Star.
London, England, 1805-03-21 00:00:00

FOREIGN SHIPPING.

_ .
Mr. ROSE moved that the Houle mould refolve itfelf into a
Committee to take into confideration the notice of a motion that
be had formerly given refpeding •he granting to Foreign Ships
captured by his Majefty's Forces at Surinam, and places in the
Weft Indies, the fame privileges a, to Britifh Ships ; and allowing
the Aliens fettled in thole Colonies, now under bis Majefty's pro-
tedlion,the privilege of ezercifing the Trade of Merchants. The
Chairman of the Committee, Lord Louvain, was ordered to move
for leave to bring in a Bill to that clic& which wjss accordingly
granted ; and Lord Louvain, Mr. Roklettur Chancellor of the Ix-
chequer, and the Lord Advocate, were ordered to prepare and
bring in the fame.

Mr. ROSE, in like manner, obtained leave to bring in a Bill for
permitting the Importation of Good., Wares, and Merchandize,
the produce of the United Status of America, in neutral Mips, for
• time to be limited.

Mr. ROSE then gave notice. that he fhould move to-morrow,
that the Houfe Gould rc(olvc itfelf into a Committee to take into
confideration the Order of Council, pemiittirs, in certain cafe.,
neutral Chips to trade to the ports of Spain, uutwithfianding the
war with that country.

•lIZE AGENCY.

Sir WILLIAM SCOTT addreffed the Houfe to
the following effect, after a (hors exordium on the na-
ture of captured property, and on the right acquired
in it, as originating alone in the gcant of the Save-

