The Northern Daily Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1857-01-19 00:00:00

THE DAYS NEWS.

The Royal. Mail Steam ship Europa arrived in
the Mersey yesterday at noon, and the Baltic, after
a protracted run of nearly fifteen days, entered the
river on Saturday morning, By these arrivals
we have a week's later news from the United
States. The proceedings in Congress were of an
unimportant character, and as regards the consti-
tution of the Buchanan Cabinet contradictory
rumours were afloat ; at the same time it was
expected that the new president would act, in his
conduct towards Kansas, in such a manner as
would meet the approbation not only of the
southern but northern States of the Union. The
-appointment of General Persefier F. Smith as the
Brigadier General under the act of the late Congress
had given much satisfaction. This is •about the
last and only desirable appointment which the
Administration had to bestow. We- observe that
the House of Representatives had struck out the
diplomatic and consular appropriation bill the item
for salaries of consular pupils, authorised to be
appointed by the consular reform bill of last ses-
sion. The object of providing for the appointment
of these pupils was to raise up and educate in the
duties of consuls a small number of young men,
woo should thus beeome abundantly qualified by
experience to fill the most important consular
appoThtments. It is not difficult to see that if this
provision should be carried out, it would tend to the
divorce of consular appointments from political
partisanship, and make them depend upon merit
and capability alone. The New Orleans Delta, a
paper attached to the ultra-slavery party in an
article on the slavery question, concedes that the
real victory on the late Presidential election, was
with the North—that a change of 14.000 votes in
the single State of Pennsylvania would have elected
Fremont, and that this change was only prevented
by concessions to the Free Soil sentiment by
the leaders of the Democratic Party. It fore-
sees, therefore, the necessity of renewed efforts
for the protion of Slavery, and the perpetua-
tion of its power in the • affairs of the
Federal Government. It calls upon the South
again to take ground in favour of Disunion, if its
designs are not effected,—and to resist the admis-
sion of Kansas as a Free State, unless a Slave State
can at the same time be brought into the Con-
federacy. It urges upon the South the necessity
of taking a position of more direct hostility to the
'• prejudices of the North, and of uniting in laying
down an ultimatum, as the sole condition on which
they will consent to remain in the Union. The ques-
tion of a remodelled and reformed tariff was about
to engage the attention of Congress. There were
rival propositions brought forward ; but it was
expected that Congress would be able to effect a
compromise between the contending parties. The
House of representatives demanded of the Presi-
dent by what authority he employs government
architects for designing and erecting all public
buildings, and places them under the superin-
tendence of military engineers. The excitement
and fear of slave insurrections continue in many
parts of the South. The statement that the
government of Costa Rica has negotiated a loan of
half a million dollars with Mr. Vanderbilt, is
believed to be without foundation.

We have intelligence from Havannah to the 31st
ult., but it is of little or no moment. Among
the news items in the papers from this city
we find the following atrocities connected with
the Chriettnas holidays :—A clerk of one of our
most respectable houses, a lad of 17 years, passing
from the counting room to his residence at
8 o'clock in the evening, and almost in the imme-
diate presence of a watchman, and one of our guarda
civiles, was assaulted by three negroes—one of them
making a blow with a ranr at the throat of the
boy, which was avoided by a desperate exertion,
and the left arm, just below the shoulder, cut
through the muscular form to the bone. The
singular features in this case, derive from the quiet
and amiably inoffensive nature of the lad, and
the public attack in sight of the police officials, and
no attempt made to arrest the villains. A gentle
man, robbed of watch and pocket-book in the
cathedral during the solemn ceremonies of Te
Deum and Laudamits, at 12 o'clock on Christmas
Eve, is a very common matter, The project of
negro apprentices from the Coast of Africa was
growing rapidly in official favour. A cargo of
negroes was reported to have been landed recently
on the North Coast of Cuba, east of Havannah.
Later•advices from Northern Mexico had reached
New York, from which we learn that Mejia had
pronounced in San Luis against the treaty which
Roses .Landa and Echugarey, on behalf of the
general go\ ernment, had effected with Vidaurri.
Great consternation prevai:od at San Luis when
the- express left NI i• h this intelligence, and it was
supposed that Aguirre, the actual governor, had
combined with Garza, of Tamaulipas, in this new
pronunicamento against the government. This state
of things will be seriously felt by the merchants of
the frontier, as it is likely to embarrass them in the
transportation of goods to the interior, and may pre,
vent the arrival of a conducta with money. Vidaurri
issued another proclamation to his companions in
arms. In separating, he says, from those who for
eighteen months past have upheld under his lead
the sacred cause of liberty, he thanks them for the
privations and sufferings they have borne, and
congratulates them on the honourable peace with
the general government obtained through their
exertions. In returning to their own homes, he
expresses the ardent hope that they may never be

