Northern Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1859-07-02 00:00:00

THE DAY'S NEWS

Mr. Milner Gibson and Mr. Richard -Cobden
took the oaths and their seats in the House of Com-
mons last night. In answer to a question, Mr. Sydney
Herbert stated that the present administration intend
to carry out the views of their predecessors, with
regard to Rifle Corps. - Arms will be furnished to 25
per cent. of the volunteers. Nothing of any striking
importance was before the House, which adjourned
shortly after six o'clock.

In the House of Lords, • the Duke 'of Somerset
declared, in answer to Lord Brougham, that every
exertion would be used by the present ministry
to place. our navy en a proper footing. Mr.
Lindsay intends to move for a committee of the
whole House, to consider the question of remov-
ing the burdens and restrictions on the Merchant
Shipping. Mr. Hadfield intends to move for copies
of all treaties and documents, which engage this
country to take up arms against any other nation.
Mr. Maguire has given notice of a motion, drawing
attention to the necessity of granting a charter to the
Roman Catholic University of Ireland.
The War news this morning is unusually meagre.
We have no further accounts of the battle of Solfe-
rino, nor any details of the position and prospects
of the contending armies. At Paris it is believed
in some quarters that the French loss on the day
of the battle of Solferino amounted to from
16,000 to 18,000 men, divided as follows : Niell's
corps, 6,000 to 7,000 ; Hillier's, nearly 5;000
wMahon's, 2,500 ; Canrobert's, 1,000 ; and there are,
besides, the casualties in the artillery and special
corps. The public are dissatisfied with the scantiness
of the details as yet published in the Moniteur.
The Vienna correspondent of the Times, writing
en the 28th, states that some days were expected to
the received of
lapse
e losses'f of the Austriansurns on the 24th. The same
-writer asserts that the Italian regiments have become
very difficult to manage. The men desert by scores

and fifties. In the neighbourhood of Trieste,. a
whole battalion raised a cry -in favour of Victor
Emmanuel. A vessel on the coast, under the American
flag, has been detected taking deserters on board after
dark. The municipal body of Vienna have waited
on.the Minister of the Interior, offering to maintain
peace and order in case it was necessary to despatch
the garrison of Vienna to the seat of war. The
Invalide Russe says that Austria ought to think
seriously of peace. She is endeavouring, to secure
the support of Germany and Prussia, but in acquiring
powerful armies, she might, at the same time, array
against her still more powerful enemies. In that
case Europe would be inundated with blood, and for
nothing else than to preserve Lombardy to Austria,
though that province can never more belong to her
morally. The Paris Constitutional argues that
Germany is not in a financial condition to warrant
the Confederation taking up arms. While the an-
nouncement of the new loan of twenty millions
produced-in France tender for five times the amount,
even Prussia could not obtain very little superior to
the amount for a loan for five times less. The
Bavarian government, too, which asked for a loan Of
10,000,000 francs, only obtained 3,000,000. The
Independence Belle states that the new English
Minister has addressed counsels of moderation to
the German States, cautioning them in la,ngtiage
alike serious and firm, against the dangers of encou-
raging a policy which might lead to a general war.
The people of Milan have made a threatening
demonStration against the Jesuits, whom public
rumour accuses of keeping up a secret correspondence
with Austria; An American gentleman, Mr. Per-
kins, of Boston, his wife and three ladies, narrowly
escaped being massacred at Perugia.
.The Evening Star says, that it is enabled to state
"on the best authority that Mr. Cobden has com-
municated to Lord Palmenton his decision to decline
the offer which that nobleman had made to him, of a

a seat in the Cabinet. That offer has been declined, we
have reason to believe, in the same frank and cordial
spirit as Mr. Cobden told us at Liverpool in, which
it had been offered." The Star in making the above
announcement, adds :—" In arriving at this conclu-
sion, Nye feel confident that Mr. Cobden has been
actuated solely by consideration of the public
interest, and certainly without any feeling of
antagonism to the Government. If any such
feeling had existed it -must have been dispelled
by the anxiety manifested by the leading members
of the Cabinet to secure Mr. Cobden's To-operation.
There is so much identity of opinion between Mr.
Gibson and Mr. Cobden, that while. the former
continues to hold a place in the Government
Lord Palmerston may, We imagine, calculate upon
the independent support of Mr. Cobden ; at all
events it will secure from that gentleman the most
favourable interpretation of the actS and the most
generous appreciation of the motives of the Govern-
ment. Had Mr. Cobden joined the Cabinet he would
have felt bound to abandon his position the moment
that he found a policy pursued in opposition to his
matured convictions, and until such a contingency
arrives he will, we feel 'sure, afforded to it his inde-
pendent support.
The• Bank Returns, as published in last night's
Gazette, show an increase of £210,892 in the amount of
Bullion, and a decrease of .X 606,015 in the Reserve
of Notes, while the Active Circulation has increased
by ,E 817,815.

