The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1853-02-01 00:00:00

&THE LIVERPOOL STANDARD, TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 1, 1853.

LOUIS NAPOLEON AND DONNA EUGENIA.
Com modus repudiates Marcia, and espouses Eu-
genia of Iberia. He parts from the first with a
salute on each cheek, pats her illegitimate children
on the head, places a pension in their mother's
hands, and, wishing her " bon voyage," turns as
nimbly as though he were a score of years younger,
and offers his homage to the lady whom he (at least
he says so) " loves and reveres." The paper read
by Louis Napoleon to the wretched Senate, an-
nouncing his marriage, is perfectly characteristic of
the man, In the first place, he could not venture
to speak : his ability could go no further than to
read what he had been helped to put togethra by
some " -Ready Letter-Writer" about the Court.
The phrases run glibly enough, and smack of a
certain independence. On closer examination, how-
ever, they are such as might drop from King Cam-
byses, Bobadil, and Jerry Sneak. "Where they are
not braggart and insolent, they are mean and un-
true.—Church and State Gazette.

THE PEACE HUMBUG.—The effective force of
the prodigious army of France is undiminished,
notwithstanding a recent show of reduction. There
are at least twenty ships of war to be provided
with steam-engines and screws, approaching com-
pletion in the arsenals of that country. 'What
these great military and maritime forces are in-
tended for, is a secret at present locked up in the
breast of Napoleon 111. We shall probably know,
ere long, what this " dreadful note of preparation"
really means. Meantime, there is being held in
this town a " conference" of very wise gentlemen,
who have got it into their heads that their elo-
quence can prevent a devastating war. If war be
the game to be played by the new Emperor of
France, what is to stay him except the naval and
military powers of the other nations of Europe ?
Is it supposed that he will submit his ambitious
aims to the tame " arbitration" of a few men as-
sembled in this centre of that nation of weavers
and shopkeepers, so sneered at by his great uncle
—Manchester Courier.

ROMANIST INTOLERANCE.—In reference to the
letters of Earl Carlisle on the subject of the Madiai
persecution, I,lr. Chisholm Anstey has published a
species of rejoinder :—He says, " I have read
with much interest Lord Carlisle's letter on
the case of the Madiais, and I heartily con-
cur with his Lordship in the opinion that, by the
conduct of the Roman Catholics of this country
with reference to that case, their own sincerity as
professing friends of religious equality will have to
be jlldged. I regret, therefore, to say, that there is
likely to be but one opinion as to the utter insincerity
and hollowness of all such pretences. No one who
has conversed much with English Catholics, at least
upon the case of the Madiais, can have failed to see
that amongst them the friends of religious freedom are
miserably few, and that nearly every member of the
body is persuaded that, in countries professing the
Roman Catholic faith, it is the bounden duty of the
state to coerce heretics by temporal penalties, and, if
need be, TO EXTIRPATE THEM BY THE SWORD !"
It is only multiplying the evidence against Rome, to
which he.professes to be a devoted adherent.

THE BISHOP OF SYDNEY.—AIong with car-
goes of precious metal growing continually larger,
Australia has lately sent us something better—a
man worth his weight in it—the good Bishop of
Sydney. The reception given to him on Friday in
that well-known first-floor in Pall-mall where the
venerable society personally resides, was a pictu-
resque incident, even in the hands of Sir R. Inglis,
and the Bishop of London. The man who went
out an archdeacon, the highest ecclesiastical officer
in the colony, returns a metropolitan—why not an
Archbishop l'—with jurisdiction over five sees. His
own speech was warm with simple and kindly
feeling, and his visit will prove useful, we trust, in
more ways than one. We need some such help to
realise the value of the present opportunity—the
opportunity of winning and keeping for the Church
all that we can of the tide of emigration that is
spreading itself over the hills and plains of the
Australian continent. How vast the spiritual har-
vest, the labourers how few! An active and a nu-
merous clergy are wanted in Australia now.—
Guardian.

