The Week

the old of responsibility , while they converted the original guarantee into an annuity of 4 J- per cent . To this the Chancellor of the Exchequer appended a condition that the Government should have power at any time to redeem the annuity on payment of a fair equivalent . The directors rejoin to this that the equivalent should be fixed at such a sum as would enable them to buy another

annuity of equal value for the years their then unexpired period of guarantee would have to run . The meeting unanimously agreed to this interpretation of the proposition . We continue to receive painful accounts of the distress prevailing in many districts of the West of Ireland ; and the Frerman ' s Journal assures us that " there is no exaggeration whatever in even the strongest

statements ivhich have been placed before the public . " It is stated that Sir Robert Peel intends to visit Connemara and Mayo , in order too see for himself the actual condition of those who are represented to hai-e suffered most from the failure of the potatoe crop . The east and AA'est coasts alike were on Saturday visited by terrible storms , which we regret to see have resulted in a loss of

life . At Scarborough Lord Charles Beauclerk lost his life hy the swamping of a boat ; afc Hartlepool there Avas also great damage done , and a loss of life ; while at FlamboroughHead a ship Avenfc doAvn ivith all on board , and several fishing craft are missing . The lifeboats of the National Instition rendered valuable service , afc the loss , we regret to observe , of human

life—a very unusual , if not nnparalled , circumstance . A fearful explosion has occurred in a coalpit at Shevington , near Wigan , causing the death of ten colliers , and serious injury to five others . Among those who perished ivere a man named Ashcroft and two of bis sons , and tAvo brothers named Culshaiv . The Avife

of one of the men injured is also stated to have died suddenly on receiving intelligence of the disastrous occurrence . The cause of this explosion Avill , no doubt , be made the subject of inquiry ; bufc the current rumour is that it arose from that terrible source of danger to pitmen—the use of a naked light . On Sunday morning , the dead body of a man named Lewis , bearing numerous

marks of violence , was discovered , near Cosley , in Staffordshire . The deceased's pockets had been turned inside out , and there ¦ appears to be reason for believing thafc plunder was the motive of his assailant . A gamekeeper , named Davies , ivas murdered near Otley , on Monday morning . Just before his death , Davies stated that he encountered a notorious poacher , named Waller , AA'ho ivas

ranging HaAvksAA-ortk Spring Wood Avifch a double-barrelled gun . Davies pursued ; and as he ivas gaining upon AYaller , the latter turned and discharged both the barrels of his piece at him . He died a few hours after he received his wounds . Waller has disappeared . A cab driver , named Riley , has been remanded on bail by the Rochdale magistrates on a charge of committing an outrage similar iu its nature to thafc on ivhich Curran was convicted

the other clay at Dublin . The complainant , a Mrs . Sharp , did not appear . Tbe tii-o young ladies AVIIO Avere recently committed for trial on a charge of stealing books in the Strand anel elsewhere , have been tried at the Middlesex Sessions aud sentenced to four months' hard labour . Their names ivere not alloAved to transpire . Another letter-carrier has been brought under the official

notice of the police magistrate . One of the letter-carriers in Ratcliffe highway , under the influence , we suppose , of the genius of the place , had got drunk by ten o ' clock on Saturday morninn- , and Avent about bargaining with the inhabitants for additional liquor before he Avould give up the letters addressed to them . It ought to be known that drunkenness on duty subjects

a letter-carrier to a fine of £ 20 , though in the present case the magistrate exacted only a tenth part of the penalty . An extraordinary court-martial has jusfc been held at Chatham . A person named Henry Warner , who appeared in the garb of a sailor , was charged with having deserted from the 17 th Lancers , afc Kadakoi , iu the Crimea , so far back as the 8 th of August , 1855 . The prisoner admitted the fact of the desertion , but attributed it to a temporary aberration of mind . He further stated , that on

