Northern Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1860-02-07 00:00:00

LIVERPOOL CATTLE

The supply of Cattle was larger tan on last Monday ;
a good denianit at full pribes..- Sheep i(1 smaller supply ;
a slow demand, and prices rather lowevi Beek 5,0. to,
7d. ; Mutton, 60. to Sid. Numbers at market-7-Cattle,
2,125 ; Sheep, 7,443.

LONDON PRODUCE

Markets generally have been inactivw.sinaciFriday,

SUGAR.NO sales of importance reported

. - .
• •
N/I'7 'remains quiet..
TEA.—Ltlieliniblic sales bilve gone off without altering'
quotations to-day, and the private contract market is -
unaltered. Common Congeni,
The.•-postponemeut . of the Budget is considered to be
adverse
.to markets generally for this week. Public
sole to a' moderate extent are .advertised-for to-morrow.

THE DIV§I'''iSiEWS.

The Parliamentary proceedings of yesterday,
though meagre in theniselves, were.; nevertheless,
pregnant and significant. The business of the
year, which comprisesthe fiscal arrangements for
-at • least one twelYe-ninnth,, were to- have been
, produced last night in the only arena in which
their Merits maybe dii4sSed.' ''TlicY'Vdreliost-
poned, however, on account of the ill-health of
• the -Right Hon. the Chancellor of the Exchequer.
'With sorainwacome'-atiieiecuse ii`o one will quarrel
all.-will be eil'iiitOn'S 'i7l' ex-
'pressing`` reir'et that the nation should, eVen
-teniporaTily,-be deprifed-otthe-rmggTitive talent
and administrative power of one of Liverpool's
`-most gifted sons—but while admitting this to the
'fullest extent, many will seriously feel the in-
cOn4-enie&e attached 4o =even c a-stihnise which
-iii*olves uncertainty in mercantile engage-
r, • t
-meiits. The Frenbli COnuriei:Cthl-Treaty has also,
throng the'PostiaeMerii• of the budget, been
laid aside for a day or two. The inopportuneness
.-Rf sine
.6-i delay is a matter which seriously affects
the utility of any administration. . Important—
indeed, immense—interests, are inv=olved hi the
iiiiestion`cif this reciprocal treaty,—which many
on this side of the Channel fail to perceive any
reciprocity in, and which many of them say will,
if carried out, involve them in seriousloss, while
._.4t the same time the country will be deprived of
. a legitimate source:of income, .
It is no doubt a great disappointment to the
country,, as well as to Parliament, that Mr. Glad-
stbrie)shiinld haVe been 'Unatle, owing to severe
indisposition, to bring forward his financial state-
ment in the Wiuse of Commons last night. It
would appear to
,be. only too true that the right.
T
honoUrable gentleman has really-been mcompe-
,,T
tent for the task; through having lost his voice,—
'-'haVing been attacked with' a severe hoarseness
and sore throat a day or two since, which the
best' niediCal skill had not been able entirely to
subdue. By Friday night, however, it is 7x,p-EcTe-d-
-:hewill be sufficiently recovered to apPeax in his
place,.and,-asthe Times expressed it, " declare the
great secret of the impending BUdget."-Thi the
meantime.'it would ,seem that opposition'th'bis.
financial scheme,in. SO far as it can be judged of-
by the commercial treaty with France, is waxing
-stronger and stronger: -Even the leading journal-
is beginning to croak about it—giving a long list
of very forcible reasons why 7" that half know
t
ledge which 'we have of the bargain with France
has roused. a very uneasy curiosity,"—and on this
account, it on no.lother;. that the -world .is 'not
entirely composed 'of Manchester men, and; that
there, are other interests than thoSe of .coalowners
and ironinasterc, at stake., As is very truly
observed, there isi a tolerably large class
•
of persons who . are yexpevtingiinothing -:to
_their .--advantage Budget,--but,---who
are awaiting • with great anxietr the
'revelation of how much Income-tax
pthey
will have to pay in order to buy the advantages
to be enjoyed by their happier and much richer
fellow-subjects. That •ninepence that .!bitter
ninepence—which is the fatal figure 'Mr. Glad"
stone wasto announce, requires all the gilding-of
Mr. Gladstone's most oleaginous oratory to make
it slip down unquestioned." Now Mr. Gladstone
is undoubtedly, a`,MOst ingenious finanCier, and a
Most plausible politician; but all his ingenuity
and plausibility will not suffice, or we are 'much
mistaken, to-reconcile the country to that
ninepence," in ;:futthbrrance of What• is e ;idently
an un-English poliby.
lie deputatiOn .whicla our borough fnembers
introduced to . lord Palmerston a day, or two
since, .-respecting -the proposed exemption! of
private property from capture at sea in time of
war, received,no satisfaction whatever from the
head of the
.Government,—on the contrary, the
Preinier flatly told thein, that he was opPosed to
their Views—that since the very existence of this :
country depended upon its possessing command of.
the seas, it was necessary for that object to retain
the power of seizing the ships of foreign countries.
NOW this -necessity cannot be proved; and if it
could, is it not one which .must exist with both
the contending parties P we claim the power of
seizing , the ships of the enemy's country, of
course the enemy will exercise . the power of
seizing ours also. Where, then, 'is the advan-.;
tage ? BesideS, the *Ships and` their cargoes are
those,; lot of. the. Powers that,
are at war, but. of
private-individuals who happen unfortunately-to-
' subjects of thoie PoWers; -Lord' Palmerstonf
therefore, made out a very -poor case in defence
Of the barbarous policy which he seems deter-
inined shall be persisted in, ,in - the event of war.
It will remain, therefore, for our shipowners and
Merchants to appeal from, the. Premier to the
Parliament. . ,

