The National Register. — London, England, 1817-08-25 00:00:00

AUGUST 25. then took in his hand his musket from behind him, when the man who sat next immediately declared, that, Who made any resistance, he would die in opposing him, rather than allow him to escape' upon this Mr. Mariner summoned up all his strength, :sod struck him a most violent blow, or rather stab, near the loins, with the muzzle of the piece, exclaiming at the same time, '• To gi ho Holm co homier •." This lunge produced a dangerous wound, for the musket being a very old one, had grown yoke sharp at the muzzle, and was besides, impelled by the uncommon force with which, inspired by the prospect of escape, he felt himself animated : the man im mediately fell fiat in the bottom of the canoe, senseless, and scarcely with a groan 1. Mr. Mariner pulled his legs out straight : he then presented his musket to the other two, who appeared minimise panic-struck, and threatened to blow out their brains if they did not instantly obey his orders, and pull towards the vessel. They accordingly put about, and made towards her. The one that Mr. Mariner wounded was a puree of a warrior, but the other two had nes er been in battle, and, as be supposes, did not know but what he email sire Aids musket as often as he pleased without load ing it ; be this as it may, they were now perfectly obedient, and he eueourageil them farther, by reminding them that they had a good excuse to make to their chiefs, Mice it was by compulsion, and not by will, that they had acted. In the mean time, he kept a strict eye hulls upon them and the man in the bottom of the canoe; upon those, lest they should take au opportunity to upset the canoe, and swim to the shore, with which they were well acquainted, and arm this, lest he should recover and attempt the same thing, or elm make an unexpected attack : fortunately he did not stir the whole night.l They did not come up with the vessel till about daylight next morning, owing to the distance they had to go, fur they were about four miles off the northwest part of VA. rum, and the ship bore west-south-west, about five miles distant, steering uuder easy sail, to the south rod of that island : besides width, they were much fatigued with having pulled about the whole day against a heavy sea, and were short of any provisions, except raw fists. During the whole night, the man in the bottom of the canoe lay perfectly still, and 'hewed no signs of life, except a slight gurgling noise in his throat, which was heard now and then. As soon as the canoe pulled up along side the brig, Mr. Mariner, without stopping to hail, on the impulse of the moment, jumped into the main chains, and had liked to have been knocked over board by the ceutinel, who took him for a native, for his skin was grown my brown, his hair very long, and tied up in a knot, with a turban round the head, and an apron of the leaves of the obi tree round his waist : this disguise would have warranted the conduct of the centinel, but, as soon as Mr. Mariner spoke English, and told hius he was au Engliah man, he allowed him to come on deck, where he addressed the l'aptaio, who cortlially shook hands with him. 'the lat ter bad heard from the captain of a schooner the whole un fortunate affair of the hurt au Prince I for the schooner brought away two men from one of these islands during the time that Mr. Mariner was in another quarter, upon some business for Snow." • Meaning, literal/y, " Strike your llotooa. there's your death !" which are forms of energetic exprevions, used like oaths, um extra ordinary oczasions, calculated w express vengeance. t Tins man. whose mute was l'ooo Fontinga. well deserved the fate he met with : lie used to beat Lis wife unmercifully, fur which Mr. Mariner had frequently knocked him down with a club: he formerly had a wife who, in time of scarcity, he killed and ate: since that time having several children more than he wished, he killed a couple of them to get them out of the way. His best quality was be ing au excelh•nt fisherman, and a hard-working fellow. It way be remarked, also, that this was the season for sharks, and their tonscienees, probably, were not quite clear from having infringed sonic prohibition or another, in consequence of which, ac cording to their notions, they veers liable to be dewoun.slby sharks. MR. GIVEYS ADJOURNED MEETING. Thursday the adjourned Meeting for the purpose of considering Mr. Owen's Plan lea the Relief of the l'oor, w as held at the IZity of Landon Tavern, Itishonsgate-street. The Meeting was very munerously attended, so much so, that though the chair was not taken till one o'clock, the rontn)vas crowded to excess at a little after twelve. here were several respectable persons attended, among whom were about twenty Ladies. At one o'clock Mr. Owen entered &cram, inAtompany with seve ral friends, and proposed that Sir John Jackson, Hart. M.P. should take the Chair. This being agreed to, Sir John took the Chair. ex • pressed his thanks for the honour they had done him, and requested attention to every Gentleman who should