ANOTHER. MINISTERIAL CHANGE.—Reports
are prevalent in London, to the effect that the Ca-
binet is about "to suffer a Whig change," but not
in anything very "rich or strange." The modifi-
cation will consist only of a large importation of the
old condemned materiel. It is admitted that Lord
J. Russell holds the Foreign seals only provision-
ally, and that at the commencement of the session
he will be succeeded in that office by the Earl of
Clarendon ! A strange choice for Protestant Eng-
land, in a Continental crisis like the present. But
what is to become of Lord J. Russell ? Oh ! his
lordship, of course, retains a seat in the Cabinet,
and as nothing better presents, it is presumed,
without office. Not so fast if you please—to be
without office is to be without salary, and it is per-
fectly well understood that his lordship can't afford
any such sacrifice. Rumour, however, has made a
different arrangement, and one more in harmony
with his known ambition and supposed necessities.
It is said, then, strange as it may appear, that Lord
Aberdeen's health will be made the excuse for his
retiring from office, tq make way for Lord John
Russell, who having thus prudently graduated his
approaches to the Premiership, will return to his
old position, with the acquiescence of, at least, the
corrupt portion of the Brigade.—Dublin Evening
Herald.

Tsia STEAM-SHIP FAITH reached London on Monday
last week, after a passage of seventy hours from dock to
dock, deducting stoppages. The weather was unusually
stormy, especially on Friday night, and, as the Faith was
fully laden with coals, an opportunity was offered to test
the qualities of the ship under trying circumstances. An
officer in her Majesty's navy, who was on board, states
that she behaved uncommonly well, and took the seas
with the greatest ease. Another naval gentleman who
was on board says that there were ample opportunities to
test the ship's qualities as a sea. boat, and that he was
never in a finer one. He says that, on the Friday morn-
ing, it commenced blowing from the northwest, and for
two days they had a hard gale, with a high sea. From
Holyhead to the Smalls the sea was on the beam, and yet
her motion was as easy as:possible, the vessel going along
at the rate of ten or eleven knots, and sometimes eleven
and a half knots, under double reefs. This, it will be
seen, is a favourable result, and one which promises that
the African Mail Line will consist of a superior class of
steam-ships. She left London, for Plymouth on Thursday,
with every berth filled, and a full cargo, and arrived at
the latter port on Saturday, in twenty-six hours from the
Downs. She took her departure from Plymouth, on her
first voyage, the same afternoon.

AMATEI*Ii HANGING.—On Sunday, the day after the
execution of James Barbour, the inmates of the lunatic
ward at Sheffield workhouse conversed for some time on
the subject. Among them was George Palfrey, a white-
metal smith, who has been in the lunatic asylum in Wake-
field, and in the retreat ward at Sheffield, for about 30
years. He was in such a state of convalescence that he
was entrusted with the care of a patient who required fre-
quent attention. Palfrey's imagination appears to have
been inflamed by the conversation, and such was its effect
upon him that during Sunday night he slipped out of the
retreat-ward, and, having attached his neckerchief to a
beam in the privy, he placed his neck within the sling,
and, throwing himself off a slight elevation upon which
he was standing, hung suspended, with his feet just clear
of the floor, until life was extinct. In that posture the
dead body was found at an early hour on Monday. An
other instance of hanging is a still more singular one, and
is, to a great extent, involved in mystery. A boy aged 14,
named John Auty, son of a mason, who keeps a beer-house
in Kelham-street, London, opposite to the Kelham Grind-
ingwheel, was on Wednesday evening found hanged in a
garret in his father's house. He kept pigeons in the gar-
ret, and he had been robbed of two or three of his
feathered favourites by a prowling cat, which gained ad-
mission to the garret through a broken pane in the win-
dow. The boy had been heard to vow vengeance on the
marauder, and it appeared that on 'Wednesday afternoon
he had set about preparing a noose to fix within the
broken pane with the intention of catching the stealthy
visitor by the neck and causing it to effect its own stran-
gulation. It so happened that this design became the
instrument of his own destruction. On Wednesday
evening his absence created surprise, as he was a very
tractable boy, and of uniformly steady habits. As the
evening wore on his family became alarmed, and made
search for the lost one in every conceivable quarter, but
all in vain. About eleven o'clock the distracted mother
sent one of her daughters to ascertain whether the boy
had slipt off to bed, and then it was that the girl discovered
his rigid and lifeless body, hanging from the ceiling in a
lumber-garret, on the same floor as his sleeping apart-
ment. The surrounding circumstances were such as to
render the mode of his death a matter of mystery, The
garret in which the body was found, and which was the
roosting-place of the pigeons, is a low confined apartment
with a sloping roof, along the centre of which, six or
seven feet from the floor, runs a joist. The boy was found
hanging by piece of thick whipcord that was attached
to a nail in a
the middle of the joist. His neck was not
in a noose, but in a sling with a large knot at the end ; his
body was
the floor and his head raised only
He had evidently fallen off
two or three feet
• h he had been standing, as there were
something on which resting on
above
it.
an old dressing-table and some other lumber overturned
and lying about the body. The most feasible conjecture
was, either that while P upon which
preparing to fix the lower end of
the cord as a noose to the window the article
he was standing had slipped from under him, and that,
when falling, his head had got within the sling formed by
the cord, or else that he had placed his head within the
cord from a boyish desire to taste for a moment the sen-
sationhad lost hanging,hisfoetine
of he
andsustained • rk that deprived him
of the means of self a jerk
any rate, he and that, during the experiment,
deliverance. At
pe-
rished in a most mysterious manner, considering that
during the process of strangulation his weight mainly
restedy o;tdh em fligohotr, ,uannddertboardtinbaortyh
chiricsumhasntadnscewserheavaet
been applied to the cord for the extrication of his head.

