The Statesman.
London, England, 1818-09-19 00:00:00

STATEAMAN

NAVAL IAITICL,LIGENCE.

DEAL„ Seer. 18.7—Sailed this morning the whole
of the homeward-bound, fortbe River.—Arrived the
Mitchell, from ae Mediterranean, and
Britannia,
piled for Holl.—Came downt from the River and re-
main, the Northumbrian, Lawson, for Bengal ; Tho.
Ines, Comfort, for the Cape of Good llope ; Daniel,
Whitehouse, for the South Seas; and Express, Bar-
lett, for Gibraltar; also remains the American sloop
of war Hornet.
Poerstouvo, OCT. 18.—Arrived the brig Hot.
ientot, Taylor, from London for the Cape of Go
rod
Hope; and Enterprize, Perkins, from liambugh
for Madeira.—Came into harbour the Hope gun-brig,
from Spit head.
LiVERPOOL, SEPT. l7.—The Hawke, Sharp, which
imbed from hence for New Brunswick 'on the 10th
inst., has pot hack with less of fore-yard and sails.
HARWICH, Sept. 18—The Joseph and Jane, San-
derson, from London to St. Petersburgh, has been
brought into this port by four salvage smacks, having
been on shore on the Shipwash Sand.
FA LMOUTII, Sept. 16.—Artived the Prince Ernest
packet, with a Mail from Lisbon, in ten days.
AUCILANGEf., Avo. '2.—There is a report of the
Kesh, having been lost in the White Sea; bot
as yet there are no particulars concerning her.—The
Ann, Todd, sprung a leak on her passage out here;
she has sustained but very trifling damage.

COVENT=GAKUBN TIIEATR

The Comedy of the Clandestine Marriage was re-
lived, at this Theatre, last evening, for the second
debut of Mr. W. FARREN, in the character of Lord
Ogleby. Ills performance was a most felicitous dis-
play of theatric talent. We are inclined to place it
above his Sir Peter Teazle, notwithstanding the es-
ceueoce of the latter. It was received with still
more applause. But Lord Ogleby, it must be recol-
lected, has been a desideratum in our dramatic gal-
lery, not only unsustained, but Gnat tempted ; and its
delineation by Mr. FARREN was not so mach ap-
plauded as a fine piece of acting, as hailed with that
feeling of etithusiasin wish which some long lost
chef d'oluvre of a great master is contemplated by
connoisseurs in painting. The first scene was ini-
mitably line. The infirmities of the worn beau,
his efforts to conceal his infirmities from others
and from himself—his gradual progress from
latter helplessness by those artifices of the toilet
end the Isboratory, with which man, in his second
childhood, •ainly strives to re-animate exhausted
and withered nature--all these were true to the
life, and most delightfully comic. His palsy fit
was nature itself. It is a leading merit in 1111 r. FAR-
REN that he produces great effect, withoot the least
effort, and by minute traits. By delicate touches,
be wade lord Ogkby at once laughable and ami•
ab:e—bletiding a tulle of polished gallantry with ri-
diculous pretension, ridiculous but not contempti-
ble, and redeeming all his follies at the close, by as-
suming, in strict keeping with what went before, a
generous forgetfulness of self—a delicate and lofty
sense of the obligatious which honour imposes upon
him, as a Nobleman, or rather as a Gentleman.—
There was one trilling circumstance during the busi-
ness of the toilet, of which we should recommend
the omission—his employment of the tweezers.—
lf we might venture to point out any fault In
a performance so highly characterised by talent and
discipline, it is the want, in one or two instances, of
that profusion of ceremonious politeness which the
preux-Cheraliers of the old school observed to the
fair sea. The instance in which this appeared most
striking, was where Lord Ogleby receives nose-
. gays from Fanny and Miss Sterling; but his eitit
in
this scene, with a Lady on each arm, was full of hu-
mour and character, and wholly free from the oh-
' jection to which we allude. The amateurs of the
comic drama have great reason to congratulate them-
selves on the accession of Mr. FARREsr•
All the other characters were ably supported....
FAWCETT, JONES, KEtABLE, ABBOT, and FARLEY,
were alike successful in their respective parts of
Sterling, Brush, Lorezcell, Melville, and Canton;
Alis• BRUNTON was an interesting Fanny; Mrs. C.
Resume was admirable as Miss Sterling; sod the
Comedy on the whole went off with infinite eclat.—
The house was crowded. The farce of elle Sleep
Walker concluded the entertainments of the evening
to the utmost gratification of the audience., Mr. J.
Russmt.t., from the Haymarket Theatre, performed
the part of Sumno in a most admirable style, and was
rapturously applauded in all his efforts. He will not
fail to prove a valuable acquisition to the comic de-
partment of this Theatre.

