Northern Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1860-01-17 00:00:00

UNION BANK. OF AUSTRALIA•

The half-yearly meeting was held yesterday
afternoon. the dividend was declared payable
in London on the 31st inst. ; and the report was
adopted.

MR. MASSY O'GRADY.

CORK, Monday.

The Cork Examiner states that a letter has
been received in that city from a lady in the
county Limerick, &e wife of a stipendiary rnagisk
trate, stating that the body of Mr. Massy
O'Grady, whose mysterious disappearance a Short
time since was announced in the public journals,
has been found, and that no doubt exists of the
unfortunate gentleman having been murdered.
The letter adds that four persons have been
arrested on suspicion.

The following appeared in a portion of our
impression of yesterday :

OUTWARD AMERICAN MAIL.

QUEENSTOWN, Monday.
The royal mail steamer America, from Liverpool for
Halifax and Boston, hailed off this port at 11.30 last
tight. Took on board mails, passengers, and latest
telegraphic news, and proceeded at 1 a.m.

THE CONCORDAT IN BADEN.
CARLSRU/113, Jan. 14.
Government has instituted prosecutions against all
the chief originators of the movement against the Con-
cordat. Pamphlets, written in very energetic language,
lifP" the people to resist the Papal aggression.at 0 twenty-one professors of the Catholic University
ocofrdFarti.burg, eighteen have protested against the Con-

THE STATE OF PARTIES IN BELGIUM.
The following letter on the state of parties in Belgium
has been received in Paris :—" The position of the
Government is becoming every day more difficult : we
have a weak Ministry, and Chambers quite divided,

The King's' acts- demonstrate that lie mistrusts the
future. The qonservative and Catholic party, hitherto
timid to excess, .6 longer declines ..a Contest. It
_de-
clares for the Po. • against the Emperor; and,'at the
same time, it makes 4n incessant opposition to, the King
and his ministers. I 4 fight almost say, that in its rage
t menaces the foundatio. of the ConstitutiOnal edifice."
N

THE MURDERS ON THE HIGH SEAS,

BY AMERICANS.

NEWPORT, ISLE OF WIGHT, Saturday night. ,
The non-jurisdiction of the court has been esta-
blished.

REDUCTION OF CUSTOMS • DUES Dr
FRANCE. . •
The Daily News, speaking of the letter addressed by
the Emperor of France to the Minister.,of State, as to
the advisability of reducing. the custom dues, remarks
that its publication is a sign of, the confidence with
which he looks forward to the continuation of peace.
It is believed the proposed changes will not, adds the
Daily News, take place before August. The same
journal also contains an interesting article on trade and
finance.

On the Beatson trial the Advertiser remarks, that the
summing-up of the judge was one of the most extraor=
dinary which has for a long time past been witnessed in
a court of law. The Daily News speaks in the same
strain. •
A meeting of the proprietors of the South-Western
Railway was held on Saturday at Waterloo, for the
purpose of agreeing to the terms of
.amalganlation•
between the South-Western and Portsmouth Railway
Companies, but was adjourned to the 28th instant, when
a meeting of the Portsmouth Railway Company will be
held to consider the same question.

AMERICA.

ARRIVAL OF THE ASIA

The royal mail steamer Asia, Captain Lott, com-
mander, arrived this morning in the Mersey at 5 o'clock.
She briny dates and letters from New York up to the
4th inst. Twenty-six cabin passengers have arrived in the
Asia. Among the passengers was the noted, if not famous,
Heenan, the Yankee pugilist, better known as the
" Benicia Boy," who comes to this country on a chal-
lenge for the pugilistic championship, he having been
backed to•fight " Torn Sayers," the English champion,
for X4OO. The arrival of the " Benicia Boy " was
eagerly looked for, and during a great portion of Sun-
day, and up to the latest hour that night the Landing-
stage was thronged by ,a crowd of persons eager to
obtain a glimpse of the challenger of ' Tom Sayers."
The Asia, on the sth, passed the screw-steamer Etna,
inward bound, and, on the same day, twenty miles from
Sandy Hook, pasied the screw-steamer Glasgow. On
the 11th she passed the Anglo-Saxon, bound west.

