The Sun.
London, England, 1804-02-17 00:00:00

CORN EXCHANGE, FEB. 17.

WHEAT is here today in good supply ; from
the recent reduEtions and further expected, sales
are made only for that in immediate request,
which is a trifle lower ; the fine Dantzic 575.
Barley and Malt at little variation in price ; new
Beans are rather cheaper; Oats are in good plenty,
with some Foreign Cargoes, and many expected, this
article has somewhat better sale to.day ; Flour is
plentiful.
Wheat ,25$ a 35s a Sts od
Fine ditto -52 s a 53s od
Rye -28 s a 31s od
Barley = - 18$ a z3s od
Malt -4asa 55s od
White Pease 32s a 39s od
Beans - zBs a 34$ 6d

Tick Beans -24 s a 315 od
Oats -16 s a as a zis od
Poland ditto 22,S a 23% od
Rape Seed - - 341 a 371
Fine Flour -37 s a 42s od
Seconds 335 a 37s od

An accident, which threatened to be fatal, hap_
pened.to a Lady in Hamm;Garden, on Wednesday
afternoon—Going into the kitchen to see the stare of
forwardness of the dinner providing for a party of
friends, her clothes caught fire. By Ivr shriek-,
John White, a constable belonging to Hat ton-Oar-
den Office, was alarmed, and got into the house
seeing her in flames, he tore her cap, handkerchief
and apron orr h
and by this timely assistance saved
her life,

OLD BAIL E".

SECOND DAY.---THURSDAY, FEB. 161

CASE OF M 2. ASTLETT.

IN the.early part of the forenooneßobeet Ihilei ,
was .brought •to,the bar when Mr. Baron 1-10T“A%t
id4ressed him relativs,,to his conviction, 'and the
decision pf the twelv'e Judges upon 'his case. .‘ The.
Learned Judge observed •to him,-,that „he had been
flied and convidedin thatCourtrin the Sessions of
September,lBo3; for embezzling C.:rtai;iExelieque
Bills, he being then an -o.lfiecl in the service of thd.
Governor and Company of theThnk of 17,,.';gland,
and having such gillS in his cite and Custody.- The
Indidment stated, ~that lie being an Officer, entrust.
:ed with 'certain paperi,ecamMorny Called Eichequet"
Bills, one of which was for theiutn. of sob!. be-
PlOtigifig to the gaid:Goyetnor and Company, and
alsb 'several otheri lot' different sums, which he, be-
ing so' employed, did feloniously secrete and take
away : it wasadmitted;, that those Exchequer Bills
were not sit-idly legal, not having been signed by
a person duly authorised by povernment, hut that
he' was icdneided, and his judgment respired, in
order that his Counsel Might submit to the opinions
of thejadges what theii appeared to him relative to
his case. Eleven of the 'Judges had since attended
in ,the Exchequer Charnber,,and the objeaion taken
by his Counsel was fully and ably discussed. The
Judges had since sat in conference together upon the
I.ibjeellnd it now became his duty to inform him
(the Prisoner) of the result of their mature delibe.
rations. IT had been arguedin his flivour, that he
could not be .convicted under the tethof Geo. Ir.
as the 9th Geo. 111. repealed the former : on this
point, it iwas.unnecessary on the pr sent occasion
to dWelie as the Judges were generally of opinion,
that there was nothing in the last-mentioned At
that repealed the Other. The question was, whe-
-ther the Bills were effeds within the meaning of the
Ad? And the generalopinion was, that they were
effeds within the meaning of the Aa. [Here his
Lordship :read the Preamble, and Extrads from the
At which justified the decision.] The great ob-
jed of the Legislature, he observed, in framing the
AEI, was to afford additional security to the Bank.
The principle of legislation must be considered with
a reference to .the general utility, and when the
Law was considered in the large and liberal view in
which it was framed, the recollection of 'the 'ire-

mense quantity of Exchequer Bills in circulation
should impress upon individuals the idea that they "
were fairly bought, and became the- property of the -
Bank for a fair consideration : it had been argued,
that the Bills, in question. were not such as came on.

