Northern Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1857-12-02 00:00:00

THE DAY'S NEWS.

Parliament meets for the despatch of important
busineas• to-morrow, and the members of both
Houses are now congregating in large numbers in
London. The Globe of last night states that the
address of the Lords in reply to the Queen's
speech, -will be moved by Lord Portman, and
seconded iby Lord Carew. According to a Lone on
cotemporary, the Cabinet have resolved to make
an apology rather than table a bill. At all
events, ouch is the present understanding in
circles likely to be well-informed. We are told
that the First Minister will ask how is it possible
in the present condition of things that a Reform
Bill can be discussed, and he may possibly add
that, when the Session is a little more advanced,
her Majeaty's.advisers Will be able to see whether
anything in that way can be done. So with the
question about the future Government of India.
There is now a pretty clear understanding tha
the statement of the .Times newspaper on this subt
ject was deliberately made for a sinister purpose,
but it was not anticipated that the fiction would
so soon expire. All that is now promised is
that, at sonic period not very remote, the
Indian Government will have to undergo change,
and that at present every effort will be employed
to keep Lord Canning in office, not so much for
the sake of Lord Canning himself, as for the ex-
planations that would be required consequent upon
his dismiseal. The Governor-General of India
has not thought it his duty to avail himself of
those Cabinet instructions that were sent out to
.him to retire ; and to give him up now by an
•offialial act would necessitate an inquiry into the
reasons for retaining him in office throughout. so
many months of incapacity and vacillation.
.The inquiry into the alleged murder on the high
seas was resumed yesterday, and adjourned until
Thn..sday. The case does not look near so bad
as, it did at fizsie still the Captain is in a
very. -critical condition. The stipendiary magis-
trate said, yesterday, it may possibly men out
that. the mate of the Elizabeth would ha only
cenviata I of an aggravated. assault. -He may,
however, be sent for trial on the capital charge
The Captain, at the inquiry yesterday, ldoked much
more careworn than previousiy.
Dr...dc;lTeile laid the foundation of a new church
in Parliament Street, yesterday. The particulars
mill be found in another column.

..„,
Yesterday, the general meeting of the Great
Northern • -F.,ailway proprietors was held, and
it was strong character, as had been
anticipated. The report of the directors,
and their, prc,posals respecting di vilends were,
however, adop;.ed. Mr. Denison, the chairman,
macle.zn apootf2,' for the uncourteous ex?'7essions he
used .at a fornitr !netting.. The amende was well
receive.

The Chamber. Commerce of Glasgow .have
held a m•aeting on the Bank Charter Act, and the
result is, that tho g:ntlemers. composing it denounce
the present banking tnorionoly.
The inciak,ist on t'Ll.e body of one of the twelve
victims of. the recent boiler e%plosion at Hudderz-
field was held on Monday, and. resulted in a verdict
blaming the. proprietors, and also those who fixed
the safety.valres.
The Pastoral of the Cardinal Archbishop of
Mecklin forbids the clergy of the diocese from any
interfe•ence in the Belgian elections.. The pulpit
is strictly interdicted as to electioneering 'topics..

No progress • was made in t7ne launch cf the
liiNiathao y.e3tordly, but j-nost extensive prepara-

tions.

We have of late had many run_iours of propo-
sitions resp6eting th© fate of the Danubian Prin-
cipalities. C..n.tainiy diplornaoy is, most active in
this matter. To-day we hear of draft of a project
lately,-sent to Constantinople ..by the Austrian
Government. It is said to be found&zl on the
original Eu,_?lish scheme', but to he modified in
such a way as to leave out the union altogether.
ThiS. equals Liehtenber eelebrapd description
of a blameless knife. the :handle of wh'..dh has been
lost..

Getman p4,-iliticians ars b.uisy with anether pro-
ject of a union, which gright not turn Out to be so
threatening to the peace of Europe. The Diet of
the Duchy. of Coburg will he shortly conNoked to
discuss, for .a .ieeond
.time, the question of the
union of the Duchy With that of Gotha. The
Caurt of Appeal of Jena has -glready deolded
in favour of the union, and it is assumed that the
Coburg Diet will no longer withold its consent.
The #nancial crisis is pressingluost severely at
Berlin, The measures of the Governent will
hardly o.lny it
Finanei 41 LtffAirs at Hamburg are in a most unsa-
tisfactory state.
_

The birth, of s. Princo at Madrid has given the
utmost satisfactian to the people of Spain.

