The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser. — London, England, 1804-05-25 00:00:00

Tilt CIUNA SEAL L9SS OF The' PORPOISE AWD THE CATO • We are happy to state, that a confident hope ma y be entertained of the safety of the crew of the Coo, which slip we mentioned some time since to have been lost in the China Seas.---The following account Dela:: we to the Toss of that ship, and His Ma jesty's armed vessel the Porp,ile, will be found veny interesting : Th! Purfraite, tommanded by Lieutenant Fowler, in company with the C..to, Capt. Park, and Bpi/r -overs., were on their passage from New South Mies to China. On the 17th of Augnst, the p o ,oi,e struck on a coral reef of rocks, 208 miles it. the North Farr of Sandy Cape, and 733 miles from Sidney Cove, New South Wales, in Ist, 22 deg. 1 Imin. South, and long. 155 deg. 55 min. East. The waves miming high, the surf soon broke over the ship, and m a short time carried away her foremast: the situation of the ship soon rendered it absolutely necessary to cut away her other masts. The Cato Was tint able to avoid the rocks, and struck soon after. The situation of the crew on board the Cab was most distressing; the violence of the vrwes soon carried away the masts, and she had not long struck before the sea broke up her deck<, and. carried almost every thing away. The (Ally place left for the crew was within the fore chair, to which they clung in the most perilous state during the whole of the night, the sea running mountains high, eapeaing their destruflion every In the morning they perceived the Bridgewater steering her courses aft, to avoid the rocks; which she fortunately did, and was lost sight of the next day. During the day, Captain Flinders, who lately commanded the facestigetor, and who was a pas senger on board the Parpsist, with the assistance of Lieutenant Fowler, launched one of the boats be longing to the P4wite ; and, the weather moderat ing, succeeded in reheying the crew of the Cato, who were landed on a small sand bank at no great dis tance, soon after which the ship went to pieces. The crew of the l'arpuise likewise landed on the sand bank, and several days were spent in getting pro• visions and covering from the ship. The crews of both ships succeeded in obtaining a supply of provisions, &c. for about three months, and the tide falling, left them a large pro?ortion of dry land. On the 26th of August, it was agreed upon that Captain Flinders and Captain Park should launch the six oared cutter that had been saved, and steer ffr New South Wales, in search of assistance. They accordingly rowed from the sand bank on that day, and took with them twelve men, and three weeks provisions. On their going off Ole island, the coLiurs, which were lioistc.l union downward, were reversed, and their companions gave them three cheers. The cutter arrived off Indian Head, New South Wales. on the 28th of August, all well ; and Capt. Flinders gave the above intelligence to his Excel lency the Got eraor of New South Wales, with the addition that he left his companions, about eighty in number, with three months provisions. Very little doubt was entertained but they would all be saved ; the Governor had given dire Rion for vessels to go in search of the crew. Or. the 9th of September, when the last accounts tame away,no further intelligence had been rect ivest. The weather was then moderate. The condua of the officers andcrew, on the above melancholy occasion, merits the highest encomiums. WES f The Philadelphia Papers of the 2J of last month give the following interesting intelligence respect. ing Martinique : " On Saturday evening last arrived here, the brig Arm, Captain Lord, from Martinico, which place he left the 12th of February. He informs, that he arrived there on the 111th of January; in the course of fifteen days arrived five American vessels, but none afterwards. On the 2J of February, the British sent eight boats into Fort Royal, and cut out the brig Curiotif, of 2) guns, and 89 men on board, ready to sail for France the next day; the Captain General had taken his passage on board, to go to Fr i ;ce. The Captain of the brig was on board, and made his escape out of the cabin windows, swam on shore, and the next day the wounded men were sent on shore in a flag of truce On the 3d of February, the British landed 500 