EUROPE.

FRANCE. On the 28th January the project of a law for declaring the responsibility of ministers, and for fixing the manner in which that responsibility shall be made effectual, was submitted to the Chamber of Deputies by M. de Serre. This plan, say the private letters, appears to have gained the present Cabinet the highest fayour with their countrymen.

The rise in the French funds, since the change of ministry, has been remarkable; they are now quoted at 71 francs 70 cents. It is asserted, however, in many of the private letters, that this rise is the effect of management on the part of Baron Louis, the new minister of finance, in order to conceal the really low state of public credit. He has for this purpose, it is said, employed extensively in buying stock the funds destined to different branches of the public service; that thus the government has become both seller and buyer, and that every shilling which it was possible to obtain has been drawn from the Receiver-General, and appropriated to the execution of this notable operation of state policy. Private letters also speak with exultation of fresh sacrifices which the King has recently made to public opinion, by replacing many of the officers of the old army on the General Staff.

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SWEDEN AND NORWAY. Accounts from these countries state a fact almost, if not entirely, unexampled. Down to the beginning of the last month, there had been no signs of winter; no cold, snow, or ice, but mild spring weather, such as is usually experienced in the month of May. Primroses were in bloom, and gooseberry trees green at Christmas under the 59th degree of north latitude. In England, the season has been remarkably favourable; and we have hailed it as a blessing; whilst in these northern countries, the mildness of the weather is complained of as interrupting the common course of business. In Sweden, the iron cannot be conveyed to the forges, and in Russia, the want of snow retards the carriage of merchandise from the interior of the empire to the capital.

TURKEY The long war carried on by the Turks against the rebellious Wecha bites, was terminated recently by the capture of Abdallah, their chief, and his Imaun; and accounts from Constantinople, of the 24th December, inform us, that these important prisoners had been brought to that capital in chains, and led through the streets in barbarous triumph on the 16th

of December. They were then sent to prison, and put to the torture, and on the following morning brought into the Sultan's presence, and beheaded. Their bodies were afterwards exposed for three days, and finally delivered up to be torn in pieces by the populace. Such horrors are scarcely to be conceived, but in a country which is inaccessible to the progress of civilization.

ASIA.

Advices have been received from Ceylon, by the way of Madras, communicating the intelligence of the capture of the Malabar Chief, pretender to the Crown of Candy, who is supposed to have been the chief cause of the insurrection which has so long prevailed in that island. Together with him was made prisoner his Prime Minister, Kappitipola.

AMERICA.

UNITED STATES.-The most important intelligence received from this quarter, is to be found in the documents laid before Congress, relating to the trial and execution of two British subjects, Alexander Arbuthnot, and Robert C. Ambrister, under the direction of General Jackson. These gentlemen were residing among the Creek Indians, and, on the invasion of these nations by the Americans, were made prisoners. Arbuthnot was a mercantile man, and Ambrister, formerly an officer of the British colonial marines, had become a member of the Indian society, acquired property among them, and, when they were invaded, went out with them in defence of his adopted country, his property, and his life. The charges brought against Arbuthnot, before a court-martial, were for stirring up the Creek Indians to war against the United States, and for acting as a spy, and aiding, abetting, and comforting the enemy, by supplying them with the means of war. The charge of being a spy was abandoned by the Court, but of the others he was found guilty, and sentenced to be hanged, which sentence was carried into execution on the morning after the trial, that of the 29th April 1818.

