The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser. — London, England, 1808-09-01 00:00:00

THE AMERTCAN XAMARGO. ttzeoar.usr diSi, IN THE PINION COURT. IN teem, ISTURE 3 3 OGE CYJaITYx. - • • E.elsatel PAUL GUAMSALL, Outpialieetat. Tom was a hill in .ret(nty. stntreg, that several judgments had been .obtained at Lits• against the Con; plaiiiaut, Paul for near Von dollars, while he bad a jodrecnt ia hi; favour for tsooo dollars; suapeitife.l My on appeal ; that executions. hod been issued 'against him, and a sale threatened. • 'which, if it took ittsce, won Id prove rainnus to.the 'Complainant, iuosentich as near doubly the pro • •Terty would be sacrificed now, at a forced...lY, which it' would have required, only 4 months ago, to pay these judgments ; and praying an injunction to delay any further proceedings at law for the pre seat The caw was arrned on the 7th April. LEA NSs the Complainant's Setliiittor, stated, that the • bill " 4 1F•uglit relief on two grounds-- Iwt. Equity will relieve, on grounds of public .sitdisy d ar ereiveldence : Became a national measure jtl,e Embarve, Acts) ee, A lit not to produce individual ruin, When this Co art rail prevent it : tad. "I . .rht to relieve, from the peculiar situation of the party : Become the Complainant was deprited at law of a rightful advantage. LAW4ON and tirts.as, for Plaintiffs in execution, vq.posed the injunction, principally on the ground, that it eteild not issue from the apprehensions of the imety ;and no levy or sale was yet ordered ; awl •that the Complainant ought to give security before the relief prayed for could be obt Mica. Upon which his HuNotta pronounced the follow ing decree : tieerzis, Chellutte County, Superior Cosire, April 5, N•rs. Es-Parte, Paul Grisulsall--is Equity. By Jutire Clierltau. The Co:nphinant in this hill, states, that exe rentious have been issued against his property, and .eit levy a,,1 sale tarisliceti ; ilia if a sale is made by ,the Sheriff. at this time, when the peculiar euilwir occasioned by the Einbal-go Act. are so general and slistressiug. it will involve him iu ruin, ws no price, or a fair price, can be obtained for his ..psopsirtj, awl that he has no other means of paying Vie debts. Upon these runty!. he applies to the Chancery ,side of this Court. for the writ of injunction to re- „audio a sale under tbcse execution's. I shall not ,bottom a decision upon the peculiar circumstances Of this ease oi.ly, or as a particular case, involving such ,features of harsiships and oppression, a: .treader necessary the interposition of this brauell of the Court. On the contrary, I shall view this us a case iu which all our citizens are interested, and us calcii!ated to establish a precedent for the general benefit. I eik this question—ls it not against equity and ,eriiiwience, is it not in the highest degree oppres sive. to compel the Sheriff to obey the mandate of .a ir , •it of execution, when the facts are before the whole pulilir, that the sale of produce, in its usual course of trafde. is suspended, or bought up by mo ttled men, from the necessitous planter, for a song. Train the planter, who must ascrifsee his crops to .preveut a greater sacrifice, who mast sell,• to ob tain provisious (if a cotton planter) for his negroes, and 11e1V11 , 411.11 for his family, who must sell for this tong, to prevent his negroes (a more valuable pro perty, ant upon whose uninterrupted labour and loci-ease. the future solipairt of Ltm.elf and ..elerndependsi. living knocked down, outlaw the ham m-r of the Shield', at a price far leso than ouc-half elf their c valor ? Is this picture over-cluirgeat Is it nut rather it co -red delineation of thedistrewles :er the agriculturol interest at this moment? 1f it ,is, then relief ought somewhere to iw found. It has been. and is at this hour, a s ubject suffi . tient magnitude , to reepaire one a the extraordi . entry meetns of. the Legislature, which the Cols . actuation overwrites. Bat, until a legislative sus pensions of soles is given wake people, relief cannot be alordeil by this Court. 