The Week.

FOREIGN INTELLIGENCE . —The draft of the address which the French Senate is about to debate was read on Tuesday , during the sitting of that august ancl "devoted" body . It praises everything that the Emperor Napoleon has said , clone , or proposed ; and perhaps the only noteworthy paragraph is one which says— " England has decided that she will abstain from taking part in the congress . Her exceptional position allows

her , perhaps , to be less sensible than your Majesty of the dangers of the statu , quo ; but the other governments can only gain by establishing a state of things which will no longer be menaced nor misunderstood whatever happens . " The Emperor of Russia ' s reply to the Emperor Xapoleon ' s invitation to a European congress hacl been published in Paris . The Czar

professes his desire to " substitute relations of confidence and concord for the state of armed peace weighing so heavily upon the people , " and declares that his sincerity has been sufficiently attested by the reduction of his army until " eventualities of a nature to menace the security and even the integrity of his states alone caused him to abandon this path . " He will be

happy if the Emperor Xapoleon ' s proposal should lead to a " loyal understanding between the Sovereigns ; " but the consent of all the great powers is needed ; and it is indispensable that the French Emperor should " define questions upon which an understanding would have to be arrived at , and the basis upon which it would he established . "

Count Reohherg has made in the Austrian lleichsratli a declaration similar to that of Count Bismarck in the Prussian Parliament . He said that Austria and Prussia were not released from the obligations of the treaty of London , but if Denmark appealed to that treaty they were entitled to require that she should first fulfil the stipulations on which the treaty was founded , They owed it to themselves to cany out the " federal

execution" already ordered , " expressly reserving the right to examine the hereditary succession ; " ancl at the first signal from Frankfort , Austria would despatch the required number of troops to the Lower Elbe . The question regarding tho succession to the Danish territories was not clear , and needed a legal investigation . " But "the decision of a tribunal must not be anticipated by a one-sided proceeding against the de facto

possessor , " and it must be remembered that , as the Prince of Augustcnburg laid claim to other territories besides Schleswig and Holstein , Germany might " plunge into a European war simply that an Augiistenburg Duke might reign instead of a Glucksburg . " The Austrian Cabinet attached the utmost value to Prussian co-operation , ancl was determined to observe

treaties , and uphold " within legal limits" the interests of Germany and "German kindred in the Xorth . " The German Diet ultimately passed , on Monday , though only by a small majority , a resolution for '' federal exeuution " in Holstein , but " reserved to itself the settlement ofthe question of succession . " Orders were immediately issued for tho entry of federal troops

into Holstein ; and it only remains to be seen whether these orders will be immediately executed , and whether the Danes will offer forcibleoppositionto the occupation of thednehy by German troops . The proclamation by which Christian IX . withdraws the royal patent of the 12 th March was issued on Tuesday at Copenhagen ; but the spirit of the Danes is sufficiently shown by the

disapprobation with which this conciliatory measure seems to have been received by the Danish press . The Swedish Diet was closed on Tuesday with a speech from the Throne . His Majesty expressed anxiety for the maintenance of European peace , ancl sympathy for Denmark . A telegram from Vienna states that an extraordinary credit of 15 millions of florins is to bo asked of the Reichsrath to meet the expenses of the Schleswig-Ilolstein expedition . The Prussian Government

The Week.

have demanded of the Chamber of Deputies a loan of twelvemillion thalers to meet the expense of the proposed military execution in Holstein . The Xational Assembly at Athens have sent a deputation to King George to express its regret at the death of the King of Denmark . INDIA AND AUSTRALIA . —The Bombay papers confirm the

telegraphic accounts of the dangerous illness of the Earl of Elgin , ancl attribute it to the effect of the fatigue he suffered in passing the Routang Pass on foot . A telegram to the 17 th says that Earl Elgin remained in the same state . They also contain further accounts of the attack on the hill tribes on the-Xorth-AA ' est frontier of our troops . Though the latter suffered

severely , they inflicted much greater loss on the rebels . The other news is not of great importance . A Melbourne despatch brings us from Xew Zealand the satisfactory news that General Cameron had successfully attacked the position occupied by the Maoris . According to accounts from Japan , by , way of Shanghai ! " affairs were quieter . " Sir John Lawrence had au audience

with tho Queen on Saturday , ancl did the usual homage on his appointment as Viceroy of India . His Excellency will leavethis country for Calcutta on the 10 th inst . Sir George Clerk , who has been twice governor of Bombay , succeeds him in the India Council at home .

AMERICA . — By the arrival of the Asia we have some important items of news from America , and among them we learn that Knoxville was not completely invested , the Confederates having withdrawn from the south side of the river ; that Burnside has declared that he will hold the town : that the sea wall of Fort Sumter had been destroyed , the Confederates constructing bombproofs on the ruins ; that a reconnaissance

under Grander had been made near Chattanooga , the result being that Granger occupied the elevations , upon which he directed his attack , carrie ' tl the rifle pits in front , and moved through the forest before him , driving in the Confederate picquets . The news brought by the New Yortc is very unfavourable to the Confederate forces

in Tennessee . The success of the Federals in drivingtho Confederates from Missionary Ridge and Look-out Mountain into tho valley , was followed by tho complete rout of Bragg's army , which in its retreat towards Dalton was hotlypressed by the Federals , who had captured a largo number of guns ancl some thousand prisoners . Tho northern accounts go

so far as to say Bragg's army was destroyed . General Longstreet had not assaulted Knoxville , but his batteries commanded the city . He had no time to lose , as a Federal force was moving to relieve Burnside . General Meado having put his army in motion , crossed the Kapidan on the 26 th and 27 th , the Confederates offering no opposition . On the 2 Sth heavy cannonading

was heard all day near Orange Court-house . Xo particulars of the engagement had been received at Xew York , but unfavourable rumours reached the city which caused a rise in gold of four percent . The Federals had been repulsed in a demonstration on rafts against Fort Sumter .

To Correspondents.

TO CORRESPONDENTS .

INQUIRER . —The supposed number of regularly paying members of the Order is supposed to be from 16 , 000 to 20 , 000 , but there is no means of accurately determining . "A SETTLER , " relative to Lodge 600 , is not written in a style suitable to our columns ; and , moreover , the author has not sent us his name .