NEWS OF THE WEEK.

NEW Years'- day passed in France without the explosion which, since 1859, has always been more or less anticipated. The Emperor, as usual, received the diplomatic body, but he did not grieve over his relations with any great power, or exalt the Pope, or even administer the expected snub to Spain. He simply hoped that the year would be peaceful, and as nobody can very well go to war without his consent, the hope has been received with pleasure on all European exchanges. Napoleon cannot, of course, control all the forces which, from Holstein to jeddo, are working for evil in the world, but their action can almost alwaysbe calculated,while his is always inscrutable, and as Sir Lytton Bulwer would say, it is the Unexpected rather than the Terrible which really alarms the world.

Further accounts of the battle of Fredericksburg only deepen the impression produced by the earliest narrative. The defeat was one of sickening magnitude. General Burn- side, it is evident, crossed the river with an army of more than a hundred thousand men ; he hurled them against batteries planted on the slopes, and defended by at least the same number, and he continued the onslaught for eleven terrible hours. The men behaved magnificently, marching to certain death again and again, till it would seem as if Burnside could, had he chosen, have continued charging till his army had disappeared. As it was he lost upwards of 15,000 men to the Confederates' 1,800, and individual brigades were almost annihilated. General Meagher saved only 250 of the Irish brigade, 1,200 strong, General French lost all but 1,200 out of 7,000, and General Hancock admits the loss of half his entire division. Two days after, &win..b which time the Confederates did not stir, the army was withdrawn in safety across the Rappahannock, but desertion has recom- menced on a great scale. Three regiments of Massachusetts recruits lost seven hundred men in three days after the battle. General Burnside has, it is rumoured, resigned ; but the story, like the rumour of General M'Clellan's recall, requires strong confirmation. By the latest ads-ices no change had been made.

Either Liu rope, though infallible, clearly does not know his Bible, or ldr. IAQuter is playing into the hands of the Bible Society, who will doubtless improve the occasion of Papal ignorance. The telegram yesterday positively informs us that His Holiness expressed, in a long speech, his conviction that "repentant Piedmont" (not Italy) "would fall at the feet of the chair of St. Peter, as Jacob prostrated himself before the angel, after having wrestled with him all night in ignorance of his origin." To ordinary interpreters it would seem that the Pope made a slip. Jacob, after compelling the angel to bless him, was addressed by him in these remarkable words, "Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel, for as a prince thou hest power with God and with man, and hast prevailed." That we take to be a tolerably good omen for Italy ;—her name shall be no m.ore Piedmont but Italy, for as a prince she has wrestled with both spiritual and secular powers, and has prevailed. How could the Pope make so unfortunate an allusion ?

The Revenue Returns show, on the whole, little of the de- pression which we might expect in a year of so much trouble to Lancashire. Mr. Gladstone's estimate for the Excise, in- deed, will probably be much over the mark,—for the first three quarters of the year the deficiency in this department is 1,265,000/., and there is little chance, we understand, of any recovery in the last quarter ;—but, on the other hand, the Cus- toms have already exceeded his estimate by 649,500/., and the deficiency in the Property-tax will probably be, more or less, made up in. the last quarter. Comparing the actual receipts with three-quarters of Mr. Gladstone's estimate for the year, we find as follows :— Three Quartera of Chan- cellor's Estimate.

4 Nine Months Receipts.

4 Excess on Esti- mate.

4 Deficiency of Estimate.

L Customs . .

17,662,500 18,312,000 649,500 — Excise . . 13,755,000 12,490,000 — 1,265,000 Stamps . . 6,468,750 6,620,000 151,250 — Land and As- sessed . . 2,385,000 2,793,000 408,000

Property-tax. 7,575,000 6,677,000 — 898,000 Post Office . 2,737,500 2,695,000

42,500 Crown Lands. 225,000 221,000

4,000 Miscollaneeus 1,706,250 1,591,815

124,435 China Indem-

127,500 nity. . . 127,500

— --

52,612,500 51,389,815 1,208,750 2,461,435

Three Quarters of Estimated Revenue . . 52,642,500/.

Receipts for Three Quarters 51,389,815/.

