The Sun.
London, England, 1801-09-11 00:00:00

Yllf 0 UTH, S E rt.

THEM MAJESTIES and the PRlNtissas yeS_
terday afternoon rode in their carriages to Mr. G.
Si.EWARD's house, according to invitation froth
this Gentleman, who is Mayor of the Town. •
In the first carriage were Colonels FITZROY and
CARTWRIGHT, Majors DESBOROUGH and DEE-
XE It, as Equerries.
In the second,, THEIR MAJESTIES and their
Royal Highnesses PRINCESSES AUGUSTA and ELI.
ZABET.H.
`In:Ille ..third, PRINCE ADOLPHUS and PRIN-
CESSES MARY and SoPHIA..
.In the fourth, PRINCESS AME.I., TA and PRINCESS
SOPHIA of GLOUC ESTER, with their Attendants.
The Company who were invited to pattake of
the banquet were :
His Grace the Duke of Portland.
Earl auci Countess Roslin and Niss eofeS.
The Earl of Uxbridge.
Earl and Countess Of Westmorland.
The Countess of Radnor.
Baromess Howe.
Lady Morris Gore.
Lords HoAart, llaringdon, Waisinghant, and A.-Beauelett.
The Riglit Hon. Mr. Addington.
• Sir H. and Lady Neale.
Sir William Fawcett.
General Garth.
Colonel Manninzham.
Honourable A. K. Legge.
Honourable Lieutenant-Colertel Stewart.
Lieutenant;Colonels Lang, Vaalsittart, and Boswell.
Captain Ind Mrs. Grey.
Captains Ingrain and Panell.
Major Wright.
Mr. fawkcncr.
Mr. and Mrs. Drax Grosvenor.
Mrs. Drake.
Air. W,lat. And
Toe Officers of. the Staffordshire Militia.

The ROYAL FAmity and Company *ere enter.
tained with a sumptuous repast in tents affixed in
tiiC gardens ; it consisted of every deiicacyi 'and the
most choice viands.

The spot appropriated for dancing was in the
C ,s, ur.der a shade made with naval and
tu'r colours 1 it had a most enchanting effect, being
I.,,'ountully illuminated, having the appearance of a
Little Vauxhall, which it was styled by the corn-
parry.

In this delightful and rural retreat, they were
amused with festive mirth.

The country dances commenced soon after dinner.
the partners were the

on. Lieut. Col. Stewart Princess Atigusta.
~PrinceAciblphtis - Princess Nlary.
Col.. Fitzroy - - Princess Elizabeth.
Amelius beauclere Princess Sophia.
Capt. Ciey - - - Princess Sophia of Gloucester.
The Bands of the Scotch Greys and the Stafford.
.shire Militia attended.
'File decorations were under the dirthion of Mr.
Am LTO N.
At ten o'clock the . ROYAL FAMILY returned
borne to Gloucester Lodge.
This morning, His MAJESTY after bathing, rode
,flat on horseback.
After bre4kfast,.the K t DIG and FAMILY, eXCIIt
VRINcEss _ANTELIA, took an aquatic excursion.
r. ADD ING;cON accompanied THEIR MAI IST lES
On' the water. •

PRINCE ADOLPHUS and Colonel FIT:ROY took
the divEr,iol of snowing.
His Grace the Duke of PORTLAND left us this
Morning for his z,eat at Buistrode.
. Major MoNtßEssct. arrived this morning, and
I'ad an interview with Fhs MAJESTY) on his re-
turning [rein Egypt.

A Mr. *GEN:Ii s, brother of a respeCtable Mem:.
her of the Irish Bar, is said to have embarked with
i_HOLitArl in purchasing the Dublin Theatri—i.
tioLmAsi however, we trust, has secured the ma.
Ilagement wholly to himself, Otherwise discontents
Ina), arise, and struggles for authority, that can
Only tend to injure the Property.
A little difference has arisen between the two
Theatres on a point of etipette, which hag been
xaggcrated in a pubile statement, It is the custom
f the Theatres to announce the opening for the
season 'without specifying the Play. Each Theatre.
hiad fixed upon beginning with Kiihard the Third,
and each supposed that the other had intended a
Vint of jockephipt by bringing forward the same
alter the appointed pertmit:ince was known.
The matter however, has been amicably explained
and adjusted.