The coffee and sugar duties' in France are
purely fiscal, and established to produce the
largest possible revenue. They'die, therefore, of
chief importance to the 'French treasury, pro-
ducing as they do; four times as much as the
duties raised 'from cotton and wool together.
The quantity of coffee imported into . France
Induces cent. perfent. to the cu toms. Sugar,

next to liquors And to it richest source
of revenue in that "Conntry ese facts afford an
explanartienof the hesitation expressed by the Enk-
peror in reference to the reductiOn of theSe dutiei.
The Minister of Finance:must see his way a little
more clearly before he can feel warranted in giving
up this enormous source of revenue. _ Across -.tfie
Engligh Channel the -truth of. the principle is not
yet fullylunderstood by political economists, that
the .consumption of what may be called tecesearcis
Of life, increases exactly as the-price of them de-
crease's: Ezeperience; however, Will. assure them
that it is so. For instance, as might have been
expected under the present arrangements, there
as Much " coffee," so.called, consumed in
France as that on .which duty is paid. This arises
friin_ the extensive practice of adulteration. The.
reduction of the duties, theiefOre, might be 6E:
pected at once; to double the comparatively small
amount of pure coffee preSentlY imported and
paying duty. '-
There now seems to be very little doubt that a
bargain for Savoy was struck bet Ween. France
and Sardinia long ago,—the former promising to
obtain Lombardy and • Venice for the latter, in
return for Savoy and Nice ; and although Venice
has: not been secured, .France seems determined
to-hive the two provinces for which she.O-riginaltY
stipulated. In point.of fact, this turns out to be
tthe idea" for which she waged war ; and because
Victor Emmanuel seems dispOsed to look coldly
upon the only half-fulfilled bargain, • the „Pattie
has been 'reading hini a lecture, which,if not merely
part of, a political comedy betweenthe two. Go-
vernments,' is indicative: of the Emperor and the
. King being at present on no very friendlyfooting.
Of course England, while she must disapprove of
the proposed 'annexation of SaVoy to France, his no
interest sufficiently strong to justify herein doing
more than express her disapprobation,; And
even . for the Emperor of -the. French, it wouldi
appear that he hazards more in taking possession
of these provinces, than he is likely to gain..
He, has yet to attain the sincere and heartfelt
!confidence of Europe. -- In the. midst of his
attempts to gain that confidence, by the adoption
of enlightened principles of commerce, •' we are i
startled," says. the Tiny's, ," by the .harsh tone,of
menace:and rebuke adopted towards the people
and 'Government of.a neighbouring State, because
they. show some unwillingness to sever their
ancient allegiance in order to bestow upon him
two. new provinces." If the Emperor insist upon
getting these provinces, he must. ;abandon ,all
pretension to noble motives, .and disinterested
heroism.; and it- may even be questioned if he
?can "retain confidence sufficient for his com-'
imereial adventure ;" for- "a first element of that
ctinfilence-is the—conviction that " -desire is
rather to improve_ than to' extend his present
magnificent -empire."
•

