The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1822-09-09 00:00:00

tAbaist Mari n.

The Cabinet-.taken are now in fell employment ;
not one man Oho possesses the slightest knowledge
or taste in the business is idle. The trade has re-
cently received a new and extrosediaary
All is bustle and activity. A defect in the old
State Cabinet is the cause of all Ibis stir. Since
the death of the Marquis of Londonderry one of
its principal drawers has been missing, and from
the curious qoalities required it has been found
difficult to supply the deficiency. The Proprietor
has held out large reward and encouragement, but
hitherto without success. The vacuum remains.
The lost drawer is that which is used as the depot
for the reception of foreign curiosities, of which the
following articles may afford a specimen
Some old French pleat, of curious and evening
device,. On one of them is insc►ibed, Abolition of
the Slave Trade; on another, Liberty of the Press:
both articles of rare art.

Several Dutch toys, received in exchange for
Java and the trade of the Indian Archipelego. A
Dutch'cheele, of rather ungrateful taste.
Three large tin canisters, containing promissory
notes of the Emperor of Austria, for large sums of
money lent by Mr. John Bell. These securities
being now out of date, and the canisters requiring
much room, Mr. Home, we understand, memos to
propose that they should be exchanged for an equal
number of Cerritos sausages.
An Hanoueriawilddlestirk, with which the owner
has frequently attempted to play • part io the royal
concerts on the Continent, but the effect being
feeble, has been always lost in the loud and over-
whelming blast of the Prussian trumpet, the French
horn, and the clangour of the Austrian cymbal,.
A collection of Italian mai& lesersontis, in-
cluding fiddles of Florence, Piedmont, Naples,
Sec., but out of tune, unstrung or shattered by the
rude ■nd violent touch of ignorant and unskilful
performers.

Some carious relics, saved from the Holy In-
quisition in Spain.
The enumeration of these articles, which are few
in comparison with the whole mew, may suffice to
shew that the drawer required must be of consider.
able capacity. and made of good and substantial
materials. The Cabinet-makers have furnished
several new ones, but they are either of bad stye;
or so ill-fashioned, it would seem not masters of the
trade but unskilful journeymen had made them.
Among the least objectionable are the following:
A Peel pine drawer, the timber gems, and not
sufficiently seasoned. •
A Marra beech ditto; does not ft; sects too

A Melville Scotch fir ditto; very doll-looking
article; nothing shilling nor showy; made of some
old naval stores.

A Alaryborough maple ditto ; badly coloured ;
the timber cross-graiued, and apt to snap. A
clumsy piece of workmanship.

A Westmorland willow ditto; a very flimsy
a►ticle, no depth nor solidity, and requiring exten-
sive alteration.

A Wellington cAesnait ditto. This sort of timber
may answer fur the field; it liss been used to ad-
vantage for gun-stocks. tumbrils, &c., but is quite
out of place in a Cabinet.
A C'anning cabbage•tree ditto. This is the most
promising of all, and will probably be chosen to
fill the vacant space. It is a very showy article,
finely polished, hut the material, we learn, is liable
to warp and split, and therefore no great depen.
dente can be placed on its durability ; neithe► does
it harmonize well with Its companions in the sur-
rounding compartments, which in general are dull
and heavy-looking, old-fashioned and formal. For
our own parts we.think the Canning cabbage-tree
will not answer the purpose. There is a good deal
of variety in the grain, which renders it good for
ornament, but it wants strength azd firmness for
use. Nothing fragile will suit. Besides, it is not
of sufficient dimensions. As a stick for squibs and
eraekert, or for making matelies, it may do. On
several dull evenings. in the House of Commons,
we have also seen it used in kindling a fire, and
dispelling the ennui of the company, by lighting up
a blaze. The owner of the Cabinet, moreover, is
not partial to it, and his Chief Manager has doubts
of its fitness, and demurs to its introduction into
the nest. There is another and a decisive objection
to all these articles, except the last. It is, that
they fill pieces in the Cabinet already, and there-
fore the selecting any one of them for the foreign
drawer would be only stopping one hole to make
another.

lit the mean time, great inconvenience, we are
ns•ured, is felt from the existing deficiency. The
contents of three drawers are now crammed into the
Bathurst drawer, which is barely sufficient to hold
its own ; and thus the articles hitherto arranged in
proper order, in their separate cells, are likely to
run into confusion, and become damaged by the
mixture and collision. Admitting this to be true
in its full extent, we do not pity those who suffer
the inconvenience. It is not a case of unavoidable
necessity ; the difficulty is of their own creation.
As well might they claim our pity wl►o cry out,
they are starving on mean and scanty fare, while we
see them surrounded with the choicest viands within
their reach, but unwilling to stretch out a hand to
help themselves. The country possesses abundance
of material admirably adapted for the purpose.

Irk - -► N't•••!...

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- lib. •

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PUBLIC MEETING.

PORTSMOUTH DOCK•TARD REDUCTIONS.

