The Daily Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1860-12-19 00:00:00

LIVERPOOL SOCIAL SCIENCE MEETING.

The second monthly meeting of the Liverpool Asso-
ciation for the Promotion of Social Science was held
last evening, in the theatre of the Royril Institution,
Colquitt-street.
The chair was occupied by William Brown, Esq.,
who, on entering the room, was received with loud
applause. A large number of ladies and gentlemen
were present, who seemed to take a lively interest in the
proceedings of the meeting.
The CHAIRMAN opened the proceedings of the meet-
ing in the following speech :—Ladies and gentlemen, I
regret very much that previous engagements have-;
vented me from attending here at former meetings, not
o y that I was indifferent to progress and the advan-
tages of the Social Science Association, but I felt
that I could not, with these engagements on my
hands have attended here. (Hear, hear.) I occupy
this Chair, I assure you, with considerable reluctance,
not that I am not anxious for the progress and the
advantages of the society, and the benefits it will confer
on the town and county at large ; not from that reasons
but because I feel my health and my various onerous
occupations so engross all my personal attendance, that
I am sure it is not, or would not be doing you justice
that I should accept that position. I can assure you
that I should have much more pleasure in seeing a
younger gentleman occupying this chair—(hear, hear)—
who has all his work and all his time before him, and
who could investigate many abstruse and difficult
subjects which it would be impossible for me to under-
take or lay before you. (Hear, hear.) My friends,
Mr, Rathbone and Ir. Hubback, promised that if I
would occupy the chair, they would relieve me from so
arduous and difficult a labour in the future. I only
regret that I cannot make that personal labour and
exertion in your transactions, because I can assure you
I feel a very great interest in your progress. (Hear,
hear.) And I am very glad to find that there is
such a large number of our friends who take considerable
zeal in forwarding the interests of the association, and
who, with considerable ability, essay to get that informa-
tion which is necessary to giude their proceedings. I
am most happy to learn to-Right that we shall have a
very interesting, and I am sure a very instructive lec-
ture upon a very important subject from Mr. Chilton,
namely, to endeavour to assimilate the laws of various
countries, or the subject of criminal jurisdiction on the
high seas. It is a subject of the very greatest impor-
tance, and you will require great perseverance and great
industry to carry out your wishes. (Hear, hear, and
applause.) :My friend, Mr. Bathbone, is, from deli-
cate health, unfortunately not able to attend the meet-
ing upon the present occasion, but he has written a
letter which, I hope, the secretary, who has a stronger
and clearer voice than I have, will be kind enough to
read.
The Secretary then read the following communica-
tion :
Allerton Priory, 18th December, 186 a.
My DEAR Sin,---I regret much that the state of my health
will not allow me to Joni the Liverpool Social Science Associa-
tion meeting this evening. Will you, therefore, allow me to
take this means of forwarding a suggestion I have more than
once made to the gentlemen who have so well called public
attention to the important subject of this evening's discussion,
and which I believe will be found to afford the only, and a not
unpracticable, solution of the difficuly.
I do not see how we can remedy the fearful evils in question
without by patient negotiation with other countries Unlacing
about arrangements for having the liability to the criminal
jurisdiction of the port of destination of all vessels on the high
seas commence mutually with departure from their own, and
when practically all other is found to so great an extent at an
end.
The conclusion being mut,:al, there seems nothing unrea-
sonable in such a proposition; and if there are countries the
criminal laws and practices of which are not altogether such
as can be approved, it must be borne in mind that in embark-
ing for such countries, we of necessity become subject to their
criminal jurisdiction, whatever it may be, on entering their
waters ; arid that these arrangements only anticipate this posi-
tion at the moment when all other criminal jurisdiction
becomes to so great an extent impracticable, and the worst can
scarcely be so bad in its affects as none at all. If this mutually
important arrangement could be made between two such great
commercial States as Great Bt itain and America, it can
scat cely be doubted that its beneficial working would cause its
rapidand
regret easymuc
hn introductionot
being
ablew h wherever
treark thought
partug tn
the desirable.
discussion
and I am, dear sir, yours respectfully,
THEODORE W. RATHBONE,
William Brown, Esq., Chairman.

