Star.
London, England, 1817-03-07 00:00:00

CRUELTY TO BRITISH SUBJECTS.

The following are authentic particulars respecting
the steps taken by the Briti►h merchants at Cape
Henry, in consequence of the shameful imprisonment
of Mr. Dsmosi by the H tltian Govern:nem, whose
case was detailed in a Petition presented a few nights
since to the }tome of Commons_: _ _

" After the imprisonment of Mr. J. Dtvivm in
the common .1 id of Cape Henry. on January 20,
1816, fur the insertion of what this despotic Govern-
ment was pleased to call political intormation, in a
letter addressed to the master of a British vessel, then
lying in Port Plata, in the Spanish part of the !bland.
The Baron Ditpuy, in conversation with a British
merchant, affected to regret the necessity of adopting
so harsh a' measure. He justified himsell, however,
on the ground of keeping Itimralf secure, and as-
serted, that if the letter in question, with the obnoxi-
ous paragraph quoted in Mr. Davison's Petition, had
received his seal and signature without his perusal,
and had been read by any of the King's officers in its
progress to the Spanish territory. that his own head
would have been infallibly forfeited.
1,
" Oa Monday, January 22, every merchant, so-
per-cargo. master of vessel, and in short every stran-
ger, WAS summoned to appear at the Governor's
pause At two o'clock. in order to hear the contents of
a letter received in town that morning from his Ma-
jesty. The number assembled at the appointed hour
consisted of about forty. The Governor soon lifter
entered the room, attended by the Baron Dam and
the Under Interprettr. The Baron addressed the
company by informing them, that he had received a
lam that morning from the Ring, and at the same
time a sttict order to communicate its contents to the
strangers resident in his Maj:sty's capital; and that
in conformity to this injanc!ion, he would proceed to
read it aloud. He then read the letter in French,
the contents of which were as follow s--., That his
Majesty had detected a letter written by Mr. J. Da-
viom, a British merchant establishei in Cape Henry,
Lis capi..l. containing information, not relative mins
own commercial affairs, but to the political transac-
tions or his dominions; that the paragraph which had
come under his observation was perfectly false, in the
representation of the failure ta his Majesty's arms
against his enemy ; that it. was highly reprehensible
for a merchAsa to iuterfere with politics, and to spread
reports prejudicial to the G 'imminent which pro.
tecret his person an.l property ; that every exertion
imi been used to induce Mr. Davison to reveal his
authroof for the information he had communicated
to hi, vorespondeut, but without the desired effect;
that the only inference to be drawn from such cop '
duct and such obstinacy was, that he must have some
secret conuectiun with the enemies of his Kingdom,;
and that he had estate to the determination of trying
hint AS a common spy and puitialting him according
to the laws of the country.
" Alter the Baron bad. finishe4 the letter it was
suggested by some one present, that it was desirable
the litter should be translated into English, as there
were several persons in the room who were nut suffi-
ciently conversant with the French language to com-
prehend its contents correctly. This WAS accordingly
done by the under interpreter. '
tt It would be difficult to describe the surprise Of
the British Merchants present at this meeting when
.they heard the manner in which his Majesty deter-
mined to proceed against their countryman, whom
they locked upon as one of the mot respectable of
their number. They concluded, huweves, that no
thing could be done at that moistest, as it might be'
dangerous to commit themselves, without mature
consideration, by an avowal of their opinion, in a
' country where the moot barbarous tyranny and %no.
1
ranee, entbried by the bayonet, prevail over common
striae and common right. It was, nevertheless, re-
solved, upon the breaking up of this meeting, by the
principal merchants, that they would proceed to the
house of Baron Dopey that same afternoon, and re-
monstrate in the roost unequivocal manner against the
determinatiou of hte Majesty, and that some strong
representation should be made to effect Mr. Davi-
sou's release. A deputation accordingly waited upon
the Baron, composed of the five following Gentlemen s
Messrs. Bradock. lehoolbred, Richardson, Rawlin-
son, and Marsom. Therfound the Baron in his of-
fice, and he immediately requested theta to silt into
, a room upstairs. He followed them, accompanied
o lfty Baron Vastey, a tool employed by the King to
I write fur the Royal Gazette, and to support bas atro-
cities and oppression by the most bare•faceel false-
hoods and sophistry, a task, for which a most de-
pravad heart and the most savage disposition have
' peculiarly qualified him. T:sey commenced by ex-
pressing their concerti at the imprisonment of Mr.
Davison[ and at the measures which his Majesty had
determined to adopt against him; they imagined
that .Lis respectability and correct conduct during
his residence lathe country would have sheltered him
from his present disgrace, and from the imputations
that had been coat upon hit character ; they declared
in a respectful, but in a firm and resolute tone, that
the events communicated in blr. Davison's letter,
And which had provoked his Majesty's displeasure,
were perfectly known to every one of them, and had
frequently formed the. topic of common converse.
ciao among theuvaehres and 6therforeigners ; that if
they should notormnately
,find themselves in Mr.
Distrison's situation, they must remain in prison to
r.trisity, if the discovery of the original authors of
the report were the sole condition of enlargement ;
that though the report. of the failure of the expedi-
tion against Jeremse aught be false, yet it had been
so conarnoa, that It would be impossiWe for any of
them to trace it to its source; they hoped, that un-
der these considerations, his Majcs.y uvula no longer
consiOes-their countryman in the light of a common
spy, a character so rarely found among Englishmen,
but that he would be pleased to order his itnmediate
Wit:anon. They then requested the Baron Dupuy
to elm his influence with bis Majesty fur the attain-
ment of their wishes, and soticited him to lay before
bins the r presentations they had made relative to
'this unhappy affair, in whkli they felt so detp an in-
..
' terest. He replied, that he would that same evening
mohtoff a &patch to the King, with a fall account
tit what had been represented., After a few txpres
; sionsof regret for Mr. Davison's flotation, on the
"art of Baron Dupuy, and an absurd attempt on the
Ipart of Baron Vaktey, to prove that a merchant had
no right, upon Any pretext whatever, to introduce
'political information into his correspondence, a doc-
trine too cootradicwry.to cosmos awe for retina-
,

