PERSONAL NARRATIVE.

On the evening of the 12th, the Queen gave the first of a series of Dramatic Entertainments at Windsor Castie, under the direction of Mr. Charles Kean. The play was the First Part of King Henry the Fourth. The veteran Bartley, after a long retirement from the stage, re-appeared in the character of Falstaff.

Viscount Ponsonby has Resigned the Embassy at Vienna, and Mr. Magenis will continue to act as Chargé d'Affaires until the arrival of his Lordship's

successor.

The Honourable George Jerningham, now Secretary of the Embassy at Constantinople, is appointed Secretary of the Embassy at Paris.

The place of Deputy Ranger of Windsor Park, vacant by the death of Sir Thomas Fremantle, has been conferred on Captain F. H. Seymour, one of the Equerries in Waiting to Prince Albert.

The Rev. R. J. Butler, M.A., of Brasenose College, Oxford, and Chaplain to the Lord High Commissioner of the Ionian Islands, was received into the Catholic Church at Rome on the 23rd of November last. This gentleman was formerly Warden of the House of Charity in Rose Street, Soho.

Sir Robert Monsey Rolfe, Vice-Chancellor, has been raised to the Peerage of the United Kingdom, by the title of Baron Cranworth, of Cranworth, in the county

of Norfolk.

Mr. Joseph Hume having visited Southampton on the 3rd, to start a son for the West Indies, the Mayor of Southampton and about four hundred citizens of the town gave him a public entertainment. It was remarked that the admirers of the veteran economist were not solely of the Radical class, but included a good sprinkling of frugal Conservatives. Mr. Hume made a speech of encouragements, founded on the reminiscences of his long political experience; a marked feature of which was his declaration of opinion that Lord John Russell would willingly be a more liberal minister if supported by a more liberal house of commons.

Pensions on the Civil List of 1007. a-year each have been granted to George Petrie, Esq., LL.D., and to J. Kitto, Esq., M.D. Mr. Petrie is a member of the Royal Hibernian Academy of Arts, and Vice-President of the Royal Irish Academy of Sciences. He is author of the well-known treatise on the "Round Towers of Ireland," and of many other antiquarian works. Dr. Kitto has been deaf and dumb from an accident when a boy, in spite of which difficulties he travelled through many lands in connection with the Missionary Society. With his physical failings he has done much for the cause of biblical literature, and is the author of many works, such as the "Pictorial Bible," "History of Palestine," ," "Cyclopædia of Biblical Literature," &c.

The committee of subscribers to the monument to the memory of the late Lord Jeffrey have decided that the memorial shall be a work of sculpture. The subscriptions in the hands of the committee amount to 22007., a sum which, it is hoped, will suffice to defray the cost of the statue, and to leave enough besides for the erection of a slight monument over the grave in the Dean Cemetery, at Edinburgh. The statue will probably be placed in the Outer Parliament House.

Ata Sheriff's Sale at Derrynane some time since, the whole of the splendid furniture and other household goods were sold for the sum of 3641. 3s. 8d., and were bought in by the National Bank of Ireland. The purchase has been impeached as fraudulent, and on application to the court, an issue has been granted to try the fact by a jury. The prices at which the National Bank bought the furniture may be imagined from the fact, that the entire furniture, &c., of the "Liberator's Room," state bed, &c., sold for 31. 8s. 6d.

A young lady has Escaped from the Convent at Banbury. She was known there as sister Antonia; her "worldly name" is unknown, but she is understood to be very highly connected. The local newspaper gives the following particulars:-" Her dissatisfaction with a conventual life was first made known out of the house by letters, which she contrived to have conveyed by children in the school, to parties of the Protestant faith

