Northern Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1859-02-04 00:00:00

INTARAI WINTER CLOTHING,

TELE

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TO CORRESPONDENTS,

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asecompartieci by the author's real name and address, not neces-
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AMUSEMENTS, MEETINGS, &c.—THIS DAY.
ravrtrait 11.oTAL—Grand Comic Pantomime.
VAS. AMPEITUEATRE—ERgIiSh Opera Company.
SMILIII's CIRQUE VARlETE—Miscellaneous Attractions.
`" PARISIAN GALLERY OF ANATOMY, Paradise-street.
as' MENAGERIE Foot of Shaw's-brow.
name HALL (Lime-street)—Ascent of Mont Blanc.
,TWIN HALL—Christy's Minstrels.
particulars•see -advertisements on Sth page

Mt&Niry

ril)r litirtijPrn

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY

4, 1859,

THE DAY'S NEWS

Yesterday-, Parliament was opened by her
Majesty in person. The day was remarkably
favourable for the proceedings. The sun was
bright, the atmosphere clear and frosty, and the
sky unclouded. Vast crowds of people were con-
grpgated in the streets through which her Majesty
itimeeeded to the Houses of Parliament, and
"It is needless to say that she was received
lwitis vociferous cheering. The Queen's speech
as the occasion
riare. . will be found in its proper
be first anaistisitated in the scriptures, the last shall
is the first last—so it is here, the subject
ii.' Reform
the 'Speech, wherein to in the final paragraph of
is stated " attention shall
be called to the statue Oiti laws which regulate
the representation of the people
said on
in Parliament."
This is all that is
on the subject of
Reform. The prosperous
rndition of the
country is alluded to ; an
success of
Car arms in India calls forth an 210gium on the
British army for their deeds in t:ice far off land.
49afr foreign relations are very
Majesty says :—" I received from all Her
foreign
pawers assurances of their friendly feeling
cultivate and confirm those feeling, to maintains:°
isyiolate the faith of public treaties, and to
e
tribute as far as my influence can extend totT-
Fis:servation of the general peace, are the objects of
=v =IT unceasing solicitude." After a passing glance
st the various treaties entered into since the
(2514011160 n of Parliament, and a few words eon-
asstsdating this country on the abandonment of
ithe free negro emigration scheme by the Emperor
Na,poleon, the gentlemen of the House of Commons
are unformed that the estimates for the ensuing
will be submitted to them. "They have
= framed with due regard to economy, and
the efficiency of the public service."
'•
la the House of Lords, the Earl of Winchelsea
314grred the address in reply, which Lord Ravens-
iroirth seconded' .and after some few remarks from
164 .Granville,._'' who,. characterised the lonian.

difficulty as an " unfortunate affair," the address
was agreed to.
In the House of Commons the address was
moved by Mr. Trefusis, and seconded by Mr.
Beecroft, which was agreed to. The treaties of
1815 was alluded to, after which the House
separated.
Anew writ was moved for Galway in the House
of Commons last evening. We understand that
Mr. J. 0. Lever, of Manchester, the projector of
the North Atlantic Steam Navigation Company,
is a candidate for the borough.
The continental news continues of a most
warlike' character. The artillery of the army of
Lyons has been placed on a war footing. The
pamphlet entitled, " Napoleon 111. and Italy,"
is expected to have all the characteristics of a
manifesto of the Government. The Emperor
himself is believed to be the author of numerous
paragraphs. The determination to protect Italy
is said to be unmistakably though indirectly
expressed. A rumour is current in Paris that
the King of Sardinia is about to marry a sister of
the Emperor of Austria, the widow of the Duke
of Luchendary. If this is the case, how will it
effect the war prospects ? Austria, France, and
Sardinia would then be related to each other by
marriage.

