The Northern Daily Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1853-11-23 00:00:00

THE NORTHERN

to keep Austria in check, and to take instant
advantage of any favorable turn the fortune of war
may offer. Thus far, then, it will be seen that the
Turkish leaders have shown themselves fully
equal to the task of defending their own rights
and interests, and this fact brings us back again
to the gross folly and impropriety shown by the
Turkish government in giving the command of
large and valuable divisions of the army to un-
known and untried men, such as General PRIM,
who is not only a RuSsian by convention but by
nature—a man unknown to the world, except
as a general and follower of Don CARLOS, whose
outrages on humanity are not likely to be forgotten
for ages to come.

If such a man is to be trusted in a war where
his views, feelings, and interests all hang on the
side of the enemy, why not employ CABRERA at
once? He is really a gallant and daring mountain
warrior. But who would trust him? Then why
suffer PRIM to take a leading part on the side to
which he does not belong ? In London, the Whig
ministers are losing the confidence of their oldest
adherents, because their present leader is un-
known in the struggles for constitutional freedom.
And if the Turks be alive to their own interests
they would just as much think of trusting a Span-
ish Carlist as the reformers of Finsbury would
think of expecting a large and enlightened measure
of parliamentary reform from Lord ABERDEEN.
The season being now broken, military opera-
tions on the banks of the Danube must be greatly
impeded, if not wholly suspended, for some time.
And we sincerely hope that this season, be it ever
so short, may be employed in bringing this most
unjustifiable war to a speedy and successful issue
for the Turks. This, we still contend, can only be
done by opposing the united force of Constitutional
Monarchy to the despotic rulers of Europe.
If LOUIS NAPOLEON be really sincere in his pro-
fessions of friendship for the Turldsh empire, he
has, thus far, gone no further than the ABERDEEN
ministry. If the EMPEROR of France is waiting
for some event which shall render the assistance
of France unnecessary, or which shall at once force
him to an immediate armed intervention, what will
be his ulterior views as to the affairs of Europe. In
adopting the political system of Europe as it at
present exists, NAPOLEON has given the strongest
assurance of his disposition to preserve the peace
of the world. But should he be goaded into a base
and unjust war at the beginning of hiS reign, it
would be rather too much to expect that he will
swallow all that the hearts of the BONAPARTES
have been, and will ever remain, pitted against.
Are our secret diplomatists prepared to throw any
light on this subject ? Can they consistently
join France in a war, which, if it becomes Bona-
partist, will secure the prostration of Russia by
the restoration of the Sovereignties of Europe,
whiCh have been so daringly usurped by the Gnu ?
It is manifestly the interest of England, that
Russian ambition and perfidy should be at once
and for ever prostrated, and that the lost nation-
alities of Constitutional States should be restored.
But will the ABERDEEN Ministry admit the fact, and
act up to such an hypothesis ? Here is the great
ABERDEEN dilemma ! There is no difficulty in pre-
paring an agreement for the supply of troops and
munitions of war by France and England—but there
must be a terrible cloud of darkness surrounding our
Cabinet, as to the result to be expected from follow-
ing France through the swamps of the Danubian
States. Indeed, if we might venture an opinion on
the subject, we would say that when LOrdABERDEEN
joins in a Bonapartist war on the Continent of Eu-
rope, that fabulous day will have arrived when the
sky is to fall to enable us to catch larks.
Taking this perfectly rational view of the. sub-
ject, we are not at all surprised at the recent anti
Russian meetings in London, expressing a " want
of confidence in her Majesty's Government, as it is
at present constituted with reference to our foreign
affairs."

LAST Monday morning the metropolis was dis-
graced by another tragic spectacle, in which CAL-
CRAFT acted his accustomed part. Another victim
has been sacrificed in keeping with the stern
requirements of Justice (?) and the inexorable Law
has been appeased by the blood of a mnrderer!
MOBBS, in a moment of jealous fury, destroyed the
life of his wife, and then made a deadly aim upon
his own existence, by severing an artery. To the
surprise of the medical profession he recovered.
But the law seized its victim, and with savage
inflexibility demanded " blood for blood !"
During the two months the unfortunate man was
lying in the London Hospital he was heard to say :
" Why do they endeavour to make me well, when
it is only to hang me—why don't they let me die
now .2" A very natural and a very rational question.
But then the Law, forsooth ! could not have its
course, and Justice could not, by this means, be
appeased ! GIBBON says, that the laws of a people
form the most important portion of their history.
And there is not the slightest doubt of it. A nation
makes its laws ; and those laws afford a very safe
criterion by which to estimate the character of
nation. In order to ascertain whether it be barba.
rous or civilized one has merely to peep into its
Statute-book. All is then told, concisely but cor
rectly
We agree with MONTESQUIEU, that " laws are ne-
cessary relations springing from the nature of
things." In all ages they have been held sacred
and inviolable. The THEMIS of ancient Mythology
was feigned to be the daughter of Heaven and
Earth. Society without laws to bind men together,
would be as loose, unconnected, and shifting, as the
sands of the desert. Indeed DEMOSTHENES went
so far as to characterize good laws as " the inven-
tion and gift of G-on." With just laws no upright
man can quarrel ; but when the principles which
guided society in barbarous and feudal times still
live, and move, and have their being, in our own day
and generation, then, indeed, the matter assumes
a totally different aspect. Nations, like individuals,
cling tenaciously to usages, however cruel, when
once custom has formed them into a habit. Every
day one abuse or another is being rectified. " Com-
missions of Inquiry" aro raking up and bringing
to light the musty mal-practices of Corporations—
absurd national customs are fast growing into a
state of desuetude—the public Press is loud in
exposing long-grown and deep-rooted evils—Lord
BROUGHAM aims at reforming the law itself—whilst
even the sight of a wretched human creature dang-
ling from the gallows-tree fails to afford the multi.
tude the amusement it was wont. These are cer-
tainly gratifying marks of progress—but still there
remains one foul stain upon our Statute-book, which
demands immediate expurgation—viz :—the inhu-
man, impolitic, and barbarous requirement of life
for life.

We willingly and cheerfully admit that the ex-
treme penalty of the law is carried out but
in few cases, compared with former times. A
mild and merciful spirit is a3tuating the popular
mind of this country—and even the character of
our legal tribunals themselves are becoming daily
Subservient and obedient thereto. The adminis-
trators of justice, there can be little doubt, feel
oftentimes the difficulty and onerousness of their
position—when they have to decide between their
own feelings and convictions on the one hand, and
the stern and absolute demands of the Law on the