Minister, M. Vaublanc, spoke in favour of the original law, and M. de la Bourdonnaye delivered a most violent speech in favour of the general proscription and punishment of all those apparently who have ever been engaged in the revolution; and this indeed seems to be the general sentiment of all those who are against the law proposed by the Court. They wish to be revenged on their enemies, and this desire of vengeance, which, in their circumstances, is natural enough, they do not seem to imagine should at all be controlled by considerations of policy. In reference to the violence exhibited in the discussion of this measure, a private letter says" Long as I have inhabited this country, I scarcely remember any subject which has excited so general and pas sionate an interest.-Crowds have been wi ing from eight this morning (it is now eteven) at the vestibule of the palace, and from all I have learnt, notwithstanding the frost, and their national impatience, they have conducted themselves, without, with rather more decorum than on a late memorable day, the crowd within."-The discussions closed on the 6th, when the law was passed in the folle wing form. "Art. 1. A full and entire amnesty is granted to all those who directly or indirectly took part in the rebellion and usurpation of Napoleon Bonaparte, having the following exceptions. 2. The ordinance of the 24th July shall Continue to be executed with regard to the persons comprised in the 1st article of that ordinance. 3. The King may, within the space of two months, dating from the promulgation of the present law, remove from France such of the individuals included in article 2. of the said ordinance as he shall maintain thereon, and who have not been brought to trial; and in that case the said persons shall leave France within the period prescribed to them, and shall not return without the express permission of his Majesty. The whole under pain of transportation. The King may likewise deprive them of all property and pensions which may have been granted to them on gratuitous titles. 4. The ascendants and descendants of Napoleon Bonaparte, his uncles and aunts, his nephews and nieces, his brothers, their wives, and descendants, his sisters, and their husbands, are excluded from the kingdom in perpetuity, and are bound to depart from it in the space of one month, under the penalties denounced by the 91st article of the penal code. They cannot enjoy any civil rights, possess any property, tities and pensions granted to them gratuitously with 6. Are not comprised in the present amnesty crimes or misdemeanours against private persons, at whatever period they may have been committed. The persons guilty of them shall be prosecuted according to law. 7. Those of the regicides who, in despite of a clemency, almost without bounds, have voted for the additional act, or accepted officcs or employments from the usurper, and who, by so doing, have declared themselves irreconcilable enemies of France and of the legitimate Government, are excluded for ever from the kingdom, and are bound to leave it within one month, under the pe nalty inflicted by art, 33. of the penal code; they shall not be capable of enjoying in it any civil right, or of possessing in it any property, titles, or pensions, given to them gratuitously." In the main amendments proposed, the pure royalist party were foiled by the Exertions and influence of the Ministry, although by very narrow majorities. It is stated in private letters that they had framed a scheme of proscription, in which were to be included about 500 individuals, namely, all those who had voted for the death of the King; several Marshals, Generals in Chief, Commanders of strong towns, and every public functionary who had been entrusted with power during the stormy period of the revolution. They afterwards reduced their demand to 50 victims, to be selected at the pleasure of the crown; and an amendment proposed to this cffect was only rejected by a majority of 184 to 175. The chief difference between the law as it is now passed and that proposed by the King is, respecting those persons who were proscribed by the ordinance of the 24th of July, some to be tried capitally, and others to be banished. The law, as first proposed, decreed the punishment of certain individuals, without the King having the power to mitigate this sentence. But by the amended law, he is now vested with a discretionary power as to the removal of those persons from the territories of France. The proposal for making the property of those who were favourable to Bonaparte answerable for the expences of the war, which was one of the amendments proposed by the Royalists, was negatived without a division. Another amendment which was carried is, that which relates to those who voted for the death of the King. All those persons, it is well known, had received the King's pardon, and one of them, namely, Fouche, had been appointed his Minister, and afterwards was chosen his representa tive at the Court of Dresden. Fouche, Carnot, Cambaceres, Barrere, and Sieyes, are known to have accepted offices during the late reign of Bonaparte, and are therefore exposed to the penalties of the law. The King of France is thus placed in rather an embarrassing situation, in thus extending his pardon to these individuals, and afterwards revoking it, and consigning them to perpetual banishment. Of those who voted for the death of the King in 1793, there are about 28 still alive, of whom the following