Deficiency on Estimate. . . . L1,252,685

This is not, on the whole, at all a bad account. Of course, the poverty of the working classes would first affect the Excise revenue.

The impression produced in the North by the recent defeat appears to have been one of bewilderment, ending in a cry for the dismissal of the whole Ministry, or at least of lfx. Seward, Mr. Stanton, and General Halleck.% The former gentleman is stated by his own party to have resigned, but no successor is indicated, or apparently even thought of. A mass meeting composed of leading men of all parties is to be held at New York, to urge some course of action on the President ; but what course is evidently not decided. Only tendencies are perceptible, that of the Democrats being to upset Mr. Lincoln, offer the South large terms, and on their rejection make peace ; and that of the Republicans to rein- force Burnside, call up deserters under penalties, and try the chances of war once more. We regret to say that the Tribune, always the best indicator of Republican ideas, asserts im- mediately after the defeat, "this rebellion will be crushed out at latest by June." The party has, lost iu its misery all sense of the meaning of events.

We would call attention to the remarkable account of the cotton distress in France supplied by eur French correspondent. It is, if less diffused, scarcely less in intensity than that of Lancashire. In one department alone 102,000 persons are out of work, and subsist by roaming at night from house to house, and demanding, rather than asking, alms. There is no poor law, and the French with all their virtues are thrifty to an extreme. Up to the end of the week the highest estimate of the collections for the workmen was only 24,000/. Why indeed should men subscribe when they are paying 1,500,000/. a year as civil list to an Earthly Providence ?

The weekly reports of Lancashire distress confirm the pleasant news of an apparent turn of the tide, the register of A correspondent of the Times has revived the controversy as to the right of people to change their surnames, and adds to his letter a list of annoying or quasi indecent names. The real difficulty seems to be one not so much of law as of practice. Anybody may change his name, but then any official may refuse to recognize him by it, to his very great inconvenience. It is doubtful still whether an unlimited right to change names might not prove a nuisance ; but the law ought to be rendered clear. Why not invest the Heralds' College with power to grant a new name for a moderate charge, with authority to exercise a discretion when the new name selected has an historic value? "Mr. Buggey," who professes to write to the Times, might then change his name as of right, but could not without cause shown become Mr. Buggey de Vere.

The London Gazette announces that the Lucknow prize- money is available for distribution. Lucknow was taken in March, 1858, just four years and ten months ago. The delay, which is not in any degree exceptional, is most dis- graceful to the departments. Every shilling of the prize had been turned into cash before 1860, and after that any clerk in the Quartermaster-General's office, or the office of Military Audit, could have compiled in a month an accurate list of all entitled to share. The subsequent delay is due solely to the official imbecility, which would rather throw an army into mutiny than have accounts wrong by a penny. There is, however, one way of preventing the oppression for the future. Let the Secretary for War and the Commander- in-Chief be held entitled to five per cent., and lot them be paid last of all ; prize-mcney, we venture to say, would be divided invariably within six months of its capture.

All the Bishops, save one, have signed an exhortation, discussed in another column, to the various Boards of Railways not to run excursion trains on Sunday. By shutting the working people into London they hope to get them to Church. Would it not be well to carry out the same policy by entreating the Boards to double or treble the Sunday fares or even asking the Government to put on a differential duly on every place of Sunday resort, except Church ? The boldest logic of this school would be to pay at once for the attendance of members, but' the tame episcopal idea of spiritual influence prefers fines to bribes. The Bishops evidently despair of making prayer popular, and are content to secure its being customary. St. Paul would scarcely have feared competition with a Brighton promenade.

The prefectural councils of France,—tribunals before which cases relative to public works, highways, taxes, water- courses mines, and above all, elections, are tried,—have been hitherto secret; but are henceforth, M. Persigny says, to be open. The election cases were often disposed of in the most iniquitous manner, and the concession of publicity to the trial cannot but have a wholesome effect upon the elections of the approaching summer. pauperism having declined by some four thousand names. One cause of this diminution is a desire on the part of some of the charitable committees to take on themselves families supported out of the rates, and so increase the grants from London, but the main cause is the recommencement of work. The stocks of the world are at last almost ex- hausted, the prices of piece goods are rising, and by twos and threes the mills are reopening for partial work. It is too early yet to decide whether the movement will continue, but in Lancashire itself the feeling has spread that the worst of the crisis is past.

