The Northern Daily Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1857-02-16 00:00:00

comparatively healthy. Business was steady.
The Peninsular mails also arrived at Southampton
on Saturday. At Lisbon, the house of Deputies
were in Session, and a long debate had occuri
on the reply to the King's Speech. A French brig
has been wrecked off. the Isle of Mahon, and ten
lives were lost.
By the arrival of the Cunard steamer Persia,
Captain Judkins, which entered the Mersey on
Saturday morning, we are in receipt of four days
later news from the United States. The
Senate had discussed the Central American
Treaty on the 3rd instant, but without any
result. The Secretary of the Treasury has recom-
mended to the Senate that authority be given him
to appoint an additional Superintendent in con
nection with the stations on the New Jersey
and Long Island shores for rendering relief to
vessels in distress ; that boats of a lighter draft
than those now in use be obtained, and that each
crew rendering assistance in cases of shipwreck
be allowed a sum not exceeding two hundred
dollars, according to circumstances. An accident
had occurred on the Georgian Railway. Go
vernor Johnson, of Tennessee, and forty
other •passengers were severely injured. John
Lawler, a soldier, had voluntarily confessed to the
murder of a young woman at Rathdrum, Ireland.
Advices from Mexico to the 20th of January report
the suppression of the insurrection at San Luis
Potosi. There were rumours of an insurrection at
, Puebla.

sure, for the last ten or fifteen years, we shall find
that we have no cause for alarm, and have no jus-
tifiable pretext for raising the rates of 'commercial
discount to a usurious level, when three or four
millions of gold have been taken to adjust the ba-
lances of trade with other countries. As producers
enjoying a monopoly, and having other advan-
tages in nearly all the industrial arts, we have
no more reason to apprehend any prolonged
scarcity of the precious metals than we have of a
short supply of any other commodity. But the
single fact on which we would fix the attention
of Parliament and the people at large is, that all
the high-flown preaching we hear about conver-
tibility, keeping gold at home, curtailing the
circulation to check speculation, and dep.eciate
the value of all commodities, ends in exorbitant
usury, panics, and want of employment. If these
are matters which ought to he inquired into in
secrecy, the remainder of the Parliamentary
business of the realm may be carried on with
closed doors, in all safety.

