The Sun.
London, England, 1802-06-30 00:00:00

CHATHAM, JVNE 26

OUR Town yesterday was reality quite alive;
ihe return of Lieut.-General HAR RI E ImirEs, of the
koyal Marines, after an honourable acquittal from a
Court-Martial founded on two frivolouS and -veka-
tious charges, positively caused an effusion of joy not
to be expressed: No sooner was his approach
annVunced, than several Gentle Men sat off to Meet
and compliment him on his welcome arrival;
and when the General and hiS Lady had nearly
reached Chatham, several of that brave and
loyal Corps, which he has, had so long the
of comrnanding, surrounded his carriage,
took off the horses, and drew it in the most orderly
and steady manner, through the town and over the
road till they arrived at the-Barracks, cheering and
receiving the cheeis of the inhabitants the whole of
the way.,

A very respeaable company of Ladies and
Gentlemen asseibbled on the occasion, in two'spa-
cious and beautiful gardens on the side of the road
leading from Globe-lane to the• Barracks, from
whehce the General was saluted, by a discharge
of cannon, and reiterated huzzas ; various co-
lours were displayed, and several loyal tunes
formed by a capital band of music : joy increased
with the evening ; the General and' his friends
drank repeatedly with a virtuous enthusiasm, and a
pretty display of fire-works crowned the grateful
scene.

Happy are we to say, though many hundreds
were colleted on so pleaSureable an event, not the
slightest disorder occurred.
An unfcrtunate female servant, in thcservice of
Mr. Grinstead, , baker of Brompton, on Thursday
delivered herself of a female child, and deposited it
in the necessary; a neighbour,, the wife of Mr.
Sodker, Surgeon, hearing the cries of a child,_ went
as above, and there discovered the little innocent.
Saturday the Coroner's Inquest was taken, and,
after a very long investigation, the Jury was or:
dered to meet again on Monday, sonic other
cumstances arising not altogether favourable to, this
monster in the form of woman.

We are favoured. with the following. Copy. of
General Orders, issued by the Commander in Chief
of His Majesty's Forces at Maitiniciue, relative to
the late Mutiny of the Bth West India 'Regiment at
Dominica :

" GEN. ORDERS.

" Adjutant General's pffice, Fort

Alartinico, ISoa

' " The Commander in Chief has been under the necessity
of performing a painful duty,' that of 'ordering the execution
of several Mutineers of the Bth West India Regiment.
" This unfortunate•event will not induce • him in the
smallest degree to suspeel the fidelity of the other West India
Regiments ; he will not ,COntiind the innocent wjth the
guilty; and'he sinet'Jly hopes that no person will 'be so un-
just as to do so.

" This Mutiny is to him no cause of apprehension that
other Regiments will follow the example—he, on the con-
trary, believes.that the Soldiers of the West India Regiment
will, as well as those of other Regiments-, consider with ab-
horrence the cruel murders committed by some•-Of the Bth
West India Regiment.
" The Ist West India Regiment is in FOrt EdWard, and the
other troops in the town .ot Fort Royal, where' the Coin-mander in Chief resides, as. are detachments from the 4th and
Loth West India Regiments ; these three
.Corps furnish the
guard on his quarters ; he does not intend to make any altera-
tion, but will continue surrounded and guarded by these
Troops, with the most entire confidence in their fidelity and
good coitclu‘a.

- ,
" Should a change of circumstances occasion hiS again go-
ing on service in this Country, he will take under hiS com-
mand as many West India Regiments as the nature- of the
service will admit. It has been said that a report was spread
amongst' the, Soldiers of the -Bth West India Regirnent,
that they were to be sold as slaves :—if any such report has
been circulated in the Bth, or any other. West India Regi-
ment; by evil-minded persOns, the Commander in Chief
assures the Soldiers of those Regiments, that the report is
entirely without folindation, no such thing either will or can
happen. But His Excellency does not mean to extend this
assurance to Mutineers and Murderers. He will prated and
encourage such men of the Bth West India Regiment as shall
appear not to have joined in the Mutiny.
" This Order to be fead at least three times to every
West India Regiment—the Officers of those Regiments will
use their utmost endeavours to make the nice understand the
purport of it.
" The Commander in Chief is highly sensible of the merit
of the prompt and effeetual Measures adopted by Brigadior-
General j 011 N STONE to suppress the late Mutiny.
" The very faitourable report made by Brigadier-General
Jo tiN sTo Nsi of the good conditd; zeal; and spirit of. the
Officers and Soldiers who aded under, his orders, afforded the
Commander in Chief much satisfaction.

