The Week.

alleged , with one of the notorious trades' unions of the town . Wastnidge was what is called a " knobstick , " and the grenade was flung into his house as a punishment for his having dared to oppose the tyranny of the body which assumes to regulate the conditions under which the operatives connected with his department of the trade shall accept employment . The deadly missile was , no doubt , intended for Wastnidge , but he escaped , while his lodger was mortally injured , and his wife dreadfully

burned . The Jury returned a verdict of Not Guilty . At the Stafford Assizes , the Rev . H . S . Fletcher was found guilty of appropriating a portion of the funds of the Bilston Savings Bank , with intent to defraud the depositors ; but sentence was deferred—the question whether the prisoner was a trustee under the meaning of the Fraudulent Trustees Act—the statute on which the prosecution relied—being reserved for the decision of a superior court . The learned Judge offered to admit the

prisoner to bail . The Hartley Colliery Fund raised in the metropolis has now reached the sum of £ 20 , 500 , or about £ 4000 more than was originally deemed necessary to be raised for the sufferers over the whole kingdom . The sum raised for the Merthyr Tydvil coal-pit accident , which happened afterwards , and by which fifty persons lost their lives , amounts to somewhere about £ 400 . The inquest on the bodies of the miners who perished in the Cethin CollieryMerthTdvil

, yr y , has been brought to a close . The Cethin pit was generally regarded as one of the best managed in the country ; but , after hearing the great mass of evidence laid before them , the jury came to the conclusion that its ventilation was very imperfect , and that Mr . John Moody , the principal viewer , had failed in the discharge ol his importaut duties . They held Mr . Moody responsible for the terrible occurrence , which deprived so many men of their livesand a verdict of manslaughter was returned

, against him . FOREIGN INTELLIGENCE . —The French Legislative Body is said by some persons to be so averse to increase the taxes on salt ancl sugar as to render it not impossible that the goverment may withdraw the proposal for their augmentation . The Austrian Cabinet , pressed by the urgent penury of the Treasury , and the difficulty of contracting a loan , has already proposed to the Reichsrath considerable augmentation of the taxes on salt and

sugar , ancl it has now introduced bills imposing heavy additions to the direct taxes , which are already a crushing burden on the poorer districts of the empire . Letters from Rome arriving in Marseilles state that General Goy on has received all the officers who were leaving for different stations , ancl repeated to them that his mission was to secure the Papal territory from any invasion , ancl to repel by force any bands who might seek to enter . The Marquis De Lavalette has received the Pontificial officers

, ancl , it is added , made similar declarations to them . The Council of Bishops summoned to meet in Rome is to be invited , according to the general belief , to agree to a declaration affirming the necessity of upholding the temporal power to he a dogma of the Church . The Italian Government is not likel y to sanction its bishops' taking any part in the convocation , ancl the views of the French Government have alreadbeen very

explicitlany y nounced . In reply to questions put in the Italian Chamber of Deputies , the ministry declared that the object of the assembly of bishops at Rome was certainly not a religious one , but that King Victor Emmanuel ' s government possessed by law sufficient authority to punish any bishops wSio might quit the national territory , ancl might afterwards " render themselves guilty of acts contrary to the interests of the nation . " Letters received

at Berlin from St . Petersburg assert that the Russian Government intends to contract a new new loan for the purpose of enabling the Bank of Russia to resume cash payments . The Danish Government , in reply to the recent German notes , has refused to enter into any discussion respecting the affairs of Schleswig , and the relations of that duchy with the kingdom of Denmark ; but it has declared its readiness to consider any

objections which the German Diet may think fit to make to the Danish proposals concerning the constitution ancl administration of Holstein and Lauenburg . The Turkish financiers have evidently profited by the valuable instruction afforded to them by French officials ; for , in spite of the notorious embarrassments of the Ottoman Treasury , they have contrived to frame ancl publish a budget showing that in 1 S 62 the Sultan's income will

exceed his expenditure by a sum of £ 884 , 163 . This surplus is to be produced by the help of new taxes , and its existence even on paper may perhaps be due to the desire of smoothing the way for the contraction of a fresh loan in England or France . Despatches from Athens , which have nrobably been transmitted

