The Statesman. — London, England, 1812-01-25 00:00:00

On SUNDAY, JANUARY 6, was published. Price Slapenee Halfpenny, A NEW SUNDAY PAM, itsTlfr.Eti ': • 11 E CONSTITUTION.—At the commencemtnt of a new Publication, it ii a common practice to shako r o. - esions which are not only incompatible with the tsodertak. fre, sad impracticable in performance, hut contrary to the views the parties concerned. The CONSTITUTION will stand upset a e qi er ept ground, and, without disgusting the Public wi th &hies se - Bill of Fare, will furnish them with all the lIIIIPORTAYT ObIaTTIC INTELLIGENCE Of she preceding week, together with c oncise Summary of Foreign News, by which the Resifts of a Sils.ssv PAPER IS ill be enabled to form an accurate opinion of tM Important and interesting Events, which are csantantly lailneocing the Political aspect of ancient States and JAPlrm. T w Politics of the Covertrurtom will be founded upon Mc same ist;ociples us those of The State,man, which, since its establish. :ne rd, have been whiforoely INDEPENDENT and feCE from Party faction. The Proprietor of the Coarrrrurrov, suffering under Mini t•-r!al persecution, has been a STATE PRISONER in his Mjesty's ;..ol of Newgate for upwards of Twas.va MoNrsts, and has an ,ol. i ycir yet to serve, for two alleged Libels t be cam, there feel for the wrongs and oppressions of others, and shall con- C.eie his exertions in exposing all those Pogue Damage arm, 'l n, prey upon the industrious part of the Community, and.wisa me ,he chief promoter Ot the destructive War in which this country is unfortunately engaged. The Cameral:lloS is Printed and Published at an early hour jr , s u odav morning, at the STATEAVAN OSTICE, No. 87. fleet. newt, where Orders and Communications are received, and by alt the News Dealers in Town and Country. • Arr. Mails. Dire. Dublin 0 0 I,:bbon f 0 Guerni,ey .... 0 1 Brazils COY vrasußf es lit. Patru—ifiralay-ed all Um P;thb G, THE STATESMAN. LONDON: satumor t a*NroAst 13, 1813. By letters bAught by the Conqueror, dated De. r . ember 13th, from the Mediterranean, we learn that Vice. Admiral Sir Enw. PELLEW, after recen. noitring and enticing out the enemy's fleet from Toulon, on the 11th December (British, twelve sail of the line—French, sixteen sail of the line), had returned to Mahon harbour, as the enemy .bugged their own shores so closely, and it being very fine weather, it was impossible to bring them to action. Two sail of the line of the IVlediterranesa fleet are coming home. The Pcarlen had dashed into Toulon prior to the 1 lth, and severely handled two of the ear m ► 's frigates ; but, on coming out, a French 74 encountered her, and it was only by cutti*g away some of the French rigging that the 'leaden got off. The inhabitants rrf this enlightened Metropolis are doomed to witness, on Wednesday next, the awful scene of no less tl an six unfortunate wretches suf fering an ignominious and painful death, as an of fering to adpease the offended laws of their country. Whenever we hear of this sort of punishment being inflicted, we feel a repugnance towards it, which na turally leads us to investigate its justice and its policy, and the conclusions we have always been led to draw from this inrestiga ti on ,have conrantlyproved uniform. It appear; to us that the infliction of death, upon feeble erring man, as a punishment for infringing the I.tws of Society, is so contrary to his natural rights, that weave astonished the practice ever ob tained a place in the judicial code of any nation.— The establishment of laws originated in thh neces sities of the- human species; this same necessity Enuirea that every infraction of them should be punished. But when that punishment is ex tended beyond the bounds which the law itself can only reach, we are disposed to regard this as a sirlation of our legitimate rights. The vital spark ehich animates the human breast, flowed originally from a source uncontroulable by man ; it is pre s.lmptuous in man, therefore, to disjoin what the Creator bath united—to deprive his fellow-man of that life he cannot confer.—But we shall be told, that by the laws of Gon himself, the puuishment of death ought to be inflicted upon a murderer.