general Freyre acknowledged the provisional government, as competent to act until the assembling of congress. In March, three provisional assemblies met, to regulate the mode of electing deputies from the different provinces to the congress. It was determined that the election should be popular, and on the scale of one deputy for every 15,000 inhabitants.

The provinces were not satisfied with a junta elected without their concurrence in St. Jago, and composed exclusively of inhabitants of that city. It was therefore held expedient to place the executive power in a single hand: and, on the 3rd of April, Freyre was installed in the office of director by plenipotentiaries from the provisional assemblies.

During the remainder of the year, the Chilian government was chiefly occupied with making the requisite preparations for assisting Peru to expel the Spaniards. To this purpose was devoted a considerable part of the proceeds of the loan, which had been raised in England in the preceding year.

Buenos Ayres continued to prosper under the administration of Rivadavia. So prosperous was the state of the finances, that the revenue for the first six months of the current year exceeded the expenses by several hundred thousand dollars. The interior of the country was still occasionally disturbed by armed bands, who annoyed and sometimes plundered the unprotected inhabitants of the plains. The privilege which the military had enjoyed of not being amenable to the civil courts of justice, was abolished, and all citizens, without exception, were declared subject to one and the same law. The government was much dissatisfied with the pro

ceedings of their neighbour, the emperor of Brazil, who was endeavouring to annex to his dominions Monte Video, together with the Banda Oriental (the east side of the river Plate); though Buenos Ayres had always claimed that fortress and that province as part of her confederate territory. In order to arrange the dispute, a plenipotentiary was sent from Buenos Ayres to Rio de Janeiro.

On the 4th of July, a preliminary convention was signed by Pereyra and Robla commissioners from Spain on the one part, and Rivadavia on the other, by which hostilities between the mother country and her colonies were suspended, and the basis was laid for a permanent peace. By a law of the same date, the executive was invested with power, upon the conclusion of a definitive treaty founded on that convention, to negociate with the other independent states of South America for voting to Spain, in order to assist her in the struggle with France, the same sum which the French chambers had granted for carrying on the war against her. This plan, if matured, might have had the happiest results by connecting the recognition of the independence of the colonies with the recollection of benefits received by the parent state. Unfortunately, the course of events in Spain rendered all these schemes abortive.

In August, a slight misunderstanding on a point of etiquette occurred between the government of Buenos Ayres and captain Willis, of the Brazen sloop of war, which was stationed in the river Plate. It had been the practice of English men of war lying in the outer roads of Buenos Ayres, to board all English vessels bound in

wards; but the government had lately stationed a gun-brig in the outer roads, with orders to board all vessels entering, before any boat from the English sloop of war should visit them. Accordingly, a boat being sent from the Brazen, to board an inward bound ship, it was fired on by the gun-boat. Captain Willis demanded an apology from the government, which was refused, and a correspondence ensued between him and Rivadavia, in which it must be confessed the advantage in respect of good sense and moderation was not on the side of our countryman. At last, the latter was ordered on board his ship within two hours. With this order he complied, but declared his determination to prevent all English vessels from entering, and proceeded immediately to act on that determination. On the despatches with this intelligence reaching Rio de Janeiro, sir T. Hardy immediately sailed for the river Plate. Upon his arrival there, the governor of Buenos Ayres, through a person deputed for that purpose, solicited some expression of opinion on his part with regard to the correspondence which had taken place between them and captain Willis; but he replied, that as the affair had already been referred to the British government, he saw no necessity

On ques

for his interference. tioning the messenger what sort of reception he himself might expect if he paid a visit to Buenos Ayres, sir Thomas Hardy was informed that the members of the government were most anxious for that honour, and that he might depend on every act of courtesy and attention which it was in their power to offer him. While the admiral remained there, the utmost harmony existed between him and the native authorities; so that all the apprehensions were effaced, which had been excited by the dispute with captain Willis.

Hayti continued tranquil. To remove the alarms which some entertained with respect to the danger which might arise to the European West-Indian colonies from intercourse with a free negro state, the president Boyer, on the 20th of March, issued a proclamation forbidding Haytian vessels to anchor or touch at any of the neighbouring islands.

Porto Rico renewed its declaration of independence, after the news arrived of Ferdinand's departure from Cadiz. The project of the adventurers, who had established themselves there towards the end of the former year under the style of a new republic, was suppressed; and some of the participators in it were executed.

JANUARY.

Tstatement of the quantity of wine exported from Oporto during the year 1822, viz-To England and its dependencies, 27,535 pipes; Hamburgh, 111; Holland, 37; South America, 20; Denmark, 19; Sweden, 16; Leghorn, 6; Trieste, 3; Genoa, 2; Russia, 1; France, 1. FOREIGN STOCK EXCHANGE.A room was opened in Capelcourt, closely adjoining the Stock Exchange, for effecting transactions in the foreign securities, which had been previously conducted openly on the Royal Exchange.

HE following is the official

WILD WOMAN.-A wild woman was lately found in Spain, in the Sierra de Montero, a desolate and rude range of mountains in the south. She had been seen occasionally by the goat-herds, as they wandered through the mountains. The tale at length reached Cordova, and the authorities sent officers in pursuit of her, who succeeded in apprehending her, and lodged her in one of the public hospitals of that city. She was not altogether destitute of understanding, nor ignorant of language, as she could say a few words, such as pepa (papa), gato (a cat), campo (the country), and some few others. When she was asked, if she would like to return to the country, she nodded her head in the affirmative. She eat whatever was given to her, but preferred unVOL. LXV.

cooked meats and vegetables. At first, cooked victuals did not agree with her, and made her sick;

she eat with an extraordinary

appetite; her clothes appeared as if they were placed on a stick; her arms were tied, because she was always tearing her shoes, in spite of every care that was taken to prevent her. Sometimes she threw off all her garments, and ran out quite naked. She has been found, after an interval of two days, coiled up in a place full of mire; and at another time she has been discovered in the dunghill of the stable. She was about sixteen years old, of a short stature, a deep brown colour, protruding lips, and so rough as in appearance almost to resemble a wolf. She slept by day as well as by night, without any regularity, and generally coiled up. Sometimes her sleep continued for twenty-eight hours successively, either in bed or on the ground, with or without covering. She kept her eyes mostly closed, and when she was alone, she would cry for three hours together, and for the next three hours would laugh. The duke de Riva, the constitutional alcalde of Cordova, took a great deal of trouble to find out the origin of this female; but it baffled all his inquiries. It was supposed that she belonged to parents not less wild than herself, who were still undiscovered in the mountains.

FRENCH MARRIAGES. . The following advertisement appeared lately in the Petites Affiches of

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