perhaps from them is to be expected any great forwardness to propose alterations which would tend to limit their authority. In the present dubious and unsettled state of politics, the maintenance of a powerful military force would naturally appear - the most important object to the Sovereigns whose respective influence is to regulate the final decision.Prussia, as the least considerable of these powers, in respect to territory, has thought it necessary to pay particular attention to this point; and in the month of September an ordinance was published at Berlin, by which all the old laws for the completing of the military establishment were abolished, and a number of articles were decreed for the regulation of the armed force of the country, under the three heads of the permanent army, the land wehr of the first and second requisition, and the landsturm.It begins with the declaration, that every individual born a Prussian subject, and having completed his 20th year, is bound to defend his country; an obligation that cannot justly be regarded as a hardship, if the call to arms be for the purpose of real defence, and not of aggrandisement. In order to obviate the complaint made against the French conscription, that it deranged all the plans for the education of youth, it is here provided that the age for entering the military service, shall be twenty years complete; though youths of seventeen offering themselves shall be accepted, if qualified by their physical powers.

It was perhaps less to have been expected that at the present juncture religion should have been another matter for the regulation of the Prussian Government. The

minister for the home department published at Berlin a notification relative to the state of public worship, which began by regretting the want of sufficient awfulness and solemnity in the ceremonial of Protestant worship, in which the sermon is the chief object of regard, the liturgic part being defective, and in great measure left to the discretion of the minister.It was then said that many of the clergy of Berlin and Brandenburg had applied to the King on the subject, whose views coinciding with their's, it was his Majesty's will that a select committee of the clergy should examine the liturgies and religious ceremonies of the foreign Protestant Churches, in order to draw up from them the best form for divine service.Several clergymen were then nominated to compose this committee, which was to receive contributions and proposals from Divines of both the Protestant persuasions (Lutheran and Calvinist), and pay them proper attention. It remains to be seen whether this attempt to produce uniformity in the ritual of religion will be attended with better success than so many others which have been made in different ages and countries.

The intelligence from the Austrian Court during the latter half of the year has chiefly consisted in relations of the festivities and splendors attending the presence of so many Sovereigns assembled at the Congress, the magnificence displayed at which rather corresponds with the idea of a state of long peace and prosperity, than of the close of a most ruinous war, and dilapidated finances. The Emperor of Russia and the King of Prussia made their

solemn entry into Vienna on the 25th of September, having been met at some distance by the Emperor of Austria, accompanied by all the Archdukes, and followed by his Generals and Courtiers in all the pomp of military and courtly parade. The preparations made for the accommodation and entertainment of the Sovereigns, were in the highest style of costly grandeur.. When business came to be discussed among the ministers of the several powers, it was found that so much previous labour was requisite to bring the questions for determination to a due state of maturity, that a declaration was issued for adjourning the formal opening of the Congress to November 1st. After this period had arrived, every political pen in Germany seems to have been employed in conjectures and pretended discoveries relative to the great affairs under conside ration, and the intentions of the leading potentates, and nothing could be more fluctuating and contradictory than the intelligence communicated under the article Vienna, in the public papers.The particulars under discussion by the Congress were of course kept secret; but it was well known that the future condition of Saxony and Poland occupied a large share of its attention. The fate of Saxony, indeed, appears to have been fully settled by two of the powers, Russia and Prussia, before the Congress commenced its sittings. Prince Repnin, the Russian Governor of Dresden, sent, on November 3, a notification to the Saxon authorities, acquainting them, that by a letter from the minister of state, Baron de Stein, he had been informed of a convention concluded

at Vienna, on Sept. 28, in virtue of which the Emperor of Russia, in concert with Austria and Eng land, was to put into the hands of the King of Prussia the administration of the kingdom of Saxony; and that he had in consequence received orders to consign the government of that country to persons provided with proper powers by his Prussian Majesty, in order thus to operate the union of Saxony with Prussia, which will soon take place in a manner more solemn and formal." The Prince proceeds to say, that King Frederic William, in quality of future Sovereign of the country, has declared, that it is not his intention to incorporate Saxony to his estates as a province, but to unite it to Prussia under the title of the Kingdom of Saxony, to give it the advantages which the constitution of Germany shall secure to those kingdoms which make a part of the Prussian monarchy, and to change nothing in its present constitution; and further, that the Emperor Alexander has testified the private satisfaction which that declaration has caused him. Prince Repnin announced the same determination in the farewell speech which he delivered at Dresden on Nov. 8, when he formally resigned his authority to the Prussian civil and military governors, at which time the Russian troops had orders to evacuate Saxony, and give place to the Prussian. We since know, however, that although the Courts of Austria and Great Britain agreed to the provisional occupation of that country by Prussia, they considered its final possession as still a subject of discussion in the Congress, and that the question re

mained for a long time undecided. The unfortunate King of Saxony, immediately after he had learned this transfer of the occupation of his country, published a declaration expressing his "lively feelings of grief" at the event, asserting his inviolable right to be reinstated in his royal authority, and positively affirming that he would never consent to the cession of the states inherited from his ancestors, or accept any indemnity or equivalent that might be offered to him.

