Dec. 1. The Spanish supreme Junta issued a proclamation for assembling the general Cortes of the kingdom, which had not been called together for three centuries; the meeting was fixed for the 1st of January, but to enter on their functions on the 1st of March.

Dec. 2. His Majesty made the following regulations in the military department: No officer to be promoted to the rank of captain until he has been three years a subaltern. No officer to be a major until he has been seven years in the service, of which he shall have been at least two years a captain; and no major to be appointed lieut. colonel until he has been nine years in the service. No officer to fill any staff appointment (except aid de camp) until he has been four years in the service. No subaltern officer to be an aid de camp unless he shall have been present in the regiment at least one year.

A great fire at Bristol burnt down the corn and flour warehouses of Messrs. Young, in Lewin's Mead, with many thousand quarters of corn and flour; the damage was estimated at 20,0001.

Dec. 9. Richard, marquis of Wellesley, appointed one of his Majesty's principal secretaries of state.

Dec. 10. Gerona, after a long and heroical resistance, capitulated to the French.

Dec. 11. The indictment preferred by colonel Wardle against Messrs. Wrights and Mary Anne Clarke, was tried before lord Ellenborough, when the jury, after five minutes deliberation, found a verdict of Not Guilty.

Dec. 12. Sir Gore Ousley, bart. appointed menmander to the Persian ambassador. Dec. 13. The troops employed in the expedition against Flushing, re-embarked, after destroying the basin, arsenal, and sea defences of Flushing.

Dec. 14. An election took place for the office of chancellor of the university of Oxford, vacant by the death of the duke of Portland; the candidates were lord Grenville, lord Eldon, and the duke of Beaufort, at the close of the election, the numbers were, for lord Grenville, 406; lord Eldon, 393; the duke of Beaufort, 233; lord Grenville was thereupon declared the successful candidate.

Dec. 15. The hon. H. Wellesley appointed envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary to the supreme Junta of Spain. Dec. 16. The proprietors of Coventgarden theatre raised the prices of admittance Is. in the boxes, and 6d. in the pit, which caused a disgraceful riot in the Theatre, from the time of its opening to

the present day; the opposition being regularly organized, and not likely to subside, a compromise was entered into between the manager and his opponents, at a public dinner, by which the boxes were to continue at the encreased price, but the pit to be reduced to the old price, 3s. 6d.; the riot was technically called the O. P. row.

Dec. 17. The empress Josephine, wife of the emperor Napoleon Bonaparte, divorced by her own consent, and with the approbation of the Imperial family; the alledged reason was her having no chil dren.

Dec. 20. His excellency Mirza Abdul Hassan, envoy extraordinary from the king of Persia to the court of Great Britain, arrived at Plymouth on the 30th ult., and this day he had an audience of his Majesty, and delivered his credentials.

An address to his Majesty was presented by the common council of the city of London, praying an enquiry into the failure of the late expedition to the isle of Walcheren.

Dec. 22. Died, Tiberius Cavallo, author of several works on electricity.

Dec. 25. Admiral Otway's squadron, with all the transports, arrived in the Downs, from Walcheren, which place was now completely evacuated by the British.

PRINCIPAL ACTS PASSED THIS YEAR.

For the further prevention of the sale and brokerage of offices.

To relieve prisoners in custody for non payment of money pursuant to orders of courts of equity.

To enable the clerks of the King's corouer and attorney in the court of King's Bench to be admitted as attornies.

For augmenting the salaries of the judges.

To amend the local militia act.

To authorize the principal officers of the customs in the British colonies in America and the West Indies to examine witnesses on oath.

For altering, amending, and explaining certain acts, relative to the removal of the poor, &c.

For relief of insolvent debtors in Ireland.

To permit the trade between Great Britain and the United States of America, to be carried on in ships and vessels belong. ing to the inhabitants of the said States.

