The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1854-06-27 00:00:00

FOREIGN AND COLONIAL.

TUESDAY, JUNE 27, 1854.

THE WAR.

A serious altercation took place on the Bth instant st
Constantinople, between some liberty men of the Sidon,
and some Austrians in a wine shop. In the melee two
the Sidon's men were stabbed (one in the side and one in
the neck), but both were " more frightened than hurt.
The cowards who inflicted the wounds escaped, but sonle
Guardsmen who happened to be present left unmistaksble
impressions of their fists upon their countenances.
ILLNESS OF THE CZAR.—Letters received via Hambal
state that the czar was unable, in consequence of ill health;
to accept the invitation to an interview with the King el
Prussia. It is stated in Berlin that the czar ordered
Lieutenant-General Grumwald to proceed to the Prassio
frontier to compliment his Prussian ALljesty. It is
argued from this that there is no probability of the Env
peror arriving there in person.—Globe.

RETREAT OF THE RUSSIANS FROM SILISTRIA•
On the 15th inst., the garrison of Silistria made a sortie,
attacked the Russians on all points, and drove there
across the Danube.
Pursuing their advantage, the Turks crossed an arm of
the river, seized the opposite island, where the ene
hub
had constructed siege works, and from which Silistria het`
been bombarded. The Russians fled to the Wallachian
bank of the Danube, and were compelled to witness the
destruction of their batteries.
The Turks then brought out their guns and erected
batteries on the Bulgarian bank of the river, before the
north face of the fortress.
The Russian battalions east and west of Silistria CM'
mediately began to recross the river, destroying their
bridges as they withdrew.
The garrison on this occasion was assisted by the corPe
sent from Shumla to its relief by Omar Pasha. Some
of the troops of the latter took part in the battle on the
13th, and the junction of the entire corps was effected on
the evening of that day.
There was nothing voluntary or strategec in the flight
of the Russians. The defeats which preceded the rout
of the 15th had been followed by extensive movements,
with'the object of reinforcing the besieging corps. On
the 12th and 13th it was said at Kalarasch, Silistrie
must be taken speedily, and at any cost. " The expulsion
of the Russians is entirely the work of the Turks.
The Russian army is in a most wretched plight. The,
men are downcast, and utterly dispirited. All the chief
commanders—Prince Paskiewitsch, commander of the
entire army of the Danube ; Prince Gortschakoff, corn.
mander of the investing corps ; and General Schilders,
director of the siege works—are wounded and disabled.
Five generals were either killed or wounded on the 13th,
and on the same day the siege works on the right bank
were destroyed by the Turks, with immense loss to the
enemy.
Flight to Wallachia was thus the only course left to the
Russians. They are now in the neighbourhood of 'Calk
rasch, awaiting reinforcements and orders. At Vienne
it is thought that the Russians will find it impossible
again employ the same troops before Silistria, demora•
lised as they are by repeated and constant failure, and
that being unable to replace them in sufficient timer
Marshal Paskiewitsch will then give orders to fall back on

Jassy.
The garrison of Rustchuk is said, in advices received
from Widdin, to have crossed the river and attacked
Giurgevo. The Russians on this occasion lost 400 men
and nine guns. This intelligence is less authentic that
the accounts from Silistria and Kalarasch, which have
reached Vienna through several channels, and are of $
piece with previous intelligence.
The Russian division under General Liprandi is march-
ing in great haste from Slatina for Silistria.
General Schilders, who has lost a leg, lies in a dan-
gerous state. He is advanced in years, and of nervous
temperament. Prince Gortschakoff's wound is severe.,
General Luders, who is also wounded, is said to be doing
well. Marshal Paskiewitsch suffers considerably from lug
contusion. Count Orloff, jun., lingers without hope 0I

