His lordship was upwards of 70 years of age. He entered advocate in 1763, and his first promotion was to be one of the assessors of Edinburgh. He was afterwards an Advocate-Depute and Solicitor-General; and in 1775, on Sir James Montgomery being made Lord Chief Baron, he succeeded him as Lord Advocate, which place he occupied till 1783. He was elected a member for the county of Edinburgh in 1774, in which he continued for several sessions of Parliament, and resigned it in favour of the present Lord Chief Baron, when he represented the city of Edinburgh till 1803, in which year he was advan ced to the peerage.

His lordship was appointed Treasurer of the Navy in the year 1782, under the late Marquis of Lansdown, then Earl of Shelburne, in which office he continued until the dissolution of the administration. In December 1783, when Mr Pitt became prime minister, on the overthrow of the coalition, he was again appointed to the same situation, which he held till the resignation of Mr Pitt in 1801, along with the office of President of the Board of Controul, and principal Secretary of State. The last public situation which he held was that of first Lord of the Admiralty, in which he was affable in his manners and easy of access, and on this account gave general satisfaction to those who had business to transact at his office. While Treasurer of the Navy, he devised several improvements in the details of the office, which have been found of great service; and in particular, his regulations in regard to the payment of seamen's wages, have contributed much to the comfort of these brave

men.

In 1803, he was created Viscount Melville and Baron Dunira; he was a Privy Councillor, Lord Privy Seal, Governor of the Bank of Scotland, &c. His lordship was the youngest son of the Right Honourable Robert Dundas, Lord President of the Court of Session, by Miss Gordon, daughter of Sir William Gordon of Gordonston, Bart. He was twice married, first, to Miss Rannie, daughter of Captain Rannie, of Melville, by whom he has one son, Robert, (now Viscount Melville) President of the Board of Controul, and member of Parliament for the county of Edinburgh, who married Miss Saunders, and has children; and three daughters, the eldest of whom was married to Mr Drummond, and afterwards to Mr Strange, both bankers in London; the second married her cousin, the present Lord Chief Baron; and the third is married to the Honourable George Abercromby. The two youngest daughters have families.

A separation having taken place between his lordship and his wife, he married again Lady Jean Hope, daughter of the late and sister to the present Lord Hopetoun, but has left no issue by this marriage.

His lordship was a tall and wellmade man, an acute, argumentative, and ready speaker; in private society a most agreeable companion, and greatly beloved by the numerous circle of his friends.

It is remarkable that Lord Melville died on the birth-day of his revered friend, Mr Pitt.

FUNERAL OF LORD PRESIDENT BLAIR.-This solemn and impressive ceremony took place on Wednesday. At twenty minutes before one the procession moved from the Parliamentsquare, Edinburgh, and having reached his lordship's house, the body was brought out, and the procession then

HEAD.

The Lord President's Son,

suspended, except the firing of the Park and Tower guns, keeping in view the day set apart for the purpose by the Prince Regent, which, it is hoped,

his Lordship's Son-in-law.

This tribute of respect to departed worth was conducted with the greatest decorum, gravity, and solemnity. The spectators in every place were numerous, but not the smallest interruption took place during the whole ceremony. The procession was escorted, and the different passages guarded by detachments of the Ross-shire, Royal Perthshire, and Edinburgh regiments of militia, and the whole police of the city, who were of much service in keeping the avenues in all directions clear. The band of music belong. ing to the Edinburgh militia preceded the procession from George's-square, playing the dead march in Saul, and the band belonging to the 1st Royal Edinburgh Volunteers in the rear. The moment the procession' moved from the Parliament Close, the great bell in St Giles's began to toll, and also the other bells in the city, which continued during the ceremony.

5th. THE KING'S BIRTH-DAY.Yesterday his Majesty completed his 73d year, whose birth-day, during his long reign, has never been omitted to be celebrated as a grand court and national festival, till yesterday. His Majesty having enjoyed uninterrupted good health during these long series of years, except the different times he has been unfortunately afflicted in the way he is at present; and we believe all public rejoicings yesterday, so far as

by that time, as not to make a further postponement necessary; however, so far as related to individuals and public bodies, the day was celebrated in nearly the usual manner. The morning several of the fire insurance office men, was ushered in with ringing of bells; in new clothing, with their engines, bands of music, &c., paraded the streets of London.

The rear-guard on the parade in St James's Park mounted in the morning with only an ordinary parade. None of the royal dukes were present. There was only one band instead of three, as is customary; the only difference was, that the privates and non-commissioned officers had new clothes upon the occasion.

The mail-coaches, drawn by beautiful horses, with new harness, and the coachmen and guards in new scarlet liveries, drew up before Carleton-house in the evening, from whence they went in procession to the post-office.

