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FOREIGN STATES.

SPAIN.

The following is a list of the new Cabinet of Spain :-M. Mendizabal, President of the Council, and Minister of Finance; General Alava, Foreign Affairs; Gomez Becerra, Chief of the Zaragoza Junta, and an old Member of the Cortes, Minister of Justice; M. Ulloa, Procurador for Cadiz, Minister of Marine; M. Almodovar, Chief of the Junta of Valencia, Minister of War; and M. Martin de los Heros, Minister of the Interior.

The Cortes have been convoked for the 16th of November, according to the ordinary forms prescribed by that instrument, to devise the constitutional measures called for by public opinion.

From the seat of war in Spain, the news of the week appears, on the whole, to be somewhat favourable to the cause of the Carlists. It is manifest that they are concentrating their forces, and, though by very slow and almost imperceptible degrees, advancing at the same time; while, without coming to close engagement, without experiencing a defeat-for in the occasional skirmishes between the parties neither appears to suffer any loss heavy enough to weigh anything in the scale of victory-the Queen's Generals are not less manifestly adopting the retreating system. The reports of the serious defeats which Don Carlos had last week sustained turn out to be inventions, and the victories imaginary; while similar rumours are from time to time received of successes gained by the Carlists over an enemy who has never been within the reach of danger. The Queen's cause, however, unconnected with the military movements in favour of it, still wears a brightening aspect. Several of the juntas have given in their adhesion to the new Government, and their example may be supposed to operate, not only upon those which, like that of Andalusia, still remain intractable, but generally upon the minds of the people, among whom there is a very large class of persons who cling as closely to the principle of neutrality as possible, and who only wait for the opportunity to turn the balance in favour of one party against the other two. Which will be the uppermost party on New-year's-day, it is not easy to predict, though the chances are with the Queen; but then the struggle with the Carlists will, it is more and more apparent, be an arduous, lingering, and all but exhausting one.

The Count of Almodovar, the Captain-General of Valencia, has published, of his own authority, an ordinance, which is so absurd as almost not to be terrible. Still it shows the state of Spain, and the desperate measures to which the liberal party is resolved to resort. "1. Every murder committed by the Carlists on unarmed persons shall be avenged by the murder of double the number of the Carlist prisoners at the depôt of Peniscola. 2. Every person who, in the space of 48 hours, shall not give up all arms in his possession or power (unless he belongs to the National Guards) shall be put to death. 3. Every person crying Live Don Carlos !' or crying 'Death' to either of the Queens, or 'Down with Liberty!' shall be shot. 4. Every one who shall distribute any paper whatever, which in any way shall excite to revolt, shall be punished with death. 5. Every National Guard, who shall not within half-an-hour after the drum beats to arms, be in the rank of his company, shall be disarmed and arrested. 6. Every one found in the streets half-an-hour after the drum shall be beaten, shall be compelled by force to retire, and three persons are to be considered as forming a mob." The ordinance concludes by saying, "I am resolved to make signal examples, in order to terrify the enemies of liberty, and at all risks to preserve the public tranquillity."

Nov.-VOL. XLV. NO. CLXXIX.

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GERMANY.

The conferences at Toplitz have terminated. Immediately on their conclusion the sovereigns took their departure for Prague, where it was expected they would remain for several days. So ends this meeting of monarchs; a meeting which, to all appearance, has been uninterrupted by political discordance, which seems to have ended as harmoniously, and which has at least afforded a grand popular holiday. The subjects to which the attention of the Royal diplomatists had been directed during the discussion can only at present be guessed at; there is little doubt, however, that the affairs of Spain, the settlement of Belgium, and the approaching marriage of the young Queen of Portugal with the Prince of Saxe-Coburg, the nephew of the King of the Belgians, were among the most prominent features of the conference.

FRANCE.

A treaty of peace seems to have been definitively concluded between the Royalists of the 7th of August and a strong party amongst the Legitimists of the Fauxbourg St. Germain. The latter have determined no longer to bouder the Citizen King, but most condescendingly to participate in the gaieties of the winter season at the Tuileries, which will shortly commence. The King and Queen of the Belgians are mentioned as guests at the chateau.

UNITED STATES.

Accounts from the United States describe the slave-holders of the South as absolutely outrageous at the efforts making by the abolitionists to better the condition of the negroes. Several persons supposed to be guilty of the atrocious crime of sympathising with the poor blacks had been seized by the mob, and summarily hung without trial; and the papers to the 1st instant announce that the excitement still continued. A man of the name of Carrol, who was accused of the double offence of aiding the abolitionists and pilfering his neighbours, had been subjected to the operation of Lynch's law in Charleston. He was flogged, tarred, and cottoned; his house was broken into, and all his property examined and sold. At this outrage a number of respectable citizens are said to have been present. The inhabitants of New York, under the presidency of the Mayor, held a public meeting on the 27th ult., and passed resolutions condemning slavery in strong terms, but also condemning the extravagant proceedings of the abolitionists. The people of Philadelphia have done the same. At a recent meeting at Norfolk, in Virginia, it was proposed and agreed that the State of Virginia should make a formal demand of the State of New York to have Messrs. Tappau, Garrison, and Thompson, zealous abolitionists, delivered up, to be punished by the laws of Virginia, though it was stated that the Governor of Virginia had no power to make such a demand. It was also proposed, and adopted, to offer a reward for the heads of the three gentlemen mentioned. This encouragement to assassination excited, it is said, some disapprobation; but the persons present did not like to express it, lest they should be "slicked" themselves. Another resolution gave notice to all free negroes to leave Norfolk in sixty days; and those found in the borough at the end of that time are to be whipped, tarred, and cottoned. Such outrageous proceedings will most probably lead to that extensive and servile insurrection which is at present only dreaded.