men on the S. W. end of Martinico, who were repulsed by 200 to of the French were killed, and 9 or 10 wounded ; 6 Englishmen were found dead the ;sett morning. On the Gth, the British sent a corer schooner into Port Royal Bay, supposed AS a spy to view the harbour. The first shut from the fort sent her to the bottom ; 1.5 men made their escape in the boat, as we were informed, and forty-five went down with the vessel. On the Bth, there was an English schooner crossing the Bay of St. Pierre, as we are inform?d by a Vanish vessel, that had sitty-five men on board, as she was in company with her ; by an accident some Are got to her magazine, and she blew up at I I A. M. not one of the crew saved. The British Commodore sent a proclamcion 'like these accidents happened, and deep tees tab isLtud in a state of siege ; he has called all his forces from Guadaloupe to surround the island, and has everted two batteries on the Dia mond Rock end on the South West part of the Island, and anchors his ships there. He has at an chor three ships on the N. W. side, under the lee of the Pearl Rocks, and has declared that he will take every thing at sea, great or small, he can lay hold of, and has destroyed a number of country boats com ing with produce. The French have taken the pi rate negroes from the plamations to erea batteries in every place on the Island where a boat can land.— The inhabitants are determined to keep them off, it it be in their power—the number of-military troops on the island is 9,000 militia under arms." A letter from Cape Frarcois, dated Feb. 25th, '` There are three British frigates, a 7t., and ..-te smaller vessels, cruising► between this, Cape Nicholas Mole, and Cape Maize. Captain Smart, of the schooner Perferereirec, ar rived at New York, from Surinam, informs that Previous to his sailing, an 4ttempt was made by Captain Mackenzie, and .30 men belonging to an English cruiser in the Roads, to cut the Comm:i -'lrres ship ote. of •pre harbour ; but the ezpedlion tailed, and SWISS cf the nun wgre rakea ptiv,ners. LAW INTELLIGENCE. COURT OF KM'. BENCII, WiPTNIIMS Mtr 24. Saiikgs Won Lord ELL2t4soto 11C14 and n Special Jury. LIBEL. ,THE KIN() V. WILLIAM CORBETT. This was an information filed against the De fendant, as proprietor of The Irrr.44 .q Pdiblvt Retister, tor having publish e d a gross libel against Philip Earl of Ilardwicke, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, John Lord Itcdesdale, Lord• High Chancellor of Ireland ; Mr. Justice Osborne, one of the Judges of the Court of King's Bench ; and William Marsden, Esq. one of the under Secretaries. The Arroamev GENZIIIAL stated the case at great length, on the part of the pmsectiiitin. He observed it was a libel ut a most dangerous and mischievous tendency ; it was a low, mean, and illiberal attack upon the Lrrd Lieutenant and Government of Ire land, turning them into ridicule and disrepute; and representing them as incapable of conduCting the aWairs of that country. The whole libel, he said, was so conibined with tietion, as to render it almost impossible to understand detached pans of it; but be was obliged to selen certain passages in order to draw the particular at!.:ntion of the Jury to those parts which should cnryt•t'l , iefly undet their considera tion, and with a on tiler view to take up the time ofthe Court as shortly at possible. The first passage in the libel to ss hich he world draw their attention was, that parr sv'ff. ,, ein t.ord Hardwick: is described under the appellation of the Modem Repre.entittieeof thr Perth., co!tiparing Excellency to the Illirodrit II:ru recorded in the History of di" Siege of Troy ; then he goes on in sach a stile of flippancy and impertinence, not meaning to state literally that the head of his Excellency we.: absolutely of timber, but 'hat it was of a very liroviat tendency. a This," he observed, " was the L srd Hardwicke of Doiftw Addington " He then says, " I discovered Lord Hardwteke to be hi rank an Earl, in manners a gen tleman, in morals .ts in manners, a good parent, and a fond husband I tit t he had an excellent library, a good colleah.n of books in St. James's-square; and applied iii.. I; -es agriculture;' those the I earned Counsel observed, wereliberal qualities and useful ac quirements'; they were qualities that should stop a libeller: but' e on on in