ffortign anti Zolontal.

FRANCE.—In the French Assembly, on Tuesday, the principle of a mea- sure to interdict the Clubs was discussed. Government recommended absolute interdiction; a majority of the Committee on the subject deemed this course too absolute, and proposed to restrict by most stringent formal- ities the foundation and regulation of clubs; a minority of the Committee proposed to interdict clubs, but to declare that "public political meetings assembling for a determined object and not being permanently established," did not come within the definition of a "club." The Government acceded to this last proposition as the groundwork of their measure in the Assem- bly. After a debate during which the most intemperate language was used,—M. Pierre Leroux being actually voted out of the tribune, after twice defying a call to order,—the measure was carried, by 378 to 359. On Wednesday,-M. Cremienx ascended the tribune, and electrified the Assembly by announcing that the majority of the Committee considered the yesterday's vote a violation of the constitution, and that they and their party would withdraw from its future proceedings. An extraordinary tumult arose, and ended in the retirement of more than 300 members— a division showed only 422 members—too few to make a valid vote. In the height of the sensation caused by the discovery, M. Cremienx reap- peared, and soon after his party reentered: cooler counsels had prevailed; and amidst ironical uproar they put their votes into the urn. The en- semble of the bill was voted by 404 to 303.

The trials at Bourges reached their twentieth day on the 20th instant, but are characterized by nothing new, and nothing of interest beyond the fact that most of the members of the Provisional Government have been examined as witnesses. The general tendency of the evidence is to impli- tate Sobrier and Raspail beyond doubt, Barbee doubtfully, and to exonerate General Courtrais of any criminal intention—fixing him only with a failure of presence of mind.

Two of the murderers of General Brea and Captain Mangin were exe- tuted on Saturday morning, at the Barriers de Fontainbleau, pursuant to the sentence of court-martial. Nearly twenty persons had been convicted of participating in the crime, but five only had a capital sentence passed on them: these five were Daix, Lahr, Nouri, Chopped, and Vapprean; but only Daix and Lahr suffered death on Saturday. The manner in 'which Nouri escaped is remarkable. •

It appears," says the correspondent of the Times, writing on Sunday, "that at a late hour on Thursday night the President of the Republic gave his decision, after having repeatedly consulted with the Ministers of Justice and of the Home Department, on the fate of the unfortunate convicts. That decision was that Daix, Lahr, and Nonni, should suffer the extreme penalty of the law. Orders were issued for the execution to take place yesterday morning ; and the troops who were to do duty at the place of execution, and to accompany the prisoners from the place where they were confined, were ordered to get ready immediately. They were got under arms at one o'clock the same night, and remained in march- ing order until half past two in the morning. To each man were served twenty- four rounds of ball-cartridge. At half-past two or a quarter to three o'clock, they were countermanded; and it was announced that the execution was post- .poned until the following day. The troops returned to their repose. The cause of the postponement was, that the executioner could not be found, and an express was sent to Versailles ordering one instantly to Paris. The execution was ordered for a very early hour, so as to avoid the assembling of large crowds; but as it was found that the man summoned to perform the hideous -office could not be in Paris until after the hour fixed on, it was thought better to postpone it until this morning. This unavoidable and unexpected delay was the saving of the life of one of the criminals. The friends of the lad Noun, hearing of the postponement, which they believed to be providential, made redoubled efforts the whole of yesterday in his favour. His repentence for his crime, his remorse, his tender years, the promise he had given since his conviction of being hereafter an useful member of society—all were insisted on with much earnestness by his friends and relations ; and their prayers were earnestly enforced by a number of clergymen. It will be sufficient to say that they were successful; and a respite 'was received at the place of confinement last night, at a late hour, in favour of Nouri. Thus the simple accident of not finding an executioner yesterday saved the life of one of the criminals."

The scene of the execution itself was impressive.

"A considerable military force was in attendance. All the passages leading to the fatal barriere were covered by troops of the line. A battery of artillery was stationed at the Boulevard d'Enfer. There was no great assemblage of spec- tators; who were kept by the troops at a distance from the scaffold. In some „groups club orators made desperate efforts, but in vain, to excite sympathy in favour of the unhappy criminals. They contended that capital punishment had been abolished for political offences. But the people had the sense to see in Daix and Lahr only vulgar and cowardly assassins.

