allegiance. Lord Dunfermline and the earl of Haddington opposed, and
the marquess of Breadalbane supported the measure, and it was read a
first time. On the 27th of May, the general assembly of the church of
Scotland deposed seven clergymen of the presbytery of Strathbogie, and
these seven ministers appealed to parliament. A petition was presented
from them on the 15th of June, by Lord Aberdeen, in which they called
upon the house to save them, by its interference, from the consequences
of the sentence which had been pronounced. This petition gave rise to
a discussion in the house of lords, but no step was taken for the
restoration of the deposed ministers.

LAW-REFORM.

During this session there was a further mitigation of the criminal code.
Two bills were introduced for this purpose in the house of commons. The
first of these was introduced by Mr. Kelly, who proposed to abolish the
punishment of death for all the crimes still capital, except murder and
treason. This motion was seconded by Mr. Ewart, and the bill was brought
in; but shortly afterwards a measure was introduced on the part
of government, by Lord John Russell, which proposed to abolish the
punishment of death in certain cases of embezzlement; for the offence of
returning from transportation; for burning ships, where the act involved
no treasonable intent; and for the crime of rape. Mr. Kelly approved of
this measure as far as it went, but contended for the superiority of his
own more comprehensive measure. He particularly objected to leaving the
offence of setting fire to ships in the royal dockyards capital, and to
retaining the punishment of death for attempts to murder. Mr. Kelly's
bill went first into committee; but he experienced so many defeats that
he was induced to leave government to deal with their own measures on
the same subject. The result was, that near the close of the session a
bill was passed, whereby the punishment of transportation for life is
substituted for death in all cases of forgery and embezzlement, which
had before remained capital, and the crime of rape is made subject to
the same mitigated penalty.

FINANCIAL STATEMENTS.

On the 31st of April, the chancellor of the exchequer entered into his
financial statement. When he came forward last year, he said, he had
anticipated that the expenditure would amount to L49,499,000, and the
income to L48,641,000; leaving a deficiency of L858,000. The results
of the year had