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exerted themselves that their governments should be consulted on the occasion, and not Russia alone. Their united exertions succeeded in inducing the Sultan to ask the mediation of France and England also; on which the legation of these two powers, seconded by all the others, immediately took measures to communicate with Ibrahim Pacha. Their zeal was crowned with success. Ibrahim suffered himself to be persuaded to conclude an armistice, to suspend his march and all further hostilities, on condition that the Sultan should revoke the excommunication pronounced against him and his father, and the latter have the Pachalik of Syria; an indemnity of money to be paid by the Porte, for part of the expenses of the war. The Sultan consented to these preliminary terms, and appointed plenipotentiaries to carry into effect the conditions of peace.

Affairs, however, were not so easily settled; for the struggle at Constantinople suddenly assumed a more threatening aspect than ever, by the rapid and unexpected progress of the Egyptians, and the formidable preparations of Russia. The Grand Sultan formally requested the Russian ambassador to leave the Russian fleet in the Bosphorus, until peace should be finally established between him and the Pacha of Egypt. A large military force, too, was on its march from Russia to Constantinople, by the Balkan; but, previous to their being able to interfere, the Sultan had been compelled to yield in every point to his victorious vassal, who, in addition to the dominions which he possessed at the commencement of the war, was, in June, 1833, the acknowledged governor, and in fact the actual sovereign, of Crete, the Holy Land, and the country and government of the Levant, from the limits of Asia Minor to the mouths of the Nile. The Sultan termed all his "concessions" proofs of his "imperial benevolence" to his vassal; to whom he promised pardon and clemency in the style of an eastern conqueror. In the meantime, Russia continued to pour in large bodies of troops, as fast as the means of transport from Odessa would permit, landing them a few miles to the eastward of the entrance to the Bosphorus, where her fleet still lay, without evincing the slightest disposition to leave it.

At length, in the course of June, peace was formally concluded. The Russian troops quitted the neighbourhood of Constantinople on the 2nd of July. The Egyptians at that time were nearly all marched out of the Sultan's territory, and an English squadron of observation, under the command of Sir Pulteney Malcolm, had sailed from the Dardanelles.

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About this period, a treaty of alliance, offensive and defensive, was formed between Russia and Turkey. It bears date the 8th of July, and declares that there shall be between the parties a perpetual alliance for reciprocal defence against all attacks. Russia engages to furnish such forces by sea and land as the circumstances of Turkey may at any time oblige her to require, the provisions of such auxiliary forces to be supplied by the parties demanding; and a supplementary article pledges the Porte, in case of need, to close the Straits of the Dardanelles against the entrance of any foreign vessel whatever. The affairs of Turkey now excited intense interest throughout Europe. The Sultan, it was evident, had become little more than a very humble vassal of Russia, and his empire was rapidly falling to pieces. Insurrections were prevalent in almost all the provinces, which the Porte was utterly unable to suppress; and Mehemet Ali not only refused to pay the Syrian tribute agreed upon at the ratification of peace, but remonstrated loudly with the Sultan, for his alliance with Russia, and demanded fresh cessions of Asiatic provinces, to guard the faithful from further aggressions from the north. At this time, Russia had an army of 40,000 men in the provinces north of the Balkan, and had taken the newly-raised Wallachian regiments into her service, as part of the Russian army. Accounts of the disorganized state of Turkey were daily received, and at the termination of the year 1833, though the capital itself was comparatively tranquil, yet in every province, both in the European and Asiatic portions of the empire, insurrections were rife. The Pacha of Janina, in Albania, had been obliged to yield that city to the insurgents, and the Sultan's authority there was at an end. In the east, a fanatic chief, calling himself Kadi-Kiran, the Kadi-killer, revolted against the Porte, at the head of 5 or 6000 men, in the provinces of Kintakia and Angora. Meantime the proceedings of Russia became daily more suspicious. She had a fleet in the Euxine of not less than from 22 to 24 ships of the line, and the fact that she had been for a long time working actively in her dock-yards was well known. Her treaty with Turkey furnished a clear commentary upon her objects. France and England, however, are not unprepared, should the necessity arise, for active interference on their parts; and it seems but too probable that the extraordinary terms of amity so suddenly established between Russia and the Porte must, ere long, disturb the peace of Europe.

On the 30th of August, there was a most awful fire at Constantinople, by which one-fourth of the city was consumed,

and devastation extended over a circuit of three miles. This conflagration appears to have originated in public discontents.

