Northern Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1859-02-14 00:00:00

THE DAY'S NEWS

The amounts from Paris dated Friday evening.
state that Ni.
allowed
p asstaogaepsi,aara
Emile Girardin's Pamphlet-had been
but not until sundry objection-
ablereferenbeen expunged and, which it
is said, had
to his opinions as to the
impracticability of wcaei. and liberty being too plainly
stated. The
pPamarpishietrespondent of the
Herald says the
adsacslestined to make con-
hesierable sensation, and
For many years
has laid aside his pen, On't "
express ground
that as he could not write freely,he preferred not
writing at aIL A year ago he N he
under a bor-
rowed signature a few articles in the Courier
de Paris, with the heading,
and Liberty." The theme was is a Empire
to the authorities, the manner greeable
it still more so, and the journal treating w
given to understand that the series as soon
be • discontinued. Since that time, m_ in--
de
--;
Girardin, who has long been closely connected with
Prince Napoleon, has accepted office under hil-I'l
a member of the consultative council of Algeria,as
and, therefore, must be considered to have rallied
to the empire through the prince, and perhaps on
condition that he may enjoy a certain latitude to
develope that liberal side of Napoleonism of which
the Prince has to be .considered the repre-
sentative. So far as can be judged -of the tenor
of his pamphlet, from a hurried first reading,
it seems to us to be written under A'
sort of tacit understanding that he should be

allowed to express his own opinions very plainly
against the particular practical war which is now
imminent, on condition that he should ventilate
the idea of a grand universal war, which he perhaps
thinks would be still more congenial to the
mind of the Emperor if *ere were any
chance of the country supporting him in it. He
thinks that to make war for the miserable
purpose of turning Austria out of Italy
would be an unworthy " waste of powder,"
which had better be kept to be used
against—pleasantprospeet !—Prussia and England.
He combats with great ability, paragraph by
paragraph, the various pretexts put forth by the
official pamphlet, " Napoleon 111. et l'ltalie," to
Justify an armed intervention in the Peninsula.
He shows, in terms which must severely try the
temper of the imperial prompter of that pro-
duction, that the deplorable state of things
now existing in Rome is not justly attributable
to Austria, bat to himself, on account of his
having bombarded Rome in 1849. He ridicules
the idea of making the Pope President of
an Italian Confederation, and quotes Napo-
leon I. to show the impossibility of reconciling
the Pope's spiritual infallibility with temporal re-
sponsibility. The emancipation of Lombardy
from the thraldom of -Austria, which he admits to
be most desirable, he thinks might be attained by
time, peace, and the pressure of opinion, and he
positively joins issue with the pamphlet on one of
its main positions—that Austria can never be
expected to yield without fighting, becauSe she
would be committing suicide. But in. the second
part of the pamphlet he says that if, con-
trary to his opinion, France feels the " absolute
necessity" of making war, he would like to see
a general war carried on by the aid of a Russian
alliance against England and Germany for the
purpose of avenging Waterloo and founding two
grand empires—the Empire of the West for
France, and the Empire of the East for Russia.
This scheme he show's by copious extracts 'from
writings of Napoleon I. and Napoleon 111. would
be a true carrying out of the " Idees Napoleon-
iennes." He concludes :—"lf the object be to
interfere in the affairs of the Romans, to place the
Lombards under the Piedmontese government, in
spite of the remembrance of the assembly of
Lugano in 1848, and" to have an Italian confedera-
tion presided over by the Pope, we shall say,
Peace ! If it be wished to take reveng-e for
Waterloo, to restore the left bank of the Riine to
France, tb realise, in fact, the programme of St.
Helena and of Ham, and to found the great
European Association, we then say, War ! Either
war with its conquests or peace with its pro-

