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London, England, 1826-08-24 00:00:00

after the payments of the preferent debts there will be a deficiency
of rix
We have already had the honour to state, that the decision upon
the action brought by Mr. Burnett against the sequestrator and
Mr. Ilart, G r conspiring unlawfully to eject hint from the farm,
was referred, by the Comodeeioners of Circuit, in the year 11t23,
to the consideradon of the toll Court. The tenor of a very re-
cent communication from the President and Members does not
enable us to state in direct terms the nature of their decision ; but
from the evidence that has been submitted to them, and that is to
be found in the proceedings, we have no reason to doubt that the
charge of conspiracy either will be or has been dismissed. The in.
vestigation that wits ordered to beneath: into the charge against 31r.
Burnett, of fraud against his creditors, was returned to the Court
of Justice some time ago, but the consideration of it has been or-
dered to be postponed until the liquidation of the estate by the se.
questrator has been effected.
We think that this ?latent of perpetual reference and delay is
much to he regretted, although the decision of the question of
fraud will nut materially affect the scheme of distribution of the
proceeds of the estate, that has been submitted by the sequestrator
to the creditors, and is now waiting the result of another tedious
reference to the Court of Justice.
With reference to the pecuniary resources that Mr. Burnett
might have possessed, or to his ultimate hope of being able to ex-
tricate himself from embarrassment, we think it is clear, that his
sole dependence, either for the means of reimbursing the advances
that had been made, or for payment of the debts that he had in-
curred, was the annual produce of his farm. To the failure of
the harvest in 11120 he imputes his incapacity to discharge the
debt of 3lr. Ilart, and his disappointment in the amount of the
produce that he had estimated at seven thousand rix dollars. He
speculated, at the same time, on the purchase of 31r. hart's farm,
when lie had no means of effecting it, and was making preparations
for establishing a distillery of spirits from the fruit of trees which
he had planted, without any reasonable assurance of becoming the
future owner of the land upon which they grew.
Respecting the question of insolvency, which Mr. Burnett has
always made a prominent one (and there can he little doubt that
the publication of it, as well as the notoriety of the action brought
against him by Mr. Hart, had a fatal iiithience upon his credit in
the district), we are unable to discover the grounds upon which it
could be impeached or set aside. The speculative value of his own
grant, or the contingent interest that he claimed in Mr. Hart's
farm, could not be taken into calculation by the sequeetrator as
effording a satisfactory means of adjusting the praising claims of
creditors.
If the farm had been given up by Burnett when possession was
demanded, in the year 1322, his creditors would have had the bene-
fit of the improvements that had been made upon it; but he per-
sisted in holding is until the end of the year Ilia whiten their value
had been entirely destroyed, and much of what bad been con-
structed in wood had been removed by himself.
From the impression that we have received from the evidence and
statements laid before us, we have been led to consider that ilie in.
jury and lees of which lie complains were imputable to his too san.
guise reliance upon sources of credit that proved to be precarious,
to the bad calculations he had made of the pirodut e of agricultural
labour in the district in which he settled, and to a want of economy
in conduct Ingdt.
The judicial proceedings of which be complains have certainly
furnished us with grounds for proposing future improvements iii the
several branches of the judicial administration; and although we
find that they are marked with the same defects of uncertainty
and delay that we had occasion to observe in other cases that have
been brought befoie us, yet we are not prepared to say that, under
a more perfect administration of the laws, the t exult to 51r. Burnett
would have been different ; while, on the wher hand, we see firmly
convinced that the proceedings furnish no grounds whatever for the
charges that he has made of ilium ice, partiality, or corruption.
51r. Burnett has endeavoured to connect with these proceedings
the refusal of leeutenant-Colonel Somerset to allow him a certifi-
cate of the receipt of a certain quantity of grass that he alleged to
have been cut from his estate for the use of the Cape cavalry ; we do
not find that this circumstance has any direct connexion a ith the
judicial proceedings; for, although we observe that Mr. Burnett
has alleged to your hurtle:lip that he mentioned his claim upon the
Commissariat Department, for payment of this grass, iodic land-
drost and agent of the aequestratore, as a means of discharging his
debt to Mr. Hart, and that he protested against the landdrost's
refusal to receive it. yet we find that his assertion is positively con-
tradicted by the landdrost; and we think it extraordinary, that
when Mr. Burnett was required to declare upon oath whet pro.
perry he possessed that was applieeble to the payment of the debts
that were judicially demential, he should not at the saint time
have made an exception of this claim upon the Conitoiemarint De-
pendent, which, if admitted and certified to be just, would have
enabled him to relieve himself in some degree from his embarrass-
ments.

