NEWS OF THE WEEK.

CONFERENCE, unwilling to do nothing, and unable to do anything, has resolved to republish the International Ten Commandments. In other words, the diplomatists have drawn up a protocol stating that for any Power to lend aid to persons in insurrection against any other Power is contrary to international law. From this premiss it draws the deduction that the Turkish ultimatum is justified, but considers that the demand for compensations should be settled through the Courts, and that the acknowledgment that Greece is in the wrong is implicitly contained in her signature to the protocol. Turkey, after some delay, has signed this paper, and Greece is now invited to sign it. If Greece obeys, it is considered that all danger will be over ; but if not, then Turkey must be let loose, or France " requested to act as the executive" of the Conference. This account is not official, but it is the most vraisemblant we have seen, and it is certainly favourable to Greece. She escapes attack front Turkey, and will, of course, sign and go on as before, with the credit in the Levant of being victor in the struggle. There is not a power in Europe which has not repeatedly broken the rule now for the hundredth time laid down, and not a power which has ever questioned its validity.

The Prince Royal of Belgium died on Thursday night.

The Emperor of the French opened his Chambers on the 18th inst. in a somewhat lengthy speech. "It is not without difficulty, he said, " that on a soil shaken by so many revolutions" a stable Government is founded ; and he intimates that the new Press laws, though they have shown the reliance of the nation on the Emperor's firmness, " have created in a certain quarter a factious agitation." The more, however, subversive minds sought to destroy tranquillity, the more profound has the peace of the country become ; while the new Army laws "have given to our power a development which was indispensable." The " military resources of France are henceforward on a level with its destinies in the world," and she can loudly proclaim her desire for peace. Foreign powers are friendly, the Revolution in Spain not having altered good relations ; the Conference approaches its termination, and if " as I firmly hope," nothing occurs to disturb tranquillity, improvement will go on. The Third Election is approaching, and the new Legislature will be as the past, a supporter of the constitution, the bases of which are beyond discussion. The Imperial Government has given France seventeen years of quiet and prosperity, the Emperor has increased the " rigorous control" exercised by the Assemblies, and the nation " assembled in its comitia " will once more sanction the "intimate association of power with liberty."

The Spanish Elections have ended in a complete triumph of the monarchical party. Of 352 deputies elected, less than 20 are believed to be avowed partizans of a restoration, and between 60 and 80 Republicans, the latter chiefly from the trading cities. This leaves the monarchists with a full two-thirds' majority, provided that they do not fall out among themselves. We cannot avoid a suspicion, however, that Rome, despairing of Isabella and her children, has thrown her strength into the Montpensier scale. The Duke's wife, at all events, is strongly Ultramontane. It is scarcely possible that in a country like Spain the priests can have returned only fifteen members.

We have analyzed the situation in Spain elsewhere, but may repeat here that the contest in Spain is now personal, the parties concentrating their strength on two candidates,—the Duke de Montpensier, a Louis Philippe in little, and Prince Amadeus, second son of the King of Italy, a man of twenty-five, of decided character, with a wife not royal, though noble, and a son of a few months old, just created Duke of Apulia. He is an unknown quantity, but the idea is that the Liberal Monarchists and Republicans will gather round him, and the Conservative Liberals and Clericals round his rival. A coalition may, however, be previously effected, if the Provisional Government should ultimately resolve to present either as its own candidate.

Mr. Austin Bruce, the Home Secretary, has explained to the electors of Renfrewshire his reasons for advising the Queen to reprieve Bisgrove, the Wells murderer, and, in consequence, he has been sharply attacked by the Tory press for explaining his reasons at all except to Parliament, and by the Pall Mall for the reasons he has assigned. Both attacks seem to us of very trivial importance. When Parliament is not sitting, no better opportunity for such a statement could be chosen than a speech to any electoral body. The electors of any constituency have clearly a right to know, if its earlier disclosure be not dangerous to the public service, all that Parliament has a right to know ; and as the Pall Mall very truly observes, the public service requires that important statements of this nature should always be made at the

the Crown is advised to use its prerogative of mercy.

