they would be less than those of the present year by but I can state, upon my own personal credit, that £1,168,260. After having made this general state- whatever were the feeling of others, who were justly ment Mr. Peel declared that he and his colleagues near and dear to Mr. Canning, it had for years been would listen to any suggestion of the committee, for his warm and anxious wish to be placed in some public the appointment of which he was about to move. He situation, however it might sacrifice or compromise took that opportunity, he said, of pressing one subject the fair and legitimate scope of his ambition, which, particularly on its notice, namely, the simplification while it enabled him to perform adequate public serof the public accounts, in imitation of France and vices, would enable him also to place upon a better America. The motion passed without opposition, ex- footing his wife's private fortune, which he had lescept from Mr. Hume, who contended, that if any good sened, and the inheritance of his children, which he was to be done, there should be ten or eleven finance had impaired. I will not go so far as to say, that this committees; but his plan received no countenance, was a prospect fixed upon Mr. Canning's mind, or an except from Mr. Brougham; and a single committee object that he was bent upon pursuing, for it is difficult of twenty-three members was appointed. The la- to trace the springs of so susceptible a temperament; bours of this committee were multifarious and impor- but under the circumstances it was quite natural, contant. One of the first fruits of its appointment was sidering his means and his family, that while he the discovery that the public was regularly losing large honourably sought a situation to render service to his sums of money by the system on which the govern- country, he should not be unmindful of the means of ment annuities had been granted. Mr. Herries sub-repairing the family fortune, which he had diminished mitted a statement to the committee concerning the while in the service of his country." A further objecfinances, which Lord Althorp described as, "able, tion was raised to the grant, founded on disapprobation clear, and satisfactory;" and it appeared from that of Mr. Canning's policy, or of that polioy with which exposition that these annuities had been sold at a he had been officially connected; but to this it was considerable loss. The evidence of this was found in answered, that the proposition touched no political certain calculations made by Mr. Finlayson, who was principle, and did not imply the abandonment of any said to have communicated the fact to Lord Bexley in political dogma. If the motion, it was argued, went 1819, and subsequently to Lord Goderich. His calcu- to vote a monument to commemorate his services, lations stated the rate of loss to be £8,000 a month, members who thought that he had not performed any and to arise from a false calculation of the duration of services to be commemorated, would do right to oppose life in the tables given by Dr. Price. Either these it; but when the motion went only to reward his family, tables were originally inaccurate, or human life, in they had merely to consider the fact, whether he had consequence of increased comforts, conveniences, and devoted his talents to the public service to the detriment scientific aid, was extended to a longer period. The of his private interests. On a division the grant was truth of this statement soon appeared to the commit- confirmed by a large majority. Both in the house intee; but nothing could be done to alter those annuities deed, and throughout the country, it was felt that this which had been sold. On the recommendation of the grant was only an act of justice, as Mr. Canning had committee, however, a bill was brought in and speedily spent not only his life, but his fortune, in the public passed, to suspend the operation of the act under service. On this subject it has been well remarked:which they had been granted, until a more correct “It should be known, in justice to those who held the system could be arranged. During the session the higher offices under the crown, that their salaries fall committee reported on various matters which had been short of the expenses to which they are subjected, by brought under their consideration, but not early the manners of the country and a mischievous convenenough to allow their recommendations to be carried tion. This gorgeous scale of living has the double into effect. In a report on the state of the ordnance effect of giving an example and impulse to extravadepartment, the abolition of the office of its lieutenant-gance through every department of the public service; general was recommended; but this proposition was opposed by the ministry, and a motion to give it effect was lost by a large majority. MOTION FOR A GRANT TO THE FAMILY When Mr. Canning died he was a poor man. He had begun the world without fortune; he had spent his life in the public service; and the emoluments of the offices which he had held had scarcely sufficed to cover the expenses of his station. As, therefore, he held no sinecures, his sudden death had left his family without a due provision. On these grounds the chancellor of the exchequer proposed to grant a pension of £3,000 a year to his second son, as a mode of providing for the family less onerous than voting