The Daily Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1860-05-03 00:00:00

THE DAY'S NEWS.

In the House of Commons, yesterday; Lord
Raynham moved the second reading of the Aggra-
vated Assaults Act Amendment Bill, which, after
some debate, was negatived by 109 to 85i majority,
24. The Malicious Injuries to Property Amendment
Act 'was read a second time. The Fisheries
(Scotland) Bill passed through committee. On
the second reading of the Bank of Ireland .Bill,,
Mr. Maguire 'complained of the delay which took
place with regard to Irish bills. Mr. Cardwell
said that he had done his best to expedite Irish
bills. Mr. Hennessy moved the second reading
of the Land Improvement (Ireland) Bill, but his
speech was cut short by the hour, and the, louse
adjourned.

" There's nothirr, like leather." The Sheffield
cutlers are evidently quite alive to the importance
of the principle involved in this " wise saw."
They happen to be among the favoured few whom
the French Treaty is calculated to benefit; and
they have therefore, with a keen eye to the main
chance, presented Louis Napoleon with an elegant
knife, which they call a, couteau de chasse,—
in recognition of expected advantages in their
trade from the treaty. In acknowledging the
gift, the Emperor very adroitly takes occasion to
turn it to political -account,—declaring to them
through his State Secretary, M. Moequard,—
" The treaty, 'you are right in belieting, with
him to whom you attribute the happy initiative,
will strongly contribute to increase the relations,
and to draw closerr the bonds of friendship between
the two great nations who march at the head of
civilisation and industry." This, Of course, is
just as likely as not to be a Napoleonic ruse. For
what sincerity can there be in such professions of
friendship "—what chance of drawing closer
any such " bonds ".---where there lurks the desire
which he so obviously entertains of one day
humiliating peifide Albion ? He has a " mission,"

he believes, of avengement to execute, and he
waits but the opportunity to perform it. How,
then, can there, in such a case, be any " bonds of
friendship ?" The idea is most assuredly a delu-
sion and a snare.
The aversion that is felt to Lord John Rus-
sell's Reform Bill, on both sides of the house, is
very forcibly aaino*ledged by one of ou' Liberal
contemporaries, and of course in the Reform
interest, who thus complains :—" Not one speech
in five of those which have been delivered on the
subject of the Reform Bill has been worth listen-
ing to, or would ever have been delivered if there
had not been on one side of the house a determi-
nation to defeat ,the bill by long speeches, and on
the other a determination to rival the, loquacity
of the enemies, of the bill." Thus both sides, we

say, are implicated in the charge of being inimical
to the ministerial measure. A " determination
to rival the loquacity of the enemies of the bill,"
such loquacity being confessed to imply " a
determination to defeat the bill by long speeches,"
can only Mean that both parties alike are really
averse to it ; although on one side the aversion

may be shown more honestly and .straightfor-

wardly than on the other. Why, then, it may
be asked, do they not It anfaily stand Up and at
once get rid of. it? The Whigs and Liberals
themselves are called _upon first to answer such a
question ; . and did they answer it truly, they
would be constrained to say, that they are tied
and bound
.by a factious compact,. under which
they are not at, liberty to act according to the
dictates of conscience ; and that they are pre-
cluded, therefore, from faithfully performing their
duty as legislators.

. -
The subject. of our Naval Reserve, so ably
brought
_forward by Lord Lyndhiirit in• the
Amin Of tordi,vand Sir C. Napier in the House
of Commons, is seriously taken up by the Times
of yesterday. The warnings just so solemnly
given to our Lords and Commons, and through
them tb the coliritry,: are forcibly echoed in the
Colutnnsof the leading journal. We have got, it
appears, a-thousand naval volunteerS. The ques-
tion,. then, it is concluded, niust came to , this
"If these one thousand quickly become ten,then
it may be time for our veterans to sit comfortably
in their arm chairs, prepared fpr the worst, and
ready to die with good hopes of their .country:
But; if not—if one thousand, or a trifle more; are
all the moveable Reserve we have' to -Man the
additional ships we should require in our emer-
gency, then it is' plain something more must be
done. The Queen's service must be made more
attractive. We must drill our young .sailors for
the big guns as we are drilling our lads on shore

for the use of the musket and rifle. We must
have naval as well as rifle volunteers. Any how,
e must turn the matter over till•the right thing
be found."

The reports as to the decaying condition of the
gunboat fleet, at Portsmouth, turns: out to be only
too correct. It is now stated, it will be seen,
that three of the boats, prior to their real condi-
tion being ascertained, were considered the most
sound and effective in the navy ; • and the proba-
bility is, that had not these discoveries been made,
they would have been dispatched to reinforce the
'China squadron, and gone down from beneath the
feet of our officers and men.

France and Switzerland have not yet settled
their dispute as to the neutralisation of Savoy.
France, it seems, now contests the pretensions of
Switzerland, though at the same time professing
to accept the execution of the Article of the final
Act of Vienna that bears upon the point. There
is little doubt that the Emperor would dearly
like to annex Switzerland, as well as Savoy and
Nice,—his territory in that direction would then
be compact. Let Switzerland beware she does
not afford him an opportunity for conquest.
The explanation that is now given, apparently
on authority, of the strange proceedings we
noticed yesterday, as to the Postmaster-general-
ship, is in no wise calculated to set at rest the
rumour of its having been a subject of diSsension
in the Cabinet. The pretext put forth is, that
" when three weeks have elapsed, and if the Earl
of Elgin has _proceeded on his mission to China,
the post will be tilled in a regular way." But
has not Lord Elgin already proceeded on the
• It has 'been -duly announced that he