Star.
London, England, 1822-10-31 00:00:00

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I.* MEETING LLOYD'&

I ; volkirnza PARTICULARS.
Yesterday, pursuant to notice,' a very numerous
Meeting of Subscribers took place at Lloyd's Coffee.
house, specially called by the Acting Committee, for
the purpose of submitting to the body of Subscribers
the Correspondence which had taken place between
the Board of Admiralty and the Committee, upon the
subject of piracies in the West Indies, and upon other
special affairs.
At twelve o'clock, T. MARRYAT, Esq. the Chair-
man of the Committee, took the chair, and the Secre-
tary proceeded to read the whole of the correspond-
ence which has passed between the Admiralty and
the Committee relative to the late piracies (the sub-
stance of which has already been given).
The CHAIRMAN then rose, and referring to various
parts of the correspondence, endeavoured to shew that
the Committee were justified in any expression which
had been made by them in the course of the corre-
spondence, and which had given so much offence to
the Secretary, or the Admiralty Board. He then pro-
ceeded to remark upon the circumstance of the mis-
representation made by the Admiralty respecting the
situations of his Majesty's ships Doterel and Carna-
tion, by asserting those vessels to be off Cuba for the
protection of trade, at a time when subsequent arri-
vals have stated them to be elsewhere, and employed
upon a different purpose—the conveyance of passen-
gers and specie. He stated the object of the Meeting
to be, to lay before the Subscribers the proceedings
adopted by the Committee, and it would be for them
to approve or disapprove of their conduct ; but he
would contend that the correspondence with the Ad- ,
miralty had been conducted with temper and with',
respect to the high situation and rank of their Lord-
ships. Before sitting down he wished to intimate
that the affair should not end here, for if he were
alive at the meeting of Parliament, he would move
for the correspondence that had taken place, and shew
what glaring misrepresentations Mr. Croker had made
in stating that the force actually employed in the pro-
tection of British propertywas sufficient for the purpose.
Mr. BROWN then rose for the purpose of moving
the following Resolutions :
Ist. That the present Meeting do approve of the whole pro-
ceedings of their Committee in the correspondence with the
Admiralty.
2d. That the Committee be fully authorised and empowered
• to take such ulterior proceedings in the affair, as in their dis-
cretion shall seem expedient and necessary for the interests of
the Subscribers.

Mr. R. H. MARTIN seconded the Resolutions. He
considered the conduct of the Committee as deserving
their warmest encomiums. It was a well. known
fact, that for a length of time the vessels of war of
the United States had afforded protection to the Bri-
tish trade, and he considered it a serious reflection
upon the country. The manner in which that Society
had ever come forward upon every public occasion
when relief was sought by public subscription, and
the amount of the donations comiag from that esta-
blishment, ought to entitle them to more attention
from a department of Government, with the duties I,
of which their interests were so nearly connected. He
concluded by expressing a wish that the Resolutions
might pass unanimously.

Mr. Lowe next rose.—He said that every man
must bear with regret that the trade of the country
was attacked, and its name disgraced, by the unre-
sisted aggressions of pirates. He (Mr. Lowe) thought
that Mr. Croker laboured under wrong impressions.
That Gentleman did not seem to have considered
that the Committee represented a large body of mer-
chants, to whom they were responsible. He would
ask, had the British Navy done its duty to the com-
merce of the country ? Could they listen with patience
to accounts of their countrymen suffering the brutal
attacks of robbers—indebted for protection to Ame-
ricans, to Danes, and even to Frenchmen ? It was
not to be denied hat the West India Trade had fallen
off, and if it were to be shackled with expense, and
open to aggression, it wuuld fall off still more. It
was deeply to be lamented, that with our powerful
Navy, our trade was thus left defenceless ; it was not,
however, difficult to account for the disgraceful fact.
Every Gentleman connected with the West India
Trade knew that the Commanders of ships were ap-
pointed to those stations, not for their knowledge,
their activity, or their public services to commerce
and to their country, but they were placed there
through interest, in order that they might derive
wealth, as carriers of specie from one port to another.
The Hon. Gentleman next proceeded to say, that suffi-
cient information was not communicated lo merchants
with respect to the navigation of South America.
Mr. DewAtt stated that he considered the only
question before the Meeting was the objection of the
Gentlemen of the Committee to wait upon Mr.
Croker, the Secretary of the Admiralty ; and that the
Committee were bound, in justice to the situation
which they held, to take every means of gaining in-
formation, and that, in several instances, their prede-
cessors had conformed to the wish of Mr. Croker.—
He then referred to the proceedings of the 15th of
March, 1809, and 20th of November, 1810, which he
contended were cases in point, and concluded by
moving as an amendment —a That the Meeting do
pass to the other business of the day."
Mr. CARRUTHERS supported the amendment.
After a few observations from Mr. SHAW and Mr.
Fartze, the amendment was negatived by a large
majority, there being only about fourteen hands held
up in favour of its passing.
The original Resolutions were then put, and also
carried by a large majority.
Mr. HIBBERT stated, that, as Chairman of the Com-
mittee of West India Merchants, he had frequent in-
tercourse with the Lords of the Admiralty, and that on
the preceding day he had a long conversation with
Lord Melville. There was oue point on which his
Lordship touched, which he felt at liberty to disclose,
and which was of a nature to afford gratification to
the Meeting, viz.—that several political points with
Spain, which had been under discussion for some
time, were likely to be shortly finally decided, which
would be. of the greatest benefit to the trade of this
country, especially as regarded one difficulty which
the Admiralty had to contend with, relative tp the
Spanish flag in the West Indies; and the putting a
final stop to the piracies in that quarter. Before
lea " the Admiralty he had occasion to see Mr.
him he regretted that the Gen-
had not called upon him; and

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leaving the Admiral
Craker, who assured
denim at Lloyd's h