a large sum for the payment of debts. This proposition was vehemently opposed by Lord Althorp, Sir M. Ridley, Messrs. Hume, Bankes, D. W. Harvey, P. Thompson, and others, partly on the score of economy, and partly on the ground of its not having been deserved. On the contrary, ministers placed the question on the broad ground, that Mr. Canning had devoted a long life, and talents of the first order, to the service of his country; and in following that service, had not merely lost the means of improving, but had deteriorated his private fortune. What had he not surrendered, it was asked, when he gave up the government of India to fill the unprofitable office of foreign secretary? Mr. Huskisson remarked:-"I regret to be obliged to make reference on such an occasion to information derived from the privacy of confidential intercourse; and of securing, perhaps by design, to private wealth, a monopoly of administration. A man vigilantly prudent might perhaps have lived within his income in Mr. Canning's situation, and it is known that he had no prodigal or expensive tastes; but it is also known that he had that utter carelessness of money through which fortune is not less effectually dissipated." FINANCIAL STATEMENTS. The budget was opened by the chancellor of the exchequer on the 11th of July; and it was opened with a clearness and simplicity that disarmed even the opposition of Mr. Hume, disposed as he was at all times to cavil about figures. The total ordinary net revenue of the year 1827 was £49,581,576; but to this were added £4,245,000 received from the Bank on account of the dead-weight, and the sum of £660,081 under the head of extraordinary and miscellaneous, making a total revenue of £54,486,657. The chancellor of the exchequer said, that the total ordinary revenue for the year 1828 might be considered as amounting to £50,381,530, to which must be added £3,082,500, to be received from the trustees of military and naval pensions, together with miscellaneous payments of £438,000, making a grand total of £53,902,030. The expenditure he calculated as £50,104,522, which, being deducted from the revenue, left a surplus of £3,797,508. From this, however, was to be taken the advances to public works, £708,000, so that the clear surplus was only £3,088,708 instead of £5,000,000 to be applied as a sinking-fund. It was considered impossible in the present circumstances of the country, to supply this REPEAL OF THE TEST AND CORPORATION ties of the state with cheerfulness, or at least, with ACTS. The grand question of this session was the repeal of the Test and Corporation Acts: acts which excluded dissenters from offices of trust and power, and shut the doors of all corporations against them, unless they consented to take the sacrament according to the ritual of the church of England. Lord John Russell introduced this subject on the 26th of February, by moving "That this house will resolve itself into a committee of the whole house, to consider of so much of the acts of the 13th and 25th of Charles II., as require persons, before they are admitted into any office or place in corporations, or having accepted any office, civil or military, or any place of trust under the crown, to receive the sacrament of the Lord's supper according to the rites of the church of England." In introducing this motion Lord John Russell took a review of the history of the statutes in question, and he argued that they had been originally enacted for reasons which no longer existed. He maintained the justice and expediency of the motion on the ground that while these tests were an infliction on the dissenters, they afforded no protection to the church of England; but on the contrary, exposed her to dangers to which she would not be otherwise obnoxious. Without serving any good purpose, he said, they made the dissenters irritated enemies, instead of converting them into companions or friends. Another objection, he said, rose from the nature of the test, which made it a shameless abuse of the most solemn of all religious rites. The sacrament of the Lord's supper was held by the church to be most sacred; and yet it was prostituted by law to be a mere qualification for office. History stated, he remarked, | that it was the custom for persons to be waiting in taverns and houses near the church, and when service was over an appointed person called out, "Those who want to be qualified will please to step up this way," and then persons took the communion solely for the purpose of receiving office. Such, said his lordship, were the consequences of mixing politics with religion. Political dissensions were aggravated by the venom of theological disputes, and religion profaned by the vices of ambition; making it both hateful to man and offensive to God. The only answers, continued his lordship, which could be made to these objections, were that the dissenters, in consequence of the Indemnity Act, suffered no real hardship, and that the law in its present state was necessary to the security of the church. But neither of these positions was true. The practical grievance suffered by the dissenters was much heavier than the legal grievances appearing on the face of the statutes: even the indemnity act was passed on the ground that the omission to qualify had proceeded from ignorance, absence, or unavoidable accident, and thus refused all relief to those in whom the