Northern Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1859-04-12 00:00:00

THE NORTHERN TIMES, TUESDAY, APRIL 12,_.,1859

'AMERICAN -AFFAIRS:

FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.

POLITICAL NEWS : DISHEARTENED CONDITION OF
THE PRESIDENTIAL PARTY. EXTRAORDINARY
MANIFESTATION OF FEELING AT SAVANNAH IN
FAVOUR OF THE SLAVE-TRADE. RAILROAD CON-
VENTIONS ; THEIR CHARACTER AND OBJECTS ;
QUARRELS AMONG THE COMPANIES BENEFICIAL
TO THE PUBLIC. A DISTINGUISHED VISITOR TO
THE NEW YORK HERALD OFFICE ; HIS APPRE-
CIATION OF AMERICAN JOURNALISM. THE NEA-
POLITAN EXILES; GREAT DISAPPOINTMENT AT
THEIR NON-ARRIVAL AT NEW YORK. SPIRITUAL-
ISM ; EXPOSURES OF ITS IMMORALITIES ; FREE
LOVE AND FREE THINKING. CRIME IN NEW
YORK ; MORE MURDERS.

There is no political news of any particular moment.
The determination to dispense with an extra-session
only gives satisfaction to those whose party interests
would have suffered by such a session. The Pre-

sidential party are still, however, in something very
like despair ; and in the last issue of the New York
Times is the following statement in evidence of this :
Mr. Buchanan's Administration has done what
everybody, until within the last few months, deemed
absolutely impossible. It has incited a large number
of its friends to look to General Pierce as a Presi-
dential candidate. Up to Mr. Buchanan's time
General Pierce's Administration was considered the
weakest and the worst the country had ever known.
Since then it has been so far surpassed that people
actually look back upon it with envious admiration."
Now I am not supposing that this is literally true.
But when such things can be said by a respectable
and influential journal, it shows that there is some-
thing "rotten in the State,"—and that, as drowning
men will catch at straws, so a falling party will
have recourse to any expedient.
The Northern newspapers relate, on the authority
of a letter from the spot, an occurrence at Savannah
which affords another striking illustration of the
desperately demoralised state of public feeling on the
subject of the slave-trade. You no doubt remember'
the case of the Yacht Wanderer, condemned as a
slaver, as having been caught in the very act. This
Yacht was sold the other day, at public auction, by
order of the United States' Court. Its owner's name,
when captured with slaves on board, was Lamar ;
and it appears that when the auctioneer commenced
the sale, Mr. Lamar stood forth and, addressing the
company, said—" Gentlemen, this vessel belongs to
me in every sense of the word. She has been taken
from me by the high hand of the law. The United
States claim her, but I say she is mine ; and I shall
not expect any one to bid against me. And I bid
one dollar for her." Mr. Van Horn bid against him,
and the price was run up to %4,000, at which the
vessel was knocked clown to Mr. Lamar. The
successful bidder then turned to Mr. Van Horn and,
with words too profane and indecent to be repeated,
knocked him down. The fallen man rose to defend
himself, but the sympathy of the company was so
manifestly with the assailant, and the indications of
violence and bloodshed so plain, that his friends took
him away, some of Lamar's backers calling out,
" Charley, kill him !" which the writer of the letter
does not doubt would have been done, had any
resistance been made. This display of brutal feeling
is certainly quite in character with slavery; and it is
only another instance of the debasing influence which
the system produces on the public mind.

