Newspaper Transcripts
Some Selected Reports from The Leicester and Nottingham Journal
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5th April, 1766
IRELAND.
From the Votes of the House of Commons.
Saturday, March 15.
The House (according to order) resolv'd itself into a Committee of the whole house, to take into consideration heads of a bill for the better securing the freedom of parliament, by vacating the seats of such members of the house of Commons as shall accept of any lucrative office or employment from the crown, or any pension on the establishment of Great Britain and Ireland; and after some time spent therein, Mr. Speaker resumed the chair, and Doctor Lucas reported from the Committee, that they had made some progress in the matter to them referred, and that he was directed to move the House to sit again.
Resolved, that this House will, next Monday morning, resolve itself into a Committee of the whole House, to take the said heads of a bill into further consideration.
Monday March 17. Ordered that leave be given to bring in heads of a bill, to prevent the high price of corn and for the better preservation of the same, in this kingdom; and that Mr. Robert French, the right hon. Lord Beauchamp, Mr. Le Hunte and Dr. Lucas, do prepare and bring in the same.
COUNTRY NEWS.
Bury, March 16. The defence of the prisoners found guilty of the late riot at Nacton was to this effect : That on a report of a woman being starved, a child whipped to death, and other acts of cruelty, these people had risen to free themselves and friends from such confinement and cruelty. Upon the strictest enquiry, not the least ground appeared for such complaints; but three of our people, who had been ill of a fever, and were on the mending hand, were ordered by the physicians of the house to be confined to broth, and other thin diets, and not suffered to eat much solid meat; that the craving appetite which generally comes on after such a disorder, made them uneasy to be thus debarred of solid food, and that they had complained of this to some women who had come to see them, by which the report has been spread in the country round about, but the true cause had not been told.
Yesterday 20 of the rioters (part of a mob of 500) were tried for pulling down the building which was carried on as far as the second story, but by the above mob entirely levelled; five were discharged for want of evidence, and the other 15, viz. 13 men and two women, were fined 20s each, and confined for two months in gaol. A great many others of these rioters were discharged for want of prosecution.
The sessions ended yesterday, the greatest ever known here, when four persons received sentence of death, viz. Elizabeth Burroughs, for the murder of Mary Booty; Joseph Browning, for stealing a mare; John Brock and John Francis, for breaking into the house of William Doe, of Thornton, and stealing two canvas bags, one of which contained �100 the other �800.
Leeds, March 25. By a letter from Whitehaven, dated the 20th instant, we have received the following account of a barbarous murder, committed the 1st instant, on the bodies of the wife and two children of one John Mac'Lain, an honest, industrious farmer in that neighbourhood, who having saved the sum of �200 applied to an innkeeper at the above place, to lend him another �100. in order to purchase a small estate that was upon sale. The innkeeper told him he could not let him have the money that night, but if he would stay at his house till the next morning, he would then serve him. The innocent Farmer, little suspecting his host's intentions, was easily persuaded to stay, and accordingly went to bed with a soldier that was quartered in the house; but about midnight, jumping out of bed again in a fright, he told his bedfellow he could not rest, for he was sure all was not right at home, and persuaded the soldier to get up, take his gun and accompany him thither : They set forward accordingly, and on their arrival at the farmer's house, perceiving a great light, and finding the door lock'd they forced it open, and seeing two men, concluded they were come with some villainous intent; the soldier therefore, without asking any questions, complimented one of them with the contents of his musket, which he had loaded on the way, and the other with the point of his bayonet, which laid them both dead at his feet, but it is no less difficult to express the surprize of the soldier than the agony of the unhappy farmer, when upon going up stairs, they found the very landlord of the house they came from, who (with the two before-mentioned assistants, who proved to be his own sons) had barbarously murdered the farmer's wife and two children, and was busy in ransacking the house. He was however immediately secured, and is committed to Appleby gaol.
Worcester, March 27. On Friday last William Adney, for robbing on the highway, was executed at our county gallows : This unhappy friendless criminal, was very penitent and resigned, declared he never committed any other robbery; and made his exit, with a becoming resolution. He had been a seafaring man many years, and in general bore a good character.
