The Northern Daily Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1857-02-04 00:00:00

Board of Health in London had sanctioned the
borrowing of over 4,000/., for the purpose
of buying land and building offices for
the transaction of the business of the Board.—
The fortnightly meeting of the Select Vestry was
held yesterday, at which a letter was read from the
Rev. Rector Campbell, accepting, for the sake of
peace, the offer of the Finance Committee of one
shilling for pauper funerals, and thus the vexed
question of "Burial Fees " has, for the present
at least, been disposed of. No other business
of special importance was transacted.—The
Toxteth Local Board of Health have accepted
an offer for the sewerage of Grove Park, for the
sum of 9001, under the direction of Mr. Newlands.
The memorial of the inhabitants of Liverpool to
the Town Council, on the subject of the supply of
water to Liverpool, will be presented to-day, and
will, no doubt, lead to considerable discussion.
We believe we may declare it to be more
numerously and respectably signed than any
similar document that has been presented to that
body since the passing of the Municipal Reform
Bill. It contains between three and four
thousand signatures, and among them are
to be found all the leading medical
men of the town, as well as merchants, brokers,
tradesmen, and mechanics. The memorial will no
doubt command attention, not only from the num-
ber and character of the signatures attached to it,
but from its moderate and respectful tone.
The Continental advices this morning are unim-
portant. Despatches, of what authority we know
not, from Constantinople, represent our Affghan
allies as having recaptured Jurrah from the
Persians, and General Lawrence is said to be
marching towards Candahar. A Paris letter speaks
of the quarrel with Persia as being on the eve of
an amicable arrangement. This is to be effected
by mutual concessions, England, withdrawing the
more offensive portion of her demands, and
receiving in exchange some localities in the
Persian Gulf for a station on the new overland
rows to India, of which the Euphrates railway is to
form the most important part.
The Pays states that the Governor of Candahar
went to Ferah on Dec 14, where he had a friendly
interview with the Commandar.in-Chief of the
Persian army. The French journal draws from
this news, joined to the fact of the departure for
Teheran of envoys from certain Affghan tribes, the
inference that Affghanistan is altogether favourable
to Persia, and that the taking of Bushire being
thus amply counterbalanced, the Shah is in a
position to make concessions, and the chances of
peace are considerably augmented.
It is said that orders have been sent to Toulon
for the immediate departure of a fleet for China.
we have not heard what the precise force is to be,
but four vessels of the line are spoken of, besides
frigates and steamers.

An order has been received at Dublin from the
Guards, for the Queen's Bays and 3rd Dragoon
Guards to be in immediate readiness to proceed
to India. Similar orders have been issued to seven
Infantry regiments.
Our advices from Poland state that General
Gortschakoff was about to retire from his functions
of Lieutenant of Poland, but nothing has since
transpired on the subject. It has been, however,
remarked that a complete accord does not exist
between the Governor General and M. Tyncow•ski,
the new Secretary of State for the affairs of
Poland, on several questions connected with
important ameliorations to be introduced into
the geverument of the kingdom. M. Tyncowski,
whose administrative capacity is generally highly
appreciated, resides, as his predecessor did, at St.
Petersburg. His proposed ameliorations have been
several times submitted to the Emperor, but they
now appear to have met with the approbation of
General Gortschakoff, and hence have arisen some
differences between the Governor-General and the
Minister of State for Polish affairs. It is not,
however, solely on these points that a difference of
opinion has taken place between these two digni-
taries. They are also at variance as to the civil
and military direction to be given to the Jewish
population, who, in Poland, amount to more than
600,000. The condition of the Jews has not been
improved under the present Czar, and the late
ukases relative to recruitment and military service
have, on the contrary, produced a painful
impression.

Accounts from Montenegro state that matters
have assumed a very serious aspect in that country,
and that in the event of the European Cabinets
not interfering, a war will shortly break out
between the Porte and Montenegro. It appears
that Prince Danilo who is menaced on the one
hand by the Porte, which wishes to depose him
and establish in his place a nouleriditary eccle-
siastical Vladika, and on the other by his own
subjects—has despatched one of his aides de camp,
M. de Verkovitch, to Vienna, to demand advice
from the Austrian Cabinet and from the Russian
ambassador. That officer arrived in Vienna on the
26th ultimo.

