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cured her without any further injury. The owner of the lioness has published a letter, saying, she broke loose in consequence of some person breaking open the caravan, in expectation of stealing goods going to Salisbury fair.

Dreadful Accident.

Mr. Rennie, the engineer, has sent the following letter on the subject of the accident:

was pursued and killed by the lioness, become the victim of her fury; but the within about forty yards of the place. It animal, with more reproach than viciousappears that the beast had escaped from ness, inflicted a slight punishment on it, a caravan that was standing on the road and hearing the voice of the keeper, reside, belonging to the proprietors of a Me- tired underneath a staddle granary, where, nagerie, on their way to Salisbury fair. soon after, the keeper very deliberately got An alarm being given, the keepers pur-in, put his arms around her neck, and sesued and hunted the lioness into an hovel under a granary, which served for keeping agricultural implements. About half past eight they had secured her so effectually, by barricading the place, as to prevent her escape. The horse, when first attacked, fought with great spirit, and if at liberty, would probably have beaten down his antagonist with his fore feet, but in plunging be embarrassed himself in the harness. The lioness, it appears, had attacked him in front, and springing at his throat, had fastened the talons of her fore feet on each side of his neck, close to the head, while the talons of her hind feet were forced into his chest. In this situation she hung, while the blood was seen flying, as if a vein had been opened by a lancet. The ferocious animal missed the throat and the jugular vein, but the horse is so dreadfully torn, he is not expected to survive. He was a capital horse, the best in the set. The expression of agony in his tears and moans was most piteous and affecting. A fresh horse having been procured, the mail drove on after having been detained three quarters of an hour by this extraordinary obstruction. The horse attacked was the off leader, and as the mail drew up stood exactly abreast of the caravan from which the lioness made the assault. Had the carriage been a little more advanced she would probably have darted upon the coachman or guard, who in that case would be more immediately under her eye. The coachman at first proposed to alight and stab the lioness with a knife, but was prevented by the remonstrance of the guard, who observed, that he would expose himself to certain destruction, as the animal feeling herself attacked would turn upon him and tear him to pieces. The prudence of the advice has been clearly proved in the fate of the poor dog. it was the engagement between him and the lioness, that afforded time for the keepers to rally. Had it not been for that interference the mischief at the mail would have been more

considerable. Mr. Perham of the Stamp Office, and a Mr. Fowler, were the two passengers.

ANOTHER ACCOUNT.

The lioness, on finding herself attacked, quitted the horse, and turned upon the dog, which it was expected would very soon

SIR-I beg leave acquaint you, for the information of the public, with the details of a most melancholy accident which took place this morning, between twelve and one o'clock, at the works for the intended Southwark-bridge:-The men had been working late in the foundation for the Middlesex pier, and had just left off, when a party, about fifteen in number, who were returning to the opposite shore, hailed one of the boats in attendance: a boat came, with two watermen in it, alongside the dam: the whole party, in spite of the watermen's endeavours to prevent them, immediately entered it and pushed off; but the tide, which was running up very strong, carried it against a barge; when in the act of clearing themselves from the barge the boat upset, and precipitated the whole A police-boat, which into the stream. was at hand, hastened quickly to their assistance, and succeeded in rescuing two of them from destruction. The two watermen with difficulty escaped by swimming, The remainder, including thirteen, notwithstanding every endeavour was made to save them, considering the lateness of the hour and the deficiency of means at hand, have not yet been found. The men have been repeatedly cautioned before about rushing into the boats, but to no purpose. I am, &c.

Stamford-street, Oct. 5.

Wesleyan Methodists.

The 73d Annual Conference of the Preachers in the connection established by the late Rev. John Wesley was held in London, July 29, 1816, and following days. From the Minutes of the Confer ence, lately published, we copy the following general recapitulation of the num ber of Members in the Society, and of the number of regular travelling preach

ers:

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241,319

43,187--211,165

Total number of members in the Methodist Societies throughout the World.............. 452,484 PREACHERS.-There are 725 regular travelling preachers now stationed in Great Britain, 132 in Ireland, 96 on Foreign Missions, and 704 in the American Methodist Connexion. -Total of travelling preachers not included in the preceding account, 1,657. The increase of the members in Great Britain in the last year is stated to be nearly 10,000, and the West Indies 100.