We are in receipt of three days' later news from
the United States by the arrival of the steamer
North America, yesterday. In the Senate Mr.
Lennard -had introduced a bill authorising the
Postmaster General to enter, into an arrangement
for the conveyance of mails from New York to
Liverpool, or Southampton, at the rate of $12,500
average per voyage. A vessel had been
seized at New London, on a charge of
being a slaver. Another of those ungentle-
manly and disgraceful affairs between members
of Congress, had taken place in Washington.
The Hon. George Taylor and Mr. George
Waldon of the House of Representatives, had
been in collision, and struck each other with
umbrella and stick respectively. The President
had informed the Senate that no correspondence
between the United States and Mexico, respecting
the purchase of Cuba, had taken place further than
that which had already been laid before Congress.
General Santa Anna has been chosen president of
the Venezuelan Republic.
The Brazilian Mail steamer Avon has arrived at
Lisbon, from whence we have a telegraphic
epitome of the news. The expedition against
Paraguay had arrived at Monte Video, but as the
United States had accepted the mediation of the
Brazilian government, it was hoped that the diffi-
culty would be settled. The Brazil, Monte Video,
and Argentine Confederation had signed a treaty
at Rio Janeiro.

We are in possession of details of Australian
news to the 15th Dec. from Melbourne, and Dec.
10 from Sydney: A despatch from Lord
Stanley had been received at Sydney, stating
he had advised her Majesty to withhold her
assent from the St. John's Catholic College Bill,
in consequence of some assumption of title in the
preamble of the bill, on the part of his Grace
Archbishop Folding. The bill has received the
assent of both Houses of the Local Legislature
and of the Governor-General, and resolutions were
moved in the House involving first questions of
procedure as to religious sects in the Colony,
wherein it was affirmed, among other things, that
any interference of Lord Stanley with the Acts of
the Colonial Parliament was unconstitutional,
but on three several times on which resolu-
tions to this effect were moved, the House was
counted out.
A meeting of the shareholders of the Western
Bank of Scotland was held this week, at which a
report from the liquidators was read, and approved
of. It is exactly a year since the liquidators
entered upon their duties, and the results of their
labours have been so far satisfactory. The total
obligations of the Bank, when it stopped on the
9th of November, 1857, was nearly nine millions.
At the time the liquidators were appointed,
on the Ist of February, 1858, the amount
was reduced to £6,351,000 ; and now, at the end
of a year, the liabilities outstanding do not exceed
£1,770,000; towards which there are funds in
hand amounting to £474,000 ; thus leaving a
balance of £1,296,000 still to be provided for from
unrealised assets and arrears of calk It is, how-
ever, most satisfactory to learn that this balance
of liabilities will be eventually met without
having recourse to any further demand upon the
unfortunate shareholders.

At the Health Committee meeting yesterday, it
was reported that the deaths last week rose to
272 against 232 the previous week, and 254, the
corrected average of the corresponding week the
previous ten years.
The proceedings of the Workhouse Committee
will be found reported at length.
A number of dishonest shopkeepers were yester-
day fined for keeping illegal weights and measures.
Their names will be found in our 'police intelli-
gence.

THE QUEEN'S SPEECII

SPEECHES from the Throne, on the opening of
the Parliamentary Session, are never very satis-
fying to the public curiosity, or relieving to the
public anxiety ; and the Speech of her most
gracious Majesty which we were enabled to give
in a Third Edition yesterday, within a few minutes
after it fell from the Royal lips, is scarcely an
exception to the general rule. It communicates
but little beyond what was, or might have been,
looked for ; and even what it does inform us of,
upon the subjects expected to be introduced to the
notice of Parliament and the country, goes but
slightly, if at all, below the surface of the matters
in question. Still it is, upon the whole, perhaps,
satisfactory. It congratulates, it promises, and
it assures. And what more, under the cir-
cumstances of this country, and of the world,
could one in reason require in a Queen's Speech,
which is purposely prepared to be as indefinite as
it can, to be of the nature of a Royal Message
at all ?

Its opening paragraph itself, were there nothing
more, is full of satisfaction—as far as it goes. " I
am happy to think," says her Majesty, " that in
the internal state of the country there is nothing
to excite disquietude, and much cause for satisfac-
tion and thankfulness. Pauperism and crimp have
considerably diminished during the past year, and
a spirit of general contentment prevails." Cer-
tainly this were something—we will not say
worth knowing, because we knew it, or might
have known it, before ; but it is something worth
being assured of,—and it is pleasant to think, as
one cannot but do under such an assurance, that a
Session which it is hoped will be devoted to the
consideration of some of the most important
matters that could engage the attention of
Parliament, thus opens under such favour-
able, such encouraging auspices. Next in
interest, as a subject of congratulation, is that our
British Queen, and now our Indian Empress also,
should be in a position to declare to her Parlia-
ment and her people,—" The blessing of the
Almighty on the valour of my troops in India, and
on the skill of their commanders, has enabled me
to inflict signal
in arms against my
still
chastisement upon those who are
have ventured to encounter authority,m whenever
and
trustthey
y for ces;
that, at no distant pe •
110 I may be able to
announce to you the complete pacification of that
great Empire, and to devote my att • ention to the
improvement of its condition, and to h
t oblitera,

