Star.
London, England, 1808-09-23 00:00:00

hARt. CIWERAL cower.

A General. Court ef the Proprietors was yestenday
held at the Bank. The"GOVIRNOR read a recommen-
d:sibs of the Court of Directors;that the half-year's
divideeid should bt fire per cent. the same as for the
last half year: On putting the question,

Mr. RANDLZ JAaratm begged leave to ask if the
affairs of the Bank had been as prosperous during the
two last years, at they had been during the three pre-
ceding years ?
The Govastwoi answered, that he had the satisfac-
tion to say, that they had been equally prosperous;
at the same time, he said, it was necessary to observe,
that the lowering the charge of managing the public
debt began now to operate upon the affairs of the
Company, which, with an increased expense respecting
stamps, were the only drawbacks hich he knew of,
from the statement he had made.

Mr. JACKSON said, that under any circumstances of
deterioration in their affairs, it would always afford
some satisfaction to the Proprietors to learn from their
Managers the causes of such deterioration, as it was
but natural and just that thy should feel great man-.
siness at the towering of their divici.Ad. The amount
of the alteration with respect to the management of
the public debt, he said, was known ; and that respec-
ting the stamps, he presumed, might easily be aster,
tamed. The Proprietors would, of course, be enabled
to compare !Itch amounts with the defalcation to
which he alluded ; but it not being his intention to
go into the subject oa that day, he would only further
observe, that in ordinary transacticns, it was presumed
that the thing purchased was worth the price paid ;
according to which rule, their engagement with Go-
vernment, if such as it had been formerly stated to
them, should rather have produced, by this time, an
additional income, titian be, as the Honourable Go-
nourable Governor seemed to consider it, a dead loss.
Ht said, that before he sat down, he wished to ask
another question, namely, whether any valid altera-
tion or law had taken place since the Charter of Wil-
-1 liam and Mary, which repealed the Section of that
Charter which he was about to read. Mr. J. observed,
that the Charter in question, after setting out the
oaths to be taken by the Governor, Deputy Gover-
nor, and Directors, had, with great wisdom and
foresight, enjoined dn oath to be taken by the Pro-
prietors, previously to their voting upon any question
at any Govral Court. [Mr. J. then read as follows:
Prov!ded also, and we do by these presents, &c.
ordain and appoint that all arid overt' tbe othr Alanlcrt
of the said Corporation, hav:ng each five hundred
pounds or more intereit or share in the capital stock of
the said Corporation, before he or they severally shall
be capable to give coy vote in any. General Court,
shall take, &c. (re:itieg• the oath or supremacy and
allegiance) ; and also tile oath, in the words, or to the
effect following, that is to say : I, A. B. do swear
that f will be faizllful to the Governor and Com-
pany of the Bank of England, whereof I am a Mem-
lam • and in all General Courts, when and so often
as I shall be present, will, according to the best cf
my skill and understanding, give my advice, counsel,
and assistance for the support and good government
of the said Corporation—So help me GOD.' "]

The GOVERNOR replied, that he knew of no altera-
tion in the Charter, or repeal of the obligation to take
the oath recited.

Mr.. THORNTON here observed, that by the 21th
Geo. IL that oath was dispensed with, tulles required
to be taken by nine Proprietors, who are themselves
qualified to vote.
Mr. JAcitsom said, he would refer to the Act, bnt
he understood it as reserving to any nine Proprietors
the security of a solemn oath upon important questions.
After some business cf form, the Court adjourned.

