IftistelIartecus.

Tuesday's Gazette notified the appointment of the following Royal "Commissioners for inquiring into the best mode of promoting the Fine Arts in the United Kingdom : " Prince Albert, Lord Lyndhurst, the Duke of Sutherland, the Marquis of Lansdowne, the Earl of Lin- coln, the Earl of Shrewsbury, the Earl of Aberdeen, Lord John Russell, Lord Francis Egerton, Viscount Palmerston, Viscount Melbourne, Lord Ashburton, Lord Colborne, Mr. Charles Shaw Lefevre, Sir Robert Peel, Sir James Graham, Sir Robert Harry Inglis, Mr. Gaily Knight, Mr. Benjamin Hawes, Mr. Henry Hallam, Mr. Samuel Rogers, Mr. George Vivian, and Mr. Thomas Wyse. The appointment was also gazetted of the Reverend William Whewell, B.D., to be Master of Trinity College, in the University of Cambridge, void by the resignation of Dr. Christopher Wordsworth.

The Earl of Beverley is to succeed the Earl of Lothian, deceased, as Captain of the Yeomen of the Guard.

The Queen, as guardian of the Duke of Cornwall, has nominated Mr. Thomas Pemberton, of the Chancery bar, Attorney-General of the Dutchy.

Among the gentlemen spoken of as probable recipients of honours and dignities on the happy occasion of the birth of a Prince, are the following connected with the Principality : for elevations to the Peer- age, the Honourable Robert II. Clive and the venerable head of the house of Tredegar, Sir Charles Morgan, Bart.; to the Baronetage, William Thompson, Esq., M.P. for the county of Westmoreland, Richard Blakemore, Esq., M.P. for the city of Wells, and Joseph Bailey, Esq., M.P. for this city.— Worcester Herald.

The Illustrious, 74, having on board Sir Charles Bagot and suite, which sailed for Canada on Tuesday week, put into Falmouth on Satur- day, to await more favourable weather than it had encountered. It got under weigh again on Tuesday last, and proceeded for its destination.

Mr. Kennedy, the editor of the Hull Advertiser, is going out, we un- derstand in the employment of Government, to Texas ; and will most probably ultimatel7 have the appointment which the Whig-Radicals bestowed on Captain Elliot, of Consul in that country. Accompanied by Mrs. Kennedy, he sailed from Liverpool on Friday, in the Acadia royal mail steamer, for the United States.—Hull Packet.

The Duke of Wellington arrived in town, from Walmer Castle, on Tuesday ; and is said to be occupied early and late with public business.

Lord and Lady Wharncliffe left town on Monday, for Wortley Hall, their seat near Sheffield.

Sir Robert Peel entertained a select party to dinner on Wednesday, at his residence in Whitehall Gardens. Among the company, were Baron Brunow, Count Pollon, Viscount Canterbury, Viscount Lowther, Viscount Canning, Chevalier Bunsen, Mr. Everett the American Mi- nister, Sir Frederick Pollock, Sir William Follett, Captain Boldero, and Mr. Pemberton.

Among the gossiping reports about the Exchequer Bill fraud, has been one which we thought too idle to notice last week, implicating Lord Strangford. It has this week been magnified by the quidnunc& into sufficient importance to be met by the plain facts, which we have ascertained. Lord Strangford, as an act of personal kindness, intro- duced his broker, Mr. William Morgan, whom he had employed for a number of years, to his own bankers, Messrs. Coatts and Co. ; and left them to negotiate together, as an affair of ordinary business, a loan of 40,0001., for which Mr. Morgan had pressing occasion, on the security of some Exchequer Bills. Those bills are now pronounced spurious. In their anxiety, as men of business, to grasp every possible chance against future contingencies, Messrs. Coutts and Co. have raised an ac- tion to fix a liability on Lord Strangford, as the introducer ofMr. Morgan. In the mean time, having been alluded to by the Observer, in connexion with the fraud, as a "noble lord who had filled high diplo- matic offices," Lord Strangford has written a letter to the daily papers, "giving the most unqualified and indignant denial" to any imputation which implied dishonourable connivance on his part.

