the Assembly do sustain the appeal from the Presbytery of Dalkeith, and reverse the sentence: Find the circumstances of the case are such as to render it expedient that the prayer of the petition should be granted, and a chapel-of-ease erected at Roslin: Remit to the Presbytery to proceed in the matter according to the act of Assembly relative to chapels of ease. 26. The report of the committee on the Widows' Fund was made by Sir H. Moncreiff, who stated, that an addition would this year be made to the annuities, but no farther addition could be made for fourteen years to come. With respect to the additional emoluments to the officers of the fund, he said it was not of great consequence to him as an individual, for in all probability he had but little longer to live; but the other officers were well entitled to an advance of salary, for never were more meritorious individuals employed in any service than the clerk of the trustees and the collector's clerk. The report of the committee for class ing returns to overtures was called for, when it appeared that a majority of the Presbyteries had approved of the first overture for an alteration in the course of Theological Study, and one half of the Presbyteries agreed to both overtures. Dr Brunton, Convener of the Committee, stated that the result of the returns were, that 42 Presbyteries approved of the first overture, and 38 had returned in favour of the second. Therefore, he should now move, that the first overture do pass into a law, and that the second be re-transmitted. By this overture being passed into a law of the Church, it would become imperative on every stu dent of divinity to give one year of regu. lar attendance at the Divinity Hall. So far from this alteration being injurious to students, who were afterwards to become tutors, he thought quite the contrary would be the result; because, after having attended one year, and he thought that should be their first year, they would be more able to undertake the duties of the office. They would stand on a high. er grade in education, and, as they rose, so would their pupils also rise. concluded by moving, that the first over. ture do now pass into a law, which was unanimously approved of. He The Assembly then proceeded to hear the appeal of Alexander Brown, preacher of the Gospel, against a sentence of the Synod of Glasgow and Ayr, affirming a sentence of the Presbytery of Glasgow, depriving him of his licence for simonaical practices; he having written a letter to Mr Cunningham of Lainshaw, offering to pay £.100 per annum for five years, if that gentleman would give him the presentation to the church and parish of Stewarton. This letter Mr Cunningham communicated to the Presbytery. Principal Nicoll said, if there was any thing about which the law of the Church was inore express than another, it was to prevent simony. It was true, the crime was not here completed, but the moral guilt was as great as in the actual commission. That it was not committed, was not the fault of the appellant. He therefore moved that the Assembly do dismiss the appeal, and affirm the sen. tence of the Synod. Mr James Moncrieff seconded the motion, which, after some observations from the Solicitor-General, was unanimously approved of. 28.-There was no business of importance, and the Assembly was dissolved in the usual form. 14.-Ball and Concert for the Relief of the Distressed Manufacturers of Scotland.-A Ball and Concert was given in the Assembly Rooms, George Street, for the benefit of the distressed manufacturers, which was attended by a fashionable party of nearly 400. The rooms were very neatly fitted up for the occasion. The lobby was encircled with white, and edged with pink, and the columns were fluted with white, and wreathed with pink, which had a pleasing effect. The large room was appropriated for dancing, and the smaller rooms were very neatly arranged for the concert and refreshments. The company began to arrive about ten, and shortly afterwards dancing commenced, which was kept up with much spirit till nearly four o'clock, varying from quadrilles to waltzes and country dances. The sum collected was upwards of £.400. A mausoleum to the memory of the late Professor Playfair has recently been commenced on the Calton Hill, and is in rapid progress. The architecture is Grecian, after a design by Mr William Playfair, and the work is being executed in a very superior manner, under Messrs Smith and Culbertson. The situation is at the south-east corner of the Observatory wall, and will be within the new en. closure. When completed, this monument will be one of the most beautiful architectural ornaments of our city. A very interesting experiment has lately been conducted in the Armoury of the Tower of London, in which the most intense light ever yet produced by art was exhibited. It was excited by directing a jet of spirit lamp upon a piece of lime, by the action of a stream of oxygen gas. The light thus produced is calculated as being eighty times more intense than an equal area of light emitted by the combustion of an argand lamp. It is said to be visible at a distance of 120 miles. 26.-Highland Schools.-This evening nearly 100 Gentlemen, who take a warm interest in the success of the General Assembly's scheme in establishing additional schools and catechists in the Highlands and Islands, met at supper in M'Ewan's Rooms, Royal Exchange. Principal Baird in the chair, Dr Chalmers croupier. The Stewards appointed were Drs. Nicol, M'Farlane, Thomson, Cook, Rose, Rev. Mr M'Leod of Campsie, Solicitor-General, Sir John Connell, Sir Henry Jardine, Sir A. M. M'Kenzie, James Moncrieff, Esq., and General Campbell of Lochnell. A number of toasts were given and observations made, connected with the subject of the meeting; and on the suggestion of Principal Baird, it was agreed that henceforward, every year, on the return of every General Assembly, there should be held a meeting of an association friendly to the extension of schools and catechists among the help. less Highlanders, under the style and title of "The Assembly's Education Club." The evening was passed in great conviviality, and amidst enthusiastic and universal expressions of the best wishes to the great and good cause which had brought them together. 