The National Register. — London, England, 1812-05-17 00:00:00

~-.: 308 Lord COCHRANE has had several long interviews with Lord MEI.VILLE at the Admiralty. His Lordship, it is said, is ::bout to be employed on the coast of Spain. A Bill is brought into the House of Commons for rev lating the Trade of Victuallers. All publicans in the country, as well as those in town, arc to be obliged to sell tHir ale, er, or porter, by the full ale measure ; • and on account of the loss in town by sending out porter in pew ter pots, victuallers are to be allowed to send out ale, beer, or porter in vessels made of wood, earth, glass, tin, or other metal, of full ale measure; provided that no beer, ale, or porter shall be sent out in pewter vessels of less size than ore gallon. ASSASSINATION OF THE Rif - 111T LION. SPENCER PERCEVAL. It is with the mot deep-felt sorrow we have to record, that in the sour-e ot Monday e ?ening, an act was perpetrated, exceeding in atro city any which has ever before stained the annals of this country. A fe‘.... minutes after five o'clock on Monday afternoon, Mr. Perceval pr.iceed< don foot and alone from his residence in Downing-street to the lions' or o,:r.tvenii. On entering the lobl:y, a man, who had been some 6rne there, held a pistol over him on his left side, fired, and shot him through the left breast, near his heart. Mr. Perceval walked for t three or tear yards, as if nothitz bad happened, and had reached the midway between the door of the lobby and the immediate door of :he House, when he staggered, and sunk on his knees, exclaim in in a faint voice, "I am murdered !" or " murder !" Mr. Francis Phillips, a gentleman from the neighbourhood of. Manchester, who hap pened t- be in the lobby, instantly rushed forwards, raised, and sup- I ported hm. Mr. Perceval groaned twice very deeply, and was carried into the Speaker's .:-. , eretary s room, where he bled profusely, both from tin : wound arid from his month, and in about five minutes, without ut. •r ;Lig a sin 'le word, expired in the arms of Mr. Phillips. 'I he lobby w eers; thin, not above twenty persons being in it. The assassin, as 50011 a u he had perpetrated this diabol i ca l act, made no attempt what ever to es.--are, but retreated to a bench near the fire-place in the lobby. A gent i ema c, of the name of Jerdan, who had followed Mr. Perceval into the lo UN'. immediately seized him, and never quitted his grasp until he was t if ce ,l Olio the House of Commons. While held securely t h„ v i e Burgess, the Solicitor, of Curzon-street, Mayfair (who was also 'n the h.,''bY), wrenched the pistol which he had just dis charged, and which was yet warm, from the right band of the assassin. soon after - :his General dascoigne entered the lobby from above stairs, and oa seeing the assassin, anti hearing what a dreadful occurrence It .d taken place, was w izh difficulty prevented from doing him a serious mis chief. I'he General, and Mr. Vincent Dowling, who had entered the lobby with him, proceeded to search the villain. Mr. Dowling took from his breeches teh..ket an opera glass, and a loaded pistol. General Ga-coi.oie drew from another pocket a bundle of papers, which he band <i to Mr. liatrie, :eJcniber for Weymccuth. Mr. Burgess also took from him a guinea in gold, a one pound note, a five and sixpenny token, two eiAteeo peony tokens, some keys, and a den -knife. By this time the lobby bad become a scene of the utmost contOsion- The alarm had been circulated through every adjoining part. Members came rushing in from the Flouse, Peers from the House of Lords, strangers from ressions the ex gallery, and witnesses front the Committe e rooms, ant. p of horror, grief, and indignation, resounded from ever)* side. Two of the messengers proceeded to drag the assassin into the House, where the utmost confusion and anxiety prevailed. The Speaker had quitted the Chair, the H iuse having resolved itself into the Committee On the Or ders inn Council, but on hearing the afflicting intelligence, he returned and re-limed his seat. Order having been restored, General Gascoigne said, in an audible voice. " I think I know the villain," and walking up to the : s-assin, aiid looking in his face, inquired, " is not your nano 13 , Ili! gh rn ?" Ile returned no answer, but by shaking his head, and srsod aiter wards motionless, and apparently composed, resting his hands upon the Bar, and looking directly forwards to the Chair. The Speaker then proposed, in a firm voice, that the criminal should be conveyed to the prison-room, and that a Magistrate should be sent for to receive the examination of the witnesses of the shocking transac tion. This was agreed to, and the prisoner was accordingly conducted to the prison-room (which is at the top of the House of Commons), guarded by the Serjeant at Arms, and several of the Messengers, pre ceded and followed by Mr. Alderman Combe, Mr. M. A. Taylor, Mr. Whitbread, Mr. l'ieruey, Mr. Roes, Lord Castlereagh, General Gas coigne, and a great many other Members of the House of Commons. After an examination of various witnesses, among whom were Lords Ossuls i ton and Francis Osborne, General Gascoigne, Mr. H. Summer, the Othcers of the House, and several strangers, he man was fully committed to Newgate for trial. A hackney-coach was brought to the iron-hates in lower Palace-yard • but the crowd, which was at fi rst omposed of decent people , ha d gradually swelled by a concourse of pickFockets acid the lower orders, who mounted the coach, and were TIIE NATIONAL REGISTER. M AY 1 7 exceeding troublesome and even dangerous, that it was riot deemed advisable to send him to Newgate in the