iIT cannot excite much surprise that the Ministry;
now that it has to face a formidable Opposition
in Parliament,: is found to be .in a very shaky
condition: Were there no matter in hand-but
that of Parliamentary Reform, it might con-
. ,
tinne, perhaps, to prolong its existence, a
least through the session ; but, as well as that'.
there is,. its foreign , policy, the questionable
'nature of which is beginning' to develop itself:,
;and to excite the alarm of the country. It is
belie-v-02J that there is considerable dissension- in.
the Cabinet on this policy. But, be this as it,
'may, the country is evidently discovering that
Ministers are playing into the hands of
the French Emperor, both as regards the.
Italian question and their commercial treaty
with him ; and had Mr. GLADSTONE been able—
as, unfortunately, he was not,—to bring forward
his financial scheme.in the- House of Commons
:last night, it is more than probable that there
:•would at once have been an expression.of feeling,
on-the part of -a decided-majority- of-the-repre—
sentatives of the pedple, which, if it did not irn-.
mediately upset the Ministry, would at least have
sotided'as their death knell: For our part, we •
are extremely sorry for this. Conservatives
though we are, we have no wish to see the pre-
Sent Ministry displaced at this moment. 'We
would much rather that before they retired they
at least Settled the question of Parliamentary
Reform; since settled it must be by one party or
the other; and the ,Liberals are evidently indis-
PoSed to let it be Settled by a Conservative Admi-
niitration.

From what we know of Lord: DERBY'S mind,
in the present conjuncture, we are well assured
that he has • no wish whatever to be called upon,
at this moment, to return to the responsible posi-
tion froth which he was so factious driven' some
few months ago, to make way for the present
coalitioh Cabinet. And we believe that his Lord--
ship's immediate followers,—those statesmen who
would, in all probability, be again called upon to
take office under his Premiership, should her'.
MAJESTY insist upon his resuming the post of her
First Minister,—are all of the same : opinion.
Lord PALMERSTON'S Ministry has got the country
into difficulties; out of which it were but just that
they themselves should be left to extricate it, if
they can ; and sure we are, that the Conservative
party in Parliament will gladly assist in enabling
them to do so.

Under the apprehension, however, that the
days of the present Ministry are already num-
bered, a report is most aUclaciously invented and
circulated,.that Lord DERBY and his _friends have
formed a compact with the Roman Catholics !
This report has been formally put forth by the
Saturday Review. "We last week stated our
says this unscrupulous organ of a
section of the Cabinet, " that a coalition was
about to be formed for the purpose of turning
out the Government, between the forces at the
command of Mr. DISRAELI and the Parlia-
mentary servants of the Pope, We luvyc every

- - _
reason to belien.t*phis,apprehensioni is about
to' be realised."'lll`poir; this hares, assertion-JO
report goes forth.. There is no .ground whatever-.
besides on which to rest it. But the prohabilk
is, no doubt, calculated 'upon, that in the event,*
a division upon the foreign policy of the Gavel*
monti the Irish members would vote with the Cons-
- Opposition. Yet what have Lord DERpir.
and Mr D isRAELI todo w ith that ? Surely they We.
a right to disapprove of the commercial treaty wide
France, without being accused of sympathy With
the Pope or hostility to Italian freedom—or anr-
thing else- that may happen to be agreeable to the
Irish Roman Catholics ? 'Whether we look 0"
the-speeches -or-th-e voreVof-Conservatives, or to'
ank.other proof of their public policy, or &ell
party objects, there is nothing whatever on which
to found so audacious an accusation. With our
able contemporary-the Morning Herald, "we defy
the Saturday Rerietv to produce a sentence which
gives them the warrant they assume for coupling
the names of, ;I4ord DERBY and the. POPE, or for'
connecting the ConservatiVe Optiositien with
noisy' agitation of Irish' Ultraniontanists."
Conservatives, we repeat, Would •muchrather see•
the present Ministryremain in Office fer Some
time to come. But. should they be defeated by
any such vote of the House of Commons as Inas
be said to give effect to the public opinion of the
Country, however disadvantageously Lord DERBY
May be called upon by her MAJESTY to recon
struct an Administration, and however reluctant
he may feel to undertake the task, his duty, alike
to his- Sovereign and his country, must again
oblige himAa_comply,—and a- similar sense of
dutymust of necessity influence those.upon whom
he may call to assist him in his Councils.