The Manchester operatives have taken a very noble line on the Slavery question. They well know that the war de- prives them of their living, and that the policy of the North in refusing to permit the extension of Slavery is the cause of the war. This has, in great measure, nerved them to endure the misery they have suffered with fortitude; and at a meeting held in the Free-trade Hall, at Manchester, on Wednesday, they passed enthusiastically an address to Mr. Lincoln, assuring him of their full sympathy with his eman- cipation policy, and their hearty admiration for his firmness in holding fast to it. This testimony will not be one of mere verbal sympathy,—it is testimony sealed with the suffering of hundreds of thousands, and ought to give more genuine pleasure to the North than the warmest eulogy of merely literary friends.

The Board of Trade Returns show very little decrease in the trade of the country during the Tear. The "computed real" value of the imports of ten months for 1860, 1861, and 1862, is :- 1860. 1861. 1862.

£133,288,851 £142,681,873 4189,641,618

The "declared" value of the exports of dam months is :- 1860. 1861. 1862.

£123,714,276 £115,855,004 £113,280,77'a

The imports of wheat continue very large, especially from the United States • and of raw silk, both from China and Egypt,. exceedingly large values are imported. The imports os cotton have in the eleven months fallen off about 65 per cent.. in quantity on the imports of the same period last year, while the imports of flax have increased nearly 50 per cent., of hemp 20 per cent., and of jute nearly 10 per cent. In the export trade the exports of woollen cloths are increasing- very rapidly.

The speeches of the week have not been remarkable. We do- not criticize sermons, and have therefore nothing to say on Mr. Gladstone's eloquent pulpit oratory at Chester, which, with a text and in the cathedral, would have been in place. The substance was admirable, but the exposition clerical. Mr. Cardwell contrived to say nothing on Thursday to- the Oxford Druids at considerable length and in a very admirable form. The Lancashire men were very justly eulogized for having in their own persons

"Learned how sublime a thing it is to suffer and be strong." The French treaty was praised in this connexion the Prince of Wales's marriage extolled, and the commonplaces very nicely said. Mr. Horsman also made a speech this- day week to his. constituents at Stroud, which expressed great content with the armed neutrality of England, and, for the first time, considerable confidence in the Ministry. He looks. evidently to ultimate mediation between North and South, though be did not wish to accelerate it. The remainder of his speech was excellent common form.

Reactions besides the Ultramontane prosper in Paris. The Rev. Archer Gurney, the Paris chaplain, who is evidently a zealous man, and probably successful in other matters besides the purely liturgical, chose Christmas-day for one of the- most singular addresses that has, perhaps, ever been delivered from a Christian pulpit. He began by observing that his. congregation must, he was sure, have been long sensible of a great want. The canons prescribed two candles for the altar,. but the poverty of the church did not admit of decent ones. being provided. For the midnight service of Christmas-eve- a pair had been hired, which, it was painful to think, might be converted to meaner uses afterwards. For Christmas-day there were none. If any of his richer communicants had been restrained hitherto from offering candlesticks by a fear- that their presence in an Anglican church might seem dan- gerously like Catholic practices, he, their priest, would pro- mise to set the fear at naught. Even bad the text of the ser- monbeen other than mere verbiage about "the condescension of the Prince of Peace," frittering away the great mystery of the Incarnation from a fact 'of all time into a relaxation of strict heavenly etiquette, no thoughtful man could have profited much by it after such an exordium. Surely, the festival of Christ's birth is not a day for cleaning the outside. of our platters ! Nor can there be any question of duty in the matter. If Mr. Gurney thinks himself bound to obey the canons, he should do it thoroughly, and use wood, earthen- ware, or electrotype, till he can procure the more costly mate- rial with which he believes God to be best pleased.

