Vrouiurial.
Peace was formally proclaimed in the great provincial towns on Wed- nesday. At Southampton, the Corporation sword, which was unsheathed when war was declared, was returned to its scabbard.
Father Gavazzi lectured thrice last week at Oxford ; the Mayor pre- siding. The young gownsmen attended in great numbers, and kicked up a row" as a Matter of course—especially when the Father descanted on " Puseyism." He stood out sturdily against their uproar, and bandied repartees with them ; but little of the lecture was heard, and the appear- ance of a Proctor only augmented the confusion. On a subsequent occa- sion the malcontents were differently dealt with ; at the first sign of dis- turbance the ringleaders were ejected ; and "order was restored."
In consequence of the great increase in the trade of the Tyne, the Board of Customs have considerably added to the staff in the Custom- house of Shields. A portion of the appointments were given by the Treasury to Mr. Lindsay M.P.; who, instead of using them for party purposes, has intrusted them to a committee, consisting of merchants and tradesmen of all parties in the town interested in the trade of the port. Several deserving persons have thus been placed in respectable situa- tions.—Manchestee Guardian.
The colliers of Northumberland and Durham, in consequence of the fall in the price of coals, are quietly submitting to a reduction of 10 per eent in their wages for working household coal.
Another banking revelation of a startling kind took place in the Birming- ham Bankruptcy Court last week, at the examination of Mr. Greene' the surviving partner in the Lichfield Bank, which failed at the end of last year. He admitted that the concern had been insolvent for thirty years : Mr. Palmer at his decease, in 1850, owed the bank 45,7871., with small assets, while the entire deficiency of the bank was then 69,570/. • yet Mr. Greene continued the business for five years—as long as he could' in fact— spending 2650/. a year on himself, while the bank was largely insolvent : he said he had tried to reduce his expenditure, but the first steps in retrench- ment led to such remarks in the vicinity that he saw that if he pursued that course the bank must stop from want of confidenee. Mr. Greene took no money into the bank when he became a partner ; and during Mr. Palmer's life he seems to have known nothing about Mr. Palmer's means, and he disapproved of his mode of managing the concern—speculation in shares was largely carried on ; and this had been the case for forty years. The claims on the estate are 1t1,1851. ; the deficit will be at least 70,000/.
Crime continues to flourish in West Yorkshire, having no police force to keep it in check. Burglars and footpads operate in large gangs, and with great determination and brutality.
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