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for the relief and benefit of Ireland had succeeded; and also to consider what measures would be necessary to remedy the existing evils in that kingdom. The noble Earl introduced his motion in a long speech, in which, besides the other topics usually employed upon the subject, he confessed the cruelty and tyranny of England, impeached the administration of justice in Ireland, condemned the police bill, complained of the church establish ment, urged the necessity of catholic emancipation, and professed his compassionate respect for the well-disposed but inefficient government in the sister kingdom. The Earl of Liverpool, without disputing the unjust and selfish policy formerly observed towards Ireland, vindicated the present generation of Englishmen from any participation in it, and recited a vast number of generous concessions, which, since the commencement of the late King's reign, had been made for the benefit of Ireland. He maintained that the present depression of that kingdom was wholly unconnected with the disqualification of the Catholics; and opposed all the arguments upon that subject, drawn from the analogy of other States, by observing, that in Ireland alone was the religious division of the people accompanied by a parallel division of pro. perty, intelligence, and manners.

In

Ireland, it was notorious that the great bulk of the property, and all the qualifications naturally associated with property, belonged to the Protestants. Much of the suffering of Ireland he ascribed to a premature introduction of the English constitution; but for the omission of one part of the English code-the Poor Laws -he avowed his regret. He professed to hope the best results from the extension of Christian education; but begged to remind the House, that in the nature of things this result could not be very speedily felt. In conclusion, he opposed the motion. The Marquis of Lansdowne spoke at considerable length in support of the motion. The Earl of Limerick earnestly deprecated the introduction of poor rates into Ireland. He said the effect of such a measure would be, to make of the Irish peasantry six millions of beggars; because no Irishman, who could live idly, would work. The Marquis of Downshire, the Earl of Carnarvon, and Lord Clifden, supported the motion. The Earls of Carberry, Mayo, and Roden, opposed it; the last, in a speech of some length, gave a most gratifying description of the recent progress of education in Ireland. On a

division, the motion was rejected by a majority of 57 to 17.

9. The presentation of some petitions produced a short conversation upon the suppression of the Freemason lodges in Ireland, effected by the Secret Society Bill of last Session. The opinion of the Lords who spoke, (the Earl of Liverpool and the Marquis of Lansdowne,) seemed to be, that the hardship imposed upon the Freemasons was unavoidable.

12. The Marquis of Lansdowne brought in a Bill to enable the English Roman Catholics to vote for the election of Members of Parliament, and to give them the same right of suffrage as enjoyed by the Catholics of Ireland.

13-Lord Bathurst moved the second reading of a Bill to regulate the administration of justice in Newfoundland. The principal provisions of the measure are the enlargement of the Supreme Court by two additional Judges, the appointment of Circuit Courts, and the restoration of the Trial by Jury. The motion was unanimously agreed to.

15. The Bishop of Limerick read a letter of some length from the Archbishop of Dublin, in which his Grace, in allusion to the observations made upon his conduct in the debates upon the Irish Sepulture Bill, denied, in the most distinct and positive manner, that he had ever given any orders, or advice, or intimation of an opinion, on the subject of the performance of the Catholic funeral ceremonies in Protestant church-yards, up to the time when he was accused of having interdicted such celebrations, at which time he was in England. The letter went on to say, that the practice lately attempted by the Catholics was wholly an innovation; no such celebration, according to the experience of all the Protestant Clergy in Dublin, having occurred during forty years. In conclusion, the Archbishop's letter explained, that, when consulted by his Clergy, after the matter had been so angrily agitated, his advice had uniformly been, to abstain from every thing like a forcible resistance to the Catholic Clergy, and to rest contented with a protest against the illegal invasion of the rights of the Protestant church. Before he sat down, the Bishop of Limerick pronounced a glowing and well-merited panegyric upon the learning, genius, and Christian temper of the most reverend prelate (Dr Magee.)

The House adjourned to the 28th of April, when it re-assembled. On that and the two following days there was no important business before the House,

MAY.

BRITISH CHRONICLE.

