was resorted to on the 9th May, and, it appears, by the advice and the earnest recommendation of the whole of the diplomatic body. Thence, on the same day, he issued a proclamation, in which is given the following account of the events which had taken place since the breaking out of the conspiracy:-" On the morning of the 30th April, all the troops of the capital appeared under arms, and my son was seen to leave the Royal Palace to place himself at their head, and to order, without any authority of mine, the arbitrary arrest of an immense number of individuals of all classes, invested with the chief powers of the State, in whom are comprised my own ministers and servants of my household. The palace which I inhabit was soon surrounded with an armed force, or rather was transformed into a prison, and all access to my Royal person was barred during several hours. Then were observed proceedings so violent, that in the latter days they amounted nearly to open rebellion; while all the represen tatives of the Sovereigns of Europe thought it their duty to protest formally against the violation of my Royal authority." The proclamation goes on to state, that instructions were given, in a decree of the 3d of May, to the Judges, to proceed legally against the accused, in the hopes that good order might be restored, but, "on the contrary, the ar rests continued, as likewise the orders issued in the name of my son, and signed for the most part by obscure individuals, who have no share in the government.Finding no means," the King continues, a little farther on," of making known my Royal will, because I was surrounded by the factious persons who deceived my son, and who had deprived me of my liberty, I formed the resolution to go on board a British line-of-battle ship, at anchor în this port, (where I have been followed by the representatives of the Sovereigns of Europe,) in order that I might frankly make known to my loyal subjects my situation, and call them, if necessary, to my defence." The King resumes the authority of Generalissimo of the armies, and dismisses the Infant from the station of Commander-in-Chief. By a decree and a letter to his son, both of the same date as the proclamation, he confirms the pardon formerly granted to Don Miguel, and orders him to attend him instantly on board the Windsor Castle. It may seem singular, that a faction which had gone such lengths should be so promptly quelled by these measures; but it is stated that the Prince yielded to the commands of his father,

and has been "recommended to pass some time in travelling for his improvement," that those by whose counsels he had acted fled, and that the Queen was prohibited from again appearing at Court, and is to pass the rest of her days in a convent. Orders for the instant libera. tion of all who had been arrested were transmitted to the Intendant of Police and the Governor of the Fort of Peniche, on the 10th. The King went on shore on the 15th, and great rejoicings took place in consequence. Don Miguel took his departure in the Perola, a Portuguese frigate, on the 14th, for Brest. The Perola was accompanied by the English frigate Lively, Captain Elliot, and the French brig Zebra. He will travel under the title of the Duke of Beja, and is attended by his Chamberlain, the Conde de Rio Major. The Queen has hitherto evaded, under the pretext of illness, compliance with the orders for her retirement to the Convent of Estrella.

The King, on his birth-day, distributed various honours and rewards to those individuals who had supported his cause during these events. All the Foreign Ambassadors have received marks of royal favour, but especially the English Minister, Sir Edward Thornton, who, besides having a Portuguese title, gets also a domain of the crown for three lives. Captain Dashwood, the Commander of the Windsor Castle, is made Grand Cross of the Tower and Sword, with the insignia in diamonds. Other English officers are also distinguished by his Majesty; and five hundred dollars were ordered to be distributed among the crews of the Windsor Castle and the Lively.

GREECE. The inhabitants of this country have sustained a grievous loss in the death of their friend and champion, Lord Byron, who expired at Missolonghi on the 19th of April, after an illness of 10 days, caused by a cold attended with inflammation.

The following is a translation of the proclamation which was issued on the occasion by the Greek Authorities at Missolonghi, to the grief of its inhabitants, who were arrested in the celebration of their Easter festivities :

Provisional Government of Greece.

"The present days of festivity are converted into bitter days of lamentation for all

"Lord Noel Byron departed this life to.day, about eleven o'clock in the evening, in consequence of a rheumatic, inflammatory fever, which had lasted for ten days.

