3.-Fire at Dundee, originating from a stove in a passage betwixt the Steeple and South churches. The East Church, or Cathedral, a remarkable and much-admired building, and also the South and Cross churches, were destroyed.

4.-Wreck of the Liverpool and Dublin packet Thames, off St. Ives; 56 lives lost, including the captain.

7.-Commodore Bremer opens fire from his squadron on the Bogue Forts, Canton River, and reduces two, over which he plants the British flag.

Death at Lambeth Palace, caused by workmen heating a pan of charcoal in the room they were repairing.

8.- Alexander M'Rae sentenced to death by the High Court of Justiciary, Edinburgh, for a capital offence committed on the body of Marjory M'Intosh, near Docgarroch Loch, on the Caledonian Canal.

11. Samuel Scott, the American diver, accidentally hangs himself when performing his rope-trick on Waterloo Bridge, preparatory to leaping into the river.

Mehemet Ali consents to give up Syria, and receive from the Sultan the hereditary government of Egypt. He restored the fleet on the 14th.

15.-Died at Tarbes, his native place, aged 86, Bertrand Barère de Vieuzac, a prominent member of the "Committee of Public Safety," and one of the most unscrupulous and bloodthirsty agents of the Revolution.

16.-Inundation at Brentford, caused by the bursting of the banks and locks of the Grand Junction Canal. At Shrewton and Maddington, on the same day, there was a considerable destruction of property by floods, from the sudden melting of snow in the neighbourhood.

18.-O'Connell visits the Orange district of Ulster in the course of his Repeal agitation, and meets with numerous evidences of unpopularity.

19. The Court of Queen's Bench issue a writ prohibiting the Chancellor of the University of Oxford (the Duke of Wellington) from proceeding in a suit which had been instituted in the Chancellor's Court against a tradesman of Oxford, for bringing an action against a member of the University.

20.-The Emperor of China issues an edict: "Whereas Keshen has reported to us the measures he has taken in reference to the circumstances of the English foreigners; that as these rebellious foreigners are without reason, and refuse to listen to our commands, a dreadful example of severity ought to be made in their regard. If the rebellious foreigners dare to approach our inner shores, let them be immediately exterminated." Keshen, in detailing to the Emperor the various encroachments of the barbarians, writes: "Your slave is vexed to death thinking of these things, even till he loathes his food, and till sleep has forsaken his

eyelids, forasmuch as he does not shrink from the heavy guilt he is incurring in taking all these facts, the result of his diligent inquiries, and annoying with them the ears of Heaven's son. Keshen was soon after degraded, and delivered over to the Board of Punishment.

20.-Charles Elliot, H. M. Plenipotentiary, announces the conclusion of preliminary arrangeThe ments for a treaty of peace with China. island of Hong Kong to be ceded to England, an indemnity of six million dollars to be paid, and the trade of Canton to be opened up. The Emperor disavowed the Treaty, and hostilities were resumed early in February.

21.-Great Radical meeting on Holbeck Heath, Leeds, designed to bring about a coalition with the Chartists. Resolutions in favour of universal suffrage were almost unanimously carried; but the speakers differed widely from each other on the remaining "points" of the charter.

The "moderate" section of the Strathbogie Presbytery meet at Marnoch to induct Mr. Edwards into the ministry of that parish. The circumstances connected with this ordination occasioned much discussion. A protest against the proceedings was read amid great excitement, and at its conclusion the audience set up a loud shout of approval. A portion, representing, it was said, the parishioners of Marnoch, then withdrew, but the number left in the church was still very considerable, and the shouting, cheering, and hissing continued in a manner which made the carrying out of the business of the court an impossibility. attempt was made to prevent the moderator from entering the pulpit, and pieces of wood, nails, iron bolts, &c. were plentifully thrown among the members of Presbytery. This continued for about an hour and a half, when the fury of the audience gave signs of having expended itself. Words of warning and remonstrance were then offered by two or three known sympathisers with the non-intrusion movement, and the latter part of the ordination services was conducted in the midst of comparative order and quiet.

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23.-Died in Bethlehem Hospital, aged 69 years, James Hatfield, who was tried at the Old Bailey, in September 1802, for firing a loaded pistol at his Majesty King George III., and acquitted on the ground of insanity.

26.-Parliament opened by the Queen in person. The Royal Speech made reference to the pacification of the Levant, the disturbances in China, and the differences between Spain and Portugal as to the passage of the Douro. Measures were promised relating to the improvement of the administration of justice, and for amending the laws relating to the poor. The Address was agreed to without a division after a languid debate, having reference chiefly to affairs in the Levant.

