Star.
London, England, 1820-01-11 00:00:00

AYR, JANWARY 6.

Since the apprehension of Al‘Glicer and a part of
his gang, for the robbery at the farm-house at Bor-
land, near this place, one of his sisters, (who carried
the Cap of Liberty from Ayr to the late Kilmarnock,
Radical Meeting, with a female associate, both of
whom were represented in the Newspapers as " beau-
tiful and well-dressed Ladies, from Wallacetown,"
and received the . ban ks of the Meeting for placing
the Cap of Liberty upon the heal of the Chairman),
were lately lodged in our jail.—A few nights ago,
these Ladiei called at the said farm-house of Bor-
land, and after asking out the farmer's daughter, and
inquiring what evidence she intended to give in respect
to the late robbery? threatened to burn the house
should her evidence tend to criminate M'Gheer or
any of his gang; but, fortunately, they were imme-
diately taken into custody, by some men who hap
petted to be in the house, and conveyed to the county
'jail. It is proper to remark, that one of the M‘Ghee7s,
now committed for trial, carried the " Union" flag at
some of the late Radical Meetings in this county.

Walter Rai/lie, and Janet Simpson, his wife, re-
siding in the Grass-market, Edinburgh, have been
indicted to stand trial before the High Court of Jus-
ticiary, accused of sedition, in having sold or circu-
lated cert:tin Numbers of W.oler's Black Dzea,:f.

HIGH COURT OF JUSTICIARY, EDINBURGH, JAx.B.
—The Court met this morning at tell o'clock. Gilbert
M'Leed, William Carss, and Hugh AP Kendrick, who
verb ordered to appear at the Bar this day, are now
in ,Jail in Glasgow, on a charge of sedition ; and their
appearance, to answer for a contempt of the Court,
was postponed to Wednesday next.
Government have lately purchased sortie acres of
ground, in a fine situation, in the neighbourhood of
Edinburgh, to make a new Botanical Garden for the
University, which will be laid out and formed under
the management and superintendance of Professor.
GRAHAM, and will be of the greatest advantage to
the Students of Botany, at Edinburgh:
The inhabitants of this town (says the Leeds Mer-
cury of ati.irclay), were a good deal surprised and
alarmed by the assembling of a detachment of horse
soldiers, at about ten o'clock last Thursday night.
On inquiry into the cause of this nocturnal muster,
we find, that strong indications of riot had manifested
themselves at Stanningley, a clothing village in this
neighbourhood, owing to a dispute about the rate of
wages, between Mr. JOHN VARLEY, one of the prin-
cipal manufacturers of that place, and the work-
people—'-See the STAN t?f Tuesday]. On Thursday
n
last, matters wore so menacing a appearance, as to
induce the MAYOR of this Borough to direct the
Chief Constable to repair to the place at a late hour
of the night, accompanied by a military force, to be
in readiness, in case the civil authotily should be
found unequal to the preservation of the public peace.
We are happy to add, that the night passed over
without any disturbance, though the cause of the
prevailing disquiet continues to exist.
LAST LOTTERY, the First-drawn Prize was enti-
tled to 1:‘2.0,000, and"was Sold by WEBIL—To-mor-
row the First-drawn Prize will he entitled to 00,000
Conscls. The fprtunate Ticket may yet be pur-
chased, at either of WEBB'S Offices, 9, Cornhill, or
17, Ludgate-street. The Lottery that begins To-
morrow, contains Four of o of them
will be decided in the First Five Minutes.

To-MORROW the Lottery will commence Drawing,
and ALL the Tickets now on iialo must be decided.
The Scheme contains Point Prizes of £20,000, and
Two of them will be then decided in the First Five
Minutes.--The Last-drawn Prize of-I.:20,000 sterling,
and the Last-drawn Prize of 20,000 Guineas, were
Sold in Shares at No. 19, Corithill, and 2G, Oxford-
street, the fortunate Offices of G. Ciatttou.

'TO THE EDITOR OF THE STAR, • •

Sin —I thank you for the insertion of my letter in
your Paper of the 30th ult. You advise paying off
the National Debt at once; and this, you say, may
be done without any sacrifice of capital. It would
.be difficult, lrvever, to persuade one having £lO,OOO
in the Funds, or landed property of that value, that
the paying £1.500 thereof, towards the reduction of
the National Debt, would not be a sacrifice of capital.
Conceiving the plan I have suggested to be the least
objectionable of any that has yet appeared, I beg leave
briefly to r--state it ; viz. an immediate assessment of
per •cent. on funded property ; that the sum
thus produced (120 millions) be funded, at two and a
half per cent. and that the contributors be stock-
holders to the amount of their assessment ; that the
remainder of the Stock be redeemed at pal, by a pro-
portionate assessment on all capital in the kingdom ;
and that the assessed be requited to purchase Stock-
at two and a half per cent, to the amount of their as,
sessment. Also, that all persons, without exception,
holding, or who in future may hold, any situation
or sinecure under Government—receiving pensions
for superannuations from the Public, or holding
any living in the Church, be required to pur-
chase Stock to the amount of one half-year's In-
come, and, on promotion, to the amount of one half
the difference of the increase. Thus the Interest.
may be reduced one half, by a trifling sacrifice of
Capital, as the (.?- per Cents. at the pteient price of
Stocks, would be worth £56 to the Conti ibutors.