It appeared by the evidence, that Mr Arbuthnot was a man of virtue and humanity. Connected with the Indians by trade, and residing among them, he took a deep interest in their fate, and felt for them a real regard. He wished to preserve them from destruction; he exhorted them to

peace and amity with one another; he wrote in behalf of them to General Mitchell, the American Indian Agent, and he applied to our Ambassador in America, and to Governor Cameron, Colonel Nicholl, &c. claiming their interposition in behalf of the Indians. There is evidence that he wished to preserve the Indians from destruction, but not the smallest that he instigated them to active hostilities against the Americans. One person, indeed, is brought to prove the allegations against him, from a letter said to have been written by him (Mr A.) to an Indian chief; but the witness could not swear that the letter was addressed to the indian chief, nor was a copy of it produced, but simply the evidence of this person, who stated its contents from memory. One Hambly, who appears to have been a personal enemy of Arbuthnot, was allowed to state in evidence, that a certain Indian chief informed him that he was instigated to war by Arbuthnot. This evidence was objected to by a member of the Court, on the ground, that the Indian, if present, could not, by their laws, be admitted a witness ; and that, therefore, his evidence was still more objectionable upon the hearsay testimony of another. This was, however, overruled by the Court. With respect to supplying the Indians with munitions of war, it was proved that Arbuthnot, in the prosecution of his commercial pursuits, had sold ten kegs of gunpowder; but the trade with the Indians is almost confined to the supplying them with this article, for the purpose of hunting.

Ambrister was also charged with aiding, abetting, and comforting the enemy, supplying them with the means of war, and with leading and commanding the Lower Creeks in carrying on war against the United States. To the second part of the charge the prisoner pleaded guilty, with justification, having acted on the defensive in saving his property from danger. The Court found him guilty, and in the first instance, condemned him to death; but this sentence they reconsidered, and their final and official judgment was, that he should be whipped, and confined with a chain for 12 months. General Jackson, however, disapproved of this latter sentence, and actually ordered the miserable man to be shot, which was accordingly carried into instant execution. Upon this point at least, there can be but one sentiment.

These transactions seem to have excited only one general feeling of indignation and horror both in this country and in Ameri

ca.

In an able review of the trial in the Caledonian Mercury of the 17th January, the editor, after observing on the manner of preferring the charges, and the nature of the evidence brought in support of them, makes the following judicious and pointed

remarks: "In every criminal process there are, we conceive, three essential points, which, if they are neglected, it is clear that the accused has no security for his life, and that he holds it merely during the Judge's pleasure. These are, 1st, That he should be tried by some known rule of law. 2d, That the breaking of this law should be brought home to him in distinct and specific acts. And, 3d, That the evidence brought forward should have a direct relation to these specific acts, and should not at the same time be of such a nature as entirely to exclude credibility. In the case we are now considering, all those sacred rules have been grossly violated."

The opinion and feelings on this case on the other side of the Atlantic appear, from the following remarks of the editor of a Baltimore paper, to be no less strong. After commending the military talents of General Jackson, he observes," We are sensibly pained that he should do any thing to tarnish the glory he has so nobly earned. We should be among the last to reprobate his conduct in any case, if duty did not require it; but we cannot, and will not, draw a veil over the arbitrary exercising power of a villain. This we must call him."

It appears, from the answer of Lord Liverpool to some question that was put in the House of Lords on this subject, that the whole transactions took place without the knowledge of the American government, and it is not likely we should imagine that they will attempt to defend them.

EMIGRANTS TO AMERICA.-A bill was brought into the House of Represen. tatives on the 16th December, the observations on which afford a melancholy picture of the sufferings of the emigrants from Europe in their passage to the United States. They are not exceeded by the privations of the blacks in the Middle Passage, nor attended with less mortality. Of 5000 who sailed from Antwerp, &c. in the year 1817, 1000 died on the passage. In one instance, a captain sailed from a Dutch port with 1287 passengers in a single ship; he shortly after put into the Texel; in the interval 400 had died, and 300 more died before the vessel reached Philadelphia. A bill has accordingly been brought into the House of Representatives to restrict the number of passengers to two for every five tons burden.