,
The CHAIRMAN then said that he should be happy to
hear Mr. Chilton's paper read, on the important subject
which he had thought proper to treat upon on that
occasion. (Hear, hear.) When Mr. Chilton had
finished his paper, he should feel obliged if any gentle-
man who had any suggestions to make, or that might
occur to him as tending to accomplish the ends the

members of the assiiefritiOnliiid"iit"eivi Would please to
do se: (Hear,"hear, and applaie..):
Mr. PHILIPRwriinoNE then rcse and riclartis4,if tete*
otSertations to theppeting.• -He said that fie had tlile'
pleasing nti 0( proposiii4 'A hdimiary secretary Mr.
fAfl4a r,.' heiir ,*and.applaiise.). lile
Walter Henry Jona'.
had no doubt that whateiter riikcht be the loss the
society mould sustain in losing th;•': sNiees of hlinself
(Mr. Rkhbone) in vacating
,the office or sedetalt,tliel
ife'?.',lcloonire a gain in' having' Mr. JOnes appoihteft.flo
that office. Pe ttarix?,dotifit also that they wouldfind'
that the society, whien Ailif been so auspiciOusly cOnducted
for the past, would go on st 4 ante pnspicrouslr under
his practical direction. (Applause.) EV efie knew
properly how arduous were the duties which a se4ictait
had to Mimi", and how much depended upon lifs
atilifirTsaliff 14 tatenig. The speaker had, therefore, great
pleastite in reclining tire sitaation into Mr. Jones' hands.
He then proceeded to filica'lfef
,pol'it'e objections that had
been raised against that Safey.. .64; it had been
argued against it that it was turpraitAall,--an awful
word, especially in Liverpool—(a laugh)—tetB tlit.ht they
(the members of it) did nothing. Well, the andrei to
that was very simple ; for they were not a society for
the promotion of social actions, but for the prchnotion
of steal stiettee: They were not expected to make the
lavis of s'bhild scierife, but to discover them. It was
rleol obih4ed fn' ttieff that they only inquired into
isolated" rajas,, iiig filet u'pel'f every meeting of the
society they did not ansicii3o4, ieNV general law. He
did not think that they shoidd rb.,,p-tp coo to do so;
and, moreover, he did not think that firc datiOr etas,
that they bhoald not discover new laws, &if iathbir the
dauger;pas that they should suppose that they had dis-
covered them' before they had really done so. (Hear.)
Fifty years ago, Arrilar objections had been raised
against geology, and that eologists merely catalogued
nature, and that they did nothi'v7ii Actever, except
giving names to empty stones • but half iiiCettirr:t had
answered that question satisfactorily, and had sZtywn
ifirif those stones had become tho_pacres of a history 0/
the efeatioYi t,f eottntless ages. He 'then gave a con:-
plet,e 4iiel 64006 Natation to all the objections that
had been: raised against die' attelety, and concluded by
sigtittig threV h 4 should biYilibet hary to assist, in every
possible nialirief,t t'o row lediciaty,: (hp:)
Mr. CHILTON theti Vioteeded. N7,11h; hr k .paper: Me
observed that the subject of criminal jiirisellbtiO-.•131`
rather the want of criminal jurisdiction 6e'll-l'A
seas was one of the greatest importance. Few, if any,
Cenld read the numerous paragraphs which were found
AI: the.iiet'srpeys of cruelty and even murder on board
41110-gin VeSaels tltboat feeling an amount of horror
PO • disiOi.. And so fat from there being any
dinatition nil taliefk, Ciiiiieg, They appeared to be
on the increase, Thliie; tiro at th'e' ?relent time
no jurisdiction for sift?! Gressir corirmitied on
the high seas between England' iii,d ,pl'Friett.
When the crime amounts to murder of at,i.'teniV to. I
murder, the criminals may be handed over to the t onSill'
to be sent home for trial; but even then the difficulty
of obtaining sufficient evidence to ensure conviction was
SQ grdat that the effect of the power given to the Eng-
lish.Ciofetinnent was nullified, In cases of assault, and
in leski . &lures ,that murder, there was not even a
nominal jiarisdicfioti. Tfie 'vet: then detailed some re-
cent instances of the dife flt Which is practised on board
American ship's, partieulat f silo;: Matey beard in the
South of England, in which the Piet thid 66000 Mates
of the American barque Anna had murdered AID less than
six~ seamen di the passage honie. In this case the
prisoVes' legal adiisei, objected tOthe prOCeedings, on
the ground of noii-juiriSdietilon and the oblection being
valid was allowed. The en 'N-Vriii,Perlips not confined
to American ships, but extended thineti'nihs'. even to
English ships. The Extradition Treaty non- iii,fOrde
between England and America and England and Franile
was insufficient as a means of checking cruelty at sea.
The number of applications made by the United States
under this treaty was eleven, in six of which a warrant
of extradition was granted. These six cases were all cases
of murder, and happened on board
.the ships coming
to Liverpool. The witnesses were all together, and
there was consequently not so much difficulty in showing
that the requirements of the treaty and been fulfilled.
ilut in many eases it was not so. To remedy this, Mr.
Chilton proposes to effect a convention founded on an
interchange of jurisdiction between the courts of England
and America. He proposed to limit the convention to
the courts of the United States first, because it would
remove the scandal of there being no jurisdiction ; and
secondly, because those courts nearly resembled our own.
He further proposed that, in the spirit of lex loci,
England and America should allow each other free
jurisdiction over cases not of a very serious nature. In -
all cases of murder and of a serious nature, the -de-
positions to be laid before the consuls or representatives
of the countries, who would have power to stop pro-
ceedings if they felt justified in doing so. In cases
where sentence of death was pronounced, the prisoner
to be removed to his own country, and the sentence
there executed. This proposal differed from that of
Mr. Lindsay in two respects. Firstly, as to the prin-
ciple of having the trial at the place where the
witnesses are ; and secondly, in not submitting the
minor offences to the consul. He considered that these
means would at least partially stop the progress of the
evil now so prevalent.
The paper having been read,
Mr. RAFFLES said be was sure they were all agreed,
to a great extent, at least, as to the principles laid down
in the paper just read. He concurred with Mr. Chilton
in believing that the extradition treaty had failed, in
a great measure, to accomplish its object. He did not,
however, quite see his way to the conclusion that we
would be justified in giving up our countrymen to
foreign courts without any enquiry from the consul.
Indeed, from the sort of justice administered in some of
the Southern States, he thought it would be very objec-
tionable. Neither did he agree with Mr. Chilton in
saying that these cases of cruelty were increasing ; he
believed the contrary was the case. With those excep-
tions he agreed with Mr. Chilton's views, and hoped
that some steps would be taken in the next session of
Parliament.

