The Sun. — London, England, 1812-09-12 00:00:00

NEW THEATRE, LOWESTOFT, SUFFOLK. On Wednesday evening this Theatre was open ed, forr the first time, uluter the management of Mr. FISHER, with The Jealous Wife and Raising the Wind.—The Theatre is fitted, up with great taste and neatuus, and with this additional 'at traction, Lowestoft will aiantfully increase its fashionable visitors. Previous "to the Play, the following Address was delivered, with considera ble erect, by Mr. FISHER.. It was written for the occasion, by T. GENT, ESQ. of Yarmouth. " Ladies and"Gemtlemen,"—nol that wont do. On this occasion we'll bare something new. Ladies! the Muse appeals alone to you! Fe , should your smiles, propitious, crown our cause, Breathes here a man who dares withold applause ? NO! British 'Beauty's irresistless charms Satn:iie-bv charter—like the British arms! Yet, should fame surly Criti4: chance Ue heft., Full of the Loadon taste,' alas, I fear He'll very much our want of, tastederide, For our Melpomene ne'er learneto ride; Tilalia,,ton, with all her whims amtgraces, Has never ran at Covent-Garden Races ! , Strange, too, to tell,•no Elephant we'vegot, And what's much stranger; it seems wanted.--hat; For I\larragers who thus disgrace their forc es, Are (entrc nor) a race below their .Horses. Here, where sad Pegasus, celestial steed! ,Kick'd from his stall by Nags 431.(t5t1e,6 breed, 'Flies off, for such coarse combatants.tmable; • • leaves Apollo's vaunted faue—a stable! Gratefhl for faro - ors nast, for those to come, To you we dedicate this nesv-rais'd Tho' weak our strength, by your I,intl saucticn gvaed, We'll strive to rally round the sh: are of Taste; • And, like Lieht.Comoanies, dis :erS'd around, •• When of Cavalry° er-ran t::e. ground. her, if these Dramatic Chargers conic, Tho' rode by Tartar, Turk, or Pe.-fo-fata We'll sally out, ere on this spot they trample, And ping both Horse and Rider for example. How sunk the Drama! when with vin pretence, • Unmeaning sliew usurps the place of sense; His wonted state let sacred SUAKESPEARZ keep, And call his " spirits from the vasty decp;" Still let the Comic Muse adorn. her brows . With,each fine ti oworet Fancy's held allows :' Here she still, to duty's dictates true, Bind up the bouquet, and present to you! brief the summer which our sojourn lends, Here friends of summer arc net " summer friends." For each succeeding . season as it pad . Brought proofs of kindness; greater than the last. .0h ! we ever boast the valued weed, - And our brief summer will seem short indeed. Scotland, a passage, in which the force and !in thority . o 5 this statute is distinctly and fully re- cogni9-d. - ,His 'Lordship accordingly pronounced an inter‘. locutor, 4 " nndit►g the libel relevant to infer the pains cif law," and a respectable. JUry wa nelled to try him for the alleged offence. The prisoner again judicially adhered to his4for mer qualified confession ; and after a short address in his behalf, in 'which his Counsel dWelt feelingly on the hardship of the case, the Judge charged the Jury. He 'stated, that the Court baying, - found the libel relevant to infer die pains, of law, and the. prisoner having twice judicially confessed the facts chargect in it, it was the duty of the Jury to find a verdict against lam, but it ivas not their provini!e to take into consideration those circnin stances which had bi..en so well and so Very ably stated by the prisoner's . Counsel in mitigatitn 0 - f punishment. It was for the Court to give to these, if he should be found guilty, all the weight to which they might fairly appear entitled.. But his Lordship must say,. that the prisoners had nOt been taken ny surprise in their business, and that they were not ignorant of Abe guilt or danger which they incurred, They had been, expressly condoned by the Sheriff of ierwickshire., against persisting in the practice of celebrating irregular marriages, and his Lordship was informed, that in one of the cites now the celebrator had been charged by the father of one of the for ties, not to proceed, upon his peri!. 11e -then ad.;• verted to- the indecency of degrading the soitn:n. -offices ot religion- for a mercenary -,virpose, unit taming On a trade contrary to the good order ot society The Jury then retired, and; in-the