Crric BUSINESS —Yesterday a Court of Common
Council was held at Guildhall, when M . WAITHMAY
gave notice of a motion for an Address and PetitiJi
to his Majesty, to institute an inquiry into the circum-
stances that led to the disgraceful Convention entered
into by the Commanders of our Forces with those of
the French Forces in Portugal. A Report was pre-
sented from the Committee of City Lands, stain
the expence of plans, &c. for improving Smithfiell
Market, which amounted to more than 25001. 'A Re-
port was presented from the Select Committee ap-
pointed to consider the Petition of John Christy, juii.
who had been impressed, wherein they were of opinion
the expences incurred by him to find a substitute, &c.
should. be paid by the Lord Mayor, which caused
much debate ; but upon the representation of his Lord-
ship, that he was not informed of all the circum.
sances, or he should certainly not have acted as he
did, the same was ordered to be paid by the Corpora-
tion.--A Letter was read from Mr. Knit PORTER,
making
.an offer. of a picture of his, of the Battle of '
Agincourt. The Court resolved to accept the same,
and it was referred to the Committee of City Lands,
to provide a suitable situation for it.—lt was then re-
ferred tp the Committee of General Purposes, to
! consider of the duties and emoluments of the
Judges c4' the Sheriff's Court, and report the same.
It was also moved, that the sum of 1501. be added
to the allowance made to the Navigation Committee,
to defray their expences in taking views, &c. which
I was negatived.—Several other motions, that had
long been upon the paper of business, were either ne-
gauved or withdrawn, and at four o'clock the Court
adjourned.

Lieutenant Colonel CAMPBELL, Inspecting Field
Officer of the Cumberland District, died on Wednes-
day last in Carlisle.—Thera was something extremely
affecting attending the death of this Gentleman
A few days prior to his death he rode'out, attended
by his servant, with dogs, for the purpose of taking a
day's shooting. At the village of Stanwix, about a
mile north of Carlisle, the serv. nt uncoupled the dogs,
at which time Colonel CAMPBULL was mounting his
pony. The animal started in consequence of one of
the dogs playfully leaping up before it, and the Colo-
nel was thrown to the other side, where he pitched
upon his head. He was mien up, apparently not
much hurt, conveyed home in a post chaise, and me-
dical advice immediately procured. The wound was
not conceived to be of a very dangerous nun e:—
notwithstanding, however, the utmost exertion on the
part of the medical Gentleman employed. it proved
fatal, and has deprived the world of a gallant and de.
serving officer, and his friends of an amiable in in. He
has left a widow and seven children to deplore his loss.

P'


LA'IZE FIR 4 AT COVENT-GARDEN.

Yesterday an inquest was held before George Hodg-
son, Esq. one of the Coroners for the county of Mid-
dlesex, at the 'Dolphin, in Hyde-street, Bloomshury,
on the body of Mr. Thomas Harris, jun. of that street,
optician, who died in consequence of the injury he
had received during the time of the above-mentioned
dreadful fire.

The principal witness was Mr. Henry Sass, the cor-
ner of King-street, Holborn, printseller. The wit-
ness being a member of the Loyal North Britons
Volunteers, and the deceased a member of the Blooms.
bury and Inns of Coen Association, they bOth went
to the Theatre upon the first alarm, in order to ren-
der any assistance that was in their power, during
the dreadful conflagration which took place on Tues-
day morning. He had known the deceased for seve-
ral years ; he was about twenty-eight years old, and
hld a wife and three children. The witness and the
deceased did duty nearly about the same spot, on the
inside of the entrance gate to the Theatre, in the Pi-
azzas. About seven o'clock they were employed in
clearing the way f the firemen to work the engine.
Several persons had most inconsiderately, pressed in-
side of the gates ; the witness and the deceased suc-
ceeded in pressing all the people back, excepting two
men, of decent appearance, who positively refused to
fall hack. The witness finding that all exertions to-
wards
removing those persons, without having re-
course to violence, were unavailing ; and being satis-
fied that they did not materially incommode the fire-
men in their operations, thin, most providentially,
went about two feet nigher the door. He had scarcely
reached that short distance from his former situation,
when the cieling and wall gave way. The witness
was for some minutes blinded with the dust arising
from the rubbish that fell down about the engine, and
buried both it and every man around it in the ruins.
The witness walked out, and in the course of a few
minutes recovered his sight. Although he was so
very close to the spot at which the fatal accident took
place, he did not receive the slightest bodily hurt.—
He then saw a young man whom he knew, Mr. Tur-
ner, the son of a master-butcher in Leigh-street, Red
Lion-square ; he was severely burnt, and is now very
ill. He then saw the deceased, who was by that time
extricated from the ruins; he was most dreadfully
burnt. The witness went in a coach along with Mr.
Turner and the deceased to their respective homes.
The notwithstanding the utmost assiduity and'
skill of Mr. Solcy, of Hart-street, surgeon, lingered
until four o'clock the same evening, when he expired.
The Coroner observed, that at the same time that
he and every honest man must lament the loss of such
a respectable neighbour, and that happening too at a
time when he was engaged in a most highly praise-
worthy act of charity towards his neighbours, as all
mankind are properly so termed ; at the same time,
he felt it to be incumbent on him to state that the ac-
tual duly if the Court and Jury was confined to the
questi(:;; of by what *leans the deceased came by his
death ? The cause was Obviously accidental, in his
opinion : if the Jury drew the same conclusion from
the facts before them, they would declare so by their
verdict ; if not, they w(.uld express whatever else
tnio it be in their judgment most correctly applicable to
the case.

