Northern Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1859-07-06 00:00:00

TAE Noßnrmotnins: wti)NtgiJAA, JULY 6, FASO

VOLUgMR-aIFLE :CORPS.
ITILITARY AND MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS,

BY ,
JAMES

KOHL E R."
SMITH

Having been ?.['POINTED AGENT .in LIVERPOOL FOR. TUE
♦BODE Jusri.v CELEBILVT..:D AAKER, bep to ainounce thAt lie has
a very choice selectiaa on hand, just unpacked.

.Y DRICRIPTIO2.7 OF MUSICIL INSTRUMENTS

Itcx-paii ed in tie most fiatisfaltofy manner

OBSETLVE 1-76, LORD-STRELT

AMUSEMENTS, MEETINGS, &c.—TIIIS DAY
THEATRE _corns, Dramatic Performance.
ZOOLOGICAL GARDENS Mount Eta"
TITS rAxisrAN GALLERY OF ANATOMY, Paradise-street.
rz- For particulars see advertisements on Bth page,

TO- CORRESPONDENTii,

nder no circumstances can we insert communications no
accompanied by the author's real name and address, not neces
early for publication, but as a guarantee of good faith.

,),Turtlitru ((Linn

----.--4,..-----

WEDNESDAY, JULY 6, 1859

THE DAY'S NEWS,

There does not seem to be much business of impor-
tance before the House of Commons. Indeed, during
the remainder of the session, it will be little more
than a Committee of Finance. Its duties will con-
sist of passing the Budget, and attending to the state
of the Navy. In the House, last, night, Sir C. Wood,
iu reply to a question, stated, that the excitement
among the troops in India, on the transfer bountY
affair, had decreased very much, and, moreover, he
was opinion that the claims made. by the troops
were altogether unfounded. The Right Hon. W. E.
Gladstone, in answer to a question, as to whether
the present Government considered that the contract
entered into with the Galway steamers, was bene-
ficial to' the country, said, that they had not arrived
at any decision, and that the question of telegraphic
and steam contracts would, be brought before the
House, as he intended to move for a Select Com-
mittee to consider these affairs.

The India and China Mails are to hand. With
respect to the dissatisfaction amongst the men, at
the transfer of the army from the East India Com-
pany to the Queen, without giving them a bounty,
or the option of being discharged, it would appear,
from our Bombay correspondence, that it had almost
disappeared, but the Calcutta correspondent of the
Times says, that the men are not satisfied, they had
not returned to duty, and the question was not
settled or likely to be. Sir Hope Grant, on the 23rd
gay, with the.seventh Punjaub Infantry, attacked
the rebels under the Nana and Bula Ras, who were
strongly posted in the Irdirah Pass, with two guns
ig position. The heights on both sides were crowded,

and the enemy driven from -their guns, which were
taken with trifling-loss. Our .advices from China,
state that the rebels remain in- possession of the
country, the transit is interrupted and very little
business is being done.

The intelligence from the Seat of War, is of the
most meagre description. The movements of the
contending armies seem to be slow and contradictory,
but, so far, the Austrians appear to be retreating.
The opinion of the correspondents of the Paris papers
is, that the Austrians will not risk another field
battle, but will retire inside their fortresses and
await an attack. A correspondent, writing from
Verona, says, that Lombardy henceforth is com-
pletely free, and the Allies will soon pass the Mincio
and penetrate into Venetia. He adds, "In coming
here I saw' considerable movement in the Pied-
montese camp, and met the King going towards
Pozzolengo, occupied by the French and the
Sardinians together. The corps d'armee of Baraguay
d'Hilliers is also encamped in that direction. The
Piedmontese are preparing to draw near Peschiera,
and it is believed they will attack ere long
that place. But I need scarcely tell you that
nothing is really known of the intentions of the
French Emperor. He continues that system of
reserve and secrecy which he has all along main-
tained, and with such extraordinary success. Even
the superior officers have not a hint of his
intentions, oftentimes, until the very last moment."
The Paris correspondent of the Post has telegraphed
a private despatch dated from the French head
quarters Sunday last. " This morning, at seven
o'clock, the Emperor quitted Volta, in order to
cross the Mincio, and establish his head quarters at
Valleggio. We are only four leagues from Pes-
ohiera, the siege of which was began two
days ago by the Sardinians. The cannons roar
day and night in that direction. The Austrian
advanced posts are but a short distance from Villa-
franca, which is oCcupied by the corps of Marshal
Neil. It is much doubted that the Austrian army
will venture to accept a battle in the condition of
demoralisation and stupor into which they have
fallen since our victory at Solferino. " With
respect to the prospects of"peace, a London contem-
porary thus expresses himself :--" Daily, hourly, the
reckoning becomes heavier, the fiendish spirit of
war revels as the invaders progress, and Europe,
making no sign, uttering no call, contents itself with
arming ; and no great Power stands forward to
arrest the swords of the combatants. But it may be
that a possibility exists of restoring peace now that
Austria has been made to understand her inferiority.
If she could hope to retain Venetia; if she could dream
of reconquering Lombardy; if, indeed, she counted

