8. The city of Natchez, New Orleans, nearly destroyed by a tornado. About twenty persons were killed, and the loss of property was estimated at over 1,000,000l.

In the Court of Queen's Bench, Lord Denman gives judgment in the case of Capel, Vicar of Watford, who had obtained a conditional rule for setting aside a rate which included his tithes. It was now decided that under Mr. Poulett Scrope's Act, in spite of the Archbishop's proviso, tithes and rent-charges must be rated like lands-at what they will let for.

9. The Chinese attempt to burn the English shipping at Canton by fire-boats.

10. The newspapers publish the details of an attempt at murder said to have been made by the Swiss governess in the household of the Duke of Argyll. About midnight she was noticed with a knife in her hand making for the Duchess's room, and secured mainly through the presence of mind of the youngest Lady Campbell.

Attempt to shoot the Queen and Prince Albert by Edward Oxford, pot-boy. About six o'clock this evening the Queen and Prince left Buckingham Palace by the garden gate opening from Constitution-hill. They were seated in a very low German droschky, drawn by four horses with postilions, preceded by two outriders, and followed by two equerries. A number of people, assembled to witness her departure, were ranged in two lines outside the gate. After the carriage had proceeded a short distance up Constitution-hill, so as to be quite clear of the crowd, a young man on the Green Park side of the road presented a pistol, and fired it directly at her Majesty. The Prince, hearing the whistle of the ball, turned his head in the direction of the report, and her Majesty at the same instant rose, but Prince Albert suddenly pulled her down by his side. "The report of the pistol," says Perks, a witness, "attracted my attention, and I heard a distinct whizzing or buzzing before my eyes, between my face and the carriage. The moment he fired the pistol he turned himself round as if to see if any one was behind him. He then set himself back again, drew a second pistol with his left hand from his right breast, presented it across the one he had already fired, which he had in his right hand, and fired again, taking very deliberate aim." Several persons at once rushed upon him. He was then calm and collected, admitted firing the pistols, and went away quietly with two of the police to Queensquare station. He there gave his name as Edward Oxford, 17 years of age. The Queen, as might be supposed, appeared extremely pale from the alarm, but, rising to show that she was unhurt, ordered the postilions to drive to Ingestre House, the residence of the Duchess of Kent, where her Majesty and the Prince remained a short time. On returning by Hyde Park the royal pair were received by a large gathering of ladies and gentlemen, and escorted

to Buckingham Palace, which they reached about twenty minutes past seven o'clock. In the evening large numbers of the nobility called at the Palace to offer their congratulations.

11.-On examination before the Privy Council Oxford made the following declaration:-"A great many witnesses against me. Some say I shot with my left, others with my right. They vary as to the distance. After I fired the first pistol Prince Albert got up as if he would jump out of the coach, and sat down again as if he thought better of it. Then I fired the second pistol. This is all I shall say at present. On searching his lodgings a quantity of powder and shot was found, and the rules of a secret society, styled "Young England," prescribing among other things that every member should, when ordered to meet, be armed with a brace of loaded pistols and a sword, and a black crape cap to cover his face. The prisoner was this day committed for trial on the charge of high treason in its most aggravated form-a direct attempt on the life of the Queen. The surmises as to the attempt being part of a widespread conspiracy were not established by the careful inquiries to which the outrage led. A joint address from both Houses of Parliament was agreed upon to-day at a conference.

The Court of Session grant an interdict prohibiting the sentence of the General Assembly from being carried into execution against the seven suspended ministers of the Strathbogie Presbytery.

12. At a Court held this afternoon at Buckingham Palace, the joint Address from both Houses of Parliament was presented to her Majesty, expressive of indignation at the late attempt against her life, and of heartfelt congratulations on her preservation. Her Majesty replied, "I am deeply sensible of the mercy of Divine Providence, to whose continued protection I humbly commend myself, and I trust that under all trials I shall find the same consolation and support which I now derive from the loyal and affectionate attachment of my Parliament and my people." Addresses were also presented by many public bodies throughout the kingdom. For some weeks the excitement produced by the outrage absorbed all other topics of public interest.

13. The effect of the attempted assassination on certain portions of the Irish people may be seen from the language used by the O'Connellite Pilot: "There has been-we anticipated there would be as soon as her Majesty was announced enceinte there has been a deliberate attempt to assassinate the Queen and put Cumberland on the throne. Yes, Cumberland and Orangeism plotted to murder the Queen. The hand of God alone saved her to her people. Oh, may that God long protect her life, and preserve her people from the domination of Cumberlandism and the foul assassin Orange-Tory faction!"

