The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1856-02-12 00:00:00

FEBRUARY 12, 1856.]

FOREIGN INTELLIGENCE.

FRANCE.
telegraphic despatch on the 6th announced that the
/trench government had forwarded passports to the two
48Sian Plenipotentiaries, and further stated :
, Count must have already left St. Petersburg. Baron
Prunow leaves Frankfort on the 7th, and M. de Bourquency
`"fives Vienna on the same day.
The Plenipotentiaries will be lodged at their respective em-
(Tales, Lord Clarendon residing at the Hotel Cooper in the
amlYs Elysties.
virile sittings, it is believed, will be held at the Ministry for
h(lreign Affairs, and the period of the labours of the Congress
~.estimated at from twelve or fourteen days to three weeks.
• The Conference is expected to open about the 20th or 23d
148t4nt.
41though Prussia is not mentioned in the list of represen-
res by the Moniteur, the Pays states that in case of any
'..2111ge in the present situation, M. d'Alvensleben and M. de
..._TiVny, with M. Balau, would represent Prussia.
Warlike preparations were still pushed forward with great
I!goar at Cherbourg, and the sudden departure of General
4Pinasse, in command of the third division of the French
s'isnlY in the East, had created some reniark.
The Constitutionnel, in a semi-official article, has stated
ghat the allied powers have resolved not to demand pecuniary
%11113ensation from Russia, pointing out that the increased
e'3l7llniercial developments of France and England are sufficient
151111)ensation.

AUSTRIA.
tjhe preliminary protocol was signed at Vienna on the Ist,
on French and English ministers having received instructions
accordingly the day previous. At noon on the Ist, Sir
"Atnilton Seymour, M. de Bourquency, Izam Bey, and Prince
Gortschakoffmet at Count Buol's, and signed the document.
aans Bey signed first, then Count Buol, Sir Hamilton Sey-
!flour, M. de Bourquency, and, lastly, Prince Gortschakoff. The
text of the document is as follows :
In consequence of the acceptance by their respective courts
or the five propositions contained in the document hereunto
annexed, under the title of " Draft of Preliminaries," the un-
'eraigned, after having paraphed it, conformably to authori-
sation received to that effect, have agreed that their govern-
roonts shall each nominate plenipotentiaries, who, furnished
.With the full powers necessary for proceeding to the signature
of formal preliminaries of peace, shall conclude an armistice
and a definitive treaty of peace. The said plenipotentiaries
will have to assemble at Paris within the term of three weeks
dating from this day, or sooner if it can be done.
Done at Vienna, this Ist day of February, 1850.
(The Five Signatures.)
A telegraphic despatch from Vienna, on Saturday night,
stated that Prince Gortschakoff, when signing, requested that
'Prussia should be invited to take part at the conferences.
Count Buol supported the request. The French and English
jib:Asters took notice of it ad referendum. The object, of
Austria in laying the propositions before the Frankfort Diet
,
believed at Vienna to have been with a view of giving
'Prussia an opportunity of declaring her intentions.

PRUSSIA.
Intelligence from Berlin states that Prussia, sooner than
introduce any fresh subject of contention between the allies,
-will relinquish all claims for admission to the conferences.
The Gazelle de la Croix of the 3rd maintains that Prussia
Will continue in her neutrality in the face of the conferences,
and will enter into no engagements tending to support the
Western powers against Russia.
A fresh issue of paper to the amount of ten millions was
under consideration.

SPAIN.
The government has presented a demand for 16,000 men for
the army. This has created some sensation, but it is stated
the men are required for the service of the Peninsula. At
Valencia and in some other towns of Alicante, new attempts
at disturbance have been made, but they have failed in pre-
sence of the energetic attitude of the authorities.

SWEDEN.
Letters from Stockholm express serious apprehensions on
the part o► the people if the Aland Isles are allowed to be
retained by Russia.
The chamberlain of the King's Cabinet, Count Bijonstjerna,
set out on the 29th ult. for London, to present Prince Albert
With the Grand Cordon of the Order of the Seraphim.

TURKEY.
Advices from Constantinople of the 28th nit., state that the
Sultan has approved of the plans of internal reform proposed
at the Conference, involving a complete social, judicial, politi-
cal, and military reform, and placing the Christian and the
Moslem subjects of Turkey on an equality. As the Morning
Post remarks —Mahomedanism and Christianity• have been
thought too antagonistic to go on openly together. This is
now changed. Christians are to be formally admitted to hold
places in the civil government—not only those high posts in
Which they have been hitherto employed, but they are to dis-
charge, evenly with Mahomedans, all public functions. The
pleasure which has been agreed to and passed is, in short, a
Christian emancipation act. There can be no doubt of the be-
nefits which this great advance in the east of Europe will con-
fer on the Christian subjects of the Ottoman empire. They
will no longer be an excluded race, doomed to undergo a
feudal despotism, to languish under injustice and sudden op-
Pression, to suffer wrongs which they cannot make heard, and
'injuries which rest on the conscience of him who does them.
They will stand openly and straightforwardly on an equality
with their Mahomedau fellow-subjects, and will be eligible,
equally with them, to fill all public places, to discharge all
Public functions. We believe that this measure will be of the
utmost benefit to Turkey itself, just as it will be of the greatest
-advantage to the Christian subjects who form, at present, so
large a portion of the dominion of the Porte. It will im-
mensely improve the condition of the most active and intelli-
geatcapitalists ; it-will increase the fair and even administra-
tion of justice ;_it will do away, by degrees, with that insane
bigotry which has been the curse, and very near the destruc-
tion, of Islamism ; it brings to Turkey the dawn of a new and
-a brighter day than she yet has seen; it gives her the right
-to a place among the nations of Europe.

