The Sun. — London, England, 1820-05-19 00:00:00

Al LErING SIIIP•OWNERS. A General Meeting of Ship-Owners was held nn 'lnes , !ay at the City of London Tavern, Bi -1,149!):i,a,e-s!reet., fur ihe purpot:.e of considering P i,tnn to Pailiatnent against any alteration in the exi, , ing laws inat !nay he preindicial to Bri tish fleeting was very numerous and 14 ,, pectable. At 11' p4st one o'clock, on the motion of Mr. Wit SOS, 7.1.1. P., _ . J. VV. BucKLii, Esq. was called to the Chair, whieli having ,alien, he read the advertisement for caPitig the meeting. lie then went into a state mt o of the object wiiieti the Committee of the St ip-Owners' Society had in calling the Alton bets together. It was stated, he observed, i n a cot•vursation which tyok place in the House of (.. , •mtuous a fe w eve iiings back on a petition which was presented from some merchants of LoTolon, that many alterations might be matte in the N4rigation Laws, which ouold be produc tive of . vets considerable bench 3 to the coctitry at ktge• As those alterations, whatever they vto-se V% ere not tiefiue,!, die resolutions and peti st-1,1,-lt would presented to the meeting di nt.t I,fr to !loon, nor would he go into de tail t'espec lug them.'l't o ey were only alluded to in :4 gaoietal . One thing, however, bad oc coo t eel oit that evenieg, which called for the par ticular a' eotio“ of the meeting. It was stated by the P , esitlent of the Board of Trade, t: at the iiimeut , were not unfavourable to a remis sion of some of the ditties imposed on timber from the North of Eotto.-e. 'lbis he thought was -a moat important question for the consideration or shi t ,-owners, as their interests were likely to he most materially affected by it. It was not necessary tor him to go into any history of this 'ditty in support of he resolutions, but he thought the present was a good opportunity for present in • to the meeting a short detail of the great in cease of the timber trade, and of the ship pitig employed in it within a very few years. Hr proceediol to conteud, that by the remo- Nal of the restrietioos on the timber trade W 1414 the northern parts of Europe, a most set-ions injory would he done to this count' y .g.-oerally, to our owl, North American colo ;tics, ansi to the ship-owners in particular. It w %lid be hoolcss to imagine that we should get the euslom of the Baltic Powers by opening our - ports to th, m. They (omid not afford to deal with 445. (.);.) , his std jeer he would ,neutron a tact was out perhaps kwiten, or, it known, not takt-n folly l.tto consideration. There was at the to-sent m oneot in the Cll5lOl - 11 House iuu or der Irmo the "Ire tsury, reninti•ig the tonnage s on all ships clearing out with any c:rgo, IrlAever stban, tot Sweden or Fiolat,d. 'This was an indulgence not atiowld with respect to those vessels trading to tHe Colonis ; and the reason assigned for remitting the duties was, that those co-ntries were too poor to take our produce. But if os ri , re the f,,ct, and he did !tut deny it, why should •his cootory give up the trade with her oWo colonies, in order to open it with ihose who co to not deal with r etur n ? Why should we thus ihror, trout --ourselves the carrying trade, fro •AHleit e alts ady tkrived so great a benefit w:is not no ,, ' !he intention of the Committee to sloe , to lov alteration in the Navigation Laws ; it would he time enough when they understood w• , at the nature of the intended alterations-was. Ile did not, however, mean to say that no alters tionc sl , oalti ever he made in them ; for the time might corn-, :and circumstances misty he so alter en, as to call for some alteration But though the ,hipping ito,ete•t would never oppose any al let a'tott which mi.,,ht conduce to the public good, they cumin not be satisfied with any alteration h would Mime themselves. Mt CLAY roposed first Resolution— That the British Ship-owners arc at the present time labour ing ;;prat and serious diaivultie4, as well from the state of urral depression of the commerce of the kingdom as from the competition of foreign snip-owners. ().; lit-solution bring pot from the Chair, PARING said, he hoped he might be per to offer a few observations at this stage of the proceedings. He had not read the petition, but tie took it for granted that it was founded upon the resolutions. He begged to thank the Committee for the opportunity they had given him or attending ; for, as a - ship.owiier, he had lOtle claim to interfere. He conceived that the shipping interest must be looked upon as most important by every one who valued the independ ence of the country in a commercial or maritime point of view. He thought, therefore, that no other interest ought to be looked upon as oppos ed to them ; and he trusted that merchants and ship-owners would be considered as one great fa mily, all having a strong interest in the prosperity of the other. He was glad to. see so numerous and respectable a body looking with a jealous eye on measures which might affect their great inte rests ; but he was sure the present meeting were too respectable to think that because the mer chants or agriculturists