The National Register. — London, England, 1812-03-01 00:00:00

MARCH 1. PROVINCIALS. MONTHLY REPOR r FOR FEBRUARY. The continuance of . heavt . rains through the month, with the unusual ril.mess of :he weather, bas proved injurious to the young Wheats by forcing them much beyond their seasonable growth. The early Beans •off:tred, by rotting in the ground, and the general sowing Is r.nyli retarded from the same cause. A considerable breadth of Oats have been got in tyon leys in the Eastern Counties; but the followed lanclf, in almost every district, are found too wet to stir for Barley. In- . deed most of the preparatory Operations for Spring cultivation have ne cessarhy been suspended, from the ungiuial weather which has pre vailed through the winter. The young plants of Clover are generally s led acd the Rye and Winter Tare Plants show well for Spring feed. The Turnips, in most countries, arc running prematurely for bloom. The flay tuirkets are :ovver, from tke openness of the season. Cons' derable droves of Beasts, principally Scots and Irish, are come on Epping Forest, and have hitherto been sold at high prices Store Sheep are somewhat cheaper. Smithfield has been well supplied with prime and Mutton, on terms but little varying from those of the pre vAirg month; but Veal and House Lamb fetch rather less inon?y. The Wool trade has become a little brisker, owing to Merino Fleeces selling pretty freely for 4s.tid. and the South Down 2s. per pound. We learn with extreme concern, that in the neighbourhood of I-Ind iheetehl, within a short distance of that town, no fewer than twenty frames or machines have been broken, employed exclusively in the o;ter of cropping cloth. Serious apprehensions are entertained the: mi,chief will be conimitted, and the principal manufac tereri W;I'J have availed themselves of this species of roi•chanistn, are prarided with arms and wat.imen, to prevent such depredations. Fridtty se'nnight, about eight o'clock in the evening, Serjeant Ives, of the West Essex Militia, was stopped between Stilton and Norman Curse by a number of fellows, who, after havine knocked him down, ant nibbed him of his watch and money, wrenched open his jaws, and 'with savage cruelty cut off a piece of die poor fellow's tongue !—lt i. slid that the Serjeant has lately been very active in suppressing the iliac-trele, which is still clandestinely carried ott at N: o Ueess h.:rracks , motives of revenge, therefore, in all probability, instigeeed the sat guinary ruffians to the commission of this atrocious act. The Serjeant is not able to speak, but he has given so minute a description u. his assailants, that, With the exertions that are making fur their dis ct;vcry, we hope shortly to announce their apprehension. Ore of the most dreadful storms of thunder and lightning in the raemorf of man, took place on Tuesday. In Torbay, the Tonnant elan of war had 24 men killed or wounded by the lightning; one man was killed on hoard the Salvador del Mundt); two on hoard a brig; 10 were struck down and hurt on board the Helicon. 'The Cumberland had al men heat down, but none killed. A large-decked lugger, laden with contraband goods, having, on the loth inst a nt, been discovered in the Downs, and chased by the boats of the Lively cutter, in the service of the Revenue of Excise, and being boarded by one of the boats, the crew of the lugger attacked the officer and cutter's men, and; after heating them severely, took a pistol from oae cf the them, and fired at him,v,oum n him in the head, and threw her. overboard. A reward of 5;e01. is Nereid for the apprehension of :he °t readers. LAW REPORTS. COURT OF KING'S BENCH, SATURDAY, Psn. 29. WILLAN V. lIOPE. TUs wag an action brought by Mr. Willan, a considerable mail-coach ovn:tr, and proprietor of the Bull and Mouth Inn, against his Coach wht) was driver of the Leeds Mail-Coach, from London to garnet. 01 the of September last, the defendant drove the Leedi Mail, nisit two iiiside passengers, and having passed the Manchester Mail the two coaches again joined company on Finehley C 9 nint,iti where a competition aro , e who would be foremost ; a race cAirrienceil, and the Leeds Mali pas - ling the Manchester at a furious rite near Whetston .furnpike, at about Lorty yards beyond the gate, or.eof the leaders being tiles over driven, fell, and almost instantly n the antinal.was opened, it was discovered that one of the arteries next the heart had burst from over exertion, and a vast s"lntity of coagulated tils!oel was found in the cavity of the stomach. It 'neared that this had beet) a very line horse previous to the accident, aid was valued at from to 401. The plaintiff's case was proved by respectable witne , .s..,s. L i the part of t ilefAidant it was attempted to be proved, that the A:k•s Mail had eoni-: !io more thln the usual rate of Mail Coaches in .g,?(!ral, which by their c ,- intract with the Post-Office, were limited to anil where they It..d hilly roads, wi , ..re obliged to make up on the 41. 11 02 d by g lug t quid , . cr pace ; and the coach in question being cro `!