A very *nmerous and respectable Meeting of the
iishabitaitta of the three towns of Portsmouth, Port-
. sea, and Gosport, was held on Wednesday last, at
the Beneficial Society's Hall, Port►es, upon the
subject of the distressing prospects which the ia-
tended great discharge of men from his Majesty'o
service in the Duck-yard present. Sir S. Spicier
being celled to the Chair, Mr. Begg Cos Chairmon
of the Committ. r) opened the (uvet of the Meet-
ing, and Mr. James Chase (coal-merchaut) proposed
appropriate
.re►olutions, which bring seconded by
Mr. Brine, a discussion .arose on the subjelitt
during which the necessity of retrenchment in all
the dep laments of the public service was adroit ted,
but it was generally thought to press most heavily
and unequally on the mechanics and sew kmen, who
had denoted the labour of their whole hese to the
aid of our navy, which had contributed so much to
place the• nation on the pre-eminence tt stood, whil►t
the reductions in the army, and various brioche*
of the military establishments of the country, bad
not taken place in a commensurate degree. The
proposed application was unanimously decided on;
anti it was suggested that Government should direct
the discootinuunce of horses in Portsmouth Dock-
yard, the same as in Sheerness, in order to afford
en►ployrueut for more labourers ; but ultimately it
was thought most suitable, to confine the appli-
cation chiefly to the discharge of the convicts.—A
Memorial to the Right Honourable Hobert Peel,
the Secretary fur the Home Deportment, was there-
upon prepared by a Committee of the lohabitsoto
(Mr. Maudlin being requested to assist them therein),
and unanimously adopted. It is as follows :
.4 To the Right Hoisaurable Robert Peel, one of- bts
Majesty's Priori/sal Secretaries of Stale;
" The humble Memorial of the staidersigaed
lababi-
touts of rot I.inout b, Porters, cud Gosport,

. .
SHEWILTH—That the object of the present Memorialists
to represent (with rimy due resin-et) the &siren occasioned
to this neighbourhood, in consequence of the fa/imitate that
have already taken plate, and the prospective redactions
that are ordered to be effected in his Majesty's Dock yard
and other public departments at this port; and to submit to
your compassionate coosideratiou a means, the adoption of
which would, they submit, in a great measure avert further
impending calamity.
That the present system of reducing the number of
men employed in the naval 'recitals deplorably affects the
local inkiest• of the several sea port towns of the kiegdoen,
and it is with t►e utmost deference and respect that year
Memorialists represent to you, that the diminution of labour
and of trade in conseqsenee of those redactions, isecessarily
raises the poor rates, already extremely opprermive, and may
increase them to an alarming extent, so that few tradesmen,
hitherto reputed to be what is termed respectable, may ►e
able to contribute to their support, or to pay so extensively
to' the general revenue of the country, as they have heretofore
don►, without bringing themselves to a similar state of iadi.
gene. and misery.

" That, under such circumstances, though your Memo-
rialists are aware that much causes be time by his Ahjesty's
Government to relieve the distress which is become so ge-
nerally prevalent in these towns, yet, as applying to this
vicinity in particular, the removal of the convicts front
best?, or the ceasing to employ them is his Majesty's depart-
ment here, would be the mesas of retaining in the public ser-
•ice many hottest but necessitous individuals, and thereby
prevent that overwhelming addition to our pa►ochial ►ee.
dens, which mast otherwise occur, and they fear, even-
tually terminate in a much greater extent of rain. And
your Memorialists at the same time suggest whether the
interests of morality here, would not be better sappurfed
■nd beoefiled by the removal of the convicts, whose
punishment by transportatius to parts beyond the seas,
they conceive was generally contemplatid by the Legisla-
ture; and though their employment in time of war, when
labour was scarce, could nut be dispensed with, the aremsity
for their continuance now, in time of peace, does not spear
to your Memorialists to exist.

Your Memorialists, therefore, subunit this to your most
serious consideration, in the hope that it will receive from
you the consideration which its Importance 'claims.
" And your Memorialists," &r.
The Thanks of the Meeting were voted to the
Mayor. James Carter, Esq. for calling the Meetiug ;
to the Chairman (Sir Samuel Spicer). who was re-
quested to tranunit the Memorial; and to Mr.
Alinchin, for his able, prompt and indefatigable as.
instance on the occasion.

We are informed that the Memorial has near 4,000
eiguatures to it.

Ou Monday the Phylliria transport arrived at
Portsmouth from Gibraltar (39 days passage), with
invalids from the corps of artillery and sappers and
miners, and from the 24th, 64ih, and 75th regiments,
under Captains FRAZER, royal artillery, and Ricti-
A aDSON, 75th regiment. There was no British ship
of war lying at the Rock, but the L arll e was daily
expected from Malta, on her way to England. Oil
the same day arrived the brig Gil:lend, from Leg-
horn, with oak timber for Portsmouth dock-yard.
Advice. from Mexico to the end of June, re-
ceived by way of the United States, indicate that
the new Emperor ITURBIDE is likely to experience
much difficulty in maintaining his sovereignty.
His growing unpopularity is ascribed to the re-estia-
blitiliment of the Inquisition, and his refusal to per-
mit the European Spaniards to return to their na-
tive country, or at least to curry their wealth with
them.

We have received an account of the improper
conduct of some of the City Ringers when the Prin-
cess AUGUSTA came tbrough Oxford on Monday
tie' *ght. We did not think it possible that any
men would venture to degrade themselves, the pa-
rishioners, and the city, by ringing a peal of congra-
tulation on the visit of one of the Royal Family,
and immediately afterwards beg fur a remuneration
at the.carriage door of ber Royal flightless !—(o.r.
ford Herald.)
The puhtic were lately informed that the Marquis
of CONYNGHAM left Edinburgh a few days atter
hie MAJSITY'S arrival in that capital, to repair to
the Marchioness, who, it was affirmed, was sojourn.
ing among the solitary woods mod dells of Slane.
Our readers will, probably, notwithstanding, be but
little surprised to hear that the Marchioness of Co-
alrllGHAlll has not been in Ireland this year. tier
Ladyship, as might be expected, now resides in her
splendid mansion in Hamilton•place, Piccadilly.
From this fact we may conjecture that the object in
dispatching the Noble Marquis, holdi
so important a situation in the Royal
must have been different from what

stated ; but whether it related to our ro,
as some imagined, or to «vents connected
MAJESTY'S reception in Scotland, wr

tend to say. In the latter esse, the •i

seem to belong to the Home Dep./lineal
ing Paper.)

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