The Northern Daily Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1856-06-04 00:00:00

vreambli

who lead the or

eoncessi

fatal to tho Dock and public interests. But
these are matters of very trifling import. In
a question of dock accommodation, the conven-
ience of shipping, and not that of railways, ought
lo be first if not the sole consideration. We can-
t acres of docks one day and pull
ra down the next. Such works should be laid
nd constructed like the pyramids of Egypt
. The trade of the Mersey
i 3 growing in too startling a ratio, and its
cultural

00t construes'

down

and for ever.

duration and capabilities are too
circumscribed to admit of the
engineering blunders, in the mis-

carious

,orrect

THE

opposition would have been raised to it, and it
would have passed, through Parliament without
one word being said about its engineering merits.
Arr. RENDELL would not have been examined. All
would have gone off sub silentio, had not the Rail-
way's Companies taken the initiative. We
should have heard nothing about the pro-
posed system of penning up water in docks,
which is to receive a large amount of town
drainage, to a certain level. We should not
have heard that in " Mr. HARTLEY'S plan, lockage
" was the rule, and going in and out the excep
" tion ;" or that the public would save 200,000/. in
money, and two years in time, by allowing Mr.
RENDELL to carry out his plan, and not giving Mr.
HARTLEY'S scheme the preference.

The foregoing allegations are one and all of
paramount importance, still it would be useless to
attempt to beat sense into "the powers that be!'
If we can make the inhabitants of Birkenhead and
Liverpool understand the dangers to the navi-
gation of the river and its approaches, which must
follow a large curtailment of the tidal column
which now enters the Mersey twice in the twenty-
four hours, we must leave them to do the rest
with regard to the further opposition to the
present Bill. Now, in Mr. HARTLEY'S plan,
it is proposed to place gates, or sluices, across
the entrance to the Great Float for the pur-
pose of making a floating dock at low water.
This is all practicable enough, but what will the
effect b

? The Great Float has an area of about
150 acres, and receives an average each tide of
7,000,000 cubic yards of water, or 14,000,000 cubic
yards every twenty-four hours. This, then, is the
volume of tidal water Mr. HARTLEY would venture
to take out of the daily circulation of the estuary
of the Mersey without telling us what the practical
effect would be on the outer channels,
and the loss of scouring power by stopping the
daily influx and eflux of a column of water,
which moves with a rapidity in proportion to its
immensity. 2,545,000,000 cubic yards of water enters
the Great Float every year, and when we calculate
the velocity at which it moves, and its weight, we
may well ask what is to become of the channels it
has cut for itself through the sand and mud
banks at the mouth and within the bar of the

That we have lost much by interfering with the
tidal column in the construction of the north wall,
and other enclosures, cannot be denied. When
the Victoria passage was discovered by GRENVILLE
COLLINS, in 1687, there was eighteen feet of water
in that channel at low water. When Captain
DENHAM made the second discovery of that valu-
able passage, there was, and is at the present
time, considerably less ; and to what rational

cause can we attribute the decrease in the
depth of water in those valuable channels, but the

mously in favour of Mr. HARTLEY'S plan, no

abstraction of the circulation of water within the
entrance of the Mersey by encroachments made on
the Liverpool side and the closing of Wallasey Pool?
What has taken place in other channels within
the same time both in the river and at its entrance
is well known. And yet dock engineers go on
planing, and Parliament legislates away, as though
the navigation of the Mersey and its approaches
went on impro\ ing with every stroke of the hydro-
dynamic professional's pencil, and the enlightened
legislator's pen. The Chairman of the Par
liamentary Committee, Sir WrLLiAm CLAY,
has, however, told us, that he and his
brother members of the Committee will look

carefully into the merits of both the promoter's
and opposition's plans, and we may consequently
wait until the whole bill is gone into before we
offer an opinion as to how this promise has been
fulfilled, or the plans of the successful engineer
are likely to affect the navigation of the port, in
practice.

