Northern Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1859-05-04 00:00:00

THE NORTTIERN TlMkg, WEDSIBbA.Y, MAY 4 1859

the calculation is, that " should the election of the
Vice-President be thrown into the Senate, with the

BIRKENHEAD COMMISSIONERS

The monthly meeting of the Birkenhead Commissioners
was held in the Public Offices, Hamilton-square, at seven
o'clock last evening. Mr. Laird presided; and the other
niambers present were Messrs. Rae, Bell, Baylis, Gough.
Hind, M'Whirter, Cook, Bailiff, M'Gill, M'Donald,
Golborne, Verelst, Burnett, and Keightley.

election of the President in the House, there can be

no doubt that the democratic candidate would be

promptly elected Vice-President, from which event
he would, in default of an election by the House,
become President of the United States." It is thus,
then, that the "vaulting ambitiOn" of the people
" o'erleaps itself, and falls on the other." In this
state of things, it is deemed probable that not a
candidate for the Presidency, but a candidate for the.
Vice-Presidency will have the best chance of being
declared President of the United States in 1861,--the. _ _

LIGHTING AND WATCHING COMMITTRIL
These proceedings did not contain anything of im-

portance.
Mr. Golhorne moved that they be confirmed, which
was agreed to

MAItICTS COMMITTEZ.

Mr. M•\Vhirter moved the confirmation of the proceeding:
of this committee.
The motion was agreed to.
HEALTH COMMITTEE.

election itself taking place in November, 1860.
There is a good deal of absolutism in the States'
constitutions, notwithstanding the great boast about
free institutions. The State of New York is illustra-
_ .

Mr. Bradley, in moving the adoption of the proceedings,
stated, that a proposition of the board, with regard to the
sewerage arrangements for the abatement of the Palm
Grove nuisance, had been laid before the Oxton authorities,
but no answer had yet been received.
Dr. Baylis proposed that a special meeting be called for
the second Tuesday in June, in order to consider the pro-
priety of adopting the whole, or part of the local act of
1858 ; and that the health and road improvement com-
mittees, be constituted a special committee, to report upon
such part or parts of the act as they might think it desirable
to adopt.
The motion was agreed to, and the proceedings con-
firmed.
•

ting this very forcibly just now. The Legislature is
proceeding to force another new Charter upon the
city of New York, against' its will, of which it is
declared, I observe, that "changes of the most

sweeping nature are proposed in the organic law of
the city glvernment, without consulting either the
people who are to be governed by it or the authori-
ties who represent them. Not even has the public
notice been given," it is added, " which is required

by law. There has been no petition from the
citizens of New York for this new charter; and to

impose it upon them without their consent is an
odious tyranny and an outrage upon three-quarters
of a million of people in this democratic republic.

ROAD IMPROVEMENT COMMITTEE. '
• The proceedings of the road improvement committee
were confirmed.

Such absolutism is more suited to the atmosphere of

FINANCE CONNIITTETI

St. Petersburgh or Vienna than to the free air of the

The proceedings-of this committee contained the follow-
ing resolutions :
" That for the future the expenses for refreshments
at the elections do not exceed one pound."
" That the several balances in the bank at the credit of
the devisable surplus fund account for 1856 and 1857, be
transferred to the improvement account."
" That the chairman of the board be requested to nego-
tiate with the Mersey Dock-board for the investment of the
reserved interest fund account, now amounting to £8,500
" That the sum of £10,254 be now set aside out of the
surplus of the township accounts, as made up to this date,
to pay the interest which will accrue on the bonded debt of
the township for the half years ending 30th June and 31st
December next."
Mr. Keightley moved that the proceedings be confirmed.
Mr. Rae said, in rising to second the adoption of the
finance committees proceedings, perhaps the board would be
glad that he should mention a little more iu detail than the
minutes exhibited them the financial results which the affairs
of the past year disclosed. .It had usually fallen to his lot
for some years past to bring before the board the financial
position of the township, but he could truly state that he
never approached the subject with the same donee of
pleasure and gratification as that night, becatise,for the
first time in the history of the township, he could say with
perfect truth and honesty that they were able to make bottle
end, meet. (Hear, hear.) They had laid aside out of the
surplus revenues of the township a sum sufficient to pay the
interest upon the whole bonded debt for the present year.
The committee found, upon making up their accounts upon
,•,

