Northern Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1859-04-07 00:00:00

THE DAY'S NEWS.

THE APPROACHING DISSOLUTION.

The House of Commons held a day sitting yester-
day. -Lord Palmerston made an explanation of his
speech on ,the Reform Bill, and which he felt to be
necessary in consequence of the charge made against
him by Lord Derby, of having acted unconstitution-
ally. A general conversation ensued, in which Sir
G. Grey, Colonel French, Mr. Malins, Sir John
Pakington, and others took part. Several votes
were afterwards taken on account of the Civil Ser-
vice and the Navy estimates.
Yesterday morning, estimates were issued of the
sums required,to be voted on account, pending the
.dissolution, forzthe army, the navy, and the revenue,
,and civil service departments. The total is £6,649,000.
In addition, £2,000,000 of exchequer bonds, issued in
May, 1854, have to be provided for.
Acccounts from Madras state that certain of the
;leading Hindoos and Mahommedans :at that presi-
dency have arranged;the preliminaries ,of a monster
anti-missionary meeting.
In another column will be found full details of the
news from Australia. The dates are from Sydney
to Feb_ 11, and Melbourne Feb. 14. The Emeu,
with the English mails of December, arrived
punctually at
sail Marchth, e ourne. e was appointed to
M lb Sh
withi the homeward maiL A new
and promising
inileibomine had been opened about
forty miles from
ne. The number of five
ships on the berth had divided the shipments of gold
into comparatively sma,
market
for each vessel.
agricultural The Melbourne labour
had not improved.
A large number of
Ats and horticultural
men were out of employ.
Ey the Customs'
.per cent. more
tdhuatnieslafostr
yJeaanr,u The arltdheedr, ecigonhtmeyen
emita advices have
been anticipated.
The screw-steamer Royal Charter has
rr
after an excellent passage from Melbourne,
here
e
The Bombay mail has arrived with advices to
March 12th. The Bombay journals of that date
report that the large bands of rebels have separated.
The chiefs are in concealment, and hiding under
assumed names. Mr. Evans, chief engineer, and
Mr. Lunnell, district surveyor of the Allahabad
Railway, had been murdered by a small party of
rebels. A detachment of the 97th Regiment had
gone in pursuit, The state of affairs in Oude
remained unaltered. The frontier is watched, but
the Government trusts that time, and the Shoorkas
under Jung Bahadoor, will disperse the insurgents
under the Begum and the Nana. The troops were
everywhere going into summer quarters. Lord
Clyde, whoso health is described as bad, left

now Larch trd for 'Si:dila : one of the tendons of the
shoukler was severed in his recent fall, and hence
his lordship's slow recovery.
The Continental news is meagre and indefinite.
The Paris correspondent of the -Herald says, that
the concentration of troops in the South is taking
place on an immense scale. It is probable that
something like 25,000 men are on their way from
different parts of the country to reinforce the army
of Lyons.
An analysis is published of Count Buol's reply to
Russia's proposal of a Congress. He declares that ,
'the whole difficulty is to be found in the policy of j
Piedmont, and regards the Congress as the means of i
putting an end to the dangerwith which she threatens
Europe, and of preventing its occurrence. 'Should
other questions be mooted, they ought to be stated
beforehand. The clash of arms should not accom-
pany negociations. If Piedmont will disarm, Austria
will do so likewise. Until the preliminaries are set-
tled, Austria may relax, but will not suspend her
operations. Her troops will continue to march
towards Italy.
Advices from St. Petersburg, of Wednesday :
According. to private advices received this day from
Kiachta, ,(in the governmental district of Irkutsk, on
the Chinese frontier), famine is prevailing in the
southern part of China.
The usual monthly meeting of the Town Council
was held yesterday, at which there was a large
attendance of members. The proceedings of the
Finance Committee were confirmed. A report was
prepared by the committee and submitted to the
Council in reference to the conduct of certain parties
in the Town Clerk's Establishment. This report was
adopted, with the other proceedings of the committee.
The greater portion of the day was taken up in dis-
cussing the proceedings of the markets' committee,
during which some very fiery speeches were made,
and, as was expected, Messrs. Gladstone, Woodruff,
and .Jeffery took the prominent parts. We refer our
readers to a full report of the proceedings, which
appear in this day's issue of our paper.

