Nov. 16,] 



T 1 TJ 



*. * 



S NEWSPAPER. 



[1844. 



trial of General Prim is the principal topic of inte- 

 rest in Madrid. Every one was shocked at the horrible 

 doctrine unblushingly put forward by the public prose- 

 cutor, that a simple indication, without absolute proof, 

 was sufficient to warrant the court-martial to put the 

 accused to death in cases of high treason. It was believed 

 that the intention of the Court party was to avenge upon 

 Prim the death of Diego Leon ; and that had Don Mari- 

 ano Lopez, the advocate for Prim, not appealed against 

 the competency of the court-martial, the intention was, 

 that he should be tried and sentenced on one day, and 

 shot with his companions on the following morning. 

 This appeal csused a delay of a week, and on the 4th 

 General Prim and his co-accused were brought before a 

 court-martial, their appeal on the ground of the incom- 

 petence of the military tribunal having been rejected, as 

 might have been expected, seeing that the decision 

 turned not upon the ordinary law, but on the decision of 

 the military tribunal itself. The court is composed of 

 seven general officers, and the person chosen to preside 

 over it i no other than General Mazzeredo, the Captain- 

 Gener:! of Madrid, and the intimate friend and depend- 

 ent of General Narvaez, and his tool in all his recent 

 tyran *1 proceedings in the capital. The other mem- 

 bers are all dependents of the Government. The defence, 

 on the part of General Prim, was read by General 

 Schelly, from a manuscript drawn up by the two 

 counsel for the defence. None but written evidence 

 was produced. The General protested with energy 

 against the competence of the tribunal, and the form 

 of the proceedings. He complained of the manner 

 in wl: i the evidence for. the defence had been taken ; 

 and especially that the servant of General Prim, in whose 

 possesion the trabucos were placed, had not even been 

 listened to by 1 public prosecutor. He also complained 

 that the accused had not been confronted with his ac- 

 cusers or the witnesses. General Schelly then entered 

 into a history of the life of General Prim, and concluded 

 by declaring that a brave man could not be a traitor. 

 The defence of the other prisoners was then read by 

 officers appointed for that purpose ; and so carelessly 

 were they chosen, that one of them was not able to read 

 the defence put into his hands, and another had to be 

 taken from the audience to perform the office. The pri- 

 soners were not present during the proceedings. After 

 the reading of the defence, the public were excluded 

 from the hall, and the court entered into deliberation ; 

 but after an interval of an hour and a half the doors 

 were again opened, when the President declared that the 

 court did not consider that it had sufficient evidence 

 before it, and that it would proceed to make further in- 

 quiries.— The Barcelona journals of the 5th inst. mention 

 the execution, on the preceding day, of Don Antonio St. 

 Just, the son of the unfortunate General murdered some 

 years ago in a riot at Malaga; the son had been con- 

 demned to death for participation in the Centralist con- 

 spiracy last year. Letters from Tarragona state that 

 several arrests have taken place in that city ; amongst 

 the number was the noted Guardiola, formerly aide-de- 

 camp to Zurbaoo. He is said to have made some im- 

 portant revelations. Some riotous proceedings have 

 taken place at Seville, but they were speedily put down 

 by the authorities, and several arrests have taken place. 



Portugal.— We have accounts from Lisbon of the 

 oth inst. The sessions of the Cortes during the pre- 

 ceding week offer nothing extraordinary or likely to 

 interest an English reader. The discussion which has 

 continued so loug, relative to the late measures adopted 

 by the Government, and brought forward for the appro- 

 val of the Cortes, terminated on the 2d, when the Bill of 

 Indemnity -.as passed by a majoritv of 72 to 2G. In 

 Lisbon all is quiet and peaceable. The heavy rains have 

 set in. and the inundations have alreadv commenced their 

 destructive inroads over the low lands up the country. 

 The vintage has been but poor this year, and the crop of 

 OH scarce and rising in price. A convention has been 

 entered into between France and Portugal for the esta- 

 blishment of a line of steam-packets of the Royal Navy 

 of France, communicating monthly between port St. 

 Nazario (near Nantes), Lisbon, Madeira, Fayal (perhaps) 

 St.Iago of the Cape de Verdes, Goree, Rio Janeiro, 

 Monte \ ideo, and Buenos Ayres. The relations between 

 ±rance and Portugal, the Journal of the Portuguese 

 Government truly observes, will be more strongly 

 cemented by means of this convention. 



