458 Proceedings in the present Session of Parliament. sian Court, Count Capo d'Istria, and the nephew of Prince Talleyrand, filled the stations of Ambassadors from their respective nations to the Swiss Cantons. He distinctly denied that Mr. Wynn stood in more advantageous circumstances than his predecessors; affirming, on the other hand, that the salary of his mission had been reduced 10 per cent. on his appointment. The large salaries of the French and Belgian Ministers his Lordship defended as necessary, to enable those Ambassadors to maintain becoming hospitality towards the English abroad, of whom, he said, no less than 8000 reside at Brussels. With respect to the motion immediately before the House, he deprecated the doctrine that the foreign relations of the country should be yearly exposed by an annual investigation of the diplomatic department of the Civil List; and declared, that if the Committee were granted, he would never meet it as a Minister.-Sir J. Mackintosh and Messrs. Tierney and Creevey spoke in support of the motion, and ridiculed the Noble Marquis's threat of resignation, which was, however, justified by Mr. C. Wynn, as perfectly accordant with the Constitution. Upon a division, Mr. Lennard's motion was rejected by a majority of 274 to 147. May 16. Sir T. Lethbridge presented a Petition from the City of Bath, complaining of the injury resulting to the country from the emigration of the higher and middle classes to the Continent, and praying for a tax to be imposed upon Absentees. The Hon. Baronet estimated the number of British families at present resident abroad in Europe at 10,000; their daily expenditure at five guineas each family; and the annual amount drained from the country consequently at 18,200,000 guineas!! This calculation was however received with loud laughter by the House.-Mr. Ricardo asserted that the effect of an Absentee Tax would be to diminish in a serious degree the capital of the kingdom; since the absentees who now generally draw only the annual profits of their capital, would, in the event of such a tax, remove their property altogether. The Hon. Member seemed to be of opinion, that the present taste for emigration would not be permanent. A revision of our commercial system would, he said, render England the cheapest country in the world. The payment of the national debt, which was to form a part of the revised system, he considered as by no means impracticable. The Chancellor of the Exchequer concurred in Mr. Ricardo's views of the evils of an absentee tax; and stated, that the only effectual means of repressing emigration, was by rendering home cheap and comfortable. The Petition was read and ordered to be printed. Mr. Warre brought forward a specific mo [May, tion upon the subject of Mr. Wynn's Mision to the Swiss Cantons. The motion was rejected by a majority of 274 to 141. Mr. Goulburn submitted a motion for placing at the disposal of the Lord Lientenant of Ireland, 50,000l. to be expended in the districts now suffering from famine. The money was to be bestowed in the employment of the labouring poor, in making roads through those hitherto impervious tracts of mountain and bog, which have for centuries served as the nurseries and retreats of insurrection and outrage. Mr. Goulburn's proposition met with the cordial approbation of all parties in the House. May 17. The House was occupied with a long debate upon the West Indies and American Trade Bill, in the course of which the respective doctrines of monopoly and free trade were discussed at ample length, and Mr. Brougham asserted, in the most unqualified terms, that the present sufferings of the West India Proprietors are much greater than those of the Agriculturists of England. May 20. The question of Irish Tithes was introduced incidentally upon the presentation of a petition from a Mr. Carew, a lay impropriator in the Queen's County. Mr.Goulburn took the opportunity of stating, that he had in preparation a measure to remedy the hardships sometimes practised by the present system of collecting tithes. Mr. S. Rice and Sir John Newport professed their dissatisfaction at any thing short of an abolition (or, to use the delusive term employed, a "commutation") of Tithes. The House went into a Committee upos Dr. Phillimore's Marriage Act Amendment Bill. The measure was vehemently opposed by Mr. Wetherell; but it received the warm support of Sir James Mackintosh and the Marquis of Londonderry, the latter expressing a deep abhorrence of the existing marriage code. Mr. Wallace moved for a Committee of the House upon the Trade and Navigation Bill. The object of the Bill, he said, was to simplify the Navigation Law of the country, and to extend and improve our commercial intercourse with foreign countries. There were three