the office of Under-Secretary of State for foreign affairs. The Common Council of the City of London have agreed, at a late meeting thereof, to petition Parliament, early in the ensuing Session, for a more adequate representation of the people in parliament, or for what in common parlance is denominated Parliamentary Reform. In Devonshire and Lincolnshire, requisitions have been issued for the same purpose. The printer and publisher of the Liberal has received notice of prosecution, for publishing Lord Byron's parody on Dr. Southey's miraculous Vision of Judgment,' at the suit of the Bridge Street Association. An indictment against a man named King, preferred by the same Society, twelve months ago, was called for trial last month, in the Court of King's Bench; but there being a lack of Special Jurymen, the Society refused to go to trial without them. Mr. Gibson, writer to the Signet in Edinburgh, has obtained five hundred pounds damages against the proprietors of the well-known Beacon newspaper, for defaming his private character. The very excellent and praiseworthy plan experimentally made by Government, of holding a winter assize, has encountered opposition from some quarters, on the score of its being better for the prisoners to remain in prison in the winter, and for the judges and juries to enjoy the season, than for them to be tried at the expiration of three months, and lose the comparative comfort of their cells. There is no good measure ever adopted but it encounters opposition from the ignorant and narrow-minded. In such cases people too rarely ask what is right, but only consult personal convenience. Six months imprisonment sustained by an innocent individual, or by any one but such reasoners themselves, is no hardship in their view. The different courts have been held on the Home Circuit during the last month, and the advantages of the plan have been experienced in the less crowded state of the prisons, and the just enlargement of those against whom no proceedings have been instituted, as well as in the acquittal of the innocent. Mr. Bankes has been returned to Parliament for the University of Cam bridge, against Lord Hervey and Mr. Scarlett. It is said he owed his success to the avowal of his intention to oppose any concession to the Catholics. The numbers were, for Mr. Bankes, 419; Lord Hervey, 281; Mr. Scarlett, 219. The Funds have experienced various fluctuations during the last month. Numbers have been totally ruined in the rage for foreign securities. At the commencement of the month every thing wore a gloomy aspect, and November closed on the failure of an unprecedented number of speculators. The pacific aspect of European affairs has, however, proved favourable in recovering a little the state of the funded securities. The disagreements between the Keelmen and the proprietors of Collieries at Newcastle upon Tyne, have been settled after a cessation of labour on the part of the workmen for many weeks. Several of the keelmen who were imprisoned, have been set at liberty, and they have all resumed their occupations peaceably. Dr. Owen, a clergyman of the city of London, appeared last month before the Lord Mayor, to endeavour to enforce the act of Henry VIII. against the several parishes of the City of London and its Liberties, whereby 2s. 9d. in the pound on the rental of the inhabitants, is demanded as tithes. Dr. Owen claimed a compulsory order against a Mr. Abbott, to obtain payment. The Common Sergeant, who attended to advise the Lord Mayor, insisted that the act had not been enrolled, and therefore could not be enforced. This important question to the inhabitants of the City was postponed for a further hearing. The storms of the last month have been very fatal to shipping, the coasts have been strewed with wrecks, and much injury has also been sustained on shore. The Fourth Report of the Society for the Improvement of Prison Discipline has been published. It commences with a refutation of the objections made to the efforts of the Society. It is maintained that the system recommended by the Society is not less calculated to render imprisonment efficient as a punishment, than beneficial as a means of reclaiming the vicious 1823. Colonial. and criminal. A general view of the state of the prisons throughout the kingdom follows, which is, on the whole, extremely gratifying; but it proves that while much improvement has been effected, there yet remains room for exertion. COLONIAL. The latest accounts from India, brought by the Leander of 60 guns, Admiral Blackwood, state the dissolution of the Naval Establishment at Trincomalee. The Glasgow, 46 guns, was expected at Calcutta to convey the Marquis of Hastings to Europe. One of the Noncowrie Islands is said to be inhabited by pirates, all of whom are Europeans. The quantity of Indigo in the market in June last was very trifling. The Indigo crop this season bids fair to be a very good one, and was estimated at upwards of 90,000 maunds; but little business had been done recently in this article of commerce. In fact, with the exception of the Arabs and Portuguese, the buyers in the market were scarce. The request for Cotton had been very limited lately. In Opium nothing worth noticing had of late been done. At a The Charles Mills, East Indiaman, was unfortunately lost on the 20th of May last, together with Mr. Bell, chief master, and sixty-five persons. little after half-past seven a. m. the boats were hoisted out, all of which, with the exception of one, were swamp ed. The Captain and the survivors hastily got into the boat, and at that minute the Charles Mills foundered, carrying with her Mr. Bell and sixtyfive individuals. The last time that gentleman was seen was a few minutes before her sinking, when he was standing towards the stern. This dreadful catastrophe occurred so suddenly that none of the crew, with the exception of those in the boat, could make any effort for their preservation. At the time of her sinking, she was in lat. 15. N. and 85. 