The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1804-05-25 00:00:00

Tilt CIUNA SEAL

L9SS OF The' PORPOISE AWD THE CATO

• We are happy to state, that a confident hope
may be entertained of the safety of the crew of the
Coo, which slip we mentioned some time since to
have been lost in the China Seas.---The following
account Dela:: we to the Toss of that ship, and His Ma-
jesty's armed vessel the Porp,ile, will be found veny
interesting :
Th! Purfraite, tommanded by Lieutenant Fowler,
in company with the C..to, Capt. Park, and Bpi/r-
-overs., were on their passage from New South
Mies to China. On the 17th of Augnst, the
po,oi,e struck on a coral reef of rocks, 208 miles
it. the North Farr of Sandy Cape, and 733 miles
from Sidney Cove, New South Wales, in Ist, 22
deg. 1 Imin. South, and long. 155 deg. 55 min.
East. The waves miming high, the surf soon
broke over the ship, and m a short time carried
away her foremast: the situation of the ship soon
rendered it absolutely necessary to cut away her other
masts. The Cato Was tint able to avoid the rocks, and
struck soon after. The situation of the crew on
board the Cab was most distressing; the violence
of the vrwes soon carried away the masts, and she
had not long struck before the sea broke up her
deck<, and. carried almost every thing away. The
(Ally place left for the crew was within the fore-
chair, to which they clung in the most perilous
state during the whole of the night, the sea running
mountains high, eapeaing their destruflion every

In the morning they perceived the Bridgewater
steering her courses aft, to avoid the rocks; which
she fortunately did, and was lost sight of the next
day. During the day, Captain Flinders, who lately
commanded the facestigetor, and who was a pas-
senger on board the Parpsist, with the assistance of
Lieutenant Fowler, launched one of the boats be-
longing to the P4wite ; and, the weather moderat-
ing, succeeded in reheying the crew of the Cato, who
were landed on a small sand bank at no great dis-
tance, soon after which the ship went to pieces.
The crew of the l'arpuise likewise landed on the sand
bank, and several days were spent in getting pro•
visions and covering from the ship.
The crews of both ships succeeded in obtaining a
supply of provisions, &c. for about three months,
and the tide falling, left them a large pro?ortion of
dry land.
On the 26th of August, it was agreed upon that
Captain Flinders and Captain Park should launch
the six oared cutter that had been saved, and steer
ffr New South Wales, in search of assistance.
They accordingly rowed from the sand bank on
that day, and took with them twelve men, and three
weeks provisions. On their going off Ole island,
the coLiurs, which were lioistc.l union downward,
were reversed, and their companions gave them
three cheers.

The cutter arrived off Indian Head, New South
Wales. on the 28th of August, all well ; and Capt.
Flinders gave the above intelligence to his Excel-
lency the Got eraor of New South Wales, with the
addition that he left his companions, about eighty in
number, with three months provisions.
Very little doubt was entertained but they would
all be saved ; the Governor had given dire Rion for
vessels to go in search of the crew.
Or. the 9th of September, when the last accounts
tame away,no further intelligence had been rect ivest.
The weather was then moderate.

The condua of the officers andcrew, on the above
melancholy occasion, merits the highest encomiums.