The Earl of Harewood died suddenly, on Wednesday evening, near Tadcaster. He had been out hunting, and returning home, he com- plained of feeling indisposed, and staid behind the party. He was missed ; and within ten minutes after, he was found lying by the road- side, in a lifeless state—he never spoke afterwards. The immediate cause of death has been supposed to be a rupture of the bladder, and the evidence at an inquest, which was held on the body on Thursday, tended to strengthen the impression that something of the kind had taken place ; but the surgeon who was called in expressed an opinion. that a blood-vessel at the base of the brain had been ruptured. Lord Harewood was in his seventy-fourth year, having been born in 1767. In 1794, he married Henrietta, eldest daughter of the late Sir John Saunders Sebright ; who died in February last year. He has left a large family : his eldest son, Viscount Lascelles, succeeds to the Earldom in his forty-sixth year. The Lord-Lieutenancy of the West Riding of Yorkshire is vacated by this death.

The dispute in the Irish press on the subject of Mr. Warren's no- mination to the Sergeant's coif, has been reechoed, with a difference, by the London journals. The Whig papers chuckle at Earl De Grey's " humiliation " in explaining his conduct to Mr. West. The leading Conservative paper, the Times, refers the question to broad principles, in a manner which may shame some soi-dieant Liberals. It condemns the intemperate inference of the Irish Tories, that the appointment of a person who has taken no part in politics is a judgment of disqualifica- tion on those who have: " We have said before, and we repeat, that the disposition to draw such a conclusion from such premises as these, in- dicates an intemperance of partisanship against which the Conservatives of Ireland must be on their guard, if they would not see the government of Mr. O'Connell supersede that of Earl De Grey." The idea of a judg- ment of incapacity being passed against Mr. West is absurd; and the Times is astonished that any explanation should have been necessary to convince him of the nature of the transaction ; though it is glad that the explanation has been given, to dispel all such delusions. "But we fear that, however exaggerations of this sort may have been given out, to justify the discontent manifested on this occasion, these absurd appre- hensions did not constitute the real gravamen of the matter to the dissatisfied party. We fear there are still persons who think that the favours of the Irish Government ought to be exclusively bestowed upon individuals 'who have taken an active part in promoting its own political triumph'; at all events, that no man of neutral or adverse politics should be noticed, until the whole class of active partisans has been provided for; and to these persons the recent appointment, whatever may have been its motives or reasons, is a discourage- ment, and therefore an offence. '7'here cannot be the least doubt,' said Mr. West, with generosity and justice, that in this the Government meant well to the general interests of the country.' But he added, with equal truth, there can be as little doubt that they have asserted by it a new principle, in- volving interests of extreme importance to themselves and to us as a party.' Mr. West is right; the principle is a new one: the present is the first Government which has endeavoured to narrow the field of party influ- ences in Ireland, and to consolidate an administrative system upon the basis of general confidence. He is right also in stating that this prin- ciple involves interests of extreme importance to the Government, and to the Irish Conservatives as a party. It is important to the Government, in the degree to which it is better to govern by justice and beneficence than by the sword, to deserve and obtain the good-will of a whole population rather than of one-seventh part only. It is important to the Irish Conservatives as a party, in the degree in which it is better for them to have some (and that a very considerable) share of power and patronage, than to be excluded from it alto- gether, and trampled upon by their adversaries : they will acknowledge it to be 80 in the degree in which their Conservatism has been based upon a sincere love of Ireland, a desire to give her the blessing of peace and the opportunity of making advances in prosperity, and a determination to secure to her the due administration of the laws. As soon might they expect to pull down the sun from heaven, or to fix the courses of the winds, as to maintain in Ireland by any power of theirs a Government unsupported by the moral sense of the English people. And the English people require and expect, that those who would govern Ireland should do so with moderation, temperance, and impar- tiality—with a disposition to pour oil upon the troubled waters, and a deter- mination to give effect to the spirit of the Emancipation Act of 1829."

