ports of the Portuguese states, imported on board of any foreign vessels. Under the denomination of Portuguese produce are included, all East India goods, wares, and merchandise, imported from Macao in Portuguese bottoms into the Portuguese dominions, to which also no consular papers in the ports of this united kingdom, nor entry into the ports of the Portuguese states, shall henceforward be permitted."

On

16. PARIS.-A trial of no small interest to the press, and to the purity of judicial proceedings, is presented in the journals of Saturday. The defendants are M. Beranger and his printer Baudouin. In the course of last year, M. Beranger published two volumes of songs, some passages of which became the subjects of prosecution. In November, the chamber of accusation of the Cour Royale referred M. Beranger to the court of assizes, as being accused of various offences, the couplets forming the subject of prosecution being transcribed into the judgment of the chamber according to law. the 8th of December, M. Beranger appeared before the court of assize. The decree of the Cour Royale, with the passages complained of inserted in it, was then read openly in court. The result of the proceeding was, that M. Beranger was acquitted on three counts of the indictment (as we should call them here), and condemned to three months' imprisonment on the fourth-viz., that which imputed to him "an outrage upon public morals and religion." The journals, in their reports of that trial, were not suffered by the censorship to give more than the speeches of the counsel for the crown. Every word spoken by the counsel for the

accused was suppressed. M. Beranger then published a correct report of the trial, with the official documents thereto belonging. For this publication, on the ground of its reciting the condemned passages, the author and printer were now a second time prosecuted. The question depending on the verdict of the jury was, therefore, no less than this-Whether a correct copy of the decree of a court of justice was to be considered libellous? The jury retired for about an hour; when they pronounced a verdict of acquittal amid the loud plaudits of the audience.

CHELMSFORD. Administering poison. William Richardson was indicted for wilfully and maliciously administering to Susanna, the wife of Thomas Hairs, and to Mary Bacon, a certain deadly poison, called copperas, with intent to kill and murder them, at Debden, on the 5th of January last.

It appeared that the prisoner had lodged in the same house where the prosecutors lived. He was in the habit of taking his meals with them. On the morning of the 5th of January, before the women came to their breakfasts, the prisoner was seen playing with some children in their room. The women, on drinking their tea, complained of its bitterness, but still drank two or three cups. The prisoner did not eat any breakfast, but was seen to go in and out during the meal. In the evening, the women were taken extremely ill with a violent vomiting. The next day, they found their tea still bitter. A plate, with some small quantity of copperas on it, was found in the room on the 7th of January. The person, who observed it, exclaimed it was copperas;

and the prisoner, who was in another part of the room, said, he knew it was copperas, for it was like what his father cleaned his shoes with. The prosecutrix, Bacon, remained sickly for upwards of a month afterwards, and then miscarried. No apparent motive was imputed to the prisoner for the offence with which he was charged. His demeanor on the occasion was urged as the ground of suspicion against him.

Before the examination of the first witness for the prosecution was closed, the counsel for the prisoner urged the propriety of establishing, in the first instance, that part of the indictment which charged the prisoner with administering a deadly poison. Now, he apprehended, that copperas was not a deadly poison.

Mr. Clift, a chymist of Chelmsford, gave it as his opinion, that copperas was not, properly speaking, a deadly poison; and that the stomach would reject a dose sufficient to produce death, before it could have that effect. Two ounces, if dissolved in liquid, and retained in the stomach, might produce very serious consequences, but he was not sure it would occasion death.

Dr. John Baddeley, a physician at Chelmsford, gave it as his opinion, that two drams of copperas would produce death.

On his cross-examination, he admitted, that he was confounding verdigris with copperas, supposing that copper produced the substance called copperas. He was ignorant, that copper did not enter into the composition of copperas. The learned physician's evidence was a little confused and unsatisfactory.

Mr. Baron Graham being of opi

nion that the evidence as to the deadly 'property of the drug alleged to have been administered, had failed, directed an acquittal.— The jury accordingly found the prisoner Not Guilty.

17. On the arrival of general Bertrand, in Chateauroux, nearly the whole population went out to meet him, and afterwards surrounded his residence. The gendarmerie and troops of the line were called out to disperse this assemblage; but the crowd entered the court and garden, exclaiming, "Bertrand for ever! Long live the heroes of fidelity." The armed force alone remained without. The general showed himself at the window, and replied, "Vive le Roi," which was instantly reechoed from every mouth.