Ili:inner intended. We heard with pain, repeated shouts of applause from the ignorant or &prayed part of the crowd, as if they were hailing some oppressed but innocent . . victim; sonic of whom even mixed with their shouts, the cry of " Bur dett tor ever!" and attempted to open the other side of the coach , as if ty _ to give the murderer an opportunity of es ape. A par f I sa mires arrived about this time, and formed a errlaircle in lower Palace—yard, by which the mob were kept more et d'stance. It was, however, thought more prudent to send him away by another outlet, and to avoid all confusion. He was therefore taken out of the speaker's entrance, and conveyed to elesvgate. His name is Bellingham. He has hero esigaged in mercantile concerns at Liverpool, and was receganized by G eiesrals Tarleton and Gascoigne, the meneoers for that place. He is about five feet nine or ten inches in height, with rather a thin visage, a nose somewhat aqualine, and of genteel appearance. He has been n - c it good deal about the House of Commons during the se f e w weeks, a dined several tunes in _the coffee-room. He preserved, during the proceedings, an air perfectly calm, and the appearance of um under no sort of agitation, but who had deliberately and fully made up his mind to the atrocious act he had committed, and the awful consequences that would ensue to himself. He had lodgings in New Millman-street, near the Foundling Hospital. His landlady, who is a young widow, with a family, stated, tide he had been very serviceable to her in the recovery of a child of her's, which had been missing, and that he had taken her in the morning to see the European Museum. He used to complain to her of money due to him, which he was wronged of, and without getting which, he must be a ruined man. It is said that he has a wife and three children. Several circumstances are stated relative to ex pressions used by him recently: among others, one, respecting some allusions lately made by Mr. Perceval to secret assassination, on which he is said to have observed, that Mr. Perceval should not have that to say for nothing. Various stories are retailed, of his having given fre quent proofs of temporary derangement. He was, we understand, en gaged some years ago in commercial speculations in Russia ; and made certain demands, for compensation, on Government, which were not acceded to. He is said to have complained of the conduct of Govern ment, and of our then An:bassi:dor at St. Petersburgh; and to have recently reiterated his complaints, without being able to impress a con- . viction of their justice. The body of Mr. Perceval was removed from the Speaker's House during Monday night, to his own in Downing-street ; and on Tuesday morning, at eleven o'clock, a most respectable jury was summoned to attend A. Gell, Esq. Coroner for Westminster, at the Reuse of Francis Dukes, the sign ot the Rose and Crown, in Downing-street. After taking a view of the body, the following witnesses were examine:l: I ieut.eGeneral Gascoigue ' Member for Liverpool; J. Hume, lee. Member for Weymouth ; H. Burgess, Esq attorney, of Curzon-street; and W. Lynn, Esq. Surgeon. Their evidence was to the same eftect as the testimony given at the trial at the Old Bailey, and the Jury returned a verdict of Wilful Murder. INTERESTING PARTICULARS RELATIVE TO THE ABOVE ATROCIOUS MURDER. Mrs. Perceval's situation, for many hours after she received the news of Mr. Perceval's death, was such as to excite the most serious alarm in the minds of her family. Lord Redesdale, who is married to Mr. Per cev el's sister, was considered as the most proper person to communicate the fatal intelligence to her. His Lordship performed the fatal task with every possible delicacy and precaution. When she was apprised of the dreadful event, she neither wept nor spoke, nor appeared to he sensible of any thing that was afterwards said to her; she remained in that state front - six o'clock on Monday evening till II o'clock on Tues day morning ; during that interval her friends endeavottred to rouse her, and, if possible, to excite her to tears, by mentioning the eiscums stances of Mr. Perceval's death to her, but in vain. At length her situ ation excited such serious apprehension, that it was determined, as the dilly remaining expedient, to take her to the room where Mr. Perceval lay, in hopes that the sight would produce the desired effect. The iill.oex periment succeeded — the moment she saw the body, she burst tears. Mr. Perceval bad dined with his young family on Monday, just before he went out to go to the kdouse ot Commons, where he received the rata' shot of the assassin. immediately after the murder of Mr. Perceval was known, erders were sent to tide military stations in the neighbourhood of London, forO all the troops to to under a r m s, and in a short time no less than L'7,o( men were in reuliness to march wherever their services might have been wanted. The loss to the afflicted family of Mr. Perceval, besides that irrepa rable one of so amiable and beloved a father, is heavy under other col t :: s id era ti o ns, as he possessed • the Chancellorship o f the Duch y of Ltat,. seater for life, and was last in reversion of the lucrative appointm Register of the Admiralty Court , now p ossessed b y his brother, Lor d Arden. On the examination of Bellingham on Monday night at the House o f f o r f . Commons, General Gascoigne , Mr. Hume, Lord Francis Osborne, sNI. Colborne, and others were examined. The prisoner, on being a Ns y. whether he had any thing to say to their de p ositions, stated, that that General GascQiiing VizuOliat) hitu with so much violence, ;