The Morning Chronicle gives a report as current in the City respect- ing the Royal Commissionto inquire into the collection of the Revenue- " The financial commission bawd by the Government begins to attract tantion in commercial circles, and some shrewd surmises have been made con- cerning its origin. We believe they are not far wrong in attributing it to the diplomacy of the Bank Parlour. For several years past, the Directors of the Dank of England have aimed at obtaining the management of the whole public revenue, so that all payments on account of the departments of Customs, Ex- cise, and Taxes, should be paid into their hands. In England this is now very generally done ; and the collections, as they become vacant, are given to the Bank of England. In Scotland, the business is in the hands of the chartered banks ; but the Government business in England is chiefly monopolized by the Bank of England, with some exceptions ; and these exceptions the Directors wish to abolish, as well as to do away with the district receivers and collectors, or at least desire that their officers shall step into their places. The Directcrs have advanced some strong grounds, too, in support of their scheme of aggran- disement; having offered, we believe, to collect the whole revenue free of ex- pense, and to account for it immediately to the Crown. These are advantages which the public have an interest in looking after ; but we are not to suppose that the Bank Directors would make the proposal without some equivalent ; and the per contra, we believe, is the entire suppression of local issues."

Oxford University has been divided by a feud between the Puseyites and the Anti-Puseyites: respecting the election of a Professor of Poetry. The Reverend Mr. Williams seems to he the favourite candi- date on general grounds ; but he is accused of Puseyisra, and there- fore the Anti-Puseyites support the Reverend Mr. Garbett.

Perhaps it is with a view to this contest that the Reverend Baden Powell, Savilian Professor of Geometry at Oxford, preached, and that the Morning Chronicle quoted, a sermon entitled "The Protestant's Warning and Safeguard in the Present Times " ; in which is told the following tale of Puseyism- " This system, now so extensively spreading in this land, finds its main strength in the partial support of numbers who think it at least harmless, and still go along with its advocates to a certain extent. I am persuaded, on the -contrary, that the objection lies at its very foundation. I contend against it from first principles. But, if practical proofs are wanting to render its true nature clear, I will advert to one single circumstance, which, I think, alone must afford sufficient evidence. Of all the artifices of the Boorish system, the most powerfully efficacious for maintaining the iron despotism with which she ruled the consciences of men, the prolific source of the most monstrous of her abuses, the true • working of the mystery of iniquity,' has ever been found in the maintenance of what is termed 'auricular confession,' coupled essentially with the power of the priest to give absolution. Now (I speak not from loose reports, but from the testimony offsets which have been brought to my know- ledee) attempts have been made recently, in this place, by ministers of the Esta- blished Church, to enforce this very practice on those under their influence."

A local society, bearing the philanthropic and comprehensive title of -" The Birmingham Association for Promoting the General Welfare of their Fellow-Countrymen," have issued an address on the existing dis- tress, which they attribute to purely monetary causes. They observe, that during the last twenty-five years contractions and dilations of the currency have been succeeded respectively by prosperity and adversity In trade-

" They call special attention to the fact, that no great commercial vicissitude has occurred during the last twenty-five years the origin of which has not been marked by a great derangement of our monetary system ; a truth now acknow- ledged by all the leading organs of the public press in England, and of which ample demonstration is to be found in the distressing events of the years 1819, 1826, 1832, and 1837."

The Times exhorts the Birmingham associators to go a little deeper into the causes of those "distressing events "— "As invariably as the distress itself, in every case, a larking suspicion pe- riodically ripened into a certainty, that the paper circulation then flourishing rested upon a rotten foundation ; that the notes, so abundant in number and nominal value, were not convertible; a rush to the Bank and banks took place —a rush foreseen, and in part provided against by the great national establish- ment, but ruinous to many private concerns that had lent out their paper on 'hazardous speculations by land and by sea. Hence, and hence only, therefore, those revulsion, in trade and commerce."

