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

iented to Parliament,

The period included in the

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 £4,010, and of
each of the two under-secretaries, £1,125; of the private
secretary to the Secretary of State £2lO, and of the private
secretaries to the under-secretaries £225. The rest '"

estimate is for clerks, messengers, &c.; but it is stated
that a portion of the clerks provided for in this estimate
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 Hasling-
den Union, terminated his existence by hanging himself
in the cellar of his own house. He was 28 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 (E 1 per week) were not sufficient
remuneration for his services.
COMPENSATION Fon. - THE Loss OF A. HUSBAND.—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 of stooping and sweeping into a
shovel, when a cart, driven by one of the company's ser-
vants, struck him on the head. He was taken to the
hospital, and died in an hour and a half afterwards. It
appeared that the carter called out. The jury found a
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-
stroyed by fire in February last. The claim was resisted
on the 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 Morivn POlV'Eft.—An ingenious Sc
nician, Mr. P. Lagargren, has invented a new

.edish mecha-

power-eng

intended to supersede steam

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
in the reservoir is produced by the admission of a certain
quantity of alcohol and of atmospheric air, each time the
machine makes a stroke. Explosive air is hereby pro-
duced, is fired at each turn, and instantly burns away ;
one of the pistons being at the same time opened, an
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.
Tun 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, £6OO ;
solicitor, £2,600; chief clerk to ditto, £400; inspector-
general, £700; receiver-general, £1,000; chief clerk to
ditto, £600; accountant-general, £600; deputy accountant-
general, £lOO ; president of money-order office, £6CO ;
chief clerk of ditto, £400; 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, £4OO ; president of inland-office, £4O ; 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 glo to £l,OOO a-year each • 971 provincial post-
masters whose salaries vary from £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 lh. 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 "TUE WAR UPON RUSSIAN COMMERCE.
—Should the war iu 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 breadstnffs 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, perhaps, 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.

AIITIFICATIONS OF CnossTenr.—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
pass: 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 thz, 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 extremity,.—Mill's. Travels on the Shores
of the &lac,

MR. W. DOUGLAS, postmaster at Gateshead, shot
self dead on Saturday week, in his own office.

THE HAMMERSMITH MAGISTRATE has that
though a seat may be engaged upon an omnibus, it rat r;*

er cannot keep the

be aiiy seat the engager can get; a et;
" box-seat," or any other seat, specially vacant.

HORRIBLE Divrir.—An old eccentric woman, named
Hannah Morris, living by herself at Wellow, near Bristol,
was recently found in a nearly dying state on the floor of
her bed-room. She had become paralysed, and fallen ont
The mice, with which her house swarmed, had
eaten the flesh off her face while she was yet

of bed.

THE CHOLERA exists in various parts of Scotland. In
Wishaw it is raging with virulence, and assistance has
had to be obtained from Glasgow. • Sporadic cases are
reported at Falkirk, and several deaths have taken place
at Perth within the last fortnight. The malady has also
broken out at Castle Douglas, near Dumfries, whe

several fatal cases are reported,

nee also

THE UNITED STATES, SPAIN AND CUBA.--We have
good reason for stating that an authorised agent of the
United States has arrived from Washington, on his way
to Madrid, empowered to offer for the purchase of Cuba.
—Morning Herald.

A GRACE OFFENCE.—John Alderson, the sexton of
All Saints' Church, .Newcastle-upon-Tyne, has been com-
mitted for trial by the magistrates of that borough, on a
charge of stealing lead from coffins contained in vaults in
an old grave yard. About 33 stone weight of coffin lead
was found at one shop where he had sold it.
A "13LicxGrAnDs? portrait gallery" is in course of for-
mation at Glasgow, it being the intention of the chief con-
stable to daguerreotype all the principal thieves and des-
peradoes of both sexes with whom the city is infested. It
is thought that such a collection, when complete, will
freshen the recollection of plundered people, ancj materially
forward the ends of justice.
SHOCKING ACCIDENTS.—TWO singular and horrible
accidents have recently occurred at Shields. In one case
a maid-servant in a- house in South Shields, having a stair-
rod in her hand, got up on a table to shut a window ; the
table tilted and she fell, the rod in her fall being driven
into her head, and penetrating nearly to the brain. No
one else being present, there she lay for three or four
hours insensible. She is not expected to recover. A tailor
in North Shields, walking across his employer's shop bare-
footed, ran a needle into his toe, and using another toe
to push it out, the needle entered that toe and broke.
Great swelling followed, and a surgeon was sent for who
extracted the needle, but lock-jaw ensued, and the poor
man died in great agony.

