Northern Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1859-01-04 00:00:00

THE DAY'S NEWS,

Yesterday, the election of the Mersey Docks and
Harbour Board took place. .Five of the new nomi-
nees of the Chamber of Commerce were thrown out,
and twenty-three out of the twenty-five put forward
and recommended by the Ratepayers' Committee,
have been elected, including four of their new
nominees. The following gentlemen were
elected :—Messrs. Charles Turner, Ralph Brockle-
bank, S. It. Graves, Joseph Hubback, J. A. Tobin,
Robert Rankin, William Inman, Thomas D.
Anderson, Joseph Mondell, James Smith, Francis
Shand, John Farnworth, S. J. Arnold, H. Segar,
Eyre Evans, Robert Hutchison, William Langton,
James Holme, J. K. Rounthwaite, Charles
Mclver, John Lockett, William Miles Moss,
Francis Boult, and Thomas Brittain Forwood,

We have telegraphic advices from Melbourne to
the 16th November, and from Sydney to the 11th,
via Suez. A bill to increase the number of mem-
bers of the legislature had passed the Victoria
House of Assembly, and the electric telegraph.
was working between Melbourne, Sydney,. and-
Adelaide. The second reading f the Chinese
Emigration Bill had been rejected by the Upper
House of New South Wales. Gold had left the
colony for this country to the amount of 800,000/..
We publish late new, from India. According. to
our advices, the amnesty is thinning the ranks of
the enemy, and there is good reason to think that
peace will be restored without much additional
bloodshed. Nevertheless,, we learn that in Oude
there has been more bloodshed, as much of it as is
enough to make the heart sick. The Commander-
in-Chief has himself fought a battle. Having,
taken the field in earnest, he marched at the
rate of a mile an hour for sixty hours, and,
came upon a large array of rebels, under
Madho • Singh, and. completely defeated them;,
drawing them out of dense jungles, and pursuing,
them to the Ganges with guns and. cavalry. The
loss of the enem.y is described as "enormous."
Many were drowned in, the Ganges. The leader
of the defeated forces ,however, managed to escape..
General Grant has also encountered. the enemy in
another part of Oude. He and his.force were re-
crossing the Gomtee, amid the fire of rebels, but
the rebels had to fly with great loss, and six of
their guns were taken.. Of Tantia Topee, the
reputed Nana Sahib, all we hear is • that he was
supposed to have entered. Guzerat.. We regret to
say that the death. of General John:Jacobs has to
be reported.„

Telegraphic despatches from Constantinople to
the Ist inst., give some idea as to the feeling of the
Sublime Porte about the revolution in Servia. In-
structions are forwaraed to Kabouli Rifeudi, who, it
will be remembered, has no official position in
Servia at all, but is merely " inspector of Turkish
fortresses at B.elgrade," to the effect that the
Sultan does not recognise in the representative
body, Skuptschina, the right of deposing the
sovereign on, his refusal to abdicate. The
Porte proposes a " red tape " proceeding in
this •form : A. " Caimacan," or provisional
ruler is to be fixed on in the person of the
President of the Senate (a body rather favourable
to the deposed. Prince), and this Senate would then
propose the wishes of the Servians, whereupon
the " precedent "• of what took place when
Obrennovitch was. got rid of in 1839 would be
strictly followed.. In all this, there is a visible
attempt to ignore the Skupstehinai.as the exponent.
of the country's wishes ; and, in point of fact, the,
drift of it all is, a wish to stifle the idea of " depu
tation " or " representation," in which efforts there
is no difficulty in tracing the finger of Austria.
The guns of the Turkish fortress at Belgrade are
double-shotted.—and on the opposite bank Austrian
artillery and 8,000 fresh troops.are in readiness, to
act if a chance offer. But the officers of the
Servian army had, on the nth, December, plucked
from their shakos the initials of P.A., and Stephen
Michaelovitch had been appointed Commander-in-
Chief by the Skuptschina. A. deputation of thirty-
six members, all armed to the teeth, had gone to
Bucharest, to escort the now prince to the throne,
to which the nation, by their delegates, have
called him.

