pretence, would involve the country and sovereign in similar difficulties, if suffered to persist. It therefore becomes the imperious duty of every real friend to the country to resist their mischievous designs, by recurring to the genuine principles of the constitution, and by using every legal means for obtaining a full, fair, and free, representation of the people in parliament.

X. Resolved, That, inseparably attached to our constitution, we admire, venerale, and will support and defend our king, our lords, and our commons, in their respective and collective capacities, with all their just prerogatives, rights, and privileges; but we can never consent to grant separatively to king, lords, or commons, a power contrary to, and above, the laws of the land, which are and must continue to be the results of their collective wisdom and authority.

XI. Resolved, That notwithstanding the rejection of our late petition, we still feel it our duty to give to the House of Commons every opportunity of hearing and redressing the grievances of the people, and that an humble address, petition, and remonstrance, be presented to that honourable house.

XII. Resolved, That the said petition be fairly transcribed, and signed by the lord mayor, the aldermen, and ten liverymen, and presented to the House of Commons by H. C. Combe, Esq. one of their representatives.

XIII. Resolved, That the thanks of the common hall be given to the Right Honourable Lord Erskine, Sir Samuel Romilly, Knight, M. P. and Samuel Whitbread, Esq. for their able, constitutional, and independent conduct on all occasions,

particularly for the stand they have lately made in favour of the domi nion of the law, against arbitrary discretion and undefined privilege.

XIV. Resolved, That the thanks of this hall be given to Hervey Christian Combe, Esq. alderman, and one of the representatives of this city in parliament, for his support, in the House of Commons, of the right of the livery to petition the house, and for his general conduct in the house.

XV. Resolved, That the thanks of this hall be given to the right honourable the lord mayor, for his readiness in calling this hall, and for his independent and honourable conduct in discharging the duties of of his office.

XVI. Resolved, That the thanks of this hall be given to Matthew Wood, Esq. one of the sheriffs of this city, for the independent manner in which he has always discharged the duties of his office.

The following resolutions, passed by the ward of Farringdon Without, are inserted as a summary of the reasonings adopted in the popular questions at issue between the country and the majority of the House of Commons.

I. Resolved, That in the 29th chapter of Magna Charta it is declared, that no freeman shall be taken, or imprisoned, or be disseized of his freehold or liberties, or free customs, or to be outlawed or exiled, or any otherwise destroyed; nor will we not pass upon him, nor condemn him, but by lawful judgment of his peers, or by the law of the land.

II. Resolved, That the committal of Mr. John Gale Jones, and Sir Francis Burdett, to prison, during pleasure, by the order of the honourable honourable the House of Commons, for supposed libels, appears to this ward meeting an unreasonable and illegal assumption in their own cause, of the accumulated offices and power of accuser, juror, judge, and executioner.

III. Resolved, That the late assumption of undefined privilege by the honourable the House of Commons will, in effect, abolish that bulwark of our liberties, trial by jury, will supersede the habeas corpus act, will annul the bill of rights, and the wholesome provisions of Magna Charta.

IV. Resolved, That the exercise of illegal power naturally engenders violence, riot, commotion, and ultimately revolution; that the introduction of the standing army to enforce the arbitrary warrant of the speaker of the House of Commons, has already produced the most deplorable calamities; our sacred charters have been violated, the blood of peaceable passengers have been spilled, and our fellowcitizens have been murdered in our streets; and this ward meeting entertain a fervent hope, that any future attempts to introduce arbitrary power, to excite violence and riot, and to goad the people into resistance and commotion, may, by the steady, firm, and wise conduct of our countrymen, be foiled.

V. Resolved, That this ward meeting trembles for the consequences probable upon this conflict between the people and the privileges of the House of Commons; and they aver it to be their opinion, that this unnatural struggle is a certain evidence of the little influence they possess in that honourable house. That they believe the representation of the people in par

liament is unequal, deficient, and now manifestly inadequate to the security of the subject; that it appears uncontradicted upon their journals, that seats in the honourable the House of Commons are notoriously sold and bartered; that a majority in that honourable house may be at all times, with perfect facility, procured and purchased, by any set of ministers, with the ready means of places, pensions, sinecures, patronage, and jobs; as only 154 powerful individuals, peers, and others, return 307 members for England and Wales; and the representation of Scotland and Ireland is equally corrupt: that by means of the majorities thus obtained, public defaulters have not only been exculpated, but suffered to enjoy the fruits of their nefarious conduct, and retain their seats in that honourable house.

