76 ANNUAL REGISTER, 1815. 
(the air being most providentially 
very still) that no further damage 
was sustained than the loss of 
the building in which the fire 
first appeared, and the machine. 
Mr. Curre having introduced a 
variety of machinery for the 
improvement of agriculture, is 
supposed to have occasioned the 
villainous act. _ 
At a farmer’s house, near 
Guildford, the following singular 
circumstance took place:—A lit- 
tle boy having met with a couple 
of young rabbits which were yet 
blind, brought them home, but 
the father, knowing they could 
not be long kept alive, deter- 
mined on giving them, as a 
dainty meal, tothe cat, concluding 
she would take them for young 
rats ; accordingly one was thrown 
to her, which she instantly took 
in her mouth and carried out of 
sight ; a litttle while after she re- 
turned, mewing, and licking her 
chaps for the other, which was 
given to her, and this she treated 
in a similar manner. It was 
taken for granted that she had 
devoured them; but some time 
after, to the great surprize of the 
farmer, it was discovered that, 
instead of this being the case, 
she had given them suck, and 
treated them as kittens. They 
had grown considerably, and had 
gained their sight, and seemed 
quite reconciled to their new 
mother. 3 
Sunderland, Oct. 14. 
The riotous conduct of the 
seamen of the ports of Newcastle 
and Sunderland has been so 
slightly noticed in the newspa- 
pers, that the country can hardly 
be aware of the extent of the 
mischief occasioned by these mis- 
guided men. It is now many 
weeks since any shipping have 
been allowed to depart from 
either of these ports, with the 
exception of a few vessels bound 
to Lynn, Boston, &c. which have 
been permitted to sail, with print= 
ed licences from these new naval 
lords, to whom the masters were 
obliged to pay 10s. for every 
seaman which he had on board, 
and to make oath that his cargo 
should not be delivered at Lon- 
don. The business of the rioters 
is conducted in a most systematic 
manner; they are governed by 
committees, and the two ports 
are in regular communication 
with each other; the most strict 
discipline is kept up amongst 
them; if any of their body ab- 
sents himself from muster (which 
takes place twice a day) he is 
punished by being paraded through 
the principal streets of the town, 
having his face smeared with tar, 
and his jacket turned inside out ; 
he is afterwards obliged to mount 
a platform attached to poles set 
up in triangles for the purpose, 
were he remains at the mercy of 
the mob. 
The numbers of the seamen in- 
crease daily ; and if some stop is 
not speedily put to their proceed- 
ings, the country must suffer 
severely: the price of coals in 
London end other places depen- 
dant on these ports, will necessa- 
rily be greatly enhanced, and the 
revenue arising from the duty on 
thatarticle fall considerably short: 
it is calculated that there are at 
present upwards of 1,000 sail of 
shipping in the Tyne and Wear, 
all of which have lost one, and 
many of them two voyages in 
consequence of this stoppage, the 
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