The Week.

wholly unsuccessful . In three hours what had been the theatre was simply a mass of smoking ruins . The theatre had been improved and beautified by the lessee , Mr . Douglass , and under his direction had achieved a good reputation for the excellence of the performances . The origin of the fire has not been discovered . ——At the Central Criminal Court on the 22 nd inst .

a man named Donaldson was charged with libelling Mary Anne Deames . The prosecutrix was a nurse at the Middlesex Hospital in which institution the defendant was some time a patient After he had beon discharged from the hospital he accused Mrs . " Deames of having been guilty of grossly indecent conduct with a patient who had occupied a bed in tho same ward with him .

This was the libel complained of . The case occupied a long time in the trial , ancl finally the defendant was acquitted , the jury finding that in their opinion he believed what he had said to be true . ——At the Mansion House the re-examination of Moses , the Petticoat-lane receiver of stolen goods , was proceeded with . Some more of the stolen property

was identified , and the prisoner was again remanded . Mr . A \ . E . Forster addressed his constituents at Bradford on the 22 nd inst . in a very able speech . He considered that such a settlement of the suffrage question as was proposed by Mr . Gladstone ' s bill will never again satisfy the country , ancl he strongly urged the various branches of the Liberal party

to sink their difficulties and unite in support of a practical measure of Reform . In concluding his speech , he passed a glowing eulogium upon America . Sir Morton Peto has gone before his constituents at Bristol , ancl given explanations in reference to his connection with the London , Chatham , and Dover Railway . Practically it will he found that Sir Morton Peto denies that there has been any over-issue of legal debentures , ancl that for other things of which the Committee of

Investigation complained the late solicitois of the Company are responsible . Sir Morton Peto says he may have been foolish in endeavouring to support the Company ; but he has not been dishonest . The meeting which ho addressed unanimously passed a resolution declaring his explanations to be satisfactory . At the Central Criminal Court , on the 23 rd inst ., Henry Burton and Edwin Morgan , the two warders at the Surrey

County Lunatic Asylum , charged with unlawfully assaulting and beating one of the inmates of the asylum , were tried . After hearing evidence in substantiation of the facts which have already been published , the jury found the prisoners guilty of assault , but recommended them to mercy on the ground that they ( the jury ) believed that the

accused had received a great deal of provocation , ancl had been subjected to much violence before they assaulted the patient . The prisoners were sentenced to two months' imprisonment ancl hard labour . The exigencies of modern improvements lead to a good deal of practical injustice , as those must admit who read the account of the evictions which took place in Holborn

on the 2-1 'th inst . Union-court must of course be pulled clown , and the interests of the many preferred to those of the few ; but still the spectacle of families of men , women , and children , with all their household goods , turned into the street , is not an edifying one . Fortunately the weather was on the side of the evicted , otherwise their discomfort would have been aggravated

tenfold . At the Central Criminal Court on the 24 th inst . a man named Haddon was charged with embezzling about £ 10 , 000 the moneys of his employers , Messrs . Russell , of AVednesbury . He had been their town agent , ancl the alleged embezzlements were said to have been committed in a scries of bill transactions . It appeared , however , that tho Messrs Russell were in some way connected with these , and the jnry found a

verdict of not guilty . Another case tried at the Centra Criminal Court was that of the Spaniards who are charged with forging Spanish banknotes in this country . After along hearing fh-y were found guilty , but sentence was deferred . FOREIGN INTELLIGENCE . —A Paris telegram informs us that M . Thouvenel is dead . It will be remembered that a few months ago a similar announcement was made . It turned out ,

however , that it was not the ex-Foreign Minister of France , but a relation of his who had died , and M . l'houvenel had an opportunity of reading his own biography in some of the English papers . M . Thouvenel was born in 1818 . He filled various minor diplomatic offices in the service of France . He became Minister of Foreign Affairs for a brief period in 1851 ,

after the coup d'etat , ancl in 1855 was appointed Ambassador at Constantinople . From that post he was recalled again in 1859 to become Foreign Minister once more . He held office till 1 S 62 , when he resigned it in consequence of a difference between himself and the Emperor in reference to the Papal question . He has since taken no active part in political affairs .

If we could believe the Pairie we should expect to bear something definite within the next few days as to the Emperor ' s policy in respect to Rome . The Pairie of the 18 th inst . states that the Marquis de Moustier has addressed a circular to tho Catholic Powers in reference to the Roman question . This is not unlikely to bo true . Assuredly ,

the document will be read with interest when it is published . The Patrie gives us no clue , however , to its contents . -The various Diets of tho Austrian Empire are summoned to meet on the 19 th November , with one exception — -that of Hungary . The opening of that Diet is indefinitely postponed , the reason alleged being the prevalence of cholera . This , of course , is a mere pretence . Other reasons , doubtless ,

have influenced the decision to which the Emperor has come Count AVimpfl ' en is to be the Austrian representative at Berlin . General Menahrea declines to take the post of Italian Ambassador at Vienna . The Isortli German , Gazette denies that the British ambassador at Berlin ever protested against the Sequestration of the private fortune of King George of Hanover .

All that has happened is that the English Ambassador asked what was the course which Prussia intended to take in reference to the private fortune of King George . The same authority denies that any ultimatum has been addressed hy Prussia to the Netherlands in reference to the Duchy of Luxembourg , ancl adds that the relations between Prussia and the

Netherlauds are of a friendly character . It is stated that the Russian Government has addressed a note in reference to the Eastern question to the Great Powers . We received the statement of the Pairie as to the despatch of a French circular respecting Rome to the various Catholic Powers with much doubt . Not so some of our contemporaries . They not only

accepted the statement as true , but even ventured to state the purport of the note . This was to the effect , that if Italy did not fulfil all she stipulated to do in convention of 1861 , France would declare that Convention null and void . The foundation , so far as we can gather , upon which this story rests is a statement in the Independence Lelje . Manifestly it could not be

true unless tho Emperor had made up his mind to a downright quarrel with Italy . Such a note would have been simply insulting to the Italian Government . The Patrie , which helped in the hatching of the canard , now destroys it . The statement that- a circular had been sent is , we are now told , inaccurate ! The Saxon people are dissatisfied with the manner in which the negotiation with Prussia are conducted . They care so little for retaining their independence tbafcsome of them have given