commercial metropolis of the United States." Such,
however, is the arbitrary way in which legislative
power can be exercised, even under a thor-
oughly democratic system. As regards the
enormous expense to be incurred, indeed,
the numbers that prevail over property
and intelligence in the electors, feel it so
slightly, in comparison, that they don't care much
about it. Another description of it is thus given,—
"This precious charter, which is a co:nplete usurpa-
tion of municipal rights, confounds all the distinc-
tions between legislative and executive functions—
it legislates men into office and out of office, in
violation of the c9nstitution—it continues in an

elective office till 1863 an officer whose term expires
o a the Ist of January next—it takes the legislative
control out of the hands of the Common Council,
and vests paramount power in the hands of its
subordinates—it takes out of the hands of the Mayor

the power of removing the head of a department for
any cause whatever, so that each may do, with

impunity whatever he thinks fit. The salaries,
which have increased from $200,000 in 1850 to
$700,000 in the present year, are to be still further
increased by an annual stipend to the Common
Council. Worst of all, this charter proposes to tax
the citizens of New York without their consent. It
was in resistance of this principle that the people of
Boston threw the British tea into the harbour, and
that the revolutionary war commenced which
resulted in the independence of the colonies and
the republic of the United States. And it

the 23rd of las
lighting and wat
expenses of charges upon that rate, £2,105
of sewerage rate account they had £2,490,
improvement rate they had
morning they received from theft,
accounts had been made up

ter paying all the ordinarN

At the credit
At credit of

t seems
for the

as if nothing less than revolution will suffi
conquest of the freedom and independence of the
city of New York." So that republicanism, after
all, is not either that system of freedom, indepen-
dence, or contentment which in England. I believe,
with large bodies of the people, is so readily
believed. The Mayor of New York heading a
protestation against the charter, it has for the
present been abandoned.
Renewed excitement has arisen on the subject of
Cuba. The impatience of the people to get a footing
there becomes more and more violent. The popularity
of such au acquisition is universal. It is generally
believed—and this belief has had a most exciting
effect—that a filibustering expedition has very lately
sailed for Cuba, although very secretly and stealthily.
The grounds of this belief are thus stated in New
York,—" In the first place, several Cuban filibusters
have suddenly disappeared from the city, and
nobody can even guess where they are gone, unless
it be on the expedition in question. Secondly, there
is great excitement among the merchants here who
do business with Havannah, and it is evident they
believe there is something in the wind.' Thirdly,
the Spanish Minister and Spanish Consuls have sent
despatches to the Captain General of Cuba, apprising
him of the sailing of the expedition. Indeed, so
important does the Spanish Minister consider the
matter, that he has come on here from Washington
specially about it. Lastly, the well known General
Goicouria, the head of the Cuban filibusters here,
sailed suddenly, it is said, in the Cahawba, for New
Orleans, and probably for Cuba. He was seen to go
on.board and not come ashore again." These are
certainly suspicious circumstances. And there is no
doubt that they are credited by those who have the
best opportunity of judging of their probability, if
not also of testing their truth. A very short time,
however, will bring forth some manifestation of the
expedition—if there be one—which will set the

Saturc

committee, after the

£3,800

These various

sums amounted to a total of £10,276; and as the interest

upon th

would amount, less income tax, to £10,254, they were
enabled, as he had just stated, to lay that sum aside, and to
have a very slight balance, £22, over and above it. (Hear,
bear.) Now, bethought that statement must be very grati-
fying, and very instructive, to many members of the board,
who had watched the progress of the township for the last
few years. He did not need to go beyond his own experi-
ence to perceive a contrast, which was a highly flattering
one to them all. Ten years ago—a short, time in the life of
a township---their debt was larger than it was at present,
bUt with the aggravation that they had not then paid

