The Week.

burdens which pressed upon great Britain . The debate was continued by Mr . Gregory , Mr . Cogau , and other members , and the motion was withdrawn . On Monday Mr . Coningham gave notice of his intention to move a resolution on an early day on the subject of the Mhow court-martial . —A new writ was ordered to be issued for Lisburn , Mr . Barbour having been unseated for bribery . —In reply to questions addressed to him , Mr . Layard stated that England was not represented in the

International Conference held at Paris for the consideration of a project for laying a telographic wire between Europe and North America , via Brazil and the West Indies ; and that Her Majesty ' s Government had demanded redress for recent outrages on British subjects in Jappn . —Mr . Hennessy and Mr . Bernal Osborne having agreed to postpone their motions in reference to Poland and the Irish Church , Lord Palmerston moved a vote for the purchase of the International Exhibition building , as a sort

of home for the arts and sciences . Tbe total sum proposed to be expended is £ 4 S 4 , 000 , but the noble lord urged that the arrangement recommended by the Government "would give the largest amount of space at the smallest possible outlay . " Mr . Gregory denounced the scheme as a job , and moved the rejection of the vote . The Chancellor of the Exchequer and Sir John Pakington defended the Government proposal , which was opposed by Mr . Bernal Osborne and other members . On a

division the vote for the land was carried by a majority of 132 . The vote for the building was postponed . On Tuesday the house held a morning sitting , which was entirely occupied with the consideration of the clauses of the Irish Fisheries Bill . —At the evening sitting , Mr . Hadfield drew attention to tbe case of a seaman , named Thomas , who has been tried by court-martial for using insubordinate language to the boatswairj , and sentenced to forty-eight lashesto two years' imprisonmentand afterwards

, , to dismissal with disgrace from the navy . In reply , Lord Clarence Paget said courts-martial , like individuals , were liable to err , and he had no doubt that in this case the Board of Admiralty would order a mitigation of the punishment awarded to Thomas . Mr . Corry stated , in reply to a question from Mr . Coningham , that Captain Fishbourne , one of the "honorary " secretaries to the Patriotic Fund , received a salary of £ 600 a year , in addition to travelling expenses . . Mr . Berkeley made

his annual motion on the ballot , which was opposed b 3 Lord Palmerston , who pointed to the case of the Reform Club , where the election of members by ballot had been abolished , and replaced by a system closely resembling the machinery employed in nomination boroughs—a " select committee . " The noble lord is reported to have said , in this instance , secret voting was abandoned after a full discussion , and on the advice of no less a personage than Mr , Bright , Mr . Berkeley's motion was rejected

by a majority of 30 , and the house was soon afterwards counted out . On Wednesday Mr . Dillwyn withdrew his Endowed Schools Bill , promising , however , to re-introduce it next session . Mr . Selwyn and Mr . Lowe expressed their satisfaction at the withdrawal of the measure , which they condemned as calculated to excite ill-feeling between Churchmen and Dissenters , while Lord Henley and Mr . W . E . Forster defended the lion , member for Swansea and his bill . Sir John Hay's Naval Prize Money

Bill was read a second time ; and the Election Petitions Bill was , by a majority of one , ordered to be referred to , i Select Committee . —The Irish Marriages Registration Bill passed through Committee , and several other measures advanced a stage . G ' ENEEAL HOME NEWS . —The Manchester Relief Committee held their meeting on Monday , when it was announced that there was a further decrease of the unemployed to the extent of 261-5

It was the opinion of the meeting that the distress next winter would be as severe as last , but that the cotton trade in Lancashire would eventually become more prosperous than it had ever been . The Dundonald Peerage case has been decided . The petitioner , Lord Dundonald , is declared to have proved the title to the peerage , and thus the honour of his mother , the Lady Dundonald . Captains Speke and Grant , the discoverers of the source of the Nile , have arrived at Southampton . ——The

aquatic world was strongly stirred on Tuesday . A match was rowed between Chambers , the famous Newcastle sculler , and Green , an Australian . The course was from Putney Aqueduct Jto the Ship at Mortlake , and an immense number of people ^ gathered to witness the struggle . . For the first few minutes Green took a strong lead , and astonished everybody by his 'ijeautiful rowing . Chambers ' s superior strength , however , soon told , and , making a spurt , he went clean away from his antagonist , and won in the end by half a mile . Green was a good deal

distressed . There was another boat race on Wednesday , Drewitt , of London , and Wilson , of Newcastle , contended for a prize of £ 200 . The Thames this time was victorious . Drewitt went away from his opponent as soon as he thought fit , and won as he pleased ; and a third on Thursday , between Cooper , of Newcastle , and Everson , of London , which was won by Cooper . A unique address to Her Majest y lias been prepared by the London ballast beavers . It seems that the late Prince