Burnett has contended that the foraging parties of the Cape
Cavalry cut from hisi estate, at different times, quantities of grass,
amounting in value to the sum of 1.2134/ rid dollen; and that al-
tl 'nigh lie has frequently applied to the proper authorities, he has
never been able to obtain au authentic receipt or certifirate,by
which alone he could obtain payment from the Commissariat
Department. In the year 1821 he brought an action for the put.
pose of compelling the officer then in command of the cavalry to
deliver to him a certificate for two hundred and fifty-six loads of
grass. Upon previous application the officer declared, that
although he found that grass had been taken from 31r. Burnett's
land. contrary to his strict injunctions, yet, after the strictest
inquiry, he could only find that forty.four loads had been taken,
and fur theme Mr Burnett received the sum of 220 mix dollars in
Payment. It appears that this grass had been taken at a period in
which the land-marks of his grant had not been fixed, and the
foraging panics had not observed the boundaries that divided it from
a tract of Government land, to which they were accustomed to re-'
sort for gram. The Court not deeming the officer responsible fir
any quantity that had been taken subsequent to the period of his
command, relieved him from the claim, but reserved to the plaintiff
Burnett the right of instituting his action against such other persons
as in law were liable. Mr. Burnett then made application to Lieut.
Col. Somerset for a certificate of the quantity of grass that had been
taken during his command. It is admitted by Lieut. Cul. Somerset
that be gave a promise to Mr. Burnett that he should obtain a re.
ceipt for such quantity of grass as appeared by the regimental books
to have been received. On Lieut. Col. Somerset's departure, this
inquiry was left to the care of the officer who • succeeded him—and
who, when called upon, excused himself from responsibility for
any quantity of grass that was cut atter he ceased to be in com-
mand. 3lr. Burnett was thus left to his remedy against Lieutenant
Colonel Somerset, to whom he more than once made application,
both personally and through another person, who overtook hint on
his road (ruin Graham's Town to Uitenhage. We observe that Cid.
Somerset has not alluded to this interview, nor has be pointedly
contradicted the assertion that he promised to gire the certificate.
We think it most probable that any promise that he did give was
conditional; but, on the other hard, it is much to be regretted
that a claim of this nature had not been immediately brought to
decision by some more formal and satisfactory mode of investigation
than that which he had assigned to it. The complaint was pee.
(treed to the acting Governor, Sir Butane Dunkin, who declined to
interfere in it, or order payment of any military account without a
proper certificate ; and it was ',Tele, red, at a later period, to his Fa-
cellency, laird Charles Somerset, who. in an interview that is cor-
rectly described by Mr. Burnett, promised to use his best excreta's
in his behalf. The result of this interview was a proposal to sub-
mit the investigation of the claim to a Regimental Board of Offi-
cers. which Mr. Burnett declined, and the question still remains
subject to dispute. The discussion of it has given occasion to 31r.
Burnett to notice in strong terms the mode in which the green
forage was supplied to the Cape Cavalry, and the unjust and par-
tial exclusion of himself and others from a share in the supply.
The quantity of green barley and oats grown by persons who,
from their contiguity to Graham's Town, could advantageously
dispose of it, was very small, and in the year 1820, much below
the regimental demand. Until a late period it had not been
usual to give notice of the quantity required, but those per.
sons who Lad any to offer tendered it to the officer of the Commis.
swim Department, who kept in his office a li,t of the names of the
suppliers, and the days upon which the grass would be really for I
elating. The quarter-master of the regiment received his instrue-
tions from the office of the Commissariat Department to take his
forage from the supplies according to the rotation in which they I
stood in the list; and if it happened that the oats or barley of any
individual grower were not sufficiently, or too much matured, the
crop of the person next in rotation was taken. ith the exec p-
upa of Mr. Burnett, no complaint was made to us during our stay
at Graham's Town of ands.) preference shown by the Counnissariat
Department ; and it appears upon the explanation furnished by
Lieut.-Col. Somerset, as well as by a letter of Mr. Burnett, ad-
dressed to his correspondents in Cape Town, that his disappoint-
ment in furnishing the expecte.l supply, although caused by Lieut.-
Cul. Somerset, was not intentional on his part, and that it princi-
pally arose from the badness and scattered state of his crop, and the
difficulty that was experienced in cutting and gathering it. For the
quantity that 1:e proved to have been delivered, he received from the
Commissariat Department the sum of 435.7. 4. rix-dollars. To a per-
son who had rated his annual profits upon the production of this
article alone at 10.000 'ix-dollar:, and had expended a considerable
degree of labour in cultivation, the competition of several individuals,
who were enabled to avail themselves of the momentary demands
which the failure of their neighbours had created, was a serious
impediment; we believe that nearly two-thirds of the quantity of
green forage consumed by the Cape Cavalry were furnished by the
officers of the regiment, to whom it had been custoniary, in consi-
deration of the very insufficient accommodation that the barracks
afforded, to allot tonall pieces of ground in the immediate vicinity,
for the purpose of enabling them to build cottages and houses ac-
cording to their means, and which they have been allowed on their
retirement to transfer to other officers who succeeded to them. This
Indulgence ors extended to °Czars of other corps who were stationed
at Graham's Town at different times, and had received local ap-
pointments.
It is to be remembered. that Graham's Town bad originally been
selected as a military station in the year 11114. for the force appointed
to defend the frontier; and that the accommodation of the troops
had therefore been a primary object : but it must be admitted to
have considerably impaired the quantity of disposable land that
might have been appropriated gratuitously by the Government to
the settlern or to mechanics who were desirous of establishing
thentseives in the town, after it had been fixed upon at the mat of
Magistracy of the new district.
(To be continued.)

ACCIDENT AT PECIIIIAM FAlR.—Yesterday a man
named Tuck, while inceutinu.ly playing with a leopard at one of
the shows, had his wrist seized by the animal, and, but for the tx-
crtions of the• keeper, would doubtlessly have lost his hand. It was
much lacerated, and It is feared bia arm must be amputated.