The Week.

printed and circulated . The metropolis has for some time past been kept in a constant state of alarm by the boldness with wliich the criminal classes have been pursuing their avocation . Not only have fche suburbs been infested with a set of daring burglars , bufc in fche most public thoroughfares the garotter has carried on his murderous work even in the afternoon . Nervous

citizens arm themselves to the teeth when they venture abroad after dark , the streets , to use the language of one of the police magistrates , being as unsafe as a tiger ' s den . Mr . AA " . D . Harvey , one of the commissioners of police , attributes many of these outrages to ticket-of-leave men ; and he suggests that , in order to meet this serious evil an order should he issued , requiring every convict at large on licence , to report himself at a given place , within a certain time , on pain of losing the privilege of his licence . " "

Another case of garotting has been brought before the magistrates at AVestminster . In this case four ruffians set upon a gentleman when he was within a few yards of his own door , and while one of thein elapsed his throat and nearly strangled him in his powerful gripe the others rifled his pockets , and having done that they knocked him senseless on the ground that his cries might not impede their escape . Tivo of them , however , were capturedand were remanded in the hope that their

com-, panions may be also brought up . A meeting was held on Tuesday hy a portion of the shareholders of the Great Western Railway who dissent from the policy of the directors in leasing , subsidising , and amalgamating neighbouring lines . The matter which has more immediately stirred them into action is the support rendered by the directors to the project of a line called the East Gloucester , running from Farringdon to Cheltenham , with a branch line to join the AA est Midland . It was said that

these lines went through a difficult country , with no towns to yield a traffic , and that they would prove a dead weight on the resources of the company . A resolution was passed condemning leases , subsidies , and amalgamations generally , and a committee was appointed to urge forward these views . The pleadings in the Yelverton marriage case were brought to a close , ut Edinburgh , on Saturday . The public will await with some , interest the decision of the Court in this important appealbnt

; whichever way it goes , it is more than probable that the case will ultimately be carried before the House of Lords . The important case raised at the Bow-street police-station the other day , whether the photograph of an engraving is a breach of the law of copyright , was brought to a close—we cannot sav settled

—in that court on Saturday , when Jlr . Corrie stated there was so much doubt on the law that he thought it ought to he tried in a higher court . He also intimated thafc there was not evidence enough to convict the defendant on a criminal charge . The five prisoners who are charged with the robbery and forgery of Bank of England note paper have been again examined before the Lord JIayor . The witness Brown , who has turned Queen ' s evidencewas severelcross-examined on behalf of the prisoner

, y Brewer , who had also worked afc the paper mills , and who was charged by the witness with having stolen the note paper as well as himself Evidence affecting Bnncher was given by one of the detectives , whose description of the means he took to entrap him excited much interest and amusement . The case appears to ramify in different directions , and to implicate an increased number of persons as it proceeds . The prisoners were

remanded . Jonah Andrew , of the Jlanchester Cifcy Bank , has been committed for trial on a second charge of misappropriating money entrusted to him for the purpose of advising a bill . — - A serious attempt at fraud was brought under the notice of the sitting magistrate at Guildhall , on Wednesday . There appears to be a person on the continent , dating now from the Pyrenees , then from C'ivita Vecchia , and anon from some other place , who

answers advertisements for information wanted . Jlr . Schultz , solicitor , of Dyer ' s-buildings , Holborn , has been favoured with two communications from him . Jlr . Schultz had occasion to advertise for fche address of a gentleman who had gone to Australia . He received a letter from the Pyrenees , signed Richard Brookes , offering to give the information , if £ 5 was sent immediately . The money was not sent . Some thne afterwards , Jlr .