The Pall Mall's criticism on Mr. Bruce's reasons seems to us of still less weight. Those reasons were, briefly, that the man had long been subject to epileptic fits, and regarded as of weak intellect by his neighbours, which did not come out on the trial. Ho certainly acted as scarcely any but a half-imbecile would have acted, lying down to sleep by his victim immediately after killing. him, without any attempt at robbery or any sign of horror at what he had done. To any one who knows the usual effect of confirmed epilepsy on the intellect, the probability that this man was not a fully responsible agent will seem immense, and, of course, to hang such a one would be to demoralize the gallows, if we may so speak. It would have been better to obtain at first the complete medical evidence as to his condition subsequently obtained ; but Mr. Bruce acted on ample moral evidence, and without a respite there would hardly have been time to obtain it before the day fixed for the execution. The Pall Mall is too apt to speak of any lost opportunity of hanging somewhat in the tone of the great French artists in Quentin Durward, Petit Andr6 and Trois Echelles.

Mr. Bruce's political speeches in Renfrewshire have been very good, temperate, clear, and thoughtful. His reasons for accepting the Ballot, which we think quite insufficient, we have set out fully, and rebutted by what we think much stronger reasons on the other aide, in another column. We are very happy to observe that the Cabinet are determined to establish real religious equality in Ireland, and rather to err, if at all, by excess in over-scrupulous exactitude in removing every ground of cavil, than by defect. This is certainly a resolve on the right side, and we are glad to hear that even as regard glebes and parsonages there is to be perfect equality for the future,--strict impartiality, whether obtained by subtraction or by addition. In another speech he gave some curious statistics which told as a graceful compliment to Scotland, and were certainly much more than complimentary to Scotland, creditable to her. Whereas, in England 1 in 1,500 children are attending what may be called middle-class schools,—i.e., secondary schools above the primary,—while in France 1 in 500 attend such schools, and in Germany 1 in 250, in Scotland 1 in 201 of the population attend such schools ; so that while England strikes the lowest educational note in the European scale, Scotland strikes the highest,—at least as regards secondary education. And even as regards the higher education,—University education,—where England ranks higher,—while in England 1 in every 2,500 of the population goes to some University, and in Germany 1 in every 2,600, in Scotlancl—]jn every 1,000 attends the University, and of the Scotch Unireraity students 58 per cent.,—much more than half,—come from the poor schools,— the primary schools,—and not from the middle-class schools, and only 42 per cent. from the middle-class schools. No wonder Scotland returns no Tories to speak of !

Mr. Justice Keogh, after a trial lasting only three days, has decided that Mr. Whitworth's election for Drogheda is invalid, owing to intimidation. He laid down the law that the matter was not of private, but of public interest ; that every man in the constituency had a right to give his vote without injury, threat, or insult ; that the intimidation even of a few voters vitiated an election, because the intimidation of one man alarmed many ; and that it was illegal for a priest to tell a voter that if he voted in a particular way "his salvation would be impossible." The people of Drogheda, who have been accustomed to a good deal of " fun " at elections, and think a few broken heads a bagatelle, seem thunderstruck at the decision, and have offered the seat to Mr. Whitworth's son. His election will probably be quiet, and we should think the Court's proceedings will be studied with some interest in Newport, and Blackburn, and Staffordshire generally. This Act is going to work.

Mr. Baron Martin decided on Thursday that Sir H. Stracey (Conservative) was not duly elected for Norwich, but that he was not guilty of any personal knowledge of, or consent to, the bribery which undoubtedly did take place, in very considerable quantity, towards the end of the day of poll. Sir H. Stracey is therefore unseated,—the scrutiny was abandoned, so that Mr. Tillett does not gain the seat,—and will, it is understood, be disqualified under the old Act,—not the Act of last session,—from sitting in the present Parliament. Bribery was brought home to a man named Hardiment, who had absconded, and who, as it was shown, canvassed the constituency at the request of some of.Sir H. Stracey's leading supporters, and in company with the candidate's own son, Mr. Stracey. Mr. Baron Martin very justly said that this was moral proof of agency, though Sir H. Stracey himself knew nothing of the man. " I should be bringing this tribunal or any other tribunal," said Baron Martin, " into utter -contempt, if I failed to draw the conclusion that that man was acting under the authority of Sir H. Stracey in doing what he did." But the judge quite exonerated Sir H. Stracey from any knowledge of the bribery, or from having in any way provided the money. The great problem, he said, which he still wished to solve, was, where the money to bribe really came from. He declared it clearly proved that between half-past one and the close of the poll on the day of polling there was a vast deal of -small bribing, and he intimated somewhat grimly the doubt whether indeed " there would ever be another election in Norwich." Costa were given to Mr. Tillett both for his expense in proving his own innocence of bribery, and the bribery for which Sir H. Stracey was responsible. On the question of the prevalence of general corruption in Norwich Mr. Baron Martin did not pronounce very decidedly,—but he seems likely to report that it existed.

