The Liverpool Standard, and General Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1854-11-07 00:00:00

GEN-ERAL INTELLIGENCE.

No fewer t:

a nine non-commissioned officers were pro-

moted last week to cornetcies and ensigncies.
THE EARL or DIIN DONALD has been appointed Vice
Admiral of the United Kingdom, vice Sir J. B. Martin

deceased.

PRICE OF A BREVET.--It appears from a parliamen-
tary paper, just printed, that the expense of the Brevet
in June last will be £17,712 13s. 4d. w-year. The
charges of the promotions amounted to £29,128 os, 10d.,
from which the half-pay to be deducted: amounts. to
£11,415 7s. 6d., leaving the expense £17,712 13s. 4d.
POOR REMVAL.—A parliamentary return recently
issued states that in the year ending March 25, 1854,
there were 1,693 paupers removed to Ireland from the
metropolitan parishes and unions. This is a considerable
increase on the numbers removed during the three pre-
vious years. During the same period the number removed
to Ireland from Liverpool, was 4,545 ; from Bristol, 78 ;
from Newport, 34 ; from Cardiff, 42; and from Swansea, 8.
GREAT GUNS.—The large iron works at Low Moor are
fully employed. Last week an order from government
was received for 100 guns of immense calibre, we believe
Lancaster's oval guns, which will throw a ball weighing
941bs. Besides this, the company have another large order
for cannon, which they are executing at the rate of 18
guns per week..—Halifax Courier.
THE FRENCH BAND OF GUIDES.—The Court Circular
says Her Majesty the Queen has been pleased, through
Lord Alfred Paget, to transmit to the Baron de Verdiere,
Captain in the Imperial Regiment of Guides, the sum of
100 guineas for the band, as a mark of Royal satisfaction
at their brilliant performance at Windsor.
Tux Trieste Observer states► from Constantinople that
the Russian war steamer, which sometime ago destroyed
some Turkish trading vessels, has again made her appear-
ance in the Black Sea under British colours, and burnt, off
Kilia, a Turkish vessel laden with coals.

IT IS RUMOURED, says the Morning Herald, that a
captain of noble birth, commanding one of the Baltic
screw line-of-battle-ships, is likely to appear before a court-
martial, when some curious disclosures may take place
touching the proceedings of the Baltic fleet.

APPARATUS FOR BLOWING-UP SHIPS SUNK AT SEBAS-
TOPOL.—A firm at Newcastle-upon-Tyne, patentees of the
hydraulic crane, are employed executing an order from the
Admirality for the construction of apparatus for blowing
up the Russian ships of war which obstruct the entrance
of the harbour of Sebastopol. They are 25 in number-13
large and 12 smaller—and each consists of three water-
tight cylinders, of different sizes, placed one within the
other, so as to form three distinct compartments. The in-
nermost cylinder will be filled with fine gunpowder : the
space between it and the next with ordinary blasting
powder, and the outer one left vacant. A wire will be in-
serted in the innermost cylinder to communicate with a
galvanic battery. The larger apparatus will weigh three
tons each, and when charged four tons. The order will be
completed some time this week, and it is said that prior to
their being shipped off to Sebastopol the effect of one of
them will be tried upon a sunken wreck at Tynemouth.
THE QUEEN AN EARLY RISER.—The occasion of the
Queen's visit to Hull (says the Hull Packet) formed no
exception to Her Majesty's habit of early rising. Her
Majesty, the Prince Consort, and all the Royal children
had breakfasted, and the table was cleared before seven
o'clock had struck. By half-past six the pages of her
household were executing the Royal commands in the
shops of our most stirring tradesmen. The cost of the
late gala on the occasion of the Queen's visit is estimated
at about £65,000, including the travelling expenses of
visitors for that special occasion. It is stated that one
man received £BOO for the use of variegated lamps, which
he let out at 4d. a-piece.
THE RUSSIAN EMPlRR.—Russia is the greatest un-
broken empire for extent that ever existed—occupying
vast regions of Europe and Asia, and nearly one-sixth of
the habitable globe. It is forty-one times the size of
France, and one hundred and thirty-eight times that of
England. Yet it was too small for the ambition of the
Emperor Alexander, who is reported to have said—" I
insist upon having the Baltic to skate upon, the Caspian
for a bathing-place, the Black Sea as a wash-hand basin,
and the North Pacific Ocean as a fish-pond." He " en-
croached on Tartary for a pasture, on Georgia and Persia
for a vineyard, on Turkey for a garden, on Poland for a
farm, on Finland and Lapland as a hunting-ground, and
took part of North ,America as a place of banishment for
offenders."

