Northern Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1857-11-13 00:00:00

THE NORTHERN TIMES, LIVERPOOL, FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 1857.

adverted to the favourable news received from
India with regard to Delhi, Lucknow, &c. He
regretted, however, to have to state the loss of two
brave men—Generals Neil and Nicholson. He
felt that if the attention of the people of England
had been more early, called to the question, the
great calamity would have been avoided. To show
the ignorance and indifference to such subjects, he
would state that he once went to the house under
the impression that he. should find some interest
in a debate on India wnich had been announced,
but was told at the doors not to go in, as they were
going to have a ' count out." He hoped that now
the day of retribution was approaching no red-
tapeism or want of confidence would prevent
•martial law being proclaimed and carried out
against all found in arms. Lst a tax be placed on
all India to defray the expenses of the war instead
of taxing the people of England. That giant
monopoly the East India Company must be swept
away. There must be no truckling to Hindooism
or other forms of religion. The rule in India
must be characterised by more firmness and
consistency.
The usual weekly meeting of the Dock Commit-
tee was held yesterday. The proceedings ware
not of any importance, with the exception of the
reading of a correspondence between Mr. Mason,
Dock •Secretary, and Mr. Alderman Nicholls, of
Manchester, on the recent Manchester Conference.
Mr. Mason invited Mr. Nicholls and others, on the
part of the Dock Committee of this port, to visit
the Docks, and see for themselves. The other
local news of the day is not of the least moment.
Some interesting news is transmitted from
Russia. Another batch of Poles has been anines
tied, but their names are not given, and are, there
fore, most likely not of great note. Feelings of
independence and offended dignity, caused by the
rough proceedings of the Russian police, have
manifested themselves among the students of
Moscow; and it seems that public opinion in
Russia is strongly on their side. It will be recol-
lected that some time ago similar demonstrations
were made by the students at Kiew. The impel.-
lance of these movements will be best understood
by remembering what took place in the
'German universities a generation ago. In mili-
tary states the first resistance against their
military character proceeds from the learned classes,
for they are most sensitive on those points of dig-
nity which military commands offend, while their
younger members are the most ready to resort to
arms. It is now distinctly announced by a usually
well-informed German journal, that the ukase,
abolishing serfage in Russir, will be published on
the 17th of next month, the birthday of the late
Emperor Nicholas. Even if the measure should
not be a radical one, which can hardly be expected,
it wi 1 have to be considered as the most important
step which the civilisation of the world owes to the
present year,
The question.of the union of the Danubian. Pri-
ncipalities, still occupies the attention of the Euro-
pean powers. A telegraphic despatch announces that
the government of the Sultan has drawn up another
note against the union of the Principalities. Much
agitation prevails in those provinces. Th) con-
vention of the States bordering on the Danube,
relative to the navigation and regulation of that
river, which hitherto Licked the signature of
Turkey, leas now received ir, according to Vienna
lettere, and has thue become part of the public law
of Europe.
From France we learn that the bullion in the
Bank of France is improving, and is now supposed
to stand at nearly two huedred millions of francs.
The Payee positively denies the truth of a reported
attempt upon the life of the Shalt of Persia, said to
have been committed by an individual of the sect
of the Barbis. The Emperor has determined to
purchase for his private account a domain of 10,000
hectares of land in Algeria, on which he intends to
establish model farms.

The Belgian Legislative Assembly was opened
on the 10th ins'. without any ceremony. The
King was not present, nor was there any speech in
his name. Both hcuses wore immediately ad-
j ourned.

SFN)ND STTSPENSTOM
OF IIIE
BANK CHARTER ACT.

IT is our pleasing duty to announce that the
Bank Charter Act of I 544, and its parent

abomination of 1819, were suspended, a second

time, yesterday. The language employed in the
important despatch frclrn which we received this

cheeringinformatioi, is as obsoure as the most

Fantastical diplonilte could well desire, when

about to su rrel,ler a darlin; principle, and ack now -
le3g.._i an error which is universally looked upon
as the worker of national sin. The Government

having yie:ded to an unprecedented pressure from
without—to which the NORTIIERN TIMES, as the

fearless exponent of the commercial and general
opinion of this great mercantile community, has

contributed not a little—the announcement

reaches us that the Bank of England is permitted
to issue an uniimiel a nount of notes so long as
the minimum rate of discount remains at 10 per

cent. The wo:ding of this intelligence shows
how reluctantly this tardy and long-deferred
relief to trade was conceded, and how unwilling

its authors were to declare the Bank Charter Act

a contemptible and palpable failure.

