The "Week.

bridge , Lord Palmerston , and Mr . Adams , the United States minister . The Duke of Cambridge alluded to the exploded rumour that it was the intention of the Government to cut down the regular army in consequence of the strength and efficiency of the volunteer force , and correctly represented the general feeling when he asserted that such a measure would never be sanctioned by the volunteers themselves . Lord Palmerstou . congratulated the country upon the satisfactory state of the revenue , and spoke of

the present dearth of cotton as a temporary evil which would , no doubt , be productive of permanent good . "AVe shall find , " he . said , " in various quarters of the globe a sure , a certain , and an ample supply , which will prevent us being dependent upon one source of production . " Referring to European affairs , he remarked that there were causes at work which , if not prudently dealt with , might " lead to local disturbances , " but he trusted that we should not be brought within their range . He touched very slightly upon

the American war . He viewed the conflict with "an affliction which no words could express , " but " it was not for us to pass judgment upon the dispute . " The Lord Mayor offered to Mr . Adams "the entire sympathy of the whole British people ; " and His Excellency , in returning thanks , dwelt at some length on the functions of modern diplomacy , and strenuously denied the application to our day of Sir Henry Wotton ' s witty definition that an ambassador was " a man sent to lie abroad for the benefit of his

¦ country . " Mr . Adams did not , however , deny the truth of another remark , often applied to diplomacy , that "language was given man to conceal his thoughts ; " but he assured the company he was there to perpetuate the friendly relations between England and the United States . AVhile Mr . Adams was being feted at the Mansion House , Mr . Dudley Mann and Mr . Yancey , the " plenipotentiaries of the Confederate States , " were dining—and , no doubt , making

speeches—at the Hall of the Fishmonger ' s Company . The Prime Warden , in proposing the toast which brought up Mr . Yancey , expressed an earnest hope that the strife which is now raging in North America might speedily give- way to peace . Mr . Yancey echoed this sentiment , but said there was no prospect of such a xesult so long as the Federal Government treated the people of the South as rebels . If the North would recognise them as belligerents , then the Confederate government would be "inflexible ou one point only—its honour and independence . For the great interests of peace and humanity , it would yield much that is merely material or of secondary importance . " The Southerners are fighting for

the right to govern themselves , and for the purpose of resisting subjugation ; and , though they are cut oft from foreign trade , they are still in a position to equip and maintain in the field any army of 250 , 000 men . They have not sought , and they do not desire , foreign intervention ; for they are united , and can fight their own battles . They are anxious to be recognised by the various Powers , "bnt " they have no reason to complain , nor do they feel aggrieved , because these great Powers see fit for a season to defer their formal

recognition and reception into the family of nations . A deputation upon the subject of the revised education code has had an interview - with Lord Palmerston . They brought before him the objectionable features of the scheme , and his lordship promised that their complaints should have due consideration . Lord Enfield has delivered a speech on the same qnestion at Brentford . He did not think that the code was as entirely evil as bad been represented , hut he at the same time thought that the certificated teachers had

just ground of complaint , and that the measure in some other respects demanded revision . A conference of the friends of the ballot has been held as the AVhittington Club , under the presidency of Mr . AAliite , M . P . Resolutions were passed urging that the ballot should be brought prominently forward at every election ; that the co-operation of Reform Associations in the good work should be especially invited ; and that the attention of the Reform Conference ,

which is about to meet at Leeds , should be earnestly directed to these points . Mr . Charles Seely , who advocates an extensionof the franchise , vote by ballot , and the abolition of the church rates , was returned for the city of Lincoln , on Saturday , without opposition . Mr . Bramley-Moore , who had been brought forward by the Conservatives , retired a few days before the election , by the advice of his committee . AVe regret to have to announce the death of Sir Howard Douglas—a veteran whoduring his long careerrendered

, , signal service to his countrymen both b y his sword and his pen . The season of the Royal Geographical Society opened on Monday . The papers read , and also the discussions , had reference , in oae instance , to the explorations of the Upper Yang-tse-Kiang , and in the other , to the ethnology and geography of the Caucascus . Sir Robert Peel , who has been traversing the districts in the west of Irelandwhich are represented to be suffering most from the

