The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser. — London, England, 1803-04-11 00:00:00

P4lRismN FASHIONS. "So many elegant women) are cri pt, that the int.aber of n head-dresses is very limited. The fashion of straw 11.. ts is fixidi those of yellow straw are prof ;Teti to those of white. They have the emnin hi h, with a narrow kaf turnil up eluslly all round, and Are surniousit.iil with a demi ti.;hu of Florence, en marisotte. This hail (kerchief is commonly lilac, which iv the prevailing eiilour. 'Except in bill d reAs , we qtr only low wird-, mot nitwit without a twin. The e,et of our inw,. of &Anon Ar s, i t g • wral, vimi will and :null In the should.ni, and tiarrdw in the weidt. The collar /None; np high as to conceal half of the heed. The heir, eacept about the face is cut close. Sonic young men of fa.liion wear white silk sroekifir, with nankeen bite-chef A nd ga it ers . The coats are dark blue, dark Inman, or bl.iek. FAVIIOV OLE ARRAV:FMCVS FOR THE 1117:K. NL.ND —Lady Wil!iaql Elquelzrk% Aali and Supper, I.nwer Brook-4v •t. Tr ISDAY —..jl , 4_ra. IT tyrnark7t. jndy Somere , Ron% CR ventli4,-AttAre. Sir GN,Tg.! eattlSet(iN ih..ner, St. JallllevS Num.: Tim ottoair tif Tl.,aeVort': Grand Roil% StailhoiK-area. L,rd Carl.tqu's (irAgge-street, Ila nov;r-sqmrc. SATu RD Alr tyinaecrt. Saturdar trintning, in consecrienee Isf its raining , the Royal Family did nct go out ti!l aSrint two o'clock. When the rain abate.!, hi.: MA !FAIN', at tended by General Gwv vv, took a short ride in 'Windsor Great Park. His MaaE.fv WAS Accum panioti home by Loris Bet..ct EY and HrNi.r.s , : those Noblemens' families a.-e at Englefield-green, to spend du: holidays. Yesterday morning the Royal Farail7, attended by General Gwv,N, the rim. NV Pe icL, Lady CHAIILti". TE Doestta, and Mrs. DRA X, went to the Chapel Royal in the Castle, where the Bishop of Norw Ica preached from the first Epistle of Co rinthians, chap.:v. ver. 13, I.t. hor it there i. o r Resurre7tion of the Dead, then is i• Omit nor r.svit " A!'d it Chri-t be not risen, then is our preaching vain, awl our faith it, vain also." From the Castle the Royal Family went to Frog more, the day being remarkably fine, the boy al Family walked en the Terrace, for the first time this season.—Windsor was full of company yester day. The Royal Deer, for this day's diversion, is to be turned nit near the dog-kennel, at Ascot Heath. The Princess MARY took an airiag in the neigh bourhood of Hampstead on Saturday, and yester day in the neighbourhood of Fulham. Her Royal Highness the Princess MARY drove through Rotten-row in a coach and four, about four o'clock, escorted by a party of light dragoons. Hyde nu k vc as yesterday crowded with the most fashionable company in both the equestrian and pe destrian ranks ; amongst the former were the Prince Of WALEi, who looked extremely well, the Duke of RUTLAND, Earl GALLOWAY, COL SILWART, and Major MAX'. , i;LL. Sir W,t. MUNTGONSFP.V, the father of the late Colonel, seas an Irish Baronet, and father by a for mer marriage to three Ladies who, from their beauty and accompiishments, were called the Graces. I.LIZABL'IH marred to the late Lord Muunrroy ; BARBARA married to the Right Hon. Jonx BEI{ ES ORD ; and ANNA, the present Marchioness of TOWNSEND. lie mother of the Colonel, the pre. sent Sir GEORGE, Mrs. BY NG, and Mr.:. 111. VA; L L was Miss Evt.TT, a Lady not more remarkable tot beauty than amiableness of disposition. The Hon. Mrs. Sr. GEORGE CAULFIELD, of St. James's-square, has issued SOU cards of invitation for two grand balls on the 18th and 20th. Lady ELLENBOROUGIT has likewise issued tickets for her rout on the liith instant. Lord HET CHIN ore has taken up his residence in Welbeck-street. Sr 11. Mii.stav, Sir 11. VANE TEMPEST, Lord GRAVES, Mr. Sr. GEORGE' CAULFIELD, and Mr. M A nnox, set off last night for Newmarket to attend the races which commences this day. lhe Countess cf Po RT ARLINGTON, Lady LOUISA and Lady H. DA.Asom, have taken an elegant house in Upper Seymour-street, for the season. The Countess of DA RNL EY and family are pas sing the holidays at Cobham Hall, Kent. Lord ET .