The Week.

Sunday , waited on Monday on Sir George Grey , to consult him as to the course Government might take in case a bill , which is contemplated , were introduced into Parliament , whose provisions would not alter the existing laws in relation to Sunday trading , ¦ but only increase the penalties already provided , and put its execution into the hands of the police . Sir George Grey stated in reply that the government had no intention of introducing

such a bill themselves , and he held out little encouragement to others doing so , as he observed that the attempts during the last 20 years to put down Sunday trading bylaw , had , in his opinion , done more harm than good . The late disastrous accidents in coal mines have drawn the public attention to the state of the mining population . The British Miners' Association , which was in existence before these accidents occurred , very properly availed themselves of the feeling created by them to bring their

own claims before the world . The object of the association is to secure such arrangements in mines as will , as far as possible , prevent accidents , fco promote education among the mining population , and to provide relief for the families of those who are disabled or killed through the accidents that can never be wholly prevented . A brilliant meeting of the friends of the association has just been held in the Hanover-square Rooms , Mr . Samuel Gurney , M . P ., in the chair ; and the claims of the

society were earnestly set forth hy Sir Fitzroy Kelly , M . P ., Mr . Sheriff Cockerell , Colonel Brownlow Knox , M . P ., and several other gentlemen . The large sum that was raised for Hartley Colliery , while the equally urgent case of C ' ethin has been left almost unheeded , is the best argument that can be urged for the organising aid of a society like the present . The Lord Mayor has been examined hy the Commons Committee on the subject of extinguishing fires in the metropolis . His

lordship stated his opinion that the present fire brigade should be increased fourfold ; that it should be a body independent of the police , under the control of one officer , and the whole governed by a commission , of which the fire insurance offices should appoint some of the members , in return for their contribution of £ 25 , 000 a year to the fire brigade , which his lordship would insist on their continuing to pay . He suggested that a portion of the fire insurance duty should also he appropriated to the ' support of the brigade ; and , further , that all

houses saved from a fire which was raging in their neighbourhood should be assessed to some extent as salvage money . The Government have responded to the desire expressed at the recent meeting of members of both Houses of Parliament , and consented to issue a commission " to inquire into the present state of the volunteer force . " An interesting discussion on the subject of iron-casedj ships has taken place at the meeting of the Institution of Naval Architects . A very satisfactory

account of the Warrior ' s performances during her recent trial voyage , was sent iu hy Captain Cochrane , who states that the ship behaved nobly in the heavy gales she encountered , and that on her return to England she had sustained no damage , and was perfectly ready to proceed on active service to any part of the world . It may he remembered that some time ago Prince George Galitzin , who has been an exile from Russia for some time , and has followed the profession of music in

this country , was unfortunate enough to be brought into the Insolvent Debtors' Court . At the meeting of the Court on Saturday it was stated by his solicitor that the Prince had received his pardon from the Russian Emperor , thafc he had been put in possession of his estates , and that all his creditors would be paid in full . He therefore applied thafc the Prince's case might he withdrawn from the Court . Neither the Prince himself nor any of the creditors were present ; and Mr .

Commissioner Nichols postponed the case till there was some legal evidence of the good news . -It will be recollected that in the month of October last a private soldier in the 59 th Regiment , whose name was John Cleary , was charged with having shot a young man , a student of the Bishop ' s College , at Chichester . There was no provocation , and the only suggestion of motive was that Cleary mistook his victim for one of his officers , against whom he was said to bear a grudge . Cleary

has been brought to trial for the murder at Lewes , and acquitted on the ground that there was no legal evidence to show conclusively that he was the assassin . John Stocker has been tried for the murder of Mrs . Hill , at Eversley , in AViltshire , and acquitted . The circumstances , as detailed hy the witnesses , all pointed towards the prisoner as fche murderer , and the judge , Mr . Justice Byles , was at no pains to conceal the fact that this was the impression made upon him ; but the jury were differently affected , as they returned a verdict of not guilty . At the

Liverpool Assizes , on Saturday , the man Isott , who shot his wife , at Rochdale , some time ago , was found guilty of manslaughter , and sentenced to penal servitude for life . At the Kingston Assizes , on AVednesday , a youth , named Stevens , was tried on a charge of shooting at Eliza Dewbury , with intent to murder her . The offence was committed in a fit of jealousy , arising from his rejection by the young woman as her suitor . He was found guiltyadd sentenced to fifteen years penal servitude .