omission flowed from conscientious scruples. The fact was, that many dissenters refused to take office on such degrading terms; they refused to attain by a fraud upon the statute, honours and emoluments which the law declared they should not attain in any other way. In conclusion his lordship remarked:-"I have proved that these acts violate the sacred rights of conscience, and are of the nature of religious persecution; I have shown that so far from not having inflicted any hardship on the body upon whom they | operate, they are fraught with great mischief, irritation, and injustice; and I have shown that they are totally at variance with our own policy in Scotland and Ireland, as well as with the enlightened legislation of all the Christian countries of Europe. If I am asked what advantage the country is to derive from the abregation of such laws, I answer, that the obvious ten dency of the measure, independently of its justice, will be to render the dissenters better affected to the government; to inspire them with dispositions to bear the heavy burdens imposed on them by the necessiresignation; and above all, it will be more consonant to the tone and spirit of the age than the existence of those angry, yet inefficient and impracticable laws, which are a disgrace to the statute-book." This motion was seconded by Mr. J. Smith, and ably supported by Lords Milton, Althorp, and Nugent, and by Messrs. Brougham, Ferguson, and Palmer. One of its most powerful advocates was Mr. Ferguson one of the members for Scotland, who desired the house to look at the Test and Corporation Acts, as they affected not merely a minority in England, but even the established religion of a constituent part of the empire. Scotland had a legal national religion equally with England; for at the union it was provided by the parliament of England that no alteration should be made in the principles, doctrine, or discipline, of the church of England, and the Scotch parliament, true to their own particular doctrines, immediately issued orders to their commissioners, that any clause should be null and void which militated in any way against the principles, doctrines, or discipline of the Protestant Presbyterian religion. The religion of Scotland was, therefore, a state religion as well as that of England, yet its members were affected by these penal laws, and prevented from serving their king, but at the risk of incurring these penalties, or renouncing their religion. Why, he asked, this proscription of a whole nation, upon the notion that this mode of exclusion was the best way of defending the church and state as by law established? Why deny a community of privileges to those who confer equal services, and encounter equal danger? On what occasion had the people of Scotland not contributed their full share in support of Great Britain? Were they no longer wanted? Did the church of England desire to be left to defend the empire exclusively? If so, let the dissenters be told to withdraw, and quit a defence which they could only remain to make under exposure to ignominy. Take the battle of Waterloo, he continued, which had crowned the renown of the most illustrious leader of their times. What would have been the fate of that battle, and that leader, if the army which had con quered, had been filled only by the sons of the church of England? Take from the field the Scottish regi ments; take away too the aid of those sons of Ireland, the proscribed Catholics: what then would have been the chance of their arms, divested of the Scottish and Irish soldiers, who filled their ranks and served their navy in every quarter of the globe! And if they had the assistance of such men, when the hour of peril came upon them, they ought not to deny their confidence in a time of tranquillity and peace. Ministers opposed the motion, the opposition being conducted by Messrs. Huskisson and Peel. Their chief defence was that the acts in question led to no particular hardship; and they sought evidence of this in the Indemnity Acts, and in the long silence of the dissenters themselves, from whom it was to have been expected that the constant infliction of a permanent grievance would have drawn forth incessant complaints. Mr. Huskisson said, that he doubted whether the present motion was calculated to remove any grievance. The grievances, indeed, complained of were of an imaginary character: he had yet to learn what obstacles existed against the honourable ambition of the dissenters. They had, he said, their full share of the civil power o' So, sacrifice his religion for his place. Lord Palmersto said that he thought it would be an act of injustice to the Catholics to repeal this minor grievance while they suffered under much severer enactments. Sir T. Acland conceived that a middle course would afford relief, while the theoretical principal of the law would remain untouched. But it was found useless to strive against the spirit of the age. After an abortive project of Sir T. Ackland for suspending instead of repealing the acts in question, as well as a proposition made by Mr. Peel to take more time for consideration, Lord John Russell's motion was carried by a majority of two hundred and thirty-seven, against one hundred and ninety-three. the country, and were qualified to fill the first offices in | religion from the state, and because he would not the army and navy. Forty years had