The Daily Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1860-10-06 00:00:00

call upon them to offer hint an asylum. A correspon-
dent of one of the London papers mentions a rumour
that the Pope has just published an encyclical letter,:
stating that he would not leave Rome unless com-
pelled to do so by "an irresistible forge." But as
the " irresistible force " is being at presept exerted
for his protection, it is not easy to see why it
should be alluded to by him, excepting with the object
of suggestirtg that it should be exerted the other way.
We have an express statement from another quarter
that both the French Ambassador at Rome and General
Goyon have been instructed not to offer any obstacles,
moral or material, to his retirement ; from a third, that
the majority of the Cardinals have given way to the
minority on the subject, and wish his Holiness to remaim;
and from a fourth, that the Emperor Napoleon has it at
heart to " assign the city of Rome to the protection of
a genuine Italian Power."

Meanwhile, the only one of the Catholic Pdwers who
has not turned a deaf ear to the Papal appeals, is Spain:
Queen Isabella•has promised to assist in replenishing
the empty Treasury of the Father of the faithful art
whose contributions his Holiness and his successors will,
we suspect, have for the future to depend, and the Spanish
Government has demanded the assembling of a Congress
of the Catholic Powers, with the object of guaranteeing
the integrity of the States which the Holy See has lost
beyond redemption, to which France replies, that it has
no objection to it Congress, provided it include repre-
sentatives of all the Great Powers—that is to say, those
of Russia, Prussia, and England, as well as of France,
Austria, and Spain,

On the subject of the alleged bargain between France
and Piedmont, for a transfer by the latter to the former
of some additional portion of territory or other considera-
tion, in return for the all-important negative support
which the Emperor Napoleon has accorded to Victor
Emmanuel, M. de Cavour declared yesterday, in• the
Chamber of Deputies, that there existed no public docu-
ment or private treaty, that ao conversations or negotia-
tions had taken place, and that no Power had ever made
any propositions or demands, involving the cession of ti
single inch of Italian soil. Count Cavour further said
that the fact that the news concerning a treaty for the
cession of Sardinia, of which the journals had spoken,
was simultane9usly sent from Vienna and Palermo to
Lord John Rusien,. was sufficient to show its falsity and
to explain its double origin.

The progress of the Volunteer Movement goes bravely
on. Rifle shooting has now become a common exercise.
One of the greatest features in this popular movement
is to be found in the unparalleled interest which the
final struggle excited at the late Southport rifle contest,
between Captain Ick, rifle instructor in the 2nd Cheshire
Militia, and Leece of the Manchester Rifle Club.:
The London I:nses, in an able leader, remarks, with
regard to this Contest, that the "target was pitched at
1,000 yards distance--considerably more than half a mile.
Captain Ick led smartly off, and the clear ring of the
ball against the target told. instantly of the hit. Mr.
Leece then planted himself in position, and in another
moment the same sound and the same signal told
the multitude that the contest remained as unde-
cided as ever: A second time the two champions came
up to the mark, and a second time the shots were equal.
Once again they fired, but once again with no other
result than that of establishing their equality. Three
bullets in succession had each of them put into the
target at 1,000 yards' range. At length, for the fourth
time, Captain Ick appeared upon the ground, and for
the fourth time the crack of his piece rang along the
shore. He bent forward, listening anxiously for the ring
of the bullet, and as anxiously and with the most breath-
less silence did the spectators listen too, but no sound was
heard, nor was any signal displayed. He had missed.
Mr. Leece stepped forward again. His adversary had
fired always from the knee ; he himself had adopted a,
squatting posture, with his heels firmly driven into the
sand. He was soon seated, and up went the rifle to
his shoulder, but only to be dropped again. He was dis-
satisfied with his sight, and his hesitation confirmed
the belief that he was going to miss. Again he raised
his piece; but the sway and movement of the impas-
sioned multitude were so marked that he lowered it
once more, and ' looked quietly around.' At last, and
in the midst of an expectation that was positively pain-
ful, the flash bUrst from the mouth of his motionless
rifle, and the faint 'ring of a ball against the iron struck
upon the spectators' ears. The game was won, but
onlyafter struggle so gallant and so exciting as to
keep
the very keenest enjoyment at its 'height through-
out
the day. Nothing in the stories of Robin Hood
and his men is half as good as this piece of real life,
and if other counties can furnish competitors as well
matched as those at Southport we may be perfectly
certain that no marksmen will beat Englishmen, and no
sport be so popular in England as good rifle contests."
There is at present in the course of erection as an
entrance to Loch Katrine Tunnel a large and massive
archway of Mull granite. It is to be surmounted with
the royal arms, and also the arms of the city of Glas-
gow. Beneath the royal arms is to be the inscription,
" Glasgow Corporation Water Works," probably on a
metal plate, and beneath this inscription a memoranda
of the progress and completion of the works.
A telegram announces that the submarine cable from
Algiers has been successfully landed at the island of
Minorca, and that messages are in course of perfect
transmission both ways. The distance is 250 miles, and
some portion is 2,000 fathoms deep—approaching the
general depth of the route of the unsuccessful Atlantic
line. The portion from Minorca to Toulon in France
will be about 250 miles, and this is expected to be laid
during the present month, should the weather prove
favourable.