It seems that the Question of Partition and In.:
(1,171na,' has not arisen to disturb the Political
1,1,0r1d alone. The peace of the Theatrical World
has been disturbed by the Br LLINGToN on the same
points ; but as a Partition has been agreed upon,
the question of Indemnity is fortunately put to rest.
Fin act of spirited benevolence took place on
IVlonday at Ramsgate, where a young man who had
jumped into the sea to bathe, was so overpowered by
the force of the waves, that he was on the point of.
;inking, when a person, whose name is NAstf,
stripped off his coat, and, leaping from the Pier
head, iaved the life of the endangered person.
Last week the workmen began again to build on
the East front of the New College of Edinburgh.
The foundation was laid in 1739, upon a large scale,
agreeable to an elegant plan by the late Mr. Adam,
,t-clliteift. The building continued to advance for
sever;,tl years, till the fund was exhausted. The
North West corner was completely finished, and
tile North East corner roofed in. The beautiful
last front, little more than half up, -has been ex-
Posed to the weather, till it has assumed the appear-
'4uce of an ancient ruin, and become literally the
habitation of owl
The established mode of performing long journeys
at the. Cate
.of Good Hope, is in covered waggons
drawn by bullocks. The carriages arc sufficiently
comulodious to contain all the necessaries that may
he wanted on a long journey, and also a cot or mat-
t 'ess for sleeping upon ; and are commonly drawn
15. Y teams of ten or twelve oxen. The speed of
an
‘)xin the waggon, where the country is tolerably
rye% and the surface hard, is full three miles an
'"r, at which rate lie will continue for ten or
!'`-velv-e hours withoutlniting. This is more than a
horse can do in Britain.
The Ship Robert, from Jamaica to Dublin, is
Put into Withy wood Pay, Jars ca.

tAlt-cAStER <iatiE2s.

AttGUST 21, iSOI.

SSFORE ME. fUSTICE CHAMSRE AND A sitctas.

IRELAND AND OTHERS HEWITT:

nits was a Case of some intetest to that part of
the Commercial World which is immediately con-
neeted with Insurance on Sea Voyages, and was
conduaed with great learning and ability by Mr.
Serjeant COCICELL, Mr: TOPPING, and Mr. RAINS,
for the Plaintiffs ; .and by
,Mr. PARK, Mr. ScAk-
',Eft, and Mr: CARR, for tie Defendant.

Mr. Serjeant CoettELL, in the course of his
opening, observed that the Plaintiffs were respea-
able Merchants at Lancaster, and the Defendant
an eminent Under-writer at Lloyd's. That the
Plaintiffs, as the owners of the Ship Flora, had
brought this Aftion on a Policy of Insurance,
against the Defendant, to recover idol. (going for
a total lass), which is the amount of his. subscrip-
tion. This Policy was on the Flora, Henry At-
kinson Master, on a voyage at and from Lancaster
to Trinidad, premium eight guineas per cent.—
This Ship was valued at 4000 l.—the Insurance in
all was only for 30001. the Plaintiffs standing their
own In,urers for the other thousand. The Learned
Serjeant observed, that the Flora sailed on "this
voyage on the isth of October 7799, and that when
she proceeded from the Port of Lancaster, she was
in as good condition as any Ship could be. She had
undergone every repair that was necessary to enable
her to perform the voyage insured. On the 78th
of Qelober she met with stormy and tempestuous
weather, in consequence of which she sprung a
leak, and bscame wholly unfit for, and incapable of
proceeding on her voyage. The Captain, there-
fore, was obliged to return to the Port of Lancas-
ter, which he did on the zeth of Odobet. Her
damage was so great that the expence of repairing
would have been equal to a new ship. She was
therefore sold for 86z1. under a notice of abandon-
ment given on the 3oth of April, 1800.,
He understood the Defence to be set up to this
claim by the Under-writer was, " that the Flora
was not sea-worthy at the commencement of the
voyage." He admitted there was an implied war-
ranty in every case, " 'that the Ship was capable of
performing the voyage insured at the time that
voyage commenced :" and if she were not, the In-
sured was not entitled to recover. In this case he
had no doubt that he should, by the.. evidence of
different Witnesses, satisfy his • Lordship and the
Jury, that this Ship, which he admitted was an
old Ship, and made a little water as every Ship did,
was in sufficient repair to enable her to encounter
all the ordinary risks of the voyage insured, which
would entitle him to their verdict.

Several admissions were first read, and then the
Notes of the Evidence taken by Mr. Baron GitA-`
HAM on a former Trial, which had been brought on
under extraordinary circumstances in the absence of
the very Deferidant's Solicitor, and when no defence
was made, were proposed to be read Under the Rule
of Court granting a new Trial.
Ti Defendant's Counsel objeaed to this, as
that part of the Rule was entered into on the Plain-
tiffs' allegation, that their Witnesses were going
abroad, which was not the case, all the material
Witnesses bein,g, at that very moment, in Court
attending upon the Trial, and Mr. PARK said he
wished to have an rpp-orzun;ry
them.

