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

that the Emperor wild- not- confine his measures of
clemency in favour of Hungarians to the amnesty
granted to political prisoners and refugees, but
will also restore them their landed property, confis.
cated after the revolution, and administered since
that period by a special commission. It is believed
that the value of the landed property sequestrated
in Hungary amounted in 1850 to nearly 40,000,000
francs.
The Grand Council of Berne has voted the con.
stitution in principle unanimously. Forty-five votes
were given for the immediate revision, and twenty-
five for it after a certain day.
From Spain we have more detailed accounts of
the proposed new law on the press. It is considered
simply a deathblow to newspapers. Nothing like
it in severity or justice was ever before talked of in
Spain. The effect will be at once to put a stop to the
publication of the majority of existing newspapers.
The list of offences under the law includes the
following :—Discrediting the Government ; pro.
pagating maxims opposed to public tranquillity ;
applauding criminal actions ; speaking against
ny asures introduced by any of the Ministers.
The charges against journals may be made public,
but the publication of speeches for the defence
are prohibited. Fines, which in some cases
amount to £BOO, will be taken from the caution
money, and if not replaced in three days; the
journal is to be suppressed. It will also be sus-
pended if the editor be sentenced to imprison-
ment. It is forbidden to open subscriptions
for the payment of fines. Such is the tenor
of the New Press Law of Spain—that country
which Great Britain has so often aided in
the hour of need. There will be a revolution in
the country, " the last feather breaks the camel's
back," and we in England surely believe that
such an edict. is all-but, if not in reality, the last
feather.

The affair incident to the arrest of five English
sailors at Malaga is nearly settled. They have
been in gaol about a month, and for two days:were
kipt without food, and all for an offence which a
a five shilling fine would have expiated in Eng-
land.

In France the old sore, want of harmony between
the mayors and municipal councils, is breaking
out—a serious defect in the very basis of the con-
stitutional pyramid. Everywhere lack of interest
in the elections, and insurmountable discord.
between the lowest of the electoral bodies and the
arbitrary representative, a 3 the mayor is, of the
Central Power.

;;The negociations-between Spain and Mexico
promise a satisfactory issue, but, at the same time,
Nsrvaez is garottiog the Spanish press.
The Danish government has sent a reply to the
two last notes addressed to it by the governments
of Austria and Prussia respecting the Duchies of
Holstein and Lauenburg. The reply is laconic. It
simply says that the King of Denmark, desirous of
taking into consideration the representations made
to him by Austria and Prussia, will convoke the
States of the Duchies of Holstein and Lauenburg
towards the end of August next. The Danish note
is dated 13th of May.
The Australian Auxiliary Steam Ship Company's
mail ship Istamboul, the first of the line from
Plymouth, arrived at that port yesterday, having
made the passage from Melbourne in 71) days. She
120 passengers, and gold valued at £lBO,OOO,
besides 1,290 hales of wool. The Istamboul left
Port Phillip Heads on the 3rd of March. Her
news is anticipated.
The bank returns of last night show an increase
of Z 15,482 in the bullion, £11,525 in rest, £25,203
in government ;securities, and £488,778 in public
departments.

THE noble Lord the PREMIER of England has
called upon the people of England through their
newly-chosen representatives to grant a sum
of 40,0001. down, and 8 0001. a year for
life, to Her Majesty's eldest daughter, the
Princess Royal of England. This is to be her
marriage portion. She is to carry that sum,
exacted from the hard earnings of the people of
England, 'lto gladden the heart and enrich the
coffers of her intended husband, PRINCE FREDE-
RICK of Prussia. Sorry are we to see that the

proposition did not meet with anything like
earnest opposition. Gentlemen, when seeking a
seat in the House of Commons, can use all sorts
of plausible sentiments respecting the imperative
necessity for strict economy in our national ex-
penditure ; but when a royal begging letter,
headed " VICTORIA REGINA," is presented at the
bar of the House, the busting pledge is forgotten,
and every one of the 654 members is more eager
than another to grant all that is asked or required.
To this dereliction of duty we shall again re fer.
Our present object is to enter our protest against
the grant and the principle put forward in its
vindication.

In the first place we hold that the grant is un-
called for, and that the parents of the Princess
Royal were in a position to have presented her
with a munificent dowry out of their own means,
worthy not only the nation to which she belongs,
but much more than the kingdom of Prussia is
entitled to receive. Her most gracious MAJESTY
is in the receipt of an annual allowance from the
nation, as its supreme ruler, of 300,0001, She
has now nearly completed twenty years
as Queen of England, and has therefore
received no less an amount than six millions
sterling. This is independent of the
revenues of the Duchy of Lancaster, from which
it is said she is entitled to receive 20,000/. per
annum. Supposing this to be accurate, here is
nearly half a million more, besides the advan-
tages arising from Royal residences, domains, &c.
Prince ALBERT, the father of the Princess Royal,
receives 30,000/. a-year, and has enjoyed that
amount nearly eighteen years, so that his annual
grants now reach a total sum of more than half-a-
million. But he is a Field Marshal, has two
Colonel-in-Chiefships, and is Ranger of Royal
parks, all of which do not fall much short of
realising him very nearly another 20,0001. per
annum, which would make his total income
during the last eighteen years about one million
sterling. Taking, then, a rough estimate of the
income of the QUEEN and the PRINCE CONSORT
at 450,0001. per annum, we ask should they not
have acted as other people do, and laid aside a
portion of that sum, say 10,000/. a-year, for
their daughter. Had they placed that sum at
compound interest, it would have now accumu-
lated to an amount which the Pn
buttEndare
not propose to the House of Commons;
there was another way the matter could have
been equally well managed. Any respectable
Assurance Company would, for the payment of
an annual premium, have endowed the PRINCESS
ROYAL, and paid the dowry on the very day of
the nuptials. We have before us the tables of
the "English Provident Assurance Society," and
from them we gather that for every 4/, or there-
abouts paid each year since the PRINCESS
ROYAL was born, she would now receive 100/.;
so that according to the tables of this respectable
Company, an annual. premium of 8,000/. would