The Sun.
London, England, 1819-02-08 00:00:00

LENT ASSIZES.

WESTERN CIRCUIT.
Before Mr. JuStice HOLROYD and Mr. Justice Bear.
Soot ham ptort—Tuesday, March 2, at the Castle of Winchester.
March 6, at New Sarom.
Dorset—Thursday, March I I, at Dorchester.
Devon—Monday, March 15, at the Castle of Exeter.
City and County of Exeter—Same day, at the Guildhall of
Exeter.
Cornwall—Monday, March 22, at Launceston.
Somerset, Saturday, March 27, at the Castle of Taunton.

HOME CIRCUIT.
Before Mr. Justice Ba,ier and Mr. Justice PARK.
Hertfordslii..... +=Wednesday, March 3, at Hertford.
Essex—Monday, March R, at Chelmsford.
Kent—Monday, March 15, at Maidstone.
Sussex—Wednesday, March 24, at Horsham.
Surrey—Monday, March 23, at Kin4ston•upon-Thames.

OXFORD CIRCUIT.
Before Baron Sir W. GARROW and Mr. Justice RICHARDSON.
Berkshire—Monday, March 1,. at Reading.
Oxfordshire—Wednesday, March 3, at Oxford.
Worcestershire—Sal urdiny, March (, at Worcester.
City of Worcester—The same day, at the City of Worcester.
Staffordshire—Tuesday, March It, at Stafford.
Shropshirt—Wednesday, March 17,, at Shrewsbury.
Herefordshire _Monday, March 22, at Hereford.
Monmouthshire—Saturday, March 27, at Montnonth.
Gloucestershire—Wednesday, March 31, at Gloucester.
City of CiloucesterSame day, at the City of Gloucester.

KING'S THen•rßE.—The 'opera of italiana
drew a very•crowded audience to this Theatre on
Saturday night. With a view to bring the•per-
forrnances to a close before the period limited by
Sunday morning, the piece was shortened, but
was unfortunately deprived of its most interesting
scene, and that on which the fable chiefly rests.
However, the piece went off well, and was admi-
Tably.supported by BBLLOCHI, GARCIA, and Am-
BROGETTI. A new Spanish divertiment was intro-
duced and well received. The whole concluded
with the ballet of Paul et Virginie, so well sup-
ported by MILANIE, ACHILLE, athd BAPTIiTE, as
to revive almost its original interest.
Mr. MaTwo/in, late of Drury-lane Theatre, .is
now playing the first line of Tragedy at New
York. On the 4th of January he made his debut.
in Richard the Third, and was received with un-
bounded applause by a crowded audience. The
following evening he assumed that difficult and
trying character of Sir Giles Overreach, and was
again crowned with success. On Saturday, the
Bth, he performed L'ertram a character in which
be established his reputation in Scotland.
List night, between 10 and 11 0.,.r0ck, an
alarming fire broke out at No. 26, Bevis Marks,
Duke's Place, Houndstli,ch, a bed-turniture ware.
house, which consumed ti►e premises, to, abet
with the stock in trade - the flames were subdued
-before communicating to the dtve•llint'-Itouse, by
toe timely arrival ot engines and a good supply
ot water : no account can be given how it oil-
ej.
IN TWELVB HOURS ^—G. %VERB reminds I►is
friends that the present Small but Rich Lottery
will lie drawn in One Day. With only 6000
Tickets the Scheme contains TWO Ca 1111 kik of
20,0001. and several others of 20001. 10001. &c.
The whole of which will be decided To Mott-
ROW, Fublnary 9111. WEBB's Offices ate at N. 9,
Cornhill, and No. 17, Ludgate•street, where the
cOunnabds of the Public are respectfully solicited.

THE COLONIES:

(From the .11oEtreal Herald.)

HIGHLAND ',SOCIETY OF CANADA.

