The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser. — London, England, 1803-04-27 00:00:00

rowitcz DuTr. SNIP o‘N NI.OS. A General Meeting of the Ship-Owners was yes terday held at the Londnn Tavern. pur etart to ad vertisement, for the purpose of taking into considera tion the present very critical state of the Shipping Interest of this kingdom, and the funlier measures necessary to be adopted to obtain a repeal of the Tonnage I)uty. Mr. Hit, t. was first proposed to fill the Chair, but ha trusted he might be permitted to decline the honour in favour of a gentleman better qualitiad than himself. Mr. KINNION was then unanimously cailed to the Chair. He professed how inndeqaate he was to till the situation lie had been called to so well as his preelecessor ; he felt how unequal he was to the t isk imposed upon him, and he hoped every in dalgence would be shewn towards him. The LC iT ARV then said,—.. Gentlemen, agree. able to your hestruaiens I hove endetvoured to pm cure a copy of the Consolidation Schedule, which have not been able to do : I have seen it ; it is in the possession of the Lord Mayor ; I have compared it with the. table of the Tonnage Ditty under the It!t of Parliament, and find it precisely the same. understand. from the most creditable authority, it is the intention of Mr. Addington to persist in the Touna4e' Duty, and not to admit of any modifica tion with respea to it. It is not clear whether he will not separate the Tonnage Duty from the Con solidation Schedule with respea to exports and im ports; that, however, I understand it will be set tled this afternoon between the Lord Mayor and the Chancellor of the Exchequer." The See s LT A a y then In idly stated the minutes of the last General Meeting, and read a letter from the Lord Mayor to the Committee respeaing the fre quent adjournments of this question, which had taken place in consequence of the disagreements be tween the British and French Governments.- Mr. Teom As Litton Sr then moved the first Reso lutioa, for which see the front of our paper. It was seconded by Mr. Cvatise. Mr. Hi t t,—.‘ It stems to be the wish of many persons to be informed, why the question of Ton nage Duty has not been Lolught forward in Par liament ? The Committee were entrusted by you with full powers to make use of their best exertions in order to obtain a repeal of the tax. They accord ingly attended the Lord Mayor, and gave him every necessary instruction. In the niean time the busi ness between France and this country broke out; there was a great alteration in the political affairs of the country, and it was thought advicable to sus pend any thing that might possibly tend to embarrass Administration, or throw difficulties in their way. The Lord Mayor thought he might, with an assur ance of the approbation of the Committee, suspend pressing the question : when 1w had done so, he wrote to the Committee, and they parlealy approved of his condo n. The matter has gone on in this way ; the Coalmine , : still continuing unwilling to press the subjaa until a few nights since ; when, from something that passed in the House of Com mons, it appeared the Minister meant to bring this measure forward in rather an indirect way; and that, instead of bringing it forward in a fair and open manner, he meant to introduce it by ceepling it with the Consolidation Ad). Under this impression the Committee have drought it right to call a Ge neral Meeting, in order to ask whether, as such cir cumstances had taken place, it was not proper to give fresh instruaions to the Lord Mayor to apply to Parliament on the subjeact. The motion just submitted seems to have that tendency, and will therefore no doubt be approved of. 1 have so often delivered my sentiments upon the general question tespeaing the interests of the Ship-Owners, that I -shall not trespass further on your attention, in order to give some other Gentleman an opportunity of stating what may occur to him." The first Resolution was put from the Chair and carried unanimously. Mr. ATCHMN—" It may be necessary for me to say a few words, with reference to some observations which have been made out of doors, respeaing the opposition to this duty. It has been said that the opposition to It o ninated with a particular ineivi dual. lam to state that it did not originate with him ; I have been privy to the whole cline proceedings, and whh a view to do away any effect which might be produced