ing the professors with houses in the college is entirely abandoned. A burglary, attended with circumstances of peculiar atrocity, occurred at Gretna-hall, near Springfield, the residence of P. Gibbs, &c. The following are the particulars :-About one o'clock in the morning, the servant man, hearing a noise in an apartment adjoining that in which he lay resembling the crackling of fire, proceeded to the spot, when he found this room and three others in flames. The family was immediately alarmed, and it was presently discovered, notwithstanding the confusion of the scene, that 63 guineas had been taken from a desk. This circumstance, coupled with the fact of a ladder having been left against the window of one of the blazing rooms, left no room for doubting that the robbery had been effected by some villains well acquainted with the premises, and who, after effecting the robbery, had set fire to the mansion in different parts, for the purpose of escaping detection. The Rev. Mr. Morgan, minister of the parish, with laudable alacrity, alarmed the neighbourhood, by ordering the church bell to be rung. Though great numbers had by this time assembled to render assistance, the flames continued to rage furiously until about five o'clock, when they were at length subdued, after very considerable damage had been sustained to the building, and a quantity of furniture and some very valuable pictures consumed. A precognition is now going on. Dumfries Weekly Journal.

21. Waterford.-Some time before five o'clock on Wednesday

morning, Thomas Cosker, farmer of Cullenstown, between Ross and Tagmon, in the county of Wexford, left home with a load of corn for Ross. His only servant, James Kavanagh, went a short way with him, and then returned. It appears, that immediately upon his return, he dreadfully beat his master's wife, who lay in bed, and left her for dead; a very small infant, who lay with her, was killed, as is supposed, by the first blow. He had previously locked up three other children, and terrified them with horrible threats and imprecations. The monster finished by robbing the house of about sixty pounds in bank-notes and cash. The villainy was not discovered until far in the morning, when some of the neighbouring women chanced to call. The little prisoners were released, and from them alone could any account be gathered of these complicated horrors. The poor woman could barely be said to be alive, but was utterly speechless, and quite incapable of communication. Late on Wednesday evening she still lived, but afforded no expectation of recovery. After the horrid deed Kavanagh absconded.

24. It appears by letters recently received from our ships of war in the West Indies, that a fever has prevailed on board some of them, peculiarly fatal in its nature to those attacked by it. Among other vessels the Scamander, it is said, has lost six officers, including the surgeon, four midshipmen, and two clerks. The Childers, in the short period of a month, has been deprived of several officers by the same unfortunate cause, besides five pur

sers

sers successively appointed to her, and upwards of 30 men.

28. Calamity at Chirk, in Wales. -[Extract of a letter.]" It is not without strong feelings of regret, that I communicate an account of the destruction of the extensive collieries at Chirk, in Denbighshire. On Saturday evening, the 28th ult. owing, as it is supposed, to inattention in the servants of the Ellesmere Canal Company, the stop-gates, plugs, &c. for regulating the quantity of water on that part of the canal which is embanked up to Chirk aqueduct, were neglected: the fatal consequence was, that the embankment being overpowered by the great weight of superfluous water, gave way, and falling down a precipice, completely dammed up the river Ceriog, which flows below it, and over which the canal is continued by an aqueduct. The water being thus impeded, quickly found its way in another direction, and in half an hour every pit belonging to the colliery was filled with water, earth, gravel, &c. The machinery was torn in pieces by the tremendous force of the current, and very considerable damage done to the surrounding country. Had it not been for the judicious and timely interference of Mr. Ed. Davies, engineer to the Chirk colliery, in stopping the wickets or stop-gates of the canal, the whole of its water, increased by the overflowing of the Dee river, which is received by a feeder into the canal, must have swept away Chirk mills, and every thing in the valley, into one general destruction. Most providentially this was the only night in which, for several years

past, the workmen were absent from the pits! They had been allowed a little time to collect Christmas bounties, &c. and thus this dreadful calamity is not aggravated by the loss of so many valuable lives as must have been otherwise inevitably sacrificed. All the horses employed in the works were instantly drowned. The immediate loss to the proprietors of the works is immense, and the destruction of so valuable a colliery, which has for a long series of years produced fuel for the country and employment for its poor, is, as a public calamity, irretrievable."

29. An Inquest was held at Bolsover, Derbyshire, before George Gosling, gent. Coroner for the Hundred of Scarsdale, on the body of Sarah Wild the elder, who feloniously poisoned herself, and William Wild, George Wild, and Sarah Wild, three of her infant children.

