fendants. At the time the charge was preferred, Manchester was much agitated; but tranquillity now prevailed throughout the county, and a new tone and order of things had arisen. That his Majesty's Government, therefore, never desirous to prosecute any of the King's subjects, but in cases where the public safety demanded it, thought it unnecessary to press any thing against the defendants under the present circumstances, and therefore he, Mr Topping, should offer no evidence."-The defendants were accordingly acquitted. Child-Stealing.-Janet Douglas was this day found guilty in the High Court of Justiciary of child-stealing. She had carried away from Edinburgh a girl about three years of age, on the 12th May last, and being pursued by the child's father, was found near Dunfermline on the 14th. Sentenced to be hanged at Edinburgh on 15th October. Homicide. Same day Robert Reid, the associate of Rae in the cruel treatment of the little sweep-boy Fraser, (noticed at p. 578, in our Number for July,) was found guilty of culpable homicide, and sentenced to seven years transportation. Montrose. We have very singular pleasure in communicating to the public the successful issue of the labours of our citizens, and their committee, for a renovated constitution of burgh government. The Lord Advocate has acceded to the desires of the community, and has prepared his report accordingly for the Privy Council, who, it is confidently expected, will confirm his Lordship's recommendation, and will appoint the first day of October for a poll election, in terms of his Lordship's report.-Montrose Review. 11.-Wilful Fire-raising.-At the Ayr Circuit Court, Margaret Crossan was this day convicted of setting fire to a barn, byre, stable, and stackyard, at Carsegowan, Wigtonshire, in May last, by which the greater part of the premises were consumed, and particularly twelve cows, a bull, and three calves, in the byre. It appeared from the evidence that her motive was malice against Mr Mackean, the proprietor, who had threatened to put her out of her house. She was sentenced to be executed. Wire Bridge-Among the numerous objects of curiosity which attract the attention of strangers on the pastoral banks of the Tweed, there are few more worthy of notice than a wire bridge lately thrown over that river, at King's Meadows, about a mile below Peebles, by Sir John Hay, Baronet. The length of the bridge is about 135 feet, the span 110; it is supported by cast iron pillars, instead of abutments, and is perfectly free from vibration; the road-way is four feet and a half broad, and ten feet from the surface of the wa ter. It is a light and elegant structure and the workmanship has been executed in a very masterly style, by Mr Brown, of the house of Redpath and Brown, ironmongers, Edinburgh. 12.--Civic Rewards.--Yesterday the Lord Provost and Council of Edinburgh unanimously voted a piece of plate, value fifty guineas, to Alexander Henderson, Esq. first Bailie of the city, in testimony of their sense of his general active conduct as a Magistrate; but in particular for the able and gentlemanly manner in which Mr Henderson discharged the duties of Chief Magistrate, while the Lord Provost was necessarily absent attending to the interest of the city in London. Also a piece of plate, value one hundred guineas, to Robert Johnston, Esq. Lord Dean of Guild of the city, as a mark of the respect which they entertain of the unremitting attention he has paid to the various duties of his office, and for his zealous and never-ceasing efforts to promote the improvement and good of the city. 13.-Inhumanity Reproved. This forenoon, a boy playing on some rocks near Grantoun, on the Frith of Forth, was sur rounded by the tide, and in imminent peril; which being observed by some gentlemen accidentally passing, they applied to a carter near them for the use of his horse, which the fellow inhumanly refused. Some masons working near the spot, coming up, the party without ceremony took the horse from the cart without its owner's permission, and one of the masons having mounted it, relieved the boy from his perilous situation. The result afforded a reproof to the carter more keen than any language of reproach or indignation could have conveyed-the boy, for whose rescue from death he had refused the use of his horse, proved to be his own son ! 18.-Improvements in Edinburgh.Creech's Land, in the High Street, was some weeks ago completely levelled with the ground; and yesterday the old jail, the only part of the old Luckenbooths remaining, was begun to be demolished. The criminal prisoners were removed on Monday to the new jail on the Caltonhill, and the debtors, 12 in number, were liberated on Tuesday; their debts having been generously paid by a subscription among the inhabitants. The old jail was erected in 1561, but it is supposed part of it was older, as the east and west ends were erected at different times. It was originally destined for the accommodation of Parliament, and the courts of justice, and also the confinement of debtors and criminals; but since 1640, after the Parliament-house was built, it has been used solely as a jail. Fever in Ireland.