Marriage subsequent to Baptism. Lately, at Deene, near Wansford, Mr. William Giddings, aged 38, to Miss Hannah Spendilo, aged 16. When the pair first appeared at the altar, the clergyman asked the young woman whether she was a christian; her answer conviced him she had not been baptized, and therefore he refused to perform the marriage ceremony. The couple then left the church, but returned shortly afterwards with godfathers and godmothers, when the intended bride was christened and married.

our

Finances of Drury Lane Theatre. "To the debt which was then stated to exist against the theatre, it is duty to inform you that there has been since discovered to have existed at that time a farther debt of £2027 2s. 9d. of which £543 6s. 6d. is due to original claimants, who, it had been taken for granted, in the three preceding reports to you, would never appear to substantiate their claims.

You were last year informed, “that a well grounded confidence was entertained of a continuation of the average receipts of the three preceding years;" that "with that receipt before their eyes, the Sub-com mittee had exerted themselves so to reduce the scale of expense, as to be able to calculate on a dividend on the following sea

In the statements throughout their present report, it is but justice to say, we have recognized their constant readiness to adhere to the test they originally proposed.

The actual expense of the year has been kept within the estimate by £522 15s. 6d., and would have been diminished in a further sum of £500 but for a necessary outlay in the flies of the stage, to remedy a defect in their original construction.

calculation in the sum of no less than The receipt has fallen short of the

£11,998 11s. 5d.

"How far the times," they remark, "have unexpectedly had any influence on lation was erroneously adopted, it were the receipts, or how far the original calcupresumptious in us to determine.

“One year's experience can scarcely justify our giving a decided opinion, but prudence points out to us rather to forbear encouraging the sanguine hope of larger receipts, but to look for a more favourable balance in future, from diminished expenditure.

"Eager, however, as we are to applaud these sober views and expectations, which, if erroneous, will err on the side of safety, we cannot in justice either to them for the past, or to you for the future, give into so extraordinary a solecism, as to suppose, that at a period when distress has driven so many abroad, and visited every class at home, a theatre of public amusement should be the only ark in the general deluge.

"It must, on the contrary, to the least sanguine mind, be apparent, that of all property this is the most liable to be affected by general, however temporary, distress; and although we may lament the result of the season, which has not presented you with a dividend, we cannot but think that there is a ground of well justified confidence in your Sub-committee, that, on the side of expense, unlike other estimates, theirs has been diminished in being carried into execution.

For the ensuing season, a further diminution is calculated upon in the sum of 6,000l. making therefore, upon the whole,

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an annual reduction from the average expense of the three first seasous of 14,0001. The result of the season, including every expense, with the exception of the new renters annuity, and the interest to the bond holders, is a profit of 40541. 12s. 8d. but including them, and the estimated diminution of the value of the furniture and stock, is a loss of 1,4391. 15s. 11d.

"We have received their assent to the present postponement of any further payments to them, in order to enable us to proceed in the gradual discharge of the heavy debt incurred by the alteration of the theatre in the year 1814."

Intended Improvement.

A project has been submitted to the Committee for the Poor at Stafford, to em

ploy a number of men to reduce the heavy hill on the Shrewsbury-road to Tettenhall, near Wolverhampton, which will, in all probability, be speedily adopted.

IRELAND.

Danger of scarcity-Fines inflicted.
NOTICE.

«The Commissioners of Excise and Taxes having been informed that the inhabitants of townlands and other districts subject to fines for illicit distillation are abstaining from gathering in their corn and digging their potatoes, under the apprehension that the same would be seized by the still fine collectors for such fines: Notice is hereby given, that directions have been issued to the said collectors to suspend the collection of said fines for one calendar month from the date hereof, after which the said fines are to be levied off the property of the townlands, except corn and potatoes; the said commissioners being determined to hold the townlands in all other respects strictly liable for the fines remaining unpaid, and to proceed with vigour to levy the same at the expiration of the above-mentioned period.

"By order of the Commissioners.

EDWARD HARDMAN.

"Excise-office, Dublin, 16th of October. 1816." The following document exhibits a gratifying proof of the gradually increased prosperity of Ireland in an important arti

cle of commerce:

An Account of BUTTER exported from Ire-
land for the following years, ending the
5th of January in each year.
Cwts.

Yrs.

1800263,289

1801...!
•225,674

Yrs.

POLITICAL PERISCOPE.

