ill, in which state he continued, when the last dispatches were received from the island. Nothing further has been declared respecting the intentions of France, with regard to St. Domingo, but there is no present appearance of a design to employ force for its recovery. The island of Dominica has been the theatre of a sanguinary war between the colonists, and the Maroons, or runaway Negroes. A proclamation issued on Feb. 25th, by Governor Ainslie, after notifying the destruction of several camps of the Maroons, and the stationing of the Dominica Rangers in the woods for the purpose of harassing those who still keep out, offers pardon to those who surrender themselves, and rewards to those who bring in a chief or a murderer. It concludes with declaring, "that the Rangers have orders to take no prisoners, but to put to death men, women and children, without exception." Such are the horrors attending upon domestic slavery! Letters from Busheer, of Feb. 14th, state that the Pashaw of Bagdad had been defeated and taken prisoner by the Meatfic Arabs, the chief tributary tribe to the Turkish sultan between the Euphrates and Tigris. After the victory, their Shekh took possession of Busra (Bassora), which was likely for some time to inter-` rupt the commerce between Bagdad and the Persian Gulph. The plague has in this year made dreadful ravages in Lesser Asia, Syria, and the adjacent islands. Smyrna is computed to have lost 30,000 persons, and the keys of 800 houses, left vacant by the extirpation of as many families, have been delivered to the governor. The crops of corn in many places have remained ungathered in the fields, and several towns and villages have been totally abandoned. The British possessions in India continue to enjoy a tranquillity, but slightly disturbed by commotions of the natives. A Calcutta Gazette of December 1813, contains an account of the operations of a body of troops under Lieut.col. Adam, which took the field to chastise an unprovoked incur Asia has this year afforded scanty materials for narrative. It is affirmed, that the Wahabees, though excluded from Mecca and Medina, remain in great strength_sion in the Rewah district by Surin Arabia Felix; and that their troops, posted at the wells on the skirts of the deserts, lay under contribution, or cut off, caravans going to the holy cities. A caravan of traders and pilgrims, numbering 1200 persons, is said to have been lately put to the sword, in consequence of making a resistance to the robbers, and that about 400 who escaped the massacre, perished in the desert of thirst. naid Sing, a partisan of the Rao Rajah. The Ghurree of Entouree, a strong fortress, in which the enemy had taken shelter, was stormed, the garrison put to the sword, and Surnaid Sing was killed. Peace was in consequence restored, the Rao Rajah agreeing to pay to the East India Company all the expenses of the armament. The Java gazettes have given an official account of the success of an expedition from Batavia,, against against the Rajah of Boni at Macassar. Gen. Nightingale, the commander, states, that having arrived at Boni on the 6th of June, he demanded reparation from the Rajah for the insults committed against the British government, which being refused, be made an attack on the next day, and in an hour's time the whole town and residence of the Rajah were in possession of the British troops, with a very small loss on their part. From Bengal it is related, that the Sambrees, a town in Borneo inhabited by pirates, was captured in July, after an obstinate resistance, by a detachment of his Majesty's 14th regiment under Capt. Watson. On February 12th, the river Nerbudda, during the night overflowed its banks, and swept away fifteen villages, with the houses, inhabitants, and cattle. The loss of human lives is supposed to have exceeded 3000. The town and suburbs of Rangoon have been nearly destroyed by fire. Upwards of 6000 houses were consumed, besides vast quantities of teak and other wood. Accounts have been received from China, that a fierce and dangerous rebellion is, raging in that empire. It cannot be expected, that accurate relations of the origin and circumstances of such an event should be communicated from a country the policy of which is so peculiarly close and guarded; but various particulars have been published in the Bombay courier of July 22d, which may deserve some credit. Among the various causes to which the rebellion has been ascribed, that of disaffection among the Emperor's brothers is mentioned, and it was doubtless much assisted by a severe famine which prevailed in several provinces during the last year. Its leader, in Shau-tung, named Lia, pretended to be, by metempsychosis, the same with a celebrated person who flourished about a thousand years ago. The rebels were in such strength that they ventured an attack upon the royal palace at Pekin, from which the emperor was fortunately absent on a hunting party in Tarary. Numbers of lives were lost in the attack, but at length the assailants, struck by a superstitious panic, gave way before the impe-' rial army, and were repulsed with great slaughter. In the pursuit, it is said, that the imperial generals put men, women, and children to death in several districts through which they passed; and it cannot be doubted, that the cruelties practised on both sides were extreme. The result, as far as is yet known, has been, that the rebels have taken to the mountains of Teehang, a tract of 400 miles in circumference, where they may hold out a long while; and if joined by any number of disaffected, as they probably will be, the insurrection may still be highly formidable. CHAP CHAPTER XVIII. Autumnal Session of Parliament.-Speech of the Prince Regent.-deldress and Debates.-Motion in the House of Lords relative to keeping part of the Militia still embodied. The same in the House of Commons. Motion relative to the Court-Martial on Colonel Quentin-Amended Bill for the Preservation of Peace in Ireland.-Adjournment. TH HE autumnal Session of Parliament was opened on Nov. 8th by the Prince Regent in person. The principal topic of his speech was the War with the United States of America, which his Royal Highness affirmed to have originated in the most unprovoked aggression on the part of their Government, and to have been calculated to promote the designs of the common enemy of Europe. It was, however, his sincere desire to bring it to a conclusion upon just and honourable terms, and he was still engaged in negociations for that purpose. The speech then adverted to the successful operations of the war during the present year; and in touching on the capture of Washington, remarked that it had produced on the inhabitants a deep and sensible impression of the calamities of a war in which they had been so wantonly involved. A slight notice was then taken of the reverse on Lake Champlain; but confident expectations were expressed of establishing the ascendency of his Majesty's arms in Canada. The retardation of the opening of the Congress at Vienna was next spoken of, as owing to unavoidable causes, and assurance was given of his Royal Highness's endeavours to consolidate the peace in which he had been a party, by a just