expressly declaring that the convention binds nobody except the parties to it. In the Common Pleas, this day, Mr. WW- obtained a verdict of two thousand pounds, against the printer of the St. James's Chronicle, for a libel on his wife, under the head “ Faux-pas with the

Duke of W

at Brussels."

P. M. The Royal Bank of Windsor has stopped payment this day. Petitions are preparing in every town throughout the United Kingdom against the property tax.

February 26, 1816.—It was generally expected yesterday that ministers had an intention to abandon the tax on income, but, referring to last night's proceedings in the House, it was soon seen upon what a false foundation that rumour rested. Mr. Baring noticed it, and asked an explanation from the Chancellor of the Exchequer, who expressly stated that government had no such intention.

The Treaty of Peace was discussed in both Houses last night. In the Lords the grounds of the treaty were stated by the Earl of Liverpool; in the Commons, by Lord Castlereagh. The necessity of restoring France to her ancient limits, and the policy of keeping up, for the present, a proper military establishment, as a measure of security, were insisted upon. An amendment to the address was moved in the Lords by Lord Grenville; in the Commons by Lord Milton. Both Houses were occupied in debate until half-past two o'clock, when the Lords divided-for the address, 104; for the amendment, 40. The debate in the Commons

was adjourned, and will be resumed this day.

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I will now put you in possession of a piece of important information. A meeting of the mountain (the opposition) took place yesterday morning, upon the subject of the health of the regent; a long discussion. member asserted that his royal highness could not live six months. It was decided that a motion should be brought forward in parliament for a regency, to be appointed immediately, that the country might not be left again without a government for six weeks. It is said that the Regent has not signed any paper for some time.

By a Mr. Kerr, who leaves London to-morrow, I send you Lord Kinnaird's pamphlet in justification of his conduct in Paris. It is in the form of a letter to the Earl of Liverpool, and contains thirty-seven pages.

The Duke de Chartres resigns his post to the Marquis d'Osmond in about a month. In the interim, the latter resides at Grillion's Hotel, Albemarle-street. The duke gave a dinner to the foreign and domestic corps diplomatique on Saturday, to which the Archdukes of Austria were invited, but did not attend!

"The ministers of the country will manage the state, and it requires every man's whole exertions to manage his own," is the apology which Earl Grey makes for not attending his duties in parliament at the present crisis. Northumberland, as well as every other county, is in a bad state. As to Ireland, Lord Spencer has this day received a letter from his sonin-law, Lord son of the Marquis of Headfort, in which he says, "We are all ruined inevitably ;-all I have is gone. Nothing left but the bare sod. As to the tenants they have all run away; no traces of them left."

In Scotland the failures at Glasgow alone exceed a million sterling. The Liverpool bankruptcies exceed two millions!! The house of Milne,

in Yorkshire has received an extraordinary order-for clothing for the Russian soldiery, and to no less an amount than one million five hundred thousand pounds!

The moneyed men in the city say that the ministers would rather lose the income tax, that they may tell the public creditor that as parliament had deprived them of the only means of paying him, they must have recourse to a reduction of the dividends-that they hope thereby to throw off the odium from themselves upon the opposition, who have sounded the tocsin throughout the country.

Gsays that six houses stopped payment yesterday in the city. London, February 22, 1816. There is a song getting into vogue in the higher circles. It is entitled "Les Plumes," and contains a most virulent satire against the court. Never did Demosthenes in his philippics, or Tully in his oration against Antony, venture to be half so severe. I attempted a translation of a few couplets; but their merit depends so much on the idiom that their pungency can scarcely be felt in any other language. The author is said to be a poet of great celebrity, at present in disgrace at court.

Wellington and the ministers are still at daggers drawn ; they most cordially hate each other. W sends all his communications to the Pavilion.

Your letter of the 15th came to hand yesterday. Kinnaird resides at 88, Pall Mall. I know not whether he has seen O.* In my next you shall have further information on that and every other subject; all is en train; and recollect "Rome was not built in a day."

The Prince of Saxe Cobourg arrived at the Clarendon Hotel last night. I saw last evening more than one person connected with Carlton House. The "shrug" seemed to convey much. A part of the Naval Club refuses, I hear, to join the military one.

The Duke of Orleans resides wholly at Twickenham, at the villa called Pococke House (the abode of Sir George till his demise). It was furnished by Oakley, of Bond-street, who frequently sees him. The duke is extremely reserved; he sees very few persons, and seldom comes to

town.

