three hours' engagement there was about a hundred of 'em shot. I destroyed one crew, and disabled the rest. The next morning I hoisted out the British ensign, that the chief of the pirates might know who he had to do with. But he hoisted up another British ensign. Now, he could'nt have bought one in those seas, and the one he held up could only have been gained by the massacre of those to whom it had belonged." He went on describing the ferocity and bloodthirstiness of these pirates, and assured the meeting that if they were not put down, they would cut off every British ship that went into those seas. His speech was received with mingled cheers and hisses. Mr. George Thompson next addressed the meeting, and said he hoped the meeting would commission him, in his place in parliament, to demand a commission of inquiry. Then they could have the last speaker before it to give evidence; and if he (Mr. Thompson) were on the inquiry, he would not be satisfied till he turned the witnesses inside out. Resolutions were passed, demanding a parliamentary inquiry into the slaughter of the Dyaks under the direction of Sir James Brooke, on a vague and general imputation of piracy, and condemning the principle of head-money for the destruction of pirates; and it was agreed to present a petition to parliament.

ductive of much damage, the others were slight. There were eleven fatal fires, with a loss of twenty lives. In 1848, the total of fires was 805.

A deputation, representing the paper-makers, publishers, and printers of Great Britain, had an interview with Lord John Russell, in Downing Street, on the 12th, on the subject of The Paper Duties. The spokesmen were Mr. Crompton, of Farnworth, in Lincolnshire; Mr. James Baldwin, of Birmingham; Mr. Robert Chambers, and Mr. Charles Knight. Mr. Crompton urged the unfairness of imposing on a raw material of the most worthless character-the very refuse made from cotton and linen in the process of manufacturing them into cloth-a duty amounting to 600 per cent. upon its cost price when made into paper; whilst cotton manufactures have obtained the removal of a tax of only five-sixths of a penny per pound-not more than 5 per cent. on its value-on the cotton itself. He detailed various vexatious obstructions caused by the capricious and inconsistent conduct of the Excise; and urged the demoralising tendency of the tax, which was encouraging iniquitous practices, and breaking down the probity of manufacturers. Mr. Robert Chambers illustrated the pressure of the paper-duties on the publication of cheap periodical literature. There An important meeting was held in Freemasons' Hall, was one called a "Miscellany of Tracts," which his on the 6th, to promote the Sanatory Condition of London. brother and he published. It met a large sale, and was The Bishop of London presided; several noblemen, some in the way of doing some good amongst the humbler members of parliament, the Bishop of Chichester, and a classes. It returned, however, so slight a profit that number of clergymen, were present; Lord Ashley, Lord they gave it up, while selling to the extent of 80,000 A. Grosvenor, Mr. Wyll, M.P., the Rev. Dr. Cumming, copies. On the whole amount of this work printed, the Mr. C. Dickens, Mr. Slaney, M.P. Mr. Pownall, and duty was 62207. Now, this would have been a very the Rev. Dr. Worthington, were the speakers. In ample profit in itself, though a mere shade upon each opening the business, the Bishop of London observed, copy. In a cheap publication, the value of paper may that amidst much that is dark and discouraging in these be set down at nearly one-fourth of the selling price, times, there is much to cheer and animate in this sana- and considerably above one third of the price to the tory cause its effect on public feeling, if carried out to retailer.-Mr. Charles Knight developed the injurious the extent he hoped, would lessen the fearful chasms in tendency of the tax on "cheap publications for which respect of worldly comfort which divides the extremely high priced skilled authorship is paid." He had been poor from the extremely rich. A sense of this duty able to show that the duty had been a positive burden acting on a few individuals, and afterwards pressing upon the "Penny Cyclopædia," to the extent of 16,500/ upon a larger body of associated persons, has at length That work was undertaken under the auspices of Lord reached the legislature; and the legislature, thus John Russell himself, amongst other eminent persons; awakened, had already done much. But the provisions but the cost had been borne by Mr. Knight. It had for improving the health of London had proved by no never been remunerative; for the cost was largely inmeans sufficient; and it was in the hope of urging creased by the natural operation of the tax upon the government to effect stronger measures, that the meeting price or paper This was an example of the peculiar had been convened. Lord Robert Grosvenor said that burden of the tax upon the higher kind of literary the meeting was the resuscitation of an association prac- labour, compelled to compete with low-priced authorship tically defunct, in order that the metropolis might be in the rate of cheapness. Mr. Knight believed that the brought under the general law respecting sanatory great mass of publications were tending to cheapnessmeasures. Suitable resolutions were passed, and a the good as well as the bad. He believed that books number of noblemen and gentlemen were appointed to act for the few were fast going out of demand; and further, as officers of the "Metropolitan Sanatory Association." that the many would ultimately pay the proper rewards The returns of the Board of Trade just issued show a of good writers as well as, if not better, than under the total increase of exports compared with those of 1848, present system of a limited demand. But, with the to the amount of 9,901,7177. All the great staple paper-duty, the profits of a publisher employing the manufactures shared the movement, except machinery, best authors to produce cheap books were so curtailed which fell off by 108,585l. The imports of wheat ex-by the burden of the tax upon the large amount of ceeded those of 1848 by more than 1,250,000 quarters, paper used for such books, that the higher class of liteand at the same time the quantity taken for consump-rature was deprived of its proper encouragement.-The tion was more than 4,500,000 quarters in excess of last year. The import of coffee increased largely, that of sugar moderately-the considerable increase in the Colonial being nearly balanced by a decrease in Foreign. The Duke of Portland has announced to his tenants in Nottinghamshire, that, from Lady-day last, a moiety of their rents shall be calculated according to the average price of wheat for the half-year preceding the usual time of payment, taking 56s. per quarter as the standard of the present rents.

