The Northern Daily Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1857-05-11 00:00:00

POLITICAL GOSSIP.

• The Sunday Times " believes" that th0,13,i611,
1-1,- Mr Fitzroy, M P., the present chairman 01
" Ways and Means," will be the Secretary for Ire-
land, in the place of Mr. Horsman. According to
another rumour, the latter gentleman has been
asked to withdraw hig resignation.
The Press gives the story of Sir Robert Peel's
retirement in this wise The Irish chief secre
taryship, vacated by
.Mr. Horsman, has caused
ministers considerable:, embarrassment. Amongst
the English metnbers of parliament who (it is said)
solicited. :he offiee,is that sage senator Sir Robert
Peel ! His father was once chief secretary, and
why, should
.not: the present member for Tamworth
obtain the post? But the cabinet did not respond
to his ambitious pretensions, and Sir Robert Peel
resigned his lordship of the;Admiralty. Such, and
not the contemplated arrival of the Graod
D,ilte, was the real cause of his withdrawal from
offiee."
The United Service Gazette says that at the
Admiralty Sir R. Peel's departure, unlike Mr;
Pivinn's leave taking, is a matter of some regret
" Sir Robert Peel will not 'be missed as an official.
but as a gentleman ; for with all his weaknesseN
be is blessed with a good disposition, and knows
how ,to treat gentlemen connected with him iu
business with proper respect."

The Jew Bill will, it is believed (says the Weekly
Dispatch), be introduced into the House of Com-
mons by the Premier himself, and into the House
of Lords, probably, by Earl Granville, or perhaps
even Lord Lyndhurst. It will consist simply in
the re 3eal of the Oath of Abjuration.
" The gossip about the Ford Chancellor's retire-
ment,'' say's the Leader, "is very vague as yet;
better law is wanted on the woolsack than Lord
Cranworth supplies, as well as a more authoritative
reputation ; but we do not credit the rumour that
it is contemplated; to appoint Chief Justice Cock-
burn—his successor t.Chieft Juatice- -COckburn
Possibly aspireslb theporrfoliiwuf rjustiee; should
that ''department be -oreataC ',but :the great seal
wotilif Probably-be the prize of Sir Richard Bothell
or William' age 'Wood. Sir Richard Bethel],
sho'al&beAromoted. Mr. Phinn might practically
explain his reaseri for giving up his post as perAna-
!lent setiretury to the. Admiralty, by assuming the
attorney or solicitor-generalihip. That is to say,,
unless he has, fixed hiit eye upon the seat on the
beneh that is to be vacated, it is said, by Mr Justice
Coleridge. Lord, Pancaure's secession, front the
mihistry is= also problematical; as- well as the
appointment of Mr. Sydney Herbert in .his place.
It irtireierstood, however, that Lord-,Parimurei is
Weary of his duties, and Mr. Sydney Herbert, an
enthusiastic army reformsti, and strong personal
friend of the Premier, certainly has pretensions to
be his successor."
In some circles it is stated that the Lord Chan-
cellor will at once retire, and will be succeeded by
Sir R. Bethel!, the present Attorney-General, in
event Mr: Edkvin James, Q C., will be
Aft&rney or Solicitor-General-;'and Mr.-Keating or
Collyer fill some legal appointment.
The directorship of the East India Company
vacatbd. by Major Oliphant, will be filled Up by
the a.ppointai-ent of another government nominee,
and.. t'..ot by the proprietors. By clause 5 of the
late act for the governtue4 ofindia, the first three
vacanciesin the direciors—not nominated by the
crown—are tO be filled by the crown, so as to make
government nominees and twelve elected by
the proprietors.
During the present session of parliament, it is
expected that there will not only be a committee
uPen banking, but that there will also be a bill to
regnlate joint-stock banks, and another for the
Purpose of reaching by just punishment such
I:!.4ud s as have been recently exposed. The
canomist, in an article treating of the various sug-
gjstions which have been made in the treatment
t subject, comes to the conclusion, with regard
public can
that the only real guarantee that the
-"Dile can have must be looked for in the character
01 the directors and manag,-,rs of banks, and in the
Care with which shareholders watch their own
interests. "All new attempts at protectiln on the
Part of the State will fail, as others have done. to
give any security for the integrity of the manage-
ment or the success of the business of such
establishments."