,~

reign .—The Ads, he laid, which regulate this Cub
jest, refped either
t. The perfons to be entitlod to the property ;
The Nations of the Courts to decide on its ay; ropriation;
3. The management of the property during the yroccfs , ana
the diftribution of it after it has been adjudged.
With regard to the &If, the provifions of the
Ain vary in their application, according to the pecu-
liar circumaances and fituation of the parties. With
refpet to the fecond, immediately affecting the contli-
lotion and dignities of the civil courts, theLeginature
has been extremely tender of interpoling its authori.
ty, and introducing new regulations. It has coati.
fidered that the Courts of Admiralty are not rabic
ted within the narrow limits of municipal inffitution:
the law of nature and of nations is the foundatiuo
on which they build ; all the fubjedsof foreign Rates,
on the general principles of juttice and humanity,
have a right to redrels for injuries recci veil upon tt e
high leas, and look for protection to thefe ellat4ira-
incnts. The rights of parties grounded on theft vs, •
Llarged principles. are not lefs fact ed than thole wt.., ..1
are vetted on the fetid balls of the common law t 4
England ; and the charader and honour of every
country, in a great meafu,e, depends on the regart
which is paid to the jolt demands of individuals, pla-
ced in the moll remote regions of the world. There
are three modes in which the bufinefs of prize agency
may be concluded :-111, By a public OfScer---ad,
By perfons feleded by parties interefted-3d, By a
mixed mode, in which both thefe are comprifed.
" The mode now purfued is the fecond I have
named, and it has many recommendations, although
the true necelfarity repofed has been liable to very
ferious abodes. When we confider the number of
perfons, refpedable for their eharaders, and for their
property, who have been engaged in this bufinefs, we
need not be furprifed that agents of that defcription
have received abundant encouragement. The great
queflion is, if under the violation of private right to
which, in this mode of agency, individuals have been
expofed, it would be eligible that public official men
fhould interpofe ; and in our confederation of this,
we are naturally led to enquire into the principal
matters which affect the interens of the parties.—
Fire, the fecurity of the property is the great objc&;
it is better that it fhould be forthcoming, however
late, than that it Zooid be wholly loft. While the
decifion is withheld, it is material that the fund fhould
be accumulating for the advantage of thofe who (hall
be declared entitled to it. Should the property be
invefled in real fecurities ? Certainly nut ; becaufes
from the nature of thofe fecurities, it would be If-
able to be empounded a confiderable time potlerior
to the decifion, when the parties might want to apply
the property to advance their interells in their own
private concerns. If it cannot be inveeed in real
ifecurities, much lets can it be dependant on the
rills of perfonal fecurity, or fubmitted to the ha-
zards of trade ; even in its application in the public
funds of the Rate, Come refped is to be paid to pri-
vate opinium and convenience, under the vicinitudes
of national affairs. Doting one of the more atroci-
ous periods of the French Revolution, if any diffinc-
tion may be made in the political profligacy of that
Republic, it was the pradice to hived one of the of-
ficers on board every Chip with the functions of a
Judge of the Admita;ty, and by this means, ineandy
that a capture was made, the prize was condemned,
and an immediate distribution was made among tine
fucceliful depredators. We are not, however, here
governed by the laws of Algerine piracy, or the inny
intim, of revolutionized France. England mull ad
with good faith to every individual wherever he re.
fides; documents mutt be procured, and all the par-
ties mull be heard. Delays have been complained of
in our Court, and in Come relpeas, and to a certain
extent, they are unavoidable. To give the panics
an opportunity of appeal is neceffary, and this is one
fouace of delay. It is well known, that the general
law of Europe bas affigned the interval of a year and
a day to the appellant. To prevent procraffination,
the term of appeal was for Come time limited to three
months, but however good the intention might be in
this regulation, the legiflature found it neceffary to
trace back its own Reps. Appellants in America, in
Asia, or even in the remote parts of Europe, had
not fufficient time to refill the decifton they thought
inequitable, and the former interval for appeals was
again conceded. The object then has been, during
the delay, to make the effects fpeedily p:odudivc, and
to attend to the accommodation of each party as
much as poffible. If fecurity were the only objeer,
the delivery of the property into the hands of a pub-
lic officer under the mandate of the Court, would be
fufficient. In any new regulation on the fubjed of
this queffion, however prudently formed, we cannot
exclude all inconveniences. In chnfidering the tie-
feats of the prefent fyftem, we have the fatisfadion
to difeern, that they arc neither great nor numerous.
The late Ad, which is the prefent law on the fubjed,
contains many provifions—fome of which I than
&only (late, in order to thew, that the evils we ap-
prehend are not gigantic and formidable. Previous
to this Aft, the Prize Agents gave no fecurity for
the faithful difcharge of their duties. Now they are
required to give fecurity to the firm of 5,0c01. Under
former statutes, Agents might keep in their own
hands the monies they received during the progreis
of a caufe ; now the captors may compel the Agents
to vet the procee).s in public fecurities, until the pro-
per time of distribution. Formerly, mariners could
only recover their (hares by tedious proceedings in
the courts of law or equity ; now they may attain
their right by a (hurt and luminary proceeding in the
Court of Admitalty. Under the former AZts, Ca.
charges of the Agents were not fubmitted to t •
mination and controul—now they may be intl.,
ed and reduced, where tLey are unreafonable, J.
a very (mall expense to the parties. At this :in..,
the Agent is obliged to remit the balance du:: rt
the prizes fo the Navy Pay-Office, whereas f• t-
merly, he could retain the money in his own hands.
—Heretofore, there was no provifion for the pay-
ment of monies on the account of prizes, after
the appointed time of fuch payment, fo that per-
fons abfent, either on their private affairs, or on
public duty, on their return, were frequently dif-
appointed of the rewards due to their exertions ar.cf
their gallantry : now for two days in each week, ti-e
office of the agent is required to be kept open, for the
purpofe of anfwering to there claims. Under t!.-: I(
prior forms, the prize-money was difpofed of with, 41
regularity; now there mutt be a power of attorney
for each captor. Thus it would be Peen that much
had been done to remove the evils, and to'previi t
the impofitions to which a meticoriou4 clafs of WA */
a jt:

I

• •
were expofed.. There regulations. then, define the
attention of the Houle in the forMation of any new
plan to countered the difadvantages which the wif-
dom
of Parliament, from the nature of the concern,
has not yet been able to remove. eine great c..ule
of detriment has been from their ignorance of the
parties interelted in the provitions under the late Ad,
which have been made in their favour. If they do not
know what is their fituation in this refped, it is pre.
cifely the fame as if no fuch prudent and humane re-
gulations had been made. It is proverbial in our
Courts, that t‘ the Law is made for thole who are
awake, not for thole who are afieep." It has oc-
curred
to me, as the means of preventing the mil%
chievous effeds from the ignorance and inactivity of
claimants, that Curators or Guardians be appointed'
to enforce the provifions of the Ad. Thefe may
have full opportunities of acquiring inforination, and
may communicate the refult of thew judgment on the
lcgiflative regulations, as applicable to the Fartitular
Cadet, to the parties themfelves. This teems co me
to be an obvious and practical remedy for molt of
the mifchiefs from the cattle to which I have ad-
verted. In addition to this, fume fupplementary ar-
rangements may be introduced with great propriety
at the principal ports of the kingdom. It might be
afked, if whet 1 have propoted be confillent with
what has been recommended by the Commitlioners
of Naval Enquiry ? It is perhaps unneceffary mi-
nutely to enter into this comparifon in the prefent
stage of the Wind's ; enough furely has been (hewn,
both in the preterit expofition of the law, and in the
general notoriety cf the fads, for the Haute to form
Lome competent judgment on the fitnefs of bringing
this. meafure under confidcration." He concluded
with moving, that leave be given to bring in a Bill,
" For the Encouragement of Seamen, and for the
rrore effectual manning of his Majeay's Ships."
The quellion was put and carried without a dif-
renting voice.
, Sir J. B. WARREN then rote to exprefs his fen.
timents upon the meafure, doubtlefs without having
ncticed that the Vettion was determined.
• The SPEAKER then called the Honourable
Member to order, as there was no queftion at that
time before the onk.