A Meeting of highland Gentlemen, some of
whom were actually meurbers, and the others
' qualified to become members of the Highland
Society of London, was holden at the house of
Angus Macdonell,,near the church of St. 11 phael,
in the county of Giengary, on Tuesday the lOtir
of Nov. last, fur the purpose of establishing its
Canada a branch of the Highland Society of Lon-
don, pursuant to a•Commission bearing the Seal
'of that Corporation, and the Signature 01 his
Royal Highness the Duke of York, es President
thereof, as follows, that is to say,
Whereas the Highland Society of London
was instituted in the year 1778, to associate to-
gether in the British metropolis the Nobility,
Landed Proprietors, and other natives of the
Highlands; together with their descendants, the
Officers of flighl ind Corps, and Gentlemen, con-
nected by family alliance, or who have ren-
dered some Signal service to that part of the
kingdom.
For preserving the language, martial spirit,
dress, nokic, and antiquities of the ancient Cale-
Ilonians; for rescuing from oblivion the valuable
remains Of Gaelic literature ; for the establish-
ment and support of Gatlic Schools ; for reliev-
ing distressed Highlanders at a distance front
their native homes; and for promoting the im-
provement and general welfare of the northern
parts of the Island of Great Britaiss,--and where-
as the said Society, to extend the benefits 'of their
institution, and to unite together in a crntral
onion their countrymen, wherever situated, have
resolved to issue commissions for the establish-
ment of Branches thereof, in the British Colo-
nies, and .in other places abroad anti at homes
where Highlanders are resident ; and being ex-
tremely desirous that a branch should he esta-
blished in Canada, you ate hereby impowered and
requested, in pursuance of this resolution, to found
a branch of the Highland Society of London in
Canada, accordingly, with authority to make
such Bye-Laws as may be necessary for the ma-
nagement•triereof, in conformity to the principles
and rules of the said society. Given by order of
'he Highland Society at London, the 2-nil day of
Nov. 1815.

{Signed) FREDERICK, President.
By his Royal. Highness the Duke of York
' and Albany, &c. &c. &c.
(Signed) JAMES HAMILTON, Secretary.
To WILLIAM McGILLIVRAY, Esq.
ANGUS 'SHAW, Esq.
The Rev. ALEX. MCDONELL.
JOHN McDONALD, Esq.
HENRY MACKENZIE, Esq.
The Gentleman to whom this commission was
addressed, and others likely to be leading charac-
ters in the proposed Society, being of opinion that
the Highland Settletnents of Upper Canada of-
fered at once both the .greatest facility for the
establishment, and the most favourable field for
the utility, of such an association, determined sc•
cordingly to hold the institutory meeting for that
purpose within the County of Gleogary, and a
highly respectable meeting having been convened
- as above, the Chair was taken by Simon McGilliv-
ray, Esq. one of the Vice-Presidents of the
Higitiantl Society of London.
in opening the business of the meeting, the
_Chairman, stated that the best account of the ob•
jects and views of the Highland Society was to
be found in the Comm.ssion which had been
read, and it only remained for him to give some
account of the origin and history of the Society,
and to offer sonic suggestions in regard to the
best mode of pi oceediug in the establishtnent of
the proposed Branch thereof, by the Gentlemen
whom he had the honour of address;ng.
The Highland Society of London was at first
merely 'a Convivial Club, established by some
young Highlanders as a
.place of resort where
they met, to pass occasional evenings among their
countrymen, and to recur to occurrences, recol-
lections, and feelings endeared to them by early as-
sociations, to resume the garb and the language
of their ancestors, and to introduce the songs of
the Bards and Music of the Minstrels, which had
always distinguished and bestowed a peculiar
character upon the convivial meelitig of High.
landers. • Happily The flighlhnd Club, thus esta-
blished, soon became known to public spirited in-
dividuals of distinction and influence in society,
and it occurred to them that the design might he
extended and applied to public objects of the
highest national utility. A public meeting of
Noblemen and Gentleman was accordily as-
sembled, and the Society was established for the
public purposes recited in the commission. With
such views, and with the support of a succession
of men of the first rank and conskeration in the
country, it was scarcely necessary to add, the,c
the society had flourished, and it was now in a
state of the highest prosperity.. It comprised in
the list of its members, with scarce an exception,
all the 'Noblemen and Gentlemen connected whit
the Highlands, and who usually resorted to Lona,
don. The names of several of our Princes grace
the rolls of the Institution, and.the Prince Regent
himself has condescended to become a member,
and to accept the Highland distinction of Chief
of the Society. In order the further to increase
the utility, and to ensure the permanency of the
Highland Society, it had been incorporated by
Act of Parliament, and 'nig-lit therefore be justly
described as a benevolent, a Freraty, and an anti-
guar hot Society, with lawful ;authority superior to
that ot all tihersholar institution itt the United

ingdom..

1 o enter into arty tietrril respecting tire benefi•
cirri r.ervice!.t to the iliglitaink, And to the country
AI larg,c, wilich hail Leen rendered by the Society,

or even to cutitut.rate them, would occupy for too
rh, tone ot the meeting, and therefore
he (t ho Chaitroan) %visited rather to suggest io

what poitios it might be expedient for the Society
litout to be es,Ablished lu Canada to follow the
txattiple the Parent ; and what other
objects conducive to the iniploventent tint! io the
peculiar inttnests of this Ptc“itice tnigfit be asso-

ciatcd with those spc6fiecl in liv comm;ssioo
The objects of the I--Lghki.d Society of London
wcyc first " tC r pre%ci Clog the: LHogoage, :Martial