classes of Acts prior to the 12th of Charles II. which he proposed to repeal those which had fallen into total disuse-those which were contradictory to the principle of Navigation Laws, as they existed at present-and those which had been rendered unnecessary by subsequent enactments. The Bill was read clause by clause, and some verbal amendments proposed and negatived without discussion. On a verbal amendment proposed by Mr. Wodehouse, the House divided; the amendment was lost by a majority of 67 to 14. FOREIGN From a proclamation issued by the political chief of Gerona, it appears that the band of Misas, after having been beaten by some regular troops and the militia, fled in different directions, but afterwards rallied to the number of 300. On the 1st inst. this band was attacked by Brigadier Llobera, and completely defeated. The rebels took refuge within the French territory. They were, by order of the French authorities, placed in a state of quarantine, and their arms and munitions burnt in presence of the Spanish troops. In consequence of the communications which took place, it was agreed that these refugees should be sent into the interior of France. According to the Quotidienne, the disturbances in Spain are daily increasing. The town of Lorça is represented as having been the seat of a serious affray between the military and the people. Several individuals, charged with a conspiracy against the Constitutional system, had for some time been confined in the prisons of that place. On the 30th of April, several placards were put up, in which all good Spaniards were invited to set the prisoners free. These placards were torn down by orders from the town commander, and several companies were put under arms, and drawn out. These threatening dispositions served only to augment the popular effervescence: multitudes assembled in various places, and a troop of labourers and peasants, armed with "trabueos," forced the guard, and set the prisoners free. The public authorities immediately called out the whole garrison, but the impulse given was already too strong; crowds collected round the house of the Judge of First Instance, exclaiming, "Long live the King! Long live Religion! Down with the Constitutional Inquisition!" The soldiers attempted to disperse the people, but in vain. The house of the Judge was entered by main force, and all the papers supposed to relate to the proceedings against the prisoners were burnt. The house itself caught fire, and was destroyed with the furniture it contained. Fresh detachments of troops arrived, and the order was given to fire on the people; but its execution only served to render the populace more furious and more daring. A desperate struggle ensued, in which many were killed on both sides. The military commander, however, having directed his men not to spare their shot, they ultimately remained masters of the field of action; but it was not till two e'clock, p. m. that trauquillity was restored. Reinforcements were procured the next day from Murcia, but much alarm still continued to be felt. The accounts published by the conquering party admit a loss of eight killed and sixteen wounded; but the number was thought to be much more considerable. Domiciliary visits were making to endeavour to find out the leaders of this attempt at insurrection, but they had not yet been discovered. There has also been a serious disturbance at Carthagena; but owing to the unexampled patience of the military, no lives were lost on either side. ITALY. Rome. On the 7th February, a Columbarium, in perfect preservation, with beautiful paintings and 200 inscriptions, was discovered in the Vigna Ruffini on the Via Nomentana. Among the inscriptions, one only belongs to a person of the age of eighty. (Vixit Annis LXXX.) Friends have scratched their names on the monument, which therefore furnish a remarkable addition to the specimens of Roman running hand. The proprietor means to leave the whole as it was found, and to build a shed over it. Lord Byron and four other Englishmen returning on horseback to Pisa, on the 24th of March last, a serjeant-major of dragoons rudely forced himself through them, at full speed, so as to endanger their safety-remonstrance with him led to abuse, and his Lordship's servant following the dragoon amongst the people, the dragoon got wounded-the Englishmen grossly insulted, and his Lordship's servant put under arrestthe whole affair is under investigation at Pisa. TURKEY, GREECE, &c. Accounts from Constantinople to the 11th ult. relate fresh excesses there against the Greeks, occasioned by the news of the revolt in Scio. Two Greeks had lost their lives, and the Franks were loudly menaced. A council was assembled to deliberate upon measures for preserving order, to which the Aga