The Marquis of Hertford has announced his intention to allow 15 per cent. to such of his Irish tenants as pay their last half-year's rent by next April; and to allow certain other tenants tickets for draining to the extent of 20, 25, and, in some cases, 30 per cent. of their last half-year's rent, without any charge of interest. He asks the surrender of no lease, and much less will he interfere with the tenant-right which his tenants have enjoyed.

Premier received the deputation with courtesy, but gave no indication of his sentiments on the subject.

A meeting was held at Willis's Rooms on the 13th for the purpose of condemning the measures of government for promoting National Education. Upon the platform were the Bishop of Bath and Wells, the Bishop of Exeter, and the Bishop of Chichester; Lords Nelson, Campden, Fielding, Castlereagh, and Lyttelton; Archdeacons Manning, Thorp, Harrison, and Allen; and a long list of reverend dignitaries and gentlemen. The most notable speech was made by the Rev. Dr. Biber, who moved a resolution against the Kneller Hall Normal school, and concluded thus-"It was avowed by the Privy Council that the only Gospel taught at Kneller Hall was that which was comprised in the moral agencies relied upon by the Poor Law Commissioners for the elevation of the poor. Of him who sought to introduce such a Gospel into the: education of this country he hesitated not to say, without any personal feeling, Let him

accursed;' and he believed that the events which would be witnessed by the next two generations would fully justify the use of such language."

According to a report by Mr. Braidwood, the super-be intendent of the Fire Brigade, there were 838 fires in London during the last year; 256 of which were pro

PERSONAL NARRATIVE.

THE Queen and Prince Albert, with the guests at Windsor Castle, witnessed a dramatic performance, under the direction of Mr. Charles Kean, in the Rubens room, on the evening of the 1st. The piece was Julius Cæsar, and the leading parts were taken by Mr. Kean and Mr. Macready-the first time on which those performers have ever appeared on the same stage together. Thomas Maitland, Esq., her Majesty's SolicitorGeneral for Scotland, has been appointed to the place of one of the Lords of Session, in the room of Francis Jeffrey, Esq., deceased; and James Moncreiff, Esq., Advocate, has been appointed to the vacant place of Solicitor-General for Scotland.

