On reading the Letter signed A. in p. 387. AH! ye whose fancy loves to pore O'er mould'ring tombs, o'er antient And days of olden time, Shall ye be laugh'd at, who display'd The rude attempts, the want of grace, When Saxons sway'd, when Normans rul'd, Made efforts which still show Then, Antiquaries, now believe, For woman's smiles shall oft be yours, 633 Think not so light of woman's mind, 'Tis true these fluttering perfum'd things, These butterflies bereft of wings, At revel or birth-day, No! seated by the social fire, While Boreas rag'd with power, Spite of the beating of the blast, For with much taste ye must possess, THE WISH. AMANDA. Was most the object of my lowly pray'r. In my own cot to wait a calm old age, Prepar'd, yet not solicitous to die,Then, having trod, in peace, Life's happy stage, Beneath the sod or silent stone to lie. HISTORICAL CHRONICLE. FOREIGN OCCURRENCES. FRANCE. The internal affairs of France appear to proceed with the greatest 'calmness. Some time must of course elapse, before the new arrangements of a party so long and so inexorably excluded from power can be completed; but in the mean while the nation gives its entire confidence to the new Ministers, and they proceed unimpeded in their course. The Chamber met on the 15th, when the new ministers, with the exception of M. de Clermont Tonnere, were formally introduced. After some ordinary business had been disposed of, M. Peyronnet, the Keeper of the Seals, withdrew the obnoxious project on the law of the press. The minister prefaced the perusal of the decree for withdrawing the project, by announcing from his Majesty the preparation of another project for the regulation of the journals. The old law of censorship expires on the 5th of February, and will certainly, it is said, not be renewed. The Ex-Ministers, the Count de Serre, the Marquess de Latour Maubourg, the Count Simeon, and the Baron Portal, have been appointed by the King Ministers of State, and Members of the Privy Council. The Marquess de Latour Maubourg has also been appointed Governor of the Royal Hospitals of Invalids. The Count Simeon, the Baron Portal, and M. Roy, have been created Peers of France. The whole of the new Ministers are of the party recently denominated Ultra-Royalists. Among the resignations consequent on the late change are mentioned that of Baron Mounier as Director-General of Police, and M. Angles as Prefect of Police. The office of Director General of this department is, it is said, to be abolished, and its duties to be attached to the Ministry of the Interior, under the direction of a Sub-Secretary. M. Villele and Corbiere, in consequence of their appointments as Ministers, had resigned their functions as Members of the Commission on the Budget; but in the 1st and 4th bureaux of the Chamber, which met on the 17th, they were re-elected. The Gazette de Santé, a medical journal, published in Paris, contains the following article respecting the cure of Hydrophobia: “M. Marochetti, surgeon of the hospital at Moscow, being in the Ukraine, in 1813, was requested to give his assistance to 15 persons who had received the bite of a mad dog. A deputation of aged men waited upon him, and entreated he would administer help to the unfortunate persons, through a peasant, who, during several years, had acquired great reputation for curing hydrophobia. M. Marochetti consented, upon certain conditions. The country doctor then administered to 14 of the persons confided to him, in a peculiar way. The 15th, a young girl of 16, was treated in the ordinary manner, for the purpose of proving the effect of both modes of treatment. To each of the 14 he gave daily one pound and a half of the decoction of the buds of yellow broom-flowers, and he examined, twice a day, under the tongue, the place where, according to his statement, little swellings are formed, containing the virus of madness. These swellings rose the third or ninth day, and were seen by M. Marochetti. Very soon after they appeared they were touched with a sharp red-hot needle, after which the patient gargled the part with the decoction of broom. The result of this treatment was, that the 14 patients were cured in six weeks, whilst the young girl, treated differently, died on the seventh day, in convulsions of madness. Three years after, M. Marochetti paid a visit to the 14 persons, and they were all doing well. The same physician being at Podolia, in 1818, had a new opportunity of confirming this interesting discovery. The happy result of this mode of treatment was the same with reference to 26 persons, who had been all bitten by a mad dog." SPAIN. The advices from Madrid, given in the French papers, are to Dec. the 7th. The King and the Royal Family returned to the capital on the 5th from the Escurial, and were received with