The Statesman. — London, England, 1809-12-21 00:00:00

_ To the Elia° It of THE stirssmAN.. Sia—The zeal and *b which yes fine served the Psblih in the prewar? ebnteit, will leek I hope, ever be forgotten note will yoti ans persimiled; until the Rights df the Pnblifir costpleteli restor It is material to bear in mind the fdll owing acts 1. That although it ;nits the purpose of Mr. Kenible td talk of Propricto.i and other persons, besides himself, Mr. Harris, and his son, Yet them arc the Owners of the Theatre ; and it is as absurd to suppose that the persons who have sunk their 5'301. for an admission and an annuity, have the emallest contront over the bungle tnd its co:wins, as that a Man, who bai pureiesed an :mildly frost i a merchant, has a controul ova such welching% tamie of manatint hii affairi. Z. That Meisrs. Kemble, Snn, bM neither patent nor licence, on the 18th Seines,. ber ; nor do I believe they have either at this mo. went. 3. That if there ire to be no law prJeeedinp,' tremble and Co. will save some thousauds. Every' Indy knows, thin in Criminal Proceeding% the parties pay their own busts ; anti therefore if Kern. ble ad:) Co. tre to proceed with their ' 6 informs. Lions," and 46 true bills,'' I would net pay their Attorney's costs for 40001. Bet the truth is, they never meant to proceed. They knew the Pnhlic, In answering their Appeal.. had dune no. truing illegal ; end that the united perjuries . ot 3nry and Witnesses, wine possibilities too remote to act upon. The reverse of all this Is the cal* of the Public. Brandon's imprison. Tient, ire dearly Illegal. The proceedings against Ilion are it Ctiniatorl I,lw, where costs follow the Verdict, as in Mr. Cliffurit's case. And what thin k . you the costs in his cause are, when you are told Kimble and Co. haul nine Counsel to settle Btandoe's Plea of Jobtification ! The truth is, that b$ retaining the Attorney-General and Gar. *ow, :bey frig/Stencil the Public out of the King's Bench, and by other meatus they thought to frighten Mr. gnu uut of the other Courts. • - - Private Mix and Public Theatre are incom. patible terms. Let Kembli' and Co'. have four Bodes on each site of the House for themselves Ind their friends, but do more; and as Mr. Copeland and his little army have returned from Walelicren, the necessary altered /Hi might speedily ba made. If the nuisance is to continue, the Public ought to be admitted at the Old Prices, till it be removed. I say, therefore, let us have, Tilt a truce, but a permanent peace, by the imme dirge removal of the Private Bons, and the im mediate restoration of the heroic Brandon. liner Temple, Dee. 20. PH I LO-11.0SCIUS. " • "."""*. t ,--:- • r-Ner:t7o.2:-....7-4‘• • • • To lA* Spiroß of THE STATESMAN. Stet•-• 4 sincerely rejoice at the prospect of the I lnag.ezisting differences beteteen the Public and the Proprietors of the New Theatre at Covent. garden being in a train of amicahlo adjustment ; ind I hope that the reduction of the prices has iinw ceased to be an object of contentien...that laving become a vary sofbortliotate object. "I therefore !leg leave, Sir,* to sepsrate and keep totally distinct a question, which, though it arose out of the atignientstion of the prices, has no ?anger any connection with it, I mean the or. hitrety comniitments which took place at Bow. eteeet, add the brntal outrages. that were corn. mitred on the people by thlef.takers, prize. tiahters, and other ruffian agents, hired for that purpose by the Proprietors of the Theatre. The Proposition from the opposite party was !fitful In the extreme ' • fur, aware that those per. inns who shore dragge d out of the Theatre, and Against whom the hills of indictment preferred Were thrown out by the Grand Jury, will hate ample damages given them for false imprisonment, they inittibstly propose to quash all proceedings on boll sides. Can it be 'apposed for a moment that the individuals; whdsi feelings hare been thus outraged, and fur whoie relief you have cierted yourself in setting a subscription uu foot, will ahide by any such arrangement I Arming the many; whose personal ri g hts have Lear invaded, there Roth idttance that should be particularly mentioned. A petson; of the name of Telly, residing at RithinOnd, and by trade a &Wet and whip-maker . , had his poikets rifled, his propriety forcibly taken from him, and that very petty sal Melees, produced in evidence against Meg. This man had come to London dist (lily on besi ress, and had peerehased in the coterie of his trade a string et whittles foe", pierpdse of Axing In the heads of lionting.whips. They were strung together l and In his packet, when the thief.takers seised him at the Theatte. These whistles, which he kad so bought in the way of his business, and which, being ill amity logethe, conid ndt in that state bi else:, were subsequently produced in evidence against blm! The Row.street hostices kept the property, atui-produced it