called again to take the field, unless in support of
Mexican nationality. The Indians were committing
serious depradations on the Amelican side of the
Rio Grande.

There is a variety of Continental intelligence
this morning. From Madrid we learn that twenty
political prisoners had effected their escape from
Valencia. The province of Heusca and a great
part of Salamanca had been declared in a state of
siege, in order, it was said; to suppress smuggling.
The preparatory instruction for the prosecution of
General Prim was continued with activity. Marshal
O'Donnell had retired to his country seat, and
some sensation had been caused at his having, not
far from Madrid, abstained, contrary to custom,
from joining hiss-colleaguei in paying his respects
to the Queen on " Twelfth Day,"
The latest telegraphic despatches from Berne
announce that the Council of the States of the
Second Chamber adhered to the vote of the
National Council by 33 votes against 3, that is to
say, the abandonment of the trial and removal of
the insurgents beyond the Swiss territory until the
final settlement of the dispute.
From Naples we hear that the King, on being
informed of the assassination of the Bishop of
Paris, countermanded the ball which was to have
been given at the palace, ordered the theatres to be
closed for three days, and prescribed that expiatory
prayers should be offered up. The fetes which
were to commence on the 12th, on the occasion of
the birthday of the Kiug, were put a stop to. Two
cafes at Naples !had been surrounded two days
before by the police authorities, and 60 persons
arrested. It was thought that a Mazzinian plot
had been discovered. A degree of uneasiness
prevailed among the population.
According to accounts from Ceylon, per the
Overland Mail, we learn that Sir Henry Ward
closed the session of the Legislative Assembly on
the 9th of December. The governor adverted with
natural satisfaction to important measures passed
during the session tending to the institution of
railways, telegraphic and steam communication,
penny postage, and provisions for irrigation codes
The demand for a thorough survey had been
readily and frankly conceded by her Majesty's
government. The levels will be valuable with
reference to ordinary roads and irrigation works,
apart from the project of a railway, to which they
are more immediately subservient ; and a hope is
expressed that some of the surveying staff may be
possessed of the requisite knowledge to settle at
the same time, the question of the mineral
resources of the island, especially as regards iron.
The labours of the session being closed, the Gover-
nor had started on another tour.

Letters and papers from Paris, dated Saturday,
have been received, but they are devoid of any
news of importanne. The Persian ambassador had
arrived at Lyons, and was expected in Paris on
Saturday evening. He',was received at Marseilles
with marks of the highest honour. On Wednesday
there was a grand military banquet at Paris. Prince
Napoleon was the host, and the guests comprised
all the great warriors at present in France.
The speeches, es reported in the Aloniteur,
were in the grandiose style of French military
glorification, and Prince Jerome, Prince Napoleon,
the Duke of Malakoff, and Marshal Canrobert, were
eloquent on the subject of vanquishing the Russians
in the Crimea. "The immense advantages of the
war," exclaimed Prince Napoleon. with pride, " is
that you have proved that France has still her
' Grand Army.' " England, and her share in the
war, seem to have been as completely ignored as if
England had never existed.