in Banbury. An English New Testament, which by
chance came into her possession, disturbed the opinions
in which she had been educated; she determined on
getting away from St. John's, and resolved to do so
early on Monday morning, and again on Tuesday
morning; but at the moment of the contemplated escape
her heart failed her. Shortly after nine o'clock, the
school hour, on Tuesday, while the other inmates were
engaged, she took an opportunity of getting away
unobserved; and, for some reason, instead of going to
the parties in Banbury, with whom she had been in
communication, and who had offered her shelter, set off
on the road for Oxford. At Adderbury, three miles
from Banbury, she became tired and inquired for a
Protestant minister; she was taken to the house of the
Rev. Mr. Crickett, an Independent minister, where
she was kindly received, both by Mr. and Mrs. Crickett,
with whom she was remaining yesterday. She has been
supplied with clothing, and the garments peculiar to the
to the convent.
sisterhood, in which she went away, have been returned
Before she left St. John's, we believe
an application was made by the parties with whom she
had been in communication, to a neighbouring magis-
trate, for his aid to remove her; and he wrote on the
subject to Sir George Grey, the Secretary of State; but
she did not wait for their interference, but took an
opportunity of acting alone, as we have described.",

The Will of the late King of the French has been proved at Doctors' Commons. The personal property is sworn at under 100,000l. The will is dated at Claremont, October 16, 1848, and is very concise. He bequeaths his house and gardens at Palermo to Queen Marie Amelie for ever. He gives all his property in England and America to the Queen, for her life, with reversion to her children, subject to such provisions as her Majesty may make in her life-time, and in the case of any informal or incomplete bequest of it by the Queen, it is to be divided into nine shares. Two of these shares go to the Duc de Nemours, and one to the Comte de Paris and the Duc de Chartres-to be held by them as joint tenants-that is to say, to be divided between them. The remaining shares are divided, one each to Louise, Queen of the Belgians, the Prince de Joinville, the Duc d'Aumale, the Duchess de Saxe Coburg Gotha, the Duc de Montpensier, and Philip Alexandre (a grandson), Duc de Wurtemberg. The ex-monarch bequeaths all his money in the house at Claremont, and in the bank, at his death, to his Queen, subject only to the payment of his just debts and funeral expenses. The Queen is appointed executrix of this will during her lifetime; and after her decease, Mr. W. E. Marjoribanks, Sir E. Antrobus, Bart., Mr. W. M. Coulthurst, Mr. E. Marjoribanks, jun., and Mr. J. Parkinson, of Lincoln'sInn Fields, are to act as trustees. The dispositions of his property in France are not proved in England.

Obituary of Notable Persons.

Colonel R. M. JOHNSON, Vice-President of the Republic under the Van Buren administration, died on the 19th ult., at his residence in Kentucky state, in the 70th year of his age.

Lieutenant LORIMER, one of the senior military knights, died at Windsor on the 25th ult. He entered the army in 1805, and served in the Peninsula, at Walcheren, and at the siege of and had received the war medal and clasp for Corunna. Flushing. He was severely wounded at Corunna and Flushing,

aged 65 years. He served in the Coldstream Guards as Surgeon, Sir WILLIAM WHYMPER, M.D., died on the 28th ult. at Dover, throughout the Peninsular war, and was present at Waterloo. He had received the war medal with five clasps. In 1825 Dr. Whymper became Surgeon-Major of the Coldstream Guards, and in 1836 he retired on half-pay. He was in 1832 knighted by the late king.

Mr. R. GILFILLAN, well known as the author of several beautiful songs in the Scottish dialect, died suddenly on the 4th inst. attendance at his office as Collector for the Commissioners of from a fit of apoplexy, with which he was seized while in Police in Leith.

15th inst, aged 82 years. He was son of the fourth Earl of General The Hon. Sir WILLIAM LUMLEY, G.C.B., died on the Scarborough. At the age of eighteen he entered the cavalry service, in 1787, as a cornet in the 10th Dragoons, and served in

Ireland during the rebellion of 1798, in Egypt, South America,
and the Peninsula. The colonelcy of the First Dragoon Guards
is vacant by his death.
Admiral PAYNE died of apoplexy on the 9th inst. He was
hunting, when he fell from his horse in a fit, and died in a few
minutes. He was between 70 and SO years of age, and, on
account of the tendency which he had exhibited for such attacks,
bad been warned by his medical attendants to avoid the excite-
ment of the chase.