cow:se of a short tune, brought in an unanimous .verdict of Guilty. - James Iroggan Angos aho residing in. Cold stream, was then hrougitt ,to the har, indicted - - - , under the same statute, air' in the same manner as the former prisoner. - lie was charged with - two distinct-acts of celebrating clandestine Iwir- riages. The prisoner, with regard to-one of the charges, acknowledged. the facts relating to the marriages specified in the indictment, hut said be dici not volunteer his services, but had -j ,been sent for to be a.ll " insignificant witness" to the transaction, which he had a right to -as the consent of parties was, byAbe law of Scot land, •t -the basis of the matrimonial union. •With regard to the other charge, his falsely - assuniing the character of a minister, he denied it altoge ther ; alleging that he had got a license to .preach from a class of Presbyterian dissenters in berland, and bad tor some time, officiated as mi nister of a small congregation in that quarter, but from bad health was obliged to leave his charge. The Judge allowed him to . sit during the proceedings, and with great humanity presSed on him the gratuitous aid of Counsel,'whorn he of fered to assign to him for conducting his defence, but which he peremptorily refused, adding, that " Like the, great florae Tooke," he would claim the prix lege Britith subject, and conduct his own defence. " The Court having pronounced an interlocutor ri of relevancy, another Jury was im panellcd to try the prisoner, and as his qualified acknowledgment amounted, in the opinion of the (Learned Judge, to the plea of - " Not Guilty," witnesses were called, on the part of the, public prosecutor, to prove the libel. The first wit nesses were, two couple who bad been married by the prisoner, and the peraon in whose house the marriages ; were celebrated. They all concur red deponing, that the prisoner Ny'ts applied to, because he was in the habit of perforiiiing irregu lar marriages, that he had come on being sent for, that he had gone through the ceremonies of _prayer,. joining of hands, &c. according to, the forms of the Church of Scotland, and. that be expected and received a ice according to the abilities of the applicants. His certificates, or attestations of the marriages libelled on, were pro duced and identified. The prisoner's previous de claration w'As also -identified by David Douglas, Esq. Sheriff Depute of Berwickshire, and others, and was re-ad to the Jury. The patina hav ing no witnesses summoned for his defence, the Judge permitted him to call back any of the wit nesses for the prosecution who ha&been already . examined, or to apply to any one in Cpurt. Two of the former' witnesses were accord:ngly called back by his desire, who deposed, that in as far as they knew, he had conducted himself decently, and behaved with propriety during- his residence in Coldstream. One df them being asked it he had any other.visiblc means of livelihood, but the perform once of irregular marriages, answered, " not, so far as he knew." lAeing interrogated by himself, if he did not know him to be a regular dissenting minister before he came to Coldstream, answered, No;" " Had he not heard him preach near Coldstream ?" " - No, but he heard it reported that he sometimes preached in the vicinity.." The other witnesses deposed, that they had heard the prisoner preach. The Advocate Deputy made a short address - to the Jury, and craved a verdict, against the prisoner_ The panne]. being then desired to address the Jury, if he had any thing further - to say in his de fence, offered to produce some letters and papers, which the Judge said he might read, though they could not be admitted - as evidence ;of these, how ever, he only read one, purporting to be a certifi cate from two persons belonging to Keswick, who stated that the prisoner was obliged to leave that place, where he had officiated as a dissenting-mi nister, from bad health, and expressed sympathy for his sufferings. He then made an address of a desultory nature, rather tending to sheen the legal validity of irregular marriages in Scotland (which was not denied), than his own, innocence in ce lebrating them. The Judge summed up the evi dence with . ability and candour, and the. Jury found the charge specified in the indictment