come forward to otter his sentiments. Mr. Owen, he observed, would resume the discussion which commeneedlast week. . . Mr. Owen hagun by lamenting that so much confusion should have taken place at/tie last meeting. Ile lamented this the snore, because it was a proof that the system of political economy was little under stood. fie entered into an =goitre° shew that a reform in the re presentation would not produce the bene fi ts belong contemplated; and then proceeded to sliew that the principal cause of the present distress was the prodigious encresse of machinery. He allowed that the Cottage system was calculated to do much good, but it was ex pensive, and would not have the effect of 'moralizing the people ae cus:omed as they would still be to their old habits. They would, moreover, while they remained individualized„te subject to famine in bad seasons. Mr. Owen now proceeded teams. that his plan was not yetmnderstood, nor, from his arguments could we find that he understood it better himself. With an effrontery which we own sur prised us, lie avowed tile profession of a religious creed differing from &II that hitherto ea Wed ; and that without the adoption of his creed no happiness could be found. But he carefully abstained, however, from aflOrding any information as to its nature. lie concluded his speech which was of great length (delivered from a written pawn by moving " a Committee be appointed to examine his Plan, and that they report their proceedings at a meeting to be held inthe month of May, ltst 8. Before this question was seconded, a Gentleman rose to order, and said, that as the meeting was a cominuation of a former one, the Resolutions proposed and agreed to at the meeting should be read before any thing else was done. This produced a very noisy discus sion on the point of order. Several persons gave their opinions, but it was at length decided by the meeting, that the former Resolutions aliould not be read. ------------- Mr. Bader row to second the resolution ; he did not wish it to he understood that he approved of Mr. Ovien's plan, fir indeed he could not comprehend it. but he wished it should undergo an attentive con sideration. Major Torrens paid the highest compliments to Mr. Owen's dis interestedntsa and public spirit, but considered bini a visionary poli tician. He then went into a variety of stsuments. similar to those of the last meeting, to prove the inineacticabiiity of Mr. Owen's plan ; and in conclusion moved that the meeting be adjourned to the month ofJanuary next, in onler to give Mr. Owen time to redeem his volun tary Fledge that he could refute the principle. that population has a tendency to increase in it geometrical ratio. After Major Tureen's .tmeadnient was put and seconded, a per son of culour, who had before much disturbal the meeting by his at tempts to be heard, came into the mom, and having with some diffi culty 'breed his way through the crowd, gut at length upon the table at which therhairman sat. His appearance,which was most wretched, and the warmth and the force of gait= with which he expressed NATIONAT. REGSTER • . himself, considerably alannel several of the Ladies who sat near, and the impreesion was that the min was insane. When on the able he , was wuliout shoes, and hisstoskinga, if such they might be called, but ill concealed his brawnq leg* and feet. He bogged to be heard for only ten minutes. To getrid of him in some way this was agreed te. Ile then said his nemeses, Hob. Wedderburn, that he was the son ofJas. Wedderburn, Eq. of Jamaica, by Rosanna his slave.— He derribed in strong terns the horrors of slavery, and contended that die present Plan would is a refined Tories of slavery, for It would destroy the independent spirt of freemen. Ile nett alluded to the state of Ireland, which, he itheervod, had supplied all Europe with provisions, but, that now that demand was done away with, the people of that fertile country were actually starving. The cause was, the land holders who did not reside at haste only caused their tenants to grow as much provision as would suffice for themselves, and were tandem about this rest of the world.—LAt this time the speaker was with his face to the Chairman, but bring called upon to turn round so the great body of the meeting, he apologized, and said he should have known better, as he had been onces preacher, and was ia the habit of addressing a large congregation. — He then went on in a very warm address on the subject of Ireland. which, from the confusion which he caused, we could not hear very distinctly. In conclusion, he thanked the Meeting the their attention, and regretted (for the fifth time) that any set of !working people should be without their four meals a day. Mr. Stephens (the keeper of a spirits shop as we were informed) next addressed the meeting. Ile went over all the arguments which Lave been urged repeatedly against Mr. Owen's plan, minifying the use of machinery, and contending that the cause of all our distress was the want of an equal representation. Here was a cry of order on the part of Mr. Swift, who