The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1850-05-28 00:00:00

MADEIRA.

We are favoured by Mr. Driver, with advices from Ma-
deira to the 7th instant, brought by the packet brig
Brilliant, which vessel arrived at Southampton on Satur-
day last, with upwards of sixty passengers.
When the Brilliant left it -had been blowing a perfect
gale from the west, for the last four or five days, accom-
panied with heavy rain, which was doing considerable
damage to the grapes.
The authorities in Madeira had memorialised the govern-
ment at Lisbon, to be allowed to cultivate tobacco,
which plant grows remarkably well on the island, and
great excitement prevailed amongst the farmers to learn
the result, which, if granted, would no doubt restore the
island to prosperity.
His Imperial Highness,- the Duke de Leutchenburgh,
embarked in the Russian frigate Pallas, on the 23rd ult.,
for Gibraltar, very much improved in health, by his resi-
dence on the island. He has made himself very popular
in Madeira, and in addition to £lOO given to the poor of
Funchal, has made many other charitable bequests in
various parts of the island.
Her late Majesty, the Queen Dowager Adelaide, be-
queathed to the civil governor of Madeira a handsome
niece of plate, bearing the following inscription : _

Presented to
His Excellency Senhor JOZE SILVESTRE RIBEIRO
H. M. F. Majesty's Councellor
And Civil Governor
'Of the Province of Madeira,
In grateful recollection
Of his civility and kind attention
During her residence
In Madeira,

Sir G. Douglas arrived on the 16th April from the. Ca-
naries, inhis yacht Ariel, and proceeded on the 19th to
Barbadoes.

Letters from Marseilles of the22nd inst. state that the
utmost precautions ,were taken there on the night pre-
vious to protect the shipping, which, it had been dis-
covered, had been menaced with conflagration by the
conspirators.

The following edifying information is contained in the
Paris Patrie :—A miraculous girdle, which had been worn
by the Virgin, and which is one of the precious relics of
the Cathedral of Tortosa, has been sent up to Madrid, to
be placed near her Majesty in•her approaching accouche-
ment. It is for the present deposited on the altar of the
Chapel Royal.—They ought to have sent to Rome for the
.Bambino--au ugly image designed as the representation
of the infant Jesus, and which, transported in a splendid
carriage from house to house on occasions of this kind,
brings " no small gain" to the amity monks who have
the custody of it.
TELEGRAPH BETWEEN ENGLAND AND RIISSIA.—The
Emperor of Russia has decided on placing St. Petersburgh
in telegraphic communication with Vienna and Berlin, by
means of the electric telegraph, which will also pass
through Warsaw and Posen. The wires are now being
laid down between Berlin and St. Petersburgh, and St.
Petersburgh and the Black Sea. When the continuous
line of wire, an important part of which is now being
sunk submarinely between Dover and Calais, is coriipleted
in connection with the Continent, a person in London
may hold almost instant communication with another in
Russia.

The Peninsular mail arrived at Southampton an Friday,
bringing intelligence from Lisbon to the 19th instant.
Our Admiralty agent had been arrested on his landing
at Cadiz with the mails, for having refused to deliver
them up to a stranger who had gone on board and de-
manded them on behalf of the Spanish government. The
British officer was sent to the guard-room, searched, and
his sword taken from him. By the interposition of the
gentleman acting for the English consul, he was ordered
to be released, when his sword was returned, and he was
set at liberty, having been confined two hours and a half.
He then went to the consulate, and shortly afterwards
sailed for Gibraltar. Here, it is observed, is a direct
insult to the British nation.
INTERNAL CONDITION OF FRANCE.—Of the domestic
prospects of France the Times augurs favourably, on the
ground that " the resolution shown by the gcvernment
at home, and the spirit shown by them abroad, have ma-
terially increased their chances of security and duration."
The Standard, after stating that the quarrel with England
has caused a diversion in favour of the opponents of
Socialism, observes that " the domestic prospects of the
government of France are sufficiently gloomy to dispose
I unscrupulous and desperate men to escape from them even
by flying to a foreign war. The old disease remains in
full vigour—Paris still governs France ; and until Paris
shall be deposed from that tyranny by the iron despotism
of an individual, France will be a place of torture to her
people, and the common plague of Europe."

