of United States pirates and refugee Canadian traitors seized upon and burnt the Sir Robt. Peel steamer, lying peace

ably at anchor in the river St. Lawrence or lake Erie, at a distance of about seven miles from French Creek (Erie).

May 14. Sir C. Price's Turpentine Works situated at Mill-wall, Limehouse, were totally destroyed by fire. On the arrival of the engines the distillery (a building of upwards of 70 feet in length and 50 in breadth) was wrapped in one sheet of fire. The distillery contained six boilers, all of which were full charged and at work. There were also four large stills, which were full of liquor, ready to be boiled off. On the stage of the distillery were 250 barrels of turpentine, ready to be removed to the store houses. The distillery is divided from the storehouses and warehouses by a narrow road, known as the Ferry-walk, but they are connected together by a tunnel under the road. On each side of this passage were barrels of turpentine, piled in heaps, and the outsides had, by the time in question, been scorched by the flames, when the firemen, at the risk of their lives, commenced digging up the earth, and completely blocked up the tunnel, and to this circumstance alone the preservation of the stores may be said to be owing.

May 16. The annual meeting of the British and Foreign Temperance Society was held at Exeter Hall, the Earl Stanhope in the chair. The number of members who have joined the society during the year is 19,878, making a total of 43,412. Amongst those who have joined in the past year are two magistrates; ministers of various denominations, 225, which, with 500 who have joined other societies, make upwards of 700; medical men, 34; lawyers, 3 (laughter); officers in merchant vessels, 42; mothers, nursing on the system 211 (cheers); farmers, 139; publicans and tavern-keepers, 11 (laughter); maltsters, 11; and wine and spirit-merchants, 6. The number of reclaimed drunkards is 2907; reclaimed drunkards, males and females, by other societies, from whom no reports are received, 1411; making a total of 4318 reformed drunkards; abstainers, but not members, 1670; distillery stopped, 1; breweries stopped, 6; public houses shut up, 49; and excisemen discontinued, 2.

The receipts of the society for the year amounted to 2877. 11s. 10d. The expenditure was that sum minus 531. 10s. 2d., which, how ever, was due for the forthcoming prize essay on the subject of total abstinence.

May 28. An affray of a calamitous and very extraordinary nature took place near Canterbury. A madman, calling himself

Sir Wm. Courtenay, but whose real name was John Nicholl Thom, a native of Cornwall, had been from time to time declaiming among the rustics in the adjoining villages against the operation of the poor-laws, and other grievances, until at length he assembled a numerous body of followers. On Monday, May 28, they sallied forth from the village of Boughton, where they bought bread, and proceeded to the house of Wills, one of the party, near Fairbrook. A loaf was broken asunder, and placed on a pole, with a flag of white and blue, and rampant lion. Thence they proceeded to Goodnestone, near Faversham, producing throughout the whole neighbourhood the greatest excitement, and adding to their numbers by the harangues occasionally delivered by this illfated madman. At this farm, Courtenay stated that

he would strike the bloody blow; " and they made an ineffective attempt to set fire to a bean-stack. They next proceeded to a farm at Hernehill, where Courtenay requested the inmates to feed his friends, and the request was immediately complied with. Their next visit was at Dargate-common, where Sir William, taking off his shoes, said, "I now stand on my own bottom." By his desire, his poor deluded followers then fell on their knees, and he prayed for half an hour; they then proceeded to Bossenden-farm, where they supped, and slept in the barn. At three o'clock on Tuesday morning they left, and proceeded to Sittingbourne to breakfast, where Sir William paid twenty-five shillings: they then visited Newnham, where a similar treat was given at the George. After visiting Eastling, Throwley, Seldwich, Lees, and Selling, and occasionly addressing the populace, holding out to them such inducements as are usually made by persons desirous of creating a disturbance, he halted in a chalk-pit to rest, and on Wednesday evening returned to Culver's farm, at Bossenden. A farmer under the hill, Mr. Curling, having had his men seduced from their employment, at this time made an application for their apprehension, and a constable of the name of Mears, assisted by two others, proceeded on Thursday morning to execute his mission, and, after a little parley, Courtenay, while they were arguing, inquired which was the constable, and, on the young man replying he was, he immediately produced a pistol and shot him, after which he seized