Mrs. BELL MARTIN died recently at New York, after a short illness, within ten days of her arrival in the United States. She was, previous to her marriage, Miss Martin, of Galway,

and her husband took the family name when she married. Her estates were the largest in Ireland, her tenantry amounting to twenty thousand, and her lands extending over two hundred thousand acres; but the property on her succeeding to it was so heavily mortgaged that she was obliged to relinquish all, and trust to her literary talents for her support. It was with this object she went with her husband to the United States. A premature confinement was the immediate cause of the illness which terminated in her death. Mrs. Bell Martin was a large contributor to the "Encyclopédie des Gens du Monde." She was the author of "St. Etienne," a tale of the Vendean war, and of " Julia Howard," a novel recently published.

COLONIES AND DEPENDENCIES.

THE principal and most unhappy feature of the month's Colonial news, is the almost utter desolation of the southern shores of the island of Jamaica by the scourge of cholera. Its ravages began with the opening of October; and, when the last accounts left, in the middle of November, had not perceptibly abated. The chief mortality had been at Port Royal, Spanish Town, and Kingston. The deaths in the latter place (a town of forty thousand inhabitants, of which nine-tenths are Negro) averaged a hundred and fifty a-day, and on some days greatly exceeded two hundred. Resources had failed both for the dead and living; neither doctors nor medicines were procurable; it was impossible to supply coffins in any proportion to the demand; and crowds of dead bodies, carried in carted heaps to the graveyards, and exposed for want of hands to bury them, lay poisoning the panic-stricken survivors, till at last flung into trenches opened by convicts and soldiers. The accounts read like pages torn out of De Foe's History of the Plague; and it is well worthy of note that the previous condition of the island confirms all that has been lately ascertained of the sanitary laws that govern the disease, and the causes that contribute to its virulence. It is another lesson for ourselves, with none of our metropolitan graveyards yet closed by the Extra-mural Act! with even some re-opened that were shut in sheer fright at the cholera last summer! and with the imminent prospect before us of enormous additions to our London population without approach to any means of accommodation at all adequate to the increase!

The last Overland Mail from Bombay brings no political intelligence of interest. The greatest tranquillity prevails in India. The Governor-General was preparing to proceed to Lahore and the Peshawur frontier. The Nepaulese Ambassador arrived at Bombay on the 6th ult. from Suez. The Nimrod government iron steamer has been wrecked. The late rumour of the Affreedees having made a descent upon the salt-mines of the Kohat frontier remained without confirmation. Piracies were of frequent occurrence in the waters of the Indian Archipelago; Java is tranquil. The Chinese on the Western coast of Borneo have discontinued their resistance against the Dutch. At Hong Kong the fever has declined among the troops. The gangs of Chinese robbers in the province of Kwangse are gradually dispersing. A fearful occurrence took place at Macao on the 29th Oct., when the Portuguese frigate the Donna Maria blew up, and officers and men, about 200 in number, perished, with the exception of one officer and fifteen men.

The accounts from Jamaica are to the 1st instant. The ravages of the cholera have rendered the island a scene of desolation. On the 7th of October last, Mr. Watson, the surgeon of the naval hospital in Port Royal, announced that Asiatic cholera of a malignant type had made its appearance in that town. The inhabitants were at first incredulous, but facts soon convinced them of the truth, and plans were devised to stay the plague. A cholera hospital was established, and some of the surgeons of the fleet were sent ashore to assist. Government medical stores were distributed freely, but it was soon found that both the quantity of medical stores, and the number of medical men, were totally inadequate to the frightful extent of illness and suffering that prevailed. Upwards of 5000 persons have died in Kingston and Spanish Town alone. Numbers were so panic-stricken, that they would not apply for assistance, and no one knows that they have been ill and died. Some were found dead in cellars, where they had been lying dead for days. One of the most distressing things is the number of orphans, both black and white children, and their condition and future provision are now occupying the serious attention of the Jamaica authorities. Hundreds of children of tender age are left utterly destitute; for fathers, mothers, brothers, and sisters have been

swept away by the pestilence. They are to be seen in houses, forlorn and helpless. Infants are found lying on the floor, forsaken by friends and relatives, for they are sleeping in death, and these innocents are kept from perishing by the visits of the benevolent. The dread of cholera seems to have destroyed the social affections. Some of the poor blacks have been found to place their dead relatives before the doors of their neighbours, to avoid the infection, or because they were unable to pay the expense of burial. It was urgently suggested that trenches should be dug, and that corpses should be buried without coffins, in order that the expense of the latter should be saved, and go towards providing an orphan fund. On the 23rd the cholera abated in Spanish Town, Port Royal, and Kingston, but broke out in other places. On this day Dr. Macfayden, an eminent physician, died. As there was not above one medical man to 5000 persons in Jamaica, and as four medical men had already fallen victims to their unremitting exertions in the cause of suffering humanity, it may easily be imagined how ill he could be spared.