15.-The Canada Clergy Revenues Bill read a second time in the House of Commons.

15. In the Court of Queen's Bench, A. Alaric Watts was fined 50%. for a libel on Admiral Ommanney, in so far as an article published in the United Service Gazette imputed to him disrespectful conduct in the reception of the Queen Dowager at Malta.

16. In the discussion on the Church of Scotland Benefices Bill, Lord Aberdeen explained, that one leading principle of the bill was to preserve to the civil power the right of cognizance of acts of excess which the General Assembly might commit in the exercise of what they were pleased to call their right to give effect to what they considered their solemn conviction. The bill had been received with satisfaction, he said, by a large body of the clergy and laity, though it was admitted the General Assembly took a less favourable view of it. The second reading was carried to-day in the Upper House by 74 to 27 votes.

-The Atlantic steamship British Queen arrived at Portsmouth, having made the voyage from New York in fourteen days, fourteen hours, less longitude. Her last outward voyage was made in thirteen days, eleven hours, from port to port, the quickest yet made.

17.-The Lord William Bentinck and the Lord Castlereagh, troop-ships, wrecked off Bombay.

18.-Commenced in the Central Criminal Court, before Chief Justice Tindal and Baron Parke, the trial of François Benjamin Courvoisier, for the murder of Lord William Russell. Counsel for the prosecution, Messrs. Adolphus, Bodkin, and Chambers; for the prisoner, Mr. Charles Phillips and Mr. Clarkson. The first witness examined was the housemaid, Sarah Mancel, who spoke to the appearance of the house on the morning of the murder, and the conduct of the prisoner when they found their master murdered. On the second day an important witness turned up, viz. Charlotte Piolaine, of the Hôtel Dieppe, Leicester-square, who spoke to the fact of the prisoner (formerly a servant there) having left a portion of the missing plate with her, some days before the murder was committed. "He had a paper parcel in his hand, and asked me if I would take care of it until the Tuesday following, when he would call for it. I said, 'Certainly, I would;' and he left it with me and went away. I put the parcel in a closet, locked it up, and never saw the prisoner till this day. I took the parcel eat of the closet yesterday for the first time, in consequence of a statement read by my cousin out of a French newspaper, to the effect that it was likely, seeing that the prisoner was a foreigner, he might have disposed of the missing plate at some of the foreign hotels in London." On the following morning the prisoner made a confession of guilt to his counsel, Mr. Phillips; but after consultation with the Judges it was considered proper to carry on the original line of defence, particularly as the prisoner himself wished this done. Mr. Phillips continued to discharge his irksome task to the close of the trial

on the third day, when he addressed the Court in defence of Courvoisier. The concluding portion of his address gave rise to sharp criticism as to the responsibilities resting on counsel with reference to prisoners who had confessed their guilt:-"It was not a strong suspicion," said Mr. Phillips, 64 or a moral conviction which would justify the jury in finding a man guilty of murder. If, notwithstanding that suspicion, they felt bound to acquit the prisoner, he was still answerable to the laws of his country for the robbery, if guilty; and even supposing him guilty of the murder-which indeed was known to Almighty God alone, and of which, for the sake of his eternal soul, Mr. Phillips hoped he was innocent-it was better far that in the dreadful solitude of exile he should, though not in the sight of man yet before the presence of God, atone by a lingering repentance for the deed, than that he should now be sent in the dawning of his manhood to an ignominious death, in a case where the truth was not clear. After having now travelled through this case of mystery and darkness, his anxious task was done: that of the jury was about to begin. Might God direct their judg ment ! One of the attributes of the Almighty was that day given to them-the issue of life and death was in their hands. To them was given to restore this man once more to the enjoyments of existence and the dignity of freedom, or to consign him to an ignominious fate, and brand upon his grave a murderer's epitaph. His had been a painful and an awful task, but still more awful was their responsibility. To violate the living temple which the Lord had made to quench the fire which His breath had given-was an awful and tremendous responsibility. The word once gone forth was irrevocable. Speak not that word lightly. Speak it not on suspicion however strong, on moral conviction however cogent, on inference, doubt, or anything but a clear, irresistible, bright, noonday certainty. He spoke to them in no spirit of hostile admonition; Heaven knew he did not. He spoke to them in the spirit of a friend and fellow-Christian; and in that spirit he told them, that if they pronounced the word lightly its memory would never die within them. It would accompany them in their walks; it would follow them in their solitary retirements like a shadow; it would haunt them in their sleep and hover round their bed; it would take the shape of an accusing spirit, and confront and condemn them before the judgment seat of their God. So let them beware how they acted." Chief Justice Tindal then charged the jury, who afterwards retired, deliberated an hour and twenty minutes, and returned with a verdict of "Guilty." The Chief Justice prefaced the sentence of death with a brief and feeling address, interrupted by his own sobs; his utterance at times was quite choked. "The age of your victim," said Chief Justice Tindal, "his situation of master, had no effect on you. To atone to society, which has received a shock by your crime, and to prevent

