The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser. — London, England, 1805-04-03 00:00:00

THEArRE, trattar-t.s..x. Last night Their MAJESTIES and the five Psiscassis honoured this The are with their precence ; the entertainments commanded for the -evening were Mr. CUM BERL A ND's admirable Come dy of The Tried of Furesine, anti the Musical Farce of Of Age requorrow. Mr. EL L isTON, for the first time, sustained the part of Pearuddock. It was written for Mr. Kest ete, and our idea of the chars ter was formed by that excellent actor. We did not perceive Mr. E Lis roe a copyist in any thing but his second dress. He was perfeiffly mas ter of his part, and gave a most interesting and „ Aura l portrait of the noble, generous minded misanthrope. He was received throughout with the loudest plaudits. We have not been accustomed to so interesting a Mrs. Wendt-Mr as Mrs. Poses Lt.. Miss Met cox was an arch and lively Eavd . v. Mr. Dolmas , ' in the &vein., was excellent. Every era rafter was well supported. Miss DECAMP and Mr. llsasisrca performed the parts of the Boren and Moincin the farce, with their usual excellence. Miss I)cc a Mr's mock Italian song was loudly encored. The whole of 6e Roy ILL PARTY were in the d eetr est grooming. Princess Et IZA 'Lig had a very foe plume of black feathers ; all the PRINC Ems wore j.t earrings, solitaires, and ornament. on their tur bans. They looked remarkably. well;• the black dress 'hewing their beautiful hair and fair com. pletioa to the greatest advantage. They were re• ceived with all the accustomed enthusiasm ; God ore Ike kerb and Rule Briiannia, were sung by the performers. The house was extremely full, but looked glgomy, from black being so universally worn. We cannot give a better description of the variety of shapes mourning assumed, than by scfrr riag to the f:W , iont for this month, given in this l'aper on Mon! ay last CITY BUSINESS. A Court of Aldermen was held at Guildhall yesterday, ar which were present the LORD M•TOR, 17 Aldermen, Sheriffs, and other City Officers. Five persons were swarr into the office of brokers, and nine were allowed of until the next Court. Five thfasand pounds Orphan Stock was ordered to be drawn off and annihilated. SADDAM BROWN, Esq Deputy, was sworn in.o the offi:e of Corn Meter, in trust for the City, for four years, provided he shall so long continue in the Common Council. The Court ordered the price of breed to continue the same as last week, which is Is. 31d. per quar tern loaf wheaten, and Is. I Id. the quartern loaf bou ehold. 't he Committee appointed to examine and con si 'er the Pe f--o' iof the Ruters of the Wate men a d Lightermen's Company, in respett, to raising t 'fir Color lees. delivered in a report in writing ap proving thereof, which was agreed to by the Court, and the Solicitor was ordered to take the proper steps to lay the same before the Lord Chief Justice of the Court of King's Bench, to be arinwed. A report was also received from a Committee in , relation to the pre cot state of the Giktspur.street Compter, and stating their opinion that a New Compt-r should be built as soon as possisle, in lieu of the ohe in the Poultry about to be pulled down, and the Lon)) MAYOR was requested to lay the same before the next Court of Common Council. The Court this day heard the Pitition of Messrs. St ATOP, 6T v Remove, and Srt Irwin, against JAet Ei T)A•, ore of the brokers of this city, and heard Mr. DA v in answer : when they resolved the Messrs. SEATO.' and Co. might use the name of Mayor and Commonalty of the City, in a preseen t,,n of .1, II ES 1)A V upon his bond, in the penalty i.t five hundred pounds The following rtllttisition was yesterday presented to the LORD NIAYDR, signed by several Liverymen. His Lordship said, he would consider their applica tion, and return an answer on Thursday morning : " MY LORD—We, the undersigned Liverymen, do re. quest your Llsalsbip to convene a Common llall %turn an ear., day, to consoler the daersat above in the managoment and expenditure or the public inonns, bmuglit to light ny the Ky. port of ti.e Commissioners appointed by Parliament to invemi• gate the same ; and to is truct o r Reurt_sentativis strenuously to promote and prosecute all inquiries into the said abu,es, and alto to site