From Canada we learn that there is a rumour that the seat of government is about to be removed 500 miles down the St. Lawrence in June or July next.

A Temperance Meeting at St. Hyacinthe, Lower Canada, recently excited the people so much against drunkenness, that a mob collected, proceeded to a building occupied as a brewery and distillery, owned by Mr. Phillips, of Laprairie, and entirely demolished it, smashing everything they could lay their hands on. Similar ourages were committed at a neighbouring tavern, and further mischief was threatened.

The Sydney journals contain reports of a great public meeting on the 12th of August, to consider Governor Fitzroy's despatch to the Colonial Office on the meetings in June last, on the subject of transportation. The following chief resolution was carried unanimously"That this meeting having had under its consideration a despatch from his excellency Sir Charles A. Fitzroy, dated 30th June 1849, transmitting to Earl Grey the great protest of the inhabitants of Sydney, in public meetings assembled, against the renewal of transportation, hereby declares, that in that despatch his Excel

NARRATIVE OF FOREIGN EVENTS.

PENDING the new "Congress of Vienna" which is about to be held under the name of the "Conferences of Dresden," the interest of Continental politics is almost wholly suspended. France is so marvellously quiet, that there is nothing better worth mention than the fact of M. de Montalembert's introduction of a bill against the desecration of the Sabbath, founded doubtless on the principle which he naïvely expressed in his report, namely, that though the State is not strong enough to govern the Church, the Church is abundantly so to govern the State. And Prince Schwarzenberg has found himself with so little to do, that he has been publishing his correspondence with Lord Palmerston in the matter of hangman Haynau's mustachios, and the damage they received at Messrs. Barclay and Perkins's brewery. From these documents it would seem that, because the English Government refused to institute any inquiry into the details of this alleged outrage other than by the usual forms and processes of English law, the Austrian Government "reserves to itself the right to consider, in a similar case, whether it should or should not act reciprocally towards a British subject in Austria." We transcribe the warning, for the benefit of British tourists, especially such as may not think Haynau a hero.

278

the 23rd inst. This convention was ratified by the King of Prussia on the 1st inst., and about the same day by the Imperial Government. Advices from Berlin, of the 10th inst., state that the reduction of the army has been decreed. The Prussian troops were still in the positions of Hersfeld. The Austrian forces continued to advance, having occupied Marburg, where they command the railroad from Frankfort to Cassel. General Von der Horst had been appointed Commander in Chief of the Holstein army, rice Willisen, who has resigned. Herr von Manteuffel, who has been appointed the Prussian Minister for foreign affairs, has left Berlin to attend the Dresden conference. It is not known what are his plans, nor what arrangement respecting the future was come to at Olmutz between him and Schwarzenberg, the Austrian Minister; but it has been asserted in Vienna that the admission of the whole of the Austrian provinces into the confederation will not be proposed, but merely a sufficient portion to equalise the power of Austria to that of Prussia; and the province of Galicia is mentioned for this purpose. The incorporation of Posen, and Prussian Poland, in 1848, increased the extent of Prussian territories within the confederation, and therefore, it is believed, Austria will demand a corresponding increase of her German territories. The commercial relations of Germany will probably form one of the topics of discussion, and it is expected that Austria will propose the same plans for a commercial system which she put forth last year. It is even stated that a provisional arrangement will be proposed which is to last until 1856, when the definitive arrangements are to come into existence.

[DECEMBER.

habitants of the above quarters, have fled from Aleppo,
the Turkish cavalry pursuing them.
Christian fell in this terrible affair. All the property of
the rebels will be devoted by the authorities to indemnify
Not a single
the Christians for their losses on the 14th and 15th of
October, and to rebuild the three churches which were
burnt.

