The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1824-03-19 00:00:00

MEETING OF LICENSED VICTUALLERS.

Yesterday a numerous Meetingof the licensed victuallers of the
united partshes of St. Giles in the Fields and St. George Blooms-
bury, was held at the Freemasoas"favern. Great Queen-street,
Lincoln's Inn-tichls, for the purpose of considering the propriety of
petitioning Parliament to repeal the additional duty imposed on
beer licensee in the year 1815.

Mr. STErirExs: landlord of the Albion, Upper King-street,
Holborn, was called to the chair.

•
Ikenineral years • meml4rof the benefit society in queltieh
! .
hiving been taken ill, applied to the defendants for weekly assts;.
ante. They paid hint one week's allowance of 165., and then re_
fused to pay any more, on a
suggestion that he had violated tie,
• box
rules of the auciety by working at his trade whilo lie was on the
, and on that ground declared hint unfit to belong so the went,.
This he denied, and lie made complaint to t*o Justices, Who
an order that they should pay the money due to him, and se.b,hi,tt
him a member of die society. With this order they refused to
comply, and they were indicted at the be :talons for their relmai ;
and, having pleaded guilty, they were sentenced to pay a fine dal.
with an aibiturlition that they must comply with the Jusiitrsi
order. Still refusing to comply, they were spin indicted, toter a
fresh demand and refusal ; and the indictment being removed by
than into this Court, now came on to be tried.
Several objections were taken to the form of the indetment ail 4
the want of pmof of certain averments, winch were renewed ytr
further consideration.
The facts of the case went to the Jury, and they found two of the
defendants Guilty, and acquitted the rest, five in number, tut wan:
of evidence.