A benevolent correspondent sends us a portrait of an original whose -class it were well to multiply. A happy combination of circumstances .enables the sitter (to use the painter's phrase) to emulate the Man of Ross in a way that is fortunate for all parties ; and our correspondent thinks that those who are as rich or richer than his friend might profit- ably copy the example in these hard times- " That example is better than precept is an axiom generally admitted; and as we all know the force of example, whether for good or for evil, I am about to lay before such of your readers as may be qualified to follow it, the example of my friend John. "In the year 1835, my friend John came into possession of an estate of about two thousand acres of good land; which he divided into ten farms, and let at thirty shillings an acre, each acre being further clifirged with about half-a- crown for tithe. The rent was paid half-yearly ; and it was John's custom upon these occasions to dine with his tenants, to whom he gave a dinner of good and substantial food, with as much good ale as they pleased to drink. In the course of the meal, he inquired into their circumstances, and the health and general welfare of their families; desired to know whether the buildings re- quired any addition or alteration ; or indeed, if he could make any change necessary to their comfort or their convenience. "Nor was John's interest in the welfare of his tenants limited here: he in- -spired into the health, wants, and habits of the labourers; asked what pay they usually received, and when they received it ; recommended the farmers to pay them on Fridays, and expressed a hope that each occasionally called upon the labourers he employed, treated them with kindness and consideration, pointed out the path of rectitude to such as were known to deviate from it, and endeavoured to recall them by good counsel and judicious kindness. "Should any change occur in the value of corn, likely so to diminish the -profits of the farmer as not to afford him a comfortable subsistence, my friend .John lowers the rent of the land in proportion with the deteriorated value of the produce. "My friend John is not much of a sportsman: he allows his tenants to shoot, course, or fish, whenever they please, so long as this licence produces no discord among themselves ; they supplying him with game, and occasionally permitting him and his friends to walk over their respective farms with their alms and dogs. , He has been careful to build comfortable cottages near his farms, for the labourers employed on them ; and these are built two together, each having a room below, a bakehouse, piggery, and coal-house, two sleeping. rooms above, and a garden proportioned to the wants of the family, each family being allowed as much garden-ground as will furnish them with potatoes: the rent one shilling a week. "My friend John has a weekly school upon his estate, both for boys and girl', which is under the care of a steady man and his wife, to whom he pays forty pounds per annum and coals. They also look after the Sunday-school; for it so happens that my friend John has the assistance of a kind and con- scientious clergyman, who looks carefully after his flock, and is earnest to serve them. The children, if in health, are expected to be regular in their attendance, and always in readiness to answer their names, which are daily called over.

" My friend John has a rent-day for the cottagers ; for whom he provides a dinner of cold beef and ale, at which the clergyman presides ; and any poor man who can produce testimonials from his master and the clergyman of gene- ral good conduct, has, in proportion to his family, a part of tiis rent returned to him.

" My friend John Las also established a clothing club in the peril ; to which he annually subscribes ten pounds himself, and the poor as much as they can spare weekly. The clothing is purchased by a committee of the clergy- man and the farming tenants, on the 1st day of November. John does not admit the operation of the Poor-law on his estate. The poor are in a club; to the funds of which, themselves, the whole tenantry, and John himself, all con- tribute ; and when a poor man is ill, he makes choice of the doctor whose advice he wishes to have, whose bill is paid from this source ; which also allows seven shillings per week to the patient. The management of this fund is intrusted to the clergyman of the parish; for John has a small church on the estate, where all who are able to do so attend every Sunday.

"The tenantry and poor are comfortable and contented, and generally very grateful. There has been no poacher to prosecute since 1835: no beer-shop, nor complaints from the tenantry of the depredations of game, and yet there IS quite enough. Often have I desired to see such a system more general. How incalculable would be the benefits resulting from it, or how immeasurable the delight of my friend John in contemplating the happiness of his little family, no one can conceive but those who participate in such actions and such. feelings. B..

