The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1854-05-09 00:00:00

CAPE OF GOOD HOPE.

By the Seringapatam, Gimblett, from Bombay, advices
have been received from the Cape of Good Hope to the sth
March. The Crcesus steamer, which left Southampton on
the 11th of January, arrived at the Cape on the 28th of
February, on her way to Melbourne. The Mauritius
steamer had also reached the same place on the Ist of
March, bound to India. The discovery of gold in the
Orange River Sovereignty had been confirmed. In the
especial locality of Smithfield several nuggets were alleged
to have been obtained, weighing from one to four ounces
each ; but in the majority of cases the gold is found in
minute particles. So much faith was placed in the reports
that parties had been induced to forfeit the deposit they
had paid for passages to Australia in the Falcon from
Algoa Bay. Specimens of quartz, with nuggets, from the
Sovereignty, had been exhibited in the Commercial Ex-
change.
AMERICA.

By the United States mail steamship Hermann, Capt.
Higgins, arrived off Southampton, we have intelligence
from New York to the 22nd ult.
At 3 p.m. on the 6th, off the Start, the Hermann passed
the transport bark No. 38, standing to the south. On
the 27th ult., in lat. 40.15, long. 50.15, spoke the ship
Mary Glover, bound west; and on the 2nd inst., the
English ship Faside, of Glasgow, for Quebec.
The British and North American mail steamer Asia,
from Liverpool, arrived at New York on the 20th ult.
The packetship Underwriter, from Liverpool, had not
been got off, but remained at Squan Beach at the date of
the last accounts. She would come off, it was hoped, the
next fine weather. All her passengers had been landed in
safety. The ship Saxony, from Boston, bound to Matan-
zas, went ashore on the Bth of April on the coast of
Florida, to the southward of Jupiter Inlet, and was left
with 12 feet of water in her hold.
Advices from Mexico, in the New York Herald, state
that Santa Anna and Alvarez had ceased hostilities, the
former having made concessions to the latter. The
Herald says :—" Our despatches from Washington bring
us some details concerning the melancholy dissolution of
the Gadsden treaty. It appears that the most strenuous
efforts were made by the Administration to save this
joint-stock compact with Santa Anna and his American
allies in the job. It seems that the President, as a last
Merate expedient to enforce ratification, threatened, if
the treaty were rejected, to occupy the Mesilla valley with
a military force, and thus get us into a war with Mexico,
as if the war in Europe were not large enough for our
warlike Administration. To be sure, it is a fearful thing
to contemplate the danger of a war with Santa Anna,
especially as he has neither money nor means to sustain
himself at home, unless supplied from our Treasury. The
treaty, however, has gone by the board, and we shall
wait patiently to see whether General Gadsden or General
Cushing is sent down to make a new treaty, or whether
General Scott is sent down again, with 10,000 men at his

back, for another march to the Halls of the Montezumas.
But we are very much afraid that in a war with Mexico
the Administration will fail as signally as it has failed in
everything else. It is stated that the probabilities are in
favour of the adoption of the Sloo amendment to the Gads-
den treaty by the Senate, and the confirmation of the
treaty itself."
In the New York markets ashes were in moderate re-
quest. The market for breadstuffs unsettled, the common
sorts having declined in consequence of an absence of
export demand, while the medium and finer sorts were in
good request at rather firmer rates. Wheat more inquired
for. Corn tending upwards. Cotton firm, at cent
advance. Freights without material alteration. Provi-
sions were less active. The navigation of Lake Erie was
reported to be unobstructed by ice. The New York stock-
market unchanged. Exchange on London, 109 to 1092.

THE WAR.

BOMBARDMENT OF ODESSA.