hall petitioned, they (the ship-owners) were intended to be injured. He hoped they would look upon themselves as not separated in interest from those other classes, but that where they could assist each other they would. It the ship-owners were in danger of being injured, be considered that the other classes world not do their duty if they did not support them. It the question before the meeting refer eed solely to the timber ,trade, he should not have felt it necessary to offer .any observations; but lie hoped, as referring to the petition which he had recently presented to the House of Com mons, he would he allowed to say a few words as to the probable result of - that petition. First, be should observe.. that the petition was not of his drawing up. Ile had never seen it until it was put into his hands to be presented. Undoubtedly it was very ably drawn up. It laid down some prin ciples on which it was, said our trade should be reguiated4. : hot he would admit, that many of those were toe general in their nature, nod therefore it was mar iit•al that they should be looked upon with a jealouseye. They were t Oer of too sweeping a ellyeactrcr„ and might perhaps apply Netter to a new country thou to one which had a long experience ot previous - regulations. He thought therefore, OW it should not be considered without consult in,g other ioterests : besides s those of the petitioners, and he wolild never support it if be was satisfied that such support would injure the ship-owners ((lear !)—Before he introduced any measure upon the subject to ti,e House of Commons, he would wait to see what other petitions - there were from different parts of the country on that subject.— What he was anxious to call the attention of Par lietneut to was, the removal of certain restrictions under vthich commerce laboured at present. — These were of a generel nature, and affected all classes. Indeed all classes felt the distress ; all were heavily burthencd ; and he was sorry to fitel this distress so general in almost every part of the country. It appeared to him, that at the end of the war some revision of our com mercial regulations was necessary. We were at this moment in competition with nearly the whole world ; and with so many rivals, it was of the utmost itpportance that we should be prevent ed hoot falling further below that supetiority which we had truce enjoyed. Jo Come to par- G-nlass, i?e mention an ex:eusion of our Indian wile, and our trade to the Pacific Ocean. This would be a twist important benefit to the ship-owners, and to the cotiatry generally. 01 its advantages every Getritanan in the meeting most he fully aware ; but thi... there might be an obstacle sand in its way, in the compact made with the East India Company. The first thing we had, therefore, to do xas to see what it was we want ed, and what they could give without injury to themselves as a body ; and he was snare the loditi Company, as part of the tame great family, to which be bad before alluded, would Hot refuse their concurrence in any measure which might beeetit the country at large when they could do so with hoot injury to ;Lemselves. T, ,e next thing that he would suggest would be an entire freedom of the transit trade. That weeld also, he con ceived, be a most material benefit to the ship owners, as .well as to commerce in general. lie wouid open our ports wide ; but certainly with out intending to intethre with those trades which were carried on by particular charters. When this subject was before the House of Commons upon one occasion, several Irish Members oppos ed the tiansit of German linens, as likely to injure the 1: kit trade : though he looked upon the objection as ill-founded, yet there was some thing of a case made out for it. It was suited, that as our vessels sailed with convoy, and had so much the command at sea at the time, if we did out allow those linens to be sent, wher countries could not send them. But the case was quite different now ; for, though we might not send them, we could pot prevent other nations from doing so. By Admitting . the tree transit of these and other articles, our merchants would have the benefit of assoited cargoes, which weie touted so very advan tageous in the foreign market. This, he main ained, would be a stimulus to the ingenuity end industry of our own manufactorers,, who might eventually succeed in substituting their own goods for those of Other Countries. On the sehject of the Navigation Laws, he believed he 111 d touched upon them very lightly in the House of Com mons. He did say that some alteration might he medelo them, but not such us to affect their ge neral principle. It was a general rule of those Laws, that the hoods of any country cou ld only be brought in ships of that country. He would, however, suggest that tt,:e produce of every coun try might be exported from this country to any foreign port, but in British bottoms ; at the same time he would consent to no regulations wnh could be proved to him to be injurious to the in terests Of the Ship-owners. With respect to the question before the meeting, he did fi n d that th e case of the shipping engaged in the timber trade was much stronger than he had before thought it to be.