The Week.

course which ministers are said recently to have pursued . Lord Palniorston persisted that the government had pursued , with entire good faith , the policy of nonintervention , denied the rumours to ivhich Mr . Disraeli had alluded , and contended that tho treaty of commerce with France was an exceptional arrangement . Lord Palmerston ought to know that it is exactly for this reason that the public desire to be fully informed of everything relating to it . Lord John Russell is to bring forward his reform bill on the 20 th of next month ; that Sir G . C .

Lewis will introduce , on Monday next , a bill for the better regulation of the corporation of the city of London ; and that Lord John Maimers will move for leave to bring in a bill giving power to the Court of Probate and Divorce to sit with closed doors . Altogether , tho session promises to be unusually busy . On AVednesday Mr . Packe moved for a return of all the parishes in England aud Wales whore church rates had ceased to be collected , of tho sums raised during the seven years previouslto the cessation of the rateand of tho sums raised

suby , sequently for the repair of the churches . Sir G . C . Lewis made no opposition . Mr . M'Million obtained leave to bring in a bill to secure the right of appeal in criminal cases . Mr . Cardwell promised an Irish Reform Bill . Lord Palmerston complained that it was impossible to satisfy every one , that every measure that had been promised could not be brought forward at the same time , but that the " government had adopted the course they thought most likely to bring the deliberations of the house to a satisfactory result . "

GENERAL HOME NEWS . —The usual banquets were given on Monday evening by the heads of the ministry aud of the opposition to their respective supporters . Mr . Disraeli , on account of the recent death of his sister , received no company . The public health , on account of tho increased mildness of the weather , improved slightly in the metropolitan districts during the last week ; the ravages of small-pox still continue , but bronchitis is the prevailing cause of death . The death of the Right Hon . M . T . Baines took lace at half-past twelve o ' clock on

p Monday morning , after only three weeks' illness . Mr . Edwin James has moved for a rule calling upon Mr . W . F . Pratt , an attorney , to answer certain charges made against him by tho Rev . H . J . Hatch , recently convicted of an indecent assault , and condemned to four years' hard labour . The court granted the rule for this day . After a full investigation of tho circumstances connected with tho alleged murder of the negro seamen on board the ship Anna , Mr . Thomson , the American consul at the

port of Southampton , has obtained evidence sufficiently strong to justify him in placing tho mates under arrest , in order that they may bo sent home to the United States for trial . The two men wore brought up on Saturday before the magistrates at Southampton . They were sent to the borough gaol till Tuesday next , when they will be brought up again , in order that the evidence of one of the witnesses may be taken to justify their detention . At the Court of Bankruptcy , a sitting was held for the last examination of John Edward Buller

, the solicitor , of Lincoln ' s Inn Fields , who , it appears , has been engaged in several transactions ( to use a mild term ) of au exceedingly "irregular" nature . An adjournment was ordered for two months , the accounts not yet being prepared . Isaac Nathan , merchant , of Bury Street , St . Mary Axe , was adjudicated a bankrupt . He is supposed to have absconded , and the liabilities at present ascertained exceed . £ ' 10 , 000 . The last examination meeting in the case of H . Ayhvaixl , wine merchant , Doctors' Commons , was adjourned sine die , in consequence of the unsatisfactory nature of the accounts and the

paucity of assets . A dividend of nominal amount was declared under the bankruptcy of Messrs . AVhitmore and AVells , bankers . Robert Heywood , a gvooei ' , in High-street , Homerton , applied for a certificate . The Commissioner reserved his judgment . The charges made against the bankrupt were of a serious description . In the case of "Beatsou v . Skene , " Mr . Edwin James , Q . C ., moved for a rule , on Saturday , to show cause why the verdict should not be set aside and a iiewtrial grantedon the ground that it was against the evidencethat

, ; the judge should have exercised his power and have ordered the production of certain documents in the possession of the authorities at the AVar Office : and on the ground of misdirection . The Court took time to consider their judgment . Disasters seem to pursue the Great Eastern and all connected with her . Brunei is dead , the directors and shareholders are quarrelling ; but a calamity happened on Saturday morning which , in an age of superstition , ivould have made men believe that tlie

great ship was doomed . Early on that day Captain Harrison left tlie Great Eastern for Southampton , accompanied by the surgeon of the ship , a young boy named Ley , and with a boat ' s crew of six men . The distance was not far , but a heavy gale was blowing , and on reaching the . jetty , at the entrance of the tidal dock , with a lug sail set , the boat was caught by a sudden squall and upset . The accident was observed by Captain AYeeksof the Peninsular and Oriental ' team ship