‘NILL'Y left town last Fri lay, to take the command of his regiment, the '.!.1 Royal Lan cashire Militia, now stationed at Liverpool. Admiral Sir Peter Parker has taken an elegant house in Weymouth-street. Capt. M Cti AMA rt s was much better last night. Nit person eau be admitted to see him without pats lag the rs•om in which the Police Officers are sta tioned. The Newfoundland dog, which was the cause of the unfortunate dispute, is in the same r - oin with him. ------- Saturday moving seas interred in a vault at St. James's Church, the hotly of the late Col. MON T GONIKRY. The funeral was attended by General Lorre., Mr. Bvivi, and Mr. BERLiFORD, repre senting the three families with whom lie was most nearly connes7.2 , l and highly r-spated and beloved. The remains of the Dowager Countess of attes ts v. on Sunday last, was removed from her late house at Rounds, for interment, at South Borough Chard', near Tunbridge Wells. I.4rd DENcarNoN and Family are expeßed in town, this day, from llrinkinhast, Denbighshire. Lord Cot. E, Col. and Lady Caroline WOOD, Lady Catherine HARRIS, L.:ay Elizabeth Hoe cox, Mr. CJIDICHILI., Captain ARTHUR, Colonels GREVILLE and UPTON, Oil Saturday last joined the fashionable party at the Earl of Massrict.D's seat at Caen Wood, to pass the holidays. In the new edition of the Phannatoprria Edinbur rims, which will shortly appear, the nomenclature introduced by the Yrench chemists is adopted in its full^st extent. Mr. MA nsit, of St. John's College, Cambridge, has been lately engaged in writing an elaborate 1)c -fence and Illustration of the Hyrthesis proposed in his Dissertation on the Origin et the Gospel. Messrs. HAMILTON and CAMPBELL have an nounced a Geographical DiElionary of Asia, upon a new and extensive plan, with Maps, by Mr. Aa- KOWSUIT H. On Wednesday last Miss Wtou, and another Lady, returning to town from Afton in their car riage, the horses took fright, and ran away. The carriage was overturned, and the coachman killed on the spot. The ladies escaped with a few slight bruises. • LAW lATELLICEVCE. COURT OF CI L A►m. 9• Before Lord Ghanallor EL DON. IN THE NI AT CEA OF KENNETT, A BANKEITT. A petition had been resented by a number of the creditors of Robert Kennett, an Upholsterer, in Bond -street, praying that the commission of Benk ruptcy issueo against him, might be superseded ; the case excited a considerable degree of interest And attention ; sonic of the circumstances relating to it have been recently laid before the public, in conse quence of an indiament for perjury against one of the parties concerned. After counsel had been heard at length, the Len! Chancellor delivered his judgment in a very eloquent speech, in which he took a review of all the transactions to which the petition referred; his Lordship stated, that it ap peared by the petition a commission of Bankruptcy lied been issued against Robert Kennett, on the pe tition of Richard Dyer, under which commission Robert Kennett was declared a bankrupt. Dyer proved a debt of 1601. and Bracklev Kennett. the brother of the amkrupt, proved a .lebt and the debts pi oved under the Commission n ere about 14001. That at a meeting of the creditors Dyer and Brack ley Kennett wen! chosen As;igneris. Before any thing had peen done, except looming expences, the bankrupt obtaieed his certificate, a circumstance which, his Lordship said, created the principal dif ficulty in this case, for he shout'• most certainly have thouela it his bounden duty not to have suf fered the Fk.nkrupt to have Lone thieh again into the world with his certificate, had the allowance of it been controverted. Dyer had since become a bankrupt; and, in the month of September last, a meeting was held by the Creditors for the purpose of appointing an Assignee in his room. At that meetiag a majority in value of the Creditors ap pointed Braekley Kennett sole Assignee. His Lordship said, that upon the state of the case thus tar, it was evident this was a friendly Commission, for, from tile affidavits which had been laid before him, it appeared that the farmer Commission hav ing been taken out against Robert Kennett, it was thought adviseahle by his family that another Commission should issue under the working, as it was termed, of Friendly Assignees. it had been sworn, by a persen of the name of James, that Robert Kennett had told him an act of Bankruptcy would be taken out against him as soon as Frieselly Assignees could he procured. IL; Lordship here observed, that when Dyer became a Bank rupt, and it was necessary to proceed to another choice of Assignees, it might have been ex pected that some other Assignee would have been appointed in the room of Braeldey Kennett, who from the time of his being chosen, up to that mo ment, had never taken one single step which