The National Register.
London, England, 1819-03-14 00:00:00

M ARCH 1 I.

The following is an extract of rcleker'Ewan
vcrpool, dated March 8:—" The ship.carpenters at
this port struck their worl: this day fur an advance
of wages: they have hitherto conducted the niselves
(I.detly, and without any disposition to riot ; and I
doubt not but the business will ::non be settled be-
tween them and their employers. The agent for the
Spanish Government has succeeded in engaging two
vessels at this port as transports, for cow:eying troops
to South America—the Clarence, of 316 tons and
the. Wellington, of 365 tons. It is understood they
pay three months its advance."
Letters from Madrid and Cadiz to the 26th ult.
have been received. They mention that the Patri-
otic privateers, which swarmed on different parts of
the coast, have committed some fresh depredations.
Vessels proceeding to Santander, Gijon, and other
port-t. were obliged to sail under convoy, and a fleet
of 14 ships had just loft Cadiz, under the protection
of a frigate. It .was ascertained that it was impossible
that the expedition for South America could sail
from Spain by May next, the time originally fixed
by the Government for its departure, as the trans-
ports taken up by the agents in England and France
would not reach Cadiz sufficiently early. Tho end
of June was spoken of as the period when the arma-
ment would be despatched.

Lloyd's books on Wednesday presented a very sin-
gular appearance, there being only one line entered
on them, which was the arrival at Liverpool of the
line, Goulding, from Oporto; and what is still
more remarkable, there was not a single vessel en-
tered at the Custom-house that day, nor one passed
Gravesend from any port abroad.
Caut;ca.-01 ate, a set of fellows, who cover them-
selves w idi soot, and have the appearance of chimney
sweepers, have been committing depredations in 44-
ferent parts of the town with impunity. They are in the
habit of calling at different gentlemen's houses, and
. make enquiiry of the servants if the citimnies want
sweeping; and on being admitted for that purpose, they
rob the place of valuable property, which they conceal
in their soot has, and leave the place undetected.
fluty on Coal;,—The justice and humanity of the
present application to Parliament for relief from
the present enormous and unequal Coal Duties, is
manifest from the following facts :—s poor family
in London and its neighbourhood consumes annu-
ally about two Llialdron of Coals, which of the
Lest quality, at the present price, costs 5/. t 2s.
L. s. d. L. &d.

The Duties on which amount to 0 19
The Cost of the Coals at Newcastle 114 0 512 0
Expenses of Frei4ht and incidental
Charges 2 18 4
While the inhabitants of Liverpool, Manchester,
Birmingham, York, Bristol, and all Scotland do not
pay one farthing Duty, they have no freight to pay,
Cie charges for canal carriage on each amount sel-
dom to more than 3s. or 4s. If the present appli-
cation be succesrfol, a consumer of two chaldrons of
Coals will probably save the 19s. Bd. •luty, and also
doubtless obtain them much cheaper from the com-
petition of the Staffordshire Coals, which will then
be allowed to come to London.

The singularly mild temperature of this winter,
and the want of frost and snow, is not confined to
our own island, but is equally observed in all parts
of the European Continent. In Sweden, and most •
parts of Russia, they have had, instead of the usual
degree of cold, a temperature of several degrees
above the freezing point. This has been the case
even in F.apland, to the north of Tornea, where,
instead of the usual cold of 20 degrees of Resumer,
they have had 6 degrees of warmth. This want of
frost and snow is complained of as a serious incon-
venience, by preventing the eouveyunee of the iron
ore from the mines in Saeden, to the smelting
houses ; and in Russia, the earrirge of goods from
the interior to the seaports thr exportatiuu, which
is regularly done in the winter, wheu the hard
frozen ground, covered wilt snow many feet deep,
affords a solid, even, and commodious road.
The Duke of Wellington presided on Wednesday
at the Anniversary Dinner of the " Friends of
Foreigners in Distress" He was supported on his
right and left by the Russian Ambassador and the
Saxon Minister. Mr. Wilberforce was among the
company, The toasts and songs were of the usual
description: the only novelty was the toast proposed
by the Duke of Wellington : " Their Majesties the
Emperor of Russia, the King of Prussia, and the
King of Wurtemberg, the Protectors of the Insti-
tution," which was hailed with three times three,
and was followed by an assurance on the. part of the
I)uke, that " the high personages whose health
they had drank, were not less illustrious for their
Christian philanthropy than for their deeds in
arms It was the twelfth anniversary of this
laudable institution. It appeared front the report,
that between 9.000 and 10,000 persons have been
relieved since the commencement of this society--
The collection we believe was three times greater