NEWS OF THE WEEK.

TEE news of a grave, it may be a terrible, incident in Afghanistan, received on Thursday, rendered all other intelligence unimportant. It was announced from St. Petersburg and India that General Komaroff, the Governor-General of Transcaspia, had on March 30th attacked a body of 4,000 Afghan troops in their positions on both sides of the Khuskh, had defeated them with a loss of 500 men, had captured their artillery, and had either stormed or occupied Penjdeh. The main facts having been allowed to come over the wires through Russia, were at once seen to be true, and produced intense excitement. A Cabinet Council was at once called, the Departments were besieged with questions, and a panic set-in on the Stock• Exchange. Consols fell 2, Russian stock 9, Egyptian stocks from 5 to 9—apparently on an idea that England might evacuate Egypt—and Italians 3, and every kind of security except American shares felt the reflex influence of the fall. The agitation spread in a more moderate form over the whole kingdom ; and persons of the highest importance, including several Ambassadors, hurried to the House of Commons to hear in what way the intelligence would be treated by the Ministry.

Mr. Gladstone, questioned by Sir Stafford Northcote, confirmed the worst account of the facts. The Government, he -said, bad deemed the Russian despatch one "which did not advance the questions under consideration ;" and although a "more hopeful" communication was subsequently received, it was impossible to speak of it in presence of the " very grave occurrence" just reported. Her Majesty's Government had been informed by the head of the Boundary Commission, Sir Peter Lumsden, under date March 29th, that in spite of the Russian assurances of March 17th, General Komaroff denied that he had any orders not to advance, that he refused to give any assurances to that effect, "that every endikvour was being made by the Russians to induce the Afghans to begin the fight, and that the Russian forces had attempted forcibly to pass through the Afghan pickets." In a second telegram, written at a point on the road to Gulran, Sir Peter stated that on March 30th General Komaroff had attacked the Afghans, and after an engagement, in which the Afghans fought bravely, defeated them and " occupied Penjdeh,"—a statement, however, about which there is doubt, as, though the Englishman saw the battle, he did not see the occupation. The British officers remained neutral in the engagement, and withdrew after it towards Gulran.

Mr. Gladstone further stated that the Russian Government had informed the Ambassador in St. Petersburg that they hoped this " regrettable incident would not interrupt negotiations ;" but, pending further explanations, his own judgment was summed-up in these words :—" The House will not be surprised when I say, speaking with measured words in circumstances of great gravity, that to us, upon the statements I have recited, this attack bears the appearance of an unprovoked aggression." The whole tone and manner of the Premier was that of a man who, while earnestly desirous not to make accommodatiou impossible, had hardly any hOpe left that peace would be preserved. He evidently did not believe that the Afghans had given any provocation ; though later in the sitting he mentioned, on the authority of a delayed telegram from Sir P. Lumsdeu, that the Afghans had, previous to the attack, thrown-out some vedettes. There are other facts which Mr. Gladstone did not mention, but which we give elsewhere, which raise a violent presumption that the Afghan General intended no menace to the Russians. He cannot have had orders ; and if he acted without them, Abdurrahman, who is dreaded by every officer under him, would have taken his head. It is, of course, quite possible that General Komaror acted for himself ; but then the Russian Government must repudiate and recall him. It is clear, we must add, that he could have had orders not to advance, for his account of his victory reached St. Petersburg in seven days, and twelve had elapsed between M. de Giers's statement and General.Komaroff's denial of it.

It is stated that important orders have been sent to Lord Dufferin, who had already, apparently on receipt of the news, though this is not certain, warned the Reserve Corps d'Armie of 25,000 men for immediate service. He had concluded his negotiations with the Ameer, and had held a ceremonial, followed by a banquet, at which Abdurrahman responded to the toast of his own health by saying in Persian, " As the British have declared. that they will help Afghanistan in beating-off external enemies, the Afghan nation will join in the firmest manner, and will stand side by side with the British." The Ameer is said to have expressed some fear that an advance of British troops into Afghanistan would re-arouse Afghan animosity ; and to have been assured that they would not come, except by invitation. The remark and the answer, if made, doubtless preceded the news from the Khuskh ; or they express a difficulty which exists, but is not insuperable. Abdurrahman does not expect us to defend Herat without going there. There is a curious suspicion of this man in some minds which is, we are satisfied, unfounded. He will, as a King, fight for his own hand, and as an Afghan, will not be scrupulous ; but in both capacities his interests bind him to.the British side. It is not a nice position that of a pipkin between two iron pots on a stream ; and we must pardon him a little anxiety and finesse.

