able offers were then made to them, which they accepted, and tranquillity was restored. Not a life was lost on the occasion, and a few of the ringleaders only were apprehended, to abide the sentence of the law.

The sister island, which seems fated never long to enjoy a state of internal quiet, was in this year the scene of disturbances, which in various parts seriously outraged the public peace, and were not effectually suppressed by all the exertions of authority. It is observable that in the many years of disturbances -in Ireland, the particular subjects of grievance, and views of the malcontents, have been perpetually varying; so that it would seem, that from some unfortunate cause, a spirit of resistance to the established order of things is constantly in existence in the mass of people, ready to be called into operation on any occasion by which the passions are temporarily excited. In the present year the great object of popular attack has been the tythe system, always, indeed, a topic of complaint, and likely so to continue while tythes are exacted with rigour from the lowest classes, for the support of a religious establishment of which they are not members. The purpose of the insurgents was distinctly announced in a proclamation posted by them on the bridge of Clonmel, command ing the Irish people to lay aside all their trifling feuds of Caravats and Shanavests, and to adhere to the great point of cutting down the tythe proctors, and those who gain by tythes. The principal seat of the disturbances has been the counties to the south and south-west of Dublin, as those of Tipperary, Limerick, Waterford, and Kilkenny, in which violences have been exercised that have rendered military aid and extraordinary magisterial powers necessary for their suppression. Many legislative measures were adopted for strengthening the hands of government. Of these the principal was the renewal of the insurrection act, which gave authority to the justices of peace in any county, assembled at an extraordinary session, to signify to the lord lieutenant the disturbed state of that county, who thereupon was to issue his proclamation, by which the same was publicly declared. This was done on September 25th with respect to the great

est part of the county of Tipperary, at the requisition of forty justices of peace. Shortly after, a meeting of forty-nine of the magistrates of Limerick unanimously agreed to make a similar application to the lord lieutenant with respect to that city and county. Various corps of troops were concentrated in this quarter of the island, of which Limerick was the principal station. In King's county the rioters assembled in force, under the denomination of Carders, and perpetrated various outrages, which the magistrates found themselves unable to suppress by the civil power. They therefore, in a meeting held on October 8th, at Clara, resolved to apply to the lord lieutenant for military aid. In this instance, as in most of the other acts of violence, the acquisition of fire-arms appeared to be the great object of the insurgents; a circumstance denoting plans of serious resistance to the government The murder of a very respectable magistrate near Cashel, in November, occasioned a peculiar alarm in that part of the country; and it is to be lamented that notwithstanding the unanimous exertions of the gentry and magistrates, and the ready assistance afforded by the Irish government, much remained to be done at the close of the year for the restoration of a state of public peace and security.

The cause of catholic emancipation had been so much injured by differences among the catholics themselves, that the efforts of its friends in parliament were in this year faint and unpromising; and it does not appear that the subject was agitated with zeal in Ireland, unless it were in the assemblies of the party at Dublin. An aggregate meeting of the catholics was held on January 14, when lord Fingall being called to the chair, declined taking it, alleging, that faith had been broken with him respecting the veto; and he quitted the room in the midst of tokens of disapprobation from the rest of the company. Mr. O'Connor being then unaninously nominated to fill it, resolutions for unqualified emancipation were moved and carried by general acclamation. The renewal of a petition to parliament was agreed upon; but it will be seen in the narrative of the parliamentary debates, that the former leaders of the question in both houses refused taking

upon them that office, though they still declared themselves friends to the fundamental principle.

At a meeting of the Irish catholic association at Dublin, in December, the copy of a letter was read, addressed to the right rev. Dr. Poynter, by cardinal Litta, on the part of the pope, and dated in April from Genoa, whither the papal court had then retired, in which the opinion of his holiness was given, concerning the three principal points at issue between the catholics of Great Britain and Ireland and the government; namely, the oath of allegiance required; the mode of appointing bishops to vacant sees; and the revision of rescripts, &c. from Rome. With respect to the first, the pope grants permission to take one of three forms of oath annexed, each of which solemnly engages the juror to obedience and fidelity to the king, to the disclosure of any plot against the government, and to abstaining from any attempt to disturb the public tranquillity. As to the second, his holiness, besides an earnest exhortation to all who have been accustomed to nominate bishops, that they should be extremely careful to admit none into the number of candidates who are not of approved fidelity to the king, does not hesitate to permit that the list of candidates be exhibited to the king's ministers, that if any of them be disliked or suspected, they may be expunged, provided a sufficient number be left for the pope to choose from. With regard to the point of revising, sanctioning, or rejecting rescripts from Rome, it is affirmed to be inadmissible, even as a matter of discussion; for although that power has been claimed and exercised by some catholic sovereigns," it is an abuse which the holy see, to prevent greater evils, is forced to endure, but can by no means sanction." Some explanations and assurances are however given in another form, which, it is hoped, will be deemed satisfactory by the British govern

ment.

