And, for his own part, he believed most firmly, before God, that these continual and unjustifiable Suspensions of the Habeas Corpus would (unless the House of Commons should do its duty, which it had not hitherto done) end in the complete ruin of our liberties.

Mr. Bathurst, Mr. H. Sumner, and the Attorney-general, opposed the motion; which was supported by Mr. Bennet and Mr. Phillips.

Mr. Lambe wished an inquiry to take place in an open Committee.

On a division, the motion was negatived by 167 to 58.

HOUSE OF LORDS, Feb. 18.

The Royal Assent was given, by Commission, to the Irish Grand Jury Presentments Suspension Bill.

In the Commons, the same day, Mr. Alderman Wood, with a view to the justification of the conduct of the City Magistrates, moved for a Select Committee to inquire into the state of the prisons in the City of London.

After some observations, from Mr. Bennet, Sir W. Curtis, and Mr. Warre, the motion was agreed to.

A Petition from Gloucester was presented against the use of Climbing Boys in sweeping chimneys.

1

Lord Milton was of opinion that Mr. Bennet's Bill on this subject went too far at present; there being many chimneys which could not be swept but by boys. The better way would be, to give a bounty on the use of machines, and to lay a tax on the use of climbing-boys, which would afford time for altering the chimneys, and effect, at length, the total discontinuance of climbing-boys.

Mr. Bennet and Mr. Littleton thought that the two years already given were sufficient for altering the chimneys alluded to, which were exactly those that were the most dangerous to the boys.

Mr. G. Bankes moved for leave to bring in a bill for making the buying of Game penal as well as the selling of it.

Mr. Curwen and Mr. Warre opposed the motion, and coutended that the whole system of the Game Laws should be altered.

Sir C. Burrell was in favour of the motion; which, on a division, was carried by 60 to 28.

A Committee was appointed, to inquire into the propriety of holding Assizes twice a year in the Northern Counties.

HOUSE OF LORDS, Feb. 19.

The House having gone into a Committee on the 30 Millions Exchequer Bills Bill, Lord Grosvenor expressed his surprise and regret at this immense issue of paper in a time of peace, and deprecated

the maintaining of a standing army of 100,000 men, when the revenue did not, by many millions, cover the expenditure. He saw no reason for our now keeping an army in France.

The Earl of Liverpool said, when the proper time came, he would be ready to shew that the view which the Noble Lord took of our financial situation was erroneous. As to the issue of Exchequer Bills, it should be recollected that the interest on them was little more than 2 per cent. Every possible effort had been made, and still was making, to reduce our Establishments to the lowest scale; but the purposes of economy would not be promoted by withdrawing our troops from a country where no expence was incurred. With regard to the revenue, he assured the Noble Earl that it more than covered the expenditure.

In answer to some observations from Lord Lauderdale, Lord Liverpool explained that, in the assertion just made, he included the Sinking Fund as part of the

revenue.

Lord King observed, that it now appeared that the Sinking Fund was only nominal, and did not discharge a shilling of the national debt.

Lord Liverpool conceived this idea of the Noble Lord to be erroneous; and was fully of opinion that we had a real and efficient Sinking Fund, notwithstanding that he had included it in the revenue.

The Bill then went through the Commit. tee, as did the Malt Duty Bill.

Lord Carnarvon, at great length, contended that the Petitions of Drummond, Knight, Mitchell, &c. sufferers under the Habeas Corpus Suspension Act, should be referred to the Secret Committee, and concluded with a motion to that effect.

The motion was supported by Lord King, the Marquis of Lansdowne, Lords Grosvenor and Holland; and opposed by Lords Sidmouth, Bathurst, and Liverpool.

The motion was negatived without a division.

In the Commons, the same day, Mr. Curwen, after a long and general conversation, obtained leave to bring in a bill to amend the Tithe Laws.

Mr. Bennet informed the House, that he had ascertained the falsehood of the statements in a Petition which he presented last Session, accusing Judge Day of partiality in a charge to the Jury, on a prosecution for murder.

After a general discussion upon the treatment of apprentices in Cotton-mills and factories, Mr. Peel, with the leave of the House, brought in a Bill, which was read the first time, to amend the Act of the 40th Geo. III. for preserving the health and morals of persons employed in such works.