(Signed)

" J. THOMAS, D. A. G."

AsTLEY's'Anntlal Prize Wherry was rowed for
yesterday afternoon by seven pair of oars. The
original intention was to have had four heats, but
the wind Was so very Severe against the tide, it was
reckoned impossible the Men could get' through
the whole ; it was therefore reduced to a double
heat, going down firSt to Hungerford; then passing
through Westminster-bridge, going up round the
boat moored off Vauihall, then through Westniin-
ster-bridge to Hungerford, and returning through
the centre arch of Westminster-bridge: At a very
fair start, abotit a quarter Ater five o'clock, John
Shepherd and his partner were in the rear
passing the Httogerford boat, but before they reach-
ed Westrninster-bridge, on the South shore, they
passed with rapidity four several boats, and kept the
lead all the way round the boat off Millbank and
downwards: The great contest was between John
Shepherd and Joseph Wing, and James Howell and
Charles Westwood, three of whom are acconnted
the best rowers on the Thames, and was certainly
contested stronger than any Prize Wherry we have
ever seen-rowed for. .It .was ultimately decided as
follows; viz.
SgErut.RD and ISAAC Ptiie Wherty,
value togs.
liov'/ELL and Ca.. WEsTwoon—Three Guineas.
ISAAC Wdoni and WiLi.IISHEPAERD—Two Guineas.

A very extraordinary and melancholy event
ly occurred in the Island. of Sr. Christopher. Two
Officers of the Buffs, a Captain and Ensign; were
upon particular terms of intimacy. On the 24th of
April hist; the latter went into the room of the
former; and without
.any apparent reason, or the
least explanation with his friend, shot him through
the head. He then very deliberately went into an_
other room,• and, by the same means; put an end to
his own existence.

The Gentleman who. vas thrown from his chaise
near Buckingha►n-gate, the day before yesterday,,
was Mr. Bloomfield of Long Acte. He was re-
moved Within two hours from the Westminster
Infirmary to his own house, where be, remains in a
•
♦cry danzerous state,

ATV REPORT.

COUR r OF KING'§ BENCH, Ju'xi

-ONE Case upon the. Conitikiion of a Sentence,
a French Court Of Prize; held in Spain.; upon
question whether a.,ship,, Warranted Danish, and
.;1,
such entitled to the benefit of Neutrality, 'and it
which the vessel was .condemned as Bri!ish;
then enemies to.the French; was argued, fintl
single question was, Whether this Sentenc'e of
demnation was, or was not, conclii4ive. The Court;
agreeably to the analogy of all the Cases de terrni re.l
in the last War, bottomed an various- other Casec.,
held, that the Sentence in this Case t.tras binding,
and accordingly pronounced jUdgment for the Plain:.

MT. Justice GIIOSE was not in Court 'and t one
o'clock 11,1 r. Justice LE 'BLANC went to Guild:lett
to take Common Causes, and nothing more ti4el
busintss of touts' transpired.

A ATIVE

AND

THE orrTaNc; OF THE SCHELDT.