his abuse; he denies him every other gold quality, in a slandrous and ill-na tured way; he says, " suppose a foreign enemy, ready to land on that coast, and a band of secret as sassins in the heart of Apt country, is such a wooden Administration competent to such an event r in an other part he calls his Eric-Ilene, "the Cambridge. shire Earl, or sheep-feeder," but if he knows any thing of that county, he should hide his head. Great Britain never was possessed of an army so disciplined, so appointed, so regulated, and so com manded, as that now in Ireland; this libeller states, that " this is my Lord Hatdwicke's - first political . career; that he was totally unacquainted with the na ture of the important situation he held ;" and he asks "is he one of the tribe of a Westmorland, a Hobart, or a Cam lase?" not merely libelling the Govern ment of Ireland of the present day, but the whole Government for a series of years past; had thegentle man anyopportunity to know who those persons were that he took this liberty with? no person ever held - the situation of the Noble Earl,: who was more cal culated, from his manners and ability, to unite and reconcile the people of both comet: its. The next WAS an attack upon my Lord Redesdale: he was Ailed. " a broad Chancery Pleader, from Lincoln's-Inn ;" charging him with `depriving the Secretary of the Master of the Rolls of his fees, and throwing them into the hands of an unknown An nuitant. Ile did hope the connedlion between the Lord Chancellor of Ireland, and the Attorney. General of England, would not lead the Jury to suppose, that he would select the libel particularly against him—but, he observed, th e A n nuit an t al luded to is the Chancellor's Secretary, who had been in that situation under the late F.axl of' Clare, and therefore could not he considered AS intimately conneded with Lord Redesdale—but he would leave it to the Jury to judge, whether, forgetting his former life, he could make use of praetices, such as those with which this libeller charges him. His next libel is more particularly addressed to Mr. Jus tice Osborne ;a high judicial chara3er—alluding to a charge given by him to the Grand Jury of the County of Antrim, when persons were to be tried for rebellion. " The first commission issued to try those persons was a most proper one, and the Jadges sele&ed for it, men of ability and talent; hat the same principles were not adhered to ,n issuing the se dint! commission. • The present Government were ittfluenced by principles not of genetal justice; this Gentleman was sele.fled flit certain pptposes." As to Mr. Marsden, he was charged with " overwhelm ing the kingdom with his rapacity and avarice." He then alludes to what passed at the trial d' Mr. Em mett ter High Treason, and the past which the So lici!or-General of Ireland (Mr. Plunkett) took upon That occasion. The latter had been the intimate and bosom friend of Mr. Emmett's father ; and the Defendant accused him of an outrage on justice and loy 1:t upon that trial ; but, u;ion this part of the case, he would not take up the time of the Court, As the Solicitor-General had made it the subje& of a distinct anion against Mr. (7obbett. The le mned Counsel then observe J, that he had wieeted theme passag: ~ from a va-t number in this libel, equally scut ohms, scandalous, and abusive. The whole was a low, treats, and illiberal attack upon the Lord Lieutenant and Government of Ireland. One, alone, would have sufficed to-explain the whole of the mat ter. Mr. Cobbett could not set up a defence that he was only the publisher of this that he was In to the. publication of it through inadvertence; his perseverlig in publishing it proves the contrary ; the public curiosity had been much increased. as well as the finances of Mr. Caohett, by the sale of this libel ; it still eon:hilted to be sold every day at his shop. lie could not imagiae how that Gentle man meant to jostify himself; WAS it by having elcfc.l himself into the charaerter of a Public Cen sor ? 