WES f

The Philadelphia Papers of the 2J of last month
give the following interesting intelligence respect.
ing Martinique :
" On Saturday evening last arrived here, the brig
Arm, Captain Lord, from Martinico, which place
he left the 12th of February. He informs, that he
arrived there on the 111th of January; in the course
of fifteen days arrived five American vessels, but
none afterwards. On the 2J of February, the British
sent eight boats into Fort Royal, and cut out the
brig Curiotif, of 2) guns, and 89 men on board,
ready to sail for France the next day; the Captain
General had taken his passage on board, to go to
Fr i ;ce. The Captain of the brig was on board,
and made his escape out of the cabin windows,
swam on shore, and the next day the wounded men
were sent on shore in a flag of truce On the 3d
of February, the British landed 500 men on the S.
W. end of Martinico, who were repulsed by 200
to of the French were killed, and 9 or 10
wounded ; 6 Englishmen were found dead the ;sett
morning. On the Gth, the British sent a corer
schooner into Port Royal Bay, supposed AS a spy
to view the harbour. The first shut from the fort
sent her to the bottom ; 1.5 men made their escape
in the boat, as we were informed, and forty-five
went down with the vessel. On the Bth, there
was an English schooner crossing the Bay of St.
Pierre, as we are inform?d by a Vanish vessel,
that had sitty-five men on board, as she was in
company with her ; by an accident some Are got
to her magazine, and she blew up at I I A. M. not
one of the crew saved. The British Commodore
sent a proclamcion 'like these accidents happened,
and deep tees tab isLtud in a state of siege ; he has
called all his forces from Guadaloupe to surround
the island, and has everted two batteries on the Dia-
mond Rock end on the South West part of the
Island, and anchors his ships there. He has at an-
chor three ships on the N. W. side, under the lee of
the Pearl Rocks, and has declared that he will take
every thing at sea, great or small, he can lay hold of,
and has destroyed a number of country boats com-
ing with produce. The French have taken the pi-
rate negroes from the plamations to erea batteries in
every place on the Island where a boat can land.—
The inhabitants are determined to keep them off, it
it be in their power—the number of-military troops
on the island is 9,000 militia under arms."
A letter from Cape Frarcois, dated Feb. 25th,
'` There are three British frigates, a 7t., and
..-te smaller vessels, cruising► between this, Cape
Nicholas Mole, and Cape Maize.
Captain Smart, of the schooner Perferereirec, ar-
rived at New York, from Surinam, informs that
Previous to his sailing, an 4ttempt was made by
Captain Mackenzie, and .30 men belonging to an
English cruiser in the Roads, to cut the Comm:i-
-'lrres ship ote. of •pre harbour ; but the ezpedlion
tailed, and SWISS cf the nun wgre rakea ptiv,ners.

LAW INTELLIGENCE.

COURT OF KM'. BENCII, WiPTNIIMS Mtr 24.
Saiikgs Won Lord ELL2t4soto 11C14 and n Special Jury.

LIBEL.
,THE KIN() V. WILLIAM CORBETT.
This was an information filed against the De-
fendant, as proprietor of The Irrr.44.q Pdiblvt Retister,
tor having published a gross libel against Philip Earl
of Ilardwicke, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, John
Lord Itcdesdale, Lord• High Chancellor of Ireland ;
Mr. Justice Osborne, one of the Judges of the Court
of King's Bench ; and William Marsden, Esq. one
of the under Secretaries.

