The Sun. — London, England, 1829-02-02 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE LONDON JOURNALS. (FROM THE TIMES.) Often as we have had occasion to impress it on our readers, that the best security against any dan gerous increase of power in the Catholic Church of this kingdom would be an extension of constitu tional privileges to the Catholic laity, we cannot shut our eyes to the fact that there is little prospect of carrying emancipation through Parliament without some legislative provision, in the nature of more for mal and distinct securities. The several species which have passed in review before the public, arid been alluded to by this amongst other journals, may be comprised in two divisions. Ist. Such as will give the Crown or Parliament an effectual restraint by law over the Catholic priesthood ; and, 241. Such as will effectually restrain the Catholic Ipyman from exercising, through his legislative privileges any power of the Protestant church - _ The first class of se .urities, or of professed secu rities, are looked for -ia - veto" of some kind upon the election of Catholi Bishops by the Irish clergy, or on the confirmation of their choice by the Pope. And to such a control' lg prerogative in the supreme Government, over me who, whatever may be their spiritual character, do :et possess, if not, all the power ascribed to them, much real influence over the actions of a large body of the King's subjects, we should not in our own judgment have antici pated any serious objection. In this particular we have been deceived. Although many en lightened and temperate Catholics have declared themselves favourably towards enactments which recognize the principle of a restraining autho rity in the King's Government over the appoint ment of Catholic Bishops, that body appears to have entertained such dread of any interference with its church government by a Protestant state, and so con siderable a proportion of the laity have concurred with the priesthood in deprecating that interposition under any form, that it has naturally become an object of anxiety with the friends of emancipation, to devise same expedient of a different description, though of equal force, as a measure of satisfaction to the Pro testants, and at the same time not offensive to the conscientious jealousy of our Catholic fellow-sub jects, for the maintenance of their religious freedom. The least objectionable of these plans which the necessity of the case has put the friends of emanci pation upon suggesting, and which come within the second head of securities—viz. such as do not give a power of interference to Protestants, but such as deprive Catholics of it—appears to be that of Mr. Wilmot Horton, which has more than once drawn expressions of approbation from this paper. In re verting to the project of the Right Hon. Gentleman, we now present it under a novel aspect, as forming the matter of a highly interesting correspondence with Dr. Baines, a Catholic ecclesiastic of consider able station, and in the confidence of the Roman See. The correspondence is introduced by the Right Hon. Gentleman in a well-written preface, sad shows the feasibility of accommodating the measure of qualified emancipation to the feelings of the Catholics, if only their religious freedom be respected. (FROM THE MORNING HERALD.) It is to be hoped that Burke will not be the only example of retributive justice arising out of the de tection of the system of wholesale murder in Scot land. The lowest calculation admits that, within the short period of one year, 17 human beings were slaughtered by Burke and his associates, for the sun• gical shambles, just as calves or pigs are killed for the market. This calculation is believed to be consi derably under-rated, and it is suspected the public are far from knowing the full extent of these hor rible transactions. But, taking the destruction of human life at the lowest estimate, it must be ad mitted that the conviction of one of the gang of Sends concerned in this infernal traffic, is but a poor atonement to the laws and to society. That Burke was a monster, in whom the human form was united with a ferocity worse than that of a wild beast, can not be denied; but, unfortunately for the character of human nature, he did not stand alone. Though his sanguinary depravity was so fierce and reckless, yet there was an organised system in his operations, and those of his associates, which showed that " science" had, somehow or other, mixed itself up with the most dreadful criminality that ever dis graced the name of man. It is not to be credited that the ignorant ruffians who were the instruments of this system could have murdered their victims so scientifically as to deceive, in every instance, the eyes of experienced surgeons and anatomists, and so perfectly to convince them the bodies which they brought fresh from the scene of recent slaughter had died a natural death, that they should go on inno cently encouraging the dreadful traffic by affording the highest " market price" for the " commodity, ' without thinking it necessary to ask questions. If, indeed, they were sodeceived, they must be less intel igent in the "art of healing" than the wretches they patronised were in the "art of killing." It is impos sible to say how long this novel mode of supplying the Scotch surgeons with the human subject might nave gone on, unless an accident, or rather Providence over-ruling guilt by apparent chance, had brought the foul deeds to light. At all events, society ex pects, and justice demands, that all persons who have had any counectior , with those transactions would undergo such a juu,cial investigation as will si.tisfy the feelings of the country. (FROM THE MORNING CHRONICLE.) Some of our contemporaries would have us be lieve that France, wh,ch may be called the very ideal of the mercantile system, is flourishing under it in a most wonderful mann : " In 1826 (says the -'forming Journal) the measures o' ilk Trade came in the commerce, agriculture, and manufactures of , France was forcibly pointed out. The Petitioners represented, that all commerce was founded on a principle of reciprocity—that it was mere delusion to attempt to sell to the foreigner without buying from him—that iron and linen were among the principal equivalents which the foreigners in the North of Europe had to give in exchange for French wines, brandies, silks, &c. of which they purchased so very largely; that it would of necessity follow, that by excluding those articles, the trade with them would be proportionally diminished ; and that a mor tal blow would thus be given, not to the commerce only, but to all the great branches of industry car lied on in the kingdom. No answer was made to these representations, arid for this plain reason, that none could be made." The annual exportation of wine from Bordeaux, previously to the Revolution, amounted on an average to about 100,000 tuns. Notwithstanding the growing demand for French wines, the expOrt is now reduced to less than half of what it was before 1790. The following is a statement of the exportation of wine froth Bordeaux • unce 1820 : Tung. 1820 61 ; 110 1821 63,244 1822 39,955 1823 51,529 Tuns. 1821 39,615 1825 46,314 1826 48,464. 