30 E. The survivors in the boat suffered extreme hardship, the boat being six days without meeting with any vessel; and although on the middle of the fifth day they made land, yet the surf ran so heavy that they were unable to approach, from dread of the boat being upset. On the morning of the sixth day they discerned a sail, which they made towards. She proved to be the French brig Scythe, from the Mauritius, on board of which ship they were immediately received, and treated with every possible attention and kindness, and conveyed to Kedgeree, to which place the vessel was proceeding. The Indigo stations at Madras were in a good state, and a superior crop was anticipated. In the Upper Provinces the season had proved generally wholesome. The troops have been healthy. The weather in the Northern Provinces, however, had been very irregular, and in April it was so cold as to render double blankets during the night far from disagreeable. At Tichoat the indigo cultivation was in a very promising state, and there was every appearance of a productive season. Å dangerous fever had been very prevalent at Allahabad, which had proved fatal to many of the Europeans in the garrison, particularly to the artillery. The Jamaica papers announce the proceedings of the House of Assembly, which commenced its session on the The Lieutenantfirst of October. Governor stated, that "he had called them together at an earlier period than usual, in order that their attention might be directed to such measures as might be deemed necessary for giving facility to the operation of two Acts, recently passed by the Imperial Parliament, for extending the trade and intercourse of the Colonies." The house, in its reply to this speech, observed, that it should" be rejoiced to find the extensive benefits," anticipated by the Lieutenant-Governor, "from the operation of those statutes, fully realized." Great distress prevailed among the sugar-planters; and it was feared that if some reduction of the heavy duties did not take place, general ruin was inevitable. The system of borrowing had alone enabled the planters to go on, and the wheels of the government to be kept in motion. The war-duties, at least, it would be necessary to take off, or the inability to raise them was expected to become but too manifest. The 91st regiment had lost a captain, two lieutenants, one assistant-surgeon, seven serjeants, and 112 men, besides six women and eleven children since its arrival. It was then very healthy. The Royal Gazette of Bahama announces the capture of a pirate by a merchantınan, the Eliza, at La Quahaza. About half-past eight in the evening, a pirate schooner came up and fired two shots at the sloop, which was returned from her only gun, a twelve-pounder carronade loaded with grape, and supported by musquetry, with visible effect. At this moment, a felucca bore down with the intention of running alongside the Eliza. The Eliza ran her bow on board, and attacked the felucca by boarding, and carried her. The captain and nine men were killed, and all but four jumped overboard, two of whom were wounded. The captors had two men killed, and the master and six seamen wounded. The schooner beaten off, had six guns and forty men, and the felucca taken five guns and thirty-six men, while the Eliza had only one gun and twenty-five men. The master's name is Nourse, worthy of being recorded. One of the Spanish slave-ships, a prize to the Myrmidon frigate, with 400 slaves on board, sixteen British seamen, and two officers, foundered lately in a tornado on the coast of Africa. A boat with seven seamen, who were miraculously preserved from the wreck, was picked up four days afterwards. This vessel went down in sight of the Myrmidon. An act has been passed by the legis lature of Dominica, for raising a fund to defray the expenses of the civil government, and discharge the debts of the colony. The new taxes are on wines, liquors, slaves, tradesmen, and domestics, and also on incomes. The two houses of legislature were to meet on the 24th of October. Advices from the Cape of Good Hope mention that the crops looked well. The accounts from the frontiers had been gloomy. Colonel Scott, who commands there, had requested more troops, to enable him to extend his quarters, and strengthen some posts which were exposed; Kaffers being seen all through the bush along the frontiers: they had committed a few murders, and driven off a great number of cattle. A young man of very respectable family, the son of a clergyman, had been convicted of flogging a slave to death, and condemned to be hanged. Captain Hanmer, who had been endeavouring to ascertain the existence