Spirit, I)rtss, !Nin,ic, and ,Intiquitic.s, of the an-
el,nt Chiedonia:is," and dins maintaining a bowl

of union and Inswciution between iligbiatideis
•

wherever they should meet. This wish to pre-
serve in the present day the language and costonts
• of Other times might positively be called prejudice,
but so also might many of the noblest feelings
which can ;termite the human mind. Modern la-
titude of opinion might stigmatize as prejudice
the loyalty of the patriot and self-devotedness Of
the soldier. The self-called" citizen Of the world"
might, in the language of universal philanthropy,
blame love of country itself as a narrow and pre-
judiced feeling, and, while he attempted to measure
princiales by the standard of general utility, might
if, fact reduce them to iodividnal and sordid sel-
fishness ; but surely to a meeting of Highlanders
it was unnecessary to enlarge on this point, or to
explain how love of country might resolve itself
into love of one's countrymen, and thence into at-
tachment to the' peculiar customs which distin-
guished those countrymen ; and even on the score
of utility, the preservation of the garb which dis-
. tiognisheti the Highland soldier, of the lan-
guage in which the deeds of his forefathers were
celebrated, and of the music which anit»ated him
in the day of battle, were objects well deserving
the attention of those who wished to preserve
unimpaired his martial spirit, and to devote him
to the service of his country. The next object of
the Society, namely, the " preserving front obli-
vion the valuable remains of Gaelic Literature,"
was one which he supposed could not be match
promoted its this province ; but if any such remains
were still extant amongst any of the more ancient
emigrants, it was needless to point out the pro-
priety of immediate attention to them.
The objects next specified—namely, " the esta-
blishmetit and support of Gaelic Schools, and the
relieving distressed Highlanders at a distance front
their native homes," were both peculiarly appli-
cable to the state of society in this province,
where the means of bestowing generally the be-
nefits of education were still very deficient, and
where many Highland emigrants were daily ar-
riving its a state of poverty and distress. The
object of the Parent Society " for promoting the
improvement and geoeral welfare of the northern
parts of the island of Great Britain," would pro-
bably in this branch thereof be modified so as to
apply to the improvement and general welfare of
the Highland settlements in this province ; and
though be was deficient in local knowledge on the
subject, yet the information he had received left
to, room to doubt that, by a judicious distribution
of premiums for agricultural improvements, and
by other means within the reach of the society,
much rni;shr be done towards promoting so desir-
able an object. This mention of premiums na-
turally led him to consider the means of providing
them, and of contributing to the other objects of
the society, which it was evident could only be
done by subscriptions to be paid by members; atid
in fixing the rate of such subscriptions-, the meet-
ing would have to consider, on the one side, the
expediency of raising ample funds to promote
such laudable purposes, and, on the other, the
danger of deterring eligible members from coming
forward, by exacting too heavy a contribution on
admission into the society. On this point, and
indeed on every other which he had introduced,
he (the Chairman) had -derived much infoituation
.and assistance from a gentleman well known to•
the tneeting, and highly respected by all to whom
he was known l—a"gentleman active and indefa-
tigable in promothog every object connected with
the prosperity of the province, and to whose in-
dividual exertions the trteetiog was indebted for
obtaining the commission under which they met,
and for organizing the measures to be brought
before them. This gentleman was the Reverend
Alexander Macdonell, anti lie (the Chairman)
Was satisfied that that gentleman's previouseap-
probation Of the propositions to be submitted to
the meeting would of itself be sufficient to pro-
cure them a faventrab!e reception.
It only remained to speak of the internal re-
gulations and the meetings of the Society. The
Constitution of the Parent Society was establish:
ed by Act of Parliament, and the bye-laws (of
which he presented a copy), bad been frathed
with great care, and wet.: the result of long ex-
perience. Still, hoWever, they might be found
to contain regulations unsuitable to the state of
social in this Province, and it -appeared the
safest plan to adopt provisionally the constitu-
tion and bye-laws of the Parent Society, and to
appoint a Committee to consider and to report
cuch modifications of them as might appear ex-
pedient and beneficial to the interests of this
Society. _ A similar course tnight perhaps be.
adopted with advantage, in regulaiing the meet-
ings anti providing for the expenses attending
them, so as never to infringe upon the funds of
the Society, :illicit he trusted would always be
preserved inviolate, and strictly applied to the
objects specified in the Constitution. A certain
number of meetings it was evidently necessary to
hold, but it would be well to guard
.against
making them too frequent, or too expensive. The
meetings of the Parent Society were generally,
held at that period of the year, when London was
the resort of persons of distinction front all
parts of the country, and their general annual
meeting was held on the 21st of March, to cele-
brate the anniversary of the battle of Alexandria.

In this province, the seasons of the year a►►d the

Efate of the roads would necessarily he taken into
consideration in appointing the times of ID-cting,