The French Chambers of Peers and Deputies are convoked by a Royal ordonnance, published in Saturday's .Moniteur, for the 27th December.

The Constitutionnel gives the particulars of one of the many move- ments which have been made towards a dissolution of the present Cabinet. "It was rumoured on the 18 h, that the Ministry was about to be disorganized. On the 19th, quite contrary rumours prevailed. It is true, that on the 18th M. Humann had deposited his portfolio in the hands of the King, begging his Majesty to accept his resignation. The King would not accept it, and called a Council immediately. M. Hamann there declared, as he has done in the other sittings, that a re- duction of the effective of the army was absolutely necessary, and that a balance should be restored as quickly as possible in the receipts and expenses of the budget. On the 19th, in the evening, the Council was again assembled, and presided over by his Majesty. Marshal Soult proposed that one company out of each regiment should be suppressed. But this proposal did not satisfy M. Hamann at all ; and finally the debate ended in mutual concessions. It was determined that twelve millions should be subtracted from the expenses of the War-Ministry. On this condition M. Hamann took back his portfolio."

The Morning Chronicle tells some of the secrets which oozed out in the course of the quarrel. One argument adduced by the Marshal was a pressing letter from Governor-General Bugeaud, from Algiers. General Bugeaud writes, that his last campaign of fifty days has so completely dislocated and disabled the army that he could not muster 4,000 men. Nine-tenths of the army of Algiers are in the hospitals! General Bageaud says he must have at least 20,000 troops more before spring. The assembling of an army at Lille was a military step which M. Hamann considered useless. The Marshal defended himself by producing an autograph letter from the King of the Bel- gians to the King of the French, expressing his fears that the King of Holland was about to absorb him. The concentration of a French corps on the North was the consequence of this autograph letter.

At about four o'clock in the afternoon of the 18th, as the King was returning from Versailles to Paris, a stone was thrown at his carriage by an individual standing on the side of the road. The offender • succeeded in escaping.

The Republican newspaper the National achieved another acquittal before the Seine Court of Assizes on Tuesday. M. De la Roche, the responsible publisher, was charged for exciting hatred and con- tempt of the King's Government, in an article on the disorders at Clermont-Ferrand, in September. The Procureur-Gen6ral Hebert conducted the prosecution, and M. Jules Fevre (in the absence of M. Marie, the batonnier of the order of advocates) acted as counsel for the defence. The Jury, after a deliberation of twenty minutes, acquitted the National.

A voluminous document has been published by the Administration of Customs in France on the external commerce of that country. From an analytical summary in the volume we extract the passages which have the most general bearing. The first extract is a general view of the advance of commerce. The value is stated in francs- " The external commerce of France has progressively increased during the year 1840. The total value of the various articles of which it consists has risen to the sum of 2,063,000,000: this is the highest amount that it has ever reached. Of the two items which constitute this total, viz, the importations and the exportations, the first is the one in which the increase has chiefly occurred. At no former period did the value of the imports ever amount to a milliard (1,000,000,000) ; they have now exceeded the latter sum by 52,000,000. "The general export commerce (1,011,000,000) has only exceeded by 8,000,000 (equal to 1 per cent.) the extent of the same commerce during the year 1839; but, on comparing it with the average resulting from the combina- tion of the five preceding years, an increase of 12 per cent, will be discovered. "The special commerce (that is to say, the commerce which includes On the one hand the foreign productions which France imports for her own con- sumption, and on the other those arising from her own soil or her manufac- turing industry, which she sends abroad) includes in the sum total of 2,063,000,000 a value of 1,442,000,000; viz. importations 747,000,000, and exports 695,000,000. The increase of the special commerce has equally occurred, as in the case of the general commerce, in the value of the imports and in that of the exports, especially in the former. A comparison with the year 1839 and the average of the last five years, shows an increase in favour of 1840, viz. of 15 and 26 per cent, in the importations and of 3 and 14 per

•

cent, in the exportations." S • S • •

The distribution of commerce by land and sea-

" Considered in relation to the distinction existing between the sea and land coann,Pree, the total amount of the commercial investment is divided as follows:

Sea commerce 1,481,000,000, = 71.8 per cent.