1827 54,492 ' 4 The export to Dantzic has fallen off from 6,000 tuns to 400 or 500 tuns; to Prussia, from 15,000 tuns to 4,000; to Holland, in about the same pro portion ; to Hamhurgh, Lubeck, and Bremen, from 40,000 to about 15,000 ; to Sweden, f, om 7.000 to about 100 ; Denmark and Norway, from 5,000 to 1,000 ; and to Russia, from 12,000 to 4,000 tuns. In April last it was estimated that there were 600,000 tuns of wine in the department of the Gironde for which no outlet could be found, and the glut in other departments has been proportionally great. A great fall has, in consequence, taken place in the price of vineyards, the great bulk of which have become quite unsaleable. We have seen that about three millions of people are dependent on the wine cultivation. Now, for whom are they sa crificed? The whole number of persons engaged in the productiOn and manufacture of iron does not ex ceed from 70 to 80,000, or about one-fortieth part of those engaged in the wine trade. In the same man ner, with regard; to the linen trade, the increase of the duties of which took place in 1822. " Foreign linens (says the Reviewer) bad been chiefly im ported from the Netherlands, Prussia, and Germany, and formed one of the principalequivalents they had to give in exchange for the wines, brandies and silks of France; so that their exclusion necessarily caused that extraordinary decline in the exportation of wine to those countries." Such is the wisdom of the French Government—such the prosperity to which its measures have led. A Swiss writer, Sulzer, says, that the doubling of the duty on foreign linen induced the Belgian Government to adopt measures by which France lost fifty times more than the bleachers of Lille gained. (FROM THE'EXAMINER.) BANKRCPT . LAWs.—As the Session of Parliament approaches, the advocates of reform in the adminis tration of the bankrupt laws are renewing their efforts to draw popular attention to a subject which, deeply as it interests the commercial classes, has been strangely neglected. On the part of indivi duals, this may fairly be accounted for by a rational despair of success, when they view the array of legal and political interest which will be drawn up in defence of existing abuses. But we cannot make the same excuse for Corporations. Some years ago the Common Council formed a committee on the motion of Mr. Hartley, a practising Solicitor. They collected some curious evidence, and made a report, strongly recommending a reform in the constitution of the Bankrupt Court; but the city dreaded the expence of making out their case before Parliament, and resolved not to petition. Here the matter has rested ; and the only hope now is, that Bank ruptcy will be made the scape-goat to save the Court of Chancery from the rude hand of reform.— Two pamphlets have appeared within the last month on this subject—one from the pen of Mr. Montagu, the other said to be the production of another Commissioner, who may be supposed to possess, at least, hereditary information in this branch of judicature. The late Mr. Cullen was an amiable, learned, honest, and independent lawyer, and we give the greater credit to his opinions, as he afforded one of a ♦ery few examples that the pos session of office does not always blind the holder to the defects of a system. A single extract will give some idea of the bold and manly tone attributed to his son : "Twenty-four hours only after Lord Erskine became Chancellor, he received more than 100 applications, and from many of the first Peers of the realm! patriots, no doubt! If my Lord Lyndhurst would but hand over to us his lists of candidates, and his portfolios of petitionary letters, and S'il pia dire tout haut ce qui'il se dit tout bas'— or if my Lord Eldon would open to us the archives of his reign, and present to us a picture or tabular view of the Commissioneiships given and expected, together with their value in votes— Quo fit, ut omnis Votivi psteat veluti descripta tabella Vita senis,'— we should be at no loss to estimate the reluctance which any Government or Chancellor must have to forego the pleasure—the heartfelt pleasure, I may say, of conferring so much benefit and kindness on individuals: or to forego the advantage of possessing the means of so great influence over the most actiie, energetic, learned, adventurous, ver satile portion of -his enlightened nation.' Seventy ser vants or friends from among them secured, and generally secured in the retie ilious season of youth : and add to these double, treble, quadruple, quintuple, the number of ex :lessness and ambition are ex- Force. whose outhful rest'' Mr. Huskisson relative t the ...,.._ pectants, . „y„ . They were represented to :2e the mere harbingers of general acerbated by hunger and thirst; and add to these 350, ing. The English are anation of martyrs to rude. acts of reciprocity among all the nations of Europe. We perhaps I should ii..y 500, expectants—their 1,000, per- n'nis and ill-manners when they get abroad ; there is were told that France wo,ld be compelled, by a regard for haps I should say Z? or 5,000 friends—solicitors, barristers, a sort of ny receipt for this in the new farce of the , as her own interests, to fon our example. That for her Ki ng ' s Counsel, and Judges, with hostages and pledges of ;iublinze and Beau4f ul, where Madame Vestris silks she would take our co - tons — for he r wines our cutler y adhesion_ m. p . , s, P eers, Bi s h ops, — see ki ng requ it a l of the representative of a free-born Englishwoman, and that, by this general and fair in t erc h a n g e of manu- past, or o ff er i ng req uital by future, votes and panegyrics.