The Week.

right in the year 1836 , when the present Lord Campbell was attorney , general . Lady Stratheden was in her sixty-fifth year . By her death , the Hon . AV . Campbell , M . P . for Harwich , attains a seat in the House of Lords as Baron Stratheden . The Alaster of the Rolls has given judgment in the case of Stainton r . the Can-on Iron Company . He abrogated the compromise recently entered into with the trustees aud executors oi : Air . Stainton's estate , the ground for doing so being the fact that since the adoption of the compromise in question , it has been discovered that

Air . Stainton ' s frauds extend over a much longer period than was then supposed . Air . Simon T . Scrope , of Danby , Yorkshire , has preferred a claim to the ancient Earldom of AViltshire , which , if allowed , will place that gentleman above the Earl of Shrewsbury , as Premier Earl in the Peerage of England . Air . Scrope claims that title as heir male , aud representative of the unfortunate earl to whom Shakspeare alludes in his "Henry IV ., " and who was executed by the Duke of Lancaster ( afterwards King Henry IV . ) at Bristol , in 1399 . The movement in favour of drill in

schools is spreading in Aberdeen . At Robert Gordon's Hospital , drill has for years formed part of the " curriculum , " and , occasionally at least , also at the gymnasium . It has , however , lately been introduced in one or two of our ordinary seminaries . ——A deputation from the Evangelical Alliance had an interview with Lord John Russell this week , for the purpose of soliciting his lordship ' s interference in a case of gross persecution , alleged to have been perpetrated in Turkey by a Greek bishop a Protestant convert . Lord John Russell expressed his sympath

upon y with the objects of the deputation , and promised to do what he could in the matter . A deputation has had an interview with Sir C . AVood , for the purpose of asking him , as the head of the Indian department , to provide additional facilities for procuring the Indian fibres ivhich are used in the staple manufactures of this country . The deputation pointed out the difficulty and expense of transit ; and Sir C . AVood , in general terms , promised to do what he could to promote their object .

FOREIGN NEWS .- —The all important topic of the week has been of course the measures taken by the imperial ruler of France with regard to the territory of Savoy , which he has so coolly appropriated in defiance of its inhabitants and the indignation of Em-ope . Lord John Russell ' s speech of Alonday , and the unmistakable attitude of the British Parliament have produced a profound impression upon French politicians if not upon their lord and master ; ancl we find the Pays of AVednesday instructed to " express regret at Lord John ' s angry words . " In the

meantime the Savoyard newspapers , not under French influence , protest against any vote being taken , with the question being prejudiced by a treaty on the part of their king . Some of them appeared in a black border when conveying the announcement in the Moniteur that the treaty was sure to be signed . The Savoyard committee , which has superintended the collection of petitions iu favour of annexation to Switzerland , intends to send an address to Paris and to London demanding the annexation , at least , of the northern districts to the confederation .

French troops have already entered Southern Savoy , and a telegram rom Berne says that 600 of them will occupy Aimecy , the capital of Northern Savoy , while , on the other hand , we have the assurance , said to be given by the French Government to the diplomatic rejiresentatives of Switzerland , that the neutralised districts , at all events , are not to be included iu the military occupation at all . In the meantime the Federal Council of Switzerland , which held a sitting on the 25 th , had iven orders to assemble some troops of the contingents of Berne

g , Vand , Neufchatel , Fribouvg , and the AVallis , that is to say , the cantons nearest to the Savoy frontier . On the 26 th the Swiss Ambassador delivered the reply of his government to tho refutation of its protest , to the author of the latter , AL cle Thouvenel , at Paris . It is now confidently expected that England and Prussia will take steps in concert ,

especially for the maintenance of the rights of Switzerland . The result of the elections for the new Sardinian— -or North Italian—parliament , has up to the present , as was to be expected , been fai'ourable to the party to whose exertions the increase of the Sardinian power is owing . The name of Count Cavour is that ivhich appears oftenest in the elections we have to record . The exceeding joy manifested by the French soldiers on quitting Italy seems to have caused some little unpleasant demonstrations at Milan , and certain uncomplimentary farethe Italians of

wells have been uttered by , savouring more ingratitude than of good taste . The excommunications of Cavour causes little emotion . The population of Sardinia repeat with immense glee the repartee said to have been uttered by the king upon the subject , when Cavour , in anticipation of the catastrophe , laughingly sought his consolation , in the idea that he ivould not long stand alone thus disgraced , but that the king ivould shortly be sent by the pope to bear him company . " No , iio ° Cavour" lied Victor Emmanuel"I may follow you to the gates

, , rep , of h , but will never enter with you . " On the occasion of the last demonstration at Rome , which was suppressed by the police , an English clergyman was among those who were wounded . The two French officers who were also accidentally , but slightly , wounded on that occasion , have exchanged visits with the papal officer of the gendarmerie . The Austrian official newspaper says that there is not a word of truth in the confiscated estates of Count Batthyani having been sold . On the contrarytho has handed thern over to the Batthyani famil

