North Wales Gazette

LONDON, MOfnJV, FEBRUARY" 19. The Trench frigate Ja Canoniere, of 50 run, which has reigned-so long in the Eastern I seas, where she has so much annoyed our t-rade, has met at last with that fate which awaits French men of war when they venture out of their ports. She was captured last Sa. tnrday off L'Orient, by the Valiant, of 14 guns, Captain Bl;h, and arrived at Spithead yesterday afternoon. She has on board a large sum in specie, jewels, diamonds, and pearls, which, added to the value of her cost- ly hales of goods, will make her worth, it is said, nearly 2,000,0001. sterling. The celebrated Surcouf has slipped out from the port of St. Ma lues in a frigate, built un der his own inspection by the special order of Bonaparte. She is supposed to be the strong, est built frigate ever constructed, her scant- lingsbitn-, equal to those of a first rate: she is able to mount 50 guns, isfi tted out for a voyage to India and China, and is reported to have- presents on board. A very numerous meeting was yesterday held rn the open air. Palace-yard. of the freeholders o4 Middlesex, when resolutions were passed to present petitions to the King and the House of Commons for a parliamen- tary reform. A bill of indictment was, we understand, fonnd OR Saturday last, by the Term Grand Jury, against IRc. Proprietor of a respectable Morning Paper, for a libel on Lord- Castle- reagh, in the publication of Mr. Fiiiiierty's letter upon the subject of certain alleged grievances sustained in consequence of orders issued from the Office of the War Department, and, we believe, from the Admiralty, to pre vent Mr. Finnerty from going out with the Expedition to Walcheren, and to send him home if he had one. Such part of the letter ill question as consisted of a narrative of the facts that occurred during Mr. Finnerty's voy- age and his sojournment in Walcherei, was inserted in this Paper at the tliiie, ill compli- ance with a request contained in a letter from the author, which we published, stating, that though we could conceive many good reasons why His Majesty's Government should no' deem his presence desirable in Walcheren, stil- we thought it our duty to allow him, or an) individual who thought himself aggrieved every degree of facility that we conveniently could, to lav his case before the public. The greater part of the letter being, as well as we could judge, from a hasty perusal, the reca- pitulation of the items of an old political ac couat between Mr. Finnerty and the Irish Go- vernment, wiili which Lord Caslleieagh wa. sa Id to have been connected, we purposely Emitted it as irrelevant to the immediate matter of charge and grievance, arising out of the orders to send Mr. Finnerty home from W vlcheren. The part that we ommitted con- tains, we believe, the particulars upon which the indictment is founded. Lord Castlereagh, it seems, was no party to the order for send- ing home Mr. Finnerty. being out of town when it was issueti though his Lordship, it is admitted, approved of the order it is fur- ilier said in the Noble Lord's behalf, that he 1a id no concern wirh the transactions between the Irish Government and Mr. Finnerty, fur- ther than to remit an imprisonmenlto which Jflr. Finned y -walt sentenced.-Pildlt. # Sir Francis Burdett, and the other partisans of Liberty and Reform, have complained much of the interference of the Attorney-Ge- neral with the liberty of the Press; that is of the prosecution of the puhlishers of seditious libels. But how do some of these gentlemen themselves act when they have an opportu- nity fcf calling down the vengeance of the law upon obnoxious printers and publishers. It oaght to be known from Johnny Grote's botyse to the Litiid's-eii(l, that Gwilliru Lloyd Wardle, the pretended advocate of our liber- ties of the press, and of the nation, has de- pending, at this moment, no less than Four Jctions against various authors, printers, and publisher*, Jr. rOiJl menting upon his publit onoduei ll!l Besides one, which he consented f<» drop on payment of all costs (untaxed). and surrendering up the author to be proceed- ed a^ni ist instead of the publishers first, against Mr Gillet, printer, for the publication of a pamphlet, intitled, the Rival Impostors secondly, ag mist Me srs. liell and Decamp, Proprietors of the oiional Hegister$third- ly, aufainsf'the supposed author of certain se- vere strictures contained in the 28th number of the