by the ohservation.s I have alluded to, it is my duty to state that the first meet leg was called without his knowledge or privity ; I am sensible that those who made the observations, have paid the individual to whom I am referring the highest compliment, is attributing to him a pro ceeding which has received the aeration of several hundred of the Ship-Owners of this country It had been stated that it originated in a junto near the Royal Exchange. Now we all know, on, the contrary, that it wAs a spontaneous ..neasure onnhe part of the Ship-Owners in peeled throughout the kingdom; the public ought to know flax there has been no exertion made on the part of the Gentle. man who is the immediate ohjed of these observa tions, to bias the minds of the Shif-0W111.1.5 in gene ral. It ought to he known that it is a measure ori • ginating with the Ship. Owners in general; in conse quence cf their feeling that the tax bears peculiarly I aril upon them. I have thought it he:mai:lit on t le to make these ohsarvations, because your pro t online' have been attributed to a Gentleman who rbr 2!iiially had nothing to do with them." Mr. ILL - 44 What our respe,clable Secretary al ;Ades to, are two km:: which have been addressed n:e k the public paters; they were signed IstLas .:sts.—tionse Gentleman has answered them in a Inter under the sigratare of Avaroa PATRIA.--1 have been considered as the author of that letter, bnt I declare I am not, and that 1 have r.:Aj it." Cit amArt---04 Sir, your condua has been so peefealy correa in every rvspeet, t!i.it I aM sure every person present is full persuaded you would never have answered any letter upon this subjea ad dressed to you through such a medium." Mr. 111 tt.--0. Cert.sinly, Sir, I should think it nn worthy of me to answer .tny anonymous le:ter com ing horn any quarter. Our Se...ret.sry, who has deer himself so much honour by the whole of his con dud. did Kriel* right in mentioning the circam t.taoce to the meeting. The writer of the letter he has referred to, has said, I opposed the tax only to snake a display of oratory. I appeal to you whether that is true ; I merely stated plain Etas in a plain *Ay. Ia declining the honour of the Chair, I was wetly desirous seem Gentleman would come forwar.l lend tulieve me front a sitasatiaa whi l gt has ai.suitsisl mien: of my time. I'am Fiad to see a ( - -"ntlernaf take up the business who is so viAl qualhied to do justice to it. With regard to the letters, they are not worth any further notice." Mr. Cu al itea As—h The letters, lam sure, have made no impression on any one in this society." Mr. it it 0C A a lot only this meeting, and every class of Ship-Owners in Great Britain, but every i.nbjea in the kingdom, are obliged to the Gentlemen who stood forward to obtain the repeal of this most obnoxious tax ; and whether any mea sures are taken for our relief or not, the Chancel lor of the Exchequer, as he has called this a tax of experiatest, stands pledged to the House of Ccra nions and to the country, to slew and prove the result of it. He has now had the experience of a year. We are here assemble' to consider of the further means necessary to ofpose it, and we have a body of evidence to bring fcrward in support of our objeftions, and to prove that we are navigating our slops to no profit; the Minister stands pledged to the public and us to prove what has been the state of me Shipping-Interest b.: the last twelve months." Mr. Cho moved the second Resolution. Mr. I am sure the condo& of the Lord Mayor merits the highest approbation ; he has ;lard the part of a patriot, a loyal man, and a mer chant. lie has, during a time of , political didiculty, kept back the question, that it might not embiurass his Majesty's Minister, and if it is now brought for ward, the Lord Mayor will have the satislathon to relied, that he has l ot provoked the discussion.