THE period that has elapsed since the peace of 1815, has been as remarkable for the repose which has been enjoyed, by most of the nations of Europe, as that which preceded it was, for the desolating wars and sweeping revolutions in which those nations were involved. The history of this period however, is hardly less worthy of being studied, and the events of it, though less brilliant, and farther removed from observation, are producing important effects, not only on the welfare of the present generation, but on the destiny of nations in future ages. It is therefore important to take notice of these events, that we may learn from them something of the prospects of the future, as well as endeavour to reap from them some benefit to ourselves.

It is not our purpose to attempt a review of this interesting period of his tory, nor even a regular narrative of passing events. Our design is merely to place before the reader a record of a few of the most prominent transactions of the day, interspersed sometimes with such remarks as may seem appropriate to the occasion. This will be done in the most cursory manner, as the space which we can devote to this object will be extremely limited. The present article will be confined to a mere enumeration of some of the most prominent political events which have come to our knowledge within the last few weeks.

GREAT BRITAIN. The ministry formed on the death of Mr Canning, under Lord Goderich, which embraced several prominent individuals who had been long in the ranks of the opposition, met with irreconcilable difficulties, and early in January Lord Goderich offered his resignation. The Duke of Wellington was commissioned by the king to form a new cabinet. This commission he executed, by excluding all the whigs, and under the new administration. Parliament met on the 29th of January. It is understood that the new ministry is opposed to the Catholic claims. The state of the kingdom is not unprosperous. Trade is gradually reviving. The produce of the revenue of the kingdom, for the last year, presents a small increase over that of the year preceding.

FRANCE. In France some remarkable changes have lately taken place in the government. The ministry, at the head of which was the Count de Villele, had by a number of acts of doubtful expediency, become extremely unpopular, and although they were supported by a decided majority in the Chamber of Deputies, they had been outvoted in some favorite measures in the Chamber of Peers. To secure an ascendency in this body, the extraordinary measure of creating a large number of new Peers was resorted to, and about the same time the Chamber of Deputies, for reasons not fully understood, was dissolved, and a new election was ordered. This Chamber would not have expired, by the limitation of the charter, for three years, the duration of the Chamber, after each election, unless dissolved by the royal authority, being seven years. It has been supposed that the dissolution was advised by the ministers, because they thought the chance of a new Chamber, which should be favorable to their views, would be better now, in an election brought forward so suddenly as to give little opportunity to the opposition to organzie their strength, than at the legal expiration of the Chamber. The election however, contrary to the general expectation, resulted in the choice of a large majority of members known to be opposed to the ministers, though many of them attached to parties heretofore strongly opposed to one another. In this state of things, before the assembling of the Chambers, the ministers resigned, and on the 5th of January a royal ordonnance announced the appointment of a new ministry. A majority of the new cabinet however, are known to have been friends and supporters of the old, and whether they will be able to command the confidence and support of the Chamber of Deputies, remains to be seen. M.de Villele,and two of his colleagues have been raised to the peerage, which creations, with those announced a few weeks before, make seventynine new members, added to the Chamber of Peers. France has become involved in a war with the Dey of Algiers, and has blockaded the port of Algiers.

SPAIN, though the insurrection in

that country is by no means suppressed, appears to be in a more quiet state than it was a few months ago. The king and queen have been several months absent from the capital on an excursion undertaken for pacifying their subjects in the eastern part of the kingdom, and at the last accounts they were at Barcelona, where they proposed to remain until April. The whole kingdom is in a wretchedly disordered state, from the imbecility of the government, the ignorance and fanaticism of a great portion of the people, and the violence of the contending parties. It is positively asserted in the late French papers that the French troops, with the exception of the garrison of Cadiz, were about to be withdrawn from the kingdom.