The proceedings against the St. James's Chronicle alluded to are said to be "an arranged thing," an understanding. R. of Piccadilly tells me that the communication by post from this side the water is unsafe. He says a denouement took place very recently at the Old Bailey Sessions on the trial of a letter-sorter. What think. you-would it not be better to address my letters to you under different names occasionally?

Now for the elucidation of the mystery relative to the "meeting at Calais." It is a curious fact, that at the time your letter to me, dated the 21st of January, was on its way, my (word illegible) to you was likewise on his journey. Don't you think my agent deserves something more than thanks for his expedition?

The Chronicle of this day says-"We hear that the French Government have dictated what correspondence shall not be transmitted to Paris in the official bag addressed to our ambassador there."

Acknowledge the receipt of my letters as early as you possibly can. I am anxiously waiting. Pray relieve my mind as to doubts and fears.

* The then Duke of Orleans, and now King of the French.

London, February 24, 1816.-Political men are ill at ease here, as to the result of the present state of things. John Bull gives himself little concern about princes or their intermarriages; no idle curiosity; indeed his Highness of Saxe Cobourg is scarcely thought of. A thousand contradictory rumours are circulated relative to the regent's health. The Marquis of Hand the Earl of Y--th positively stated this day that his highness was recovering fast. But the report in the medical world is, that the prince has a schirrous liver, and that the whole system is seriously affected.

Prince Leopold left town yesterday for the Pavilion, accompanied by Lord Castlereagh and Count Hardenberg; the marriage will take place immediately.

I send you herewith the "Last Reign of Napoleon," written by Mr. Hobhouse, son of Sir Benjamin, M. P.

At the meeting in Palace-yard yesterday, Mr. Hunt read a list of sinecure-places and pensions, by which it appeared that 200,000l. are annually distributed between twenty persons. Several of these places and pensions would, we know, be justifiable as remunerations for public services from a prosperous people. But there may be a degree of public distress with which magnificent rewards to individuals are wholly incompatible. "Since the income-tax is to be contended for with the whole force of the administration, a reduction of expenditure to the last possible shilling we hope will be insisted upon by the united voice of the people."-See the Regent's Gazette, i. e. the Morning Herald, Saturday, February 24.

What think you of the above from such a quarter? The proprietor, one of the newly-made baronets with church preferments exceeding two thousand per annum. Here's a dereliction of principle for you.

The separation between Lord B-- and his wife arose from his introducing a favourite actress at his table in spite of her pressing entreaties and remonstrances. "Madam! if you are not satisfied with my arrangements, you are at liberty to quit my house!" The lady took the noble lord at his word, and disappeared. It does not seem that she has engaged in any intrigue. My Lord B is sinking fast in the literary scale. Speaking of literary men, Walter Scott has damaged himself in consequence of his "Waterloo!" It is truly contemptible !

There is so much aristocratic folly about K- that I hesitate to hold any communication with him. As to B. K, a gentleman whom I requested to give me an opinion of him, he said, "By the great God! he is the greatest liar in the circle, and has been black-balled at all the clubs." What think you of this?

I

R- will not fail to send any books you may think proper to order. The Duke of Orleans you shall have something about in my next. believe that the measures of opposition will be communicated to me in time to afford considerable interest.

Pavilion Amusements in my next, when Lord Castlereagh will appear on the carpet.

P. M.-The failure of a great mercantile house at Glasgow, will, it is said, involve nineteen others of considerable consequence.

Friday morning.-The report in circulation this morning, relative to the Regent's health is very unfavourable. Curran, the Irish member, says that Sir Henry Halford underwent a two-hours' examination yesterday before the privy council. Nothing has transpired. There are

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whispers, however, abroad extremely alarming upon the subject. meeting took place this morning in Palace-yard, to petition against the property-tax-the crowd prodigious!

Call of the House.-The following pithy dialogue is said to have passed between a gentleman and his steward in the northern part of Lincolnshire, prior to a journey to London.

Master." Well, Mr. what money journey?—you saw the tenants yesterday?"

have you brought me for my

Steward." Ah! please your honour, sad times, indeed! But I think I have got enough to take you up to town; but the tenants 'hope to be agreeable' when they say, that without you stand up for them, and get their taxes, and their duties, and their rates taken off, there will be no use for your honour coming back again."

Mr. Preston, M. P., has just published a pamphlet on the state of the country, which makes a great noise. He talks about the drones being driven out of their hives by the bees.