1 have given to the powers with which the law anti the coinfitutiorr lishe.itivested me their full deliberation ; and though I do not possess all the pow/error 61 Lord Chancellors because. by our local . system, the interpewitiou of a jury is requiretl in quitf costs, yet that system ea t, and does not, interfere with these matters in Chancery, which in their Mature must he exclusively referred to the discretion of the Court. Of this stature, I consider applieattoins fur the writs of injunction. An injunction is a prohibitory writ. restraining a person from cm:twitting or doing a thing which ape . pears to be agonise equity and conscience. This is the simple detioition gives, by one of the elementary compilers. and it is aufScieistly com prtheosive for me to adopt it. The principal use (nude of this writ, is, to re .straits some ri g orous proceedings at law. I shall then coosider whether a mole by the She riff, at this crisis of our aational affairs, big with t-alateities, as I have before described, to the agri cultural interest, should he restrained as a rigorous , proceeding at, low—and as a proceeding against tqa:ty and conscience.. Ist. Is it a rigorous proceeding at law ? An execution is the last stage of our common IA pro ceedile.t.. It places the person, or the proiwrty of the Defendant, at the mercy of the judgment of t:ut Creditor, who may make his electiou. lam sotraiking of the execution of which nothing can he allged in Chmeery against its parent judgment.— Of this nature are ter- executions before us; and they assu.ue the Bp:iv:Latino of rigorous proceed . , Inv, because there as no remedy at law, and matelot . a remedy is found crone where, ruin stares the D Godard sis the face—a r not brought on luta self by a want of probity, or of properly in his posses-ion, exceeding. probably ten time*, at a cash valuatimi, the amount cootitined in the executions. lint a rum down upon him by a neces sary tneasiire at the national Legislature and Go vernment, which, utifortunatele, obstructed the (ileum, Is dire-much winch he bed been accustomed to pay Lis debts, probably with punctuality. 1. it proceeding again./ equity and ceusei one? ? flits is the billed basis of the writ of injunction. • It is admitted by both sides, that nu remedy cos •he lied at common law. N 1 hen we resort to law, II Papeete-el that pes-eeile!its will have their full 7:ight of authority; and tlicnigli precedents may militate against that justice which the peculiar eunistaiseet of a particular ease way require, yet. for the sake of general and isasiform riles, a Judge will seldoist deviate froni the estahlished and settled principle, to accualtundate the ciremusiiille&S of mie ease, hoy. ever strong the retimme may be to exempt it from the cpermicia or p rece d ent .. the ease of Doe r. Dove. Vto ; Lord Mansfield is reported to have said, " the •abaurdit7 of Lord Lincoln's case is shocking ; however, it is now law." 'This observation of his Lordship may be selected as tile most 'strongly illustrative of the authority giveil by Vlllllll4lO law Judges to prece dent. A Court of Equity is not so trammelled, it is governed by mutorin rules of evidence, and a re spect is evinced in that jurisdiction for precedents, yet they are Seldom permitted to stand in the way of the particular circumstances of each case. A Lord Chancellor in Great Britain is alMost as omitipotOnt as Parliament Give him 60 estrong hold on an equitable priaciple f and lie will be ,a - art: to substitute the intention of an Act of Parliament for its letter—he will push-aside precosloot for ab stract honesty. What are hinny cote, itts 4 44ttity re ports, on the statute of fru tiebi .quirperjuries, but indireit repeals of the plain cud literati requisites of that all-importaitt statute It is outs necessary .to advert to the nature of law and equity, to account for the latitude of poster given to the latter. The law is stubborn and unbending. It marls out for itself a course from which no faseination can allure—no obstacle imp e de. It neither looks to the right nor to the left.— It neither relents or forgives. It issues its man dates, and will be obeyed. It takes into view no consequences. Fut jutitis is its maxim, whether contemplating its operation upon a nation or au individual. R e perceive at once, that each should be the nature and effects of law, they necessarily result from that indiscriminating and eternal justice upon which the common law is founded. Our ancestors felt, as we have felt after them, the necessity of some tribunal, armed with the attri bute of alleviating the inesorabletiesa of the law. This tribunal is called a Court of Equity, whose decisions are guided by the particular circum stances of each case. This Court of Equity lends mercy to the law, and steps in as a kind of mediator between rigid justice, as established by the artificial institutions of society, and that justice which traces iti origin to the laws of nature and of God. In cases like these before me, the law places every thing at your disposal. It holds out to you the means of rioting upon the spoils of your neigh bour, your debtor. or the community. The nation, in order to redress itself for out rages on its sacred rights, imposes distresses on its own citizens. These distresses are the deprivation of those means which heretofore poured wealth or competence into the lap of the planter. His ostensible wealth is. however, now the same. He spews you his cotton, his rice, and his Negroes. He proves