Star. — London, England, 1817-09-02 00:00:00

THE ARM* The Duke of Wrzu.wcyrom and sake left Paris on Friday, for Cambray. Last week several troops of the 6th Dragoon Guards passed through Carlisle from the North, on their way to Manchester ; as have also a squadron of Scots Gr!ys from the south on thesr way to Scotland. Thursday the Members of a Court Martial (Lord PfnwAnn as their President) will assemble at the State Room, on the Platform, Portsmouth, to hear the charges to be preferred by Major• General BAYM Lieutenant-Governor of Guernsey, against Lieute. nant-Colonel ALas, of the 55th Regiment. Captain Etas, Deputy Judge Advocate. Several of the Staff and a number of the Officers of the 55th Regiment, are at Portsmouth as witnesses. _ _ Wednesday last a Court-Martial assembled in Dublin, on the trial of Captain JOHN Willie, eldest Captain of the 4th Dragoon Guards, on five different charges preferred against kim.by Major Outusta. Ist Charge.—For conduct highly prejudicial to military disd pline, in conducting himself in the must disrespectful manner to wards his commanding officer, Major Ogilbie, when attending a meeting of the officers of she two squadrons of the regiment, assembled at Tuliamcre, on the 10th day of May last, by order of Major Ogilbie (in pursuance. of Lieutenant-Colonel Ross's orders to that effect). Yd Charge.—For insubordinate and maker like conduct, highly subversive of military discipline, when attending the meet ing of the officers on the said 10th day of May last, in declaring that had he known the purpose for which Major Ogilbie bad' ordered the officers to assemble, he would not have attended the nw e ring oritered. ' ad charge.— For conduct highly subversive of military disci. ; piine, in tetusing, sec the meeting of the officers ma the said lOtit ' tiny et May las:, to obey Major Ogilby's order to read a letter (when banded • 0 hint by Major Ogilbie) addressed to Major Oglibie by the Adjutant for the purpose of desiring him to call ' can I:4 , :tin N h IC to state, for the information of the °Seer emu nianding the r e giment ' why he bad not complied with the order ' of the s. it in Januar) last, relative to the men's overalls. - 4tti Charge.-.-Fur couduel unbecoming the conduct of an Of ficer and a Gentleman, in writing a letter to Lieutenant-Colonel }tau, dated May 14' 1817, saying, that he, Captain White, coidd have wished that the copy of the Report made to Lieut.- r.nt-Coissei Ross, on the fth instant, sent by Major Ogilbie to Captain White, aareeably to his requests, had been attested by bins, Lieutenant-Colonel Rose—thereby insinuating that the copy wof the Report sent to him by Major Oglibie, was not a true and I correct copy. ' (Atm./lona t..)—Sth Charge.—For conduct unbecoming an Officer, and to the prejudice of discipline, in having acted In an improper and disrespectful manner before a Regimental Coen Marital, assembled at Philipstown on the 110th luso last—such conduct being calculated unjustifiably to encourage in the minds of certain soldiers belonging to his troop an impression that they had been furnished with overalls charged at a higher price than they ought to have been, and tending to excite in the said soh diets a feeling that the Court were not disposed folly and he. partially to investigate the justice, or otherwise of the objets. lion stated on their parts• to the prices eo charge d: in their Monts, for which purpose the Court was specially instituted. STUART PAPERS. Among the strangers, says the Arms: les Dehats, who have lately arrived treat Rums at Lausanne, is Mr. WATsON, a Scotch Gentleman, who is proprie tor of the archives of the STUART family. which be purchased from M. TAASONI, CIACOIOT of the tene ment of the late Cardinal Yong. These papers are actually on their way to England. the British Go- vernment having sent two strips of war to Civita Vecchia, in order to transport then. They illustrate whatever is obscure in the history of the latter Svomers, and throl many new lights on the literature, history, and policy of the most interest ing period of Modern times. In the literary part oft the collection is a • correspondence between King. 