left there the four ships destined for the Arctic Expedition, all well, and were to sail in the course of two or three days. On the evening of May 2, the Duke and Duchess of York gave a grand entertainment at Yorkhouse, St. James's Palace. Besides the Queen and Princess Augusta, there were present the Prince Regent, the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester, the Prince and Princess of Hesse-Hombourg, the Duke of Clarence, the Duke of Kent, the Princess Sophia of Gloucester, and several of the nobility. Her Majesty was suddenly taken ill about ten o'clock, while taking tea: she felt herself so very unwell that she wished to go home instantly, but neither her chair nor her carriage were in readiness, her Majesty not having ordered them till eleven o'clock; and it so happened that there was no Royal carriage in readiness. Lord and Lady Castlereagh, however, who had just arrived, offered the use of their carriage, which was accepted, and the Queen got into it, accompanied by her daughters, the Duchess of Gloucester, the Princess Augusta, and Princess of Hesse- Hombourg. Expresses were sent by special messengers, to call Sir Francis Milman and Sir Henry Halford, who repaired to the Palace in a short time. They remained with the Queen till past 12 o'clock, when they pronounced her Majesty better, and Sir H. Halford was deputed to convey the intelligence to the Prince Regent at Carlton-house. The indisposition with which the Queen was so suddenly seized was a spasmo the " HENRY HALFORD." A melancholy catastrophe oceurred on Saturday, May 2, near St. Agnes island, Scilly. Four men had put out for the purpose of fishing, to supply their families, when the boat sunk, from some unaccountable accident, and three of them were drowned. The other was shortly afterwards seen on a rock by some men passing in a fishing-boat. They exerted themselves, but in vain to extricate him from his perilous situation. Whilst waiting for the ebb tide, they conversed with the unhappy man for upwards of two hours. He informed them of the fate of his companions, and entreated them for God's sake to save his life; but a tremendous wave suddenly swept him off the rock, and he was seen no more. They have all left wives and children to lament their loss. The following address, by the Jews of Leipsic, to their brethren of the same persuasion frequenting the fairs at Leipsic, has been published in the German and Hebrew languages, and extensively circulated throughout the continent: "It is notorious that Leipsic owes its internal prosperity and riches to its commercial gains alone; without its fairs, this city would be at the most an insignificant country town. The most numerous numerous visiters of these celebrated fairs, and those who make the greatest traffic in them, are Jews who resort from Russia, Turkey, and all Europe; without them these fairs might be compared to a body without a soul. With an intolerance which is wholly contradictory to liberal spirit of the age, a part of the the inhabitants of Leipsic have again exerted themselves to seek out and to enforce a law originating in the darkest intolerance of ancient times, that the Jews shall not be permitted to expose their goods to sale, except in a very confined part of this city (in itself but small) which is assigned to them. The noble-minded King of Saxony is not to be blamed for an intolerance which is to be exercised towards the professors of the Jewish faith. It is the inhabitants of Leipsic themselves who, by the lapse of time, have forgotten by what means thousands of families in this little city must maintain themselves. Indignant that at a free fair, which, if not visited by our brethren, cannot and will not subsist, the inhabitants notwithstanding attempt to insult and oppress them; we hereby invite all our brethren to form a union for the purpose of respectfully petitioning the generous and tolerant Monarch of Prussia to allow two fairs to be annually held, at Easter and Michaelmas, at Naumburg, which is in the neighbourhood, and more veniently situated for fairs; in return for which we engage entirely to abandon the fairs of Leipsic, and, to assemble only at the fairs of Naumburg, under con the protection and mild government of Prussia. inhabitants of Poland and Russia, The Jewish out of true and sincere attachment to the adherents of their faith, and out of patriotism, will doubtless readily accede to the wish of their German brethren, A Berlin and Hamburgh house that our desire may be fulfilled. will willingly take the trouble, at the next Easter fair, of collecting signatures for such union; and this good cause, which speaks for the interests of humanity, requires no further recommendation, except that we join in imploring God for his protection and blessing." has been by no means so favour2. Leipsic.