Bc;ilroaci Conventions hive been very plentiful
lately,—that is, meetings of deputies from various
Railroad Companies, for making arrangements to
promote their general interests. "Most frequently,"
I see it stated, " the conventions are for the purpose
of reconciling the differences between the great
roads that are in direct competition for the carrying
trade between the lakes and the seaboard, and to fix
the rates of freight and of passenger fares, the hours
of starting, the rate of speed, the employment of
agents, the discontinuance of free passes, &c. Some-
times it is found impossible to reconcile opposing
interests in all these respects, and the convention
breaks up without effecting anything. When an
understanding is had, however, it is never more than
a mere temporary cessation of hostilities; and the
truce is sure to be violated within a week or two of
the day when it is solemnly entered into. Then the
various roads underbid and try to ruin each other
till the suicidal policy of that game becomes felt,
and till it becomes imperatively necessary to patch
up another truce. Another convention is called for
that purpose, and new arrangements are made, only
to be violated as soon as the high contracting powers
return to their head-quarters." It would not seem,
therefore, to be of much use holding such conven-
tions, to the Railroads themselves—whatever it may
be to the public. But sometimes it does turn out to
be of public advantage, temporarily at least : for
their quarrels, which are more apt to arise in Conven-
tion than out of it, do not unfrequently produce a
system of competition, through rivalry, which often
tells very considerably in favour of the public.
The New York Herald has been publishing an
account of a visit to its establishment of a distin-
guished Russian traveller. Dr. Hammel, of whom it
remarks that he "is well known in this country as
one of the most distinguished men in Europe, and
his intimacy with the family of the reigning
Emperor, and his father before him—having been
the associate of one and the preceptor of the other—
proves that his merit as a man is equal to his talents
as a scholar." The Herald people state —" He had
heard of the astonishing celerity with which news
was issued from our office, and could hardly realize
it in his own mind. He wanted to see an extra
Herald got out himself, and he begged to be sent for
on the arrival of the next foreign' news. His
request was complied with, and on the receipt of the
news from the telegraph office he was taken into our
composing room to witness the despatch with which
business was transacted. Here everything seemed li
incomprehensible to the doctor, as he surveyed, the
rapid movements and business air of the men with
whom he was surrounded. He watched the copy
as it reached the composing room; he saw it was.
unprepared, and he looked about for an editor,
but he saw none. His surprise increased as he
saw the compositors taking the copy away to
their cases without asking any questions ; and as
each returned with the matter in type, and placed
it properly in the form, his admiration and
amazement were unbounded. During the time this
was going on the Doctor was silent, and it was not
until the forms were lowered to the press-room that
he gave vent to his feelings. His first exclamation
was, ' My God ! I see it all. Here every man is
au editor every man a master—every man a
scholar.' It seemed as if a new light had burst in
upon the Doetor, and that he at once comprehended
the reason of the progress of America in all her
industrial pursuits. I see it all,' said the Doctor,
with emphasii, ' and on my return to Russia I will.
inform my Emperor of what I have seen. It is the
intelligence of the people—the diffusion of know-
ledge,' " They further state, that the Russian
notability,—who, it appears, has come across the
Atlantic on a voyage of political and social dis-
covery,—told them that on his return home he
would endeavour to introduce the American
newspaper system at St. Petersburgh ; and one
may well imagine how the shrewd and polite in-
vestigator would laugh in his sleeve at the gaping
gullibility of his editorial audience. The following
winding-up of the account is too rich a bit of conceit
not to be given you : it cannot fail to tickle John
Bull into an outburst of uproarious laughter,—" The
Doctor appears to have become fully convinced, by
what he saw while in this country, of the superiority
of the free system of intellectual mechanical labour
over all industrial systems of the old world ; and no
doubt the opinions formed in this country by the
learned Doctor have had great weight with the
Russian Government in the consideration of the
subject of the abolition of serfdom." So that it is
Brother Jonathan who, after all, is becoming the
regenerator of the world !
There has been great, I had almost said grievous
disappointment, to find that the Neapolitan exiles
are not, after all, coming to this country, but that
you have got possession of them, and have thereby
intercepted us of an occasion of a grand display in
the cause of liberty. Independently, however, of the
oration to the exiles, it was intended to take advan-
tage of their arrival to mulct, and otherwise mark
with reprobation, their tyrant persecutor, the King
of Naples. " By, the law of the State (of New
York)"—such has been the published statement, in
anticipation of their arrival—" the Commissioners of
Emigration have the power to compel the owners

