The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1819-10-09 00:00:00

." OcTossa G.

It is stated that a uplication his been professionally
mule to Nlessrs. Deurcass and Wetherell to attend
the latiotst at and their arrival is eagerly
looked for. 1 thosight before the comnsesscessirot
nrthe inquest that the presence of souse ernisseist
advocate was I:ece,,ary on this occasion, for a
variety of .reissons. The Coroner was not MI..
cowteous to Messrs. Harmer and Denison on
the first day of the Inquest. Ile did out impede
their progress or insult their feelings. end Isrosce
I was encouraged to calculate that business aright
have gone on staiontl ly ; but soon afterwards,
and especially !mice the appearance of Mr. Ash-
worth, the tone and manner of Ilse Comfier un-
dement -a total change. Ills cooduct towastls Mr.
Burner Is,.;easue guar cavalier, nay, even cuss-
.steetoptuous. It is Soder(' es-silent. that Mr. Ferrasid
bits .no disposition to defer to Mr. Harmer.—
The latter lass not, in this Coroner's estintatissn,
iliac sort. of isnpurtance Inch is necessary to pro-
(lnce istipressiois; that is, he i, merely ass Attorney.
Were Ms. llerisser • Hanna, r, with considerably
Tess knowledge and. Islesst, this Coroner would,
Apprehend, bow to W.* judgment. But as the coun-
try Attornr3 'above so much deference, or even re-
verence, lodise Loudon partMers of eminence, use
of theist ought to hums beets brought down in the
first instance. • .

• The hotly Lees bet been disinterred this day,
to be viewed by thw curtmer. •
The father of Lees %I'll to.usnre,.w regnire the
Atteludi,,ce or Ahears. livraner owl Deniion.

..,. :,. .

ROYAL BURGHS OF scorLANA

nation than any others ore likely to JO; Ind from acme pe•
cutias circumstances regardiew them, *kicb fill appear
iu
the evideoce :attacked. to ZwilePAl%-liltiellVir etrr
committee to have-mitie to yeloeily 44 u.

lion. • •
The city of visbutah.beetdes beim the capital of the
country, bag lately had OR clielQie 4 if., Alta
cOOPC;llolct.ltside lry a &Mahan ,of the Comet of -ffesaioti. mow
under review, by which, if adhered to, the city will bs
Witting' ezeculive olEcers.uziousicioal,moveroment.
The election of the counrit sad peamstrates of Aberdeen
wag, attio.lstely
,(I11!9), set aside by wrier., of Jaw, and its
eitt*re„Mmileipal affeirs committed to ,Ilee, chorge of isiterisis
maiLagers ; a situation which coyititi.wctt lel file Pee" at'Alte
election.pf Magistrates ist September lull cod its treasury
has remained ever muce in a state of manifest and declared
litgolvetley.
In Dundee mazigteates and hargetne(Z have been evieri,
yomuicatflie aud negociating lately wink ericlasether, with
wiewtia.so amicable adisigtommt,liy "hires souse sell or eon-
stitetimi of the Intrgh, at ouce Inure, libertl in itself, sod
InoTe•Conitelltill hi the wishes of theinbab:tatits, might I',
übtgisicd which the evils, accogneltined of lay the
petitioners.unit as, in part, admitted by. tits megistratri. and
cur gni I, might he-remuvad
The allegations of the petitions referred to the Commit-
tee, may he divided limier two general heads, viz.
lot. Complaint% against the system of internal govern-
meat, under which all the burghs, with scarcely any tamp.
timi, are alleged to be manaerii ; and,
d. The evil* which necessarily revisit from sorb system,
oe see tumid practically to follow, where such gy stem i.b.
Th.i• zeneral view will, however, be better understood by
plating in a tunic .!clailed foamier the grievances of which
the irtiii 111 l eis complain, and which appear to arrange
tbrutsrhes Ynller Its. fullo.Wilig brads : .

ht. The nook of el,tioti of the nt.igi•trates and town
tominoil to all the burghs of Scotland, soothe live Act
of the Scuts l',,e;ianieni, 1400, c. 30, by which .the old
coolleili-lietv I 1.. OWN', alit the new awl ..iii cooticil together
cliwyr the in igiq ratio. Ity this mode ul• election the tier-
sons once ohiatuing a majority iu the council have it in
their power In reelect themselves, or to elect others in their
iuU mvt, nod thus to continue the control and management
of the affairs ..r the bingo in their own boucle, and in those
of their adbrn,..., iss perpetual succession.
241. 'flue Picot lir a doe representation or the I cor-
porations of the hurghs, o•unety, the guildry sod trades
(where such corporations exist) iu the council, arising (runt
the mode in *hie, the 11«al, of guild, merchant councillors,
trades cnuueitlo•s nod deacons of crattp, the nominal
reprresentailyva vf these curpui 'lions, are elected into that
burly.
3d. A want of control in Vie burgesses and in the copora-
films over the expenditure of the revenue. of the burgh,
over the Went' the rem good or property of the burgh,
and over the controctiug of debt, fur which the commuutty
is rviolered liable.

