NEWS OF TRE WEEK.

THE Privy Council has commenced the hearing of the Bishop of Natal's petition for relief against the proceedings of the Bishop of Cape Town. His counsel contend that the Bishop of Cape Town has no jurisdiction over him, or at least only jurisdiction subject to an appeal to the Crown in Council. The Crown, it is argued, has no power to create an ecclesiastical court at all, still less in a colony having legislative authority ; and even if it had, could not take away Bishop Colenso's appeal to the Crown by a patent to Bishop Gray of later date. The oath of canonical obedience to Bishop Gray as metropolitan is represented as only a contract to obey him with an appeal to the Crown, Bishop Coleus° having been in entire ignorance of the clause in the metropolitan's patent which substitutes for an appeal to the Crown an appeal to the Archbishop of Canterbury. The arguments of Bishop Gray's counsel are still proceeding.

• It was admitted by Richmond papers of the 30th November that General Sherman had crossed the Oconee River, and would succeed in reaching the coast,—and this is pretty nearly all that we know about his march, except that his cavalry had been defeated in an attempt to open communications with Beaurort (South Carolina), whither, and not to Savannah, it is now supposed that he is marching. The Richmond papers say that provisions have been accumulating at Beaufort for some time for his army, and it was reported that General Burnside had been sent with 20,000 men to meet Sherman at Beaufort. All these details, however, are of the nature of mere rumours.

In Tennessee the Confederate General Hood attacked the right wing of the Federal army at Franklin, under General Schofield, on the 30th November. He attempted to pierce the centre of this force, and succeeded in pushing back at first the division of General Wagner and capturing two guns. General Wagner, however, rallied his men and recaptured the guns, drove his assailants over the breastworks, and took a whole brigade prisoners, with their commander. However, General Schofield, under orders from General Thomas, retired during the night, within the lines of Nashville, twenty-nine miles distant from the field of battle. The next day General Hood advanced, and is now, it is said, between the Federal General Steedman's force at Murfrees- boro', which is in his rear, and General Thomas's at Nashville, which is in his front. But whatever force may be in Hood's rear, it seems pretty certain that there is also a force of his own to meet it. The engagement was only between the left wing of Hood's army and the right wing of the Federal army. • Sir G. Grey, we are happy to see, is being well worried with the sewage question. When a Home Secretary will not take the lead in a great public reform ripe for settlement, he must be pelted till he does, and mayors, aldermen, chairmen of boards of health, sewage speculators, and great landowners make very good, because very annoying, pellets. On Saturday the Home Secretary had to stand a cross-examination of nearly an hour by all manner of local notabilities from Birmingham, Nottingham, Derby, Coventry, Bath, and other places, on his knowledge of law. He says the Health Acts enable the corporations to do all they can want to do, and they say they do not. The real point seems to be this :—Under the Health Acts and their local powers Town Councils can so far deal with the sewage as to collect it, and keep the rivers free of it, but they cannot buy land to distribute it on, and nobody will buy it from them. The meeting ended in nothing, Sir G. Grey resolutely repeating that they must tell him what to do. The notion that it is his business to lead them cannot be driven into his head, except by a tenpenny nail in the shape of a vote in the House.

Lord Palmerston has been making one of those cheery effusions at Romsey which delight every one merely from their bonhomie. He did not say anything to speak of—which was not necessary, and perhaps not possible. But he expressed once more those hearty sort of feelings about the English dynasty, the English army, the English agriculture, and the English press, which, when they flow from Lord Palmerston, cheer people just as one is cheered after an absence to fiud the river running in its old place, or the old tree tossing its branches in the old way. When Lord Palmerston remarked on the large crop of " charlock" where turnips should have been, and generally on the "variety of colours that ornament the stubble," every one felt that he had made a hit,—that Romsey had not been entirely deprived of its constitutional right to a Palmenstonian joke. It was all the more enjoyable, too, for coming after that weighty utterance which, mutatis mutandis, is the "common form" of Lord Palmerston's speeches at public dinners,—that "Agriculture, like every other industry, is promoted by the intercourse of man with man, by the inter- change of ideas, by the mutual intercommunication of knowledge." That last phrase must have sensibly elevated the dignity of the Romsey farmers, as well as given a zest to the joke. We have no doubt they were quite innocent in intention of the "mutual intercommunication of knowledge."