THE Manchester Dock and Liverpool Town
Dues Bill, as Mr. Low E's bantling ought to be
called, is not, according to Mr. MILNER GIBSON,
" meant to carry out the Local Dues and Shipping
" Bill which was abandoned last session.''
Nothing of the kind ! The present historical
and Parliament insulting compilation is designed
to transfer the management of the Docks of the
Mersey, and to vest the Dock Estates of both
Liverpool and Birkenhead in one of those
monstrous combinations and growing pests
called " the Manchester Chamber of Commerce'
and one of its sister absurdities styled " the
" Commercial Association," whom Mr. GIBSON
deigns to inform the Legislature " legitimately
" represented the Dock Ratepayers of Lancashire
" and Yorkshire." For this constituency, who
have had no part whatever in finding the land,
capital, and perseverance to carry out the
gigantic works in question—works Mr. GIBSON
claims to " have their plans considered, as well
" as the plans of the Corporation of Liverpool,"
who have really anticipated the wants of com-
merce and the growing requirements of the
Empire. To supply these wants something over
10,000,0001 hasbeen spent, and now we can accom-
modate an export trade amounting to 54,000,000/.
per annum, and a still larger export trade
" When the Birkenhead Docks are completed,"
the facilities afforded to commerce on the shores
of the Mersey will have cost somewhere about
13,000,0001., as Air. GIBSOII has stated ; but
with an outlay of 3,000,000/. more, we shall be
able to accommodate from forty to fifty per cent.
more trade each year !
Our Docks ought to have been made for
considerably less money ; still, the income they
yield is good commercial value for the entire sum
expended. At twenty years' purchase they
would pay off the Dock debt, and leave. the
Corporation, or the town that built them, a very
respectable profit. The Town Dues would be
an equally good investment on the same terms,
Consequently the State, or Manchester, if Par-
liament will allow her to buy, can have a noble
port and the finest Docks in the world, capable
of accommodating say 80,000,0001, of trade
outwards, and something more inwards for the
comparatively paltry sum of 15,000,000/.
This is the cost price of Liverpool's maritime
inheritance—her lawful estate, and if the com-
mercial inhabitants of Manchester, a PALMERSTON
Cabinet, or the rights of' property-subverting
Board of Trade, wish to see. England with a port
without local dues, and the commerce of the
world with docks without rates or other charges,
let them make an offer in money for the sub-
stance of this Municipality, and not endeavour
by a species of " commercial immorality" so
recently denounced by the Manchester Chamber
of Commerce, to possess themselves of what law-
fully belongs to their neighbour. Liverpool has
designed, raised money, and made her Docks
The Liverpool Corporation have therefore a right
to be heard, where Mr. GIBSON'S clients ought
not to be suffered to speak, except as bidders at
the sale of our Municipal Estate.
The lobby of the House of Commons cannot
be the high road or covered way by which poli-
tical burglars are to obtain access to the title-
deeds and other property of the subject. Lord
PALMERSTON must be playing with Man-
chester, and her commercial moralists must be
returning the Premier's compliment. There is
nothing serious in a Municipal Plunder Bill being
entertained in the Imperial Parliament. Vested
rights, and Town Dues, when only incidentally
alluded to in a legislative measure, will not surely
be intentionally and determinedly taken away
without compensation. We have never heard of
those extremes which justify a State's doing a
gross wrong towards an individual, and we deny
the existence of any just grounds of complaint
which Manchester could being forward in sup-
port of her most unconstitutional and dangerous
designs on this Borough. Her railway specu-
lators—we dare not call them " gamblers"-s-who,
having expended 68,000/, per mile in the con-
struction of theillines, may requireidocks with
their management, to keep their heads above water;
but the whole of the Dock Estates cf Liverpool
and Birkenhead, with the Town Dues added to
them, will never enable them to pay respectable
railway dividends, and the House of Commons
should beware how they give a combination of
Manchester commercialists and railway prodigals,
who have done so much towards rendering the
carrying charges of the North so exorbitant
that we already need competition, and will ere
long force on the country a determined opposi-
tion in railways, which will leave the existing
shareholders of our Northern lines without a
fraction of dividend.
We need not take the trouble to analyse the
names of the promoters of the Liverpool Spolia-
tion Bill. We know their stake in Manchester
and Cheshire lines, and we may venture to pro-
mise them that we are ready to expose to their
shareholders the actual state of their affairs, and
to convince them that there is nothing to be

Tat Palmerston Government have succeeded
n obtaining from the House of Commons

" a Secrecy Committee," composed of 22
members, to enquire into the practical operation

of the Banking laws, and usurious rates of
discount in this great mercantile country !

Now, the composition of this tribunal is of vast
importance, as it will show us how the various
interests and political parties of the country are

represented we, therefore, give the names of

the members who are to pronounce an opinion,
in secret, on a subject on which the peace and

general well being of the nation are staked at

this moment :—The Chancellor of the Exche-

quer, Mr. Disraeli, Sir James Graham, Mr.
Spooner, Mr. Gladstone, Mr. George Alexander
Hamilton, Mr. Cardwell, Mr. Malins, Mr.

Wilson, Mr, Hildyard, Mr. Glyn, Mr. Beckett,

Mr. ilankey, Mr. Stirling, Mr. Pollard-Urqu-

hart, Mr. John Lewis Ricardo, Sir Charles

Wood, Mr. Ca ley, Sir Francis Baring, Mr,

Martin Tucker Smith, Mr. Wilkinson, and Mr.

Fergus. In this list we have the representatives

of every shade of party, and their decision will

show us how far we are to look to the ruling
lights of the day for sound legislation on this all
vital question. If Mr. DISRAELI supports the

renewal of the Bank Charter Act of 1844, or the

still more preposterous bill of 1819, he ceases to

be the friend of the landed interest, and can

never again aspire to the office of Chancellor of
the Exchequer. Mr. SPOONER will explain to

the honourable member for Buckinghamshire

the very natural grounds on which we make this

statement.

