Northern Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1857-07-15 00:00:00

and vindictiveness. Was it not enough
to have been the instigator or the companion of
her ruin, and must she, in addition, be cut off
from the very possibility of amendment and peace
of mind? No man of right feeling would for a
moment have sought to extort from a woman
—and she his victim —the unwilling meed of her
affections.

In dismissing this painful and humiliating
case, we must express grave doubts whether any
good can come to public morals from publishing
nauseous details in licentious letters that ought
never to have seen the light. They are adapted
to suggest the thought of evil, and render licen-
tious imagery familiar to minds which else they
might have never entered. Here is moral danger
of the most insidious nature. Lewd pictures
and corrupt images taint the imagination and
deprave the heart ; they cannot lose their
influence, like a false statement or an illogical
argument, when fouud out to be false. The
understanding clears itself of the falsehood when
the evidence fails, and no stain remains on the
mirror of the mind. Not so the imagination.
There the impure image or the immodest
description remains long after to haunt the mind
—to cling to it, to lend it odour, as the odour of
some nauseous medicine clings to the vessel that
contains it.

We take our leave of MADELINE SMITH,
permitting her character to remain in that
shrouded mystery where the verdict of her
countrymen has placed it—praying that the
public may not be needlessly deluged with the
chronicles of depravity, and that many young
persons may take warning from this example not
to dally or tamper with vice—not to put them-
selves in the way of temptation, but to flee from
the evil thing ; for, in the words of our classic
poet—

Vice is a monster of such hideous mien,
That to be hated needs but to be seen ;
Yet seen too oft, familiar with her face,
We first endure, then pity then embrace.

OUR epitome of the proceedings of Monday's
Parliament, in yesterday's publication, has
already informed our readers that the late news
from India was made the subject for interpola-
tions of the Ministry on that evening. Mr.
DISRAELI, as the leader of Her Majesty's oppo-
sition, assumed a position which we consider
was quite legitimate. Ile manifested an anxiety
to learn whether the Government had any
authorised information to give respecting the
insurrection among the native troops of India;
and to learn whether there was any prospect of
obtaining, at an early date, a " blue book" on
the subject. We do not quarrel with the desire,
much less the effort, to obtain from official
sources as much information as possible on the
Indian rebellion, for such we must now term it,
as can be obtained. On the contrary, we
believe that the Right Honourable the Member
for Bucks is to be commended for endeavouring
to outam as mucu -• umciai itnormation on me
serious topic to which his question had reference,
as Ministers were disposed to give. And here
let us do justice to Lord PALMERSTON, and say,
that he was not only candid but sincere. He
manifested every desire to oblige the right
honourable gentleman, Mr. DISRAELI, and
through him the public at large. Unfortunately,
however, he was not in a position to tell more
than the readers of the NORTHERN TIMES knew
on Monday morning. What we then published
perfectly coincided with the statements of the
Premier on Monday evening. These, although
they do not underrate the magnitude of the
contest which has taken place in our Indian
Empire, do not recognise the idea that the
unpleasant and certainly disastrous conse-
quences which have taken place are of
an insuperable character. Lord PALMERSTON
looked upon the fact of the loyalty of the Bengal
army as a hopeful view of this unpleasant, and it
'ay be dangerous, aspect of the enzeute of a
portion of our Indian army. Besides this, he
did not fail to draw attention to another
important fact—that that portion of the Indian
army which had remained faithful to the British
standard had, in conjunction with her Majesty's
forces, made a sensible impression upon the
fortress of Delhi. Moreover, he gave us promises,
of an equally satisfactory character, as to the
final result of the operations against that strong-
hold of the rebels ; and did not fail to declare
that he would give to Parliament the fullest and
the latest particulars which would reach any
department of the Cabinet.

The Earl of ELLENBOROUGLI was the chief
party who spoke on this important subject in
the Lords. As a matter of course, he was
desirous of showing to their lordships that his
Indian experiences—the gates of Sumnath to
wit—entitled him to read a lecture to the
Administration. At the same time, no one
who considers his lordship's character, and
his ardent desire to induce the world to
believe that he knows more of India and its
government than the whole world put together,
can be surprised that the last few mails from
India have proved to him a godsend for en-
forcing all his ideas. Besides all this, he can
with impunity indulge in the most direful
predilections as to our future rule in these
extensive and most important possessions.
Lord PALMERSTON and his colleagues have
been accustomed to these vague and ill-founded
prognostications. England is jealous of her
rights, her privileges, and her power. She has
obtained dominion over the Indian possessions by
means of a legitimate conquest. Nay, more ;
she holds her sway in that quarter 01 the