Public Amusements

intensity of which we have from time to time had indications in the political assassinations which have been perpetrated , has now broken out into open insurrection . The immediate cause is said to be the conscription which has just taken place throughout Poland , but the organised manner in which the revolution commenced shows that it must have been long planned . The scheme was to massacre the whole of the Russian soldiers cantoned in the various towns . Accordinglyat midniht on the

, g 22 nd inst ., at Warsaw anel in every town throughout the province , the revolutionists simultaneously fell upon the various detachments of Russian troops , and killed all the soldiers they found in the houses where they were billetted , and then set fire to several villages . At AVarsaw , after the first confusion was over , the detachments of Prussian military united , and a serious encounter took place between them and the insurgentsand

, the latter were repulsed . Even more serious encounters took place at Plock and other towns . A telegram from St . Petersburg of AVednesday states that the Polish insurectionary bands have taken refuge in the forests , and that in several places the peasants themselves have acted against and even captured the insurgents . At Lublin , says the same telegram , the peasantry captured twenty insurgents , including a

Catholic priest , and handed them over to the authorities . The conscription , it is added , has been carried out at Plock itself without resistance , and Warsaw is perfectly tranquil . A Vienna telegram ou the other

hand , aseerts that the fighting is still sharply kept up . A recent speech of the Emperor is the sole topic of interest in Paris . His Majesty ' s speech has produced a most favourable impression , and is considered as one of his most successful efforts . His flattering allusion to English liberty , which he saiel was the basis of our commercial greatness and maritime power , and the expression of his belief that the same system would achieve the same results in France when the basis

on which it rested were properly understood and acteel on , has naturally resuscitated the hope that his Majesty will , sooner or latter , lay down a large portion of his despotic power , and confer on his people a more liberal and constitutional Government . The conflict between the King of Prussia and his Parliament , far from showing any symptoms of subsidence , seems likely to grow more envemomed . In repling to an address

y presented by the European Consuls , the new Viceroy of Egypt declared his intention of devoting his utmost energies to the Xn-omotion of Egyptian prosperity . He would , he said , enforce order and economy in the financial administration , and would deviate from his predecessors' practice by fixing for himself a civil list , which he should never exceed . By these means he should he enabled to devote all the resources of the country to

the developement of agriculture , and to abolish the fatal system of forced labour hitherto followed by the Egyptian government in its works . Public education and the . administration of justice would be especial objects of his solitude .

AMERICA . —The news brought by the Hammoma anel . Anglo-Saxon from New York , to the 12 th instant , is generally favourable to the Southern cause . The attack by the Federals on Vicksburg had entirely failed , and they had re-embarked and proceeded down the Yazoo River , for the purpose , it was said , of attacking the place from another point . The Confederates , however , were preparing for their reception , anel had erected batteries commanding the river communication between

Memphis anel Vicksburg . The forces of General Banks and Commander Farragut , which took no part in the attack on A'icksburg , are to make a joint effort to capture Port Hudson . The Confederates had attacked Springfield , in Missouri , and , according to one account , had captured it , with a large amount of arms and ammunition ; but according to another , the Confederates had been repulsed . The Confederates have gained a great

success in Texas , where they have captured Galveston anel obtained a great victory over the much-dreaded gun-boats . Five Confederate steamers , armed with guns and protected with cotton bales , boldly attacked the Federal flotilla , captured the Harriet Lane , and so roughly handled the other gun-boats that two of them were glad to escape , while the Federals blew up their flag-ship so hastily that CommodoreKenshaw perished in

. the explosion . The Asia has arrived with New York dates up to the 16 th instant . General Banks anel Commodore Farragut had been repulsed in the Mississippi . The loss sustained by the Confederates at Murfreesboro is computed by themselves at 9000 , and they reckon that the Federal force at Newbern numbers 50 , 000 men . The Capitol at Baton Rouge had been

