saved, and placed in the house of the governor, Major Elrington, without the loss of a single jewel. At two o'clock, when the fire had reached its fiercest power, considerable alarm was excited by the approach of the flames towards a magazine attached to the armory; but at this time the tide was up, and the supply of water so abundant, that all danger from such an explosion was soon at an end. The powder itself, to the weight of about 9,000 tons, was got out and thrown into the moat. The fire was supposed to have been caused by the overheating of a stove in the Round Table Tower. The total loss in stores and buildings was estimated at 200,000!. November 2.-Daniel O'Connell elected Lord Mayor of Dublin, being the first appointment of the kind under the new Municipal Corporations Act. Between Serious disturbances at Cabul. 200 and 300 men attack the residence of Sir Alexander Burnes, and murder Sir Alexander, his brother Lieut. Burnes, and Lieut. Broadfoot, who was in the house at the time. "The immediate cause of this outbreak," writes Envoy Sir William Macnaghten, "in the capital was a seditious letter addressed by Abdoollah Khan to several chiefs of influence at Cabul, stating that it was the design of the Envoy to seize and send them all to London. The principal rebels met on the previous night, and, relying on the inflammable feelings of the people of Cabul, they pretended that the king had issued an order to put all infidels to death." Three days afterwards the enemy obtained possession of the commissariat, a success not only greatly elating the Affghans outside the walls, but ultimately compelling the Envoy to negotiate with Akbar Khan for evacuating the city. 4. At the usual complimentary dinner given by the Directors of the East India Company to the departing Governor-General, Lord Ellenborough made an emphatic declaration of his intention to govern upon peace principles. He abjured all thoughts of a warlike aggressive policy, and declared his settled determination, on assuming the reins of government, to direct all the energies of his mind towards the due cultivation of the arts of peace; to emulate the munificent benevolence of the Mahommedan conquerors; and to elevate and improve the condition of the generous and mighty people of India. 7. The Rev. M. S. Alexander consecrated Bishop of England and Ireland in Jerusalem by the Archbishop of Canterbury. The Queen by licence assigned to his jurisdiction Syria, Chaldea, Egypt, and Abyssinia, and the new bishopric was placed under the protection of England and Prussia. 9.-This morning, at twelve minutes before eleven o'clock, the Queen was safely delivered of a son-the Prince of Wales. The event was made known by the firing of the Park and Tower guns 9.-Discussion in the Edinburgh Town Coun cil, on the case of Butters, confectioner, Grassmarket, who, at the instigation of Mr. Guthrie's kirk-session, had been taken before Baillie Grieve, and fined 8s., with 27. 135. expenses, for keeping open his door on the Sunday, and selling sweatmeats to children in the neighbourhood. Being unable to pay the fine, he was lodged in the Calton jail. The Council now resolved that a complete inquiry should be made into the case. 10.-Illness of the Queen Dowager. "The Queen Dowager had some hours of refreshing sleep in the night, but there is no alleviation of her Majesty's symptoms this morning." 11.-Riot at Culsalmond, on the occasion of inducting Mr. Middleton as assistant minister of the parish. An excited mob took possession of the church, and, with deafening yells, compelled the Presbytery to retire to the manse, and there complete the ordination. The uproar was continued till midnight; the mob breaking the seats and windows of the church, and refreshing themselves at times with whisky and tobacco. 14.-Shocking tragedy in Burnley barracks. Private Morris, of the 60th Rifles, in a fit of jealousy, it was supposed, murders Lieut. O'Grady, and a female servant employed about the mess-room, by stabbing them with a carying knife, and then committed suicide with the same weapon. Died at Paris, aged 75, the Earl of Elgin, famous for introducing into this country the remains of ancient art known as the Elgin Marbles. 15. Sir Robert Sale writes from Jellalabad, explaining the impossibility of returning to Cabul in his present position. "A regard for the honour and interests of our Government compels me to adhere to my plan already formed, of putting this place into a state of defence, and holding it, if possible, until the Cabul force falls back upon me, or succour arrives from Peshawur or India." Execution of Blakesley for the murder of the innkeeper in Eastcheap. 17. Attempt to fire the Horse Guards, and the barracks behind the National Gallery, by throwing in small hand-grenades. 23.--The Rev. W. Whewell, B. D., appointed Master of Trinity College, Cambridge, in room of Dr. Christopher Wordsworth, resigned. 24.-General Elphinstone writes to Envoy Macnaghten: "After having held our position here for upwards of three weeks in a state of siege, from the want of provisions and forage, the reduced state of our troops, the large number of wounded and sick, the difficulty of defending the extensive and ill-situated cantonment we occupy, the near approach of winter, our communications cut off, no prospects of relief, and the whole country in arms against us, I am of opinion that it is not feasible any longer to maintain our position in this country, and that you ought to avail yourself of the offer to negotiate which has been made to you." 25.