to yea that his property has even greatly accumulated since he engaged to pay your debt ; but to pay that deist now, he tells you he is un able, unless a sale is directed by the Sheriff, the consequence of which would be a payment to you of four-fold, for a sale of his property now would amount to a diminution of quadruple its intriusic an d ust v a lue, and in that ratio l e s s th an i t would have sold for at market previous to the embargo. How immense, and, at the same time, how un., righteous are the advantages which the creditor de rives, if he himself becomes the purchaser, and pays with his judgment ! how much more unrighteous! and against conscience is a purse, under these cir cumstances, by a cap.talist, who, with his ready money, speeulates upon the misery and:the ruin of' the unfortunate debtor ! I shall, therefore, bottom my decision upon the, abstnict grounds--that cases of this description in volve hardship and oppression—that they are against equity and conscience--that they are pro motive of injury to the public—that they enable monied men to accumulate minions wealth ; and that they tend to convert a just and salutary mea sure of the Government into an engine of political disaffection, through the medium of the feel ings of distressed and persecuted debtors. Let the writ of injunction. therefore, issue, to stay sales upon these executions, until the fi rs t day of September neat, the Complainant depositing with the Sheriff; when required, to meet the day of sale, sufficient property, the valuation of which to be aezertained by the price at market, three months preceding the Embargo Act. IS DLL CALCUTTA INTELLIGENCE, ran s, Isom By the late arrivals from the 181; of France, we hear that the Freuch Government there have-strict ly enjoined their cruisers to have iti future the greatest respect for Arab skips,' and toy Do meant to stop or molest them, unless it ►hank' heron clear evidence that their cargo is English prdpert}•. Tao dreadful hurricanes had visited the ,)land, committed great ravages, &ad destroyed all the plantations, which made provisions very scarce. Of the small craft trading to the Islands of Bour bon and Madagascar, eleven perished at sea, and no lives were saved. The casualties in the French Establishineat at Mailagasr•ar had been extremely numerous, owing to timily mote people having remained there during the had season than is customary with them. The whole. almost, or chit rash adventurers, were swept away by the diseases incident to the climate. Mr. Marriott, the chief of the establishment, has been one of the victims. To recruit the regular troops, (which. in the pre sent situation of affairs, cannot be effected from Europe,) Government have it in contemplation to extend the laws of conscription, such as they exist in France, to the Creoles, or native, of the Isles of France and of Bourbon a mark of confidence winch they certainly deserve, in return for the ea gerness they have respectively Ilhewn to have the name of Re-union, formerly Bourbon, changed into that of Bonaparte. and the name of Port Nord (Nest, formerly Port Louis, into that of Port Ndla poles's). THE BV`ISIf PAVSS. -I.4)NIX)Sh.' • Tlll.7lll3iiii.Y. S.xrtilina 1. We have received a series of New York papers to the :Null of July, bring the same dice as those brou g ht Ly the last padtet from that city.—Atnong our extracts is an impOrtAni case, which shewslhat the embargo has suspended the laWs betwtelt debt or mud creditor. and diet dUriug this iestraint, a• merchant's goods cannot be sold by execution. — This mate of things cannot continue long—lf a merchant cannot call in his debts he cannot live. • *ever did a cense so titaiverrayy popular agitate the people of England. as that of the Spanish na•- tron. It is seconded by, all thd energies Govern ' anent ; it has the hearts and. bands of the nation ; that every attempt to obtaiine public expression in its favour, in .this Metropolis, should have failed, mist, therefore, excite surprise—yet such is tie fact. Colonel Gauss wee attemotfailed, and the county of Middlesex meeting had eery little l bstter • fortune. We know no way of accounting for •Wm so extraordinary, but by presuming the puislicK.el that their opinion is already sufficiently expressed in the conduct of Government, and the unaniiimus voice.of the public press ; that attendance at such meetings is a mere work of supererogation; and that to catch a little popularity' from the biaise,... to share the triumph and partake the gale." is the great object of those who call fur and encourage them.