has been three weeks under examination, and stands charged with committing several frauds and forgeries in the neighbourhood of Plymouth. Having resided there in affluence many years, he of course had a thorough knowledge of all the respectable inhabitants in the place; and the specious means he adopted eluded suspicion for several months. He was at length apprehended, (in disguise,) while tendering a forged letter to Mr Boson, an attorney of that town, and requesting the loan of 101., to make up a mortgage. Mr B. not being in town, created the suspicion which led to his detection. Several persons in the neighbourhood have been defrauded by similar means. He pleads extreme distress as an excuse for his conduct, although he was once possessed of upwards of 50,0001. peared, that Mr Solicitor-General Boyle, Mr Adam, and Mr Rutherford, were appointed a committee to wait upon the Chancellor of the Exchequer, and to submit two propositions on the subject for his consideration: 1st, That the criterion of assessment should be reduced from 50 to 30 per cent. upon rents. 2d, That the re-valuation at the end of seven years should be given up. If these propositions are gone into, the farming interest here will be perfectly satisfied; and as they are fair and reasonable in every respect, little doubt need remain of their being ultimately adopted. At a general meeting of heritors of Roxburghshire, held at Jedburgh, a few days after the above meeting at Haddington, for the same object, the following resolutions were pass Resolved, 1st. That this Meeting generally concurs in the resolutions which were passed at a general meeting of heritors held on the 19th day of October last. 2d. That it is naturally the wish of the legislature, in imposing a tax, to render it as little oppressive as possible, and to prefer the interest of the community to the facility of the col lection. HADDINGTON.-Atacounty meet ing yesterday, Mr Brown, after sta-ed :ting that a petition to the House of Commons, from a considerable body of the farmers of this country, praying for relief from the hardships which they sustained under the present mode of assessing the property tax, had been transmitted to General Charles Hope, moved, that the Meeting do request General Hope to support the said petition in parliament, by using his endeavours to procure such relief to the farming interest as sound discretion led him to think they were entitled to; which motion was seconded, in an appropriate and judicious speech, by the Hon. Baron Hepburn, and, after a good deal of reasoning thereupon, was, in substance, adopted by the Meeting. Mr Brown, in the course of his speech, read to the Meeting an extract from the minutes of a meeting of members of both houses of parliament, connected with Scotland, held in London on the 25th ultimo, from which it ap 3d. That the present mode of levying the property tax upon the occupiers of land is most unequal and oppressive. 4th. That the rent is no criterion of the profits of the farmer; and that so long as they are estimated by it, the tax must fall unequally upon the occupiers of land. 5th. That the re-valuation at the end of seven years, without making any allowance for the expence of improvement, or for the tax paid during an unproductive period, is manifestly unjust. 6th. That this Meeting is of opinion that the farmers are entitled to claim the same indulgence with all other descriptions of their countrymen; and that the tax should be levied upon the real profits of individuals, and not upon any imaginary proportion between rent and produce. 7th. That this Meeting is of opinion that a petition, praying for relief, should immediately be presented to Parliament. 8th. That the Meeting approves of the draught of a petition now presented for its consideration, and remits it to Thomas Usher, Esq., to obtain signatures, and to transmit it to John Rutherford, Esq., member for the county, with their request that he will take the earliest opportunity of presenting it. 9th. That it is the opinion of this Meeting, that as the landholders of this county are deeply interested in the prosperity of the farmers, they should bear their share of the expence which has, or may be incurred upon this subject. London Gazette, May 6. His Majesty's ship Belle Poule, off Corfu, February 16, 1809. MY LORD-I have the honour to report to your lordship, that his Majesty's ship under my command be ing driven by a hard southerly gale about twelve leagues to the northward of Corfu, a suspicious ship was discovered on the morning of the 14th instant, far distant on the lee-bow. All sail was instantly made in pursuit of her, but light and partial winds having come on, prevented our closing with her on that day: we, however, evidently made her out to be a French ship of war, and very distinctly saw her intention of making for the Gulf of Valona. Our