-For several weeks past a most alarming typhus fever has been raging in Ireland; scarcely any part of the country being free from it. This wide and rapid extension of the disease has been effected by hordes of beggars traversing the island in every direction; who, pressed by famine, rush into every house the aspect of which affords the hope of relief, and the same breath that thanks the owner for his charity, blasts the hand that bestows it, and spreads desolation through his family. -We have noticed in our obituary the death of Judge Osborne, and several other gentlemen of worth and talents, who have fallen victims to this malady; but we are glad to observe, from the latest Irish papers, that its virulence has considerably abated. CALEDONIAN HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. On Tuesday last, the 9th of September, a quarterly meeting of the Caledonian Horticultural Society was held in the hall of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh, the Right Hon. the Earl of Wemyss in the Chair. The following report from the Council was read to the Society: Report to the Caledonian Horticultural Society, respecting the intended Survey of the present state of Horticulture in Holland, Flanders, and the north of France. September 9, 1817. Your Council have the satisfaction of being able to inform you, that the horticul tural survey of the Netherlands, which was recommended to the society two years ago, by Sir John Sinclair, is now carrying into execution. The subscription which was set on foot some months ago, for raising one hundred guineas, with the view of defraying the unavoidable expence of this survey, had made such progress, that your council had no hesitation in making an offer of that sum to three gentlemen, who were, in their opinion, in every respect well qualified for the office, to assist in defraying their necessary expences. The three gentlemen, who, at our request, have undertaken this important duty, are first, Mr Patrick Neill, secretary to the society, whom we consider as one of the most distinguished scientific gardeners among the class of amateurs in Britain, and whose excellent writings on horticultural subjects do him very great honour. The second is Mr James M'Donald, who has been for many years gardener to his Grace the Duke of Buccleuch, at Dalkeith Park, and who has enriched your memoirs by many useful practical observations, particularly on the improved culture of currants, onions, and other culinary vegetables, and who is justly esteemed one of the best practical gardeners in Scotland. And the third is Mr John Hay, who has for several years past been much distinguished as having furnished plans for the best new gardens, which have lately been formed in the neighbourhood of Edinburgh, particularly that of Prestonhall, formed by the late Sir John Callender; that at Calderhouse, where much was done, by our sincerely lamented fellow member, the late Lord Torphichen; and that at Dalmeny Park, the seat of the Earl of Rosebery, where a garden is at present forming in a style that will do honour to Scotland. Mr Hay is also favourably known to you, by the plan which he lately presented to our society, for an experimental garden at Edinburgh, and for which our gold medal was deservedly awarded to him. From three such intelligent and discerning surveyors, your council cannot help entertaining very sanguine expectations. It is indeed true, that, of late, horticulture, as well as agriculture, has made a more rapid progress in Scotland than perhaps in any other nation in Europe. But, for the commencement of our knowledge in gardening, we were much indebted to our continental neighbours, and particularly to the Dutch. Not many centuries have elapsed, since, from them, we derived not only our best seeds, roots, and fruits, but even some of our most common esculent vegetables. History informs us, that, in the days of Malcolm Canmore, who reigned in Scotland about the end of the eleventh century, even the common garden lettuce, which then appeared only as a rare dainty on the royal table, was entirely imported from Holland, and was not at that time cultivated in Scotland. Since that period, indeed, such has been the progress of horticulture in Scotland, that we can now produce from gardens in the environs of Edinburgh, a dessert of fruits, which, for variety of kind, and delicacy of flavour, cannot be excelled, and, perhaps, hardly equalled, on the face of the globe. This, your annual festival of Pomona has repeatedly demonstrated; and we confidently trust, that, notwithstanding the present backward season, the competition of this day will afford additional proof of the skill of our operative garden ers. Great, however, as our progress has been, much yet remains to be discovered, for in arts and sciences human invention has no bounds; and by the intelligent and discerning philosopher, useful discoveries have often been derived from observing the procedure even of the most ignorant labourer. Your council need not, therefore, state to you the expectations which they entertain from