The National Register. — London, England, 1819-03-15 00:00:00

MARCH 13. corn-factor, of Mark-lane, which ho read, and from its contents he was convinced the deceased had made away with himself. The letter is in the possession of Mr. llewettson. Mr. Shallarol, assistant-surgeon to Messrs. Can dell, in the hlinories, stated, that he attended the deceased on the Sunday before he left home ; he was labouring under the effects of laudanum which he had taken ; he called in Dr. Itamsbottom, and he prescribed an aperient medicine, which relieved the deceased ; he thought the deceased was not at times in his sound mind; he talked confused and incoherent. The Coroner said, that it was for the Jun• to say, in the first place, whether the deceased drowned himself; as he had not ally business to transact by the water, he thought they might sati:ly say that he did : the remaining question to consider was. whe ther the deceased yeas in such a state of mind at the time as to be accountable for his conduct, or whether he was insane and a lunatic ? The Foreman returned a verdict—" That the ' deceased drowned himself, being at the time in a state of great irritation of mind." Coroner.—" Do you mean to say that he was only irritated; because a man may commit an act in a state of the greatest irritation, and yet be answer able to the laws for the offence ; tbr instance, if one man shoots another, he may be excessively irri. tated and yet be sane at the time." Foreman (after some consultation with his bro. titer Jurors).—" We are of opinion, he was so far insane as not to be accountable tbr what he did." Coroner.—" Then your verdict i;, "The de ceased drowned himself, being at the time in a state of insanity." Foreman.—" Yes, that is our opinion." In con4equence of the great fall in the market for raw cot'on, expellees have been sent from Liver. verpool, over land to Calcutta, in order to counter mand, as speedily as possible, any further shipments of that article. An absolute engagement is said to have been entered into by the persons bearing the expresses, to deliver them, allowing for accidents to life or limb, in three months from the date of leav ing England. Advices from Jamaica to the 29th January state the arrival at Kingston of the schooner Juliana from Angustura; the captain of which reported, that just before he sailed a report had reached that place, of the Royalists having been defeated, and Cumana captured, on the 28th of I)ecember ; and that a great number of troops had deserted, and repaired to the standard of the Independents. To-morrow we shall hear that the Patriots have not a man left in South America, and so on, alternately ! LJOLt(t. ...- GUILDHALL. Itatcry at Inns.—On Friday Banholemew Brough ton, the naval officer, whose examination was pristponed on Wednesday last, in consequence of his attempt to destroy himself, by taking a large dose of laudanum, was again brought up before the Sitting Alag . strate, Mr. Alderman Christopher Smith. The prisoner has been attended since Wednesday by M. Box, the ai othecary to the Giltsuur-street Conquer, and, although recover ed from the effects of the poison, was still in a weak state, and was therefore allowed a chair at the bar, during the examisiatiori. 'lilt first witness caFed was Taylor, the head waiter at .he White Horse Ism, Fetter-lane, who depost d, that the prisoner had a bed at their house a few nights before Christitiai-lay, and again on the night of the 31st of December; that on each of those nights, gentlemen who slept in the house were robbed ; that the pi isimer was therefore suspected ; and on his co g again on the 19th of February, he was recognized, and taken into :ustody. George Shuffiebottom, of Macclesfield, arrived at the V hitt Horse limn, on the 27th of December last, and stained there till the Bth of January following; at his isms on the 14 of January, he discovered that he had tene robbed, during the night, of upwards of 2001. mai% Mg of rue 1004 note, and several Wt. 51., and I. notes : the notes were stolen fruits out his pocket est, which was in hit coatpucket, on a chair near his ; the chamber door was not locked, btu he heard to maid -servant shut it alter her whet. she took away se candle. The 100/. note lie had receimed from his wrother. l'huntas SlinfilehOttom, of Exeter, linen-draper, brother the last witness, paid his brother 100/. on the evening the Juls of December, among which was a IOU!. net: to 1144 received at Messrs. Hankey end Co.'s, Fen •hurch•street, in payment