NEWS OF THE WEEK.

THE Princess Donna Maria da Gloria, " Duchess of Oporto," arrived at Falmouth on Wednesday 'morning, in a Brazilian frigate ; and was received, by the orders of the BritishGovernment, with all the honours of royalty. She was to proceed on Friday to Ply- mouth, accompanied by the Portuguese and Brazilian Ambassa- dors. It is supposed that she will not reach London for some days. The palace of Hampton Court has been mentioned as her residence.

An idle question concerning the title of this young Princess has been raised by some of the journalists. We presume that, travel- ling as Duchess of Oporto, she had no intention of claiming the title of Queen of Portugal from the English. That title, however, has been already recognized by this Government in various forms. It was recognized by the Portuguese nation ; and formed, indeed, a main condition of the instrument under which her father Don Pedro surrendered his own right of sovereignty.

All the unfavourable accounts.of the Russian armies which we published last week, have been amply confirmed by fair inferences from their own bulletins. The dates are to the 21st August, from Shumla and Varna, and to the .10th from Silistria. At Shumla, one of the redoubts of the Russians was carried in a night attack, and the cannon taken. Rudiger, who had thrown himself be- tween Shumla and Constantinople, after having sustained many attacks, has been withdrawn, so that the communications of Shumla with Constantinople are again perfectly free. At Varna, the difficulties of complete investment have not been sur- mounted ; but the besiegers keep their ground, in spite of the vigorous sallies of the Turks, and make a regular progress. It is supposed that the arrival of the Emperor will be the signal for an attempt to carry Varna by storm, and that this effort will close the campaign. The Emperor was detained at Odessa up to the 4th, by contrary winds. He has reinforced his treasury by a loan of a million and a half sterling, negotiated on favourable terms at Amsterdam.

It is rumoured that the Russian fleet in the Mediterranean is to blockade the Dardanelles. This would affect her enemy in a vital part, but at the same time prove so offensive to neutrals that it will probably not be attempted.

The Duke of Newcastle, a mighty borough-holder, and there- fore strong in the highest species of influence, has addressed a letter to Lord Kenyon, avowing his entire concurrence in the sen- timents which that Lord expressed in his appeals to the Pro- testants ; and with him he is to " sink or swim" in the endeavour to preserve the religion and constitution of the country. The Duke of Newcastle has no faith in "princes, prelates, nobles, politicians, or parliaments ;" each individual must use his own power "to de- fend, preventively or absolutely, the constitution, by a desperate effort, since, deserted or unsupported by those in power, we see ourselves on the brink of ruin." His reliance is on the nation : " it is the voice of the nation which must decide whether Protestantism is to prevail, or, to our eternal shame, whether the Jesuits are to be triumphant, and the idolatrous worship of Papists openly dis- played throughout the land." Nothing is to be expected from the Parliament; nothing is to be done by the Government, because neutrality, conciliation, and modern liberality, still rule the de- liberations of the Cabinet. Thus the honest and virtuous feel- jugs of the country have been deadened ; and " religion, mo- rality, principle, patriotism, and the constitution " are doom- ed to perish from sheer inanition. Again, it is Govern- ment alone that has brought us into this dilemma, and the Government alone must bear the blame. All was right so long as Mr. Perceval was at the head of affairs ; but from his death in 1812, our moral decline commenced. Then began " the accursed system of liberalism, neutrality, and conciliation:' All past experience was thrown away—vilified, derided, and trampled upon—till " liberality enthroned itself in the chief seat, to influence and direct the councils of the nation." At last the Duke of Wel- lington got into power, and the noble writer hoped that the hateful system of liberalism had received its death-wound—but he was disappointed.

" The last session of Parliament (his Grace continues) I consider to have been by far the most disastrous of any in the memory of man ; it was pre- eminently stained by liberalizing religion ;—and this I believe from my conscience to be a fatal stab to the Established Church, as well as to the peace of the country and the existence of the constitution. By an utter dereliction of principle we have sought to appease those who are actuated by no principle but a hatred of order. We thus depress and disgust our most valuable friends ; we invest our enemies with the power taken from our friends ; and, to till up the measure of our misdoing, we offend our God in the disowning of Christianity. I simply ask, if wetdesert our God, will he not desert us ? Will he not be avenged on such a nation as this ? An inaction totally inexplicable possesses the Government. We see re- bellion stalk through the land with impunity—conciliation still reigns in our councils. The Popish Association, day after day, audaciously asserts its omnipotence, and proclaims aloud that it will yield to no other autho- rity. One of its members, a fellow who years since deserved to be hanged for his treason, has, through this means, been chosen to sit in a British Protestant Parliament, although a Papist; itinerant Popish demagogues are roaming through the country, spouting sedition and treason ; and who offers the slightest opposition to all this ? No one. What, I ask, is to prevent traitors from rising in every market-place of every town of Great Britain, to vomit forth their pestilent harangues ? or are such wretches only to be allowed this exclusive privilege in Ireland ? Shame, shame on the Government which can for an hour, for a minute, permt, such dangerous excesses to be practised with blind impunity."