29. Mr. Serjeant Talfourd obtains leave to re-introduce the Copyright Bill of last year.

February 1.-Captain Elliot and Commodore Bremer issue a proclamation to the inhabitants of Hong Kong, informing them that the city had become part of the dominion of the Queen of England, and that natives residing in the island must consider themselves as her subjects.

Lord Shaftesbury presents the report of 1 Committee recommending that the case of the Earl of Cardigan, removed by a writ of terari from the Central Criminal Court, be taken up by the Peers on the 16th; the House to be fitted up for the trial, and the jalges summoned to attend.

2.-Lord Stanley re-introduces his Registration (Ireland) Bill. A rival Government measure was brought forward by Lord Morpeth on the 4th.

The Antarctic expedition under the command of Captain Ross reaches latitude 78° 4′ south, being the farthest point attained by it, and nearly four degrees beyond that accomplished by any previous navigator.

5.-The Duke of Wellington taken suddenly ill in the House of Lords, and conveyed to Apsley House.

6.-Mr. Justice Littledale takes his leave of the Bar in the Court of Queen's Bench.

9.-Lord John Russell's Bill for discharging the present Poor Law Commissioners read a second time; Mr. Disraeli's amendment for delay being rejected by 201 to 54 votes.

10.-Christening of the Princess Royal in Buckingham Palace.

- Lord Sydenham assumes the government of the now united provinces of Upper and Lower

Canada,

12.-The Commons vote a pension of 2,000 per annum to Lord Keane and his two next heirs.

Died, aged 73, Sir Astley Paston Cooper, surgeon.

13.-A banquet, attended by several Cabinet Ministers, and many members of Parliament, en by the New Zealand Company, to Lord Jan Russell.

14-The Buffalo Advertiser publishes a g circumstantial account of the destruction Niagara Falls. "At half-past seven a wide space of the frontal bastion near to Goat and fell down, but what was actually taking pace could only be surmised, as the great conbence of water hid the immediate stage of perations from sight. At half-past eight the Middle Tower and all the adjoining groundwork had disappeared. The tower sank into the gulf like a subsiding wave. Goat Island lowed next. On the British side, the wall of loose friable rock was gored and ploughed away until the Table Rock, so much resorted to by visitors, fell down in fragments, the spiral staircase toppled, and for a while it was expected

that the hotel would follow. It still stands, though in a perilous posture, all the furniture having been removed.'

16.-The Earl of Cardigan tried in the House of Lords for shooting at Captain Tuckett, with intent to do him bodily harm. The case broke down on a formal objection raised by the prisoner's counsel, Sir William Follett. The prosecution, he said, had failed in proving a material part of their case, inasmuch as no evidence had been given that Captain Harvey Garnett Phipps Tuckett was the person alleged to have been on Wimbledon Common on the 12th September last, and whose card only bore the name Captain Harvey Tuckett. The peers present returned a verdict of "Not guilty," with the exception of the Duke of Cleveland, who added, "Not guilty, legally." Ministers defeated by a majority of 31 in a House of 223, on Mr. Cresswell's motion for a committee on the Danish claims.

19.-Collision in the Irish Channel between the American emigrant ship Governor Fenner, and the steamer Nottingham, trading between Dublin and Liverpool. The former sank almost immediately, with passengers and crew to the number of 124. Only the master and

mate were saved.

Wynyard Park, the seat of the Marquis of Londonderry, destroyed by fire, supposed to have originated in a flue in the chapel forming the west wing of the premises, and first seen about midnight. There were only two servants in the house at the time, the Marquis and Marchioness being abroad with their attendants. The whole of the building, and by far the greater part of the rich furnishings, were destroyed.

22. Decision in Exchequer on the longpending question regarding the validity of the charter of the city of Manchester. The question was raised in a suit Rutter v. Chapman, tried in 1839, before Mr. Baron Maule, at Liverpool, when the learned judge directed the jury to find for the validity, subject to a bill of exceptions for argument in Exchequer. The Attorney-General conducted the case for the Liberals, and Mr. Cresswell that of the Tory opponents of the corporation. The original judgment in favour of the charter was now confirmed on all points, and costs allowed. The other Privy Council charters affected by this decision were Birmingham, Bolton, and Devonport.