Holland and Belgium. — The German Papers 

 state that the report of a union between Holland and the 

 Zollverein appears to gain ground. It is said that the 

 King of Holland has addressed an autograph letter to 

 tne King of Prussia on the subject, and that the free 



^Ph 10 ?, r- ? . Rhin ; WOuld be one of the concessions 

 S^d^L o e i ^a ° f . the Ha g u e—Letters from Bata- 

 via, dated 21st August, have reached the Government by 

 the Overland Mail, announcing the death of his Excel- 

 lency Laron Merkus, the governor-general. Mr. Reynst, 

 Vice-president of the Council of India had, on the 5th 

 August, assumed the government as Governor-general 



until His Majesty's pleasure be known The Brussels 



Papers state that on comparing the taxes paid in Belgium 

 it has been found that the average of the sums paid bv 

 every individual is less than in France, in the Nether- 

 lands, and in England. For Belgium, it is 19f. 8(>c. per 

 head ; for France, 30f- 68c. ; for the Netherlands, 39f. 

 63c. ; for England, 56f. For the duties of Customs* 

 Excise, and of general consumption, the average is as 

 follows :— For Belgium, less than 8f. ; for France, more 

 than 12f. ; for the Netherlands more than 16f. 69c. ; for 

 England more than 38f. 



Germany. — The Berlin Gazette states that the King 

 of Saxony had joined the King of Prussia at Letzingen, 



where their Majesties were to enjoy the amusement of 

 hunting. The exhibition of national industry to take 

 place in that city promises to be a very grand affair. It 

 was calculated that there would be about 3000 exhibitors, 

 taking all the states comprised in the Zollverein, and that 

 the number of objects would be 30,000. We also learn 

 from Berlin that the works of the railroad from Potsdam 

 to Magdeburg have been commenced ; and that, as the 

 road will traverse a portion of the royal rk, the King 

 takes a personal interest in the undertaking, and occa- 

 sionally superintends it. The question of the emancipa- 

 tion of the Jews, it is said, seriously occupies the atten- 

 tion of the Prussian Government. A formal demand has 

 been addressed to the Government of the Grand Duke of 

 Baden, to ascertain what has been the result of their 

 emancipation in that country. It is believed that when 

 the reply is received the Prussian Minister will take 

 measures to carry the contemplated emancipation into 

 effect. In connection with the same subject we learn 

 from Vienna th.it the two Chambers of the Hungarian 

 Diet, in their last session, passed a law for granting 

 to the Jews the greater part of the rights enjoyed 

 by the people who are not noble, but it did not re- 

 ceive the royal assent. These Chambers have now 

 voted another bill, the objects of which are, first, to 

 confer on the Jews the right of living in all the towns 

 of the kingdom, indiscriminately, and there carry on 

 their trades and professions, ecen some of the learned 

 professions ; secondly, to abolish the special capitation 

 tax imposed upon them. The Jews have sent a deputa- 

 tion to the Emperor of Austria, as King of Hungary, to 

 supplicate His Majesty to grant his sanction to this 

 measure. It is composed of the Grand Rabbi, and .six 

 distinguished merchants of Presburg, and has b*en re- 

 ceived by the Minister of the Interior, Count Kolio- 

 wrath, who has promised to solicit the Emperor to grant 

 it a private audience. — The Papers state that the Duke of 

 Bordeaux is about to proceed to Bohemia to hunt on the 

 estate of the Prince de Rohen. It was remarked that he 

 had become extremely corpulent, and bore the appear- 

 ance of a person of 40 years of age, rather than that of 

 a young man of 24 — A letter dated Mentz, 1st inst., 

 states that an electro-magnetic telegraph, on Mr. Fara- 

 day's plan, has been attached to the Taunus Railroad, 

 which lies between that city and Frankfort-on-the- 



• aine, the extent of which is about 16 French leagues. 