Mr. CHAMBERS remarked that at the end of last year
a movement was made on the part of the magistrates on:
this subject. The Chamber of Commerce, in conjunc-
tion with the American Chamber of Commerce, had
endeavoured to take some steps ; he had not heard any-
thing of it lately, and was afraid the thing had gone to
sleep.
Mr. Campbell, Mr. Hubback, and other gentlemen,
then made some brief observations, after which it was
resolved that the General Committee should consider the
subject, with the view, if necessary, of bringing it before
Parliament.
The proceedings then terminated.

COURTSHIP AND MARRIAGE.

LECTURE, LAST NIGHT, AT TILE COLLEGIATE

INSTITUTION.

Last night, the concluding lecture of the spries before
the Young Men's Christian Association was delivered
by the Rev. Dr. Miller, of Birmingham. His subject,
was, "Courtship and Marriage,"—a most attractive
theme, judging by the fact that the large hall was more
crowded than we ever remember to have seen it upon
any former occasion. The great majority of the audience
consisted, of course, of females, and the whole scene was
one of a most unusual, animated, and interesting char-
acter. Mr. Councillor Farnworth occupied the chair,
and briefly introduced the lecturer to the meeting.
The lecturer, in announcing himself as qualified to
discourse upon such a subject, said pleasantly that he
was neither an old bachelor nor a Ccelebs in search of a
wife, being married before he was twenty-one. As he
had, therefore, done the thing in a respectable way,
they might presume he knew something about courting.
(Laughter and applause.) He should treat, first, con-
cerning falling in love ; and, in the second place, con-
cerning courtship, and therein more particularly about
popping the question —(laughter)—and lastly, concern-
ing marriage. Falling in love was one of those acci-
dents incident to humanity, which, sooner or later,
overtakes us all. There were two kinds of falling in
love : the falling in love proper, when a man cannot help
it. The second was, falling in love when a man felt
the time was come for him to look out for a wife. He
exhorted his audience to consider the critical character
of the step. It had been said, and he believed with a
good deal of truth, that no man was thoroughly ruined
till he was badly married. They should pray that they
might have Divine guidance ; he contended, also, that
they should seek parental counsel, for he could not
believe that the blessing of God could fully rest upon a
union which had involved at the outset an outrage on
the Fifth Commandment. He asked any young man—
what do you want? Do you want a doll ? Some men
married for the mere sake of personal beauty. Well,
do you want a nurse ? Do you want a housekeeper ?
He should be sorry to be the woman who should marry
a man who wanted any of the three. (Applause.) He
held that what a man wanted was a companion in the
battle of life. The lecturer here amused his audience
by giving his opinion of a wife when he was a lad at
college. He had an opinion that a wife should have
brains, and be a good housekeeper; and if a man could
get hold of a woman who could understand Butler's
Analogy on the one band, and make a good apple-
dumpling on the other, he should go far to get a com-
bination which would make a very good wife. (Laughter
and applause.) Then, there was the great shirt-button
question. It was an essential qualification that a wife
should not be a fine lady, because it would be inconve-
nient to find a needle in a stocking which had been
darned, or that some portion of a man's apparel should
be destitute of that appendage to which be had made
allusion.

The lecturer then adverted to the pecuniary, pounds,
shillings, and pence, part of the question, which, he
said, would intrude amidst moonlight solitary walks,
beaming eyes, and bewitching glances. He thought a
young man more likely to fight the battle of life well
and strike upward, and a young woman have her best
qualities brought out, by having some difficulties to go
through of a pecuniary nature; but he warned parties
against the danger of getting into a shilling of debt.
Tey would fly in the face of God's word if they did not
make it a sine qua non that the marriage should be in
the law. Don't let young ladies be led away by the
fallacy " Oh, he is unsettled, but I will soon restore
him." The probabilities were, that the worldly would
carry away the one who was spiritual. Tkey should
have the golden thread of godliness entwined with the
roses of love.

As to popping
the aestion , there were various ways.
He himself did it as became coward—he wrote. He
li a
had once an Irish curate who did it in this way :
He was playing at chess with the daughter of the
churchwarden, when a verso!' watching reminded her
that she might have taken his bishop. " Ab," he said,
" I wish she would take the curate !" She did ; and a
capital wife she made. (Loud laughter.) He was
opposed to hasty courtships, and thought young people
engaged should see a deal Of each other. They should
watch each other's temper;
and depend upon it the
womtfn who makes a good daughter will make a good
wife, and the man who makes a good son will make a
good husband. That was a safe rule to follow. Another
safe rule was, that a young man should treat his intended
as he should like another man to treat his sister. (Ap:
plause.) They should respect as well as love; for he
believed when a man ceased to respect, he could not
love a woman as he ought to do. The lecturer here
quoted the expression of Rosalind to Orlando in " As
you like it," that to be a true lover, he should wear an
air of " careless desolation," and not appear as if he
were in love with himself.
Dr. Miller next dwelt upon the subject of l marriage,
taking it first in its religious aspect. He be ieved, not-
withstanding the record of the courts, there was a vast
amount of married happiness in this world. Tic
believed that, though unhappy marriages came to the
surface, it was the very essence of hippy marriages to
be quiet and not excite attention. He believed that
there was in this country a greater amount of domestic