--(Hear, hear !)—Yet be did not under stand how only one hied of our vessels could find employment in the Baltic timber trade, if a re laxation of the duties took place. He would admit that the state of the British shipping em ployed was such, that any alteration respecting it should be touched with the utmost delicacy. The exclusion of the Baltic timber was, he thought, injurious, inasmuch as it had made us many ene mies ; though lie would not deny that the coun tries on the Baltic were too poor to be good cus tomers to us. In looking at the question in Par liament, lie should be always ready to attend to any information which the Committee of the So ciety of Ship-owners might be pleased to com municate. The CHAIRMAN, in explanation, observed, that the reason why only one-third of the present amount of shipping which were engaged in the American trade, could find employment in that of the Baltic was, that they could go more fre qoently to the latter place. They might go four times in the year to Prussia, two to the Baltic, and six to Norway. He begged to ask the Honourable Gentleman (Mr. Baring) whether the proposed alteration of the Navigation Laws was to be confined to the produce of Europe ? Mr. BARING teplied, that certainly it was only to Europe. Mr. MAP.RYAT, M. P. thanked the Honourable Gentleman (Mr. Baring) for the manner in which he had viewed this question, and for his qualifica tion of the prayer of the petition presented by him to the House. He was sorry to hear the President of the Board of Trade announce any intention of relaxing the duties upon Baltic tim ber. The duties were imposed, not from any hostility to the Powers of the Baltic, but arose out of their hostility to us. In 1811 they con fiscated our ships, and imagined that we should be obliged to submit to it. We then looked to our own colonies, which we had before neglected, and it was too much now to complain that we continued to give the preference to those colo nies. It those Powers lost the- trade, the fault was their own. iVhen it was considered that this branch embrated one-seventh of our whole carrying trade, and that one of its greatest ad vantages consisted in the profit of freights, it was of too much consequence to the country to be slightly given up. As w the article from the Baltic being cheaper, 'he conceived that that article was ei•eapest which brone,ht molt money tq us, and prevented our profit fri , rn tailing into the_hands Of foreigners. The lion. Gentleman then contended, that it would be unjust to our Colo- . nies, whom we prevented from trailing with any but ourselves, to give now a preference to those who, even otter opening our ports, would not deal with us ; for he maintained that, if to-morrow we should take the produce of their country, (hey would, instead of purchasing our goods, draw bills upon us, and go to other markets where they could get goods cheaper. lie further main tained, that by discouraging the Timber Trade with our North American Colonies, we should op pose the greatest obstacle to emigration, which was considered, in the present day, absolutely ne cessary, in order to find employment for our su perabundant population. Besides, it should be considered that the ships generally used in the Timber Trade, so many of which must he with drawn, if the proposed remission took place, could he employed in no other business; for they were generally put into this trade when they were not of ranch use in any other. Mr. Wit_soN, M.P. supported the Resolutions, and promised his most cordial support whenever the subject should come before the House of Commons. drier some further observations from Mr. Baring, Mr. Marryat, „Mr., Yo►►ng, and some other Gentlemen, the Resolutions, and a Petition founded on ttu were agreed to. [For the Petition and Resolutions ► see TUE SUN of yes terday:l MANCHESTER MERCHANTS' PETITION. The following Petition hos been alre'sdy signed by many of tike principal Merol,ants in Manchester, and will be presented to the House of Commons in a tew days : The humble Petition of the undersigned Merchants. Ma nufactnrers, and other Inhabitants of the Towns of Manchester and Salford, and their immediate Neigh , hourhood, SIIEWETII—That the alarming state of distress in which the trade of this counary is at present involved, of alike the merchant, the manufacturer, and the labouring classes, and also threatening the most fatal results to the agricul tural and funded interest, imperiously calk upon the Legis lature for efficient means of relief. That to indulge an expectation that other countries will take the manufactures of this lorigdo:n without our receiving in return such articles as they produce, is delusive, and in jurious to our best interests. That the more extensively we import foreign produce, the greater will be the reasonable probability of au extensive ex port of our own ; and as our ability to consume such foreign articles must be proportionate to the beneficial employment of our population, it is of the highest importance that an impulse should