NEWS . OF THE WEEK.
ROYALTY is in active demand, -especially English royalty. No sooner has the Queen returned to England, after ascertaining how high are the quotations of English royal stock in Prussia and Germany, than her Majesty, with the briefest rest, will have to take her departure again and to• place herself in charge of the Mayor of Leeds, in order that the light of her countenance may, in some degree, shine on the British Association assembling in that Field of Cloth ; and then only will the Queen be free to seek a welcome repose in her Scotch retreat.
Meanwhile, her Majesty is pursued with the petition from the Legislature of Canada, begging, not that the Queen herself will cross the Atlantic, nor even that Prince Albert may be deputed to do so, but that some member of the Royal Family,—one of the young Peinces, may be permitted to represent the British Crown at the inauguration of the exhibition which has been pro- posed in the colony. It is to be after the model of the Exhibi- tion of 1851, only on the smaller scale of a colonial currency ; and therefore, a -little Prince will content the Canadians, or at least, will stay the appetite of their loyalty. Various doubts are suggested as to the practicability of complying with this "pro- digious bold request." Could the Prince of Wales be trusted on the broad ocean ? Is the occasion great enough to claim any such concession? If the Prince could be safely consigned to Ca- nada,-might not the silks and brocades of etiquette be ruffled should he venture across the border to the United States ; yet, should he go so near without calling next door, would it not look like a slight ? And as to the Prince Alfred, could he be sud- denly taken away for holiday work from the rigid discipline of the prefessional service into which he has been this week ad- taitted ? To these doubts we may add one more,—would it be precisely consistent with the education of the Royal child- ren, at so early an age, if one of them were put forward prema- turely to represent the majesty and might of Imperial England ?
The greatest event of the week has been the public act of the East India Company in laying down the sceptre of the Indian empire, to be taken up by the Secretary of State for India and the Council under her Majesty's commission. The last meeting of the Company was held to confirm the grant of 20001. for Sir John Lawrence ; a slight shadow of opposition having had no effect whatever upon the passing of that measure. But there Was other business to be performed on that day,—the distribu- tion of thanks, in which the opposition joined with the due mani- festation of that spirit called English ; and also the reception of answers from counsel, whose opinion had been asked respecting the position of the Company hereafter in divers important rela- tions. The replies are suggestive of many curious questions ; such as the power of a director M retain his seat while accepting a seat in the Council of India ; the legal capacity of the Com- pany to trade, now that the disabilities accompanying its ad- ministrative functions have ceased ; the liability of the Company to forfeit its power of claiming the redemption of the. dividend by payment of the capital, should it not do so within one year after the cessation of its government ; with further questions as to the true position of the directing body, the method of wing
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the dividend and even the expediency of resuming trade ; for the Company continues, although the government of India has been taken from it. These questions the Directors and proprietors have to ponder ; but it is more than probable that Parliament will be called upon next session to solve some of the doubts and to provide for more than one eases °misses.
From India itself the intelligence adds little to what we knew before, except that it supplies the details of certain rewards which have been given to the Maharajah of Puttiala, the Rajah of Jheend, and the Rajah of Nabah, for their fidelity and distin- guished services. The rewards consist of new titles such as "Victorious Child," or "Dear Faithful Child," accompanied by extended jurisdiction and the right to various escheats and con- fiscations. These grants have the effect of showing by direct example, that it is more profitable to be faithful to the British ; while they place within doubtful districts men rendered powerful by the munificence of the said British. The rebellion has been made thus to supply a self-supporting police, a Native contingent for the, better maintenance of the British power. Meanwhile the correspondent of the Times confirms the doubt which our own information long since led us to entertain, as to the fidelity of the Sikhs.
The despatch received by the French Government from Baron Gros, probably by courtesy of the Russian couriers, and the re- ports of progress direct from our own people in the Peiho, tend to confirm and explain the previous telegraph from St. Petersburg. Amongst other contributions we have the heads of the treaty which the United States have concluded, in anticipation of France and England, but contemporaneously it is understood with RIM- sia. This American treaty secures a variety of concessions which will probably.% repeated in the French and English treaties, or at least reflected in equivalent provisions. Amongst others are, —access of the American Ambassador to Pekin, with a right of exacting interviews from the public departments on a footing of perfect equality, and a permanent Legation somewhere, perhaps at Shanghai ; " the most favoured nation" clause in matters of commerce, &c. ; the right to lease property in Chinese towns, without official intervention,—a most important step towards a firm footing ; toleration for the Christian worship and for native converts to Christianity ; and the opening of two more ports. It is not to be supposed that the French and English envoys have secured concessions smaller than these; on the contrary, it is likely that the number of ports to be open and occupied by foreign consuls, or consular agents, has been largely multiplied.
Meanwhile the Government at Canton, under a new Commis- sioner, has been reverting almost to the hostile position that it had assumed before the defeat of Yeh, as if the Emperor really possessed no authority in that distant province. It is very pos- sible; and perhaps one use of the larger power conferred by the new treaties may be to diminish the obstructions which have hampered the official representatives in dealing summarily with cases of local Mutiny against the imperial orders and international good faith.
According to the latest intelligence the energetic handling of Jeddah is an "untoward event." The remonstrance, which is supposed to have emanated from the French Government, has been the occasion for publishing something like an explanation, —that Captain Pullen acted upon earlier instead of later orders which had been transmitted to him. It does not follow that the mischance is altogether unfortunate. The Orientals are too familiar with the failure of messages to feel much doubt about the explanation ; and meanwhile, through the accident, they have had a specimen of what England could do against Turks as wells as Russians if she were driven to the necessity. The in- junctions of ths Central Government at Constantinople, therefore, may be read more obediently by the light of this commentary.