ORGANISATION OF THE HOUSE
On the 3rd instant the House of Representatives
adjourned without having elected a Speaker, after
having divided twenty-three times on the question
directly, and it would be hazardous, if not impossible, to
say how often indirectly on the same subject.
The news from Washington is of an interesting
nature, moretespecially in respect to mail contracts, and
the relations with Spain. The Herald says :—" Recent
advices received here by our government from Spain,
state that the pending difficulties between the two
governments are in a fair way of a speedy and satisfac-
tory adjustment. This intelligence has been received
since the President communicated his Message to
Congress.
In reference to the " March of the Union Democracy,"
the New York Herald says :—" The Union Democracy
which elected Fernando Wood mayor of this city is
now proceeding to elect delegates to the Charleston
Convention, and in the interior counties some of
the delegates are already elected. We call this
party the Union democracy, in contradistinction to
the democracy of Tammany Hall and the Albany
Regency, which fell with Havemeyer in the beginning
of last month. The election of delegates in the various
Congressional districts are so many Union meetings,
which will bring out the latent sentiment of the State."
In respect to the trial of Stevens, one of the accom-
plices of John Brown, in the Harper's Ferry affair, the
the New York Times says :—lt has generally been sup-
posed that Stevens, one of the accomplices of John
Brown in the Harper's Ferry affair, had been handed
over to the federal authorities, and was to be tried in
the United States courts. It seems, however, that this
is not so. George Sennett, Esq., of Boston, wrote to
the President for information on the subject, and is
informed by a letter from Andrew Hunter, Esq., that
"the authorities of Virginia have definitely settled that
he is to be tried in Charlestown," and that the trial
will probably come off in the present month, though
that is not certain.
Great excitement has been created in Madison, by
twelve families being required to leave the State, owing
to the Harper's Ferry affair. They arrived in Cin-
cinnati on Thursday the 4th instant.
The Missouri Democrat has the following from the
Warsaw Despatch :—About eleven o'clock on Monday
night the citizens of Bolivar were aroused by shouting
and throwing of stones on the public square. A large
crowd soon congregated, and found that a gang of
negroes had attacked a few white men. When a suffi-
cient number of whites were collected they attacked the
negroes, driving them into the wood. The negroes
threatened to burn the town before morning. One negro
was wounded by a pistol shot. Several were captured
and confined in gaol. The citizens held a meeting and
appointed a Viplance Committee, who were taking
active measures to discover those engaged in the riot.
A mountain company was ranging, the woods in search
of negroes. At the latest advises, however, the excite-
ment had somewhat subsided.
From Albany there is nothing important, if we
except the Governor's message, and the Senators and
Assembly men sworn in.
A fire took place in Baltimore, on the 3rd instant, in
the store of Frost, Sickle, and Co., fancy-goods dealers.
The loss sustained was $lO,OOO, but the premises were
insured.
Several firel-3 occurred in Broadway, New York,
by which losses to the amount of $40,000 were sustained.
The parties interested in the premises consumed exerted
themselves with praiseworthy valour, but we regret to
relate that six lives were lost, and many more narrowly
escaped.
The steamship Habana arrived at New Orleans on
the 3d Jan., with Havana athices of the 30th Dec.
The sugar market was firm, at 9 to 91 heals for D. S.
No. 12 : stock 20,000 boxes. Sterling exchange 15 to
151 pm exchange on New York 3to 4 per cent. pm..
The New York Herald gives the following with
respect to the war in South America, dated Buenos
Ayres, Oct. 28 :---Buenos Ayres was two days ago placed
under martial law, as was the whole State, by procla-
mation. The success of the Argentine fleet in passing
the guns on the island of Martin Garcia, enabled
General Urquiza to assemble a larger and stronger fleet
than that of Buenos Ayres. Movements threw sus-
picion upon some of the officers of the Buenos Ayrean
fleet, and so clear was it that wrong was in progress,
that on Oet. 20th the Minister of War left for the field
of action to investigate. The matter was adjusted by
the court martial and execution of two or three officers.
No naval engagement occurred. The city is now to be
prepared for a siege ; the island of Martin Garcia
is to be abandoned, and all is risked on the issue
of the siege. The Governor has issued a procla-
mation, calling on all citizens, native and foreign,
to arm and defend the city ; but after twenty-
four hours the call does not seem to have had much re-
sult. Chevalier Lefevre Becourt, the French Minister,
and Mr. Thornton, the English Consul at Montevideo,
arrived here. They are deputed by their respective
governments as mediators, and now offer their services.