"At eight o'clock the scaffold was removed, and the place was deserted."

SPATN.—Madrid letters describe a hairbreadth escape of Cabrera from the renegade Brigadier Pons, better known as a Carlist partisan chief by the name of Pep del Oli (Oily Joe). Pons's ability in guerilla warfare has „made him Cabrera's most formidable adversary: his wits are also stimulated by thirst for revenge; his brother having lately been caught by Cabrera's troops and shot as a renegade by his orders. Finding himself closely pursued by a superior force under Pons, Cabrera resorted to a feint which he had often before successfully practised; his wounds making it necessary that he should have rest. He suddenly detached himself from his main body, 'with a small guard, and turned by a defile into the retired village of Sellent; the general force maintaining its rapid march as if in continued retreat. -Oily Joe anticipated the wile, and met it by a refinement of cunning. He continued the pursuit past the defile till sunset, appearing to gain on the main body in eager, pursuit; but as soon as it grew dark, he turned about, and making a great circuit, arrived so privately at Sellent that he managed to come upon Cabrera's bivouac and seize all the eight various accesses to it before dawn. Cabrera always sleeps with a horse saddled, and he was -instantly on horseback when his alert picquets discovered the proximity of the enemy. By the help of the darkness, and with the coolest self posses- sion and cunning, he contrived that two of Pons's companies came into collision with each other; and in the confusion—though not till after failing in several dashes at impracticable openings—he managed to dodge through the Christinos with only four followers, and ultimately to escape by the swiftness and power of his horse. His camp, despatches, and clothes, all remained as trophies to Oily Joe.

ITALY.—The Sardinian Government has published, in the Piedmont .Gazette of the 14th instant, a laboured address in justification of its re- suming the war with Austria. The address states that the causes of the Italian revolution were slowly accumulated and matured by the progress of civilization; its object was to restore national independence, and unite all against the domination of Austria in Venetian Lombardy, and her open and secret influence in the other states. It refuses to recognize Austria's right of possession. As to the treaties of 1815, Italy was coerced to sub- xnk to them; and Austria has eluded their spirit by her policy of absorbing the nationalities of her states. She has violated the armistice repeatedly and openly; and she accepted a benevolent mediation only to aggravate and ruin the occupied provinces with excessive charges. " Having weighed all the chances, examined the remote and immediate causes of the last events, 'Sardinia has come to the conviction, that it is not less necessary for Upper Italy than for the whole of the Peninsula to be delivered from the present state." If the hopes of success are not so bright as they were last year, the -cause is still the same in the holiness of its right and in the grandeur of its Italian name.

By a decree of the 13th instant, the King of Sardinia named Prince Eugene of Carignan Lieutenant-General of the Kingdom during his ab- sence. In the siuing of the Chamber of Deputies of Turin on the 14th, Minister Ratazzi officially announced the ruptuire of the armistice; whieh -announcement was received with loud applause. In an address to the National Guards, recommending to them the main- tenance of order during his absence, Charles Albert " consecrates his life and that of his sons to the cause of Italian independence." Marshal Radetzky published an order of the day, at Milan, on the 12th, cheering his soldiers to the field—

"Soldiers I Your most ardent wishes are fulfilled. The enemy has renounced the armistice. . . . The conflict will not be long. It is the same enemy whom we have beaten at Saint Lucia, i , Somme Campagna '

, Custozza, Volta, and before the gates of Milan. God is with us, for our cause is jest! Us once more soldiers! follow your chief, who has grown grey in arms, to war and victory. shall be a witness of your exploits. It will be the last inspiring act of my long life, as a soldier, if in the capital of a disloyal enemy I can decorate the breasts of my brave comrades with the insignia of their valour, gained by blood and glory. Let oar war-cry then be, Forward, soldiers, to Turin!' It is there that we shall find the peace for which we fights—Long live the Emperor! Our country for ever !"