LIE London Times still persists in the assertion
that the Washington Cabinet have recognised
"WALKER'S Government." There never was a
more outrageous fabrication, and those who read
the history of Central America a few years hence,
and then turn to the London Times of yesterday,
will be at a loss to know what that journal means,

when it speaks of " WALKER'S Government

The act of recognition in question was accompa-
nied by a Message to the American Senate, and

in that State document, we repeat, the name of
WALKER is not once mentioned. That notable
individual is nothing more than a soldier of
fortune in the service of President Rivas, who is
the de facto governor of Nicaragua ; and we might
as well say that the British 'Alinistry recognised
the government of the English and French generals,
who served under the revolutionary banners of
Portugal and Spain, when they received the repre-
sentatives of the QUEEN'S of those two
countries, and acknowledged them as ruling
When WALKER and his filibus-

sovereigns

ters took up arms, there were two parties
in Nicaragua, and suppose he had taken
the opposite side to that on which we found him,
what would be said ? Would he have been a
sanguinary outlaw then ? In having strengthened
the hands of either of the two parties who were
so evenly balanced that neither could exercise
the functions of government, WALKER may
have done some service in the cause of law

application of space, or interference with the well
Ica own and arbitary bent of tidal waters.
The public's stake in a railway may be as great
as that inn dock; but then, it must be remem-
bered, that the former can accommodate itself to
the latter, by either retiring or advancing its lines
of rails. Whereas, dock walls must necessarily
as wide an area as possible, and, in
_ o being immovable, ought to be imperish-
able, Railways must, therefore, in all cases where
dock plans are being laid down, give way to
shipping and mercantile interests. That
they have not done so, in this instance,

umbra

tviditic

appears D C

*lance.
aiaB Bir

and order.
Ho has certainly not taken upon himself the
office of Dictator or the title of President of the
Republic, in whose service he has engaged. Presi-
dent Rivas governs Nicaragua and its dependencies,
and WALKER merely holds the rank of General in
the Nicaraguan army. And to confirm and give
stability to the State over which RIVAS presides,
the American Government have opened di-
plomatic relations with the dominant party.
This is a very different thing to recog-
nising " WALKER'S Government," and laying claim
to the sovereignty of that or any other portion of
Central America. The United States have no
desire of the kind, and they cite the treaties with,
and despatches from, this country, to show that
nothing can be further from their thoughts. The
policy of CALHOUN and the ambition of the South,
appear, in fact, to have been wholly repudiated
by President PIERCE and his immediate pre-
decessors. The march of slavery is no longer
looked upon by American statesmen as an essential
element in the safety and welfare of the Southern
frontiers of the Union. With this phantom the
love of annexation seems to have vanished.

The price paid for Texas has shown them that
the conquest of a wilderness may be too dearly
bought. Oregon, they discovered to be the pro-
perty of the States, and, in claiming it, they did
no more than we should have done. They were
bad geographers when it became theirs, and we
were worse colonisers; and when they discovered
they had a title to a territory, which we had not
used, we could scarcely refuse to give them what
was their own We come now to Cali-
fornia. That was a prize which no nation under
the sun would have refused but England, and,
strange to say, although it was ours by
right of discovery, we allowed Mexico to take pos-
, session of it subsequently to her determination

o be a fortunate circum
Liverpool Dock Committee

missioners being unani

NORTHERN TIMES.---LIVERPOOL, WEDNO

of independence, and permitted it to fall'
for one-millioneth part of its value, to the
Americans. The other portion of the Mexi-
can territory which the States hold, they have
acquired by purchase, just as a man goes
into the land market in Europe to buy a fee-
simple estate ; and in these few lines we
have the entire history of that wild spirit of
annexation, plunder, and subjugation of which
so much is made to fill Europe with
alarm. American annexation is a contempt-
able bugbear. As long as independent States will
sell their territories to foreign governments, how
can we prevent them ? We cannot dictate to all
the nations of the earth what they shall do with
their own, when they seek to escape from the
agonies of debt, the horrors of intermenable civil
wars, and the robberies of lawless bands of
intriguers who claim to be their rulers.
American civilisation had pretty nearly ex-
hausted itself, when the rich treasures of California
were discovered. The Southern continent was
reduced to positive mendicancy, while the Northern
division was sinking into a chaos of debt, and
social disorder, from which all the wisdom of man
could not have released it without having recourse
to revolutions for which the American mind was not
prepared, and change, therefore, must inevitably
have led to bloodshed among themselves. In
extremis, the States might have sought deliverance
from domestic troubles in conquest. They might
have wrested from Mexico those rich mineral dis-
tricts which she has failed to turn to the wide world's
account. She might have grasped the com-
mercial facilities of New Granada, and
have determined to clutch the riches of the valleys
which separate the Andes from the Silla of
Carraccus. But they made no such attempts.
Their present defenceless condition, in a maritime
point of view, shows the limits of their ambition,
and their confidence in the moderation of Europe.
Their sole object from the days of WASHINGTON
down to those of PIERCE has been social greatness,
peace, and prosperity. They were the last, as a
nation, to draw the sword against Mexico, and
they will assuredly be the last people
on earth to allow any European Power
to assault the weaker States of the Continent they
inhabit. To this we may make up our minds, and
if England is about to back the Nicaraguan party,
opposed to the government of President RrvAs, or
to support the mad war antics of Old Spain in the
New World, we shall soon discover what our
modern diplomacy, and Printing House-square
swagger, have done for us, by the extra millions
the CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER will call for to
carry on war without an object, or a shadow of
justification.