proven. The prisoners who had been formerly at late on bail, were both committed to prison after the verdict of the Juries ; and were brought to the bar on Thursday, when after an impressive admo nition and address from 'the Judge, they were severally ordered to be banished from Scotland for life, under the usual certification contained in the statutes. . SIXTH REPCIEt'r. AFRICAN I'N'ST-ITUTI2N. tContimied from our Paper . cf YesterdaTl The members of the Institution will probably recollect a rase of great oppression, detaiied in the appendix to their last report, which had 0.6 curred in the island of St,. Vinceuts that.of John \Vise, who, though entitled to his freedom, Was, on. his return to the island, most unjustly reduced to slavery. The Directors were indebted for their knowledge of the circumstances to Hugh Perry Keane, V,sq. of St. Vinceuts, who, with a gene rous ardour iu the cause of iustice and humanity, undertook to advocate the cause of this friendless African. His efforts,' however, which were per severingly and gratuitously exerted in the courts of the island to obtain legal redress,. proved una vailing. The sentence of the Judge confirmed the act of oppression by which he had been de prived of his freedom. . While the Directors were endeavouring to abtai'n a reversal of this sentence, an object in which they had the prospect of suc ceeding, they received . intelligence which super-' seded the necessity of any farther exertion : Wise bad effected his escape from St. Vinceuts, and placed himself in a state of security. The attention of the Directors has naturally been drawn, by the papers which have been lately laid on the table of thc.. House of Commons, to - i the treatment of slaves in the West Indianislands, and to the kind and degree of legal protection which persons of this description enjoy. The facts of Mr. Huggins's case, which Were detailed in the appendix totheJast Report ; require no continent. Mr: Huggins had most flagrantly , Violated not only every law of humanity, hut the clear and express enactment of his own legislature the mettsureof punishment which he had in ictod on his slaves. He had done this, openly, in the public market place of the chief town of the island of Nevis, and in the presence of several magistrates, without, any attempt being made to prevent the outrage. When brought to trial, through The public-spirited conduct of a few indi viduals, he was acquitted by the Jury, in direct opposition, as it, appears, to the evidened, and to the charge of the ;fudge. Not satisfied with his acquittal, te prosecuted in his turn; and prosecu ted to conviction, the , printer of the St: Kitts newspaper, wha had merely iusertetl, by desire of the Assembly of Nevis, a resolution - of that body, .expressive of their ab,Lorrence of Mr. noggins's con duet 5 and this poor man is still suffering un der the sentence which was pronounced upon' him by the Court of St. Kitts: Pueliament had scarcely been made acquainted with these transactions, when another communi cation was made to Government by the Governor of the Leeward Islands, of details, if possible, more revolting than those which respected Mr. Huggins. These details were afterwards laid on the table of-the House of Commons. The main factS which they have brought to the knowledgeof the public are these :—A Mr. Hodge, a planter of Tortola, had for many years been notorious for the barbarities which be,exereised on his slaves. It was known that by A succession of acts of the most wanton cruelty, he had nearly exterminated a once" flourishing gang of ncgroes. But no at tempt was made'to bring Mr. Hodge to justice ; nor did hi 3 conduct excite the slightest, notice of the Magistracy - of Tortola, until, in consequence Of some political differences, one of the Magis trates, who had previonilY lived with hint ip the *habits of friendship, caused a charge of murder to be preferred against Mr. 