The Sun.
London, England, 1812-03-21 00:00:00

4ta PEGEit',& CAisi'4lL.

As felt public Works have of late excited greater
public interest, and. particularly in those parts of the
metropolis, more immediately conneeied with its
operation, than the proposed Canal from Padding-
ton, through Mary-la-bonne. Palk, to Litneliotise,
called THE REGENTS CANAL, we deem ho apology
necessary for laying before our Readers a concise
Report of the leading poitiCB of :he Speech of Mr:
\Val reit, as Counsel. for the. Company; to the Corn-
mittee of the House of Commons, on the Bill

Mr. WattasN began, by. congritulatincr the Com-
mittee; that the opposition to the projected plan had
been so 'much narrowed by the amicable adjustment
oi- the greater number of the Petitleits against the
Bill, either from the parties concerned, being satis-
fied by the liberality, of the Company, or con-.
vinced of the inanifes,t public utility of 'the work.
Of the few remaining objeCtions which he had
to notice, mad he was sure to combat success-
fully, the first that presented itself, was one set
up by the City of London, all the parts of which
had been settled,, except a claim of mere patronage
to the metage Of coals, which was left tolhe deci.-
ion of the Committee. The ground on which the
Company resisted this _claim of patronage, was,
that although the City had a jurisdiction of this
sort over the. Banks of the Thames, it possessed
none over the whole line of the Canal, and that
therefore the Compaq was entitled in this respect to
lay down their own system of metage, which was one
extremely beneficial' to the public. It was beneficial
in this way; that whereas by the present-prac-
tice, all Coals must be meted at the expence of the
purchasers, which was a heavy burthen upon them;
on the new Canal the metage would be at their
option, so that, if they had confidence in the per-
son with whoM they dealt, they might avoid that
gxpence ; while, ,
rn on the other hand, the tight of
insisting-upon an
.admeasurement would be secur-
etho.the as S check against any fraud of which they
might be susoicious. The next order of obje6tions
flowed from the Commissioners of Sewers for West-
minster, the Tower Hamlets, and the Division of
Finsbury, all, of whom laid claim to certain juris-
diction, and' the first
.mentioned only opposing the
Canal, as likely to do them injury, by diverting the
water from the necessary purposes of drainage.--7
On these points, the Company met their op-
ponents most fairly ; and told them, that if they
could not make out from the most indisputable evi-
dence, that no injury or damage, such as was sup-
posed, could by possibility result from their work
—if they could not shew that they would leave the
iietitiOners in a better condition than they found them,
with respe& .to water, for the sewage of. the Me-
tropolis, that then their Canal must yield to:the
force of the obje6lion. But it bad .already been
thewn by the petitioners' own witnesses, and would
be further established by the testimony of the most
able surveyors and engineers, that it was easy
to construct sewers, &c. with such a declination ,
either under the Canal, or in bridges over it, and in
so -coMplete and efficient a maniter as to ensure
every possible and useful purpo,e.—The same thing
had been carried into execution in the Grand
Jun lion and many other Canals. With respea to
the question of jurisdiction, the, answer of the
Company was, that the Comints,ioners had no
jurisdiction over the two sources from which they
derived their water,(v:4.the Thames, and the reservoir
at Finchley), and that consequentlythey could and
ought to have none over'it, when brought by the
Company at an immense expellee to a pa,ilicutar
place, for the purposes of trade, and the service of
the community in general. Because; if this were
affowed, they might, be. deprived of ttieir watet
when most necessary to them , and besides, there
were no instances of Commissioners of Sewers being
invested with such coutroul ; but on the contrary,
they were expressly excluded from, it, by, clauses
in most of the great Canal Ads throughout the
kingdom, and particultrly near town ; the num-
ber of Acts of this kind amounting to no fewer
than forty..---The next Petition lie had, to no-
tice was from Mr. Agar, the holder of certain
church lands, lona term of thiee lives, on the line
of the Canal. Mr. Agar contended that no com-
pensation could be made to him for the injury he
would sustain by the passage of the Canal. through
his tenure. But it would be satisfaCtorily proved to
the Committee, that this Gentleman had negociated
with the ,view of making it a goodbargain of thecon,
cern, in which being disappointed, as they could_ not
accede to his high demands, the sole ground of his
opposition and enmity to every, part of the work was
founded; for previous to this period he had even
insisted on the cuts not being carried-without the
line of his property, and on the wharfs.being placed
where they would benefit hint. A further opposi-
tion to the proposed plan was offered by, a Gentle.
man of great respeClability (Mr. Portman), through
a corner of whose estate the line of the canal went.
It was doebtless natural for men of large property
to be desirous of preserving their domain entire ;
but in the present, instance, as the Company were
aaxious to accommodate Mr. Portmarein every pos-
sible respect, and their proposed line (which, in his
case, it more agreeable to him, they were willing .
to continue in the form of a tunnel), separate) only
about an acre from the rest, at the extremity of an
estate of more than a mile in length, it was pro-
bable that if (hat Gentleman- were aware of the real
state of the case, he s%ould 'not, from so immaterial
a cause of supposition of injury, be led to oppose a
work of great public utility. Mr. Warren further
argued, that the plan, executed 'in any way, would
not injure this small 'spot of Mr. P.'s, property,
which indeed the Company were Willing to put-
chase at its utmo.it value. That horn the.deStription
of the new buildings (houses of the 3d or 4th class)
extending in that quarter, a tunnel could not hurt
them ; but that on the contrary, the trade, &c.
brought thither by the Canal., would improve the
estate, and greatly facilitate any plan of further
building' projected by Mr. Portman, by_ bringing all
the materials easily to' the spot. The' Learned
Counsel rebutted also a few minor points ol.oejee-
tion from the parishes of Paddington, Mary •le-bone,
and Pancrai, with respect to pumps, steam en-
gines, and poor-rates. Most of these were already
arranged, and the others
.01 so facile solution, th.t
they could not stand in the way of. tl:e work ao nra-•
terialli advantageous to the trade, comfort, and

