riots of 1780. He afterwards became president for a time to the London Corresponding Society, and on resigning that situation suffered various vicissitudes in foreign countries. Being at Rome in the year 1812, he became acquainted with a person who had in his possession several important documents relating to the Stuart family, and to the secret history of the Papal Government, particularly with respect to its connexion with the exiled royal family. Having made this discovery, Watson communicated it to Lord Castlereagh, who authorized him to procure the documents in question at any price. After much difficulty he succeeded in obtaining them; and a frigate was sent out by the English Government to bring him with the documents to this country. In the meantime, the Papal Government, being apprised of the existence of the documents, seized and set its seal upon them. After much negotiation, the Papal Government consented to give up those portions of the documents that related to the Stuart family and this country, on condition that it should be allowed to retain those papers which referred to its own acts in behalf of the Stuarts. In so far as Watson's death was concerned, the jury returned a verdict of "Temporary derangement.'

21.-Riots at Todmorden, caused by the refusal of Overseer Ingham to collect a rate imposed by the guardians under the New Poor Law. The constables who attempted to execute a distress warrant on Ingham were forced to promise to execute no more warrants, and then stripped and beaten.

22. In the Court of Queen's Bench Mr. Disraeli, M. P., appeared to receive sentence for a libel on Mr. Austin, a barrister (see June 5), judgment having gone against him by default. Mr. Disraeli said: "As to my offence against the law, I throw myself on your lordships' mercy; as to my offence against the individual, I have made him that reparation which a gentleman should under the circumstances cheerfully proffer, and with which a gentleman should, in my opinion, be cheerfully content. I make this, my lords, not to avoid the consequences of my conduct; for, right or wrong, good or bad, these consequences I am ever prepared to encounter; but because I am anxious to soothe the feelings which I have unjustly injured, and evince my respect to the suggestions of the Bench. as to my offence against the Bar, I do with the utmost confidence appeal to your lordships, however you may disapprove of my opinionshowever objectionable, however offensive, even however odious they may be to you--that you will not permit me to be arraigned for one offence and punished for another. In a word, my lords, it is to the Bench I look with confidence to shield me from the vengeance of an irritated and powerful profession." Apology accepted, and prayer for judgment withdrawn.

But

To-day, the Attorney-General showed cause against a rule for a criminal information

obtained by the Marquis of Blandford against the publisher of the Satirist newspaper. The Marchioness of Blandford and her children were also parties to the application on which the rule was granted. The complaint against the newspaper was for the publication of a libel impugning the legality of the marriage of Lord Blandford, and the legitimacy of his children by that marriage. The libel alleged that the Marquis of Blandford, in 1817, married Miss Susan Adelaide Law, a young lady of seven teen, residing with her father and mother in Seymour-place, Bryanston-square; that he had a daughter by her; and took the mother and his child to Scotland, where Miss Law was introduced to the present Marquis of Breadalbane, Sir William Elliot, and Sir Tyrwhitt Jones, as his wife; that subsequently Lord Blandford married the daughter of the Earl of Galloway, and had children by her-the present Earl of Sunderland, and others, who were illegitimate. The affidavit of Lord Blandford, on which the rule for the criminal information was obtained, denied that there had been any mar riage with Miss Law; though the parties had lived together, and 400/. a year had been paid to the lady as an allowance. After consulting with the other judges, Lord Denman said that notwithstanding the misconduct of Lord Blandford, Lady Blandford and the Earl of Sunderland were entitled to have the rule made absolute.

22. The Common Council of London vote the freedom of the City to be presented in a gold box to the venerable Thomas Clarkson, as a small but grateful testimonial of the Corporation of London to the public services and worth of one who had the merit of originating, and has the consolation of living to witness, the triumph of the great struggle for the deliverance of the enslaved African from the most oppressive bondage that ever tried the endurance of afflicted humanity, thereby obtaining for his country the high distinction of separating her commercial greatness from principles incompatible with the exercise of the religion of mercy, and achieving a moral victory, whose trophies shall endure while justice, freedom, the clemency of power, and the peaceful glories of civilization shall have a place in the admiration of mankind.”

Court-martial assembled at Kingston for trial of Canadian rebels. Nine were sentenced to death, and the others to various periods of banishment.

27.-Count Lobau, Marshal of France, died at Paris, aged 68.