But it is perfectly. useless to attempt to deny
the fact. The nemt Bank R2turns., which were,

no doubt, shown to the Government yeserday

afternoon, would have exhibited a state of things

which would admit of no farther parley or delay.
The Bank must, in fact, be in a deplorable eon-

cliti ,n, " according to law." Ia every other
respect, that establishment is safe enough, as we
shall see in a day or two, the Directors are
allowed to act for themselves, without the inter-

ferenee of PEEL'S and OVERSTOXE'S insane inter-

meddlers. The public will receive the legal
tender note with the usual confidence, and when

commercial credit recovers the shameful shock

it has jest received, the rate of discount will be

lower within a ninth, as it was when the Bank

Charter Act wa3 suspended in 1847. A large

issue of notes at even 10 per cent. will sustain

prices, and merciaants will then 1-,Lt able to meet

their engagements, although at a heavy
Tiny will not bc wholly ruined by usury and

depreciation combined.
At present, however, we can do no more than

announce the glad tidings to our numerous rea-

ders. An " unlimited issue of notes" is, not-
withstanding all the dangers those words carry
with them in some deeply interested quarters,

the only hope of commercial and maritime

salvation left for England ! This is surely a
grand triumph for Currency Reformers. The
Whig rate of discount will speedily give way
when commercial paper is suffered to float for

what it is worth in trade, once again. It is

only when PEEL'S gold sharks are let loose on the

mercantile property and industry of the people,
that any real danger is to he apprehended.

They are fortunately muzzled once more, but it

matters not what amount of relief it may give
the country, we shall have but very little to

thank the PALMERSTON Cabinet for, as the half-

mouthful of relief we have received could not be

wrung from them before hundreds of our most

respectable and wealthy traders were reduced to

beggary, and many millions of hard and honestly

acquired property sacrificed to the rapacity of

the Bullionists. Finally. with the suspension of

the Act of 1844, we must include that of 1819—

for the former was meant as the completement of

the latter—and when one breaks down, the other

must follow as a natural sequence.

It appears as though the Habeas Corpus Act
is to be suspended before the Bank Charter
Act of 1844 is abandoned. But let those
,who
would precipitate a civil war beware of the
inevitable consequences. We can have no
armed revolutions in happy and manly England.
Moral changes, such as the times require, can
be brought about by the employment of those
Constitutional means which we have still at our
command. The present crisis is the result of a
glaring breaking down of great ruling princi-
ples. The monetary quackery of a bewildered
and benighted few is ravaging the broad and
world-wide fields of commerce. Trade is no
longer a pursuit which is supposed to be guided
by the genius, intelligence, and enterprise from
which it has sprung. Monamania is attributed
to those who contend that it has elements pecu-
liar to itself, and fixed laws from which we can-
not depart without falling into chaos, such as
that which is now before our eyes. "Trade must
be free, that we live by our industry," is one of
its immutable maxims ; and yet 'nen of business
and politicians of the Manchester School declare
that trade must be restricted that gold may not
leave the country—meaning thereby that, the
metal with which we purchase must not be
employed for the very use for which money is
wanted! Is trade free while such a system pre-
vails ? We were told only yesterday that the
Royal Bank of Ireland can pay a dividend of 14
per cent. after carrying a lame balance to its
reserve fund. But mark how that comes to pass.
There has been no commercial speculation—id
est, the few who have monopolised the Bank's
favour have excluded fair trading enmnptitinn.
and have made the public pay monopoly prices
for their imports. Where is the trade in Dublin,
or in all Ireland put together, to justify banking
profits of 14 per cent. ? Restriction in every
industrial pursuit has produced the " gratifying
result," and not an enlarged and free com-
merce.

