Northern Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1857-06-25 00:00:00

there is no great want of such accommodation as
that mentioned in the Bill now before Parlia-
ment. If the people of Manchester must have
the control of our Decks, and the abolition of
the Town Dues, they are bound by everything
approaching justice to give an equivalent, and
thereby place the Corporation in a pecuniary
position, equal to what it now occupies.
Notwithstanding the strong fears of the Chair•
man, we have strong hopes that truth and
honesty will triumph over the organised
conspiracy to obtain by Act of Parliament the
rights and property of this great community.
Sir JAMES GRAHAM may rest satisfied that,
should his exertions and prejudiced views induce
the Committee to declare the preamble of the
Bill, which is not only contrary to fact, but
inconsistent, and in opposition to the true
policy of the country, there is still another
tribunal which will have to give the final vote,
and he may rest assured that the question will
be battled, inch by inch, in all its stages in
the House.

YANKEE DEGREES.—Our readers will, no doubt, recollect
that about two months ago some " LL.D.'s" were granted
by the Clinton College, Arkansas, U. S., to some of our
Liverpool gentlemen, who, at the first, swallowed the
diplomas with the utmost gusto, and, no doubt, paid the
fees. In ielation to these fees, we extract the following
from one of the leading papers in Canada—the Toronto
Globe. It will assuredly amuse our readers :—" Brother
Jonathan, to ernpl.ey cne of his own peculiar and classic
expressions, whips all creation' in the art. of accumu-
lating mammon. Baiting his hook sometimes with a
hickory ham, and at others with a pine nutmeg, he angles
with fructilying success for the dearly cherished ' almighty
dollar.' His freshest and most elastic energies are con-
secrated to the pursuit of this metalic piscatorialism,' as
Sydney Smith bath it, and he frequently manages to fill
his creel,' where even a Jew, or a native of Aberdeen,
would fail in obtaining a solitary nibble. Ever on the
alert is honest Jonathan to engender fresh lures for the
enticement of golden fish. With the most recent of these
we are made conversant by a late issue of the British
Banner. Some three or four months ago, two gentlemen,
described by the Banner as being of the first respecta-
b lay,' and residing in different parts of the country,
received each of them an epistle purporting to be from
Arkansas. These, missives were exact duplicates, and
were calculated incontinently to tickle the palates of
lusters after academical distinctions. One of the genuine
letters is published in the above cited journal. It is dated
Clinton College, Arkansas,' and bears the signature
of 'James Lander, CS.' Master James commences by
setting forth that one of our trustees received a letter
from a literary friend of his in England, highly compli-
mentary of you, and expressing a wish that oar college
should confer on you the honorary degree of Dootor of
Laws.' Due effect was given to the request of this
anonymous literary friend.' The senates academicus of
our college ' conferred the degree nem con, and directed
that the usual diploma should be transmitted to the newly_
created LL.D., Tian.; primes—or right slick away,' to
employ the Doric vernacular of Arkansas. In its post.
script lurks the pith of a woman's letter, and a cognate
peculiarity marks the communication of ' James Lander,
C. S.' At the fag end of that document it is stated that
our Mr. Simpson is preparing to leave this for England.
He takes your diploma with him, and will post it for you
on his arrival. As Mr. Simpso❑ will be in England for a
very short time only, you will oblige us by writing to Mr.
Simpson when the diploma reaches you, acknowledging
its receipt ; and ['ere follows the kernel of the affair] at
same time please to send him the college fee of Xti 103
[to an indicated address], as he is authorised by the
Senate to receive it.' As before stated, the British Banner
was aware of at least two instances iu which, on the recom-
mendation of mysterious ' literary friends,' the Senatus of
Clinton College had voted to Anglicans skins of diplomal
parchment, each evident ' bearing a tax of ' stte Ws.' Great
are the probabilities that corresponding honours have been
conceded to hundreds of other fortunate individuals.
Should the stipulated fees be religiously remitted to
our Mr. Simpson,' that excellent gentleman will recross
the Atlantic with an obesely replenished pleuchan—
always presuming that he contrives to steer clear of the
hulks and penitentierek For be it known to all men by
these presents, that Clinton College, Arkansas,' ranks
under the category of mythic institutions I It has a
• name,' but sorrow a' local habitation.' The members
of the 'senates academicus,' which, with such genial
readiness, scatter degrees broadcast, so to to speak, are,
one and all, denizens of dreamland. They are all classic
visions—devout imegivations,' with one single and soli-
tary exception, to wit, that is to say, • our Mr. Simpson.'
We hare been more particular in noticing the above
artistic attempt at shaving,' from the fact that many
simple souls in Canada, so consumedly hunger and thirst
after initial supplements to their names, that rather
than lack a degree they would accept of one from
a Milesian hedge school. Let such persons take
digestive note of two things. In the first place,
there are not more than half a dozen colleges in the
United States, whose diplomas are worth manipal iting
with a pitchfork or a pair of tongs. The vast majority of
such distinctions' are de facto, as unsubstantial as the
' patents of nobility,' and letters of orders' possessed
by ' Knights Templars ' and ' Worthy Grand Patriarchs,'
which (of course) would be ignored by every heraldic and
ecclesiastical confraternity in Christendom. Oar pro-
vince can now boast of institutions duly authorised to
grant academical honours the value of which is recognised
by all whose recognition is of moment. When a Canadian.
consequently, wanders to Dollardom for a degree, room
is created for the suspicion that he is too well known at
home—and that his psychologic feathers look only well at
a distance. And, once more, the risk of being hoaxed by
spurious diplomas must be considerable. How surpass-
ingly easy for plausable long headed adventurers, like our
Mr. Simpson,' to palm off bankum parchment upon the
credulous and unsuspecting."