t.n a letter of credit in his !your, from Messrs. W illiants, Cross, and Co., bankers, .xeter. he knows the note produced is the one lie paid iii brother, because be had taken the numbers of l►e two notes of tool. each, which he had received two Messrs. liankey, and lie had the other in his pos session in the morning when he heard of the robbery. William Wright, clerk at Mulkey's, paid the last witness the notes for Messrs. Williams's check ; they . ..masted of two . hotes, Lou!. several 51. and 11. notes• the iyt Cu. fell be' No cal bt thi t hi bre 1 to Of he eh fat hi tit fn be MI CJ THZ NATIONAL RZG/STER. • The not* produced, No. 19,16 f, for 1001. dated Dtcrua her 1 f, I H 18, is one of Ilse notes he so paid. John 6mtlsell , shopman at Mr. Berge's, mathema tical instrument-maker, 199, Piccadilly, said the poi soner came to their shop, on the fat of January, about twelve o'clock at !loon, and Furchasul a sextant, for sixteen guineas. NVititess told hint it would take abo u t an hour to adjust the instrument, and asked %%here lie should send it to; the prisoner then gave his name and address, " Capt. Wishart, liatchett's Hotel." Ile Men tendered a hundred pound now in payment ; there not being sufficient in the till to give change, he (witness) ap plied to his master, from whom he received a 4il. note, a 251. anti a 20/. which lie gave to tlw prisoner, w Ito gave him the dithience, and then went away. The prisoner called again in a hackney-coach, before the sextant was adjusted, said lie was going off directly, and could riot wan, but must have the hist 1111 l lent as it was, and it was acconlingly delivered to Mr. Berge made a memorandum of the 1001. note, when lie received it from the last witness, on the Ist of January, and identified the note produced as the one he had so received ; the 401. note he gave in Zhange was No. 5,272, dated 21st October, leis. Charles Edward Waller, clerk in the pay-office at the Bank, proved that the 401. note so dated, and numbered, was paid into the Batik on the Ist of January, by some person, who described himself as Mr. Ilitey, No. 1, Cowper's-court, Conthill, who received in payment forty 1/. notes, numbered from 1e,469 to 15,508 inclusive, all dated Bth I)eceinber, 18 le. Edward Furey, keeper of the public house, the sign of the Marquis of Cornwallis, Warren -street, Fitzroy square, proved the receipt of two If. notes, dated Decem ber Mk, 1818, and numbered 15,500 and 15,606, from the Captain Broughton, who resided at that time at No. 46, Warren-strer. Mr. G. Shulflabottom being further questioned, said that the thief took all the notes that were in his pocket case, but left several bills of exchange, which were in the same pocket of the case with the notes. The prisoner, by the advice of Mr. Harmer, his solici tor, declined snaking any defence; and after some con sultation as to the form or the commitment, was fully committed to Newgate, both fur the burglary, and also for stealing in the dwelling-house to the amount of above 40s. NIA RLBOROI3GI-1 STREET. A Beadle ostiwitted,lohn Kendrick, a beadle of St. Giles's in the Fields, brought to this office a gentleman charged with riding oneof Johnson's hobby-horses along the footway pavement of Great Queen-street, in the said parish. The gentleman was convicted in the penalty of :1. under the Metropolis Paving Act. The gentleman then laid an information against Kendrick, for running the same through Queen's-court, (a paved one) in the said parish, on the way to the watch-house, which was proved by a witness.—We need not inform our readers that he was himself likewise very justly convicted in the penalty of 'A which he was informed by_ the worthy Magistrate (Mr. Farrant) he must pay, amidst the laugh ter of a very crowded office. INSOLVENT DEBTORS' ACT. [From The Nuns** Ceuricr.] On Tuesda list, a Meeting ViilS held at the Ilan in the Nisteket, to petiti ssss Yarliuroei.t 1111 the sOject f the Instil vent Dehtnit . Act. A Iderismo Brutette was called to the Chair, also opened the business, by stating, that the grievance under which t e mercantile and trading part of the continuality laboured. in contequente of the present lieolvent Debtors' Acts, had led to the prerett Meeting, and that it seemed to be the Insist proper time note to address th•r Legislature on the sub. km, at the term fur which those Acts had passed is a. draw lug to a cline. Alderman ifackes said, be believed the Chairman was In porrierrion of a Petition, which hr requested be would read. The