Northern Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1859-03-26 00:00:00

THE DAY'S NEWS,

The House of. Commons met at four o'clock last
night, when Mr. Griffiths gave notice that, on
Monday, he should ask the Chancellor of the
Exchequer whether uniformity of suffrage was to
be one of those principles of the Reform Bill on which
its fate was to depend. Mr. 0. Stanley gave notice
that, if the Reform Bill was rejected, he should
move a resolution to the effect, that the
Government was no longer entitled to the
confidence of the house. In reply to Major Knox,
Sir E. B. Lytton stated that there was no garrison
orders compelling the soldiers at Malta to salute
the Host. The Chancellor of the Exchequer stated,
in reply to Sir H. Verney, that he felt it desirable
that some public recognition should be made of the
Divine mercy in the restoration of tranquility in
India, but the government had not determined
upon the precise form of that recogni-
tion. In reply to Mr. Vernon Smith and Mr.
Salisbury, Lord Stanley entered into some explana-
tions as to the mode in which the business of India
was carried on, and stated that the opinion of the
Indian Council had not been taken on the despatch
of the 9th December, and for which he alone was
responsible. The adjourned debate on the Reform
Bill was resumed by Sir Stafford Northcote. He
said the amendment was so loosely worded, that
it was impossible to say to what conditions
the House would be bound by its adoption. Mr.
Caldwell followed, admitting, the difficulty in which
the' ouse found itself, but hoped to have heard some .
solution of that difficulty from Sir S. Northcote.
Mr. Drummond said, they were all at cross purposes
witb.,the bill, not knowing which were its principles
and which its details. Mr. Dent condemned the
bill as in no respect fulfilling the conditions of
Reform,.and disappointing the just expectations of
the working classes. Mr. Packe combatted the
claims of the working classes, and supported the
bill. Lord Harry Vane opposed it, declaring that
there appeared to be no principle in the bill which
the Ministers thought worth sustaining. Mr. S.
Wortley, lord Palmerston, and Mr. Whiteside also
spoke at some length, and the debate was adjourned,
on the motion of Mr. E. James, at one o'clock.
The foreign news is not important this
morning, and adds very little to that pub-
lished already. The Oste deutsche Post states
that Austria has declared herself willing to consent
to the proposalef a Congress, upon conditions, how-
ever, that Sardinia will discontinue the extraordi-
nary armaments she is now making, and that
the Congress adepts the principles of the
protocols of the Aix-la-Chapelle conference. The
town
which the .Congress is to meet is not yet
.decided
upon. Note.—At the Congress of Aix-la-
_?Chapelle, held in 1818, a declaration was prepared,
and subsectuentl,•
3stated, that the object of the holy
alliance concludes piaris in 1815, betwe2u the,.
Emperors of ItUssiaat_
but gieneu Austria, and.. the King of
Prussia_, was
and Christian charity.
The Prince Napoleon
had personally in-
sisted upon the admission of Piedmont into the
to
Congress, and has represented the Emperor that,
in the event of Piedmont not beig
Cavour intends to resign. Thereß .s admitted, Count
that the admission of Piedmont no probability
either by Austria or Prussia. veniiiins be areed to,
people may wish to prevent the Government Piedmont the
sending a representative, because the Popular from
is that the cause of their country has bn
betrayed.
There is even o. rear of some popular demonstration
in Turin. The Paris correspondent of the Tittles forseens
that Count Cavour will create every possible obstacle
to the peaceful settlement of the Italian question,
and ingenuity will be exhausted to impede thp
Congress. It is not easy to see on what grounds
Piedmont justifies her demand to take part in the
Congress, as the subjects for deliberation are certain
Private conventions between Austria and the States
of Central Italy. The Roman States, Naples, or
Tuscany, have a much better right to be represented.
A Paris correspondent of Le Nord says that there
will be an inevitable delay of the Congress. The
basis of the negotiations must be definitively settled.

The Cabinets interested in the matter, and especially
those of Italy which will not be represented, must
be consulted, and instructions for plenipotentiaries
must be drawn up, all of which will occupy at least
six weeks, and will carry us to the first fortnight in
May, and then the Congress will last at least two
months. It is said there are at present 400,000 mus-
kets of an improved model being made, by command
of the Minister of War, for the French army. A
person lately arrived from Lyons says there are
120,000 troops assembled within twelve hours'
march of that city. The forts and the barracks
round Lyons are overcrowded with soldiers. Gen.
Renault's division is ready to march at the shortest
notice. There are, moreover, wooden houses erected
on the road to Piedmont by Mount Cenis, which are
supplied with provisions for the men, and forage for
the horses. The above statements are from Le Nord,
but are believed to be exaggerated, though the Paris
correspondent 'of 'the Herald says they coincide with
his own information. According to ad.viees from
Florence the Grand Duke of Tuscany suppressed
the law on 'the liberty of the press on the political
matters. 'O
The Grand Duke onstantine .of Russia
had arrived at Naples, with an escort of four
vessels. The news of the King of 'Prussia's arrival
He is expected at Naples on the

was premature.