The same day Richard Packington, was executed at Pitchcroft, amidst a vast concourse of people, for robbing his uncle the late Mr. Hammond, of this city. He was conveyed from the gaol in a cart, kneeling in it all the way, with his hat slapt before, a book in his hand and his coffin on the side of him. He was not quite 21 years of age, yet had been guilty of many evil practices, and had gone by different names, acknowledging in particular that he had been concerned in forging two bills. At the place of execution he shewed an hearty contrition and repentance, seemed perfectly resigned to his fate, pray'd with great fervency, and acknowledged the crimes for which he suffered.
Plymouth, March 25. Amongst our rejoicing on account of the hopes of the repeal of the cyder tax, John Parker, Esq; of Saltrem, father of John Parker, Esq; the present knight of the shire for his county gave a sheep, which was roasted whole, a bag of wheat, which was grinded and baked into bread, and a butt of cyder to the populace, and in the evening made a large bonfire. It is said that he told the ringers if they would ring down the tower, he would build it up again at his own expence.
LONDON, March 20.
Extract of a letter from Gibraltar, dated February 25.
"Since the late storm here, General Irwin has been as active as possible in doing every thing necessary, in regard to the public works, for the safety of the garrison; and his behaviour to both officers and soldiers is so engaging, that they dread nothing so much as the thoughts of losing him, a report which now prevails here. His lady is equally meritorious, being as industrious to find out the proper objects, as he is ready to relieve them. The communication with Spain is shut up, I wish it may continue so, as I never could perceive any advantage we reaped by going into Spain, or suffering the Spaniards to come into garrison."
They write from the Hague, that the States-General, since the Prince Stadholder's coming of age, have ordered fourteen line of battle ships to be immediately put upon the stocks.
We hear that an express arrived on Thursday from General Yorke, at the Hague; after which it was reported, that the Prince of Orange would pay a visit to our court, sometime this summer.
They write from Kingston, Jamaica, that thirteen out of fifteen negroes, concerned in the late rebellion, have been condemned to be hanged, and two others convicted of murder were to be burnt at the stake.
It is said that the right hon. Lord Colville is to continue naval Commander in Chief in North America.
By a letter from an officer in lord Clive's army, we are confidently informed that his lordship, at the head of the company's troops, was absolutely on the march for Delhy, the capital of the Great Mogul; and was determined to persevere, till he reach'd and conquered the place.
There is certain information that the party of the royal highland regiment, consisting of one captain, three subalterns and a hundred private men, which set out from Pittsburgh on the 25th of August last, arrived safe at Fort Chartres, and took possession of the Illinois country on the 9th of October, after a passage of 1500 miles, first down the river Ohio, and afterwards up the Mississippi.
We hear from P--------h, that a gentleman who was pretty frequent in his visits last summer, being lately observed to be prying too much into the secrets of the yard underwent a severe examination by the principals of the dock, who it seems took him for a spy; but as he declared upon his honour the remarks he had made proceeded only from mere curiosity, he was set at liberty again. In one of the papers found upon him, were minutes relative to the workmen's privilege of carrying out the waste wood. However, strict charge was given at the gates, not to suffer him to come into the yard any more, without proper leave.
We hear that Sir William Boothby, is appointed one of the gentlemen of the bedchamber to his royal highness the duke of York, in the room of the hon. Robert Brudenell, Esq.; now Vice chamberlain to her Majesty, and that the hon. Capt. Rochley is appointed one of the Equerries to his royal highness.
It is said that the public markets in this metropolis will soon be better regulated than they have been for some years past; and that the price of provisions will be fix'd by a proper standard, unless in times of read, and not imaginary scarcity.
Some letters from Edinburgh mention, Mrs. Ogilvie's escape to have been effected as follows : There were two rooms allotted to her when lying in, an outer and inner room, in the last of which she was brought to bed; after that happened, the Under Keeper or turnkey, visited her once a day to see she was in bed in the inner room; some days before she made her escape, she intreated that the door between the two rooms might be left open all night, for the benefit of the air, as she was, or pretended to be very sickly and weak. This, from a principle of humanity was complied with; and that afternoon the keeper of the prison, or Under Keeper, visited her, drew the curtains, and saw her in bed, when she intreated not to be disturbed till next day at noon, as she was very bad. Immediately after this she got out of bed, dressed herself in man's apparel, and in the dusk came forwards through the two rooms to the outer gate, where the turnkey among others, let her pass unnoticed.
