dress; and there had in consequence been an increase of depredation on the Roman and Tuscan coasts. SirT Acland, Lord Cochrane, and Messrs. W. Smith and Ward, said that an end ought to be put to these atrocities. Lord Castlereagh having said that Ministers shortly expected information, Mr. Brougham agreed to withdraw his motion. June 19. Mr. Wilberforce, after an affecting exordium, said, that the Slave population of the West Indies had a peculiar claim to our regard. For 200 years we had brought them from their native home-we had planted them in the Western hemisphere, for the purposes of our aggrandisement aud wealth-we owed them in an especial degree our protection, and there could be no difference of opinion as to the obligation imposed on us to afford it. In the associations of the planters, every thing tends to render the negro an object of degradation-his colour-his language, an imperfect mimickry of our own,--and the very habits of self-abasement, which slavery itself produces. Every where, except in the West Indies, they were a prolific race. There, great numbers were lost every year, from being under-fed and Over worked. From all he had heard, he entertained a high opinion of their industry and capacity. Mr. Wilberforce then shewed the absurdity of the charge brought against him and his friends, of having, by agitating the Registry Bill, been the cause of the late insurrection at Barbados. would, he observed, be as consistent to maintain that the disturbance excited on the subject of the Corn Bill was the fault of Parlament, and that no benefit resulted from that measure because it had been attended with some degree of rioting, It as to attribute the insurrection in the West Indies to the operation of the Registry B II. Were we precluded from considering the distressed state of the Country at any time, merely by the possibility that the disclosure of its sufferings might augment discontent, and lead to revolt > The insurrection at Barbados might be traced to other causes-perhaps to the managers of estates, who did not much consult the feelings or comforts of the slaves as in our other colonies; and they pressed upon the rights of that degraded race with a weight which they felt intolerable. He had been charged by an Hon. Gentleman opposite (Mr. Marryat) with fanaticism. If to profess humanity to our fellow-creatures, and to endeavour with zeal to carry into execution whatever measures lay in his power for promoting their welfare, were the Hon. Gentleman's definition of fanaticism, he was afraid that he was a most incurable fanatic. (Hear, hear, and a laugh.) If he really was a fanatic in the cause of the abolition, he was glad to think he was one in so good: a company (Hear, hear.) The Hon. Gentleman had been a little louder, more zealous, and more abusive of late-a circumstance which he (Mr. W.) ascribed to his agency. (Cries of Hear.) If all that be had heard were true, he doubted whether or not the acceptance of this appointment might not operate as an exclusion from the House; and he had once thought of bringing the matter before Parliament. The Hon. Gentleman thep moved for papers respecting the illicit Importation of Slaves into Jamaica; and sat down amidst loud cheering, which lasted several mi nutes. Mr. N. Pallmer submitted, that it was the first duty of the Legislature to quiet, rather than exasperate, the alarms which had taken place amongst the Colonists; and with this view he should propose an Amendment, to the following effect:-That an Address be presented to the Prince Regent, praying that he would be pleased to issue instructions to the Governors of our West India Islands, that they should proclaim to the slave population his highest displeasure at the late insurrection, ascribable to the false and mischievous opinion that orders had been sent out for their emancipation; reminding them that the most prompt measures would be re- sorted to, to put down the spirit of insubordination; and at the same time that the Governors should recommend it to the Colonial legislatures to carry into effect every measure that may tend to the moral and religious improvement as well as the comfort of the slaves. Mr. Barham spoke with warmth in favour of the Amendment. Mr. Brougham said, that the planters had with sinisters views instilled into the minds of the slaves that they were to be immediately freed-when the cannon was charged and fired, it had recoiled on themselves. On the recommendation of Messrs. Ponsonby and Canning, and Lord Castlereagh, Mr. Wilberforce agreed to withdraw his motion, and that Mr. Pallmer's address should be substituted; after which it was agreed that the papers should be produced. June 20. On the third reading of the Exchequer Consolidation Bill, the clause enabling the Vice-treasurer to sit in Parliament was opposed; but carried on a division, by 149 to 111. Mr. Huskisson stated that it had been agreed to purchase the house and demesnes of Clermont, for the Princess