the blessings which must naturally flow from the presence of an enemy entering their soil for the avowed purpose of erasing their national constitution with the bayonet. The following extract comprises the essence of the entire composition, and we have no doubt will be considered as quite a sufficient specimen. "Spaniards, France is not at war with your country. Sprung from the same blood as your kings, I can have no wish but for your independence, your happiness, your glory. I am going to cross the Pyrenees at the head of 100,000 Frenchmen, but it is in order to unite myself to the Spaniards, friends of order and of the laws, to assist them in setting free their captive king, in raising again the altar and the throne, in rescuing priests from proscriptions, men of property from spoliation, and the whole people from the domination of an ambitious few, who, while they proclaim liberty, are preparing only the slavery and ruin of Spain." The arrangement for the march of the army is as follows: it is to advance in three divisions-one upon Tolosa, direct for Madrid-one upon Pampeluna, and another upon St. Sebastian. The French Minister read in the Chamber the first dispatch from the army, which was dated April 7, at St. Jean de Luz, the then head-quarters. It announced that the Bidassoa had been crossed, and that, immediately after, a troop of French and Italian refugees appeared, endeavouring, by seditious cries and songs, to corrupt the soldiery, who had, however, continued faithful. At sight of the artillery, they exclaimed, "Vive l'artillerie Française!" to which General Walin replied, "Yes, Vive l'artillerie, but Vive le roi!"-This was followed by a discharge from the guns, the result of which was, that eight men were killed and four wounded. Amongst the former are said to have been Mallet and Delamot, under sentence of death for former anti-Bourbon conspiracies. The reading of this dispatch was, of course, received in the Chamber with great marks of exultation. The accounts from the army state, that the Duke was to sleep on the 8th at Irun; on the 9th to advance only three or four leagues, and to proceed by short marches to Tolosa, where he was to sleep on the 12th. The slowness of his movements was

attributed to the necessity there was for allowing time for all the materiel of the army to join. The subsequent advance of the French was of course tedious; they had, however, invested St. Sebastian, and here the first fighting of any consequence took place. The account is contained in a French bulletin, dated Oyergon, April 9. No Spanish account has yet been received, and, therefore, we must take the bulletin with that qualification naturally to be attached to all exparte statements. St. Sebastian was invested by the division under General Bourke. He sent a flag of truce, which was received by the garrison with musket-shot. After some fighting, the French gained the heights which command the fortress, and then dispatched a second flag of truce, which was received. It soon, however, returned, and, after an hour's repose, the contest recommenced. Bourke acknowledges that the garrison made a sally with three battalions, sustained by the fire of fifteen pieces of cannon both from the town and citadel. This sally cost the French, according to Bourke's account, only twenty men, but, according to statements from Paris, upwards of 200. The next day the Duke d'Angoulême went to distribute the honours gained by this insignificant affair, and this ostentation very nearly terminated his glories. The Spaniards caught a glimpse of him, and a 24-pounder was immediately ordered forward; they were, however, so slow in mounting it, that the Prince had already set off on his return when they fired it, and the ball struck precisely on the spot where he had been distributing his decorations; fifteen men were killed or wounded. By a telegraphic dispatch of the 15th of April, the head-quarters of the army were stated to be on the 14th at Villa Franca; on the 15th they were to be at Vittoria-a name not very cheering to French recollections. Pampeluna was closely invested. Accounts are very speedily received at Paris: when the courier passes the frontiers, the telegraphic line, established between Bayonne and that city, transmits intelligence from one place to the other in the incredibly short space of two hours and an half! The distance, in consequence of some land circuit being rendered necessary, is estimated