Public Amusements

destroyed by fire , with all its contents . M'Clernand's expedition had ascended AVhite River . It was said that ten Federal officers had been executed in Arkansas for tbe acts of General M'Neil ; and , according to the Richmond Whig , the Federal officers captured at Murfreesboro woulel he kept in prison until Gen . Butler should be given up to the Confederate Government . It appears that the President's proclamation had almost depopulated the district of Virginia between the Rappahannock

and the Potomac of negroes . Congress had before it a bill to give money to Maryland and Virginia to enable them to emancipate their slaves ; and the Governor of the latter State had called out the militia to repel an attack from the side of North Carolina . A Democratic senator had been elected for Pennsylvania . The financial aspect does not improve . On receipt of the rumour of defeat on the Mississippi , gold , which was on the 13 th at a premium of 43 § in New Yorkrose on the

, , 14 th to 47 ^ , and on the 16 th to 50 . From a speech of Mr . Spanieling , in the Senate , it appears that the Government must borrow in some form 1 , 900 , 000 dols . every day , Sundays included , between the 13 th inst ., and the 1 st of July . In addition to receipts from customs and taxes , 1 , 117 , 000 , 000 dols . would be required to carry on the Government until July , 1854 . A note has been addressed by the French Foreign Minister to the representative of France at Washington ,

contaming fresh proposals of accommodation . He says the North might enter into negotiations with the South in some city to he declared neutral , without discontinuing the war , and that when the representatives of the two parties met the grievances which led to separation might be examined , with a hope that the recollections of former times and common interests might prove stronger than the causes from which the war has arisen . INDIA AND CHINA . —The Calcutta mail brings papers from

Calcutta to the 18 th December , anel from Hong-Kong to tlje 13 th December . The intelligence from Calcutta contains nothing of special interest . The intelligence from China is mainly confirmatory of that already received . The Imperial cause was gaining ground , and the rebels had received more than one defeat . Shang-yu , in the neighbourhood of Ningpo , had been wrested from them by 700 disciplined Chinese , of Ward ' s corps , under Major Wood , 100 French-drilled Chinese under General

Le Brithon , and a corps of artillery under M . Giguel , the Customs agent at Ningpo . The latter was shot through the arm while leading a gallant but rash charge against the enemy . The Taepings have left the neighbourhood of Shanghae . The Imperial troops were heing concentrated in the vicinity of Nankin in cider to besiege that city , and the rebels were collecting additional forces for its defence . The remains of the late Emperor had just been conducted in great state to their last resting-place , about 80 miles distant from Pekin .

To Correspondents.

TO CORRESPONDENTS .

J . AA . —Only did his duty in opposing tho admission into the Order of a man whom he deemed to be unworthy of reception into the Craft . If , in consequence of his independence he was debarred from admission into a Knights Templar Encampment , he has no remedy , the Grancl Lodge of England not acknowledging that Order . It may be some consolation to J . W . to know that the Editor of this paper excluded from the that

was an Encampment on ground , " as ¦ he was in the habit of speaking in Grand Lodge not always to the delight of the executive , he might exercise a similar privilege in Grand Conclave . " AVe recommend our correspondent to follow the example of our Editor , take the matter coolly , and if he wishes to become a K . T ., seek another Encampment . Association with brethren , or Sir Knihtswho can act in the manner he describes can never

g , add either to his self respect or his personal comfort . R . S . T . —We shall not condescend to reply to your questions . THE NEW MASONIC HALL , JERSEY . ERRATUM . —Our subscribers will perceive that in Fig . 4 ofthe illustrations we gave last week , the letters R . A . C E . should be erased , anel in the references on page 15 , the room so marked as

the Royal Arch Chapter Room should be described as the upper part of the Masonic Temple , which being on the Principal Floor , extends up to the roof , and is lighted by the skylight at the top , the windows at the side being marked as blank . The room marked C . on Fig . 4 will probably be the Arch Chapter Room .