M. Fonld may be a brilliant financier, but certainly he is not a clear one. It appears to be his policy so to patch each budget from quarter to quarter, as to confuse the public imagina- tion, which naturally limits itself to the small expedients resorted to in the last patch. We have now had four distinct estimates for 1862,—the ordinary and the extraordinsry twin budgets which always appear together —the supplementary in October, which was equivalent to patching both these ; last of all, an extra-supplementary budget late in December, which can scarcely yet be supposed to close the whole accounts of the year. In our issue of the 11th October will be found the supplementary budget on which M. Fould's last statement is a rider. In that statement, after using extra- ordinary resources to the amount of 4,606,5441., he had still a deficit of 2,180,6731., which, however, he hoped to provide for by two resources,—one, the artifice of postponing to January 1st dividends to the amount of 1,400,0001., • which would ordinarily have been paid in December, and the other by cancelling credits formerly accorded, which he thought would not be necessary. M. Fould now adds that these resources will not be sufficient, that the Minister of War will need 320,000/. (8,000,000 francs) more than he had expected,—the Minister of Marine 640,000/. (16,000,000 francs),—and he himself 440,0001. (11,000,000 francs) to pay the premiums on the exportation of sugar,—altogether, therefore, 1,400,000/. beyond what had been expected. If now we put down what the deficit of the year would have been without very special and extra- ordinary resources, not likely to be available again, we shall find as follows :--

Final admitted Deficit 1,400,000 Proceeds of 30 years' bonds . . . . 1,433,344 Sum gained by postponing payment of Dividends 1,400,000 China Indemnity 400,000 Spanish Payment. . . . 1,000,000 Balance of Inundation Loan of 1855 . 80,000 Balance of Loan of 1859 1,693,000 £7,406,344

or more than seven millions sterling. Therefore, though the admitted deficit is not quite a million and a half, the account is far from a cheerful one. M. Fould adds that the whole cost of the Mexican expedition will be for the year 1862 3,320,000/. (83,000,000 francs) which, if it be really the true and final account, is not so large as we should expect. M. Fould says what seems perhaps a little sanguine, that ho still hopes to see the budget of 1863 balance itself without in- creased resources. It was voted, he says, with a surplus of 320,000/.,—and should the taxes and Customs prove as elastic in 1863 as in 1862, there will be a rise of 2,400,000/. in the receipts over and above the estimate ;—altogether, he hopes, with certain little savings and the aid of this natural elasticity of the revenue, to get surplus receipts to the amount of 4,400,000/., which he thinks will pay the cost of the Mexican war in 1863 ;—but M. Fould is sanguine.

The intelligence from Mexico is still very unsatisfactory to France. General Forey has occupied five points, Vera Cruz, Jalapa, Orizaba, the Western road, and Tampico, and finds his army of 40,000 men still insufficient. He has, as he advances, to protect his communications with the coast, to fur- nish escorts for every pound of bread sent from Vera Cruz, and to send out large parties to collect the means of carriage ; the vomits thins his ranks, and, though the Mexicans do not attack, their movements render it necessary to keep the core of his army always ready for action. -Under these circum- stances he has demanded reinforcements of ten thousand men, who are being collected from Algeria, Rome, and the Southern ports. This reinforcement will be scarcely sufficient. If. Fould already calculates his expenses at 3,320,000/., and a dislike of an expedition which uses them up so fast is spreading among the soldiers. Month by month the absolute necessity of reconcil- ing France to the waste of treasure and strength by turning Mexico into a colony becomes more strikingly clear.

An event at once menacing and bizarre is reported from Japan. The Japanese have resolved to remove the teat of government from jeddo. The great feudal barons, availing themselves of the dislike to foreigners, and using the spiritual Emperor as an instrument, have succeeded in abolishing the law which compels them to reside in that city. As Jeddo is dependent on their expenditure the capital is destroyed, and the Tycoon, whose authority is based on his direct hold over them, is deprived of most of his power. The spiritual Emperor gains, and his policy is to declare the treaty made with the Tycoon null and void, as it had never been signed by himself, the only supreme head of the State. The Europeans are greatly alarmed, the Tycoon is said to have asked assistance from Europe, and Sir Rutherford Alcock declares that we must either retire from Japan or employ armed force. Neither alternative is pleasant, for while, on the one hand, retreat will stir up all Eastern Asia to resist our ingress, on the other, the administration of China offers work enough for one gene- ration.

