The Speaker observed, that he did not precisely recollect the nature of the commission; but the right honourable gentle man had stated it to be a commission of the crown. If so, that House had not any controul over it; and, as a matter of privilege, he did not know how the House could interfere. Sir J. Newport said the commission was appointed by the crown, on the address of that House. Mr Huskisson contended, that notwithstanding that House had addressed the crown, they must be considered as the commissioners of the crown. He would state also, that the President of the Court of Session having been in town last week, he asked him what progress the commissioners were making, not with any reference to the subject mentioned by the honourable baronet, but because the extension of their labours was necessarily attended with considerable expence. He was informed that they were now employed in carrying on their inquiries into the office of sheriff-depute, and it was expected that much benefit would result from the inquiry. SCOTCH UNIVERSITIES. Lord A. Hamilton asked, whether the drawback on paper used in printing was intended to be allowed to the universities in Scotland. Mr Vansittart replied, that the act in question was not adapted to the object in view, and rather than not allow the indul gence to the universities of Scotland, he should wish to withdraw it altogether. Friday, March 21. Sir Samuel Romilly presented a petition from John Weir, a muslin-manufacturer in Glasgow, complaining of having been snatchel from the bosom of his family in the dead of night, and lodged in prison, under the suspicion of being connected with some se ditious assembly. After having lain in prison for two or three days, he was informed that he would be allowed his discharge. In these circumstances the petitioner humbly hoped that the House would take his case under consideration. On the question that the petition be laid on the table, Mr Finlay said, that the justices had a very painful duty to perform, and he had very little doubt that the matters alledged in the petition were very much exaggerated. He could at least give the magistrates credit for thinking that, at the time the petitioner was arrested, there was sufficient ground of suspicion to justify that arrest. Mr William Smith could not at once, without inquiry, venture to give a negative to the allegations of the petitioner. As to the assertion that there was sufficient ground for his apprehension, there must have been a mistake somewhere, for in a few days he was discharged. After some remarks from Lord Binning, the petition was laid upon the table. Thursday, March 27. Mr William Dundas presented the second report respecting the Jury Court in Scotland, which was ordered to be laid on the table. Lord A. Hamilton presented a petition from Kilwinning, Saltcoats, and Ardrossan, praying for Parliamentary reform and retrenchment. He also presented a similar petition from Queensferry.-Both laid on the table. Mr D. Gilbert presented the first report of the Finance Committee. The report was briefly read by the clerk. That portion which was read, consisting of the introduc tory part of the report, stated, that the first object to which the Committee turned their attention was, what was generally called sinecure places, offices which might be wholly without duties, or for which salaries exceeding the merit of the labour were paid; and they had followed the classification ob served in the sinecure place bill of 1812. They proceeded to examine which of those offices might be wholly abolished, which required reduction, &c; and in pursuance of this arrangement they now declared, respecting offices in England, that the office of Chief Justice of Eyre, north and south of Trent, might be abolished on the decease of the person now holding it; and that the offices of Auditor of the Exchequer, Clerk of the Pells and Tellers of the Exchequer, (four in number,) might be abolished on their becoming vacant; besides those of Warden of the Cinque Ports, Governor of the Isle of Wight, and Commissary-Gene ral of Musters, also on their becoming vacant. This was the whole of what was read. Report ordered to be printed. Friday, March 28. Mr Brougham presented a petition from the merchants, house-holders, and other inhabitants of the royal burgh of Dundee, and its vicinity, who complained of the Suspension of the Habeas Corpus Act and of the Trial by Jury. The petitioners, he ob served, certainly appeared to labour under some mistake, as to the operation of that Bill in Scotland, conceiving it to be a repetition of a former measure; but in conse. quence of the amendment of a Learned Gentleman, who, with his usual discernment, had detected the clause which went to that effect, Scotland was now placed in the same situation as England with respect to this subject. The petitioners next complained of the foul and base assertions which had been so industriously propagated, that a conspiracy existed in Scotland for overthrowing the Government; and that the people in general were disposed to violent and tumultuous measures. They felt themselves called upon to assure the House, that, out of 32,000 inhabitants of Dundee, it was their firm belief (and surely, said Mr Brougham, these respectable merchants and house-holders must know the fact,) that there was not one within the walls of that city who ought to be called a disloyal sub ject; and they were fully persuaded, that all the people of Scotland were sincerely attached to the reigning family, and to the laws and constitution of the country. The petition was ordered to lie on the table. The Solicitor-General moved the order of the day for the consideration of the Lords' amendments to the seditious assembly bill. The first amendment, which extended the penalty as to notices, was negatived, on the suggestion of the Speaker, as