tion, the Deputation took their leave. perfectly sa.l
tisfied with the propriety and literaltis of their conduct.
" Every person at all acquainted with the affairs
of Petion and Christophe, it IMAM Of the truth of
the staterni.nt in Mr.-Davisun's letter, respecting the
failure of the expedition ut the litter against Jeretnie.
It his been men:itmed in all the American Papers,
and one of these paiwts, in which tl:e circurnstmce
was stated, was At Cape Henry at the vary in.! of
Mr. Davison's suffering. The report wis spread
immediately on the ieturit from Juit.lnte of the ve,-
eels which had carried the troops there, an.l although
none of the natives dare mention it in general con-
vets iti )))) , they made no secret I it in talking with
Englishmen, on whose honi:or th-y cnuld rely."

PARIS, M.fRCH S.

PRIVATE LETI ER.

IThe /11orritere of to-day annotmces, that Prince
Talleyrand resumed yesterday the luoctions of his
I place of Iligh Chavalxrlain. The Moniker does nor
mention. but it is certain, that he had yesterday
morning a private audience of his Majesty, which
I.oted above half an hour. Same say thlt foreign
influence was employed t.) procure his ie.aihaission
to Court; others suggest, that M. de C. having strong
reasons to suspect one ot his colleagues of intriguing
against him, had it intimated to the Prince, that it
he wrote a letter to the Premier Gentilliornme, his
exile would be revoked. It is certain, that the letter
was written, and the Prince received permission to
return to Court. It is .31..0 certain. that all the
Wends of the colleague above alluded to speak very
contemptuously both of the talents And of the charac-
ter of M. de 0.; and it is not to be supposed that
they do this without being authorised, at least, by
the silent consent of their patron. Tois bring the
case, it is very natural that the Minister of Police
should think that the readmission into the interior
circle of the King, of M. de Talleyrand, who is ac-
quainted with the whole history of the rival in ques-
tion, (and who cannot be supposed to wish him well,
alter his late denunciation of what the Prince had
said in a private company), must effectually prevent
this latter Gentleman front gaining any cootidence
with his Sovereign.
6' It is a great misfortune for M. de C. 1114 he has
no partisans on whom he can rely : he is all posacr-
ful for the present, but his power depends on perso-
nal favour ; he was never till now in a position to
have any adherents, being favoured neither by birth
nor place ; no one is accustomed, by long habit, to
look up to him AS a leader. With the system he
pursues, he is forced to employ revolutionary tools;
but these very tools are habituated to look upon those
who are now wing to attack him as their natural
chiefs. Never did A man possess greater power than
he does. The Minister of Foreign Affairs is become
mere cipher; the Minister of the Interior is entirely
under his direction ; or if ever he resists, he is forced
instantly to yieli ; the other klinistes obey
clay his mandate; ; the Duke of. Feltre alone has
sornetimei resisted with success. There WAS. there
days ago, a report, which still exists, that M. Pour)
'di Bore was on the eve of befog recalled, and that
M. de Marcoff was to replace him ; however that
may be, ha was very near meeting with an accident
Oa more serious nature.