At the military dinner the other day, a noble speaker addressed the company in a way somewhat new. He said he had endeavoured to have the neatest uniform, but he could not; he had tried to be the finest gentleman, but he could not; and he did all he could to have the best horse, but he could not. On which, one of the club whispered to his neighbour, "and he tried to be the greatest ass, and he could be!" February 26. Half past four o'clock, P.M.-I have just heard that Lady B has instituted proceedings against her spouse, charging him with cruelty. Caulaincourt is in the vicinity of Holland House.

The court wind blows from all points of the compass, sixty times in the hour; so that it often happens that news coming from that quarter is more uncertain than the moon-now the regulating planet in the regent's councils. A new candidate has started up since the arrival of Prince Leopold, who, it is said, will wholly have the unanimous suffrage of the court; but his name is at present au secret. The ministers are playing at blindman's-buff, and with all their sagacity, each of them is said to be hoodwinked. Fine intriguing is there already going on since the arrival of this German.

The esprit du corps is already weakened. John Bull, amidst all this, surveys the scene with a degree of apathy, a sullen and gloomy visage, but says nothing.

"He that's ungrateful has no guilt but one, All other crimes may pass for virtues in him' So says Young, and so say the opposition after him. Now, sans façon, clap your hand upon your breast, and say with compunction, "Lis the man." "Yes, sir," say the opposition, "he is the most ungrateful of all thankless beings." Now for the cause. Lord Y is residuary legatee of the Queen-ry property. To overturn a very ancient statute in the law of Scotland, a stretch of prerogative becomes necessary. The present Lord Eldon, unwilling before his retiring from office to encounter the odium, refuses to sanetion the measure, and thereupon his departure is hastened. Out he goes, and in comes Mr. Lbleed the patient, namely, the Marquis of Qout!! Such a measure as making Mr. Lbeen in contemplation, but I do not believe it will

who undertakes to ;-now the murder is chancellor may have be carried into effect.

A pretty joke it is, that Irish peers are pouring hourly into London, to vote for the income-tax, when Hibernia herself is not saddled with any such blessing!

The above comment on the chancellorship was made to me by Mr. B-n-e this afternoon; it was from the opposition that I heard the anecdote.

To relieve the royal mind from gloomy presages, my Lord C-s-gh has been collecting all the diverting anecdotes of occurrences in high life during the recess to amuse his royal master. He told me the other day one of himself, which you shall have literatim et verbatim. "Your highness," I said, "may recollect that I have a cottage near Stanmore, to which Lady C. and myself occasionally resort. Going down unexpectedly at a late hour on a Saturday night we surprised the two female domestics in our bed, wherein they usually slept to keep it aired. They turned out and we turned in, without waiting even to change the linen. It was not long after I began to doze, when we were alarmed by a man's voice in the room vociferating 'now d-n it, you little you had better lie still, or I'll do for you both.' After a moment's hesitation I threw open the curtains and exclaimed, May I be d-d if you do.' The invader bolted out of the room and the house, in less that a second."

C. has a quaintness in his delivery which gives interest to a story, which has none in its original shape. A powerful advocate this in the court of Great Britain constituted as it now is.

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"Who is really prime minister?" said a country gentleman the other day. "The editor of the Courier," was the reply, "whose advice is taken in all affairs of state, and his fiat determines every measure."

You know, perhaps, that Père Elizér, the French king's physician is one of the correspondents of the Courier. A Mr. Parry, who was proprietor of that paper sixteen years ago, is another; he went to Paris in August last, and still remains there. In my next I shall enter more fully into the details of official business, in which all your hints will be attended to. There certainly is not at present any change in the ministry in contemplation, except the department of chancellor. The "old man in the square" begins to kick, says ; the change arises either He has certainly more than

from some disappointment, or from remorse. once told his "better half," that she must quit the great house altogether.

I shall probably go down to Richmond to-morrow. You will hear of the marquis's movements soon. I have written to Brighton and every thing is in train; perhaps you will hear from me again to-morrow. The opposition say that Hunt, the Bristol man, who uttered such a tirade against corruption at the Westminster meeting, is in the pay of

ministers.

The house for political tergiversation is the Marchioness of Salisbury's. Her coteries are all political, except on Sunday evenings, when an admixture of the gay and volatile takes place.

The Duke of W-ll-n's brother, the Rev. G. W -y is every day at Salisbury House. By the by, Sir H. W-11-y, the late accredited to the Court of Ferdinand, is to be married to-morrow to the Lady G.Ce the hostess's daughter. This is the W-ly whose wife eloped with that gallant, gay Lothario, Lord P., "whom Heaven long preserve.'

This frail fair is one of those stars that fall "to rise no more." What