junction with his Majesty's allies, the most eventful and sanguinary contest in which Europe had for centuries been engaged, with unparalleled success and glory. "The prosecution of such a contest for so many years, and more particularly the efforts which marked the close of it, have been followed within our own country, as well as throughout the rest of Europe, by considerable internal difficulties and distress. But, deeply as I felt for the immediate pressure upon his majesty's people, I nevertheless looked forward without dismay, having always the fullest confidence in the solidity of the resources of the British empire, and in the relief which might be expected from a continuance of peace, and from the patience, public spirit, and energy of the nation. "These expectations have not been disappointed. "The improvement in the internal circumstances of the country is happily manifest, and promises to be steadily progressive; and I feel a perfect assurance that the continued loyalty and exertions of all classes of his majesty's subjects will confirm these growing indications of national prosperity, by promoting obedience to the laws and attachment to the constitution, from which all our blessings have been derived." Then the Lord Chancellor having received directions from his royal highness the Prince Regent, said 66 My Lords and Gentlemen; "It is the will and pleasure of his royal highness the Prince Regent, acting in the name and on the behalf of his majesty, that this parliament be now dissolved, and this parliament is dissolved accordingly." The mass of parliamentary matter has left little room during the present year for the general current of affairs, which has not upon the whole been of considerable importance. One of the most memorable occurrences has been the tendency of a disposi tion to riot in the town and neighbourhood of Manchester, owing to a difference between a large body of workmen, and their employers, which, however, by the good management of the magistrates and other gentlemen was kept from rising to any dangerous disturbance, though not without the interference of the military. The long and painful confinement of her Majesty under a disorder which at length proved fatal in the month of November, gave a shock to the national feelings, which had been peculiarly excited by the care and tenderness with which she cherished the infirmities of a beloved partner. CHAPTER CHAPTER XIV. FRANCE:-Law adopted by the two Chambers.-Particulars of the damages sustained by Martinique.-Project of a law presented to the Chambers. Further proceedings respecting the Slave Trade.-The King nominates the President and Vice-Presidents of the Electoral Colleges.-His Ordinances concerning the National Guard.-Further Ordinances concerning the Electoral Colleges.-Change of Ministry. -SPAIN :-Publication of the Authorities of the Caraccas. Royal Decree for increasing the White Population of Cuba.Decree for establishing Free Ports in the Peninsula.-Definitive Edict relative to the Spanish Exiles. Decree respecting the Royal Vales. Decree concerning the establishment of Ports of Deposit.— Decree relative to all Foreigners who make common cause with the Insurgents of Spanish America.-Address from the Cabinet of Madrid to the High Allied Powers.-Official Articles in the form of Royal Decrees -PORTUGAL:-Neglect thrown upon it, on the possessions in Europe.-Still keeps in its hands the territory of Montevideo. THE THE King of France, on December 30, 1817, made public a law on the Journals, adopted by the two Chambers, in the following words: "LOUIS, by the Grace of GOD, &c. We have proposed, the Chambers have adopted, We have ordained, and do ordain as follows: The journals and other periodical works, which treat on political matter and intelligence, shall not appear without the King's authority, until the end of the Session of the Chambers of 1818." Particulars respecting the damage sustained by Martinique in the late hurricane were published to the following effect in the Journal des Debats, with the date of St. Pierre, Oct. 29. All the parishes of the colony suffered more or less from the dreadful storm on the 21st of October. Every where the provisions of the country were destroyed, and all hopes of a harvest, which promised to be most abundant, are annihilated. In some parts of the island the sugar manufactories were greatly injured; in others, totally destroyed; the plantations were generally torn up; and every thing presented an image of desolation. The towns were no less injured. The houses and public buildings of Port Royal were either entirely tumbled down, or unroofed. In the roads, great disasters happened among the shipping. Of the three King's ships which were there, two made sail immediately, and stood from. the island; the other, the Margaretta, was wrecked on the coast coast: the men and property were saved; the hull of the vessel alone was lost. The King of France, in the month of March, presented the following project of a law respecting the slave trade. LOUIS, &c. We have ordained, and do ordain, that the project of a law, in tenour as follows, shall be presented in our name to the Chamber of Deputies, by our Minister Secretary of State for the Marine and Colonies, and by Count Simeon and Baron Mousnier, State Counsellors, whom we charge to explain the motives and to support the purposes thereof. Art. 1.-Every part whatever which shall be taken by French subjects or ships, in whatever places, under what pretext or condition soever, and by foreign individuals, in countries submitted to the dominion of France, in the traffic known under the name of the Trade of Blacks, shall be punished by the confiscation of the ship and of the cargo, and by the interdiction of the Captain, if he be French. 2.-These cases shall be proceeded in before the Tribunals which take cognizance of contraventions in matters of revenue, and are to be judged by them. Given at Paris, in the palace of the Tuileries, in the month of March 1818, and year of our reign the 25th. PROJECT OF A FINANCIAL LAW. Louis, by the Grace of GoD, King of France and Navarre. To all present greeting: We have ordained and do ordain, that the project of the law, the tenour of which follows, shall be presented to the Chamber of Deputies by our Ministers Secretaries of State in the departments of Foreign Affairs and Finance, and by the Sieurs Count Simeon and Baron Mousnier, Counsellors of State, whom we charge to explain its grounds, and support it in debate:— Art. 1.