On the question raised in the House of Lords as
to the right or propriety of any officer's expressing
an opinion as to the conduct of his General. the
United Service Gazette says :—" Either officers
Should or should not be permitted to speak pub-
licly of their seniors ; but if they are to be re-
Strained the restriction should be general No
Praise should be permitted in books or newspapers
oi at public dinners or meetings if the privilege of
censure is to be withdrawn. It is farcical to expect
teen to hold their tongues unless they utter eulo-
gies, and sure we are that it would be exceedingly
Injurious to the military service of this country if
111,, nil abnirari, nil vituperari were to become the
rigid rule of action. To the latitude officers enjoy
With impanity we owe the truth. Good men may
Perhaps fail to get their deserts, be their deeds
ever so much lauded ; but imposters cannot
flourish for any length of time, even though pro
Feted by Secretaries of State for the War Depart-
Illent.'

The Saturday Review is of opinion that the
Whole scene of the opening of the new Parliament
Was irresistibly comical. During the impeach-
Illont of Hastings, Sheridan had to bring forward
4 Charge which was to be supported by documen•
taiw evidence. When he came to the House of
Lords he had never read the papers, so he
.opened
42 imaginary case. The Chancellor called for the
documents, which, it is needless to say, were not
forthcoming. His bag, it was said, had been mis-
laid. The manager still proceeded in his invective.
"d- advanced new charges—the Chancellor again
"Peel for the papers. Fresh expresses were
teBpatched to seek for the missing bag. Mr.
x grew uneasy at the accident which had
C
his friend's papers, and proposed to
•-lehael Angelo Taylor to go and look for the
hog, But Michael Angelo, who was in the secret
li''ispered to Fox in a tone of indescribable
•` Why, the man has no bag !" "As we
fistetied,"
_says the Saturday . Review, " to the
opening'. of the Minister of the Crown on Thurs-
day night, we could not help repeating to our-
selves, • Why, the man .has no bag;'-and we felt
alMost ashamed, that we .ourselves,: in common
With all the rest of the world, thought it only a
Capital joke "
The Spectator, urging the establishment of a
aehool for the education of staff officers in the
tritish army on the principle of competition, ob-
terves During the war in the Crimea, there was
aloud outcry for an educated staff, But.now that
the peril is over, the nation is likely to f-rget the
forth scientific officers:
iadorn and duty of calling
Jest as Napier tells us, that as soon as the Penin
s~alstrwar was finished, England lost `all memory
Of its veterans services.' Will the nation continue
t_o, labour under this serious reproach ? Rather
'tiould we ask, will the government, knowing the
,cmger, remain open to the serious charge of
(ilninkini.-7, from carrying me 'sures that would
*tiectually'reform the army, held back by the fear
°, Ousting patronage from her stronghold ? The
a. PPe3,l must be made to the House of Commons.
y whose potent intimations ministers alone are
oswayed, to insist on the establishment of a Staff
tjSchool on the principle of competition, in order
iat a more professional eharaeter and more two-
f:ssional knowlerige may be imparted to those who
follow what is now Called by courtesy the noble
Profession of arrs.' "

zolusiveiv for CLOTB 11%7G BOYS from 6 to 20 Years
LEWIS & COM PANT. Ranelaeh street:

„ PERLTN, Friday Night.—Prince Napoleon arrived here
1.',118 evening, and was received by Prince George of
40_1'11;04s, at the ra;lway station, and conducted by him to
11",11,Yal Schloss.
the statements which have been made by other journal 4.
B,4Yq, that the Andaciense frigate conveying Baron Gross to
China will go
at least for the
alone, and that no measures are being
War or any troops to present, to send any other vessels of
China. The Pays states that the
t%lnahidingas of some b
postponed, attalions of infantly and marines by the

MERCHANTS AND THEIR CLERKS. k'

To TIIS EbrTOR Or THE NORTHERN TIMiS.

Sir,—As the columns of your paper are always
open to the discussion of questions affecting the
well-being of any class of citizens, I am induced to
address you on a subject which has recently en-
grossed a good deal of attention, namely, the
relative duties of merchants and their clerks.
Time was' When it was a very general opinion that
• the "clerks Only of a mercantile establishment had
duties to perform ; and it is quite true that too
much stress cannot be laid on the faithful and
single-eyed attention to the interests of his em-
ployers, which is the bounden duty of every clerk
who is not contented to be looked upon as a mere
automaton, and to be treated as such. Time was,
when the only thought of the merchants and
brokers, as a class. with reference to their clerks,
was, how much work they could screw out of them at
the smallest possible cost, but now they have begun
to regard their clerks, not as menial (trudges, office
hands, or mechanical quill drivers, but as necessmy
randvalueble co-adjutors, without whose assistance,
and in some instances counsel, their princely
revenues could not be enlarged or maintained ;
"and many thoughtful employers are now taking a
deep interest in the improvement of the mental
and physical faculties of their clerks , hence the
early closing movement, which had its origin
amongst the class of shopkeepers, has reached the
more aristocratical classes of merchants and
brokers, many of whom make it a point of con-
science to hasten from the Change to the counting