-Died suddenly at his residence, Pimlico, from spasm of the heart, Sir Francis Chantrey, R.A., sculptor. The greater part of his valuable collection of paintings and sculpture was bequeathed to the nation, subject to the condition of providing a suitable building in which to place them. December 1.-Meeting called by the Lord Provost in the Glasgow Royal Exchange, to devise means for relieving the distress in Paisley. It appeared that there were not fewer than 14,000 people in the town and neighbourhood in absolute want. Died, aged 65, Dr. G. Birkbeck, founder of Mechanics' Institutes. We can 3. The Governor-General of India, having received information of events in Cabul to the 9th November, and Jellalabad to the 15th, writes to General Sir Jasper Nicolls: "It would be vain to speculate upon the issue of the contest at Cabul; but in the extreme event of the military possession of that city, and the surrounding territory, having been entirely lost, it is not our intention to direct new and extensive operations for the re-establishment of our supremacy throughout Affghanistan. scarcely contemplate, in such case, that there will be any circumstances or political objects of sufficient weight to induce us to desire to retain possession of the remainder of that country; and, unless such shall be obvious as arising from the course of events, we should wish our military and political officers so to shape their proceedings as will best promote the end of retiring with the least possible discredit." Two days later the Governor-General writes to Sir William Macnaghten at Cabul: "So serious appear to be the difficulties which are to be encountered at Cabul, amid a hostile population, by a force cut off for several months from support by the impassable state of the roads in the winter season, that the GovernorGeneral in Council has felt compelled to take into his contemplation the possible occurrence of still more serious disaster to our troops there, and to provide even for the contingency of our political influence in that quarter being for a time entirely subverted; and the first duty of Government in issuing instructions suitable to such an event having been discharged, I am now directed to assure you that the GovernorGeneral in Council will remain anxiously mindful of your position, and that every measure will be adopted, as the tenor of the information received may show to be necessary, of which the season will admit, and which may be otherwise practicable, for affording relief to yourself and to the troops by whom you are accompanied. We have only for the present to trust to an overruling Providence, and to the energy and perseverance of our gallant troops, for the maintenance of the power and safety of our arms. 4. Tried at the Central Criminal Court, Edward Beaumont Smith, charged with forging and uttering fraudulent Exchequer Bills to an immense amount. He pleaded guilty, and read a statement, explanatory of the gradual manner in which his necessities led him to commit the crimes with which he stood charged. "Whatever speculation," he said, "may have been carried on by those who have used these bills, no profit ever reached me, or ever was intended to do so. Year after year bills have been wrung from me, under pretence of redeeming and cancelling those outstanding, in order to prevent discovery, and afterwards by the repeated misapplication of them the necessity was created for more, to accomplish the original purpose; and thus the frightful crime which has taken place was occasioned." subsequent statement was to the effect that no person of rank or public character was in any way mixed up in the transaction, the sole parties being himself, Solari, Rassallo, and another whose office was in Basinghall-street, where they used to arrange their plans. He believed the total amount fabricated to be about 340,000!., the whole of which was wasted in gambling transactions on the Stock Exchange. Sentenced to transportation for life. A 9. Sir William Macnaghten writes from Cabul to the Hon. Mr. Erskine, Bombay: "We have now been besieged thirty-eight days by a contemptible enemy, whom the cowardice of our troops, and certain other circumstances which I will not mention, have emboldened to assume an attitude of superiority. Our provisions will be out in two or three days more, and the military authorities have strongly urged me to capitulate. This I will not do till the last moment. We have rumours that a force is coming to our assistance from Candahar; and I sincerely trust it may, for we have no energy or spirit among those here." Died at Stuttgard, John Heinrich Dannecker, sculptor, and friend of Schiller. 10.-A Commercial Convention of the Midland Counties met at Derby to consider the grievances under which the various manufacturing interests are placed by the restrictive policy of the Government. Resolutions approv ing of a relaxation of the tariff and the entire abolition of the Corn Laws were carried with out opposition. In Leeds, Nottingham, and Bradford, trade at this time was in a state of great depression, and thousands of operatives in a condition of pauperism. Numerous meetings were also held with the view of summoning Parliament, immediately for the despatch of business. 