FOREIGN NEWS.

ITALY.—A letter from Rome, 14th Jan., states that
an extraordinary congregation of twenty cardinals was
held five days before at the Vatican. Although it was
endeavoured to keep the subject of discussion a secret, it
is generally thought that the question under consideration
was the' cession of the legation of Renevento to the King
of Naples for 8,000,000 ducats.

The Roman Journal states that on the 12th Jan. King
Maximilian of Bavaria, accompanied by Count de Spaur,
his minister at the pontifical court, had repaired to the
Vatican to pay a visit to the Pope. His Majesty was re-
ceived at the foot of the staircase by Monsignor Medici
d'Ottaiano, major-domo to his holiness, who treated him
with all the honours due to his rank. The King, after
remaining an entire hour with the Pope, was conducted
back to his carriage with the same ceremonial. After his
departure, the aides-de-camp of his Majesty were pre-
sented to bis Holiness by Count de Spaur. The King
was to remain ten days at Rome, and to leave afterwards
for Naples.

Letters from Genoa state that a trial had taken place
in that city, similar to that of the Madiai in Tuscany.
The name of the accused is Daniel Mazzinghi, 25 years of
age, and a surgeon by profession. The trial took place
with closed doors, but it is said that he was charged with
having, in company with Captain Packenham, of the
British navy, preached against the religion of the State
and in praise of Protestantism. He was sentenced to im-
prisonment for three years, by virtue of the 164th article
of the penal code.
Twenty members of a socialist club have been arrested
at Milan. Three of them are mercantile clerks, and the
remainder operatives.
Masks have been forbidden by the police authorities of
Milan, during the approaching carnival.

GERMANY.—The official tables of the revenues of the
German Zollverein, for the year 1851, have just appeared,
with a summary of the preceding years. The following
are the comparative amounts of 1845 and 1851 :—lmports,
1845, 823.849,1251. ; 1851, 670,667,775 f. Exports, 1845,
667,663,6751. ; 1851, 636.645,0251. Transit, 1845,
234,220,400 f. ; 1851, 294,409,250 f.

SPAlN.—Despatches from Madrid of the 22d state that
a negociation bad been concluded between the goveanment
and some foreign capitalists for an advance of money on
the national property. The sum was 57 millions. Besides
the commission the government was to pay 71- per cent.

interest,

INDIA.—A telegraphic despatch from Trieste, dated
27th Jan. states that General Godwin having imprudently
stationed an advanced post of only 400 men at Pegu, 60
miles from Rangoon, and within a short distance of the
main body of the Burmese army, the Burmese comman-
der immediately attacked it, cut off its communications
with Rangoon, seized an ammunition convoy, invested the
place, harassing the little garrison night and day, and cut
off the approaches from Rangoon.

A naval force, 150 marines, 300 European soldiers, and
a steamer, attempted to force the passage, to relieve Pegu,
and were driven back with loss.

Two columns of 2,400 men left Rangoon, encountered
the Burmese, defeated them with great loss, and suc-
ceeded in reaching Pegu.

AMERICA

ARRIVAL OF THE ASIA.