Satirist and lastly against the Propri- elor of The Morning /W■ • • — Pilot. The Catholic question, on which some po- liticians make the salvation of the British isles to depend, is expected to he speedily brought forward in Parliame.it. It is much to be re- gretted by the friends of religious liberty, that the cons'-ientious adherence to any form of worship founded on the faith of the scriptures, should disqualify able and upright men from advancing the mteresls of their country in public and honourable stations. It now ap- pears that the Irish Catholics have raised all insurmountable" stumbling block in their own way to enfranchisement, by refusing the pow- er of a negative in the el&ctiou of thfcir.bishop* to the King. The English Catholics, it is said, are willing to concede this; alld ata late meeting in London they passed certain resolu- tions highly cred.tabte to their loyalty and patriotism. Protestant Disseniers.-It issaid that Lord Sidmouth intends, in the present session of Parliament, tn bring forward the measure which his Lordship proposed in the last, for regulating the grantin of licences tk) Protes- taut dissenting preachers. The principal re- guiations we understand to be, that "persons chiming licences to preach, shouldsiate, if Dot the grounds of their dissent, the, deiiotiti- nation, at least, of dissenters to which Ihey profess to belong that they should be recom- mended by the religious society of which they are members; that they should be attached to a known and distinct place of public worship; and that they should not be at liberty to of- ficiate habitually elsewhere, vnthout a fresh licence." His Lordship also porposes an aug- mentation of the number of churches, or chapels ot ease, to accommodate theiucreased population. At the sitting of the Court of King's Bench, on Saturday se'nnigM, Mr. J. Richardson, barrister, who held the office of Filazer and Clerk of the Writs and Errors of the Court, in trust for tord Kenyen, resigned that-situation upon the noble Lord's attaining his full age. His Lordship attended in propria personrs, when the Lord Chief Justice delivered, the grant from the Crown into the hands of his Lordship, who was accordingly sworn into office with the usual ceremonies. A question of considerable importance to all manufactories, that require furnaces, forges, or large fires, came on to be heard before Mr. Holstern, the Sitting Magistrate, at the Public-office, Union Hall, in the Bo rough, on Monday, under the following cir cumstances :-A short time since fire was seen i coming out of the chimney of the hat-manu- factory of Mr. Pricket, who resides in the parish of St. Thomas, in the Borough ? and it being supposed to be a common chimney, and to he oiv fire, an alarm was given, and, inconsequence, engines attended, and those who took the first engine, applied for, and obtained from the Magitrates, an order upon the parish, for thirty shillings, the reward allowed hy Act of Parliament. The parish officers applied to Mr. Pricket for a remune- ration. which he objected to, on the ground that his chimney, as well as all others in his business, was built upon that construction, that it was impossible to sweel) it without pulling to pieces, and they all cleaned them- selves J and if he was liable "to pay for the fire, on that particular day, coming out of his chimney, he should be liable every day and he could not carry on his business with- out. He instanced the glass-houses and iron- foundries in various parts of London, Bir- mingham, and different parts of the country, where fire was seen coming out of their chim- nies continually. The worthy Magistate al. lowed all that Mr. Pricket said, but on exl- mining the Act of Parliament, there were no exemptions, and it described chimnies genera! iy. tit, however, declined determining til) such an important question, without consult- ing other Magistrates. The decision was therefore adjourned On the 13th February, 1809. his Majesty's schooner Viper sailed from Cadiz for Gibral- hr, and we art* sorry to say, has never since hcen heard of, consequently all hopes of hei safety are now at an end. In this vessel went passenger, Robert Arbuthnot, Esq. late Chief Hicretarv to Government, for the island 01 Ceylon, the loss of whutn is deeply lamented hy his relations and friends. Letters from the Cape of Good nope hy th; last ship's, communicate the following remark- able occurrence:—The Island or