We also learn from the same place, that the child of which Mrs. Ogilvie was lately delivered, died last Sunday night.
By information received from Dover, it is almost certain, that Mrs. Oglivie was at the ship tavern in that town, on Wednesday the 18th instant, in company with an elderly shabby man : They went thither from Canterbury the same morning, and tried to get a vessel to for France, which could not go, the wind blowing hard. They returned therefore to Canterbury in the afternoon, with an intent as it is imagined, to wait about the country for an opportunity to get over. Mrs. Ogilvie, was in man's apparel and passed by the name of Capt. Campbell. It has been since reported, that she was seen last Monday night at Calais, by a school-fellow of her husband's. She was dressed in green, trimmed with gold, and blue feather in her hat.
We are told, in letters from Newcastle upon Tyne, that the day after the accounts the repeal of the stamp act arrived at that place, one gentleman gave orders for window-glass and bottles to the value of �4000 for the American market, which diffused universal joy amongst the different persons employed in that manufactory, whose bread depended on that happy event.
Early on Thursday morning died, the lady of Joseph Hurlock, Esq; she was lineally descended from Sir Edward Hartopp, of Freathby in Leicestershire (created baronet 1619) and eldest daughter of the late Sir John Hartopp, bart. by whose death the title became extinct.
It having been represented to the king, that on the 6th of December 1764, a most audacious and wicked attempt was made to assassinate Thomas Walker, Esq; of Montreal, one of his Majesty's justices of the peace for that district, by a number or persons in disguise, who after giving him above fifty wounds and contusions, many of them of the most dangerous nature, left him for dead, but not till they had cut off a part of his right ear, which they carried away in triumph : His Majesty, for bringing to justice the persons concerned, has promised his pardon, &c. to any one of them who shall surrender himself and make discovery of his accomplices.
Elizabeth Burroughs, for the murder of Mary Booty, at Bury, has had a respite for some days; she has been under great terror of mind, but now seems sensible to her situation.
On Thursday noon Thomas M'Gee, for forging a seaman's will, and receiving his wages, due on board the Seahorse man of war; and Joseph Mercer, for robbing Benjamin Shaw on the highway in Kent, and cutting off one of his ears, were executed at Pennenden-heath, pursuant to their sentence at last Maidstone assize. They were both young men, confessed their guilt, and died sincere penitents.
Yesterday se'nnight as Mrs. Newell, a poor industrious widow, and mother of ten children, was returning from High Wickham market, she was knocked off her horse by two footpads, and robbed of near ten pounds, it being all she had in the world but one shilling. The fellows being strangers, called at her house to be put into the road for Henley; soon after they were gone the poor woman came home, and making her case known to her family, one of her sons and three more went in pursuit of them two different ways, and the next morning saw them go into a shop in Henley, where they were both taken and carried before a Justice, who committed them to Oxford castle, one by the name of John Brown, and the other by John Williams; the latter being a youth was admitted an evidence, and upon examination, declared they came from London the day before they committed this fact, and on their road up Red-hill, they saw some linen in a hedge, where they changed their shirts; and further declared, that Brown was tryed at the Old Bailey the last sessions, and the persons not appearing against him he was acquitted. On his being searched there was found an old candlestick, which he presented as a pistol.
Monday as two gentlemen were returning from Deptford to Rotherhith workhouse, they heard the cry of murder; upon which they followed the voice, and found a woman, who declared she had been knocked down and robbed of a bundle containing wearing apparel, and directed them the way the robber was gone, whom they pursued and found to their great surprize, to be one Hughes, a private watchman of the said road, with the bundle upon him, who they carried to the woman, when she declared he was the man; whereupon he was carried before a Magistrate, and committed to Southwark bridewell. It is remarkable that most of the robberies that have been committed between Rotherhith and Kent last winter, were committed on the walk of the above watchman.
Wednesday and Thursday's Posts.
SPAIN.
Madrid, February 28. The Marquis de Crillon, commandant of the Lines at St.Roche, sent advice to the king, that he had cut off the communication with Gibraltar, upon a refusal which the Governor of that place made to detain a Spanish ship, which was taken by an Algerine Corsair under the cannon of that place, and carried in there.