The sale of the property of Messrs. Mare and Co.,
Blackwall, which took place on Monday by direction
of the assignees, and which has been effected by
Messrs. Fuller and Horsey, in conjunction with
Messrs. Pullen and Son, Fore street, was
completed by the auctioneer. The auction
has occupied sixteen days ; and during that
period an immense stock of machinery, stores of
ironmongery, engines and boilers, tools, fix-
tures of the slips, steam engines, Nasmyth's ham-
mers of great power, iron work for the new West-
minster bridge, &c., were disposed of. One of the
most beneficial days of sale was at the disposal of
the fittings of !the slips, with the stock of timber
slabs, which came off last Wednesday.
The grand jury have returned several true bills
against John Paul, for the frauds and forgeries
upon the City of London Union.

THE QUEEN'S Speech, which was delivered yester-
day to both Houses of Parliament, is the most
adroitly managed negative quantity ever beheld.
It is historical without being annalical; obscurity
pervades every sentence, without curtailing its
length ; and if we were asked to what branch of
letters or literature it really belongs, we might
answer in a word—" diplomatic." Its allusions to
the past are remarkably concise. In relation to
the Prusso-Swiss difficulty, it informs us that " An
" insurrectionary movement, which took place in
" September last, in the Swiss Canton of Neufcha-
" tel, for the purpose of re-establishing in that
" canton the authority of the King of Prussia as
" Prince of Neufchatel, led to serious differences
" between His Majesty and the Swiss Confedera•
" tion, threatening at one time to disturb the
" peace of Europe." Here there is not a word said
about the lawless character of the " insurrection,"
who were the transgressors, and the arbitrary and
unprecedented terms demanded from au indepen
dent State, whose internal peace had been
disturbed by a nest of Royalist partisans.

" about an amicable settlement." With regard
to the state of Naples, all that has bean done is to
counsel KING BOMBA to " adopt a course of
" policy calculated to avert dangers which might
" disturb that peace which had been so recently
" restored to Europe." Having signally failed in
this merciful object we are informed that the
Western Powers have withdrawn their Ambassa-
dors from the Court of Naples. All this was
tolerably well known to the public some weeks

since.

The same may bo said of all the other informs.
tion contained in the Royal Address. Everybody
knew that Russia had disregarded the Treaty of
Paris, that a second conference had been held in
the French capital, that the Island of Kurrack had
been taken, and Bushire had fallen into the hands
of the British forces, and that the Chinese had
been chastised for their misJonduct towards
our fellow subjects at Canton. The lovers
of novelty must, then, have been grievously dis-
appointed on reading the "historical" portions
of the Queen's Speech. The general and tax-
paying reader will also feel equally grieved when
he finds that there is not one word said about the
future policy of the Palmerston Cabinet.
‘` Estimates are to be prepared with every attention
"to economy, and with due regard to (the
" old clap-trap) the efficient performance of the
" public service at home and abroad." And the
Government aro to recommend to Parliament the
expediency of renewing, for a short period, the
"privileges of the Bank of England—the conditions
"imposed on the issue of Bank notes in the United
"Kingdom—and the state of the law relating to
"Joint Stock Banks." This is the only glimmer
of light to be found in this memorable Speech, and
we would direct the especial attention of our
readers to the cautious and diplomatic wording of
the paragraph alluding to the renewal of the Bank
Charter Act of 1844.

As a Whig, Lord PALMERSTON is bound, by every
tie of political affinity, to support the great usury
scheme; but, as a Premier, he evidently has no
desire to have the renewal of such a piece of com-
mercial iniquity fathered on him, except " for a
" short period." The noble Lord will try it for
a year or so, or until some " unforeseen calamity"
overtakea the trade, commerce, and industry of
the country. The noble Viscount will then mount
the capsized lifeboat, and hasten to the
rescue of the stranded barque of State. The
renewal of the trade restricting act will not,
however, be introduced as a popular Cabinet
measure, and since we see, in the report of last
night's proceedings in the House of Commons,
that the CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER has
moved for a committee to enquire into the opera-
tion of our monetary system, we shall have abund-
ant opportunities of discussing that which the
Royal Spoooh hao not tnnohetl 11pnn, viz., tho
utter detestation in which a machine which in-
terferes with the prices of trade, and the free
action of commerce is held by every right minded
mercantile man in the empire.

