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

RUSSIA'S DESIRE FOR PEACE.

The Dibats has the following :—" The despatch, in which
M. Nesselrode made known the resolutions of acceptance to
Prince Gortschakoff, arrived at Vienna on the 24th of
January; the delay between that time and the Ist of
February was required to make the formal communications
to the Cabinets of Paris and London, and to give those
Cabinets time to transmit new instructions to their representa-
tives. Some accounts have reached us relative to the
contents of Count Nesselrode's last despatch. This dispatch,
we are informed, is not less moderate and pacific than that
of the sth of January. It bears such evidence of sincerity
that no one can doubt any longer the good faith of the
Cabinet of St. Petersburg ; nor can they continue to attri-
bute to it arriere pensees, or reticences contrary to an early
conclusion of peace. M. Nesselrode insists, however, upon
the gravity of the conditions admitted by the Emperor.
He insinuates that the Emperor cannot go any further; that
it must not be attempted to take advantage of the reserves
contained in the Fifth Article, to demand of Russia the
abandonment of any other territories than that which
results from the rectification of the frontiers separating Mol-
davia from Bessarabia; nor to demand of Russia an indemnity
for the expenses of the war. This dispatch having been
communicated to M. de Buol by Prince Gortschakoff, the
Austrian minister asked if the declaration of M. Nessel-
rode were to be understood in the sense that Russia peremp-
torily refused to engage not to fortify the Aland Isles, nor to
rebuild the fortifications of Bomarsund. To this Prince
Gortschakoff replied that, not wishing to run the risk of
going beyond the Emperor's intentions, he would refer back
on the subject to M. Nesselrode. The exchange of these
observations presented no obstacle to the signature of the
protocol."

THE GUNBOAT FLEET.—The gunboat flotilla at Portsmouth
has commenced forming at the Motherbank. Each boat,
instead of one gun, as in the last campaign, is armed with
two heavy long-range guns and two howitzers. There are 26
at Portmouth already fitted and in commission.
A letter from the Crimea, dated January Bth, states that Mar-
shal Pelissier had received a plum pudding from Her Majesty
Queen Victoria, of which the veteran was not only intensely
proud, but so gastronomically carefully, that he specially sent
an aide-de-camp to Mrs. Seacole, at Spring-hill stores, to be
initiated into the art and mystery of properly warming it up
for table !
THE EARL OF CLARENDON'S DEPARTURE FOR PARIS.—
The Earl of Clarendon will leave London on the 15th or 17th
instant for Paris, in order to-take part in the peace conferences
about to be held in that capital. The noble Secretary of State
will be accompanied by Mr. Edmund Hammond, the present
Under-Secretary of State (who, it will be recollected, assisted
Lord John Russell on his mission to Vienna last year,) and
by the Hon. Spencer Ponsonby and Mr. Thomas Villiers Lis-
ter' private and assistant secretaries to the noble Earl; and
by Mr. Francis W. H. Cavendish, precis writer. Lord Wode-
house will discharge the duties of the Foreign-office during the
temporary absence of the Earl of Clarendon in Paris.

NA.RROVir ESCAPE OF GENERAL CODRINGTON.—The latest
news from the Crimea conveys the account of an escape of
General Sir W. Codrington and his staff on the 19th ultimo,
when another portion of the docks of Sebastopol was blown up,
in the presence of the general and his staff. The Russians soon
discovered, by the number of horses present, that some great
men were among the spectators of what was to be done. They,
therefore, just as the explosion took place, began to throw shot
and shell in great quantity across the harbour; and one shell,
in particular, was so well directed, that it burst in the very
centre of the gentlemen of the staff, but neither they nor the
general were hurt.