The British and North American Royal Mail steam-ship
Asia, Captain Lott, reached the Mersey from New York
with the usual mails and passengers on Wednesday last.
Her advertised time of sailing was noon on the 12th of
January, but, owing to the N.E. gales and a severe snow
storm, she was unable to leave until 7 a.rn. on the 14th.
She experienced severe easterly gales during her entire
voyage, and brought 47 passengers and 8201,051 in specie.
The royal mail steam-ship America, from hence, arrived
at Boston on the 10th. The United States mail steam.
ship Baltic, from hence, arrived at New York on the 11th
January. The royal mail steam-ship Arabia, from hence,
put into Halifax on the 13th, short of coal, having en-
countered severe weather.

There had been heavy falls of snow in the States gene-
rally, and at New York sleighing and snow-balling was
the order of the day. Many of the mails were over-due
in consequence of the snow.

The caloric-ship was subjected to a second trial on the
11th of January, and it is stated that she made ten knots
an hour against wind and tide. The consumption of coal
was the same as on the first trip, and the engines are
estimated at 600 horse-power.
In the United States senate, Mr. Gwin, senator for Ca-
lifornia, had brought forward a bill for forming the great
railway from the valley of the Mississippi to California and
the Pacific Ocean.

The British barque Sophia, from Liverpool, with a
cargo of salt, went ashore near Charleston on the 11th
inst., and, after getting off, sunk in seven fathoms of
water._ The passengers and crew were saved.

In New York, Sontag and Alboni were attracting
crowded audiences.

The Northern Light had arrived from San Francisco on
the 11th Jan., with fourteen days later from California,
and on the 13th the Illinois arrived from Aspinwall,
whence she sailed on the 3rd instant, arrived at Sandy
Hook on the 11th, but did not get up to New York till
the morning of the 13th, owing to thick fog and the
bursting of the cylinder of the starboard engine. She
brought one day's later news from California, and
2,010,543 dollars in gold, brought to Aspinwall by the
Tennessee. Her Majesty's sloop-of-war was at Acapulco
when the Tennessee left there, and was to sail to England
immediately with 800,000 dollars. The news from the
mining districts was favourable, but provisions were very
high in price.

moves steadily upwards. Our New Orleans correspond-
ents advise us under date of 6th and 7th, that the bulk of
the receipts now consist of leafy, sandy, and inferior cot-
ton. The market closes firmly with very light offerings
at the annexed quotations :

STRICT LIVERPOOL CLASSIFICATION.

New Orleans Other Gulf
and Texas. Ports. Atlantic.
inferior..
Low to good ord 9- to 9.1 9.1 to 91, N. to 9/
Low to good mid lO- to 11 10 to 10/ 91 to 10/
Mii and fair to fair 111 to 124- 111 to 12 101 to 11
Strict " middling," to class out in Liverpool, N. Orleans,
101(1. ; ditto Mobile, 101 d. ; ditto Uplands, 10+d."

(From W. P. Wright's Circular of January 18)—
This market since Tuesday has been active, and, con-
sidering our limited stock, the sales have been large. The
business has partaken more of a speculative character than
in any previous week this season. The quantity taken by
home consumers has also been to a fair extent, while for
export only small parcels have been sold. Prices are again
higher, and I have to advance my quotations to 3c. per
lb. on the Middling grades, and fully z c. on the better
qualities. The total sales since 11th instant to last
evening have been 8,000 bales, and the export during
some time has been—to Liverpool, 1,088 bales ; Glasgow,
58 ; Havre, 165. Total, 1,311 bales.
The Southern markets have also been active, at advan-
cing rates in each. In New Orleans the accounts as
brought per Baltic and Arabia have been construed
favourably, and considerable sales were made immediately
after their receipt at an advance in price. In Savannah
and Charleston the improvement has been caused by com-
parative light receipts, limited stock, and impending freight
engagements.