acclamations by the military and populace. The Catalonians are represented as ripe for a revolt. The inhabitants of Barcelona are said to have openly avowed their intention of repulsing the authorities, should they attempt to re-enter that city. Mina is stated to have imposed a heavy contribution on the middle classes in Gallicia for the support of his troops. At the same time he has nominated a Provisional Junta of Government, PART II.] Abstract of Foreign Occurrences. vernment, which has declared all the ports of Gallicia free to foreign vessels, upon payment of a very moderate duty. The Junta has also decreed a levy in mass and the formation of an army of 30,000 men. TURKEY, &c. Horrible atrocities have been committed by the Greeks at Tripolizza. Various reports are in circulation respecting the capture of Navarin and Tripolizza by the Greeks. All that is known for certain with respect to the first is, that the town was ceded to the Greeks by a regular capitulation, which was instantly violated, and three thousand inhabitants, men, women, and children, put to death. A capitulation was entered into, and actually concluded, between the Bey of Maina and Colocotoni on the part of the besieging army, and by the Turkish Authorities on the part of the besieged. The next day many of the Turks, accompanied by their women and children, came out of the town, and were placed near the camp of the besieging army, by whom they were received in an amicable manAnother body came out of the town on the following day, and were permitted to do so without molestation; but on a sudden, part of the army took possession of one of the gates, and also of the tower, which was accomplished without difficulty, or attempt at resistance. The Christian flag was then hoisted on the tower, which became a signal of a general assault by the whole army. The whole night was passed in plunder ner. and in murder, without discrimination of sex or age. On the next day, nearly three thousand souls, the majority consisting of women and children, were marched from the Greek camps, where they had been staying two days, to a sort of gorge, on one side of the town, where they were all stripped naked, and most horribly butchered. The pregnant women had their bellies ripped open. Many of them had their heads struck off, and the heads of some dogs having been also struck off, they * * 635 town were seized; the men were put to the torture, and the women and children, as well as the men, were all, without exception, put to death. The whole number of persons who perished at Tripolizza amounted to 8000, of which nearly 1000 were Jews. A German Paper says, that the Turkish people are now much affrighted in consequence of an old prophecy of an Arabian Astrologer, named Acham, who maintained that the conjunction of planets Saturn and Jupiter would be productive of important effects on the Ottoman Empire. Those planets are now nearly in conjunction, and the terror of the multitude is therefore very great. Rubin Kowski, who served as an Hessian under Prince Constantine in the wars carried on in 1673, with the Turks, by the illustrious King of Poland, John III. then in the 95th year of his age, and who afterwards wrote a history of them, relates in his work many extraordinary circumstances respecting the Turks and the Astrologer Acham. EGYPT. Mohamet Ali, the present Pacha or Viceroy of Egypt, is a native of Martinique, and brother of Aline, afterwards the Sultana Valide, the mother of Mahmoud, the present Grand Seignor. He was born in that colony in or about 1763 or 1764, where his father was a fieldofficer of militia. He and his sister embarked on board a merchant vessel for Marseilles, the latter to be placed at Saint Cyr, and the former on an ap pointment to be Sub Lieutenant in the regiment de Bouillon. On their passage the vessel was taken by a pirate, and carried into Algiers. The young lady, who was very beautiful (and to whom, it is said, an old negress had predicted that she would become a Princess), was presented to the then Grand Seignor Abdul Hamed, and soon afterwards became his favourite Sultana. Her brother, in the meantime, obtained permis. sion to serve under the orders of an AlSultana, her brother, now called Moba. gerine captain. At the desire of the met, was sent for to Constantinople, and placed in the College in the Seraglio, She was delivered of Mahmoud in 1784, whom Mohamet was afterwards chiefly instrumental, at the head of 2000 Albanians, in placing upon the throne. Mo hamet was afterwards appointed by his Viceroy of Egypt. His sister, the Sulnephew, the Grand Seignor, Pacha or tana Valide, died in 1817. 