NEWS OF THE WEEK.

PARLIPARLIAMENT has done some little work in the week, the AMENT having discussed the Polish revolt with an unani- mous liberalism pleasinn.b to see, listened to some further non- sense from Lord Normanby, and heard Lord Redesdale propose a reform in the manner of sanctioning railway bills. The Commons have also discussed Poland, appointed a Committee, after a debate protracted till two o'clock, to inquire into the pay of the Navy, passed the heavier Naval Estimates after a most-valuable discussion, received a bill for flogging garotters, compelled Mr. Gladstone to explain the accounts of the Duchy of Cornwall, refused an obstructive Committee to inquire into tobacco duties, and scolded the Superintendent of Naval Architecture for an impertinent letter about a speech made in the House. It is a curious fact that there was no Wednesday work, and therefore no Wednesday sitting—a great relief to members who, like Lord Palmerston, have no particular theo- logical ideas, but have given a great many semi-tlieological pledges.

The arrangements for the 7th and 10th March advance, but not without difficulties. The Londoners are annoyed by a rumour that the Prince and Princess, after attracting two millions of people into the streets, intend to drive through at a trot, and the Corporation are half-inclined not to join the procession. That arrangement, if it was ever made, is sure, however, to be modified; for, though one almost pities the Princess condemned to a two hours' pageant after ten days of travel, still, noblesse oblige. As to the 10th, almost every borough and village in England has collected funds for a fete, the exceptions being the few places, like Sudbury and Frome, in which Puseyite priests are permitted to talk trash about Lent. One would think, to read their remarks, that they had never heard of Isaiah, or forgotten Who said, " Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hateth. They arc a trouble to me. I am weary to bear them."

Mr. Pope Hennessy last night raised a discussion on Poland, affirming that England was bound to enforce the treaties of 1815, which brought out Lord Palmerston and Mr. Disraeli. The Premier's utterance was not very satisfactory. Lord Palmerston, while condemning the conscription at War- saw in strong terms, still held that the treaties only gave Eng- land the right to interfere, they did not impose the obligation, —a somewhat heartless argument. Mr. Disraeli expressed much warmer sympathies, maintained that a moral obligation existed, and believed that the insurrection was but " the in- spiration of a triumphant future." Mr. Walter declared that the motion, after all, signified war. Lord R. Cecil believed the conscription a violation of public faith. Mr. Stansfeld argued, with his usual perfect diction, that Russia intended

revolt; and Mr. Newdegate warned the House that Poland was in the hands of the Jesuits. There is not much hope in all this ; but reticence from Lord Palmerston sometimes pro- ceeds from a consciousness that action is near at hand. The fate of Poland really depends on the insurgents and Napoleon.

All through the week the principal topic has been the re- volt in Poland. The Russian Government has done little towards its suppression, and it is now believed to cover the kingdom, Lithuania, Volhynia, and the Ukraine. The real, or, at all events, most prominent leader, seems to be General Langiewitz, who has twice driven Russian troops over the Southern border. The Prussian Government is reported to have occupied one Polish city ; but this is uncertain, the wrath excited in Europe by the convention having apparently cooled its ardour. Herr Bismark says in the Chamber that Europe knows nothing about the convention, and denies that Poles in Prussia have been surrendered to the Czar. The Chamber, it is said, resolved to protest against intervention, and the German proprietors in Posen have formally expressed through their association the same idea. Nothing further is known of the plans of the Emperor Napoleon, but all the French journals advocate interference on behalf of the Poles, some arguing for the independence of the kingdom, others only for its autonomy.

Mr. Montague Bernard has decided that the Vice-Chan- cellor's Court has no jurisdiction in Mr. Jowett's case, and the prosecution of the most distinguished teacher in Oxford drops to the ground. " I will not," said the Assessor, " make a new precedent ; if I have jurisdiction, the statute does not bind inc imperatively to exercise it. But I am not satisfied that I have jurisdiction. I refuse to order Mr. Jowett to appear ; I reface to admit the Articles ; I will not give costs." The Court was crowded with an eager audience, and the masterly judgment was delivered in a calm temperate manner. Whether, in the interest of ecclesias- tical freedom, we ought or ought not to rejoice that Mr. Jowett has escaped from the net so easily, we are not sure. Perhaps, however, it is well that the battle has not come on in so obscure and inappropriate an arena. A good protest by 200 non-residents of the University of Oxford had been previously put in against the prosecution.