25. After a debate protracted over three nights, Lord Morpeth's Irish Registration Bill is read a second time by the narrow majority of 299 to 294 votes. Lord Stanley led the Opposition. There were 23 "pairs" in the division, and 13 absentees; one seat (King's County)

was vacant.

27.-Fall of two houses adjoining the Dis patch office, in Fleet-street. The tenants being warned of their danger, no life was lost, nor was there any casualty of the slightest nature.

March 2.-In answer to Lord Dalhousie, Lord Aberdeen states that though his bill of last year had been well received by nearly onehalf of the Church of Scotland, yet, as had been furiously condemned by the other, and opposed also by the Government, he had resolved to abandon it, and had no other measure to propose,-a resolution in which he was confirmed by recent proceedings of the dominant party in the Church.

3.-Commenced at the Central Criminal Court the trial of the two Wallaces, charged as accessaries in the wilful destruction of the ship Dryad, on her voyage from Liverpool to Santa Cruz, in October 1839, for the purpose of defrauding certain assurance companies and others. In summing up, the Lord Chief Justice said the jury must be satisfied that the captain wilfully cast the ship away with the intention of defrauding the underwriters; second, that the goods insured never had been shipped; and lastly, that a concerted scheme was prepared in London, to which the prisoners were consenting parties, and by whose aid it was carried out. They were each found guilty, and sentenced to transportation for life.

Died, aged 77, Claude Perrin Victor, Duke of Belluno; created Marshal of France on the field of Friedland.

4. A gravedigger buried in St. Bride's churchyard, by the falling in of the grave in which he was working.

5. Mr. Macaulay brings forward the Army Estimates, amounting for the year to 6,158,000!.

Rev. Dr. Gordon, Edinburgh, writes to the Duke of Argyll, that the Non-intrusion Committee had no instructions from the General Assembly even to propose the abolition of patronage, as one way of settling the present difficulties of the Church of Scotland, far less to press it as the only way of putting an end to the present unhappy collision between the civil and ecclesiastical courts.

15.-Meeting of the Vice-Chancellor and heads of houses at Oxford, to censure No. XC. of "Tracts for the Times." It was resolved"That modes of interpretation such as are sug gested in the said tract, evading rather than explaining the sense of the Thirty-nine Articles, and reconciling subscription to them with the adoption of errors which they were designed to counteract, defeat the object, and are inconsistent with the due observance, of the statutes of the University." The following day the Rev. J. H. Newman addressed a letter to the ViceChancellor, acknowledging himself to be the author of Tract XC., and stating that his opinion remained unchanged of the truth and honesty of the principle therein maintained, and of the necessity of putting it forth. "I am sincerely sorry for the trouble and anxiety I have given to the members of the Board, and I beg to return my thanks to them for an act which, even though founded on muisapprehen

sion, may be made as profitable to myself as it is religiously and charitably intended."

15.-The boy Jones enters Buckingham Palace for the third time, but is seized almost immediately by a constable on duty. Instead of sending him to prison again, the police magistrate before whom he was brought induced his parents to let him be placed on board one of her Majesty's ships.

18. Her Majesty's forces, after reducing the Chinese forts, and forcing their way to Canton, take possession of the British actory. On the 20th a truce was agreed upon between Captain Elliot and the Imperial Commissioner Yang.

21. The Rev. Mr. Guthrie, a prominent Non-intrusion agitator, addresses various meet. ings at Dublin on the Church of Scotland. “I will cheerfully go," he said, "where my fathers went before, to the dark dungeon; I will even go, like James Guthrie, to the Grass-market, and lay my head on the block; but I will sooner suffer this right hand to be cut off than lay it on the head of an Edwards of Marnoch."

22.-The Rolls Court order a commission to examine certain aged witnesses at the Court of Hanover, regarding the royal jewels bequeathed to the House of Hanover by Queen Charlotte.

28.-Robbery of plate and various articles of vertu at Windsor Castle, supposed to have been committed by a person in the employ of the Inspector-General of Palaces.

29.-A meeting having been called at Deptford on the subject of a repeal of the Corn Laws, a body of Chartists, as was their custom, took up a prominent position in the hall, and endeavoured in various ways to interrupt the proceedings. Acting upon the advice of the lecturer, Mr. Sydney Smith, the audience turned upon the Chartists, and after a short struggle succeeded in ejecting the whole of them.-At Leeds the Chartists were more successful in their opposition, the Mayor there being forced to retire from the platform with his friends.