FOREIGN

OUR Abstract of this Month will have its view directed chiefly to the affairs of India; although, as being nearest home, we commence, as usual, with

FRANCE.

In the Chamber of Deputies, on the 21st March, the Report of the Commission on the new plan of Finance was brought up, and read by M. Roy. It appears from this document, that the arrears alone which were to be paid on the 1st October, 1817, amounted since the year 1811 to 359,510,000 of francs, or 14,979,5837. sterling. The total supply for the year 1818, is estimated at 993,000,000 francs, exceeding the expenditure of last year by about 360,000. sterling. This sum total is divided into three heads the debt and sinking fund; the extraordinary expences; the ordinary expences. The interest on the debt, and the sinking fund together, are stated at 180,000,000 francs, equal to 7,500,000l. per annum. The extraordinary expenditure is taken at 312,000,000, of which the French army entails upon the nation 140,000,000 or 5,830,000l.; and the Army of Occupation 154,000,000. M. Roy, towards the conclusion of his report, admits that the continual increase of expence is quite alarming. He says, "We are justly terrified at the considerable increase of our expenditure. All is changed around us, and yet we go on as if nothing was altered. The resignation of the nation in these times of calamity has been great, and entitled to admiration. It drew its source from the love which she bears to her King; but, whilst that love remains unchangeable, all her sources are exhausted; and we tell you this terrible truth, that if the extraordinary charges which weigh her down do not cease in the present year, it will be impossible for you to form a Budget for the year 1819."

M. Roy, having closed the subject of the Supply, that of the Ways and Means was taken up by Count Beugnot. In the course of his speech he referred to the enormous profits supposed to be made by the foreign contractors for the last year's loan. He dwelt, as his predecessor had done, upon the dreadful state of exhaustion to which France has been reduced, and upon the absolute necessity for the removal of the Army of Occupation; hinting his expectation that the strangers would depart by the end of the present year. The loan already spoken of, to the amount of 16,000,000 of rentes, was one of the topics adverted to by M. Beugnot, as being likely to cover the whole of the deficit anticipated by the Government for the year 1818.

20

In the Chamber of Deputies lately, a Committee made their report on the projet for abolishing the Slave Trade, recommending the adoption of that measure; but, it appears, the Government refuse the mutual right of search by armed vessels, as conceded by Spain and Portugal.

Extract of a Letter from Paris, dated April 2:-"There has been formed at Paris a political club, under the presidency of old General Lafayette. The number of its members at present amounts to 36. It is not a loose association, like that of the Liberaux, Messrs. Lafitte, Perrier, or Davilliers, but a club eminently political, where the highest qustions of state are discussed. Among the principal members are mentioned, Messrs. Lanjuinais and the Duc de Broglie, Peers of France; the Deputies D'Argenson, Chauvelin, Dupont de l'Eure, and Bignon; the men of letters, Benjamin Constant, Jay, Roujoux, and Aiguau. In one of the last meetings of this club, the members discussed the advantages of a Republican Government like that of the United States; and it was unanimously agreed, that it was the best possible government, far superior to the so highly boasted Government of Great Britain. mention it with regret, but I am forced to confess, that the Republican party makes cousiderable progress in France, and especially at Paris."

I

The Royalist party in France contend, that the raising of a new French army will be the ruin of the Bourbons. At a levee at the Thuilleries, March 16, it is. asserted, some officers had the audacity to appear in their old Buonapartéan uniform. M. Fievée, a French Ultra Royalist, has published a pamphlet; in which he contends, that France is now more disunited than at the time of the King's restoration, owing to the government being in the hands of a revolutionary administration.

It appears, that the question relating to the Swiss troops is again agitated in France, and likely to produce some strong sensation. The friends of the King conceive his personal safety to be more or less affected by the dismissal of these faithful soldiers; while public opinion sets powerfully against the employment of a foreign guard.

