NEWS OF THE WEEK.

N�R. DISRAELI'S great speech on Thursday night in moving the rejection of the Irish Church Bill was judged with curious divergency of view by different sections of his auditors. Amongst the literary men there was but one opinion,—of admiration at its ingenuity and brilliance, its magical intellectual effect, and the skill it showed in picking out the weak points of the Government case. Among his own supporters, on the other hand, eager for a practicable position, there was little but gloom and dissatisfaction,—bitterness as if almost at a fiasco. Two men meeting each other, one a literary critic, one a Conservative private, might be heard greeting each other with, " What a wonderfully clever speech !" "Did you ever hear such a miserable failure ?" The divergence is easy to captain. It was a litarateur's speech, and not a statesman's. It was a speech of dead resistance, which yet gave the impression of not seriously contemplating battle. It ignored the strength of the enemy's position, and yet took up no practicable position of its own. It used imaginary future calamities as its only ammunition against a menacing practical proposal. It threw out no counter-scheme on which the Conservatives could take their stand. It was, in short, a brilliant criticism from an unreal point of view,—and, of course, as a party-speech, a dead failure.

But as a literary achievement it was certainly wonderfully effective. Its attack on the liberals for bribing the land-owners was smiting with a double-edged weapon, one edge striking the gentlemen behind him, and one the statesmen opposite,—but this gave only the greater effect of political chivalry to the demonstration. The taunt that three priesthoods smarting under injustice would be more formidable organs of the people's discontent than one, was, no doubt, an arithmetical quibble against logic, since that priesthood which is five times as large as the other two priesthoods united, will not be smarting under recent injustice, but grateful for recent justice. There was still less in the assertion that while one of the great evils of Ireland is the want of a middleclass, this Act destroys a middle-class ; or that while the curse of Ireland is the want of resident proprietors, this Act does away with a great number of resident proprietors ; or that while the curse of Ireland is its poverty, this bill confiscates property. Still, on the whole, Mr. Disraeli arranged his warnings and his epigrams with marvellous skill,—with a view at least to bewildering the imagination of his hearers, exciting a temporary wonder, and losing bis game.

The University boat race ended, as usual, in the victory of Oxford, and London was quite melancholy, fearing that Cambridge would give up the contest, or would insist on transferring it to some pleasanter scene. Of the first change we have little fear, or we may say none. It is always safe to trust the pluck of Englishmen when beaten ; but of the second, we have a good deal. Windermere appeals to the sentimental side of the students. But the oarsmen might, and we think should, offer London the distinct alternative of accepting certain rules or losing its March holiday. The interference of the little steamers ought to be prevented by force, and Princes who stop the umpire from seeing the race should be just ducked in the river, as tailors would infallibly be. If the race is to be a national event,—and it is becoming one,—let it be prepared for with fitting regularity. A man who got in the way of the Derby horses would be killed, and nobody would cry over him.

The Vice-President of the Council moved the second reading of the Endowed Schools' Bill on Monday night, in a speech of rare ability and cogency. We have commented on the most critical questions which the Select Committee (to which Mr. Forster agreed to refer it) and the Committee of the whole House will have to consider, elsewhere. Here we will only say that after a very concise but telling review of the monstrous evils of the present system, and a sketch of what lie hoped to be enabled by the Bill to effect,—namely, to adapt the grades of the schools to the wants of the localities,—to apply the endowments to building purposes, to finding a small minimum salary for the head masters (the principal income being left to depend on school fees), and to scholarships given to boys leaving the primary schools and so enabling them to obtain a higher education in these secondary schools, and to doing for girls what is now done only for boys,— Mr. Forster concluded in a passage of very remarkable eloquence, by insisting that so far from departing from the real intentions of the founders, this Bill reasserted their true spirit. "They were the men who were possessed by the new ideas of their age ; they were fighting for industry against feudalism, and for equal laws against caste privilege ; for free thought against bigotry ; and knowing that knowledge and education and culture were on their side, they wished, by providing for future education, to procure future champions for their cause. And now, again, new ideas have power,"—and so, as Mr. Forster eloquently put it, he is speaking the true thought of the founders by bringing in a measure which will provide, in the highest sense, Napoleon's " carriere ouverte aux talens,"—i the tools to him who can use them.' The short debate served only to show how profound an impression the speech had made.

