The Northern Daily Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1857-05-18 00:00:00

POLITIC/if, GOSSIP.

The Leddet thinks that if nothing for reform is
to be done this session in parliament, something
ought to be attempted out of doors- g' We are not
satisfied with hearing that the question once
popular is now only parliamentary. The move-
ment in faVour of an amended, purified, and
extended, representation, should be national; other:
wise its results will be-defective and disappointing.
Some time back a suggestion appeared in the
Tablet for a sort of compromise of the Maynooth
question, namely, that, in lieu of annual payments
to the- patties entitled, a capital sum should be at
once handed over, equal to the value of these
annual payments ; and that then the present
endorinient of Maynooth should • cegsd. This
propoial has, since then, been the topic of con•
versation in many quarters It has been diScassed
by Portman diabolic M.P.'s on' one side, and
Protestant M.P.'s on the other. " And there is

certainly," says the Record," a great willingness to
adopt' some such plan as a means of putting an
end to discussion's of which the House of Commons
is growing weary."
Lord Palmerston has raise 1 " just expectations"
on the subject of the coming Reform Bill. " With-
out that pledge," says the Spectator', " the subject
might, perhaps, by a little manoeuvring, have been
staved off for years; but Any attempt at evasion
now would do sorriething worse for the minister
than support the vague and. latent desire for
reform ; it would disappoint just expectation
would provoke anger attended by something like
contempt; and the triumphant career of a popular
minister might end in a:bathos that would cut
him, to the. heart. It is, therefore, of the first
importance to the .work which Lord Palmerston
has undertaken, and to hii own repute in history,
that he should ascertain what really are. the expec'-'
tations of the various classes of the English people.
Quiet as the public is, those expectations, what-
ever they may be, are a matter of fact ; and if
sufficient pains be taken they can be ascertained.'
" Who is to be the new Solicitor-Generallt.' is a
question still asked in legal circles. The names of
Mr. Atherton, Sergeant Kinglalte, Mr. Collins, and
Mr. Keating, have been freely mentioned. " Some
Of these gentlemen," says the Press, " have large
practice, but we confess that we do not see the
special resources for juridical refornis in the law
in auy of these gentlemen. Mr. Atherton has a
most extensive practice ; Mr. Collins is sometimes
shrewd and ready in debate ; but, without any
disparagement of their powers, we do not think
that an effective law reformer will be found in
any one of them. Scientific lawyers are wanted
to aid' the crown in drafts for new measures of
legal reform. The liberal bar has latterly been
degenerating, and some of the eminent prac-
titioners professing ministerial polities have not
seats in parliament. Mr. Quinn, of the NOrthern
Circuit, is spoken of in whit circles as one of the
chief rising men of their connection. He has some
academical attainments, the results of a German
education blended with the Chitty school of
English practice. He has a neat style of forensic
argumentation, but whetherk lie would prove a
debater in parliament could only be tested by
experience. On the whole, the liberal lawyers are
vastly inferior to the host of legal abilities con-
nected with conservatism."
Admiral Sir Charles Napier has given notice of
his intention to move for - a select committee to
enquire into the constitution of the Board of
Admiralty.

It is said that Sir Robert Pee's successor at the
Admiralty will be Mr. Thomas George Baring,
M.P. for Falmouth, who has been private secretary
to Sir Charles Wood.
In the event of the success of the petition against
the return of Sir Alexander Ramsay for Rochdale,
it is notimprobable that Mr. Bright will be brought
forward.
The petitions against the Marlborough, Great
Yarmouth, and Wareham elections have been
issued. Mr. Lewis, who was a candidate at Marl-
borough, urges a want of qualification on the part
of Mr. 11. B. Baring; two electors of Yarmouth, a
brewer and a timber merchant, allege bribery and
corruption on the part of Messrs. M'Cullagh and
Watkin; and three of the Wareham electors bring
similar charges against Mr. Caleraft.
The United Service Gazette argues that the militia
ought to be placed entirely in the hands of the
Commander-in-Chief. That functionary would of
course—thinks our cotemporary—recognise the
importance of local influence, and fairly distribute
commissions for the sake of rendering the service
popular among the squirearchy ; but "he would
also take good care that the whole force should be
rendered subordinate to one system of discipline,
and that the regimental commands should not be
trifled with. Sir Marmaduke Broadacres is pro..
bably very much beloved in his. county—has long
enjoyed a reputation as a bold fox-hunter and a
liberal landlord. Can Sir Marmaduke put a regi-
ment through its manoeuvres? Does he understand
anything about its interior economy ? Can he
judge of the capacity of the officers of companies ?
Or does he ' leave all that sort of thing' to my
major ?' These are questions which a commander-
in-chief would naturally put, and by the replies he
might receive the selection would necessarily be
regulated. Then, and not till then, shall we have
a dependable militia.''
The Econonti3t undertakes to answer two inter-
esting questions. " Why," we read, "have none of
the conspicuously able men who have gradually
won a great position as the representatives of the
middle classes of England in the House of Com-
mons, seldom or never been able to take their place
as Ministers with men who have little more
knowledge and-less than half the capacity ? Why
have men so eminent as Mr. Cobden and Mr.
Bright been obliged to forego the satisfaction of
carrying out the reforms they had rendered neces-
sary, and to deliver them over at the last moment
into the hands of Sir Robert Peel ? Not surely
from any English worship of birth, for the states-