The self-accused Norwich murderer, Sheward, has been again called up this week on remand, but the evidence did not throw much fresh light on the question as to his guilt. The survivors of the surgeons who had certified in 1851 that, in their opinion, the woman murdered had been a young woman under 30, were examined, but evidently did not conceive their own evidence entitled to very much weight. The relatives of the first Mrs. Sheward were also examined, and testified as to their (very moderate) curiosity at the time as to the causes of Mrs. Sheward's disappearance, and the evasive replies given by her husband. He seems to have been charged by his wife's sister, on one of these occasions, with being a "false man." It was also shown that Sheward had made the acquaintance of his second wife before the disappearance of the first, and that some remarks had been made as to his intimacy with her. Beyond these points the evidence was of no interest.

The Middlesex magistrates met at the Sessions House, Clerkenwell, on Thursday, to discuss the appointment of Roman Catholic chaplains for Roman Catholic prisoners, and rejected the proposal by a majority of two to one,-64 to 32. Mr. Bagsbaw, who moved the resolution for appointing Roman Catholic chaplains, stated that Father Branow, who had been appointed to visit Roman Catholics in Coldbath Fields' Prison and the House of Detention, had been specially summoned no less than 1,000 times in thirteen months, besides his regular visits, to attend prisoners who were, or fancied themselves, to be ill,—and that he had administered to 940 communicants, which requires very early attendance, as the elements must be administered fasting ;—yet our bigoted Middlesex magistrates,—acting on the same principle as the Oxford bigots acted with regard to Professor Jowett,— that if they cannot prevent his attendances, they will, at least, not pay him as they would pay a decent Protestant,—dedined to vote him a salary. Mr. Serjeant Payne, who moved the amendment, said the Catholics were rich enough to pay the Chaplain for themselves, as " they had now got the Marquis of Bute." Mr. Woodward said that " Rome would never allow toleration at all, or obey the law laid down by their Divine Creator, ' Do unto others as you would that they should do unto you,' "—and so, to justify the Catholics, Mr. Woodward declared against obeying " that command of our Divine Creator" himself, in this case. In short, the anti-Roman party was about as imbecile in its reasoning, and malignant in its temper, as it was successful in its vote.

General Grant has give one clear indication of his views as to Southern policy. A Senator of Louisiana pleaded for money to repair the Levees, and was bluntly told in reply that General Grant hoped Government would give him none ; that Northern men with ample capital were kept out of the State ; that the large landowners were as hostile to the Government as ever ; that the negroes would work if properly paid ; that the South would not divide the lands, and that the people of Louisiana " would have to build their own Levees or wait under water till they were willing men should come in who would build them." There is a whole policy in that reply, distinct, frank, and unanswerable, and we believe the abler Southerners will yet come to terms with the North.

The chances of Marshal Lopez appear to be even better than we had believed. We were under the impression that he bad lost Villa Rica, the fortress connected with Assuncion by railway, but he has only lost Villeta, and the Brazilians have not yet penetrated a mile into the interior. Moreover, it appears from the Diario Official of Rio that Angostura was not "taken," but only " abandoned ;" and from a telegram signed by the Marquis do Caries himself that instead of 3,000, "there remain in our power upwards of 500 prisoners, among whom are various officers of high rank," while the Visconde do Herval admits a Brazilian loss of 1,500 men. Lopez was not at Villeta at all, the command there having been left to General Caballero. The Brazilians will have to " end the war " a great many times yet before it is ended.

The Post Office seems to have discovered a scientific mare's nest. It has officially recommended a clever machine, invented by Mr. Sloper, to prevent the theft of stamps. This machine perforates the stamps with the initials of the persons using them, " thereby rendering them useless," writes Mr. Sloper, " except to their owners." How so ? Suppose all stamps used in Somerset House are stamped with the broad arrow and a hundred are stolen and sold, how is the Post Office to know that the buyers are not Government clerks? Are they to open every letter?

