The Week.

cotton famine , ought to come forward liberally to the assistance of the operatives . He doubted whether the names of the millowners ought to appear in the subscription lists at all . Some of them had kept their mills at work at an immense loss , and it was a mistake to conclude that because great houses did not appear in print as the donors of great sums , the employers wereneglectingtheoperativesin their hour of need . Speaking at a meeting held at Droitwicb , Sir John Pakingtou defended the millowners

against tho charge of neglecting the suffering operatives . The light hon . Baronet said that at one time he somewhat entertained the opinion that the manufacturers had not done their duty , but a better acquaintance with tbe facts of tho case had convinced him that he done the employers an injustice . " With the exception of the unfortunate workmen themselves , he be " - lieved no class were more entitled to sympathy than these millowners and manufacturers . " They were deeply involved in this

distress , and the whole circumstances of the crisis seemed to him to justify an appeal to Parliament for assistance . Sir John reiterated tho opinion he expressed some time ago on the subject of European mediation in America , but observed that if Her Majesty ' s Government decided not to interfere , that conclusion would , no doubt , bo tho result of a conviction that an offer to mediate would only tend to aggravate the present state of things . * At a public meeting held at LeesOldhamit was determined

, , to memorialise her Majesty's Government to consider the propriety of advising a grant from the Consolidated Fund for the relief of the distress in the cotton manufacturing districts . Tile memorial contained a strong expression of opinion against an interference between the Northern and Southern states on the part of this country . Mr . Farnall reports that on the 8 th inst , 237 , 743 persons were receiving parochial relief in the 27 unions which now appear in

his weekly tables . This shows an increase of 13 , 031 as compared with the previous week . It should be mentioned that the usual returns had not been received from Stockport and Clitheroe , and the figures for those unions in the present statement are , therefore , the figures sent in for the week ended the 1 st inst . If we add the returns made by 41 out of 65 local committees , we find that , for the week ended the Sth inst ., 330 , 664 persons were relieved by those bodies and the Boards

of Guardians , and that the total outlay thus incurred was £ 22 , 516 7 * -. or a fraction under Is . 4 id . per head . The first meeting of the 109 th session of the Society of Arts was held at the bouse of the society , John-street , Adelphi , on Wednesday evening . Sir Thomas Phillips , tbe President , delivered an inaugural address . He made touching allusion to the death of the Prince Consort , and spoke at some length in reference to the late Exhibition and the want of cotton . The "female

student question" is exciting some attention in Scotland . It may be remembered that a young lady , named Garrett , matriculated at the University of St . Andrews , and obtained tickets for the anatomy and chemistry classes . The Senatus , subsequently , interfered , and enjoined the professors to prevent her attendance until they had satisfied themselves as to its legality . The question was referred to an eminent member of the Scottish barand acting upon his opinionthe Seuatus has

, , just declared Miss Garrett ' s matriculation to be null and void . The lady , on the other hand , laid her case before the Lord Advocate , who has also expressed an opinion fatal to her views . Further experiments were made at Shoeburyness last week , with the wonderful shell invented by Mr . Whitworth . The projectile was , of course , again fired from Mr . Whitworth's own guns , and the result of the day ' s trial is summed up by Mr . Whitworth in the

statement that has now made it a positive certainty that he can send shells through iron plates of 5 in . or even 5 im ., and not only through the plates , but through the backing and inner skin too . Sir William Armstrong is said to be bringing forward a weapon which is to throw into the shade all that Mr . Whitworth has accomplished , while Mr . Whitworth , not content with tbe laurels he has already won , is reported to be prepared with a gun which will send shell or solid shot through a 10-incb plate .

