The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1840-10-30 00:00:00

FOREIGN AND COLONIAL MISCELLANY.

According to a letter from Rome, of the Ist instant, the
treaty for the definitive fixation of the frontiers between
I•

I%l—a;ijes and the Roman dominions had been signed by Cardi-

nal Bernetti

One of the first mercantile houses of Stockholm, that of
Morting, has just failed. The debts are said to amount to
£120,000 more than the assets. Several houses in Ham-
burgh are creditors for considerable sums.—Galignani.
FIRE AT THE DOCKYARD IN TOULON.—A letter from
Toulon, of the 15th inst., states that an alarm was spread the
previous evening that a fire had broken out in the naval
arsenal at that port. About ten o'clock the report was first
given, and the alarm gun fired, which filled the whole city
with consternation. A large body of troops mustered with-
out arms in the Champ de Mars, to he ready to act as re-
required. In less than ten minutes more than 4,000 persons
had assembled before the gates of die arsenal ready to lend
their assistance, but fortunately their services were not re-
quired, as the men employed on the establishment were able
to extinguish the flames before they gained any head. The
damage done was very trifling, but at a moment like the pre-
sent, the greatest alarm was at first felt. The fire was solely
the result of accident.
ANOTHER ASSASSINATION IN THE STREETS OF PARIS.—
On Monday evening, at half-past ten, a porter, named Ri-
berty, was returning home quietly along the Boulevard Mont-
martre, in front of the Theatre des Varietes, when a man,
who had followed him for a few moments, threw himself upon
him, and buried a poniard in his stomach. Riberty fell, ut-
tering a fearful cry •, and the assassin, without attempting to
fly, walked under the peristyle of the theatre, exclaiming,—
" Arrest me, lam the assassin !" A medical man, who hap-
pened to be passing, assisted the wounded man, who was
conveyed to the bureau of police, and thence to the Hospital
of La Charite. The wound was found to be excessively dan-
gerous, and scarcely any hopes are entertained of his recovery.
The assassin declared that the act was one of vengeance,
committed through love and jealousy.
The National, in its Madrid correspondence, states that
the junta have discovered, among other papers of the crown,
a document which proves that a secret marriage between the
queen regent and M. Munoz had actually taken place, as also
that several children had been the fruit of it. This document
is said to show, that the persons who were witnesses to the
ceremony were M. Alagon, M. Gonzales, the queen's con-
fessor, Messrs. Gravoria and Ronchi, some relations of M.
Munoz, and a femme-de-chambre named Antonia.
GREAT MATCH OF AN ARAB HORSE TO PERFORM 400
MILES IN FIVE DAYS.—The above extraordinary match
took place on the 27th of July last, at the station of Banga-
lore, under the Madras presidency. It is reckoned one of
the greatest feats in horsemanship that has ever been per-
formed. The animal was the property of Captain Horne, of
the Madras artillery, who backed him to do the task for a
wager of 5,000 rupees (£5OO sterling). The odds at starting
were 3to 1, and afterwards 4 to 1, against the rider. The
horse won in grand style. On reaching the winning-post,
Captain Horne's troop of horse artillery (natives andEuro-
peens), took him off his horse : and, placing him in a chair,
decorated with flowers, they carried him to the tent, amidst
triumphant cheering. Captain Horne came in perfectly fresh,
and on the second day he was out visiting around the station
on a pony, after riding 91 miles during the preceding night.
BRUSSELS, OCT. 22.—We have just learned an important
piece of intelligence, the authenticity of which we can answer
for. On Tuesday last, a treaty was concluded at Antwerp by
the members of the Dutch and Belgian commission, for the
regulation of the pilotage in the Scheldt, in execution of the
treaty of the 19th of April, 1839. The treaty consists of
about 80 articles. It is said that Belgium may congratulate
itself on the manner in which the negociations have been
conducted, and the result to which they have led. The treaty
has now to be laid before the two governments for their rati-
fication.—Observateur.
A letter dated Vienna, the 7th instant, published in the
Journal de Frankfort, announces that the treaty relating to
the navigation of the Danube had been actually concluded
between the Russian and Austrian governments. It is sti-
pulated in the treaty, that the navigation of the river shall be
free for all nations. Russia, however, reserves the power of
establishing sanatory measures for any vessels which may
touch at her ports. She will levy a tax of one colonat (Spa-
nish piaster) on each vessel, to defray the expenses required
for clearing the mouth of the river at Sulina.
THE RUSSIAN FLEET.—The Brussels Independant con-
thins the following letter from Copenhagen, 12th instant :
"It is certain that the Emperor Nicholas has caused to be
refitted a portion of the Baltic fleet, viz., nine ships of the
line, six frigates, and four or five smaller vessels. The new-
est and fastest-sailing vessels have been selected, and, as they
are in different anchorages, orders have been given for their
joining, when ready, a squadron of three ships of the line,
and the same number of frigates, which are ready for sea in
the roads of Revel. They are all to be ready by the 15th of
this month, and are to be commanded by Admiral Plater. It
is said they are to take on board ammunition for two years,
and provisions for six months."
The Prussian State Gazette mentions that the expedition
against Khiva is likely to be given up by the Russian govern-
ment, since the Khan has liberated all Russian subjects de-
tained as prisoners, and has made overtures of accommoda-
tion. An envoy is en route for St. Petersburgh.
We learn from Naples, 4th inst., that subterranean com-
motions had for several days been perceptible along the whole
of the ground which crosses the road leading from the fron-
tiers of Citerior Calabria to the Roman States, and that
Vesuvius had for two days been emitting dense volumes of
smoke, spreading a sulphureous odour, so that an eruption
was expected.—Galignani's Messenger.
THE CHINESE INVINCIBLES.—On Sunday morning three
English gentlemen went on board the chop-boats lying off
the Leenfung Temple, in the inner harbour, containing a di-
vision of the imperial invincibles. There are fifteen chop-
boats, containing about 500 soldiers, and the chop-boat men
said that 400 more were hourly expected. There are also two
or three government row-boats. The men were civil, and
employed in the peaceful occupation of cooking or eating
their breakfasts. In the court-yard of the temple there are
three brass and three long iron guns. They are not mounted
on carriages, but on four-footed iron stands about two feet
high, on the fulcrum of which they traverse ; the breech
rests on the ground. It must be impossible to take a good
aim with guns thus mounted.—Canton Register.