Bossen, or Penguin, sometimes called Seal Island, at the Wetcrn extremity of Taok Bay, has entirely disappeared beneath the waters. A cotivijl- iion was felt at Cape Town in December, only two leagues distant, by which SOllie damage was occasioned to the houses, but we do not find that any lives-were lost at that place, and it is supposed that the earthquake extended to liossen. The Island was about two miles in length, and one injireadth, and was. although flat, somewhat more elevated above the sur- face of the sea than the contiguous island of Elizabeth. The Dutch, when in possession of the Cape, kept a guard of twenty-four men on Bossen, and it was employed as a place of i banishment for criminals, to the ittii-nlllr of from 70 to 100, who dog limestones to supply materials for the buildings on the adjacent continent. No women were then permitted to reside here, not even the wife of the port- master, It was not allowed that strangers should visit it, since a Danish ship, which had lost great part of her crew, and was refused assistance at the Cape, sent a boat on shore, dispersed the guard, and received on board as many malefactors as was necessary ro navi- gate her to Enrope. At the Southern extre- mity of the island, a flag was hoisted oil the v approach of any vessel. The mock Earl Percy has made terms with Mr. Thomas, the London money-lender. The former has returned, in adrfitiuu to the 10,0001. already mentioned, 40001. more, thus making altogether 14,0001. of the 18,0001. advanced t,) him. As a douceur for the trouble the Yoble Lord has had, he is allowed to retain the balance, with a security for the past, and iniL.noifi' frkr th** futtir** The famous Spanish heroine Augusta Sara- gossa, had arrived at Gibraltar some days hfore the last letters came away, dressed in her uniform as an officer of the Spanish army. This ladv had her husband and son killed by her side at the siege of Saragossa, and herself received three wounds, in the ditferent action^ she was engaged in during the siege, .where she shewed the most heroic bravery. The French sent her prisoner towards France, but she made her escape at Pampeluna. She has a commission and a pension from the Spanish Government, and is now going to join her regiment in Arragon. She is a modest good looking woman, 30 years of age, and her maianers and her appearance are hi-hly pleas- ing. During the administration of Lord North, the friends of that Minister conceived they were serving his Lordship's interests by shutting the doors of the House of Commons against the reporters. Somehow or other, however," the newspapers were filled, as usual, with Par- liamentary debates and it was even alledged, that they wens furnished by the Members them- selves. Lord North, at last, stepped across the House one day to Mr. Fox, and saïd with great good humour." Heally, Mr. Fox, since we have turned reporters ourselves,thespeeches are so clumsy, there is so much misrepre- sentation, and so much nonsense, that we must open the gallery." .1

BANKRUPTS. Thomas Salts, Preston, Lancashire, plumber and g-Iazier.Richard Ockeuden, Bo peep, Sussex. -William' Forge, Witham, Holderness, York, thrashing-machine-maker.'—Isaac Donnithorne, Truro, Cornwall victualler.Tohn Jones, White- chapel road, Middlesex, cordwainer.——Jonas Binns, Oxford-street, Middlesex, founder,— Edward Lowton, Mark-lane, London, merchant. —Samuel Chambers, Maidstone, Kent, corn- merchant.—James Cranfurd M'Leod, Huntley Hotel, Leicester-fields, Middlesex, uterahaiit.- William Atkinson, Paradise-street, Rotherhithe, Surrey, broker.—Jacob Stone, Bridge-road, Lambeth, Surrey, seedsman.—John Whitaker, F ranois-sfreet, Tottenhaui-court-road, Middlesex, book-binder.—John Ivory, Mark-lane, London, broker.—Samuel Sanders, Dove-row, Hackney- fields, Middlesex, wine-merchant.—George Pal- | mer, Plymouth, Devon, haberdasher.