A Bullionist is a low, vulgar, and untutored
Democrat, who cannot be made to understand

the legitimate prerogatives of the Crown, or. the
real interest of the masses to whom he belongs ;
and he who countenances usury in trade seeks
to annihilate the yeoman and trample on the
working man. An attempt to renew ex-
onto tPq ..41;p1-1 have not only
a tendency of this kind, but produce
nothing in practice but panics and paupers,
requires to be made in secret. The truth is too
revolting to be told in many instances, and this
isione in which it cannot be kept too far out of
sight, The daily working of the principle of
the Bill of 1819, and the Banking rules enforced
in the Bank Charter Act of 1844, exhibit to the
whole world a paradox which is enough to shake
all faith in our commercial knowledge, and
confidence in our stability in trade. 'We
are a publicity - loving people, and will
make the Bank of England publish a
weekly statement of their assets and liabilities.
We deify " cash payment"—will have gold in
our money temples, and, like most other Pagans,
we expose ourselves to the charitable commisse-
ration and ridicule of the world. We preach
" convertibility" as our rule of commercial faith,
and yet we allow the demon Inconvertibility to
divide the orthodox house, and sweep away the
profits of the true Bullionist.
We certainly place the Temple of Virtue before
the Temple of Vice. The public only enter the
former—a place specially devoted to paying on
demand—vulgarly called " The Banking Depart-
" ment." Here the devout gold worshipper may
drink his fill; but how his wants are supplied
we defy BAL&AM himself to tell. The other
regions of the blissful, but divided region,
is the sanctuary into which none but the high
priests are permitted to enter. This is the
mosque dedicated to:the imp Inconvertibility.
Here thirty millions of paper are placed on one
side of the account, and. issued against perhaps
ten millionsof gold. Will the devoted Bullionist
—the Goldite of single-heartedness— believe
it ? That such schism in banking and heresy in
currency should be tolerated, must be a source of
great and unspeakable grief to the true believer
in yellow metal. We do not think that Mr.
DISBAELI, or even Sir G. COItNEWALL LEWIS,
would tolerate such gross profanation of the
Bullion canon if either of them had dived suf-
ficiently deep into the mysteries of the Temple
to enable reasonable men to comprehend the
dangers which threaten a departure from a creed
which shuts the door against a recognised and
much-lauded principle. There is no telling where
an organic spirit of contraries will lead us, or
when two principles diametrically opposed to
each other will leave US in the lurch.
The issuing department of the Bank of
England just supplies sufficient inconvertible
leverage to lift the gold out of their vaults, and
to enable us to send it abroad, leaving ourselves
without circulation. The 28 or 30 millions of
notes put into the hands of the public gives us
full control over the 9,000,000 or 10,000,000 of
sovereigns held in reserve. If, then, the gold
was wanted for export, the Bank could not
retain it, as they are compelled to " issue on
demand." This proves that there is a point
beyond which temporary drains of bullion cannot
go, and if we take the average quantity of gold
held by the Bank at the close of seasons of pres.

THE NORTHE'r:N TIMES.-LIVERPOOL, MONDAY.

gained by throwing stones. Moreover, Man-
chester herself has nothing to boast of in many
directions, and if she will persist in attacking
our property, we may return the favour with
interest and a considerable bonus. And it is
well for our neighbours to know that we will not
submit to the insolent interference of ber officials
and railway diplomatists in the internal affairs of
this Borough. We know all about Manchester-
isms and the railway tariffs which prodigality has
raised up against our neighbour's trade, in every
direction, and we are just as well informed with
regard to what is going on behind the curtain as
we are with respect to the policy of the present
anti-Liverpool movement. Mr. Lover, may be
equally well informed, but the heads of the
Cabinet to which he belongs cannot be so well
up to the affair. We shall wait, however, until
we see how far Manchester will allow this
" Private Bill" scheming to go before we return
the attack. If the Whig Cabinet can be hood-
winked, that is no reason Liverpool should be
openly plundered in silence, and we shall begin
by showing that Manchester has less to complain
of from Dues and Dock Rates, than she has from
a system of railway management, which is posi-
tively fleecing her, and without the remotest
chance of paying a fair dividend on the immense
cost of construction. The. Manchester Chamber
of Commerce may not be large railway dabblers,
but we know who are, and they had better be
satisfied with3their rails, and leave our Municipal
property to its right owners !

According to iutelligance received at Bombay from
Bushire, dated Dec. 30, the Persians were meditating an,
attack upon the British troops encamped near that city.
General Sir James Outran, with his staff, sailed from
Bombay for the Persian Gulf, on the 16th January. The
government was preparing, for immediate despatch,
reinforcements to form a second division for service in
Persia. Several interviews had taken place between Dost
Mahommed and Sir John Lawrence. The nature of their
communication had not transpired.