4th. A W4llll Of power in the hargesses and corporations
1.. call upon their magistrates aml council, to account fur
their manage-anent of the revenues and funds under their
chat re
sil The waste nuil mismanagement of (Imitable funds,
ptie.il in the hands of the in tgoorates, as ex officio trustees.
611,. The 'opposition id. is some with.
out due noilior0). and in all %soloing soy power in the bur-
gesses to I,t-t'l n the ui-rrs•ity for imposing them or their
doe ; aud iloslei )11:z, in sume instances, tarp r
soma on account of the sr laud tax payable to the
Crown, than are autharised b) statute or actually paid into
the (URA'.
itti. A waiit of power in any lint membrrs of the council,
to complain of an undue
.electiun of that body, or tiny of
its members; and thus nu usage, contrary In the seat or
CoaSlitalian of the burgh grit ws up, without those persona
*have rights are affected betug able to arrest it; by which
Visage, Itt• l C;1111 ;1111C41 forty years, it haa been held, that
out only 11:e sett ur cmutiluliust of the burgh may be effi t-
innily cos nged, but if the usipse lie general the provjsiuus of
the statute ow dispensed with.
That in late instances the Crown has been advised to
eariTixe a uuwrr of ti to the burgesses a poll election
of their wiNcistratee and council, in cases where the elect•
hits been set aside by flit' Court of Session for irregularity;
which poll election atrurtleil the ouly means that mambo'
to the burgesses of brratiog the. iwrissayity of existing
abuser, by enabling them to elect, no those occasions, Iw•r-
suns into she magistracy soil council possessing the cunfi.
deuce of those whose affairs they .ere to admliPster.

The r.ssalt :woo beets stated by llos .petitioners to be, that
the affairs of most of lute larglos of Scut...end base beets ill
idmitti..ered ; that the expenditure has liven improviaelit ;
that mach of the corn good or property, an a hich the
fissure tesenne dependild, has been sold, in misty bottom-tr
at loss than its value, marl in some to members of the twos-
cil lhrntsaha, nut utsfreontorly by private bargain; tisist
leases 3111101HO:114d itli1)1.11111C1:1 and uthor advantages bare
beets improperly ht•atowealty the councils on ;heir own not so-
ber., to shi detritiocat of tile comonnotty ; that large debts
have bees. coos-acted, toe wh:cte the common good or pro-
perty 'Attie burgh, ia, liahle, and the burgesses lueroselaca,
thmagli out cuosesstsug theta to, bound its their prisons and
private pioporty, according Its the generally method opi-
nitro, •ttiol is. lbe apprehension/ of many of the petitioners;
and that the magistrates and coin oils of the barest., or many
of them, are feesoueutly !seisms nut counecaed *dh the
botch', or tint se,oleut tint ein,tor not among themust re.
apt ttshle..lf the hie tersest its point of t balmier, wealth,
talent, ur itiformatiou nu thew aeairs, inasmuch as they are
often 'chosen from other vitas than a recant to the tate.
Testa -.date eitournouity.
1:s the coarse of their Inquiry, your Committee hare oh-
tamed IkeITIC information use geurral points, applicable to
ill the borght, and they will commence with a short, notice
of ihtme pwpu, so far as tiny apply to thecases of tloi burghs
the toile4ations of whose petitions are lv be pure parties..
tarty il:e subjo ct of this Report.
• Uri the 110111111 ioltieh your Committee have claried under
the first head of get.V2lll:ol consplaiuerl of, the Commit.
tee of this /louse, which sat
.in 1793, reporie,l, " that by
the Act•of the Scottish Pat liaosetit, 14(19 and 1474, a pros.
'elide of sielfsLitton appeareilTo be ilittoluetd;" and that,
hesido s what appears from !Israelis of the hargba, in winch
the old council way re-elect ilieniselvea into the new, if
there be any restriction against the re-election of the majority
of Ilse old council auto the mew, tit. mi:y difference is, that
the burutighs where there is such it sorction will be in Ilse
same situation as Aberdeett, white the majority of the coun-
cillors most be changed amorally, but obese the pr. sous
who go suit not of the council one year may he re.i 'octet, at
Ike distance of a year, by the persons they iheinselves bad
elected for litat year."
• The second head will be best elucidated by reference to
'the evidence given, and to the maitre of the sett, in each
parneular burgh.
thi the third head the Committee of 1V93 reported, that
Abe magistrates and council possessed the power of netting
ind afieottiug the crininou lauds of the burgh, granted to
tt,e burgesses by their charters, or purchased with their
itOnstnott monies, property, or co venues; and that thin power
Might he exercised its 'any manner the magistoutes and
coursed thought proper;' that of the prices that had
beets received, scarcely any part then remosioed w.th the
lourgba ;" and " *bat the power exercked before the Union,
by the town councils, of coutracting darts, iliiprsing of the
cusnmtots revenues, and alieuating the common property and
Commits, lands of the biirgloo, at their pleasure, remained sm-
attered and ousliniinisheil."
. . . . . . .