The court upon further information relative to his capture, it is said, sent orders to the Marquis de Crillon to open the communication again. It is also reported, that the Governor of Gibraltar, has bought the Spanish ship of the Algerine, in order to restore it to the proprietor in case he should receive instructions from London so to do.
HOLLAND.
Amsterdam, March 22. The English Consul is in high esteem at Algiers, not only with the Dey and his Ministers, but the people in general; a melancholy testimony of which appeared whilst our squadron lay in Algier Bay, occasioned by the death of the Consul's daughter. On Saturday the seventh day of December 1765, the day of her interment, all the Protestant ships in the harbour struck their colours half staff and kept alternately firing minute guns. At two o'clock, when the corpse was raised to be carried to the place of burial, there was a general discharge of all their cannon. The procession then began as follows, (the ships still firing minute guns.)
Slaves strewing flowers.
The English Drugoman.
The Drugomen of the several nations, two and two
The Union flag of England, supported by the French, Swedish, Danish, and Venetian Consuls.
The fathers of the Spanish royal hospital in their proper habits two and two.
The Greek Priest, in his proper habit.
The corpse in a coffin covered with white cloth, richly ornamented and laced with silver, carried by the four following protestant gentlemen :
The Dutch Cancellier.
The Charge des Affaires of Sweden, (the Consul being soon to return home on leave.)
The Swedish Consul's brother.
The Danish Consul's brother
The English Consul's brother
The English Consul, in deep mourning, supported by the Dutch Consul and the Commodore of our squadron.
Four Captains of the Dutch men of war, two and two.
All the Captains of the protestant ships, two and two.
The officers belonging to the several men of war, two and two.
Officers belonging to the different Consuls two and two.
Also the British, French, Dutch, Swedish, Danish, and Venetian gentlemen and merchants of the several factories, and in short I believe every Protestant in Algier, two and two, forming a prodigious train of people, which reached almost from the city gates to the place of interment, where when the corpse arrived, and the usual ceremony being performed, it was deposited in a vault built for that purpose and a white marble Slab being ready, was placed over it with the following inscription :
A LILLY.
Brought from England, its native soil,
to Africa;
where, being unaccustomed to the Climate,
it withered and died
just as it became the delight of both,
Here lies
ELIZABETH HARRIOT KIRKE,
Daughter of
his Britannick Majesty's Agent and Consul-General
who lived five years and nine months.
She died at Algier the 3d of December,
1765.
Never was the like seen or heard of in Algier, or equal honour paid even to a Consul, though some have died there.
AMERICA.
Boston, Jan 27. The hon. House of Representatives have ordered that the following letter be printed in the journals of the house.
Extract of a letter from the right hon. Henry Seymour Conway, Esq; one of his Majesty's principal secretaries of state, to Governor Bernard, dated St.James's, October 24, 1765.
"IT is with the greatest concern his Majesty learns the disturbances which have lately arisen in your province; the general confusion that seems to reign there, and the total languor, and want of energy in your government to exert itself with any dignity or efficacy, for the suppression of tumults, which seem to strike at the very being of all authority and subordination amongst you.
"Nothing can certainly exceed the ill-advised and intemperate conduct held by a party, in your province, which can in no way contribute to the removal of any real grievance they might lay under, but may tend to impede and obstruct the exertion of his Majesty's benevolent attention to the ease and comfort, as well as to the welfare of all his people.
"It is hoped and expected that this want of confidence in the justice and tenderness of the mother country, and this open resistance to its authority, can only have found place among the lower and more ignorant of the people; the better and wiser part of the commons will know, that decency and submission may prevail, not only to redress grievances but to obtain grace and favour, while the outrage of a public violence can expect nothing but severity and chastisement.
"These sentiments, you and all his Majesty's servants, from of sense of your duty to excite and encourage : You will all in a particular manner call upon them not to render their case desperate. You will, in the strongest colours, represent to them the dreadful consequence that must inevitably attend the forcible and violent resistance to acts of the British parliament, and the scene of misery and destruction to both countries inseparable from such a conduct.