31. The Jews' Declaration (Oath) Bill read a third time in the House of Commons by 108 to 31 votes. It was thrown out in the Upper House on the 11th June by 98 to 64

votes.

April 1.-The Paris Fortification Bill passes the Chamber of Peers.

2.-Rev. J. Keble, in a letter to Justice Coleridge, concerning Catholic subscription to the Thirty-nine Articles, discusses the duties and difficulties of English Catholics in the present religious crisis.

- Dr. Phillimore, acting as commissary for the Archbishop of York, gives judgment depriving the Rev. W. Cockburn, D.D., of his deanery on the ground of simoniacal practices.

3.-Josiah Misters executed at Shrewsbury for the attempted murder of Mr. Mackreth in

the Angel Inn, Ludlow. He died declaring his innocence.

4.-Death of General Harrison, newlyelected President of the United States. He was succeeded by Vice-President Tyler.

5.-The Liverpool newspapers refer with sencus apprehension to the non-arrival of the President steamship, which sailed from New York on the 11th March, with twenty-nine passengers. Insurance made with difficulty at 25 per cent.

6.-Jerusalem placed under the protection of the Turkish Government.

11.-The Earl of Cardigan causes 100 lashes to be administered to Private Rogers of the 11th Hussars, in the riding-school at Hounslow, immediately after divine service, and before the men could return to barracks.

13.-Accident at one of the furnaces of the Dowlais Iron Works. About three o'clock an alarm was raised that the loose stones were giving way, but only one of the men was able to leave the hole where they were at work, when the whole mass, to the estimated weight of 100 tons, came down on the scaffolding erected to carry on the repairs, and buried eight of the men.

15.-Settled before Baron Rolfe, at Liverpool, the Brindle Will case. The question the special jury had to decide was whether the late Mr. Heatley, of Brindle, who devised his landed property to the defendant, the Rev. T. Sherburne, a Catholic priest, was competent to make a will. His competency to do so was disputed by the plaintiffs, who claimed through their wives, as heirs-at-law of the testator. arrangement was come to between the parties, a terms of which a verdict was entered for the defendant.

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22.-Order from the Adjutant-General expressing surprise that Lord Cardigan should

ve carried out the sentence of a court-martial ca Sunday, and prohibiting such a course in future, except in extreme necessity.

23.-Doolan, Redding, and Hickie tried at the Glasgow Circuit Court, for the murder of John Green, at Crosshill, on December 17th. A number of witnesses were examined as to the movements of the prisoners between the mur

der and their apprehension, and two or three spoke to the fact of Redding being for some weeks in possession of a watch stolen from the body of the murdered man. The jury brought in a verdict of guilty against all three, but recommended Hickie, as an accessary, to the merciful consideration of the court. Lord Moncrieff passed sentence of death, and fixed the place of execution as near as possible to the scene of the murder at Crosshill.

26.-Discussion in Committee on Lord Morpeth's Registration of Voters' (Ireland) Bill. The first clause declared, that upon the expiration of one month after a poor rate shall be established in any county or borough, the Act shall come into operation; after which no person is "to be entitled as a freeholder or leaseholder to be registered as a voter for such county, in respect for any freehold or leasehold property in his actual occupation, save as herein provided." On this clause, Lord Howick proposed an amendment declaring that no person, "claiming under any Act or Acts now in force, to be entitled to be registered and vote in a parliamentary election for any county in respect of any freehold or leasehold property in his actual occupation, shall be deemed to have a beneficial interest therein of the clear yearly value required by such Act or Acts except as hereinafter provided." The amendment was carried against Ministers by a majority of 291 to 270 votes. A second defeat on the franchise clause led to the withdrawal of the bill.

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27.-A misunderstanding prevailing in the public mind as to the relative claims of Messrs. Cooke and Wheatstone, in the invention of the electric telegraph, it was mutually agreed to submit the matter to M. I. Brunel and Professor Daniell. After giving, in their "Award," a brief history of the progress of the invention in this country, they now state: "While Mr. Cooke is entitled to stand alone the gentleman to whom this country is indebted for having practically introduced and carried out the Electric Telegraph as a useful undertaking, promising to be a work of national importance; and Professor Wheatstone is acknowledged as the scientific man whose profound and successful researches had already prepared the public to receive it as a project capable of practical application; it is to the united labours of two gentlemen so well qualified for mutual assistance, that we must attribute the rapid progress which this important invention has made during the five years since they have been associated."