at 200 leagues! In the mean time, the Spaniards are making all the necessary preparations to render the invasion fatal to their enemies; their fortresses are all well garrisoned and provisioned, and the spirit of the people is said to be excellent. It is not supposed to be their intention to risk many pitched battles, but rather to render the war one of sieges and guerillas, as in the last invasion. The Royal family had arrived at Seville; they were received in all the intermediate towns with loud vivas for the "Constitutional King," and all the favourite Generals. The houses were generally illuminated. His Majesty had recovered during the journey, in a really miraculous manner, from the gout; he rode a great part of the way on horseback, and was in high spirits. The Cortes have proved themselves excellent physicians. On the entry of the French into Spain, a new Royalist Regency was installed, consisting of Eguia, Evro, and Calderon. The Duke d'Angoulême, previous to his entry into Spain, gave audiences to all the Regency Generals, and, amongst the rest, to the Trappist, who appeared in the dress of his order, and attracted considerable notice. He is, indeed, in himself a moving epitome of the object of the invaders -a mixture of priestcraft and military daring. Their former forces in Spain, however, are said to be almost all annihilated, or at least so dispersed as not to require the cognizance of any large body of the constitutional army, whose leaders were every where concentrating their troops. Mina was, with an imposing guerilla force, upon the frontiers; and, it is said, even meditating an incursion into France. His enterprising spirit makes almost any surmise with respect to him credible. There can be no doubt that the Spaniards have been joined by a multitude of refugee French officers, men of indisputable talent, whose every thing in this world is staked upon the contest. Amongst others, General Lallemand has sailed from this country; he is gone direct to Lisbon, and is to have the command of the foreign legions in the Spanish service. He is a most accomplished cavalry officer, and headed almost all the cavalry charges in the battle of Waterloo. Napoleon's expressed opinion of him was, that he was "a

man of great combinations." He is under sentence of death, we believe, " par contumace," in France.

The Portuguese Ambassador de manded his passports when the account arrived that the French had crossed the Bidassoa, according to the previous instructions of his Government. The Portuguese remain firm in the constitutional cause, and a large army is actually on its march to assist the Spaniards; it is not likely that the latter will risk any battle of consequence till the arrival' of this reinforcement. The French, at least, are not expected to meet any very serious obstacle in their advance to Madrid; but the fate of Joseph Buonaparte plainly proves, that the occupation of the capital by no means secures the triumph of the invader. The late insurrection in Portugal seems to have been completely subdued, and only to have afforded fresh assurance of the loyalty of the people, and the sincerity of their Monarch. There are strong reports current, that Alexander is about to march 150,000 men to the frontiers of France, in order to awe that people during this ultra experiment upon Spain---it is said they are to arrive by the way of Dantzig. This, at present but rumour, is, however, far from improbable: Alexander's ambition is capable of any thing, and he seems for the moment, at least, to have turned from Turkey in despair. No doubt our next Abstract must contain much intelligence of importance. From the Greek quarter there is now nothing new; and the only accounts from Turkey bring nothing but the news of a dreadful fire at Constantinople, which is said to have destroyed between 30 and 40,000 houses, together with the two great establishments of the Cannon Foundry and the Marine Arsenal at Tazuna and Tophana. We should be little surprised to find that it commenced in the quarter inhabited by the Christians.

The empire of Iturbide, in Mexico, is at an end. The accounts from Havannah relate the particulars of his downfall, which appears to have been attended with but little popular fermentation. His conduct since he obtained the crown proves him to have been utterly unfit for prosperity, and he has lost it with the ge

neral consent of all, not even excepting his own party, who made no stipulation except for the safety of his person, which has been guaranteed. Seeing the indignation of the provinces concentrating itself against him, and finding all the treasure expended, which he had plundered for the payment of his troops, he chose quietly to resign the diadem, and retired to his private house as a simple individual. A convention was signed on the 2d of February, between the respective leaders of the Imperial and Republican troops; but what the form of the future government of this fine country is to be, we are yet to learn.

Our domestic news is chiefly confined to the occurrences in the Houses. of Parliament. The House of Commons has passed a very busy week since the recess. An immense volume of diplomatic papers has been laid upon the table of both houses, accompanied with long explanations from Lord Liverpool and Mr. Canning, relative to the conduct of our government in the Spanish transactions. It would occupy two good sheets of our Magazine even to condense these papers. It does appear from them, however, that our ministers had no idea that the Congress of Verona would discuss any other subject than the negociations between Russia and Turkey, and first found out that the affairs of Spain were to form any topic for their consideration on the arrival of Lord Wellington at Paris. His Lordship was then instructed to declare that England would not be any party to an aggression on the part of France, which she held to be" objectionable in principle." At Verona, however, M. Montmorency, on the part of France, seems to have left little doubt as to the sentiments she entertained; he spoke plainly enough of the effect of Spanish principles and the "moral contagion they were likely to produce in France. England then began to expatiate on the blessings of peace, to depict the dangers of war, and, finally, to offer herself as a mediator between the Bourbons and the Spaniards, an offer which both parties appear to have unequivocally rejected. Negotiations, however, still went on, and were continued by the Bourbons with such

art, that our ministers seem to have been duped into an implicit reliance on their sincerity. Our previous pages have shown how deceitful those appearances were.

pa

In reference to this war, Lord Althorpe, a few nights after those pers were laid upon the table, made an ineffectual attempt to repeal the foreign enlistment bill. The motion produced an animated debate, but was finally lost by a majority of 106, the numbers being-for the motion, 110, and against it, 216.

