time had his men nearly all sick, but had only lost one, (the carpenter) and he was drowned by accident. Sixteen of the Congo's men were in a convalescent state. Such was their situation when the ships reached St Salvador. We lament to learn, that when the Dorothy was at Cabenda, there were ten Portuguese ships in the port waiting for slaves, and two from Spain. Professor Smith had died on board the Congo.

Since the above were received, the detailed accounts of the Expedition reached the Admiralty. Melancholy as the result has been, from the great mortality of the officers and men, owing to excessive fatigue, rather than to the effects of climate, the Journals of Captain Tuckey and the Gentlemen of the scientific departments are, we understand, highly interesting and satisfactory, as far as they go; and we believe they extend considerably beyond the first rapids or cataract.It would seem, indeed, from the extract of a letter from the surgeon of the Congo, inserted below, that the mortality was entirely owing to the land journey beyond these rapids, and that Capt. Tuckey died of extreme exbaustion, after leaving the river, and not, from fever. The climate, we understand, was remarkably fine; scarcely a shower of rain, or any humidity in the atmosphere, and the sun seldom shining out but for a few hours in the middle of the day; Fahrenheit's thermometer seldom exceed ing 76 degrees by day, and never descending below 60 degrees at night -such a climate, in fact, as one would wish to live in; but an anxious zeal and over eagerness to accomplish the objects of the expedition, and to acquire all the information that could possibly be obtained, seem to have actuated every one, from the lamented commander to the common seaman and private marine, and led them to attempt more than the human consti

tution was able to bear. The total number of deaths amounts to 18, of which 14 were on the land expedition. They consist of

Captain Tuckey, Commander of the Expedition.

Lieutenant Hawkey, Lieutenant of the Congo.

Mr Professor Smith, Botanist. Mr Tudor, Comparative Anatomist. Mr Cranch, Collector of objects of Natural History.

Mr Galwey, a friend of Captain Tuckey, who volunteered from pure love of science.

Mr Eyre the purser.

The names of the remainder have not been returned.

The Dorothy transport that accompanied the Congo into the river lost but one man, and he fell overboard and was drowned.

Extract of a Letter from Mr Mac

kerrow, Surgeon of the Congo.

"Of the eighteen who died in the river, fourteen had been on shore, marching for some time, and were far advanced before reaching the

ship.

Professor Smith, who saw many of them when taken ill, gave to some a dose of calomel, but to others nothing had been administered.

"The fever appeared in some de gree contagious, as all the attendants upon the sick were attacked, and before we left the river, it pervaded nearly the whole crew, also some of the transports; but as for myself, although constantly among them, I did not feel the slightest indisposition until we left the coast, when I was attacked; however, I considered mental anxiety and disturbed rest as the sole causes.

"Captain Tuckey had been afflicted many years with chronic hepatitis, and on returning from travelling five weeks on shore, he was so excessively reduced, that all attempts to restore

the

the energy of his system proved ineffectual.

"Mr Tudor was in the last stage of fever before I saw him, as were Mess. Cranch and Galwey.

which conferred on him the title of Viscount Stanhope of Port Malion, in 1777; and, in the course of the next year, he was promoted to the dignity of an Earldom.

:

"Mr Eyre had a violent fever, and on the third day breathed his last : before death a yellow suffusion had taken place, with vomiting of matter resembling coffee ground."

P. S. We have just learned, on the best authority, that the Journal of the Expedition will be immediately published. The collection of natural history, which is extensive and valuable, is expected home in a few weeks.Government have determined immediately to fit out another expedition.

Biographical Notice of the late Right

Honourable Earl STANHOPE.

THE Stanhopes are connected with

the history of this country by their diplomatic transactions, and their military exploits. No fewer than three of them have been ennobled. That of which we now treat is descended 'from the Chesterfield branch; and James, first Earl of Stanhope, may be considered as the founder of this house. Having been bred to the career of arms, he served as a volunteer in Flanders, soon after the revolution; and, having distinguished himself at the siege of Barcelona, he became commander-in-chief of the British forces in Spain. It was he who reduced the island of Minorca, an event

His son, (Philip,) the second Earl, while a minor, was confided to the guardianship of the celebrated Philip Dormer, Earl of Chesterfield, who wished, of course, to make a fine gentleman of him. But he chose rather to become a great mathematician, and actually distinguished himself as such, by his scientific knowledge. As a politician and a patriot, he opposed the American war, and died March 7, 1786.

Philip, the third Earl, and eldest surviving son of the second, by Grizel Hamilton, grand-daughter of the Ear! of Haddington, of whom we now treat, was born on August 3, 1753. When only eight years of age, he was sent for his education to Eton, where he remained until he was ten. As the health of his elder brother rendered a change of climate necessary, the whole family repaired to the Continent, and settled for some years at Geneva.— On his death, which followed soon after, Philip became Viscount Mahon, and was placed under the tuition of the celebrated Monsieur Le Sage, who kept up a correspondence with several of the foreign academies.

Like his father, he now devoted himself chiefly to scientific pursuits, and, at the age of eighteen, became a candidate for, and actually obtained the premium offered by, the Swedish Society of Arts and Sciences, for a Treatise on the Structure of the Pendulum. On this occasion, his thesis was written in the French language, which argues no small skill in a foreign idiom, at so early a period of life, and after such a short residence on the Continent.

Returning from the neighbourhood of Switzerland, so celebrated in the annals of freedom, and from a town where he claimed the rights of citi zenship,

zenship, on account of his devotion to the popular party there, Lord Mahon determined to assert those principles with which he was early and deeply embued, in the senate of his native country. Accordingly, in the zutumn of 1774, he offered himself a candidate to represent the second city in the kingdom; but, having failed in Westminster, where neither his principles nor pretensions were sufficiently known, he was afterwards returned, or rather nominated, for the Borough of High Wycombe, where the late Marquis of Lansdown, then Earl of Shelburne, possessed a preponderant influence.

