The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1856-03-04 00:00:00

FOREIGN INTELLIGENCE.

SwEDEN.-A Royal decree has been published ordering the
fortification of Stockholm and the Valley of Maalar. In virtue
of this decree a commission has been appointed, under the
presidency of the Prince Royal, to prepare the plans of forti-
fication.
AUSTRIA.—The Bishops of the Austrian empire are sum-
moned to meet at Vienna after Easter, to decide on the means
by which the Concordat is to be carried out. It appears that
the fruits of the Concordat are gradually becoming developed
in a way not anticipated by the Government. The Archbishop
of Vienna has refused to.allow the Common Council of Vienna
to erect a monument to the memory of Mozart in one of the
churches, on the ground that he cannot countenance the
worship of genius, which is but a kind of idolatry. A work
which was introduced by the Ministry of Public Instruction
in the shools has been prohibited, because it teaches that there
was no deluge after the creation of man, " as no fossil remains
of human beings have ever been found." The Bishops of
Lombardy and the Venetian States are proceeding so roughly
'to carry out the Concordat ;in Italy, that the civil authorities
'have been obliged to interfere, and the Government thas ordered
the bishops to cease all further proceedings till after the meet-
ing at Easter.
RIISSIA.—An imperial ukase authorises the immediate issue
of seven series of treasury 'bills, to the total amount of
21,000,000 roubles, to assist the treasury. Another imperial
ukase orders that, up to the Ist January, 1857, salt may be
imported into Russia by the Austrian and Moldavian frontiers,
by Odessa and the ports of theDannbe, on payment of a duty
of nineteen kopecks per pood. Private letters from St. Peters-
burg state that General de Berg :has reported that he cannot
undertake to answer for the.fidelity of Finland in case of an
invasion, unless his army be tripled in numbers. The Russian
government has determined to drive a triple row of piles
across the Gulf of Finland, about six miles from Cronstadt, in
the belief that an impassable barrier will thus be constructed
against any hostile fleet. The Russian fleet at Cronstadt now
consists of 18 steam-ships of the line, 14 corvettes, and 70 gun-
boats. It is reported that the Emperor will remove to War-
saw almost immediately, in order to have speedier communi-
cation with his envoys at Paris. If, ,peace should be concluded,
the Russian reserves will only be dismissed in part, and a large
portion will be immediately set to work on railroad and other
public improvements. The Journal de la Marine, of St.
Petersburg, contains a special report of the hitherto unex-
plained disappearance of the Russian forces at the mouth of
the Amor. The vessels are stationed in that river, and their
materiel is at Fort Nicholas.

THE fact of the armistice being made known at Berlin and
Vienna had the effect of giving a firmness to the funds in both
capitals ; though in the former city persons unconnected with
the money market looked upon it in rather an unfavourable
point of view. At Munich the intelligenee was received with
great satisfaction.

AT the half-yearly meeting of the General Steam Navigation
Company, on Tuesday, a dividend was declared of 14s. per
share (or at the rate of ten per cent. per annum), together with
the usual annual bonus of 25.6 d. per share, both free of income-
tax.
A parliamentary return obtained by Mr. Adderley, M.P.,
shows that 26 reformatories have been certified in England
and Scotland, capable of containing altogether 1500 persons ;
and in Scotland (under the act of the 17th and 18th of Vic-
toria, chap. 74), 11 capable of ,containing 1799.
Tun Bill for the creation of a Minister of Education, under
the name of Vice-President of the Committee of Council on
Education, has passed the House of Lords, without opposition,
and almost without remark, and is now before the House of
Commons.
Tan STAGE, POLITICAL AND Tn-A4TslcAL.—When I go to
the play why must I find everything conventionally done—
reference to nature discharged, and reference to stage usage
the polar star of the dramatic art ? Why does the baron, or
the general, or the venerable steward, or the amiable old
farmer, talk about his chee-ilde ? He knows of no such thing.
as a chee-ilde anywhere else; what business has he with a
chee-ilde on the boards alone ? I never knew an old gentle.
man to hug himself with his left arm, fall into a comic fit of
eelirium tremens, and say to his son, "Demme, you dog, will
you marry her ?" Yet, the moment I see an old gentleman
on the stage with a small cape to his coat, I know, of course,
that this will infallibly happen. Now, why should Ibe under
the obligation to be always entertained by this spectacle, how.
ever refreshing, and why should I never be surprised ? Why
have 600 men been trying through several generations to fold
their arms ? The last 20 Parliaments have directed their
entire attention to this graceful art. I have heard it fre-
quently declared by individual senators that a certain ex-
senator, still producible, "folded his arms better than any man
in the House." I have seen aspirants inflamed with a lofty
ambition studying through whole sessions the folded arms on
the Treasury Bench, and trying to fold their arms, accord.
ing to the patterns there presented. I have known neophytes
far more distracted about the folding of their arms than about
the enunciation of their political views or the turning of their
periods. The injury inflicted on the nation by Mr. Canning,
when be folded his arms and got his portrait taken, is not to
be calculated. Every member of Parliament from that hour
to the present has been trying to fold his arms. It is a grace-
ful, a refined, a decorative art; but I doubt if its results will
bear comparison with the infinite pains and charges bestowed
upon its cultivation.—. Dickens's Ifousehold Word:.