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appeal. Where there is a joint rate, all expenditure for the poor is to be in common. The expense of valuation and surveys is to be paid from the rates.

Guardians. Are to have the entire management of the poor, and are to be elected by each parish in union by the rate-payers and owners, within fourteen days of the 25th of March, in every year, the qualification being determined by the commissioners. Every magistrate in the district is to be an ex-officio member. Guardians may be re-elected. The commissioners may order the like for single parishes.

Voting. At all votings, the votes are to be taken in writing, and owners as well as occupiers to vote. The number of votes being, under 2007. one; under 400l. two; and above 400%. three. Where a person is owner and occupier he votes in both capacities. Votes may be given by proxy. No rate-payer shall vote unless rated one year.

Regulation of Workhouses. -Commissioners may make rules, &c., for present or future workhouses, and vary by-laws already in force or to be made hereafter.-Justices are empowered to see by-laws enforced, and to visit workhouses.-Buildings taken for workhouses are to be within the jurisdiction of the place to which they belong, though situated without.No lunatic, insane person, or dangerous idiot, shall be detained in a workhouse more than fourteen days, unless a licensed asylum.

Officers. Commissioners may direct overseers and guardians to appoint paid officers for parishes or unions, and fix their duties, and the mode of appointment and dismissal, and their security, and regulate their salaries. -Parish officers are to pass their accounts quarterly.-Masters of workhouses and paid officers are to be under order of the commissioners, and removeable by them. No parochial contract shall be valid unless conformable to the rules of the commissioners. The penalty imposed by 55 Geo. III. c. 13, on persons having the management of the poor being concerned in any contract, is extended to persons appointed under this Act.No person employed in the administration of poor-laws to furnish, for his own profit, goods or provisions given in parochial relief.

Relief. No parish is to give pecuniary relief to able-bodied paupers and families out of the workhouse, unless upon the special order of the commissioners. But overseers may delay the operation ation of such special order, under special circumstances, for thirty days, and make report thereof, to the commissioners. No casual relief shall in future be given, except by order of guardians or select vestry, unless in case of emergency, and in no case in money. -Any justice may give order for medical relief in dangerous illness.-Masters of workhouses and overseers are to keep daily registers of all reliefs and paupers. - Every husband is liable to maintain the children of a wife, legitimate or illegitimate, born before his marriage, until they shall attain the age of sixteen, or her death. Such relief as commissioners, may direct to be considered as loan, for which justices may attach wages in the hands of master or employer. -No relief to be given to wives and families of substitutes, hired men, or volunteers of militia.

Emigration. Owners and rate-payers may raise money, not exceeding half the rates, on security of such rates, for the purpose of emigration, and may obtain a loan for that purpose from the Exchequer Bill Office.

Settlement. All future settlement by hiring and service, and service of an office, is repealed. -No future settlement is to be acquired by the occupation of a tenement without being assessed to, and paying poor-rate for one year. No further settlement by being apprenticed in the sea service. -Settlement by estate not to continue longer than the person shall inhabit within ten miles of the place giving the settlement.

Bastardy. The existing laws are repealed as to future cases of bastardy. -Mothers of future illegitimate children are bound to maintain them.Court of quarter sessions, on application of overseers, may make an order on putative father of child for its support, when actually chargeable only, if the mother's testimony is confirmed by other evidence; such charge to cease on the child attaining seven years of age; and in no case paid to the mother. But no application of this sort is to be heard without fourteen days' previous notice to the father.-In the event of party charged not appearing, the Court may nevertheless enter into the case. A party summoned, if suspected of intending to abscond, may be required to enter into a recognizance for his appearance. When payments get into arrear, putative father may be proceeded against by distress or attachment of wages, but not imprisoned.

Removals. No person shall be removed till after twenty-one days' notice of his being chargeable has been sent to the parish to which order of removal is directed, with a copy of the order and examination; but such person may be removed directly if the order be submitted to; and in case of appeal no removal shall take place until after the hearing. This provision comes into operation the 1st of November.

Appeals. In case of appeal the overseers of the appellants or their agents are to have access to the poor person, touching his settlement.After the 1st of November next, the grounds of appeal are to be stated in the notice of appeal, and those stated can alone be gone into. Notice of appeal to be given fourteen days before the first day of session. -The parish losing appeal to pay such costs as the court may direct. Either party making frivolous or vexatious statements to pay costs. Costs of relief are to be paid by the parish to which poor persons eventually belong, but relief under suspended order is not to be recoverable unless notice sent of such order.

Trust and Charity Estates. -Commissioners may call for and publish accounts of trust and charity estates belonging to the poor.

