The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1843-09-05 00:00:00

SPAIN

According to the Madrid papers of the 23rd ult. every
thing seems to favour the prospect of another change,
and the dramatis pprsona, of the late insurrection, lately
so clamorous for place, are now declining the responsi-
bility on all hands. The partisans of legal progress were
beginning to raise their heads, and the Expectador speaks
with confidence of their success at the next election, at
least at the capital. In Cadiz the authorities had been
obliged to adopt energetic measures for the maintenance
of public order. Barcelona was tranquil on the 25th ult.
Only one member of the Junta remained in the city.
The Junta of Sargossa retained the character of supreme,
and had raised three battalions of volunteers who were to
be at its orders.

A Kingston (Canada) paper has the following remarks
on his excellency Sir Charles Metcalfe :—The new gover-
nor general is winning golden opinions from all sorts of
people. He is affable, easy of access and very charitable ;
in fact, so much so, that he becomes a prey to all kinds of
imposition in that line. He must be a very rich man, for
he gives away more than his provincial income. Every
body makes a plant upon him, and no one goes away em-
pty-handed."

Sydney papers to the 26th, and Adelaide papers to the
15th of April, have arrived. With regard to matters in
the former place there is little to notice. The expediency
of protective duties to prevent inundating supplies of
foreign meat and grain occupied the attention of the peo-
ple at Sydney, and the journals are filled with theoretical
opinions on the subject of free trade, and its attending
advantages and evils. The markets were without change.
Politics at Adelaide were the order of the day, and an
attempt was being made to bring the new governor,
Captain Grey, into bad repute by getting up a memorial
to the queen requesting his recall. Various charges are
made against his administration ; but the general censure
of want of confidence in his government is quite sufficient
to show that he was somewhat unpopular among the colo-
nists. The harvest in South Australia has been most
abundant, and the surplus above the wants of the popula-
tion, estimated at 80,000 bushels of wheat, was to be ex-
ported for sale to the neighbouring settlements. A vessel
lately arrived there, named the John Pirie, had been taken
up to convey 10,000 bushels to the Isle of France. The
colony is stated to be gradually recovering from its late
difficulties.

BANE MISMANAGEMENT.—A most gross instance of
mismanagement and fraud on the part of a banking officer
is mentioned in the American papers received by the
Acadia. The directors of the Northampton (Pennsylva-
nia) bank, by a unanimous vote, expelled John Rice, the
president, and formerly the cashier. The circulation of
the bank was 108,217 dollars, the money found in the
vaults, 1 dollar and 69 cents in silver ! The deficit for
the payment of debts amounts to 263,059 dollars, The
prostration of the bank is wholly imputed to the mal-
practices of Mr. Rice, and they embrace numerous charges
—such as allowing particular favourites largely to over-
draw their accounts—discounting the paper of irresponsi-
ble persons—suffering unpaid notes Co run over unprotec-
ted, the president himself being the endorser—investing
large sums in unprofitable stocks—paying heavy " attor-
ney's fees" in seeking an increase of capital—and other
similar frauds. Mr. Rice refused to make any disclusure
or explanation whatever. Other disclosures of a remark-
able kind, illustrative of banking operations in the United
States, have come out on the trial of Wyman, the late
President of the Phcenix Bank, at Concord, which had
not been concluded at the date of the papers by the Aca-
dia. This bank, it will be recollected, was carried on at
Charleston, and broke down not long since.
NARROW ESCAPE OF KING LOUIS PHILIPPE AND
vets FAMILY.—The King and Queen, and Queen of the
Belgians, left the chateau at three o'clock, on the 28th
alt., in a char-a-bane drawn by six horses, to drive to
Treport by the new road called De biers. Having ar-
rived at the sluice of Assas, at the head of the canal which
communicates with the sea, four of the horses were on the
bridge, when they were frightened by the firing of the
canon at Treport, and likewise by the noise of the water
rushing from the sluice-gate. One of the leaders plunged
and broke the slight chain placed as a protection, fell into
the canal, and dragged with him in his fall the two middle
horses, whose weight fortunately caused the harness which
connected them with the carriage to break. The postilion
who rode the wheel horse, with much presence of mind
and great physical strength, turned his horses so as to
bring the pole of the carriage against one of the posts at
the entrance of the bridge, so that the carriage was stopped
by this manoeuvre. The King, Queen, and the persons
who accompanied them, alighted from the carriage. His
Majesty, after having ascertained that no one was hurt,
continued his promenade to Treport on foot, accompanied
by the neighbouring population who advanced with cheers
of " Long live the King." After having walked on the
pier for an hour, their Majesties returned in their carri-
age to the Chateau d'Eu,—Paris paper.