tion of all traces of the present unhappy conflict."
This, it is true, like the other, we had already had
the opportunity of acquainting ourselves with ; but
it is most satisfactory to be re-assured of it.

Then the assurance that our foreign relations
are all in aivamicable condition, and that there
will be an increasing' solicitude to cultivate and
confirm friendly feelings, to maintain inviolate the
faith of public treaties, and to contribute as far as
the influence of her Majesty's Government can
extend to the preservation of the general peace.
Other public treaties, we are reminded, have been
concluded,—one with the Sovereigns who were
parties to the Treaty of Paris 9f 1856, respecting
Moldavia and Wallachia ; another relating to our
commerce with Russia ; another for friendly
intercourse with China ; and another, to a similar
purport, with Japan. Still another, also, is on the
tapis, we learn, with the Emperor of the French,
respecting the discouragement of the slave-trade,
the partial revival of which had become so
imminent under the guise of a compulsory negro
emigration from the coast of Africa,—a system
which her Majesty has much satisfaction in
announcing the Emperor of the French has
abolished.

Returning to our domestic concerns,—the Com-
mons are, as usual, assured that the estimates for
the ensuing year "have been framed with all due
regard to economy, and to the efficiency of the
Public Service." And then an intimation is broadly,
and perhaps not unreasonably given, that the
"reconstruction of the British Navy, is rendered
necessary by "the universal introduction of steam-
power into naval warfare,"—to say nothing of
other and more ticklish causes, of which there will
be plenty,—and they will be expected to vote
liberally, " for an object of such vital importance
as the maintenance of the maritime power of the
country."

Then follows an allusion to the " various
measures of legal and social improvement,' to
which the labours of Parliament have been so
usefully directed in recent Sessions, as introduc-
tory to an intimation that Bills will be submitted
of further reforms, of a similar character,—such. as,
for assimilating and. amending the laws relating
to Bankruptcy and Insolvency; for comprehend-
ing, in one set of classified statutes, with such
_
modifications as experience will suggest, the laws
relating to crimes and offences in England and.
Ireland; and for enabling the-owners ofland in Eng-
land to obtain an indefensible title to their estates
and interests, and for the simple and secure regis-
tration of such titles.

And then,—last but not least ; nay rather in the
present anxious anticipation- of the country,
greatest of all,—comes..the all-absorbing subject
of Parliamentary Reform. Its introduction is
modestly, yet deliberately made. " Your atten-
tion will be called to the state of the laws which
regulate the representation of-the people in Parlia-
ment, and I cannot doubt but that you will give
to this great subject a degree of calm and impar-
tial consideration proportionate to the magnitude-
of the interests involved in the result of your•
discussions." Such are the terms—calm, discreet,.
yet, let us hope, earnest, in which this question of
questions is, by Her -Majesty, introduced to the
notice of her Parliament. More might have
been said,—and with great propriety, indeed, the
Speech might have opened with such a subjeet—
" this great subject," as her Majesty so truly styles
it. But n'importe. Attention is to be called to it ;
it is to undergo, let us hope with her Majesty, a
" calm and impartial consideration." It is not
said, as in the other cases, " I have desired. that a
Bill be submitted to you without delay," for
amending " the laws which regulate the represen-
tation of the people in Parliament ;" for the proba-
bability is that Ministers will not incur the
responsibility of a Bill of their own, in, the first
instance, but proceed by Resolutions.. But be the
mode of proceeding which it may, let us hope that
on so all-important a subject both Lords and
Commons will indeed exercise their deliberate
judgment ; and, with her Majesty, let us " firmly
pray that their councils may be so guided as
to ensure the stability of the throne, the
maintenance and improvement of our institu-
tions, and the general welfare and happiness of
the people."