ng, he openly avowed his marriage
with the widow of the late Earl of Waldegrave, and both brothers
abstained from going to court for ten years, and lived as strangers to
his majesty.

EAST INDIA AFFAIRS.

During the month of February, Lord North had called the attention of
the house to the affairs of the East India Company, which were every day
increasing in importance, and involving greater interests. In March, Mr.
Sullivan, deputy chairman of the company, moved for leave to bring in a
bill for the better regulation of its officers and concerns in India.
The bill was brought in and read a second time, but it was then laid
aside. In the course of the debates upon it--many charges and defences
passed between certain members of the house and others that had acquired
vast fortunes in India, and these accusations led to a secret committee
of inquiry, which forthwith commenced its task: a task that was not
completed during this session.

THE SESSION CLOSED.

This session closed on the 10th of June, when the king expressed his
satisfaction at the temper and moderation displayed by the members
during their sitting, and thanked them for the additional security which
they had provided for the honour and welfare of his family: thanks which
chiefly referred to the royal marriage act. The supplies voted for this
year were L7,860,250; and the national debt amounted to L127,500,000.
In the course of the session, it may be remarked, that the ancient and
barbarous custom of _peine forte et dure_, by which felons refusing
to plead, were stretched on their backs and pressed to death by heavy
weights, was abolished by an act, which declared that all who acted thus
contumaciously were to be adjudged guilty of the crimes laid to their
charge. At the close of the session Lord North seemed firmly seated in
office, and this conviction brought over many waverers, and time-servers
to his side. Nevertheless, he was soon after doomed to lose the support
of one of the best of his debaters, in the person of Charles Fox, who
was suddenly converted to Whig principles, and who consequently resigned
the admiralty.

FATE OF THE QUEEN OF DENMARK.

Carolina Matilda, the king's youngest sister, was married in her
sixteenth year to Christian VII., king of Denmark. This monarch was
addicted to licentious and degrading pleasures, and was a prince of
weak intellect, irritable and capricious, open to flattery, and easily
deceived by the