Tea PRACTICE OF THE LAW EN CAS ES OF
POKGERY.

The state of the Law respecting the forgery of Bank
Notes, and the opinions of those who have to execute
it, have given rise, during the present Old Bailey Ses•
eiens, to some scenes which are not calculated to in.
crease the respect of the People for the administration
of justice. We alluded nearly at the beginning of the
Sessions to the injustice which might be perpetrated
between the Bank and the Government, by extending
pardon to those forgers only who chose to plead guilty
to the minor offence of having forged notes in their
possession, and executing all who refused to plead
guilty. It appears that several individuals have refused
to plead guilty to that minor offence, though the Bank
had on that condition offered to withdraw the capital
charge,—have been tried and found guilty on that
charge, and wilt, if the rule hitherto acted upon, be
still adhered to, be all hanged. The question must
immediately occur,—for what is it that it is necessary
to execute these individuals? That their execution
cannot serve any good purpose in the way of example
is manifest, because all those persons whom the death
of these individuals would be likely to deter, must
know, that it was their own miscalculation of the
chances of acquittal, or whatever other motive was the
ground of their obstinacy, and not the crime itself,
which was the cause of their death. It may he, that
it was their comparative innocence, their want of
familiarity with the artifices of criminals, and their
ignorance of the administration of the law, which
made them refuse to take the advice of their prose-
cutor. Be this as it may, it is for not taking the
advice of their prosecutor, that they are executed.—
if it were thought a desirable thing, that a criminal
should acknowledge his guilt, we might appreciate
the reason for executing those who refused to do so.
But the same Court in which this transaction takes
place, is that, in which we find a Judge, by a train of
absurd reasoning, persuading a criminal to plead not
gully, when he is conscious that he is guilty, and ready
to submit to punishment. This is a wretched spectacle
to exhibit to the People—and to what end ? That it
may be said that all persons guilty of forgery are exe-
cuted ? When it is known to every one, that the pre.
tones is false, and that the Bank withdraws the prose.
cation, in the far greater number of those cases in
which' the guilt is clearly established. It is not by
such quackery, that a respect for the law can be
created or maintained. Respect is better secured by
taking rare not only that the law shall be just,. but that
it shall appear so. No one now knows what unworthy
motives may determine the Bank, in its selection of
those criminals whom it will bang, and those whom
it will pardon. The transaction is secret, and the
Public is left in the dark respecting it. On the other
hand, if the cricniiials were all brought to their trial,
if the different degrees of guilt were openly ascer-
tained (supposing it necessary that the severity of the
law should remain the same), the Public would have
a security that the full weight of it should only fall
upon the most guilty. Is not this alone, a sufficient
reason for relinquishing a shallow fiction (clear as fic-
tion is to the lawyer) which• imposes upon no one.
A Correspondent remarks, as the Bank Directors
seem (to speak in the mildest terms) very tardy in
their attempts to remove the facility of forging their
notes, by which so many sacrifices are made every
Session, that it might not be amiss for the new Par-
liament to enact a law, compelling them to be re-
sponsible for the loss sustained by individuals.—
This, lie observes, would not be altogether inconsist.
mat with justice, considering that they alone are the
gainers by the Paper System, which is the sole cause
of the evil ; at any rate, it would operate as a power-
ful incentive to them to devise some scheme, or to
adopt some of those ingenious ones which have been
laid before them, to obliterate, or greatly lessen, the
evil, of which every one but themselves so justly and
bitterly complains.