For giving jurisdiction to justices of the peace to hear and determine prosecutions for penalties incurred by any offence

failures of the late expeditions to Spain, Portugal, and Holland; they also voted a similar address themselves; they also asserted a right to deliver their addresses or petitions to the King on the throne.

Charles Stuart, esq. appointed envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary to the provisional government of Portugal. Jan. 11. The directors of the East India company gave a splendid entertainment to the Persian ambassador.

Jan. 16. One of the corning houses in the King's powder mills, at Faversham, blew up, four men were killed in an instant, and two others were irrecoverably wounded.

Jan. 17. The Persian ambassador had a private audience of his Majesty.

Jan. 18. Mr. Lyon Levi, a diamond merchant, flung himself from the top of the Monument, and was literally dashed to *pieces.

Jan. 19. A treaty of amity, commerce, and navigation, between Great Britain and Portugal was signed at Rio de Janeiro.

Jan. 21. A common hall for the city of London was held, and strong resolutions were entered into, in consequence of the rejection of the petition for inquiry as to the late expeditions.

Jan. 23. His Majesty opened the session of Parliament by commission.

Jan. 24. The king of Sweden publicly adopted prince Charles Augustus, as crown prince of Sweden, who took the usual oaths on that occasion.

Jan. 28. Grenada opened its gates without resistance to the French.

Jan. 30. G. L. Wardle, attended at Guildhall, to receive the thanks and freedom of the city, for his exertions in bringing forward the charges against the commander in chief.

Feb. 1. The city of Seville surrendered to the French under marshal Victor.

Feb. 4. Died, Caleb Whitefoord, esq. author of several humourous jeux d'esprit, and celebrated in Goldsmith's poem of "Retaliation.".

Feb. 5. General Sebastiani having driven the Spaniards from their strong holds in the mountains of Malaga, entered that city after a weak resistance.

Feb. 7. A court martial was held at Portsmouth on the hon. captain Warwick Lake, of his Majesty's ship Ulysses, for having on the 13th of Dec. 1807, caused a seaman of the name of Robert Jeffery to be put on shore on the desert island of Sombrero, in the West Indies; the charge being proved, capt. Lake was sentenced to be dismissed his Majesty's service.

Feb. 8. The islands of Guadaloupe,

St. Eustatius, St. Martin, and Saba, sur. rendered to the British forces under the combined command of general Sir G. Beckwith, and admiral Sir A. Cochrane.

Feb. 9. Died, the rev. R. Chandler, D.D. author of "Travels in Greece and Asia Minor."

Feb. 17. A dreadful accident happened at Liverpool, on Sunday, a few minutes before the commencement of divine service, the spire of the church of St. Nicholas fell down, burst through the roof, and along the centre aisle, demolishing the western gallery, organ loft, &c. very fortunately but few of the congregation had assembled ; 27 bodies were taken out of the ruins, dead, principally the female children of the Moorfields charity school, the boys were in the act of going in when the accident occurred, and were saved.

The Dutch settlement of Amboyna captured by the British under the command of captains Tucker, Montague, and Spencer, of the navy.

Died, John Hoppner, R.A. one of the most eminent portrait painters since the days of Sir Joshua Reynolds.

· Feb. 20. The Spaniards were defeated at Vich with great loss.

SHERIFFS APPOINTED FOR THE YEAR 1810.

Bedfordshire, Sir G. O. Turner, bart.
Berkshire, Peter Green, esq.
Buckinghamshire, John Ayton, esq.
Camb. and Hunt. G. W. Leeds, esq.
Cheshire, Thomas Brook, esq.
Cornwall, R. Oxnam, esq.
Cumberland, Sir H. Fletcher, bart.
Derbyshire, John Crumpton, esq.
Devonshire, Sir M. M. Lopez, bart.
Dorsetshire, H. Seymour, esq.
Essex, John Rigg, esq.
Gloucestershire, Paul Wathen, esq.
Hants, Sir J. W. S. Gardner, bart.
Herefordshire, Robert Higginson, esq.
Hertfordshire, T. Howarth, esq.
Kent, James Burton, esq.
Lancashire, W. Hulton, esq.
Leicestershire, The Hon. T. Bowes, esq.
Lincolnshire, Edmund Turner, esq.
Monmouthshire, T. Pilkington, esq.
Norfolk, N. Micklethwaite, esq.
Northamptonshire, W. Sawbridge, esq.
Northumberland, John Read, esq.
Nottinghamshire, J. Chaworth, esq.
Oxfordshire, W. H. Ashurst, esq.
Rutlandshire, W. Gilson, esq.
Shropshire, W. Lloyd, esq.
Somersetshire, T. S. Horner, esq.
Staffordshire, Henry Webb, esq.

