The Northern Daily Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1857-01-09 00:00:00

oRTHERN TIMES.---LIVERPOOL, FRIDAY

forth greater or more universal excitement, and the
King of Prussia will be most fortunate if he
should be able to rely on the union of his own
subjects in the threatened contest. There is a
strong political feeling still left in his dominions
and in Germany, and if he seeks to test its depth
and sincerity, he will, no doubt, succeed ; but
what the ups'iot will be time only can tell.
Those who remember 1848 are not much elated
at the prospect before them ; and if the good
sense of Europe generally were considered, we
are inclined to believe that FREDERICK WILLIAM
would abandon the task he has undertaken. The
moderation displayed by Switzerland in dealing
with rebels taken with arms in their hands, and
after shedding innocent blood, has won for her the
good opinion of the world. She has set Prussian
rulers an example in mercy which they would do
well never to forget. The Swiss have shown to
all nations how merciful free countries can be,
and how little they have to fear from a few law-
less adventurers. And should they be compelled
to draw the sword they will also show the value
of that union and determination which none but
freemen can feel or understand. They will carry
with them into the field a far greater amount of
generous sympathy than that which followed the
Turks to Kalafat and Silistria, and the first
victory will win for them the loudest applause of
Christendom. They are not offenders in the
present instance, and they will be looked on as
the most cruelly assailed nation in the universe.
Has the King of Prussia, then, no relations,
friends, or keepers to point out the dangers he is
rnshing- into, and to control him before it is too
late ? Or is he but one of a league who are bent
on deluging Europe with blood ? These are
important questions to have pending, and their
gravity will not admit of their being much
longer suspended by the slight' silken cords
by which they are hanging just now.

MAJOR GriElG's case occupied the attention
of the Town Council at their last meeting, when
the influence of good dinners and a generous
flow of wine was made manifest in an extraor-
dinary degree. It seems, in fact, as if it will
soon be a very dangerous affair for a Corporate
representative to attempt to bring the miscon-
duct of our municipal servants before their re-

sponsible employers and the public. It is quite
evident that, from the decision of the Council,
that the men they raise to a little brief authority,
may do as they please with those placed under
them ; and that while they scorn, according to
Mr. Alderman HOLME, to " shirk" an enquiry
into the conduct of their superior officers, they
are ever ready to cry down any Councilman who
has the courage to complain of their conduct in
the Council Chamber. Knowing this would be
the course pursued by Major GREIG'S numerous
patrons and partisans, Mr. flonsoN did, however,
undertake to bring that officer's conduct before
the tribunal which are responsible for his public
acts, and for this service, Mr. HoosoN deserves
the best thanks of the Borough, and we only
regret that we cannot approve of all that fell from
that gentleman in th,,, heat of debate.

By descending to personalities, Mr. HODSON
laid the ground-work of the " shirking" process,
of which he had reason to complain in the sub-
sequent parts of the discussion. lie made
Alderman PARKER witty, and Mr. TOBIN evan-
gelical. Trifles cannot work such wonders.
Sincere public men must be egregiously wrong
when their avowed opponents can make it appear,
that they themselves are right. But there is a
natural warmth about genuine honesty of pur-
pose which may be easily excused. Not so that
readiness in debate, which would seek to hide a
gross dereliction of duty, by assailing the
accuser. Mr. HODSON was not reviving a
charge which had been refuted. A policeman
had charged a superior officer with assaulting
him in the public streets; and, notwithstanding
the policeman's testimony was not rebutted
before the stipendiary magistrate, the case was
dismissed. Now, it appears to us, that a mat-
ter of so serious a nature ought not to have been
left for Mr. HoDsoN to bring befOre the Council.
It ought to have been brought forward by the
INTayor as the chief magistrate. The Mayor,
and the Corporate Justices, ought to have been
the first to show that they set their faces as
much against insubordination on the part of the
head of our local police force, as they would be
if it had showed itself in the humblest member of
that body. But, as the matter now stands, the
public are left to infer that a large majority of
the Council approve of the head constable's
collaring and laying his cane about the shoulders
of the policemen committed to his care.