to the Grand Jerry as evidence of a riot s belt the Grand Jury instantly rejected the Bill. • To produce stolen property, in evidence against the owner of that property, is a detice so truly Ingenions, that I am at a loss whether most to ad. neire...this brutality, or the Ingenuity, of the wor. thy agents, of the no less worthy Propolleters. This inbject dertaletty demands a most series, in vestige. lion, lit the meeting of Parliament. therefore, Sir, keep the two questions totally distinct. The question between the Prepri. etors add Managers on one part, and the Public on the other, may perhaps be finally arranged, if the Proprietors arc not dead to ctery sense of ho. tiouri and to their out) real interests. !tut the diferrecei between the Ptorer or Etera." tS en one part, and the now.steeet Magiftrstri en the other, is a garstion Whirls cannot be permitted to pass without a serious investigation, or, adieu! to the Liberty of Englishnten. 1 van, Sir, Your humble Servant, ONE OF TUE PEOPLI• 140, pay ft M• . • I •I• ••• riil4 STAT F.S fvl A lt felt Difirro its f2ir 771 k 13 kir ENr; LA ivb. . . , Givrt.itma*—You cannot be iffaarant of the distress under which the retail traders of this Me. trOpolii how labour: many of them are under the necessity of refoslog to, serve their customers, because they cannot give them change fur one. pound notes. . This Is in evil which cannot be al. lowed to exist long; it is in your power to give re lief, and it Is both your slut, and your interest to apply the remedy. I will assign my re suns for both parts of this assertion. I say it is your duly; and *ltneier recollects the circumstances which led to the present state of our circulmitie medium, *ill concur with me in this opinion. From the commencement of the war, in 1793, Mr. Pitt gave subsidies to Continental Princes with a most lavish hand. Much of the public money was also ex. retitled in the maintenance of the army, employed on the Continent, under the command of the Duke of York. The bad harvest of 1793 occa. sioned a farther extraordinary demand of money for the purchase of corn from foreign countries. While we were in this situation, Mr. Pitt, in 1796, most unwisely permitted Austria to negotiate a loan in this country for 7 millions sterling. Th , , various articles occasioned a demand of money oil us from foreign nations, beyond what we were able to pay by the balance of trade. This necessarily occasioned au export of our gold. The Bank Directors saw this, and remonstrated wills Mr. Pitt on the pernicious consequences of his my*. sures ; but although they made these renion strances—although they knew the calamitous con. sequences which must follow, they basely yielded themselves to assist his projects, and in a manner wholly inconsistent with those purposes fur which the Bank of £ngla.id was established : they be fall, the negotiators of accommodation paper, under the name of liamburgh Bills. Another circumstance concurred to increase the distress, arising from the narrowstuindetiness of the Bank Directors. A coinage of two millions five-huts. deed thousand pounds a.year is necessary to keep our gold coin to its usual amount. As the price of uncuined gold (coinage alloy) is usually below that of coined gold, the Bank of England generally gains by coining ; hut the export of gold having at shit time run. dered the price of uncoined gold higher than that of coined gold, the Bank of England lest by coining. Had the Bank Directors of that day pusseucd the expanded minds of Statesmen, they would have seen that the occasion called fur an extraordinary coinage, and they would have sub. misted to the temporary loss ; but being actuated only by the narrow-minded views of Traders, they diminished their coinage, and instead of coin. ing two millions five hundred thousand pounds a. year, they coined in the years 1795 and 1790, only five hundred thousand pounds a-year. From this circumstance, while the gold coin in circulation was become less from the unusual export, it wu also diminished from this unusual omission to coin. In ibis situation Mr. Pitt announced to the Public, that the Bank could not pay its notes with euh. To protect the Minister from censure, the Bank Directors submitted to be held forth as culprits; they were authorised to issue Otte Pound Notes, and to refuse payment in cash, both to their own creditors and the public creditors for any sea 6114 - ceeding One Pound. When this arrangement took place, most certainly it was understood that they were to give cask fur a twenty shillings note ; for, if the twenty shillings note could nut be turned into cash, it was worth nothing; and Parliament might as well at once have de clared that the Bank should be exempted from paying both their nun and the public creditors. To assist the circulation these one pound notes, a new gold coin of seven shillings pieces was issued from the mint, and the Bank was authorized, by prod