military officer. The circumstances that led to a discovery of this unhappy female's situation were, that one of her sisters, being near death, manifested a strong desire to see her, at the same time communicating confidentially to her husband the dreadful situation in which she was placed. The husband immediately entreated the father to put an end to the sufferings of this miserable daughter by releasing her, but this the cruel and unnatural parent peremptorily refused. A communication was in consequence made to the authorities, who immediately restored the unfortunate female to liberty.

A French paper mentions a recent duel which took place between two ladies in the forest of Boulogne. Two shots were exchanged. The quarrel terminated as usual at a restaurateur's, near the Porte Maillot. Motives of jealousy were, it is said, the cause of this hostile meeting.

Adroit Swindling.-A German lately achieved a clever swindling adventure at Lyons. He went to a magazine of silks, and became a purchaser to the amount of 10,000 francs (about 4001.), for which he tendered a bill of exchange due in five days. The shopkeeper refused to accept it without previously authenticating the signature. He therefore accompanied the purchaser to the banker, who declared that the bill was good, and that he would have no hesitation in honouring it when due. The shopkeeper, in consequence, surrendered his silks and accepted the bill, or rather a copy of it, while the adroit swindler ran immediately to the banker with the true one,

and having discounted it, disappeared both with the money and the goods.

18. Dr. Dufour, an eminent French physician, died suddenly at Paris in the sixty-sixth year of his age. Himself and fifty other physicians had assembled at a dinner to celebrate the festival of St. Luke, when, in the middle of the first course, he was seized with apoplexy, which, in spite of the medical aid of his brethren promptly administered, terminated his life in five minutes.

A fatal accident lately occurred at Poictiers. A young man went into the garden of the house in which he resided with his wife's family to amuse himself with firing at a mark. The door of an old green-house served for a target. The moment he discharged the pistol a shriek was heard from within; he rushed forward, and his wife fell into his arms, expiring as she uttered these words, "Jules, you have killed me!"

At a late representation of the comedy entitled La Jeune Hotesse, at the theatre of Bagneres, M. Ruelle, who played the part of Durmont, was struck with apoplexy at the end of the second act, and expired in a few minutes.

A fatal accident lately occurred at Nantes: As field-marshal Rouget was proceeding to a review, his horse, it is supposed, being stung by a fly, started and threw him on the pavement. His foot being caught in the stirrup, he was dragged some distance before it was possible to stop the animal. The general expired almost immediately, in consequence of the fall.

A disorder called the musquosobilious

bilious fever has appeared in a hamlet called La Cour d'Origny, in the arrondissement of Avallon. It was first noticed between the 8th and 12th of August, during the great heats and the harvest labours. It is attended by a curious circumstance, as difficult for physicians to explain as many other problems in medicine; namely, that the malady has only attacked one half of the hamlet, which is divided into two equal parts by a cross, surrounded with trees. The northern part is infected, while that of the south is quite healthy.

The vicinity and apparent inveteracy of the contagious fever in Spain has induced the French government to take the strictest measures of precaution for the safety of its southern provinces. Reinforcements of troops are sent to the passes of the Pyrennees, and the most comprehensive and inflexible regulations established by a royal ordinance. All communication with Spain by the eastern Pyrennees is forbidden, except by the road of Perthus. A cordon of health is to be maintained along the whole Pyrennean frontier, and during the whole period of apprehended contagion. All animals and goods supposed to be susceptible of disease are placed under the most peremptory and vigilant superintendence. Men, women, and children attempting to enter France in defiance of the royal prohibition, or in breach of any of the prescribed rules, are to be indiscriminately repelled by the soldiers; while the penalty for a successful violation of the cordon is that of death itself.

SPAIN.

The accounts from Spain present melancholy details of a pestilential fever which has made great ravages in Catalonia, particularly in its capital, Barcelona, and has extended to Arragon and other parts of the peninsula. A strong military force has been drawn around the infected districts, and communication as far as possible intercepted with the neighbouring provinces.

On the 28th. the extraordinary cortes met, and have had work enough brought before them by the king, in his speech at their opening; such as the consolidation of the constitutional system; the division of the territory, and the best means of arranging, according to it, the political government, the cortes, the military ordinances, the naval force, and the militia; the measures necessary to restore the tranquillity, and to promote the welfare of the Americans; the examination and reform of the duties of customs of the currency, and of the charitable institutions.

The first sittings of the cortes have been chiefly devoted to the division of the Spanish home territory, which stood in great need of it, its provinces being of very disproportionate extent. The new provinces are to be named after the principal town in the district.

From the manner in which the Spanish monarchy in Europe has been composed, or rather compounded, of a number of provinces united at different and distant periods, each preserving a large share of its original peculiarities, as to custom, privilege, and inter

nal

nal jurisdiction, it is clear that the independence thus asserted by each petty knot of magistrates, and more especially when combined with a spirit of jealous intolerance towards their neighbours, must have thrown embarrassments of the most perplexing nature across the path of Spanish reformation and prosperity. Not a week passed during the war against Buonaparte in which the clashing of contiguous authorities with each other, and sometimes with the power which ought to have been supreme, was not productive of the most serious mischief. The same species of evil has gone on since the restoration of the cortes, more silently, though not less vigorously; creating a check to the action of the state itself, in the administration of the constitutional law, and in the maintenance of general tranquillity.

A Spanish journal contains the following detail:-The Spanish monarchy is composed of Spain and her colonies. The kingdom of Spain contains 10,372,000 inhabitants, spread over a surface of 24,661 square leagues. The colonies on a surface of 669,094 square leagues, reckon 17,700,080 inhabitants, distributed as fol

lows:

The revenues of Spain in 1817 amounted to 620,000,000 of reals (or about 6,000,0001.) Its military force in 1806 amounted to 262,000, of which 110,000 were for the colonies. Its navy was composed of 283 vessels, of which forty-three were ships of the line.

