Star.
London, England, 1816-02-03 00:00:00

DEAL, FEBRUARY :2.

Came down from t'le River the Samuel and Sarah,
Somuns. for Gisadaloupe ; glary Ann, • LLEWLLYN,
for Malta; ....ord Somers, QL3NTOPij for New Yo: ;
GrAtienne, ODIENUE, for St. Croix ; and renit;ii in Ott;
Downs with his MAjestv's 0,41 QANYDIEDE; Ernperrt
Alexander, CUAPMAN, tot BALIVIA ; Aurora, PICAII•
SON, for Jamaica; Friends, WAIUMN, for, ditto;
Dawn, BRUCE, for St. Vincent's ; and several °Vies s,
particulars unknown.—Wind S.W.

HARWICH, FEBRUARY L •
No arrivals. Sailed the Margaret, HOTYMAN, with
salt from St. Übe's, to Hamburg's.

LAW INTELLIGENCE.
CONSISTORY mugs, FEBRUARY 2.
lIIIILDER V. SMITH, PALMY CALLING HERSELF
FIBLDEIt.

This was a cause of Truliity of marriage, promoted
by.). Fielder, E q. of St. George's, H tnover.square,
against Sophia Augusta, his wife, by reason of her mi.
nority at the time the marriage was solemnized, whit h
was by licence, on the 13th of May, /797, at the
Church of St. James, Westminster. They had issue
12 children, as suggested by Counsel, though' not in
evidence. It was pleaded, in addition to the minority,
that she was an illegitimate child, and that the mar-
riage was contracted subsequent to her father's death,
and that the consent of the mother was not a legal
consent, under such r"nenetartees, there being no

guardian appointed by the Court of Chancery. On
the part of the wife it was contended, that there was
a total failure of proof of all the necessary facts in
this case.—Sir WILLIAM SCOTT, after several perti-
nent remarks as to the length of time the party had
lived together, was of opinion, that there was rys
tisfetctory proof to justify the Court in pronouncing;
the marriage null and void, and, therefore, dismissed
the party from the suit.

HAZARD and Co. Contractors for the Lottery, se.
spectfully request sych of their friends as have any
predilection for particular Numbers, to be early in
their application, as, from the encreasing demand,
the delay even of a few days may be productive of
serious disappointment. To those among their cus-
tomers who take them at Hazard, they beg to say that
they have now a great variety of Numbers on Sale.
It seems to be a very general opinion that the
CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER will suffer that
favoured child of necessity, the Property Tax, to t.:•e
a natural death. Whether this will be-the case or not
we pretend not to divine; but we think we could
point out a very easy way of rendering the bantlirg
inoffensive, and that not by any vain attempt to ciu,:e
its operation; but by placing all who ate subject to
it'in a situation to bid it defiance. Tctenty-fire
Thousand Guineas, for instance, or Twenty Thot-
sand Pounds, and such things the present Lotteiy
holds out, invested in the Funds, would prod:ice near
£1,500 a-year for ever; and who upon such a writ,
and so obtained, would grudge the paltry tax of 1U
'per cent?