happiness between man and wife than in any other part
of the world. (Applause.) Sydney Smith's detnition
of marriage was, " A pair of shears, so joined together
that they cannot be separated ; always moving in
opposite directions, yet always punishing any one that
domes betteeir them." That was the characteristic
of niarried people, let them start in life with this
dlitiriet anticipation, that man's chief happiness must be
at,honie.. He had seen an apothegm in the Quarterly
PiiieUr; "Pf women were as careful to make cages to
keep' the bird' as-they are to make nets to catch the bird,
there would many note happy marriages." A woman
after Marriage sliced be as- careful of her personal
appearance as before. tit yetnig woman would not
like to be caught slip-slop or untidy before marriage.
After Marriage, don't let her say "'A is• only my
husbhMl." Bb beautiful, he said, in your husband's
eyes, or at di ev'ents tidy as long as you can.
Then he came ft, the pons asinoruni of the whole
question—the great obeiliktuce cpiestion. On this he
dwelt with much facetiousness; exhibiting a picture of
the ancient mechanical instrument fot fte restraint and
punishment of scolds.
' Miller mut gave some practical rules. 'There was
an old saYilig that all married people should keep two
hears in the hoirise---brar and forbear. ' What angered a
man more than anythilt else was—not talking. while he
reads his newspaper, though t'f±t was very bad indeed,
but there was a little word exceedirPgly expressive, that
was " nagging,"—the worrying of a ni'an about little
things—far better a good honest explosion tow and
then. A second rule should be that there should be no
i secrets between man and wife. It often happened that
Wolnan had a mother or sister to whom _ confided
tilde fib'did not confine to her husband. The lecturer
advised huSbair2ds• over whom there might be impending
bankruptcy or Oft' distress not to conceal the
fact from their wi'tes.. A woman did not
sink half under it like it mom, and he would
probably find that in such eases she was
endowed with a vigour and heroism wilish he never
bd4A suspected. (Applause.) Again he said, be on
your guard against trifles. Never talk of one anottrer's
failings to a third party women generally observed this
rule better than men. Dr. Miller, in conclusion,
exhorted all the married So to live together in this
world, that in the world to center they might have
everlasting life ; and drew an affecting picture of the
angtifsh which all who have lost a partner endure in the
felil'erribraitce of unkind words or actions towards the
(NW is' gone.
On the nialbe of Mr. IL A. Payne, a vote of thanks
was passed by aeOlaltUtion to Dr. Miller, the chairman,
and the organist.
Dr. Miller then pronounce tisebeneelictiort, and the
assembly gradually broke up.

THE AMERICAN PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE.

Mlowlngt ks lummary of Mr. Buchanan's Mes-
sage : . . .

