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MONTHLY REGISTER.

FOREIGN INTELLIGENCE.

EUROPE.

FRANCE. Public opinion has achieved a great triumph in France, in compel ling the ministers to abandon their law for introducing primogeniture. There is but one argument of the smallest weight in favour of the proposed alteration that the law of equal division, by cutting up land into small patches, tends to throw back agriculture into a rude state, to diminish the net produce, and, of course, the wealth of the country. Now, unluckily for the advocates of primogeni ture in France, it is universally admitted, that since the great properties were broken up by the Revolution, and since the law of equal division, which prevailed imme. morially in one-third of the kingdom, was extended to the whole, the agriculture of the country has been greatly improved, and the public wealth and industry vastly augmented. Why then disturb an arrangement which works well, and satisfies the people? Experience has decided in favour of the existing law, and to her decisions the French ministers, who are, like our own, great deriders of theory, profess to bow. The truth is, when Villele and his colleagues introduced the project, they had no intention of benefiting either the cultivators or the country at large. Their sole object was to provide additional securities for the Bourbons, who, like all bad rulers, need support so much the more that they deserve none, because they govern by principles that deprive them of the confidence and love of the people. They are longing vehemently for the establishment of an oligarchy, like that which has made England the admiration of the world, for sinecures, game laws, corn bills, and an unpaid ma gistracy! A million of proprietors is an inconveniently large body for influence to operate upon. The Government is reduced to the deplorable necessity of ap pealing to their reason, or losing their support! Were it possible to collect the property which is frittered down among so many, into the hands of some ten or twenty thousand overgrown landholders, M. Villele could deal with these comfortably, by the help of ribbons for them selves, and places and pensions for their relations, while these lords of the soil again would drag in their train the herd of dependant farmers, cottars, and tradesmen. This state of things once

realised, Charles X. would swear that France had regained the blessing of paternal government, and the hearts of a thousand emigrants would leap for joy!

The French ministers have sustained another defeat in their stronghold, the Chamber of Deputies. This is an event for which we were scarcely prepared under any circumstances. It seems that, in consequence of the recent convention with England for regulating tonnage dues, the Government issued an ordinance on the 8th February, fixing a certain rate of duty to be paid on French ships returning to French ports from England. That this was really usurping the func tions of the legislature, and imposing a tax, is obvious; but the prerogative in France is neither very accurately defined nor very strictly watched by the jealousy of the Chambers. Villele, however, hav. ing been so unlucky as to lose the confidence of the Ultra Royalists without gaining that of the Liberaux, the two parties laid aside their animosities for the moment, and overpowered him by their joint force. The attack was dextrously conducted. The regulation as to the duties was highly commended, and the motion was, that it should be sanctioned by the Chamber, which of course implied, that the ordinance, in its existing form, had no validity, and that the minister who sent it forth as a warrant for levying money, was infringing the charter. M. Villele made a vigorous but unavailing defence; the motion was carried against him by a majority of 183 to 145. The vote was a triumph to the charter, and as the Bourbons must stand or fall by that charter, it must really give additional security to their dynasty, though this is a truth to which prejudice may shut their eyes, The great defect of the French Chambers is, that they have been so carefully purged of all sympathy with popular feeling, that their acts have no authority with the people but what they derive from the bayonet. To make them supports to the Government instead of incumbrances, it is indispensable that they shew themselves to be something else than the mere blind instruments of the executive. Were they to stumble into an act of independence now and then, the people would look to them for the removal of grievances which, at present, they hope to cure only by revolution.

Another event has given satisfaction to the liberal party in Paris. The Abbe Mennais, a creature of the Court, and a zealous advocate of the pretensions of the clergy, has been tried by the Correctional Police, for publishing a politico-religious pamphlet, and condemned to a small fine for disseminating doctrines injurious to the rights of the crown and the nation. The precedent is certainly bad, for the Abbe's errors, as errors of opinion, might have been corrected by the press, without employing the law, which may be equally employed to crush a better man and a better cause. But the Parisians are well pleased that the judges have the independence to do an act that is offensive to the King and the Jesuits.

Forgery has become so alarmingly prevalent in France, in consequence of the facility which the chemical discoveries of late years have given to its commission, that the Minister of Justice has requested the academy to devise some plan for the prevention of the crime.

SPAIN.-The French papers, in a letter dated Madrid the 6th April, state, that a newconvention has been concluded between the French and Spanish Governments, in which it is stipulated that the military occupation of Spain is to continue till 1829. This, however, is positively contradicted by the Etoile," as devoid of foundation as the news of a cordon sanitaire, asserted by other journals, to have been formed on the frontiers of Portugal."