A Vienna Telegram announces the subsidence of
the popular Anti-Austrian feeling in Milan, but
that announcement must be taken with more than
a grain or two of salt, At the New Year's-day
receptions at the Tuileries, some persons will have
it that the Emperor spoke a few words to the-
Austrian Ambassador, of a character and in a
tone which bodes no good for the continuance of
friendly relations between the Courts of Vienna
and Paris. But other accounts aver that the
Emperor said absolutely nothing boxing any poli-
tical significance.

At the levee on, Saturday, the Emperor Napoleon
is reported to have told the Austrian Minister,
M. Hubner, that he regretted their relations, were
so bad, but that his personal sentiments for the
Emperor of Austria were the• same as ever. A
rumour circulates, also, that Marshal Vaillant,
Minister of War, -went up subsequently to M.
Hubner, and said to him, "I suppose I must give
you my hand after that".

Our-advices from Mobile state that the Govern-
ment, after consulting the Chambers of Commerce
in the principal cities, has determined upon levy-
ing a duty of 8 reals the fanega upon foreign
wheat in Spanish bottoms, and 10 reals the fanega
when brought in foreign bottoms ; and it adds,
that this half measure will probably neither con-
tent the Protectionists nor their adversaries. '
Letters from Valencia still complain of the
audacity of thieves. One of the last attempts, and
which had produced no small emotion in the city,
was an assault on the nunnery of Balen, which is
situated at a short distance from Valencia. A
party of robbers attempted in the middle of a
stormy night to force one of the convent gates ;
but, being heard by a nun who was at her mid-
night prayers, she rang the convent bell, and thus
alarmed the
neighbourhood. The robbers, as
usual, escaped.
An alarming accident took place on the North
London Railway on Saturday. A passenger train
came into collision with a heifer which had strayed
on to the line. The train was hurled down the
embankment, but fortunately no injuries more
serious than contusions and bruises were sustained
by any of the passengers,
According to a London contemporary, ministers
are all out of town, but they are summoned
to be in town
at whiell, the
day a Cabi.-det by Monday
aCouncil will probably held,
o;baabnlyd
boon that
o.7nd announced in
liam,- ay for the meeting of Par-
..at, will be fixed,afterwards confirm('
the usual way.
and afterw
rumour that Lord Derby There is a
Parliament to
wishes Parli
meet earlier than Februa,
The Central Criminal
and Wm. Glad inning was sentengPA.
rCyo.urt opened. Ytectstztabrye,
../

choices for them: one is to aim at a reasonable

THE NORTHVIIN TIMES, TUESDAY; JANUARY 4,18 N

months imprisonment for uttering a forged cheque,
with intent to defraud the Union Bank of
London.

THE lonian question, as it developes its different
features, shows to us, more and more forcibly, how
important it was to select a statesman of ability
and energy to investigate it upon the spot, and
how wise a selection her Majesty's Government
made in the appointment of Mr. GLADSTONE for so
difficult a duty. The Islands, as our readers are
aware, are seven in number. The largest of these
is Cephalonia —the next largest Corfu, the latter
being not much more than half the size of the
former ; whilst of the rest, three of them are more
than half the size of Corfu, and the other two are
very much smaller. Corfu is the seat of Govern-
ment, the capital of the federate union. And
Corfu is the Island that is .the most attached
to British • connection,—partly, perhaps, from
the British influence that has prevailed there
more than in the other Islands ; and partly, it
may be, from its peculiar position and circum-
stances. Here it was that Mr. GLADSTONE made
his first appearance in his capacity of Plenipo-
tentiary ; and here his reception appeared to be
most gratifying and encouraging. But auspicious
as was the opening of his mission at Cosfii, it has

net, we regret to say, been the augury of success
elsewhere.

