commerce between this Country and the Sister Island, and beween Britain and other countries.

After some discussion, in the course of which Lord Castlereagh stated that the sum of 400,000l. was to be given entire to the Spanish Government, to which those who had claims for compensation were to apply, the resolution was agreed to, and the House was resumed.

Lord Castlereagh laid on the table copies of the treaty with Portugal for abolishing the Slave Trade.

64

Mr. Fazakerly, after some preliminary observations, moved, That it be an instruction to the Committee of Secrecy now sitting, to inquire and report whether any and what measures have been taken to detect and bring to justice those persons who have been described in the Report of the Committee of Secrecy of the 20th June, 1817, as persons who encouraged those designs, which it was only intended they should be employed in detecting."

Mr. B. Bathurst said the motion took for granted, that the Report of the Committee of Secrecy asserted that a certain crime had been committed, which it did not. Mr. B. then read a passage from the Report, which stated, that though the language and conduct of certain persons might, in some instances, have had the effect of influencing the minds of the people where they were, yet the plan of a serious insurrection had been previously begun, and its execution finally determined On. He then contended, that Oliver had not excited any of the insurrectional proceedings, nor had a single person been apprehended on his information. moral character stood unimpeached; he had not gone among the reformers to give information, but being with them, he thought it his duty to communicate what he knew. He had nothing to do with the Derbyshire conspiracy, and never Brandreth.

His

saw

Lord Milton supported the motion, and reprobated the proceedings of Oliver.

Mr. C. Grant could not account for Oliver's not having been summoned on the part of the prisoners at Derby, if he had been their instigator,

Mr. Bennet expected nothing satisfactory from the Committee. It had been nominated by Ministers; it was the Ministers who were to be tried; it was the Ministers who were to furnish the evidence. Up to that moment the case of the people had not been heard. Mr. B. then alluded to the conduct of spies in encouraging the Luddites, to the infamous Castles, and Oliver, who, instead of being a man of unsullied reputation, had been, guilty of bigamy, and owed to the mercy of a benefactor whom he had basely injured, the miserable and infamous life which he now held. Mr. B. then stated the proceedings of Oliver in different parts of the country, and undertook to prove that Oliver had conversed with Brandreth, and urged him and others to insurrection. It was a certain fact, the day that Oliver ceased his employment as missionary of Government, to foment disturbances, that very day was public tranquillity perfectly restored. He was prepared to establish the facts he had stated on the evidence of oaths, and of the most credible witnesses.

Mr, Wilberforce condemned the employment of spies, but thought the Committee not the proper place for the inquiry suggested.

The Solicitor General opposed the motion, and asserted that Oliver was not concerned in the conspiracy of Brandreth, Ludiam, &c. The statement of Mr. Bennet he considered as coming from a polluted source-Mitchell, who had been imprisoned on a charge of treason.

Sir S. Romilly and Mr. Tierney supported the motion; and Mr. Canning and Lord Castlereagh opposed it. On a division, it was negatived by 111 to 53.

FRANCE.

According to the French Law on Recruiting, the levies cannot exceed 40,000 men in one year; so that, supposing this number is actually raised annually, the whole peace establishment cannot be completed before five or six years. But, instead of 40,000, no more than 15,000 will most likely be raised in 1818, owing to the present financial difficulties. As to the Army of Reserve, it will exist only on the books; as the soldiers who are to compose it are not to be called out except in cases of invasion.

A Law has been proposed by the Government to the Chamber of Deputies,

relative to arrests for debt. By one of the articles of the new law, men of 70 years of age are not to be exposed to personal arrest. Every debtor imprisoned for civil or commercial debt shall obtain his release after three years' imprisonment, by paying or assigning the third of the principal of the debt and its accessories; and giving, besides, security, accepted by the creditor, or received by the Tribunal.

