Northern Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1859-05-07 00:00:00

THE NORTHERN TIMES, SATURDAY, MAY 7, 1669

Navy, as we have said,- has been grossly misrepre-
sented by our over-eager contemporary; and to do
so, at such a crisis a., the present, we repeat, is most
• •
mischievous.

An instance of misrepresentation of another, and,.
for the moment, still more practically mischievous
kind, was pointed out by. Sir JOHN PAKINGTON on
the occasion referred to,—that .of the:alarming state-
ments of the Times as to the alleged alliance of
Russia and France against England. " St;eaking in'
the interests of truth," he remarked,—" speaking in
the interests of this and other great countries, I can-
not refrain from expressing my sense of the great
responsibility which rests at such a moment on those
who can conduct the public press in this country.
There has been a state of things in the City of
London for, the last few days such as is hardly
to be remembered of any former period. There
has been a state of ruin—the failure of persons
to such a number as I am almost-afraid to mention—
agitation in the public funds, and a great depression
of property. Now, I have no hesitation in saying
that to a most serious extent these calamities have
been caused irrespectively of the real state of affairs
on the Continent, which_ undoubtedly is alarming.
enough. I have, no hesitation in saying that this
panic has arisen in a. very ;peat -degree from the -
want of due caution on the part of some portions of
the public press in pUblishing prematurely, and in
an exaggerated form, intelligence likely to create the
'greatest alarm, and for' which, unauestfonably; they
could not have had authority sufficient to justify
palidation." This, while certainly 'it bears very
striking testimony to the power of the public press
in this country, does as certainly convey a
severe rebuke to the Times, which has so ob-
.vsiattsly been one great :cause of the panic in the
City, and of the ruin that has ensued. Well does
the Daily News observe,—" We fear it will be poor
consolation to the merchants who haVe been broken,
and. the families' who have been beggared, by the
panic which has raged since Wednesday-morning-to
learn' that they have been the victims of a stupendous
imposture, and that after all there was no reason
why they should.- be ruined. If terrifying .mis-
, statements are to supply the place of reason in the
formation of public opinion, and men's estates are to
be knocked down by the thousand, merely. to prove
that one despot is cleaner handed than another, we
can only strenuously protest against such a mode of
political eontroversy." Put all mis-statements are
vicious—they are disreputable. To: make them, for
a party or any other purpose, is assuredly not " a
mode of political controversy " that can either be
beneficial or. honourable. It cannot be so at any
time ; but' least of all can it be so,. When such fearful'
issues are hanging in the balance, and when mighty
interests, may be imperilled by the slightest mis-

apprehension.
The true , position of England is at present a
fortunate one. We are at peace with all the Powers
of Europe, and there is no reason whatever, so far,
why we should not remain at peace. We have a
Government whose anxious endeavour it appears to
be to " seek peace and ensure it," but who are yet
properly jealous of the honour of their country.
They assure us that the naval and military resources
of the country are such as to enable us to act most
effectually on the defensive. They have reiterated
their determination, that, in the present crisis of
foreign affairs, amidst the clash of arms in Continental
Europe, England- shall maintain "an impartial, a
dignified, and a neutral attitude ;" and they have
given uS their assurance, that she is in a position to
do so. Happy will it be for us if this can be realised.
But of this we may rest assured, that all their efforts
to preserve that attitude, and to apply the means
which the country possesses to its real advantage,
will not be available for the purpose, if such a
system of exaggeration and misrepresentation
is to be pursued as that which we have here
alluded to.