' Mr. Patera'', Secretary to the Licensed Victuallers' Orphan
Society, stated the object fur which the Meeting was convened.
The I'HAIR MAN then said, that in addressing the respectable
publicans and licensed victuallers, who, by their present*, evinced
the interest they felt on the subject to which the attention of the
Meeting was then called, it would be needless for him to insist
upon the very great importance attached to that subject, as it was
evident and must be felt by all who heard him, as being one of the
greatest and most peculiar interest in reference to their particular
situation. Hitherto, indeed, they had been reproached for a degree
of supine iretifittence that no other class of hin Majesty's subjects,
under eimilur oppressive circumstances, would have shown. But 1 FOSTER V. ELY AND ANOTHER.
he was now convinced tratt a due sense of their own rights and in-1 This was an action of trespass for forcibly expeeing the plainne terests had operated to produce, with regard to the subject now under I and Ins faultily from a lodging, and for unlawful!; taking ia3 Gann consideration, but one feeling and one voice. Ile had I
long content- ture. Plea—Not guilty.
plated the imposition of which the whole body of'licensed victuallers Mr. 3larryatt and air. Hutchinson conducted the planeine
now at length complained, with the warmest abhorrence, both as a ! case, and Mr. Gurney the defendant's.
violation of the faith of Parliament, aid a gross act of Injustice to- i The plaintiff was stated to be a captain in the army, who had
wands a most useful and respectable class of men. The time was ',treed at the battle of Waterloo; and the defendants, father sad
now arrived when they ought no longer to incur the censure of so_ loon, were describßl to be carpenters, living at Greenwich. nes
Oneness and want of exertion, but, with an honest regard to them- I plaintiff; alto bad become embarrassed in his affairs, was ebliged to selves, should 'step forward, and call upon the Legislature to do ,go into the King's Bench prison. In the meantime his site and
them that justice, to which, by an Act of its own, they were 1 her since, bliss Charlotte State, and his three children and two
entitled, but which had for four years been withheld front them. ; servants, took lodgings in the house of /header defendant, at 11.11 a.
In justification of the line of conduct they were now pereaing, he • per week. • Some rent having become due, the defendant disnained
would briefly state the origin of that obnoxious tax, the continin I upon the plaintiff' goods, which were released by Mr. State, the
RIM of which they now so justly complained of. In 1815, the ' plaintiff's 1/rather-in-law, who gave his note of band far the amount
I then thancellor of the Exchequer, Mr. Vansittart (Lord Bexley) due. This transaction took place in May last year. In about s
proposed an additional duty tin all exciteable licences. A consider- i foetnight afterwards the defendants entered the plaintiff's apart. able degree of opposition was shewn to this measure, it being con- I meets, and completely gutted the rooms of all the furniture. At ' ceived most onerous and oppressive, that, after a long and dins- ! this time Mrs. k inter was extremely ill, having been recently cep.
Wits war, and when the people began to hail the dawn of peace as ' fined in child-birth, and was then in bed. It was alleged that
I the harbinger of all those blessings witch are usually attendant on this proceeding was a mere pretext to force the plaintiff's nullity to
it, a further burthen should be added. to the many under which quit the house, under a colourable distress for rent, supposed to be
they. already laboured, and that, too, without the prospect of its due from the defendant.
Ilteanination. In order to remove this opposition, and to appease It was proved by Miss State, the plaintiff's enter-in-law, and a
Itbe angry spirit which this measure had excited, the Chancellor of female servant, that when the defendants entered the apartments,
the Exchequer agreed to exact the additional duty for a period of the plaintiff's wife was ill in beds and that one of the trespasrtt four years only, and pledged himself that, at the expiration of that had forced his way into Mrs. Foster's bedroonn siid refused to
time, it should wholly cease ; a clause VMS accordingly infeaduced , quit whilst she dressed herself, and security remained whilst she
into the Act making the duty to end on the lilt of April., 1819. I put on her clothes. The same witnesses proved that the defendants
Reposing on the faith of the Minister, gaaranteed as it was by an 1 seized 31ni. Foster's, bids State's, sod the children's wearing appa.
Act of the Legielature, the publican, proverbial for his humility 1 eel, althouga the broker said they were at liberty to take MIA
and implicit obedience to the constituted authorities, acquies, property away. in order to force the plaintiff's family to emit, a
was peeved tnat after the rooms had been cleared of the furniture*
and was silent, cheering himself with the prospect of the distant I
relief held out to hint. But what was the event ? When the Act I the bare walls, the defendants took the doors off the hinges, sal
was about to expire, and the Liceneed Victualler looked to be re- I threw up the windows. In the evening of the emit day Mrs. Foam
leased front this onerous impost, recourse was had to the plea of sad her faintly left the house, and took refuge in other lodgings.
by On the cross-examination of the plaintiff 's witnesses, it was ad,
neceesity, and that the incumbranccs entailed upon the country
a prot
ractedract end arduous war demanded the continuance of thieduty. milted that the plaintiff was a prisoner in che King's Bench pence,
Ath eit was imposed, it was said to he fur the purpose of and during the time his wife was in the lodgings, bad sometimes winding up the expenses of that war; but what peculiar benefit I visited his tinnily with and without a day role; that previous to his
has the Licensed Victuallers derived from the war, that they should i coming to Greenwich he had been living with his family at Rams.
be singled out as the proper persons to be taxed in discharge of the gate, in a gay style, with a carriage, and had left that plane so debts occasioned by it ? nVity should they, above all the other of much in debt, that he could cot get s bra of bruit on credit; dm
he had afterwards taken the benefit of the Insolvent Act, and had
his Majesty'e subjects, bear the whole weight of an unjust and op.
pensive war, while thownends were reaping the fruits of it, tan_ been remanded for six months.
touched by a solitary eratebried to pay off its heavy arrears ? It was proved on the part of the defendants, that the plaintifin
i wife was in so much distress whilst she was in the kelgiogs, nee
What, then, can more strongly justify the measure DOW eon-
' the detenduit's wife had provided her with baby-linen dining bet
templated by this meeting? It was a matter of duty to themselves
' and to their families that the whole united body of Publicans and I confinement, and procured a medical gentleman to attend her den
her illness ; that notice to quit had been given ; that the pine.
Licensed Victuallen should come leeward, and in • respectful
clan' in
tiffs wife on the day in question was extremely abusive, and had
earnest manner urge their claim to that limner whence they
ed the house in the evening in question in a state of inelinety.
derive relief. Were they now to remain etlent, the Chancellor of '
'from large quantities of malt liquor which had been sent for ; that
the Exchequer might well say that then *ere satisfied, that their
own conduct concluded them, and that it was very evident they did there was no property in the lodgings belonging to the plaintiff but
a few stuffed birds, and some wearing apparel which 3lrs. Fester
not want the additional duty to be repealed. The difference which
had desired might be team care of for her, and which was accords
