The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1825-01-27 00:00:00

AMERICAN CONGRESS.

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, DEC. 47.
NI GARA SUFFERERS.
flr. TRACT moved a Committee of the House on the Niagara
,ferers• Indemnification Bill.
`llr. WILLIAM, of North Carolina, opposed the bill, contend.
1 that the knowledge that the State would not indemnify for
ores from an enemy, would produce a stronger determination in
je citizen soldier on the frontiers to exert himself in repelling that
awe. NV ith respect to the question of retaliation he said—l nay,
so 1 hope to prove, hest, that the destruction of Newark war not
3 canton act ; and, secondly, that the enemy had not the least
o
kt to retaliate it. If the Gentleman had directed his views a
orle farther on the subject, he would have been able to perceive
od to trace the same predatory spirit which led to the devastation
jig's Niagara frontier, preirailing through both our wars with
Ergland. In the war of the Revolution, as well as throagh all
de stages of our late contest, they were actuatcl by the same
raper towards us. In suponrt of this position, Mr. W. went
lea a series of quotations from the history of both wars—referred
die conduct of the British army under Cornwallis, and whet
joi by the traitor Arnold—to the burning of Falmouth, the ra-
'song of New Jersey, and the cruelties on board the Jersey
pooh-ship, in which 11,000 men were said to have perished.
he then proceeded to the conduct of Admiral Cockburn, at
isenchtown, Havre de Grace, Georgetown, Fredericktown, and
iompton, interposing comments as he proceeded, and arguing,
torn the whole, the presence of a mean, dastardly, malignant,
onit of revenge and personal cruelty. " Now," said Mr. W.
I put it to the Gentlemen from New York to say, after all
I.:s series of conduct, from February to May, 1813, whe-
:ler the destruction of one village, eight months after-
wards, could he considered as a wanton act of aggression ?
so, Sir, no; if the American army, instead of bunting the
ollage of Newark, had laid waste, with lire and sword, the
whole Camadian frontier, they would have inflicted an act of
ritaliation wed merited by the barbarities perpetratej at 'lamp-
ro alone. But was this an act of our Government ? The Govern.
gent disavowed the act the moment they heard of it. IFas
this as act of wanton destruction, done for its own sake, and
"parallel to the British murders and revishings in the Chesapeake ?
It was a purely military movement, necessary to the destruction of
Fort George—deliberate notice was sent to the inhabitants, and
time allowed them to remove their persons and effects. As a pre-
tended retaliation for such an :,et, the enemy landed on the 16th,
burnt Lewistown, Youngstown, Maneheater, and even the little
r:ilage of the Tuscarora Indian,. No notice was given—no time
to removal of goods, or even for personal escape ; and so far *WI
the injury from being confined even to those village'', that the
'mole country was fired and laid waste ; they burned, they ravaged
every object they you'd reach ; but I cannot preserve a due coin-
mord of my feelings, when I reflect on 'how scenes. Sir, we till
the same thing from 76 to 1815--the same conduct, the same spirit;
id, with facts like these within their knowledge, the Committee of
tiaims did rightiii denying, as I now deny, all right on the part
ache envoy, to waste that frontier on the principle of lawful
retaliation, and the consequent right of the claimants on that
drowid.“
31r. CAMBRELT.NO. of New York, said, that however widely'
the Gentleman from North Carolina differed from him, as to the
;notice of these dairies, he was glad to find there was no difference
"(opinion as to the atrocious character of the enemy's conduct dur-
og the late war. It woe impossible to forget the horrors of Vamp.
cm and Havre de Grace—the Vandalism here; or the massacre of
ear countrymen on the Raisin. Th:se are acknowledged to be con.
:nuy to the usages of civilised war, and retribution fur these losses
was due from the enemy, and not from our own Government. Bu,
the case now before the Committee was of another character—one'
sr he thought, strictly within the rule laid down by the (lentleman
from North Carolina ; that wherever, by military occupation, the
property had acquired a military character, it was rendered liable
o destruction by the enemy ; such he considered to b: peculiarly
the case on the Niagara hoarier..
The Committee reported progress.

