Northern Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1857-11-26 00:00:00

parents cf the children who were being educated
at that Seminary, would rather send their sons to
Switzerland or Piedmont, than place them under
the Jus-..tits, but they have been refused permission
to leave Rome.

PAVE/Iris to-day, (Thursday) the Plenipotentiaries
will meet for the purpose of ratifying the articles
regulating the Bessarabian Frontier.
After another very rapid run of 11 days, the
Montreal Ocean Steam-ship Company's vessel
Indian, arrived here yesterday with upwards of 200
passengers, and a week's later news from Canada. •
She sailed from Quebec on the 11th inst. The
ROWS does not possess any features of much im-
portance. Mr. Tirrell, Provincial Secretary, had
resigned, and the Quebec papers were speculating
upon the prospect of Cabinet changes. What
efect Mr. Tirrell's resignation is likely to have on
the Governthent, remains to be seen. A successor
to Mr. Tirrell will have to be appointed ; the
vacancy in the Crown hands will have to be filled
up ; and these changes will likely cause an appeal
to the people—indeed the Toronto Colonist says
that it was rumoured that an immediate dissolu-
tion of Parliament had been resolved on. The
-Governor-General had issued a proclamation,
calling upon the people of Canada, in view of the
recent mutinies and horrible massacres in India,
to observe the 27th day of the present month as a
day of fasting. humiliation, and prayer. In com-
mercial and monetary affairs there was a steady
tone; yet but little business was going forward.
We have a day's later news from the United
States by the arrival of the City of Baltimore, with
New York dates of the 12th inst. Governor
Walker had been arrested at New Orleans, and
held in 2,000 dollars bail, but it is said that this
would not interfere with his intended colonisation
scheme. The telegraph advises us that President
Comonfort has been clothed with dictatorial powers,
and that martial law has been proclaimed in a
portion of the Mexican republic, in consequence
of the difficulties between Mexicans and resident
Spaniards. Financial affairs ware rapidly im-
proving.
At the meeting of the West Derby Board of
Guardians, yesterday, a singular correspondence
was read. A letter from Mr. J. A. Tinnie, of
Aigburth, complained that Mr. Andrews, one of
the Overseers of the Union, had certified that a
person named Gerard occupied a hotise in Aigburth-
vale, Garston, such certificate being for the purpose
of obtaining a beer license from the Excise Board.
Mr. Gerard did not live in the house, and the
Revenue Offieer decline) to grant the license.
Mr. Tinnie writes to the Clerk of the Guardians,
asks for an explanation, and hints that Mr. Andrews
should be dismissed from the situation which he
now holds. An investigation was made, when it
appeared that Mr. Andrews was imposed upon by
Gerard, and, consequently, he had not knowingly
uttered the certificate with an improper intention.
The Guardians, therefore, declined to dismiss an
old and valued servant, and hint that Mr. Tinnie
stepped out of his way in the affair.