BIOGRAPHICAL PARTICULARS OF CELEBRATED
PERSONS, LATELY DECEASED.

THE EARL OF CHATHAM.

The Earl of Chatham was in his 80th year; the Colonelcy of the 4th Regiment of Foot, which he has held since 1799, has become vacant, as well as the Governor-generalship of Gibraltar. His Lordship was, besides a Knight of the Garter, a Governor of the Charter-house, an Elder Brother of the Trinity-house, and High Steward of the Corporation of Colchester. His Lordship, who had married a daughter of the late Viscount Sydney, has died without issue: his titles are, we believe, extinct. His only brother was "the Heaven-born Minister" Pitt; he had two sisters, neither of whom left issue male. Lord Chatham served during the American war, at Gibraltar, and commanded the expedition to Walcheren in 1809. In 1788 he was made First Lord of the Admiralty, in which office he continued until December, 1794; in 1796 he was appointed President of the Council, which he held till 1801, when he was appointed Master-General of the Ordnance, which he held till 1806.

MR. MATHIAS.

We are indebted to the "Athenæum" for the following memoir of Mr. Mathias: :

It appears, as if among our other regular weekly duties, the task of preparing an obituary notice of some person distinguished in literature or the arts was to be numbered-so numerous have been the deaths since the commencement of the year. We have now to record the loss of another of the elegant scholars of the last generation, of one whose reputation was rather select than extensive. As a lover and successful cultivator of letters generally, but, in particular, of the literature and language of Italy, Mr. Mathias will not be soon forgotten: his "Pursuits of Literature," the first part of which poem appeared in 1794, drew great attention from the keenness and erudition of its notes; and his Italian " Canzoni" and translations from the English have been always held up to admiration for their grace and correctness. Besides these, he was the author of many other satirical and critical works, which will be found in the choice libraries collected thirty years since. Mr. Mathias received his education at Eton, and Trinity College, Cambridge, where he carried away several honours. He was, at one period of his life, Treasurer of the Household of Queen Charlotte; and, for the last many years, resided entirely at Naples, where he died. The following personal recollections, kindly sent us by a lady well able to appreciate his talents, will be acceptable to such of our readers as interest themselves in the private life of a man of letters.

"I became acquainted with Mr. Mathias at Naples, in 1823; he had then been a resident in that city for some years, and was much esteemed and valued by the few among the Neapolitans who had any pretensions to literature. He had translated into Italian several of our English poems, which appeared to great advantage in their new garb, but his selections were not always fortunate, as witness Armstrong's Art of Health.' The Italians were as much surprised as delighted at his proficiency in their harmonious language, and I have heard several of the litterati amongst them bestow the warmest eulogiums on the purity and precision with which he wrote it. Though his writings displayed a perfect knowledge and mastery of Italian, his conversation in that language was not remarkable either for its fluency or correctness: but conversation in any language was not his forte, for his colloquial powers were so very limited, that one could not help feeling surprised, that a man possessed of so much erudition

should bring so little interesting matter into the general mart of society. Any allusion to The Pursuits of Literature' was extremely offensive to him. It was believed that the personal severity of several of the observations in that book had drawn on the supposed author some very disagreeable demands for satisfaction, which he evaded by equivocating about the authorship, a denial which he felt himself bound to persist in to the last. In stature, Mathias was below the middle size, being scarcely taller than Mr. Godwin. In face, he bore a striking resemblance to Sir Francis Burdett. He was particularly neat in his attire, and scrupulously clean in his person. He was universally respected at Naples, and though possessed of little, if any, fortune besides the pension granted to him by the late king, he maintained an independent and respectable station, and was a welcome guest in all the houses occupied by English residents. Among other nervous peculiarities he had a constant dread of being driven over by the vehicles continually passing through the populous streets of Naples, and it was often a source of amusement to his acquaintances, to see him anxiously watching what he considered a safe opportunity of passing the cross-way, advancing with precipitation, and, when in the middle, retreating in terror, though no danger threatened, so that it often took him whole hours to walk half a mile if obliged to cross the street. Bless my soul-bless my soul! how dreadfully dangerous!' (would he exclaim); I was within a moment of being killed! though the carriage at whose approach he trembled was twenty yards off. He was a gastronomer in the full extent of the word, took a lively interest in the first appearance of green peas, was a connoisseur in wild boar, and could disengage a beccafico from its envelope of vine-leaves, in much less than the ordinary time bestowed on such an operation, murmuring to himself all the time, Bless my soul, how very delicious!-how very delicious! The fine climate, the cheapness of the luxuries he liked, the cheerful society, and the respect his acquirements had won for him, must have rendered the residence of Mr. Mathias at Naples the most agreeable part of his life. He spoke of it as such, and seemed to shrink as if exposed to cold, when a return to England was named, as among the possibilities of fate. Peace be to his shade! he has dropped into the grave full of years, leaving many friends, and not one enemy-for those he had excited by the Pursuits of Litera

ture' he outlived."

