The Northern Daily Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1857-01-06 00:00:00

Commtafai fiaTtl.-4515 On,

At half-past one o'clock, at the commercial saleroom,
Templc-court, 75 tierces and 21 barrels Navy Pork,
18 barrels Navy Beef, 450 boxes American Bacon,
and 136 boxes American Cheese.—George Badenach
and Son.
At twelve o'clock, at the brokers' office, 2, Dale street.
23,180 Buffalo Horns, and, 10 bags Tips.—Browne,
Hunter and Co.
At half past one o'clock, at Golding and Nash's saleroom,
Corn Exchange, Brunswick-street, about 1000 barrels
Damaged Flour.—J. and M. Harnett.
At twelve o'clock, at the brokers' office, 8, Lancaster-
buildings, 300 tierces Carolina Rice, 'end 78 barrels
Lard.—Sill and Meugens.

*.* For particulars see advertisements in seventh page.

AKUSEKENTS, PUBLIC MEETINGS, &c.

TIIIS DAY.

Theatre Royal—Piece and Pantomime-7 p.m.
Royal Amphitheatre—Equestrian Company-7 p.m.
Royal Colosseum—General Entertainment-6 30 p.m.
Liv,.r pool Sunday School Institute—Lecture-7.30 p.m.
St. George's Hall—Jullien's Unrivalled Band-8 p.m.
Li:,-rpool Academy's Exhibition-10 a.m. to 10 p.m.
To..vn Hall—Masonic Ball-8.31) p.m.
Gayton Hall—Miss Julia Sr. George-8 p.m.
Allsop's New Crystal Palace-10 a.m. to 10 pm.
Freernasou's Hall—Gallery of Anatomy-11 a.m. to 10 p.m,

*.* FAL' particulars see advertisements in first page.

Elje 3,l,lfriltitrn

TUESDAY, JANUARY 6, 1857.

THE DAY'S NEWS.

