The Week.

Lord Mayor properly informed ? and why was the meeting private ? Mr . Sprague , a surgeon , who some weeks ago escaped a conviction at Exeter on a charge of poisoning , was sent for trial by the Lord Mayor of London on a charge of rape . The circumstances , if truly narrated , are atrocoius , and are unfit for publication . On Monday a railway collision took place near Peterborough , a special train dashing into a number of

luggage waggons . The driver and stoker were severely injured , but the passengers fortunately escaped with J a shaking . The line was blocked up for some time , and the passengers in the express train were compelled to sleep in their carriages a considerable portion of the night . A barrister attended before the Lord Mayor on Wednesday to give explanations

respecting the Garibaldi Friendly Society , of which an exposure was made the other day by Mr . Tidd Pratt . He denied a number of the statements made by that gentleman , but the Lord Mayor said he could not see bow the society could pay back their money to its members as it professed to do as long as it gave 50 per cent , to the agents who brought it business .

The public will regret to learn that Major De Vere died on Tuesday night . The case from the first was almost hopeless , but there was a chance of recovery until that evening , when the unfavourable symptoms which had previously set in became aggravated , and death ultimately ensued . The prisoner Currie received the intelligence with great coolness ; and at his

examination which took place yesterday declared he had nothing to say . A frightful murder was perpetrated in Bankside at an early hour on Wednesday morning . The murderess was a married woman , named Esther Lack , whose husband is a watchman in the employ of a firm of coal merchants residing in the same locality , and the victims were three of her own children . The weapon she employed was a razor , and she appears to have committed

the crime with great deliberation . The wretched woman has been suffering from a deplorable state of health , and it is more than probable that her mind has , in consequence , been affected . She was examined at length before the magistrate , and fully committed for trial . Her own statement is that the family ivas very destitute , her daughter nearly blind , her husband

taken ill , and herself obliged to go to the hospital , so she thought it better to kill the children , as she believed they would go to heaven . Any way it is a sad event .- An inquest took place at Isleworth on Wednesday , on the body of Daniel Dossett , who , as there is every reason to believe , first murdered his Avife and then inflicted deadly injuries on himself . During

the ten Avceks he has lingered in the infirmary of the workhouse he made " a quasi confession of his guilt-The jury eventually returned a verdict that Dossett died by his own hand , but declined to express any opinion as to his state of mind at the time ho committed the deed . Ernest Rathenow , " Baron Rex , " was examined at the

Marlboroughstreet Police-court , on a charge of assaulting a police constable . It appeared from the evidence that he conducted himself in so extraordinary a manner at his lodgings in Marlboroughstreet that the landlady was compelled to call in a policeman , whereupon " the Baron " amused himself at an upper window with throwing water over the policeman . The examination of

. | he prisoner led to the appearance of sundry cabmen , from the evidence of some of whom it appeared that the prisoner had a mania for hiring cabs and not paying for them . It Avas stated that this peculiarity of " the Baron ' s " extended to other things besides cabs , and he was ultimately remanded . FOEEIGN INTEUJOEKCE . —The Brussels Independance pub-Iishes a singular document , which it professes to have received from an excellent source , but for which nevertheless it will not vouch . The document purports to be addressed by the Prefect

of the department of Mcihoacan , in Mexico , to the Mexican Government . The Prefect resigns his office on the ground that the people are everywhere turning more and more against the present ruling system , that the Republican party is growing fast in popular favour , and that its ultimate triumph is certain . We do not know what faith is to be placed in this document . Our own opinion is that it is not genuine ; that is , that no

Prefect of a Mexican department ever penned it , but that it does nevertheless fairly represent the condition of public sentiment in many of the provinces of Mexico . The French officials and residents at Alexandria celebrated the Emperor Napoleon ' s Fete-day with demonstrations of a somewhat imposing character . There was , of course , a procession

to the church in the day and a banquet at night . At the banquet given to the Lords of the Admiralty at Cherbourg , the French admiral , in toasting Queen Victoria , said that the two nations Avere now emulous only in the advancement of civilisation and liberty , freedom of the seas , and of commerce . The Duke of Somerset reciprocated , and in the name not only of

the Government and of political parties , but in that of all enlightened Englishmen , expressed his wishes for the Emperor ' s health and long life . The official journal of Vienna copied , and , therefore , adopted an article from another paper , stating that the understanding arrived at between Count Blome and Herr von Bismarck at Gastein , will very soon receive the

Imperial sanction , and that it is of a nature to put an end to all chance of collision , and to ensure union among the German Powers . It is stated that the Queen of Spain will shortly visit the Basque provinces . These provinces , it Avill be remembered , were most strongly Carlist during the war of succession in the Queen ' s infancy . ¦ It Avould seem after all that there is not any genuine cholera in

Barcelona . A newspaper of that city states that the disease in the hospital is the ordinary cholic of tho season caused by eating too much fruit . Advices from Rio Janeiro of July 2 i mention that the Paraguayans were in possession of South Borja . A column of 10 , 000 men Avas on the march southward , believed to be for the purpose of attacking Ibaqui , in

front of which a force is already posted . A partial engagement between the vanguard and a Brazilian brigade had ended the repulse of the Paraguayans with loss , ' especially in horses . Ui-quiza had apparently disbanded bis army and thus broken up the triple alliance . The Emperor and Empress of the French have arrived in Switzerland , on their way to Arenenberg ,

once the residence of the Emperor ' s mother , Queen Ilortense , on the shores of the Lake of Constance . At Arenenberg many of the Emperor's early years were passed , and it was there , after his escape from Ham , he took a last farewell of his mother . The Emperor of Austria and the King of Prussia have had a meeting at Salzburg . They have

interchanged visits and been delightfully cordial . All is arranged it seems , between them regarding Schleswig-Holstein . Austria is for the present—of course only for the present—to govern Holstein , and Prussia for an equally indefinite term to manage Schleswig . Prussia is to have Lauenburg and to pay Austria a pecuniary compensation in lieu of her share of this scrap of

spoil . The Grand Duke of Oldenburg is also at Salzburg . People say that the Duchess of Augustenburg has left for Cobourg , on the invitation of Queen Victoria . Is it that the Duchess may receive consolation upon the turn things havo taken in Schleswig-Holstein ? A telegram from Ismaila states that the flood-gates of the Suez Canal have been thrown

open , and that a vessel laden with coal ( we do not bear Avhat was its size or bnild ) passed direct from the Mediterranean to the Red Sea on the 15 th inst . Intelligence of the event wa »