is a list :-Fouche, Carnot, Sieyes, Richard, (appointed a prefect since the king's second restoration,) Dubois de Bay, Thibaudeau, a peer, Barrere, Cambaceres, a peer, Tallien, Cavaignec, Le Carpentier, Pons, Alquier, Albitte, Milhaud, (Lieutenant-General and member of the Chamber of Deputies), Cambon, Granet, Merlin de Douay, Boulay de la Meurthe, Quinette, Roederer, David, Ducos, Cochon, Andee Dumont, Barras, Garos, Jean de Bry. Cambaceres voted for death conditionally, that is, should the French territory be invaded. The law of amnesty having passed the Chamber of Depaties, was communicated without delay to the Chamber of Peers by the Duke de Richelieu, who prefaced this conmunication with an address, in which, adverting to the additional clause against those who voted for the death of Louis XVI. he observes, that the wishes of the Deputies generally expressed, leave little doubt, that the desire of the French people is the sume that the King, therefore, yielding to the general voice, has ordered this clau e to be affixed to the law; and he adds, that "when the first body of the State shall have conûrmed the wish expressed by the Desuties of France, his Majesty will withdraw the hand which he had extended over subjects so criminal, and will abandon them to their fate." The law passed in the Chamber of Peers, without discussion, and has since received the section of the king, and been published in the Official Gazette. No remark is made by the Paris papers on the law of amnesty. But the French funds have fallen in consequence; and pri vate letters state, that among the proprie tors of national property it has created general alarm; they see plainly in this measure the prevailing influence of the ultra royalist party, from whose violent counsels they think they have every thing to dread. Whatever were the demerits of those who voted for the death of the King, they had the royal promise of pardon, and this promise has been broken. What security then, it is argued, have the possessors of national property, that under the influence of priests and emigrants, some measures may not be instituted against their titles to their lands. On these grounds it is that they are alarmed, and the measure is certainly not calculated to settle the peace of France. It may not be uninteresting to state what has become of the persons comprised in the 1st and 2d articles of the King of France's ordinance of the 24th of July. The first article contained the following names : Ney, Labedoyere, the two brothers Lallemand, Drouet d'Erlon, Lefebvre-Desnouettes, Ameil, Brayer, Gilly, Mouton Duvernet, Grouchy, Clausel, Laborde, Debelle, Bertrand, Drouet, Cambrone, Lavalette, and Rovigo. Of these Ney and Labedoyere have been shot; Lallemand is at Malta, Drouet d'Erlon is in France, Lefebvre and Gilly are arrived at New York, Grouchy has embarked at Guernsey for America, Lavalette has escaped, Debelle is in prison, Bertrand is with Bonaparte, Drouet and Cambrone are upon trial, Rovigo is at Malta. The rest are concealed. The persons comprised in the second article, and ordered to quit France in two months, are Soult, Alix, Excelmans, Bassano, Marbot, Felix, Lepelletier, Bouly, (de la Meurthe). Mehee, Feressinet Thibaudeau, Carnot, Vandamme, Lamarque, (General) Lobau, Harel, Pire, Barrere, Arnault, Begnaud, (de St Jeand' Angeley), Pummereuil, Arrighi (of Padua), Dejean, jun. Garrau, Real, Bouvier Dumoulard, Merlin (of Douay), Duruach, Divat, Defermont, Bory St Vincent, Felix Desportes, Garnier-de-Saintes, Mellinet, Hullin, Cluys, Courtin, Forbin, Janson, the elder son, and Le Lorque Dideville. Soult, Carnot, Vandamme, Lamarque, and others, are still in France; Carnot, however, is on the point of setting out for Russia. Several have escaped, or have been permitted to leave France. Excelmans is at Brussels; Bassano somewhere in Austria; Regnaud St Jean d'Angelcy is in the United States, whither, we believe, Bory St Vincent and Felix Desportes have also fled. Arrighi is in Italy. The King, according to private letters, is 72 said to have dispensed with the services of Marshals Augereau, Massena, Soult, Suchet, and Lefebvre, and to have withdrawn from them all their pensions. Fouche has been recalled from his office of Ambasador at Dresden, which place, it is stated, he has left, and has arrived at Vienna, where he was received very graciously. FRENCH FINANCES. The following account of the state of the public finances, has appeared in the French papers :-- WAYS and MEANS for the year 1816 are, F.320,000,000 Direct Contributions Registers, Domains, & Woods 156,000,000 222,000,000 Indirect Contributions 29,000,000 73,000,000 Lottery, Posts, &c. Extraordinary Receipts SUPPLY. Funded Debt, Life Annuities, 830,000,000 Pensions 115,000,000 1,000,000 1,500,000 524,070,000 EXTRAORDINARY EXPENCES. War contributions, 150,000,000 Maintenence of 150,000 foreign troops, 130,000,000 Payments to the houses of Ben theim and Steinfurth, Eventual Expences, Total supply 800,000 4,500,000 275,300,000 800,000,000 Under the head of custom-house duties, it is proposed to lay a duty of 60f. per metrical quintal upon French coffees, and 100 upon foreign coffees. French raw sugars, 45f. foreign raw sugar, 70f. foreign white sugars, 80f. The prohibition against refined sugars is to be kept up. French cocoa 100f. foreign 120. Tea 3f. per kilogram.