Land commerce 582,00J,000, = 28.2 per cent.

"The value of the articles of which the land commerce and the united im- ports and exports consist was distributed between the various countries of im- portation and exportation in the following proportions : Switzerland 161,000,000 or 27 per cent.

Belgium 125,000,000 or 22 — Sardinian States 105,000,000 or 18 — Germany 98,000,000 or 17 per cent.

Spain 72,000,000 or 12 — Prussia 18.000,000 or 3 Netherlands 3,000,000 or 1 Total 582,000,000 100 "The 'value of the entire sea commerce was distributed in 1840 among the countries of Europe, those not in Europe, the French Colonies, and the great fisheries, in the following manner : Countries in Europe 757,000,000 or 51 per cent.

Countries out of Europe 582,000,000 or 39 — Colonies and fisheries 142,000,000 or 10 — Total 1,481,000,000 100 The state of the import-trade-

" With respect to importation, the United States take the first place in the general commerce, which in 1839 was occupied by the Sardinian States. The former power is set down for 176,000,000, or 17 per cent., in the sum total of the importations, and for 118,000,000, or 16 per cent, in the value of the pro- duce admitted for consumption. Compared with the year 1839 and with the average, the year 1840 shows, as regards the products imported from the United States, an increase of 77 and 60 per cent. In the general, and of 37 and 88 per cent, in the special commerce. (This increase principally occurred in cotton-wool.) The value of the merchandise imported from England, which was in 1835 61,000,000 as regards the general and 32,000,000 as regards the special commerce, has, under this twofold head, progressively increased each year, and rose in 1840 to 110,000,000 and 74,000,000. This is, in six years, an increase of 80 and 131 per cent. The importations from Belgium have been greater than those of the preceding year, without at the same time at- taining the same amount as in 1838. Previously to 1835 that power had never contributed to our internal consumption more than 60,000,000 per an- num. Since that period this amount has increased on an average to 71,000,000. In 1840 it rose to 76,000,000.* After the above three powers, follow, according to the relative importance of the amount of goods, &c. sent by them to us, the Sardinian States, Switzerland, Spain, and Russia.

"These amounts, which in 1835 were as follows, viz.—

Sardinian States 99,000,000 and 67,000,000 Switzerland 59,000,000 — 14,000,000 Spain 39,000,000 — 26,000,000 Russia 21,000,000 — 17,000,000 rose in 1840 to the following amounts, viz — Increase per cent. Sardinian States 108,000,000 and 73,000,000 9 Switzerland 70,000,000 — 21,000,000 19 and 50 Spain 43,000,000 34,000,000 10 — 31 Russia 34,000,000 — 31,000,000 62 — 82 "Our importation commerce with Germany has not made the same pro- gress. The value of the goods, &c. of which it consisted was, in 1835, 57,000,000; and only amounted in 1840 to 54,000,000, being a lower sum than that of the average of the five years preceding. At the same time it must be observed, that, in comparison with the year 1839, our importations from that country have presented an increase, as much in the general as in the special commerce. The case has been otherwise as regards Turkey, Norway, the Dutch Indies, Chili, the French colonies, Algiers, and the French factories in India. The value of the merchandise which we have received from each of the above countries has not reached so high an amount as in 1839. An increase has taken place, on the contrary, in the amount of the imports from the Eng- lish Indies, the Two Sicilies, the Ilanseatic Towns, Tuscany, Austria, Brazil, Mexico, Hayti, Cubs, the Barbary States, Denmark, and Egypt."