GENERAL THOMPSON AND THE JEW QUESTION.—GeneraI
Thompson has adiressel a letter on this subject to the
Bradford Advertiser. He says :—The grand argument of
the opposition to the Jews was the statement, that though
there are many in the country who are not Christians, we
are a Christian country because we admit none of them
to parliament ; and that we are bound to continue this
course, because other wise we should cease to be a country
which admitted none but Christians to parliament. This
is the sum and substance of the argument. It is the
same that i 6 and has always been advanced, wherever
the minor persecution was to be inflicted, which,
instead of bunting a theological adversary, only deprives
him of something which others have. • Spain or
Portugal says, we are a Catholic country, by the
token that we keep Protestants out of office. The
Grand Turk or his councillors, if applied to for
the admission of Christians into the council, would pro-
bably reply, " We are a Mohammedan country, because
we keep Christians out of council; and we cannot let
them in, because then we should cease to be a country
that kept them out.' What comment would our friends
on the opposite benches make ou this but " What a Turk
he is ! " An,ther grand piece of imbecility was the plea
that though it may be proper that a Jew should vote for
a member of Parliament because he is only one in a
crowd, it is impossible that he should be allowed to
be a member himself, because then he would have a
voice in the legislation. As a legislator, would he be
~nything but one in a crowd? What is the Jew to
do as a legislator that he cannot do as a voter ?
Is he to proceed by force to circumcise the
House of Commons ? Besides, may it not bo very
fitting and desirable for all friends of rational
freedom that there should be somebody in the House of
Commons to represent the interests of the weakest religious
bodies in proportion to what their actual influences may
be? Would Protestants, in a oountry where Roman
Catholics were predominant, fail to discover this ? Would

Christians in Turkey ? Finally, they do it all because
they are Christians. :„ Sledge hammers cannot drive into
them that we oppose them because we are Christians.
First, the Protestants, then Dissenters, and then Cahn-
lies, have been roasted or scorched in various minor
degrees by this burning Christianity. The world has been
acquainted with it long enough to set its mark: upon it in
all forms and degrees.

BRITISH COMMERCIAL ENTERPRISE IN TURKEY.—For
the interest of Turkey herself the progress of such under-
takings should be gradual, and it is to be hoped she will
henceforth show reserve in entertaining them. Should
she wait to see the result of the concessions thus far
granted, it is possible that, instead of having to solicit
capital in future cases by offering guarantees, she may
find an eager competition for the privilege of undertaking
great works even without them. The concession to the
Euphrates line will be sufficient to test the effect of rail—
ways in stimulating the industry of the Syrian portion of
her territory, where, according:to thefreports from British
Konsols and others, lately published by the Board of Trade,
only these aro required to make that region again the
granery of the world, while it will also, as a new highway
to India, draw still closer her political relations with Eng-
land. The Smyrna line will perform a similar service as
regards Asia Minor, by showing the effect of adopting
economical means of transport to a port the aggregate
trade of which is estimated to amount annually to
£5,000,000, of which about a third is direct with this
country. Finally, the Kosteuje route to connect the
Danube with the Black Sea, so as to save between 200 and
300 miles in transporting the produce of Servia, Bulgaria,
and Wallachia, will suffice as an experiment for that dis-
trict. These several works will confer equal benefit on
each o most important portions of the empire.
When they shall have been completed, but not before, it
will be time to think of new ones. With the present
rapidity of operations, a couple of years will enable their
most important portions to be constructed, so that the
public may be satisfied of their prospects, and the Turkish
government would best consult their own welfare and
dignity were they to intimate that until after the lapse of
that period, no new applications for guarantees on schemes
of any magnitude will be taken into consideration.