stated that the meeting was called to discus, Mr. Owen's plan and not to enter into political questions. Major Cartwright observed, that Mr. Stephens was in order, as the plan under consideration was strictly a political one. The Chairman thought differently, but the company not agreeing with him Mr. Stephens proceeded. He said he should make no mote allusion to politics than what he conceived to be absolutely ne cessary in point of argument. He would therefore endeavour to ab stain from polities as much as possible, and would proceed to the plan. What was the complaint ? It was the want of employment : it was the want of means of getting rid of the stock which the manu facturers had in hand. Would these villages increase the demand ? Would they increase the customers because they worked cheap ? He did not see that any of these things would be answered by the pro posed plan. We did not want to increase our manufactures, but the great want was to increase the customers, and to enable our menu tactun.s, by a reduction of taxation, to meet the foreign markets. Mr. Wait h man, willing to give Mr. Owen every credit for his exertions, could not help feeling that hie plan was built upon idle theory. However impressed that gentleman might be, that his plan had other considerations to recommend it, it was neither more nor less than a political question. It was a political question, too, of the greatest magnitude, and only as such ought i: to be treated. It was a question on which a public meeting, like the present, could not de cide, and if it could be entertained at all, it should be only by the ad minivtration of the country. The worthy gentleman had addressed the meeting with a written speech in his hands; he was not, there fore, liable to make those little slips to which the best extempore speakers are ex cased ; but note ithstanding that advantaee, he had dof liiimellinvolved in some of the strangestard most Obvious contra ictions. The great evil at pr Elea was, that persons could not find employment, and yet by the plan proposed, persons were not only to support themselves, but they were to erford a surplus labour, and by means of that very labour with welch the country now superabound ed, they were to conteibute to the exigencies of the Government.—He took the words down, perhaps lie might have mistaken a little in the expression, but he thought he could not have very widely mistaken the meaning. At present a man was guided by prudence, and re stricted himself front many of the comforts of life, under the consi deration that he was not able to maintain a family ; but by putting people together in the way proposal, and taking from them all the dread of future, the consequences must be such as had always been foretold from a redundancy of pepulation, however excellent the scheme may appear as applicable to a set of beings diflerently con structed from wain has been hitherto witnessed. But Providence has thought proper to send into the world persons of different inclinations and pursuit; ; and it is not by inclining them in tier..; of live hundred or twelve hundred in each, that mankind can be ameliorated, or that the world can be improved. 'fhb aas not to be eflircteel by getting rid of all intelloinual advantages, by crushing the desire of fame and all the noble meditate which distinguish mankind front all the in ferior branches -of the creation. It was on this principle he also ob jected to the plan, for it appeared to him that either the proposer of the plan was dreaming, or that he himself was dreaming. Ile had heard many deliver their opinions upon it, but Ile should still reserve , to himself that tight which was indisputably belonging to him of do ciding fur hinuell, and lie could hardly hesitate in haying, that the plan which the meeting was called upon to adopt, was one of the wildest dreams which ever entered into the brain of an intellectual being.-4 Mr. Witithman, after having referred to what he termed the erroneous opinions respecting the National Debt, and the Funds being comidered as national property, and increasing the general stock, quoted a passage from the works of Mr. Justice Blackstone, in which the Learn ed - Judge, who wrote at a time when thepublic debt was only 130 millions, instead of being, as at present, upwards of a thou sand millions, declared that the public Funds could not be looked upon as so much national wealth, for that whatever was received by the fundhelder or public creditor, was actually drained from the peo ple in the shape of taxes.)