In the result it appeared that even the pope's allowance of a kind of veto respecting the nomination of bishops, could not reconcile the Irish catholics to that measure. An address to the Prince Regent was drawn up by the catholic prelates of Ireland, and trans

mitted through the medium of the lord lieutenant, in which, after their congratulations on the success of his majesty's arms, and their grateful acknowledgments for the relaxation of the penal laws against those of their communion in the present reign, which they hope will terminate in a total emancipation, they express their surprise and alarm, that under the pretence of securing the loyalty of their body, an intention has been manifested of compelling them, in direct opposition to the dictates of their consciences, on the event of catholic emancipation, to submit to the interference of persons of a different religious persuasion in the appointment of the principal ministers of their church. Such a measure, they affirm, would only substitute for one mode of servitude another still more galling and oppressive. This address was received by his royal highness in September. What will be the event of this and the intended applications to the other branches of the legislature, can only be known at the ensuing session of parliament. In the meantime, the court of Rome appears to be in considerable embarrassment on the subject; and the pope has declined giving an answer to the Irish catholics, till it shall be known whether parliament designs completely to emancipate the catholies in the next session. He has however observed, that the letter from Genoa was conditional, and by no means compulsory; whence it is much to be doubted whether he will think it expedient finally to sanction the veto.

The victory at Waterloo, as the most glorious in modern times to the British arms, was welcomed by every expression of national congratulation; and private mourning for the numerous losses in the field was scarcely noticed in the general triumph. A call was made by the Prince Regent upon the characteristic bounty of the nation, under the claims of humanity, by directing collections to be made in every parish for the benefit of the wounded soldiers, and the widows and orphans of the slain, which proved to be amply productive. Yet the still unsettled condition of Europe, and the financial embarrassments which pressed upon many of its states, in consequence of past disasters, impeded the return of the British commerce

to its usual channels, and promoted a spirit of vague speculation, which, after the Ameriean market was fully stocked, occasioned numerous failures; so that much distress was undergone in the latter part of the year by the trading portion of the community. This source of private calamity was unfortunately coincident with an extraordinary decline in agricultural prosperity, immediately proceeding from the greatly reduced price of corn and other products, which bore no adequate proportion to the exorbitant rents and other heavy burdens pressing upon the far

mer. It may be added, that seldom has there been a more general depression of spirits in any class of people, than was apparent about the close of the year 1815 among that most useful part of the community; and that the number of farms thrown up in consequence of the insolvency and despair of the occupiers was truly lamentable. There is no doubt that the evil will in time remedy itself; and, it may be hoped, without depriving the nation at large of the benefits of plenty, but rather by lightening the pressure upon the cultivators of the land.

FEW events in the civil history of French affairs have excited an interest more deep and universal than the escape of Lavalette, the postmaster-general, from the prison of the Conciergerie, aided as he was by three Englishmen of undoubted talent, honour, and patriotism. The circumstances of Lavalette's previous trial are comparatively unimportant, except as they exhibit on what trivial grounds he was deprived of his liberty, and sentenced to an ignominious death.

On evidence fallacious in itself, and substantiated chiefly by retainers of the government, Lavalette was capitally convicted of the crime of high treason, by a decree of the court of assize for the department of the Seine, before which he was tried. Against this decree he appealed, on the ground of various informalities; but this appeal being rejected by the court, the sentence pronounced upon him was to be carried into effect on the 21st of December 1815.

The strictest orders had been given by the police that the condemned man should be guarded in the prison wherein he was confined, called the Conciergerie, with all the usual precautions; and after the rejection of the appeal, the prefect of police had ordered

Jean Baptiste de Kerguisec, the registering keeper of the prison, to redouble his vigilance; adding, that if any one should ask to communicate with Lavalette, and should even bring an order for that purpose, signed with his (the prefect's) hand, still the keeper should pay no attention to it, as no person was to see the prisoner without the order of the attorney-general.