Chairman having read f o r Petition, Alderman Ilosekes said, that though he approved of many parts of it, he thotri;lit its language was scarcely strong enough to be addrerssd to the llouse on the present occasion. He should, therefore, request Mr. Adam Taylor to read one, r - U - Mrise be thought would more fully embrace the object of the Meeting. Mr. A. Taylor having read it, Mr. E. 7 eyler taid, he rose to give the measure his cor dial summit. There was DO doubt but the Legislate re, in pa. lug Acts fur the Relief of Insolvent Debtors, had been actuated by motives of bumunity . ; and as comparatively few Nlendwrs, eten of the Lower House, were practically conversaut w its mercantile transactions, it wa► not to be w lewd at that they had been led by their feelings to adiord. what they regarded as a nece.ary protection fur the unfrottunate debtor. against the cruelty and hard-hearted ness of obstinate and mercile4 t reditiors ; but the practical operation of this d law had been to ntiord a legal sanction to a flab of pm sons of the most ss ors hies. de.crip tion. Every man at all estetsisely concerned in trade, knew that creditors in g.•uetal were very far from being men II t that %Iwo au honest disposition was evinced 1011 the part of it debtor, it would be difficult iudet•d to she w au instance in which it had not been met by a corresponding lenity on the part of his creditors. He believed, %here one instance of a merciless creditor existed, there would lw found to be an hundred fraudulent de btors: yet for these persons the law had interpinsed ; for a hawser might be the iutention of its fi :sneers. the practical effect was to deprive creditors of their just demands. Under the commission sit ting in London to esecute the Acts. cases involi mg pro perty to the amount of more than a million of music ) beets disposed uf, while the average dividend for the co 4.4 km, had not e►ceeded a Nothing In the pound: and he he• lieved, that uf all she dibtors who toad been liberated under the As t in the Como of Norfolk and the City of Norwich, 'Whir% h,,d in any case been leceived by the creditors. It was therefore clear, that it' the iori,;in of such an Act was hansguity, the elk:Li was injustice. It bad been attempted .•• to reti.r and amend the 14.1 Art; ■nd we were led to cx. pect, that thr obnoxllMS parts which it contaiord would be awe drd, but no chaage to any . extent had taken place— the cave s%.leni of fiatid avid priory Wl . lll 1111. ai.d he irared that nothi n g short of a total t biotite %%odd produce Wlbclr. t protectioni to the fair tratirr. Alderman Bolingbruke said, that one print ipal defect in the insolvent Acts, was the ime allot% ed to debtors heroic they w ere called up• nto give up ihrif rtfrcls to their credi tars. As the law nou st I, a fraudulent debi..r had every far Ilitv for mak iia; away u tah his creditor's plop,' ty fore he was called Upon In deliver it up. Ile thought if the Insolvent Acts could he in this respect amended, Itoe con sequences would be highly beneficial. It was fiom the Vll rime, suggestiolu which petit boo un this subject boon dif ferent parts of the kingdom would contain, that the I.egi - !Mum uou d derive isiturniatien as to the opinions wt . incr. catitile men. Mr. Alhanc said, that in more than 60 cases in %%hit h insolvent debtors had bee* discaarged under hi+ nun I.llll\lledge, in u it more than too, had ans money been paid into the receiset's hands, and even of thnap • , nothing had ever been received li) the creditors. Mr. Robert Bromide said, that he ditfered ir. npi • with those gentlemen who laid spoken, Os to the principle of the law. Ile thitte4lit it nut only found. din hum:wily, but jus tice. The pots er of imprisonment for an uivimited ti tie ens too much to place in the hands of individuals, a! o might, mid aho certainly ha (as appeared by the re n iea , lts•fore the Legislature, at the time of the ' , kissing the fir t Insolvent Act) abused it for the purposes of oppressitin and revenge. Nothing could be more fair alai equsahle than the pi inciple of a CeStiO /1.410111111 e If a creditor obtaii ed the property of his debtor, if be got all that he ea, posses,ed of, a hat more ought he to ask ? Gentlemen had dark ulnas the evils attendant upon the Acts in question; but he would ask, had there been no omprixatitis advantages U douOtedly there had. In sum • caws property had bees' di sided among creditors, though he :•d pitted such isistatu. • acre rare. But it ,Itoutrt he remembered, that