The Week.

jt will he remembered that Mr . Kennedy took up the case of jfrs . Swinfen , when that lady was engaged in her celebrated effort to establish her claim to tho property of her former husband , and the learned gentleman claimed a sum of £ 20 , 000 for his successful services as her advocate A decision has been g iven in the Court ol Common Pleas , which seems to put

in extraordinary power into the hands of country justices . The justices of Braiutree had convicted some men under the new poaching Act . The men had been taken into custody with dead rabbits in their possession and nets for catching rabbits . They were not found trespassing on any land in pursuit of warne , and it was contended on their behalf that it should be

proved that they had so trespassed before they could be convicted . Lord Chief Justice Erie , in delivering the judgment of the court , said that to prove a man had been trespassing in pursuit of game , a policeman was not bound to produce evidence of the prisoner having been actually seen trespassing . The justices had a right to deal with the facts of the case

according to the truthful inference those facts led to . This seems to he a complete reversion of the late decision of the Becorder of Stamford ; and , if it he good law , a man may now be convicted , not on evidence adduced , but upon the inferences which the justices choos e to draw . Another severe gale has raged along the coast , but , as yet , several shipwrecks are ,

however , reported , and a large amount of property situated near the water-line , has been destroyed . The storm was severely felt in London on Monday morning . A bargeman was blown into the Thames , and drowned ; and a falling chimney

penetrated the roof of a house in Bethnal Green , killing one of the inmates . At Liverpool , Holyhead , and other places on the west coast , there have been serious losses . At Yarmouth a painful rumour was afloat that the Cromer life-boat had been lost with seventeen lives . It was stated that having gone off to the assistance of a vessel in distress she became entangled in the wreck and capsized . It is to be hoped that the rumour will

prove to be unfounded . An interesting discussion on the capabilities of Queensland as a cotton-growing country took place at a meeting of the Manchester Chamber of Commerce on AA ednesday . The special object of the meeting was to present an address to Sir George Bowen , the governor of Queensland , through Mr . Herbert , the secretary to the government of the colony .

In the address , His Excellency was congratulated upon the progress and success achieved in the cultivation of cotton in the youngest of England ' s dependencies , and a hope was expressed that the colonists would recognise the advantage of developing this new source of wealth . Mr . Herbert said that so far , the efforts made to grow cotton in Queenland had been attended

with the most satisfactory results , and there was every reason to anticipate an extensive cultivation of the plant . Sir Charles Nicholson who was present , said they must not look for a large supply from Australia , so long as the labour market remained in its present state . The whole question , in point of fact , 'resolved itself into one of labour . The introduction of coolies was

matter of great importance , but lie urged that European emigration ought also to be encouraged . In the conversation which followed . Mr . Bazley , M . P ., Mr . Cheetham , and other gentlemen took part .

COMMERCIAL . —The directors of the Great AVestern Railway have just published a short but important circular , announcing that they have signed terms of agreement with both their neighhours and formidable rivals , the London and North-AYestern and South-AVestem lines . The basis of these agreements is to allow each other the use of their respective . lines as far as necessary , so as to avoid the projection of new ones , which a

long and painful experience , we may suppose , has at last taught all the parties only ends in a wasteful expenditure of money and the exhaustion of the resources of the shareholders . In consequence of this inauguration of a new and pacific era it i understood that very few lines will be applied for in Parliament this session , and none of them will be opposed . This will be good news for the shareholders of each of the lines . At the

meeting of the City Bank , the report was adopted , and a dividend , equal to 10 per cent , per annum , was declared . At the meeting of the London and AVestminster Bank , the report was adopted and a dividend of 6 per cent , per annum , besides a bonus of 9 per cent , on the paid-up capital , was declared , makipg 22 per cent , for the year . The net profits of the bank

for the past half-year amount to £ 100 , 888 . At tho meeting of the National Discount Company , a dividend at the rate of 8 per cent , per annum was declared , a very large balance being carried to the reserve fund . The Directors of the St . Katharine Docks have declared the usual dividend of 4 per cent . FOREIGN INTELLIGENCE . —The new Prussian ambassador to

the Court of the Tuileries , Count Golitz , had a private audience of the Emperor on Saturday to deliver his credentials . In reply to the friendly expressions of Count Goltz , on the part of his Government , the Emperor said that ever since his interview with the King of Prussia he had always desired that their relations should become more friendly . The treaty between

France and Italy was signed on Saturday , January 17 th . The Emperor of the French has sent to the prefects a new sum of 100 , 000 f ., in addition to that which his Majesty had already subscribed on behalf of the distressed operatives of the Lower Seine . The sum last given is to be divided between twelve places—20 , O 00 f . to Alen ^ on , 10 , 000 f . each to Saint Etiemws , Caen , Amiens , Colmar , and Evreux ; and 5000 f . each to the

remaining districts . Some of the French papers published a statement to the effect that a division of the French army had entered Puehia in Mexico . , This piece of intelligence appears to have been published at the Exchange in Boston , and was derived from a Texan journal . The Moniteur says the statement does not present the character of incontestable authenticity , but , as coming from sources little disposed to herald the

success of the French arms , it is not likely to prove unfounded . A Paris evening journal announces that Baron Gros , the new French Ambassador to London , had just left the French capital for this city . Some of the French papers assert that the elections for the new Corps Legislatif will take place in the beginning of May . Some 400 or 500 negroes , belonging to the

Viceroy of Egypt ' s black regiments , have been shipped at Alexandria on board a French transport , which will convey them to Mexico , where they will be employed as pioneers , and whence they will no doubt never return . They were carefully kept in . ignorance of their intended exportation , but were quietly brought down from Cairo to Alexandria , and were

expeditiously embarked on board the French vessel , which instantl y put to sea . Cardinal Antonelli is said to have forwarded to the French government a memorandum , " enumerating the reforms recently carried out" in the Papal territories . This document has not yet been published . The military conscription in AVarsaw has passed off quietly , as we learn by a telegram

from that city . Custom decides that the conscription shall be made at night in the Polish capital . A Ministerial crisis has taken place in Spain . All the Ministers have resigned , and the Queen has commissioned Marshal O'Donnell to form a Ministry . The Marshal has declared in the Cortes that his new Ministry will follow , both at home and abroad , the policy which was pursued by the previous administration . Distressing news arrives from Nice . Another iady has fallen