"During the time of his illness, your general anxiety evinced the profound sorrow that pervaded your hearts. All classes, without distinction of sex or age, oppressed by grief, entirely forgot the days of Easter.

"The death of this illustrious personage is certainly a most calamitous event for all Greece, and still more lamentable for this city, to which he was eminently partial, of which he became a citizen, and of the dangers of which he was determined personally to partake, when circumstances should require it.

"His munificent donations to this community are before the eyes of every one, and no one amongst us ever ceased, or ever will cease, to consider him, with the purest and most grateful sentiments, our benefactor.

"Until the dispositions of the National Government regarding this calamitous event be known, by virtue of the decree of the Legislature, No. 314, of date the 15th October,

"IT IS ORDAINED,

"1. To-morrow, by sun-rise, thirtyseven minute-guns shall be fired from the batteries of this town, equal to the num ber of years of the deceased personage.

"2. All public offices, including all Courts of Justice, shall be shut for three following days.

"3. All shops, except those for provisions and medicines, shall also be kept shut; and all sorts of musical instruments, all dances customary in these days, all sorts of festivity and merriment in the public taverns, and every other sort of public amusement, shall cease during the above-named period.

"4. A general mourning shall take place for twenty-one dsys.

5. Funeral ceremonies shall be performed in all the churches.

"A. MAUROCORDATO. "GIORGIO PRAIDA, (Secretary.) “ Missolonghi, 17th April 1824.”

Accounts from Corfu of the 23d April state, that the affairs of Greece wore a promising aspect. The Turks have wholly failed in raising an Albanian force. The whole Turkish force in that quarter does not exceed 1500 men, occupying Arta and Prevesa. Accounts from Constantinople, by the way of Odessa, come down to the beginning of April. Great preparations were in process of being made against the Greeks, so great that they are regarded as the last stake of the Porte. The approaching will be the fourth campaign, and it is calculated more severe and sanguinary than any preceding one. Turkey, it is said, has not resources for a fifth.

VOL. XIV.

MEXICO.

AFRICA.

According to the American papers, the inhabitants of this extensive country seem to be making steady progress in consolidating their independence. The new constitution, which was decreed on the 31st of January, is republican, after the model of the United States. There will be a President, or first Magistrate, chosen by the people, and he will be controlled by representative assemblies, chosen in the same manner. The differ ent intendencies or provinces of Mexico will thus be formed into a federal union under one head. There cannot possibly be a fairer scheme of government; and the example of the United States shews also, that, with proper materials, it may be reduced to practice. This favour able state of things, however, runs some hazard of being shortly disturbed; since the late Emperor of Mexico, who had been for some months residing in England, lately sailed from Southampton in an armed vessel, provided with money and warlike stores, with a view of again asserting his claim to the sovereignty. He gave out on his departure that he had been strongly invited to return, by a nu merous party there, who were ready to assist him in recovering his abdicated throne, and which, he was assured, was the only means that remained for settling the internal distractions of the country. How far these representations are true, the event will soon prove; but in the meantime we have letters from Mexico of the 8th March, in which the expectation is distinctly expressed, that the Ex-Em. peror Iturbide meditated returning to that country, and the existing Government is declared to be perfectly aware of his movements. Intelligence had then just arrived of his leaving Leghorn for England, which was well known to be preparatory to his present undertaking. A vigilant look-out had been directed to be kept at all the ports, in order to secure him on his landing.

PERU.-By way of Janeiro very satis factory accounts have been received of the state of the Independent cause in Peru.---According to advices from Panama, of the 22d of March, Generals Canterac and La Serna, the commanders of the Span ish forces in Peru, had made propositions to the Peruvian authorities, to put an end to the war, which had been transmitted to General Bolivar, who had, in conse quence, deputed Count de Donas to wait upon the Royalist Chiefs, and to confer on this important subject. It was supposed that Commissioners would be nam. ed immediately to bring the matter to an amicable issue.

5 C

HOUSE OF COMMONS.-March 9, and 10. No business of any public import

ance.