IMPORTANT FROM MEXICO.
The intelligence from Mexico was up to the 3rd
instant, and is as follows : General Marquez had
been confined in the palace at the city of Mexico, and
difficulty was apprehended on Miramon's return to the
capital. The British bondholders are indignant at the
consummation of the new treaty. Degollado, Gomez
Forries, and others, had arrived at Vera Cruz from
Tampico, and are loud in their demands for material aid
from the 'United States. There is no doubt that Minister
McLane has been instructed to use his efforts with the
constitutional government of Mexico to obtain for the
Louisiana Company modifications of its contract for the
construction of a railway over the Isthmus of Tehuan-
tepec. Messrs. Benjamin and Lasere certainly contem-
plate a visit to Vera Cruz, in the event of the ratification
of the treaty, to further the interests of the company.
The point of war between Mexico and the United

States resolvet itself into the following, and which we
quote from a correspondent of the New York herald :--
It may be•regaxdedits official, and as the precursor of
a formal declaration of war, which to-day is spoken of
as certain in the event of the American Congress doing
anything but condemn the recognition of Juarez and.
vote a want of confidence in Mr. Buchanan for the
course he has taken regarding Mexico. At the same
time that they are taking this high positionthey abso-
lutely refuse to consider any of the demands made by
the British representative for the many. outrages upon
the lives and property of Americans in this country,
and they are so enraged against the British government;
for its suspected intention to recognise the constitutional
government, that the outrages upon English residents,
at the hands of the clergy party, are largely on the in-
crease. It is a question, if Mr. Mathew will not be
forced to suspend relations there before he receives orders
to go to Vera Cruz. •
Well, you may ask, what means all this apparent
lunacy ? Could my reader live in Mexico awhile, and
see the abject submission of the people to the besotted
clergy who rule them—could my reader see and appre-'
ciate the ignorance and idolatry of the Mexicans—
could he know the power which a few tricks, practised
by the conquerors upon the Indian over 300 years ago,
still have upon the greater part of the best educated
Mexicans—could he,•believe that at this hour a church
is being built on a mountain in Jalisco, because. Jesus
Christ. recently appeared there—could, my reader believe
all these and many more equally absurd things I could
,relate, he might be able to understand that the Mexicans
believe that in another war with the United States they
will triumph.
But in taking their present position they hope at least
to get the positive aid of France and Spain. In in-1
dulging this hope they are supported by M. de Cabriao,
the French Minister, who declares that :France will,
lend a helping hand and aid the clergy to put upon the-
throne of Mexico a European Prince. This is his story.
It may be false ; but one thing I must say looks as if
he were telling the truth, and that is, with all his many
infamous acts, his government not only retains him here,
but so far have supported him.
Opinion is very much divided in this country regard-
ing the actual character of the American policy, and the
uncertainty on this subject has been the, cause of the
hostility to American interests in the country. The
clergy naturally are opposed to the United States, and
will fight rather than, surrender to American dictation,
and many of the most liberal of the Mexicans are.;
opposed to the United States, because they, know that.no,
good can be done their country without an effective
intervention, and they suspect and fear the United
States will not do this.
The American policy of Mr. Buchanan has forced the
necessity of an American intervention in Mexico, and
the longer it is delayed the worse it will be for both
parties. The acts of- the American government have
forced the clergy to petition the aid of France, and,
• whether they get that or not, to declare war upon the
United States and banish American residents. The
points gained by the treaty are well enough, but they
cannot be held without force; and if force is used,
difficulty will follow, and the United States will be
compelled to do as a necessity that which the civilised
world is now calling out for them to do as a charitable
duty.
Gen. Marquez the butcher, is now in prison here.
.He arrived in this capital on the 10th, and on the 11th
was reduced to prison in the palace.
Many arrests have recently been made for reported
conspiracies in favour of Marquez. The Faols are again
filled with unfortunate fellows of little importance and
less influence in the community.
The infamous conduct of Gen. Woll, at Zacatecas, still
continues against the interests of the English 'and
American merchants and residents of that place. Mr.
'Mathew continues to enter his protests and shower his
threats against the clergy in consequence. The result
'-so far has been that the outrages have been diminished
so far as Englishmen are concerned, but continue with
all vigour as regards Americans. The cause of this
is obvious. The American government ,do nothing
effective.,
The report has just reached here that Mi 7- n has
been completely defeated at. Atenquique—the -laar-
ranca between Guadalajara and Colima—with nf.s of
fifteen pieces of artillery. The Constitutionalists, under
Rocha, 'Valle, and Ogason, are said to have done this
business.
We are now all anxiety, pending the 'arrival of Mr.
Buchanan's message. If it be severe on the clergy fac-
tion, and couched in menacing language, you may
expect a declaration of war from. here by next mail.
Mexico is yet a speck on the horizon which bids fair to
swell to great importance before the close of the year
1860 ; And unless it receive attention now, it will cost
the United States much trouble hereafter.