The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1825-01-07 00:00:00

THE WESLETAN SfISSIONARIES IN 7HE•
WEST INDIA'S.

iFrorn the Jamoka Royal (;aztite of Nov. 131
At a Meeting of the Wenleyan Missionaries, held in Kingston,
on the nth day of September, 1824,
It was unanimously resolved,
First. That the Wesleyan Missionaries of this island have oh-
s :vol. with deep regret, the numerous misrepresentations and ca.
lanoline which have been circulated concerning their principin and
motives.
Secondly, That it has been insidiously stated of the .Members of
this M eas ing.—lst. hat they believeslavery to be incompatible w ith
the Christian religion.-2d. That their doctrines are calculated to
produce insubordination among ilia slaves.-3:1 That they are se.
redy attempting to put in operation means to erect the emancipa-
tion of the slave's-4th. That they are connected and correspond
with the Members of the African Institution.--.lth. That they are
the most decided (although disguised) enemies of the West India
catroies.-6th. And are enriching themselves, by extorting money
!rpm the slaves.
Thirdly, That the Members of this Meeting feel it an incumbent
duty to exonerate themselves from these charges, particularly to the
ruling authorities. They therefore declare, with candour and ho.
nesty—lnc. Their decided belief that Christianity does not interfere
with the citil condition of staves, WI slavery. is established and
regulated by the laws of the British West (notes.—id. In answer
to die second charge, they reply —that it in what no man living can,
or ever could, prove respecting the doctrines taught by any Member
of this Mating; and is indeed directly opposed to historical facts.
which they could cite; by which it not only appears that not one of
the Members of their Societies has at any time, in any of the West
India Islands, been guilty of rebellion, but, on the contrary, the
Methodists have zealously defended them, in times of danger; and
they defy any person to prove the contrary.-341. The third charge
they moat peremptorily deny, before God and .11an, and moreover
believe, that. it the design of the Emancipationists was carried into
*Gran wooki be a general calamity—injurious to the slaves—unjust
to the proprietors—ruinous to the colonies—deleterious to Chrinti.
witty, and tending to the effusion of human bloat.-4th. As to the
fourth charge, the Members of this Meeting most solemnly declare
that they have not the least connexion with the African Inati.
union, and, to the best of their knowledge and belief, they are sot
acquainted with a single Member of that Society. That they never
have, and, according to their rules, never can, correspond with that
'lnstitution, or any others, on questions of colonial politics.—
eih. The fifth charge they fearlessly deny, and assert that the Indi-
vidual and collective happiness of "their Fellow-colonists is above
ail things what they have in view, and are positively assured, by
their own knowledge and the observations of some of the most re-
etable gentlemen and wealthy proprietors in the colony, that their
have most materially contributed to the peace and welfare
parts of the island in which they have been permitted to
their ministry. They therefore feel themselves most un.
eated by the suspicions expressed of their principles and
and are willing to submit to any Investigation that the
ties of the island might think proper to institute, and
avoid expressing their astonishment that they should be
with purposes (in the absence of all evidence) so opposite to
interests, believing as thew do, that were the views of the
• elect, their own lives would be cation.
with which they ate entrusted, most se.
itirely dcstroyed.--6th. And to the siitth
is nothing more false. The sum allowed
Ifinsionary is fixed by the Committee. ac.
or married, or has children. These ex.
Tenses of living are greater or leas in the def.
are, for a married man without children,
rid for a single man, from 10;3. to 1802. per
impenses arising from house rent, sickness,
These allowances are in part paid at the
'bile collections made in the chapels, by the
persons, by allowances made by proprietors
for their labours on their estates, and by the
is of such of the members of the Society us
.e all, large deficiencies generally remain to
funds of these very moderate allowances. It
d, that all the monies raised on the Missions
r the stewards, who are regularly appointed
who keep accurate accounts of the receipts
station, and transmit them, signed by them.
.es. No Missionary can raise contributions
! allowed to receive donations, save for the
charge of extorting or requiring money from
ey state, with honesty and candour. that it
anion to contribute anything; of the poor
nothing; indeed, many of them receive.
it of what is collected ; but many who cats
two pence per week, and what they are Ms.
. quarterly visitation for the renewal of their
to certificate of continued membership, given or
character for morality end industry is satisfactory,
1 this is encouraged, not so much for the sake of
c-ut on the general principle that they consider
s societies to assist as they can, without on.
eris ation, to support their own religious in.
makes them take a more lively intetest in a
by themselves; aid all proprietors whole
nerd, anti where societies are fornietl, agree
ter to reignite a principle which in in hu-
these g contributions, than for the pro.
entirely, by an act of liberality of his own.
!ter of choice with the slaves, and only re.
re able to contribute it 4 and there are very
.muse circumstances have not been materially

