The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1824-01-12 00:00:00

THE GPEEKS.

The following address has been issued by the branch of
the Greek Committee, at Manchester. We trust it will be
every way effectual im 1.0 just and sacred a cause
The contest which has now subsisted for upwards of two years
between the Greeks and the Turkish Empire has excited a deep
interest in all the nations of Europe who appreciate the rights and
duties of civilized life. In the metropolis of this country a number
of individuals occupying the first ranks of satiety, whether dig-
nified by religion or illustrious by learning and talent, have
called the attention and loused the sympathy of the nation on
behalf of the descendants of the antient Greeks. A committee of
individuals in this town ham believed that they also are acting
in the fulfilment of the sacred duties of humanity and religion,
by laying before theit fellow-tradesmen the claims which may be
stated to exist on behalf of the Greeks, and which arise from the
following considerations:—The Greek Committee decline entering
into en examination of the tames which have led to the ten* of
the Greeks from the domination of the Turks. The question of
the merits or demerits of that revolt they cheerfully leave to the
Octillion of the heart and uneastanding of every individual who is
acquainted with the history a his own country, and duly appreciates
the laws and constitution which secure to him the liberties of a
Briton. The Committee appeal with confidence to the gratitude
which is due from every loves of literature and the tine arts to that
illustrious people who have not yet been excelled by any modern nation
in poetry, sculpture, and architecture; and to whom those delightful
arts owe at entre thei r origin and perfection. Shall the lineal descendants I
of b poets sad sculptors of the age of Socrates appeal to us is said
for serstaace is the hour when life itself and every thing dear and
valuable to may are at w cite P The fatal experience of the pm.
Milt contest but too clearly Prenonstrates that on the part of the
Turks the war is one of absolute extermination ! Let scio, peace-
aide, unoffending, and guiltless of revolt, if guilt can be ascribed
to it, remain an eternal record of the fact ! thousand human
beings cruelly massacred, forty-eight tbesNrd womee and chil-
dren sold to slavery, and condemned is refit all that is meat ab-
horrent to humanity ; these attest what would be the tender mercies
of the Turkish Government, if the sword were once more to place
the suFreme power over Greece in their hands. Above all, the
Committee appeal on behalf of thrte trillions of Christians to
their Fellow-Christians of this town, by that mired tie of aelnity
which unites them as one body under one Divine Master, Jesus
Christ ! Our holy religion was planted in Greece by the illustrious
Apostle of the Gentiles himself ; it has existed there to this hour,
clouded indeed in latter ages by that alloy which Procuring have
happily succeeded in detaching from the common faith of Greeks
and Romans. Can our Fellow-Christians be unmoved by the
deepest sympathy when so many thousands of Christians are de-
voted to death, or to slavery worse than death, by their late op-
pressors, should the Greeks be subdued in the struggle P—Let us
hope that our countrymen will not refuse their aid, which, however
moderate, will he efficacious in proeur:ng for the Greeks those sup.
plies of food, clothing, anus, and ammunition, which will secure
the independence they have already seized upon, by a courage
worthy the descendants of their heroic ancestors.
blanche:ter, Dec. 12.

Extract of a private letter, dated Madrid, December 25:
" Two thousand Frenchmen have been sent to Estrema-
dura. There has been a report these few days past of a
revolt in Portugal, which it may be feared will ettenil to
Spain. It has been said that the Queen and Infant Don
Miguel were imprisoned, and the King had sought his
safety in flight. This is what is going about. I have my-
self seen a letter from a person on the frontier, to his cor-
respondent here, saying, ' You are fortunate in Eying in a
plate where there is tranquillity. Our neighbours are
again in a state of disorder, and I cannot say how long it
will be ere we become as bad.'"

Letters were on Saturday received from Demerara, dated
November 20. The proceedings against Smith, the Mis-
sionary, had closed, and the Court had adjourned to the
24th November, when the final result would be made
known. The general opinion entertained in the colony was,
that he would be found guilty, and would be immediately
executed.

