dal privileges, and a free constitution, established on the basis of a fair and general representation is a solecism in politics; and it can excite no wonder that the rejection of this edict, which was declared by the Duke to be rendered imperative by the federal act, should have not only disturbed the harmony that was so necessary to be maintained, but prevented his Royal Highness and the Chambers from concurring in almost a single point during the course of the session. At length, after many fruitless attempts to induce the States to vote a supply to cover the deficit of last year, the session was closed by the Duke in a speech expressive of his chagrin and disappointment, but announcing his intention to follow the most rigid economy in the public expenditure, and to carry, provisionally, into execution, the law of finance presented to the States, in conformity to article 82. of the Constitution.

Wurtemberg presented a different spectacle. The unexpected demise of the Queen, which took place in January, did not prevent the King from performing his engagements to his subjects, and endeavouring to reform whatever was defective in the internal administration of the country, particularly in the inferior tribunals, where justice is administered to the poor, and which had formerly been distinguished for gross and notorious corruption. A special commission was also appointed to endeavour to remove the obstacles which the conflicting pretensions of different classes had thrown in the way of the new constitution; and when this commission had concluded its labours, the Assembly of the States was summoned to meet on the 15th of July, which took place accordingly. During its meeting, this Assembly was wholly occupied in discussing

the different provisions in the constitutional charter; and this difficult and important task was discharged with rare wisdom, moderation, and unanimity. The new constitution of Wurtemberg, indeed, differs in the most essential points from those adopted in Bavaria and Baden; inasmuch as it recognises, to a greater extent, the equality of political and civil rights, religious toleration, individual liberty, and the freedom of the press. Hence it was received by the people with the most enthusiastic acclamations; and on the 28th of September, the King's birth-day, a great fête was given in honour of the ratification, and the King universally hailed by his subjects as the founder of the liberties of his country. Some alarm was at first excited by the resolutions of the Diet at Frankfort, lest that august body, with its wellknown propensity to interfere in the internal government of the German States, should force the King to modify some of the articles peculiarly favourable to liberty; but happily this alam was either groundless, or his Maesty resolved to hazard its displeisure rather than break faith with his people.

Hesse-Darmstadt exhibits a differen scene. In this little state the desre of a new constitution had becone so great, that petitions to that effect were presented by more than four-fifths of the people; and when the only answer given to these was the disarming the landwehr, and turning looe soldiers to live at free quarters on the people, serious disturbances took place, particularly in the Odenwall, which had taken the lead in geting up the obnoxious petitions. The principal movers were seized and dragged to prison; but at a momet when every thing indicated the approach of a revolution by force, the resolutions of Frankfort, backed as

they were by the Germanic Confederation, succeeded for a time in allay. ing the agitations which had been excited.

The history of the other German States presenting nothing of the smal lest importance, we shall now turn our attention to that of the Northern Powers.

The session of the States-General of the kingdom of the Netherlands was opened, as usual, on the 18th of October; and the principal subject of discussion was the budget of the year, in which the total sum to be raised for the service of the year 1820 was estimated at 77,468,296 florins; thus exceeding the budget of 1819 by no less than 4,765,152 florins. The details of this budget were some. what roughly handled in the Lower Chamber, in which there appeared a strong party in opposition to the Court; but a unanimous vote was passed, authorising the Government to collect the taxes for eight months of 1820, according to the scale which had been fixed for 1819. This defeat of the Ministry is a new feature in the history of a country, where the annual budget used to be voted at one sitting, without discussion, and almost en masse. Two projects, containing the eleven first titles of a new civil code, destined to replace the ancient customs of Holland, and the French laws of Belgium, by establishing a general system of laws for the whole kingdom, were also introduced; but as by the constitution these can. not be promulgated as law till they have been adopted by both Chambers, we must defer our account of this bold innovation till that event take place.