'lodge for the murders lie had committed among his slaves, all of which had been perpetrated more than three years be , fore. A special conamission , was appointed to try Mr. Hodge ; but such was the ferment produced among the white inhabitants of Tortola by this unheard of proceeding of trying a master for the .murder of his slave, that Governor Elliott found himself compelled to come down to that island in a ship of war, and to proclaim martial late, in order to prevent tlie tumults which were apprehended in case of conviction. Mr. Hodge was found guilty ; - but was recom mended to mercy by a majority of the jury. Go vernor Elliott, however, disregarded the recom mendation, and Mr. Hodge suffered the awful sen tence of the law. Although the Directors derive no satisfaction from contemplating the . motives which led to the. trial of Mr. HoYge, they are disposed to hope that this example of capital punishment (the first, they believe, .whieh has occurred) in the case of a- mas ter murdering his slave,. may prove salutary, by affording a practical proof that, as the protection of the law has, in this instance, been effectually extended to the slave, it may ;also equally in others. . The Directors believe that the necessity of a reform in the administration of our West Indian Colonies is strcmgly felt, not only by the public, but by many persons connected . ,with those islands who can no longer shut their eyes to the conse quences of the system which has been established there. The Directors have adverted to . this sub ject not for the purpme of entering at present in to any explanation of their views upon it, but merely that the Members of the Institution May may understand that it is one which occupies - much of their attention.. They also forbear from adverting to some other instances of gross abuse which have taken place in the West Indies ; because the mention of them at the present moment might interfere with proceed ings which in some cases are actually pending, and might perhaps impede the endeavours of the Board to apply a remedy.. In the midst, however, of the evils with which a hear view of the West Indies brings them ac quainted, the Directors feel a pleasure in recm.l 7 - ing the following instance of humane and liberal conduct. About. fourteen years ago, Daniel Hill, Esq. of Antigua, purchased from a slave ship a negro slave of the name of Mohammed: Discovering him to have been above, the common class in his own country, and to have acquired a considerable share of Arabic literature, he was led to treat him with particular indulgence. Mohammed mani- Irest - td a strong attachtnent to the Mohanitnedan religion, and his master paid the utmost attention to the religous scruples of his slave. At length. Mr. Hill resolvcd.to grant bina his liberty, and to procure for hiip the IlleaUS of returning to his (Aril eouniry. itilohanuned arrived at Liverpoolin the month of June last, recomniended to the care of Mr. Slutni, of that place, under whose roof he remained during a - stav of two•or three months in England. An application having been node on beha'fof this stranger to the DireetorS,.they were induced to be at the expellee of conveying hith to Goree, which was the nearest point to the .resi.;. deuce of his . family •and they furnished him with letters to Major 011isholm, the 'Governor of that place, and a inember of this Instithtioo,,,on whose good offices in . Mohammed's' favolik they confi dently rely. ' A , point which has occupied a cOnsiderabl£. share of the attention of - the - Board ha - s'heen, the -due disposal of the slaves captured - by-our ertrizem- Many of these captures have take w pl'ace in the West Irk and the librated slaves have neces. : sarily been landed in the West-India islands. The. Meeting will not be surprised to learn. after .:'ht they know of the systeili which prevails in these colonies, that considerable abu.ses should have been practised with respect to these unfortuiritt! To those abuses the Directirs are anxious that sonic remedy should be applied, and to this they are now directing their inquiries. It is one of the inconveniences almost 'necessarily in cident to legislation, when applied to new and" anomalous cases, and this . inconvenience has been .experienced in the present instance, that it can hardly anticipate all the results which may., be produced, or all the- evasions which may be practised. (To be continued.) THE lIAavEsT---The harvest throughout nearly' the whole of the counties south of Yorkshire, tidy been safely housed ur stacked. The Wheat crops are rich and abundant, and except some affected partially with the smut, the crops are