The Week.

was considerably above the average . The deaths , which rose to 1561 in the previous week , fell last week to 1391 . The births , . on the other hand , were considerably above the average . AVe are glad to observe that the National Memorial Fund to the Prince Consort , begun at the Mansion House meeting on Tuesday week , already amounts to a sum of between £ 10 , 000 and £ 12 000 . Application has been made to the lords lieutenant of ¦ counties , ancl to the chief magistrates of all cities and boroughs

to join the metropolis in raising one national memorial to the lamented Prince . A meeting of the inhabitants of Birmingham has heen held , the Mayor in the chair , to consider the propriety of erecting a memorial of his late Eoyal Highness the Prince Consort . The meeting which was a numerous and influential one , Avas entirely of one mind upon the subject . Oi } another point also they were unanimous—that the memorial should be solely devoted to the commemoration of his Eoyal

Highness ; that there should be no objects of mere utility associated with it . A committee was appointed to collect subscriptions and to decide on the most suitable form that the memorial ¦ should assume . Tlie Gazette of Friday announces that Mr . C . Dilke has been created a Baronet . AVe may couple with this another official intimation , that theEifie Brigade will henceforth be designated " The Prince Consort's Own , " in remembrance of the connection of His late Eoyal Highness with that

distinguished corps . Colonel M'Miu-clo has emphaticallycontradicted the statements which have so frequently been made of late that the volunteer force is languishing and declining . He declares that so far from this being the case , the movement is in " a very healthy " state . On the 1 st of August last , the force numbered 163 , 000 men , ancl within the last six months 87 new corps have been formed . Seventeen of these have been organised within the last two months—tlie contribution of the

present month being three corps . He speaks in the highest terms of the general efficiency of the force , ancl describes the body of Artillery Volunteers ( numbering 25 , 000 ) as " well drilled and well up to their work . " The gallant Colonel , alludes to the " enormous amounts " which have been spent in purchasing prizes for rifle matches , " and suggests that " the thousands" subscribed for this purpose would be more usefully expended " in maintaining the efficiency of the volunteer forces ,

ancl in assisting them with clothing and accoutrements . " Mr . Massey , the member for Salford , has addressed a meeting of his constituents . The hon . gentleman , after a glance at the past session , referred at considerabla length to the Trent affair and to the civil war in America . The question of the blockade , which is exciting so much attention at the present moment , was also discussed ; and on this subject Mr . Massey admitted thatif the statements with reference to the operations

, of the " stone fleet" were correct , it was a matter for serious consideration whether the time had not arrived when the maritime powers were bound , in the interest of peace and humanity , to interpose with the view , if possible , of inducing the belligerents to bring the contest to a close . A letter addressed to the Liverpool Shipowners' Association by Earl Eussell , fully confirms the statement thafc Her Majesty's

Ministers have remonstrated against the blocking up of the Southern ports . Lord Lyons was instructed , in December , to inform Mr . Seward that such a measure would not be justifiable . " even as a scheme of embittered ancl sanguinary war ;" "it would be a plot against the commerce of all maritine nations , and against the free intercourse of the Southern States of America with the civilised world . " A hope was also expressed that the Federal Secretary of State would " disavow the illegal

project . " The "illegal project , " however , as all the world knows , has been carried into effect at Charleston , ancl Lord Lyons " will be " —The Foreign Office letter is dated January 15— " will be instructed to make a further representation to Mr . Seward , with a vieiv to prevent similar acts of destruction in other ports . On Saturday , a deputation , consisting of representatives of the Manchester Chamber of Commerce and the Cotton Supply Association , had an interview with Lord Elgin ,

who is about to proceed to Calcutta as the successor of Lord Canning . The object of the deputation was to urge npon His Lordship the importance of removing the obstacles which at present impede the clevelopement of the material resources of India , ancl to press upon his attention the injurious tendency of the import duties established by the late Mr . AVilson . The cotton question was , of course , brought prominently under the notice of the new Viceroy , —the various speakers expressing their entire confidence in the capabilities of India as a cottongrowing country . His Lordship briefly replied to the