The affairs of Denmark present nothing deserving of record. In Sweden, the new Government of Bernadotte experienced considerable embarrassments from various causes. The

son of Gustavus IV., the ex-King, having become of age, his father claimed for him the crown, which he stated he had abdicated upon that condition alone. This claim of itself would have been simply ridiculous ; but the relationship of the young Prince, Count Itterberg, to the Emperor of Russia, and the coldness and reserve with which Alexander has uniformly treated his upstart brother of Sweden, must have inspired the partisans of his family with the most sanguine hopes, and in the same proportion added to the difficulties of Bernadotte's exceedingly singular and precarious situation. The decay of public credit; the pressure of the national debt, which had been greatly augmented by the operations which led to the conquest and incorporation of Norway with Sweden, as well as by the transfer of the debt of the former to the latter; and the unsettled and in many parts disturbed state of the country, all tended to thicken these difficulties, and to render the position of Bernadotte far from being enviable. It is but justice to say, however, that he appears to have conducted himself at once with energy and conciliation; and that the party in direct hostility to his throne is evidently so insignificant, that he has more to fear from the views and principles of his powerful neighbour, or the Holy Alliance, than from the efforts of faction in the country at the head of which he has been placed.

The history of Russia is to be found in the ukases of the Czar; and, during this year, they contain almost nothing of any interest or importance. The finances appear to be rather in a prosperous condition, and the country in a progressive state of improvement; although centuries must elapse before that vast empire can attain to the point, in the career of civilization, to which the greater

part of the European States have already advanced. To accelerate this progress by every means, seems to be the great aim of Russian policy; and yet, it is plain, that knowledge and some degree of liberty must go hand in hand. The Emperor Alexander has, however, labour. ed much both to improve the condi tion, and to alleviate the burdens, of his subjects. Of this we have an example in the course of the present year, although, to some, the measure we are about to mention may be ascribed to a far different cause. The army of Bessarabia, or of the South, composed of three corps, amounting to about 100,000 men, has been distributed in military colonies in the neighbouring provinces of Galicia and Bukowina, where the soldiers cultivate the lands round the villages where they are cantoned. It is said to be intended to colonise the whole Russian army in the same manner, and thus to establish a sort of military cordon from the Baltic to the Crimea, and along the frontiers of Persia and China, already covered by military posts composed of Cossacks. Whatever may be the ultimate object of this policy, which certainly enables Russia to maintain, at little or no expence, an enormous military force, it has the immediate effect of relieving the inhabitants of the interior from a burden of the most oppressive kind.

In Poland, we find the Russian Government pursuing its favourite policy of emancipating the serfs, and establishing interior colonizations. A war tax, similar to our income tax, was also this year abolished, and several salutary laws passed. Nothing, however, can reconcile the Poles to the government of Russia. In the course of the year, emigrations became so frequent, that it was found necessary to suspend, provisionally,

the deliverance of passports, on ap. plication made for them, and to appoint a commission to assign lands to those who proposed to emigrate on account of the want of the means of subsistence, or rather, perhaps, as a bribe to retain them in the country.

On the side bordering on Turkey, there have been always difficulties springing up relative to the execution of certain articles in the treaty of Bucharest. Certain violations of these articles were intimated to the Grand Seignior, in an autograph letter of the Emperor, to which the Porte replied in the same manner. This, according to the barbarous practice of that barbarous power, was followed by the summary decapitation of the delinquents, which the Reis Effendi announced in a letter to Baron Strogonoff, and with which he declared himself satisfied.

Disorders within and without, degradations of viziers, pachas, and officers; exiles, confiscations, and pu nishments; revolts in the provinces, riots and burnings in the capital, and general confusion and anarchy; such is the picture which the history of Turkey this year exhibits, and to which Egypt presents the only exception. Under the government of Mehemmed Ali Pacha, who only maintains a nominal dependance on the Porte, it has been raised from the lowest ebb of poverty and wretchedness to comparative prosperity and tranquillity. European artisans and engineers have met, from the Pacha, with every encouragement. Commerce and agriculture show symptoms of a revival, and public works have been undertaken and prosecuted with an energy and spirit, of which the Ottoman annals furnish few examples. We particularly allude to the Canal of Ramanieh, for conducting the waters of the Nile to

Alexandria, upon which, in the month of May, about 270,000 workmen were employed, chiefly under the direction of European engineers. An insurance company, with a capital of 100,000 piastres, has also been established at Alexandria.