Such things cannot be where there is a machine
at work which requires that every interest of the
Commonwealth must give way to the objects of
its employers. Restrictions are forced on
trade to fleece the holders of produce of
the last sixpence of their profits and capital;
and when this has been accomplished we hear of
large banking dividends. A hurricane is raging
nearer home, however, and in a country where
the people have not been reduced to serfs, shep-
herds, and stall-feeders. We have a mighty
trade, arising from all the deversified pursuits
which belong to civilisation, and indomitable
industry, which diffuses its blessings all over the
habitable globe, to cherish, and to carry forward
untl human toil has developed those natural
resources by which all nations may live in peace,
happiness, and independence. It is vain to
oppose crotchets to this sublime design. Human
industry must be rewarded, and the unrestricted
commerce of nations is the only source- from
which its bounty can be derived. The Stoics
laid it down as an axiom, that men were entirely
wise or entirely foolish, and so thoroughly were'
they convinced of the soundness of their con-
clusions, that they would entrust none but their
wise men even with the waving of a finger; but
it does appear as if we had now arrived at an
epoch •in the world's history when drivelling
imbeci!es and their hirelings were left to guide
the destinies of the greatest empires upon earth,
and to make war upon all those institutions
which the urgent necessities of the human family
have called into existence.

Of these, trade and commerce have provi-
dentially assumed the greatest dimensions, and
any hostility shown towards them cannot be
called " political" in the general acceptation of
the term. Thy are simply destructive, and
those whose substance is threatened with con-
fiscation must enter their solemn Constitutional
protest against further hostility to the commercial
prosperity of England. Banks were introduced
to aid and not to govern and crush the
merchant and trader, and where reason is
suffered to prevail it cannot be denied
that their interests are identical. But by some
absurdity they have been placed in direct anta-
gonism to each other, and in the efforts of the
weaker to crush the stronger, both have fallen to
the ground. Banks, when they attempt to
restrict trade under any designing or solid pre-
text, at once destroy their own power, and reduce
their charters and acts of Parliament to so much

waste paper. The stern necessities of the great
family of nations—hunger and nakedness—are
incessantly calling aloud for increased and in-
creasing trade, and our response is, " Your
merchants are not worthy of credit, and your
traders are so ignorant of their business that they
don't know when they have trade enough."
That the middle classes who have the Parlia-
mentary franchise in their hands should submit
to such a system as this, is perfectly amasing.
That our merchants, whose power in the State is
greater than that of any other section of the
community, should pay so little heed to their own
safety, is equally surprising.
They have not been without timely admonition.
The NORTHERN TIMES has repeatedly exposed
the utter rottenness of our money laws, and the
incalculable dangers which were hanging over the
merchant. We have plainly foretold, that the
present crisis would overtake the country. We
have as often stated that they would find no
Sympathy in the Whigs, and that the legislative
mind was too much saturated with Whiggery to
think of allowing commerce to supply its own
wants. We now contend that the tone and temper
of both our Government and Parliament must be
changed before we can expect any solid cornmer-
cial amelioration. They will cling to the old fallacy
of " I promise to pay on demand," until national
bankruptcy proves the impossibility of such a
thing under any circumstances. Enough of this
has already been shown, to satisfy the whole
mercantile public that an entire re-adjustment of
our monetary system must be undertaken by
parliament early in the ensuing session, It has
been stated that Lord PALMERSTON looks on
the pressent crisis as a sort of providential, set off
against the popular demand for Parliamentary
Reform, and it appears as if the Premier was
resolved to cling to it as long as it retains a par-
ticle of vitality. It remains, however, for the
country to decide how long the existing com-
mercial distress is to last, and what panic laws, if
any, are to be left on the statute book. The
Bank Charter Act has failed. It was invented to
supply the country with money at a moderate
and something like a uniform rate of discount ;
but it has only lived long enough to exhaust the
rich produce of the gold fields of California and
Australia, and plunge the commerce of Great
Britain into a hopeless state of bankruptcy.

FINANCIAL CRISIS AND LABOURING
POOR.