BIMKENHEAD, LANCASIIIRE, AND CHESHIRE JUNCTION
RAILWAY CoMrANY•—At a meeting of the board on
Saturday last, it was decided to recommend out of the
nett earnings of the company, a dividend at the rate of 34
per cent per annum, and to carry over a very considerable
balance to the current half-year, 1":

THE SECRET TREATY.—The PTCS3C of Saturday
observes that " the argument in the House of Commons
between Lord Palmerston and
,Mr. Disraeli, is partly a
question of fact and partly a question of inference.
Neither branch of the argument is yet complete." The
Saturday Review calls the statement " Mr. Disraeli's
shave,' " and observes that "in whatever way it may be
regarded, the history of the secret treaty can only be
treated as the most successful practical joke which the
world has seen since the Berners-street hoax. Who the
mischievous parties were who chose Mr. Disraeli for their
poissod, Avril, we are left to conjecture; for we are
solemnly assured that he would have equally been in the
possession of the information ' if he had not gone to Paris.
Believers in secret influence have not hesitated to say
that Lord Palmerston employed Madame Do Lieven to
instruct Mr. Disraeli; but how a man can honestly come
at the knowledge of the contents of a secret correspon
dence between third parties, without their consent, is no
very intelligible."

.T~ •'n

THE MAIL SERVICE.—The Royal Mail steam-ship
Niagara, Captain Leitch, sailed on Saturday afternoon
for Boston via Halifax. She carried out the usual mails,
a fair cargo of goods, and a full compliment of passengers.
On the same day the screw steamship City of Washington
took har departure for New York. She also took out a
"ship letter" mail to that city, whereby merchants and
others were enabled to reply to their letters brought by
the steamship Persia. Great praise is due to the con-
signees here for the extraordinary celerity with which
the City of Washington was discharged, loaded, an got
ready for sea in the short space of little more than 30
hours. The mail departures for the week will be—first,
the steamship Great Britain, for Melbourne, this after_
noon; the Collins steamer Atlantic, for New York, on
Wednesday; and the Persia, for New York, on Saturday.
We understand that the Great Britain is well freighted
with goods and passengers.

73i: J

ST. ANNE'S DISPENSARY, AND EYE AND EAR INSTITU.
non, 9, Ron HILL.—New patients entered on the books
last week, viz., February 14, 1857 :—Relieved at the insti-
Union, 159; relieved at their own dwellings, 54; t0ta1,213.
Visitors : Mr. E. Watts and Mr. Kirk. Honorary secre-
tary and treasurer, Joseph Kitchen, Esq.
ACCIDENT IN THE RIVER.—Yesterday a seaman, named
Gale, who was engaged on the top spar of a vessel sailing
from New Orleans, fell into the river and was drowned.
The body of the deceased was afterwards found, and was
deposited is the dead house at the Prince's Dock. There
will be an inquest held on the body this day.
ORSINI'S LECTURES.—This distinguished patriot, whose
narrative of aeventures we have already noticed, delivers a
lecture in Clayton Hall this eveniug. The suhject selected,
" Austrian tyranny in Italy," is one of deep interest, and
when handled by such a brave, truth-telling, and eloquent
man, cannot fail to draw a large audience, who will be both
edified and instructed by the statements put forth.
THE LATE AFFRAY ON BOARD THE J. L. BOGART.—It
will be in the reaollecrion of our readers that the objet
mate of the above vessel was conveyed to the Northern
Hospital, on the morning of the attack, suffering from a
severe stab wound in the left breast. He has been in that
valuable institution ever since, and, notwithstanding that
every attention has been paid to his case, he expired yester-
day. An inquest will be held on the body this day.
QUICK DESPATCH.—The following is about as quick
despatch as we have had the satisfaction of recording :
The fine vessel, the City of Washington (s.s ), belonging to
the Liverpool and Philadelphia line of steamers, now plying
between this port and New York, entered the Huskisson
dock on Friday morning, and proceeded to load over 1,000
tons of goods, with about 1,000 tons of coals, and in the
short space of twenty four lours she was filly trimmed,
and sailed again on Saturday for New York, having a full
complement of first and second class passengers.
AN ABSCONDING CLERK FROM AMERICA ARRESTED IN
LEVERPOOL.—A regal it run, across the Atlantic Ocean,
terminated on Saturday, in the capture of an absconding
clerk, from -an extensive mercantile house iu New York.
with, as is said, a large sum of specie. The fasts of this
case are kept as secret as possible, although the matter was
spoken of on Saturday through town. One of our reporters
made enquiry at the office of the American Consul, asking
for such inf ,r,netioa as did net come under the head of
official," or " piivate and confi lential." He was received
with that polite attention, which characterises the Consul,
and the gentlemen connected with the office, but at present
all informaion was withhhel 3, on the ground that it was
" official," and not ripe (at least just now) for publication.
We have our own notions of such things, but these do not
square with the opinions of others. The facts, as well as
could be c Aleeted—but for the reasons stated there was
great difficulty in even collecting this skeleton—seem to be
as follows. A persoU (we could not procure the name) who
filled an office of trust and consequent responsibility, in an
extensive house in New York (not named) came away in
the U.S. mail steamer Atlantic, he having first emptied the
safe belonging to the house of all its cash and valuable
securities. The steamer had sailed when the delinquent was
missed. Same one belonging to the house took a passage in
the royal mail steamer Persia, which left New York on the
4th and arrived here a couple of hours before the Atlantic.
This 120 minutes in advance was made good use of, for the
pursuer had some of the American authorities and an
inspector of police ready to receive the pursued, and be was
taken at once to the American Consul's office, and no doubt
will be sent back by next steamer. We give the above as
communicated to Our reporter, who, however, is not
accountable for any inaccuracy (if any) it may contain, and
that for the reasons already stated. The main features of
the else we believe, however, will be found correct. It is
said that the value of the property taken was about 125,000
dollars, and the delinquent brought with him a large quantity
of luggage and a splendidly attired female as companion.