LET it not be forgotten, that this week we arc
to be entertained with another trial of the grand
experfnient
~of modern times ; how. far noisy
minorities can be made 'to affect the political
action of the most deliberative body in the world.-
Sir JOIIN TRELAWNEY'S Church spoliation bill
comes on for its second reading to-morrolf-
Whether, warned and encouraged by the awakened
spirit evoked throughout the country, the Haus°
of Commons will administer a check to the ille-
gitimate tactics of agitation, remains to be seem
and is of course more than doubtful. But thil"
is no reason' for any relaxation in the efforts of
Churchmen. Whatever be the result of this
measure in the Corninons, there can be no doubt
the Church is safe from injustice for this sessiour
Let those efforts be continued, and be as succese"
ful, and the time :nay come when even the lower
House of Parliament will be coerced into reason,
or rather strengthened to resist the attempted
coercion of unreasonable men. No one eau
question that there is a legitimate action of nil-
norities in the prosecution of public measures-
It is this very agency which we oppose to t 110"
factious =neon-I.es of men with Private crotchets
and men with evil designs. All projects of.
utility or reform must in the first instance, and
through a longer or shorter period of prohatior,
be managed and put into presentable shape. ;11
one or two who are more energetic than the"
fellows. The ball must be set a-rolling and
assisted in its course. It is only one or two, first
reflective and then active spirits, who begin i`;"
find that what is everybody's business is after au-
somebody's business, and that they as much as.
anybody else ought to be the first somebody.' "`"
is thus, that the present not unsatisfactory nwve
ment in support of Church-rates was inaugurated,
and has borne considerable fruit. It is thus that
the House of Commons has been made aware of
an amount of popular spirit which they had PO'
sibly doubted of, or at least that had not shown it-
self sufficiently interested in this question to mate
itself heard. But here is the distinction between
this pro-Church-rate agitation, and the agitation
Rot ap by the abolitionists. UndoubtedlY a few
gave it the first start; but it has
grown Of
itself, and not by any forcing process Or
factitious assistance. The clergy and laity of
England were roused to a sense of the danger
attending the material interests of tile-
Church, and the necessity of giving a inure
decided expression to their traditional convictions
on the subject of long-descended rights, and la-
alienable property. They have given utterance
to no presumptuous threatenings and no ulterior
designs. They have merely; administered a little
sound instruction on the difference between nielliff
and tuurn; and avowed a laudable desire to hold
their. own. The feeling conveyed to the Legisity
true is not a noisy outbreak of clamour—a vast,
knocking
,about of kettle-drums, and waving to
and fro enthusiastically of party colours, but
calm statement of men who mean to stand uor)
their rights. Now the tactics of the abolitionist°.
bear on the face of them a strained appearance °f
pretence and make-believe. The movement began
in the agitation of a minority, and it repast
there. The only feature of popularity which if
secures is in the disinclination to religion of evert
sort among some classes of people, a desire ttY
injure or show spite to the Church in the breasts-
of others,
,and a willingness not to oppose
scheme which savours of freedom froni taxati°lir
natural to that nonpaying animal, cs°'
By means of feelings so easily turned
account, the agitator has been able to ef
up a good deal of clamour, a great deal °f
spending of mob breath, and a great deal
of throwing up of shabby caps into the air. But
in all this, do we see any exhibition of deep Pei:
ing or intelligence, or pressing need for relief 0'
consciences, or removal of some great religious
social obstruction, or the like ? And yet somethiog;
of this sort must surely be needed to give tile•
movement any aspect of reality, or any claim tn
be listened to by the rulers of a great country'. li,
the majority of abolitionists in the House of &In-
mons be Pointed to as an evidence of the justicq