Mr. Justice Talfourd has received from her Majesty the honour of knighthood.

The Lords of the Admiralty, on obtaining the sanction of the House of Commons to another expedition in search of Sir John Franklin, have lost no time in deciding on the plan to be adopted for proceeding in the direction of Davis's Straits, Lancaster Sound, and onwards to Melville Island; and orders have been sent to Woolwich to get two steam vessels and two dockyard lighters ready for sea at the shortest notice. Captain Austin has been daily at the Admiralty making the arrangements for the expedition which he is to command. Some thirty captains, including among them Captain William Peel, a son of Sir Robert Peel, and Captain Caffin, formerly of the Scourge, have volun

teered their services, and earnestly pressed for commands in the expedition. Mr. Penny, whom Lady Franklin has engaged to conduct an independent expedition, has also been at the Admiralty, and has received encouragement and assurances of co-operation.

Obituary of Notable Persons.

LORD JEFFREY died at his residence in Moray-place, Edinburgh, on the 26th ult., in the 77th year of his age. He was admitted an advocate of the Scottish bar in the year 1794, and for forty years pursued that profession, filling the office of Lord Advocate, and attaining the dignity of the bench. He was married twice: first, in the year 1802 to Catharine, daughter of the Rev. Dr. Wilson, of St. Andrew's; and secondly, in the year 1813, to Charlotte, daughter of Mr. C. Wilkes, of New York, and grandniece of the well-known Alderman Wilkes, of London. SIR FELIX BOOTH, BART., died at Brighton on the 18th ult. He was a wealthy distiller, and served the office of sheriff of London in 1828-9; he was also distinguished for his munificence, having presented Sir John Ross with 20,000l. to enable him to fit out his polar expedition.

LIEUT.-GENERAL ROBERT CRAWFORD, of the late Royal Irish

Artillery, died on the 14th inst. He served in Holland in 1794 and 1795, and in 1798 he was actively employed in Ireland during the rebellion. He commanded the Irish Artillery when that force was consolidated with the British.

LORD GODOLPHIN died, on the 15th inst., at Gogmagog Hills, in Cambridgeshire, aged 73.

GENERAL LORD AYLMER, G.C.B., died on the 23rd, in his 75th year.

SIR WILLIAM ALLAN, R.A. and President of the Royal Scottish Academy, died on the 23rd, in his 68th year.

COLONIES AND DEPENDENCIES.

IN the absence of any news of special mark from the colonies, news has gone out to them from us that will be more welcome than any transmitted during the present century. They will learn from it that the English prime minister has delivered views of colonial policy in parliament, which the most vehement advocates of their claims, and exponents of their wrongs, had hailed with satisfaction and delight. These views may indeed most worthily date a new era in colonial government. They were announced by Lord John Russell in proposing the measure for giving new constitutions to the colonies of Australia, and the principle which governs them may be briefly described. It is that wherever the British flag has been planted abroad, and a society of Englishmen has been brought together, the English institutions which secure English freedom shall hereafter have place among them, and development according to the growth of the colony. Thus, in the present instance of Australia, ample powers of local self-government are given, with only such reservation of imperial power as may be used with advantage to the colonists themselves. Nor was the satisfaction felt and expressed at the speech derived more from the premier's tone in regard to the future, than from the spirit in which he reviewed the past. The courage of entering a new path is not always attended by the courage of confessing an old error, but there was no flinching in the speech of Lord John. He did not say that having governed their colonies with consummate wisdom for a hundred years, it was now incumbent on English statesmen to govern them in a quite different way; but he frankly implied sufficient of past miscarriage, to guarantee strongly what he said for amendment in the future. It is a pity that something of the same spirit, bold yet prudent, does not govern and control the great soldier and reformer now in India. Sir Charles Napier is doing good in the most offensive way conceivable. His last general order is a denunciation of the Bengal army for gross military ignorance and want of discipline, in terms which will intercept half the benefit intended. Nevertheless the other half will be no inconsiderable boon.