11.-Treaty entered into at Cabul between Sir William Macnaghten, on the one part, and Akbar Khan, with the principal chiefs of tribes, on the other. Immediate and ample supplies to be furnished to the troops previous to evacuating Affghanistan; Dost Mahomed to be released; and Shah Soojah to retire into private life, with a guaranteed payment of a lac of rupees annually. 16.-Explosion of a gasometer at the Dundee Gas Works. Two boys sitting in the retort house were killed, and most of the property in the neighbourhood seriously damaged. During the commotion caused by this occurrence a serious fire was raging in Westward's Flax Mill, at the other end of the town. 17. News of the disturbance at Cabul having reached Bokhara, the Ameer throws the two British agents Stoddart and Conolly into prison, the imputed offence being that the Queen of England, instead of answering his letters, had referred him through her Foreign Secretary to the Indian Government. Their condition became day by day more deplorable. They were not allowed a change of raiment, their clothes rotted on their back, vermin preyed upon their bodies, while they were either fed on the filthiest of food or deprived of nourishment altogether. 20.-Treaty signed in London, in terms of which France, Austria, Prussia, and Russia adopt the English laws against the slave-trade. a 23. Murder of Sir William Macnaghten and Captain Trevor while engaged in conference with Akbar Khan. On the road to the interview the Envoy sent back all his escort except ten men, among whom were Captains Trevor, Lawrence, and Mackenzie. The latter gave the following account of the occurrence to Lieutenant Eyre: "I observed that a number of men armed to the teeth had gradually approached to the scene of conference, and were drawing round in a sort of circle. This Lawrence and myself pointed out to some of the chief men, who affected at first to drive them off with whips; but Mahomed Akbar observed that it was of no consequence, as they were in the secret. I then heard Akbar call cut 'Begeer! begeer!' (Seize ! seize !) and turning round saw him grasp the Envoy's left hand with an expression in his face of the most diabolical ferocity. I think it was Sultan Jan who laid hold of the Envoy's right hand. They dragged him in a stooping position down the hillock; the only words I heard poor Sir Wilbam utter being 'Az barae Khooda' (for God's sake). I saw his face, however, and it was fail of horror and astonishinent." Next day Lady Sale records: "Numerous reports are cur rent, but all agree in this, that both the Envoy's and Trevor's bodies are hanging in the public chouk; the Envoy's decapitated and a mere trunk, the limbs having been carried in triumph about the city. A fallen man meets but little justice; and reports are rife that the Envoy was guilty of double dealing with Akbar Khan and Amenoolah Khan." At the moment the Envoy was seized, Mackenzie, Trevor, and Lawrence were disarmed, and forced away behind different chiefs. Trevor was cut down by Sultan Jan, but Lawrence and Mackenzie succeeded in saving their lives, and got back in a few days to the city. Lawrence then mentioned that he saw the Envoy grappling with Akbar, and the latter fire a pistol at him. 24. Accident on the Great Western Railway at Sunning, the engine being thrown off the line by a fall of earth on the rails, and the carriages thrown violently together. Eight persons were killed on the spot and seventeen seriously injured, most of them being workmen engaged on the new Houses of Parliament, who were proceeding home for the Christmas holidays. Early this morning a gang of armed burglars entered the dwelling-house of John Awdry, South Wraxhall, Somerset, and compelled his two daughters to point out all the valuables in the house, which they seized and carried off. Sophia Awdry said: "Between two and three o'clock I heard the lock of my door move. I had not been asleep, and said, 'Who is it? come in.' In a few seconds the door was opened, and three men came in. They had large sticks in one hand and candles in the other. They all came round my bed, and one held a stick over my head, and said, 'If you will lie still, we will not hurt you, but otherwise we will dash your brains out.' answered, 'I shall be quiet: what do you want?' One said they were starving, and must have money. 'We have not been used to such ways, but it is no use resisting; we are ten. They afterwards went leisurely over the house, and took everything they wished. The gang were all apprehended in a short time, and sentenced by Justice Coleridge to transportation for life. I 27. In his speech at the opening of the French Chambers, King Louis Philippe said that he had joined the Four Powers in a convention which consecrates the common intention "to maintain the peace of Europe and consolidate the repose of the Ottoman Empire." He also announced, somewhat ambiguously, that he had "taken measures to prevent any external complication from disturbing the security of our African possessions." The Opposition was sharply dealt with in another paragraph: "Whatever may be the burdens of our situation, France would support them without difficulty if faction did not unceasingly obstruct the course of her powerful activity. I will not dwell upon the intrigues and crimes of the factious; but let us not forget, gentlemen, that