11. On the motion of Mr S. Wortley for the second reading of the Game Laws Amendment Bill, some discussion took place, after which the House divided, and the second reading was carried by a majority of 68.

The Report of the Mutiny Bill was received after a short discussion, in the course of which it was positively stated, by Colonel Dawkins and Sir H. Hardinge, that only one instance of corporal punishment had occurred in the regiments of Guards, that had been stationed in the Barracks at Charing Cross, in the course of a year. The gallant Officers also satisfactorily explained the disposal of the pay of the men when under confinement.

12. The business on Friday evening was of a miscellaneous nature. The Scots Juries Bill was read a second time, and committed for Friday next.-Petitions were presented against the Tay SalmonFishery Bill.-The Chancellor of the Exchequer, in reply to a question from Lord A. Hamilton, stated it to be his intention that the Stamp Duties on law proceedings should cease after a certain period, and that the alteration would extend to Scotland.

In answer to a question from Mr Bernal, whether it was his intention to propose any reduction in the Duty on Publicans' Licences, the Right Hon. Gentleman said, he hoped it would be in his power to propose some reduction on the present duty, though he could not yet say to what amount.

The House then went into a Committee on the Annual Duties Bill, when Colonel Davies proposed that the duty on Brandy should be reduced Is. 10d. The Chancellor of the Exchequer admitted that the duty on Brandy was too high, but contended that this was not the moment to reduce it, as that could not be done without also reducing the duties on British Spirits. On the recommendation of Mr Hume, the motion of the gallant Colonel was withdrawn.

In a Committe of Supply, various sums were granted for the Civil and Military Establishments in the Colonies. Mr Hume insisted strongly upon the principle, that, wherever it was possible, each colony should pay the expence of its own civil establishment at least: yet larger sums were proposed to be levied on the people

of this country for the internal government of the Bahamas, of Dominica, of the Canadas, and of other colonies. Ministers admitted the general principle, but disputed with Mr Hume its applica tion to some particular cases. They promised, however, if possible, to reduce the expenses of most of these establishments in future years. Divisions took place on two of the proposed grants, one of which gave the sum of £.15,532 to the Church Society for the propagation of the Gospel in the colonies. This was opposed, partly on the ground that the colonies should provide for their own religious instruction, and partly, because it was unfair to impose a tax on the Irish Catholic, the Scotch Presbyterian, and the English Dissenter, in order to support the clergymen of the Church of England in the colonies. Both grants, however, were carried.

15. Mr Maberly repeated his motion of last session, for the repeal of the Beer Tax, and the substitution of an increased Malt Duty. He was replied to by the Chancellor of the Exchequer; and, on a division, his motion was rejected by a majority of 130 to 26.

Mr Hume then renewed his efforts to procure the abolition of military flogging. The motion was opposed by Sir H. Vivian, who asserted (while he lamented the fact) that flogging was indispensable to the discipline of the army. Mr Hume's motion was rejected by a majority of 127 to 47.

In a conversation which followed, it was explained that the property of dispensing with the declaration against the transgression of the regulation in the purchase and sale of Commissions, is under consideration by the Commander-in-Chief.

16. The great question of the amelioration of the West-India Slave population was this evening brought before the House of Commons by Mr Canning, and before the House of Lords by Lord Bathurst. The following are the proposition of Ministers; but they only apply to the conquered colonies, where the power of the Crown is not fettered by any Legislative Assembly. These are Trinidad, Demerara, and St. Lucie.

1. The use of the whip, so indecent and so shocking, is to be utterly abolished in regard to female slaves. 2. The whip is no longer borne by the driver in the field; to be no longer employed as a summary punishment of the male negroes;

to be wholly laid aside as a stimulus to labour, and resorted only as a chastisement for misbehaviour, deliberately proved and recorded. 3. Ample provision is to be made for the religious instruction of the negroes, by the appointment of two bishops, with regular clergy under them. 4. Marriage is to be encouraged, families never to be separated, and the property of the slave is to be protected by a positive law. 5. Banks are to be established, in which the slave may deposit his earnings; the money so placed to be sacred, in all cases, from the master's grasp. 6. The testimony of slaves, under certain limitations depending on personal character, is to be received in all civil cases, except when the master's immediate interests are concerned, and in all criminal cases, except when the life of a white person is involved. 7. The slave who has acquired a certain sum of money is to have the power of purchasing his own manumis. sion, or that of his wife or child; and thus the father may become, as it is fit he should, the instrument of liberty to his offspring.