• It is stated demi-officially that the Russian Government has been " invited" to explain the failure to send the promised orders to General Komaroff, and to repair the regrettable incident of March 30th, and has been warned that the circumstances are too grave to admit of delay. It is probable, therefore, that before our next issue peace or war will have become certain. The first duty is to defend Herat ; but on the Continent it is doubted whether the war can be confined to Asia. That, however, must depend upon Prince Bismarck. With England and Russia at war, Germany and Austria, so long as they act together, can do nearly what they please, as France, the only remaining disengaged Power, will not fight them without an ally. We shall speedily see, therefore, whether Prince Bismarck honestly desires peace, or whether he has in his head a further remodelling of the map.

Peace has been made most unexpectedly between France and China. The Chinese Government, alarmed, it is believed, by the stoppage of the rice-fleet, which feeds Pekin, empowered Sir R. Hart, their Director of Customs, to offer M. Ferry the Treaty of last year, which conceded Tonquin, on condition of his giving up Formosa and the claim to an indemnity. M. Ferry agreed ; but on receipt of the disastrous news from Langson, of which he alone knew the fall truth, believed that the Chinese Government would repudiate its oddly-selected Plenipotentiary, and continue the war. The Chinese Foreign Office, however, persisted ; and on the receipt of the news that M. Ferry had fallen, telegraphed a request that his successor should sign the agreement. The successor had not been appointed; but M. Grevy took matters into his own hands, and through a chief clerk in the Foreign Office, whom he appointed Plenipotentiary for the nonce, signed the paper required. Intelligence of the signature was at once telegraphed to Pekin, and a decree was gazetted withdrawing Chinese troops from Ton quin ; but the final assent of the Empress is still awaited. It is alleged that M. Brisson, the new French Premier, was not informed of these negotiations, and M. Ferry and President Grevy are accused of treachery towards him ; but, as we have argued elsewhere, there is no sufficient evidence of a charge in itself most improbable.

The total result of the year's campaigning is most lamentable for France. She has made peace on the basis of the states quo ; and, after all her sacrifices of men and money, retains nothing except Tonquin, which was before secured to her by Captain Fournier's Treaty. Moreover, her failure has greatly increased both the courage and the reputation of the Chinese statesmen, who will probably now place their capital beyond attack. Their motive for making peace is supposed to have been fear of scarcity in Pekin ; while that of M. Ferry is on the face of affairs. He had reached a point at which a defeat or an attack on Pekin were his only alternatives ; and he believed that the electors would not sanction the latter course. M. Brisson, who has finally accepted power with a mixed Ministry of Radicals and Opportunists, will be delighted with the peace, which leaves him free to prepare for the elections. It is believed that he will sway towards the Radical side ; and the belief has probably helped to secure the election of M. Floquet as President of the Chamber. Although almost an Extremist, M. Floquet was elected to that great post by a majority of four over M. Faillibres, the candidate of the Opportunists.

The Canadian insurrection will, it is believed, prove most embarrassing to the Government of the Dominion. They have collezted a sufficient body of troops, about•3,200, have detached most of the Indians, and have received assurances from Washington that the frontier shall be watched ; but Riel is supported by all the half-breeds, by 4,000 Indians, and by a certain section of the white settlers, who are practically as dependant on hunting as the Indians. Riel's demands may be reduced to two,—first, that a large district shall be kept flee of agricultural settlers ; and secondly, that Catholic priests for the benefit of the half-breeds, who are all Catholics, shall be paid by the Dominion. The first demand is just as regards the Indians, though the half-breeds have no tribal ownership to plead ; but the second could hardly be conceded in form without impairing the strict religions neutrality of the Government of the Dominion. We should imagine, however, that the constitutional difficulty could be easily evaded by appointing and paying the priests as teachers of lay knowledge. Riel has gone the unendurable length of appointing a Provisional Government for the North-West, and ambition probably mingles with his motives ; but the grievances should be redressed, as well as the rebellion put down. The Indians have rights ; and there is something not a little absurd, as well as oppressive, in shooting ignorant half-breeds for wanting to be a little more religious than they are.