for such Motions a may have for their object the removal foam His Majesty's Councils, or any place of trust or prod', idl pen , /313 who may be triplicated in the said abuse.' On Monday evening, Mr. throe, the celehrred performer on the trumpet, had his annual Benefit Comer, at his Rooms, in Tottenham-street. On this occas'ln, several of his brethren, who are un tivalLed performers on their respeaive instruments, stood forward to assist. Messrs. LINDLEY on the Vinbncello, and HoLse Es on the Bassoon, gratified the audience with Concertos or. their instruments, LB' of which, as usual, astonished, as well as gratified every hearer. HYDS likewise gave a Concretion his difficult instrument, and introduced the air of Crazy Jane. SHIELD, the celebrates! Composer, was the principal viola. The Bari , : was very ably led by Mr. MOUNTAIN. The orchestra was extremely well filled. Mrs. MOLNTA IN an d Miss Tia:4 lax were at the head ; the former sang an Italian Air, and Let the bright Seraphim, ; the Tatter, in a style not to be ex celled by any singer of the present day, and her performance was renderecteomplete, by the admi rable accompaniment on the trumpet, by 1 / 1 M;a: TENNANT 1.111,7 her song with much taste and sweetress. Two excellent Glees were sung by the Lt. Lions, Ryas's, arid WATTS. The room was Te• 'pea ably filled with company. In the splendid circle of beauty, at the late Draw ing•to in, the lovely Miss CHARLOTTE MILLS, daughter of the amiable Mrs. MILL., excited the most distinguished ahniration. She was pees, wed to Her MAJUTV by the Countess of IL( it ast.Ea, ber near relation : her countenance is most femi ninely beautiful, yet animating, and sensibly ex pressive, and a symmetry of shape most accu: ately p - oportioned. The amiable PRINCVSES received the young Lady with the most impressive interest, higliv flattering to herself and friends. Her mind is richly cultivated by the elegant acquirements of a finished education ; and her manners are enlivened by all the charming 'mirth and graceful elegance of her mother, whose pleasing vivacity has long eapti vatd and delighted the most brillist.t circles of fashion. ~. 'NOME CIRCUIT. KINGSTON, iIIOND•T, •Pllll, 1. *SAD V. SOROD•LE. 'llhii was an aftion against the late Sher:ff of Surrey, who was a mere nominal Defendant, for a trespass, in entering the house of the Plaintiff, and taking away several of his goods. The Defendant had pleaded that there were a judgment and execu tion against the goods of one John Membrane, and justified the entering the house to take those goods, and that the goods which he had taken were the goods of Llembrune, and not at the Plaintiff. Mr. Gaaaow stated, that Mennintine was a cabi net-maker, and an ingenious workman, but, falling into unfortunate circumstances, he applied to one of those harpies of money-lenders who prey upon the distresses of their fellow creatures. Of him he bor rowed some monery.at the usually extravagant rate. ' He received a draft, which he expeCted to be pay able at sight, hut when he came to look at it, it was payable at a distant day. He told Mr. Smith, the kind Gentleman who thus accommodated him, and who, it was fit the Jury should know, kept a hardware-shop in Rathbone-place, that he was in immediate want of the money, aed that a distant day of payment was of no use to him. Upon this, Smith told him, that though the draft was not payable until a future day, yet he might easily convert it into ready money; for that his old bar_ ber (who no doubt had learned to shave close) kept a public-house, sad he would immediately discount the draft, if he took a dozen or two of wine in part payment. As a needy man he had no power of re fusal, and was obliged to comply. As might well be expelled, the poor man soon failed, and was driven into the rules of the King's Bench, and here he met the Plaintiff, who had been an old friend and companion in his boyish days, and he, commi serating the sad situation of Membrane, allowed him the privilege of working in his shop, being both of the same trade. The usurer bad before taken all the goods he could find in execution for hit debt. and, not content with what he had got, he pursued the wretched man into even his prison; and sup posing. from his own feelings. that no one would succour the