Mr. HODSON'S motion placed Major GREIG'S
supporters in this position. They were compelled
either to pass a vote of censure on their head con-
stable, or record a decision which might justify
the most arbitrary and illegal conduct on the part
of that officer at any subsequent period. This
they have done, and we trust that no evil conse-
quences will arise from it. The, extreme cool-
ness and good sense with which JOHN STEWART,
the assaulted policeman, acted, is deserving of the
highest praise. Had he returned Major GREIG'S
blows, imprisonment and hard labour would, in
all probability, have been his lot ; whereas having
taken a strictly legal course, he is not left, even
now, without means of redress. He can bring
his case before a jury, whose verdict will test the
public morality of the Council's finding. If
Major GREIG had been in the army, and had so
forgotten himself as an officer, he would have
been instantly placed under arrest, tried by court-
martial, and if the charge had been established
as clearly as it was before Mr. MANSFIELD, he
would, in all likelihood, have been cashiered
before this. A soldier can obtain redress when
his superiors act contrary to martial law. But a
policeman has no remedy unless he is prepared
with money to pay law costs. This the decision
of the Council has proved to be the fact ; and
those gentlemen who took so prominent a

part in the attempt to cry down Mr.
HODS N, have gained little by the dangerous
precedent they have established. Major GREIG
is their servant, and they are responsible to the
town for his acts ; and if they think that " pulling
" the men's whiskers and twisting their hair,"
will be submitted to by a very large body of men,
we hope they will not be undeceived by occur-
rences which will redound but very little to the
credit of those entrusted with their management.

WIDOWS and Windmills owe the security they
enjoy in these days to Butler and Cevantes,
Knights and Dons have fallen to the level of
other men. Widowhood has found in HUDIBRAS
a benefactor, and Windmills have a guarantee
against sudden demolition in our respected DON
QUIXOTE. And can no means be devised of
saving Liverpool from the professional knight-
errantry of Manchester, and the rights of property,
and principles of local self-government, against
the attacks of desperate political adventurers ?
Reason has utterly failed in making any impres-
sion on the dogged stupidity of the former, or the
hatred of Constitutional Government displayed by
the latter. How, then, shall we deal with these
social desperadoes and political Mahometans ?
Shall we try what effect ridicule will have upon
them ? or lecture them seriously ? We prefer
this latter course, and we will begin by telling
them that their clamour resembles H igh -Dutch--
not that we wish them to believe with GOROPIOUS
BECANUS that they speak the language spoken by
ADAM and EVE in Paradise. We would warn
them in good time against the Mussclman folly
of courting too close an intimacy with every ass
they meet. Our advice to Manchester is tokeep
clear of all those weaknesses which are followed
by troublesome superstitions, and very disagree-
able nightmares.
If the British Legislature were blessed with
an ordinary amount of consideration and love of
things Constitutional and English, the people of
Manchester would not stand in need of counsel
from the Mersey. We should not be called on
to caution them against large and costly Par-
liamentary schemes concocted in their Town-
clerk's office, on the strength of the Ratepayers'
pocket, and regardless of expense, if their local
Press did them justice and pointed out their
dangers. In Liverpool it takes something more
than an attempt at a monster job to produce
that perfect unanimity of opinion which seems to
have overtaken the Liberal and Opposition
journals of Manchester; and we question the
purity of newspapers when we see them all
united in pushing forward great changes, irre-
spective of grave political and national considera-
tions. All Manchester cannot approve of the
principles the " Mersey Conservancy Bill " seeks
to establish. Its concoctors evidently dreaded the
danger which would follow a direct attempt at
centralising all the patronage of the Mersey in
the Government. They, therefore, ask for a
board or commission, designed for strictly local
purposes, to be elected by " every British subject
" paying i 0/. a year dock rates." This board
are, so far as we understand the proposed
bill at present, to have the power of levying and
collecting tolls or rates ; but are they to be
burdened with the debts due by the estate which
they are so desirous to take into their own
hands ?

