NEWS OF THE WEEK.

THE Polish rebellion extends. Langiewicz, the new Dic- tator, has, during the week, twice defeated the Rus- sians, who are, moreover, said to have been repulsed at three other points. There is, however, some suspicion attaching to the correctness of all these details, and the only fact certain seems to be that the Russians have gained no victory, that thsir hospitals are full of wounded, and that excessive fatigue is injuring the discipline of their men. The Poles, too, are getting arms, and it is said that large quantities have dis- appeared from within the Russian arsenals. Langiewicz has created a civil Government of four Ministers, and seems to be obeyed by all the insurgents in Poland. The most important incident, however, has been the resignation of all functionaries, including judges, throughout Lithuania, on the plea that they will no longer receive any communications in Russian. This means that revolt has extended to the upper classes in Lithuania.

The action of France in the Polish question still remains undecided. On the one hand, the police arrest students guilty of " demonstrations," the Senate has, by a majority of 109 to 17, referred the subject to the Emperor, and M. Billault, in his final speech, made on Thursday, said "the fresh insurrection could only bring fresh misfortunes, and it was neither good, useful, nor humane to encourage it," and hinted at a European Congress. On the other hand, the Emperor -carefully avoids any overt opposition to Poland, the Press "excites the public mind" at its pleasure, and Prince Napo- leon has been allowed to utter in the Senate an energetic de- mand for war. The Emperor is evidently waiting, perhaps to see whether Prussia will, by crossing the frontier, give him an opportunity of attack ; but more probably to ascertain the course of the Austrian Cabinet. It is at Vienna, not Paris, that the key of the situation rests.

The speech of Prince Napoleon on tile Polish question was by far the most outspoken uttered. He would not call for war ; but it was a war speech, in which he declared that ) ' "Russia after the Crimean war came to kiss the hand that ad smitten her," that Prussia had replied to remonstrances n the Convention with "ill-judged pleasantry," and that ngland was too timid to interfere ; the only good word was. for Austria, whose conduct had given "both surprise and gratification." "Circumstances were never so favourable as at present, when the Emperor is in the full vigour of his age and intellect, his prestige abroad great, and his Govern- ment at home strong.' M. Billault called this speech impru- dent; but the Paris correspondent of the Globe says it produced an extraordinary effect, and it was left to circulate for 24 hours unanswered. Symptoms of dangerous agitation are said to be appearing in Lancashire caused by the demeanour of the Relief Committees. According to a physician who has just visited the district, and who relates his story through the Times, the Committees have become unbearably harsh. They accuse the people of ingrati- tude, idleness, and deception, lock the doors of the adult schools, stamp old clothes with the word "lent," talk brutally to applicants, and act entirely in the interest of the mill- owners. As to the Guardians, they actually "insult" appli- cants, alleging the necessity of speed. The millowners either do not remit rent, or, where they do, are registering arrears for future repayments, and giving wages so low that the Com- mittees are compelled to supplement them. We have com- mented on these statements in another column, and need only mention here Mr. Bridges' assertion, that open-air meetings have been held at Ashton, Glossop, Dukinfield, and Man- chester, and other meetings at Preston and Staleybridge. Some only of these meetings have been reported ; but at all the feeling against the Guardians, the Committees, and, in a less degree, the Government, appears to have been most bitter.

One of those horrible cases which make good men blush for being comfortable occurred in London on Sunday last. On that day Sarah Jarvis, an old woman of 67, died of starvation. It appeared at the inquest that she and her daughter were sempstresses, earning between them 3s. a week by making shirts at 1d. each. They had, besides, is. 6d. a week from the parish and two loaves of bread, and 91. a week from a married daughter ; but out of the total they had to pay ls. 9d. for mit, leaving 3s. 6d. for fire, light, food, and clothing. They refused to go into the workhouse, and the authorities (Shoreditch) refused to give any more, un- less they did go; so the mother gave way and died of in- sufficient food. In the workhouse the two could not have been fed for less than a shilling a day; yet the parish would not give sixpeuce to keep them alive outside. These guar- dians seem to forget that in a country where the soil is the property of a few, the p )or-rate is a compensation, as well as a charitable allowance.