had for its objet the general interest of the creditors. The Petition further stated, that after the appoint ment of Dyer vs Assignee, he had never aaed nor interfered at all, and that no dividend had been made of the Bankrupt's estate :tad et - feels. His Lordship said, that to those who were net in the habit of attending this Court, it might seem rather extraordinary, that a Commission should issue in January, 1801, and no dividend should be declared so late as December, I eae:. Certainly it might hap pen, that in the fair administration of Bankruptcies, the at could not be otherwise; but he verily be lieved, that in nine out of ten of the Commissions of Bankruptcy in this country the Solicitor's charges were the principal 0b1e5.2 in sucing them out. That the intent of the present Commission was to get this Bank rupt unfairly discharged of his debts, to the prejudice of his creditors,was beyond all doubt. It evenappear ed, that for the purpose of getting a petitioning credi tor, who was friendly to the Bankrupt, they had made use of the oame. of a person to whom he ac tually did not owe 10.)l. at the time of his Benk ruptcv. Dyer, in order to invest himself with the character of a petitioning creditor, had sworn, or rather affirmed, fix he was a nuttier, that 1031. was aThially due to him ; thouzh now he affirmed, that he only believed the flan!aupt was indebted to him in that sum by reference to certain aceounts, which in fact proved, that he watt not a creditor of Robert Kennett for more than COL It wa.: in:pos.:lie a Commission of Bankruptcy, founded upon such a Petitioning Creditor's debt, could be supported. It was a-meet scandalous proceeding ; here was this Qnaker first affirming he was a creditor to the amount of 1001. and then affirming that he was not. It wis to be observed, that Robert Kennett as well as hie brother, positively denied what had been sworn by .lames, as tothe intention of having a friendly Commission. But he thought more credit was due to the affidavit ofJames, because, in the first place, he had no interest in swearing what was untrue ; and in the next, what he had sworn was rendered extremely probable by the cireetneeancei of the case. It was a misfortune to the administration of justice, Chet .fudges could not look into the hearts of meet, in order to discover on which side the truth lay. There was a transaction relating to this Bankruptcy, which it gave him concern to be obliged to allude to. Previous to this Commission thcrewas a prior one, on the petition dimes and Wakeman. This Com mission had been taken out by a Solicitor of the name of Decimus Cook, who, upon the issuing of the se cond, by Messrs. Scott and Lander, So:icitors, ap plied to them, and informed them he could prove a pt ior At of Bankruptcy, and that if the Commis sion went on, he must jointly share the profits with them. No doubt could exist, said his Lordship, with regard to the extreme impropriety of such con do:Ft in Solicitors ; if such a circumstance ever came regularly before him, he should repress himself not in strong terms, bit by strong ads. That Solicitors, under a‘Commission of Bankruptcy, which was likely to fail, should stipulate with another Solicitor to share the profits with him, in order to induce him not to bring forward a preceding mi of BankruFt cy, was a praaice which he hoped he never more should hear of. His Lordship noticed, and cern mented upon a variety of other transactions, which had taken place in the course of the proceedings. It was a fad asserted, and not denied, that Bracklev Kennett the Assignee, had done a thing he had no right to do. He had paid out of the Bank rupt's estate the costs of the first Commission, a plain proof that the secoad was issued with no outer view than to relieve the Bank rupt at the expence ut his Creditors. Among the documents exhibited was a letter from the Bankrupt to the petitioning Creditor, Dyer, which strengthened the other cir cumstances of the case, and strongly inferred this was a mere friendly Commission. It was a hitter written prior to the .13:ma t- uptcy, and entreated Mr. Dyer, in the most e7.rnrtt manner, to critne tsp to town from %'itney, in order to communicate with him upon a subjeft which interested him much. This request it appeared was not attended to, and lislibsc citiet :itly manyi tplc tiel w n as made to Mr. Dyer, accompanied offers and promises if he would come to town. It ineflit happen, said his Lordship, that in the worst' of a mtasaEtiou like this a debtor might he found writing a letter to a man who had it in contemplation to take oat a com mi,.sion of bankruptcy against him ; btu if the per son written to refused to pay any attention to the application, and waited till it was renewed, it af forded a very pregnant ground of belief that the Commission afterwards Issued out by such person was not his Commission, but the Commission of the ' Bankropt and his f,iends.