Northern Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1860-01-16 00:00:00

TO CORRESPONDENTS.

Short letters are invited on matters of public interest. They
should be legibly written on one side of the paper only.
Under no circumstances can we insert communications not
accompanied by the author's real name and address, which
are required, nut necessarily for publication, but as guarat-
tees of good faith.

illartterit ghats

MONDAY, JANUARY 16, 1860.

THE DAY'S NEWS.

The details of news brought by the Indian
mails are upon the whole satisfactory. They
communicate the final dispersion of those rebel
bands which shave infested the Nepaulese frontiers
during the last six months : several prisoners
have been taken, and among them certain of the
leaders in the rebellion, who were at once con-
ducted to our camp. There is also intelligence of
Mr. James Wilson having entered upon his
official career. One of the first subjects to which
he appeared to have directed his attention, is the
salt tax, an increase of which he has recom-
mended,.with the view of enabling the tariff of
the income tax to be diminished.
The Americans would really seem to have the
knack, of managing the Chinese which we have
not. Their treaty has now come into force. It
opens Formosa and Swatow to them. There are
other indications of a better feeling towards
America than any that has yet been shown to-
wards this country.

We were enabled to publish in our telegraphic
news column on Saturday, the latest Parisian
version of Lord Cowley's mission, from which it
would appear that his object was to resume the
negotiations between England and France on the
basis of the non-intervention principle,—France
now adopting the same basis,—but it was pro-
posed that England should stipulate that any
teree exists,
ts The
England
Morninget, a virtual alliance between
,
at least,
of this principle by other Powers, was
ePost,st,
of however,or
London
o n says,dn
othe
h
to be treated as a CaSZIS belli : a proposition to
h
which, this telegram. says, the British Cabinet de-
clined to pledge itself without the consent of
Parliament.
newly acquired independence of Northern and
contemporariesrCeraniltre
aelalntdaly"
o length,
torecognise and protect
does not believe in the existence of
such an alliance, and looks upon the assertion
merely as a straw thrown up by Lords Pal-
merston and Russell to ascertain which way
the wind of popular opinion in this country
blows. Others of our metropolitan contem-
poraries are greatly at variance with each other
as to the practical bearing of such a " virtual
alliance," supposing it to exist. Does it
imply, as the Times thinks, that England shall

Monday, January 16,..1860.

have nothing ;More to do, in settling the future
destinies of Italy, than to act as the counsellor of
the great Power which has taken the: initiative
in the affair ; or must England, according to an"
other- conteinparary, be prepared, if need: be, in
consequence Of this "virtual alliance,' to employ'
her naval and military resources to put an end to
the difficulty—a result, we are happy to say',
which is all but unanimously deprecated. Bnt
why should there be any room for doubt or ques
tion upon so important a point—one upon which
the people of England have long made up their
minds andrdistinctly expressed themselves
the circumstances, we cannot help concurring
in the opinion that "it is fortunate the meet-
ing of Parliament will speedily put an end
to_ the irresponsible rule of the Premier and
his Foreign Minister." We might go further'
and say, with a Liberal contemporary, that if the •
Whig Cabinet have in any way committed us to
such an unwise course as would involve us in
hostilities in this cause,-" it would hold office not
a day after Parliamentary forms had permitted
an expression of opinion on the part of the House
of Commons."

The various, rumours which him been current'
in Paris, to the effect that the Pope was about to•
change his policy and adopt a wiser course, be
with the dismissal of Cardinal Autonellir
are said to rest on no sound foundation, and are'
thought to have been put into circulation by the
partisans of the Government, for the purpose of
exercising, to some extent, a counteracting
ence to the publication of the Pope's new year'9
address. It is now rumoured that " the majority
of the French Bishops have manifestoes ready to'
launch into public, but Rome hesitates to give'.
the signal." The Univers announces that the-
Bishop of Perpignan is about to publish an
answer to that on " The Pope and the Congress."'
The Pays of Saturday last, however, says--
" Should our informations be correct, the state of
affairs is daily improving, not only as regards:the
relations of the French Government with the
Holy See, but also with reference to those 'Ol
France and England." The crisis is evidently
at hand, and the French ministers meet in council'
almost daily.