Frequent conferences are held at Paris, between the Duke of Wellington and other political personages, on the subject of the foreign claims upon the French Treasury. -If we may believe report, Prussia still

demands

demands two millions and a half sterling. The Duke of Wellington has cut down the claims of the smaller States, in some instances, even to one-sixth of their pretensions. By his authority, the demand of Bavaria has been abridged from thirty to ten millions; at which it complains grievously.

It appears from the Paris Journals, that the Abolition of the Slave Trade is at length seriously taken up by France; a law to enforce it has been introduced to the Chamber of Deputies.

Several families of the Western Departments of France have subscribed to purchase a spot of ground, near Angers, on which to build a monument to the memory of more than 3000 victims; who, in that place alone, were shot by hundreds, and buried in masses, in 1793. These innocent victims of the Revolution were old men, women, mothers of families, entire families, strangers for the most part to public transactions, who were condemned either for their attachment to Religion, or their love of the King, or their compassion for some proscribed persou. A simple chapel will be erected on the spot.

Mr.

A fatal duel took place on the 1st inst. at Avaranches, on the French coast, opposite to Jersey. It arose in consequence of a dispute between Lieuts. Cartwright and Maxwell, of the Royal Navy. Cartwright received his adversary's first fire; the ball entered his forehead, and he expired in a few minutes. He was married a few weeks since at St. Helier's, to Miss Mann, niece of the late Bishop of Cork and Ross.

The arrest of the assassin who attempted the life of the Duke of Wellington is now, we suppose, placed beyond all doubt.-A Letter from Paris says: "The efforts of the Police have been crowned with success; the assassin of his Grace is in custody; yet the Police is still silent, because it is believed that he has accomplices not yet in custody. The following are the facts which may be impli citly relied on: the execrable wretch is one Cantillon, or Caintillon, formerly a soldier, who had taken refuge in Belgium. This miserable outcast, seduced by the hope of a reward, came secretly to Paris, to commit the crime in question; he immediately got his mustachios shaved, and set off without a passport for the Low Gountries; but the Gendarmery would not suffer him to pass the frontiers. Cantillon, knowing well that the Police was after him, fancied that he would be more safe at Paris than any where else; he therefore returued, and was arrested in the day-time on the 16th iust. Nothing has yet transpired as to any confessions that he may have made; but it appears

certain that he has several accomplices or instigators, some of whom are already in custody. It may safely be affirmed that this execrable plot was formed in Belgium, by a set of miserable wretches, who cannot be said specially to belong to any party; who have no country; but are always anxious to seize the opportutunity of creating or profiting by troubles, because they have no means of existence except what tumult or disorder affords."

The Duke of Wellington recently received an autograph letter from the Prince Regent, congratulating him on his escape from assassination, and expressing thanks to Providence for preserving a life "so important to the preservation of the general tranquillity of Europe."

The French Papers give us daily ac counts of the frequent conferences held by Lord Wellington with the several Ministers of the Allied Powers and of France; and of an intended removal of the Army of Occupation from France. This, it is said, will commence in May next, as far as regards the Danish, Saxon, and Hanoverian contingents; but that the British and Russians remain until September; and the latter have agreed to transfer to France (by virtue of an arrangement not yet made public) the whole of the horses of their cavalry, artillery, &c. which saves effectually the risk and expence of carrying them round by sea.Now, it is not improbable that the removal of the Army of Occupation may form the subject of these frequent discussions. But we do not believe that any determination is yet formed respecting it; nor is it likely that the Duke of Wellington would consent to a division of the Allied Forces, while it may be thought necessary to retain on the frontiers of France any appearance of a foreign power. The occupying Army would indeed occupy a post of danger, if it ceased for a moment to be respectable in numbers and efficiency.

Charles John, King of Sweden, has been formally acknowledged by Louis the XVIIIth.; he therefore ascends the throne of Sweden without a dissentient voice among the Potentates of Europe. His coronation is appointed to take place in May.

The Duke d'Aumont went, on the 1st inst. in the name of Louis XVIII. to congratulate the new Queen of Sweden, who resides incognita at Paris.

