Desertion of Swiss Soldiers from the French Armies.-Zurich, Oct. 3. His excellency the landaman of Switzerland, has sent a circular letter to the governors of districts, in which he informs them that, the French ambassador has shewn him the necessity of paying attention to the great desertion, which prevails in the new Swiss regiments, in the service of France; which circumstance has come to the knowledge of his Majesty the Emperor and King. The landaman invites the Governors to use every exertion to arrest those perverse and evil-intentioned men, whose conduct is a stain on the fair character of the Swiss nation. Demolitions and Embellishments.-During the month of September, labourers have been busily employed in filling the old ditches of Basil, in demolishing the old towers, and in embellishing the public squares and meet places. OBSERVANDA INTERNA. Proclamation for a General Fast.-The Gazette of the 9th Jan. contains proclamations, by the King, for a general fasting and humiliation, to be observed throughout England on Wednesday, February 17, and throughout Scotland on Thursday the 18th, "that so both we and our people may humble ourselves before Almighty God, in order to obtain pardon of our sins, and in the most devout and solemn manner send up our prayers and supplications to the Divine Majesty, for averting those heavy judgments which our manifold provocations have most justly deserved, and for imploring his blessing and assistance on our arms, for the restoration of peace and prosperity to us and our domi nions." Bank of England Loan.-The Bank has come to the following resolutions, viz. to advance to government a loan of three millions, without interest, until six months after the conclusion of a definitive treaty of peace: -to present to government £300,000, from the balance of unclaimed dividends, and to diminish the charge for management of the public funds. The repayment of the three inillions is to be secured by Exchequer bills, made payable at the period above stated. The present annual charge of the bank for management, we understand, is £270,000 instead of which 200,000 only is to be allowed. This reduces the charge to about £300 for each million of debt, and at this rate it is to continue until the debt be under a certain sum, when it will be increased. In our last number (vide the present volume, p. 673) we gave such an insight into the present state of the bank, and the profits which it derived from the business it does for the nation, as may enable our readers to form a correct judgment on the propriety of the terms thus ratified by a general court. Ceremony of the Epiphany.-Jan. 6, being the Anniversary of the Epiphany, the same was observed as usual at the Chapel Royal, in St. James's Palace. His Majesty was represented by Lord Thynne, Vice-Chamberlain. His lordship attended divine service in his Majesty's closet, accompanied by two of his Majesty's gentlemen in waiting, the yeoman of the guards, and other officers of royalty, the same as if his Majesty were present. Af ter the gospel for the day, Lord John Thyune left the closet, with his attendants, and proceeded up the aisle of the chapel to the altar. The attendants then opened an oval gold box, and presented the contents to his lordship, which consisted of three crimson velvet bags, with gold ornaments, containing gold, frankincense, and myrrh: these his lordship laid in the gold dish presented by the sub-dean, and retired. New Coinage. The mint is now busily employed in coining silver tokens of five-pence, and ten-pence value, for the use of Ireland; to the amount of £250,000. When this is completed, a new coinage of half-guineas and seven-shilling-pieces, will take place, to the amount of £500,000. We understand, besides, that as soon as the new mint on Tower-hill is fit for the reception of workmen, Government has it in contemplation to call in all the silver coin of the country, and to issue a new coinage. on Pall-Mall lighted by Patent Gas-LightsWe amused ourselves lately while walking along Pall-Mall in an evening, by speculating on the effect of the lamps li hted by means of the coal gas. This experiment has long been announced by Mr. Winsor, and the distance to which it extended was, the south side of Pall-Mall, from the coalgas patent office, nearly opposite the first street leading to St. James's Square, to the corner of Pall Mall facing St. James's Street. Thirteen hollow lamp posts of iron erected at about 24 to 30 paces distant from each other, formed the line of communication. Each of these posts supported three glass globular lamps and in each globe three small jets of flame rose from as many apertures in a pipe that communicated with the hollow of the lamp post. This hollow also communicated with a supplying pipe laid under the pavement, which was itself fed by a branch from a furnace in the gas office. The principle is not absolutely unlike that by which the New-river water has long been conveyed to our houses in London. The appearance of these lights was pretty enough; and being combined into somewhat of a handsome form, they cousiderably exceeded the ordinary lamps in point of effect. As to the comparative expence between these lamps lighted with gas, and the others lighted with oil, as Mr. Winsor has not disclosed his expences, nothing can be determined on that question. of truth, by preaching and publishing the sermon which he delivered on the 8th of Ju ly, 1805."