Star.
London, England, 1819-10-08 00:00:00

TO THE EDITOR OF THE STAR. .

• t
Sift—l beg to offer you my best thanks for having
given a place to my letter of Auguit 15, and should
have, in the present instance, followed up the facts
therein contained, by some others no less important
to the Naval interests of the Empire, were it not for
an article which appeared in The STAR of Saturday:
September 11th, relating the outrageous conduct of
a Seamai' employed on the Smuggling Prevention
Service at Margit*.
However well intentioned the arrangements, by,
which our Officers and Seamen were appropriated to
this duty, may have been, I can assure you, Mr.
Editor, that the circumstance stated by your Margate
Correspondent, although highly aggravating; is very
trifling indeed, compared with many others which.
have occurred almost daily, ever since the commence-
ment of the Coast Blockade System, as it is not un-
aptly called by the people.
The presiding Magistrate and Borough Patron of
a populous town on the Coast of Sussex, has mote
than once been menaced and put in bodily fear, by
sailors of the blockade service, whom he met drunk,
armed with loaded pistols and cutlasses, which were
frequently brandished in air, while all those who
came too near the lawless tars, thus improperly at
large, stood a very good chance of being shot through
the head ! It is not more than five weeks ago that the
following circumstance was communicated by my-
self to aGentleman, through whose zeal in the cause
of humanity I hoped it would have reached the
quarter in which a remedy for such irregularities
might have been found. Looking one morning out of
my window, and down an ill-paved street of an agree-
able watering-place, I observed a party of seamen
armed with cutlasses and pistols, marching up toward
me, followed by a large concourse of people: on their
approaching somewhat nearer, I perceived that six of
the sailori had each another man attached to his arm
by a handcuff; a very venerable person, almost bent
doable with age, and evidently in an agony of terror,
vainly endeavoured to keep pace with the prisoners
and their guard, and I found, upon inquiry, that he
was father to one of the former, a fine youth of 18.
In this order they passed by the house, leaving me to
meditate on the extraordinary spectacle I had just
witnessed.

Anxioui to obtain some further information on
such unusual proceedings, I called up my landlord,
uho told me, that gi the six men in smock-frocks,"
had been caught on the preceding morning, in an at-
tempt to co-operate with smugglers, by one of the
Naval Officers, and a party of,his men ; that they were
now returning from examination at the Custom.
house, and going to lodge the prisoners in jail. On
asking whether any contraband goods were found on
the people thus treated ? he answered in the negative.
I subsequently ascertained that the prisoners were re-
leased, on their severally paying a fine of £25, as a
commutation of the old Excise penalty of £lOO, or
imprisonment. It was afterwards very confidently
(but, perhaps, untruly) reported, that the Secretary
of the Admiralty, in consequence of representations
made to him by the Superintending Captain of the
District, stated his intention of prosecuting the Colkc-
tor,-because he did not levy the whole fine, by which
the zealous Captain and his vigilant under-scrappers
were deprived of considerable emolument !
Soon after the establishment of this service a man
was shot by nne of the seamen. near Beachy Head ;1
the Inquest which sat on the body, brought its a
verdict of wilful murder, against some person or
persons unknotua, and they have remained so to this
day. The disconsolate widow, is, in the mean time,
occupied in soliciting a subseriptionfor the support
of herself and children, who are left totally destitute
by the untimely death of their father.
Upon the certain effect of thus lining the coast
with armed bands, not recognized by any legislative
act, and for the mere purpose of doing that duty
which had been very successfully performed for cen-
turies by the Civil Authorities of the Country, it is
needless to expatiate. But what will the Public say,
if it should be het eafter found, that no material di-
minution has taken place, as to the quantity of smug.
gled goods imported, since the new arrangements;
whereas, a very heavy expense has been incurred by it.
To prove the above assertion, in some degree, I
should add, that the prohibited articles, such as Tea,
Spirits, and Silks, continue to be retailed at exactly
the same prices they bore previous to the establish-
ment of the Coast Blockade.
Oct. 1, 1819. ALBION.

Sunday there was a Vestry Meeting held at Gates-
head, with the alleged view of putting down the
names of the inhabitants to serve as Special Constables,
and for the purpose of voting a " loyal and dutiful"
Address. The RECTOR and A. ASKEW, Esq. attended.
On the question being put, that the inhabitants should
enrol themselves, there were four or five hands against
it, but several persons coming who had not heard the
proceedings, the business was again opened. Mr.
JOHN ERRINGTON and Mr. W. KELL, expressed it as
their opinion, that they should be convinced of the
necessity for Special Constables, before any such
proceeding as was proposed should take place.—
Every man who refused to come forward when called
upon, there being a necessity, was liable to be in-
dicted ; and they thought it would be better to suffer
the inhabitants to come forward, if they pleased,
when it was necessary, or to incur the penalty of the law.
Oa the subject of the Address, the latter Gentleman
said, its being brought forward at that time might
seem to infer that their loyalty had been suspected.—
The Rector, in the course of the proceedings, read an
' extract from a letter, in which it was said that there
could be but one opinion as to the designs of those
persons called Reformers, whom it designated as
dangerous and disaffected characters. Mr. ERRING-
TON replied, that there was great diversity of opinion
amongst the Reformers ; he objected to the sweeping
manner in which they had been denounced in the
letter—and as it was probable there might be many
Reformers in the room, it would be inconsistent in
them to pledge themselves to any thing contained in
it. To this the Reverend Gentleman rejoined, that
these were nice points! The Meeting broke up shortly
and we understand, that neither Special Constables
were enrolled, nor an Address agreed to. It is a no-
table circumstance, that the inhabitants who received
summonses, were requested by it to come and be
mons in as Special Constables, and the Meeting WAS
held to consider the prop' let), of enrolling themselves
to be called on.