The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser. — London, England, 1808-06-01 00:00:00

canteentubla 'PesOsnet neat hire (Sir Fettle's Bars slate) brought forward a gni:Atoll relative to the • drain of the Atli:ulnae: t oad gOrthoich he thinned Teo knowledge of uaat L lionuuwble 811113ati.4 yet, when he heard it „stateclon Me other wide, that no tnisapplitaitiote of tlAe s a sums of moiety had taken place, he certaiula tbouakt it ateuidletut upon him to state what immediately tit er ESl to him relative to the El Etrinsei, to whew . coutrary was the real state of the fact. Such, then. hteina the circumstances uuder which this subject was first intrudued, he slusuld now enlarge mom particularly upon it. lie should not, however. upon this occasion, euter into a coasideretion of the legality of a British subject trading to the Ewa Indies without license ; the regulations upon this matter being already sufficiently underetood. It was well known too that Osteud enjoyed great advantages ever this country, in point of trades' laying no duties to pay either inwards or outwards; awd against this the legislature had thought pro per to guard. by enactments, preventing British 'subjects from trading themselves, or lending money to others, trading from that poet to the East Indies. It might, perhaps. Ise supposed, that the subject be was going to allude to was now iminew het unti e/tatted, cud that it was, therefore, odious and ma levolent to revive it at the present raeincia,. He begged, however, to observe that the great of money in question took place so late as the year leus, although the subject matter of it was of a date long antecedent to it. The eiol of the trans action, it wouldalipear from the documents he should refer to, was much worse than the be lle should, in the finot place, observe, that Admiral ltobinson, who took the vessel al luded to, had not received from the Admiralty what he was entitle(' to from the capture, while Sir Home Popham. the person engaged in the illicit trade, had received no loss than 23,0001, — In 17e7 that Honourable Captain applied to the Admiralty for leave of absence to go to the East Indies, by a letter dated the !tali day of Febru ary,- 1787, addressed to Mr. Philip Stevens, their Secretary. The answer returned was, that it was necessary he should have the lease of the East India Company to do so. Another letter informed them that he had no intention to visit any of their settlements. but was going to visit a Danish settle ment named Tranquaber, upon his private atfairs. Sir Howe accordingly procured leave of absence for two years, upon his relinquishing his hag pay, but the Admiralty were cautious in refuting his 'mph- . c.o.:tilt.' for pet mission to trade to the Fast Indies. Notwithstanditig this., there was scarcely scsettle mem iu which the Hon. Baronet did not greakith to reside and to carry en trade. Sir floammapil to Bombay in the ship mailed Ville ate riatied. of be tween fear and five hundred tons harden, sell it appears from the Records of the' Ring's Bench, that he was also at Calcutta. Ile had previously formed a connection with a Com inercial Company of the firm of Chamock and Co. who were the owners of the ship called the British Lion, which afterwards fought with Admiral Thorieborough. In feet, it was the most notorious houec in all Ostend. After trading to these places, Sir Home returned to Ostend, and then meditated another voyage upon a similar plan, Lot applied fur no fresh leave of al.p..eiice from the Admiralty. Upon this second eepedition, lie took with him various sorts of colours, for what purpose could not he known or enneeiled, unless for that of deception. These colours were purchased for the sum of 611. toe and this agreeineet, or private charter-party, was somewhat curious, as it sheered the Hon. Captain was then perfectly aware lie was violating the laws of his country, although lie had afterwards stated, in an affidavit, he lielievetPhis eonduct upon that occasion to be perfectly innocent and legal. The noiniiial bill of sale stated that Mr. Popham was only concerned to the amount of 3.0001. sterling, while in fact the whole ~go was upon his account sled risk ; and alien -Ode out ...ad-hound voyagel, . be appeared somairnils as Captain, sad sometimes as partly Owner demi talus :meet of Cie ship. tledid not state this by Way of accusation, but melety that as such a report had gone abroad into theagorld, it was proper that the ('aptain hanself should have an opportunity of de nying it if he thought proper. There appeared to have been amongst