28th inst

At the Police-court, yesterday, Mr•. Bendano, the
:eper •of one of the supper-rooms
_in Lime-street,

was snrtmoned by the police, under the local act, for
allowing improper females to tneot in his house.
This summons was issued in •consequence of the
withdrawal of Mr. Mansfield's order ; but the magis-
trates did not consider the case•proved, and dismissed
it. A full report will be found elsewhere.
''The Bank Returns, as published in last night's
Gazette, are slightly unfavourable, as compared with
those of last week. There is -a decrease of 58,397 l
'in the bullion, and of 38,930/ in the reserve of notes.

The active circulation has increased
There is an increase also in seven-day
bills, public deposits, and in rest.

i

and other

THE FRIENDS' APPEAL TO CIVILISED

NATIONS

THE Society of Friends, it must be acknowledged,
have ever been distinguished by their peculiar
humanity and charity. We say peculiar, because
some of their distinctive trineiples as a sect make it
so of necessity. Their motto is that great Christian
one, " Peace on .earth, goodwill toward-men ;" and
their course, as a Society, is kept strictly within the
obligations it imposes: so much so, indeed, as would
render it often an utterly impracticable one, were
they alone responsible for the government of the

country. But that their moral principles are, in the
abstract, generally: right, can admit of little doubt ;
and even into the policy of a nation they might
unquestionably be carried much more frequently
and more earnestly than at present they can any-
where be said to be.

The Society have again just raised their voice,
"in the name of humanity and religion," on what
they describe as " the conduct of Christian and

civilised nations

towards those less civilised and

enlightened." They consistently -maintain, and
emphatically enjoin, that it is a _duty incumbent
upon all, "to act towards every man, every where,
however uncivilised or unenlightened, with that
respect, with that consideration and love, which are
due to our common nature, and .to our common
hopes." Of course it is on Christian grounds that
they establish and justify this great principle,—
pointing to the divine precedent of the Founder of
Christianity Himself, as having " been pleased to
present the highest possible exemplification of that
kindness and love towards man, which it is His will
that every man everywhere shall :exercise towards
his brother."

To our intercourse generally, as a civilised and
chrto-t;.“.. roori.,, ,rIGII cliuse W ILu i.ue LLvL yCV Au
fortunate as to enjoy such advantages as civilisation
and Christianity have conferred upon us, do they
directly and forcibly apply this great principle.
And as an inevitable and most notable consequence
of it, they, with undeniable truth and consistency,
protest against the idea, that the Sword is ever to
be employed to clear the way for the introduction or
the establishment of Christianity among any of the
tribes of the earth, however unenlightened or
barbarous they may be. As a nation, they shew,
we of this country, in particular, have been, and
still are, most highly favoured. "We are distin-
guished by the arts and comforts of civilised life, by
scientific and mechanical skill, by unnumbered privi-
leges ; and more:than all these, by the extensive diffu-
sion amongst us of the Scriptures of Truth. Higher
responsibilities," they insist, " are consequent upon
these superior advantages, and are inseparable from
them." They instance with shame our too general

disregard of such considerations. " What miseries,"
for example, they exclaim, " have been caused by
the introduction of ardent spirits among tribes
previously ignorant of this insidious and ,fearfully
destructive agent ! What shall we say to the guilty
traffic in opium with China, in direct contravention
of solemn treaties P"

But most of all,—as, in fact, most urgent of all,—
do they protest, as they have ever done, against the
unjust and cruel treatment which the natives of
Africa have received, and, amongst our transatlantic
brethren, still receive, at the hands of those who,
from their superior advantages, are enabled to
subdue them. " What, indeed," they

exclaim,

" have been the melancholy results of the opposite
principles ? No tongue can tell, no heart can
conceive, the vastness or the depth of that suffering,
the amount or the bitterness of that woe, which men
professing Christianity, and often under the pretext
of its sacred name

have within the last four
centuries inflicted upon their fellow-men in the less
civilised or enlightened portions of the globe, to the
destruction of myriads of human beings—the utter
extinction, not of families only, but of whole nations
and races. The crimes which even within the
recollection of the present generation have been
publicly perpetrated, in connection with the African
slave-trade, and with the system of slavery,—the
treatment of the native inhabitants of the soil in
various parts of the world, may be wept over and
deplored, but cannot be erased from the annals of
humanity." No,—they ,cannot be erased from our
own national
,annals. But then, having seen our
dreadful error, having become conscious of our
shocking inhumanity and wrong-doing, we long ago
abandoned the ' iniquitous and horrible system.
What is now to be complained af is, as regards this
part of the ease, that people equally enlightened as
ourselves, and under similar obligations to do as we
have done, obstinately resist every proposal to go
and do likewise, and east obloquy upon those who
have the humanity to make it. They wilfully deny
that, as the Friends remark, "to treat man with
disdain because his colour differs from our own, is a
reproach cast upon Him who made him," The
appeal we refer to further most truly declares, that
" they are not to be looked down upon as inferior
beings, born to be oppressed, pillaged, defrauded,
incapable of the feelings or aspirations of men. They
may be weak, impulsive, revengeful, but these feel-
ings are by no means peculiar to them. Even they
who boast of the privileges of civilisation are some-
times also weak and foolish,"—which is all most
incontrovertible truth ; but which they who persist