According to reports,;which are only too probable, Russia has sustained a fearful blow. The Governinent had been piling up great stores of gunpowder at Astrakan, no doubt with some ul- terior views which are now thwarted ; for a powder magazine has exploded, destroying one half of the town in the concussion, while the other half has been, a prey to flames. At the same time, too, the forests near St. Petersburg and in scattered plaoec about the provinces have been set on fire, some suspect by the ignorant serfs, who imagine that their emancipation is a licence to live without work, and are inclined to be turbulent. The mischief of this last disaster will fall principally on the poor, for it destroys the fuel which is already scarce and dear in frozen Russia ; but the other calamity, much as we deplore it, may serve as one more item in the weight of the guarantees which bind Russia to peace—for the present.
In no other country of Europe is Protestantism observed so purely as in Sweden ; its religion of today is that of Luther, as strictly followed as by Luther himself—or more so. The horror of the Church of Rome is as fresh as it was six generations ago. On the 19th of May in the present year Sweden gave evidence to this abiding strength of her religious consistency ; six young women—five of whom were married, and all of whom were "born and brought up in the Evangelical and Lutheran faith "- were convicted of having been converted to the Roman creed, and were condemned by the Royal Court of Stockholm to exile, with deprivation of their inheritances and of all civil rights. The Archbishop of Canterbury has expressed the feelings of English Protestants about this case: "However good grounds we have for wishing to keep the Roman Catholics at a distance," he says, "we must not borrow our weapons from their armoury." An appeal signed by names representing all shades of Protestantism was sent to Count Platen, the Swedish Minister at our Court, and the answer is as curious as it is temperate and reasonable. It is the will of the majority in the Swedish Parliament, in opposition to the wishes of the Government, that no alteration should be made in the laws which relate to its religious observances. It is the will of the Swedes to hold by the ideas of the time of the Reformation, and not by those of our days. Count Platen, how- ever, seems to think that the expression of English opinion will not be without moral influence in Sweden.
Another announcement from Vienna that the National Bank is about "to resume cash payments " ! This time the perform- ance is fixed for "the 1st of November next." Of course con- jecture is alive to know what can be the object of the assertion at the present day. Is it some stock-jobbing manoeuvre ; or is Austria in want of money ?
With regard to the nobility, gentry, and public in general, at home, during this dead part of the vacation, political history cedes to the curiosities of politics, which are furnished from all quarters. In London the most stiring topic perhaps is the wrongs of Mr. Peter, who having spent 16,000/. in pictures and " vertzi," is rescued by friends who discover him to be "a gentleman of very, weak intellect," and take him before a police magistrate to obtain redress. The whole case is an amusing commentary on the intelligence and moral spirit of "society."
Ecclesiastical quiet has been disturbed in the Oxford dioeess by a new question. The Reverend Simcox Bricknell has suddenly appealed to the Daily News and public opinion against unfair treatment by his Bishop. The reverend gentleman has been accused of altering the hours of divine service,—a charge which he explains by stating that he did so once, under peculiar circumstances ; but he has been visited by a " caution " from his prelate, as if he were guilty. Why this rigour, he asks ? Be- cause he has been instrumental in removing three stone altars from certain chapels, and in preventing the Bishop from conse- crating a fourth, for the Reverend Simcox Bricknell cannot tolerate "sermons in stones." Moreover, he complains that in one of his own livings, a curate displays the most alarming ten- dencies in his costume and proceedings, yet still enjoys the Bishop's licence—which shineth not equally on all.
In Ireland not long since two men, the brothers Cormack, were condemned to death for the murder of a Mr. Ellis, on evi- dence of an exceedingly doubtful kind. A meeting is held at Nenagh to petition for inquiry ; and the petition is supported by speakers like the Reverend John Kenyon, who declared that jus- tice from "the Saxon Parliament" is hopeless, and proposed a petition that the condemning judge should be hanged ; while the Chairman of the meeting treats the case as one of England against Ireland. This latter is the O'Donoghue, a member of "the independent Liberal party" that was to be formed! Nor is the polished and accomplished Cardinal Wiseman able to complete his travels thonghout Ireland without becoming, no doubt to his own excessive annoyance and mortification, the cause of distrust to many, and even of something that looks like malignity among his own friends. His appearance at the dinner- table of the Lord Mayor was accounted enough to keep the Lord- lieutenant away, although the occasion, of all others was one tut which the feuds of sect and party might well have ?been laid aside an4 although there is reason to believe that Lord Egliaten woui have been among the xesdiest to forget these unhappy diviaions, for a cordial union to give the new Atlantic telegraph "one ()beer more" in the shape of a banquet. There are said to have been two elements in the composition of the Cardinal, as a concrete object, which rendered him an incompatible agent hi the chemistry of Dublin Castle : he will let himself be Caned " Archbishop of Westminster ; " and worse yet, he has assisted at a clerical dinner in Ballinasloe, where the guests deliberately omitted the name of the Queen. It was a very idle and paltry piece of negative bravado, the effect of which has been to stig. matize the Cardinal in a manner that he himself could expose better than most men. How he must anathematize the want of that resthetie judgment which he found so deficient at Bank. asloe ; for it is a truth which we too often forget, that no Government can be strong, or party either, which dispenses with the uses of good taste.