 — The fVurtemberg Gazette publishes a treaty between 

 the Government of Wurtemberg and that of the United 

 States of America, for the mutual abolition of the tax 

 gration. — We learn from Dresden |that while the family 

 of Weber were expecting his remains for interment, their 

 number was reduced by the death of his younger son, a 

 youth of twenty, who was studying painting with the 

 most brilliant hopes of success. Only one son now re- 

 mains.— The Augsburgh Gazette of the 1st inst. an- 

 nounces the first appearance of Fannv Elssler at the 

 Court Theatre of Munich on the 30th ult. She was 

 most enthusiastically received, and she was repeatedly 

 recalled to receive the homage of the public— The num- 

 ber of Protestants at present rn Bavaria is 1,226,753. In 

 the last four years there has been an increase of 25,531 ; 

 in that period 8805 Protestants emigrated from the 

 kingdom, 281 turned Catholics, and 170 Catholics be- 

 came Protestants.— Letters from Treves state that several 

 parish priests in that diocese positively refused, during 

 the exhibition of the holy garment, to accompany parish- 

 ioners to see it, and even dissuaded them from under- 

 taking this pilgrimage. By this conduct those priests 

 have, it seems, drawn upon themselves the anger of the 

 bishops, and expect shortly to be accused of Hermesianism. 



Switzerland. — The Swiss Journals state that a new 

 bishopric is about to be established in the canton of St. 

 Gall. All the articles of the treaty concluded with the 

 Court of Rome have been adopted without change, not- 

 withstanding a strong objection made by the radical 

 fraction of the Catholic Council, who combated it at 

 every stage, without being able to gain an inch of ground. 

 The plan was adopted by 58 against 13. 



Italy.— A letter from Trenr, of October 25, says :— 

 11 The extensive and fruitful valley of the Adige has been 

 inundated. On the 21st the rise 'of the river was 9 feet, 

 and at present amounts to 13} feet above the usual level! 

 The neighbourhood of Trent is entirely under water. 

 In the Campo Trientino the water is 7J feet deep, and 

 Centa, Stella, Alta, and Bassa Livorno, aud Ischia 

 Perotti, form one immense lake. Several streets of 

 Trent are filled with water, the inundation proceeding 

 not only from the Adige but the little river Salaga, 

 now a formidable torrent. The Pont St. Laurent 

 has begun to totter. Provisions are conveyed in 

 boats. The consequences of this calamity are terri- 

 ble to think of. ? '— Another letter from Leghorn of 

 the 6th inst., gives a distressing account of the dis- 

 asters occasioned by the overflowing of the Aruo. 

 Florence was partly under water, which in some places 

 was 8 feet deep. The inhabitants were blockaded in 

 their houses, unprovided with food, and subjected 

 to the agonies of hunger, and terror for their lives. 

 The Suspension-bridge over the Amo had been carried 

 away by the flood, the old bridge of the Goldsmiths was 

 threatened with ruin, the Customs stores and the fine 

 promenade of the Cascine were completely inundated. 

 The Arno carried along a quantity of agricultural imple- 

 ments, furniture, and cattle, and the plains of Tuscany, 

 watered by the river, presented the aspect of immense 

 lakes. The railroad between Leghorn and Pisa was so 

 deeply sunk in the water that the communication had 

 been interrupted. The losses are incalculable. The 

 government, equally taken by surprise as the public, 

 could not afford any adequate succour. Several persons 



are said to have perished, but in the present state of 

 things it is impossible to acquire any accurate informa- 



1 



tion, and the rumours are probably much exe -rated 

 Great apprehensions are entertained for Pisa. AtGenoa' 

 also, inundations have taken place and caused consider- 

 able damage* 



Russia. — The last accounts from St. Petersburgh ex 

 press serious alarm relative to the health of the Empress" 

 The pain of the chest, with which Her Majesty is affected' 

 has become more violent.— The Duke de Leuchtenbenj 

 left on the 20th ult. for Munich, on a visit to his mother 

 and his sister, the Dowager Empress of Brazil.— The 

 Russian journals publish the copy of a convention con- 

 cluded at Teheran en the 3d July last, between the 

 Courts of Russia and Persia. According to the first 

 article, the subjects of the two Powers cannot hereafter 

 pass from one country to the other without passports. 

 Article 2. Every individual passing from one country 

 to the other without a passport shall be arrested and 

 delivered up to the proper authority, with all his clothing 

 accoutrements, &c. Article 3. Every demand addressed 

 by any subject to his government for permission to emi- 

 grate shall be made without any foreign intervention. 

 —The new military lav respecting the Jews, pub- 

 lished last year, induced the elders of the Jewish 

 community at Warsaw to send a deputation to St. 