The Arroamev GENZIIIAL stated the case at great
length, on the part of the pmsectiiitin. He observed
it was a libel ut a most dangerous and mischievous
tendency ; it was a low, mean, and illiberal attack
upon the Lrrd Lieutenant and Government of Ire-
land, turning them into ridicule and disrepute; and
representing them as incapable of conduCting the
aWairs of that country. The whole libel, he said,
was so conibined with tietion, as to render it almost
impossible to understand detached pans of it; but
be was obliged to selen certain passages in order to
draw the particular at!.:ntion of the Jury to those
parts which should cnryt•t'l,iefly undet their considera-
tion, and with a on tiler view to take up the time ofthe
Court as shortly at possible. The first passage in
the libel to ss hich he world draw their attention
was, that parr sv'ff.,,ein t.ord Hardwick: is described
under the appellation of the Modem Repre.entittieeof
thr Perth., co!tiparing Excellency to the Illirodrit
II:ru recorded in the History of di" Siege of
Troy ; then he goes on in sach a stile of flippancy
and impertinence, not meaning to state literally that
the head of his Excellency we.: absolutely of timber,
but 'hat it was of a very liroviat tendency. a This,"
he observed, " was the L srd Hardwicke of Doiftw
Addington " He then says, " I discovered Lord
Hardwteke to be hi rank an Earl, in manners a gen-
tleman, in morals .ts in manners, a good parent, and
a fond husband I tit t he had an excellent library,
a good colleah.n of books in St. James's-square;
and applied iii.. I; -es agriculture;' those the I earned
Counsel observed, wereliberal qualities and useful ac-
quirements'; they were qualities that should stop a
libeller: but' e on on in his abuse; he denies him
every other gold quality, in a slandrous and ill-na-
tured way; he says, " suppose a foreign enemy,
ready to land on that coast, and a band of secret as-
sassins in the heart of Apt country, is such a wooden
Administration competent to such an event r in an-
other part he calls his Eric-Ilene, "the Cambridge.
shire Earl, or sheep-feeder," but if he knows any
thing of that county, he should hide his head.
Great Britain never was possessed of an army so
disciplined, so appointed, so regulated, and so com-
manded, as that now in Ireland; this libeller states,
that " this is my Lord Hatdwicke's- first political.
career; that he was totally unacquainted with the na-
ture of the important situation he held ;" and he asks
"is he one of the tribe of a Westmorland, a Hobart,
or a Cam lase?" not merely libelling the Govern-
ment of Ireland of the present day, but the whole
Government for a series of years past; had thegentle-
man anyopportunity to know who those persons were
that he took this liberty with? no person ever held
- the situation of the Noble Earl,: who was more cal-
culated, from his manners and ability, to unite and
reconcile the people of both comet: its.
The next WAS an attack upon my Lord Redesdale:
he was Ailed. " a broad Chancery Pleader, from
Lincoln's-Inn ;" charging him with `depriving the
Secretary of the Master of the Rolls of his fees, and
throwing them into the hands of an unknown An-
nuitant. Ile did hope the connedlion between
the Lord Chancellor of Ireland, and the Attorney.
General of England, would not lead the Jury to
suppose, that he would select the libel particularly
against him—but, he observed, the Annuitant al-
luded to is the Chancellor's Secretary, who had
been in that situation under the late F.axl of' Clare,
and therefore could not he considered AS intimately
conneded with Lord Redesdale—but he would leave
it to the Jury to judge, whether, forgetting his
former life, he could make use of praetices, such as
those with which this libeller charges him. His
next libel is more particularly addressed to Mr. Jus-
tice Osborne ;a high judicial chara3er—alluding to
a charge given by him to the Grand Jury of the
County of Antrim, when persons were to be tried
for rebellion. " The first commission issued to try
those persons was a most proper one, and the Jadges
sele&ed for it, men of ability and talent; hat the
same principles were not adhered to ,n issuing the se-
dint! commission. • The present Government were
ittfluenced by principles not of genetal justice; this
Gentleman was sele.fled flit certain pptposes." As
to Mr. Marsden, he was charged with " overwhelm-
ing the kingdom with his rapacity and avarice." He
then alludes to what passed at the trial d' Mr. Em-
mett ter High Treason, and the past which the So-
lici!or-General of Ireland (Mr. Plunkett) took upon
That occasion. The latter had been the intimate
and bosom friend of Mr. Emmett's father ; and the
Defendant accused him of an outrage on justice and
loy 1:t upon that trial ; but, u;ion this part of the
case, he would not take up the time of the Court,
As the Solicitor-General had made it the subje& of a
distinct anion against Mr. (7obbett. The le mned
Counsel then observe J, that he had wieeted theme
passag: ~ from a va-t number in this libel, equally
scut ohms, scandalous, and abusive. The whole
was a low, treats, and illiberal attack upon the Lord
Lieutenant and Government of Ireland. One, alone,
would have sufficed to-explain the whole of the mat-
ter. Mr. Cobbett could not set up a defence that
he was only the publisher of this that he was
In to the. publication of it through inadvertence;
his perseverlig in publishing it proves the contrary ;
the public curiosity had been much increased. as
well as the finances of Mr. Caohett, by the sale of
this libel ; it still eon:hilted to be sold every day at
his shop. lie could not imagiae how that Gentle-
man meant to jostify himself; WAS it by having
elcfc.l himself into the charaerter of a Public Cen-
sor ? 'fine 61a/icier and cal y made use of by him,
proceeded from no good motives; he there:time
trusted, that the Jury we uld be of opinion, this
matter call.ai tor their interference, and that they
world stamp it with a mark of their disapprobation.
Richard Barry was then called, wbo proved that
the affidavits, ay which it appeared Mr. Cobbett
was the punks her of Ihe W ektd PP...leen/ Regm:er,
or-re filed in the ,tamp Odic* 'accorder.g to the 43
M Parliament.