this repeal would make to each of them in the course of the rear,
1 ingly taken care of, and was ready to be delivered when sent feet
after all things were considered, would amount to between 81. to
and that the removal of the furnitexe of the apartments was in coo.
In. 10s.; a sum by no means to be regarded with indifference.
sequence of a boom file distress put into the house for rent dos to
the defendants' landlord-
especially when exacted through a breach of a solemn enactment
of the Legislature. There era many reasons which make it ire-
was a general outline of the case on both sides.
partitive on the present meeting to adopt the measure to be
The case went to the Jury under the Learned Judge's directress,
Foliated to them. First, this tax, as was before observed,
and after retiring for about a quarter of an hour, they found then
when added to the then existing duty on licences, was called
venlict for the plaintiff—Damages Ms.
aawar-tax ; they have now enjoyed ten years of peace—ought
they, then, in reason to be now paying for war? Was it
WILSON V. WOOLLET AND ANOTEMS.
sub- This was an anction of trespass for entering the plaintiff bran,
warrant.
reasonable to suppose that the victuallers should quietly
under pretence of searching for stolen goods, without say bend
oak to such a educe?proc No ; they owe it to themselyee, as
**portion of this free country, to resist by all legal means
so invidious and partial a measure on the part of Government, and Mr. Gurney and Me. Clarkson conducted the plaintiffs ale,
and 31r. Adolphus the defendant's.
strenuously to appeal to that Government tier redress. A second
reason Is, the very tattering state of the finances of the country. The plaintiff was a poulterer and porkman at Strood, and du
defendant 31r. Woollen sou a gentlemen fanner in the sine
The Chancellor of the Exchequer bad pourtrayed the condition of
the revenue as most flourishing, and he was a man (the Chairman ; the other defendant was a constable. Xs Woollen haring
FLlceoet some poultry, and suspecting that it was concealed in the
wash appy to say), not only endowed with talent and discernment—
plaintiff's house, took the other defendant with him, and without
nut onln earnest and good.intentioned in all he did—but endued
a magistrate's warrant, searched it in the plaintiff's absence, but
with a spirit of liberality and of feeling suent to encourage the
found nothing to justify his suancions. He was in the beast
most sanguine hope that so just au appeal teethe one now contem-
, plated would not be made in vain. I speak from
.personal know- about three querters of en hour. These were the facts proved.
ledge (said the Chairman), when I say that there is a dispontion The Jury, under the Learned Judge's directioia, found their
and feeling existing, on th part of the Chancellor of the Exchequer verdict for nee plaintiff—Damages 101.
and his coanjuturs, to afford the utmost possible relief to the pub-
lic, that should appear consistent with justice and equity. Besides, THURSDAY. MARCH 18.
as the Minister has stated that the revenue exceeds the expenditure ROWE t. YOUNG AND ANOTHER.
by several unllinsee ire.not the victualler* here again justified in i_Thse.i,srwr.....an__ action__ve/ "alma and false itanntnrement• The
nsing all their attergiol to obtain redress? Another reason for mak- p"..--....-!....g- ,car ryincizo"..blainessied ainhoeire till'saou4Leni:
don, anu in the summer of last y ing the appeal a, because 31inisters have pledged themselves to
grant their prayer. The licensed victuallers ask no boon; they
ant Young was an innkeeper at Strad. On the 23d July the
near Rochester, where isis wife and fanniy raided. The dried-
only request the Ministers to keep their word. The Chairman
then stated to the meeting, that the result of some calculations he
nint of
had made showed that the publican held a highly-respectable ar• , . .
plaintiff's sent her servant girl to the defendant's house to get
y for which she gave her the money. The gel,
station in society. By a return made to the House of Commons, it
appeared that there were upwards of 48,839 publicans in England which so bled a sovereign, that the defendant in the berry of
insund of using her mistress • money, tendered a gilt faulunn
business took it as such, and give the change accordingly. Nat and %Vales. He had calculated that the amount of revenue derived
from their licences alone amounted to 830,9001. In the year 1700 morning,
discovering the trick which had been played, and sop
tas we understood the Chairman to men there were upwards of
encedernmded his change. His cooduct greedy
posing that Mrs. Rowe was privy to it, he went to ha house, sad
4,142,60 barrels of beer brewed in England and Wales, paying to wauv'mfiLeat nehiovs. Rowe,
who
was
then far
advanced in
,
Government a yearly sum of 2,710,000/. Thus it would appear al',
that there was no class of people who paid a greater share of the
and was attending a child who had had s leg broken. Tri.nrol
revenue of the country, from whence it therefore followed thatno said she knew nothing of nee farthing, and told the defendant that
the girl was then out on an errand, but would return immediately.
class could have a greater claim on the Legislature.
Mr. PHI P Meer then read s petition, embracing the various points
touched upon by the Chairman, and praying a repeal of the addi- aarn sou led by another person, named Disable*,
ti_lshwehoshould insist upon her returning the money. The &fee.
tonal duty ; which having been proposed to the meeting, was una-
rd the ' Ireturned, 'll Young was sent for, ad
terwa 5 girl when , r. .
niniously agreed to. wed 'who was joiner! in the action, then went away. Shortly an
It was then agreed that each publican should pay Is. towards the
farthing from her brother.
expenses that would be incurred in conducting the business to the girl immediately restated the change, saying she bad got the
its issue.
of the transaction, in which it sp.
witnesses as to the latter part
The CHAIRMAN stated, that it had been his wish to obtain Mr. Mr. Sergeant Oe s Low, who an ed for the defendant, called
Denuian's assistance in the House of Commons to present the yeti-
pff,ed :t that the defendant had behaved with great mildness and
titan, as he was an inhabitant of the ward, but that Gentleman being "n."' n
on the circuit, it was proposed that the imations hould be presented ihn.
directions, and they found their verdict fur the plaintifn-Dr
by George Ilyng, Esq., and that C. W. Whitbread, Esq. be re-
„In went to the Jury under the Loan CH/EF Relief
quested to support its prayer, which was attordinglyagreed to, and "flea 'Mb
SPECIAL JURY.
a depination were appointed to wait on those Gentlemen for that
THE KING V. JOHN SUTTON.
purpose.
t t for an outrageous riot at Deal on the?*
Ihe persons present then signed the petition, and the meeting 1 a
broke up. This
inst information
tr.eedetan.enewi, filed by the Areoettetv•Gtsgail.
1 and Payne.
3rerch, 11121, and for assaulting two Extra* officers minted Smith
Mr. Sergeant Owat.ow stated the case for the Crown. The de.
fendant was one of fifteen persons who had been engaged in as
outrage committed upon the persons abosecrantielned at Deal, in
March, 1821. The officers, who had made themselves obnoxious
I to the people of Deal. had been seized on the day in question t eat
of them was stripped to his waist, and both were tarred end cr
vered with feathers, audio that condition flung into a cart anti ear-
, ried round the town, amidst the hooting, and reviling, of *mobil(
about two hundred persons. They were otherwise most ensile
used. Two of the offenders have already been brought to justice.
and sentenced to severe imprisonment. The defendant, who nu
I one of the persons who assisted in dragging the cart, was net sip'
prehended until last October.
Mr. ADOLMIES, who appeared for the defendant, submitted*
a verdict, intending to reserve topics of mitigation, when the de.
fendant ehould be brought up for 'udginent.
Verdict of Guilty was reed