Feb. 21. John Gale Jones was ordered to the bar of the House of Commons, charged with a breach of the privileges of that House, in the publication of a placard respecting a discussion held at a debating society, called" The British Forum," the House, after hearing his defence, ordered him to be committed to Newgate.

Feb. 24. Mr. Perry, the proprietor of the Morning Chronicle, was tried for a libel on his Majesty, which he copied from the Examiner, newspaper, into his own; be conducted his own defence, and was acquitted.

Feb. 28. This being the day appointed for a general fast, the same was observed with proper decorum all over the kingdom.

March 2. In the House of Commons, Mr. Whitbread moved specific resolutions respecting a narrative of the expedition to the Scheldt, signed by lord Chatham, and presented to his Majesty, without the intervention of any responsible minister, appealing to the judgment of his Majesty, and reflecting upon Sir Richard Strachan, and the navy; Mr. Whitbread concluded with moving, that the earl of Chatham, by private communication to his Majesty, accompanied by a desire of secresy, did unconstitutionally abuse the privilege of access to his Sovereign, and thereby afford an example most pernicious in its tendency to his Majesty's service: Mr. Canning moved a modification to the second resolution," That the House saw with regret, that any such communication as the narrative of lord Chatham should have been made to his Majesty, without any

knowledge of the other ministers, that such conduct was reprehensible, and deserved the censure of the House." Mr. Whitbread's first resolution was carried, and Mr. Canning's modification was also carried; in consequence of these resolutions, lord Chatham resigned his office of master general of the ordnance.

March 3. The prince of Wales made a present to the university of Oxford of the Papiri rescued from the ruins of Herculaneum, which was presented to him by the king of Sicilly.

The marquis of Wellesley installed a knight of the Garter

March 6. A fire broke out at a tallow chandler's in Holles-street, Clare-market, which burnt that and an adjoining house; three persons lost their lives in the flames.

March 7. Died, on board his flag ship, the Ville de Paris, off Minorca, admiral lord Collingwood.

March 10. Sir Gore Ouseley, bart. appointed ambassador extraordinary, and minister plenipotentiary to the court of Persia. March 11. The ceremony of marriage between Napoleon and Maria Louisa was performed at Vienna.

March 12. Sir Francis Burdett made a motion for the discharge of John Gale Jones; Sir Francis contended, that the House in the committal of this man had infringed the law of the land, and subverted the principles of the constitution; the House divided, for the motion 14, against it 153.

March 13. A coroner's inquest was held on the body of the hon. William Frederick Eden, (son of lord Auckland) who was found drowned in the Thames; he had been missing since the 19th of Jan. no evidence was adduced to the jury as to the cause of his death; they brought in a verdict of "found drowned," but by what means there was no evidence.

March 16. A fire broke out in New Boswell-court, Carey-street, which burnt down two houses, and damaged others.

March 18. The Electorate of Hanover was formally annexed, by Bonaparte, to Westphalia.

March 21. Eliab Harvey, esq. restored to his rank as rear admiral, of which he had been deprived by the sentence of a court-martial, for disrespect to admiral lord Gambier.

Lord Porchester, a member of the com mittee appointed to enquire into the policy and conduct of the expedition to the Scheldt submitted to the House of Commons two sets of resolutions; the first relating to the impolicy and folly of the expedition; and