of a shoal called the Telemaque Shoal and Albion Bank, had returned, after making the most minute examination. He is of opinion that no such shoal exists. Captain Hanmer thinks that the peculiar appearance of the sea on the spot where the danger was said to be, was caused by easterly winds and currents. A meeting has been held at Kingston, in Canada, in which sundry resolutions have been passed, approving of the late act to regulate the trade of the Provinces, and recommending a petition to the British parliament for the consolidation of the legislatures of Upper and Lower Canada. FOREIGN. The question of war or peace between France and Spain is still enveloped in mystery. The Gallic Cabinet is said to be divided on the subject; and the war party, as may easily be conjectured, consists principally of men who look forward to a complete and full restoration of things as they existed under the old regime. They imagine that a convulsion of the nature which they wish to bring about will furnish opportunities for restoring to them some immunities and advantages which may compensate for the losses they have sustained by the Revolution. The King is said to be decidedly on the pacific side, but the French Princes are reported to be eager for war. The Duke D'Angoulême is to command the offensive army in case of war, and no means will be omitted to give efficiency to the force employed. In case of hostilities and of good success, which may reasonably be doubted, Ferdinand is to be restored to the plenitude of power, and the demands of constitutional governments, are to be every where met by force, and repressed by chains and punishment. The press will be every where put under stronger restrictions, and the march of the human mind impeded in every practicable way, to approximate the countries under the Bourbon sway more to their ancient state. On the other hand, the Congress is only said to have demanded from Spain a guarantee for the safety of the King's person, and sundry not very important concessions, and then they agree to leave Spain to form her own government in a way most agreeable to the genius of the people, and the enlightened views of the age. The Duke of Wellington, whose opinion on the subject of Spain must naturally have great weight, is reported to have expressed doubts of the success of a French army in Spain, even with a great sacrifice of blood and treasure; and his ideas on the subject, together with the pacific intentions of this country, are rumoured to have much strengthened in its views that party of the French cabinet which is inclined to peace. Nothing certain, however, has yet been communicated to the public. The proceedings of the Verona Congress were conducted with the most cautious secrecy. The influence of France, according to some accounts, was unsuccessful in attaining the object of unconditional support in her projected measures. The mercantile and manufacturing bodies in France are averse to a war, and the agriculturists, who have not expressed openly their sentiments, will, no doubt, feel but ill inclined to pay additional impositions and taxes, for the putting down a system by which they have themselves obtained the means of living in an honourable independence. The Duke of Wellington has left Paris. He arrived in London on the 23d ult. Nothing transpired on his arrival to throw light upon the future measures of the French government. The late state of uncertainty has been most distressingly felt by the funded interests of France and this country. An incessant fluctuation, produced one day by fear and alarm on the news of war, and another by tidings of a pacific nature, has caused much mischief to individuals, who too sanguinely hazarded their property on the hope of profiting by measures of peace and justice, which they had calculated on being pursued after the professions of equity and moderation so long held forth by the sovereigns of Europe. M. Chateaubriand, one of the 5 French plenipotentiaries at the Congress, is returned to Paris. At the recent elections for the Chambers, the new arrangements made, and the methods employed to return the members, have been completely successful on the part of the government; that has carried them on, as from their organization they must ever do, just as they pleased. The faculty of Medicine has been suppressed in Paris. Twenty-five physicians and four thousand students have been deprived of their places and the means of instruction. The excuse for this was a cry of "A bas les Jesuits," when an Abbé Niede, rector of the academy, was going to address them. The attempted arrest of the march of intellect in any country, is a symptom of misrule.