The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1844-02-13 00:00:00

MISCELLANEOUS.

The latest accounts from Stockholm state that the king
of Sweden is out of danger.
The Earl of Harrowby, Viscount and Lady Frances
Sandon and family, have arrived in Grosvenor-square
from Sandon Hall, Staffordshire, for the season.
The Right Hon. the Speaker of the House of Com-
mons gave his first Parliamentary dinner this season, on
Saturday last, at his private residence in Eaton-square.
Hillingdon House, Middlesex, the seat of R. H. Cox,
Esq., was destroyed by fire on Sunday morning. Nothing
but the bare walls are left standing.
AN AWKWARD COINCIDENCE.—On Saturday week at
the Huntingdon Anti-league dinner, Mr. G, G. Day made
a tei4eg speech against the league, and concluded by de-
nouncing in terms of just severity the all but open ap-
proval of incendiarism in the official journals of that body.
Or, the Tuesday following, Mr. Day's property was in
flames, and his farm burnt to the ground ! The coinci-
dence of the two is a remarkable and awkward one.
CHARGE OF MURDER ON THE HIGH SEAS.—At the
Central Criminal Court on Saturday, Thomas Edwards,
aged 25, a seaman, was indicted for the wilful murder of
William Kamish in the high seas. The deceased was
cook of the ship Amelia, from Brazil to London, and the
prisoner was a seaman. The two had quarrelled on the
29th Dec., and fought with knives, the former receiving a
frightful wound on his bowels, from which he died in less
than an hour. The prisoner was found guilty of manslaugh-
ter, and sentenced to transportation for life.
COMMERCIAL BANK OF ENGLAND.—The official ac-
count of the meeting of the shareholders of the Commer-
cial Bank of England (Manchester) on the 7th has been
issued. The directors in their report state, that the
liabilities, which at the suspension in 18-10 amounted to
£1,331,169, were on the Ist of January reduced to
£33,809 3s. 9d., and have since by further payments been
brought down to £29,600. The assets on the Ist of
January amounted to £32,947 15s. 4d., showing a defici-
ency at that time of £B6l 7s. 10d.

THE ATLAS PRIZE ESSAYS.—The arbitrators have de-
cided that Mr. Samuel Laing, late Fellow of St. John's
College, Cambridge, the writer of the essay bearing the
initials S. L., is entitled to the first premium of £100;
that the writer of the essay bearing the initials B. C. E.,
from whom at present we have not received a communica-
tion, is entitled to the second premium of £5O; and that
Mr. Edward Baines, editor of the Leeds Mercury and au-
thor of The History of the Cotton Manufacture, &c., the
writer of the essay bearing the initials L. T. S. R. P., is
entitled to the third premium of £25.

CAPTURE OF AN ESCAPED CONVICT.—It will be re-
membered, that on New Year's-eve six burglars, sen-
tenced to transportation, broke out of Nottingham county
gaol. after a furious assault upon the turnkeys, one of
whom was so severely beaten that his life for a time was
despaired of. One of the ruffians, Burton, was appre-
hended the same night; and another, Binns, was taken
in about a week afterwards. On Thursday evening last a
third, named William Thompson, was arrested in the
house of a labourer named Castles, at New Sneinton,
near Nottingham, where he had been concealed ever since
Monday morning.
SILVER COlN.—There is no intention of calling in the
silver coin. The Mint is merely coining to an increased
extent to meet the increased demand for silver consequent
upon the discredit which has lately been thrown upon the
gold currency. As for the worn-out silver coin, there is
an arrangement between the Bank of England and the
Government, that the former institution shall be allowed
to select from the silver they receive such coin as they
shall deem so defaced as to be no more fit for circulation.
By this arrangement there is a sufficient check against the
silver coin becoming reduced to such a state as it was
several years ago.