VIE BUDGET.

bountry and the feelings of the House of Commons have
pronounced in favour of the great fact. The opposition
members will not invite a dissolution this year.
FROM THE BELFAST "NORTHERN WHIG."—The Budget
of 1857 is another contribution to the confused, compli-
cated, and discordant system of British Finance, It is
from-time-to-time expedient. No principle is laid down.
It is a Budget of one idea, and that idea second hand.
FROM THE DUBLIN "DAILY Expaass."—lt had not
even the charm of novelty to redeem its dulness. The
House expected no new discovery in the art of budget-
making, no lucid exposition of the principles of taxation,
no masterly stroke of financial policy. They knew what
was coming. They went to see "a reed shaken by the
wind"—a feeble Chancellor of the Exchequer bending be-
fore the blasts of popular indignation against an odious
tax.

Fame "THE TlMES.''—The increasing expenditure of
the country_ under all heads is a very startling fact, and
no wonder it is the subject of Sir G. C. 'Lewis s most
emphatic remarks. In the army and navy, besides a
number of temporary causes, such as the dearness of
provisions and the completion of large purchases by
contract, there are permanent sources of increased expen-
diture, such as steam, larger dockyards, camps, hospitals,
land transport, hospital corps, the militia, the new system
of the coastguard, new muskets, new packet lines to all
parts of the world. At every possible opening the great
spirit pf progress has proved expensive to the public.
The civil services are equally exacting. The public offices,
the county coutts, the constabulary, education, and other
objects of public necessity or 'interest, annually encroach
on tne public purse to the amount of £200,000 or 300,000
at a time ; and every such addition is perpetual. Instead,
therefore, of the £50,000,000 a year which .very recently
promised to be the outside of our peace expenditure, the
estimate for the next year is over £65,000,000. Deducting
the " collection of tl. e revenue," the repayment of loans, and
the Persian expedition, it appears that our present peace
expenditure is £7,000,000 more than it was before the war ;
end much of this threatens to be permanent. The Chancellor
of the Exchequer, then, does no more than his duty in
calling attention to the vast aggregate of a fact which is
too usually regarded in the detail. Confessedly the public
does want some sober, business-like rules in dealing with
its not inexhaustible purse. There is too Much of the
scramble in the present process. "First come, first
served," or, rather, the strongest hand gets the most ; and
it is a matter of daily occurrence to fix on the public
purse an annual charge equivalent to a capital expenditure
of 5,000,0001 or 10,000,0001. During the three years of the
war we have made more permanent addition to the public
expenditure for other objects than we have on account of
the war itself. The Chancellor of the Exchequer gives a
p'cturesque enumeration of the claims lately made, or st i 1
made upon him, and he includes some that have been
admitted by -Parliament. He has omitted some even more
expensive and questionable. The remedy for confusion is
to be found in general rules ; and it certainly would be
worth the attention of Parliament to frame some system
for-discriminating between national, local, and private
purposes. At present there is no discrimination ; and the
stronger hand, or the more forward, gets the largest
handful of the public money.
FROM "THE MORNING POST."—We are well satisfied
with the position in which the Income Tax now stands.
We are content, for the sake of what we get, at once to
accept, without grumbling and without hesitation, the
intelligible and simple proposal of the Chancellor of the
Exchequer that a lease of the tax, at the original rate of
sevenpence, shall be grantei for a new period, ending in
1860, in the stead of Mr. Gladstone's sliding scale ; and
that at the end of that year we shall again have the ques-
tion of the tax submitted to us for decision upon its
merits, such as the circumstances of the time may then
present them to us. It is not necessary now to go into
the question of the effects likely to be produced by the
