The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1848-06-27 00:00:00

a rise on the

New York s
at extent.

n. Taylor is nominated as the Whig candidate, with

was tending downward, 11

to 111 being the

closing rates. Trade was very stagnant, and the export
of specie to, Europe was at length beginning to create an

The shipments of cotton continued on a liberal scale.
The transactions in this staple at New York had been only
to a small extent, at a decline of k to a cent per pound,
since the sailing of the Hibernia. Flour was advancing,
and was too light for our markets. The news of the rise
in the price of Indian corn, on this side, caused that article

3e of about 3s. 6d. per quarter.
Cotton, at New Orleans, had declined about a cent per
~ in consequence of the news by the Hibernia.

WEST INDIES.—The Royal Mail steam-ship Tay,
Captain Sharp, arrived at Southampton on Tuesday. His
Excellency Sir Henry Light, K.C.8., has returned to
England in the Tay. The Tay brings intelligence of the

wreck of the barque Lady Huntly, which was lost at sea
on her passage from Liverpool, on the 18th May, crew
saved, part of whom returned in the Tay. There is no
news in particular from any of the islands. The accounts
from Jamaica are still extremely unsatisfactory, business
being completely at a stand-still. The weather, however,
which for a long time had been very dry, had changed for
the better, and on the day the packet left copious showers
had set in, with every prospect of their continuance. The

information o:

taxen place in iviartnuque. une ramily of whites had been
burnt to death by the blacks. The freedom of the slaves
had been proclaimed at Martinique and Guadeloupe, and
very great fears were entertained of the consequences.

FRANCE

MADAME LAFARGE.—A committee is about to be
formed in the Paris house of representatives, to inquire

ans and

lepartments

witn a view to tue release of prisoners who can establish
any claim to that preference on doubts of their guilt, or
other favourable cause. Amongst those whose chances of
favour are considered the most sure, is Madame Lafarge,
and the measure is suspected to have originated with a
view to her benefit. She had been reckoning upon this be-
fore the revolution of February, in her prison at Montpe-
lier, where she is regarded as a saint and martyr. Six
months ago an official personage was sent to visit her on
the part of the queen, to whom she had applied for some
prints and books to relieve her solitude, she basing her
claim upon the relationship between them. The gentle-
man employed found her engaged in forming a hortussic-
cus, composed entirely of all the poisonous plants used in
medicine. Around lay some odoriferous flowers, some
fresh and some faded, and the gentleman, with French
gallantry, endeavoured to turn a compliment by congratu-
lating her upon being thus surrounded with flowers. " Ah,
monsieur," exclaimed she, with a deep sigh, " do you not
perceive that they are withered ones ?" She took up a
bunch of the beautiful belladonna which lay near her, and
handed it towards him with so much grace, that he who
came to reprimand became from that moment her devoted
slave, and seized the gift with avidity, declaring that he
would keep it as long as he should live ! It is now this
very official who has drawn up the report on the " dossier
Lafarge," and who is to take that special case in hand be-
fore the Assembly. The Paris correspondent of the Atlas,
from whom these curious facts are derived, furnished a cu-
rious account of the apartments, or " cells," occupied by
the lady ; one of them replete with every article of ele-
gance and luxury, including many of her own paintings
and drawings, and amongst others a likeness of her hus-
band (for the alleged poisoning of whom she is now con-
fined), with his own autograph at the bottom. This looks
out upon a beautiful country, embracing the chateau where
the crime took place. The other, containing her little bed,
is gloomy and austere in furniture, having an air of the
most rigid monastic penance. The writer of the article
exclaims—" Is this woman guilty or is she innocent ? is
she a most injured martyr, or a most fiendish and con-
summate comedian ? The debates upon her future fate
are expected to be carried on with as much passion, and
to excite as great a curiosity as those to which her trial
itself gave rise. The mysteries of social life in France are
too deep to fathom ; and it would be presumptuous to
dare to condemn even those against whom the most mi-
nute proofs of guilt can be brought with success in a court
of justice.
M. Marrast presented the draft of the constitution,
which occupied nearly an hour in the reading. It must
be borne in mind that this is only a project, which may
fill the greater part of the session before it is settled.
There is to be a president for four years, to which every
French citizen, thirty years of age, and of fair character,
is eligible. A vice-president is to be elected by the Na-
tional Assembly, which is to consist of 750 members.
There is to be but one chamber, The muurters are to be