they complain of the calumnies and mis.
Save been unjustly heaped upon them, they
ipology is due on behalf of some or those en-
ten so harshly of Missionaries. It must be
had trio much cause for provocation from the
lonia! party. The methods taken by that
absurdly religion with poli:tes. or interfer-
rnpertiea, uvular the pro'nviiinn of Christian
elainiing to be disciples of the Prince of
to spread distension and anarchy, are cat-
and lusti:e, and nut only without sanction
lut altogether repugnant to the wit
:ow,t,r. gratifying to the Members of this
to IVesleyan lksly have not partinipatril in
it is only to be regretted that, in a few so-
tali have departed ilIV:111 the lited principles

'embers of this mrcting acknowledge, with
~..c gratitude, the obligations they hare been laid
gentlemen. in different parts of this island, for acts
ted kindness ; and it is but justice to state,
of Jimmie... their thanks ar.: particularly due
ich they have generally shown towards the
4 religion atneng the slaves and other classes,
ranee,' of contrary trentnteot they have been
more to other causes. than a wish to debar die
,of rcligioc. These sentiments they have
0 er.ll4,t:len and Magistrates of the Colony.
ie.) the saute to the t'om mime of the Wes.
. they hope, that whilst Providence spares
0 labour in theif calling, they will merit the friendship of all
'fiery *io know intro, and have always Crust to record such
..,c,cri of kirdnese.
'l°4. That, in order tr give the fullest publicity to these an.
....tsand resoltstio-,s to those authorities more immediately eon-
el tor the welter, of the Colony, they shall be printed in the
, .01. a circular, and addressed most respectfully to his Grace
:11sai H.lie of 3lanchester, Governor.in.thief, &c. &e. &e.
tine lis 3:ste.ty's Island and is Dependencies; to sit John
Int. K.C.it. Commander.in.Chier, ece- ate. t to Admiral Mr
tt • ilalioll. ii.C.ll. ; to the I lonottrable the Members of
ikls,lestv'. Cuerril end the Honourable House of Assent's], i
the Wtesl46ll the Itlayer, and the Corporation of Kingston ;
"n' linnautahle ,lie Custodes, and to mher ot:icial individuals in
lititr.d,a::ti signed Ly the Chairman of the Meeting.
JOHN SIIIP.SIAN.

MADAXt CATALAN t.—On T vaday night the fascinat-
•Z v.olaiiihtiva of this accomplishes' July were displayer.)
rst time in our city, at the concert in the Shire-
td a nuo:crous and brilliant autlienee.—Herefio-I

GIVIN :.; 11-MINING:A gentleman, unfortunately linked
11:;: to one who made him feel the weight Of his
lin, was one day told by the maid that she was going to
her IcistlePS warning, as she kept scolding her ft cm
ming till night.—" Ah, happy girl !" said the master,
4'l'. 1 cerld glee her warning. too."

to

* • ;•••

a

St

p. ,

THE BANK OF EAVLAND CASE,
UNDER MARSH AND (703IPANY'S COMMISSION.
BRIEFLY STATED AND DISCUSSED.
IT • soraurron.
This important pamphlet, which was forwarded ti
us by. a•private hand, but which is announced for publics
lion to-day, comes manifestly from some one most correcth
familiar with the concerns of Messrs. MAIIIii and Co.
is written in a plain, unornamented style, well suited to
the subject, and its communications arc in the highest
degree interesting to the creditors df the firm, 'shine bank-
ruptcy, and the immense magnitude of the sums swallowed
up by it, remits every transaction, both as it may respect
the original failure, and the claims on the existing funds,
a matter of the most urgent inquiry,
The author of these pages not only discovers a very ex-
tensive acquaintance with facts, but a very accurate judg-
ment in analyzing them. As far as the Case of Me Bank
is concerned, the opinion we have already given shows that
we diffli fro m. That is a point, however. we shall
not now touc n. We should not do justice to the
following statement were we to interrupt it 1,) Any com-
ment:—

