The Sun. — London, England, 1804-02-02 00:00:00

PLYMOUTri. JAN. 3f.—Arrived the Spencer, of 74 guns, from a Cio;ze off Brest ; the Doris Fri.. gate, and Mostcheron Sloop of War, from a Cruize ; and the Atnetican ship Aresomo, from Portland for this Port. PORTSMOUTH, FE B. r. Arrived the Hydra Frigate from a Cruiv!, with a number of French Prisoners on board, lately taken in some French Gun-boats. Came into. Harbour a large French Gun-boat, her Sailed the Busy Brig of War on a Cruize. YARMOUTH, FEB. r. —Arrived this morning, after a passage of five days, from Heligoland, the Earl of Leicester Packet, Capt. THOMPSON, with Mails and Passengers. She brought over upwards of sixty Hanoverian Officers. The Martha and Sophia, MANSFIELD, fro m the North, with coals, bound to Shoreham, put in here, having sprung her main.mast. The Peak, GRANGE, from Wisbech to London, with allum, put in wind bound. SHEERNESS, FEB. IL--Sailed the Leda Frigate, Gaps. tioxymAN, to resume her station off Bou logne. Mr. kovvist, late Paisei o The Avenger Sloop, which was lost Off the mouth of the Weser, has been appointed to the illazicienne Frigate. DEAL, FEB. e.—His Majesty's Ship Ch am pi on , Curlew Sloop, and Zebra Burnt), sailed this morn ing on a Cruize off the Coast of France. The hirmortalite Frigate, and Archer Gun_brig put back last night, it blowing strong to the S. W. His Majesty's Ship Leda, came down this morn ing froth the Nore. tinln the Downs—Monarch, Utrecht, La Vitginie, lin ,ortalit6, Leda, Brilliant, Squjrel, Cruizer, V u l ture, v.rierbgc ;Gl eu s. Fury, Speech:od), lack d ll, L ocust, Archer, Gun- uaituri Wikhelsea, Walmer Castle, Cirencester, d Sir Wi lliam i lleniley; East India Ships, with the out- Ward.bound,as pet las. MADEIRA. CAPT. SovrDEft arrived from Madeira, after a pass a ge of nin e d ays , on board the William Dent. West m Indi a Ship, coMmanded by The M ercury , a rapt. s ow „, , was ta k en in the month of Sen a The by the French Frigate E (which has been seen latel gypt /en/re , o f 36 guns y cruizing off Madeira, i n company with three French Privateers) and was sent into Teneriffe. Soon after, the Mercury was purchased by the Portuguese, and the Captain was permitted to proceed in her to Madeir a , w h ere her new owner lived from whence it w as hi s Inten tion to make , for England. The Ship had scarce. IY-reached Madeira Roads, when the wind blew a Ptrfett hurricane • she was driven from her anchor and cables, and forced upon the beach t the sea ran 60 excessively high at the time, that the Captain and people on board with difficulty escaped 'on shore. One poor fellow was unfortunately drowned, and the vessel soon became a wreck. Captain SOWDE.I7 has brought home the melan choly account of the loss of the Cecilia extra ship, bound to Bengal, on the gth of January, in a vio lent gale of vvind; two of the crew only were lost ; but it appears almost a w ere saved. miracl e h ow any of them The vessel having been forced from het' moorings in Madeira Roads, her masts were ex_ Ptded to go every moment, and every soul on board ex PeOed to perish, when the kind hand of Provi dence seemed to betwe en, two rocks int erfere, and gu id e d the Cecilia that f or ati , whi c h wedged her in so tight, at this me she conti nue d immoveable ; the surf anc. P e dod washed over the ship mast high, 1 Patcsslies with,tite gria,sest difficulty overbnogaredt: cboyultisave. iliat the Crew and themselves from being dashed Ship ; indeed, 'flging to different parts of the ibte‘evnon.ld have been utterly impossible, 11 a d the vessel In this hopeless st n in e motion,at the time. Went over the side, and L r mr er d e, when the mainmast n to the rocks: the Crew ; eized thi s .ki_nd of bridgemr. tunity to quit the ship, Is f , rtuna . te o l pi. resolvingte to perish in toe ar. tempt to reach the shore, rather ti c e n time on board where their fate was ine vitar)ln •) id the dvessel he driven from her present s itti ' a e t ' io s ri h' uProvi entially, the whole gained the shore in safety, ex acept two persons, one of whom, we understand, was .passenger did not long keep of the name of TIERNEY. Mr Cecilia Cher a mong the her position, but