_Yt'ls Was obli ge d to go w i t h t h e greatest expedition ; b ut 'We b t h e weitantination of clef.u.ciarit's witness ccrruborated the ease of th el , l3iadi C 4 ,415, aud the Jury gate hail verdict—Damages-3UL and THE NATIONAL REGISTER. OLD BAILEY. Tuesday Ott Sessions ended, when sentence of death was passed on E. Hitchcock, for steal:. a biter containing bank-notes • W. White, f.'s returning trots m transportati; Jane Bridger, Eliz. Bu ckley, D. Dick son, and T. Tomktns, alias Ekin Britten, fur stealing goods in a dwelling-house; R. Green and J. Parton, for burglary ; E. Dronet, J. Setree, and C. Wheeler, alias Walher, for stealing a heifor.—J. (;Duper and W. Stewart were ordtred to be t:•ans7,orte.l for fourtven years, Ana 27 for seven years ; SS to be imprisoned in the House of Correction, and 15 in Newgate, for varions periods ; three to he po; , licly zr.ci t 6 pr:- vately whipped ; eight judgments respited ; several fined Is. each, aud. discharged; and 21 discharged by proclamation. Sessions adjourned to the 10th of April next. ADMIRALTY SESSIONS. An Admiralty Session was held on Friday, before, Sir Wu. Scorr, Mr. Justice Le BLA NC, and a Bench of Civilians. Jnnott was capitally convicted of stealing dollars to the amours of 70,0001. the property of different merchants. The prisoner had contracted, with ethers, to purchase a vessel called the Maria, for 7001. which vessel was afterwards advertised at Lloyd's, as bound to a port in the Brazils, and consequently the property wad shipped in the usual way. The prisoner was a sort of supercargo, and instead of the vessel proceeding to the Brazil*, it anchored at Cuba, and faere the prisoner assisted in breaking open the chests of dollars, which: were conveyed away in another vessel to a distant port, and the vessel itself was sold. The facts were perfectly clear that the prisoner had combined with others in premeditating this felony. In defence it was contended, that the prisoner was a mere agent, and had no knowledge of the felony. Sir Was. Scorr pas •ed sentence of death on hint, and gave him to understand that the offence was too great to admit of any anielioratiQu of the sentence. James Grths, alias Hine', Pat. Corbett, James Dunn, and John Brown, were capitally convicted of being found in arms on board a French privateer called the i.e Cupidoir, on the 93d of March, 1810. The privateer was taken by the Amazon frigate, and the prisoners passed as Americans. In defence, the prisoners, by tong written state ments, attempted to justify their conduct by their sufferings in a French prison, and which alone had induced them to go on hoard tt , e privateer, in hopes of ultimately getting to a British port. Kennedy and another American proved the , prisoner having suggested a plan of rising on the crew of the privateer; but on cross•exarnination; he said Griffiths and Corbett had also served on board the Napoleon privateer. The Jury recommended the prisoners to mercy, and in passing sen tence, the Judge gave them to understand mercy would probably by :a. tended to them. PREROGATIVE COURT, DOCTOR'S COMMONS. 141 EVANS V. RIDLEY. This was a question arising on the validity of the will of Mr. Thos. Ridley, of Tothill street, Westminster, who died in the month of May, 1810. The will was supported on the part of Mr. John Evans, the sole executor named in it ; and opposed by Mr. Wm. Ridley, the testator's son, who was disinherited by it. The complete execution of the will was proved by the subscribing witnesses; and a variety of other evidence was adduced to prove the testator's regard for Mr. Evans,who was the person principally benclitad, and his dislike of his sln ; as also to repel the allegations made on his part, which, it was contended, was fully done; and the execution of the will therefore not being impeached upon good grounds, the Court must pronounce for its validity. On the part of the son several witn e s se s were produced to prove his father's affection for him; that his (the testator' s ) intellect s w ere con .i. derably disordered by ie immoderate use of spirituous liquors, and coutinued so till his death ; that he was dozing, and nearly in a stare of insensibility, occasioned by drunkenness at the time of making his will; and that he was dectAved into the commission of that act, and after wards prevented from altering it by the artifices of Mr. Evans. These circumstances, it was contended, the evidence fully established ; and the will, therefore, not being properly supported, must be pronounced in , valid. Sir low.; ?imam:. recapitulated the" evidence, from which he thought it was apparent that there was no clandt stinky in the transac tion of the will, and that the execution of it being detailed by whose evidence wasp:. rfectl y unimpeached, must ha considered as fully proved ; the only ground of oppositiu.! then was, that of the capacity/ of the testator being afiectt.d by drunkenue,s ; but from the geut•ral state of the evidence upon this point, he thought that when sober there was no!appearance of a derangement of intullects. Upon the whole of the evidence, thercf we. the Cotton did not think itself warranted in entertaining a doubt of rho authenticity of this will, which was therefore pronounced valid ; but in consideration of the peculiar situation of the son in opposing it, unaccompanied by a dis cree for costs.