interfering with the privileges of the House. Lord Cochrane said he should divide the House on every one of the 55 amendments, and considered the clause against meetings in Palace-yard as intended not for the protection of Parliament or the courts of jus tice, but to protect bad men who were a. fraid of the indignation of the people; knowing, as they did, that their whole object was to establish a military despotism. On the reading of the second amendment, strangers were ordered to withdraw, but no division took place, in consequence, as was understood, of their being no second teller in his Lordship's division. After a variety of observations, the amendments of the Lords were generally agreed to; and on the motion of Mr Lyttleton, the House finally divided upon the question, whether the clause prohibiting the Westminster meetings in Palace Yard should be limited to July 1818, which was negatived by a majority of 113 to 30. A Conference was then appointed with the Lords to communicate the nature of the alterations made. Monday, March 31. by severe indisposition, from attending in his place this day, and that he had received a letter to that effect from the Speaker, which, with the leave of the House, be should read. Leave being granted, he accordingly read a letter, dated, by the Speaker, as yesterday, expressing his extreme regret that the severity of his indisposition should unavoidably prevent his attending his duties this day. He at the same time requested that the House would excuse bis absence; and he further intimated, that from the state of his illness, he feared that he would not be able to attend sooner than the termination of the week, but that be would use every endeavour to attend in his place as soon as the state of his health would permit, and resume his official duties; and he requested that the permission of the House might be respectfully solicited to this effect. The Chancellor of the Exchequer imme. diately rose, and said, that he was extremely sorry for the suspension of public busi ness, arising out of the situation of the health of the Right Honourable the Speaker, just communicated to them by his own letter. He was sure the House truly partici pated with him in regret for such indispo sition, which prevented that Right Hon. Gentleman, from whose unabated zeal and attention to the public business the House had derived such important advantages, from attending in his place an indisposi tion which he was sure every man who heard him must deeply regret, because it arose in a great degree from his indefatigable attentions to his duties immediately previ ous to the last adjournment. The Speaker in his letter only requested indulgence until the commencement of the ensuing week; but although his zeal would prompt him to attend in his place as soon as it was at all possible, yet, from the communications made to himself in private by the Right Hon. Gentleman, he feared that his attend. ing as soon as Monday se'nnight would ra ther produce the effect of a relapse to his illness; and he therefore hoped the House would wish to allow him the longest day possible, without absolute inconvenience to the public business, in order to a perfect reestablishment of his health, which alone would enable him to discharge those im The House, after some routine business, portant duties which his high station impoadjourned to this day fortnight. sed upon him. He should, therefore, with the leave of the House, propose an adjourn ment to Thursday se'nnight. Mr Ponsonby, Mr Grattan, Mr Broug ham, and Mr Calcraft, fully concurred in what had been observed by the Chancellor of the Exchequer, and the House adjourned accordingly. Historical Affairs. EAST INDIES. THE Madras Gazettes of the 20th Janu ary, contain an account of the ravages f the Pindarees, and of their subsequent expulsion from the territories of the Commany, by the activity of the British troops. The Pindarees appear to be a species of light avalry, well adapted, by the celerity of heir movements, to carry on the trade of marauders. They always avoid close acion, and, as it is scarcely possible to come up with them, except by surprise, the counry may be ravaged and destroyed to a coniderable extent by this barbarous enemy Dafore he can be checked. On the 19th of December, a body of these Danditti, to the number of 6000 or 7000, entered the district of Ganjam, and advaning rapidly on the town of Kemmedy, set ire to it in several places, and committed great depredations there and in the surFounding country. They were, however, ollowed up with great spirit by separate Betachments of our troops, some of whom came up with and severely chastised the inwaders, who have been wholly driven from he Company's territories. On their retreat, which was effected with great rapidity, hey destroyed the country through which hey passed, by pillage and fire. It is said to be the intention of the East India Company to pursue the Pindarees in. o the heart of the Mahratta territories. The Government of Madras published, on he 7th January, a proclamation, declaring martial law to be in force in every district n which they shall appear. A rumour was Drevalent some time ago of a Chinese army, mounting to one hundred thousand men, having advanced to the southward of Lassa, with an intention of attacking the Rajah of Nepaul. It is true that a force of about en thousand men did advance in that diection, but the object of the movement is not exactly known. Letters from KatmanHoo state, this force had lately broken up is encampment, and retired to the interior of China. SOUTH AMERICA. REVOLUTION IN THE BRAZILS. By his Majesty's ship Tigris, Capt. Henderson, arrived at Portsmouth, from St Kitt's in 42 days, Government have received dispatches from Rear-Admiral Harvey, with the important intelligence of a revolution, which took place at Pernambuco