The Northern Daily Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1856-02-02 00:00:00

to be gone through, requiring to be
by

'espei;tive

goyernments,
it will not be possible to open the con-
-es on peace in this city, until towards
e of. March. On this point, however, he
is, probably mistaken. He alleges, moreover, that
the Austrian Government is ab,,ut to proceed with
an immediate reduction of its army, so as to limit
the war budget to 10,000,000 florins a month.
It is said that the bi-weekly newspaper, the
Figaro, of this city, is to be stispended.
An official return shows that the total receipts
from ' • the • French railways last year were
269,258,810 f., which were 71,216,709 f. more than in
the preceding year.
The Council of State of Switzerland, in a recent
sitting, sanctioned, almost unanimously, the treaty
of commerce recently concluded between Swit-
zerland and England. .

ferenc,
the midd

The last letters from Stockholm say that the
vexation of the public at the probability of peace
was on the increase.

The text of Count Nesselrode's first reply to
the Austrian proposition has arrived here to-day,
and will be in your hands from your Berlin
correspondent before this letter. It is, therefore,
only necessary to say of it that it is considered
decidedly conciliatory.

The Queen's speech was published in Paris on Thurs-
day afternoon, and produced a very favourable effect. It is
considered moderate and dignified.

There are now in the Southampton docks eight large war
transports waiting government orders. viz., the Orinoco,
Great Western, Ripon, Camila, Argo, Qieen of the South,
Calcutta, and Hydaspes. They will convey: about. 8,000
troops.

PMEBROKE DocxYAßD.—Notwithstanding all the rumours
of peace, there is not the slightest abatement in the prepa-
rarions taking place here. The workmen are employed on
the new gunboats from early morning until eight o'clock at
night, and every shipwright applying for employment is
aimitted into the arsenal. The works performing by
contract • are also being pushed forward with the utmost
urgency.

THE SHERIFFS.—The nomination of the gentleman
who is to fill the office of sheriff fur the county palatine
during the current year has been made by the
chancellor of the duchy. The following gentlemen were
nominated at the privy council on Wednesday to serve
for the counties appended to their names :—Cheshire--
Richard Christopher Naylor, of Hooton-hail, Esq ;
Staffordshire—Richard Dyott, of Freeford, Esq ; York-
shire— Harry Stephen Thompson, of Kirby.hall, Esq ;
Flintshire—Frederick Philips, of Bhual, Esq.
COMMITTAL OF A BANKRUPT FOR PERJURY.—Benjamin
Scott, blanket manufictorer, of Earlsheaton, near Leeds,
came up at the Leeds District Court of Bankruptcy, on
Tuesday, before Mr. Commissioner Ayrton, on his ad-
journed last examination. In the course of the interroga-
tories his Honour said (to the bankrupt), " You have
already perjured yoqrself twenty or thirty times, sir. 1),)
you want to spend the rest of lour life in York Castle ?"
At the end of !he inquiry the bankrupt was committed for
perjury and his last examination adjourned, without pro-
tection and sine die.

