Northern Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1859-04-21 00:00:00

THE NORTHERN TimEs THURSDA\, APRIL 21, 1859

THURSDAY, APRIL 21, 1539

THE DAY'S NEWS

We have devoted a considerable portion of our
space this morning, to a report of the meeting of the
friends of Messrs. Cheetham and Heywood, held last
night in the Amphitheatre. The attendance was
very large, and a well-merited tribute of thanks was
proposed to the retiring member for South Lanca-
shire, William Brown, Esq., by George Holt, Esq.,
which was seconded by Edmund Potter, Esq.
Beth Mr. Cheetham and Mr. Heywood addressed
the meeting, the former at considerable length,
and in a speech of considerable power. Mr.
Heywood's address was brief, but to the
point. A resolution approving of both candi-
dates was almost unanimously adopted. An
individual in the gallery caused some interruption
by asking a question as to the proposed dock-rating.
e professed himself a reformer, but by his conduct
seemed rather to desire to assist the opposite party.
He seemed to forget that, if Mr. Cheetham would not
vote for the rating of the docks, the opposing candi-
dates might, and we believe do, entertain identical
opinions upon that particular point. The meeting
was in all points a success, notwithstanding some
disturbances, which were, as usual, created by the
parties sent in, if not paid, for the purpose. The
other election news this morning is not important.
In the City of London, yesterday, a meeting of Con-
servatives was held, but at present it is very doubtful
if Lord Stanley can be brought to the starting point.
Yesterday, a return was made of the number of
men voted for the army and ordnance services, and
the sums voted for each, from 1816 to 1858, dis-
tinguishing the effective and non-effective votes ;
and the sums voted for the commissariat during the
same period. Also the number of men voted for the
navy in each of those years, and the sums voted,
distinguishing the, effective from the non-effective
services as in the previous case. In the year 1817 the
army and navy were reduced to the then regular
peace establishment, the number of men voted for the
army being 92,606, and for the navy 19,000, while
about 10 millions were voted for the first service, 71 for
the second, the actual expenditure for the army
exceeding the vote by about a million, that for the
navy falling rather short of it. The general ten-
dency of the votes for the next few years was to
decrease the strength. of the army, the expenses de-
creasing in the same proportion, that of the navy,
however, increasing, notwithstanding the diminution
of the supplies. From 1822 the number of men voted
for the land forces is continually augmented, until
from 71,779 in the army, and 7,260 in the ordnance—
the numerical strength in the year named---it
reaches, in 1850, 103,254 in the army, and 14,123 in
the ordnance. The numbers are then diminished by
a few thousands in 1851, but continue rising in the
succeeding years, till, in 1857, they reach 246,716
for the army and ordnance together. The nu-
merical strength of the navy did not, meanwhile,
undergo corresponding changes ; but was increased,
with tolerable regularity, from 19,000 in 1817, to
45,000 in 1854 ; while the votes for that service,
although fluctuating a good deal, are no more in the
latter than in the earlier years. They suddenly
rise, however, in the next few years, and in 1856
reach nearly nineteen millions, the number of men
being increased to 70,000. The return is a sort of
skeleton history of the two services for the years to
which it refers, but contains a mass of very useful
figures, which, though not got together without much

cost to the nation, cannot serve any practical pur.:-
pose whatever.
There is not much news from the Continent to-day.
At Turin, according to the latest correspondence,
the question of disarmament was still under (32a-
cussion. Although it is now known that it was
decided on Tuesday, the Turin correspondent of the
Times says that Count Cavour must fall in case war
is not declared ; and this even, it is anticipated,
would be the signal for insurrections in various parts
of Italy, and perhaps even for serious disturbances
in Piedmont, where some 2,000 volunteers from
other Italian states are congregated, greatly excited,
and confident that hostilities are at hand.
The correspondent of the Times, at Rome, says
that a private circular has been sent round to the
bishops, urging them to collect men to form two
legions of Pontificial troops, but the attempt has not
proved successful, though a considerable bounty was
offered. At Paris, on Tuesday, the note of the Moni-
teur had but little influence on the funds, as Lord
Derby's explanations in Parliament were considered
unfavourable. The correspondent of the Herald speaks
of the feverish rapidity with which the preparations
for war are pushed forward, at the same time that
professions are making of a willingness to disarm.
The correspondent of the Times says it was re-
ported on Tuesday that General Bombaki had orders.
to proceed to Briancos, in the department of the
High Alps, with the whole of his division.
The correspondent of the Post learns that a courier
arrived in Paris, on Tuesday, with despatches, saying
there is every probability that Austria will attack
Piedmont within a very brief space of time.