of the Janissaries was summoned, and enjoined, on his personal responsibility, to prevent their recurrence. In consequence, he patrolled the streets with a strong force, and took 240 "vagabonds" into custody, 80 of whom he caused to be strangled, and sent the others on board the fleet. In consequence of the revolt in Scio, seven more Greek merchants were added to the hostages previously in confinement, and of whose liberation, through the intercession of Lord Strangford, great hopes had been entertained before the arrival of the intelligence from Scio. Exactions the most severe were also levied on the persons connected with Scio, who had been compelled to a contribution of 150,000 piastres per month, for the Pacha, Governor, and garrison of that island, independently of the extortions practised by the Pacha. The Greeks are besieging the Turks in the citadel of Athens, the temples of which are dreadfully injured, and will probably be wholly destroyed-the town is a heap of ruins. What will the revilers of Lord Elgin say to this, who boasted so greatly of the indignant feelings of the Greeks at being robbed of their treasures by the Northern Goth? Had not his Lordship saved what we now possess, not a fraginent would have remained, and we should have had to lament the truth of his prognostications, for the sake of the polished Athenians' love of ancient art. Extract of a Letter from Tunis, from the Austrian Consul, dated 1st May :-" A vessel has just arrived in eighteen days from Constantinople, bringing information that all the differences between the Porte and the Russians had been amicably settled The former are immediately to evacuate Wallachia and Moldavia. The Ottoman fleet, consisting of five ships of the line, and as many frigates and transports, had landed at the land of Scio 7,000 men, which, together with 4,000 that were shut up in a fortress, had made a massacre of the Greeks, and afterwards sailed for Samos." RUSSIA. A dispute of a singular, but of a serious description, is now in agitation between the Russian and American Governments :-Russia claims the whole of the North-west coast of America down to the 51st degree of latitude, and prohibits the entrance of any foreign ships into the seas within that latitude, or within 100 Italian miles of the shore; declaring, also, that she shall consider all vessels as knowingly contravening this her claim, which have left an European port since last March, or shall leave an American one after the 1st of July. To this the American Government answers by expressing the utmost surprise at such a proceeding. The territorial line separating the two countries ought to have been drawn by commissioners on both sides; and, at all events, the claims of Russia ought not to descend below the 55th degree of latitude, that being the position of her Southernmost settlement. The reply to this reasoning by the Russian negotiator is this: That Russia had no occasion to settle the territorial boundary by means of commissioners, as she knew very well of herself how far her right extended, and therefore needed not to trouble any other nation with an inquiry on the subject; and that the situation of the Russian settlement of Nov-Archangelsk, at latitude 57 degrees, is no proof that that point was the utmost bound of the Russian discoveries, as they had been carried much farther under a number of well-known and celebrated captains. [May, AMERICA, and WEST INDIES. A report to the House of Representatives respecting the Navy, states, that there has been built and equipped one ship of the line; that there have been built and launched three ships and one frigate; ready to launch, one ship; nearly finished, one ship and two frigates; half-finished, one ship; prepared to be put on the stocks one ship and three frigates, and materials nearly collected for building one ship, three frigates. and two steam batteries. The question of the recognition of the independence of the Spanish South American provinces was carried in the House of the Representatives by 167 to 1. St. Domingo.-The Spanish part of this island having thrown off its allegiance to the Mother Country, the Haytian Presideut, Boyer, it will be remembered, marched upon We now and took possession of the same. learn, by advices from that quarter, that a number of French colonists in the city of St. Domingo, on hearing that Boyer was coming to claim the supremacy of the Spanish part of the island, sent up an invitation to the French Admiral at Martinique, offering him the allegiance of the country, and assuring him that they had a large force to withstand Boyer. On the 13th of February, a ship of the line, three frigates, three transports, four brigs, and four schooners, having on board two thousand men, and fifty pieces of field artillery, left St. Pierre's, Martinique, in consequence, with an intention to take the Spanish part of St. Domingo.