A NEWSPAPER AT CHURCIL—On more than one occa-
sion lately the pulpit has assumed the function of the
newspaper in publishing news of victory, but from the
other side of the globe we learn that a newspaper has
actually made its appearance in the reading desk to assist
in the service of the Church. The appointment of a day
of humiliation and prayer for the war in which this king-
dom is engaged having become known to the colonists in
Australia, the inhabitants of a place in the neighbourhood
of the Burraburra copper mines were minded to observe a
day in a like manner, and no other copy of the services ap-
pomted for the occasion having been provided, the clergy-
man read the special services in the Church from a number
of the Leeds Intelligencer which contained them.
LECTURES IN RURAL DISTRICTS.—On Tuesday (says
the Nottingham Journal), the rector of Hawksworth de-
livered a lecture in the school-room, on the "causes and
history of the present war." The sum of Id. was charged
for admission, and the room was filled to overflowing by
an audience who listened most attentively for upwards of
two hours. At the conclusion of the lecture, the rev.
gentleman offered to summon his parishioners together
from time to time, and relate to them matters of interest
and importance in connection with the recent struggle, on
condition that they should pay one penny each for admis-
sion, and that the sum thus collected_ shunkl_hfunt Ito tan
tirdi; pestilence or the sword. This proposal met with
an unanimous and hearty approval.

To DE LEFT TILL CILLE'D FOR.—About some three
years ago a labouring man in this town was consuming
two half-ounces of tobacco daily, and sometimes more,
paying lid. for the half-ounce. On going into the shop
of Mr. T. P., draper and grocer, as was his practice, and
learning that the price of tobacco had been raised to 2d.
the half-ounce, he laid down his pipe and tobacco-box on
the counter, requesting Mr. P. would take charge of them
until he called for them. From that day forward he de-
posited a fourpenny piece (being the sum that it usually
cost him for tobacco) daily in a box, and, on opening it last
Saturday, he had the 'gratification of beholding upwards
of £2O accumulated in 4d. pieces. He then very judi-
ciously counted out £2O worth and placed them in the
savings' bank, leaving the remainder as nest-eggs to
invite further deposits.—Carmarthen Journal.
NEW WINE.—The scarcity of the vintage in France
this year will, it is thought, be nearly compensated by its
quality. A Bordeaux paper tells us—" The grapes of a
sugary quality are generally perfectly ripe. The vintage,
moreover, has been favoured by splendid weather. We
may consequently obtain an excellent wine, which will
long remain unequalled. It is already compared to that
of the famous comet year (1811). Offers have begun to be
made for it. In the canton of Courg an offer of 625 f. the
cask has been made for an ordinary quality, but refused.
Most of the owners appear resolved to wait."
ELECTRICAL EXPERIMENTS.—The following extracts
from a letter received from New York, will be read with
interest :—" We have recently learned that telegraphic
experiments have been made at Portsmouth, England,
and with perfect success, by which, with an operating
battery on one side of a milldam, 500 feet across, and the
corresponding dial on the other side, telegraphic messages
were conveyed through the water without the aid of con-
necting wires ; and it is contended that in the same
manner a telegraphic message may be sent across the
British Channel without continuous cables of wire. The
first impression of everybody, after reading this state-
ment, would be that the experiment is new. It is proper
to correct the mistake. One _hundred and six years ago
Dr. Franklin, the American philosopher, made the same
experiment on a larger scale, and with the same success.
And nine years ago Professor Morse made successful ex-
perime4ts across the Susquehanna river, and expended a
good deal of Hine and money with the hope of being able
ultimately to transmit intelligence in the same way across
the Atlantic. In 1748, Dr. Franklin invited his philo-
sophical friends to what he termed an electrical feast, on
the shore of the Schuylkill, near Philadelphia, where
he tried his experiments. In describing them to his
friend, Peter Collinson, of London, he uses the following
language :—" Chagrined a little that we have hitherto
been able to produce nothing in this way of use to man-
kind, and the hot weather coming on when electrical ex-
periments are not so agreeable, it is proposed to put an end
to them for this season; somewhat humorously, in a party'
of pleasure on the banks of the Schuylkill. Spirits at the
same time are to be fired by a spark sent from side to
side through the river without any other conductor than
the water; an experiment which we sometime since per-
formed to the amazement of many. A turkey is to be
killed for our dinner, by the electric shock, and roasted
by the electric jack before a fire kindled by,the electrified
bottle, when the health of all the famous electricians of
England, Holland, France, and Germany are to be drunk
in electrified bumpers, under a discharge of guns from the
electrical battery.