A letter from Paris of the 19th ult. states, that the person who fired at the. Duke of Wellington is actually in the hands of the Police. His name is Cantillon, or Caintillon, formerly a soldier, who had taken refuge in Belgium. He is a man of thirty-six years of age, of extraordinary strength, and ferocious courage. The plot had its origin in Belgium. Generals Rigaud and Fressinet, Colonels

Brice,

Brice, Chambure, and Sausset; the Editors of the Revolutionary Journals, Cauchois, Lemaire, Isidore Guyet, Guillois, and Teste; all these individuals, and several others, appear to have been privy to the plot, as well as several Belgic officers, formerly companions in arms of the Refugee French officers.-They fixed their eyes on Cantillon, as a fit instrument for the attempt; and he went to Paris ex pressly for the purpose. He was betrayed by a woman with whom he lived; and the evidence against him is said to be so overpowering, that he will not be able to evade condemuation.

Extract of a Letter from Paris, dated April 20-The liquidations with the foreign powers are at last concluded. France will pay two hundred and forty millions, or twelve millions of rentes; it being well understood, that the claims of England are not comprised in this sum: that is a separate affair. The great powers are, in general, content with the result of the negociations; among others, Prussia, which alone receives fifty-two millions. Several of the small powers complain.

The French Theatre, the Odeon, one of the most elegant in Europe, was burnt down on Good Friday. The fire broke out at two in the afternoon; and the progress of the flames was so rapid, that the persons in the theatre were saved with the greatest difficulty. The French Government has ordered the rebuilding of the Odeon; of course, at its own expense.

An excessive drought has lately desolated the French Department of the Var, where great fears are entertained for the olive harvest.

M. Marsan, a Frenchman, has constructed a handmill, which can be kept in motion by a child of ten years old; it furnishes 1lb. of good meal per minute.

Maubreuil, a Frenchman lately confined in Paris for robbing the Queen of Westphalia of her jewels, is now in London: he asserts, that after Buonaparte's first abdication, he was instructed by Talleyrand to raise a band, and assassinate Napoleon, and all his family: Maubreuil is now writing a history of the (incredible) transaction.

Fouche, Duke of Otranto, not long ago married a young wife, of an illustrious family; she has just eloped from him at Prague, with a son of Thibaudeau, the Conventionalist.

A Flemish paper lately contained an article, wihich purports, that Louis XVIII. will adopt the son of Buonaparte into the list of heirs to the French throne! He is to take his place immediately after the nephews of the King; and, of course, before the house of Orleans. Ridiculous as this supposition is, it is worth notice for GENT. MAG. April, 1818.

the place in which it first appeared-a Vienna paper.

Murder of Fualdes.-The French Papers continue filled with accounts of the trial of the individuals charged with this crime, and which trial has become so interesting from the mysterious conduct of Madame Manson, one of the witnesses.-Fualdes, it will be remembered, was a man of property at Rhodez; he was carried by force to a house of ill fame, and there murdered. Madame Manson, who had repaired to the house (it cannot be doubted, for licen tious purposes), concealed herself in a closet on the arrival of the murderers with their victim; and from thence, it is believed, she witnessed the horrid deed. On being discovered in her place of concealment, Bastide would have killed her, for security; but he was prevented, and an oath only exacted from her, not to divulge what had passed.-The following extract of a letter from Paris recites some particu lars as they have lately been developed in the trial now going on at Albi.-Extract of a letter from Paris, April 17.-" You may remember, that Jausion (an opulent proprietor of Rhodez) struck the first blow (as had probably been agreed upon), when the wretched victim was extended on the table. Bastide, perceiving that his countenance grew pale, and that his hand faultered, seized himself the knife, exclaiming, You know not how to slaughter; let me finish him.' Thus much is. known; the episode that follows has not hitherto been published in the French papers. Jausion, horror-struck at his own crime, fled from the house, and regained his abode, where his wife was expecting him to supper. All his efforts to assume apparent tranquillity were unavailing; he ate nothing, nor replied to the questions put to him. About an hour afterwards a knocking was heard at the door'; he went himself and enquired, who was there? He was answered, "Fualdes;" and, under the influence of terror which it would be impossible to describe, he opened the door, and saw Missonnier, I believe, and another. You have left the work undone; but it is too late to retract: if you refuse sharing our perils, we shall deposit the body of Fualdes at your door, to dispose of as you may judge best.' Jausion had no alternative; he took his hat, and instantly quitted the house; as he hoped, unperceived by any one.-But Madame Jausion, whose jealousy was proverbial at Rhodez, was not inattentive to the proceedings of her husband: she conceived he was engaged in an affair of gallantry, and followed him and his companions at a distance. On seeing them enter the Maison Bancal (which appears to have been of shameful celebrity to all classes