equilibrium among the powers of Europe. Addressing the House of Commons, the speech informed them of the flourishing state of the public revenue and commerce, but expressed regret for the necessity of a large expenditure in the ensuing year. It concluded with an observation on the state in which the late war must have left the countries engaged in it, with respect to their internal conditition, and their commercial relations; and with recommending to Parliament great caution in adopting regulations for extending our trade, and securing our present advantages. In the House of Lords, the corresponding address to the Prince Regent was moved by the Earl of Abingdon, and was seconded by Earl Delaware. The Earl of Darnley then rose, and said, he wished he could have coincided with the last noble lord in the youthful ardour with which he hailed the national prospects; but on the whole view of the state of the country he found no cause for congratulation. He particularly adverted to the extraordinary circumstance, circumstance, that [while our military reputation was raised to the highest pitch, our naval should have sunk, and that during the course of the war, with but few exceptions, victory should have been on the enemy's side in actions between vessels of the same class. Lord Melville in reply to this observation, said that such general and declamatory charges were not capable of an answer, but he would ask to what distinct failure the allusion was made. He would himself enter into a few details on the subject. The Americans sending no fleets to sea, but possessing numerous seamen, and a multitude of privateers, the question of success or discomfiture was to be decided by looking to the protection afforded to trade against their means of annoyance. We had now within a few hundreds, 20,000 American seamen prisoners of war. We had captured from them more than 200 ships of war and armed vessels, and had taken 900 other vessels. Notwithstanding the increase of their privateers, the premium of insurance was somewhat less in last June, than in the June preceding. The captures made from us from the peace of Paris down to the last month were reported at 172; but of these 94 were running ships; and of the rest, 38 were separated from convoy, either through stress of weather, or wilfully; and the whole number of the coasting trade lost was only 11. With respect to the noble lord's assertion, that when our ships met with an equal force of the enemy's, they were beaten, except in a few instances, he could assure him that he was totally mistaken. If the events of the war in Canada were alluded to, when the noble lord should bring on his inquiry in a regular shape, he trusted he should be able to satisfy him. Lord Grenville said he was not to be drawn off by this parade of detail from the actual fact, that there was a general impression in the country of great mismanagement in the naval administration. The opinion of the community could not be misunderstood, when the merchants of England, after having been repelled from the Admiralty with flippant and empty answers, were seen laying their remonstrances at the foot of the throne. After some further observations to this purpose, he said he hoped there would be an early day appointed for the inquiry; and that it would be entered into with solemn and impartial seriousness. His Lordship then, adverting to the address, acknowledged that with all his desire to look favourably on the prospects of the country, they were clouded to his view. The speech told them only of new burdens, of severe additions to those which were already severe; no economy, no husbanding, no reduction. He lamented its language respecting the negociation with America. He professed a readiness to make peace on just and honourable terms; but these were mere words of course, and he should have expected a declaration what were the grounds on which peace would be made. He hoped the war still carried on was not one of resentment or revenge, much less of punishment, in order to make the people of the United States feel the weight of our power. This topic led his lordship to con sider the devastation made at Washington, which he condemned in the most unqualified manner, as an act which could tend to no useful purpose, and which gave the first example of recurring to the maxims of a barbarous and antiquated policy. It had indeed been defended on the ground of retaliation, which, however, ought to have been expressly stated at the time. A subsequent proclamation had been issued, in which, on the same ground, a necessity was declared of carrying on war against the private property of the American people. If it were true that we were in a situation which imperatively called for such measures, he trusted that parliament would be made acquainted with the circumstances which had brought affairs to such a deplorable crisis. With respect to the general state of Europe, his lordship could not avoid mentioning it as a great omission in the speech, that no notice was taken of our still keeping up on the Continent an army of 40.oco men. In what part of our history was an example found of such a force in British pay in a time of profound peace, and what power had a King of Eng. land to keep it without consent of parliament? On the whole, the speech appeared to him ill suited to the existing state of the country, and with these objections it was impossible for him to give his approbation to the address. The Earl of Liverpool could not agree with the noble baron that the address was marked by any peculiar features of a warlike character. He thought it more consistent with the dignity of the crown to describe the state of the country as it actually was, than to hold out hopes as to the result of events and proceedings still depending. The Earl then went through the several objections of his Lordship, and replied to each. He justified the acts at Washington as an exercise of retaliation; and with respect to the proclamation of Sir Alexander Cochrane, he said that a subsequent instruction had been sent to the Commander on that station. As to the circumstance of keeping up a large army on the Continent in time of peace, he allowed that there might be no precedent for it, because no state of things similar to that in which the war concluded had ever before existed: The policy of the measure was connected with the state of our foreign relations, and might become a future subject of discussion. The question for the address passed without a division. In the House of Commons the address on the Speech was moved by Lord Bridport, and seconded by Mr. Graham. A conversation on a variety of points relative to the state of politics, foreign and domestic, ensued, which, after the summary above given of the debate in the House of Lords, it is unimportant to specify. The address was agreed to without a division. Though in this short session of parliament several topics of importance were introduced to the notice of both houses, yet as the greater part of them were only suggested as matter of future discussion, we shall confine our report to the few subjects on which the proceedings were final. On Nov. 11, Earl Fitwilliam rose in the House of Lords for the purpose |