ITALIAN BANDITS AND ENGLISH LADIES. —A gentle-
man at Rome writes as follows :—" One of the many
robberies committed last winter on the road from Civita
Vecchia to this city was on the carriage of two English
ladies, named Ireland. The postilion who drove the horses
from the station. to Castel Guidi pretended to arrange the
harness, when the brigands appeared and completely pil-
laged the carriage. The postilion was arrested, and, tired
of his imprisonment, he made such revelations as to lead to
the capture of the whole band, amounting in all to 35. A
valuable India shawl was traced to a woman at the village
of Castel Guidi, who pretended to have bought it for a few
dollars. One of the fashionable modistes had received all
the ladies' caps, bonnets, and dresses. Several influential
people were connected with the banditti, and no further
proceed
c I been

e consicter

necessary;od and the ladies have

sold and the money spent, they must reconcile themselves
to their loss, and be happy at their lives being spared by
the miscreants."
Trus NEW CUSTO3IS AND EXCISE DUTIES.—On Wed-
nesday two acts of Parliament, which received the royal
assent on Monday, last week, were printed, to alter the
duties of Customs on sugar and spirits, and the Excise
duties on sugar. By the first act (17th and 18th Vic., c.
29) the new duties of Customs on sugar and molasses are
to be levied from and after the sth July instant; and on
and after the 26th May last the additional duties of Cus-
toms are to be levied on spirits imported into Scotland.
Under the second act (chap. 30) new Excise duties on
sugar are granted from and after the 26th May last; and
on the 6th July instant new duties are to be levied on
sugar used in the brewing of beer, and in addition, on
every licence to be taken out annually by every brewer of
beer for sale who shall intend to use any sugar in the
brewing or making of beer, the duty of 20s. Brewers
intending to use sugar are to take out licenses which are
to expire on the 10th of October, and
annually in the same manner as otl

viers 0:

Revenue are

to be renewed

excise licenses.

) make regula-
r, and brewers

tions for using sugar in the brewing of be.,
are not to use sugar contrary to such regulations without
being licensed. The acts declare that the new duties have
been freely and voluntarily given towards defraying the
expenses of the just and necessary war in which her
Majesty is engaged.
A ROVING Inisn RA.3IONET.—A correspondent of the
Ohio State Journal has sent to that paper an account. of
a tour through Kansas, which is at present in possession
of the Indians, but, under the Nebraska Kansas Bill, is
to form a new territory of the United States. In his
letter he says, " Before we passed the Kansas (river) we
came upon an encampment that attracted attenti,,n. It
turned out to be a grand hunting company for the plains.
Sir St. George Gore, an Irish baronet, has taken it into
his head that it will be fine sport to hunt buffalo, &c , on
our great western plains ; so he packed UP -1,

nis trunks, anu
...fced for a regular summer campaign. He brought the
most magnificent pack of dogs that were ever seen in this

and staghounds, of the most beautiful breeds, compose
this part of the expedition. He had a large carriage, and
probably a dozen large waggons to transport provisions,
&c. These require five yoke of oxen to each waggon.
These with the horses, men, &c., made up quite an im-
posing company. Sir St. George is a fine-built, stout,
light-haired, and resolute-looking man. But there are
other things besides fun in such a trip, and it will try the
manner of stuff of which he is made before he returns."

GRAND MILITARY OPERATIONS AT CHATHAM. - On
Thursday Prince Albert was present at some brilliant
manoeuvres, at Chatham, and was loudly cheered on his
appearance upon the
.ground. The troops employed con-
sisted of the 35th regiment, Royal Marines, the 80th and
94th (recently returned from India), Provisional Battalion,
Royal Artillery, the Royal Sappers and Miners, and the
Sappers and Miners of the East India Company's service.
The whole of the troops of the Garrison were engaged in
the attack and defence of a fortified town, and for carrying
out the different operations with effect they were broken
up into separate divisions, having no connexion with each
other. Each division represented a distinct and separate
part both in attack and defence. One of these operations
was the defence of ditches of a fortified place against au
assault by rockets, forgasses, hand grenades, live shells,
musketry, and pierriers, followed by the mode of throwing
a body of troops across a river upon rafts of cylindrical
and indiarubber pontoons. The proximity of the River
Medway rendered this experiment peculiarly interesting.
The use of the helmet and diving dress was also exhibited.
At the close of the operations the Royal Engineers gave a
splendid entertainment, in their mess-room, to a large
and distinguished party. Prince Albert honbured the
festival with his presence.