-French pepper and pimento, 120f. foreign, 145f. THE PROTESTANTS. on The question respecting the persecution of the Protestants in the south of France, has engaged a large share of the public attention in this country; and a variety of documents and statements have appeared on the subject, some of which assert that the Protestants have been sufferers, not account of their religious, but on account of their political opinions; while others place it wholly to the account of their religion.. The cause of offence between the two parties in France seems, however, to be partly religious, and partly political. The Protestants, it appears, were generally favourable to the progress of the revolution, and to all those measures which stripped the French Catholic church of its enormous wealth. They were large purchasers both of church and emigrant property; and they, of course, trembled for their estates when the Bourbons returned. They could not, in these circumstances, be well-affected to that dynasty; and upon the same principle, the Catholics saw, in the Bourbons, the protectors both of their religion and of their property. In this respect, then, the difference may be said to be political. But it is quite certain, that many of the Catholic persuasion were equally friendly to the revolution and to Bonaparte with the Protestants; and the question then comes to be, if the differences were merely political, why were the Protestants, as a body, exclusively selected for vengeance and proscription ?This fact certainly gives to those proceedings the character of a religious persecution, which cannot be taken away by the circumstance of political differences mingling in it. It must, however, give satisfaction to SCOT. 73 Scottish Chronicle. HIGH COURT OF JUSTICIARY. December 26. 1815. THE Court proceeded to the trial of Wil liam Honeyman and John Smith, accused of housebreaking and theft, by entering the premises of the Carron Iron Works, and carrying off upwards of £.1400 Sterling. The pannels pleaded not guilty. Edward Banks, cashier to the Carron Company, deponed, that, in September last, they received from the Bank of Scotland, between £1400 and £.1500, which he put into an iron safe or chest, and the key of which he laid in a wooden desk. That on opening the door of his office next morning, he found the safe had been opened, and the money abstracted. That the persons who committed this, seemed to have entered by a moveable pane of glass in the window, as his desk was close to the bottom of the window, which would facilitate their access. Thro' this pane, a small person might easily go, and not break the window, as the cross bar is strong enough to bear such a weight. It appeared farther in evidence, that Honeyman had confessed the robbery to the mamager of the works, on obtaining a promise from him that he would spare his life; and by Honeyman's directions, the manager succeeded in recovering the notes stolen. The robbery was committed in the manner described; Smith having been the person who entered by the moveable pane of glass in the window. Many witnesses testified to the former good character of the pannels, particularly Honeyman. The jury found them guilty, but recommended them strongly to mercy. The Court sentenced both pannels to be executed at Edinburgh, on the 31st January; but the sentence has been since respited, during the Royal pleasure. It has been discovered since the trial, that the pannel Smith is no other than Michael Stafford, an Irish lad, who was Imprisoned in Glasgow, for street robbery, about two years ago, indicted for the spring cirenit, in 1814, but made his escape before the trial, being the first who attempted to break the new jail, Glasgow, and the only one who has actually accomplished it. has also acknowledged, since his present confinement, that he lately broke out of Perth jail, while imprisoned there under a charge of robbery. January 1816. 10 He Jan. 15. Thomas Methven, alias Wallace, alias Watson, was brought before the Court for trial, accused of various acts of theft.The pannel pleaded guilty, and the libel being restricted to an arbitrary punishment, he was sentenced to fourteen years banishment beyond seas. THE WEATHER. About the middle of December, a severe snow storm commenced, which appears to have been general over the country, but particularly severe to the south and west, on the Glasgow and Carlisle roads; so much so, that the stage and mail coaches for some time ceased running in many places, and the bags were conveyed in light post-chaises, or on horseback, where that could not be accomplished. The loss of individual lives on this occasion has been greater than is to be remembered for a long time back. The newspapers present the following melancholy accounts: Dec. 16. A young man, of the name of W. Winter, was proceeding from Alston to his father's farm at Harewood Head, (with a horse laden with provisions for the use of the family,) and perished in a storm of snow on a height called Yadmoss. 