period from 1802 to 1808. It was understood that it would be difficult to procure returns farther back. The first motion, referring to the several gradations between committal, conviction, and execution, which could not be made out, was withdrawn. The second motion was for the number transported to New South Wales, and the period of sentence from their embarkation. The third, for a return of the number who died before the period of sentence expired, or before they were embarked. These two last motions were agreed to.-Mr. Horner expressed his hope that the house would feel itself pledged seriously to consider this subject; and particularly how far the experiment of transportation upon our criminal law had been successful. House of Lords, June 6.-The Lord Chancellor moved for the third reading of the bill to afford farther time for the commissioners to report upon the judicature of Scotland; which, after a great deal of conversation about the monstrous expence of lawsuits in Scotland and trial by jury, was read a third time accordingly. Lord Grenville was greatly struck by a fact stated in the report of the commissioners: the gross and scandalous anomaly in judicial proceedings, by which persons, who had obtained the sentence of the court of session in their favour, were yet, before they could reap the consequent benefits, compelled to get a copy of the sentence, or as it was in Scotland legally expressed," an extract of the decreet." In one case, that deed or document cost an individual £1,200; and in another case, where the whole property in question did not exceed £500, the charge for such copy was above £300. He had drawn up a bill on this subject, for the relief of suitors in the court of session in Scotland, which he was about to propose to their lordships; and he should conduct his perseverance in the measure, agreeably to the sense of the house manifested on the present occasion. He concluded by moving, that the bill be read a first time. To this the Lord Chancellor consented. Alluding to an observation of lord Grenville, he admitted, that lawyers should not have a greater share in legislation than other peers. But he could not help observing, that there never was a lawyer who did not fancy himself a statesman, and that there never was a statesman who did not fancy himself a lawyer. He was of opinion, that the introduction of trial by jury in civil cases would not answer the expectations of those who most contended for the measure. It reminded him of a conversation on the subject between two very learned persons in the north. The one asked the other by what means he would introduce trial by jury? Nothing more easy make an act of parliament for its introduction. The first replied in his northern dialect, "My friend, if an act of parliament were passed to make us speak English, I believe we should still speak Scotch." House of Commons, June 13.Lord Binning brought up the report from the committee on the Scotch judicature bill. Mr. Horner spoke at considerable length on the evil for which lord Grenville had proposed a remedy in the House alteration in what had been the legal practice of Scotland for three hundred years; and, therefore, that the house should wait delibe the commissioners appointed to discuss the subject, and examine it in all its bearings. The opinion of Mr. Dundas was supported by the Chancellor of the Exchequer. The bill for granting farther time to the commissioners on the Scotch judicature bill, was passed.-A bill was also passed this session for augmenting the salaries of the English and Welsh judges of the former, for an augmentation of £1000 a year; of the latter, an augmentation of £300 a year. Nor were the poor clergy altogether forgotten. On the 7th of June the Chancellor of the Exchequer, by way of pledge that the relief of the poor clergy would be ultimately reduced to a system, moved in the House of Commons, "That a sum not exceeding House of Peers; namely, the netessity under which suitors were placed, when answering the allegations of their opponents, of first taking out copies of all the elaborately to hear the final opinions of rate pleadings required to be entered by the other side, as records of the court, before they could proceed to any replication by plea or evidence. These pleadings, in some instances that came within his own knowledge, amounted to a volume of 1500 pages. He had known instances where, though the sum in litigation did not exceed £200 or £300, the fees of the court alone amounted to £500 or £700; and one, in such a case, to £1500. Such an arrangement had long prevailed in the practice of Scotch courts, for no other reason that he could see, than to create a fortune for the Scotch law officers.* But it was a bar in the pursuit of justice wholly insurmountable to all suitors in ordinary circumstances; and even where a suitor was successful, if his antagonist chose to appeal to the House of Lords, he could not proceed without taking out complete copies of the proceedings in the courts below, although not of the least use to him, nor competent to furnish any new light to his advocates before the higher tribunal. This intolerable tax on the justice of the country argued the necessity of introducing the trial by jury in civil cases. Mr. R. Dundas said, that this measure could not be adopted without a most important 100,000 be granted to his majesty, to enable his majesty to pay the same to the governors of the bounty of Queen Anne, for the augmentation of the maintenance of the poor clergy, according to the rules and regulations by which the funds of that corporation are governed; and that the said sum be issued and paid without any fee or other deduction whatever." This resolution was agreed to unanimously; at which the Chancellor of the Exchequer expressed much satisfaction. Suggestions for im In fact, the Scotch lawyers and law officers do amass larger fortunes, in proportion to the wealth of the different countries, than are acquired in England. If so great a proportion of the land in Scotland were not locked up by entails from the invasion of industry, the greatest part of the country would, by this time, have passed into the hands of lawyers. There is so much writing in the Scotch law, that all the men of law, except the judges and advocates, are called, not attorneys, or solicitors, or agents, but writers, i. e. scribes, or copiators. provement provement and the formation of a system, he said, would be considered afterwards. The present grant, if continued, would in four years raise the lowest livings in England and Wales to fifty pounds a year; and it was his intention, on a future day, to move an address to his majesty for extending similar additions to poor livings in Ireland and Scotland. For a summary account of the transactions of parliament of a less important, or a less general or public nature, we must refer our readers to a list of acts passed in this session.