Of the other public events in Europe during this year, we find none that is of importance to record, unless an occurrence on the barbarous confines of Turkey be of that description. It was mentioned, in the history of 1812, that in the treaty of Peace between the Russian and Ottoman Courts, it was agreed on the part of the latter, that the revolted Servians should receive a full amnesty, and that the Turkish fortresses erected in their country should be demolished, and

These

the garrisons withdrawn. conditions, it is said, were violated The most arbitrary and oppressive extortions were practised on the Servians, whose patience being exhausted, they resisted some of these exactions by force of arms. A rigorous order for disarming all the Christians was then issued, which was eluded by the concealment of arms; and the Turkish spahis and beys being let loose upon the people, such severities ensued, that a partial rebellion was the result. The ringleaders were seized, many of them were put to death, and with true Turkish cruelty, forty-two Servians were exhibited impaled at Belgrade on October 29 and 30. The Servians retaliated early in November by massacring all the Turks who fell in their way, and plundering their property. The pashaw then obtained a reinforcement of 5,000 men from Bosnia, and a sanguinary war was raging in that quarter at the close of the year.

H AVING now brought to the

close of the year our summary of the most important public occurrences on the European continent, we turn our view upon Great Britain, and to those domestic transactions which, if affording less splendid matter for narration, can never want interest for the English reader.

Parliament having met on March 1st, after the adjournment, a message was received by both Houses from the Prince Regent, recommending a further adjournment to the 21st of the Month. In the House of Lords, a motion for adjournment being in consequence made, the Marquis of Lansdowne rose to say, that he had no intention to oppose the motion, though he felt some reluctance at concurring in it, since he could not hold it as a doctrine, that because one important branch of public business could not be proceeded with (alluding to the pending negociations), the prosecution of all other business should be suspended. A great quantity of private and other business stood for discussion

which parliament was pledged to take into its most serious consideration during this session, and why might it not in the mean time be proceeded with? The hearing of appeal causes was another matter of such great interest, that their Lordships had thought it requisite to alter the whole scheme of the courts of justice in order to give it greater facilities; surely with the resolution of proceeding in them with promptitude and dispatch. Though he would not throw any obstacles in the way of the motion, he had thought it his duty to call their lordships' attention to the sacrifices they were making in giving their concurrence.

The Earl of Liverpool found it. necessary to say but a few words with reference to what had been observed by the noble marquis. He would throw himself upon the indulgence of their lordships, on the question of the propriety of an adjournment. The Prince Regent's ministers had taken into their consideration the possible or probable inconveniences that might arise from the measure, and the

result was, that no inconvenience was likely to arise from it, equal to that which might accrue from, the parliament's continuing to sit. This was all that he conceived it proper at present to say on the subject.

After a few remarks from other members, which it is not material to notice, the motion for adjournment was put and carried without opposition.

In the House of Commons, on March 1st, after an unprecedented number of private bills had been read for the first time, upon a motion for a new writ for the borough of Eye in the room of Sir W. Garrow, who had accepted the office of Chief Justice of Chester, Sir Samuel Romily rose, and observed, that the gentleman in re spect of whom the motion had been made, being his majesty's Attorney General, had not resigned, nor did mean to resign, that office on his acceptance of the high judicial office described in the motion. To him it appeared that the two offices were incompatible. The one being a lucrative office held at the sole pleasure of the crown, its tenure was inconsistent with that independence of the judges which it was so important to preserve inviolate. Besides, to place as a judge over the subject an attorney-general, whose duty it was to maintain the rights of the crown against the subject, was not the way to insure the equal administration of justice. These two offices had indeed at former periods been held by the same per son, as in the instances of lord Kenyon and lord Alvanley; but it was a misfortune that these cases

had been allowed to pass without

comment. He trusted that he should not be understood as meaning any thing disrespectful to the learned gentleman in question, who had merely done as others had done before him; but he had felt it his duty to throw out these observations, on which, however, he did not mean to found any motion. No other remarks were made on the subject, and the motion for the writ passed of course.

The adjournment to March 21st, was moved in this House by the Chancellor of the Exchequer, in the same manner as in the other, by way of communication from the Prince Regent, and as its being "his pleasure." Mr. Whitbreud, after observing that he had no hesitation in voting for an adjournment, and for an acquiescence in the pleasure of his Royal Highness, owned that he entertained some apprehensions, lest the present proceedings should be drawn to a pernicious precedent. He wished therefore to have some records on the Journals of the house, of the grounds on which parliament had been induced to take such a step. In consequence, he moved an amendment to the right hon. gentleman's motion, which, after expressing a cheerful compliance with the pleasure of his Royal Highness, notwithstanding the recent adjournment of the House, at a season when so many matters of the greatest importance pressed themselves upon its consideration, concluded with "trusting that the unexampled state of public affairs upon the continent of Europe will afford a justification of their conduct to their constituents, and to posterity, prevent its being drawn into pernicious precedent,