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

not only see

NON-INTERVENTION.
THAT the policy of Non-intervention is a good one
.for any country, cannot be' disputed, as a general
principle ; but that at this moment, when war is
raging on a matter in which England feels a deep
concern, and when interests are at stake in its issues
which may hereafter more or less affect the welfare
of every European State, the observance of such a
policy will. be a very different thing on the part of
the Government of this country, as it is now consti-
tuted. Look at the extent to which the defensive
preparations against the spread of that war are now
expanding on every side. See how Germany is
augmenting her means. of defence, in evident antici-
pation of being called upon to assume an attitude of
resistance. Only in last Saturday's sitting of the
Diet, at Frankfort, for instance, the proposal of
Prussia to place a corps of observation on the Upper
Rhine was almost unanimously agreed to ; and there
can be no doubt that this movement was in prospect
of ultimate intervention on the frontiers of Italy.
Every advance, indeed, whick the Allied Armies
make towards those frontiers, on the German side, is
:an additional provocative to intervention on the part
of Germany. Then there is Belgium beginning to
act on the defensive also, —and not, perhaps,
without reason. " Public attention," says a letter
from Paris, "is drawrr towards Belgium, and the
unusual activity displayed at the camp at Beverloo
is the subject of the utmost anxiety. The formation
of an entrenched camp on a series of strong forti-
fications at Antwerp will necessitate the meeting of
the Chambers immediately.. The . retutn. of 'King
Leopold from England is eagerly looked forward to
as bearing on the question of peace or war, It appears
that in case of the probability of hostilities between
France and Germany, two camps of observation
would likewise be formed in. Luxembourg and
Hainault, in order to protect the neutrality of
Belgium, whose territory would otherwise be in
constant danger of being borrowed as a battle-field.
by the adverse combatants." Now here, to go no
further, there will arise the greatest danger to
England,—for she is a party to the obligation; to
protect Belgium against any hostile interference,
either by France or any other Power. There is no
doubt, we believe, that King LEOPOLD'S visit to this
country had reference to the position of his kingdom
at the present critical conjuncture.
At such a moment, then, we say, it is of vital
importance that a spirit of Non-intervention should
pervade the Councils of our country ; and one's deep
regret is, that there should be any reason to suspect
such May not be the case. Neutrality—apparent
neutrality, at least—may be observed ; and yet there
may the while be going on a system of diplomatic
intervention, the eventual effect of which it would
'be difficult to foresee. Non-intervention, therefore,
is essential to continued neutrality. How unfortu-
nate, then, it is for us all, that in such a crisis as the
present, the head of our Government should happen
to be one, the greater part of whose political life,
which is of no ordinary length, has been one 'syste-
matic series of interventions in the affairs of forCign
States. We would not go quite so far as did tho
mover of the following ReSolution at the great Non-
interventions_ Meeting in London, a, few days since,
and say, "-that since the 22nd November, 100,
intervention, in violation of the law of nations and of river, opposite Garston.
the law of England, has been reduced to a system, MARynEnowc ELECTION.--Close of the -Poll:
and put into daily practice by the Foreign-office, 4,212 ; Lyon, 2,309 ; Dickson, 1,074.
under the direction •of Lord PALMERSTON, and that A NEW-BORN child Ivas found on Tuesday, in Talison-
this country can reverse that practice in future, and street. It appears the child was strangled.
escape from its consequences as regards the past, THE body of a man named George Dunbobbin, was found
only by enforcing the penalties of the law upon
in the river yesterday. He had been missed for some time.
that Minister' who has now been re-imposed by
YESTERDAY, the body of a female, name unknown, was
'
found in the river near Duke's-dock. She appears about
one of the factions on the Sovereign, who in
ears of age.
1851 dismissed him for usurping the authority of 30 .y
BETWEEN June 12th and 24th as many as 9,4,50 tons of
the English Crown to aid; the overthrow of the
French Republic by LOUIS NAPOLEON." We would coal had been landed at Malta by 24 vessels. Prices had
declined to 30s. and 325. for Newcastle.
not, we say, go the whole length of such a declaration DEATH FROM DRINK. On Sunday night, a woman named
a,f this, although it no doubt embodies only too much Celia Jordan, went to bed drunk, in a house in a court off truth. But if it be not demanded, for any public good, Addison street, and was found dead in bed on Tue day.
that Lord PAIMEusToN 'should be indicted for the FATAL ADeißßNT.—Yesterday, a boy named Joseph

vading, in any degree, her Majesty's Councils at
such a time, but he has the magnanimity to 'decline
having anything to do with the exposure of the
country to so much peril.

The Government which Lord PALMERSTON aided

in overthrowing, in order that he alight have another
opportunity of giving, effect to his mischievous prin-
ciples, happily for the interests of the people, had
firmly established a principle of neutrality,

and the

country having pronounced its hearty approval of
their Non-intervention policy, the present Premier
will find it so much the more difficult to set' it - aside
all at once. The strong representation conveyed to
him, however, by the great meeting to which we
have already referred, on behalf of ;u
policy as that of the late Ministry was far from

such a foreign

being in any wise out of place, or uncalled for, at the
present moment ; and let us hope that Lord PALMER-
STON will at least. take to heart that remonstrance of
the Memorial adopted by the meeting, which declares,

—" Your memorialists have observed, with pleasure,
the declarations made by your lordship and other
members of her Majesty's Government, that it is the
duty of England to abstain from taking any part in
this deplorable conflict. But your memorialists
venture respectfully to submit, what the past ex-
perience of this country abundantly proves, that, in
order to preserve such a policy, it is necessary not
only to avoid taking part in hostilities by overt and
immediate acts of war, but to abstain from political
engagements and alliances, as well as from such
menacing exhibitions of force as may tend gradually
to entangle the nation in a conflict, against sharing
in which it has pronounced with such unequivocal
emphasis."