The most important motion of the month, however, by far, whether we consider it in its conduct or its consequences, was the one annually made to emancipate, as it is called, the Roman Catholics of Ireland. On the discussion of a petition connected with this measure, Sir Francis Burdett declared that he would be no longer a party to the ❝ annual farce" of arguing such a motion, a farce which had been over and over again repeated, and which had no other effect than to increase the discontent, and augment the dangers of the country. He denied strongly that the cabinet promoters of the measure could have any sincere reliance on its success, situated as the government now was; they therefore were only deluding the people of Ireland by affecting to hold out hopes to them which they themselves must be aware never could be realized. Under such circumstances, favourable as he was, and always had been, to the success of the measure, he considered he would best do his duty by withdrawing altogether from the house. Accordingly, when Mr. Plunket rose to advocate the petition with which he was entrusted, Sir Francis Burdett walked out of the House, and was followed by numbers of the Whig party, who had heretofore supported the petition. The consequence was, that the discussion ended after a very powerful speech from Mr. Plunket; and the cause of the Catholics may be truly said to have received a blow from which it cannot soon recover. What the consequences of this may be in Ireland, it is difficult to foresee,five millions of her people have thus, at least during their lives, their hopes utterly frustrated; and this to them must be aggravated by the bitter re

collection that, in order to obtain this measure, they became parties to the extinction of their country's independence. Whether this should lead any pure-minded man to sympathize with them in their present destitution, is another question. Perhaps, as honest chroniclers, we ought not to omit mentioning, that during the previous debate upon this subject, a serious personal discussion arose between Mr. Canning and Mr. Brougham: it led, however, to nothing upon which we can have any pleasure in commenting:-such alter cations in a legislative assembly neither raise the character of the House, nor of the parties.

Another investigation is proposed, and likely to be proceeded with in the House of Commons, relative to the conduct of the Sheriff of Dublin, during the late government prosecutions. The Attorney General of that country has accused the Sheriff of forming an unusual, and impliedly a partial pannel-the party accused has denied the fact, and upon this issue, evidence is to be heard at the bar. It is hard to anticipate what the result may be to the parties; but to Ireland, turn out how it may, it must be disastrous. Previous to this discussion, a motion was made implying a kind of censure upon the conduct of Mr. Plunket, in having instituted ex-officio informations against the Dublin rioters, after the rejection of the bills by a grand jury -the motion was subsequently with drawn.

During the discussion on the Irish estimates, a grant was moved of 9,2301. for building churches and glebe houses in Ireland. This motion was opposed, but finally carried by a majority of 24. The debate, how ever, drew from Sir John Newport the almost incredible, but still uncontradicted fact, that the three principal personages of the Irish episcopacy who had died within the last fifteen years, had bequeathed to their families upwards of 700,000l. every shilling of which enormous property they had derived from their sees in Ireland! "That a wretched and impoverished Catholic peasantry," said Sir John, "should be oppressed by cesses levied for such a purpose, is a disgrace to the Established Church.' The motion was

carried.

The retardations of the season of agricultural activity, from frosty and wet weather, are still felt; for although the sowing of peas, beans, and barley, and the setting of potatoes, have begun, and been pushed with the greatest possible vigour during the present month, they are scarcely any where completed. Some bar ley, peas, and beans, are, it is true, up, and looking exceedingly well,— but this is by no means a general case. Indeed, the backwardness of the year is visible in every hedge, where there is no appearance of verdure beyond what is common in March. The continuance of the cold winds from the north, north-east, and north-west, effectually checks vegetation. The farmer principally feels the conjoint causes (frost and cold) in the exhaustion of his turnips, and in the non-appearance of his grass, so that he has great difficulty in providing for his stock, ewes especially, which require the more sustenance, as many have to support twins.

A custom of ploughing up the stubbles the moment the corn is off the ground, and flinging on rye for a little spring feed, before turnips are sown, has been much adopted of late, and in seasons like the present with benefit: it affords green food for sheep when it is scarcely to be had any where else, and when turning into meadows might be dangerous.

The wheats have received no injury from the frost, but, on the contrary, look healthily and flourishing-of a good colour, though not as luxuriant as in ordinary seasons. A frosty winter it seems is actually advantageous to this crop. The stocks of corn in the hands of the farmer are less than were ever known, and it is