upon irresistible allieS, then • the prospect would be
dark; but what are the engagements of Prussia? It
would be well for Great Britain to ascertain whether
her partner_ in Protestantism on the Continent is
disposed to set the world in flames, or sincerely
anxious to prevent the further spread of calamities
which have already been scattered too for. Neither
liberty nor civilisation, neither policy nor humanity
gains from the hideous carnage now raving fruitlessly
the Italian peninsula. Provoked by France,
colourably excused by Austria, eagerly adopted by
Piedmont, this conflict his abhorent to the rest of
Europe. It has gone far enough. Mare blood-has
been shed than an hundred congresses could redeem;
and the work tobe performed to the immediate future
is the allaying of a tempest which, even by Italy
herself, will never be remembered except as a crime
and a disaster. In war, the defeated party must
sooner or later yield. Austria, in the present case,
has undoubtedly been worsted, and it would
exemplify the sagacity of her Cabinet were she,
accepting the least shameful alternative, to accept
any reasonable propositions for peace that might
emanate from a Cabinet deliberating during an
armistice, and invoked to earnest councils by the
voices of death and of eternity, audible on the field
of battle." As a preliminary announcement, probably, "
of coming innovations, the official Vienna Gazette
publishes an article in which the Austrian Jews
are requested to quiet their fears and trust to
the wisdom and justice, always so conspicuous, of

the Ap)stolie Majesty, for the improvement of
their condition. The laws, which are now being
prepared for the regulation of their affairs, will,
they are assured, " be impregnated with that
spirit of humanity and progress by Which the
civilisation of this century is distinguished." If
so, the Jews will soon be the only privileged class
in Austria. Wonderful enough that it is in
alluding to the future rights of the most ill-treated
race in the Empire, the official Gazette usei, for the
first time, words and phrases of liberty, that have
been banished for long years from its hypocritical
columns! In the same paper we read a protest, in the
form of an official article, against the sequestration
of the estates of the Duke of Modena, which has
been ordained by the Piedmontese Government, pro-
visionally established in that Duchy. Not only
were the domains of the State, and the landed pro-
perty given in lieu of a civil list, declared henceforth

to revert to the nation, but. the large and numerous
private estates belonging to the Duke also shared
the fate of his income from public sources. The
Vienna Gazette declares that this act constitutes a
violation of the sacred laws of property, as it un-
doubtedly is, if the private title of the Duke to his
land is a true one.

The Monthly Meetting of the Birkenhead Com-
missioners, was held last night, Mr. Hinde, the
deputy chairman, presiding. There was nothing in
the proceedings worth noticing, beyond the fact that
Mr. Laird's letter to the . Times, suggesting the
adoption of ferry steamers and tugs, to the carrying
of gtins in case of need. for the defence of the country,
was referred for consideration to the ferry
committee, in order that . some negociation on the
subject might be opened with the government.
With respect to domestic affairs, we have only to
state that the trial of Swinfen v. Lord Chelmsford,
was proceeded with yesterday ; Lord Chelmsford,
Mr. Justice Creswell, and Lord Chief Justice Cock-
burn being examined. The Gazette publishes a
larger number than usual of military appointments.
The trial of Dr. Smethurst is fixed for Thursday

morning

FOREWARNED AND FOREARNIBED.
THE popular proverb, to be forewarned is be fore-
armed, very naturally presumes upon a most reason-
able process of cause and effect. We are warned
beforehand of approaching danger, and we are
beforehand to be in _readiness to meet it. If the
danger come upon us unawares—that is, without
any warning—we could not be assured Against,

ind, therefore, not prepared to reSid if lire`May
employ the adage either literally or figuratively :
in', either case it has certainly a most forcible signi-
fication.

At the present moment it has a close application
to the qnektiOn of our naval defences. We See..a
neighbouring Potentate "VihO, having 'Once " died
havoc, and let slip the dogs of war," may, by and
by, when his present purpose is "setved, cast .his
eagle's eye upon old Albion, and gratify his 'people'S
longing and his own by Sconrging.her with a war
of invasion upon her coasts. It would not 'advance
much further,.perhaps, but even that might cause
us mischief enough; and it is a danger that is suffi-
ciently serious to let our being forewarned of it at
least to induce us to be forearmed to meet it.