NIMIO.I9IIt.a,eM.MNNEIMIMI

MONETARY AND COMMERCIAL.

LIVERPOOL, TUESDAY EVENING

The demand for Cotton to-day has been moder-
ate, and the tone of the market has been quiet.
The sales amount to 5,000 bales, of which 1,000
have been taken on speculation. Prices remain
without change.
The Liverpool Share Market opened with a
quiet tone, and continued without change until
nearly the close, when it became rather easier.
The closing quotations were as follows :
Aberdeen, 13 131. Chester and Birkenhead, 151
16. Caledonian, 30 9-16 30 11-16. Chester and
Holyhead, 16 164. Eastern Counties; 101- 101. East
Lancashire, 19i 20. Great Northern, 231 244. Ditto
A, 9-Z- 101. Great Western, 604 601 Lancashire and
Yorkshire Stock, 92Z- 93. Liverpool, Crosby and
Southport, 17-1- 171 London and North Western
Stock, 102} 1022. Manchester Sheffield, and Lin-
coln, 29a 201 Ditto Pref., 11a 11/ Ditto New 6
per cent. Pref., i -2-p. Midland Stock, 781 78ji.
North British, 88 9. North Staffordshire, 6 sid.
South Eastern and Dover, 2421 11-16.. York, New-
castle, and Berwick, 207-3- 201. York and North
Midland, 29a 291. Leeds Capital Stock, 177, 178.
Buffalo and Lake Huron, 1 lip. Dutch Rhenish,
1-Z- lip. Great Western of Canada, 2511 251
Ditto New Shares, 21 28p. Great Luxembourg,
8 1-16 Bd.

The Liverpool Corn Market showed more firm•
ness to-day, and the price of wheat advanced from
ld to 2d per bushel. Flour and other articles
were held for full prices. _ _ _

We quote the following report of the London
Tobacco Market for the past month from the cir
cular of Messrs Grant and Hodgson:—

Although the market has been less active than during
the previous month, a fair extent of business has been
transacted, and sales may be estimated at fully 1,200 hhds,
exclusive of re-sales of speculative parcels of nearly 300
hhds. In the early part of the month prices assumed
increased firmness, and holders of some descriptions were
not anxious sellers at an advance of id per lb. Sales of
Virginia leaf and Western strips were made at this
advance. As the market progressed, a firmer tone
manifested itself, and since the arrival of latest advices
from the United States, an advance of fully ad per lb has
been asked and obtained for fine Western strips. Holders
appear to feel very confident in their position, and enter-
tain strong views as to prospective prices. It is now
stated, from two or three reliable sources, that under no
circumstances can a large crop be produced this year.
The make of Virginia strips will not exceed 3,500, and of
Western 7,000 hhds : of the latter about 4,500 hhds will
come forward. By the official returns, the export of
tobacco from the United States last year was 150,000 hhds,
and with this addition, the reduced state of the Stocks in
the open markets of the world has been for some time
past sufficiently apparent. The estimated supply to make
up this year's export is as follows :
Virginia Crop
Western..
Maryland

65,000 hhds.
60,000 „
50,000 „

175,000 hhds

We may from this deduct fully 35,000 hhds. of Virginia,
required by the manufacturers there, and 10,000 hhds. of
Western, and for the Atlantic cities and Europe, 130,000
hhds., leaving 20.000 hhds. less than was exported last
year. These estimates we have deemed it our duty to
enter into, without expressing any decided opinion,which
we invariably think is of little value in a public circular,
but we consider them of sufficient importance to deserve
consideration. For exportation, a moderate business only
has been transacted, in consequence of the absence of
suitable qualities to meet demand. The following are the
imports and consumption of tobacco in the four months
ended 30th April, 1856, compared with the imports and
consumption ~in the corresponding period of the year
1855: Entered for Home