Panorama Office, Oct. 26, 1816. POLITICS, like Charity, must begin at home, but they should not always end there. It is impossible, at the present moment, to avoid giving our own country the first place. After a series of protracted warfare, came a sudden Peace, and after the first check of this description, came a second, which completed the mischief; insomuch that we do not wonder at the consequences which we have been called to view, in the course of this month, though we exceedingly regret them. If that be true which report states, that Commercial rivalships, and jealousies, and bickerings, design to depress the value of property in have been more than usually active, with the hands of rivals, and to render it not worth the while of those rivals to carry on their business, then we are not certain whether the punishment of this immorality may not have fallen with most weight where it was most deserved. We would have all mankind love as brethren, not study each other's harm, but each other's good: where a contrary principle prevails it more frequently meets with its proper reward, than the public has an opportunity of observing. Politics, are also subject to a very great inconvenience from the multitude of persons who are interested in showing one side of the question only: now these agents find it to be their duty, as well as their interest to put the best possisible face on the interests of their employtage into a most wonderful acquisition, as ers; they magnify the most trivial advanon the contrary they diminish the most fatal events to the character of mere bagatelles and trifles. The public who have no better information than what our daily prints afford them, continually suffer under this delusion, without being able to discern, or forearm themselves against it.

What the state of the Public Finances may prove to be, in the course of the current year, is not easy to conjecture; that some of the quarters may be below their cannot get money to pay their landlords proper par is credible enough: if tenants how should their landlords get money to pay the Government. It is too hard to advise the landlords to ruin the tenants: and too hard to advise the Government to ruin the landlords. Circumstances call for a lenient and mutual forbearance; that which is not paid now, will be paid some other time, and when it is paid, will have the air of a gratuity. We are not aware 1815... 432,154 that any of the external concerns of this

1808

1809

1802 .........
...304,666 1810

Cwts. 333,998 946,856 385,958

1803 *********. ·396,358 | 1811 ...................... 390,333

1804334,251

1812

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1805329,155

1813

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433,714
485,408
461,514

nation, do occasion any great anxiety: the world is too well convinced of the strength inherent in the arm of Britain, to wish to put it to further proof; and even those whose ignorance is the best excuse for their prevarication, have now an example before them, that ignorance is no effectual shelter. There are few states in the world, at the present time, which, like the ostrich may run their head into a bush, and flatter themselves the whole of their body is effectually concealed.

as we learn from a letter which has appeared in the foreign papers.

The Journal des Debats lately denied the accession of England to the Holy Alliance. The following letter, at least, was addressed by the Prince Regent to the Emperor of Russia, the Emperor of Austria, and the King of Prussia:

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Carlton House, Oct. 6, 1815.

My dear Brother and Cousin,-I have had the honour to receive your (Imperial), Europe at large is generally diminishing Majesty's letter, together with the copy of whatever has the air of military power. the treaty between your Majesty and your The King of France has discontinued addi- High Allies, signed at Paris on 26th Sept. tional recruitings; the Emperor of Russia As the forms of the British Constitution, has sent many of his soldiers back to their which I am called upon to maintain in the peaceful homes, and by public orders has name and in the place of the King, my fa suspended all further enrollments. Most ther, prevent me from acceding to the of the other states of Europe have done treaty in the form in which it is laid be the same, so that there seems to be no ge- fore me, I choose this way to convey neral disposition for military enterprise. to the August Sovereigns who have signed To this must be added that blank in the it, my entire concurrence in the principocket, which is felt in every quarter of ples which they have expressed, and in the the globe. Even Spain, which should be declaration which they have made, that the richest country in the world, from the they will take the Divine precepts of the produce of her mines, is in a state so pre-Christian religion as the unalterable rule carious, that her king was forced to borrow, to pay the expences of his late marriage. Nor is any country much better off, and except what is said of the Grand Seignior, who has collected private treasures to a great amount, there is no sovereign in Europe who has any quantity of ready cash by him.

When in connexion with these plain, but unwelcome truths, we take into consideration the hazardous and defective state of the harvest, for the year, there seem to be causes sufficient to bind the sovereigns of Europe to their peaceable and good behaviour. If we anticipate evil from any quarter, it is from that spirit of fanaticism, in which some nations too rudely glory as their enviable distinction. We have not yet seen what effect the welldeserved punishment inflicted on Algiers has produced in the Divan at Coustantinople; and sorry should we be that an exploit so glorions should lead to consequences, at which we can only hint. Be that as it may, though the principles of the British Constitution did not allow the Prince Regent to accede in a formal manner to what has been called the Christian Treaty, because every act of our sovereign must be countersigned by the ministers respectively, to give it validity,whereas that instrument was signed by the Sovereigns only.-the Prince Regent has done all that he could do towards authenticating his adhesion to it by his sanction,

of their conduct, in all their social and political connexions, and confirm the union which should always exist between all Christian nations. It will be ever my serious endeavour to guide my conduct, in the situation in which Divine Providence has placed me, according to these holy principles, and to co-operate with my high allies in all measures which are calculated to contribute to the peace and welfare of mankind. I remain, with the most unalterable feelings of friendship and regard, my dear brother and cousin,