"Fellow-citizen olf the Senate end House of Repre-
sentatives,--Throughout the yeatissince.our last meeting,
the country has been eminettly Pfospel•otta in all its
material interests. The general Ilan' has been excel-
lent ; our harvests have been abundant, and genes* smiles
throughout the land. Our commerce and matrttfattsires
have been prosecuted with energy and industry, and have
yielded fait and ample returns. In short, no nation
itt the tide of time has ever presented a spectacle of greater
mateti4 &oSperity than we have done until within a recent
period. Why isit, then; that discontent now so extensively
prevails, and the union of the States, which is the source
of all these blessings, is titteatened with destruction ?
Nhe long-continued and intempetafe interference of the
orthern people with the question of slavery in the
Southern States, has at 'length produced its natural
effects. The different sections of the Union are now
arrayed against each ettel, and the time has arrived,—
so much dreaded by the fafliei o his country—when
hostile geographical parties have beet formed. I have
long foreseen and often forewarned m' totrutrymen of
the now impending danger. The incessant a'nt violent
agitation of the slavery question throughout the North
during the last quarter of a century has at length
produced its malign influence on the slaves, and
inspired them with vague notions of freedom. Hence a
sense of security no longer exists around the family
altar. This feeling of peace at home has given place to
apprehensions of servile insurrections. Many a matron
throughout the South retires at night in dread of what
may befal herself and her children before the morning.
Should this apprehension of domestic danger, whether
real or imaginary, extend and intensify itself until it
shall pervade the masses of the Southern people, then
disunion will become inevitable. How easy would it be
for the American people to settle the slavery question
for ever and restore peace and harmony to this dis-
tressed country ! They and they only can do it.
All that is necessary to accomplish the object, and
all for which the slave States ever contended, is
to be let alone and permitted to manage their domestic
institutions in their own way. As sovereign states they?"
and they alone are responsible before God and the world
for the slavery existing among them. For this the
people of the North are no more responsible, and have
no more right to interfere, than with similar institutions
in Russia or in Brazils. Upon their good sense and
patriotic forbearance I confess I still greatly rely. With-
out their aid it is beyond the power of any President, no
matter what may be his own political views, to restore
peace and harmony among them. Wisely limited and I
restrained as to his power under our constitution and
laws, he alone can accomplish but little for good or for
evil on such a momentous question; and this brings me to
observe that the election of any one of our fellow-
citizens to the office of-President does not of itself afford
just cause for dissolving the Union. The election of a
President of the United States, in a constitutional
manner, cannot, of itself, justify secession or revolution.
The constitution does not contemplate the act of separa-
tion or disunion, and, therefore, there can be no legal
and constitutional secession of any State from the Union.
The personal liberty acts of several Northern States are
in direct conflict with the constitution of the United
States, and ought to be repealed. If continued upon the
statute books of the Northern States, after the public
attention has been directed to the subject, the injured
States will be justified in revolution. The President
has no power except to see that the laws are executed,
and for this purpose certain facilities are given him.
He cannot maintain the judiciary in a State like South
Carolina, when Federal officers resign. But he has
power over the collection of customs, and over the public
property of the United States, located within the several
States, and to protect these the Government forces will
act strictly on the defensive. Congress possesses no
power to make war upon a State to compel such State
to remain in the Union, and if force could be used for
such purpose a continuance of the government in its
spirit and unity cotila riot be" thus maintained. To re-
store tranquility, and furnish to all the States a
guarantee for the enjoyment of their rights,, as con-
templated under our system, certain amendments to
the Federal constitution are necessary, and may be pro-
posed by Congress, and ratified by the States, or through
the medium of a convention called on the application of
the States. Unlawful military expeditions have been
countenanced by many of our citizens, and were suf-
