The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1822-09-21 00:00:00

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170C1r1R0 CASE.
Me Onion Paw of Mouldy led ]

METROPOLITAN COURT OF ARMAGH',
tumour, urreuista 3.

His Grace the LORD PRIMATR, previding.

MELANCHOLY LOSS OF LIVES.

[From the /menet* Journal]

The impleasset eirclimidases it Grantham, to which we
abraded in ow last, has bees thoroughly investigated by t►e
Magistrates of the Bobsleigh and time for tbr parts of
whose visited exertions is bringing the delis-
quests to Juliet are extremely praiseworthy. The young
mien, the dupe of the party, Am been commi.ted to Lin-
go's Castle, sad Iwo oilier persons are charged with Ma-
elessessors, one of whom has mined into recognizance* IS
appear at the &Mom at FaMeacham ; the other ha yet at large.
We are happy to end that the remorse of the number impli-
sated (and which ►aired it to as many as thirty-sir) are eu-
►iqty without foundation; the above perilous, sod the three
sole mined last week, ►eisg all is any way coot-creed. It is
me true that W. Arden, Req. ►ad apartments at Grantham
Airing the hunt tog season; it appeared during his examine-
Sim Gib he sever was is the town hot once, and that he left
Tioordoo for the express purpose of committing the or, ace.
U is sbagular that, wish the exeeptios of she young appeelo
sits, sad Adis Doughty, the ispholaterer (who had lately esta-
blished himself in the place, and was also from London),
She pubes all lived at a cossiilerable distance from Grant-
laws, sod were, comparatively speaking, Muggers to each
otter.—(ffostox Gaulle)

In this Court proceedings continue to be taken
against the unfortunate lord Bishop of Clogher,
whose crimes have caused such affliction to his
respected and estimable relatives. The proceed-
rgi, as yet, have been confined to the issue of
citations, receiving the returns of them, and proofs
of service, those preliminary forms have not, as
yet, been gone through. This day a Coati sat
at half-past ten o'clock, a. as.; its proceedings
were confined to reading the affidavit of the ser-
vier, in • police and legal mode, of the second
citation, and the return of it : after which the
Court was adjourned until the I lth instirst ; a third
citation is to he served, after which the libel will be
filed and evidence entered upon. We understand
the Bishops who will preside with his Grace the
Lord Primate, in the hearing and final disposal of
this important trial, are the Bishops of Kilmiire,
Derry, Raphoe, and •Dromore. Most probably,
judicial sentence will not be pronounced for two
Months, and if any defence had been made, it
would probably be protracted longer.—(4rmegh
Volunteer.)

LYDSTBR, ARIL cailusßss, SEPT. 11.
This morning a most uuessuipled scene of dis.
tress took place on our coast. The early part of
last night being uncommonly cairn and serene,
almost all the herring boats from the Ord to Wick
Put to sea. Alt.! how many of them never to re-
turn again. About midnight, the wind veering to
thesouth. blew a tremendous gale; during the re.
insining part of the night, the most intense anxiety
prevailed amongst the relatives ■od friends of the
poor fishermen, nor did the appearance of the
snorting tend to diminish the general distress:
hardly any of the boats had been able to find shelter
during the night, and but few of them, even so late
as Seven this morning, had succeeded in gaining
the harbour of Wick, or any of the creeks to the
south of it. Son') after this hour, the writer of
this intelligence reached the small fishing station of
folligo, in time to witness a most distressing scene :
• boat from Forst, with four men on board,
swamped within two hundred yards of the mouth
of this creek, situated nearly three miles to the
-north of Civilness ; and he is sorry to say, that
•notwithstanding the most earnest entreaties he could
use to induce the fishermen of that place to put
off From the shore to the assistance of their fullow-
creatu►es, not one of them had the courage to
stretch out a saving hand to these unhappy men,
perishing before their eyes. Of the great probabi-
lity of suecess in this enterprise the writer enter-
tains not the slightest doubt, as a host, with only
two oars, had very nearly succeeded in rescuing
the unfortunate sufferers. For nearly an hour, or
at any rate, for some considerable length of time,
he watched the boat slowly sod gradually drifting
co the point, the men sitting up to their waists in
water, without oars, and their sails down; having
• sppareutly abandoned all hope of saving themselves,
but, as it were, alternately looking towards the
shore for assistsuce, and to the two•oared bort,
'which, by the manly exertions of the crew, seemed
almost within their despairing grasp. In a moment,
however, the sinking boat was dashed on the face
of the rock, and the unfortunate wretches were for
so instant Pen faintly struggling for their lives in
the waves, within 20 yards of numerous seafaring
men, looking on with the coldest apathy and laid...

