The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1804-12-19 00:00:00

rR CO

On Monday evening, the
certs commenced, under
Graces the Duke and Duchess
the Assembly Room, to a •
Subscribers, and their friend'
WILLIMA LAWI., and Jot
Miss MtaDAv still retains
chestra with increased etieft.
ed, fir the first time, at this
and deservedly applauded.
air of Mnzars's in a style
assisted in the charming
with great correTtni
The Concert commenced grind
of Hoymes, which was pelf:mined ~ie
'
precision and died
cT
; the uther Instrumental l'ie
were a Concerto for twu Horns by the Pcrsinr,
and a Violin Concerto by Mr. G. Astir,- v.
Band is, as usual, seleO, and comprises, beside,
above, C. Asiiscv, Haim Ls, GillE4S ACK. MA
R. Asiii.s.v, Wsavnis, FossvTa, lion-!., •Ir.,
sos, and J. ASHLEY, who presided At the „
For te.

Yesterday, on account of the frost, Hi, NIAJETY
did not hunt as usual.

Soon after breakfast. His MAJESTY, and the Prir.
cesses SOPH I A and AMELIA, with their ti,ual attend-
ants, took an airing on horseback through Eton.
Her MA,I EST Y and the Princesses . A vtasTA,
ZAIIETH. and MARY, with their usual attenslaias,
took an airing to Frogmore.
This day the Rost •i. Fnaatt.v ate expelled at
the QULFN's House.
On Monday-the Prince of NVAi.es, with his suite,
arrived at his Pavilion, Brighton, in perfe& health;
and we understand it is His Royal Highness's Ultra.
tion to spend the ensuing festival of Christmas, at
that place. The Royal presence has given to the
circles of fashion, an air of gaiety, and cheerflalstei,,
that, we believe, no watering place but Brighton can
boast of, at this dreary season of the year.
Colonel M.:It:NON, and his fair bride, are game
to Rochester, where the Colonel's regiment is quar-
tered.

The Russian General Novastrstorr has re-
moved from Bentinck.street, to a mote spaciotn
house, in Wimpole-street.
Viscount GUSFOUD has taken a house in Sey.
mour-street, for the winter.

The Countess of POMFRET has taken an elegant
house in Portman-square, fur the winter.
Lord DurisaNY is arrived in town from Dunsany
Castle, Ireland, and has taken an elegant house in
Portman-square.
The Earl of Wrsr mr•r H left London yesterday
for Ireland, where he will remain until the meeting
of Parliament. •
Lord Lamaroan returned to tpwn.ye.terday from
Summer-Hill, in Ireland.
GEORGE JERNINGHASI, Esq. has left Sir W. JER.
NINON•M'S scat, Costeuey, near Norwich, for
Hatsghley Park, near Ipswich.
On Monday night, A Cure for the Heart Ache. and
Of Age To-morrow, were performed at Lewis
theatre, by the desire of Captain Snstrsza,
and his troop of yeomanry. The Saud t.r
Scandal, and The Review, are to be performed, by
the desire of Major BESTeLLOTTI, and the Officers
of the South Hampshire Militia.
The Earl of CIE:RYON r is indisposed at his house
in Berkley-square.
The Dowager Countess of CLONMEL does tot
intend visiting London this winter.
The third representation of TERENCE'S 44.1: I
by the young Gentlemen of Westminster &hoot,
took place last night. The several pertotmers et-
ceeded even their former exerziorn. The Epilogue,
which is a beautiful composition, WAS admirably
delivered.
There was a grind Concert last night at Coaat's
Rooms, in Edinburgh, patronised by the Connie.;
of MuHs s. The SRLEaiIIO was from die most fa-
vourite composers: KSNG, SHIELD, HOOK, BRA-
HAY, KELLT. &C. &C.

The remains of the late worthy Alderman Boy-
will he removed, with great funeral pomp,
this day, from his house in Cheapside, for inter-
ment in the Church of St. Lawrence Jewry, Catea-
ton-street. Several Aldermen will join in the pro.
cession, attended by several of the Loyal Lomeli,*
Volunteers.

