NEWS OF THE WEEK.

ATELEGRAM was received in London on Wednesday, announcing, on the authority of the Dagbladet, that the Danish Government declined to give Prince William to Greece except upon certain conditions. The principal of these was a guarantee for the possession of Schleswig. This impudent .demand, which imposed a price for the receipt of favour, caused a fall in all Greek securities, and was followed by another account stating that Prince Christian demanded certain _securities for his son, apparently in the shape of a civil list. This also was considered exorbitant, as the Prince belongs to a landless house and gives up nothing, and prices declined still farther. On Friday, however, the Times announced officially that Denmark had demanded no terms for herself, and mode- rate terms for Prince William. It is difficult not to believe that the Danish Government put forward a feeler, and receded on information of the disgust with which its idea had been received.

The Polish insurrection advances. The "English Legion," commanded by Colonel Lapinski, has indeed been compelled to land at Malmo, in Denmark, the captain of the vessel engaged declining to face Russian cruisers, and the revolt in Courland is pro tanto depressed. But all Lithuania is in arms and the nobles, bourgeoisie, and peasants of the territory tong the Baltic, from Memel almost to Riga, have openly joined the movement. A portion of the Guard, the Russian reserve, has been sent to Riga, and it is said,—we dis- trust this statement—that the remainder will enter the kingdom. Another revolt is expected in a few days in the south-east, and all the Palatinates are now in arms. In Radom, which had been "reduced" to order by the defeat of Langiewicz, the insurgents have seized the chief town, and in all the petty engagements of the week the Poles have been successful. The story of the Secret Committee having ordered the insurgents to lay down their arms is, as we • affirmed last week, simply a Russian invention. Arms are entering Poland fast, for orders are not of much use where there are not ten men who will refuse a bribe, and Warsaw waits quietly the signal which, we believe, will not be given yet.

The Times publishes some remarkable evidence of the demoralization among the Russian troops. Earl Russell, it seems, does not of approve of military murders of British subjects, and the Secretary of Legation at Vienna has himself been despatched to inquire into the attack on M. Einken- stein. It was made' it seems, by the soldiers who were restrained by their Major from plundering the chateau of Gebultow. This officer, M. Bentkowski, a pure Russian, but a gentleman, risked his own life for hours in the endeavour to save the family in the chateau, and by incessant threats with a revolver succeeded in saving all but M. Finkenstein. The troopers threatened their Major repeatedly, and at last called him a traitor, and departed growling like bears. Dis- cipline seems entirely dissolved, and we are informed on excellent authority that the generals frequently send orders direct to the privates, passing over the officers altogether. They distrust the latter as "demoralized with Western ideas," and, of course, order is at end, or maintained only by the curious contempt educated Russians always show for their own lives. They dread suicide as little as Romans, and the men, aware of this, are afraid of being shot down by officers who know that the Czar does not rule in the other world.

We would call attention to the letter of our special corres- pondent now on his way to Poland, and would mention that it is the view of a keenly observant Englishman, by no means fanatic.

The six-pounders having most of them fired their shots at Dr. Colenso, the great gun is brought to the front. On the 31st March, "C. J. Cantuar" replies to an address from his clergy, asking him apparently to abolish the Bishop of Natal. Of course the Archbishop can do nothing of the kind, the jurisdiction resting, if anywhere, with the Bishop of Cape- town, but he proceeis in a style which, in the absence of other evidence, would prove his episcopal character, to denounce Dr. Colenso's objections as "puerile and trite,"—so "puerile that an intelligent youth could draw the fitting answers from the Bible itself," but at the same time "pregnant with mischief," "poisonous," and their publication a "scandal." He, there- fore, finds it his "painful duty" to caution all the clergy of his diocese against admitting Bishop Colenso into their pulpits, or ". allowing him to minister in the Word or Sacraments. In other words, the Archbishop, as a "painful duty," silences a cler- gyman who expresses views different from those which he holds himself. What could the Pope do more, unless, indeed, His Holi- ness felt it his "painful duty" to deliver Dr. Colenso up to the secular arm ? Dr. Longley would probably shrink from burn- ing a heretic, though he sees no evil in silencing a bishop who, he acknowledges, has never been tried, who is not under his direct j urisdiotion, and who, if condemnedat Capetown, must appeal to his silencer as the appellate judge. Imagine a secular judge informing some one not yet accused, but whom he would have to try, that, although in a puerile way, he had obviously broken the law, and must cease from the exercise of his profession. It is fortunate for the cause of freedom that there are now two pulpits in England, and that an archbishop, when he wishes to reach the whole people, must send his discourse to the Times.