quo4lti settled, and settled in his own way ; and
unless.. Austria can be persuaded that it will be bettea
fo: her to make up her mind to the loss of her posi=
tion in Italy without trying conclusions, the war
cannot be avoided—whether the Congress meets or
not." Such are still the persuasions of well informed
parties in the French capital. And what free insti-
tutions would a Potentate be likely to acquire
for Italy, who, with absolute sway at home, refuses
such institutions to his own people ?
The question was well put, a day or two since, by
the Star. " Let us look the question," said our
contemporary, "straight in the face, and let us ask
what are the dangers to the peace of Europe from
the state of Italy ? The discontent of the people
under oppression and bad government? But, for
ten years past, the French and Austrian armies in
the Roman States have made that oppression effec-
tive, and successfully restrained the spirit of insur-
rection. Is it pretended that they have become
unable to do so any longer ? We have heard no
allegation of the kind. What then ? Has Louis
NAPOLEON, after lending his aid for ten long years
to keep down the Romans—or, as Count WALEWSKI
is pleased to put it, to avert demagogism and anarchy
—been suddenly seized with an irrepressible passion
to give freedom to those suffering populations ? The
idea is one to excite only derision. NAPOLEON 111.,
the champion of civilisation and justiCe everywhere,
is truly a figure to provoke laughter." So we cer-
tainly think ; and so, one would imagine, must Lord
JOHN RUSSELL think,—though it did not suit his
purpose to say so to the Electors of the City of
London. His lordship was so full of his old feud
with Austria that he quite overlooked the stirrer-
up 'of all that has occurred to put in peril
the peace of Europe —France. Who is it that
would disturb the territorial arrangements of 1815 ?
Who but the Emperor of the French, in league with
the King of Sardinia, for that very object ? Eng-
land, and only England, we believe, is in a position
to interpose consistently, and therefore successfully,
in such a complication as that which still threatens
the peace of the Continent. And heartily do we
concur with the liberal journal already quoted, when
it declares, that " where guilty ambition, looking to
territorial aggrandisement and caring nothing about
the freedom or welfare of the people, and where sel-
fish and dynastic aims, hypocritically cloaking them-
selves beneath professions of sympathy with freedom
and humanity, prepare to ' cry havoc, and let slip
the dogs of war,'—it becomes the duty of the British
Government to interpose with all the moral power
its position in Europe gives to it to arrest the crimi-
nal design. We sincerely trust," adds our contem-
porary, "that is what Lord MALMESBURY has been

able to do, and, if so, he and his colleagues, in spite
of their Reform fiasco, may reckon upon receiving
the friendly recognition of their countrymen."

WHAT CONTINENTAL LIBERALS THINK
OF THE DISSOLUTION.
WE are, perhaps, in too excited a state here at
home in England, just now, to be able, any of us, to
take a very dispassionate, or a very impartial view
of the present political conjuncture of our country,
but more especially of that which is causing more
immediately so much political agitation throughout
the land. In the rage and violence of party disputes,
it is generally very difficult for any of us to judge of
the actual subject of contention with that freedom
from party bias which is so necessary to form a
right conclusion. This bias is often a most blinding,
and therefore a most misleading influence. As " all
seems yellow to the jaundiced eye," so does all
appear distorted to the party mind. And it so
often happens, too, that, as a great statesman of a
former age once said, " men in a party have liberty
only for their motto : in reality they are greater
slaves than anybody else would care to make them."
Just in proportion to the political excitement of the
occasion, are those under its influence led away by
their feelings. In such a case, it is too apt to be, as
HUDIBRAS says, that
" Judgment is:but a curious pair of scales."
But they who look coolly and indifferently on, who
are free from- the excitement, who have no party
feeling, and who have no personal interest in the
question to be judged of,—surely these are infinitely
better qualified to form a right judgment upon it,
provided only that they are in other respects capable
of arriving at correct conclusions.
Upon these grounds, then, the opinion of intelli-
gent, enlightened, and liberal-minded foreigners, of
our preserit political crisis, and of that prominent
object in it, more particularly, the Dissolution of
Parliament, is both interesting and valuable. The
_Revue des Deux Mondes is a publication in the hands
of men of liberal politics, and as such it exerts no
slight influence all over Europe, nay throughout
the world. Liberals in all quarters 'of the Continent
respect its opinions, and are, influenced by its views ;
and here in our own country its expressions carry
considerable weight among the more advanced