-Boyer had obtained quiet possession of the Spanish part of the Island, when the French Admiral, with his fleet, arrived off St. Domingo, to whom the Haytian Chief sent a message, informing him, that if he landed a single man on the Island in enmity, he would order a general massacre of all the French whites in the island, and some accounts state, that the whites of other countries were also included in the threat, and that he had also prohibited them from holding property in the island. The French Admiral bore up, and it is said, sailed for Puerto Rico. Other accounts say, he landed his troops at the Peninsula of Samana, and that Boyer had marched against him. This affair has excited great interest and anxiety among those connected with the trade in that quarter. CHINA. Extract of a letter from Canton, dated Dec. 28:-" We have had a sad fracas here between Captain Blackwood, of his, Britannic Majesty's frigate Topaz, and the native Chinese. It appears that Captain Blackwood had sent the frigate's boats on shore to water, when a dispute arose between the boat's crew and the Chinese inhabitants of the village of Linton, near which they had landed. The natives attacked the sailors 1522.] Foreign News.-Domestic Occurrences. with bamboos, &c. and the men, it is said, were in imminent danger from the immense superiority and the violence evinced by their antagonists. Captain Blackwood, observing the peril of his scamen in the unequal combat, opened a fire upon the village to cover their retreat to the boats, and it is said nine Chinese were killed and four wounded, although no accurate or positive account DOMESTIC 461 has yet been obtained. Since this the frigate and a large English country ship were lying off Linton with their boarding netting up. Daily consultations have been held with each other by the chief men of this place and the Officers of Government, and every idea is entertained here that the trade between Great Britain and China will be suspended by order of the Chinese Government." OCCURRENCES. The Irish Papers contain some accounts of outrages; but neither very numerous nor atrocious. These papers abound with grateful and joyous panegyrics on the benevolence of the English nation, which has so munificently stepped forward to the relief of the starving peasantry of the sister island. A meeting has been held at the Mansionhouse, Dublin, for the purpose of promoting a subscription for the relief of the distressed labouring poor in the South and West of Ireland. Amongst the eminent personages present were The Duke of Leinster, the Lord Chancellor, the Master of the Rolls, Judge Johnson, the Bishop of Kildare, Mr. Ellis, M. P. and Admiral Oliver. The Lord Mayor presided. A Committee of twenty-one was appointed to receive subscriptions, and to communicate with the London Committee, established for the same laudable object. The Belfast Irishman says, "Our paper of to-day contains the proudest record of the human heart:-a whole nation, strangers to the sufferers,-fellow-subjects, it is true, but still strangers,-giving out their utmost means to mitigate the agony of their sorrows. Generals, officers, soldiers, clubbing their pay-erecting their military bank, on which the starving Irish may draw! Why, this is a spectacle of human benevolence, which is sufficient to obliterate whole ages of oppression." VARIOUS PARTS OF THE COUNTRY. April 23. On this day the foundationstone of one of the new Churches erecting by the National Commissioners was laid at Tildesley Banks, Lancashire, the commemoration-day of the Patron Saint (St. George the Martyr) having been selected for the purpose. All usual ceremonies were observed on the occasion. A procession was arranged at the seat of Thomas Johnson, Esq. the donor of the site, and advanced to the ground at one o'clock. The stone was then laid, with a silver trowel, over a glass case containing coins and medals of the reigning Sovereign, after which an appropriate prayer was offered up by the Vicar of the parish. Selections from the Psalms were sung by the attendant Choristers, and the ceremony concluded with the national Tithes and Poors' Rates.-At the adjourn- for On for fixing a proportional assessment Tithes compared with land, and that the only principle was, to assess all real property according to the productive value or profit which it yielded. The object of the appellants in these cases was to obtain new assessments in their several parishes, upon the principle established by that decision, viz. that of rating both tithe and land at the profit they respectively yield, to do which the present assessment upon land must be very considerably reduced. The appeals which had been entered into against the Poor-rates of Great Snoring, Cley next the Sea, Edgefield, and Docking, were, on Mr. Cooper's motion, then ordered to be respited. Mr. Preston said, he must claim some share of the melancholy proceedings of the day, being instructed to make two motions of the same kind as those which had been made by his Learned Friends. He accordingly moved to respite appeals against the Poor-rates of Stanhoe and Burnham Westgate. Disturbances in Monmouthshire.