The authorities in Egypt have done a stupid thing. A French paper, the Bosphore Egyptien, distinguishes itself by hostility to the British presence in Egypt, exaggerates British disasters, denies British successes, and even suggests—horror of horrors—that the British intend to • cede the Soudan to Italy. It is stated that its articles make an impression on the native mind, and the paper has therefore been suppressed, the office being surrounded by police with loaded carbines, under the command of Captain Fenwick. There will be a quarrel with France about the matter ; and as the unlucky journal does not reach the peasantry, who cannot read even the Arabic edition,and as it says nothing but what the Echo says in London every day, and as we have more than thirty thousand troops in Egypt, it might have been let alone. Unluckily, the Government of Cairo has one apology,—the impossibility of prosecuting a French subject before a French Court for exciting to sedition. He is sure beforehand of acquittal.

The Prince and Princess of Wales have been received in Dublin with far more enthusiasm than even the moat sanguine

Englishmen had any right to expect. We do not mean, for we have not the means of knowing, how far the mass of the population were or were not neutral ; but certainly there was not the smallest sign of hostile feeling, and it is clear that the Parnellitea are much chagrined by the cordiality actually displayed. Mr. Parnell's letter on the subject is a very odd one. He suggests that the Prince is being used as an "electioneering agent;"—i e., as the agent of the two English political parties in Ireland "for the sake of injuring and insulting the Irish National Party, and of impeding, if possible, their work." How the Prince is to serve these ends Mr. Parnell does not explain,. probably because he could not. He had admitted, in the early part of his letter, that the Prince might be regarded as-repre-senting the Monarchy alone, "if the usages of a Constitution existed in Ireland." What that means we have not the smallest. notion. The Prince certainly no more represents any Act of Parliament of which the Irish complain, than he represents any Act of Parliament of which the Scotch or the Welsh complain,. like the Acts sustaining the Established Churches of Great• Britain. So far as we can judge, Mr. Parnell's letter is only written to do what he can towards rendering the Prince and Princess unpopular, and to sneer at the Lord-Lieutenant aswielding a power "despotic and unlimited to the last degree.' Is that by way of showing that Mr. Parnell is so Irish as to. fall naturally into Irish bulls ? How can an " unlimited ". power be " unlimited to the last degree ?" If it is unlimited, there is no end to it ; but wherever there is degree there certainly is limit.

Lord Cartiarvon, in a speech at Taunton last Saturday, urged that the first great memorial to General Gordon must consist in• the pions act of turning-out the Government which betrayed• him. That looks suspiciously like making a party use of General Gordon's memory, and will hardly, we think, be regarded as a very disinterested proof of reverence or admiration.. Lord Carnarvon went on to draw a contrast between Lord Shaftesbury and Mr. Bright, and to ask his autlience which of them at the end of a long life they would prefer to have been,—the Conservative who had dedicated all his energy to serving his country without relation to party, or the Liberal who had hardly ever madea speech in which he had not set class against class ? If that contrast means anything, it means that politics are an unworthy pursuit, and that Lord Carnarvon himself—who, from the opposite point of view, is as energetic as Mr. Bright in setting classegainst class—is doing a work which on his death-bed he will repent. We do not suppose, however, that either he or Mr. Bright will repent his w.ork, if, as we believe, they have both done it in perfect sincerity. They may both have used at times expressions too strong for the occasion, Mr. Bright with much effect, Lord Carnarvon with much less. But no energetic work can be done by human beings without occasional excesses of this sort; and we do not think that they are usually of a kind to• embitter greatly the meditations of a death-bed.

