The Statesman. — London, England, 1812-02-18 00:00:00

• • • ; ; • . 4r 14f I '1 INDIA. Calcutta, Madras, and Bombay Gazettes, of the 26th August, have'come to hand. An Expedition, consisting of fear vessels, having detachments of troops on board, has sailed from Bombay against the Jewassitnie pirates, who still infest the• Persian Gulph, and who have recently, by their desperate valour, activity, and enterprise, not only made many valuable captures, but formed settlements along the coast. Their naval force consisted of 45 sail of different descriptions, with which they. attacked the vessels of all nations. In an attempt, however, to carry the Macauley, native ship, oil Ceurjoun, by boarding, they had been repulsed with considerable loss. Two companies of the 89th Foot have embarked at Calcutta, on board the Ducephalus frigate, on a particular service, which has not transpired. They were under the command of Capt. Oakes. Letters had been received at Bombay from Sir Gore Ouseley, of the 28th June, which notify the arrival of the English Mission in the Persian capital, where it had been splendidly and hospitably received. Sir Gore was afterwards invited to attend the Court to. the slimmer residence. - The CalFutba Papers, of the Bth July, state, that; a battle had been fought at Cabul, between the army of Mahmoud Shah, the reigning Sovereign, under the command of the Prince Abbas, and a consider able force under the orders of a Chief named Ma hommed Azid Khan, who had previously obtained possession of the city. In this engagement 3000 fol. lowers of Ow latter Were killed, and one half of the city of Cabul pillaged and burnt. Mahtnoud Shah and Futteh Khan entered Cabul shortly after the battle, from Peshour, where Atta Madhoud Khan was posted. The city of Basseen, situated on the southern and coast of Pegu, one of the principal cities of the Burmah Empire, has been destroyed by lire. Some thousands of the inhabitants perished in the flames. , This ii the seem & calamity of the same description which has, within the space of a few months, visited that wretched country. .1 2 4NTI1SON THEATRE. This spteadid Theatre was opened on Saturday evening, for the first time under its present desig nation and management, with a grand rehearsal • and as this was a species of entertainment to whic h the better part of society were invited, without any sti pulation for payment, it will not amaze•our Readers vary much, to understand, that long before the de clared hour of the commencement (which was to have been eight o'clock), all the avenues were thronged with visitants. At nine o'clock the musicians got into the orchestra, and began to tune their instru ments into correspondent harmony ;. after which we were favoured with a novel Overture, composed for the occasion by Signor TRENTO ; he was accom panied by DELEINI, as stage manager. —When the curtain was raised (which, by - the - bye, should be green, and not red, as a visual relief), Mes dames BERTINOTTI and COLLINI ; Mr. FISCHER, from St. Petersbugh ; Siguors CAUVINI, BERTINI, and Monew,sang the national invocation of " God save the King ;" after which we were favoured with *colas and arias in succession, in which Mad. BEII TINOTTI delighted us, by the chastity of her expres sion, and Mr. FISCHER, by his manly voice and science. This dramatic repast was terminated by the public repetition of a Ballet, composed by Mr. Rossi, in which the principal occurrence was the curvettings of Phoebus, and his Pierian relatives.— Mademoiselle Mosrnot danced with a truth that is unparalleled in this empire, and with an agility that was surprising, considering her anatomy. The troupes were prettily managed, and the whole went off with eclat. The interior of this building is an• irregular hex agonal, which is the most convenient and capacious of aU the figures that can be connected, without an interstice. The Pit is well constructed, and appears to be capable of holding about seven or eight hun dred spectators. There are five tier of Boxes which rise on each side of the Pit, and three or four at the back, which terminate in a gallery. In the front of the Pit there is, as is usual, an Orchestra, where the Petformers did not appear to us, with so much advantage, as the meritorious band do, who fill the orchestra at the King's Theatre.