According to accounts in the Paris papers, serious tumults are said to have taken place in Madrid on the 9th, in consequence of an augmentation of the duties on meat, wine, and other provisions; and the multitude announced it to be their resolution to assemble in greater strength on the following day. During part of the night, the troops remained under arms. A party of the patrole met near one of the gates, at three o'clock in the morning, a considerable body of men, armed with bludgeons, which, however, dispersed at the sight of an armed force. The most alarming reports were circulated. Towards the evening these had begun to subside, when an unlooked-for event again made extraordinary vigilance on the part of the authorities necessary. Five royalist volunteers were coming out of a house not far from the church of St. Francis, when a petard exploded near them. They said it was a pistol fired, and aimed at them. In a moment one hundred and twenty volunteers came forward, with arms in their hands, threatening to enter the houses of the Negros, (so the Constitutionalists are termed,) and punish this outrage. A piquet of

Queen Amelia's lancers, who had barracks in that quarter, attempted to dis. perse the mutineers, but were repulsed, as was a second more considerable de. tachment. Nearly the whole regiment then took to their arms, in order to occupy all the avenues of the street in which this scene passed. The colonel of the volunteers, M. Villiams, endeavoured to appease his soldiers, but he, though very popular among them, could not succeed. He at length ordered the lancers to charge them. At this juncture the Captain-General of the province, and the Governor of the fortress, apprised of the tumult, made their appearance. The volunteers at length separated, and tranquillity was restored.

There is another article in those papers, dated Madrid, which gives the particulars of a conspiracy for revolutionizing Spain, alleged to have its centre in London. There is said to be in that capital a Directing Revolutionary Committee, of which Mina is president, and Romero Alpuente, Ruis de la Vega, and Florez Estrada, ex-deputies, and violent Communeros, members. These revolutionists are formed, according to the accounts given, into two societies, composed of French, Italian, Portuguese, and Spanish refugees, who are plotting against the present system in Spain, and have contrived an expedition in Gallicia, where it is supposed their cause has numerous adherents. There are also societies in different parts of Spain, said to be in com. munication with the committee in London. Such are the statements given in the Paris papers. Whether there is any truth in them it is not easy to determine.

POLAND. A plot has been discovered at Warsaw, in consequence of which numerous arrests have taken place. The plan was wholly unconnected with the conspiracy in Russia.

AUSTRIA-Letters from Vienna, of April 8 say-To-morrow the father of the people will go out for the first time. Since the publication of this agreeable news, the inhabitants of Vienna have been preparing a general illumination of the city and suburbs, which will be very magnificent. The theatres will be opened to the public gratis. On the 1st of this month, the Austrian Legation at Rome had a Te Deum performed, in consequence of the happy recovery of the Emperor of Austria. The Pope, Dowager Queen of Sardinia, and the sacred College, were present.

RUSSIA-Letters from Petersburgh say, that the Duke of Wellington and the Ambassadors of France, Austria, and Prussia, continue to have frequent con

ferences with Count Nesselrode, at the close of which their Excellencies alternately send couriers to their respective Governments. Great activity prevailed in the offices for foreign affairs. It is affirmed that a plan is preparing there, the result of which will be to put an end to the war which ravages the Peloponnesus, by means of conciliatory proposals, which will be made to the Porte in the name of the great powers. A fresh conspiracy is said to have been detected at Petersburgh, the design of which was to assassinate the whole Imperial Family on the day when the remains of the late Einperor were to be deposited in the Cathedral of Casan.

Brussels papers to the 3d April contain letters from Berlin to the 26th ult. which state that Russia is determined to take a leading part in the affairs of the world, instead of that "secondary one which she so gratuitouly sustained since the general pacification."-They also say, that, from what transpired of the negoti ations carrying on at St. Petersburgh, the friends of Greece had occasion to rejoice. The Emperor Nicholas, it is assert ted," could not, and would not, abandon his fellow-Christians to the extermina ting sword of the ferocious Mussulmans;" and a Russian expedition was so confi. dently expected, that many veteran Prus, sian officers intended to ask leave of absence, to be able to serve in his army in a campaign against the Turks. The King of Prussia is now said to have al. ways felt the most lively interest in the fate of the Greeks, and to be determined to repair to the eastern provinces of the Monarchy, to have an interview on the frontiers of Lithuania, with his son-inlaw, the Emperor of Russia, about the time when that Sovereign should come to Warsaw for the purpose of being crown. ed King of Poland.

GREECE. The Greeks have been seeking a sovereign all over Europe; we are uncertain whether they have not adver tised for one in Germany, that famous nursery of royalty, where Kings ready made may be had on demand, fitted for states of all sizes, from Sancho's Island up to the dominions of the Great Mogul. But what is beyond measure fortunate, there is a chance of the Greeks finding the blood-royal of their own Emperors, the Paleologi, among the tinmen and braziers of Cornwall. This is attested by the following monumental inscription, which may be still seen in Llandulph church-yard, and is here copied from Brilon's Antiquities.

"Here lyeth the body of Theodoro Palcologus of Pesaro in Italye, descended

from the imperyall lyne of the last Chris tian Emperors of Greece, being the sonne of Camilio, the sonne of Prosper, the sonne of Theodoro, the sonne of John, ye sonne of Thomas, ye second brother of Constantine Paleologus yt rayned in Constantinople until subdewed by the Turks, who married with Mary the daughter of William Balls of Hadlye in Souffoulke, gent. and had issued five children-Theodoro, John, Ferdinando, Maria, and Dorothy, and departed this life at Clyfton the 21st of January 1636.” Above the inscription is the imperial eagle; and in the register of Llandulph, which is very imperfect about that time, is an entry of one of this family, buried in the year 1674. In the register of Hadleigh, the Balls at that period appear to have been very numer.

ous.

Official Account of the Fall of Missolonghi. We are extremely sorry to announce the fall of the Greek fortress of Missolonghi, after a defence which has attracted the attention of all Europe. It has been taken by storm, and all the brave garrison put to the sword. The intelligence was received by the steam-boat from Corfu, at Marseilles, and from thence transmitted by express to London. The date of the capture is not given, but the accounts are official, and confined to the very important and dreadful facts of "Missolonghi taken by storm, and the garrison put to the sword."

Who would imagine, after this account, garnished with so many tragical horrors, that the French papers would contain letters from that town, dated nearly three weeks posterior to its reported capture, which speak of the siege as going on with the usual assaults and failures on the part of the Turks? By way of explanation, it is stated, that a fort or village named Poros, near Missolonghi, was stormed in the manner described, and that by some mistake the story of its capture had been applied to Missolonghi..

By accounts since received, it would appear almost certain, that the Egyp tians have been completely defeated,that the brave garrison has been released, and that Ibrahim himself has been killed. The Times gives, from a Swiss paper a very circumstantial ac. count of an assault on the town, which had this happy and glorious termination. The date is not mentioned, but the account is confirmed by a variety of letters. It is asserted, too, with increased confidence, that Russia is about to interfere in behalf of the Greeks; and it seems to be certain, that this power has adpoted a more resolute tone on the subject of Moldavia and Wallachia,

AMERICA. COLOMBIA. Letters from Bogota bring the Colombian Minister's budget. The income for the year ending June next is estimated at 11,800,000 dollars, or £.2,600,000; the expenditure at 15,500,000 dollars, or £.3,300,000. A new loan of £.6,500,000 is proposed, partly to supply the deficiency, and partly to discharge former debts; but in the present state of the English money mar. ket, it has not the smallest chance of being contracted for. The war expen diture is no less than £.2,700,000, or something more than the entire revenue; and perhaps it is not without reason that the Colombians, who are too poor to pay millions for glory, like some richer com. munities, complain of such burdens be. ing entailed upon them for the service aud benefit of other states. The Minis ter proposes various financial measures, which are calculated to facilitate trade and increase the revenue.

BRAZILS.—The Brazilian Emperor has announced, by proclamation, that he means to visit the province of Bahia for a short time; and, what is still more important, it appears that he has receiv ed an invitation from the Colombian Government to send a Plenipotentiary to the Congress of American States at Panama, and has accordingly named an inThis fact dividual for that mission. sufficiently shews that no hostile feeling at present exists between the Brazilian and Colombian Governments. If the dispute with Buenos Ayres should not be previously accommodated by the intervention of Lord Ponsonby, the Congress of Panama may be probably called upon to mediate between the contending parties, both of whom would find their interest rather in peace than in war, of which South America has had quite enough. In consequence of the derangement in the trade of Buenos Ayres, a run had taken place on the Bank, which had been authorised by the Government to suspend its payments. With the view of restoring public confidence, the Government had set on foot a National Bank, with which the other Bank was to be united.

HAYTL-The American papers state that Boyer, President of the Black Republic of Hayti, has had a misunderstanding with the French Government as to the terms of the treaty recently agreed upon, and which he has now refused to ratify. We should not be surprised if it turned out, that Boyer finds he has made a fool's bargain, in agreeing to pay an enormous sum for a barren recognition of what he actually holds, and is therefore

VOL. XVIII.

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availing himself of some pretext to make void an engagement he repents having entered into.

AFRICA.

