The Week.

increased by £ 310 during the week ; the total is now £ 5 , S 13 . The Exhibition of Works of Skill and Industry by the Working Men of Isorth London , for which preparations have been made for some time past , was opened in the Agricultural Hall , Islington . Earl Russell Avas invited to preside at the opening , aud there was a large attendance of eminent

persons accompanying his lordship , besides several thousands of the general pviblic . After a religious service , aud the singing of an ode written for the occasion , Lord Russell , who had made a careful examination of the works in the Exhibition , congratulated the London mechanics on the skill , industry , and ingenuity they had displayed , and said he was proud to be the

countryman of such men . His lordship asked the people to continue to show confidence in the laws of the country . " You may depend upon it , " he said , "that this is a country in which ,

by means of discussion , hy means of the press , by means of Parliament , and hy the operation of public opinion , all that is good in government and legislation will ultimately prevail , and in which , under God , every man shall be blessed . " On Saturday afternoon last the new German Hospital was opened by his Royal Highness the Duke of Cambridge . There has been

an hospital established principally , but by no means exclusively , for German patients , in that neighbourhood for nearly twenty ' years , and the need for it having gref . tly outgrown its capacity , a new and more commodious structure has been erected in the grounds immediately adjoining . The benefits the hospital has conferred both on German and Euglish

patients were strikingly set forth by the treasurer , and from the list of contributions that gentleman read , it was plain that the wealthy Germans in London are by no means unmindful of the needs of their poorer brethren . The Chancellor of the Exchequer received the various addresses

which had been voted to him at Liverpool on the 13 th inst . In consequence of the great number of persons who desired to bo present , the meeting was held in St . George ' s Hall , which was crowded on the occasion . Mr . Gladstone addressed his audience for nearly an hour , in the course of which he adverted to his early connection with Liverpool , to the rapid growth of tho town , to the advantages of direct over indirect taxation , and to

the benefits , present and to come , that would flow from free trade . The right lion , gentleman was warmly cheered in the course of his speech . Mr . Gladstone visited Manchester aud received an address from the Corporation . In acknowledgingthis mark of confidence , the right . lion , gentleman touched upon several subjects of great interest , which he seems to have specially reserved for this , the closing day of a somewhat arduous week of extra-parliamentary labour . Speaking of the American

war , he justified the policy of absolute neutrality , which the Government had adopted ; but he repeated , though in rather less definite form than on previous occasions , his opinion that the subjugation of the Confederate States is one of those tasks which it is easier to undertake than to perforin . The Franco-Italian treaty he was disposed to regard with the " eye of hope and

satisfaction ; " and if it did not promise an immediate solution of the very serious difficulties with which the destinies of Italy are still beset , he knew " that the best and wisest men of Italy believe that by that treaty a great step hasbeen gained towards the consolidation of freedom in that country . " The right lion , gentleman also referred to the cession of the Ionian Islands , the

Dano-German question , the effect of the repeal of the paper duty on the press of the country , and the moral heroism and philanthrophy which had been displayed during the cotton famine in the manufacturing districts . Later in the day Mr . Gladstone distributed the prizes awarded to the successful candidates for Oxford Middle-class honours in this district . At

the last meeting of the Metropolitan Board of Works , several matters of interest to their constituents came under review . A report on the removal of Middle-row , Holborn , was received , but referred back to the committee for further examination . A communication from Mr . Cowper , recommending the hoard to buy up and exercise the Crown rights in Epping Forest , was

agreed to be answered in effect that , so far as the recreation of the London population was concerned , those rights were not worth the purchase , and recommending that Government should bring in a bill to preserve Epping Forest and other open places . There was also a discussion on the question of the quality of granite used for the Thames embankment , but it led to no result .

At a City Court of Sewers , a report was read from the committee who had been employed to report on the desirableness of constructing a circus at the junction of Ludgate-hill and Fleet-street . The committee strongly approved of the project , and recommends its immediate adoption . After some discussion this report was adopted by the Court . The first stone of

Contract So . 2 of the Thames Embankment has been laid by Mr . Bazalgette . The portion of the work of which this forms the foundation stone is at the west end of the Temple Pier , and is in length 126 ft . by 41 ft . in breadth . The launch of another iron-clad vessel , the Royal Alfred , took place at Portsmouth on Saturday . She was laid down in 1859 , but was

afterwards lengthened and converted into an iron-clad ram , and it is intended to plate her with IJ-inch iron plates down to her water-lines . The launch , which was a most successful one , waSt witnessed by about 10 , 000 persons , whose cheer 3 as the good ship glided into tho water were absolutely deafening . An iron-clad frigate , built for the Spanish Government by the Messrs . Green , of Poplar has also been launched during tho past week . The frigate , which , is named the Arapiles

( after that range of lulls where the Duke of Wellington gained the glorious victory known in our histories as the battle of Salamanca—the French call it the battle of the Arapiles ) , was originally designed for a wood vessel ; but she was afterwards altered and converted into an iron-clad . Wo believe this is the first effort those well-known shipbuilders , the Messrs . Green , have made in the construction of iron ships . At a

meeting of the Middlesex magistrates the question of admitting Soman Catholic chaplains to gaols was under discussion . It appeared from the report of the visiting justices that the chaplain was admitted to those prisoners only who desired his services , and no money had boon spent iu the purchase of chalices , crucifixes , & a . A motion made by Mr . Serjeant Payne , to the effect that the interviews between the chaplain and the prisoner should not be carried on without witnesses , was agreed to .

Another of those great frauds which from time to time startle the City was on Saturday charged against a man named De Witt , who had obtained wine from a foreign firm through its agency in the City to the extent of nearly £ 5 , 000 . The charge against the prisoner is that he represented himself to he the London agent of Messrs . John Sfcnart and Co ., who are bankers

in STew York aud merchants in Manchester . In payment for the wine he gave bills drawn for the most part by that firm and accepted by some of the first mercantile firms in the North of England . The purchase of the wine was made in two separate transactions . The first only of these was gone into on Saturday , and it was hinted that there

were circumstances of some mystery and delicacy attending the second . On Saturday , Thomas Burrowcs , a stock-jobber , was brought before Mr . Alderman Challis at the Guildhall on the charge of having obtained 2 , 000 bonds of the Confederate Cotton Loan on false pretences . The prisoner had obtained the bonds on the understanding that they were to be settled for on