— We grant, that this part of the Judaical system of jurisprudence, once had the divine sanction and suthority;—that f in the days of men's ignorance, when the human passions were unlimited and unrestrainable, it was found necessary to check a crime so unuaturat, by giving blood for blood. But when society advanced in its progress to- wards perfection I when the mind became more hu maniced, particularly at the era of the introduction I tf the mild an d t o l eran t pr i nc i p l es o f Ch r i st i an i ty , men became loss savage ; their thirst for Wed walk, supplanted by a Ged-like feeling, which led them to 4 °w, rather than to bate; -one another. The law ^Nth respired an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, beearne abrogated; and the idea that man had a right to inflict the punition of death on his fel !ow-roan, for any offence whatever, was, in onr hum- Neapprehension, utterly precluded in the system Pre- NiSated by the founder of the Christian Religion. Such, however, is the perverseness of our nature; .trO. the propensity to mingle our own institutions with those of the divinity, that, although the intro driction of the Christian Religion was well calculated of itself to meliorate the condition of man, he nevertheless blended it with his own crude no tions of law, in which he retained the enact :: cut authorizing the punishment of death. Rut let •'s direct our attention to what we consider the and object of all laws—namely, rustic Ex "PLE AND GENERAL UTILITY—and applying these principles to the particular subject under dis cussion, we shall be able, in some measure, to ;:! . p7iiit3 the justness of our remarks; --With '!d, then, to public example, it seems pretty ,Q *-s, that the putting a ci,j,nilad t4i- death, , A;4IIL- • _ , . ~ Prnr . gtATftMAN. Whatever may be his Crime, stares Ili Sat dzildtplo td ne.body. Nothing is more common than to find the thief combating depredations ander the gibbet; and nothing is more certain, than that Capital offences, instead of decreasing by the examples of public executions, are becoming every day more numerous. The reason appears to be, that the villain, become hardened in his inquity, is regardless of the shame of a public expiation, which, moreover, he calculates upon, at the worst, as only a momentary punish ment. Some cases might, no doubt, be mentioned, in which the culprit exhibited symptoms of peni- I tence ; but where one instance of this has occurred, ten others could be adduced to the contrary. Eren where i - penitent of this description appears, the oc currence seldom or ever has any proper effect upon the wicked. It may incite their curiosity, and curio sity is the sole cause that attracts the multitude to I witness these spectacles—but it never mends the heart. I i The number of these examples have likewise a ten -1 &icy to familiarize the mind of a profligate to an un • timely end, and thus prepare him, in the cant phrase of villany, to make his exit with fortitude and to die , as becomes a man. The punishment of death, there- I fore, cannot be considered an example to the bad, and the good do not want it :—they are influenced i by very different motives ; and, should their duty or ; their curiosity ever lead them to the scene of a public I execution, it never fails telitrfrow up their feelings, I land to incite their pity and compassion for the unfor- I tuuate wretch, whom they ace impelled to contem plate as the victim of an inexorable law, which they would gladly repeal, if it were in their power to do it. Neither is the utility of the community promoted by putting the murderer to death. On the contrary, it deprives the politic of the advantages which I would result from his labour, were he to be kept alive; and it frequently reduces a numerous family to ruin ; who, if they escape the fangs of poverty, are al-1 ways forced to abandon the society of those th e y I love, in order to avoid the stigma which attaches to the relatives of such as stater an ignominious death. As a remedy for these evils, we world recommend I the abolition of capital punishments—They form no part of the American code of jurisprudence; and,. even under the sway of BONAP tars himself, we do not find that many examples of this kind are shown 1 to the people—Yet it will not be said that the Ame ricanicor the French, require such examples less than thts. English ; or that their mantle, a ~ re more corrupt ed, through the non..exiatence of capital punishments, ' than what ours are.--To keep the murderer alive, 1 and frequently exposed to public view, with a label on his breast deaoting the nature of his crime, would I serve as a constant example to the wicked.