ference%
A boat from Clyth perished near Ulbstet, with
'all on board, including a father and two sons. At
'this moment (four o'clock) the widd blows most tre-
mendously from the S.W., and some boats have
been seen out ut sea holding on by their nets, which
it is to be feared may be overwhelmed by the con.
sionance sod increasing severity of the gale. We
Would now only throw it out, as a suggestion to the
Chvernment of this great maritime country, whe-
ther it may not be worth their while, as a matter of
State policy, if cot of common humanity, to expend
• some few thousand pounds in forming safe bar-
' bows, for the sake of affordmg protection to that
most deserving and industrious portion of the com-
munity, the fishermen, who are obliged, in the
daily and nightly exercise of their profession, to ex-
pose themselves, in all seasons and in e*weathers,
along this most dangerous and rugged coast. It is
well known that tnany •of the inlets• now used as
• fishing stations are capable of being converted into
safe *oil commodious harbours, at a comparatively
trifling expense.

• Paint or PORTER.—We copy the following
peregreph, in the hope that the London brewers
• will be induced to iiniteie their Dubin] brethren :

" The porter brewers of Dublin have at length
Melded to the general demand for a reduction in
• tie price of that article. At a meeting on Saturday
• they fixed it at 11. 17s. 6d. per lihd. to the re-
taile.a, which will enable them to sell it at 9d. a
- quart, with the same profit as hitherto. It ass
• sold, however, yesterday in one instance in the neigh-
bourhood of Ship-street at ittl.—(Freeseeue's ✓our.
was, September 17.)

!~'~

NEW SOUTH. WALE&

LETRACT FROK THE REPORT 01/ TUE COMMIS-
SIONER OF INQUIRY INTO THE STATE OF THE
COLONY OF NEW SOUTH WALES.

(('optilandfrola our Paper of yesterday.)

The most numerous offences of convicts commit-
ted at Parsmaita, are those of drunkenness, des.
obedience of orders, neglect of work, and stealing.
At Windsor, and in the adjoining districts, the of-
fence termed bush-rouging, or absconding in the
woods, and living upon plunder, and the robbing
of orchards. are the most prevalent ; and at Emu
Plains, or the district of Evan, gambling, absence
from work, iiiaolettce to overseers, neglect of work,
and stealing, are the most numerous offences. The
difference before alluded to, between the number
of offences brought to the notice of the police in the
town of Sydney and neighbourhood in the years
1819 and 1820, is to he attributed to • real increase
in its convict population, that was much more con-
siderable than that which is stated in the ter of
the latter year, and also to • greater degree of
vigilance and activity in the police of the town, after
the appointment of Mr. Miuchin to the superin-
tendence of it. . _ .