- War rumours continue still in the ascendant, but
nothing further had transpired to show in which
way the present difficulties will ultimately be
solved. A Paris correspondent says, " Though six
weeks have elapsed since the first tidings of a
serious misunderstanding between France and
Austria first threw Europe into a panic, a solution
appears as far off,as ever. Nevertheless, I am as-
sured that diplomacy has not been idle, but it does
not appear that any satisfactory understanding has
been arrived at. It would be premature at this stage
of the proceedings to state what has been done ;
it will be sufficient to say that as yet Austria has
steadily refused to make concessions which the
Cabinet of Vienna feel would amount to the aban-
donment of all the Austrian possessions of Lom-
bardy. The Paris papers state that in every arsenal
in France, guns and stores are on the move to the
Mediterranean, and to Lyons. In the canton of
Ticino, and in that of Valais, Swiss volunteers are
being enrolled for service in the Piedmontese
camp. A demand has been made on the federal
Government by Bavaria, to allow war steamers on
the Lake of Constance. The Duchy of Nassau
has imitated the Chambers at Munich by a pro-
hibition against horses going into France ; and
Deputy Rau, at Wiesbaden, on the Bth of Feb.,
made a violent speech about the " solidarity of all
German States," whose duty it is to rally round
any single member of the confederation, when its
territory is violated. He moved an address in that
sense to the Diet at Frankfort.

The Danish Government has found it necessary
to contradict officially the rumour that it was in
treaty with President Buchanan for the sale to the
United States of its island of St. Thomas for a good
round sum.

The alarm at Rome, in what is termed the
" sacred college," manifests itself in the sending of
a special Envoy, Cardinal Brunelli, to remonstrate
at Paris against any change in the state machinery
of that part of Italy. The actual Nuncio, Saccom,
is not listened to here.

At no former period Were there so many
archbishops and prelates from the various
provinces of Austria gathered at Rome as if for
some common object—the Primate of Hungary,
ditto of Croatia, and. a score of others seem to be
at work, and it is generally supposed that the
innumerable difficulties the new Concordat en-
counters from the civil authorities all over the
empire is what they have on hand, most of them
having had interviews with Kaiser Franz Joseph
before their departure for Italy.
_ _

Next Monday (14th) is fixed for• the grand ball
at the Hotel de Ville, given by the City of Paris to
Princesse Clotilde. A credit of 250,000 E is voted
by the Town Council for that occasion.

The depression in the value of British Rail-
way Stock is just now occupying a good deal of
attention. It is remarked that one of the imme-
diate causes of the prevailing uneasiness rests
with the unbridled violence of an influential
portion of the French press.. Hitherto the Paris
journals have been amenable to the slightest
direction emanating from the government. Re-
peatedly they have been warned off forbidden
fields of disCussion. It is an inevitable consequence
of this system that when they launch out in a
bold strain, the onus of permission, or of direct
inspiration, rests upon the government. No
wonder, then, that a constant agitation is kept up
in the public mind, seeing that the principal
journals including one which is notoriously
inspired by a near relative of the Emperor—
as well as distinguished pamphleteers, who
are known on former occasions to have been
put forward as mouthpieces of the Cabinet,
vie with each other in invectives against
Austria, and in disparagement of the validity
of those treaties upon which the peace of
.Europe depends. The Siecle, for example, has just
distin,guished itself by an article which boldly de-
rides the treaty. of 181.5 as out of date, and as calling
for repudiation on the part of the second French.
Empire. We know well that the French censor-
ship of the press is no myth ; why, then, if the
Emperor's intentions are pacific, are such pains
taken to fling down the gauntlet to foreign
powers, and to inoculate the mind of the fickle
French nation with the idea of coming war ? -
A dreadful fire occurred at 85, High-street,
Whitechapel, London, on Saturday morning, by
which two persons unfortunately lost their lives.
The particulars are given elsewhere.
The election for the West Riding of Yorkshire,
to supply the vacancy caused by the elevation of
Lord Viscount Goderich to the House of Lords,
takes place to-day, at Wakefield. Sir John Win.
Ramsden is the only candidate in the field, and it
is expected that his election will be unopposed, as
he has received the support of the leaders of the
Liberal party, and the Conservatives have resolved
not to contest the seat unless some unforeseen
opposition be got up by some of the Bright
school. The election for East Worcester-
shire, in the room of Colonel Rushout,
will take place either on Saturday or Monday
next. There is a good deal of excitement through-
out the county, and meetings continue to be held
on behalf of both parties, Mr. Pakington is now
in London, having been obliged to decline taking
an active part in the canvass, since the first week,
from
an attack of indisposition, but itjis understood
that he will be present in person on the day of
nomination. In the meantime, Lord Ingistre and
the Hon. F. Lygon attend public meetinga on his
behalf.
At the Police Court on Saturday, the magistrates
d
Prince,
e o,
o n
her
were engaged for sometime in, hearing a' very
amgegric•
ahvaant te
casel fassault
passaage
mate of the vessel.
from Bombay to
, committed on board the
Liverpool, by the captainP
The case against the ea tall was dismissed, but

