The Week.

THE WEEK .

THE COURT . —The Queen and some of the younger members of the royal family have returned to England . Her Majesty crossed the Channel on Saturday , and enjoyed a fine passage on board the Victoria , aud Albert . The vessel anchored at tbe Nore for the night , but came up to AVoolwich in the course of Sunday , and the Queen arrived at Osborne about five in the

afternoon . Divine service was performed soon after the arrival , at which her Majesty attended . The Prince of AA ales is in Sicily , with the Crown Prince and Crown Princess of Prussia . GENEEAL HOME NEWS . —The mortality of London is steadilyrising . Last week the deaths amounted to 121-4 , which was an increase on those of the two previous weeks , and an increase of 51 on the corrected average of the last ten years . The main feature in the deaths is the increase of scarlatina . The births

for tbe week were 1890 , which is also between 50 and 60 beyond the ten years' average . The scheme for the union of the City churches was completed on Saturday . It was originally proposed that there should be seventeen amalgamations , with the suppression of as many churches , but from the circumstances that emerged in the course of the examination thvee of these amalgamations were given up , and only fourteen churches are

to be suppressed . The patrons have yet to give their sanction , but this , though it may delay , is not expected to prevent the union . A corresponding number of churches to those suppressed are to be built in the centres of poor and dense localities outside the City walls . The Bank of England have raised the rate of disconnnt to 3 per cent . At the City Commission of Sewers a report was made by Dr . Letheby to the effect that diseased meat finds its way to a large extent to the sausage makers in Cow-cross .

The details he gives are very disgusting , and ought to be enough to ruin the trade . A meeting of the Metropolitan Board of AVorks has been held to consider the question of tiie embankment of the south side of the Thames , in relation to which Mr . Bazalgette , the engineer , proposed a plan for extending the embankment to the second arch of AVaterloo-bridge . The hoard , however , objected to the plan , mainly on the ground as it was not contemplated last session of Parliamentits

adop-, tion by the board now would cause delay . The motion in favour of the plan was . therefore , withdrawn , and after some further discussion the board resolved itself into a committee to consider the subject . Mr . Farnall reports a further increase of close upon 10 , 000 in the number of persons receiving parochial relief in the twenty-four unions affected by the cotton famine . He also estimates that upwards af 190 , 000 persons are in receipt of

assistance from the local committee . The lown Council of Doncaster has voted 100 guineas towards the relief of our distressed operatives . -In his speech at a dejeuner given to Baron Thierry at Southampton , on Monday , Lord Palmerston dwelt upon the advantages which might safely be expected to flow from the adoption of free-trade principles in Austria . The resources of that empire were vast , and an extensive commerce between the Austrians and ourselves " would clearly be move

advantageous , both to England and Austria , than an extended commerce between England and any other country in Europe . " He trusted that the government of Alenna would soon be enabled to overcome the protectionist prejudices of the country , and that the visit of Baron Thierry to England would have the effect of strengthening Count Rech berg and his colleagues in the " enlightened views they entertain . " As the baron proceeded to Broadlands immediately after the Southampton

dejeuner , we may take it for granted that he and the premier have had some serious conversation on this important subject . Mr . Cobden has addressed the Manchester Chamber of Commerce , and representatives of other bodies of a similar character , on the question of international maritime law . The lion , gentleman warmly advocated the policy of abolishing commercial blockades , and exempting private property from capture by armed Government shiand strongl

ps , y urged that Chambers of Commerce . should take the matter vigorously in hand , and press the proposed reforms on the attention of Government and Parliament . Lord de Grey ( a member of the Government ) and Mr . Collier , M . P ., have recently spoken on the American question . The Under Secretary for AA'ar was as cautious on this topic as his chief , Sir G . C . Lewis . He defended the course which the Government had hitherto

pursued , and contended that our duty was still to preserve an attitude of strict neutrality . Mr . Collier treated the question of recognition from the lawyer ' s point of view . He put aside the merits of the quarrel , and submitted , that "when the South should have shown that they were in fact an independent nation , that they wore able to govern themselves , able to protect their territory from aggressiou , and that they were able to do so , not temporarilybut permanently—then it would become the dut