* On the 21st of June the session was closed with a speech from the throne, which was delivered by lords commissioners appointed by the king.t See Appendix to Chronicle, p. 615. See State Papers, p. 765. CHAP. CHAP. X. Affairs of the Peninsula of Spain and Portugal. BUONAPARTE, in his ad- and general Cuesta. They re dress to the legislative body, 25th of October, 1808, said, "In a few days I shall put myself at the head of my armies, to crown, with God's assistance, in Madrid, the king of Spain, and to plant my eagles on the towers of Lisbon." Accordingly Joseph Buonaparte was, towards the end of January 1809, crowned king of Spain and the Indies at Madrid, after he had been previously acknowledged and proclaimed in the principal towns throughout the country, with the exception of those of Arragon, Murcia, Granada, and Andalusia. The ceremony was performed with the utmost pomp, and attended by persons who assumed the character of deputies from the different kingdoms of Spain. But the French eagles were not yet planted on the towers of Lisbon. Very serious obstacles were opposed to the execution of that design. Though the brave English army under sir John Moore had been forced, by an immense superiority of numbers and that still increas ing, to retreat to their ships, or, in the style of Buonaparte, driven into the sea; his march through Spain had occasioned such a diversion in favour of the patriotic Spaniards, that they were enabled to recruit and re-organize the armies of Palafox, the duke of Infantade, the marquis del Palacio, conquered La Mancha and part of Estramadura, which had been over-run by the French. A great number of towns in the south of Spain were converted into places of arms; and the French dislodged from their positions in Catalonia, were compelled to retreat to Fi. gueras and Rosas, which last place had fallen into their hands in the end of the year 1808. Saragossa still held out with the most heroic courage and patience: so also, with equal fortitude, did the important fortress of Gerona, in Catalonia. There is not a doubt but Buonaparte, by pursuing the advantages he had obtained, and pouring in fresh troops from France, and, if necessary, the whole continent of Europe, would have effected the reduction of Lisbon as well as the coronation of his brother Joseph at Madrid. But his attention was imperiously demanded by the vast military preparations and even movements of the Austrians, who very naturally deemed it expedient rather to fight for their national independence, hand in hand with the Spaniards, supported by the English, than single handed and alone as theyinevitably must do, or yield their necks to the yoke of Buonaparte, after the Spanish nation, though perhaps not finally or wholly subdued, should have been driven from all their cities and strong See Vol. L. (1808) Appendix to Chronicle, p. 285. holds, holds, and forced either to submit to the conquerors, or take refuge for a time in the mountains. The mutual jealousy which subsisted between the house of Austria and the ruler of France had long been apparent to the whole world. It was generally understood, and seriously believed, if we may credit the declarations of the French ministers, that if the Prussians had been the conquerors in the battle of Jena, or the allied armies of Prussia and Russia in that of Friedland, the Austrians pouring down from Bohe mia, would have made an effort for cutting off the retreat of the French to the left bank of the Rhine. A long correspondence on the subject of those preparations on the part of Austria, was maintain ed between the French minister for foreign relations, Champagny, and count Metternich, the Austrian ambassador at, Paris. The count, according to instructions from Vienna, continued almost to the first hostile step taken by his government, to protest in the strongest terms, according to the usual policy of courts preparing for hostilities, that the views of the emperor Francis were wholly pacific. And so, said Buonaparte, they may be, and probably are; but, he said, that there was a party of hot-headed and young men in the Austrian. territories that were employed with unceasing industry to foment a spirit of animosity, hatred, and war against France. That this spirit was nourished, not only by conversation in public places, but by the publication of rumours injurious to France in newspapers in different parts of the Austrian emperor's dominions, and some of them even at Vienna. And it was the decided opinion of Buonaparte, that although both Francis II. and those most in his confidence should be averse to war with France, yet if the movement given to public opinion and public spirit in the Austrian empire should not be sincerely and vigorously checked and repressed by some contrary movement and impulsion, the general voice of that misguided and abused country would sooner or later involve in its rapid current both the emperor and all his court, and precipitate them to inevitable ruin. This salutary counteraction was to be effected only by a general disarming, and every possible encouragement to the pursuit, not of arms, but all the good arts of peace. What was Austria afraid of, that she had carried her war establishment to such a monstrous extent beyond what it used to be, or was at all necessary in a time of peace? He reminded the court of Vienna of his former' moderation; and, he added, in which it is probable in itself and rendered more probable by what has since appeared, he was perfectly sincere that it was no part: of his politics to overthrow, or greatly to humble the house of Austria. If the presence of the French troops in the garrisons of Silesia gave any alarm, they should be withdrawn; if French encampments in any part of Germany gave uneasiness to the emperor Francis, they should be broken up. In short, it appears to have been with an extraordinary degree of earnestness and anxiety that Buonaparte set · himself to incline the Austrian government to remain at peace. The Austrian ministry, still pro testing |