the mate was fined five pounds. The report
worthy of perusal, in another cohimn.

THE PAPER DUTY.

IF the answer'of Lord DERBY to the deputation
that has waited upon him, as First 11iinister of the
Crown, respectingthe repeal of the Paper Duty,
is to be regarded: as extinguishing all hope of
so manifest an act of justice and expediency being
done in the present Session of Parlia,ment, it will
certainly create very general and very great
dissatisfaction., It was scarcely to be expected, per-
haps, that the Premier should give any positive
promise on the subject, especially if the Chancellor
of the Exchequer's financial details are not yet
all decided upon and arranged. But we would
fain hope that so important an object as that of
the repeal of a duty which not only impedes the
promotion of general education, and the spread
of useful information among the masses, but
obstructs and depresses the trade in a most impor-
tant staple product of the country, and thereby
operates to the discouragement 'of enterprise
and industry, will not be considered unworthy,
in' the present state of the nation, of hav-
ing some, sacrifice made for its accomplish-
ment,: should that be necessary, rather • than
any longer continue the evils that it is to remove.
We say in the present state of the nation, more
particularly with reference to the measure of
Parliamentary Reform which her Majesty's
Ministers are on the eve of bringing forward.
That measure is to provide for a larger extension
of the suffrage,—certainly it will not be accept-
able to the country if it does not,—it is to bring
within the pale of the Constitution, as it were, a
vast accession of the respectable working classes.
How all-important, then, that among such classes
there should be promoted that intelligence which
is to qualify them for the right discharge of the
,
new obligations to -be imposed Upon them as Par:-
liamentary electors. Ignorance, want of correct
information, and the misconceptions and preju-
dices arising therefrom, can alone render such
,an
extension of the electoral franchise in anywise
adverse to the true interests of the kingdom. And
if the Paper Duty has the effect—as there is the
most indisputable proof that it has—of preventing
the people gaining all the useful knowledge
they will now more than ever require, in
their more responsible political and social
position, then most unquestionably does the
subject of the repeal of that Obnoxious and

pernicious duty assume a far greater importance
than before, and become so urgent as to call for
even a financial sacrifice to effect it. It is a
political axiom most incontrovertibly sound and
true, that in proportion as the structure of a
system of legislation and government gives force
to public opinion, such public opinion should be
enlightened by the general diffusion of useful
knowledge, and public intelligence. And if
the Paper Duty obstructs, as it has over and
Over again been shewn to do, that necessary
diffusion, then is its repeal, in fact, a most
indispensable accompaniment of any such measure
of Reform.

Let us hope that such considerations as these
will yet prevail. It is very likely that, in the pre-
sent state of the national finances, such a remission
of duty may be inconvenient.. But it must be
remembered, that it is a duty which the House of
Commons has already condemned its impolitic;
and that on this account, if on no other, it ought
immediately to be got rid of.