SOUTH AMIERICA.—Some interest has been excited among
the mercantile gentlemen connected with South America,
by a private letter among the last arrivals from Bogota, of
which the following is an extract:—" You will not be atty- ,
prised to bear, anti all that has transpired respecting the
views of France towards South America, that there it an I
agent here from Paris, who is endeavouring, every par
sible means, to seduce the leading men of thecountry from i
their allegiance. This person is a Mr. Molldn, a young
man of great talents and gentlemanly demeanour, and every
way qualified for the trust reposed in him. He has an un-
bounded command of money, and is well received in some
houses where he ought not to be allowed admittance. He
corresponds regularly with M. lie Chateaubriand, and it is
believed that some of his letters have been opened by order
I of our Authorities, and certain important facts discovered.
It rumour may be credited, this Molhin has received a
great deal of information as to the best means of distributing
Ilia gold, from that fellow M. G—, who is said to have
been in France for such a purpose."
A very successful experiment has been made in Loui-
sisna, to raise the tea-plant from seed, with a view to its
cultivation in certain parrs of that extended region, where
the soil and climate are deemed congenial.
REMARKABLE CIICUMSTANCE.—On the ship Alexan-
I der, Baldwin, going into the graving dock during the pre-
sent week, it was discovered that a large kedge anchor,'
weighing between five and six cwt. hung suspended from
the bottom part of the ship. It appears the vessel grounded
in the Delaware, on her last voyage to Philadelphia, when
the anchor must have stuck through her timbers, and so
remained firmly fixed during her passage across the At-
lantic. Had it given WRY, the consequences might have
been fatal to the ship. The anchor, from its appearance,
is supposed to have been in the water about three years.—
Adrertiser.

C. •
owra, JAN. 9.—Seven officers and thirty-five men
were embarked here from Albany barracks, on board the
ship Edward, and sailed for the island of Barbados.
Forty-seven tubs of contraband spirits were brought here,
and deposited in the Custom-hous', by the Bembridge
preventive• boat, commanded by Mi. Borum.
A gentleman in this town has been lately robbed of
1,300 sovereigns. A person, whose name is known, is
stroney suspected of having committed the robbery. The
police arc on the alert for Wm.—Liverpool Paper.
We understand that upwards of six hundred persons
were apprehended and brought before the Magistrates (lur-
ing the last year, for acts of vagrancy in this town.—Li-
rerpoof Paper.
The parish of St. Clement Danes held a vestry on Fri-
day, pursuant to notice, to consider of the immoral state of
Great Shire-lane, Ship-yard, and the neighbourhood. Af-
, ter the subject had undergone considerable discussion, it
WAR resolved that the conduct of some of the inhabitants,
and many of the frequenters of their houses, was notori-
ously infamous, and a Committee of the churchwardens,
overseers, and several iohabitanta, was chosen, to consider
of the best means to abate the evil. It seems that several
'recent robberies, and the bad character of two or three low
disorderly houses, have led to the ineasurts in question.
Ties Geow-wosm.—Mr. John Murray, in a communi-
cation recently made to the Royal Society, on the luminous
mattet of the glow-worm, states some curious, facts, as the
result of his own observations and experiments. lie shows
that the light is not connectell with the respiration, nor
derived from the solar light; that it is not affected by
cold, nor by magnetism, nor by submersion in water.—
Trials of submersion in water, in various temperatures,
and in oxygen. are detailed. WIL•n a glow-worm was im-
mersed in carbonic acid gas, it (lied, shining brilliantly ;
in hydrogen it continued to shine, and dill not seem to
suffer. Mr. Murray infers, that the luminousness is in-
dependent, nut only of the respiration, but of the voli-
tion end vital principle. Some of the luminous matter ob-
tained in a detached state, was also subjected to various
experiments, from which it appears to be a guintno-albutni-
nous substance. mixed with muriate of seala, and sulphate
of alumine and potash, and to be composed of spherules.
The light is considered to be permanent, its eclipses being
caused by the interposition of an opaque medium.
We regret to say, that a respectable professional gentle-
man of this city has been missing since Saturday sc'nnight.
On that evening he dined with a friend in Park-street, and
left about twelve o'clock ; he has not since been heard of ;
s hat was picked up in the Float next morning, which his
friends think is the same that he wore en that day ; hence
it has been concluded that he either fell in, or was mur-
dered, and his body thrown in. Every inquiry has been
made, end every exertion used to discover the place of his
concealment. This evening the water will be let out of:
the Fluat.—Bristal Paper.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE BRITISH PRESS.

The trial and execution of John Thurtell, and his de-
portment from his first imprisonment to his final sentence,
may be placed on the moat unquestioned register of that
fortitude, reaching almost to heroism, which marks the
English character. Throughout the whole proceedings,
his behaviour betrayed nothing of ostentatious bravery ;
it was the innate courage of a mind that could not be
shaken, and of a spirit that could not be subdued; it was
mingled, moreover, with feelings which did honour to his
humanity. His extreme anxiety to save his aged parents
as much as possible from time bitter anguish which his un-
timely fate would bring upon them, marked a natural
kindness of disposition which no contagion of vice could
plestroy. The simultaneous uncovering that followed his
appearance on the platform was an extrao►dinary circum-
stance, as marking the feelings of regret and sympathy
with which the multitude witnessed his unfortunate e►nd.