are no sellers except those whose estates are in
liquidation" under the inspection of creditors or
messenger of the Bankruptcy Court. The pru-
dent, and all who can " hold on." have their eyes
steadfastly fixed on the Ministry and on Parlia-
ment, and thus the mercantile circles have
become so many political arenas, in which the
utmost intensity of expectation and warmth of
feeling prevail. The injury and injustice the
trading community have experienced have obli-
terated
long-cherished political opinions, and
broken up all the ties of party. The answer
given to inquiries respecting the present atate of
trade is—" We are waiting to see what the
PALMERSTON and ten per cent. Cabinet will do for
our relief." The trade of the country must be re-
stored at any political sacrifice. This is the predo-
minant feeling of the day, and in it we see an un-
mistakeable earnest of speedy amelioration. To
rescue trade, all party considerations must be laid
aside. We must act as though we were struggling
with the armed enemies of our country on every
side, to restore WILLIAM PITT to power, and give
practical effect to his monetary and financial
policy. The mighty genius which was equal to
all the desperate exigencies of war, can never be
forgotten by England, and it is well that we can
turn to a page of our history where we find those
broad and intelligible principles laid down for
our guidance, in all cases where the national
requirements are of sufficient magnitude to call
for the exercise of the highest prerogative of the
Crown, and direct interference of the Legislature.
That the monetary embarrassments of the com-
merce of our time are even greater than those
of the wars which afflicted the Continent and
Europe generally, in the early part of the present
century, cannot be denied.
Napoleon I. never left us with 80,000,0001.
of taxation to be paid in gold at a ten per cent.
rate of discount, and trade depreciates fully 50
per cent. by losses in bankruptcy, and " a fall
generally in the prices of all commodities." But
now we have to add this 60 per cent. to the
burden of taxation, and to provide means to
carry on a trade, which requires more currency
than we could possibly employ at a profit, in
any season of war. Of the two conditions—
war and peace—the latter, is by many degrees,
the most difficult to sustain. It calls for
constant vigilance, and the display of those
high legislative qualities, which alone can
render tranquility a blessing to a people. En-
forcing that forbearance, one towards another,
which is thrown aside in war, and the deter-
mined restraint of that merciless avarice, which,
when it can no longer plunder an enemy, will
prey upon the life's blood of its native land, are
our first duties. We cannot deprive peace of its
attributes with safety, any more than we can the
less important relations of life, The true spirit
of the times, whatever it may be, must be em-
bodied in our laws, or they must stand in mortal
antagonism to the wants, feelings, and opinions
of the age. Oar money-laws do this, as the
PALMERSTON Cabinet, and the mercantile public
have at last discovered, and now we wait to see
which influence will predominate—whether the
Whig Cabinet will oppose themselves
to the spirit of peace, and suffer
British commerce to be annihilated,
or whether the merchant, trader, and working
man, waiving all political opinions in favour of
their country's rescue, will prevail over the nos-
trums of party and fallacies of a moneyocracy.
who beggar themselves in a vain effort to plun-
der trade and industry of their profits. I f Lord
PALMERSTON is to lead in such an onslaught, it
is to be hoped the Premier will not go through
the mockery of presenting a Bill to indemnify
Vier Majesty's Government for ordering the sus-
pension of the obsolete Bank Charter Act.

This most notable statute expired in 1855.
Since then the Bank of England have been
carrying on business simply on the sanction of
Parliament, and we are indebted to the unwilling-
ness or inability of the PALMERSTON Cabinet to
deal with this great question, for the crisis which
hAs overtaken us in 1857. Had the Charter
Act been repealed, or rem idelled, at the expiration
of ten years, as its framers fully intended, we
should not now be suffering from a return of the
commercial disasters of 1847. We have repeatedly
warned Lord PALMER3TON of the danger of
allowing the last Session to pass over without
abolishing or revising this most vitally important
act, as our readers will remember. The entire
burden of the present state of things rests,
therefore, at the Premier's door. Still, a moment
must not be lost in cavilling about past abuses of
public trusts. The national voice demands, and
all the best interests of the Empire require, an
immediate enlargement of our legal tender cir-
culation, the abolition of the price fixed on gold
at our Mint, and that taxation shall be made the
basis of our paper currency ; and the statesman
who advocates such a measure of Monetary
Reform will receive the support of all parties,
totally irrespective of politics. If the Whigs
will not save British credit, industry, and enter-
prise, the Taries must. They have the great
national teachings of WILLIAM PITT ringing in
their ears, and if they act up to their master's
counsel, they will restore our trade, and the
laurels of a great social victory will be added to
the many trophies of war, which the genius of the
financier carried 'off from the most powerful
enemies England has ever had to encounter.
We have no political questions agitating the
public mind. The merchant is merely asking to
be delivered from inevitable ruin, and the working
classes only seek to be saved from starvation.
Thio, then, is the moment for patriotic politicians

