The Week.

Station of the North London Railway . As the express train for Fenchurch-street was about to start , at half-past nine the boiler of the engine suddenly exploded , the fragments flying in every direction . Fortunately the train was not in motion at the time of tlie accident , and it is believed that the personal injury is confined to the stoker , who expired on being conveyed to the hospital . Some short time ago a woman died in the City

workhouse at Bow , where she had been brought in a state of insensibility . It was though she was drunk , and she was put to bed without being seen by a medical man . In the morning she had a fit and died . The jury returned a verdict of death from natural causes , hut censured the matron for not having called in medical aid when the woman was put under her charge .

Another alarming railway accident , though fortunately not attended with fatal consequences , took place at Brighton . The goods station is on a level considerably lower than the main line , and the goods waggons are lowered down an incline by an . engine . This process was going on when tbe weight of the train , which was an unusually heavy one , broke the coupling

chain , and the train descended at a pace accelerating every moment , dashed into and through the station , knocked down the outer wall and rushed across the street , where it was stopped by an opposite house , which suffered severely , however , from the collision . Fortunately , the people standing about heard the noise of the descending train , and managed to get out of the

way . An immense conflagration took place at Hull in the course of Tuesday afternoon , by which the premises of several large firms , commission agents , and railway carriers , & c , were burnt to the ground . The premises were stored from basement to top with valuable and , unfortunately , combustible property , among which were 300 bales of cotton , and large quantities of wool , hemp , flax , & c . This loss of property was roughly

estimated at £ 100 , 000 . Some of the merchants were insured . ——On Thursday , the 4 th , some extensive buildings , situate in a narrow thoroughfare in Southwark , and known as the Borough Saw-mills , fell , choking up the entrances to several houses on the opposite side of the thoroughfare . A number of children were playing below tho wall only a few minutes before the accident , hut they had been ordered away , and only one was slightly

injured . It appears that the interior of the mills had been gutted some time before , and the walls , deprived of their internal supports , were considered dangerous for some time before they fell . A fire took place on Monday morning in a hemp and jute mill at Bromley , Essex , by which property to the extent of several thousand pounds was destroyed . An

express was dispatched to town for the steam fire-engine , but before it could arrive , the fire had attained such a height that no portion of the mill could be saved . The property was insured . There is some fear that the fire was the work of an incendiary . Some little time ago , the Artesian Sawmills , near Paddington , were burned to the ground , and a labourer on

the premises , named Boxhall , was apprehended on suspicion of having wilfully caused the fire . There was , however , no evidence to implicate him in the crime , and he was discharged . A servant girl , named Cooper , only twelve year 3 of age , has since been taken into custody , and examined on the charge of being the incendiary . She was in the mills after Boxhall left , and

appears to have been the last person there before the fire broke out . ^ 'FOREIGN INTEEHGENCE . —The fete of St . Napoleon has been celebrated at Paris with unwonted brilliancy . Amongst the crowds who witnessed it were thousands of wandering foreigners , of whom our own countrymen formed the great majority , who at this holiday season are roaming over the Continent , and for whom a display of fireworks and an illumination such as they

conduct these things in France , prove overpowering attractions . AVhen , therefore , on Monday the Emperor drove down the avenue of the Champs Elysees in the afternoon , there could be no mistaking the throats whence the loud cheers proceeded with which he was greeted on his way . There were the usual presentations at the Tuileries , but the speeches made on the occasion were not sensational . At night the illuminations drew

an enormous concourse of people into the streets . Public rejoicings will he continued , on the present occasion , throughout the week , in consequence of the Prince Consort of Spain ' s visit to Paris . A great fire broke out at Limoges on Monday evening , and was not extinguished till the following day . Owing to the arrival of the King of Spain ,

the Emperor was not able to visit the town , bnt the Empress and the Prince Imperial have each contributed a large sum to relieve the sufferers . —The old Hotel des Poste 3 of Paris , is pronounced inadequate to the increased demands of the postal service , and by a decree which appeared in the Moniteur , it appears that a new post-office is to be built . In connection with the new building , other architectural changes or improvements are also decreed . A French semi-official journal publishes an article in which the writer labours to show that the

approaching visit of Don Francisco , Queen Isabella ' s husband , has no political significance , but is merely a return for that which the Empress Eugenie paid to the Court of the Escurial last year . His Majesty's stay in France will be limited to three or four days only . The Northern of Spain Railway was opened on Monday last by King Francisco in person . A

banquet followed , at which his Majesty presided , supported by some of the great officers of state . San Sebastian welcomed its Royal visitor with enthusiasm . The Spanish Cabinet shows tokens of a serious fear lest political disturbances should break out in Madrid . Not only have military precautions been taken , and two newspaper editors been sent before courts-martial ; but

General Prim , a leader of the extreme Progre 3 ista party , has been summarily compelled to quit Madrid and take up his abode at Oviedo . Owing to the unexampled heat which has prevailed in Portugal , as well as in countries more favourably situated further north , the vines and grain crops have sustained much injury . The Portuguese elections have not passed off

quietly , and some rioting had occurred in the provinces . Elated at the triumphs which the great German Powei-3 have achieved over the gallant little state of Denmark , the King of Prussia has ordered the erection of a commemorative column in

the large court of the Hotel des Invahdes at Berlin . That the remembrance of the deeds of heroism performed by the Prussian hordes in Schleswig may be handed down to all posterity , the cannon and muskets taken from the Danes will be recast for the purpose . The Prussian Government is about to establish a naval force in the harbour of Kiel , two corvettes and a squadron of gunboats being daily expected there .

Several Prussian marine officers are at present engaged in surveying the port . The future of the two Duchies is causing much embarrassment in Germany , but it is expected that some arrangement may he effected during the visit of the King of Prussia to Vienna , which is shortly to take place . The first consequence of the preliminary treaty of peace signed at Vienna

has been a reduction of the Prussian army , all or most of the " reserves" called out for the Danish war having been dismissed by a royal order published at Berlin . The Saxon official journal declares that the preliminary treaty of peace can cede to Austria and Prussia only the rights which the King of Denmark himself possessed , and that therefore the "Federal execution cannot he declared settled . " It is probable , however , that the question of the future government of the Duchy of