The crop question remains the same, and, although the
excess is reduced this week, and will be further reduced
next week, I continue of opinion that the crop will ex-
ceed the last. The receipts into the ports, particularly
those of the Atlantic States, have been for a week or two
interrupted by the bad state of the roads, caused by foe
heavy rains of December. The mails from the South
having failed for two, or three days, I am without the
statement from Savannah and Charleston. The receipts
from the latter have been received by telegraph ; those of
the former, together with the export from both, are esti-
mated in the following.
The following is a statement of the movement in cotton
since the Ist of September last, as compared with the pre-
vious three years :

1853 1852 1831 1850
Receipts into the ports 1,594,000 1,141,000 1,037,000 1,039,000
Exports to Great Britain 635,000 394,000 309,000 295,000
PP France
„ other for. ports 92,000 58,000 78,000 63,000
Total exports
Stock on hand
Of which during the past week, included in the above :

1853 1852 1851 1850
Receipts at the ports 102,000 120,000 86,000 68,000
Exports to Great Britain 70,000 68,000 31,000 19,000
„ France B,OOO 12,000 10,000 7,000
~ other for. ports 12,000 10,000 5,000 3,000
Total exports . 90,000 90,000 46,000 29,000
From which it will be seen that the excess in receipts now
amounts to 453,000 bales ; the increase in exports to Gt.
Britain, 241,000 ; other foreign ports, 34,000. Decrease
to France, 28,000. Total increase in exports, 247,000 bls.
BREADSTUFFS.-The market has been quiet during the
past week, with a slightly downward tendency in qualities
suitable for shipment to England. Prices of other descrip-
tions unchanged :-Western Canal, L 5 43:10. to $5 561 c.
per barrel. Ohio and Pure Genesee, $5 624 c. to $5 871 c.
Common New York, &c., $5 37,1 c. to $5 431 c. Southern
kinds, $5 624 c. to $6. Canada, in bond, $5 621 c. to
$5 871 c. Wheat continues in moderate demand at steady
prices:-Geneseewhite,l3oc. to 135 c. per 601bs. Southern
white, 126 c. to 130 c. Indian corn :-An advance has been
realised of 2c. to 4c. per 561bs. Southern yellow and
white, 72c. to 74c. Mixed, 73c. to 74c. per 56Ibs.
PROVISIONS.-Sales of old mess pork, 150 brls., were
made at 819. New is held at $l9 25c. to $l9 371 c.
with sales. Prime $l6 to 4316 50c. for old and new.
Beef without alteration ; the demand is fair. Lard, dull
at 111 c. to lac. Butter, 14c. to 18e. for common, and
181 c. to 24c. for State. Cheese, Bc. to 84c.
NAVAL STORES.-Spirits of turpentine, 68c. to 20c. ;
rough turpentine, =e4 50c.; common rosin, -B'l 50c. to
$1 60e.

laoN.—The iron market is firm. 200 tons Scotch pig
iron changed hands, at £'32 to £32 50c.

, ----
FREIGHTS.—The market is heavy and dull. To Liver-
pool, for cotton, 5-16 d. ; flour, 3s. per brl. ; grain in
bulk, Bd. per bushel. To London, flour, 3s. 6d. per brl. ;
grain, in bulk, 10d. per bushel. To Havre, Cotton, lc.
ber lb.

CHARLESTON, JAN. 17.
Sales of cotton to-clay 16,000 bales, at 81e. to 10e. Of
these 130 bales brought as high as 10!,.e._ _

- NEW ORLEANS.
JAN. 15.—Sales of cotton to day 10,000 bales, notwith-
standing, a heavy rain-storm. Prices full and firm.
JAN. 17.—Cotton firm to day, and sales 7.000 bales ;
mid. 9c. to 94-c. Lard declining ; sales, 1,200 brls. at 10c.
Ohio flour dull, at S'4 50c. Sales of corn, 40,000 bushels,
at 50c. In exchange best sterling signatures realise 8 per
cent. Freights firm. PHILADELPHIA, JAN. 17.
There is very little movement in cotton to-day, and the
market remains about stationary. Flour is steady, with
a moderate demand for export. There is very little
wheat offering or selling, and the demand continues
limited. In freights nothing new, and vessels very scarce.
HAVANA, JAN. 12.
The exportation of the week, in sugar, is covered by
2,425 boxes. The arrivals of new sugar in small parcels.
The shipments for the year 1852, from Havana and Ma-
tanzas, reach 1.017,446 boxes. short of 1851 by 220,445
boxes. No coffee of first quality to be bad, and no de-
mand for the stocks we have. Sales of leaf tobacco very
limited. Exchange: London, 60 days, 11 to 111 prem.
Freights : Two small vessels, Spanish, for London direct,
taken at £2 ss. to £2 10s. ; other vessels to load at last
rate with molasses at outports for Great Britain.

