Northern Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1857-10-17 00:00:00

Such conduct on the part of General OUTRAM is
a forcible contrast to the selfish, grasping, and
imbecile behaviour of Lord CANNING towards Sir
COLIN CAMPBELL. It is really feared that the
latter will throw up his command in disgust at
the treatment which he has received from the
Indian Government. We should be sorry to
hear of such an occurrence ; but if Sir COLIN is
expected to put down the rebellion, he surely
ought to have his own way of doing so, and not
be completely wrapped up in the meshes of red-
tapeism.

Another piece of Lord CANNING'S absurd sys •
tern of government is made known by the arrival
.
of the Calcutta Mail. His Lordship had refused
to take common precautions for saving the lives
of the Europeans under his care—he had refused
to comply with the request of the people of Cal-
cutta, that he would proclaim martial law,—as
he (Lord CANNING) believes that the substitu-
tion of courts-martial for that of the ordinary
courts of justice would " be accompanied with
much private inconvenience, uncertainty, and
hardship; and he is not aware of any commen-
surate gain." This, in the abstract, may
be sound sense, but when we look at
the condition of India, the fire of revolt which is
smouldering even under the very nose of the
Indian Executive, and the state of suspense and
alarm under which the people of Calcutta are
labouring, it is sheer madness to allow the
native populace that amount of liberty with
which they have been, heretofore indulged.
Delhi had not yet succumbed to the
prowess of the British forces. Indeed the
relative position of the contending parties
was but little, if anything. unchanged since the
rebellion broke out. Several sorties had been
made, and. they were gallantly repulsed ; but, on
the whole, we may be said to be only holding
our own in that quarter. It would, however,
appear that the hope, indeed the assurance, or
speedily reducing the city of Delhi to terms was
indulged in by the military authorities on the
spot. Inside the city the greatest alarm is said
to prevail, matters were in a fearful state, large
bodies of the rebels were deserting, and a letter
in the Madras .ilthenceun avers that there was a
split among the commanding officers, that they
were disagreeing, and that the streets were filled
with the dead and the dying. This will, no
doubt, be looked upon as an exaggerated
picture of the misery of the inhabitants of Delhi;
but that there is some truth in the statement
cannot be contradicted, seeing that it comes from
several different sources and authorities. Dis-
sention, disease, death, and desertions had
reduced the fighting population to some 17,000
men. Before the end of September there would
be 15,000 British troops in the immediate
vicinity of the besieged city, and we confidently
anticipate that a grand assault will soon be made,
and that the British will prove triumphant.
The intelligence from Agra contains the satis-
'factory announce►vent of the arrival of a pretty
large force of British troops, accompanied by a
number of heavy guns; but as yet we are not
,told from what quarter this reinforcement had
been received.

As we have said before, the news may be
considered satisliictory. Our troops were proving
victorious in every encounter with the enemy ;
every where we have been able to make a stand
against them, and if we have not advanced we
have not receded. Lucknow had held out with
unexampled heroism, and a large force would
soon reach Dihi. By the next mail we may
hear of an assault upon that city, and, let us
hope, of a signal success.

THE TOWN COUNCIL.

ECOMBLIINICATED

The horizon is cleared, the Towns' Dues battle
has been fought, and speaking municipally, .we
suppose we say lost ; the great Pike questi4
promises a speedy settlement, and already we see
signs of renewed life in the Council, though now
bereft of one-half of its influence and power, and
about to put an end to its pet squabble.
On Wednesday last Mr. SAMUEL HOLME made
an excellent speech against-the late scenes in the
Sessions House, on the occasion of the municipal
revision (when the greatest abuse of a legitimate
privilt,ge took _ place), and, without imputing
blame-to either party, exposed the system most
complete- ly, and promised that he would bring
the Matter before the Council in a.formal motion
at some future date. Alt Reformers have for
some years been aware of the loop-holes which
the Murnicipal Act affords for this petty warfare,
which is unworthy of either party, and we rejoice
to s,x the evil exposed by a leader of the Con-
servatives,
which will, we hope, ensure its'reform
at the meeting of Parliament. The suggestions
of Mr. HOLME, as to how these petty and
frivolous objections to persons who were
notoriously entitle 1 to be upon the burgess list
were tobe'rnet,'are sOUnd and well considered ;
the fine 9f-51. would put ;A very effective stop to
wholesale objections, and if the onus of proof were
thrown upon the person who objects, instead of,
as now, upon the persoilobjected to; all objections
would be withdrawn fur which no foundation
whatever existed:

Tile Liverpool Town Council will, indeed, take
its proper position as one of the representative
institutions of -the country,' if its members will
from time to time.expose the abases of the sys-
tem under which it exists, and soggest well-con-
sidered remedies and sound reforms.
Tile letter, ofthe Rev. Mr. GILLOW, of Arnold's
Court Reformatory; near Bristol, soliciting a

grant from the Council, under the powers of the
new Reformatory Act, in ail of an extension of
their premises, on the ground that fifty-six girls
had been received there from Liverpool, brought
the whole question of Reformatories and gaols
before the Council. It is one to which they
will, ere long, have to give their most serious
attention. The new Act gives every Borough and
County the power to establish new Reformatories,
or to afford aid to already established institu
tions, and the ratepayers of Liverpool cannot long
allow their juvenile criminals to be maintained
and reformed by the subscriptions of a few warm-
hearted of their fellow-citizens. Besides,
Arnold's Court is not the only Roman
Catholic Reformatory which receives our
juvenile delinquents; the Mount St. Bernard
Reformatory has a still larger claim upon us, and
bath shese institutions are principally supported
by persons who have no connection with this
city. During the debate, Mr. Alderman PARKER
(if correctly reported) gave vent to an expression
of intolerance and bigotry, with which we have
no sympathy whatever. If Mr. PARKER "never
will consent that any of the Corporate funds
' should be appropriated to a a distinctly Roman
Catholic establishment," he should tnove that the
Roman Catholic ratepayers should be absolved
from paying rates, and, no doubt, the leaders of
that body will support him. Mr. JOHN AIKIN'S
proposal that the whole question of extending the
Reformatory system should be referred to the
Finance Committee, was excellent but premature,
and we hope that he will bring it forward again
at an early period,
The great proportion of our Juvenile Delin-
quents are of the Roman Catholic persuasion,
and for many reasons, into which we will not enter
at present, it is extremely desirable that a Re-
formatory for young criminals of both sexes of
that Religion should be established in Liverpool,
under the control of our own Bench of Magistrates.
Meanwhile the immediate question of a grant to
the Arnold's Court Reformatory is simply one of
°justice. We owe that institution a sum of
money, and we must pay our debts. The rate-
payers who look at the question from the
" pocket" point of view, without importing into
it the intolerant spirit of Mr. PARKER, may be
assured that the town will financially be much
the gainer by the reformation, or even by the
withdrawal of these 56 Girls; as the injury done
to property by each member of the light- fingured
profession" has been estimated at 1501. to 2001.
a-year by Mr. Recorder HILL.

Mr. HoDsoN thought the occasion a pod one
for making a speech against Prison discipline,
and the superb accommodation and sumptuous
dinners of the Palace of Idleness at Walton;
every sentence he uttered was perfectly true, but
the occasion was not well chosen, for it is rather
too large a question to discuss on the receipt
of a ' Mayor's communication." We drew
attention to the subjects some months
ago, (February 19), showing how the Cork
County Gaol, containining 1000 prisoners, was
managed at the rate of 6/. per head per annum,
thus .saving, when compared with Walton
Gaol, 24,0001. a-year to the ratepayers of the
County Cork,
It is to be hoped that Dr. HonsoN, or some
other member of the Town Council, will bring
the whole question before the Council, and
devise some means, if not of diminishing the
number of prisoners, at least of curtailing the
expenditure. For our part we believe drunken-
ness to be the secondary cause of the vice which
fills our prisons, and ignorance to be the root of
that, as of all evil ; and we would urge the esta-
blishment of schools, and that it be obligatory
on all parents, and employers of labour, to send
the children under their control to be taught in
them some hours each day. Reformatory insti-
tutions and imprOved Prison discipline are but
attempts to cure the disease ; wide-spread educa-
tion alone has the least chance of eradicating
any portion of it.

Every one will heartily rejoice to see that
the Town Council seems inclined to take tin the
Criminal question—the most important question
of the day—and we are sure that when the best
men of the Town, be they Conservative or
Liberal, see that such practically useful and truly
Christian subjects are to be brought before
them, and that they can be instrumental in
carrying out valuable reforms, and measures
of great social importance, there will not be the
difficulty there is now in inducing them to come
forward to serve their Fellow-Townsmen.

BURSTIN4 OF THE RIVINGTOI4 WATER PIPE,

NEAR ST. HELENS.

O 1 Friday evening, one of the large conduit pipes, for
conveying the water front the Rivington works to Liver-
pool, burst, in a fleH loslongingito a Mr. Hammill, at a
place called Denton's Green, about two miles beyond St.
Helen=. The rush of water was very great, and caused
considerable alarm and excitement in the neighbourhood.
Persons ware despatched in all directions, in quest of
the " water-mau," but, like the Policeman, he was non eat,
when wanted. The self acting valves, which were intro-
duced into the main at a vary heavy cost, and which were
said to possess such an amount of sensitiveness as to shut
their capacious mouths voluntarily, in the event of any such
catastrophe occurring as we now record, were " nowhere."
Hence, the water flowed from the evening of Friday
until that of Saturday, without cessation. Denton's Gran
is situated in about the eeutre of a valley, hills rising on
either side. The Rivington Pips is carried through and
over these; thus forming a syphon, at the head of which
the,fraeture t >olt place An examination of the pipe shews
clearly that the fracture was not of recent date ; probably
a flaw existed at the time of its being laid ; yet it is
strange that it was not discovered by some of thorie
charged with the duty of testing these pipes, either here
or in Glasgow.
The metal of w'hich the Pipe 'is composed appears of
of the most questionable character. Tne socket
end is one mass of clinker, and is honey-combed
throngliout. There is no doubt but the greater
portion of the -pipes in this district are of
the same description, and as the main passes right
throug'i the ex easive coal fields in this ptrt of the
country, in the event of a serious fracture,' occurring
the consequences would be fearfully disastrous to the