The Bishop of Ramses is dead. It is said that a
nephew of TALLEY ItA ha is tosucceedhira.

At the Chester Theatre, on last Friday sennight,
the Managers, WARD and BELLAMY, brought for-
ward a boy of only ?Ma years of age, in the diifici.lt
charader of Cirononiotontbotnyos, which he suppoi 7 d
in a stele that astonished not only the o her pea -
formers, but also a very crowded aud.tdry.
F.stra,t of an advertisement in an Edinbu:::
Paper.—" do in. Bray.— I hose Gendemen who
attended Mr. Cu a por ISON'S School, when at Dal-
keith, are to dine at Morison's fun there% on nuts-
day, rit7th December inst. at half past three rislock ;
and such AS mean to attend will leave their DAtlit%
with the waiter.

•s I.nt auld acquaintance be for
" And never brought to mind ;
" Lees meet unit tak a 'iliac naught
" ►or meld lamisanc."

On Monday last, the Loyal Islington Volume. •
assembled on their parade, and presented their Ad-
jutant, Mr. Dixon, with a most elegant sword, .1
a testimony of their resped, and as a memorial 14
the high sense which they entertain of his talents,
as a military Ot'ricer ; for which, alter having re-
ceived it horn the hands of the Lieutenant-C*okm',
he returned thanks in a neat and appropriate speech.
Aft.ir going through various evolutions, in their
usual style of superior excellence, they adjourned to
Highbury Tavern to dine, and celebrate the anni-
versary of the presentation of their colours. After
the cloth was removed, the health of the Ktso was
drank with those rapturous plaudits, the effeets of
those sentiments ..hick reside in the breast of every
freeman, %vim is duly sensible of the excellence
that government under which he lives. After va-
rious other loyal toasts and patriotic songs, the
heal:h of the Colonel, Cuaeses WHILP.LVIRV./11,
Esq. was proposed, and drank, with three times
three, amidst the most flattering marks of admira-
tion, excited by his vinues as a man, and rep'
for his abilities as Commander of the Corps. W.
have only to add, that they stpatated at an tar' •
hour, with :he greatest harmony and d•Scotunm

rt. 11;
70Art;E RT.?.
eaSove Suhscription c„4
the patronage of their
•
chess of Ifty.sssinet,
a .fturnerons party or tl.e
nd,, The Stewards Wert.
us her sta:inn in tli,
,Et. Miss l' y R tit arptar.
S concert, and wit
f. Mr. FA:tlttS stir.?,
le of great pronth..,
glee of rite lt Cr4c,
:ness.
.1 with a grind ti% rnnh..ne
Tformesl with the ',;:,,tet

crs

LiW.