course was directed accordingly, and at day-light on the following morning discovered her moored with cables to the walls of the fortress of Valona, mounting fourteen eighteen and twenty-four pounders, with another fort on an eminence above her, completely commanding the whole anchorage. A breeze at length favouring us, at one P. M. his Majesty's ship was anchored in a position at once to take or destroy the enemy, and at the same time to keep in check the formidable force we saw prepared to support the French frigate. A most animated and well-directed fire was opened on the enemy's ship. The forts making no effort to protect her, and our attention being thus undivided, the contest of course was very short. She surrendered after a few broadsides, and proved to be Le Var, French frigate, pierced for 32 guns, but having only twenty-two nine-pounders and four twenty-fourpounder carronades mounted; commanded by Capitaine de Fregate Paulin, with a complement of 200 men, from Corfu, destined to any port in Italy she could reach. I cannot close my letter without expressing my regret that the occasion had not afforded more room for the display of that exertion and gallantry which my officers and ship's company have proved themselves at all times so ready to evince; and it is with sincere satisfaction I add, that, with the exception of some trifling damage in our rigging, we sustained no loss whatever. That of the enemy cannot be ascertained, as the greater part of her officers and ship's compamy took the opportunity of getting on shore the moment the ship struck. MY LORD-The Redwing joined me on the 8th instant, off Long Island, with information that an armed brig and a trabacculo were lying in a small creek in the island of Malida. I proceeded there in consequence, with the Redwing, and found the above vessels advantageously moored for defending the entrance of the creek, and several hundred soldiers drawn up behind some houses and walls. The brig and a twelvepounder from the shore opened on the ships whilst they were taking their stations, which was no sooner effected, than they fled in all directions. She mounted six twelve-pounder carronades, had sailed from Zara, in company with the trabacculo, on the 4th of January, with four hundred French troops for Ancona, which, on our approach, landed, and were those I mentioned above, but kept a respectable distance from our guns the whole time. The boats' crews of the two ships, under the direction of Lieutenant Phillott, landed, and brought off three guns, one 12-pounder and two small ones, and destroyed two storehouses of wine and oil collected there. The brig sunk, soon after we got His Majesty's sloop Royalist, quaint you, that at five yesterday evening, Dieppe bearing south, distant seven or eight leagues, his Majes ty's sloop Royalist, under my command, fell in with five French lugger privateers, to which we immediately gave chase, and after a run of two hours and a quarter, captured Lat Princesse, of 16 guns and 50 men. The other four, during the short interval of exchanging prisoners, it be ing then nearly dark, and rather hazy, made their escape. I feel happy in having made this capture, as she has hitherto been a most successful cruizer. I have the honour to be, &c. (Signed) JOHN MAXWELL. To Commodore Owen, &c., Downs. Admiralty-Office, May 6th Rear-Admiral Sir Richard Strachan has transmitted to the Hon. William Wellesley Pole two letters from Lieutenants Samuel Burgess and Joshua L. Rowe, commanding his Majesty's gun-vessels the Pincher and Censor; the former giving an account of the capture, near the Watt Sand, of a Danish privateer, mounting one carriage gun and four swivels, and a galliot laden with deals, by the boats of the Pincher and Basilisk, under the command of SubLieutenant William Woolcock, of the Pincher; the latter stating the capture, in the River Ems, of a Danish privateer, mounting one long gun and four swivels, by the boats of the Censor and Bresdrageren, commanded by Sub-Lieutenant George Anderson, of the latter. L.0 8 10 0 9 9 0 10 10 Battye and Co. 0 12 0 Of course Messrs Goldsmid are to have the loan. It was at a premium of 14 per cent. at twelve o'clock. While the inhabitants of Poole were assembled in the town-hall, to consider of a vote of thanks to Mr Wardle, the floor gave way, and upwards of 2000 of them were precipitated, with great violence, upwards of 20 feet, by which several had their limbs broken: No lives were lost. To add to the catastrophe, the mar ket had been held the previous day, and the shambles underneath not being removed, numbers were dreadfully lacerated, by falling on the hooks. 12th.. LONDON. SHERIFF'S COURT.