generally, upon an average of the tWo'preceding years: Bar ley and oats are a full average crop, and peas and beans are much above the produce of former years. The second crops of clover and dines are heavy, - and if the season should continue 'favourable, a great reduction in the price of hay, will be the consequence. The harvest in Yorkshire is partly begun, and a greater prospect of abuudant crops' was never before knOwn. In the four northern counties, a number of fields of corn have been reaped, and the produce large; but we lainent to bear that the wheat, in the west of Cutnberland, is likely to suffer much from the smut. . In Scot land, the harvest is, in some quarters, already commenced ; but the cold dampness in the air that prevailed for the last three weeks, has retarded the ripening of the corn, and caused a number of wheat-fields to be injured by rust and mildewrof course the crops will not yield in proportion to the bulk on the ground. In the Cars,: of Falkirk, the harvest is general, and crops most abundant. In the district between the Clyde and Galloway, the wheat, oats, and b arley harvest has commenced and the crols are rich and luxurious. The ha ;••• vest in the Lothians is not become general, but several fields of barley and oats have been re; Ted, which yield largely.H.Throughout the whole kif%- dom, the crops ot potatoes will yield most abun dantly, and if the weather prove favourable, the supply of wholesoirie food which will. be derived from the present year's extensive culture of this root, will set famine at defiance, at least for twelve months to arrival of a number of ships 'last week from the Baltic, loaded with ItYei, had the immediate ,effect of lowering the price 0 1 that article in our market on Saturday last, full 53 , ' a boll. In this time of scarcity, it is, with satisfa , . , ,tiol l we record Donations, during the last week, by the Executors of the late Sir Sitwell Sitwell, narr• of Renishaw, (in pursuance of his will) of 2 each to the poor of every parish, in Derbyshire'. and Yorkshire, in which the deceased B a ronet had estates. 13ristol Fair last week exhibited the largest shoes of cattle known for many years past, and the num' bers sold were almost unprecedented. The stlP' • ply of leather was not large, except in cornmoct hides and bulfaloe skins. BIRTHS. On Tuesday, at Ongar, the Lady of John Ogle, Esq. -M .- ehitect, of a'Son. On Thursday' morning, in Bentincliestreet, Manchester' square, the Lady of Charles Courtall, Esq. of a Datw,liter. At Bevis Mount, Hampshire, the Lady Of Henry -1-111Vorn Esq, of a Sou. MAIED. On the 24th of February last, at Calcutta, Captain Georg.c Herbert Gall, of the Bth Bengal Native Cavalry, to/Ana, sct: cond daughter of the late Johnson W ilkinson , 'Esq. of r°r- man-square. On'Tnesday last, Mr. George Robert Butcher, of Wel- e street,, Cavendish 7 scinare, to Miss Coote, of AN rundel, Susst'l; Yestetday, at Swellham, George Langford, Esq. Car t 5 r - f in the West Norfoll Militia, to Grace, ' second daug htx the late W. H. Vernon, Esq. Barrister at Law. On Satnrday the sth inst.at StaDnwell-House,in r4, til .the - --11 ;,• . 1 of MiddleseX, -- MiSt Stanhope, eldest daughter o f -Adra'-`1 Sir-Henry e Stanhope, Bart. ,rti4, ' The sam day, in Exeter, in the 16th year of lii.; age , ..` • Was Maquay, sou of George Matiouy, f: 3 , 1 . o f ;;t. StePV I " Green, ,in Dublin. ether °f Lately, in Exeter, aged 82, Mr;. Ann GraGranger, In E. Granger, Es. • urfi g " On Sunday la q st, at Inburst-Houset, Berks, Mrs. St ~ relietx. of the late Thomas Sturgis, Esq. of Sonth Atiale';' str On eet. fr Wednesday the 9th init. at the, Mote, of tk t yp hus ver, the Fight Hon. the Countess of Ronthel. ___.----4' COAL MARKET, SEPT. 11. Ships at Mantet. Ships sold. Price' "' 03. 5 Newcastle . . - _4 . . . 525. ;Id. to Inter; or STO(. ,KS YESTERDAY. N n 433 a a ppp i y k rri ( 5 C S : eee p o tni e i c ttt r k . Cent.shuteu shift. 9 . 6 0 Old Ann. - (Igo Excheq. Bills, 3td• P er oDitto,fa da p r y . , 45 6 5 Pr. Bank i.. Ann. shut India Stock, r in )it i t n ( l ) r. t i nr 3 l. ll" 601 India Bonds, 4s. ss. dis. Cons. ti , r 9th Oct. 60. , HIGH wATEIt AT LONDON BitIDGE TO-Moft"r` Morning, i 8 minateß after 6. Evening.7,.if. minu tes aft' l. otk-street, Grosvenor•sguare, :111:3t aadre,;.