TFIE appeal that her. Majesty's Ministers have
determined to make to the country, under the cir-
cumstances in which they have been placed by an
adverse, and, as they themselves profess to regard it,
a factious vote in the House of Commons, is one, the
importance of which, in its issues, can scarcely be
over-rated, whether as respects the interests of the
kingdom generally, or that cause of reform more
particularly which has involved them in their
present difficulties. It may be quite true, as it has
been declared in both Houses of Parliament, that the
question of an amended Parliamentary representa-
tion is not now put before the country by those who
make the appeal, though it is something arising
immediately out of the consideration of it ; or, rather,
perhaps, out of the refusal of its consideration, as it
was presented to the House of Commons by a Con-
servative Government. "We do not appeal to the
country," is Lord DERBY'S own declaration, " on the
subject of Parliamentary Reform; still less do we
appeal to the country as to the question of the
particular provisions of the Bill. We appeal to the
country on a much larger and, more comprehensive
scale,—to know whether the present state of the
House of Commons, split 'in hundreds of party
divisions, each incapable of carrying on the business
of the country, but each capable, in union with other
divisions and sections, of obstructing the proper
discharge of that business—to know whether that
will receive the countenance and support of the
people of England." This, we say, may be all true
enough, as Ministers themselves think proper to put
it. The fact Asserted is certainly indisputable, as
far as it goes ; and it has been repeatedly Acknow-
ledged, both through word and deed, by various
members of those " party divisions." Lord PAL-
-IVIERSTON was obviously adverse to the resignation of
Ministers, from a consciousness that such " party
divisions" would render it difficult at present, if not
impossible, to replace them by a Cabinet sufficiently
united, and qualified, to conduct the executive
business of the country at such a conjuncture. Mr.
HORSMAN, again, did not hesitate to say, that
although the present. Ministry was not a strong one,
any other Ministry that might take the place of it at
this moment, would not be a stronger—if by any
means so strong. " A resignation of Lord DERBY'S
Government," he emphatically declared, " would be
followed by the resignation of other Governments
successively, and the country would be placed in a
very dangerous position by a succession of swift and
short-lived Governments. When the House met
again the question would be not one of reform or of
party, but of the permanent character of our
representative system." We give these as samples
of honest Liberal opinions ; and they go far, it must
be confessed, to bear out Lord DERBY'S view of -the
character and condition of the House of Commons, as
having no one " party division," in the ranks of the
Opposition, capable of carrying on the affairs of the
Government.

Still, admitting all this, it is impossible to keep
out of sight, as it will be found to be equally
impossible to keep out of power, the question of
Parliamentary Reform, in the coming struggle,
—a question which, in fact, will be brought
to bear with greater popular influence upon
the General Election, than all the other
political questions of the day put together.
It cannot, we say, be forgotten that it is upon the
question of Reform that the Derby Administration
have been defeated, and that their defeat upon that
question has driven them to have recourse to a
Dissolution of Parliament. Further, it may un-
happily be true, that, the chance there lately

appeared to be of accomplishing a measure of Reform

having been lost, a consummation so devoutly to be
wished, is indefinitely deferred. As the Premier
again observed, " the amendment moved by the noble
lord the member for the City of London has had, at
all events, this effect,—it has postponed for another
year the settlenient of the question of Reform ; it
has had the effect of creating serious inconvenience
to the public interest by the interruption of legislative
measures, by the cheek upon commercial speculations,
by its possible consequence upon the continuance of
the peace of Enrope : it has had all these effects, but
not the effect of establishing, in the slightest degree
any principle of Parliamentary Reform." Here, we
repeat, is the misfortune. But that " principles of
Parliamentary Reform " will exert a powerful in-
fluence in the General Electfon that is at hand,—
that they will more or less, anti in different ways,,
too, have their effect on almost eve. 7 constituency,---
appears to us to be as sure and certain, as does the
prospect itself of the Dissolution of Pa‘"lianinnt•
Our own course, at such a crisis of -C.
le national
weal, in its highest political interests, mus
t be con-
sistent with the declaration we put forth 1:q these
columns a few months since, on the occasion o. Four
journal's entering upon another anniversary of .its •
successful career. "We humbly sought," was our
remark at that time, " to maintain and to carry out
those two great principles which must ever govern
the moral and intellectual world ; one of which is
perpetual progress, the other the necessary regula-
tions and restraints of that progress,--firmly
believing, with a great political philosopher, that
the best ages of the world are those in which these
principles are the most equally balanced;' and that