'6B3beilietfee or the whole nortltoris ant
eastern parts of the canal of Great Britain. And
indeed die sanieobsertation rnight most jostly
extended to every feeling of g private. Lature, is
opposition to this salutary measure.

Extraa. of a Letter from Leipsic :—" Owing
to the different movements of ale Colikderate
troops, jointly with those of France, all.business is
at a stand in this -City. ; the d:fferent French corps
in our neighliourtioA are computed at about 50,000
men, including 13,000 cavn;ry. General tERTHIEk
Itas been expe6led for some time past incur city,
and 6'
, it is the general opinion that he will arriV
about the beginning of next month (March), as tbe
most extensive preparatiOns have been f6r
the rebeption of several French -Maisha;4: oii 11161
al-66i all the different corps will be aSsembled.=.
It is asserted that a great blow will be struck
against Russia, if that Court does not accede to
the propositions OF BUONAP/RTE. This day pass.;
ed through seventy-two pieces of heavy, ordritnee,
but their destination is not known. The whole of
the Prussian,. army is at present in a mate to take
the field, and all the Officers have received orders to
-Hold themselves. in readiness. We are also inform-
fed, that the moment hostilities commence between
Russia and France, the Prussians will immediately
join the latter Power, whose army in Germany is
eNtimated at 200,000 men, including the troops of
_the Confederation:—P. S. S'nce writing the above,
not fewer than six couriers have passed through this
town, four, French and two Russian."

The following is an extraiit of a letter from New.:
York, dated the 6th ult.—" Business of all kinds is
almost at a stand in this city ; and the commercial
restrictions between Great-Britain and thii country
are ruinous to us all. Property of every kind is di-
minishing in value. N9merous bankruptcies have
taken place. Upwards of 2300 have taken the he.-
nefit of the insolvent At in this State, in the course'
of last year; and many that were in affluent circum-
stances, are now reduced to poverty."
BANK Novas. The new Bill goes not only to
extend the provisions of the Bill of last Session to
Ireland, but proteets payments made by parties.
into Court, payments made to parties oot of Court,
and payments made in discharge of all and every
manner of proceeding at law in the nature of dis-
tress.

True Bills have been found against several of 1114
Nottinghamshire rioters. Many threatening letlers
have been received by the Magistrates and othe►'s
the. town is threatened tube fired, should ttie notes-
be conviOed And punished.
The execution of Win. Jemmott, which wag
ordered for Monday next, is'postpont!d until Salur-
day, the 28th, on account of the t►de not serviti4
on the day before fixed far that put-pose. .