Northern Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1860-02-08 00:00:00

THE DAY'S NEWS.

In the Mouse of Peers, last night, it will be
seen that Lord Derby inquired what steps would
be taken by Government to put a stop to the dis-
graceful distnrbances in St. George's-in-the-East,
and elicited from Lord Granville that the civil
authorities had done all in their power, but
if the ecclesiastical power interfered it would
.receive all -possible assistance 'from the police.
The Marquis of Normanby moved an address
to the Queen, expressive of disapprobation
of the rumoured annexation -of Savoy and
Nice to France. In reply, Earl Grauville
said that such a contingency as the annexation
in question would be viewed with " great alarm"
by Ministers, as 'calculated to cause serious dis-
quietude in Europe.. Count Cavour, he said, had
expressly declared that Sardinia would not sell,
bargain, or cede Savoy on any terms. He hoped
the motion Would not be persisted in. The
opinion that danger to the interests of Europg
would arise from such an annexation was strongly
stated by Lord Grey and Lord Shaftesbury,
while Lord Derby pointed out the fact that there
was not a single peer who was not prepared to
protest 'against such an annexation. After a
somewhat animated .debate the 'nation was with-
drawn.

In .the House of Commons, Lord John Russell
virtually admitted that the published version of
the proposed commercial treaty with France is
substantially correct. He stated that it was his.
intention -to lay the treaty on the table of the
House on Friday night. . In answer to Lord C.
Hamilton, Lord John Russell said that a propo-
sition had been made by our Government on the
14th of January last, having for its object
to prevent Austria or France from interfer-
ing by arms in Italy without the :consent
of the Great Powers. France had consented to
the proposal, with certain modifications, with
regard to the withdrawal of her troops -from
Italy; Atistria had given a consent, qualified by
_declaring her resolution -to defend her own ter-,
ritory ; Prussia likewise had declared her con-
-sent ; but the -reply of Russia had not been
.reeeived. The discreditable revelations brought
to. light in the Court of Divorce and Matrimonial
Causes, were alluded to by lord John Manners,
who :asked leave to introduce a bill to enable that
court to proceed with closed doors. .An amend-
ment -was moved in opposition by Mr. E. James; •
which gave rise to nn animated debate. Ulti-
mately, the amendment, which was pressed to a
division, was carried by 268 to 83. The other,
business 'before the House was not of general im-
portance, and it adjourned at a quarter past
seven o'clock.

The Times is of opinion that Mr. Danby
SeymoUr's bill—which was .expected to have
been intxodueed into the House of Commons
last night—to secure the peaceful operation of
Rubrics in the:services of the Church, " kas two.
rocks before it Against either of which it Amy
split,"—that, ," on the one hand, it may -be too
vigorons and toolunmary, and defeat its object—
the primary professed aim of every bill being -to
Pass—by the . very completeness with which it
hits the nail on the head,"—while, " on the other
hand, there, is the rock of Established Church
machinery, against which such a bill may split,
'and it may fail in hitting the nail." The fact is,
that any legislation upon such a subject that the
nouse of Commons, constituted as at present,
may undertake, must necessarily be defective, if
not altogether nugatory. The proper course
would be for Convocation----the Church's own
Legislature--to 'make its own arrangements, and
then come to Parliament to have them legalised.

There is something very significant--may we
not say very ominous—in the new-born opposition
of the Times to the commercial treaty with
France. O.ur contemporary has generally shown
great discernment as respects the popular feeling;
and, no doubt, on this occasion, he has turned
round upon a treaty which at first he was dis-
posed to regard with favour, under the growing
impression that it will never go down with the
people of England. Not only does the leading
journalist now doubt " whether cheap brandy
And wine are worth a ninepenny income-tax,"
bnt evidently has his misgivings as to the bene-