the carafe 40 casks of iron ns, and various cases of smaller arms. It would lee unnecessary for him to eeumerste all the places Mr. Popham went to, but he should merely state, that lie arrived at Calcutta. aral afterwards sailed to Prince of Wales Island with a cargo of rice, in consequence of a storm which prevented him from going to Bombay. There was a letter, which skewed lie had sailed upon that occasion without any papers on board, so that if he had gone to any place where a regular Cultorn-house had been kept, his ye mel and cargo would have been seised ; and from that letter too, it appeared, that he must leave known the whole transaction was illegal. At Prince of Wales Island he sold this cargo, as well as the vessel, and purchased unother,called El Ettore°, of pSO tons burden, which is more particularly the subject of the present charge. It was first trans ferred, by** hill of sale, to a person of the name of and afterwards. en the 24th of November, 17P2, to another person a f the name of George, who signed himself Captain and Master of the ship. The Hon. Captain proceeded to Ostend, and en tered into an agrerineut with Messrs. Constance and Piero'', in which lie stiled himself Captain and owner of the El Etrwsco, and sailed again to time E as t In Upon his return to Outetid, lie put into the Core or Cork, where he landed mine of Isis triode( ' and soot' afterwards the ship was captured by the Diadem. It appeared that there was a Prise-mister oa board the El Einar°, who was willing to take oath as to the want of the neces sary papers--M v. Constance too stated that there were afterwards papers made ont ; ea that it could be only with an intention to defraud the raptors ef that vessel. I 'poet sailing towards leaned, a trans tectici. took place which he hail formerly deno **Mated annealing, and which lie 11110111(1 Still. on. by the ti stimona of persons who eau 'peak in that point, and erase that bulk v.as broken, send five boats came from the shore for various chects of ten and rhubarb. (Here Mr. Ltrehingron refie•red to various ports of the docunteute bc.forr the license. as well es other: evidence, to prove -the nature of the smuggling he alluded to.) The ship was after wards brought into the river Thames by Captaia . • teshauson, who had Meyer yet (Ace Ten arded for the capture he had made, nor teen got his ex penses paid.. Mr. Lushington then proceeded to expose the appareut klieg of Sit Home's own affiduvrt, which he did not wake till the year 1797. It ended, that he was formerly a merchant, but now au officer in His Majesty's service; that having obtaiimid leant of abseace Bout the Admiralty to mil to the Fatst Indies, be had accordingly pro ceeded there, and had been allowed to trade by those then.in authority ; that he was intenate'..with the Marquiti Cornwallis, &c. Now it sippeeredt that Mr. Popham waskin Loudon in the mouth of August, 1793, although he did 'not thiuk proper to make his appearance, to submit to an examination upon the.eubj . eeL The ship was condemned to the captors ' and it' WO thought of such consequence, that the Court, of App*i was five years in deter mining it. They at last determined, that Mr. Popham appeared to have been ill advised in car rying ou this trade, which lie did not know was illegal. There wait, however, evidence to the contrary, and that ha was perfectly aware of its illegality. Here Mr. L. read several letters from Messrs. Constance and Pieron, to 'thew that Sir •Home knew the trade to be illegal at the time he carried it on. He redly felt somewhat indignant, when he saw that the captain, in his Memorial to the Crown, eudearoured to vindicate his character by critnivatitig the Marquis Cornwallis, and others in power in India. (Mr. Deter here spoke to order, alleging that this was uuparliatnentury language.) Mr. Luautw owo rr continued, and said, it could nut userefy be thought right in the Captain to asperse the character of thnt Noble Marquis, which stood so fair and free from blemish, by saying that he connived at an illegal trade. lle then read a letter from Mr. Stewart, Secretary to the Murquis, in which he positively 'denied any know ledge of such trunsactions, and felt indignant at hear ing such an assertion had been made. The result of the whole was, that, by a warrant front the Treasury, the Captain'. 