him, and inflicted a wound upon him with a dagger; with the assistance of some of the excited labourers he then threw the body into a ditch. The two other con

stables immediately rode back to the magistrates, and mentioned the facts. The country was now in a state of great alarm and excitement, and it was deemed expedient to send to Canterbury for a party of military. By this time the whole body had retreated to a deep and sequestered part of the wood, where Sir William shouted and encouraged his adherents to behave like men, and excited them to desperate fury. On perceiving the soldiers, he advanced with the greatest sang froid, and deliberately shot, before the men, Lieut. Bennett, of the 45th regt. who was in advance of his party, and who fell dead upon the spot. The soldiers then immediately fired; Sir William was one of the first killed, and in a few moments ten lives were sacrificed, and several rendered cripples for the remainder of their days. An inquisition on the body of Nicholas Mears was held on Thursday and Friday, and the jury returned a verdict of wilful murder against six persons, namely William Percy Honywood Courtenay (alias John Nicholl Thom), Wm. Burford, William Price, Thomas Mears alias Tyler, Alexander Foad, and Wm. Nutting.

On Saturday an inquest was held on the body of Lieut. Henry Boswell Bennett, and the jury returned a verdict of wilful murder against Wm. Courtenay, Edward Wraight the elder, Edward Wraight the younger, Thomas Mears alias Tyler, James Goodwin, Wm. Wills, Wm. Forster, Henry Hadlow, Alexander Foad, Phineas Harvey, John Spratt, Stephen Baker, William Burford, Thomas Griggs, John Silk, George Branchett, Edward Curling, Geo. Griggs, and Wm. Rye. Of these, Courtenay, Foster, Baker, Burford, T. Griggs, G. Griggs, E. Wraight, Harvey, and Branchett were dead. Thomas Mears alias Tyler, who was cousin to the murdered constable, was wounded. Alexander Foad, who is a farmer, possessing a freehold of 50 acres, and in very comfortable circumstances, was severely wounded. Of the rioters altogether eight were slain outright, and seven wounded-two of them mortally. Of those who opposed them in support of the law two were killed and one wounded. Twenty-three prisoners were committed to Feversham gaol.

On Monday an inquest was held on the body of George Catt, who was shot in the affray. The verdict was that the deceased was shot by accident by the miGENT. MAG. VOL. X.

litary in the execution of their duty. Inquests were then held on Courtenay, alias Thom, the unhappy cause of all this melancholy loss of life, and the eight other dead rioters. In all the cases verdicts of justifiable homicide were returned.

Sir W. Courtenay first appeared at Canterbury in the Michaelmas of 1832; and the first rumour was, that an eccentric character was living at the Rose Inn, who passed under the name of Count Rothschild. His countenance and attire denoted foreign extraction, while his language and conversation showed that he was well acquainted with almost every part of the kingdom. He often decked his person with a gay and imposing costume. In December of the same year he surprised the citizens of Canterbury by proposing himself as a candidate for the representation of the city in Parliament, and created an entertaining contest for the honour long after the sitting candidates had composed themselves to the delightful vision of an unexpensive and unopposed return. He was also a candidate for the eastern division of the county, but polled only four votes; still he studied with more ardour and vigilance than before to captivate the affections of the lower orders in the city. He made it known that his condescension was as great as his rank and wealth, and that he should be willing to accept of invitations to visit the humblest families-to eat and drink at the peasant's and the labourer's table-to make one of a larger or smaller party at the lowest public house-to enrol his name in the meanest society. So numerous were his engagements, that he was obliged to run or ride from house to house, taking a slight repast at each, and generally concluding the day at a banquet prepared by a number of his new friends in some obscure club-room.

In Feb. 1833, on the examination of some smugglers before the magistrates at Rochester, Sir William made his appearance, attired in a grotesque costume, as a knight of Malta, and having a small cimetar suspended from his neck by a massive gold chain. On one of the men being examined, Sir William became his advocate; but the man being convicted, a professional gentleman defended the next, and Sir William presented himself as a witness; when he swore that he saw the whole transaction between the revenue cruiser and smugglers, and was positive that the tubs, stated to have come from the latter, had been floating about in the sea all the morning, and were not thrown overboard from that vessel. The solicitors for the customs, having undoubted

N

evidence that this testimony was false, determined to proceed against the individual who had been guilty of such a public and daring act of perjury. The trial came on at Maidstone on the 25th of July, 1833, when he was found guilty of wilful and corrupt perjury, and sentenced to imprisonment in jail for three calendar months, and to be transported for the term of seven years. Before, however, the three months' imprisonment had expired, it was found that Sir William was completely out of his senses; and he was sent to the Kent Lunatic Asylum, at Barming, where he has been confined until, on the application of his father, through the interest of Mr. Turner, M.P. for Truro (with whom he had been seven years head clerk) and Sir H. Vivian, Bart. he was released in October last, his father engaging to be answerable for his conduct.