By a later telegram, received la.st night, We
have news which seems scarcely in consonance'

with the foregoing statement as to the improved
relations between France and Rome, although, as-
will be seen, it is not unaccompanied by other
signs of a more hopeful character. It appears'
that the most important Roman Catholic As-
sociation, existing, at least ostensibly, for Clla-*
ritable purposes,—tlie Society of St. Vincent
de Paul,—has been selected by the French,
Government for prosecution—on what particular
grounds it is not stated—but it might not be Teri
difficult to form a probable conjecture. However,-
we shall, no doubt, soon hear more it. In toe"
meantime all the public functionaries have received
intimation that, if they choose to remain memh.rz
of that association, they must not expect to retain
their public situations.

By the same telegram we learn that, yesterday,
the Papal Nuncio delivered to the French Govern: f.
ment a formal and official protest by the Papal Go-
vernment against the programme of the pamphlet,
The bearer of this note left Rome on the 7th
instant, three days after the Pope had received
the Emperor's letter,—so that there can be na'
•mistake this time about the Pope's determination'
to enter the lists with the Emperor himself.
The Moniteur of yesterday contains a most
important letter of the Emperor to his Minister
Of State, M. Fould, in which he sets forth various
modes of carrying into effect his views for de-
veloping several great branches of the national
wealth, by freeing home industry and agriculture
from certain drawbacks, and by promoting foreign
commerce. In the agricultural interest mention
is made of grants for clearing, draining,. and.
irrigating land—and in that of commerce
and manufactures, the exemption from
duties of raw materials, particularly wood
and cotton,—the reduction of duties on sugar
and coffee, and. of the canal duties and
those affecting the transport of goods—the sup-
pression of certain prohibitions in the customs.
Money advances are to be made at a moderate •
rate of interest ; the reduction of. the national-
debt is to be provisionally suspended ; and several -
great public works are to be proceeded with.-
The Emperor promises that these measures are to,
be followed and assisted by commercial treaties•
for the exchange of products with foreign powers.-
We trust he will be met in a like spirit by the-
British Government. The Emperor concludes his•
letter as follows :—" Notwithstanding the uncer-
tainty still prevailing on certain points offoreign,
policy, one can foresee with confidence a peaceful
tls
nhNut.
Government
at
Legislativesii
suolnrrn
ioeeboepitfntao
sttri
nbhtboeesl
dtdeohd aysnitse
blessings
oact
igtu thesesmlAtthei
Austria
supports
ta.
rgi
ooa If , n
f the
reforms.hme s
Senate
aa
convincedmteaannxdtithohuaest
o
to inaugurate with them a new era of peace, and
France."O
rm
in repeldyththe Bcerrittaisinh
inquiries, that she had neither the will nor the
power to enter into another Italian campaign,
and that she would content herself with a pro-
test against any infringement of the treaties
of Villafranca and Zurich that might take
place. There is, to say the least of it,
a very suspicious frankness about this
declaration ; but, if it be so, it may to some
extent countenance_ the belief expressed in certain
quarters, that there is little or no danger of
Britain ever being called upon to take action in:
the settlement of the Italian question, even under
the terms of the supposed "virtual alliance.'''
But surely this is a contingency which it would
be madness for us to calculate upon ; for we
learn by n recent telegrara_that " at Vienna it i 3

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to,

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fully believed 'that the Government fully intends
Openly and actively to interfere in Central Italy
in favour of the exiled dukes and Papal Govern-
ment ; and the pastoral letter- of the Archbishop
of Vienna, published in the Wiener Zeitun.g, of
,the. 11th, confirms this fear." Why should we
be involved, in entanglements from which we
might find it difficult to escape ; for if we should
once allow ourselves to be drifted into hostilities
in
this question, who can tell where it would
end
A letter from Rome states that the Jewish
residents of the Ghetti are getting up a numer-
'll437 signed address to be presented to the Con-
gress, should it ever assemble. The deplorable.
Condition of these despised people must be well
known to most of our readers. The letter referred
to states, that " They are forbidden to study the
fine arts, sciences, or letters, and even to exercise
mechanical arts. They are also interdicted from
cultivating music. Woe be to any unlucky Jew
'who ventures to sing or play any instrument in
:Pulc'liol he is-at once seized upon by the police
and the Inquisition, and mulcted in heavy penal-
, ties." In Austria, on the other hand, the Jews
are likely to receive more justice at the hands of
the Christian : for it will be'seen by our telegra-
Phie intelligence by an imperial decree just pub-
lished, that a measure has been proclaimed which
is considered as the preliminary to one accord-
ing to Jews the same civil and political rights as
are enjoyed by members of other religious com-
munities."