— The eudurance of this would effectually deter them , from the practice of vice; and, to the guilty std . - ! ferer himself, it would be a more certain and salu- I tary punishment, than rapidly hurrying him off this mortal scene, as is often done, with all his sins up on his head, without sufficient time to repent and prepare himself to answer at the triuunal of his GOD. The produce of the labours of the culprit would then afford subsistence to his family, and thus pro mote general utility, by releasing the public of a burden which is often imposed upon them through a mistaken policy. But this is not all :—the per son murdered frequently leaves a family behind bim. Our law makes no provision for occurrences of this nature; two families are in consequence often thrown destitute upon the community. But should the murderer happen to have no family of his own, ' he might be compelled to work for that of the de ceased, because he had deprived it of the means of support. If two families existed, it would then be come a matter of consideration, whether each of them should not receive a portion of the fruits of his toil. In whatever way this might be adjusted, the practi cability of the plan appears to us as obvious, as the benefit that would result from it to the public is un deniable. A letter from Cadiz of the 31st ult. states, that General Fnazca and his suite arrived there on the 30th, in the Richmond, from Ceuta, to join the army. The Richmond was to sail immediately for Lisbon, and had on hoard 300,000 dollars for the army in Portugal. The Ephera sloop of war was lost ou Christmas-day, on the Porpoise Roek. The schooner D.stinedo, Excott,rtc Ao, from Kinsale, having got under-weigh at Madeira, after evening gnu-fire on the 10th ult. was fired at and, sunk; crew saved. Last night a Petition was presented to the House of Commons by Mr. WHARTOV, on behalf of the j. family of the late Mr. Helm Conrc, of Gosport, , whose meritorious exertions are well known to all I persons acquainted with the iron trade.---Mr. Coara I expended a fortune in rendering England indepen dent of Sweden or Russia, for foreign iron of the first t quality, and by his useful and highly i m p or t an t dis coveries, the annual manufacture of British iron has I been increased from sixty to SIX hundred thousand tons. The Bishop of DERRY is said humanely to have assented not to press for the sentence of the Court of King's Bench against MANSELL PHILLIPS, Member for Stafford, who was convicted of the atrocious libel on his Lordship, on condition that he make, by his Counsel, acknowledgement in Court of this offence, and pay a stipulated sum to the Fund for the Benefit of the Sons of the Clergy. On Wednesday a new Dock, of fifteen acres, was opened at. the Commercial Docks, Rotherhithe ; the sluice was cut by the Chairman, Sir CHARLES PRICE, amidst the cheers of the spectators. These Docks now contain an area of about forty acres of water, with wharfbge and bonding yards, sufficient to re-' ceive 200 sail of jbips to discharge at the same time. t :.. Norrixonem 11107:54 We are sorry to state that the outrages in Notting ham Ind counties adjacent are continued with as much activity and malignity as ever, and may be said to have assumed a more decided character than at any period since the commencement of malpractices. A let ter which we received this morning, states, that between thirty and forty frames were broken on Sunday night, and several the following evening. The most turbulent spirit is strongly manifested in all the proceedings of the Luddites, which have been ex tended to Yorkshire. They have detroyed by fire, a crop-mill at Leeds, merely because, upon a new plan, it was found to do the work of a number of men, consequently was a considerable saving to the proprietors. Catmankey, Basford, New Radford, and Lidley, were scenes of the most daring depreda tions in the beginning of the week.—A ludicrous Cir cumstance will sometimes destroy the Judge's gra vity on the Bench, though the crime under consider: ation excites his abhorrence. Influenced by similar feelings, our Correspondent Mates the two follow• ing circumstances (and the Reader may judge of I them as he pleases) :—On Monday night, one frame was broken at Arnold ; and Ned Ludd, in order to draw public attention more closely to his operations, took the broken instrument and put it in the !stocks, where it was found the next morning, exhi biting many bruiser ; but, unlike the usual occu piers of that .conspicuous station, it made not the kart effort to get away; nor did the Constable know that he was authorised to disengage it, he having no order from a Magistrate toilful I'M.— ; The other circumstance, while it was more daring, was not the less ludicrous:--For, on Tuesday in the forenoon, as a frame-carrier was bringing a frame from Kimberly to this town, and was walking lei surely before his cart, near New Radford, a man, 1 with a goat's skin tied over his face, the hair of which reached down to his navel, leaped into the cart, and, with a large smith's hammer, fell furiously ito work to demolish the frame. The carter, how -1 ever, being aroused from his reverie by the sound of the blows, immediately flew to the rescue of his charge, and likewise endeavoured to secure the bearded depredator ; but the latter shaved him his hammer, leaped out of the cart, and walked leisurely away, leaving the poor carrier's mind less composed than when he was dreaming