KENT SPRING ASSIZES.

WEDNESDAY, MAIWIS 17.

CIVIL SIDE.
THE KING ONEVEHAND.

This was an information Wed by the Attorney-General against
the defendant, for offering a bribe to an officer of customs named
Thomas Whalebone, to induce him to permit the importation of
foreign goods without the payment of duty. The cause WAS tried
by a Common Jury.
Mr. Sergeant Onslow, Mr. Marryatt, Mr. Gurney, Mr. Nolan,
and Mr. Dchany, conducted the case for the Crown. The defend-
' ant, who was out on bail, made no defence, either by himself or
his Counsel.

It appeared In evidence that the defendant, who was a Patch-
man, and master of a vessel called the %'row Ashe, arrived in the
port of London on the 4th of February, destined for the metropolis,
and at Gravesend a deputation-officer named Whalebone, from the
I Flamer smuggling preventive gun-brig, was put on board to ac.
company the vessel to London. In the course of the voyage the
defendant uttered the officer a sum of money to allow hint to land
some packages near Grectihithe. No specific sum was offered. The
officer refused the proposal, and the defendant having afterwards
offered a specific sum of 301. to permit him to throw the goods over-
board in Blackwell Hole, the officer proceeded to search the vessel,
' and in the after-part of the lower deck he perceived two planks art-
fully fastened, which, upon removing. forty-seven packages of dal-
, feent goods were discovered, consisting of oil of zmais,plate glass,
ivory cups, prints, and several other articlesof foreign manufacture,
upon which an import duty of 1,575/. 2s. 2Ad. was payable. The
officer immediately made a seizure, and reported what lie had clone
to the Custom-house. The defendant afterwards candidly admitted
that the goods had been committed to his charge at Rotterdam, by
a Jew named Satunel L.ri, who had agreed to pay him V. per
package it he effected a landing of the gouda at Blackwell without
seizure fiy the Onthams. Theft were the facts proved, and no de-
fence bring off ered,
. . . . .

BIRTHS.

The Jury, under the Learned Judge's directions, found the
gefiodant

--
Yesterday, in Upper Wimpole-street, the lady of J. 0. Willits.
son, F.aq. of a daughter.
On Tuesday last, in Cumberland-street, the lady of C. Franks,
Esq. of a daughter.