— The conduit of the Mi:hster himself has been such that it cannot remain ionger open, it must be im mcd:ately discussed or dropped •ait o Mr. 41-reiissoN— , . in the course of the numer ous meetings 1 have LI with the Lord Mayor, he has uniformly paid me every respett as the repre sentative of the Ship-Owners. In whatever situa tion his Lordship has been placed, he has ever been ready to ray attention to your wishes. I think it probable there may be some arrangement made ou the subject this after-nowt ; but whether any ar rangement takes place or not, 1 trust I have a right, as an individual in sonic degree interested in the question, to deliver my opinion. It appears to me we have not been so candidly treated as we ought to have been ; that the tax is net warranted either by the situation of the country or by any principle %%Melt has been recognized by any writer on poli ticat economy. I have ransacked the works of eves y author I could rind who has written in our own or any other language upiin the suO j ea of taxation; and I cannot discover any principle which justifies such a measure. The oniy tax mat bears the least similarity to it :s the shop-tax„whieh you know was abandoned shortly after its adoption. Tlfs is a tax infinite) worse in its planation; it is 'tax on capi tal, and on industry. I defy any man to show aie least analogy between this or any other tax that ever was proposed •a- attempted to be carried into cite& The ho.ise.tax bears no resemblance to it. The French Government, immediately upon this tax being- adopted in this c•aincry, caught use idea for the purpose of avoiding the error into which our Government had fallen, and reeolletting that Judi. cious fill la et 44 dweri, they considered it an act of prudence to avail themselves of the opportu nity to impose on foreign ships a duty of four livrcs per ton." Mr. HILL observed, that if it should be found his Majesty's Minister meant to separate this duty from the Consolidation Ati, it might probably be desirous to defer the consideration of the question to a more convenient season. Many exclaimed, that it ought to be brought to an imii.,:diate discussion, and this seemed to be the prevailing s..ntiiiient of the meeting. Mr. 1-111.1.--" You arc rciieved from the imputa tion of pressing it, for the Minister has, by bringing forward the Consolidation Mt, forced you to do it." Mr. CHAILNIAN—" The Ship-Owners have aaed as became them ; but, in my opinion, 'there is a great deal of odaira attaches to the Minister Mr. H:Lt. Inanlea the Minis cr for his precipita tion, and apyhLuded the Ship-Ow ners for their fur beam:oz. • It uas that resolved, that the Resolutions should be tratismitttal to thi: Lord Mayor by the becre tary. The thanks of the Meeting were moved to Mr. Hill for his able and inipai LIZ coadua of the tor n.cr Ctneral Meetings. Mr. HILL—" I am infiaitely obliged to you fcr this fresh mark of your approbation and esteem , and assure yt.o my ze.:l is by ,no means diminished. I wished to see a Gea:leman in the Caair of mare ability Clan myself, and I am glad your nomination has fallen on one so well calculated to ren.ter you service. lie shall have all the assistance which is in my i-vwer to give him." The thanks of the Met ting were then moved to the Chairman, Is ho r emitted his acknowledgments in a suitable - :h. . speech. It was then resolvel, that the condua of Mr. Acheson, the Secretary,. merited the approbation of the Ship-Owners at Liri.e. A Resolution having passed for the publication of the pruceetlit%i iit tne Newspapers, Meeting dissolved. A work of great diclietilq, " The Poll fair the late Middlesex Elation arranged i n Parishes," l'as recently made its appearance. I t piust be a work of great utility to Commissione rs of Taxes, Collectors, Scc. Wi.srstisisrre Li 'MARY.—Monday was held at the ThatcheJ-hottse tavern, the Anniversary Meet ing of the Westminster Library. The Earl of Mut RA in the chair. Near two hundred gentlemen sat down to an elegant dinner about six o'clock, and the usual toasts being drank, Mr. Ho 'mouse, after expressing his satisfaction at the respectable appearance of the meeting, as well as the growing prosperity of the Institution, which he chiefly attributed to the etvrtions of the Noble President, which were equally creditable to himself and advantageous to the Society, proposed resolutions towards opening a subscription for pur chasing, a more convenient centrical and public dwelling for the library, which, after a slight oppo sition, was agreed to. Mr. K sox, the Vice-President, then gave—the Health of the President,— on whom he bestowed some elegant and well merited compliments.