NEWS OF THE WEEK.

ENGLAND is making her mark on the Continental nations, not- withstanding the quietude of the country, and the indecision which has in recent times prevailed in her councils. Perhaps one of the most notable political events is the exceedingly hearty welcome given to our Queen on her arrival at Berlin. That the bride who net long since left our shores should cleave to her mother is an incident natural to the occasion, and to the strong affection which reigns in the Royal household ; that the Princess Royal should be regarded with great favour by the Prussians for her acceptance of a Prussian home and her very engaging man- ners, is equally natural ; but what do the Prussians know of Queen Victoria, except that she is at once the representative of constitutional England, and that Sovereign who, in the present day at least, has shown the best and most hearty adhesion to constitutional principles ? The ovation given to Queen Victoria is a recognition of the mode in which sovereigns ought to govern. How vast the power that the Sovereigns of Germany might ac- quire, if they could understand the question as the people do ! While the Emperor Napoleon is pursuing his tour in Brittany, making, as it is said, the first conquest of that Gaelic province by a Bonaparte, and even so far compromising his Napoleonic sub- limity as to receive homage from peasants with the fleur-de-lys on their button, strange incidents are occurring at Paris ; still pointing to the consciousness of England which resides in the heart of France. The diplomatic Conferences have just been brought to a conclusion ; and the result of the labour, we are told by those who are in the secret, -will prove. highly satisfac- tory to all the powers, Absolutist as well as Liberal, and even to the Principalities, "if the Principalities will only forego exag- gerated hopes," &c. Tell the bridegroom that he shall be blessed if he will only forego his exaggerated hopes, and then do not wonder if he tarns pale with despair, or scowls with indigna- tion! However' the Conferences have done their work, such as it is, and we shell be able to tell them what they ought to have done, or what F.ngland ought to have exacted, when they have broken up, and the whole is too late to mend.

While England has been assisting in this arrangement of cer- tain European relations,—while the Emperor has been turning to a profit in Brittany the political capital so adroitly collected at Cherbourg,—a clever trader, who has before been active in other fields, has become the author of a new 'French manifesto. A pamphlet pointing to the probability of war with Eng- land, and almost promising to a Napoleon the welcome of certain numerous parties in divided England, if he should bring to our shores the blessings of a strong and beneficent power such as his, has just been published, and has attracted attention by the thoroughgoing nature of its assertions and imaginings. The author is understood to be a gentleman who has profited by the hospitality of this country, if he has not profited by his dab- bling in a London retail trade; so now he is opening a shop and catering thus for the Imperial patronage ! It is to be doubted Whether the Emperor really sanctions such preposterous specula- tions. The greater probability is, that he does not even know the twentieth part of what is passing- but all despots who under- take to rule with an autoeratie will make themselves responsible for what others below them do, or omit to do ; and if a Jules Leehevallier utters this prospective bombardment of England, it is at least by the passive permission of that Government which puts down everything distasteful to its own ruler.

Not inopportunely, though in a minor field, England is show- ing what she can do to defend herself. Like the maid-servant in the Catnach ballad, England is still in a condition "for taking of her own part and firing off a , gun." In her Majesty's ship Cyclops,. Captain Pullen has brought Jeddah to reason by a bombardment of five days. It was suspended at intervals, em- ployed by No.amik Pasha to plead excuses for not carrying out sentence of death against the murderers ; but at last, on the arrival of Ismail Pasha, the local authorities found the courage to do justice ; and eleven men were hanged. Perhaps the -Turks had, thought, from the experiences of the Crimea and of China, that the English sailor could no longer do his duty unless he had the 'Frenchman to stand by him as "Sinlicious bottle- holder."

The geheral character of the intelligence from India is de- cidedly favourable, the breaking' up of the rebels being carried further than we should have gathered from the previous accounts ; but there is nothing very positive to record as a result. The correspondence between the Oude ringleaders and Jung Bahadoor shows, at once, the extensive scope of the treason, the compli- city of the ex-king of Oude's officers, the weakness of the in- - frigue, and the strong practical sense of Jung Bahadoor which enabled him to see the profit of fidelity.

At home, the Indian Council continues to struggle into existence, and its growth has been decidedly creditable to its parents. Amongst the new members who have been announced, as added to it by the Government is Sir Richard Vivian, an Indian officer, who is supposed to have been usefully "Europeanized" by' service at the head of the Turkish contingent in the Crimea ;

an active, energetic man,,•who understands Indian affairs' and probably English feeling. Nor need • the refusal of Mr. John Stuart Mill to accept a seat in the Council detract from the great merit of the Government which made, so praiseworthy an offer. Mr. Mill stands in the very highest 'mak ancoagst -the.tatellects

of this country. ...Although he has been before the public for

thirty or forty years,—having begun, we believ_e) to publish his writings when he was quite a -boy ,—there are few men who

have shown so steady and progressive growth of their own mind

throughout life. He is the chief living master of logical science ; he is nearer to a mastery of Political 'Economy than any man

has been before him ; he is a complete master of Indian affairs, from his position as Examiner at the India House, and, since he is a man who "has the courage of his own opinions,"—for he is .

known to be actively engaged in examining some of the most urgent and difficult problems in sociology,—his very name might have alarmed prejudiced politicians. Yet her Majesty's " Tory " Ministers step out of the routine to offer him a place in the newest department of the imperial Administration.