Sir W. H. P. Courtenay, Knight of Malta, as the wretched man styled himself, was no other than Mr. John Nicholl Thom, the son of a small farmer and maltster at St. Columb in Cornwall; and fifteen years since cellarman to the highly respected firm of Plumer and Turner, wine-merchants at Truro. Some ten years since he himself commenced the trade of a maltster and hop dealer, and for three or four years conducted it with apparent respectability. At that period his premises were destroyed by fire, and he claimed and received for his alleged loss of property from the office and offices

in which he was insured, 3,0001.—a sum far beyond what it was thought he could legitimately be possessed of. Some two years after he freighted a vessel to Liverpool with a large quantity of malt, which he followed and disposed of, and then became a wandering adventurer.

Mr. Ainsworth has made him the original of a gypsy character called the "ruffler," in his novel of Rookwood, published a few years ago.

It appears that the delusion among the peasantry was so great that they would have attacked two thousand soldiers, having been persuaded by Courtenay that they could not be shot. He blasphemously styled himself the Saviour of the world; he also represented himself as invulnerable to steel or shot, and had deluded numbers into the belief that, though he appeared dead, he would rise again on the third day, and lead his followers on to victory. A woman of the name of Culver had been told by this impostor, that if she got some water, and placed it on his mouth, in case he was shot, he would shortly revive. On hearing of his death, the woman filled a vessel with water, walked half a mile with it, and, in compliance with his instructions, placed it on his lips. She was apprehended by order of the magistrates.

The body of Courtenay was buried at Herne-hill, as also were those of most of the other slain rioters, they having been chiefly inhabitants of that place and Dunkirk.

GAZETTE PROMOTIONS.

April 28. Lieut.-Col. George Gawler to be Governor and Commander-in-chief of South Australia; John Hutt, esq. to be Governor and Commander-in-chief of Western Anstralia; and Henry Light, esq. to be Governor and Commander-in-chief of British Guiana.

May 25. J. P. Nuttall, esq. to be Exon or Corporal of the Yeomen of the Guard.

May 31. J. G. Andrews, esq. to be Surgeon Extraordinary to the Duke of Cambridge.

June 1. 14th Light Dragoons, Capt. C. Barton to be Major.

June 6. Hon. C. A. Murray to be Master of her Majesty's household.

June 8. 6th Dragoons, Major Jeremiah Ratcliffe to be Lieut.-Colonel; Capt. Raynard White to be Major.-Brevet, Lt.-Col. Michael Childers to be Colonel.

June 9. W. M. Lockwood, esq. son and heir apparent of W. J. Lockwood, esq. of Dews Hall, Essex, in compliance with the will of his maternal uncle Sir Mark Wood, Bart. to take the name of Wood instead of Lockwood, and bear the arms of Wood.

June 11. G. R. Sartorius, esq. Capt. R.N. and Vice-Admiral in the service of the Queen of Portugal, to accept the insignia of Knight

Commander of the Tower and Sword, and a Grand Cross of St. Bento d'Avis.-Col. HenryCharles Edward Vernon-Graham (formerly Vernon) of Hilton-park, co. Stafford, to discontinue the name of Graham.

June 12. Hon. George Keppel, to be Groom in Waiting to her Majesty.

June 15. John Lodge, of Bodsilin, co. Carnarvon, esq. in respect to the memory of his paternal grandmother and his great-uncle Giles Ellerton, of Ellerton, co. York, esq. to take the name of Ellerton after Lodge, and bear the arms quarterly.-10th dragoons, Lt.Col. J. Vandeleur to be Lt.-Colonel.-Brevet, Major H. J. Warde to be Lieut.-Colonel; Capt. George Browne to be Major.