RUSSIA.
Letters from St. Petersburg, dated the 31st of January,
describe increasing confidence among the merchants and a
further improvement in the rate of exchange. An erroneous
announcement that an armistice had already been concluded,
appears to have given a new impulse to the markets. Accord.
lag to the views of intelligent persons, there could be no doubt
that the Austrian intervention to bring about terms was origi-
nally
concerted at St. Petersburg, and its success is hailed as
a triumph of skill, by which the exposure of the actual condi-
tion of Russia and the degradation of suing for peace have been
averted. Peace, it is said, is no longer a question for consi-
deration, but an absolute necessity for the country ; and this
fact is so thoroughly recognised that every one believes it to
be the firm intention of the Czar to meet the allies in a manner
to make sure of the war being brought to a close. The pride
of be fanatical party is, however, to be soothed by the idea
that the submission, although now inevitable, need not be per-
manent. The famous saying of Catherine, that Constantinople,
as regards Russia,is "the key of the house," is notto be banished
from recollection. A period of repose must be had at any cost,
and it is well to have secured it while Cronstadt and Sweaborg
can still boast of impregnability. But this policy is only "for
the present." No Russian, it is affirmed, gives up his views
on Turkey, and " they now say they must get the English to
build public works and railroads, and also to find the capital to
enable it to be taken at a more auspicious time, when France
may have troubles at home." Hence for the future the di-
plomatic tone will be Altogether in favour of the arts of peace,
the cultivation of commerce, and a limitation of be empire.
Immediately, therefore, on a treaty being concluded the Go-
vernment will grant cessions and give guarantees of interest
to English companies for the construction of railways all over
the country. It is the appropriateness of these designs that
is said to have converted the Grand Duke Constantine to the
aide of peace, and this conversion is accepted by every true
Russian as a sign that nothing is really intended to be aban-
doned. He will not give up, they say, the duty that was im-
Posed upon him when he was christened, anti for the fulfil-
ment of which the studies and habits of his life have consti-
tuted a continuous preparation.

AFRICA.
By the mail packet Retriever, which arrived at Plymouth
an Thursday, we have received intelligence from Africa to the
234 ult.
At Sierra Leone trade from the interior continues steady,
notwithstanding the unsettled state of the country, and gold
and other products are brought in daily in small quantities.
War has recommenced on the Nunez between the Landon-
Inas and the Nalons.
Fernando Po was very unhealthy, business brisk.
The disturbances at the Cameroous had stopped the trade
there.
Mr. Stanton, the surgeon, and Mr. Barry, chief officer of the
Merchant ship Hantz, had died of fever at Old Calabar, where
it was very severe. Oil ranged from £lB to £24, and at
Ronny £l7.
There is promise of a good season at Lagos.
Loud complaints are made at Cape Coast Castle against the
additional import duty.
Mr. Benson, the newly elected President, was drily installed
at Liberia on the 15th of January.
The Governor of Bathurst left on the 22d of Januury for
Jpalla, to conclude a commercial treaty with the king.
Her Majesty's steamvessel Bloodhound, 3, Lieutenant Com-
mander Williams, from Lagos, arrived at Fernando. Po on the
'-3d of January, for the purpose of taking the newly-appointed
Consul on a visit of inspection to the Bights.
The steam-sloop Hecate, 5, Commander Gordon, was at
Lagos on the 7th of January.
The steam-sloop Alecto,s,Commander Phillips, from Quetta,
arrived at Accra on the 9th of January, with the mails.
The steam-vessel Myrmidon, 3, and the Childers, 12, Com-
mander Hickley, were at Liberia on the 15th of January.
The steam-ship Scourge, 6, Commodore Adams, was at
Sierra Leone on the 18th of January, waiting for the outward
mail. She had on board, besides her own crew, a number of
volunters to man gunboats, and was expected to be relieved
by the Salamander.
The American mail steamer Gambia,from Plymouth, arrived
at Sierra Leone on the 18th of January.
The steamer Parana put into Madeira on the 28th of Jan.,
from stress of weather. After receiving a supply of coal, she
proceeded on her voyage the same day.