320 



Political Occurrences. 



[March, 



than to any respect on their piirt to the 

 oath they had previously taken to Constan- 

 tine. 



We are still in the dark on the subject 

 of the late mysterious occurrences in Rus- 

 sia. Some extraordinary facts are begin- 

 ning to transpire, through the medium of 

 the French journals, the only source from 

 which information can at present be de- 

 rived ; from these, it would seem that an 

 extraordinary jealousy is observed on the 

 part of the authorities at St. Petersburg!), 

 respecting all communication with the rest 

 of Europe. It will be long before details 

 to be relied upon can be obtained, but it 

 has been ascertained tliat several persons 

 of distinction liave been arrested, and it is 

 asserted that some of the insurgents de- 

 manded, not the proclamation of Constan- 

 tine, but guarantees from the new Em- 

 peror : in fact, the Etoile explicitly states, 

 that a plan was formed to revolutionize 

 Russia, Among those arrested is the 

 Prince Troubetzkoi, who is said to be 

 a man of fortune and intelligence : he is 

 brotlier to M. de Lebzeltern, formerly am- 

 bassador of Austria at Madrid. A private 

 letter mentions, among the persons of note 

 compromised in this affair. General Yet- 

 moloff, who had long the command upon 

 the frontiers of Persia. Prince Troubetz- 

 koi, after his arrest, had an interview \\ith 

 the Emperor Nicliolas, who spared his life, 

 but exiled him to Siberia. 



It seems that the British cabinet have 

 claimed the execution of the decree of the 

 Cortes of 1823, relative to the indemnity 

 due from Spain to the English merchants 

 whose property had been seized by pirates 

 from the Havaimah. Tlie Spanish govern- 

 ment persisting in not giving any answer, 

 Mr. Canning sent instructions to Mr. 

 Lamb, to require a decision in twenty-four 

 hours, and in case of a refusal, to declare 

 that England would take jiossession of the 

 Havannah and Porto Rico. The Spanish 

 ministers at length answered that every 

 thing should be settled to Mr. Canning's 

 satisfaction. 



The speech of the King of France, on 

 opening the Session of the French Cham- 

 bers, has been received ; it contains a refe- 

 rence to the convention concluded with 

 ^England, on the subject of reciprocal na- 

 vigation, and alludes to the intention of 

 altering the law regarding the disposition 

 of property, and establishing the law of 



primogeniture ; it also pi'omises a reduc- 

 tion of 19,000,000 in the direct taxes. 



His Grace the Duke of Wellington has 

 left town as ambassador to the Court of 

 Petersburgh, to congratulate the Emperor 

 on his accession. It is understood that t 

 the task of the Duke will not be confined 

 to mere congratulation, and that his Grace 

 is provided with ample powers to protest, 

 in the name of the British Government, 

 against any Russian protectorate for the 

 Greeks, and against any attack upon the 

 Turkish Empire. 



Accounts from the Island of Tobago re- 

 present, that an open rupture exists be- 

 tween the House of Assembly and Sir F. / 

 P. Robinson the Governor : resolutions' ' 

 were passed on the 21st October, import- ■ 

 ing that the house had lost all confidence 

 in his Excellency's government, and that a 

 select committee should be appointed to 

 petition his Majesty for his removal. 



We understand that a gentleman has 

 been appointed to proceed to Madrid, as 

 Commissioner on the part of the English 

 Government, on some business connected 

 with the liquidation of the claims of British 

 subjects on Spain. Of those claims, which 

 amount to nearly 3,000,000, not one has 

 been disposed of, though a commission, 

 consisting of two English and two Spanish 

 commissioners, has been sitting nearly 

 three years on the business. 



News has been received at Semlin, that 

 the Ottoman troops assembled in the plain 

 of Adrianople, which were to march, to 

 Western Greece to reinforce the army of 

 Redachid Pacha, have tumultuously re- 

 fused, declaring that they would not make 

 a campaign in winter. 



The Seditious Meeting Act, being one of 

 the " Six Acts," expired with the Ses- 

 sion of Parliament of 1823. The Insur- 

 rection Act also expired on the first of 

 August 1825. 



Accounts from Rio Janeiro to the I8th 

 of December iiave been received : a formal 

 declaration of war was issued on the 10th, 

 by the Brazil Government, against the 

 United Provinces of La Plata. The 

 British residents were aliirmed for their 

 properly, on account of the measure antici- 

 pated on the part of the Buenos Ayres 

 armies, of declaring the slaves free as soon 

 as they arrived on the banks of the Rio 

 Grande, which had been formally threats 

 ened. 



DIGEST OF BRITISH LEGISLATION. 



Protection of Property in Orchards, 

 Gardens, and Nursery Grounds. — The 

 127th chapter of the sixth year of George 

 IV. enacts, that if any person shall enter 

 into any orchard, garden, or nursery-groimd, 

 or into any hothouse, greenhouse, or con- 

 servatory, and remove or carry away any 



trees, plants, shrubs, at the time gi'ovving 

 in the soil, or any fruit or vegetable pro- 

 ductions growing on the trees or plants, 

 he shall be punished as guilty of having 

 feloniously stolen the same, m case be took 

 the same with such intent. 



Assimilation of tl}e British and Irish 