SIERRA LEONE. On the 16th of February, the Iphigenia reached Sierra Leone; and sir Robert Mends assumed the chief naval command on the station, as successor to sir George Collier. On his way from the Gambia, sir Robert despatched a strong party of seamen and marines in the Iphigenia's boats, for the purpose of searching the Bissagos and Rio Grande for slave vessels. On the 2nd of March, a Portuguese vessel, with 175 slaves on board, was brought in, having been captured after some contest, by the boats of the Iphigenia.

Every day furnishes additional proofs of the increased, and still increasing, number of slave vessels, by which wretched Africa continues to be depopulated. The Thistle, lieutenant Hagan, which had recently arrived from a cruise to leeward, fell in, at the Galinas, with the bark Phoenix, of Havre de Grace, and the brig l'Espoir, of Nantes ; the former commanded

by M.Duprie, and the latter by Philip Lampreur, captain of a frigate in the navy of his most Christian majesty. These vessels expected to take in their slaves in a day or two, their tier of water-casks being filled, and the platforms ready laid to receive their victims. Two large Spanish and two Dutch vessels had sailed with full cargoes a short time before the Thistle's arrival at the Galinas. Lieutenant Hagan learned also, at the Galinas, that two piratical schooners, with two American vessels, apparently captured by them, had, during the last month, visited that port, and carried off a number of free negroes. This mode of obtaining a cargo is by no means novel among slave-dealers; they are, without exception, virtually pirates. On leaving the Galinas, lieutenant Hagan proceeded to Trade Town, and there found that a Spanish schooner, with 150 slaves on board, had sailed from thence for the Havannah, a few days before his arrival.

In the British and Portuguese court of mixed commission, on the 13th of March, the Portuguese slave schooner, Conde de Ville Flor, was condemned, and the slaves taken on board her, decreed to be liberated. The depositions, in this case, fully confirm the former statements, regarding the iniquitous participation of the authorities at Cacheo and Bissao, in the slave trade a number of the slaves having been shipped, by no less personage than the governor himself!!

a

17. ACCIDENT AT THE SOUTH LONDON GAS MANUFACTORY. An inquisition was taken on the body of John Morgan, a labouring engineer, who met his death in consequence of the bursting VOL. LXIV.

of an immense tank, containing 752 tons of water, at the second station of the South London Gas Company, in Wellington-street.

The jurors, being sworn, proceeded to view the premises. Several walls and sheds were washed away, and many of the low houses adjacent, were flooded with water.

On the return of the jury, Thomas Mees was called. He stated himself to be a smith, in the employment of Messrs. Glazebrook, ironmasters, who are the contractors to the Gas Company. Witness was sent up to London in the beginning of last June, and was employed to put up the tanks; two of them were put up before Christmas, and the one which burst, since that time. About a month since, a crack appeared in one of the plates of the tank, which enlarged, and broke out above, where a new patch had been placed. Witness and the deceased were employed to repair it, and caused another plate to be made to cover the fissure. On this being done, they found that the first patch must be taken off, to have holes drilled for the screws; a piece of pasteboard and the new plates were placed over the crack, and were supported by a piece of wood, which rested on the adjoining wall. While they were putting in the screws, the iron-hoop which was the main support of the tank, burst, and dropped off. Witness then said to the deceased, "The tank is sure to burst," and they both ran down some distance from it; but as it held together, they agreed to endeavour to mend the hoop, and returned for that purpose; when the deceased proceeded to climb up the side of the tank to throw down some dust to stop the cracks, as the water was running

E

out fast. Witness again called out "Come away, it's sure to burst," and stooped down to pick up the fallen hoop, when the tank gave way, and the water carried witness about 18 yards. On recovering himself, he found the deceased in a timber yard, about 30 yards distant, whither he had been washed over a shed by the impetuosity of the water; he groaned, when witness picked him up, and the blood flowed freely from his ears; he continued groaning and bleeding till he was taken to a public-house, where he died in a few minutes. The tank was 43 feet 8 inches in diameter, 18 feet deep; it was nearly full of water. Witness could not tell what caused the fissure; he did not think there was any flaw in the iron plates; he never observed the foundation give way. The remaining tanks were only 14 inches less than the one which had burst.

Several of the jury commented on the dangerous situation of the premises, and said they ought not to be placed so near the habitations of the neighbourhood.

Mr. Perceval, a juror, said, that few of the plates exceeded half an inch in thickness in the centre, and contended they were not sufficiently strong. The hoop was not stronger than that which he had round a vat, that contained only two tons of water.