The Learned Judge however, on referring to the
Rule, decided, that if the Plaintiffs required it,
he mu:.• receive the Judge's Notes ; and their Coun-
sel declining to cult their Witnesses, the Notes
were read by the Officer of the Court to this ef-
tea :

• " Capt, Atkinson spoke generally to the repairs
which the Ship had receited. He thought her a
good, tight, staunch Ship, and sea-worthy in his
judgment, or he would not have ventured his life
in -her. He gave a narrative of the weather he had
experienced while he was out, and of the necessity
of his return onaccount of the Ship being leaky."
" lames Smith, a Shipwright, employed to re-
pair her, previous to her setting out on the voyage
insured, said that in his opinion she had all neces-
sary repairs."
" Linzee, the first Mate, sail he attended during
the repairS, and, after the Ship had been repaired,
he thought her sea-worthy."
" Mr. john BroOkbank a Shipbuilder at Lan-
caster, said that he had been applied to, to survey
the Flora, upon her rettirn into Port, and sroke to
the then state of different parts of the Vessel.---He
thought that she might have been repaired fOr
12301."

Mr. PARK, in the course of an excellent Speech
'on the part of the Under-writer, observed,. that that
Cause was once before brought before,a Jury, but
without. Counsel or Attorney attending on the part
-of the Defendant. That circumstance, therefore,
ought not to prejudice him. On the Notes of the
Learned Judge this appeared to be a case of sea-
worthiness ; and it was essential, and admitted by
Mr. Serjean't COCKELL, that the Ship when she
sailed must be sea-wor►h 1.. y, otherwise, the Insured
were not entitled to recover. Here the Insurance
was on a Voyage to the West Indies ; and it must
be shewn, she was in a condition zo perforni that
voyage. Under the Rule for a new Trial, the
Learned Judge's Notes were allowed to be read in
Evidence ; but it never could be understood, that
the principal Witnesses .should not beproduced, if
no sufficient reason could be given to the contrary.
The Vessel, the Flora, sailed froni Glasson
Dock on the 15th of Odober, and returned on the
25th, without any accident or remarkable storm ;
for none was stated on the judge's Notes. Could
a Ship, therefore, be said to be sea-worthy for a
Voyage to Trinidad, which could be„ so ilamaged
as the Plaintiffs' Witnesses had described,. in so
short a time ? Captain Atkinson 'and his Mate,
stated the repairs previous to her sailing,' to he
only about tool. though she was upon her return
from her' formerioyage in a miserable condition.—
A small part.only of tiv.small sum was expended
on the Hull ; only two planks ora one side, and a
little sheathing- nothing was done. to her decks,—

. .
She, wAs stated to b 'a gird Ship fot her:Voyage,
and though her .age" alone would not prevent her-
sea-woi•thiness, yet it rendered more fepairi net:es:,
nary, NO fratid• was here imputed to the Initi?ed;
Sea-worthiness did not, as.•the Law now stood,
folund itself upon
,fraud, but was a question of,
" Whether the ship was, or was not, sufficient for
sea. ?" One Witness said, " that the Vessel might
have been repaired' for t 230.1,;" and yet the Plain--
tiffa went for a total loss, and did not abandon
till the month of April, when she had suffered ma-
teilally, and only sold foi 13661;
The Learned Counsel then proceeded to state,
that he should prove this Ship was not sea-worthy ;
and should shew the ,damage she had sustaihed
could not have been occasioned by the weather, but
that her timbers were rotten, and the Ship
This was even shewn from the description given by
the Plaintiffs' Witnesses.

The first Witness called on the part of the De-
fendantj was

. Mr. James "hidell, who said, " he had been a
Ship-builder, and was employed by the Under-
writers in the middle of December, to survey the
Flora' Mr. Smith, the Carpenter, accompanied
him, as also the Plaintiff, Mr. Ireland. The Wit-
ness went upon deck, which, he found extremely
bad. The upper and lower decks were very had ;
he then went below with lights, examined her fore
and aft very minutely, found her very damp with-
in from one end to the other ; then came into mid_
ships, and nearly under the main -hatchway, found
the keelson sprung, and the stauncheon which rested
on the wounded part of the keelson, tvAs_ broken—
this was a very important defed. The head next
the beam was very much crushed ; she was a bagged
Vessel (that is, her back had been broken) ; this
had .been occasioned by her having been upon the
ground some time or other ; he was satisfied this
was not a recent injury, a skilful Ship-wright might
ascertain this. The Witness could not say elWtly
when it happened, but it must have been before the
tsth of October, 1799. He had taken a Carpen-
ter's mallet, and from the sound when he struck the
keelson, found there was a defet. He then, with
an axe, struck off a niece of the wounded part of
the keelson, and discovered; that this was an old
wound, and froth the taste convinced Mr. Ireland,
that there was sugar attached to it. This the Wit-
ness himself tasted, and said, he had heard Captain
Atkinson's Evidence, and from that Evidence, he
did not think this injury could have happened in
ten days. A Ship, he said, may look tolerably
well, and yet not be sea-worthy. A Ship may
swim or float with bad timbers, but cannot perform
a lOngvoyage„?'.
The Witness, on his cross-examination, said,
" that if she had been stripped, new trenelledi and
butt-boited, she would have been a tolerable, or,
perhaps, a good Ship. He thought she might have
been so repaired, as to go to sea again with these
repairs. .lagged backs were not very uncommon at
Lancaster. The decks were bad and incapable of
keeping out the water." On re-examination, he
said, "bagged backs were bad things, and that
both decks were very bad,"
The next Witness was Richard Hall, who said
"he broke up the. Flora in June. She had tumbled
over the bilge blocks, and they had gone through.
The quality of the timber and planks below low
water, was good, but many of them broken. The
bends and upper works were much decayed ; he did
nor thinK I. fir t. 8-, 1f) sea • such a decayed state
was a long time in being produced, although she
had appeared better than she did when she was
broken up.''