elapsed since this subject was discussed, and that period had been marked by many eager discussions on another great question involving the principles of religious liberty: could it be credited that the petitioners before the house, many of whom possessed acute intellects and intelligent minds, enjoyed the highest consideration in the country, if they knew there was anything in the state of the law to impede the fair, useful, and honourable exercise of their talents, would not have long since, firmly and unanimously, called upon the house to remove the grievance. The fact could not be for they had preserved total silence for the long period of forty years. Mr. Peel said that the question was attended with great difficulty. He was not prepared to say that it was essentially interwoven with the interest of the church of England; he did not think, indeed, that the two were so connected, that the church of England must fall, if the Test and Corporation Acts were repealed. He thought, however, with Mr. Huskisson, that the Protestant dissenters did not labour under such grievances as had been represented, and that they did not look at the Test and Corporation Acts, together with the Indemnity Act as honourable gentlemen had described. It had been said, he remarked, that we had shed the blood of the Scotch regiments in the Peninsula and at Waterloo. What office of naval or military command had been closed against their officers? It was also said that the Test Acts shut them out from the higher offices of government. For an answer, look at the ministry of the fourteen members of the cabinet, three, namely, Lords Aberdeen and Melville, and the president of the board of trade, were Scotsmen and good Presbyterians, whom these acts nevertheless had not succeeded in shutting out. The fact was, he continued, the existing law gave merely a nominal predominance to the established church; and he heartily wished, therefore, that this question had been allowed to remain quiescent, especially as it was practically offensive to no one. In answer to the views taken by ministers, on the subject, Mr. Brougham maintained that the acts were daily and positively felt to be a most decided grievance. Was it no grievance, he asked, to bear the mark of the chain remaining, after the fetter had been knocked away? Was it no grievance for a dissenter, wherever he went, to look like, and to be treated like a different being? It was said that temporal interests were not concerned: this he denied. A dissenter could not stand for a corporation. It had been stated that the late lord mayor of London was a dissenter, and that he had taken the sacrament: that statement was in favour of the argument. With respect to Scotland he knew that not one Presbyterian in a thousand would take the sacrament, would not even go to a place of worship where there was an organ, would consider it idolatry to kneel at an altar: if they conscientiously thought so, was it to be wondered at that they evinced a repugnance at what they considered a mixture of idolatry with Christian worship? If in the recent contest at Vintry ward, one of the candidates had differed from the other as to transsubstantiation or anything of that sort, there would be an end to this legal controversy: the court of king's bench would never have heard of it, and the churchman would have been elected. Was not this a grievance? The knowledge of this act operated so, that, though the dissenter might walk on in his course, when not opposed, yet even if he aspired to a corporation, and no individual opposed him; if he was unanimously elected, and actually filled the place, a single individual might upset his election, he must retire. The consequence was that the dissenter would not seek such places: he retired to his library, to retirement, to private pursuits, with what feelings he might towards the government and the constitution. He was condemned to privacy, because he was of a different Government had now one of two courses to adopt ; either to resign their opinions or their places. They chose the former alternative; for when the motion for the house going into a committee was brought forward, Mr. Peel said he could not think of pressing his sentiments against those of the majority. Government itself, indeed, now took up the measure, adding by way of security to the established church a form of declaration, which all who accepted office were to take, that they would not exert any power or influence which they might possess by virtue of that office to the injury or subversion of the Protestant church as by law established, or to disturb it in the possession of those rights and privileges to which it is by law entitled. This declaration was described by those who supported simple repeal as both useless and unnecessary; but they recommended that the suggestion should be adopted rather than the bill should not pass. With this amendment it was carried, and it was introduced into the house of peers by Lord Holland. There was no ministerial opposition encountered here, and being in a manner a bill of the government it was generally supported by the spiritual peers. The bishop of Chester said :-"I wish the bill to pass, if for no other reason, yet for this-because the present laws do not answer their purpose. If the declaration now proposed be taken by a conscientious dissenter, it will prevent him from endeavouring, at