It would not, it seems, have been safe to have
stated from the Throne that all danger had dis-
appeared in that quarter. The Cabinet, therefore,
say—,, Her MAJESTY commands us to inform you,
" that in concert with her august ally, the EMPEROR
" of the FRENCH, she is endeavouring to bring about
" an amicable settlement of the matters in dispute,
" and Her MAJESTY entertains a confident cxpecta.
" tion that an honourable and satisfactory arrange.
meat will be concluded." We have reason to
hope the efforts of the Allied Governments will
be crowned by the full measure of success
anticipated ; but it must be remembered
that they are only " endeavouring to bring

THE Annual Report of the Liverpool Chamber
of Commerce, which appeared in the NORTHERN
TIMES of yesterday, is both a curious and impor-
tant document. Those who read it a hundred
years hence will exclaim —" What a frightfully
" disorganised state the whole machinery of
" society was in in the nineteenth century ! '
Others will say, with the poet,
" John Bull is always murmuring like a running brook,
And loves to croak like a lost or hungry rook."
These, however, are pardonable faults in a nation
who have grown out of their own recollection.
Time brings with it trials and abuses. When
trade, in the comprehensive sense in which we
we now understand the term, was in its infancy,
no bankruptcy laws were required. Men fell in
the ring of speculation, and were borne away to
an almshouse, to ruminate on their folly or ill-
fortune at their leisure. Trade soon shook off
this incipiency, and speedily attained the ponde-
rous dimensions of what we now call, " the
" creditor and debtor interests." These new and
conflicting creations first made us acquainted, in
social life, with that deadly effort of hostility
styled, "the tug of war ! " Churches were left
without congregations, and prisons were filled
with captive debtors, and it required the teme-
rity and religious zeal of a King WILLIAM to
restore a respectable number of worshippers to
our churches, by forbidding their arrest for debt
on the Sunday. But this had not the effect
desired. Trade had taken too deep a root in the
land to be checked by Royal clemency. It con-
tinued to grow, and, in the absence of money,
credit was employed, and all losses fell on the
flesh.

Debtors' prisons grew apace, both in numbers
and size, in this era of tokens. Iron bars gave
stability to trade and great facilities to com-
merce. So thought the State under the lock
and bolt regime. But, as years rolled on, the
public—of whom the majority must have been
composed of creditors in a solvent age—disco-
vered that there was no truth—no commercial
virtue—in the motto that " the man who can't
" pay shall pine"—and they became loud in
their clamour in favour of insolvent and bank-
ruptcy laws for the relief of debtors, and for the
abolition of arrest for debt. These moral
changes in the popular mind all came in aid of
that most palpable hoax, " cash payments."
" Do away with credit by all possible means,"
was the real object of the creditor and debtor law
reformers, whether in or out of Parliament. They
were perfectly honest in their intentions, and
they would have reduced credit to a mere
shadow of what it had previously been, if
they had carried their point. The Government
seeing this, and being seriously admonished by
the money interest and currency quacks, played
with the popular fervour, but did not grant the
special favours sought. It is hard to give to a
hasty episode which runs over centuries the

THE NORTHERN TIMES.---LIVERPOOL, WEDNESDAY.

