The Northern Daily Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1857-05-25 00:00:00

IVERPOOL, MONDAY, MAY 25. 1857.

cheme wh ch can render the people d scon-
tended and unhappy, both socially and
politically. It is because we view the proposed
grant to the Princess Royal as tending to this
latter result that we have written against it.
We look upon the vote of 40,000/. down and
8,000/. a-year as a catastrophe of dishonour. It
was mean—it was unworthy—and will yet meet
with public reprobation. The tine will come
when faithful and independent politicians will
represent the people. Then will all the Court
intrigues and extravagant grants to Rlyalty be
taken into consideration—then will bargains
such as those of Friday night be cancelled, the
corrupt salaries of pride and pretension
withheld, and the monetary compact of the
Prince of Prussia disavowed. Then wdl
Royalty itself learn that at a time when the
people of the UnitA Kingdom confided the
moderation and generosity of their Sovereign,
they were duped by their representatives, who in
a burst of foolish loyalty sanctioned an immoral
and miserable avarice on the part of the Crown,
without taking warning from the past, and
totally indifferent as to the future. But we
must have done with the subject. Our aim in
oppo-ing the grant has been to aid the people's
cause. We feel that they have been betrayed.
Let them be more watchful lest another political
trap of the same kind be attempted.

TnE House of Commons has had a good deal
of its time occupied, during the past week, in
the consideration and discussion Of: questions of
Ecclesiastial finance. On Tuesday night there
was a keen and animated debate on Mr.
FAGAN'S bill for the Abolition of Ministers'
Money- in Ireland. Few people on this side of
St. George's Channel regard the question as one
much importance, but it suited the political
purpose of the Irish members of the House,
who sit on the left hand side of the Speaker's
chair, to make the matter one for a display of
their illiberal tendencies and their inclination
to perpetuate a system that has often called
forth the exercise of vindictive feeling . and a
•
display of party spirit foreign to the main object
of all impartial and well regulated governments.
But our readers may ask, -‘ What is Ministers'
aoney ?" The answer can be given in a few
words. Ministers' Money is an impost,.. or tax,
producing some 12,0001, a year, levied by an Act
of Charles 11. upon eight towns which did not
possess any means for the maintenance and
support of the Ministers of the Established
Chbreh. The cities and tarns are in the very
centre of Roman Catholicism, namely, Dublin,
Cork, Waterford, Limerick, Clonmel, Kilkenny,
Drogheda, and Kinsale. The tax was abolished
in the reign of James 11., ,but the time and
manner of that abolition being considered ille-
gal, the payment was regularly made, and no
attempt shown, to seek its repeal until within
quite a recent period. During the administra-
tion-. of Lord ABERDEEN, an act was passed
empowering the Church clergy, who were en-
titled to receive Ministers' Money, to obtain
their, respective: amounts from the Ecclesiatical
Commissioners. in Ireland, less 24 per cent..
This, considering the extreme difficulty of col-
lecting Ministers' Money,, and the fact that.
many of the clergy could hardly obtain the-
smallest portion of what the law allowed them,
was deemed a liberal compromise of the dis-
Nevertkeless, further legislation has

mte.

become necessary ; and Mr. FAGAN proposes-to
repeal the original statute of Charles 11., under
which the tax was originally levied. The amount
will pass into the hands-of the owners of house-
property, in, the towns referred to ; and a fund,
which might have been dealt with betimes, and
made available fur the general purposes of
charity or. education, is.now to be thrown away
irrecoverably —and without the shadow of
reasonable claim on. the part of those who have.
heretofore paid it. But we need not be sur-
prised. at this. It is quite in unison with
the procrastination, which characterises all our
governments. No matter how important may
be the question, which presses itself upon, the
attention of the Legislature, no ministry will
take it up, and listen to the demand for redress,
until the grace of concession is lost, or the
opportunities for a compromise, favourable to the
general interests of the community, have passed
away.