THE THREATENING ATTITUDE OF FRANCE,

IT is important, if we would thoroughly under-
stand the character and object of the war that has
unhappily broken out on the confines of Italy, and
which threatens to be so sanguinary, to know exactly
what is the attitude which France has assumed.
Certainly, it is l'Elnpire c'est la paix no more The
case is completely reversed. The Empire is not only
not peace, but it has become war. Such is, in one
word, its real attitude. But then there is a good
deal involved in this, which it is necessary should be
explained. It is not war in self-defence; it is not
war for any principle that legitimately affects itself,
or its internal interests, in anywise. It is war
without necessity,—uncalled for, and therefore un-
justifiable war. It is directed against a Power which
has not molested France herself in any way what-
ever. The French Emperor has no national excuse
for it : it is not for his people's interest, or their
advantage in the slightest degree,—on the contrary,
they will be likely to feel its scourge for years to
come, in oppressive taxations, and in other evil
influences. Tho Imperial Manifesto of Louis
NAPOLEON, of course, gives quite a different com-
plexion to it, and does so in a most plausible manner.
But this is very interested testimony to its necessity
and its justice. LA us first examine the question in
the light in which it is there put.
"Hitherto," says the French Emperor, "moderation
has been the rule of my conduct, but now energy
becomes my first duty. France must now to arms,
and resolutely tell Europe—' I wish not for conquest,
but I am determined firmly to maintain my national
and traditional policy. I observe treaties on con-
! dition that they arc not violated against me. I
respect the territories and the rights of neutral
Powers, but I boldly avow my- sympathies with a
people whose history is mingled with our own, and
who now groans under foreign oppression.' " Now
we might demur to the very first position here so
boastfully taken up. " Moderation " has not been
the rule of his conduct. It was conduct the very
reverse of " moderation," to " wade through
slaughter to a throne"—in the first place. And
there has been but little " moderation " in his
exercise of arbitrary power,—and there would have
been less still, had it been expedient there should.
Neither is it true that " energy "—which, being in-
terpreted, means war now becomes his " first
duty." It is rather, under the circumstances, his
first duty to avoid it. His disclaimer of any wish
for conquest cannot be believed ; and his being
0 determined firmly to main fain his natural and
traditional policy "—as a Buonaparte is itself a
contradiction of such a disclaimer. The French
annals of the first twelve or fifteen years of the
present century, to go no further, abound with

evidence to the fact, that conquest was essentially a
policy" national and traditiOnal," with his dynasty.

Neither does he observe treaties on condition that
they are not violated against him "—or, " respect the
territories and the rights of neutral Powers.", He is
now doing the very reverse of this. He is violating
the treaties of 1815 regarding the settlement of
Italy, which- have in nowise been " violated against
hilt.". And as to his respecting " the territories and
the rights of neutral Powers," is he not, by marching
his troops through Sardinia to the Austrian frontiers,
showing no respect whatever for such territories and
rights ? Iris sympathies may be avowed to be With
the Italians, because he waits to replace Austria in
theirprotecturate. And if they " groan under the
oppression" of Austria, do not the. French " groan
under the oppression " which he, with; his system; of
absolutism, so grievously inflicts upon them ? He
.may be right, in one sense,. when, lie introduces the
Italians to France, as " a people whose history is
mingled with our own." Brit how mingled ? What
has France historically to do with Italy, apart from;
conquest, and from " foreign oppression ?"
Agiin, "Louis NASPOLEON, in the same mendacious
spirit deClares of FO,nce---meaningk on this occasion
himself—that " when she draws the sword, it is not
to govern, but to free." But when was this ever the
case with his dynasty ? When did it ever " free,"
and not " govern," any people that it got in its
power ? We defy the productiOn of a' single instance
of the kind. And then he follows up this gross
fallacy by another, grosser still. "We do not enter
Italy," he says, "to ferment disordeiT Why, their
very approach to it has plunged it into most fearful
disorder ! The whole Lombardo-Venetian territory
is in a state of insurrection, produced by the joint
incitements of France and Sardinia.

But let us see what is considered to be the
present attitude of 'France by' one Louis NAPO-
LEON'S Carps Legistaff, as expressed in that
Assembly within the last few days_ 1 M. PLICIION, a
member described as being essentially a friend of
order, said that, " supposing all the difficulties of
war surmounted and victory achieved, he would be
anxious to know- to what use France -would
turn' the triumph of her soldiers ? He would
ask how Italy could be reconstructed so as
to satisfy the Italians? opinion the
protectorate of France would not be more popular
than the protectorate of :Austria."; And then he
went on to show, that "at various Yeriods France
had 43een, the predominant power in Italy, and had
had no reason to congratulate herself upon her
supremacy- south of the Alps.. Towards the end of
the last century the French were received. in Italy
as liberators; in 1815 they were expelled as tyrants.
In 1815 it was the Austrians who were hailed by
the Italians as their deliverers, those same Austrians
that are held up as their tyrants at the present
day." Such are the people of whom the French
Emperor declares, their " history is mingled with
our own." And such, too, we may conclude, is the
"national and traditional policy," which he is now
"determined firmly to -maintain." The French,
under the former NAPOLEON, were " expelled as
tyrants." And what reason can there possibly be to
suppose, that under the present NAPOLEON they
would not have to be so expelled again, should they
now succeed in getting a footing there ; notwith-
standing the " sympathies " which; he so " boldly
avows."