Charlotte and Frince Leopold, for 60,000. The valu ation of the farms, farm-houses, and park, including 350 acres of land, was 36,000l.; the mansion, 19,000l.; and the furniture, 6,000.; making altogether 60,000. The mansion, which was in good repair, could A not be built now for less than 91,000. Bill for ratifying the purchase was then brought in, aud read the first time. Mr. Brougham brought up the Report of the Committee appointed to inquire into the Education of the Poor of the Metropolis-120,000 children were without the means of education; though the amount of the public and private charities for this purpose, including the Charter-house, Christ's Hospital, the Westminster and St. Paul's schools, amounted to 70,000l. There were scarcely any instances of abuse in the above establishments. One flagrant case had been transmitted to him from the country, where 1,500l. which was left for the endowment of a school, was managed by the lord of the manor, who appointed his own brother schoolmaster with a large salary, while he again shifted the duties to a deputy schoolmaster, in the person of a joiner, with the small income of 407. a year, and left this ignorant person to edueate the children. It appeared that 18,000l. educated, upon the old plan, only 3,000 children; whereas, upon the new plan, it was sufficient to educate 30,000 children. If children were only educated, instead of being boarded, clothed, and lodged, the benefit of education might be extended to all the poor requiring it; but many charitable establishments were under the direction of trustees, who were elothiers, butchers, bakers, &c. and these The Hon. were interested in contracts. Gentleman recommended that next Session a parliamentary commission should be appointed, which should progress through the country, and have power to examine persons upon oath, &c.; and in order to ensure dispatch, the members of the commission should be paid for their labours. Lord Castlereagh, Mr. Canning, and Mr. Wilberforce, paid Mr. Brougham many compliments; and the Report was ordered to lie upon the table. HOUSE OF LORDS, June 21. Lord Donoughmore, at the conclusion of a preliminary speech, moved a Resolution, pledging the House next Session to the consideration of the disabling statutes, with a view of affording relief to the Catholicks. Earl Bathurst, Lords Redesdale, Eldon, and Longford opposed the motion; the Duke of Sussex, Earl of Aberdeen, Lord Stanhope, and the Bishop of Norwich, supported it. The subject having been so frequently discussed, there was no novelty of argument. The decision was remark. able, in consequence of the majority of the Lords present being in favour of the Resolution, which, with the aid of proxies, was rejected only by four. For the Resolution, Contents 40, Proxies 29; total 69Not Contents 37, Proxies 36; total 73.-Majority against the Motion, 4. In the Commons, the same day, Mr. Lushington brought in a Bill to repeal duties on ale, cider, perry, &c. and impose new duties on the publican in proportion to the rent of his house. The Chancellor of Exchequer said, that this Bill would afford relief to the lower order of country victuallers; so that out of 36,000 who took out licences, 26,000 would be considerably relieved. He would prefer, however, its lying over til next Session, when some plan might be adopted on a more general scale to arrange the rates of licences in proportion to rents and profits. Sir J. Graham and Mr. Calcraft wished the Bul not to be deferred: it was then read the first time. June 24. The Coroners' Bill, after two divisions, passed through the Commi tee; and the third reading was carried, by 48 to 23, June 25. The Coroners' Bill was read the third time, and passed. Sir John Cox Hippisley laid before the House the Report of the Committee appointed to inquire into the measures adopted by different States, in order to regulate the connexion between the See of Rome and their Catholic subjects. Mr. Canning said, that the freeing the Catholicks from legal disabilities could only be valuable so far as it was founded on the firm conviction and cordial assent of all parties. He was anxious that this question should be now finally settled, not on the romantic notion that with it every feeling of animosity would at the same time be settled; but because he believed that the question was one without the settlement of which no other evil could be radically cured. It was not only au evil in itself, but it was made the pretext for many more, and it aggravated them all; and the settlement of the question must be the introduction to and accom-` plishment of every measure leading to the perfect tranquillization of Ireland. (Hear hear:) The documents appended to the Report would shew that the conditions which had been proposed in this country, feil far short of what every other country,. whether Catholic or Protestant, thought it necessary to adopt for its safety. It had happened to him to be a few weeks ago ning. He considered