at the front of his cart. Yesterday morning additional troops of the Horse Guards (Blue) marched from Readiug to Notting ham ; and orders are issuel for the dispatch of two linfantry regiments, in consequence of the unfortunate existence of the continued destruction of private pro perty in that neighbourhood. THE PRINCE REGENT'S COURT. Yesterday his Royal Highness the PRINCE Re alm appointed to hole a Court at Carlton House. Soon after two o'clock the PRINCE, attended by Colonel M‘Mknon, Generals TURNER and KEPPEL, entered the State Room. His Royal Highness cave audiences to Mr. PEacsvAt.,the LORD CHANCELLOR, Earl CAMDEN, Mr. RYDER, Lord KULGRAYE, and the Marquis WELLEstat. Mr. RUSSELL, the Charge do Aflaires from America, was introduced to his Royal Highness by the Marquis WELLESLEY ; RS was the SICILIAN AMBASSADOR. Sir HALFORD JoNEs was introduced to Ms Royal Highness, upon his return from his Embassy at the Court of Persia. The PRINCE held a Privy Council, which was at. tended by— The Lorid President of the Council, the Lord Chancellor, the Lord Privy Seal, the three Secretaries of S:ate, the President of the Board of Cuntroul, the Far! of Harrowhy, the Duke of Montrose, and Lord Ellenborough. Viscouut Cbetwyad at tended as Clerk of the Council. _ _ The ceremony of pricking for the Sheriffs for the present year, and other state business, took place.— Afterwards, the Rcconnca of London was admitted to the Council, and made his report of the capital convictions at the two Sessions previous to the last, at the Old Bailey : when Edward Phillips, for ar son ; William Habberfield and Paul Whitehead, for forgery ; John Frazer, Edward Hall, alias Camp bell, and Wm. Higgins, for burglary, were ordered for execution on Wednesday. At a Meeting of the creditors of Mr. WILMER MACRE/ Sirtt.ErrT, late of Picket-street, Temple bar, Proprietor, Printer, and Publisher of the Alfred Newspaper, held at the Globe Tavern on Tuesday last, a well-known character of the name of LEECiI had the aodacity to attend as a Creditor of Mr. WILLETTN, for 301. due to him for wages.—Now it so happens, that this LEECH was confined in New gate for debt, a few months since; and, therefore, could not have any such claim before the Alfred concern was sold in Picket-street, under an Extent from the Crown, which was the object of the Meeting, and has been since then removed to N 0.47, Ludgate hill, for the convenience of Mr. WILLETT ) where the said LEECH has been employed. The Drury-lane Committee have adopted a design for the Corporate Seal of the Company, prepared by the President of the Royal Academy, and highly approved of by his Royal Highness the Patrice RE SENT. The design possesses all the vigour and clas sical taste of Mr. WEST'S pencil. The REVERT is drawn at full length in a Grecian robe, with one arm resting on the statue of SHALESPEARI. In the other bed he holds a lyre, stretching it forth to reanimate the Muses of Tragedy and Comedy, who are repre sented in the act of protecting the bust of GAaascK open the ruins of the Theatre. By the Population Returns lately made, it ap pears that the number of females exceeds that of Voles in every county, except these of Monmouth lad Stafford, in which there is a majority of the Jitter. The Patentee of Crow-street Theatre has offered Mr. BRAHAM thElt thousand pounds British, to per form at his Theatre for six ereek.s o which. ofhr has ; been refused. • . -'• • • • - . .; -q.-!ko—r—vet A NAVAL INTELLIGENCE, thilitaM OUT 14, Jsly. 24, This afternoon the Guards, 400 strong, embarked an Want the Loyalist and Any transports. 'they are ander the protection of the Zenobia and Farieute; these two ships convoy nearly .200 vessels. Arrited yesterday, the Hazard and Avenge*, from Newifoinidz land, bringing the last convoy for the season; Sailed the Agincourt ; armed en flute, Copt: kelt, (Or Llstiorl ; with detachments of regiments on board; Rnvcr and Tyriad Joops, for the toast of Portugal, to attend the hleditcrranmut convoys: PLYMOUTIf, JAN. 23. Sailed the Rhin frigate, Captain Malcolm, cin a c'M! td die Westward. Went Up Ilarbohr the Atcebe frigate. The COnquilrot, of '74 gang, from the Meditetranmest, wds released from onarantine thii morning ; and will sail for t h e 1)ovi as the first fair 'rind, and take the trade ender her preset don, DEAL, 4,1 v. 2s. Came dottn front the River the Earl Rd Vincent Abel Larkin/ East lodiamen ; the Ainericad sMp,looth Carolina. fur Rid' Janeiro; and his Majesty's skip liymßten, ho® Ctiothaas, and remake. ISA LilfaUTll, ht. 11. Arrived du , Traveller transport, CE, tYllief, Master, from Lisbon in 15 days I sailed in company *kb nine other trait.