On Tuesday night Mr. Forster moved for a Select Com- mittee on the Game Laws, giving as his reasons for demanding an inquiry, that the whole law of the subject is quite uncer- tain; that even the Act of last session has received from Chief Justice Erie a very different interpretation to that put upon it by the majority of the House ; that the tendency to merge the game laws, so far as possible, in the ordinary larceny laws of the country, and to waive altogether merely feudal rights, is becoming more and more pronounced; and that, as a conse- quence of this tendency, the disposition to demand the rating of game, and to throw the enlarging exptnses of the police system on to such rates, is growing rapidly among the tenant- farmers. Ile was met by an amendment, asserting that it was desirable to wait for such an inquiry till the operation of last year's hasty Act—which touches only the extreme margin of the question—should have been fairly tasted; and though Sir George Grey announced formally the wish of the Govern- ment to have this Committee, the HOLM was deafened by vociferous cries for a division, and the question shelved by a majority of 19 (176 to 157). Thirty-five Liberal members distinguished themselves by voting with the mover of the amendment and against inquiry ; out of which number Mr. Adeane, Mr. Gurdon, and Mr. Coke, at least, who certainly represent tenant-farmer constituencies, may yet find reason to regret their votes. The tenant-farmers who elected Mr. Bull will be disposed to gnash their teeth when they see Mr. Adeane's name in the majority.

The 3,000,000/. seven per cent. cotton loan of the Confede- rate States is out at last, and is received with great favour in London, as well as in Paris, Amsterdam, and Frankfort, where it was issued simultaneously. The terms are an interest of seven per cent. at 90, equivalent to about eight per cent. interest, and a title to cotton at the rate of 6d. a pound for every bond of Confederate stock thus held, or 4,000 lbs. of cotton for 100/., this to be claimed at any time "not later than six months after the conclusion of peace between the present belligerents." If then the holder chooses to run the risk of running the blockade, it appears that he may have his cotton as soon as he pleases after the 60 days' notice of con- version, which he is bound to give, has expired. But, of course, for the bulk of those who may take up this loan, it will be spectilative on the chance of an early peace between the North and South. If after the peace with the North is made, the South is (otherwise) at peace, the cotton will be delivered at the ports of New Orleans, Savannah, Charleston, and Mobile ; if the South is at war with any foreign power, then it will be delivered at points in the interior within ten miles of a railroad or stream navigable to the ocean. The whole loan is highly speculative ; but the scrip has already reached five per cent. premium, and the amount nominally applied for in London is said to be 5,000,000/., or five times as much as will be allotted in London. The lists will be closed on Saturday at two o'clock.

A man named Garner, and a woman named Whittaker, were on Tuesday tried before Mr. Justice Willes. They were charged with having poisoned Hannah and Jemima Garner, former wife and mother of the male prisoner. Whittaker was servant to Garner, and his mistress, and it was proved that Garner kept quantities of arsenic and arrow- root in a drawer ; that milk prepared by Whittaker had made several persons sick, with all the symptoms of arsenical poisoning; that these symptoms had been observed in the death of Garner's first wife Hannah ; that Whittaker had often wished the death of the mother ; that the son behaved with excessive brutality; that after her death he married Whittaker; that arrowroot had been given to the mother under most suspicious circumstances ; and that arsenic in quantities was found in the exhumed bodies of both wife and mother. The jury found both prisoners guilty, but only of manslaughter, and the judge sentenced both to penal servi- tude for life. The verdict is unintelligible. The fact of crime was proved, the motive for crime, the means made ready for crime, and the impossibility that anybody else could have committed the crime ; and yet they abstained from a verdiat of wilful murder. The only explanation is that the jury shrank from a truth which would have involved a capital sentence.