Considering his earnest refusal to permit any cast to be
*ken from his face, that he might not, by this means,
perpetuate the disgrace which he had brought upon his
family, I do not, I confess, see what conld justify the
permitting a person in the gaol to take a cast of the back
part of his head for the Phrenological Society. The reason
urged for the permission is, that the professors of cranio-
logical science may ascertain whether the ergaa of murder
is there developed; and it is said to have been exclusively
granted to this Society. But, Sir, the permission appears
to me to be quite unauthorised, not only as it was repug-
nant to the expressed will of the individual himself, but in-
munch as the Phrestological Society must either pronounce
the organ of warder to exist, that they may uphold the
credit and estimation of their science; or they must, if
they do not declare it to be so developed, throw a doubt on
the jdstiee of the verdict which found him grillv. I
think it was not wise, Or considerate, oh the pert of the
Phrenological Society, to place their science in this di-
Before I conclude, Sir, i nutlet abstatt #roas observing
on the extreme impropriety of endeavouring, with so much
earnestness, to obtain from Thurtell a confession of his
guilt. Mr. Wilson, the gaoler, it seems, was employed
fur this pu ; the gratitude which this unhappy man
had expr for the kindness of his treatment being deem-
ed the likeliest inducement to lead to it. " You are now
alone with me," said Mr. Wilson to him, on retiring to
another part of the gaol—" no eye but that of the Al-
mighty sees what now passes between us; and if you in-
tend to make a confession, no better opportunity can be
afforded you." There is, I sun convinced, no man of re-
flection but must consider this as highly objectior.able. It
leads manifestly to this inference, that the evidence wpm
which he war convicted was such as to leave a doubt as to his
guilt : since it is quite clear, that if that evidence was sa-
tisfactory and complete, Isis confession could add nothing to
the conviction under which the verdict was pronounced.
It may be true that the testimony upon which ho was con-
victed wanted the confirmation which was so earnestly
sought for ; but whether the attempt made to obtain at
was either wise or prudent, is another question : it is a
question, however, upon which, I think, no considerate
mind will be at a loss to decide.

I am, Sir, yours, &c.
SYPHAX.

AORICULTUIIAL TAXATION.

It is a fact not generally iiiiilcrs by our best writers
iialit,
on politind economy, and eirtitlnl . ',efficiently known
to the puldie, or nee to the • deist interested, that
of all awes oteosiety the ,eirrierweeld be Most benefited
by A rri 01:0 Owlak#,AceeMailOirec:plkclol3
agricu tnie • and' as prominent qinisiot p4einnii:pare
such itlirtAtittieiVof reenuti;clhe it `sho iiiWns
the flvat petit/beer. to Parlimeekt 31e" it tidal,
slaw by way of et modems* and
be liquitibis Palliallbhabi
Pr by. aGADe gotkr *Om that %Wit)dsviosom tAwilripr
doer of. Parliattritt. .
' • Thill abject ittittot be teiiiiiiialittiliatil ithilitt
died ad well'ad ieteicultural ieliteitizerfuisitnaiel. y'
hobs,' bleariest., wry verges:like inlaid geed. Ili emsenlialt
were cordial union than now ratistibetween the cierzymsi
PA his flock, would materially saving the caw if tpel
religion and the 'general happiness of fitainklnd. Itl
appears to us an extraordinagr Nulty of intake-
mai *isle's- that. provosts the frosi ageing *sir
Ins Mutest+ on the subject of tectailCbtilaa..abilebtled
proprietors and their tenants are not Wore eirect
y
agricultural taxation, than the meniliers of the Estab-
lished Church ; therefore the attertiost- Of ttbat 'paler-
NI body should be attracted to Ale 'thilreil" under
which the fanning interest now isboisrei aid wbichi.aan
only be effectually removed by a reduction, or rather an
abolition, of those taxes which almost exclusively hear
upon agriculture. A late author has well obaetved, that
"it is as much, if not more, the interest of the Established
Church that the present taxes on the necessaries of life
should be superseded by a property tax, as of an.y other
class of society affected by their operation." (Ina on
Relative Taxation, p. 188.) The first thing that strikes
the mind at all conversant *id, this subject, is the situa-
tion of the greater part of the clergy who have commuted
their tithes for land. Their situation is generally worse
than that of other landed proprietors, because in most cases
their commutation allotments have been made in inprior
Land, the difference in quality being compensated for by an
incrsased quantity, valued at the time when bad land bore
a ri4 five value to good. At the present time this relative
' value does not exist ; for anomalous taxation, depression of
prices, and the poor's rates, have reduced the value of pool
land much below that relative declension which is alone
equitable. The ,ollowing case will prove the fact :—Sup-
pow two farms, of 400 acres each, in the same pariah, were
allotted under an Inclosure Act during the war to two
persons, one the rector and the other a landowner, the
inferior land being generally assigned to the clergyman,
their annual income might have stood thus—