Sir J. D. Coleridge's University Tests' Abolition Bill passed its second reading on Monday night without a division. This was, it is believed, partly owing to the numerical weakness of the Opposition and the wish not to reveal it ; but the excuse for not dividing was given by Sir Roundell Palmer's proposed amendments in committee, the fatal objections to which we have discussed at length elsewhere. Sir Roundell Palmer would abolish the University test simply, but for the teat now imposed on College fellows,—a declaration of positive membership of the Church of England,—he would substitute a negative test declaring that he who takes it will never teach or inculcate anything "opposed to the divine authority of the holy Scriptures or the doctrine and discipline of the Church of England as by law established." His proposal seems to us distinctly a change for the worse. Clergymen of the Church of England do freely question, and oughtto question, the divine authority of very much indeed in the Bible. But Sir Roundell Palmer's test would make them scruple to do ao. Lay members of the Church of England do freely question, and ought to question, many of her-doctrinal claims, but Sir Roundell Palmer's test would make them scruple to do so. In a word, if it kept out fewer men, it would impose far more reserve on those whom it admitted. It is idle and mischievous to attempt to protect plenary inspiration or doctrinal orthodoxy by Act of Parliament,—which appears to be Sir R. Palmer's proposition.

The latest report from Spain is that the Constitution is nearly ready, and that the Ministry has a candidate to propose for the throne. It is understood that the latter is the Duke de Montpensier, son of Louis Philippe, object of the intrigue known as the Spanish marriages, and husband of the ex-Queen's sister. Serrano was always committed to this choice, Topete said the other day he " preferred Montpensier to a Republic" and Prim, though he has not distinctly accepted the Duke asserts in the Cortes that he is d'Orleans, and not Bourbon,—as if the head of the Orleans family were not also heir of Henri V., and as true a Bourbon as Francis II. of .Naples,—and says that his own motto "Down with the Bourbons !" was only intended to apply to ex-Queen Isabella and her children. Prim would have done better for Spain had he seized the Crown himself. The Bourbons, with all their high qualities, have the Stuart malady, that of making themselves unendurable.

The dispute between France and Belgium is still wrapped up in some mystery, but the statement which looks most authentic is this. The Emperor has again revived the question of a commercial fusion of the two countries, which he started when Prince President, and has insisted that a conference on the subject should be held. M. Frere-Orban, pressed by a variety of influences, some of them said to be English, has consented to discuss, but has refused to give any preliminary pledges, though he has yielded something or other, we cannot discover what, about the Railways. The Tuileries, it is evident, is not satisfied yet, for not a word appears about the moderation of Belgium, and the semi-official papers keep saying that England would not like to fight. It is said, on good authority, that a decree for the annexation of Belgium was actually signed by the Prince President in 1852, and only cancelled on the earnest remonstrance of his more Conservative advisers.

The patent appointing the Commander-in-Chief has been given to the House of Commons, and contains the following sentence:— "Now, our will and pleasure is, that the military command and discipline of our Army and land furces, as likewise the appointments to and promotions in the same, together with all powers relating to the military command and discipline of our Army, which, under and by any patent or commission from us, shall have been committed to, vested in, or regulated by the General Commanding our Forces in Chief for the time being, shall be excepted from the department of the Secretary of State for War." That is to say, the Horse Guards is independent. There is, however, a subsequent line " saving the responsibility " of the Secretary of State for War, and of this Mr. Cardwell has availed himself to assert that he is " responsible." The Army question can wait a year, but when it is settled it must be by a stronger man than Mr. Cardwell, a man who will dismiss even a Royal Duke if he disobeys or cavils at an order.