'The Marquis of Harlington has been selected ite Junior Lord of the Admiralty. There is nothing to be said against the appointment, and nothing for it, except that it is as well that the representatives of the great English houses should be introduced early into official life. Mr. Roebuck raised the Name question again on Tuesday night, attacked Lord Hanover with just asperity, and vindicated Mr. Alfred Buggy's claims to change his name as soon as he pleases, as often as he pleases, and to be recognized by all the world under his new name every time he likes to make the change. Mr. Roebuck's claim is a little too extensive. Mr. Buggy, as we have often said, or any other victim of a heartless Nominalism, should in mercy be permitted, on payment of a moderate fee, to change his name once in his lifetime, and to have for that change of name all the guarantees of official recognition which a change by Royal licence now gives. But if you are to change your name at pleasure, without cost of any kind, and can always demand recognition by your latest choice, the world might soon be a prey to utter confusion, personal identity itself might be endangered, and the world forced to resort to that primeval habit of inventing graphic adjectives from which names originally sprang. In our zeal for freedom let us remember the danger of anarchy—even in names. The privi- lege of aliases is usually left to those who wish their name to disguise, rather than to express, their career. Even the widow ww married six other brothers in succession was evidently pu ed, if we may believe the Pharisees, to know who she was, and the difficulty was natural.

The death of Mr. Gully on 9th March has recalled atten- tion to a very remarkable career. He began life as a butcher's boy, but entered the Ring, in which, though he refused the championship, he was tolerably successful. Retiring in 1808, on account of an accident, he set up a public-house, and then betook himself to the Turf, in -which he accumulated very considerable wealth. Purchasing Ackworth Park, near Pon- tefract, he was twice returned for that borough, and used to right; but we hope the working classes may endeavour to be quoted as the proof of the degradation to which the Reform Bill had brought England. He lived to the age of eighty, retaining his interest in the Turf, and died father of a large family, whom he had kept in comfort out of turf winnings. He was one of the very few men of his stamp and period who ever won a place in English society, and supplies a curious. illustration of the ingrained respect of the English gentry for sport.

The New York journals of the 4th inst. published a rumour announcing the evacuation of Vicksburg; but up to the 7th it had not been confirmed, and was generally discredited. The Northern fleet was, however, reported by Southern journals to be ready for the attack, in spite of the loss of the iron-clads Indianola and Queen of the West. A rumoured defeat of the Federals in Tennessee has been, however, confirmed. Five regiments under the command of Colonel Coburn, advanced on Springhill on 4th March, when they were surprised by General Van Dorn, at the head of 18,000 men. They resisted desperately, but their ammunition was exhausted, and the whole or part of four of the five regiments, the 33rd Indiana, 19th Michigan, 22nd Wisconsin, and 85th Indiana were corn-. pelled to surrender. The cavalry and artillery escaped. General Gilbert, in command at Franklin, thirteen miles to the North, is censured for not forwarding reinforcements ; but the details have, as yet, been received only by telegraph. The action shows that the Confederates .intend to attack General Rosecranz again, Van Dorn's movement being intended to turn his flank.

The Greek debate on Monday night was remarkable only for the imprudence of Mr. Layard, the tardiness of the Tories, and the reckless cruelty with which Lord Palmerston treated them, knowing that they would not lift a finger against him. The Tinder Secretary for Foreign Affairs gave the Greeks the go-by, in order to launch out into a long panegyric on Turkey at their expense, and Lord Palmerston, trying to bring back the subject to the point at issue, permitted himself to invent several false motives for the Tory critics of his policy, accusing them of grudging the popularity which England had attained in Greece, and dela wish to play into the hands of Russia. The charge was partly jocular, but very truculent in tone, and brought down a reply from Mr. Seymour Fitzgerald which certainly proved that Lord Russell, after refusing' Prince Alfred to the Greeks, had, for diplomatic reasons, per- mitted, and even encouraged, our Minister at Athens to pro- long the flirtation' as though the hasty "no" might still be followed by a bashful "yes." Considering the game which Russia was playing, this did not, perhaps' merit so much noble indignation as Mr. Fitzgerald, stung by Lord Palmerston); needless taunts, lavished upon it. For the rest, Lord Palmer- ston hinted that yet another candidate for the crown of Greece is hatching; but the shell is not yet broken.

It is believed in high quarters in Italy that the Empress of the French has undertaken a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, whence she will return by way of Rome, take up her quarters at the Quirinal, and be joined for a time by the Prince Im- perial. By this arrangement she hopes, no doubt, that her prayers for the Pope will gain in efficacy. Does the Pope's own faith go as far? Would he not prefer keeping up a con- stant feminine pressure on the Imperial will, to these doubt- ful expedients for winging the lady's prayers with greater momentum to the throne of grace ?