, A shocking tragedy was perpetrated at Battersea-hill , near Hendon , on Saturday morning . A young man named Lawrence was paying his addresses to a girl named Ann Box , who lived in a cottage adjoining his own . It appears that there had been some quarrel between them , as some feelings of jealousy were entertained by Lawrence , for early on Saturday morning he shot at himself with double-barrelled gun , frightfully lacerating his

jaw-bone . Finding , however , that the shot did not prove fatal , he proceeded , all wounded and bleeding as he was , to the girl's cottage , and shot her with the other barrel of the gun . The shot was more effectual in this instance , for the poor young woman almost immediately expired . Lawrence was himself conveyed to the Middlesex Hospital , where he lies in a precarious state , and but faint hopes are entertained of his recovery . A case of suspected murder took lace earlon Tuesday morning

p y in the Regent ' s Canal at Stepney . About one o'clock in the morning the inhabitants in the neighbourhood were alarmed by shrieks of murder proceeding from the towing path ; and on search being made portions of a woman's dress were found on the path , where also there were indications of a severe struggle having taken place . The canal was then dragged , and the body of a respectably-dressed young woman was brought to the surface—of course quite dead—and with marks of great violence on

her face and body . A young man and woman , the latter answering to the discription of the drowned person , were observed wandering about the fields in the neighbourhood of the spot at a late period of the evening , and it is supposed the man can he identified . An inquest has been held on the body of the unfortunate girl , Ada Emma Williams , and an open verdict has been returned , with a censure an the conduct of a locksman who , it appears , might possibly have saved her . Another attempt on the part of a foolish girl to drown herself was made

on Tuesday , but happily the result was not fatal . The girl , who threw herself into the Grand Junction Canal , is described as a prostitute . Another life has been lost in attempting to escape from a fire . A young man in jumping from the second-floor of a house ( in the Commercial-road East ) , which was wrapped in flames before any fire-escape arrived , fell and fractured his skull , The engines , too , only arrived when it was impossible to save the premises . The coroner ' s inquest on the guard who was

killed on the North Kent line a short time ago has been held . Captain Tyler , the Government inspector of railways , was examined at great length , and stated that iu his opinion the cause of the accident was the rotting of the wooden trenails that fastened the chairs to the sleepers . The trenails used at the place of the accident were proved to have been there for the last fourteen or fifteen years . lie recommended that iron spikes should he used in place of trenails . The jury concurred in this

recommendation , and , with regard to the accident itself , they returned a verdict of Accidental Death . FOREIGN INTELLIGNCE . —The Moniteur has published a denial of assertions made in the Spanish papers , that the French Government had requested the Cabinet of Madrid to recall General Prim . The French Government , says the Moniteur , confined itself to expressing its disapproval of the convention concluded between Generals Prim and Dohladoand afterwards

, accepted by the plenipotentiaries ofthe allies , because this convention appeared to it- to bo contrary to the dignity of France . M . Saligny has in consequence been alone entrusted wifch the full political powers with which Admiral Jurien de la Graviere was invested . A letter from Madrid adds that a rumour prevailed to the effect thafc the Spanish Government too holds the opinion of France , and disapproves of the convention concluded with the Mexican plenipotentiaries . From the

French war estimates , we learn that the army is to consist of 400 , 000 men , namely , 23 , 414 officers , and 376 , 586 non-commissioned officers and men . The Pope ' s affairs are known to have lately formed the subject of much dieussion between the Emperor Napoleon and his servants ; audit has been reported that the result ofthe Marquis de Lavaletfce ' s visit to Paris must be the recall either of M . de Lavalette himself or of General Goyon , their dissensions being incurable . According to the latest rumour , however , each will retain his post ; but the