fingular and unexampled inftance of change in the fentiments of the weft ern world, that the royal academy of fciences at Paris this year elected, as one of their foreign correfpondents, a Mr. Liftel, a Free Black, of the isle of France, who had diftinguished himself by a series of curious and extremely well-calculated meteorological obfervations; thus breaking down in fome degree the ftrong and long-established line of diftinction between colours, and holding out encouragement to future Africans to cultivate the fcien, ces and philofophy, by fhewing them that the way is opened to akademical honours, wherever they are me rited, without any regard to the country or natural hue of the ingeni ous proficient. VOL. XXVIII. [M] CHRO. CHRONICLE. JANUARY. ley, which began upon Wednesday the 11th, ended, when 7 convicts CCOUNTS received from received fentence of death, 20 were ft, A all quarters, of the effects of fentenced to be tranfported, 14 to the weather, at the beginning of the new year, are dreadful; thunder, lightning, intense froft, and deep fnow, characterise the commencement of the present year. Naples. On the morning of the 12th of November laft, at least one hundred fhocks of an earthquake were felt in the environs of Vesuvius. This mountain, which has been for fome time in convulfions, continues to vomit forth a prodigious quantity of inflammable matter, which terrifies the inhabitants, left the lava fhould take a new courfe, and overflow the country. The Swallow packet, from 11th. Bengal, arrived in the Downs, on the 9th inftant, on board of which lord Macartney came paffenger. His lordship was feveral days in Calcutta, previous to the arrival of the difpatches of the Court of Directors containing his appointment of governor-general of Bengal. This packet brought over a copy of the fentence of the court-martial on major-general fir John Burgoyne, bart. which honourably acquits him of every part of the charge against him. 16. The feffions at the Old Bai. VOL. XXVIII. be imprifoned, and kept to hard labour in the houfe of correction, 6 to be whipped, 2 imprifoned in Newgate, and 16 discharged by proclamation. At the above feffions, among others, came on the trial of John Hogan, a Mulatto, for the murder of the fervant of Mr. Orrell, of Charlotte-ftreet. The following circumftances appeared-That the deceafed had her head-drefs torn off, and thrown on the ground, covered with blood, as were her handkerchief, gown, &c. Her fkull was fractured; her left eye beaten almoft out of its focket; her cheekbones both broken; her chin cut; her neck and throat both cut; feveral wounds in her breaft, particularly a large circular one; her left arm broke; and her right arm and wrift both cut. The inftrument with which the wounds had been made. was a razor; and notwithstanding it had been thrown into a fire, the fpots of blood were not erafed. She was alive, but fpeechlefs, and died the fame night at twelve o'clock. The prifoner having brought home fome chairs, a fhort time before, to Mr. Orrell's, and a [M] perfon perfon anfwering his defcription having been seen in the neighbourhood that day, fufpicion fell on him, and he was twice taken up, and twice discharged for want of evidence. The prifoner had been tried for a larceny, and Mr. Orrell reading his trial in the feffions-paper, it occurred to him to fearch at the pawnbroker's, where he had pawned the property ftolen, for which he was fo tried, to fee if any of his property, which was ftolen at the time of the murder, had been lodged with that pawnbroker; there he found a cloak of his wife's, pawned the morning after the murder, by the woman with whom he cohabited. On the prifoner's being taken to the body of the deceased, he appeared not in the least agitated; but, putting his hand on her breaft, he faid, " My dear Nancy, I do "remember you well; I never did you any harm in my life!"Thefe expreffions very forcibly added to the fufpicions of his guilt, becaufe her face was fo exceedingly cut and mangled, that Mr. Orrell declared he could not poffibly have known her. Two other circumftances, which tended to criminate him, were a fpot of blood on a waiftco at which he wore, and fome flight marks of blood on one of the fleeves of his coat; which coat had been washed, though the blood on the fleeve remained; and an effort feemed to have been made, but in vain, to rub out the fpot of blood from the waistcoat. The principal evidence againft him was the woman with whom he cohabited; who depofed, that he brought her home a cloak, which he faid he had bought, on condition of paying for it at the rate of fo much a week. The cloak was produced in court, and Mrs. Orrell fwore to it as her property. The deponent further faid, that after Hogan had been twice taken before a magiftrate, he, at intervals, appeared to be very uneafy; that particularly he could not fleep in bed; that she said to him one night, "For "God's fake what is the matter "with you? furely you are not guilty of what you have been ta"ken up for:" that his answer was, " Yes, I am :-I am guilty :" I did it."