Ma. LOWE, we are credibly informed, is highly
delighted with his upstairs apartments, and is quite
satisfied with the progress he is making towards
the completion of the task he has taken in hand.
He probably feels a moral certainty that whatever
other port or borough may escape with its lawful
revenues out of his grasp, the Ratepayers of
Liverpool are doomed to lose their Town's Dues-
Poor Mr. LOWE is not the first man who has
entertained like ideas, and who has had to bear
the pangs of disappointment. The Vice-President
of the Board of Trade has not possibly heard of
the notorious Tidal Commissionists Bill intro-
duced into Parliament, in 1846, by Mr. WARD and
Captain DUNDAS. The object of that sapient
production was to transfer the conservancy of all
rivers, the management of docks, ports, and
harbours, with their dues and other revenues, as a
matter of course, to a Board of Tidal Commis.
sioners, composed of an officer of her Majesty's
Navy, an officer of the Royal Engineers, and a
barrister-at law ! This triumverate, which we will
call the firm of VILLIERS, DUNDAS, and GREY, were
to have been vested with powers to supercede all
grants, acts of Parliament, charters, and other
vested rights, and were to have sovereign sway
over the creeks, tidal waters, navigable lakes and
rivers in Great Britain and Ireland, in addition to
the ports, harbours, and docks.
_

Importations. Consumption.
Stemmed lbs. 893,703 997,876 5,354,3e4 5,349,620
Unstemmed „ 3,426,003 4,598,389 4,578,091 5,527,687
Manufae-
tured &snuff " 502,891 324,245 69,304 83,571

Increase in 1856...959,099

The following is a statement of Traffic Receipts
of the Great Western Railway of Canada, by pas-
senger and goods trains, for the week ending the
lath of May, 1856, and for the corresponding
period last year: —l6th May, 1856—total receipts,
12,4511 ls. 6d. ; 18th May, 1855, do., 9,175/ 1 ls. 3d. :
Increase, 3,2751105. 3d. Aggregate gross receipts
from the commencement of the current half-year to
date, 184,3601 3s. od. sterling ; do., for the corre
sponding period last year, 129,248/ ss. 3d., do. _

IVe need scarcely add that this scheme was
universally scouted as a most flagrant Ministerial
job, in which the rights of property were to be
openly violated, to make commissionerships for
certain troublesome hangers-on. And that Mr.
LOWE should attempt to obtain for the Board of
Trade powers which were denied to the Adutiralty,
who certainly ought to know something more of
maritime affairs, does appear most audacious.
His Town Dues " Abolition" Bill is to do precisely
what the Admiralty measure of 1846 contemplated.
The tidal and maritime revenues of the United
Kingdom are to be sequestered—given over to a
Government Board—not abolished. And that the
manufacturers, and men of business of Manchester,
should tolerate such a system of dealing with
corporate and other local rights, does ap-
pear perfectly astonishing. If Mr. LowE, or the
Palmerston Cabinet, meant to do away with Town
Dues and Passing Tolls there would be some
show of sense about the Corporation's spending
time and money as they are doing; but where the
tax, such as it is, is to be continued, and increased,
as every Government burden is, there is really
no excuse for them, except indeed, that all corpo-
rate officials will have a Parliamentary feed when-
ever they can, no matter who pays the tavern
bill.

- The amount of business done in the Manches-
ter Goods Market to-day has been limited, buyers
demanding a reduction of prices, which was firmly
refused by manufacturers.

The Paris commercial report states that trade,
during the past week, remained quiet. Amongst
manufacturers there were very few new commis-
sions ; but at this season of the year business is
very dull in some departments, such as the manu
factures of winter goods. On the other hand those
of little fabrics at Rouen and Alsace are busy. The
foreign merchants have retarded their purchases,
and they have asked for a reduction in prices. Up
to the present time trade has not been much in-
fluenced by the lowering of the rate of discount by
the Bank of France. Capitalits who speculate on
tne Bourse, rarely employ their means in com-
mercial operations.
At a general meeting, held in Paris, of the share-
holders of the Palais de l'lndustrie, it was agreed
to that a dividend of 3f 20c in the 3 per cent
Rentes should be paid on each share. This is equal,
it is said, to about 60 per cent on the value of the
shares. _ _ _

The following are the receipts of the principal
French railways for the week ending the 19th May,
and the totals from the Ist of January to that date,
both compared with the receipts of the correspond-
ing periods of 1855 :

1856.
948,111 ... ..
18,007,391 ... ..
Western of 1 733,812 .. ..
France 1 12,473,734 .. ..
Paris and ) 762,674 ..
Lyons i 14,042,674 . ..
Lyons and 1 584,614 .. ..
Mediterranean J 9,781,937 .. ..
Northern of 1 853,952 .. ..
France J 16,962,188 .. ..
Eastern of 749,465 .. ..
France (old) 1 14,636,639 .. ..