The Lord Wellington, St. Joao Itodrique, from
Lisbon to Para, is captured.
The St. Jose, St. Joao Baptista, from Pernam-
buco, is arrised at Lisbon, with loss of her main and
foremasts.
The Fanny Fergus, from Montserrat, is supposed
to be arrised off Kingsbridge.
The great horse fair at Bowden, in Yorkshire.,
begins in a few days; hut it is thought, from the very
high price of hay in the south, that there will be a
great fatting off in the price of horses, particularly
in those of a middling sort and of mares. •
By some curious proc►ss in nature, though seasons
differ, they bring the relative produce in turn. last
year there were scarcely any apples, but potatoes
were i►► abundance : this season the reverse is the
case. This year walnuts are a most abundant crop,
but few filberts: the contrary of which was the car

the last season.
The foundation of a new pier has been laid at Bur-
lington-Quay, in Yorkshire, the old one being held
to be in a very insecure stnte when the sea runs high,
which is coutinually the case iu that quarter with an
easterly %intl.
A lamentable circumstance occurred at Haslemere,
in Surrey, a few days ago. Mr. Bryant, a respect-
able farmer, residing at that place, went out shoot-
ing, accompanied by his son, a lad about 10 years of
age. Having occasion to pass through a gste, he
sent the boy forward to open it, whilst he heat about
some furze bushes for game at a few yards distance
with the but end of the gun ; unhappily the piece
went off, and the muzzle being pointed towards the
lad, the contents lodged in his body. The pool lit-
tle sufferer languished a few hours and expired.
ATTEMPT TO Muansit.—On Thursday a man
named Daniel Ward was attacked in a lane near
Footscray, in Kent, by two smoggier*, who beat
him with bludgeons, and inflicted four dangerous
wounds on his head ; one of the villains had polled
out a pistol. and was in the act of presenting it at the
breast of Word, when two labouring men, attracted
by his cries, came to the spot, and the smugglers then
made off. It appeared that Wafd had travelled from
London in the Morning the same toad as the men by
whom he was attacked, and they supposing that he
followed for the puipose of watching their proceed-
ings, committed the assault above described.
Thursday eight the premises of Mr. Ritchie, viler-
cer land draper, of the Kent-road, were broke into,
and robbed of property, consisting of silks and llama.
drapery, to a cousiderable amount.