—..14000
44 Mr. 'Bruce, with whom individually the whole
took its rise, had only the slight acquaintance with
M. de Lavalette which resulted from occasionally
meeting in society during last winter, a very amiable
and well-informed man. From the moment of the
arrestation, no communication had passed with him.
directly or indirectly. His wife he neither knew nor
ever saw; it was only in common with the rest el
the world that he learnt of her heroic conduct, and,
like any one else,-believed that the escape was per-
fected, and Lavalette out of France. In this belief
he remained until the morning of the 3d, when his ser-
vant brought tohisbed-side a French letter, the contents
of which were as follows Your character inspires
me with so much confidence, that 1 am induced to
reveal to you a secret, which I will communicate to
no one else. • This secret is, that M. de Lavalette is
still in Paris. ) commit his life into your hands, as
you alone are capable of saving him.'—Mr. Bruce's
astonishment at reading this letter may well be con-
ceived s he sent word, that he could give no imme-
diate answer, but indicated the time and place whither
One should be sent. The interval was passed, not
in political plots and combinations, but in deliberate
reflection on the situation of an unfortunate man
thrown thus on his mercy and his honour. Mr.
Bruce at length determined to save him if he
could. His answer was given to that.effect, but
with pointed avoidance of connection with any indi-
viduals or party whatever; anti he desired to be left
ignorant both of the writer of the letter and of the
place of Lavatette's concealment. It was not until
after this resolution was taken and the answer givcn
that a sense of the impassibility of accomplishing,
singly, his object, made him look for assistance to
the adventurous spirit and generous character ot his
friend, Sir Robert Wilson, and subsequently, on nie
same grounds, to Captain Hutchinson. Their plans
were laid and perfected with a judgment and promp-
titude equal• to the spirit and feelings in which they
arose. Though watched and dogged by the Police
in every direction, on account ot opinions unreser-
vedly expressed against the Bourbon system, they
succeeded in baffling their vigilance, and saved a.
man condemn d to death, whose escape from prison
had caused a tumult in the country, and roused the
fury of the Ultra-Royalists !
44Mr. Bruce, when arrested, was carried first to
the Hotel of the Police, and thence to the Prefec-
ture, where he was immediately placed under luck
and key, in a gloomy room, resembling a dun-
geon. This was his treatment fur three days, and
would have continued longer, with a view to ex-
tort confession, had not other ,motives induced an
avowal of his conduct. He was each evening sub-
mitted to the interrogatories of two Commissaires de
Poiice ; but it was not until the second that, at his
suggestion, they condescended to acquaint him with
the nature of the charge brought against him. On
the third evening his examination took place before
_ M. Dupuy, the Juge d'lnstruction, with whom he
expostulated on the extraordinary course of proceed-
ings to which he had been subjected—told him that
the interrogatories could be considered only as a sort
of Inquisition, without the torture—that the princi-
ples ot justice demanded that every man should de-
clare himself innocent until proved guilty—and that
it was against all right and all law to force a man to
furnish evidence against himself. M. Dupuy was
not instructed to this extent, nor had he aught to, re.
ply but an arzumentum ad locum; he reminded him
that he was in France and that such were the prac-
tices and usages of the country to which it was ne-
cessary he should conform. - Mr. Bruce having
learned by this time that Sir Robert's letter had
furnished the Government with every particular',
deemed it then the manly and honourable course
openly to avow all his own conduct in the transac-
tion. This avowal, obtained from him and from
Captain Hutchinson, has produced a relaxation to-
wards them, which some may think common justice
and conimon decency might have effected. Sir Ro-
bert still continues au acre:, but it is hoped that he
will very speedily be released, and that they will be
admitted to bail for an offence which, alter all, is de-
signated but as a deli: correctional."

A letter from Paris, dated January,26, says—“ It
is not without surprise that the public learnt yesterday
morning, that a circular note from the Director •,
the Post-office had been sent to the different Cabinets
Literaires and Reading•rooms of the Metropolis, ac-
qtrainting the proprietors that the English newspapers
were suspended till further orders."
. Tuesday se'rui gilt, in the evening, as the Rev. Mr.
Eyre, Rector of Kiliosenty, in the county of Water-
ford, was sitting with Mrs. Eyre, her sister, six chil-
dren, and Ensign O'Brien, of the Meath Militia, two
armed men, one of them with his face blackened, en-
tered the parlour, and a pistol was immediately pre-
sented at the Officer. Mr. O'Brien stooped towards
the tire•place, with a view to avail himself of some of
the fire-trous as a weapon of defence ; on this effort,
the pistol was fired, and discharged three pewter balls,
one of which passed his shoulder, and another pene.
crated his neckcloth, and slightly wOunded him. On
the shot being fired, the assailants precipitately matie
off. Mr. O'Brien commands the detachment of the
Meath Militia quartered-at Kilmacthomas.
A reward of Fifty Guineas is offered by Messrs.
Coors's and Co. Surgeons, of Charlotte-House, Black-
friars-road, for the discovery of the Author of a Let.
ter seat to the Medical Board. We have seen it; the
language is that of a Quaker, and bears-the Walworth
Post-mark, dated Julie 23—a more scurrilous and in-1
vective instrument we have never witnessed, and hope,
for the honour of the profession, it will not prove the
effusion of a Medical man—if so, it must arise
from a grovelling. jealr:usy at seeing a Society of
independent Gentlemen, of the first respectability,
appropriating a large portion of their time in alle-
viating the oistresses of individuals, who may have
consulted mer: ignorant of the profession ; we are at
a los► to conceive the cause for such a libel. Perhaps
souse of the author's patients have experieuced rebel
from the Medical Board. We are authorised to state,
that Dr. Coups': and Co. are consulted by all
ranks of people every morning until ante o'clock, sold•
from tweive tin eight precisely.


•
. . •
(11' NUART 24.
r.lar ‘r-r, ' TE LETTER.
if • n the following, as the plain and
true sialemen :•• the origin and motives. of a lee
event, which bas • en made the subject of so much