Miscellaneous.- Parochial advertisements, bonds, &c., are exempted from stamp duty.-Letters to and from the Board of Commissioners are to be free from postage. All payments contrary to this Act will be disallowed. -10%. penalty on persons introducing spirituous liquors into workhouses.Masters of workhouses allowing use of spirituous liquors, or ill-treating poor persons, or misconducting themselves, are liable to a penalty. - Overseers and other officers disobeying guardians, liable to a penalty of 5l.-No overseer is to be prosecuted for not executing illegal orders of justices.Penalty on overseers, &c. for purloining, &c. goods, &c. 20l., and treble the value of goods purloined.-Penalty on persons wilfully disobeying rules, orders, and regulations. All penalties, costs, and charges may be levied by distress and sale, and shall go in aid of the rates. All owners and rate-payers may be competent witnesses.-Justices may proceed by summons for the recovery of penalties. Satisfaction is recoverable for special damage, but distress shall not be unlawful for want of form in the proceedings. A plaintiff shall not recover for irregularity, if tender of amends be made. All appeals to the quarter sessions against the order of justices shall be within four calendar months after the cause of complaint, and fourteen days' notice of appeal in writing shall be given. No action is to be brought without twenty-one days' notice, nor after three months.Every illegitimate child born after the passing of this Act, is to have the settlement of its mother until the age of sixteen, till which time she is bound to maintain it; the liability to cease in case of the child (being a female) marrying. When an illegitimate child, through the poverty of the mother, becomes chargeable to the parish, overseers may apply to next quarter sessions for an order upon the person charged as the putative father to reimburse the parish for the maintenance of the child. The order in no case to exceed the actual expense incurred or to be incurred, and to continue in force only until the child shall have attained the age of seven years.

The Poor Law Commissioners have sent to the parish officers of each parish in England and Wales, a circular, of which we give the substance, requesting their careful attention to the provisions of the late Act.

"In reference to the change in the law which is effected by the 54th clause, the commissioners are desirous that the boards of guardians, select vestries, and other similar bodies, shall take into their immediate consideration the expediency of adopting such measures (either by establishing rotas or otherwise) as may appear to them best adapted for securing frequent and regular attendances for the ordering and directing of the necessary relief to the poor."

On turning to that clause, the vestries will find that the overseer, we presume, whether paid or not, is not to give any further or other relief or allowance from the poor-rate, than such as shall be ordered by such guardians or select vestry, except in case of sudden or urgent necessity.

Another care taken by the commissioners is to warn all parish officers that contracts are to be subject to their revision.

" I am further directed (says the Secretary) to recommend to your especial notice, the enactments with relation to contracts for supplies of goods for the use of the poor, and to suggest to you for the avoidance of future inconvenience and pecuniary loss, that in the case of the renewal of any contract on behalf of your parish now about to cease, you should cause to be inserted a clause to the following effect:-' That the said contract or agreement shall be liable to be altered or amended in case any alteration or amendment be rendered necessary by any rule, order, or regulation of the Poor Law Commissioners for England and Wales, during the period that such contract or agreement would otherwise remain in force.'"

The commissioners seem also to have an eye directly to the patronage belonging to their places :

" I am directed also (says the Secretary) to request your attention to the clause respecting the appointment of paid officers; and to inform you that any appointment now about to cease can only be renewed, and that any new appointment can only be made, subject to such regulations as the Central Board may hereafter provide for the more uniform, correct, and efficient performance of the public service by such officers."

THE COLONIES.

WEST INDIES.

INTELLIGENCE from the West Indies, subsequent to the eventful first of August, was looked for with intense anxiety. From the several islands accounts have now been received, and on the whole they are satisfactory.

At Barbadoes, the 1st of August was observed, throughout the island, as a day of solemn thanksgiving. The negroes attended their places of worship, and the day passed over in peace and harmony. Their conduct subsequently had been most exemplary, It is worthy of remark that the price of provisions had risen, the negroes, as the first fruit of their emancipation, having shown a strong inclination to indulge themselves with a better description of food than they could obtain in their state of slavery.

At St. Christopher's there was, we are sorry to say, a general indisposition to work under the apprenticeship system, and the negroes were labouring under much misapprehension, which it was difficult to remove. On 12 or 14 estates they had even struck work. No violence, however, was offered to person or property; but the necessity of martial law was contemplated. Four men-of-war had arrived.

At Grenada, on two estates, the negroes had struck work on the 1st. With the aid of a small detachment of military, the ringleaders were apprehended, and order was maintained.

At Dominica, all was quiet, but there was a great indisposition to the

apprenticeship system.

Oct. VOL. XLII. NO. CLXVI.

T

At Tortola, the negroes were working under the new system in an orderly and peaceable manner. This was attributed, in a great measure, to a proclamation issued by Sir E. Macgregor on the 24th, when he personally visited the island.

At Trinidad, we regret to say that much discontent prevailed at the prospect of the apprenticeship. Precautionary measures, however, were taken, and no serious difficulty was apprehended. The accounts, which were to be sent off two days later, are not yet arrived.

All was quiet at Nevis on the 1st of August. The same may be said of Montserrat. Subsequent reports, however, qualify the account; but no details have been received.

At Antigua, the 1st of August was spent in rejoicing and thanksgiving under the Governor's proclamation. Most of the negroes had subsequently begun to work at the rate of 1s. a-day for able labourers, and 9d. a-day for the second class of labourers.