The state of things in New Zeala.nd:is highly unsatisfactory, but is the natural consequence of the attempt which our Govern- ment has been so foolishly making to convince the Maoris that the Queen's Government is virtually on their side. On the 30th of September the Colonial Ministry, being informed by Sir George Grey that they were the only obstacles to the conclusion of peace, resigned. Sir George Grey neither accepted nor declined their re- signation, and on the 8th October nothing had as yet been done. The truth seems to be that Sir George Grey fancied from Mr. Cardwell's advices that his reputation depended on his making peace soon in spite of the passive resistance of the Maoris and the re- luctance of the colonists, and he was about to sacrifice once more the welfare of the colony to the foolish and weak love of compromise in the home Government. For the Maoris' own sake nothing is more desirable than their complete and final submission. If the war is to smoulder another two years and then break out afresh, they will be hardly dealt with, and no one would be able to blame the colonists. Sir George Grey, the cause of most of these troubles, should be recalled, and General Cameron made Governor for a season till a durable peace has been made.

Dr. Stanley gave a lecture last week at Islington, to which the Record only refers mysteriously, "forbearing to characterize it." Its subject was Calvin, Galileo, and Shakespeare,—all of whom were born in 1564,—and its enormity was that Dr. Stanley put Galileo and Shakespeare as high above Calvin "as the heavens above the earth." Dr. Stanley does not seem to have passed this as an ethical judgment on the characters of , the men,—for ofi Shakespeare at least little personally is known, and Ca//w was a hero in his way, which the other two probably ;pre not,—but on the value of their lives and labours to the wd- a judgment not only true, but scarcely controvertible. But at this almost unanimous judgment of posterity the Rev. Arthur Roberts, Rector of Woodrising, Norfolk, appears to be scandalized. "What," asked Dr. Stanley," did Calvin leave behind him ?" "Fifty volumes of translations," answers Mr. Roberts, starting humbly in order to strike a greater effect by his climax, "and writings enough of his own to fill a tolerable library." Certainly, and Shakespeare only one volume. But by how many times does the number of copies of that volume now in existence exceed the "tolerable library," with all the subsequent reprints of it? Calvin was undoubtedly a great man, a man of iron will, strong piety, and

irresistible logic, but his divinity was not divine ; while Galileo's sciencowas scientific, and Shakespeare's poetry "the wonder and bloom of the world."

There is no end to novelties. Only imagine the chairman of a board of directors confessing that it had taken him and his col- leagues ten years to begin to learn something of their business ! The Chairman of the Crystal Palace Company made that state- ment at the annual meeting on Wednesday. The "Directors," he said, "had had ten years' experience, and were beginning to under- stand their business," having, like other people, paid well for their Aclucation. Mr. Davenport 'Bromley was on Tuesday elected member for North Warwickshire in the place of the late Mr. Spooner. He was unopposed, large local minorities being under our system un- represented, and in his speech returning thanks declared that he "was not a man of ability," which was at least modest. He should support Lord Derby as "head of the Conservative party," and Lord Palmerston as "a true Conservative at heart," talked of the stupidity of the Admiralty —a safe subject, his constituents not knowing a mast from a bowsprit—and wished for economy with- out disarmament. He thought the malt-tax a "protective duty for the benefit of Government,"—a funny confusion of ideas, but could not suggest how to meet the deficiency caused by the repeal

The French papers have apparently received orders to propose a general disarmament of Europe, and it is expected that the Em- peror's address to his Chambers will contain some inkling of his policy in the matter. If he can suggest any method of inducing the nations to trust each other he will relieve Europe at once of at least 50,000,000/. a year spent upon extra armaments—but how is he to do it? No nation will really disarm while liable to attack, and at the present moment every power in Europe is threatened by some other power. An effective alliance between England and France to insist on peace for ten years might do much, but even then the Reds would not give their adhesion, and they are a power now. A congress could do it, but how a congress is to be formed which will agree on Rome, Venetia, the redistribution of Germany, and the fate of Turkey north of the Balkan, even the Emperor of the French does not know. Roughs will fight if there are no police, and the Powers when they suffered the conquest of Schleswig gave up their function as policemen.

Masulipatam, in the Madras Presidency, has been nearly swept away by a storm. On the 1st November a furious gale drove the sea up the river some three miles, flooded the native town, and swept away the sepoy lines, killing, it is believed, altogether.about 5,000 persons. Vast quantities of property have been destroyed, and the stench from the unburied bodies of men and animals is ex- pected to breed a fever. All the wells but one were turned salt, and it was necessary to bury the bodies by pressed labour.