—Mr. Dyer had sworn to several conversation; which 1 1 : s Lordship said he , should take no notice of; for his consinet had h.2en such that he was not worthy to be believed. Dow could any attention be paid to the evidence of a man who had been prevailed upon by liberal promises to • come to town, to go to the public office, with a So licitor, and there make affidavit of a debt of 1001. when he must have been conscious that not above 651. was due to him. Hi.; Lordship next adverted to a conveyance of property made by Robert Ken nett to his brother Vincent Kennett, to defeat which he said was anumg the objects of the Commission of • Bankreptcy.—Under the!,e circumstances the Peti tioners insisting there was no petitioniug Creditor's debt to warrant the Commission of Bankruptcy, dnd that the Commission was not calculated to work the legiti:nate purposes of the Bankrupt Laws, prayed that it might be altogether superseded. In answer to this application the affidavit of Brackley Kennett stated that so far from this being a friendly Com mission, his brother Robert had uniformly been de sirous of avoiding the disgrace of a bankruptcy. His Lordship, after . noticing the affidavit of Brackley Kennett, which contained nothing very material, observed that an Assignee under a Brankrupt's es tate even though that Assignee was the brother of the Bankrupt, was bound within a reasonable time to make a dividend of the Bankrupt's effects; but in this case the grand and important object of the Commission had been obtained by Robert Kennett, having procured his certificate, though no Creditor had received a shilling. His Lordship then noticed certain conversations between different persons and Brackley Kennett the Assignee, in which the latter had stated by way of excuse for his not attending to the concerns of the Bankrupt's estate ; that such a duty would have been troublesome to him ; that it was his custom to walk about Bond-street all the morning, pick his teeth in the fruit shops, and then go home and cat his mutton. His Lordship seemed to marvel that such a dashing Bond-street lyangee should condescend to eat such humble food as mut ton. But he hoped this Geutleman would divest himself of the idea, that such frivoloes though fit shionable avocaticns were an excuse for his negleta inrr the duties of so responsible a trust as that of being Assignee to the estate of a Bankrupt, after he had thought proper to assume it. His Lordship next reviewed the bills of costs of several Attornies, among which were the bills of Messrs. Cook, ScOtt, and Lander—Swan and NVillington and a Mr. Sykes, all of whom had been successively employed in the • course of this proceeding. His Lordships remarks were not more facetious than the items to which they rferred were curious. The Bills contained an infinite number of charges, something to this effect : - - Attending you to CJilitlit and advise on manor,: Of great import:-ore ; 1),,t you was not at ;tome l3 4 Attandiner the ha ikrupt to advise upon the sublet of t:se p , ,stition pusent.,d to super:edc Ili3 bankruptcy, when I was in:Ormed I could not see, him fill the evening l9 4 Attendaig again in t!w evening fir the like purpose, but he was just gme out 6 8 These, and such like charges afforded his Lord ship a wide scope for mirthful observation. Such, said his Lordship, were the transadions of this bank ruptcy. He added, that it had become a pra'ice too prevalent for Asinignees, instead of going the short way to work, by colleding in the banknipt's property, and disposing of it for flit benefit of the creditors, to sit thenlselves down after they were ap pointed, and give themselves no further trouble. In stead of persons being nominated, who lived conti guous to each other, he frequently found that Assig nees resided in distant parts of the country, by which means they were prevented from any communica• Lion with each ocher; and the whole affairs of the Bankrupt were thrown into the hands of the Solicitors, to do with them