Northern Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1859-12-15 00:00:00

so bare of vessels or material; plenty gif guns of
all sorts and plenty of forts. There is also a
place for building ships but still they.am doing
nothing."
We are now led to expect that ten millions
sterling at least will be asked of Parliament
early in the ensuing session for the improvement
of the fortifications of the coast and works of
defence for the dockyards of the kingdom. The
works, however, are expected to occupy several
years in their construction ; and from this cir-
cumstance it is thought not improbable in certain
quarters, that no more than two millions will be
voted at once.

The London people complain, it seems, that
they do not yet get the advantage of the new
arrangement for transmission of the -American
Mails, cid Cork. They cannot endure, we find,
that the merchants of Liverpool should, in the
case of the Canada, this week, have been
enabled to reply by the steamers Arago
and Hungarian, which left yesterday, while
in London it is alleged no delivery had taken
place up to Tuesday night. Of course allowance
must be made for.the distance between Liverpool
and London : at the same time it appears to be
inexplicable that the American mails which
reached Liverpool on Tuesday morning, did not
arrive in London in the course of that day.

We learn that we are about to lose our much
respected Stipendiary Magistrate, Mr. John
Smith Mansfield, who has been promoted to the
Magistracy of Worship-street Police Court—the
vacancy having occurred through the retirement
of Mr. Long. We are quite sure that Mr.
Mansfield will carry with him the warm respect
of the people of Liverpool, as an excellent ad-
ministrator of justice.
On Tuesday, a meeting of dissatisfied share-
holders of stock in the Great Ship Company, was
held at the London Tavern. The chair was occu-
pied by Mr. Guedla, who had called the meet-
ing. The discussion which took place was of a
very discursive character, and a vote of no
confidence in the directors was withdrawn,
after having been moved and seconded. A
pretty genere:y expressed opinion seemed to
be entertained that a new company will require
to be formed. The chairman severely censured
the course of conduct adopted by the directors,
but his views appeared to be considered extreme.
After a protracted debate, the meeting, without
adopting any substantive motion, adjourned to the
sixth of January.

THE French writer .BALZAC observes that, amid
a whole crowd of consentients, the- presence of
one dissentient does not detract from but adds
to and sets off the general ,completeness of
harmony. This repres'ents the military aspect
which England exhibits at the present moment.
All Britain is afire with patriotism ; the generous
ardour- spreads into the remotest and obscurest
hamlet, of the land, and not the meanest rustic
that vegOtates on his yard or two of soil pleads
guilty to "a soul so dead," as not to have caught
the swift contagion. But from Rochdale there
comes a chill weak northern blast, just sufficient
to make us really feel that warm atmosphere
which nourishes the genial current in our veins.
Yes, Rochdale will not arm ; naturally thinking
it much " sweeter and more becoming" not to
die for one's country. Do we not know that
Rochdale is fond of its pounds shillings and
pence, insomuch as it refuses to pay its Church-
rate, and rejects all motives not r,Torded in a
ledger, and duly balanced with a tangible present
quid pro quo ? Is it not to be expected, therefore,
that Rochdale will like to turn to its mills and
manufactories. in peace, conscious that danger
is problematical, and that if it should arrive,
there are enough of patriots to -cast themselves
into the breach and prevent its reaching their
doors ? Besides, has it not received a hint
from its model representative him of anti-.,
" Rule Britannia " notoriety who writes
home to his ' anxious countrymen that whilst
the majesty of England, at present at its
ParisiatOodgingsin the person of Mr RICHARD.
COBDEN, is respected, no evil intentions can be
supposed to exist in the mind of the French.
Emperor ? Putting all things together, who
shall say that Rochdale has not 'pnrsued the
safely selfish course, and may not, with a sort of
satisfied clinckle, drive on again at its ledger,
undisturbed with the sound of drill and the sight
of rifles poking everywhere in its face ? At all
events we must admit that it is true to the ante-
cedents of that time, when it called Mr. COBDEN
from America as the only man fit to represent its
opinions in Parliament, and achieved its still
higher point of honour in feting its distinguished
native, Mr. BRIGHT.
Possibly England may ere this have called
down blessings upon the head of Louis Nam-
LEON, for his magnanimous forbearance in the
case of his illustrious guest ; possibly it may
draw favourable auguries from the satisfactory
state of his relations with Mr. RICHARD COBDEN.,
Brit fortunately, notwithstanding all this, Eng-
land from one end to the other will shoulder
its rifle and will go on singing in mad
chorus " Britons never , shall be slaves,'? and 1
meaning very decidedly, that Britannia shall
continue to rule the favourite clement. We fear
that after all, there will be too many perverse.
patriots persisting to disregard the Rochdale pre
cedent, or, like BALZAC, in taking the single
miserable discord as an augmentation of the great
universal harmony.
As we have just hinted, there is no doubt the.
calculating Rochdale bookkeepers have a pretty'
safe notion =at the bottom, that if there ever
should be any fighting, others will
.be found to
do it for them. Yet, as they choose to argue this
question solely with regard to the present aspect