The Daily Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1860-12-03 00:00:00

to the publication of the supplementary convention or
treaty of commerce between our government and that of
France, the ratifications of which were exchanged in
Paris on Friday. The report of the Board of Trade on
the subject (for which we have not at present room),
appended to the treaty, shows that several articles of
English manufacture formerly prohibited in France are
now admitted ; such as " net of thread," "horse-hair
fabrics," " cotton yarns," bleached and unbleached,
coloured and uncoloured ; cotton thread, in the same con-
ditions; cotton net, plain or embroidered; tissues, plain
or twilled ; quiltings, dimities, stripes and checks, gauzes
and muslin, wholly or in part made up ; woollen yarns,
in all their varieties of tetture and bolotir hosiery and
pure wool, Crape, net, plaitt and dieZsed ; chloride of
magnesium, liquid acetate of iron, garancine, sugar of
milk, albumen, extracts of dye-woods, soap (ordinary
and for perfumery), orehilla and other chemical dyes of
all kinds, bottles of all shapes, glass generally, rock
crystal, earthenware with coloured glaze and plain, and
stone ware, and molasses. The amended tariff, under
this treaty, as finally adjusted, and which is of very
great importance to all the traditig interests of the com-
muuity, Was published simultaneously in London and in
Paris Ai §aturday flight, in the Loildon Gazetth and the
ironiteur.

On the other side of the picture we observe it stated
that the iron-clad steamship La dloire is noyi being tried
against ihb Algestras, one of the finest ships in the trench
navy; and as we are informed she had been at sea for five
consecutive days, the rumour that she can carry only
three days' coal must be unfounded. It is also said that
the French Government are actually building steam ves-
sels at St. Cloud for the Imperial navy. They must have
launched from opposite the Park a screw despatch-boat,
called the Argus. She was commenced only in May
last, but from 150 to 200 workmen have been con-
stantly employed on her, The chief novelty attached to
the Argus is connected ~vith her boilers, which are *cilia),
heated by means of a jet of fire, carried into the :rater
itself by means of a metal Tliet,Airgus, after
having been
,s,tllleeted to various eiperipienit before the
Minister of Marine and a body of scientific engineers
will be sent to Cherbourg, there to be fitted out for sea.
Although no authoritative decision has been come to,
the public will easily see that the extreme sentence of
the law, pronounced so feelingly by Baron Bramwell
upon Anne Padfield, convicted for the murder of her
child, will not be carried out. The necessity of
thoroughly investigating the case submitted upon the
part of the prisoner, and of consulting the judge's notes
on the trial, may delay the decision as to the tommuted
punishment ; but the rule amend in similar cases of
sparing the life of the criminal, and attending to the
recommendation of the jury, is not likely to be departed
froin hi the present bash, *here the ithhapPy prisoner
had more than the usual causes of excuse.

In consequence of the discovery of defalcations by
the late secretary of the British Empire Mutual Life
Office. and exaggerated accounts having appeared in a
daily paper on the subject, the directors have considered
it prudent to publish the report of Messrs. Cooper
Brothers; the , accountants; Who hai'e beeri employed in
ilit investigation of the case, and define the amount of
deficiency at £9,794. The sum recovered from the
defaulter is about £6,000 in money and securities, and
the balance has been provided for by life assurance.
The report in a morning paper that the new copper
coinage has been recalled on any ground is without
foundation. The issue proceeds.

WOMAN'S MISSION AND WOMAN'S

RIGHTS.

WOMAN'S mission and, woman's rights form one
the most popular subjects of the day. It was,
perhaps, the most attractive topic discussed at the
late meeting of the Association for the Promotion
of Social Science in Glasgow, and has since been
the subject of general conversation and debate, as
well as the test for iimay and varied disquisitions
in our periodical literature. The known facts of
the case, and the issues involved, are of the
utmost interest to every member of the commu-
nity., An impartial consideration of the whole
matter, and the formation of a just and sound
opinion oti its merits) require patient considers=
tion of sothe of the fundamental laws of nature
and of social economics, and affect several of the
highest interests of society. It is, therefore, of
the utmost consequence that the real difficulty
requiring solution should be made perfectly plain
and simple, and the area of discussion reduced
within the smallest possible compass.

We have been accustomed to various modes of
treating this important subject. One class views
it as a purely mercantile matter. In this light
we find the employment of a greatly increased
number of women in the various branches of
trade warmly advocated or fiercely denounced,
according to the position in business of the
speaker or writer. It is observable that one set
of employers, who enjoy by no means an enviable
sort of notoriety, are loud in the praises of female
capacity for labour. This sort of pleading is
again stigmatised by almost all kinds of em-
ployes as merely an excuse for obtaining cheap
services, regardless of other essential considera-
tions. Another class treats the question more as
one of moral importance ; and, strange to say,
this section is divided. into two parties of opposite
opinions; the one holding that additional female
employment is a certain cure for " the social
evil"—the other maintaining the proposed remedy
would only aggravate the mischief. Yet another
party views this evil as one of social conse-
quence. From these we hear the most eloquent
declamations as to the divine mission of the fair,
and the usurpation of their rights by the coarser
sex. To such eloquence all listen with pleasure,
simply because all are ready to own the blessings
women are alone calculated to confer on mankind,
and to sympathise with any real or supposed evils
inflicted upon them by those whom nature de-
signed to be their guardians and providers. The

l/L11.7 .I.w rr La4l,a VV Ott,. “torsoc.2u a•-•
one—consists in the fact that they have nothing
whatever to do with the matter in dispute. Still
another variety of teachers on this interesting
puzzle is made up of those who insist
upon woman's equal social and political
rights with those of the male population. In
studying this unnatural view of the solution, one
is struck with the difficulty of ascertaining
whether its upholders mean that men and women
shall change places in the body-politic, or
whether women ought to rest contented with
merely a somewhat higher share of public
privilege than they now enjoy. The plain and
unavoidable inference from this variety of opinions
and contradictoriness of conclusions is that a vast
proportion of those who have undertaken to
enlighten modern society upon this curious topic
are not one whit wiser than—if so wise as—the
great bulk of their fellows. That there is "a
something" to be put right, and a way of doing
it must be admitted. The first step is to define
the " something " that is wrong, clearly, accu-
rately, and unequivocally ; and in determining
the remedy we must especially beware of con-
founding merely temporary shifts required to meet
an unusual emergency with permanent regula-
tions in consonance with natural laws and sound
social requirements.

The simple fact over which so many people are
continually stumbling, as it were, in blindness, is
1 this. In our country, at least, we have got an
undue proportion of women as compared with
the number of the men. Tho old saying that
" for every JOHN there is a JANET," has proved
untrue in these lands now-a-days. After pair-
ing off the whole of the male and female
population, there remains some five hundred
thousand spinsters for whom there are no mates.
The real question, therefore, may be resolved
thus :—First, bow does it come that the females
are in such OICCSS of numbers ; and, second, how
are these hundreds of thousands of "unprotected
females" to be provided with daily bread ? As to
the first enquiry it may be put in another shape,
namely, what has become of the five hundred
thousand men who ought to have been available
for the protection of the same number of women ?
Has nature been at fault, and failed to bring
forth the sexes in an equal ratio to each
other ?—or have circumstances conspired to de-
stroy the males or remove them from our soil ?
Then as to the second question, it is clear that its
proper answer must greatly depend upon that of
the former, for if the difficulty has arisen merely
from certain ascertainable and exceptional cir-
cumstances the remedy to be applied must par-
take greatly of the same character, and to some