Despatches, public and private, have been received from Captains Clapperton and Pearce, dated Badagry Roads, in the Bight of Benin, the 29th of November last. On the evening of that day they were to land at Badagry, where, fortunately, they found Mr Houtson, a British merchant, well known in that part of the country, who not only arranged for them a safe passage in palanquins through the King of Badagry's dominions, but agreed to accompany them to the next kingdom, Hio, or Eyo, about five days' journey of 25 miles each, and there to settle a palaver with the King of that country, who is in constant communication with Nyffe, and other parts of Houssa. From him they learn, that, once arrived at Hio, he apprehends there is little reason to fear any check to their future progress. From Hio to Tassa is about nine days' journey, and from Tassa to Nyffe nine days more ; so that the whole distance from the coast to Nyffe is twenty-three days, or about 570 miles. At Whydah they met with M. de Sooza, a Portuguese; and also Mr James, who makes so remarkable a figure in Mr Bowditch's book, who both recommended a visit to the King of Dahomey, as the direct road to the Sultan Bello's dominions was through part of his; and as M. de Sooza was most intimate with this Sovereign, he offered to accompany any of the gentlemen to his capital, Abomey, to obtain permission for them to pass through his territory; for this purpose Doctor Dickinson was de spatched with orders to join the party in the interior. They were all in the best health and spirits.

ASIA.

EAST INDIES.-The conferences with the Burmese have ended in smoke, and the war recommenced on the 8th No vember, with a battle which, it is said, lasted three days, and occasioned a heavy loss to our army, though we were, as usual, victors. It is very doubtful whether the Burmese had any other object in agreeing to the armistice, than to learn our views, and make preparations for a more vigorous campaign. The march to Ummerapoora will now of course commence, and is likely to prove no trifling enterprise. The distance, which is about 300 miles by the river, is not indeed a great deal, according to the Indian scale

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of marches; but the country is a labyrinth of swamps and forests, where provisions are scarce and fevers abound. Let us suppose, however, the journey accomplished, and the capital in our hands, what next? Ummerapoora is indeed the residence of the Prince, and in that respect the capital; but we believe it is a smaller and less important town than Rangoon, which, as well as many others, the Burmese have seen fall into our hands without having their spirits broken by the event. What impression then is likely to be produced by the capture of Umme rapoora? Will the Burmese throw down their arms and submit? We fear the rupture of the negociation is a proof that they have a very different purpose. They have felt our superiority in the field, and must be sensible of their inability to pre vent our advance. The presumption is, therefore, that they have resolved to sacrifice the capital, and retire farther into their woods and morasses, trusting to famine, disease, and the ruinous expense of a war carried on in a wild country, to rid them of the invaders. In the mean. time, it appears that his Celestial Majesty of China begins to prick up his ears at the noise of our approach, and has ac. tually issued a proclamation, directing forts and towers to be erected along the frontier, to prevent the violation of his territory by either party. At Rangoon it is said that a mutiny has broken out among the native troops, who compose

two-thirds or more of our army. To complicate still farther the difficulties of our situation, the Rajah of Burtpore has taken up arms against us; and the Indian Government, feeling that the slightest failure in this quarter would be a signal for a hundred secret enemies to rise up in arms, has sent a force of 25,000 men to subdue this paltry Prince of three or four towns.

Despatches have been received with the official accounts of the battles fought in the end of November and beginning of December. Sir A. Campbell waited some time expecting the enemy would attack him; but finding they were too cautious, he assumed the offensive, and drove them from their stockades and strong positions by a series of attacks on the 1st and 2d of December. The Burmese force was estimated at 50,000 or 60,000 men. In some cases they fought well, 66 defending every tree and breastwork with determined obstinacy;" but bad arms and want of discipline seem to have crippled their efforts, and the whole resistance made was trifling for so great a force. Our army took all the enemy's artillery, many muskets, great quantities of stores, and the whole of their boats, 300 in number, but scarcely a single prisoner, so much does the nature of the country favour their flight. Our loss in killed and wounded is about 170. Sir A. Campbell was to advance off Meady on the 6th or 7th December.

PROCEEDINGS IN PARLIAMENT.

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to the slaves than an instantaneous emancipation? Mr Canning, in reply, admitted that Parliament was pledged to the abolition of slavery, but only to its abolition by slow, gradual, cautious, and, if possible, safe means. He was desirous of seeing how that pledge could be redeemed without direct interference on our part. It was the intention of Government, during the next Session of the Colonial Legislatures, to lay before them a bill founded on the order of the council carried into effect at Trinidad, and thus to force them to come to a decision on the various topics which it embraced. Mr Brougham concurred generally in the sentiments of the Right Honourable Gentleman (Mr Canning), and begged. leave to pospone his notice of a motion which stood for Friday on that subject.

2. Mr W. Dundas obtained leave to bring in a bill for cleansing, paving, &c. the city of Edinburgh, and to alter and amend certain clauses of the police act

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