29.-Preparatory to the march of the army of the Indus into Affghanistan, the GovernorGeneral makes a ceremonial visit to Runjeet Singh at the camp, Ferozepore. He afterwards accompanied "the Lion of Lahore" to tis capital. The Bengal army now at Ferozepore consisted of about 9,500 men of all arms. The levy raised for the immediate service of Shah Soojah was then passing through Ferozepore. It comprised two regiments of cavalry, four regiments of infantry, and a troop of horse artillery; in all about 6,000 men. Runjeet's troops were to advance on Cabul from Peshawur through the Khyber Pass. As it was designed to deal a blow at the Ameers of Scinde in passing, the Company's troops were to proceed in a south-westerly direction through the territories of Bahwulpore, crossing near Subzulkote the frontier of Scinde, striking down to the banks of the Indus, and crossing the river at Bukkur. It then took a north-westerly course, passing through Shikarpoor, Bhag, and Dadur to the mouth of the Bolan Pass; thence through the Pass to Quettah, and from Quettah through the Kojack to Candahar. The troops were under the command of Sir John Keane, Commanderm-chief of the forces. The crossing of the army at Bukkur was ineffectually opposed by Meer Roostum.

30.-Queen Pomaré and the chiefs of Tahiti send a letter to Queen Victoria, praying for the assistance and protection of England against the encroachments of French residents on the islands under her sway.

- The French Government refusing to raise a blockade which they had laid on the port of Vera Cruz to enforce compensation for injuries said to have been inflicted on French subjects, Mexico makes a declaration of war against that Power.

Lord Durham lands at Plymouth from Quebec. Replying to an address presented ext day by the Mayor of Devonport, his lordship said: "What relates to myself is of no portance when compared with the interests of your fellow-subjects, the inhabitants of British North America. To the furtherance of those interests I have publicly and solemnly declared that I would devote myself with sageness of purpose, and independently of party considerations in this country. rad of an opportunity, at the very moment of ng in England, to repeat that pledge. The necessity for this course is well understood

W

I am

the people of British America, and will, e long, be also comprehended by the pace of England; involving as it does the very existence of British supremacy all over the world, and the efficient maintenance or weak abandonment of that national policy which is expressed by the words 'Ships, Colonics, and Commerce.""

and careful reflection, and the information that I have received within the last few months with regard to Canada, make me believe, that when Lord Durham shall lay his plans before the Houses of Parliament, I for one shall be able to give them my most cordial support, and that all real Liberals will equally be able to rally round the noble lord, and with justice acknowledge him to be their leader."

4.-Fracas in the Tuileries garden between Mr. Somers, M.P., and Mr. Wentworth Beaumont. Mr. Beaumont's counsel stated in the Court of Correctional Police that Mr. Somers had made a demand for money to suppress a letter, and, on receiving a refusal, struck his client with a whip. Mr. Somers was condemned in absence to two years' imprisonment and a fine of 100 francs.

Disturbance at Canton, resulting in the stoppage of all trade. The Chinese authorities declined negotiation until the opium traffic was abolished.

5.-A woman performed penance at the door of Walton Church, by order of the Ecclesiastical Court, for defaming the character of a neighbour.

7.-John Millie, clerk in the Newcastle Savings Bank, found murdered in his office, and Archibald Bolam, actuary of the bank, discovered in the same room, apparently insensible and slightly injured. Bolam, on recovering, sought to fix the crime upon a rough-spoken man who attacked them both, intending to rob the bank; but at the inquest the jury returned a verdict of wilful murder against himself.

12. Sir Herbert Jenner gives judgment in the case of Breeks v. Woolfrey (see Nov. 19). "It appears," said the learned judge, "that the whole question turned upon the point whether praying for the dead was necessarily connected with the Romish doctrine of Purgatory, so as to make them inseparable. It was the doctrine of Purgatory that the Articles of the Church denounced; and beyond the Articles the Court could not go. It was necessary, therefore, to inquire what was the Romish doctrine of Purgatory." The judge then went into a learned history of the origin and progress of the doctrine; and came to the conclusion that it was not introduced till the year 593, whilst the practice of praying for the dead prevailed at a much earlier period. He quoted the works of Jeremy Taylor, the formula of Henry the Eighth, the Book of Common Prayer promuigated by Edward the Sixth, and other documents, to prove that prayers for the dead had been duly authorized by the Protestant Church of England. There could, therefore, be no doubt that prayers for the dead were not considered as part of the Romish doctrine of Purgatory, by the fathers of the English Reformed Church. It was, however, against that doctrine that the 22d Article, chiefly relied on, was directed. It was urged that the