VI. Resolved, That this ward meeting, declares its entire approbation of the conduct, resolutions, and petition, of the livery of London, in their last common hall; that this meeting avails itself of this first opportunity to express its abhorrence of the seditious attempts of a band of contractors and venal jobbers, to decry all public spirit; and to induce the timid and the weak to join in libellous declarations. against their fellow-citizens, and the venerable magistracy of our city.

VII. Resolved, that for those accumulated evils and calamities, one only remedy offers itself; namely, a full, fair, and free representation of the people in parlia

ment.

VIII. Resolved, That this ward meeting do hereby instruct their representatives in common council to promote and support in that

court

:

court all legal measures whatever, that may be proposed to procure the liberation of Sir Francis Burdett and John Gales Jones; and for that necessary and indispensable object, a radical reform in the commons house of parliament.

IX. Resolved, That the thanks of this meeting are due to Sir Francis Burdett, for his manly and constitutional resistance to oppression, and for his learned and legal argument in favour of the unalienable rights of the people..

23. Meeting of parliament (for his majesty's speech see Appendix infra.)

24. At Stockholm, the prince royal publicly and solemnly pronounced his oath of fidelity, and received the homage of the states, The ceremony took place in the hall of the throne. His majesty opened the assembly by a discourse, in which he declared his having adopted prince Christian Augustus for his son, giving him the name of Charles Gustavus. The hereditary prince mounted upon the steps of the throne, took off his crown, and upon his knees, with his hand upon the Bible, took the oath according to the formula read to him by the minister of foreign affairs. The prince royal then delivered a short harangue, replaced his crown upon his head, kissed his hand to the king, and seated himself in his chair; when the states did homage to him, according to the formula read also by the same minister.

30. Mr. Wardle attended at Guildhall, to receive the thanks and the freedom of the city, in a gold box, of the value of 100 guineas, voted him by the corporation, for his able and patriotic conduct in the House of Commons, in bringing

forward charges against the commander-in-chief.

Singular legacy. A gentleman of Aberdeen, recently deceased, has by his will directed his executors to offer a sum of not less than 1200l. for the best treatise on "The evidence that there is a Being, allpowerful, wise, and good, by whom every thing exists; and, particularly, to obviate difficulties regarding the wisdom and goodness of the Deity; and this, in the first place, from considerations independent of written revelation; and, in the second place, from revelation; and, from the whole, to point out the inferences most necessary for and useful to mankind." The ministers of the established church of Aberdeen, the principal and professors of King's and Marischal Colleges of Aberdeen, and the trustees of the testator, are appointed to nominate and make choice of three judges, who are to decide, after the 1st of January, 1814, upon the comparative excellencies of such treatises as shall be laid before them. There is also left, by the same testator, a further sum, not exceeding 4001. for a treatise on the same subjects, which shall be thought, pursuant to the same decision, next in merit to the first premium treatise.

FEBRUARY.

1. Miss Elwes, daughter of George Elwes, Esq. eloped with a clergyman of Oxford, of the name of Duffield, who was assisted in the plot by two other gentlemen of the cloth. Mr. Elwes is, perhaps, the richest ready-moneyed commoner in England. He is heir to the peculiar virtues of his economical father, and and is estimated to be worth near a million of floating disposable cash, and she is his only child. She is under age, but was not made a ward of chancery. The plan was as follows:-One of the clergymen, under pretence of paying his addresses to a lady on a visit to Mrs. Elwes, contrived to be received into the family in the character of her lover, where he was treated with the utmost respect; and this gave him opportunities of arranging the matter for his friend, Mr. Duffield. On Wednesday morning he prevailed on Mrs. Elwes to accompany his iutended wife a shopping; and in their absence he handed, with the utmost openness, Miss Elwes to the door, near which a chaise and four was drawn up. He met Mr. Elwes in the hall, who asked them where they were going; she was without a hat or bonnet, and said she was going to her mamma, who was waiting for her. The reverend gentleman proceeded with her, placed her in the chaise by the side of her gallant, and returned to the house with the utmost unconcern, Mr. Elwes had inquired in the mean time how long Mrs. Elwes had been out, and, seeing her conductor returu, inquired where his daughter The clergyman, with perfect sang-froid, told him he had delivered her to the man destined to make her happy; and that she was off to Gretna-Green, where he advised him to follow, and assist in the ceremony. The distress of Mr. Elwes, and still more of Mrs. Elwes, on her return, may be conceived. They both set off in a post-chaise and four, on the north-road; but we believe they proceeded no further than St. Albans, where not

was.

having heard the least account of their route, they resolved to return.