tie given to trade by the removal of all such restrictions on imports as can he relinquished without injury to the agriculture and manufactures of this country. That the imposition of heavy duties on those raw materials which form the basis of our manufactures, is in the highest degree impolitic, evidently tending to diminish the labour and reduce the wages of our industrious population, on the full employment and adequate remuneration of which the pros perity of the State essentially depends. That it is of vital importance to the commercial and agri cultural interests of the Empire, that the utmost efforts should. be exerted to secure a vent for our, ,manufactures in those countries from whence we import articles of luxury or ne cessaries which our own soil and climate do not produce, by forming arrangements for a reciprocal trade subject to a mo derate scale of duties. • Your Petitioners, therefore, humby yet earnestly submit this most important subject to the serious consideration of your Honourable House, in full confidence, that, in its wis dom, such measures will be adopted as are best calculated to advance and secure the true commercial and agricultural in terests of this Empire, which your. Petitioners feel convinced must ever remain perfectly identified. - And your Petitioners, &c. LAW INTELLIGENCE.; COURT OF KING'S BENCH, MAY 13. (At Nisi Prius, before the Lora:. CHI eF-J usTI cE.) ASSAULT. Y.ELDEN AND WIPE V. JOSEPH AND GEORGE GAPE. This was a case of assault. There were two records : the one charging - an assault upon the plaintiff's wife, to which the plaintiff himself was of necessity a party ; the other chargine, an assault committed upon the plaintiff alone. It was agreed, • in order to save :he time of the Court, that the two actions should be tried together. Mr. GURNEY, on the part of the plaintiff, stated his case as one of peculiar hardship. His client, the Learned Counsel said, was an industrious pains-taking. hawker, who obtained his living by vending his commodities at fairs; and the defend ants were gentlemen of property, residing at . Sr. Alban's. It happened that, upon the 26th Marcie, 1819, the plaintiff and his Wife were attending the fair of St. Alban's ; and upon the evening of that day, which was the last of the fair, were peaceably packing up their wares, in order to their no less peaceable departure, when the two de fendants, who were wont from time to time to amuse the inhabitants of the town with a row, thought fit to make these poor persons the sub jects of their dexterity. Those gentlemen, upon pretence of dealing, came to the booth of the plaintiff ; but, instead of making purc i liases, they indecently insulted and assaulted the wife, and proceeded, by way of satisfaction, to beat the husband for interfering. During a period of nearly three hours the defendants continued to annoy and ill-treat the plaintiff and his wife : they broke down the booth, and endangered the loss of the goods ; and when the subjects of their sport re treated to an adjoining house, they followed them thither, and threatened their lives. The Jury would naturally suppose that some attempts to protect themselves had been made by the plaintiffs. Such attempts had been made. Mr. Yelden said .to one ot. the defendants, " I will complain to the Mayor." "'Then you must complain to me," answered the assailant, " for I am the Mayor, at leas( I was Mayor last year." A constable was called, but he " dared not touch Mr. Gape." The gentlemen, the Learned Counsel believed, had tl►e excuse of intoxication for their conduct ; but if a man behaved ill when he was drunk, he must pay for it when l►e was sober. The present action bad not been brought until very moderate recompenie had been refused ; and it was to be hoped that the Jury, in giving heavy damages to the plaintiffs, would at the same time give a va luable lessen to the defet►dauts. Sophia Mausfield lived at the Swan public house in St. Albert's ; was at the fair last March! Mr. and Mrs. Yeldenhad a stand in the mark et ' house directly opposite the Swan; saw the del: (laws about eight in the evening go to the boo t (' of the plaintiff; one of them took up a toy, a n . c asked what it was ; Mrs. Yelden replied th at l A was a dog ; " Dog ? Dog be d—d !" rewrite' the defendant ; " it'a a queer dog, without ad hair upon it." , The LORD CHIEF JUSTICE wished tnat toe WIN ness would either raise her voice or go back i f/ St. Alban's. If she would talk as loud as tho u g i, she were at tea with some of her female acquai ti# lance the Court would be benefited. The witness resumed—One of the defendants' she thought Mr. George Gape, then threw the 1 , down, and broke three of its legs off, Mr. Y e den then came up, and desired them not to inte r ; fere with his property ; defendants cried, s row, a row ! me, hut there shall be a rov e " The LORD CHIEF JUSTICE—WIIO said a ro w ' a row ? Tb Witness.