The suggestion made in these columns some months ago, that a negro army would solve many of the North's most pressing difficulties, exercised, we have reason to believe, a considerable influence in America, being reprinted and very widely distributed in the States. That policy is already begin- ninn.° to bear good fruits. Colonel Higginson, commanding the 1st Regiment of South Carolina Volunteers (a negro regi- ment), has made a very remarkable report to General Saxton of the behaviour of his troops in Florida and Georgia. "No- body knows," he says, " anything about these men who has not seen them in battle. I find that I myself knew nothing of them. There is a fiery energy about them beyond everything of which I have ever read, unless it be the French Zouaves. It requires the strictest discipline to hold them in hand. . . . No officer in the regiment now doubts that the key to the successful prosecution of this war lies in the un- limited employment of black troops. Their superiority lies simply in the fact that they know the country, which white troops do not ; and, moreover, they have peculiarities of tem- perament, position, and motion, which belong to them alone. It woukl have been madness to attempt with the bravest whPe troops what I have successfully accomplished with black ones. The real conductor of the whole expedition was Corporal Robert Sutton, formerly a slave on the St. Mary's River, a man of extra° fflinary qualities, who needs nothing but a knowledge of the alphabet to entitle him to the most signal promotion."

The debate on the Naval Estimates on Monday was signalized by a speech of conspicuous ability from Mr. Cobden, in which he pressed home the principle that the powerful and expensive iron ships recently built ought to economize our employment of human labour in the fleet, because they are of the nature of machines, vastly multiplying the destructive efficiency of the labour employed upon them. He also showed that our actual expenditure onthe Navymust vary directly in proportion to the whole number of men employed, reproached the Government with not diminishing this number, when they have so vastly increased the physical machinery at their command, and sat down, with the consciousness that he had produced a great impression on the House. On Thursday the debate was resumed, in the shape of a discussion whether or not the Admiralty should be allowed to plate, with iron, five wooden ships which they propose to convert. Lord Palmerston tried to raise a false issue by putting it as if the choice lay between five iron vessels, iron plated, and these wooden vessels ; but the House declined to be taken in, and at length the Premier had to give a pledge that these wooden vessels should not be proceeded with without the consent of the House. No doubt is entertained that the wooden vessels plated with iron are, for all purposes of deep-sea navigation at least, wasted labour and wasted money.

Dr. Campbell, editor of the British Banner, has brought an action for libel against the Saturday Review. That journal had quizzed Dr. Campbell for publishing some absurd letters, declaring that in his view to subscribe to the Ensign—a publica- tion belonging to the plaintiff,—was the best way to evangelize China, and more than hinted that the subscriptions were for- geries. They certainly looked like it, but to the surprise of the public the subscribers turned up in court, one singularly bluff person remarking that he was not Mrs. Harris. There can be little doubt that Dr. Campbell is entitled to his moderate damages of .501., the insinuation being disproved, and equally little that he is trying to punish the Saturday Review for covering him with the ridicule really deserved by his vanity. When a divine asserts that the sale of a newspaper of his own will assist the evangelization of China, he deserves to be laughed at, and is sure, whether he deserves it or not, to be suspected.

On Tuesday night Sir J. Hay brought forward a long- threatened motion for an address, praying Her Majesty to amend the position of the Navy in respect to pay and pro- motion. It was clear he would have a majority, so Lord Palmerston moved a Select Committee to inquire into the subject, and so shelved it for the Session. The subject is fully discussed in another place ; but we may here notice that the Premier objected to any combination among officers of a fighting service to petition or influence Parliament. To whom, then, are they to apply, when they think themselves aggrieved, or does Lord Palmerston mean that the steam is to get hotter and hotter, while he sits on the safety-valve ? There is some small meaning in such a remark, as applied to army officers, for theoretically their chief is not a Parliamentary officer, but the First Lord of the Admiralty is ; and is liable to be made to explain the smallest incident of promotion. In appealing to Parliament, the Navy appeal against no one, but to their own legal superior.

The friends of the old system of management in the Dock- yards are extremely indignant at the appointment of Mr. Reed as Naval Architect. Among others, Sir F. smith criti- cized it rather sharply, saying that Mr. Reed knew little about his profession. Mr. Teed heard the remark, and ad- dressed a note to Sir F. Smith, characterizing it as " false and libellous." Sir F. Smith considered this a breach of privi- lege, and moved that Mr. Reed be brought to the bar of the House on Friday, which was agreed to. Mr. Reed accordingly appeared and apologized. There is no doubt that the letter was a breach of the privilege which protects all speeches uttered in the House, and very little that Sir F. Smith should have returned the note to Mr. Reed, with a request to him to withdraw it, under penalty of parlia- mentary publicity.

We would call attention to the remarkable narrative of our former English connection with Poland, contained in the letter of our French correspondent. Lord Palmerston's despatch there quoted, does not give very much hope for the Poles.

Mr. Charles Buxton is making up for his languor about the American slavery by zeal concerning Egyptian. On Monday he elicited from Lord Palmerston a very strong cen- sure on the conduct of France in impressing, or rather allow- ing the late Pasha to impress for her, 450 Nubians be- longing to the Sultan's army to serve in Mexico. Nay, Egypt did still worse, said Lord Palmerston. The Government of Egypt positively kidnapped a great many peaceful inhabitants of Alexandria, who did not belong to the army at all, and sent them on board the French frigate with as little ceremony as the Russians displayed in the Polish conscription. Lord Palmerston hopes to see France disavowing the act, and re- pairing the wrong. Hehas expressed very strongly the dis- approval of Great Britain.

Mr. Fowell Buxton, in a letter in last Saturday's Times, is anxious to show that, had his father still lived, he would have disowned and disapproved Mr. Lincoln's proclamation. To do. this he finds it necessary to assume that if the emancipation pro- clamation means anything practical at all, it means a massacre of the whites by the slaves. With this assumption the in- ference is, of course, plain sailing. Philanthropists are humane by profession, and the late Mr. Buxton was singularly wise and humane. Unfortunately for the argument, the assumption on which it is grounded is idle, and has been. proved to be so by the fact. The proclamation is very effectual along the whole borderland of the slave States, and utterly cripples the South there. But there has been no massacre, and no danger of it.

The Jowett controversy has raged furiously in the Times during the week ; Dr. Pusey, Mr. Maurice, Dr. Newman, Dean Close, " Anglicanus " and Mr. Godfrey Lushington, having all taken part in the fray. " I never doubted," said Mr. Maurice, in reply to Dr. Pusey's expressed willingness to answer any challenge of his orthodoxy, " I never doubted that Dr. Pusey would be willing to appear in an ecclesiastical court as a defendant, if he could not appear in it as a prose- cutor." The abstract affection for doctrinal litigation, which this sentence suggests, has perhaps been the hardest hit of the controversy. Dr. Newman, writing from the Oratory at Birmingham, with all his old precision of thought and lucidity of statement, has vindicated Tract 90 from the charge of advocating " non-natural " interpretations of the Articles, and Mr. Maurice has frankly withdrawn the imputa- tions. Mr. Godfrey Lushington has thrown a general atmosphere of ridicule round the Tice-Chancellor's Court, showing the Laudian origin of the statutes concerning heresy, and the extravagant inquisitorial powers "on a scale worthy of their Laudian origin," which these statutes give, if they give any jurisdiction at all. There is no limit as to time,—indeed, Professor Jowett's act of heresy is now four years old. There is no limit as to place. If he had committed it in Nova Zembla, the Court might have taken cognizance of it all the same. There is no limit as to persons, except the limit of the Establishment, clergy and laity being equally liable. There is no limit as to acts, banishment from the University being the fate of all those who have inadequate feelings on the subject of Orthodoxy (minus recta de Catholics fide sentientes). The Vice-Chancellor, it is clear, if he may judge of anything at all, may judge of what were the inmost religious colours of a man's mind fifty years ago, and at the antipodes, if he so pleases,—the jurisdiction assuming an absolute omniscience, which the Court, however, only brings, to bear on the little bills of undergraduates.

On Tuesday night the faithful guardian of English Protes- tantism, Mr. Newdegate, speaking as the organ of •" several intelligent persons," put a question to Lord Palmerston which enabled the radiant Viscount to pay in a single sentence five personal compliments to the Princess Alexandra, and one to• Exeter Hall. Was the Princess Alexandra, asked Mr. Newdegate, in the name of his " intelligent" friends, sound in the faith? There were six requisites, said the gallant Prime Minister in reply, which were thought essential in looking out for a wife for the Prince of Wales. She must be young, handsome, socially agreeable, amiable in disposition, well-bred, and, "lastly," a Protestant. The Princess Alexandra fulfilled all these conditions, and consequently the Prince's prospects of happiness were complete. What a graceful wreath of delicate eulogy. Which way did Lord Palmerston mean it to be worn ? Mr. Newdegate, no doubt, will regard the last as the front and central gem, on the principle that the " price of wisdom is above rabies ;" the Princess possibly may reverse the estimate, and value ;he separate jewels with something nearer the intention of the courteous old diplo- matist.

Mrs. Green, of Titchfield, has been compelled this week to pay 1051. for doctor's " stuff." She had taken, besides other medicine, 2,677 draughts, which had done her no good, • and Baron Bramwell remarked, "he would really recom- mend the defendant in future to buy her physic in the wood ! " A telegram received in London on Tuesday informs us that the Provisional Government of Greece has been overthrown. M. Canaria, whose name was a tower of strength, tendered his resignation, and his colleagues, MM. Bulgaria and Routes, were compelled, by a demonstration of the National Guard, to follow his example. Executive power has, therefore, passed to the Assembly, which will henceforward, it is believed, nominate its own Ministry. That is, in fact, to adopt the English Constitution, minus the Sovereign, and is, perhaps, the best thing the Greeks could do under the circumstances. It remains to be seen, however, whether they are civilized enough to dispense with the name which the uncivilized most respect. At present, appearances are against them, and the European Powers seem by no means inclined to put an end to their misery by nominating a King.

Mr. Peek, a London merchant, has promised a gift alike munificent and marked by sound discretion. He offers 73 acres of freehold land at Croydon, worth, at the very least, 3001. an acre, for a site for Bethlehem, on the double condition that St. Thomas's Hospital be built on the present site of Bethlehem, and that 20,0001. be added by subscription to the capital account of the London Hospital in the Whiteehapel road. Lunatics require fresh air and quiet, even more than hospital patients, and the proposed site for St. Thomas's is within the radius of the great accident-field of the Borough : and the increase to the funds of the great hospital for East London is most earnestly required.

Mr. Seward has rejected the French proposal to appoint Commissioners to meet Southern representatives and negotiate without an armistice, and has, moreover, involved himself in a personal trouble with the French Representative. M. Mercier, on 13th April last, informed the Foreign Minister that Mr. Seward had almost requested him to visit Rich- mond,.and had charged him to say that, as " far as Mr. Seward was concerned, it would give him pleasure to find himself again in the Senate in the presence of all those the South should wish to send." The letter was published in the Yellow Book, and the Senate asked Mr. Seward for explana- tion, whereupon the Secretary of State blankly denied the asser- tion. "He had never entrusted M. Mercier with communica- tions, formal or informal, verbal or written." It is supposed that the French Government will either remove M. Mercier, or demand an apology from Mr. Seward ; but the official import- ance of the affair seems exaggerated.

The only political intelligence of note from America is con- tained in the resolutions passed by the State of Illinois, and analyzed in another place, calling a meeting of Middle States, a vote of Kentucky calling the Border States to send represen- tatives to a convention at Louisville, and a vote passed by New Jersey appointing commissioners to proceed to Rich- mond, and summon the South to Convention. The latter device is important, as it indicates that the Democrats have not yet surrendered the idea that the Union may be recon- structed by largo concessions to slavery. Obviously, New England will make no such concessions, and the proposal is therefore one for a new Union without those States. The Legislature of Illinois, moreover, have resolved, as Congress will not help them with their canal, to ask the Canadian Par- liament to do it, a quiet usurpation of the power of making treaties. Disintegration advances.

The Prince of Wales held a Levee—his first--on Wed- nesday, and, as Levees have been suspended for fifteen months, it was most numerously attended. The number of officers was particularly large, and the accommodation is so deficient that the scene at the entrance degenerated into a general scramble, in which civilians were squeezed " into pancakes," and orders and sword-belts and bits of uniform strewed the floor. The scene at the drawing-room will probably be worse, as crinoline, while it takes up enormous space, sometimes comes off. These are not days for new palaces, but surely a suite of rooms containing one great hall could be added to St. James's without any unendurable expense. Connect Marlborough House and St. James's by a vast galleq, and let that be the reception-room.