Congress, on the commencement of the session, was preThe Message of the President of the United States to sented on the 3rd inst. It is a temperate document, and appears to have given general satisfaction. Its tone with reference to the foreign relations of the United States is decidedly pacific. With respect to the new territories, he urges a prompt adjudication on the Mexican land titles in California, and presses for the extension of the land laws to Utah and New Mexico. He recommends that the gold lands should be sold in small quantities, and that a branch mint should without loss of time be established in California. attention to the necessity that exists for organising one or more regiments of mounted men for the protection of He also calls the frontiers of New Mexico, and to help to repress the predatory Indians. The message contains important suggestions respecting the revision of the republic's naval code, rendered necessary by the recent abolition of flogging; the establishment of lighthouses and improvement of harbours; and the appointment of a tribunal to adjudicate all claims upon government. Not less interesting is the president's recommendation that an uniform rate of postage, of three cents for prepaid letters and five cents for unpaid letters, should be The Sardinian Chambers were opened by the King The most unsatisfactory parts of the message are those adopted, whatever the distance that they are conveyed. in person on the 23rd of November. passage of his speech, referring to the differences with Slave Bill. Respecting the former, Mr. Fillmore's views The following which relate to customs duties and to the Fugitive the Holy See, was greatly applauded by the Chambers are decidedly protectionist. He is of opinion that the and the people:-The efforts of my government have federal revenue should be raised mainly by import not succeeded hitherto in overcoming the difficulties duties; that these duties should be as far as possible which have arisen with the Court of Rome, in conse-specific, ad valorem rates when unavoidable being estiquence of certain laws which the powers of the state could not refuse to introduce in the new political and legal organisation of the country. conduct has constantly been the respect we all profess The rule of our for the Holy See, in conjunction with a firm resolution to uphold the independence of our legislation. Faithful to our duties, and persevering in the exercise of our rights, we hope that time and the happy influence of religion and civilisation will enable us to establish that harmony which is one of the first wants of the social

state."

The Senate of Piedmont, in its sitting of the 16th, passed the bill abolishing the laws on primogeniture, by a majority of 34 votes to 49.

The most remarkable news from Spain is that M. Bravo Murillo, the Minister of Finance, has resigned his office in consequence of a difference with the Minister of War, relating to reductions in the expenditure of his department. The municipality of Seville has decided that the portrait of Cardinal Wiseman should be placed in the hall of the chapter, as being one of the most illustrious sons of the capital of Andalusia.

Accounts from Aleppo state that a dreadful chastisement has been inflicted on the rebels who were the perpetrators of the massacre of the Christians, which we recorded last month. On the evening of the 7th ult., Kerim Pasha invited the principal chiefs of the insurgents to come to him. They accepted his invitation, persuaded that the fear of fresh disturbances would make them respected. Kerim Pasha had them placed under arrest. The insurgents, finding their chiefs did not return, rushed to arms, to the number of about 10,000, and insolently demanded their liberation. General replied by charging them at the head of 4000 The Ottoman Imperial troops, whom he had assembled in the inside of some barracks. The combat was desperate, and lasted more than twenty-four hours. quarters of the city, which were the seat of the revolt, Three Mussulman have been almost entirely destroyed; 1800 of the rebels fell in the struggle, and the remainder, with the in

mated on the home instead of the foreign valuation;
and that those rates should be so levied as to benefit
tive foreign competition. On the subject of slavery, the
incidentally home industry by shielding it from destruc-
president takes his stand on the Fugitive Slave Act, the
principle and policy of which, in every particular, he
strenuously defends.

portance has been transacted in either house.
Since the meeting of Congress, no business of im-
respect to the revenue and expenditure of the Union,
With
it is stated, that the receipts for the last year into the
penditure, 43,002,168 dollars; and that the public debt
United States Treasury were 47,421,748 dollars ;-ex-
has been reduced 495,276 dolars.