man was but one step removed .from the cotton
spinner—not-horn any want of capacity, adminis-
trative or oratorical, for it was by the wonderful
exercise 'df -,130-th these faculties that their
_triumph :Was aohieved-ebut
because in the Lad vantage of a liberal education the-
minister's mind had ro-..eivea that width and polish
that insight.into various aspects of a question—
that tact in adopting the means .to the, end—that
power of generalising particular truths =that sway
over the one sided eagerness of self interest, to
which' men are willing to concede quietly what they
will never yield to dead weight of argument or tliei
menace•of,suPerior strength."
The Saturday Review, discussing the politics of
the Antipodes, ..observes .that so far as Victoria is
concerned. the overthrow of the late and of several
preceding administration seerits,to beAttributable
to' the ambitious and successful agitation of Me;
C4l-iivan IJttl v " Now, (says. the Revjew,) though
Mr. Duffy has been a real member of the, British
Parliament, vie should hardly'lmvp,thonght him
hkely to become the
GX.ainly Ile has lain ren- the rose, -but it .was so
long ages and under myth unctivoerable.,
'stances, that we -sh suld have suspected, him of
retaining merely a faint, °dotted .:.ipoiled vegetable,
like rose Water which has been left ungerked. Yet,
daniEiged as he may be, ho,secrill 'to go off briskly
in the Australian Market. The Victori
are troubled, in fact, withAn uneasy consciousn6:.4
that they are only playing at polities, and they
feel an involuntary respect for. anybody who has
actually, exchanged a few genuine- blows in the
battle Of English party strife. Mr. Dtiffv's influence
is that of a grown` man who makes himself the
companion of boys. He may be a very shabby or a
very stupid fellow but the fact that has actually
mingled in the business 'of real, life, invests him
with a world of dignity in the eyes of those whd
five years afterwards will find him out and despise
hid', If it aou'id not be thus eigilained, the im-
portance which Mr. Duffy has aequireCiu Aus-
tralia would be anything but an agreetable-pheno-
metion. It wouldbe almost po.infill to think that
used up and exploded Agitator, who -left his
country 'beeatise 'it -too prosperous for him,
because it no.longer contained- staffelent.elements
' of evil for him to lay hold of, has only to turn to
'the first.young community which is essaying the
experiment of self-government, and there find
an ample theatre for his pernicious accomplish-
ments.' A
meeting of herMaje,sty's commissioners appoint!.
ed to consider the extent and boundaries of the
several dioceses of Canterbury,London,Winchester
and Rochester. has been- held at No.. .13, Great
George street, Westminster. Cominissioners pre-
. sent : The Archbishop of Canterbury,' president.;
the Earl of H.arroWby. the Earl of Chichester, the
• Right Hon. Spencer H. Walpole, the, Right Hon.
Dr Lushington, De• Travers T wiss (Vicar 'General),
and the Ven. Archdeacon Sinclair. Mr. Ft-lix
Knyvett attended as secretary to 'the commission.

TUE YOUITG RUSSIAN PRINCE.—The newly born son of
the Emperor and. Empress of Etrsia has been baptised by
the names of Sergius .A!exandroviteh. He is the sixth
child and fifth son of their Majesties. ,
APPROACHING MARRIAGE IN HIGH g
Post announces that a marriage, which it calls " a matri-
monial alliance," is about to take place between the Earl
of Stradbroke andlhe widow of the late Colonel Bonner, of
the 10th Hussars. • , .
SMALL Pox AND VACCINATION.--:The Vaccine Boiled
report to the Home Secretary of State that, during the
past year, 210,942 charges of lymph have been supplied ;
and that 141,147 persons have been reported to them as
vaccinated, besides 7,039 vaccinated at the, tthtions of the
establishment.
Too FAR NoRTI.--41. crowded audience assembled in
Dundee, a few evenings ago, to hear Mr. Henry Mayhew
lecture upon the " Oddities of the London streets." Mr.
Mayhew did not appear, but, la'e at night, a telegraphic
message was received from him, in which he said, " By
mistake I have come to Aberdeen."
CsOW-KItLINO nv CONtiZ AVT• —The farmers in the neigh-
bourhood o Paxton have ree,ntly. been waging a war of
f
extermination against the colony of forks there, which has
been entirely destroyed. The farmers havi::',ssolicited and
obtained permission from D. Milne Hums, :.ontrac ed
with an individual to do the work at their expense, who
has killed about 3,000, and taken down all the nests.