it is that which debars our country from fully enjoying all the blessings which Providence has conferred upon it, and which retards the development of that legal and pacific liberty which France has at last achieved, and of which I make it my glory to insure her the possession." "The 27. The British force in Cabul give up fourteen lacs of rupees, and consent to the additional indignity of giving up their guns to the now triumphant and defiant Affghans. By the 10th article of the final treaty agreed to on the 1st January, it was provided: English can take six horse artillery guns and three mule guns, and the rest by way of friendship shall be left for our use. And all muskets and ordnance stores in the magazine shall, as a token of friendship, be made over to our agents. The indignities to which the British troops were subjected by the supineness of the general commanding are thus referred to in Captain Johnson's Journal, December 31st: "The chiefs say they cannot control their men, and that if their people misbehave themselves at our gates, or around our walls, we must fire upon them. No orders, however, have been given by General Elphinstone to punish our insulting foe, who naturally attribute our forbearance to dastardly cowardice, and take every opportunity of taunting us with it. The error lies with our leader, not with our troops. Several camels laden with grain plundered close to the Seeah-Sung gateway, within a few paces of a gun loaded with grape and a large guard of Europeans and natives. No steps taken to recover the plundered grain, or punish the offenders. How we must be despised by our miserable foe !" 28,-At a Chartist tea-meeting held in Birmingham to celebrate the first anniversary of the Chartist Christian Church, a memorial to the Queen was adopted, praying for the liberation of prisoners undergoing confinement for political offences. 29.-Serious commercial failures reported in Glasgow; among others that of Wingate, Son, & Co.; which had the effect of closing almost the whole of the few mills kept going in Paisley. 1842. January 6.-The British forces, consisting of about 4,500 fighting men and 12,000 followers, commence their disastrous retreat from Cabul. "All," writes Lady Sale, "was confusion before daylight. The day was clear and frosty, the snow nearly a foot on the ground, and the thermometer considerably below the freezing-point. When the rear-guard left cantonments, they were fired upon by Affghans. The servants who were not concerned in the plunder all threw away their (96) loads and ran off. Private baggage, com was covered with men, women, and children, lying down in the snow to die." Fighting their way inch by inch among a people wild with hatred and fanaticism, it was two days before they reached the entrance of the Khoord Cabul Pass, only ten miles from Cabul. This formidable defile was about five miles in length, and shut in on either side by a line of lofty hills, every point of which seemed alive with fierce and treacherous Ghilzies. In this pass the immense multitude got jammed together in one monstrous unmanageable mass. Captain Skinner returned to remonstrate with Mahomed Akbar, who promised a cessation of hostilities if Major Pottinger and Captains Lawrence and Mackenzie were given up to him, in addition to others. This was done, "and once more," writes Lieut. Eyre, "the living mass of men and animals was in motion. At the entrance of the pass an attempt was made to separate the troops from the non-combatants, which was but partially successful, and created considerable delay. The rapid effects of two nights' exposure to the frost in disorganizing the force can hardly be conceived. The idea of threading the stupendous pass before us in the face of an armed tribe of bloodthirsty barbarians, with such a dense irregular multitude, was frightful, and the spectacle then presented by that waving sea of animated beings can never be forgotten by those who witnessed it." Notwithstanding Akbar's pretended attempt to restrain the Ghilzies, their attacks were as frequent and cruel as ever, and it was calculated that in the pass alone over 3,000 lives were lost. On the 9th Lady Sale, Lady Macnaghten, Mrs. Trevor, and some other ladies, were given up to Akbar, and so placed for a time beyond the dangers and dreadful privations of the camp. "There was but faint hope," writes Lady Sale, "of our ever getting over to Jellalabad, and we followed the stream. But although there was much talk regarding our going over, all I know of the affair is that I was told we were all to go, and that our horses were ready, and we must be immediately off." On the evening of the 10th it was determined, by a forced march, to try and reach Jugdulluk, a distance of twenty-two miles, but at eight in the morning they were still ten miles from that station. Here General Elphinstone and Brigadier Shelton were given up as additional hostages, and here commenced conflict with the treacherous Affghans, which lasted, foot by foot, and day by day, till the entire force left could not muster more than twenty muskets. Strong barriers were at some places put up across the defile, when the Affghans rushed in on the pent-up crowd and committed wholesale slaughter. Not more than forty, it was thought, managed to clear these barriers, and of that number the greater part were slain at other points or taken into captivity. Dr. Brydone alone escaped, and was the only officer a of the whole Cabul force who reached the garrison of Jellalabad alive. 