modifications to be proposed with regard to tea and
sugar ; they are reasonable enough, and we see no ground
for opposing them ; but the main feature—the great
feature—of the Budget is .the absolute and peremptory
surrender of the whole of the war rates of the Income
Tax; and we are anxious to fix the undivided attention
of the public upon the fact that the Government have kept
faith implicitly with the nation, and to impress upon their
mind, and upon the minds of our statesmen and our
legislators, that,. as a matter of policy, no less than as a
matter of justice, the arrangements which the Government
have effected in regard to its finance are of a value almost
beyond estimate.
From "THE DAILY NEWS."—Nobody really expected
to hear .of a Ministerial proposition this year to remit the
duty on paper or a portion of that on wine. Some credu.
lous folk, perhaps, imagined that a tax so universally
unpopular and mischievous as that on fire insurance might
have been given up; but if any such there were, they will
[eerie how egregiously they have been deceived. It is of
all others the impost which Sir C. Lewis, with the pru.
dente of a true doctrinaire, gees out of his way to declare
that he will never agree to relinquish. With better
judgment, he intimates his intention of keeping up the
present duties on distilled spirits, which, although imposed
in aid of a war revenue, are fairly chargeable in time of
peace, so long as the produce they yield continues to
increase, and illicit distillation does not threaten to
reappear to any formidable extent. We cannot use the
same language when adverting to the project for a new
scale of duties on sugar and tea, with a view to arrest
the progress of the declining charge on those mecessa-
ries of life. By the expiration of the temporary act
which suspended the gradual decrease in the Customs
charge on tea and sugar, • the consumer would, after
the sth of April next, beginsonce more to derive the
benefit'iutended by the framers of that epannent ; but
the Chancellor of the Eichequer steps in and says—" I
propose to do so much for the relief of incomes above
£lOO a year from war burthens, that I cannot'; think of
affording any mitigation of burthens to those which fall
below that scale; and as they would obtain a certain
small modicum of relief by the resumption of the state of
things that existed three years ago, I have determined
to submit new schedules of declining duties which will
have the effect of securing some few hundred thousand
pounds to the revenue, and letting the inappreciable
decrease of price sink for some years into the pockets of
the wholesale merchant." Assuredly there never was a
finance minister who evinced at all times, and under all
circumstances, a greater appetite for unpopularity.
FROM " TH a MORNING HERALD."—Takliqg the Budget
as a whole,* it is creditable to the tact, talent, industry,
and readiness of the Chancellor of the Exchequer. Yet
we feel somewhat at a loss to decide whether there is
more occasion for rejoicing at it or otherwise. It is un-
doubtedly a popular and wise proceeding to reduce the
income tax to 7d. instead of the formidable 16d or 10d, with
which we were threatened. It is on the whole a wise
principle in the Government that it has abandoned the
vision of Mr. Gladstone, who, if we mistake not, contem-
plated a period when all indirect taxation should he com•
muted into direct. But then the income tax is to be con
tinued without diminution at 7d for the next three years,
instead of tieing reduced •to sd, as it would have been
by the natural order of events, supposing that we had
returned to the scale proposed previous to the outbreak of
the war. To prevent, moreover, any undue rejoicing at
the prospect of reduction thus unexpectedly opened to us,
theldiminishing scale of the duties on tea and sugar is to be
stayed in its operation. The present duties are to continue
intact for this year ; then they are to become " small by
degrees, and beautifully less," but by such a gradual
descent that the result will inevitably be to retain them,
so far as the consumer is concerned, nearly at their
present status. The diminution of 2d a year on a pound