This is what appears, at the first glance, to
be their meaning. But here we have that
modern and most dangerous doctrine laid down,
namely, representation without taxation—in its
essence. Those who are to pay dock rates are
C EP_a~a,
be saddled with the amount of money borrowed, on
other sources of revenue, such as the Town Dues.
The "Conservency Commissioners" will decide the
amount of rates, tolls, and dues required " for
" the benefit of the port of Liverpool, and of the
" shipping that frequent such port," but not for
the benefit of the Dock and Town Dues creditors.
The first thing they propose, is to cut off the
income derived from ships not using the docks.
This would be a serious affair for the bondholders.
If they suffer Town Dues at all, it will be for the
shipping using the port, and not to pay the
interest of the money raised on the Dues and
expending to facilitate the shipment and unload-
ing of merchandise. This would be throwing
the whole weight of the Town Dues debt upon
the Ratepayers of Liverpool, while it would
bestow upon Manchester and " every British
" subject " paying dock rates the powers of
representation, without making them share that
taxation which they would heap on others.
Such a scheme as this will never succeed even in
the effete and compromising Parliament of 1857.
It is too heavy a load of iniquity and unconsti-
tutional rascality for a weak Ministry to take
on their shoulders.

If the promoters of Mr. Lowes ingenuity, and
the Corporation of Manchester's impudence, had
proposed that " every British subject," not
excepting the Dock Ratepayers of Manchester,
who claimed a vote in the local affairs of Liver-
pool, should bear a fair quota of the taxation which
they think they have a right to administer,
then, indeed, there would be some show of reason
in their madness. As they have not done this, it
remains for us to tell the people of Manchester
that if they persist in demanding a vote in the
local parliaments of Liverpool, they must be
assessed and made to pay the rates levied to
make good the income sacrificed to the hostility
of Manchester's representatives and the members
returned to our local boards by other " British
" subjects.,' If the area of representation be
extended to London, Glasgow, and Manchester,
taxation must follow representation in all its
meanderings. We cannot think of allowing
strangers to come into this Borough to confiscate
just what they please, and then walk off without
contributing a farthing towards repairing the
damage done to property. It would be scarcely
safe to attempt such unconstitutional gambols
even in this peaceably-inclined Borough.
But why bestow a thought on the Corporate
crusaders of Manchester ? They are too con-
temptibly ignorant of the business they have taken
in hand, to do mischief. The " preamble " of their
" bill "—save the hopeful mark !—is full of the
most palpable blunders, ordesigning laches, which
Parliament must look on as so many attempts to
mislead the Legislature. And we are mistaken
if either of its branches will suffer the Corprate-
jobbers of Manchester to treat them with con-
tempt. The prime movers in the half-million
expenditure on Parliamentary movements, of
which we have seen so much in Liverpool, have
not published more than a short summary of
the enacting clauses of their " bill ;" and, if
any reliance can be placed on the little
they have ventured to allow the public
to see, it will be found that it gives
the lie direct to the chief allegations contained
in their " preamble." Moreover, the powers
asked in that precious compound of bewildered
stupidity, are such as the British Parliament
cannot confer on the subject, without setting
aside the constitution of the House of Commons
itself. When we are favoured with a sight of
the bill, as it is to be presented to the Imperial
Senate, we dial' be better able to dissect its
absurdities.

FOREIGN INTELLIGENCE.

FRANCE.

THE PARIS CONFERENCES

The. following is the article in the Moniteur,
announcing the close of the Conferences :

. " The Representatives of the contracting Courts
,to the Congress of Paris assembled this day (Tues-
day, Jan. 6) in conference, at the Hotel of the
Minister of Foreign Affairs, signed a protocol, which
put an end- to the difficulties encountered in the
execution of the treaty of the 30th of March.
" It is known that the nature of the locality did
not allow the Boundary Commission to come to
an understanding upon all the points of the new
frontier line between Turkey in Europe and
Russia ; on the other hand, it became necessary
to supply for the silence which the treaty had kept
relative to the tate of the Isle of Serpents ; finally,
the strict application of the 21st article, by annexing
the Delta of the Danube to Moldavia, took away
from the immediate sovereignty of Turkey a
territory which formerly was directly a dependency
of the Sublime Porte.

