The Second Prussian Chamber on the 17th, adopted
a very important resolution, namely, to call on the
government to prepare as promptly as possible a bill for
the suppression of the privilege of exemption from the
land tax, which certain property of nobles still enjoys.
This resolution was adopted by a large majority, in
spite of the opposition of the ultra-conservative party.

The Vienna correspondent of the Daily News, writing
on the 20th instant, says:—"Prince Gortschakoff had
yesterday a very long conference with Count Buol, at
the Foreign Office, in which he communicated to him
the contents of a fresh despatch just received from St.
Petersburg, which has made a great sensation in the
diplomatic circles of this city, as I learn on good authority
it contains the confirmation of the first instructions
to the Prince to enter at once into negotiations, as the
Emperor accepts the interpretation of the four points as
laid down by the conference."

The greatest confidence and harmony exist between
the Allies, and the attempts of Prince Gortschakoff to
sow discord amongst them have proved a signal failure,
as well as his attempts to gain a delay in the united
decision of the Allies, which would only prove the more
dangerous, since it is now known that the severe weather
set in in the Crimea might otherwise prove a very
dangerous ally to the Russians.

Sardinia has joined the alliance of the Western
Powers. This important step is taken in virtue of the
fifth article of the convention between Her Majesty and
the Emperor of the French, signed at London on the
10th of April 1854. The fifth article runs as follows:—
"Their Majesties the Queen of the United Kingdom of
Great Britain and Ireland and the Emperor of the
French will readily admit into their alliance, in order to
cooperate for the proposed object, such of the other
Powers of Europe as may be desirous of becoming
parties to it." The Sardinian government has added
its signature to this protocol. At the same time, General
Dabormida has resigned, and Count Cavour has
accepted the office of minister for foreign affairs.

The King of Naples has celebrated the proclamation
of the dogma of the immaculate conception in various
ways. He has placed the army under the care of the
Immaculate Conception; and he has organised festivals
in honour of the Madonna. On one of these occasions,
the streets and back slums of the city were cleaned, and
all the place put on an air of decency; for the King
intended to assist in a procession. Arbitrary arrests
continue to be made as usual. People's minds are so
accustomed to such incidents, that they are regarded
almost as a necessary part of the routine of government.
A short time since a gentleman of wealth, influence, and
respectability was arrrested and taken to the Prefettura,
where he was detained five days and nights, and then
dismissed, without the slightest reason being given for
his detention, or the slightest excuse offered.

Accounts from Stockholm, of the 23rd inst., state that
orders have been given for placing the entire Swedish
army upon a war-footing. This measure is to be
executed with the greatest promptitude, as it is required
to have the troops ready to march.

New York papers have been received to the 10th
inst. It appears that the money market has improved
materially since the beginning of the year, and nearly
all the state stocks are selling higher with the interest
off than they were before the 1st of January with the
interest on.—From the annual report of the treasurer of
the state of Texas, we learn that the amount of cash
and United States bonds on hand and received on
account of the general fund, the past year, is four
millions and a quarter of dollars, 300,000 dollars having
been expended for ordinary appropriations, and 170,000
dollars towards the debt of the late republic. Two
millions of the United States bonds have been transferred
to the school fund of the state. This great and
munificent act is a striking illustration of the determination
of the people of the United States, wherever
they go, to establish and maintain popular education as
the corner-stone of their entire social and political
system.

NARRATIVE OF LITERATURE AND ART.

The events of the war continue still to exert an
unfavourable influence on literature, and we have few
important books to introduce in our list of new
publications.

Setting aside mere pamphlets or new editions, the
prominent works of the month have been two octavo
volumes of a History of Political Literature from the
Earliest Times, a compilation from printed sources by
Mr. Robert Blakey; the first volume of a History of
the City of Dublin, by Mr. J. T. Gilbart; three octavo
volumes devoted to the Origin and Progress of the
Mechanical Inventions of James Watt, drawn from the
private correspondence of himself and his friends, by
Mr. James Patrick Muirhead; a treatise on Food and
its Adulterations, by Dr. Hassall; the second volume
of Mr. M'Intosh's very complete and richly illustrated
Book of the Garden; the third and last volume of Mr.
Peter Cunningham's edition of Johnson's Lives of the
Poets; the second volume of Mr. Johnston's Chemistry
of Common Life; a series of popular lectures on
English history, from the Anglo-Saxon times to our
own, entitled Landmarks of the History of England,
by the Rev. James White; a volume descriptive
of Elba, and of Napoleon's government there,
partly translated and partly original; a descriptive
account of the Druses of Lebanon, by Mr.
George Washington Chasseaud; a volume of Historical
Memorials of Canterbury, consisting partly of republished
Quarterly articles and partly of original lectures,
by the Rev. Arthur Penrhyn Stanley; a brief narrative
of a Month in the Camp before Sebastopol; an excellent
translation, in two octavo volumes, of new Travels in the
Chinese Empire by the Abbé Hue; an account, from
apparently authentic sources, of the Chinese Rebel Chief,
by the Rev. Theodore Hamberg; a collection, taken from
his writings in a weekly literary review, of Literary
Papers by the late Professor Forbes; a volume of
Memoirs of Anne Duchess of Brittany , twice Queen of
France, by Miss Costello; several additions (reprints)
to the libraries of Mr. Bohn, one of which, a well known
Handbook of Proverbs, has had large and curious
additions made to it by Mr. Bohn himself; a useful little
treatise on the Art of Travel, by Mr. Francis Galton,
the object of which is to give an easy and popular
description of the shifts and contrivances available in
wild countries; a volume, by Mr. Peter Bayne, on the
Christian Life, Social and Individual, chiefly in reply
to Mr. Carlyle's views and philosophy; a short treatise,
by Doctor Wilson, on the Pathology of Drunkenness;
a translation from the French, the first that has been
made, by the Rev. F. B. Wells, of Thierry's Essay
on The Formation and Progress of the Tiers Etat
or Third Estate in France; the first and second
volumes of Memoirs of the Life and Writings of
James Montgomery, written by Mr. John Holland, with
the assistance of the Rev. James Everett; A Life of
William Etty, R.A., by Mr. Alexander Gilchrist; the
first volume, comprising the period from 1745 to 1770,
of a History of England during the Reign of George
the Third, by Mr. Massey, M.P.; a descriptive treatise
on Cornwall, its Mines and Miners, on a similar plan
to a former Treatise, by the same writer, on "Our Coal
and Coal Pits;" a Ramble through Normandy, by Mr.
Musgrave; and the following tales and novels—The
Warden, by Mr. Trollope; Heliondé, or Adventures in
the Sun; The Curse of Gold; The Step-Son, by Mr.
Dyer; A Dozen Pairs of Wedding Gloves; and Guen,
or the Cousins.