To say nothing of any other hostile influence, we
believe, with Lord HOWDEN—as he declared the
other night in the House of Lords —" that the great
motive power which induced the Emperor Napoleon
to make war against Austria was a general fantas-
tical appeal to all nations, except France, to'unsettle
themselves ; to Poland, to Hungary, perhaps to
Ireland ; in short, a general dislocation of the whole
world seemed, for some reason or other, to, enter
into the calculations of the chief master." - We do
not, any More than does the same 'noble lord,
" pretend to divine what may be the next move
'of his Imperial Majesty on the political chess-board

whether he may checkmate the world or be check-
mated himself." But with. this patriotic Peer we
feel " that every Government, be it Conservative, be
it Liberal, or be it Radical, that is destined to rule
the affairs of this country, ought to know, as he did,
that the only way of uniting all parties in France,
Republicans, Imperialists, Orleanists, and Legiti-
mists, would be a war with England; that such
a: war was the only war that would ever, be
universally popular in France; and that as for an
attempt upon England, hbwever regardless of con-
sequences, however devoid of every rational hope of
success, however absurd, there was not a single
widow that would not give her last son, nor a
beggar that would not give his last penny

" To

apprehend anything of all this, then, we say
be forewarned ; and if such a forewarning' be not
worth a forearming—why then our country is not
worth the defending.
Equally emphatic, on the same occasion, was
another patriotic peer, the Earl of ELLENBOROITGH,
who declared that " he felt confident that, con-
sidering the passions that now animated persons on
the Continent hostile to England, considering the
vast power they had at their disposal, and the many
reasons that might induce theni to run the risk of
invading us, he might speak with a feeling of cer-
tainty in his mind, which made him regard his
language as almost that of propheoy,-! when he said
that an I attempt.: would be made. . It was not,""_
.
lie added, " during the present' war we had reason
to expect it. It was when -that war should have
terminated --- it was when France had broken the
strength of Austria—when she had terrified the
Other powers on the Continent—when she had still
further closed her communication and understanding
with Russia, and when she had it in her power to
bring a large victorious army, which would con-
sider itself certain of success, to realise the last
project of—the Emperor Napoleon all of which
projects the present Emperor had boasted. it- was
his lot to accomplish. And it was his decided
opinion that if we did not take advantage of the
respite of time which that war in which France
was engaged afforded us, we should have perilled
for ever that. which every man in this country
valued most dearly—the independence, the honour,
and the constitution of England." There is reason,
there is common sense, in such an apprehension as
this ; and England ought at least to be on her guard
against its coining to pass. Even Lord BAOUGHAM
could not forbear giving expression to his general
concurrence in it, and to urge upon Her Majesty's
Government to increase the defences of the country,
" so as to tn.ake it an absolute impossibility that there
should be any attempt upon our shores, happen wLat
might." -For,:-. as the venerable statesman - very
forcibly added, "sudden changes might take place,
and it was their bounden duty to prepare for them,
and so make-it utterly impossible that the Channel
should be coitimanded by either a French, a Russian,
or an" other fieet.'?

-To be thus prepared, then, is to assume _that atti-
tude of armed neutrality .of which Lord DERBY
asserted the necessity at the very commencement
of the present contest on the part of France.
And we all remember what unfair advantage
his Whig opponents took of that declaration,
although it is now the very attitude which they
themselves, since they have taken upon them the
responsibilities of office, find it indispensable to
maintain. Even the Rifle Corps, the late Ministry's
encouragement of which was ridiculed by the Whigs,
are to receive a more direct Government support
than Lord DERBY thought it expedient to give them.
The new Under-Secretary of War, Lord RIPON, has
stated in his place in Parliament, that desiring to
give encouragement to the feeling which had
actuated so many persons in coming foivard, and at
the same time wishing to ensure, as far as poSsible,
that the utmost benefits should be derived from
those voluntary organisations, the Government had
determined-. to deviate from the course which had
been followed by the late Administration in one or
two points, one of them being of 'special importance.
Instead of declining to supply any arms whatever to
these corps, and leaving them to be Pro's-1(16d entirely
at the expense of the members, the Government had
determined to issue arms at the rate of twenty-five
stand of rifles for every hundred men who might Le
enrolled." . Here, then, is another and practical
acquiescence in the expediency of -an, armed neu-
trality,—that preparedness for prompt resistance in
case of need, which is quite compatible with the
most'perfect- impartiality towards the belligerents,
but which' the Whigs, we repeat, and Lord JOHN
RUSSELL in particular, .-ery unfairly endeavoured to
turn against the late Government, as indicating,
they pretended, a disposition to embroil us with

France. They are now—and they can't help it—

practically vindicating that which, whon in Oppo-
sition, they did not scruple -to condemn. The

country, no doubt, sees through it clearly enough
This, however, is most satisfactory

-..that, after all,

whilst our neutrality, so carefully established by the

Derby Ministry, is still maintained, its quality as an
armed neutrality is yet to be preserved also, We

colts itullite tree country on this imprtAlit result of
Whig transfornAtition 1 For sure we Are, that being so

forewarned, it would be absolute madness not to be
forearmed.