A telegram was received in London on Wednesday from Madrid announcing that the Spanish Cabinet had come to a resolution to abandon San Domingo. The Queen, however, rejected the advice, and Narvaez tendered his resignation. The history of this little episode seems to be something in this wise :—The Spaniards have discovered for some months that Santana's treachery was profitless, that he had little authority, that the neg,roes would not submit, that the troops could not make them submit, and that the effort was emptying the treasury. England, moreover, refused to respect their ineffective blockade, and they therefore desired to abandon the enterprise. It remains to be seen if the Queen can find a Minister who will go on with a war which produces nothing, and has cost 4,000,000/. already.

M. Haussman, Prefect of the Seine, has appointed the Paris municipality for the ensiling year, and on 28th November made his councillors a speech so aggressive that the Moniteur did not report it till 14th December. In it he stated that the right of electing the municipality would never be restored to Paris, for Paris consists of nomads "isolated from each other, and changing their quarters with extreme facility." It is also the rendezvous of "outcasts completely without resources, of unscrupulous in- ventors of combinations more or less chimerical, who are driven towards this great centre by the necessity of being forgotten, or in the vague hope of success in their petty designs." He suggested also that Columbia was governed by the House of Representatives, and contrived altogether to create a rumour that Paris is to be declared a peculium of the Corps Legislatif, and governed by a Minister of State. Paris is annoyed at the discourse, but there is no proof that the Prefect speaks the sentiments of the Emperor.

of the tax. He thought the grant to Maynooth had better be let alone, as a constant cause of irritation, and altogether showed himself a genial, honest, blunder-headed representative, a capital membe,r only he will not speak.

The Florida will not be restored to Brazil. The President has come to no decision, but somebody else has, and one night the Alli- ance, a transport steamer, ran into her" unawares," and she sank. It is of course quite possible that the affair was an accident, and quite certain that nobody will accept it as such. Mr. Goldwin Smith states his impression that the Cabinet had nothing to do with the matter, and that she was sunk by Admiral Porter, an officer supposed to entertain strong anti-British feeling. Sinking the vessel is not the kind of act natural to Mr. Lincoln, and the most probable account of the matter is that it was arranged by some over-zealous employe' under the notion of relieving his Govern- ment from a difficulty.

M. Mocquard, Private Secretary to the Emperor of the French, died in Paris on Friday last from inflammation of the lungs. He was an old man, having been born in 1791, served under the First Empire, and except for a brief period has been staunch ia adherence to the Bonaparte family. After the coup d'Itat the Emperor made him his Secretary, and as he had not ratted, was not presuming, and was a bon vivant, he made few enemies. He was not a man of much intellectual power, though he wrote a play or two of middling merit ; but he was trusted by his master, was good- natured, and will be very hard to replace. The Emperor, it is said, was exceedingly kind to him in his sickness, but seized his papers nevertheless.

The debate in the Italian Senate on the transfer of the capital to Florence was on the 6th inst. illustrated by a speech from General Cialdini. We have analyzed this brilliant performance in another place, but must mention here that he quoted a report addressed by himself to the Ministry before the Convention was signed, in which he pointed to Florence as the true military capital. He does not of course surrender Rome, but thinks apparently that even when Rome is acquired Florence will be the best site for the military centre, for all arsenals, and for the reserve of troops. He repudiated entirely the idea of relying on the protection of France, and alluded to the Eastern question as one which might induce Italy to sever herself from France and rely upon the Haps- burgs, a view probably dictated by the idea that Austria will one day sell Venetia for compensation on the Danube. Cialdini is a native of Modena, born in 1813, and was engaged in the insur- rection of 1831 against the Pope.

A letter from North Carolina, written by a strong Southerner to a friend in Manchester, under date of the 1st November, gives a very gloomy picture of the feeling of the people. He speaks of having written very differently in previous letters, and admits that the tone of this will " surprise " his correspondent. The fall of A tlanta had, however, he said, thrown a general gloom over the Confederacy. "Despair is settling upon the people, and I firmly believe that if they were left to themselves they would accept terms, and re-enter the Union as the only alternative to national ruin." He adds that he has now no hope of any terms less strin- gent than the complete extinction of slavery. Since this letter was written, however, there has been some reaction in the spirits of the Confederates, and now all depends on the issue of Sherman's great scheme. If he succeeds in breaking General Lee's lines of com- munication with the South,—a collapse might fairly be expected. If beaten, the spirit of the South will rise rapidly again.