PORTUGAL. The kingdom of Portugal has been for some time in an unsettled state from the violence of party feeling for and against the constitution. The constitutional party at present maintains the ascendency. The crown on the decease of the late king, devolved by the laws of the kingdom, upon his eldest son, the emperor of Brazil. He saw fit to relinquish it in favor of his daughter, a child of eight or nine years of age. Between this daughter, the young queen, and Don Miguel her uncle, the second son of the late king, a contract of marriage has been entered into, with the consent of her father. Don Miguel, in the lifetime of his father, showed himself a man of uncontrollable passions, and apparently a very unfit person to be entrusted with the administration of a government. He endeavoured to place himself at the head of the absolute party, and to seize the reins of government before his father's death. He was defeated in his designs, and to place him out of the way of other intrigues he was sent abroad on his travels. He has been residing some time at the court of the emperor of Austria, where, after some hesitation, he consented to swear to the constitution, by which a representative government is secured to the people of Portugal, and the power of the crown is put under salutary restrictions. He is now on his return to Portugal, and at the date of the last intelligence from Europe, he was in England, whence he was to embark in a short time for Lisbon. The government, in the mean time, has been administered since the death of the late king, by the princess Isabella Maria, the sister of VOL. V. NO. I.

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Don Pedro, emperor of Brazil, and of Don Miguel, as Regent. To this Regency Don Miguel is to succeed, on his arrival in Portugal, and will be virtually the king of Portugal, in the right of his future wife, Donna Maria Gloria, if that alliance should take place in fact. Of this there is some reason to doubt, as the latest advices from Rio Janeiro have brought the intelligence that the young queen was dangerously ill of a bilious fever, and not expected to survive many hours. In the event of her death, it is not easy to foresee what will be the course of succession.

RUSSIA. The latest intelligence from Russia informs us of the termination of the war with Persia. By this peace, Russia gains, as is usual with her in all treaties of peace with the neighbouring states, a new accession of territory. The war began in the invasion of the territory formerly ceded to Russia, by a body of Persian troops. It ends by a cession to Russia of the Khanates of Nakhitchenard and Erivan, bounded principally by the river Araxes. The Schah of Persia also stipulates to pay a heavy pecuniary indemnity for the expenses of the war, a part to be paid on the signature of the treaty of peace, and the remainder at short intervals after.

TURKEY. The affairs of Turkey, which have for a long time engaged the public attention, wear some appearance of approaching a crisis. The Turkish government, after protracting as long as possible the negotiations with the ambassadors of Great Britain, France, and Russia, finally rejected the proposition, made under the treaty of July 6, 1827, and the ambassadors demanded their passports. These were refused by the Turkish government, but the ambas sadors withdrew from Constantinople, without molestation, on the 8th of December, and set out for their respective countries. No measures had been adopted, at the date of the last accounts, in consequence of this rupture of the negotiation, but it was understood that the Grand Seignior was making preparations for hostilities, with as much activity as possible, and that a large Russian army was stationed on the Pruth, which is the boundary of that country on the side of Turkey. Whether hostilities were likely to ensue, was left to conjecture. There is nothing in the treaty of July 6, that necessarily implies that the parties to it

would take an active part in the war, in a contingency like that which is now presented. But the promptness with which they enforced, by the battle of Navarino, the measures which they had agreed upon, shows that they will not be backward in resorting to force, if they find it necessary for effecting the object which they have in view, the pacification of Greece. It is perhaps probable, that they will confine themselves, for the present at least, to preventing the sending of reinforcements by sea, and the establishment of commercial relations with the Greeks, as this course appears to be particularly pointed out in the treaty above alluded to; yet there are some reasons for believing, that a Russian army will immediately enter the principalities, and perhaps march directly to the Turkish capital. A Russian army might in a short time cross the Danube, and with such a force as will probably be brought into the field, if this step is resorted to, there is little reason to doubt, that it might march, in spite of the resistance which it would be in the power of the sultan to interpose, directly to the gates of Constantinople. Should such be the result of the measures to which the obstinacy of the Porte may have compelled the allies to resort, it will then be manifestly in their power to dictate the terms of peace-a peace called for by the claims of humanity, and by the interests of all the commercial nations of Europe.