of the pe. - tutus who had participated in the anent of the Acts, many were of a descripti .. no law could reach, stick as gamblers and swindlers; these men under the old law would cqunhy have cheated their creditors. It was alleged that these species of crimes had increased. To this it might be an swered, so had.rimes of all kinds, and we ought not, there fore, to be burp iced that fraudulent debtors had increased in u considerable degree. Ile admitted that the law might be benefit ially revised : hut still lw cum rived the principle' on which it was foamier,, was perfectly equitable. Mr. E. lisator said, it was from the operation of the law they must form their conclasamis : there had been evidence abundantly su.lieieut to pr se, that it hat pt educed t unjust eller ts. lie thought, is about giving any o ' anion as' to - what amendments should lie made in the law, the appliss eat' to Pa rli.idiwat shmild cnnsist of a statement of facts, leaving to the Legislature to provide a remedy fur the grievance complained of. Mr. Klinger said, that the prayer of the Petition was r f too sa crying a nature to mei t eit h bus approbation—it went to the total repeal of all the Insolvent I)ehlors' Acts. This prayer, of coarse, if granted, would leave us subject to all the acknowledled hardships and evils attendant upon the old law. ft hail been argued, as if roguery us' the pin t of debtors had been occasioned by these Acts ; the colon ;try was notoriously the fact. Under the old lass the same per jury and fraud were practised; a dishonest debtor cnald • equally waste his creditor's property in gaol. Ile wild recommend, therefore, tin alteration in the prayer of the Petition, so as to recognise theprinciple on w h eh the Are s vt Acts were passed, and yet to ask for such alterations as experience had proved to be necessary. It was of ,rent importance that a creditor should Mire early and immediate possession of an insolvent debtors effects; awl he thought if the. us as secured, the is its att..ialant on the present Act would he 'emoted, and its beneficial inteutions secured. An amendment to i hie cf.., et ;s as then made to the prayer of the Peiiiion s and read by Mr. A. T.O tar; ufter ahrch it gas unanimous!) adopted be the Meeting. At the General Nleet ing of the Pi.ving Commissioner, h.-'d on Tuesday last, thy• follow big Report was receisrd I. on the Committee appointed at the preceding meeting,, in take into conndelat ion the b. st niet.as id carry ing into ed . ci the Resolution of the C sinners respecting the lightin? part of the cats with gas- and generally revising the act.—.' I but in consequence of ft letter re) rived from Mr. Dorringion, one of the Parliamentary Agents, it is expedient to delay any appl.cation to Parliament for an amendment of the present act ti I the next Ses.ima." It appeared the general sentiment of lite Meeting, that it would, under all circum stances, he better to defer any application for the present, as by the ne‘t year the subject in general would undergo a more mature consideration. the rlte'ct of the new 'calamine be more certainly known, and the future wants of the Cum. mlssitiners be more correctly ascertained. On Wednesday sennicht a fire broke out in the chandling office of Mr. Barber, of Hempnall, which threatened the destruction of teveral thatched dwellings adjoining, but by the activity of the neighbours, and the wind lying in a favourable direction, the devouring ele. ment was got under without further damage than the demolition of the ;remises in which it commenced. Last week a Granary belonging to Mr. R. I)reker, of ‘V a l s in g li am , was broken into, and fifteen Coombs of o its stolen therefrom ; a very liberal reward has been of. fcred, but the offenders still remain undiscovered. Os Friday last Richard Holliday, of ‘Valsintzharn, a boy about seven years of age, being left by bi 4 moth er in charge of two others younger than himself, was tit the act of putting some potatoes wt the boiler, his cloatha caught fire, and he was so dreadfully burnt, that li gnished in excruciating pain till the evening, u k:u h e eitniretl. Sir Win. Windham tiling, Bart. high Shciff of Norfolk, hss appointed limes Taylor Nlargitson, Esq. hi, Under-Sheriff. The business will be :raissaeted as heretofore in this city. At Downhatti Market fair. on Wednfsday sennight. there was the largest &hew of horses ever refit ittheical. though little hilitiebs 111.19 tlOllO, rscrpt in pnwc stook which brought extraordinary lota prices. .a4se