The Northern Daily Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1857-02-05 00:00:00

they are exposed, by giving to the Directors of a
Joint Stock Bank the power of deciding the
amount of circulation they shall have to pay
taxes, employ labour, add from 1 to 5 per cent.
to the cost of production, and at the same mo-
ment depreciate the value of all commodities in
demand from 10 to 20 per cent.? Was there ever
so diabolical a machine designed for the torture
of a people or the dismemberment of an empire ?
To look for patriotism or loyalty where _sordid
selfishness pollutes the atmosphere, and class
or individual success where glaring dishonest
instincts direct the hands and feet of avarice, is
a pitiable delusion leading to terrible disappoint-
ment. Usury and double dealing with the
substance of our neighbours are the forbidden fruit
of this world's material Paradise, and throwing

the dead weight off our transgressions in both
directions on productive industry, must inevitibly
bring us all back to the plough tail.
Can this be iny Lord DERBY'S and Mr.
D ISRAEL'S design ? The leaders of the " landed

interest" envy commerce its rosy cheeks and

life-cheering rotundity, trade its princely reve-
nues, and industry in its modern pursuits its
honest reward. To escape this charge they must
oppose the Peelite and Bullionist as the
common levellers of their time—the fathers of
forced idleness, destitution, and famine. T
avoid the grave political importations which
invariably follow mistakes even, in matters
relating to money, the Opposition must keep
clear of men tainted with the jaundice of usury.
Hence we do not apprehend any formidable
result from the union of the " landed interest"
With Mr. GLADSTONE. That right honorable
gentleman has opened the door to 25 per cent.
dividends in banking, and so given the coup de
grace to the great Whig monster of 1819, and
its frightful abortion, the Bank Charter Act of

1844. If the usury laws had not been repealed
at Mr. GLADSTONE'S request, we might have
staggered on, with a large importation of gold, for
ten years, without asking for the immediate aban-
donment of all arbitrary banking restrictions.
We have, however, been overtaken by a financial
crisis, and a monetary condition which will
admit of little time being wasted in idle discus-
Those who ask for the small sum of

51,000,0001. taxation for the support of the State
must prepare themselves with not less than
20,000,0001. of legal tender to secure the punc-

tual payment of their trifle. Trade requires all
the available means it has created for its own
use, and the Exchequer must supply the rest,
Should it fail to do this, we only ask our mer-
cantile readers to look well to what is before us,
and prepare for the consequences,

A SAILOR, of great experience and nautical
attainments, has just received sentence for the
loss of his ship, the Tyne, from a non-profes-
sional tribunal. His case was one in which the
entire theory and practice of the science of navi-
gation might have been pleaded in his defence.
The defective bearings given in his charts, the
errors of the ship's compass, the uselessness of
the lead in b team er running amidst mud, sand,
and other banks, at a high speed, and the cer-
tainty which awaits every man who navigates his
ship with peculiar skill, of realising all the
errors with which he has to contend, might have
been urged in his favour before a really maritime
judge and jury with perfect success. The better
the ship, and the better she is handled, the
greater the certainty that all which is wrong in
the data and appliances given for her guidance
will be brought to light, and it is a mere hap-
hazard whether the fault be discovered ten
minutes too late, or five minutes before a catas-
trophe occurs. Captain VALLER's case appears
to have been precisely one of those in which the
most lamentable accident is attributed to the
neglect of a most trifling and ineffectual portion
of a navigator's duty.
The lead is the last, though it is associated
with the first, of the safeguards of navigation.
" Lead, and look out," are as popular now with
those who do not go to sea, and know nothing
of the matter, as they were before steam was
introduced, and clippers were made to race like
well-trimmed yachts. That a good " look-out"
is indispensable, in all cases, cannot be denied ;
but the lead does not fill the important place it
did in the slow-tub days. Large ships, of the
Tyne's tonnage, have no right to near the shore
so closely as to need the lead at all. Weather
is no excuse for running huge vessels, with great
steam power, close in upon the land. If con-
tracts lead to such risks, their commanders are
not to blame for a departure from ordinary pru-
dence. Competition, which braves all chances,
ought to bear its own mishaps, and not seek to
throw the blame on gallant fellows, who are left
to the mercy of the science of errors.
Captain VALLER bore an irreproachable cha-
racter as a navigator, and that such a man should
have been sacrificed to the Board of Trade's
love of " lead" is much to be regretted. The
Board "are of opinion that the neglect to use
" the lead is misconduct which it is their duty
" to visit with severe punishment in all cases;
" and that in Captain VALLER'S case the circum-
" stance of his position and experience aggravate
,€ the offence." Here they give Captain VALLER
credit for being fully competent to command a
ship, and perfect master of his business, yet they
tax him with misconduct in the discharge of the
duty entrusted to him, and suspend his certificate
for twelve months, thereby ruining his reputa-
tion for ever. There may be some sort of expe-
diency in this decision; but it contains very
little justice. If the compass bearings given in
our Admiralty charts are laid down with all the
errors of the compass, and cannot be relied upon,
why not declare it at once and establish beyond
all question the propriety of using the lead and
everything else the mariner can call to his aid
under circumstances such as those in which
Captain VALLER was placed.
Commanders who possess testimonials similar
to Captain VALLER'S are very scarce indeed, and
it is anything but politic to reduce the number