The Week.

has addressed a letter to the Times , in which he points out what , so far as he can see , are the prospects of the cotton trade . He has no doubt that the quality of Indian cotton may be improved , and that the quantity may be largely increased ; but he contends that the average produce per acre cannot , under any circumstances , approach that of America . He estimates that for

the next twelve months India might furnish from 1 , 250 , 000 to to 1 , 500 , 000 bales , but after time to extend the cultivation and get over the fluctuations on the termination of the American war , we might expect somewhere about 2 , 000 , 000 bales , with a permanent average price of Gd . per lb . for Indian cotton in Liverpool ; and 1 , 000 , 000 bales , more or less , for each Id . per lb .

more or less , in the price of tlie article . He thinks that if the struggle between the Northern and Southern States were to terminate to-morrow , " the result at which we should probably arrive in two or three years , after severe fluctuations , would be something like the following : —Cotton consumption of the world , 5 , 000 , 000 bales . Supply—America , 2 , 500 , 000 to 3 , 000 , 000 bales ,

at Gd . to Id . per lb . ; India , 1 , 500 , 000 to 2 , 000 , 000 bales , at 5 d . to Gd . per lb , ; the rest of the world , 500 , 000 to 1 , 000 , 000 bales . " Archbishop Whately has addressed a letter to Mrs . H . B . Stowe , in which he places before that lady a statement of what he believes to be the " prevailing sentiments here on American affairs . " He says , " some few " sympathise with the North , and

" some" with the South , "but far the greater portion sympathise with neither completely , but lament that each party should making so much greater an expenditure of life and property than can be compensated for by any advantage they can dream of obtaining . " AVith regard to the emancipation of the slaves , he holds that there is no plan so good as the gradual one of imposing an ad valorem tax upon slaves , the value to be fixed by the owner , with an option to government to purchase at that

price . He fears , however , that the time has gone by for trying this ' experiment in America . The members for Marylebone met their constituents on AVednesday evening at the Literary Institution , Edwards-street , Portman-square . Mr . Peter Graham presided . Lord Fermoy , in the course of his address , said he had given Lord P . xlmevston a . general but qualified support , because he believed him to be the best possible Minister under

present circumstances , and decidedly to be preferred to Lord Derby . He believed that a dissolution of Parliament was impending , and he urged the people not to be misled by the professions of the Tories . Referring to the measures of the last session , bis lordship severely denounced the Poaching Act . The war in America he hoped would soon end . He denied that

republican institutions had had anything to do with that war , and said that if monarchical institutions had been introduced into America , the States would not have held together so long as they had . Mr . Harvey Lewis expressed similar opinions generally . A vote of confidence in the two lion , gentlemen was passed at the close of the meeting . The resources and

advantages of British Columbia as a colony were on AVednesday very ably shown by tho Hon . Malcolm Cameron to an influential meeting at the London Tavern , convened by the council of the British North American Association . Mr . Cameron announced himself as a delegate from British Columbia , entrusted witii the task of endeavouring to induce the British Government to

grant a constitution to the colony . His object , however , in coming before the meeting , was to show the desirability of a Trans-American railway , hy which the shores of the Atlantic and the Pacific might be brought practically closer . He con tended that there were few physical difficulties in the way 0 f the formation of such a road , while , if made , it would materiall y increase the facilities of communication between England and her possessions in India and Australia . He denied that there

was any wish on the part of the colonies to sever their connection witii the mother country . Mr . M'Clure also addressed the meeting , and spoke of tho advantages of A ancouver's Island as a colony . Various explanations were subsequently given , and eventually a resolution was passed pledging the meeting to do its best in tiie promotion of any well considered scheme for

making a road from Canada through British Columbia . Mr . Bereford Hope delivered an address on Tuesday evening at Maidstone on the social and political aspects of the American disruption . Mr . Hope's pro-Southern sympathies are prett y well known , and on this occasion he made them still plainer . He assumed that union in America was impossible , denounced

the acts of the Federal Government in unmeasured terms , and alleged that slavery as it existed in the Southern States was not so much an oppression as was generally believed . A vote of thanks was given to Mr . Hope at the conclusion of his address . The late Lord Mayor , Mr . AV . Cubitt , M . P ., formerly communicated the resignation of his aldermanic gown to the Court

of Aldermen on Tuesday . Advancing years and increasing infirmities were alleged by the lion , gentleman as necessitating this important step . Mr . Alderman Humphery spoke in complimentary terms of the services of Mr . Cubitt , both in Parliament and in the Corporation , and moved that the resignation be not accepted . This motion was seconded by Mr . Copeland ,

but was lost upon a show of hands . The resignation was then duly accepted , and a precept ordered to issue for the election of a successor to the lion , gentleman as alderman for the ward of Longbourn . A general court of the governors of St . Thomas's Hospital was held on Wednesday , to consider the report of the grand committee relative to the site of the new building . The merits of the several sites were canvassed at some length , but tlie weight of opinion , so far as it could be collected , seemed to

be in favour of that upon which Bethlem Hospital now stands . Ultimately the reports of the surveyors were referred back to the committee . An inquest has been held on Christopher Godwin , who met his death at the main drainage works , St , Luke's . The jury decided that the death was accidental , " in consequence of there being no mechanical means of lowering the planks into the works . " ——An inquest has been held

respecting the death of Samuel Garner , who appears to have committed suicide through domestic affliction . It came out in evidence that the deceased " lost his situation for being absent one day when his son died . " In a public-house quarrel , in Ratclifi ' e-highway , a sailor named Clinton was recently stabbed . He was carried to the London Hospital , and intelligence now

arrives that the poor man is dead . A cold-blooded murder was committed at Acton , in Middlesex , on Monday night . A police constabe , named Davey , while at supper , was summoned to the door by a man , who instantly discharged a gun at hishead , killing him on the spot . The murderer is supposed tobe one of two brothers whom the constable had intercepted

the same evening with some property they are alleged to have stolen . The two men are in custody . An action for breach of promise of marriage has bean tried before Baron Brauiwell and a jury . The parties resided in Huddersfield , and the plaintiff , who had borne a child previously to another man , was again debauched by the defendant , who was alleged

to have known of her previous misconduct before he courted her . The defence was that no promise of marriage had ever passed between the parties , and the evidence adduced hy the plaintiff was so slight , that the jury returned a verdict for the defendant . In the case of Kennedy v . Broun and wife , the Court of Common Pleas has decided that a counsel cannot recover fees promised by a client , the relations between them rendering them both incapable of entering any contract as to remuneration ;