------The ceiling is fancifully decorated with a pietorial display of Apollo and the Muses, where the God of Sone is delineated as buoyant upon a blue cloud, channting love.ditties to the celestial Ladies with as much nonchalance as a turbaned Ottoman in his Ha rem on the Hellespont. The Proscenium was ter minated by one scene only on this night, and\ that wai the interior of a temple, well pointed. The house was well tilled * all its ports, aid that many persons of distinction of both sexes were present. A Latin Translation of the Optics of Ptolemy, a work which was supposed to be entirely lost, as we only possessed a 'few lines of it, which have been transmitted by BACON, has lately been discovered by Count LAP ACE, ill the Imperial Library at Paris.— The translation is by Await RATIIS Etroaritus Strums. The first book is wanting,' as it was wanting in the original Arabic, from which Austiaamis made his translation. Mr. John Williams, boatswain of his Majesty's ship Queen, upon a charge of desertion, was ac quitted. A Court-Martial is directed to be "assembled at Portsmouth, for the trial 'of Captain SAmuct, CAme- BELL RowLry, and the Officers and crew of his Ma jesty's late ship Laurel, which was lost on the 30th alt. in Quiberon Bay, owing to the ignorance of the pilot, when following the Rota through the Taig muse passage. A Court-Martial will likewise be held at Ports mouth on Captain TUCKER, and the officers and crew of the Diver frigate, which was lost in Madras Roads, in's' storm. Friday, a Court-Martial was held at Portsmouth, en Joseph Moore and Wm. Cochrane, seamen belong ing to his Majesty's ship Armada, for great inde cency. They were each setent:ed to receive SOO lashes, and to Ova years solitary confinement in the Marshalsea. 1.. 2 .- A.- • - _ • TIIE STATESMAN. . . L4W INTELLIGENCE; . tier, an agreement was entered into by the Defen r— ' dant, by which le bound himself not to dispose of COURT OF KING'S BENCH, Ira. 17. • similar machines to any other person, or to protuul cotes V. ROBINS, gate the secret of the invention. In consequen ce o f This was an action brought by the Assignee Of a this agreement, the Defendant made and •d e li vere d . bankrupt against Mr. Robins, a respectable auctio - two sets of said machines to the Plaintiff, and re neer, to recover the value of a certain quantity ceived for them 1501. The remaining pert o f t h e of silver goods given to the Defendant by the bankrupt 12001. he was to receive when the•third was d e li vere d . to sell, previous to hi *bankruptcy, the produce of The Plaintiff then proceeded to manufact ure hi s boxes; and was enabled to sell a vast number of i them at the rate of 12s. the gross. He had not at which was paid over to the bankrupt, after he had continued his trade, however, before he found that committed an act of bankruptcy but which act, at the time of his making the paymeet, was wholly un known ts . the Defendant, Robins. 1 ' some other person had got into the market, a n d so ld Mr. GNRROW, for the Plaintiff, contended, that I bexes of precisely the same description at B s . th e any payment made to a bankrupt, after he had corn - gross Alarmed at this, he made some enquiri es , an d muted an act of bankruptcy, was void, and the as - discovered that the Defendant had admitted some signee had a right to recover the amount against the other person to the secret, and thereby pre ven t e d party so paying it. I him from reaping those advantages which h e h a d TOPPING, for the Defendant, on the other every reason to anticipate. The Defendant also re hand, contended, that by the protecting clause of the fused to furnish to the Plaintiff the third machine Act of Parliament, if any debt was bona fide paid agreed for. to the bankrupt, without any notice of the act of The facts having been proved by sati factory evi. bankruptcy to the party paying it, this was a good dence, the Jury returned a verdict for the Plaintir and valid payment in law, and no action could Damages 601. . afterwards be maintained by the assignees of such bankrupt against the person who had so paid the