Star.
London, England, 1819-09-08 00:00:00

PI?OCEEDINGSPEPONIC 17111CRAND JURY
AT LANCASTER.

NORTHERN EXPEDITION.—We believe the follow-
ing paragraph, from The Caledonian Mercury of the
4th instant, to be the first intelligence that has yet
been received respecting the second Expedition to the
North Pole, by the liecla and Griper The Keiro,
arrived at Hull horn Davis Straits, pasted the Hecla
and Griper, discovery ships, on the 19th July, in
lat. 7'2. 36."
Miss O'NEILL concluded her engagement at the
Edinburgh Theatre last night, for her own Benefit.
The play was Evadne. Mr. H. JOHNSTON performed
Sir Archy Macsarcasm, in Lore-a-la-Mode.
Mr. KEAN is engaged to perform twelve nights at
the Edinburgh Theatre.
HAYMARKET THEATRE.—The several Entertain-i
went off last night with great eclat. They were
all popular Pieces, and admirably supported. The
house was crowded to excess.
ENGLISH Ormta.--This Theatre presented a bril-
liant audience last nights to witness the interesting
Melo-drame of the Mimi Boy. Miss KELLY'S judi-
cious and pathetic performance of the amiable Ed-
mund, received the tribute of admiration which is
never withheld from it. Belles withoutconcluded
Beaux fol-
lowed ; and the Death of Captain
the entertainments.
Yesterday morning, about six o'clock, an alarm-
ing fire broke out at Mr. GOODHARLL'S, sugar-baker,
141Mehdase, near the water-side, which entirely con-
sumed the premies, with the stock in trade thereon.
About three o'clock this morning a Carpenter's shop,
in Walls-place, back of St. Pancras Church, was ob-
served to be on fire. Although the most prompt ex-
ertions were made to extinguish the flames, the w
premises, together with all the tradesmens' tools, &c.
were consumed.
It perhaps is not generally known that the box tree
is a strong poison. The box borders of several beds
in a garden near Stamford, were lately thrown upon
some manure, and four strong pigs, which partook of
the noxious leaves, died soon after.
Among other outrages committed by the Reformers
in the neighbourhood of Manchester, was a most un-
provoked one upon a private of the 15th Light Dra
goons, who, when stationed as a sentinel at Captain
GoLvin's qparters, at Oldham, a few nights ago, was
knocked down by so violent a blow, that the blood
gushed from his nose and mouth. It is but justice to
the Regiment to say, that the conduct of Captain
GOLDIE, and the whole of his squadron, without a
single exception, has been such as to have secured
them the esteem of every well disposed person in the
town. The principal inhabitants, uon hearing of
outrage, with the most laudable promptitude, came
to an unamitus resolution to offer a reward of £5O
to any person who would give such information as
should lead to the conviction of the offender, and
we understand there are strong hops of his being
detected.—( Courier.)