-Fressinous, lately put into the academy of Literature, is not a literary man, and is such an ignoramus, as to be a standing jest among the people. Similar measures, with establishments for the cultivation of intellect, are not suited to the spirit of the day. M. Benjamin Constant has been sentenced 'to a month's imprisonment, and a fine of five hundred pounds, for a letter to the Attorney-General, Mangin, not one line of the truth of which could be impeached. Some accounts, relative to the war question between France and Spain, affirm that the former has demanded certain changes in the Spanish Constitution, which the latter has firmly and respectfully refused. In consequence, France has applied to the allied powers to mark their sense of the conduct of Spain, by withdrawing their ministers. If such be the fact, still no immediate war seems to be apprehended, and Spain, when once her power is consolidated, may rest very secure for the future, because every day must give her an accession of strength, and she will set the noble example of resisting successfully any foreign interference with her internal affairs;-the unprovoked meddling with which, in any country that offers no offence to the aggressor, but only exercises an inherent right, is a flagitious act of violence. The Spaniards, in the mean time, are employed in organizing a powerful army, and dispersing the rebel banditti and armed priests that infest the frontier provinces. Mina has every where routed them, without en countering any serious resistance, when they, for the most part, have taken refuge in France. The Cortes, in their sitting of the 11th ult. elected Signor Santa Fe, VicePresident, and Signor Oliver, President. Don D. Valdes has been elected Secretary in the place of Don M. Moreno. The famous law lately passed, relative to popular assemblies, is as follows: 1. All persons who propose to meet publicly for the purpose of discussing political subjects, must give twelve hours previous notice of the time and place of meeting, to the First Constitutional Alcaide, or the political chief of the district. 2. If it be intended that the meetings shall be periodical, those who propose to form the society must draw up a set of rules, and present the same to the abovementioned Magistrates within the fixed period of twelve hours; not, however, for the approbation of the said authorities, but merely to give an opportunity for ascertaining whether any thing is proposed to be done which may call for consideration or interposition. 3. In the case of any appearances of sedition, such as acts of violence or factious acclamations, the Political Chief, the Alcaide, or the Corregidor, is empowered to dissolve the meeting; which is done by reading three times, with a loud voice, the present law, and desiring all the persons then assembled to disperse. In the case of their refusing to obey, force may be used to make them withdraw. 4. The dispersion of a meeting or society shall not prevent its members from assembling again within three days; but all the formalities required by Article 1. must be repeated. 5. These meetings may remain open until midnight, or one in the morning; but after the last-mentioned hour, the Magistrates may dismiss them. If the persons present refuse to withdraw, they shall be held to be in a state of disobedience, and the society shall incur the penalty of suspension. 6. These meetings have no legal character; and petitions from them cannot be received as from corporate bodies, but must be held as merely expressing the opinion of the individuals present. The Allied Sovereigns were expected to quit Verona for Trieste, about the 10th ult. Piedmont was to be evacuated by the Austrian troops, in three equal portions-in January, in May, and in August, of the approaching year. Of the Austrian force in Naples, about half was to be withdrawn immediately, and a more moderate rate of contribution, for the support of the remaining half, to be promptly adopted. The final evacuation of this kingdom is, however, deferred to that period when it " may be considered safe and expedient." An insurrection is said to have happened at Constantinople, on the 12th of November: it was appeased by the disgrace and banishment of Haleb Effendi, the Grand Vizier, and the Mufti, who were both his friends. The new Vizier is Abdallah Pacha, and Sidke Sadi the new Mufti.-A complete victory has been gained by the Persians over the Turks; and the Pacha of Trebisond has been ordered to treat for peace with the victors.-The Camaican of Wallachia has been beheaded, "for his brother, one of the rebels of the having kept up a correspondence with Morea." The following note has been received by the Portuguese Minister in London, according to the Lisbon papers: "The undersigned is ordered to signify unto M, that, according to all the accounts received by the British Government, there is nothing to justify the idea entertained by his most Faithful Majesty and his Ministers of an invasion of the Peninsula." "The undersigned does not hesitate to assure his most Faithful Majesty, that his Majesty the King of Great Britain will never look with indifference on any attempt against the independence of Portugal; and that his Majesty will always be ready to afford to Portugal the protection which that country is entitled to expect from an allied nation." (Signed) "CANNING." No new contests have taken place in Greece. The Turkish forces in the Morea are said to have fallen back on Argos. No naval engagement had lately occurred, though the hostile fleets are represented as very near each other. United States, from Mexico, by way of Intelligence received at Charleston, the Havannah, states that addresses had been presented to the Emperor Iturbide, from various public bodies and districts of New Spain, complaining in loud terms of the oppressions experienced by the people under his government, and upbraiding him with having violated his oaths made in presence of the Congress. |