money over without previous notice of the act of bankruptcy. The catalogue of the sale being proved, and the payment to the bankrupt being admitted, Lord ELLENBOROUGH, in addressing the Jury, ad verted •to the words of the Act of Parliament s which provided, that any payment made to a bank rupt in the Course of trade, without knowledge of the Act of Bankruptcy in the party making such I payment, was good. His Lordship then observed, that, as soon as Mr. Robins had sold the goods, he Ibecame the debtor of the man who had deposited them with him, and in this case it was admitted that Mr. Robins had paid the produce bona fide to the person who had deposited the goods with him for sale. It was impossible for Mr. Robins to prove that he had no knowledge of the act of bankruptcy, but the onus lay upon the Plaintiff to show. that he had knowledge or notice, and inasmuch he had not pro duced any evidence to that effect, his Lordship di rected the Plaintiff should be Nonsuited. • THE KING B. SMITH. This was the case of the indictment for a libel against several persons, at the prosecution of a per son of the name of Fitt, which was called on upon Saturday last, and the trial postponed on account of the absence of the Prosecutor. The cause being the first called on this morning for trial, the Prosecutor attended in person, amid again applied to postpone the trial, alleging that he had not been able to pro cure the attendance of his witnesses. MIDDLESEX SESSIONS. ~Yesterday the Sessiont . coMmenced at the Sessions' 'llouse, Clerkenwelkreen. Robert Kendal: was Indicted for uttering a bad seven-shilling piece,to Merritt, landlord of the Bull public-house, .Drury-lane.. it appeared from the statement of the Prosecutor that. the Prisoner was at his house on the sth' Of' September last, had something to drink, and tendered a seven-shilling piece in payment, which, on his examining it, proved to be a bad one. The Prisoner then offered him an other, which was bad also, upon which Mr. Merritt had him taken into custody. When the officer took him into custody, he took some money out of his pocket, and threw it down on the floor, which was !'afterwards picked up, and proved to be had. The Prisoner, in his defence, said he was farmer . of a toll gate, in Northamptonshire, and came to London to receive a considerable sum of money, I and, having got it, in his way to his inn he met a woman, of the town, and accompanied her home, when she picked his pocket of 401. He gave her a note to get changed, and amongst the change she gave him the bad money in question, which he did not diccover till he called at Mr. Merritt's, and ten dered it in payment for what he had. The CH.IIRsIAN desired the Jury to consider their verdict, raid, if they had any doubt at all of the Pri soner's guilt, to give him the benefit of these doubts. He reminded them that the Act of Parliament in this case was imperative on the Court, as to the sentence i it should pronounce on the Prisoner, if convicted. Lord ELLEN lionouGu, however, thought sufficient indulgence had already been granted him, and re fused the application. The Jury being sworn and no evidence produced, they accordingly found a verdict of Acquittal. The Jury, after a short consultation, found the Prisoner—Gaiky. The Court sentenced him to be imprisoned six months, aad at the expiration of that time to find security for his good. conduct. for six months longer. ' • • • .. . POLICE. ' 1 QUEEN-SQUARE. Swramixa.—The examination of Hemmerson, alias Stevenson, alias .Ssh, alias Leigh, alias Brown, with a var'...ly of other names, and bis wife, was renewed yesterday, and the male Prisoner, who is in the King's Bench, at a civil suit, was not brought forward. It appeared that the two Prjson , ers have, in a short interval of time, obtained goods of different trades people, to the amount of more than 10001. The Prisoners occasionally figured away in a chariot, or curricle, and represented them. selves to be nearly allied to zi: family in the West of England, whose names they assumed. The principal sufferer is Mr. Reviere, jeweller, in Bond-street, who furnished the Prisoners with goods to the amount of 4001. and upwards. This case, amongst others, was