— i ' . aps the Sultan on the back like a Jack-tar, and factures for produce, and manufactures for manufactures, Princes; or chief of Princes, requesting as a favour what sends her compliments to the chid Mufti to beg a we should increase our exerts and benefit our artisans. . they might require as a royalty—and women, too, offering d ozen of Imperial tokay I. Alas for us! France was too wise to be deceived by our prayers, or more, according to the honour or age of the If there is no curing this quackery. She declined onr favours, and turned a deaf ear Chancellor ! Insolemt and unrefleeting egotism under some hnn dretis of years, at least it ought not to be encouragod to our professions of manufactured kindness. She, there. "When I reflect on these things, how can I blame the fore, has gained what we have lost. Our door is open to late Chancellor for not having taken upon himself, unas.. for a single moment. her—her's is shut to us. We are consequently struggling sisted by Parliament, unpromoted by Government, and (FROM THE NEWS.) wide difficulties, while she is flourishing.--we are oppreased hut feebly urged by the public- r and how can I expect from During the entire • progres . s of the disputes re with the debt which we incurred in giving a legitimate leas energy than the present Chancellor's, allied with that s potting Catholic Emancipation, we have noticed a King to the French, while they are thanking us for our ofthe present Premier's,—to repudiate all this patronage ? set of po lit ic i ans who may very properly be called generosity, by cheating us in their own markets, and uu- " " But Let as take a retreipective view of the fortunate Optimists, and who see in every thing which regards - dermining and outselling us in the other markets of Europe names ;—not a present one, lest I might be suspected of In the Foreign Quarterly Review, just published, personalities, which in justice to my brethren, I desire to Ireland, no matter of whatever nature, a clear pro there is an article on the Wine Trade of France, in avoid. I have made out a catalogue ofannes, with -their spect of the satisfactory termination of that intricate which, we think, we can distinguish a writer of inalikations and histories. I will not publish it, but it I question. In the foremost runk of these Quidnunc:, high character as a Political Economist, that will is before me, and there I find, mingled in about equal the morning paper, the Times, has long figured. In enable us to see a little in detail the prosperity of proportion, eninnsan lawyers and equity lawyers (so that it all that happens it discovers something which holds France under her system of commercial restriction. appears on examination not true that the Bankrupt Court out encouragement to the Irish Catholics. Nothing The wines of France are in universal request. ~ I t is, as I and others have imagined, chiefly a Chancery pre- makes it alter its tone. The change in the Lieu is estimated (says the Reviewer) by the most cons- serve) or to make a more important distinction, circuiteers tenancy—the flippant, disrespectful answer of the and non-circuiteere; then I find next in numerical amount, peteat authorities, that the quantity of wine An- Duke of Wellington to the Duke of Leinster, ner Judges or officers of other Courts ; next in numbers, the nually produced in the kingdom amounts , at a n superannuated and the subanauated. I find in my cats- the numerous instances of the with h olding of jus average, to about 40 millions o f h e c to li t r e s, or logos, toe, a list of sue less barristers, but lam loth to tics from the Catholics , which i t alm ost daily re -1,060 millions of gallons ; that its value cannot be tell their wieder, and I dare not tell their names. There cords, produce the least relaxation in its fond anti less than from SOO to 1000 millions of francs, or "are,' moreover, literary labourers, on whom some cipations of their approaching triumph. We really from 32 to 40 millions sterling; and that upwards' - .Party built their hopes believe that the Times, in thus acting, is influenced of three millions of individuals are employed in its Fur writing pamphlets, and for roasting Popes;' by a sincere desire for emancipation—but at a=- production. In the department of the Gironde, the or some other party, for some other service or subserviency, ment like the present, this policy is wretchedly population of which, exclusive of the great eons - but who have not found their paper currency convtr- adapted to produce the object a im ed at. Better gam --y oung mercial city of Bordeaux, amounts to 432 , 839, no tible into lovers, who have been too prudent make every Catholic fibre quiver with apprehension anc w el i i t o h r o t u a t fewer than 226,000 individuals are supposed to be t t o b e marryeh swe!leeretLi : tha d l o to live, and have persuaded than lull the faculties to sleep by continually holding directly engaged in the cultivation of the vine. them rn w ar ry ri uxo s n ,ithout :— or d olderhav out hopes, which are destined one after another to lovers who have imprudently Here, then, is a branch of industry, naturally fitted too soon discovered that chambers in the Ter; d a e n or oc-e prove abortive. Thus far, however, we agree with to the soil and climate of France, and in which, I cupation in 13asinghall-street in the City, afford l a gyps ; the Times—we do not think that any coercive mea indeed, she is quite unrivalled; a branch of in- relief to the monotony and pauperism of home, in sonie sures towards Ireland will be at present attempted, dustry, too, which even now affords employment fashionable street i n th e West...,young draftsmen, craving and we ground this supposition mainly on the ap for about a tenth part of her entire population, at an introduction to attorneys, or an apprentice to business pointment of the Puke of Northumberland to the the same time that it is susceptible of indefinite ex- —young pleaders, who cannot otherwise pay the expenses Viceroyalty. His Grace has neither the nerve, nor, tension ; affording an article of export to foreign ' of their circuit, b e i ng f ortuna t e if they snake Sergeant we believe, the disposition, to carry into execution countries in constant demand, and sufficient almost i Hill's 5 per cent. by it—some lawyers of better practice an y bayonet measures against the people over whom by itself to balance the largest importations that could or better patrimony, whose ladies wis,elyilirsist.on balanc- he is called to preside. Here, therefore, is a pledge in the coachmalcer . and . liveryman s b against the in- ' be made under the great commercial system." In an that no coercion, at least no open and avowed coer ome of the commianonership, and who are, therefore ' evil hour the French Government added enormously t. 