Northern Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1860-01-25 00:00:00

Wednesday, January 25, 1860

ships, -the further advance of the army would

scarcely be practicable. It thus becomes appa-
,
rent that the now powerful aid well-appointed
army of Spain in Morocco may be brought to the
'brink of starvation by so easy a contingency as an
unfavourable change of wind ! In many respects
this campaign bears points of resemblance to that
of our army in the Crimea. By the latest ac-
counts, the Moors still continued to harrass and
annoy the laborious progress of their invaders.
The growing conviction that the cry for a
Reform Bill has been got up merely for party
purposes seems rapidly rising into something like
a feeling of disgust. " The whole thing," says
the leading journal, "is voted a nuisance and an
obstruction, and the question will be entertained
mainly with the view of getting rid of it during
the lives of the present generation. This state of
the public mind towards reform, made up of such
contradictory elements, of an indisposition to the
subject which might almost justify its postpone
ment, and of a desire for its settlement which
calls imperiously for action, is by no means the
least of our difficulties." .The wish seems father
to the thought of its justifiable postponement.

By:telegraph we -have still later news from
America per Montreal Ocean Steam-ship Com-,
pany's steamer Bohemian, which, arrived at
Queenstown yesterday. From this it will be,
seen 'that still no Speaker has been chosen by
the House of Representatives. The frightful
calamity which occurred at Pemberton Mills, in
the United States, is confirmed, on the whole,
but fortunately the 'anticipated loss of life from
the falling of the building, and other causes,
has turned out less than was expected.

Her MAJESTY " has accepted with gratification and
pride" the great Volunteer Movement, and CO
siders that " this manifestation of public. spio
has added an important element to our system °f
national defence." The stale and hackneyei
subject of a Reform Bill is noticed about as briefly
and as dryly as it possibly could have been. of

course it could not have been omitted altogether'
and there it is ; and considering how often tIII4
troublesome topic has been, as it were, reluetantlf
forced into Royal speeches of late years, with s°
little practical result, and in the face of so much
real indifference, this repetition of it can neither
heighten our interest in it, nor be looked upon 0
more likely now than before, to guarantee all
speedy or satisfactory solution of the question'
We sincerely hope the Royal recommendation t°
improve our present system of jurisprudence roar
be attended to diligently and successfully. 13n
where' is the HERCULES who shall cleanse tlul
Augean Stable ? Thus far we have followed the
Speech, put into Her MAJESTY'S hands by he(
responsible advisers, without demur, but when
next we read the statement " that the great jute;
rests of the country are generally in a sound fu
thriving condition," without one word of sPri-
pathy or encouragement to that greatest of all
national Interests,. the Shipping, in its present
depressed and ruinous condition, we cannot ba
feel that Ministers have been guilty of a gr°s4
omission—and this, no doubt, they will be'
made to feel ere long. An opportunity, 11°w-
ever, will soon be afforded the House of Couh'
mons for doing some measure of justice to our
shipowners when Mr. CRAWFORD brings on his
motion for inquiry. The speech concludes with
the proper and customary ascription of thanks to
the ALMIGHTY RULER of all nations for the
blessings we enjoy, among which are fairly enough
'enumerated the prosperous state of the Revenuer
the diminution of pauperism and crime, and th
prevalence of a spirit of loyalty, contentment'
and order through the whole empire, both in thie.
United Kingdom and in the Colonies and
possessions beyond the sea.

PUBLIC writers affect astonishment at' the ab''
sence of excitement throughout the countrir
which anticipates, or rather fails to anticipate'
the coming Reform Bill. And they have taken
pains to suggest various explanatienswhich shall
make the current apathy consistent with the stir,
posed general attachment to the principles o
Reform. Now, those of our readers who Or
conversant with the history of the period anterior
to--though not immediately anterior to the last
stages of—the great, 'Reform Bill, cannot help
remarking a special similarity between that
period and the present. It was not till that Bill had"
advanced through several different stages, and had"
been forcibly turned into a representative of the
popular principle, and a symbol of the contest
carried on between that and the monarchical and
aristocratic portion of the Constitution, tirat a'
real agitation sprang up in its support. It Was
when men •of high place and political education,
adopted the measure as a party and class weaporr
and used every artifice to inflame the sympathifi
of the people, by giving it an exaggerated mean"
itig and importance, when they intentionally
transformed it into the battle ground of the tw°
conflicting principles of the State, and distorted tl e
issue into one for victory to one or the other, that all
the ignorance, and all the susceptibility, and a /
the apprehensions of the country accepted tie
interpretation, and violently threw down the
gauntlet. Up to that period, when Reforol
became a Whig party measure, and respectab'e.
Whigs like Lord JOHN RUSSELL ostensibly lel
their encouragement to illegal combinations and
revolutionary threats—the people, as a body, dill
scarce so much as raise their little finger in t"
great question, or throw up their cap when t"
subject of Reform was drawn forth from t"
budget of place-hunters and partisans. . The: e
were anomalies in our representative system, ll°
one cared to deny. A more adequate and just
arrangement of the suffrage might be devise??
even high Tories might admit. That the princiie
of numbers may have had a constitutional fie t
to be more taken into account than it was, Inigi
be a proposition which met with the concurren
of the unenfranchised majority of the population'
dis
But on the whole the people were not posed
nst.akeT,
er
any
ythignrkeatthavticatnoyrygrehaatdpryinetciptole
point with them must always, be, more ( r
wbeaswaot
less exclusively, as to the Governmental machii e-
which looks after their interests, and. has also V. e•
unpleasant duty of taxing their property and
their industry. If this machine works tolerably
well, if under its guardianship commerce thrives
and taxation does note become unnecessarill
heavy, it takes a great deal to move the practice'
Englishman into any anxiety as to theoretical'
defects or pretentious schemes of perfection! Mr.
CANNING, when he advanced his constant argt"'
ment against' change, based upon the practical
efficiency of the old machine, did in etre'
remarkably express the general feeling and ti e-
general mode of reasoning throughout t"
country. And at all events there could be x)-
doubt that common sense vindicated the proPriety
and applicability of the sentiment. Yet it la'
important to note the due measure of its aPPIka--
bility. Such a plea was no refutation of the
charge that great anomalies existed in our rePre"
sentative system, and that much was out of har-
mony in details, imperfect, and even evil. But it
was a complete answer to the faticied need of aw
alteration in the basis of political power, or eve:
to the arrogation of a contest for some great all
symbolical principle. It was also an effective proof
that if any new basis of power was to be estab—
lished in place of the old one, it meant demoeracY OIL
the ruins of the Constitution. That if any great
"
contest was impending and ought to impend, it Wr