Mr. Courtney, who admits that even he too has once been a writer of newspaper articles, though he admits it much in the tone in which a schoolmaster admits that he too once robbed orchards, told the people of St. Cleer, near Liskeard, on Tuesday, that if only the newspapers which advocate war would cease from troubling, he should have no objection to cease himself from pressing on the Government counsels of peace. When, he said, some one proposed to abolish the punishment of death, the reply made was that that would be just what every one would wish, if only the murderers would begin. So Mr. Courtney would consent at once to leave the Government to go their own way, if only the war-party would desist from urging it to go their way. That would be a very fair reply if only the peaceadvocates were not audible to other Governments as well as to the Government they advise, and if they were not supposed to interpret the real drift of official opinion much better than any other party. Has not Mr. Courtney contributed to this illusion • by boasting loudly that he himself accurately interprets the very inmost mind of Mr. Gladstone?

At Liskeard on Wednesday Mr. Courtney made a speech in which he said that the main object of all his political efforts had been to set free individual life ; and it was from this point of view that he looked at the question of Disestablishment of the Church. He was afraid that Disestablishment, if it took place at present in England, would leave the English Church less free than it now is, less free than the judicial interpretation of its formulas by Courts of Law leaves it ; and as we understand him, he wishes to see the English Church more competent to govern itself with some liberality before he disestablishes it. That is, however, rather a one-sided view of the case. The argument for the Establishment is not that the ecclesiastical judgments of the Courts are a bulwark of the liberties of the clergy,—which latterly they have not been,—but that the poor of neglected rural districts would get no religious or social attention at all, if the Establishment disappeared, and there were no Church to look after the interests of those who are' unable to support Churches of their own. Mr. Courtney went on to -advocate liberty in relation to alcoholic drink, and to comment on the inconsistency of those who ask for liberty here and for new restraints there, without taking any distinction of principle between the two cases. Of course, he endeavoured to make out -that minority-representation is essential to liberty.

At the dinner given on Tuesday evening by the Corporation of Edinburgh to the members of the Convention of Scottish Royal and Parliamentary Boroughs, Mr. Goschen made an amusing speech, intimating how much he desired that some subordinate assemblies could relieve the House of Commons of some of the innumerable responsibilities thrust upon them. He observed that the Scottish Convention had, on its agenda, subjects relating to licensing, to the land question, and to women's suffrage ; and he confessed his wish that the House of Commons might be relieved by some such assemblies of the necessity of discussing subjects connected with "ladies, land, and licences," and left to deal only with subjects with which municipal councillors are not competent to deal. That suggestion may apply very well to certain portions of the land regulations, and to the licensing of the liquor traffic; but women, we fear, must be admitted to be anything but purely municipal in the interests they touchWhether women shall pervade political struggles, or shall not pervade them, is probably a question of more Imperial interest than the question between a Monarchy and a Republic itself.

The news of the week from the Soudan consists mainly of rumours. The report that the Mandi is opposed by enemies in Kordofan, whom he has fought but failed to defeat, gains in consistency, and but for its frequent repetition, might be believed. According to his own account, he is coming to Dongola three months hence, which looks ridiculous to Europeans, but not so ridiculous to people who are not in a hurry even to conquer. On the other hand, the British troops have taken possession of Handoub, and are laying down the railway slowly, and have ascertained, almost beyond doubt, that Osman Digna has been deserted by his followers. The great preoccupation in the Soudan is, however, the doubt whether the British Government, having to fight Russia, will continue the war in the Soudan at all. It is a perplexing question ;. for while, on the one hand, to wage two wars at once is contrary to good policy, on the other, to withdraw from the Soudan is to invite the Mandi to an invasion of Egypt. We must, however, expect to feel the reflex effect of a great war not only in Cairo, but in Pretoria, if not on the Saskatchewan and in Dublin.