fullness and gravity of history ; but, still, we have
in this short summary of reminiscences quite
enough to convince the Law Reformers of the
present day that there is no system of credit
which can be devised which shall be free from
risk and heavy losses. They should also remem-
ber that every step taken to deter men from going
into debt, according to the long-established
usages of trade and commerce, will bring us
nearer to " cash payments." To the man who
has but a trifling risk in trade, as a creditor or
debtor, the change would be an advantage, pro-
vided it were practicable—that such a state of
things could be rendered intelligible to our com-
mercial senses. But what is to become of large
merchants and manufacturers when cash is not
to be had at any conceivable price ?
The theory of " cash payments" has ended in
national bankruptcy in Ireland. It has not only
annihilated the domestic trade of that country,
but it has starved millions of her people, and
taken the land from its lawful but deluded
owners. You must look in pauper graves for
the merchants, manufacturers, landowners, and
peasants of one of the most fertile spots of our
mother earth, and we would have the Legislature
beware how they persecute debtors, render credit
one jot less palatable than it is, and pass arbitrary
laws, which can only tend to the realisation of a
phantom, or the most lamentable exposure of one
of the greatest impostures ever palmed off on a
credulous people. Purge the creditor and debtor
courts by making their officials accept fair
salaries for their services, give the creditor the
last shilling to be had from the debtor's estate,
cut down every abuse which robs the debtor of
the credit of having paid a fair dividend ; but
let nothing interfere, directly or indirectly, with
the mercantile and trading credit of Great
Britain ! What prudent merchant will take the
ordinary risks of our markets upon himself, with
money, or manufactured credit, at six or seven
per cent. ? Credit is not safe on such terms.
Whence, then, are we to get our supplies of
imported produce ? We are not in a condition
politically, much less commercially, to he sur-
rounding credit with penal consequences.
Intimidation is too often used for party and
State purposes to admit of any very greatly
increased licence being given to the creditor's
interest. Thousands of men are reduced to
beggary now-a-days, for disobeying political
partisans, and it would not be safe to augment
this species of domination, nor is it at all neces-
sary where one man asks another, " Will you
" trust me," and the other has a perfect right to
answer, " No." Much then as we might relish
the tendency which arbitary debtor laws would
have in bringing our " cash payment" humbug
to a speedy close, we hope to hear no more in the
shape of childish concessions to an agitation in
which only one side is heard. Our local Cham-
bers of Commerce are getting vastly beyond
their depth in matters affecting the debtor and
creditor interests of this great commercial epoch.
Certain statutes may be remodelled with great
advantage to the mercantile community, pro-
vided their practical operation be kept within the
beaten track which the commerce and trade of
ages have never been able to depart from without
doing some aggravated mischief to society at
large, The other important topics touched
upon by the Liverpool Chamber of Commerce
need considerable discussion before they are
brought under the notice of the Legislature, and
we shall not fail to review the omissions and
admissions of the Chamber, on some of the
vital questions alluded to in their report, Where
there is so much matter marked for correction
and improvement, it is necessary to see that in
getting rid of the tares we do not trample down
the corn, This is a duty which devolves, by
common consent, on the Press, and we will give
our best attention to all the Chamber have under-
taken to consider, at the earliest opportunity.

IRON SHIPBUILDING.—The Mining Journal
is incessantly calling on the Admiralty and
shipowners to investigate that most important
subject—iron shipbuilding. A second appeal
ought not to have been required on a matter
of such transcendant importance to the public.
If our iron ships are all that can be desired,
great benefit would result from an autho-
ritative confirmation of this belief. If, on the
other hand, they are susceptible of any improve-
ment which would give increased safety to life
and property, why not make it known ? Once
we have established the superiority of iron over
wood for shipbuilding purposes, we must inevit-
ably become the shipbuilders for the worn. We
know of no country which could compete with
us in this native branch of industry. We have
the raw material in endless profusion, and, with
abundance of fuel for propulsion, we could
scarcely have the slightest apprehension of finding
a rival in any quarter. Mr. JOHN CLARE'S
letter, which we have copied from the Mining
Journal, calls the special attention of the public
to this particular phase of the discussion, in
which he has taken so prominent a part ; and
we really think the matter deserving of the
coolest consideration of those whose capital
is employed in iron ships. We cannot
pretend to be masters of a subject involving
so many important questions of a practical
character ; but we can see very distinctly that
once the superiority of iron is placed beyond
doubt, Great Britain must become the great
shipbuilding yard for every other country. In
the notices we have given of Mr. CLARK'S mode
of constructing iron ships, we have strictly
confined ourselves to what must appear to
be obvious to every non-professional observer.
And we should be glad to find that
our ideas were borne out by "close inves-
tigation by some competent authority. In the
meantime we give Mr. CLARES' letter, as it
ap-
peared in the Mining Journal of Saturday, in
another column, and hope it will receive the
earnest attention the subject of which it treats
really deserves, We are ready for a large exten-
sion of the ship-building trade on the Mersey,
and could not fail to derive large advantages from
any positive improvement which can be made
in the construction and durability of iron vessels.
The public are shaking off many of their pre-
judices against this description of ships, but
much remains to be done before we can hope to
rise that wide development to this almost unex-
pired source of employment for capital and labour
which Mr. CLARE contemplates. It would be
well then to set about this most desirable