The attitude of France, then, in the present con-
juncture, is a most threatening one for the interests
of Europe. It is a false position—it is a bad
eminence —in which her autocrat is placing her.
He is dragging her into a war under false pretences,
and for a sinister object. Not that we mean to
imply that England is to resent it. Such a course
would be a piece of most gratuitous and most
mischievous interference on our part. We have
nothing to do with it, and must abstain from
meddling. But, at the same time, We must be
prepared to defend our own neutral position ; and it
will enable us all the better to do so, to keep a strict
eye upon one so subtle,ank so scheming as Louis
NAPOLEON.

THE rulers of Europe appear to be ignorant of the
change which the last half century has wrought in
their material and political condition. They are no
longer the arbitrators of human destinies. Man's
wants have raised up a despot at whose nod empires
tremble. The four great elements of life alone have
escaped his dominion, and dare refuse a slavish
obedience to his will. May we venture to breathe
the name of this temporal monarch of monarchs with
that of a NAPOLEON or a modern Mars ? Dare we
tell a Czar, an Emperor, a King, or a Pope that the
god Mammon is his master, and that, as he directs
the current of circumstances, so must man rise or
fall ? We shall not attempt to raise this deity above
the place assigned to Mars, and the other gods of
the heathen writers of the remotest antiquity. Were
we to invest him with more than worldly attributes,
his daily works would give the lie to our sophistry,
and leave the power by which he rules, open to
serious cavil. But there stands a veritable, tangible
part and parcel of creation, with Threadneedle-
street for his citadel, Capel-court and the world's
length and breadth for his dominions. He works by
no mystic arts, and needs no fabulous reputation.
His instruments are the lever, the piston, the
spindle, and occasionally the hydraulic ram.
With these appliances, he has laboured to raise
mankind to greatness and power—not to oppress,
plunder, and trample upon them. Gold was given
to us for a token of the pure love which man should
have for his Creator and his neighbour ; .and although
it has almost ceased to be a symbol of religion,
wherever Christianity has assumed a practical cha-
racter, there we find it exercising its humanising
and Christianising influences. And has it fallen to
the lot of France —of all the enlightened nations on
earth—to produce a man so besotted by ignorance
and sin, as to suppoie that this symbol of pure love
and concord can be torn with impunity from the
altars of religion, and from the shrines of honest
industry, by his feeble and dwarfish hand ? So
palpable a robbery of the means by which human
honesty, labour, and virtue live, will not be tolerated
even under the varied and fanciful mask of war.
BUONAPARTE must exist in this age as other men do,
or he will wither and die under the freezing scorn
of the world. Do the fool-hardy adventurers of
the Continent doubt this ? If so, let Mammon apply
the screw. Advance the Bank rate of discount one
per cent. forthwith. If that will not do, give it
another, and another, turn. Five per cent. discount
will produce a panic in England, and famine in
France. Should a further advance to six per cent, be

necessary to convince Continental despots that they
are merely creatures of eireumstancea, let them "have it
by all means: Enrope will then see what these
unprincipled disturbers of peace are, and that when
they cannot borrow money, never to be repaid, they
do not hesitate to rob and plunder.

The Austrians have commenced to levy contribu-
tion on the unfortunate Italians, and if France sends
an equally large army into that unhappy country,
without the means of paying and feeding them, her
troops must of necessity levy contributions on its
inhabitants. This is what_Continental diplomates
call " war in the interest of Europe." Less enlighened
but more honest men, would denounce it as open
robbery. If the liberty of Europe lay beneath
half-a-century's accumulation of political and,
moral torpitude, the Italians might have no cause
to grumble at the heavy price they are re-
quired to pay for their freedom. But what
is thereunder FRANC re JOSEPH'S toga that nature
has omitted to plant in the bosun of NAPoLEoNI
If France- were free, in any sense of the word, we,
might expect to see Italy equally bhassed. We must
wait, however, for. the French to shake off their own
_chains before we can expect to hear of any portion
of the Papal dominions being delivered front the
presence of a foreign oppressor. If,-then, England

is convince& that the pretext for, the present War is
a mere shamrand that only a wanton aid das-
tardly - outburst of disappointed, impoverisheitl, and
bankrupt despotism,. we have only to- show these
disturbers of the world's peace that IN.IA2nioN is their
master, that money shall not be had in England,
and.that we•. have a moraLpower in our hands by

which we can starve armies, and prevent the useless
shedding of blood.