— Of the correctness of this opinion, the conduct of some of the Newspapers, in their notice •f the Middlesex Meeting, fUrnishes ample pro Of. It is notorious that it was Mr. Powea's speech that gave a decisive tuns, and a new impulse, to the dircus sion ; yet in some of the Newspapers, The Courier particularly, Mr. Polymer name and speech are de si 'rill y suppressed, and the whole merit is attrib utc d to Mr. Petty, of The Morning Chronicle, who fol lowed Mr. POWER. How disgraceful, in a news paper to thus impose upon its readers ; to mix its little selfish passions in so glorious g cause ; and sa entice politic duty to personal pique and jealousy. With such a case before us, we dread the result of these public meetings. The conduct and the speeches of those gentlemen who take an active part in them cannot be suppressed or misrepre sented in the Newspapers without injury to the public cause. Notwithstanding the enthusiasm with which we contemplate the glorious efforts now making by the Spanish nation against crime and oppression ; however warmly we approve every testimony of . pulslic applause that can be bestowed on such a people, and on such a struggle; yet we conceive that even the shadow of interference with their modes of conducting their future Government or Constitution, should be studiously avoided. Un der this point of view, we incline to thick that some of the doctrines, and perhap's some of the resolu tions, proposed and adopted at the Middlesex meet ing, on Tuesday, however well intended, were not jed _ icsoin.-.-The second resolution asserts, that speople who will fight for their liberties, are alone wonky of the friendship of a free ntition."— Now, it appears to us, that the Spaniards are fight • ins, not for their " liberties," but for-their inde pendence as a csuntry, for •their Kirig, and for their liberation from a foreign Usurper;' insolently imposed on them by a perfidious and remorseless Tyrant, who has deluged Spain with blood. It is net for a civil constitution, resembling that orEng land, that Spain has taken up arms. triainestion-• ably there are many wire and good men, who ar deutly look to •an amelioration of that vicious, weak. and pernicious system of Government, whiell . l , has prtrailed in Spain ever since the accession of CNARLEs tile V., near three hundred years ago.— They do not want to he informed, or to be ad ' monished by the Freeholders of Middlesex, assem bled at 8. The Mermaid," that previous to the junction of C stile and Arregon under one head, those kingdoms wore free; indeed, infinitely more free than a e are wader our present Constitution. Every man who is acquainted with the Castilian history, knows that they pos , :essed the right of deposing their Kings, when those Sovereigns vio lated Or infringed the national franchises. A right which they actually executed in the fifteenth century, when they solemnly deposed Iles Rl' the Foyer'', for his vices and mat-admiiii-K ration ; placing on the vacant T. rone, by their voluntary election, his sister, the celebrated ISABELLA of CAsTILE. Arragon enjoyed similar, or errs greater, rights; Biscay, the Asturias, and Leon, claim the most unlimited civil, as well as political, immu nities. But it is not for their conservation that the provinces of the Spanish Monarchy are now con tending. There is therefore a fallacy in pretend ing to assert it. When the Flemings revolted from Putt.tP in 1.567, it was the umnstmua infraction of all their cilil and religious rights which impelled them to resistance. When the Parliament of England. in 164 t, umiheathed the sword against Craft'.Ea I. it was to prevent the ashitrary taxation of the I.tab led, and to compel him to rant them a free Con stitution. But Fortin makes on complaint against FERDINAND VII. nor even again/it CH•aLS. IV.' except fur his weakang, arisservisses, awl aware city. It is mores/it', religisa, kyaity, and si, t indignant sense of matitnal niiiiepeadenee, ali ft h have rostsed the Spaiitarils, and have made them ia vincilrle. JOSEPH BO?. APAKTF, in lilt; cantin g m a . alining and Proelausatior.s, promised the S paniards as free a Constitution, ander his golden reign, as CARTWIIICIIT or Mr: Wititswity could delineate on' paper. But it was-not civil freedn in , itoras.,Ationat independence,. that the Spaniard, demanded. if an tan 'amid doubt of this 141, he Ilia *illy to peruse tt Th r Spanish Cater:l.4in," published in our Nerisapaperii. They will there se how guardedly the expression,' are chosen, and hair Hinder trey are in their aspirations after a more limned form. of -Royal Government. That the Corte: will be assembled, oi n tboot deny, we already kiiencl and after tt4:.eidatilitits which hav e re aulted from the iirbitrarf .inisate of tti Crown, in the hands of a deluded,,or ne:inefficiunt Prim e , it its not to be questicnteil tliftmore energy and more freed will be infufed Into the new Constitutieni whoever may away the sceptre. But Spain e, a much mere extensive country than