From this time Lord Stanhope took an active part in every public measure. Without attaching himself closely to any party, he took on every question the highest ground in favour of popular rights. He entertained the profoundest veneration for the late Earl of Chatham, and joined with that nobleman in opposing the progress of the American war. When Lord North, however, was driven from administration, he declined all place or pension. He afterwards took a most active part in the question of parliamentary reform. In 1788, at the period of his Majesty's illness, he shewed his independence by joining Mr Pitt on the question of the regency, maintaining the principle, that all power emanated from the people. In 1789, he was chairman to a meeting convoked for the purpose of celebrating the French revolution. In 1799, he opposed most zealously the revolutionary war; and moved an address, praying his majesty to ac knowledge the French republic. Being unsupported on this occasion, he acquired the appellation of the "minority of one." Soon after, he moved an enquiry into the sentence pronounced against Muir, and entered a protest against the proceedings of the Court of Justiciary in Scotland. In 1795, he was called to the chair to celebrate the acquittal of those who

had been tried for high treason; one of whom had been tutor to his own sons. Soon after, on the rejection of a motion against interfering in the internal concerns of France, he took leave, for a time, of the House of Lords; and did not re-appear till 1800. He has since continued to follow uniformly the same line of political conduct.

One of the most meritorious aims which Lord Stanhope proposed in his exertions was the improvement and simplification of the penal laws.

In 1789, during a debate on the Act of Uniformity, he pointed out all the statutes still existing against those who dissent from the established religion. On this occasion he contrasted their cruelty and absurdity with the enlightened notions of the present day; and could only apologize for their original introduction, on account of the darkness of the age in which, and the ignorance of the persons by whom they were introduced. Some of these, he undertook to prove, contained "rank blasphemy;" and he quoted the concurrent opinions of the Lords Chatham and Mansfield, to prove the policy, as well as justice, of religious toleration; but, being opposed by the bench of bishops, his amendment was lost.

Nothing discouraged by the fate of this Bill, he gave notice of another, for the purpose of repealing an act of the 27th of Henry VIII. and thereby preventing vexatious suits and prosecutions on the part of that denomination of Christians called Quakers. He stated that, at Coventry, six of this respectable body had been prosecuted for refusing to pay Easter offerings, which in the whole amounted to but two shillings. For this trifling sum they had been summoned before the Spiritual Court, where their expences amounted to £.1651 6, in addition to their own proctor's bill of £.128 16. At Worcester, a man of some property had been thrown into the common

17

jail for refusing to pay his tithes, which amounted to only five shillings. The last of his public labours was one of great importance to this country, no less than the simplification of the laws, by a new arrangement, in respect to the statutes. We are hap. py to state, that his lordship succeeded on this occasion.

was

When the plan for the equalization of weights and measures brought into Parliament last session, Lord Stanhope proved that he had thought profoundly on that important subject. His arguments convinced the House that the measure, as then proposed, was inexpedient-that it ought to be delayed and brought forward on a more scientific plan. The vote on this occasion was unanimous.

We have now to consider Lord Stanhope as a man of science. It has been seen that while yet a boy he exhibited talents well adapted for philosophical inquiry; and the proceedings of the Royal Society bear ample testimony, that the pursuits of his more mature years fully realized the promise of his youth. As it would require an Encyclopedia to record and explain all his plans, inventions, and discoveries, we shall therefore be content merely to enumerate them.

1. He proposed to detect, and even to prevent all fraudulent practices, both in respect to coinage and bank notes, by employing a superior class of artists; so as to preclude the possibility of imitation on the part of bung lers and incompetent persons.

2. He instituted a variety of experiments, for the best and cheapest methods of securing buildings from fire, the particulars of which are detailed in the Philosophical Transactions for 1773. This object was effected by means of "under-flooring," or a total exclusion of the current of air-and the trial was performed in presence of thousands, at his seat at Chevening, in Kent; on which occasion a wooden staircase, and indeed a wooden house, which had been previously secured by

his composition, seemed to be indestructible by fire.

3. A new method of burning lime, by means of a kiln, aided by a windfurnace. The cement, by this operation, becomes more hard and durable.

4. A mode of roofing houses, by means of a composition of tar, chalk, and well-washed sand.

5. Several new electrical experiments were made, and the idea of the "returning stroke" first suggested by his lordship.

6. The arithmetical machine-by means of which, problems in multiplication and division may be solved to any extent.

6. The steam-boat. His lordship expended a large sum of money in the construction of vessels to be moved with this new power. The first experiment of this kind was made on the river Thames; and he thus, doubtless, gave birth to the idea in this country, that the most ponderous vessels might be dispatched to distant countries without the aid of either wind, or tide, or oars.

8. The double inclined plane, for the purpose of remedying the inconreniences attending on locks. The idea of this invention was suggested to him during an attempt to cut a canal in the county of Devon, for the purpose of benefiting his estates there.

9. An invention fully designated by the title of the work descriptive of it; viz. "Principles of the Science of Tuning Instruments with fixed notes."

10. Experiments on the stereotype mode of printing. And,

11. The Stanhope Press, which possesses many singular advantages, and is allowed to be a great improvement in the important art of the printer.

While planning new works, honourable to science and his country, Earl Stanhope was seized with the disease which proved fatal to him on Saturday, 14th December 1816, in the 63d year of his age. His lordship was twice married: first to Lady Hester Pitt, daughter of William first

Earl