Were the debt reduced one half by the expedient
here recommended (which is all I propo.e its accom.
plishing), and the CHANCELLOR of the EXCII EQUER'S
expectations of an excess of Revenue of £5,000,000
confirmed, a diminuti3n orTares, to the amount of
t 25,000,000, would immediately result—a further re-
duction, were it even practicable, would be impolitic.
It is only by the adopti in of this, or some soch
measure, that a reduction appears to me to be pi ac-
ticable. Should it, however, be judged by. yourself,
or :toy of your Correspondents, to stand exposed to
objections, I should he happy to see a statem~n*n
these in some succeeding number of your respectable
Journal. Your constant reader, R. s.
2dinorks, January 8, 1820.

The Duke of Sussex dined with Sir WILLIAM
Bunrtouou on Saturday last.

Dur List, JAR. 6.—The Lords Justices who are t•
hold the Commission of the Lord-Lieutenant, during
his Excellency the Earl of TALeor's absence, which
will not exceed six weeks, are—

His,Grace the Right Hon. and Hon. William Stuart, the
Lord Archbishop of Armagh, and Primate of all Ireland ; the
Right Hon. Thomas Lord Manners, *Lord High Chancellor;
and the Right Hon. General Sir George Beckwith, Ci. C. B.
Commander of the Forces.

FIRE AT THE SOUTH-SEA HoUSE.—Tbis morning
at three o'clock, the watchman on duty at the
South-Sea House, was alarmed by the crackling of
%Need ; en inspecting the different offices, he at
length discovered that the Treasury was on fire.
lie instantly ran and awoke the head cashier, Mr.
Towson, who has apartments in• the house. On
Mr. T.'s opening the door of the Treasury, he found
the whole of the floor on fire. The engines were
immediately gut out, and the reservoir being frozen
over, the ice was broken by the watchman, in doing
which he fell in up to the neck. The flames were
fortunately extinguished, after destroying a part of
the room. Had it been one half-hour later before
the discovery was made, the whole of that wing of
the building, next Threadneedle-street, must have
been in fla►nes.

DESTREGTION OF MAGDALEN HALL, OXFORD.—
Further particulars :
OXFORD, JANUARY 9.—A desolating fire was dis-
covered to have broken out this morning, aboirt three
o'clock, in the northern extremity of Magdalen Hall,
in this -University. A great proportion of the inha-
bitants was immediately roused ; and in spite of the
unseasonable hour of the summons, great numbers
promptly came to the spot, and contributed their
zealous aid in working tour engines, and thereby
quenching the flames. Scut seven o'clock the fire
was got under ; but, unhappily, not until a consi-
derable portion of this venerable pile was consumed
to a cinder. Sixteen sets of Gentlemen's rooms were
completely destroyed ; and as they were all tenanted
(although, from its being vacation time, the Mem-
bers of the Society were almost ail of them absent
from the University), the destruction embraced a
great deal of furniture, and many valuable collections
of books. Owing to the extreme severity of the
weather, many of the pumps in the neighbourhood
were locked up with frost, and there was some diffi-
culty, at first, in procuring an adequate supply of
water. The accident, it is supposed, arose from the
indiscretion of a young man who happened to be re-
sident, and who went to bed without extinguishing
his 'candles. They afterwards communicated with
the 'furniture of his room, and occasioned the con-
flagration. He was, however, luckily awakened
from his perilous condition, and r.o lives were lost.—
No praise can be too great for the exertions of those
who came early to the spot. The Bishop of OXFORD
was amongst the number, and was exceeded by no one
present in the anxiety and earnestness of his efforts to
extinguish the flames. I am happy to be able to add,
that the house of the Learned Principal (Dr. MAC-
BRIDE), and the neighbouring lodging of the Rev.
Dr. Rouyn, President of Magdalen College, though,
atone period, in the greatest jeopardy, remained, in
the end, untouched by the devouring element. Both-
these venerable characters are now absent from the
city elf Oxford.
NEWSPAPERS.—The following is a StateMent of
the number of Newspaper Stamps (exclusive of the
Irish) which were issued from Somerset-House during
the last two years, for the London anu Country
Newspapers, at four-pence each :

Fur 1818 - - - 21,018,610
For 1119 - - - . .21,e75,05i4
Being an increase to the Revenue during the laq
year, of 819,4434 four-pences!
CULTIVATION OF DARTMOOR.—A Society is to be
instituted for the permanent employment of the pat.
per poor, which will commence with 2000 childrel.
His Royal Highness the PRINCE RLonsr has con-
sented to become Patron of the Society; the Arch-
bishop of CANTERBURY, President ; ,and .fifty Vice.
Presidents, to be chosen from the Merchants of the
City of London. The prisons are in future to be
called the " Metropolitan Schools of industry.';