Robert Monro, esq., a director of the Gas Company, was next called. The tank contained 752 tons of water. The plates were three quarters of an inch in thickness; some were stouter. The works were furnished by contract; the iron-masters engaging to make them water tight. The contractors had put up 11 tanks in London, which were all standing.

The whole loss (the tank cost between 700l. and 8007.) would fall on the contractors. It was one foot longer than the others, but he did not know whether the iron was made proportionally stronger. Of course, the building was left to the contractors, and it was their interest to make the tanks of sufficient strength.

Mr. Edward Evans, surgeon, deposed, that the deceased met his death in consequence of a rupture on the brain caused by the accident.

After several observations from the jury, a verdict of Accidental Death was returned.

MILBANK PENITENTIARY. From the Report of the Committee of this prison, it appears that the number of prisoners, for whom provision has been made in the Penitentiary, rather exceeds the intended number of 1,000 (600 males, and 400 females) than falls short of it. There were, within its walls, on the 31st of December last, 708 convicts. The present number is 723; viz. 399 males, and 324 females. It appears further, that the total earnings, for the year ending the 31st of December, amounted to 6,0317. 8s. 6d., of which three-fourths, or 4,538l. 11s. 4d. remained to the establishment; that the expense amounted to 27,279l. 12s. 2d. ; and, after deducting stores hand, to 20,679l. 3s. 1d., and the nett expense, after deducting the prisoners' earnings, to 16,140/ 18s. 9d.

on

FALL OF PRICES, WITH EXCEPTIONS.-A certain lord in opposition, whose kind nature keeps him on friendly terms with men of all parties, observed to a certain legal personage, "Every thing has fallen in prices, except houses and

the Grenvilles!" "Yes," replied the other, "they are dear enough still!"

20. The will of the late Thomas Coutts, esq., was proved in the Prerogative Court of Canterbury, by five of the executors, viz. :— Mrs. Harriet Coutts, widow, sir Edmund Antrobus, sir Coutts Trotter, Edward Majoribanks, and Edmund Antrobus the younger, esqrs.; a power being reserved of granting probate to Andrew Dickie, William Adam, the younger, Thomas Atkinson, and John Parkinson, esqrs., the other executors. The testator, by his will, which is dated the 9th of May, 1820, appoints Mrs. Coutts universal legatee, and bequeaths to her his share in the banking-house and business in the Strand, and all benefit and interest to arise therefrom. There is a codicil to the will, which relates to trust property only. The personal property within the province of Canterbury is sworn under 600,000l.

DORSET.-Doe, Dem. Nepean, bart., versus Sarah Budden, widow. -In this action, the plaintiff, as lord of the manor of Loders and Bothenhampton, sought to recover from the defendant, an estate in that manor, held by defendant for her widowhood, and which, the plaintiff contended, she had forfeited by her incontinency, according to the custom of the manor.

The defendant's counsel contended that no such custom existed; but after going through many ancient court-rolls and books, commencing in the reign of Henry 7th, and hearing the evidence of several witnesses, the learned judge considered the custom well proved; and the jury, under his direction, found a verdict for the plaintiff.

ACCIDENT FROM USING STRA

MONIUM.-An unfortunate circumstance happened in the immediate neighbourhood of Brora. A man and his wife having got some stramonium to smoke for asthma, and finding that it did not produce an immediate cure, were advised by an ignorant neighbour to infuse and drink it as tea. As may easily be supposed, it threw them into a state of torpor, in which they lay for about 8 hours, when they were found in a state of suspended animation; a pig had entered the house, and nearly eaten off the whole of the man's right hand fingers. Dr. Grant was afterwards called to them, and both are in a fair way of recovery.

PARIS.-Insubordination of Students.-Some disorders took place at the college of Henry IV. Several pupils, having in vain demanded the exclusion of one of the masters, and the release of several of their comrades who were confined, barricadoed themselves in one of their quarters, and obstinately refused to come out, notwithstanding the repeated admonitions of the provisor of the college, and of the rector of the academy of Paris. They only consented to open their door to admit the almoner, Abbe Causens, who, by his exhortations, succeeded in calming them for a time. But they persisted in remaining so shut up for the night, and it was not till the morning, when preparations were making to force open the doors, that they came out, and went to their respective quarters.

21. AN EXTENSIVE FRAUD ON THE CUSTOMS. On Thursday a vessel called the New Union, F. B., from Calais, was seized by Mr. J. Rice, one of his majesty's searchers in the Customs, for having on board near one hundred bottles of