7.-A Chartist Convention commences its sittings in Glasgow, and is attended by sixtythree delegates, among whom was Feargus O'Connor, representing the ancient burgh of Rutherglen. 8.-Died, aged 72, Baron Cambronne, a French General of distinction in the campaigns of the Republic and the Empire. The words, "La Garde meurt et ne se rend pas," are attributed to him. 10. In the American Senate, Mr. Calhoun carries a motion calling for immediate redress from Great Britain for injury inflicted on American citizens by the capture of the Creole slaver. 11.-An Anti-Corn Law conference of Dissenting Ministers commences its sittings at Edinburgh. The 13.-Arrival at Jellalabad of Dr. Brydone, the sole survivor of the Cabul army. startling incident is thus described by Kaye : "When the garrison were busy on the works toiling with axe and shovel, with their arms piled and their accoutrements laid out close at hand, a sentry on the ramparts, looking out towards the Cabul road, saw a solitary white-faced horseman struggling on towards the fort. The word was passed; the tidings spread. Presently the ramparts were lined with officers, looking out with throbbing hearts through unsteady telescopes, as with straining eyes tracing the road. Slowly and painfully, as though horse and rider both were in an extremity of mortal weakness, the solitary mounted man came reeling, tottering on. They saw that he was an Englishman. On a wretched weary pony, clinging as one sick or wounded to its neck, he sat, or rather leaned forward; and there were those who, as they watched his progress, thought that he could never reach, unaided, the walls of Jellalabad. A shudder ran through the garrison. That solitary horseman looked like the messenger of death. Few doubted that he was the bearer of intelligence that would fill their souls with horror and dismay. Their worst forebodings seemed confirmed. There was the one man who was to tell the story of the massacre of a great army. A party of cavalry were sent out to succour him. They brought him in wounded, exhausted, half dead. The messenger was Dr. Brydone, and he now reported his belief that he was the sole survivor of an army of some sixteen thousand men." It was said Colonel Dennie predicted that not a soul would escape except one man, and that he would come to tell that the rest were destroyed. The voice of Dennie sounded like the response of an oracle, when he exclaimed, "Did I not say so! here comes the messenger." 15. Brigadier Wilde, having resolved to march forward to Jellalabad, enters the Khyber Pass, and captures the small fort of Ali Musjid, situate in a difficult part of the defile, From want of support by the native army he is compelled to abandon his conquest, and fall back on Peshawur. Ali Musjid was taken possession of by the Afreedis on the 24th. 16. A Montrose newspaper contradicts a report that Sir W. Burnes, a native of that town, had been killed at Cabul. News to that effect was rumoured to have been received from Meerut to-day by the Indian mail. 17.-The foundation-stone of the new Royal Exchange laid by Prince Albert. The civic authorities met the Prince at Guildhall, where his Royal Highness arrived shortly before two o'clock. After a short stay there the procession was marshalled, and moved along Cheapside to a pavilion erected over the site in Cornhill. A Latin inscription placed on the foun dation-stone referred to the burning of the two former Exchanges, and set forth that the City of London and ancient Company of Mercers again undertook "to restore the building at their own cost, on an enlarged and more ornamental plan, the munificence of Parliament providing the means of extending the site and of widening the approaches and crooked streets in every direction, in order that there might at length arise under the auspices of Queen Victoria, built a third time from the ground, an Exchange worthy of this great nation and city, and suitable to the vastness of a commerce extending over the habitable globe." The Lord Mayor (Pirie) afterwards entertained the Prince and company in the Mansion House. 20.-Close of the contest for the Professorship of Poetry at Oxford, between Rev. Isaac Williams and Rev. James Garbett. After several meetings of the friends of both candidates to ascertain their relative strength, the numbers claimed were, Garbett, 921; Williams, 623. The latter thereupon retired. 21.-Bishop Alexander makes a public entry into Jerusalem on this the eve of the great Mahomedan festival of the Courban Bairam. 22. From the results of an experiment recently made in Pall Mall, the Spectator says it may safely predict that in a few years the Bude light will have superseded gas as far as the latter has superseded oil for street lighting. Visit of the King of Prussia to England. He was received on landing at Greenwich by Prince Albert, the Duke of Wellington, and other persons of distinction. Baron von Humboldt was in the King's suite. 25.-Christening of the Prince of Wales at Windsor. The ceremony was performed, amid much splendour, by the Archbishop of Canterbury, with water brought from the river Jordan in 1825. The King of Prussia acted as sponsor. 27. Revolutionary outbreak at Oporto, and establishment of a Provisional Junta in the city. H |