The Week.

ported as having experienced no change , while eleven had an increase of S 20 paupers , which number was slightly over-balanced by a decrease of 830 in tbe remaining eleven . Of the unions that increased , Ashton-under-Lyno had 100 ; Chorlton , 110 ; Manchester , 190 ; and Stockport , 160 more than in the previous week . Of those which decreased , Blackburn had 210 ,

¦ and Haslingden , 110 fewer . The total number now on the rates is 9 S , 620 , or about 4 S , 000 over the average of "full work" seasons . The expenditure by the guardians for oufc-door relief , and t ? ie number of adult able-bodied paupers , differ by a very small fraction from the figures last returned . Mr . Maclure reports that in . the past month , as compared with

December , there was a further considerable increase in the number of cotton operatives working full time ; but it is added that " tho present depressed state of the market renders it extremely doubtful" whether the improvement will be maintained throughout February . At tbe close of the month tho guardians bad S 6 , 301 persons on their hooks , and tho relief committees 33 , 243 ;

making a total of 119 , 5-1-1 ' . This represents a great mass of indigence , but the number is 10 , 853 below that reported in the last week in December . Of the 119 , 51-1 ' persons supported by tbe rates , or the funds raised by public subscription , 9 , 335 are described as able-bodied men . In seven of the 2 S unions comprising the cotton district there are now no local committees

distributing relief , but in the remaining 21 there are 53 committees still in operation . The St . Pancras guardians met again on Tuesday to inquire about tbe way in which a pauper named Smart was alleged to have been influenced in tbo disposition of some supposed property . Smart , it appears , has denied that he intended to leave the balk of his pi-oporty to the master of the workhouse , and some other curious information has been elicited . The evidence , which is bo be printed , is to be taken into consideration at tbe next meeting . -At the Court of

Aldermen , when it was announced that the day of execution had been changed from Monday to Wednesday , Mr . Alderman Copeland suggested that the Sheriffs ought to go a step further and urge on the Home Secretary the necessity of having the executions conducted in private ; and Mr . Alderman Phillips gave notice , of a motion on the subject , and Mr . Alderman Sidney gave notice of an amendment requiring executions to be

conducted out of the City altogether . ——A meeting was held at the Freemasons' Tavern to promote the repeal of the malttax . Sir Fitzroy Kelly presided , and thero were present a goodly number of county members and farmers . Sir Fitzroy Kelly , iu opening the proceedings , advised the farmers not to ask for more than they were likely to got . The resolutions , which were

nearly unanimously passed , asked for a repeal of the duty as soon as possible , and demanded that surplus revenue should be appropriated in that way . Several members of Parliament were amongst the speakers . Mr . Massoy , the new Finance Minister of India , was on Saturday sworn in a member of the Privy Council , at Osborne . The legal patronage of the

Government is being dispensed with a not illiberal band . The other day Mr . Mure , who had held tho ofiice of Lord Advocate under Lord Darby , was appointed to a seat on the Scottish Bench ; and now tbe judgeship which has been made vacant by the retirement of Mr . Justice Williams has been conferred upon Mr . Montague Smith , tho Conservative member for Truro . ——

At a meeting of Bouchers , representing the various Inns of Court , held on Tuesday , it was decided , by a majority of one 12 to 11—that clergymen should be henceforth eli gible for call to the Bar . Clergymen desirous of unfrocking themselves and going to the Bar have still , however , before them the obstacles which Mr . Bauverie has been endeavouring , so far without success , to induce Parliament to remove . Lord Gough has

had a very narrow escape . For some time past he has been staying with his old companion in arms , Sir Patrick Grant , at Lentran House , near Inverness . Early on Sunday week , a fire broke out in the house , and the veteran field-marshal was only " carried out of his bed at a time when five minutes ' longer delay would have insured his destruction . " By this fire the whole of Sir Patrick Grant ' s Indian journals have been

destroyed . AA e regret to have to announce the death of Mr . Gregson , one of the members for Lancaster . It seems that the hon . ' g'entleman had been suffering from influenza , but he was in his placo in the House of Commons on Tuesday night , and nothing serious was apprehended until within a few hours of his death , which took place on Wednesday morning . If we

may believe the Shipping Gazette , tbe projected modification of the French navigation laws is likely to be less beneficial to foreign shipping than Mr . Lindsay led us to expect some timo ago . The Superior Council of Commerce is now stated to have come to a resolution to the effect that 2 fr . per ton should be charged upon all foreign ships entering the ports of France ;

and it is apprehended that the Protectionists will yet succeed in raising a still more serious barrier against external competition . The Brompton Oratory case has been again before tho public . Mr . Collette , tbe solicitor , has made an application to Mr . Arnold , at Westminster , for certain summonses against Father Charles Bowden and other persons , whom he charged

with being concerned in the abduction of tbe girl M'Dormot . He first charged them with the abduction itself , but on Mr . Arnold informing him that tbe evidence he adduced was not sufficient to justify him in issuing the summons , Mr . Collette said lie would go into the question of conspiracy on a future clay . The Lord Chief Justice of the Queen ' s Bench has delivered the judgment of the Court in the case of " Feather

against the Queen . " As formerly intimated , the judges we unanimous in their decision for the Crown , on the ground that the Crown , in making any grant to a subject , parted with none of its own rights unless the parting was expressly declared . The judgment was elaborately drawn up in writing , as it is understood that it will form the subject of appeal . The

recommendations of the commissioners appointed to inquire into the working of the patent laws have just been issued . Among the moro important of these may he mentioned—That no importation of a foreign invention shall bo patented ; that no patent shall be extended beyond its original term of fourteen years ; and that the Crown shall be entitled to the use of all

patents , the remuneration to be fixed by the Treasury . The trial of Mr . Rumble on the charge of enlisting men for the Confederate service came to an end on Saturday last , when several witnesses were examined for the defence , and among them some members of Mr . Eumble's own family , who distinctly disproved some of the allegations made by the witnesses

for tbe prosecution . The Lord Chief Justice , in summing up , commented with some severity on the arts that had been used to entrap witnesses , or engage them to give evidence for the prosecution , and said he hopod for all their sakes that ono of the chief managers of these arts , O'Kelly , was not an Englishman . The jury , aftor a very short deliberation ,

returned a verdict of Not Guilty , and their verdict was received with applause by a crowded court . A case of breach of promise was tried before the Lord Chief Justice and a jury on Monday , which brought out somo curious features . The defendant , a mature gentleman of some thirty years of age , returned homo from India , and being introduced to tho

plaintiff's family , fell , or fancied he fell , in love with her . After a few month's courtship , though there was not tho shadow of impeachment on the lady ' s character , the warmth of his feel-