the present horticultural survey of the Netherlands. The abilities of the men, whom they have induced to undertake this survey, are not unequal to the task; and the kingdom of Scotland does not, perhaps, at present, contain three men better qualified for such an undertaking. We confidently trust, that no horticultural knowledge worth importing, from improved varieties of the most common culinary vegetables, to plans of orchards, gardens, and conservatories, on the most extended scale, will escape their discernment. We are not, therefore, without hopes, that this survey will do honour to our society, and be materially beneficial to Scotland. Nay, we even flatter ourselves with the expectation, that, by the publication of future volumes of the memoirs of our society, the benefits resulting from it may in some degree be extended to every corner of the civilized world. Your council regret much, that the state of our funds does not permit us to bestow even an adequate pecuniary indemnification on those gentlemen who have undertaken this important mission. All we have hitherto been allowed to offer them is one hundred guineas, to aid in defraying their necessary expences. This sum we were authorized by a former meeting to offer, for the expence of two of our members; but, as three gentlemen have, at our request, engaged in this survey, we hope the society will not object to the sum of fifty guineas to each of the three, to aid in defraying the charges of the journey; and, we trust, that a subscription of a single guinea each, from such of our members as may wish to encourage this undertaking, will be fully sufficient to cover that expence, without in any degree encroaching on the ordinary funds of the society, already pledged for other useful purposes. We cannot conclude this report without mentioning to the society, the very liberal conduct of his Grace the Duke of Buccleuch on this occasion, both by the manner in which he has granted leave of absence to Mr M'Donald, and by the introductions which he has furnished to the continent, for promoting the success of our survey. Respecting the progress made by our surveyors, we can only at present inform the society, that they were safely landed at Ostend soon after leaving Edinburgh; and, we trust, that at our next quarterly meeting, they will be present in this room, to give you a report of the success with which their survey has been attended. BRITISH LEGISLATION. Acts passed in the 57th Year of the Reign of George III. or in the Fifth Session of the Fifth Parliament of the United Kingdom. CAP. X. To regulate the Vessels carrying Passengers from the United Kingdom to certain of his Majesty's Colonies in North America. March 17. From and after the passing of this act, no ship or vessel shall sail with passengers from any port or place in the United Kingdom to any port or place in Upper or Lower Canada, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Cape Breton, or Prince Edward's Island, unless the master or other person having or taking the charge or command of every such ship or vessel, and the owner or owners thereof, shall, before the sailing of such ship or vessel from any port or place as aforesaid, enter into security by bond to his Majesty, his heirs and successors, in the penalty of five hundred pounds, with condition that there shall not be taken on board any such ship or vessel any more such passengers than are hereinafter permitted and allowed, and that every passenger, if alive, shall be landed at the port or place to which such passenger shall have contracted to be conveyed: and the master or other person having or taking the charge or command of such ship or vessel, previous to his leaving the said port, shall and is hereby required to deliver to the said collector and comptroller or other principal officer of his Majesty's customs at the said port, a list containing the number of the said passengers, with their names, ages, and descriptions, and the places to which they are to be respectively conveyed; and, upon the arrival of such ship or vessel at either of the aforesaid colonies, the said master or other person, having or taking the charge or command of such ship or vessel, shall deliver the aforesaid copy of the list to the governor of such place or other person acting for him, or to the naval officer or chief officer of the customs at the port of arrival, or to the nearest justice of the peace, who shall be required to examine the passengers within twenty-four hours after their arrival. Penalty on taking more passengers than the number allowed, L. 50. Passengers to be apportioned according to the tonnage of the vessel in the proportion of one adult person, or of three children under fourteen years of age, for every one ton and a half of the burden of such ship or vessel. Every such ship or vessel shall be furnished, at the time of her departure to commence the voyage, with at least twelve weeks' supply of good and wholesome water, so as to furnish a supply of five pints of water per day for every such passenger, exclusive of the crew; and the said supply of water shall be stowed below