'Allis and FIDIELON, Sirup, ROCUISsTaIt, &MING -1110K;, and other slimily celebrated individuals. —ln the political past, are snore than a thousand autograph letters ni the tami!y of the Stumm% as well as a great number of letters of CHAIM= XII. Pena the GattAT, L-uis XIV. and nearly all the cotempiirary Sovereign. of Europe. Last week. Sir STAMFORD RAPTLISAIte Governor of Java, and Lady RAFFLE* and suite, arrived at Glasgow. and alto . taking a cursory view of that city, set off for Portpatrick. The Honourable Major Yakutsk M.P. and his Lady, are at present on a visit at the Loan Cuter BARON'S, Mount Prospect, in the county of Limes ick. We :egret to state, that a most alarming fever has been for some time past raging in the town of Stra bane, in • the North of Ireland, front the effects of which, principally, not less than 107 corpses have been interred in the Grave-yard, from that town and its iminediate neighbourhood, since. the 27th of July; and from the number of patients already confined, and its being inferred that the contagion was likely to spread, it was deemed advisable to fit up the Court House for their reception. which was ordered by the INOVORT, and a voluntary subscription entered into by the inhabitants ; in consequence, forty patients were removed thereto last week. It is generally be. lieved, that this calamitr has arisen from the distress and misery of the suffering poor. Tuesday night, two chaise-drivers, named Brayne sad Oliver, belonging to. the Lion Inn, in Shrews bury, on their return freak Ellesmere, rode upon the bar of a chaise (one of the men having a pair of horses loose), and drove it into the river at Bagley Bridge, where the depth and rapidity of the stream carried the horses off their feet. It was about ten o'clock and moon light. Souse inhabitants hearing the cries of the unfortunate men, hastened to the spot; and they arrived in time to witness the chilies, horses. and men, roll down the current and sink. The nn;- salt, with the vehicle, floated to Mardol Quay next morning, but the bodies of the men are not yet taken up. Friday night every valuable brat:obi was torn front the arts of Mn. Howaao ieVaezball.tisgtisos. Mrs. H. was Mein on tie arm Lord PrrIIISSAM lad into the Raids' (the entrance to width :I ;spay ), when the thief matched me bracelet in the most audadose and andlegebed new net. Lord P. instantly made an effort to lay hold of the fellow, but his Lordship was so pressed upon by several persons, appa. reedy gentlemen, but must probably the colleagues of the rob ber, that the Wort was ineffectual, and he escaped through the crowd. Mrs. Howaao is the widowdpf the late Major of the ion) Dragoons, who so gallantly fought and fell at Waterloo. Saturday sennight, Thomas Terence kl•Mahon, alias Treelough, and Edmund Shaughnessy, were executed pursuant to their sentence at the last Beni& Assizes, for burglary arid robbery at the. home of ' Roston.—Same day, John Rogan, and his stye Mnr lagh, were executed in front of the gaol, at Down - ?crick, for wilfully setting fire" to their own house tor the purpose of defrauding the British and Irish tire Office. Lax TaLioxis.—A young man, 19 years of age. aho has been convicted in Hungary of having cola. flatted the crime of fire-raising no less than seven times, Lai been condemned to be harlot allvt. AN EFFICIENT AND PRACTICABLE PLAN PO& 1711 RELIEF of rig DISTRESS of ris COUNTRY. TO THE EDITOR OF THE ' STAR. Sin—As your Paper has, more than any other, been the channel through which Mr. Owates Plan to relieve the distress of the Country has been conveyed to the Public, I presume on. your readiness to give equal publicity to any other Plan that may appear to have a just claim to Public attention. In offering my views of what I deem most expe dient on the present exigency, I by no means con demn the Plan of Mr. °teen as impracticable and visionary, although it appears to have received this sentence from a large proportion of intelligent and reflecting persons ; but if such persons reflect how many establishments have existed, and.do still exist, which would .have been equally condemned as vi sionary, had they been presented merely as Schemes designed to produce the results that have attended them : such a reflexion, I apprehend, might induce some hesitation in arriving at a condemnatory con clusion, without actual and fair experiment. Who could have supposed that out of the materials of a silly credulity, a Papal Empire could hive been erected that should have overawed at one time all civilized Europe?—or that with such apparently ina dequate means, the order of the Jesuits could have been so extended and consolidated?