was driven tor_ %ear , to pi eces , roc position, and before the next day was Several s hi ps jabtnu not a vestige of her to be d se t en e da ngerou s e ff, A l n g In IVlddeita goads escape d the their cahl-' `'S of this terrible gale, by slippi n g . , . and puttin g to sea on observing t he at"r4 coming Capt. s On * when ~, o ivoszv left Madeira about the zzd ult. We a re • Pri v4t given to understand the four French d ee rs) of whith mention has been formerly 1,111„a -e, w ere supposed to be still cruizing in that "ter pursuit o I f if at so, it is t o b e hoped the Frig sent in them may arr i ve time enough to fall in wit, ' them. The irrilli a fro nt m De n t h a d a fair wind all the way Madeira, but the weather was at the same time very n Y boisterous. On S un d ay morning last, in lat. th e 45. log. ro. s h e fell in with about thirty sail of West India fleet. They had their voyage, got no farther on in consequence of the heavy gales t hey had encountered. At this period the wind was blowing tremendously., and the ships were laying to. Captain Sow i o attempted to spea k t h e l ast ship which learn he passed, a b out ten o'clock, but he Part e d flow their co n y parti cu l ars t h an that they had oy. •He heari ng more from the w noise made as b p y thervente d from T wind, he f our French Gan-boats captured 1)y ibzoze and .11 . yd e ra, the remarkably fine B eigs, veil wit. lee 32-pounders and 50 men on board, sortie o f whom tire soldiers, belonging to the 32 d Demi-brigade. They are So feet long, and IS . wide, draw six feet of water forward and four feet abaft, and are most excellent sea-boats, fit. ted in the completest manner with every necessary article of stores ; they are entirely new, and will row upwards of forty sweeps, and are so construed that if run on shore they remain perfectly upright, and thus present a most formidable battery. Each was commanded by an Enseigne de Vaisseau. These vessels sailed from La Hague with ten others, fur Boulogne, and were captured about six leagues from St. Helens, having been blossn off the French Coast.. They are in every reweft as capable of continui n g at sea as one of our G un .bdats, but more adapted for fighting in smooth water. There are fifty more of the same class lying at La Hague, waiting an opportunity to proceed to Boulogne ; and should the weather moderate, they will effett their passage in spite of our Cruizers, which can never annoy then in the manner they creep along shore, escorted ire cluently by a body of dragoons, to fire at our boats, should they attempt to attack thetn. Last week the Admiralty sent to D ea l the Stew ard to the late Captain PICOT, of the Hermione, fot the purpose of identifying the man on board the Bloodhound Gun-brig, but who proved not to have been ever on board the Hermione. On the Steward's coming ashore, he perceived two men, whoth he knew to have been concerned in the Mutiny, and horrid murder of the Officers, and immediately caused them to be apprehended ; they have been sonic time on board the Utrecht, the Flag-ship at Deal, without ever being suspefted, and most likely would never have been discovered, but from the circumstance of the person having been sent [olden tify the one suspefted ; they will soon take their trials for the offence. A man has also been disco. ved on board the Montague, of 74 guns, at Ports mouth, who is strongly suspefted to have belonged to the Hermione. t It ROYAL ARMY OF RESERVE.--The following are the Total, of the number of Men raked, rejected, &c. on account of the Royal Army of Reserve, as appears by the Of f icial Returns laid before the House of Commons lan EA 7 , 3 4%4 England a 26,739 Scotland - 443; Ireland - 6189 • • a id 4 z I a' b' 952 11 1129 58 3 271 - - 1 1 670 k a g 44 20 4 1 01 5579 • 4 . 'G 92°4 1.97 4310 I Total - - 37,363 ; lot° f ISI I 201°1 34,t 62 I In London and Miditesex the nutn!)ers of effec. Live men raised is 1260, the deficiency 1883. THE THEATRE.