, Companys .. Indus , who sent off two boats . It was also seen from the docks , and every possible exertion was made . The six , men were recovered , as well as Dr , ^ Watson , but Captain Harrison and young Ley were drowned . Captain Harrison ' s body was picked up , but all efforts to bring him back to consciousness were unavailing . An inquest was held and a verdict of accidental death was returned . Later in the day the coxswain of the ooat also died . A most distressing accident has occurred at one of the Pits

belonging to Mr . H . B . Whitehouse , at the New Cross Colliery , near H olverhampton , which caused the instant death of seven poor fellows , They were in the skip , with , f . view of descending the

shaft , when the chain gave way , the skip and all the men being precipitated to the bottom of the pit , which was deep . The chain camo down with great force upon them , causing death immediately . AA e owe it , it would appear , to the present foreign secretary , that the Spaniards will be allowed , without a protest , to occupy a strong position on the African coast , separated by only a narrow strait from the British possession of Gibraltar . Year after year a similar demand has been made , a similar concession requested by Spanish negociators , but it has

been reserved for the foreign minister , in a coalition cabinet , to yield a point which has hitherto been sought iu vain . No sooner had the British government consented to a temporary occupation of Tangier by the Spaniards than war became inevitable . Tho Spaniards had won their cause , and they could thus satisfy , as they chose , their lust of territorial aggrandisement . On tho other hand , the Moors made few preparations to meet the invaders , confiding in the traditional policy of this country to maintain the integrity and independence of their territories .

The wrong iu this miserable war is on the side of the Spanish Government , and it is humiliating to Englishmen to think that their own minister of foreign affairs should have aided and abetted so disgraceful an infraction of international law . A great Roman Catholic demonstration , to express sympathy with the Pope , has taken place at Newcastleupon-Tyne . Nearly six thousand persons are reported to have been present , chiefly labourers employed in the docks and manufactories . A certain Father Suffiold was the principal speaker on the occasion . The

business of tho meeting was concluded by the adoption of au address to the holy Father . A remarkable case , affecting the French Protestant Church of London , was decided on Tuesday last by the Master of tho Rolls . The pastor , M . Daugars , had been displaced , and the question was whether the congregation had the right to eject a lawfully appointed minister . Sir John Romilly decided in favour of the pastor . The Upper and Lower Houses of Convocation met at AYostminster on AVednesday ; and the Lower House made a demonstration against the suppression

of church rates . Yesterday the funds , after fluctuating about -J per cent ., were steady at the close , consols for 11101103 ' and the account being 94 f to : ' / -. The efflux of bullion from tho Bank has not diminished , and tho amount taken was about- £ 90 , 000 . It was stated , but without any full confirmation , that the directors will be under the necessity of further increasing tho rate of discount .

FoitErcN NEWS . The treaty of commerce between Groat Britain and France is said to have been signed on Sunday evening at Paris ; but the announcement has not yet been made on official authority . It is , however , most probable that the Treaty has been agreed to . The details will probably bo published in the Moniteur on the morning of the day on which Air . Gladstone makes his financial statement in the House of Commons . There is reason to believe that the Emperor has not

succeeded without difficulty in carrying out his new financial policy . M . Magno and M . Billault are said to havo offered thoir resignation , but , in spite of the fierce and formidable prohibitionist party , there can bo little doubt that the programme recently published in the Moniteur will , before long , become law . Addresses havo boon received b y the Emperor from the chief commercial toivns in France , and , so far as can be ascertained , the public opinion in France is favourable to the imperial scheme . Meanwhile there is some reason to believe that the Emperor is desirous

to establish a ' - ' complete assimilation of the French and English flao-s in the maritime intercourse , direct or indirect , between both countries and their respective . colonies , to revise the English and French customs tariffs , to abolish tonnage dues , and to come tifsome definitive settlement as to the Newfoundland fisheries question . " It is generally expected that the duties paid on wines in this country will be much reduced . At the address delivered by the Minister of Public Instruction to the pupils of the Polytechnic and Phyloteclmie Associations , the Minister remarked that Italy ivould owe her freedom to France , and become French from sheer gratitude . He alludes , in rather ambiguous phraseology , to "

complications which may compel the most loyal resolutions to be modified " and adds that France can never promote anarchy and impiety . ' — Count Cavour has formed his Government . The members of the new Cabinet are Cavour himself , General Fanti , Signor Cassini , SignorVe"wA , Signor Mamiaui , and Signor Jaeini . It is curious to observe how the idea of annexation is carried out even in the choice of ministers . Each of the distinguished men , whose names we have here given , represents a different place or state or provincethe object being to form an adminis

, - tration which should adequately represent not only Sardinia but a new kingdom of Northern and Central Italy . Cavour has insisted that the Parliament should be assembled as soon as possible for the despatch of business , and it is by no means an insignificant fact that Ricasoli has proposed that Tuscany , Parma , Modena , and the Romagna should elect deputies , who shall claim a right to hold seats in the Parliament about to be called . If the threatened Congress should ever meet it would find that its work had been

, perhaps , already done . The report that Verona and the adjacent territory had been declared in a state of siege is now said , on official authority , to be "premature . " There is , however , too much reason to fear that the Cabinet of Vienna is still obstinately determined to make no concessions , and that it still refuses to take tho proper steps for preventing the calamities which seem to be impending . AVe hear , from Berne , that the Emperor of Austria has to the Swiss

expressed Charge d'Affaires his satisfaction at the loyal manner in ivhich Switzerland observed neutrality durin" the war of 1859 , Tlie Pope js as obstinate as ever . He i 3 B $ d to