wretched, he seised on the goods of the Plaintiff, presuming they must be to.embruue's, be cause he worked in the same shop. The principal Witness to prove that the goods taken by the Sheriff's Officer were the goods of the Plaintiff, and not of Niembrune, was Membitine himself; but, upon cross-examination, be admitted that they had been his, and that he had sold them to Rea.i, because he expeeed they would be taken en ekecittiors IT was proved that the Officar told Read, that, if he would point out what belonged to biro. he would mot take t he m. Serjeant Best contended, that the sale by Membrune .o the Plaintiff was a mere fraud, to de feat Smith of the ft %tits of his execution. Mr. Justice Ncnrtt told the Jury, that the only question was, whether the goods taken were the goods of hlembrune, of of the Plaintiff? With re aped to the usury, there had not - beets a tittle in proof that there was any ; and, therefore, the Jury must not suppose that there was any in faa. If hiembrune had sold these goods to the Plisiaeif to avoid the execution; yet if the Plaintiff himself did not know the fall, he would be a bona fide purchaser. Verdi& fur the Plaintiff. TUESDAY, APRIL 2. sato AIDWOOD, isq C. TAE HON. T. COVLNTRY. Mr. G ARROW said, that this aaion was brought against a young Gentleman, whom he was sorry to have to complain against. He was the snit of a Noble Family, and inherited from a relation a large fortune, which he had dissipated in every kind of extravagance. He was now within the Rules of the King's Bench, from whence he sallied by a day rule in term time, and trespassed all round the neighbourhood of Footscray. He was an excellent shot, and had a servant as good a shot as himself. They, with three or four companions of the same soq,.with their double-bairelied gnus, made such havock with the game wherever they went, that it was now the only question, whether the proprietors of the manors or strangers should have the game upon them? In (Mawr last he was poaching upon the Plaintiff's manor, and being warned off by his game-keeisee, he told the man to tell his master tt to string Ms fiddles, and not interrupt him, or he would 'smock him over head," using a coarse expressio.t, which he did not chu,e to repeat. He would have this Sprig. pi - Noidith know, that a re speßable mechanic. who amassed a fortune by his ingenuity and economy. was a m re respeaable person than the dissipated man of fashion, who had squandered the inheritance of his ancestors. After hearing some evidence, Mr. Justice HEATH said, he supposed a shilling verdi,l would do. Mr. GA Rio» replied, be would accept of a shil ling. Mr. Serjeant BEST and Mr. Cum swoon. Coun sel for Mr. Cuvettt y, agreeing to it, a verdifl was taken for the Plaintiff—Damages one shilling. WATTS v. SCNT:Ltz. 'Ms was an aftion by the Plaintiff, a broker, in Lambeth. against the Defendant, a German Doc tor, for calling him a thief, a Prvindier, and saying that he lived by swindling. Two old women proved thatihe Doftor had spoken these words; and the blot by his Counsel, insisted that the Plaintiff, who',lfted as Lawyer to the neighbourhood, had injured the Dalor, by giving him bad law ; to this it eriss replied, that the only cause for the Dodoes w•as because the Plaintiff would not recom mend his bad physic. The words being proved, the Jury found a ver diet for the Plaintiff—Damages 51. On the Crown Side ihere was no case of import ance but that of the manslaughter, which we have al. ready reported. No criminal was left for execution. Here the Assizes and the Flame Circuit finished. It is said, that the Earl of Mom", has been pre •.iiled upon to continue in his command in Scot land. Yesterday a great number of Lunatic and Bank rupt Petitions were disposed of in the Court of Chancery, but not any of notoriety or interest to the public. Several persons attended, in the hope ot bearing the Cmamttt.ton's decision upon the Case of Mrs. Firsts aaaaaa and the Infant Daughter of the late I.qrd HUGH SY/moue, notwithstanding his Lordship's intimation of his intentpa not to agitate the question until the other business before the Court should be dispi..sed of. SLAVE TRADE. TO THE EDITOR OF THE BRITISH PRF.SS. . . SIR—It is a very important and striking teeth.' worthy the serious consideration