--lf the business were to be carried to the length Mr. Owen apparently designs it, it would be but carrying at a little further if the government were to way, " We will find you in food and raiment, and, having families, with more necessaries of life, and we will take the rest among oistselvese" One of the gentlemen who had favoured the meeting with these sentiments had been called to order s as having mixed politics with the subject matter of the dis cuseion. That came while, very ill grace from a person who was, he understood, himself a placental), and as such probably acting as the organ of the Government. With regard to the morals of the lower classes of the people, he would say that there were now less drunken ness. less immorality, than at any fonner period of his life. The people, in tact, generally speaking. were never more morally inclined than at present. Supposing that a wish had been appropriated to the encouragement of labour, let any bunt be mentioned, but lie had chanced to hit upon 14,0001. This sum, at its. per week, would maintain 466 families for a whole year, reckoning four persons to each family, the whole number of persons would be i sea. Would it not have been better to liars bestowed such a sum of money in such a way, then to have given it to George Canning to spend in a foreign country. Mr. Waithman concluded with rerAng, as a part of his speech, some resolutions which be intended to propose. Ihey were to the following effect:—That while the meeting expresses its gra titude for the benevolent endeavours of Mr. Owen, they could not but anxiously view the nature and extent of the misery before theta ; that the cause of the evils under which the country was labituring, was excessive taxation, and that there could be no effineuel remedy short of a fair representation. • Major Cartwright having been loudly called for, eagle and in a speech of considerable length, fought with a/1 11 .17: 11 1 reforming doctemes, contended that nothing but reform was = to restore happiness to the people. He was repeatedly in by cries of "a:rffolf" and" No politics," and the Chairman expressed an opinion that he was out of order. 'this was followed by Mona of " No so," and " No partiality . ," after which the MAKI (seeded to read a string of Resolution ascribing the present asog • to taxation, and a want of a proper n;presientation. and usitse4ho necessity of reducing the one, and attaining the other. Mr. Bowcrott rose to explain, that Mr. Owen had neidlidlebei that the merits of his plan shindil be discussed on lb occasion, but merely that & Committee should be appointed Io into it. Mr Tucker (a taylor, a came Rowan'. and iii a beech of considerable refuted all Air. Owes • arguments in favour The calls for Mr.Woolsr. now became loud, and after some time he presented himself. lle objected to the plan in strong terms, and accused Mr. Owen of egotism and want of respect to the public. He denied that the lower orders were demoralized, but insisted that the higher orders were materially so. There was one thing to which be (Mr. W.) would advise Mr. Owen, and in the execution of which he should have his most hearty support—that was to shut himself up it one of his projected communities, withall those with whoseservices Se. ciely could dispense, or rather who were of no use to society at all.—( laugh.)—That. indeed. would be a benefit. Let Min then ten* them that religion which was never yet taught to man.—{Misrle laughing.)—And after they had spent four or Kee and thirty years ie that abode, if they came hack to society they may be able to give such an account of the place as may induce others to support sr —(A latrgli.)—On the whole he could not agree to the plan, for he would rather see poverty with independence, than any private ate-( fort with restricted liberty. Mr. Gale Jones then addressed the Meeting. and contended, that Mr. Owen's plan had to struggle with bigotry and prejudice, and that these alone hindered its being fairly considered. M.. 1. was pro ceeding, when he was interrupted by the cries of, "Oil; off." and the confusion which ensued between those who were anxious to hear him, and those who called for the Question, was so great, that not a word more could be heard from him. We have seldom witnessed a greater scene of uproar than followed this. The most respectable part of the Meeting, anxioih to avoid ir riot, left the room in disgust. Mr. Owen, at length. begged to be heard, and for that purpose went along the table in the centre; he was attended to, but only for a very short time, and, at last, WAS obliged to retire. While things were in this state. Dr. Watson (of Spitalfields) got on the table and wished to be heard, but he was totally disregarded. The cries of "Question ;" were so loud as to drown every thing he said, and those who were next him could not distinctly hear one-word of what fell from him. Find ing his efforts fruitless, lie retired. Ths Question was again called for, and Major Torrens's amendment was put and negatived. Mr. Waithinan's amendments were next put and carried by a small ma jority. The shouting which accompanied this was absolutely deaf ening. A vote of thanks to the Chairman was then moved, which, however, was not put before an individual wished to carry a resale's thin expressive of theirross partiality with which Mr. Owen's oppo nents were treated. This was negatived, and the resolutionof thanks. was carried. The Meeting then broke up at a quarter pest saves, EXECUTION. SVednesday morning, soon after eight, three of the unforttt• nate criminals who were last reported as under sentence of death, James Fitzwilliams, aged