NEWS OF THE WEEK.
Hosrarrms have commenced on the Danube—such is the brief report of the telegraph; which does little more than describe a skirmish and actual bloodshed. The fact, however, had been an- ticipated; and it as little alters the state of affairs in Turkey as t he announcement of the daily-expected joint fleet in the Darda- nelles. It is indeed impossible to learn without emotion the real beginning of that conflict, the coarse and issues of which none of us can foresee; but, substantially, nothing announced has changed the posture Of affairs at Constantinople. Important incidents in the European dispute have occurred, but they are is yet undivulged; and we can only trace them as the course of the planet Neptune is traced, or as an event is inferred from the shadow on the wall. Some document has passed from the Government of Russia to the Governments of France and England; but its nature is apprehended chiefly through the con- tradiction to the earliest reports of it. At first it was described as anew "manifesto," insulting in its language to England and France, and highly warlike. This is evidently a misdescription : the document is more authentically described as a despatch or note, of the ordinary diplomatic kind, replying to the last notes from France and England; as courteous in its language, and pacific in its tone. The effect of this unpublished note on those for whom it was composed is perhaps indicated by a paper in the Moniteur. The paper appears in the Unofficial part ; but from the style of the language, and the direct way in which it speaks of the future as well as the past acts of the Emperor, it is evidently derived from an official source. It represents the Emperor of the French as having _completely fulfilled his solemn assurance that he would with all his strength assist in preserving the peace of Europe ' • and the events in the Turkish dispute are recapitulated in proof of that fulfilment. But peace must rest on the equilibrium of power and rights in Europe ; it was the object of the maritime demonstrations in which France and England united, to maintain that equilibrium ; the Vieiina Conference had the same object—without success hitherto. But if France and England, united in action as they have been in negotiation, think it necessary to approach the scene of action, Austria and Prussia, neutral but not indifferent, "will not be wanting to the negotiations which will tend to facilitate the settle- ment of the quarrel," and peace will " again " be established" on the only foundations which render it profitable and secure." This languagois very like an echo of that which Lord Clarendon used to the Finsbury deputation last week, before the receipt of the new note from St. Petersburg. The Governments of France and England do not tell u"s' 'What they are going to do ; but they appear to remain united ; and from these shadows the public is driven to guess at what is going on behind.