of-passenger- skips -to -give-bonds - for - the 'support
of such emigrants- as are unable to make a
living for themselves. Now, it is very evi-
dent that the. Italian exiles , cannot earn a
living, and the ships will be seized as security for
their sustenance for five years. But the Spanish
owners will have their remedy against the Neapo
tan government, and compel it to pay damages ; and
Ferdinand will find that, instead of the forty dollars
per head with which he expected to come off, he
will have to pay a pretty round sum. In the case
of the Des Jenneys the Sardinian Consul had to
deposit $5,000, and a compromise was finally
accepted. But in this case there will be no com-
promise. The law must take its course to the end."
This proceeding, however, the assurance was at the
same time given, was not to be " adopted to annoy
the exiles, who are men of character and position,
and who will be warmly received by our citizens,
but to mulct the King of Naples, and to mark our
detestation of his meanness and his tyranny in send-
ing out here, as if they were paupers or criminals,
men of education and refinement, and unstained by
crime, without any means of support, or immediate
prospect of a livelihood." But all this is now at end.
Your free country has been preferred to ours,—very

naturally, all things considered; 'and it must rejoice'
every freeman's heart to find them meeting with so
much English sympathy and kindness.
The revelations of the great convert from the de-
moniacal delusions of " Spiritualism," Dr. Hatch,
which I have noticed in a former communication,
are creating a very deep and painful interest in
really respectable circles. He discloses some
most startling proceedings; the common results
of the abominable system. " Profane and.
intemperate men," he declares, "libertines, adul-
terers and adulteresses, are openly upheld and
encouraged by the spiritual societies all over the
country and their public teachers in their sacrilegious
worship. Women, thirty or forty years of age, with
children growing up around them, and who have
abandoned their husbands, of whom they were not
worthy, and are living in adultery with their
paramours, produce abortion and arise from their
guilty couch and stand before large audiences as the
mediums for angels. It is fully acknowledged in
their public journals that moral character is no test
of qualification for a public teacher. Private circles
form no small share of this evil and delusion." And
then he describes the process through which this is
all brought about,—which is one too indecent to
pollute your columns with. Yet, strange to say,
even among sonie of the religious sects, this demoral-
ising system has found favour ! Out of it, not
unnaturally, arose that particular social libertinism
ycleped " free love ;" and this, it has been remarked,
invariably found easiest access among free thinkers.
The state of New York is appalling, as respects
crime. There have been at least a score of murders
during the last month. The last number of the
Herald before me says, - " Our record of crime to-
day is truly appalling. Scarcely is the excitement
attending one murder allayed, ere a fresh tragedy
equally horrible takes place. Since Wednesday last
there has been .nothino•t' but poisoning, shooting, and
stabbing, and already four unfortunate victims have
been sent to their last account through the instru-
mentality of the assassin." . The fact is, that not only
does new York abound with desperadoes, but there
is nothing to check them. The people won't let
the law be made a terror to evil doers—even mur-
derers.

SPECIAL MISSION OF THE
SARDINIAN AMBASSADOR
TO LONDON.
The Daily News has received the following tele-
gram from Turin :
" TURIN, Sunday, 4.20 a.m.—Cavaliere Massimo
D'Azeglio is to be sent to London on a special mis-
sion. He leaves Turin in a couple of days.'

GREAT APPREHENSIONS OF
WAR.

The Times says the preservation of the peace of Europe
appears, to the closest observer, to become from day to day
more desperate, and all probability favours the belief that
the struggle is even now upon the eve of its commencement.
The Advertiser publishes a despatch from Berlin, which
states it is assorted in competent military circles, that by the
Ist June, Louis Napoleon will have 600,000 men ready to
march, of which 150,000 are to be used in Italy; the
remainder for other eventualities. The tone of the Berlin
press is expressive of apprehensions of a general European
War.

The Paris correspondent of the Herald says that war is
now considered inevitable, and it is expected within a fort-
night at latest hostilities will have begun.