,4cial practical operation of the whole scheme
embraced by the treaty. - - •
The latest manifestation of the Napoleonic po-
licy, in the matter of Nice and Savoy, is sarcas-
-tically described as a new and larger development
of a principle, which up to a certain point may be
said ,to be centuries old in.-this, country,—a, de-
velopment which is due entirely to the acumen of
the French Emperor, and which, by means of his
inspiration, is now spreading itself over Europe
as an universal law, under the misnomer of " the
sovereignty of the people,"—a phrase which prac-
tically bears a very different interpretation, on
the other side of the English Channel, from
that it receives under our good old Consti-
tution. "It is nothing less," it is observed,
" than the sacred right of insurrection' which
_was so energetically asserted during the first
French Revolution, reduced to an orderly and
systematic routine." In obedience to this law, of
course, Nice and Savoy must very naturally prefer
annexation to France ! Who dares to doubt it ?
Does not France desire it ? and can Sardinia be
permitted to interfere with the operation of what,
according to the new doctrine, is the natural and
universal law of Europe ? Of course, the Savoy
question of itself is of such small practical im-
portance to ourselves, that we cannot feel called
upon to interfere ; but surely the policy involved
in it calls, not only for our disapprobation, but
for the utmost watchfulness for its -further -and
more extended application to Continental States,
—By a late advice from Rome, we are informed
that the idea is gaining ground day by day, that
the Roman difficulty may soon be solved by the
precipitate flight of the POpe. It is considered
that the French Emperor, while determined to
maintain inviolate the person of his Holiness, has
no desire to detain him in Rome longer than he
feels inclined, or thinks it for his interest, to
remain. Louis Napoleon will not permit any-
thing to happen that could be made to appear as
if driving the Pope from his capital ; but at
the same time, it is thought, he has no
objection to allow the Holy Father to give
him the slip, provided only that all the world
shall see and understand that in doing so Pius IX.
follows his own whim, or- that of his injudicious
counsellors. But, seeing that Napoleon lll.'s
policy has been to isolate the Pope from all
protection save that of French bayonets, we
should think the Emperor would be inclined to
stipulate for some particular place of retreat,
before allowing his Holiness to escape—for his
escape without French connivance we certainly
look upon as impracticable. Such being the case,
the question arises, what would be gained by such
a flight. The Pope . could thereby neither be
personally safer, neither would he be allowed to
go much farther from French protection !
The Times' correspondent has been expelled
from Rome by the police authorities, who, when
appealed to by the representatives of our Govern-
ment there, only answered that . the gentleman in
question " had been sent away for State reasons
best known'to the police, who had no explanation
to render to him or to the protecting Power.'y
Recourse was then had to Cardinal Antonelli, the
Secretary of State, but he said that police mat-
ters were no concerns of his, that he knew
nothing about the affair, and would not
meddle with it: In fact, every one, referred the
complainants to the police for an explanation, and
the police merely asserted that they had no ex-
planation to give. This correspondent, it seems, is
an Italian gentleman, though a naturalised British
subject. He had just obtained, in due form, an
official permission to reside in Rome for three
months, had sent for his family, taken a residence,
and paid his rent in advance ; but he had hardly
done so, when he received notice to quit Rome
within three clays- He declares that he never
gave the Papal Government any cause of offence.
As a -
contemporary truly remarks, "the affair
shows, clearly the point of mingled tyranny and
weakness to which the, Pope's Government has
reached, and the miserable subterfuges to which
its highest officers are not ashamed to resort."
A very curious case, it will be seen, was
brought before the Select Vestry yesterday, a
report of which will be found elsewhere. The
Workhouse Committee have certainly, in this
instance, shewn themselves to be truly guardians
of the poor committed to their charge. We
know nothing of the person implicated in so
very disreputable a proceeding as that which
has been exposed ; bid we cannot but sympathise
with the strong reprobation of his conduct which
was expressed at the Vestry. It is a case which
shows hOw necessary it is that the parochial
authorities should' exercise due vigilance in pro-
tecting the poor girls whom poverty or mis-
fortune may have sent into the workhouse.
In our latest intelligence it will be seen that
the Spaniards have succeeded in capturing Tetuan,
and that they were received with great enthnisasm
by the inhabitants, who complained that they were
cruelly plundered by the Mussulmans. ,
The meeting of the Great Ship Company was
held yesterday,
ofthe
Com-
mittee
recom-
mendedof at
Investigation hich
was the report
re
the appointment of a new board ; the
abolition of the managing directors, and the bor-
rowing of £50,000, to be applied in fitting out
the Great Eastern for' her voyage to America,
and so putting her in the way of earning a
dividend. The report was adopted.

WE made use of an expression in these columns,
yesterday, which, the more we have thought of
it, the more we have become convinced but too
truly portrays the policy of the present Ministry,
whether as respects our relations with the French
Emperor, dr that commercial treaty with him
-which they have taken upon them to conclude.
'We described it as an un-English policy. And is
it not, in one word, un-English, or rather anti-

English, to sacrifice anything whatever that is of
F-national importance, in favour of one in whoni,
not England only, but all Europe, is agreed that I
no confidence is to be reposed ? If Loris '
NAPOLEON had established a reputation for even
political integrity, to make such sacrifices as it is
proposed to do, would -have been very question-
able policy. But when there is not only an utter
absence of any such reputation, but only too
much reason to apprehend his subtlety and insin-
cerity, surely it were madness to risk tile interests
pf our country, by placing them in anywise in
the power of such-a man. Not that we would
encourage any policy whatever, that could
pos-
sibly be avoided, calculated in any degree to
Militate against our amicable relations with the
French Empire ; and, if practicable, with the
French Emperor himself—even in a personal
point of view. But it is the duty of a nation's
Government, first and above all, to take care of
the nation's own security, and welfare, and pros-
perity ; and no such alliance as that which the
jresent Ministry are forming with NAPOLEON
111., can fairly be said to promise any such
advantages, but rather the reverse.