-==Mrs. JORDAN last night per. formed Miranda, in the lively bustling Comedy of The Busy Body, and gave a general spirit to the piece. Such parts as Miranda, which are distinguished by animation and do not rise to the polish of genteel Comedy, are exafily fitted to the poWers of this sprightly Adress, and in such charaaers she cannot fail to please the Audience in general. .The putt of Mat plet was very well supported by BANNISTER, who displayed its inquisitive spirit with great suc cess, and was nut less effeflive in shewi;!g his mis. conception of those schemes in which he is made an unconscious instrument. BARR Ymo tut displayed a manly vivacity in Sir George Airy. Miss POPE exhibited that genuine and true knowledge i,l character for which she is distingui,hrd, in Patch, and the two out men were very well repte. sented by DOWTON and SUETT. Mrs.' SCOTT is much too harsh for Isabinda. i t s h ou ld :cave b een performed by Mrs. SONTLEY or Miss Nlr LLoN.— Cinderelli, united wilt' suer an Adrcss is Mrs. JORDAN, in a part. suited to her talen - .F,.could not but attraaa !age audience, Mr. Alderman, and Mr. Jo , tAx RoviDELL, had ye,terd.iy an interview with Mr. ADDINGTON, relative to their in/ended Lottery. The Arts of this Country are so much indebted to the skill; taste, and enterprizing spirit of the BOYDELLS, that the Public must feel an interest ,in the success of all their undertakings. . On Monday the Court Mart/al for the trial of Major GORDON, on charges exhibited by the Hon. Colonel CocitRANE JOHNSTONE, both of the late Bth We s t India Rtgitnent, was held at Chelsea-- the Right Hon. Lieut.-Gen. Fox, President. The Court being constituted, and the charges read by the Judge Advocate, Col. C. JOHNSTONE opened the Prosecution in a very able address to the Court, in which he stated, with great perspicuity, the grounds of the several charges, and the substance of the evidence he intended to produce in support of them. He afterwards proceeded to examine witnesses, aul to lay before the Court a variety of documents in confirmation of their testimonies. Major Goa DON, also cross. questioned t h e w i tnesses at great length. The Court sat again on Tuesday on the same busi ness till three o'clock, when they adjourned till this morning, at ten o'clock. Col. C. JOHNSTONE was attended by Messrs. ADAM and MORTHLAND ; and Major GORDON by Messrs. ERSKINE and PIT. CAIRNS. Tuesday, the following Gentlemen were called to the degree of Barristers at Law by the Hon. Society of Lincoln's.inn, viz. HENRI' H., Hot— BECH, Esq. and EDWARD WARREN, Esq. We are sorry to state, that an alarming disturbance happened on Monday last, among the colliers at Kingswood, near Bristol, which did not subside without the atlive interference of the military force. Of the origin of the riot we are not yet perfealy informed. The alacrity with which the Bristol Volunteers, both Cavalry and Infantry, turned out at a moment's warning, fully armed and ac. courred, on the occasion, refleas much credit on them ; and the spirited concluyf of the St a pl e . ton Prison Guard of one Imndred and twenty men, entirely composed of detachments from the different companies of the Regiment, merits the highest commendation. They, after being on duty for upward .of 28 hours, and having marched near five miles, drenched in rain, when arrived on the parade, requested that the C omman di ng Officer would not dismiss them, but that t h e y m i ght be al. lowed to march with the rest of the Regiment to quell, the disturbance. LAIP REPORT. COURT OF KING's BENCH, FEB. VOLUNTEERS. THE KING V. THOMAS DOWLET. AFTS it some discussion as to the order in which this case was to be discussed, the Court decided that 1 it was not to he considered as a Ru!e to shew Cause, in which case the ATTORNEY GENERAL would have had to begin by way of spewing Cause against the Rule, but as a Concilium, and the case was to he .treated as a, Special Argument, and therefore Mr. ERSKINE was direaed to piOceed in support of his Motion to quash this Convi(ion, he having, as in ordinary cases, the priiilege of a reply. Mr. asktatz then addressed the Court in a very able speech in support of the Motion, which was for the purpose of quashing the Conviftion of a rvla. gistrate of Surrey, which had convifted the 13 , fen. dant, Mr. Dowley, in a certain penalty, for fines for his non-attendance as a Member of the Surrey