fered, in defiance of the Government, to escape from
our shores, for the purpose of making war upon the
unoffending people of neighbouring republics with
whom we were at peace. In addition to these and other
difficulties we experienced a revulsion in monetary
affairs, soon after my advent to power, of unexampled
severity, and of ruinous consequence to all the great
interests of the country. When we take a retrospect of
what was then our condition, and contrast this with its
material prosperity at the time of the late Presidential
election, we have abundant reason to return our grateful
thanks to that merciful Providence which has never
forsaken us as a nation in all our past trials. Our
relations with Great Britain are of the most friendly
character. Since the commencement of my administra-
tion the two dangerous questions arising from the
Clayton and Bulwer treaty, and from the right of search
claimed by the British Government, have been amicably
and honourably adjusted. The discordant constructions
of. the Clayton and Bulwer treaty between the two
Governments, which at different periods of the discussion
bore a threatening aspect, have resulted'in a settlement
entirely satisfactory to this Government. It must be a
source of sincere satisfaction to all classes of our fellow-
citizens, and especially to those engaged in foreign com-
merce, that the claim on the.part of Great Britain for
forcibly taking and searching American merchant vessels
on the high seas in time of peace has been abandoned.
This was by far the most dangerous question to the peace
of the two countries which has existed since the war of
1812. Whilst it remained open, they might at any
moment have been precipitated into' a war. The only
question of any importance that still remains op en is
the disputed title between the two Governments to
the island of San Juan,'this in the vicinity of Washington
Territory. As
question is still under negotia-
tion, it is not deemed advisable at the present
moment to make any other allusion to the subject. The
recent visit of the Prince of "Wales- in a private character
to the people of this country has proved to be a most
auspicious event. In its consequences it cannot fail to
increase the kindred and kindly feelings which, I trust,
may ever actuate the governments and people "of both
countries in their political and social intercourse with
each other.
Withi
ally, our relationscinr France, our ancient and venerable
continue to be of the most friendly
character. relations with the great Empire of
Russia are all that we could desire. Our relations with
Spain are now of
a more complicated, though less dan-
gerous character than they have been for many years.
Our citizens have
numerous claims long held, and continue to hold,
These had been against the Spanish Government.
ably urged for a series of. years by our
successive diplomatic
without brin i representatives at Madrid, but
that the final ng
adjustment
It is more than porobable
of these claims will devolve
upon my successor. I reiterate the recommendation m
contained in
in that
annual message of December, 1858,
and repeated that of December, 1859, in favour of
the acquisition
of
I firmly believe Cuba from Spain by fair purchase.
that such an acquisition would con-
tribute essentially to the well-being and prosperity of
both countries in
all future time, as well as prove the
certain means of
_immediately abolishing the African
slave trade throughout the world. I would not repeat
this recommendation
believed that the upon the present occasion if I
upon conditions transfer Highly of
Cuba to the United States,
tarnish the ighly
favourable to Spain, could justly
Spanish nationalmonarchy, honour of the proud and ancient
and the retnaiusT; With the Emperor of Austria
that of the Sultan, ; Continental powers, including
the most satisfact our relation's continue to be of
peaceful policy pursued
character. The friendly and
United States rsued by the Government of the
moat
the Empire of China has
produced the
of Tientsin or satisfactory results. The treaty
faithfully observed the 18th of June, 18:58, has been
relations with Alex; 'by the Chinese authorities. Our
tory condition, [Tie,: still remain in a most unsatisfac-
is fiddly discussed. tnancial condition of the country
mises of Theretrenchment President refers to the pro-
message, and shows
in
that contained in his first annual
siderable reduction it has been redeemed by a con-
theithe annual expenditure during
last two years.] it
.s with great satisfaction I com-
municate the fact that
slay
the date of my last annual
message not a single
United States in violatioave has been imported into the
of the laws prohibiting the
African slave trade, Theamessae concludes with some
remarks about the
tariff." necessity of modifications in the