maiion, to stamp dollars, intrinsically worth four and threepence, and issue them first for four and ninepene..., and afterwards for five shillings. I believe, that huth these Pro. clamations were confirmed by Parliament, but most reraiitly these dollars were only issued as tokens, for which the Bank engaged to pay the sums above-mentioned, of four shillings and nine.pence, or five shillings, in English unu ney. Various circumstances have, in the present year, occasioned the export of the gold which re attained with us ; I will nut, at present, detail those circumstances—l may, perhaps, at a future day. The Bank Directors, perceiving that while a guinea was worth thirty shillings at Amsterdam, it was impossible to prevent the export of gold ; that even their seven-shillings pieces, though col. lected with more difficulty, would yet be exported; and that they lost by every ounce of gold they emitted, have almost entirely relinquished the issue of seven-shillings pieces : the consequence has been the situation of the retail dealers,which !have above described. Now, Gentlemen, is this ho nest ? is this consistent with that implied engage. ment which you made with the public when the Bank Restriction Bill was passed, viz. that you would pay your one-pound notes with cash ? Is it etinsistent with your express engage went', when you were allowed to stamp &Olin, and issue them as toi.eas at tee per Cent. above their value ? Is it a generous return to that public which pardoned your delinquency in 1797 ? The Bank Restriction Bill was passed to relieve you from distress, not as a source of peak to you. — But you hate considered it solely as the means of profit ; wholly forgetful of the public interests. When the Rank stopped payment on the 26th February, 1797, Bank Stuck was selling at 120. The other day it was es/ling at ts 6. This on a capital of ten millions four hundred thousand pounds, was an ietrease of the vales a your pro. petty to the eateat of sixteen millions six hum. dyed and forty thousand poonds. To this welly be added, the value of the different bonuses, which you hate distribsited to the Proprietors. Adding all this tortillas?, do I exaggerate, when I say, that the 'impiety of the Dank has been increased fall sweaty millions by the Bank Restriction Dill? The &orate issue of Batik notes ) an. tecedently to the Bank Restriction Bill did net exceed eleven millions, You nvw Wee twenty maltase. Moroi; a gall iv the &et ei rCIJ oad 4fty, ilrausead -pestle st44lli from the interest of thspe notes .. Ti t F may be added the gain of,,the flank from . thu number ,of these ngtes wrich are los t : for tho luss of cne pounduoics must bo much greater in preprrtion than this Lou of notes R f a hav danominatian. Before the Bank acstrivron 1 1 , 1 ,Y0u ssereun der th• necessity of keeping a 4%114 stock of about six millions iu gold to answer the demands of /our creditors, if your notes were hrio4lit is,. Have you kept this dead stock to the Amount of sit millions, since the Rtitriction Bill ? If you save acted honestly towards the public, you ought to have kept a dead stuck in Kohl larger thin what you kept before the Bank Restriction Bill, in the proportion that your notes now in circulation bear to the notes which you formerly issued ; that is Wray, in the proportion of 20 to 11. fieveyos done this? Or, to put the question to yon more explicitly, have you kept any dead stock If you have been actuated by the mere spirit of Traders, you have kept little, or none : for the Bank Restriction Bill relieved you from theorem. pity of giring cash for any notes which exceeded twenty shillings, aid you appear now to be dis. posed to free yourselves (ruin the paymont iu cash even of these twenty-shillings notes. If you are willing to give twenty shillings in British coin fete every twenty-shillings note which is brought. to you, proclaim it to the public, and the difficul. ties of the retail trader will be at an end. If you sa a lt r i s o, we will give the Bill-fielder four stamped d;..soy answer is, that zoo have been au. thesis:it to issue those stamped dallirs only as to. kens, and that you have bound yourselves to give British coin fur those dollars whenever they are brought to you. Examine, Gentlemen, these rea sons, and then say, whether I have expressed my. self too strongly, when I have said, that it is your duty to issue British money sufficient to keep your one-pound notes in circulation. I have heard that you have a wish to issue Ten Shillings Bank notes. God forbid, that such a measure should ever be attempted. I have the most sanguine hopes that such an attempt would be surcessfully resisted, but the very attempt itself would ruin you. I have confined myself to those arguments which might point out to you your duty. I could l adduce arguments especially strung, to skew that it is your intereet, as well as your duty, to issue British coin for the circulation of your