'may'for the present be apprehended. But that to receive and obstinate t,o retain a place, to whose c l d " . ' cion, to the duties on the introduction of iron, linens, g any thing is in contemplation in the mind of the duties a they find it difficult to give sufficient time and at- Sec. " Petitions against them," says the Reviewer, tendon udges or officers of other courts, not s444 e d Premier, tending to a satisfactory settlement of Ire " were sent from Bordeaux and other commercial with enough whilst they can lay th e i r hands on mor e ._ land, we do not believe. We admit the holding of cities, and from several agricultural districts, in solicitors who l eav e their client's causes to the expensiv e numerous Cabinet Councils and the recent visit of which the injury they would infallibly occasion to blundering of their clerks, whilst themselves are blunder.. the Archbishop of Canterbury to the Duke of ing with more dignity and some profit at the Bankrupt Court—eld men, alack, wanting the pastime of a little business, and the dignity of a little brief authority'— and a few, very few, appointed on account of their fitness for the office. I do not mean to say, however, that ac complishment is never made the chief motive for the ap pointment, and is always overlooked—though it is but rarely considered." In the country, the case is still worse, for there " accomplishment" is never made the motive of ap pointment ! but one of the parties, the petitioning creditor, actually names the judges who are to ab judicate between him and the intended bankrupt; and that too, when the first hearing, on which the question, bankrupt or not bankrupt, is to be decided, is held in private, the person principally affected, his agents or counsel, carefully excluded, and his opponents heard ex-parte, by persons having a di rect interest to decide in his favour. Let us hear Mr. Montague on this point : _ . . " When a Commission is issued, the Commissioners are summoned to a private meeting, at which no person but the creditor and his friends are permitted to attend. If he swear that 1001. is due to him, and he can produce a wit ness who will swear that he traded and denied himself to a creditor, the party against whom the Commission has issued is declared a bankrupt without having had any op portunity to cross-examine the witnesses, or to be heard in Lis own defence, and without having any !notice whatever of the proceedings; the first notice which he has, is from the messenger who seizes his property, and from the Gazette which publishes his bankruptcy; and, if he think proper to dispute the bankruptcy, he is not entitled to see the proceedings before the Commissioners, upon which they have 6eclared him a bankrupt."—Letter -to Mr. Sugdett, p. 4. " Sir Samuel Romilly, in his examination before a Com. mittee of the House of Commons, speaks to the same effect. He says, Another part of the Bankrupt Law, which has long appeared to me to require alteration, and which I have known in man) instances productive of ex traordinary injustice and oppression, is the facility with which Commissions can be taken out. If a trader is in debted to any man in 1001., or if any person will swear that he is indebted to him in that amount, the real or pre tended creditor, if he can get any witness to swear that an act of bankruptcy has been committed, may, without the least previous intimation, and by a mere ex-parte proceed ing, make his debtor a bankrupt; the immediate conse quence is, that all the man's property is taken possession of; his trade is put a stop to, and he is compelled to sur render to the Commission, and to submit to be examined as to all his concerns : and all this, though he might be able, if an opportunity were afforded him, to prove that he never committed any act of bankruptcy, and that he does not owe the man, who is prosecuting the Commission, a single shilling. This proof he can only be allowed to give upon a petition to the Lord Chancellor to supersede the Commission, or in an action which he may bring against the messenger or the assignee to recover his pro perty. Several months must elapse; several years may, and sometimes do, elapse before he can have such a peti tion or such an action finally decided. In the meantime, not only is all his property withheld from him, but it is in the hands of the person with whom he is contending, and affords the means of protracting the litigation, and of sup porting the oppressor in his injustice. "—lbid. p. 8. It would appear extraordinary that in a country, priding itself (God knows how justly !) on the ad ministration of justice, such a mockery should have existed one Session after it was exposed; but this has been known from year to year, pamphlets have been written, paragraph after paragraph published, committees appointed, evidence collected, reports made, and yet it continues ; no one defends it openly —but behind the curtain there is a mass of influence which will always be ready to oppose any reform by the dead weight of silent votes. Mr. Cullen has shown the amount of interest which is arrayed in favour of the 70 London Commissioners ; but who can enumerate the provincial barristers and country attornies, with their several friends, patrons, and clients, who will rise with one accord to defend a system under which they derive much more profit than is commonly imagined ? These, too, must be protected by the County Member, and thus the character of the laws must be sacrificed to the inte rests of its inferior agents. Mr. Peel's brother-in law (Master Eden) says, " Unless a complete al teration be made in the tribunal by which bankrupt law is primarily administered, it will be in vain to expect that the reproach which has attached to the system will be removed." Yet we doubt most ex ceedingly whether Mr. Peel, with all his professions, will stir one step, or vote one shilling, to relieve this commercial country from so foul a blot upon its Legislature. - - - - (FROM THE ATLAS.) POPE BENEDICT.