The Week.

THE WEEK .

THE COURT . —The Prince of AA ' ales on Monday evening embarked at Civita A ' ecchia on board the Osborne , via Toulon or Marseilles , on his ivay to England . The Royal yacht Osborne , however , bad to put into Ajaccio ( Corsica ) , in consequence of the bad weather which prevailed . His Royal Highness's marriage will , it is saicl , take place at Windsor in April . A

memorial to tbe late Prince Consort was raised by the Queen on Wednesday . It was a young oak , henceforth to be called the Prince Consort ' s Oak , which Her Majetty planted near the Flemish Farm at Windsor at the spot where His late Royal Highness left off shooting on his last visit to the park . GENERAL HOUE NEWS . —The mortality of London is still

largely on the increase . The deaths in the week that went before were largely in advance of the weeks preceding , but the deaths of last week were larger still by 130 cases . The whole number was 1559 , which was 123 in excess of the last ten years ' average , showing the effects of the recent cold weather , The births during tbe week were 1885 , which is about 50 in excess

of the corrected average . It is semi-officially announced that Dr . Ellicott , the learned and but recently-appointed Dean of Exeter , will succeed Dr . Thomson ( Archbishop-designate of York ) as Bishop of Gloucester and Bristol . Dr . Ellicott is in the prime of life , having been born in 1819 . The Marylebone vestry were on Saturday engaged with the subject of tbe

increase of garrotte robberies throughout the mefcropoiis . The vestry of Paddington have already memorialised the Home Office on the subject , and they invited Marylebone to join them in their memorial . The subject gave vise to some discussion , as several of the members were afraid it would only end in increasing the already heavy police rate ; bufc ultimately it was unanimously agreed to join in the Paddington memorial .

An important discussion on the question of commercial blockades took place afc a meeting of the Liverpool Chamber of Commerce last week . A resolution approving of tbo memorial of the Council in favour of the abolition of such blockades was met by a direct negative , moved by Mr . Spenee , tbe well-known ivriter on American affairs ; and after some discussion the amendment was carried by a majority of 23 to 14 . The

resolution seems to have been opposed by one or two members on the ground that the question was a political one , and that the Chamber ivould travel beyond its proper sphere if it joined in the agitation raised by Mr . Cobden . The question of the immunity from capture of private property on the high seas ivas next mooted , bufc the debate on tbis subject was adjourned . On

Thursday , the 20 , a deputation from the Manchester Chamber of Commerce ivaited upon Lord Palmerston , at his town residence , to urge upon His Lordship " the adoption of a bolder and more liberal policy towards India , and especially for limiting to the broad and general principles of government the control and interference now injuriously exercised by tbe Home Government

over the Governor General and Council in India . " The Premier iii reply , remarked that the memorial was simply a bill of indictment against Sir Charles AVood ; but notwithstanding all tbat bad been said , be bad still every confidence in the Right Honourable Baronet . He declined to enter upon a discussion of tbe statements embodied in the memorial , but promised to

lay the document before the Secretary of State for India , and confer with him upon the whole question .-. A meeting of the Metropolitan Board of AVorks was held last week , when a report ivas read respecting some alterations in tbe proposed new street between Blackfriar ' s-bridge and the Mansion House , by which the expense would be less and the gradients from the river would nofc be increased . A report on the southern embankment

of the Thames , in Avhich Mr . Bazalgette proposed several alterations on the parliamentary p lan of last year , gavo rise to a good deal of discussion , Mr . F . Doulfcon and others contending that no embankment that did not put an end to the periodical house inundations on the south side of the river would be acceptable . In the end the report was received and ordered to be circulated . A crowded meeting has been held at

Birmingham , under the presidency of Mr . Scholefield , M . P ., for the purpose of promoting the formation of a Colonial Emigration Society . The meeting was addressed by the chairman , Mr . Childers , M . P ., Sir Stuart Donaldson , Mr . Howe , Mr . Tilley of New Brunswick , and other gentleman . Ifc was stated in the Times of Monday tbat the Indian Mutiny

Relief Fund , tbe Patriotic Fund of 1814 , the Times , Crimean Fund , and tbe Indian Famine Fund were unexhausted , and outcontemporary suggested that the balance in each case might be made ni'ailable for the relief of the sufferers from the cotton famine . It appears , however , front a statement of General Tremeiiheere . thafc the whole of the'Indian Mutiny Fund has

been appropriated to tbe object for which it was subscribed , while ive gather from a letter , addressed to the ex-Lord Mayor by the President of the Bengal Chamber of Commerce , that Lord Elgin has declined to act upon the suggestion that the large balance of tbe Indian Famine Fund , now lying idle in the hands of the government at Calcutta , should be sent back to England for tbe relief of the distressed cotton workers . His

Excellency ' s decision seems to have been received with deep regret by tbe Calcutta community generally ; but , meanwhile , we rejoice to be able to state that the stream of private benevolence deepens as the winter advances . In a speech at Gateshead , Mr . Hutt , the vice-president of the Board of Trade , referred to the subject of the distress , and expressed his

admiration of the fortitude with which the operatives have borne their sufferings . He was unable to see any prospect of an early termination of the war in America , and for the present we must look to other quarters for our supplies of cotfcon . He thought it probable tbat during the next year we should receive from India ancl other countries about one half our usual supply . The riht hon . gentleman expressed himself decidedly averse to any

g untimely intervention between the Northern and Southern States , and hinted at a parliamentary grant for the relief of the Lancashire sufferers . Mr . Bass , in a speech afc Dei-by , on AVednesday evening , dwelt upon the probability of the House of Commons having to provide assistance for the operatives of the distressed districts , ancl suggested that a distinct rate should be imposed throughout the country for that purpose . 'The

charge brought some time ago of ships belonging to Liverpool having been destroyed at sea by orders from their owners , will probably be remembered . A man named Ruxton was charged with the offence , and was committed for trial at the next assizes . Application was made to the Court of Queen ' s Bench to have the prisoner triad in London ; but on the case being argued , the Court intimated that there was no reason to imagine that the prisoner ivould not have a

fair trial in Liverpool , and refused the rule . Vice Chancellor Sir AVilliam Page AVood has given a decision of some importance to the navigation of the Thames . The conservators of the river , acting on the powers entrusted to them , are about to erect'large piers far the accommodation of passengers by the river steamers in the neighbourhood of London Bridge . These piers are opposed by the AVharfingers and others having propertin the neihbourhood ; and an

y g injunction to restrain them from proceeding was applied for by tbe Fishmongers' Company . The Vice Chancellor refused to grant the injunction , but without costs , as he believed the applicants had received some damage from the new piers . Applications for permission to change a man ' s name are becoming common . On Thursday , the 20 fch , there was an application to the Court of Queen ' s Bench from an attorney

to be allowed to change his name , and the next day there was another from an attorneys who wished to drop two of the many names with ivhich his passage through life had been encumbered by his godparents . Both applications were