that gentleman would not have joined the Administration without an understanding favourable to the great question of Catholic Emancipation. In regard to the persecution in France, no one had said that the Protestants were persecuted in the department of the Gironde, but in the department of the Gard. Neither had it been said that the persecution was carried on by the FrenchGovernment, but by the lower orders of the Catholicks, and the Government had not done its duty by taking those measures which would have put a stop to it. son. Mr. Bennet complained that very little had been done to remedy the abuses which existed in the King's Bench priThe Marshal derived 8007. a year from a per centage on the beer drank in the prison, in defiance of Act of Parliament; and 2,5001. a year from the rules: that was to say, this sum of money was taken from the pockets of debtors to the injury of their creditors, for the benefit of the Marshal. The Paper which he had moved for respecting the Petworth House of Correction would shew, that the abuse of the system of solitary confinement bad exceeded any thing which could have been imagined. ago in a part of Europe, stated, in many publications which he had read, to contain the seeds of bitter persecution of the Protestants, on the part of the Catholicks. He found no marks of the existence of any such persecution; but he had found what was so little known in this Country, that Protestants were not only tolerated, but in every respect on an equal footing with their Catholic fellow subjects, and even seemed to have more than their proportion of honours and employment. He alJuded to the department of the Gironde, which contained a population of 514,000, of whom the Protestants amounted to 30,000, or one seventeenth of the whole. Of the seven Members of the Chamber of Deputies returned by the department, one was a Protestant. Of the five Councillors of the Prefect, one also was a Protestant. Of 24 members of the Municipal Administrations, five were Protestants. In another council at Bordeaux, seven were Protestants. In a procession which took place while he was at Bordeaux, the Archbishop of Bordeaux was first in order, and he was immediately followed by a Protestant clergyman. The banker to whom he had been recommended, had received a patent of noblesse from the present Government; and of four other patents bestowed in the department since the accession of the Government in question, three were to Protestants, and none to Ca-nity of Mr. Serjeant and the other magistholicks. All this existed without creating any convulsion, or subjecting the Protestants to any inhuman persecutions. It might indeed be said, that these acts shewed the spirit of the Government rather than that of the people; but however, as many of the elections were by corporations, they could not have happened if any angry religious feelings had existed. He was more and more convinced of the necessity of emancipation; and with the conditions which it might be thought advisable to annex to the boon, the final settlement of the question ought not to be delayed. To this final settlement the Report of the Hon. Baronet could not fail greatly to contribute. Sir Henry Parnell wished to communicate to the House some information received by him from the Catholic Prelates of Ireland. They had proposed of their own accord, that, instead of the present mode of nominating Bishops, they should in future be elected by the Dean and Chapter. This mode would assimilate the discipline of the Catholic Church of Ireland to that of several other Catholic States. In making this proposal the clergy had receded from their Resolutions of 1808, in which they declared the inexpediency of any change whatever. Mr. Horner congratulated the Catholicks on the sentiments delivered by Mr. Can After a few words from Sir F. Burdett, Mr. H. Addington, and Sir C. Burrell, Mr. Huskisson warmly praised the huma trates, whose conduct was alluded to; and the motion for papers was agreed to. The Chancellor of the Exchequer said, in answer to Gen. Thornton, that it was intended to propose to Parliament next Session, to grant a specific sum for erecting a number of Churches on a moderate plan. The Saving Banks Bill was read the third time, by 28 to 8. The Attorney General brought in a Bill to regulate the practice orgery throughout the United Kingdom: it was read the first time, ordered to be printed, and then lie over till next Session. June 26. The Madhouses' Bill was read the third time, and a clause, excepting houses where only one individual was confined from the visitation of Commissioners, was withdrawn. The Chancellor of the Exchequer, in reply to a direct question from Mr. Ponsonby, said, that as provision had been made for the wants of the present year, he thought, if no unforeseen circumstance occurred, Parliament would not be assembled till after Christmas. Sir Samuel Romilly presented a Petition from the cloth-workers of