on the 21st ult., and, by the direction of Mr. Wyse, the
blockade of the Piræus was renewed. The treaty was
then resumed, and the Greek government having
conceded terms with which our minister was satisfied, a
convention was entered into, and Admiral Parker raised
the blockade. Since then the relations between the
British minister and the Greek government have been
friendly. The Greek vessels damaged during their
detention were repaired by order of Admiral Parker,
and subscriptions were made among the officers of the
English fleet, to supply the necessities of some of the
masters and crews. On the 4th, Mr. Wyse had an
audience of the king and queen, to announce the death
of the queen dowager of England, and was treated with
marked courtesy.

On the 25th of February, The Emperor of China died,
having survived the Empress Dowager (whose death
took place on the 23rd of January) only thirty-three
days. He is succeeded by his eldest surviving son, a
youth of nineteen, who will bear the title of Sze-hing.
The Emperor's death is said to have been hastened by
a fright he received in a conflagration within his palace.

The intelligence from New York comes down to the
17th inst. The public mind in the United States
continues to be agitated by the slavery question, in
connexion with the admission of California, New Mexico,
and Texas, into the Union. A debate on this subject,
in the Senate, on the 17th April, produced a Disgraceful
Fracas between two of the leading members. In the
heat of a violent altercation, General Foote drew a
pistol from his pocket, cocked it, and coolly presented it
at his opponent Colonel Benton. Several members
instantly rushed upon him and disarmed him, just in
time, it would appear, to prevent a fatal catastrophe.
An investigation was to take place into this scandalous
affair.—The discussion of the question in the Senate
ended in the appointment of a "Compromise Committee,
"consisting of seven members from slave-holding
and six from non-slave-holding States; and this
Committee has agreed to a report, prepared by Mr. Clay,
which recommends, in substance, the admission of
California and New Mexico, without any reference to slavery
whatever, and recognising the right of Texas to be
divided into four additional states, with or without
slavery, as the people within them, whenever there is a
sufficient population, may desire.

The wife of Professor Webster, now lying under
sentence of execution for the Murder of Dr. Parkman, has
made a strong appeal for mercy for her husband to the
governor of Massachusetts. Her appeal is seconded by
a considerable portion of the American press, who still
doubt the guilt of the professor. His counsel have also
taken out a writ of error, on the ground of some
irregularity in the proceedings.

At Lowell, the American Manchester, Several Cotton-
Mills had Stopped, whereby 3500 persons had been
thrown out of employment. This is accounted for by
the great increase of manufacture in the Southern States,
which, annoyed at the northern attacks on their favourite
institution of slavery, have resolved to manufacture
as much as possible for themselves. In only four of
the States—South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, and
Tennessee—there are at present 150 cotton-mills. A
competition against the manufactures of New England
is also begun in the West—in Ohio, Kentucky, Illinois,
and Indiana.

                                             NARRATIVE OF LITERATURE AND ART.

OUR glance at the leading publications of the present month comprises few save books of travel and
compilation; but we have to record another step in advance on a subject of infinite importance to
Education and Literature. Lord John Russell has officially conveyed to the governing bodies of both
Universities his views and intentions in advising a Royal Commission of Inquiry into the state and revenues
of Oxford and Cambridge. He desires to facilitate the reforms of study already begun at both places in
the direction of general knowledge, the growth of modern literature, and the discoveries of physical and
chemical science, by removing such local restrictions or obsolete endowments as are at present the bar to a
proper extension of such reforms. He adduces, for example, the limitations of fellowship to particular
schools and families; and with equal truth he might have instanced the diversion of large properties from
purposes of education to uses which are become a mere abuse of the original endowments, and are often
marked by the most flagrant departure from the founder's statutes, and the oaths sworn to support them.
These are nevertheless the "higher purposes" than education which the Oxford authorities venture to plead
in favour of the existing system; and use to support that denunciation of the injustice of meddling with
trusts, and vested rights, and the interests of charity, of which their remonstrance is principally composed.
But they do not explain why, as a part of the same argument, prayers do not continue to be publicly said,
and the Bible to be read during dinner hours, in certain of the colleges; nor why non-residence is permitted
and practised; nor why prescribed costumes have been laid aside; nor why particular masters have relieved
themselves from celibacy; nor why (above all) masses are no longer performed for the souls of pious
founders. The truth is, that all men now perceive the argument of vested rights to be wholly untenable.
Of the eighteen colleges and five halls which constitute the University of Oxford, the whole of the latter
and twelve of the former were founded before the Reformation; two colleges were established by the
dominant Roman Catholics in Mary's reign; and only four are Protestant foundations. All the houses
existing at the establishment of Protestantism in England, became, by the same power which before the
Reformation had been used in the founding of Christ Church by Wolsey and his master, trusts for
educational purposes; and the present design is to establish and extend their efficiency in this particular. Nor
will its success be merely a boon to the highest interests of education. It will yet more explicitly serve the
cause of truth and morality, in removing the scandal of oaths which are now daily sworn, to be daily
violated, by clergymen and instructors of youth. When Mr. Ward was expelled some years ago for his
disingenuous subscription to the Thirty-nine Articles, he protested against his condemnation by men who
were in the habit of subscribing their statutes in a ten-fold more "non-natural" sense than that of his own
subscription to the Articles. This home-thrust escaped the public reporters at the time, but has since been
remembered and put in evidence by a distinguished Oxford scholar.

The books of highest pretension issued during the
month are a Selection of Modern State Trials by the late
Recorder of Macclesfield, and a republication of Essays
from the Edinburgh Review by Mr. Henry Rogers.

We find it difficult to understand the title of the former
book, seeing that it only comprises five state trials,
properly so called; being those of Frost, Oxford, and Smith,
O'Brien for high treason, of Daniel O'Connell and others