FROM the contemplation c.f the crash of
American Banking Houses, and the suspension
of large inland Banks.; from the fall in the
Cotton market, the short-time movement in the
manufacturing districts, the rise in the rate of
interest, and the almost impossibility of raising
loans—let us turn to the effect of this calami-
LuUs Stutc of inaccers on toe class on Whom
it eventually falls with the greatest weight.
When the great house of A. B. and Co.
fails to meet its engagements, and we almost
gloat over the figures of its million sterling
of liabilities, we know that A. and B. and
Co. will not be deprived of the necessaries
of life, and that the wives of all concerned
will not forego their winter clothing, or that of
their children ; but with the case of the labouring
poor, whom this financial crisis will throw out of
work, the case is widely differeat. JAMES SMITH,
a cotton porter in the employ of the bankrupt
firm of Messrs. A. B. and Co , is also a ruined
man, but his failure makes but little noise in
Financial circles. He is at once reduced from
21s. a week to absolute poverty ; his wife may
arrange with the pawnbrokers for his supper for
a few days, and at the expense of his Sunday
clothes and all her under garments, may provide
breakfast for his hungry children for a
week or two, and then real tangible
ruin will be within his doors. Messrs.
A. B. and Co. have had a good educa-
tion, and may show the Christian virtues of
patience, resignation, and tidal ; but JAMES
SMITH has a harder trial to pass through, and
less education to enable him to see the real
cause of his poverty ; perhaps, too little principle to
bear it as he should. The case of JAMES SMITH
therefore claims more of our sympathy than
that of A. B. and Co , and the case of
JAMES SMITH is many thousand times more

' numerous.
We are, we believe, about to enter upon a
period of great distress ; large bodies of our
fellow-townsmen will be out of work this winter;
the Financial crisis will check expenditure among
the higher classes, and that large class which
lives by the expenditure of the rich, will be
partially thrown out of employ. Cheap food
will, to some extent, alleviate the distress of
the working classes; awl we may indeed, be
deeply grateful to Providence for the very
bountiful harvest with which he has, this year,
blessed both Europe and America; but when
work is not to be had, and the labourer has
no money at all, it is a poor consolation to
him that bread is cheap. We shall have a time
of great distress in this city between now and
next spring, and we would ofE!r some few
words of friendly advice t.) the philanthropists
and practical Christians among our fellow-
townsmen.
Two winters ago a famine was in the land ; a
long continued East wind deprived our dock
labourers of their usual wages, and starvation
stalked unrelieved in our streets. Vie rose to the
occasion, grappled with the misery, and to a
great extent overcame it. But we did not stir
till outrage and riot had forced the necessity
upon us, and the haste and recklessness of our

action showed that we rather yielded to brutal
force than came forward to meet real but modest
want. Noisy beggars, or threatening criminals
were served before, often, indeed at the cost of,
unassuming poverty, and of those true-hearted
men and women who "to beg are ashamed."
Four-pound loaves rolled amid the gutters of the
streets inhabited by thieves, and bags of meal
were handed across the counter in the lowest
spirit shops for a" ha'porth of gin." Meanwhile,
honest poverty was unsought for, and starved
in solitude. We believe that all was done that
could be done at a moment's notice, with a ma-
chinery unequal to the task, and under the influ-
ence of external pressure, but this time we must
be better prepared. Arrangements must be made
for the establishment of offices where soup,
clothes, and even money may be given, after due
inquiry ; and every means must be taken for
the immediate relief of all who are deserving,
whether they ask or not.

The case of the honest labourer will thus be
met ; and the idle vagrant, and criminal portion
of the population, will be unable to tempt him
to join them in scenes of disorder and riot—
stern JUSTICE on the other hand must put an
immediate stop to the outrages, and rifling of
provision shops which disgraced the town two
years ago.