THE readers of the NORTHERN TIMES will be
glad to find that the Liverpool Financial Reform
Association have commenced the work of reform-
ing themselves. hitherto this most necessary
body have (halt with Finance and Currency as
the Arctic and Antarctic orbs of our social
system, which were connected by an imaginary
line which existed only in the brain of the
speculative philosopher, Happily we cannot

now apply these express;zve words of MILTON'S to
the Association—

"A drop serene had quenched their orbs,"
for they now laurich out into both spheres as
they find that, without taking both the circles in
which the work of the nation's destruction is
going on, their body would lack the rotundity
which alone can give it the strength originally
intended. They find, in truth, that Currency
Reform must go before Financial Reform, and
the public will be rejoiced to hear that the
Association are giving the monetary question the
attention its importance deserves. We hail this
as a grand step in the right direction. It would
be useless for the Association to go on telling the
public how the 'national income is misapplied and
squandered without informing them where the
vast revenue -of the State comes from, and in
what it is paid. The Israelites would have
found no difficulty in paying their debt of bondage
in bricks if they had had the straw wherewith to
make them. So it is with us and taxation. We
could pay any amount of revenue in our native
products—anything which native labour could
extract from the parent soil; but we are made to
pay taxes in gold, a foreign commodity, and the
scarcest metal in the world 1

The Financial 11.? form Association never, until
now, looked at this phase of the question,
They forgot to tell us that that is the commodity
the merchants of the world have selected as the
medium of adjusting the balances of trade—that
in the early days of civilisation it was only
valuable because it wa3 scarce, and that the value
of its increased quantity is now doubly enhanced
by the enlargement of the circle of uses in
which it is employed. And that this product—
Which is advancing so rapidly in demand, as
our Financial Reformers show, by the augmen-
tations and waste of taxation, and our bankers,
by the usurous . rates of interest they ask
for its use—has a price fixed upon it,
above which it cannot rise. Now, would
the Financial Reformers ask the Merchants to
pay duties •in Sugar and other commodities,
at a fixed price ? Would they call Cotton
at Gd. a pound, a far basis of taxation ; or
Wheat at a fixed price of 40s. a quarter, a natural
and equitable standard of value, whereby to
measure the power of the people to pay
801000,000/. of revenue ? If Cotton was worth Bd.
a pound in trade, and Wheat worth 50s. to the
miller, would not these fixed prices add 2.5 per
cent, to the revenue, and make the taxation of
the year 100,000,0001., instead of 80,000,000/. ?
This is what our fixed Mint price of gold is
doing in finance. The ravages it is committing
in trade are not one wit less oppressive and
positively abominable. Take all our mercantile
.contracts, with all their risks, and varieties of
chances which stand between the importer and
exporter, and their profits, and see the large
amount of loss which must attend the realisation
of remunerative prices, where the value of the
commodity into which all contracts resolve
themselves, is fixed by law at a price which has
been purposely designed to fill the pockets of
those who have no stake in the commerce or
prosperity of their country, beyond that which
panics yield them.

We would, however, hold the Financial Re-
formers to this very simple proposition, namely,
that fixing the price of the metal in which.
the State revenue is paid, is depriving the
payer of taxes of the advantages of an open
market, in which that metal would rise and fall
in value, in strict obedience to the natural laws
of supply and demand ; and that the injustice
done to the subject, by not allowing him to obtain
the increased value which demand would na-
turally give to gold, in seasons such as
the present, is not compensated by the cheap-
, ness of that metal at other periods of time, when
the • supply is more abundant. If they admit
these two allegations as true, they are Currency
Reformers, and to this important branch of our
Financial affairs, we submit, it would be well if
they devoted more time and attention.
The general interests of the trading community
are also too closely interwoven with our fiscal
system to be wholly discarded by so influential
and useful a body. The magnitude of the com-
mercial embarrassments of .this year will be
shown in the income and property tax returns.
Here we..shall discover the effect -of the deprecia-
tion of all commercial property required to bring
down its value; first, to the low fixed price of
gold; and, secondly, to render it convertible into
money, which limited in quantity by a prohi-
bitive standard. Hence the welfare of .trade and
soundness of finance will be found to go
.hand in
hand.

The Financial Reform Association are not, as
a matter of course, bound to adopt the great
variety of propositions brought before them by
Currency Reformers. Opening their doors to the
free discussion of the subject, is a great deal,
and now we do not despair of hearing them
declare in favour of the immediate removal of the
62r,ed Mint price of gold, and the adoption of
taxation as the basis of our paper currency.
Free gold for Free Trade, and Exchequer
notes for
the payment of taxes, are the car-
dinal points of the Financial Reform Asso-
ciation's Charter. They embody the great
principles of Free Trade made perfect, and
honest financial dealing with the public. It was
never meant that the dirnestic debts of nations
were to be paid in foreign products at a fixed
price, nor can any system so manifestly dishonest
stand the test of exposure. This all classes of
Reformers will find to be true; and should our
Financial Magnates allow the present storm to