Exports- " As regards exportations, a sensible decrease has occurred in our commerce with the United States. Instead of 204,000,000, the amount of the articles of every description exported in 1839 to that country, we only sent out 136,000,000 in 1840. This is a difference of at least 33 per cent., and the decrease has not only affected the general but also the special commerce, and in the same proportion. Notwithstanding the exports to England have risen to the sum total of 160,000,000, (of which 105,000,000, consist of our internal produce, both agricultural and manufacturing,) they have not reached so high an amount as in 1839; the decrease, however, is not of much importance, not having exceeded as regards the general commerce 1 per cent, nor as regards the special 2 per cent. Out of 51,000,000 value sent by us into Belgium, 45,000,000 consisted of the products of our soil and our manufacturing in- dustry; being the same amount as that of 1838, and 6,000,000 more than that of 1839. Spain has afforded to our special exportation commerce a market for 79,000,000. There has been for several years past a firm increase in our exports to that country. Those to Algiers are also increasing; they have risen to 22,000,000, treble the amount to which they reached in 1835. Among the other countries mentioned, those with which our exportation commerce has sustained the greatest increase are—the Sardinian States, Germany, Brazil, Russia, Chai, and Mexico. A decrease equally considerable may be observed, OD the contrary, in the export of our produce into Egypt, Turkey, India, the coasts of Africa, and Switzerland."

From an enumeration of some of the chief articles of import and export, we select those which will most interest the English reader-

" Cotton-wools are reckoned at 151,000,000 (14 per cent.) in the total value of the goods imported ; and out of these, 151,000,000, 94,000,000 were entered for internal consumption. In comparison with 1835, these sums show a sur- plus difference of 67 and 32 per cent. There has been a decrease in the arrival of sugars from our colonies, but an increase in the amount cleared; the surplus difference is 9 per cent. From 1835 to 1838, the value of the foreign grain entered for home consumption did not exceed on the average 4,000,000 a year; it rose in 1839 to 25,000,000, and in 1840 to 47,000,000. Wools in general, the importation of which gave way in 1839, have sustained a further decrease as regards the special commerce. The amount of the imports of spun-yarn and hemp, which scarely reached 10,000,000 in 1835, has risen from year to year to nearly 28,000,000. No sensible variation las taken place in the importations of bar-iron and rough cast-iron; there appears in the amounts relating to the latter article a tendency to decrease. Those of coal have progressively increased since 1835. The year 1840 presents the largest amount of the whole period (18,000,000); that of 1835 was only 12,000,000. The value of the cattle im- ported, which increased from 7,000,000 in 1835 to 9,000,000 in 1839, was only ,000,000 in 1840.

"Our exports of cotton and woollen webs are progressing, but the former in larger proportion than the latter. On comparing, in this particular, the two xtreme years of the period between 1835 and 1840, there will be found in

• The average annual importations from Belgium into France, from the years 1831 to 1840 luelusii e, amounted to about 62,000,000 (special commerce.) favour of the last year, an increase of 74 per cent, in favour of the cotton, and. 61 per cent, in favour of the woollen webs.

"'The export of our wines has been more considerable than in 1839, and less so than in 1838. It has varied but little during the last six years. The same with brandies ; which show, in comparison with 1839, and with the mean yeas, an increase of 31 and 8 per cent, in favour of the exportations of the year 1840.'

"This morning," says the Gazette des Tribunaux of Tuesday, "at the moment when the cargo of the Havre steamer Industrie was unload- ing on the quay of the Louvre, the Customhouse-officers presiding at the operation discovered behind some bales of goods two small pieces of artillery, mounted on carriages, with cast-iron wheels. The captain of the Industrie, on being asked how those pieces of artillery happened to be in his possession, replied that he did not know how they came on board, nor to whom they belonged. The captain's bills and the invoices were then examined, and it was found that no mention was made in either of those suspicious articles of the cargo. The two guns not being claimed by anybody, were placed in a cart by the Customhouse- officers, and conveyed to the Prefecture of Police, amidst a large con- course of people, who formed all sorts of conjectures on this extraor- dinary capture, and the use for which they were intended."