MONSTER HAILsToNEi.--4he following extract from a
letter is published by the Bombay Telegraph:—" I just
write these few lines to inform you that on Sunday last,
between the hours of four and five o'clock,:atremendous
fall of hail occurred at the village called Condwul, about
six miles from Sattara. The hailstones are described as
being as large as cocoa nuts. Several houses fell, cattle
were slain, and several people were killed by the houses
falling in. Many large fish were killed in the river also.
The natives declare they have never seen such hail in their
lives. I am within the mark when I say they were as
large as cocoa nuts ; they have been described as much
larger. In camp we had merely a tremendous dust-storm,
but for several hours the sides of the hill were white with
the hail, like snow in appearance."
THE FAILURE OF THE COTTON CROP.The appre-
hended failure of the cotton crop in America, fills the
Times with serious apprehension, and leads it to discuss
the propriety of measures for growing cotton in India, as
the only quarter from which we may hope to obtain a.
permanent and sufficient supply of an article which " we
must have." The Globe fears that the best devised
measures can result only in a slow increase of the supply
from India, and suggests that the West Indians might
be induced to plant their deserted sugar estates with
cotton, The Standard replies to the dictum of the
Times, that " cotton we must have," by " Richelieu's
answer to the libeller, who said, faut vivere," Je ne
vois pas la necessity,' said the Cardinal. As cotton was
not certainly indispensable to our ancestors 100 years
ago, who scarcely knew its use, we cannot conceive it now
to be a thing of absolute necessity."
A TRAGEDY IN THE AUSTRIAN MILITARY SERVICE.
—A letter, dated Vienna, May 18, says, " A mysterious
tumult took place a few days ago in the garrison of the
newly-recruited Honveds, which parties interested are
endeavouring to hush up. A young Hungarian noble-
man, (Honed,) who had been refused permission by his
captain to go to a coffee-house, unable to resist the solici-
tations of some corporal, who promised to be responsible
for this petty insubordination, quitted the barracks. The
captain, upon hearing this, gave orders that the young
nobleman should be flogged upon his return. All the
corporals of the battalions refused to raise their hands to
carry out the sentence, and a corporal of. the Hayman
Regiment of Infantry was summoned from another bar-
rack, and commenced putting the sentence into execu-
tion ; but he had inflicted only a few blows when the
young nobleman sank down in a fit of apoplexy. In one
moment all the Honveds rushed upon the captain and put
him to death. On the same evening the entire troop
was disbanded."

WESTERN AUSTRALIA.—Perth and Fremantle journals
have come to hand to the end of January. Some fine
country had been discovered in the neighbourhood of the
Geraldine silver lead mine. From the published accounts
of the Deputy Surveyor General and Lieut. Elliot,
H.M.'s 96th Regiment, there was an abundance of water,
as well as food for smelting purposes. The natives in the
neighbourhood are a fine race of men, cannibals, eating
dead bodies of Maids or foes, no matter whether killed
or dying from disease. Lieut. Helpman, R.N., who was
the first of the party to land, found these natives some.
what hostile, but soon after they became friendly ; they
acknowledged to have formed a portion of those who
attacked the governor some months previously, and ex-
pressed their sorrow for it, offering to bring in the man
who threw the spear at the governor, and they also stated
that two men and one woman of their party were killed,
whom they ate, as is their usual custom. Writing on
this latter subject, Lieut. Elliott, then on the spot, re-
marks :—" The natives in these districts eat their dead—
old men, women, and children. The heart is given to the
mother, as they say it assuages her grief. They hollow
out the ground and make a kind of oven in which they
bake the body, and after eating it they throw the bones
into the hole and cover them over, which accounts fOr no
graves being seen."
HORSES DISSENTING FROM THE POPE.—Last week
the Pope was good•enough to bless the whole world from
the balcony of the Church of St. John Lateran. The
Times correspondent, describing the scene, says :—" Next
came a pause, as if to give time for, a solemn prayer
before the benediction itself was pronounced ; and then
up rose the pontiff, and extending his arms, held his
open palms over the heads of the multitude, and pro-
nounced the solemn benediction. The people knelt in
pious submission at his feet, and as the last words were
uttered each of the faithful made the sign of the cross, and
each, I hope, rose up a better man. The solemnity of
the scene was fora minute disturbed by all the horses,
even of the Pope and cardinals, taking a fancy to join in
an universal fit of neighing whilst their masters were
wrapt in prayer ; but they were soon restored to order,
and the serious character of the scene was not again
affected." The usual distribution of indulgences (says
the Daily News) took place after the blessing, and was
attended by the usual scramble, although a far different
result awaited the two Papal bulls and their enormous
that of preceding years. The expectant coun-
below the balcony, who had been enduring a
fearful squeeze for some time previous in the hope of
seing in a good situation to catch one of the indulgence
3ulls, were cheated out of their just expectations by the
gustiness of the weather, and the wind most provokingly
carried away the first document just out of the reach of
their straining fingers towards a party of French soldiers,
by whom it was immediately snapped up. The second
underwent the same fate ; and a French grenadier, very
red from the struggle, crammed it into his shako, as the
safest depot he possessed. A chasseur d' Orleans, one of
the unsuccessful scramblers, inquired confidentially the
nature of the bulls—" Qu'est ce qua c'est done que ces
papiers la ?" " Mais (replied I), ce sont des indulgences."
Ah, bah !" exclaimed he, in turning away, and con-
soling himself with a most expressive shrug for not having
borne off the prize instead of his stouter competitor.
OUTRAGE AT ROME.—INTOLERANCE OF POPERY.—
The P