= ports, uadct tt owl of a sloop of war, aad parted from ilte.m someday': sine. On the 19th, saw a ship with the head of !rev mainmast gone, about 10 leaguer to the westward of Another ibip has arrived, supposed to be one of the nine enure ports, tARMOVTIFI; ilea, 24. Artved his Majesty's ship Starling from a cruitte, sailed the Providente far Cork. The Vigifanclifeyens from Demerara to Litter's/oam talftt on toe 13th inst. by the liristais privateer ; on the 19th the cap tured the Charlotte, Griffith, front Lisbon to 13ristol, and rare der up. The Charlotte arrived at Penzauce on Wednesday List. ORDERS IN COUNCIL. We have heard much talk about the enforcing and repealing of these Orders; but, does the R eader really know how they operate against America ? We will tell him.—An American ship, owned by an American citizen, commanded and manned by Ame rican citizens, and laden with American rice or to• bacco, or flour or pork, or any other produce of the country; such n ship, so ownecl,and manned, and la. (ten, and hound to France, Holland, Italy, or any so .ntry under the dominion or influence of Napo. icon, is met by one of our ships of war upon the seas. We send a prize-master and some sailors on board of her ; take out a greater part of her hands; send her into one of our own ports ; condemn and sell ship and cargo ; and send the master and any of his people that we have left in the ship, adrift, without giving them any part of the worth of thd cargo, leaving them to find their way to America, if they can, or to take their chance in the wide world. This takes place in any of the ports of England as it may happen; in Nova Scotia ; in the West Indies ; and, indeed, any where, whet ewe have ports.—The sei. zure is made upon any part of the seas; sometimes in the Channel, or upon theccast of France; and some. times upon the coasts of America; and, it takes place with regard to vessels and cargoes going from as well as to France and her dependencies. The American sailors that are taken opt of these ships and brought or board our ships of war which make the capture, are obliged to remain on board of that ship of war, till it suits her convenience to send them on shore, which, perhaps, may not be for many months; for, she may be going out to the East or West Indies, or to the Mediterranean,' when she makes the capture.—Now, if the Reader will, for a moment, imagine himself the owner, or muter, or one of the seamen, in any of these cases, he will want nothing further to enable him to judge of what must be the feeling created in America by these Or. ders in Council ; he will want nothing further teen. able him to judge, whether it be or be not likely, that the American Congress are in earnest in their war-like language. Yesterday afternoon, as the carriage of Mrs. Mend ton, of Portland-road, was passing at a quick rate along Wigmore-street, the coachman, in endeav 3111 iug to avoid a butcher's cart, drove the chariot against the hinder wheel of a dray, which overturied it with considerable violence. The coachman, who was the greatest sufferer by the accident, had his thigh brokeyand was conveyed to an hospital, Two ladies and a youth, who were in the carriage, escaped with but little injury. A melancholy circumstance occurred yesterday at Covent-Garden Theatre, during the rehearsal of the New Opera ; Mr. LAcY, one of the peiformers in the orchestra, ,having suddenly expired while en gaged in the necessary preparations for the public representation of that piece. The deceased was the nephew of the late Mr. LACY, formerly joint Paten tee with Mr. GARRICK in the Drury-lane Theatre.—. He has left* wife and three children, The report that Mrs. BILLINOTOII was about to resume her station iu public life, is, we are sorry to bear, unfounded. Mr. Ima.toow has renewed his engagement wills the Proprietors of Covent Garden Theatre for three years. Mrs. MOUNTAIN, we are glad to learn, is not in so very alarming a state as report has represeuted, and there is some hope that she will be able to vest ture on the public boards again in the course of the present season. BAPINLIVtaa has been performing at North and South Shields, and Durham, and was to proceed to Edinburgh. Biosis.—We learn that the distress occasioned in the northern part of this country, by the failure of the Barton Bank, is very great—and this distress io much heightened by proceeding with the commission in London—in coneequeftee of which, creditors, whose debts are small, Ritl , if they prove them, in cur more expense than will probably be repaid by the amount of thedividend. This is very wrong.— There have bean reports of other banks (some in this county) stopping; and great alarm and di:artist have been occasioned. We believe, however, the stop page in the neighbourhood, was only of a• tempo• -wry nature, till a supply could be got from Landow, 'e..ed New.] _ n i +., i v -- .: , a. i