1848.) THE 
acre fe Nan a a a NRE LE DT OREN 2 ae 
CHRONICLE. 
GARDENERS 
179 
arrived during the last week—their beauties and talents 
are only to be surpassed by their spotless virtues.” An- 
other curious t is that a paper is about 
to be published in the Chinese language. ‘“ We had 
hoped, ere this,” says the Editor, ‘‘ to have issued a news- 
paper in Chinese, but the types, which were very hand- 
somely loaned to us by his Excell , the Plenip jary, 
have hitherto been, and still are, we believe, employed at 
Macao in printing some works introductory to the study 
of the Chinese language.’’ Nearly all the Chinese popu- 
lation, it is said, are able to read, but all classes evince am 
« extraordinary avidity’? to obtain information, provided 
it be conveyed to them in their own language. 
Inpta.—The Indian newspapers are busily discussing 
Lord Ellenborough’s proceedings, and give long accounts 
of the procession in honour of the gates of Somnauth, 
the movements of the army of reserve on the Sutlej, and 
the festivities at Ferozepore. On the arrival of Generals 
Pollock, Nott, Sale, and M’Caskill (the latter in charge of 
the Somnauth gates), at Ferozepore, they were met at the 
end of the bridge of boats by the Governor-General. A 
salute of nineteen guns was fired as Sir Robert Sale 
passed the troops, in honour of himself and the ‘ illus- 
trious garrison.’”? On the morning of the 26th December 
there was a grand review there, at which about 40,000 of 
the troops were assembled. In the evening the Governor- 
General gave a ball, for which, it is said, 26,000 seers of 
sweatmeats were ordered. Shere Singh is about to send 
valuable presents to the British Sovereign, in token of his 
friéndly disposition. Bundelkuné is described as quiet : 
its tranquillity will be effectually supported by the force of 
14,000 troops lately sent thither for the purpose. Lord 
Ellenborough, who received a visit at Ferozepore from the 
son and Prime Minister of Shere Singh, and who then 
sent his secretary and other official persons to Lahore to 
return it, broke up the camp at Ferozepore on the 5th 
ult., and proceeded to Delhi, with an escort of 10,000 
men, in order tohave an explanation respecting certain 
intrigues with the Emperor. It is stated that his Lord- 
ship contemplates fixing his official residence for some 
time at Agra, or perhaps Meerut. The Courts-Martial 
held on Colonel Palmer for the surrender of Ghuznee, and 
on Captains Anderson, Troup, Boyd, Eyre, and Waller, 
have terminated in the acquittal of those officers from the 
charges brought against them for at conduct during the 
ist he i igati int 
last campaign in g gat: 
the conduct of General Shelton and of Major Pottinger 
was still going forward. Nothing certain appears to have 
been known of the state of affairs at Cabul, but it was ru- 
moured that Akhbar Khan had returned to it, with the as- 
sistance of the Kuzzilbashes, and that Shah Poor, whom 
Gen, Pollock left in the Bala-hissar with six guns, had fled 
to Jellalabad. The financial prospects of India are con- 
sidered satisfactory, and attention is now directed towards 
its internal improvement. An act has been proposed in 
the Legislative Council which tends to put a final stop to 
all descriptions of slavery in its extensive districts. From 
Madras we learn that the transport Gertrude, with 200 of 
the 6th Reg. Madras Native Infantry, from China, had 
been wrecked about seven miles to the north, but that 
every soul had safely reached the shore on the evening of 
the 25th. Much loss was sustained in baggage, accoutre- 
ments, and tent equipage. The ship was within 40 yards 
of the shore, and had five feet water in her hold. It was 
expected that the surplus stores would be nearly all da- 
maged. We also learn that a second transport from 
China, the Malikel Bahor, had struck on a reef about 
four miles north of Pulicat flag-staff, but that being teak, 
and strongly built, she was on the 26th Jan. safe at anchor 
between two sandbanks in seven fathoms. The troops, 
about 200 in number, were safely landed. 
