The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1849-12-11 00:00:00

FOREIGN AND COLONIAL..

The Queen of Spain is enciente.
Bishop Gobat is lying ill in a hopeless state at Cairo.
He was considered in such imminent danger that Mr:

61-tzlaif,-who brought the intelligence, was 'rot admitted

to see him.
The Rev. Mr. Dove, of Ireland, has bought 20,000
acres of land in Catarangus county, and gone home to
bring the population to settle on it.—New York Inde-

pendent. -
On the 28th October, Lieutenant Hutchinson, his wife,
and child were proceeding from Chittagong to Calcutta,
en route to Madras, and venturing in a boat across the
mouth of the Ganges were wrecked in a storm, and the

lady and her little one drowned.
General Klapka has written a letter to the editor of the
Times, energetically contradicting the assertion of the
German Radical, M. Heinzen, that "The Hungarians
had hanged and shot thousands of the Reactionaries " in

cold blood.
Admiral Sir 'William Parker, a very Zealous anti-
tobacco man, as a mark of official complaisance, took
three whiffs the other day from the pipe of the Pasha of
the Dardanelles, and then caused it to be explained to his
highness that if he took another he should drop down

dead.
Public attention at Madrid has been much occupied for
the last two days by a matter of serious importance for
the nation. The Pope's Nuncio is about to quit Madrid
in consequence of the holy see having refused to approve
of the sale of the church property, which was decreed by
the Cartes and sanctioned by royal authority.
The Times says that the convicts sent to the Cape of
Good Hope, in the Neptune, will be despatched to Van
Dieman's Land, where they will receive conditional par-
dons, in consideration of the hardships caused by their
long confinement on shipboard. The political convict,
John Mitchell, will be excepted from this measure.
A BOOK COLLECTOR'S HOUSE.—M. Verbeyst, the most
celebrated book collector in Europe, or perhaps in the
world, has just died at Brussels at an advanced age. He
has founded a very curious establishment, consisting of a
house of several stories, and as high as a church, and dis-
posed so est() contain about 300,000 volumes, arranged
according to their subjects.
Lieut. 'lames Hosken, R.N., appointed by the Trea-
sury as Captain of the Port of Labuan, does not, as re-
ported, return to Borneo. When Rajah Brooke arrived
out in the Meander, with the officers of his infant colony,
the establishment was found to be on too large a scale,
and the port duties, from the little traffic with the neigh-
bouring isles, were confided to a clerk of £lOO a-year ;
hence the return of the gallant lieutenant to England.
While M. Ledru Rollin is announcing for publication a