The Moniteur, of Saturday, contains an official despatch
from the French admiral, respecting the attack upon
Odessa by the combined fleets. It states that the bombard-
ment took place on the 22nd of April, commencing at six
o'clock in the morning, the fleet consisting of three French
and five English frigates. Two of the moles and batteries
very speedily returned the fire of the ships. At ten o'clock
the combined fleets were joined by four other frigates.
The action continued until five o'clock in the afternoon.
The powder magazine belonging to the mole exploded.
Fifteen of the enemy's vessels were either sunk or burned.
The marine establishments were very much damaged by
fire or by shells. The commercial harbour was spared, and
the merchant ships contained within it escaped destruc-
tion. The loss of the allies only amounted to five killed
and wounded. This despatch was dated on board the Ville
de Paris, before Odessa, on the 25th of April. It is stated
that the combined fleets afterwards sailed from Odessa for
Sebastopol; and that thirteen Russian ships, laden with
munitions of war, had been taken. A letter from Odessa,
dated 24th ult., states that the bombardment produced
great terror among the inhabitants ; they emigrated en
masse, and the town was almost deserted. Several foreign
consuls went on board the English and French vessels.
Admiral Dundas declared that an indemnity will be paid
for the Austrian vessel burned in the port. On the 23d
and 24th the bombardment did not continue, but the in-
habitants feared that it would be recommenced. The
blockading squadron consisted of twenty-four vessels placed
in three lines, eight in each. It was only the vessels of
the first line which fired. The warehouses situated on the
port, and belonging to European commerce, did not receive
any damage. The English and French gunners aimed
admirably, and only hit the houses and warehouses of Rus-
sians. A combat took place on the 9th between an Eng-
lish vessel and a Russian corvette.

The official Moniteur gives its recital of the affair as
follows :

" The government has received the following details of
the attack directed against Odessa by the admirals of the
combined fleets. We know not which to admire the most,
the energy and the rapidity or the certainty of the blow
which the two navies have struck on this occasion, An
attack had been committed against the law of nations by
the military authorities of Odessa. The object of the
admirals was to chastise the authors of it. It is on the
military part of the Russian town, on its warlike esta-
blishments, that our sailors concentrated their fire; and
Europe will remark with what scruples of humanity and
with what precision of movement they kept the effects of
the attack beyond the commercial part of the place, and
spared it, as well as the property of neutrals, from any
damage. In acting with this consideration and generosity
the French admiral conformed himself to the general in-
structions which he received in compliance with the wish
of the Emperor, and which prescribed to him to spare open
towns as much as possible :
" ' Ville de Paris, Odessa Roads, April 25.
" On the morning of the 22nd eight steam frigates
(three French and five English) proceeded to the Imperial
port of Odessa, and at half-past six four of them had
opened their fire on the land batteries. The two moles,
as well as the intermediate batteries, warmly returned it.
At ten o'clock four other, frigates joined, and then the
action became general. It continued until five o'clock in
the evening, when Admiral Dundas and I made signal to
the frigates to join the squadron. The fire had quieted
the battery of the Imperial mole, the powder-magazine
had blown up, and 15 vessels, with the• exception of two
or three, were either sunk or on fire. The naval estab-
lishments were also on fire or very much injured from the
shells. The town and the commercial port, where a num-
ber of vessels of all nations were moored, were respected.
Several of these vessels took advantage of the confusion
and got out, and among others the only two French vessels
that were there.' "
The Turkish ambassador has received from the Ottoman
legation at Vienna the following dispatch, on the subject
of the same fact :
" I have just received the following dispatch from Bel-
grade; it has been communicated to me by Omer Pacha,
who begged me to transmit it to you. Eight steam-frigates
belonging to the combined fleets proceeded to Odessa, and
commenced bombarding the military port on the 22nd. In
a few hours they destroyed all the fortifications, the bat-
teries, and the military establishments of the Russians.
Two powder-magazines blew up, and 12 of the enemy's
vessels of war were sunk. The commercial port was
spared, and the merchant vessels escaped; 13 Russian
vessels laden with stores and ammunition were captured."
The town of Odessa was defended by four batteries,
which were constructed about the beginning of this year,
and were placed as follows : the first, of 12 guns, on the
mole of the quarantine port, defending the entrance of the
great roadstead; the second) of 6 pus, below the Wale-