The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1850-05-07 00:00:00

FOREIGN AND COLONIAL,

PARIS, THURSDAY.—M. Sue was proclaimed successful
candidate to-day at the Hotel de Ville. The proceedings
passed off with perfect order. The official return gave
him 127,812. M. Leclerc had 119,726.
The Pope has publicly blessed the French army, and
the French army has helped to return Eugene Sue, who
belongs to a party who would willingly fling the Pope into
the Tiber to-morrow.
Dr. Smetana, who recently seceded from the Roman
Catholic Church, has been excommunicated. He has
applied for a passport, as he intends quitting the country.
There can be little doubt that the old Hussite spirit is
spreading amain in Bohemia, and in that Crownland the
first effect of the new ecclesiastical laws will probably be
felt.

ALLEGED DESTRUCTION OF LAGUAYRA.—We copied
from the New York papers received last week a statement
that this important city in Venezuela had been destroyed.
It turns out that it is the city of Laguna, in Mexico,
known for its exports of logwood and mahogany, a place
of very much less consequence than the capital of Vene-
zuela.

Jackson, the "American deer," has been running a
race against two horses, at Bingamon, in the United
States. The horses were to trot ten miles against the
man's five miles and a half : the horses performed their
distance in 29 minutes 4 seconds; Jackson his in 29 mi-
nutes 51 seconds, the man thus losing by 47 seconds. The
stakes were a thousand dollars.

The Sentinelle de Toulon. announces a severe collision
between the crew of the Friedland, at Naples, and lazza-
roni. Three shots were fired on the ship's pinnance, and
one of the seamen was stabbed with a stiletto. The French
sailors threw into the sea four Neapolitan soldiers who
took part with the lazzaroni. The French admiral caused
an inquiry to be instituted into the affair.
MORE FUNNY THAN ROYAL.—The ordinary advises
from Madrid are of the 21st of April, which are exceed-
ingly barren ; but a telegraphic dispatch is said to have
been received in Paris of the 23d inst., announcing a
serious rupture between the King and the Cabinet. It
appears that his majesty having come to the determina-
tion of not being present at the aecouchernent of the
Queen, and of quitting the capital for a time, communi-
cated this unexpected intimation to General Narvaez and
his colleagues, who, astonished at such a resolution,
endeavoured to persuade the King to abandon it, but all
to no purpose. In this critical dilemma a Cabinet Coun-
cil was held, which decided that the King should not
leave Madrid, and that his majesty must consider him-
self under arrest. Soldiers were therefore placed to guard
his apartments, in order to prevent escape, if attempted ;
but, after a few hours' imprisonment, the King changed
his mind, renounced his previous designs, and was allowed
his liberty once again. I 4 the evening he accompanied
her majesty in a carriage airing, as if nothing had occur-
red to disturb the peace of the royal pair.
SLAVERY IN THE UNITED STATICS.—(From the New
York Tribune.)—The following letter was received a few
days ago by Mrs. Nancy Cartwright, a respectable co-
loured woman, for several years a resident in this city,
who has purchased her own freedom, and redeemed a part
of her children from slavery, by her own industry, aided
by the liberality of her friends :

, Jan. 22, .
"My dear Mother,—l take this opportunity of writinlBso g you
a few lines, to inform you that I am in Bruin's Gaol, and
annt
Sally and all her children, and aunt Hagar and all her children,
and grandmother is almost crazy. My dear mother, will you
please to come as soon as you can, as I expect to go away very
shortly. Oh ! mother, my dear mother, come now and see
your distressed and heart-broken daughter once more.
Mother! my dear mother, do not folsake me, for I feel deso-
late. Please to come now. Your daughter, EMILY RUSSELL."

At the suggestion of several friends, and by the request
of the mother, a letter was written and posted to Alexan-
dria as follows :

"ew
"Mr. Joseph Bruin : Sir,—Mrs. Nancy CaCartwright 50.
has
learned that you have come into the possession of her daughter
Emily, as well as her two sisters, Sally and Hagar, with their
children. Emily supposes that you design to send them to a
southern market, but from what I know of you, I have no idea
that you prefer to do so (other things being equal) against the
wishes of such a mother as Nancy is. Will you tell me, by
return of :nail, at what price you will sell Emily Russell to her
mother, and how long you will give her to make up the amount ?
I shall confidently expect a reply from you immediately, and in
the meantime—that you will not dispose of them,
" Wm. HARNED, 91, John Street."
To which Mr. Harned received the following answer :
"Dear Sir,—When I received your letter, I had not bought
the negroes you spoke of, but since that time I have bought
them. All I have to say about the matter is, that we paid very
high for the negroes, and cannot afford to sell the girl Emily
for less than eighteen hundred dollars. This may seem a high
price to you, but cotton being very high, consequently slaves
are high. We have two or three offers for Emily from gentle-
men from the south. It is said that she is the finest-looking
woman in this country. As for Hagar and her seven children,
we will take for them 2,800 dollars. You may seem a little sur-
prised at the difference in prices, but the difference in the
negroes makes the difference in price. We expect to start
south with the negroes on the Sth of February, and if you in-
tend to do anything, you had better do it soon.—Yours, &c.,
"BRUIN and HILL

" Wm. Harned, Esq., New York."

