Northern Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1860-02-16 00:00:00

TO THE TRADE.

On and after Monday, the 20th inst., the DAILY
TIMES will be supplied by Messrs. HILTON
and Co., and at the Steam Printing Works,
40, Leigh-street ; the office 3, Brunswick-

street, (corner of CaStle4treet,) will be for
the receipt of accounts and subscriptions
only. • The DAILY, TIMES,
,h4ying r"w a
large and influential of Subscribers,
will be found the most desirable medium
for advertising in the North of England.

HIGH WATER, THIS DAY, AT LIVERPOOL.
• 'faun Height.
MORNING 6h. 38m. / lift. lin.
EvEin N

NEW AlooN, FEE. 21, at•7h. 21m. night.

The Hudson's Bay Seal Skin Cloaks and Jackets,
One Guinea 'each, at the New Shawl and Mantle Ware-
house, 40, Bold-street—Shellard. and Hodgson, Pro-
prietors.

TO CORRESPONDENTS.
We cannot answer G. A. 11.

r(rAletiorttlertt Mmes

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 1860.

THE DAY'S NEWS.

In the House of Commons yesterday, Mr.
Mellor moved the second reading of the Corrupt
Practices Prevention Bill, and Mr. Hunt seconded
the motion. Sir F. Goldsmid, Mr. A. Stewart,
and Mr. Collier took part in the debate,
which ended in the withdrawal of the motion,
on the suggestion of Sir G. :Grey to
refer the operation of the Act of 1854
to a Select Committee, which should inquire into
the whole subject. The Adulteration of Food or
Drink Bill was read a second time. The Tram-
ways (Ireland) Bill was referred ;to a Select
Committee;
_and the Charitable Uses Bill passed
a second reading. In Committee,• the House
granted £407,649 out of the Consolidated Fund
to meet a deficiency in the grrant for the ser vice of
the year ending 31st March, 1859. It was agreed
to produce a copy of the commission for enquiry
into the conduct of a Mr. Balfe, an Irish county
magistrate, at a recent election. The papers, in
this case, had been asked for with the view of
investigating the whole system under which such
commissions are issued,—a process upon which
hon. gentlemen passed some 'rather severe stric-
tures.

- . The. Canadian mail steamer Nova Scotian, it
will be seen from our latest telegraphic in-
telligence, touched at Queenstown last night.
She brings news to the 3rd instant. The most
interesting , piece of intelligence confirms our
prediction in this column on Tuesday, and the
Republicans have triumphed in the election of
Mr. Pennington as Speaker, by a majority of
one Mr. Forney was subsequently appointed
Clerk of the House.

The ',Reform party," as they call-themselves,
seem determined to make the Budget a party
question; There was unmistakeable' evidence of
this at a meeting of the Council of the Lanca-
shire Reformers' Union, held in Manchester on
Tuesday, which drew together a large collection
of the Radical Reform leaders of that district,
including Mr. Bright, M.P.,, Bazley, M.P.,
Mr. Heywood, and others, who declared that
it was " a happy day for those who had
been connected with the Anti-Corn-Law League,
and for the members of the Lancashire Union,
since many of those present would recollect
what up-hill work it once was to defend free-
trader—whereas they now considered it quite
plain sailing. The Chancellor of the Exchequer's
Budget was unanimously voted to be a free-trade
measure in which Manchester interests are
specially regared; and .of this there can be no
doubt, however injurious it may be to other and
greater national interests. Mr. Bright, however,
was more qualified in his expression of approval.
He regards the financial scheme as a combination
of good and bad. That which refers to free-trade
he considers inexpressibly good ; that which
provides for a. naval and military expenditure
he considered decidedly bad. Still he believed
there would be great difficulty in its passing
the House of Commons; and he called upon the
"reformers," therefore, to clamour for its support.
It is evident from all this, that Ministers will, at
least, have the Radicals at their back—a fact
which, we humbly think, is not calculated to
'increase public confidence in the constitutional
character of their financial scheme.
It is understood that the result of the meeting
of Conservatives at Lord Salisbury's residence, on
Tuesday, was a determination to oppose the
Budget—and this on several grounds, but chiefly
the disapprobation of the additional Income-
tax, the repeal of the paper duty under
the present financial circumstances of the
country, the extension of the wine and spirit
system, and the provisiOn of • the treaty 'with
'France relative to the export of English coal. An
amendment will therefore be moved by Mr.
Disraeli, and notice to that effect has, by this
time, no doubt, been given in the House of Com-
mons. It is stated, and we have no doubt truly,
that - Lord Derby declared, at the meeting on
Tuesday, his decided objection to take advantage
of, any of the provisions of the Budget for the
purpose of upsetting the Ministry. In the pre-
sent state of affairs, there can be no inducement
for the Conservative leaders to return to office.
At the same time, they have a duty
to discharge to the country, from which
we trust they will on no account shrink,
let the consequences be what they may.
Too many provisions of the Ministerial scheme of
finance are objectionable, as being directly op-
posed to the true interests of the country; and
with this the Conservative opposition must deal
honestly and resolutely. Should the Ministry be
defeated, it will then be time enough to consider

