Northern Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1859-02-03 00:00:00

violation of the treaty, which does not come into

operation until that date.
The Manchester papers publish the particulars
of a tragedy of a most horrifying nature. A
beerhouse-keeper, named Robinson, residing in
Albert-street in that city, brutally, and, so far as
appears, causeleisly, murdered his wife, attempted
to set his house on fire, and then with much deli-
beration hung himself. The husband was 52 and
the wife 50 years of age. Jealousy appears to have
led Robinson to this triple crime, though, from all
accounts, this feeling was without- cause. Two
daughters, one 20 and the other 18 years of age,
are workers at a mill in Manchester.
The death of Mr. Charles Phillips, one of the
Commissioners of the Insolvent Court, of London,
is announced. The learned judge was struck with
apoplexy on Monday, immediately after quitting
the bench, and he never afterwards rallied nor
spoke.
An effort is being made to get the monopoly of
the navigation of the Thames abolished, which
is now in the hands of the Waterman's Company.
An address to the Queen, congratulating her
upon the auspicious occasion of the birth of a grand-
son, and heir to the Prussian throne, was decided
upon at the meeting of the Town Council, yester-
day., A report of the financial sub-committee was
presented to the Council, wherein it was stated
that the income from the corporate estate for the
year ending the 31st of August, next, would be
about 103,9601., and the obligatory expenditure
83,8201., leaving a gross surplus of 20,140/. ; but
as the continuance of branches of discretionary
expenditure, which has hitherto been sane-
. tioned annually, together with the sum
of 3,0001. for sundry improvements already
sanctioned by the Council, would amount
to £9,577, the available surplus would be only
£10,563. Mr. Stewart, in moving the adoption
of the report,- stated that the debt of the Liverpool
Corporation on the 31st of August last was
£1,177,428, that it had declined to £1,045,000 on
the Ist of-January, and at the present moment it
was only £971,364. He complimented the Dock
Board for its punctuality. in the payments as
sanctioned by the Act of Parliament. Mr. Glad-
stone drew attention to the rent which was re-
ceived from the tobacco warehouse, and asked for
some explanation on the subject. Mr. Stewart
stated that the lease to Government had yet to run
eight years, and although Government had offered
them the lease, they did not think it advisable to
take it off the hands of Government. Mr. Stewart,
in moving that £2,000 be granted for the support
of the Corporation Schools and other religious
purposes, was interrupted by Mr. Jeffery, who
stated that although the Finance sub-committee
had arrived at the conclusion that there would be
a surplus of £20,000, he could tell them that there
would be a deficit of £23,000 alone in the water
accounts ; and was proceeding to allude to some
discussion which took place at the meeting of the
Water Committee, on Monday, when several
of the councillors interfered, avering that Mr.
Jeffery was out of order ; that gentleman
contended that he was in order, but the Mayor
and Town Clerk gave their decision_ against him,
_ _

and as Mr. Hodson said that the Wafer Commit-

tee would not call upon the Finance Committee to
make up any deficit, the subject dropped, and the
motion passed. Some discussion took place on the
proceedings of the St. George's Hall Committee
being read. They included a recommendation that
Mr. M'Kenzie, the keeper of the hall, be allowed
£1 for each night the Hall was engaged. After
some remonstrance from several members of the
Council the recommendation was carried. On the
motion of Mr. Ryley, which was carried by a vote
of 19 to 18, it was ordered that a return be
presented to the next meeting of the Council, of
the entire cost, up to the present time, of
St. George's Hall, together with an estimate of the
further outlay and probable time which would be
required for its completion. The only other
business of importance transacted was that of
coming to the determination of appointing a
superintendent of all the markets, at a salary of
£3OO per annum.
The war question begins to assume a most
alarming aspect. All parties seem to be confident
that we are on the eve of a struggle between

France and Austria. Our Paris advlces state that
orders have been issued to call home all French
ships of war, on foreign stations, which can
possibly be spared from the particular service on
which they now are. If we are to put
faith in the Paris correspondent of the
Times, France is averse to war, while

Austria is prepared to brave the worst. We
also observe that there are lively speculations
afloat as to the position England will take in the
event of a war with Austria on the one side and
France and Sardinia on the other. The Opinione
of Turin makes very pointed reference to a note
addressed by Lord Malmesbury to the Piedmontese
Government, which the editor has evidently seen,
and he would give us to understand that it
is written in such a way as to imply that our
Government would not be found hostile to the
action which Sardinia may take in working out
her ambitious schemes. Other Continental jour-
nalists, however, speak of Lord Malmesbury's
note as conveying a somewhat opposite meaning
to this. Indeed, the Opinione seems conscious
that it has not supplied the proper interpretation,
for it goes on to say that the " moderate and
courteous form of the note proves that the English
Government believes itself obliged by its position
to give to its policy in Italy a direction which,
perhaps, its diplomatic despatches do not suf-
ficiently express." So it is 9nly because Lord
Malmesbury is courteous that we are to infer he
is favourable to Piedmontese aggression. A

pamphlet is expected to make its appearance in
Paris at the end of this week, which, like other
recent pamphlets, will be regarded as having a
semi-official complexion. Its author is M. de
Laguerriere, and its topic the Italian question.
Advices from the Brazils, via Havre, state that
the old Ministry had been dissolved, and giveS the
names of the leading members of the new
Administration.
We have a few details of Australian news by
the Columbian. Political affairs, both in Victoria
and Sydney, were progressing satisfactorily, if not
quite smoothly. In the former the bill to increase
the number of members of the Assembly, and in
the latter the electoral bill had received the royal
assent. An attempt of the Victoria Assembly to
bring Ministers before it for examination, respect-
ing the appointment of Magistrates, was resisted
as unconstitutional, and defeated, The harvest
was safe. Trade was dull. Gold ships, with the
precious metal to the value of half a million ster-
ling, had left the colony for England.
The West India Mail steamer Parana, has
arrived at Southampton with a fortnight's later
news, and 916,000 dollars in specie. The Islands
were generally very quiet and prosperous. The
revolution in Hayti was spreading, and the
Emperor had been twice beaten by the Republican
army. At Chili, revolutionary movements appear
to be bursting into a flame, and in all probability
the government will be overthrown. The
Brazilian fleet were about to be sent to the waters
of Paraguay, to observe the movements of the
United States fleet. Very serious riots had broken
out at Peru.