It is stated from Louisiana that Governor Allen, the Confederate Governor of that divided State, has raised ten regiments of negroes, whom he wants the Confederate Government to draft into the army. They are engaged at present in throwing up works at Shrieveport, but are regularly drilled. It is scarcely in human nature for a Government in sore need of troops to refuse ten regiments of any colour, or even of many colours, and if the Confederate Government seriously think they can trust these troops, we should expect to see Governor Allen's offered temptation deci- sive of the future policy of that Government.

A strange libel case is going on in Dublin. The plaintiff, Mary Josephine Travers, a young lady of nineteen, is daughter of Dr. Travers, sub-librarian of Marsh's Library, and she brings her action against Sir W. Wilde, Queen's oculist, Dublin, and his wife, an Italian lady, for libel. The libel is in a letter addressed by Lady Wilde to Dr. Travers, in which she warns him of his rughter's " disreputable conduct" at Bray, where she is "consorting with newspaper boys," and "issuing tracts accusing Sir William Wilde of an intrigue." Lady Wilde warns the father that "the wages of disgrace" Miss Travers has demanded will not be given. Miss Travers:it appears, alleged that she never had an intrigue with Sir W. Wilde, but that he had given her chloroform in his study and then violated her. Under cross-examination she admitted in so many words that the chloroform was an invention of her own in order to raise the "idea of treachery," but adhered to the major accusation. She also acknowledged the authorship of many libels, all written in romantic style, and admitted that she had gone after the occurrence to Sir W. Wilde to get her corns cut, and had accepted tickets from him for a masonic ball, if not other moneys. The defence is only just commenced, but it seems to involve a clear denial of the whole of Miss 'Travers's charge, an explanation of her hatred against Sir W. Wilde, and a suggestion that she is of unsound mind. We must add that it is allowed on all hands that the phrase about newspaper boys was only intended to allude to the use she made of these boys to distribute her pamphlets.

A curious application was made at Guildhall on Monday, to apprehend Robert Vans Zinzau, a surgeon in Hendon, Wilts, for marrying the widow of his natural father. The form of the charge is for falsely declaring that there was no impediment to the marriage, but the motive of course is to dissolve the marriage. A somewhat similar case was brought a few weeks ago into the Bankruptcy Court,—a man contending stoutly that his marriage with his brother's widow was legal because he was not born in wedlock. It really appears that there are persons in England otherwise decently educated who think that the whole idea of relationship is founded upon the property law, which excludes natural children, and not on any principle at all.

The Melbourne correspondent of the Times states that the St. Arnaud silver reef in the colony is yielding immense returns. Shares worth 5/. were sold in a few weeks for 10,000/., and successful silver miners rather despise gains so slow and moderate. The colo- nists have discovered a new grievance against the mother country, and to our surprise we find it is a just one. We really keep up a pro- tective duty against gold and silver plate. The metal in bars pays nothing, but if worked up gold pays 17s. an ounce, or 22 per cent., and silver 18d., or nearly 30 per cent. The revenue from this source is worth nothing, and we trust that in Mr. Gladstone's next budget this duty will disappear. It is an excessively annoying one, falling as it does on all manner of testimonials brought home by officials, clergymen, engineers, and others.

Singapore is very anxious to become a Crown colony. The Times objects, on the ground that Singapore is not solvent, and ought therefore to belong to India, a bit of logic which would justify us in making India pay for Hong Bong. The truth is that Singapore yields a profit, but the Indian Government compels the settlement to pay for a huge establishment of Indian convicts, the account without that item standing thus :—Receipts, 195,0001..; expenditure, 177,000/. The residents complain that they have not the slightest influence over the Indian Administration, that their representations are unattended to, and that anybody is thought good enough to govern them, all which is true. As our readers may think it very natural that Singapore should pay for Indian convicts, we may just mention that the island is further from the nearest Indian point than Sicily from London, and has no natural relation to India of any sort, kind, or description.