of all those iehn doubt the enormous wickedness of West Ii dean Slavery, that its most respeetable champions, and even tense among them who, by an affectation of candour, have made the most powerful impression on the Nellie mind, have been obliged to tesoit to gross misrepresentations of the fads upon sebich tbey reason. Sometimes, in artier to deprive of our sympathy the wretched vidimsofcolonial despotism, fallacious representations have been wil'ully given of their condua and charaeter; at other times, in order to draw a veil over their sufferings and wrongs, ad vantage has been taken of the ignorance of the Eu ropean public respeaing West Indian affairs, by disclosing just so much of a particular fad, as would furnish a basis for an inference opposite to the truth, and invidiously suppressing the rest. Of this preetice, Mr. Brougham, in his able work, entitled, An Inquiry into the Colonial Pulley of the European Powers, has given some ekamples in writers of the first reputation among the apologists of the West Indian system. The cart-whip is the planter's ordinary instru ment, both of coercion and punishment. When used for the former purpose by the driver in the field, it is generally applied to the poor Labourers in their working posture, without stopping to strip them of the clothes by which their backs may hap pen to be defended. The effea is sufficiently se vere ; yet not so much so as commonly to leave permanent marks on the body But a heo a pu nishment is to be deliberately inflieted, the patient is stretched upon the ground, with his limbs extended, and the cast whip, which, in the hands of an expert driver, is a most merciless instrument of torture, is vertically applied, with all his force, and with an iteration sometimes extending to an hundred lashes, upon that fleshy part of the naked frame, which alone can receive such extreme discipline, without great danger to life. Not only is the scarf :kin peeled off by every ennui& of the lash, but deep in cisions are made, which often leave lasting scars of a shocking appearance: from these scars very few field negroes are wholly exempt. This general and notorious fail having been no ticed by the Abolitionists, in the first discussion on the Slave Trade, but without a distina specification, as it would seem, of the part of the body which bore these badges of cruelty, a tour to the Windward Islands was written by one West Indian Planter of great eminence (Sir William Young), and published in a well known work of another (History of the West Indies, by Mr. Bryan Edwards), in which the following passage appears : I particularly no ticed every negro whom I met or overtook on the road ; pf those, I counted eleven who were dressed as field negroes, with only trowsers on, and advert ing to the evidence on the Slave Trade, I particu larly remarked the: not one of the eleven had a sin gle mark or scar of the whip, &c.—Never pass ing a slave, withou: observing his back, either in the field, or on the road, or wenches washing in the ri ver. I have not seen one back marked, besides that of the woman observed on Mr. G.'s estate, &c." Sir William Young's objea in bringing forward this statement is obviously to discredit the accounts which have been given of the severity of West In dian bondage. He is himself owner of several plan tations, and therefore must have had ample means of ascertaiiiing the real state of the case. But such is the wifairness of the impression which his account is calculated to produce, an unfairness which could not escane the notice of any man having the slightest ateraintance with West Indian affairs, that Mr. Ed wards thought himself bound, from regard, it is to be presumed, to his own charaaer for veracity, to subj lin to the passage the following note: "In the West Indies the punishment of whipping is com monly infliaed, not of the backs of the Negroes, as protitsed sn the discipline of the Brtti.ih soldiers, but more humanely and with much less danger, on parte, postetiores. It is therefore no proof that the Negroes whom Sir William Young inspected had escaped flagellation, because their shoulders bore no impression of the whip. This acknowledgment I owe to truth and candour." The arida annotator well knew that if the just and necessary sentence of a