Alicted capital punishment on the ringleader alone. Discipline was then at once re-established.

The late tempestuous weather has caused great havock among the shipping on the coast of Holland. One letter mentions, that in the storms of the 4th and 6th inst. 140 vessels perished between the Helder and Calais only. Another letter mentions (taking in a wider range) the melancholy certainty of upwards of 300 vessels having been wrecked; which had caused the greatest consternation in all the mercantile towns.

SPAIN.

The Madrid Gazette has been directed to state, that the King of Spain makes no other sacrifice for the acquisition of the Russian fleet than the payment in money of its value.

Spain seems to be making great exertions for the purpose of sending a large naval and military force to South Ame rica. The Russian squadron will be joined by a Spanish squadron, which is in complete readiness. The troops are assembled, and Buenos Ayres is believed to be their destination.

The Madrid accounts continue to dwell with the greatest exultation upon the capture of Mina.

A letter from Madrid contains a report, that 120 Spaniards, including eight officers, were shot by the Independents, in retaliation for Mina's death.

ITALY.

The Constitution of the Ionian Isles has been ratified by the Prince Regent. There is to be a Legislative Assembly chosen by the electoral body; a Senate chosen by the Legislative Assembly; and the Judges are to be appointed by the Senate. The elections are to be for five years; the Lord Commissioner to have the power of convoking or proroguing the Parliament, but not of dissolving it, except by virtae of an order of the Government here. Each Island to have a local Government. The dominant religion to be the Greek Church; the language to be Greek. There is to be a general printing establishment at Corfu, under the immediate direction of the Senate; and no other printing establishment in any of the Islands, without the approbation of the Lord Commissioner. GERMANY.

The Emperor of Austria has put off his intended journey to Dalmatia; having received an intimation that the Emperor of Russia and King of Prussia will pay him a visit at Vienna about the middle of May.

The Emperor of Austria has written a letter to the King of Prussia, apparently with the view of inducing the latter to be more reasonable in his pecuniary claims on the French Government. GENT. MAG. March, 1818.

The Duke of Mecklenburgh Schwerin has called together his States, to whom he intends proposing the abolition of personal servitude.

The Prussian Council of State has, at length, adopted a new Tariff of Duties upon imports, with a view to the protection of domestic manufactures: all foreign goods, and English manufactures in particular, are heavily taxed.

The Paris Papers inform us, that great preparations are making at Frankfort for the reception of the Emperors of Austria and Russia, and the King of Prussia, who will spend some weeks there, and then repair to Dusseldorff, where the Congress is expected to be held; Lord Castlereagh will be the Representative of Great Britain, and the Duke of Richelieu of France. Among other subjects to be discussed and settled, one will relate to the state of European commerce in general. This Congress is to be considered as a continuation of the Congress of Vienna, at which many important objects could not be decided on account of the resumption of hostilities after the 20th March, 1815.

September is talked of as the period when the Congress will assemble at Dusseldorff.

POLAND.

We find in the German Papers the copy of a Proclamation from his Imperial Majesty, convoking the Polish Diet for the 27th inst. to remain assembled for the dispatch of public business until the 27th April. The Emperor, in addressing himself to the senators and deputies of Poland, congratulates them on the cessation of those calamities which had so long afflicted her, and on the existence of a Constitution by which rational freedom is secured. The benefit of a Constitution is a concession on the part of the Emperor Alexander to the people of that interesting country, which they appear duly to appreciate; and which they expressly consider as the noblest, as well as the most worthy consolation which that magnanimous Sovereign could give them after so long a series of misfortunes. The Emperor was expected at Warsaw on the 12th inst.; and preparations were making to give his Majesty a brilliant reception in the capital of his new kingdom.