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SOLFERINO

As a memorable scene of human slaughter, this
place, having had its name given it to the great
battle of last week, will become as famous in the
annals of war as Marengo or Waterloo. The actual
extent of the sacrifice of, life can scaraely yet be
ascertained, but it is believed to fall little shoit of
forty or fifty thousand men altogether; for there
was sixteen hours continuous fighting, and every
hour, it is estimated, tivet or tbree thousand fell on
either side. To think of the horrors of such. a day,
may well make one, sick. at ,heart. "A death
struggle," as one of our contemporaries has well
described it, " between three hundred thou Sand
armed soldiers, with the flash of musketry, the
charge of horse Men, the thunder of six hundred
pieces of cannon' heard in distant pities, a struggle
which begins at. sunrise and ends 'only at sunset
when the days are longest and the sun is hottest,
and between two of the greatest military Powers,
with all those appliances which science and ingenuity
have created for the destrnction of mankind--=such
a conflict is- not to be tamely regarded as a work
or skill, as a chivalrous undertaking; or even as an
unavoidable tragedy. It combines more- of infuria-
ted passiOn,' of human vain-glory,. of remorseless
bate, and of irredeemable misfortune, than the wordS
of any language can. describe. The battle of Solfe-

rino may realise the most hideous conceptions, that
have ever. been entertained of that Pandemonium
which is reserved for the unjust; yet in many re-
spects it must have been worse." Yes, worse, we
cannot but concur in thinking it must have been,
than even all that is hideous to human conceptions
of any day's conflict and commotion in hell itself.
And, as the description continues, it was a spectacle
" in which the blood-drenching fiends as 'well as the
helpless victims were human ; at which men preyed
upon men, and long lines of countless hosts fought
all day for mutual extermination, the very elements
of nature being, as it were, roused from their calm
attitude by the wrath of man." And all this, for
what P Louis NAPOLEON says.of it,. to the remnant
of his hosts,. that " the blood has not been shed in
vain for the glory of France and the happiness of
the peoples." But can that be glory, which. su#ll
murderous outrages inflict ? Or is " the glory of
France," if such it is to be, of so much worth as to
justify the sacrifice of forty or fifty thousand human
beings? 'While as to "the happiness of the peoples,"
what security is there for that ; Or, if there be any
whatever, is it only to be purchased at so tremendous
a sacrifice ? The amount of suffering that must
have had to be endured on the awful day's proceed-
ings, and the extent of misery and woe which it has
occasioned, could never be necessary to the happi-
ness of any people; and on this Occasion it'must not
be expected that there will be any- happiness what-
ever in its issues. Such, indeed, is not the career of
him who puts forth such pleas ,for his sanguinary
acts. Despots at home can never be believed to care
for the " happiness of the peoples " abroad. SlTfiey
care for their own " glory," it may be, but not 'for
their people's happiness. If that were the object,
they would seek it by other means. It is asked, we
observe, who is responsible for their horrors ? And
there need be no hesitation in saying, that the
French Emperor is mainly if not wholly so. At any
rate, without his stirring up of the, quarrel, they
would never have been perpetrated. He was the
moving cause ; and his was the hand which drove
that cause into effect. If he did not both lay the
train, and apply the match, there would ha've been
no ignition of it but for the spirit he breathed forth,
and the means he provided for the explosion. He
gave the word : it was his fiat on which the action
was taken. And, as it is truly remarked, "a pro-
clamation of war is a death-warrant to multitudes of
the human race; it is ruin pronounced upon whole
communities of people ; it is an injunction set up to
stop the progress and happiness of mankind; and no
man who has had even the remotest connection with