-

COURT OF Kllftirs BE Ate 11, GurianA
Silting, at Nisi Prior, behre Lord ELLINBOROUGH,
and Special Juries.
DICK '. M•RRYATT.
This was an a6tion upon a policy of insurance, on
the ship flestemorkn, of the island of Santa Cruz.
Mr. Fawner, on the part of the Plaintiffs, Messrs.
Quiie'n and Jeremiah Dick, merchants, stated, that
• these Gentlemen were merely the nominal Plaintiffs
in the a.tion; that the owners of the ship in question
were Messrs. Creigner and Macovoy, who were na-
tives of Denmark, residing at Santa Cruz, for
whom Messrs. Dick had effeßed the policy of in-
surance, which was to commence upon the ship's
a: rival off the coast of Africa, until her return with
her cargo to the island of Santa Cruz. The defence,
the learned Counsel observed, he understood, was,
that of her not being sea-worthy at the time of ef-
feCling the insurance ; a defence very frequently set
up of late—but was such as the Court considered
was not warrantable. He then, after some few
further observations upon this he.td, proceeded to
state the case, nearly as follows :
The ship sailed from Charleston, in America, to
Carolina, with a cargo. At this place, she under-
went a most thorough repair, and took in a proper
cargo to barter for slaves, on the African coast. On
be passage from Carolina to Africa, she experienced
v..riotts tempestuous weather, and heavy seas, and
was obliged, at times, to use the pueoes nor from
any ilefeift in the Chip herself, hut from repeatedly
shipping seas, during the passage. When she ar-
rived at Sierta Leone, the Captain found her sound
and tight, and perfettly sea-worthy ; and, after
landing about half of his cargo, he thought it ad-
visable, for the greater convenience of landing the
remainder, to brin&her up to the quay—where he
bad her moored to a gun, whicit was fixed in the
ground for that express purpose. In the course of
Übe night, when the tide ebbed, the vessel took the
ground, listed, and foil upon her starboard side, in
such a manner as to drag the gun, to which she had
been moored, several feu out of the ground ; she
so continued, until the return of the flow tide, when
she again righted ; but, after the rest of the cargo
was landed, and she was drawn up on the ocach,
for the purposes of repairing, it was discovered,
that no less than fourteen of her timbers had
been broken, which rendered her perfeCtly un-
serviceable. The Captain called a convention of
the shipwright, and mastersiu the place, and she was
condemned and sold. lie admitted, that it the
timbers had been broken before she came to the
coast of Africa, the policy was not recoverable ;
but it would clearly appear, that if this accident had
happened toher previous to, or during, her voyage to
the coast, she could not, by any possibility, have per-
formed such a voyage. FindVng himself in this
ation, the Captain hired two other vessels for the
conveyance of his cargo to Santa Cruz, one of which
was the Gorport, on board of whits he put a portion
of his slaves, but she was afterwards captured ; the
other ship, which carried the remainder of his cargo,
met with a different fate, of a more dreadful aid
melancholy kind. 'On the evening o: r',e day she
set sail upon her voyage home, the slaves ro,e upon
the crew, murdered every one of thembut the Cap-
tain, mate, and -a Voy, and carried the vessel back to
she mast, where they all escaped.
Thtf policy of insurance was then produced and
proved.
Captain Northop, the master of the Beget-mord< n,
was then zamined, and proved netrly the foregoing
matemerrd; he added, that re! en at ',mime, he had
his ship put into repair under the inspelion of two
old African traders, who understood the business,
and that no ship ever sailed upon that voyage in
mere complete order. He 'Had some smart gales
during the:uswige, and the vessel at that time made
some water; but, in fine weather, she never made
any, and was perfeiftly seaworthy when she arrived
at the Isles de Los, where he disposed of a part of
the cargo, and then proceeded up the river of Sierra
Leone ; hut, for the better convenience and discharge
of his cargo, he moored her at a wharf, and fastened
her to agtin; he soon ;die: .iischarged the remainder
of his cargo, censistingoitobacco, when, in the night,
she listed, and f 4 as already described ; and, by
this means, she had her timbers broken She was
afterwards condemned and sold for 4001. Fie thought
she was well worth 14,0 ea dollars, before this acci-
dent. At that time, he had made engagements for
150 slaves, five of which number, only, he had
taken on board at the Isles de Los. When he pur-
chased the two ship., he put 71 slaves on board the
Gotpott, under the command of his first mate and
surgeon; the remainder he put on hoard the Haanah,
in which re srl he went himself. On the second
day's voya:,e, an insurrection took place among the
slaves ; tnn• rose upon the crew, it the nigh:, and
killed all but the witness, and five more, who es-
caped into the cabin, and :Ought them with their
muskets through the sky-lights.
On his cros-examination, by Mr. Gs meow, he
said, he agreed with Mr. Tully for the slaves, be-
fore he could procure a vessel to convey them ; he
knew of no other of the name, in the trade, but
himself ; he had kcpt a log-book, but it was de-
stroyed by the slaves ; they first tore it, and then
burned it ; he had a middling memory ; he did
remember, he kept the crew at the pumps, in order
to keep the scurvy our of their bones ; if Alr.G
mow had been there, he would have kept him to it
also.