Mr. ADAM, on•the part of the Defendant, was
about to contend that as the Aft of Parliament re-
quired the affidavit should be signed, sworn, or af-
firmed, it was necessary to pi r.ve the hand-w:iti ig
of Mr. Cobbett :'upon the Witness being asked the
question, he said lie was present when the Defend-
ant sign-•d and swore it. Some other Witnesses
:ere pro.luci.d to prove the apooirnments of Lord
Hardwicke, Lord Redesdale, tee. and of having
urci tas :d the Ln:pers containing the libels in question.
ME„, ADAM, °tithe part of the Defendant, went
into a very lung and able defence rhe rested the case
chiefly upon the chars ter and sitaatiou of his client.
He was a good father, a virtuous husband, end a
loyal subjeft ; he had always endeavoured to main-
tain the true principles of the constitution ; he had,
on all occasions, set himself forward, at the risque
of his life, in defence of that Constitution. Atter
twelve years public service, wherein be had so often
displayed his inviolable attachment to bis King and
Country, he was now, for the first time, called upon
to defend himself from an accusation of a libel.
The real question to try was the information filed
for the purpose of personal retribittion : and the fur:
ther question was, what was the intention, the ems
amino. The intention or motive of the party was
the matter to be considered ; what may appear to
:site mind scurrilous and abusive, may appear other-
wise to another. The question of intention or ma.
tive was a great while excluded from the consider-
ation of Juries ; and it was left for the Court to ,le-
cide whether the matter was, or was not, of a libel.
lons nature ; the Jury might give a verdift of guilty ,
or not guilty, merely on proof of publication ; but
now the case is altered, and lies in the words of
the Aft of Parliament. The Jury is to consider the
intention or motive of the party t this right arose in
the revolution. and hes continued ever since ; the li-
berty of the Press has been held as one of the first
principles of the Consritution, and according to the
dodrine laid down by the ATTORNEY GENERAL,
if it k to he fettered, then there is an end of that
great basis of civil liberty. The Defendant was a
person who for a long time resided in America,
and sl ice that period in this kingdom as a public
writer : if he conduits himself with firmness, in his
animadversions upon the principles of the Coostioi-
tion and the servanteof the Government, he is a
meritorious chantaer : though he derives no great
honour from his anastor' at least he derives no
shame. 'Ple character and history of this estraordi-
nary.man was this: He was the son of a daily la-
bocrer, who gave him what scanty education his
poor means would afford. He le'' his father's
house at the age of eighteen, and b: cane self-taught
in the grammatical nse of that language, which he
has since so frequently displayed with so much
energy and effect. His leading pi inciple h 3, ever
been to support the cont.:it's:ion of this kiogd..,n,
and ha love for his King and country has ever been
most conspicuous. No evidence whatever had been
adduced to prove he wis the vendor of this pnbli
cation; but even if it was admitted, it might he
frequently necessai y to enquire into the politics'
conduit, the policy, or the imbicility of the ser-
vants of Government. The nature and tee
dency of the libel in question went to chew that
the weapons for the due administration of the
Government should be put into the hands of persons
of ability and talent; it this was curtailed, p&slic
ridicule and face discussion must be given up ; hut
there were no persons in public capacities who have
not been some time or other treated with ridicule.
The evidence which would be produced as to cha-
rafter, in order to rebut the motion alleged on the
part Of the prosecution, would be of the first rank
and respeitability, and most have its due weight.
Mr. Liston, the first witness on the pert of the
Defendant, deposed, that he had been British Mi
mater in America for several years, during which
time, he had a personal knowledge of the I)efend-
ant ; as to his general character and condtta, he
was as eminent as he was excellent, as a man at-
tached to the constitution of this country in all its
branches, and a zealous defender of the principles
of the constitution. Upon his ctoss-examination by
the Aylmer:Er GENLRAL, the ftetendaist
was one of the last men lie kLew who would publish
a libel against the g vernment he lived tinder ; but
he was not an uulikely man to ridicule the Ameri.
can or any other government he did not live under.
Lord Henry Stewart was then called : he deposed
that he had resided in America with Mr. Liston, and
knew Mr. Cobbett intimately well : he had written a
series of books, by which, and his general condo&
and character, he appeared devotedly attached to the
King, Royal Family, sad Constitution of Great
Britain.

