ages there resident. In the evening, he honoured with his presence a ball given by the Russian minister Count Woronzow, according to his usual custom, and then returned in his carriage, in the middle of a thick mist, to his seat at Nymphenburg. He retired to bed, without exhibiting any symptoms of illness, after directing his valet to waken him at six o'clock next morning. At that hour, the valet entered his royal master's apartment, and with horror beheld him stretched on his bed in the calm repose of death. On inspecting his body, it appeared that life had been extinct not more than an hour at the utmost.

Thus died Maximilian Joseph, the first King of Bavaria, the most patriotic and most sagacious of all the Continental Sovereigns. The history of his kingdom, during his reign, would be a history of Europe. Amid all the vicissitudes of the times, he maintained the integrity of his dominions, and even greatly added to their extent; and having conferred upon his subjects the blessings of a constitutional government, his efforts were unremittingly directed to the consolidation of it. In the whole of his public conduct there was a frankness which inspired esteem and begot confidence; and of no monarch could it be more truly said than of him, that he reigned in the hearts of his subjects. In private life he appears to have been remarkably temperate and charitable. In the proclamation by his heir, the Prince Royal, Charles Louis Augustus, which announced his death, it was stated, that it appeared from his private papers, that in the month of October he had secretly disbursed 80,000 florins in charity, and after the 1st of October, 12,000 florins in the same way.

The new monarch, upon receiving intelligence of the death of his predecessor, at the waters of Bruckenau, repaired to Munich, where, upon 19th

October, he took the oath to the constitution, in presence of the Council of State. After taking the oath, he made a speech to those present, which thus concluded: "It is difficult to reign after a monarch such as him we have lost; it is impossible to equal him."

After the ceremony of the funeral of the late King, which took place at Munich on 23d August, his successor, who had announced his intention to pursue the example and adhere to the system of his august father, made, notwithstanding, considerable changes in the administration. Count Torring, president of the council of state, and Count Rechberg, minister of the household and of foreign affairs, having given in their resignations, the appointments of the latter were given to Count Thurheim, and Count Armensparg was made minister of finances, and, ad interim, minister of the interior.

Among the early measures of the new reign, all of which breathed a truly constitutional spirit, were an ordinance, confiding the direction of ecclesiastical matters and public instruction to a superior council, to be attached to the home administration, and to be composed of, besides the president, three members, one of whom at least is to be a Protestant; the extension of the powers of provincial councils; and the reduction of the army, by the last of which, it was expected, several millions per annum would be saved to the state.

We shall now turn our attention to the Netherlands, the government of which was not a little embarrassed by the bigotry and proselytising spirit of the Catholie priesthood. It had been made a subject of frequent complaint, both by the Protestant and Catholic population of the provinces bordering upon France, that a great number of families sent their children to receive their education in

that kingdom, particularly to the College of St Acheul, which was conducted by the Jesuits. It was complained also, that the country was overrun with Catholic missionaries, and that, in the small seminaries for the instruction of youth destined for the church, the most unconstitutional doctrines were taught. The remedy for these evils was a subject of long and anxious deliberation with the government. At length, on 4th April, a circular was addressed by the Director of affairs connected with the Catholic worship, to the Archbishop of Malines and the bishops under him, enjoining them to direct the curates within that see not to receive within their parishes missionaries or others, who should presume to instruct the people in matters of religion. And on 14th June, two ordinances were issued, by which it was decreed, that no episcopal seminary should in future be established without the sanction of the minister of the interior; that every seminary of the kind, which should not obtain such sanction previously to the 30th of September following, was to be suppressed; that every house of education or academy under the inspection of the bishops, should be confined exclusively to the education of youth destined for the church; and that the youths attending such academies, where there were colleges, should be instructed in science and literature, but that their exercises should be conducted within the academies, and that their religious education should be under the exclusive direction of their religious superiors. It was decreed also, that there should be a philosophical college established in connexion with the University of Louvain, the nomination of the professors to belong to the King, but the chairs of philosophy and the canon law, and the chair of ecclesiastical

theses to be confided to three Catholic professors, who were to be under the archbishop's authority. It was declared, in fine, that on the expiry of two years from the date of the organization of the new college, all lessons in philosophy should cease in the ecclesiastical seminaries. By another ordinance, of date 1st October, it was decreed, that young Belgians, having studied humanity abroad, should not be received into the Philosophical College of Louvain or any one of the national universities, should be disqualified from holding any situation under government, and not be permitted to exercise any ecclesiastical function within the realm.

These ordinances, so directly hostile to the dark, subtle, and jealous policy of the Catholic priesthood, though they in no way encroached upon the independence of the Catholic Church, gave great offence to the Belgian bishops, and also to the Court of Rome. The Pope forwarded remonstrances against them to the Court of the Netherlands, and enjoined the heads of the different dioceses to join in a general remonstrance, modelled upon that which had been presented by the Belgian priesthood in 1787, against the general seminary erected by the Emperor Joseph. But the government was not to be moved from its course by this priestly opposition. It carried its different ordinances into effect; and, on 17th October, the new philosophical college was opened with great ceremony.