Orleans

1855.
917,450
16,811,352
562,332

10,229,429
739,734
12,719,060

473,835
6,704,254
848,771
15,821,320
696,926
13,665,033

The 120,0001. annually paid in this port in Town
Dues, would be received by the clerks of a Govern-
ment Board, instead of those of the Liverpool
Town Council, if Mr. LOWE'S bill became law to-
morrow ; and to hold out a promise to the people of
Manchester that they would gain anything by the
change, is a gross piece of deception, which the
really sensible and moral portions of the inhabit-
ants ought to denounce in no very measured
terms. A very large sum has been already ex-
pended in supporting Mr, LOWE'S revival of
the nefarious tidal scheme, and to keep up
the popular delusion in Manchester that a
large saving to its commerce is to be gained
by its promotion, is a palpable imposture. Mr.
LowE appears to have discovered that his greatest
strength lies in Manchester's simplicity and weak—
ness; for he thinks of nothing but calling on Man-
chester to bring up witnesses against this port, as
though there was not another in the three king-
doms where the Lancashire manufacturer has to
pay local dues. If it had not been, in fact, for
our neighbours swallowing the Board of Trade's
" abolition" hoax, the whole scheme would have
been shelved long since. But we should like to
hear from the VICE-PRESIDENT of that Board, which
is said to have been established for the pro-
tection of trading interests, how much longer the.
solemn mockery of examining witnesses as to the
propriety of abolishing dues, which the Government
have no intention of doing away with, is to be
continued, and who is to repay the Ratepayers of
this Borough and Manchester the sums expending
in dancing attendance on his committee? Should
no answer be given to these obviously necessary
questions, it is to be hoped that some independent
commercial man in the House of Commons will
call the attention of Parliament to this monster and
costly piece of public deception.

It is expected that the Peninsular and Oriental
Steam Navigation Company's vessel to leave South-
ampton on the 4th inst, will take out upwards of
400,000/. in specie. The next West India and
Mexican packet, which is now daily expected, is
known to have about 700,0001., chiefly in silver, on
board.

At a meeting of the Buenos Ayres bondholders,
held yesterday, to hear the proposal of the govern-
ment for the settlement of the debt, that portion
of it was agreed to where it is intended to
provide for the payment of interest, and
a sinking fund, by increasing the present
allowance to 36,9001. in 1857, to 48,0001. in
1858, to 60,0001 in 1859 and 1860, and afterwacds
72,000/ annually ; but the postponement of the
interest on arrears was objected to as being unpre-
cedented, and it was hoped that the Buenos Ayres
government would be able to settle the same at an
early date. The meeting broke up after passing a
vote of thanks to Lord Clarendon for the services
he had rendered the bond-holders.
The Bank of British North America had its
meeting to-day, when a favourable report was read,
showing the net profit of the year 1855 to hair()
been 97,7061 7s ; and the undivided profits,
145,1171 Os 10d on the 31st of December last. A
dividend at the rate of 6 per cent per annum was
declared, and a bonus of 30s per share.
The followina, are the closing quotations of
the Foreign Exchanges :—Amsterdam, short, 11
171 to 11 18. Do., three months, 121 to 121.
Rotterdam, do , 121 to 12/. Antwerp, do.,
25 60 to 25 65. Brussels, do., 25 60 to 25 65.
Hamburg, do., 13 104 to 13 101 Paris, short
25 35 to 25 421. Do., three months, 25 674
to 25 729. Marseilles, do., 25 67* to 25 721
Frankfort, do , 1201 to 1201. Vienna, do., 10
17 to 10 20. Trieste, do., 10 18 to 10 22.
Petersburg, do., 361 to 37. Madrid, do., 494 to 494.
During the greater part of the morning, con-
siderable firmness was shown, but a few sales were
pressed towards the close, and the latest prices
were 1 per cent. below those of yesterday, the
quotations being 94i to 948. These variations
were chiefly of a speculative character. In face of
the uneasiness which has arisen with reference to
our relations with the United States, numerous
operators for a rise have become discouraged, and
rather than pay the difference of 2- per cent., which
is exacted for carrying over their accounts to the
middle of July, prefer to sell. The half-yearly
dividend will be deducted from the price of Con-
sols on Thursday next. The Discount Market to•
day was quiet, with a good supply of money. At
Paris, to-day the Three per Cent. Rentes closed at
a further decline of nearlyi per cent. The number