35th Article, which set forth certain homilies as containing good and wholesome doctrine, was decisive against prayers for the dead; for the Homily No. 7, it was alleged, designated such prayers as erroneous. But though erroneous, they were not denounced as unlawful; and on this head also he was of opinion, that there had been no violation of the Articles of the Church of England. It was again main. tained, that the words "It is a holy and wholesome thought to pray for the dead," were not those used in the English version of Maccabees : but then, he considered the main point to be, not whether they were according to the Romish or Protestant version, but whether they were consistent with the latter, and not opposed to the doctrine of the Church. The citation was also defective: it ought to have stated that the tombstone was erected without the consent of the Vicar; and the defendant might have been prepared with an answer to what was a distinct and separate offence. The citation was insufficient to raise that point. On this last head, therefore, the "articles were also inadmissible," and must be dismissed with costs.

12.-Royal proclamation issued, warning justices that 66 'great numbers of evil-disposed and disorderly persons have lately, in some parts of Great Britain, assembled themselves together after sunset, by torch-light, in large bodies and in a tumultuous manner, with banners, flags, and other ensigns, and have continued so assembled until a late hour of the night, and during the time they were so assembled have by loud shouts and noises, and by the discharge of fire-arms and the display of weapons of offence, greatly alarmed the inhabitants of the neighbourhood of such assemblies, and endangered the public peace.'

14.-Sir John Colborne, G. C. B., gazetted as Governor-General, Vice Admiral, and Captain-General of all her Majesty's Provinces within and adjacent to the Continent of North America.

15. The Earl of Durham declines to receive a deputation from the Westminster Reform Association, on the ground that the body they represented, as appeared from their public meeting, merely wanted to use the influence of his name for their own ends. Explanations made by the office-bearers of the society led to the address being afterwards forwarded to Lord Durham.

10. Came on in the Court of Queen's Bench, the case of Conroy v. Lawson, a prosecution for a libel which appeared in the Times newspaper of March 9th. The article imputed to "a certain newly-created Baronet, attached to the household of the Duchess of Kent," mismanagement of the concerns of her Royal Highness, who had accumulated a debt of 80,000l., towards the silent discharge of which debt Parliament had voted an annuity of 30,000l. Disrespectful conduct to William IV. was insinuated against the "Baronet ;"

who, it was said, wished to have been sent Ambassador to Sweden, but the Queen refused to give him the opportunity of exhibiting his "respectful" manners to the King of Sweden. And then came the two following paragraphs, in which the pith of the offence lay "Should

he quit his present position, we ask, where are talents to be found capable of applying a due portion of the 30,000l. to the liquidation of the 80,000l., and who can so well understand wiping off as he who has chalked on? There is another matter also worth notice. There is a certain estate in Wales, purchased and paid for not long ago. If any public inquiry should take place whence the money for the payment came, who so competent to answer the question as the Baronet?" For the defendant, Sir John Campbell said that nothing like fraud was insinuated against Sir John Conroy, and that he ought to have presented himself in court for cross-examination if he wished to exonerate himself from the rumours in circulation. The jury returned a verdict against the defendant, and Lord Denman sentenced him to pay a fine of 200/. and suffer imprisonment for one month.

20. Meeting in King-street, Manchester, for considering measures to be adopted to secure the total and immediate repeal of the Corn Laws. This was the beginning of the AntiCorn-Law League agitation, the Manchester Chamber of Commerce adopting a petition today against the monopolists.

The second centenary of the famous Assembly of 1638 celebrated at Glasgow by a banquet in the Trades Hall.

26. The Tory party defeated in all the Birmingham wards at the first municipal election under the new charter of incorporation. Mr. William Scholefield was elected the first mayor.

27.-Apprehension, near Manchester, of Stephens, a Wesleyan preacher, and one of the most violent agitators against the New Poor Law. At the examination it was shown that he had repeatedly denounced people by name, and sought to incite the crowds who followed him to acts of destruction. One witness said he told the people to get guns and pikes, and have them ready over their chimney-pieces. When the grand attack was to be made, they were to go to the factories with a dagger in one hand and a torch in the other. He also talked about tarring and feathering one person, and sending him as a present to the Poor Law Commissioners. Stephens was liberated on bail, and soon afterwards addressed a meeting of 5,000 at Ashton-under-Lyne, declaring that with the aid of a rural police the Poor Law Commissioners intended to destroy all children above the number of three born of poor people.