seals tl

trvmen

nan correspondent of the Times writing from
that city on the 18th inst. says :—A visit paid last night
private house of a very respectable man by the
shows that the spirit of mischief, at least, is not
I allude to the violation of the domicile of M.
Chan,lellor of the British Consulate, who for
with full cognizance. pf the Papal
eted durinc, Mr. Freeborn's tempo-
,
ent. At ten o'clock last.
nanded and obtained a
e, though the certificate

lice agnts de

jOtte was exhibited to them and
o'er the doorway were also
that they did not value

cleclaAN

either, and they proceeded, as M. Ercole's family '
allege: to do their duty in the most violent and
offereive manner. The violence ceased on the arrival
of a superior magistrate; but he nevertheless fulfilled
his task with equal rigour, and on being furnished
with his keys by the master of the house proceeded
to open all the drawers and examine his papers and
books. Nothing fortunately was found to implicate M.
Ercole, and the only book seized on was the Life of Bea.
trice de Cenci. The search lasted till five this morning,
at which hour the magistrate and the police withdrew,
after making many apologies to the family, and expressing
the regret they felt at being obliged to perform so disa-
greeable a duty. It would appear from several questions
put' during the investigation, that M. Ercole was more
suspected of harbouring Protestant Bibles and New Tes-
taments than political papers—but he and his family are
strict Roman Catholics, and, happily for them, the only
Bible they had was that in common use here, licensed by
the church. It must 'be admitted that M. Ercole is a
Roman subject, and possibly, however harsh the conduct
of the police may have been, it for that reason is not ille-
gal; but some respect ought to have been shown to his
position under the English government, and the acting
Chancellor of the Consulate, having the British arms on
his private door, is entitled to consideration. Ignorance
cannot be pleaded for this violent conduct, as on all occa-
sions for many years, during Lord Aberdeen's as well as
Lord Palmerston's time, whenever Mr. Freeborn obtained
leave of absence M. Ercole acted as his representative in
the bank and as consular agent, and I know that the fact
was officially notified to the government since the acces-
sion of Pio Nono. There is not a more inoffensive person
than M. Ercole, and I am sure that every English gen-
tleman who has transacted business at the consulate will
confirm what I say. I have no doubt that the attack,
though it fell on the deputy, was intended for the princi-
pal; and that the Papal government, always suspecting
the leaning of Mr. Freeborn to be unfavourable to it,
imagined that papers which might compromise him could
be placed beyond suspicion or seareh in the house of the
vice-consul. Whatever may be the cause of the proceed-
ing, the manner in which the domiciliary visit was effected
is most reprehensible ; and, as far as I can see, Mr. Free-
born has just right to complain.