It is not a little unfortunate for the religious party in the Doncaster race controversy, which still rages, that they have imitated the precedent set them by the Israelites in spoiling the Egyptians, and have accepted contributions in aid of their sacred objects from what they would upon other occasions have spoken of as " unhallowed gains." As much as £10,000 was, it is averred, accepted from the Doncaster Corporation, and so, mediately, from the Races, in aid of the rebuilding of the parish church,— and the other " religious necessities of the ratepayers," to borrow a phrase put into the mouth of the Corporation, have likewise had their hush-money. On the other hand, the real strength of Dr. Vaughan's position can scarcely be displayed before a general public, for though the mention of horse-races may in the minds of many who attend them bring up only the associations and recollections of a pic-nic delightfully enhanced by occasional apparitions of airy, graceful, yet forcible quadrupeds, skimming along in flights as though the earth were too earthy for their hoofs, their "nightside," combining, as it does, what Homburg was before the Prussian conquest with what our Haymarket was within the last halfdozen years, does not admit of exposition virginibus puerisgue.

As it seems to us, the multiplication of railways has introduced a fresh condition into the question of the maintenance of horseraces near great centres of population. It is impossible to keep Lupercalia and Floralia within the limits of decency when you allow them to be celebrated within the reach of vast residua. The Eton Montem has been abolished on this ground, and game preserves ought to be similarly abolished, when they are similarly accessible and similarly liable to become causes of offence.

The Reform League is getting tired of itself, and no wonder Next Wednesday a resolution, already agreed to by " the Executive," is to be submitted to the League, declaring that, " having regard to the unadvisability of long-continued agitation," the League will dissolve itself, after carrying a few more little points. These are household suffrage in counties, better distribution of seats, a simpler and wider lodger franchise, and the Ballot. The man who says he shall commit suicide when he has made a million usually intends to live, and the League if it adheres to this programme will certainly last as long as this Parliament. The ratepaying clauses must go, and the Ballot will probably come, but Parliament has other work to do than tinkering the suffrage again. Household suffrage in counties will be, but every year helps the lads educated in the National schools nearer to majority.

The Admiralty has issued a Circular directing that all officers -under their command shall be as economical as possible, particularly avoiding all unnecessary work. Officers in command must watch over stores and coals, officers in charge of dockyards should forbid unremunerative work, and all officers should restrict writing as much as possible. The order is, we presume, intended to warn the entire Service that economy is the order of the day, and may as an advertisement of that fact be useful. Otherwise we should have thought the Navy already aware that Government would vather it cost nothing. We note as a really more important fact that the orders are issued not in the name of " My Lords," but of the "First Lord and the Board."

The Poor-Law Board has issued an order directing the Guardians of certain London parishes to refuse relief to ablebodied persons -except on condition of work. " The Guardians shall within thirty -days report to the Poor-Law Board the place or places at which ablebodied male persons shall be set to work, the sort or sorts of work in which they or any of them shall be employed, the hours and mode of work, and the provisions made for superintending the whole working." If the work is real work, and not oakum-picking, this will be an experiment the result of which will be watched throughout the kingdom. Mr. Goschen, moreover, has authorized the Guardians " to grant any relief which may lawfully be given by way of loan," another most useful experiment. Why all relief to ablebodied persons under fifty should not be by way of loan we do cot see.

The Italian Government has discovered that a multure tax is open to what in Italy is an insuperable objection,—it is selfassessed. The millers were called on to tell the collectors how much they ground a year, and the millers wouldn't. So the Government is putting grist registers in every mill,-20,000 and more machines certain to be falsified. The register looks clever, but we suspect a licence 6 grind flour, levied like the licence to sell tobacco, would be far more effective.

The Board of Trade reports that in 1868 there were 45,652,000 acres under cultivation within the United Kingdom, of which 11,659,000 acres were under corn, 4,865,000 under green crops, -5,690,000 under clover and "rotation grasses," and 22,164,000 under permanent pasture. In every 100 acres in England 42 are pasture ; in Wales, 56 ; in Scotland, 23 ; and in Ireland, 64. "There was an increase of corn last year of 227,000 acres, and iu Ireland 200,446 acres were under flax. In England, without Wales, there were 3,779,000 cattle and 21,930,000 sheep, or rather more than a sheep per person. The number both of cattle and *beep is increasing pretty rapidly.