'Aare of the ship and cargo was restored to him, amounting to e 5,0001. ; while Messrs. Constance and Pierou had never received a single farthing; nor Admiral Itobinson, the captor, even received his expelmes, although he had presented a Memorial to the Treasury, stating his right to the prize-money and expenses. Such was the reward accruing to this Admiral, who had served in His Majesty's navy for no less than 40 years, and his father for A 7; while this Captain Popham,. who had only served in the nary fix: 15 years, had a large sum bestowed upon him, althmiglilie had been actually engaged in art illicit trade. lie was unwilling to attribute im proper motives to the Treasury ; hut must sup pose that their determination must have arisen from misconception. Mr. Lushington then pro ceeded t i instance sever-al eases where vessels bad been condemned as droits of the Crown, and yet liberal rewards given to the captors. Adm iral Robinson, who had been 'put to expense, real rau the risk of making this capture, hail received nothing. Another strong evidence, us to the known efthe transaction, was, that he could prove that no less than forty thousand pounds had been offered to the Admiral, if he would release the ship and cargo. (Here Sir Home Popham expressed his doubts as to this fact). He, Mr. Lushingten, further added, he should be glad to call Admiral Robin son to the liar of the House, to prove what he had stated. Ile need not enlarge on thepernicious clients which a ;remit of this stature toast have ttpon•the Navy of Great Britain. This was almost the only method in which an Officer of the Navy had it in his power to retire from the service. The Hen: Gentleman concluded by moving the following resolutions : " That it appears to this House, that by a decree of the Lords Con tttt issioners of Aypeals in Prize Causes, dated the I I th day tit AIM'S% )110% the ship Etruseo, seal tacit parts of the cargo as *eve chimed by Home Riggs Popham, Esq. now Sir Home Popham, were condemned sa 'rad and lawful prise to the King, se the property of one urine Majesty's subjects, engaged in an illegal trade. " That try a Treasury %Tarrant, dated the 24th of Septein bee, isms, the proceeds of the 'mid ship andeargo, amounting to 25,9551. qs. 7d. subject to certain espeoscs, not exceed ing Itiooo were granted to Sir Home Orphan', who had bees detected in prosecuting sorb illicit trade. " That this grant is a misapplication of public money ; Inasmuch as, contrary to all custom and precedent, thine Binds, which have in pert always been appropriatedl to re ward the exertions of Captors, were hanitowed-wholly upon Sir Home Popham; who, being &Lieutenant is His Majesty's saes had been detected knowingly carrying on illicit trade, in contempt of the laws of his country, contrary to his duty as a British saliert, and to the disgrace of the character of a B • h Officer, operating at the same timer a discourage ment to Hit Majesty's naval forces, by depriving them of the accustoined rewards of their zeal and activity ; and as an incitetueut toile contempt and disregard of the laws of the land, by bestowing reward and Impunity as those who had bees detected is the violation of them." Sir HOME Pornast hoped, that no misrepresent ations which had, since the agitation of the pre sent question, been made in the public papers, would have any effect its that House, though cer tainly not so much could be expected from the public, who were so very credulous in mutters of this description. Of late, so flagrantly unpist had these statements been, that lie had felt himself ex tremely incommoded in his private trunsactions, in addition to the unpleasant nature of the threat, so loudly denounced, of an impeachment, by some metahers of that House. As soon as the lion. Meenbees-hallsopened his masked battery, the whole tribe of literary assassins had attacked him flank and rear, Ile read a paragraph, in confirmation of the. jtutice of his complaint against the treatment he had received iu thrptablic prints, from The Times news /over, stating, that he had been employed in ear !Ting bums and ammunition to the enemy of his conntry. Tipport .. This was a crime of the most ungrateful and odious kind, and he had hoped that !setter then us it were before the House, he should loner. enjnyed that protection a Court is al ways supposed to exercise over the persons before it. With respect to another °Seer, lately tried ire a mititnry court,.lt far different and more honoura ble course had been pursued, and that officer had even been necessitated to acknowledge the for bearanee of the newspapers on the subject of his impeueliment. He denied, in the most positive terms, that he lied ever furnished the enemy with Innis, and felt peculiarly indignant at the charge...