The great difficulty in the way of satiAring
and contenting the majority of the Islands, is their

natural yearning for an incorporation with Grease.,
They are, in fact, the Isles of Greece. It is their
national connection. The people consider them,
selves Greeks. It is not unnatural, therefore, that
they should. wish to abolish the present British
Protectorate, and get themselves, instead of it,
incorporated with the Greek nation. At Zante,
the selection of the Greek Archbishop to, present
a petition to the Lord High Commissioner Extraor-
dinary, for its• union with Greecee was a significant
indication of the kind of inflttences that are

at work, —the municipality of • the place
having separately addressed to him, a declara-
tion in which it was set forth —"-Now that the
most gracious Queen-of your Excellency is desirtms
of procuring, the happiness of this people, she cer-
tainly cannot satisfy that Christian ditty withent
giving in its emancipation as soon as it can only

find its real happiness in its. annexation' with free
Greece, with whichdtforms one family." At Santa
Maura, there is evidently an equally strong Grecian
prejudice and predilection, since the ostensible'
representatives. of the. Island could declme to • his
Excellency—" Your arrival in. Grecian land, and
the love. for Greece which. adorns your illustriouti
antecedents, are of good augury-for the deliverance
of the lonians and the accomillishment of their
legitimatenvishes, for• which the_Leucadians hope
for the assistance of the Queen. High Protector,
and in which lie the sole remedy for the sufferings
of the lonian people, and . the source of glory for
her Majesty,and of honour for the:-English nation.."
A_ party representing; Paxo, . state to him, that,
" repeating,the assertion of right:which they pyt
forward in the Chambers on the 20th of June,
1857, and.previously tothat day, they again declare
that the sole desire and will of the inhabitants of
Paxo have been and will always be, their union.
with free. Greece." The deputies of Ithaca, again,
whilst begging him to bo assured." that the popu-
lation of these Islands entertains the most profound
respect for the English nation, which deserves
it on all. accounts ; that it only feels grati- -
tude for all the goodwhich the British Govern- -
mcnt has done for the country.; and that , it.
forgets all the evils, which its officials may have
done, misunderstanding their mission,
emphatically declare,,that " belonging to the same
family which inhabits enfranchisPd Greece, the
lonians form the most ardent wish to behold their

yet

fate united to that of the kingdom of Greece, to
share good and bad with our national family."

But to all this Mr. GLADSTONE has a ready and
a most conclusive answer. H. shows them that
what they desire it is not in, the power oft her
Majesty's Government to grant, were it ever so
desirous of such a consummation ; and that there-
fore they sought what was impracticable.
lonian people," he told the: Greek Archbishop at
Zante, when, he stopped him. from presenting; the
petition,. " have not the power to select either
annexation or reform, or the actual state or status
quo, became annexation, being under: present
circumstances impossible,, there remain. only two

liberal,process ; the other to maintain the existing,
political and administrative system. Those who.
clamour for the impossible exclude the possible.
Those who clamoUr for annexation," which, is
impossible, and exclude the reforms which I should
like to render possible, leave no, eheicP,. They
exclude reforms, ; annexation =hides itself ;
thence there remains nothing but the status, quo.
I do not mean. to. say," he added,,, 's that this. is the
object, but I positively affirm, ad let it be well
understood., that it will be the- end and result of
having substituted, before me,, the vote for annex-
ation for the exposure of grievances and sugges-
tions for improvements which, might be made in
the actual conditidn of the country. This is whsit,
I want you clearly to understand from me."
If, then, they had, not before understood it, as
'Mr. GLADSTONE thus represented the case to, them,
they may chance, when they come to reflect upon
it, deem it wise, as undoubtedly under the
circumstances it would be, to pursue a different
course,—to make the best' of their present position,
and to aid, rather than obstruct, her Majesty's
Lord High Commissioner in enabling them to do
so. His mission is one of peace and good-will—
his object is, within the limits of their situation,
to remedy their grievances, by improving their
condition. This- is possible; and Mr. GLADSTONE
has the ability, as well as the authority, to do it.
But, as he tells them, "those who clamour for the
impossible, exclude the possible." They who are
thus clamouring, therefore, are doing their utmost
to thwart his benevolent purposes, and thereby fix
and perpetuate the evils of which they complain.
It is worthy of note, that theirs is an instance of
apeople a republic, seeking to be placed
lonian Isleads, have, they declare, "the most
under a forming
They, the republicans of these
monarchy.

