The Sun.
London, England, 1806-11-20 00:00:00

LEWES, Nov. • 10:

. :
At a Meeting held in this town last Monday; re.;
speding the improvement of Newhaven Harbodr, the
weather being very bad, few. attended, except the
Commissioners of the Piers at NeWhaitii, resident
in this neighbourhood: Lord Chichester was re, •
quested to take the Chair, and Lord Sheffield ppen-
ed the business, by observing, that the improvement
of the Harbonr of Newhaven, considered as a Na-
tional Concern, and as peculiarly advantageous to this.
part of the Country, was so obviously irriportant, that
it was unnecessary to dwell upon that point. Many
captdres and many wrecks on the Coast, prove the.
great want of a Port- for_ our Cruiters, and for the
Ship-ping which frequent the British Channel ; and
undoubtedly there is no place between Spithead
and the Downs so fit as Newhaven. The necessity
of forthing such an Harbmir has been admitted by
the Admiralty and our Merchants,; the pra6ticability
of the measure has been repmtedly examined, and
the most competent persons have made very en-
couraging reports in respe& to. it. .Lord Chichester
and. be had presented Memorials from the Com-
missioners of Piers, and had conferred repeatedly
with the Lords of the Adrnira!tv. A Naval Engineer;
Mr. Murray, was itr consequence appointed ttr Sur,
vey the Coast of Sussex, and the Harbour of New-
haven. His Report was Very favourable to the un.;
dertaking ; and; together. with the Plan of the
Harbour and Coast; were referred to the Trinit
House. The Brethren reported, "-that under.all
the circumstances, , it will not be expedient to re,
commend to Parliament the appropriating. a sum of
money to the improvement of the Harbodr."—
___ _ _

The present means for improving the Harbour are so
obviously inadeqUate, and the Memorials from the
Commissioners having proved unsuccessibl, no bet..
ter step occurred than that-of enlarging the mode of
application, by calling a general -Meeting of the
Noblemen, Gentlemen, Ship-owner Merchants,
and.others, who are interested in this improvement,,
to consider the best means of attaining that objeet,
which he conceived would be to apply to Govern-'
ment to . promote the measure in any way they,
should think most proper. His Lordship o'f,served,
that he had no sanguine expe&atiou that Govern.--
ment-would,•at this time, appropriate any new fund'
for the purpose proposed ; but, possibly, they mtlit
assist the measure by making some arrangement Of
tonnage duties, putting the whole, in some respects;
under the controul of the Trinity House. The du-
ties -payable to RaMsgate amount to nmeli more
than is required for that Harbour ; they are „accti--
mutating, and, 'as he understood, a very consider-
able sum is placed out to interest. The, Ramsgate
duty is two-pence per ton on vessels passing Beachv
Head ; • one halfpenny per ton allotted to NeWha-
ven would amply suffice .for the proposed improve,
merit- ' • even a farthing per ton might be suffieient.---,
His Lordship then remarked, 'that-there have been
several other -stirveys, all of them admitting the
praaicability of .making a good Harbour ; and he
read the Report made by Mr. Murray, whose plan,
he observed, is by' no means so extensive as th•
situation will admit. It certainly would be very'
advantageous to extend the piers to low-waterr,
mark, as bYthat means fifth and sixth rates would,
be admitted-; but at the end of 700 feet from the
present piers there is an immediate fall into deep wa-
ter of 24 feet at common spring7tides, and a mere
at extra spring-tidps it is even pradicable to. Cati-v
out the piers to, 24 feet deep at-low-water, fulnishing,
at all times a station for our cruiirs, and a refuge
for our shipping' from the enemy, and from bad 7
weather. He remarked the superior capability of.
the coast about Newhaven over the opposite coast,
. from Dieppe to ()Stem" ; and mentioned several
great artificial harbours; some of which had yesisted-
storms and exceeding heavy seas upwards of 2000
years. He recomthended the simplicity of the liar-
boors of Alexandria for imitation, on account of the
'cheapness of the materials, :and of the execution ;
and observed that; fortunately,• our coast furnishes
the requisite materials ; but even if it were neces-
.sary logo, to Purbeck or Portland, it would answer
much better, and be infinitely more cheap, than timr
ber work. His Lordship added, that Whatever May
be done, it should be upon a scale and plan that May.'
be extended, and rendered of more general' benefit
than can perhaps be at this time attempted. 'His
LOrdship then read the
,four resolutions which he
meant to propose—ist, That the coast had bk.cri.re-
peatedly insulted, and many valuable ships lost in
consequence of not having a port in which they
might seek proteaion from an enemy, or from bad
weather---2dly, That Newhaven is capable'of being
rendered a safe and competent harbour for His Ma-
..
jesty's cruizers,and for ships of considerable burthen.
3dly, That application be made to government,
and to the Admiralty, for assistance and support..--
4thly, That those whO have seats in either House of
Parliament be requested to condu& and manage
the said application. The Commissioners for the
Piers, who formed the greater.part of those pfesent,
expressed great dissatistadion, on the supposition
that the intention was to . take the management of
the harbour out pf their hands, and that the creditors
might be defrauded ; they contended, that the bu-
siness of the harbour had always been ably con-
duaed, that the piers were as firm as a rock, that their
means were. sufficient for the improvement of the
harbour, that they had paid otf a part of the money
borrowed, and that they saw nothing different in
Mr. Murray's plan from that which they proposed
to execute, except forming a dock in Sleeper's-hole.
Lord Sheffield replied, that he 'was astonished at the
supposition that any change could be made in the
commission founded in-an A& of ParliaMent, with-
' out satisfying the Com Missioners and the creditors ;
that his objea was to pursue such plan as Govern-
ment should suggest, without, whom nothing essen-
tial could be done; he did not pretend to say, .vhe-
ther Government would desire to incorporate with
the present conimisSion, or' to make any material