- Whoever had been the author of the accusation hail lieut., guilty cf the most horrid outrage against his character, and it remained for the House to determine vim.: paws:anent he should iroffer for thus violating •:te protection it slionla always afford. The temper of the House itself had been tried by the motion which had beeu made by an Honourable Member in 'that House, ou a questiou not, at allyonuecte.l with the present whereat) he stated in his speech, relative to the Ituchfort squadron, that the appointment of Sir hone Popham to be Captain of the Baltic fleet had given the greatest disgust, and excited the most undisguised reseuttnent. (hear! Hear! from the Opposition). That uo such reitentuient or disgust existed, he could prove, by reference to most respectable authorities, Captains of His nary, and men of great professional, as well as private, integrity and virtues. Prior to his ap poratraent to that situation, he had received two letters, one front Admiral Hamilton, congratu lating himself and his country upon his uppoint meat, and prognosticating that succe s s which ul timately folloWcal ; the other from Admiral Grenves, acknowledging his professional talents; and stating that his appointment had given general satisfaction. He read also extracts from the letters of six ur seven officers of line of battle 'ships, stating their satishic tiou at his promotion in the warmest terms, but wham names he did uot think proper to mention. He would give the lion. Member the wide range of both army and navy, to produce one testimony of • contrary description. The chary, divided itself intomvoral distinct heads; let, that he had dis graced the character he held as a naval officer, 24, that be bad carried ou a smualiag trade, in Ireland and England, and lastly, that he had ab sconded to elude justice. He should appal for his justification on all these points to a recital of facts. It had been his original iutention to set out for the Danish settlements ; perhaps tiouchingit Calcutta, from Ostend, where -he had taken ship; lint on coming into the Indian nes, he had been compelled, to save the vessel, to go iuto Bombay, where, contrary to his expectation*. he had found drat vecsels under those colours lie bore were treat .s) with till civility, and permitted to trade with freedom. This altered his resolution, and he !me n.; traded there for some time, set nut to Madras, where he found the same facilities in trade, and the tame attention. From tlMiwe he proceeded, not in his ship. to Calcutta. He became acquaint ed with the Governor-General, Lord Cornwallis, from whom he received several civilities, and by whom he was appointed to a service of cousiderulde difficulty. Dunng this period he was considered by the Best India Government as t native of Bri tain, though commander of a foreign vessel. It was true helical traded contrary to the restrictive laws of the Company, but he hid committed no offence against the law. of the lead ; say that particular law of the Company hail 'been expressly violated for several years before and since, and by various nations, and even by officers of his own rank and circumstances in the British navy. In such a case as this, his conduct was entitled to that species of liberal construction which he had in vain looked fur in the speech of the Hon. Gentleman, who seemed only to have sought this as an opportunity of bring ing himself into public notice. Ile was aware the East Indian Government might have taken hint up, and sent hiss back to England, as their laws then stood; but no such disposition appeared to exist, for he had been politely and favourably received, and at his departure recommended by the Governor to the East India Directors, statipg his services in surveying and sounding the straits near the Prince of I.Vales's Island, and the new harbour of Calcutta, and regretting that he was without any public employment. When be hsd purchased the Washington, lie was no British of ficer, as this letter proved, having been struck off the list in )791. There had been a charge made against him, as not having discharged the debt due to Captain. Robinson, the captor. His charges of travelling and ether expenses were enormous, and stated at 1,1001. fur merely going backward and forward to Deptford, where the vessel lay, and the expenses at law had not continued for the fire years preceding the demand. On that appli cation,. he had offered to let the matter be adjusted by arbitration, or had offered to pay the anus, ex cept 2001. which was the addition of interest on the original stun ; this he thought extraordinary and extravagant. As to his