"The creditors of the late firm of Messrs. Marsh and
Co. have been informed, through the medium of the pub-
lic prints, that Mr. Montagu, the retained counsel o' .he
assignees, ridiculed the claim of the Bank of Engle, d to
participate in the bankrupts estate, in respect of heir*.
duce of forgeries, in language so triumphant as ti teliive
the mind of every general creditor, from an appreLi...ota,
even, of the uncertainty of the law.
" 'fhe transactions of the banking-house, in Berners-
Street, connected with the forgeries, are very imperfectly
known. A natrative of one will give a clear insight into
all, as they arc all formally and substantially the same.
" In 1819, a considerable sum of Navy Five per Cent.
stock was standing in the names of certain individuals, in
the books of the Bank of England. An instrument, pur-
, porting to be a power of attorney, from those individuals,
suthcr.sing Meta. Marsh, Stracey, Fauntleroy, and Gra-
ham, jointly or separately, to sell all, or any part of that
stock, was, by some person, lodged at the proper office, and
being, in its appearance, genuine (as to which, however,
the officers of the Bank had no assurance beyond the face
of the instrument itself, because the proprietors had not
signed the transfers, or, as it is termed, accepted the
stock*), was allowed to pass and he acted upon. The fol-
lowing day a written order, issued from Berners-street, to
Mr. Spoiling, a respectable stock-broker, to sell as much of
that stock as would realise 16,000/. sterling, which he ac-
cordingly effected, in several sums or parcels to different
purchasers ; anti having so done, and left thew:dal transfer
tickets at the Five per Cent. Office, Mr. Straccy and Mr.
Graham, successively attended at the Bank, and made the
respective transfers (seven in number), by signing their
own names, the former his name three times over,
and the latter his four times over, superadding each
time the words, " attorney for, &c." upon the faith
and in consequence of which transfers, the respective
purchasers paid their money to Mr. Sperling, who directly
paid it to the account of Marsh and Co. at Martin and
Stone's, whence, in common with other monies, it was
drawn by Marsh and Co., transported to the treasury its
Berners-street, and there dispensed by the clerks, at the
counter, in answering the drafts of customers anti partners,
juat in the same manner as were the cash deposits of the
house.

" This is one case of 16,0001. out of more than fifty,
amounting altogether to more than 300,000/..fi the others
differing only in the circumstance, that, in some instances,
Fauntleroy himself acted as the attorney in the aile of the
stock. In all cases the lowers were made to the house ;
in all of them the broker sold by order of the house ; and
in all of them the money was paid to the account of the
house.

" After a lapse of five years, the instrument, under which
the stock was sold, is found to be counterfeit. Every per-'
son is astonished that this should not have been discovered
sooner ; but their surprise ceases on learning, that Marsh
and Co. had, in the interim, given credit, uniformly, in the
public books of the house, and in the customers passage
bock (the stock proprietors being in all casts customers)
for the half-yearly dividends, and to that circumstance,
founded on an uninterrupted confidence in the fmme, and
a feral absence of all suspicion, is the long concealment to
be ascribed. The stock proprietor and the Bank are, dur-
ing all this time, alike uninformed : they are equally ig-
norant, and equally innocent.
" It is here worthy of notice, that if the Bank are to be
judged by the same law as other individuals—if more is
not to be expected of their officers than from private
bankers and their clerks—in short, if the Batik may be ex-
cused for not possessing the spirit of divination, then are
thrv, with reference to Fau.itleroy's forgeries, most espe-
cially innocent : because, as is before observed, the Bank,
in the particular case stated, as well as in many others, bail
no means of judging of the authenticity ef the instrument,
but by its form and aspect ; they hail not, as the private
banker, who never suffers himself' to be drawn upon, until
the customer has atteniltil and written his name in a book,
the original signature of the proprietor, wherewith to cont-
rare the power of attorney, the proprietor having neglected
that precaution, although the very first document put into
his hands, on the purchase of his stock, recommends him
to accept it, for the express purpose of protecting himself
from fraud; added to which (an observation which applies
to all the cases), the Bank, at the risk of great and fearful
responsibility, are ever anxious not to impede, by form, or
superabundant caution, the ready transfer of stock ;+ and
in the case of Fauntleroy's forgeries, no circumstance of
suspicion did or could present itself to them, for none ex-
isted. The powers of attorney were regular in form ;
four or five known and respectable individuals, carrying on
the business of bankers in copartnership, enjoying the un-
limited trust and patronage of men of rank, opulence, and
distinction, are the attorneys for sale; the property at'
stake large • their responsibility proportionally great, and
proportionally calculated to exclude the chance of their
having been imposed upon ; sometimes one acting, some-
times another; were circumstances prc-cminentiv disposed
to disarm and delude the most wary—to lead if not to
force, the officers of the establishment to that conclusion,
which they did come to, as to the character of the instru-
ment, and of the genuineness of which, it may be posi-
tively said, they could not have doubted, unless by a
previous resolution they had infohled all the partners in a
daring forgery ;—if the instrument were counterfeit, the
partners were, as far as the Bank could sec into the trans-
action, the authors of it,—so happily had Fauntleroy adapt-
ed his means to the end. Who is it, therefore, under such
circumstances, that can pronounce the Bank guilty? The
proprietor cannot; for his confidence was unlimited in
Marsh and Co. ; and, surely, the partners of Faunthroy
cannot; for they. even they, who had decidedly the ad-
vantage--they, who had the book of knowledge open to

