The Northern Daily Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1857-05-23 00:00:00

manner posible to intimate that he rues he made
the bargain in question,
But his Lordship is unwilling to appear a
political renegade, although that would not be a
new character for him to act, on the stage of
statesmen. He therefore tells his clients at Man-
chester that he has something good for them in
store.at the same time, he cannot just now attend
to their particular requests. His Lordship and the
Ministry generally feel that, on the question of
Shipping Dues, the boasted majority of eighty or
a hundred might—nay, would—dwindle into a
minority, if they made it a Government mea-
sure. He is cautions in the extreme.
When he spoke on Thursday evening, he
had before his mind the thought that on the
following day he would have to use a little of his
" Irish blarney" to induce the House of Com-
mons to vote away thousands of the public
money to be spent in obtaining luxuries at the
Court of a German Prince, and to be the
marriage offering to a Royal lady, who, although
everything that is good and virtuous, does not
possess a single claim for a wedding dowry
from the people of England. True it is that sly-
is the daughter of our most gracious QUEEN and
Prince ALBERT. But both these illustrious per-
sonages have been so well, aye and so much over-
paid, that they should not ask the nation to do for
them that which is the first of parental duties—
provision for the future comfort, happiness, and
welfare of their own offspring. We fear that it
was with the great object of " squelching" all
opposition from every quarter to the proposed
Royal dowry that the Government refused the
reasonable motion made by the Hon. Member
for Dublin. We do not regret that Mr. VANCE
has brought forward the subject, nor are we dis-
satisfied with the result.

After what has taken place, we shall wait
with much desire to know what steps the
Ministry will take with regard to the
Mersey Conservancy Bill, now before a select
committee of the House of Commons. That
measure is a project conceived and licked into
shape by the people of Manchester. Its object
is to usurp and control the government of the
Liverpool Docks, as well as to regulate and
expend the Dock Dues. It is a Liverpool Town
Dues' Bill in miniature, the mischievous conse-
quences of which, and the unjust and unwarrant-
able claims which it puts forth, we have already
exposed in these columns. According to the
statements of Lord PALMERSTON, the CHANCEL-
LOR Of the EXCHEQUER, and the VICE-PRESIDENT
of the Board of Traie on Thursday Fight, they
will not tolerate an attack on vested interests. If
so, the Liverpool Town Dues are still safe, and,
as we said in our opening remarks, the people of
Liverpool had glad tidings imparted to the m
in our publication of yesterday.

Ma. STITT has written a letter—he has done
more—he has published it. Wearied as we have
been with the utter rubbish—doled out to us in
the shape of reason and argument—by the mis-
guided beings who have lent their puny influence
to persuade the people of Liverpool that the
abominable washings of Rivinton are superior
to anything they could derive from the old wells ;
in the midst of the wilderness of fraud, decep-
tion, if not falsehood, through which we have on
this subject been compelled to grope our way, it
is somewhat cheering for us to peruse a docu-
ment so redolent of truth, honour, and philo-
sophy as the letter written by Mr. STITT to Mr
ROBERTSON GLADSTONE. There is no real
pleasure without its alloy ; and we regret much
that at the pl'esent time the Town Council and
the town of Liverpool should be deprived even
temporarily of the counsel and advice of such a
man as Mr. STITT."

In an unfortunate mood, and ill-informed on
the subject of the Pike, he indiscreetly made state-
ments against " Our Reporter," of which he is
evidently not proud. Would that all the
Town Councillors should follow the example of
Mr. STITT, and, in place of trying to bolster up
one of the most iniquitous schemes that ever was
palmed on a community —by prostituting poor
wretched hirelings—holding out temptations to
secrecy and dishonesty—disguising, torturing,
concealing facts—in short, doing all that
is degrading and disgraceful on the
part of masters—have resorted to the
course pursued by Mr. STrrr. We have
written harsh things about Mr. STITT, and'
rightly too. In his place in Council, privileged
as he was, he had the hardihood to designate a
statement made by " Our Reporter" as a oil.
lanous falsehood," and he had a witness ready to
corroborote this—What shall we call it ?—intem-
perato accusation. Our Reporter narrated a
fact, that, on visiting the Rivington Works ou a
recent occasion, he found a large quantity of
oily, sooty, unrctuous scum on the surface of the
water. Under the influence of excitement, Mr.
STITT said, in plain language, "Your reporter is
guilty of falsehood." Now, we have some regard
for the honour of our order. We hold that the
Press ought to be above suspicion; that its agents
should neither be toadies nor flunkies, much less
" Sairy Gamps ;" and when we employ an officer
from our establishment to discharge a duty of
vital importance to a large section of our fellow-
men, we do not leave him to temptation.
We can say with the ghost of Junius, " What
we have written we have written" on this Pike
question, "It will outlive the brass on all their
monuments and tombs." Mr. STITT doubtless
has heard of the Irishman's defence, when
charged with stealing the pig, Two witnesses
positively swore that they saw Paddy with the
cratur in his charge. " But," says Pat, " I have
twenty who will swear that they never saw any-
thing of the sort." So with Mr. STITT But there
is this difference. Our Reporter stated that he
saw a large quantity of oily, sooty scum on the
surface of the Rivington Reservoir. Mr. STITT
Says, "No ; I saw none of the stuff, neither did
my friend and most faithful servant, Mr. DUNCAN."
But our Reporter was prepared to prove the
truth of bis ztatement. In certain states of the