The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1856-01-01 00:00:00

REPULSE OF THE RUSSIANS.

The 2lfoniteur of Thursday publishes an official despatch
from Marshal Pelissier, descriptive of an engagement between
the French and a party of Russians on the 7th ult. The fol-
lowing letter, written by a French officer, dated Sebastopol,
9th ult., gives an account of the same engagement :
Yesterday morning at break of day 2,500 Russians, hoping
to surprise our 6th battalion of Foot Chasseurs, encamped at
Ourkust, on the site we occupied previous to our last retro-
grade movement, descended from the positions of Kaden Otar
and Kerner Tcherme into the plain. A patrol of the 4th Re-
giment of Chasseurs d'Afrique fortunately perceived their
movement; and.lost no time:in apprising the nearest corps of
the approach of the enemy. In a few moments the whole of
our first division was under arms and prepared to meet the
Russians. The sth battalion of Foot Chasseurs, under the or-
ders of Commodore Gamier, who received five dangerous
wounds at the first attack upon the Malakhoff on June 18, as •
sisted by a few companies of the 26th Regiment of the Line,
commanded by M. Richebourg, bravely stood their ground,
and the assailants, deceived in their expectations, precipitately
retreated, leaving 200 men on the field of battle, with 20 pri-
soners, among whom were two officers. It is to be regretted
that the nature of the ground prevented us from pursuing the
enemy in his retreat, Our loss does not exceed 18 or 20 men,
and an officer of the 26th Regiment, who was so dangerously
wounded that he is not expected to survive. The recent surprise
of a post of eight men we had at Kaden' Otar no doubt en-
couraged the Russians to make this attempt.

TELEGRAPHIC REPORTS.
MARSEILLES, DEC. 25.
The accounts from the Crimea are to the 9th. Several sus-
pected dealers have been expelled from Balaklava, and had
taken refuge at Kamiesch.
The weather was very bad in the Black Sea and in the Me-
diterranean. Twelve merchant vessels, belonging to different
nations, had been lost at the Sulina mouth.
The garrison of Kutais had evacuated the citadel and
retired to Gori, situate at the entrance of the defile of
Georgia.
The Press d'Orieni states that General Williams, as well
as the other English officers who were at Kars, will remain
prisoners of war, but that one of the conditions of the capitu-
lation was, that the Poles an& Hungarians should preserve
their liberty. The latter have arrived at Erzeroum with
General Kmety. General Mouravieff has, it is said, sent a
column on Akhaltzik.

A part of the garrison of Kutais has gone to Gori in order
to defend the passes which command the entrance into
Georgia.
Selim Pasha, with 12,000 men, is still at Trebizonde, waiting
for the arrival of the Egyptian division.
Accounts from the Crimea state that the banks of the
Tchernaya are still flooded. The heights of Mackenzie are
surrounded by strong gabionades.
The Pasha of Rhodes has received the Cross of Grand Officer
from King Leopold.
A letter from Constantinople, under date of the 18th of

December, says :—Omar Pasha was on the Siva on the 30th of
November. His army was encamped, stopped by heavy rains.

VIENNA, Dec. 27.
Advices from Trebizonde of the 11th of December state that
Omar Pasha has established his head-quarters at Redout-
lialeh.

PARIS, Thursday Night.
Intelligence has been received here that Count Esterhazy,
the bearer ,)f the propositions for peace, has arrived at St.
Petersburg from Vienna. --

BERLIN, Thursday.
The preparations making by Russia for the next campaign
do not favour hopes of peace. The reinforcements for the 11th
Russian Division now in the Crimea are concentrating in the
south, ready to join their regiments at the first notice. The
effective of the reserves in th southern provinces amounts to
about 80,000 men.

On the other hand, it is stated here that the corps of 10,000
Sardinians to cooperate with the allies in the Baltic is to be
newly raised, and not taken from the contingent in the
Crimea.

It is denied here that the Austrian propositions demand the
destruction of the Russian fortresses on the Black Sea, but
simply that she is to have no ships of war there.
The submarine electric cable between Varna and the Crimea
is stated to be broken, and it is stated that three or four
months must elapse before it will be again in operation.

TRIESTE, Wednesday.
Accounts from Trebizonde, of the 11th, state that the British
ambassador at Teheran had broken off all relations with the
Persian government in consequence of some personal offence.
It was thought that the affair would be terminated by a
reparation on the part of the latter.

HAMBURG, Friday.
A despatch received at St. Petersburg from Prince Gortscha-
koff, and dated Dec. 23, states that two sotnias of Tscherno-
morish Cossacks attacked and defeated a strong squadron of
General Vivian's Anglo-Turkish cavalry on the 16th instant,
near Kertch, capturing the commanding officer and 47 men.

IT is contemplated to prolong the railway from Vienna to
Raab as far as Balgrade, in Servia, thence to Constantinople.
Tun Castle-hill House, at Winchester, has been taken by
Government, to afford additional hospital accommodation for
the troops stationed in the garrison, until the new hospital is
built.