politicians of the day. Its opinion, too, in the
present case, is the more important from its involving
the question, the most momentous question of all, of
the peace of Europe. " The friends of peace on the
Continent," it observes, " have felt some uneasiness
at the policy of England being given up to the
uncertainties of a general election at a period so
critical for the peace of Europe. This uneasiness,"
it adds, " appears to us devoid of foundation. After
the debate on the resolution of Lord JOHN RUSSELL,
which had engaged the House of Commons for
seven sittings, it was hardly possible for Lord
DERBY and his colleagues to adopt any other
measure than that which they have taken, and it
may be hoped.that by their courageous appeal to the
country, they will introduce into the new House of
Commons parliamentary elements which will enable
the various political parties to reconstruct themselves
with something like unity, and provide future
ministries with more reliable support for carrying
on the Government than the present Parliament
affords." Now, this is a very rational, and alto-
gether a very right-minded view of the case. It is
utterly devoid of all party predilection,- either one
way or the other. And its expressions of hope are
not for this party or for that in particular, but for
all whom it may hereafter affect or concern. The
political elements it would be glad to see introduced
into Parliament by the General Election, are to be
1 such as would bear upon the " various political
parties," enabling them to " reconstruct themselves
ith something like unity, and provide future
Ministries with more reliable support for
w
carrying on the Government." This is just
what is wanted. Powerful though the Op-
position in Parliament has shewn itself to be
in defeating the existing Administration, it is yet
unable, from the want of "something like unity," in
its construction as such, to furnish a Cabinet that
would ever be likely to hold together.
Nor do our foreign observers the less clearly
understand the immediate cause of the Dissolution.
They plainly comprehend, in the eXpOSitioll we refer

to, both the arguments of the Ministry and the
tactics of their opponents. " The adversaries of the
Reform Bill," they say, " might, on the motion for
its second reading, have proposed simply its rejec-
tion. But such a course would have been repugnant
to the members of the Opposition ; to negative
absolutely a Reform Bill did not enter into their
plans. As they had not the courage to do this, the
regular course would have been to allow the bill to
be read a second time, and to defer any amendments
they had. to propose until the bill was in committee,
when the Ministry would probably have accepted
them ; but in that case there would have been
neither a Dissolution nor a ministerial crisis. To
this plain and regular course Lord JOHN RUSSELL
preferred an unusual manoeuvre. He selected two
of the provisions of the Bill which had been gene-
rally 'attacked, and asked the House to censure them
by an abstract motion. This tactic, which united
adversaries whom the discussion in committee would
probably have divided, had evidently no other
object in view than to make the debate a Cabinet
question." That is to say, to make it such a defeat
of the Cabinet, that one of two courses must of
necessity be at once adonted,—even these foreign
liberals being able to see, and ingenuous enough to
acknowledge, that such advice, or rather such
injunctions as Lord PALMERSTON gave, in his speech
in the debate on the Bill would never be listened to
by honourable men. " The Ministry," it continues,
"after Lord J. RUSSELL'S success, could only
choose between resignation or dissolution. Con-
sidering the state of parties, and the coalition which
had given an accidental majority to its adversaries,
the Cabinet gravely determined to dissolve. We
think Ministers haye acted wisely. The debate
furnishes an obvious proof that the 330 members
who voted against the Bill, did not represent a
majority, who would have carried any Bill that Mr.'
BRIGHT or Lord JOHN RUSSELL might have intro-
duced on the same subject." It certainly was an
accidental majority" in one sense. It was a
majority banded together for a specific object,—it
was a casual majority on this particular occasion ;
and it was one made up of very heterogeneous
materials. It was a majority that could agree to
destroy, but not to construct, a Reform Bill. The
scheme which they combined to carry into effect was
one studiously contrived to unite them for the special
purpose in view ; but it would have been impossible
to unite them to do what thus they frustrated the
Government in an endeavour to do. Such are the
views Continental Liberals appear to take of a pro-
ceeding which here where it has occurred it is so
difficult to consider with the disinterestedness and
the dispassionateness necessary to a cool and im-
' partial judgment. Whether or not the issue will be
such as is so hopefully anticipated, is of course quite
another question ; and we must wait a short while
ere we have a practical solution of it.