Thomas Whitehead, of Bolsover aforesaid, being examined upon oath, stated, that about the latter end of November last, the deceased, Sarah Wild the elder, came to his shop, and asked to purchase two-penny worth of corrosive sublimate, and he sold to her a quarter of an ounce; and after he had delivered the same to her, the deceased then went into his house and held a conversation with him and his wife, and stayed for at least an hour, and then went away. Witness said that the deceased came again in about a week after, and purchased from him another quarter of an ounce of the same sublimate, which he sold to her. Witness said, that at the time he sold the deceased the aforesaid sublimate, and fron

the

that instant the floor gave way, and she was precipitated into the burning gulph beneath. Milend then withdrew, and in a few seconds the house was level with the ground. The flames rapidly increased, and communicated with the adjoining houses, nine of which, including the Ship public house, were consumed. Very little of the property was saved. The Sun fire-engine was first on the ground, and was soon succeeded by others, which prevented the devouring element from extending its ravages further. No other life was lost, or personal injury sustained, except the melancholy catastrophe which befel Mrs. Cock. The next day, on digging in the ruins of the house, a part of the poor old creature's bones were discovered almost calcined to a powder. Search was made during the week for the remainder, but in vain. On Friday evening a Coroner's Jury sat on her ashes, and, after hearing evidence, none of which threw any light on the origin of the fire, returned a verdict of-Accidental Death. Most of the houses were insured.

31. The detailed accounts of the expedition to explore the river Congo, or Zaire, have reached the Admiralty. Melancholy as the result has been, from the great mortality of the officers and men, owing to excessive fatigue, rather than to the effects of climate, the journals of Captain Tuckey and the gentlemen in the scientific departments are, it is said, highly interesting and satisfactory, as far as they go; and probably they extend considerably beyond the first Rapids or Cataract. It would seem, indeed, from the

extract of a letter from the Surgeon of the Congo, inserted below, that the mortality was entirely owing to the land journey beyond these rapids, and that Captain Tuckey died of complete exhaustion, after leaving the river, and not from fever. The climate, we understand, was remarkably fine; scarcely a shower of rain, or any humidity in, the atmosphere, and the sun, seldom shining out but for a few hours in the middle of the day; Fahrenheit's thermometer seldom exceeding 76 degrees by day, and never descending below 60 degrees at night--such a climate, in fact, as one would wish to live in but an anxious zeal and overeagerness to accomplish the objects of the expedition, and to acquire all the information that could possibly be obtained, seem to have actuated every one, from the lamented Commander to the common seaman and private marine, and led them to attempt more than the human constitution was able to bear. The total number of deaths amounts to 18, of which 14 were on the land expedition. They consist of

:

Capt. Tuckey, Commander of the Expedition; Lieut. Hawkey, Lieutenant of the Congo; Mr. Professor Smith, Botanist; Mr. Tudor, Comparative Anatomist; Mr. Cranch, Collector of objects of Natural History; Mr. Galwey, a friend of Captain Tuckey, who volunteered from pure love of Science; Mr. Eyre, the Purser.

The names of the remainder have not been returned.

The Dorothy transport that accompanied the Congo into the river lost but one man, and he fell overboard and was drowned.

Extract

Extract of a Letter from Mr. Mackerrow, Surgeon of the Congo. -"Of the eighteen who died in the river, fourteen had been on shore, marching for some time, and were far advanced before reaching the ship.

"Professor Smith, who saw many of them when taken ill, gave to some a dose of calomel, but to others nothing had been administered.

"The fever appeared in some degree contagious, as all the attendants upon the sick were attacked, and before we left the river it pervaded nearly the whole crew, also some of the transports: but as for myself, although constantly among them, I did not feel the slightest indisposition until we left the coast, when I was attacked; however, I considered mental anxiety and disturbed rest as the sole causes.

"Captain Tuckey had been afflicted many years with chronic hepatitis; and on returning from travelling, five weeks on shore, he was so excessively reduced, that all attempts to restore the energy of his system proved ineffectual.

"Mr. Tudor was in the last stage of fever before I saw him, as were Messrs. Cranch and Galwey.

"Professor Smith died in two days after he came under my care, during which time he refused every thing, whether as nutriment or medicine.

"Lieut. Hawkey was taken ill after leaving the river, and died on the fourth day; his case was rather singular; symptoms were irritability of stomach, with extreme languor and debility, but he had neither pain nor fever.

and on the third day breathed his last: before death a yellow suffusion had taken place, with vomiting of matter like coffee ground."

By official documents received from Ceylon, it appears that the planters of that island, Dutch and others, have adopted, at the suggestion of the Chief Justice, Sir Alex. Johnston, some judicious regulations for the gradual abolition of slavery. All children born of slaves after the 12th of August last are to be considered free, but to remain in their master's house, and serve him for their board, lodging, and clothing, the males till the age of 14, and the females till that of 12, after which they are to be wholly emancipated.

During the greatest part of this month, the magistracy and police of the metropolis were principally occupied with examinations respecting the persons concerned in the late riots, several of whom were committed to custody. The public interest was particularly drawn to those persons who had harangued the populace from the waggon, of whom the elder Watson was apprchended at Highgate after attempting to stab with a dirk the men who took him. His son absconded; and the papers were long filled with reports from every quarter of the island, and even from the continent, of his supposed discovery, and with accounts of the examination of persons brought up on a mistaken supposition of their being the object sought for. The uncommon anxiety for his apprehension was occasioned by the strong suspicion of his being the assassin of Mr. Platt. No tidings were obtained of him to the close of the year.

BIRTHS,