Sir J. B. WARREN, however, declared that he
Mould deliver his fentiments upon the Bill in another
Rage,—Adjourned.

LONDON.

THURSDAY. MARCH at.
•
PRICE OF STOCKS THIS DAY AT ONE O'CLOCK*
Coif for money 581.—fwr ice. 511ii--Domitml 31.
PRICE OF STOCKS YESTERDAY.
Bank Stock Int , Short Ann. (hut
a pe: C. Red Ann. Onit India Bonds is: 11. dlf.
3 per Cent ConC sail{ Imp. 3 per tent. j 8
4 per Cent. that Euheq. Bills is. dif. is. pm.
s per Cent. Navy 29f11 0011thitll ji 4 pram
S Imr Cent. 1797. thut Engiiih Tickets 181. is..
Bank L. Ann. thug CooL for am. 5841

A Cebinet Council was held yellerday at the Fa-
teign Office, and was attended (with the exception
of the LOAD Cstexcat.Loe) by every Member. The
Council fat nearly three hours. It is conjeltured that
the difpatches brought by the Ruffian Meleager,
who arrived the preceding day, formed the fubjett of
deliberation. Immediately on the Council breaking
Up, a Mellinger was ordered to be in readinefs to fet
off for the Continent.

. Admiral CORNWALLIS arrived at Portrmouth on
Tuefday, in the VILLI as Puss, and immediately
*truck his flag. The gallant Admiral has obtained
leave of abrence for a tew weeks, to vifit the Noble
Marquis, his brother, previous to his fetting out for
India. Lord GAILDNIR will in a few days hoill hii
flag as Commander of the Channel fleet, which, ac-
cording to our Torbay letter, returned again to that
port on Monday afternoon.
Yefterday afternoon Lord arrived in
town from Cork, and attended at the Admiralty.—
This morning his Lordlhip had a long conference with
Lord Mstvitts.

Dutch journals of a later date than thofe which ar-
rived on Saturday have been received. They do not
furnifh any intelligence of moment. It is announced,
under the head of Franckfort, that every thing has
been trancril in the kindom of Naples fince the inter-
.

tiew of PrinceCasnrro with the French General. Par-
ma, it is aErted will be incorporated with the intended
kingdom of Lombardy ; and it was expated that Bo-
stersaTa's journey thither would not be delayed be-
yond the prefent month, as it had been officially no.
tified that he would be at Lyons before the tzd
The folio-wing article has been publifhcd in the Ma-
-1 feileur, dated March 2 :
" 13) an Ad of this day, all Clvil Off.•ers of the empire arc
forbid.Ln to receive in their regifters the copy of-the ad of a pre-
te. led marriage, Ensured into by Monficur JEROME DONA PARTC,
abroad, when ander age, without the cis kot of his Mother, and
withsot pr.vioufly publifiting the banns a the plate of her refi-
deuce."
The French Ambaffador Ss MON VI LL E took his final
departart from the Hague on the Bth inft. It was
generally believed, that the new Conftitution had
been fccrctly printed, preparatory to its being full-
mitted for approbation.

The Motion refpeaing the Tcnth Report of the
Commitßoners of Naval Inquiry, now Rands for this
day fortnight. It will be brought forward by Mr.
WHITRItt£O.
Admiral THORNISOROUGH is arrived in town, and
yetterday attended at the Admiralty Board.
Lail night difpatches were fent off from the Admi•
ratty to Sir Jamas Saowatsz at Guernfey.
Sir T. THOMPSON is expeEted to be appointed to a
very important command.

A confiderable reclation has juft taken place in
the Staff of this Kingdom. Thirteen Majors and
1'• Brigadier Generals, employed on the Volunteer
Duty, have been difcoutinucdo with their foreralM4-
1,:r% of Brigade.