* Saturdaat _Review

ardent desire to behold their fate united to that of
the kingdom of Greece." It is not improbaNe

buted materially to the stability and the perpe-

that it is the very republicanism of their present
system that so aggravates their case, that they
seek for admission into a monarchy as a refuge
from a state of republican restlessness of which
they have become weary. At any rate, the
circumstance is not without deep significancy.

PARLIAMENTARY REFORM is admitted on all
hands to be the question of questions, at the
present moment,— such a Reform as will extend the
franchise to thousands and tens of thousands who
are now, with gross injustice and impolicy, ex-
cluded from it; and by such an extension there is
not a constituency in the United Kingdom that
will not be improved, as well as enlarged, if only
by the introduction of other and wholesomer
influences than those which now so generally pre-
The present Ten Pound class of electors are

found, in too many instances, to be but slightly
if at all, embued, with that honest and indepen-
dent working-class element which it is so desirable
as well as so fair, should have the opportunity of
being admitted into any national system of Parlia-
mentary Representation.. To prevent the admis-

sion of such an element, or, at any rate, to restrict
it-r-as, for instance, Mr. DBAGHT's parochial rating
scheme• must do—would make any measure of
Reform a most partial, and therefore a most
imperfect one; and it may mot unreasonably be
concluded,. that the fact of the' member for Bir-
mingham belonging to a school of political econo-
mists which is, apt to treat working men, and
working women: too, as mere machines; will
account for the' little store he really sets by so
meritorious a class of the comnamity, in the
re-adjustment of such a question as' that of
Reform in the representation of the people in Par-
itament.

The Republican-, principles Which Mr: Butonir
so' ardently professes,. are not, in their. practical:
operation, as people are apt to suppose, very
favettrable to the industrials classes. They arc
principles which give' far. more weight antLimpor:-
tance.to the idle than: to the' industrious They
require; indeed, a career• of agitation, and of
scheming, in orier to, make tliom available in, the
case of 'any particular interest,. which industry-can
never afford to pursue.. It is said that—
"The'scum will gather when the nation boils.!'

And when a course of rowdy republican excite-
ment has,had the effect of making the nation boil,
it is the scum which thenigathersthat becomes the
most potently influential in the- political move-
ments of the country.. In, the-United States of
America this is most strikingly evidenced in, all
directions.... It is. a system which is, described, .we
see, in a letter from one: of those States, Rhode
Island, that has been going the round of the
papers, ,as having "just the effect. of turning- the
world upside down, putting the lowest people in
the highestplace." And the writer of this Ameri-
can letter of caution does not hesitate to add,—
"If anyona- would come out here who is thus
deluded, he- would soon: be. thoroughly convinced
that. there is more real liberty in England, with
hen limited,. monarchy, her. hereditary House of
Lords, her sufficiently democratie }Muse of Com-
mons, than in America. with all its paraphernalia
of mpublicanism."

We quoted the other day some pertinent and
powerful animadversions upon Mr. BRlcirr's

recent course of proceeding as an advocate for the
Americanising our political institutions, in connec-
tion. with. Parliamentary, Reform; and we would
now adduce some fizrther testimony in its con-
demnation,, from the-sane quarter. " Theenemies

of Reform.,,," it is observed,. " rejoice that. the
hostile forces shoulil have heen confides to the
care, of such a gneral. The Cathaginians pre-
pared:with good hoart for battle on the day when
they knew that it -was -the tura of VARRQ., to com-
mand:. The friends of Reform perceive with
alermAhat their hopes area imperilled by the folly
ands the violence, of the man who pats himself
forward as theil-representative. They, see. plainly
enough that to. allow themselves to. he. identified
with. Mr. BRIG= is, to court disaster. It is for
this reason that. we. fin& the intelligent portion of
the Liberal press,. with, a prudent earnestness,
disclaiming the principles and disowning the
spirit of tho Birmingham agitator.. No sensible
man can doubt. that( the five speeches . which Mr.
BRIGHT has delivered; in the last. six, weeks have
done more inischietto. the causeof, Reform than all
the arts o its, insidious enemies,,and_ all the hosti
lity of its. avowed: opponent;, could ever have..,
effected.." 4.