The Jury immediately gave in their verdict—Acci-
dental death.

At six o'clock yesterday afternoon, two other in-
quests were held before the savie Coroner at Middle-
sex Hospital, on the bodies of Richard Bird, coach-
maker, about forty years old, in the employ of Mr.
Houlditc.h of Long Acre ; and Jonas Philkins, a coal-
heaver, about twenty years of age, who died in that
hospital on Wednesday evening.
Mary Bryan a nurse, and the house surgeor, stated
that the deceased were both brought into the hospital,
from the fire at Covent Garden, at the same time.—
Their limbs and bodies were in the most shocking
state—their skin crumbled off with the touch, like
paper that had been steeped in water; and the poor
men languished in the most agonizing torture—the
coach-maker until five, and the coal-heaver until
eleven that evening, at which hours they successively
expired.—Verdict Arcidental death.
The greater part of the sufferers in this most dis-
tressing calamity were poor men ; and as they lost
their lives by most humanely endeavouring to relieve
or mitigate the calamity which was about to befal
others, there is little doubt but that, as far as money
can compensate for such a loss, the distress of their
families will be relieved by the subscription which is
now on foot in their behalf.

At Chester Assizes, which ended on Saturday last,
the following prisoners received sentence of death :
_Thomas Boardman and Lewis \Vatson, for horse-
stealing ; and Samuel Andrew, for burglary. Six
were sentenced for transportation for seven years, viz.
Mary Jones, alias Pritchard, convicted on two indict-
ments for stealing fowls ; John Rose, Captain of a
flat belonging to Messrs. Pickford and Co. :Ton the
Paddington Canal, late Duke of Bridgewater's Canal;
Charles Hand, an assistant to Rose ; and Thomas
Perceval, a weaver, from Lymm, an accomplice with
Rose and Hand ; Richard Howard and Cornelius
Chetham, flatmen, from Runcorn, for stealing cotton
wool, belongirg to tl4c trustees of the late Duke of
Bridgewater, :old Messrs. Manley and Co. of Chester,
from their respective vessels. Francis Hulston, Cap-
tain, and James Lainbcrt, assistant,ofa fly boat betw:en
London and Manchester, both from Coventry, were
committed to the Castle of Chester, in September last,
charged with stealing cabbages from a field of Tho-
mas Farrington, farmer, of Botchton, and also with
cutting and maiming the said 'l'. Farrington and
John Farrington, with an iron windlass, with an in.
tent to murder, were found guilty, last Spring As-
sizes, of the capital charge, under Lord Ellenberough's
Act, but r..,'•-ment was arrested ; two bills of indict-
ment werL ',resent Assize preferred against them
for ,ssanitiom. raid T. and J. Farrington, with an
intent to mursitr, both of which they were found
guilty, 4;11 were sews:n:lly sentenced to he imprisoned,
far the fir:, .:Tense, threc years in the Castle of Ches.
ter, and at tl:c. _,xpiration thereof, to be. imprisoned for
a further term so three years to hard labour. This
was a most daring outrage ; as one- arm of Thomas
Farrington, and one i'.ng,cr of John Farrington, were
!token, each of them dangerously wounded in
eir heads, and two won :ea servants, who came to
e assistauce of their ruaste,;:s, ~2se also wounded.