work at once, and endeavour to get an
Admiralty Commission, or some other body of
practical men, to inquire into the subject, and
report upon it as early as possible. Our cotem-
porary, the Mining Journal, as the organ of the
iron trade, has long advocated a movement of
this sort, and we see no reason why so legitimate
a request should be longer refused. There is
something left to be learned in every business
pursuit, and we think much valuable informa-
tion respecting iron ship-building remains to be
brought to light by cool and impassionate
inquiry. And we regret to add that we quite
agree with Mr. John CLARE, when he says ;
" The many unaccountable losses to iron ships
" have created a prejudice that ought to be
eradicated from the minds of the maritime
" community."

THE CANADIAN MAILS —The Canadian mail bags
did not get through to New York in time for the
Asia, in consequence of the narrow gauge lines in
the United States being blocked up with snow.
This is the second time this winter that the Cana-
dian letters have miscarried. The duplicates will,
probably, arrive on Friday by the Canadian mail
steamer North American, which was to leave
Portland on the 24th ult. It is quite. time the
Liverpool Chamber of Commerce should join the
commercial societies of Montreal, Quebec, and
Toronto, in urging on the Colonial Secretary the
justice of transferring the Halifax and Boston
mail steamer to Portland, now that the
Grand Trunk Railway is opened through
to Toronto, as it is an established fact
that the Canadian broad gauge lines are
worked, when the American lines are blocked
up. Such an arrangement would afford the
Western merchants a weekly mail service in con
junction with the Canadian Ocean Mail Company's
steamers. Considering the large subsidy enjoyed
by the Cunard Company, it is only reasonable that
they should at once be required to work up to the
public convenience of British as well as American
interests. We understand that the Honourable
John Young, of Montreal, is still in this country
pressing the fact on Mr. Labouchere, that Portland
harbour is accessible by day or night, and is a day's
sail nearer to Liverpool, and a day's journey nearer
to Quebec than Boston.

STRANDING OF THE TYNE.

DECISION OF THE BOARD OF TRADE

SOUTHAMPTON, MONDAY.

This morning the two Justices of the Peace
deputed to inquire into the circumstances attend-
ing the stranding of the steamship Tyne, received
from the Office of the Committee of Privy Council
the following decision of the Board of Trade :
Office of Committee of Privy Council for Trade,
Marine Department, Whitehall, Jan. 31.
_ _

" Gentlemen,—l am directed by the Lords the
Committee of Privy Council for Trade, to acknow-
ledge the receipt of your report concerning the
circumstances attending the stranding of the ship
Tyne.
" My lords have carefully considered that report,
and the evidence on which it is founded, and have
determined to suspend Captain Valler's certificate
fora period of twelve months.
" My lords have, on coming to this conclusion,
given due weight to the character Captain Valler
bears, as shown by the testimonial he has for-
warded ; but they are of opinion that the neglect
to use the lead is misconduct which it is their duty
to visit with severe punishment in all cases ; and
that in Captain Valler's case the circumstances
of his position and experience aggravate the
offence.

"My lords request you will communicate the
above determination of my lords to Captain Valler.
__.

" His testimonials are herewith returned.—l am
gentlemen, your obedient servant,
_ _ _

" T. H. FAARER.
" To the Justices, Guildhall, Southampton."