Knighted at Dublin, William Leeson, esq. recently appointed Usher to the Order of St. Patrick.

NAVAL PREFERMENTS.

Capt. James Nias to the Herald; Capt. C. H. Williams to the Tribune; Comm. F. M. Boultbee to the Jaseur; Commander George Elliot, to the Columbine; Lt. J. H. Turner, to the Ranger; Lieut. J. West, to the Volcano; Lieut. G. Drew, to the Harpy.

Members returned to serve in Parliament. Dungannon.-Hon. Thomas Knox.

Inverness Co.-F. W. Grant, of Grant, Esq. Linlithgow Co.-Hon. Charles Hope. Maidstone.-John Minet Fector, esq. re-elected.

ECCLESIASTICAL PREFERMENTS.

Rev. H. Huntingford to be a Canon of Hereford.

Rev. T. G. T. Anderson, St. Paul's episcopal chapel, Edinburgh.

Rev. T. F. Barker, Farndon P.C. Cheshire.
Rev. Edm. Blake, Oxwick R. Norfolk.

Rev. C. J. Cartwright, Heckmondwike P.C.
York.

Rev. H. E. Cobden, Charlton V. Wilts.
Rev. J. Emra, Redlynch new ch. Somerset.
Rev. C. Ferrot, Wispington V. Linc.
Rev. W. D. Fox, Delamere R. Chesh.
Rev. P. Guille, St. Mary's R. Jersey.
Rev. F. Hugil, Wollaton R. Notts.

Rev. W. Hudson, Armathwaite P.C. Cumb.
Rev. T. James, Welford with Sibbertoft V. co.
Northampton.

Rev. F. Litchfield, Great Linford R. Bucks.
Rev. D. F. Markham, Great Horkesley R.
Essex.

Rev. John Pearson, Suckley R. Worc.
Rev. D. Rees, Aberavon V. Glouc.
Rev. J. T. Robinson, St. Andrew's, Holborn, R.
Rev. G. Stevenson, Dickleburgh R. Norfolk.
Rev. W. Stratton, Gressingham P.C. in the
parish of Lancaster.

Rev. W. Thomas, Manaccan V. Cornwall.
Rev. W. Tomlinson, Granard V. co. Longford.
Rev. J. Le P. Trench, Castlebar R. co. Mayo.
Rev. W. H. P. Ward, Compton Valence R.
Dorset.

Rev. J. Watson, Doddington V. co. N'pton.
Rev. D. Wheeler, Goole C. co. York.
Rev. F. H. White, Blakesley V. co. N'pn.
Rev. J. M. Wilder, Thornham with Allingham,
V. Kent.

Rev. R. C. Windham, Felbrigge and Melton
with Aylmerton R. R. Norfolk.
CHAPLAINS.

Rev. C. Daniel to the Marquis of Sligo.
Rev. R. C. Lane to the Marq. of Queensberry.
Rev. R. Lowe to Viscount Boyne.
Rev. R. W. Scurr to Lord Muskerry.

CIVIL PREFERMENTS.

Hay Cameron, Esq. to be fourth ordinary
member of the Council of India.
The Duke of Devonshire elected President of
the Horticultural Society.

Rev. Herbert Kynaston, M.A. to be High
Master of St. Paul's School, and Mr. C. C.
Roberts, B.A. to be Assistant Master.
Mr. Bateson (second master) to be third Master
Leicester Coll. School.

T. H. Gooch, esq. M.A. to be Assistant Master
of West Riding School, Wakefield.
R. H. Smith, esq. B.A. to the Master of Ando-
ver grammar school.

BIRTHS.

May 4. The wife of the Rev. R. A'Court Beadon, Vicar of Cheddar, a dau.-13. In Great Queen-st. Westminster, the wife of E. S. Stephenson, esq. a dau.-18. At Beech Hill Park, Herts, Lady Barnes, a dau.- -19. At Sharnbrook, Beds. the wife of the Rev. John Brereton, a son.-21. At Holwell, Hertf. the wife of the Rev. Charles Delmé Radcliffe, a dau.-22. In the New Village, Isle of Wight, the wife of the Rev. Charles Wors

ley, a son.-25. In Eaton-sq. the Lady Agnes Byng, a dau.-26. The wife of John Garratt, esq. of Bishop's-court, Devon, a dau.-28. In Wilton-crescent, Mrs. Tollemache, a son. -31. In St. James's-sq. Lady Georgiana E. C. Grey, a dau.