We have reason to believe that M. Farini will not long be able to retain, even nominally, the portfolio of the President of the Italian Council, as his health is breaking rapidly under the strain. His successor will most likely be Count Paso- lini, the present Minister for Foreign Affairs, who, though by no means the ablest man in the Cabinet, commands by his noble, disinterested, and spotless character, a wider public influence than even the ablest of his present colleagues.

On Wednesday a meeting of working men, convened by the Working Men's Club and Institute Union at Mile End, listened to a clever address from Mr. Ayrton, who maintained that the working classes had now reached the same level of social culture and need as the middle classes had attained. when, in the middle of the last century, their clubs first sprang into existence. He thought that these clubs would diminish intemperance, as the clubs of the higher classes had done, by dissociating social converse from drinking, and pointed out the superiority of the new clubs to the straitlaced mechanics' institutes of the last generation. We hold Mr. Ayrton to be avoid the social evils that have frequently ensued on the club life of the London middle classes. Probably no cause has tended to increase the number of self-centred comfortable bachelors, and the evils incident thereto, so much as the luxuries which the clubs open to single men. The Council of the Working Men's Clubs and Institutes will, we are sure, not be blind to this danger, which it is not difficult to avoid.

The Prussian Government last week made a very odd advance to the Liberals. The Minister of Justice asked leave to prosecute a facetious little paper—the Punch of the high Tory party—for libelling the Chamber of Deputies. It is called the Little Reactionary. The Chamber refused its assent, and, later in the debate, was asked for 35,000 thalers secret-service money for the Ministry of the Interior—no doubt the prize, for the purpose of securing which, this gene- rous offer to prosecute the petty tormentor of the Liberals had been made. A deputy remarked that "if the Govern- ment journal, the Great Reactionary, had been delivered up to their vengeance, the sacrifice might have been worth while." But to confiscate the fool's bauble would be a poor compensa- tion for renewing the bamboo of the Minister's rod.

Mr. Bright has promised to take the chair next Thursday evening at a meeting of Trades Unionists at St. James's Hall, "in favour of the Northern States of America and Negro Eman- cipation," when he will, no doubt, deliver one of his most striking speeches. It is a curious and significant fact that he, a capitalist, a political economist of the old Manchester school, a bitter opponent of the Ten Hours' Bill, and of all inter- ference with the natural laws of demand and supply, long held in that matter to be a Pharisee of the Pharisees, should meet his old opponents half way by consenting to become their spokesman and representative in that great cause of working men's freedom which is being fought out on the other side of the Atlantic. No doubt he will tell them, as he has told them before, that the powerful organiza- tion which they unwisely devote to social and economical purposes, would be infinitely more effective if turned to political purposes,—that it is the want of such an organization 'which keeps the slaves in slavery, and that political freedom once achieved, social independence and an equal division of class-burdens follow inevitably in its train. But even if the heavy blows which Mr. Bright is sure to deal on all sides, against the slave oligarchy first, against our own aristocracy next, and, perhaps, against the supineness of our working classes too, should inspire, as they usually do, more hatred of tyranny than love of liberty, more shame in enduring the government of others than ambition for self-government, yet there is "a time to rend as well as a time to sew," and in this case we can scarcely doubt that Mr. Bright is choosing his time well.

The political news from America this week has been of but trifling importance. The Republican Congress has risen, having first voted the Ways and Means Bill authorizing the President to raise 180,000,0001., the Conscription Bill, and a bill giving Mr. Lincoln the power to suspend the Habeas Corpus. Its successor will not be summoned till December; but the Senate, with 17 new members, has taken its seat, as its presence is necessary to legalize certain appointments. It appears certain that the Democrats intend to continue the war; but the Legislature of New Jersey has denounced the Con- scription Bill, and the Kentucky Convention has called a meeting of representatives of the Mississippi River States. A recent bill taxing speculation in gold has had the effect of pricking the bubble of speculation, and the price has sunk from 72 prem. to 54. it would have collapsed of itself, and the legis- lation was therefore uncalled for; but the declining price seems greatly to have encouraged the North, who seem to forget that it is the over issue of paper, not speculation, which is forcing prices up.