The Post, iu a Paris despatch of Sunday night, states
that Sir James Rudson, British ambassador at Turin,
had just left Paris for London. The Post has a despatch
announcing that the Austrian troops continued to advance
towards Piedmont, and were taking up formidable positions.
The 7th Army Corps has transferred its head-quarters from
Verona to Bergamo. The 3rd corps which, had
arrived only a few days from Vienna and established
its head-quarters at Breccia, has changed them
from there to Lodi. The sth corps still has its head
quarters at Milan, bat has commenced its march towards
the banks of Lago Maggiore. The Bth corps, which was
at Padua, is to be replaced by the 9th corps, now expected
from Olmutz.

The City Article in the Times conjectures, from the
movements that were taking place, that something has
transpired to reveal, a few days before the time, the pians
of the Emperor Napoleon.

THE NEW BARONETS.—CoIoneI George Stucley is to be
one of the new baronets.

The death of M. de Tonqueville, the great philosophical
historian, is announced.
The Conference of Paris remains yet disagreed on the
subject of the Principalities._

THE PRINCIPALITIES.—The Daily News announces
that there has been a change of Ministry at Bucharest.
The Times announces that Sir J. Rawlinson, K.C.8.,
will succeed the Hon. Charles Murray as minister at the
Court of Teheran.

The Herald's correspondent says that attention to business
has affected the health of the Emperor of the French, and
he has left Paris for a few days' shooting.

The Daily News repeats, after a weekly paper, the report
that two Lords of the Admiralty, Captain Carnegie and
Admiral Dandas, have abandoned their posts.

DRPARTIIRE OF THE BRITISH AMBASSADOR FROM PARIS.
—The Times announced that Lord Cowley was expected to
arrive in London either yesterday (Monday) or to-day
(Tuesday).
DEATH ?nom ALLEGED HYDROPHOBIA.-An inquest
was held at Wolverhampton, on Friday afternoon, before
Mr. Coroner Phillips, on the body of Thomas Price, a
labourer, at the Swan Garden Works in that town, who had
died a few days previously in terrible agonies. During the
paroxysms, he charged his wife with administering poison to
him ; and this, notwithstanding the marked character of the
symptoms exhibited by the unfortunate man, was considered
to render an inquest necessary. The post mortem examina-
tion, however, fully cleared the poor woman of participation
in her husband's death. Price was a great dog fancier, and
had, it is thought, been inoculated with the fatal virus by
some one of his canine pets ; but neither he nor any of
his friends seemed to have any recollection of his having
been bit, or any of his dogs having become rabid. The
ju found that the deceased had died from hydrophobia.
SHOCKING OCCURRENCE.—On Saturday an inquest was
held before John Tuttock, Esq., in the board-room of the
General Railway Station, at Chester. on view of the body
of James Haynes, who met his death under the following
circumstances. From the evidence adduced it appeared
that deceased was foreman of the smiths' shop, at the
General Railway Station. On Wednesday last the daughter
of Mr. L. Jones, the manager at theistation, was married.
The event was celebrated with much rejoicing by the
employes at the railway station. The deceased contributed
his part by firing fog signals, and powder obtained there-
from, by means of an anvil ; not satisfied with this, he
got an old cannon out of Mr. Jones's garden, which
he loaded and rammed down, and fired off several
times ; he however was not satisfied with the report,
and though cautioned by Mr. Mills, the station master, not
to overload the gun, he continued to ram in as much pow-
der as it would hold, and at length got a wooden plug,
saying he would now have as loud a report as from the
anvil. The bystanders, now fearful of the result, drew
off to some distance, and the deceased, having made a piece
of iron three-eighths' of an inch in thickness, and four feet
long, red hot at one end, lay down on his face about a yard
from the gun, and fired the char,P. The
thc face cannon burst, the
, and car-
butt end struck him on the
rigid away the entire bt,ad, the -- being scat-
tered amongst the fragment, idstotr that was
.
shattered by the
ban instau-
p
tineo us. 'n " Accidental
death." The us: .ears of ..r,

IMPERIAL PARILDIENT:

HOUSE OF LORDS.-111ognAT
The Chancellor took his seat at five o'clock.