The sales of property in 1,092 monasteries and other suppressed establishments in Spain, produced 1,365,000l. sterling-about double the amount of the estimates. This sum goes to the extinction of the national debt.

HOLLAND.

On the 15th, his majesty opened the sessions of the states general with a speech, in which he gave a most satisfactory account of the present state of the kingdom. His majesty states that he continues to receive the most unequivocal testimonies of friendship from other powers; and that notwithstanding the events in the Levant, there are still well-founded hopes that peace will be maintained. The fears of an unfortunate harvest are vanished. Commerce and navigation have not been neglected; and there is reason to hope that they will become more animated. The manufactures have not prospered as might have been wished, but some of the most important have considerably improved of late, and there is little reason to complain of want of work. His majesty speaks with satisfaction of the diffusion of knowledge among the people, and of the improvement also of the fine arts.

The internal administration of the kingdom is improving; the communications are facilitated by new roads; important works have been executed to prevent the inundations

undations of the Rhine, and others are in contemplation; a great reform is intended in the prisons; the state of the finances is promising, and the new projects of laws. on that subject are nearly ready.

ITALY.

A Roman newspaper states, that the sculptor Canova is superintending the building of a beautiful church at his own expense, in honour of the holy trinity, at his native place, Passagno. It is Isaid that it will in form resemble the Pantheon of Rome, and be ornamented with a portico resembling that of the Pantheon of Athens. The interior will be decorated with sacred sculptures by this artist, and with a picture of his own composition. Canova has lived for many years at Rome, imposing on himself the most severe privations; and he intends now to dedicate the fruit of the labours of his whole life to this object.

SWEDEN.

The king of Sweden by an order of the day, dated Stockholm, Oct. 1, has appointed the crown prince, grand master of the ordnance of the artillery.

In their sitting of the 18th of August last, the Norwegian diet, with only four dissentient votes, authorised the king to open a loan for the kingdom of Norway to the amount of 200,000 Norwegian specie dollars.

Count Rosen, the governor of the province of Gottenburgh, has addressed a representation to the government of Sweden, respecting the greatly depressed state of the commerce of the city of Gottenburgh. He attributes it in a great measure to the difficulty of raising money there, and recom1821.

mends the establishment of a bureau for the loan of money to merchants on proper security.

"A letter from Finland saysOn the 12th of August, a dreadful fire broke out at Fredericksham, which in the space of six hours reduced nearly the whole town to ashes. Two churches, 110 houses, the town-house, and several public buildings, were destroyed. Only ten houses were saved. The unfortunate inhabitants have saved nothing but their lives from the conflagration.

"In the month of August nearly 400,000 ship pounds of bar, and other iron, were exported from Stockholm, and 1,300 ship pounds of copper."

AMERICA.

Accounts from Norfolk in Virginia, mention a dreadful storm which occurred on September 3d. and which surpassed in violence any thing of the kind ever before witnessed. Other furious storms have occurred in different places.

The damage done by the hurricane in Norfolk, referring to the city only, amounts to 200,000 dollars. Much more fatal consequences were, however, expected in the interior, and among others the destruction of the standing crops of Indian corn was deemed inevitable. Similar effects were apprehended all along the coast from Norfolk to New York, within which space the fury of the tempest was principally felt. At Boston it appears that no injury was done.

Henry Jansen, Esq., a delegate to the convention, from the county of Ulster, when apparently in perfect health, fell down in the capitol, at Albany, (New York), and (M) instantly

had no resources left to counterwork it, and saw that resistance was vain. He, therefore, on the 5th of July resigned his office, stipulating only for a passport for Spain, with attentions suitable to the high rank he had held.

The city of Mexico has been the scene of a transaction similar to that which took place at Lima in January last, when the viceroy Pezuela, was deposed from his high office. Apodaca conde del Venadito, the viceroy of Mexico, has long been considered, by the Spanish government, unfit for a trust of such importance, at a period when the utmost firmness and wisdom were requisite to preserve that valuable colony to Spain; and O'Donoju, the successor they had appointed, had, by the last accounts, passed Havannah in his way to Mexico. But Apodaca, in the mean time, became still more unpopular with those under his command than with those to whose control he was subjected; and the officers of his own army at length determined on becoming the instrument of his deposition. A meeting of the principal officers was held, and after a very short deliberation, an intimation was conveyed to the viceroy, that he could no longer be permitted to hold the reins of power. They also named as his successor the camp marshal, Don Francisco Novella, an officer of highly popular manners, and beloved by the army, attached to the cause of Spain, and a strong advocate for the adherence of Mexico to that country. This bold measure was planned with

NEW SOUTH WALES.

From the Sydney Gazette of Jan. 6.

An interesting scene was witnessed at the church of St. Philip's, Sydney, on Monday last, it being the second anniversary of the foundation of the male Orphan School, where a sermon was preached by the Rev. Thomas Reddall. After the sermon the children were examined by the rev. preacher, suitably to their respective ages and studies, according to the national system of education, very much to the satisfaction of his excellency the patron, and the members of the committee; and all present were surprised to see the specimens of shoes and clothing made by the children: when his excellency distributed six silver medals, inscribed "The best reader;"" The best writer;" "The best arithmetician;"" General good conduct and gardening;" "The best tailor;" and "The best shoemaker;" as also a number of books on various subjects to other deserving boys: after which they were regaled with an old English dinner of roast beef and plum pudding. When it is remembered that the national system was practically unknown in the colony until the arrival of the Rev. Thomas Reddall, who is charged with a particular commission for its introduction, the proficiency displayed by these native-born youths, from so short a course of instruction,