 Petersburgh, in order to petition the Emperor to 

 place the civil condition of the Jews on the same foot- 

 ing as that of the Christians, in reference to the law of 

 1817. In the imperial decree issued at that time, it is 

 said that the Jews residing in the kingdom may be 

 exempt from the military conscription and military ser- 

 vice, so long as they are not admitted to civil rights, and 

 pay to the Polish treasury 105,299 silver rubles an- 

 nually. It was intimated to the deputation that they should 

 receive an answer at Warsaw from the Governor-General 

 of the kingdom. This answer has now been given, but 

 it by no means corresponds with the desires of the peti- 

 tioners. They are told that they are not to appeal to the 

 law of 1817, because the grant of civil rights was an act 

 of imperial favour. But with respect to the money paid 

 for exemption from military service, it was considered to 

 cease on the introduction of the military conscription, 

 according to the literal tenor of the law ; but for the 

 present, the fixed sum must continue to be paid, " be- 

 cause the Jews, by their temperance in the use of highly- 

 taxed liquors, brandy for instance, diminished the public 

 revenue." — The Russian Government has published the 

 account of the produce of the mines in the Ural moun- 

 tains in the first six months of 1844. The mines of the 

 Crown yielded 68 poods 29 lbs. of gold, and those be- 

 longing to private individuals 164 poods 13 lbs. ; in all, 

 233 poods 2 lbs. (die pood is 40 lbs. Russian, 36 lbs. 

 English). Of platina, the mines of private persons 

 yielded 75 poods 5 lbs. ; those of the Crown only 3 lbs. 



United States. — By the steam-ship Acadia we 

 have accounts from New York, to the 1st inst. There 

 is nothing by this arrival of much interest to the 

 English reader. The elections aie still the great staple 

 in American politics. Upon them attention was exclu- 

 sively fixed, and both parties claim a victory as far as 

 they have yet proceeded. The State of Pennsylvania 

 had, it is said, by a large majority declared for the 

 Whigs.— A hurricane at Buffalo, which occurred on the 

 19th October, and swept away half the pier, upon 

 which the inhabitants greatly prided themselves, forms 

 a leading topic in the papers. A good many lives 

 were lost in the confusion, and it was feared much 

 damage to the shipping off the coast would be heard 

 of The indefatigable enemy of slavery, Mr. John 

 Quincy Adams, had delivered a long address at Boston 

 on the subject of the annexation of Texas-a project to 

 which he is warmly opposed, and against wmch he urged 

 strong reasons. A new sect under the name of Millerism 

 is making considerable progress m some parts of the 

 States ; and as one of its leading tenets is the speedy 

 approach of the end of the wor Id, many tradesme „ had 

 discharged their workmen, believing that the world 

 would not last beyond the 21st ult and probably not 

 bevond the 10th.lThe Canadian Papers are mamly 

 filled with electioneering news. Sir C. Metcalfe has 

 succeeded in the elections almost in every se ction^ of .he 

 province. Up. to the latest dates, accounts have been 

 received of the election of 25 Conservatives, 15 Oppo 



sitionists, and 5 Uncertain. .. 



West Indies and South America. -By tl e mail- 

 steamer Trent, we have advices from Jamaica to Oct. 1U, 

 and from the other islands to corresponding dates 

 During her stay in the Gulf of Mexico the Trent expe 

 rienced very severe weather, and was obliged to leave 

 Tampico without being able to ship the treasure, 

 amounting to 1,721,567 dollars, 80,000 dollars of which 

 was on account of the Mexican dividends, which was a 

 brought to the bar. The Trent remained off the bar tm 

 the 29th September, in the hope of its becoming pass 

 able, but as the weather continued bad she was ob i*4 

 to leave and continue her route At Vera Cruz all the 

 treasure was shipped on the 2d of October during a 



\::::;z:tZ: Ji ». ^00 <* 130,000 ^ ^ 



account of the Mexican dividends, which the Adm nis 

 tration would not run the risk of embarking undei sue ft 

 cire.imstances.-Santa Anna was at his farm near ver 

 Cruz, and was increasing toe number of his troops, witft 

 a view to compel the Senate to comply wit a his views 

 He was about to marry again into a family at v er 

 Cruz, his first wife having been dead fbont a montn 

 -The trial of Mr. Bagot, in British Guiana, ^d tern* 

 natedbyhis being found guilty of official delinquenc 

 and dismissed the service. - In the majontyj 

 West India Islands the crops promised well, aim 