News from Constantinople to the 10th inst.
brings a statement which, if confirmed, would
merit particular attention, namely, the plan attri-
buted to our expedition against Persia, of effecting
a landing at Bassora, on the Chat el-Arab, and on
Turkish territory. Before this can be done a formal
treaty must be entered into between England and
Turkey, and Turkey will have to place herself in
a state of war against Persia. It, moreover,
would be in evident contradiction to the
treaty of Paris, and to the decision of the late
Conference which fixed the 30th of March as the
final period for the evacuation of the Turkish
territory by foreign troops. It will therefore be
interesting to keep a watchful eye on this point of
the seat of war—if there really is to be war.

'- The local and domestic incidents of the day are
not of any moment. Sir E. B, Lytton Bulwer had
addressed the students of the University of
Glasgow, in his new capacity of Lord Rector, and
Mr. Langworthy has met the electors of Salford,
and gave a detailed account of his political prin.
ciples. The Sheffield Committee on foreign affairs
transmitted, on the 14th inst., a letter to the mem-
bers of the privy council, relating their correspond-
ence with Lord Clarendon regarding the Persian
invasion without a declaration of war, and his
lordship's declination to explain to them in refer-
ence to matters of foreign polidy. They had also
sent a memorial to her Majesty on the same
subject, to which they received an answer to the
effect that it had been laid before the Queen, but
that her Majesty could not comply with its
prayer. Hence the appeal to the members of
the privy council, whose duties are defined, and to
whom the point is put that, in tha case of the war
with Persia, no declaration or proclamation had
emanated from the crown, while the declaration of
the Governor General they hold to be illegal and
invalid. Following on this breach of the law has
been the bombardment of Canton by Admiral
Seymour, who thus usurped her Majesty's prero-
gative. Both acts the committee believe to be
illegal; and they think it is the bounden duty of
the privy council to take cognizance of them, and
to act faithfully to the sovereign of whom they are
the sworn advisers. Appended to the statement
are letters from Mr. Urquhart and Mr. Attwood,
denouncing the Canton affair as a crime.

THE Liverpool Financial Reform Association has
excited the wrath of the London Times. The
leading journal" sees their weak point, and con-
sequently takes liberties with their financial repu-
tation. The belief of the modern Reformer is, that
an increased revenue may be obtained from a
commodity which decreases, as a financial element,
as population, and the pressure of production on
the supply, augment. The long predicted day has,
however, arrived, when capital and property require
relief quite as much as labour. The progress of
Free Trade constitutes the main hope of both, and
how to encourage it, without leaving the Statelpenni-
less, is the great question they are trying to solve.
The Exchequer is now supplied by means which
are almost unintelligible to the masses who contri-
bute to it so largely. To eat, drink, and sleep,
every soul must pay. There is no escaping this
obligation at present, and to lay this compulsion
aside for any system of direct taxation,
which would extend to every class of the
community, would be most ridiculous. The
national burdens are too heavy to be borne by any
one or two sections of the nation. Whatever our
financial scheme or mode of raising revenue may
he, it must, to be just, be spread over the whole of
the national family. Labour cannot bear the whole
strain, and realised property must be conserved
as the mainstay of industry and enterprise. We
must keep something in reserve fcr a rainy day.
If the State exhausts this reserve on savage
wars and interminable patronage, the nation will
be a heavy loser by the sudden transition of wealth
which must follow. Labour requires all the avail-
able means of the property classes to sustain it,
in seasons of scarcity and famine.
Trade and
commerce have no surplus from which the Crown
can draw supplies, without taking from the labour
market its sole security; nor can it take them
from the earnings of the working classes without
increasing the cost of production, which latter
course would have precisely the same effect as an
Income Tax, if some plan he not devised to enable y.the man whose capital is employed in production, to 1