TO THE EDIT" OF THE STAR.
Si e..e.Having long witriessed_riur honest endea-
vours to alleviate the sufferings of the distressed, and
well knowing that your motives are purely disinte-
rested, and only actuated by a zealots's desire to re-
ward merit, and promote the general welfare of So-
ciety, I airs, therefore, induced to hope, that as a vir-
tuous philanthropist, you will take into your early,
consideration the deplorable gate in which the mi. .1 jo-
rity of a deserving class of Officers, the Pursers of his
Majesty's Royal Navy, are placed, in consequence of
the insufficiency of their Half-pay.
Of all the Officers holding rank in his Majesty's
Naval Service, this is the only class that has been
treated with cool neglect, whose past services still
remain unrewarded, and whose pitiable case did not
excite the kindred sympathy of commiseration in the
higher department of the Navy.
More than one-third of the junior Pursers (called
the third clasil, who have not been employed since
the great naval reduction of 1815, (nor is it likely
they ever will, for want of sufficient interest,) are
now reduced to the very verge of abject misery, and
absolutely drudging out a life of penury and wretch-
edness on 2s. 11?,-,d. per day, which is the actual
amount of their Half-pay, after abating 3d. in the
pound for the Widows Fund.
A Lieutenant, or Master, of one day's standing, has
nearly double as much Half-pay as a Purser, of equal
rank, and 15 years standing !!! and full as much
Half-pay as the Purser who has wasted his youth, and
exhausted his stragfh in the service; and who now
stands with one foot in the grave and the other in un-
certainty, though possessed of strong claims on his
country for 52 years' meritorious services!!!
Thus will it be seen, that the scanty allowance of
declining age, which requires the foster care of inde-
pendent ease, is placed in the same scale with the
vigour of youth, whose health and future. prospects
render him superior to the paltry consideration of
pecuniary matters.
In making the above allusion to the Lieutenant and
Master, I am far from regretting that these Officers
have been so liberally provided for; because I am
aware that they have deserved, most highly, every
mark of their country's favour: 1 only regret that
Officers holding equal rank, have not an equal, allow-
ance fzeotn the country, to enable them to Support the
dignity of that rank.
The Lieutenant, nurtured in the school of glory,
has the enviable consolation of being always che.4
rished by Hope, generally flattered by the smiles
of Fortune, and ever stimulated by the pleasing
dawn of promotions which is always beaming
upon him. The 'Master is never Without hopes,
and sees future promotion• in 'a Doc-yard, a Har-
bour, a Surveying Vessel, or a good Store Ship :
but the Purser is for ever art off from all the chearful
rays of hope ; the doors of promotion can never open
to him ; and, as to the prospect of future promotion,
it is more distant from him than thrice the utmost
Pole ; whilst the bitterness of his Half-pay hangs as a
heavy burthen on his soul, and throws the dark gloom
of melancholy over his ill-fated hours, by the certain
assurance that he is now doomed to waste the re,
mainder of his life in hopeless misery.
• -Indeed, I am so sensibly aware of the generous
spirit of liberality w)iich freely expatiates through the
country, and the teady willingness the latter has
evinced, on every occasion, to reward long and meri-
torious services, that I feel confident, it it was fully
aware of the degraded situation to which its servants,
the Pursers, arc reduced, there would not be one dis-
sentient voice to an augmentation to their Half-pay,
so as to enable them to appear in the respectability
attached to their rank in society.
There was a time, prior to 1814, when Pursers of
ships not less than frigates might lay by something
towards rendering their reduction to Half-pay com-
fortable ; but since that period, the Purser has been,
invariably, prevented from rendering himself any
assistance, by not being allowed to enjoy the full be-
nefit of his Balance Bill ; because the Commissioners
for Victuallieg his Majesty's Navy, will only pay him
such portion of his balance-bill as may appear to ther4o
be a reasonable allowance. As to the junior Pursers,
who have only served in small vessels, it isca well-
known fact, that so fat from saving any thing out of
their balance-bills, they could seldom do more than
keep clear of debt to the Crown and appear as Of-
ficers and Gentlemen on the quarter-deck. Hence
it is evident that the Purser is doubly oppressed ; he
is first precluded the possibility of hoarding up a
penny towards rendering his Half-pay eligible to his
rank, by being deprived of the benefit of a well-
earned balance-bill when afloat, and afterwards cast
adrift on a scanty subsistence, scarcely sufficient to
sustain nature.
From the high established character of the Naval
Chief, Sir Geonoe COCKBURS', as a judicious, impar-
tial, discerning, and considerate Officer, it was ex-
pected that he would give the Pursers' case his
early attention ; and, from a passage in the STAR
Paper of the 3d June last, (iewhich it appears that,
Mr. CROKER stated to the House of Commons, that
part of the money-grant for the service of the present
year was to be in favour of Pursers), the hopes and
expectations of these distressed Officers began to be
sensibly enlivened, and their best wishes to be most
fervently uttered in terms of acknowledged gratitude,
for the commiserate and praise-worthy individuals
who had exerted their joint influence in so just
and meritorious a cause. In the gallant Admiral
they pictured to themselves an indulgent patron and
a kind benefactor; and in the learned Secretary of the
Admiralty they saw a staunchtfriend and an eloquent
advocate pleading their cause, from an innate prin-
ciple of benevolence. But new, seeing that nothing
has been done, and that the deplorable situation to
which the Pursers are reduced, and the numerous pri-
vations under which they labour, are still tinnotk
by the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty, and
that many of the Officers are driven to the sad, ne-
cessity of accepting the most menial and degraded
situations, in endeavouring to add a little to their''
wretched Half-pay. I therefore deemed it advisable
thus to address you, as a fliend to suffering huma-
nity, in the humble hope that, through the medium of
your widely circulated Paper, the eyes of the Coun-
try may be opened to the distresses of the reduced
Purser, and that some generous spirit may bring his
case under the consideration of an impartial British
Parliament, whose heart was never yet steeled against
extending the necessary relief to the truly deserving
servants of the country. PH ILOM AXIL