31.-The Polish leader Skrzynezki made a Belgian general, but dismissed at the instance of Austria and Prussia.

1839.

January 1.-The Earl of Norbury shot when walking in the shrubbery near his own house, Kilbeggan, county of Meath. The sassin was seen to escape, but in the conasion managed to elude his pursuers; nor was identity ever ascertained. A statement curent at the time, that the ground from which the het was fired showed the print of a well-made oot, gave rise to much wild speculation as to the person and motive of the murderer. A reward of 1,000l. with an annuity of 100l. was fered for his discovery.

2.-A correspondent of the Times mentrons that the authorities of London University having intimated they could no longer tolerate the absurd and indecent mummeries of animal agnetism, Dr. Elliotson had tendered his reSmation.

7.-Violent hurricane experienced over the lingtom generally, but most destructive on the west coast and in Ireland. The Pennsylvania, St. Andrew's, Lockwood, and many other vessels wrecked, with great loss of life. The EdinLurgh and Carlisle mail coach blown off the road near Selkirk. In Liverpool and neighbourhood, about 100 lives were lost; and throughout the south of Scotland most of the

s presented the appearance of having suffered a severe cannonading. The wooden roadway of the Menai bridge was torn up and carred away by the fury of the tempest. The hemometer of the Birmingham Philosophical nstitution showed that the pressure had risen

2 lbs. per foot on Saturday night to 30lbs. per foot on Monday morning.

The French Academy reports on the intion of M. Daguerre, by which the pictures of the camera lucida are rendered permanent. 10.-The magistrates of King's County meet the Court-house of Tullamore to take into sideration the disturbed state of the country, ticularly with reference to the murder of the Earl of Norbury. Lengthy political speeches re delivered by Lord Oxmantown, who prered, and Lord Charleville. Resolutions ex

re of "horror and indignation" at the er, and of condolence with Lord Norbury's ly under "this dreadful and awful calawere passed unanimously. In acknowreceipt of the resolution, the Lordtenant caused Mr. Secretary Drummond

"While his Excellency is disposed e allowance for the excited feelings proby the recent melancholy occurrence, he but lament that a body of magistrates, et together as such, and presided over by the eutenant of their county, should have so far forgotten the object of their meeting as to ervert it into a display of political feeling; his Excellency believes that those who took a prominent part in the proceedings will.

11.-Earthquake at Martinique, almost entirely destroying Fort Royal.

13.-Duel between Lord Londonderry and Mr. Grattan. Shots were exchanged without effect.

14.-Commenced in the Court of Queen's Bench, the arguments of counsel in the case of the twelve Canadian prisoners brought from Liverpool, where they were in custody of the gaoler, to London, on writs of habeas corpus granted by Mr. Justice Littledale. For the prisoners it was contended, that there had been no legal conviction; that it was an old-established maxim. of law that no man could suffer punishment by his own consent, or by contract; and the authority to inflict punishment must be derived, not from the prisoner's consent, but from undoubted law; that in the case of the prisoners, the Governor of Upper Canada had no such authority; that the privilege of pardon in cases of high treason and murder was expressly denied to Colonial Governors, and retained for the Sovereign; that it would be most impolitic to empower a Colonial Governor to make bargains with prisoners, to impose conditions of commutation of punishment; that such a contract was illegal; that the Governor of Upper Canada, who could not transport a prisoner to Bermuda, or to Calcutta, had no authority to send him to Van Diemen's Land; that even supposing the power to transport existed, the transportation had not been legally conducted, inasmuch as the prisoners had been transferred first to the Sheriff of Quebec, and then to the gaoler at Liverpool, neither of whom had power to detain them; and the Governor of Lower Canada took upon himself to forward the prisoners to England, though possessing no legal authority over them. Denman delivered the decision of the Judges on the 21st, affirming the right of a single Judge in vacation to issue writs of habeas corpus, but on the other points was hostile to the prisoners. The Court was of opinion, that in passing the law by which the prisoners' sentence was commuted by their own consent from death to transportation, the Legislature of Upper Canada had not exceeded its powers; and that the officers of the Government, in carrying the sentence of transportation into effect, had not transgressed the law except in one instance, where the name of the prisoner was not inserted in the mandatory part of the

return.