NEWTON, THe painter.

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Gilbert Stuart Newton, Member of the Royal Academy, and an artist of no common talents, died at Chelsea, on the 5th of August, in the fortieth year of his age: he had been long ailing; his decay, bodily and mental, was not unknown either to his friends or the admirers of his genius, and the extinction of his life cannot but be regarded rather as a blessing than a visitation. He was born at Boston, in America, where a love of art came early upon him; so early, that he had already distinguished himself in original composition, when, about twenty years ago, he came to London, and entered as a student in the Royal Academy. His countryman, Leslie, had preceded him, and both improved themselves by the examples of Reynolds and West, and found advantage in the counsel of Fuseli, to study from nature, and feel for themselves. Though Newton acquired skill both in drawing and colour, and became acquainted with the fine proportions and harmonious unities of the antique, he was more remarkable for delineations in which beau-ideal drawing had little to do but expression everything. He loved to find subjects as well as sentiment in his own heart and fancy; and it was truly observed of him, that he had less inclination for the stern and the severe, than for the soft, the gentle, and the affecting. He had also the good sense to see, that for pictures of colossal dimensions the houses of England had no room, and that for subjects

denominated the high historic the people had little taste: instead, therefore, of attempting to force "camels and dromedaries" down the public throat, he contented himself with painting small pictures fit for ladies' chambers, as well as large galleries; and the subjects which he embodied were either drawn from scenes around him, or found in the pages of our writers and poets.

The chief works of Newton we visited while he resided in Great Marlborough-street: he occupied the first floor of the house No. 41, and though extremely neat-nay, fastidious about his dress, he was far from paying the same attention to his chambers, for his compositions were scattered carelessly around: the finished and unfinished were huddled together, and broken models and bits of ribbon and withered flowers abounded. To enumerate all his pictures would be difficult, for they are scattered over England, and may be found in the most select collections: many are in his native America, where it is to be hoped their simplicity and their beauty will not be unfelt. To name a few of them will be sufficient to awaken pleasing recollections in the minds of our readers:-1. Portia and Bassanio, from the Merchant of Venice; 2. Lear attended by Cordelia and the Physician; 3. Lady Mary Fox; 4. Abelard; 5. Jessica and Shylock; 6. The Vicar of Wakefield restoring his daughter to her mother; 7. Sir Walter Scott. His happiest works are of a domestic and poetic kind; he loved to seek expression in a living face, and, moulding it to his will, unite it to a fancy all his own: some of his single figures, particularly females, are equal in sentiment and colour to anything in modern art. They are stamped with innocence as well as beauty. He was a slow workman, and accomplished all by long study and repeated touches; he dashed off nothing by a lucky stroke, and had no professional fever fits. Some of his sketches even surpassed his finished compositions; elaborate detail and studied finish seemed now and then to injure the simplicity and abate the expression. Newton was tall and handsome, an agreeable companion, and abounded in anecdote.

DON TELESFORO DE TRUEBA.

He was well known to the literary world by several works of fiction, and dramatic productions. Novels, in three volumes, and regular comedies in English, from the pen of a foreigner, were not only curious, but, perhaps, unexampled in our literature. And they possessed such considerable merit in almost every respect, as to procure for them no small share of popularity. De Trueba's tastes and inclinations were greatly devoted to pursuits connected with the Belles Lettres ; and he was a zealous contributor to the Metropolitan Magazine, and other periodicals. In manners he was gentlemanly; and, mixing with the best society, he not only supplied his mind with subjects for observation, but was enabled to take a tone not always within the scope of the painters of manners, and the passing times. Having returned to his native country, Spain, about two years ago, he was elected a member of the Procuradors, where his knowledge of England, her constitution and feelings, as well as his general information, must have made him eminently useful. We have now to regret his premature death at Paris, at, we should suppose, an age under thirty years.

FRANCIS GOODWIN, ESQ.

Mr. Goodwin, the architect, died, on the 30th of August, from apoplexy; the result, it is conjectured, of his application and anxiety of mind for some time previous, during which he had been unremittingly employed in preparing designs for the new Houses of Parliament. Mr. Goodwin frequently displayed great ability in arranging a complex subject, and the designs he made, about two years ago, for a new House of Commons, were allowed to be of a very superior order. He had never executed any

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