entered' into, as was also one preferred by Mr. Par ker, gun-maker. The male Prisoner ordered a single and a double-barrelled gun, the former of which was paid for, and the Prisoner talked of the execution belted done with it in Norfolk, but on the double barrelled gun being sent agreeable to order, a pro-1 mised cheque for payment never was sent. It turned out that a picture dealer in the Bench had got the duplicates of the greater part of the property, and the articles had fallen into the bands of Solomon, a 1 Jew dealer, to whom the picture de a l er owe d mone y. 1 The charges were so numerous, that the further ex amination was postponed to a future day. 1 On Tuesday, an inquest was held at Otley, in Yorkshire, on the body of a Gentleman whose name we forbear to mention, and who, on the preceding Sunday, had put a period to.hia existence by a pistol. It-appeared that he first came to Otley in April last, ! • had divided the intermediate time, between that place, Harrogate, and Thorp-arch, visiting each alternately. lle pointedly avoided all society, and devoted the whole of his time to deeds of charity, never sufferiaga I day to pass without distributing froni one to fifty pounds in the course of the morning. On the Sab i bath he generally confined himself to the house, avoiding religiously every secular pursuit. On the Friday before his death, he came from Thorp-arch to Otley. On his a rr i va l, th e p eo ple at the inn o b serve d a considerable change in him, his spirits were more I depressed. Verdict—Lunacy. lie left a particular I request to be buried in the church-yard at Kirby Overblow, and he was there interred on Wednesday. • RAMSGATE, FEB. 15.—The whole of yesterday it blew a strong gale from the S. W. ; in consequence of which several ships and vessels have taken shelter in this harbour, some of them having lost their an chors and cables. The sloop Three Brothers, bf Shoreham, in coming from 'harbour, was driven against the pier-head, by which she carried away her bowsprit, with other damage, and was obliged to bear away for Broadstairs ; she was observed by the boatmen there, who, with two lug-sail boats, put off to her assistance ; b u t th e y had not go t ar from the shore, when, owing to the violence of the wind and seas, one of the boats ran foul of the other, and upset her, by which accident, we are sorry to say, that Mr. Oval and Mr. Job, .both of Broadstairs, were unfortunately drowned; they have left wives and families tolament their loss. The sloop got on the rocks in going'intdßroacistairs ; bat by the greatest'eaertions on the part bt the boatmen, she was get off, and is now in the ha'rboar, and has sag- • tabled greet dupp in liet-huligiad - - • ''- • - ,;~ -"car LATTbIAN V. SERLE. This was an action brought to recsver the sum of 881.* 4s. for 4'2 weeks' rent of a furnished house at Knightsbridge, against the Lady of Colonel Serie, to which she pleaded her coverture. It appeared, that some years ago 'Colonel Serle martial the Defendant while on the Continent, with whom he obtained a considerable fortune, and on their return to this country, he took the house in question for eight years, at the rent of two guineas per week; which was regularly paid until the 42 weeks previous to bringing the present action. .In the mean time Col. Serie, falling into embarrassed cir cumstances, became a prisoner in the King's Bench pri son, but the Defendant continued to reside in the house at Knightsbridge, of which a Mr. Edwards, a young Gentleman who had been educated by the Colonel, and had acted for many years as his agent, was a con stant inmate. The Defendant had' been introduced to, and visited by all the Colonel's friends and ac quaintances as his wife, but for the last eight years they had not cohabited together, be being in the King's Bench prison, and she residing at Knights bridge ; and to the astonishment of every one, about eight months ago, the Colonel married a sister of Edwards, from which time he refused to pay for the lodgings, or to be accountable for any of the debts she might contract. Mr. Edwards, the Gentleman before alluded to, proved on his direct examination, that ho went to live in Colonel Serle's family, at