The session for the year of the States-General was opened by the King in person, on the same day. His Majesty, in his speech, slightly glanced at the differences which had arisen between him and the Catholic bishops; and dwelt upon the flourishing situation of the country, the improvemnts which had been introduced in

to the administration of the provinces and communes, and the establishment of a sound monetary system, by the suppression of French coins. An address to the King was voted by the two Chambers, in unison with his speech.

The minister of finance, on 27th October, presented to the States his annual budget of extraordinary expenses, which reached twenty millions of florins; which sum, joined to the amount of the decimal budget, decreed in 1820, (59,875,052 florins, 80 cent.) composed a total charge of about eighty millions. But it had to be observed, that the expenditure had been gradually subjected to a reduction of about three millions per annum; and that the receipts since the year 1823, presented a constantly increasing excess. The minister also announced that the sum destined for the redemption of the debt, had, by its productiveness, increased from 200,000 to 2,200,000 florins.

The budget was attacked and defended by several members. The opponents of it (many of whom complimented the executive upon the improvements it had introduced into the administration,) inveighed against the continuance of a national lottery, and the tax upon the grinding of corn, (which one orator described as a tax on nature;) and others, from the Belgian provinces, attacked the ordinances of 14th June, as tending to give disquiet to the consciences of a very great proportion of the people. These ordinances were powerfully defended by many in the Chamber of Deputies; and, in short, the projects of law which were developed in the minister's budget, were finally carried in both Chambers.

The government showed itself extremely well disposed, indeed expressed its great anxiety to pursue the liberal system of commerce which had

been adopted by Great Britain; the foreign policy of which country it also adopted, by accrediting agents to the new American states.

The government of the Netherlands received accounts of serious insurrections having broken out in the island of Java, a great many of the native chiefs of which island had declared in favour of the son of their late Emperor, Sansan Haunan; but it appeared from the same accounts, that the Dutch troops had succeeded in dispersing the rebels.

The affairs of Denmark present not a single incident deserving of notice, or a topic on which to found a remark.

The history of Sweden is almost equally barren of incidents such as history should notice. She was engaged in a foolish controversy with Spain regarding the sale of an old ship of war and two old frigates, (the three, if not as old, as rickety as the Spanish government itself,) which had been sold by a Swedish house to a house in London. As it was reported that the latter purchase had been made for behoof of the new American States, the Spanish government remonstrated against the transaction, as affording assistance to its insurgent subjects; but the government of Sweden readily exculpated itself by showing that the very vessels in question had been offered for sale to Spain, and refused by her; after which they had been exposed for sale in the market, and sold to the highest bidder. Into this paltry affair, the great Leviathan of the North, Russia, chose to thrust her fingers; and, owing to her interference, an order was issued to the Swedish officers and subalterns on board the vessels to quit them, and await the further orders of govern

ment. After much time consumed in negotiation, the English company at length stated, that the season had advanced too far to admit of their employing the ships in the commercial adventure they had intended them for. The King then agreed to have the bargain cancelled, and to indemnify the purchasers.

Because a Swedish journal, the Argus, had published the correspondence on the subject of the sale of

those vessels between the Swedish and Spanish courts, the editor of it was subjected to a prosecution for violating the law upon the liberty of the press; and herein the finger of Russia is distinctly visible. A majority of the jury convicted him ; but as two-thirds of the jury did not concur in the verdict, he was, according to the law of Sweden, fully absolved.

This power had set up most exorbitant pretensions to the exclusive navigation of that part of the Pacific ocean which is bordered by so much of the north-west coast of America, as Russia, without the slightest title, as far as the greater part of it is concerned, claims an exclusive dominion over; and had issued ukases, denouncing confiscation and other penalties, against all foreign vessels which might be found trading, or fishing, within that part of the Pacific so demarcated. These pretensions of Russia were resisted by Great Britain and the United States of America, neither of which, it might have been supposed, would submit to them. Mr Stratford Canning, Minister at St Petersburgh, entered a strong remonstrance against the exclusive right of navigation claimed by Russia; and, after a long negotiation, a mutual convention was entered into by Great Britain and Russia, regarding the commerce and fisheries of the Pacific, every way satisfactory to the former power.

On 16th April, the Emperor Alexander arrived at Warsaw, to be present at the opening of the Polish Diet, the sittings of which had been suspended nearly four years. He had previously, by an ukase given from Czarskojeselo,

after severely lecturing the members of former Diets, upon their mischievous egotism and factious opposition, which were calculated to sow disunion among his subjects, interdicted the publicity of the Diet's debates.

On 13th May the Diet was opened with a speech by his Imperial Majesty, in which he observed, with reference to his ukase of 13th February, that it had become necessary for him to exercise an influence over the proceedings and deliberations of the Diet. He expressed his satisfaction with the general aspect of the affairs of the kingdom; announced the laws which would be submitted to their consideration, and exhorted them, in a tone truly imperial, to observe calmness in their deliberations.

Among other important laws passed by the Diet, was one for establishing a system of credit to support rural economy; another for modifying the penal laws, and a third for preparing a new civil code for the kingdom. These were adopted by a great majority of the Diet; and, on their being presented to the Emperor and King, he promised to take them into his consideration; and on the 13th June, the Diet was closed by a speech from his Majesty.