LETTER OF THE PRINCE REGENT.

"My Dearert Brother,

"As the Restrictions on the Exercise of the Royal Authority will shortly expire, when I must make my arrangements for the future administration of the powers with which I am invested, I think it right to communicate to you those sentiments which I was withheld from expressing at an early period of the session, by my earnest desire that the expected motion on the affairs of Ireland might undergo the deliberate discussion of Parliament, unmixed with any other consideration.

"I think it hardly necessary to call your recollection to the recent circumstances under which I assumed the authority delegated to me by Parliament. At a moment of unexampled difficulty and danger, I was called upon to make a selection of persons to whom I should entrust the functions of the Executive Government.

"My sense of duty to our Royal Father solely decided that choice, and every private feeling gave way to considerations which admitted of no doubt or hesitation. I trust I acted in that respect as the genuine representative of the august person whose functions I was appointed to discharge; and I have the satisfaction of knowing, that such was the opinion of persons for whose judgement and honourable principles I entertain the highest respect.

"In various instances, as you well know, where the law of the last session left me at full liberty, I have waved my personal gratification, in order that his Majesty might resume, on his restoration to health, every power and prerogative belonging to his crown. I certainly am the last person in the kingdom to whom it can be permitted te despair of our royal Father's recovery.

"A new era is now arrived, and I cannot but reflect with satisfaction on the events which have distinguished the short period of my restricted Regency. Instead of suffering in the loss of any of her pos sessions, by the gigantic force which has been employed against them, Great Britain has added most important acquisitions to her empire; the national faith has been preserved inviolate towards our allies; and if character is strength applied to a nation, the increased and increasing reputation of his Majesty's arms will show to the nations of the Continent how much they may still achieve when animated by a glorious

spirit of resistance to a foreign yoke. In the critical situation of the war in the Peninsula I shall be most anxious to avoid

every measure which can lead my allies to suppose that I mean to depart from the present system. Perseverance alone can achieve the great object in question, and I cannot withhold my approbation from those who have honourably distinguished themselves in support of it. I have no predilection to indulge, no resentments to gratify, no objects to obtain BUT SUCH AS ARE COMMON TO THE WHOLE EMPIRE. If such is the leading principle of my conduct, and I can appeal to the past as evidence of what the future will be, I flatter myself I shall meet with the support of Parliament, and of a candid and enlightened nation.

"Having made this communication of my sentiments, in this new and extraordinary crisis of our affairs, I cannot conclude without expressing the gratification I should feel, if some of those persons with whom the early habits of my public life were formed, would strengthen my hands and constitute a part of my government. With such support, and aided by a vigorous and united administration, formed on the most liberal basis, I shall look with additional confidence to a prosperous issue of the most arduous contest in which Great Britain was ever engaged.

"You are authorised to communicate

these sentiments to Lord Grey, who, I have no doubt, will make them known to Lord Grenville.

to us in consequence of that communication. The Prince Regent, after expressing to your Royal Highness in that letter his sentiments on various public matters, has, in the concluding paragraph, condescended to intimate his wish that some of those persons with whom the early habits of his public life were formed, would strengthen his Royal Highness's hands, and constitute a part of his government; and his Royal Highness is pleased to add, that with such support, aided by a vigorous and united administration, formed on the most liberal basis, he would look with additional confidence to a prosperous issue of the most arduous contest in which Great Britain has ever been engaged. On the other parts of his Royal Highness's letter we do not presume to offer any observations; but in the concluding paragraph, in so far as we may venture to suppose ourselves included in the gracious wish which it expresses, we owe it, in obedience and duty to his Royal Highness, to explain ourselves with frankness and sincerity. We beg leave most earnestly to assure his Royal Highness, that no sacrifices, except those of honour and duty, could appear to us too great to be made, for the purpose of healing the divisions of our country, and uniting both its government and its people. All personal exclusion we entirely disclaim; we rest on public measures; and it is on this ground alone that we must express, without reserve, the impossibility of our uniting with the present governanent. Our differences of opinion are too many and too important to admit of such an union. His Royal Highness will, we are confident, do us the justice to remember that we have twice already acted on this impression; in 1809, on the proposition then made to us under his Majesty's authority; and last year, when his Royal Highness was pleased to require our advice respecting the formation of a new government. The reasons which we then humbly submitted to him are strengthened by the increasing dangers of the times; nor has there down to this moment, appeared even any approximation towards such an agreement of opinion on the public interests, as can alone form a basis for the honourable union of parties previously opposed to each other. Into the detail of those differences we are unwilling to enter; they embrace almost all the leading features of the present policy of the

empire; but his Royal Highness has been pleased to advert to the deliberations of Parliament on the affairs of Ireland,' a subject above all others important in itself, and connected with the most pressing dangers. Far from concurring in the sentiments which his Majesty's ministers have, on that occasion, so recently expressed, we entertain opinions directly opposite: we are firmly persuaded of the necessity of a total change in the present system of that country-and of the immediate repeal of those civil disabilities under which so large a portion of his Majesty's subjects still labour on account of their religious opinions. To recommend to Parliament. this repeal, is the first advice which it would be our duty to offer to his Royal Highness, could we, even for the shortest time, make ourselves responsible for any further delay in the prospect of a measure, without which we could entertain no hope of rendering ourselves useful to his Royal Highness, or to the country. We have only further to beg your Royal Highness to lay before his Royal Highness the Prince Regent, the expression of our humble duty, and the sincere and respectful assurance of our earnest wishes for whatever may best promote the ease, honour, and advantage of his Royal Highness's government, and the success of his endeavours for the public welfare.