Mr. Whalley had an amusing skirmish with Mr. Lowe on Tuesday, which must have been very like a fight betwen a terrier and a porcupine. Mr. Whalley wants to abolish the income-tax OR Schedule D, and moved a resolution to that effect, saying that even county magistrates agreed with him. It was rather a silly motion, and silliness irritates Mr. Lowe, so instead of the proper official reply, he spent ten minutes in showing the House that the member for Peterborough was a goose, which, considering that Mr. Whalley speaks about once a night, was a sort of superfluity of naughtiness. He said that magistrates, though not agreeing with Mr. Whalley, might have selected him to plead their cause, but for himself he did not agree with him, yet certainlyshould not select him. Mr. Whalley's proposal was to substitute for the income-tax a bad property duty, and he would encourage commerce by taxing traders' fortunes when realized. Mr. Lowe also laughed at the mover for saying that to assess oneself was a misery, observing that self-assessment was a misery to the Exchequer, but not " to the gentlemen in that favourable position." Mr. Lowe, it seems, cannot even conceive a bitter struggle between interest and conscience. He held that unless income were taken as the basis of calculation without reference to its source, it would be impossible to defend an income-tax at all, and defied the ingenuity of man to find a tax to which objections could not be found that would be irresistible if the money were not wanted,—a very doubtful statement, when one remembers the duties on liquor. Mr. Whalley was so angry at his snub that he called Mr. Lowe "impertinent," a sort of exact translation of the terrier's yap when the quill hits, and threatened to divide ; but at last said that, "on the request of the President of the Board of Trade," he would abstain. That last hit, which made it appear that Mr. Bright was shielding Mr. Lowe from deserved vengeance, is creditable to Mr. Whalley's ingenuity in tormenting, and made the House for once laugh with instead of at him.

Mr. Monk last year carried a Bill enabling Revenue officers to vote, in the teeth of both Government and Opposition. This year he wants to repeal all remaining restrictions, and let them take a full share in politics. Mr. Gladstone resisted, pointing out what is undoubtedly true, that if Civil servants turn politicians they will by and by be selected and promoted on account of political opinions. Mr. Monk, who has a sort of pride in his hobby, persisted in dividing, and was smashed by the crushing majority of 207 to 88. That division is important as the first proof that the Liberals intend in this Parliament to follow their leader, and not go skip

ping about like so many rabbits in a warren. We hope they will adhere to that wise line of action, and so let us have a Government other than a disorderly public meeting.

Mr. Baines proposed the second reading of his Bill for placing journalists above the law, commonly called the " Libel Bill," on Wednesday, but the Bill was not read when the House adjourned. We hope it never will be, for the reasons stated at length elsewhere, but we distrust the House of Commons in the matter. Theme local journalists can bother the Members to death, and would, of course, like to be exempted from the only. necessity which now presses on them, that of taking care that reporters shall not insert libels about individuals. The Lords, however, are not under the same pressure, and will, we sincerely hope, find courage either to reject the Bill, or to strike out its first clause in Committee. If they do not, they will find out within ten years what it is to live in a country where any journal can print anything anybody may choose to say in a so-called public meeting. The "privilege of Parliament" is the analogy by which the Bill is defended, but it has no real relation to its provisions, any more than Members' exemption from arrest has. In both these cases the object of the otherwise invidious privilege is to secure freedom of speech, but Mr. Baines's Bill only proposes to secure freedom of libel.

Earl Russell is to bring up the subject of Life Peers on April 9, and there will probably be a thorough discussion of the subject. The Government can hardly be opposed to it, for Mr. Gladstone, though he censured Lord Palmerston, based his censure on the inconsiderateness with which it was introduced, and has avowed in his place that his one objection to turning out the Irish Bishops is that they are Life Peers. We see, too, a statement in the beat American weekly, the Nation, that at the 'Fishmongers' dinner Lord Granville expressed an opinion in his speech which the reporters did not catch, that Life Peerages would shortly be instituted, and it is well known that much of the old hostility to the innovation among the Peers themselves has recently died away, while it is not possible that the Crown should be hostile. The refusal to admit Lord Wensleydale was the rudest rebuff the Crown has of late years received, and was, moreover, we believe, illegal, the right of drawing a patent with special remainders involving that of drawing one without a remainder.

Alderman Lawrence on Tuesday had another blow at his old enemies the taxes on locomotion. Mr. Lowe did not defend them, though he called the Member for London the " worthy alderman," but said in effect that he must keep his budget to himself. The taxes are hopelessly indefensible, and some of them ought to be repealed, whatever the condition of the Treasury. The London duty on cabs, for example, is the heaviest duty now existing in the world ; while a jobmaster in Birmingham may keep fifty cabs and pay a duty of only one pound a year, a London jobmaster has to pay £962 10s., being in fact one hundred per cent. per annum on the value of his cab. Even in the country, if a little innkeeper uses a one-horse four-wheeler to drive his customers to the station he has to pay £10 8s. a year, quite a prohibitory tax. The entire profit of the duties on locomotion amounts to £276,000 a year, and the Commissioners of Inland Revenue in 1867 formally declared that reductions were useless, and the taxes ought to go. If Mr. Lowe wants a substitute, let him put on £5 a year for the armorial bearings put on private carriages. There are fools enough who won't paint them out, even then.