the age of 18, and had continued po to do ever since; that he had al ways acted as his agent during that period, and by his express directions hired the house hi question for Mrs. Serle, and paid the rent up to the time ,of the Colonel's marriage with his sister, and by the desire of Colonel Serle had resided in the house as a protec tion to his wife. li you his cross-examination by Mr. TOPPING, he ad- mitted he hadlivedallthistime in the house with Mrs. Serie firmly believing she was the wife of Col. Serle, l but by some misconception of the questi ons , it was supposed that this young Gentleman had admitted he I had lived in a criminal manner with this lady ; how ever, upon his re-examination by Mr. GARRow, this was eipliciily denied, and there appeared no grounds whatever for an insinuation of the kind ; and it ap pearing that rent had been uniformly paid by direc tion of Col. Serle, and the Defendant had always been considered and treated as his wife, Lord ELLENBOROUGA thought there was no pre tence for the present action, and the Plaintiff was ac cordingly nonsuited. COURT OF COMMON PLEAS, F. 17. FORD V. FORD. This was an action to recover damages for a breach of a certain agreement mitered, into by the Defen dant. It appeared from the statement of Mr. Serjeaut SHEPHERD, that in consequence of the scarcity of that descrlption of willow of which pill-boxes are usually made, and which was imported from fifol laud, the Defendant, who is a very ingenious me chanic, invented a machine, by which he mender.- ' lured boxes calculated to answer all the purposes to which the willow-boxes were devoted, of pasteboard., The Plaintiff hiving heard of the discovery applied to the Defendant, who is his uncle, to purchase his invention, and, aftei some negociatien, he agreed to give the Defendant £OO guineas for three sets of the machines, to make boxes of different sizes. Previ lous to the payment of the purchase-mousy ; how- .-.i .~- A melancholy accident happened lately at Bar; hi Norway. In consequence of the heavy rains, enormous stone was detached from the monr►tc : , and falling upon some buildings, crashed 49pers of ., to death. In consequence of the excessive duty on pric spirits, the temptation to evade the tax so grea t , that, on an average, two p r i va t e st il ls are wesie/ seized by the Excise. We with heartfelt pleasure stee that the prayers of many and the signatures of thousands have been u!ti. mately successful in prolonging the life of Hodgson, now corline ; l in. the Castle of York, wh o was under sentence of death.. The cue of this un fortunate young lean we have repeatedly laid before the public. Mercy has been eatcadel towards him and we hope that mercy has not been used in vain; we further state with satisfaction, that last Mond A y Mr. Staveley received a reprieve for hiel. On Friday se'nnight, a girl in Men rose, about 16 years of age, having had some altercation with 'her mistress, a widow lady, lea her service and went to the house of her parents, who persuaded her to re urn to her mistress, and it is evea said ussel some violence to induce her to do so; this so preved upon Tier mind, that in the evening she retired to t!le cellar and hanged herself in a packing cord. She was found in this situation in about half an hour after by her fellow servant, who immediately coot. mutticati - d the circumstance to her mistress; but, whether from terror, or from a wish to preventa crowd near the house at so early an hour in the even log, in place of cutting the body down and sendi ng fora surgeon, they allowed it to remain suspended for upwards of au hour longer, when, though still warm, the vital spark was irrevocably Hed. On Thursday morning, about three o'clock, the house of Thomas RaiLes, Esq. of Con nau ght-place, Edgeware-road, was attacked by a gang of robbers. The butler got up and armed himself with a musket loaded with bullets: he found them breaking iu the beck-door, and waited for some time in the pas. sage where the door led to, and just as he supposed they had bwke the door open and were entering, he discharged the musket, which contained titre bullets; two of them entered the door, one rebounded back against the. butler, but