The Press.
London, England, 1858-01-16 00:00:00

THE WEEK.

Ir one was to judge by the newspapers, nothing of great domestic
importance has occurred during the week just elapsed. The growing
schisms and the clashing principles of discordant sections in the
Cabinet receive no illustrations in the Ministerial organs, though it is
perfectly well known that animated discussions of a particular kind
have taken place. This reticence on the part of Ministerial prints
contrasts rather oddly with the unqualified panegyric on English jour-
nalism which a leading organ has been republishing from the Revue
des Dear Mondes. Apart from the contradictory reports as to the
intentions of the Cabinet, there has been little in our domestic politics
to quicken the current of events. Fresh news from India (discussed
elsewhere) has arrived, and all sorts of speculations as to the defeat of
General WINDHAM have been hazarded. The marriage of the Princess
Royal, the bride's trousseau, and the fair patrician damsels who aro to
act as bridesmaids, have supplied private circles with endless subjects
for talk, and a volume might be filled with stories of the diplomatic
artifices employed with a vain hope of obtaining places for
witnessing the important and interesting ceremonial. London has
been startled by the report of an attempt to assassinate the Emperor
of the FRENCH, a species of crime which was far more frequent in the
days when Louts PHILIPPE was on the Throne. His Imperial Majesty
will acquire increased personal popularity by the characteristic
courage which he has signally displayed on this occasion, having been
received with " enthusiastic cheering" by the " immense multitude "
waiting for him in the streets ; and the intelligence of his safety has
given wide 'satisfaction to all classes of society in London, and to none
more than our mercantile world, who well know into what an abyss
France would be hurled iu case of any accident to the Emperor.
The great Indian question has been receiving renewed discussion in its
various aspects. On Wednesday a Special Court of Proprietors was
held by requisition, " respecting the continuance of the powers of
" the Company." The debate which ensued was not equal
in ability to what might have been anticipated, and was certainly
below the level of the talent shown in India-house politics fifty years
ago, and later. In connection with the propagation of Christianity in
the East Indies, the Church Missionary Society hold a meeting on
Tuesday. It was presided over by the Archbishop of CANTERBURY,
and the speech of the day was that of the Bishop of LONDON, who
" called on the whole united Church, and every section of it, not only of
" the Protestant Church, but of the whole body of Christians throughout
" the empire, to unite heart and hand in the attempt to advance the
" kingdom of CHRIST." The tone of ardent enthusiasm in which the
Right Reverend Prelate spoke will be admired by many, but it will be
condemned by not a few. "It was the fashion," said the Bishop of
LONDON, " to scoff at psalm-singing soldiers ; but there had been a day
" in England when it had bee* seen what psalm-singing soldiers could do.•"
This allusion to the " Ironsides " of CROMWELL was not in good taste;
and it was scarcely discreet, as the Bishop of LONDON must recollect
that the extravagance of Puritanism produced a violent reaction in
another direction. The Duke of WELLINGTON was no free-thinker or
free-liver ; and that illustrious man had unaffected reverence for
religion, but his Grace " did not like Methodists in the army." These
are questions, however, on which differences must always exist; but
the preservation of our empire must first be secured, and then will be
the proper time for judicious consideration of the proper means of
Christianising our Eastern possessions, if it be the will of PROVIDENCE
that so great a glory be reserved for us.

It is impossible to over-estimate the universal sympathy that the
Emperor and Empress of the FRENCH will meet with at the hands of
all Europe. A cruel and dastardly attempt to destroy them has failed
of its object, only to fix them firmer in the hearts of their people. The
reception given by the Parisians to the Emperor and Empress upon
their return to the Tuileries on Thursday night may be accepted as an
exposition of the public feeling of France. And the feeling, we are
sure, will be reciprocated throughout England. The escape of
the Emperor and Empress was miraculous. Tho shell,
if thrown, must have struck the carriage, or, having been
previously placed in the road, the carriage-wheel must have passed
over it; and this would best appear to explain the three explosions
reported as having been distinctly heard, for it is scarcely possible that
three shells should have been flung rapidly, in order, at the carriage
as it passed. The carriage was much shattered, ono of the horses
killed, several of the escort wounded, and upwards of sixty persons in
the immediate neighbourhood of the explosion more or less injured.
Three have since died. This atrocious attempt has, we have little
doubt, been committed by one of the same band of bloodthirsty assas-
sins who sent PlANotti to the scaffold. These fiends are the pest of
Europe ; and we sincerely trust that one result of this foul conspiracy