LOG OF THE ARABIA.
The following is an abstract of the log of the Royal
Mail steam-ship Arabia, Judkins, commander, on her
recent maiden trip from this port to New York :
January I.—Wind, W.S.W. 12 7, p.m., set on full
speed ; 1 24, p.m., passed Bell Buoy : 6 30, p.m., Calf of
Man Lights N.N.W. ; 10, p.m., South Rock Light N.N.
W. stopped the engines ; 11 12, p.m., set on full speed ;
midnight, abreast South Rock, strong breezes and squally,
with cross sea running.
2.—Wind, westerly. 10, a.m., Inuestrahull bore S.W.
by S. S., distant 4 miles ; 2 30, p.m., stopped the en-
gines ; 4 10, p.m., set on full speed, fresh gales and
squally, with rain.

by W. Distance run, 196 miles.
Heavy gales, with a high head sea.
4.—Wind, N.N.W. Distance run, 200 miles. Heavy
gales, with violent squalls and showers of hail and snow.
s.—Wind, N.N.W. Distance run, 189 miles. Heavy
gales and squally, with a high sea.
6.—Wind, W.N.W. Distance run, 178 miles. Heavy
gales and squally, with a high sea.
7.—Wind, W.N.W. Distance run, 170 miles. Heavy
gales, with tremendous squalls, and a heavy sea running.
B.—Wind, W.N.W. Distance run, 157 miles. Hard
gales, with a heavy sea; 2 47, p.m., stopped the engines ;
3 27, p.m., set on full speed.
9. —Wind, W.N.W. Distance run, 208 miles. Heavy
gales and violent squalls, with a heavy sea ; 6, p.m., a
sea struck the starboard midship boat, broke the davits,
and carried away the boat.

10.—Wind, N.W. Distance run, 215 miles. Heavy
gales and violent squalls. A heavy cross sea running.
11.—Wind, N.W. Distance run, 232 miles. Hard
gales and squally.
12.—Wind, N.W. Distance run, 231 miles. Strong
gales and squally.

13.—Wind, N.W. Distance run, 253 miles. 4 15,
p.m., Sambro Island N.W. by W. 3 W. 10 miles; 4 35,
p.m., arrived at Halifax, light winds and clear.
14.—Wind, E, 9 31, a.m., left Halifax ; 10 20, a.m.,
Sambro N.E. by E. E., 5 miles, fresh breezes and
cloudy.
15.—Wind, N.W.
gales and squally

Distance run, 322 miles. Hard

N.W. 4, a.m., Fire island Light N. by
W., 10 miles ; and at 11 55, a.m., arrived at New York.

FOREIGN MISCELLANY.

AMR.HExN,who has started a newspaper at lowa, hopes
by hard scratching to make a living for himself and his
little chickens.

AN INQUEST was held recently at New York on the
body of a man who committed suicide by cutting his
throat while in a temporary fit of insanity caused by at-
tending " circle" meetings.

MR. CHAMBERS, a smith, at North Adelaide, Australia,
and a native of Heanor, in Derbyshire, was robbed, one
night in Aug. last, of £lOO, though the thieves fortunately
threw aside as valueless a packet of notes to the amount
of £9OO.

NEW FRENCH COURT DRESS.—The dress prescribed
is a green velvet coat, with a border (of any width, ac-
cording to the taste of the wearer,) small clothes of the
same material and colour, and white waistcoat and silk
stockings.
__

CARE OF YOUTH.—A remarkable order has been pro-
mulgated at Troyes, by which young persons under age
are forbidden to enter public balls. The police are sta-
tioned at the doors, in order to prevent any infringement
of the regulations.
VERY OBLIGING.—We read in the Patrie :—" The
Portuguese government, desirous of giving to France a
proof of the good understanding which it wishes to see
reign between the two governments, has suppressed a
journal published at Lisbon, and which bad expressed
hostility against the re-establishment of the Empire."

THE ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH of Savoy was opened on
the 18th of January at Turin, in the presence of the pre-
sident of the council, several of the ministers, and many
high functionaries. The first message was sent to Cham-
bery. Another was sent from :Chambery to Genoa, and
afterwards to several intermediate stations, all with per-
fect success.