30-Scottish Missionary Society.The anniversary meeting of the Scottish Missionary Society was held in the Assembly Rooms, George Street, Professor M'Gill of Glasgow in the chair. Among those present, were observed Mr Ferguson of Woodhill; Mr Stirling of Content; Mr George Ross, Advocate; Mr J. Brydges, W.S.; the Rev. Drs Campbell, Dickson, Gordon, Buchanan, Ross, Thomson, Peddie, and Muirhead; Reverend Messrs Malan, Grey, Ritchie, Haldane, Innes, &c. &c. The report of the Directors was read by Dr Dickson, one of the secretaries. It gave a very flattering account of the progress in teaching of youth, made by the two Missionaries of the Society in the East Indies; and of the very great hopes entertained of much good being done in Jamaica, where preachers, in connexion. with the Presbyterian Church, are and will be generally well received. The planters, many of whom are Scotsmen, being partial to ministers of that connection. In Russia, the Society either has, or is about to give up the Missionary stations formerly occupied, the Rev. Dr. Ross, in moving that the Report be printed, gave an interVOL XVIII. esting detail of the mission to Russia. He stated that, notwithstanding all that had been said to the contrary, the Russian Government had not broken faith with the Missionaries-for, by the law of that empire, it is a crime to proselytise any of its subjects. That this law, notwithstanding the despotic nature of the Russian Government, the late Emperor could not alter, from the manner it was interwoven with the prejudices of the people and the priesthood. The Mis sionaries were at first settled as colonists, and subsequently the protection of the Emperor was extended to them, not offi cially, however, but merely as a private friend. From the account Dr Ross gave of the Emperor's character, it appeared that he had alike protected all sects, and would not permit any one to be persecuted for conscience sake; nor during the whole course of his reign, of twenty-four years, did he perform one despotic act that he ever heard of the whole course of the Emperor's policy being to merit the appellation of" father of his people." The Rev. Doctor, at considerable length, noticed the various tribes to whom the Gospel had been sent by the Missionaries, and in the course of his narrative related The meetsome interesting anecdotes. ing was subsequently addressed by Mr J. Brydges, Mr Malan, and others. June 1.-Public Meeting.-Thursday, a general meeting of the merchants, ship-owners, and inhabitants of Leith, was held in the Exchange Cof fee-room there, to receive the report of the committee on the affairs of the har, bour and docks-the Senior Magistrate in the chair. *』 Bailie Hardie read the Report.-It was very voluminous, and was received with much applause. In detailing the various steps which had been taken to obtain the act, which received the Royal assent on the 29th ult., a high compliment was paid by the committee to the gentlemanly and patient manner in which the discussions were carried on by the Lord Provost and Bailie Gilchrist, who went to London as a sub-committee on the part of the city of Edinburgh. The zealous and disinterested exertions of Messrs Scarth and Crichton, who attended to the interests of the inhabitants of Leith, were also noticed. The Report stated, that the public bill of last Session, and the private one referred to above, are so completely connected with each other, that they are in fact only two parts of the same measure. The result of these gives a clear view of the affairs of the Port of Leith, as follows: "1. The amount of the debt on the 5 C docks is reduced, as agreed to by the City of Edinburgh, in the last amended state of the Dock Company's Bill, to £.265,000. "2. In consideration of a part of the Inner Wet Dock, and a space of ground adjoining, being given up to the Commissioners of his Majesty's navy, for the use of the naval service, Government have given a loan to the amount of £.265,000, at the rate of 3 per cent. per annum on a sinking fund equal to one per cent. per annum, for the first twelve years, and 2 per cent. thereafter, being accumulated for the extinction of the debt. The Government debt being paid off, the docks to revert to the City of Edinburgh. "3. The City of Edinburgh have entered into an agreement, to expend out of their shore-dues £.2800 on the extension of the eastern pier, while Government proposes to expend £.19,000 on the extension of the western pier, so as to form, at the same time, a communication to the naval-yard, and so effect the improvement of the harbour. "4. Commissioners are appointed for superintending and managing the affairs of the harbours and docks, and improvements therewith, excepting only that they shall not interfere in the collection of the revenue, and that they shall not have the power of expending more than £.1000 per annum on the harbour, and a like sum on the docks, without the consent of the Town Council of Edinburgh. They are also to have the charge of the ballast de partment, and to have the power of constructing timber basins on the eastern sands. They are also to have the appointment of a superintendent, and all the other officers to be employed under them; such appointments, however, being subject to the approval of the Town Council, with the exception of the clerk who keeps their minutes, who is to be appointed by the Council, but to be subject to suspension by commissioners. "5. The commissioners are to consist of the Lord Provost, and five other members of the Town Council, the Master of the Merchant Company of Edinburgh, three persons elected by the Trinity House of Leith, three to be elected by the Merchant Company of Leith, two merchants in Edinburgh, who shall be payers of rates at the port of Leith to the extent of £.5 per annum, and