-Hon. H. Wellesley, v. The Right Hon. Lord Paget. This day there was an inquisition of damages in this case, as the defendant had suffered judgment to go against him by default. Mr Garrow stated the case on the part of the plaintiff. He conceived that it was the most distressing case of this description which ever fell within his experience. In September 1803 the marriage took place between the plaintiff (who is brother to the Marquis Wellesley) and Lady Charlotte Cadogan. Equal in rank and situation in life, and attached as the parties were to each other, there was every reason to expect as much happiness as the matrimonial state affords.He would prove, by the most respectable witnesses, that they were an uncommonly-happy couple, until the affections of Lady Charlotte Wellesley had been seduced by Lord Paget. Until then, the utmost mutual tenderness and affection subsisted between them. They had a family of four children, for whom both parents shewed equal fondness; and nothing seemed wanting to the happiness of the plaintiff, until his domestic peace was for ever destroyed by the act of the defendant. It was well known that the plaintiff had accepted a high situation in the state, (that of secretary to the treasury,) the duties of which situation necessarily occupied a considerable part of his time, and prevented his giving quite so much of his company to Lady Charlotte as when he had no business to attend to.-He was sure that it would not be insinuated on the part of the defendant, that the plaintiff had been guilty of infidelity to his wife, or that he had ever with drawn from her any share of his love and affections. During the times, however, in which he was occupied in business, Lord Paget had more frequent opportunities of paying those attentions to Lady Charlotte, which ended in her eloping from her husband, and living as she now does, with Lord Paget. The marriage and the criminal conversation were confessed, and therefore he should have nothing to prove, but that the plaintiff and Lady Charlotte were a happy and affectionate couple, until this felicity was destroyed by the act of the defendant. He could not conceive that many circumstances could be stated in extenuation of the criminality of the defendant. He could not plead the infirmity of youth overcome by uncommon beauty: he had a most estimable wife, to whom his affections and tenderness ought to have been exclusively confined, and by whom he had a family of eight children. In some circumstances there was a ray of hope left to the ruined female, that the seducer might afterwards be her husband; but in this case there was no occasion for the new-standing order of the House of Lords to prevent such union; for Lord Paget was a married man, and consequently could not be her husband. Complete ruin had been thus brought down upon the lady, without any possibility of reparation, and the most complete misery upon a most unfortunate husband. He did not see that it was necessary for him to introduce any topics to aggravate the case: such as it was, he left it in the hands of the jury, with the most perfect confidence that they would do what justice required of their hands. The Rev. Mr Sloane, a relative of the Cadogan family, was the first witness called. He stated his intimacy with Mr Wellesley and Lady Charlotte; bore testimony to their mutual tenderness and affection; and described them as affording a perfect pattern of domestic happiness. Lor George Seymour, the Dean of Wind sor, and Mr Sydenham confirmed testimony. Mr Dallas then addressed the jun for the defendant. He agreed with his learned friend, that this case wa indeed a most distressing one. H had been positively instructed to abi stain from every observation tending to justify or to mitigate, in any d gree, the criminality of the defend ant in a moral point of view. H should therefore not attempt to soft en down or shade away the crimina lity; and on the subject of damage he would say that Lord Paget wod not be solicitous about the mitigatio of damages, if he could suppose the any damages which a jury could resonably give, would really be a com pensation to the wounded feeling and happiness of the plaintiff. H thought, however, too highly of h to suppose it would, and therefor did not suppose the jury would giv any very inflamed damages on a count of his criminality. This w an action for compensation in dama ges for a civil injury, and it was n a criminal proceeding to punish a immoral act. In the point of com pensation to Mr Wellesley, many cr cumstances which aggravated the d fence of Lord Paget were in no de gree applicable: for instance, the strong ground of aggravation was that Lord Paget was a married ma and had eight children. What w this, however, to the compensatio: due to Mr Wellesley? When a hus band loses his wife, is it to him of any consequence whether the seducer is married or a single man, whether be has eight children, or whether he ha no children, or whether the wife who has been unfaithful to him may marry. her seducer or not? Certainly a hus! 1 |