-She then was much troubled in mind, and apprehended fatal confequences to herfelf, particularly, as he said to her, "You must fay nothing; you must be quiet, for if I be hanged, you will be hanged with me:" and on her asking him, why he had murdered the young woman, he answered, because he wanted to be great with her, and the refifted him. The prifoner being called on for his defence, faid, "I am innocent; "and if any body takes away my "life, I will never forgive them." The recorder fummed up the trial with great impartiality, and the jury inftantly found him guilty; he was then fentenced to be executed on Monday morning, and his body to be diffected and anatomized. He was accordingly taken from Newgate in a cart on Monday, and executed on a gibbet oppofite Mr. Orrell's houfe. A great concourse of people attended the execution, but never died a malefactor with lefs pity. Juft before being turned off, he bowed four times to the populace, and, in an audible voice, confeffed himself guilty of the murder, for which he had been justly condemned to die. This morning Mr. Price, 25th. who was committed on fufpicion of forgery on the bank, and was to have been examined as this day at eleven, hanged himself in his room in Tothill-fields bridewell. From a variety of circumftances, there remains no doubt but that he is the perfon fo frequently advertised for forgeries on the bank for several years paft, and who has had the addrefs to elude the ftricteft fearch, though long known and fufpected. It was his cuftom, at times, to give entertainments to a felect party, and, to evade the plate-tax, to borrow the fplendid articles of the fideboard at a pawn-broker's, depofiting bank-notes as a fecurity. The pawn-broker happening to offer one at the bank, was stopped, and, on relating how he came by it, with all the circumstances, proper people were fent to the fhop, who, when he came to return the plate, immediately took him into cuftody. The last accounts from North 31ft. America are full of the diftreffes occafioned by the heavy falls of rain in September and October laft. At Portsmouth, in New Hampfhire, the waters rofe to an alarming height. At Dover the waters rofe about 15 feet perpendicular above the ufual flowing of the tide, and carried off feveral hundred thousand lumber. It destroyed fome valuable ftores, feven mills, end two bridges. At Portsmouth, in Virginia, a molt tremendous gale, added to the freshes, carried feveral veffels into the fields and woods, where fome of them never can be got off. The damage is estimated at 30,000l. The long contefted caufe between the vicar of Odiham, plaintiff, and the chancellor of Sarum, and others, defendants, was lately fettled by the judges of the Exchequer, in favour of the plaintiff, by his having a prefcriptive right to all fmall tithes, though he could not produce an endowment. By this decifion that right of the inferior clergy to the tithes of cloverfeed, turnip-feed, and all fmall tithes whatever, is finally fettled. DIED. Lately, at Gartfhore, in the parish of Kirkintillock, eight miles from Glasgow, Anne Horne, aged 49. She was 44 times tapped for a dropfy, and 286 Scots pints of water taken from her. For half a year before her death a Scots pint was collected every day. FEBRUARY. ift. On the 27th of January, the brig Bafel, Capt. Raphael, arrived at Liverpool from Dominica. In her paffage fhe picked up the crew of the Charming Molly, bound from Bermudas to Turk's-ifland, which veffel had foundered three days before, when the crew, ten in number, took to their boat, to the ftern of which they tied a log of wood, to keep her head to the fea. In this fituation they remained almoft without hope of relief. When Capt. Raphael difcovered them, they had about a pound of bread, and two gallons of water left; of the latter of which they gave to each other a wine-glafs full, thickened with a mouthful of bread, once in 12 hours. The boat being only 12 feet in length, one half of the crew were obliged to lie down in her bottom alternately, while the other half fat along the fides, as in any other fituation the boat muft [N] 2 have |