having absconded from justice, he was totally surprised by tire novelty of such a charge; the vessel had been taken in the roads of Ostend some hours after he himself had set out in LI boat, anxious to join his family, and bringing with him some few present* to his friends. He was extremely sorry he had not taken the ship and all it* cargo along with him. But the charge of his having absconded was singular, when it was re collected that he Lad been for 3 years with the army in the Low Countries, and had procured, by his exertion, the favour and approbation of his -bro ther officers, and particularly of His Royal High ness the Commander iu Chief, by whose inter ference he had beet? relied to the office of Poet Captain. The vessel he denied was ever offered to he purchased at 40,0001. he at least never heard of such an offer. 'Fite charge of smuggling in Ire land he could disprove, by the letters of the Rev. Mr. Timbal, of Crookhaven, where he had, while in port, prohibited all intercourse in trade with the inhabitants; and though three or four boxes of tee, at Dangenuess, hod been missing out of a cargo consisting . of 3,900 chests, he had not been able positively to ascertain what had become of these chests, but he believed they were given to the pilot, who bad conducted them over some veuy dangeruos 'amis.—but auk an accidental occurrence was fur from giving to the voyage the character of a smuggling tremor:non, ' nor justify the charge made against him of running a cargo. They were at most worth hut 91. per box, and were to him no object to get off out of a cargo of such magnitude. He proceeded to defend the statement in his Alemorial, respecting his having acted in conformity to the laws of the land, since lie had at most only offended against the prnvisions of the Company's restrictive law. He added, that he had offered to make remuneration to all the par ties concerned in the loss, so far as he had been re imbursed. The foreign Captain, the necessary companion of a vessel sailing under foreign colours, had bees left on shore, in consequence of a favour able wind rising in his absence. The Warrant of the Treasury had only reimbursed him in the sum of 1110001. ere he trusted the House would not conclude he lend acted unfairly, nor would, he hoped, the Hon. Member again object, should he with draw, according to the custom of the House lit cases of personal impeachment, that he had ab sconded from justice. T ELLea lre kn it sails sho d its 17truiloi fn is re,:t w it hdraw necessaryfs itBl. is supported te tired friend r 'lhE . °tt p s C u ll idt:d c h ar act er el t 'eS d e e :ezaArt the ti Ba ted well of Isis country ; such had been stso the leg e /mut of which would have its due e eigl:t on the House - . The Hon. Baronet's merits had been such us to secure him from any apprelieusion on the a harxr4 of isinugglinit, and that of disgraciug his pr f • ebwoo; and from the statement made by him, it outdo appear, that he bud been a considerable sufferer, although he had heels in part reimbursed, as the resselmuci cargo were worth to bin and the persons engaged iu trade with hem, upward* of silty meet pounds. Sir Joao Nrcuot.t felt anxious to ascertain from the Uemourieble Member, wlwther it was in tended by the present motion to yaw. cohaute Sir Home Popham, or upon the Administration b e which the grant was made? If it was against the individual, it surely was for the House to recollect that this act of offence had been committed year s ago, that before aud since that period the galluat Captain had performed great advantages and sighal acts of service to his country ; but if it was 'ought to make such a rant a censurable act, in come quence of any misapplication of the public moues on the part of Government, the House hit•JULII understand that the fund i ota "of which it was paid, was solely the property of the Crown.— Beside, it was not a donation or grant of our sum of money out of the money either of the state or of the Crown. It was merely a re mission of a forfeiture; and it certainly was COM. potible with the brightest and most litudulils characteristic of the Crown, to inte:pose i such a ease, and towards such a deserving ob ject. It also was on unprecedented cares anal had ten Other illicit temicisey , but as it went to violet , : the East India Conspassy's monopoly. Much had been said of the injniy sustained by the captor. Still it should not Le forgotten, that the case of the El Etrworo was one where no right or claim arose eni the part of the captors. There was no valour, ho enterprise Misplayed in the *Memo. It was sokly and at most an illicit act on the part of the Bri tish subject, front which the captor deified no right of reimbursement. either out of the pro ceeds of the ship so aeiied, or out of the Admi ralty Droiii: It meat becallse a question, whe ther the Honourable Captain (Sir Home Pop ham)-had not sheerly ,offered a punishments ade quate to' the original ottence committed by him The estimated value of the captured cargo, ' amounted to 63,0001, ; and the compensation re ceived by him, did not amount to more thaa 211,0001. The Learned and Hon. Advocate core eluded, with a Bill panegyric an the numerous public services of Sir Ilome Popham and conteaci od that his public conduct, since the grant was be stowed, fully compensated for any previous gality of action. Mr. %Vienna'', in a most perspicuous add im pressive speech. replied to the statements of the last Speaker._ He considered it as impossible to separate the conduct of Sir Home Popham from the conduct of the Administration which had made the grant, as it was to separate Sir Home Popham from himself; because It was ridiculous to censure that grant, without the House were fully in possession of those facts which marked the con• duct of that Officer. To these who heard the suite:smut of his Hon. Friend, it was wholly un necessary to make any additional remark. Lill at ! there were now iu the House some is he dial cot hear that statement, he thought it proper to repot that the coaductSSfSir IlomePophaun was mil ) mei deutal to thvgreat object of former discussion, mi ce -1 whether the funds arisiog to the Crowe' front tue droits of the Admiralty, were, or were not grossly u applied ? Such a nsimpplication„ on the pot of the Honourable Capeiin, has been denied, and on that point the parties have now joined issue. To pre vent such an investigation at this, the House was told of ^the impropriety of censoring thee actions elf a great man (Mr. Pitt) now no more—ie other words, that Parliument was interdicted from cu iu gniry into transactions which have taken place in the most itiportaut period of our hider'', of iso other account brat that a great Statesmen had been separated from his labours unfortunately both for his country and the world. Oa the present oc canon, the Leerised Geist:email. who had just sit down, entirely contented himself by domestic; the conduct of the Honourable Captain. And what was it lie extromated It was an act which the law of the land. noel the judgment of the tribui:d to which such cases were referred, had pronounce! illegal, improper, and censurable. Indeed, in tie opinion of the Learned Member, it was a ttl , •rz trifling venal offence, to which no crime could pr..- , perly attach. lle had no such opinion on the subject, and he wished the Boast to remember, that thole," such stress had been laid on the fact, that sok three chests of tea were smuggled, still it was iv* Feseary to recollect that three bouts were ernplo:c. l in that very insignificant transaction. As an act of smuggling, it was not only an odimee of g rt.::t reproach , and deserving of high censure, hie :1 was aggravated in its criminality by the deep ..; systematic system of ft-Lie:faith which it was rant— - ed. and the dexterity of deception with ehirb it r; carried into effect. It eves mons:rens to he:aback:* defence as that offered by the IlonnunribleCaptuf:;* friends. It went to aboolve even from censure L; = man who knowingly and in opposition to his Vr. - fetNiouttl duties. entered upon the prurtice •f As illicit trade. Forsooth, his great servicto, his sc- Herat views of policy, expiated the offence. trusted that such an exemplification of sagar.', and acting upon his own vlews, us were attribute ,llo the Hon. Captain, would, iu this country, for iF : future, have but few imitators. The expeeinn.:t lie had made, and the illustration he had atforrk ,, (alluding to the original attack on Buenos i t v" , if further acted upon, most level to iusrueasnral ,..l and incalculable public snischir.f. But from the re - r.oning of the Learned Advnente opposite (Sir J! , 1• 3 Nichol!) one should suppose that the Ilan. CA:" tain was all imfocence, and that the ill-treated /0!- ireiral lilobilvam was alna,! guilty. If he was eteln• ashy not bring hint to Gant 1 Ifmt the fact was, thin Captniti 11,Aon-nts'svas rprinteJ t" the !kW:llion. and *44 :1 puttmp, hi' ordt Cato effect, Ly zeltif:g t so euiple:' 1114 111. 'CI 1114 Sll 11.1' 111 1:41 No our to 1 . 114 1,11/ ark Bo pr f 111 4 th Ao to th A w y . Cr Di el ti vi al ai tr 11 14 1 ( 1 ■ 1 3 1 1 1 1 1 • 1 - . 1 • • CU