Volunteer Cavalry. He began by assigning the reason why he wished to have the Court's decision what course the argument should take,and that was to preserve consistency in not repeating the arguments which he submitted to the Court on making this Motion, and of reserving some observations which. he might have occasion to make, but which he could not well make until he heard the nature of the argu ments on the other side. He therefore should state what was the nature of the engagement of the Gentle man, who was the nefendant in this case, and that appeared by the Convidion. idly, he should proceed to shew what the facts were on Which the Magistra:e had founded the Convklione Lastly, in a few words, and they should he very few, he should sub mit to the Court, re asons w hy, as i t appeare d to him, it was impossible to sustain this Conviftion. The Court observed from the Conviaion now before it, the charges that were laid before the Magistrate against this Defendant, and he should touch only on that part of the case which was most important for the consideration of the Court. The Conviaion stated the fads, and then proceeded, '' Whereupon the said Thomas Dowley, after having been duly summoned to answer to the information and offence therein charged upon him on the 14th of Sept. appeared to make his defence to the offences charged against him; which being read, and, being asked if he could say any thing why he should not be convicted, lie pleaded that he was not guil44,4hereupon the said Thomas Dowley freely admitted and confessed all and singular the matters and things in the said in formation to. be true—namely, his non-attendance on the day stated in the information, except that the said Thomas Dowley continued to be a member of the Corps at the time of making the Rules and Regulations respeaing the said fine, or the time of the attendance of the said Thos. Dowley in the said inforMation mentioned." This bet of the Defendant being a member of the Corps at the time of making these Regulations on which this fine was imposed, the Defendant denied. This fine was imposed by the Magistrate ispon the Defendant, for his not ob serving the Rules and Regulations made by the Corps in question, of which the Defendant had been a member, but .be contended that he. had ceased to be a member ; for the Ads of Parliament were never meant to give to any Magistrate or other person, any arbitrary power to impose fines, or in_ flirt punishments on any member of a Volunteer Corps, except as they were built on the Rules and Regulations of such Corps, and of which the party charged must be a member. He contended that the Defendant in this case was not a member of any Volunteer Corps at the time when this cons idion took place, and therefore the conviaion was illegal and must be quashed. The simple question was, Whether the D. fendant had or had not power to resign, without the leave of his Commanding ? Mr. ERSKINE contended that every Volun teer had that right, and argued at great length and with his usual eloquence upon that topic. He went over all the Statutes which were enafted upon the subject of the Volunteer Corps, the 34th of the King, the 42.1 of the King, the , 43d and the 44th of the King, by the true spirit and intent of all which, he maintained' that the LEgislature had al ways kept in view the real charaer of a Volunteer, namely, that his service vas tpurely voluntary, and that nothing in any one of them required com pulsory service. In this, he said, the Legislature had only kept good faith with the Volunteers. He read the Regulations of the Corps of which the De fendant was a Member, by which it appeared that their service was a limited service, instituted for the defence of the Borough of Southwark and parts adjacent, subjea to be called out in case of. Inva aion or Insurrettion, agreeably to the Aas of the 34th and 42d of the King. That every Member shall pay annually a sum of three guineas towards the general expence of the Cusps. That every Member shall keep a horse at his own expence, and also provide himself with all accoutrements. (a singular engagement, Mr. ERSKINE contended, for a man who could not retire from it). Then he