Northern Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1859-10-20 00:00:00

LONDON MINING MARKET.—OcToBEE, 19,

A considerable amount of business has been done this
morning in British mining stock 4, and prices are firm.
The principal transactions have been in shares in United
Mines, West Seton, Wheal Basset, East Basset, Pro-
vidence, Wheal Margaret, and East Wheal Russell. In
the Stock Exchange Wheal Clifford shares are officially
marked 285 ; Herodsfoot, 18 ; and Wheal-Basset, 190.
Foreign and Colonial Mining shares remain quiet:
Scottish Australian Mining have been dealt in ate prem.

THE DAY'S NEWS.

We would direct attention to- a paragraph in
another column, headed " The Liberal Supporters
of the Derby Government ;" from which it will
be seen that certain of those supporters; previous
to the division on the no7confidence motion, which
put an end to Lord Derby's Government, obtained
an assurance' from the Premier himself, that his
Governnient were prepared to give the pledges
they required ; first, that the Reform Bill should
be made to
,meet the wishes of the majority of
the_ House of commons.; . and, secondly, that in
their foreign policy, they would maintain the
then existing neutrality. As this statement has
.been publicly made by the honourable member
for Leith, in self-yindication to his constituents,
we suppose it ma 3 be taken for granted as a
perfectly reliable one.
It will be seen by, our latest
.intelligence re-
specting the Italian question, that the treaty of
Zurich,—which, however, has not yet been signed,
although now quite ready for signature,—is, in
its terms, almost identical with that agreed to at
Villafranca. And in the, opinion of the Times, it
is a treaty " that seems to settle no one of the
questions that disquiet Italy and Europe." The
fact is, that all the mare important points that
are requisite for a settlement of the Italian diffi-
culty are left to be submitted to the decision of a
European Congress,—a Congress in which, accord-
ing to Lord Palmerston's organ, the Morning Post,
"England can and will take no part, unless the
first principle be a full, free, and unreserved re-
cognition of the rights of Romagna and Tuscany,
no less than of the Modenese and Parmese States,
fn Qolf-cre.‘yrry.m-r, n. 14 !,

A Cabinet Council, the third during the pre-
sent week, wds held yesterday, at the official
residence of Lord. Palmerston, in Downing-street.
It was attended by Viscount Palmerston, the Lord
Chancellor, Lord John Russell, the Duke of New-
castle, the Right Hon. Sydney Herbert, Sir Chas.
Wood, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, the Duke
of Somerset, the Right llon. T. Milner Gibson,
-Sir George Grey, the Earl of Elgin, and the Right
Hon. C. P. Villiers.

Yesterday Prince Napoleon and suite, having
paid a visit to the Great Eastern at Holyhead,
arrived in Liverpool, in the imperial steam yacht
Dauphin. His visit here was merely en passant,
and strictly private ; and after partaking of
refreshments at the Adelphi Hotel, he and the
principal members of his suite proceeded to Man-
chester, whence they returned in the evening,
and, embarking on board the Dauphin, again
sailed for. Prance.

The Commissioners appointed for examining
the Lighthouses of Great Britain and Ireland
have completed their survey, and are now about
to visit the coast on the opposite side of the
Channel, for the purpose of seeing how they do
these things in France. It is anticipated that the
report of the Commissioners will be published
shortly after the visitation of the French coast is
completed.

THE searching investigation into the malpractices
of which, it is but too evident, both political
parties have been guilty at Wakefield, not only,
it may be presumed, at the last election, but
generally as a system, ought to suggest to our
legislators some more effectual preventative of
bribery and corruption than has yet been devised.
It is clear, by the evidence obtained from the
agents and partisans on both sides, that among
the great body of electors below a certain grade,
votes were to be considered as altogether a matter
of bargain and sale. Their value was estimated
according to circumstances. The Parliamentary
agent of the Liberals, who was brought down
from London, on summons, " expressly for the
" occasion," states before the Commission, that
within a fortnight after his arrival he had the
condition of the borough fully before him, and
properly classified. " As all election agents
would do," he says, " I had a list of voters whom
" nothing could touch, arid then— the doubtful
" ones.; the neutrals forming another class; and
" out of town' sometimes make a fourth,"—and
then, in addition to this classification, which of
itself smells of corruption, he had given to him
" a long list of persons that were bribable on both
" sides,"—so long a list that he could not refrain
from exclaiming to the local agency, " why,
" surely you must have made a mistake, the
" borough of Wakefield cannot be so corrupt as
" this." But there was not much mistake about
it, as the result so forcibly showed. For this
very agent had to acknowledge, that he himself
received from London £2,000, and also obtained
upon the spot £5'75 more,—making, in all,
a sum of £2,575, which was sill expended for
corrupt pUiposes,—and this to effect the return
of a brother-in-law of Mr. JOIIN BRIGIIT, pro-