-The Leipsic fair able as was expected, but at the the complaints made every where same time, not so bad a one as might lead us to conclude. over who are properly the soul of a The buyers from the north, Leipsic fair, were not so numerstocked with goods of all kinds, ous, and as the fair was many of the sellers did not find their advantage in it. It is indeed certain that the quantity of goods manufactured is much larger than the quantity consumed. The English were numerous, and threw away their goods at very low prices; and as the number of Jewish sellers increases every year, it is not to be wondered at that the German manufacturer did not meet with affirmed that much demand. It cannot be any article was eagerly sought after. In general there was not much done on a large scale, but the amount of goods sold in small quantities was having a due regard to the different ranks in which they serve. Madrid, May 8, 1818. was very considerable. The same punishment as natives, weather was very fine all the time of the fair, and attracted many purchasers from far and near. The number of country people who visited the fair was very great. Printed calicoes, of elegant patterns, met with a ready sale, and flannels were not to be had towards the end of the fair. Linens maintained the price; furs were in request. In general, all fashionable articles which united beauty and fineness were much sought after. Colonial goods were not in demand; coffee, however, was high, the pound being from 9 groschen to 9 groschen and 6 pfenning. The book fair was so far good that the booksellers who were present paid ready money; but the sale of books on scientific subjects was extremely small; those who had the best sale were such as related to the politics of the day, almanacks, and such as concerned the secular festival of the reformation. Many old booksellers missed coming, but sent the balance of their accounts. 7. The Queen may be con. sidered to be completely recovered from her late attack: Her Majesty had a select party yesterday evening. Spanish America.-His Catholic Majesty having heard the opinion of his Supreme Council of War on the 27th of February last relative to foreigners who make common cause with the insurgents of Spanish America, has decreed that every foreigner who shall be taken with arms in his hand in his Majesty's dominions of America shall be treated as a rebel, and be subject to the 14. Paris. In the night between Tuesday and Wednesday, his Serene Highness the Prince of Condé had reposed for two hours, but at three o'clock in the morning of yesterday the fever returned, and he died at a quarter before eight o'clock. At 11 o'clock, the body was exposed in state, in one of the halls of his palace. The cure of Sainte-Valere, and two vicars, read during the day the office for the dead, in presence of M. Hubert, the Prince's almoner. The body of his Serene Highness will be embalmed, put into a leaden coffin, &c. and exposed in the saloon of the palace till the funeral honours due to his rank as a Prince of the Blood Royal shall be paid him. 19. Lausanne.-A lake that has been lately formed in the valley de Bagne, in Valais, threatens with incalculable loss all the neighbouring country. This valley, about five leagues above St. Branchier, presents a very narrow passage, commanded on the south by the side of Mauvoisin, which offers an extremely rapid declivity, and on the north by Mont-Pleureur, which has a much greater elevation. The lower part of the latter presents a line of rocks of about 500 feet in height, surmounted by the vast glacier of Chedroz, which mounts by stages to the very summit of the mountain. From this glacier enormous blocks of ice frequently detach themselves, and fall into the valley, valley, where they are accumu. lated against the line of rocks over which they precipitate themselves in cascades. The bed of the Drance is completely concealed, and this river, formed by the waters from the more distant glaciers, appears below this mass of ice and snow. These masses of ice have singularly increased since 1815. The kind of vault or of natural gallery, under which the Drance once found its passage, was closed up during the last winter, and the waters, finding no passage, have accumulated behind the barrier of ice, and now actually form a considerable lake. This barrier traverses the breadth of the valley, and rests upon the opposite sides of the two mountains. Its length, measured in the higher part, is about 500 feet; its breadth, taken at the base, is at least 900 feet; and its height, at the lowest part near the side of Mauvoisin, is about 220 feet, but it is much more considerable on the side of Mont Pleureur. The lake, on the 14th instant, was 7,200 feet in length, about 360 feet in breadth, and its greatest depth 180 feet, and the waters are daily augmenting. On the 10th and 11th of May they have increased 8 inches in 24 hours. The Government of the canton of Valais have wisely ordered measures of precaution to be taken in the places most exposed to danger. These measures, which are alone practicable in the existing state of things, consist in cutting a passage about 50 feet below the snow of the lake, that time might be had to effect this work before the waters rise to this height. 