"For however unwillingly his Majesty may consent to the exertion of such powers as may endanger the safety of a single subject; yet can he not permit his own dignity and the authority of the British Legislature to be trampled on by force and violence, and in avowed contempt of all order, duty, and decorum.
"If the subject is aggrieved, he knows in what manner legally and constitutionally to apply for relief : but it is not suitable either to the safety or dignity of the British Empire, that any individuals, under the pretence of redressing grievances, should presume to violate the public peace."
Extract from Mr. Secretary Conway's circular letter to the governor of a neighbouring colony, dated St. James's, Oct. 24, 1765.
"If by lenient persuasive methods you can contribute to restore the peace and tranquillity to the province, on which their welfare and happiness depend, you will do a most acceptable and essential service to your country : But having taken every step, which the utmost prudence and lenity can dictate, in compassion to the folly and ignorance of some misguided people : You will not on the other hand, fail to use your utmost power for repelling all acts of outrage and violence, and to provide for the maintenance of peace and good order in the province, by such timely exertion of force, as that occasion may require; for which purpose you will make the proper application to General Gage, or Lord Colville, commanders of his Majesty's land and naval forces in America, &c."
New York, February 13. The following agreement had been subscribed by a great number of the principal inhabitants of this city, and new subscribers are daily added
"We the inhabitants of the city of New York do hereby engage and promise, that we will not buy, nor suffer to be bought for our uses, any lamb before the first day of August next, and that, we will not buy any meat from any butcher, that shall expose any lamb to sale before the day aforesaid, and will give all manner of discountenance to such butchers for the future. Given under our hands at New York, this 3rd of February, 1766.
Philadelphia, February 13. By a person from Pittsburgh, we learn, that all was peace and quietness here, that the Indians seemed in a very good humour, and daily brought in a great number of skins, with which they carried on a considerable trade with the English at Fort Pitt. He further informs, that one of the six nations Indians had been killed by a white man.
Philadelphia, February 20. From Detroit our intelligence of a late date is, that all was very quiet there, that Indians being thought to be more attached now to the English interest than they were ever known to be before.
On Friday evening last, a bond from a Mediterranean pass, with an American stamp to it, was burnt at the coffee-house here. It came from an officer in New York, and was on its way to Maryland, but happened to be intercepted.
Boston, February 3. Friday last Captain Hathorne arrived at Salem from the Grenades and after he had been in the Custom-house and entered his vessel, it was reported his papers were stamped, upon hearing of which the select men of the town were applied to by a number of the Sons of Liberty, desiring them to send to the Custom-house for those marks of slavery, that they might see them, having had nothing of the kind among them till them. The gentlemen at the office readily delivered them up when they were brought upon the parade and there exposed to public view, then carried to the London coffee house, where were assembled a large company of respectable people (on the occasion) who agreed they should be burnt high the Whipping-post; which was accordingly done by a bonefire prepared for that purpose amidst the loud huzzas of the assembly, and the ashes scattered in the air.
We hear from Falmouth, Casco-Bay, that last Saturday se'nnight a brig arrived there from Halifax, and brought a small parcel of stamp paper. The inhabitants having notice thereof, immediately assembled and went to the Custom-house where it was lodged and demanded the whole to be given up directly, declaring an article so odious to all America, they would not suffer to be kept there. And after carrying them thro' the town on the end of a pole, they were then all committed to the flames, in a fire prepared for that purpose, amidst the acclamations of a great concourse of people.
COUNTRY NEWS.
Plymouth, March 31. A poor labouring man and three of his children, have died within three or four days past; whose so sudden dissolution was effected by poison, which was undesignedly given them by a servant girl, who prescribed a composition for an ague and cold, with which the three were afflicted, and accordingly sent to an apothecary for the same, but under a wrong name to what they intended, which has proved fatal to them. The wife and another child, the remains of the family, are now very ill, having drank of the poison, and it's thought they cannot recover.
LONDON, March 31.