DISASTER AT SEA.—The Cork Examiner of Wednes-
day contains the following account of a vain endeavour to
gain tidings of a missing steam-vessel :—" Yesterday, the
Powerful, steam-tug,sent out in charge of Captain Stirling,
of Queenstown, returned into the harbour after a fruitless
expedition in search of the Cecilia, screw-steamer. This
splendid vessel, belonging to the Mediterranean Steam
Company; 1,100 tons register, was on her voyage home,
laden with a most valuable cargo of shumac and madder
roots, when, having encountered heavy weather, in which
she suffered severely, she was found to be leaky. Shortly
after it was discovered that her centre compartment had
filled, the engines, of course, choked and incapable of work-
ing, and the result was, that she was abandoned by the
crew on the 19th of October, in lat. 49 deg. 51 min., and
long. 8 deg. 31 min. The crew were picked up by a vessel
bound for Falmouth, and `landed there. On the 24th of
October, the Messrs. Scott, of Queenstown, received
despatches directing them to have search made for the lost
vessel, and accordingly the Powerful was sent out for that
purpose, laden with a large quantity of coals. The search,
however, proved quite fruitless, though the tug cruised in
all directions about the quarter to which she was likely to
have drifted, for six days, and actually came upon the
track. It is supposed, nay almost certain, that in her
crippled condition, and deserted as she was, she must have
foundered in the late tremendous gale."
A GREAT " DUCK AND DRAKE" CASE has been settled.
Lord St. Leonards has a farm on the Thames—Boyle
Farm—and in front of it, in the centre of the river, is a
small ea, also his property. On this ait, which the noble
ex-Chancellor appears to have kept in beautiful trim,
divers ducks and drakes belonging to poor neighbours
were wont to trespass, as long back as February, 1852.
His lordship more than once bought up the trespassers at
a large price ; but the poor neighbours finding him a good
customer, used to' buy fresh birds, in hopes of selling them
at a premium. His lordship, therefore, finding this would
not do, seized upon five ducks and 'a drake errant on his
ait, and has kept them in pound for two years. Last
Friday, Mr. Wyatt, poulterer, the owner of the ducks,
brought an action in the Kingston County-court for
damage sustained by the, seizure and detention of the
ducks, "whereby the Plaintiff lost the use of the ducks,
their eggs, and possible progeny." The jury found a ver-
dict—" That the plaintiff had sustained 30s. damages-;
that the ducks were•doing damage to the ait at the time
of their seizure,.and that there was no evidence what, had
become of the eggs laid,by the ducks during tip tiine of
their impr;soument," Not very decigyo,