The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1849-03-20 00:00:00

AND COLONIAL

WEST INDIA MAILS.
t 'Avon arrived at Southampton on
es from Jamaica represent the island as

Lue exception of some sickness amongst the
shipping at Kingston. The crops were expected to be
larger than those of 1848, but much less than the yield of
1847. The labourers generally were working better, and
at rates of wages somewhat reduced since last season ; but
the wages paid were still too high to admit of cultivation
being carried on profitably, except on a very few of the
largest estates. In consequence of the rise in the price of
sugar in England, that article had advanced in Jamaica,
and had caused a reaction, upon a small scale, in the ge-
neral business both of Jamaica and the other islands.
The Jamaica House of Assembly resumed its sitting
'ter V -- The

.ristmas recess on the 23d of January.
principal subject of legislation was the measures of re-
trenchment in the public expenditure.
In Barbadoes, the agricultural prospects were still fa-
vourable, and we now have an estimate of the crops
• ^ to 35,009 hogsheads.

amountir

Two of the murderers of General Brea and Captain
Mangin were executed at Paris on Saturday.
The bishops and clergy of Spain have abandoned one-
tenth of their incomes for the benefit of the Pope.
The Times believes that Louis Napoleon is decidedly
opposed to the intervention in Italy. Marrast has been
re-elected President of the Assembly.
The young Emperor of Austria habitually smokes a
cigar or two after dinner, and is the first member of the
imperial family who was ever known to smoke, as the
rigid etiquette of the Austrian court formerly condemned

smoking.
DENAIAR}

The Danish papers contain an official
proclamation, dechring that all the ports and river mouths
of Schleswig and Holstein are to blockaded on and from
the Tith instant. The islands of Alsen and Ariiie, and
other places, which are occupied by the King of Denmark's
troops, are excepted; and the blockading of each place
will cease the moment it is taken possession of by Danish
troops.

RiissiA.—The Concordia of Turin has a letter from
St. Petersburg, of the 23rd ult., asserting that the Russo-
Austrian alliance is based on the following stipulations :
A marriage between the Emperor of .Austria and the Grand
Princess Anne ; an offensive and defensive alliance ; the
reception of Turkey into this alliance; the maintenance
of the treaties of 1815 ; and a guarantee of the claims of
Denmark on the Duchies of Schleswig and Holstein.
MELTING THE BELLS.—The Roman Government, in
want of cannon, has issued a decree confiscating all the
bells, except those of parish churches, and such as possess
an artistic value which may render it desirable for them
to remain in their present condition. Upon such terms
the Moniteur Roman remarks that all the convent bells
must go—an observation in which we entirely concur,
seeing that the melting mood is best suited for metal so
attractive.

THE BRAZILS.—BATTLE AT PERNAMBUCO.—The ar-
rival of the Columbus, Captain Green, places us in pos-
session of important accounts from the Brazils. Early
on the morning of the 2nd ult. the city was: attacked on
different points by a number of men from the country :
severe fighting was maintained all the afternoon, when
the government received timely aid from a body of troops
under the command of General Coelho ; the besiegers
were then forced to retire, leaving many dead and wounded
in the street. The returns of the casualties were not cor-
rectly ascertained on either side, but it is said they amount
to some hundreds; and four hundred rebels were taken
prisoners. When the Columbus sailed the city was in
full and quiet possession of the government, by whom
between two hundred and three hundred of the most in-
fluential of the citizens were arrested.
PROBABILITY OF WAR BETWEEN AUSTRIA AND
PIEDMONT.—In the Piedmontese Chamber, on the 9th
instant, the Minister of the Interior, in alluding to the
critical state of the country in connexion with its ex-
pected war with Austria, called for extraordinary powers.
Before triumphing over foreign enemies, said the minister,
they must suppress all internal factions, and with that
view he submitted a project of law, which proposed to
give to the government the power of making domiciliary
visits, of imprisoning suspected persons, of banishing
others, of preventing or dissolving all meetings, of pro-
hibiting all newspapers, and of forbidding any person
speaking or writing in public, under certain penalties.
The Chamber agreed to adopt this project of law by 113
to 10 ; and it afterwards granted the minister 2,000,000
livres to meet the expenses attending the arming of the
National Guard.

THE IMMACULATE CONCEPTION OF THE VIRGIN
MARY.—The Pope has published an Encyclic, dated Feb-
ruary 2nd, addressed to all Patriarchs, Primates, Arch-
Ba VISIANAMPJA SPfaTMVS,them that he has n=
amining the propriety of adopting as an article of faith
the doctrine, so long controverted in the Romish Church,
of the immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary, by de-
claring that " she was conceived entirely free from all
stain of original sin." The Encyclic orders prayers for
the Commission in all the dioceses, and invites the opinions
of the prelates on the subject. It also authorises the ad-
option in all the dioceses of a certain service in honour of
the Virgin, embodying this doctrine, which has been in
use for some time at Rome. The following passage is
remarkable for its blasphemous substitution of the Virgin
in the place of Christ :—"You know perfectly well, Vene-
rable Brother, that the foundation of our confidence is in
the most Holy Virgin, forasmuch as God has caused the
fulness of all that is good to be in Her; so that, if there
be in us any hope, any grace, any salvation, we may
know that it is from Her that we receive the same; for
such is the will of him who has ordered that we should
have all things through Mary."
ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH TO AMERICA.—The projectors
of this work, in the United States, propose to construct it
between the coast of Newfoundland and the nearest cape
of Ireland. They state that there is every reason to be-
lieve that a submarine bank extends from Newfoundland
to the British Isles, to which they propose to anchor the
wires, supported in cork tubes, at intervals of ten miles,
and have appealed to Congress to aid them in the enter-
prise, by appropriating a public vessel for their use, to
ascertain the truth concerning the nature of the bottom.
Should they not find soundings, they state they could still
manage to anchor the buoys by means of buckets, &c.
Mr. Lake's project for the same purpose differs from this
in not requiring buoys, except at each extremity, to avoid
friction ; but he considers that the impinging upon Ame-
rica so far north as Newfoundland, would expose it to the
danger of being carried away on the breaking up of the
ice in the spring; he, therefore, proposes to carry it fur-
ther south, and estimates the expense of laying one wire
from England to the neighbourhood of Philadelphia at
£s6,soo—copper wire being employed. The petitioners
close their address to Congress with an exhortation—" Not
to allow the British Government to anticipate the United
States in this sublime project." They need, however,
scarcely fear competition, when the expense of a few hun-
dted pounds prevents the laying of the wire between this
country and France.