LONDON NEWSPAPERS.—The increase within the last
ten years in the number of newspapers published in
London has been so great as almost to exceed belief.
The weekly average of the number despatched by the
mails to the provinces was, in December, 1833, 200,000—
in the present month (Jan.) it exceeds 470,000. The
newspapers, too, have so increased in size that while at
the former period the weight per week was about nine tons,
it now exceeds 40 tons. But within the same week a great
disproportion exists, the papers published on Saturday
much exceeding those published on any other day. The
weight of newspapers now passing by the mails on every
Saturday night is not less than 11 tons.
TIIE CUSTOMS.—Mr, Ure, who has long filled the of-
fice of controller of customs at the port of Leith, has been
superannuated, and Mr. Lloyd, the collector ofcustotns
at Grangemouth, has been appointed to the controllership
of Leith. The trade at Grangemouth having for some
time back fallen off, we believe that the establishment of
that port has been reduced, and a small saving, to the ex-
tent of £2OO, has been effected by the new arrangement.
It is, we understand, the determination, where circum-
stances will permit, to reduce the existing establishments
at those places where trade shall be found to have de-
creased; whilst, on the other hand, there will be a cor-
responding increase at ports where the number of officers
employed is totally inadequate to the performance of the
duties assigned to them.
Mr. OASTLER.—A letter from the general secretary of
Mr. Oastler's liberation fund, dated Huddersfield, Tues-
day last, states—
" I have to state that it is probable that Mr. Oastler will
obtain his release on Saturday next, but if not then, cer-
tainly early on the following week. We are about to enter
iront this
preparationstown on
Shrovefor h i,sru(eAslsa.
Tuesday,
which has
sp übletleinc entry
upon because the act prevents the mills from working in
the afternoon of that day ; and thus all will have an op-
portunity to join the procession, which will exceed in
numbers that of any which has taken place here in former
days, No doubt exists that the attendance will be im-
mense. Preparations for a festival is in progress by the
working classes (distinct from the committee) to celebrate
their friend's return."

COMMERCIAL BANK OF ENGLAND.—At a meeting of
the shareholders of this bank, held in Manchester on
Wednesday, it was unanimously resolved, on the recom-
mendation of the directors, that such shareholders as have
not yet paid their calls of 30s. per share, should be pro-
ceeded against immediately for the amount ; except in
such instances as the directors may have reason to believe
the parties are unable to pay. It is estimated that this
call will pay off the whole of the amount borrowed, both
from the shareholders and from strangers, and leave a
surplus of a few hundred pounds.
Mr. Chambers, the banker, has been very dangerously
ill in the Queen's Prison, after an incarceration of seven-
teen years, during which period upwards of £200,000 of
his valuable property has been received, and somehow or
other, it would seem, irresponsibly absorbed, since not a
creditor as yet has received one farthing, and his injured
family disappointed in every expectation of their youth;
to the philanthropist and lover of justice the fate of this
unfortunate gentleman can awaken, on the one hand, none
but the most painful reflection ; whilst, on the other, a
consciousness of the hard necessity of paying, as it were,
his debts a second time.— Times.

THE EARL OF CARDIGAN AND LORD W. PA GET.—
The following is the answer returned by the Duke of
Wellington to an application from Lord .V. Paget to his
Grace, as Commander-in-Chief, praying that the subjects
of difference between him and the Earl of Cardigan might
be made the subject of a "full, complete, and searching"
military inquiry, and enclosing copies of certain corre-
spondence : " London, Jan. 30.—Field Marshal the
Duke of Wellington presents his compliments to Captain
Lord William Paget. He received last night his lord-
ship's letter of the 29th instant, and several enclosures
marked No. 1,2, 3,4, 5, relating to, or giving cause for,
questions between Lieutenant-Colonel the Earl of Car-
digan and his lordship. The copy of the letter to the
Earl of Haddington, referred to by his lordship, was not
sent. The questions are all of a social character, and are
properly cognizable by a court of common law ; and it
appears that one in which the Earl of Cardigan was de-
fendant was under discussion before a competent common
law tribunal, but the record was withdrawn by his lord-
ship's desire. In respect to the other, of more recent
date, in which the Earl of Cardigan is plaintiff, it appears
that the Earl has commenced proceedings before the com-
petent common law court, which proceedings must take
their course. Even if Colonel Lord Cardigan, as plain-
tiff, was to apply for the interference of a military tribu-
nal in these proceedings, such application could not be
complied with, as his lordship, Lord W. Paget, the de-
fendant in these questions, is not liable to the mediation.
Under these circumstances, Field Marshal the Duke of
Wellington begs leave to decline interfering in any man-
ner in these questions.

The Rev. Dr. Iliff has been instituted 6y the Bishop of
Chester as incumbent minister of St. Phillip's, in this
town, on the presentation of John Cragg, Esq.
THE STEAM-SHIP BENTINCR.—The following extract
is from a letter addressed to Mr. J. C. Shaw, of this port,
from Capt. Engledue, agent to the Oriental Company at
Calcutta :—" I congratulate you most sincerely upon your
complete success in the Bentinck. The engines and boil-
ers stand well, and the ship like a rock. Tell Mr. T.
Wilson she is perfection. I have not a comment to make
upon her except that of admiration. All out here are de-
lighted with her, and the accommodations gave entire sa-
tisfaction. She has arrived here in excellent order, and
does every officer credit. Her consumption of fuel from
Southampton to Calcutta averaged 2G4 cwt. per hour."
The above splendid steam-ship made her first passage
from the Sandheads, at the mouth of the Hoogley, to Suez,
including all stoppages, in twenty-four days.