Lord

15.-An extreme Chartist party being anxious to force on the question of Universal Suffrage in preference to the Corn Laws, Feargus O'Connor made an unsuccessful attempt to-day at the That Leeds meeting to carry a resolution: """ we consider all restrictions upon the importa

tion of foreign grain as unjust in principle and injurious in its effects; nevertheless we are of opinion that no salutary alteration can be made in the present system until those for whose benefit the change is contemplated shall have a voice in the choice of those Representatives to whom shall be entrusted the power of preventing the recurrence of so great an evil as the present Corn Law." - At Birmingham the Chartists were successful in carrying their resolution in opposition to the Anti-Corn-Law party who had called the meeting.

15.-A Special Commission opened at Clonmel for the trial of various persons charged with murder, and other Whiteboy offences.

18. Three lives lost on the ice at Duddingstone Loch, Edinburgh.

19. The Sultan refusing to fulfil his engagements regarding the cession of Aden, the place is bombarded and taken to-day by a naval and military force under Captain H. Smith, of the Volage. This was the first occasion in which her Majesty's forces by sea and land were engaged in warfare together.

20. The Chilians defeat the Peruvians under Santa Cruz, at Yungay.

21.-Anti-Corn-Law meeting at Manchester, attended by many members of Parliament and extensive manufacturers.-Writing to-day to his Stroud constituents, Lord John Russell said: "I gave my support to the Bill of 1829, considering it an improvement on the former prohibitory system; but it is my opinion that a moderate fixed duty would be more advantageous, not only to trade and manufactures, but likewise to agriculture, than our present fluctuating scale. It is desirable not to alter too frequently the laws by which the direction of capital and the channels of industry are regulated; but it is also desirable not to maintain a system of duties which, as experience has shown, increases the high prices of dear years to the consumer, and depresses the low prices of cheap years to the producer. I give you this as my individual opinion; but it is one which I shall be ready to support by my vote in the House of Commons."

February 1.-Case of Lady Flora Hastings. Lord Melbourne informs Sir James Clark, M.D., that a communication has been made by Lady Tavistock respecting Lady Flora Hastings (in the Duchess of Kent's household), whose appearance had given rise to a suspicion in the Falace that she might have been privately married. Sir James stated, that while deprecating such suspicions he was bound to admit that Lady Flora's appearance in some degree countenanced them, but would not venture to give an opinion without more ample means of observation than she had permitted. On the 16th Sir James acquaints Lady Flora with the existing suspicions, when she stated that for these suspicions there was not the slightest ground. "After the interview with Lady Flora, it remained for me," writes Sir James Clark, "to communicate what had passed to her Royal Highness the Duchess of Kent. I therefore informed Lady Flora that I was going to her Royal Highness for that purpose: to the propriety of this Lady Flora immediately assented. I accordingly went to the Duchess of Kent, and stated the nature of the interview I had had with Lady Flora. Her Royal Highness immediately expressed her entire disbelief of anything injurious to Lady Flora's character, and she asked me my opinion. However reluctant I felt to express any doubts on the subject after Lady Flora's declaration, I could not decline giving a conscientious reply to her Royal Highness's question; and I answered to the effect that the suspicions I previously entertained were not removed. In the course of the evening of the day on which I made the communication to Lady Flora Hastings, I received a note from her Ladyship, of which the following is a copy-‘Saturday.—Sir, although I think you perfectly understood me this morning, that I did not wish you to take any steps without hearing from me, it is perhaps better to obviate the possibility of any mistake that I should distinctly say so. I shall be governed entirely by her Royal Highness's wishes and orders.-Yours sincerely, FLORA ELIZ. HASTINGS.'-I heard nothing more on the subject till the afternoon of the following day (Sunday, February 17th), when I received another note from Lady Flora, of which the following is a copy-Sir, by her Royal Highness's command, I have written to ask Sir Charles Clarke to name an hour this afternoon to come to me. He has answered my note by coming, and is now here. Could you come and meet him?— Yours sincerely, F. E. HASTINGS.'-On receiving this note, I immediately went to Lady Flora, and found Sir Charles with her Ladyship. He stated to me, in Lady Flora's presence, as part of the conversation he had had with her, that he urged her, if there were any grounds for the suspicions entertained, to admit the fact now, as after the examination it would be too late. After this conversation, Lady Flora requested that Lady Portman might be called in. On her arrival, Lady Flora retired to her charber, where her maid was in attend