From the division which followed the debate
on Tuesday night, we have reason to expect
that this odious fragment of Ecclesiatical exac-
tion is now likely to be extinguished, at once
and for ever. When the Tory lawyers had
made a sortie against Mr, FAGAN and his more
immediate supporters, ministers came up as a
reserve force, and attacked with great spirit and
much determination all the leading points of
the opposition. Mr. Ex - Solicitor - General
WHITESIDE fired fierce and random shots at the
bill, but the well aimed reply of Mr. HORS3I
demolished the bouncing pretensions at law
and logic of the member for Enniskillen, and
Lord PALM ERSTON noticed and denied the impu-
tation that Government had adopted the bill for
the purpose of gaining strength. Ultimately,
the second reading of the bill was carried by a
majority of 139, there being 313 for the motion
and 174 against.
That the Lords will pass the measure is more
than probable. The Earl of DERBY, when
chief Seeretary for Ireland, abolished the col-
lection of Church Cess, and also devised a more
equitable mode of paying the Established Clergy
of that country, by making their incomes a rent
charge upon the land. Under these circum-

stances we cannot anticipate any opposition
from him, nor that section of the Peers of which
he is the recognised leader. Neither will the
more ultra-section of the party any longer delay
the settlement of a question, paltry as regards the
amount at issue, but much vexed in its character
as well as unjust and oppressive on the people
upon whom the tax has been levied. Statesmen
and politicians of all classes will at once perceive
that it will not answer the peace and safety of
that portion of the United Kingdom called
Ireland to engage in another series of Irish
prosecutions and Irish riots, upon such a paltry
affair as this. We cannot forget the occurrences
of the last thirty years, with regard to the hatred
and animosity which Irish church impositions
created. The bloody deeds of Carrickshock,
that which gave O'CONNELL the power to rule
the nation instead of the lawful Sovereign, are
not obliterated from the page of history. The
policy of all parties, ultra-Orange and fanatical
Romanists, is to give way. Let the matter now
be completely settled. and peace will be universal
and permanent, as far as Irish Church impost:
are concerned.

IT SEEMS we are in sight of two items of
redress, one of which will give satisfaction to
the general community of Britain, and the
other will be gratifying to the particular com-
munity of Liverpool. It appears that the
culprits of our own Necropolis will probably be
brought to justice; and the ATTORNEY-GENERAL
has promised in the Rouse that an endeavour
will be made to prosecute, under the existing
laws, the scandalous mismanagers and swindlers
of the British BanlL We share the satisfaction
of the public at hearing these announcements,
not from any desire to gratify a spirit of ven-
geance, but because such deeds deserve the
severest reprobation and punishment—because
we would see some amends made to the sufferers •
—and examples•set uu, that others may• avoid
such proceedings in future. It will be a great
scandal, and a burning shame, if the widOw- and
orphan, and the artisan, may be plundered
without redress, by gentlemen,- because they
write themselves " bankers." Better, we say,
be openly robbed on the highway. than thus
insidiously pillaged where we had put our trust
and - had a right to expect at least common
honesty. It would lower us in the estimation
of foreign nations, if no reparation were afforded
by our laws for. such lawless-transactions. If
the- existing law is nut strong enough to reach
the guilty, it ought to be made so. This is -the
general feeling, on this subject. There is surely
no. country in the world where breaches of
trust, where commercial dishonesty ought to be
more guarded: against than in our own. The
greatest trading community in the world ought
not to be remiss in such matters; yet, compared
writh several foreign nations, the French and
the Dutch, for instance, we are lax. Bankrupt-
cies: and fraudulent embezzlement of funds
entrusted, ought not to be light matters. This
is no mere stir about filthy lucre, but it concerns
the homes, the comfort, the morality, of a classs
far from rich. Many heart-rending scenes
we were told occurred on the afternoon of the
day when it was first known that the British
Bank had stopped payment. A friend who had
himself two days before lost 2001. in the said
bank, informed us that strong, tall men, who
were sufferers, tried in vain to hide their tears,
as they. gathered round the doors now ominously
closed, There were many small sums. of a few
scores or a few hundred pounds, showing the
class, of people who. had trusted their small
savings, perhaps their little all, on the credit of
fair names, and an imposing title. Breaches of
tru;t have be.2a leariu4 multiplied of late—
without naming such culprits as Si:. JOHN DEAN
PAU/. and Mr. JOHN SADLEIR.