Consort took a good deal of interest in the condition of these men , and secured for them some important benefits . They celebrate what they call their " deliverance " from their old state of subjection to " riverside publicans and middlemen" by an annual treat on the Queen's birthday , and it was on the 6 th of this month that they drew up the address to which we have referred . In this singular document they tell in their own simple way all that the Prince did for themand they " would be very

, glad " if the Queen would give them a " framed engraving " of his " kind and earnest face , " to hang up in the waiting and reading room provided for them through the influence of His Royal Highness . The portrait , they say , would serve the double purpose of a memorial of their benefactor , and of a " reminder that we , in our humble way , should strive to be , as husbands , fathers , and men , what he' was . " " We hope , " they

apologetically conclude , " your Majesty will excuse our boldness in asking this favour ; but we feel we may speak to our Prince's wife . " Sir CharlesLocock was thrown from his horse on Tuesday , in Rotten-row . His right arm was fractured , and he sustained other serious injuries . No fatal result is , we are glad to say , anticipated . A curious action for libel has been tried in the Court of Queen ' s Bench . Capt . Alexander Ramsay sued Capt . Stewart for damages for having written a challenge to

him , in which he stigmatised him as a coward , and made several charges against his character . The challenge had been printed and circulnted in Scotland and Ireland . The whole affair arose in rather a singular manner . According the plaintiff ' s statement Capt . Stewart was separated from his wife , who was staying at the residence of General Chesney . During the absence of General Chesney and his wife they asked Captain Ramsay , who lived near , to protect Mrs . Stewart from her husband ' s violence . While they were away , Capt . Stewart went to their

residence and insisted on carrying off his wife contrary to her wishes . Tbe plaintiff was present , and , owing to what passed , the challenge was sent . The defendant was examined and gave a totally different account of his relations with his wife to that which had been given on behalf of the plaintiff , and awarded him £ 350 damages . In the Court of Queen ' s Bench on Saturday , Mr . Hodgman sued the West Midland Railway Company for injuries received by a racehorsewhich was about

, to be brought up on the line from Worcester , but as it was entering the carriage a noise was made that startled the animal ; he struck his fetlock against an iron girder , and received a wound which rendered him useless . The company pleaded that they were not responsible for the noise that was made or the skittishness of the animal ; but the jury found a verdict for the plaintiff , with damages to the extent of £ 1000 . The June

sessions of the Central Criminal Court were brought to a close on Saturday . The business was to pass sentence on some convicted prisoners . One of these , Benjamin Everett , has been for years at the head of a gang of thieves and receivers in the City . He was sentenced to fifteen years' penal servitude . —Simeon Howell , Mary Rentley , and Zacharia Howell , who had been convicted of having incited a young girl to prostitutionwere

, sentenced—the first to fifteen months imprisonment , and the other two to six months' imprisonment each . The body of a woman , named Bailey , who died suddenly in March last , was exhumed at Stockport on Thursday week , and was found , on medical examination , to be " literally saturated" with arsenic . The deceased's daughter is at present awaiting her trial on a charge of defrauding an insurance society . It appears

that a proposal was made to insure the life of Mrs . Bailey , and it is alleged that , while the deceased was lying ill , the prisoner induced another woman to personate her mother before the society's medical referee . The surgeon passed this woman , the policy was completed , and on Bailey's eath the daughter obtained from the society a sum of £ 50 . George Wright , who made a fatal attack upon a man named Batesat Oldhamabout

, , a fortnight ago , lias been captured in NovtU Wales and conveyed to Oldham . The coroner ' s jury returned a verdict of manslaughter against the prisoner . The thieves are growing bolder . In the Court of Common Pleas , under the nose of one of the judges , they have now taken to practising their art . A