The publication of these despatches caused
immense excitement, disclosing, as they did,
the perfidy of the Austrian Court. The King
then, on his own authority, without the
signature of any minister, sent to Pesth an
Austrian officer, General Lamberg,
empowered, in violation of the Constitution, to
dissolve the Diet, and assume the supreme
command over all troops, both in Hungary
and Croatia. The Diet pronounced his powers
illegal, and declared it treason to obey him;
but the indignant populace assailed and killed
him when he came into the city. For this
wild act of violence the Diet immediately
addressed to the King an expression of the
nation's sorrow, and besought him to cease
from those illegal attempts by which the
populace had been provoked. On the 3rd of
October, on the pretext of Count Lamberg's
murder, the King declared Hungary to be
under martial law, dissolved the Diet,
suspended the Constitution, and made Jellachich
commander of the country. The Hungarians
appointed M. Kossuth President of a
Provisional Committee of Defence.

King Ferdinand having abdicated in
December, was succeeded by his nephew, Francis
Joseph, aged nineteen, who was proclaimed
Emperor of Austria and King of Hungary.
He announced his intention not to take the
oath to the Hungarian Constitution, which by
the Pragmatic Sanction was made the condition
of legitimacy in the succession of the
Hapsburg line.

The Hungarians again fought for their
cherished Constitution, and beat back the
Austrians, as they had never failed to do on
such occasions. Instead, however, of confirming
the Hungarian rights, as Hapsburg
princes had before done when defeated, and
restoring peace, a Russian army was this
time invoked. Against both Austrians and
Russians the Hungarians were still ready to
maintain the struggle for their Constitution,
when their force was broken by the treason
of a general. The cruelties with which the
Austrians signalised their triumph, reminded
Europe of the bloody tribunal of Eperies
and the subsequent affairs of Hungary are
written in the papers of the present day.

                  CHIPS.

         PORK INSURANCE.

A PIG in a picture is a pleasing object.
The disregard in which he is said (not
always truly) to hold Mr. Chadwick's
precepts; his odd brusque habits, and the flowing
lines of his contour, recommend him to
the painter; while his contempt for the usages
of polite society keep him out of the pale of
genteel circles.

This consideration leads us to the reflection
that many things which the pencil of
the artist transforms to the picturesque—as
ragged, dirty children; squalid rooms; foul
and dingy alleys—are, in their reality,
altogether unpleasant objects.

We, therefore, offer no apology for bringing
before the world, in as artistic a manner
as our pen will permit, a certain pig, whose
sty we have at this moment in our eye.
This pig is the property of a worthy agricultural
labourer, whom we shall call Reuben.
Behold him, with his long, flapping ears;
his taper snout decorated with a metal
ring; his slender pretensions to a tail; his
popular trotters; and his broad, flat sides.
He is a frisky fellow, with a certain good-
humour; his grunt has more the sound of
luxurious enjoyment than that of dissatisfaction.
He pertinaciously grubs about after
wash; yet, in the absence of that luxury, he
contentedly consumes turnip-tops. But Reuben's
pig is no common pig. He is not of that class
of pigs which ragged children hunt up and
down London courts and alleys; he by no
means lives from snout to gutter; only
attracting the notice of their owners on the
morning when the butcher's knife is ominously
sharpened. No, Reuben's pig is a very
comfortable pig; and, moreover, a pig that has
excited considerable attention. A common
pig lives his few years; dies, and subsides
into the obscurity of ham and bacon; but
Reuben's pig has a certain tenure of
existence, and, when he dies, he will cause
considerable commotion to a grave society of men.
His health has been inquired into by a band
of exact arithmeticians; the chances of his
career have been computed to a fraction;
and his social habits are narrowly watched.
It is essential for the well-being of others, that
he should be a discreet and well-behaved pig.
He must eschew the irregularities of low
porcine life, and feel the dignity of his station,
for he is member of a flourishing Pig
Insurance Society.

Solemn meetings are held periodically, to
inquire into his condition and prospects; he
is the subject of a neat little book of printed
rules and regulations; and rumours of his
death would cast a gloom over an otherwise
happy assembly. Therefore, Reuben's pig is
not an ordinary, every-day pig, to be passed
carelessly by, without thought or notice. He
is provided for during his life; and his
death insures to his owner the receipt of
a sum sufficient to purchase a successor.
The last report of the society to which
Reuben's pig belongs, showed that three
pounds, five shillings, and threepence had
been paid within the half-year for the losses
of pigs, and twelve shillings and sixpence for
printing laws, leaving in the treasurer's hands
a balance of two pounds, three shillings, and
sixpence. Anybody who doubts the dignity
to which Reuben's pig has arrived, had better
address a letter to the secretary of the Warsop
(Warsop is in Nottinghamshire) Pig Insurance
Society at once; whereupon he will receive a
full confirmation of these present assertions.

To the cottager, with fifteen shillings per