The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1803-02-09 00:00:00

SURCHARGE ON MALE SERI/WM.

Mr. l.'mb (the Surveyc,r of Taxes fur a distriß
in York:lire) having surcharged many of the in-
habitants for not paying .he duty on Male Servants,
notwithstanding their employing a man to look after
their horses, the said inhabitants apwaled last week
to the Commissioners at the Guildhall against such
surcharge, on the ground that such man was em-
ployed by several other persons as well as them-
selves, was paid only 2s. 6d. per week, and was not
engaged in any other service but merely to look
atter the horses. The Commissioners present (viz.
Aldermen Hartley, Wilson, Hotham, and Ellis)
were unanimously of opinion, that a man so ex-
'toyed did not come within the meaning of the Act of
Parliament, and therefore relieved all the persons so
circumstanced from the land tax and surcharge.
Mr. Lamb, not being satisfied with this -dccisiOn,
required that a case meet be had for the opinion of
the Judges, which Nvould have been granted, had
not Mr. Counsellor Hotham protiu..:ed the follow-
ing extract from B.irn, vol. 4th, 19th edit. page 188,
on which Mr. Lamb withdrew his request.

6.4 There were produced to the Conimissioners by
way of surcharge, various assessments upon several
people in Hexharn, who had for many years kept
horses, and eraploy'2d one person by the week to
take care of them, v.tho generally had the care of
five or six ; one employed an hostler from a
public-house; they were all separately rated for one
servant ; they air tied, and alleged that a person so
hired and el..ploy:A (csrecially the hostler) by the
week, was not a ~,::.vant within the meaning of the
VI, and that ti:ey could not be so severally rated for
the smile persc,n. The Commissioners determined
that they were szoz chargeable, and the Judges were
of the saint! .:pinion."

A Paper of Yesterday, says, " Our Commer-
cial Readers, we doubt not,. will thank us for put-
ting them on their guard against a deception which
is now in oracused against those in par-
ticular who are engaged in the Levant Trade. We
pledge ourselves for the truth of the statement,
which conies from an authority not to be ques-

tioned.
I, In the first or second week of December last
the Weazle sloop of war, Captain Durham, on her
passage from Oristan ;ay to Gibraltar, met twelve
huge French merchantmen, bound from Marseilles
to Smyrna with a numerous French factory on
hoard for jut place.--:Phe ships were almost solely
loaded with West India coifig.., to the value of up-
wards of half a million sterling ; by which, as Cap-
rain Durham who boarded them learnt from some
of the people, they expect to clear 300 per cent. by
again -shipping it from Smyrna for the London
market, as Niocca coffee, after being properly sort-
ed and prepared at Smyrna. He also learnt that
they meant to pursue this honest kind of traffic in
future, us the, most lucrative branch of the Turkey
trade. They also told Captain Durham, that they
had every reascui to believe that, in three years time,
from the measures which had been taken, they should
completely- engross the whole Levant trade, to the
exclusion of the English " •
The aged Prince of Corm who is at Barcelona,
it is said, finds himself reduced to the last stage of
want. 'file French Government had pledged itself
to transmit him regularly an annual pension of four
thousand Louis, which were always to be paid to his
Highness six months in advance. The Prince has,
however, been now two years without receiving a
livre from BpNAPAR ri.'s treasury.
Ihe stables at Versaille: contain, at this moment,
5000 horses, and their riders are all billetedin "41e
best hOnses in the place; besides this considerable
corps of 'cavalry, there are four demi-brigades, or
12,000 infantry, at Versailles and in its neighbour-
hood, for the purpose of being ready to act m case
of ernergency,'Should any tumult be excited by the
=Manus enemies of the present order of things.

Various have been the reports in circulation con-
cerning the cause of Duke DE LAVAL MONTIIIO-
- y's banishment from Paris ; but we learn from
some of his friends in France, that it is solely to be
ascribed to the following circumstance :—The Duke
is fond of play, and is often successful. On a late
occasion, he won about s.x hundred loth at the Palais

Royal. He was at the time accompanied by a friend,
to whom he said, in rather too loud a whisper,
th;t will do very well, and I am resolved it :hall
march to-morrow towards the Bank of England,
along with the rest of my property." This was
almost instantaneously communicated to the Police
by a quick-eared spy) and the Duke ordered to quit
Faris.

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