—His Lordship returned his thanks in an ele.g.uit speech, n which he expatiated upon the importance of the pursuits of the Society, in the acquisition and diffu sion of science and learning. His Lordship was heard throughout with the warmest apphuse. The evening was spout with great conviviality. v I L.4W INTELLIGENCE. SIIRRIrrs COURT, APRIL 26. TWEDDELL V WA LTERC. An enquiry was executed here, yesterday, to assets damages m the above cause. Mr. Gaaaow, for the Plaintiff stated, that the Defendants were proprietors of the Times news paper, and that this was an anion to rrcm•er a compenlation in damages for a libel upon the Plain tiff, Milli appeared in that paper on the 2bth of July, 1110'2, in the following terms : " Derrimth City Efectiim, July 24, tan.—This a•duons rofitt-st at kiTth closgrl ye terday, at fivc o'clock. Disri%g tho IA t limos of th.• pole a :.r t •:t deal of even butting a; math. W 1114111.1 Mr. Taylor Or Mr.Wll :thin won!d be thrown nut At the rone:iision of it it wa. t.murt t!!;it the latter had tri urn ph- Alsbut an hour after the post haul left Our::ans, Mr. Wharton and Mr. Taylor went oven numbers, Mr. Terlor having At the• <am.• time tweed frienili left as a vore: (1, re— s, IT. 1 und, (1 .1 3:/1 all ea:ciliation that had heal made fr•.on the b.ioks, it could ttit supyitsAlthat Mr Wharton had so 111 Ally d d he seem fir votes that he left !tw ines to go in search of them, and a friend of his , of the name of 'rwerhlell, came forward and endeavoured to iserwitiate a deeeasni bristlier, and wag actualv sworiioti the huitiog4; but 'Lai disigracefol Art.rn i a was detected, and it i 3 in con- W.11,4.06(41 to indict Nita for perjury." On Plaintiff's return to tovrn he waited on De fendants, and demanded to have the name .1 the author of this para g ra ph given up to him, or threat ened to sue De fendants themselves for redress. After r••peated evasions, on the part of Defendants, a paragraph to this effeß appeared in the Timer of 'the 7th August : " are rquested to correct a statement that appeared in the Times of the 27th ult. unit the hr nd of Durham F.Lction, respeaiuts, a vote that had been teldsr.xl by a ventlk man of lb. nano: of Tweddell, in frr.oor of Mr. Whattm. The fact is a. follows : Mr. F. Twedd.ll, the gnitlemen in quenian, is the second of three bratheri, John, Frantis, and Robert. sons of Francis TwediA, in N-wthumborlsod, Fsquir:. The care of pa-sing their goildi had !seen cotn.Yirtoct by their lather to Mr. Benjamin Dunn, a merchant in Durham. free, as they had a right by pat:into:ly. to be of the Mesear's Company. and Mr. Dunn pasted three gages in the milt': of John, the son of Francis, Juhn the .'n uf Francis, and Robert, the FO'l of Francis. When II - Me.• F. 'wedded, jun. ttr'dered hi. vote there was no t:r dcults in substituting him fraudulmtiy for a deceased Mother, hut in rectifying the gross mistake of Mr. Benjamin Donn, and proving the second John Tweddell on the guild books to be Francis Tweddul:, then claiming his franchise." This last paragraph, it was insisted, was of still more injurious tendency to the Plaintiff than the former, as it still implied, even in the shape of an apole7y, the fact of his having bee, fraudulently substituted for his &ceased brother. The sole foundation of this caleinny was an erPor in the guild book of the city of Durham. Mr. Francis Tweadell, the elder's three. sons hid all a right by patrimony to the freedom of the Mercer's Company. in the year 1790, the eldest son John being of age, had his guild called in the usual manner, and was approved. In 1793 the names of Francis, the Plaintiff, and Robert, were given in by their father to a tradesman of his, at that time the mayor, to have their guilds also called, which was done, but by mistake the former was entered in the books by the name of John, instead of Francis. On Plaintiff's applying to take up his freedom f.r the purpose of voting at the last election, the mistake was obvious, as there were two 'johns, the sons of Francis, entered in the guild books,' when in fact, no such person as the second named John had ever been in existence. The Town Clerk, however, refused to rectify the mistake, and Plaintiff therefore, after taking the best advice on the subject, took a copy of the guilds in the name of the latter John, intending to explain the misnomer at the hustings. He signed the books in his usual manner, " Tweddell," and gave in his name at the hustings on a slip of paper, as " Francis Twed dell," but was never sworn there at all, as the vote, on account of the irregularity, was, after much de bate, refused. The Plaintiff was of a very old and respedable family in the county of Northumberland, bore an unimpeachahle chara&er ; and on the pub lication of the said libel, was upon the point