least from indirectly endeavouring, to injure the establishment; and that is more than the sacramental test, if taken, could effect: if it be taken by a person who does not conscientiously intend to observe it, that person would not be kept out of office by any test whatever." Lord Eldon, however, gave the bill his most decided opposition. He had heard much, he said, of "the march of mind," but he never expected to see it thus march into the house with the Duke of Wellington and the bishops at its head. Of the declaration, he said, that instead of making the taker of office describe himself as belonging to some sort of religion, whether a Unitarian, a Catholic, or a Free-thinker, it did not require him to say, he had only to answer, that he was of the Christian faith; neither did it call on him to observe the declaration by such phrases as "I am a Christian," or as, "I stand in the presence of my God." The confidence to be reposed in the declaration did not rest upon the faith of a Christian, or any other faith whatever. Then again, he said, the declaration is to be extended to as offices of trust and emolument under the crown, and the bill left it entirely to the king to say in such cases, whether his majesty would, or would not require such a declaration: he could not but object to the provisions of a bill, the object of which was to take away the sacramental test merely on the ground of expediency, and to substitute in its place a declaration which, in some instances, might or might not be taken, according to the will of the sovereign. The form of declaration was also strongly objected to in the committee; and several amendments were carried to meet the views of the objectors, though not narrowing the principles of the bill; and it finally passed by a large majority. The amendments made simply consisted in this, that the man assuming a public office in a Christian community should declare that he was a Christian, or, at least, that he was not an infidel. The commons agreed to all that were made, although some members did not approve of them. THE CATHOLIC QUESTION. He moved "that an able for its vast variety of detail. BILLS CONNECTED WITH ELECTION OF In the course of this session bills were introduced into parliament to disfranchise the corrupt boroughs of Penryn and East Retford. Penryn first engaged the attention of the commons. A bill transferring its elective privileges to Manchester was carried and sent up to the lords; but the lords threw it out, as not being supported by evidence of corruption sufficient to warrant disfranchisement. A bill was also brought into the house to transfer the franchise of East Retford to Birmingham; but as at the time it was introduced there was a certainty that the Penryn bill would be rejected by the peers, the commons agreed that the measure should stand over till the next session, on the understanding that no new writ should be issued for East Retford. Other bills connected with elections of members of the house were brought into the commons; but they either did not pass that house, or were rejected by the lords, except one, which regulated the manner of taking the poll at city and borough elections, and which passed into a law. The chief feature of this latter bill was, that it cut down the duration of the poll from fifteen to six days. During the discussion on the repeal of the Test and Corporation Acts, frequent allusion had been made to Catholic emancipation. The opponents of that repeal found an additional argument against it, in the supposition that it was but the first step in a course which was to terminate in Catholic emancipation. On the other hand, those who supported the repeal of the Test and Corporation Acts denied that it had any such tendency. The Duke of Wellington remarked, in order to show that he might vote for the measure then before the house, and yet be a determined enemy of the Papists, that there was no person in the house of peers whose feelings and sentiments, after long consideration, were more decided than his with regard to the subject of the Roman Catholic claims; and that until he saw a great change in that question, he certainly should oppose them. Notwithstanding, the repeal of the Test Acts was immediately followed by a motion for removing the Catholic disabilities. On the 8th of May Sir Francis Burdett moved, "That the house do now resolve itself into a committee of the whole house, for the purpose of taking into consideration the state of the laws affecting his majesty's subjects in Great Britain and Ireland, with a view to such a final and conciliatory adjustment as may be conducive to the peace and strength of the United Kingdom, to the stability of the Protestant establishment, and to the general satisfaction and concord of all classes of his majesty's subjects." The debate lasted two nights; but as the speeches were merely repetitions of former arguments, it would be tedious and useless to give even a sketch of them. The principal speakers in favour of the motion were Messrs. Brougham, Fitzgerald, North, Grant, and Huskisson, and Sirs J. Newport and J. Mackintosh. It was opposed by the attorney-general, Sir R. Inglis, and Messrs. Moore, Foster, Bankes, and Peel. On a division the motion for a committee was carried by a majority of six; and in the committee this resolution was agreed to:"That it is expedient to consider the state of