IMPROVED COMMUNICATION BETWEEN
ENGLAND AND IRELAND.

FROM Liverpool to Dublin in little more than six
hours ! Having breakfasted comfortably in
Liverpool, we might at that rate of speed dine
early in Dublin, and see a friend, or transact a
little business, and return home in time to join .
the family tea table ! This wonderful improve-
ment, as most of our readers already know, has
been realiSed under the new postal and passenger
arrangements between Dublin and London. The
train for this service from Euston Station makes
only two brief stoppages before reaching Chester,
namely, at Rugby and Stafford. From Chester
to Holyhead, a distance of eighty-four miles,
the train runs in about two hours and two
minutes. From Holyhead to Kingstown the
mail steamer takes only about three hours and
twenty-eight minntes,—say from Chester to
Kingstown five hours and twenty-eight minutes.
A special train running from this to catch
the mail train at Chester in half an hour or
so, would, therefore, as we have said, enable us
to go from this to Dublin in the time we have
specified! • It seems clear, therefore, that no place
ought to appreciate more highly, or derive a
greater share of, the benefits certain to accrue to
both sides of the channel from this new and im-
proved system of communication than Liverpool.
There is .another point in connection with this
matter upon which we may warmly congratulate
ourselves. No doubt the greatest part of the
achievement is that of being able to cross the
Irish Channel with such unprecedented speed.
This feat is performed by a fleet of steamers, the
best and swiftest of which have been built on the
Mersey, by Messrs. JOHN LAIRD and SoNs,—a
fact which Cannot fail to attract the attention of
all interested in ship-building, and thereby tend
to develop an important branch of industry at
this port. We are thus in a position to con-
gratulate the merchants and traders of 'Liverpool
on the greatly increased facility of 'communication
between this town and the Irish capital, and the
ship-builders of the Mersey on fhe decidedly
superior quality of the work turned out by them
to meet this great desideratum.
From London to Dublin in less than eleven
hours ! From capital to capital in less than half
a day! That is the full measure of the benefit
already comferred by the new arrangement.
What great and good effects may we not look for
as likely to ensue from this closer approximation,
in point of time-distance, of the sister islands ?
It virtually amounts to as complete a union of
the two Countries as if no tempestuous sea rolled
between them. How much of the superior pro-
gress in all the arts and sciences of civilised life
made in Scotland and England as compared with
Ireland, is to be accounted for by the greater
facilities _ of communication which have long
existed •between the northern- and southern divi-
sions of Great. Britain? Edinburgh is still at a
greater time-distance from London than Dublin
is now ; and is it not reasonable, therefore, to
infer that a corresponding impetus will be given
to the cause of progress in Ireland by so marked
an improvement in the means :of direct and per-
sonal intercourse with England and Scotland.
On the other hand has not England derived much
benefit from the commingling of Scotch and Eng-
lish blood ?' What else remains to perfect the
English , stock of humanity than that with
it should be incorporated a larger measure of
that noble .warmal of feeling and that frank-