The flight I lon. W. Windham was then called: he
said he had kanwn the Defendant since his tetutn
to this kingdom. and knew bins to be a zealous sup-
portet of the constitution of this coantry.

• Lord Minto, Mr. Yorke, and hir.—lierves, wste
all severally sworn and ewnined, ar.J deposed,
that they knew the DTA:nada to be a warm and
zealous defeLder of the constitution as estahllshod
by law.
_ . _

[bra ELLasseonovan. in his ch.ugt to the Jury,
nude some oliserv,st;odiap4.lu the lAw laiJ in
such cay.s.

' The Jury, after some consultaticn, found a 'tr.
of—(panty.
tll4O. at Ike Snit vi the Rig.ht Hon. W. WICK-
11A4, V. DANIEL SLATLIM,
This erss All information tikil agriust the De-
fendant for sending a challenge to the Plaintitt.
The Defendant WAS son of the late Governor of
Ilarbadoes, and, on his retni to Kriglaud from
that country, was ins, ted to spend some time with
Mr. Wickham, when that gentleman was resident
in Irelaad as Secretary. Mr. Sl:Att):l'S Si‘ter was
married to Mr. Flint, a rurr.t particular friend of
Mr. Wickham. Upon some disputes between Mr.
Seaton and his family, Mr. Wickham interfered
on the pat of Mrs. Flint, who was then 'Au
-eighteen yeas of age : he was iter trastee in her
marriage settlement, and h.s interference considered
as necessary to restore tranquillity among the parties.
A correspondence took place between Mr. Wick-
ham And the i)ei'endartt, and, After many provo-
cations, an absolute n:essage was at last sent by the.
Defendant. Mr. IVickEtim dee .teel in the most
manly, honourable, and forbrArias manner t but
the belzadant still persevered, and repeated his
miss:age by Major Mangos, which obliged Mr.
Wickain to apply tar an intormation
both Gentlemen. Application was at.erwards m., 'e

to him to withdra* tl,e information ; and, from the
handaernecondua of Major Mangin upon that oc-
casion, _he declined proceeding againq but
Mr. Seaton, having written a subsequent letter to
Mr. Wickham, which gis. Fly azgravated the eri..
ginal oacnce, the business now came on before the
Co.trt.
Mr. ERSICI..E stated the case on tbe part of the
prosecution with his usual ability, and Mr. Wickham
was the o.dy witness called He proved the charge.
Mr. Cora; did not go largely into the defence on
the part of Mr. Seaton. Ile observed Mr. Season's
conduet was rather reprehensible ; ind that M.
Wickham's was to a great Jeg-ree right and proper.
He regretted Mr. Wickham had returned one of the
Defendant's letters unon•ried, as it would have ex-
plained every matter in dispute.
Load Et Lam aoaot:na went through the evidence,
and the Jury found the Defendant G,.;'ty.
Lord E.i.i.cupoacitmu then oh c-ved, that be
bopra the Gentleman's mind wri:l i be cl!--n t.,
convidjon, before he was brought up in receive: Cl.'
judgment of the CoUtt, and stront,i: -.,com:nendel
It to him to make his peace with kr. %V:,-::ham.
Aissnin. Esq. a'. Sir W. LI. IA 111 GI 1111:iNi, it:. •-•
PI this cause, which we reported yesterday, we
ought to have stated, that the damages were merely
pominal ; it having been Agreed that an end v:eald
be put to the aaiou, on the Defendant's paying the
Plaintiff his costs.