The Week.

pointed out the importance of inviting relief committees in those districts where money has been advanced , under the Public Works Act , to put themselves into communication with the local authorities for the purpose of stimulating the employment of cotton operatives on thejpublic works . This proposal seems to have met with the general concurrence of the

Committee , and it was decided to issue a circular embodying the suggestion of the noble Earl . The Corporation of Dublin will welcome the new Lord Lieutenant with a somewhat remarkable address . The address states that the abolition of the vice-regal office is resisted , not because such a measure would prove a loss to the Dublin shopkeepers , but because it would be

" another step in that pernicious policy of centralisation , " and so forth . Attention is called to absenteeism , and also to the fact that the rents of the land , " as well as the bulk of the proceeds of the taxation of the country , are constantly remitted to England without any adequate return . " The " best ancl hardiest "

of the children of the land are described as " eagerly flying to happier shores ; " and the Corporation is not ashamed to affirm that that monstrous job , the Galway packet service , was brought to grief by " the narrow spirit and the jealousy with which it had to contend . " Then it is declared that Queenstown has not been made a great dockyard because of its

" geographical situation in Ireland creating jealous and unjust opposition . " The Morning Post gives what appears to be an authoritative denial to the story that Parliament is about to be dissolved . Parliament has been formally prorogued until the 13 th of January . The Marquis of Exeter died on Sunday . The accession of his eldest son , Lord Jermyn , to the peerage

causes a vacancy in therepresentation of West Suffolk . Mr . W . Morris , a Liberal , and a relative of the late member , has been elected for Carmarthen without opposition . Mr . John Leech ,

almost the last of a great brotherhood of workers on Punch , died on Saturday , in the full prime of life . The tidings of the death of this highly-gifted artist will come to many homes in England and in other lands as the mournful announcement that a genial friend and instructor has passed away . He was only forty-seven years of age . Tho report of the Select

Committee appointed to inquire into the nature of the arrangement between the Foreign Office and the Board of Trade , with regard to commercial matters , has just been published . Our Englisii merchants have frequently complained that the interests of English commerce have suffered from the present system ; and the Committee suggest , by way of improving the relations between the two departments , that the Board of

Trade be placed more nearly upon an equality with the Foreign Office than it is at present , in order that its opinion , when asked , may have duo weight ; that it be put in direct communication with the members of the diplomatic and consular services ; and that an officer or officers be appointed in the Foreign Office to conduct its correspondence with the Board .

Mr . Bright , though " in no manner solicited or invited" to do so , has plunged into the great political contest between the Democrats aud the Republicans of the Northern States of America . In a letter to Mr . Horace Greeley , he says that , so far as he has been able to observe , " all those of his countrymen who have wished well to the-rebellion" are in favour of the

election of General M'Clellan , while , on the other hand , all those who regard the restoration of the Union " as a thing to be desired and prayed for by all good men" are " heartily longing" for the triumph of Mr . Lincoln . He proceeds to eulogise the public conduct of the President , and says lie believes that the re-election of Mr . Lincoln " will convince all men that the integrity of your great country will be preserved , and will show that republican institutions , with an instructed and patriotic

people , can bear a nation safely and steadily through the most desperate perils . " General Todleben , the famous Russian engineer who planned the defences of Sebastopol , and whose recent work on the expedition to the Crimea is at present causing so much discussion , has arrived in this country on an , apparently professional visit . He has been received with every

mark of distinction . He dined with the Commander-in-Chief , and next week he will be the guest of the Army and Navy Club . Garibaldi is said to have declined the splendidly equipped yacht which his friends in this country have purchased for him . A deputation from Chatham had an interview yesterday with Earl de Grey and Ripon in reference to the powder

magazine at " Upnor Castle . Earl de Grey and Ripon , replying to their representations , said he had already appointed a commission to inquire into the matter . The Hebdomadal Council at Oxford had under their consideration on Tuesday a proposal , emanating from the Vice-Chancellor , for the endowment of

Professor Jowett ' s chair , with emoluments to the extent of £ 400 n-year . After some discussion the proposal was negatived by one vote .- The Salford Town Council has unanimously adopted the Public-houses Closing Act , which is already in force in Manchester . The act also has been adopted by the Liverpool Town Council . All the vigilance of the police ,

aided by the proffered reward of £ 100 , has failed as yet in leading to the detection of the murderous ruffians who shot Mr . Wood and robbed his house at Whitecroft , in the Forest of Dean . Offer of a free pardon to an accomplice is now made , in the hope of inducing one of the baud to come forward . The unfortunate man still lies in a critical condition . Mr . Odell , the Irish barrister , who shot a bailiff's messenger that had come to take his goods in execution , was tried before the Criminal Court of Dublin last week . The trial lasted three

days . There was no dispute as to the facts of the murder ; but it was contended that the prisoner was insane at the time he shot tho man . The jury took this view , and on Saturday they returned their verdict , acquitting the prisoner on the ground of insanity . The Old Bailey has seldom been the scene of more intense excitement than was witnessed in and around that

gloomy court on Thursday last week . The anxiety to see the alleged murderer , Franz Muiler , pervaded all classes , and though few could have have their desires gratified , yet hundreds lingered round in the hope of catching the first intimation of any new phase that might come out in the evidence , or at lowest ol seeing those who had seen the prisoner . Muiler appeared to be the only man unmoved in the assembly within the court . He pleaded not guilty in a quiet but firm

voice , and elected to be tried by a jury of Englishmen . The evidence was carried clown as far as the circumstances attending the finding of Mr . Brigg ' s body and the description of the wounds on his person , together wiqh the identification of the prisoner as the person who exchanged Mr , Brigg's chain for another one . His friends , the Repsches and Haifa , with whom

he spent the greater part of the Saturday of the murder , and the persons with whom he lodged , were also examined . The second day of the trial brought the case for the prosecution to a close , ancl advanced the defence as far as the speech of Mr _ Serjeant Parry . The principal feature of the day was the examination of the cabman and his wife . The

cross-examination of these witnesses did not bring out any new facts , though some small discrepancies and variations of statements were pointed out . The learned Serjeant , in his speech for the defence , clici not attempt to set up anything as to tbe murder ; heconfined himself to the argument that the evidence had not brought the case home to Muiler , ancl he undertook to call witnesses to show that Muiler was elsewhere when themurder was done .