The Liverpool Standard, and General Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1854-07-18 00:00:00

the packe

for the Convey

Parliament. It *was- forme
the navy estimates, but is now a separ
though prepared by the naval department.

lar it is
Übe'

to £812,82

last year was £835,212; this•,
ANOTHER BARRIER to the „. commerce
just been thrown down, by a new banish law, making
trade with Iceland free to all nations.. By this law,
foreigners are allowed to trade with Iceland on- precisely
the same footing as Danes. Foreign vessels, even when
not freighted by Danish merchants, may not only carry
on trade with the island, but those of move than 1
tons burden are also permitted to sail between-the
ent ports of the islp
other Danish ports.

id, or between the- latter and an.

Faoat DAMASCUS, a letter of the Sth of 'June informs
us that Captain Nolan, of her Majesty's service, who had
arrived there to purchase hnraPq fnr flip

ad succeede

aavl ZG3 AUL lAIG .LPL,
in obtaining 100, at rather
norses had been despatched to Beyrout
Nolan had proceeded into the desert, to, conti
chases among th^ -b tribes.
RUSSIAN of Span:

a high Pr

nd-Cai)

PRIZES—Eleven cargoes v. sh and Por-
tii,guese salt, condemned as Russian Prizes, were offered
at auction, on Tuesday, by the brokers for the admiralty,
and attracted a large attendance. Buyers- for America,
Australia, the Cape, and the Baltic ports, as well as Nor-
way and Sweden, competed with home manufacturers and
agriculturists, and the range of prices obtained was from
15s. to 265. per ton—a result considered favourable for the
captors, as the article is of small value, although of great
bulk.

MILITIA
ESTIMATES.--The militia estimates have been
laid before the House of Commons. The charge last year
was £478,740 ; for the current year it will- be more than
double that sum, and will amount to £998;000. The first
item is entirely new; it is the charge for regiments to be
embodied ; it is proposed to take a vote of £360,000 on ac-
count, in respect of this charge. The item for raising and
training the militia in England and Wales is £480,000;
the number, officers and men, is 89,176—nearly the same
as last year. Bounty is charged for the enrolment and at-
testation of 40,000 men. The items for raising and train-
ing the militia in Scotland and Ireland are " on account ;"
the vote for Scotland is to be £35,000, the number of
officers and men 10,800; the vote for Ireland is to be
£60,200, and the number 21,600.

SECRETARY FOR WA.R.—the estimate .of the sum re-
quired to pay the salaries and other expenses in the d
partment of the Secretary of State for War has b

rented to Parliament. The period included in tn.
mate is rather more than three-quarters of a year—viz..
from the 12th of June to the 31st of next March. The
amount of the estimate is £14,307. The salary of the
Secretary of State for this period is to be 21,010, and of

een pre-
esti-

each of the two under-secretaries, £1,125.; oftheprivate
secretary to the Secretary of State £240, and of the private
secretaries to the under-secretaries £225. The rest of the
&c.l but it is stated

messeng

estimate is for clerks,
that a portion of the clerks provided fon' in this estimat
will be taken from other public offices, by which a corres
ponding reduction will be effected there.
SIIICIDE.—On Wednesday week James Hamer, clerk
to Mr. Woodcock, clerk to the guardians of the asling-
den Union, terminated his existence by hanging himself
in the cellar of his own house. He was 2S years of age,
and has left a widow and three children. He was addicted
to drinking, and had been absent from his employment for
some days before he destroyed himself. In a letter which
he had written just before committing the act, he com-
plained that his wages (C 1 per week) were not sufficient
remuneration for his services.
COMPENSATION FOR THE Loss OF A HusnlND.—At

the Court of Queen's Bench, on Tuesday, the widow and
administratrix of John Dooly sued the Great Northern
Railway Company for compensation for the death of her
husband. Dooly was employed as a street orderly in
Aldersgate-street, London, on the 17th November, 1852,
and he was in the act "f -+,.--' sue-^- '',to a