The _Herald says the news published on Tuesday, to the
effect that English ships of war were about to be sent to
Trieste, is altogether false—a mere Stock Exchange canard.

Lord Derby stated, on Monday night, that, before finally
abandoning all hopes of an adjustment, the British Govern-
ment had suggested one more proposition, the nature of
which he was not at present at liberty to state. The Times
says that this proposition is understood to have been
despatched to Vienna only oz Monday afternoon, and the
answer is not supposed to have been yet received.

The Daily News asserts that ministers have converted
the Queen's speech into a hustings address. Her Majesty
is made to represent that her functions are in some way
impaired because Lord John Russell's resolution obtained
a majority of votes

It is not true that the crown is less
powerful because the House of Commons would not have
Mr. Disraeli's Reform Bill. Ministers are dissolving
Parliament because they will neither resign nor conkorm to
the general wish of the representatives of the nation on the
subject of reform.

PASSION WEEK AND THE METROPOLITAN THEATRES.—
Truly the loyal and law-loving inhabitants of Cockaigne are
placed in a delightful situation this week, by the closing of
their Theatres, for of all the " institutions" of the
" great metropolis " perhaps the most " dearly-loved " and
"intensely cherished " are these places of resort, of which
they boast of upwards of thirty. Besides which, a popular
author and lecturer of the present day, and who has proved
himself no mean.authority, says that Jack Styles is unable
to comprehend a "tale of the times" unless placed before
him with all the accessories of stage effect. However, it
appears that, the civic authorities of the City of London,
proud of " vested interests " and " chartered privileges,"
have been lately making themselves not a little notorious
and ridiculous by their extraordinary gyrations, through
the doings and sayings of their Mayor, but this week
another of their "high and learned functionaries" has been
bidding for notoriety and popularity, by his refusing to
allow the Theatres' to open, for the purposes of musical per-
formance and entertainments not theatrical, yet the singing
and concert-rooms, comprising a legion, and holding a
music license from the magistrates, are in no way
interfered with. This is truly one of the most extraordinary
anomalies of the present day. A magistrate's license allows
the holder to keep open his place of amusement all the
year round, but a City Chamberlain's permission can
be revoked at any time the granter may. think fit, thus com-
pelling the proprietor of a theatre to close his costly edifice.
Well do we remember our first optical lessons in astronomy,
as given by the celebrated Adams, near thirty years since,
during one of the "fish-eating and bun-feeding " weeks, and
this same has been yearly looked forward to by us as one of
the" "sights" at which to astonish our young progeny, almost
as regular as the annuals themselves ; and yet, this year,
forsooth, when cheap trains are running, as usual at the
holidays, because the
.proprietor of a theatre has no magis-
trate's license for music, Mr. Adams and many others has
been stopped in giving their lessons of amusement and
instruction. Truly, indeed, do we require " Social Science"
to, work reforms in society when theatres are closed by law,
but concert-rooms, &c., where the " Social Evil" abounds,
and is fostered in all its deformity, are allowed to continue
open and practice their " lawful trade." Oh !ye inhabitants
of the "mighty empire," how fond you are of law, but
eschew common sense.