GREECE. From Greece there has been no recent intelligence of moment, except that of a gallant naval action in the Gulf of Lepanto, in which seven Turkish vessels were destroyed, and of the landing of two thousand Greeks in the island of Scio, and the conquest of the whole of that island, with the exception of the fortresses in the harbour, which at the last accounts remained in the hands of the Turks. It has been reported that the Greek vessels, employed in blockading these forts, had been destroyed by the French squadron, in pursuance of the design of the allied fleet, to enforce an armistice between the parties; but this report is not confirmed. It has also been reported that Ibrahim Pacha had withdrawn the Egyptian troops to the neighbourhood of Modon, and that in consequence Patras had been compelled to surrender to the Greeks. The Greeks were expecting with impatience the arrival of

the Count Capo D'Istria, a native of Greece, of distinguished character, who has been, for many years, in high and responsible employment in the service of Russia, and who has been appointed president of the Grecian Republic, for the term of seven years, with extraordinary powers. Since his appointment he has visited the capitals of Russia, Great Britain, and France, and he left the latter country several months since for Greece, it is supposed with the approbation of the three governments, and in possession of considerable resources for giving efficiency to the measures of his administration. The Greeks of all parties, place great confidence in him, and look forward to his arrival as the signal for the restoration of order and subordination in the country. It is to be hoped that these expectations may be realized, and that he may succeed in his patriotic design, of bestowing on his countrymen the blessings of liberty, regulated by laws.

SOUTH AMERICA. The infant nations of our own continent have been far from enjoying that tranquillity to which they might have looked forward, as the reward of their labors and sacrifices, in establishing their independence. In Mexico, an open rebellion of a formidable character, was suppressed by the vigor of the government, in January last, and General Bravo, the Vice President, with a number of other distinguished individuals were made prisoners. The government had previously adopted the harsh and injudicious measure of expelling from the country all persons who were natives of Spain. The finances of this country are at rather a low ebb, and the government have been so improvident as to suffer the dividend due on a large loan contracted in London, to remain unprovided for, and consequently unpaid. A Mexican brig of war, the Guerrero, was lately captured by a Spanish frigate, after a long and severe action, in which the captain, Porter, a nephew of commodore Porter, and fortynine men were killed.

Central America has been long in a state of lamentable disorder, and at the date of the last accounts from that country, the inhabitants were in arms against one another, the President of the republic being at the head of one army, and the Vice President, of another. Colombia also continued in a disordered state, and the return of the Liberator, Bolivar,

had not been attended with the effect of restoring quiet and confidence. A congress is now in session at Ocana, engaged in the attempt to reconcile the difficulties that have long agitated the country. The finances are in an impoverished state, and insufficient either for maintaining the credit of the government abroad or supplying its wants at home. Arbitrary expedients have been resorted to in some of the seaports for supplying the deficiency, which have had an injurious effect on the foreign trade. In Peru, Chili, and Buenos Ayres, important changes in the government have been made, the particulars of which we must pass over. Buenos Ayres, besides having suffered the inconvenience of an entire change in her government, is in a state of war with the emperor of Brazil, and the port of Buenos Ayres has been blockaded by a Brazilian squadron for many months. The blockade however is not very strictly enforced, and the vessels of this country frequently succeed in entering it with supplies. The war is extremely onerous to Brazil, and although carried on at great expense by the imperial government, it is prosecuted with little vigor or success.

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. Very few events have lately occurred in our domestic history, of sufficient importance to be here noticed. In Congress, no measures of any importance, with the exception of the annual appropriation bills, has yet been adopted, or discussed. A great number of subjects of legislation have been presented to the attention of Congress, and referred to committees. The two which have excited the greatest interest, and which will probably be brought into serious debate, are a proposition to grant some indemnity to the surviving officers of the revolution, for their pecuniary sacrifices, and one to increase the tariff of duties on the import of certain classes of foreign manufactures, for the purpose of encouraging the manufacture of those goods in this country. The subject of a political nature, which engages most of the public attention, is that of the next election of President. The question whether Mr Adams shall be again elected, or whether Gen. Jackson shall be chosen in his place, is one on which the public opinion is divided, and which gives a direction to the debates on almost all subjects which are brought be

fore Congress. Unfortunately the decision is likely to be very little influenced by any careful consideration of the personal fitness, or unfitness, of the respective candidates.

