you an official account of the defection of the Spanish General Olaneta, who, it appears, has put himself in communication with some Buenos Ayreans on the frontiers of Upper Peru, which will act as a powerful diversion in favour of the oper. ations of General Bolivar on this side.

"A general engagement was expected to take place in Peru in all this month. The appearance of a Spanish force on the other coast has prevented the arrival of some troops here, destined for that country; but, notwithstanding this circumstance, I am not apprehensive of the issue of the campaign. General Bolivar has a force of upwards of 10,000 good troops with him, well clothed, organized, and disciplined, and far superior to any thing, from what I can learn, that can be brought against him."

Other accounts have been received from Panama, stating that Bolivar had again made himself master of Lima, but this wants confirmation.

BRAZIL.—An alarm at Rio Janeiro, that the King of Portugal was upon the point of sending out to Brazil a strong armament, for the purpose of attempting the re-subjugation of that country, has given occasion to two proclamations of Don Pedro, which, if they speak his sentiments, show that he cherishes no intention, as it has been sometimes insinua. ted he did, of replacing his dominions,

when a fitting opportunity should present itself, under the dominion of Portugal. These proclamations manifest the most determined resolution of offering resis tance to whatever measures Portugal may undertake against the independence of Brazil. The people are called upon to take arms in the defence of their country, in order to prevent, as far as possible, the enemy from landing on their territory, and should that be impossible, to retire into the interior, leaving the country desolate behind them. A promise of pardon to all deserters who should rejoin their standards, has also been issued; such as were liable to serve, and yet failed to join the army, have been impressed, and the same activity was displayed in fitting out the navy, the vessels employed in the blockade of Pernambuco being recalled. All these precautions, however, seem needless, and we can hardly conceive how they should have been thought otherwise; for Portugal, we well know, is not in a state to make the attempts which are dreaded.

WEST INDIES. By the latest accounts from Jamaica, it appears that the island was tranquil. Twelve of the negroes who had been tried and condemned to death, have been executed pursuant to their sentence; and almost all those engaged in the late insurrection had returned to their labour.

HOUSE OF LORDS.-May 4.-The Earl of Lauderdale obtained leave to bring in a Bill to repeal the "Spitalfields Acts,' which was read a first time. The object of the Bill is to remove all restrictions on the Silk Trade, which his Lordship said would be more beneficial to local and general interests than the partial repeal that had been adopted.

The Marquis of Lansdowne then moved the committal of the Unitarians' Marriage Bill. The Bishop of Chester opposed the law, upon the ground that it would amount to a surrender of the doctrines and discipline of the Established Church. The Right Rev. Prelate concluded by proposing as an amendment, that the Bill should be read that day six months. The Bishop of St. David's expressed a doubt whether opinions, plainly repugnant to the fundamental doctrines of Christianity, were entitled to so much consideration. The Archbishop of Canterbury supported the motion.

He pro

fessed to set no value upon the insincere

and reluctant conformity extorted from Dissenters by the existing Marriage Laws. The Marquis of Lansdowne defended his Bill at great length. He asserted, that it professed nothing more than to restore the Unitarians to the privileges which they enjoyed before Lord Hardwicke's Marriage Act; which Dissenters still enjoy in Ireland, and which are now freely indulged to Quakers and Jews in this kingdom. The Lord Chancellor opposed the Bill, as inimical to the supremacy of the Established Church, which Church he venerated, not only as the purest in her doctrine, but as the great bulwark of civil liberty, and the only security for a permanent toleration. The details of the Bill, he said, went to degrade the Church to the condition of handmaid to the Dissenters, and therefore he should oppose it. Lord Holland supported the Bill, and ridiculed the exaggerated strain which, he said, had been used in canvassing a measure so limited in its operation and probable influence. The Earl of Liverpool,

professing the most devoted attachment to the Church of England, nevertheless supported the motion, which he thought only a reasonable concession. The House then divided on the amendment.-Contents, 105. Non-Contents, 66. The Bill was in consequence lost.