'fine 61a/icier and cal y made use of by him, proceeded from no good motives; he there:time trusted, that the Jury we uld be of opinion, this matter call.ai tor their interference, and that they world stamp it with a mark of their disapprobation. Richard Barry was then called, wbo proved that the affidavits, ay which it appeared Mr. Cobbett was the punks her of Ihe W ektd PP...leen/ Regm:er, or-re filed in the ,tamp Odic* 'accorder.g to the 43 M Parliament. Mr. ADAM, on•the part of the Defendant, was about to contend that as the Aft of Parliament re quired the affidavit should be signed, sworn, or af firmed, it was necessary to pi r.ve the hand-w:iti ig of Mr. Cobbett :'upon the Witness being asked the question, he said lie was present when the Defend ant sign- • d and swore it. Some other Witnesses :ere pro.luci.d to prove the apooirnments of Lord Hardwicke, Lord Redesdale, tee. and of having urci tas :d the Ln:pers containing the libels in question. ME„, ADAM, °tithe part of the Defendant, went into a very lung and able defence rhe rested the case chiefly upon the chars ter and sitaatiou of his client. He was a good father, a virtuous husband, end a loyal subjeft ; he had always endeavoured to main tain the true principles of the constitution ; he had, on all occasions, set himself forward, at the risque of his life, in defence of that Constitution. Atter twelve years public service, wherein be had so often displayed his inviolable attachment to bis King and Country, he was now, for the first time, called upon to defend himself from an accusation of a libel. The real question to try was the information filed for the purpose of personal retribittion : and the fur: ther question was, what was the intention, the ems amino. The intention or motive of the party was the matter to be considered ; what may appear to :site mind scurrilous and abusive, may appear other wise to another. The question of intention or ma. tive was a great while excluded from the consider ation of Juries ; and it was left for the Court to ,le cide whether the matter was, or was not, of a libel. lons nature ; the Jury might give a verdift of guilty , or not guilty, merely on proof of publication ; but now the case is altered, and lies in the words of the Aft of Parliament. The Jury is to consider the intention or motive of the party t this right arose in the revolution. and hes continued ever since ; the li berty of the Press has been held as one of the first principles of the Consritution, and according to the dodrine laid down by the ATTORNEY GENERAL, if it k to he fettered, then there is an end of that great basis of civil liberty. The Defendant was a person who for a long time resided in America, and sl ice that period in this kingdom as a public writer : if he conduits himself with firmness, in his animadversions upon the principles of the Coostioi tion and the servanteof the Government, he is a meritorious chantaer : though he derives no great honour from his anastor ' at least he deri v e s no shame. 'Ple character and history of this estraordi nary.man was this: He was the son of a daily la bocrer, who gave him what scanty education his poor means would afford. He le'' his father's house at the age of eighteen, and b: cane self-taught in the grammatical nse of that language, which he has since so frequently displayed with so much energy and effect. His leading pi inciple h 3, ever been to support the cont.:it's:ion of thi s ki og d.. , n , and ha love for his King and country has ever been most conspicuous. No evidence whatever had been adduced to prove he wis the vendor of this pnbli cation; but even if it was admitted, it might he frequently necessai y to enquire into the politics ' conduit, the policy, or the imbicility of the ser vants of Government. The nature and tee dency of the libel in question went to chew that the weapons for the due administration of the Government should be put into the hands of persons of ability and talent; it this was curtailed, p&slic ridicule and face discussion must be given up ; hut there were no persons in public capacities wh o h ave not been some time or other treated with ridicule. The evidence which would be produced as to cha rafter, in order to rebut the motion a ll ege d on t h e part Of the prosecution, would be of the first rank and respeitability, and most have its due weight. Mr. Liston, the first witness on the pert of the Defendant, deposed, that he had been British Mi mater in America for several years, during which time, he had a personal knowledge of the I)efend ant ; as to his general character and condtta, he was as eminent as he was excellent, as a man at tached to