• THE NORTIIERN TIMES THURSDA.I., APRIL '7, 1859

in such ages, every enlightened man ought to adopt
both principles into his whole mind and conduct, and
with one hand develope what he can, and with, the
other restrain and uphold what he ought. " We
have advocated an amendment of the Parliamentary
representation upon these principles. And they are
the principles, as here set forth, which we trust to see
triumphant in the great political struggle into
which the country is now to be thrown. Sure we
rare, that if they but triumph on this occasion, in
their integrity and truth, there need be no fear
respecting the anxiety so naturally manifested by the
CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER, the other evening,
when he said,—" I will only, on the part of myself
and my colleagues, express the sincere and even
solemn hope, that whatever may be the consequence
of this appeal upon our personal position, it will at
least be conducive to the convenience of her Majesty,
to the honour of Parliament, and to the best interests
of the country.'

THE MAIL SERVICE BETWEEN GALWAY AND AMERICA.—
Mr. Horsfall's demand upon the Government for a satis-
factory explanation upon this subject, involves a matter in
which not Liverpool only has a deep concern, but England
at large. It is not, as some of the Irish members put it, a
local questions—it is not d rivalry between Liverpool and
Galway, by any means, that is at the bottom of, or has any.
thing to do with it, in a public point of view.. Liverpool is far
abo'Ve any such feeling as that. Her interests are of much too
great a magnitude for anything of the kind to be induced.
As Mr. Horsfall declared, "he had no hostility to
the Galway line," and no one in Liverpool thinks
it worth while to have any. But the people of Liver-
pool, and the country generally, ask for fair play.
Now, as stated by Mr. Horsfall, " When it was first,
announced that the Government were about to make an
arrangement for postal communication with America by
the Galway line, the Liverpool, New York, and Philadel-
phia Company wrote to the Treasury for the purpose of
ascertaining if such were the case, to which the Treasury
replied that it was under such circumstances the practice
to invite tenders, thereby affording to all parties an oppor-
tunity of competing for the service." But this, it would
seem has not been done. And, with our hon. member,
therefore, we submit, that the parties to whom the com-
munication was addressed have now just grounds for com-
plaint. The excuse of the government is, that to grant a
subsidy to the Galway line was strongly urged upon them
as being of national, nay of imperial interest. "When it
was proposed that, in addition to the subsidy received from
the Government of Newfoundland, the company should re-
ceive a subsidy from the Imperial Government, and make
the service more complete, and the vessels more powerful.
The application was backed by an overwhelming number
of memorials from chambers of commerce throughout the
United Kingdom ; and there had been applications in
favour of it from London, Birmingham, Liverpool, Belfast,
Leeds, Dublin, &c., and the memorials were signed by the
most influential persons." Such is the apology given in
the House of Commons. And then the question is asked,
" could the home government avail themselves of this
idea, and get other persons to carry it out ?" Mr.
Roebuck, it is true, is among the apologists
of the government. "Looking at this," he said,
"as an imperial question, he thanked the government for
what they had done in this great mercantile adventure,
and he regretted to see local considerations interfering
with the true interests of Ireland." But then Mr. Roe-
buck is connected with the Galway Company ; and his
feeling, therefore, is an interested one. ' Mr. Horsfall,
however, has carried his point as to the production of all
the correspondence on the subject. When it appears,
there will be more light thrown upon it ; and -we then
shall have something more to say about it,

THE CUNARD STEAMERS AT CORK.—The Southern Re-
porter says, a deputation of the representatives of Cork
county and city had an interview on Friday with Sir Samuel
Cunard, and the results were most satisfactory. Lord
Bandon stated the objects of the deputation, and clearly
explained the facilities, advantages, and importance of
the harbour of Cork. Sir Samuel Cunard, in his reply,
showed that he had formed a thorough and practical appre-
ciation of the superior advantages of the harbour. Sir
Samuel expressed his readiness to send his ships regularly
to Cork, whether coming from Liverpool or returning from
America, and this he has declared himself ready to bind
himself to do for the entire period of his contract, and the
only condition he demands is a slight increase in his
subsidy.

FRIGHTFUL STORM, AND Loss OF LIFE IN EDINBURGH;
—On Friday last, Edinburgh was visited by one of the most
frightful thunderstorms witnessed there for many years.
For sometime scarcely a human being dared to venture
out of doors, and of those overtaken by the storm in the
streets, three women are said to have lost their lives. The
hurling of cans from the tops of chimnies, and slates from
roofs of houses rendered the scene altogether fearfully
dangerous, and numbers of persons were seriously injured.
Cabs were upset in several quarters, and omnibuses had to
be brought to a stand-still under shelter-.