-.3e.d., CLAN:Ji.;STINt, AIA R WAGES. The following cases'. were decided before the Court at Jedburgh,, in Scotland, some time since ; the importance of the'subject induces us to pub lish' it CELEBRATION OF ILLEGAL. MARRIAGES. On Wednesday, the 15th inst. Andrew Ruther ford*, or Andrew Harry Liddcll,• Rutherford, re siding in Coldstream, was indicted, at the instance of his Majesty's Advocate, first, at common law, for having falsely assumed the character of a Mi nister or Clergyman; and secondly, under the sta tute 'of the Ist Session of the Ist Parliament of Charles 11. 1661, chap. 34, by which it is provi deg, " that whatever, person or persons shall hereafter marry, Or present themselves to be mar ried, in . a .clandestine or inorderly way, •or • by Jesuits, Vriests, or any other not authorised by this Kirk, shall surfer the penalties therein pro s vided—and that the celebrator. of such marriages be banished the kingdom, never to return therein under pain of death." The libel then 'proceeded to 'Ansisg , e the Paamet with having, on or about the 7th of April, and the 19th of November, 1611, performed two clandestine and irregular marriages between persons residing in or - near that Place, and.having 'granted , attestations or certificates of .the same. The pannel havi heard the indictment, and being asked by the Lord Justice Clerk from the Bench, whether 'he was guilty or, not guilty Gs .;he crime charged ? answered—" Guilty, my Lord, but I (lid not know that I was guilty of any crime." . • Mr. Bruce, Couhsel for the prisoner, then, rose, and ida very neat -speech, in which he began by reprobating the practice of irregular marriages, objected to the relevancy of the - present indict ment.—llis, chief arguments were, first, that the only net specifically founded on in the indictment - (1 - 661) had been framed originally to secure the Episcopal Chur,eh, then established in this coun try, against Papists, and deposed ministers of every description, and' that the general expression -" any other," was intended to apply not to lay men, like the prisoner ' at the bar, otherwise the words " person Or persons " would have been added, but merely to those of the classes of des pised ministers not directly included under the terms " Priests and- Jesuits." Secondly, that this act had, for a long periods-been obsolete, and ought not now to he revived, but something bet t,a. "substituted, because it was_ - inapplicable to present circumstances-3dly, that by ordaining the punishment of death-against any convicted under it who should return - from banishment into Scot land,. without expressly enacting that this punish ment should be judicially 'inflicted after a legal proof of the fact, it opened the door to private malice and revenge; and, lastly, that part of the statute is impracticable at present, inasmuch as the punishment, "- stocks and irons," ordained by it against persons who should be married in oppo.; ' .sitioa to it, is a punishment unknown in this .couatry. On these accounts, be craved that the prisoner shctald be dis Charged simpliciter. - The Learned Council. • was answered in a few words by Mr. Horne, Advocate Deputy, as Cour"- eil for the Crown ; and the Ridge shortly alluded to the arguments of the prisoner's Counsel against the relevancy, of the indictment. —l-le observed, that to set aside the force of an Unrepealed 'statute, because it had long been dormant, would under mine the fundamental principles a our judicial proceedings, and introduce . great confusion into society ; but added, that the statute of 1661, re ferred to, had been acted upon about the middle of last century by this very Court, as appeared from its records: his Lordship denied that it was ap nlmcable to- the Popish clergy And depoied 'minis ters only; for, on.the .contrary, both, from - the preamble and the enacting clause, it appeared equally applicable to all other persons who might' • contravene it; and he• quoted, from ..isAr. mmentary 951 the Criminal Law of .earl' . ~ , . Av • . , . . LONDON; Printed - by THOMAS WOOD, of No. 35, Maiden-Pine, Covent-garden ;d . and Publisivd by WILLIAM ARMIGER SCRIPPS, S o uth m o w At the Sub; OvyicE, No. 112,, .s.traile., where Akertisonotits, Orcierslor the Paper, Letters. for tie Editor, 4c. (post pait), 1: