NEWS OF THE WEEK.
The event of the week has been the duel between the Mer- rimac and the Monitor at the mouth of the James River, the Merrimac, a 40-gun frigate, dismantled and covered by the Confederates with iron plates, and the Monitor, a floating steam-battery, built of iron, and on the turreted cupola prin- ciple. The Merrimac sent the Cumberland, a 50-gun sailing frigate, to the bottom with two taps of her prow, and settled the doom of all sailing vessels of war. The Monitor, on her side, fought the Merrimac, though six times her size, and armedwith 90-pound Dahlgren guns, for three hours, without losing a man or starting a plate, and with no visible marks of conflict, except a few indentations. She cannot be boarded : she cannot be run down—for the Merrimac charged her twice fruitlessly—and, in short, if she could only steam eight miles an hour instead of four she would be the most formid- able vessel on earth. As it is she has saved the blockading fleet, which the Merrimac might have destroyed, and enabled us all to understand how the "cupola principle" works.
Parliament has been unusually dull. The only debate of importance has been on the Revised Code, and on this a compromise has been attained. The House educated itself by two nights' debate, the little rills of information flowing in from all sides united in one deep channel, and Mr. Lowe gave way. A partial payment by results has been attained, the pupil teachers are left alone and grouping by age is abandoned. In other words, the ism 'points worth fighting for, the payment for results in part or entirely, and the decentralization of the department—the pupil teachers ceasing, as we understand, to correspond with Government —are secured.
The Lunacy Bill may be held to have passed the Lords ; Lord Chelmsford's amendments having been rejected in Committee by 33 to 28.
Mr. Carl Schurz, Minister of the Federal Government to Madrid, has addressed the people of New York in a speech which is to ordinary American oratory what that is to a Hyde Park harangue. It is a really wonderful burst of eloquence, pregnant with thought and meaning. Mr. Schura's view may, however, be briefly condensed. He holds that if the North conquer the South but two courses of action remain. One is to hold down the South, with infinite danger to liberty, the other is to readmit the South, with the cause of rebellion removed by total and complete enfranchisement of the black race. He was applauded throughout, and when rising with his subject, he said, "I ask you now what will you do with four millions of blacks.? postpone the answer, and the question will be, what will they do with you?" the building rang with shouts, which prove, if proof were needed, that New York has ceased to believe in slavery as expedient.
Mr. Peabody, a wealthy American merchant, has conferred a most munificent gift of 150,000/. on the London poor, which he announces himself, with a brie f autobiographic recital of his previous beneficence to Danvers (Massachusetts) and Baltimore (Maryland). The style of the letter certainly detracts from the pleasure with which we regard the benevo- lence of its author. It reminds one of those convenient résumés of the hero's history with which the Herald of the Greek drama used to announce to the amphitheatre through his resonant trumpet the deeds which preceded the opening of the play—the difference being that the Greek Herald, always acted for another, while this gentleman, like the New York Herald, acts for himself. The sum is great, and the intent is doubtless benevolent, but we wish the modesty of the giver had enhanced his generosity.
Belgium has practically s6 interpreted her commercial treaty with England as to give us the benefit of a most injured nation clause. Our existing treaty with her put us on the most favourable footing of any nation which had not a special treaty with her. But no sooner was it completed than she dispensed special treaties to all her neigh- bours except England. Since her new commercial treaty with France we have applied to be put on the same footing, but Mr. W. E. Forster, the member for Bradford, elicited on Tuesday, and again last night from Mr. Layard, that Belgium, after coquetting a little, has demanded an equivalent for her concurrence, which is unfair, and has not been insisted on in any other case. This equivalent is, we believe, the payment by England of more than a quarter of a million sterling for the redemption of the Scheldt dues. The truth is that the small but vigorous Protectionist party in Belgium is sup- ported as against England by the llUltramontane party, which is large and vigorous, and the Belgian Ministry affect a timidity towards this party which we suspect they hardly feel. The Belgians really fear our woollen manufacturers as rivals, and an excess of 20 per cent. on 'English over French woollens is a protection they do not like to give up. They have, unfortunately, nothing to gain in return except a money bribe, as no Belgian exports to England are taxed by our Custom House, except sugar and hops. We hope that the English Ministry will not surrender at discre- tion. Belgium has something to lose if the English people are once politically estranged from the Belgian nation.
The Lords have enjoyed a discussion on Poland. That being the case in all Europe, in which the least can be done, Peers not very favourable to nationalities are most sympa- thetic with Poland. Lord Carnarvon, indeed, denied that he held any extreme views, but still he wished very much that Russia should be induced to keep her obligations to Europe. Earl Russell, of course, gave the stock reply. He pitied the Poles ; he thought the treaty obligations, ought to be kept; he believed the Emperor wished to keep them ; he feared the repression of last year had been very cruel ; he was sure Prince Gortschakoff did not mean to be cruel ; and he finally held that interference on the part of her Majesty's Govern- ment would only make matters worse.
It will be alarming news to oar readers, that if a swindling Secretary of any (Limited) Joint Stock Company chooses to register their names on the list of shareholders, they become prima facie liable as shareholders, though they may never have even heard of the concern. Their only remedy is to bring an action against the Company, of which,—if they suc- ceed in proving the error or fraud,—the Company must pay the costs. This day week a poor man, who could not write his name, and did not put his mark, and asserted that he knew nothing of the matter, was decided to be prinui facie a shareholder because his name was found on the Register. The onus probandi may be thus thrown on ignorant people to whom law is a mystery and a terror.
Long accounts have been received this week from. British Columbia, the burden of which is this : The outtum of the gold fields is boundless there, and the minimum rate of unskilled labour has risen to twelve and twenty shillings. Men with small capitals, and men who can work with their hands, are alike in great demand. White-handed men with no money, who can only work with their heads, are worth just nothing at all. They are the product of the civilization they chiefly produce.
The subscription for the memorial to the Prince Consort has reached 42,0001., a sum which is pronounced paltry. It his been subscribed almost entirely by the aristocracy and the wealthier middle class, and the limes recommends that an appeal should be made through the clergy to the whole people. That such an appeal would succeed there is little doubt ; but the clergy should not collect. They ought at most to receive. Let every clergyman in the country an- nounce, without orders, that he will accept any subscription, however small, and forward it to the Mansion House, and the sum would soon be sufficient. Thirteen thousand parishes might to subscribe at least ten pounds apiece.
The Turkish Government has applied for a loan, nominally of eight millions sterling. The interest offered is six per cent. ; the loan is placed at 68, and a discount of six per cent. is allowed to all who pay up at once. The revenue set apart for the interest is to be managed by a syndicate, and Lord Hobart has been most injudiciously sent to Constantinople to assist in arranging the Sultan's finance. Money is exceed- ingly cheap, people are tolerably secure, the appointment of Lord Hobart looks like a guarantee, and as usual under those circumstances, most investors are exceedingly tired of three and a half per cent. Premiums have been deposited representing 35,000,0001., more than four times the loan; there is great jealousy about the allotments, and the scrip has maintained a premium of 2.1-per cent.
The Greek revolt has been raging three weeks, and is a little less intelligible than ever. The King, by the latest telegram, has found it expedient to grant an amnesty to the insurgents in Nauplia, which, as we published an amnesty signed by himself only three weeks ago, is a statement either untrue or old. Athens, too, we are told, is "depressed," which, if true, has certainly a meaning. Athens is not a very lively place at the best of times, and a marked depression would signify that the inhabitants saw that they must still keep their King. Perhaps the Athenians are only depressed at the daily arrests taking place in their "tranquil" city.
The Prussian Government seems to have lost its head. It is trying at one and the same time to rule the elections, and to anticipate their results. A circular has been issued, informing all functionaries 'that Parliament is not to limit the supreme power of the Crown ; that the centre of gravity is not to be transferred to the Deputies, and that function- aries are not to vote against the views of the King. And then M. Von der Heydt issues an order converting, of his own authority, the Four and a Half per Cents into Fours, thus bringing the Government into collision with the people on a subject they all understand. Of course the holders are demanding their money, and the measure, a just one had Parliament sanctioned it, may possibly fail, while the new members, touched in a point on which Prussians are sensitive, ' will be more determined than ever to acquire the control of the budget. Accounts all agree in affirming that the electors will send back the former Parliament.
The representative nobles of the province of Twer have signed a petition asking for Constitutional Government, and the abolition of noble privileges. They have all been arrested and thirteen sent to Kamschatka. The Government of Russia has been reputed wise, but brains do not protect the man who sits on the safety valve.
The Sheffield workmen are at length stung into urgent measures to wipe out the disgrace which the recent Trades Union outrages have inflicted. At a meeting held last week, the workmen present resolved that it was the duty of the trade unionists of the town to organize a central committee for the purpose of offering rewards for the apprehension and conviction of this class of offenders, and for otherwise taking steps for the suppression of such outrages. It was not too soon. Had such a step been earlier taken, and the genuine indignation of the people strongly manifested, the jurymen who found three men guilty, in spite of the clearest excul- patory evidence, might have been spared their unpleasant and unworthy task. Popular hatred and denunciation will do more to eradicate crime than the sternest justice, and, a fortiori, more than acts of wild injustice, which simply strike in the dark at some arbitrarily chosen representative of the crime.
