Northern Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1859-11-21 00:00:00

MONDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 1859.

2. r.

THE DAY'S NEWS.

It is pretty well understood now, that the•
. French Emperor has been much provoked by the
conduct of the Central States of Italy, and, in
connection. with them, of King Victor Emmanuel,
relative to the regency of the Prince de Carignan.
The Emper6 has evidently been outwitted ; and
just in proportion as the King Of Sardinia has been
a party to the Srch?ine, may he be eip' eeted to
incur' the :displeasUre of Louis Napoleon;:-.-:It
may be regarded as a rather striking indication
of the feeling_ that prevails in the Imperial mind
of France, that a state prosecution is about to be
instituted against one of the Paris papers,, :for
publishing the repitk-letter of- the King of
'Saidinia to. the Emperor of the French, respect-
ing that regency.
We have intelligence of the arrival of the Born
bay mails.on the. 20th ultimo, a,t Aden,, together
.with -an- . intimation that the letters may be
expected to reach London in time for delivery on
•Monday.

Lord Pabnerston's organ, . the Morn4lg Post,
while -regretting the disquietude, bordering, as
asserts,- on panic, that; now preVailS in Eng-
land., is yet -cOnstiained to adinit that 'Europeis
in the. midst of a crisis,. the issue of which it is
impossible to foresee,=--an. admission which may
`certainly excuse any sUchdisquietud.e," and at the
_same' -time 'justify ' those defensive precautions
-which-axe_taking plav% on so extensive.a scale in
alI parts of the country. It is now confessed by
the same journal, to be " our positive duty to arm
aid- complete our means of defence which have
hitherto -been neiilected;';:and this is what the
Government is now doing in good. earnest. One
Wonld still hope that it may be nothing more than
.precaution ;. yet it ought to be: sufficiently effee-
.
tive, as such, to be of the- utinOSt avail in case of
need. .
• The royal mail steamship Persia brought us the
New York advices, to the 9th instant, on Saturday
morning, 'which we published in detail in the later
• .
editions of our paper on that day._The principal
topics of interest were those relating to the State
'elections, which had' just concluded; many of
them having been carried on amid scenes of con-
Siderible violence. In some instances, it
would'. seem, the militaty 'had to'. be. placed in
,readiness to- aid the police in case of neces-
sity.: • There would not appear, however, to have
been any occasion for their services. The State
eleCtions disposed of, the country has now to

undergo a new, and still more serious, agitation
—that, we mean, of the Presidential campaign,
which ig,expected to be one of the most important
political conflicts thatlra..q:yet taken place since the
foundation of the Republic. It is not merely that
the Northern and Sotthern feelings and interests
are coming into direct collision, but Republican
principles generallyare likely to be brought out
_under circumstances of greater excitement than
ordinary. " For 'good or evil," says `a New York
journal, "we are entering upon the, .most
momentous political conflict in the history of the
Union." .

The portions of India and China. news generally
despatched by telegraph in anticipation of the
mails have been received. • From,these it appears
that the.. Chinese • have broken
_faith with the
Americans, having, refused admission to them to
the ports of Suantow and Taiivan, although that
-sv-„i stipulated .for and agreed to in the treaty.

The commercial intelligence is not very remark:
able. Tea, is reported favourably of. At Jeddo
some misunderstanding appears still.. to prevail,
but a change of Ministry favourable to European
views is expected. At Calcutta Tia.:ness Was

on the ;Bth ult., the date of despatch. At Canton
and 'Shanghai matters were quiet, with an im-

prcived request for imports.
By the American adviccs received by the Per-
sia, on Saturday, it appears that the ;Misunder-
standing between this country and the United
States, relative to :the San. Juan dispute, is as yet
far from settled or even cleared up. - The .Ameri-
cans, if their public journals arc to be credited,

claim a territorial right to the island in question
under some special provisions of the Pakenham
Treaty. The same authorities's-also state that the

proceedings of Lord Palmerston and Lord John

Russell are anything but assuring as to the con-
tinued friendly relations of the two countries.
An extract which we give in another page, from
the Washington correspondent of the New York
Herald, shows plainly the aspect this dispute at
present assumes, as viewed by a party, at td that
a large one, in the United States. By n►o means
attaching much importance to the fanfaronade of
the Washington authority, it is only too much
felt, and too much known, that the missives from
Downing-street now partake considerably mere
of the directing—some call it pragmatical—tone,
than is agreeable to our friends, or at all times
conducive to our own interests.

