The Week.

having been tried several times for sedition in Ireland without ever finding a jury that would agree upon a verdict , came afterwards to sit in the House of Commons , then went out to Australia , where he was a member and a minister in the Legislative Council of A'ictoria , and is at present in England on a visit , The chair was taken by Sir George Bowyer , and the principal persons present were Irish or Australian friends of the guest .

Mr . Duffy made a long speech , which was chiefly devoted to the defence of the system of representation iu the Australian colonies against the recent attack made upon it by ; Mr . Lowe , Mr . Gregory , and others , in the House of Commons . The Board of Trade returns for April , have been issued . The exports during the month amounted in value to £ 12 , 071 , 111 ,

against £ 13 , 225 , 039 in 186 ii and £ 11 , 897 , 177 iu 1863 . For the first four months the value of the exports is £ 17 , 706 , 818 , and £ 19 , 892 , 420 in the corresponding period of 1864 , and £ 39 , 458 , 381 in the first four months of 1863 . With regard to the precious metals , the import in the four months is £ 5 , 949 , 457 , and tbe exports £ 1 , 229 , 215 . The 86 th Derby

was run on Wednesday , and the blue ribbon of the turf was borne off by a French horse . Up to a few yards of the winning post , Mr . Chaplin's Breadaibane kept well in front , and seemed to have secured tbe victory , but just before the finish a rush was made by Gladiateur , Christmas Carol , and Eltham , who auccessively passed to the front , aud the Count de Lagrange ' s

horse came in an easy winner . The crowd is estimated by good judges to have been greater than ever before appeared on the race course . The Prince of Wales occupied a conspicuous place on the Grand Stand . The day did not pass over without one fatal accident . One Wednesdaj- morning three gentlemen set out to Epsom in a dog cart , to witness the race . They had not proceeded far beyond AA estminster Bridge when the horse

became excited , and Mr . Leggatt , who was driving , lost all control . The animal set off at a furious pace , and came in contact with a heavily loaded van , by which all three were thrown out and terribly injured . Mr . Leggatt is since dead , the other two remain at the hospital in a precarious state . It is reported by a telegraphic despatch from Calcutta that the Nemesis , one of the steamers belonging to the Peninsular and

Oriental Steam Company , and running between Calcutta and Suez , went ashore in the Hooghly river soon after leaving Calcutta , and was in a dangerous state . No particulars are given of tbe cause of her stranding , but her captain , Mr . Castles , is well known to be a brave and skilful seaman , tried in former seasons of emergency , and not likely to have been

forgetful of his duty on this occasion . The manufacture of the telegraph cable intended for another attempt to connect this country with America was finished at the factory on Monday . It will be conveyed on board the Great Eastern , with all convenient speed , and the great ship , conveying the whole cable as its cargo , will start on its important mission of laying down the

cable towards the end of the next month . A trial took place in the Common Pleas last week , which curiously illustrates the literary taste of the frequenters of our popular concertrooms and the patrons of public-house amusements . The publisher of a song , called "Jolly Dogs , " prosecuted a rival for taking from it the words "Slap bang , here wo are again !"

which aro put into the mouths of the dancers of a polka . It was stated on the trial that the first song had become so popular that the sale in February last reached 3 , 000 a week . The composer of the song confessed that this did not say much for the taste of the British public . The trial went on for some time , till the jury got tired of it , stopped the case , and returned a verdict for the defendant . A very singular will case has been for three days before the Court of Probate . A

Mr . Ring died in 1850 . With the exception of some legacies , he directed that his property should be allowed to accumulate for twenty-one years , that the whole should then go to the existing heir-at-law . This will was dated in March , 1850 , and has been acted on ever since . But in 1862 a codicil dated in May , 1850 , was sent anonymously to a lady who took a beneficial interest in the first will , and this codicil gave a different

direction to the properly , a clergyman of the name of Barton , among others , coming in for a share of the accumulations , . which were to be divided in twelve years . The witnesses to this codicil , with the solicitor who drew it up , are dead , and the executors believe it to be a forgery . No one appears to know from whom the eodical came . Ib is to test the

genuineness of the document that the present trial is instituted . The principal witness examined against it was Mr . Chabot , and his testimony , going into curiously minute points of resemblance and of difference in handwriting , excited much interest in court . The Judge , without calling on the opponents of the codicil to reply , held that the evidence of Mr . Chabot , the expert , was

decisive of the case . There were no fewer than six points which Mr . Chabot had indicated iu which tho codicil differed from the admittedly genuine writing of the testator ; and anyone of these tbe learned judge said , if it stood alone , would be enough to convict the codicil of being a forged document . He , therefore , pronounced it to be a wicked and clumsy forgery

and condemned Mr . Barton , who propounded it , to pay the costs of the suit . It ought to be added that no one seemed to know who had sent the codicil to the executors , nor was it insinuated that Mr . Barton was connected with it further than as a legatee under its provisions . A case of revolting cruelty to a child was inquired into at the Thames Police-court on AVednesday . A married woman , named Ann Ross , was

charged with grossly ill-treating her own son , a boy eight years of age . Prom the evidence ifc seemed that for trifling offences the boy had been severely beaten , his hand burnt with a red-hot poker , and his face with a red-hot skewer . The last infliction was said , in defence , to have been done by accident . The magistrates committed the woman for trial . Some time ago the Master of the Rolls made an order

that a child of three years old , the daughter of a Roman Catholic gentleman named Austin , but whose widow was a Protestant , should not be taken from the custody of the mother and given up to her Roman Catholic relatives . This order was appealed against , but the Lord Chancellor on Saturday gave judgment , confirming the order of the Master of

the Rolls , and ordering that the child should remain under her mother ' s care at least till she was seven years old . The appellants to pay the costs . The Rev . Mr . Wagner was assaulted on Sunday night as he was leaving his church , and knocked down . The ruffian assailants were chimney-sweeps who had just been released from militia drill . They were

immediately taken into custody , and having been examined before the magistrates were sentenced to two months' imprisonment , with hard labour . The inquest on Captain Newberry , who was killed by tbe falling of a wall at the Paddington station , was resumed and concluded on Monday . Ifc was proved that the dangerous state of the wall , pressed

outward by the weight of the coal stored up behind it , had been observed for some time before the accident occurred ; and the jury , while they returned a verdict of accidental death , appended a censure both upon the Lilleshall Company , the pressure of whose coals caused the accident , and the Great Western Railway Company , for their negligence in the matter . A great fire broke out at Nottingham about ten o ' clock on Thursday week , in a warehouse belonging to one of the leading