-Mr. Stone has returned his thanks to the latter body for the honour they have done him; and praises the Unitarian Fund Society for devoting a portion of their income to the support of preachers on the Socinian plan. Anti-Unitarians.-Mr. Walker has pub lished his farewell sermon, occasioned by his being ejected from the Unitarian dissenting chapel in Preston, for his decided attachment to evangelical sentiments. A considerable part of his congregation still adhere to him, and with the help of other friends are now erecting for him a neat commodious chapel. Visit of Louis XVIII. to Stowe.-On Tuesday Jan. 19, the Marquis and Marchioness of Buckingham conducted Louis XVIII. throughout Stowe Gardens; and on Wednes day the whole royal party accompanied the Marquis and Marchioness of Buckingham to a circular building in the park, north-east of the house, where it was proposed that some trees should be planted in commemoration of the royal visit. Accordingly, every thing be ing prepared for this purpose, four clumps, of eight oaks each, were planted, every individual of the House of Bourbon (the Comte de Beaujolais excepted) planting four each.. A Meeting of the Committee of the Norfolk Agricultural Society was lately held, according to advertisement, at the Maid's Head, at which the general routine of business was done, preparatory to the general meeting at Lynn. Amongst the premiums, we under stand one is proposed to be recommended to be given to that person who shall feed his horses in husbandry, between January 1808, and December 1808, upon the least food, or the cheapest plan. upon SCOTLAND. Discovery in digging the Caledonian Canal.-Some of the labourers on that part of the canal which cuts the side of the hill TorUnitarians. Rev. F. Stone.-The Com-ravian, near Inverness, and close to the old mittee for auditing the accounts of the clergy's fund, at Baddow, in Essex, have refused to receive a donation from Mr Stone; the resolution was to the following effect:-" Resolved, that the offer of £5. by Francis Stone, Rector of Cold Norton, towards the support of the fund for the benefit of the widows and orphans of the Essex clergy, as being the profits of two editions of his blasphemous and heretical Visitation Sermon, be rejected with disdain."-Mr. Stone has, however, met with some kindred-souls out of the church; for the Southern Unitarian Society, assembled at Horsham, in Sussex, in July last, voted thier thanks to their dear brother in the following words:"Resolved, that the thanks of this society be given to the Rev. Francis Stone, for the exertion he made in the cause road leading to Loch Ness, have dug up a sil- Scotch Clergy-A meeting of noblemen, freeholders, commissioners of supply, and heritors of the county of Ayr, convened in consequence of the notification made by the Earl of Eglinton, Lord Lieutenant of the county of Ayr, at the last county meeting, and in pursuance of advertisements published in the newspapers, by his lordship's order, was held at Ayr on the 29th last, for the purpose of taking under their consideration, the present existing circumstances with regard to the augmentation of stipend to the ministers of the church of Scotland. Mr Oswald, of Auchincruive, chosen Preses. The Earl of Eglinton, before entering upon his reasons for calling the present meeting, mentioned that he was authorised by Colonel Blair, of Blair, and Colonel Brisbane, of Brisbane, to state, that, as it was inconvenient for them to attend this day, they were willing to concur in any measure that might be adopted by the meeting; and Mr. Hamilton, of Pinmore, mentioned, that he was authorised by Mr. Reid, of Adamton, to state the same on his part. dred and ninety-five cases. In one hundred and six instances, during the same period, the court augmented the same livings a second time; in six instances a third augmentation was granted. By a subsequent investigation, it appears that during the year between the 12th of July 1806, and the 12th of July 1807, farther augmentations were granted in one hundred and thirty-two cases, of which ninety-four were benefices augmented posterior to 1790. In five of them it was the third auginentation, and in one of them it was the fourth, in a period of seventeen years. The amount of what has thus been granted, in augmentation of the stipends, as they stood in 1790, is as follows: From 1790 to 1806.-1805 to 1807. Money Stipend L.9473 18 4 606 16 5 Additional Commumon Element Money Oatmeal in the first period 14,713 Bolls, and in the second period 3493 Bolls, reckoned . Bear in the first period 10592 Bolls, and in in the first period 633 Bolls, and in the second 195, at 17s. per Boll Peas in the first period 27 Bolls and a half, at 17s. 4d. per Boll Total of the augmentations granted, without The Earl of Eglinton, in opening theats business of the day, took the opportunity of expressing the high respect which his lordship entertained for the clergy of the church of Scotland in general, who, in times of difficulty and danger, he had uniformly known to conduct themselves in a manner which added much to their merit; and he acknowledged that their meritorious conduct, on recent and trying occasions, was well known to him as lieutenant of the county; and his lordship begged that it might be understood, that in submitting to the consideration of the meeting the resolutions which he should have the honour to move this day, he was actuated by no motive derogatory to that opinion which he had all along maintained for that very respectable