giving himself np as a deserter , he ivas placed in irons by the captain of the ship in which he had taken service , but on the matter being referred to the Horse Guards they disowned him . The captain ivas examined ivifch reference to these circumstances , but he was unable to recollect whether they had occured . The issue of the trial ivill not be known until the proceedings have been laid

before her Majesty . Dr . Lushingfcon gave judgement , on Saturday , in the long-pending suit of Burder v . Heath . Some time ago , the Rev . D . I . Heath , vicar of Brading , Isle of Wight , published a collection of sermons , in Avhich , ifc was alleged , views were propounded on the atonement and " justification by faith" totally at variance with the teaching of the Church on those two cardinal

points . His diocesan , the Bishop of Winchester , deemed it right to promote a suit against him in the Ecclesiastical Courts , and the judgment delivered on Saturday will be regarded with deep interest , bearing as it does upon another and more important case which is aboufc to be heard in the Court of Arches . The learned

judge found Mr . Heath guilty of the charges preferred against him , but alloAved him time to consider the alternative of retractation still open to him . " It might be , " observed Dr . Lushington , " that some would think that his judgment recognised too severe restrictions on the clergy , and shut the door against inquiry and disquisition which might tend to elucidate the truth . But if there

Avere bonds Avhich pressed heavily on the clergy , as to Avhich he expressed no opinion , the Legislature imposed them , and the Legislature alone could remove them . " The Court of Queen ' s Bench has granted an application for a rule calling upon the Attorney General to shew cause Avhy a neAv trial should not be had in the case of Mr . J . D . Charlesworth , of Wakefield , who was some time ,

ago convicted . of bribery . It was alleged in behalf of the defendant that Mr . Baron Martin had misdirected the jury Avho tried the case at the York assizes . The judges on Tuesday gave judgment in the Court of Exchequer in the case of Mr . Hatch . They ordered the rule to be discharged , which ivas moved for and obtained , by Mr . Chambers , on behalf of the plaintiff , to enable the

plaintiff to recover the costs of the action which he brought against Mr . Lewis , his attorney , when the jury gave Mm 40 * . damages . This finding was unanimous , and the Lord Chief Baron himself vindicated the course he had taken . The rev . gentleman will , therefore , have to pay his own costs .

FOEEICOT I NTEELIGEITCE . —The Moniteur announces that the convention by ivhich France , England , and Spain agree to act in concert in Mexico , for the purpose of conjointly obtaining redress for the grievances of their respective subjects , was signed iu London on Thursday the 31 st ult . The Paris JDebats g ives an account of the stipulations contained in the Convention , of Avhich , hoivever , it does not guarantee the authenticity . The united Powers are , according

to this version , to occupy Vera Cruz , and all necessary points along the sea-coast , and then address their joint demands to the Mexican authorities . The occupation is to be in the name of the three PoAvers—England , France , and Spain . These PoAvers engage not to occupy any portion of territory permanently , and to leave Mexico wholly free to choose her oivn form of government . England , according to the JDebats , at first wished to have a clause inserted in t the throne of

the treaty binding the three Powers not to accep Mexico for any of the princes of fche reigning families ; but this clause it is significently observed , has been renounced . If the monarchical form of Government should triumph , the three Powers engage themselves not to employ their intervention to fche profit of any particular prince . After seizing by military force the disputed territory in the Dappes to the Paris ournals

Valley , the French Cabinet is noAv , according j , prepared to negociate ivifch the SAVISS Federal Council upon bases Avhich will fully secure fche neutrality of the i-alley . Ifc is said too that M . Thouvenel has been instructed to refer to a mixed commission the investigation of the recent squabble on the Savoy frontier , which led to a formal demand of satisfaction by the French governmentThe Swiss government has addressed a note to fche French

. government , demanding satisfaction for the violation of their territory by French troops in the valley of the Dappen . The prospects of a favourable conclusion to the projected treaty of commerce between Franco and Prussia are stated by the National Gazette of Berlin to be sadly diminishing . It is even slid that the French Commissioner is to return to Paris in the course of the presen