the recurrence of it, you must suffer an ignominious death. What may have been your precise or actual motive it is impossible to state. I fear it has been the lust of filthy lucre. It has been demonstrated in this instance by the providence of God, in no ordinary manner, that the crime committed in darkness should be brought to light." The prisoner was sentenced to be executed on the 6th of July. He looked very pale, but in other respects betrayed little emotion.

18.-Edward Oxford writes from the prison of Newgate, to Mr. Pelham, his solicitor : "Have the goodness to write to Lord Normanby, and ask him to let me have some books to read; such as 'Jack the Giant-Killer,' 'Jack and the Bean-stalk,' 'Jack and his Eleven Wives,' 'My Little Tom Thumb,' 'The Arabian Nights' Entertainment,' and all such books from such celebrated authors. And ask him, as a prisoner of war, whether I may not be allowed on a parole of honour? and on what grounds, ask him, does he detain one of her Majesty's subjects?"

20. Severe strictures passed on the Tory press for affecting to believe that the attempt of Oxford was a mere Whig trick to secure the Ministry in office.

21.-General thanksgiving for her Majesty's recent escape.

24.-Sir J. J. Gordon Bremer issues a notice declaring the river and harbour of Canton in a state of siege.

25. Mr. Fitzroy Kelly obtains leave to introduce a bill abolishing the punishment of death in all cases except murder and treason.

29. Tried at Durham Sessions, Robert Taylor, under twenty years of age, charged with six acts of bigamy, and obtaining money under the pretence of being heir to large properties. Two cases were proved against him, and he was sentenced to imprisonment for two years and a half.

-

Experiments with Glegg and Samuda's atmospheric railway at Wormwood Scrubbs.

Died at Viterbo, near Rome, aged 65, Lucien Buonaparte, Prince of Canino, brother of Napoleon I.

30. The Canada Government Bill read a second time in the House of Lords to-day; but the Duke of Wellington warned the Government of opposition in Committee, on the ground that the present was not the time, nor the measure before the House the method, of permanently settling the Canadian differences.

July 2.-O'Connell's motion, that it be an instruction to the Committee on the Registration of Irish Voters to make provision for defining the qualification entitling persons in Ireland to register, rejected by 311 to 162

votes.

5. The Island of Chusan captured by the British force, under the command of Brigadier

on

8.-The trial of Edward Oxford, for high treason, commenced at the Central Criminal Court, before Lord Denman, Baron Alderson, and Mr. Justice Patteson. Parties were admitted by ticket to the body of the Court, and and around the bench several members of the aristocracy were accommodated with seats. When Oxford was brought into Court he advanced with a smile to the bar, cast his eyes quickly around, and then commenced playing in a listless manner with the herbs strewn in front of the dock. The Attorney-General stated the case for the Crown, which was based mainly on his statements and confession. (See June 10, 11.) For the defence, the plea of insanity was set up by prisoner's counsel, Mr. Sidney Taylor, and it was sought to be established in evidence that the fact was well known to his relatives and acquaintance. His grandfather had been repeatedly confined in a lunatic asylum, and his father was subject to fits of mental aberration. So far as connexion with any secret society was concerned, the Crown had not been able to establish one single circumstance even of suspicion, and it was now urged in defence that the regulations and threatening letters found in the prisoner's possession had all been written by himself, while labouring under the delusions to which he was subject. Chief Justice Denman charged the jury on the 10th. On the subject of insanity he said: "If they thought the prisoner was at the time labouring under any delusion which prevented him from judging of the effects of the act he had committed, they could not find him guilty. He might be labouring, perhaps, under a delusion which affected every part of his conduct, and was not directed to one object alone. that were the case, and if the disease affected him at the time the act was committed, then he could not be held accountable for it. One cannot say what a person labouring under such a delusion may do; and the motive, in that case, would not be apparent. With regard to the motive, a love of notoriety had been sug gested; but might this absurd sort of love of notoriety not as well have been gratified by firing pistols unloaded as loaded? And if they were unloaded, there could not be an offence. But although he laboured under a delusion, if he fired the loaded pistols at the Queen know. ing the result which would follow his conduct, although forced by his morbid desire for notoriety to the act, he would be responsible