body. His lordship then, after briefly recapitulating his reasons for calling the present meeting, produced a printed copy of a paper, entitled, " A general View of the Proceedings of the court of Session, as Commissioners for Plantation of Kirks and valuation of Teinds, in augmenting and localling the Stipends of the Clergy, during the last seventeen years," whereof the tenor follows: Fractional parts of a boll, and also the frac- But as the Court, in various instances dur- Money taken off at 21s. 8d. 2-5ths The number of benefices, in the established church of Scotland, is nine hundred and thirtysix. The stipends of forty one of these are not payable out of the teinds or tithes, and consequently the Teind Court cannot augment Oats 12 C. 4 B. 1 F. them. The number of livings, derived wholly, or in part, from the teinds, are there. fore eight hundred and ninety-five. It appears, by a report made to the House of Lords, that in the period between the 11th of August 1790, and the 11th of July 1806, the court granted augmentations in six hun 1 P. 2 L. at 17s. 4d. £2245 19 104 Deduct 274 4 9 1306 7 5 77 10 2 I.. s. d. 10,170 149 2,328 7 5 167 3 31 8 7 6 -4079 13 2 The Remainder £44,620 10 5 This is a perpetual annual burden or charge imposed on the landed proprietors of Scotland, by the Teind Court, in the course of the last seventeen years, in addition to the old stipends (besides the augmentations in kind in Orkney and Zetland) a burden which must be constantly increasing, according to the principle adopted by the court, till the whole tithes of the kingdom are appropriated to the clergy. The addition made in the last year was no less than 66811. 12s. 8d. According to the report made to the House of Lords of the 695 cases in which augmentations were granted, between August 1790, and July 1806, the localities of three hundred and thirty-one had not been finally settled at the date of the report. According to the result of the last enquiry, one hundred and fifty-six fresh actions, for augmentation, were commenced between the 12th July, 1801, and the same day in the year 1807. Adding these to the 331, makes a total of 487, of which only 37 had been concluded at the day last mentioned. The number of depending actions of augmentation and locality at that day, was therefore four hundred and fifty, a number exceeding that of half the parishes in Scotland, where the living arises from the teinds; and of consequence, the title deeds of a great proportion of the landholders must necessarily be produced and detained for a long period in the Teind Office, with great inconvenience and imminent hazard of being lost or destroyed. While in the office those deeds are subject to the inspection of any person, and they may be taken out of the office by the agents of any one alleged to have an adverse interest in the parish, upon their receipts to the clerk. To advert to the vexation and expense accasioned by this state of never-ceasing liti gation, is foreign to the present purpose. His lordship then moved that the following resolutions be adopted by the meeting, viz. Resolved-1st," That from the institution of the present Court of Teinds, in the year 1707 to the year 1790, the Judges of that Court uniformly maintained, that when a competent stipend was modified to a minister, such stipend was to continue the constant stipend of the parish in all time coming, declaring that it was incompetent for the Court, in virtue of the Act of Parliament under which it was constituted, to re-augment such stipend and that it appears that the Clergy as well as the Laity of Scotland, conceived that this, the plain sense of the law, was confirmed, beyond the possibility of doubt, by the repeated judgments of the Court of Session, acting as Commissioners for the Plantation of Kirks, and the Valua tion of Teinds. Resolved-2d, "That since the year 1790, though there has been no alteration in the law, nor any direct decision of the Teind Court, declaratory of its extended powers, the judges of that court have acted as if their powers were unlimited. Betwixt that time and the 12th day of July 1806, 695 augmentations have been granted, by which a perpetual tax has been imposed on the landholders of at least 45,000l. a year; and betwixt the 12th of July 1806, and the 12th of July 1907, 156 new processes for angmentation have been raised. Resolved-3d, "That, in consequence of these grants of augmentation, there were, on the 12th of July 1807, depending in the Teind Court, 450 processes of locility, by which the landholders are not only subjected to the risk and inconvenience attending their landrights being lodged in Court, and conveyed from hand to hand, but involved in litigations, teasing and expensive beyond example. Resolved-4thly, That as the Teind Court has already, since theyear1790 granted second augmentations in two hundred cases, and hate actually, in several cases granted a third aug mentation, and in one case a fourth; there seems no prospect of any terinination to the hardships thus inflicted on the landed interest. On the contrary, if the Court continues to re-augment stipends, the grievance must 5000 become intolerable. It is therefore a matter of the most serious importance to the landed interest, that the question concerning the powers of the Court to grant repeated angmentations, should be tried and put to rest by solemn decisions of the competent tribunals. Resolved-5thly, "That, for this purpose, as well as for attending to any legislative