Mr. George Thompson, the Member for the Tower
Boston, on the 14th of November, but was not allowed a
Hamlets, attempted to deliver an anti-slavery lecture at
hearing. He was attended on the platform by William
Garrison, Frederick Douglas, and other representatives
of the anti-slavery party. The assembly determined
to drown the voices of the orators: they began with
groaning and hissing; then they cheered for "the Union,"
Daniel Webster,'
," "old Briggs," and "Jenny Lind;"
they groaned for "John Bull;
turned down, and the proceedings terminated with the
floor, and one or two commenced dancing; the gas was
a ring was formed on the
canticle "We won't go home till morning," in general
chorus.

has been some time suspected, has been positively ascerThe existence of a third ring around Saturn, which tained by the astronomers at Cambridge, Massachusetts. It is interior to the two others, and, therefore, at less distance from the planet.

on the bed of the Hudson, above Fort Lee, so as to give Submarine electric telegraph wires have been laid down a free communication with the south and west.

held at the Tabernacle, New York, on the 18th of A temperance demonstration on a large scale was November; 1700 dollars were collected, including 250 society were bestowed on Mdlle. Jenny Lind, President dollars from P. T. Barnum. Life memberships of the Fillmore, Hon. Henry Clay, Hon. Mr. Clayton, General Cass, Hon. W. H. Seward, Governor Hunt, &c., &c.

LITERATURE AND ART.

Devine on a horse, and rode him off to a tree. Here they made him kneel upon the horse's back, put the rope around his neck, and drove the horse off, leaving him hanging from the branch of the tree.

A terrible steamboat disaster occurred at San Francisco on the 29th of October, by which a number of lives were destroyed, variously estimated at from seventy-five to a hundred. This was caused by the explosion of the boiler of the steamer Sagamore, which took place just as she was leaving her wharf for Stockton. A large number of passengers were on board. Human bodies and masses of timber were at once scattered in every direction. The boat was a complete wreck, and from her fragments were taken the dead and dying, mutilated in the most shocking manner. The master of the boat was blown a distance of fifty feet into the water. He escaped with his life, but not without considerable injury. The cause of this dreadful waste of human life has not been ascertained.

An attempt was made on the life of General Belza, President of Bolivia, on the 6th of September, while walking with Colonel Laguna, President of the Senate, Don Augustine Morales, and others, when a student named Sotomayer fired a pistol, which wounded Belza in the face. As he fell, another pistol was fired by Morales, Some slight but the ball only slightly grazed him. The President of the attempt at a revolution appears subsequently to have been made, but without success. Senate was implicated in the conspiracy, condemned to be shot, and executed on the 13th of September. Morales and Sotomayer have also been condemned to death.

NARRATIVE OF LITERATURE AND ART.

THE question of a possibility of English copyright in books by foreign writers has again been raised in the courts, and a decision pronounced in the very teeth of that which was last recorded. Vice-Chancellor Knight Bruce has declared that the object of the Act of Anne must have been to promote literature in general. The Court of Exchequer has declared that the object of the Act could only have been to protect the rights of British authors exclusively. Between these two decisions a Court of Error will shortly have to pronounce, when there surely can be little doubt that the strict construction of the Copyright Act will be adhered to, and the decision of the Exchequer affirmed. In such case it will be hardly possible to avoid the necessity of fresh legislation on the subject, and it is desirable that the opportunity should not be lost of placing the entire law affecting an author's rights in England on a more satisfactory basis than it rests upon at present.

But Christmas has brought its usual supply (though somewhat less abundant than in former years) of pictorial volumes, and gift-books adapted to the season. most rich in point of engravings is Mr. Alaric Watts's Lyrics of the Heart, which comes nearer to the graphic wealth of the Stothard and Turner illustrations of Rogers's poems, than any book which has been published recently. Another pretty present is Christmas with the Poets, with woodcuts by Mr. Birket Foster. Another is Winged Thoughts, being a series of illuminated pictures of birds, by Mr. Owen Jones. The author of " Mary Barton" has given us The Moorland Cottage, Mr. Thackeray The Kickleburys on the Rhine, and Mr. Leigh Hunt a volume of Table-Talk, to promote the good feeling and mirth of the season; Mr. Richard Doyle, with the same praiseworthy purpose, has illustrated afresh the Story of Jack and the Giants, with very marvellous and peculiar knowledge of the wonders of nursery and fairy land; and Mr. Ruskin has had the help of the same ingenious