Mr. Peansow, the Soltestdr, hai addressed a letter
to Major CARTWRIGHT and Mr. NOOKS, the Trea.
surers of the Committee for the Manchester Feb.
acription, ie which he describes, at considerable length,
some of the legal proceedings which have lately mien
place at Lancaster. The testimony on the Bills against
Platt and Derhyskire, he says, was precisely the same
as un that against Owen, though the last only was
found a true Bill. It was deposed that Moonnousa
never was on the hustings ; that he left Mr. Htneft
carriage, into which he had been invited, before it
reached the hustings, and went to a neighbouring
,public-house, where he remained until after the Meet-
ing had broken up. We extract part of what Mr.
PEARSON says respecting the Bills preferred against
the Yeomanry :
'I Although five Bills for maliliously cutting had
been sent in to the Grand Jury on Friday morning,
as early as one o'clock, and the bill against Mr. Hunt
and his friends did not go in till the Saturday morn-
ing, yet the Grand Jury thought fit, in defiance of
ordinary usage, and a very s. irited remonstrance in
writing sent in by Mr. Hunt, to let the last be first,
and the first last. The first indictment for malici-
ously cutting was preferred by Mr. Gilmore, of Man-
' chester, a rerpectable tradesman, who proved, that
while he was at his dinner with his family, on the
16th, he heard a noise, and being informed that the
Yeomanry were ordered out to disperse the multi.
trade, went towards the ground, and having arrived
at the top of the street where his house was situated,
and found the people running towards him, chased
by the Yeomanry, turned round, and was retiring to
his house, walking-on the flag stones, when, within
2.5 paces of his own door, one of them struck at his
head with his sabre ; his hat, however, protected.him
ftom the blow, but having been knocked from his
bead, he was in the act of stooping to pick it up,
when one of the gallant Yeomanry cut him with his
sword, and inflicted a wound on the head. The pro-
secutor's son was a witness of the transaction, and
joined with his father in giving evidence on the bill.
When, however, it was brought in by the Grand
Jury, the Public was astonished with the sound of
I Nut found.'
" The next Bill was against the same person, pre.
(erred by Elizabeth Farren, a 'poor interesting looking
oman, who was standing in the neighbourhood of
e Meeting, with her infant child at her breast ;
this, however, was no protection from the rude attack
of the Yeomanry. Seeing
Yeomanry) coming, the held her child down, and
prayed of him to spare her infant; while, however,
in the act of saving her child, she received a deep
sabre wound, three inches long, from the crown of
her head to the top of her forehead; her child fell
from her arms, and received a severe contusion on
the head, of which it is at this day suffering. The
woman instantly fell from the shock of the blow ;
she was soon afterwards taken home in a fainting
state ; but the bill was rejected : it should be observ-
ed, that, the woman deposed, that at the time she
was attacked, she did not, nor does she now believe,
that the lliot Act had been read; and further, that
there had not been any tumult, any stones irown,
Or any resistance or insult offered to the Yeomanry,
or any other persons.
" The following case shared the same fate: it was
an indictment against another, for maliciOusly cut-
ting, under Lord Ellenborough's Act. Cheetham,
the prosecutor, proved, that after the Meeting had
been dispersed, he was going down one of the streets
in Manchester, the opposite direction to the Meeting,
about a qiiarter of a mile from the sebt, where he
was Met by a small party of the Yeomanry ; there
were two or dime strangers walking the same way
with the proses 'tor, when the Yeomanry cried oat,
' D—n you, disperse ;'• to which Cheetham replied,
4 You stop the way, give us room, and we will be
gone.' He then appeared to make room for passing,
by riding out a yard or two from the wall, when
Cheetham attempted to pass, and he cried out ' D—n
you, I will cut your head off,' and immediately made
a desperate Stroke at him, which, after cutting clean
off about seven inches of the rim of his hat, took
effect in the neck just under the ear, and inflicted a
dreadful gash three inches long and one inch deep.
" The nest indictment was against another Yeo-
man, by a poor woman, upwards of 60 years old,
who went out to the purlieus of the Meeting to seek
for a lad, her son ; seeing.the Yeomanry coming, she
strove to make her escape, when the man rode up to
her in a furious manner ; having known him from a
child, she cried out, ' Thomas —, thee wilt not
hurt me, I know : deaf, however, to her supplica-
tions, he rode her clown, and cut her on the head
with his sabre, froM the effects of which she thinks it
probable she will never recover.
" The last indictment which was preferred was
against a Yeoman, by a little boy, who received a
most dreadful wound on the bead from the sabre of
this person. 'me lad, William Leigh, had, boy-like,
attended the Meeting front cariosity, and was one of
those composing a thick compact body, created by
the attempts of the crowd to escape—upon the heads,
shoulders, necks, and arms of these poor wretebes
the Yeomanry were dealing out their cuts with a
liberal hand, when the poor lad having caught the
1 eye of defendant, whom he knew, he ran towards
Ilhim to get out of the crowd; but his acquaintance
replied to his application for safety by a blow at, his
head, which gave him a deep wound, full three or
four inches long : the Grand Jury, however, threw
out the bill. Numbers of other' cases could have been
preferred, but it would have•been unavailing: it be-
came evident that the Jury acted upon some fixed
principle, which would have rendered all efforts to
obtain redress unsuccessful."
iced I

A notice has been sent by the Brewers to the Pub-
lit ans that the price of Porter would be immediately
reduced one bllf-penny per quart, and that in a
short time a still further reduction might be ex-
pec ted.—illortting
CORN-RXCIIANCk..
We have had several
Monday, and there. -
ntoming, the sales of
quarter lower, the runs
sanguine expectation. I
day's prices. Our arrINN
the Trade may be considered
are much' sought after,
In other artkks there

llerafd.
M A RIK•s fli.,A.NFnt h., SSEPfIIk"BEtieral 's.
e
apptaring but few buyers at Market this - t
Wheat Were exceedingly heavy at.l*: per
uts of New Wheat far exceeding tae most •
Barley was scarce, aid supported Moo-
rivals of Oats were large from Ireland, and
isidered Is. per quarter lower. White I'eas
ter, and fully maintain our last quotation.
ate is no alteration.
•