Lord Carnarvon, the Bishop of Chester, and Mr. Buxton, M.P., thanrbeen appointed the new members of the Ritual Commission, in the place of Sir W. Page Wood and Mr. Cardwell, who have joined the Ministry, and have no longer time for such work,—and of the late Archbishop Longley. These gentlemen are characterized by the Record as "the High-Church Lord Carnarvon, the vacillating Gladstonian Bishop of Chester, and the latitudinarian Mr. Charles Buxton," and it denounces the appointments as signs of Mr. Austin Bruce's ultra-high sympathies. What it wanted apparently was three good Evangelicals bent on proclaiming war to the knife with Mr. Mackonochie. As far as we can see, if the Commission is to be an impartial body, which of course is just what the Record fears, Mr. Bruce could not have done better. The late Archbishop has been fairly replaced by the Bishop of Chester; in exchanging Sir W .Page Wood for Lord Carnarvon, the High Church probably gain a shade, but they probably lose more than a shade in the exchange of Mr. Cardwell for Mr. Buxton. What would the Record have? Can it not endure to have its cause represented even on Ritualism by a " Broad-Church " man ? Mr. Buxton's breadth of intellect may be an abstract grievance to the Record, on the Commission or off it ; but it surely won't weaken its cause in this particular matter, to be represented by a man of large culture and wide sympathies?

The Ritualists have solemnly protested against the recent judgment, and Mr. Mackonochie has written a very earnest and rather bitter letter to last Saturday's Times against the present ecclesiastical Courts of Appeal, and also against secession. He prophesies that if this Court of Appeal be not overthrown, and any one is prosecuted for disbelieving "that our blessed Lord is God the Eternal Son, the Court which now forbids lights to be burnt in His honour would gladly complete its work by acquitting the blasphemer." The Court would probably " gladly " interpret the law on broad principles, if the law is not well defined, for that is its regular legal rule ; but what does Mt. Mackonochie hope from its overthrow ? Apparently the setting-up of a clerical Court in its place, and the driving-out of heretics and evangelicals, instead of the secession of ritualists. That is natural enough—for him. But what seems to us puzzling is how his theory of a supernatural grace penetrating the Church as an ecclesiastical organization can hold out against the heresy, or, as he would say, "blasphemy," which has marked so many even of its ruling powers century after century, without being expelled. If strictly universal orthodoxy is essential to the Church's supernatural organization, he had better get out of it as quickly as he can. It is not there now, and is not likely to be there.

A fireman named Grimahaw, employed in the Brigade, did a brave thing last Sunday. The house of a Mr. Barlee, at Notting Hill, was on fire, and Mrs. Barlee had already perished, when Grimshaw and Buckland, in the effort to save the housemaid, reached the roof from an adjoining house. They found the roof too steep to walk on, and without gutter or coping. Grimshaw, however, tied a rope round him, which Buckland held, and crawled down the roof to the edge, whence, guided by the screams, lie flung a line to the housemaid. The woman tied it many times round her waist, and then Grimshaw, "lying back on the roof without foothold," drew her along in the air from her own window to the window of the next house. If that account, which we take from the Telegraph, is not the invention of a sensational reporter, Grimshaw deserves the Victoria Cross as truly as any soldier ever didi and may be complimented on his strength besides.

A French paper states that every seventh day ex-Queen Isabella receives a small parcel containing the chemise which Sister Patrocinio has worn during the preceding week, and that she wears the dirty garment for the next seven days. This is indeed realizing literally the schoolgirl's bad translation of ' the last shift of love,'—"la derniere chemise de ramour."

Owing to the continued abundance of money and the aspect of Continental politics, the Stock Markets generally have presented a firm appearance, and the quotations have been on the advance. Consols have been in demand for investment, and the closing price yesterday was 93i, both for money and account. Foreign Bonds have been buoyant, at improving rates. Turkish and Spanish stocks have been largely dealt in. The announcement of a dividend of { per cent. on the London and Brighton ordinary stock imparted great firmness to the Railway Share Market, and prices tended upwards.