the laws affecting his majesty's Roman Catholic subjects, with the view of effecting such a final adjustment of them as may be conducive to the peace and strength of the United Kingdom, the stability of the Protestant estab-ciples similar to those in the bill lost in the preceding lishment, and the general satisfaction and concord of all classes." Here, however, the commons stopped. Instead of forming resolutions in detail, it was determined to seek a conference with the lords, in order to ascertain whether their sentiments on the subject had changed. This proposal was agreed to by the peers; and a conference was held on the 19th of May, when the resolution of the commons, after being read in the upper house, was ordered to be taken into consideration on the 9th of June. The debate lasted two days; but the proposition of the Marquis of Lansdowne, "that their lordships should concur in that resolution," was lost by a majority of one hundred and eighty-one against one hundred and thirty-seven. In this debate, however, the Duke of Wellington's speech was marked by a conciliatory tone; and the friends of emancipation augured from this that their wishes on a future day would meet with a less obstinate and uncompromising opposition. CORN-LAW QUESTION. One of the most important questions debated during this session was a new settlement of the corn-laws. This subject was introduced by Mr. C. Grant, on prinsession. The act he introduced was constructed on a graduated principle of ascending and descending duties, like that of Mr. Canning; but the medium price was raised from 60s. to 64s. In introducing this bill Mr. Grant scarcely attempted its vindication; declaring at the same time that it was the best that could be framed with any chance of being passed into a law. The resolutions, he said, so far as the legislature was concerned, were permanent, until the minds of men could be led to entertain juster notions upon this subject; and they would be changed only as the notions which at present prevailed were altered for the better. They were offered to the landed interests as a restingplace, a firm and solid ground on which time and experience might accumulate a richer soil. They were a compromise between conflicting interests and opinions. For himself, he conceived them imperfect, because they fell short of the bill of last year; but they had been brought as near to that measure as was consistent with the likelihood of their being passed MOTION ON THE STATE OF THE LAW. into a law. Other members of government also described the measure as one which did not satisfy their Early in this session Mr. Brougham directed the own ideas of what was right and expedient; but what attention of the commons to the state of the common they called a compromise of conflicting opinions, was law courts, and the common law itself, in a speech in reality nothing less than a sacrifice of what they adwhich occupied six hours in delivery, and was remark-mitted they knew to be for the public good, to the views of a party which they were fearful of displeasing. | Notwithstanding, the opposition which had been made to the bill of last year was renewed by the agriculturists on the same grounds as before. They struggled for still higher duties; but the bill finally passed both lords and commons without alteration. It has been observed of the contest on this occasion, that "agriculture was considered improperly as opposed both in its nature and objects to manufactures; while, in fact, it is itself a manufacture, and the most advantageous of all manufactures; for its profits are certain, and its employment healthy. All grain raised beyond the seed sown adds the whole extent of such produce to the wealth, and the people employed in its production to the strength of the state. The grand object of every good government is to provide employment for the industry of its people; and the first point to be attended to in this respect is the manufacturing of the raw material produced by the country: for this is real wealth; hence agriculture must always prove the most useful kind of manufacture to every state. The fruits and productions of the soil, raised by labour and capital, are disseminated and divided among all classes, who exchange their labour for that of the agriculturist, until sustenance is obtained by all. It is this internal commerce which is so beneficial and so important, from the rapidity of the exchange and the stability of it, as far as every description of produce is consumed by the inhabitants of a country; and by no other means can manufacturers and tradesmen be so extensively injured as by an oppression of the agricultural interests." While this, however, may be admitted to be true to a certain extent, it is clear that the agricultural interests should not be protected to the injury of the manufacturing interests, properly so called; and time, as will be seen, has convinced the nation at large of the unreasonableness of such a protection. DIVISIONS IN THE CABINET. In the division which took place on the transfer of the franchise of Fast Retford to Birmingham, Mr. Huskisson redeemed a pledge which he had given to support it; and in so doing divided against his colleagues. On his arrival at home from the house of commons he addressed a letter to the Duke of Wellington, marked "private and confidential," in which he said that duty led him, without loss