The Northern Daily Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1857-01-02 00:00:00

to produce a fall in the prices of commodities,
cotton among the rest, and leave the manufactur-
ing districts to starve ? or will they give us cheap
money, and so force prices upwards ? They must
take one or the other of these courses, and either
will suffice to furnish us with another illustration
of the absurd and mad workings of our Parlia-
mentary system of governing prices, and interfer-
ing with the natural current of supply and
demand.

REDEMPUON OF THE SOUND DUES.— The
I flowing is, according to the Notional Gazette, of
Berlin, the text of the declaration given to the
protocol by the Russian Plenipotentary at the Con-
ferences on the Sound dues I am entitled to
declare, that the Imperial Cabinet accepts the
three proposilons made by the Danish Government
in the first Conference, reserving its decision, how-
ever, in as far as the exact amount of the indemni-
fication to be granted is concerned." That is to say,
it accepts partly the principle of a redemption ;
secondly, the arrangement that the repartition of
the burden of indemnification is to take place, as far
as the shipping dues are concerned, on the basis of
the nationality of the ships that pass the Sound; and,
thirdly, that, as far as the duty on the merchandize
is concerned, the calculation is to be made by taking
into account half the expor:s and half the imports
which pass the Sound, from and to each country.
That the assent of Russia had been secured, was
known for some time, but the nature of the reserve
was not known.
THE PARIS CONFERENCE AND MARITIME LAW.
—As the Paris Congress resumed its sitting yes er-
day, we may mention that it is understood in certa'n
quartets that the question of Mari,ime Law will be
again brought on ior discu,sion All the Contin• n'al
Powers are believed to be ready to accede to the
suggestion of Mr. Marcy, the Secretary of St rte of
the Uni-ed Sates, that in all cases private property
should, in the event of war, be as sacred on the sea
as it is on the shore. Some interest exists to know
whether England is prepared to adopt that principle,
and thereby to ensure its execution. Judging from
the recent speech of Lord Palmerston. at Liverpool,
we should say no doubt need be entertained as to
the views of our Cabinet. The following were the
words of the Premier :—" It has been a subject of
great satisfaction to us to reflect that at the com-
mencement of that conflict the Government of
England, in concert, with that of France, made
changes and relaxations in the doctrines of war,
which, without in any degree impairing the power of
the belligerents against their opponents, maintained
the course of hostilities, yet tended to miAgate the
pressure which hostilities inevitably produce upon
the commercial transactions of countries that are at
war. (Hear, hear) I cannot help hoping that
these relaxations of former doctrines, which were
established in the beginning of the war, practised
during its continuance, and which have been since
ratified by formal engagements, may perhaps be still
further extended; and, in the course of time, those
principles of war which are applied to hostilities by
land may be extended, without exception, to hostili
ties by sea, so that private property shall no longer
be the object of aggression on either side. (Cheers )
If we look at the example of former periods, we shall
not find that any powerful count!), was ever
vanquished by losses sustained by individuals; it, is
the conflicts of armies by land and fleets by sea that
decide the great contests of nations; and it is,
perhaps, to be desired that those conflicts should be
confined to the bodies acting under the orders and
direc ions of the respec ivo States. (Cheers )"
London Paper.