8. The surrender of Guadaloupe took place.

9. On Monday and Tuesday a court-martial was held at Portsmouth, on the honourable Capt. W. Lake, of his majesty's ship Ulysses, for having, when commander of his majesty's ship Recruit, on the 13th of December, 1807, at six o'clock in the afternoon, caused a seaman of the naine of Robert Jeffery to be put on shore on the desert island of Sombrero in the West Indies.

It appeared, that in the month of November, 1807, Jeffery went into the gunner's cabio, and took out a bottle with some rum in it; that on the day he was sent on shore he broached a cask of spruce-beer, which had been brewed for the ship's company; and that his general character was that of a skulker. The Recruit being off the isle of Sombrero, Captain Lake asked the master what island it was, and if there were not some thieves on board? To which the master answered, "Yes, there were two." Captain Lake then desired him to send Jeffery up to him: the man soon came up, and Captain Lake said he would not keep such a mau in the ship. He then ordered Lieut. Mould to land the man, and return immediately to the ship. As soon as Admital Cochrane heard of the circumstance he reprimanded Capt. Lake, and sent him to take the man off the island. Some of the officers of the Recruit landed, and explored the island, but they found only a barren spot, covered in the middle with a kind of rough grass-weed. There was no house or inhabitant

on it: it appeared, however, by the American newspapers afterwards received, that the man had been taken off the island by an American ship, and landed in America. Capt. Lake, in his defence, admitted that he put the man on shore, but denied that he ever intended to put his life iu jeopardy, as he thought the island was inhabited; that in landing him he thought he would be more sensible of his want of conduct, and would reform in future. The court agreed that the charge had been proved, and sentenced Capt. Lake to be-Dismissed from his majesty's service.

11. The spire of St. Nicholas's church, Liverpool, fell down with à tremendous crash, just before divine service began. Not more, perhaps, than from fifteen to twenty grown persons were in the church at the time, and of these the greater part escaped; but the children of the Moor-fields charity-school, who are regularly marched in procession from the school to the church, somewhat earlier than the time of service, had partly entered. The boys following last, all escaped; but of the girls, who were either entering the porch or proceeding up the aisle, we lament to state that a great number were instantly overwhelmed beneath the falling pile. The whole number of bodies taken out from the ruins is twenty-seven. Of these twenty-two were either dead or died almost inmediately after their removal; five were taken to the infirmary, and one of these is since dead. The hideous crash of the steeple, and the piercing shrieks which immediately issued from those who escaped in the church, or were witnesses of the catrastophe

in the churchyard, immediately brought a large concourse of people to the spot; and we notice, with pleasure, the prompt exertions which were immediately made for rescuing the unfortunate victims, by the immediate removal of the fallen masonry, which were continued with unabated attention until the whole of the bodies were extricated, notwithstanding the menacing appearance of the remaining part of the tower, and the roof of the church, which every moment threatened a second fall. The scene was, throughrout the whole of the forenoon, deeply affecting; the parents of the children in the school, and a number of others, hurrying from place to place, inquiring the fate of their children or relatives, in the utmost agitation, heiglitened, in many cases, by a long and awful suspense, and terminating in the extremes of joy or sorrow, as they found the objects of their search in safety or among the sufferers. Accidents of this kind usually give rise to many hairbreadth and surprising escapes. We have collected the following fromauthentic information:--The ringers, though apparently exposed to the greatest danger, were all fortunate enough to escape, with the exception of one, who was caught in the ruins, along with a boy of fourteen years of age, who was in the steeple at the same time. They were, however, both immediately extricated by the exertions of the other ringers. The man was but slightly wounded, but the boy is since dead. The alarm, it appears, was given to the ringers by the fall of a stone upon the fifth bell, which prevented its swinging; upon which they immediately ran out. A moment