At six o'clock in the morning the gentlemen of Mr Hommey's institution at Carleton, in compliment of his Majesty's birth-day, fired, from a battery constructed by the pupils, a salute of twenty-one rounds, also ten vollies with their small arms.

The Illuminations.-The same display of loyalty was manifested by his Majesty's tradesmen, &c., yesterday evening, as is usual on the native day of our revered sovereign.

The subscription houses in St James'sstreet, viz. White's, Brookes's, the Cocoa Tree, and Boodle's, were all brilliantly lighted up; the devices were G. R. a crown, star, and festoons of variegated lamps. The officers of the guards club-house, in St James's street,

was illuminated with G. R. crown and stars. The Union Club, in St James'ssquare, was very elegant. The Operahouse, and the Little Theatre, rivalled each other. Covent-Garden, and the Lyceum theatres had each a magnificent star, with G. R. and other appropriate embellishments. Morgan and Sanders eclipsed most others.

In short, although the day passed over without the customary demonstrations of joy, the evening compensated in some degree, by the zealous attention, and general emulation excited among all ranks and descriptions of artificers, immediately connected with the royal family; and peaceable loyal crowds continued to parade the streets to a late hour.

6th.-COURT-MARTIAL, CHELSEA. -Yesterday, the trial of Lieut.-Col. Johnson, of the 102d, or New South Wales regiment, on a charge of mutiny and usurpation, terminated, after 13 days anxious investigation.-The court was composed of the following members:

The Hon. C. Manners Sutton, Esq., Judge Advocate; Lieut.-General W. Keppell, President. Lieut..Generals, Sir David Baird, Milner, Finch, D. McDonald, and W. Dowdeswell; Major-Generals, Paget, and Kerr; Colonels Burnet, Fyers, Anson, O'Laughling, and F. W. Butler; Lieut.-Colo-. nels, Lord Proby, and Paterson.

The following is a copy of the charge, to which the prisoner pleaded Not Guilty.

"That he, Lieut.-Colonel George Johnson, did, on the 26th of January, 1808, at Sidney, in the colony of New South Wales, begin, excite, and join in a mutiny, by putting himself at the head of the New South Wales corps, then under his command, doing duty in the colony, and seizing, and causing to be seized and arrested, and imprisoning, and causing to be imprisoned, by means of the above-mentioned mili

tary force, the person of William Bligh, Esq., then Captain General and Governor in Chief of the territory of New South Wales."

Our limits preclude the possibility of entering into any thing like a detail of the circumstances of this case, and we therefore confine ourselves to the statement of its most prominent features. The prosecutor, Captain William Bligh, was, in the year 1806, appointed by his Majesty to be Governor over New South Wales, and all its dependencies. On his arrival at Sidney, according to his statement, he found the colony in a wretched and distressed state, in consequence of the recent overflow of the river Derwent, and likewise from the excessive use of spirituous liquors, which was indulged in to excess by all ranks of people, and more particularly by the officers of the 102d regiment, quartered in the settlement, who were greatly interested in the barter and traffic of that commodity to the people. At this period a settler, named M'Arthur, who had formerly been an officer of the 102d regiment, and who was represented by the governor to be discontented, in consequence of his restrictions upon the barter of spirits, was accused before the Criminal Court of the colony, which was composed of six of the officers of the 102d, and the judge advocate of the settlement, with seditious practices, in having refused to obey a warrant of the judge advocate issued against him, for violating one of the colonial regulations.

At that trial, Mr M'Arthur objected to the judge advocate presiding, in consequence of his having a personal quarrel with him, and more particularly he objected to his presence, upon the established principles of British law, that no man could be prosecutor, judge, and juror, in his own case. The officers of the court took the part of Mr M'Arthur, and refused to

allow the judge advocate to preside. Governor Bligh, on hearing of this proceeding, summoned a bench of magistrates to take the matter into consideration; Colonel Johnson, the then commanding officer at head quarters, was sent for from his house, four miles from Sydney, to be present at this meeting, but, in consequence of a fall he received from his chaise, he sent word to the governor that he could not attend. The magistrates, after a mature deliberation, came to a deter mination, at the suggestion of the governor, to summon the six officers to appear the next morning at the Government-house, to answer for their conduct; and it was resolved to accuse them of treasonable practices, and, according to the answers they should give on their examination, either to commit them to prison, or dispose of them otherwise, according to the nature of circumstances. In the evening of this day (20th of January,) whilst the governor was sitting over his wine with one of the magistrates, he received information that the whole of the 102d regiment, with Col. Johnson at their head, were marching up to Government-house, with band playing and colours flying. The governor, apprehending some serious attack upon his person, retired up stairs to the room where his papers were, in order to secure the most important, and to adopt such means to escape as presented themselves. The soldiers in the mean time surrounded the house, and a party entered in search of the governor. After an hour and a half, they found his excellency concealed under a servant's bed, in a small room at the top of the house; they immediately secured him, and brought him down stairs to Colonel Johnson. The colonel expressed his sorrow at being obliged to take such a step, but declared that he did it in pursuance of the wishes of the whole colony, who were discon