—or that the Me thodist and Missionary Societies could have been established and supported in the manner they now are I—or that a National Debt could have been raised on the footing of a perpetual transfer, the transactions of which are unintelligible to a large proportion of the investors I—or that a National Post-Office could be established to convey letters in every direction, with a rapidity and punctuality equal to that which would belong to a single message, preserving a suitable check on such innumerable receivers of money, and affording a competent, if not an infallible security tor the transmiuion of money ? Suppose any of these Institutions untried, and contemplating, at the out set, the ultimate perfection to which they have re spectively arrived, had been presented as Schemes, how many difficulties, insurmountable difficulties, would not at first sight have appeared to stand in the way of their execution ? From such considerations I am therefore induced to withhold a condemnation of the Plan of this ingenious and worthy man ; and to think it very possible, that with suitable support, its practicability might be realized. The objection to Mr. Owes's Plan appears to be, that it goes to produce a total change in the frame of Society t this objection, at least, will not apply to mine, for mine is, unhappily, toe much in unison with the present order of things, being nothing less than • Plan of Taxation ; and as it has been Mr. Owna's business to defend his Plan against the charge of novelty, it will be my object to defend mine against the Charge of commonness. I believe it will be found that no ob j ection can be urged against what I am about to offer, that may not be urged against any Plan, and when an estimate is about to be taken of the merit of a proposition, 1 must be permitted to suggest, that it is necessary to take into account the character of the object that is to be accomplished, and to be careful that we do not charge on the plan of relief, the objection which is native to, and inn parable from the object itself. What the* is the ob ject I- It is twes-feld.an immediate relief of the' wants of the Poor, and a restoration of Commerce. To what source then must we apply to accomplish these objects ? We do not profess to work mar, ks, and therefore we apply to the Property of the Conn try.to the whole Property ; and by putting a suitable, portion of it into active circulation, to supply at once the necessities of the Indigent, and the wants of the Manufacturer and the Trader. The Property of the 'Country consists of its Land, its Buildings, the Pub lic Funds, its Shipping, and Merchandise. The -Public Funds are indeed no real Property, in a Na tional view—yet they become individual Property, and are available for our present object. By a reference to BROOKet Gazetteer, we shall find the Land of the Country to be as follows-- linglend Wales....-4 Scodand .. iti,1,50.1100 Acres .... SOOO,OOO ~. i 7,788,000 55,133,000 This Land, of more or less value, I suppose may at least be taken at an average purchase of 4130 per Acre. From the same authority, the Population of the Country, in 1801, was as f0110w5...- 14land ••• ••• •• ••• $,331,454 Wales .... 541,346 53341401. 00000 ••• ••• 1,699,05111 10.4714048 And as Population is admitted to be always on the increase, we may take the present total number at 12,000,000. It this u too low a computation, it will be still in .favour of my Plan, because I advert to the "Population merely as a guide to estimate the valets of the Buildings. Supposing families on an average to be composed of five persons, we shall have about 2400,000 families s every family does not occupy a separate dwelling i but taking into account the great number of costly dwelling-houses, the numerous and large factories, warehouses, bgeweries, distilleries, and public works throughout the country, we shall not be liable to overrate the productive buildings at 2,600,000, at ASOO each. The produce of the Land in cattle, fodder, grain, &c. I suppose may be taken at I.6th the value of the Land ; and the Shipping and Merchandise, and Coin of the Country, will at least equal the L and produce. Any thing lite accu• racy is not to be espected—ghe principal- error to be avoided is excessive computation. and I presume to think myself quite within limits. especially as nothing is reckoned for East and West India Property. pos sessed to a large amount by British Residents. The following will then be a summary of the fore going items Lind, say 55 Millions at £3O , , 3, 7 650 Million. .11.1 toss 30050 Penis, say 750 Predated Law! 1 4tis • 2SS Ifhlyplog mad Mardwoollee 17$ £3,700 Millions. A tax of one per cent. on this property would pro duce £37,000,000. and if we allow /17,000.000 for exemptions in favour of persons of teosmaa property, we then have 30 millions drawn only from persons in 0310014 or at least in competent circumstances. This sum weeld hunisi