The Trades' Unions' Commission,—whose recommendations we have explained and criticized elsewhere,—has broken up, like an exploded shell, into a great variety of fragments. The newspaper accounts of the views of the various fragments have been, however, singularly inaccurate,—with a special tendency to omit the word " not " in very important parts of the sentence. Thus, they state that the minority report signed by Mr. Frederic Harrison and Mr. Hughes recommends that "Trades' Unions should have the power to sue their members for fines and contributions," where what they do recommend was that Trades' Unions should not have that power, the reason for which they give with much elaboration. Notts' are also dropped in other parts of that rather premature and, we suppose, surreptitious resume of what the Trades' Unions' Commissioners had not said. Newspaper proprietors are too apt to remember that it is the early bird who gets the worm, and to forget that it is the early worm which is picked up and not digested by the bird.

General Grant seems to intend a policy towards the South at once politically rigid and socially humane. He has appointed the famous Confederate General Longstreet Surveyor of Customs at

New Orleans,—an office which will give him no political power, and yet show confidence in the honour and ability of his former foe. The Pall Mall appears to anticipate that the Republican (party will set up a howl at the prospect of any of their foes receiving recognition or kindness from the United States' Government at all. There may be some leading members of the RepubSean party who take this low and vulgar view ; but there is no sign of its being taken by the party as a whole, and the Pall Mall probably confuses the disgust excited by Mr. Johnson's attempt to throw to the winds the political results of the war, with a feeling of vindictiveness which does not really exist.

The Protestants of Ireland got up a very ostentatious protest .against the Irish Church policy of the Government, which was ,published before the commencement of Thursday's debate. It .consists of a declaration, rather feebly worded, that the Protestant Church of Ireland is a Scriptural Church, an Erastian Church, —i.e., "acknowledges the supremacy of the Crown,"—a parochial ,Church, and so on ; that the Roman Catholics dislike it because it . stands between them and the actual rule of the Pope in Ireland ; in short, the declaration is a weak summary of all the Orange commonplaces on the subject. It is signed by something short of fifty Irish Peers, and a thousand or so other gentlemen, and it produced . no effect whatever.

Mr. Gladstone has been beset by both the opposite parties on the Sunday question,—those in favour of relaxation of the Sunday laws and the opening of museums and other such places of amusement on Sunday, and by the opponents of those steps ; and he has discovered, what no other man on earth would have discovered, that they are not wholly at variance, but have a little ground in common. It is very little. It is, that the observance of the Sunday is the great stay of religion in this country, and that, physically, the day's rest is essential to the well-being of the country. We may certainly agree with the Sabbatarian party in as much as this ; but as the whole question depends on what sort of " observance of the Sunday" is the stay of religion, and as on that we differ in tote from the Sabhatarians, we are afraid our common ground is minute. To us the Sunday in a great English town seems one of the saddest and gloomiest of days. Gloom is on every face, and cannot but be there while our observance of the Sunday is what it is. In the country it is better, as green fields and hills are hardly thought wicked enjoyments even in Scotland, and have long been sanctioned by English usage, as, in some extraordinary sense, nearer to God than town recreations. We are persuaded that religion will never be really bright and popular in England while the Sunday is made the blank it is, for all but readers, in our great cities.

A man has at last got heavy damages against a woman for breach of promise of marriage. Mrs. Ormond, widow of 55, residing at Reading, has £750 a year. Mr. Eden, of Slough, small land agent, 65 years old, wooed the widow, obtained her promise, and took a house for their joint occupation. On October 11 Mrs. Ormond wrote to him as " dear John," but on the 18th she addressed him as " Sir," in a note denying the existence of any engagement at all. The land agent, resolved to have some of the widow's money, as he could not have all, brought an action for breach of promise, and the jury gave him X300. Everybody thinks that very unfair, but why is it more unfair than the similar action brought by a woman against the man ? She can only have lost her hope of money, for if she had had any better motive in the engagement she would never have brought the action.