great Britain, and may, in the elicit:vanillin of its Cartes, demand a jovertmlerit more monarchical i n it s spirit, arid mere v t iranjusis than ours. Her immense Colonies requiretilNivise a .strong executive controul, to prevent trieir imitating the example set them by our otyn, only thirty years ago. These cansider ations should impel us to avoid the very appearance of interfering in their plans of future internal Legislation. When they have established a stn, prente provisional Government, and expelled th e atrocious Invader of their territory, they will, lie doubt, proceed, .without our advice. to place the prospective stability and felicity of the Sovereign, as well as of the people, on the most oolid founda (ions. But, after all, since when is it that we oursebes enjoy this free Constitution, of which we are so vain? Does Ireland boast a much milder-Govern ment than Spam? Is it in the cruel, oppres sl i e , and selfish system that this country his' pursue{ for agcs, relative to that loyal, brave,. and injured people, that the Spaniards are to find a preceded for their own practice ? Is it in the arbitrary acts of Lord CAMDEN's Viceroyalty, or tinder the mill administration of Lord CASTLEREAGII, that they are to seek a model ? Or is it in the narrow, bigot. ted, and proscriptive code against Catholics, actually enforced in Ireland, that the Castilians, or Aste rians, d are to learn the principles of enlarged sod enlightened toleration ? Let Mr. PFRCCIVAL ply. Bat these considerations are foreign to tko matter before us. It is not to make Spain inter nally free; it is to render her independent of a fe- rocious in►ader, that we are sending arras, amine. nitiou, money. and trioops. It is to secure our own independence and existence as a matioe, against the scourge of humanity, and the Tyrant of Europe. To these primary °hips.; we should limit our ea ertions, and !cavil to Spai■ the task of legisist:r; for herself. We may wifely rely on the virtue of people, who, bereft of their Soverei7,ns, of their choicest troops, and of all continental aid ; yet rose, like one man, toreclaint their /Ohl, to expel the Usurper, and to taild'...tain their national nide pendence. • Yesterday,- a Court of Directors was held at the East India !Louse,. when the destination of i he bli;p Nottiaghana sac altered to Madras and Chide instead of Chi na direct.—The Court adjourned at seven o'clock. till to-inorrew. On Tuesday his Grace the Archbishop of CAx• Tratigatt bad a long interview with the Duke 4 POYTLIAD, tl,e object of which was to rAm ssi tier nit* is a tit person to be proposed to His ALUESTY the new Bishop of ELT. The result of the delibe ration is not known, but report speaks of the Ursa of Xotttis7ka as likely to succeed to the eacast Bishopric of Ely kand the Deals of Botsrot, to thit of Rochester. • • • A letter received from Gijon, dated the 11r.b instant, announces a new 'Lod desperate stud' upon the city of Saragossa by the French on the ck instant. The French amounted to 11,000 nut. under the command of (;eneral Lrareavitc, and toe town hart so nwasdefendttl greatly dl7.tti h n e gilidled i bras,. General in 11Jstitsrat.s. who fence upon several similar occasions. 'The enemy forced themselves into the place with their chars& teristic• impetnnoity, but were met with the aunt determined valour by the inhabitants and garrisvo, and driven out, after a dreadful conflict of consider able duration, wills the loss of 6.000 men killed, wounded, and taken prisoners. The letter adds' that 15,010 I;ritish troops were hourly expected at Gijon ; that Colonel Dot LC had sent orders from camp to provide neeewario for • force to that extent ; and that the. Catalina" hare almost cleared their prosier, of all the French troops. The letter containing this intelligence is said to liave been received at Guernsey from Giro. Goveniment have receiv e d dispatches from that port of as late a date, but as they are silent on the subjects little credit is &tete, the Guernsey letter. Private ;Mem from Commas state. that Major Rocca hal embarked for Balboa, with large 0p pliesof cannon, 'muskets, and 'incarnation ; together with a ennsiderable sum of money, for the m eet* the Patriots of Biscay, fmin whose junction iu the general cause the most iniportant advalflog's were expiated to result. The partial *access of the mar the unon4anized levies at Bilbea, was coow eyed of little Of no consequence, CN• CePting P far • as it regarded the plundering of the . place by the infamous violators Of the capitialn- Mon agreed upon with the inhabitants. The sou' plies provided for them by. Major Rocee, and t he e titan of - the armies or Comers's Ccrits end Tait, might on enable the Flistayanstn rr trieve their loss, and take signal ieiigenti." ou their oppressors.