The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1832-12-25 00:00:00

THE ELECTIONS.

. The returns from Ireland are thcrse, which we can-look
to with the least pleasure. There.appears- no doubt that
a considerable.number of .the members. for that ,country
will consist of persons "pledged" to obtain a- repeal of
the Union ; in other words' to-sever the connexion be-
tween the ttvo countries. Qf thoSe Irish members who
do not belong to the repeal party,_a considerable number
will belong to the equally violent party'd the Orange-
men. Reformers, who are not -repealers,..there will be
many,..but..certainly
_very inferior to the two others.
What the effect' Of thii state. of the Irish, representation
will be it is not easy, to foiesee. If any considerable bo-
dy of revolutionists had been elected in' this island,- the
Irish members would have cordially- united with theni,
and the alliance might have-been formidable. In the
English and Scotch members they. will
.how, find very few
allies, and the conviction
,mus(soon be fOrced on them

. .
that they .cannot attain their object_by legislative means.
But whatever be the result; this is not 4 consequence of
the Reform Bill: The same--project; and nearly the same
means` of accomplishing the
,return to. Parliament of a
nunaber,pf.persons, pledged to the .repeal,,e4stecl before
the:Reform Act passed. ' The repealers. are;ciiiefly. re-
turned for counties. in which-the -balance oVparties has
:not materially -changed, and -from a few places-That were
always accessible to the influence -which the''agitators
have exercised in them.—.Gla

FOREIGN INTELLIGENCE: •
• HOLLAND AND-BELGIUM.
We continue our extracts- from the private correspondencel
of -the Times, relatingto
SIEGE OF ~THE CITADEL OF ANTWERP.

:EIpriTEEDITIL:DAY..OI? THE..SIEQE.
ANTWERP, DEC. 17, MONDAY, 10 O'CLOCK, A. Air—The night
passed away without any thing remarkable.- The Cannonade
was kept up and still continued this morning, while the work for
the batteries for the breach - are :carried on as rapidly as the
nature of the weather. will permit. Two. Pieces of 24, which
were brought along the road from- -Broom, have. stuck in the
mire,...and the utmost exertions are. made with.men a,nd horses
to get them on. The appearance- of the men as they come
from the trenches is .quite-distressing.
INIOoN.-The gun-boats, in- the polders, which usually kept
their full complement of 35 to 40 men, have now only two men
each... The_others :have been sent. to • the citadel. The gun-
boats which are still in the river retain their full number of
nien.—On the night between Sunday and Monday, the French
workmen-had approached so near the citadel, that the Dutch,
'who hithertO used to throw the 'grenades with a gunner'S ladle,
threw them with their hands. Fortunately . most of them were
extinguished by the Wet,--'--not one in • ten, that, I saw thrown.
answered its: purpose.—We are going on, as•rapidly,as we can
with the batteries in breach. , The demi-bastions are finished,
and are 18 feet thick. The batteries will-not be .more than 150
metres
,(about 187 yards,) from the Toledo Bastion. It .is
against the left face of .this bastion ,that they will commence
for the breach.—All- preparations for the .descent into the fosse
are now nearly CoMplete.There are hourly arrivals.of convoys
from. ten- to- fifteen. waggon loads, with immense fascines,
tended to fill up the fosse.. We have -made 800 ladders-for the.
assault. The reginients of infantry in the vicinity of -Antwerp
`are approaching4o4he scene of action.. On, ..Saturday,, there
arrived at 13erebem, from Mechlin, .the: grenadier CompanieS
of three_or faur regiments., They, went on immediately.to the.
trenChes, where they had a turn of twelve hours' work, which
the yl. -
)erformed; with an. activity and gaiety truly adinirable.
But fir the bad weather, we sh mild have had the batteries in
breach,, ready to begin. to-day, but beyond a doubt they will
open their &eon Ttiestlay.Nothing can' equal the liatience,
the firmness,, and the<good bumour.ofthe French Soldiers. In
pasking throngh the ranks, you. every moment hear lively sal-
lies of mirth, rwhich.attest their unalterable Olety.—Yesterday
there was a inovenient in the 'Belan Staff.' It appears that
intelligence had arrived that the Dutch army was. concentrating
itself on Breda, :that another corpS Was. marching towards
Bergen-op-Zoom; and a third to Eindoren..
THREE O'CLOCK, P. M.—The. beieiged have- replied to the
Ft-mach fire but feebly to-day: They have, however, annoyed
-the workmen •bytheir fuiladel—l-rnentioned-yesterday a move=
meat of the Dutch troops aleng.the.frontier.- It is-. said that its
ob,ject is to throw back the division -of Achard on Antwerp,
that they might carry
.the forts .which • are armed on the light
bank of the 'Scheldt, adVance of Lilltr.• -I do not mean, to
giVe a direct contradiction to this report;. hilt I have conversed
with a person on whose statement I can place impplicit reliance:
Ile arrived this morning cram' West Wczel, andlie•assures me
that he noticed no 'such- movement, and• that no - report of
the kind was current-when he left.Bonibs -and- cannoxi;ballS
still continue to fall occasionally in 'the city.. One fell yesterday
on tie Hospice St. Elizabeth, and,another in -Rue de-flanmers,
without doing anymischief:
FIVE o'cLocx..-=-Thehatteries- for the breach are 'at length
finished. They are eairtiing,,a.Ml,"will continue during the night
to carry, thither the necessary Imilets and bombs: •The,battei.
ing will commence to4norrow. Every -thing -appears duet; cfri
the Flanders side.' 'We can perceive •no- movement at either
side of the river. A loud explosiOn has just been heard,' I learn .
that they have blown up. thlilokhaus, whirb is situated between .
St. Laurent anti the citadel. The order, has again bieh i,l,sued