13. The Earl of Liverpool moved the second reading of the Alien Bill. Earl Grosvenor, the Earl of Carnarvon, and Lord Holland, opposed the motion, which, on the other hand, was supported by Lord Calthorpe, the Earl of Westmoreland, and the Lord Chancellor. On a division, the numbers were, for the second reading, 80-Against it, 35.

14. Lord Gage proposed to add to the Alien Act, by way of rider, a clause providing that no Alien should be deported to the dominions of his lawful Sovereign without his own consent. After a short debate, the clause was rejected by a majority of 25 to 13.

The Earl of Lauderdale's bill for the repeal of the Spitalfields Acts was read a second time, after a very brief discussion, and a division, in which the supporters of the bill amounted to 23, and its opponents to 8.

17.—The Earl of Liverpool obtained a Committee to inquire into the state of the disturbed districts in Ireland, similar to that which was appointed in the House of Commons, upon Mr. Goulburn's amendment of Lord Althorpe's motion. The Marquis of Lansdowne complained of the local and limited field of inquiry suggested to the Committee, and contended that the state of the whole kingdom should have been made the subject of investigation, challenging the Earl of Liverpool to name any one county which might not be the scene of disturbance before the termination of the year; and comparing the conduct of Ministers to that of a Turkish physician in a harem, who is required to fix the pathology of every disease by a single symptom-the state of the pulse. Lord King called Ministers empirics, quacks, &c. On a division, the motion for a Committee was carried by a majority of 50 to 20.

rally, the principle upon which many Joint Stock Companies had lately been incorporated, as taking them from under the wholesome superintendance which the Crown exercised over Companies in. corporated by Charter. The promoters of the Bill before the House, he said, had taken very good care of themselves, but they appeared a little indifferent to the security of their creditors, to whom they appeared to have left no remedy but a process against the gasometer, or a distress upon the inflammable air. The Noble and Learned Lord gave, in his speech, a reading upon the nature and policy of commercial incorporations, well worthy of the attention of political econo mists. The amendment (throwing out the Bill) was carried without a division.

The Earl of Lauderdale then moved the third reading of the Spitalfields Acts Repeal Bill. The Lord Chancellor op posed the motion. He said that he did not approve of the principle of the Spital fields Acts; and that were they now proposed, he should vote against them; but he thought some delay due to the apprehensions of the weavers. The Bill (repealing the Spitalfields Acts) was carried by a majority of 61 to 55.

24. The Earl of Liverpool brought down Bills originating with the Crown, (as by law such Bills must,) to reverse the respective attainders of the Earl of Marr, ancestor of John Francis Erskine, Esq.; of the Earl of Kenmure, ancestor of John Gordon, Esq.; of the Earl of Strathallan and Perth, ancestor of James Drummond, Esq.; and of Lord Baron Nairne, ancestor of William Nairne, Esq.; and to restore the above-named living representatives of the attainted Peers to the honours forfeited by their predecessors. To these restorations, which the noble Earl described as spontaneous acts of mercy and grace, the Royal proposition added another, which, with equal truth, the Earl of Liverpool called an act of strict justice, namely-the reversal of the attainder of the Earl of Stafford, the innocent victim of Oates' perjury. The Earl of Liverpool's motion for the first reading gave rise to some observations from the Earls Radnor and Lauderdale, and Lord Belhaven; against which the noble mover remonstrated, as being quite unprecedented upon a first reading in the House of Lords. The Bill was read a first time.

met by an amendment on the part of Lord Colchester-that the Bills be read that day six months; and though supported by the Earls of Liverpool and Westmoreland, who voted with the Noble Marquis, both his measures were thrown out, on two divisions, by majorities of 139 to 101, and 143 to 109.