one pound notes ; but for the present I restrain myself. The Bank of England is but a china shop, and cudgel. playing in a china-shop is unsafe. VEIANIUS. To Ore EDITOR of TIIIT STATESMAN. SlR—Your indefatigable exertions in favour of the rights of the Public, deserve the best thanks of that Public; you have mine, and I now, fur the first time, take up my pen to give you, my ideas upon what is called the settlement of the dispute with rho Covent Garden Managers. Upon read. ing that report of the proceedings at the Crown and Anchor Tavern, and the Resolutions they sought for and agreed to, by Mr. Kemble on behalf of himself and the other Properietore, I cannot pos sibly conceive how any evittniderstanding could have arisen—the Propositions. were as clear sie a beam of light—There may he a breach of treaty, or a Punica Fides, but there can be no misunderstand. ing. The public have. lam proud' to tee, per. formed their put in the most noble, generous, and humane manner; and remembering the passage in Shakespeare, that " In peace there's nothing so becomes a man as modest stilness and humility,"— , wilVe instantly acted upon that precept. But far different has been the conduct of the Proprietors. I will not point at Mr. Kemble any more than the others. I will not single him out from the ag. gregate body, as bas been done too much already, but I will say, that the Proprietors are endeavouring, by every meats in their power, to evade the most material part or that compact. 4 The Private Boxes and the secret entrance to those Boxes, arc the greatest grievances that have, ur that can exist in a place of public entertainment, conducted under Goveriment authority. The insult upon the people at large from this parti tioning off to the rich, the privileged, and the prolii4ate, nu exclusive aceontroollAtion, cannot be tolerated in. a country where the people claim equal advantages, from the authority of their Go vernment. The infraction of the treaty for the retention of the entire slip:, is for the purpose of presersng, as 'I suppose, the superb private en tratice,by far the greatest evil and insult to the res pec able part of the audience, than even the occupition of rho Private Boxes. It is therefore for the pur pose of fixing the attention of time public upon this object, that I now address you. If the en. tire slips are retained, they will &ford a back stairs entrance...and what have the public then gained fur 6 nights bard labium...fur buieg beaten ...imprisassed illegally...calasmslaisd—and for the violinist attempt made to wrest from them the home: menial rights of the , audience, fils , the purpose of setting a few wealthy, haughty, and for this attempt at distinction, despicable above the rest of that society in which they lite? It is now a very important question for the pub. tic to ask—What have they guard by their efforts P—lt cunaot he to the interest of the Proprietors that these Private Boxes should be rotaised in the Theatre, fur the public will pay ihms more fur them, when thrown open.—No; die motive is a mentemptiblit bending to poser and reek—iiso Proprietors arc the glosbotors apiest the poirlic, for these moral Private fiee.ineeir—l wish them to consists? the light iboy stand in as men, and as moral , mote, and if they have any virtue * any shame, or any charatlet to lose, t‘s think seriously on the sob. ject ; and to remember the celebrated speech of Nolseyi an often in some of their mouths, which I will endeavour to paraphrase, aed apply it to themselves Had they bet bered the PO* With bag the seal they owed the oemotroil an 'They would set base to warn saeb etapei Nor ash forgtessess is es am mdems. • T. X. * 1 i LAW IhIrit4LIGSNUt. Conlt.l3l! Cae*OERY. itxcoGrus t 4 lIALL O ; Wane:day, Dec. YO. . . An ittliiiieltion Was this day made to the Lotral Chahcclior, •by Sir A. Plo•orr, nn belle( of Fasters eiowden, K4 dissolve, the injitrie.iou this court in. the last Seal before last. TiseetZru restrain sale of a wqrk, ?We Ilistety . A tritaail, published by Ploviarn. . . . . the former injunction was obtained noon the affidavits Or Mr. Egerton, the ,booliselter, anti others, that the work in question was an aiiritlao meat of The Ilielericul' Review of lreiattd, of which he, Mr: 14kertOri; had purchased the copy. right from . thc author, Mr. Pion den. it was co, tended this day in support of the toutinn to died solve the injunction, that The Ilistory of Irelonsl was entirely an original work, anti did not at all touch upon the ialec or estimation of, the book - published by Mr. Egerton. On the other hand, it was addtieql, as evidence in support of the in. junction, that several hundred paps or Mr• Plow. dett's Illgtory of Ireland wets verbatim et life. rglins similar to (he History published by Mr. Egerton. • • , The Loeb CtsasicaLt.ne deferred the further hearing of the case until tu.morrow. . . His Lordship rose about, two o'clock, to _attend the