on the 6th March, and which had since extended to the province of Seara ; and fears were entertained for Maranham, Bahia, and several other of the northern provinces. The immediate cause of the revolution is stated to be the universal discontent which prevailed among the soldiers, from not receiving pay nor the means of subsistence; and among the people, in consequence of the rigorous conscriptions and excessive contributions which had been imposed on them, for the sake of the meditated conquests in Paraguay, and on the Rio de la Plata. It appears certain that the Court of Rio Janeiro had intelligence for some time of conspiracies in different districts of the northern provinces; and it had transpired that, on a given day, the troops were to receive orders for the military execution of 150 leading individuals, civil and military, in those parts. An accident precipitated Search the execution of the meditated revolution. A Colonel of a regiment having, for some unknown cause, accused one of his officers, on the parade, of being a trajtor, the latter, who was really implicated in the conspiracy, imagining that he had been discovered, and that this was the signal for the massacre, drew his sword, and laid the Colonel dead at his feet. The bells were then rung, and the population of the place, as well as the troops, rose, with one consent, seized the shipping in the river, which they stripped of their guns and ammunition. was also made for arms of every kind. A strict embargo was laid on the foreign ships in the harbour, which was evaded only by the ship Rowena, an English vessel, which effected her escape, and brought the news to the Leeward Islands. The Governor of Pernambuco at first thought of resistance, but found the whole force that he could rely on consisted only of his personal staff, He retired, however, to the fort, where he was compelled next day to surrender. He was not molested in his person or property, and time was allowed him to depart for Rio Janeiro, which he did. At Pernambuco a Provisional Government of five persons was established; British property was respected, and all vessels carry, earrying the British flag were allowed free ingress and egress. On the 10th the government published the following procla. mation, entitled "A Summary of the Events which have ta ken place in Pernambuco, since the accomplishment of the most fortunate and glorious Revolution in the town of Recije, on the 6th of the present month of March, when the glorious efforts of our brave Pa triots exterminated from that part of Brazil, the internal monster of Royal Tyranny "After abusing our patience to so great a degree, by a system of administration formed on purpose to support the vanities of an insolent Court, by trampling on our lawful rights, it still remained to attack our honour, by branding us with the black title of traitors to our friends, our relations, and fellow subjects of Portugal; and this was perhaps the only thing wanting in the poli. tical machine of the insidious Government of Pernambuco, now happily destroyed. The perfidious Governor began by laying snares for our simplicity, publicly proclaimed on the 5th of this month, that he was the sincere friend of the people of Pernambuco, and that they shared his affection; writing these treacherous lines with the same pen with which he had just filled up the list of persons proscribed in the secrecy of his cabinet, to be delivered into the hands of the executioner-a list including Brazilians of all classes, the most spirited youth of the country, the bravest officers of the army; in one word, the young of the greatest hope and most distinguished personal merit. At last the morning of the 6th dawned, when the dungeons were to be filled with so many noble patriots, and their families were to be overwhelmed with grief and tears. The wicked Governor calls a Council of War, composed of officers, all envious of our glory; and after having sign. ed, along with them, the atrocious condem nation of those innocent victims, the persons who appeared most fit for executing the deed were immediately dispatched to accomplish it; some run to the barracks, others to private houses; the prisons were everywhere crowded, and already begun to be opened in order to ingulph our worthy patriots one by one. But here our countrymen showed that they were capable of proving that disobedience has all the merit of heroism in certain cases, and that this happens when the cause of our country is at stake. A brave Captain gave to all the sighal of their duty, by sending to the infernal regions the principal agent of this most unjust execution. The people ran to arms, and a few hours of that day were sufficient to begin and to finish so glorious a révolu tion, which appeared rather a festival of peace than a warlike tumult; and which affords an evident proof, that the whole is the work of Providence, and a blessing from the Omnipotent. The ex-General bad retired to the fortress of Brum; and where he expected to find a place of security, he he had recourse to pacific proposals, which concluded on terms to which be was ob "On the 8th, the Provisional Government was installed, consisting of five pa triots taken from the different classes; which Government has been constantly sitting: their first care was to undeceive our countrymen of Portugal, respecting the fears and distrusts with which the partizan of tyranny had inspired them; receiving them all with open arms, securing their families, their persons, and their property from all kinds of injury, preserving them in their trades and employments with greater freedom than before; in short, publicly proclaiming at once the sentiments of the Government and the people; and that henceforth there should be no distinction between us as Brazilians and Europeans, but that we should look on each other as one and