PO LITICAL

In no age of the world'heire tnglish Ministers
made England appear so silly in her policy, and sb
unstable in her wishes, as in the days in which we
live. If the effects of their misconduct were net so
horrible, the continuisl change of their principles
would be ridiculous. Ardent admiters of levellers la'
the east, their minions hang Killedars, pull dowel
Kings, Rsjahs, and Peishwas : prefounifilevotees ofd
tyranny in thervest, they set up petticoat esnbroider-i
ing and boar-hunting despots. Tolerant in teligimal
abroad, they encourage the Catholics in Canada ; re-1
store the Pope to Rome; assist in the revival of holy
tricks in Naples, France, and Spain ; sod intolerant
at home, they keep the poor Catholics in bondage,
for the glory of God, the good of their souls, end the
safety of Mother Church. Perfect cameleons in
politics, they change their hues with the carpets on
which they tread ; they are all things to all men ;
and whether they fight against or for Kings to pull
them down, or set them op; or for plunder, mutes•
sion of empire, they hide themselves behind that malls
of our law, which declares that the King can do se
wrong, being verydesiroos that his subjects shall believe
in his servants' Impeccability. Ignorant themselves,
they believe that those who see and hear them are as
ignorant as they are. With a bold front, they seem'
to say, whilst they laugh at their dopes 66 Fools of
England! fight AGAINST legitimacy in Ceylon, and
mon leKitimney in South Americo. Fools of Eng-
land ! fight against legitimacy in India, and for le.
gitimacy in France.—Fools of England! believe that I
legitimacy is good for man in Austria, Prussia, Dein.
mark, Holland, and Hanover; but that it is pre•
judicial to mankind in England, Sweden, Spain, and
Ceylon.—Fools of England ! we tempted the South
Americans to throw off the legitimate yoke ; and we
will endeavour to put it on again !—Fools of Eng-
land ! we recognize the illegitimate King of Sweden,
and the supplanter of his father, and therefore the
illegitimate Kirig of Spain; and we sanctioned the
spoliation of the territories of the legitimate King of
Saxony, whilst we consented to crush the legitimate
Republics of Genoa and Venice; but all is right ;
however strangely it may appear, we are sop-
porters of legitimacy.—Fools of England ! you ought
to think as we direct,—fight when we desire,—ply
when we demand,—bend at our nod,—be subservient
to our will,—and be spatigled, whi.kered, hampered,
bullied, insulted, hurthened, and chained, willkout
a murmur or a sigh. Are we not the King's Mi.
(rimers ? Hate we not command of the 'treasury ?
Can we not buy, or barter, whom we will and what
we will ? Whet is wisdom to us ? What need have
we-of genius ?—we do not admire the one, nor want
the other :—we do best without them. The latter
might teach es to be consistent ; the fernier, to tor-
ment ourselves with consequences. It is enough that
we are the King's Ministers. Dupes by thousands
cry, all we say is right.—Tools by hundreds prove,
that we do *smiting wrong. Principles are worn out
—Despotism is the order of the day—Liberty is a
farce--Patriotism is a jest—the People a laughing.
stock—their Rights a banter—Prerogative is law—
Power is justice—Kings are every thing—the Peo-
ple nothing—War is our game—Peace our rein ; and
a Standing Army our glory, and the pride of the
Crown !
How do they harnsonizethis mass of inconsistencies
and errors ?—By the aid of theyreasery. How dr
they reconcile this congeries of contradiction ?-13;
the all-powerful logic of the Treasury. 1104 (11
they demonstrate, that what is just in the east,
unjust in the crest S By the never-neglected evidence
of the Treasury. How do they amalgamate their
pretended hatred of Napoleon's ambition, and ravaes
in Europe, with English ambition, devastation
plunder, and rubbery, in Asia? By the cliemlc,
processes of the Treasury. Whilst the Treasury I
thus powerful, the fools of England will never thro
off their folly ,-and learn to be wise. They will nevt
learn, that virtue is not vice ; power is not justice
profusion is nut economy ; military despotism is nt
law. They will raiser learn, that continental con.
nexions are home miseries; that peace is not a curse,
and war is not a blessing ; that it is disgraceful t
adopt German fooleries, or to wear German tilt,
pings, or succumb to German Ministers, or to si
crifice English blood to Russian, Prussian, or Ant
trials ambition ; that it is the interest of England t
know little, and love less, the vassals on the Con,
Linen! ; that all political ills are the effects of politi.
cal follies; and whilst the English believe, that ho
flour is gained by throat.cutting, and glory by de-
vastation—that destruction is a virtue, and plunder-
ing nations is justice, they will he crowded with
Soldiers, worn down by Tases,est up by Sinecurists,
and duped and despised by political Quacks and ad-
seuturous Charlatans.
tire

Wednesday evening, a young man, fashionably
attired, went to the Coach and Horses Inn at Plait-
lob!, and; after ordering and dic,,osing of an excel-
lent supper, retired to rest in one of the best beds in
the house. In the middle of the night he arose, packed
up silver plate and other property to the amount of
301. and upwards and decamped.—He has not since
been heard of.
A few days since a man, whose sense of fear was
deadened by intoxication, undertook, fora *ogee, to
walk along the parapet wall of Ruthergien-bridge,
near Glasgow. In the attempt, he fell on the bed of
the river at a place which at that lime happetted not
to be covered with water. lie was much hart. Be-
fore the fall, he lost his balance twice, but saved him-
self by taking hold of the bridge.
A tire broke out on Thursday night in King-street,
Oxford-street, at the residence of Mrs. Guest, a
laondiess. It was occasioned by the clothes of an in.
irm woman taking fire, which communicated to the
bed furnitere, and destroyed the goods in the room.
The poor woman was taken to the Hospital In a de-

plorable state.
SUDDtN Dartn.—Thursday morning, between the
hours of eleven and.terelve o'clock, one of the com•
positnrs in the employ of Mr. Hansard, printer to
the House of Commons, in Parker's-street, Drury-
lane, on leaving his frame to wash his hands, he had
scarcely reached the sink whets he fell down to all ap-
pearance in a fit; but upon the arrival of two me-
dical men, it was ascertained he had burst a blood,
vessel, and their attempts to recover him prund nu.
landing.- His name was Jobasow.

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