The Overland Mail has brought advices from Bombay to the 17th of January. There is little intelligence of importance. A great sensation had been excited by a General Order issued by Sir Charles Napier, in which he censures most severely the state of discipline in the Bengal army encamped at Lahore. The following are some passages from this characteristic document, which is dated from Head Quarters at Lahore, on the 15th of December:

"At the late review of the troops on the plain of Meean Meer, the following egregious deficiencies were evident to all

"1st. That some commanders of regiments were unable to bring their regiments properly into the general line.

"2nd. One commanding-officer of a regiment attempted to wheel his whole regiment as he would a

seen disordering their companies by attempting to dress them from the wrong flank.

"4th. When the line was ordered to be formed on the left column, some commanders deployed too soon, and ordered their lines (thus improperly formed) to 'double quick,' in order to regain their position. This was all bad; but it was worse to see the regiments, on receiving the word to 'double quick,' at once charge with loud shouts,-no such order to charge having been given by any one, nor the words 'prepare to charge': nor did anything occur to give a pretext for such a disgraceful scene, exhibiting both want of drill and want of discipline.

"5th. Bad as this was, it was not the worst. When these regiments chose to charge,' the Commander-inchief, to his astonishment, beheld the men discharging their firelocks straight up in the air, and he saw some men of the rear-rank actually firing off their muskets to the rear over their shoulders as their bearers he will

not call them soldiers) were running to the front. He feels assured that no such scene could have occurred in any other regiments in the army: if ever such again happen, he will expose the commanding-officer of any regiment that so disgraces itself, in public orders, to the whole Indian Army. In the course of his service he never before witnessed such a scene. No commander could go into action with a regiment capable of such conduct without feeling certain that it would behave ill. The Commander-in-chief will, therefore, hold commanding-officers responsible (for they alone are to blame) that any soldier who shouts, or charges, or fires, without orders, be instantly seized, tried at once by a drumhead court-martial, and the sentence executed on the spot."

He adds:-"The Sepoy is both a brave and an obedient soldier; and whenever he behaves ill, it is in a great measure the fault of his commanding officer.

"The drill and discipline of all armies rest mainly with the commanders of regiments and of companies. They are in immediate contact with the officers, noncommissioned officers, and private soldiers; and to them general officers must look for that perfect obedience

without which any army is an armed mob, dangerous to its friends and contemptible to its enemies.

"The Commander-in-chief does not apply this order to all commanders-he well knows that there are abundant first-rate soldiers, and first-rate regiments in the Indian army; but he applies it to those whose regiments are in bad order."

The news from Canada comes down to the 2d inst. The Quebec election had resulted in the return of the government candidate, M. Chabot: the votes were2007 for Chabot, and 1203 for M. Legare, the Annexationist. It is stated that one-third of the voters held back rather than vote for the ministry or annexation. The contest lay between the French Canadians, the followers of Lafontaine, on the one hand, and those of Papineau, or the "Young Canada" party, on the other; and the result gave little cause for triumph either to the royalists or the annexationists.-A despatch had been received from Earl Grey approving of the dismissal of the magistrates who had signed the annexation manifesto, and directing other measures of discouragement and repression.

NARRATIVE OF FOREIGN EVENTS.