Frome, Somersetshire, complaining, that, by the introduc tion of machinery, they were thrown out of employ. HOUSE OF LORDS, June 27. On the motion of the Earl of Egremont, the Coroners' Bill was, on the second reading, thrown out by 6 to 4, there being only 10 members present. HOUSE OF COMMONS, July 1. Mr. Bennet brought up the Report of the Committee on the Police of the Metropolis, which he trusted would occupy the attention of the House next Session. One of the branches of the Police which was deserving of particular attention, was the manner in which the licences were granted to publie-houses; for though the magistrates in general were men remarkable for uprightness, yet in the district of White chapel it appeared that there was an improper connexion between some of the magistrates and the brewers. As to the increase of crimes in the metropolis, it certainly appeared that the numbers of commitments in 1813 to the different prisons was 9000; and in 1815 they were 10,500. It was worthy of remark, that 800 persons were committed to Clerkenwell prison in one year for assaults. In the prisons, it was to be regretted that there was no clas sification of the different offenders. From the evidence, on the whole, it appeared, that there was an amelioration in the general state of manners and morals of the lower orders of late years, though there were now 20,000 persons in the extremest state of want. On Mr. Holmes moving that the Lords' Amendment to the Gas Light Bill should be taken into consideration, Mr. Cartwright said he disliked the Bill, and moved that it be considered that day three months.-The House divided, but there not being 40 Members present, an adjournment took place. July 2. Mr. Cawthorne and Lord Cochrane both spoke against the Gas Light Bill; and the latter moved that it be read that day three months, but,the motion not being seconded, the Amendments were agreed to. On the motion of Lord Castlereagh a Committee was appointed to wait on the Duke of Wellington, to congratulate his Grace on the results of the battle of Waterloo, and on his return to England. [The Speaker and several Members then went up to the House of Lords; when the Parliament was prorogued: see p. 69.] ABSTRACT OF FOREIGN FRANCE. The Duke of Wellington, after a short visit to England, arrived in Paris on the 5th inst. A very long letter, or memoir, from Fouche, Duke of Otranto, to the Duke of Wellington, has just been published in Germany. In this he states, that there were four parties in France at the time of the restoration of the Bourbons. One in favour of the legitimate Sovereign; a second in favour of a foreign Prince; a third for a Regency, governing in the name of young Buonaparte and his mother; and a fourth for the Duke of Orleans. Fouche seems to think that the conduct of the existing Government is not well calculated to subdue the spirit of these several parties, and reconcile them to the reign of the successful competitor for the throne. On the restoration of Louis XVIII. he recommended a system of moderation and forbearance, in which, he says, the Duke of Wellington acquiesced; but he complains that it has not been adhered to, and that his voice was drowned by that of the passions. The French Journals have brought the particulars of the execution of the three malefactors, Plegnier, Carbonneau, and Tolleron, convicted as the Chiefs in the alleged conspiracy to overturn the Government. They were conducted on the 27th ult. to the scaffold in GENT. MAG. August, 1816. OCCURRENCES. the Place de Greve. Plegnier resisted much when they took off his coat; but the two others were calm and resigned. Their right hands were first cut off, and they were then gui lotined. Their remains were buried in the church yard of Vaugirard.Several conspirators have also suffered death at Carcassonne, in the Province of Aude; and the minor Journals state, that General Mouton Duvernet, condemned to death by the Council of War at Lyons, was shot on the 27th. Some disturbances broke out lately at Strasburgh and Nancy. An Strasburgh an altercation arose between some of the National Guards and the regular troops; the former were joined by the populace, and the cry of "Vive l'Empereur!" was proffered. The drum beat to arms, a skirmish ensued, and 130 persons were killed or wounded on the side of the rebels; on the other part, a number of French hussars and other troops, under the orders of General Briton. Numerous arrests have since taken place, and the town is said to be in a state of tranquillity. At Nancy, an officer of Genie, formerly one of the Chiefs of the Military College at Metz, and since employed in the War Department, organized a most serious conspiracy to take possession of the town, and secure the persons of the Royal Authorities. A considerable number of officers on half pay, and disaffected individuals, co-operated in in this plan. Twenty minutes before its explosion, it was denounced to General Villatte, who instantly had eleven of them seized, and