IRELAND.
(From the Freeman's Awful of Monday.l
TITHE CASE. _ _

beforethe Pricy C'uaneil.]
Os Saturday, a ease was heard before a Committee of the Privy
Council, in which the inhabitants of the town of Wexford were the
appellants, against an application of their rector, the Rev. Charles
Strong, for the levying of Minister's money off the houses of the
said tow s\ in confirmation of a valuation he had obtained, pursuant
to a very oid Act of Parliament, the 17th and 111th of Charles 11.
The preamble recites, " That there are small or no tithes settled
by law upon the incumbents, who have actual cure of souls in the
city of Dublin, and in other cities and towns corporate in the king_
doer. of Ireland," die. ; end it is then enacted, " that the Lord
Lieutenant and Council may allot and charge Minister's money.
The Rector conceiving that the circumstances of his benefice
brought it within the provisions of *aid Act, set forth in his me-
morial, that the town of IVexford, in which his glebe house .:cad
parish church are situate is a corporate town, and that the house-
holders pay him no tithes or other ditties in return for " his great
expenditure for their spiritual comfort."
The inhabitants, in amiwer to this allegation, .submitted to the
Privy Council, in a counter-memorial, that the Act of Charles 11.
1; and 18, was only intended by the Legislature to enable the Privy
Council to provide for those Rectors, *hose cure of souls being
solely within a corporate town, and having no titheable land at-
netied, would be destitute of income—that said Act could not ap-
ply to the living of iVexford, which is composed of a L'nion of
sine large parishes. containing upwards of nine thousand acres of j
atheable land, of prime quality, mostly staler tillage, the farmers
of which are in comfortable circumstances,
.and of such peaceable
habits. that there is no obstruction to the collection of tithes--that
the sole trade of the town being the exportation of titheahle pro-
duce, *Worded a strong inducement to the farmers of the Union to
keep their land in that form of culture most profitable to the Rector
—that, so far from the householders of the town contributing
nothing towards the Rector's income, they actually held upwards of
one thousand titheable acres within his parish; so that if Minister's
money were to be levied, they would be constrained to pay the
tame Rector in their two-fold capacity as householders and
landholders—that the great bulk of the inhabitants of the
houses front which he sought this impost were very poor,
tieing shopkeepers without business, fishermen, and a wretched
labouring Population almost destitute of employment--that his
expenditure for their spiritual comfort" could not be " very
great, inasmuch as the greater proportion of the inhabitants
were of the Roman Catholic religion ; and that, finally, the income
cf the pariah, arising from tithes alone, was most abundant for the
ipiritual and temporal purposes of the living. In proof of which,
hey mention, that Archdeacon Elgec, late !lector of Wexford—of
shorn it is not, too much to say that he died universally regretted,
a he had lived beloved by all his parishioners--he was one whose
moderation has been scarcely equalled—whose charity knew no
bounds—whose liberal and peaceful habits, as a true Christian
3lii.ister, they trust, will he imitated by all his successors—that'
the said Archdeacon, shortly before his decease in 111, ordered
ids proctors to value lse tithes of the Union. His directions were,
in doing so, on to account to exceed • fifteenth ; and where
any doubt arose as to the value of the crops, always to bear against
the Rector. According to this valuation the tithe to which he
was entiiled as Rector of Wexford exceeded 9001.; and as an
additional corroboration of the accuracy of the memorialises eati-
mate of the income of the parish, they submitted, that the Bishop
of the Diocese (and no one will dispute his Lordship's acumen
with regard to Church property) having instituted an inquiry
into the revenues of the Union previous to disposing of the vacant
living, was so well satiated that the income arising within the
parish of Leighlin alone was quite adequate to the expenses of the
Rector, that the dignity and emoluments of the Archdeaconry of
Leighlin, and the Surrogateship of the Diocesan Court, were
severed from the living of ‘Velford, though hitherto enjoyed by
the incumbent of that parish.
Relying on the strength and justice of their cause, the inhabit-
ants prayed to be heard before the Pile.), Council, previous to their
final decision.

The Committe haying heard Counsel on both sides, announced
their intention to report to the Privy Council, shit the claim of the
Rev. Mr. Strong did not come within the iutentiou of the Act of
Parliament.

This decision is extremely important, and strictly in accordance
with the law and the justice of the case.
Counsel for the inhabitants of Wexford—Thomas Wallace, Esq.
K.C.; George Bennett, Esq. K.C. Agent—Thomas Arden, Esq.
74. Aungimstreet.
Counsel for the Ker. ('has. Strong—J. H. North, Esq. K.C.;
Edward Litton, Esq. Agent—George Little, Esq.

NEWCOM EN'S BANK.
There was ri highly respectable Meeting of the Creditors of the
late Lord Newcomen, held at the bank, in Castle•street, on Satur.
day.
Jonx 6Ear.r Towsratirrs, Esq. K.C. was called to the Chair.
A brief general statement of the affairs of the establishment arm
laid before the Meeting, from which it appeared that the debts due
.4 the bank amount to 218,0001.; and that the property to meet
this sum consists of estates of the value of about 140,00tt1., or per-
,ps 160,0001. and cash, and bills, and notes, in the banking.
house, amounting to 60,0004
It was stated by the chief clerk and cashier, that the house had
been in difficulties, perhaps even insolvent, during the last twenty-
fite years. They had had very heavy losses about that time, and
bad been great sufferers by the failure of the rituals especially.
It appeared satisfactorily, that certain reports which were widely
circulated during the week, to the effect that large sums had been
drawn out of the Bank by Lord Nei/cornea or ,some members of
his family, immediately before his Lordship's death, were wholly
unfounded. The drafts did not exceed the usual average amount.
Mr. Every said, that on the death of Lord Newcomen, he ap-
Prelsended a run on the Bank, and that the consequence of keeping
the house open would rte to secure to the creditors in Dublin the
full amount of their demands—so for as the property in the concern
soald meet them, and to leave creditors who were at a distance to
the chance of what a sale of the estates might produce. Under these
co.:utr.starces, he consulted Mr. Blackburn K.U. who advised that
the Bank should be closed, in order to afford all persons having
duels a fair and equal chance of payment.
Tile manner in which a sale of the estates could be effected was
discussed, and it appeared to he the general opinion, that a tom.
missioa, under which one set of proceedings might be taken, and
rine decree for a sale obtained, would be the most proper course.
Each creditor might else institute proceedings on his separate debt,
and an immense and ruinous expellee might thus be incurred.
l'he statement was considered upon the whole to be extremely