HOLLAND: His Majesty William the Second, reigning King of the Netherlands, died, almost suddenly, at Tilburg, on Saturday last. The first announcement of his illness was made on the 15th, in the form of a bulletin stating that during the night of the 13th he had a severe attack of inflammation of the lungs, which obliged the physicians to bleed him co- piously ; and that during the night of the 15th he had a second attack, had again been bled, and was rather better. On the evening of the 16th, it was announced that " the early part of the morning was very fatiguing to the august patient: the fever and oppression on the chest were much more severe than before, especially towards the middle of the day ": and on the 17th, the Dutch newspapers appeared in deep mourning, with the an- nouncement that the King expired, in the arms of the Queen and one of his younger sons, at half-past two o'clock of that morning. The late King was educated in England, and had been in every relation intimately con- nected with this country. Driven from Holland, with his father, on the foundation of the Batavia!' Republic, he was placed under the Charge of Dr. Howley, the late Archbishop of Canterbury, and received his education from that prelate. At the age of nineteen, he was appointed, as Prince of Orange, a Lieutenant-Colonel of the British Army ; and he served as extra Aide-de-camp with the Duke of Wellington in the Peninsula from 1811 to 1814. He was present at the sieges of Ciudad Rodrigo and Badajoz, and the battles of Salamanca, Vittoria, Pyrenees, and Nivelle. He commanded the Dutch troops in the campaign of 1815, and the first corps &armee at the battle of Waterloo; in which he was severely wounded.

By his surviving Queen, a sister of the Emperor of Russia, whom he married in 1816, he has left three sons and a daughter. The eldest, Wil- liam Alexander Paul Frederick Lewis, born in 1817, was in England at the moment of his father's death: he has already been proclaimed King of the Netherlands, by the title of William the Third. The present King was married in 1839 to the Princess Sophia Frederica Mathilda, daughter of the King of Wnrtemberg. It was proposed in 1813 that the late King should marry our own Prin- cess Charlotte; but the project met decided opposition from the Princess herself. Many years afterwards it was noticed of Prince Leopold, as a re- markable coincidence, that he had been successful in obtaining both a wife and a kingdom at the expense of the same rival.

William the First, the father of the late Monarch, was proclaimed King of the Netherlands in 1813; and he reigned for twenty-seven years. He had formed an attachment for a lady whose rank prevented her from be- coming his Queen; and, preferring happiness to the highest station, he re- nounced his crown, on the 7th October 1840, and was married to the Countess d'Outremont in February 1841.

PRIISSIA.—The anniversary of the revolution of the 18th March 1848

passed off in Berlin without actual outbreak; thanks to the concentra- tion of nearly forty thousand troops on the capital, and to the most ex- tensive preparations in favour of order. Vast numbers of persons went to the burial-ground of those who fell in conflict with the soldiery, and deco- rated their graves. A tendency to come into collision with the constabu- lary was visible in the mob; but the immediate presence of the soldiers restrained them, and the peace was unbroken.

Iiense.—An Indian mail arrived in London on Tuesday evening, with news from the Army of the Chenanb to the 3d of February, a fortnight later than the last advices; and from Moultan to the 2d of February. The rumours of renewed fighting between Lord Gough and the Sikhs, on the 19th and 20th of January, were unfounded; both armies remain precisely in the positions taken up after the battle of Chillianwallah. The Sikhs were perfecting their defences, yet providing facilities for retreating across the Jhelum to the more difficult mountain country in their rear; and Lord Gough was temporarily intrenching himself, and speeding orders in all di- rections for reinforcements to enable him to resume the offensive. Three• brigades of infantry, with twelve guns, of the besieging force liberated by the surrender of Moultan, were on their way to join Lord Gough, and were expected to arrive at his camp by about the 18th of February; and in addition to those, General Wheeler's force from the Jullundur Doab, a detachment from RaMnuggur, and two European regiments from Lahore and Yerozepore, were matching to the army. These reinforcements would amount to some 19,000 men; nearly as large a force as the army itself after the detachment homewards of the Twenty-fourth European and Thirtieth Native Regiments, which were disorganized by the slaughter of the 13th January.