Elsewhere to-day we publish some remarks on,
and extracts from, the reports just issued by the
Committee entrusted with the arrangement and
fitting- up of the Liverpool Free Library and
Museum. For the building to contain these
invaluable institutions, no inhabitant of Liverpool
needs now to be told, the community is indebted
to the munificent—the princely—liberality of Mr.
William Brown. That building, happily, s now
so far ldvanced as to show the refined
.taste and

sound judgment which designed its proportions,
and dictated its -construction. It has now also,
as we have already said, advanced so far on its
way to completion, as to call for the serious
consideration • of thoie to whom its final
order and arrangement have been entrusted with
a view to settling what these arrangementg-ought
to be. In publishing.- their report the committee
properly throw out certain suggestions as, the
ground work of their plan, and with the most
considerate liberality and no little modesty in-

vite discussion of the proposed plan. That this
invitation will be accepted and made available
cannot be doubted, and that the result of the
hints thrown out in response will be in accord-
ance with the objects of the institution and
creditable as well as serviceable to the town,
,admits equally of little doubt., Such' institutions
and such opportunities are too precious to be
treated with indifference or subjented to neglect.

IF the commercial disasters of late. years have
been marked by any novel -and unusual .featurei
it is-by the frequent violations of trust in public
companies. The truth is, there are ,no easier
subjects of delusion, or more volatile children of
imagination, than the ordinary run of capitalists
and speculators. Talk of your poet rolling his
eye in -fine frenzy, glancing from earth to heaven, -
and bodying forth the shapes of things unknown—
what vision -6f the rapt fancy can equal in fanci-
fulness the daiiliiig• dreams of . a, " prospectus"
Twenty, thirty, forty, a hundred per cent.—these
are the cloud-capt towers rising one . above
another, the gorgeous palaces which transport a
more far-reaching imagination than the
_poet's ;
and. are. jest as much and just as long believed
in, though they just as often elude the airy grasp.
So much is this the case, that the legislature
has more than once, with its laudable anxiety on
behalfof the defenceless and the weak, stept in
to save those flighty mortals to whom a full pocket
is no ballast, from the consequences of their own
. .
generous and. trusting dispositions. , It has
sometimes endeavoured to clip the wings of fancy,
or at least deprive it of the aliment which it feeds
on, and which there are always enough of the too
calculating and prosaic tribe to supply. Sad it is
that there should be found heartless and design-
ing impostors 'lying in Wait on the edge. of so-
ciety to take in low trusting souls, and delude
even the tender fancies of Capel Court and: the
Stock Exchange; but then. do not they supply
the poetry 'to what is called otherwise. in emi-
nently prosaic age And may it not -be-asked
*hat vision would be -left, what fosterer and
nurse, to the nineteenth. -century imagination,
if we took away entirely the vision of cent. per.
cent. ?

But amid certain disclosures it so happens that
a new object has been found—or at least has been
made almost what we may call new by being
more definitely marked. for ,public reprobation.
And here we must record another peculiarity of.
this strange dream-world of commerce. If the
poet need go no further in search of the true fire in
which' he lives his salamandrine life, the philo-
sopher may reflect that here his race of Nominal-
ists *musters strong. The profitable investment
that makes little pretence except--of its own
stability and openness, may lie contemned and
neglected, but
,the capitalist with his million
"out,;' reposes satisfied and secure under

the sliadow- of a great name. Such
reach of hopeless credulity as this,, there-
fore, affords, of 'Course, a fruitful "Opportunity
foriMpOsture L.' and a worthless seheme which
gratifies to thelull the public imagination- under
the distinguished patronage
.of the army or the
senate, collapses, as may be expected, under the
dazzlinb auspiCeS of a Colonel WAUGU or a
-
HUMPUREY iiltOWN. But the danger to which
this credulity is exposed,
andg greater
treer-
positively
c o‘ivrhu
ci put
an
intentions,
fore- IeSS chance of correction, whore it taken
because lefivirg; less reasonperhaps
inquiry,
design. It is, we MCCiany
:.:7\o-7.,tiat'tit,collici tsw:iltiohyc
the public, ;