" On Saturday, in the middle.of the night, as M.
Pose° di Bosso was going through the Place Ven-
dome. rinse part of the hanseu of his horses broke,
and th • set off at full gallop. It appedri that he
completely lost his presence of mind, for though the
danger on such an occasion in a four.wheeT carriage
in a town is extremely tonal!, he prefentd jumping
out of 'the carriage; the consequence naturally %Vint
that he fell on his beat!. No limb was hmken, artd
foctouately the contusiom are not so violent as mi.:ht
have been expected. He has been bled several trines,
bet no danger is appreended.—l waa near forgetting
to mention, that every body says that M. Pasquicr
voted Ageing his collisiiGoe, the Maisie:. of Koine,
on the questign of the Nay, Budget.u...

tt.e. ivy t&N i.vO•STAK.

LON1)014..

Mt tea bag our best thanks, and kla farther favours are earnestly
Intr.-med.

FRIDAY, MARCH 7. 1817.
PRICE OF STOCKS THIS DAY AT TWELVE O'CLOCK s
Reduced Aut —Cons. Rio. 99i—for ace. 49}
4 per Can. abet--S per feat. Navy 99
Esebequer BED Ida. pr.—lndia •39 40 pr.

On.,the propriety of reviving and rendering per-
pima the Act fie preventing and punisking attempts
to eeduce 4is• MaJerrv's forces from their allegiance;
there 'can be but one sentiment among the friends of
order,- good government. and the constitutional re-
ft4matibnif abuses. We think it impossible, how-
ever *much men of equal honesty and good intentions
might,. differ on the expedietcy of swpending the
Habeas Corpus AM that any man of a sound mind
can offer an objection to a law calculated to preserve
Irons taint the minds-of-men whrrowe so Moly duties'
to the community as our soldiers and sailors.
;That men acquainted kith human nature should
Gave been fearful of the mischiefs and inconvenience
which might result from dr:omitting too much power
to the hands of petty inthorities, was not surprizingr.
' and the value of the Amendments produced by this
cautious fear is becoming Ranifest already. The
Magistrate on whose .warrant the people accused of
treasonable practices were arrestea at Glasgow, may
be a person of the cadest judgment and soundcs:
discretion—a second AfiIiIIOPHILL ; but it such a
person could be imposed upon, how great the danger
to the subject where the Magistrate might be of a
different character—not only innocent but meritori.
out Characters might have been ruined in health and
in reputation, with hardly a potsibility of obtaining
redrets.

The Glaszew Chronicle of Tuesday states,. that Mr.
*Titan; the Teacher recently apprehended on A
Charge of Treason, who has been, says that Paper,
liberated for imamate," bas received from twelve
respectabls Gault:atm a public testimony to

unifortn loyalty. A copy of this testimonial Is pub-
lished in the News.paper alluded to. We calm.*
insert it entire ; but we make tram for enough to
chew, bow cautious petty shoutd
acting upon secret information—i,.f rmation always
to he suspected as flowing from malevolence.

The testimnnial, after mentionine the feelings of i
deep astonishment an,l regret t-itts which the subsci:-
bers learnt that Mi. *Titan find been apprehenderr:-
on a charge of being conntcted with R Society formed
with trensanable designs, says—., From nut full and ."1
intimate acquaintance with that G‘ntletnan'a cha-
racter as a man, a citizen, and a chri,tian, we have
the strongest conviction that such a siulation ot the'
lawt of Gin and man as this charge invelio, la alike
abhorrent to the dictate: of his undetriand,og and the
feelings of his heart. It is impossihl fr:.r ,
had so many opportuaities of knowiii7, dirt the I..ve
of pence and order decidedly preclmninates in his
mind, to refrain from expressirg our sincere reertt
that any I ertw: should hare been found ta frat,': cf anin-1:•ng
his nacre to an association so critsainal in its nAtu;e."

The WU for the more eirectullly preventing Sed:•
thins Meetings and Assemblies, of which
.we
gave the hem's, has rvc:-ived the toll.,vcris
in the Committee :

The number of hers^.ns not permitted to meet to.
gether on political grievances. without notice WI g
given by seven housekeepers in the newspapers, ft..
is filed m 1.4 and upwards.

No Meeting, held in virtue of such previous notice,
to be adjourned to any future day.

The Act not to extend to Freemasoss' Lodge.;
nor to Declaration approved by two Magistrdte: ;
nor to any Meeting or Society of the people com-
monly called Quakers; nor to any Meeting or So-
ciety assembled for purposes of a Religious or CI,.
ritable nature only.

All Fines, Penalties, or Forfeitures, exceeding se2l,
incurred under the Acr, may be recovered by acti a
of debt within three mouths after being incurred.

No person to be prosecuted nosier this Act, fcr
having been, before the passing of this Act, a Mem-
ber of any Society or Club declared to be an unlawful
combination and confederacy, if such person shall not
in any manner have acted as a 'Member of such So.
ciety or Club after the passing of the Act.
N ► person to be prosecuted by virtue of this Act
for any thing done or clmmitted contrary to its pr,
visions, unless such prosecut.on shall be commenced
within six calendar months after the offence.