THE old hackneyed phrase about foreign affairs is absent from the speech on the opening of Parliament. Her Majesty fails for once to inform us that she has received the most friendly assurances from all foreign powers. Lord Stanley regrets the omission very much, but it is doubtful whether the people generally will regret it. Vast numbers may be apt to think that friendly assurances from Russia, Austria, and such like, would be anything but complimentary just now. England aloof from these gentry, neither making nor meddling, leaving them to their own tyrannies and intrigues, and resolute to co-operate with none of them, whether for the strengthening of old despotisms or the creation of new despots, is in the position best suited to her own respectability and character. A more satisfactory contrast than that which was lately exhibited to the oppressed peoples of the continent could hardly have been desired by Englishmen. Very nearly about the time when General Lamoricière, the French ambassador at St. Petersburgh, was attending the Russian Te Deum for the defection of Görgey and the fall of Hungary, Sir William Parker, the British admiral in the Mediterranean, was sailing up the Dardanelles with a powerful fleet to support Turkey in her humane refusal to deliver up to the scaffold the fallen Hungarians.

The matter of most importance in the foreign politics of the past month has been the affair with Greece. Lord Palmerston, after trying years of negotiation for redress of certain confessed wrongs on the part of the Greek Government to British subjects, has at last proceeded to enforce those claims by the sharp argument of a blockade; the effect of which has been that all who were before the loudest in their indignation at the neglect of those wrongs, became suddenly the foremost denouncers of the means taken to redress them. It is natural perhaps, but inconvenient, that this instinct of sympathy with the weaker party should enter as much into the affairs of States as of men. Whether it be a culprit nation or an individual offender, the feeling which attends the wrong too rarely survives to the chastisement. With the largest class of over sensitive minds, the wrong doer under punishment is quite as worthy an object of sympathy as the sufferer under oppression; and the wretch pinioned beneath the halter, is in no respect the same as the wretch armed against his victim. However, arbitration in the present case is to settle the dispute; and King Otho, after much screaming and blubbering, is already wiping his eyes. His quarrel with us, or, to speak more properly, his spite against us, originates in nothing more offensive than the benefits we have conferred upon him, and our occasional advice to him from time to time to govern constitutionally.

Of incidents from abroad there are none worth remark. The daily occurrences in Paris, whether it be crusades of the police against the poor faded trees of liberty, or the great police engagement against the flowers flung around the funeral column of the victims of the 24th February on the recent anniversary of that notable day, or the bepuffed revelations of Chenu the shoemaker against the revolutionary heroes, are simply contemptible. Nor in truth is much more to be said for the solemn farce at Berlin in which Frederick William lately took the oaths to the new constitution of Prussia, protesting that he should govern for the future in accordance with the new laws and responsibilities placed around the Prussian throne, but at the same time declaring that he was to be obeyed as governor, not because it pleased himself or any body else, but because God had so ordained. Such a preposterous jumble of constitutional doctrine and divine right was probably never listened to.

and the rioters were put to flight, with loss of some two hundred or more of prisoners. In the course of the riot, General Lamoricière, passing in a coach, was hauled from his seat, and roughly handled, before he could retreat to the shelter of a house he escaped at

The accounts from Paris state that the recent pro- | tary were promptly called out by General Changarnier ceeding, on the part of the authorities, of cutting down the trees of liberty in all parts of the city, has given rise to serious popular disturbances. On the 4th inst., the artisans of the quarter St. Martin assembled in a large and tumultuous mob, and attacked the police while employed in cutting down some of those trees.last, covered with mud. On the following day some The police repulsed the crowd, but were attacked with fury by increasing numbers; and several of them were wounded with hammers and sharp weapons. The mili

slight collisions again occurred on the removal of more trees. The government issued a notice in the morning, stating that no more would be removed if they were not

made seditious centres. Several persons having defied this notice, by hanging symbols of revolution on a tree in the Rue St. Martin, the police were ordered to proceed with their work; and under the protection of the soldiery the offensive task was completed.