" Inspired with the resolutions of the Congress,
and wishing to conciliate all interests, the Confe-
rence, by unanimous consent, has decided that the
frontier line shall follow the Vale of Trajan as far
as thej river Yalpuek, leaving B3lgrad and Tabak
to -Moldavia, and that Russia shall retain on the
right bank of that stream the town of Komrat,
with a territory of about 300 square versts.
" The Isle of Serpents has been considered as
belonging to the mouths of the Danube, and it has
been agreed that it goes with their destination.
" The Conference has recognised that it was the
intention of the congress to re-establish, by Art. 21
of the Treaty of. Peace, in their former condition
the territories situated west of the new boundary,
and to:conform itself to the provisions of the nego-
tiators' of the peace ; it has decided that those
territories shall be annexed to Moldavia, with the
exception of the Delta of the Danube, which
returns directly to Turkey.
" It has been decided, moreover, that on the 30th
of next March at latest, the fixine, of the boundary
shall be effected, and that, at that same date, the
Austrian troops and the British squadron shall
have evacuated the Danubian Principalities and
the internal waters of Turkey.
" The Commission of the Principalies. the mem-
bers of which are always at Constantinople, may
therefore, at that period, proceed to the provinces,
and fulfil the mission•entrusted to it. As soon as
that Commission shall have terminated its labours,
it will render an account thereof to the Conference,
which will meet at Paris, according to the terms of
25th Article of the Treaty, to sanction by a conven•
tion, the final agreement come to between the
contracting parties, relative to the organisation of
the Principalities."

TURKEY.

CONSTANTINOPLE, DEC. 26.

On Tuesday last the second Conference on the
firman respecting the convocation of the Divans
ad hoc in the Principalities took place at the
Ministry of Foreign Affairs. From what I under
Stand, the first subject which engaged the attention
of the. Conference was the participation of the
Commissioners in the Conferences about the
firman, and the decision in this respect is, that as
soon as the general tenor of the firman shall have
been drawn up, the Commissioners will take part
in elaborating the details. How necessary such a
resolution was, every one will understand who
perused the Treaty of Paris without knowing any-
thing of the protocols containing the articles. The
Commissioners are to work with the Divans. How
is this possible vdthout taking part in the discus-
sions about the firman which is to settle the
manner of convocation of these Divans, the manner
in which they are to deliberate, and the subjects
which they are to consider? _

The next thing which engaged the attention of
the Conference was the representation of the
clergy, and in this matter it was adopted, in
principle, that the higher as well as the lower
clergy should be represented in the Divan. I
have not heard whether the relative proportion
between the representation of the higher and
lower clergy was settled. There was, as you will
remember, some difference in this respect between
the project of the Porte and the amendments of
the. French Ambassador, the first proposing that
the lower clergy should choose six members,
while the ,latter wished to restrict that number
to three.

As for the representation of the Boyard class,
the ideas contained in the amendments proposed
by the. French Ambassador have been accepted by
the Conferences. These are, as you will remember,
the election of the representatives of the great as
well as of the lesser Boyards by the whole body of
Boyards, and the • extension of the property
qualification likewise to the Grand Boyards The
Turkish project in this resp6ct proposed that the
great Boyards alone should choose the representa-
tives of their own class, and no property qualifica-
tion was. to have been required from the Boyards
thus elected. Thus, according to the decision of
the last -Conference, the representation of the
Boyard class will be based on property as well as
on rank

The news from the Paneipalities is rather more
satisfactory :than it was some time agt). The
present Turkish Government seems to have under-
stood the folly of violently suppressing the
.expres-
sion of public, opinion on the union, and has
adbpted a milder course in its policy. The Austrian
arty of occupatimf is likewise reported to behave
much better. Except a few eases of excess, which,
after all, are inseparable from an army of occupa-
tion, no complaints are heard from the inhabitants.