_.,1

Mr. G•RRow--" You den't know how well used
I am to pumping ; you don't know that I am at it
now as fast as I can."
He then declared, that always in a gale of wind
I,e made them pump ; they had very bad weather
during the paisage from Carolina to the African
coast; for a number of days they had dreadful
gales, a:;d a heavy decked cargo, which made the
ship strain; there was a small hole in the sheath-
ing on the starboard-bow, which he discovered a
few days after he left Charlestown, and bad repair-
ed, and she made considerable water. He made no
protest until atter the ship was laid upon the beach,
and examines:. In his correipondence with his
Owners, he could not say that ho mentioned the real
cause of the accident ; the Mate icaned in the pro-
test, but there was not any thing in it relative to be-
ing at the wharf, or of the dragging the gun.
Mr. Gasauw rested the defence upon the great
improbability of the story which the witness told,
wtich did not in any manner agree with the gro-

test he had made, or the correspondence he had
had with his owners relative to the tall and break-
ing of the timbers.
Lord F.i.t.cNaoanoGH left the whole of the case
to the determination of the Jury ; it was compe-
tent for them to Judge whether they gave credit to
the testimony of the witness, or not; if they be-
lieved him, they were bound to find for the Plaint-
iff; but if they found a variance between his evi-
dence, and the written documents under his own
hand, they knew how to decide.
The Jury, after a short consultation, found a
verdiet for the Defendant.

ATKINSbN V. GORDON.
This also was an action upon a policy of insurance
on the ship James and Rut/t, bound tram Nary... to
Chepstow, laden with deals, and lost on a chalk
bank in the Baltic.

It appeared that a policy of insurance had been
effeded in the month of October, in the year 1801,
for 10001. upon the probable amount oldie cargo, at
a premium of 7 per cent. In consequence of the
receipt of a letter inclosing the invoice, Stc. of the
cargo, a farther insurance was effeaed on the 19th
of December in the same year, lot which an un-
usually high premium was paid, at the rate
of fifteen guineas on the timber, and eighteen upon
the profits. The letter also contained a paragraph,
stating, that as the winter had set in, it WAS un-
certain whether the vessel would get nut, or would
be bound by the ice. Another letter was also re-
ceived, subsequent to the first, but wino' was dated
on the 3d of November antecedent, and advised the
owners of the sailing of the ship from NArr:4;
this letter did not, hosever, come to band, until
the 13th of January.
Mr. GI ees, for the Defendant, grounded his de-
fence upon this, that the Plaintiff was in possession
of a certain fart, which, W communicated to the
underwriters, they would not have made the policy.
In this he alluded to the letter of the 31 of Novem-
ber, which, he contended, had been received on the
sth of December, the day previous to bespeaking
the policy, which letter stated, that the vessel had
cleared out that day, and the writer wished the
master an expeditious passage, intimating, that she
would sail on the day following.
The Petershurgh and Sound lists were then pro-
dated from Lloyd's, in order to thew that this repre-
sentation agreed with the data of .hips passing the
Sound.

Lord ELLENBOROUCH observed, that certainly if
it could be &hewn that material communic.eiuti had
bCen suppressed, the Plaintiff had no right t.) re-
; bar it ought to be a communication most
so stantiaily material, which in the present case did
not appear.
The Jury found a verdia 43001. fur the Plaintiff.

COMMON PLEAS, GUIL•11A1.1.

Sittings a MO t:pre 31r. juctice Cu A M Bar,
and 4 S p Cali jury.