Two Parerrox AGAINST SIR ALEX. Room.--Now that
the petition against the return of Sir Alexander Ramsay
for the borough of Rochdale is no longer a mat er of
doubt, the conservatives are on the qui vice. They are
determined to defend the return to their utmost. A sub-
scription has been commenced, end one geutlemen, it is
said, has put down his name for £5OO to head the list.
A letter from Yee in the Gazette du Midi says :
Apart from the Grand Duchess Helena, who remains for
the sake of sea-bathiug, all our grand visitors have de-
parted The Empress, before leaving, distributed snuff
boxes ornamented with portraits and diamonds ; the Grand
Duke did as much. There war, moreover, an abundant
distribution of rir gs, brooches, and bracelets for persona
who had been connected with the imperial circle. The
Empress spent large sums during her residence here—as
much as a hundred thousand francs a-week are sp. ken of;
in addition was the expenditure of the three vessels of war
stationed in our port during the winter."
Tics KING AND TUE DUELLIST.—The King of Prussia
has addressed the following letter to Frau von Hinckeldey,
the widow of the late president of the police of Berlin,
who was shot in a duel with Herr von Rochow, a member
of the Prussian House of Lords, on the 10th March, last
year :—" Potsdam, March 20th, 1857.--Yon have, my
dear and honoured 1 dy, secured a new and benefitting
lustre to the honourable and never-to-be forgotten name
of your late husband, by addressing a prayer to me on the
anniversary of his death, -to extend grace to him whose
hand has inflicted such an incurable wound on you, on
your children, on the Prussian nobility, on every genuine
patrio`, and on my own heart. Those who have known
your late husband in the way I was fortunate enough to
know him must at once understand how you, acting in his
spirit and from faithful love to him, could pray, on this
10th of March, as you have done ; and they will under-
stand how 1, out of respect for you, and for his memory,
am too weak to resist, in spite of the most important con-
siderations, requiring a very different conduct. Herr von
Rochow is free from this dity, though banished from my
court and my residences. He is ftee through your inter-
vention alone, and he shall know this at my express com-
mand. Should the coals which your magnanimity has
collected on his head be more burning to him than his im-
prisonment, that would be neither you fault nor mine. He
now may, if he can, enjoy that consolation which you, my
dear lady, have asked by word of mouth for him—the
consolation afforded by his meeting his wife and children
again. May he understand how thoroughly faithful a
heart, faithful to duty, honour, king, and country ; and,
I before all, faithful to his Saviour, has been made to cetve
to beat through him. May it result in this, that from this
day he has been the last of the enemi,,s of Hinckeldey.
This, my dear and honoured lady, as another reward of
your noble action, is the wish of your sincere friend,
FREDERICK WILLIAM.
CAPTURE OF A BLAVER.-012 the 16th of April, a
schooner—evidently American—Was towed into the port
of Kingston, Jamaica, .by her Msjesty's brig Arab. It
was soon ascertained hat the schooner was a slaver, and
that she had on bear] a large number of c,ptives. It
appears that the captain of the Arab had received informa-
tion that a bark and schooner were expected in Cuba from
the coast of Africa, each with a cargo of slaves. A strict
watch was therefore kept, and on Monday, the 13th, a
suspicious-looking craft was seen, with full press of sail,
making the best of her way to her destined port. She was
closely pursued, and the captain finding that there was no
possibility of escaping from the Arab, deserted her taking
with him in a shallop his crew, money, chronometer, and
other useful articles. The commander of the Arab des-
patched his gunboat with 15 men, under the command of
his first lieutenant with orders for the capture of the
shallop. The chase continued for nearly three hours, and
a shot having destroyed the rudder of the shallop, the
captain, who was owner of the slaver, surrendered. Two
of his principal slaves and an interpreter were taken from
the shallop. and the crew left in it, to make the best of
their way to Cuba. The first lieutenant then boarded the
schooner, and found her filled with young Africans, males
and females, to the number of 373, no less than 127 having
fallen victims to the horrors of the middle passage during
a voyage of 29 days. The poor captives were in a wretched
condition; all of them were reeked, and the greater part
seemed to have been half-starved. They were packed
closely together, and covered with dirt and vermin. 7he
captain of the schooner refused to give his name or 'the
name of the vessel, but stated that he would be a loser of
30,000 dollars, a loss which did not cause him much con-
cerr, as he had made other and succAssf, 1 trips. A great
deal of information, however, was obtained from the in-
terpreter, who mentioned that several vessels were left on
the African coast, that they were to hare sailed soon, with
full cargoes—that, upon an average, two vessels eeparted
weekly, each with 500 to 700 slaves on board, that the
trade was rapidly increasing, and that the slaves on, being
landed in Cuba were worth 500 doll. to 700 dole. each.