Several matters of much interest have taken
place since we last addressed our readers. And
first it is our painful duty to record, that on
Saturday, during the heavy gale that prevailed on
the Welsh coast, the Point of Ayr life-boat went
off to a vessel in distress, and when opposite
Rhvl, the boat capsized, and all her crew, 13
in number, were unfortunately drowned. What
renders this melancholy disaster the more de-
plorable is the fact, that all the men except
four were married, having large families. The
boat, bottom up, and some of the bodies, have been
washed ashore. We may mention that the Rhyl
lifeboat had previously gone to the vessel, which
sank off Abergele, and saved her crew. A Rhyl
correspondent writes us on the subject, and
remarks, "We are assured by a competent
authority that the whole of the life-boats of the
Liverpool Dock trustees are of a very imperfect
description, and are only partially fitted as life-
boats ; in fact, they are in every respect inferior to
the improved class of life-boats which are now
being placed on the coast. There are three vessels
between here and Abergele shattered to pieces.
The Rhyl tubular life-boat, which belongs to the
Royal National Life-boat Institution, went out this
morning at 9 a m , as soon as her crew could after
discovering the signals of distress, and succeeded
in saving four lives from one of the vessels. The
crews of the other vessels had, as far as could be
ascertained, succeeded in getting ashore before
daylight in their own boats. The captain of one of
them, after once getting ashore, went again to the
assistance of one of his crew, and was so exhausted
by his efforts that he died very soon after getting
ashore the second time. The life-boat behaved
admirably, although the surf ran very high." Con-
nected with this subject, we may mention that
intelligence of the loss of the ship, and the fate of
the crew of the lift-boat, was received by the
Semaphore Telegraph here on Sunday, but was
not sent to either the Underwriters or Exchange
loonis. Such negligence is very reprehensible,
and cannot be passed over without some explana-
tion from the parties responsible for such an
Omission of duty.
The nearer we approach to the meeting of Par
liament, the more numerous are the reports Of
Cabinet changes, but as yet they seem to be " idle
gossip " got up by " our own Correspondents " of
certain provincial journals. No Cabinet Councils
have been held lately, and the most of the ministers
are out of town. Tile Ministry, upon the whole, is
so thoroughly united upon everything as rather to
_s
41....va5.
Ontious and sensitive might be expected now and
then to differ in opinion, especially about such
things as an expedition to Persia and the bombard-
ment -of Canton, but no Premier was ever more
fortunately situated for unanimous Cabinet Ginn-
'ells on all points than Lord Palmerston.
In the whole of yesterday's impression we
announced exclusively that the Archbishop of
Paris had been assassinated. According to the last
advices from Paris, it appears that a priest had
been interdicted from the performance of his sacred
calling, and he revenged himself by plunging a
poinard into the heart of the Archbishop. And
this was done in open day while the Archbishop
Was officially, on Saturday afternoon, at the Church
of St. Etienne du Mont. The Archbishops of
Paris would indeed appear to be most unfortunate
men. The public cannot have forgotten how the
predecessor of the present Archbishop fell on the
barricades in Paris, in June, while exhorting the
people to peace. The Archbishop who has now been
Alain was equally pacific and Christian in his doc-
trines, a Republican in politics, a liberal Catholic in
theology, and one of those amiable churchmen whom
we might have supposed to be, in a moral sense,
beyond the reach of an enemy. The following are
the particulars of the case. After the performance
of the ecclesiastical ceremonies the procession
pasSed round the church in solemn splendour
and returned to the nave, when the Archbishop
paused, to bestow his blessing on the crowd which
had been attracted by the gorgeous spectacle.
The good prelate had raised his hands, and was
in the act of saying the Benediction, when an
unfrocked priest, named Verges, rushed out from
amidst the crowd, drew a poniard from his
gaberdine, and plunged it into the Archbishop's
heart; then, fearful lest his deadly vengeance
might not have been sufficiently slaked, he
drew forth the reeking weapon from the wound,
and plunged it again into the Prelate's bosom. The
attendant priests then rushed forward and seized
the assassin ; the people also surged onward, and
th© Archbishop fell amongst them, his blood rush-
ing forth upon the floor of the church. They
raised him up, and bore him bleeding to the
sacristy, where he breathed his last, muttering,
with dying breath, "le Malheureux," as extreme
unction was being administered to him. After
gasping forth a few sobs, he faltered forth his soul
and expired, shadowing forth in dying murmurs,
the benediction which had been so untowardly
interrupted. The crime was so utterly unexpected,
seeing the sanctity of the place, and the religious
feelings with which such a spectacle would natu
rally inspire so impressionable a people, or that
small portion of the people who still assist at the
observances of their Church, that such an event
was held to be impossible; even when the blood
gushed forth, staining the floor of the nave, and
the gorgeous archiepiscopal raiments, the assem•
bled prelates and people could not believe the
dreadful tale that their eyes had told them. Even
the Grand Vicar of the Church, the Abbe Surat,
who stood beside the Archbishop whilst he was
bestowing his blessing on the people, did not even
perceive that he was wounded until the prelate
fell at his feet bathed in blood. The assassin
declares that he has committed this awful crime as
a protestation against the doctrine of the Immacu-
late conception. A Sister of Charity, who had
observed the movement of the assassin, and
attempted to throw herself between the Archbishop
and him, was wounded in the hand. The assassin
made an attempt to escape in the crowd, but he
was seized by five or six of the congregation, and
narrowly escaped being strangled by them. In his
ex tmination before the authorities he answered
coolly. He says he was suspended without just
cause

With respect t.) the Paris Conference we have
very uncertain news. The Constitutionnel says the
Plenipotentiaries met on Saturday, but the
Moniteur contains no illusion to anything of the
sort.