the same family, with equal right to one and the same inheritance, which is the general prosperity of the whole of this province. "On the 9th every thing was continued in the same spirit of concord and general tranquillity, the people not perceiving any other change, except the care of government applied exclusively to promote internal and external security, by well directed measures; endeavouring to remove difficulties by distributing the conduct of matters of the greatest importance among committees of persons of the most acknowledged capa city for the task assigned them; by which means they have succeeded in making their deliberations entirely popular. On the same day government continued sitting till midnight to prepare several decrees, which were issued to-day; the most important of them being to continue the public functionaries in their employments as formerly, without removing any one from his office; to prohibit the usual forms of intercourse, with out admitting any other than that of “* You,” in addressing the Government; to abolish some of the late imposts, which were mani festly unjust, and which oppress the people without affording any advantage to the nation, &c. And such is our present political and civil condition, the 10th day of March, 1817. Our Country for Ever.Long live the Patriots, and may Royal Tyranny cease for ever!" The Superior, from Maranham, brings accounts till the 10th April; every thing there was quiet.-Eighty or ninety of the Portuguese from Pernambuco had arrived there with specie (having fled, not having confidence in the new order of things) and were investing it in cottons for Portugal, which had raised prices. At the pass of Seara (about fifty miles from Maranham) the insurgents' cause predominated. The following letter from Bahia, begun on the 20th and ended on the 30th March, shews the general alarm felt in that quar ter. March 20.-A serious revolution has just broken out at Pernambuco. We hear nothing of Para nor ́of Marignan, and the severe precautions taken by the Government prove, that a single grain of power may embrace mountains. For a long time the colonists of Brazil have been upon bad terms with the Europeans of Lisbon, who possess the civil and military employments. Secret intelligence was kept up along the whole line of coast-the 7th April, the day fixed for the King's coronation, was to be the sig. nal for a general revolt. Pernambuco accelerated it. Eighty families, alarmed at the first crisis, have abandoned every thing to escape to this port. March 22, at night.-A coasting vessel has been off the port this morning. A spy who had her in view, went on board in the disguise of a fisherman, to take cognizance of the crew. A monk and General Officer, and two other persons were arrested. They came from Pernambuco with proclamations, which have been seized. March 25. The monk is the only one on trial; the General Officer found means to escape to a convent, from which they dare not take him. March 26.-Two regiments of cavalry set off for Pernambuco this morning; infantry are to follow. The French vessel that is here does not sail. The Government oppose it. Discontent increases greatly. In the coffeehouses there are groups that alarm us. March 27.-The monk is condemned, and will be executed to-morrow or next day. He said to the President of the Military Commission-" If it be my turn to-day, your's will come soon." The assemblages continue; this is very disquieting. March 29.-The monk was executed this morning. After having dictated his will, he said to the crowd, My blood is about to flow for liberty, why is it not the last? Whilst the crowd were following the monk, the Governor embarked two regiments of infantry, which have sailed. They are going to Sergipe, where the germ of revolution has developed itself. Two frigates and several brigs will sail to-morrow, with artillery and provisions for the troops. The negroes give us alarm: several have been hung. The unexpected departure of the troops, the arrest of 60 persons of the town and environs of Bahia, the murmurs, the menacing attitude of the negroes, aug. ment and feed our fears. No ship can sail-they do not wish the details to transpire in the Brazils, where all the elements of a general rising are but too powerful. March 30.-The negroes are continual objects of dread.-They are taken up and flogged; but they threaten whilst they are under punishment. If they throw themselves into the scale the result will be frightful. REVOLUTION IN CHILI. This extensive province, one of the finest and most productive which the Spanish monarchy possessed in the new world, has also declared its independence. By the Colonel Allan, Capt. M'Lennan, arrived from the North West Company's settlement, on the river Columbia, and last from Buenos Ayres, letters and gazettes to the 16th of March have been received, which state, that the Buenos Ayres army, commanded by General San Martin, and destined to free Chili from its Spanish oppressors, has met with most complete success. On the 12th February, the Patriots met the Royalists near Chabuco, defeated them in a general action, and the result of this victory was the complete downfall of Spanish power in this interesting portion of the South American continent. A new form of Government was instantly organized in the capital of Santiago, and the Supreme Directorship confided to Don Barnardo O'. Higgins, who issued a proclamation, congratulatory of the event, to the people of Chili. On the 13th March, three of the enc. my's standards, two taken on the coast of Valparaiso and the other at Llamparaes, in Upper Peru, reached Buenos Ayres. The former Spanish Governor of Chili, Marco del Pont, had been taken by the Patriots, The brave army of the Andes, with Gene. ral San Martin at its head, had covered it. self with glory, and was expected to recross the |