself ready to swear that the signature to the lad was his, in the event of any prosecution against Evans b e i ng instituted. But the expression ut that readiness did not alter his opinion as to the fact of the for,:eri. Mr. Chapman, jun. deposed, that on seeing idessrs. R. about Evans's debt. they said that the rely war to se' :le the business" would be to procure his la ther's bond for the plyment of the debt. Respecting the bill, witness, instead of acknowledging di signa ture of Elsworth's bill being his, acknowledged the bill, and promised to pay it in two or three days.-- The Bill held by Mr. Elswertn, however, certainly was a forgery. Chief Justice Crane, interrupting this ddence, said that it availed nothing, tor so tar mom its a;spearing that Messrs. R. had any thing to do with tut bill, or arranging hs consequence of the bond to ahaiitlen the prosecution for forgery. it was in proof t!:at Evans. a(.er the bond had been pro cuied. aid remained its the constable's custody . ., respecing the forged bill. The imputations cast on Messrs. Rothwell's conduct. in their legal mode of proceeding to rect.ver security for a legal debt, were destitute of foustlation, and therefore the Plaintiffs were entitled to A verdict.— The reason which induced Mr. ElswErth to abandou the prosecution of Evans for the :or l iery, was in proof. "n,rnely, that the witness. young Chapman. had said that he would swear at the Old 13aiit) that the sig nature was his, and after that intimation the Attor ney thought it would be . Taia to institute any proceedings agains t Evans.—NirdicClur the Plaintiff —l).images .4740. 6 ,