Act oz stooping and sweeping ink
shovel, when a cart, driven by one of the company's se
wants, struck him on the head. He was taken to tl
hospital, and died in an hour and a half afterwards. :

appeared that the carter called out.
verdict for the plaintiff, damages £l5O.
ACTION AGAINST AN INSURANCE COMP-INT.—Mons,
Bossard, a Frenchman, carrying on the business of a tan-
ner, in Church-street, Bermondsey, London, brought an
action in the Court of Common Pleas, on Tuesday, against
the Atlas Assurance Company, to recover £BOO on a policy
of assurance upon some property of his which was de-
.4rosed by fire in February last. The claim was resisted
_ ground that the plaintiff neither had insured a
certain large shed which was burnt down, nor believed he
had insured it. The jury returned an affirmative answer
to the only question which Lord Chief-Justice Jervis left
to them, to the effect that the plaintiff did bona fide be-
lieve that he had insured the large building. Verdict for
the.plaintiff. Damages, £BOO.
NEW MOTIVE PowEa.—An ingenious Swedis.
nician, Mr. P. Lagargren, has invented a new power-engine
intended to supersede steam. The moving force is the
pressure of the atmosphere, which acts on a vacuum in a
copper reservoir connected with two cylinders provided
with pistons, as in a common steam-engine. The vacuum
'l'. reservoir is produced by the admission of a certain
04 - nnnnhlima

LIU
It
mind a

The jur

on the

nantity of alcohol

meelm.

machine makes a stroke. Explosive air is herebl
duced, is fired at each turn, and instantly L.
one of the pistons being at the same time 01
atmospheric pressure is obtained equal to 15 pounds on
the square inch. This machine is light and simple, and
its fuel (alcohol) takes little space.
THE POST-OFFICE DEPARTMENT.—The following are
the designations and salaries of the principal officers in the
Post-office department, viz. :—Postmaster-General, £2,500
a-year ; secretary to General Post-office, £2,000 a-year ;
assistant-secretaries to ditto, £BOO ; chief clerk to secretary,
£630: surveyor and superintendent of mail coaches, £OOO
_ _ _
solid

mrns away ;
ened, an

tor, £2,500; chief clerk to ditto, £400; inspector-
general, £7OO ; receiver-general, £l,OOO ; chief clerk to
ditto, £600; accountant-general, £600; deputy accountant-
general, £4OO ; president of money-order office, £6OO ;
chief clerk of ditto, £lOO ; inspector of dead letters, £400;
president of inland-office, £700; senior clerks of ditto,
£450; secretary to the post-office in Dublin, £800; solici-
tor to ditto, £l,OOO ; receiver-general, £5OO ; accountant-
general, £400; president of inland-office, £400; secretary
to the post-office in Edinburgh, £1,000; receiver-general
to ditto, £4OO. There are 14 surveyors to the General
Post-office, whose salaries vary from £3OO to £5OO a-year ;
57 post masters or packet agents abroad whose salaries
vary from 240 to £l,OOO a-year each ; 971 provincial post-
masters whose salaries vary froin £5 to £l,OOO a-year each ;
717 provincial clerks, whose salaries average £6O a-year
each; 1,827 provincial letter-carriers whose wages average
12s. per week each ; 4,195 rural post messengers, whose
wages average lls. a week each ; 7,986 sub-postmasters,
whose salaries average £7 a year each ; and 131 sub-post-
office messengers, whose wages average Bs. 6d. a week each

