NEWS OF THE WEEK.
BEFORE these pages can reach our nearest readers, the formal act of proroguing the Parliament will have been performed, after a fragmentary week, in which much work has been got through, to accomplish the last necessary stages of bills. Of all the subjects, the only two which stand out in relief are the Lord Chancellor's report of progress in the preparations for consolidating the Statutes, and Lord. John Russell's statement on the actual posture of the Russo-Turkish negotiations.
The Chancellor has shown that a task which has been talked about for forty years, can be half done by four men in four months. We hope it may be "well done when it is done." The Turkish explanations did not supply us with any fresh in- telligence, except to let us know that Ministers are aware of what the world knows,—a fact not always to be presumed ; and (also a fact not always presumeable) that they appreciate their duty under such circumstances. Lord John Russell, however admits the ex- istence of a new question, concerning the evacuation of the Prin- cipalities; and the Ministerial explanations do not embrace the very latest stages of the discussion.