Slight skirmishes occur daily between our cavalry and that of the enemy ' • almost invariably, it is said, to our advantage. In one of these, de- scribed as very brilliant and successful, Lieutenant Chamberlain was wounded, slightly—for the sixteenth time since 1840. A defence of the Fourteenth Dragoons has appeared in the Nofussaile, against the charges especially aimed at that regiment for its share in the alleged panic on the 13th January, when it formed part of Brigadier Pope's cavalry brigade on our extreme right. The defence is apparently by some officer of the impugned regiment; yet it is written without asperity. It asserts that, of the three regiments which were ordered to retreat, the Fourteenth was the last to commence the retreat, and the first to rally: the retreat was madiunder orders, and was stopped instantly by the officers of the regiment on their observing that a panic had arisen in the other re- giments, from the defective maneuvering of the brigade: the order itself was bungling in its terms —" Threes about,', in front of our own artillery, and in the absence of skirmishers to protect flanks or a reserve whereon to rally "; and it was given by " a man weighed down with years, illness, and infirmity, who cannot mount or dismount a horse unless assisted by three or four Men and a chair," and who moreover " had never commanded a. brigade," or even " been under fire before in his life."

The accounts from Moultan give interesting details respecting the un- conditional surrender of the fort of Moultan on the 22d of January.

"The troops," says the Bombay Times, "were drawn up at daybreak on the 22d; they formed two long lines extending from the Dowlut Gate. The street betwixt the living walls of armed men was about fifty feet in breadth. They waited some hours under heavy rain on their guard, in case of treachery or surprise; when about ten o'clock a messenger appeared, intimating that the garrison were at hand. First appeared about 200 ill-clothed miserable wretches, who seemed broken and dispirited; then followed about 3,500 hard, trained, stern, and stal- wsrt men, who looked as if they would have fought to the death in the breaches if such had been the will of their chief. They brought camels and horses and large bundles of things along with them. These, together with their arms, were placed in charge of the prize-agents as they passed. At last came Moolraj, his brethren and chiefs. He was gorgeously. attired in silks and splendid arms; and rode a magnificent Arab steed, with a rich saddle-cloth of scarlet, which bore no marks of suffering or privation. No small curiosity was experienced to dis- cover the appearance of one who had maintained a defence obstinate and pro- tracted beyond any related in the annals of modern warfare. He but little ex- ceeded the middle size; was powerfully but elegantly formed; his keen, dark, piercing, restless eyes, surveyed at a glance everything around. He neither wore the face of defiance nor of dejection, but moved along under the ge- neral gaze as one conscious of having bravely done his duty, and aware of being the object of universal regard. He was taken to the General's tent, and gave up his sword, which is said to have been returned to Lim; and was placed in charge of Lieutenant Henry, of the Nineteenth Bombay Native Infantry. Writing-materials were prohibited him, but every attention was shown to his comfort in so far as this was compatible with his safety. It was not considered safe to retain him longer than was indispensable in a neighbourhood where there were numberless dependents ready to incur any risk in attempting his rescue; and be was accordingly ordered to proceed with the force about to march up the line of the Chenaub in the direction of Ramnuggur, to turn off as they approached the road leading to Lahore for the camp of the Governor- General."

When our troops entered the citadel, it is said that "scenes of plunder en- sued in the last degree discreditable to the discipline of the Bengal army; de- tails too distressing to be dwelt upon." The accumulation of warlike stores and valuable effects was enormous. There will be booty valued at more than 1,000,0001.; and it is stated that the Governor-General has deter- mined that the whole shall go to the captors as prize-money. The town of Moulton purchased an exemption from plunder by a ransom of 200,0001., which will also go to the captors.

The bodies of Mr. Agnew and Lieutenant Anderson have been exhumed, and buried with solemn Christian rites in the highest part of the citadel; Anderson's own regiment bearing his remains to their new resting-place through the assault breach in the walls. The bodies were easily identified; and it was found that they had not been decapitated, as was said in the accounts of the assassination. It is stated that Moolraj possesses proofs which fully exculpate him from the charge of causing.or abetting the crime.