the next morning twentysix of their accomplices. Out of this list nineteen are ex-officers. At Montpellier several were lately executed by torch-light, having been convicted before the Prevotal Court, of outrages on the return of Buonaparte. The first who suffered cried "Vive la Republique! on ascending the scaffold. According to letters from Lisle, the French government is resorting to every practicable expedient to restore its military establishment; and a project is stated, by which the army is to be increased to 200,000 men. Several of the principal Generals who served under Buonaparte are to be employed. The Moniteur of the 3d inst. contains a Royal Order, requiring all citizens, except those who form part of the National Guards, the Forest and Field Guards, to deliver up their arms. Arrests and prosecutions of persons charged with offences against the State still continue in some of the provinces ; five have been executed at Montpellier, charged with committing atrocities at the period of the battle of Waterloo; and a Count de Lex, who was one of Buonaparte's pages, accused of having left the island of Elba some months before him, and trying to seduce the troops of the King, is shortly to be brought before a Council of War at Paris. General Drouet (Count d'Erlon) has been tried in his absence by the first Council of War, and condemned to death as a traitor. The trial of General Lallemand the elder has taken place, for having quitted the Department of the Aisne, where he commanded, to join Lefebvre Desnouettes' expedition against La Fere. He has been found guilty, and condemned to death. The junior Lallemand is to be tried next. Both have escaped to Ame ́rica. These sentences bar their return to France. In the Correctional Tribunal at Paris, two causes of considerable interest were opened on the 10th of August; the first against the Abbé Vinson; and the second against M. Fleuri, a priest also, for certain writings described as alarming and dangerous; their object being the reclamation of the possessions of the clergy, in violation of the Concordat of 1801, and of the Constitutional Charter of 1814. These trials, which are no doubt instituted for the purpose of quieting the minds of the purchasers of property of the above description, are to be carried on with closed doors. It is painful to see with what industry the Bourbons are reviving the old super stitious rites. A procession of eighty young ladies paraded the streets of Paris, with lighted tapers in their hands, a few days ago, to implore the Patron Saint of Paris for finer weather! It is well known, that the Parisiaus are, above all others, lax in their notions of religion, and that these processions excite their most poignant ridicule. We have received information from Paris respecting the demands of the British on the French funds which were created during the revolution; and have the satisfaction to find, that, at least, insuperable difficulties are not interposed to the realization of the property so invested. It is true, that embarrassment arises when claims are brought forward which have been in abeyance for twenty years; but nothing more is required, than the proper testimony to authenticate the debt. Several claims have already been entered in the great book; and we hope and believe that our countrymen will ultimately acquire the payment to which they are so justly entitled, and which has so fitly been assigned to them by the stipulations between the two governments. SWITZERLAND. The Diet of Switzerland has been invited by the Emperor Alexander to accede to the Holy Alliance. The Cantons of St. Gall and the Grison have received infinite injury from the overflowing of the Rhine. The Road from Mayenfeld to Coire has been rendered impassable. The Lake of Bienne has also overflowed, and inundated a vast tract of country. In Burgundy the vines are in such a state, that the vintage is expected to be wholly unproductive. Fresh prayers have been put up in the different churches of Paris, to implore more genial weather. SPAIN AND PORTUGAL. Ferdinand the VIIth is stated, in letters from Spain, to have lately deprived the kingdom of Navarre of the right of being governed by its own peculiar laws and constitution. This was the only partial remnant of that political liberty which distinguished the early annals of Spanish history." The Government of the "beloved" Ferdinand has given a new instance, to the miserable people of Spain, of its relentless and vindictive policy. On the 19th of July, Arguelles, and the other Members of the late Cortes, confined in the prison at Ceuta, were torn from their beds in the dead of the night; and in the same state in which they were thus surprised, were carried on board a xebec, with an extraordinary escort of soldiers and arms. There they were immediately loaded with irons, and the vessel set sail; but whither was unknown. The Madrid Gazette announces the arrival of official dispatches from General Morillo, |