ALL THE TITLES.—At the police court, yesterday, the
steward of a ship was charged for attempting
some tea, and when asked if b to smuggle
—0 pleaded guilty or not,
said, "I am guilty, your lordship but as it is the first
time I have been before your ;
Majesty, I hope your
reverence will be as light as possible." Of course he
was convicted, as he ought to be after that.,

LATEST NEWS.

(BY BILITISIE AND IRISH MAGNETIC TELEGRAFH.)

FRANCIS 11. AND NAPOLEON.-
General Latour has left for Paris on a special'
mission from Francis 11. to the Emperor Napoleon.

THE FR-EN-CH FUNDS.
Dec. 18, 3.25 p.m.
The Bourse rather firm. ltentes closed at
68f. 85e., or same as yesterday.

THE FREE IMPORTATION OF COAL
INTO FRANCE.
As the new commercial treaty between Franee
and Belgium will render the importation bread
absolutely free, the English coal will also be
entitled to enter duty free into France.

ROME.

ROME, Dec. 6.

The death of Cardinal Gaude is announced.

A consistory will be held on Monday next,
when the Pope will address an allocution to the
cardinals.

Several bishops, three of whom are suburban,
have been appointed.
Benevento is lost to the Holy See.
Reactionary movements have taken place in
severe places in the March provinces and in
Umbria.
The Pontifical Zouaves have re-entered Rome.

RESUMPTION OF THE BOMBARDMENT

OF GAETA.

The bombardment of Gaeta will re-commence
in consequence of the non-acceptance by King
Francis 11. of the proposed conditions to surrender
Gaeta. The King has issued a manifesto, calling
upon the Neapolitans to make a last effort to pre-
serve their nationality. He guarantees to maintain
their liberties
and grant distinct Parliaments to
the Two Sicilies. He also promises an amnesty.
If compelled to succumb, he will maintain the
firm hope of returning to his dominions.

PRUSSIA.
A Berlin letter, says the Paris pamphlet on the
Emperor Francis Joseph and Venetia," has made
a deep impression in that capital. All sensible
men approve its conclusion.
_Europe has a right
to exact from Austria that she shall not cause a
great European war for Venetia, but it is stoubted
whether the Emperor will ever consent to idiscuss
the question of negotiation.

AUSTRIAN REFORMS AND CONCESSION&
GRAN, Dec. 18.
The conference was opened to-day at 10 a.m. ;
at 11 a.m. the electoral law of '4B had already
been adopted by the assembly. M. Desseroffy
demanded that the imperial diploma, inaugura-
ting the new state of things, should be established
on an inviolable legal basis, which would at once
remove any doubts concerning the national
rights. He also said that a Diet, constituted,
according to the electoral law of '4B, could only
be considered to form such a basis.

VIENNA, Dee. 18.

The Ost Deutsche Post publishes a telegram,
dated Gran, 17th, announcing that Conferences
were to be opened definitively on the following
day, and asserting that all difficulties had been
removed. According to the same telegram, the
members of the Conference would not demand. the
establishment of an independent Hungarian
Ministry. Much excitement prevailed.

THE ROMAN STATES.
ROME (via Marseilles), Dec. 15.
The Piedmontese have occupied Ponte Corvo
since the 11th inst. Some reactionary movements
have taken place at Cagli and Gubbio.