18.-Lord J. Russel brought forward his motion respecting the occupation of Spain by France. He admitted that, in the present posture of public affairs, this country ought not to court a war; but he contended that Ministers may, without injustice, and without danger of provoking hostilities, interpose to forbid an invasion of South America, by Spain, so long as Spain remains under the dominion of France. Sir Robert Wilson supported the Noble Lord's proposition in a very temperate speech. He imputed the overthrow of the Spanish Constitution to the declaration of neutrality made by this country, which, he said, operated instantaneously to remove the fears of the French Government, and to chill the hopes of the Spaniards. He drew a favourable picture of the valour and devotion of the Spanish Constitutionalists, and concluded his speech by a modest recital (in his own vindication) of the services by which he had earned the honours which the Continental Sovereigns had latterly withdrawn from him. Mr Littleton opposed the motion; he complimented the last speaker on his gallantry, and moved an amendment expressive of approbation of the measures of Ministers. Mr Gooch seconded the amendment. Mr Canning commenced by replying to the arguments of Lord J. Russell and Sir R. Wilson, speaking with the utmost kindness of the latter. He maintained that the continuance of the French army in Spain was not desireable nor desired by the French Government, but that it was necessary to

save the people of Spain from mutual destruction; in conclusion, he animad verted, in a very happy vein of pleasantry, upon the romantic expeditions of Sir R. Wilson and Lord Nugent, styling the noble adventurer "an enormous breachof neutrality." Mr Littleton's amend ment was carried without a division.

19. The Committee sat on the Scots Juries Bill, the farther consideration of the Report on which was ordered for the 2d of April. After some miscellaneous business, the House went into a Committee of Supply on the Irish Estimates, which were ultimately all agreed to.

22. A great number of Petitions, upon various subjects, were presented. Among others, was one from certain persons in Ireland (noblemen and others), praying to be incorporated as a joint stock company, for the purpose of draining and reclaiming three millions of acres of bogs in that kingdom; and another for the incorporation of a national Irish mining Company.

A Petition was presented from persons engaged in the Wine trade, praying for a reduction of the duties upon Foreign Wines; upon which the Chancellor of the Exchequer observed, that how much soever he might disapprove of the excessive rate of the duties upon Wine, he could at present hold out no prospect of a repeal or reduction of them.

Bills were brought in for building a bridge over, and excavating a tunnel under the River Thames, at a short distance below the Tower.

The other business of the night related for the most part to the expected operation of Mr Robinson's new financial plan upon the Linen, Wool, and Silk trades, with respect to each of which many petitions were presented. With respect to the first, the Chancellor of the Exchequer stated his last determination to be, that they should be diminished annually by one-tenth of their amount, and that the reduction should commence on the 25th of January 1825. On the subject of the Woolduty he announced, that instead of making the reduction of the duty immediately, he should propose to adopt the opinion expressed by the Manufacturers at the time when the measure was first announced,→→ namely, that the reduction should take place at two different periods. One part, amounting to three-pence, to be taken off on the 10th of September next, and the remaining duty of two-pence on the 10th of December following. Under these circumstances he should not return any duty.