of en tering into business as one of the sixty sworn clerks of the Court of Chancery. His deceased brother was well known for his loam ning and talents ; every gentleman in that and the adjoining county, as also 'Mr. Hoare and Mr. Losh, the Counsel for the op posing candidates, were personally acquainted with him, ar...1 nothing therefore would have been more preposterous than Plaintiff's attempting on such oc casion to personate him. Several persons, among whom were the Hon. Charles Grey, Sir Matthew White Ridley, Colonel Beaumont, Member for Northumberland, Rowland Burden, Esq. Member for the County of Durham, and Richard Wharton, Esq. were called, and gave evidence of the Plaintiff's charader, and of the very high respedabdity of his family. Mr. ERSKINE, for the Defendants, pleaded in mi tigation that the mistake of their correspondents had arisen amid the heat and clamour of an elation ; that no malignity could be proved against the De fendants, and that the second paragraph alluded to by his Learned Friend was datted by Mr. Walter hiniA.lf, and intended, us he hoped the:iv would be no doubt on the minds of the Jury, to remove frost the Plaintiff the aspersion which had been thus ac cidentally thrown upon him. And what in fa& had the Plaint.if suffered ? The gentlemen who had come forwaed that wer e best acquainted with him, stated that they continued to hold the seine opinion which they had ever done ; and if he meant to clear his reputation, the proper place to do that, he con ceived, would have been the county w'rere it had most suffered; and where, it appeared, his principal culinedions The Jury, after consaltinie about twenty minutes, gave a ye:did—Damages, 5001. At the general Quarter Sessions for the county of Dorset, held last week at Sherborne, the American, who called himself Captain Smith, and fraudulently obtained money by producing fabricated certificates to impose a belief that he had sustained a loss of 30001. by the destruction of his ship, was tried for the fraud, when he urged in his defence that he had been nearly 17 years in the service of England, first in the navy, and then in the army, and had received four wounds, in as many different actions ; tl.e last of which, at Tou►n:ay, disabled him from further service; but he aeknosdedged that he obtained his pass from two men who were travelling, at Wilton. He was sentenced to six months hard labour in the Castle at Dorchester.—J. Coffin, E. Kerley, R. Evans, and 1. Adams, for different thefts, were sentenced to be imprisoned twelve months : And three other prisoners were sentenced to * short im prisonments. • • ~ , -~- ~ ~.~4"" DLD BAILEr. .r... .. ~ . . • TUMIkr o APPIL Ileforr JOHN SYLvEsTER, &sr. the Common Sersmitot. 231120LAK Y. Sarah Frond/in Was intli&ed for burglariously ens tering the dwelling-house of Benjamin West, Esq. - President of the ltoyal Academy, and stealing va riot's articles of wearing-apparel, his property. It appeared, that on the 19th of April the servants of the prosecutor were alarmed, at his house in New.. man -street, Oxford-road, by finding that some per son had shut the garret-door without the kno 'sledge of the family. A footman went to an adjoining house, and from its garret-window proceeded to the prosecutor's. On entering the garret, he found the room had been completely stripped. A looking glass .:id a haadkerchiel were lying on the top of the house, aul the key of the room door was found on the floor. About five o'clock on the morning following, the prisoner was observed by a watch man to come out of Lumber -court, near the Seven Dials with a large bag ; and on her giving a suspi cious account of herself, he condu,Fted her to the watch-house ; she was there searched, and a bottle containing phosphorus, an iron bar, a false 'key, and a dark lanthorn, were found in her possession. The hag was found to contain the whole of the clothes, and other articles, stolen from the prosecu tor's house, and on their being produced in Court, Were identified by Mr. West's servaas. It was proved by several witnesses, that at s•Ncn o'clock on the evening on which the robbery was committed, the windows of the garret were secured. The prisoner appeared to be an infirm old woman, upwards of seventy years old, it was thcr:lbre con tLnded by lvr Counsel, that she could lint have committed the offence. The defence she made for having tocm found with the property in her possession was, that