fessedly, of course, upon purity -of- election-
Orinciples! , •
The fact..of the. Liberals_having a metropolitan
head-quarters for bribery and corruption at elec-
tions, as was shewn to be the case by the evidence
of the Parliamentary agent, is of itself a very
significant and instructive circumstance. Many
people have hitherto supposed, that the Li-
berals were too pure, too right-principled, to
have anything to do with such iniquitous prac-
tices: But these disclosure's at Wakefield, and

the previous disclosures at Gloucester, and those
before Committees of the House of Commons,
have most incontestibly proved, that the cor-._
ruptest political party in the State is the Liberal
party itself, maugre all its high-flown professions
to the contrary. We say the corruptest; because
at is not to be denied _that, at Wakefield, certain
of the Conservative party have been betrayed
into a participation of this Liberal system of
bribing and corrupting voters. Their excuse is,
that the example was set them by the other side,
and that they were constrained to have recourse
to it in self-defence. But this is no valid excuse.

We know, however, how hard it is to bear, that
the Conservative interests of any constituency
Should be overborne by such corrupt practices ;
and how great is the temptation to, as the saying
is, " fight the enemy with his own weapons,"
on these occasions. Still, such a course is
indefensible ; and we heartily trust that, for
the time to come, under no provocation what-
ever will Conservatives so far forget them-
selves as to practice any such corrupt means of
maintaining their influence, and returning their
member.

Not the least instructive lesson these exposures
teach, is that _which we find in the fact of bribery
and corruption having to be resorted to, almost
if not altogether exclusively, With those very
classes of the people, among whom it is so vehe-
mently insisted upon by the Liberals that the fran-
chise should be extended. And what, therefore,
is the inference? 'What can it be, but that just
in proportion as you lower the elective franchise,
will you increase those very portions of the con-
stituencies among whom bribery and corruption
have the greatest, if not the only, chance of
being made available ? We are not of those who
would contemplate for a moment any alteration
of the franchise in the opposite direction. So.
far from contracting it, in the slightest degree,
we'think' it should be very considerably enlarged,
although not in the way advocated by Mr. JOHN
BRIGIIT and' his followers. But it is evident
that, whether at Gloucester or at Wakefield,
had the elective franchise been less extended in
the democratic direction than it is, there would
have been infinitely less corruption—nay, we
question whether, in such a case, there would
have been any corruption whatever. This, then,
we repeat, is an important consideration. What
eounti.Y wants, is such a Parliamentary
constituency as will be as much as possible
above the probability of being corrupted ; and
such a constituency, it is evident, - can never be
secured by any such extension of the suffrage as
that which the Radicals 'so furiously insist upon.

THE Zurich conferences have at last done their
work ; and a very incomplete work it is. The
signing. of .a treaty is generally a final and con-
clusive evidence that difficulties have been re-
moved, competing claims adjusted, and the basis
for a full and•perfect understanding satisfactorily
laid. But this Zurich peace between Emperors
is, as regards the other and more important
interests at issue, only the setting loose of those
contentious spirits whose deadly feud is to mark
the next stage of the history. Tt is not to b 3
wondered at, that the preparatory diplomacy at
Zurich should be more than anxious to get rid of
a burden which had become too heavy to bear.
The real question at issue wholly transcended
its tentative efforts, and mocked the delicate
punctilio of Imperial arrangements. It would be
curious to ascertain what is the exact state of
feeling with which the EMPEROR OF AUSTRIA
regards his Gallic friend, and which this out-
ward semblance of reconciliation can only serve
to misrepresent or disguise. It would be curious
also to know what is the bond of their new
friendship, and the guarantee of a somewhat
unnatural alliance. The two Emperors have
shaken hands, and passed to each other the friendly
glass; but it is scarcely possible to believe in a
genuine reconciliation, unless•on the assumption
that the articles of some material arrangement