Wednesday, January 25,

a contest between an established monarchy and a
growing and encroaching republic. The explana-
tion of the general apathy at that period, then,
was just this. That the country looked without
disfavour, but without enthusiasm, on the exci-
sion of defects, on the reform of details, on the
introduction of improvements into the old manner
of working the machine. The machine was there;
they were satisfied with it, had experienced its
adaptability, were unwilling to put it aside for
an unknown new one, and even prized it. Yet its
works might be getting rusty, its wheels might
want oiling, a safety - valve might be well
opened here and there, and some mechanical im-
provements might be safely and hopefully intro-
duced. But they felt that deliberative work of
this sort should be done in a cool and deliberative
manner, that any violent onset or rade handling
alight derange the whole network of agencies
and arrang,ements by which the machine alter-
nately put forth, and restrained its working power.
From the adoption of these improvements they
Were 100 wise to expect very much. It was
Probable that they Were laying the seeds of secu-
rity for the next age, and anticipating adapta-
tions to changing circumstances, which would be
seers to work With. greater efficacy in a future
time than in their own. •But they did not at
first fall into that temporary insanity which was
looking for a new era, in which the rights of Man
,Should assume -a more defined and settled place,
rand principles most gratifying to the popular
will, be planed on the 'vamtage ground of -*o-
gress, where they would 'never lose their new-

foUnd impttas.
The history of that period is fruitful 'with
morals and warnings 'to the present one. Mr.
BRIGHT has played the Tart of those who, at that
crisis; pressed the country into the threes' of inci-
pient madness and to the verge of revolution,
Portundtely he has ifound no capital tto work"
'upon; and people will not yet believe" the great
principle" to be at Stile. No one ,of,any charac-
ter or weight is new looking for more. than a
reform in details ; Aor at least desires.it. One of
the "nest extraordinary features of the =moment is
nevertheless, that there is great danger lest amid
t-14 viietness and unanimity of opinion, new
Principles are stealthily creeping-in, and that
England may bcteriding more andlnore to that
which we have been told was falsely predicted as
the issue of the lirst Reform Bill; but which
Prediction it is perhaps yet too soon to pronounce
false •or exaggerated.

Trrn NEW STTrENDIARY MAGISTRLTE.—Yesterday,
the town was taken by surprise when-it was rumoured
thatßir G. C: Lewis, disregarding the-recommendation of
the-Town Counciliin favour of T. S.Maffies, as stipen-
diary magistrate, had appointed Mr. Bowan to that
honourable and onerous office. From the unanimity
with•which all classes backed up the'representation of
the, Town. Council in, representing the fitness. of lir.
Reifies for the office, no one entertained an idea that his
claims would be, or could be, set aside for those of a
stranger; and most people, even yet, refuse to believe
that•ene so highly recommended, by parties having such
an enterest in the appointment, could be overlooked. In
every, quarter where the matter has .been talked of it is
condemned as a mere party mancouvere, and many
maintain that it is an affront to the Town Council, and
on the town of. Liverpool.

THE LATEST NEWS.

IBY BRITISH AND IRISH MAGNETIC TELEGRAPH.'

FRANCE.

PARIS, JAN. 24.

The Teport of Prince Napoleon's departure-for
London: is unfounded. •
The ,P,c,trie of this evening denies the statement
that Marshal Valliant is about to return to France.

THE. EW COUMERCIAL TREATY.
The _Pays says the treaty of commerce between
France and England Was signed yesterday. A
delay being necessarytor the ratification of the
treaty, it Will not be published before the 3rd
of February. Relative-to the substitution of pro-
tective for .prohibitive duties;the treaty will only
be put in force in July, 1861.*