Northern Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1859-02-18 00:00:00

SARDINIA

The Paris correspondent of the Times asserts,
on trustworthy grounds, that the King of
Sardinia is determined on making attempts to
drive out the Austrians, with the object of
constituting for himself a kingdom strong enough
to resist Austria on the one hand, and France on
the other, if need be ; and that it will comprise
Venice and, at least, twelve million subjects.
An absolute certainty is felt at the Court of Turin,
that France will keep Piedmont against Austria,
and -that Russia will be with her passively, if
Austria ,be left to fight alone, but actively and
openly, if any other power assists Austria, England
is expected to be neutral, and Prussia also, so
long as German merchants are not menaced. The
above is asserted to be the deliberate plan of the
King of Sardinia and his Cabinet, and nothing
but the withdrawal of France will divert them
from it. The course of action depends upon
France, and the Times' correspondent asserts that
no one can pronounce decidedly whether the
Emperor will withdraw from his compact with
Sardinia, in consequence of the aversion to war
manifested in France.

MARINE AFFAIRS

LOSS OF A VESSEL AND ALL HANDS

SHIELDS, - Wednesday Evening.—lnformation has
been received here that the brig Active, belonging
to South Shields, has perished, with the master and
nine hands. She belonged to Mr. J. T. 'Pawn, of this
town, and was proceeding on a coal voyage. She
appears to have run on the Kentish Knock, capsized,
and all on board perished. The crew of a vessel saw her
capsize, and another vessel has picked up her boat, and
several of the master's papers. She is insured with the
clubs here. The men belong to Shields and the neigh-
bourhood. Here a very heavy gale from the coast is
blowing in squalls, and driving across the Northumber-
land coast. The river Tyne is in a complete uproar, but
the vessels in the harbour are holding fast by the moor-
ings. It is feared that a considerable fleet of laden
vessels that sailed yesterday will be blown off the land.

Loss OF A SHIP BY FlRE.—Private advices, received
here from Calcutta, state that the Sutlej, for London,
had been burnt and sunk in the Hooghly.
ACCIDENT TO A LIVERPOOL VESSEL.—The Esultana,
for Liverpool, put back to Gibraltar on the 10th instant,
leaky in her topsides. She had nearly reached Lisbon
when the leak was discovered.

OCEAN STEAMERS.—The British Queen arrived here
yesterday from Havre, with French and other continental
goods, chiefly for transmission to the United States by
the Cunard steamers ; the Frankfort sailed for Lisbon ;
the Rhone had arrived out at Alexandria, from Liverpool ;
and the African, from Liverpool, was off Gibraltar on the
9th inst., for Constantinople.
We are glad to understand that the Earl of Derby has,
with his wonted munificence, presented a liberal donation
of £2O to the Royal National Life Boat Institution.
The premier could hardly have selected a society more
deserving of his support than that valuable institution,
which, in consequence of the great exertions it has
made of late years to .supply efficient lifeboats on the
coasts, requires all the support the public can give to it,
to enable it to maintain its eighty-one establishments in
a state of thorough efficiency.
ACCIDENTS IN THE RIVER. —The steam-tug John Bull,
while towing the Betsey, from Monte Video, into the
Birkenhead Dock, came in collision with a schooner, and
had her port wheel damaged, and obliged to go into
Birkenhead Dock to repair.—The Victory, steam-tug,
which sank in the Birkenhead Dock, has been raised by
the aid of two lumps, and taken into the Birkenhead
Basin. —The Euroclydon, from Bombay, in attempting to
dock in the Albert Dock, in tow of the steam-tug Lioness,
came in contact with the brig Marsden, and received
damage to port quarter. The Marsden received trifling
dama,ge.—The Euroclydon also fouled the James Jardine,
for Adelaide, at anchor in the river, which vessel received
slight damage.

THE BALLOT SOCIETY.—The Ballot Society dined
together on Wednesday night. In apologising by letter
for his absence, Mr. Bright said; the Reform party is a
Ballot party and that any attempt to give satisfaction
without the ballot must fail.

EXTENSION OF THE TELEGRAPH TO ALEXANDRIA.
The negotiations between England and Austria relative
to the construction of an electric telegraph from Russia
to Alexandria, have terminated, and a convention is con-
cluded on the subject. Austria undertakes to lay cables
between Ragusa, Corfu, Zante, Candia, and Alexandria ;
that is, to lay one cable, containing three electric wires,
between each of the places mentioned. The estimated
outlay being £500,000, England agrees to guarantee, for
a period of twenty-five years, one-half of an interest of 6
per cent. on that sum.
CONFESSION OF MURDER BY A CONVICT.—The
Newcaitle Daily Chronicle says :—" We understand that
a man at present under sentence of four year's penal
servitude in Portland prison, has confessed to having
shot poor Mr. Stirling, the young surgeon whose dis-
tressing death caused such a sensation in this district
three years ago. The Home Secretary has sent the
statement of the person who declares he did the horrid
deed, to the mayor of this borough, and no doubt his
worship will take the necessary steps to investigate the
correctness of the allegation.
AMERICAN " SPIRITUALISM."—The Boston Traveller
has the following mysterioui statement : --" We regret
to hear that a gentleman of this city, of distinguished
literary and scientific attainments, one who bears a
venerated name, and whose genius and science have given
an important improvement to the cities of the United
States, has been so far bewildered in the mazes of
spiritualism as to believe that he is wrongly mated with
an amiable and devoted wife, and has found his spiritual
affinity with another young lady As we have been
informed, the wife, though heartbroken by the develop-
ment, and having one child, has assented to the request
of her husband for a separation, and he has gone to
Indiana to procure a divorce, in order that he may marry
his new affinity, who we believe is, like his wife, a lady of
intelligence, amiability, and irreproachable in character."
DISCOVERY OF HUMAN REMAINS.—An interesting dis-
covery was last week made on the estate of Sir G. Hampson,
at Thurnham. White some men were engaged in levelling
what appeared to be a chalk mound, in a field almost on
the brow of Thurnham-hill, after digging through the
chalk to the depth of between two and three feet they came
to the natural soil, and on going about a foot and a-half
lower they found the remains of a number of human beings
lying in a circle, in regular order round the mound, with
their heads pointing to the centre, and the heads of others
meeting the heads of those placed in the outside row.
The remains of a horse were also found lying with them,
but there were no relics of any description to indicate
to what people of a bygone age they belonged. The
• bones were in a remarkable, state of preservation,
considering the' length of time the bodies must
needs have been deposited there,—certainly . not later
than the earlier period of the Saxon invasion, 1,500
years ago, —the perfect skeletons being traced as they
lay in the soil, but not admitting of removal in that
state. One of the skulls has been placed in the Maid-
stone Museum. The mould was of considerable size,
and the chalk at the top had evidently been shot on to the
earth. The remains of seven bodies were found in the
space of about three rods! and by far the greater portion
of the mound still remains undisturbed. This place of
ancient sepulture is situate but a short distance below the
ruins of the ancient fortification known as Godard's
Castle, from its having, as some authorites tell us, been
built by Godardus, a Saxon, but from the urns found
in this locality, and other evidences, there can be no doubt
that the Romans had a station there, of which it is highly
probable that Godard's Castle is a relic, though it may
have been afterwards used and repaired by the Saxons.
Some even suppose that it was a British military position
before the landing of Caesar, a conjecture which is by no
means improbable, from its advantageous site for ob-
serving the extensive valley below, and the important
stretch of surrounding country which it commands.—
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BouthEastern Gazette.