EXTRAORDINARY TRIAL FOR MURDER.-At Hertford
assizes, on Thursday, Miguel Yzsquiardo, aged twenty-
four, was placed at the bar to take his trial for the wilful
murder of George Seales, a boy about fourteen years of
age,who was employed in watching a corn-field at Mimms,
when the prisoner (a stranger in that part of the country),
who was trespassing, on being remonstrated with, killed
him by blows upon the head with a bludgeon. It ap-
peared that soon after his committal the prisoner stated
that he should not again speak (probably expecting by
that means to escape his trial), and for several months he
had been mute. On being now arraigned he refused to
plead, and the jury having found that he was wilfully
mute, ordered the trial to be proceeded with, and a plea
of not guilty to be recorded. The prisoner was then asked
in the usual form whether he desired to be tried by a
jury composed of half foreigners or by a jury of English-
men ? No answer, however, could be obtained from him.
The judge said that if the prisoner did not dissent, he
should take upon himself to direct that the trial should
take place before a jury of Englishmen. The prisoner
still maintained an obstinate silence, and after a short
interval his lordship directed the jury to be sworn, and
the prisoner was given in charge to them. The jury re-
turned a verdict of guilty, and the prisoner was sentenced
to death.

SINGULAR OCCURRENCE.—The Greenock Advertiser
gives an account of an adventure which befel Lachlan
Graham, of Greenock, a man of 40, who is paralysed, and
has been accustomed to amuse himself with roaming about
the shubbery of the cemetery and looking for birds' nests.
In tracking a linnet on the 13th ult. he fell down, and was
unable to rise. His voice being also affected by paralysis,
he could not make himself heard at any distance, and,
owing to the height of the furze, there was no chance of
his being seen. He lay there for an entire week, subsist-
ing on a few cherries and beans, and the young shoots of
the whins, and was at last saved from perishing through
the instrumentality of the bird which he had been so in-
tent on securing or plundering, for as he lay near the nest
a mason employed on a tombstone on his way to work,
seeing the linnet fly home, followed, and found Graham,
who had been advertised for by his family, and who showed
the power of the ruling passion by his first words to the
mason,—" There's the nest !" After the excitement of the
moment, however, he became insensible, but, through
medical treatment, he is recovering.
RUSSIAN AGGRESSION AND EXTENSION.—The Journal
de la Statisque Universelle publishes the following table
of the successive encroachments of Russia from the 14th
century up to the year 1832 :

GRAND DUCHY OF MOSCOW

Extent in Geographical Popula-
In 1328, at the accession of Yvan Miles. tion.
(Kaleta)
In 1462, at the accession of Yvan 1... 18,474
In 1503, at the death of Yvan 1....... _ 37,137

In 1581, at the death of Yvan 11. ... 125,46
In 1645, at the death of Michel 254,361

In 1689, at the accession of Peter 1... 263,900 16,000,000

EMPIRE OF RUSSIA,

In 1725,at the accession ofCatherine I. 273,814 20' 000,000
In 1762,at the accession ofCatherinell. 319,538 25,000,000
In 1796, at the death of Catherine 11. 331,851 33,000,000
In 1825, at the death of Alexander I. 367,494 56,000,000
In 1831, at the taking of Warsaw.... 369,704 60,000,000
That is to say, that during the last two centuries Russia
has doubled „her territory, and during the last 100 years
has tripled her population ; her conquests during 60 years
are equal to all she possessed in Europe before that period ;
her conquests from Sweden are greater than what remain
of that kingdom ; she has taken from the Tartars an ex-
tent equal to that of Turkey in Europe, with Greece, Italy,
and Spain; her conquests from Turkey in Europe are
more in extent than the kingdom of Russia without the
Rhenish provinces ; she has taken from Turkey in Asia
an extent of territory equal to all the small states of
Germany ; from Persia, equal to the whole of England
(United Kingdom) ; and from Poland equal to the whole
Austrian empire. A division of the population gives-
-2,000,000 for the tribes of Caucasus.
4,000,000 for the Cossack s,the Georgians,and the Khirguiz.
6,000,000 for the Turks, the Mongols, and the Tartars.
6,000,000 for the Ouralians, the Fmlanders,and the Swedes.
20000,000 for the Muscovites (of the Greek Church).
23,000,000 for the Poles (Roman and Greek Church united).

60,000,000
The population of ancient Poland counts for two-fifths of
the total population over an eighth part of the territory,
and the Muscovite• population for one-third of the total
number over a tenth of the territory ; in other words
even at; the present time, the Polish el
ggjority as compared to all the others

,ent is in a great