400 seers to the Rector, at 10s. per acre, amounts to £2OO per ann.
400 acres to the Landowner, at 40s. per acre, ditto - 9181 ditto.
For the sake of putting the case as much against the
proposition as possible, let us suppose, what is not the fact,
that the present mode of agricultural taxation and the de-
clension of prices have pressed equally on all descriptions
of soil, and that the bad land is only reduced in value pro-
portionately with the good, and that the present value of
the good land, formerly worth 40s. per acre, is now or may
be worth only 10s. per acre: the situation of the respective
parties would then be at present thus-
-400 acres to the lAndowner, at 10s. per sees . . £2OO
409 acres to the Rector, at 2s. Otl. - . ' - 80
In this case the fall in the value of land Is in a relative
proportion; that is, good and bad land are respectively re-
duced to one-fourth of their former value ; but the actual
situation of the rector and landowner in society bears no
corresponding proportion, for, although the value of the'
respective properties have fallen to only one-fourth of their
former value, the means of living of the two parties have
fallen in other ways very disproportionately. The land-
owner, it is true, is deprived of three-fourths of his income,
being reduced from 800/. to 2001. per annum ; but compare
that 2001. with the SOL a-year, to which the Tector is re-
duced, and the inequality of the cases will be immediately
apparent ; for '2OO/. a-year may provide a family with abso-
lute necessaries, but SOL a-year would- be little better than
actual starvation ; and, therefore, inasmuch as the hare
necessaries of life arc superio. to starvation, is the present
situation of the landowner better than that of the beneficed
clergy. We shall, for the present, confine ourselves to a
mere invitation to the clergy to consider this subject, to
which we shall return on a future occasion. 'Film who
would wish to inform themselves particularly on this sub-
ject would do well to consult the book just alluded to,
which contains some very excellent observations on this
subject, in the third chapter, where the author treats of re-
lative taxation u it is affected by tithes.

CH•WOZ.NINOING 11:XT1•0111DINANY.—On Wednesday
last was rung, at St. George's Church, Middlesex, by the
Junior Cumberland Society, the first true and complete
peal of Bob Major Boyd, consisting of B,leo musical
changes in the short time of three hours and twenty-four
minutes, and performed by the following persons :—Sam.
Feetcham, treble ; John Merrin, second ; William Wil-
liams, third ; Samuel Austin, fourth ; James Blacklock,
fifth ; Thomas Betts, sixth • i John Harris, seventh ; Ste-
ven Widge, tenor.—This peal was conducted by William
Williams, Esq.
FAN rASTIc PoLTOA W v.—Mr. Bowditch informs us,
that the King of the Ashantacs is allowed by law 3,333
wives, this being the precise mystical number on which the
prosperity of the nation dependi.

TO TILE EDITOR Off' THE BRITISH PRESS.
• SIR—In noticing a valuable communication from your
Correspondent A. B. in your Paper of this day, respecting
the trade with Ceylon, I feel it my duty, as an humble in-
dividual, to point out the inconsistency of the new trading
firm of Messrs. Huskisson and Robinson with respect to
the novel plan of disposing of the Government cinnamon
here, which, according to A. IL's statement, they have
bought in very unfairly, and also very unwisely, at their
'sales in Ceylon.

It has been usual, during the period of the East India
Company's contract with his Majesty's Government, to
have four quarterly sales of cinnamon annually at the East
India Ilouse, which gave general satisfaction; but it ap-
pears that Messrs. Iluskisson and Robinson have been in-
duced by interested persons (for these gentlemen cannot be
supposed to be perfectly acquainted with the nature of
those sales) to entrust their consignments •,o be sold by
private individuals, who, if they were ever so respectable,'
should not unnecessarily be entrusted with such large sums
of the public money. By the plan now adopted of not
allowing the proceeds to pass through the hands of the
East India Company, the, public incur an additional ex-
pense and risk; for the Company make the same charge,
whether sold at their sales or not, if the goods be ware-
housed by them. It has also increased the number of sales
, from four to eight in the year—a system most injurious to
1 the value of the article, which has already suffered a great
depreciation, and there will be some difficulty in selling it,
at even a considerably reduced price, unless it returns to
the regular channel for disposing of it, viz. the East India
Company's sale.
It is therefore to be hoped, if any misunderstanding
ists between the Government and the East India Company
on the subject, that it should be removed, for the benefit
of the public.
I have been induced to trouble you with thin letter, from
the seal which you manifest on all occasions for the public'
interest; and I am, Sir, your most obedient servant,
7th January, lOU. C. D.