the deck; and every such ship or vessel shall also be furnished with such a supply of provisions as will afford an allowance for every such passenger, exclusive of the crew, during the said period of twelve weeks, of one pound of bread or biscuit, and one pound of beef, or three quarters of a pound of pork, per day, and also two pounds of flour, three pounds of oatmeal, or three pounds of peas or pearl barley, and half a pound of butter weekly; the weekly allowance to commence on the day the vessel puts to sea. The master or other person having or taking the charge or command of any ship or vessel failing to give out the allowance of provisions and water herein-before specified, shall forfeit the sum of ten pounds of lawful money for each and every such neglect and omission. Abstract of Act to be exposed in the vessel, on penalty of L. 10. All penalties and forfeitures to be incurred under this Act, shall and may be recovered in a summary way, on the oath of one or more witness or witnesses, before any one or more of his Majesty's justice or justices of the peace. CAP. XI. To facilitate the Progress of Business in the Court of King's Bench in Westminster Hall.-March 17. It shall and may be lawful for any one of the judges of the Court of King's Bench at Westminster, when occasion shall so require, to sit apart from the other judges of the same Court, in some place in or near to Westminster Hall, for the business of adding and justifying special bail in causes depending in the same Court, whilst others of the judges of the same Court are at the same time proceeding in the dispatch of the other business of the same Court in bank, in its usual place of sitting. CAP. XII. For punishing Mutiny and Desertion; and for the better Payment of the Army and their Quarters.-March 21. The number of forces are to be 121,035. -Deserters may be transported; and returning before expiration of the term limited shall suffer death.-A deserter enlisted for a limited term may be sentenced to serve for life, &c. and be adjudged to other forfeitures.-Persons receiving enlisting money deemed to be enlisted. But, when and as often as any person or persons shall be enlisted as a soldier or soldiers in his Majesty's land service, he or they shall, within four days, but not sooner than twenty-four hours, after such enlisting respectively, be carried or go with some officer, non-commissioned officer, or private soldier, belonging to the recruiting party by which he shall be enlisted, or with the person employed on the recruiting service with whom he shall have enlisted, before some justice of the peace of any county, riding, city, or place, or chief magistrate of any city, or town corporate residing or being next to or in the vicinity of the place, and acting for the division or district where such person or persons shall have been enlisted, and not being an officer in the army, and before such justice or chief magistrate he or they shall be at liberty to declare his or their dissent to such enlisting; and, upon such declaration, and returning the enlisting money, and also each person so dissenting paying the sum of twenty shillings for the charges expended or laid out upon him, together with such full rate allowed by law for the subsistence or diet and small beer furnished to such recruit subsequent to the period of his having been enlisted, such person or persons so enlisting shall be forthwith discharged and set at liberty in the presence of such justice or chief magistrate. CAP. XIII. For the regulating of his Majesty's Royal Marine Forces while on Shore.March 21. CAP. XIV. To indemnify such Persons in the United Kingdom as have omitted to qualify themselves for Offices and Employments, and for extending the Time limited for those purposes respectively, until the 25th day of March 1818; and to permit such Persons in Great Britain as have omitted to make and file affidavits of the Execution of Indentures of Clerks to Attornies and Solicitors, to make and file the same on or before the first day of Hilary Term 1818.-March 21. CAP. XV. To continue, until the 5th day of July 1818, an Act of the 46th year of his present Majesty for granting an additional Bounty on the Exportation of the Silk Manufactures of Great Britain.March 21. CAP. XVI. For raising the Sum of Eighteen Millions, by Exchequer Bills, for the Service of the year 1817.—March 29. The Bank of England may advance £12,000,000 on the credit of this Act, notwithstanding the act 5 and 6 Gul. and Mariæ. CAP. XVII. To repeal, during the Continuance of Peace, so much of an Act of the 9th year of his present Majesty as prohibits the Exportation of Pig and Bar Iron and certain Naval Stores, unless the Pre-emption thereof be offered to the Commissioners of his Majesty's Navy.-March 29. CAP. XVIII. To facilitate the hearing and determining of suits in equity in his Majesty's Court of Exchequer at Westminster.-March 29. On account of the great increase in the proceedings on the Common Law side in the Court of Exchequer, the Chief Baron is empowered to hear and determine suits in equity, subject to an appeal to the House of Lords. CAP. XIX. For the more effectually preventing seditious meetings and assemblics.