WEST INDIES.-Jamaica papers of the 28th November contain some distressing accounts of the ravages committed by a hurricane. The plantain walks in many districts had been nearly all destroyed, and great loss sustained upon the coffee trees, which, in many instances, were nearly stripped of their fruit and leaves. The canes, particularly the young plants, had suffered very materially, and some

properties had their buildings, negrohouses, &c. &c. entirely destroyed, or considerably injured. The places where the storm appears to have raged with the most destructive violence, were Black River, Savanna-la-Mar, Montego Bay, and Port Maria. Many vessels were driven on shore, and otherwise much damaged. Some were

entirely lost. At Savanna-la-Mar, the wharf was entirely swept away, stores were unroofed, trees and fences torn up by the roots, and the whole country looked as if a fire had gone over it. The hurricane is described as having been more severe than any that had occurred in that island since the year 1780.

THE new Parliament was opened on Thursday, the 14th January, by royal commission, Sir Richard Richards, Chief Baron of the Exchequer, presiding on the woolsack, to which he had been appointed, by letters patent of the Prince Regent, the Lord Chancellor being confined by a fit of the gout. The same day the Commons proceeded to the election of a Speaker, when Mr Manners Sutton, Speaker of the House during the latter period of the old Parliament, was unanimously rechosen to that dignified office.

During the period between the 14th and 21st, both Houses were occupied in swearing in the members, as they took their seats; and, on the latter day, the Sessions of Parliament commenced, by the following speech from the throne, delivered, in Dame of the Prince Regent, by the Lord Chancellor :

"My Lords and Gentlemen,-We are commanded by his Royal Highness the Prince Regent to express to you the deep regret which he feels in the continuance of his Majesty's lamented indisposition. In announcing to you the severe calamity with which it has pleased Divine Providence to visit the Prince Regent, the royal family, and the nation, by the death of her Majesty the Queen of the United Kingdom, his Royal Highness has commanded us to direct your attention to he consideration of such measures as this melancholy event has rendered necessary and expedient with respect to the care of his Majesty's sacred person. We are directed to inform you, that the negociations which have taken place at Aix-la-Chapelle have led to the evacuation of the French territory by the allied armies. The Prince Regent has given orders that the convention concluded for this purpose, as well as the other documents connected with this arrangement, shall be laid before you; and he is persuaded, that you will view, with peculiar satisfaction, the intimate union which so happily subsists amongst the powers who were parties to these transactions, and the unvaried disposition which has been manifested in all their proceedings for the pre

servation of the peace and tranquillity of Europe.-The Prince Regent has commanded us farther to acquaint you, that a treaty has been concluded between his Royal Highness and the Government of the United States of America, for the renewal, for a further term of years, of the commercial convention now subsisting between the two nations, and for the amicable adjustment of several points of mutual importance to the interests of both countries; and, as soon as the ratifications shall have been exchanged, his Royal Highness will give directions that a copy of these treaties shall be laid before you."

"Gentlemen of the House of Commons, The Prince Regent has directed that the estimates for the current year shall be laid before you.-His Royal Highness feels assured, that you will learn with satisfaction the extent of reduction which the present situation of Europe, and the circumstances of the British empire, have enabled his Royal Highness to effect in the naval and military establishments of the country.

His Royal Highness has also the gratification of announcing to you a considerable and progressive improvement of the revenue in its most important branches.

"My Lords and Gentlemen,--The Prince Regent has directed to be laid before you such papers as are necessary to shew the origin and result of the war in the East Indies. His Royal Highness commands us to inform you, that the operations undertaken by the Governor-General in Council against the Pindarries, were dictated by the strictest principles of selfdefence; and that, in the extended hostilities which followed upon those operations, the Mahrattah Princes were in 'every instance the aggressors. Under the provident and skilful superintendence of the Marquis of Hastings, the campaign was marked in every point by brilliant achievements and successes; and his Majesty's forces, and those of the East India Company, (native as well as European,) rivalled each other in sustaining the reputation of the British arms.-The Prince Regent has the greatest pleasure in being able to inform