S 2, Henry Wilkins, aged 22, and William Bull, only 19 yearsof ago, were executed hes fore the Debtors' door at Newgate, for a burglary in the dwelling bouse of Mr. Cartwright, of Hunter Street, near Bs itnswickssquare. William null, it may be recollected, had lived in the service of Mr. Cartwright, and his use timely and ignotittnious death ought to operate as a warn ing to all servants. He was so affet ted as scarcely I* be able to stand up. Fitzwilliams was attended by the get'. Mr. Devereux, the Catholic Ordinary, end died penitently, but courageously. It was not till after he parted with his wife,Tuedsay afternoon, thatW II kins could Ise a►adesensible of his approaching end, though he finally died in a penitent state Every exertion was made by Mr. Cartwright to save the life of Bull, but ineffectually. All the unhappy men had slept about three or four hours during the night. John CaTha a black man, who was to have suffered with the above three, for a rape, was respired. The melancholy fate of W. Dull is se pregnant with ad monition to the class of society in which be moved, that we consider it our duty to add something to the very brief notice given above. Willimn Bull had been out of place about two months, when taking a walk to Chalk Farm, he happened to meet with a person of the name of Joseph Green, who ev'ering into conversation, soon pi•rsended b u ll to act nmparry him to a public-house, in Tuttcuham-court•road, where at length they joined some others in card playing. Bull presently lust to the amount of 11. ; and not having any cash,Green, whose occupation it was to entrap such characters as his new cunt punion Bull, took this opportunity to suggest the robbing of Mr. Cartwright's house, and proposed to divide the spoil, once prepared Bull for the execution atlas nefarione. sellesite, he next introduced him into the society of Fitz. williams and Wilkins. The former of those depredators was notorious on the town ; and the latter had been tried at the Old Bailey for thieving, when only twelve years old, and had also been transported for seven years.--Fitzwilliants, Wilkins, and Bull, were finally the party whom Joseph. Green, prevailed on to commit the burglary in the dwellitigbonse of Mr. Richard Cartwright. All three were taken on the spot's while Green, the conniver of the bnrglarions deed, had the dexterity to avoid their fate. Fitzwilliams and Wilkius were, it has been seen, both practised thieves ; but this burglary was Bull's first offence of any kind, and on this account Me,• Cartwright tried every means to rescue him from execution, But the greatest law authorities were inflexible in his case ; as it was considered that no master could repose with safety on his bed. unless va vervants were intimidated by the terrors of juntice from perpetrating such crimes. William Bull, in deed, from the mo►nent he was taken up, entertained no hopes of clemency. He pleaded guilty when arraigned at the Bar, and he withdrew the plea only to accommodate his associat e s in their common crime. Justice is now appeased by Ids death; but his punishment will be ineffectual in its best and met extensive sense, unless it succeed in incukating due lessons of precaution and honesty. Let servants keep is mind the fate of William Bull. Et.oritairst OF A WARD IN CHANTF.RIt....-11Met Wright, a draftsman, was charged with detaining the daughter of Capt. Hardy, a ward in Chancery. he Captain left the army to superintend the etineation of his daughter, and they lodged in Clipstone-street, hone. The defendant, who is just out of his apprenties,.hip, was acquainted with some females where the Captain lodged, and he thus became known to the daughter. They hod been acquainted about tour months unknown to Capt. Hardy; and on Sunday night the young lady ;absented taer.elf from horn... The fatioe was overwhelmed with grief, at the loss of at Ise. toyed child, and he casually met her ail the street on Tuesday evening. with Wright and another female. She took to her heels; and the tauter pursued, and overtook her. Wright protected the object of his affections, and in the seitele she gut away ; but the di fendant was lodged in the watelehouse. It appeared that Wright ha; representations to Mr. Burgess, an artist, in Neirport.street, wheat' he served hi t me, pre vailed on hint to 1,1•II't the yotuta Lady under the rate of his sister, where she had been ever since Sunday. No improp i .r intercourse whatever has taken place.—The tletendit.,t was diselhtrited ; and Plank, the officer. conducted the young Lady, who is 19 years of age, to her father's cesulence, wise. e she went with much reluctance. Sir Humphrey Davy hmi di■coverefl, by chemical rrocesa ■ metliotl of making whsle oil ausaer all the putposrs et pit. prep.tring • ollt u cloths. ible mw it. ticker (a taylur, as we unkterstottl) then came farwani. and • tnetlwtiul : n;l::ingw - lh;le oil ansa e; itllthe,;1;;;; rb4 ,1;::: _H ed . in i l l b r ixTech of cow:id:rabic length and ingenuity, refutad all Ur. preparing wont u clothe. j "'"' ()wen's argumcuta in favour of his ,chein4 . . .