NEW ZEALAND.—The Middle and Northern islands of the New Zealand group have been visited with a series of earthquake shocks, which lasted nine days, and were felt at various places between the 73d and 76th me- ridians of East longitude and the 39th to the 44th parallels of South lati- tude. They were preceded and accompanied by storms and heavy gales from the South and South-east. The most marked plimnomena at Wel- lington are thus described in the Wellington Independent of the 18th Oc- tober— "About half-past one o'clock a.m. of Monday, a distant hollow roar was heard, the sound travelling at a most rapid rate; and almost instantaneously, in the course of a few seconds of time, the whole town was labouring from the most severe shock of an earthquake ever experienced by the White residents or remem- bered by the Maories. The crashing of houses, the fall of bricks, the hurrying to and fro of women and children, and the incessant wave-like motion of the earth, produced a chill at the heart and dreadful feeling of sickness. The shocks con- tinued, at intervals, until half-past seven o'clock, a. m."

Wheu daylight broke, the Wesleyan chapel, the gaol, and other public buildings, were so damaged as made it dangerous to enter. Minor shocks continued every day till the 17th, when some more serious ones occurred, and a great number of houses were thrown down. A soldier and his two children were overwhelmed; the children killed on the spot.

The Sarah Ann schooner felt the shocks sixty miles at sea, off Taranaki. She was so shivered that her captain and crew thought she had struck on a reef, and was forging over it: but on their heaving the lead, no bottom

could be fottnd. • It is noticed by the Nelson Examiner that vegetation was prodigiously rapid during the continuance of the shocks.

Lieutenant-Governor Eyre proclaimed a public fast and humiliation on account of the visitation; and it was strictly observed on the 20th of October.

UNITED STATES.—By the Europa, which left New York on the 7th, and Halifax on. the 10th instant, accounts are brought of General Taylor's inauguration on the 5th instant, as twelfth President of the United States.

The ceremonial is not picturesquely or impressively described; but the assemblage of citizens at Washington was one of the greatest 'ever known,

and the affectionate enthusiasm with which the "rough and ready" old soldier was received was such as to remind spectators of the earlier elec- tions of the Republic. General Taylor's speech was so much shorter, and so much superior in spirit and style to the average of inaugural addresses, as to claim insertion entire.

Fellow citizens and members of the Senate and House of Representatives— Elected by the American people to the highest office known to our laws, 1 ap- pear here to take the post prescribed by the constitution, and, in compliance with a time-honoured custom, to address those who are now assembled. The con- fidence and respect shown by my countrymen in calling me to the chief magis- tracy of a republic holding a high rank among the nations of the earth, have inspired me with feelings of the most profound gratitude; but when I reflect that the acceptance of the office which their partiality has bestowed imposes the

discharge of the most arduous duties, and involves the weightiest obligation, I am conscious that the position which I have been called to fill, though sufficient to satisfy the loftiest ambition, is surrounded by a fearful responsibility. "Happily, however, in the performance of my. new duties, I shall not be with- out able cooperation. The legislative and judicial branches of the government present prominent examples of distinguished civil attainments and mature ex- perience; and it shall be my endeavour to call to my assistance in the executive departments, individuals whose talents, integrity, and purity of character, will famish ample guarantees for the faithful and honourable performance of the trusts to be committed to their charge. With such aids, and an honest purpose to do whatever is right, I hope to execute diligently and impartially for the best interests of the conutry the manifold duties devolving upon me. In the discharge of these duties, my guide will be the constitution which I this day swore to preserve, protect, and defend. "For the interpretation of that instrument I shall look to the decision of the judicial tribunals established by its authority, and to the practice of the Govern- ment under the earlier Presidents, who had so large a share in its forination." To

the example of those illustrious patriots I shall always refer with reverence, and especially to his example who was by so many titles the father of his country. The command of the army and navy of the United States, with the advice and consent of the Senate to make treaties, and to appoint ambassadors and other

