Northern Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1860-01-13 00:00:00

few remaining subjects the States of the

`Cluirch-hiiving;in concert with the revolutionary
party, in the neighbouring revolted provinces,
arranged to offer a tacit but studied and very
significant insult to the authorities of Ancona
Pessaro. The manifestation alluded to took place
in the theatre, where, on the authorities appear-

ing in the boxes, all the spectators immediately

arose and left the house ! We should think

" the authorities," thus left as the sole occupants

of the place, could scarcely have enjoyed the rest
of the evening's performance, after such a popular
demonstration of adverse feeling.

The Austrian Government would seem to have
had enough of her Italian possessions ; and if we
are to give any weight to the public conversation
of the people of Austria at this moment, as indi-
cative of the wishes of the Government, Francis
Joseph would now seem anxious to get rid of his
only remaining province in Italy. The sale of
Venetia is openly talked of by the public ; while,
there may be a special and significant relation in
the fact, that the employes ,in some of the
Government offices are forbidden to take any
part in conversation about any of the public
topics of.. the day. The finances of Austria
are well. knoWn to be at a very low
ebb, and the sale of this outlying province
would perhaps help her out of a double difficulty,
by affording her at once pecuniary and political
relief ; for the Venetians do not hesitate to
demonstrate their sympathy with the Italian
cause. The affect produced by the French Im-
perial missive to the Pope has caused great rejoie-
'lig at Venice—as much so as at Milan and. Paris.
Austria, from these and other occurrences; is
evidently in a very precarious position; and we
may safely infer that, if the Pope relies upon her
for aid in- the approaching struggle, there can be
little doubt he will soon find himself mistaken—
seeing that she has quite enough to do in main-
taining the integrity of her own dominions.
We insert leading articles from the Globe and
Daily News on the subject of the Conway School
Frigate, a correspondence respecting which,
between the first Lord of the Admiralty
and the Committee of Management, appeared
in our columns the day before yesterday.
It appears to be universally admitted,
that this School Frigate enterprise is one
well. worthy of the, most cordial support from
the public. "We invite attention and support to
the institution," says one of the articles we refer
to, " which confers so much honour_ on Liverpool,
and express our hope that we may see it imitated
in the other great centres of maritime commerce
throughout the United Kingdom ;" while, in the
other, it is demanded that " the British navy
should be thrown open to all her Majesty's
subjects." It is admitted that, under such a
system as that pursued in the Conway, " the
result would' be an infusion of new blood that
would freshen and invigorate, not lower the tone
or cheapen the character of her Majesty's service."
At, the weekly meeting of the Mersey Docks
and Harbour Board, yesterday, an interesting
discussion took place in respect to the already
frequent breakings of the telegraphic cable which
has been laid'down across the Mersey. In course
of the observations, it was stated that carrying
the cable round by Garston would in some degree
obviate the difficulties which have hitherto been
experienced in keeping up the electric communi-
cation. The clear passage for ferry traffic was
also discussed, as an incident, and its necessity
strongly urged by Mr. Bushell. In course of the
general proceedings the board had under considera-
tion a subject which, for the credit of all concerned,
it is to be hoped is altogether exceptional. That
was the letter of Messrs. Fitzsimons and Applebee
in reference to evasion of " Town Dues." In
extenuation of the offence complained of, and
admitted in the letter to have been committed,
Mr. Rankin said that the " coasting dues had
been collected by the Corporation in a very irre-
gular manner heretofore, and this had led to a
great deal of looseness." In his remarks, Mr.
Rankin, as will be seen from our report, expressed
a hope that if any omissions had been made on
either side, the error would be at once rectified
so that public exposure might be avoided.
By the arrival yesterday morning, from New
York, of the City of Washington, belonging to
the Liverpool, New York and Philadelphia Steam
Shipping Company, we learn that no further pro-
gress had been made up to the 2nd inst., in or-
ganising the House of Representatives. On the
contrary, a proposal to elect a Speaker for one
day only, in order to enable the House to provide
•
payment of some of the public engagements; was
thrown out ; and the House, by a majority of one,
adjourned from Friday, the 30th of December
last, to Tuesday, the 2nd instant.

OUR townsman, Mr. HENRY BOOTH, has recently
put forth a very seasonable and well-argued state-
ment in reply to the Report which the Liverpool
Financial Reform Association, some time ago,
presented at the Social Science meeting at Brad-
ford. The reasoning and the statistics of this
pamphlet are both valuable ; and we commend
them to the attention of our readers and the
public. The one seriously weakens the appli-
cation of the imposing abstractions of the Report,
and the other completely overthrow many
of its strongest allegations. Our philosophers,
great as is their parade of figures, never show so
small as when confronted with facts. The con-
clusions of logic they manage more easily to
escape.

As we have remarked before, these reformers
have announced an object in itself so respectable
and worthy of public countenance, that one has a
natural inclination to criticise tenderly their par-
ticylar modes of carrying it into effect. Neither
the writer of this pamphlet, nor ourselves,
nor perhaps anyone else, is disposed to main-
tain that our system of taxation, and of customs
and excise duties, has been brought to the pitch
of perfection, and is incapable of improvement.
The " coincidence " between the two questions of
Financial and Political Reform, which the pre-