• On what is called the broker's receipt, but which in feet is
the vendor's receipt, and every purchaser of stock does or ought to
receive such a document, on paying his money, there will be found
a note in these amnia `he proprietors to protect themselves
front fraud, ..re recommended to accept by themselves, or their
attorniee, all transfers made to them." This is not, however, an
imperative regulation. and is 1 rat seldom complied with ; yet recent
events fully show the propriety of doing s 4). In many. instances,
large sums of money wets paid to filarsh and Co. for investment,
which they appropriated to their own use. In some, either nu
broker's receipt WAS sent in return, or a forged receipt; but in all
ease', the customer was debited with a sum for the price of the stock,
and credited thenceforwenl with the half-yearly dividends. It the
purchaser hail availed himself of the above recommendation, the
fraud mast have been discovered, rind, just in the none ratio, there
is reason to presume it never would have been committed.
An acceptant e of stock is a check to forgery. inasmuch as it
gives the officers of the Bank an opportunity of comparing the hand-
writing of the proprietor. whenever an application is made, (Mist r
to receive dividends or sell hs stock ; and the Judges, front the
bench, upon te.ls for forgery, hare more than once expel-red sur.
prise, that an wholesome a regulation should not be made essential
to the Proprietor's title.
t 1 he render must not conclude himself in possession, from this
statement, of the som total of the forgerie.. tine even the full
amount of monies so derived to the house of Marsh and Co., as it
is impassible to trace the produce in every instance, and it is not
prudent to rely on evidence, which, by the remotest possibility,
may be founded in error, or which, unlike Matta Ltd Stone's
book. is open to exception.
Every one cometrsant with the practise of transferring stork,
will, upon a moment's reflection, suggest to himself innutneialde
difficulues, occurring at the flank, which oblige the officers of that
establishment to adopt one of two alternatives ; either to reject •
power and occasion inconvenience, if not positive distress to intli.
vieluals ; ter, by passing over an irregularity. a: t ;me incur the
chance of loss, or all the unforeseen crnatquence4 eittentlant on a
departure from rules, which, ii well founded, to be berilitial, must
be inflexible.

spectable gentlemen and we
labours have most material
of those parts of the intent
exercise their ministry. 'I
justly treated by the suapi
motives, and are willing t
thorities of the island
nnot avoid expressing tl
arged with purposes (in tl
their own interests, believin
ibolitioniata earned into t
jeted, and the property
rously injured, if not enti
charge they answer, there it
la the support of each 31.
ding at be is single r
413 differ as the expense
. .t Colonies ; and are,
m 1301. to 240/. ; and f
.tom, exclusive of cape
ovals, or travelling. '1
Ida mission, by the publi
~.atinns of respectable pct
an acknowledgment for I
I tall weekly subscriptions
i • afford it. But, after a
I paid from the home funs
I further to be observed, tt
roe into the hands of the
Lan year to year, and who
d expenditure of the stati
!yes, to the Committee.
r himself, nor is he all
Weston. As to the char)
e slaves or others, they a
Ina terns of commons'
maws they expect not,
onth after month, part of
• ford it, pay one or two
eel to give at the qua
ken, which is the remit
ithheld, as the character
otherwise. And this is c
amount railed, but on
a duty of all religious so
. sting any senaible print
hens, and this makes
unit partly supported by
:ales they regularly attend
'th them that it is better
nature, and allow then
eta, to displace them en
II is, however, a matte'
red when they are quite
w religious negates, whoa
sproved by becoming so.
Fourthly. 'fhnt whilst tl
rasentations, which hart
sly admit that an 'polo
sea who hare spoken I
owed that they have had
Mart of the Anti•Col•nti
rty. of blending most al
wuh other men's prm
daatlisopy, and, whilst t
ace, doing everything t
ly destitute of honesty at
a moral principle, bu
rirtan code. It is, hir
. hit. to know that the
r Proceedings, and it
ry instances, i...tividual
the society.
rfthty. that the mem
nmenta of aincert gnat
.er is many gentlemen
the most diaisterested
ts the Magistracy of ,
that good will which
end of mora/ity and re
• the very few instance
. pole,', to atttibute move
es from the blesainp I
sysemertaired of the (
it-en communicated
au 3liseions ; and tit
'3 33, labour in theit eel