A controversy has been going on this week between the Nonconformists and clergymen of the Established Church as to whether Disestablishment, if it ever comes, will do the Dissenters harm or good. Many of the Dissenters maintain that it will injure their political influence, just as the abolition of Church-rates has injured it ; but that in pure disinterestedness they are bound to release the Church from the manacles of the State. The Clergy reply, ' Well and good, so far as Disestablishment is concerned we will take your word for that ; but how about Disendowment? Do you think Disendowment will do us pure good, and is that your motive for proposing it ?' We should like to hear from some of the most notable and honourable of the leaders of Disestablishment what their real view of that matter is. Would they leave the Church all the revenue which it is reasonable to suppose would have been given to it as an Episcopal Church, without any reference to its connection with the State, further than so far as such a connection might be a guarantee for its honest appropriation, or would they take away all except the life-incomes of the Clergy ? If they propose the first course, which seems to us, even from their point of view, the only just one, they would leave so vast an imperium in imperio as, uncontrolled by the State, would be a

national danger. If they propose the second, they should propose to confiscate all Nonconformis trusts a'so, and then they would never carry their measure.

The Bishop of Rochester has issued a manifesto against finery at Confirmation, which, as we have elsewhere endeavoured to point out, is not likely to bear very valuable fruits, unless so far as it touches young women's consciences or makes their taste simpler and more modest. But there is another consideration besides the humble practical considerations urged in our article, which we would suggest to the Bishop. Can he, as a spiritual authority, refuse to give what lie believes to be a real access of spiritual grace to his people only on evidence which tends to show that they really stand in need of it ? He can hardly say that showy apparel proves them to be iu such a state of mind that grace will not be given ; for a little vanity, after all, is only the sort of fault which cleaves to human nature, and of which even Bishops themselves hare occasionally been guilty. Is it at all certain that white-satin shoes or mockpearls are more grievous to the judge of the inward life, than the self-satisfaction which sometimes creeps into an episcopal heart after a touching Confirmation-sermon ? Yet if the Bishop cannot say that white-satin shoes or mock-pearls show the heart of the wearers to be so unregenerate that God will deny them grace, on what kind of principle can a Bishop refuse moral help of which these unfortunate ornaments show the wearer to be in special need ? A prelate who is enjoined to strengthen the weak hands and confirm the feeble knees, can hardly insist that all evidence of weakness shall disappear, before he complies with the precept.

The Times of Monday contains a most curious and impressive letter from Rome on the discovery of one of the tombs of the Cmsars,—that, namely, of Piso Licinianus, whom the Emperor Galba had adopted as his successor, but had adopted without making those rich presents to the Prwtorian Guard which that important force always expected on such occasions. Hence there was discontent both with Gotha and with Piso; and when the former was overthrown and beheaded, Otho, who succeeded him, asked for the head of the young Piso, as far more important than the head of the worn-out Galba. Piso was beheaded ; but his wife, Verania, obtained by a heavy payment the permission to burn and bury him in fitting state ; and it is this tomb, in which the ashes of Piso and of others of his family were contained, which has just been discovered at Roine in the Appian Way, a little-outside the Colline Gate. When the funeral-urns were examined by the owner, he found them empty; and asked what had become of the ashes. The reply was,—" I gathered them together into a basket, and sent them to my wife to make lye for her washing." A more striking illustration cannot be conceived of Shakespeare's thought in-Hamlet, "Why may not imagination trace the noble dust of Alexander, till be find it stopping a bung-hole ?"— " Imperious Caesar, dead and turned to clay,

Might atop a hole to keep the wind away."

The Senior Proctor at Oxford for the University year which has just commenced, the Rev. W. M. Pope, of Worcester College, is apparently a strong advocate for vivisection if it results in discoveries useful to man. On Wednesday he described the recent debate in Convocation as a battle concerning the viscera of frogs, and congratulated the University on the victory obtained for l'rofessor Burden Sanderson, whom he described as the " servant and interpreter of nature," whose goal it was " to endow human nature with fresh discoveries and fresh resources." Precisely the same might be said, with much more justice, if the experiments were made on living men instead of on living brutes ; but in that case there would be no disposition, we imagine, to lavish eulogy on "the servant and interpreter of nature" who elicited from human suffering the replies which are intended to alleviate other human sufferings. If we are to purchase our discoveries at the cost of anybody's agonies, we think it should be the agonies of those who are to profit by the truths revealed.

The total effect of the Russian and other troubles on the Funds has been remarkable. It is not a year since it was hoped that 2i per Cents. would rise to par, and on Friday they were 16 below it.