, y of this country , on the principle of international law , to recognise them as one ofthe community of nations . " At present , he thought , recognition would be premature ; but "if the current of events took the course which seemed to him most probable , it might be their duty to recognise them at no distant period . " The report of the Volunteers Commissioners has at length been , issued . They recommend that the existing definition of an

effective should be repealed ; that 20 s . per head should be allowed for every engineer , and mounted or rifle volunteer who has attended a specified number of drills and attained a certain degree of efficiency as a marksman ; that an additional 10 * . be granted for every man who can produce a certificate that he has fired a certain amount of ball cartridge ; that the allowance for the artillery be 30 s . for every man who fulfils certain

conditions ; and that 4 s . per annum bo allowed as travellingexpenses for every effective in those corps whose head-quarters are more than five miles from the meeting place of the administrative battalion to which they belong . The Bishop of Exeter has tin-own out a happy suggestion . The Prince of AVales comes of age on the 9 th of next month , which happens to fall on a Sunday ; and tho Ri ght Rev . Prelate recommends

his clergy on that auspicious day to make an appeal to their congregations on behalf of the distressed operatives of the cotton districts . The proceeds of a ball which " is to be given at Southampton in celebration of the majority of his Royal Highness will also be applied to the Lancashire Relief Fund . There was an immense crowd in H yde Park on Sunday afternoonbut the police immediatelstopped attempt to

, y any harangue the people . At length , a successful ruse was adopted . The police arrested several members of their own body who wore in plain clothes , and led them off , thus drawing away the crowd in several directions . This amusing "strategic movement" had the effect of completely breaking up the vast assemblage .

Two persons have been killed and others injured by the falling of three arches , partially completed , in Toolev-street , on the site of the terrible fire of last year . A long and painfully interesting inquiry was held on AA ' cdnesday by the deputy coroner for East Middlesex , relative to the death of a lady who was the claimant , so it is stated , of no less than three millions and a half in Chancery , but who , nevertheless , died in great destitution . Poor Tom Hood ' s " Song of the Shirt" received

a practical illustration on Thursday in the death of a child , whose mother was unable to give it the common necessaries of life . " If I and my child , " said the wretched mother , " work all day and great part ofthe night , we can earn nincpence for three shirts . " The altercations between the persecuted Mr . Babbage and the street organists took rather an unusual turn at the Murylebone Police-court on AVednesdayAn Italian

. , who appeared not to understand a word of English , was brought np by the abstruse calculator , but the magistrate refused to conviet , on the ground that Mr . Babbage did not make the Italian comprehend that he wanted him to " move on , and , further , that it was too much for any man to quarrel with an organist who v .-ns playing- twenty doors from his own house . The notorious William ltouptll has been removed from Newgate

prison to Millbank , by order of the Secretary of State . Luther Yeates , the ingenious rival of the ex-member for Lambeth , pleaded guilty , at the Central Criminal Court , on Monday , to eight indictments charging him with forging leases of the Lambeth property of the late Sir Johu West . The total amount raised on these spurious deeds was estimated at between £ 6000 and £ 7000 . but it was stated that the ascertained frauds of the

prisoner represented a much larger sum . He was sentenced to twenty years' penal servitude—a sentence which , to a man of his age , is virtuall y one of imprisonment for life . Mr . Jonah Andrew , the " manager" of the Manchester City Bank—a concern which has come to grief—lias been examined at the Manchester Police-court on a charge of having misappropriated a sum of money which had been entrusted to him , in his capacity of banker

or agent , to meet a bill of exchange payable at one of the London banks . The information was laid under an act which provides that any " banker , merchant , broker , attorney , or other agent , " who shall misappropriate any money which he