The Week.

The renowned Bicknell collection of paintings and sculpture Avas dispersed under the auctioneer ' s hammer , on Saturday . The sum realised by the sale was £ 58 , 600—ten Turners fetching about one third the Avhole amount . A great fire , resulting in the destruction of property to the extent of £ 25 , 000 , occurred at York , on Saturday morning . The warehouse of Messrs .

Clarke and Co ., Avholesale druggists , Avas entirely destroyed ; and some adjoining premises , including a A \ esleyan school , were very seriously damaged . Another of the Peruvian soldiers concerned in the lute fetal mutiny at Blackwall , has been committed to Newgate for trial on the charge of wilful murder . Joseph Bz-ooks , who was found guilty of the murder of a

policeman at Acton , at a late session of the Central Criminal Court , suffered the last sentence of the law on Monday . The young woman Lake , to whom he was to have been married a day or two after the murder Avas committed , had a parting interview with him on Friday , at which both parties were painfully affected . G corse Woods and Duncan M'Phail were executed

at Kirkdale , on Saturday , for the murder of Mrs . AA alne , at Ribchester . FOHEIGN INTELLIGENCE . —Tho French Corps Legislatif has passed the whole of the budget by a A'ery large majority . The session has been prolonged to the 7 th May . Official despatches received in Paris announce an engagemeirt in Mexico in which

the French ^ obtained a very cheap victory . The Russian troops are reported to have received a heavy defeat in an en . counter with the Polish insurgents Avhich took place last Saturday near AVarka , in tho south-east of tho AYarsnw division . The loss Avhich the Russians sustained is described as very serious . The report , too , does not come from Cracow—the

source most favourable to the Poles—but from Thorn , in Prussian territory . There is as yet nothing known regarding the reply which Russia will give to the Great Powers , but the Paris Conslitulional states that moderation and courtesy are sure to characterise the Czar ' s answer . The Nord declares itself authorised to state that the relations between the courts of Russia

ancl Sweden are perfectly untroubled and satisfactory . Ihe Russian police prohibited a religious procession which has been customary at this season at AAlu-saw ; hut Archbishop Felinski and his clergy disregarded the prohibition , and the procession took place . Tho Archbishop , several cannons and priests , and some other persons , were consequently arrested ; but it appears that the Russian Cabinet , sensible of the implicity of such a

measure at this time , immediately telegraphed orders for their liberation . Langiewiecz has been conducted Tischnovitz to the Bohemian fortress of Josephstadt . It is believed that he had attempted to escape , having previously announced that he Avithdrew his parole . It is stated that the conditions on which Prince AVilliam of Denmark has accepted the Greek

Crown provide that he shall not change his religion , relinquish his contingent right of succession to the Danish throne , or quilt Denmark . before he has attained his majority , and that the Great Powers shall " guarantee the existence and the frontier " of the kingdom of Greece with the Ionian Islands , shall like . vise guarantee the King a civil list of £ 50 , 000 a year , and eventually

a suitable appanage , " and shall endeavour to induce King Otho and the Bavarian royal family to renounce all pretensions to the Greek throne . Mexico advices , conveyed to us by way of New York , state that on the 21 th February General Forey had established his head-quarters Avithin a mile of Puebla , ancl that f lie French were expected to commence the bombardment of

the city between the lOfcl : and loth March . INDIA . —A despatch from Bombay announces that the hill for preventing the adulteration of cotton has been passed by the Legislative Council .

The Week.

AMERICA . —The repulse of the Federals at Charleston was sufficient , as we learn from the advices brought by the Canada , to convince Admiral Dupont that a second attack would he at least as unsuccessful as the first had been . He therefore withdrew his iron-clad steamers to Port Royal , whence it was supposed they would proceed to the Mississippi ; and General Hunter ' s troops likewise returned to Port Royal . The

attempts to reduced Alcksburg had likewise been relinquished—General Grant having " moved away his forces , " with which it was supposed that he would proceed to reinforce General Rosencranz in Ti nnessee , or would move into the interior of the State of Mississippi . Admiral Farragut was said to be " blockading " Red River , though one Southern rumour affirmed that

he had been entrapped into such a position between two batteries that he could not pass either ; and it was reported that seven Federal iron-clad steamers would endeavour to run past the A'icksburg batteries ancl proceed to his assistance . Official accounts shoAved that the engagement at Franklin , Tennessee , had resulted unfavourably to the Confederates—General Van .

Horn having been repulsed , with a loss of 300 men , by the Federal General Granger . The Prize Court of New York wasabout to try the ease of the Peterhoff , and had in " vain requested the British Consul to attend when her mail bag was opened , or to open it himself . But the Federal Cabinet , more prudent than its officials , afterwards telegraphed orders that the mail

hag should not be opened " until further instructions ; " Lord . Lyons having demanded that it should be returned unopened * . There was , it is said , a strange report that Admiral Wilkes was "detained as a paroled prisoner , " at Havana , " until he could

explain why the randerlidt had fired a shot at a Spanish coasting steamer . " The latest advices from New York to the 18 th , state that , Gen . Foster has been relieved at Washington , North Carolina . A steamer conveying a regiment and supplies had succeeded in reaching him . The Confederates appear to be generally on tho aggressive . 'To tho number of 30 , 000 strong , under Loivgstreet , they were investing Suffolk , intending to cut off communication with Norfolk . According to au account in one

of the Richmond papers they had taken AVilliamsburg , the Federals retiring to Fort Magruder , from which place they bombarded the town . The Confederate General Wise wasabout to attack Fort Magruder . It is stated that an attempt has been made to flank the Confederates at Fredericksburg . General Stoneman had crosssed the Rappahannock and pushed on to Culpepper and Govdonsville , which he occupied . This

broke the line ofthe Virginia Central Railroad . On tho Mississippi there had been little of importance . A fleet of Federal gunboats was said to have gone up the Colilwater River . A Federal iron-clad had been abandoned and destroyed at the mouth of the Amite River . The want of food is evidently pressing A'ery severely upon the £ outh . Jefferson Davis hasfound it necessary to issue an address to the people , praying

them not to plant cotton or tobacco , bnt corn . He states that measures are being taken to obtain supplies of meat , only half rations of which , he says , have been supplied lately to some of of the Southern armies . The Governor of New York has sent a message to the Legislature of that State , urging it to pass a measure for enabling soldiers to vote . Some of the New York papers have very bellicose articles in respect to England .

To Correspondents.

TO CORRESPONDENTS .

ERRATA . —In Pro . Perton Cooper ' s communication , " Monks Members of old French Lodges , " at papes 208 and 269 , for " visit of importance " read '' " visit of inspection , " and for . " rule of Pope Clement XII . " read " bull of Pope Clement XII . " A P . 51 . and R . E . X . will see that the publication of their letters is rendered unnecessary by th o explanation of the Chanwllov of the Exchequer published in our second page . STABILITY LODE or I NSTRUCTION—Our report of the proceedings

^ . at the Annual Festival of this lodge is unavoidably postponed . M . incvsis thanked for his good opinion . R . S . T . shall have immediate attention . THE PtEroRT of the General Chapter of Royal Arch Masons for Scotkincl and the Colonics arrived too late for insertion this week .