der the A6I, yet they carry a validity of the great.
est imrortance to the Bank. It was expressly stated
in the Aa, that the offence
.of embezzling such
Bills was felony ; they were therefore such a spe-
cies of security,' that no man would hesitate to re_

ceive them. Were, for instance, an Insolvent to
omit placing any. such Bills in his Schedule, every •
honest mind would revolt at the idea : in fad, many
cases" might .be found to corrobaratc their validity.
It had appeared, that if trifling articles belonging
to the were considered effeas under the Sta_

suite, it inight lead, to make old sumps of pens and
;blotting parer of that description ; but the Judges
had only gone to such effcas as were trusted to the

servants of the Bank. The Bills in question fell
under that consideration; as the Judges were of opi-
nion they were effeas according to the isth of
Geo. 11, and that the embezzlement of them by him
(the Prisoner) subjected him to conviEtion, on the
Count upon which he had been found Guilty.

[Th6 offenee of which Mr. Astictt was convicted is not a
Capital I.e.lony. He will he brought, up to receive Sentence
in common.witli the other Convicts at. the close of the Ses..

Robert Hassard was -charged with feloniously
stealing, on the 31st of December last, a pocket-
book, value one shilling, the property of- Peter
Forsynees, containing a banker's cheque for 2.01.
the property of John Fawley and Thomas Ward.
Peter Forsynees stated, that he is a cabinet-
maker, lives in Wardour_street,- Soho, and works
with Messrs. Fawley and Ward : on the day above-
mentioned, he was. sent to i'Vlessrs. Masterman,
bankers, with the cheque in question : as he was
passing through Lombard-street, between four and
five o'clock in the evening, he met four well-dressed
men together ; of these he was sure the prisoner was
one. He asked them where Magterman's bank was
situated ? One of them said it was higher up. He
immediately crossed the -Way, and had the precau-
tion to keep his hand on the pocket-book, which
was in one of his coat-pockets ; however, before
he had got quite to the other he felt another
hand in his pocket, and the book instantly twitched
out ; he immediately turned-round and caught hold
of the Prisoner, who was quire close to him, and
said,
." You have got my pocket-book." The Fri-
soner replied, in a loud voice, " What'l are yogi
going to rob me
.?" 'and gave him (the Witness)
such a clout on the head as fetched him.down ; the
Witness made an outcry, and called out, " Stop
Thief !" The Prisoner ran off. Several persons
pursued him, and joined it the cry of, " Stop
Thief," which' the Prisoner himself vociferated as
lustily as any. other. He however,
,fortunately,
ran into an alley (Sweething's) which was no Eh°.
roughfare ; in thiS place a constable, who happened
to be on the 'spot, arrested his progress, and took
him into custody. The Witness was sure of the
identity of the, Prisoner, he never lost sight of him",
save the moment of his turning the corner of the
Alley. The'r-e were two others near the 'Prisoner
when the Witness first laid hold of him, but these
got off.
John Barrett (the Officer above alluded to), dstaf..
ed, that bet Ween four and five o'clock in the even.
ing, there was an alarm given near Sweething's Al,
ley, and a cry, of stop thief,' several persons were
running ; the foremost person, and the one apparently
pursued, was also crying "stop thief." This was.
the Prisoner. He saw him advancing so or 66
yards before he came close to him; the Prisoner ran
into Sweething's Alley, where he caught hold of
him. He said he was entirely innoc-nt of the busi-
ness, and that the real thief was gone on. How.
ever, he saw tharthe Prisoner himself was the first
person in the cavalcade, and he proceeded to search
him. In his possession were tound two pocket h,-,tics,
one contained two one pound 'lutes ; the other i‘r.,it

The person who committed the forgery to the
amount of seven hundred and thirty pounds on the
house of ROBALTS and Co. Lombard-street, has
been taken in Berkshire. It may be'be•reCollefleti,
that he received from the Bankers two 3001. Bank-
notes, one fool. and a 301. and that he immediately
afterwards exchanged the two 3001. notes for fifteen
201. notes at the Bank of England. The forgery
being soon deteled and made known,- it was dis-
covered that he had engaged for drool. worth of
plate, at a respeClable house on Ludgate-;sill, paying
for the same with the 201. notes, and ordering the
plate to be sent to a certain house. From this cir-
cumstance, suspicion fell on a late Clerk to a te.
spedable Jew Merchant in the City, who was
traced into Berkshire, apprehended, and brought
to town on Thursday morning.
A most resplendent Meteor was seen at Perth on
se'nnight, for a few seconds at mid-day.—
j,t is represented to have had the appearance of a
bright ball of silver, about two feet in diameter,
with a tail 30 or 4.0 feet in length. It vanished in
it.North-Wtstedy direction.
Caution—Several washed dollars have alre'ady
been put into circulation. The edge is whiter than
that of real ones, and the impression better. The
counterfeits are of no intrinsic value whatever.