On the 19th February, John Keegan, the schoolmaster, with four others, who were apprehended in January, (see page 72 of this volume) were brought before a Commission of Oyer and Terminer, and, upon becoming bound to prosecute James Fisher and Michael Glynn, when found, they were all discharged.

On the 21st, John Magee, Esq. proprietor of the Dublin Evening Post, was found guilty of a libel, at the prosecution of the police magistrates of Dublin. The Jury brought in a verdict of Guilty, but without a malicious intention ;" but the Court refused to take the verdict, and they retired a second time, about ten minutes, and then brought in a verdict of "Guilty."

Scottish

HIGH COURT OF JUSTICIARY.

SHOP BREAKING AND THEFT.

the 13th of March, came on before

Brown and Alexander Thomson, accused of theft and housebreaking, and Ann Gray, accused of reset of theft. The indictment accuses the pannels of two several acts of theft, in breaking into a house, building by Samuel Richard, in Eldin-street, Roxburgh Park, and stealing therefrom some wrights tools, on 228 or 23d of January hst; and also of breaking into the shop of John Strachan, grocer, Nicholson-street, on the 25th or 26th of January, and stealing therefrom some copper money, and various articles of grocery goods.

After the indictment was read over to the pannels, the Solicitor-General moved that the diet should be continued as to Alexander Thomson and Ann Gray, till the 23d curt. They were, in consequence, recommitted to prison.---Thomas Brown pleaded guilty. A jury was then chosen, and the pannel adhered to his plea, which he signed in presence of the Court and

Jury.

The Solicitor-General said, he lamented very much that the crimes, of which the pannel admitted he was guilty, had of late been but too frequently committed by young men of his age. This, he could not help remarking, arose chiefly from the negligence of parents and masters, who did not sufficiently exert their authority in properly taking care of young people, which, in many instances, would prevent the commission of such crimes as those for

which the unfortunate prisoner now stood at the bar of that Court. He was induced, however, in this case, from the candid manner in which this unhappy young man had confessed his guilt from the time of his commitment; from his previous good character, and other alleviating circumstances, to restrict the libel to an arbitrary punishment.

Mr Tawse, Counsel for the pannel, read a very ample certificate of his character for diligence, attention, sobriety, and honesty as an apprentice, from his master, and, also a certificate of his age, which was only 15 years.

The Lord Justice Clerk very shortly addressed the Jury, who were immediately inclosed, and the Court continued sitting. After being sometime inclosed, they returned a verdict, unanimously finding the pannel guilty, but recommending him to the mercy of the Court, on account of his youth, and previous good character.

The Judges, who were all present except Lord Woodhouselee, severally delivered their opinions on the verdict. All their Lordships deeply lamented that crimes such as those of which the pannel had been found guilty had become so frequent among young men of the pannel's age and description; that the great cause of crimes was the inattention of parents and masters in not guarding properly the morals of the young under their care; and that much responsibility attached to them for the neglect of this important duty. The previous good character of the prisoner had been of much advantage to him; and, it was only to be lamented, he had not per

severed

severed in she paths of virtue. By the lenient interference of the public prosecutor, the Court were delivered from the painful necessity of inflicting a capital punishment; but, although the Jury had recommended the pannel to mercy, on account of his youth and good character, yet they were bound by their duty to tell the public, particularly the young, that youth was no excuse for crimes; and that those who transgress the law, in instances such as the present, will meet with the punishment due to their guilt. The Lord Justice Clerk, after a suitable admonition to the pannel, pronounced sentence, ordaining him to be transported beyond seas, for seven years, under the certification of suffering death, if he return before the expiry of that period.

Counsel for the Crown, the SolicitorGeneral and Henry Home Drummond, Esq; Agent, Mr Hugh Warrender, W.S. ---For the pannel, John Tawse and John Christison, Esqrs; Agent, Mr A. Moneypenny, W. S.

The prisoners pleaded not guilty, and the particulars of their case, were very neatly and concisely stated by Mr A. Wood, their junior Counsel. Mr Alexander Gillespie and Mr John Bark, surgeons, who attended the deceased, gave an account of the nature of her wounds, and the state of her person, from the 22d of December till her death on the 10th of January. She had two wounds on the fore part and one on the back part of her head, which was swelled nearly double the ordinary size. There was a discharge of matter from one of the wounds, all of which were in a very anhealthy state, owing to the erysipilas extending all over the head. The wound appeared to have been inflicted by a blunt weapon.---Her head was opened after she died; but both these gentlemen thought her death was occasioned chiefly by the erysipilas, the swelling in the head, and a bad habit of body, and not by the wounds, which were small; that the wounds might be the occasion of bringing on the erysipiJas; and were of opinion that the wounds

might be the remote, but not the proxi mate cause of her death.---They also declared, that if she drank spirits it would be fatal to her.---They both thought her capable of emitting a declaration. She was about 28 years of age, and a stout

woman.

