The Week.

Gibraltar on Tuesday with all on board well . She was to leave again the same night . INDIA AND CHINA . —The scanty news brought by the Calcutta and China mail has been anticipated by telegrams . The Jlahommedan conspirators arrested at Patna had been examined , and it was not thought that the conspiracy had very extensive

ramifications throughout India . In consequence of Colonel Neale's vigorous remonstrances , the Japanese authorities had ceased to impede the supply of goods to European traders . A summary of Sir Charles Trevelyan ' s Indian budget shows the surplus for the year 1863-4 was only £ 40 , 000 , but that for the ensuing year is estimated at £ 820 , 000 . The 10 per cent ,

import duties were to be reduced to 7 i per cent . ; but " the valuation of price goods and yarns is adjusted to the market rates , thus doubling the duty . " A telegram from Shanghai reports the advance of Major Gordon against the Taipings . He had captured Eshing and two other cities , and was marching on Nankin . From Japan it is stated that an Englishman had been nearly assassinated at Nagasaki . Sir R . Alcock had arrived at Yokohama .

AJIEUICA . —The announcement of a severe defeat sustained on the Sth ult ., by the Federal expedition up the Red River , is the principal intelligence brought by the Persia . It appears from the account given by the Chicago Journal—the only narrative which has yet been published—that General Banks's army bad been advancing from Grand Ecore , in the neighbourhood of Natchitoches , and that his cavalry had been pressing the

Confederates . On the Sth inst . the commander of the cavalry sent for reinforcements , and Generals Stone and Ransom brought up two divisions of infantry . After a sharp engagement , the Federal cavalry was broken , and tbe infantry fell back in disorder , was so closely pressed by the Confederates that " the retreat became a rout . " A battery of artillery and the baggage

of the cavalry full into the hands of tbe pursuing Confederates , who were ultimately checked by a fresh Federal corps , 7 , 000 strong . The Federal loss was "large , probably 2 , 000 ; " and General Banks's whole army was falling back to Grand Ecore , " where it must wait to re-organise before proceeding further towards Shreveport . " A Confederate rumour transmitted

from Jlobilo asserted that the Federal loss in the . engagement amounted to 11 , 000 men killed , wounded , or taken prisoners ; but the greatness of these numbers sufficiently shows that the rumour was based on no certain information . A committee had

been appointed to inquire into the accounts of the massacre by the Confederates at Fort Pillow ; and President Lincoln had declared that if those accounts were true be would order some retaliation to be made , though he could not yet determine the form or extent of that retaliation . Congress was discussing a bill providing for the introduction of European immigrants , who are to repay to the Federal Government out of their wages the

cost of their passage . The House of Representatives was debating a tax bill , and Secretary Chase had declared in a letter that it would be necessary to provide hy taxation for at least one half of tho Government's expenditure . Intelligence has been brought by the Peruvian , from New York , to the evening of the 23 rd ult . The transmission of news from Virginia had

been stopped by theFederal Govern men t ; and it was consequently supposed that either General Lee or General Grant had put his army in motion . Deserters reported that General Longstreet ' s corps was moving down the Shenandoah Valley , and that ten days'rations had been issued to General Lee's army . General Grant had left AA ashington for the front , and General Burnside had gone to Fort Jlonroe , where large bodies of Federal troops were arriving : from the coast of South Carolina . Tho Confede-

The Week.

rates had suddenly and vigorously assumed the offensive in ' North Carolina , and had attacked Plymouth . An attempt made hy land on the 17 th ult . to take Fort Gray , the work which defends that down , was unsuccessful ; but a ram—probably one of the iron-clad steamers which rumour had for some time asserted that the Confederates were building up the North Carolina rivers — sank three Federal gunboats , and obtained

full command of the river Roanoke below Plymouth , thus intercepting the garrison's communications . Several gunboats had left Fort Jlonroe to aid the Federals , and the garrison of Plymouth was said to be well supplied with provisions , aud to be able to hold out . It was , nevertheless , supposed that the Federals would be compelled to evacuate

Plymouth , but would be enabled to hold Newborn . In Florida the Federals had abandoned Pilatka , and another of their transports had been sunk by torpedoes in the St . John's river . The greater part of the town of Hickman , in Kentucky , bad boon burned by Confederate guerrillas . Nothing was certainly known respecting General Forrest ' s movements—some reports

representing that he was moving into tho state of Mississippi ^ and others that he was marching towards Memphis . The account of the defeat sustained on the Sth inst ., by the Federal

expedition up the Red River , at Pleasant Hill , in the neighbourhood of Natchitoches , had been fully confirmed . It was , however , reported—though the statement was unconfirmed by New Orleans advices , dated the 16 th nit . when the defeat ofthe Sth was known in that city—that the engagement was renewed on the 9 th , when the Confederates " were routed with heavy loss , " three of their Generals , Morton , Pearson , and Green , being

killed . General Banks had , as it was asserted countermanded the order for a retreat into Alexandria : but the Federal flotilla , which had ascended the Red River to a point within SO miles of Shreveport , had been ordered to return , and on its way down the stream had been attacked by the Confederates , wdio were repulsed with heavy loss . The governors of four Western States , Wisconsin ,

Illinois , Ohio , and Indiana , had arrived at Washington for the purpose of urging President Lincoln to call out 200 , 000 volunteers for six months ; and the Governor of New York had offered the services of the militia for the occupation of all the Federal forts in that state . The Confederate cruiser Georgia arrived in the Mersey on Wednesday . The object of this

unexpected visit is not known , but it is rumoured that an effort will be made to sell the vessel , on the alleged ground that she is unfit for the service in which she has been employed for some time past .

To Correspondents.

TO CORRESPONDENTS .

T . B . —A brother who has passed the chair of your lodge is a P . JI . of it , even though lie should have resigned the lodge ; and on visiting it had a right to stand up with the other P . Jl . ' s in acknowledgment of the toast . S . S . —Certainly not . T . 0 . —Your question is simply ridiculous .

J . AA . S . —AVe think in 1792 . W . B . —In the Scientific Lodge , Cambridge . A . A . —See our report of last week . E . V . —Answered next week . JI . A . A . —A very voluminous article on the same subject appeared in our columns a few weeks since . Yours is

consequently declined with thanks . J . M . ( Belfast . )—It was in 1852 Her Jf ajesty graciously became Patron of the Boys' School . A . B . F . —In a few weeks .