The postmistress in Cappoquin, in Ireland, lately gave
birth to a daughter, which had a red mark upon its left cheek.
This for a few days did not attract any particular notice, un-
til the medical attendant, on more minute examination, found
in the mark an exact resemblance to the new post-office stamp.
This is stamping effectually.
The durability of the oak may be known from the fact that
the throne of Edward the Confessor is 800 years old ; one of
the oaken coronation chairs has been in its present situation
in Westminster Abbey about 540 years ; and the oldest wood-
en bridge of which we have any account is of oak : it is that
famous for its defence by Horatius Codes, and which existed
500 years before Christ.
CROMWELL AND MORLAND.—One night the Protector
came into Thurloe's office, and had proceeded to some length
in a business of the utmost secrecy and importance, when he
observed a clerk asleep at his desk. This was Mr. Morland
(afterwards Sir Samuel Morland), the famous mechanist, and
not unknown as a statesman. Cromwell drew his dagger,
and would have despatched him on the spot had not Thurloe,
with some difficulty, prevented him, assuring him that his
intended victim was certainly sound asleep, since, to his own
knowledge, he had been sitting up two nights together. The
future Sir Samuel" was not asleep, however ; and the se-
cret he thus became master of at the involuntary risk of his
life, was a trap laid for the young king, into which, through
the agency of Willis, he might probably enough have fallen,
had he nut been duly apprised of it by the supposed slum-
berer.—Jesse's Memoirs of the Court of England during
the Reign of the Stuarts.