11. HIGH COURT OF JUSTICIARY. -The Court this day proceeded to the trial of Alexander Guthrie, quarrier, in the parish of Pentcaitland, East Lo thian, accused of the murder of James Newton, who had been in his employ. ment as a labourer. Guthrie pleaded Not Guilty. It appeared from the evidence, that Guthrie and Newton, with four other quarrymen, had gone to the prisoner's house on the evening of Mon. day the 9th of February last, where they drank whisky till a pretty late hour, when the party broke up, leaving New ton and Guthrie together in the house. At that time there had been no quarrel betwixt them. Guthrie's mother also left the house, and went with a neigh bour, Mrs Gowans, in whose house she stopped all night. In the course of the night, Mrs Guthrie becoming uneasy, requested Mrs Gowans's daughter to go to her son's house, and see what was going on. She went accordingly, and finding the window of the room open, went in by it, and saw a man, whom she supposed to be Guthrie, lying on the bed, and Newton lying on the kitchen floor, with his head cut, and the floor strewed with fragments of broken bottles, and covered with blood, vomitings, and other filth. Upon receiving this information, Mrs Guthrie, with her neigh bour, Mrs Gowans, returned to the house. They immediately awoke Guthrie, who seemed astonished and sorry at the situation of Newton, and declared he knew no more of it than the dead in the grave. Newton's wound was washed and dressed, and he was put to bed, in which Guthrie assisted. Newton died two days after. The only circumstance which could attach suspicion to Guthrie, was, that his trowsers were stained with blood about the legs; but this was accounted for by Mrs Gowans, who stated, that while she swept the blood and filth from the floor towards the hearth, Guthrie was sitting by the fire; and that from the state of the floor no one could walk on it without having their shoes soiled with blood. All the witnesses, on their crossexamination, gave Guthrie a good character, and deponed to his bearing no ill will to Newton; but, on the contrary, they had heard him speak frequently in praise of him as a servant. Mr Lloyd, superintendant of police for the county of Haddington, had examined Guthrie's

house, and found the door of the kitchen much shattered, and also the outer window-shutter split, seemingly by a blow from the outside. Mr M'Neill said, that he did not, under these circumstances, feel himself warranted in asking a verdict against the prisoner, and he there. fore gave up the case. The Jury returned a verdict of Not Guilty; and Guthrie, after a solemn advice to abstain from the use of spirits, was dismissed from the bar.

The next case was that of Alexander

M'Farlane. The indictment charged him with having, on the 16th of February last, stolen from the shop of Richard Allan, grocer in the Potter-row, a kit of butter; and, when apprehended a few hours after, of having, in the Park-Place watch-house, seized a pair of large iron tongs, with which he assaulted James Stirling, grocer in the Potterrow, who had assisted in his apprehension, and struck him a dreadful blow on the head, by which his life was endangered. M'Farlane pleaded Guilty of the assault, but Not Guilty of the theft, and the Jury having found him Guilty accordingly, he was sentenced to a year's hard labour in Bridewell, and farther till he find security in 500 merks to keep the peace for three years.

Benjamin Ross, shoemaker in the Lawn-market of Edinburgh, who had been out on bail, now appeared at the bar, to answer to a charge of assaulting, striking, and wounding Jean Williams, or Ross, his wife. He pleaded Not Guilty. His wife stated, that he had frequently abused and hurt her; but on the night of the 31st December last, they had some words, and Ross lifted the tongs and struck her on the temple with them, to the effusion of her blood. She went to a neighbour's house, and by his advice returned, and, having washed the blood from her face, went to bed with her husband. Next morning, being unable to rise, she refused when her husband commanded her to do so; and he then struck her with a large ellwand across the legs; and afterwards, when she got up and said, "Benjy, you're surely not going to murder me!" he struck her on the left side of the head, knocked her down, and cut her. As soon as she was able to rise, she went up stairs in her, shift to a neighbour's, who wrapped a covering over her, and went for a surgeon. She was afterwards twelve days

in the Royal Infirmary. Mrs Ross's testimony, as far as regarded what took place out of her own house, was corro. borated by other witnesses, and the Jury found the husband Guilly. The Court were of opinion that a more brutal and savage case had never come before it, and Ross, who is a man above seventy years of age, was sentenced to transportation for life.