—This amiable pontiff having to receive three English gentlemen who showed certain signs of repugnance to the ceremony of in troduction, adroitly turned it off by saying, " I know very well what your opinions are, and that you have no faith in our spiritual privileges; but l ii suppose you will have no objection to receive a blessing from an old man ?" When a nobleman in the time of George I. was very roundly taken to task ou his return -from Rome for not having tried to convert the Pope, he made answer that " he might have done so, but that he was not aware that he had any thing better to offer him, if he had suc ceeded.' A Mrs. Millar, who published a book of travels a few years ago, boasts that at some grand ceremony at the Capella Sistina, she stood np,while all the other persons present knelt, showing by her looks her contempt for the mummery around her. And this in Rome, where no look from any indi vilual you meet, high or low, priest or layman, man or woman, ever reminds you that you are a hrretic or a foreigner, and where the air is purified by deep policy and long refinement from imperti m.nce ! We have seen a Roman cardinal return tie bow of a galley-slave (the red stockings making a leg to the yellow !)—an English Duke bows to a w hole street in passing, but does not notice the low obeisance of the beggar who sweeps the cross- SHIPPING INTELLIGENCE. LIVERPOOL. FRIDAY, JANUAAY 30.—Wind water 36 minutes past six.—Arrived the Jane Haddow, Hamilton, from Calcutta ; United States, Wil son, from Savannah; Hull, Talisman, Pratt, from New Orleans ; Jamaica, —, from Pernambuco. Sailed—The Lady Gordon, and . Eleanor, both for the Isle of Man. JAN. 31. —Wind N.N.E.—Arrived the Comet, from Dublin ; I.aughton, Dawson, from Demerara ; Hope, —.—, from Terceira ; Phenix, Weeks, from Lisbon ; Enterprise, Coles, from Marseilles ; Monica, Kendler, from Smyrna; Avis, Winslow, from Savannah; Agnes, Seaddon, from Scilly. Sailed—The Bootle Bothwell, for Oporto ; Calcutta, , for Calcutta ; Jane, Lindsay, for Buenos Ayres; Prince Eugene, Gilbert, for Naples; Goode, Gray, for Demerara ; Viana, Edwards, for Genoa ; and Ann Paley, for Lisbon. The Macclesfield, from Pernambuco, is off near the North-east buoy. NAVAL INTELLIGENCE. DEVONPORT, •JAN. 3l.—The Sulphur, 8, Com mander Dance, was towed by the Meteor steam vessel from Barnpool to the Sound, on Monday, and now awaits the arrival of the Parmelia transport, with Captain Stirling. A newly-invented sight for long guns was tried at the battery on Devil's Point on Tuesday last, and report speaks highly of its utility. Mr. P. Inskip, late Midshipman of the Genoa, and now of the Wasp, has received a gold medal from the Royal Humane Society, for his gallant conduct in saving the lives of two men who had fallen over board at different times. His Majesty's ship Grasshopper has captured a slave vessel, which she has taken into the Havannah. The Magnet packet-brig, Commander Porteous, arrived from Lisbon on Monday, after a passage of 24 days, and came into harbour on Tuesday to refit. The Cordelia, 10, Commander Boyle s was towed by the Meteor steam-vessel from the Sound into Hamoaze, on Saturday afternoon. Orders have been received to complete the Cordelia's stores for foreign service. The Swedish schooner-of-war ExperimentACapt. Melander, sailed on Wednesday for Norway. On Saturday last the Plumper, 12, Lieut. Medley, passed this port from Falmouth, on her way to Wool wich, having forty pirates on board, whom she brought home from the coast of Africa. Monday last, being the King of Sweden's birth day (born in 1764), the Swedish schooner Experi ment, in Hamoaze,dressed with appropriate colours, as was also the Britannia, fired the usual salute of that nation, and on Wednesday she went out of harbour, having been repaired and refitted, paying the compliment with the customary salutes. The Eagle revenue cruiser, Lieut. St. Quintin, recently picked up a raft of tubs, containing contra band spirits, floating in Weymouth Bay. In Hamoaze—Britannia,Warspite, Kent, Ariadne, Comet, Badger, Zebra, Cordelia, Vigilant, Leveret, Variable, Magnet, and Meteor steamer. Between Island and Main—Nightingale. Sound—Sulphur. Mr. John Moody is appointed Assistant Surgeon, and Mr. Thomas Harding, Purser, of the Zebra. Mr. John S. Hampton, Supernumerary Assistant Surgeon of the Britannia. PORTSMOUTH, JAN. 31.—8 y the last accounts from the Coast of Africa we learn that activity in the traffic of slaves is almost as great as ever, and that at present it is mainly supported by Spanish capitalists. Very recently two feluccas and a brig, all well manned and armed, had arrived on the coast from Barcelona, and were to proceed, when loaded, for the Havannah. In addition to which, there is a frigate-built ship, mounting 24 long guns, and ca pable of carrying 1,200 slaves, in the Bight of Biafra. Of these his Majesty's ship Sybille has information. and it is hoped the Commodore will intercept them. In justice to the Emperor of Brazils, it should be remarked, that to manifest his disposition to discon tinue the traffic, his Majesty had recently sent a Vice Consul to Sierra Leone, to hold Brazilian vessels in check. Ihe Ashen tees were perfectly quiet, and were encouraging a brisk trade in gold dust and ivory, through their country, in exchange for which they took arms, cutlery, and many useful articles of English manufacture. Commodore Collier, with a view to preserve the health of all English seamen in the merchant vessels had lately inflicted heavy fines on some of them, for subjecting their crews to work in the river contrary to an old law, which en joins natives only to be so employed. It is to this description of work that is mainly attributed the country fever contracted by our merchant seamen. The Eden, Capt. Griffenhoofe, was at Fernando Po; the Primrose, Capt. Harrison, was off the Gallinas ; the North Star, Capt. Arabin, is on her passage to England, but has previously to cross the Atlantic. By the Mutine packet, which arrived at Fal mouth, on