The Austrian Gazette—not an official organ--

ridicules the assertion of the Ost Deutsche Post,
that the Austrian troops would be unable to quit
the Principalities during the winter. Austria has
never shrunk from winter campaigrp, why should
she now from a mere peaceful march? The Austrian
Gacette seems either to think better than the Post
of the Austrian Government, or to be the more
independent paper of the two.
The present state of the Prusso-Swiss dis-
pute is very exactly delineated in the Prussian
despatch of the 28th December, the Prus-
sian Government having preferred to give it
publicity at once by means of its own organs.
The position of Prussia is this :—She will not
mobilise her troops until the 15th of January. Up
to that day she will be content with the simple
release of the prisoners, and, for the rest, is ready
to enter into negotiations, to give up her
sovereign rights over Neuchatel. Should the de-
cree of mobilisation become•necessary, Prussia
will then insist on the restoration, pure and simple,
of the King's sovereignty in Neuchatel. At the
same time Prussia disclaims' any intention of weak-
ening the independence of Switzerland, although
a hint is thrown out unfavourable to the protection
which Switzerland accords to political refugees.
The West India mail has arrived at Southampton.
From Jamaica we have little political intelligence
of moment. The Legislative Assembly was getting
on steadily. The health of the island was not
satisfactory. The accounts from Barbadoes and
Demerara respecting the crops were satisfactory.
Martinque was suffering from yellow fever.
There are several matters of local interest, which,
together with the Manchester Bill for the Con-
servancy of the Mersey, will be found reported at
length in other columns.

THE movements of the Cotton trade are of
sufficient importance, in a national as well as in
a local point of view, to justify our devoting more
than ordinary space and attention to the subject.
Corn has, for the moment, given place to its sole
rival, as a standard by which we can measure the
future of industry and trade. There is now,
thank Providence, no cause to fear a Corn famine.
We have, however, been overtaken by a scarcity
of Cotton ; and the worst of what may, in truth,
be called a crisis, is seriously apprehended in the
best informed circles. For the advance which
has taken place in prices we are indebted to a
stringent money market, and sudden suspension
of public confidence, dating directly from the
statute book of the realm. The natural current
of trade was recklessly interrupted in Septem-
ber last by the Bank screw ; and of the Id.
advance which has since taken place in prices,
id., or 10s. per bale, may be safely set down as
the loss to the nation from this cause. Manches-
ter has been the greatest sufferer, and must con-
tinue to feel the worst effects of the present
organised system of interfering with the commer-
cial business of the country. That we shall be
closely pressed for American Cotton cannot be
denied. The deficiency of stock in Great Britain
on the 31st December, as compared with the cor•
responding period of last year, was 153,730
bales, and the falling off in the exports from
United States ports to Great Britain, as advised
by the .4frica, is set down at 178,016 bales,
making a total deficiency of 231,746 bales. To
this must be added the deficiency of the present
crop which is set down by some at 200,000 bales,
and by others at fully half-a-million of bales.
Vastly as these calculations differ, they
enable us to form a tolerably correct idea
of our exact condition, as far as Ameri-
can Cotton is concerned, up to the ../Ifrica's
lent-IM* 7)74 'sll d'Er sf;o -be`=educed
by the week's business. If we receive 30,000
bales from the United States this week, our
stock of American will be, in all probability,
reduced below 150,000 bales. The bulk of
English orders sent out to the United States at
the opening of the season appears to have been
based on the supposition that the American mar-
kets would give way under the depressing influ-
ence communicated by our own; but the hope
proved fallacious, and the orders were conse-
quently far below the range of prices on the
other side. In the absence of the usual number
of liberal orders from England, considerable
quantities of Cotton have been shipped, and are
shipping, to this port on consignment; but what
will it cost to sell at a remunerative price ? The
last advices quoted New Orleans middling at ll'ic
to 121 c, with freight id. to Liverpool. When to
this we add the expenses of shipment, commission,
cartage, and other minor charges, together with
the expenses of sale, it will be found that the
Cotton cannot be sold here, without loss, under
71d. per lb., and to have the smallest profit, Sd
per lb. must be realised.