recovery. --
.
The Moniteur announces that, on the 13th, the Eng
lish and French fleets 'formed a junction at Borobund•
The British flag was hoisted at the main of all the shire,-
and the French Vice-Admiral ordered it to be saluted-
with 15 guns.
A despatch from Copenhagen of the 20th states that
H.M.S. Leopard and Valorous had attacked and destroyed
the Crown Wharf at Kemi, in the Gulf of Bothnia,
and
the small craft in the port. They abstained from injuring
Tornea.
A letter, dated Widdin, the 30th of May, says :—The
Russians, on leaving Lesser Wallachia, pillaged every'
thing. They seized the archives and public moneys; theY
robbed the convents and churches of all their precious
ornaments. The Commander of the Ottoman troelis,
Halim Pacha, has re-organized the administrative service
of Krajova. At his call, the majority of the employesemployesre-
turned to their posts, the proprietors who had emigrated
with their families returned to their homes. A Walla-
Krajova journal, the first number of which appeared at
on the 25th of May, enumerates all the acts of
violence committed by the Russians, and makes an ener-
getic appeal to the nation in favour of the Ottoman.
authorities.
On Wednesday a supplementary estimate of the navy
in
for the year ending the 31st of March, 1855, was given
a parliamentary paper, from which it appears that £2,
00
is required for the expenses on account of prisonerso aobf
war. Of that sum £5,000 is required for the purchase
the House of Correction at Lewes as a
place of confine-
ment, and £15,000 for the maintenance,
oohing,cl &c., of
prisoners, pay of officers in charge, and xs
attending their detention.
A leading item of intelligence from the Baltic is of ar
serious nature. Although widely contradictory reports
are current, as to details, the main fact is certain. that
another calamity, similar to the affair of the Tiger, though`
less disastrous, has befallen an English crew. From the
most reliable sources we gather that the Odin and Val"
tare landed 150 men at Carleby, who were attacked by
ambuscade of rifles and by a masked battery of five Site
Lieutenant Carrington, a mate, a midshipman, and taLi.
men were killed, and two officers and 14 men vvounerOa
A boat was lost, and one mate and 28 men were ta"'
44
prisoners by the enemy. The Russian commander ta
killed. The ambuscade consisted, in addition to a inao,e,,
demi-battery, of a well concealed corps of light infantry
armed with the Minie rifle. all
The capture, or rather the unopposed seizure of a small
town lying in the extreme north of the Gulf of Botha
is the set-off against the above-mentioned loss of Englisll
seamen. Tornea has been occupied, and if common fain
e
says true, is about to be fortified and made a station for
British troops. The town of Tornea is not itself within
the Arctic circle—though at Midsummer the sun can be
seen from its church steeple at midnight ; but the greater
part of the mark or district, of which Tornea is the capi-
tal, is within the Arctic circle. Englishmen are now pro'
mised a chance of being enabled to decide, experimentally,
whether hunting, star-gazing, or fighting, is the best
preservative against Arctic cold. But for six months ef.
the year they will have to fight by the light of the moat"
or stars, or Aurora Borealis.
THE RUSSIANS IN THE PACIFIC. Rear-Admiral
Price, commanding at Callao, has received directions to
commence, at once, hostile measures against Russia°
ships and property. The rear-admiral has ordered th s
e
crews of the squadron to practise daily, and intiraate
to the men " his opinion that there will he much to be
done upon this station by the squadron under his orders ;
that Great Britain has a right to expect from it a Pro Per
account of the Russian frigates that are known to be 00'
upon the station, as well as of the numerous privateers
that it is known soon will be."
BEEvET.—A supplement to the London Gazette o!,
Tuesday, 20th June, contains the long expected he
Brevet. The extent of the promotions will be seen by ,
following summary : s.
Army. Artillery. Engineers. Marines'
To be Generals.. 48
Lient—Generals.. 59
Major-Generals.. 79
Colonels .
Lieut.-Cc lonels .. 123
Majors

SUMMARY.
58
Lient.-Generals to be Generals
Major-Generals to be Lieut.-Generals
Colonels to be Major-Generals 2Ol
Lieut.-Colonels to be Colonels 129
Majors to be Lient.-Colonels.. lB3
Captains to be Majors
Officers promoted by the above brevet will receive the 4:
promotions subject to new regulations about to be .I_3ol.°s,
mulgated by royal warrant. The brevet includes all
lieutenant-generals, major-generals, colonels, iieuten7ive
colonels, and majors who were promoted to their resPetc the
ranks by the brevet of November, 1846 ; so t1A,..43, of
general officers now on the list are of the serf—oifiecr
1851, in their respective grades. The younges"wastas
promoted is his Serene Highness Prince Willia° A
a,:n. -rof the
Edward of Saxe Weimar, lieutenant and ce"--
's co
Grenadier Guards, whose lieutenant and captain
mission is dated 19th May, 1846.

, •
"v DECIMAL CI:TRW/CT.—On Tuesday a deputation Of.
including Lord Stanley and Mr..
• the Chancellor of the Exel,lecquer,
Cobden, waited upon
of
tthheat
committeeh deput.at'orof.nthweas:::
the thirty-four
mercantile
an's memory, on the
to refresh the right oafnPdarliament, chiefly corm cted_w_ith
ght hon. ggrt.levrown,ma) , l _
exp ained
subject of decimal coin
-oef the " Decimal Coinage Association,
which advocated
the
of Commons. He hoped the Government would Pass a
todit posedlit hcee
o:v rightinithe i
nliti;:o e
due
re
resolution this session, declaring their intention to bring:.
.ssaiopinion
;it i
va. 3
in a bill next session on the subject. The Chancellor el
tthhaet before they issued decimal coins, the country should
make up its mi-sd what was to be the unit, and he wilt
necessary, in the first place,
that
say, that considered the question had not gone threag"
Exchequer
anything like the process of sifting by all classes of the
communitywhich would make it safe at the present roenieu2
to take any decisive step with respect to it :—" The class"
who have really paid attention to the question are in the
main the commercial classes, who are in general favour
not only to a decimal system of accounts, but to a coinage
based upon the pound as a unit. But it is the enorrnous
classes of the community, 'who know nothing of accounM
but who have an immense amount of transactions caret:
on through a system of coinage quite different from ~4
decimal, having different divisors, who are to be effete'
by this question if we adopt a decimal coinage. In 1
opinion this is a question on which the mere sentim2lts
of the government are of no importance whatever. -ujiik
is a case in which the convictions of the country form
,1,1°.:
only a part of, but the whole question. I own, as ,'„,
Brown says, that I am by no means convinced in my Or:
mind that we can get rid of the penny, looking at tf'_'..
question as a practical question ; but I make this adrmos,
sion to you also, that nothing can be more uniniportal'
than my own opinion upon such a matter. The eliii
question is, what does the country think ? It is a Pl_
to a
upon which the public sentiment, as far as it is
gathered from the press, is by no means unanimous; a.
...
there is by no means the same preponderance of opiniex,.
in favour of it amongst the ordinary community that,
there appears among the commercial classes. The feeling
of the Government at the present moment is that we ar
not ripe for decisive measures on this matter. There arte
.
secondary points with reference to the satisfactory adjus
rnent of taxes and tolls, which, however, are sera
matters in themselves
labour. The mere manipulation, also, of the new currency'
is a matter for consideration : for we have the opinion ed
, and involving a vast amount of
Sir ,John Herschell that twenty years would be require
thoroughly to carry out the change."