tented at the administration of his excellency, and had presented him a requisition to that effect. The governor was then ordered to remain in close confinement in the Government-house, with a guard of six soldiers over his person, in which situation he was kept for a whole year, at the end of which period he got possession of his own ship, Porpoise, in which he remained cruizing in the South Sea until the arrival of Governor M'Quarrie from England, who had orders to reinstate him in his authority for four-and-twenty hours, and to declare the acts of his opponents null and void. As soon as the governor was put in arrest, all the civil officers on the establishment were removed from their situations, and Col. Johnson appointed others in their stead, until his Majesty's pleasure should be known.

On the part of Colonel Johnson, the fact of his having put the governor under arrest was avowed, but alleged to be justified upon the ground of absólute necessity, in order to save his Majesty's colony of New South Wales from actual destruction. To support this justification, a considerable number of witnesses were called, consisting chiefly of officers of the 102d regi ment, some of the civil establishment, and a few of the most respectable settlers of the colony. The object of their testimony was to shew, that Gover nor Bligh, by a series of the most ty rannical and oppressive measures, had reduced the colony to a state of discontent and dissatisfaction, approaching to absolute insurrection; that, by depriving the people of their houses, lands, and other property, without any pretence; that, by interfering with the proceedings of the courts of jus tice; that, by ordering persons, who had been acquitted of crimes alleged against them before the Criminal Court, to be tried again, and convicted by a bench of magistrates upon the very

same charges; and that, by employing the most abandoned and disgraceful characters to be his counsellors and intimates, he had spread consternation and dismay amongst the inhabitants; that, by his language towards almost every individual, high and low, with whom he had any communication, he had rendered himself the object of unpopularity and execration.

All these witnesses denied the governor's allegation, respecting the barter of spirits, and they declared, that his restrictions in that respect formed no part of that discontent which prevailed through the colony. In this state of things, when the report reach ed the people that the governor had determined to put the six officers of the Criminal Court under arrest, upon a charge of treason, they burst forth into a phrenzy of discontent and dissatisfaction; considering, as they did, the Criminal Court to be the only barrier left between them and the arbitrary conduct of the governor. Colonel Johnson being informed of Governor Bligh's determination in respect of the Criminal Court, came to Sydney about five in the afternoon, although his arm was in a sling, and he was otherwise disabled in body. The moment he arrived at the barracks, the people assembled round him in crowds, demanding that he would immediately put the governor under arrest, and declaring that if he did not, an insurrection would break out in the colony, and that every drop of blood spilt on the occasion would be at his door. A requisition to this effect was drawn up by Mr M'Arthur, and signed by several of the most respectable settlers and civil officers, and presented to Colonel Johnson. Seeing with concern the impending danger that appeared to surround him, and firmly believing that an insurrection would break out, and that many innocent lives would be destroyed on the occasion,

1

and that possibly the governor's life would be thus sacrificed, he determined, from motives of zeal for the public welfare, and a sense of what he conceived to be his duty, to adopt the measures so strongly urged by the inhabitants; and accordingly he put his excellency under arrest. After an able reply, on the part of Governor Bligh, the whole of the proceedings closed.

CORK. The corn market, which had long been in a state to threaten the safety of those who had any intercourse with it, was a short time since judged too insecure to be permitted to stand any longer, and an architect had proceeded so far in its demolition as to have taken down a considerable part of the roof, when on Saturday week, whilst the labourers were at work on the roof, the projecting stone cornice, which terminated the upper part of the wall, fell down suddenly, and, melancholy to state, whilst a number of persons were collected immediately under it. Four unhappy persons, of humble condition, were killed instantly; some of them were terribly mangled by the immense stones which formed the cornice, and the others, though much injured, escaped destruction most miraculously.

8th.-GRAND REVIEW AT WIMBLEDON.At twelve precisely the firing of cannon announced the approach of his Royal Highness. At this signal the whole line shouldered, and the Royal Artillery, as well as the Hon. Artillery Company, fired a salute of 21 guns each. So anxious were the soldiers, as well as the spectators, to hear of the Prince Regent's arrival, that the signal was received with the loudest acclamations of joy. Huzza! and the Prince is coming! resounded from all parts of the heath.

At twenty minutes after twelve o'clock a second fire of cannon announced that his royal highness had enter