Espartero has taken more decided steps against the refractory ultra- Liberals of Barcelona, and he has issued a proclamation against their- resistance to the measures determined by Government. On the 15th, General Van Halen actually entered the town ; which was declared, along with the whole province, to be in a state of siege, or, as we should say in England, martial law was proclaimed. A number of the members of the revolutionary Junta embarked on the 13th, and others on the 16th, for London vid France : among their numerous followers was S. Felipe- Moulan, the editor of the Popular, a paper which was supposed to be a disguised organ of the French party. Van Halen had decreed that any of the Militia or National Guard who appeared in the streets in uniform or armed should be shot. A French naval division, consisting of the Ville de Marseilles, under Captain Quernel, the Genereux, and the Amadee frigate, anchored off Barcelona on the 12th. The demolition of the citadel had been stopped, and the town was quite tranquil on the 16th.

The Augsburg Gazette of the 19th instant states that the carriages of the King of Naples were attacked and pillaged near Palermo by a band of highwaymen, although they were attended by a numerous escort. The King and Queen, it should seem by the context, were in the plun- dered carriages.

The Hanover Gazette of the 16th instant publishes a Royal ordinance fixing the 2d of December next for the opening the session of the Ge- neral Assembly of the States.

The Constantinople correspondent of the Morning Chronicle commu- nicates an important fact. On the 29th October, the French Ambassa-

dor, the British Minister Plenipotentiary, and the Russian Chargé d'Affaires, attended, by invitation, a council at the house of the Reis Effendi, for the purpose of considering certain propositions with respect to Greece, which had been privately communicated to the Ottoman.

Government by its representatives at Athens and Paris. The proposi- tion consists in suggesting that the Porte, in order to put a stop to the system of brigandage and violation of territory constantly practised by the frontier Greeks of Negropont upon the Turkish territory, should cede Thessaly to Greece, and that the frontier-line of the latter should be advanced to the Olympian chain of mountains, or present boundary of Macedonia. It is affirmed that this proposition was warmly recom- mended by the French Ambassador, as the surest means of relieving the Porte from the encroachments and consequent embarrassments of lawless neighbours, and that it was supported by the Russian Chargé d'Affaires. The British Plenipotentiary, it is said, refrained from offering any decided opinion upon the subject until he had referred the question to his Government. The Reis Effendi is understood to have observed very pithily, that since there was a question of removing fron- tiers, under the extraordinary pretext of preventing robbery and en- croachment, he should feel disposed, whenever the proposition should be laid before him in an official form, to meet it with a counter-propo- sition, namely, that in lieu of the boundary-line of Greece being pushed forward to Macedonia, that of Turkey should be advanced to the Isth- mus of Corinth.

Several French papers, says the same writer, persist in declaring that the Sultan's health is in a very precarious state. "There is not a word of truth in this : his Imperial Majesty never enjoyed better health ; and although he is certainly not of a robust constitution, there is nothing in his appearance or habiti that can justify the assertion of those who re- present him to be in a declining state.' Later intelligence from Constantinople, to the 7th instant, announces further disagreements between the two countries. The Porte com- plains of the non-fulfilment of treaties by the Greek Government, and especially of the non-payment of the indemnity promised under the guarantee of the three Powers, Russia, France, and England, who were parties to the London treaty of 1828. The Porte is adopting measures to enforce its demands of redress from Greece, by the sending of the new levies into Roumelia, and by preparing for sea a squadron of four ships of the line, with frigates and corvettes. It is, however, not clear that the Porte really intends this expedition for the Greek ports: there is, perhaps, still some intention of first punishing the Bey of Tunis. When the mail left Malta, three English ships of the line were about to proceed to the Levant, in order to watch the movements of Turkey.

On the 15th, two other ships of the line sailed for Malta, one for the coast of Spain and the other for Lisbon. Two more were to leave in a few days, for the same destination.