What remains to be stated is a dark detail of revolts, atrocities, and crimes. In Diarbekir, Bagdat, and the Pachaliks on the frontiers of Persia, whither many of the Wachabées, after their defeat by the son of Mehemmed Ali, had fled for refuge, partial insurrections broke out, and were soon followed by the open revolt of Dervish, the Pacha of Wan, who, aided by the Kurdes, and secretly encouraged by Abbas Mirza, presumptive heir to the throne of Persia, entered Wan unexpectedly, and took possession of the fortress, from which his successor, Ibrahim Pacha, was unable to dislodge him. Great exertions were now made to punish the rebel chief, and seven Pachas were ordered to unite their forces for that purpose. Dervish, however, held out the fortress for a considerable time; and when he saw that his affairs were hopeless, attempted to escape, but was taken, and his head sent to Constantinople, to add to the number of similar ornaments on the gates of the Seraglio.

Towards the end of the year, another revolt broke out in the city of Aleppo, occasioned by the intolerable exactions of the Pacha and his agents, who were driven from the city by the inhabitants and the Janissaries. The expelled Pacha implored assistance of the Porte, who, in consequence, issued orders to the neighbouring Pachas to march to his aid; but at the same time sent a commissioner, with orders to examine into the state of affairs, to attempt to bring about an accommodation, and to prevent the ruin of one of the most commer. VOL, XII. PART I.

cial and populous towns of the em pire. This mediation appears to have been ineffectual. Aleppo having, on the 3d and 19th of January 1820, sustained two furious assaults, surrendered on the 23d. At first, the Pacha, satisfied with banishing fiftythree Janissaries, and putting to death seven of the ringleaders of the revolt, promised a complete pardon to the rest of the rebels; but we have since learned that he has been guilty of the most shocking barbarities.

But if the provinces of the Ottoman empire were convulsed, the capital was no less so. A furious riot, occasioned by some orders of the police, took place in April between the Janissaries and the Bostandgis, and between the artillery and the workmen of the arsenal, who are generally Kurdes; and on the night of the 19th of July, no less than four regiments of Janissaries went by the ears, and threw the city into the utmost consternation. At length, the Aga succeeded in putting an end to the fray, and twenty of the principal mutineers were strangled. The indeci sion of the great officers of state on this occasion led to a complete change in the Divan, and to the exile or decapitation of those who were believed to have been remiss during the mutiny. But this expedient did not prevent the recurrence of these disorders. Dissatisfied with their new Aga, the Janissaries resolved upon his death, and, to bring him out of his palace, set fire to the quarter of the town where he resided. Agreeably to the indispensable duty of his office, he was about to repair to the scene of conflagration, when the Court, informed of his danger, announced his deposition to the enraged Janissaries, appointed another in his place, and by this timely interference saved his life,

but not till fifteen houses had been consumed. If any thing could add

T

a darker shade to atrocities like these, it would be the fate of Abdurraman Bey, and the family of Douz Oglou, Armenian bankers, who, without the shadow of a crime imputed, except that of being Christians and wealthy, fell the victims of some villanous court intrigue, and were decapitated on the 16th of October, before the gates of the Grand Seignior's palace. Even the Ulemas pronounced their sentence illegal and unjust.

That the measure of suffering to this ill-fated empire might be complete, the plague followed in the wake of these disturbances, and committed dreadful ravages, particularly at Constantinople; spreading itself with such frightful rapidity, that, on one side, it extended itself to the frontiers of Austria; on another, over the coast of Africa, as far as Sierra Leone; while at Tunis it swept off 30,000 in

habitants, the half of the population; and carried such devastation into the countries of the interior, that all sorts of labour were abandoned in despair, and many districts became a frightful solitude.

An English and French squadron appeared before Algiers on the 1st of September, to present to the Dey, in the name of the respective sovereigns, a resolution adopted last year at the Congress of Aix-la-Chapelle, bearing, that the Barbary Powers would no longer be suffered to remain in their present situation, and that henceforth, in their political relations, they were to consider themselves as civilized powers. The Dey, who did not much relish this intimation, returned an evasive answer, and the squadron quitted Algiers without taking any other measures.