The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1854-04-04 00:00:00

GENERAL INTELLIGENCE.

THE BOARD OP ORDNANCE has advertised for contracts
to erect twenty-six batteries on the Dublin and Wicklow
seaboard.—Daily News.
IT IS CURRENTLY BELIEVED, among military circles,
that, in addition to the late augmentation, there is to be a
further increase to the army of 30,000 men.—Morning
Chronicle.

MR. WINTERUALTER has painted " official portraits"
of the Emperor and Empress of the French, to serve as
models for copies required by public establishments.
A LONG DISCOURSE.—The New York papers state that
3,000 clergymen have despatehed to Congress a protest,
above 200 feet long, against the Nebraska Bill, which
involves the question of the prohibition of slavery in that
territory.
Sfrocs or A.N. EARTHQUAKE.—On the night of the
19th instant, at half-past ten o'clock, a smart shock of an
earthquake was experienced at St. Sebastian, north coast
of Spain. The walls of houses trembled, and the hori-
zontal oscillations which accompany such phenomena
were apparent.
AN ADMIRALTY NOTICE was issued on Wednesday, in-
viting tenders for the conveyance to Constantinople of 113
guns, weighing 342 tons, besides 59 tons of anchors and
chain cables.—Daily News.
smoKni G.—There are ten or twelve frightful cases of
lip, tongue, and face cancer, in the London Cancer Hos-
pital, all resulting from excessive smoking.
CITY TOLLS.—The corporation of London don't know
what their tolls on carts and waggons produce, but they
report to parliament that a contractor pays them £5,810
a year for the privilege of collecting them.

CONFLAGRATION AT THE WEST INDIA DOCIES.-0/1
Tuesday morning a destructive fire raged on the banks of
the Thames at the Pier-head, West India Docks, Blackwall,
creating the utmost consternation among the shipping.
After great exertion on the part of all present, the fire
was at length subdued. The cause of this calamity was
the upsetting of a naptha lamp.
AN ADMIRALTY NOTICE was issued on Tuesday, invit-
ing tenders for the hire of screw steam-vessels capable of
conveying from 400 to 600 tons, to be employed for four
months certain. The Admiralty will find coals, but the
owners are to provide and pay the crew and working
expenses.—Daily News.
A NEW TOWN, The Sydney Empire states, called Glad-
stone, in honour of the present Chancellor of the Exchequer,
has been laid out upon the new Auckland inlet, in the new
Australian settlement of Port Curtis.. The site is a very
good one, with ample space for wharfage and shipping of
any tonnage.
Two FRENCHMEN have just been apprehended at Geneva
with an immense quantity of jewellery, diamonds, and
articles of plate of all descriptions in their possession.
They were identified as having, on the 20th of June last,
entered the shop of M. Chauval, a jeweller "of Nantes, and
completely stripped it of the jewels, diamonds, watches,
gold chains, and everything else that could be easily carried
off, the whole being of the value of about 30,000 francs.
IN VAN DIEMEN'S LAND there is a report that a new
office is to be created in England, in consequence of the
cessation of transportation to this colony, that of director-
general of convict discipline for the United Kingdom, and
that Sir William Denison, the present Governor of Tas-
mania, is to be nominated with a salary of £4,000 a-year.

Tha ANNUAL BALL, under the patronage of the British
Embassy, for the benefit of the British Charitable Fund
in Paris, is fixed for the 10th instant, and will take place
in the Jardin d'tliver, which will be brilliantly illuminated
for the occasion. The Emperor and Empress has sub-
scribed, through Lady Cowley, for 100 tickets at 20 frencs
each. There is every reason to believe that the attendance
will be numerous.

