Larking, when shooting jackdaws, in the church-yard at West Farleigh, was firing from a yew tree, and happening to let fall his gun, he looked down after it, when at that instant, from the jar the gun received on reaching the ground it went off, and the contents, taking the direction of the young man's face blew off the lower part of it, carrying with it most of his teeth; when discovered he was lying over a grave which was just dug, and presented a most shock ing spectacle.

A few days ago, as Mr. F. Francillon, a solicitor, of Chipping Norton, was walking in the forest of Whichwood, Oxfordshire, he had occasion to stoop down in order to adjust his shoe, when he put his hand accidentally on a viper, which bit him in the finger. The pain was very acute, and Mr. F. was a mile and a half from any house, so that he could not have immediate recourse to medical aid. Knowing the consequences of delay, Mr. F. sucked the poison from the wound, and called on a surgeon as soon as possible. The symptoms which ensued were of an alarming nature; the tongue was much enlarged; pulsation ceased, and for some time Mr. F. was in a state of insensibility. By administering powerful emetics and cathartics, he was at length relieved from the stupor, and the other alarming symptoms subsided. Mr. F. is now recovered, with the exception of his arm, which he has not yet been able to use.

Two boys, the sons of a poor widow in the vicinity of Dingwall, (Scotland,) the one five, and the other nine years of age, having some days ago left home in the

evening, to amuse themselves in the neighbouring fields, proceeded to an adjoining quarry, and in attempting to climb up to the top in quest of birds' nests, they lost their hold and were precipitated to the bottom of the pit, in which there were nine feet of water. Their mother, longing for their return with maternal anxiety, went in quest of them, when, to her inexpressible sorrow, she found their lifeless bodies immersed in water.

Weights and measures.-The commissioners appointed to elucidate this subject have at length stated the following as the result of their enquiry. "The measurements which we have lately performed upon the apparatus employed by the late Sir G. Shuckburgh Evelyn, have enabled us to determine, with sufficient precision, the weight of a given bulk of water, with a view to the fixing the magnitude of the standard of weight; that of length being already determined by the expe riments related in our former reports: and we have found by the computations, which will be detailed in the appendix, that the weight of a cubic inch of distilled water, at 62 deg. of Fahrenheit, is 252.72 grains of the parliamen→ tary standard pound of 1758, supposing it to be weighed in a vacuum. We beg leave, therefore, finally to recommend, with all humility, to your majesty, the adoption of the regulations and modifications suggested in our former reports, which are principally these:-1. That the parlia mentary standard yard, made by Bird in 1760, be hence-forwarded considered as the authentic legal standard of the British empire;

and

and that it be identified by declaring that 391,393 inches of this standard, at the temperature of 62 deg. of Fahrenheit, have been found equal to the length of a pendulum supposed to vibrate seconds in London, on the level of the sea, and in a vacuum. 2. That the parliamentary standard Troy pound, according to the two-pound weight made in 1758, remain unaltered, and that 7,000 Troy grains be declared to constitute an avoirdupois pound; the cubic inch of distilled water being found to weigh, at 62 deg. in a vacuum, 252.72 parliamentary grains. 3. That the ale and corn gallon be restored to their original equality, by taking, for the statutable common gallon of the British empire, a mean value, such that a gallon of common water may weigh 10 pounds avoirdupois in ordinary circumstances, its contents being nearly 277.3 cubic inches; and that correct standards of this imperial gallon, and of the bushel, peck, quart, and pint, derived from it, and of their parts, be procured without delay, for the exchequer, and for such other offices in your majesty's dominions as may be judged most convenient for the ready use of your majesty's subjects."

26. A most numerous and respectable meeting was held at the great room of the Thatched House Tavern, for the purpose of considering the propriety of founding "a Society for the moral and intellectual Improvement of the native inhabitants of British India."

The right hon. J. C. Villiers, on taking the chair, opened to the meeting the great object for the promotion of which they were

now convened. He adverted to the great necessity which existed for their directing the public attention to India, in the hope of ultimately establishing moral principles among the Hindoos who were intrusted to the British charge.

Mr. Harrison pointed out the necessity of establishing an institution upon this basis. It could, of course, only be promoted by the force of reason and the gradual removal of the native prejudices.

Sir James Macintosh proposed the 1st resolution for establishing this society. He said that the relative connexion of the native nations in India with the British government was the most remarkable which had ever existed between the conquering and the conquered. Hitherto the Indian people had only known the greatness of England by the formidable and overwhelming appearance of her fleets and armies for their control and government. England had now to teach them a different lesson, one which must produce a great moral operation, namely, the dispensation of her great resources for their education and benefit, flowing from channels they never saw, and from benefactors who could never witness their gratitude. This great act would practically teach them to believe in the existence of exalted virtues, from the knowledge of which they were previously debarred by the corruption of their morals and force of the despotism under which they were reared. Change in the Hindoo character could only be accomplished by the force of reason and persuasion, and must therefore be