All the witnesses without exception., declare, that they
are entirely ignorant of any means Innwessed by the bur.
genes, or by the eurnuralinus of guibby and trarles,of coo.
trolinK the Magisiiatrs and council intlit Sc respects; and
it has been sh4trd yourCommicter, that the must eminent
Scioto lawyers doubtf esfremely,
,whether there exist soy
*steins Ronne to the law of Scotland, of preveutiixt the ma-
gistrales• and canned of any burgh fruni exercising, their

t.

tun' tours. •
Best Heifers and Steers (per I Ordinary.. 2, 0.1 to 24 it
stone).. 2s In to Bs nil Alarkvt Calf.. 0. 3.1 84 rat
pliddliugs 2: 441 to it* Eil4. Horse 0, cut. 0. 04

."

- . .
therretwo to those titaness..
. .
The witnesses ageve with' iliraccd. the petitittocrs. who
irate, that it is tee cencrat tiorterstan'ilwair, that the bar.
ghee+ are liable in their prisons 11011 private property, for
the debts contracted' bY the magistrate. and council, to the
louse d the community, insofar as the customs good may
soak* Orquthit9ilitchnrykftlient.
• • ita 9pinion Ci_by ,Lrird. fudges
ref' l'he• euertision, 'thin' Mi. Charles Mai; given hi
1797 to the fraternity inctpiatli7 of Dsafereline, his bate

I HIGH WATER THIS HAY- A.1%-,Igi4NAR4N IIt:iDGE.
COAL. MAKEEI', Oc-ronsn 8, i Murtaing 35 after 5: I . kflaiil.) 14P0-4 ';•.
Ships at Market 51ip.60!,1. Prig ii.
-,c - -4-47=----....:---...
60 Newrmsl le
14 Suwiertand 93..,. 3,4 c 0,1. to 44.1. 611.“ PRICE OF BTOCiii Teeratesmy.
I Ciatlere
i carroi Ga 1..... • • ;.f •• • . atia. 0.1. to -.-e. 0,1. 691..1 • • I &AM's, Tkitet. 141.184
3 Hallarath Cad
I• • 34...64. to ..-1. Oil' 5 trtt Ct. N. Ats..lo4iii 1, A:4as. iwrAcew 701 CV
.1
lulu. 3 per Ct. Au. 40t,1t•..243 hiliat
• [Fred the -11 London New Price Current") I Lodi. Bulidi..l3 MO. 4 .., h. 4
..: ERISAY .AFTE.III4OON,, OCTOBER 8.
LONDON: Priatted rod PAiblialswiohdbe4ll4Bee; Nat: iil.
Coi..rcer.--We rive the pasticulars of Ms laths gala on
Frist.y kat. Ull the evening of that day, sad an Salarday„ RH No. I.
shard. ; where Advertienueeti are sealing/. pad 1.... t....
(post paid) drat be addretivertl.; a 1,1104 Burets arid ,S6O Bengalis were •0141 at the prices at dement., kiu paine;r_../ ftiT TN. )p, Ippi J.
which they had bees taker initt. The purchases since con. publisher. 1.•• .4*P! -, q• • '''
aid of 38 Berbice; lid.; 23 &reds., 141.1.;, 400 Serails • • - *.i. a--:J;-.:.-J. 'Ol4 !ew ••• —• .