The decision of Her Majesty's Government in the case of the Peterhoff has been communicated to Messrs. Pile, Spence, and Co., the owners of the vessel. It affirms, in substance, that the seizure was prima facie illegal, but adds that the United States possessed the "general belligerent right of visi- tation," and that "whenever any cause for capture is alleged, the case cannot be withdrawn from the consideration of the prize court of the captor." The time for interference is "when the prize courts have refused redress for a capture which the evidence shows to have been unjustifiable," more especially as the judgments of these American courts during the war "evince no disregard of the established principles of international law." In the case of the Peterhoff, however, the absence of prism/facie evidence is so clear that Lord Lyons will represent the case at Washington ; and, "if no legal ground of capture be alleged, then press for the release of the vessel and her cargo, with compensation, and without the delay of proceedings in the prize court." It would seem probable that Admiral Wilkes's "evidence" was the name of the owner, whom he took for Mr. X. Spence, agent of the Confederate States, and that the American Government will at once surrender the ship,—with, let us hope, a figal repri- mand to their mischief-making subordinate. • Mr. Smith O'Brien has been travelling in Italy, and has published his impressions in the shape of a long letter to Mr. Dillon. He is obviously dreadfully puzzled. As Nationalist, he cannot object to the Italian claim to nationality, and, as Protestant, he cares nothing for Rome; yet, as Irishman, he must conciliate the priests, whose one point is the temporal sovereignty. The result is a pretty fair statement and am absurd suggestion. He thinks Northern Italy contented, but in Southern Italy nobles and clergy are fiercely opposed to the Government, which does not suppress brigandage, but does shoot people on suspicion of being brigands. About Rome he is doubtful, but inclines to believe that the people would, for selfish reasons, prefer to join Italy, provided Rome were the capital, but if otherwise, not. He believes that the Pope, to be independent, must be Sovereign, and that Rome must be retained as the "University of the world." He would have the Italians, therefore, reconcile themselves to the Pope by guaranteeing to him his remaining dominions, and fixing their capital at Florence. These "transaction "-mongers all seem to forget that capitals occasionally fix themselves, and that as the one thing which no power can do is to recall the past, so the one thing Italians cannot do is to make Rome anything but the capital of Italy. History is stronger than even the Catholic priesthood. If they want to succeed they should circulate a historical catechism proving that Romulus was the first Pope, and that the secular capital of Italy was always beyond the Lake of Como.

The Sultan is visiting Egypt. His journey, it appears, was strenuously opposed by the British Ambassador, on the ground of the enormous expense of the burden thrown on Ismail Pasha, and of the danger to Constantinople. The expense will, it is said, be equal to half a million sterling, the Sultan taking with him an escort of ten vessels, three thousand troops, his nephews, a portion of his seraglio, and an enormous establishment. This estimate, however, must be an exaggeration. The burden on the Pasha will, doubtless, be considerable; and it is asserted that secret associations have been organized by Russia among the Christian popula- tion, and may threaten the capital. They dread the Sultan, who is a brave and determined man, and may take advantage of his absence. The Sultan, however, who knows Constanti- nople at least as well as any man in it, after hearing these representations, adhered to his resolution, and landed in Alexandria on the 7th instant.

The American news of the week is almost unintelligible. The contest is proceeding all down the Mississippi, but it is impossible at yet to ascertain whether the Federal Admiral • has arrived in the rear of Vicksburg, or has retreated defeated, and that is the key of the Mississippi contest. The only point apparently certain is that General Banks has not left Elton Rouge to assist in the attack. The Northerners speak very doubtfully of the chances of success at Charleston, and rely chiefly on General Hooker. We are informed privately that his army, though sternly weeded out, has been brought up to more than 100,000 men ; and there is a report that General Lee has fallen back from the Rappahannock. Rumours are also afloat of the probable surrender of Rich- mond, but they must be without foundation. Gold is at only 143, and Mr. Chase seems confident of obtaining money from Europe.