at

at Rhodez), her suspicions were converted into certainty, and she sought after a stone to beat against the door. In the meantime Jausion was in the kitchen, in the midst of the assassins; and Madame Manson was just discovered, and dragged into the room from the cabinet she had been hid in. Bastide was furiously urging her murder; when Madame Jausion knocked loudly at the door, calling out "Veynac," her husband's Christian name. Jausion recognized her voice, and Bastide was for refusing her admission; but Jausion declared he knew her character so well, that if the door were not opened, she would rouse the whole street. On this representation she was let in, with the view of conducting her to an adjoining closet, and pacifying her by her husband's exertions; but she instantly precipitated herself into the chamber where she heard voices; and you may judge of her dismay, when she found herself in presence of a group of assassins; of the corpse newly murdered on the table; of her husband and Bastide struggling with each other for Madame Manson, who was lying senseless on the ground, with her pantaloons crimsoned with the blood collected in a pail; which blood was offered to a hog, that could not swill, by far, the greater part of it."

Letters from Albi state, that another procedure will follow the sentence of the present prisoners. Madame Manson is, destined, it is said, to play a great part as witness.

ITALY.

Earthquake in Sicily.-An extract of a letter from a gentleman, dated Mascali, near Mount Etna, Feb. 22, 1818, says

"You will, no doubt, be anxious to hear from me on this distressing occasion. This place and Giarre have not sustained the least injury; but all around us is one scene of distress. We here understood that Nola and Syracuse have sustained considerable damage in lives and buildings; as for Catania, most of the houses are more or less damaged, but no lives lost; the Elephant Hotel is partly destroyed. Aci Catena is one third destroyed, and a number of lives lost. St. Antonio, lives lost, and great part of the town destroyed; Nicolosi, Lapidara, Trecastagne, and Viagrande, partially damaged ; Pas de Pomo, and all that part, considerable damage in stores and houses. Saffaraua, part of the Church fell in, and killed every one in it, say about 60 persons, and the three Priests attending the service. Saffarana is about four miles from this. From thence to St. Alpo is one scene of desolation, and from thence to Piedmont and Randazzo. It is further said, that Luctini, Bronte, and all that part, are considerable sufferers. In fact, we know not yet the extent done; but what we

know is more extensive than the earthquake that destroyed Messina. The devastation is general, and I fear not yet finished. I look on this to be the forerunner of an eruption. The first shock was on Friday, at half past seven P. M. most violent; its motion was perpendicular: at midnight a second; about five in the morning a third. This morning about four, another; at half past five, a second; and at noon a third, but slight. For these two nights here and at Giarre, the popu lation have remained in the streets, with temporary sheds, and casks with the heads Giarre is like an Indian town."

out.

A letter of the 2d of March from Palermo, mentions the receipt of intelligence that day, by the telegraph, of the entire destruction of Catania, in consequence of repeated shocks of an earthquake on the night of the 28th of February. Ætna made a dreadful noise, but there had been no eruption at the above date.

GERMANY.

An article from Vienna quotes accounts from Constantinople, stating, that all the Foreign Ministers had set on foot conferences with the Divan, with the view of adopting, in concert with the Ottoman Government, measures for repressing the outrages of the Barbary Powers, and obtaining satisfaction for their past conduct. It is added, that the Porte was endeavouring to temporize; but that the Foreign Ministers were determined to insist upon a categorical answer being given; so that it might be communicated to the Allied Sovereigns, on their meeting in Congress.

In a recent Hamburgh mail we find an article which states, that Mr. Lamb, the British Ambassador at Frankfort, has restored to Count Las Cases the papers which had been sequestrated on his arrival in this country.

RUSSIA.

The Emperor Alexander opened the Diet at Warsaw with a speech intended to revive the spirit and dignity of the Polish nation, and to inspire them with confidence in the views of their new Government.