EFFECTS OF TliE WAR UPON RUSSIAN COMMERCE.
—Should the war in which we are now engaged be pro-
longed for any lengthened period (which, under present
circumstances, seems not at all improbable), it is worth
while considering what will be the effect upon the com-
merce and trade of Russia, and whence she can draw her
supplies. It is true that her dominion extends over a vast
extent of country, embracing various climates ; but the
question is, what are the productions of these districts ?
As respects Great Britain, we have felt no great inconve-
nience, nor are we likely to do so, from a deficiency in the
supply of the few articles consumed by our manufacturers
formerly obtained there. Indeed, the stoppage of them is
calculated to do some good, by diverting attention to other
quarters where they can be readily obtained. Oil seeds
can be procured in large quantities from the East ; so can
flax, hemp, and other stout fibres. Our North American
possessions and the United States can grow these and ship
them to profit; and they can, moreover, supply us with all
the breadstuffs we require beyond our own production.
Canada and New Brunswick benefit by the stoppage of
the Baltic timber trade ; and as for bristles, these can be
had in abundance in America, and there are many stiff
vegetable fibres well suited for brushes. Tallow and wool
we can get in increased quantities from South America,
the Cape, and Australia; and the vegetable oils are fast
superseding animal grease for the economic purposes of
candles, soap, the dressing of leather, oiling machinery,
&c. But where is Russia to find a market for these
hitherto valuable products ? How is she to make up to
her merchants and producers the deficiency of £18,000,000
or £19,000,000 sterling which they derived from these
exports ? The loss of a million in exports to Russia our
merchants will not feel, from the stimulus given to our
commerce in other quarters ; and the shipping formerly
engaged in transporting goods to and from the Baltic and
Black Sea is not lying idle, or'rotting in port. So buoyant,
indeed, is our commerce, that, if you cut off one outlet, it
makes for itself another; and never, Iserhaps, was the
general carrying trade of the country prosecuted with
more energy, more perseverance, and more profit. With
its foreign trade entirely stopped, whence is the usual
revenue of £16,000,000 to be derived by Russia ?—Ship-
ping and Mercantile Gazette.

fOETIFICATIONS OF CRONZTA.DT.—Peter the Great
erected fortifications both upon the Island of Cronstadt,
and upon other sites commanding the entrance to the bay
by the south channel, from which have arisen a series of
defensive works, which, aided by the natural position of
the island, renders Cronstadt, if not, as it has been
supposed by some impregnable, at least one of the most
formidable fortresses of modern times. Being encompas-
sed by banks and shoals, and to be approached only by
narrow channels, its position has afforded sites for many
strong forts, of which no less than six have been erected
upon shoals, sand banks and rocks lying even with, or
below the surface of the water, and within the cross fire
from which every vessel of any considerable burden must
pais. From the mole upon which we are now standing,
all the fortresses which defend the approaches to the Neva
are under our view. At this point fort Menzikoff rises
above the. barrier against the sea with four tiers and 44
guns, which can rake the channel by which every vessel
must approach. Immediately opposite this, on the south
side of the channel, rises the great fort of Cronslott,
formed of granite and timber, from a small island at the
extremity of the shoals stretching out from the shore on
this side, and mounting 56 guns in casemates, and 32 in
barbette (uncovered). The next fort, west of the bay, is
that of Peter the First, which is seen rising out of the
water in a similar manner to that of Cronslott, and is
built wholly of granite, and mounts 28 guns in bastmates
and 50 in barbette. Beyond this in the same manner,
rises fort Alexander, also of granite and casemated, with
116 guns ; and yet further west is fort Constantine, of 25
guns in a single tier. The 6th fort is that of Risbank,
built of granite and timber, and rising upon the south
side of the channel, and, though yet unfinished, intended
to mount 60 guns in two tiers. On the west side the
town is defended by ramparts and a deep ditch, and on
the north by ramparts and bastions; and twelve batteries,
and at the north-east point where the pier projects, by 16
guns in casemates. On the east, where there is but three
feet water within guns' range, there are ramparts, but no
batteries. The Island is itself defended by a fort called
Fort Peter, and by two batteries, all upon the south side,
in the rear of the forts which guard the channel, and by
Fort Alexander upon the north side, and by redoubts and
lines near its extr0144.7-1,11/I's Vrave4 On the Shores
qf the Baltic,