The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1854-03-21 00:00:00

GEIVERAE. INTEELIGENCE.

Tsz EARL or DRURY has taken the large mansion in
St. James's-square, for many years occupied by the late
Earl of Dartmouth.

DEATH or Rusmr.—The Italian papers announce the
death of the once greatest• of tenors, Signor Rubini, which
took place on the 2nd instant,, at Romano, in the province
of Bergamo. He was 00 years of age.
FRENCH WAR VEseur..B,- IN, 'mug TYNE.—The harbour-
masters have received instructions to clear away berths
for two French war vessels, which are expected in the
Tyne, to make arrangement.for a supply of steam coal for
the vessels of that nationin the Baltic fleet.
DISCOVERY OF CoAL.IN, GEOUCESTER.—In making the
excavations for the sewerage of this city in Worcester-
street, on Thursday, the-workmen came upon the end of a
stratum of coal, about six inches thick, at a depth of about
11 feet from the surfacer—Gloucester Chronicle.
THE SOUTHERN WIT.aliR FISHERY COMPANY.—At an
adjourned meeting of this company, held last week, reso-
lutions were agreed to,. authorising the directors to wind
up the undertaking, iaccordanee with the terms of the
deed of settlement, three-fourths of the capital having
been lost. _

WHAT NOVELIST would venture to relate that a widow
and a mother, who lost her husband and the father of her
children by an epidemic, and lost a child by death five
months afterwards, took a second husband to her bed on
the day after her child died, and buried it on the day after
her wedding ? Yet this romance has been acted on the
Tyne ; and one day last week the women had what our
American brothers. call an "indignation meeting," and
hooted the bride inlthe streets.
THE SENDING OF OATS TO AIISTRALIA..—We have
seen a return from. Melbourne of a sale of oats for a party
in Edinburgh. A portion of them was sold at 25 12s.
per qr., the remainder a little below that figure. 'rho
oats were purchased last season in East Lothian at 2.1.5.
per qr., and, after paying all expenses, the shipper had, at
the rate of 325. per qr. as profit on the transaction,—
North British. Agriculturist.
ADDRESS '3O LOUIS NAPOLEON.—The Town Council of
Dundee have forwarded an address to the Emperor of the
French, in which they congratulate his Majesty on the
union existing between France and England, and on his
marriage with the descendant of an ancient Scottish
family. They express a hope that this event may be
productive of a closer commercial union between the two
countries than has existed in recent times.—Edinburgh
Advertiser.

DRNIAND FOR FARMS IN CANADA--A land agent in
London, Canada West, states that the applications for
farms in the neighbourhood of that town are so numerous
at the present time that he cannot purchase farms fast
enough to meet the demands of those who are seeking
them. He further says that he has ten or twelve appli-
cations for farms each day. Such will soon be the case in
every part of Canada. Even in the townships now consi-
dered the most remote, when the country is opened up by
railroads, the demand for land will be as great, and land
in such townships as valuable, as it is now in the neigh-
bourhood of our great cities.—Canadian Colonist.

NEW SPIRITUAL PEER.—The Right Rev. Dr. Jackson,
Bishop of Lincoln, formerly rector of St. James's Church,
Westminster, will take his seat in the House of Lords
forthwith, in consequence of the death of the Bishop of
Salisbury. The act for constituting the see of Manchester
provided that no addition should be made in consequence
to the number of spiritual peers ; so that, under the new
arrangement, the junior prelate—other than Canterbury,
York, London, Durham, and Winchester, is always with-
out a seat in the House of Lords. Dr. Denison's successor
to the bishopric of Salisbury will not have a seat until
another vacancy on the episcopal bench occurs, such
vacancy not being one of the five just mentioned, who, by
virtue of the act alluded to, are not subject to the rotation
applicable to the other prelates of both provinces. •