measures that it may be necessary to resort to on the subject, the meeting appoint to be their agent (or agents) in Edinburgh, with power to meet and deliberate with the agents that may be appointed by the heritors of other counties in Scotland, and to pursue such general measures as shall seen best calculated for attaining the object in view, a proportion of the expense of which the meet ing will be ready to defray." Which resolutions being seconded by M. Smith, of Drougan, the same were unanimously approved of by the meeting, and they named and appointed John Anderson and George Russell, Esqre. W.S. as agents of the landholders of the county of Ayr, for follow ing up the measures pointed out in the foregoing resolutions, and with power to them to meet and deliberate with agents appointed for other counties in Scotland, to pursue such general measures as shall seem best calculated for attaining the object in view; and the meeting agree that the expenses attending the same shall be defrayed by an assessment upon the valued rent of the county. The meeting then named and appointed the Earl of Eglinton, the Earl of Cassilis; Mr. Boyle M.P. for the county; Mr. Hamilton, of Sundram; Mr. Boswell, of Auchinleck; Mr. Oswald of Auchincruive; Mr. Cathcart, of Greenfield; Mr. Oswald, of Changue, Mr. Ferguson, of Trochraigue; and Mr Campbell, of Helentonmains; as a committee, to correspond with Messrs. An derson and Russell, regarding the objects of these resolutions, and to instruct them in their proceedings, and recommended to them to attend to any legislative measures that may be resorted to upon the subject, and to report their proceedings from time to time, as they should think proper, and when they have any matter of importance to lay before the county, to desire the Convener to call a meeting, for the purpose of considering the same; and of the abovenamed committee; Mr. Boswell, of Auchinleck, was appointed Con yener. Mr. Hamilton, of Pinmore, then moved the thanks of the meeting to the Earl of Eglinton, for having called the county together upon the present occasion, which motion being seconded, passed unanimously, and his lordship received the thanks of the meeting accordingly. The Earl of Eglinton then moved, “ That a meeting should be called, for the purpose of taking into their consideration, whether it is not for the evident utility of the lieges, that trial by jury should be revived in civil cases in Scotland? And likewise, how far it is expedient to call the attention of the legislature to the necessity of a reform in the inferior Courts in Scotland, and more especially in the Sheriff Courts and to deliberate upon what measures the county should adopt for making the legislature acquainted with their sentiments upon subjects of so much importance. Which motion being seconded, was unanimously agreed to.-And further, Mr. Oswald stated his intentions of submitting to the consideration of the county, the expediency of addressing the legislature, to obtain relief from the unequal pressure of the Property Tax on tenants, occupying lands in Scotland, arising from the mode prescribed by the present Property Tax Act, for ascertaining the profits of such occupiers of land. And Mr. Hamilton, of Sundrum, convener of the county, was requested to call a meeting, to be held upon Wednesday, the 13th day of January next, in order to take these matters under consideration. the (Signed) RICHD. ALEX. OSWALD, Preses. Administration of Justice in Scotland.On Wednesday, Dec. 23d, the Faculty of Advocates met, to consider the Bill lately introduced into the House of Lords by the Lord Chancellor, touching the Administration of Justice in Scotland. The Dean rose and stated, that this meet (Signed) “ William Erskine, J. Henry "M Kenzie, George Jos. Bell, F. Jeffrey,, "Thos. Thomson, John A. Murray, Henry "Cockburn." The following resolutions were then moved by Mr. Jeffrey, and seconded by Mr. John Murray: That it is the opinion of this meeting, 1st, That the Court of Session ought to be divided into two chambers or divisions, of coordinate jurisdiction, as proposed in the bill. 2d, That it ought to be provided in the bill that the judges in each chamber ought to sit daily in the inner-house, for dispatch of business, during the time of session. 3d, That the requisite alterations in the constitution of the Court of Session, and in the modes and forms of administering justice in Scotland, ought, as far as possible, to be made by the direct legislative authority of Parliament; and that no power or authority of a legislative kind ought to be delegated to the Court itself, unless carefully limited to such rules of precedure as are subordinate and technical. 4th, That the appointment of a Royal Commission, with powers to inquire into matters tending to the better administration of justice in Scotland, whose proceedings shall be laid before both Houses of Parliament, is a measure highly expedient in itself, and sanctioned by former practice. 5th, That the Commissioners who shall be so appointed, ought to be instructed to report to Parliament as to the number of judges who are to officiate in the outer-house and billchamber, and as to the other matters which it is proposed in the bill shall be committed to the court itself; provided, however, that the court shall be empowered to regulate all the said matters by acts of sederunt, until a sta tute shall be passed upon the report of the commissioners. 6th, That there are some general points |