hot of a neutral port, that the Penthievre was first
violently wrested out of the hands of the captors, then detained as a
deposit, with sealed hatches, and a Spanish guard on board, till the
claims of both parties could be examined, and at last adjudged to be an
illegal capture, and consequently restored to the French, to the great
disappointment of the owners of the privateer. Besides the success which
attended a great number of other privateers, the lords of the admiralty
published a list of above thirty ships of war and privateers taken from
the enemy in the space of four mouths, by the English sloops and ships
of war, exclusive of the duke de Aquitaine Indiaman, now fitted out as
a ship of war, taken by the Eagle and Medway; the Pondicherry Indiaman,
valued at one hundred and sixty thousand pounds, taken by the Doverman
of war; and above six privateers brought into port by the diligent and
brave captain Lockhart, for which he was honoured with a variety of
presents of plate by several corporations, in testimony of their esteem
and regard. This run of good fortune was not, however, without some
retribution on the side of the enemy, who, out of twenty-one ships
homeward bound from Carolina, made prize of nineteen, whence the
merchants sustained considerable damage, and a great quantity of
valuable commodities, indigo in particular, was lost to this country.

RIOTS OCCASIONED BY THE HIGH PRICE OF CORN.

Notwithstanding the large imports of grain from different parts of
Europe and America, the artifice of engrossers still kept up the price
of corn. So incensed were the populace at the iniquitous combinations
entered into to frustrate the endeavours of the legislature, and to
oppress the poor, that they rose in a tumultuous manner in several
counties, sometimes to the number of five or six thousand, and seized
upon the grain brought to market. Nor was it indeed to be wondered
at, considering the distress to which many persons were reduced. The
difficulty of obtaining the necessaries of life, raised the price
of labour at the most unseasonable time, when all manufacturers were
overstocked for want of a proper market, which obliged them to dismiss
above half the hands before employed. Hence arose the most pitiable
condition of several thousands of useful industrious subjects; a
calamity attended only with one advantage to the public, namely, the
facility with which recruits were raised for his majesty's service. At