a milks pour families with 10$. a week each for the space of twelve months, and leave four millions for expense of management, would produce an extra circulation of nearly, if not entirely, the whole amount, and give a sensible and vigorous impulse to every branch of internal corn. coerce. My next busines; is to propose the mode of distribution. and to answer the objections to which the whole plan is liable. As necessity is the parent of the plan, so it must be the govern;n7, ptiociple in the distribution we must, therefore, consider what amount is necessary to supply the real wants of the objects of this rebel. In a general way I suppose single men may be excluded from a participation, though possible exceptions may appear to such a rule, which may bring some of this class under the protection of the fund. I suppose then a m a n a n d his wile to require 110 s. per week for all purposes, and for each child to the number of four, ss. each. I know that thousands must do with less, when general and urgent distress is not complained of; and if, in my estimation of necessary demands, I am:tou liberal, this error may be easily corrected, and a less amount to be raised, or a farther extension will be the result. The amount necessary for the supply of real want being deter-1 mined, whatever a man's wages fell short of it, propose to be supplied out of this fund—the manage ment to be committed to the Parish Officers, or to persons expressly appointed—the labourer or me chanic. &c. to furnish a satisfactory certificate of the propriety of his claim : punishment to be inflicted for fraudulent representation. and the best security against deception to be adopted by such subdivision of Parishes, as would bring the receiver, generally within the perscnal knowledge of the Officers. The objections now come to be considered, and I must beg the reader to keep in view that objection. are inseparable from every plan—wherever an evil exists that is not beyond endurance, the removal 01 the evil seems for the moment to be a greater trouble than the suffering it occasions; and though the evil I now propose to remove or ameliorate is really into lerable, yet as I du not address the actual sufferers, but those who are at ease, and on whom I propose to' lay a small share of burden to deliver the actual suf ferers, such persons I am afraid may be tolerable to magnify the difficulties which the plan of relief ne cessarily involves. The - first. and in my view the greatest difficulty is, that the relict proposed would induce masters to give less wages, and thereby increase the real necessity. To this I can only reply, that even if it should be so, still the evil attending the relief is not near so great as the evil of necessity unrelieved. and that of two evils we must chase the least ; but perhaps it would nu operate so much as at first view we might be led to tear—for first, the limitation of the fund would not allow such a dependance on it, as would give the masters full command of their own terms; and se tiondly, an iiicteased demand for labour from the extra circulation of money, would give the labourer some influence over the master. But whether these expectations ate well founded or not, I contend that the evil in its greatest magnitude. is not a valid ob. jection for whatever consequencesresult, if the means exist, want and 'misery ought to be relieved. The objection only thews that the war in which we have been engaged. and which deserves the most urqua. lifted reprobation. has entailed evils that admit of nu satisfactory remedy. The second objection is, that *would encourage idleness end intemperance—sit this be true, it is to be answered as before-4 is unavoid able and therefore must be submitted to. But we here suppose the labourer to be in employ, but with iusufficient wages. It he is out of employ, be may be required to do any work that can be Wand for him, and al he is only to be supplied with an amount deemed necessary. fox his real wants, we might presume on this being a tolerable security against intemperance—And perhaps some Sunday re gulation might be adopted in the way of adult trawls to bring such persons under more particular notice, and by this measure their characters might be both known and improved.—Third objection. The period which is proposed is too short to do any essential flood. Yet how is it to be extended ? Are the iich to be taxed till they become paupers ? And what is to be done alter the fund is expended ? I answer, a little griod is better than none. If time is looked forward to, to work a remedy of itself, it will do it much better with the aid of a first impulse to set things in motion..