SWEDEN.

mation recites the unanimous election, by virtue of which, the Crown Prince, was chosen on the 21st August, 1810, in consequence of events in which he had himself no share, but which decided the free and independent resolutions of the Estates of Sweden. On the 7th the Estates were solemnly assembled; when they took the oath of allegiance to the King, upon his throne, the Crown Prince (Oscar) setting the example. The most perfect tranquillity is represented to have prevailed throughout the capital and dominions of Sweden when the accounts came away.It is related of Bernadotte, that in early life he was wounded and taken prisoner in a sortie at the siege of Cuddalore, at which time he was a young French serjeant. He was then noticed and taken care of by Col. Waggenheim, Commandant of the Hanoverian troops in our service; and they mutually recognized each other many years after, when Bernadotte entered Hanover as a French Marshal and a conqueror.

RUSSIA.

Au article from Petersburgh announces, that the brave Count Platoff, Hetman of the Cossacks, lately died at an advanced age.

ASIA.

Dispatches, arrived overland from Bombay, brought by Capt. Moore, and dated 24th November, are of more striking and important interest than any that we have received from India for a considerable period. The accounts state, that the British Government, having ascertained that the Peishwa was preparing for hostilities, marched a force of 4000 men from the Bombay army to oppose him. The Peishwa met us with 40,000 men, and fought two battles; in both of which he was defeated. The first engagement took place on the 5th of November; but this could not have been of a decisive character, as the Mahratta chieftain was again in a condition to cope with the British troops on the 17th of the same month; when, notwithstanding the disparity of numbers, he was totally routed, flying to one of his strong forts, and leaving Poonah to its fate.

The English accordingly entered bis capital in triumph.

Marquis Hastings had concluded a treaty with Scindiah; by which it was provided that the British troops might pass through his territories, to punish the Pindarrees. It is not, however, supposed that a subsidiary force will be fixed upon Scindiah, who seems anxious to maintain an amicable understanding with the Company, and willing to assist in suppressing the robbers. Holkar submits in every thing to Lord Hastings. The troops of the Peishwa hung two British officers whom they had made captive-an outrage for which we may presume that our countrymen were

were not slow to enforce a rigorous retaliation.

The army of Bengal was either in motion, or on the alert; while the Governorgeneral, with a great staff, was moving up the country, evidently for military purposes. It is generally understood to be the determination of his Excellency to insist, that a subsidiary force shall be put on every one of the Mahratta chiefs: that is, an English division is to occupy the head-quarters, and hold the person of the Indian prince; having a district of country assigned for their maintenance, and an English Ambassador at the Court to take care of their interests. The Indian army is to be considerably strengthened; the Directors at home have this winter had, each, the nomination of nine cadets, though two has been the usual number. plan begun by Governor Hastings, and widely extended by the Marquis Wellesley, is now, it seems, to be fully completed by the Marquis of Hastings.

AFRICA.

The

An account has been lately received of an interesting discovery made in the South of Africa, about 20 miles North of Cape Town. Some persons, in digging, happened to strike upon what appeared a beam of timber; but, tracing it, they found a ship, or other large vessel, deeply imbedded in the soil. A plank of it has, accompanied the account of the discovery. It appears to be cedar, and is in a state of good preservation.

A letter, dated Genoa, Feb. 25, says: -"The Commander of the squadron of the United States of America in the Mediterranean has required the Dey of Algiers to give orders to his cruisers not to take the liberty in future of visiting American vessels, under any pretext whatever; because as the plague prevails in the territory of Algiers, it is much to be feared that the contagion might be spread by these visits. He added, that in case of refusal, he had orders to give chase to the Algerine vessels, and to sink them. If all the maritime Powers would hold the same energetic language, there would not be so much reason to fear that these corsairs would communicate the plague to us; and their piracies would cease of themselves."

AMERICA.

A Message from the President informs the House of Representatives, that he is building considerable maritime fortifications. The portion of the army stationed in the neighbourhood of the new fortifications has been employed in assisting to construct them. Considering that only. one country has the means of attacking fortresses on the American shore, this message is not a pleasant instance of foresight.