my inter

at that time,
ever be able to pay any more upon it
had five different classes of 1-
separate priorities over different rates, and offering
for the,Court of Chancery which, if it ever had got in ther
he believed would not have been settled in the presen

very Litt

hope that

At that time they

ach claiming

generation. They had no title to their park lanas ,
had sold a very large quantity of them at very excellent
prices, but they found when they came to convey them that
before they could do so they would have a trill
£60,000 to pay to the Park Trustees, which he hardly
needed to tell them they were no more capable of doing than
they were of paying off the national debt. (Hear, hear.)
At the same time, the Woodside Ferry, the most magnificent
property of the township, was within eighteen months
of passing from the hands of the township
altogether, from their utter inability to, pay the debt then
owing upon it of £44,000. They had an agreement with
the Railway Company, under which they paid the company
one-third--not of the nett profits of the Monks' Ferry, for
that would have been a good deal less than nothing—but
one-third of the gross receipts of that unfortuhate purchase
in addition to that involvement, they were in debt in eve

inz sum of

_. They were in debt for the salaries of their
officers; the credit of the place was completely gone ; and,
he believed, in all England, they could not have raised
£lOO. Now, if they took into consideration that state of
matters and compared it with their financial position at the
- ii- f

direction

matter at rest, as respects the question of fact or no
fact,—though not, perhaps, as regards its ultimate
issues, for which we must make up our minds to
wait a little.
I find that the United States' Government have
succeeded in accomplishing the establishing of
diplomatic relations with Japan. It is now under-
stood, that the commissioners to exchange the
ratifications of the treaty made by Mr. Townsend
Harris have already been appointed, and their
arrival at Washington may be expected before the
next Congress meets. It is said that the Commission
is to bo of the highest character, the commissioners
having ranks above an envoy extraordinary and
minister plenipotentiary, and the entourage of the
location will, of course, be in harmony with its
A Japanese of high rank counts his
servants by the thousands, and a councillor of State
has ten thousand followers. Well has one of the
--:1 —" What a flutter such a train

present moment, he thought, as he nan sum °mole, (dia.
the contrast could not fail to be very gratifying to them all.
(Hear, hear.) He had already stated that they had in
hands £10.254, to pay the interest upon their bonded
debt for the whole of the present year. The next item w
cOO in hand to the credit of the reserved interest

Ot,
That sum, the board would recollect, was laid as._
year as a fund for the purpose of any deficiency which mi 6
thereafter arise in the payment of interest of debt owing ti
the bondholders, but they were satisfied in the finance

committee, that they should have no occasion nereaiter
to apply to that fund for such a purpose, so they had, very '
properly as he thought, determined to invest it in a form
which would produce a higher rate of interest to the town-
ship, than the money would bear if it were lying to their
credit in the bank ; -and the security in which it
would be invested was, he thought, one of the very finest
in England—the bonds of the Mersey Docks and Harbour
board.—(hear, hear)---and, at the same time, perhaps,
the most appropriate which they could have selected. It was
a mere mite to the Mersey Board, their little offering of
£8,500 ; but he had no•doubt that, mite as it was, it would
be received in the same friendly and neighbourly spirit •as
it would be tendered. (Hear, hear.) The next item was
the ,sure of £5,500; which was to the credit of the new
I boats' fund, which was a fund accumulated at the ferry, and

dignity

would make in New York ! How the aldermen
would vote all sorts of resolutions to show them the
institutions ! How the Fifth-avenue magnates
would quarrel as to who should have the honour of
giving them the first party ! How the Orientals
themselves would gaze and wonder at the aldermen,
and the small politicians, and the expansive crino-
lines ! And finally, this for the ladies, how odd it
would be if some young American lady, fresh from
boarding school, should captivate the Japanese
Minister, and set up her establishment in the capital
of Japan !"
The Common School system is being denounced by
the Romish hierarchy in different parts of the United
States. The Archbishop of New York, and the
Archbishop of Cincinnati, have recently issued
pastoral letters upon the subject. The system is, by
implication, set forth as the main cause of t 1