have been ratified and exchanged. With what
favour can FRANCIS JOSEPH entertain the offers
of a meddlesome conqueror, who has not only cut
an important slice from his Italian possessions,
but sown the seeds of confusion that seems inter-
minable, and of unknown losses that cannot be
repaired? Austria would have been still mistress,
undisturbed and unthreatened, in the richest pro-
vinces of Italy, and that little constitutional eye-
sore of Piedmont still in the back dround and
trembling at her frown, but for the mad-cap
caprice.of a French busy-body. But it is the
order. of the day to look pleasantly, not to pass
an ugly word, not to hint a disagreeable sus-
picion, not to allow a -jar in the concord.
Though it appears, notwithstanding, that even
now,: in this reign of restored good-will, and
polite recognition of each other's small prejudices
and peculiarities, FRANCIS JOSEPH is unable to
count upon the material assistance of his ally, in
establishing:the conditions of their own treaty.
indeed,
to
oencoupmpboeser
ILotatrlyls
wNitAhPohLeElopN; doesbut nhoe refuses t,
he leaves the great
iitsddeeeeaffd,o:, r tsww -2ail.fht rt
he nbdaei
sa 1 b e i
best
dteop es
tnrda
ne ngc ee a
tWveilil.,
d
lafranca, to work itself out
.in the hands of it 3
natural apostles. Never will he give a truer
sign of understanding his epoch, than when

he is brought to acknowledge, as a truth of phi-
losophy, and of history, that only -a nation itself
can-work out its own independence ; for, before
it can attain the privilege, it must show itself-
worthy of it ; and it can only show itself wor-
thy in the process of 'attainment. We may fairly
conclude that the force of public opinion has
kept back the soldiers of Louis NAPOLEON from
consummating either a meditated treachery, or al
disappointing and humiliating compromise. It
has compelled Louis NAPOLEON to understand the
crisis,—or, at least, that it would be 'highly inju-
dicious and unsafe for him to think of moulding
and distorting it. The cause, therefore, is remit-
ted from the Council Chamber of despots, and the.
eager acuteness of diplomatists, to-the virtue
and resolution of the people whom alone it really
concerns : who alone really care to suffer for itr
fight for it, or die for it.

But it seems to be considered, after all, that
this question is the inalienable property of dir
lomacy ; and that another effort, on a larger
scale, must shortly be made to bring it to the
true arbitrament. From Villafranca to Zurich;
from Zurich to Brussels !—at each fresh stager.
the meeting is to assume a more important and
deliberative aspect; and approach nearer to finality.
It was a breakfast-table armistice at Villafranea;
it was a preliminary diplomatic conference at
Zurich ; but the full and imposing strength of
diplomacy is to be put on at Brussels. Now it is
a very significant and pregnant inquiry, whether
Europe can consider the Italian question so far ad-
vanced as to be ready for the final stage ? Hither-
to, these arrangements, and conferences, and O.
morandums, have been tentative and preparatory'.
Has the question yet become capable of the last
deliberative touch ? Can the diplomat put aside
r
the warrior, and supersede the hopes and plans 0,
national advocates by a distant and theoretics'
adjustment ? Is not the cause still working its
own fiery way, and with haughty hand brushing
on one side the officious meddlers of diplonlaeP
and the casuists of territorial logic?
If the progress of Italian independence is to be
stopped, the work of repression should have been
begun long ago. There should have been a°
hesitation about Imperial advice, or tenderness
in its threatenings. The movement has gatheret
and is gathering daily, such an increase of strengt
and character, that it cannot now be checked,
less in the midst of such violence and bloodalle
as would make " Freedom shriek," as if at the fau
of another Poland, and cover Louis NAroi.o"
and France with indelible disgrace.