just what they pleased ; and nine times out of ten such con dna was produftive of the most ruinous conse quences, but the present instance went far beyond those cases; for this commission had been taken out without any reference whatever to the rights of the creditors. Under such circumstances, he repeated, that if a petition had been presented before the cir titicate of the bankrupt had been allowed, it never should have gone out of the hands of the Court ; but the certificate had unfortunately been obtained ; however, if the bankrupt flattered himself, it would be attended with the end he had attributed to it, he would find himself most egregiously mistaken ; for, if any creditor should hereafter come forward, and prove a prior ad of bankruptcy, he should take care to expunge the names of the creditors who had signed it, and prevent their voting in the choice of Assignees, or signing any future certificate ; and, therefore, he deceived himself if he considered his present certificate any thing more than waste paper. His Lordship observed, that it was with extreme de licacy he did any thing to defeat a bankrupt's certificate, who, fairly coscciving himself by its operation a free man, had gone forth into the world, upon the faith of such a document, and had gained new credit. When a man had obtained a certificate under circumstances which rendered it invalid, it was undoubtedly an in strurnent of swindling, which the public cculd not guard against. To overturn such a cir tihcate might undoetedly press hard upon third persons who had trusted a bankrupt so obtaining i!. But in this case he did not think that considerate , ought to stand in his way, for the Commission ap peared to be one which ought never to have been issued. Such a view of the case cleared the ground, and brought the question to the single point, whether under all the circumstances this was the Commission of the creditors or of the Bankrupt and his friends If it was so, it was his duty, presiding as he did, under the authority of the Great Seal, not to permit Assignee:, after having been chosen, to sit still and t tke no further care about the bankrupt's estate. If he could posslbi? air.v this Commission to stand, he Should think himself bound to ord that Bracklty Kennett should be discharrd from being Ass'ipee, and that the creditors who had signed the certificate should be restrained in the choice of Retire Assigneis. tie should also think it necessary no enquire whether the Creditors had been prejudiced, or any loss had been sustained to the bankrupt's estate by the delay in the disposal of it. But thie, under the present circumstances, he could not do, for it was Ins duty to examine this Commissiou to the Lone in order to a:;certain whe ther it was a Lone frit Commission. He had done so, and he was convinced it was not, when he attended to the circumstances that belonged to the first Commission. The nature of the proceedings under the second one—die act of Bankruptcy, the peti tioning Creditors debt, the manner in which the choice of Assignees had been made, the conduct t,t the Solicitors, and the circumstances under whic;i the certificate had hen granted, he was compelled to say, even though he should be wrong, that it was for the interest of the Creditors, but above all fer the interest of the public, that this Commsssiret should be !:uperseded, and therefore, said his Lord ship, let it be snperseded at the joint expence of Mr. Dyer, (though he has been a Bankrupt) of Mr. Brackley Kennett' the Assignee, and of Robert Kennett. His Lordship, in pet nouncing this judgment, oc cupied a space of upwards of two hours. There are many points which we regret our limits do not admit of our adverting to. The Hail was attended on this occasion by infinliely more than the usual number of strangers ; and we trust that the whole some lecture his Loidship delivered will have its due elk& upon those Merchants and Traders who may hereafter contemplate the advantages of a friendly Bankruptcy. On Friday evening last, a melancholy accident took place at a very respe&able house in Mount street, Grosvenor-square. Mrs. Adderly, a lady of the highest respeaability, whose husband holds a si. tuation of the first rank in . the service of the East India Compnay, in the ad of feeding a squirtcl, opened the door of its cage, when the animal, eager to obtain its food, ran out and bit her so violently by the finger, that she was compelled by the pain to