-March 31. It is enacted, That no meeting of more than 50 persons, except county-meetings, be held without notice being given by public advertisement, signed by seven housekeepers, in the local newspaper, five days before such meeting. Notice to be given to the clerk of the peace. Meetings held without previous notice to be deemed unlawful assemblies. Persons continuing assembled contrary to this Act to the number of 12, and not dispersing in one hour after being required to do so by proclamation, to be adjudged guilty of felony, without benefit of clergy, and to suffer death. In case of resistance, justices are indemnified for the killing or hurting of offenders. Sheriffs-depute in Scotland have the same powers as magistrates in England. It is further enacted, That every house, &c. in which any public lecture, discourse, or debate shall be held, on any subject whatever, for the purpose of raising or collecting money or any other valuable thing from the persons admitted, or to which any person shall be admitted by ticket or token of any kind, delivered in consideration of money, unless previously licensed, shall be deemed to be disorderly. Two justices may license places for lectures, discourses, or debates, for any time not exceeding one year, for which licence one shilling, and no more, shall be paid, revokable at any quarter or general sessions. Upon evidence on oath that any place so licensed is commonly used for the purpose of delivering lectures of a seditious or immoral tendency, justices may adjudge the licence to be forfeited. Lectures delivered at the universities, inns of court, Gresham College, the College of the East India Company, or to any society or body incorporated or established by royal charter, or by authority of Parliament, are excepted from the operation of this Act, as well as lectures delivered by a schoolmaster to the youth under his instruction. Prosecutions to be commenced within six months after the offences. This Act to continue in force till the 24th of July 1818. It shall not be lawful to convene any meeting of more than 50 persons, within the distance of one mile from the gate of Westminster Hall, except such parts of the parish of St Paul's, Covent Garden, as are within that distance, on any day when either House of Parliament or the Courts of Law are sitting. After the passing of this Act, all societies or clubs calling themselves Spenceans, or Spencean Philanthropists, and all other societies and clubs professing the same objects and doctrines, shall be utterly suppressed and prohibited. Societies taking unlawful oaths, or electing committees, delegates, &c. to be deemed unlawful combinations and confederacies within the meaning of the Act 39 Geo. III. c. 79. This Act not to extend to Freemasons' lodges; nor to declaration approved by two justices; nor to meetings or societies for charitable purposes; nor to Quakers' meetings. Licences of public houses where unlawful clubs are held to be forfeited. Persons not liable to prosecution under this Act for having been members of any club previous to the passing of this Act. This Act not to extend to Ireland, and may be repealed or altered this session. APPOINTMENTS, PROMOTIONS, &c. 1. CIVIL. Aug. 2.-Lieutenant-General Sir John Murray, Bart. to wear the Royal Sicilian Order of St Januarius. 12.-Henry Allen Johnson, Esq. to wear the insignia of the Military Order of William, bestowed by the King of the Netherlands. 25.-Lieutenant-General F. T. Hammond, to be Chief Equerry to the Prince Regent, in room of Sir B. Bloomfield, promoted. 29.-The Right Hon. John Lord Sommers, to be Lord Lieutenant of Herefordshire, in room of the Earl of Essex, resigned. Rear-Admiral Sir David Milne, in consideration of his eminent services, to bear the armorial distinctions following, viz.-A cross moline between three mullets, a fortified light-house, thereon a red flag flying, flanked by a battery of three tiers of guns, with a like flag on the dexter, and another battery on the sinister; the whole intended to represent that part of the works defending Algiers, to which his Majesty's ship Impregnable, bearing the flag of the said Rear-Admiral, was op posed on the ever memorable attack; and for the crest-out of a naval crown a cubit arm, holding the flag of a Rear-Admiral of the Blue, inscribed with the word "Impregnable." Sept. 4.-The Duke of Northumberland to be Vice-Admiral of the county, in room of the late Duke his father. 5.-The Principal and Professors of the College of Glasgow unanimously elected Doctor Thomas Thomson, now of London, Lecturer in Chemistry in the University. 12.-The University of Marischal College, Aberdeen, conferred the degree of D.D. on the Rev. James Husband, senior minister of the Associate Congregation, Dunfermline. Member Returned to Parliament. Aug. 25.-W. Parnell, Esq. for the County of Wicklow, in the room of the Right Hon. G. PoNsonby, deceased. II. ECCLESIASTICAL. Aug. 22.-The Most Noble the Marquis and Marchioness of Stafford have been pleased to make the following presentations: |