did not injure him; the. whole of them missed the robbers, and they made their escape, lenv,kog their imphinants of housebteak• ing behind them. On Saturday se'nnight, A rohbery was attempsl in ono of the out-houses a G. Elliott, Esq...of Clap. ton. About four o'clock in the . Morning, Mr. El. liot was awakened by a spaniel dog, at,the gate of 114 poultry-yard, and suspecting, from • his continual barking, that all was not right, he proceeded quiet ly to inspect the premise,q, armed with a musket and bayonet. The dog seemed to mild at the coach. house, where the pealtry roristed; • On entering ibe coach-house, Mr. Elliott clisgeyered_a 'villain in the act of destroying the poultry, • Arming . already dip. patched about fifteen choice fowls and ,ten &As.— On the first alarm the villain attempeed-to attape, but the threatening tone, and aspect of a music feet high, induced. him to resign himself to his fate. A clasp knife was found upon him. •"When taken to Worship-street, he was immediately recognized as as old offender, and was committed for trial at the next Sessions. Much praise is doe to Mr. Elliott for his determined conduct, and the characteristic coolness and presence of mind he evinced in detecting the de predator. • . A most melancholly occurrence took place a few nights ago at Bally brkken, in this County.—A Mr. Thomas Mitchell, when leaving home to attend the wedding of his sister, gave directions• to his servant to. take .particula.r.care_of the house in his absence, and if any ill-disposed persons should attempt to enter the house or demand fire arms, that he should resist them hi every • possible way, and rather lose his life than comply wills their wishes.—J. Mitchell, brother to the above, having returned in a day or two, between two or three in the morn ing, in company with some others, and wishing to -satisfy himself if the servAnt was on the,alert, made a good deal of noise on their approaching the boos', and disguising his voice, demanded ale fire arms, aNd a saddle, which the servant peremptorily refused; and an altercation having ensued, the result proved fatal to the supposed assailant, as the servant dis. charged a. loaded gun at him, which instantly dr prived him of life; the gun having been loaded with heavy duck shot. Another of the party was slightly touched on the knee, sad some buttons were torn . oat from the coat of a tleii d.—This catastrophe should serve as a cautionary lesson to all persons dist : . .posed tolamper with the feelings of others, on the presumption of their want of sulficient.comge or strength of wind, to protect themselves or their pro. party, gs it is a well-known feet,• that it frequently happlas that men of the most quiet demeanour, .ar.d the least appearance of parson I.travery, prove the most desperate. antagonists, en. necessity. nrgo l y ith them to the proa-:- .-(Limerick G ronicle.) _s._ scar= 3/g4Ci3. MILLER'S Wharf. 4 rkjvcd. Soils. Eclipse (Taylor), Leith 10 Jan. 2U Feb. ti, A. U. .Deliaric s (Watson), Dundee I I.l°Feti. I A. M. Marquis of Huntley (Martin), do. Eliza (_Marshall), Leith Downs's Wharf.' Bl , Daif((Clark), Inycrness Bridport Wishart); •Dundee (Johnstop) A Leith • • Sw (Ord), do. Bacclengh (Ted), do. Ma,tchless (Baidwin);_do. little (Sutherlaad), I,l9atrose Lztur and Bertvrtcz Wharf. Albion (Jatnebun), Loudon and Berwick (Flan , Leg); *- ••• 13 12 14i, le .0 • gs• :-11, A. M. 43, -- 11, A. M. YO,- 7, A. M. VO, —7, A. 31* 20; —7, A. • 9.?, —lO, A. ' .27, —1, P. M .'. ,' ' 2 Nttreh, —3, P- M. F.*. -1,. P;11. •1 2 .• 79. 1 1 L 7; A. M. • HIGH WATHt-AT I:0N t►[) Y BRIM:IEI'III 4 , I7 A T. Morning, R miltum aftrr G. Lvtning, 34 aniitutesater 6. • BIRTHS. • Lately, in Cork, the Lacy of Johjr--r-7eAMer m an. Faii • eta w* and heir. grs d On Sattwday last, in . Soot), A udlepotreep 4lbe of Honourable Captain Cieorp Citeogao ? of the ,Royt tie ad , 1 47. a' U. Ycstertl3.y, in LoorgA Al fßo. ko r m, tho o f • ward, Esq. of a ion. _ _ - - . lAErt. '. On the 10th instant, in Batilaidir4w, Jane, the wife of 11% Charles %%yam. On Widoesdzip ' , morning 114 )11i4y Ann; wife of Mr. TL 4. , . TaPP,,4 CAtcawidst. , .„.. , F„, -ITT' and Yu blisl by I fIA, 4'4 4 4 ' k~+--~-T . I r . 11 , 0.~