ob. served, that the Magistrate had stated in the Con. viftion, that he had found Mr. Dowley was duly enrolled as a Member of the Corps, and signed Re gulations on the 4th of August, 1803 ; that he was a pi ivate in the Corps, and was so at the time of the information, if, under the circumstances herinafter mentioned, he is to be considered as then being a Member of the said Corps. The renewed offer of the service of this Corps was made on the 17th of August, 1803, and the ofFer accepted by His Ma jesty on the zzd of the same month. The Magi strate then stated the Correspondence which took place between the Defendant and his Commanding Officer, by which it appeared, that this Gentleman finding it impossible for him, consistently with the circumstances of his trade (his Partner belonging to a Corps which was called out on the same day, and they having no clerk), to continua' in the Corps, on which account he absented hitnselffrom drill, and sent in his Resignation to his Commanding Offi cer ; but the Commanding Officer refused to ac cept' it. The Defendant in his last letter to his Commander says, " I do hereby declare myself no longer a Member of the Surrey Cavalry, and cannot attend again." The Commander again refused to accept it. But the Magistrate did not leave the Court to put its interpretation on this correspondence ; he had put his own construe. . . . tion apart it. The iL .tgist.are lard to. ioota;:ide e tta a : things=z-First; whether- there - wasa renigeath'in let poin t of fad .leaving it, as he oi h aht •to le,ive ir, k) the superior Consideration of the. Court CO say if ir amounted to a resignation in, point' of I lw. The Magistrate stated, that the Defendant did notify his intention to discantinue his service, and did re. sign his situation in ;he sal) Cores, as far as by la w he might. In doing this the Magistrate hid aded very' fairly, and to the best of his julguient. He had formed his opinian of the . law, add can. aided the Defendant in the penalties ; hut he lid stated only the f - ,n;, and heft the law 'to _the Ceier a Ede stated 'the fads by which it appeal - eV : al- 3 e i..... fen3ant had sent in his resignation in Septemher, ,„a it was not until the z 8,1) of October that some of these regulations were made ; so that tlifs . Geatie- - man had resigned more than a month before some of the regulations by which he was fined ex,sted, qu., f r lil t the I f l a i l L , i t i g i t s n t i e g a i t i e f : e ' r ) s ee r t : t i e r l ) n t e v s i e a gc r i ; : i t ti lo r r t t C:o su f i l g t , v ) a e is i i e , l t n . i l l oi e tii S t f g . ( ;:t n ' i l ' l i e , i r i a t t e : y l:l 3 e : estion,vliether l a ' e V re o t l ) u v' t i ; - in this particular case, this individ :al could resign ? Mr. Easiciarke after having taken a general view of all the regulations of this Cor i s, and stared rite fads as they appeared o i the face of the conviction, and argued, that the power of , resignation was clear in every Volunteer, from the true spirit of all the provisions made by the different Ads of Par.. liament, observed that, nevertheles s , he should have felt himself unable to say a word in favour of this resignation, if he thought it was in the least de gree likely to have an unfavourable effect on the Volunteer service; on the contrary, he looked upon the whole excellence of the Volunteer systeM to consist in its being purely spontaneous ; it was the true spirit of Freedom which armed the t'e , iile--•-They armed to fight for their King, Country, Conat:tu. tion, Laws, Religion and Honour ; all of which were threatened by an insolent Fue, who had called us a Nation of Shopkeepers, whose destrudion was easily accomplished, and which he had threatened to effed. Thus the whole mass of the population took to arms, and they were swelled two a huge hulk, that, like a mighty wave in the raging billows, was ready to swallow up every thing that oppoSed it. But all the vigour of its motion was the spontaneity which produced it—take away that spirit of pure voluntary ardour, and it will vanish like a phan. tom. Therefore, he was so far from thinking, that if Volunteers were left . at their will, either