The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1854-05-09 00:00:00

TO CORRIZSPONDENT:

A CORRESPONDENT, who gives her name, complains that on
the 22nd of last month, while returning from seei,g her
husband away to sea, she piarchased :few shells from a
woman hawking them about on the landing-stage, in
payment for which she gave a shilling. Raving done so,
the shell-woman accused her of giving a spurious chilling,
and gave her in charge to a policeman. Our correspon-
dent complains chiefly, that the officer showed gross
partiality in refusing to have the accuser searched, and
th4t he used harsh manners, and very improper language
towards her. She was taken to the Police-station, and
afterwards to Bridewell, on the charge made by tie shell-
woman, who, however, did not appear to prosecute, and
the case against the complainant was dismissed. She
has, she states, since then, made application to have the
matter investigated, and the conduct of the police•otficer,
as well as that of another constable, who she says in-
sulted her, inquired into, but without success, Without
pretending to offer any opinion on this case, it cannot be
doubted that very gross injury may be' inflicted on
an innocent individual in the manner referred to ; and
every means of justification should be afforded to the
accused.
(1:7- We shall be happy, at all times, to receive communica-
tions on subjects of local or general interest.
Boons, &c., FOR REVIEW, may be left at Mr. C. Mitchell's,
Red Lion-court, Fleet-street, London, addressed " to the
Editor of the LIVERPOOL STANDARD," when they will
be forwarded and receive attention.
The ANNUAL SUBSCRIPTION to the LIVERPOOL STANDARD '
is 20s. in advance—or 225. on credit.

tibcrpoot ktanbarbf

TUESDAY MORNING, MAY 9, 1854,

BOMBARDMENT OF ODESSA.

WE have at length authentic intelligence of a
movement on the part of the combined fleets in
the Black Sea, which gives earnest of active hos-
tilities against the common foe of Europe. The
apparent dilatoriness of Admiral DUNDIS had led
to the belief that he was acting under private in-
structions from the PREMIER not to do more than
he could help ; and it was said that the Turkish
Government suspected the fidelity of England,
because so little had been achieved to realise the
many promises of support. This distrust must,
however, now be dispelled, for the thunder of
British cannon has sounded on the shores of
Russia, and the dismantled forts of Odessa testify
to the striking fact that England at last is terribly
in earnest. A steamer that had been sent to
Odessa with a flag of truce, to bring off the British
Consul, was fired upon in violation of th&usages
of civilised warfare, and brought the startling news
to the British fleet of the insult to which she had
been subject. It had an electric effect ; it aroused
the spirit of all, from the Admiral to the cabin-
boy, and forthwith a squadron of steamers was
despatched to take a -fearful retribution. How
they performed their task the despatches will tell.
The duty was performed by nine men-of-war, and
the attack was completely successful. The Im-
perial mole and the -land batteries were entirely
destroyed, with all the Russian ships lying in the
outer mole ; the great powder magazine exploded ;
and all the loss sustained by the assailants was
eight men killed and eighteen wounded. The ac-
count, which was despatched from Belgrade, con-
cluded with the significant intelligence thatimme-
diately after the attack upon Odessa the combined
fleets sailed for 'Sebastopol. This early -success
will no doubt lend vigour to our soldiers and
sailors in their future encounters with the enemy,
and will also tend considerably to disarm any oppo-
sition to voting the necessary ways and means for
carrying on the war. The expenditure will of
necessity involve additional taxation—an evil ine-
vitable to all warlike operations—but we believe
the great majority of our population will Willingly
contribute their Share of the pecuniary burden, in
order to vindicate the honour of England; and curb
the grasping anibition of the Northern despot.

THE DUKE OF CAMBRIDGE AND THE
GREEK THRONE.

WE have, as a people, so long been accustomed
to entertain a jealous feeling for what is called the
liberty of the subject and the privileges of English-
men, that we have unconsciously been indueed to
consider the free action of the Royal Family as
antagonistic to the preservation of constitutional
freedom, and to think and speak of the SOVEREIGN
and her immediate relatives as beings whose con-
duct is especially ander popular surveillance. This
is no new idea, but the growth of many years ;
though it can neither be justified by constitutional
traditions nor reconciled in any way with a due-sense
of propriety or consistency. It has long been the
popular belief that the SOVEREIGN has no legal right
to leave the country, without special leave asked,an,d.
granted ; and for many generations the greatest
freedom enjoyed by u monarch of England was--a
visit to his Hanoverian dominions. To the credit
of Queen VICTORIA, she dispelled the popular error,
broke through the trammels which had no stronger
authority than have those of fashion, and, by her
visits to France, to Belgium, and to Prussia, showed
that she was inclined to enjoy some share of that
freedom which all her tubjects had so largely at
,command. Ideas as little justified by reason, pre-
cedent, or common sense, prevailed also with re-
ference to the immediate heir to the throne. When
GEORGE 111. was king, the younger sons of the
Royal Family held a kind of nominal employment,
which involved little or no responsibility ; but the
heir-apparent was believed to be exempt from, or
rather disqualified for, any useful occupation, and
pitilesey left to all the temptations of profligacy and
dissipation, without even the opportunity which his
great ;ancestor (HENRY V.) had—" to show the
incredulous world the noble change which he had
purposed:" Our own Prince of WALES is yet at
an age When there is sufficient time to:look forward
to, so that he may be saved- from the quicksands in
which his great-uncle floundered, and realise the
fond hopes Which are entertained of his future
career. There-is, however, another member of the
Royal Family wbo, though now occupying an im-
portant position in the British army in the East,
may be destined for n far higher sphere of useful-
ness. It is stated in the Russian journals that the
visit of his Royal Highness the Duke of CAMBRIDGE
to Vienna, though ostensibly to do honour to the
nuptials of the Emperor of AUSTRIA, had the ulte-
rior.object of negotiating his elevation to the throne
of Greece, in the room of King OTHO. Such an
assertion may not have a particle of truth, but there
is no solid reason why it should not be true. King
OTHO has not only shown himself utterly incapable
of governing the people entrusted to him, but the
avowed support which he has lent to the insurrec-
tion against Turkey has demonstrated the grossness
of his ingratitude towards the powers by whose aid
he obtained his ill-deserved dignity. As a mo-
narch to secure the independence of Greece, and
resuscitate the dormant energies of its people, he
is utterly worthless ; and it is doubtful if any better
plan could be devised than to punish his treachery
by dethronement, and to confer the kingdom
upon the Duke of CAMBRIDGE, under the same
guarantees. If England, France, and Austria
were favourable to such an arrangement, no other
States need be consulted, for Russia has excluded
herself from the family of European nations, and
the others are too unimportant for their approval
or disapproval to be of any consequence. The pro-
gress of the war will necessarily involve new
territorial settlements by treaty ; and the long
misgovernment of King OTHO, consummated by
manifest treachery and open rebellion, will amply
justify a change which presentErevery prospect of
being signally beneficial,