If

for his conduct, and liable to criminal punishment. . . . It is for you to determine whether the prisoner did fire the pistols, or either of them, at her Majesty, and whether the pistols, both or either of them, were loaded with a bullet. Supposing, gentlemen, that you should come to a satisfactory conclusion that the pistols, or one of them, were levelled at her Majesty, and that they or either of them were loaded, then the defence which has been set up raises the further inquiry whether, at the time the prisoner committed the act, he was responsible for it." The jury then retired to consult, and having been absent about three-quarters of an hour, they returned the following special verdict: "We find the prisoner, Edward Oxford, guilty of discharging the contents of two pistols, but whether or not they were loaded with ball has not been satisfactorily proved to us; he being of unsound state of mind at the time." Some discussion then took place on a motion by the Attorney-General for confining the prisoner under the 40th Geo. III., during her Majesty's pleasure; which was resisted by Mr. Taylor, on the ground that the jury had acquitted the prisoner of the offence with which he was charged by negativing the fact that the pistols were loaded with bullets. The jury again retired, and were absent nearly an hour, when they returned with a verdict of "Guilty, prisoner being at the time insane." Mr. Baron Alderson: "Then you find the prisoner guilty but for his insanity?" The Foreman : We do, my Lord." Lord Denman: "The Court asked you this question, Do you acquit the prisoner on the ground of insanity?" The Foreman: "Yes, my Lord, that is our intention." Lord Denman: "Then the verdict will stand thus, 'Not guilty, on the ground of insanity.' The Attorney-General: "That being the case, I have now humbly to move your Lordships, on behalf of the Crown, that the prisoner at the bar, Edward Oxford, be confined in strict custody during her Majesty's pleasure." Lord Denman: "That is a matter of course." The prisoner, who had remained unmoved during the whole of this argument, walked briskly from the bar, apparently glad that the trial was over.

8.-A formal union completed between the Synod of Ulster and the Secession Synod, numbering together about 700,000 Presby

terians.

- Lord Aberdeen withdraws his Scotch Benefices Bill.

11.-Lord Keane entertained by the East India Company at the London Tavern. In the course of the evening, the President of the Board of Control (Sir J. C. Hobhouse) announced that within these last few weeks, the Government of India "had been enabled to make an addition to its territory, the vast consequences of which could scarcely be imagined in the wildest dreams of fancy, and which for centuries would be of advantage to the empire.' It was not generally understood whether allu

Crowded meeting of the Loyal National Association of Ireland held in Dublin, when O'Connell delivered a speech, promising Repeal within a year.

14.-Mr. Hume's motion for an address to the Queen praying for the opening of the British Museum and National Galleries on Sundays, rejected by 82 to 44 votes.

15.-Convention signed at London between the Courts of Great Britain, Austria, Prussia, and Russia, on the one part, and the Ottoman Porte on the other, for the pacification of the Levant. To the surprise of many, France was not included in the alliance. The terms annexed to the Convention were, that Mehemet Ali should within ten days accept from the Sultan the administration of the Pashalic of Egypt, with the command of the fortress of St. Jean d'Acre, and pay an annual tribute corre sponding to the extent of territory placed under his protectorate. The fifth condition prescribed that all the treaties and all the laws of the Ottoman Empire should be applicable to Egypt and the Pashalic of Acre, but the Sultan consents "that, on condition of the regular payment of tribute above-mentioned, Mehemet Ali and his descendants shall levy imposts in the name of the Sultan, and as the delegate of his Highness, in the provinces of which the administration is to be to him confided. It is further understood, that, on the condition of receiving the above taxes and imposts, Mehemet Ali and his descendants shall provide for all expenses of the civil and military administration of said provinces." The terms were rejected by Mehemet Ali, and warlike proceedings at once took place along the Syrian coast. Lord Palmerston, in a note to M. Guizot, thus alludes to the withdrawal of France as a party to the Convention: "The Four Powers, in signing this Convention, could not but feel the greatest regret to find themselves thus momentarily separated from France in an affair so essentially European; but this regret is dimi nished by the reiterated declarations which the French Government has made to them that it has nothing to object to the arrangements which the Four Powers desire to make Mehemet Ali accept, provided Mehemet Ali consents to