West Invies.—The anticipation mentioned in our last 
yespecting the probable extent of the dreadful earthquake 
which visited St. Thomas and Antigua, on the 8th ult., 
has unhappily been realised by accounts from Guadaloupe. 
The details of the catastrophe in that island surpass all 
that can be imagined in horror and disaster. ointe-d- 
Pitre, the commercial capital of the island, with a popu- 
lation of at least 20,000, not more than one-third of whom 
were slaves, has been utterly destroyed; and what the earth- 
quake spared was devoured by a fire, which broke out a 
few minutes after the houses fell. A great portion of the 
town was new, built of stone, and, contrary to the old 
custom, raised to many stories; but enough of the habi- 
tations were built of wood to supply fuel to the catas- 
trophe. This took place at half-past ten, on the morning 
of the 8th. The clock on the front of the church, almost 
the only piece of wal! left standing after the shock, marked 
the hour at which it stopped. The shock only lasted 70 
‘places together, and totally consumed the houses. At 
present the flames are playing over the remains, and in 
the whole of the town, which contained 16,000 souls, 
there are not ten houses habitable. No description can 
give an idea of this disaster: We can scarcely credit 
what we see before our eyes. I left Basseterre with the 
Governor yesterday, a few hours after the accident, and 
came here. We are about to set out for Moule, which has, 
alas! been destroyed. The number of victims is considerable, 
but much smaller than could have been expected. Only one 
soldier has perished. There are under the ruins a number 
of dead bodies, which are being gradually taken out, and 
the presence of which causes great uneasiness, on account 
of the corruption that must speedily take place. The 
number of wounded is exceedingly great. Women and 
young girls may be seen with two or three limbs fractured. 
The scene is a hundred times more horrible than a field of 
battle. Most of the sugar-mills are destroyed, and the 
crop of sugar-canes will be lost.’’ A letter of Feb. 10 
says, ‘I have just come from Moule. During the hour 
that I passed in the ruins I cannot describe what I felt. I 
could not imagine that the calamity was so great, and all 
that I could say would give you but a poor idea of the sad 
reality. From the Quai defla Poissonnerie to the hospital, 
nothing whatever remains but some shells of houses, 
which are to be knocked down with cannon. All other 
earthquakes have been less disastrous than the present 
one. I was witness of the disasters at Port Royal, and 
can declare that they were nothing in comparison with 
this at Point-d-Pitre. Upwards of a thousand dead bodies 
have been found, but the number of victims cannot yet be 
ascertained. The colony is ruined, but the fortitude of the 
creoles is great; no person is borne down by the blow.” 
Another letter of Feb. 11 says, “At Point-d-Pitre the 
namber of the dead is so great, that no interment takes 
place. ‘They are thrown outside the passes, and t 
number is unknown. In several places the earth opened, 
and threw up water and sand.” Since the receipt of the 
above, we learn by the Acadia steamer, that a vessel had 
arrived at New York, having been off Dominica on the 
8th ult., the commander of which reported that the earth- 
quake was also experienced in Dominica on that day, the 
damage arising from which was evidently very great, and 
On the south side of the island large volumes of smoke 
were visible, as issuing from the shore. This is the only 
account yet received from Dominica ; the Actzon, lately 
arrived, not having visited that colony. ‘Three more yes- 
sels, however, have arrived at New York, announcing 
shocks of the earthquake in the Atlantic. There has been a 
heavy shower of ashes in Missouri, and a lighter one near 
Philadelphia city. These are supposed to be the ashes of 
burnt prairies, or of far-off volcanoes (perhaps in the 
Andes), brought by the late storms.—An insurrection 
had broken out in St. Domingo, but had been suppressed. 
Its object was to make the constitution more republican, 
after the fashion of that of the United States. 
Unirep Srarms.—The packet-ship Rochester, which 
sailed from New York on the 16th ult., and the England, 
which sailed from the same port on the 20th, arrived at 
Liverpool on Saturday ; and the Acadia steamer from 
Boston and Halifax, arrived on Tuesday. The accounts 
brought by the latter vessel come down to the 28th ult. 