NN-hat is best to be done. It does not follow, as a
mat ter of course, that the Conservatives should,
at such a conjuncture, accept office.
The S:`ar, as the organ of the Bright party)!i,s

•evidently alarmed at the idea of a counter-pro-
posal to the Budget, and has all at once become
a most determined supporter of. 4he obnoxious
Income-tax, on the ground of its necessity to
enable the Chancellor of the Exchequer to carry
into effect those parts of his financial scheme,
which will almost exclusively promote Manchester
interests. "We cannot," says our Liberal con-
temporary, " we must not dream of doing away
with the tenpenny income-tax, if we are anxious
to obtain those reductions in Customs and Excise
which will give an immense stimulus to our trade
and industry, which will promote the" improve-
ment and education of the people, and which will
help so much to perpetuate peace between England
and all other countries. It must be THE BUDGET,

THE WHOLE BUDGET, AND NOTHING BUT THE

BUDGET:'

The adjournment of the French Senate and
Legislative Chamber, whose session was to have
begun last Tuesday, to the Ist of March, is a
significant movement. By that time, our own
Parliament w ill have pronounced their verdict on,
the Anglo-French Treaty. The French Govern-
ment, therefore, will then be in a position to dic-
tate to their legislature, not to legislate upon the
subject, but simply to register the Imperial
decrees necessary for giving practical effect to
the treaty. It is thus evident that it is not so
much a treaty between England and France, as
between a party in England and the French
Emperor, who in all these matters, it is clear,
exercises absolute sway.

The Times is at length constrained to confess
that the French treaty, as respects the Shipping
Interest at least, is so utterly one-sided, that it can
hardly pass without some modification. "It
reserves for France," it is admitted, " all the
advantage she attempts to secure by her Naviga-
tion Laws, and denies to us the power of reim-
posing our own code, even if we wished it. The
English merchant, besides that he has still to
meet high protective duties on English goods
imported into France, against no such duty on
French goods imported into England, will further
have tc, struggle, against another code of duties
and prohibitions for the .encouragement of the
French Marine." Well, therefore, may our ship-
owners protest against it ; and well may even the
" leading journal" trust that it will "at least be
amended!!

We would particularly direct attention to our
report of a very important and influential meet-
ing, yesterday, of the wholesale houses of Liver-
pool, on the subject of the Budget. It will be seen
that the meeting was most decidedly opposed to
some of the more prominent points of the Chancellor
of the Exchequer's financial scheme ; more espe-
cially to that involving charges to be levied for the
removal of warehouse goods under bond, which, it
was declared, would annihilate the present bonded
system ; while others were pronounced to be
antagonistic to • the principles of free trade, and
calculated to fetter the wholesale traders without
being productive of any adequate advantage to
the revenue. A deputation was appointed, it
will be seen, to wait upon the Chancellor of the
Exchequer, and point ont to him the injurious
effects on trade which these portions of his
scheme would. inflict, and to co-operate with the
London and other deputations on the subject

WE have already pointed out many grave objec-
tions to the Budget,—objections, not only to
several of its leading details, but also to some of
its fundamental principles—in so far, more parti-
cularly, as it is based upon the French treaty.
That treaty, as we have more than once had
occasion to show, is of a very one-sided character.
It is so, generally; but it is so, in an especial
manner, as regards the Shipping Interest. And
we would now, therefore, very briefly call atten-
tion to it in this respect,—as affecting the staple
Interest of our own town, and as thus threatening
to operate most severely in still further depress-
ing an Interest which is already suffering only
too ruinously from the operation of such prin-
ciples.

The French treaty, it will be remembered,
guarantees differential duties in favour of French
Shipping. Article 10 declares, that " the two
high contrac.ting parties reserve to themselves
the power of levying upon all articles mentioned
in the present treaty, or upon any other article,
landing or shipping clues, in grder to pay the
expenses of all necessary establishments at the
ports of importation and exportation." Now this
puts it in the power of France to levy dues upon
our shipping which may continue to operate to
its actual prohibition in their ports. At present,
nearly the whole of the trade of France,—a trade
amounting, as we have already had occasion to
show, to nearly four millions sterling,—is carried
on in French bottoms; for English ships are placed
at such a disadvantage as to be virtually
prohibited from participating in the trade. It
may be said, it is true, that this treaty places us
in no worse position than we were already as
respects our shipping intercourse with France.
But why should it not place us in a better posi-
tion ? We are giving up a great deal to France
by the treaty ; and as British shipping had
already a great grievance to complain of, as
respects the trade with that country, surely it
would have been but fair and reasonable for
Ministers to have taken advantage of the con-
traction of such a treaty, to redress those grie-
vances, and obtain for the British Shipping
Interest, from France, something like justice.
Let it be remembered, that more than ten years
ago, when the Navigation Laws were repealed, a
retaliatory clause was inserted in the Act, em-
powering the British Government to reinforce
the late regulations, to a certain extent, as
respects those countries which should persist in
refusing any reciprocal advantages. France has