officers, to give Congress information of the state of the Union, and recommend such measures as he shall judge to be necessary, and to take care that the laws shall be faithfully executed,—these are the most important functions intrusted to the President by the constitution ; and it may be expected that I shall briefly indicate the principles which will control me iu their execution. 0 Chosen by the body of the people, under the assurance that my administration would be devoted to the welfare of the country, and not to the support of any

particular section or merely local interest, I this day renew the declaration I have heretofore made, and proclaim my fixed determination to maintain, to the extent of my ability, the government in its original purity, and to adopt as the basis

of my public policy. those great Republican doctrines which constitute the strength

of our national existence. In reference to the army and navy, lately employed with so much distinction on active service, care shall be taken to insure the highest condition of efficiency; and in furtherance of that object, the military and naval schools sustained by the liberality of Congress shall receive the special attention of the Executive.

"As American freemen we cannot bat sympathize with all efforts to extend the blessings of civil and political liberty; but at the same time, we are warned

by the admonition of history, and the voice of our beloved Washington, to abstain

from entangling. alliances with foreign nations. In all disputes with conflicting governments, it is our interest not less than our dnty to remain strictly neutral; while the geographical position, the genius of the institutions of our people, ad- vancing civilization, and above all, the dictates of religion, direct us to the culti- vation of peaceful and friendly relations with all other powers. It is to be hoped

that no international question can now arise which a Government confident in its own strength, and resolved to protect its own jest rights, may not settle by wise negotiation; and it eminently becomes a government like our own, founded on the morality and intelligence of its citizens, and upheld by their affections, to exhaust every resort of honourable diplomacy before appealing to arms.

" In the conduct of our foreign relations, 1 shall conform to these views, as I believe them essential to the best interest and the true honour of the country. The

appointing powers vested in the President impose delicate and onerous duties. So far as it is possible to be informed, I shall make honesty, capacity, and fidelity indispensable requisites to the bestowal of office, and the absence of either of these qualities shall be deemed sufficient cause for removal. It shall be my study to recommend such constitutional measures to Congress as may be necessary and proper to secure encouragement and protection to the great interests of agricul-

ture, commerce, and manufactures ; to improve our rivers and harbours, to pro- vide for the speedy extinction of the public debt, to enforce a strict accountability on the part of all officers of the Government, and the utmost economy in all pub- lic expenditure. " But it is for the wisdom of Congress itself, in which all its legislative powers are vested by the constitution, to regulate these and other matters of domestic - policy. I shall look with confidence to the enlightened patriotism of that body to adopt such measures of conciliation as may harmonize conflicting interests, and

tend to perpetuate that union which should be the paramount object of our hopes and affections. In any action calculated to promote an object so near the heart of every one who truly loves his country, I will zealously unite with the coordivate branches of the Government.

" In conclusion, I congratulate you, my fellow citizens, upon the high state of prosperity to which the goodness of Divine Providence has conducted our com- mon country. Let us invoke a continuance of the same protecting care which has led us from small beginnings to the eminence we this day occupy; and let us seek to deserve that continuance by prudence and moderation in our councils, by well-directed attempts to assuage the bitterness which too often marks unavoid- able differences of opinion, by the promulgation and practice of just and liberal principles, and by enlarged patriotism which shall acknowledge no limits but those of our own wide-spread republic."

The following is given by the Morning Chronicle as an " authentic " list of the new Cabinet, "though some slight changes are not improbable"—

Secretary of State—John hi. Clayton, of Delaware. Secretary of the Treasury —William M. Meredith, of Pennsylvania. Secretary of War—George W. Craw-

ford, of Georgia. Secretary of the Navy—William B. Preston, of Virginia. Home Department—John Davis, of Massachusetts. Postmaster-General—Thomas Ewing, of Ohio. Attorney-General—Reverdy Johnson, of Maryland.

The Doily News correspondent allots the Postmastership to Jacob Colla- mer of Vermont; and observes that "the appointment is judicious; the- State of Vermont has a long time been overlooked at Washington." The same writer places Mr. Ewing in the Home Department, in lieu of Mr. Davis, who is net in his list.

