The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1855-10-09 00:00:00

GENERAL INTELLIGENCE.

Mu. D. C. MITCHELL, of the Dumfries Militia, has invented
an electric ,canuon. It is fired without .a touch-hole, by means
of condueting.and non-conducting winos introduced into the
cannon dining its manufacture, and cut &if close to the surface.
Having no touch-hole, it cannot be spiked.
THE BELAIdtI papers mention a mehnoholy accident that
occurred last week at Ghent, when a mast, who was painting
the spire of a belfry, was precipitated to 11Ae ground, the rope
which sustained lxim having snapped. His body, a disfigured
mass, fell close to one of his children, who was bringing him
his dinner.

IT is stated that a school or college for Turkish youth is
about to be established at Versailles, the Sultan having made
a grant of 1,500,000 francs for this purpose. Hem some 300
young Mussulmans will be instructed in the European lan-
guages, the sciences, and the arts as applied to industry.
A LETTER from Braila states that two Greek machants of
that town went mad on learning the fall of Sebastopol, and
that another at Bucharest was struck with apoplexy .ODI the
same cause. The same letter states that one Swedish and
three Greek vessels have foundered at the mouth of the Salina,
and rendered the passage dal more difficult, there being now
no more than one fathom of water over the bar.
A BERLIN despatch says that,dis. content in Poland and the
Ukraine has risen to a very serious height at the successive
calls for enlistment, and that a samvey is about to be made to
see if Poland can furnish sufficient torn for the supply of the
army during another campaign, and the result will greatly in-
fluence Russia as to the continuance of the war.

AT A BREWERY, at Walcot, a boy has met his death by fall-
ing into a vat of boiling liquid. Mr. Bailey, the proprietor,
without I:agitation, plunged his arms into the scalding liquor
and brought the boy out, who only lingered half an hour.
Mr. Bailey was also very much scalded about the hands and
arms ; so much, indeed, that it may be months before he can
recover. _

Ox Warden-hill Farm, Chipping Warden, the property
of Colonel North, M.P., a large amount of property has been
destroyed by fire, caused by. the accidental discharge of a gun.
The produce of ten acres of wheat, twenty-three acres of oats,
ten acres of barley, and of four acres of clover hay, three
loads of peas, and sun. dry agricultural implements, were a
mass of smouldering ruinsin two hours.
Ma. AUGUSTUS STAFFORD, M.P., is an inmate of the Aby-
dos Hospital, having overtasked his strength in attending to
the sick among the French troops during his passage from
Malta to Constantinople in the Etna. There were 800 soldiers
on board, and, when cholera broke out amongst them, Mr.
Stafford was unremitting in his attentions to the patients—
reading to them, writing for them, and cheering them.—Press.
SEVERAL YOUNG AMERICANS, who have taken service
under the Czar, as physicians, &c., find it easier to get into
the Russian trap than out again. It is said that they cannot
resign their positions until the close of the war, lest they
should impart information to the disadvantage of their em-
ployers. Probably these young Russian-Americans will have
a juster idea of the system of government which obtains in
Russia, before they are done with the Emperor Alexander.—
Halifax (N.S.) Church Times.
OUR PLODDING NEIGHBOURS THE DUTCH have brought
their strupendous task of draining the Lake of Haarlem to a
close by the sale of the last parcels of land reclaimed. By
pumping out the water they gained 20,000 acres of excellent
land, which sold for 8,000,000 florins. The cost of the work
was 10,000,000 florins. In a few years all the outlay will be
repaid, and a handsome profit will accrue. This success has
revived that often,doOed question, the drainage of the Zuyder
Zee.