not being members of the Town Council, nor being connected therewith, or dependent thereon, to be named by the Magistrates and Council of Edinburgh; three merchants or shipowners of Leith, being payers of rates to the extent of £.25 per annum, one of which to be elected by the incorporation of maltmen of Leith, one by the incorporated trades of Leith, and one by the ship-owners' society of Leith, and three persons to be named from time to time by the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty, in all 21." The Report, after pointing out the ad. vantages to be derived from the harbour, when improved by the expenditure of £.47,000, without any addition to the burdens of the trade of the port-the prospect of its becoming a naval station of greater importance than was before contemplated-besides being made accessible to steam and passage-boats at all times of the tide-and noticing the plans of Mr Crichton, suggested in a letter to Lord Melville, in October 1824, (which is already before the public) regarding the improvement of the harbour, concludes by stating, "That while the committee give every due credit to Mr Crichton, as the pro poser of the plan which has been instrumental in bringing about so much good, they feel at a loss how to adequately express their feelings as to the conduct of the excellent Nobleman to whom the letter was addressed, without whose quick discrimination of the merits of those plans contained in it, might, like many others suggested by persons without rank or influence, have passed unnoticed. By the excellent arrangements which occur. red to Lord Melville, for carrying through these plans, on the Dock Company's Bill being thrown out, it is difficult to say whether his Lordship has conferred the greater benefit on the public service on the City of Edinburgh, or on the Port of Leith. All have been mutually benefited to an extent beyond the most sanguine expectations, and his Lordship, along with the Honourable J. Abercromby, in settling the points at issue between the Town Council and the Leith Committee, has taken such extraordinary pains to investigate matters to arrive at a just decision, that even on those one or two points on which he may have not gone the full length of the wishes of this committee, they have felt it due to his Lordship to admit the great strength of the arguments which have been adopted by him." A series of resolutions were moved by Mr George Aitchison, and unanimously adopted. The thanks of the meeting were afterwards given to the members of the committee, for the zealous and efficient manner in which they had discharged the important trust committed to them, and the meeting separated. New Machine.-In a late sitting of the French Philomathic Society, M. Payen, who had recently arrived in Paris from London, made a very interesting communication with respect to a new machine, which seems destined to remedy the inconvenience of high-pressure engines, and to be to the steam-engine what the steam-engine was to the ma. chinery of other descriptions, which it replaced with so much public advantage. The inventor is M. Brunel, who is at present employed in constructing a tunnel under the Thames. In conjunction with him, Messrs Ternaux and Delessert have just taken out at Paris a brevet d'importation. The following is a description of the new force which the pur suits of industry have thus acquired: When a celebrated chemist, some time ago, succeeded in reducing to a liquid state several gases until then considered as fixed, scientific men pointed out the advantage which might be derived from this discovery in the construction of new machines, the action of which, although as powerful as that of high-pressure steam-engines, should not be liable to the same inconveniences. It is this idea which M. Brunel has realized. In the apparatus contrived by this ingenious mechanic, the moving power is liquified carbonic acid, at a temperature of 10 degrees, under a pressure of 20 atmospheres. This liquid gas is enclosed in two cylinders, placed at the two extremities of the apparatus, and communicating with each other. To destroy the equilibrium, it is sufficient to change the temperature of the liquid contained in one of the con densers. Now, the influence of heat on this liquified gas is such, that, by raising it to 100 degrees, a pressure is obtained of 90 atmospheres,-an enormous pressure, which, having nothing to counterbalance it but that of the other condenser, sets the machine in motion with a force of 60 atmospheres. M. Brunel has already constructed a model, and is at present employed on a machine which will be of eight-horse power. His apparatus seems destined (as we have already observed) to replace Mr Perkins's high-pressure engines. The latter are almost useless in practice, in consequence of the difficulty of finding metals capable of sustaining, without injury, the enormous heat that is necessary. The metal, raised to a white heat, becomes so exceedingly softened, that hitherto it has been impossible to use it for several successive hours without the production of cracks or fissures. It is true, that Mr Perkins hopes to dis cover a means of remedying this evil; but his efforts have not yet succeeded. The great advantage of M. Brunel's ma chine consists in its being unnecessary to raise the temperature of the condenser above that of boiling water, in order to produce the considerable pressure of 60 atmospheres. vice Slade, prom. 22 do. do. do. da do. do. do. do. do. do. do. do. do do. do. Gert. Cadet J. Buckner, from R. Mil. Coll. 2d Lieut. do. R. Staff C. Gent. Cadet E. R. King, from R. Mil. Coll. 2d Lieut. vice Stoddart, prom. 16 Feb. 2 W. I. R. Lieut. Gordon, from h. p. York Lieut. Inf. Vol. Lieut. vice J. Spence, 5 F. 23 do. Ensign Grey, Lieut. vice Clarke, prom. 1 March 2d Lieut. O'Meara, from 60 F. Lieut. vice Hughes, dead Ensign Kearnes, from 74 F. Stewart, 93 F. Surg. Allen, from 6 Dr. Surg. to the Forces, vice Assist. Surg. Smith, from 98 F. Assist. the Forces 6 April Surg. to 23 Feb. |