hour the discharge of 21 guns announced the arrival of his Royal Highness the Prince Regent, who, after the usual formalities in the Robing Chamber, entered the House, and took his seat near the throne.

Shortly afterwards the Speaker of the -House of Commons, very numerously attended by the members of that House, enter ed the house, and advanced to the bar; the Usher of the Black Rod being on his right, and the Sergeant at Arms on his left.

The SPEAKER then addressed his Royal Highness in a short speech, in which he took a review of the business of the Session; and, in conclusion, presented to his Royal Highness, a bill, entitled, "An Act for applying certain monies therein mentioned for the service of the year 1817; and for farther appropriating the supplies granted in this session of Parliament."

2 At the conclusion of this speech the Lord Chancellor received the bill, to which the Royal Assent was given.

His Royal Highness the Prince Regent then read his speech, of which the following is a copy:** ~

My Lords and Gentlemen, "I cannot close this Session of Parliament, without renewing my expressions of deep regret at the continuance of his Majesty's lamented: indisposition. The diligence with which you have applied yourselves to the consideration of the different objects which Irecommended to your attention at the commencement of the Session, demands my warmest acknowledgments; and I have no doubt, that the favourable change which is happily taking place in our internal situation, is to be mainly ascribed to the salutary measures which you have adopted for preserving the public tranquillity, and to your ready adherence to those principles by which the constitution, resources, and credit of the country have been hitherto preserved and maintained Notwithstanding the arts and -industry which have been too successfully exerted in some parts of the country to alienate the affections of his Majesty's subvjects, and to stimulate them to acts of violences and insurrection, I have had the satisfaction of receiving the most decisive proofs of the loyalty and public spirit of the great body of the people; and the patience with which they have sustained the most severe temporary distress, cannot be too highly commended. I am fully sensible of the confidence which you have manifested towards me, by the extraordinary powers which you have placed in my hands: the necessity which has called for them, is to me matter of deep regret and you may rely on my making a temperate but effectvual use of them, for the protection and security of his Majesty's loyal subjects.

Gentlemen of the Hour of Commons, 1104 I thank you for the supplies which you have granted to me and for the laborious investigation which, at my recommendation, you have made into the state of the income

and expenditure of the country. It has given me sincere pleasure, to find that you have been enabled to provide for every branch of the public service without any addition to the burdens of the people. The state of public credit affords a decisive proof of the wisdom and expediency, under all the present circumstances, of those financial arrangements which you have adopted. I have every reason to believe, that the deficiency in the revenue is, in a degree, to be ascribed to the unfavourable state of the last season, and I look forward with sanguine expectations to its gradual improvement.

66

My Lords and Gentlemen,

"The measures which were in progress at the commencement of the Session, for the issue of a new Silver Coinage, have been carried into execution in a manner which has given universal satisfaction; and, to complete the system which has been sanctioned by Parliament, a Gold Coinage of a new denomination has been provided for the convenience of the public-I continue to receive from foreign Powers the strongest assurances of their friendly disposition towards this country, and of their desire to preserve the general tranquillity. The prospect of an abundant harvest throughout a considerable part of the Continent, is in the highest degree satisfactory. This happy dispensation of Providence cannot fail to mitigate, if not wholly to remove, that pressure under which so many of the nations of Europe have been suffering in the course of last year; and I trust that we may look forward, in consequence, to an improvement in the commercial relations of this and of all other countries. I cannot allow you to separate without recommending to you, that upon your return to your several counties, you should use your utmost endeavours to defeat all attempts to corrupt and mislead the lower classes of the community; and that you should lose no opportunity of inculcating amongst them that spirit of concord and obedience to the laws, which is not less essential to their happiness as individuals, than it is indispensable to the general welfare and prosperity of the kingdom."

The Lord Chancellor then read the commission for proroguing the Parliament till the 25th of August next.

His Royal Highness now withdrew, and the Commons retired from the bar.

1

HOUSE OF COMMONS.
ELECTION OF A SPEAKER.

Monday, June 2-By four o'clock the
House was crowded to excess.

Lord CASTLEREAGH then rose, and delivered the following Message from the Prince Regent 40 570 yudub 5.7

"I have it in coinmand from his Royal Highness the Prince Regent to acquaint the House, that your late Speaker having communicated to his Royal Highness his ina

After some observations from Mr Addington and Sir Francis Burdett, Mr CANNING moved an amendment to the noble Lord's motion, “That a return should be made of the numbers, ages, times, and places of confinement of persons committed under warrants from the Secretary of State."

The House divided; for the amendment 104 to 53.