THERE can lie nothing more painful, whether to
the Christian or the moralist, than to see religi-
-oils questions inextricably mixed up with poli-
tics. When we know what a strong,and almost
-unconscious tendency there is in the- secular
mind to distort religion into politics, even when
there is no obvious or natural connection between
them, we can see small necessity but the extrem-
-est perversity in forcibly and of set purpose
blending them together. The great difficulty is
in the most favourable and likely circumstances
to keep them apart. When religion, in fact, be-
comes public or national, and therefore in a
thousand ways concerned with social bonds and
complex interests, it must assume, what is called
policy. But the misfortune is that this policy,
though in theory it has a very recognisable and
Well-defined foundation of its own, and rules of
its own distinct from other forms of corporate
action, slides insensibly into those other forms,
though it seems of itself only to claim an indirect
though powerful influence over them. In the life of
a nation the division of politics into religious and
secular, though dreamed about, and talked about,
and laid down in theories and systems, has never
been realised in practice. It is like those ogical
abstractions which begins in the mind of the
philosopher and end there, finding no resting-
place in the external world. The mathematician
mentally forms a distinction between the length
and the breadth of a line, and even goes so far as
to assert that the latter quality has absolutely

nothing to do with the definition, but he never
thinks of looking anywhere but in his mind for
it, or dreams of its outward 'expression except in
words. Beautiful systems are drawn in, which
religion and politics are kept to their proper
spheres, and assigned bounds which they cannot
either of them pass. But this is, a theory which
never gets beyond the mind either of the zealot
on the one hand, or of the indifferentist on the
other. The one would make the Church every-
thing, and everything that was inconsistent and
opposite ; the other would ignore her existence
or her influence altogether, and assign her con-
temptuously to the maunderings' of the pious or
the fears of the weak. In actual life, however,
perhaps the result is something worse than
tither. The affinity between the two is cor-
ruptly and perniciously developed, and produces
that hybrid amalgam called the "religious world."
The place which religion occupies as a mere
adjective in this designation, only indicating the
acknowledged truth that where the Church and
the world are placed, in juxtaposition, it is not
the latter which is drawn up. to 'and interpene-

trated with the other, but the reverse.
Now, what is the appearance of things at this
koment in Europe ? It is a seriots view to take
of the Roman question, and one perhaps needing
considerable qualification, that what at present
distracts the councils of Emperors and Govern-
rnents, is an attempt made on a large scale to
mix' together politics and religion. It is not
religion which is the pretence of all this confu-
sion and debate, or even really at the bottom of
it, except as an undercurrent in certain solitary
and independent minds. It. is not as Bishop of
Rome or Head of the Church, that the represen-
tativeof the Papacy has now forced hiinself-upon
the public opiniim, not of his religious enemies,
but of his spiritual admirers and allies. Neither
is it to assert the integrity of his ecclesiastical
supremacy, that his subjects throughout the
world hold indignation 'meetings, and his zealous
bishops., issue pastorals, and that he himself
threatens anathemas, or clogs his blessings with a
condition. The fear which moves his followers
is lest his Papal rule should be unsecularised;
and rises in proportion as that rule is likely to
become less secular, and less entangled in. the
world's worst affairs. No one offers to interfere
with his ,spiritual character ; no sane person
dreams
that such interference could be successful,
nr even
possible, were it wished. What, or
who is it,
.that brings him before the world in his
character of temporal sovereign only ? And
what at is it that excites zeal so intense for him iii
this cluestionable presentation ? It seems idle to
char,.
tAirope, as is sometimes done,—even a
"El't portion of Roman Catholic Europe,—with
so disproportionate, with an importunity
useless, with a purpose so inacleque,te 0 the