Her declaration being identified, was

read.

The first person called to prove the mur der was rejected on account of not being properly designed.

Mary Anne Mackay, lately residing with Bell Murray, in Whisky Row, said, that she knew the late Mrs Halliday, and that she was there on a Sunday night in December; that the prisoners were there, and had half a mutchkin of whisky; that they wanted more spirits, but Mrs Halliday re fused, as she wanted to go with Mrs Shortread to the Abbey; that three girls were present, Waterston, Linton, and Macpherson, and they had got more drink than they should have got; that the pannels were in a room, but came out of it into the lobby, wishing to get out of the house; but Mrs Shortread secured the door, to prevent their getting out; that Shortread and Linton put out the lights, and a scuffle ensued in the lobby, when she saw the two prisoners strike Mrs Halliday repeatedly with the half of the kitchen tongs, which had been in two pieces before that time; that there was a good fire in the kitchen, which partly lighted the lobby---that one of the men followed the witness into the kitchen, and knocked her down, by striking her on the head with half of the tongs, and she was left lying weltering in her blood---afterwards she was carried to the Royal Infirmary. ---One of the girls, Waterston, who was with child, had one half of the tongs in her hand, and is not sure if she had not another piece in her own hand,---the servant told her so, as she was the worse of liquor at the time; that she was in Mrs Halliday's till she died, but was not her immediate attendant; that she knows Mrs Halliday got spirits during the time the surgeons were attending her; that before this Mrs Halliday had a quarrel with a painter, who struck her on the breast and hurt her much. On the evening the scuffle happened, Mrs Halliday was rather the worse of liquor.

The Solicitor-General said he would call no more witnesses. It appeared, that this unfortunate affair had taken place in one of those low, vile places, that are most improperly

improperly allowed licences to retail spirits, from which the most unhappy consequences arise to the public. An immediate check ought to be applied to this practice, otherwise it was impossible to answer for the consequences, especially in a large me, tropolis, such as Edinburgh.

MrJ. A. Murray said a few words for the pannels; after which, the Lord JusticeClerk desired the Jury to retire, and make out their verdict, during which the Court continued sitting. In about half an hour the Jury returned their verdict, unanimously finding the libel "Not proven.' After a very sensible admonition as to their future conduct in life, from the Lord Justice Clerk, the pannels were dismissed from

the bar.

Counsel for the Crown, the SolicitorGeneral and William Horne, Esq.; agent, Mr Warrender. For the pannels, John A. Murray and Alexander Wood, Esquires; agent, Mr Riddel, W. S.

While the Jury were inclosed, the clerk of Court read an act of adjournal, proceed. ing on a complaint at the instance of the Society of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow, against persons improperly practising medicine, by which the public are imposed on, and, by the ignorance of these pretended practitioners, even lives have been lost. By this act such persons may now be prosecuted by the Society, either before the sheriffs of counties or magistrates of burghs, for their assuming this profession, without being duly qualified.

March 16, came on before this Court the trial of G. Bartholomew, accused of embezzling and abstracting from the porterstore, kept at the Timberbush, Leith, by Mr James Whale, for Felix Calvert and Company, brewers, London, seven hogsheads of porter, for his own profit. The pannel pleaded "Guilty," and, a Jury be ing chosen, signed a confession of his guilt before the Court and Jury; on which the Jury returned a verdict of guilty, and the Court sentenced him to four months imprisonment in Leith gaol.

[The trial of John Skelton, for robbery en the 31st of December and 1st January, on the streets of Edinburgh, will be found in a preceding part of this Number.]

March 1812. 10

On Saturday, the 7th of March, was decided the long depending cause between the Duke of Athol, and the other Upper Heritors on the Tay, and the Honourable Wilham Ramsay Maule and the other Propric tors of fishings situated in that river.

The question at issue regarded the le gality of the fixed machinery for catching salmon, lately invented, and now in general use upon the lower parts of the Tay, and commonly known by the name of stake nets. Upon this subject the Court formerly heard Counsel at great length, both viva voce and in writing; and their Lordships, after delivering their opinions very fully, found, by a great majority, that the stake nets are illegal, as falling within the prohibitions created by the acts of Parliament, and that the Lower Heritors are liable in damages and expences, of which a condescendence and account were allowed to be given in. The Court also granted an interdict against the continuance of that mode of fishing, but superseded extract for a limited time; by which means, the Lower Heritors will have an opportunity of bring ing the judgment under review, either by a reclaiming petition, or an appeal. This judgment, it will be observed, only applies to such fishings as are locally situated in the