On the other hand, the Confederates have once more entered Kentucky, and threatened Louisville, and the peace Demo- crats have made a great demonstration in New York. Their resolutions mean obviously peace, and there are signs abroad that some members of the Administration are inclined for foreign war. The President, and a majority of his Cabinet, have refused to issue letters of marque, but the "feeling" against England increases, and the Government is anxiously putting distant points like St. Francisco'in a state of defence. The object is evidently to render attack on that harbour impossible; but the enemy feared may be France, which has a squadron in the Pacific as well as England. The rocky islet in the port is being covered with batteries, and the Adjutant-General of the State has called for 10,000 militia, in addition to the small force of regulars always posted in California.

M. de Persigny has decided, it would appear, to oust every candidate at the elections who has ever given a vote opposed to the Emperor's will. M. de Jonvenel, a strict Imperialist, -who resisted the Montauban dotation, is to be opposed, and M. de Claparide, for voting against a railway bill. So also will be Count de Flavigny, 'Viscount de Grouohy, Colonel Doumel and even M. Millet, who, in 1840, offered to resign his post of Attorney-General in order to defend Louis Napoleon. The younger Orleanists and Republicans have determined to come forward, and though M. Guizot does not stand, his son does. 3f. de Montalembert will, it is believed, ask the suffrages of Toulouse ; 3f. Baze, formerly Questor of the Legislative Assembly, will try the Lot-et-Garonne ; and M. de 3faleville, Minister of the Interior under the President, will stand as a Liberal in a district of the Tarn-et-Garonne. Electoral Com- mittees are forming everywhere, and the electors are trying to discover men who, while belonging to the Opposition, can still take the oath. It would seem that the Administration are more anxious to exclude clerical nominees and Orleanists than pure Republicans, but the severity shown to Imperialists annoys their own followers.

The text of Earl Russell's despatch to the British Ambas- sador at St. Petersburg on 2nd March has been published in France. This letter was sent as a circular to all British envoys. In it the Foreign Secretary announces the "concern" with which Her Majesty's Government views the insurrection in Poland, the "lamentable effusion of blood," and the pro- bable hatreds engendered between "the Russian Government and the Polish nation." The Government, though anxious to be "most courteous," is still impelled by its sense that treaties have been violated to recommend HisImperialMajesty, "whose benevolent sentiments are universally recognized," to put an end to the struggle by an amnesty, and by restoring the "civil and political rights granted to Poland by the Emperor Alexander I., conformably to the stipulations of 1815." "I National Diet and Parliament would probably content the Poles." This is a plea, it will be perceived, for Congress-Poland only, and leaves the partition intact and unremedied. All the Powers who signed the treaties of 1815 are requested to forward "analogous views" to St. Petersburg. The despatch is rather a weak affair, being rather an appeal to the philanthropy than to the obligations of the Czar.

A project has, we perceive, been revived, of making either a canal or a railway across the Isthmus of Kraa, in Siam, and so shortening the transit between India and the far East. The only objections to the plan are that the canal is impos- sible, wafer having an objection to run up hill, and the rail- way not worth its cost. Cargo in sailing vessels cannot be transhipped without frightful loss, and the saving to steamers would not be three days, while the maintenance of separate stations in a country like Siam would cost more than is saved by the gain in speed. Time enough to talk about crossing Kraa when the isthmus is English, and Siam civilized, and labour procurable, and the trade to be conveyed composed of articles a little more important to the well-being of the world than balls of opium.

The "cheap dinners," so successful in Glasgow, are to be. introduced into London; but there is an obstacle at the outset. Working men approve beer as a drink, and the promoters of working men's clubs are inclined to prohibit beer. Conse- quently, the workman, after his dinner, must go to the ale- house, and when he comes away will find that his dinner has not been cheap at all. The restriction seems in itself an absurd bit of prudery, unless the promoters are all teeto- tallers. Beer in moderation is as much food as beef, and its sale equally unobjectionable ; but there is, we suspect, another reason. If a man sells beer he must take out a licence, if he takes out a licence he must sell to all who apply; and the eating-room might degenerate into an ordinary bar.