Ir is intended to remove the examination of the accounts of
the Commissariat officers to the department of the War
Minister, under whose supervison they will, when the arrange-
ments are complete, be in future audited and passed, instead
of by the commissioners for auditing the public accounts.
INCREASE OF THE SARDINIAN An3tr..—A letter from
Paris states that the Piedmontese Government is preparing
additional forces to take part in a fresh campaign. General
Durando, Minister of War, has, it is said, given orders to have
a corps of 10,000 men got ready without delay, destined, ac-
cording .to some, to reinforce the army in the East, and
according to others, to form part of an expedition to the Baltic
in the spring.

AMERICA.

ARRIVAL OF THE AMERICA.

Br the arrival of the British and North American Royal Mail
steamship; America, Capt. Harrison, which reached the Mersey
yesterday morning, at two o'clock, we have telegrahic intelli-
gence from York to the 20th, and from New Orleans to the
19th ult. Her letters and journals are from New York to the
18th, and from Boston to the 19th December. The America
has brought specie to the value of 08,149 on freight ; she
has also brought 135 passengers.
The United States Mail steamer Baltic arrived at New
York on the 13th, and the British and North American
Mail steamer Asia, Captain Lott, arrived at Halifax, on the
18th.

The sixty-fourth ballot for the choice of a speaker having
failed to turn up a majority of the house, Congress is still un-
constituted, and the President's Message cannot be delivered.
The New York Herald says :—" Our despatches from
Washington contain important intelligence, received at the
state department from the. American ministers at London,.
Madrid, and Copenhagen. The letters of Mr. Buchanan cor-
roborate the statement, published several days ago, that the
British government had declined giving any further explana-
tions. with reference to the questions which have recently
formed the subject of discussion between the representatives
of the two countries."

The Washington correspondent of the Herald says :—" This
sentiment is not intended to convey hostility on the part of
Great Britain ; but it applies as a fixed determination not to
make further apologies, those already made being deemed all
that the case called for." The same journal adds:—" The
President has issued two proclamations—one against the
Nicaragua filibusters and the other announcing, that. Ne-
wfoundland has complied with the provisions of the reciprocity
treaty with the British North American provinces, and .will
hereafter participate in its tenefits."—ln another article, it
says :—`• Now that the war rumours have passed away, and
Englishmen and Americans have ceased to think about cutting
each others throats, it is curious to note what share iu the
blisiness of embroiling the. two countries properly belongs to
the leading statesman of each. It so happened, curiously
enough, that at the time the misunderstanding. took place
the leading statesman in Great Britain was a thorough poli-
tical adventurer, who has held all sorts of offices, and pro-
fessed all sorts of principles for the sake of office and power,
namely, Lord Palmerston while the leading statesman in this
country, was Mr. Marcy, of all American politicians the one to
whom the epithet of adventurer most appropriately belongs,
and the one who has shown most conclusively in the course of
his political career that his ideas never rise above the spoils,
and that he too is ready at any time to form part of air ad-
ministration with men of any, every, and no principles at all."
It is stated that the President will recommend in his mes-
sage the purchase of the rights and possessions of the. Hudson
Bay Company on the north-west coast of the continent of
America, an offer of sale havingbeen made to the Government
of the United States.

The navigation of the north river (the Herald says) may be
considered as closed for the season, although for several, days
to eome boats may make their trips to Albany. About Troy
the river is entirely blocked with ice, and the steamboats have
consequently been withdrawn. At Albany, on Friday, there
was considerable floating ice, but not enough to prevent the
large passenger boats forcing their way through it.
The Washington Union says—"We are informed that a
person who desires to remain unknown had addressed to the
chief of the Russian legation a cheque for $4OOO, to be trans-
mitted to his government. The unknown donor, Who only
signed the initials M. Y., states in his letter that, full of ad-
miration for the gallant defence of Sebastopol, he sends this
liberal sum of money to be distributed among the widows and
orphans of the Russian soldiers who fell bravely fighting for
their homes against foreign aggressors.
From Port-au-Prince we learn that the fever was still
raging, the crews of the vessels in port suffering most severely.
In Cuba there had been a grand religious celebration, with
the view of impressing more firmly on the public mind a
belief in the doctrine of the immaculate conception. The
sugar market was active. Freights were dull. Health of
Havannah good.

The accounts from Curacoa state that a drought of two
months' duration had seriously affected the salt yield of the
island. The misunderstanding between the merchants and
the United States consular agent still continued.
The news from Mexico is to the 9th ult. Affairs were in a
very unsettled condition. Great excitement had been created
by the discovery of a conspiracy to make General Uraga pre-
sident. Several arrests had been made. Colonel Robles had
been appointed minister to the United States in place of Gen.
Almonte;who, it is said, will proceed to England as minister
plenipotentiary.