Monday, with the Mail from Vera Cruk and Jamaica, we are informed of the loss of his Majesty's surveying vessel Kangaroo, Mr. Anthony de Mayne, Master commanding, upon the Hogaties Reef. The Monkey schooner had left Crooked Island for the wreck, and succeeded in saving -the crew and stores. By the same accounts we regret to hear of the suicide of Commander Edward Owen Johnes, who was serving in the command of the Nimble schooner upon the West India station. This unhappy officer put an end to his existence by firing a pistol at his head. He had recently been promoted to be Commander of his Majesty's ship Southampton, the flag-ship of Sir Edward Owen, and, had he surveyed a few days longer, would have learnt the news of his promotion. The Volage, 28 guns, Captain Seymour, was at Rio Janeiro on the 25th November, and was to leave for England in a few days; she has 700,000 dollars on board, on merchants' account, and may be hourly expected. Great reductions are to take place immediately , in the Civil Department of the Navy. Three Com missioners of the Navy will retire, and fifteen clerks are to be reduced. The power of the Comptroller of the Navy is to be extended, and to assimilate On Saturday last, about one o'clock, the neigh- to that enjoyed by the Master-General of the Ord bourhood of Drury-lane was thrown into a state of 'lance in his department; and one of the Commis. extreme alarm and confusion, in consequence of a sioners is to superintend the Fi n aticialDepartment,as fire breaking out in th e ho use of Mr. Cooke, a to- a responsible accountant. Reductions will also take bacconist, No. 84, in that street. The moment the place in the Victualling Office. discoeery was made, the persons occupying the The Lords of the Admiralty have noticed that lower part of the premises ran into the street—a araangements have been made in that part of the crowd collected, and some persons went for the en- Royal Naval College, in this dock-yard (hitherto glues, but no one present had courage to venture exclusively appropriated to the students in naval beyond the .first floor of the house, though it was architecture), for affording, under certain regulations, positively asserted that there were children in the a copy of which may be obtained on application to second floor front room. A drunken sweep tan up the Admiralty, the means of instruction on scientific stairs, but he was so much inebriated that he knew subjects connected with the naval service, to twenty not what he was doing, and it was a miracle that he four commissioned officers of the navy. Their was not a victim to his temerity and folly. He made studies will be directed by the able Professor Dr. his way into the first floor, and for several minutes he Inman. The large room in the building will be al was employed in endeavouring to throw out of the lotted to them, and the smaller one to the present window an old bedstead, not worth five shillings. students in naval architecture. Of the latter, whose By an extraordinary effort he effected his object; term of apprenticeship expires in August, there re but, in doing so, he overbalanced himself, and fell main six. It is understood that not any, other in upon the bulk-window below, and from thence rolled ducement will be held out by the Admiralty for into the street, amidst the shouts and buzzes of a n officers to enter for such instruction than that of immense mob, the se ob, who appeared tobeequnitt. The quite in raptures affording to them gratuitous means of acquiring scien on fire-wit yard. tific knowledge. They are not to reside in the dock engines soon arrived upon the spot, and there beinga plentiful supply of water, th e fl ames were in less The Trinculo, 18, rep orted to have g one d own than an hour extinguished, but not before the whale d urin g the late gales,has arrived at a safe anchorage house had been entirely gutted. O ne of the Hand- in the Frith of C l yde . in-Hand firemen was the first to penetrate into the The Procris, 10, Commander Charles Paget, ar second floor, and there h e di scovere d t h e two poor rived on Monday from Falmouth , to be paid off, and children of Perkins burnt so dreadfully that not a re-commissioned. She brought round the 40 pirates feature could be discerned, and the intestines pro- captured on the coast of Africa, by the Black Joke, truded,—in fact, they were burnt almost to a cinder. tender to the Sybille, who were conveyed to Eng- The remains were removed to the Blue Anchor land in the Plumper gun-brig. They were put on public-house, in Feathers' -court, and Edwards, a board the Lightning steam-vessel on the following constable of the parish, placed them in shells to morning, and carried to the river. await a Coroner's Inquest, which is appointed to sit I The Shannon, 46, Captain Clement, sailed on this day. Soon after the children were destroyed Thursday for Jamaica. the mother returned, and on being told that the Commissioner William Shield has been promoted z o sa and hone shi,l raa during"on that a long in White-hart-yard, in a most deplorable condition, house was on fire, in a frantic state she called for t o the rank of Rear-Admiral, oil the retir e d list , for her infants. She was taken to a neighbour's house, his zealous service. He honourable taleke conduct :period * The Duke of Wellington, from the entireness of his rule in the Cabinet, reminds us of an anecdote we have somewhere read of Louis XII. of France. The Kiug was remarked by one of his courtiers always to ride a very strong horse—" He need be strong," said his compa nion, " for he not only carries his Majesty, but his whole Council." LAW INTELLIGENCE. VICE-CHANCELLOR'S COURT, JAW. 31. DERBISHIRE V. ROGGART, ELSEE, AND OTHERS. This was a motion made by Mr. ROUPEL and Mr. KNIGHT, on the part of Frederick Derbishire, a Receiver appointed by the Court, praying that Mr. Hoggart, the auctioneer, a person named Elsee, Mr. Cooper, the Under-Sheriff of Oxfordshire, another person named Barber, a sheriff's officer named Heath, and two ethers, living in the county of Oxford, be forthwith committed to the Fleet prison, for a gross contempt of the orders and privileges of the Court of Chancery. After hearing the facts of the case, The VICE-CHANCELLOR at once declared that he could not better vindicate the dignity of the Court and of its process than by dismissing