--The rich can never for such an Object be taxed injutiously, for by the computation Which forms the basis of this plan there is clearly a sofficiency tor all, and as nothing like an equal divi sion is intended—nor indeed any sort of division, the bulk of property mutt finally remain in partial hands, after every want is fully supplied. But the benefit of the fund ivould not cease with the first expendi tnre, for once put into circulation it would pursue a course beyond the period of its first disbursement, though iu a less proportion, its effect would be felt a second, and perhaps a third year; and if necessity still called tor farther relief, the degree of assistance would be determined by the degree of necessity still remaining. Admit that this is enough for all, and that.the claimants are and must be content with a iery small proportion, and it follows of necessity that their wants must be supplied before the wealthy can feel the tax press heavily upon them.—Tourth objec tion. But the tat proposed is of the nature of the late property tax, which is wholly inadmissible. This would have been a capital objection had it been urg. ed against such an impost for carrying on war. but it is none against a mode necessary for the relief of the poor. On one side the payer of the tn is to be subjected to the vexation of interrogating commis sioners—and on the other, the poor man and his family are to be visited with cold and huttger—' almost without food, raiment, or lodging t —Which of iheie ought to be endured, if one is unavoidable ? Who will maintain that the grievance of an inquiii torial tax is equal to that of extreme poverty ? But let it be observed, that the property subject to inqui. sitorial assessment in this computation is only in the proportion of 550 to sso, or about one-sixth. And if persons engaged in trade wish an exemption from those examinations, which beyood doubt are very unpleatant —still they cannot require to be exempted from their proper contributions; and it is for them 'to prqpose any mode more agreeable to themselves. But it is impossible to avoid this inconvenience and , at the same time to adjust•with precision the portion due frost' each ; and if examination is objected to, some visible bur unequal rule must be inbsuitted to; and the liability-to excessive assessment must be-con - . . . . t;dered at tile price of etemption frarn scrutiny —in such a case a choice of evils is all that can he given. With respect to the relation th4t suhaist•. between population and production, it forms no part of the present case, because my object only extends to the restoration of a proper proportion internal trade —the mode of pr.viding for very distant gen. :scions I must leave to abler heads than mine; and perhaps even these must le.ive it to the care of that Puovt- DPNCS which orders all things. At present. however, I would observe, that computing the inh marts at 5e2,500,060 families, there :ippears to be in England about 16t acre:, in %Vales 4:1 acres, and in Scotland 4R acres to a family, making an average of Tit acres in all Great Britain: Whether so much land is folly equal to the sup port of the inhabitants, is a question I de n,.t pretend to determine; it it is, then is it a reproach to the country that so much want, so much misery shouid exist; and if our means are really insufficient, then is itshighly inexpedient, that under circumstances of a total deficiency, enormous inenualnies in property should be suffered. The Government of every coun try possesses a controul over the property ot the country, for the benefit of the State at large ; sad where one part of the community possesses beyond all measure, and another part is suffering intolerable want, it is an imperative duty on the Government to make the excess supply the deficiency. lam afraid this doctrine will not be relished by the wealthy ; but nature and justice proclaim its right to govern the affairs of men; but nature and justice are like sove;. reigns in exile, who assert, a right they have no power to entotce. I consider myself now warranted is saying, that I have exhibited an efficient and practi cable plan, highly beneficial to all, with the lean possible pressure on the opulent, and involving no objection but such as will be found inseparable from every plan. I have only now, therefore, to recom• mend it, with my best wishes, to the attention ot the Government and the wealthy. Much more might be advanced, but it is to be hoped that the Government and the more favoured