THE DARIEN SHIP CANAL.-Sir Henry Bulwer and
Mr. Clayton have finally exchanged the ratification of the
convention signed at Washington on the 19th of April,
1850, between Her Britannic Nfajesty and the United
States, relative to the establishment of a communication
by ship canal between the Atlantic and the Pacific Oceans.
Mr. Clayton invites Sir Henry Bulwer to determine the
distance from the two ends of the canal within which
vessels of the United States and Great Britain, traversing
the said canal, shall, in case of war between the two con-
tracting parties, be exempt from blockade, detention, or
capture, by either of the belligerents.

I MORTALITY IN NEW YORK.—The number of deaths
which occurred in New York during the past year was
about 21,670, which is somewhat less than the number
for 1851. If the increase of population be taken into ac-
count, the decrease of mortality is nearly 8 per
cent. of the whole number. 5,296 died under one
year of age ; 2,895 between one and two years • 2,488
between two and five years ; 945 between nine and ten ,•
797 between ten and twenty ; 2,171 between twenty and
thirty • and from this age the number decreases. Only 3
have died aged more than 100 years. Of the deceased,
]4,871 had their nativity in the United-States, 4,124 in
Ireland, and 1,265 in Germany. 1,475 died on Ward's
Island, 398 on Blackwell's Island, and 631 at the Belle-
vue Hospital. At all the public institutions the total
was 3,151. The total of coloured persons deceased was
115.

TUE CORN SWlNDLE.—Letters from Rotterdam an-
nounce the failure of Messrs. Hirsch and Co., for £125,000,•
consequent upon the recent suspension of Messrs. Coll-
mann, Stolterfoht, and Co. Although their transactions
were important, the firm were never reputed to possess
much capital, and it is feared that the liquidation will be
unfavourable, and also extremely complicated, from the
variety of interests involved.

AN IMPRUDENT MIXTURE.—John Taison, an Indian
native of Connecticut, being found dead on a winter
morning, not far from a tavern where he had been drink-

ing freely of spirituous liquors the evening before, the
Indians immediately assembled a jury of their own
tribe, who, after examining the body of the defunct, una-
nimously agreed :—" That the said Taisan's death was
occasioned by the freezing of a large quantity of water in
his body, that had been imprudently mixed with the rum
he drank."

JENNY LlND.—Madame Jenny Lind Goldscbmidt has
just presented a considerable sum in money, clothes, bed-
ding, and provisions, to two charitable institutions re-
cently established at Stockholm, the Hospital of St. Mag-
dalen and the Institution of the Deaconesses. The
celebrated cantatrice, who is at present residing atDresden,
has promised to visit Stockholm in the holy week, to take
part in two religious concerts, in which Mendelssohn's
oratorio of " Saint Paul," and Handel's oratorio of the
" Messiah," with the instrumentation of Mozart, are to
be performed.

SLAVES PURCHASING THEMSELVES.—The Java Bode,
a journal published at Batavia, gives an account of a recent
sale of slaves at the Chinese camp. The slaves, 12 in num-
ber, having been placed upon the table of the exposition,
disposed in four lots, rattled some money in their hands,
and addressed a few words, timidly and in low tones, to
the assembly. A person who acted as their agent here
stepped forward, and stated that his clients, having accu-
mulated by long and painful labours some small saving,
solicited the favour of being allowed to make a bidding
for the purchase of their own persons. No opposition
being offered the first lot was cried, and made an offer,
through their agent, of 40f. No advance being made upon
this sum the slaves were knocked down to themselves.
The next lot, encouraged by their predecessors, offered
only 24f. The public preserved the same silence, and they
became their own purchasers. The third lot took the
hint, and were even more fortunate, picking themselves
up a decided bargain, for the modest sum of 10f.

EXTRAVAGANCE IN NEW YORK.—The New York
Express says :—" The extravagance the people of the city
are going into exceeds anything in our history. Costly
houses of 75,000 and 100,000 dollars, with furniture, mir-
rors, carpeting, pictures, frescoes, &c., to match, are not
uncommon ; but there are dinners, soirees, fetes, dresses,
&c., to match. We hear of balls the past week in which
diamonds and emeralds worth 30,000 dollars were worn
on the person. Thousand-dollar dresses are not uncom-
mon. Dinner parties aro spoken of, when ladies appear
in cloaks embroidered with pearls, Sic. What are we
coming to ? The fever is indeed high, and it may be
feared that before long there will be a re-action. It is
right and proper for those who have enough and to spare,
or who are rolling in wealth, as the phrase is, to spend
their money freely. Mechanics, working men, manteau-
makers, storekeepers, and the industrial classes generally,
are benefited by such a policy. But there is reason in
all things."