to stand forward. The mere conventionalisms of
faction, which experience has shown to be both
fallacious and dangerous to the well being of the
whole country, are at a woeful discount ; and we
hear already that there are 400 votes in the
House of Commons at the command of the man
who will give us some enlightened definition of
taxation and currency- Of this number of ayes
there may be fifty doubtful, but of this the PAL-
MERSTON Cabinet may rest satisfied, namely, that
there is a large majority of members who will not
vote at any national sacrifice, purely to keep men in .
office. Irish members who care as much about
commerce as they do for political consistency, may
point to the flourishing condition of their Banks,
with their 2,282,000/. in gold, against 7,260,9591.
of notes, which can barely support a most
sluggish agricultural existence—and give their
rotes to prop up Whig panics; but beyond this
section of the House of Commons, and the actual
employees of the Government, the Premier
cannot rely for the renewal of the Bank Charter
Act of 1844. Parliament will not suffer the
industry, trade, and commerce of Great Britain
to be tampered with and endangered to gratify
the sordid selfishness of a set of Bullionists
whose wealth consists of credit which is worth
only eighteen pence in the pound. If they were
prepared to redeem their promises to "pay on
demand," there would be no further panic.
They have not the gold to do this, and therefore
" cash payments," in the Bullionist's acceptation
of the expression, are suspended. And unless
the Ministry are prepared to give commerce the
practical benefit of this unprovoked suspension
of gold payments, for it is nothing more, the
prevailing national distress cannot be removed.
Merchants and employers cannot pay 10 per
cent. nor 6 per cent. now, for the use of credit
paper-money, which is not as good, within 991.
18s. 6d. per cent., as their own. Their bills are
based on the world's produce, estimated at the
market value of the day, and certified by bankers
who are not to be deceived ; and this is forth-
coming when the necessities of the country
require it. Compare this with the best "promise
to pay on demand," with eighteen-pence in gold to
the pound at its back, and we ask Parliament,
which is really the best, and which ought to be
considered first—whether the palpable sham of
the moneyocracy, or the commercial paper of
the British Empire, which represents the bona
fide wealth of the world—ought to br: aban-
doned ? The question is a momentuous one,
and it must be answered quickly, if either are
to be saved.

SOME circumstance or other is daily occurring
to damage the reputation and prestige' of Lord
PALMERSTON, as the Prima Minister of England,

and to induce the country to hope for a change
of rulers. At the present juncture, this would
be rather an undesirable and unfortunate affair.
A Ministerial crisis just now would not lead to
any practical results. Besides, it would give to
the enemies of England cause to jibe and jeer at
the non-solidity of our political Government, and
particularly at a time when unity of purpose and
action should govern not only the senators of the
land, but the humblest subject of the Crown who is
entrusted with the elective franchise. We confess,
however, looking at the recent movements of the
Administration, and taking into account the
political antecedents of some of its leading mem-
bers, there is cause for complaint, and some
suspicion. For these reasons, we deemed it our
duty to make the few remarks which appeared in
yesterday's NORTHERN TIMES, touching the
possibility of the new Reform Bill pro-
mised at the close of the last Ses-
sion, being postponed by the Premier, until
18.59, or it may be a much more distant date.
Again, we are correct when we say that the
country by no means approves of all that has
been done in relation to the mutiny in India.
The laboured defence by Lords PALMERSTON and
GRANVILLE, of Lord CANNING, has not met with
the general approbation of those who know
India and its native population. But there is
another system of Ministerial manoeuvring
which will, if persisted in, do more than any
thing else to damage the popularity and
reputation of the PALMERSTON Cabinet, and
eventually bring its existence to a speedy
and ignoble termination. We allude

to the arrangement with Austria for
the establishment of a telegraphic communi-

cation with India. Anxious as we are, that minis-
ters should be compelled to bring in and carry
through Parliament, their promised measure of
Reform, and no excuse will be taken for procras-
tination and delay, we are also desirous of seeing
the Austrian job overhauled. According to the
•
best information, the proposed arrangement,
.cer-
tainly appears the most indefensible and miserable
Hof jobs. What are the leading terms ? Austria is
to have exclusive right of carrying messages
between one of our own possessions, and Alex-
andria, and to have it in perpetuity Thus
from Corfu, where she could not er.?,ct a single
telegraph post, or adjust a wire without the per-
mission of England, to Alexandria where we
have ten times more interest and business, than
she has, Austria is to have the sole charge of our
governmental messages. Moreover, the cer-
tainty of speedy information from India, is one
hundred times more important to all classes of
the people
,of the United Kingdom, than it could
be to King Francis Joseph and his Austrian
subjects. Surely it is not yet too late to demand
that England shall have for governmental pur-
poses a wire under its exclusive control, and
managed and worked by English officials mt._

