The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1841-06-15 00:00:00

HOUSE OF COMMONS.-SATURDAY

The house sat fora short time.
On the motion of Lord Jour/ RUSSELL, the Bribery at
Elections Bill was read a third time and passed, with a clause
added by way of rider, to the effect that candidates as well as
other persons taking part in an election, should be liable to
give evidence before committees, and account for their con-
duct.

The Appropriation Bill went through committee, and was
ordered to be reported on Monday.
The Metropolis Improvement Bill was read a third time
and passed.
Several other bills were forwarded a stage, after which the
house adjourned.

FOREIGN INTELLIGENCE

UNITED STATES

By the Caledonia froin Halifax and Boston, we are in pos-
session of New York papers to the 31st ult. inclusive, Hali-
fax to the 3d inst., and Boston to the Ist. The Caledonia
was off Holyhead yesterday morning at six, and came up the
river at two, after a splendid run of 12 days and 14 hours from
Boston, including a stoppage of ten hours at Halifax—the
shortest passage on record with the exception of one. She
brings 104 passengers—the names of whom, together with
the log, we shall publish on Friday, as we find it impossible
to make room for them to-day ; for the same reason we are
unable to give the intelligence brought by the Caledonia at
our usual length. AV Leod still remained in prison awaiting
the decision of the supreme court, which was expected to be
given next term. The arguments and evidence in the case
had closed, and the judges took time to consider the judg-
ment. The prisoner has published a letter denying all par-
ticipation in the Caroline affair.
On the 29th ult. the National Theatre, in Church-street,
was destroyed by fire, which was supposed to be the work of
an incendiary. One female lost her life, and property to a
great extent was destroyed. The Protestant Episcopal
Church adjoining also received some slight damage.
The news from Canada is not very important, Lord Syden-
ham took his departure from Montreal on the 26th ult. The
34th regiment left Toronto for Montreal and Quebec on the
28th ult., en route for England. From Mexico the intelli-
gence amounts to but little. The Herald states " there is
now a prospect of a period of comparative peace for this dis-
tracted country. Some permanent steps have been taken
toward an amicable adjustment of the difficulties between it
and Texas."
On exchange, for the packet, a good business was done, and
holders were firm, buyers seemed to fear a falling off as the
season advanced. On the 31st, the going rates were as fol-
lows :—Sterling bills Bto 81, or 482 the £. France f 5
to 525 ; Amsterdam 39i to 40 ; Hamburg 351 to 36 ; Bre-
men 77 to 77i.
NEW YORK COTTON TRADE.
_ _

On the receipt of the late news from England, the cotton
market in this city became quiet, and sales could not be
effected unless at a decline of I a lc. per lb. from the rates
previously current, although bad news, in some measure was
anticipated. The market remained quiescent for a few days,
and resumed its activity at the decline of ic., at which the
prices have since been steady, and sales to a fair extent,
mostly for export. In the extreme southern ports the mar-
kets have been more active, and a small advance has gene-
rally been obtained. At Charleston and Savannah there
was less doing, and holders evinced some disposition to give
way, but no positive decline had taken place.
Nzw ORLEANS, May 21.—Business is beginning to be
extremely dull, and our population is rapidly thinning off by
numerous departures to the north. Yesterday 2,000 bales
cotton changed hands at very full prices. The princiral
portion of the stock consists at present of North Alabamas
and Tennesses, and fine cottons are very scarce, and com-
mand high prices. The extremes of the market are 9+ to

The tobacco market remains in statu quo, and it is my
opinion that prices will have to come down 1 to 2c. before
buyers will be tempted to operate. The receipts are very
heavy, and the stock now on sale amounts to about 11,000
hhds. Notwithstanding these adverse circumstances, hold-
ers as yet manifest no disposition to make concessions.
MELANCHOLY SHIPWRECK—ONE HUNDRED AND
FORTY-EIGHT LIVES LOST.-It again becomes our duty to
record a calamity involving destruction of human life to an
awful extent. Four of the crew and four of the passengers
of the brig Minstrel, Captain Outerbidge, arrived here yes-
terday, bringing the disastrous intelligence of which the fol-
lowing is an accurate summary :—The Minstrel left Lime-
rick, Ireland, on the 21st April last, for Quebec, with 141
passengers, emigrants, intending to settle in Canada.. The
vessel had a tolerable passage up to Tuesday last, at 4 o'clock
in the morning, when she struck on Red Island Reef. There
was a heavy sea running at the time, but the boats were
launched and made fast to the fore-chains. Upwards of 100
passengers embarked in the boats, but their doom was very
quickly sealed ; the vessel " heeled' off " into deep water,
and went down stern foremost, so suddenly that the " paint-
ers" of the boats could not be cast off, and the people who
had embarked in the boats perished, with their equally un-
fortunate companions on board the ship, except four of the
crew and four passengers, who alone of upwards of 150 souls,
remained to tell the sad tale. These eight persons had em-
barked in the gig, which was towing astern, and fortunately
for them the rope which attached it to the vessel broke when
she went down. They succeeded in pulling to White Is-
land, where they remained until the following day, when
they were taken off by the ship Wellington, Macintyre, and
brought to Grose Isle.—Quebec Mercury, May 22.
We give the following extract of a letter to a gentleman of
this town, dated Quebec:—" A melancholy accident has
happened here this summer," (on the 17th May) " by the
dislodgement of a portion of Cape Diamond Rock, which
buried nine houses, with the inmates, forty or fifty in num-
ber. All, with the exception of eight or ten, were killed.
The living were taben out in a most dreadful state. Fortu-
nately there were houses only on one side of the street, or
the loss of life would have been greater. What could with-
stand the whole face of a rock twice as high as the houses,
and about 12 feet deep. some of the stones that came down
were more than 20 tons weight. All was done so suddenly,
that several persons passing by were unable to escape."—
The letter then goes on to give the particulars of the ship-
wreck, as stated above.