"Your (Imperial) Majesty's brother and cousin,

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In giving our remarks on that singular instrument, we took occasion to observe, that if it were to be taken, in its literal and obvious meaning, nothing could be more benevoleut, or more noble; but, if there were private purposes to acknowledge in it, and answered by it, when it has acquired sufficient strength, as some of our deep-thinking politicians affected to see in it, then it might lead to evils the more in calculable, and the less to be avoided, as they could not be foreseen. The annihilation of Christian Slavery on the Barbary Coast, is an event never to be forgot: and who knows what further benefits may flow from that stipulation to generations yet unborn?

There seems to be something, not very pleasant, still rankling among our negro population it is no more than natural among a class of men who feel differences for which they do not see the cause. The example of Hayti may produce further effects than it has yet done.

As to those patriots who are so deeply disgusted with their country, that they must needs seek a better, at the hazard of their lives, their property, and certain loss of all their connections, recent accounts sufficiently inform us of all they have gained by their enterprise, that is to say, complete disappointment. The emigrants which are returning from America, under the protections of British bounty, will, we hope, have this one good effect, that they become living and undeniable witnesses of a state of things in that country which will certainly not tempt any honest man away from his homestead and fireside, in search of Utopian happiness in those wild and savage regions. We hope it is true that the general inclination of those who cannot return to Europe leads them to Canada, where British protection and government make them some amends for absence from home.

Commercial Chronicle.

STATE OF TRADE.

Lloyd's Coffee House, Oct. 20, 1816. NOTHING is more difficult than to form a just estimate of the state of the Commercial World at the present moment: every man reports that which he finds in his own occupation, and that which his friends experience also. If he be in the train for receiving from the Continent handsonie remittances, he points to the Course of Exchange, and congratulates himself on the difference between what it is now, and what it was some time ago. So easily is the course of Exchange varied, that the mere report of the opening the ports for the admission of foreign Corn, was found sufficient to lower the exchanges generally. Yet it could not be said that a single Commercial article had been furnished by the Continent to produce that effect. The fact, however, is instructive; for it shows that the course of exchange has always depended on the proportionate imports and exports between Commercial Countries; and those who have not a sufAs this opinion must have been taken ficiency of goods to balance their accounts, up from the prevailing opinion and judg-silver, which never should be less than 5s. must pay with cash, insomuch that standard

ment of those who knew both countries well, we consider it as a very decisive argument in favour of those institutions to which we have been accustomed from our infancy.

As to America herself, she seems to be pushing forward with all possible exertion, those institutions which are calentated to support her public credit. It is impossible to blame this, for she has suffered severely from the went of such credit; an empty treasury, a discontented people, with a disposition to separation, in some of the most considerable States, should have left a lesson behind them not soon to be forgotten by that Government.

per ounce, is at this moment one halfpenny under that price.

Having alluded to the Corn Trade, we may be allowed to consider it as a mass of perplexity, which scarcely furnishes a single satisfactory datum on which a wise man would venture to speculate. The contradictory accounts-the hopes and fears which every day brought with it, have given to the present year a most singular set of features; and in some places the Agriculturits have laboured, not merely all day long, but all night also; and probably never was seen such a spectacle, as the thousands of lanthorus, moving in all directions, not in a field only, but throughout a county, by which the operations of harvest, during the night, were at length completed.

On the other hand, many Agriculturists of our knowledge, express themselves well satisfied with the state in which they have gathered in their crops. It differs but little from the average of former years.

One of the most considerable checks to -American happiness, is the pride which seems to belong to that country, and we much fear that the influx of French Jaco bins, of which they now so pompously boast, will be found a very severe trial, if not punishment, to succeeding generations. Those men love mischief for mis- We have often and often censured that chief's sake; have they not carried their imprudence by which prodigious speculaown principles of disorganziation and mur- tions were engaged in, on the appearance der to their new settlement, and will they of what was considered as a good run of bunot transmit these to their childrens' chil-siness; that might have been a very satisdren? factory fortune to a wise and moderate mind,

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