The Northern Daily Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1857-01-23 00:00:00

July, 1854 The Chamber of Commerce of Orleans
and the principal bunkers, manufacturers, and
merchants of that town had previously presented a
petition to the same effect. Their example has
been followed by the merchants of Paris, Lyons,
and Marseilles; who have suffered serious losses
by the bombardment of Greytown.
Austrian accounts state that the Emperor Joseph
was well received by the population of Milan,
although it is alleged, and perhaps truly, that the
people who so warmly greeted him were not
Milanese, but inhabitants of the country parts sent
in by the rural clergy. Instructions for the evacu-
ation of the Principalities by the Austrian troops
have been sent off for Bucharest and Jansy. The
homeward march is to begin in the month of
March next.
If we are to believe a letter from St. Peters-
burg published by a Paris paper, the approaching
Conference on the Swiss affair will not confine
itself to the Neuchatel dispute, but will also deal
with the question of asylum granted by Switzer-
land to political refugees, and perhaps with the
constitution of the Confederation itself.

Accounts from Astrabad, on the borders of the
Caspian Sea, state, that a division of the Russian
flotilla attacked on the 28th December the pirates
of Starpa, the most formidable on the coast, and
imflicted on them a considerable loss The
Russians having destroyed the boats of their
opponents, landed, and .pursued thorn into their
haunts, and forced them to 113, in all directions,
Tee Russians, during the last ten years, have been
making., at the request of the Persian government,
continual attacks on these pirates, who desolate the'
Caspian Sea and the coasts of M azandei•an.
N correspondent of the Nord, of Brussels, states
that despatcht s have been received which confirm
the intelligence of the occupation of Astrabod by
the Russians. This information is in itself
exceedingly improbable. and we find nothing in
any other quarter to confirm it.
From Hanover we have accounts that the
election returns shew a majority of 48 Government
candidates against 35 Opposition. There are only
three places from which the returns are not yet
received.

A letter from Palermo, of the 10th inst, announces
numerous executions throughout Sicily for poli-
tical causes. At Catania, Louis Pellegrino, a young
man, but a distinguished chemist, was shot a few
days previously. Several students had been arrested
The troops mount guard during the day with
loaded muskets. The streets are deserted, and
many of the shops closed. At Messina the
arrests are not less numerous than at Catania,
Among the persons imprisoned are MM. Ribera
and Villari, both directors of the literary journals
the Caduceo and the Tremolotto. Doctor Guarneri,
of Cefalu had been sentenced to death by court
martial at Palermo. Every person entering or
quitting the town -is searched tor letters or manu-
scripts. Many of the inhabitants have retired to
the country to avoid the persecution of the police
authorities.

El fin corona la obra. We hope the truth of
this saying will be verified as we progress in the
art of preserving life and property at sea. At
present the disasters which befall our ablest navi-
gators, and most perfect ships, are very lament-
able. Every gale of wind commits sad havoc on
the ocean ; and every tide brings us news of
some melancholy shipwreck on our shores. Still
the mortality and destruction of property on the
waves will never be as great as it is on land.
The principles of astronomy on
.which the sailor
has been taught mainly to depend, are right be-
yond all question, and with the mechanical aids
he receives, and untiring care, he staggers on
with wonderful safety. Yet underwriters com-
plain, and with good reason, of the growing risk,
and the shipowner murmurs, and with sufficient
cause, at the advances made in the rates of in-
surance. But these evils date, we are inclined
to think, from a common error. A high rate of in-
surance has augmented the inducements to ship-
owners to insure themselves. The higher the
underwriters charge the more owners find it to
their advantage to take their risks on their own
hands, and thus the assurers lose premiums on
nearly all the best ships.

The large fleets built within the last few years
by joint stock companies are all insured by the
owners, and many private firms and individuals
have gone on building large numbers of first-
class vessels for the express purpose of escaping
the underwriter, who scarcely gets anything to
speculate upon beyond a class of vessels which
it would be better were not insured at all. It is
no uncommon thing to hear of thirty or forty
craft, of a certain class, being on shore at once,
on a particular portion of our coast. These ves-
sels are strong enough for the use they are put
to ; but look at their steering and sailing quali-
ties ! They cannot sail close enough to the wind
to get out of danger, and at the end of . twelve
hours of rough weather they are almost certain
to be wrecked or stranded ; and it is the heavy
losses in our coasting trade that have led to the
present high premiums charged on superior ves-
sels. Competition among underwriters has also
done much mischief. It is a well known fact,
that any shipper, who has a good account with
an underwriter, extending, say, to 40Q1 or 5001
a month, can get anything insured. The account,

and not the ship, is looked to in the prevailing
anxiety for business, and as long as insurances
can be effected in this way we shall have all sorts
of vessels afloat.

It would be impossible, at a cursory glance, to
discover the vast ramifications of evil which
spring from this source; but we have said enough
to show that something more than improvements
in shipbuilding, and a better knowledge of the
science of navigation; is required to give the ad-
ditional security sought for life and property on
the seas. A rate o► insurance, which would hold
out a positive inducement to the owners of the
fleets of first class ships which have been built
within the last few years, would, we feel con-
vinced, be far more profitable, in the long run,
than th - present mode of doing the underwriting
business of the country. But while capitalists
are wavering, let us hope that science will not
flag in its efforts to protect humanity against the
ravages ofthe waves. Let thescience of spherics be
re-examined—the labours attending the working
of simple and double amplitudes dispensed with
—the quadrant and chronometer improved—the
frolics of the magnetic needle re-discussed, and
its movements made intelligible to thaie whom
it is meant to guide—give us more lights, buoys,
beacons, and life-boats—good ground tackle—
enforce the more constant use of log, lead, and
look-out—all and everything that is necessary
and possible to save life at sea, and the property
rescued from its waters will pay fp/. all.
The underwriters must ere long take an active
part in such a movement as we advocate, in seff.