Mr. Adderley has brought in a bill making flogging the penalty for robbery with violence. Two similar Acts have been passed —one for punishing assaults on the Queen, the other to restrain the malicious destruction of works of art. Both have been completely successful, no case having arisen under either. He quoted, too, the evidence of the Governor of Stafford county gaol, who, in thirteen years' experience, had never had to inflict corporal punishment twice on the same individual. The bill was very favourably received in the House, but Sir George Grey reserved the right to oppose it, asking whether the punishment was to be imperative, and why one ruffian who knocked down a man to rob him should be flogged, while another who knocked down a woman to ravish her should not. The objections seem a little too fine, the real point being whether flogging does or does not brutalize those who sanction its infliction. There is no doubt whatever that garotters will not like it; but that is not the whole question.

Lord Ellenborough, on Friday week, commenced a very effective discussion on Poland. Debate it was not ; for Whigs and Tories vied with each other in denouncing the Warsaw conscription. Lord Ellenborough almost avowed his hope that France would speedily interfere, and openly predicted the restoration of Poland, "if not in its integrity, at least in strength, under a constitutional Sovereign." Earl Russell informed the Peers that he had told the Russian Ambassador the conscription was "the most unjust and imprudent step the Government could take," and the Prussian Ambassador, that the convention made his master responsible for all its guilt. He confirmed to the full the worst accounts of that conscription which have yet appeared in the papers.

Daily telegrams have been received all through the week of the health of Prince Alfred, who is lying sick of Naples fever at Malta. By the last accounts he was " progressing favourably."

Honest constitutional freedom does not seam to make much progress in Austria. No change whatever has yet been made in the terms of the Concordat, though every Liberal Austrian detests it, though Rome could not refuse concessions, and though the Liberals are supposed to possess a majority in the Reichsrath. Only last year, in the very bloom and glory of young Liberalism, a Protestant Professor at the University of Vienna, who is appointed to teach the " subsidiary sciences " of history, chronology, palaeography, and the like, was prohibi- ted from teaching history proper because he was a Protestant. A number of sectarians called Johannis-Briider, whose tenets resemble those of Quakers, were, about the some time, con- demned to imprisonment for being sectarians ; and only a few months since a number of respectable citizens were imprisoned for " holiday conventicler," and their Bibles and Prayer-books taken away. In fact, there is about as much freedom of con- science in Austria now as there was ten years ago, and less than there has repeatedly been.

The election of the week has been that fn- Bandon, a borough iu which the Earl of the same name is said to " possess influence." The fact is, that for generations past, a kind Providence has never permitted the wisdom of the sturdy Orangemen of Bandon to remain lost to Parlia- ment for lack of an Hon. Mr. Bernard to adorn it with eloquence, or, more frequently, embody it in a silent vote. The other day, however, on the death of Colonel W. S. Bernard, a profane attorney, named Sullivan, who had for years conducted the elections of tho Bernards, seems to have fancied that by so long touching the hem of their garments he had become endued with a share of the mysterious qualifications of the race, and accordingly offered himself in opposition to Colonel IL B. Bernard. Several persons took part in the proceedings in dumb show, and may have spoken, but only one speaker could be so termed from having been actually heard to speak. Mr. Henry Tinkles, a Methodist tradesman, with tastes fvr arehmology and metaphor, proposed Colonel Bernard.. For three-quarters or an hour, " hisses, groans, bleatings, cat-calls, whistlings, and all the noises that could be produced, blended in one deafening roar." A gallery containing electors was pulled down on the heads of other electors. A little boy took refuge, as he thought, under a table ; but the men who were dancing on the table broke through and nearlykilled him. The mob then adjourned into the street, where 'stones were procurable ; and on Wednesday, atter many persons had been severely- injured, the sacrilegious attorney was defeated by 75.

Consols are 92# 92* for Money and the 5th prox., and 92* fcr April. The New Threes and Reduced are 92f 92f. Exchequer Bills, 2s. to par ; and India Debentures, 100k 1001. Old Turkish 6 per Cents. are 891 90f ; ditto, 1858, 724 721 ; ditto, 1862, 69 69f. Egyptian, 1004 100i. Greek, 19,1 201 ; ditto, Coupons, 8i- 9. Mexican, 324 33. Moorish, 931. Russian New Loan, 94 94f. Spanish Passive, 26f 27f ; ditto, Certificates, 91 10. Among Companies, the Liverpool and London Fire and Life Insurance has published a satisfactory report, showing accumulated funds to the amount of 1,418,0601.