- -
PRESSURE OF THE SEA.—If a piece of wood, which floats
on the water, be forced down to a great depth in the sea, the
pressure of the surrounding liquid will be so severe that a
quantity of water will be forced into the pores of the wood,
and so increase its weight that it will be no longer capable of
floating or rising on the surface. Renee the timbers of ships,
which have foundered in a deep part of the ocean, never rise
again to the surfuce, like those which are sunk near the
shore. A diver may, with impunity, plunge to a certain
depth in the sea; but there is a limit beyond which he could
not live under the pressure to which he is subject. For the
same reason, it is probable that there is a depth below which
fishes cannot live. They have, according to Joselin, been
caught in a depth at which they must have sustained a pres-
sure of eighty tons to each square foot of the surface of their
bodies.
KHAN OF KHELAT'S JEWELS.—This splendid collection
of jewels, prize property, valued at six lacs of rupees, was to
be disposed of by public auction at Bombay, early in No-
vember. It consists of daggers with gold scabbards, richly
set with diamonds, rubies, emeralds, and other precious
stones ; a magnificent turban ornament called a " Jeekha"
(the mark of royalty),
.set with diamonds, emeralds, and
pearls ; massive gold chains, collars, armlets, and bangles of
solid gold, set with rubies and pearls; women's ornaments
in endless variety, such as gold, pearl, ruby, and other neck-
laces ; head and nose ornaments, set with the most beautiful
and valuable pearls ; gold, diamond, ruby, emerald, and
pearl ear-rings, and finger rings ; a beautiful and curious
copy of the Koran in a gold case, with other articles too
numerous to mention, many of them very rare and valuable.
—Bast India Paper.
LORD BROUGHAM A SMOKER.—When Lord Brougham
was in the zenith of his fame, ere he took his prodigious leap
from the floor of the House of Commons to the Woolsack
in the Lords, he certainly derived great benefit from a pipe.
When he was working what may be called treble tides, be
smoked a pipe between each spell, and returned with renewed
vigour to his multifarious labours. After having mystified
the box of common jurymen in the court of King's Bench,
he took one pipe in the afternoon, before proceeding to the
House of Commons ; and after having spoken for two or
three hours, profusely mingling wit with wisdom, and in-
structing his opponents whilst he flayed them, he returned
home to smoke another pipe before sitting down for an article
in the Edinburgh Review. On the conclusion of the labour
of the day he took another pipe, as a composer before going
to bed, probably bearing in mind the advice of Lord Bacon,
who recommends those who value their health to seek repose
with a tranquil mind.
The following celebrated actresses married Peers of the
realm :—Miss Farren was married on the Ist of May, 1797,
to Edward, 12th Earl of Derby ; Miss Brunton, 12th of De-
cember, 1807, to William, first Earl of Craven ; Miss Bol-
ton, 13th of November, 1813, to Edward, second Lord
Thurlow ; Miss Mellon (widow of Thomas Coutts, Esq.,)
16th of June, 1827, to William, ninth Duke of St. Alban's ;
Miss Foote, 7th of April, 1831, to Charles, fourth Earl of
Harrington; Miss Stephens, in 1837, to George, the fifth
Earl of Essex.—The wife of Sir William Wrixon Beecher,
Bart., was formerly the celebrated Miss O'Neil.
LACE MILLS.—REPORT ON MILLS AND FACTORIES,
ORDERED TO DE PRINTED 13th APRIL, 1840.—At page 57,
R. J. Saunders, Esq., says—" The usual hours of work are,
about Nottingham, 20 hours a day !" Mr. J. Bury, pp. 72
and 73, says—" The children are up at all hours of the
night, when the lace machines are at work. They are gene-
rally at work 20 hours a day ! The children, from nine to
15 years of age, are obliged to be in the mills during the
whole night, and the day too. They very seldom get out till
ten or eleven o'clock, and where the lace mills are at work
24 hours a day, the children must be, during the whole of
that 24 hours, either on the premises, or where they can be
called out of bed, whenever they are wanted !"
In Palestine a great number of people get their living by
working crosses, beads, rosaries, and amulets, and mother-
of-pearl shells, which are brought generally from the Red
Sea, and engraved with religious subjects, chiselled in relief.
These usually represent saints, or some objects of devotion
associated with the Holy Land. Among them are models of
the holy sepulchre in wood, inlaid with mother-of-pearl ;
drinking-cups, from the deposits of the Jordan, with verses
from the Bible engraved on them, being nearly as black as
ebony, and taking a fine polish. Of these and other similar
articles there was formerly a large sale in the market-place
of Bethlehem, and in many parts of Jerusalem ; but the
Terrasanta monks have lately taken the trade from the pea-
santry, whom they are said to have menaced with excom-
munication if they sold such relics to travellers. The
monopoly of the trade is now in the hands of the monks, and
they obtain monopoly prices.—Report on Syria for Lord
Palmerston.
QUEEN ADELAIDE'S NEEDLEWORK.—It is well-known
that Queen Adelaide, and in consequence of her majesty's
example, those around her, habitually occupied their leisure
moments in ornamental needlework ; and there have been of
late years few bazaars throughout the kingdom, for really be-
neficial purposes, which have not been enriched by the con-
tributions of the Queen Dowager, contributions ever gladly
purchased at a high price, not for their intrinsic worth, but
because they had been wrought by a hand which every En-
glishwoman had learned to respect and love.—The Art of
Needlework, by the Countess of Wilton.