..—.. .
meantime no good is being done to the morals of the
community, and especially of the more youthful
portion of it, by the revelations that are being made,
from day to day, of the gross immoralities, not to -C year Ihey
say indecencies, which appear to have prevailed among .14. any
the parties implicated in the transactions that have . aria
to be referred to. It is considered that on neither
'tad
side of this exciting case have counsel distinguished , e
pc".
themselves. There has been, with both one and the _ al,- ng
other, a prevalence of circumlocution, of prolixity, with he veer
and of encumbrance, in the manner of proceeding, ,orpor- 'l,
C
unworthy even of the American bar. Excitement anted o
4
as to the result has in a great measure died away. die te h
The next mail will probably convey the tidings across die
ti T
the Atlantic, where, we take it for granted, ther dad neaps
II LIE
4
is a certain degree m ra
of interest about it.
--e \ of
ad
They are speculating, I see, that the election o' ,ped int-
been ,- ha as
next President and Vice-President may be thrown use of their own money to educate their children in
pr
ip
• ;64
into Congress. The constitution of the United States their own way, and the despotic system of some in
it
provides that if no candidate for President shall havea I
European Governments, under which young vh
received a majority of the electoral vote of the Union, men are obliged to serve a term in th ne wi
':at t 1
then, from the three highest candidates from the army, to be preferable to the manner in which they
electoral 's
colleges, " the House of Representatives are allowed to idle about in great cities. This is 3Tt 'he
hr
shall choose immediately, by ballot, the President. much the same view as the Protestant Episcopal, or
But in choosing the President, the votes shall be Anglo-American Church takes of it ; and, during
the last two or three years, this Church has done a ye ag
n boi
taken by States, the representatives from each State
having one vote, and a majority of all the States great deal, in some of the dioceses, in providing&tenet: ........ _ and
with, it had betin for many years in a state of utter pro-
e.aorn.ei
shall be necessary to a choice." Next, it is provided schools of its own, which its youth may have the ~,ration. They were taken to parliament much against 'would ever arise to shake that confident©. (Thica.r. he
their will, over and over ae-ain, and involved in heavy Ha hoped the board would pardon him
t'Nerin
11(i atOingsteb the
that if the House of Representatives shall not choose opportunity of attending, in preference to the Coin- .
a President before the fourth day of March next fol- mon Schools, where there is not, and cannot be, any inheritance of debt, along dreary list of open debts, which, difficulties they.had had to conten with,
parliamentary. expenses ; but, above all, they had an into these details, as lie thought it
ddue
and the position
1 distinctive religious instruction. The Romanists of as they all recollected, hampered their resources for many they were now.m. Hear, hear.)
lowing, the Vice-President shall act as President,
as in the case of the death or other consti- New York have memoralised the Board of Educatioa years, down to the present year. But, happily he could say The proceedincs were then confirmed.
he
requesting that the children of their Church', now, that the very last of them had been paid. off, and i EERILY COMMITTEE.
tutional disability of the President. The whole
number of States is 34 ; the number neces- entrusted to the guardianship of the Board shall, in hoped they bad seen the last of that sort ofd
hing for goo .
sary to an election is thus 18—a majority.
of all matters a ertainince to religion, be lac A
pp , p e— on a Nt
(Hear hear.) The inference he would raw from that to the followir,g effect :
for the month :
t 'f
affairs was that, if in spite of all the difficulties they " That the; superinending engineer be reques p
the whole. Maryland, Illinois, and Minnesota are footing of equal consideration and respect withg boat of 100 horse
hadaaeb.old to encounter, they had been enabled, in the course, pare specifi cations efts new
The proceerLnlcs of this committee contained resolutionst
edto re-
calculated as standing aloof from the two great other children, and have equal and frequent
divisions of parties—that is, 16 Democratic (South- opportunities of attending such special worship andconsideration of the com-
state ofahnost ho involvement and utter insolvency, with a def,k-house thereon, for the
the re-