A horrible murder and suicide have been committed in Paris. A lieutenant of the 56th Regiment of the Line, lodging in the Rue du Havre, killed his mistress with his sword, and then threw himself from his window into the street. He was killed on the spot.

on the Corso with his sister, he lifted one of many bouquets thrown to him, and offered it to his sister, who was looking in another direction; an explosive concealed in the flowers burst in his hand. The prince was badly but not dangerously wounded in the hand and thigh, and the princess was slightly wounded in the leg. One hundred and fifty persons were arrested. It is further stated that Austria, having demanded that her arms should be replaced at Rome with the usual pomp, the Pope asked General Baraguay D'Hilliers whether on such an occasion he could answer for the tranquillity The King of Prussia, together with the two chambers, of the capital; to which the General had replied that took the oath to the new constitution in the Hall of he could answer for nothing, and that his troops would Knights, on the 6th; divine service having first been be consigned to their barracks and remain perfectly attended in the cathedral. The King and the Princes of neutral. The idea of restoring the Austrian arms had been abandoned in consequence of this answer. The the blood royal entered the hall together; the Prince of Prussia absented himself: the two chambers were pre-house of Rothschild. The amount is 33,000,000 francs, loan to the Roman government has been taken by the sent in mass, packed together wherever they could stand in the narrow hall: the constitution of the 31st divided into 42,000 bonds of 78 francs each. The difficulties connected with this loan have for some time past January lay on a table in front of the throne. The King having taken his seat, rose, and in a tone solemn, been considered the principal obstacle to the return of though not without humour, said he would avail himself the Pope to Rome, and it is now thought that there will of the last occasion to address them unbound by the be no further delay. influence of ministerial responsibility. His Majesty's speech, which was patriotic in tone, and delivered with much carnestness, was listened to with cager attention; loud hurrahs burst from the assembly at its close. Count Brandenburg approached, and read the formula of the oath. The King, uncovering himself, pronounced the oath, raising his hand and eyes to heaven, and then with fervour exclaimed: "I, Frederick William, swear it-swear it so true-God help me!" The ministers were sworn to be faithful and obedient to the King, and conscientiously to observe the constitution. All the members of the two chambers were in like form sworn, each separately, and each according to his religious belief, raising three fingers of the right hand, and adding the characteristic asseveration of his creed. The minister then addressed the King in terms of homage and gratitude; the King replied by an invocation of God's blessing on the work, and departed; and the assemblage broke up with loud shouts of applause.

A letter from Vienna, of the 30th January, reports a disaster from a snow-storm, in the neighbourhood of Wieselburg. About 108 artillerymen received orders to march from Nickolsdorf to Parendorf. When on the road which leads across a great heath, they were surprised by such a terrific snow-storm that they soon completely lost their way, and many of them were frozen to death. A few, after suffering inexpressibly, managed to reach some of the neighbouring villages, and sent out the peasantry in search of their unfortunate comrades; but, alas! the twenty or twenty-five first found, among whom was the captain of the company, were already dead. The latter was on his knecs. The rest have since been brought in dead or so frozen that there is but little hope of their recovery.

Intelligence from Lisbon has been received to the 9th. A stringent law against the press had been presented the chamber of deputies. Violent attacks had been made on Thomar in the chambers, and equally severe remarks upon him had been indulged in by the press. The government have a majority. Saldanhia had been dismissed from his office. The Prince de Joinville had been entertained with great distinction at the palace, and much importance was attached to his arrival in Portugal.

King, at the suggestion of the Pope, had granted an A letter from Naples of the 18th, announces that the amnesty to all the Neapolitans who had fought against the Austrians in Lombardy and at Venice. In the province of Aquila no less than 1846 prisoners had been restored to liberty. The amnesty, however, did not extend to persons detained for political offences of a domestic nature.

Advices from Athens of the 19th state, that Admiral from the Greek government the payment, within twentyParker, having arrived with his fleet, had demanded four hours, of all moneys due to the British, or protected British subjects, from Greece; also that the island or Sapentia and Cabrera, off the south-west side of the Morea, and which form a part of the Ionian Isles, should be immediately given up to him, threatening, in the event of refusal, to blockade the Piræus and make reprisals. Otho, however, refused the demand in toto, and Admiral Parker had consequently taken possession of the men-of-war in the Piræus, and blockaded the coast. The islands of Cabrera and Sapienza had also been taken possession of by English parties.

