The Week.

of petitions . The landowners and farmers of AVarwiekshire assembled in great force on Saturday ; and Mr . Newdegate WMS apparently the only person present who seemed at all to suspect that Mr . Gladstone may not be in a position to afford a remission to the extent of six millions . Mr . Newdegate quite sympathised with those who urged the total repeal of the tax ; hut he was not in favovr of reducing our naval and military

expenditure at the present moment , and he was disposed to think that an increased property tax might be felt a more grievous burden than even this impost , which is declared to weig h so heavily upon the agricultural interests . The Presby terian ministers of Ireland have chosen a rather inopportune time for asking Parliament to increase the Regiurn Donum to

the extent of £ 10 , 000 . A large deputation waited upon the Lord Lieutenant , and urged that the allowance to each minister should be raised from £ 65 to £ 100 . Lord Carlisle promised to lay the matter before the Cabinet , but his Excellency expressed a well-founded apprehension that "the present temper of the House of Commons was rather adverse

to increasing ecclesiastical endowments of any kind . Sir George Grey—in a letter just published—informs the magistrates of Derbyshire , who recently addressed a second remonstrance to him on the Townley case , that he has no power to direct " a public inquiry , with evidence on oath , into the state of mind of any person . " The justices , it may be remembered ,

suggested that " if the existing legal mechiuery is not deemed equal to the occasion , " the defect might be supplied in the coming session . Sir George Grey says , this question " will not fail to receive consideration , but it is one on which he does not think it necessary to enter in this letter . " The Lord Chancellor has made a serious statement with regard to the administration of the law of bankruptcy . The Attorney-General

applied to Ins lordship for an order calling upon a retired official assignee to account for a considerable sum of money wdiich bad been paid to him in his official capacity . -To the general public , the most serious part of this case is the statement made by the person whose conduct is impugned , that " many of bis accounts had not been audited . " The Lord Chancellor spoke in the strongest

language of this neglect to comply with the act of Parliament and the rules of the court , which require that the accounts of the official assignee shall be periodically audited . Day by day , be said , he discovered things which filled him with pain , and " the officials of the court , " he added , " shall learn that the language inserted in the

statute and the rules of the court , requiring them to perform their duties , are not words of mere form , but words which I shall enforce with the most unsparing determination . " AVith regard to the case before him , it would form the subject of an investigation ; but meanwhile the pension— £ 300 a year—of the ex-official assignee would be suspended . A important order has

also been issusd respecting the serious delays which sometimes occur in the payments of dividends to creditors . The case of the reporters against the defunct Iron Times was brought to a conclusion in the Court of Common Pleas on Saturday . The n ction was originally against Mr . AVagstaiV , who had advanced the money , but denied that be was a partner . The jury ,

however , on tho original trial found that the engagement of the reporters was only a weekly one , and leave was given to them to sue Mr . Wagstaff for three weeks of unpaid salary if it ¦ should be afterwards found that he was a partner . The judge , however , refused to certify for costs . The reporters moved for a new trial , which Sir A \ . Erie , pronouncing the judgment of the Court , refused to grant , but he said it was now clear that Wagstaff was so far a partner that he ought to pay the three

weeks' salary and also the costs of the plaintiffs . An action for breach of promise of marriage , of rather an unusual character , was tried before Mr . Baron Bvamwell on Wednesday . The parties were first cousins , and of course there wa 3 considerable intimacy between them and a lengthened correspondence ; but the letters were of a very unimpassioued character , and tho jury failed to find iu any of them a distinct promise that the

defendant would marry the plaintiff . They therefore decided against the lady ' s claim . A will case , presenting some singular features , was tried before Sir James Wilde on AVednesday . A Mr . Fuller , of eccentric and miserly habits , had disinherited his only son , who had offended him by marrying a servant , and bequeathed the bulk of bis property to the

Consumption Hospital , Victoria Park . The son disputed the soundness of his father's mind at the time of making the will and some curious statements of the habits of the deceased were put in evidence . Ultimately , at the suggestion of the learned judge , a compromise was effected , by which all costs were paid out of the estate , and the hospital gave up their claim .

The Conrt of Queen ' s Bench , ruling that a " farmer" does not come within the meaning of the Sunday Observance Act of Charles II . has quashed the conviction in the well-known " Leigh Sunday haymaking ease . " A separate assize for the AVest Riding , with Leeds as the assize town , has been recommended by a committee of the Privy Council . An inquest on the

body of George' Harrison , who met his death in a publichouse brawl at Woolwich , after winning money at cards , lias terminated in a verdict of manslaughter against James Maguire and a man unknown . An inquest has been held on the poor girl who committed suicide from madness at being' deserted by a soldier at AVoolwich who had seduced her . "Temporary Insanity" is the A erdict of the jury . There seems to be

every reason to believe that the protracted strike at Messrs . Strakers and Love's collieries in Durham will speedily be brought to a close . The men formerly employed at one of the collieries —Brandon—have accepted the terms offered by Messrs . Strakers and Love , and there is every probability that a similar course will he followed by all the miners of Oakeushaw , Brancepeth , and Willington .

FOREIGN INTELLIGENCE . —The French budget for 1865 , which has just been laid before the Legislative Body , estimates that the expenditure will exceed that of 1864 by some £ 840 , 000 , but that there will be a surplus of £ 100 , 000 . The issues of Treasury Bonds are to be reduced to £ 6 , 000 , 000 in 1865 ; but M . Fould adds the significant observation that i that sum

should be insufficient , further issues will be submitted to the Legislative Body during its next session . It is announced that the Danish Cabinet has requested a delay of a month or six weeks , in order that it may have time to convoke the Rigsrad before definitively replying to the Austro-Prussian summor . s to withdraw the November constitution ; but it would seem

that this demand has not been accompanied by an engagement , which King Christian cannot indeed legally contract , that the obnoxious constitution shall be withdrawn . It is asserted iu a Paris journal that England and France have both urged the Vienna and Berlin Cabinets to assent to this demand for a delay ; and in the event of compliance the

Austro-Prussiaii troops will not cross the Eider for some time to come at all events . In giving explanations to the Reichsrath respecting the Austrian policy in the Schleswig Holstein affair , Count Rechberg declared that Austria iiad been compelled to interfere in order that the smaller German states might not take the matter into their own hands , and that international law might not be violated . If the London treaty [ were set aside , the Prince of Augustenburg could not in any