NEWS OF THE WEEK.
THE WEEK has been full of rumours as to the European action in Poland. On the one hand, we have a story that the Emperor has sent Marshal Niel to St. Petersburg, and as that officer was despatched thither before the Crimean war, and to Turin before the Italian campaign, wise people think, of course, there is a good deal in that. Then, three Marshals present at a cavalry dinner given at Versailles listened without objection to a speech in which a Colonel de Pajol hoped soon to be employed in befriending a kindred nation, and there may be something in that. Then there is a talk of a loan for sixteen millions sterling, and there would be a good deal in that, if it were only true. On the other hand, it is said that Earl Russell's idea of declaring Poland forfeited by breach of the Treaties of Vienna was prevented by Herr von Bismark, who declared that his master would treat such a despatch as a declaration of war, and that the Emperor is resolved not to move unless England or Austria will assist. Amidst all the talk the only thing certain is that the Poles are becoming dispirited and the Russians more inexorable, that General Berg is relying solely on terror, and that the misery of all Poles at home is that of sane men locked up in a vast lunatic asylum.