part of society are not so en tirely lost to a sense of the duty which the present state of things imposes on them, as to requir e to b e reminded of the uncertain tenure on which even Empire is held; and that the allegiance which is only. maintained by military power or coercive late, is al ways in danger ot dissolution. Home affairs are, or ought to be the first concern of a nation, as much as of an individual, and every foreign transactiou ought to have home velure far its object : the more this has been hitherto neglected, or improvidently souvin, or delusively preteuded, the more necessary it is -now to set about it with determined sincerity and zeal; and if sacrifices have been made to destroy a nation, they ought not to be withheld to restore it. Yours, &c. NUDE:4I'IM The GLAstlow, of Si) guns, has been commissioned at Deptford by the 14 Captain Meat woo. Fria's? , the crew of his Majesty's late ship Atcmc were paid oft and those lately returned from the Likes on Saturday . Since the Grew Shooting commenced, numerous presents have betu forwarded to Mr. Sieeventoit r, accompanied with letters from persons toikiiiiwo, but handsomely complimenting him as Me Public's fr, in having restored the Price of Tickets and Shares to their present moderate rate, by the example set is hie (*my& . No. greater induceMents can be blended in a Lottery than a Sato Priced Tides and the chance if very Farr Prises, a chAnce which exists in a supe• rior degree. in that which is to be drawn the loth of SRPTEMBRR ; for although it consists of only 2,900 Numbers, there are Two of d42u,000 Stirling Mosey, and egret; £40,000 may be gained by One AiifiLer, as the Schemee particujarize. These are the kinds of presents which Mr. Sivewitiowr is anxious to return for the Favours received at his Offices. A ferociou; animal, of a singular kind, has been killed the 20th of last month, in a w ood belonging to the Commune of Meziily-sur-Saone. (Cute d'Or), by a farmer of that Commune. These who hive seen it say it has some resemblance to the lynx ; it is, however, thicker and longer in the body. Its head is like that of the fcx, feet short, a whitish circle round the neck. A 6:mid smell proceeded from it when it -was k lied. The game-keepers and wolf-hunters, vino had pursued it during six weeks before, never heard it ba r k i n the night like the wolves. This animal has been the scourge of the country. It had already de. !toured seven and wounded twenty children. Sanas° MAU:D.—The grand Sailing Match for an elegant Silver Cop. given by the Gentlemen of the new Cumberland Fleet, was sailed for yester. day, by nine Gentlemen's pleasure-boats, each being distinguished by a broad white pendant, with red spots and numbered. At four o'clock the Commo dore of the fleet hoisted his flag in Cumberland Gar. dens, which was overflowing with company ; several bands of music attended for their amusement. At half past eight, there was not sufficient wind to carry them round the boat moored off Wandsworth, in consequence of which the match is undecided. GRAND ROWING Marcit.—Yesterday the lovers of aquatic sports were-highly delighted with the nume rous amusements afforded Ahem by the Proprietor of the Royal Cumberland Gardens. The first was a match for a coat and silver badge, to be rowed for by' six young watermen, in the last year of their appren. ticeship, to be decided in two heats : the first beat to • start at four o'clock from the King's Antis Tavern, Milbank, down the Surrey shore, row round the beep con at Lambeth. and back to the King's Arens; the first three boats of this heat were the only ones en. titled to start for the prize. At the appointed hour the following six started as above-mentioned, each boat being distinguished by a small white flag, with numbers fired in the stern of each boat MAMPI. WNW OlLOlllehlik NO. Or rrOfri• James Greg y - Pepper-411r/ . a Wfiliam George • Blockfclars - Charles Maynlint • Lambed: . a wttttaat liazass . Hon.:ferry . 4 Richard 1441.111/ • Hungertard William Pratt - Westminster - The three_ first boats came in as they stand on the list, and at half-past ,gve they started for a second heat. The River, from their place of starting as far as Lambeth, was covered with boats of every de scription. At seven o'clock they vane in in the settle wanner, Gregory . first, George second, and May nard third, each being about two or th ree boats lengths apart. The winner was then presented with the Coat and Badge in the gardens, in the presence of upwards of 2',000 persons ; the utile' twos were rewar*ed with minor prises. •. . . .