Lately. At Wyfold-court, Oxfordshire, Mrs. Arnot, a son.- -In Dublin, the lady of Sir E. R. Borough, Bart. a son.Lady Courtenay, a dau. At Brighton, Lady Jane Knox, a dau.

June 1. In Park-place, the Duchess of Beaufort, a dau.-2. In Portland-place, the wife of J. Wigram, esq. a son.-3. At Filton House, Glouc. the wife of the Rev. A. A. Daubeny, a son.--At Jennings, Kent, the wife of E. B. Curteis, esq. a son and heir.-4. At Redlynch House, the wife of Thomas William Coventry. esq. a son.--The wife of the Rev. F. J. Courtenay, Rector of North Bovey, Devon, a son.-5. The wife of the Rev. Montagu Oxenden, Rector of Eastwell, Kent, a son.-7. At Longden, near Lichfield, the wife of the Rev. Stuart Majendie, a dau.-8. The wife of the Rev. Dr. Graham, Master of Christ's College, Camb. a dau.12. At Garsington, Oxf. the wife of the Rev. W. B. Pusey, a son.

MARRIAGES.

April 23. At Florence, the Duke de St. Leu, ex-King of Holland, to the Signora Strozzi. -24. At St. Pancras, Stephen Hall, esq. M.D. of Kennington, to Ann, second dau. of the late Charles Cooper, esq. of Edmonton and Great St. Helen's. At Fryern Barnet, Francis Wm. Stanley, esq. of Newcastle on-Tyne, to Constance Louise, eldest dau. of George Crawshay, esq. of Colney Hatch.-At St. James's, Westminster, James Kerr Ewart, esq. Bengal Civil Service, to Georgiana, eldest dau. of the Rev. Edward Repton.- -At St. James's, the Rev. Chas. Clarke, eldest son of Sir Chas. M. Clarke, Bart. of Durham Lodge, Norfolk, to Rosa Mary, eldest dau. of H. Alexander, esq. of Cork-st. -At Diddington, the Rev. John Pardoe, B.A. to Frances, third dau. of George Thornhill, esq. M. P.-25. At St. George's, Han.-sq. Viscount Galway, to Henrietta Eliza, only dau. of Robert Pemberton Milnes, esq. of Frystone Hall, Yorkshire.--At Newbury, the Rev. Thos. Child, youngest son of Thomas Child, esq. of East Woodhay, to Mary, dau. of J. Fielder, csq.-At Fulham, Thomas Paris Fenner, esq. jun. B.A. to Mary Anne, youngest dâu. of the late G. O. Ross, esq. of the Cape of Good Hope. At Saint Marylebone, Thomas Williams, of Berbice, esq. to Matilda, eldest dau. of S. J. Pittar, of Southill, co. Dublin, and Bentinck-st. esq. barrister-at-law.-The Rev. J. C. Allen, B.A. to Julia Louisa, only dau. of the Rev. G. A. Lamb, D.D. Rector of Iden, Sussex.-26. At St. Marylebone, the Rev. H. T. Parker, Vicar of Blandford, Dorset, to Jane, youngest dau. of the late Rev. George Sayer, of Pett, co. Kent. -At Christchurch, Marylebone, Capt. Harry Eyres, R.N. to Ellen Jane, dau. of the late W. Parker, esq. of Dorset-sq.- -William Tasker, esq. of Hawley, near Dartford, to Elizabeth, dau. of the late Robert Talbot, esq. of Stone Castle. At Bray, Berks, F. P. Harford, esq. late of the 3d Guards, to Louisa-Eliza-Bourke, second dau. of the late Rev. R. F. Hallifax, and grand-daughter of Samuel formerly Lord Bishop of St. Asaph.-At Brading, Isle of Wight, Col. Noel Harris, to the Countess Dowager of Huntingdon. At Paris, William Webb, esq. of Dedham, Essex, to Sarah Maxwell, widow of the Rev. Robert Faithfull, of Berks.-27. At Kilberry, Queen's Co. the Earl of Clonmel to the Hon. Annette Burgh,