We once thought that NAPOLEON was a good
theoretical a-nd practical financier, but the pre-
sent condition of
.his country, and the manner
in which 'he has engaged ,in _ a foreign
war,- prove that he is neither one- nor the
the other. He may possibly. know how to " stand
in" with Bulls and Bears but he knows nothing
of the great principles of finance, which .govern hu-
man action, and it is to be, hoped that we
.sllll not
allow the present opportunity to pass without teach-
ing the belligerents on the- banks of the Ticino a
'salutary lesson. A monetary panic may unseat the
,Derby Government, and present to all eyes the
lainentable spectacle of two great penniless, armies,
standing face to- face, without the -power -of -striking
a blow, except- against the wretched people whom
they profess to defend. But come, a- money-panic
must, if war is to be continued, and the sooner the
better it will be for 'all parties. Indeed,, it would
be highly criminal, on the. part of the-Bank 'Direc7
tors, to wait until a scarcity of bullioii compelled
them • raise the rate of discount to sor 6 per
cent. We commenced the present season of war
with £18,000,000. Let this reserve be reduced
to £14,000,000, and we shall be within one
month of a third' suspension of the Bank
Charter Act •of - 1844. . And we .
_say, in
a spirit of friendship, to our rulers and
the people of England, "Beware ,of war prices
and a scarcity of currency." The value of
money will be corrected by the actual- condition of
things ; but a sufficient supply of currency must be
forthcoming in time of war. We are within a very
few days of a universal cry of " cash for corn," and
determinedly opposed, as we are, to any systemised
interference with the natural course of trade, we say,
here is a sad and exceptional state of thingS ; and if
there be a particle of virtue in bullionism, it is the
bounden due of its authors and advocates to give
their country, and the world at large, the benefit of
that paralysing power we have seen often
directed against industry and commerce in time of
profound peace.

The Gazette notifies that Lord Ossulton has been
summoned to the House of Peers by the• title of Baron
Ossulton.

The Assam Tea Company, yesterday, divided 10 per cent
This year's crop is estimated at 846,000 lbs., and that of
last year realised in England £67,639, or is 8d per lb.

General S. Codrington's appointment as. Governor of
Gibraltar is gazetted. Major Frederick Miller, Royal
Artillery, and Lieutenant Adair Butler, Bengal Fusiliers,
have been decorated with the- Victoria Cross.

The Daily News has received a telegram from Marseilles,
which quotes as follows :—" A letter from Colonel Meade to
Lord Elphinstone. Tantia Topee captured by this detach-
ment ; awaiting orders for his disposal."

The Gazette publishes a notice, issued by the French
Government, prohibiting the exportation, or re-exportation,
from France of the usual contraband of war, including
horses, shipping, steam machinery, and article 3 used for
naval and military purposes.

" The Prince Archbishop of Vienna has issued a pastoral
letter, in which the crimes of Piedmont and the ambitious
views of Napoleon 111. are attacked, and the opinion is
expressed that war is not the greatest of evils, but is
often a glorious work accomplished in the service of
equity."

AMERICAN MAILS.—The Cunard steamer Canada will sail
for Boston, via Halifax, this day, with the United States
mails. The box at the Post-office will close at 10 o'clock,
and finally at 11 ; and the Receiving-box on the Landing-
stage will be open until 12 noon, on the payment of the
usual late fee of Is.

THE COURT.

The Queen held a court on Thursday afternoon at
Buckingham Palace.

The Duke of Malakhoff, Ambassador from the Emperor
of the French, had an audience of the Queen, and delivered
his letters of recall.

Baron de Beust, on a special mission from the King of
Saxony, had an audience of the Queen.
Their Excellencies were respectively introduced by the
Earl of Malmesbury, her Majesty's principal Secretary of
State for Foreign Affairs.
The Earl of Malmesbury had an audience of her Majesty.

The Queen was attended by Lord Byron, Lord in
Waiting, and Colonel the Hon. A, Liddell, Groom in
Waiting.

The Queen, with the Princesses Alice and Louisa, at-
tended by Lady Macdonald, took a drive in an open
carriage aad four in the afternoon. The Equerries in
Waiting attended on horseback.

The Prince Consort rode on horseback yesterday morn-
ing, attended by his Equerry in Waiting.
The Queen's dinner party in the evening included the
Princess Alice, the Baron de Beust, the Marquis of Exeter,
Earl de la Warr, Earl of Malmosbury, Major-General tiv