The Greek Revolution does not advance. Mr. Elliot has arrived in Athens ; the Greeks are now well aware that they cannot obtain Prince Alfred ; and the National Assembly has apparently postponed its vote. The people are excited and angry, and wholly disinclined to accept the recommendation of the Powers. King Ferdinand they say is a Catholic and a German, and his title, Don Fernando, which in England suggests a pompous magnate, in Greece suggests only a priest. Some talk of electing an Englishman, Mr. Gladstone and Lord Stanley being the favourite candidates, but the majority adhere to their purpose, and declare that they will wait till Prince Alfred is old enough to announce his own will. He has struck the popular imagination, and every other name after him lacks taste to their mouths. Mr. Elliot has pro- ceeded to Constantinople, to try, it is said, whether the Porte can, in consideration of certain guarantees, be induced to make the kingdom worth having by the cession of Thessaly.

The Italian Government has commenced a new crusade against brigands. Death dealt out wholesale, it is found, ceases to terrify, particularly when the judges are too afraid of criminals to convict. Orders have, therefore, ban issued to remove all judges who shrink from their duty, to break up all municipalities which shelter criminals, and to employ transportation as the final punishment instead of death. The criminals are to be sent, in the first place, to the little island of Lampedusa, and, subsequently, to a spot on the coast of Africa, the Government obviously thinking, with some jus- tice, that to quit Italy for any place, except Heaven, is punishment adequate to any crime. They seem scarcely to have advanced to the knowledge that the way to suppress brigandage is to make the communes rich by perfect inter- communication, and then to hold the inhabitants responsible for all disorder. The railways suppressed highwaymen.

There is trouble brewing in Servia. Some 80,000 muskets were recently seized in the Principalities on their way to Prince Michael ; but Prince Couza, Hospodar, refused to retain them, as they were the property of his very good friend. The Five Powers then addressed a note to Prince Michael, asking why he was arming, to which he simply replied that he was not arming against the Porte. It is believed that he intends to assist the Montenegrins in a new outbreak, which is believed to be close at hand. The mountaineers, whatever treaties they sign, must still have something to eat ; and as they cannot get it without seizing their ancient territory in the plain, they are, so to speak, compelled to hurl themselves on the Turks. If Prince Michael moves to their aid, all European Turkey will at once be in insurrection.

The Austrian Budget for 1863 fixes the total expenditure of the year at 367,087,748 florins, and estimates the total revenue at 304,585,094 florins, leaving a deficit of 62,502,634 florins. To cover this deficit, partly taxes are to be raised, partly a lottery loan sold; and over and above this a loan of 12,000,000 florins is authorized. The following is an analysis of expenditure:—

18C3.

Civil List ... Reich srath Cabinet ...

Council of State ... Foreign Affairs Ministry of State ... „ for Ecclesiastical Affairs

1.1.0

Florin.. 7,458,700 726,537 76.600 151,837 2,486,159 25,727.580 4,724.500 Provincial Chancelleries ...

18 572,185 Ministry of Finance ...

21,584,766 Ministry of Justice ...

9,150,567 „ of Police

2,645,676 Commerce ...

4,613,142 Other Branches

1,386,200

War

107,023,000 „ Special Revenue ...

5,777,040

10,481,619 Quota. of Interest to Companies

4,843,050 Interest on Debt ...

113,698,750 Old Debts ...

18,870,550 Railway Telegraphs ...

5.061,961 Loss on Bills and Coin REVENUE. ***

•••

7,118,420 Dinecr TAxts.

Florins.

Land Tax ...

62,481,260 Buildings Tax

19,261,860-

Trade Tax ...

5,814,900 Poll Tax ...

5,271,000 Legacy Tax ...

29,500 Income Tax ...

15,157,700 Taxes on Military Quarters

1,799,100 Ixpinzar Trars.

Excise

•••

57,678.700 Customs ...

15,247,515 Salt ...

0,059,600 Tobacco

30,901,470 Stamps

13,116,519 Taxes on Legal Professions

21,271,639 Lotteries ...

6,034,400 Post Office ...

8,714,240 Tolls

2,928,600 Stamping Metals ...

66,500 Venetian Dues

106,010 Indirect Taxes on Military Quarters

155,564 Revenue from State Lands ...

7,615,187 Other receipts

2,874,520