the

the work of time. Nothing could aid more the progress of such a work than the introduction among them of those arts and sciences which tend to the utility and embellishment of civilized life. Some imputations had been cast upon what was represented to be the imprudent zeal of missionaries. Now he must say, from his own experience in India, he had seen nothing to countenance these imputations. He believed their labours to be well directed, and that the state of native society afforded them a wide field to move in. In his judicial situation in India, he had had many opportunities of witnessing the want of moral effect in the superstition, miscalled religion, of the native inhabitants. He had with pain observed the total want of truth in their evidence. Indeed, to such a degree was this immorality carried, that Sir W. Jones, not withstanding his generous partiality towards the people, among whom his pursuits were so well calculated to inspire him with regard, had himself been compelled judiciously to admit its existence to a great degree-to a degree, indeed, which made it difficult for a judge to say, after he had decided a cause among them, whether that decision were founded upon the unalterable basis of truth. It was this disregard of truth among the Hindoos which made him declare that system of opinion, called religion, among the natives of India had no moral use at all. So far from being an aid, it was rather an obstacle to the magistrate: it enforced no duty in life, nor promoted any act of moral intelligence. A system of education

had, however, sprung up in India, which, with the concurrence of the natives, was well calculated to promote the greatest eventual benefits. In Bombay, the educa tion of the native children was going on so prosperously, that it was hoped all the children of a population not fewer than 2 or 300,000 in amount, would soon possess the rudiments of necessary knowledge.

The rev. Mr. Ward was called upon to state, from his residence in India, the situation of the native population. He particularly spoke of the state of ignorance in which the females were kept in s India, and enforced the bad effect it must have upon the rear. ing of their families. He also spoke of the revolting practice of widows immolating themselves upon the funeral piles of their dead husbands, leaving behind them, utterly regardless, infants of one, two, and three years of age, and sometimes even suckling ones, which were, in open outrage to the compunctions of nature, torn by the mother from her bosom, while she flung herself to expire in the flames. In this state of moral depravity were fifty millions of females under British dominion. How could they then be moral, when the very gods of their idolatry were personificatory of vice?-when their very priests were leaders in crime?-when the very scenes of their temples could not be mentioned in a christian community? Had not providence, he would ask, consigned the population of one hundred millions to Great Britain, that she might redeem them from this immoral vassalage? England was under an awful responsibility

responsibility to lift this people from their vices. After the dark ness of a night of ages, the sun was now shining upon them; and, under British benevolence, he hoped it would set in glory.

Mr. Wilberforce seconded Sir James Macintosh's resolution, and referred to the speech of Mr. Ward, as strikingly showing the necessity of this society, and the facility with which its benevolent intentions might be realized. To ignorance the dreadful superstition of the natives might be traced; and when that was once removed the evils which flowed from it might cease as a natural consequence. The hon. gent. made an affecting appeal to the meeting upon the dreadful influence of that superstition which tore from the human breast, not only those general principles of moral feeling which reigned so universally, but those very ties of kindred which nature indelibly marked upon the female character for the preservation of her own comfort and that of society. Dreadful indeed must be that superstition which eradicated eradicated from a mother all affection for her infant child. To reform such a state of things was their first duty; and the only way in which it could be done was by the introduction among them of those habits which tended to humanize society. It often happened, that in promoting measures of general utility, a statesman had to admit others which were of a mixed character that, with the good to the many, he had to see some evil inflicted upon the few. But, here was no such drawback from the general joy: here was nothing but what conduced, in the most

harmonizing manner, to the inevitable good of the whole. The path was smooth and delightful, from beginning to end, and the hand of providence pointed it out as the duty which was prescribed to England, by the overruling power who had committed so many millions of human beings to her charge.

The bishop of Glocester proposed a resolution for constituting the society. Lord Teignmouth, in seconding the motion, described the state of moral depravity in which he had found the natives of India. More than fifty years ago, when he first went out to India, he remembered a request made by a native in his service, that he should write to a friend of his in another part of the country, to send him a particular stone, out of which he wanted to make a god! He was glad to hear of the recent relaxation in the prejudices of the natives, and the aid they were now likely to give for the purposes of education.

Sir William Burroughs alluded to his experience for many years while supreme judge of the court at Calcutta. He did not remember a single native ease of importance in which the perjury at both sides was not shocking to the feelings. Mr. Benjamin Shaw, Mr. John Thornhill, an East India director, the Earl of Clare, Sir James Saumarez, the right hon. John Sullivan, and several other gentlemen, successively proposed resolutions.

-The bank of England, has returned to cash payments; and, in the metropolis, sovereigns have generally superseded one pound notes. This measure will be

likely to diminish in some degree the forgeries on the bank, which were practised chiefly among notes of that description.

NETHERLANDS.

29.-A fatal accident happened from an explosion of fire damp in a coal mine, at Seraing, near Leige, in the kingdom of the Netherlands. M. Micha, a master miner, having descended to a part of the works 251 ells deep, prcceeded with twenty-six workmen to follow the course of a new vein. They had not gone far, when a slight detonation was heard, and a minute afterwards, a second very violent one, and at the same time almost the whole of the gallery fell in with a dreadful crash. The retreat of the workmen being thus cut off, an attempt was made to remove the earth that had fallen in, but this was found impracticable, as fresh stones and earth continued to descend as fast as the ruins were cleared away. It was requisite, therefore to open a new way through the solid stratum, which could not be accomplished till after forty-five hours incessant labour. This new passage was conducted with great judgment, for it led to the precise spot where the accident had happened; twenty-three of the workmen were found, but unhappily all quite dead. The four others had not been found.

SPAIN.

This country continues in a state of commotion, in consequence of the opposition between the partizans of the old and new system. Bands of peasants stimulated and led on by ecclesiastics, are conducting a warfare against the new government,