.
finale of its execution, . astcataii drivenit with
maliee, aforethought into thestates of the Church,
in order to stir up a rebellion against their-legi-
timate sovereign. There is Surely no religious
mar, of whatever creed, who would sanction
rebellion, or approve of it in the abstract, -when
:accomplished, though there is a Roman Catholic
bishop who is able to conceive circumstances by
which it would be justified. But the question is,
there being a rebellion, -what is to be done ? The
Pope having called in ,other powers to advise,
what are they to do ? We submit it is too late to
ask whether foreign agents have been sent from
France and England to foment this movement.;
whether public men in those countries have en-
couraged it by their speeches, or whether i
general feeling throughout these and other
countries has not countenanced and indirectly
increased it. If 'the tale of these foreign agents
be a true one, we can only say that their calling
was dark and detestable, and that they who
exercised it merit the severest punishment of
justice, and the sharpest execration of •man-
kind. But what should embitter Roman
Catholic Europe against the Government of the
Pope, of all other Governments? Is it not the
notorious fact that, on the contrary, France—
supposed to be the least affected among Roman
Catholic Powers, towards it in its political, if not
its religious aspect—has lent it an irregular and
extraordinary support, and has shown more
anxiety about its position than is usually ,chal-
lenged by foreign Governments.? To suppose
that there is any principle now having sway in
the Councils of Europe, dictating opposition, for
its own sake, to the temporal power of Plus the
Ninth, seems to be one of those wild and fanciful
assumptions wlzieh cannot furnish a basis for
reasoning, and can only be answered by being
called " a begging of the question."
We think, therefore, there is some ground for
soliciting a fair interpretation of the motives of
the European Powers ; and that, not only should
the difficulty of their part be acknowledged, but
also, that it is a parethey would willingly be rid
of. In the meantime, however, recurring to the
idea we set out with, what aspect should we
think it natural for Pius the Ninth to assume at
this crisis ? Perhaps those who desire to look
upon 'him more as a minister of religion than in
any other character, may be simple people, and
-unfit for the practical treatment of a perplexed
question. Yet we cannot help taking this serious
view of the subject,—that religion is suffering in
the persons of those who claim to be its repre-
sentatives ; and that some one is responsible-for
its detestable union with the politics of the
world. We say if the Pope be the guardian of
religion, on him it rests, more than others, to look
to it; and that, whatever be his vindication, he
must at least accept the, greatest share of the
responsibility.

THE LATEST. NEWS.

[BY BRITISH AND IRISH MAGNETIC TELEGRAPH.]

FRANCE.

PARIS, Dec. 15.

It is stated that the French Government is
going to proceed against the Society of St. Vin-
cent de Paul—the most important Catholic chari-

table association in France ; and the Minister of
the Interior has already informed all the public

functionaries that they must choose between re-

maining members of that association and retain-
ing their offices of public functionaries. '
It is also reported that the Papal Nuncio
delivered yesterday to M. Baroche, a note of the
Papal Government dated January 7th, containing

•
a formal and official protest against the pro-

gramme of the pamphlet " Le Pape et le Congres."
Abbe Compieta, who was bearer of this note, left
Rome on the evening of the ith, three days after
the letter of the Emperor of the French had been
received by his Holiness..
The Moniteur of this morning contains the
following— letter of the Emperor to M. Fould,
Minister of State The moment has arrived
for applying ourselves to the means of giving a
later development to the different branches of
national wealth. I communicate, to you here-
with the basis of the programme of reforms,
several parts of which will have to receive the
approbation of the Chambers. Our foreign com-
merce must be developed by -the exchange of
products ; but we must first improve our agri-
culture, and free our industry from all anterior
impediments, which place it in a position
of inferiority. A. general system of sound
political economy can, by increasing the
national wealth, spread prosperity among the
working classes. Every year the State grants
considerable sums to agriculture for clearing
woods situated in plains, and lowering hilly
ground. The great works of draining, irriga-
ting, and clearing the ground, are to be continued.
To encourage manufactured productions it is
necessary to exempt all duties on primary articles
indispensable to industry and to advance capital,
at a moderate rate of interest, which will assist
in perfecting the material. By these measures
agriculture will find an issue for its produce—
industry freed of all anterior obstacles will
advantageously compete with foreign products,
•
and commerce will make a fresh advance
to counterbalance , the reduction of duties on
primary materials and provisions of great con-
sumption, the redemption of the public debt will
provisionally be suspended. The Emperor's letter
then sums up the intended reforms—Suppression
of duties on wool and cotton ; successive reductions
of duties on sugar and coffee; consecutive ameliora-
tion &f the means of communication ; reduction of
the canal duties by a general lowering of transports
cost; loans to be grauted to agriculture and industry;