The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1803-07-07 00:00:00

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FAntlxol4 Hotiss. •
A Special Cenevadlitrt was yesterday held,
" to consider of iertaie O''e'dings of die Court -
Diriftors upon appbtaions made to them by
Owisers :if Ships sail* under the Old and
Skipping Systems for an increase in the present
SCASCRI of the allowances stipulated with those Own-
ers by contra f, for the Peace Freight of
Ships."
The minutes of the last General Court has
been read, with those of all other proceedings
which had since taken place,
The CHAIRMAN (Mr, BOSANC/tICT,) TOW
stated, that this was a Special General Court,
ed by the Directors, for the purpose of giving
Constituent Body full intOrmation of all that
passed between the I ireflors and the Ship Owners,
in consequence of the rfpplicltions from the latter,
respeCling the price of freight. With the leave c
the Proprietors, so much of those papers as would
serve to convey information to the General Court,
should be read. Many of them need not be read,
as they would not give much light upon the
je&, though necessarily printed for the purpose
conneCling the series of the proceedings.
The Clerk then read all the important papers
throughout, together with the Protest of Sir Fr:
cis Baring, and it appeared that the whole' of
had passed between the DireCtors and the .
owners, turned on the single point, what was
definition of a peace cr war freight ?
erhi
The Cl!Alar4Mi said, that the papers
been read, would, he trusted, sufficiently satisfy
the General Court, what the nature of the object
was, which had occupied so much of the time -
the Dire fors, and had undergone so very anti
discussion on both sides. he decision which the e.
re:tors had come to, he meant to bring forward
the shape of a motion, before he sat down; but
must previously acquaint the Court. that Atli(
on several occasions differences of opinion had p
vailed on this important subject, they (the Div
tors) had been unanimous. The Chan mat
plained, that on the 18th of December, 17;,5,
was a time of war, the Court of DireCtors retch-
that besides an annual allowance for the extraore',
nary expences incurrtd during a state of war,
would be adviiitlile to fix, once for all, the peace-
rate of freight of all the regular ships in their ser-
vice, or by permission for building for them, and
they accoidingly agreed to give for rh AC ships, dur-
ing the remainder of their existence, that is, until
the
they had completed six voyage,,
following , after
following rates :
For a ship of SOO tons, to China and B .en`wi 1. c.
direft, and circuitous to China, - -1110 -
io p
ton
:on.
1. Bengal And rtzticoolen, ;.cr
1.. n
Dins, Coait and Bay, - - - :"3 10 per n.
The Resolution of the Court stated, that one oh-
jeka of this measure was, to protect and prewrve the
property of the Owners of the existing ships, anti that
in order to meet the wishes of those Owners, the
Court had agreed to terms of peace-freight, which
they themselves thought too high. The Owners,
in their answer of the 2'2d December, 1795, desire
information respeCling the words peace and war,
declaring, that by peace they understand that si-
tuation of the country wherein there is preparations
for hostilities. The Court of DireCtors, in answer
to this definition, say, " that by peace is mean', a
state in which there is neither declaration 4 war nor
actual hostilities, nor such preparations for war as
may satisfy the Court of Diteetots that an additional
expence has actually and bona Pe been incurred."
The Owners then tender their ships in time of
peace at given prices per ton ; they make applica-
tion for a conference with the Chairman and 1;e-
-puty Chairman, and the Chairmen, Mr. Manship
and Mr. Grant, are appointed to confer with them.
The Owners, at such confererence, proposed, "that
the rate of 211. 10s. per ton, peace freight, should be
subjeCt to variation as to the pi ice of stores " This
proposition, the Chairmer, Mr. Mansliip and Mr.
Grant, could not accede to, as it would againopen the
whole question as to freight in time of peace, and ren-
der it subjeEtto future col troversy;buttheycommuni-
eated to the Managing Owners their opinion, that
if upon a sudden peace, the price of stores were not
immediately reduced, the Owners should state spe-
cifically to the Court, the particular circumstances,
and submit to the liberality of the Court for relief."
The Court of Direft.srs unanimously approved of
the state of the conference, and of the opinion given
to the Managing Owners by the Gentlemen ap-
pointed to hold the conference ; and the Secretary,
by order, transmitted a copy of the above resolu-
tion, informing the Managing Owners, " that the
Court, in settling the peace-freight at 211. 10s. per
ton, professedly went upon an adjustment thereof,
once for all, without regard to the price of stores
at any particular F.eriod of time whatever, and that
the Managing Owners have accepted the same by
their letter of the 22d instant, without any reserva-
tion whatever." An answer was received, from the
Managing Owners, stating, "that it
the a was not
reement their
intention to disturb, in any degrer, g
which took place on the 22.ci of December, but
that they were anxious to lay the foundation for a
continued equitable rate of freight, by an acknow-
ledged criterion of the expence of fitting out the
ships, subjecting the freight to alteration from acci-
dental variation, to a certain extent in such expence.
That, however, as the Court are averse to such a
proposal, they will not persist in it, relying fully on
the liberality of the Court, in every case where the
effea of war has produced evident influence on the
price of stores." On the lath of February, 1796,
the Owners, in a letter recognizing " the rate of
freight they have now agreed to receive, in conse-
quence of a permanent contraa having been con-
cluded for the existence of the ships " On the sth
of Februai y a bye-law was made, ordaining, among
other thins, " that it be left to the Court of Direc-
tors, to make such agreements as they may judge
light, for ascertaining, paying, or recompensing the
additional charges, in time of war and hostilities."
The Chairman touched upon the heals, severally,
of the subsequent parts of the discussion, from which
it appeared, that in consequence of the price of na-
val stores not having, by any" Means, fallen to the
usual level of peace, which the Committee of Ship-
ping admitted, the old Owners had appealed to the
Court of Directors for relief. in regard to he price
of freight, which they had contracted foe, and threw
themselves on the liberality of the Court. • 'Fhe pa-
pers concluded with a series of observations on the
most advisable method to be pursued on the present
occasion, it whether to relieve the Owners at the et.
pence of the present system, or whether to permit
them to give up their contracts, or whether any

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