636 Abstract of Foreign Occurrences. The notice of foreign transactions presents as few striking points as the domestic relations. The exclusion of American shipping from our Colonies is alluded to without bitterness, yet in a way which shews that it is a subject of regret to the Americans. In an attempt to negociate a Commercial Treaty with France, the pretensions of the French Government, according to the Message, were much greater, and far more disadvantageous to the United States, than those with which England is charged. It also appears, that the French Government has raised claims of a much more serious character, respecting the construction of the eighth Article of the Treaty of 1803, by which Louisiana was ceded to the United States. It seems, that grave differences have arisen on the subject, which the President notices as" a cause of very great regret." In the other foreign matters, there is no thing worthy notice, except the declaration that the disputed question respecting the first Article of the Treaty of Ghent, referred to the decision of the Emperor of Russia, has not been settled as yet, either in favour of England or the United States. But the subject is mentioned without any particular allusion. MEXICO. By his Majesty's ship Raleigh, letters have been received from Havannah, dated the 12th November, containing advices from Mexico to the 13th of October, and from Vera Cruz to the 29th. Their contents are extremely important, since they leave no doubt that the independence of Mexico is fully established, and in the form prescribed by the treaty of Cordova. The liberating army of the Three Guaran tees, under the command of Senor Don Augustin de Iturbride, made their entry into the capital of New Spain on the 27th of September. On the same day, under the Presidency of Iturbride, with the title of Generalissimo by sea and land of the empire of Mexico, a Regency, composed of five members, was appointed. A Supreme Junta was also created, of which the Bishop of Puebla was declared President. The establishment of the Government was followed by the nomination of the different ministers and authorities: the oath they were required to take simply pledged them to adhere to the stipulations of the treaty of Cordova. The only spot that still adhered to the mother country was the Castle of St. Juan de Ulloa, which commands the city of Vera Cruz, and which was held by a garrison of 300 men only, who were expected to surrender when called upon to do so by the Government established at Mexico. General O'Donoju, who has made so conspicuous a figure in the transactions which have preceded the settlement of affairs in New Spain, died in the city of Mexico on the 8th October. The difficulty, therefore, of obtaining a clue to his late conduct is much increased. It appears that he was present at, and shared the public entry of Iturbride into Mexico, on the 27th of September, and was treated with nearly the same mark of distinction. Various reports of the cause of his death were in circulation at Havannah, some directly ascribing it to poison, and others to indisposition brought on by chagrin. A Commission had been formed in Mexico on the affairs of commerce, who were employed in arranging the terms of communication with foreign countries. But few restrictions were meant to be imposed, the design being to come as near as possible to free commerce, with certain clauses more favourable to Spain than to other countries. A plan of insurrection by the negroes had been discovered at Havannah, who had formed the design of murdering all the white population. In one respect the consequences of the discovery were remarkable. A party appears to have existed in Havannah, which aimed at rendering Cuba independent of Spain; but the common danger caused by a conspiracy of the negroes had united Spaniards of every class for self preservation, and made them forget, for a time at least, their political differences. Upper Canada Papers to the 24th of November have been received. On that day the Governor had opened the Session of Parliament with a speech, as usual on all such occasions. It appears that the financial differences between Upper and Lower Canada had not been yet arranged. The suspension of the Port Duties of Quebec, arising from these differences, had greatly straitened the Government. The Commissioners appointed from Upper Canada to treat of the disputed points, had made their report, which, by order of the Governor, was referred to the House of Assembly. His Excellency remarks, that the internal revenue, during the preceding year, had not decreased, notwithstanding the general depression of agriculture and trade-adding a significant intimation of its smallness and inadequacy to the public exigencies. The suspension of the import duties had caused embarrassment, but not of a very serious kind. It was obviated by a loan, which, his Excellency observed, was raised within the province. DOMESTIC [ 