The Northern Daily Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1856-11-13 00:00:00

railway company shall be allowed to issue new ob-
ligations unless it is able to show that it has never
hitherto made use of the money raised by obliga,
tions in order to increase dividends. As very few
companies would be in a condition to prove that
they have been immaculate in this respect, the
news has struck terror wherever it is known and
believed, and there is little doubt that it has been
the immediate causo of_ the,panic which prevailed
in the railway market last week, and has assumed
yet larger proportions. An opinion is prevalent
in some financial circles that the government is,
not unlikely to avail itself of the further depres•
sion which railway shares are expected to suffer,
to carry into execution the scheme which, not-
withstanding its rashness, has many ardent par-
tisans, of taking all the railways into the hands
of the state. In this case the OE appropriation
would be made at the Market price of the day of
the transaction, and the shareholders would be
paid in Rentes also at the current quotations.
Accounts received at Marseilles from Constanti-
nople, state that Lord Stratford had installed the
Sultan a Knight of the Garter, and made a speech.
The ceremony.took place with as much magnificence
as that observed in England at the installation of
the Emperor Napoleon. The Sultan had given a
sabre, ornamented with diamonds, to Lord Lyons
as a testimony of his satisfaction.
There is news from Circassia to the 23rd of
October. Sefer Pacha was encamped at Sasdjok
with 25,000 men. The forts and fortalices were
I still in the hands of the mountaineers.

The Belgian Legislative Chambers were opened
at Brussels, on Tuesday, by the King in person.
His speech, on the occasion, will he found in
another column. It is said that the Government
intends to introduce a measure of Customs reform
of a free trade character. As in Prussia, arrange.
ments for an adequate increase of the salary of
subordinate officials in Belgium have been deemed
necessary.

We regret to state that accounts
_have reached
here of two vessels being on shore in the channel,
viz., the Louisanna, for New Orleans, and the
Silus Wright, for New York, the former on Little
Burbo, and the latter on Great Burbo, below the
Formby light-ship. It was reported at the
Exchange-rooms, that the S. M. Fox, for New
York, was also ashore, but later accounts state
that she was at anchor outside in smooth water
with steam-boat astern of her.

Our. London advises of last night state, that it
is generally understood that Attorney General
Cockburn has accepted the Chief Justiceship of
Common Pleas.

A telegraphic despatch, received eatly this
morning, announces that news has been received
from Bombay to the 17th October. The prepara-
tions for the expedition against the Persian Gulph
were advancing. It was believed that Herat had
been taken.

THE Liverpool Financial Reform Association
Arne into the political world like a roaring lion.
Its glaring, eyes fell upon those who finger the
millions of taxation like myriads of noon-tide
suns. Its tongue was as keen as the edge of a
lancet when it reached the ears of a Chancellor of
the Eichequer, and its claws as sharp and
threatening as the quills of an indignant porcupine•
A more perfect combination of parts for the work
it was designed to take in hand could scarcely have
been conceived. Our monster loving public
examined and admired the young leviathan. Its
body was found to be perfect, and its intellect far
above mediocrity. The task it had undertaken was
thought gigantic, and all classes of the community
lent it a helping hand. A large subscription list
was soon made up, and prosperity dawned on the
infant Reformers. As far back as 1848 the
Association commenced its labours, and its first
great effort was directed to the exposure of the
financial enormities of that comparatively economi-
cal and' remote time. In that year it issued its
No. 1 Tract, declaring that " The embarrassed
" position in which the nation has been placed,
" through mismanagement in the financial depart-
" ments of the Government, is both the

" cause and the justification of their labours." In
proof of this mismanagement they refer to
" the following plain facts and figures :—The
" annual Governmental expenditure, in the
time of peace, exclusive of interest on the
"National Debt was,

" During the reign of Geo. 1., about 2,583,0001.
Geo. IL, 2,766,000.
Geo. 111., (1792) 7,670,000.
Geo. IV., (1828) 21,407,670.
Wm IV., (1835) 16,884,649.
Vie., (1848) 24,280,804."
Those figures seem to have sat heavily on the
mind of the Association. Matters certainly did
look very black, and it would have been difficult
to have found a gre iter grievance in those days.
The habit of lavish and wasteful expenditure,
which was formed during the French War, we are
informed " had never been extinguished; but
" during the reign of WILLTA3I IV., in consequence
"of the strong and general expression of the
" National desire for retrenchment, vigorous and
" successful efforts to economise were made by
" the Government. These efforts, however,
" ceased when the national attention was directed
" to other matters, and each year the expendi-
" ture steadily increased. The present Govern-
" went has arrived at an unparalleled height of
" extravagance, the expenditure of 1848 exceeding
" that [of 1835 by one-half. The revenue of the
" United Kingdom for the present year [lB4B], is
" estimated at the enormous sum of 51,250,0001.
" And yet our spendthrift Governors
" acknowledge that their expendi-

" ture amounts to ......... 54,596,4521
" Leaving a deficiency of

We have hero a sample of the. grievances
which brought the Financial Reform Association
into existence, and all will freely admit that they
were quite enough to call forth the earnest attention
of the nation's participes cararuna. No order of
patriots or good men stood higher a few centuries
back than the sharers of the popular cares, and
great credit is due to the Liverpool Reform
Association for the fortitude they have displayed
through so many years of trials. They mist, in
fact, rank in history next to the propugnatores
imperil. Their past services have been recorded
in two volumes, which will outlive the income and
property tax, and the financial injustice to which
trade and industry are now exposed.
But what do they think of the estimated expen-
diture of the current financial year as compared
with the economical 1835, and the prodigal 1848 ?
We are no longer at war, and we may, therefore,
speak out on these questions. There is no treason
in asking the Government to protect the resources
of the State to meet a rainy day. The public
will, consequently, expect to hear something more
from the Financial Reform Association than they
have lately. They have done good service by ex•
posing the disgraceful " Fiscal Doings of the
" Session 1850." But how do they propose
to bring their " facts and figures " before
all classes of the community ? If they aro not
prepared to renew their former agitation, with the
flagrant abuses they have recorded in their re-
cently published tracts,we see little hope of redress
at their hands. We have to make good
82,000,0001. of taxation within the financial year,
and it is high time to ask the country where is it
to come from, and how long a lavish expenditure
will last ? We are now in the depths of a bullion
panic, usury is swallowing up the profits of trade,
and threatens to starve labour. The whole-
sale markets, with some exceptions, are
falling gradually, but retail prices are