It is a faCt, though perhaps not generally known,
that last year many meetings and consultations were
held, in difareot parts of the Country, about raising
Volunteers, before it was koown whether it was
the intention of Government CO accept of their ser-
vices or riot : and when their pleasure was known,
many offers were made, and many were ready to
he made, perfectly convinced that the terms of set.
vice would he the same as last War : but when the
regulations came our, they were indeed nearly the
same, but not quite. ,The Field Officers were to
have the pay of Captains only ; and the Corps to be
exercised. only 8 days in the year instead of tog-
This was a disappointment, and certainly no encou-
ragement to the Volunteers. It is true, it was a
saving of nineteen days pay to Government,. or
6661. r Bs. for evety battalion of 544 men, besides
the reduaion of Field OEcers' pay. It may also he
called a saving to the men, 'as they could have
gained more, every day, than one shilling, at their
usual occupations : but-whether the real loss to the
national strength, by defeCtive and imperfeft died-
Pline, may not overbalance the saving in pence,
may admit of doubt : one thing I know, that the
men would have been much better satisfied had their
days of exercise remained the same, although to
their own pecuniary loss, especially the old Volun.
leers, who had begun to feel as soldiers, that their '
sakty as well as credit and success in the field de-
pended on their discipline.
Notwithstanding this discouragement, offers
it
of
service flowed in from every quarter ; whether
was to put a stop to these altogether, which might
have happened, or only to make a good bargain, or
from what cause is not easy to divine, but another
circular letter came out, so far recalling the former.
terms of service, that none but those Volunteers
who had -been accepted before the zad June could
have that advantage. Surely all those who had
made offers, before this notice, were equally entitled_
to the indulgence ; and although this plea 'was
urged, and many strong reasons given by many of
the King's Lieutenants, why all those who had of-
fered their services should be on the same footing,
the representations had no effeCt with the present
Ministers. They were direCted to say so to the
officers in so many worda: Unless you accept of
ads. for crothing, and he satisfied with 20 days
drill, for which-you will receive 209. pay in the
year, and your Offieers.serve without pay, we do
not want yoUr services.—Another very important
discouragement.
However, the spirit 'of the Country rose superior
to every discouragement. The men were ready to
take arms. Counties, Towns, Public Bodies, and
many Individuals, all equally sensible of the very
critical situation of the Country, and the necessity
of a powerful armament for our defence, as they
saw no other remedy, determined to subscribe and
to give such encouragement as 'he spirit of the
People deserved, and to bring forward a force Which
Ministers seemed very indifferent about. -Large
sums were subscribed. The terms which Ministers
offered were accepted, rather than the spirit of the
People should be checked. The Volunteers are
completely cloathed, and have got every necessary;
but at a very great expence to the best friends of
their Country, and the most loyal of its inhabitants.
With regard to .a Volunteer's right to resign
when he pleases, there seems to he a difference of
opinion. No doubt the very word implies Volun-
tary Service, but were Volunteers permitted to '
serve to-d4y and resign to-Morrow, we had better
have no such Military Establishment. It would
be a rope of sand, and a broken reed; upon which
there could be no dependence. The Volunteer, in
joining the Corps, voluntarily agrees to submit to
certain military restrictions for the good of his
Country. Obedience :to his Commanding Officer,
and not to quit the Corps without his leave, was a
principal article of agreement last War, in all the
Volunteer Corps with which I was acqtiainted, and
which every man signed, and in many Corps swore:
to, when they took the Oath of Allegiance. Hots'
far this would be binding itiLaw, I know not :

LONDON: Pr'nted by I3UCHANAN ‘ofilovv.:Street, Covent-Garden); and Pubinalcd by Wat;,lAm AR micr.R ScR i(Of C lONVCIIOf-square);
At the Soli.Oitucs, No. t i 2, 4tratid ; where didwertiremorti, Grim far the raper, Letters for tiic Edzior, ',)057-paid), must be addressed.