Several parties had arrived from California, bringing little gold, but no general abatement in the strength of the talk about it. " The information of Captain Phelps, however, has tended," says Publicus, "to sober down the excitement on the question."

"The stories of large lumps of gold weighing several pounds lie unhesitatingly pronounces to be exaggerations—says that few of the lamps weigh more than one or two ounces, and that the largest he could see or bear of to a certainty (only one) weighed Six ounces. As to the tales of the diggers obtaining 150 dollars per day, he says—' Those that have done the best have not obtained more than 3,000 dollars during the entire digging-season.' Soldiers and sailors all desert to the mines ; agriculture is totally neglected; so much so, that one man who had a field containing 15,000 bushels of wheat, could not get it harvested, and was ob- liged to let his cattle eat it. In the absence of regukr laws, Judge Lynch was compelled to officiate to keep order. ' There is much gold,' says Captain Phelps,. 'but the quantity has been exaggerated.' "

To English and other foreign emigrants the most important point is the step taken by the naval commander of the Pacific division, Brigadier Major-General Persifer F. Smith; who has addressed the United States Consuls with notices that foreigners in California are to be treated as tres- passer&

CANADA.—A great uproar has been raised in Canada by the intro- duction of a measure into the Legislature, on the part of the Executive Government, for indemnifying those inhabitants of Lower Canada who were suflerers by the rebellion of 1837-8. It was proposed to grant the sum of 100,0001. out of the revenue of the United Province, for the losses of all sufferers who had not actually been convicted of rebellion: and the precedent of the compensation already granted to the sufferers by the rebellion in Upper Canada was relied on in justification of the mea- sure. The opposition was headed by Sir Allan M`Nab and Mr. Sherwood, and substantially rested on two grounds: it was assumed that the com- pensation was to be partly received by notorious though unconvicted rebels, for the losses they themselves had caused by rebellion; and the charge was laid upon the provincial revenues, whereas the compensation of the Upper Canadian claims had been laid on district revenues. The supporters of' the measure replied, that the Upper Canadian measure bad been resisted by the then Opposition, on the express ground that the Lower, Canadian losses were not then also compensated, and it was agreed to only when the claims of the latter were recoguized; that in. feet tha

measure is only the carrying out of the proposals of the Metcalfe Govern- ment; and that the class of persons to be compensated are described by the same terms used in the Upper Canada Claims Aot: they answer the objection as to charging the provincial revenue, by calculations showing that the apportionment of relative charges at the union of the Provinces WU unequal, and such as to justify the imposition of this charge on pro- Vincial resources, as a set-off. The measure was debated with extreme heat in the Home of Assembly; scenes even of personal conflict on one occasion rendering an adjournment imperative. Resolutions were passed by a majority of 59 to 20.

Meetings of the Loyalists were held in all directions; and the most in- furiate language was used. Sir Allan M`Nab, addressing a mob at Mon- treal, who wreaked their vengeance on the proposer of the measure, Mr. Lafontaine, the head of Lord Elgin's Administration, by burning him in effigy, said— "!f the measure were forced upon the country, it would be a question for the people of Upper Canada to consider whether it would not be better tor them to be governed by the people on the other side of the river, than by a French Canadian majority."

A local journal gives this summary of the extent of the movement- " The whole of Upper Canada, from the Huron to the Ottawa, is up! Reform- ers and all are up like men ! Kingston city has held a public meeting, presided over by the Mayor, and protested against the iniquity. The Johnstown district, (Leeds and Grenville,) under the presidency of the High Sheriff, has bad an en- thusiastic gathering; as also the counties of Frontenac, and Lennox, and Adding- ton; the city of Toronto, the city of Hamilton, the city of Montreal, the Gore dis- trict, the Huron district, the Talbot district, the Victoria district, the Newcastle district, the Colborne district, the Wellington district, the Southern district, the Brock district, the Home district, Belleville, the county of Sherbrooke, and Qae- bec, have all requisitions for meetings; in fact, from every quarter of the country, we hear of nothing but fierce, firm, and manly resistance. Now or never; let every man do his duty."