—Both the defendants said so, then struck plaintiff's wife, •and knocked down. Plaintiff's. wife ran over with witness (r/ the Swan public-house, and was locked into ' : room. The defendants came over and tried to g e l into the house, threatening to murder plaintiff's ° his w J. Cunvin was at St. Alban's fair on the 0 0 : ing of the 26th March. Saw the defend,nts CO° 1 " to Yelden's stall ; other persons were wita ! sett; One of the defendants took 'up a doll of the sic (" it was one of them dolls that you. pull a string° and they 'lance in all manner of shapes and held it up to Mrs. Yelden, and moved it kind of way that a as not (witness thouefo) ( lacer; before a married woman. Mis. Yelden snaretto the doll away, and put it inr 0 a box. Defeada t ' g pushed her away, and took the doll out again.'" yt:lden then came up. and told defendant rot t .. . ° in err opt his wife, and defendant knocks d &Inn. Then pi i 's goods began. to fly ..laL'?'; An ill.looking sort of a chap that was stantiio;: " 7 kee.ned to :iirtcy some of them. Witness bid hi us , keep off. Did nut - know the defendants by 11 '7 6 Christi an tlatne9, Plailo if/ :vas glad to Until 13- ; nrOperty IWO his boxes tarry how, aid serso o hurt ied hint over into the Swan. i)ciendaros lowed, challenging plaintiff to fight, and ing his •ite. A ()umber of witnesses were then called, corroborated the evidence of Curt in and and W.len that detendanis ac t so (OP to the plaintiff', booth from time to time, arid se peated their •tSsaalta. Mr. SCARLETT. for the defendants, half avg( heard a more inconsistent case tha'n that made 0 1, by the plaintiff's witnesses; even suppo,ing,whic: be was far from being iirelirred coneecie, th': those persons were entitled to implicit credit. 1 11- , learned friend (Mr. Gurney) had not even g"4l, [IMMO) the ordinary forms 01 an action of as sault . ' he had not closed his case lea calling the doctor' '['he plaintiff' had not even laid out sixaenre t t t ; the purchase of a plaster : probably lie had foot the prescriptions of the attorney best sui!ed the nature of his case. The defandatos persons of the very first respectability ; and should be able to show, not only that the pit 4 i' e ,„ tiff had given the first blow, but that Mr. Georg' Gape had received very considerable injury. l b ! learned counsel then proceeded to explain awsf the evidence which had been adduced by plaintiff; and relying upon a verdict in his fias'°'' , as to the assault upon Yelden, trusted that t l ' r Jury would give very temperate datnitges for tb e trifling inconvenience sustained by his wile. , A considerable body of testimony was then 0 ' ; duced on the part of the defendants, whoa, *te n to spew that the assault and ill-treatment waif, ,0 fact, heen•sustained by them. It was not ihoril however, that the Messrs. Gapes Lad addres s ` " some jocular observations" to the wo e of s plaintiff, and that they had in the same 3nesl l3 s mood returned three times, without any eppsre ° business, to his stall. Mr: Goarassr, in reply, retorted upon Mr. Sc 'j lett's case the charge of inconsistency, and aiti,° o upon the improbabiliy , fiat the plaiwiff, wiros, It trade it was to attend at lairs, and whose hood consequently depended *root) consiliariag inhabitants of the towns which he trequent e should wantonly, and without cause, insult CP , most powerful family of the place in which oe - dealing. The LoRD CHIEF•JUSTICII, in summing up, 'I formed the Jury that they ust find• distioet. ve : m diets spun each action. The second verdict, hosre eves, would, he thought, depend io a great tnee.sl! upon the first. In causes of the present d e scri b e, Iron great cossistency of evidence could not • expected the matter indeed, to itself, was a sce: l 6 . of confusion ; he thought, however, that there " I . at least as much consistency in the plaintiff's C 6 as had appeared in that of the defendants, thg The Jury found for the plaintiff in both j actions, with 1001. damages upon the first, al. 501. upon the second.—(The Times.) PRUSSIAN ECONOMY.—The King of Paw- 5 4 , has succeeded in introducing a very extensive ec 'e , nomy in his military service, amounting, -to se` li o ral millions of francs. In every regiment o f _ t o line, unlimited leave of absence has been give ll , o , lO men in a company, and after the next re viet ' the same leave will be extended to forty men ii compapy. BIRTH. P e On Wednesday evcnin?, at liis Lordship's house, in n on garet-street, Cavendish-square, the Viscountess Du nca' of a son. _------"" AIAB,ItIED. '(1~~~ On Thursday, May 18, at St. Andrev,.'s, Holborn, James Woodward, Esq. of Peckham, to Mary Elizabe" s tiee t / daughter of Jonathan Hewlett, Esq. of Great James' Bedford-row. DIED. of id • On the 15th inst. after an illness of two days,` G r of - of her age, the Baroness Anna Wilbehoina lir year stins, at South parade, Queen's Elms, Little Chelsea''' r On the 11th instant, at Cheltenham, Nlajor-G e ttel tl) Hallett Framingham, K.C.B. Commanding Othcer-!_,.", Royal Artillery in Ireland. LONDON: Printed hy 3. B. CARSTAIRS, of No- 29 ' Ormond-street, Queen-square; and published LI . 5,, 5„ SCRIPPS, of No. 7, South 11:olton-street, .froote.r" Office, No. 112, Strand ; where Adrettisernen t , i t Lettct s, &s:. (post-paid) rgust be addressed. ~... •....., t.,v/ o . ity Thu. it acid 1,11 1411 t 4 ti 4