If, for example, her Majesty's Ministers are in
any way parties to the proposed annexation a
Savoy to France, they will, we humbly conceive,
be promoting French interests at the expense Of
those of their own country, and of that political
equilibrium in Europe, the preservation of vcbleb"
is so essential to European peace. But, apart
from this matter, the commercial treaty which
was ratified on Saturday, and the details of which-
Ministers seem afraid of. making - known to the
House of. Commons and the country,---for,- notwith-
standing it was ratified on Saturday, it is not to be
laid upon the table of the House until next Fri--
day,—is one calculated, it appears to us, to inflict
positive injury upon this country. Although
the treaty has not been officially produced, we
have yet obtained a sketch of it through a Bel-
gian paper, and it will be found in another
column. It enacts, for instance, the abolition ef
duties on all the productions of French manufsc-
ture,—the assimilation of the duties on French
spirits with those of English Colonial spirits,--5
gradual reduction of the duty on French wines'
until it has fallen to one shilling a gallon,-41
mere nominal duty on corn and all articles made
of flour,—and a reduction more or less important
of the duties on all other articles imported frog)
France. ~Can any one pretend that sweeping re-
ductions of duties such as these will not be
a sacrifice of revenue, and at the same tittle
operate most disastrously tl the interests of
British industry ? And what concessions
France to make for all this ? Why, simply
reductions of the duties on those yell
materials which she finds indispensable to the.
progress of her own manufactures—reductions of
the duties on English. coal and coke, on iron and
machinery, and the abolition of the .duties otr
wool and cotton. But not upon a single article
of English manufacture, machinery alone
cepted ! Well may even the Times be constrained
to declare, that " the duties we give up are °f
serious significance. " Forcibly does our OlL-
temporary argue, that " it is a first principle e'•:
our finance to tax luxuries, and particularly the
luxuries of the richer classes. The duties °v.
malt, hops, tobacco, sugar, tea, and coffee, are en'
dured by the working classes because they 9r,a
aware that their richer neighbours, besides their
share of these duties, and besides paying tile.
Income-tax, pay a heavy duty on their wines:
amounting, in many cases, to cent. per cent. '
few years ago it would have been possible to
port very good Bordeaux wine at a shilling
bottle ; but the duty, directly or indirectly'
made it three or four shillings a
bottle.
But, this tax, thus peculiar to the riche
classes, is now at once reduced nearly fifty Per
,
cent., and is soon to undergo a much larger
duction. It remains to be seen whether the
duties on malt and hops, whether the reimpose
war duties on tea and sno•ar whether the duty °ll
, wilt.

paper, and other articles of universal use,
be borne as cheerfully as they have been in the
face of foreign wines relieved for the benefit of
the classes who can afford to have half-a-doze°
varieties of wine on their table."
..n;
In order to carry out this most liberal 11"ec
of the Coalition Cabinet—to enable this country
to make such a sacrifice of revenue as it must'
involve, not only is it proposed to perpetuate the
Income-tax, but even to increase it. Under this-
most anti-English financial scheme, all chance of
relief from the odious tax finally disappears.-
Nor is it true, as we see it stated, that this is the'
tax of the richer classes, against the indirect tax—
ation chiefly aimed at the working classes. The'
middle classes suffer quite as severely, in propor—
tion to their means, under the infliction of such
tax, as the higher classes. Well, therefore, mad
the Times continue its complaint, that "it is, in
in concert
that isw tthehe France,h ief
isubjectts
id
°f
l ssleta
p
dutiest fact,hi
os treaty, themm
aasla yn and,oeindeed,
pe
etu ainl impost. The
courseT of yearshewine anbeed spolimari
upn us
et
buta as
poor
ir to
man'sd is uc
not
oi
tN
glass
ta oat
bes theof supposed
lower
se
o errd
the ratesht asther at
t w du the
t cup
of tea will stand at their present rates, if the get"
tleman's glass of wine is to be reduced ; and in
the face of an equal and general reduction the
ooraie as hnio:nht her ;
e
p

Income-tax can never be taken off."
Such, then, is the prospect which the financial
policy of the present Administration most cle
iatted
rIY
to be carried into effect. Our only hope is, there—
fore, in the utter defeat of an attempt thus t°'
injure the substantial interests of the people, 11;
order to propitiate a neighbouring potentate' °
whose ulterior designs upon our own country
there is only too much reason to be suspicious,
presents to us, if that policy should be perni