NEWS OF THE WEEK.
MR. GLADSTONE, having visited the Orkneys, steamed across to Copenhagen, where he was received, on the 17th inst., with every honour by the family party there assembled, consisting of the King and Queen of Denmark, the Czar and Czarina, the King of Greece, the Princess of Wales, and a crowd of junior Princes, all descendants or connections by marriage of King Christian. On Tues- .day, the entire group, with all the diplomatists present 'in the city, except the representatives of Sweden, lunched with Mr. Gladstone on board the Pembroke Castle,' and afterwards listened to Mr. Tennyson reading his own poetry. Let us hope he did not read "The Charge of the Six Hundred." Mr. Glad- stone's visit, coinciding with the sudden departure of Lord Dufferin for Constantinople, has set the journalists of the Con- tinent all agog, and the wildest speculations are indulged in. The English Premier sought the Czar in order to reunite the two Bulgarias, or to sell Armenia for Egypt, or to arrange a Northern alliance with France, as a counterpoise to Germany. These speculations are, of course, dreams. There is not the slightest evidence that Mr. Gladstone transacted any political business at all, or had any objects whatever, except to make a pleasant trip to a new place, and some valuable fresh acquaint- ances. As for the Czar, a few days of perfect safety must be to him the truest holiday.
