The Week.

Henley , anel others , the Chancellor of the Exchequer expressed his desire that the House should go on with the discussion at once . Before he sat clown he indicated his intention not to accept the amendment of which Mr . Gladstone had given notice . Earl Grosvcnor then withdrew his proposition , and the House went into committee . —Mr . Darby Griffith sought to interpose

between tbe House and the discussion which it was most anxious should take place on Mr . Gladstone's motion , but he did not obtain many hearers . As soon as he sat down Mr . Gladstone proceeded to move his amendment , in a speech moderate in tone , but thoroughly firm as to the duty of those who wished to see a good Reform Bill passed . He avowed that tlie object which he

had in view was —first of all , to pass a good Reform Bill ; and , secondly , if possible , to pass it through the means of tho present Government . The second consideration , however , must give way if it was not consistent with the due carrying out of the first . He then proceeded to discuss at some length the propositions of the Government in respect to compound

householders , and declared that they would create invidious distinctions . He therefore moved his amendment , the effect of which is to elo away with the personal payment of rates . Tlie Solicitor-General was put np to reply , but was not very convincing . In the debate which followed The O'Donoghue made a capital speech against the bill . Sir AA . Heathcote , a Conservative ,

announced his intention to support the amendment , and Mr . Herbert , a Liberal , announced his intention to vote against it . GENERAL HOME NEWS . —The health of London is improving , there being a decrease on the average number of deaths of 109 . The numbers for the last four weeks were 1731 , 1601 , 1453 , and 1372 . The annual rates of mortality in 13 of the principal towns last week were per 1 , 000 of the inhabitants as follows : — Hull , 17 ; Bristol , 18 ; Birmingham anel Sheffield , 22 ; London

and Leeds , 23 ; Newcastle-on-Tyne , 25 ; Liverpool , 28 ; Manchester and Salford , 29 ; Edinburgh , 30 ; Glasgow , 34 ; and Dublin , 35 . The eloquent and luminous legal ruling of the Lord Chief Justice of England has not succeeded in inducing the grand jury at the Central Criminal Court to allow a full trial of Colonel Nelson and Lieutenant Brand . The bills which had been preferred against these gentlemen were ignored by

the jury . The country , however , has the less reason to regret this , seeing that it has obtained so magnificent an exposition of the British law as that which the Lord Chief Justice gave . John George Conde and his wife were brought up at the Central Criminal Court , on the 11 th inst ., charged with having wilfully murdered their child , AVilliam Conde , aged twelve . The accused

couple lived at Bromley . The family seemed to have lived in a state of much distress . The deceased was represented to have been marked out as the object of the most heartless unkindness anel neglect . A verdict of manslaughter was returned against the female prisoner . The father of the deceased was acquitted . The division list shows how completely Mr . Disraeli owed his

success to defections from the Liberal party . No less than forty-four Liberals voted with the Government . This number is arrived at by the aid of " Dod , " but certainly two members , if not more , out of these forty-four ought not to be classed as Liberals . They are , it is true , described in " Dod " as Liberals , but they never vote other than with the Tories . The two to

whom we allude are Mr . M'Es-oy and Mr . Corbally . The number is thus reduced to forty-two . But Mr . Smith-Barry and Lord Dunkellin paired in favour of the Government , and thus the actual number of Liberals whose votes on ordinary occasions may be counted upon for the Liberal side , and who went over to the Tories , is fourty-four . There were , besides , nineteen Liberals absent—some from illness , but more , we fear , from a

deliberate desire not to vote . The Liberal losses under these two heads was , then , sixty-three . Of the Conservatives , six voted for the amendment , and five were absent , making eleven in all . This statement makes clear the cause of Mr . Disraeli ' s victory . He has successfully fished both sides of the House . During the recess we shall probably hear something of what the

country has to say on tlie matter . The Princess Christian , on the 14 th instant , gave birth to a son at AVindsor . At latest accounts both the mother and the child were doing well . The strike of engine-drivers on the North Eastern Railway is occasioning an immense amount of inconvenience in the district . The directors are endeavouring to get men wherever

they can , and they have succeeded so far that a few trains have been able to run . Proceedings which have been taken against some of the men do not appear to have been successful . The chief boating event of the year—the aquatic Derby—¦ the race between the Oxford and Cambridge eights , took place on the 13 th inst . For the seventh consecutive year Oxford won

the race . Only , however , this time , after a most gallant struggle , by half-a-Iength . The weather was very unfavourable . There was heavy rain and much mind . These drawbacks , however , did not prevent the gathering of even more than the usua l crowd , and the display of large quantities of blue ribbon—light and dark—by those who favoured one or other of the crews .

Easter Term began on the 15 th inst . The Lord Chancellor , as usual , entertained the judges at breakfast . The business in the law courts subsequently was without any special interest . ¦ The Pall 31 all Gazette says it has good reason to believe that Lord Stanley has received from Spain a favourable answer to his despatch respecting the Queen Victoria . This was the case in which his lordship demanded restitntion of the ship and compensation for her detention . The

Tornado case stands on a wholly different footing . It is reported that Mr . Brand has acted for the last time as whip for the Liberal party , and that after Easter Mr . Greenfell Glyn will take the duties of tbe office . He is most likely to have heavy work . For though the Tory newspapers affect to believe that the Reform Bill is safe , it is quite certain that there will be some strong attempts to amend it before it passes

through committee . Mr . Gladstone has written a letter to a gentleman at Guildford , in reply to a vote of confidence passed in him at a public meeting in that town . Mr . Gladstone while pointing to the division on the 12 th inst . as throwing doubts on his ability to lead a Liberal party , declares his resolution to uphold the principles for which he contended . There

can be little doubt that he will have both the sympathy and the support of the country in this course . —•—Mr . Brand has written a letter which now fully explains the occurrence . It was he who obtained from Mr . Owen Stanley the statement which Mr . Bernal Osborne read to the House , anel it was at his request the member for Nottingham took up the subject . Mr .

Brand ' s justification is unanswerable . "It seemed tome , " he said , " that if Lord Derby and Mr . Disraeli were in favour of the concession , it was not right that the knowledge of that most important fact should be confined to those members to whom Mr . Dilhvyn might exhibit the memorandum ; and I thought that the House was entitled to a public

declaration from the Government upon a question of such vital importance . " Colonel Taylor will most probably not attempt to reply to this cogent view of the subject . There was a most distressing scene on the 16 th instant , at the execution of James Long-hurst , the young man who had murdered a little girl near Guildford , under circumstances of great atrocity . The execution took place at Horsemonger-lane Gao