ENGLISH QUEENS AND EUROPEAN WARS.—Each of
the Queens that has sat on the English thrones has had
to wage a European war ; though the Roman Catholic
Mary lost Calais, the virgin Queen Elizabeth successfully
resisted the invincible armada ; good Queen Anne brought
the war with Louis XIV. to a close, which procured the
recognition of the Protestant succession,various territorial
concessions from France in America, Spain's resignation
of Gibraltar and the Pillars of Hercules, that stand as the
portico to the Mediterranean Sound. Elizabeth opposed
to the Spanish, Anne to the Bourbon, Victoria to the Mus-
covite universal monarchy—is not that a peculiar ordina-
tion of God ? Victoria !—it is a name that sounds well
in the ears of the nation and of her allies. What cham-
pion does not look hopefully to Victoria ?—Berlin Na-
tional Zeitung. .
- -

MAJOR NORCOTT, of the Rifles, has published an in-
teresting report on the Minie rifle. Many vague and
general statements have been made of the superiority of
this arm over every other of the kind, but until now we
have never seen anything like a full and reliable report
founded upon close, frequent, and extensive practice. The
report proves, that the rifle is perfectly safe—not an ac-
cident with it is on record. Its capacity over the Bruns-
wick rifle is vast ; the range is much greater ; the accuracy
of the ball's flight remarkable; and it is loaded with
greater rapidity than the Brunswick. At 300 yards 33
men, out of 59, put 7 out of 10 shots each from the Minie
rifle into the target ; whilst from the Brunswick only six
men out of 70 put in more than half their shots at a dis-
tance of 150 to 200 yards. In the discussion on the army
estimates allusion was made to the Minie rifle by Mr.
Sidney Herbert, who stated that he had heard from an
officer, who had seen the practice at Hy the, that two or
three non-commissioned officers had placed 77 shots in the
target out of 100, at a distance of 800 yards. He had also
seen at skirmishing 40 shots out of 50 put into the target.
CONSERVATIVE LAND SOCIETY.—The sixth quarterly
meeting was held at Freemason's Hall, on Wednesday,
Viscount Ranelagh in the chair. The report recorded
the continued progress of the society, notwithstanding
the menacing aspect of the political horizon. The disposal
of the estates amongst the members had not been affected
by the serious public events during the past quarter; and
the receipts up to that day justified the expectation that,
by the 25th instant, the end of the quarter, the returns
would be the largest since the foundation of the society.
The estates in immediate preparation for allotment are—
the St. Margaret, Richmond ; the Seven Sisters' Road
Estate, Tottenham Green • Oatlands Grange, Weybridge,
West Surrey ; West Malven, Worcestershire; and the
second portion of the Brighton estate. The report an-
nounced a great accommodation to members desirous of
borrowing money on their allotments. Hitherto it has
been the practice only to lend three-fourths of the £5O
share, and so on in proportion for every portion of a share,
being at the rate of 88 per cent. A drawing subsequently
took place for one hundred rights of choice, and it was
announced that fifty would be added by seniority.
CONVERSIONS PROM Roma.xfsm.—A most interesting
ceremony took place in St. John's. Church, Manchester-
road, Bradford, on Sunday evening last week. Six per-
sons —three men and three women—who had been mem-
bers of the Church of Rome, and whose families number
in all fifteen individuals, conformed to the Protestant
faith. The order of evening prayer ended, the Rev. Henry
de L. Willis, incumbent of the church, proceeded to the
communion-table, and the persons to be reconciled stand-
ing without the rails, the short but solemn service of the
admission of converts from the Church of Romeas com-
piled by Archbishop Tenison—was gone through, the
choir chanting at intervals portions of the 116th and
)19th Psalms. When the service had concluded, and the
penitents had retired to their seats, the Rev. Dr. Burnet,
vicar of Bradford, delivered a sermon from Jeremiah vi.
18—" Thus saith the Lord, stand ye in the ways, and see,
and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and
walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls."
Towards the close of his sermon, the preacher addressed
himself, specially and with much earnestness and affec-
tion, to the converts, and after exhorting them to a still
more diligent study of the Holy Scriptures, commended
them to the sympathy and prayers of the congregation.
On the same day, two adult converts from Romanism
were publicly received into the Church of England, at
Whitchurch Canonicorum, Dorset, by the Rev. W. Palmer.
A CONSTANTINOPLE TRAGEDY.—The Constantino le
correspondent of the Times, writing on the 16th ult.,
gives the following account. of a murderous outrage :
"yesterday evening, whee the select of the Pera popula-
tion were assembled at a gay ball, in the palace of the
French ambassador, a most barbarous and cruel outrage
was being perpetrated in a house not many hundred
yards removed. Mons. Perrei, a highly respectable French
merchant, went to the ball, leaving his wife at home, con-
fined to her bed by illness. During his absence, a party
of three villains effected an entrance into his house (pro-
bably using false keys), and proceeded to rob Madame
Perrei of her rings and other personal ornaments. The
unfortunate lady screamed, and was instantly stabbed by
one of the ruffians. The maid rushed to the rescue, and
was stabbed in the arm, when, a struggle ensuing, the
light was extinguished, ; she maanged to pitch one of
them down stairs, and they decamped in all haste. This
morning one of the three (it is supposed) was found lying
dead near the house, with a knife wound below the heart.
How he met his death is as yet a mystery ; but it is sup-
posed that one of his companions in the scuffle and dark-
ness mistook him for the master of the house or some
other person coming to the rescue. The unfortunate lady
died to-day. The dead man appears to be an Italian, but
as yet has been unclaimed, and suffered to lie in the
streets like a dead dog. The state of the law here in such
cases is more curious than happy. Instead of leaving all
such criminal cases to the Turk (who exercises the police
function), all sorts of varying and complicated courts of
trial are established (by treaty), resulting in the occasional
acquittal of the guilty. The administration of justice
depending upon so many conflicting interests, conviction
is rare, and the place harbours a gang of unpunished
scoundrels of all nations."