Schultz advertised for some one who had witnessed an omnibus accident . In a few days " F . Neville" wrote to him from Civita Vecchia , sayingthat he saw the accident , and would come over to England if his travelling expenses were sent out to him . He requested that letters might be addressed to him at the British Consulate , Civita Vecchia . Jlr . Schultz saw that the writing of " F . Xevilie" and " Richard Brooks" was the same , and wrote to the British Consulate for information . The Consul replisn that " F . Neville" is unknown to him , hut that some one eallieg

himself by that name had taken the liberty to have letters addressed to the Consulate , which he had requested might he sent to Jlessina . The request had not been complied with . A widow woman , named Anne Walne , has been barbarously murdered at Ribchester , a small place between Preston and Blackburn . She was a small farmer and beerseller , and on Tuesday morning was found dead in her bed by a man in her employment . She had been fearfully beaten about the head wifcli a . churn staff ,

and then suffocated with tbe bedclothes . It is supposed that the murder was committed in order to get money . A man has been tnken into custody on suspicion of being the perpetrator of the foul deed . The sentence of death passed upon Mrs . JI'Lachian for the murder of Jesse M'Pherson , at Glasgow , has been commuted to penal servitude for life . It remains to he seen what further steps will he taken in this extraordinary affair . Three men were killed , while a fourth was dangerously injured ,

by the bursting of the boiler of a locomotive engine , at the Paddington Station of the Great AVestern Bailway , on Saturday A Jiill of the railway viaduct at Kensington on the Hammersmith and City Railway , has resulted in the loss of six lives . It is ascertained that the heavy rains had rendered the newly built arches insecure ; and the unfortunate men who have lost their lives were engaged in shoring up the arches when the crash took place . On Wednesday the ancient ceremony of

pricking the sheriffs for England and AVales was gone through in the Exchequer Court . There w-as no deviation from the old forms , aud as ifc is anticipated that there will be a pietty liberal distribution of honours among the sheriffs of counties as well as the mayors of towns , in honour of the Prince of AVales attaining his majority , fewer excuses than usual to evade service were presented to the Court . The physicians and surgeons of St . Thomas's Hospital have issued a strong and unanimous protest

against the project of building the new hospital any further from the centre of the population than its present temporary situation at Walworth . They say that country air would benefit nobody but convalescents , whose interest may be consulted in another form ; and that the removal would render it useless to all cases of acute disceases and in the accidents which are constantly occurring in a dense and busy population , while it would destroy its usefulness as a great medical and surgical school

They also declare their inability to conceive what the managers want with 40 acres of ground for tho purposes of a hospital . Jlr . Gladstone presided at a volunteer banquet in London , on Tuesday evening . The right lion , gentleman spoke with enthusiasm of the progress of tbe volunteer movement . He urged that iu the main , the force , if ifc is retain its real character , must he self-reliant and self-supporting , and it was a matter of some difficulty to determine the extent to -which public aid

ought to be given . That was a point , however , which would receive the careful attention of Parliament and the Government from time to time ; and , whatever might be the result of that consideration in regard to this or that particular , he fervently hoped that the force might be maintained in that degree of efficiency which has already made ifc " the honour of the country , and a new guarantee of its security . " FOEEIGX INTELLIGENCE . —The Paris Fatrie announced on

Monday evening that ifc had learned from a reliable source that the French Government has proposed to the English and Russian Cabinets " to request of America suspension of hostilities for six months . " During the term of that armistice the three powers " would tender their good offices to bring about a reconciliation , and would ask of the North an immediate cessation of of the blockade . " It is understood that the English Government have declined to take part in the proposed intervention .

The u . atrie also announces that the Emperor has received Mr . Slidell , the Southern Envoy , at Compiegne . According to ia France the resignation of the French Ambassador in London , Count Flahault , has been actually accepted , and the successor of the Count will shortly be appointed . The France has published the note addressed to the Italian Cabinet by the new French Minister for Foreign Affairs . This document declares that General Durando ' s recent note " cannot serve as a basis for

negotiations . " Jf . Drouyn de Lhnys affirms that the Emperor Napoleon ' s government " has always expressed the firm resolution of preserving Rome against all agression , and protecting the independance and sovereignty of the Pope . " He does not see any good reason why , because the Italian Cabinet has " loyally " frustated Garibaldi ' s enterprise , " France should be obliged to evacuate Rome ; " and , in conclusion , he asserts that " at no period has the French Cabinet given to Piedmont and Italy the hope that it would sacrifice to them Rome and the