In the course of last winter I had to speak of
the British Consular Hospital in this place as one
of the dirtiest and most inefficient establishments
of its kind. I am happy to state that it hhs be-
come now one of the cleanest and best regulated
hoSpitals which could be found anywhere. From
the dreary old wooden house behind the embassy,
shut in by even more wretched houses, it has been
transferred to the new building in Galata, erected
Qn.purpose for it. The new hospital, built of stone,
is without any pretensions to architecture,but solid
and simple. It is entirely separated from all sur
rounding houses, and enclosed by a wall, within
the preen-10E1a which are likewise the consular
prison, and • the ground destined for the new
consular officers. The interior of the building leaves
nothing to be desired. The wards are high and
airy, with plenty of light, and a beautiful view over
the Golden Horn. Hot air tubes pass all over the
house, establishing an'equil temperature and pro-
moting the ventilation of the place. As all the
wards are in the upper stories, an apparatus has
been sent out froth ' England to hoist up the
patients, which, especially in cases of fractures, is
very convenient, ;as the patients can be dressed
below, and thus are spared the pain which would
otherwise attend their transport up stairs- The
apparatus serves likewise for sending up the meals
of the patients from the kitchen below, a conve-
nience which serves also to preserve the cleanliness
of the passages.
Speaking of the Government establishment for
curing the physical and moral diseases of sailors,.
and other British subjects, in Constantinople, I
must draw your attention to an analogous subject,
which excited lately public attention. Repeatedly
English sailors without a ship, discharged officers
servants, and others who remained behind after the
war, have been brought into the consular hospital
dying from cold and starvation, An enquiry into
the subject showed that there were about 60
or 60 such individuais, without any means of
subsistence, hanging about town, sleeping in the
pontoons of the bridge or anywhere else,- and trying
to live by all kinds of devices, fair or foul. No doubt
there may be more than one of them who is
p,n„jneorrigible vagabond and " loafer,'' but there
are certainly many whO, by the close of the war,
found themselves without work and means of
subsistence, and who would be glad to get out of ,

the precarious state of existence they are leading.
Dr. Hoyland, whose attention the subject first ex-
cited, having questioned the men who were brought
in starved, proposes to get up a house of refuge, in.
which the men could remain during a
_night. and
get their' Soup ih -the morning. A list of sub-
scriptions has been opened for this purpose, which
yields already 1601. sterling. Besides this; what
is. even more important, several Englishmen in
business have offered to employ those • that are
sent to them with a recommendation from Dr.
Hoyland. Thus, by degrees, those individuals
could be got rid of. These who should prove
themselves inveterate vagabonds could be sent
away by the consul, and the- pla.Ce thus cleared
from what, in the eyes of-the Turks, and of
everybody else, must be a disgrace to the English
name..

Feruk Khan left this on Monday afternoon last,
for Marseilles. Ire embarked on board the. French
man-of war Rowland, which had been sent up on
purpose to take him. When Feruk Khan went on
board, he was saluted by the usual number of guns,
and the Persian flag hoisted on the main. Before
leaving, Feruk Khan went, to pay his farwell
visit to the British Ambassador, who returned
his visit. The last act in the negotiations
carried on here, was the sending of a messenger
by Feruk Khan, carrying the demands of the
British Government to Teheran. About the same
time that the messenger left, the news of the deela-
ration of war against Persia reached us. From the
date (the Ist of November) it is clear that it had
been sent out to India long before Feruk Khan
arrived here, so there is still reason to hope that
negotiation with Feruk Khan may not be 4„
altogether without results, especially as the
proclamation gives the siege of Herat as the
cause of the declaration of war, as I informed
you, Feruk Khan promised solemnly in the
name of his Government that Herat should be
given back; and the Heratees indemnified.
On the other hand, the last news from Persia
announces that the Shah has named Sadr Azam
his Lieutenant for life, which, as the British
Government demands his dismissal, looks like a
defiance. There can be no doubt that, if war is
the result, the Russians will not remain neutral,
and the long talked of and prophesied collision
between Russia and England in Asia can scarcely
be avoided.

Sir Stephen Lakeman, Lieutenant General in the
Turkish service, has arrived here.

AUSTRIA.