An address was recently sent to America praying the Govern- ment of the Union to leave off fighting, and signed, it was said— without much evidence—by 350,000 Englishmen. It was en- trusted to Mr. Joseph Parker, who took it with him to the United States, and wrote to Mr. Seward on November 26, asking permis- sion to present an address "from the people of Great Britain and Ireland to the people of the United States" through the President of the Union. Mr. Seward, in reply, quietly asked him whether he had authority from the British Government, or whether his mission was known to the "diplomatic agent" of that Power. Mr. Parker was obliged to answer in the negative, though he still claimed to represent "the masses," whereupon Mr. Seward declined to receive the address or to grant an interview with the President. There was no particular harm that we know of in the address, and similar documents have been accepted from the other side ; but it is odd that the gentlemen who are so anxious for peace never venture to press it upon the other party to the quarrel. They are like the roughs of London, who, if they see a gentleman seize a

pickpocket, always ask "what he's a hartin' of that poor child for."

On Thursday afternoon a numerous deputation of friends of the North waited on Mr. Adams to congratulate him on Mr. Lincoln's re-election. The chief feature of the conversation which ensiled, —otherwise conceivable enough,—was a very striking little speech from Sir Charles Lyell, who knows America well. He expressed his conviction that this was a struggle "between a lower and higher civilization." He had been "greatly surprised at the amount of resistance the South had been able to show," but had "never felt a doubt of the issue." He could not even regret the stout resistance of the South, since without it it would scarcely have been possible to carry the cause of emancipation as it would now be carried. Here Sir Charles Lyda struck a key which we could have wished to see taken up rather more generally by the deputation. Rejoicing heartily, as we do, in Mr. Lincoln's re-election, we should like to see his administration now fairly prepared to put an end once for all to the series of complaints—too of ten justly made—that the free and emancipated black ealdiers have not been treated with perfect goo faith by the War Office. If the negroes are to be raised to the level of men, the Northern Cabinet must see to it that none of their subordinates break faith with them—as they could not break it with white soldiers— because they regard them as some- thing less than men. Mr. Adams answered for the sincerity of the Northern Government in pressing forward the work of emancipa- tion.

The Swiss have declared their wish to have a navy, though they have no seaport. It seems that their countrymen on the coast of Syria find themsslves oppressed and unprotected, and wish for the support of a ship or two of the line. If it be true, as has been often maintained, we believe justly, by the friends of the Confederacy and others, that it is perfectly legal for a government to deliver a commission to a ship in a foreign port without that ship having ever entered waters belonging to its own government, we cannot see any difficulty in the matter. There is a plausible case against permitting ships to take their commission from their government for the first time in a foreign port, but if the objection is invalid, we see no more reason why a country without a sea coast should not have ships of the line than a country with a sea coast all of whose ports are practically useless.

Gold having flowed rapidly into the Bank from the provinces during the week, the stock of bullion in that establishment, not- withstanding that over 300,000/.-has been withdrawn for shipment to Egypt on account of the new loan, has increased to 14,122,711/. The reserve has also largely augmented, the figures being now 9,593,996/. In consequence of these favourable changes, the Directors have reduced their lowest rate for accommodation to 6 per cent.

The stock of bullion in the Bank of France has slightly decreased since last week's return. The amount now held is 14,062,480/.

The Consols market has been firm, and the quotations have steadily improved. On Saturday last the closing prices were :— For delivery, 89 to 89*, for time, 89*, *. Yesterday the last price for money was 891, I, and for account, 89.

Yesterday and on Friday week the leading Foreign Securities left off officially at the annexed quotations :—

Fridsy, Dec. 9. Friday, Deo. 16,

Greek .. ..

Do. Coupons ..

Mexican .. ..

Spanish Passive .. ..

Do. Certificates .. Turkish Spot Cents., 1858..

0 " 1862., „ Consolides.. .. ..

..

..

.4

• . ..

so

• •

• . .• • . ..

4,4

23

— 29t

311 141 — 711 471

•• •• •• ••

2.1 291 811 141 70 721 471

"Ix,

The leading British Railways closed at the following pates yesterday and on Friday week :—

Caledonian ..

Great Eastern ..

Friday, Dec. 9.

1301 48

Friday, Dee. 16.

1311 Great Northern

1341 • •

1551 Great Western.. ..

751

79 West Midland, Oxford

571 581 Lancashire and Yorkshire

1151 •

1161 London and Brighton

105 106 London and North-Western

.•

1181 • •

124 London and Bouth-Western

••

Og 071 London, Chatham, and Dover

P4 m4

351 381 Midland .. • -

••

1371 199 Nort.h•Eastern, Berwick ..

11.4

114 ••

114 Do. York

*4

A.03i

1041