Our closing prices, on Saturday, for New
Orleans middling, was 7/d. How long it will
remain at l2i cents at New Orleans, it is impos-
sible to say ; but, if we may judge from the
accounts of the crop, received from men of every
shade of opinion in the States, it seems to be
more likely to advance than to recede. We learn
from the New York journals, that the Northern
spinners, whom we supposed were well supplied
with raw material, are well nigh bare of stock,
having kept out of the market wherever practi-
cable, in hopes that the dull accounts received
from Liverpool would lower the Southern quota-
tions. If this be really the case, they will now
have to buy largely while it is yet time, and the

quantity available for shipment to Europe will
be materially reduced. We care but little, as
our readers are aware, for the opinions of our
Transatlantic cotemporaries, or those of private
individuals at home; but here we have the broad

----
'acts—figures which are incontrovertible—before

our eyes, and we would not have the public or
the trade treat them too lightly. To Lancashire
Cotton is its daily bread ; and we cannot believe

that, with the prospects now before the manufac-
turing districts, her MAJESTY'S Government will

- ---
submit tamely to a renewal of the intense move_

:ary pressure we have endured for the last three

months. It has now been proved that dear
money leads to dear produce; and it will be

useless to tell commercial men that, if money
should become cheaper, and Cotton advance in

price, as it must in our opinion, that low dis-
counts have brought the evils of increased cost of
raw material on the country.
In support of the above statement, we subjoin
the latest telegraph from New Orleans by the
Africa :—On Monday, the 22nd (December),
the market was firm, with sales of 8,500

bales,; middling quoted 1 lic. to 121 c.:
freights firm at 19-32 d to d; exchange, 8 per
cent. Mobile, 22nd.—Holders very stiff at 12c.
Sales chiefly for export. These prices, it must
be observed, are for strictly middling Cotton,
which is the only quality in which any per-
ceptible advance has taken place in our market.

Our neighbours, the Cotton Lords of Manchester,
are certainly wise, in their day and generation.
Their jealousy of the rapid progress of Liverpool,
has, for a length of time, been notorious ; and in
nothing has their envy been more conspicuous,
or displayed greater keenness, than in their
determination to effect a spoiliation of our Dock
Rates and Town Dues. For some years the
attempts made to effect the abolition of the latter
have been notorious. Session after session, Govern
rnent influence has been enlisted ; and last year,
Mr. LowE was secured to bring in a bill, under
Government sanction. The provisions of that
measure were so glaringly unjust, and one-sided,
that Lord PALMERSTON was induced—in order to
appease a popular outcry, to withdraw the bill, and
referred the matter to a Select Committee. As
our readers are aware, a vast deal of evidence
was taken, but so constituted was the