One of the subjects alluded to by the President, in his Message on the opening of the session of Congress, was the negotiation with the British government for an adjustment of the boundary between the state of Maine and the province of New Brunswick. A statement of the question had been agreed on, for the purpose of referring it to the arbitration of a friendly government. It has since been announced that the government resorted to, as the umpire in the case, is that of Russia. Our government claims, as a part of Maine, in conformity with what appear to us to be the obvious terms of the treaty of 1783, and also in conformity with the known limits of the province of Massachusetts Bay, (then including Maine Nova Scotia and Quebec), as those limits were established, and clearly defined by acts of the British crown as early as 1763, the whole territory bounded, east by a line running from the source of the St Croix river, due north, crossing the St John, and terminated by the highlands between this last named river and the St Lawrence, and north by the highland, which divide the waters of the St John, from those of the St Lawrence. The British government maintains, that the due north line from the St Croix should terminate at the highlands south of the St John, and that the northern boundary of Maine should follow the course of the highlands, which divide the waters of the Penobscot, from those of the St John. They consequently claim the territory watered by the St John and its branches, as belonging to the British provinces. There is now a population of about two thousand souls on the disputed territory, consisting of persons who have seated themselves there without any title to the lands which they occupy, from either government. Over this population the government of New Brunswick has recently undertaken to exercise a right of jurisdiction, and this claim has given rise to a controversy of rather an angry character, which has produced a high degree of excitement between the parties more immediately interested, and which it is difficult to adjust, until the question of right shall be determined, which has been referred to a foreign tribunal.

DIED, at New York, January 21, Mrs GRACE WEBSTER, wife of the Hon. Daniel Webster of Boston. She had accompanied her husband as far as New York in November last, who was on his way to Washington for the purpose of taking his seat in the Senate of the United States. On her arrival in New York, a chronic disease, from which she had suffered severely for several months, became so alarming and painful, that she was compelled to desist from the further prosecution of the journey. She remained at the house of a friend, Dr Cyrus Perkins, where her disease became gradually more severe, until she at length sunk under it, and yielded up her life, in humble resignation to the will of her Maker. The character of Mrs Webster, calls for some public testimonial, both from its intrinsic excellence, fitted as it was to be held up as a pattern of those graces which adorn the christian character, and from regard to the many friends who, in the intercourse of society, and the various relations of life, have had the happiness of being the witnesses of her uncommon worth.

She was from early life a religious woman, strongly impressed with the duties of piety, and the obligations of living are ligious life; of respecting the institutions of religion, and of giving a religious education to her children. In conformity with her sense of these obligations, she discharged her various domestic and social duties, and regulated her employments, and her intercourse with society. To the duties of benevolence she was peculiarly sensible, and they were always discharged by her with pleasure. Very many persons will long remember with gratitude the acts of disinterested kindness, by which she has relieved their sufferings, supplied their wants, or removed their embarrassments. Her manners were remarkable for simplicity and propriety, springing less from study and observation, than from a natural sense of what would be agreeable to those around

her, and at the same time what was due to herself. She was therefore the ornament of the social circle, and it was her fortune to conciliate the friendship of very many, with whom her situation in life had brought her acquainted. To those who enjoyed the privilege of an intimate acquaintance with her, she was peculiarly dear, from the sweetness of her disposition, the steadiness of her attachments, and the skill with which she contributed to the gratification of her friends. With a sound understanding, and a mind well instructed, with fortitude to endure adversity, and discernment to turn prosperity to its noblest uses-the good of those about her-with diligence and prudence in the conduct of the affairs which devolved upon her, she was enabled to sustain the trials to which it had pleased God to subject her, and to discharge in the most exemplary manner the duties she owed to her family, her friends, and to society. The afflictions and bereavements which she was called to suffer, did not destroy the serenity and cheerfulness of her disposition, and the sufferings of her last long and painful sickness, were endured by her with patience, and without complaint. During the whole of her sickness, she was apprized of the danger of her situation, but she contemplated the prospect of its fatal termination with serenity. Though she had much to live for, and though she loved the world as the workmanship of God, and as full of a thousand beauties of his creation, her prevailing feeling in the prospect of death, was that of submission to the will of her heavenly Father. She had been for several years a member of the church in Brattle Street, and some of her last words were expressions of affectionate recollection of her esteemed pastor, and of regret that she had been deprived of his friendly counsels. Her remains were brought to Boston, and were deposited with those of two of her children, who had gone before her.