CALIFORNIA

By the kindness of friends we are enabled to give our
readers some interesting particulars recently received from
this country. The following is an extract from a letter
written by a gentleman nearly related to a highly-respect-
able family in Liverpool. His letter to his friends in Liver-
pool is dated San Francisco, January 10, 1850. He says,
" All is true respecting this golden country ; the gold
being so diffusely spread in minute portions will require
years and years, with a vast population, to collect it.
Doubtless it has been preserved by Providence as a gift
to the industrious portion of the world's creation—not to
capitalists alone—certainly not to capitalists as heretofore
understood. An immigration of real working people
there is immense scope for. Ido not extenuate the staple
of the country. I enclose a sample.
Ladies, and females generally, may go to the East In-
dies; lint what say you to a Christmas day—a churchful
of gentlemen with one female only, acd she the handsome
wife of an artillery officer."
The second letter from which we quote is also addressed
by a young man, who formerly resided in Liverpool, to
his friends here. It is dated San Francisco, 21st Feb.
The writer states that he arrived at that port on the 27th
January, after a tedious passage of 198 days. The priva-
tions he had endured for a space of seven months will,
in his opinion, entitle him to any success that might
be in store for him. He then proceeds to give an out-
line of the state of affairs in San Francisco. The place
waS full of strangers from all parts of the globe, at-
racted thither by the very favourable accounts of the
inexhaustible supply of the " root of all evil," which
the country contained. Before the writer left San Fran-
cisco the place had become comparatively empty thou-
sands had "marched" for the diggings. The most serious
employment appeared to be gaming, and the places in
which this demoralising pleasure is carried on, are described
as "splendid." These descriptions reminds us of the vivid
picture sketched by `• Sir Walter Scott," of a similar scene
in the palace of the merry monarch on a Sunday evening.
The tables in the Californian " hells," like the " banks"
in the former instance, present immense heaps of gold and
silver. Nor does the simile cease here, the all-absorbing
vice is pursued as well on the Sabbath as the week days—
from Monday morning to Monday morning is one round
of operations in these places, to which all classes and ages
resort ; young boys casting down large sums with a sang
froid that proclaims them to be experienced gamesters.
The object of the writer of the letter was to have obtained
a commercial situation in San Francisco, but in this re-
spect he was doomed to disappointment : he found employ-
ment of every description at a great discount ; the markets
were glutted by the Americans and others, and trade was
in consequence completely paralysed : the chances of con-
signees getting any return for their shipments seemed to
be remote. The necessaries of life, it will be seen, continue
unnaturally dear :—For lodging in a garret 28 shillings
a week was demanded ; dinner was charged one dollar;
breakfast three shillings ; a glass of ale cost sixpence ; a
pound of cheese two shillings and sixpence; a bottle of
porter two shillings, and other articles of consumption
were equally high. Anything like sanatory regulations
appears to be totally disregarded. Rain had fallen inces-
santly from October to January, the streets were in conse-
quence " one common mud-hold," preventing not only
the traffic of pedestrians, but also of carriages of any kind :
teams ;of oxen and mules were continually, as it were,
imbedded in the stagnant mire. The state of trade being
so unfavourable, and the cost of living being so serious a
consideration, the writer soon equipped himself for the
" diggings." He provided a pick, spades, a gold-washing
cradle, and a tent, and in this trim departed fora locality
one thousand feet above the level of the sea. His first
stage was Stockton, 150 miles from San Francisco, whither
he proceeded in a small schooner; the remainder of the
journey was inland, and would be performed on foot, or
by waggon. The weather had been cold, but was expected
soon to become more genial ; notwithstanding the cold,
however, the writer, and three other gentlemen, for a
month slept under a tent on the sand, two of these persons,
singularly enough, were known to him when in this coun-
try, both had been in good circumstances when in England,
but impelled, either by their misfortunes, or their indis-

THE OVER!: AND MAIL.
The papers and letters from India and China, in anti-
cipation of the overland mail, have been received. Dates
are—Bombay, April 3; Calcutta, March 25 ; and China,
March 7. The Marquis of Dalhousie's health had won-
derfully improved by his late voyage. He was about to
quit Calcutta for Simla, whither the marchioness had
preceded him some days. Sir Charles Napier was at La-
hore on the 22nd of March, watching every movement,
and listening to every complaint. Our Peshawur frontier
was in a very disturbed state, and the communication be-
tween Peshawur and Kobat was entirely closed. Captain
Coke had a skirmish with some of the disaffected in the
hills, and lost ten of his men. The Affreedies have again
proved troublesome, and succeeded in cutting off the
supplies of water to the tower of Cohat, which placed the
garrison in a helpless condition, and the troops were con-
sequently obliged to withdraw from that fortress. Ano-
ther expedition to the hills was contemplated. The Bri-
tish seamen and marines on board her Majesty's steamer
Medea, Commander Lockyer, have had a gallant and vic-
torious action with the Chinese pirates. They succeeded
in capturing and destroying 13 junks, by which the sea
plunderers lost 220 men killed, and 20 made prisoners,
two of whom have since died of their wounds. Not a
single man belonging to the English party sustained the
slightest injury. The commercial advices from Calcutta
and Bombay represent trade to be in a very dull state,
without any prospect of improvement. Import market
at Bombay extremely dull, and somewhat lower for the
little business doing. Exports also dull. Freight also
depressed. Rates to Liverpool £3 first class, £2 15s. se-
cond class, and to London £3. At Calcutta imports were
quiet, and in some cases lower. In exports the activity
had subsided, waiting further advices. Freights lower,
and little doing. The Bank of Bengal has raised rates for
loans and discount 1 per cent.