PARLIAMENTARY PROCEEDINGS. I kitlioul-b the House of Lords met on Mon- day, Tuesday, and Wednesday, no business Morthy of notice was agitated.] HOtYSE OF COMMONS.—Monday, Feb. 5.— The thanks of the house were delivered to General Stewart, by the Speaker, in a neat complimentary speech.—Mr. Fuller moved that an instruction be given to the finance committee, to enquire and report on the number and extent of sinecure places, and to point out such, as in their opinion, ought to be abolished.—;Mr. Bankes objected to the motion, as it would fetter and occupy too much of the time of the Committee.—Mr. Fuller then declared, that he would hereafter bring forward a bill, in which he would name all the sinecure places to which he bad alluded, leaving it to the house to retain or abolish those they thought fit.-Lord Porchester moved For the appointment of a secret committee, to whom should be referred the inspection and selection of certain secret ilo- formation and confidential communications laid before his Majesty's Ministers, with re peel to the expedition to the Scheldt, and of a nature improper to be made ptibi I c.Af ter considerable altercation, the following gentlemen were appointed to constitute the committee Lord Porchcster, Mr. F-.Ro- binson, Admiral Markham, Mr. iiathurst, General Ferguson, Mr. Wiiberforce, Mr. S targes Bounte, Mr. Yorke, Capt, Beresford. Mr. Davies Giddy. and General Craufurd. The house then resolved itself-into a Commit- tee of the whole house, when, on the motion of Mr. Yorke, strangers were, excluded. Tuesday.—Gen. Mathews presented a peti- tion signed by 10,000 persons of the counLy of Tiperary, of the. Roman Catholic persua- sion, praying for the repeal of the penal laws against the petitioners. The petition was read, and ordered to lie on the table-Mr. Sheridan, adverting to the evil consequences likely to result from enforceing the standing order of thehollse, for the exclusion of stran- gers, by creating surmises and jealousies in the country, moved, "That this standing or- der he referred to a committee of privileges, to meet in the Speaker's Chamber to-morrow, to consider tliereof.-Lord Staniev seconded the motion.—Mr. Windham opposed the mo- tion, in a speech of opprobrium and invec- tive, against the proprietors of tlie.Loiiduii newspapers, whom he denominated as bank- rupts, lottery-office keepers, decayed trades. men, and men of desperate or hroken for- tunes. He inveighed against the practice of having the proceedings of the house circula- led through the country by this medium, and appeared to. W lsh, THAT THE PRACTICE WAS ALTOGETHER ABOLisrtKo. He was particularly severe upon Mr". She-iidan, whom he consi- dered asanadvocale retained by the public, to support the liberty of ilie press, and carry a popular object. Mr. Yorke followed on the same side..—Lord Folkslone, Mr. Tierney, Mr. Peter Moore, and Sir Francis Burdett strongly COlltcntied for the adoption of the motion.—Mr. Sheridan rose in rcply.-Our limits willllot permit us to give even the out- lines of ona of the most luminous, energetic, and constitutional speeches that ever was pronounced in parliament. We can only just touch upon that part of it in which he com- bated the attack -Mr.Wm&ham made upmi- the liberty of the press.—-fie said, his right ho- nourable friend >(Mr. W.) was plettsed to.com- pliment bins, as » friend to the liberty ot the press; a frimd.to it be certainly was, and he was proud to be so considered. As to the re- lation of patron or client, he should only say that if indeed he was the patron of the press, he was a disiri Lcrested one rile acted without fee, for even the reward of its flattery did not attend hin1.( h.ear! hear I) But his right hnnonrabte friend, with all his apprehensions of a free pr.ess, with ail the disadvantages he attributed to it, seemed will in g enough to come in with him for a share in the credit of be- friending its liberty if such was the fraternal embrace he proposed, he (Mr. Sheridan) must beg to be excused. He claimed no participa- tion in the sentiments of his Hight Honoura- ble friend upon that suhject.-( A ltmgh.)- But it had been asked what advantages result- ed from -it ? and whether the country, some forty or fifty years ago was not as well or better off than at this moment i He would not go into the enumeration of all the advantages that resulted, but he would say, undervalue it as they might, give him the liberty of the press alonej and he would give Ministers all the means of oppression they could wish for, he would also allow ihcm the possession of a venal house of peers, a corrupt house of com- mons, and all the.corrupt application of which those instruments are susceptible, yet he, with that liberty of the press, would shake down all their superstructures and establish the true principles of the constitution, and the rights and privileges of the people.— loud and general burst of applause, j The house .then divided, when there ap- peared for Mr Sheridan's motion 80; against it 166.