SEAMEN'S WAGES.—The ports of the United States, even
more than those of great Britain, are infested with crimps
and loafers who systematically plunder seamen by cashing
advance notes—notes that become due after the vessel a
seaman is employed in has proceeded to sea. To remedy
this evil several prominent merchants in New York have
agreed to abolish these notes altogether after the Ist of July,
and they propose instead to supply warm clothing equal
to one suit per man for each ship under their control,
which shall be sold at first cost to the sailors. The crimps
charge above 50 per cent advance on retail prices. They
are also proposing to pay a bounty of 10 per cent on the
earned wages of each sailor who shall perform the voyage
to the end of the contract or return in the ship. If the
ship is lost every seaman to be paid to the time of his loss,
in no case less than one month on foreign and one half
on coastwise voyages. These conditions are to be affixed
to the shipping articles. It will be seen from the above
that the New York merchants are following the excellent
example set by the Board of Trade in this country, in en-
couraging provident and orderly habits among seamen.
There is no doubt that, co-extensive with the progress of
the mercantile marine of Great Britain and the United
States, a progress so rapid in recent times as to cause the
supply of seamen to be short of the demand in both
countries, a fearful amount of evil has been created among
the seamen, and great loss has been occasioned to the
owners of shipping property through the crimping system.
The money order offices and savings banks for seamen,
recently originated by the Board of Trade, are doing much
to domesticate the seamen employed in long voyages, and
to keep alive an attachment to home; and no doubt if our
shipowners were to think more of seamen as men, and less
of them as chattels, and support the Board of Trade in
putting down the crimping system in a manner such as
that exhibited by the New York merchants, we should
have more real domestie comfort on board ship, and, it
is to be hoped, fewer of such outrages as those reported to
have occurred on boarithe Mary and Jane, of Sunderland.
At the present time, notwithstanding the great efforts
made by the Board of Trade and the local marine boards
of this country to put an end to crimping, scarcely a sea-
tide occurs on the Tyne, Wear, or any of the other large
exporting ports, without large vessels that are about to
proceed on long voyages being detained for hours off the
bars until portions of the crew, who have had their ad-
vance notes cashed by crimps, are brought off in boats by
river police, drunk.

THE PUBLIC DEBT OF CANADA.—The public debt of
Great Britian and Ireland at the accession of William
and Mary, was no more than three hundred thousand
pounds, and we have Bolingbroke's authority for the fact,
that the revenue at that time amounted to no more than
two millions annually. Happy as we would be were our
debt and revenue in the same proportion to each other,
and to the general wealth ; both burdens were a sore
grievance to our forefathers, and an unfailing capital
to their Majesties loyal opposition. Yet England was
well enough able to bear them. Tried by modern stan-
dards, she had indeed no
,little cause to rejoice in her
comparatively unfettered resources. She boasted at
that time of eight millions of inhabitants, of whom five
lived south of the Tweed, arid one on its northern bank,
the remaining two hailing Ireland as their place of birth.
Wealth had accummulated through centuries. Magnifi-
cent castles and mansions were the homes of a high
aristocracy, gorgeous cathedrals and countless churches
were thronged by the priests of a rich establishment ; the
country had its squires, rich in acres, and the towns and
cities had their burgesses, some of whom, on occasion,
could entertain their Monarch on services of gold. Even
then London could boast a population of nearly 700,000,
and Bristol was one of the greatest shipping ports of
Europe. Canada can hardly be said to stand on a
fair comparison with such a picture. A country of
yesterday, however rich in its capabilities they are as yet
wed nigh undeveloped—manufactures are yet in their
infancy, and while the mass of the people are in comfort-
able circumstances, it cannot with justice be maintained,
that we have any considerable class of very wealthy men
Our largest cities are little better than villages, compared
with the London of William's reign, and our population
is little more than a quarter of that which he ruled. Our
future may be as glorious as we please, to make it by our
industry awl virtues, but meanwhile we are only at best
an Infant Hercules with limbs unknit, and thews and
sinews unstrung and weak. If then our worthy fore-
fathers had a right to complain of their public burdens
under the Prince of Orange, what may we not rightfully
think of our own position at this moment. It is so easy
to get into debt, so delicious to do so, while the grisly
phantom of payment has not as yet risen to trouble us,
that without our waking to any sense of our danger, we
have been charmed nearer the Rocks of the Sirens than is
ei her sate or agreeable. Our public liabilities have been
sw lling to their present threatening magnitude only
gradually. A. very few years ago they were nominal, but
with each successive Government they have grown larger
and larger, till they now amount in round figures to no
less than about nine millions of pounds, req riving an
annual payment of no less than five hundred and fifty one
thousand eight hundred pounds for interest and sinking
fund, or, deducting the latter item altogether, of four
hundred and seventy six thousand eight hundred pounds.
Of course this seems a very small sum to people of such
large ideas as our railway speculators. A million, to
them, is only six Arabic numerals, representing a trifle
hardly worth consideration. But every thing is large or
small by comparison with that to which it bears relations.
A. million to a man having no capitrhimself and willing.
to put down any amount on paper to secure soma large
depredation on the funds of others is only a bagatelle.
How could he induce the simple to give real subscriptions
tor his fictitious one, if his bearing were not something
grand, and did he not act the " Mr. Lofty" of Goldsmith's
good natured Man ? A million to real wealth would be
comparatively trifling. To Britain it means no serious
inconvenience. It is paid without the taxes being very
visibly increased. But a million to a German Duchy is a
very diff rent matter. There, it mears a hopeless mort-
gage of every thi;;g from his Grand Hignes3es' bed to the
peasant's cabbage garden, and the substitution of the
Lender P_.s real monarch instead of the serene hereditary