Or any

A Ministry unfriendly to Zoform would be only-
too glad to, take advantage of. this., But it would,
not appear• to luxe had any-effect in deterring Lord
DERATIrom going on with the preparation of his
promised n;ensure. It is said, that the Premier is
sketching it out with hi&own hand,—which; i$ not,
he it remembered, an inexperienced one,, his
lordship', when Lc STANLEY, having had
occasion to apply it to, a similar work,, more than
a quarter of a century ago, when the Reform Bill,
of which he was ona a the authors, WEI,S introduced
into Parliament,. and became an-Aet which has had
the effect of bringing about more, reformation, in
the various, departments of the State, tha,4
probably oaky other single measure has, done since
the Revolution of 1688.

TIM remarks of Lord CARLISLE, at the opening
of the new Mechanic' Hall, at Holb,eck, which
have been going the round of the papers during
the last few days, are not the less forcibly true of
the aristocracy of our country because they are
those of a member of that body. His object was
to show, that although the aristocracy is, of neces-
sity a privileged class of the community, yet it is
one which, in this kingdom, is open to theadmis-
sion of anyone who may have emerged even from
the lowest class, provided he can work his way—
which hundreds of the humbler classes have done
—to the proper position from which the entrance is
to be made. The aristocratic system may be right
or wrong ; we are not now going to argue that
question. It has existed in this country for many
centuries, and most of our great masters of politi-
cal philosophy have maintained that it has eontri-

"Honour and shame from na.Ggnclition rise ;
Act well,paiir part—there all.the honour lie

tuity of our free institutions. It is the remark of
EDMUND BURKE, that ‘! though hereditary wealth
the rank that goes with it, are too much
idolised by creeping sycophants, and the blind,
abject admirers of power, they are too rashly

slighted in shallow speculations of the petulant,
assuming, short-sighted coxcombs of philosophy."
Had these words been uttered at the present time,
one would have thought that they were aimed at
one who is now busy agitating the country for
radical reform, to whom the expression, " shallow

speculations of the petulant " has so remarkably
forcible an application. But though they had
directly reference to a former age, they will apply
with equal fitness and force to all ages, in which
there may happen to be, as undoubtedly there are

now, shallow and petulant speculators and
schemers, among the noisiest and plausiblest of

our politicians.
To return, however, to Lord CARLISLE. The
position he took up was—and we consider it an
impregnable one : that nothing can stay the pro-
gress of an intelligent people under liberal and
enlightened institutions such as ours. " There was
no rank or class," he contended, " however exalted
in position, however exclusive they might some-

however;.•" it observes,

times be represented to them to be in their feeling;
nay, not their gracious, Queen upon her throne, not
the nobles in their ancestral halls, not the clergy
in- their venerable cathedrals and stalls, not the
gentry in their genial and hearty easy life, who
grudged to the great body of their countrymen

any competition, any advance, any superiority,
which-they might make good-by their own talents,
or deserve by their conduct .r And we are inclined
to believe-it.. But whether such advance,. or such
superiority,: may be grudged or not, it cannot now
be resisted. And this is the great point.• " Let
the working,elass," Lord CAuLISLE• continued,
" let any class,, make proof by their intelligence,
by their industry, by their love-olorder,,by, their
honesty, by their sobriety, that they, were worthy
of any trust or privilege, and it was-his belief-that
such trust and-privilege would not long. be denied
to them. They would rise higher-and higher- in
the social scale, if they so conducted-themselves--
not that the upper classes would sink lower, for
the more enlarged was the area, the more honour-
rhle was the service ;_ the more general the com-
petition, the keener would be the relish.!! And it.
is-by this means.-that-there is continually going ,on,