30.-The Chancellor of the Exchequer (Baring) introduces the annual Budget. He estimated the total revenue for the current year at 48,310,000l. and the expenditure at 50,731,2261. The deficiency of 2,421,000l. he proposed to meet for the most part by an alteration of the duties on sugar and timber. The present duty on Colonial sugar was 24s. a hundredweight, and on foreign 635. Mr. Baring proposed to leave the duty on Colonial sugar at its present rate, but to reduce the duty on foreign to 36s. The present duty on Colonial timber was IOS. per load, and on Baltic 55s. The Government proposal now was to raise the duty on Colonial timber to 20s. and reduce the duty on Baltic to 50s. per load. From the change in the sugar duties 700,000l. was anticipated, and frorn timber 600,000l. For the remaining deficiency, the Chancellor of the Exchequer expressed himself as willing to abide by the result of Lord John Russell's motion on the Corn Laws. The scheme was opposed by the Protectionists, and ultimately led to the breaking up of the Ministry.

Lord John Russell surprises the House to-night by giving intimation that, on the first order day after the 31st of May, he should move that the House resolve itself into a Committee to consider the Acts relating to the trade in corn. On the 7th May, he announced that when the House went into Committee on the Corn Laws he should propose to fix the duties on wheat at 8s. a quarter, rye at 5s., barley at 4s. 6d., and on oats at 35. 6d.

May 1.-Sir Rufane Donkin, SurveyorGeneral of the Ordnance and M. P. for Sandwich, commits suicide by hanging himself in his bedroom.

3.-The Earl of Waldegrave and Capt. Duff sentenced in the Court of Queen's Bench to six months' imprisonment for assaulting a policeman at Hampton Wick; the former to pay in addition a fine of 2007., the latter 50%.

In the course of a debate raised by the presentation of a number of petitions against any alterations in the Corn Laws, the Premier expresses himself in favour of a change. The time, he said, had now arrived, when we find it necessary to take large, wide, and extended financial measures, and doing that which will affect other interests seriously and deeply. It appears therefore impossible to leave this main and master interest unchanged under such circumstances, in such a crisis. "Undoubtedly I have changed the opinion which I formerly held (great cheering and counter-cheering)— grounded as that opinion was on purely temporary interests.

6.-The Duke of Argyll introduces a bill for the better regulation of Church Patronage in Scotland.

approved of by our Government, and that officer recalled.

7.-Debate commenced on Lord Sandon's motion: "That, considering the efforts and sacrifices which Parliament and the country have made for the abolition of the slave-trade and of slavery, with the earnest hope that their exertions and example might lead to a mitiga tion and final extinction of these evils in other countries, this House is not prepared (especially with the present prospects of the supply of sugar from the British possessions) to adopt the measures proposed by her Majesty's Government for the reduction of the duty on foreign sugars." The debate was continued over eight nights, and resulted on the 18th in a majority against Ministers of 36 in a House of 598.

8. In the Arches Court, Sir H. Jenner Fust gives judgment against the defendant in the case of Mastin v. Escott, involving the validity of lay baptism. (See Nov. 2, 1840.)

10.-An Anti-Corn Law Meeting compelled to adjourn from the large Assembly-room, Edinburgh, to an ante-room, in consequence of the noisy opposition of a body of Chartists and monopolists.

11. At a farewell dinner given at Malta to Sir R. Stopford by the officers of the fleet, the Admiral claimed all the merit of the operations in Syria to himself, and said that had Sir Charles Napier not been present others would have been found to do his duty.

12. Fire at Stoke Canon, near Exeter, ending in the destruction of fifteen houses.

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14.-Doolan and Redding executed Crosshill, Glasgow, for the murder of Green. At the place of execution it was supposed there could not be less than 100,000 people, exclusive of the thousands who thronged the streets of Glasgow, to obtain a sight of the cavalcade and the two unfortunate beings who formed its chiet attraction. They were attended by Bishop Murdoch. Their demeanour throughout was calm and collected. The scaffold was erected in a field a short distance from the bridge on which the murder was committed, and the two culprits had the fatal spot full in their view when they mounted the ladder. Dreading some attempt at rescue by the Irish labourers on the railway, the magistrates had on the ground 500 of the 58th Foot and 1st Royal Dragoons, besides a detachment of the 4th Dragoons from Edinburgh, and three pieces of artillery. After hanging the usual time, the bodies were brought back to the city and interred within the prison. In the case of Hickie, the capital sentence was commuted.