POLAND.-An official article was published at St. Petersburgh, dated December the 27th, 1832, contradicting the charges brought against the Russian government by the French and English journals relative to Poland. It denies the transporting the inhabitants of Wilna and adjacent provinces to the Ukraine the sending of 40,000 Polish possessors of land to the Caucasus-the desecration of the Cathederal of Wilnathe wanton destruction of monasteries-admitting that in compliance with a canon prescribing that monastic bodies must be composed at least of eight persons, several monasteries, containing only two or three monks, had been legally dissolved, with due attention to their interests, pecuniary and religious but, in general, contradicting all the accusations tending to foster the charge of tyranny against the Russian government. The reports contained in the English and French journals for the past year (the contradiction of which would appear to require another "official article") are as follow:

In August the Emperor of Nicholas published two new decrees, one for the more effectually rooting up the Polish language, the other for making political offences subject to the jurisdiction of courts martial. It seems that an association for the preservation of their language had been formed by a body of young Polish students in the University of Winnicza. For this offence they were to be drafted into Russian regiments; and the tutors and professors of the university who were cognizant of the association, were some to be displaced, and some to be reprimanded by the Russian authorities.

And in November, accounts from Warsaw stated, that some thousands of Poles, who were prisoners of war in Prussia, and who had been forced by the Prussian government to retire to Poland under a promise of an amnesty, had been sent by the Russians to work in chains in the ship-yards at Cronstadt. Five hundred of these unfortunate persons-many of whom were noblemen-were inhumanly flogged for several days together, because they refused to work on Sunday. Prince Sanguezko, a Pole of high character, being condemned to work in chains in the mines for life, having requested that he might be allowed to confess before he set out upon his march for Siberia, was told that he could have only a Greek priest, for that he was no longer anything but a serf, and a serf could possess no other religion than that of his master.

CHAP. IX.

The Colonies and China.

EAST INDIES AND CHINA.-Steam Navigation at CalcuttaFailures of Agency Houses-The Cholera at Madras-Project for opening a Passage between Ceylon and Southern India-Steam Communication between Bombay and Suez-Education of the Natives-Administration of Ceylon-Improvements in that Island American Trade with China-Rebellions and Robberies in that Country-Accounts from Canton to June-British Order in Council for regulating the Trade with China-Chinese Schools-Lord Napier's Appointment.

WEST INDIES.-Accounts from Jamaica during the Year-The Emancipation Bill introduced into the House of Assembly-Antigua, Barbadoes, and St. Vincent's-Proceedings of the French Government for the Abolition of Slavery-Excitement in the Dutch Settlements-Values of our West-India Colonies.

IONIAN ISLES.-Arrival of Lord Nugent at Corfu—Reform of Abuses, &c. in the Colony.

CANADA.-Navigation of the St. Lawrence-Wellend CanalPopulation of Upper Canada-The Empire of the Lakes-New Constitution for Lower Canada-Parliamentary Details on the Condition of Nova Scotia.

AFRICA.-Lander's Expedition up the Niger-Accounts from Algiers-Accounts from the Cape of Good Hope-New South Wales-Van Diemen's Land-Swan River-New Group of Islands.

CALCUTTA.—Steam navigation has been the prevailing topic of the Calcutta journals during the year.

Another large agency house has failed. Since the beginning of January, 1830, therefore, four Calcutta houses have failed for the sum of nearly 12,000,000l. sterling, one Bombay house for the sum of 250,000l., and two London houses connected with the former for the amount of nearly 3,000,000. more, making in all 15,000,000l.; an amount of debt which, a little more than a century ago, would have shaken the Government of this country with the fear of bankruptcy, and which even now few of the second or third-rate nations could borrow, on the mortgage of half their revenues.

MADRAS.-The dreadful disease, the cholera, has been again committing ravages at Madras, where, in many streets, it has carried off six in a day. The natives, it seems, have been the most frequent victims.

The attention of the Madras government has been again directed to the subject of opening a passage between the island of Ceylon and the southern part of the peninsula of India, through the Gulf of Manai. A survey has been completed by Lieutenant-Colonel Monteith, who reports that, by cutting a canal in the rocky chain called "Adam's Bridge,' 18 feet deep, it may be rendered navigable by vessels of 500 tons, thereby saving four-fifths of the charge of freight between the coasts of Malabar and Coromandel. The cost of this valuable work is estimated at 50,000l. A smaller canal, for a numerous class of coasting-vessels, which seldom dare to venture round the southern navigation of Ceylon, might be accomplished at the cost of 10,000l. It is to be hoped that a measure so well calculated to facilitate the internal navigation and commerce of our Indian empire, may meet with the attention it merits.

At Madras, in June, the heat surpassed anything previously known at that presidency: people were dying of heat alone, without any actual disease.

BOMBAY.-A public meeting was held at Bombay on the 14th of May, for the purpose of making arrangements to establish a steam communication between that place and Suez. Sir Herbert Compton was in the chair; and resolutions, founded on the report of a committee, were adopted, to forward the object in view. It is proposed that there shall be three voyages each year to and from Suez. The expense of the undertaking is estimated at 165,000 rupees.

The English language is stated to be more generally sought for than heretofore, by the natives of this presidency. Besides the school established at Poonah, the central school of the Native Education Society has 100 students, to which number it is limited. There are also several private schools in the island.

CEYLON.—Since the appointment of its present governor, Sir Wilmot Horton, the system of administering the affairs of this island has undergone a complete change. The chief ameliorations consist in the establishment of a free press; in submitting, through the columns of a newspaper, every

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