24.-James Sime was convicted of bigamy; but in consideration that he had already suffered a long confinement, and other alleviating circumstances, he was only sentenced to three months imprisonment.

31.-Selling blasphemous publications. James Affleck, bookseller in Adam's Square, Edinburgh, was put to the bar, accused of publishing and vending sedi. tious and blasphemous publications. He pleaded Guilty, and Mr Jeffrey address. ed the Court in mitigation of punishment. The learned Gentleman pleaded the candid confession of the prisoner, and as a proof of his contrition stated, that from the moment in which this charge had been brought, he had abstained from carrying on his trade of bookseller, and had shut his shop altogether, and had offered satisfactory security to the Lord Advocate, that he would for ever abandon the sale of the objectionable works. In consequence of these cir. cumstances, the Court only sentenced Affleck to three months imprisonment, and to find security for the space of three years in the penalty of £.100.

JUNE.

8.-Execution.-Yesterday John MCreevie, who was convicted at the Glasgow Circuit of breaking into Mr Shepherd's house at Springvale, and striking him while in his bed with a crow-bar, and robbing the house, was executed there in front of the Court-houses. Being led to the foot of the scaffold by the officers, he shook hands with Bailie Anderson and Mr Cleland, at the same time saying, “I am innocent-I am innocent." At this time he fell into an apparent stupor, and nearly fell down, but was supported by the officers. After having a little recovercd, he ascended the platform with support, and the rope being adjusted, the Rev. Mr Muir offered up, on his behalf, a most impressive prayer, at the end of which he appeared to be again falling, when the officers supported him. Having recovered a little, he prayed for some time in a muttering manner, but afterwards he spoke in a loud and firm voice, calling upon his Maker to extend mercy to him; he then bowed to the multitude and gave the signal, when was he launch

ed into eternity at twenty-five minutes past two o'clock.

HIGH COURT OF JUSTICIARY.Yesterday Samuel M‘Menemy was called to the bar, to receive the judgment of the Court, he having been found Guilty, on his own confession, at the last Glasgow Circuit, of several acts of falsehood, fraud, wilful imposition, cozenage, breach of trust, and embezzlement; the case was certified to this Court for punishment. Lord Meadowbank, who presided at the trial, stated, that the prisoner had been indicted on no less than eight different charges, to the three last of which he had pleaded Guilty; and he had certified the case, that it might be duly weighed and Lord considered by their Lordships. Hermand proposed that the prisoner should be confined in the Bridewell of Glasgow for twelve calendar months, and kept to hard labour. The other Judges expressed their concurrence, Lord Pitmilly remarking, that, should those crimes happen again, it would then be the duty of the Court to pronounce a heavier sen.

tence.

Isabella Blinkhorn, or Cocker, proprietor of a caravan containing a show of moving figures, was accused of the murder of her daughter, a girl of between nine and ten years of age, in the month of October last, at Johnstone, in the parish of Paisley. A number of witnesses were examined, from whose testimony it appeared, that the body of the girl had been found in the river Cart, bundled into a sack, on the 9th of October; that on the preceding day, several individuals heard cries proceeding from the waggon, and knew that the girl was missing next day. The mo ther, when shown the body, denied its being that of her daughter; and as the Court would not permit the examination of the prisoner's son, a very young boy, who was said to be the only eye-witness' of the murder, there was no evidence to convict the prisoner. The trial lasted to a late hour; and this morning, at ten o'clock, the jury returned a verdict of Not Proven. She was of course dismissed from the bar.