AGED LADIES.—A correspondent of the Netoburyport
(Mass.) Daily Union, writing from Ryegate (Vt.), de-
scribes two old ladies residing in that town. Mrs. White-
law, formerly Mrs. Harvey, the mother of Peter Harvey,
of Boston, the confidential friend of Daniel Webster, is
now 85 years of age. She came to this place when it was
an entire wilderness. Her first husband was the agent of
a Scottish company. She thus has been the wife of two
of the first men of what are now two wealthy and populous
towns. The first husband was nearly 40 years old when
they married ; yet she was so young that the united ages
of her first three children combined with her own made
but 16 years, and when her young acquaintance called to
see her, the husband would tell her that she might " get
the babies asleep and go out and play !" She was after-
wards the mother of twelve other children, of whom she
calls Peter "my baby." Mrs. Brock, now 90 years old,
and among the first settlers, seems to have been equally
well adapted to living in and peopling a new place as the
one named above, and has now living no less than five
generations of her descendants. She can say to her
daughter, what but few could ever say—" Arise, my
daughter, and go to thy daughter, for thy daughter's
daughter has got a daughter."

THE THREATENED FAMINE IN MADEIRA.—TH con•
sequence of the complete failure of the last year's vine
crop, the inhabitants of Madeira are reduced to a state of
destitution. The population, which is about 110,000,
seems to resemble, in some respects that of Ireland a
short time ago, being almost entirely dependent for sup-
port upon one precarious species of produce, and having
the soil so minutely subdivided that a bare subsistence
is all that can be obtained, in the best of times, by tho
peasantry. The quantity of wine made in the island in
good years is about 25,000 pipes, but this has lately been
reduced to 15,000 pipes, and only one-fifth of the corn
and pulse required by the inhabitants is grown by them-
selves. They have thus to import 45,000 quarters, which
they have hitherto been enabled to do. Last year, how-
ever, in consequence of the vine crops having failed, in-
stead of 15,000 pipes only 400 have been produced, and
the quality of that is so bad as to be fit only for vinegar.
Famine, therefore, is imminent, unless assistance be
afforded, for the supplies of vegetables which have hither-
to kept the people alive are nearly exhausted. The
landed proprietors are unable to afford any aid, nor can
relief be looked for from the embarrassed Government of
Portugal. Under these circumstances, an appeal has
been made to this country for assistance.

SHOCKING MURDERS BY WOMEN IN PRUSSIA.—Two
women named Meyer, mother and daughter, the one aged
64, the other 23, were sentenced to death by the assize
court of Justerburg, in East Prussia, last week, for a double
murder perpetrated under circumstances of peculiarly cold
blooded atrocity and premeditation :—Some time last
spring an aged Polish Jew huckster, accompanied by his
son, aged 15, came to the village of Swainea, and was in-
veigled, under pretext of dealing, to the lonely cottage
inhabited by these two women. Whilst pretending to
deal, the women requested the father to send his son to
fetch a neighbour residing at some distance, who, as they
affirmed, was desirous of making purchases. He having
complied, and the boy having departed, the two women
suddenly fell upon the Jew with heavy wooden mallets,
dashed out his brains, broke in his chest, stabbed him
with knives, and then dragged him to a hole already ex-
cavated feer the purpose in the cow-stall. Scarcely had
they effected this deed ere the son returned, and before
the boy could open his lips the two furies fell upon him
also in the same manner, and, having despatched him,
threw him into the same hole with his father, which they
covered up, after rifling the pockets of both. The object
of this crime was to obtain the large sum of money sup-
posed to be carried in the victim's girdle ; but, to the utter
disappointment of the criminals, they only found six..
pence, in small Polish money. The crimesoon came to light,
however, and the perpetrators were convicted upon their
own confession, made with all details, but with the most
astounding proof of the prejudices that exist in many
parts of those wild countries against the Jews. "To kill
Jews," exclaimed the elder worn in her defence, "where
is the sin of that ? Who ever heard of poor people being
troubled about Jew killing ?"