of tea will practically have the effect of keeping up prices
at the present level ; and the very argument used by the
Chancellor of the Exchequer against reducing the duties
on paper may be turned against himself; no substantial
benefit accrues to the community at large by such minute
reductions.
FROM " THE MORNING CHRONICLE."—This Budget is a
" negative" Budget. Sir George Lewis originates nothing.
He appears to have considered that his duty rather was
to accommodate events to the financial system already
laid down by his predecessors. He touches nothing but
the war taxes. It is useless to come to him with claims
for a remission of the duties on paper, on wine, on fire
insurances, or even on spirits. He is a reconciler. His
whole speech was a silent flattery of Mr. Gladstone, which
that gentleman rewarded by an abstention from criticism.
In point of fact, the right honourable baronet could not
well have none otherwise, unless he had been prepared to
propose financial principles different from those which
have received the sanction of parliament. This Budget
offers us a very delusive kind of advantage. It may, or
it may not, satisfy the public that what is called the "war
ninepence" is to be taken off ; but they will p e-haps not
be disposed to applaud the purism of the Chancellor
of the Exchequer, which, for the sake of paying
off iimmediately certain loans contracted during
the war, dooms them to a tax of two pence in
the pound more than they would have had to pay under
the "settlement" of 1853, on which Mr. Gladstone, and
Mr. Disraeli have taken their stand. They may also
think that "a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush',
—that cheaper tea and sugar immediately might 'Tinto.'
ately be paid for by a slight extension, over future years,
of those burdens which the Chancellor of the Exchequer
now proposes to get rid of out. of what would otherwise be,
a present surplus. Upon all these poiuts, however, the
opinion of Parliament will very speedily be taken; and it
should be remembered that the criticism and the tactics
of Mr. Gladstone and Mr. Disraeli are only postponed.
FROM THE " MORNING STAR."—The statement has been
made earlier during tho present session than is usual, an
the principle, .inverted, which leads epicures to reserve
the bonne bouche to the end of the feast. Unquestionably
this budget is no bonne bouche to the country. If we were
asked to describe it in two words, we should say it is a
cowardly and a. Protectionist budget. Being cowardly, it
is of course unjust and contemptible.
FROM THE "DAILY TELEGRAPH.—Takieg the Budget
as a whole, it will, we think, tend to impress the public
with a higher opinion of the Chancellor of the Exchequer's
capabilities than had been previously entertained, and
there is, unquestionably, more than one element in it
which must render it acceptable .to the public. • • •
FROM THE "MANCHESTER EXAMINER.''
—Deferring any
further remarks, we will simple, add that the • Budget •as
it stands is " pretty good, considering ;" and thate—with.
out intending any ingratitude to Sir G. C. Lewis—the
people may thank themselves that it is not worse. •
FROM THE " Sun."—We are rejoiced to find that no
discussion was taken, or resolution passed, last • night.
On consideration, it will be seen. that Sir G. C. Lewis
offers no boon to the community. It is not him that we
have to thank for the reduction of the 9cl; and in every
other respect his Budget is unjust and oppressive, merit-
ing the unequivocal condemnation rather than the support
of the nation.
FROM THE " OBSERVER."—ThO • Government has dis.
appointed and disconcerted all their opponents. They
have taken off the entire " War Ninepence, ' bodily and at
once. That is the way to do it. They have taken a load
off the public mind, and they have at the same time dis-
concerted all opponents, " white, black, and grey, with all
their trumpery. It was a great achievement, worthy of
the," great minister," and, if necessary, most nobly will
the country answer it. Nine millions a year " off at one
fell swoop?! The thiug is unprecedented and unexpected.
The theorists and small schemers may rant and rave—
may repine and reason as they will—the instinct of the

