NEWS OF THE WEEK.
MO further progress has been made in the American quarrel. The anger at first displayed in England has settled down into a calm decision that the law, whatever it be—and there is no doubt upon that point—shall be effec- tively carried out, and the nation awaits with calmness the reply of the American Government. The British demand, sent on Saturday last, is said to include the release of the two Commissioners, and there is no doubt that this is sub- stantially true. But it is difficult to believe that the Cabinet has left no loophole whatever for argument, if urged in a spirit of honest conciliation. General Scott, in a letter ad-. dressed to the Paris journals, denies that the American Government ordered the seizure of Messrs. Mason and Slidell, and trusts that England will not go to war without more serious provocation. His tone is throughout conci- liatory, though he treats the affair too much as an accident involving no widespread consequences, and his letter affords a marked contrast to the ludicrous rodomontade in which the American papers indulge. Of new facts there are simply none, except that Mr. Seward has selected an officer to fortify Maine, which may mean that he expects a war, or that be simply dreads it.