An 'earthquake occurred in Lancashire, on Monday evening, -.which was more or less perceived at Blackburn, Bury,'I'odmorden, anti elaawhere, and slightly in Manchester itself. The shock took t.Plutitt between six and a quarter-past six. We also hear of an `eltirchquake feltin Scotland, on Tuesday week,—chiefly at Lochaber. The sea, quite calm at the time, was greatly agitated, and the shore vibrated perceptibly. Certainly we hear much more of earthquakes in these islands than we used to do. Is it possible that we are on the eve of a period when England will suffer severely from earthquakes, as some of the tropical regions do now? The prospect is unpleasant.

Three maiden speeches were made by new members on Thursday night,—by Mr. Bowring, the new (Liberal) Member for Exeter ; by Mr. Brodrick, the new (Conservative) Member for Mid-Surrey ; and by Mr. Shaw, the new (Liberal) Member for Bandon. Mr. Bowring spoke far too rapidly, at such a rate that he seemed to

overtake the words which he was going to say and tumbled over them, and he was a little too ambitious in an elaborate illustration with which he got into difficulties towards the conclusion of

his speech. Mr. Brodrick spoke with considerable ability and a good deal of detailed knowledge of Ireland, which always tells on the House. But the most successful of the new members was Mr. Shaw, who spoke with a weight and a shrewdness, a homely reality of manner, and a vernacular vividness of phrase, which even reminded some of his hearers of Mr. Bright. As he represents those Liberal Irish Protestauts who heartily wish for the Disestablishment of the Church, and is by no means a mere supporter of the Government, since he urges the injustice of compensating Maynooth and the Presbyterians out of Irish property, instead of out of the Imperial Exchequer, he may take a distinctive and influential place in the Commons. The quiet humour with which he announced that the sense of the Church,— " putting aside, of course, the clergy and the ladies,"—greatly prefers the scheme of the Government to the recommendations of the late Irish Church Commission, brought him a hearty cheer.

Mr. Justice Willes has unseated the (Conservative) Members for Blackburn, Messrs. Hornby and Feilden, on the ground of the inintimidation practiced by their agents, and condemned strongly the practice of giving arbitrary political power to the overlookersof mills, and allowing them to influence and dismiss operatives from their employment. He exonerated Messrs. Hornby and Feildeu from any knowledge of what had been done. At Hereford Mr. Justice Blackburn has unseated Mmrs. Clive and Wyllie (Liberals) for a breakfast given by their agent, Mr. Harrison, which the judge considered to be treating, though he expressed himself as very sorry for the sitting members.

The Poor Law Board has issued a letter to the Guardians of the Holborn Union that it intends to fuse that Union and the parishes of St. Luke and St. James, Clerkenwell, into one, thus dividing the expense and trouble of management very nearly by three. The united union will then be not nearly as large as St. Pancras. The reform is a most practical one, but what pleases us most is the form of the letter. The Board under such and such Acts has " determined " to adopt this arrangement. Hitherto Presidents have been apt to forget that their responsibility is to Parliament, not to Guardians.

Two new lines of submarine telegraph between England and India are before the public. One, the British Indian Company, proposes to lay down a heavy cable from Suez to Bombay at a cost of 1.550,000 ; the other, or English, Indian, and Australian Company, proposes to lay a light cable from Southampton to Gibraltar, and so on by the regular overland route to India and Australia. This also begins by joining Suez and Bombay, and Malta and Brindisi. This light cable is said, by Sir William Thomson, to be of extraordinary strength, and will, if it succeeds, cost less than half the ordinary cables. There ought to be business enough between India, China, Australia, and Europe to support a dozen cables, if only the rates are low, the signallers English, and the clerks careful. At present we enjoy none of those advantages regularly.

Delpech, the French woman of Montauban, who has been found guilty of drowning nine infants in boiling water, and who really drowned twenty, who has been for years practising abortion, extortion, and nearly every variety of crime, has been found guilty, with " extenuating circumstances," and sentenced only to the galleys for life. That, though a frightful sentence for men, who are driven to their labour with the stick, is not so heavy for women, and the jury were deservedly hissed by the workmen as they came out of court. Their defence is, that France dislikes capital punishment, and procureurs may err, and the guillotine is irreparable. That is a reason for abolishing death, but not for demoralizing the conscience of the community by a verdict which declares that murder of children by torture is a minor offence. Juries in France never seem to think that a round lie of that kind, solemnly uttered in court, impairs the respect for crime.

Yesterday and on Friday week the leading British Railway Shares left off at the annexed quotations :