The Week.

Grievances bad been removed , unwise laws mitigated ov repealed , and improvements sown broadcast through the land . Under these circumstances the country was disposed to take breath . j \* ot that there were no improvements still to be carried out . "The progress of education , of good and sound moral habits in the community , the increase of the confidence which

united classes together—all these things pointed to a gradual enlargement of the privileges possessed by the people ; aud we might be sure that as the necessity and tbe occasion for such changes were felt , a just , equitable , and liberal disposition to concede them would also be felt . " On Wednesday the right lion , gentleman " opened" the public park which Mr . Barnes , "M . P ., has presented to the people of Fai-nwovth ; and in the evening he attended a banquet at Liverpool . At the meeting of the Metropolitan Board of Works some

discussion took place on the quality of tbe granite to which Mr . Bazalgette has confined the contractors for the work of facing the Thames Embankment , but the general impression of the members was that confidence ought to be reposed in the engineer , and it was admitted that the specimens of granite submitted to the Board were of the best quality . A report was

read of the conduct of the officers of the Board on the occasion of the explosion at Erith ; and ' the thanks of the Board were unanimously and cordially voted to Mr . Houghton and his colleagues for the promptitude with which . they undertook the work of repairing the river wall , which the explosion had thrown down . Ifc was also remitted to a committee to consider

whether any further notice ought to be taken of their services . The thanks of the Common Council of the City have been publicly presented to Sir Moses Monteliore for tho distinguished services which that gentleman had rendered in the cause of suffering humanity all over tbe world , without distinction of

class or creed . The Lord Mayor , in a short but ; spirited speech , expressed the feeling of the Court , aud Sir Moses replied with feelings of deep emotion . At the same Court a proposal to open Southsvavk Bridge free to the public was presented , and was directed to be printed and circulated among tho members . An explanation , apparently official , lv . \ 3 been given with reference to the hiying-up of the turret ship Poyal Sovereign .

It is affirmed that the Poyal Sovereign was never intended for a sea-going ship , that she is . 1 mere floating battery for harbour defence , capable of being sent to any port in the kingdom , but not adapted to cruise with a squadron . But , in addition to this , Captain Shftravd Osbovn , her commander , sent in a list of defects and proposed alterations after the trials at Portland , and as the repairs aud alterations would require a considerable time , tbe authorities at the Admiralty decided that

no advantage would be gained by keeping tho ship in commission with a large number of officers and men , with the winter approaching . Captain Osborn , however , with the first lieutenant and a number of men , will be kept on board to carry on experiments with the turrets and guns . The directors of tbe London , Chatham , and Dover Railway , with a

number of their friends , have passed over the new railway bridge at Blackfriars , in a train consisting of several carriages . The rails were found to allow of easy and steady locomotion , and there was no oscillation on the bridge . A number of persons had assembled on the temporary bridge at Blackfriars to witness the experiment , - and the train as it

passed was loudly cheered . We understand the line is in readiness to he opened to the . City side of the river as soon as the Government inspector shall have given his sanction . The statue of Father Mathew was unveiled at Cork , on Monday An imposing procession traversed the principal streets of the town , and halted opposite the statue in Patrick-street , when the

Mayor , Mr . Maguive , M . P ., addressed them on the excellencies of tho man in whose honour the statue was erected . The statue was then unveiled amid general cheers , and the whole proceedings passed off without accident or ill-feeling . A few days ago the earth gave way at a place called Longham , in Norfolk , leaving " a chasm 30 ft . in diameter and more than 17 ft . in .

depth . " Cracks are " plainly to be seen for a radius of 50 yards , " and " there is a sensible depression of a foot or two over quite an acre of ground . " The people in the neighbourhood are at a loss how to explain this singular phenomenon , but tho theory is hazarded that " perhaps the cause is to be sought in tbe extraordinary dryness of the land . " The Birkenhead

steam-rams , which have been re-named the Scorpion and the Wioem , now figure in the official "Navy List . " They arc described as iron-cased cupola ships—each of 1 , 857 tons , and

designed to carry four guns . Counterfeit sovereigns continue to find their way into the Bank of England ; but so far , it is said , ifc has been found impossible to discover their source . A shocking double murder has been committed in tho county of Dublin , tbe victims being sisters of the name of Mm-p ' ny . They were found at their own residence , near Baibriggan , with

their skulls broken . The brother of the women , Richard Murphy , is in custody . An execrable outrage was committed on Tuesday by some of the colliers belonging to tbe works of the Earl of Dudley , the . men at present being on strike . A workman residing at Gonial Wood , who has gone in at the reduced wages , was aroused early in the morning by something being

thrown into the window of the bed-room where be was asleep with his family . Immediately a terrible explosion took place , which blow off the roof of the cottage , but providentially failed to injure any of tbe inmates . A warrant has been issued for the apprehension of a clerk named Thovnley , who has robbed

bis employer , Mr . A . Salomons , of Old Change , to tho extent of about £ 40 , 000 , Before absconding , Thoruley wrote a full confession of his crime , and this paper was produced in court . He professes to feel the "bitterest sorrow and remorse" for the heavy frauds he had committed on his employer , and expresses a hope that Mr . Salomons " will have strength and health to go through these difficulties . " Mr . Salomons has been obliged

to suspend payment in consequence of these defalcations . Some short time ago a respectable Danish merchant was brought before the Lord Mayor on a charge of uttering a forged bill of exchange for a considerable amount , and of being in a conspiracy with others to defraud . Tbe case was twice adjourned , and the merchant was again brought before the Lord Mayor on Monday , when the legal agent of the prosecutor came forward , and frankly admitted that his client was now satisfied that the

merchant bad intended no fraud in uttering the bill , but bad been the unconscious dupe of others . The counsel for the merchant explained tho circumstances under which his client had acted in good faith , and the Lord Mayor dismissed him from the bar without a stain upon his character . On . Saturday two women , Mrs . Campbell and Miss Harris ( sisters ) ,

who were apprehended on a charge of murdering two children that were found in a box in the bed-room of one of them at Acton , were examined before the magistrate at Hammersmith . There was no evidence directly connecting either of the sisters with the children , nor could it he ascertained from the bodies of the children , which were 'dried to mummies , whether they

had been borne alive . Under these circumstances the magistrates discharged tho ' prisoners . A lunatic gentleman confined in an asylum at Hackney starved himself to deatli there tbe other day . He had refused obstinately to take food for the last five weeks , and though nourishment was again and again forced upon him he gradually sank . A melancholy