, emperor y . This is , at all events , the first time wo hear of the restoration , the date of ivhich is not given . The AVallachian Parliament was opened by Prince Alexander Couza on the 12 th , who told the deputies that the work oi the union of the two provinces might now he looked upon as completed in a diplomatiea ! sense , and that , therefore , they might

The Week.

wholly give themselves up to the consideration of the internal interests of the country . Preliminaries of peace were signed on Sunday between the Spaniards and Moroccans , and an armistice at once concluded . No conditions of peace are given , which , perhaps , indicates that they are not of a nature to give the Spaniards much reason for boasting , iii spite of the victorious battle in the valley of Gualtiras , about a league from Tetuan , which seems to have led " to it . The origin of the Indian wars in the interior of California had been the cause of much

legislative inquiry in that state , and it appears that the aggressive conduct of the whites had been the cause of the Indian forays , and that the atrocities committed by volunteers in these Indian wars had not been equalled in the history of the country . A telegram from Quebec , in explanation of the grant of 10 , 000 dols . per annum for the extension of a telegraph to Belle Isle , says : —It is projected to run a submarine cable from somo point on the St . Lawrence , at below the terminus of the

or present Alontreal Telegraph Company ' s line , to a point on the Labrador shore of the Straits of Belle Isle . The channel at the selected place is so narrow that all vessels passing through the Straits approach within half a mile of the main land . This extension of the telegraph will reduce communication between Europe and America to about six days , as the length of the proposed cable is some five hundred miles , or nearly two full days' steaming distance . The line is to be completed during the summer . From British Columbia

, advices are to the 10 th February . The newspapers at Alctoria were endeavouring to create an excitement from the fact that Lieutenant AI'Kibben , one of the United States boundary survey , at Semiahmoo , on British soil , by consent , went over to Fort Langley , and arrested two deserters from his company . Some of the papers assumed a moderate tone , and exculpated the American officer from any blame .- The Paris papers of Thursday announce that on the previous day two companies of the SOth French regiment entered Chambery , and were received with

universal and enthusiastic acclamations for France and the Emperor . The National Guard wore French Cockades . It is added that all the municipalities are about to vote an address of adhesion to the annexation . This , of course , is French news ; we have got to hear the other

. COMMERCIAL ; ASD PUBLIC COMPANIES . —At the annual election of the Committee of the Stock Exchange , on Tuesday , tiie places of three members who have retired were filled by the following new names , viz ., Air . Faulconer , Air . Payne , of the firm of Af ieville , Payne , and Lawrence , and Air . Louis Cohen . The thirtieth quarterly general meeting of the Conservative Land Society , was held at the offices in Norfolk street , Strand , on Tuesday , the 27 th instant . The report showed a large

increase in the business returns ; the receipts for tho quarter being £ 17 , 883 13 s . Sd ., making an increase for the half-year of 1860 over 1859 of upwards of £ 13 , 000 . The total receipts amounted to £ -142 , 870 Is . id ., and the sale of land to £ 237 , 173 18 s . lid . The Roehampton Park estate has now passed into the possession of the society and sales have been effected of portions of the Putney Heath frontage for the immediate erection of first-class villas . The society has acquired its fortieth estate at Oxford , on the Iffley-road , within a mile of the city .

To Correspondents.

TO CORRESPONDENTS .

R . A . ' —A AI . AI . who was formally passed through the chair in order to exaltation in the R . A ., cannot be recognized as a P . M . in an English Lodge , neither has he any right to wear the levels on his apron . "C . G . H . " writes— "Many Lodges in the colonies holding warrants under the constitution of the Grand Lodge of England , confer the Past Alaster ' s degree to any AI . AI . who wishes it ; they call it passing the chair , and it is occasionally given on the St . John ' s days . Is not this

illegal , as no such degree is mentioned in the Book of Constitutions ; nevertheless many Lodges continue to confer it ?— -Decidedl y illegal . It is a relic of the old working before the Union . " IxQUIHER . "—1 . The law of Grand Lodge does not forbid the admission into a Lodge of a brother , under a foreign jurisdiction , in the clothing recognized by his own Grand Lodge . 2 . It certainly is not

consistent either with law or common sense for a Lodge to refuse a brother admission in foreign clothing whilst they have two' or three brethren in the Lodge wearing the Alark Alaster ' s jewel . No brother has a right to wear such a jewel in an English Craft Lodge . 3 . There is no law of the Grand Lodge of England positively forbidding the admission of an unknown-brother without a certificate , if he can prove himself to be a Alason . England is not the only country where a

certificate is demanded , as we have been called upon to produce ours both in Scotland and in Ireland . " T . R . "—It is clear that you have a right to rank as a contributing member from the time of your initiation , supposing you were initiated in the Lodge in ivhich you were raised—if not from the date of your raising ; but it appears to us that youv Lodge has paid a . quar ter ' s contribution short .