THE NORTHERN TIMES.---LIVERPOOL, THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 26, 1857

AMUSEMENTS.

elusively. Already we have sufficient evidence
of the prying curiosity of German statesmen,
and we must not forget, that through
Austrian influence, Sir JAMES GRAHAM was
turned into a post-office spy, and made the
British pimp of the Court of Vienna.

But there are other considerations why the
people of England should reject the proposed
arrangement. It is most impolitic and undesir-
able that the British Government should bind
itself to the exclusive use of a single line .of
telegraph in any part of the chain that may
bring us speedy information from our Indian
Empire. Past experience tells us that the
derangment or failure of a single link would
entirely destroy the efficiency of the entire cable ;
and, although we may now be on amicable terms
with Austria, what security have the people of
this country that it will be one of permanence ?
Indeed, if we attach any credit to a sentiment put
forward by the Oest Zeitung, that "If England
wishes Austria for an ally, she must learn to
behave well:" this in common parlance is
nothing more than a direct threat, that should we
assume a tone of independence, and remonstrate
against the Imperial dictates of the Court of
Vienna, we shall, as a punishment for our pre-
sumption, have all our telegraphs suppressed.
This is a consolatory reflection for a country
whose power and greatness are such, that the sun
never sets upon her vast extent of dominion. It
is an arrangement that will not suit John Bull.
The Court and Courtiers may be greatly enamoured
with Germanism. Not only in a political, but a
commercial aspect Great Britain will repudiate
the idea of giving Austria a diplomatic surveillance
over our governmental despatches, and speculators)
merchants, and traders a fore knowledge of the
position and prospects of Indian commerce.
What we, then, contend for is the construction
of a double line of telegraph by the Red Sea and
the Euphrates, inasmuch as we consider that
every possibility of interruption should be pro-
vided against and avoided. This would place us
in some respects quite independent of France and
Austria. We do not object to have a second line
from India through the Austrian dominions.
Such would, no doubt, be exceedingly useful.
At the same time it would be better for England
to abandon the project than create an Austrian
monopoly. We kudw not what a day may bring
forth, and both Austria. France, and Russia
could, if so disposed, carry on diplomatic and
political intrigues against us in all our Eastern
dominions, in spite of our best and most energetic
exertions. For these reasons, it is not desirable
that any one of the powers alluded to should
have the means of thus worsting us whenever it
might suit their caprice. It is evident that
Austria desires to be the sole and only source by
which England can gain all important, interest-
ing, and useful information from the Eastern

possessions, without giving any guarantee that
the Austrian officials will not tamper with such
intelligence to the detriment of the people of this
country. It is therefore unquestionably a matter
of moment to have the proposed arrangement
revised. We have little faith in the kindly in-
tentions and good disposition of Austria. The
Emperor and Government of that country
showed, during the Crimean campaign, that their
heart was not with England. Let us then have
two lines. England can, and is, willing to pay
for both. She cannot afford to put implicit
trust in a questionable and warring ally—an
ally who is a despot to his subjects, and whose
governmental tyranny may any day place the
country in the flames of rebellion. In such an
eventuality, the Telegraph would be seized and
destroyed, and England once more compelled to
have recourse to her " Overland" communication
with India, &c. Should warnings such as we
have just penned be disregarded, we hope that
Parliament, which meets on the 3rd proximo,
will not fail to take the matter up, and compel
ministers to abandon a project fraught with
danger to the best interests of the country
dangers that will extend to every department
of Indian commerce, and the future rule of that
vast, but now rebellious Empire.