work on the decline and fall of Englnd (De'cadence de
Angleterre)—a rather Socialist and democratic way of
acknowledging the hospitality and the protection he
receives in la perfide Albion—a work is actually pub-
lished in Paris by M. Raudot, a member of the legislative
assembly, entitled D6cadence de la France. If M. Ran-
dot be correct, it will be difficult for M. Ledru Rollin to
establish his proofs of the approaching ruin of England,
which, according to M. Raudot, stands very high in
Europe in all that regards the essential points of national
greatness.
REPORTED RIOT AT CAPE TOWN.—We have received
intelligence to the 19th October from the Cape of Good
Hope, at which date the colony was in a state of great ex-
citement. A reactionary feeling has taken place amongst
the labouring classes, the coolies in particular, induced by
there being no work for them, as business was at a corn,
plete stand, and every house and store closed. An anti-
convict association meeting was to have been held on the
18th outside the town-hall, but as the feeling of the la-
bouring population was going against it, and as danger
was apprehended, the governor forbade the meeting. On
the following day (12th) an immense mob attacked, at
Green Point, Cape Town, the house of Mr. Fairburn (the
leader of the anti-convict association), broke into and
completely gutted it, and nearly killing Mr. F. A shot
was fired from a window up stairs by a servant, a black
boy, and took effect in the shoulder of a coolie. The riot
was only suppressed by very energetic attacks of the police
on the rioters, many of whom were very seriously
wounded, and made prisoners.
THE OVERLAND MAIL.—A special express has brought
in advance of the Overland Mail, papers from Bombay, of
Nov. 3 ; and from Calcutta, of Nov. 22. Private letters
from the latter Presidency come down to the 24th inclu-
sive. This arrival supplies us with no additional intelli-
gence from China. The whole of India was peaceable,
with the exception of Goomsnor, where disturbances had
been renewed. Chokro Bissye and his followers had
committed numerous murders, and burned village after
village. The various tribes were engaged in hostilities
among themselves against the government; and a party
of Sebundies, who had been sent to urge them to sub-
mission, were driven off. The Seikh chiefs who, in con-
junction with Chuttur and Shere Singh, had formed a
plot against the British authorities, but mho escaped
apprehension, have since been captured. The commer-
cial advices are important. At Bombay and Calcutta
trade was reviving, both in imports and exports; and
appearances warranted the belief that it would continue
to improve.
A ROMAN HOAX.—A most irreverend joke has been
played lately by some wag, who was at the trouble of
dressing up a dog, with the resemblance of a papal cap
and stuola, and placing a ticket round his neck with the
inscription, " The return of Pio Nono to his capital."
Thus bedecked, and dignified by several orders and
crosses, not of the most precious materials, the dog was
observed to enter the 'Porta Clontliegeri, and tialco the di-
rection of the Vatican, at a solemn pace, and indicated a
full knowledge of his own importance. The police, how-
ever, were unwilling to admit the pretensions of this new
aspirant to papal authority, and arrested him in spite of
the most dogged resistance. I understand that he is still
in confinement, and as all interrogatory has hitherto
proved fruitless, it is only by his imprudently recognising
some two-legged acquaintance that his real accomplice in
the satire is expected to be discovered. The joke is not
altogether without wit, as it alludes to the pope's recent
visit to Benevento, where. being a place celebrated time
out of mind for the freaks of witches, it is presumed that
he has lost his nobler lineaments through their infernal
agency.—Roman correspondent of the Daily News.
SAGACITY OF A FRENCH Ass.—On Saturday week, a
cowkeeper of the name of Viellot, living at the Batignol-
les, was proceeding homewards with his ass fastened to
the tail of his cart. He fell into a doze, during which
time a man cut the cord by which the ass was tied, and
made off with the animal. The cowkeeper did not find
out his loss until he got home. Meanwhile the man
tried to lead the donkey in the opposite direction, but the
sagacious animal would not go, and the more the man
beat it the more obstinate it became. At length, irri-
tated by the blows of the man, who was on his back, the
ass bolted right a-head, and in its fury dashed through
the windows of a grocer's shop. The thief then endea-
voured to escape, but having got his feet entangled in the
stirrups, he could not get off. The grocer pounced on
him, and insisted he should pay the damage the ass had
occasioned. This led to an altercation, and at length the
man was taken before a commissary of police. His re-
plies to the questions of this functionary caused suspicions
to be entertained against him, and after a while the owner
of the ass came in to relate his loss. The theft being now
clear, the ass was given up to the owner, and the thief
was sent to prison.—Galignani's Messenger.
A CALIFORNIA MEDLEY.—The advertisements in the
San Francisco papers have a strange mixed complexion of
business and pleasure, with a little piety. One man sells
figs and gold-washing machines; another cod-fish and
chewing tobacco; anon, comes a hue and cry after run-
away soldiers. Mr. M'Condrey, from London, buys gold
dust ; and Davy and Smith express to the mines. Ships
are announced for every port, and advertised as coming in
laden with luxuries from every part of the world. Mr.
Leisewitz has " seventy-two assorted doors" for sale ;
and his neighbour, Mr. Bossange, offers brandy, cards,
umbrellas, and sulphate of quinine, to all who are push.
ing forward to the " placers." Mr. Larkin advertises
that he expects to leave the department of California after
three months, to be absent a year or more : persons
interested will govern themselves accordingly." Dr.
Melhado announces warm and cold baths " on a cleanly
system." Rausson offers a cheap bath without any re-
mark on its quality ; quacks profess the pleasure they
shall have in waiting on patients ; " Apothecaries' Hall"
warns the sick from buying drugs anywhere than at the
recognised emporium ; and Mr. Farnum assures the public
of his excellence as a " metallurgical chemist." With
regard to the necessaries of life, everyone may or may not
deal in any article wanted ; the only thing that can be
procured with certainty anywhere is " percussion-caps"
—and " bricks ;" but people cannot dine upon that I
SCRAPS FROM THE CALIFORNIAN DIGGINGS.

There is nothing later by the last Halifax steamer from
the diggings ; and the New York papers have in conse-
quence endeavoured to amuse their readers with what
they call " off-hand accounts from the gold region." We
can only afford room for a few specimens. The following
will be interesting to some of our " notable" housewives,
or young gentlemen in lodgings, who will perhaps pity the
unfortunate writer :

" I get my washing done at the Sandwich Islands
84 50c. cheaper than here. The way we do it is this :
get all the clothes we can together, take a memorandum
of them, and give them to the captain of the schooner,
who has them done in fine style by the natives of the
islands, and returns them clean in less than sixty days.
Washing costs, in this way, including everything, 81 50c.
per dozen, while here they are miserably done at 86 per
dozen."
Perhaps, after the following piece of information, our
readers will not complain of high rents :
" There must be a smash here in less than six months.
Think of a wretched shanty, not two stories high, or as
large as a common dwelling-house in New York, bringing
836,000 per annum ; and some, a little larger, bringing
850,000, and even as high as 875,000."
In a region where gold is to be picked up by handsful,
the gentleman referred to in the next extract will be
regarded as almost deserving a strait waistcoat :
" A lunatic outright fell into the hands of the police,
on Monday. He exhibited no outward symptoms of
frenzy, no incoherent ravings, maniacal laughter, mad
capers ; no, none of these tokens—he picked a man's
pocket of a handkerchief !"
The gentleman was either afraid of getting his hand
out of practice, or, possibly, he only prigged to remind
him of past times, and the joys of " home, sweet home,"
and the Broadway, or whatever other of the Atlantic
cities might have been the scene of his early achievements.

The following representations are from two distinct
letters, both dated San Francisco :

" The largest fleet of vessels I ever saw is now in this
harbour, numbering over 300 sail. They are selling for
one-third of their real value.. Every day I see chances in
this line. Vessels, worth 520,000 in the ;United States,
va for $5,000, and so on. If you can, send me anything
in my line—that is, from selling a needle up to a frigate.
There is no limit to a man's business here."