CONVICTS

Viscount Dungannon moved for a return of the number
of convicts to whom tickets of leave had been granted during
the years 1857 and 1858. He observed that he should
bring the subject forward at the earliest opportunity in
the next parliament, and for that reason he moved for these

returns.
The motion was agreed to

TRAMWAYS (IRELAND) BILL

On the order for the second reading of the Tramways
(Ireland) Bill,
The Earl of Lucan objected to any measure of the kind
being confined to Ireland.
The Earl of Bandon approved of the bill, as likely to be
of great service in districts where there were no railways.

The order was discharged

Lord Monteagle asked the First Lord of the Treasury, in
what mode, and under what authority, it was proposed to
glye effdct to the contract, respecting the declaration of the
Irish mails, now upon the table of the House. He objected
to the yearly increase of expenditure removed from Parlia-
mentary controul, especially that incurred by the post-office.
He charged the contract in the present instance with
illegality, owing to the nrinner in which the funds were
raised out of the revenues of the post-office, and objected in
strong terms to contracts which were not open to public
competition. He trusted that the House of Commons
would interpose its just authority between the government
and the violation of its own rules ; as for the contract itself,
it was one of which he approved in itself.
The Earl of Derby denied the illegality of the transac-
tion, and explained the circumstances of the transaction,
which was founded on the powers given to the railway
companies to make contracts with the government. The
contract in question was made and signed by the late
government The transaction throughout bad been
perfectly open and legal. The funds for the execution of the
contract were entirely under the controul of the House of
Commons.

The Duke of Argyll admitted the state of the Irish packet
regarded the

service to be very unsatisfactory, especially as

Post-office arrangements

THE GENERAL ELECTION.
Mr. Lowe has withdrawn from Kidderminster, Mr.
Uuddleston being the more popular candidate.
Lord Ashley has appeared as a candidate at Cricklade.
Mr. Caird's retirement from Dartmouth is reported.
Sir Lytton Bulwer, Sir G. Grey, and General Peel, are
again offering- themselves' to their old constituencies.
The Hon. George Fitzwilliam has withdrawn from Peter-
borough.
Mr. Heathcote has withdrawn from Tiverton, where the
second son of Lord Denman has offered himself.
Mr. Thornley retires from 'Wolverhampton, and will
probably be succeeded by Sir Richard Bothell.
The extreme assiduity with which Sir Bulwer Lytton
had devoted himself to his public duties had at one time so
far affected his health that he had contemplated a tem-
porary retirement from the harassing arena of politics.
Fortunately, however, for the country, his intention will
not be carried out. 'We are glad to learn that he has been
the request of many of his most influential
to reappear as a candidate for the county of
induced,He
)ersonal exertion and fatigue in the contest. We sincerely
Hertford,
by
on
the understanding that he is to be spared all
constituents,
;rust that the short repose which Sir Bulwer Lytton will
')efore t

experient
enable him still to devote his ut
service of the country. Herald.

of the new parliainent will
ired energies to the

Mu. BRIGHT IN SIANCIIESTEII.-Mr. Bright, M.P., has
promised to be present at the conference of the leading
Reformers, which will be held in connection with the

Lancashire Refer
Free Trade Hall,

Union

kssembly Room of the

ernoon

(From the Dublin D

ARMAGH Bonor
Mr. Rond have ad;

all Killer, Esq., Q.C., and
tors of the borough.

COUNT

Verner, Bart., and Mr.

Close will be returned withon_ _
CASHEL Bonouon.—Mr. John -Carden and Mr. John
for this borough.
return for this

Lani,ran, it is said, Is
WICKLOW COUNTY
county is secured.

—Major Ormst