court martial were to be executed by the same instrument, and to the same extent as the arbitrary, and often capricious man date of a West Indian overseer, the back could not be the seat of punishment %idiotic certain death to the sufferer. But of the candour of Mr. Edwards, as an histo rian, in what regards this hapless race, Mr Brougham has furnished ample illustration, and one instance of it well deserves to be noticed. A Mt. Gallifer, a planter of St. Domingo, was celebrated , for his mild treatment of his slaves, and the coast. gnence of his lenity was, that they increased ha numbers very rapidly ; bet, about the year 1773, this gentleman died, and the negroes found a new master of an opposite characier, who treated theta so badly, that their numbers, instead of increasing as before, continually declined. These falls were published by Mr. Clarkson, in 1788, in his Essay ore the Impolite of the Stare Trade; and as that pe riod was three years anterior to the revolution in St. Domingo, of course there could be no room for suspicion, that, with a view to the events of that re volution, Mr. Clarkson could have devised or mis represented the fag of the reverse of treatment upon Gallifer's estate, which had taken place fifteen years before he wrote ; yet Mr. Edwards, in his If 'story of St. Domingo, for the purpose of supporting an absurd and mischievous calumny on the oppressed African race (the charge of their being wholly de-, stitute of the natural sentiment of gratitude), has inserted the former part of Mr Clarkson's anecdote, but wholly suppressed the death of Mr. Gabler, esnd tle change effreatment by the net master, Red has then given a shocking account of the excesses committed in the insurreaion by the negroes of this estate, as if the peculiar indulgence and kind treatment of their owner had produced the effeU of making them more ferocious than the rest of the insurgents. Of such misrepresentation, if wiltnl, for such a purpose, it would be difficult to speak with the re prehension it deserves ; and yet, as Mr. Brougham observes, the mutilation of the case could not be ac cidental. It would be difficult, indeed, to believe, that so industrious an advocate as Mr. Edward, had not read the work of so distinguished an opponent r as Mr. Clarkson, whose very smrde ca: litre • uses upon this occasion. besides, Mr. •Editikards bad b,rn at Cape Francois, in the near niighhoul hood of this estate, during the insurredion ; alsd he tells us, with Mr. Clarkson, that the name of Mr. Mr. Gallifer had been proverund for his i-nrianity •," as happy as Gallifer's negroes," it could hardly have ei.caped his notice, that so remarkable a cha rafter, who has been dead near twenty ycirs, was not living at that interesting period. And even were it possiile rn acquit this writer el wilful mis representation in this case, his rashness, in confidently asserting so eitraordinary an instance of depravity in dire& opposition to the truth of the case, must be fatal to his credit as in historian NE ;; It is painful to make such observations on a writer now no more I but Mr. Edwards, under the mask of an affeeted candour and mod-ration, has done more to mislead the public mind, at the espence of truth, and of the opp.essed African race, than all the other advocates of the Slave System united; and we must not suffer the cause of millions now living, and myriads yet unborn, to he prejudiced by false tenderness to the memory of the dead. Your's, Ass AnnLITIONIIIT. CORONER'S INQUESTS. Yesterday an inquest was held by ANTIMNY GILL, Esq. upon the body of Martin Cieloneton, a salesman, in the habit of attending Covent-Garden market, who was killed by a fall from a window, on the third &tor of a house in Hart-street, Covent- Garden, yesterday morning, between two and three o'clock. The first witness was Ann Serval. She stated that she inhabited, for six m..nths past, the room next to that occupied by the deceased and Lis wife. Mr. Culli-gton. she said, was a man much given to liquor; upon the first of April he cams home at 12 o'clock at night, seemingly very drutik, and went to bed. Between two and three o'clock in the morning, Mrs. Culling:on alarmed her, by knocking at her door, and calling for a light, as her husband had fallen out of the window. Witness