AMUSEMENTS, tSc;

THEATRE ROYAL -ENGAGE M ENT" OF MR. MURDOOR.."'

Mr. Murdoch, the distinguished American actor, opens a

brief engagement in the Theatre Royal this. evenings
This performer is among the latest and most remarkable
additions to our dramatic celebrities. During his recent/
and protracted engagement at the Haymarket Theatre,
London, he succeeded in establishing for himielf a dis-
tinctive as well as• a brilliant repUtation. If we may rely
upon the critique's which followed his first appearance, iii
the columns of some of the metropolitan leaders of literarY
and dramatic fashion, Mr. Murdoch is unsurpassed is

the delineation of a peculiar class -of comedy—easy,
natural, but at the same time spirited and forcible. Most

actors of any ability soon identify themselves with some
one character, or set of characters. Mr. Murdoch appears
to have thoroughly identified himself with Young Mirabel,
in Farquhar's " Inconstant "—a play which it required
some courage to revive, and a character which only a very'
peculiar combination of high artistic talent and consum-
mate tact could make tolerable to a modern audience•

In this task, however, • Mr. Murdoch appear*
to have succeeded, if we are to take as decisive the
encomiums of the principal London papers. It may he
questioned whether any amount of talent can ever again
render the " Inconstant," with all its humour, brilliancy,
and power, popular among English audiences in general
and the success of Mr. Murdoch may perhaps be regarded
as that of a kind of dramatic curiosity which peculiar
genius may vivify and render attractive for a time. That
he has succeeded in again giving temporary life ter tha
witty, thoughtless, heartless hero of Farquhar's comedy le
. unquestionable ; and the achievement has already marked
him with a celebrity perfectly distinctive. It affords us
much gratification that a Liverpool audience should have
the opportunity of judging for themselves of the merits of
an actor who, in many other characters as well as in that
we have mentioned, has won no common success and
created no ordinary interest in the metropolis.
EXHIBITION OF THE FRENCH SCHOOL OF FINS ARTS."'"
The second exhibition, in Liverpool of the French School
of Fine Arts opens to-day, at the Exhibition Roolus.
Old Postoffice•place. The private view took place oa
Saturday, and was attended by a large number of risttersi
Perhaps the present exhibition does not contain so man/
paintings - of a remarkable and distinctive Oharacter a*
that of last year. The great " Horse Fair " of Rosa
Bonheur, which, if not the la ork of highest order, certainli
attracted the greatest crowds at the last exhibition ; the
" Angel of Death," of Horace Vernet, Paul Delarocitie
" Christ in the Garden," and Sohefer's noble painting ef
the ~ King in Thule," are not, perhaps, equalled id
character by any which are exhibited this year. But It
must not be supposed that the collection is deficient is
interest. On the contrary, it would not be easy La dad
any art exhibition presenting within a small compass 3
more varied and attractive display than that of this
season. It is also but right to add that many of the
paintings which are expected to render the exhibition
most remarkable—for instance, one of Rosa Bonheur's-s .
had not arrived on Saturday, but will, in all probabilitr,
be added to the collection this day. Among those already
displayed are paintings by Rosa Bonheur, Troyon, Brie*
Breton, Chavet, Isabey, Vernet, Plasson, Messionier,
Hillemacher, Frere, and many others of equal distinctiee•
Perhaps one of the most remarkable is an exquisite land*
scape, with cattle, by Troyon—" Cattle Returning Efotte °
Banks of the Seine." A very small, but beautifullis
painted battle group, by Horace Vernet—" The Combat
—is the only one of this great master's works which the ,
collection holds. The name of Rosa Bonheur attracti
every visitor to a spirited and life like painting of a IlOnnt
the only one bearing the name of this remarkable livolnAal
which his yet arrived. " Sunday Prayers in Laplan`"'
by Francois Biard, is one of those paintings in which
res tile,
peculiar character of climate and atmosphere are irepet!
with singular fidelity. ' The same 'peculiarity
two small pictures of a totally different class—Frere s_
Nile, and desert landscapes. Isabey's " Morning of the
Chase," and two quaint little Brittany porches by the seine
hand, are among the most deservedly admired in the Foote.
A pretty view on the Ryswick Canal, at the entrance to the
i
is evident ir
Hague, by P. T. Ouvrie, gives a charming glimpse of a r,,
Flemish country scene. " The Simoom in the Desert,' vile
J. F. Portaels, seems to glare with tilt lurid light of t'„,'
waste ; and the figures who are about to throw themselywi
on their- faces. in the sand, are filled with the expresaion 5
wild alarm. Very many others deserve equal notice, a°
indeed some of the smallest pictures are among the W
ye
beautiful of these specimens of French art; but -Vic "fled
no intention of entering at present into anypita. ,_l4
notice, and have only, by a kind, of hap-bazar " sew""ba
the few mines which are mentioned above. ft may
AO
added as one felicitous peculiarity of the collection, -,„-- la
the French artists do not appear to have the same Ow !I
veneration for a limited number of stock-subjects Whicia
characterises our painters at home. Only one or twe,;:h
this exhibition at all belong to that familiar class ivltd
presents themselves to us in such endless repetition ad
with such inevitable regularity in every English '
Union display. _