, failure of the potatoe crop , arrived at Sligo , on Saturday , when he received an address from the corporation of that town . The right hon . baronet , in acknowled ging this compliment , stated that while he saw iu some of the districts through which he had passed undoubted evidence of suffering , he believed there was no reason to

fear a repetition of the famine of ' 47 . "At the same time , " he added , " whatever may devolve on the Executive of the country fairly and honestly will be dealt with so far as it can consistently with the public interests . " A robbery of a very extraordinary character has been recently committed in Bessborough Gardens , Pimlico . A female employed by a gentleman living in that locality plundered her master of pvopevfcy to a large amount , and then decamped ; but before doing so she cut a hole in the back door ,

broke a window , and covered a poker with blood and human hair , with a view , no doubt , to create tht impression that the house had been entered by a burglar , and that a fearful struggle had taken place . The trick was too papable , however , to escape detection , and the consequence was that the police soon got upon the scent of the real thief . They ultimately discovered her at Great Yarmouth , dressed in male attire , and living in quite a fast style . She has

been examined at the AVestminster police-court , and appeared to be considerably abashed by her position . No suspicion that she has an acccomplicc is entertained . Certainly this is the very romance of crime in humble life . AVe have to report another military crime of a kind 5 which has of late become alarmingly frequent . It seems that Sergeant-Major Kennedy , of the third battalion of the Military Train , at present stationed at Aldershottcaused some annoyance to a private named

, Nicholas , on Wednesday week . The motive for revenge was of the most trivial and frivolous character , but Nicholas , availing himself of the facility afforded to every furious madman in the ranks , of obtaining possession of deadly weapons when off duty , took up his carbine , charged it , and deliberately fired at Kennedy . Nicholas was examined at Odiham . on . Tuesday last . It appears that the ball passed completelthrough the unfortunate man ' s bodyand

y , that he now lies in an extremely dangerous state . A witness , who saw the occurrence , having given evidence , the prisoner was committed for trial . AVhat is known as the " Rochdale oath case , " has been before the Court of Exchequer in the shape of an appeal against the decision of Mr . Temple , the County Court Judge of Rochdale , who declined to receive the evidence of a Mrs . Madeu , on

the ground that that lady denied the existence of a God , and discarded the doctrine of a future state of rewards and punishments . The Court decided that Mr . Temple's decision in the matter was in accordance with law and practice ; and the appeal was therefore dismissed . In the Queen's Bench Court a rule has been granted on behalf of the Rev . Sydney Gedge for a criminal information against a bookseller of Northampton named Bates , for exhibiting two libels in his window reflecting on the applicantwho is the

, vicar of Allhallows , Northampton . -Several persons have been fined 5 s . each and costs , at Salford , for carrying on their ordinary occupation , that of tobacconists , on Sunday . A fire , attended with melancholy results , broke out last week on board the ship City of Agra , which arrived a few days ago at Liverpool , from Bombay . The ship ' s cargo included 5000 bales of Surat cotton , and it appears that in this portion of her valuable

freight the fire originated . In endeavouring to arrest the progress of the flames , the third mate of the vessel was suffocated , and a number of men who accompanied him into the hold were in a state of insensibility when drawn up to the deck . A Birmingham contemporary asserts that in that town there is an active branch of a secret association formed in this country for the purpose of aiding the Hungarian revolutionary leaders . Arms are stated to have been purchased in considerable quantities , and to have " safely reached their destination . " The proprietors of the Great Eastern have

sanctioned the proposal of the Board of Directors to raise an additional sum of £ 25 , 000 , to meet the unexpected outlay rendered necessary by the recent accident to the ship . Nearly two-thirds of the sum has been already taken up . FOEEIGN INTELLIGENCE . —The Moniteur of Thursday contains decrees nominating M . Fould as Minister of Finance , and M . Forcade de Laroquette , present Minister of Finance , to the post of Senator . The Moniteur also publishes a letter addressed b

y the Emperor to the Minister of State , wherein his Majesty ap . proves of the financial programm drawn up by M . Fould , and acknowledges the necessity of confining the Budget within invariable limits . The Moniteur then publishes a letter from the Emperor to M . Fould , approving of his financial programme , and charging him with the carrying out of the same ; and M . Fould' 8 programme , which demonstrates "the necessity for the

suppression of extraordinary credit , " and examines the financial situation . It recalls that " recourse has been had to credit under all its forms , and calculates that the deficit has reached the amount of 1000 millions of francs . " The death of the youn g King of Portugal , which took place on Tuesday , will be regarded with feelings of very general regret throughout Europe . A malignant fever was the cause of the melancholy event . Pedro the Fifth was born in 1837 , and was the son of Donna Maria II ., and of Fernando , of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha . He succeeded his mother under the regency of his father , and only attained to the actual government of Portu-