ern) States, and 15 Republican States ; so that two instruction as shall be provided for them by the of ten years, to bring the finances of the township from a power, am irding to the modelpassen submitteder tot he committee,
to the position in which they stood at present, was mittee."
9d. The ex
out of those three independent states—Maryland, religious body to which they belong. They object
is the statement of rmecoenipthts handed
Minnesota, and Illinois--will be required to elect the to the reading of the Bible either by them, or to hope that their financial progress during the next ten years,h financeov!;teoftohlleoo.committee."
it unreasonable or too sanguine an inference, to venture to "itlir at the sum of £3.800 of the ferry monies be
Democratic candidate in the House, and that them, or any other religious services that may would be still more satisfactory. (Hear, hear.) He
Build-ni t
three States in addition to Kansas are yet insist upon attendance at them. And, as I see it say that be had no doubt at all upon theosubject.
required by the Republicans to secure the remarked, "as the organic law of the State dues not ings was going on in every direction, .
election on their side. It is thought to recognise Catholic or Protestant, it would seem almost before the roofs were
there
more,h
be not improbable, therefore, that the result will be manifestly unjust to compel the recipients of the
a failure to elect by the House; and the Constitution public bounty to participate in religious exercises
further provides, that in the event of such failure, which they look upon as schismatic and heretical.
the Vice-President shall be the President ; and that The same principle applies to the Anglo-American
if no candidate for Vice-President shall have received Church, which, in that respect, is in the same
a majority of the electoral votes of the Union, "then orthodox position, or wishes to be considered so, as place was active ; never weredock
it ; but, above all,
u withl•elvihth theentu,
the great doe wor s Anil, 1859, £2'329 ; for the same
use ere taken pts were £2,350 4s 7d ; the receipts
the trade of thitei
it 4th April, 1859, were £29,460 19s
1858, L 30,645 lOs
k were being proceeded ending 24th April, 1859, was £23,337
utmost vi<rour, and that year alone Lloo,oori £21,986 8s 3d.
signs of health
on them. He thought, therefore, th,ey Mr. Baylis said, in reference to
7d;
fort e year ending
sameperiod
e for the year
17s 2d ; for 1858,
the question of
would lie
loeokapwith every confidence to their financial futv ire. cabins on deck, he thought it highly objectionable on erectinga
might
fgthis he felt perfectly convinced, that, fromh Ithtat time steamer.
forth, the township would be able to pay telnterest of The. Chairman said he had received a letter from Mr.
from the two highest members on the list the Senate the Roman Church. The only remedy appears to be, the'r puillic debt to the day it fell due,
without.t the. lig test Harrison on the subject, suggesting that the matter should
i shall choose the Vice-President," not by States, but fot both these Churches to have their own Schools, ;ffiee.ty, and that no man who lent one) to the.
interest,
be left to the Ferry Committee till the commissioners would
by a majority of the whole Tote a the Senate, Aid ;B. which each can carry out its owe religious system, ship, would ever lose one penny of principal thave an opportunity of judging what was best. Ile (the
• penfedrituihnr
helBsB

put to that account for the purpose, if new boats should ok
required, of providing the township with them, without
pressing unduly upon the finances of any one _
had then a per tentage net fund of £914, to meet any
unforeseen contingencies which might arise.

Dr. Baylis: Is that at the ferry?
Mr. Rae answered in the affirmative. They had
also a sinking fund of about £760, accumulatinc,
at about £lO a week, with the view of clearing off the
debt owing to the corporation for the river wall. In all,
the balance amounted to upwards of £25,000 standing to
the credit of the township, in the bank that day. (Hear.
hear.) Perhaps the most gratifying feature of this was
that it had not come upon them all at once. They had not
leaped into that position of-solvency, but their progress had
.e been gradual. This year-their surphis was a little upwards

was £7,00(

progressive increase, and giving them reason to nope Lieu, 1,,
would be continuous, (Hear, hear.) When he contrasted
the present state of things with their position in times past
he thought he was justified in drawing an inference in which
they would all concur. During the period he had mentioned
they had had to encounter many difficulties. They
began with a bad name, and no credit. The
frfi4in of the nlate. and every interest _ connected