Seth ice/life, the next Witness, said, " he assist-
ed in breaking, up the Flora, in June. The bends
and upper works wete in a very bad state, most of
them were very. much decayed and rotten' The
inside pllanks were better than those of the outside,
which were very much gone. The decks were bad,
but the lower one was sounder than the upper, which
was very much gone. The keelson was broken in
three places, or otherwise sprung,. and the under
part rotten. The keelson was not damaged by
tumbling over, but by the effect of time, and if he
had seen the timbers, he could not have ventured
to sea in her.'

On cross-examination he said, " when a ship breaks
her back, she shakes all her timbers. She went by
the name of the old Flora. These decays could
not have been produced in ten days."
After a reply from Mr. Serjeant COCKELLI the
Learned Judge summed up to the Jury, and,
among other things, observed, " that although that
cause had been there before, they must leave that
circumstance entirely' out of their consideration, and
-decide solely upon the Evidence that had been pro-
duced before them. On the former trial the De-
fendant had no opportunity of cross-examining the
Plaintiffs' Witnesses, or of calling any of his own,
and must not be prejudiced by that circumstance.
The Defendant was called upon, by this adion, for
a total loss, and the real question was, whether
this ship was or was not sea-worthy when she be-
gan the voyage insured ?' If she was sea-worthy,
the Plaintiffs were entitled to recover ; if not, the
Defendant was entitled to a verdid. No fraud was
imputed to the Insured. When a ship was insured,
there was
.an implied warranty, that she was, in
point of fact, in a situation able to encounter all
_ oun
the ordinary accidents of the voyage. C
sel, on both sides, were agreed upon that. In this
case, the voyage was to Trinidad, &c. and, proba-
bly, some of the Gentlemen of the jury were better
acquainted with the nature of ships than he was.•
Whether a ship was sea worthy ?' was not a
question of fraud, and whether the &fed was secret
or known to the assured, the Under-writer was
equally exonerated. The jury would consider the
nature of the Voyage, and the whole of the. Evi-
dence on both sides, and would be better able to
decide it than he, who was totally ignorant of the
mechanism of a slim.
The Evidence was, by
agruement,to be read from the judge's Notes, which
was seldom admitted, except when the Witnesses
were dead. It was to he lamented, that the Evi-
dence was to be so given, that the Defendant had
not an opportunity of cross-examining the Plaintiffs'
Witnesses, and he rather wondered they had not
called them again as it would have been much more
satisfaetory". Here the Learned Judge read the

read it, .such
,#s it is.'
140:i the Evidence of Smirk-, his Lordship;
that he did riot enter into particulars, am i star hoc*.
far he searched; and how he found the ships ih De.
cemher, arid il.4efore he uoul have wished thC
Plaintiffb had called their Witnesses. LinXei, trust:,
ed to her outward appeararice, and not rC any exa:.
ruination.

His Lordship obsefvtd, ' that the AlliflCltOtlitieti
was on the soth df April.' It was a clear rule of
Law dint an Assured; under circumstances where he
might, eled whether he would abandon, or not; must
make an imMediate'ele6tion, or, as soon at least asi
he was appri.ied of the extent of the loss; Than
was a matter perfectly dear at least in Decertiber;
but there was no abandonment until April: That
was, evidently, too late, and therefore tir:le was no
colour or pretence for calling upon the Under.;
writer for a total loss. If the Jury found for the
Plaintiff's, the quantum of the average loss had better
be referred to a Merchant; which.was agreed to bt
the Counsel on both sides.

His Lordship nett summiNl up the Evidt,,nce rdr
the Defendant, and told the Jury, the issue upOn
the fart was;---' Whether the Ftora, at the time of
sailing, Was in a condition to make the voyage in.
sured That question, he said, ht. left to them,
who were better able to decide it than he was.

The Jury immediately found a rerdiet fJr the
Defendpm