to re.: main or retire, that they would resign ; he - Was -as sured they would all remain, because they would Continue upon the princiele on which they were embodied—True love of a truely free Country. But coercion, or compulsion, might produce a con.: trary effect. He had made inquiries, and he had every reason to be satisfied, that the , Volunteers all over the Country had now as much ardour for pure voluntary service as they ever had ; there was no fear that any of them would resign. It was a sys em de pending upon something more sacred ihan any human institutio n . It was something in the mind of man planted there by its Author, by which all Govern, ments would be safe—without which no Government could long continue, namely, public affect i ~n, This the Government of this Country lod in an eminent de gree, and it was never more distinguished than in that of the system of Who-it..., - e , . - a I,y , v I/ i ,il they were put to some difficulty, not to increase, but to keep down the number of Volunteers, and whose numbers did not arise from inteicsted motives,. fot when they came forwards, they had no exemptions to seek, there being at first only about 30,000 to ballot for the Militia ; neither the Army of Reserve, nor the Army.en-Mass having been hinted at. The coming forward therefore of the Volunteers, was pure and disinterested. Parliainent had so regard ed their offers, and had accordingly kept good faith with the Volunteers in al; its acts, by which he must contend again, every Volunteer was at liberty to resign. He maintained, that if the last At of Parliament, which was the 43d of the King, c. 121, bore the construdion for which the AteroitNEY Go alma!, contended, namely, that a Volunteer could not resign, then Parliament had passed : an. Ad _ which the Volunteers did n o t expect, and made them suhje't to what they did not consent to he ...made subjed to, in which case Parliament would have. done that which - Parliament never does, it•WOuld have played oil an unworthy trick, fore the purpose cf imposing upon the Volunteers—it would have imposed further duties upon the Volunteers than they had assented to, aid that for the purpose of s in p e a a r n in t g a i l l l ios t e ho:e 'llo w i l l i ' o ld ti n ii o g t h c t om ha e v iorw ere a e r n d. c a a t ll a e l d i ; out l'e under the Bill for raising an Artny en Masse. He expatiated on these - and a' multitude of other topics with his accustomed ability ; and concluded with expressing a confident expectation that the Court would quash this ConviCtion. The ATTORNEY GENERAL said, he was to sup. port this Convidion, and he -admitted it would Very ill become him, when he found that his Opi nion on the construction of these Ada of Patlia ment was doubted by. ' others - - whose Opinion was entititled to credit and great resped, to be very confident of their•Lordships l Judgment in his favour—yet notwithstanding what he had hea r d t o . day, and what he had reach on former occasions upon this subjed, which fortunately fur him were Syno. nymous [alluding to the printed Opinion of Mr. ERSKINE as containing the same ideas as his speech to-day], he was still of the same opinion as he had formerly expressed on this - subjed—he remain ed unaltered, and even unshaken in that opinion, although his confidence in that opinion was consi derably abated by finding such authority opposed to it, to which authority considerable weight was due—weight indeed that appeared to him to be greater than the,force of the argument by.which it was supported.' His Learned Friend Mr. EL'HITIS ' stated the question upon this Conviction veryiatrly... That point was simply, Whether or not this indi. vidual Volunteer was entitled to resign, under the circumstances of, this case I That was the question for the Court to determine, although the argument necessarily branched out into the general question of the right of a Volunteer to resign. Before he proceeded to detail this case, and to argue it on the clauses of the different Ads of Par. liament on which the question depended, it %%wroth be convenient at least, it not essentially necessary, that •he should_ endeavour ..to remove some loves- •