The National Register.
London, England, 1811-11-17 00:00:00

THE NATIONALREGISTF,R.

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724

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IMPERIAL _PARLIAMENT.

HOTJaF. OF LORDS.

'TUESDAY, *NOV.
This being the day to which Parliament was prorogued, their
Lordships met accordingly. .As soon as the Lord Chancellor
had taken his seat on the woolsack, the J3eputy Usher of the
slack Rod summoned the Commons to attend at the bar of their
Lordship's House ; when one of the Clerks of the House ap•
geared, in the room of the Speaker. The Commission having
been read, anthorizing the Commissioners to prorogue the Par-
Itainent, the Loan Co.lB ct.t.Lott declared the Parliament fur-
ther prorogued till Tuesday, Jan. 7. Thus, according to a stand-
ing Order of the House of Commons, of the 18th of June, 1811,
Which directs,'“ That all Petitions for private Bills be presented
within 14 days after the first Friday in the next, and every fu-
ture Session of Parliament," the last day for presenting Yeti-
Conti ill the next Session will be Friday, the 24th of January.

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PROVINCIAL. .
FOOT RACE AT YORK.—On Wednesday the celebrated pedes-
trians, Joseph Beal and Abram Wood, started to run four miles
fur 100 guim as each, over the race-course, York. Weod took
the lead, and kept it a mile, when Beal passed him, kept the
lead, and won it in great style, beating his adversary about t:00
yards ; Beal run it in 21 minutes 12 seconds. This young man
is only l 9 years of age, about five feet seven inches high, weight
9st. 31. The hettingat starting was five and six to four on Wood.
A concourse of people were assembled to witness this race from
all parts of Yorkshire and Lancashire. The ground was exceed-
ingly heavy, and much against the pedestrians. On the 19th of
September last, Beal run Isaac ilunsworh, a Lancashire man,
two miles over the same course, and beat him, ,considerably.
'Wood is also front Lzincashire, and some titre since run against
John Brown, four miles, and beat his antagonist by 100 yards.
The time it Was run in, was 20 minutes and' 2 seconds.
A countryman, residing near Lincoln, having lately had some
fir-joists stolen from him, applied to a reputed conjurer, known
by the name of the " Wise Man," of Spridlington Heath, to
direct hint where to find them, who tcld him to examine, at a
particular time, the premises one of his neighbours, whom he
pointed out. On hia going thither, and mentioning on what
authority he came to search for them, the honest cottager ex-
claimed, "That fellow is a great rascal; I should not wonder
if he has got them himself on his own premises ; come along
with me, and we will see." They went, and to the astonish-
ment of the deluded countryman, the stolen joists were found,
as the other had suggested. The conjurer was in consequence
apprehended, and has been committed to Lincoln Castle for
trial.
A woman, calling herself Maria Jackson, and a man named
George Barnard, or Barnet, who is identified as having escaped
front the hulks, being there under sentence of transportation,
were a few days since apprehended by some townspeople of
Saffron Walden, and taken before a bench of Magistrates, on
suspicion of being s»u4shers, or titterers of baSe coin. On search-
ing the woman, there were found in her possession 90 three-
shilling Bank tokens, 260 base shillings, and 11.5 sixpences. The
woman w convicted under the late Batik Act, for three
months. 'lime man remains in custody, to be tried for the escape
from the hulks.
A melancholy catastrophe happened on Sunday se'nnight,
near Arundel, Sussex. Some young men of that place took an
excursion on the water in two boats, and as they were return-
ing in the evening, one of them upset, when by running foul of
a ship's cable, two persons out of five were drowned. The
names of the unfortunate youths are-Bowman and Hayne3, sons
of respectable inhabitants of Arundel.
IrrtposrrinN.—Several convicts on board different hulks have
recently been discharged by warrants from the Secretary of
State's Office, by virtue of petitions bearing fictitious signatures
of Nla-v,istr,'tes and Gertlemtn of distinction, in town and coun-
try. The first discovery of this business at the Secretary of
State's Office was in con-equence of a noted character having
been seen at 'large iu the country, when he was known to have
received sentence of transportation at a late assize. On a
country Magistrate examining the petition, by virtue of which
the convict was discharged, he was astonished at the forged
signature of his own name, amongst the first people in the coml..
try. The signatures were dexterously managed in different
hands. Another convict has been discharged from Sheerness
by a similar fictitious petition. It is not known to what extent
the evil has gone.
AN AWFUL VtsrrATlON.—On Thursday week, Moody,
a poor man who conveyed turf from the fens to Nlildenhall, in
Suffoll:, full from his boat into the river, and was drowned, be-
fore any nssktancc could reach him. On the body being con-
veyed to the public-h use u 4 ar the water-side, in Mildenball4
the landlord of was standing at the door, he peremptorily
refused, with many horrid oaths, to receive the body iuto the
house ; but scarcely had he tittered them, when he was seized
with a paralytic stroke, that deprived him of speech and the use
of one side, and in that state he still continues.
ATTEMPTED SUICIDE.—On Monday morning, whilst two
men in the employ of Mr. Roles, were at work in a fielo adjoin-
ing Caen Wood, near Kingston, a decent looking elderly man,
dressed in black, attracted Weir notice in the' next field by hii
gestures and incoherent conduct, sometimes reading and kneel-
ing, and at other times half undressing. The labourers watched
hint into the wood, when he drew from his pocket a cord, which
he fastened to the branch of a t ee, after having made a nooze,
and when in the act of hanging himself (having got the cord
about his neck), the two spectators rtished urn him, and re-
leasUci hint front premeditated death. The unfortubate man
lately resided at Totteridge. Distress is supposed to have beets
the cause of ti# rash attempt.