June 12-Lord A. HAMILTON obtain ed leave to bring in a Bill to repeal so much of the 43d of the King as relates to the tax on houses in Scotland not having more than four windows, paying a rent not exceeding £3 annually.

The Miscellaneous Services, on the motion of Mr ARBUTHNOT, were referred to a Committee of Supply; when £10,000 was voted for the college of Edinburgh.

Monday, June 16.-The House resolved itself into a Committee of Supply, when it was moved, that the sum of £1,400,000 should be granted to his Majesty for the miscellaneous services of the army.

SPIES AND INFORMERS.

Mr BENNET immediately rose, and wished to ask the Noble Lord (Castlereagh) whether Mr Reynolds, of infamous memory, was appointed consul-general to Malta? (Hear, hear, hear!)

Lord CASTLEREAGH did not know why that question was put to him in these terms. He believed that several juries had given credit to Mr Reynolds' testimony, and he did not understand why the Hon. Member should attach infamy to Mr Reynolds' character, unless it rendered a man infamous to be instrumental in the discovery of treasonable practices.

After a good deal more of angry discussion, the subject was dropped. The resolutions were then agreed to, the House resumed, and the report was ordered to be received to-morrow.

June 17-In a Committee of Supply, the House voted £300,000 for expenses not included in the civil list; £300,000 for army extraordinaries; £300,000 for the army in Ireland; and £25,000 for the Inverness canal.

June 19. Sir EGERTON BRYDGES moved for leave to bring in a bill to alter the law of Anne, which gave universities 2 right to eleven copies of all books gratis: his object was to make the universities pay half price for such books.-The motion was lost by one only-58 to 57.

REPORT OF THE SELECT COMMITTEE.

June 20.-On the motion of Mr BRAGGE BATHURST, the report was ordered to be read. It was in substance similar to the report of the Lords' Committee; and concluded by recommending the same powers to be confided to Government for the further and final suppression of the mischief that may be otherwise apprehended. The reading being finished, Mr Bragge Bathurst moved that the report do lie on the table. The report was ordered to lie on the table. VOL. I.

THE BUDGET.

The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER moved that the order of the day be read for going into a Committee on the State of the Finances; and the House resolved itself into a Committee of Ways and Means. The whole of the supplies wanted for the year were stated at £22,137,808, and the total of the ways and means practicable by the ordinary modes of finance amounted only to £9,541,537. There therefore remained a deficit of £12,600,000, to be raised by Exchequer bills. By the method proposed, the Right Hon. Gentleman ob served, that the public would be subjected to no new charge whatever; and he concluded by moving a resolution for the issue of Exchequer bills. After some debate, the resolutions were read; and the House having resumed, the report was ordered to be received on Tuesday.

Monday, June 23.-Lord CASTLEREAGH moved the first reading of the bill for sus¬ pending the Habeas Corpus Act.

This gave rise to a debate of great length. When at last the House divided, there appeared, for the question 276; against it 111; majority 165.

June 24-Lord CASTLEREAGH moved the second reading of the Habeas Corpus Suspension Bill.

After a short debate, the House divided: for the second reading 80; against it 30; majority 50.

On the motion of Mr BENNET, a bill to prohibit the sweeping of chimnies by means of climbing-boys was read a first time.

Sir FRANCIS BURDETT presented a petition from Mr Wooler, the proprietor of the Black Dwarf, complaining of the mode in which the verdict of the Jury in his case had been taken by Mr Justice Abbot, and of oppression on the part of the AttorneyGeneral, in not having granted him, previous to his trial, a copy of the informations, and in hurrying on the trial of the second information while he was wearied from his defence on the first.

The ATTORNEY-GENERAL denied the allegations as far as he was personally concerned, and contended, that the petitioner had been treated with the greatest leniency, in granting him a new trial. He also stated, that he had offered Mr Wooler his discharge on his own recognizance.-After a desultory discussion, the petition was laid on the table.

SUSPENSION OF THE HABEAS CORPUS
ACT.

Lord CASTLEREAGH moved that the House resolve itself into a Committee on the Suspension Bill.

MrGURNEY voted for the first Suspension, but objected to a renewal of the measure.