The advices from New York are to the 9th instant. The President had addressed to Congress a message recommending that the constitution which California proposes for itself shall receive the sanction of Congress. The message was founded on the constitutional right of every new state to decide for itself whether slavery shall or shall not be among its institutions; thus combating the principle of the Wilmot proviso, that slavery shall be excluded from all new territories. In the particular instance of California, the new state has already decided against the existence of slavery within its confines.

In the senate, Mr. Clay had moved resolutions ininvolving a settlement for the present of the slave question. He proposed to admit California as a state; to establish territorial governments over all other newly-acquired countries without reference to slavery; to abolish all traffic in slavery in the district of Columbia, but to declare it inexpedient to abolish slavery there without the consent of the citizens and the citizens of Maryland; also assuming the debt of Texas. Mr. Clay advocated his resolutions with effect, and induced the senate to defer their consideration some days for the same calm and patient consideration he had given them.

Accounts from Rome describe murders to be of nightly occurrence in the streets. On the 11th, General Bara- Four bills were before the senate on the subject of guay D'Hilliers issued the following proclamation:-appropriating public lands. They propose the free "Inhabitants of Rome-The General-in-chief, with a granting of 160 acres of land to all applicants, whether view of putting an end to the vile assassinations that native or foreign, on the condition of their residing upon endanger the lives of the officers and soldiers of the army, them and cultivating them. orders that no person shall henceforward carry about him knives, stilettos, or any instrument applicable to the perpetration of a crime. Whoever shall be found with such arms about his person shall be instantly shot." --The life of the Prince of Musignano, son of the Prince of Canino, was attempted on the 9th instant. While

A serious Affair with Pirates has taken place in the river Seba, on the coast of Africa. An English merchant vessel, trading on the coast, was seized by a body of pirates, and some of the crew were shot. The governor of Bathurst obtained from the French governor of

Senegal a small war-steamer and some marines, to assist in punishing those banditti and retaking the vessel. An expedition, of two British and the French vessel, was formed against the island in the mouth of the river which the pirates inhabited. One of the British vessels, the Teazer, and the Ruby (the Frenchman) having gone up the creek where the island is situated, anchored off the place where they were to land. The Centaur, being too large to come up so far, sent up her boats, twelve in number, while she remained about three miles down. Captain Buckle, of the Centaur, and Lieutenant Selwyn, commander of the Teazer, then went in advance of the other boats near the shore, intending to demand the restitution of the vessel together with the men who murdered the crew; when he was fired at. The ball

took effect on Mr. Young, midshipman of the Centaur, dangerously wounding him in the breast. The Teazer and Ruby, together with the boats that had cannon, then opened a furious cannonade, which lasted nearly half-an-hour. The natives stood it without answering a shot. They then attempted to land from the boats: however, the first that came near the bush, which they had to pass through, received a volley which took great effect, killing Lieutenant Crocket, commanding the marines, and dangerously wounding eight others, sailors and marines. They then withdrew, and our men landed without further opposition; and after beating about for some time, returned to their vessels. The next day the party went ten miles up the creek, and recovered the vessel without opposition er seeing a man.

NARRATIVE OF LITERATURE AND ART.