The Times has at length made its confession of faith in the matter of the American war. President Davis might have dictated its terms. "So far from regarding the cause of Secession as vile and infamous, we have freely extended our admiration to the unity, the constancy, the courage, and self- denial with which the affairs of the -South are conducted. We refuse to identify the objects of the war of invasion and subju- gation carried on by the North with the emancipation of the Negro, and view, in the proposal to break the bonds of a race which they will not suffer to tread the same earth or breathe the same air with themselves, nothing but an attempt to remedy the inhumanity involved in the slavery of the blacks by the still more dreadful inhumanity of massacre and ex- termination." Is it more dreadful ? Which would the writer choose, slavery for life under the lash, or immediate execution? The Prussians, it would seem, are rather ashamed of Count Eulenberg's speech on extradition, and apologies are current at Berlin. The Minister, it is alleged, was obliged to make a flourish about the respect due to treaties, but in practice the "cartel." is very laxly carried out. The persons demanded are usually very hard to find, and though the treaty covers almost every offender, even private debtors, very few persons are ever surrendered. In other words, a Prussian Minister states that he must surrender traitors to Russia, that is, send them to execution, and the excuse for him is that he never does do what he has said he must. The apology is worthy alike of the speech and the transaction.

The Times' correspondent confirms the story of the Emperor Napoleon's wish to be elected to the Academy. His Majesty mentioned it himself at the reception of M. Octave Feuillet, saying, "I have for some time past been trying to make myself worthy of you some day." The Academicians present did not respond, but the Emperor is said to be serious. Should he ever be proposed, and not rejected, he would have I either to arrange some special form of admission, or to wait on every Academician at his own residence, state his claim, answer any question, and give any explanation required. How the Charivari would exult, if it dared, over such a scene between the Emperor and M. Villemain, the latter cross- examining on Mr. Kinglake's fourteenth chapter, all the acumen of the critic sharpened by all the hate of the politician. The Emperor seems to forget a fact prominent enough in his favourite studies. It was Julius Onset who succeeded as an author, not Tiberius. Cotton, it is asserted, can be grown in Southern France. So can pines in England, but that does not prove that they will ever be food for the people. The point is the price of the cotton. It could be grown in Norway for that matter, if the manufacturer could pay a guinea a pound.

A most singular case of murder has been tried this week at the Central Criminal Court. W. Davey, a policeman, was on 19th Jan. living with his wife in a house in Acton, of which they had been requested to take charge. At eight o'clock in the evening, Joseph Brooks, a neighbouring bricklayer, asked to see him and as he came out to the door, it is alleged, shot him dead. Nobody saw him do it, the wife not having seen his face, and only heard his voice over the garden pale. She did not even recognize the voice. No motive was assigned beyond a story that Davey had suspected Brooks and his brother of stealing some timber, yet he was found guilty. He was proved to have redeemed a gun from pawn, to have gone out at the time of the murder, to have come back hot and flushed, to have concealed the gun in his bed, and to have lied about it. The gun was found by the police, and though clean when redeemed it smelt of powder, and in the pockets of the accused were loose shot, exactly correspond- ing with those extracted from the victim's body. This evi- dence seems irresistible, but the crime is still inexplicable. It must be added that the prisoner's defence was that he had taken out the gun to sell, of which there was no proof whatever.

The India Office has published a list of the salaries obtained by the competition candidates for the Indian Civil Service since 1855. In that year eighteen men were sent out, of whom one was in 1861 receiving 1,800/. a year, one 1,500/., four more over 1,000/., six 800/., and five 600/. That is not the most favourable way of stating the case, for the majority have only obtained the equivalent of 400/. a year in England. We must count the rupee for the shilling. It is when the civilian has passed his tenth year of service that his salary begins to grow large, that is, not till 1865. There is not the slightest evidence of official hostility towards the servants admitted by competition, and, if we are not mistaken, the most successful, and by many degrees the ablest among them, is the son of a coach-painter. To make the account fair, how- ever, the Commissioners should publish also the list of deaths, and the number of white faces in the stations to which the candidates have been sent. The competitors would then see the precise truth, which is, that India is the finest career now open to the educated man with nothing, but an exceedingly bad one for every other class.