25. The Marquis of Lansdown moved for the production of returns of all the officers of Excise, who had, within the last year, taken the oaths of quali. fication enjoined by the acts 12 and 15 of Charles the Second. The purpose of his motion, he said, was to show, that Ministers had, in fact, exercised a dispensing power with respect to these oaths, which some of them would not permit to be repealed. The Earl of Liverpool explained that these oaths had been included in the annual indemnity

act.

Lords King and Holland bestowed much sarcasm upon the division, upon various details of the Catholic question, existing amongst Ministers, and contended, that though the act of indemnity might be admitted to protect the Officers neglecting to take the qualification acts, it offered no protection to the Commissioners appointing or employing such unqualified officers. The returns were ordered.

26. The Earl of Liverpool moved the second reading of the Bills for the restoration, in blood, of the representatives of the attainted Scotch Lords, and for the reversal of the attainder of the Earl of Stafford. The Earl of Lauderdale made some objections to the form of the Bill relating to the Scotch Lords; and Lord Redesdale intimated an opinion, that the gentlemen in whose favour the measure was intended to operate ought to have been called upon to prove their right of succession, in the first place. The Lord Chancellor explained, that the King's sign manual, recommending a Bill of the nature of those before the House, had always been held equivalent to any proof of facts; because, in truth, according to the Constitution, the King, by the keeper of the Great Seal, did always determine questions of succession by the mere issuing a writ of summons, which was never withheld but in a case of manifest difficulty and doubt. A conversation of some length followed, the final result of which was, that the Bill was read a second time, with an understanding, that, before it passed, a committee might be appointed to search for precedents.

31.-Earl Grey presented the Catholic petition, which he introduced in a speech of great length; enforcing, by the usual arguments, that part of the petition

VOL. XV.

which was limited to the removal of disqualifications, and protesting against being understood to countenance the proposals for the suppression of the Protestant church, the proscription of Orangemen, and the disfranchisement of the corporations, which the petitioners had also urged in their petition.

The Earl of Liverpool introduced a Bill to relieve officers of the revenue from the necessity of taking the oath of supremacy. The Marquis of Lansdown expressed his satisfaction at the proposition, but lamented that the Earl Marshal of England was not included in it. Lord King professed some suspicion, that, though introduced by the Noble Lord at the head of the Treasury, the Bill might be defeated by the other Ministers. The Bill was read a first time.

HOUSE OF COMMONS. -May 3.The House met to-day, pursuant to adjournment, but no business of importance was transacted.

4. Lord A. Hamilton presented a petition from the Scots distillers, praying to be put on the same footing of favour in the English market as the distillers of Ireland. The Chancellor of the Exchequer, admitting that the claims of the Scots distillers deserved consideration, pleaded the complicated nature of the subject as his excuse for not being able to give any distinct pledge upon the subject.

Captain Maberly then brought forward a motion for the relief of distress in Ire. land, by empowering the Government to advance a million sterling by way of loan. The Chancellor of the Exchequer, Mr Goulburn, Mr Canning, Mr Peel, and Mr Abercromby, opposed the motion, all following pretty nearly the same line of ar gument, namely, that the commencement of a system of loans, which, from the nature of things, could not be contined for any considerable period, would only have the effect of diverting the gentry and manufacturers of Ireland from the cultivation of their proper and permanent resources; that it would interfere mischievously with the fair competition of capitalists; and that, by making the crown a frequent creditor with all the prerogatives of priority, which the King necessarily enjoys in the recovery of debts, it would exercise a very pernicious influence upon the general state of credit. Lord Althorpe, Mr S. Rice, Sir J. Newport, Mr Monck, and Alderman Bridges, supported the motion, which, however, on a division, was rejected by a majority of 85 to 38.

6. In the course of a desultory discussion of various topics, Mr Huskisson took occasion to remonstrate against the Ꮓ Ꮓ

recent passion for forming companies, to be incorporated by Acts of Parliament. Such incorporations, he said, were not only an invasion of the Royal Prerogative of incorporating by Charter, but also a fraud upon the public, as the members of Companies incorporated by Act of Parliament were exempted from the operation of the Bankrupt Laws.