No man

THE death of Francis Jeffrey has come with a certain strange surprise as well as general sorrow. had more successfully and thoroughly completed what may be called the appointed business of his life; but the public as well as private inanifestations of his intellect were still so active and unwearied, and his sensibilities and enjoyments, to the last, were so young, that it was difficult to connect the idea of old age with him. He will be remembered with the Edinburgh Review. A most successful lawyer, and a bold as well as prosperous politician, his fame will nevertheless chiefly rest on his connection with that remarkable periodical. Some six or eight young men, living in Edinburgh at the beginning of the century, were its founders; of whom, the eldest, Sydney Smith, was thirty-four years old, and the youngest, Lord Brougham, was twenty-three. They were all busily engaged in other pursuits at the time; and what they called the "subordinate occupation" of literature, they perhaps thought, in their several conceits, to have been a little too subordinate. Certain it is, that they began very savagely. They hung out the black flag even in their motto; proclaiming writers to be a sort of criminals, whose lapse into literature would bring them justly to the dock, and promising that unmitigable judgments should there await them. This was hard, and was rather uncompromisingly carried out. For though a judge may be criminal who acquits the man of guilt, it is nevertheless safer to do this in a dozen cases than to condemn the innocent in one. But whatever was thus harsh or indiscreet has long ago passed away, and left nothing but an invigorating influence and a thoroughly good example. Nothing could be more touching or wise than Jeffrey's silent repudiation of the bitterness of his youth in the articles he republished a few years ago. All desire had died within him, then, but that of connecting with his name, in the regard of such as might take interest in his writings hereafter, only those papers which he hoped might have a tendency to make men happier and better. The Devil in the Revelations is described as having great wrath "because he knoweth he hath but a short time." Anger is fleeting, as faults are; but beauty and admiration endure. To measure the depth of a critic's perception by what he praises, therefore, rather than by what he blames, will be always the safest course; and we may assume that to discover the minutest faults more easily than the greatest beauties proves nothing but that the intellectual as well as the actual vision is subject to a kind of ophthalmia. Jeffrey's last act in literature substantially admitted this truth.

The publications of the month have been chiefly translations, continuations, and new editions. Of the last, the most valuable as well as interesting is the commencement of a new edition of Evelyn's Diary and Correspondence in a form which was greatly to be desired. Of translations three may be mentioned.

We have had a vivid English version of an Hungarian novel, called The Village Notary, by the Baron Eötvos. which has an interest even beyond its graphic scenes and characteristic portraiture, in its clever representation of the actual working of the local and self-governing institutions of Hungary, with all their abuses, as well as their points of merit. Guizot's treatise, On the Causes of the Success of the English Revolution, 1640-1688, has had the advantage of incomparable translation by Mrs. Austin, and is a thoughtful glance over a momentous half century of our English annals by a writer of keen and calm historical insight. It must be confessed, however, that its contribution to the philosophy either of politics or history is not great. For such a man as Guizot, relatively to the greatness of the subject, it is little more than a schoolboy theme. The Memoirs of Cardinal Pacca, which have been translated very cleverly by Sir George Head, derive their principal interest from the fact of the writer having been secretary of state to Pius the Seventh, when the latter was seized by Napoleon. The mishaps of Pio Nono have, to a certain small extent, renewed the interest of that passage of history; and will probably obtain a more respectable audience for

the good cardinal's narrative, than its somewhat dull self-importance might otherwise have claimed.

Mr. Carlyle has commenced, under the title of Latter Day Pamphlets, a series of monthly lucubrations on Condition-of-England questions, and matters affecting the universe generally, which seem likely to attract no small attention and discussion. Miss Martineau has brought her Continuation of the Pictorial History to a close. Another very interesting volume of Southey's Life and Correspondence has been issued; and our month's summary of publications will be sufficiently complete when mention has been made of two somewhat clever books of travel. The first is, Baxter's Impressions of Southern and Central Europe, which are somewhat bitter impressions, not at all likely to be palatable to people who don't like ugly things called by ugly names. The second is a denunciation of Turkey and its Destiny, in two bulky volumes, by Mr. Mac Farlane, whose hero is the Emperor of Russia, and who writes this enormous party pamphlet to prove that the poor grand old empire of the cast is at last arrived at its dying agonies."

Several new dramatic pieces have been produced during this month. The principal were--Retribution, a romantic play by Mr. George Bennett, at Sadler's Wells; The Noble Heart, a tragic play in three acts by Mr. M. G. Lewes, at the Olympic; and Old Love and New Fortune, a five-act play in blank verse, by Mr. H. F. Chorley, at the Surrey.