Danger is at the door, and something, must be done. The Prime Minister is known to be true to the Protestant cause ; but why then his inaction? He is known to be fearless ; but why not act upon his own responsibility ? Because he waits to be backed by the nation. To the nation, therefore, this alarmed yet angry Lord ad- dresses his loud summons :

" Let the nation arouse from its lethargy ; let it stand forth in the pano- ply of its natural excellence ; let it declare its intentions ; let it demand that the Popish association shall be instantly annihilated; let it demand that the voice of treason shall he stifled ; let it demand that all Popish establishments, of whatever nature, whether Jesuits' colleges, or mo- nastries, &c. &c. shall be immediately abolished ; let them demand that no Roman Catholics shall vote at elections ; and finally let them require a full and undisputed Protestant ascendancy within these realms."

Assuredly, if the nation is not now awakened—or, being warned, if it neglects to gird on armour and array itself for the combat— the Duke of Newcastle is not to blame, though his eloquence be wasted.

Whilst the forty-shilling franchise of the poor Irish is thus threatened by one of the richest in English boroughs, the Catholic leaders neglect no means of extending the organization of the free- holders. The association in Dublin, at a sitting begun on Mon- day and ended on Tuesday last, appointed a committee to take measures for the registration of all the freeholders in Ireland.

At this meeting, Mr. Sheil indulged himself in one of those ap- palling pictures that his fancy loves to dwell upon. The Orange- men, he said, only wanted an opportunity to rush upon the people. In the North, where the Protestants outnumbered the Catholics, the latter were in a fearful state of excitation. In the provinces where the Catholics were nearly fifty to one of the population, a system of wonderful union prevailed.

" The whole mass of the people," he says, "are reduced to an almost military uniformity of movement. There is a dreadful unity among the people. Witness Tipperary — thousands upon thousands assemble in every parish, dressed in a peculiar attire. They march to the sound of music—they advance in ranks—they are divided and subdivided—they have all the incidents of a rude, but still effective discipline. In a week (it is better to speak the truth at once), in a week the Catholic popula- tion could throw a hundred thousand men into the field."

He dreaded to contemplate the consequences, if by any means the hostile parties came into collision ; and therefore he called upon the liberal Protestants—the Duke of Leinster, Lords Charlemont and Cloncurry, and other highly-valued Protestants and Patriots —to come forward, appeal to Government, and say " For God's sake save us from the horrors of a civil war." It was answered, that the liberal Protestant noblemen were already preparing to give publicity to sentiments completely opposite to those of the Brunswick Clubs.

It is said that there is scarcely a town in Ireland where there is not one of these clubs.

The accounts of meetings in Tipperary, show that there was truth in the substance of Mr. Sheil's delineation, though the colour- ing may have been heightened. There was a meeting there, on the 21st, of some twenty thousand men, who assumed, though in rude imitation, all the exterior of regular military display,—with music and banners, and a sort of uniform, in which the favourite green predominated : some hundreds were mounted as cavalry. There have also been immense disciplined assemblies at Temple- more, and at New Inn.

In Monaghan matters have proceeded a step further. Several thousands of the peasantry assembled to meet Mr. Lawless on his way to Ballybay ; and the Orangemen and Yeomanry armed and marshalled themselves to watch them. Mr. Lawless, alarmed for the consequences, refused to proceed ; while the Magistrates on the other part succeeded in persuading the Protestants to disperse —but not before a partial engagement had taken place, in which a Catholic priest, who endeavoured to interfere, was fired at, a Catholic was shot dead, and two others were dangerously wounded.

The Catholics may boast of more peaceful victories. Mr. Mar- tin, the late member for Galway, has given the pledges required by the Association—with a politic regard to the next election.

SATURDAY NIGHT.

A C abinet Council met this afternoon, and, like the Council of yesterday, was attended by almost all the Ministers. It has been significantly observed, that the Commander of the Forces, Lord Hill, was closeted with the Duke of Wellington for several hours before the meeting. The great subject of deliberation is believed to be—Ireland ; whither despatches were forwarded when the Council broke up.

A special messenger arrived at Ashburnham House this morning, with despatches for the Russian Ambassador. From the haste with which he travelled, the despatches are supposed to be of importance.

The often repeated rumour of a descent on the Mexican coast, by Laborde, is again revived. For whatever object, Ferdinand is gradually increasing his naval force in the West Indies. On the 16th ultimo the following vessels were lying at the Havannah, ap- parently ready for sea :—Guerrero, (Rear Admiral Laborde) 74 guns ; Soberano, 74; Iberia, 50; Restaurador, 50; Cautivo, 22; Hercules, 20 ; Martes, 16 ; Amelia, 9.

The Mexican squadron at Vera Cruz consisted, on the 12th July, of the Congreso, 64 guns; Libertad, 36 ; Bravo, 18 ; and two schooners.

Accounts have been this morning received from Rio de Janeiro to the 5th of August. The Emperor has issued 'orders to the authorities in every province, to call upon the wandering monks for an account of themselves, and the manner in which they obtain a subsistence ; and commanded them to renounce the allegiance which they acknowledge to superiors in Portugal. Private letters hint at a monkish conspiracy against the Emperor, as the motive for all this strictness.

Another supply of German papers arrived this morning, but they contain no further accounts from the East. The checks ex- perienced by the Russians had given great satisfaction at Vienna. The funds were high ; Metalliques, 951.