London was rather startled on Wednesday by a telegram from Cork, announcing that a body of people had been rioting in the streets, which had at last been cleared with the bayonet. It seems that a section of the population of Cork belong to the party of which the Nation is the organ, and objected to the illuminations on the 10th March. Accordingly, they broke other folk's windows in order to establish liberty of opinion, and getting drunk with their own ideas, proceeded to more serious outrage, whereupon the magistrates cleared town. We thought the theory of the Nationalists was at Ireland was a nation, with Queen 'Victoria for a Sovereign;

but this mob seems to have been disloyal as well as dis- unionist. The Prince should visit Cork. This kind of "king's evil" in Ireland is easiest cured by the touch of a king's hand.

A great meeting was held at Guildhall, on Tuesday, on behalf of the Poles, attended by a considerable number of Peers, members of Parliament, bankers, and others of stand- ing. The meeting carried unanimously resolutions condemn- ing Russia for "substituting a system of confiscation, exile, and massacre," and asserted the duty of "every Englishman to labour to obtain the cessation of all diplomatic intercourse with Russia, until the present state of things in Poland be put an end to ;" and the meeting would evidently, if allowed its own way, have gone much further. The most effective speech of the evening was, perhaps, that of Lord Shaftesbury, who, called on unexpectedly, marked very distinctly the difference between this and an ordinary revolutionary move- ment. He read a letter from Langiewicz declining the aid of Garibaldi, lest his movement should partake of the revo- lutionary character. Such demonstrations are not valueless, if only because they prove to the Poles that wherever civilized men are free their resistance is approved. " Words are but wind," as the Times says; but then wind is not the weakest of motive powers.

Lord Dalhousie, on Thursday, raised a discussion on the amalgamation of the City police with the metropolitan body. It was a discussion, not a debate, the House being almost unanimous, and Earl Granville almost apologizing for not being ready with a plan for instant amalgamation. He would not pledge the Government to introduce a measure, but they had de- manded information. The Duke of Cambridge explained that, fearing the very disaster which occurred, he had pressed mili- tary assistance upon the Lord Mayor, once officially and twice privately, and had at last prevailed on him to accept two hundred artillerymen. Lord 0 verstone declared that the matter was not one for discussion, but for denunciation ; and the absurdity of leaving 700 acres in the middle of 78,000 under a separate authority seems to have appeared to the Peers unanswerable. The real difficulty in the way of improvement seems to be that people still hope for a general reform in the municipal Government of London—a hope, we fear, very far from realization.

The Turks have opened a Great Exhibition of the produce and manufactures of the Empire, visited, as yet, by from three to five thousand persons a day. It would be curious to compare the list with what the same provinces could have sent under Diocletian. Even physical civilization has receded in that quarter of the world.

Dr. Brady's bill, making it penal for people suflering from infectious diseases to travel in cabs, has been withdrawn for the present, owing chiefly to a very improper and very unan- swerable joke of Mr. Henley. It is clear that the bill did not go nearly far enough. Sick people, on the same prin- ciple, ought not to be allowed in the streets, as they may stumble against somebody ; in houses, as they may render them dangerous to the next tenant ; or in graveyards, as those who carry them thither may possibly catch the infection. To make the system perfect, State physicians should examine everybody every two hours, and, on the slightest appearance- of disease, lock them up in a glass case, and put that in quick lime. The utter cruelty of the proposed law, we are happy to say, struck the members, though they are not usually cured in hospitals.

The Confederate loan has constituted the principal topic of attention in the Stock Exchange, and in_ every other department of business the transactions have been limited and at flat prices. It has ranged between about 3 and 5 prem., with very large and numerous transactions, the market being occasionally stimu- lated by quotations from Liverpool, Paris, and elsewhere. The final price was 1 to 5 premium. Consols remain at 92i for transfer, and 921 1 for the account. The New Three per Cents. are at 901 ; the Reduced at 901. Ex- chequer Bills, 4s. to 1s dis. India 5 per Cent. Loan, 1081 1. Greek Bonds have risen to 21f 1 ; Egyptian are 961; ditto, 2nd issue, 961; Mexican, 31f ; Moorish, 91; Peruvian New Loan, 871 ; Portuguese ditto, 47; Russian ditto, 941 ; Spanish Passive, 261; ditto Certificates, 91 ; Turkish 6 per Cents., 1858, are 671 681; ditto, 1862, 681 69f ; and the Consolid6s have improved to 44I 1 ; the New Italian Loan is / dis. to 1.prein.