THE CAR OF JUGGERNA.UTH.—" We at given to un-
derstand," says the Citizen of the 10th ult., (East India
paper,) "that the famous car of Juggernauth of Muhes,
near Serampore, was totally destroyed by fire on the night
of Monday last, and the "odekuries," or proprietors of
Juggernauth, have been merged in grief, attributing the
accident to the fury of the god for causes of which they
are not cognizant."
WAR PROCLAIMED AT TIIE ROYAL ENC4FANGE.-011
Friday, in accordance with the ancient ca4m of entering
upon a war by proclamation at the usbff resort of mer-
chants, the civic authorities proceeded ,to the Royal
Exchange, and, having ascended the steps at the grand
entrance, Her Majesty's declaration of war against
Nicholas, Emperor of all the Russias, was read in a clear
voice by Mr. Samuel Beddome, sergeant-at-arms and mace •
bearer to the corporation. At the conclusion three hearty
cheers were given by a very numerous concourse of per-
sons who had assembled to witness the cod-I
-lolly.
SOUTH SEA COMPANY.—There was a special meeting
of the proprietors of this company held on Thursday, Mr.
C. Franks in the chair, to consider the bill before parlia-
ment for winding up and dividing the assets of the com-
pany, and for undertaking the administration of private
trusts.. It appeared that the bill gives back to those who'
do not wish to go into the trust company their full portion
of the
be x
he assets, and
,anfdorittilas la stated
totatesdtohk. i
that the probable
trustpra companyblcreturn
would
would be liable to the repine of the Court of Chancery,
and would invest a guarantee fund of £300,000 in the
joint names of the Lords of the Treasury and of the
trustees of the company. The bill was approved by a
majority.
RUSSIA AND CIIINA.—The last accounts from China
announce that two Russian brigs of war, which were at
Constantinople on the 10th January, had received orders
to join the Pallas frigate, bearing the flag of the Com-
mandant of the Russian naval division in the Sea of
Okhotsk. The sea, formed by a vast gulf of the great
ocean, is comprised between the province of Okhotsk,
Kamstchatka, the Kourile Islands, and the Island Jesso.
The Russian naval division in the Chinese sea is com-
posed of five vessels of war. It has already explored a
part of the coast of Japan.
DEADLY MISSILES.--It-results from some experiments
recently made at Brest with the terrible 6oulets asphix-
inns, that have been so much talked of, that they may,
under certain circumstances, be very dangerous to the
troops using them as well as to the enemy. A building,
containing a number of cats, dogs, and other animals,
was fired at, and, on inspection, all of, them were found to
be dead from asphyxia ; but it happened,: that the shots
were fired against the wind, and, although the distance
was great, the poisonous vapour was rolled back with
such effect, that several of the artillerymen were nearly
choked, and some of them fainted.
A MOST IMPUDENT ROBBERY took place at Windsor
the other day, at two o'clock in the afterAeop. The cloth
had just been laid for luncheon at the iisidence of Mrs.
Smith, relict of the late General Smith, Grove House,
Peascod-street, when two fellows, in a. taxed cart, drove
up to the front gate ; one got out and proceeded up the
carriage drive to the private entrance of the mansion, and
walked into the hall by the front door ; he then proceeded
to the dining-room, passing the drawing-room, in which
Mrs. Smith and two other ladies were sitting, and de-
liberately pocketed all the plate which had been placed on
the sideboard. On returning he was met in the hall by
one of the servants, to whom he politely, touched his hat,
and walked leisurely down the carriage road with a lemon
in each hand, and joined his companion its the cart. They
then drove through the town in the direction of Datchet,
closely pursued by two active police of the borough, to
whom, a few minutes afterwards, the particulars of the
robbery had been made known.
A ROMANCE.—A Mr. William Lewis, the possessor of
some considerable estates in Gloucestershire, died in 1821,
and after his death a will was found, which was dated 1818,
by which he devised the main portion of his property to his
wife for life, and after her death to his son Timothy. There
had been an expectation in the family that the property
would be left to the grandson William, the son of Timothy ;
and he had taken possession of a farm called Tump's Farm,
near Monmonth, and continued to hold adverse possession
of it against his father. So matters continued until 1832.
In the meantime Timothy mortgaged the estate for various
sums, amounting in the whole to about £lO,OOO, and in
1832 the mortgagees filed a bill of foreclosure, and in 1834
they obtained a decree. They then brought actions of eject-
ment against both Timothy and William, and ousted them
from possession, and have ever since retained the estates
in their own hands. An old chest, which had belonged
to the testator, had passed from the possession of one mem-
ber of the family to another, until in 1852, it was sold, along
with some old furniture, to a carpenter, who, on examin-
ing his bargain, found in it a number of old papers of no
value, and amongst them a pocket-book, Which he took up
to look at, and from it there dropped a small key. After-
wards observing some peculiarities in the chest, he was in-
duced to examine it more closely, and he found that the
whole front gave way or opened, and in the opening he dis-
covered two compartments which were lo4ed up. He ap-
plied the key which had fallen from the pocket-book, and
it opened them, and in one of them was a paper, which
turned out to be a duly-executed will of the deceased
William Lewis, dated 3d of May, 1820, two years after the
date of the will which had been acted upon ; and this new
will devised the whole of the property, after the death of
his wife, to his grandson William. William thereupon
commenced proceedings in the Prerogative Court, in order
to revoke the former will and establish the new one, which
he succeeded in doing. He then filed a bill against the
mortgagees to set aside the mortgages and all proceedings
thereunder. The arguments which were addressed to
• the court did not question the validity of the new will,
which was undisputed ; but it was contended, on the part
of the mortgagees, that the plaintiff's claim was barred by
the statute of limitations, and this argument the Master
of the Rolls has decided to be sound. The circumstances,
he said, bore hard upon the plaintiff, but it would be still
harder if the wise provisions of the law did not protect
the interest of mortgagees who had been in possession for
so many years.
UTILIZATION or REFUSE.—The Manchester Sewage
Guano Company commenced operations in the year 1850,
in the preparation of manures which they called ' Sewage
Guano." The company'under the superintendence of two
of the directors, one a practical chemist, and the other a
practicalengineer,prepared and sold manuresmanufactured
by the following and other processes, viz.:-Ist. The fil-
tration of sewage through animal and vegetable charcoal ;
2nd. The precipitation of the solid matters of sewage by
lime, limewater, &c. ; 3d. The evaporation of the water in
night soil, ammonia water, &c.; 4th. The desiccation and
deodorization of fish, blood, flesh, and other animal mat-
ters ; and sth ; The mixture of animal and vegetable char-.
coal, which absorbs to an extraordinary extent the concen-
trated liquid thus prepared, and which, when mixed with
the solid parts of the fish, flesh, bones, &c., in the
manner which experience has pointed out as the best,
forms the Manchester Sewage Guano. Dead horses,
sheep, &c., &c. ; deceased flesh, meat, and fish, seized
as unfit for human food by the city authorities, have been
worked up without =sine.. any nuisance by the process.
Various chemical analyses have been made of this manure
which is found to contain a larger proportion of ammonia,
' phosphates, urates, and other fertilizing properties, than
an equal amount in value of foreign guano. The company
have recently erected new works, at a large expense, with
the requisite convenience of steam-power, tanks, drying-
stoves, evaporating pans, retorts, sheds, &c. ' • and although
they have not yet had the gratification of receiving any
return in the shape of profit; they feel confident, from the
fact of the demand for their manures having last year been
greater than they could supply, that a reasonable profit
may be fairly expected from their future operations. The
company have never taken out a patent ; and although
they naturally refrain from publishing the particulars of
the various processes adopted, they would gladly see a host
of competitors arising for the manufacture of a British
manure from waste materials which are now the cause of
nuisance, sickness, and excessive mortality.