VIENNA, JAN. 5.
Although the Bessarabian frontier question was
settled, on Wednesday, 31st December, no official
notice of the fact has yet been given to the inhabi.
tants of this empire. Orders have already been
forwarded to the commanders of the Austrian forces
in Moldavia and Wallachia to be prepared to quit
those provinces as soon as they are instructed so to
do, but some time will elapse before the evacuation
is complete, it havin,, been stipulated at the
Conference held on the 31st Dec. that the Russians
should withdraw their troops from the west and
south of Bessarabia " by degrees," and the English
and Austrians reduce. their forces in the Turkish
territories in an equal propoitiGn. Baron Brunow
proposed that the Black Sea and Danubian Princi-
palities should le evacuated by a certain date, but
as Lord Cowley and Baron Hubner declared that the
movements of the British and Austrian forces must
depend on those of the Russian troops in Bessa-
rabia, the above mentioned arrangement was
made. Some experienced politicians are of
opinion that it was not wise of the British and
Austrian Governments to show such want of con_
fidence in Russia, but it appears to me that, after
the bad faith displayed by the St. Petersburg
Cabinet, they would have given evidence of the
most deplorable weakness, had they consented
entirely to evacuate Turkey before . the territories
ceded were duly delivered over to the Moldavian
and Turkish authorities. The disinclination
of Russia to fulfil the engagements which she had
entered into respecting Bolgrad arose from a
desire to conceal from the Bulgarian population
of Bessarabia the fact of her having been defeated.
The cession of Bolgrad, the chief town of
the Bulgarians, is almost as humilating for
her as it was for the nations who were
conquered by the ancient Romans to offer a
wreath to Jupiter Capitolinus. The European
cemmission for the regula'ion of the naviga-
tion of the Danube is making arrangements for
improving the pilot and lighter service, and the
mercantile world trading to Galatz and Braila will,
doubtless, be delighted to learn that such is the
case. It is not yet known which of the three arms
of the Lower Danube may be kept in order at the,
least expense; but Galatz correspondents state
that the Kilia has two great advantages over the.
Sulina arm of the river. The former. is not only
much less winding in its course than the latter,
but the embouchure is. froth its formation, less liable
to be filled with sand.

PRUSSIA.

BERLIN, JAN. 6.

A Berlin paper favoured the public yesterday
with the following agreeable announcement :
" The Prusso-Swiss conflict appears, according to
the latest news, to be attaining a satisfactory end.
Prussia's consent to the North American proposals
has; as we hear, been given. The Royalist prisoners
are to be liberated, and Neuchatel released from
its political union with Prussia. The military
preparations and the purchases of horses by Prussia
are suspended."

Unfortunately, all this very satisfactory informa•
Lion is pronounced by the Preussische Correspon-
dear to be totally unfounded. The views which I
forwarded to you yesterday as to the chances of
peace receive ample confirmation partly from this
announcement—viz , in so far as there is nothing
here of any pacific settlement—and partly from
the information the newspapers bring us from the
South of Gefmany.

ITALY.

TURIN, Wedesday.

The session of the Piedmontese Chambers was
opened this morning, by King Victor Emmanuel in
Person._

His Majes'y's speech was greeted with a most
enthusiastic reception. Especially the allusions
which it contained to the great national cause of
the independence of Italy appeared to excite an
almost rapturous expression or patriotic feeling.
With reference to the budget which is to be
presented by Count Cavour, for she year 1857, it has
been announced that the • income of the past year
r:
was sufficient to cover the expenses.
The Minister of the Interior proposes certain
important reforms in the administration ; but it is
foreseen that great difficulties have to be encountered
in carrying them into effect.

DEATH or LORD MILFORD.—We regret to announce
the death of the above nobleman, which took place
at his seat, Picton Castle, in Pembrokeshire, on the 3rd,
after a short but severe illness. Lord Milford was the
only son of Mr. John Grant, of Nolton, near Haverford-
west, by the only daughter and heir of Mr. James Child,
of Begally House, Pembrokeshire. He was born in the
year 1801, and in 1824 assumed, by sign manual, the name
of Phillipps, in lieu of his patronymic, after his maternal
cousin, Sir Richard Phillipps, Baron Milford (then
extinct), whose estates he inherited. His lordship was
for many years a member of the House of Commons,
representing Haverfordwest for nearly 20 years. He was
raised to the peerage in 1847, and married subsequently
the only daughter of Mr. John Gordon, of Hanwell, who
died in 1852, to the great grief of his lordship, who has not
prominently appeared in public life since his , domestic
bereavement. His lordship leaves no heir, and the peerage
therefore becomes extinct.