The Week.

were sufficiently worked out for practical adoption , though dif- I ferent members had different modes of expressing the common idea . Ultimately a motion to that effect by Mr . D'lffanger was adopted . The London Rifle Brigade and the London Scottish Rifles both met in great force on Saturday—the first at the Crystal Palace , the second at AA " estminster Hall—for the

distribution of prizes . In both cases the prizes were presented by the wives of the lieutenant-colonels of the regiment , and in both the lieutenant-colonels congratulated the corps on their healthy and efficient state . Lord Elcho stated that Sir Hope Grant hacl consented to become the colonel of the Scottish Rifles in place of Lord Clyde . Lady Elcho made a spirited address to the regiment .

-TheUniversity of Cambridge has been engaged in the election of a Professor of Political Economy . There were four candidates , hut the choice of the electors fell on Mr . Fawcett , a blind gentleman , who has been twice a candidate for a seat in Parliament , ancl is an active member of the Social Science Congresses . It would appear from a statement in the Times , that the

Admiralty , acting npon a report from the dockyard officials , sent an order down to Sheerness last week , directing the Rappahannock ( late Her Majesty's ship Victor ) to be detained . As in tho case of the Alabama , however , tbe Confederate agents were on the alert , and the order arrived " a few hours too late . " It is asserted that when the Victor was sold her new owners

alleged that they intended her for tho Chinese trade , and she was re-christened the " Seylla of London . " Like the Phainix and Cyclops she was sold with her engines , machinery , and the whole of her gear complete , and it was announced at the time of her sale that " she was to be docked to have her hull examined before being taken away . " She has ever since , apparently , been lying at Sheerness , and it would appear that she osVly left that dackyai-d when it became evident to her owners

that hers would be the fate of the Alexandra and the Birkenhead "rams" if she remained another day in an English port . A correspondent of the Times states that , in addition to the Victor , the Phainix , ancl the Cyclops , the Amp ' hion has recently been sold out of the Queen ' s service . The Amphion is a 26 gun screw frigate of 1474 tons . The guns ancl stores were removed from tbe vessels at the time of sale .

As six miners were being lowered clown a colliery shaft at Kilnburst , near Rotherham , the machinery appears to have got out of order , and the poor fellows were thrown to the bottom of the pit and killed . A curious trial has taken place at the Central Criminal Court . A man named Everett was found guilty some time ago of receiving stolen goods , the principal witness against

him being a convict of the name of Yates . The friends of Everett now put Yates on his trial for perjury , and they proved that on the clay when Yates said ho was at Everett ' s house and saw the stolen goods he was actually in gaol charged with an offence . The jury appeared to he satisfied , however , that Yates had only mistaken the date of his visit , ancl they returned a

verdict of not guilty . At the same court , Bridget Lord , 27 , charged with feloniously wounding Elizabeth Stout , was acquitted ; two labourers and a tailor , charged with robbery and personal violence , were found guilty , and sentenced to various terms of imprisonment ; Alexander Stewart , found guilty of exposing bad meat for sale , was sentenced to a fine of

£ 50 ; Fanny Woole , 23 , unmarried , charged with the murder of her illegitimate child , was acquitted ; and Edward Eeart , butcher , found guilty of forging and uttering a cheque for £ 25 , was sentenced to throe years penal servitude . The Court of Queen ' s Bench has been occupied five days with the hearing of a somewhat extraordinary case . A Mrs . Symm brought an action against two medical men for putting her -under restraint , and treating ber as a lunatic . The defence

was that she was really suffering from delirium tremens , and that it was necessary to adopt the precautions taken . The jury returned a verdict for the defendants . A begging advertisement writer has been caught and brought before the police magistrate at Southwark . A person calling himself the Rev . Wm . Hall had inserted an advertisement on behalf

of the widow and daughter of a country magistrate , who were reduced to tbe utmost destitution , and were starving in Lambeth . The Rev . Mr . Lingham , the rector of Lambeth , made inquiries aud found that the address to which the advertisement "writer gave a reference was a small coffee-shop , where the prisoner called for and took away the letters addressed to the

sham benevolent clergyman . AVhen taken into custody he denied that he was the Rev . Mr . Hall , but only an unconscious agent of his , though he was unable to give any intelligent account of his principal . On examination a copy of another advertisement which has also appeared , soliciting aid for a

distressed literary gentleman , was found . The prisoner was removed for further inquiries . Aia inquest bas been opened . ou the body of a young man , who was found in the Bridgewater Canal , near Runcorn , under circumstances that leave little doubt of his having been murdered . There were several knife wounds on his person , and by one of them his throat was cut in a manner that must have caused death in

a few moments . The young man has not been identified . The Bank of England has raised its rate of discount to eight per cent . In the Court of Queen's Bench , a young man named Frankel has recovered £ 2000 damages from the London and North-AVestern Railway Company , for injuries sustained by him while travelling on an omnibus employed by them at

Matlock . The omnibus began racing with a rival vehicle , by which the complainant was thrown out , and he appeared in court a mere wreck of humanity . A mysterious case of poisoning , the victim being a young lady , near Droitwich , has produced considerable sensation . She was about to become a mother

before she was a wife , and the taking of a dose of arsenic put an end to her wretched life . Under what immediate circumstances , however , the poison was taken is left an open point . The death of another young lady , who was found drowned near Brighton , has also occupied the attention of a coroner ' s jury , but the inquest has been adjourned for further evidence . FOREIGN INTELLIGENCE . —The Emperor presided over a

Council of Ministers on . Monday at Paris , avid received the Papal Nuncio and the Russian and Spanish ambassadors , who handed to his Majesty the replies of their respective Governments to the invitation to the Congress . The Jlioiii'eitr has -published the diplomatic correspondence which was closed by Earl Russell's announcement that England will not take part in the European

Congress proposed by the Emperor Napoleon , ancl has not appended a single word of comment . The same paper has officially denied that the French Government has any connection with the publication of a pamphlet entitled , " Napoleon III . et le Congres , " which seems to have been framed on the model of tho pamphlets that have once or twice foreshadowed the Emperor's

policy , and which maintains that if there be no Congress there must and will be an European war . The Paris journals , even those which are not directly connected with the Government , appear to be greatly annoyed by the English Cabinet's refusal to take part in a Congress , and their annoyance is understood to be fully shared by tho Imperial officials . Advices from Copen »

hagen state that the majority of the municipal councils and nearly all the officials of Schleswig have testified their loyalty 1 to King Christian , the latter by taking the oaths of alle glance , and the former by congratulatory deputations . The Duke of Brunswick is now to be numbered with those Princes