We publish in another column an account of the Volunteer Review at Brighton, which appears to have been a success. The railway arrangements in particular were excellent, the civil traffic of Easter Monday going on unimpeded. It is calculated that were ordinary traffic suspended, 50,000 men could be forwarded to Brighton between 6 a.m. and noon; but there is another arrangement still to be made. Suppose the force camped out for three days, how are they to be fed ? Is the experiment of a volunteer commissariat not to be tried, and the force left dependent on that branch of the army which most frequently breaks down on service ?

Every class dislikes its own tax, and on Thursday a depu- tation of omnibus-owners waited on Mr. Gladstone to pray for relief from theirs. They pay a penny a mile for every mile travelled, and they complain that the country carriers, who compete with them, always evade the tax, that the cheap trains pay nothing, that the steamers are untaxed, and that the rate prohibits the starting of omuibuses. Preston, for instance, has only one, and that is kept by subscription. They suggest a licence duty according to mileage, beginning with Si. a year for vehicles running ten miles a day, which would involve a loss of 60,000/. a year to the revenue. Mr. Gladstone promised to study the subject, as the tax really presses on the poor, who, for example, cannot obtain omnibus accommodation to and from the trains.

Another steamer has escaped from an English port to the Confederate service. Some sailors engaged for the "Japan" at Liverpool betrayed the secret, and the United States Consul at once telegraphed to Mr. Adams. Orders were sent from London to stop the vessel, then lying at Greenock; but, unfortunately, the United States Consul had forgotten to mention her port. The orders were, therefore, sent to Liver- pool, and the Virginia got away before the mistake could be rectified. The Government is, however, fairly awake at last. The Alexandra, built in Toxteth Dock, has been seized, and as the owners, in spite of the "broad arrow" marked on her masts, proceeded with her fittings, all persons were summarily ordered off till inquiry had been made. Mr. Laird, too, has been questioned as to two of his vessels, and has replied that they are building for the Emperor of China. The Liverpool Chamber of Commerce has resolved that the Foreign Enlistment Act ought to be strengthened. It is strong enough, if Government will only work it without such a terrible fear of a verdict for damages.

Another of those horrible cases of death from sheer starva- tion. John Hayes, of Bethnal Green, was a cane-dyer, with a wife and nine children. Latterly he could get nothing to do, and sold crockery through the streets, but this also brought little to supply eleven mouths. On Sunday week Mrs. Hayes was confined, and the man, without food, or the means of getting any, stretched himself by her side, and died, starved. The surgeon who examined the corpse found no trace of food in the stomach or intestines' and the man must have been days without eating. He had been too proud to receive from the parish ; and on the inquest his daughter, in the teeth of the surgeon's evidence, declared there was no want of food in the house, in which there was not a table or anything but some wretched bedding. We suppose Hayes, on ethical principles, was a fool for not apply- ing to the workhouse, but there is little fear for England while working men die slowly of starvation rather than take alms.

Tictor Hugo poet, if not spokesman, of French Democrats, has written a letter to the "Democratic Circle," or Club, of Pisa' acknowledging that Italy ought to be free and united, and that, in the present condition of Italy, "the Pope is as much a foreign sovereign as the Kaiser." The world moves. In 1848 the French Democrats were as unfair to Italy as the French Ultramontanes, and far more injurious.

The Funds are quiet, Consols being 92i 92f for transfer, and 921 921 for the account. New Threes and Reduced Annuities are at 91 91f. Exchequer Bills 3s. to la. discount. Indian 5 per Cents., 1081 1091; ditto, Enlaced Paper, 5/ per Cents., 114 115. Greeks are 28k 28f and 281. Chilian 6 per Cents. are at 1021. Mexican, 33i 331. Egyptian 7 per Cents., 1021. Turkish Old Bonds, 901 901; the Stock of last year, 60f 60f. Spanish Passives, 291 29f. Venezuela 6 per Cents., 601 61. Brazilian 41 per Cents., 93. Russian Old 5 per Cents., 95f. Dutch 4 per Cent. Certificates, 100 1001. Sardinian 5 per Cents., 85. New Grenada, 15.