18. A young woman, in the prime of life, having occasion to go from her residence in the parish of Penicuik to the carding-mill at Garvaldfoot, proceeded homewards next day, which, from morning till night, was an incessant heavy fall of snow: anxious to return to her family with the materials of domestic manufacture which she had been getting, she was deaf to every warning of her danger in such a storm, and being of a lessly encountered the blast. stout and vigorous frame of body, she fearFor nearly five miles she had proceeded with her load of wool in a deep snow, and still continuing to fall, when she thought it advisable to deposit her burden in one of the houses on the road, where she stopped to rest. The half of her journey yet remained, but it was greatly beyond her strength, after the great exertion which she had made. self, and within about a mile of home, met different houses she stopped to refresh her a traveller returning homeward, with whom she exchanged a few words upon the perilous situation in which they found them At selves. selves. This rencounter was unfortunate. It would seem, that, not recovering her position when she turned about to speak to him, she lost her course, and leaving the turnpike, had turned into a field, from which she had not been able to regain the road; and, spent with fatigue, sunk down, and perished during the inclemency of the weather. Her body was not found till the 2d instant, about a gunshot from the 14th mile-stone. Dec. 18. Wm. Cowan, some time postmaster in Gatehouse of Fleet, having been that day at Kirkcudbright, returning home in the evening, missed his way, in consequence, it is believed, of the quantity of snow on the ground. He was found dead next morning at the side of the cross road leading from Nunmill on Twynholm village, about a quarter of a mile from the first-mentioned place. 19. As Mr Andrew Baird, vintner, Eaglesham, was returning from Kilmarnock, he called at Kingswell Inn, at eight o'clock at night, before entering the muir, where he got one gill of whisky. The night was very stormy with snow. He staid only a quarter of an hour, and, not in the smallest degree intoxicated, again mounted his horse. He was within a mile and a half of Eaglesham, when, the drift increasing, he strayed from the road, and, with his horse, fell into a hole. He was obliged to dismount, and, after great struggling, extricated the horse from this situation. Surrounded with moss, Mr Baird could only see to the distance of three or four yards; and, when preparing to mount his horse again, it strayed from him, and he never saw it again. Mr Baird, quite fatigued, walked about a little, but to no purpose; and, determining to wait there till daybreak, laid himself down, but felt no inclination to sleep. After a night of anxiety and fear, day light appeared, and Mr Baird, covered with snow, with difficulty got up; but, unable to walk, he stumbled and fell. Fortunately, however, a shepherd, of the name of Wilson, came to his assistance, who, procuring more help from Eaglesham, succeeded in taking him home about mid-day. He was rubbed with snow and cold water; and, by proper attention, had so far recoyered as to be able to speak and take some victuals that night. He is getting fast better, but his toes and fingers are all frostbitten. Mr Baird, when discovered, knew his deliverer; but was ignorant of the manner in which he was removed from the ground and taken home. The horse, on search being made for it, was found lying dead in a hole about 100 yards from the place where its master was discovered. 20. During the storm the postman from Keswick to Alston was overwhelmed in the snow, and perished, The postman to that district was also lost in the severe storm of snow and frost which occurred in the year 1813. On the same day, as two countrymen were travelling over the same dreary spot of ground, they were assailed, on Hartside, by one of those tremendous hurricanes which are generally known by the name of helmwinds. One of them was blown from his horse, as if struck with the rapidity of lightning; and would most certainly have perished, had he not, by an uncommon effort of agility and strength, prevented himself from being forced into the hideous abyss on the border of the path. 22. John Gillies, an aged shepherd in Falbae, in the parish of Parton, went out to look after the flocks under his charge. He visited his home no more; next day his body was found in a moss. About three o'clock in the morning Andrew and John Hamilton, carriers between Glasgow and Lesmahagow, were found dead about a mile to the westward of Lesmahagow. They, it would appear, had been riding in their cart, and the horse having gone off the road, went over the ledge of a bridge; they were found both lying under the cart; the horse was also killed. These men were brothers, and each of them has left a wife and six children to lament their melancholy loss. 24. The body of Mr Marshall, teacher, Bridge of Weir, Renfrewshire, was found lying among some shrubbery, distant about two miles from his own house. The unfortunate man had been from home on the Tuesday preceding, and a great fall of snow, which took place on that day, had caused him to lose his way, as he was at one time that evening seen within half a mile of his lodgings. He was an able and industrious teacher, and his death is justly considered a calamity to the village where he resided. ACCIDENT ON THE ICE. The following melancholy account happened on the ice at Lochend, near Edinburgh, on the 18th Dec. A young lad, son of Mr Patrick Haddaway of Leith, having ventured on the iee, when too weak to bear, unfortunately lost his life, and was the unhappy cause of involving a most deserving young man, Lieutenant Gourly, of the Royal Navy, who generously attempted to save him, in the same fate. Lieutenant Gourly was the only son of Captain Gourly, of the Royal Navy, Gayfield Square, and had newly returned to his friends, along with his father, from foreign service. He was a most zealous and enterprising officer, and was much endeared, both to his relations and ac |