Public Amusements.

His lordship was elected without opposition . At the meeting of the Central Relief Committee , Mr . Farnall announced that a further decrease of 1862 had taken place in the number of persons receiving parochial relief iu the cotton manufacturing districts . The Gazette contains a dispatch of General Cameron , from New Zealand , acknowledging the assistance received from

the naval force under Captain Sullivan , R . N ., Commander Mayne , R . N ., and Deputy Quartermaster Greaves , in the recent operations in New Zealand . The same Gazette notifies that the French have proclaimed a blockade of the ports in the Mexican Gulf , with the exception of Vera Cruz , Tampico , and two or three others . —The foundation-stone of the Wedgwood

institute at Burslem—an institution designed to include a school of art , a museum , a free library , and a reading-room—was laid by the Chancellor of the Exchequer on Monday . The right lion , gentleman delivered an elaborate address on the occasion , in which he eloquently expounded the lesson of AYedgwood's remarkable life , and urged a more thorough association of art

with utility , more especially in ceramic manufiictures . At ameeting for distribution of prizes to voluuteers at Liverpool Mr . Laird was present , and referred to his connection with the Alabama . He denied that that vessel had escaped ; she left Liverpool in the broad daylight ; and it was admitted both by Lord Pahnerston and Sir Roundell Palmer , that there was

nothing in the affidavits laid before them to stop the ship except the evidence of a sailor named Passmore , which Mr . Laird had the highest authority for believing to be false . Touching slightly on the question of the rams , Mr . Laird said that Lord Russell might not find it so easy a matter as he supposed to change the state of the law ; but however that might be , he claimed that while the law remained as it was it ought to be -obeyed by the Government as well as by private individuals .

Mr . Bright , in a letter to a friend in New York , expresses a hope that the Americans will see that " everything is not bad in England . " He roundly ass 3 rts that " there is cause " for the frantic rage of the Northerners against this country ; but on the other hand , he trusts that they will " not forget that Mr . Laird ' s rams are not to be permitted to " go out on their

piratical career , " that " Mason , the Southern envoy , " has left London in disgust , that the Government has stood firm against the French proposals of mediation and intervention , and that " its conduct in some respects contrasts favourably with that of the Emperor of the French . " The Rev . Henry AVard Beecher has had two " public breakfasts , "

one in London on Friday , the 23 rd inst ., and another in Manchester on Saturday . At both these gatherings the rev . gentleman made speeches . He told his London friends that after his labours . in the provinces . he found that his voice had completely given way , and he was alarmed at the possibility of being obliged to give up his Exeter Hall engagement . One morning ,

however , he " spoke to himself , " and then happily discovered that his " voice was as clear as a whistle . " He was thus enabled to resume his speech making , and although " some might say that his recovery was owing to the remedies he adopted , he was disposed to think that in their use he had the direct interposition of the Almighty . " Information has just reached us that the

Government has stopped the work which was being carried on on board one of the rams in Messrs . Laird's yard . A number of menarethusthrownout of employment . Theregulations under the new London Police Act are about to be brought into immediate operation , so far at least as the omnibus traffic is concerned . The aldermen have announced their resolution to enforce

penalties on all omnibuses that crawl through the City , which all City travellers by these vehicles know to be one of their most frequent sins , aud very annoying to the passengers . The

timekeepers are henceforth to be under the direct control of the police . It is satisfactory to observe that the large omnibus proprietors have signified their concurrence in the regulations , and their desire to aid the authorities in putting them in force , to the utmost of their power . . Archbishop M'Hale has brought to the repentant stool one of the most violent of Irish patriots . " Father " Lavelle , " impelled by a sense of duty" and " acting under obedience" has

, , published a letter , in which he expresses regret for having penned the words , " AVere I the unjustly evicted , either I or the landlord should fall . " The sentence was very naturally interpreted as an encouragement to the Irish peasantry to shoot their landlords , but the rev . gentleman explains that he did not mean to give any such advice ; he abhors assassination , and he " merely declared a determination of his own , iu a certain

contingency , to act in self defence . " He further does penance for the part he took in the ridiculous affair of M'Manus ' s bones , and announces that , in compliance with the mandate of the Archbishop , he has broken off bis connection with the " Brotherhood of St . Patrick . " Again , he admits that lie has " written some things too strong in language , at least for a minister of the Most High ; " and , finally , he " submits all his writings and

speeches to the judgment of the Holy See . " A few days ago , the abandonment was announced of the ship Sebastian Cabot by the master and crew , their coming on board tbe Archipelago , their being persuaded to return to the ship when she was taken in tow by the other , the parting of the two by stress of weather , and the final arrival of the Sebastian Cabot at AVaterford . AVe now learn that the owners of the other vesselthe Archipelago

, , of Shields , have made a claim for salvage on the vessel and cargo to the extent of £ 100 , 000 , or half her estimated value . In the meantime the Board of Trade has ordered a court of inquiry into the conduct of the master in abandoning the ship . At the Central Criminal Court John Blackburn , who pleaded guilty to five charges of burglary , was sentenced to ten years ' penal servitude ; and Elizabeth Masters , found guilty of

stealing property from railway stations , was sentenced to twelve months' imprisonment . The fearful colliery explosion at Morfa , near Swansea , and the consequent loss of life , will be fresh in the minds of our readers . A subscription was set on

foot to provide for tbe families of the survivors ; but as soon as this was ascertained Messrs . Vivian and Son , the lessees of the pit , made known that they , along with Mr . Talbot , the proprietor , were prepared to take the whole burden of the support of the widows and children upon themselves . The generous conduct of course renders the appeal to the public unnecessary , and it has been withdrawn . ——A barbarous murder has taken place in the county of Tipperary . A farmer named

Kelllivinoy , near the town of Borrisokane , has been found lying dead in a pool of blood a little way from the high road . His skull had been battered in with stones . A painful case has been investigated before a coroner ' s jury . A poor woman , named James , after enduring great privations went to the house of a friend , declaring that " she had come there to die . " She was suffering from consumption , and an

application was made to the workhouse authorities for medical assistance . No notice was taken of this application at the time , but in the evening the medical officer of the parish ( Betlmal Green ) visited the sufferer , and wrote a note to the relieving officers , intimating that Mrs . James was " in a delirious state from privations and distress , " and advising that she should at once be admitted into the infirmary . No assistance of any kind , however afforded to the

, was woman , who , in the course of a day or two , died . The surgeon who made the post mortem ex animation stated that the deceased " must have been suffering from want of food for longer than some weeks , " and the jury strongly censured the conduct of the relieving officers of Bethnal Green . On Wednesday week , a woman named Roberts , residing at a place called Willowin the neihbourhood of Bath

, g , made a furious attack upon some men who had been "teasing " her . One of them she severely wounded with a reaping hook . She then appears to have given chase to a man named Haines , who is said to have taken no part in the annoyance offered to her . Haines fell , and while on the ground , he received a wound which , in the course of a few minutes proved fatal . Roberts is in custod .

, y . Sir Hugh Nugent , a youth of about 18 , was out shooting at Stoke-by-Nayland , in Suffolk , the other clay , when his gun , which he was holding by the muzzle and in the act of handing to a friend , accidentally exploded . The charge entered his side , inflicting a wound which must have proved almost instantune-