was not able to make a comparison of the num-
ber of convict* and their offences in any years pre-
ceding 1819, as I found on referring to the muster-
books, that the number of convicts not victualled
in each district, or rather those assigned to settlers,
were not distinguished, but that they were included
under the general head of " persons not vic-
tualled," and I was not able to learn their precise
numbers from any other source.
In the years 1819 and 1820, however, these
dis-
tinctions having been made, it appears that the
proportion of crimes to the convict popula,ion, in
the town and districts immediately adjoining Syd-
ney, was that of 1 to 6 ; in Paramatta and the
adjoining districts, as of I to 3 ; and at Windsor
and the adjoining• distric!s, one in nine: in the
year 1840, the offences of the convicts in Sydney
were as one to three; in Paramatta as one to two,
and in Windsor as one to eight.
From this statement (subject always to the in-
correctness of the numbers of the convict popula-
tion, as returned in 1820) the evil consequences of
employing convicts iti towns may fairly he collected.
The punishments of the convicts. inflicted by
the Magistrates, consist of confinement to additional
labour at periods when other convicts are released,
confinement to their barracks, solitary confinement
in the cells of the different prisons and barracks,
and flogging and removal to the Coal River, or as it
is frequently called, Newcastle.
A magistrate acting alone, can only order cor-
poral punishment to be inflicted to the amount of
fifty lashes ; and it was also customary to transport
convicts to the Coal River under the same autho-
rity, for such term as his Excellency the Governor
should assign. I found on my visit to the Coal River
that the commandant had no special instructions on
the subject, but that this term was considered to
be that of one year, subject to be shortened
or extended according to the good behaviour of the
party under it ; and had been so considered by his
predecessor. I found, however, that the indefinite
nature of these sentences produced a feeling of de-
spondency rather than of encouragement in the
minds of the convicts who were suffering under it;
and that the circumstances of the crime were not so
much considered in the apportionment of this par-
ticular species of punishment as they ought to
have been. I recommended to Governor Mac-
quarrie, that the Magistrates should be instructed
in future to define in these sentences the extent of
the several terms of transportation to the Coal
River, which was accordingly done; and now the
concurrence of two magistrates, at least, is required
for inflicting the punishment of tea noportaticni within
the colony. The latter restriction has been little
observed in Sydney in the year 1820, in conse-
quence of the insufficient attendance of the magis-
trates there, and the number of prisoners whom it
was necessary to punish summarily. I also observe
that ispitishments of transportation have been or-
dered by Mr. Cox and Captain Brabyn, when act-
ing alone at Windsor, on several occasions.
It is the opinion of most of the magistrates, that
the punishment of transportation of the convicts
from the settled districts of New South Wales to
the Coal River, is felt, and sometimes dreaded by
them as a punishment ; and that it succeeds in
breaking dangerous and bsd connexions, but that
it does not operate in reforming them. It is least
effectual in its operation on the female convicts,
who, from the difficulty of finding proper places of
confinement and employment at the Coal River,
and from the disproportion of the numbers of the
sears there, obtain the means of enriching them-
selves by the connexions that they form.
The particular employment and management of
the convicts of the, Coal River will form a separate
branch of observation ; at present I will remark,
that considerable inconvenience arises in the ma-
nagement of that establishment, from the want of
authority in the commandant to detain the prisoners
sent to the Coal River, under sentences of the ma-
gistrates, beyond the period of their original or
English sentences; and as sufficient care had not
been taken in the office of the Governor's Secretary,
to transmit a statement of that fact along with the
other particulars, the knowledge of it, as well as the
detention of the party under the colonial sentence,
was left to depend upon no better authority then
his own recollection. Delay has sometimes been
experienced in obtaining till" particulars from
Sydney; and from the apprliknsion of incurring
the consequences of illegal detention, the com-
mandant has yielded to the importunity of the
parties with which lie alive,* was assailed, on the
expiration of their original sentences, and has sent
them back to Sydney upon the faith of their own
statements.
I should submit that this is a defect in the state
of the colonial punishments which it is material to
remedy ; for it is obvious that the effect of these,
or any other punishments for time, must be fre-
quently lost upon the convicts who are transported
for short term., and who commit offences in the co-
lony, punishable by its magistrates, about the time
that their original sentences may expire ; and it will
be necessary to have recourse to some legislative
enactment. by virtue of which the operation of pu-
nishments inflicted by the Magistrates in New South
Wales and Van Diemen 's Land upon persons who
were in the condition of convicts at the period of