not only a course- of accession to the aristocracy,
but- an infusion- of- fresh, ay and- plebeian.
blood, into the veins. -of some of the oldest
and_ most aristooratie families in the land.
In the ranks both-of the nobility and the gentry,
we see it constantly taking place. We. have in
our eye, at this moment, Peers of the Realm.whose
fathers or grandfathers fillPd the humblest places
in. society were working men or. small
tradesmen ; but who " by their intelligence,
by their industry, by, their love of order,.,by their
honesty, by their sobriety," advanced themselves
some degrees higher up. the social scale, and were
enabled. to put their sons. in positions to rise to the
highest stations,—to -be Lords or Baronets; and
thus to-hold up their heruls with the proudest and
most honoured in the land. It is not enough to
say that " such trust and. privilege will not long
be denied them." It would be idle and-vain to
attempt to deny it to_. them. They are able to
achieve it ; and their achievement is irresistible.

They gain possession of positions, to which they
have fought their way,..and from which they could
compel a surrender of. the fortress in which such
trust and privilege" was enclosed, and effect
the removal of every barrier to their admission.
And we agree with Lord CARLISLE, that it is •
important to society—most important, in such an
age as this, for the greater stability and per-
manency of our institutions—" to train the public
mindof our countrymen in that direction, to win
themfrom what is grovelling, to stimulate them
to what is excellent 2! There is no surer preventive
of disaffection, we may depend upon it, than this.
Not that all are to be advanced to the aristocracy,.

large proportion of them ; for the prizes of
wealth, and rank,. and honour, are necessarily
limited, in any well-adjusted social system, though:
they may; as far as. they go, be alien to all. And
it is thus, when, contemplating the rise and pm,
p'ess of our aristocracy, that we may find a happy.
practical illustration of the wellknown and mast.
applicable lines.of the poet,—

WE had. occasion, not very; long since, to, notice
with our humble but h.eaxty approval,. the
operations, of the Royal, National Life Boat
Institution., for the Preservation of Life from
Shipwreck ; and it is most satisfactory to find that
it has since been directing further attention to the
Irish Coast, and. providing Life Boats, for several
additional stations, which now makes: the number
of pia.ces in Ireland. where it has its boats and
carriages, thoroughly equipped and ready for
instantaneous service, thirteen. And we learn that
this humane and important work has involved ale
expenditure o upwards of 44,000, nearly the
of which has been defrayed from the funds
of the institution ; indeed, it is a fact, that the
society has, been compelled to sell out a considera
ble portion of its small funded capital, which is so
essential to its permanency, to meet this heavy
expenditure. This is certainly anything but
satisfactory; or any thing but creditable to the
country. The Institution, let it be known and
remembered, has now upwards of eighty establish-
ments on various parts of the coast of the British
Isles, under its management, to maintain which,
in a state of thorough efficiency, requires a large
permanent annual income ; and such an income
ought to be secured to it,—and so wealthy a town
and port as Liverpool, so deeply interested in such
an object as it cannot but be, ought to be ammg
the foremost _and the largest contributors to it.
The rescue of shipwrecked persons from drowning
is a work of mercy and humanity Which claims,
indeed, the sympathy and the support of all classes
of persons in a maritime and commercial country
like ours ; whilst it has an especial claini upon the
generous support of a community like that. of

Liverpool, so intimately and so extensively
connected, as it is,. with maritime commerce.

But the National Life Boat Institution is likely
to render another kind of service, in futherance of
the same work of mercy and humanity, by
its attention to the subject of the rescue of

giving

passengers and crews in our ocean steamers, in
cases of fatal disasters at sea. In its Journal for
January,—a periodical publication in furtherance
of its objects, with a copy of which we have just
been favoured,—with special reference to the

recent burning of the emigrant steam-ship
Austria, having .528 persons on board, of whom

it will be remembered, no less than 471 were,

drowned, suffocated, or burned to death, the

question of Life Boats on board passenger ships is
very forcibly discussed, and a plan f©r their
provision and employment is very ably drawn out.
In the case of that ill-fated vessel, England was

not responsible for so terrible a saerifles of

human life, from whatever cause it may have

arisen,. since it was not an English ship, but one'
belonging. to a Hamburg Company. "The question#