-For the purpose of providing for the full and entire execution of the dispositions of the Treaty of the 30th May 1814, and the Conventions of the 20th November, 1815, so far as concerns the payment of the debts contracted by France anterior to that epoch, beyond its own actual territory, there shall be created and inscribed upon the grand book of the public debt, with interest from the 22d March, 1818, a perpetual rente of 16,040,000 francs, to meet a capital of 320,800,000 francs. Art. 2. There is opened in the Ministry of Finance a credit of 24,000,000 of rentes. In consequence the government is authorized to create and inscribe on the grand book of the public debt, in concurrence with this sum, rentes, which may be employed only to complete the payment of the sums due to the Allied Powers, conformably with the 4th article of the treaty of the 20th Nov. 1815. Art. 3.-An account shall be given in the session of 1818, of what shall have been done in virtue of the above second article. Given at our castle of the Tuileries, the 25th of April, of the year of Grace 1818, and the 23d of our reign. (Signed) Louis. RICHELIEU. His majesty, on June 26th published the following ordinance: LOUIS &c. Considering the various laws by which France had prohibited the traffic known by the name of the Slave Trade, and especially our ordinance of the 8th of January 1817, and the law of the 15th of April 1818; wishing to secure by every means in our power the abolition of the Slave Trade in every part of our dominions on the report of our Minister Secretary of State for the Marine and Colonies,-We have ordained and do ordain as follows: Art. 1.-There shall be constantly maintained on the coasts of our African establishments, a cruising squadron of our marine, for the purpose of visiting all French vessels which shall appear within the limits of our possessions on the said coasts, and of preventing every violation of our laws and ordinances. On Sept. 30th the King began to appoint the Presidents and Vice-presidents of the Electoral Colleges convoked by his ordinance. On the same day his Majesty issued an ordinance respecting the National Guard, of which the following is an extract: LOUIS, &c. From the account presented to us, respecting the actual situation of the National Guard, we have recognised that the circumstances which rendered necessary a special composition of that public force having ceased to exist, we ought to make it revert to the system which the laws now in operation prescribe, and which may facilitate the execution of the law for recruiting the army. The series of legisla, tive measures relative to the National Guard, having been represented to us, we are convinced that the laws of the 12th Sept. and 12th Dec. 1790, 3rd Aug. and 14th Oct. 1791, modified by the legislative act of the 24th Sept. 1805, have served as the bases of the different regulations which have been published; that these laws subsist in such of their dispositions as are not contrary to the Chamber, and to the institution which it has established; that they especially preserve their force in whatever determines the rank, the service, and the discipline of the National Guard, and whether while sedentary or communal, they remain under the civil authority, or whether in the case of extraordinary service, they are placed under military authority. We have therefore resolved to bring back the National Guard to its municipal institution, without however intending that there should result from the provisions of this ordinance any relaxation in the habitual service which is performed wherever this force is organized. Persuaded that the National Guard and the officers retained, will continue to be animated with the same zeal which the chiefs and soldiers of all those corps manifested under another organization, we are pleased to testify to them all our lively satisfaction. The National Guard, which, under the command of our well beloved brother, Monsieur, has rendered brilliant services to France, will find in our support and in his kindness, equal motives for for emulation. For these reasons we have ordered and do order as follows: 1. The Mayors, Submayors, and Prefects, shall resume, under the authority of our Minister of the Interior, the entire powers confided to them by the laws, on the organization, direction, and inspection of the National Guard. 2. Hereby are and remain suppressed all appointments of officers superior to those of communal or cantonal commandants, who shall be replaced under the immediate orders of the civil authorities, conformably to the laws. The relations of the Commandant-in-chief of the Parisian National Guard, with the Prefect of the Department of the Seine, the Prefect of the Police, and our Minister of the Interior, shall continue in this quality of Commandant, conformably to our ordinance of the 11th of December 1816, and to the articles of the present ordinance. 3. In towns which include one or more cantons, the National Guard cannot be united to other communal guards. In the can tons composed of several communes, the national guards of different communes shall be formed into a communal guard, under the commandant of the National Guard of the chief place of the canton, in virtue of the orders of the sub-Prefect; but the skeletons of the communal corps and their chiefs shall remain, for the usual duties, under the orders of the mayors. 4. The National Guards of the different cantons cannot be assembled out of the towns, except by detachments, and in virtue of a requisition made by the Prefect, in the cases provided, and under the formalities prescribed by the law, with regard to the employment of the public force. 5. The Cavalry National Guard shall continue to be formed by arondissements into companies or squadrons, under the Commandant of the National Guard of the chief place of the arondissement; nevertheless the Cavalry National Guard of each commune, and their Chief, will be held bound to execute, as well as the infantry, the orders which may be given them by the Mayor of the Commune in which they may reside, for the maintenance and tranquillity of the local police. 6. The Colonel-General of the National Guards appointed by our ordinance of the 13th May, 1814, continues to enjoy the honours and prerogatives attached to the title of Colonel-General of the army. 7. The ordinances of the 16th of July, 1814, the 18th and 21st of November, and 27th of December, 1815, are repealed, as are all regulations of decrees and ordinances contrary to the present. 8. Our Minister Secretary of State for the Interior is charged with the execution of the present ordinance. (Signed) Tuileries, Sept. 30. LOUIS. A further order respecting the Electoral Colleges made its appearance in the beginning of November. Paris, Nov. 6. LOUIS, &c. We have ordered, and order as follows: Art. 1. The Chamber of Peers and |