S

. .
• ..
sentence, Mir Continue, not-withstanding the expi-
ration of their original sentences. The operation
of such an enactment would form some security
against the misconduct' of convicts under short
sentences, which is found to be considerably and
disadvantageously affected by their approach toia
state of freedom.
The corporal punishments inflicted by Mr. Went-
worth, during the long period its which lie held the
office of supetintendent of police, have 'weer ex-
ceeded the limited number, and have generally
rilleo below it. It has been the opii t i 111 l of many
persons, that he has shown too much lenity in that
respect ; but he felt convinced, froin his expe-
riente, that solitary confineinetit, and the priva-
tion of ordinary enjoyments, way a punishment more
severely felt by convicts than the infliction of
stripes. It hes been also customary to order •
greater number than were actually intended to be
given, with a view to produce intimidation. and
some promise of amendment; and both at Para-
matta, Windsor, and Sydney, the corporal punish-
ments, by means of bribes given to the flogger.,
have never been, of late yeats, inflicted with
ity. Those that have taken place at Pars.
matte, under the authority of Mr. Marsden and Mr.
Hannibal M'Arthur, have already been adverted to;
and I think that the degree in which they exceed
the punishments of the other Magistrates is to be
attributed pertly to the individual feelings that
these Magistrates themselves have imbibed from the
discipline of the earlier times of the colony; the
necessity of endeavouring to overawe the movies,
its • place that afforded so much temptation to
crime as the town of Paramatta, from the uncon-
trolled residence of the convict women; and further,
to the want of more ample and effectual means of
punishment than was afforded either by the cells of
the gaol, or the chain gangs. The limitation, also,
that was made by Governor Macquarrie's order. iu
the year 1814, to the numbers in each chain gang,
made it necessary fur them, as well as for other
Magistrates, to resort to other modes of punish-
ment, and to avoid, as much as they could, the
consequences of an overcrowded gaol. The chain
gangs, if kept under strict control, might be
made more effective than they are at present.
At Sydney, the convicts condemned to work in
them have been employed in loading and un-
loading the colonial vessels at the dock yard.
and in levelling uneven ground; at Paramatta
their employment has consisted in performing
any heavy work that was going forward, and its
cleaning the streets; and at Windsor they have
been employed in the same way. Their ration is
the same as that of the convicts in the barracks,
or in the employ of Government. In the gaol at
Sydney, one room and a yard, having • separate
access to a back street, is appointed for the
chain gang. In this room they dress their ra-
tions and sleep ; and two convicts of the gang are
allowed to attend and assist them in cooking and
fetching wood and water, and keeping their room
clean. Military gusrd.beds have been placed in it,
but they were generally destroyed or mutilated by
the men themselves, through waotoa mischief, as
well as the flagged floors on which they stolid.
Some of the convicts bring bedding with them into
the gaol, and they gamble with each other for the
use of it, so well as for their rations. The hours of
work are the same as those of the other convicts ;
and the only difference is, that of working in chains
separately. and sometimes together. The chain
gangs at Paramatta have likewise • separate room
in the gaol there, hut it affords no effectual separa-
tion from the other convicts ; and it has been of
late very much crowded with prisoners. At Wind-
sor, the accommodation afforded in the new gaol
admits of greater separation ; stud a room, in which
their food is prepared for them, has been lately
added. Both at this town and at Portman' the
chain gangs are made to attend church on the
Sundays, which is not the case at Sydney. Their
dress has latterly consisted of pony-coloured jackets
and trousers, to distinguish them from other con-
victs, and in pursuance of • general order of Go-
vernor Macquerrie, issued in the year 1814.
In the hours of work the chain gangs at Sydney
are more separated from the population of the
town than those at Paramatta and Windsor; but
their assuci•stion in one room io the gaol, with no
other control than that of an overseer who lives in
the yard, encourages their disposition to gambling
and mischief.

Quarterly returns of the offences and punish-
ments ii,flicied by the magistrates, were required
to be made to Governor Macquarrie since the year
1814, in pursuance of his order that has been before
referred to ; but 1 found that in the Windsor dis-
trict this practice had latterly nut been observed.
The regulAtion itself was highly useful ; and if
correctly made, and accompanied by a particular
description of the several convicts that hail been
brougbt before the Magistrates, would, when re-
duced to an alphabetical list, have furnished to Go-
vernor Macquarrie the safest guide in the future
distribution of tickets of leave ■nd emancipation',
and have formed the best check upon the applica-
tions that are made for them. In the form in which
these returns are made at present, no distinction is
noted of offences of convicts who are in the service
of Government, and of those in the service of settler. ;
and none has been made in those of the Appendix,
except in the returns from Paramatta, between the
24th January 1818 and the 90 h September 1820 ;
neither is any notice taken of the length of their
sentences, nor the ships in which they came into the
country, ob-ervations which are absolutely neces-
sary, as points of future reference, to fix the i,letitity
of the convict when he becomes en applicant fur
indulgence.
(To be enatimeed.)

A writer remarks. that the last time wheat was as
low as it is now, was in the par 1779. Oil KEN-
NETT being installed Lord Mayor that year, the
average price of the loaf was entered on the 9111 of
November at 31d. for the quai tern. As 3s. a sack
has been added to the price of baking since then.
which is nearly a halfpenny the loaf, it ought now
to be 61d. the quartern.
During the ceremony of laying the first stone of
the new church ut Preston. while the Vicar was
engaged in invoking • blessing upon the under-
taking, a woman was endeavouring to extract a
watch from the ►ide of another woman in the crowd,
and succeeded in gaining possession of it. but he-
ing instantly detected she was apprehended. and
has been committed to take her trial for the daft.

......x

CIRRI LK;
Corn Inspector's Return, TRVISDAY, SEPTlEliftill 19.
Wheat, per load
New ditto lOl sto 131 10s
Barley, per quarter. 26. —d to 29. —d
Oats l9B —d to 28• —d
Beans 268 —d to 32. —d
Pease 308 —d to 33e —d