The conscience of the nation is outraged, and
our reputation is imperilled by the recurrence of
such cheating, knavery, and dishonesty ; and the
Government but rightly interpret the public
feeling when they apply themselves to correct
this great and growing evil. _

We have no wish to bear hard on our
townsmen for their derelictions of duty and
disgraceful mismanagement of a public- trust ;
but justice should be impartial. Like heaven,
she ought to regard the rich no more than the
poor, or if partiality there must be, the scales
of justice might rather incline to the side of the
poor, who most need protection. The rich
have a natural protection in their wealth and
position. We desire to see the same equal
laws for rich and poor, and the same even-
handed justice dealt out to both. When the
Government Commissioner stated his opinion
that the publicity and the disgrace which
had already been concentrated on the offending
parties were punishment enough, we first
accept the compliment to the Press for doing
its duty ; second, we reply, that the punish-
ment is inadequate till a clear line of dis-
tinction is drawn between the guilty
and guiltless parties among the managers ; and
third, both the Commissoner and the Govern '
ment may rely on it that so light a measure of
punishment would not satisfy the feeling of the
people of Liverpool, to say nothing of those
parties more immediately interested —the dead
remains of whose relatives had been so vilely
desecrated. Moreover, the objects of punish-
ment are not attained till the public have a
guarantee, as far as possible, against the
repetition of the offence. The correction of the
wrong-doer and the protection of the
community should both be sought for in all
punishment, On it degenerates into mere

vengeance and retaliation. We hope the
exposure and discussion will do the Managers no
harm, but good in the end. They may be
wie.r and ::,,rider, if less honoured men. Public
health and decency require that all our burying
grounds should be placed under some kind of
proper regulation ; confided, say, to Managers
publicly chosen and known, and who shall be
accuntable to those who appointed them.
Publicity and responsibility are mighty helps to
a feeble conscience, and we fear they will be
needed for a long time to come as a popular
che ll{ on those who, in all classes, rich and poor,
are inclined to turn public loss to their private
advantage.

SECOND EDITION

li 0 aTHERN TIM E 8 OFFICE, MONDAY, 10 A.M.

By British and Irish Magnetic Telegraph.

RATIFIC/iTION OF THE PEI STAN TREATY:
Tdegraphic news received at V;enna states that Neram
Knan arrived at Bagri.d, from Teber,n, May 4h. Ile
hi.d an interview with Colonel H. C. Raw'mean, the British
Consul-general, the next day, and the ratification of the
v.eaty of peace 1 etween England and Persia were ex-
changed. It is eta et, in, the most po,itive manner, in this
correp mdonce, that the Shmh has ratified the treaty with-
any reserve. The Ciurier de Paris leans that the
ratific tion of the treaty between &gland and Persia
arrived at Constantinople on May 22", and that it contains
no reserve.

SWITZERLAND.
-BERKE, May 23.—It is thought that the Federal assembly
wilt not be convoked to ratify the Neufcha'el treaty befjre
the 6 ll of July, ills ordinary period of its meeting
the grand ciameil of the Canton of Vaud. 11.1,s elected a
go vannielit txclubivtly cone vative.

FhANCe.
M. de Arent, the governor of the Bank of France, has
at ieegth resigned. He gave in his resigna-don to the
RiverDr in person.

LATER FROM CH [NA.
Th Ilionileur de In I,lotte pub lishe. accounts from China
to the 'lid April. Yen, the Viceroy, is at present at a
large vitta.o of al»ut fifteen miles from Canton. lie has
f,,,,i6e3 himself in a good position. He is at present at
the bead of an army of 30,000 men, wh'ch he is increasing
every diy by means of forced levies and extraordinary
taxes. The Viceroy having beard that, at Fot choofoo, the
principal
markdt for black tea, a considerable amount of
btnici4 1 transacted, arrested reverse Cinioese merchants
a
a considerable quantity of mere 'ants belonging
to the e-s still
alish. Bhaughai, the Manderin is completely
the
grised
opp
,sed to Yfh, and has never ceased to. be on the best
terms with forelgners and to protect their trade. The
Imporiat g iverotueut is compelled to tolerae him lest he
should ait,,ke common cause with the insurgents who amat
hie gates.

THE ATLANTIC TELEGRAPH CABLE —Her Majesty's ship.
on Sunday morning, proceeded up the river Thames fur the
purl) )se of being ready to take on board her portion of the
cable.

TILE PIE WATER —ln adclitinn to the horse leeches
which were shown at the several newspaper offices on
Friday, by a gentlem in who took them out of the water
which came from the Pike- tap, we can assert, on the
authority
of a gentleman who has the water unfirtunately
c ming iLto hi, hous ,'hat oa Saturday and yesterday he got
no less than three of thesa, pleasant !linters "alive and
-,
kicking" in his water jug OD h's dressing, table, the jug
being filled direct from the tap. Wel stated some time ago
that when the warm weather set in, there would be plenty
i
of such things found in the liqaid, and f we escape a
plague in the town this summer, we trinst be grateful to
something more than the liquid f -oin the Pilc2.