14.-Murder. This day, William Devan, or Divine, from Glasgow, charged with the wilful murder of his wife, was placed at the bar, and pleaded Not Guilty, the five Judges being present. The declarations of the prisoner were duly identified, as were also the bloody razor, and several other articles which were found near the deceased after the murder. The direct testimony against the prisoner was that of a boy, who was too young to be sworn, and a man who lived in the neighbourhood. The one declared that he

looked through a broken pane of the prisoner's window, and saw the prisoner sitting beside his wife on a wee stool; and that he saw him draw a razor across her throat, in the manner which he described with his hand on the throat of the macer; and that she then fell backwards; and he, being frightened, ran up the stair above, where he lived, and told what he had seen to his mother, who is since dead. The other declared that he looked through the same hole in the window, and saw the prisoner dragging something along the ground from the window to the bed. According to other evidence, the body was afterwards found in the situation to which the man said he saw this bundle removed, and there was a pool of blood in the place from which it had been dragged. There was other circumstantial evidence, which proved that the prisoner had been at his house, and that the door was locked about the time when the crime is supposed to have been committed. The razor with which the fatal act was committed was borrowed of a neighbour by the deceased, at the request of her husband, a short time before the atrocious deed. Several witnesses were called for the prisoner, with a view to prove an alibi; they however were not all of them very decisive upon that point, and they differed respecting immaterial circumstances, which disagreement was considered to shake the credibility of their general testimony. The panel, in his declarations, also pleaded alibi, and alleged that he had accompanied his two sons to their work; but his counsel produced no evidence of this, al though it was admitted to be competent for the sons, though under the age of pupilarity, to be called as evidence for the prisoner, but not for the Crown. The prisoner, in his declarations, relied chiefly on the theory of suicide, but it was proved by the Medical and other testimony, that the deceased did not kill herself; that the two wounds on her throat must have caused instantaneous death; and therefore that the deceased could not have removed from the situation where she first fell, nor have placed the razor on the mantlepiece, where it was found; nor have exchanged her under garment, and concealed beneath the bed the shift which was there found saturated with blood. Mr D. M'Niell addressed the Jury for the Crown, and Mr Wighame for the prisoner. The Lord Justice-Clerk summed up the evidence, and the Jury brought in a verdict of Guilty. His Lord ship, in a very impressive manner, pronounced on the panel the sentence of death.

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21.-Murder.-This day came on the

trial of Daniel or Donald Elphinstone, accused of the murder of Mrs Croket, his mother-in-law. To the charge of murder, the prisoner pleaded Not Guilty. The principal facts of the case, were, that the prisoner, on the 20th February, accidentally met his wife (who had been for some time living in a state of adultery with a man named Mackintosh) at her mother's door, in Libberton's Wynd, Edinburgh; that some ill language passed between the prisoner and his wife, when the former threw a 1 lb. weight at his faithless rib, and struck her on the hip. The wife then came to the door calling out murder, and the deceased coming up the Wynd at the time, lifted up an empty water stoup, which she threw at the panel, who threw it back again, and also drew a clasp knife from his pocket, with which he stabbed Mrs Croket below the 10th rib, the pri soner saying, "take that, and keep it as a keep-sake for your daughter." In consequence of the wound, Mrs Croket died on 9th March in the Infirmary. A number of tradesmen, with whom the prisoner had been employed as a painter, gave him a most admirable character for sobriety, honesty, and industry. The Jurybeing addressed by Mr Alison for the prosecution-Mr Maitland for the pri soner, the Lord Justice-Clerk summed up the evidence at great length-returned a verdict, finding by a plurality of voices the prisoner Guilty of murder. The Court then sentenced the prisoner to be executed at Edinburgh on the 28th July, and his body to be given to Dr A. Monro for dissection. He has since been respited during his Majesty's pleasure.

Johanna Rickaby was convicted, on her own confession, of various acts of swindling, and sentenced to 9 months' confinement in Bridewell.

25. At the Surrey quarter sessions, last week, Captain L. C. O'Callagan, stated to be in the Spanish service, but oc casionally acting at one of the minor theatres in London, was found guilty of an assault on the Rev. Mr Saurin, son of the Bishop of Dromore, by giving him a stroke with his own stick over the shoulders. The parties were returning from a visit to the discovery-ships at Deptford, and the prosecutor being on horseback, took too great a liberty, as the Captain conceived, in staring repeatedly into a carriage at Mrs Thelwall, and some la dies, who were under the Captain's care, he riding on the dickey. The scene took place at a turnpike gate on the road; and the parson gave the Captain his card, tearing off the word Rev., avowedly, as he said, on his examination, with the view of fighting him, if called upon! As

the assault was proved, the defendant was sentenced to one month's imprisonment; which he is now suffering, with bread and water only for his diet, having, under some misrepresentation, refused the county allowance, with the view of finding his own provisions, and then too late discovering that the alternative was bread and water only. He petitioned the Sessions, but they had no power to interfere, the visiting Magistrates alone being entitled to give directions in such matters. (Mr Denison his since given orders to allow Captain O'Callaghan what he pleases.)