Three Parliamentary vacancies are created by those appoint- ments. If proper candidates could only be found, opportunities would be offered for the constituencies to express their opinion on the conduct of the Government ; for the mode in which a vacancy is thus created is always a most legitimate consideration to be laid before a constituency.

We last week left Canada in the throes of a ministerial crisis, and, although Mr. Brown was reported to have formed his admin- istration, he was at once met by a vote of no confidence, which was carried against him. His Ministry has broken dowu ; another Colonial statesman has declined the attempt to form a Cabinet ; and there is little hope of success for the more adven- turous Mr. Cartier. It is to be feared that no Ministry could stand in Canada if the confidence of the majority were neces- sary to its standing, at least in the present parliament. Mr. Brown was expected to try what the constituencies would say on the subject ; with only too great probability that a general election in Canada may be a rough kind of contest, such as we have not witnessed in this country for many a day. Perhaps be shrank from that prospect ; but how will Mr. Cartier avoid it ?

Our contests at home, at least for the preramt, turn upon small matters, and areimportant as pertenta, or as symptom- rather than as events. For instance, a.somewhat momentous adventure. has happened in Berkshire,, though the story all turns upon what' a busy curate said to a poor woman. They report that the Re- verend Mr. West not only put some very importunate questions to the said poor woman, touching her breach of the command- ments, but suggested such eternal punishments, should she not confess, as completely " upset " her. Whereupon the Protest- ants of the neighbourhood appealed to the Bishop against such an approach to the confessional and the rack. The Bishop of Ox- ford upholds confession in this embryonic form ; and, while de- nying some of the facts asserted by the Curate's accusers, has intimated his opinion that the reverend gentleman is sustained by the canons of the Church. The Bishop's letter is considered a more portentous event than the conversation between the curate and the poor woman ; the more so, since people cannot forget the Oxford Tracts, the spiritual fate of the Bishop's brother, and the antecedents of the Bishop himself. It is not yet stated whether, as in the case of Mr. Poole and St. Barnabas, an appeal will be made from the Bishop to the Archbishop.

The world of agriculture is agitated in various ways' but here human events are overborne by a higher power. The history of the week is indeed remarkable for presenting some of the vanities of human society as contrasted with more enduring influences. The Irish Tenant League, which has kept up some kind of or- ganization, is making a new experiment on the elasticity of the present Imperial Government ; and it has held a public con- ference, with the awkward result of exposing the fact that there is really no ground whatever to hope for any Tenant-right bill,— that Lord Derby is as adverse as Lord Palmerston was ; that lord Palmerston is as popular in Ireland notwithstanding his hostility as ever he was ; and that the tenant-right is not likely to be attained until long after the English people attain Ballot— if then. And Lord Palmerston at Sligo, patting the Sligo men on the back for their "self-reliance," receives an instant proof that he at least is popular, whatever Mr. Maguire may be.

While experienced public men are thus holding council in Dublin to promote that which they only agree in declaring to be hopeless, the good peasantry of Kilkenny are breaking any heads that they can find in their way, because agricultural machinery has been introduced, either in the form of mechanical contri- vance, or in the living form of labourers from other counties al- lured by false reports of fabulous wages. But Ireland is not en- tirely reactionary ; and this week, which witnesses the vain ex- ertions to secure tenant-right, or the rioting of the Kilkenny men to keep out machinery, witnesses the assistance afforded by certain Waterford labourers in trying some reaping machines ; just as we saw them not long since at Woburn, and as we see them this week at Brentwood in Essex. In all cases, it is to be observed, this successful trial of machines with the active co- operation and applause of the labouring-class has taken place under the countenance of popular landlords or very intelligent and popular farmers.

It needs, indeed, an unflagging spirit, and yet a cool head, to understand the portents of the present time,—a period which we may regard either as agitated and full of latent conflict, or as sluggish, stagnant, and indifferent. The very same month which has witnessed this outbreak of " Tenant-right " and ma- chine riot, has also witnessed the first message conveyed by the Queen of England to the President of the American Republic, shot through a line under the waters of the Atlantic. And we observe our witty and highly influential contemporary, Punch, so misconceiving the import of the last miracle of science, as to represent England and America employing the electric cable by way of a hawser to upset the bark of Despotism, presumed to be floating in the mid-Atlantic. As if moral questions were to be settled by mechanical contrivances ! And yet, again, who shall say where the limit between the ma- terial and the spiritual is to be placed ? All the accounts of the week give us reason to calculate neon a fine harvest in wheat for the greater part of the civilized world, and in valuable crops of other kinds for divers important countries,—in maize for the United States, in wine for France in silk for Italy. Russia, with an outburst of exaggerated Capel Court speculation in St. Petersburg, appears to be the grand exception to harvest pros- perity. What blessing so material as a large abundance of corn, yet what blessing brings with it such sudden and solid political and even moral benefits ?