We understand that this matter has already
engaged the attention of our worthy Stipendiary,
Mr. MANSFIELD, who is ever in his public, as in
his private capacity ready to take the lead in any
measure which seems likely to conduce to the
welfare of the honest poor ; and we draw
attention to the subject, confident that he will

receive a hearty support in carrying out a com-
prehensive scheme for relief, which may be put in
operation when it is wanted. To be forewarned
is to be forearmed, and if our gloomy anticipations
are unfulfilled, which God grant they may be, it
will do no harm to be fully prepared for the

poverty and starvation which may suddenly
come upon us, if a hard winter follows a Com-

mercial crisis,

I ;CANADIAN REGVIENTS.—We believe it is in contem.
plation either to invite Canada and the lower colonies to
supply some regiments for actual service, or to take them
if they are offered, as they were for the Crimean campaign
a few years ago. In the article which we recently copied
from " Blackwood "—and which we had some reasons for
knowing was from the pen of Sir Archibald Alison—the
" red tapeisna " of the British ministry was bitterly
animadverted upon for refusing, on some petty technica 1
grounds, the service of the Canadian volunteers. Lord
Palmerston, evidently smarting under this censure, or at
least desirous of explaining the matter to the people of
England, took an early opportunity of assuring the House
of Commons that the service of the Canadians was
declined on account of some delicate questions which
were then pending between England and the States—that
is, that it was not desirable to take men out of Canada
under such circumstances. These delicate questions are
now all disposed of; ani we believe the Canadians would
at present be most acceptable troops. They would, of
course, have to take upon themselves all the responsibi-
uripc and teizards of soldiers in a foreign campaign ; and
they would be the first colonists in the history of England
who could put John Ball. jan , on ',their flag, and fight
side by side with their ancestors against a foreign foe !
We have laid bare Eagland's difficulties in the premises.
Of the fitness of men ;.brought up in or accustomed to
Canada, for such a service, there can be no question. A
Canadian legion would coma out of the , war, we feel
assured, with high honours ; and if the necessities for
men should become greater than they are, or Britain's foe
shou!d become too many for her defenders, Canada will
willingly mix blood with her blood, aad gladly help to
bear aloft her 111 g and her fame.— Toronto G:obe.

THE COURT.

WINDSOR, Nov. 11.

Royal Ifeinese.Prinee Alfred returned to Adver-
balk on Tueeday, attended by Lieutenant Cowl, R.E.
His Royal Highness the Duke of Cambridge tock leave
of her M ije;ty is the afternoon of yesterday, and left the
Castle, attended by Lie lt.-Calonel Clifton.

Licut..G6neral William ani Lidy Codrington, and
Miss Coilrington, also took their departure.

The Qae:n and Prince Consort, attended by Vi2coontes3
Jocdyß, Major-Gen3ral Buckley, and Captain the Hon.
D. do Roe, went to psy a visit to Claremont this afternoon.

DEATEI OF TIIE DUEMESS DE NEMOURS.— The Court
Circular announces the death of this lamented Princess,
whose aceouchement took place at Claremont on the 2Sth
ultimo. Her royal highness had gone on favourably for
some days, and the:; attack under which the Princess
sank on Tuesday,was as sudden as it was unexpected. The
Duke do Nemours, and the whole of the mernb..rs of the
exiled royal family, are plunged in the deepest grief by
the visitation. Intelligence of the sad event was for-
warded by express to Windsor Castle at an early hour
in the afternoon, and the Prince Consort :immedi-
ately proceeded to Claremont to pay a visit of con-
dolence. Tae Duchess de Neneours was a daughter of the
Grand Duke F3rdinand of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, and
was consequenCy cousin of her Majesty and the Prince
Consort. Her royal highness was born in 1822, and
married in 1840 the Duke de Nemours, by whom sho has
four children—the Count d'Eu, the Dac d'Alentlon, the
Princess Marguerite, and, after an interval of eleven
years, the infant whose birth has preceded by only a few
days the untimely decease of his illustrious mother. On
Wednesday night the mortal remains of this lamented
Princess were placed in a shell of Spanish mahogany,
lined with white satin, and workmen have been engaged
at Claremont in fl,:ting up the picture gallery as the
mortuary chamber, under the direction of Mores. Bunting
and Sons, upholsterers to her Mejcaty, St. James's -
street. Tho remains are placed on a catafalque. The
Catholic service, we understand, will be performed by
Cardinal Wiseman, and the same ceremonial will take
place when the body is depasited in the Renann Catholic
chapel at Woybrilge, to be.after wards placed in a tomb
near that of his late M:desty Louis Philippe, ex-King of
the French.