Northern Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1857-06-15 00:00:00

the practice under consideration to be one of

injustice to the publican. It is true that he
exercises a certain calling which is regulated by
Act of Parliament, and for which he pays an
annual sum, entitling him to the privilege of
vending spirituous liquors. Tne fact of paying
this aanual fee entitles him to the aid and
support of the executive, and instead of being
way-laid by the skilful traps of detectives, with
the view of enticing a violation of that law, he
should be dealt with openly and above board.
If the law is violated, he should be met, as Mr.
GLADSTOKE would have it, in an English and
truly candid manner. There should not be any
mean and skulking subterfuges adopted for the
purpose of proving a conviction. The very fact
of making a police-officer assume the character
and the garb of a private citizen, when in the
discharge of official duties, is deception.
Deception of any character and kind is illegal,
and what is more, it is immoral; and as it
entraps the unwary, and robs them of a

certain por ion of their property, be the same,
more or less, it is rank injustice. The highway
robber is, of the two, a more preferable character
than the midnight burglar. The one attacks
you with some chance of escape, but the other
steals with the cunning of the serpent, and
without any symptoms of approach, pounces on
your property when all is hushed in the solemn
stillness of the night. In a similar spirit does
the policeman, dressed in plain clothes, go into
a public-house, and lay an information for selling
during prohibited hours.
But we also object to the practice from a
feeling that it is calculated to lead to a breach of
the peace. We have already demonstrated in
these columns that the fact of a policeman
lifting and tasting glasses of ale or spirits is a
breach of the Petty Larceny Act; and if the
owner knocks down this law officer of the crown,
whilst in the act, he would be perfectly justified.
We do not countenance such a step. What we
contend for is, that the habit which policemen
adopt to substantiate their public-house informa-
tions is not only illegal, but fraught with the
most serious consequences to society. A law
cannot be good which requires immoral and
dishonest means to be employed to insure the
carrying out of its provisions. We therefore
object, and for the reasons which Mr. GLADSTONE
advanced, on Friday, against the schemes now
adopted by our police-officers, for the purpose of
preventing the sale of liquor in prohibited hours.
It is an non-English, illegal, and dishonest course,
and as such, should be discountenanced by
every member of the community.

THE CROPS IN UPPER CANADA.—The spring is unusually
backward, as the winter was unusually long. But with
the present fine weather things will grow so rapidly that
the lateness of the season may possibly not be observable
in a month from the present time. An unusual quantity
of rain has fallen this spring—a circumstance which has
been unfavourable to farming operations, especially in
those parts of the country whero spring wheat only is
grown—a remark which applies to the whole region below
It-introit.. - th. .-
be put in unusually late or not at all. As to the Autumn-
sown wheat, its prospects are not just now so bright as
they sometimes are at this season of the year. There
are some complaints of winter killing, owing to the early
February thaw leaving the crops unprotected against the
subsequent frosts, but it is hoped the evil will be found to
be limited. In some rare instances fall wheat thus injured
has been ploughed up, and spring wheat sown in its place.
But even this was a very difficult operation in consequence
of the excessive moisture that fell during the spring.

RECIPROCITY.—One of the most striking commercial
results to be found in the statements of the Provincial
Chancellor of the Exchequer has refersnee to the rapidly
increasing exports from Canada to the United States.
The value of these exports amounted in 1856 to £4,421,415,
whereas in 1846 it was only £69,623 ; and even in 1854
not more than £2,802,9)6. Tne inSports from the United
States had risen from £704,400 in the year 1854 to
£2,997,A0 in 1856. Such was the effect of the Reciprocity
Treaty. Furthermore, in 1854 the imports by the St.
Lawrence amounted in value to £6,169,107, and those by
the United States to £1,963,284, but in 1856 the tables
are completely turned, for the imports by the St.
Lawrenoe have decreased to £3,826,467, while those by
the Lidded States increased to £7,069,759. These figures
tell a tale which was told by a comparison of :the cus•
toms' duties received at Quebec, Montreal, Toronto, &c.
They may also prove that Canada (as Mr. Cayley words
it) is building up for herself an immense trade with the
neighbouring States; and that, though from the Recipro-
city Treaty no revenue is derived, still great indirect
benefits may accrue in a general way. This view of the
case is certainly a very urgent reason for the reduction
of the tariff to the lowest figure possible. Is it natural,
is it just to exact high duties on goods imported from the
mother country, while the same class of imports are
admitted duty free across the line ? A. reduced tariff is
One of the real and essential wants which the commerce
of the country requires, and it is useless to talk of retain-
ing the trade in the St. Lawrence route without such
reform.— Toronto Correspondent.

A SUBSTITUTE FOR THE PUNISHMENT OF DEATH.—In a
second edition of Mr. Phillips' Essay on Capital Punish-
ment, the following is given as the punishment for murder
prescribed by Mr. Livingstone's code for the State of
Louisiana, It has been now in force for nearly thirty
years, and has been found quite efficient :—" Murderers
shall be strictly confined to their respective cells and ad-
joining courts; in which last they may be permitted to
labour, except for two months consecutively in every year,
commencing on the anniversary of their crime, during
which period they shall only come into the court during
the time necessary to cleanse the cell ; and oa the anni-
versary of the commission of his crime the convict shall
haveino allowance of food for 24 hours, during which fast
he shall receive the visit of the chaplain, who shall endea-
vour by exhortation and prayer to bring him to repentance.
Murderers shall receive no visits, except from the in.
spectors, the wardens, officers, and attendants of the
prison, and from those who are constituted visitors of the
prison. They shall have no books but selections from the
Bible and such other books of 'religion and morality as
the chaplain shall deem proper to produce repentance and
fix reliance on a future state. The fast shall not be suf.
fered when the physician shall certify that it will be
dangerous to the health of the convict. The convicts
who have not learned to read may be instructed by the
teachers. No murderers shall have any communication
with other persons out of the prison than the inspectors
and visitors ; they are considered dead to the rest of the
world. The cells of murderers shall be painted black
within and without, and on the outside there shall be in•
scribed, in large letters, the following sentence:—ln this
cell is confined, to pass his life in solitude and sorrow, A.
8., convicted of the murder of C. U. His bread is of the
coarsest ; his drink is water, mingled with his tears ; he
is dead to the world ; this cell is his grave ; his existence
is prolonged that he may remember his crime, and repent
t, and that the continuance of his punishment may deter
others from the indulgence of avarice, hatred, sensuality,
and the passions which lead to the crime he has corn.
mitted. When the Almighty, in his due time, shall:exercise