Congress was still in session: Mr. Adams, chairman of 
the committee of foreign (relations, brought up a report 
from that body in the House of Representatives, in which 
the rejection of the bill passed by the Senate for taking 
possession of the Oregon territory was recommended. 
That the bill would be rejected there existed not the 
least doubt. The other items of news are the repeal of the 
Bankrupt Law by Congress, though hope is held out in 
some quarters that the President will veto it; the fact that no 
further loan is wanted by the Government, and the increas- 
ing popularity of the project to assume the State Debts. 
A convention of its friends in all parts of the country is to 
be held early in the summer to concert measures to carry it 
into effect. The following are said to be authentic statis- 
tics of two religious communities in the] United States :— 
¢c i of Methodist church, 1,008,001 ; Tra- 
velling preachers, 4,244 ; Local preachers, 7,921; Increase 
since 1841, 120,123; Roman Catholics in the United 
States, 1,500,000 ; Ditto Churches, 574 ; Ditto in process 
of construction, 82 ; Increase in one year, 200,000, Seve- 
ral singular particulars have transpired in relation to a 
recent earthquake in the valley of the Mississippi. Between 
St. Louis and the Ohio, portions of the bottom of the 
Mississippi have literally fallen out, or, at least, sunk to 
a depth not. yet fathomed. Ona farm in Illinois, a hole 
has appeared in the ground filled with steaming mud, from 
which a sulphurous yapour issues that is easily ignited. 
i infl ble gas, flashing with flame and 
a 
@ 
Seconds, but it was sufficient to bury the whole pop 
in the ruins of the town. At the moment of this calamity, 
to complete the work of death, two or three hundred fires 
roke out, and consumed all that, was wood of the ruins, 
with the dead and wounded lying among them. — 1,800 
Wounded were extracted from the ruins, and 600 dead. 
It is stated that 15,000: wander about without shelter or 
‘ood. The Governor in his official despatch states that 
Standing, and no person has been injured; but at. Point- 
Ttte all was overturned, except the wooden houses. 
Mmediately after the shock fires broke out in 200 or 300 
an 
emitting smoke, also proceeds from it. In several places, 
patches of the forest near the Mississippi have sunk down 
and become swampy lakes, in some cases taking hunters 
down into the abyss. Other and more extensive geologi- 
cal changes are supposed to have occurred near the 
Rocky Mountains, some of which are evidently volcanic.— 
The New York Inquirer of the 20th Feb. contains a list 
of bankrupts, occupying six columns, printed in small 
type, and comprising at the lowest computation 700 de- 
faulters. This is for New York alone, and is said to dis- 
play, without exception, the most frightful picture of in- 
solvency ever exhibited.—From Canada we learn, that 
notwithstanding the contradictory accounts last received, 
the health of Sir Charles Bagot is improving, and hopes 
are now entertained of his recovery. The following ac- 
count, dated Feb. 15, has been received at New York 
from. Montreal :—‘* We understand from Kingston that a 
most remarkable change for the better had'taken place in 
the health of the Governor-General. On Saturday eyen- 
ing his life was despaired of. On Monday morning, how- 
ever, he was seized with a violent fit of vomiting, which 
relieved him completely—his disease having been an ab- 
scess in the stomach, and not dropsy. His Excellency 
was so much better that fears were no longer entertained 
for his safety.’’—Letters had been received from the Ame- 
rican consul at Tahiti, one of the Society Islands, dated 
September 11, which stated that the French admiral, 
Dupetit Thouars, arrived there on the 8th, and made a 
demand on the Tahitans of the sum of 10,000 dollars, in 
reparation for abuses, and as a guarantee for their future 
adherence to the treaties. A negotiation was commenced, 
which ended in the surrender of the island to France. 
Zparliament. 