ALLAtNE AND OT!MIS v.
This was an action brought against Mr. Eyles,
the Warden of the Fleet l'rison, to recover the sum
of 1,0001. due to the Plaintiffs, by a Mr. Johnston,
a smuggler, who had escaped oat of the custody of
the Det,:ndant.
SeLkant tiott 'rapt the 2.laiutiffs, atatnel. diet
Mr..Waniton n,+l been employed by Government to
supply the in-I-Ts at the I !elder with wine and other
necessaries; that he not being able to make his con-
trail good, entered into an agreement with the Plain-
tiffs, to supply the King's troop. at the Ilelder with
wine and other good; from Guernsey, which they
did to the amount of 4,0011. Mr. Johnston, being
the only ostensible person with Government, re-
ceived the money in payment, but never thought
roper to pay it over to the Plaintiffs : on which ac-
count they commenced an anion against him; and
having found that he was in the Hest, laid a de.
twiner on him. The Learned Serjeant then said,
that though that detainer was not an execution, he
had no doubt, when he should bring forward his
proofs, of obtaining a Verdia for the entire sum.
William 13eere, Clerk to the Plaintiffs Attorney,
in August. 180% deposed, that the Defendant ac-
knowledged to him, that Johnston was then in his
custody ; and that he delivered to the turnkey the
copy of the declaration, in the cause commenced
by the present Plaintiffs against Johnston—and that
a declaration then produced in Couit was a tree
copy of it, st.:mped by the Pmthonotary.
Scrjeants SDEPHLID and BLit, for the Defend-
ant, opposed the reading of this declamation, deny-
ing that it was evidence, as the Prothonotary's book,
in which it was entered, was not produced. The
arguments on this point took up a considerable
length of time ; the different Clerks and Prothono-
lanes being mi.:tined as to the practice—in the
course of which, the Counsel for the Defendant
pressed for a nonsuit.

Mr. Justice Ca st see said, whatever might be
his opinion as to the matter of law, he thought the
best way w. old be to take the opinion of the Jury as
to the fag, and afterwards, if the parties pleased,
:hey might come before the Court
The affidavit of service was then delivered to the
officer to be read, ha that was objeeted to by the
Defendant's Counsel, as it had not been sworn before
a Judge. The discussion of this point took up a
long time, but at length it was ruled against the De-
fendant, as at the time it was sworn these was no
Judge in town.
Mr. Carey was then sworn to prove that John-
ston had been employed by Glvernment to carry
wine to the Helder; on his cross-examination he
said, that Johnston was a notorious smuggler, and
that the Plaintiffs were reputed smugglers, hut that
he never knew them to be concerned in that kind of
trade.

It appeared by the evidence of the Clerk in the
Fleet Prison, that Johnston had been locked up in
the strong room, as there had been a warrant lodged
against him for felony; but that he contrived in the
night time to force the pannels which were over the
doors of his room, from which he got into the
Coffee Gallery, avid that he then got out of a win-
dow and up a leaden spout to the top of the prison ;
but how he could have got from that over the outer
wall, ho did not k tow ; that the outer wall is ten
or twelve feet from the top of the prison, and forty
feet in height, exclusive of the Cheoles
Serjunt Sst 'titan, on the part of the Defendant,
statoi, that he would prove by a man, who was at
that time a Prisoner in the Fleet, and who assi-ted
Johnston to get ont of confinement, in what maw.

nor he escaped : he said that after he had got out of
. the room where he had been locked up. ive proceed-
ed along the gallery, and up stairs to the top story:
it had been concerted that one of the Prisoners
should lend his room to this man, who assi.ted
Johnston in escaping, for the pre:ended purpose of
entertaining a Lady there ; that Johnston got out of
the windoi‘ of this room, and clambered up .1 leaders •
spout, at the side of which there was an iron con-
duaßr fur lightnings and having got to the top of
the prison, he threw a rope, with a grappling iron at
the end of it, over the Chr ..au.r de Frieze, to which it
clung ; he then made fast the rope to the top of the
prison, where he stood, and having drawn it as
tight as he well could, he passed to the top of the
wall, swinging by his hands: when he got to the
top of the wall, he had a rope ladder, which he let
down into Fleet-market. where he had horses wait-
ing. The I.earned Serjeant concluded by represent.
ing the improbability that Government would em-
ploy a noted smuggler for the purpose of carrying
wine from Guernsey to the Helder, sei.cu they could
send as many ships as they pleased, um ler the com-
mand of respenable Captains, and have them
freighted with wine in a regular way, for the eon- ,
sumption of the army.
The Jury did not think it necessary that this case
should go any farther, as they were perfally satis-
fied that this was a smuggling transa6tion, and that
His Majesty never bad employed Mr. Johnston, a
noted smuggler, to carry wines to his troops, at the
Fielder, or any where else. The Plaintiffs chose lA-
tirr to be nonsuited, tliah have a Verdia entered
against them.