24. Bank of England.-It appears, from the accounts just presented to the House of Commons, that the amount of the sums paid by the public to the Bank, as a remuneration for receiving the contributions on loans, independently of the annual expense of management, from the year 1793 to 1816 inclusive, is 397,0867, 78. 3d.: that the number of notes discovered by the Bank to have been forged, from the 1st of June, 1812, to the 10th of April, 1818, distinguishing those from 1. to 20%. and upwards, is one hundred and thirty-one thousand three hundred and sixty-one: that the total expense of prosecutions for forgeries, or uttering forged notes, from the 1st of March, 1797, to the 1st of April, 1818, amounts to the sum of 148,370l. 9s. 3d.: that the nominal value of the notes, of which payment was refused, from the 1st of January, 1816, to the 10th of April, 1818, is 74,7607.; and that the nominal value of forged notes paid by the Bank for the same period, which was afterwards recovered on the forgeries being detected, amounted only to 751. To show the great and alarming increase of forgeries of Bank of England notes, the whole expense of their prosecutions in the year 1797 was only about 1,500l.; while, in the first three months of the present year, it amounted to the enormous sum of nineteen thousand eight hundred and ninety pounds. The Royal yacht arrived at six o'clock on Monday evening 25th at Dover, from Calais, with their Royal Highnesses the Duke of Cambridge and his bride, the Princess of Hesse, on board. Their Royal Highnesses reached London yesterday. The royal couple had a rough passage from Calais, and the Duchess was much indisposed. They arrived at Cambridge-house a little before six, and were received with accla. mations by a large assemblage of spectators. The Landgrave of Hesse-Cassel (the father of the Duchess) arrived at the same time, and was accommodated with a neighbouring house in South Audley-street. The Duke, immediately after dinner, went to pay his dutiful respects to his Royal mother. BOARD OF EXCISE, MAY 27. Selling Ground Beans and Peas for Coffee. Rex v. Samuel Hallet.-The defendant Hallet, a grocer and dealer in tea and coffee, residing in New Compton-street, St. Giles's in-the-Fields, was charged with having seven pounds of the imitation of coffee in his possession, &c. Charles Henry Lord, an officer of the Excise, being sworn, stated, that he and Spencer, an officer, went on the 28th of Feb. last to the shop of the defendant, and asked for an ounce of coffee, at three halfpence per ounce. He received the same, and having paid for it left the shop. He examined the same at a house near where the defendant lived, and found it was part coffee and part the imitation coffee, or what the defendant called veget. able powder, which is nothing more nor less than burnt beans and peas ground in a mill. He went back to the defendant's shop, and asked him to show him some 2s. coffee, not ground, which, upon examination, he found genuine. He then told the defendant that he suspected that he commonly dealt in adulterated coffee, and asked him if he had any of the vegetable powder in his house: he replied, that he had a small quantity, and took a canister from a shelf, which contained 6 and a half pounds of the vegetable powder. He (witness) then searched the place, and found some other coffee mixed with the vegetable powder, which was in a state apparently prepared for sale. Spencer, an officer of the excise, corroborated the above evidence. The 6 lb. and a half were a mixture of beans and coffee, and the quarter of a lb. was the same kind of stuff ground and ready for sale. The defendant said, that he did not know he was acting con. trary to the excise laws by keeping "vegetable powder" in his possession, that he was obliged to sell the same at a low price, or he should lose his custom. A commissioner stated, that he could not be ignorant that he was acting illegally; that by selling such abominable stuff, he was injuring the health of the public; and the Board of Excise was determined to punish those found dealing in the illicit manner described, with the utmost, severity. The defendant was convicted in the penalty of 50%. A new Constitution for Bavaria, establishing |