the petition, with all costs to be paid by Derbishire and Mr. Hyde, and he therefore dismissed it accordingly. COURT OF KING'S BENCH, JAN. Si. IN THE MATTER OF BAILEY. It was moved that Captain Bailey, who appeared in Court, should be charged in the custody of the Marshal, under a writ de contumace capiendo from the Prerogative Court of the Archbishop of Canter bury. . Mr. Justice BAYLEY observed, that the question was whether a person already in the custody of the Marshal, could be charged in the custody of that officer, and he was of opinion that he might. Mr. Justice LITTLEDALE had some doubt at first, as the Marshal was not an officer to execute a pro cess like the Sheriff; but, us by Act of Parliament, the writ de contumace capiendo, had been put on the same footing as the writ de excommunicato capiendo, he agreed that a person might be charged in the custody of the Marshal. Mr. Justice PARKE concurred, and Captain Bailey was immediately ordered to be committed to the custody of the Marshal under the writ. :N THE MATTER OP THOMAS BERKLEY BOND, GENT. Sir JAMES SCARLETT showed cause against a rule obtained by Mr. Campbell, calling on Mr. Bond to show why his name should not be struck off the Rolls of Attorneys of the Court. This rule was founded on the affidavit of a person of the name of Timothy Cassen, who stated, that at the time when Mr. Bond was admitted, he did not produce a certi ficate of his having served five years as an articled clerk, as required by law; and that, in point of fact, he had not so served.—Rule discharged with costs. DOE EX DEM. LEIGH V. LEIGH. Mr. DENMAN stated, that proper inquiries had been made, and it had been found that the alleged title of the lessor of the plaintiff had accrued on the 2d of July, 1826, and that the writ in the Leigh ejectaients had not been served till the 3d of July, 1826, so that they were a day too late. The Rule for staying the proceedings in the eject ment causes was therefore discharged. COURT OF COMMON PLEAS, JAN. 31. SCOTT V. PITT. Mr. Pitt, the defendant in this case, appeared in person to move that the proceedings in this action might be dismissed with costs. He produced an affidavit, which stated that this action had been brought against him by the present plaintiff, on a bill of exchange, or banker's draft, which he had not paid, in consequence of having received notice from one of the parties interested to withhold payment of it.' It further described, that an action on the same bill of exchange, or banker's draft, had been com menced against him by different parties in the Court of King's Bench; and that the cause in this Court was set down in the paper for trial at the last sittings in this_Term. The defendant submitted that he was not bound to answer two suits in respect of the same demand, and he moved that the present action might be dismissed from this Court. The Cotwr consented to grant a rule, calling on the plaintiff to shew cause why the proceedings in the action in this Court should not be stayed. The CHIEF JUSTICE afterwards went to preside at the Nisi Prins sittings in London, where the ex cuses of the persons summoned to attend as Jury men were so numerous, that his Lordship was occu pied the first twenty-five minutes of the sitting in disposing of them. The number of Quakers who rejected the dress, but' affirmed their belief in the faith of that sect, was considerable. The cases tried only involved matters of interest to the parties. FIRE.-TWO CHILDREN DESTROYED. Wellington, but we deny the inference, that from thence we may expect any Governmental arrange-, went of that eternal source of disquiet--the question of Catholic Emancipation. We pre tend to no more information than our neigh bours, but we again declare, that every thing which has hitherto transpired on Irish affairs, justifies the opinion that no measure for the relief of the Catho lics will voluntarily emanate from Ministers in the forthcoming Session of Parliament. At the same time we believe that " the Duke," who may be called the entire Cabinet,• acts on no settled plan, but is a mere creature of circumstances, and there fore may regulate his future conduct not so much by any laid down rule, as by the occurrence of events, which he may suppose may hare a bearing, though remote, on the point at issue. If, for instance, Russia continues restive, and by her hostile perti nacity towards the Turks, threatens an embroilment of Europe, we then would give a ready credence to " the Duke's" good wishes towards Ireland ; but as long as all in the political horizon continue smooth, and clear skyed, in spite of the Times' prognostications, the Irish Catholics may bid adieu to the hope of receiving any boon from an Admi nistration, of which " the great Captain of the age," (as some call him, but- who Mr. O'Connell terms. the " chance victor") is the predominant head. 1 next to Rear-Admiral Sandford Tatham, having been made Captain in the same year (1794). The Naiad, of 46 guns, is ordered for immediate commission. The Variable brig was commissioned on Satur day, by Lieut. Nash, of the Britannia, for the paciet service. The Zebra, 18, Commander E. W. Gilbert, was paid off on Saturday at Plymouth, and re-commis sioned, for the East India station, by Commander R. Pridham. We are glad to observe that the terms offered by Government to settlers in the new colony in the Swan River are so regarded by capitalists as to in duce many to embark in the speculation. The alacrity which prevails among individuals of this class, in preparing to depart for this settlement, has no precedent in any former opportunity for emigra tion. Many highly respectable and indeed distin guished individuals, whose names we have learnt, are eagerly engaged in forming parties on a large scale to emigrate thither. Captain Stirling, the Governor of the colony, will embark in a few days on board the Parmelia, and two ships will sail shortly with freight and passengers for that destination. EXPANSIVE POWER OF FREEZING WATER. The expansive power of freezing water has ever been a subject for the admiration of philosophic minds, and some of the greatest men of every age have devoted portions of their lives to the examina tion of its cause. Extensive experimental know ledge has been given to the world on the subject, and it has been said that frost swells or dilates water nearly one-tenth of its bulk, and is capable of exert ing a power equal to 28,0001b5. This has been fully proved by an instance of the great force of the diletation of water in the Dock-yard, during the se vere frost last week. The water which had from rain accumulated in a cannon, placed upright against the angle of a large store-house, having frozen, its expansive power became so great that it lifted a shot placed on the mouth of the cannon, the edge of which touched an abutment of the building, 'with such force that the whole groin of the building was removed from its position,—a feat that could be scarcely accomplished by the application of the greatest mechanical power in the arsenal. The force of exploded gunpowder has been found by several accurate experiments one thousand times greater than the pressure of the atmosphere.