representations made , and in tlie course of his remarks avowed his concurrence in the views stated with reference to the injurious peration of protective import duties . — The prohibition of the exportation of munitions of war has been removed . The Victoria , which left Queenstown on the 6 th inst , with a portion of the 68 th Eegiment has returned to that port , having encountered a terrible storm , which caused the ship a great deal of damage . No lives appear to have been

lost , although it is stated that a number of the soldiers sustained rather severe bruises during the storm . The Perana , which was reported to have been lost in the St . Lawrence , arrived safely at Cape Breton on the 6 th inst . —two days after the rumour of her loss was circulated by the New York journals . The defalcations in the Bilston Savings Bank , turn out to be quite a curiosity in the annals of crime . Nothing could be

simpler than the mode in which the money Avas abstracted . The books of the depositors were kept with scrupulous accuracy , but in making up the totals Mr . Fletcher was in the habit of returning 1001 . less than he had taken , and of charging 100 Z . more than be had paid away . The curious thing Avas , that these false accounts were usually signed by a manager , who could never have summed up the columns . Mr . Tidd Pratt , who had gone over the books , and gave these explanations , added that the

question was still under examination whether the managers could not be made liable . The feudal feeling isnot altogether extinct in the country . Its existence came out curiously enough in the Court of Common Pleas on Saturday lasfc . The

Duke of Beaufort anel Lord Ashburton have a dispute about the right of shooting on ono of the Welsh hills in the county of Brecon . The duke ' s family we need not say , have been recognised for centuries as the lords of the district ; Lord Ashburton is but the creation of yesterday . His Lordship feels the disadvantage under which this places him among the Welsh farmers , and he therefore applied to the Common Pleas for a change of the venue into Herefordshirewhere he would haA'e a better

, chance of obtaining a fair jury . The Court granted a rule nisi . A curious point of lawAvas decided at a sitting of thejudges in the Exchequer Chamber on Saturday . The servant of a contractor who had undertaken to supply the troops at Shorncliffe with butchers' meat , made use of a light weight , by which the soldiers were deprived of their fair share of food . The man was detected ; and a jury found him

guilty of stealing the meat of which the men were deprived . The counsel for the offender appealed the case , on the ground that to use a false weight was not to steal . Chief Justice Erie , however in delivering the judgment of the Court , held that the man had kept the overplus meat- with intent to steal ifc , and therefore affirmed the conviction , Further inquiries relative to the scheme of forgery upon the

Imperial Bank of Eussia tend to show that that scheme was of a very extensive character . It is stated that the police are under the impression that some twenty persons were engaged in the operation . Two other prisoners have been formally brought up at the Mansion House , and remanded . — - —A shocking murder has heen committed on the borders of Essex and

Hertford , a woman having murdered her husband and child . The details reveal a sad state of ignorance and profligacy leading to this catastrophe . A feeling prevails in the neighbourhood that the wretched woman was actuated by an insane fit of frenzy . The case of Eeade v . Conquest—a copyright case arising out of the drama entitled Gold—has been decided for the plaintiff . James Nutt , jeweller , of Cheapside , has been committed for trial under the Bankruptcy Act " Avith

, intent to cheat and defraud his creditors . " A sad calamity took place on Thursday night last in the neighbourhood of Newcastle . The beam of a huge pumping engine snapped in two ; that part which projected over the pit mouth , weighing altogether about 20 tons , fell down the shaft at the moment when eight of the pitmen were being drawn up to the surface . Five out of tho eight were killed ; ancl that disaster , sad as it is ,

was not the worst . The beam , as it fell , tore away with it a great quantity of earth , ancl all the Avooden lining of the pit shaft , thus completely closing up the passage into the galleries Avhere upwards of 200 men were at work , and who were consequently buried alive . For seven days did labourers willingly work to save their imprisoned comrades , but what ! with falling walls , the rising of the water in the seam , and the deadly

gases , without avail . On AVednesday a truly brave collier , at the imminent risk of his life , descended the shaft and entered the furnace draft and the yard seam , where he discovered several bodies , proving too truly that death had done its terrible