King's Levee and have place tor Jive allet of the Rolls, who sat until three, heat lug 'notions of course. mil • -- • -• 1 0 , 1 4 0r • COURT OF KING'S BENCH, vr -101CSDAT, Dec. SI: t tilling: before Lord EcurNanaoura! and Six. civil Juries, in Guildhall, London. LA nOCII V. Or The ATTORNEY-CreNanAt.lllate4 this to be an action upon a Policy of insurance ma the ship Juno, on a voyage from Loudon to Gotteebitegh, lust by capture. The vested sailed, with 76 others, under cdnvuy of the Thunderer, Captain Caul field ; they proceeded to the harbour of Alaltnue, where they were ordered to stay as tole, avid af terwards to sail as near to the share ass passible to avoid thu Danish gun-boats, who ncrc in great force in that neighbourhood, and in the course I I their sailing the Juno hut the misfortune to go aground, and could out get off, the rest of the fleet were obliged to leave her to her fate, mid soon after she was boarded by a great number from the Danish gun-boats, consumed by fire, the Captains. and the whole of his crew taken on shore, sad' cast into prison. 'llse defence to this action was in the nature of a deviation, and it turned upon two points—a fact, and the law that arse oat of that fact. The fact was, that while 116. fleet wslif at anchor, this vessel took a small 'arital of iedifte un board, and it was coutendest that that had toe same effect as breaking balk would hive during a voyage from one place to another; withaet leis° ' to nelotuldaritig !he voyage, which atioasi ttto policy. As to the fact, she certainly did take In this small quantity of indigo, but that hail Ito effect whatever on the sailing; site watt not thereby impeded far a 'hag,' nsooSent, MUM it happetied when she was at aneti.ur, and when the crew had nothing else to da. .1 ILA when the Commodore gave signal to weigh anehoti veasal, dot Jana, weighal as so.ott As it . possible fur her to do so, she being its the centre of the diet, and could not weigh Witte those who were before her had done so, any mote than *ear. riage can move in a crowd of coaches until shoal that are before it more. That she was os4titst weigh, how ever, before many, and tailed at the signal given for that purpose, mitt sis fer was ithia from being delayed by say thing, that she /td actually to the tided of the Beet, and was obliged to slacken sail to prevent her going Were the boom of her convoy, a thing which it *ever lies. mitted ; but having. got agraand she there stack, when the fleet Intl been obliged to leave her Whitt fate. These were the facts, add he should prove them by 50 Captains of this fleet. Hut tag reas son why the underwriters rettieted the papiiimit of this loss was, that the Clotain of the Joni) iiad. its his protest, stated, that this event of his having got aground happened at four in the afteraoou of the 3.1 of June, and Capt. C ullicl 1, the Cum. mender of the convoy, said that the cunvoy .as miles off that place, at that period, and, therefore, the Jane could nut be under hit protective. This was a mere mistake as to time, for the OM. modem did not know th., Juno at all, and floe Captain of the Jun, did not speak- with accuracy as to the hoar ; he had made the mistake of out hole hour, and teal.occounted fur the whole , matter; nor was this surprissog, for the Judd haring been burnt, the Captain had ',either Jog, nut. a single strap of paper In assist his memory, when he snide his protest..-Vhere was no doubt whatefer boon the facia; the error arose entirely from the Captain haviug made a mittake o f ti t hear in point of tiine—but he certainly did Wki6k according . to signal s and sailed accuriltni signal, and was so far from having loitered, and thereby lust the protection of the convoy, that the Juno ideally got at the head of the fleet, anti was compelled lu slacken sail, to prevent her passing the King's ship at the head of the coma veyrd fleet. That stood the facts. As to taw law arising out of the facts, there certainly *es a case decided some time age, of Steil and Wardell ; in which it had balls held by my Lord Keay on,:thot taking in any thing of cargo, between two Warr mediate points ut a voyage without leas, Was, in Ise, equiaalont 441 breskin: bulk, which avoid ed the policy; but that ease had been atibeturnosi, by the doctrine wilait had bees held in subst quent decisions, end partiaalarly ht , herd Sol. kirk% ease, end, thercflits, he submitted that the Plaintiff was autitleal eta rtzover iv this ease, be. eanse the biking in.of ladigo wed ao impede. latent whatever to the voyage. It ep t learid in evidAter, after the examination of the Captain of the Juned cod tete al other Captains, that the Neel of this ease a ern precisely as the A tturney.Gesieral had ape ord them. Mr. ?Ann, for the Decondaiii, contended, that the law was nut at the Attorney-Geer-rid - had stated it as applicable to this cue; it -.Orae a point whist's never yet had been *ended *My S i ~, ~ i I -,