the constitution of this country in all its branches, and a zealous defender of the principles of the constitution. Upon his ctoss-examination by the Aylmer:Er GENLRAL, the ftetendaist was one of the last men lie kLew who would publish a libel against the g vernment he lived tinder ; but he was not an uulikely man to ridicule the Ameri. can or any other government he did not live und er . Lord Henry Stewart was then called : he deposed that he had resided in America with Mr. Liston, and knew Mr. Cobbett intimately well : he had written a series of books, by which, and his general condo& and character, he appeared devotedly attached to the King, Royal Family, sad Constitution of Great Britain. The flight I lon. W. Windham was then called: he said he had kanwn the Defendant since his tetutn to this kingdom. and knew bins to be a zealous sup portet of the constitution of this coantry. • Lord Minto, Mr. Yorke, and hir. — lierves, wste all severally sworn and ewnined, ar.J deposed, that they knew the DTA:nada to be a warm and zealous defeLder of the constitution as estahllshod by law. _ . _ [bra ELLasseonovan. in his ch.ugt to the Jury, nude some oliserv,st;odiap4.lu the lAw laiJ in such cay.s. ' The Jury, after some consultaticn, found a 'tr. of—(panty. tll4O. at Ike Snit vi the Rig.ht Hon. W. WICK 11A4, V. DANIEL SLATLIM, This erss All information tikil agriust the De fendant for sending a challenge to the Plaintitt. The Defendant WAS son of the late Governor of Ilarbadoes, and, on his retni to Kriglaud from that country, was ins , ted to spend some time with Mr. Wickham, when that gentleman was resident in Irelaad as Secretary. Mr. Sl:Att):l'S Si‘ter was married to Mr. Flint, a rurr.t particular friend of Mr. Wickham. Upon some disputes between Mr. Seaton and his family, Mr. Wickham interfered on the pat of Mrs. Flint, who was then 'Au -eighteen yeas of age : he was iter trastee in her marr i age settlement, and h.s interference considered as necessary to restore tranquillity among the parties. A correspondence took place between Mr. Wick ham And the i)ei'endartt, and, After many provo cations, an absolute n:essage was at last sent by the . Defendant. Mr. IVickEtim dee .teel in the most manly, honourable, and forbrArias manner t but the belzadant still persevered, and repeated his miss:age by Major Mangos, which obliged Mr. Wickain t o apply tar an intormation both Gentlemen. Application was at.erwards m., 'e to him to withdra* tl,e information ; and, from the handaernecondua of Major Mangin upon that oc casion, _he declined proceeding againq but Mr. Seaton, having written a subsequent letter to Mr. Wickham, which gis. Fly azgravated the eri.. ginal oacnce, the business now cam e on before th e Co.trt. Mr. ERSICI..E stated the case on tbe part of the prosecution with his usual ability, and Mr. Wickham was the o.dy witness called He proved the charge. Mr. Cora; did not go largely into the defence on the part of Mr. Seaton. Ile observed Mr. Season's conduet was rather reprehensible ; ind that M. Wickham's was to a great Jeg-ree right and proper. He regretted Mr. Wickham had returned one of the Defendant's letters unon•ried, as it would have ex plained every matter in dispute. Load Et Lam aoaot:na went through the evidence, and the Jury found the Defendant G,.;'ty. Lord E.i.i.cupoacitmu then oh c-ved, that be bopra the Gentleman's mind wri:l i be cl!--n t., convidjon, befo r e he w as brought up in receive: Cl.' judgment of the CoUtt, and stront , i: -.,com:nendel It to him to make hi s p eace w i t h kr. %V:,-::ham. Aissnin. Esq. a'. Sir W. LI. IA 111 GI 1111:iNi, it:. •-• PI this cause, which we reported yesterday, we ought to have stated, that the damages were merely pominal ; it having been Agreed that an end v:eald be put to the aaiou, on the Defendant's paying the Plaintiff his costs. IAVAL INTELLIGENCE: AL MOUTH, MA V. 2n. srl, NS. Sailed the P Efisabeth packet, Kill, with Mails of the Itth inst for the Leeward Islands. Arrived late this evening the Am. 