MR. COBDEN- AND THE MINISTRY,

Oisti'' Canna much wonder that, after all, Mr.
COBbEN shduld 'upon reflection, and after `einisul-
taticin with his friends; decline tO'aCcept the offer so
honourably made to him of a seat in such a Cabinet
as Lord PALmEniiiiN's; --honourably, at least, as
regards himself, whatever it might be with those
who made the overture f for Certainly it was no
'slight distinction fni one in his social position to
have conferred upon him in his absence—to; be
selected to fill the high office reserved for him, and
especially to have attached to it a place. in her
Majesty's Councils. But we dare say that Mr.
CoBDEN had penetration enough to discern the real
motive of such an overture to him, on the part of the
exclusive Whigs, —that it was done, not spon-
taneously and sincerely, but grudgingly and of
necessity,—that they made a virtue of that necessity,
and sought the lion. gentleman's association with
them, not from any congeniality of political prin-
ciple, but as a bribe and a lure.

Regarding it, however, as a professed coalition—
keeping out of view all such ideas as we have just
suggested—natural and probable though they be
what was its real character ? Was it not an attempt

to compromise vital principles ? We certainly think
it was; and so, we perceive, does that able and inde-
pendent organ of the Advanced Liberals, the
Star. The case, let us remember, is that
of Mr. COBDEN refusing office under Lord
PALMERSTON. Now, as our contemporary very
clearly shows, the antecedents of the two men exhibit
displays of the most antagonistic principles. "Lord
PALMERSTON has long been Minister of Foreign
Affairs, and in that capacity his whole official life has
been in direct opposition to every principle adopted
and publicly expounded by Mr. COBDEN. The
antagonism between them has been of the severest
character, and the last act of Mr. COBDEN in the
House of Commons, just before the dissolution of
1857, was to denounce Lord PALMERSTON for the

guilt of a burglarious war with China, and to propose
and -carry. a resolution condemning his conduct in
respect of that war." So much for one of the
great - questions 'now at issue. As to the
second of those questions, that of Parliamen-
tary Reform, there is an _ almost equally
great " antagonism between them." Mr. Cow-
DEN' •is a Radical = Reformer—an advocate
of something like hoasehold suffrage, vote by ballot,
and, if we mistake- not, annual Parliaments. In one
word, he is for the largest re-infusion of the
democratic element into Parliament. Lord PAL-
MERSTON, on the contrary, is in principle a perfect
Old Tory in those respects. He does not see the
necessity of any-further reform in Parliament at all.
It is the greateSt bore of his present position, that
he is under the necessity of dealing with it,—for he
is utterly averse to, and sees no occasion• for it
whatever, save and except as a mere- popular
'expedient-.
With such an antagonism as this, then, well may
it be said that " between Mr. COBDEN and. Lord
PALMERSTON there is a great gulf fixed, and without
a sacrifice of self-respect which would be to be
deplored, he could not accept the Office which has
been offered' hini; or indeed any office in the Govern-
ment,• so long as it remains under its present chief."
This is a candid and fair Independent Liberal
opinion, and we heartily concur in it.. We
.are
utterly averse to such unnatural coalitions. They
cannot poSsibly serve any patriotic cause---certainly
-not any cause of truth and integrity.. Far principle
• must be sacrificed on one side or the' other, •or on
both sides ; and this cam never be done without the
direst' mischief to the interests of the 'People..
-" Public men," as our contemporary farther well
observes, " gain nothing, by pretending to build up
a warm friendship where there is no solid basis, and
where all is hollow ; and the country gains nothing
by coalitions •of 'a •-character ,so unnatural- as•that
which has just been attempted, and which has se
signally failed." This remark, however, will apply
to the whole coalition upon which the-new Ministry
has-been constructed; as well as to the case before as.
Mr. GLiDs'rcoiE, with his professed principles,. is
equally wit of place in it as Mr ,I. CoBnEN would
have been with his. And there are others who
have joined it of whom the same thing may be-said.
There can be no political integrity where prineipTe3
can be made thus accommodating. A statesman,
to be worthy of the people's confidence, must never.
assume the nature 'of the cameleon, '-laut must be
one of whom it 'can ever with truth be said that
in him 'constancy has 'fixed her Seat: For, as the
Star 7speaking, no-doubt, in behalf of its Indepen-
dent party—so significantly asks,—" How can the
Public gain by any apparent union between elements
sa disoordant; and between statesmen, however
eminent; who hold opinions so entirely at 'vari-,
mace ? Or why should any man tempt difficulty
and embarrassment, and perhaps, discredit or
disgrace, by. joining a Minister who. consents 'to
his- entrance into his Government only , from a
supposed political or party necessity, 'and -in no
degree from sympathy with his views or admiration
of his career ?"