them; that in no case will France oppose the measures which the Four Courts, in concert with the Sultan, might judge necessary to obtain the assent of the Pasba of Egpyt; and that the only motive which has prevented France from uniting with the other Powers on this occasion is derived from considerations of various kinds, which rendered it impossible for the French Government to take a part in coercive measures against Mehemet Ali. The Four Courts entertain, then, the well-grounded hope that their separation from France on this subject will be only of short duration, and will not in any manner interfere with the relations of sincere friendship which they so earnestly desire to preserve with France; and moreover, that they anxiously address themselves to the French Government in order to obtain its moral support, notwithstanding they cannot hope for its material co-operation."

20. The Chancellor of the Exchequer carries a resolution making the duty payable on sugar manufactured within this country from any material whatever, the same as that on sugar extracted from beetroot.

The line of the Great Western Railway further opened from Steventon to the Faringdon Road, a distance of sixty-three miles from London.

21.-On the occasion of the second reading of the Regency Bill, the Duke of Sussex took occasion to allude to his own relation to the Queen, not because he was ambitious of being included in the Regency, but because he thought the position of the Royal Family should not be altogether overlooked.

22.-The Morning Chronicle announces that the Rev. Connop Thirlwall, D.D., has been appointed Bishop of St. David's.

23. Royal Assent given to the Protestant Episcopal Church Bill, permitting clergymen of that communion in Scotland to officiate in England under certain conditions.

24. Discussion in the House of Commons on the case of John Thorogood, confined in Chelmsford jail for refusing to pay 5s. 6d. as church rates.

Mr. Simpson, a distinguished geographer in the employ of the Hudson's Bay Company, shoots himself at Turtle River, while in a state of mental excitement brought on by recent successful discoveries in connexion with the North-West passage. He had previously shot two of his travelling companions.

countrymen would be relieved." A few weeks later:-" If the British Government would only play the grand game-help Russia cordially to all she has a right to expect-shake hands with Persia get her all possible amends from the Oosbegs, and secure her such a frontier as would both keep these savages and man-stealers in wholesome check, and take away her pretext for pushing herself and letting herself be pushed on to the Oxus-force the Bokhara Ameer to be just to us, the Affghans and the other Oosbegs states, and his own kingdom.... The necessity of them will be seen, and we shall play the noble part that the first Christian nation of the world ought to fill."

28. The column of July inaugurated at Paris.

Died at Cowes, aged 48, John George Lambton, first Earl of Durham. He had been in failing health almost since his return from America in 1839.

29. Ovation in Manchester to the Glasgow cotton-spinners on their return from transportation.

31.-Action commenced at Lewes Assizes by Captain Richard Heaviside against Dr. Lardner, for compensation for the seduction of his wife. In summing up, Baron Gurney said one point urged in favour of the defendant was, that he was chastised by the plaintiff; and if he had put the defendant's life in danger, it would certainly go in mitigation of damages; but under the peculiar circumstances he would leave that entirely to the jury. They must not estimate the damages by the pecuniary resources of the defendant, but by the injury the plaintiff had sustained. He had lost an affectionate wife, and his children were deprived of the instruction and example of a mother. Damages, 8,000l.

In explanation of the differences presently existing between the Ottoman Court and Mehemet Ali, the latter despatches a circular to all the Pashas of the empire, intimating, that, Khosreff Pasha's intrigues were the cause of his troops being attacked by the Sultan's; that, on learning the accession of Abdul Medjid, he (Mehemet) had ordered Ibrahim not to follow up his advantages; that on learning that Khosreff was appointed Vizier, he (Mehemet) felt convinced the ascendency of that minister must be destructive to the empire; that Ahmet Capitan Pasha had formed the same opinion, and acted upon it by keeping his fleet out of the power of Khosreff, and uniting it with the fleet of Alexandria, in order that the conjoined fleets might be in a condition to serve the sovereign and the nation. The circular adds, that Mehemet Ali had received the Capitan Pasha with distinction; had written to Khosreff Pasha, urging him to tender his resignation 10 the Sultan; and had at the same time addressed letters to the mother and aunt of the Sultan, the Sceich-ul-Islam and Habil Pasha, conjuring them to co operate for the removal of