of time, to afford his grace an opportunity of placing his office in other hands. The duke immediately laid this letter as a resignation before his majesty; but Mr. Huskisson seems to have written it solely with a view of being solicited to remain in office. He declared to Lord Dudley that he never intended to resign, and that his letter was marked private in consequence. Lord Dudley immediately waited on the premier, and attempted to pass the matter off as a mistake; but his grace declared emphatically that it was not, and should not be any mistake. Mr. Huskisson made further attempts to retain office; but the Duke of Wellington was inexorable, probably because he did not coincide with all the views of his colleague; and the dismissal of Mr. Huskisson was followed by the resignations of Lords Dudley and Palmerston, and of Mr. Charles Grant. Their places were filled up in the cabinet by Sir Charles Murray, who succeeded Mr. Huskisson; Sir Henry Hardinge, who was made secretary at war; and Mr. Vesey, who accepted the office of the board of trade; while the Earl of Aberdeen received the seals of the foreign secretary. No further change took place, except that the Duke of Clarence resigned his post of lord high admiral, when a board was appointed on the old system, with Lord Melville at its head. PROROGATION OF PARLIAMENT. Parliament was prorogued on the 28th of July. On this occasion two interesting subjects of foreign policy were introduced into the speech, which was again de livered by the commissioners. These subjects were, war between Russia and Turkey, and the suspension of our relations with Portugal. The sections relating to these events read thus:-"His imperial majesty has found himself under the necessity of declaring war against the Ottoman Porte, upon grounds concerning exclusively the interests of his own dominions, and unconnected with the stipulations of the treaty of the 6th of July, 1827. His majesty deeply laments the occurrence of these hostilities, and will omit no effort of friendly interposition to restore peace.' "His majesty commands us to acquaint you, that his majesty had every reason to hope, when he last addressed you, that the arrangements which had been made for administering the government of Portugal until the period at which the Emperor of Brazil should have completed his abdication of the throne of Portugal, would have secured the peace and promoted the happiness of a country in the welfare of which his majesty has ever taken the deepest interest. The just expectations of his majesty have been disappointed ; and measures have been adopted in Portugal, in disregard of the earnest advice and repeated remonstrances of his majesty, which have compelled his majesty, and the other powers of Europe acting in concert with his majesty, to withdraw their representatives from Lisbon." As regards the declaration of war against the Ottoman Porte by Russia, the chief pretext for it was, the imperious behaviour of the Porte, in its delay to fulfil the treaty of Ackerman. It seems certain, however, that though it was said to be waged for objects wholly national, that the chief object was aggrandisement. In Portugal affairs had assumed a strange aspect. Don Pedro had recently named Don Miguel regent of the kingdom, on which, a few months before, he had sought to establish himself as monarch. Miguel, however, had spontaneously sworn allegiance to him as natural sovereign, as well as to the constitutional charter, and had also engaged on oath to deliver up the crown to Donna Maria II., his appointment to the regency Don Miguel paid a as soon as that princess should become of age. After visit to England, where he was treated by the nobility in general with high respect. He was twice entertained at the admiralty by the Duke of Clarence, and Portugal. Before he set sail he addressed a letter to after visiting the king at Windsor he returned to the king, declaring that, if, on his return to Portugal, he attempted anything against his brother or niece, or against the constitution, he should be an usurper, and scarcely drawn this character of himself before he asYet Don Miguel had prove a perjured wretch. sumed it. On his arrival at Lisbon his mother resumed her ill-fated influence over him; and after a series of atrocities the cortes were dismissed, the charter abolished, and Don Miguel proclaimed king. All the dungeons in the realm were filled with victims, and thousands perished in them, or on the scaffold; whilst thousands more were banished to the desert coasts of Africa, or voluntarily abandoned their country, to endure the sorrows of unmerited exile. It was these circum stances that gave rise to the withdrawal of his majesty's representatives from Lisbon, as intimated in the speech at the close of parliament. On hearing of these London, entered solemn protests against the violation events, Don Pedro, by his ministers at Vienna and of his hereditary rights, and those of his daughter. He had sent his daughter to Europe, and her destination was Vienna; but on touching at Gibraltar, and learning the events which had occurred in Portugal, she took counsel with the principal officers of her suite, and by their advice she sailed to England, where she was received with royal honours, and entertained with great hospitality and magnificence. DISTURBANCES IN IRELAND. During the two previous administrations, those of |