CALEB PY HITE FO ORD, ESQ. This gentleman, who was well known in the fashionable and liteTary world, died at his house in Argyle-street, London, on Sunday morning, at the age of 76. x Mr. Wbitefoord was born at Edinburgh, in tl a the year 1734, and being intended by his fa- ther for the church, was educated at that uni- versity, where he distinguished himself by an uncommon proficiency in classical knowledge. The profession, however, for which he was designed; not according with young White- foord's wishes, he prevailed on his father to place him in the counting-house of his friend Mr. Stewart, a wine-merchant, in London here he remained for some years, until the decease of his parent enabled him to cum. mence business on his own account. Mr. Whitefoord did not permit the avoca- tions of his trade to engross time so fully as to debar his attentions to literary amusement. His essays, poems, and cross-readings evince the sprightliness of his satire, and the noveltv of his wit. These he contributed to his friend Mr. Woodfall, in whose paper they first ap- peared; and many of them were afterwards collected and preserved in the Foundling- hospital for Wit. The shafts of his ridicule were directed- n against the petitions, remonstrances, and or Mr. Wilkes, and the other pa- triots of the day, and so great was his success, that be not only obtained the approbation of administration, but, it is said, was requested by a person, office, to write a pam- phlet on the subject of the misunderstanding between, this country and Spain, relative to the Falkland Islands. That task, however. he declihed, but recommended Dr. Johnson as the ablest person who could be selected for the purpose. Johnson's work, and its effect on this occasion, is weft known. Mr. Whitefoord was a member of the Roy- al Societies of London and Edinburgh, of the society of Antiquaries^ and vice president of that for the encouragement of arts, manufac-, tures, and commerce. His acquaintance and friends consisted of the first literary and po- litical characters of his time and it has been said, by Adam Smith, that although the Jun- to of wits and authors hated one another heartily, they had all a sincere regard for Mr. Whitefoord, who by his conciliatory manners kept them together ia, amity and good hu- mour. We conclude this hasty sketch of a man of distinguished talents, a zealous friend to his country, and a very respectable member of society, with the following characteristic epitaph written many years since by his friend Goldsmith, and printed iu the Retaliation" of that p<Hgt. Here Whitefoard reclines, and deny it who can, Tho' he nierrity liv'd, he i's now a grave man. Rare compound of oddity, frolic, and fun, Who relislv'd a joke, and rejoie'd in a pun { Whose temper was geaerous, open, sincere, A stranger to fi;tttiy, a stranger to fear, Who sea tier'd around wit and humour at will, Whose daily bon-mots half a eoluinn niisrht fill A Scotchman fro.ai-pride and from prejudice free, A scholar, but sure no pedant was fie. Merry Whitefoord, farewell t for thy sake I ad- mit, = That a Scot may have humour, I'd almost said wit; This debt to thy mein'ry I cannot refuse, Thou best humour'd man, with the worst hu- muse." -— ■ I tn in ■

THE CANNONIERE FRIGATE. The following additional particulars of the capture of the Cannoniere, are taken from the Hampshire Telegraph of SaLllrdaJlast The circumstances attending her capture shew the peculiar good fortune of Capt. Bligh. On Thursday se'nnight the Defiance, 74, Capt. Ho- thani and the Valiant, were in company together, when Capt. Hothani, as senior officer, made the Valiant's signal to follow him to join the squad- ron in Quiberon Bay. The Valiant being then a-stern of the Defiance, could not weather the point to get round into the Bay, but the Deliance did. It being light winds the following day, the Valiant could make no progress 5 and in the course of the night she fell in with the Cannoniere, and chaced her from day-light, on Saturday morning until noon, when the wind took the Cannoniere by the head, and threw her round upon the Valiant's broadside, and she struck, no other ship beitigii,isigtit.-Iler capture is almost entirely attrihuted to tight bafBing winds, with which the Valiant rather gained upon her, as she was three miles from her at day-hgbt, and when she struck she was about one mrle. Under any other circumstances she would have escaped, as she out sailed, ia six hours, everv ship that ever chaced her before. She had been from the Isle of France 93 days, and had been chased fourteen I' ume Qurtng the passage. It had been long known that she was to return to Europe laden with the spoil of the principal captures which the French had made in the East Indies during the last three years. Our squadron off the Isle of France, aud our cruizers to the westward, were on the most vigilant look-out for her; and but for the seemingly untoward circumstance of the Valiant not being able to fetch Quiberon Bay at that particular time, she would have been safe in Belleisle in a few hours after the time she was fallen in with. On her passage out to the Emft Indies she ran into the Cape of Good Hope, soon after it had been taken by Sir Home Popham, hut perceiving the English flag flying, she cut her cables and escaped. Since that time she has heeu cruizing in the Indian Seas, to the terror of all our trade there; but wanting repairs, which could not he done at the Isle of France, the Governor of that island, De Caen, lent her, for a consideration, to the merchants, to bring: their goods to France her cargo cost 800,000 dollars there, and the merchants called her La Confianee. She was formerly La Minerve, in His Majesty's service, and was taken at Cherbourg, by running aground in a fog. She had 73 passengers on board from the Isle of France. About eighteen months since she was chased by Sir Edward Pel- lew, and the Caroline frigate, at which time the Captain of her says, he had four millions of dol- lars on board, and a box of diamonds, the value of which he does not know. Her present cargo is expected to yield the captors about 150,000). She had only IS guns mounted when captured; the others were left at the Isle of France to make room for the cargo. She will be sent round to the river, as East India produce canuot be sold in any other than a London market.