Lavalette, being informed by the keeper of these new orders, immediately wrote to the attorney-general, begging that he might be permitted to see his wife, and a few other persons, whose names he mentioned. The attorney-general felt unwilling to refuse this request; but, in giving his assent, he particularly directed that the persons indicated should only see Lavalette in succession-one after the other.

Nevertheless, on the 20th of December, the eve of the day fixed for carrying the sentence into effect, about half-past three in the afternoon, Lavalette's wife and daughter, accompanied by the widow Dutoit, who is seventy years old, and attached to the service of mademoiselle Lavalette, were introduced at the same time by the gaoler, Roquette, into Lavalette's chamber, though the name

of neither mademoiselle Lavalette, nor that of the widow Dutoit, was inserted in the list approved by the attorney-general.

Madame Lavalette was carried to the Con ciergerie in a chair, borne by one Guorin, called Marengo, her ordinary chairman, and by one Brigaut, a man selected for that day's service by Guerin, in the room of one Laporte, who usually performed this service with him, but who happened at this time to be ill. The chairmen generally had conveyed madame Lavalette into the court-yard of the Conciergerie, but, on the 20th of December she got out in the court-yard of the palace, and walked on foot towards the grate of the Conciergerie; Benoit Bonneville, her valet, having told the chairman to stop, and that madame found herself sufficiently strong to walk the rest of the way. They accordingly turned the chair towards the palace of justice: but out of it was taken a cushion, covered with green taffety, and a pretty large package of an irregular form, which seemed to contain bottles of wine. This package, as well as the cushion, and a work-bag which madame Lavalette carried, were received into the prison, and taken into Lavalette's chamber, without undergoing the previous examination which the regulations of the police respecting prisons always require in similar cases.

Madame Lavalette, on arriving at the Conciergerie, was clothed in a furred ridingcoat of red Merino, and had upon her head a black hat, with various coloured feathers.She entered her husband's apartment with her daughter and the widow Dutoit. The valet-de-chambre, Benoit, remained in the first apartment called the avant-greffe. He was seen near the fire-place during more than two hours. The chairmen had been received into the corps de garde of gendarmerie.

At five o'clock, Jacques Eberle, one of the wicket-keepers of the Conciergerie, who had been specially appointed by the keeper of the prison to the guard and service of Lavalette, took his dinner to him, of which madame and mademoiselle Lavalette, and the widow Dutoit, partook.

After dinner, which lasted an hour, Eberle served up coffee, which he fetched from the

coffee-house of the palace, and left Lavalette's apartment with orders not to return till he was rung for. Roquette, the son, maintains, on the contrary, that, on quitting the chamber of Lavalette, he said that he had received orders not to wait till he was summoned into the apartment.

However, Benoit, who was in the secret of what was intended, and who saw the hour of execution approach, had left the avantgreffe to assure himself of the chairmen. He found them at the corps de garde, and invited them to come and drink with him. Guerin immediately acceded, but Brigaut would not stir. 'Come along, comrade,' said Benoit to him; you need not take too much.'Brigaut suffers himself to be persuaded. Benoit, by way of trying them, says, Comrade, there are five and twenty Louis to be gained: you will be a little heavily loaded, and it will be necessary to go a little quick; but you have only ten steps to make.' 'It is monsieur Lavalette himself, then, that we are going to take?' replies Brigaut. You have nothing to do with that: only do what you are asked.' Brigaut rejects the proposition, which Benoit urges, and repeats to him several times, You are but half a man.'Guerin, the other chairman, joined his intreaties, and said to Brigaut, What does it signify to you, since monsieur assures you that there is nothing to fear?' Brigaut wished to know exactly whom he had to carry. Benoit and Guerin constantly repeat that it was indifferent to him, since he had nothing to fear, and that one ought to make a little money when one could. At length Bigaut, being hard pressed, and beginning to think of what advantage it would be to him and his family to yield, threw down the chairstaff, which Guerin had put into his hand, and, without entering the wine-shop, ran home as fast as he could to tell his wife what had happened.

Guerin, without losing a moment, cast his eyes upon a coalheaver, who happened to be drinking with two of his comrades at the same place. He proposed to him to take the staff of the chair. Benoit seconded him, and off they immediately went. It was now seven o'clock. Being arrived at the court of the palace, at the foot of the staircase which