A German Paper states, that the Emperor Alexander has appointed the son of the Ex-King of Sweden (Gustavus) Governor of Finland.

The following is an extract of a letter from St. Petersburgh, dated March 28. "The Panopticon, a large wooden building, five stories high, which lay ont of the city on the other side of the Neva, has been a prey to the flames. This building was erected only a few years ago, after a very ingenious plan, and as workshops for many branches of the marine. It was also used as barracks for sailors. It was capable of containing 3000 persons. The architect of this building was the English

General

General Bentham. In the lowest story was the steam-engine by which all the machinery was put in motion. Unhappily, some of the workmen have perished in this dreadful fire, which broke out in the forge, in the lower story, and rapidly communicated to the other parts of the building. SWEDEN.

The King of Sweden was, immediately after his coronation at Stockholm, to proceed to Drontheim, to be crowned King of Norway.

Twenty houses in Gottenburgh have stopped payment, in consequence of the anti-commercial decrees of the Swedish Government.

Bernadotte has relinquished 600,000 francs of Crown revenues, in consequence of the pecuniary embarrassments of his Swedish subjects.

ASIA.

Dispatches from India, dated the 24th of November, have been brought to town, over-land, by Major Moore. Our readers recollect that a Sovereign called the Peishwa had given strong reason last year to suspect him of a plan for exciting a Mahratta war; and that he had purchased peace by a cession of his forts, and had promised to receive a British detachment into his capital. So well was the suspicion justified, that even now, after giving those securities for his conduct, he breaks out into hostilities. On the 5th of November, he met us with 40,000 men, and fought a battle; which could not have been of a decisive character, as the Peishwa was again in a condition to cope with the British troops on the 17th of the same month; when, notwithstanding a great disparity of numbers, he was totally routed, flying to one of his strong forts, and leaving Poonah to its fate. The English accordingly entered his capital in triumph. The force to which the Peishwa was opposed was part of the army under the command of Col. Smith, of the 7th Native Infantry. The officers wounded are, Lieut. Falconer, 1st batt. 2d Bombay Native Infantry; Capt. Preston, Bombay European Regiment, both severely. Two brothers, of the name of Vaughan, who had been taken and carried to Poonah after the first battle, were shot; one of them is said to have been in the civil service.

By later dispatches received at the India House, over-land, from Bombay, it seems, that hostilities in India are likely to be carried on upon a more extended scale than had been contemplated. The Native Powers, with the exception of Scindia (who had been detached from the Confederacy by the Marquis of Hastings), had commenced general hostilities against us, in aid of the Peishwa. When the last accounts reached Bombay, the Peishwa was

continuing his retreat to the Southward, closely pursued by Brigadier-Gen. Smith. There had been some skirmishing with broken parties of the Peishwa's army, in which about 200 of the latter had been killed or wounded. The forces under the Marquis of Hastings on the one hand, and Sir Thomas Hislop on the other, were approaching each other in opposite directions, towards the seat of the Pindaree Association.

The

We are concerned to see, in the above journals, an afflicting statement of the prevalence of an epidemic disease, which has fallen with fatal severity on the central division of the British army. Native troops are the principal victims; though, in some instances, Europeans also have suffered from it. The malady has assumed the form of a cholera morbus; and its ravages are nearly proportioned to the scanty sustenance to which those who are seized with it have been habituated. Laudanum, brandy, and calomel, are the medicines most successfully prescribed. The following statement of mortality from this disease, many years ago, is said to rest on high medical authority: At one of the great Mallahs held at Hurdwar every twelfth year, in the month of April, a sudden blast of cold air from the hills, which came down the course of the Ganges, produced so fatal and violent a cholera morbis, that twenty thousand persons perished in the course of three or four days, Great as this number is, it will not appear incredible, when it is known, that nearly a million of people are supposed to be collected. In common years the number at the fair is estimated at 300,000.

An insurrection is announced to have taken place in Ceylon, for the purpose of raising to the throne of Candy a relative of the atrocious tyrant who was deposed by General Brownrigg, to the relief and gratification of his oppressed subjects.It is not to be presumed, however, that the old Royal Family are without friends, or wholly destitute of individual members meriting their loyalty and attachment.