At Bermuda, the whites and negroes assembled on the 1st of August to return thanks. Most of the negroes were working quietly for their former owners.

SWAN RIVER.

It appears by the report of the Agricultural Society of the Swan River colony, that, notwithstanding the disadvantages under which the settlers still laboured, the cultivation of the land had increased fourfold since their preceding report; that the quantity of land under wheat was about 560 acres, and that about 240 acres were under barley, oats, peas, potatoes, &c. The increase of cattle and sheep had been materially checked by the necessities of the settlers obliging many of them to sacrifice their breeding-stock to the butcher, and in this particular the speedy assistance of Government was much needed. The depredations of the natives had ceased, and a more friendly feeling was generated between them and the settlers.

FOREIGN STATES.

SPAIN.

Little reliance can be placed on the accuracy of accounts from Spain. Three things only would seem certain: Don Carlos has had a narrow escape in the Valley of Bastan-the French frontier is described as being covered with Carlist fugitives, in consequence of the entrance of the Government troops into Elisondo-and, it would appear, no serious engagement between the insurgent forces and the Government troops has yet taken place.

PORTUGAL.

The Portuguese Cortes were opened by Don Pedro on the 15th of August. In his speech, the liberty of the press, the responsibility of Ministers, and the stability of public credit were spoken of as things demanding immediate attention. The expediency of continuing the Regen Regency in the person of Don Pedro, and the advisableness of the young Queen's marriage with a foreign Prince, were also to be brought before the consideration of the Chambers. It was also hinted that, owing to the present position of affairs in Spain, it would be necessary to maintain the army and navy on a larger scale than in time of peace. Speaking of the priests, he says, "In the pulpits, (I shudder to say it, but you know, and everybody knows, that I say the truth) in the pulpits-in the face of the holy altars-in the midst of sacred and august mysteries, the Ministers of the God of Peace and Charity preached assassination as a service done to religion, and announced to the astonished people a new gospel of persecution, blood and death!"

BIOGRAPHICAL PARTICULARS OF CELEBRATED
PERSONS, LATELY DECEASED.

DONNA MARIA FRANCISCA DE BRAGANZA.

DIED, at her residence, Alverstoke, Gosport, Donna Maria Francisca de Braganza, Princess of Spain. She was born April 12, 1800, was married to the Infante Don Carlos de Bourbon on the 29th of September, 1816, and leaves three sons, all with her at the time of her death. The illness of this lamented lady commenced with a cold, and terminated in a bilious fever, aggravated by the intense anxiety which she felt for the situation of her consort and family. The hardships endured by every member of it in Portugal would scarcely be credited. Flying before an infuriated soldiery in an impoverished country, over bad roads, and often on foot, it several times happened that the royal family of Spain had neither a meal nor a resting-place. The late Princess kept a journal of all the most remarkable occurrences which befel her and her persecuted family in the land of her birth, and which she quitted at an early age, when King John VI. withdrew to Brazil, whence she and her sister, Donna Maria Isabel, proceeded to Spain-the one to be espoused to the late King, Ferdinand VII., and the other, as before stated, to the Infante Don Carlos, at that time the presumptive heir to the crown. Donna Francisca was a woman of the most undaunted courage, never having evinced the smallest symptom of dismay, even when within the hearing of her pursuers. Had she lived, her diary, and some descriptive accounts of the places through which she and the royal family passed in Portugal, would most probably have been published, as, some time previous to her illness, it was known that she was preparing the materials. During her illness she was constantly attended by her eldest sister, the Princess de Beira, and the three princes, who never quitted the pillow of their dying mother.

MR. EDMONSTONE.

Mr. Edmonstone was born in Kelso; his parents were highly respectable in their line of life, and though he was apprenticed to a watchmaker, his attachment to painting was so strong that he soon devoted, under many difficulties, his whole time and attention to the study and practice of the art. He brought out his first productions in Edinburgh, where they attracted considerable attention, and procured him the patronage of Baron Hume and other gentlemen of taste, whose friendship he afterwards enjoyed. His success soon induced him to settle in London, where he speedily attained an honourable distinction.

At this period, about the year 1819, our knowledge of Mr. Edmonstone commenced; he was then, after some practice under Harlowe, a diligent student at the Royal Academy, remarkable for his steady deportment and regular habits. As his powers of execution and maturity of judgment increased, his pictures became proportionably esteemed; and when he determined on visiting the continent, Mr. Edmonstone was regarded as a young artist of the highest promise. He remained abroad for some years, residing at Rome, Naples, Florence, and Venice, at all of which places he pursued his studies with so much assiduity as materially to injure his health. Among his productions painted at Rome, is the picture of the "Ceremony of Kissing the Chains of St. Peter," which was exhibited and sold at the British Gallery last year. The studio of Edmonstone at Rome was generally visited, and his works obtained for him that marked respect and consideration from artists and amateurs which a clever student is always sure to enjoy there. He was also distinguished in that city by the notice of his countryman Sir Walter Scott,

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