As it is generally believed, that the FIRST CoN -
L of France will shortly proceed to the Low
-Lsotintries, in order to authorize the Free Naviga- •
!ion_of the Scheldt, and as that event will be fol-
lowed by Most important consequences to the Com-
mercial World, it may not be Improper.to consider
.what have already been its effefts on Antwerp, the
City ,which will be essentially benefited by it, and
flotn obscurity and poverty, to weakh and
glory :
- Antwerp is first mentioned in History in the
year 51.7, when ytiEODO'4IC, .bastard son of.
CLU v is, King of the Franks, beat and expelled the
D.:nts from it, (vide Mascon's History of the An-
tient Germans,` Lib; 21.) According to Ginc-
c AR.DIN descriptip.n of the Low Countries; the
C;ity was first walled round in rzor. It was iff
very early times a port of Commerce ; and in the
year 1256; a Commercial Treaty_ was framed be-
tween the City of Ilantirgh arid HENRY, Dliks of
Brabant and. Lorraine, whereby, Hamburgh ob-
tained s,undt y privileges at the City of Antwerp,
with liberty to continue its commerce in Brabant
-and Lorraine, even although this Prince should be
at war with the Duke of iIoLSTEIN.' _ -

In the year 131 i, the great dejtand for Eng-
lish Wool in Brabant, Artois, and Flanders,.ebliged
King ,EDIVAR-D 11. to ordain the staple- for it
to be fixed at one certain place or port in the
Netherlands, for the better ascertaining his custom
thereon : which staple-port was to be appointed by
the Mayor and Commonalty of the Merchants of
the Staple, and was at this time found fixed at Ant-
werp, but how long before it had been.establiihed
is not recorded/ in History. •
The foundations of the 'greatness of Antwerp
were laid by the, English Merchant, Adventurers'
Company in the year 1444. That Company, under
its name of The Merchants of the Brotherhood of
Sr.•Therri'as Bmket,' quitted their residence at
Middleburg, in Zealand, and settled at Antwerp ;
except during the time of King HE NR Y VIII. when
they removed to Calais, where'they remaihed'until,
by the earnest entreaty of MARGARET, Dutchess of
Savoy, they returned once more. At their arrival,
they were met. by the Magistrates and Citizens,
and conduEted with solemnity to a public enter-

tainment.
When PHU_ IP the GOOD, Duke of Burgundy,
first granted privileges to this .Company in 14_0,
under the name of The English Nation ;' there
were but four Merchants in the. City, and only six
Vessels, merely for River Navigation,
,as they had
then no Maritime Trade. But, in a few years
after the.settlement of this Coinpany, -the City in-
creased in wealth, splendour, and population.
Another cause,of the ,grandeur of Antwerp, was
the declensi(in of BrugeS about the' year 1487,
when. the port of Sluys was blockaded during the
War of • the Flemings against their Prince, .the
Archduke MAXiMIL lAN. The ,whole Trade •of
the Low Countries which before Centered. in Bru.
geg, was then removed to Antwerp and Amster,'
dam.

But these were not the only causes of the weaich
and glory of this renowned City. In the beginning
of the 16th Century, two powerful events conspired,
to extend its Commerce and Power :
151. By the gr,ifits of Free fairs for Commerce,
tw, of which lasted each six weeks, whither Mei-_
. chants resorted with their Merchandize, Custoth-
free, from every part of Christendom. At these
fairs, vast Commer.cial Concerqs were managed, not
only in Merchandizc, bUt in Bills of Exchange with
all parts of Europe—,
- zd. By the immense quantities of Spices, Drugs,
end other rich produttions *of the East-Indies, which
the Portuguese brought first to Lisbon, and thence
to Antwerp,- as to an entre-Port between the Not.
thern anti Southern States of Enro'pe. This drew
the German Merchants to the City, and -those of
Bruges also
.removed thither, after the Archduke
MAXIMILIANhad reduced that Toi,vn to subjec-
tion. GUICCIARDINI observes, that 'the spices
alone brought froth Lisbon to Antwerp, amounted,
one yea; with another, to above a Million- of
Crowns. Its buildings had so greatly increased
about this time, that it was found necessary to sur.
round it with a new wall, more extensive than the
former.

In 1531, the Canal from Brussel4- was begun,
though it was not completed till the year 1560.—
The City thus possessing an immense Commerce,
the Inhabitants built their famous Bourse, or Ex-
change, for the-daily resort of Merchants of all Na-
tions. Upon the front of that Edifice, was the
following Ins-eript,ion