23.-Dreadful Conflagration-About one o'clock in the morning of Thursday the 24th inst. a fire broke out in Edinburgh, in the back premises of a spirit-dealer at the head of the Royal Bank Close, High-Street, which was more destructive than any calamity of the kind for a hundred years before, having completely destroyed five houses of six stories high, comprising those well-known tenements over the piazzas leading into the Parliament Square, one house in the Square, and the one in the Royal Bank Close, in which the fire originated, which last, with the one immediately in front of it, were reduced to a heap of ruins before three o'clock in the morning. The afternoon of Thursday was far advanced before the devastating fury of the flames received any sensible check, and the engines continued to play upon the smoking ruins at intervals the three following days. The loss of property has been immense, notwithstanding that much of it was covered by insurance. The loss of life has been almost miraculously confined to that of one individual. The inhabitants of the two houses which first suffered, entered by a common stair in the Royal Bank Close, and although the fire broke out at the dead hour of night, by the extraordinary intrepidity of a few individuals, they were all got out in safety, many of them naked. Alexander Chalmers, a town-officer, tempted, after he had rescued a wife and seven children, to make an endeavour to recover some valuable papers which he had in charge; but on opening his door he was met by a body of flame which seized upon his clothes, and he was so dreadfully scorched, that he died in consequence yesterday morning. The upper flats of the houses destroyed were inhabited mostly by poor people, most of whom lost every thing but their lives. Others were enabled to save part of their furniture and effects, which were deposited in the Parliamen Square. Here a most distressing scene was exhibited in the course of Thursday; numbers of individuals, now

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without a house, were seen in the most anxious state, watching over the little property that they had been able to save from the general ruin. Among those were some infirm old women and children, which completed this picture of misery. A general subscription was immediately commenced for their relief. Except the house in which the fire commenced in the ground floor, the others all caught flame at the top and burned downwards. The property of those inhabiting the shops and lower flats was in consequence mostly saved. Among them were Messrs Tait and Co. haber. dashers; Mr Nelson, bookseller: Mr Ferguson, tobacconist; Mr Brash, spirit-dealer; Mr Budge, of John's Coffee-house; and Messrs Bell and Bradfute, booksellers, the greater part of whose stocks were removed in safety. It is remarkable that the buildings on the same site were consumed in the year 1700, in a most fearful conflagration which broke ont in the Meal-Market, Cowgate, and made its way to the High-Street. By a dreadful fire (says Maitland in his History of Edinburgh,) that broke out at the north-eastern corner of the MealMarket, about ten o'clock on Saturday night, on the 3d of February, all that magnificent pile of buildings (exclusive of the Treasury Room) in the eastern and southern sides of the Parliament Close, with the Exchange, were destroyed." About two years before this great fire, the Scots Parliament, anno 1698, we are told, “taking into consideration the great danger the Edinburghers were exposed to by the excessive height of their houses, both in respect to fire and falling, they enacted, that no building to be erected in the city thereafter shall exceed five stories in height; the front wall in the ground story to be three feet in thickness, the second two feet nine inches, the third two feet six, the fourth two feet three, and the fifth two feet."Before this, the houses had been considerably higher, as we are informed that the house on the south side of the Parliament Square, which was burnt down in the great fire of 1700, was three stories higher than the one which stands there at present, and which, at the back part, is eleven stories high, being the highest house in Edinburgh.

28.-HIGH COURT of JUSTICIARY.This day Jane Macfarlane was found Guilty of stealing from the person of W. J. Brown a pocket book, containing bank-notes to the amount of £.53, or thereby. Another woman, Margaret Muir, was charged with the same crime, but not appearing, was outlawed. The robbery

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