THE STATE PAPERS ARE SAFE.—Mr. T. D. Hardy, in
answer to the appeal from the Atheneum for an authorita-
tive denial of the rumour that asserts that State papers are
being destroyed at the Record office, writes :—" To my
certain knowledge there has not been a single State paper,
or duplicate of a State paper, destroyed ; nor, indeed, has
any document of a public nature been so treated. On the
contrary, only a vast amount of old useless medical accounts
has been done away with, and to these the British Museum
would not have given houseroom. Had there been any
memoranda which could by any possibility have been useful
to the biographer, or general or local historian, they would,
of course, have been preserved."
MARRIAGES IN HIGH LIFIL—The marriage of Captain
the Hon. Charles Keith Falconer, 4th Light Dragoons,
brother of the Earl of Kintore, with Miss Diana Aldridge,
third daughter of Robert Aldridge, Esq., of St. Leonard's
Forest, Horsham, was solemnised at St. John's, Lower
Heeding, by the Hon. and Rev. Robert Henley, brother-in.
law of the bride. The bride was accompanied to the
altar by seven bridesmaids. An elegant dejeuner was given
at the residence of the bride's father; after which the
happy couple left en route for Paris.—A Kentish paper
states that a marriage is shortly to take place between the
Hon. Richard Hancock, eldest son of Lord Castlemaine,
and the Hon. Louisa Matilda Harris, daughter of the late
Lord Harris of Belmont, in that county.
DEATH FROM STARVATION.--On Monday, an inquest was
held at the Broad Tree Inn, Ovenden, near Manchester,
before S. Dyson, Esq., on view of the body of a man
unknown. On opening the inn, on Saturday morning,
about seven o'clock, the landlord found the deceased in the
porch, with his coat and waistcoat off, and " starved stiff."
He took the poor man inside, and gave him some tea, but
he died in about an hour. The deceased was too far gone
to give any account of himself, and he has not since been
identified, though the corpse has been seen by hundreds of
residents in the neighbourhood. Several people observed
him near the inn about six o'clock on Saturday morning,
and it is supposed he had been wandering about the village
all night. The jury returned as their verdict that the
deceased had died from starvation.

THE BALLOT A CERTAINTY.—There are indeed other
measures at once expected and practicable, and they are
not forgotten. One would offer a considerable improve-
ment in the tone of political action, by imparting greater
freedom to the electoral choide of the people; and the
fact that " the Ballot" has come to be pronounced " inevi-
table" by.a thoughtful Conservative like Sir Arthur Elton,
who has just published a pamphlet on the subject, suffi.
clently marks its position in the list of future enactments.
The theoretical argument was exhausted long ago, and
Mr. Berkeley finds it vain from year to year to do more
than add new illustrations ; as a practical question the
Ballot will remain unenacted until the day when the
people shall be roused by some shameful election into an
angry demand for it, or until some sagacious Minister
shall give it spontaneously.—Spectator.
REDUNDANCY OF WORKHOIISS ACCOMMODATION IN IRE-
LAND.—A crowded and most influential meeting of ex officio
and elected guardians, representing the various poor law
unions of all Ireland, was held on Friday last, at the Com-
mercial Buildings, Dublin, for the purpose of devising
measures for the reduction of the heavy expenditure attend-
ant on the working of the poor law, as at present adminis-
tered, and of submitting for adoption a memorial to be
presented to the Lord Lieutenant, representing the super-
abundance of workhouse accommodation in the provincial
unions, and the enormous amount of establishment charges
therein, and suggesting the propriety of amalgamating
such unions for relief purposes, with a view to the dimi-
nution of expenditure and public taxation. A great deal of
interesting statistics were elicited in the course of the pro-
ceedings. Among other facts, it was stated that there are
five of the Irish union workhouses, in any one of which
there are not 50 paupers; that there are 24 unions, no one
of which had 150 paupers ; 24 more in which the number
is under 200 each ; and 16, in none of which do the paupers
number 100. _

FIRB IN A COTTON MILL. -On Saturday morning, at
half-past two o'clock, information was received at the
Police Station, that a fire had broken out in Oxford Street,
in one of the oldest mills in Manchester, in which power-
looms were first introduced. Mr. Rose, with two engines
and a company of men, and hot water to dissolve the plug,
which was literally covered with ice and snow, arrived in
a few minutes. The second and third storeys were in
flames, the floors being so saturated with oil greatly adding
to their rapidity. Jets were attached, and an engine was
brought to play from the canal adjoining. The men
ascended ladders, and a flight of wooden steps! attached
outside the building, and with great difficulty entered the
mill. They soon had command of the fire by pouring
copious showers of water upon the flames, and succeFded in
extinguishing tbem in about three hours. The place is
occupied by Messrs. J. C. Smith, pianoforte makers, John
Weeldon, joiner, and Alfred Greening, wire worker. The
fire was discovered by two boatmen who were plying on the
canal, and is supposed to have arisen in the second storey,
The damage is stated at from £l,OOO to £2,000.