THE PALACE OF WESTMINEITBR.—A return has been
issued showing the progress and expenses, past and future,
of the decoration of the New Houses of Parliament with
works of art. The estimate of their cost is as follows :
" House of Lords, fresco painting, £4,800; metal statues,
£4,680; upper waiting-hall, fresco paintings, £3,500;
Stephen's Hall, statues, £8,600 ; the Prince's Chamber,
statues, £3,835; bas-reliefs, £750; portrait of Henry VII.,
£5O ; the Queen's robing-room, £4,800 ; the Peers' robing-
room, £9,000 ; the Peers corridor, £3,050 ; the Commons'
corridor, £3,650 ; sundry works, £220 ; and adding £5,800
expended in premiums in the exhibitions of 1843 and
1847, and for the purchase of two cartoons exhibited in
1845, the total cost of what has been undertaken will
amount to £53,335, of which the sum of £29,660 has been
already paid." The remainder will only be required by
degrees, singe a large proportion of the works are 'not
completed. The Peers' robing-room, for instance, is not
yet bUilt ; but a sum of not less than £9,000 is devoted to
the nine fresco paintings which are to be placed in this
apartment, and which the artist, Mr. J. R. Herbert, was
to have nine years from April, 1851, to complete :—" They
are to have Scripture subjects, the illustrations to `have
reference to the idea of justice on earth, and its develop-
ment in law and judgment.' The subjects selected are—
Moses bringing down the tables of the law to the Israelites,
the fall of man, his condemnation to labour, the judgment
of Solomon, the visit of the Queen of Sheba, the building
of the Temple, the judgment of Daniel, Daniel in the
lions' den, the vision of Daniel. None of the eight paint-
ings for the Peers' corridor have been begun ; they are
to indicate the heroic virtues displayed on both sides
during the civil war, and the Commons' corridor is to
continue and complete the subject. The commission'hate
determined that in the corridors or halls connected with
the central hall, the chronological order, of subjects or of
personages shall begin from that hall."