utter a loud cry, and suddenly rise up ; at the same time she unfortunately let the candle fall on her cloathes, which were immediately in flames. Ire this situation she screamed out, ran down stars and threw herself in the passage, at the par lour door. The whole family rushed to af. ford assistance, and by rolling her on the car pet, and using every means in their power, they endeavoured to extinguish the fire. Unhappily every attempt made by her friends was inef. fedual. She was dreadfully burned, and, no:. withstanding all possible means were used by an eminent surgeon for her recovery, she expired in a few hours after the fatal accident happened. The relations of the deceased are extremely 3.f• feed at the calamity, more particularly so, as the( amiable behaviour of the lady had rendered her high in the estimation of all who knew her. On the 6th inst. a Courier Extraordinary brought dispatches to the French Ambassador at the Hague, of which he notified the contents to the Bataviart Government. It is a requisition to the Govern ment of that country, to take into its pay and ser vice, four other battalions of infantry, and three squadrons of cavalry, which, with the other corps already in the Batavian service, will raise the whsle number of the French troops, in Holland, to fifteen or sixteen thousand men. Another fall of the funds was expected when the news reached Amsterdam. From Flushing we have information, that there were never so many French troops in that town as just now. The prices of provisions have risen to such a degree as to excite the murmurs of the people. It is rumoured that the English packets front Brighton will not venture to cross the Channel any more, until the important question of Peace or War is decided. The Professor At DIN t, in his passage from Dover to Calais, tried an experiment between the Red Fort and Western bank, from which it results that the Galvanic influence in passing the see loses no part of its action. The Professor will for:hwith comma , nicate to the scientific institutions in Paris all tile details of this interesting discovery. The Professor Vassali Effendi has made for up. wards of two years the most conclusive experiments of the propagation of the Galvanic fluid, in passim; the water. - These facts, in the same circtimsetnceF, on the eleetrie fluid, serving as an example for the others, do not, on comparison, present any great dif ference in the results. The physician Vassali Ef fendi is at this time occupied in determining or as signing, 4 exactly as possible, the rapidity of the ' transmission of the Galvanic fluid, by means of long sonduelors. In less than the eighth of a second, this fluid has run through a silver wire of I 1 06 feet, Paris measure. This experiment having been tried on a gold twist of 1000 feet long, the transmission did not take place. The cause of the failure, accoreing to the Professor, was in the &leas of the coraudor which interrupt the jundion with the golde e :re which was encircled by silk thread, in order to i the twist. That physician will immediately pub';:, - : a memoir on this important question, which seat= se well treated in the comparison between that an, • electric fluid. The two republics of Sparta and Holland form, in one point of view, a singular coincidence : in an other, an extraordinary contrast. Both of them were the most powerful states in the world, consisting of a like number of people, and a like extent of territory ; but the power of the former arose from the want of commerce, that of the latter from the possession of it; yet they approach nearer to a re semblance than we are at first aware : the Spartens had no means of obtaining the luxuries which de prave the miiid, and enervate the body ; the Dutch people, posset.sing all the resources of Orientel mag nificence and Epicutean gratification, had the virtue to resist the allurements to which Tyre, Carthage, Athens, and Rome, have successively fallen a will ing sacrifice. The two most flourishing empires on the globe, in the seventeenth century, were China and Hol land ; the former is averse to every species of in tercourse beyond the limit of its own territories; the existence of the latter depends on its exterior commerce, and with a view to its cultivation, esta blished an empire at the distance of 6000 maw, which exceeded the native governments of the met in interior strength. and rivalled them in - external . splendour. MEM Ire'. ■ - 4 ~• 1 • I