Mr. Hytteman, a Danish Missionary at Coudouleur on the coast of Coromandel, writes as follows, to a friend at Copenhagen :
"I pity the poor Europeans who come hither to amass large fortunes. Most of them have false ideas of this country. They imagine they need only go to the Indies to get rich; and when they hear that the English company gives a soldier from six to seven crowns per month, 12 to a serjeant, and 28 to a serjeant-major, &c. they are confirmed in the high notions they entertain of this country, so that they are easily entic'd away; but they don't consider, or know, that in Germany a soldiers lives better upon two crowns, than he can do here with six or seven. What gives rise to these illusions is, that people are seen to return to Europe, who either by commerce, or by great and important employments, have amassed honestly or dishonestly, large fortunes. But there are few of this sort of Europeans. Indeed, in the year 1765, there was an example of a governor of Madrass returning to England with more than a million of crowns. Whoever is ignorant of the circumstances of the manner in which this money is obtained and hears talk of such large sums, imagines that in India gold is gathered by the handful. The greatest part of those who come hither, especially the soldiers, when they find how they are deceived, and that they have not even any hope left of ever seeing their country again, give way to desperation, and become the greatest profligates. Their misfortune is so much the greater, as they are amongst Pagans, and have no opportunity of hearing the word of God. In many parts there are no Priests; and many of those who are in the Indies, are of the sort whose belly is their God, and who have more care about making their fortune, than solicitude for the souls confided in their ministry."
Some new laws respecting the British colonies in America, it is said, will be enacted before the breaking up of the present session of parliament.
An ingenious gentlemen in the city, has lately invented a machine for weighing great weights, such as Ships Ballast, Coals, &c. and working the largest Mills with more expedition and ease, than had ever been done before, it requiring no more than two persons to conduct the working of this machine.
Last week died at Daventry, in Northamptonshire, the Rev. Mr. John Cadman, late master of the free-school in that town, and rector of Whiton.
Yesterday were sold in Smithfield-market ten sheep, some of them very small, for 50s each.
Mrs. Ogilvia was at Dover last Friday se'nnight, and not having an opportunity to get off for France directly, she returned to London, took a hackney coach, drove to Billingsgate, got on board a Gravesend boat, with a gentleman to accompany her, agreed with a tilt boat to taken them over to France for eight guineas and a guinea a day for waiting for them four days, in order to bring them back; but the tilt boat is returned back to Billingsgate without them.
Monday a gentlewoman came passenger in one of the Bath machines for London, and lodging that night at Newbury, got out of bed, jumped through her chamber window into the inn yard, and broke her leg in a shocking manner. What is very extraordinary, she afterwards got into the garden, and endeavoured to make off; but being perceived by the neighbours, was taken care of. It is supposed that she was under some disorder of mind.
Saturday a master Taylor, who had formerly lived in good repute in Ratcliff highway, was arrested for a debt of about �5 and as the bailiffs were conducting him to gaol, was met in Whitechapel by a Tar, who owed him some money : The Taylor told the Tar, that such customers as he had brought him to ruin, for he was then in the bailiffs hands. On this the Tar intreated the officers to step into an alehouse, which they complying with, the sailor pulled out a bag of money, generously paid the Taylor's debt and costs, gave them a genteel dinner, and afterwards made the taylor a handsome present.
We are happy enough to assure the public, on undoubted veracity, that the paragraph (mentioned in a former part of the paper) copied in the London papers from the Leeds Courant, relative to the shocking murder being committed near that place, is entirely without foundation; the story is shamefully extracted from an history of Holgoblins, Fairies, and Witches, published near a century ago.
Northampton, March 3, 1766.
Notice is hereby Given,
THAT Sir THOMAS SAMWELL, Bart. since the Death of his late Partner Mr. John Hooper, having entered into Partnership with Captain JOHN WYE, a Native of Oporto, whose Father, Brother, and other near Relations have long been, and now are, Members of the British Factory there, and who is Master of the Ship Ann, constantly employed in the Trade of that Port : All Noblemen, Gentlemen and Others, may therefore depend upon being furnish'd with the very best WINES, of the choicest Vintages, perfectly neat as imported, either by the Pipe or in smaller Quantities, at their Wine-Vaults in the Town of Northampton; or to be delivered in any part of this or the adjacent Counties, as shall be ordered,
By their humble Servants,
SAMWELL and WYE.
To be SOLD,
A Good accustom'd Public House with three Tenements in the Yard, situate in the Frier-lane, Leicester. For particulars enquire of Mr. Sam. Jordan, in Leicester, or Mr. John Allmey, of Great Peatling.