Mr Hume then brought forward a motion to institute an inquiry, whether the Irish Church establishment is not unnecessarily numerous and expensive, with relation to the amount of the population? The Hon. Member introduced his motion with a speech of vast extent, but of little novelty. He declared himself an enemy to all religious establishments. Mr Stanley opposed the motion, and exposed the exaggerations of the wealth of the Irish Church, upon which all the Hon. Mover's arguments rested. Mr Grattan and Mr Dominick Brown supported the motion. Mr Robertson suggested the possibility, that, by mutual concessions, it might be found practicable to adopt the Roman Catholic clergy into the Established Church; and cited the examples of Prussia, and some other German states, in which it had been found easy to unite Lutherans and Calvinists, sects as repugnant as the Protestants and Catholics of Ireland. Mr Plunkett spoke at some length against the motion. Mr Leslie Foster and Mr Dawson also opposed it. Sir F. Burdett warmly supported the proposition for inquiry. The House then divided, when the motion was rejected by a majority of 152 to 79.

7. A short conversation took place upon the subject of a proposed modifica tion of the Scottish Poor Laws, in the course of which Sir A. Hope, Mr Drummond, and several other Scottish Members, warmly opposed the change which had been proposed in Mr Kennedy's Bill. The change was from the present system, which, like the English poor laws, enfor. ces a compulsory assessment for the poor, to a plan formed upon the principles of Mr Malthus, by which the indigent would be abandoned to the chance of voluntary relief.

The Chancellor of the Exchequer then brought forward the Budget. The interest of this communication was, however, much impaired by the previous disclosures of the 23d of February. The exposition, however, given by the Right Hon. Gentleman of the financial condition of the country was in the highest degree cheering and satisfactory, and the Resolutions moved by him were severally carried without a division. He announced it to be the intention of Government

to reduce the interest of Exchequer Bills from two-pence to three half-pence per day, by which about £220,000 will be annually saved. He also recurred to the Act for paying off the four per cents., and stated that the Dissents did not amount to more than seven millions; consequent & ly, notice had been given that the whole would be paid off in October. In allusion to the Silk Weavers' Act, passed in the course of the Session, he said that its favourable effect already had been much greater than was anticipated, and that the trade was now in a state of the great. est activity. He stated that the repay. ments made on account of the alteration in the Silk Duties will be about £.500,000. At a later period of the evening, the Right Hon. Gentleman proposed, in a Committee, some alterations in the laws respecting Savings Banks, with a view of limiting the amount of deposits in those banks to such sums as might be lona fide the property of poor persons.

10. Lord Stanley moved the second reading of the Manchester Equitable Loan Bill.

Mr Huskisson, in a speech of considerable length, repeated the objections which he had offered on a former evening, to the incorporation of commercial societies by Act of Parliament, instead of the old practice of incorporating by Charter from the Crown. The principal of these objections was, that the integral individuals of societies incorporated by Act of Parliament being irresponsible, the company itself was also uncontrolled by the fear which always operated to keep chartered companies within proper bounds. The Bill was read a second time.

Mr Manning then moved the second reading of the West-India Company Bill. Mr Sykes, Mr Williams, Mr Whitmore, Mr Smith, and Mr F. Buxton, opposed the Bill, as likely to raise the price of sugar, by giving a monopoly to the company to be incorporated, as holding out a temptation to delusive speculation, and as threatening to procrastinate the period at which the Negroes might be emancipated. Mr. T. Wilson and Mr C. B. Ellis supported the Bill, which they described as a measure calculated merely to relieve the suffering Planters, by inviting capitalists to advance their money upon West India security. Mr Huskisson, protesting that he saw nothing in the Bill to take it out of the class of legislative incorporations, to which he had a general dislike, proceeded to answer the particular objections to its provisions. He denied that the Bill would give any monopoly of the sugar trade, that it was likely to lead to any delusion, or that it could affect the condition of the Negroes