-On Saturday morning, the 11th inst. a large party of Colliers assembled at Gellyhaw colliery, stopping by force and chaining together 19 waggons laden with coals for the Tredegar works. Intelligence of this outrage and complaint having been made to J. H. Moggridge, esq. the neighbouring Magistrate, he instantly repaired to the spot, accompanied by Captain Lewis's troop of Yeomanry Cavalry, who were at the time breakfasting at Woodfield. In less than 20 minutes, however, a general attack was made on the waggons in the rear, and the coals were thrown out; upon which, hoping to avoid the painful alternative of ordering the cavalry to charge, the Magistrate seized one of the ringleaders; but, after some resistance, he was rescued, and the cavalry were then ordered to clear the ground, which was effected in a few minutes, with equal celerity and humanity, not a single individual being even wounded. The waggons were then forwarded under guard of the cavalry, and, together with 55 others (making in the whole 74 waggons), were conveyed, notwithstanding repeated attempts to break up the roads in advance, to within three miles of the Tredegar works, where they were met by a detachment of the Scots Greys, under Captain Wyndham, accompanied by the Vicar of Abergavenny. On Sunday morning last a most inflammatory hand-bill, containing the most horrid menaces, was found stuck up in a level belonging to Messrs. Lee, George, and Smith, near Pontypool; and we understand the collieries of those gentlemen are so completely deserted, that not only must the furnaces at Blaendore be speedily blown out, but it is expected a supply for their tin works will not be to be obtained. [May, LONDON AND ITS VICINITY. NEW CHURCH OF ST. PANCRAS. This splendid Church, erected for the populous parish of St. Pancras, in the general plan of the exterior, is founded on a model of the ancient Temple of Erectheus at Athens. The portico is formed by eight Ionic pillars of great magnitude, of the most beautiful description. There are three entrances under the portico, the centre one an exact representation of the entrance to the Greek Temple; the rich ornaments and mouldings have been executed from models by Mr. Rossi, in "terra cotta." The side doors are in the same classical taste. At the Eastern end of the Church are two projecting wings, the one designed for a registry, and the other for a vestry-room. They are formed upon the model of the Pandeseum, which was attached to the Temple of Erectheus, and are richly decorated with mouldings, pateræ, and other ornaments. Beneath these wings are the entrances to the catacombs; above the entrances emblematical figures in Grecian costume are to be erected, with inverted torches in their hands. There will likewise be sarcophagi on each side of the doors, and the poppy and cypress branches will be introduced. The Eastern end is semi-circular, and in this particular only, differs from the original, which is square. On the summit of this end are what are termed Grecisa tiles, standing at about two feet distance from each other. These, like the other ornaments, are composed of terra cotta, and are the common finish to all the Grecian roofs. They are to be continued all round the Church; and give an air of lightness to the upper part of the structure which it would not otherwise possess. The steeple is also from an Athenian model-the Temple of the Wind, said to he built by Pericles, which has been followed as closely as circumstances would permit. Its elevation from the ground is 165 feet. It is of an octagonal form, and consists of two stories, each supported by eight pillars. There is an ornamental roof, and the whole surmounted by a cross. The original was surmounted by a figure which turned on pivot, and indicated the quarter from whence the wind blew; hence the title of "The Temple of the Wind.” The interior of the Church is extremely neat and elegant. The vestibule is a correct representation of the interior of the "Temple of the Wind." Above the communion table, and detached from the wall, are six splendid verd antique Scagliola columns, with bases and capitals of white statuary marble; copied from the "Temple of Minerva." The galleries are supported by pillars of no determinate order, taken from the casts of the Elgin marbles. The |