Sir JOHN NEWPORT moved, that as the bill was to continue till the next Session of Parliament, its duration should be fixed and limited to the first of December next. On this the Committee divided: for the

4 P

BRITISH CHRONICLE.

also an arch, upon which both were found ed. Through the opening thus nade, the prisoners dropped into the cellar where the fire engines are kept, the lock on the door of which they wrenched off, and so got ta the street. This is the third time within a twelvemonth this prison has been broken

Extraordinary circumstance—At thres Stafford Assizes, on the 26th instant, twP?

soldiers, named Hall and Morrison, were convicted of robbery, and ordered for execution. They were prosecuted by a man named Read, a bricklayer's labourer, who swore that they knocked him down, and robbed him in the church-yard of Wolverhampton, on the 23d of July; and the evidence of the woman in whose house they resided, went to prove they did not sleep at home that night. There was no other evi dence. It appeared, however, subsequently to the conviction, that the soldiers did take 1s. 1d. which fell from the prosecutor's pocket while he was wrestling with Hall for amusement, but they had no intention of felony; and that Read had no idea of indicting them, until he was instigated by a man of the name of Roberts, the keeper of the house of correction at Wolverhampton, with the view of gaining the reward called "Blood Money." which was accordingly pocketted by Read and the keeper of the prison, to the amount of £80. This case having been fully established, and laid before Lord Sidmouth, by the Rev. Mr Guard, a highly respectable clergyman, his Lordship granted a respite. The men, who bear good characters, have since been liberated.

29.-Swindling. This day a fellow contrived to carry off a considerable sum from the Glasgow Bank, by using the name of Adamson and Logan, manufacturers there; whose proceeds of bills discounted he auda ciously called for, and received from one of the tellers. The amount was £1314; but this being a larger sum than the swindler wanted, or was able to utter, he next day returned £900 înclosed in a letter, in which he promised to repay the remainder on his arrival in America.

AUGUST.

Marines. By a recent order from the Admiralty, there is now fitting at Plymouth dock-yard, a machine, in all respects similar to a part of the gun-deck of a man of war, having quarters for three pieces of ordnance, and which, when completed, is intended to be placed in the rear of the Marine Barracks, for the purpose of exercising the whole division of marines at that port in the necessary manoeuvres of great guns for sea-service; and, as the different parties are deemed sufficiently skilled in this exercise, they are to fire with shot, at a mark, from the battery at Devil's Point. Lieutenant Woolridge, of the royal marine artillery, is appointed to this particular service.

The Navy. An important document has just been published, in the shape of proposals and regulations relative to the navy made by the Board of Admiralty, and sanctioned by an order of Council. After elucidating the accidental causes which have introduced the existing anomaly of rating ships at a certain number of guns, while their real complement exceeded that nominal amount, the Board make the following observation We trust we shall be excus

ed for observing to your Royal Highness, that it is wholly unworthy the character of the royal navy of this kingdom to maintain this system, which, though introduced without any design of deception, yet may give occasion to foreign nations to accuse us of misrepresentation, when we state that a British frigate of 38 guns has taken a foreign frigate of 44, when, in fact, the British frigate was of equal, if not superior force." It is then stated, that the American ship President had 55 guns mounted on the day of her capture, though she was rated at only 44. In the British navy this practice will no longer continue, for it is now ordered, that the rule which prevailed prior to 1793 shall be revived, and in future all his Ma jesty's ships will be rated at the number of guns and carronades which they actually carry on their decks, quarter-decks, and forecastles.

2.-A New Frigate.-A fine new frigate of 46 guns, named the Arethusa, was launched on the 29th ult. from the new dock-yard, Pembroke. Her dimensions and tonnage

are as under :

Feet. In.
Length of keel for tonnage, 126 1
Breadth,.....40 1

Tonnage,

This vessel is a sister ship to the Thetis frigate, launched from the same yard in Febru. ary last.

University of Edinburgh.-This University yesterday conferred the degree of Doctor of Medicine on ninety-two Students, after their usual trials, viz. thirty-seven of Scotland, thirty-two from Ireland, eighteen from England, three from Jamaica, one from Barba does, and one from Hamburgh.

4-Water Spout.-On Friday the 1st current, between three and four o'clock in the afternoon, Cupar-Fife was visited by a thunder storm of about an hour's continu

ance.

It was attended by the singular phenomenon of a water-spout, which discharged itself on Tarvit Hill, over the north side of which it descended in a torrent on the adjacent fields; and these, to a considerable extent, were entirely flooded. The violence of the torrent was such, that large stones were rolled along; deep trenches were formed; and from the ground over which it passed, every trace of vegetation has fled.

Melancholy Event.-On Saturday night, amost deplorable accident happened at Irvine. The brig Anna had just completed her cargo for Halifax, when the master went on shore to bid farewell to his friends, and convey to the ship two of the last passengers. In going out of the harbour, it was found difficult to row the boat; and recourse was had to a sail. The night was breezy, and the boat wanted ballast, and it is supposed that it was overset in tacking. No one, either on shore or in the brig, observed the catastrophe; and it was far in the forenoon of Sunday before it was known. There were on board, beside Captain Miller, two scamen,"