HOUSE OF LORDS, 
Monday.—The Lorp CHANCELLOR, pursuant to notice, brought 
ward the circumstances of M‘Naughten’s trial for the consi 
Pi x 
illustrating this difficulty by many remarkable instances, he pro~ 
ceeded to caution their Lordshi i 
course pursued by the 
what was fully warranted by the cumulative testimony produced. 
His Lordship read several charges delivered by eminent judges 
on trials where the hi 
In all these charges 
laid down in the same way as it was by Chief Justice Tindal on 
the late occasion—in all these the jury were directed to consider 
whether, from all the evidence they had heard, they believed that 
the prisoner at the very moment in which he committed his 
crime was conscious that he was acting wrongfully—whether he 
was at that moment capable of “distinguishing between right 
and wrong?’’ In the present case, not only did six medi 
witnesses On the prisoner’s behalf depose to his insanity, but 
even two whom the Government had deputed to examine into 
his state of mind, and to scrutinize with minuteness whether his 
insanity were feigned or no—these two attended in court, and, if 
called on, would have been prepared to corroborate the testimony 
of Drs. Munro and Morrison. Was not, then, the learned Chief 
Justice, When he discovered that the Solicitor-General could 
advance no countervailing testimony to rebut this cumulative 
evidence—was he not justified in following the example set by 
Lord Kenyon in Hatfield’s case, and at once bringing the trial to 
aconclusion? The strong feeling which preyailed atthe time 
ight ind eit i i 
its usual course; butno one who was present during its progress, 
or who is acquainted with the general tone of the evidence, could 
for a moment suppose that this would have madeany difference in 
the verdict. His Lordship then combatted the doctrine of the Arch- 
bishop of Dublin, who, inlaying down the maxim that ‘the object 
of punishment is the prevention of crime,” states his belief that 
may be under the influence of an insane delusion 
nish 
for example’s sake, the example ought to be perfect, and that it 
is no lesson to the guilty to punish an innocent man: it is no 
warning to a murderer to hang a man who has committed no 
murder; andas to the illustration, you punish the dog, not as an 
example to other dogs, but for his own correction; so that the 
illustration is as i i an eory is in- 
correct and unfounded. His Lordship concluded by repeating 
his conviction that, whatever sentiments or opinions the result of 
this trial had excited, it would be absurd to dream of altering the 
law, or the manner in which the law is administered; it was 
possible, indeed, that legislation might, if it could not wholly 
prevent a recurrence of such evils, at least diminish the frequency 
of their recurrence. With this view he gave notice that he would 
shortly introduce a bil] on the subject ; and, finally, recommended 
the House to take the united opinions of the Judges upon the 
general law bearing upon the case. 
Lord BroveHam ined of th of the 
trial, and expressed regret that it had not proceeded to its natural 
and legitimate termination; that every witness had not been 
called; that the Solicitor-General had not replied; and that the 
Judge had not summet he evidence at length. He declared 
his belief that he had seen a most erroneous report of the trial; 
for, from the account which he had read, i ld appear that 
the usual rules of evidence had been entirely disregarded, 
that questions had been put which were quite improper and un~- 
warranted by practice; for instance, one medical man, who had 
been in court throughout the trial, was asked what opinion he 
should form upon the testimony given by the other medical men 
, is 
he (the Lord Chancellor, would contend that, in order to 
confounded with the functions of a juryman—and whit 
reason was expressly discountenanced by Lord Hardy 
trial of Lord Ferrers. In regard to the accountability of insane 
persons, and the use of the terms ‘right and wrong, good 
and evil,” in the charges of the ae uniectenee 
ers A 
would think it right to shoot another Pot cutelytatiienmesiint 
‘What they meant by conscious. 
consciousness that particular 
chen did they not say so? 
enerally that the con. 
sciousness of right meant the i paar: 
accordin; w; and of wrong, of whi 
ft so—if he 
acts were crimes punishable by law. fi 
100 punishable by law, he should conceive 
this ignorance a test of insanity. 
AMPBELL Concluded by suggesting the propriety that persons 
acquitted on the ground of insanity should be kept out-of publie 