— That of ether, which consolidates water into ice, may prove equal to it, for aught that has been discovered to the contrary. We do not wonder at the power of fire, when accompanied by a vehement degree of heat, although its effects are so great that nothing scarcely can withstand them, as in gunpowder and steam, and here we have the same substance exerting a most surprising force, even when reduced to the temperature of ice.— There are other causes to excite our admiration be sides the mere phenomenon, for this expansive power is of eminent use in nature, as is exemplified in the commination or loosening the texture of dense clay soils, whereby the delicate fibres of plants can easily penetrate them. They are also applied en several occasions to save the labour of man, and perform such things as are beyond the reach of art. Blocks of slate stone, consisting of thin plates of lamina, not separable by a tool, are taken out of the quarry and exposed to rain, which soaks into the pores of the stone, and is there frozen into ice, and by its expansion separates the stone in the places where it breaks most easily, and shivers it into plates of an equable thickness throughout, proper for many different uses, but principally for covering buildings. In the iron works also, when the workmen want to re-cast old bomb shells of some magnitude, they fill them with water, and then fastening up the vents, expose them to the frost, which bursts them to pieces without further trouble.— Devonport Telegraph. ROWLAND STEPHENSON.---Mrs. Knivett deposited with him, at five per cent. interest, the whole of the money she had carefully saved previously to her marriage.. The poor woman, who keeps the gate at St. Bartholomew's Hospital, had, by extreme parsimony, and as a nest egg for the comforts of old age, scraped to gether nearly 3001., which, by accident, came to the knowledge of Stephenson, when he prevailed upon her to deposit the same in his hands for security. The old woman is now reduced to comparative beggary.—Sunday Times. BIRTHS. On the 25th ult. at Barrack Lodge, near Carlisle, the lady of William James, Esq. of a son. On the Slat ult. Mrs. Neilson, - of Clapton-terrace, of a son. On the 29th ult. in York-terrace, Regent's Park, the lady of Pfenry Luard, Esq. of a son. On the 25th ult. at Mil!brook, near Southampton, the lady of Sir Charles Dalrymple, of a daughter. On the 29th ult. at Hampstead, 111ra. William Sim, of A son. MARRIED. On the Slat ult. at Kensington, by the venerable Joseph Holden Pott, Archdeacon of London, Robert. Thelv Esq. Major in the Bombay Artillery, to Jane, eldest daughter of Robert Forbes, Esq. of Kensington.. On the 29th u lt. a t E a li ng , by the Rev. J. Stoddart , M.A., curate of New Brentford, the Rev. W. Stoddarti M.A., of Northampton, and late of Christ's College, Cam,- bridge, to Fanny, youngest. daughter of the , late Captaise Woodhouse, of th e 7th Regiment of Cavalry, Mad ras , By. the Venerable the Archdeacon of London; only daughter of the Rev. Mr. Wrench, Rector 9f St. Michael, Cornhill, to Joseph Wood, Esq. son Of the lute . J. Wood, Esq. of Westminster, and Maradon, Devon.' DIED. On the 27th ult. sincerely lamented 'by her family and acquaintance, Mary, the wife of Mr. R. Strange, of,Swiu den, Wilts. On the 29th ult. at Britton-hill; in . the 58th year of her age, of rapid mortification, Eliza, the beloved wife of John Pearse, Esq. On the 26th ult. at Alresford, Hants, after a shaft ill ness, Mary, only surviving daughter of. the late Thomas Dennett, Esq. formerly of the same place. On the 30th ult. at his residence in Holywell-streei • Westminster, Mr. John Johnson, in his 70th year, who was much respected, and now sincerely regretted. On the 29th ult. at Exeter, after a long life tlevoted to acts of kindness, Miss Goodridge, of Paington, aged '76. On the 24th ult. at Southampton, the Dowager Lady Tichborne, relict ot the lata Sir H en ry Tichborue, Bart. of Tichhorne House, Hants. On the 23d instant, at Hatchford, near Cobham, Sur rey, Miss Isabella Saltonstall. • On the 27th-ult. at Patricroft, in her 85th year, Mrs. Collier, relict of the late Mr, Peter CtoHier, of Worsley. On the 21st ult. at Brook Lodge, Cheadle, in her 20th year, Frances, second daughter of the late John Baxter, Esq. EAST INDIA MARRIAGES. Aug. 27, at Calcutta, Mr. A. Long, Assistant the Clothing Board Office, to Miss E. Thomas. At Calcutta, Aug. '4,:Mr. W. Wood, Treasury', to lNiiss E. Clayton. At Gazeepore, Aug. 14, H. Stonehouse, Esq. to Julia, second daughter of H. Clark, Esq., formerly in the service of his Excellency the Nawab Vizier Saadut Ake Khan, and also the late King of Oude. At Nagporei July 19, A. Agnew, Esq. 6th Regt. N.I. to Miss D. Watson. At Bellaspore, Aug. '7, Capt. Jas. W. Bayley, Major of Brigade, Nagpore Service, to Annabelle Maxwell, the youngest daughter of 'the late Hugh Crawfurd, Esq., of Greenock. At Madras, July 28, J. Dalmahoy, Esq., to Harriet, third daughter of the Rev. A. Lawrie, Minister of Loudon, Ayrshire. . . . At Titalyah, Aug. 22, Lieut. G. Miller, 25th Regt. NJ., to Miss C. Adams. At Madras, Aug. 4, A. Robertson, Esq. Civil Service, to Isabella Flora, daughter of the late A. M‘Leod, Esq. d Datrey, county of Moray. At Secunderabad, July 2, Mr. H. Blennerhasset to Miss. Agnes Parry. July 21, at Bombay, Mr. J. Houghland to Miss I, M'Donald. July 20, at Madras, Mr. Edward Dent to Miss Mari► Elizabeth Reid. Patritzn and PUBLIIHIED by MURDO YOUNG, at the Suit Ornes, 112 1 iksamm, 1.91(90.11.