she r:- ceived it from her husband, to carry to a public house in the Seven Dials, and in her progress there she had been stopped. She called no evidence to support her assertions; the Jury therefore found her GI/thy—Death. )11'W. STEALING Fchnund Smith was indieted for stealing a horse and a mare, the property of John Hall. The pro ectitor rent: KensingL.:7, and keeps horses for gentlemen !!: stables. On the I gth of March, two horses, one a grey gelding, the pr )perty oiCharles I)undas, F.sq. the other a grey mare, be longing to /VII. Frederick Choppin, were fastened in tacir stalls, :Ina the stable-door shut. The rxt morning about six o'clock they were mi siiig. 17:e prosecutor immediately dispatched the whole of his servants on the different roads to discover th.' son who had stolen them ; one of them, James Lo. vel, took the Oxford road ; and at Wheatley, a few miles distant from Oxford, he saw the prisoner riding the mare and leading the geldiag ; he tt.uk him into custody, and conveyed him to Bow-street. The prisoner alledged in his defence, that he had bought the horses at High Wycombe, but produced no evidence to prove such a transaction, the Jury therefore brought in their verdict—Gudzy: gosepls Eliis and Wiliam Amoy were indicted for feloniously stealing 'a quantity of coffee, the peo perty of Anthony Shiek, Esq. Mr. KNAPP stated, that this prosecution was brought forward for the purpose of preventing the frequent injuries which merchants sustaiacd upon the River, by the depredations of persons employed in their service. a The offence being clearly proved by the several witnesses, the Jury found tbc prisoners—Ca,ky cf stealing under the value of 40s. • The Dutch Government is said to have rece!ved assurance from France, that no more troops shall enter their territories, unless in the event of a rup ture with England ; and that those- who have en tered shall not pass the frontiers as long as the ne gotiation lasts. Letters from the Hague, April 22, say, " For these several days there has been no new arrival of French troops on our territory. But the expendi ture which those already here have cost the Govern ment, has so exhausted the pecuniary resources of the State, that several Departments have been ren dered unable to pay the salaries due to their official servants, for the last three months. It affords us particular pleasure to understand that Me S , .ciety .;t: Scotland for Me Propngat-on of Kno:oledge in the Helandt and Islands of that part of the United, Kingdom are busied in car rying into erett the purposes of their institution; and that in this they are warmly seconded by the London Brand) of the. Society. The Master Carpenters, serving by warrant on board his Majesty's %Lips in ordinary, at the dif fereat ports, and diretled by recent orders to work 4tt the repairing of the ships, in Dock, &c. have been set upon making good the defeccts thereof, under the inspthion of two of their brother-officers. - The work already performed by this valuable and very respeaable body of men, almost surpasses credibility. The remains of Mr. J., Al KI N, formerly Stage Ma nager of Drury-lane Theatre, were interred on Mon day in the church-yard of St. Ann's, Soho. The Iro. dy was accompanied, to its last solitary abode, by most el the performers of D:ury-lane, in testimony of the high respet - t in which the deceased was de servedly held by them. The hearse was followed by ten mourning coaches, the two first of which con tained the principal mourners. In the third coach were Messrs. bANNISTLR, WEOUCIITON, PACKER, and MvOli ; in the fourth, C. Moll:ME, SCETT, DUWTON, and I,N ATHEN ; in the fifth, POPE, BAR RV MOUE, Pal. mmt, and DWY ER ; in the sixth, Kin- DIGNI;XI, COLLINS, and CHERRY. The other four coaches were also filled with afturs belonging to the same house. Poor: Moons- appeared very in firm. and was assisted in getting out of the coach by BassisTtit and WILOUGH TON. STOCKS. PRICE OF TIPTaI Rank Stock 3 per Colt Red ....644 4 i! 14 per C. C. 4 per Cent Cm); 5 per Cont. Alin 99i 130410 v, per Cent. 1757...011 1 44 9 II•nk 1. Ann. l9l 19 Hank Shutt Ann. I; per Cent. Ditto *inn IRDAY. Uranium 111,14 Snick Dittu 8in,14 5 per Cent Exchey Bills a s 'Enz. Lot. Tick.. ...... Irish ditto Rank tor Oren. lludia for Open . Consols fur May LONDON-BKIDGE. • . .47 al after S- To-mouton. Morning,. 19m after 6j Afternoon; ._1.....- "`otw r'.."*".-41,11111111 % 11111 I Ifir , 4ir J •1 •