The Week.

THE WEEK .

GENERAL HOME NEWS . —The health of London has suddenlytaken a spring upwards . Last week the deaths amounted to 1140 , which is 111 below the corrected average of the last ten years , even after enrntting iVova the regisfcev the extra mortality caused by the epidemic of 1854 . The births for the week were 1742 , ivhich is considerably below the average , amounting to

1865 .- The official return of the revenue for the quarter just ended is now published . The figures are not very assuring ; the distress in the manufacturiug districts is written in large letters on the face of them . The Excise return , . which has always been held to be the surest index of the condition of the country , has been going steadily downward during the last four

quarters . The decrease on the half-year is - £ 902 , 000 , of which decrease £ 617 , 000 belongs to the quarter just ended . In the Customs , on the other hand , the balance is the other way , though ifc does not redress the evil . The increase on the quarter is £ 219 , 000 . On the Stamps , Post Office , ancl Miscellaneous there is an increase . Bufc the most cheerless feature is

the balance sheet is the state of the income tax . There is a decrease on fche quarter to a very trifling extent indeed , and it is more than made up by an increase on the half-year ; bufc on the ivhole of the last four quarters the decrease exceeds £ 600 , 000 . The balance on the whole quarter is slight , hut , trifling as ifc is , it declines the Avrong way , ancl on the half-year

it is £ 11 , 000 , and on the four quarters it is £ 120 , 020 decrease . ¦ It is reported that Dr . Tait , Bishop of London , has been offered the Archbishopric of York , which becomes vacant hy the translation of Dr . Longley to the Primacy . The Committee appointed by the House of Commons to inquire into the present system of dispensing the revenues of the Ecclesiastical Commission have sent in their report . The report , however ,

consists merely of the evidence they have collected , with a recommendation that the investigation should he resumed next year . The Hector , an iron-clad " ram" of upwards of 400 Q tons , Ai'as launched at Govan , on the Clyde , on Priday- ' Lord Ranelagh has been presented by his friends Avith a couple of swords as an acknowledgment of the services he has rendered to the volunteer movement . The xwesentation took place

afc Brighton on Thursday week . The noble lord , in thanking his friends for this mark of their approval of his conduct as a volunteer officer , gave an account of what took place afc a recent interview he hacl ivith the Emperor Napoleon , afc Chalons . The Emperor " seemed to feel that he had been the subject of a great deal of personal abuse ; " bufc Lord Ranelagh assured him

thafc the volunteer movement was " one of defence , and nofc of offence , in the double sense of the term , " and that his Majesty ivas mistaken as to the supposed general outpouring of " abuse " upon his head . The Emperor replied , " I am very glad to hear it , and I hope if there is any feeling existing against me , ifc will be speedily removed . " And this remark ivas followed by an act

of courtesy , which Lord Ranelagh regards as satisfactory evidence that his Majesty " was sincere in taking the movement in its right ancl proper sense . " He invited Lord Ranelagh , " as a volunteer , to come ancl be photographed by his side , " but , unfortunately , his lordshi p vode a restive charger , whose lively movements rendered the execution of so interesting a design

impossible . At the City registration , ifc was stated that one of the olcl City companies , the Combmakers , is on the point of extinction , as these is now only one member of the venerable body . Mr . RoupelFs name ivas retained on the register , as the barrister said there was no law to deprive a convicted felon of his franchise . The Midland Institute , Birmingham ,

commenced its academical year on Monday , and Sir John Pakington inaugurated the session with one of his thoughtful and suggestive speeches . Sir John warmly acknowledged the heroic fortitude with which our suffering operatives have borne their privations . The right hon . baronet saw in this patient and courageous endurance a signal example of " the effect which the increase of education ancl refinement has produced on the habits

ancl feelings" of the people of this country . The annual meeting of the Staffordshire Agricultural Association was held on Tuesday afc Newcastle-under-Lyne , and was in all respects a successful meeting . At the dinner ivhich followed , the Earl of Shrewsbury , the Earl of Lichfield , Lord Ingestre , Mr . Adderley , and Mr . Beresford Hope took part , and claimed for Staffordshire

the honour of being as eminent for its agriculture as for its manufactures . The Earl of Lichfield expressed a wish that landlords would get tho opinion of tenant farmers as to the best kind of agreement between landlord ancl tenant . . Indian cotton begins to come pretty freely into the country No fewer than 12 vessels laden with' this now nrccions material

entered the Mersey on Friday week from Bombay . The aggregate quantity thus brought to the help of our diminishing stock amounted to 54 , 61-7 bales . On Tuesday last five ships , carrying 23 , 811 bales , arrived at Liverpool ; and on . the previous day a vessel reached the same port from AVhampoa with 3000 bales of Chinese cofcfcon on board . The lord Mayor has announced from the bench of the Mansion House that the City committees

ivhich has already done so much good service in receiving and distributing money for the relief of the distressed workmen in Lancashire , hacl now determined to add the reception and distribution of clothing to their other work . Now that the Avinter was approaching , clothing was second only in importance to food . He Avas happy to say they had already made a good start

in the matter , and lis could not doubt that from the three millions of people living in London , a vast quantity of useful articles ivould be received . The Central Relief Committee has now at its disposal the considerable sum of £ 129 , 000 . £ 5000 has been received from New South AA ' ales , and the Bridgeivater House Committee has decided to increase its monthly contribution for

the next four months from £ 4000 to £ 8000 . Lord Derby has been elected chairman of the Executive Committee , in the room of the late Lord Ellesiuere . A meeting was held in Belfast on Tuesday for the purpose of raising funds in aid of the distressed

operatives of Lancashire and Cheshire . The Mayor of Belfast presided . Sir H . Cairns made an able speech in support of the object of the meeting , and moved the first resolution . Upwards of £ 1100 was subscribed in the meeting . It is estimated that the late Guild festivities at Preston will yield a surplus of about £ ' 1000 , which will be paid over to-the Local Relief Committee . To this sum the Mayor proposes to add £ 150—the amount of

his official salary for the year . We have to announce the death of Mr . Forbes Mackenzie , one of the framers of the famous Public-houses Act for Scotland . Mr . Mackenzie entered Parliament in 1 S 37 , as member for Peebleshire , and kept possession of his seat for that county until 1852 . In that year he joined Lord Derby ' s government as a Lord of the Treasury , and sought

the suffrages of the electors of Liverpool . He was returned , but in a few months afterwards lost his seat . Sir John Inglis , ivhose name is to honourably connected with the defence of Lucknow , died on the 27 th of September , at Hamburg . For his services in . India he was made a Knight Commander of the Bath , and appointed to the command of the troops in the Ionian islands . His constitution had been , however , severely shaken by his resiof

dence in India , and he was recommended to try the Avaters Homburg ; hut he gradually sank , ancl died on tlie 27 th ult . A meeting of working me ' n ) held in Hyde Park , on Sunday , for the purpose of expressing ^ sympathy ivith Garibaldi , gave rise to-