'muse at four o'clock, to disclose to their managing
men all the operations of the day with which
they are not previously acquainted, so that the
counting house may be closed at an early hour,
without the necessity of any part of
.thel business
being neglected, or any portion of the work of
TO-.DAV ,13.eing left over for any apocryphal " to-
Morrow." The Saturday half holiday is also
becoming more general, and will be found to .con-
fer a great boon on the merchants ands their clerks,
affording both a little time for relaxation.-of their
:often- over-tasked energies of body and of mind.
Now, these are steps in the right direction, and
indicate the great advantage which results' from
from enlightened diScussion, and the general diffu
Sion: of ieformation through the press, the great
organ of public opinion in the nineteeth century.
In shortening_ the hours of labour the merchants are
performine a. duty to their 'clerks, and it is for the
clerks to show themselves worthy of thin consi-
deration on the part of their employers by increased
zeal and industry in the discharge of the duties
devolving upon them. There is, however, another.
subject fully as important to employers and em-
ployed as- the early closing question, and to
which as yet little prominence has been given.
I refer to the social position of the clerks, and their
ability to m tintain that position, which I contend-
is not less, but rather more, a merchant's than a
clerk's queStion. For as an intelligent clerk never
draws a circle and says, " all beyond this eirewniferenee
•
is on' of my province, and I shall limit my attention to
all within." so a thoughtful employer never satisfies
himself that he has made a good bargain with an
efficient clerk, but he feels, on the contrary, that it
is his interest. as well as his duty, to maintain the
social position of his clerks, and to ascertain that
the salaries they are receiving are fully adequate to
he maintenance of that position, for otherwise!
their self respect will be gradually lessened, or
hey will become embarrassed, and either despond-
ing or reckless ; in the former case, their personal
anxieties and cares will so ,listeact their thoughts
that unless they are " more than men" it will be
impossible, that they can pay the same individual
attention to the interests of their employers as if
their minds were quite at ease in reference to their
pecuniary afftirs ; in the latter ease, they cease to
be trustworthy, and reliance can no longer, and
ought no longer, to be placed in them Ido not
mean that merchants should adopt a certain scale
of salaries, and say, " We will give so much to our
manager, so much to our cash-keeper, so much to
our book keeper, de but that the efficiency or
each salaried clerk being taken into consideration,
a merchant should satisfy himself how much is
sufficient to support the domestic establishment of
each, and if he finds any of these establishments
are on an unreasonably extravagant scale, he ought,
most certainly, to remonstrate against such extra-
vagance, and insist upon retrenchment ; and, on
the other hand, if he finds that only needful ex-
penses are incurred, it is his duty and interest
both, if the servant be a good one, either to raise his
salary to a level with the cost of his domestic e.-
tablish tuent, or to enable him to make up the de-
ficiency in some other way ; or, if neither of these
alternatives be practicable, to endeavour, at what-
ever sacrifice to himself, to provide a situation for
such a servant in some other mercantile house,
where he might obtain a sufficient salary to meet
his inevitable expenditure. To lower a man's pe-
sition in life is never the interest of his employers,
yet position cannot be maintained without adequate
means; it is, therefore, the duty of a merchant or
broker, previous to employing a clerk, to satisfy
himself that the = salary he can afford, or is pre-
pared to give, is sufficient to preserve for him,
and his family, if he has one, his previous stand-
ing in society ; because, if it hs not sufficient to do
so, the merchant or broker has made a bad bar-
gain, and will assuredly, sooner or later, discover
it to his cost. The case of apprentices is different
to that of clerks ; the former come to learn a busi-
ness, and are repaid for their services during the
term of their apprenticesh'p by the knowledge
they acquire, and which they have thus purchased
cheaply; but, as the hope of reward always
sweetens labour it is, perhaps, judicious that ap,
prentices should receive a small money roma..
aeration, even if a fee is given with them kir their
parents, as it is especially sweet to youth to have
a consciousness that they have money in their
por.k‘t s earned by themselves. In the case of a supe-
rior clerk, it is, I think, always the interest of the
employer to give him, in addition to his salary, an
interest, however small, in the profits of the busi-
ness, because it identifies the interests of both,
and gives to that important funotionary in a large
mercantile establishment an authority that he
would not otherwise possess, and that is essential
to the regular and orderly working out of the de
tails of an extensive business. I feel that I have
already written at too great length, and must re-
serve my further, observations on the, subject. for.
a future time, and, in the interim, .I hope the sug-
gestions in this letter will not be disregarded by
those for whose benefit they are mainly intendedse-
the wealthy brokers and merchant princes of
Liverpool.—Yours truly, H. S. B.
Liverpool, 11Tay 4th, 1857.