637 ] DOMESTIC OCCURRENCES. IRELAND. The Dublin papers give a melancholy picture of the state of Ireland. Natural seems now to conspire with political causes to desolate that ill-fated country. The late heavy rains have produced the most ruinous consequences upon the potatoe crops; and typhus, the usual result of any extraordinary scarcity in an impoverished country, has made its appear ance. At Limerick, on the 20th, four persons were capitally convicted of seizing arms, and 10 were convicted of an assault, and acquitted of the felonious charge of unlawfully assembling. During one of the trials, it transpired that a subscription purse had been opened for the defence of such men as might be taken and brought to trial for crimes connected with disturb ances. M'Namara and Molony, for the murder of Mrs. Torrance, were executed on the 19th. Both were penitent, and addressed the spectators, fully acknowledg M'Naing the justice of their sentences. mara most emphatically called upon them to take warning by his untimely fate. On the 17th, during the very time the above culprits were on their trial, another murder was committed close to Limerick, by a man named John Connel, who killed his landlord, Mr. Nathaniel Keays, by the blow of a spade. After the ruffian had accomplished the deed, he ran off; and although seen by several neighbours with the bloody spade on his shoulder, yet none made the least exertion to stop him. Several labourers were near the spot; but all affected to be quite ignorant of the horrible transaction. Four individuals had been brought prisoners into Limerick charged with attacking two different parties of the 42d regiment, in the vicinity of that city. On Tuesday week, at Lurgan, in the county of Cavan, as a party of soldiers were retiring with a quantity of malt, seized by the revenue officers from a man named Lynch, the son of the latter suddenly took a loaded gun, and discharged its contents at the sergeant commanding the party, who instantly fell dead. One of the privates immediately fired at Lynch, and killed him. In the town of Ballyragget there is a pauper of the name of Michael Brennan, aged 112 years and nine months, who has experienced in no ordinary degree the different vicissitudes of fortune, and of climes, having travelled over a great part of the Globe. He was born in Caponellan, near Castle Darrow, in the year 1708, and in 1738 he left his native country in com pany with a gentleman, to whom he acted as valet, and after having travelled through the greater part of Europe, and seen every thing worthy of notice, they set sail for the East Indies, from thence to the Holy Land; then to the Northern Seas, and lastly to North America, where his master was taken ill and died. He left North America, and on his passage home was shipwrecked on the rocks of Scilly, lost all he possessed, and swam ashore naked and pennyless, which brought him to his present situation. His father lived to the age of 117; his mother 109; and his wife was 105 when she died. He was the father of 15 children, all of whom are dead; and at the time this account was taken (July last), he was in the act of dandling his great granddaughter's child. He is cheerful in his temper, engaging in his manners, and enjoys perfect health, and is able to travel sixteen miles a day. INTELLIGENCE FROM VARIOUS PARTS OF THE COUNTRY. Two men at work in the grounds of St. Piere, Chepstow, discovered, in a sort of cave, in a thick coppice, a being scarcely of this world, in appearance, at least. His body was hardly covered with the remnants of former habiliments, and be had a beard almost patriarchal. He stated that he had not been resident there more than three months. His first discoverers made a penny of their hermit, as they termed him, by exhibiting him at twopence a-piece at a public-house in this town, for some days, until his commitment to Monmouth-gaol for three months by Col. Lewis, as a rogue and a vagabond. A person in the neighbourhood of Stowe, Gloucestershire, while entertaining some young people with a sight of the heavenly bodies, through a telescope, by Berge, of 24 inches diameter, discovered a Comet within the sphere of Jupiter's third moon, and in a S. E. direction from that planet. At Romney, Messrs. Donnett and Higginson, Admiralty Midshipmen, stationed at Little Stone Watchouse, discovered a large tub boat near the shore, which was boarded by Mr. Donnett in the bow. Mr. H. waded in the water and attempted to cut the hawser with his cutlass, in which he failed, and Mr. D.'s pistol missing fire, he was thrown overboard by the smugglers, and instantly fired upon by them: at the same time Mr. H. was struck by an oar, or butt-end of a musket, and immediately two volleys were fired upon them, when the smugglers escaped. Mr. Donnett has |