CIVIL SERVICE DEPARTMENT PETITION TO PARLIAMENT.
—This petition has been signed by 10,353 out of the
11,000 persons interested. A few days ago the whole
department of the Board of Trade, from Mr. Booth and
Sir J. Emerson Tennent, the chief secretaries, down to
the messengers, testified their earnestness in the common
cause and their approval of the prayer of the petition by
attaching their names. Mr. Thomas Hay Ferrer, a,sist-
ant secretary, Rear-Admiral Beechey, Captain Walker,
and Captain Galton, of the marine department of the
Board of Trade, are also among the petitioners. Mr.
Walter Larkins, who has hitherto been associated with
Mr. Bromley and his " widows' insurance scheme," has
left both, and given his adhesion to a mode of settling
this question in a way more simple, politic, and chnson-
sound English sense and feeling. We are glad
anderstand that the lion. Mr. Spring Rice and
.11airn (son of the late Hon. Henry), Commis-
sioners of her Majesty's Customs, have also signed the
petition, and thus testify not only t )(sir personal interest
in this question, but their consideration of a grievance
which has been the fruitful cause of much discontent in
their department as well as in the others.
Sebastopol,Jan. 19. —There is little to record during the
past week but the rumours with which the camps have
been agitated respecting the cessation of hostilities,
and the plans of the future campaign, in case negociations
for peace should be unsuccessful: These rumours are
so contradictory that they are scarcely worth repeating.
Preparations are being made to meet all contingencies.
The regiments are frequently d. Hied, and marched out
at regular intervals by brigades. The whole army is
going through a regular course of target practice. The
land transport corps is reported to be fast gaining its
efficiency. Lieut. J. 11. Messenger, of the 46th regi-
ment, was killed by an explosion on the 15th, while
engaged with a few men in blasting some rock. Since
the last mail left the weather has been very variable, but
without any remarkable extremes of temperature. The
roads are maintained in an efficient state by constant
repairs. No change has taken place as regards the fire
from the northern heights, nor in the disposition of the
Mackenzie plateau. On Wednesday an armistice was
declared till four o'clock in the afternoon, up to which
time the Russians and the French amused themselves
by walking about in the Tchernaya valley in front of the
outposts: They were so near together, that they could
distinctly see each other's countenances.—Daily News.
MARRIAGES AND BIRTHS.-37,151 marriages were
celebrated in the quarter that ended on September 30th,
or less by 999 tuan the numbers in the corresponding
quarter of 18:54. 148,853 births were registered in the
last quarter of the year 1855 ; or more in number by 2,394
than the births in the corresponding quarter 01 1854. There
was an increase of births in every division, except in the
two divisions south of the Thames, and in the eastern
counties. The- registrars account in various ways for the
decrease of births. At Royston the registrar says—" Many
young married men are gone into the militia." The militia
is referred to also by the registrar of Hatfield ; and at St.
Albans "the removal of many young women with the
numerous recruits," accounts for the decrease of births.
Upon the other hand, " the formation of the camp at Alder-
shott," it is said, " accounts for the increase of births and
deaths" in the district of Farnham. The registrar of
Southampton notices that only 84 births took place in May,
while the lumbers in that month in previous years had
varied from 95 to 142;
,and on the whole he has a decrease
in the year of 136 births ; which he attributes " to the fact
that so many ships belonging to this port have been de-
tained in. the Black Sea, rather than to a diminution of the
population."—Registrar tYeneral'a Quarterly Report.
A GIGANTIC CAUSE.—A person named Paris, keeper of
the Cafe des Arts, Boulevard du Temple, brought an
action before the Tribunal of Commerce against a maa
named Murphy, to recover B,ooofr, for breach of agreement.
This Murphy, he stated, is of gigantic stature, and is em-
ployed in the establishment of the plaintiff to exhibit him-
self as
,a giant. The conditions are that be shall be paid
1,200 fr, a mouth, and, as well as his brother, be supplied
with food, lodging, and washing gratis, and that, in return,'
he shall be at the cafe every day from two o'clock in the
,afternoon to eleven at night, shall every half hour walk
about the cafe; and light a cigar at the highest gas lamp.
But instead of punctually attending to his duty, Murphy,
for a long time past, had arrived every day about twenty
minutes too late, and thereby did injury to the cafe. As an
indemnity for this injury, Paris maintained that a sum of
B,ooolr. was not too much. Murphy, who stated that he
lived at Neuilly, a long wiy from the cafe, opposed the
demand on the ground that it was not true he was habitually
late, and he alleged that the plaintiff frequently advanced
his clock ; he also said that, by their agreeernent, Paris had
the power of fining him l'ar. for eve y half hour he was
behind time, but so punctual was he that he (Paris) bad
never had an opportnuity of inflicting the fine. The Tribunal
dismissed the action with costs. in the course of the
procsedisp it was stated that, though Murphy's name is
Hibernian, he figures as a "Scotch" giant, and wears the
Highland costume.—Galignani.

ant wit
also to !
Mr, CD.