-The Hon . W . F . Byng was defendant in an action in the Westminster County Court , on Wednesday . Mr . Thomas Davis , military tailor , of Regent-street , sued the hon . gentleman for £ 48 10 s . for clothes supplied in 1841 . Mr . Byng pleaded the Statues of Limitations , adding that he did so because he believed he had paid the bill . Mr . Davis said he could prove by his books that he had never been paid . The judge held that the plea exempted the defendant .- The six men charged with the robbery of banknote paper , followed up by the forgery of banknotes , have undergone another lengthened examination at the

Mansion House . A great number of witnesses were examined , and several fresh features of interest in the details of this extraordinary case were disclosed , every step in the case showing the adroitness of the thieves anil the bloodhound-like sagacity with which their trail was followed up by the detectives . . The evidence could not be got through at the sitting , and the prisoners were therefore again remanded . In the Court of Error on Saturdaythe case of Mr . Meanywho was charged with

, , having obtained some books under false pretences , was disposed of . It may be remembered that Meany , who gave himself' out as editor of a Lancashire newspaper , and made himself very busy about the Exhibition in the early months of its opening , got some books from a bookseller , which he promised to pay for when the Exhibition authorities settled some accounts he bad against them . The jury found that be had obtained the propert

y by false representations , but added that they thought he meant to pay . The judge at sessions refused to receive the verdict , and the jury went back and returned a second verdict of guilty . In tbe meantime some of the other magistrates raised the question whether the first verdict ought not to have been received , and whether it was not equivalent to a verdict of not guilty . Tne court yesterday decided that tbe judge

had tbe right to send a jury back to reconsider their verdict and the sentence was therefore affirmed . A serious charge was preferred against the Earl of Limerick , at Bow-street Police Court , on Wednesday . He was charged with having committed perjury , in having made an affidavit that lie left England on the 27 th of April , 1861 , and was out of tbe country for some months . This affidavit , it is said , had been made for the purpose of escaping the consequences of

disregarding a legal process . Proof was given that the Earl had been at Southampton within the time mentioned . Mr . Wontner , on his behalf , contended that the statement was merely a mistake , and that what Lord Limerick meant was , that he had not been iu London . Mr . Corrie adopted this view of the ease , and dismissed the summons . A curious case of alleged poisoning was under investigation at Hindon , Wiltshire , on Wednesday . Mrs . Ann Kiddle , the wife of a respectable wheelwright in the hamlet of Sudwell , was taken ill iii August . She was attended by a medical man , who found symptoms totally at variance with

tnose which his medicines ought to have produced , and which indicated that some irritant was being administered . He spoke of his suspicions , but eventually Mrs . Kiddle died . Subsequently , a post-mortem examination of the body was made , aud the stomach was sent to Dr . Herapatb , of Bristol , to be analysed . He found slight traces of arsenic , bismuth , antimony , and silver . The bismuth , antimony , and silver had been administered to the deceased by her medical attendantbut not the arsenic . A Mrs .

, Trowbridge , who was in attendance on Mrs . Kiddle , is in custody on suspicion of having given her the arsenic . In tbe case of John Barclay , under remand for an attempt to murder his wife hy shooting her , the man having died in prison , the coroner's jury have decided that tbe death resulted from natural causes . The man , Cooper , who murdered his sweetheart , at Isleworthwas on Monday executed in front of Newgate GaoL

, Before he was led to the scaffold , he admitted tbe justice of his sentence . Gardner , the sweep , who murdered his wife , has been reprieved . Of the four men apprehended on suspicion of having been concerned in the barbarous murder of an old woman , at Ribchester , two have been discharged . Harrison and Davis are the two who remain in custody . A fatal instance of the effects of unbridled Inst and passion was

brought before the Maidstone magistrates on Monday . A farmer named Murtou about a month ago took two women of bad character home , and ordered his wife and married daughter to entertain them . One of the women was herself so shocked with this shameless proceeding , and wished to leave , on which the farmer became infuriated , rushed on his wife , dashed her on the brick floor of his kitchenand so ill-used her that she has since

, died . The wretched man turned his own family out of doors , retaining the prostitutes , and when he was taken into custody he gave one of them bis money and installed both in possession of his house . The magistrates committed him on the charge of manslaughter . A shocking case of attempted murder which is but too likely to prove successful , took place in a coffee-shop in the Edgware-road . A man named Cobley and his wife went

to a coffee-shop for a night ' s lodging , and they had not been long gone to bed when the landlord was alarmed by loud screams proceeding from the room . He ran up , * and found the woman with her throat cut , and a razor lying at a little distance . The man said she had done it herself , but the woman , though unable to