'Vaud packet, Capt. Skuyler, with Mails from Lisbon, ten. days passage on the day she sailed, the reva./Nad pac ket, with Mails from Englam!, hid arrived mit, and would sail agai• from thence on the arrival of the 11:shinfAtom packet with Mails from England. On the day the pAckit sailed. General Lasnes wit to give a grand festival in the ,ltalian church, with a Tr beim, fur Bonaparte's escape from assassination. Mr. Frere, the British Minister a. Madrid, w a c expes.Red to leave there every day !.ishoii, take his passage for England ; it i, ti,e ge.l..it 1 opinion at Lisboa, that a war with Spain ii inevita ble. Mr. Frere demanded an expl ina , i , in of some words made use of, and inserted in the I'-nch Jour nal, the Mchtieur, by the Prince of Peace, and was informed by di,: latter, that if he (Mr. F.) required satishullioh, it must be from GO,OOO Spaniel-ds, he could scud to join the French Army of England. Letters from - Cadiz, of the 2 ;,11 Aprii, stare, that the greater part of the annual suh , idy, paid by Spain to France, is carried home to England. by (knish men of war, from Cadiz ; and from Englans remitted in Bills to Hamburg',, where it is paid et the French Agents. these two mo the following sums are state i .•. bave been shipped or :armed the fallowing ships, no 44 - ,tlllt of the Freud Government, though nominally consigned t mer. chants in London, via. by the Liana, 500,00( dollars; by die Monmouth. 460,000 dollars ; ant by the OrpAcmi, 61.0,000 d 011.... The Gibraltar Newspa7t^ of the lath of Apr. says—s It is :main that a &signet of . l ie Tank' fleet, consisting of five •hips ot die line Ind tbre frigates, has been out fora few days ; but. on chased by our squadron, they returned to Tin... Roads, within a short distance of which, the dfree-s frigate took one of their .nerchant brigs. It is men boated that before Cie capture took place, a Frcnc frigate, and three or four sail of the line, successive] came out to her assistance. They with trete, hoe ev r, on being met by an equal number of our and !eft the brig to her fate " Scene formidable batteries are to be made on tl heights o: Dover. The Castle is already so stron• with horn."' Its, mine's, &c. and four guns, a pounders, plated on the top of the citadel, that it supposed to be c ip eble of withstanding an army . twenty thousand men fer two months. The gn rison of the Castle, the ' , ford and Leicester t 4 I, ere two tine regimerts, in high state af disc pine, and behave themselve in the most orderly it regular Ma " ner. it having beet customary for be Sd regiment Loyal London Volunteers to attend Divine Servi at St. Paul"; Cathedral on all public oc was expedited they wend I have assembl l this 41 far that purpose; but, upon a mature con •linivis of the subjta and its consecriences, it iv.. ..serve advisable to avoid it, under the idea, that as zed terry bodies cannot possibly assemble without mu parade and public a"ra.lion, they re thereby ;nor mental in defeating the very spirit aitil intention cis General Fast. 'They have therefore declined : cepting that accommodation "Ai( h has been Niche so Yes) , handsomely afforded them. The account in this pacer yeste7 lay se'ennigi of' the yottng man who sh. t l,i owl( the precedi day in Holborn, we are Assn ed, was incorrea some points.—He was ore*: 19 years of age, a no quarrel whatever bad tacer place betweet h and his father immediately In ...ire the tat:ll cat unpin. Un the contrary, the mitt unin:cri ttpc harmony subsisted between them. Theetathete I no thwarted his son's inclinations, nor was he home wheel his son committed ens rAsn 4 et. The Bath Forum regiment of Volume ra, on the command of Col STP.PIICSR, are to march i Bath this day on permanent duty fir one rho during %Oki', it is expefte k i an elis;;ant set at col. will be press ted to the regiment by the Right H the Countess of 11., rn. Within these few days past, a robbery has Is discovered to have been c nmitted at ,s whole warehouse, in the slop way, in Fituchurch-its The master has found out that many wrv. in his employ have been pilfering and rob' him, to: some time past.' Ile discovered et i letter having peen sent to a Mr. stat the way in which the system of plunder .1. ' carried on by Ls servants to the ani o n tot 'Haying detetffed his foreman it the aa of stea. be bad him and others t teen up, one of whe.rn turned King's evidence, and made suds discos &at a considerable part of the prop :fey has I traced to different places. Several of the parties have undergone :ir. nation before the LOlllll MAY7a, %'C; Of t::11411 been committed fir trial, and the °Otos recommitted for (ardor 'lamination. Cl. Ica I ~. P.