gent, on the late outrages, was proposed, and unanimously agreed to.
18.—Dreadful Fire.—The worsted mill, belonging to Messrs Edward and Joseph Pease of Darlington, has been entirely destroyed by fire. The damage is estimated at £35,000, and upwards of 500 people will be thrown out of employment for many months to come.
The Gazette of this day contains a proclamation, offering a reward of £500 for the apprehension of James Watson the younger; and likewise a reward of the same sum for the apprehension of Arthur Thistlewood; with a full description of their persons.
20.—The Queen's Birth-day.—This day being appointed to celebrate her Majesty's birth-day, her Majesty held a drawing-room, which displayed a most magnificent assemblage of rank and beauty. The Prince Regent had commanded notice to be given in the Gazette, that the celebration of the Queen's birth-day, and his own, should be considered as public court festivals, and that those who attended the court, should appear in dresses of British manufacture only; and he set a laudable example, in ordering all his state officers, and others of the royal establishment, to appear in new costly dresses, in which every article, not of British manufacture, was strictly prohibited; which, as a pattern to the higher orders generally, will be a great benefit to numberless industrious families. Indeed, all the company present shewed they had been equally anxious to relieve their suffering countrymen, by affording them employment, which is the only permanently useful mode of relief.
20.—A London Gazette was published this day. It consists of ten pages, and is entirely filled with addresses of congratulation to the Prince Regent on his late happy escape.
24.—Pilgrimage to Jerusalem.—Such is the infatuation of the believers in the doctrines of that ridiculous old woman, Johanna Southcote, that several persons in Leeds are actually quitting comfortable situations in life, to embark on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem! where they are fully perswaded, they are to live without money, or labour, or sorrow, or pain, for at least 1000 years!
24.—Friends of Public Order.—A meeting of the friends of public order, retrenchment, and reform, dined together on Saturday last, at the Freemason's Tavern. At half-past five o'clock, Mr Lucas took the chair, with the Hon. Thomas Brand on his right, and Sir Francis Burdett on his left side. Amongst the company present were, the Hon. Douglas Kinnaird, J. Philpot Curran, Alderman Goodbehere, Mr Waitliman, Mr Phillips, &c. A declaration was handed by the ahairman to his friend Mr Peter of Cornwall, with a request that he would preface the reading of it with some observations of his own; when, after a speech of considerable length, he read the declaration, which stated the determination of the society to promote constitutional reform in the Commons House of Parliament, and concluded in the following words: "Waving, therefore, the discussion of all particular tenets, and details of reform, resisting corruption on the one hand, and violence on the other, this meeting pledges itself to leave no legal and constitutional means unexerted, for inducing the legislature to take the grievances of the people into its early and serious consideration, and (by amending the state of representation) to render the House of Commons, in fact, as it is of right, a control upon the executive government, and an express image of the feelings of the nation." Several gentlemen, particularly Mr Curran, delivered their sentiments very freely, but all of them disclaimed the idea of annual parliaments and universal suffrage; and the meeting was conducted with that degree of moderation which should be an example to all the true friends and advocates of reform.
Striking the Fiars.—The act of sederunt of the Court of Session (December 21, 1723) constitutes the law with regard to the striking of the fiars; and as this is a subject of great and increasing importance, we insert the following short outline of its provisions:—
1st, Fifteen persons, who have "knowledge and experience of the prices and trade of victual" (not fewer than eight of them heritors) shall be chosen as a jury, to sit between the 4th and 20th February.
2d, Witnesses shall be examined, concerning the price at which victual has been "bought and sold, especially since the 1st of November immediately preceding," and also "concerning all other good grounds and arguments" for establishing the just fiar prices.
3d, Any persons "present in court," may "offer information to the jury concerning the premises and the evidence adduced."
4th, The Sheriff, if necessary, may adjourn to a subsequent day, but must pronounce sentence on or before the 1st of March.
5th, The Sheriff, if needful or customary, may strike the fiars more than once every year.
6th, The fiars must be recorded in the sheriff books, and extracts shall be given by the clerk, when demanded, on payment of seven shillings Scots for each, and ne more.
27.—Arrests at Glasgow.—On Saturday night, the 22d instant, about eleven o'clock, eighteen men were taken up, under a Sheriff's warrant, in a small public house at the head of the Old Wynd, Glasgow, and lodged in jail for examination. It is understood that they are charged with having met for treasonable purposes. On being questioned as to the object of their meeting, they declared, it was solely with the view