arose from her hed, and ran into the street, with Mrs. Cullington, where they found the deceased lying dead. Mrs. Collington, whose attendance was hu manely dispensed with by the Coroner, told witness that her hu.band arose, according to his usual cus tom, to look out at the a indow, tor the porpcse of ascertaining the hour, and she immediately after heard a crash. Witr.ess juiriptii out of bed, ran t.s the window, and found he: husband suspended y his hands from the window ledge, w'th nis I:et downwards. She screamed, and he fell. Surgeon H. wson sail he was sonkfor to at ! the deceased, wlvari he found dead in the with only his shirt on. His collar bone, and one •,f the bones of one arm, were broken ; t.is face was smeared with blood, aad 1:e had twn drip cuts upon his knee. Ha bad no dou'lt but that thtbe, and the cnncuuion of the brain by the fall, had oc casioned his death. Verdiß—.lerielental Dead On Monday evening an Inques: was held before J. N. Usw:w, Esq. at the sign c.f . the London Hospital, on the bodies of ttro children, who had been burned to death. ft appeared that one of the children had lived in Spitalfieids. and the other at Shoreditch, and, having been left alone in their re. speaire rooms, accidentally set kr. t their clothe , and were burned in so shocking a manner, that they died in a few hours after they were carri:d to the Hospital. The Jury, in both case, retut wad a ver dia of--Accidental Death. The Arasta frigate, with the fleet under convoy from Portsmouth, and the Rein Deer sloop of war. with the fleet under convoy from Cork, arc arrived at Jamaica. Tae Ruby, —, of and fr...m Dublir for parte I from the fleet on the 7th Ja nuary, in lat. CA. 20. long. 'a. 30. The (burn Charlotte, CL A Rl( ' from Surinam, far London, is burned off Dungeness. Yesterday the Loyal Whttechapel Volunteers had a general muster, previous to their being reviewed by General CANSUTHERS. They went through the new manual and platoon exercise with great eclat. The following Corps of Riflemen and Yager', being a division of the Light Brigade, will muster at Kennington, on Thursday, the 11th instant, in service order, and march to Kingston ; %% here they will he quartered fot some days on permanent duty: Hon Attalory Carn e any rapt. B • +el. 61:t L0.:..1 London Ca l t D.peffelt. LoyolSoArwark Capt. Smithy+. Lepel Whitochapel .Caps. Wilcox. This day the Seventh Regiment of Loyal London Volunteers, with their Rine Company attached, will muster, according to order, in the 'Venter ground, Goodman's-fields, under the command of Major PRATT, in the absence of Lienun tot-Colony' Su w, to be inspeded by General LA • 111. They will go through their new exercise; after which they are to have a grand field day in the Kast India Company's Ground, City-road. About seven o'clock last evening, a middle aged woman, who has lodged for some tim at a haver'r, in New Inn Passage, Clare Market, threw herself out of the two pair of stairs window, and broke both her legs, and was otherwise dreadfully tr u.sed. She was carried to the Workhouse. Insanity is con sidered to have been the cause, as when in the aft she was heard to exclaim,—" I must go :" Must Bo On Saturday night considerable alarm was ex cited at the Royalty Theatre, by a fellow in the gallery crying out " Fire, fire . 1 ." In an instant All was confusion : Mr. Asrt.ev came forward and Assured the audience there Was not the smallest foundation for surh a report. But nu one wouli listen ; but pressed to the doors. Ihe whole com pany came on the stage, and joined in the assurance; peace was at length restored, with the loss of some shoes and bonnets. The mischievous culprit, who is said to bra Jew, was taken into custody. On Monday last, Jacos Moses, a lands/run, liv ing in Reeemary-lene, started from London Bridge, at an early hour, in a skiff, to tow to Gra' esend (which is 93 miles by water) in one tide. He had himself laid a considerable wager, and several other bets were depending ; and, though but a slender man, he performed this great undertaking in less th in three hours and a half. However, he derive a considerable advantage from a sailing cutter with sweeps, which kept the whole of the way before him, and. by dividing the water, mad. his progress much less difficult in her wales.