committee that no report was presented,
or agreed to ; the only thing which was
done being to report the evidence collected,
and to leave Mr. Lowe to take such further steps
in the way of legislation on the subject as seemed
proper to him and his quondam friends of Man-
chester. It is well known that the Right Hon.
the Vice-President of the Board of Trade, during
the enquiry to which we have alluded, acted
more as an advocate for Manchester interests
than the Chairman of a Parliamentary Committee,
and exercised all his talent and ingenuity, both
as a lawyer and a statesman, to make out the
semblance of a case against the right and title of
Liverpool to the Town ,Dues. Day after day did
he badger the witnesses who appeared on behalf
of the Corporation, exhausting all his powers of
cross examination in trying to extort an
admission that these Dues were not founded
upon law or justice, and that their exaction
was regulated upon unsteady and uncertain
principles. An apparently fair case was made at the
outset by Mr. HERON, Town Clerk of Manchester,
on behalf of the party whom he represented and
acted for; but when Mr. SHUTTLE WORTH, our talented
Town Clerk, was examined, he brushed away the
historical cobwebs which seemed to obscure the
mental vision of the Right Hon. Member for Kid.
derminster, and tore to atoms the flimsy preten-
sions, arrogant claims, and unjust designs of the
spinners and cotton manufacturers of Lancashire.
Latterly, the " leading journal" has been treating
its readers to one-sided disquisitions upon the
labours of the Committee on " local dues on
shipping." As Mr. Lowe is regarded as one of the
chief " leader" writers of that paper, it was evident
that something was intended, and that next year
the same interested and sordid band, who inctuced
the government to bring in the bill of last ses-
sion, would make another attempt to effect the ques-
tionable objects which theyhave in view. The articles
in the Times bear upon them the impress of the
source from which they come, and as a climax to
the entire agitation, we are presented with a pro-
gramme of the scheme which will be laid before
Parliament in the approaching session, in the
shape of an enactment intituled the " Mersey Con-
l‘rarielin t eY• papers 'Bl-Y 0617,7•Ttryn. f C,rovairerini
importance, we publish it in extenso, But for the
convenience of such of our readers as may be in-
disposed to wade through such a dry and lengthy
article we now proceed to summarise its contents.
The Bill sets out with a tedious preamble, begin.
ning with the Act 51st of G3O. 111., constituting
the " Trustees of the Liverpool Docks." The
act making Trustees, to consist of twelve
Town Councillors and twelve Rate-Payers, was
regulated by a recent statute, Victoria XV.
Chap 64.. A reference is then made to the election
of chairman by the Town Council, and his having
the power to give a casting vote. The power of
the Corporation to levy Town Dues and rates
upon all vessels entering the port of Liverpool, for
the support of buoys, beacons. lights, &c., is
referred to. The several acts for the construction
of the Birkenhead Docks are then cited, and the
circumstances which led to the amalgamation of
the Birkenhead and Liverpool Docks narrated.
Considerable stress appears to be laid upon the
report of the Committee of the House of Com-
mons, to which the Liverpool and Birkenhead
Bills were referred, and by %horn the bill brought
forward by Liverpool was rejected. The preamble
winds up by asseverating that not only the manage-
ment of the Docks, but the conservancy of the
Mersey, the regulation of the pilotage, harbour
lights, and all matters, including the collection and
appropriation of the Town Dues should be vested

in a public body elected by persons who pay dock
rates. To effect this object, and to deprive the
people of Liverpool of full control over their dock
property, as well as to filch from them an impor-
tant source of revenue, to which by right and pro-
scription they are as justly entitled as are the most

noble peer and exalted commoner to their estates

the bill proceeds to enumerate the "ways and
means" by which this wholesale system of spolia-
tion is to be effected. The new act is to come into
operation on the Ist of January. 1858. The board
is to be termed the Mersey Docks and Barbour
Board, eighteen to be elective, and three nominated

by the Conservancy Commissioners. The cream

of the bill appears to be the 15th section, which

constitutes every British subject who pays £lO

annually in dock rates, an elector.

A lis

of the electors qualified to vote is to be made
out on the Ist of August each year, and to
))e affixed on the Town Halls of Liverpool and
Manchester. A revising Barrister is to make out,

and revise tho list of voters annually. The poll is
to be taken in one day, and proxies are to be

admitted. Both the Docks of Liverpool and
Birkenhead are to be transferred to the Board,
who have power to hold the property on previous

trusts ; and by section 27, the Town Dues are to
be transferred to the said Board. Such are the
main principles of this singular piece of proposed

. •
legislation. It assumes that the Liverpool Docks

are public property—that Parliament has a right
to interfere and dispose of them as it

thinks fit ; but this is a point on which

our Manchester neighbours will have difficulty
in establishing. Again, the Town Dues are by
a hind of coup detat to be taken from their

lawful possessors, and that too without any com-
pensation for the loss which such a proceeding
would entail upon Liverpool at large.
Allow these gentlemen of Cottonopolis to have