American journals recently received contain a Message from the President to Congress, together with two letters from the British Minister, Mr. Bagot, to the American Secretary for Foreign Affairs, having for their common object the institution of such measures on the part of the United States, as should secure to British subjects the full benefit of the reciprocity to which they were entitled under the Commercial Treaty; including therein a return of those sums which had been paid by them on account of duties, in the ports of America, subsequent to the period at which those duties ought, in virtue of the compact, to have ceased. It is pleasing to observe, that on this occasion the requisitions of our Ambassador and the rights of our countrymen have met from the Government of the United States the most prompt and equitable attention.

It is reported, that we are likely to be involved in a dispute with America, similar to the Nootka Sound question with Spain; an American frigate having sailed round into the Pacific Ocean to take possession of the river Columbia, a British station, where there is a small colouy of settlers, with a fort upon which the British flag flies. It was originally taken possession of by Vancouver. The claim

made by the United States arises solely from the purchase of Louisiana from Spain.

From the following article there appears to be a strong inclination on the part of the Americans to resent the conduct of the Spanish Government in confining an agent of the United States at Cadiz. In the sitting of the House of Representatives on the 3d of February the following Resolution was unanimously passed:

"Resolved, That the demand made by the President of the United States upon the King of Spain, for the liberation of Richard W. Meade, a Citizen of the United States, detained in confinement in the Castle of Santa Catalina, at Cadiz, ought to be supported and enforced, by vesting the President with authority to make reprisals in the event of a failure on the part of Spain promptly to discharge the said Meade."

A letter from Washington states, that Don Onis (Spanish Ambassador) feels himself very disagreeably situated, on account of the free remarks in the newspapers respecting his Sovereign and his country. They confidently assert, that it was not with the concurrence of Spain that Amelia Island has been taken possession of by the troops of the United States; but that Don Onis immediately transmitted dispatches to his Court, the reply of which is anxiously expected.

The New York papers announce preparations for another extension of the Ame

rican Navy; ten line of battle ships and ten frigates are ordered to be built, and launched within a certain time. The Public Debt of America, stands at 99,000,000 of dollars. The Seminoles continued to massacre the unprotected American settlers on the borders of their territory; some supplies had, with difficulty, been thrown into Forts Gaines and Scott; and Generals Gaines and Jackson were occupied in the preparatory arrangements for an active campaign against the Indians.

A Quebec Gazette Extraordinary, of January 7, contains a Speech of the Governor in Chief on opening the Session of the Provincial Parliament of Lower Canada. We observe, that the Canadian Legislature is now, for the first time, called upon to provide for the expense of the Civil Government of the Province: measure to which we must wish success, as some relief to the finances of England.

a

The Subscriptions entered into in America for the relief of the sufferers in Newfoundland are highly creditable to the people of that country. At New York there were subscribed, on the 9th ult. about three thousand dollars. An application had been made to Mr. Bagot, the British Minister, for permission to load an American vessel at that port with provisions for the distressed sufferers in question. A meeting had also been held at Boston; when some of the most respectable Citizens were appointed to act as a Committee for receiving, soliciting, and applying relief; a brig of 150 tons was instantly hired to proceed to St. John's, loaded with provisions; even the common truck men offered their gratuitous services to transport the cargo to the vessel; and the stevedores to put the same on board, and stow it, without charge. The Boston Committee was labouring also to extend their relief to the supplying the sufferers with means to erect shelters for themselves against the extreme severity of the winter in Newfoundland, by sending them a cargo of joists and boards.

Jamaica papers state, that the House of Assembly, as a mark of their high satisfaction with the administration of the Duke of Manchester, had unanimously voted him an additional salary of 3,000. a year. A long report had been laid before the Assembly of the numbers and state of the slave population. The total on the island was 345,252; and the number of slaves baptized last year is stated at 40,000.

Recent letters, received in Paris from Martinique, estimate the losses sustained by that colony from the late hurricane at 25,000,000 of francs. More than a thousand individuals have perished, and nine. tenths of the vessels have been shipwrecked. DOMESTIC