The Week.

by the Greek government , state that the outworks of the fortress of Nauplia had been carried , by King Otho ' s troops , and that many deserters from the insurgents had joined the royal ranks If we may believe a telegram from New York , we may " hope to extricate ourselves , with little loss or inconvenience from the joint expedition to Mexico , " preliminaries for a peaceable solution having been arranged by the Spanish General Prim and the Mexican Minister .

AMERICA . —The American intelligence brought b y the Niagara , possesses less importance than the tenour of previous reports had given us ground to expect . The Confederate troops had not been surrounded by the Federals at Murfreesboro , but had abandoned that place , and had retired further South . Columbus had been evacuated and destroyed by the Confederates who had carried off their guns and stores down the Mississi ppi to Fort Randolh . So considerable operation had been

underp taken by the Federal army on the Potomac . The Confederate authorities , at Richmond , had arrested Mr . Botts , a well-known Alrginian politician , together with twenty other "prominent citizens , " on charges of " conspiracy against the Confederate government , " and martial law had been proclaimed . The Southern journals , we are told , were pressingly urging the Confederate government "to pursue an aggressive policy . " The

Federal Senator Johnson had been appointedprovisional governor of Tennessee , and was to proceed immediately to Nashville for the purpose of organising a State government , and " arming and jirotecting loyal citizens . " The Committee of Ways and Means appointed by the Federal House of Representatives had recommended theimposition-of duties on spirits , tobacco , printing , paper , flour , oil , leather , gas , salt , cattle , carriages , and . plate , and had proposed that all persons in trade should be compelled to take

out licences , that a tax of three per cent , should be levied on incomes above 600 dollars , and that legacy and succession duties should likewise be established . It was thought in New York that a tax would also be imposed on cotton by the House of Representatives . President Davis has proclaimed martial law throughont Richmond ancl the adjoining country , and has forbidden the sale of spirituous liquors on account of the demoralisation of the army ! that the President of Honduras has been

assassinated in broad daylight ; that a Comederate steamer has been captured while endeavouring to run the blockade ; and that the captain of the British steamer Labuan is to protest , through Lord Lyons , against the seizure of that vessel by the Federal steamer Portsmouth . The steamer Nashville , whichnot long since caused us so much trouble by her sojourn at Southampton , was said to have arrived at AVilmington , in North Carolina .

INDIA AND CHINA . —The intelligence in the papers brought by the overland mail shows that at Calcutta , the re-introduction in the Legislative Council of the bill authorising the punishment of whipping had caused some surprise , as it was thought that the strong public opinion expressed against it had induced the Governor General to withhold his consent . The disturbances in Assam ancl the contiguous districts had caused apmrehensions for the safety of the Europeansbnt troops had been dispatched

, , ancl the Govervment had expressed their hopes of an early suppression of the insurgents . The principal news from China is the progress of the rebels towards Shanghae , but as they had been informed that England and France had taken the city under their protection , it was thought the rebels would not venture to attack it , and thereby engage in hostilities with the allies .

AUSTH - AXIA , —Accounts from Melbourne state that the new Ministry had laid their financial plans before Parliament , but they were so similar to those of their predecessors that they had been coolly received , and the position of the Government was considered far from strong . The Sydney session had been closed with a speech from the Governor , who congratulated the houses on the many valuable measures they had passed .

To Correspondents.

TO CORRESPONDENTS .

M . M . —Not at all . P . R . S . —AA e do not understand what you are driving at . MASTER MASON . —Look at the Book of Constitutions , p . p . 118-19 . BRISTOL . —The Baldwyn did acknowledge and print their acknowledgement of submission to the Duke of Sussex , Grand Master of Knights Templar and his successors . P . P . —The Brother is abroad .