The House then went into a Commit tee on the Silk Duties Bill, when the Chancellor of the Exchequer extended the

allowances for Silks on hands to such pieces as had been cut only to exhibit patterns. After this concession, which was received with much gratitude by the advocates for the trade, Mr Baring moved that the repeal of the prohibition of Foreign Manufactured Silks should be postponed till the year 1829 instead of the year 1826, and contended, as before, that it would lead to the ruin of the Silk Manufacturers. The Chancellor of the Exchequer, in reply to the Hon. Gentleman, read two letters, one from the Com. mittee of the Silk Manufacturers of Derby, and the other from that of the Manches ter Manufacturers, expressive of the alarm they felt at the opposition shown to the measure in Parliament, and earnestly praying that he would strenuously urge his proposition. The Right Hon. Gen. #leman, therefore, maintained that the proposed measures were generally viewed by the Silk Manufacturers in a very dif ferent light from that which had been represented. The Hon. Member for Taunton withdrew his amendment, and all the Chancellor of the Exchequer's propositions were then agreed to.

23. Mr Peel moved for leave to bring in a Bill to continue the Alien Act Bill. The Right Hon. Secretary having explained the provisions of the Bill, and stated that it was intended to exempt from its operation all those who have resided seven years in this country, defended the measure by its conformity to ancient usage, which he proved by a reference to the reigns of Henry the Fourth, Elizabeth, and all the Princes of the House of Stuart; by the mildness of its operation, to which he said the fact, that in ten years only seventeen persons had been expelled by its authority, bore sufficient testimony; and, lastly, by the security which the House enjoyed in its own vigilant superintendence, that the powers conferred by the Act should not be abused. Mr Hobhouse opposed the motion in a speech of great length, in the course of which he declared his wish that foreigners might be permitted to use this country as the place of their conspiracies against their own Government; and argued that the Bill ought to be suffered to expire, as an intimation to the despots of the Continent of the feelings excited in this country by their conduct. Mr Hobhouse taunted Mr Wynn with inconsistency, in voting now for a measure which he had strenuously opposed in 1816; and quoted a ridiculous phrase ascribed to the Rt. Hon. Gentleman upon that occasion, viz." That he would oppose the Bill with physical force and bodily resistance." In conclusion, Mr Hobhouse moved

a series of resolutions to the effect that the Alien Act was a “disgrace of the sta tute-book," and "a badge of servility connecting the British Government with the league impiously miscalled the Holy Alliance." Mr Wynn explained the sense in which he had used the phrase imputed to him, as different from what the Hon. Member had assumed. He also tried to reconcile his conflicting votes. Sir James Macintosh opposed the motion in an admirable speech. He treated the act throughout as investing the executive with absolute power, in respect to those who were the objects of it; and answered all the arguments, drawn from the mildness with which this power had been exercised, by a reference to the admitted truth, that despotism was ever most dangerous when it was most gentle. Mr W. Lamb deprecated the use of the harsh epithets which had been applied to the Continental Monarchs. Lord John Russell animadverted, with some sharpness, upon the excessive delicacy of the last Speaker. His Lordship opposed the motion, as did Mr C. Hutchinson (whose language, was extremely violent,) Mr Warre, and Lord Althorpe. Mr Peel replied shortly, contenting himself with convicting Mr Hob. house of some Irish figures of style; and the Resolutions were rejected by a ma'majority of 181 to 70.

A second debate followed upon the original motion in the course of which Mr Hume, having urged Mr Canning, obtained from him an expression of his hope that, at a future day, the act might be suffered to expire. A second division took place on the original motion, which was carried by a majority of 129 to 69.

25. Sir James Macintosh withdrew his motion upon the subject of our rela tions with South America. He explained that he did so, because the explanation of Ministers had been satisfactory; and because he was unwilling to let it go to Europe, that any one in this country distrusted these explanations. He added, that he had heard, from good authority, that a great power on the continent had declined taking any part in the proposed Congress on South American affairs.

After some other business had been disposed of, Sir J. Newport moved for the appointment of a Commission to inquire into the best mode of educating the poor in Ireland. The proposition was warmly supported by Mr Goulburn, Mr J. Smith, Mr Peel, and Mr Brownlow, who all agreed in the necessity of proceeding upon a basis of the most perfect liberality, uniting the children of Catho lics and Protestants promiscuously in the