Northern Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1859-02-16 00:00:00

overcome, or rather gained, by the South, la 1870,
to place her on an equality with the North ;" find
that the rate of increase from births would " leave
12,000,000 to be obtained from importations of
Africans, who, counting only three for five, would
have to be furnished to the number of 20,000,000
in the next ten years. As 33 per Cent. is lost froth,
death before they are made avaiiable,". adds the
calculation, " 30,000,000 must be obtained in
Africa to be started to America." And this being
the case—and for no other reason apparently - the
proposition is scouted. "Is it not," they ask,
" absurb ? Can we get them ? Have we
ships to bring them ? Have we money
.to buy or spare for them F" And then they
proceed to further argue against it thus,—
" During the whole period of the slave-trade, when
open, only 400,000 were brought to America.
These are naturally increasing so rapidly, that
now they are 4,000,000, and Professor TUCKER
estimates that in sixty years they will be
31,000,000. Who, would so far. tip Africa into
America that in sixty years there would b'e
America so,ooo,oogiTor Africans, • equal to the
estimated population Africa ? Who Would
have the South Africaltise4 ? Was our noble land
most designed for the white race or the negro.?
May our posterity never i3le the day when they
shall be encumbered with at& Africa at home and

their midst !" We see• is all this the selfish
element predominant—selflith, as meaning atten-
tite only to theii, own interest; and void of regard
for that of othars,—and not only so, bat setting
aside altogether considerations' of humanity, and
justice in the calculations of their own interest.
These, however, are the guarantees. that we
have,- such as they are, for the Southerners of

Republican America discouraging the re-opening
of the slave-trade in their free country.
it is solar satisfactory to find, that the renewal of
o. trafEc-which England has made such great sacri-
Ices to put down, and to extinguish, azul-: her
efforts to.- do which-, have so often threatened
• .
the peace of the• two countries,. is not
therefore, to be':attOmpted, at least: on any
scale of-' magnitude ; or, at any. rate,'. that if
attempted.; it will- meet with any general en.-
eouragement in the Slave States.. One wauld
much rather, it is true, have had it- based 0n.4 a
higher and a juster principle. But, as it is, there

is nothing for us but, to be content with it,—only
taking care to see that an object is realised whieh
involves much for which the people of England
have not hesitate& to pay down in hard cash
what would go a long way towards buying up
the whole property in slaves that America now.
possesses..

THE ntRSEY DOCKS AND HARBOUR BILL.—A coat
temporary, yesterday,.frightened the Mersey Docks and.
Harbour-Board by the announcement, that they had been,
defeated in Parliament.. We confess.we were startled by
the statement, from the fact of knowing that the second'
reading of the bill was only fixed for last night. Upon
reference to the paper we found, however, that the state-
ment, so, prominently put forth as a fact, was only a
tissue of suppositions, all of which have been falsified by
the result of last night's proceedings in the House of
au, 1,;111,..;,,Er }..3 A .f 5. chd
numbers being—Uor, 181 ; against, 102.

NERSEY Dom AND TlARBetrn. The following
petition has been prepared by, the Dock Ratepayers'
Committee; and -lies for signature in the Exchange
news room :—ln,Parliament, session 1859. To the Right
honorable the. Commons of the United Kingdom of
Great Britain and Ireland in(Borliament• assembled, The
Humble Petition of the undersigned Coinmercisbl.Bodies,
Merchants, Bankers, Ship-Oriners, Tradesmen, and,others
interested in. the docks and,trade of the port of Liverpool,
Sheweth :—That a bill has, been introduced into: your
Honourable House intituled. " A Bill to authorise the
laying anil levying of Peor. Rates, or other Local Rates,
upon the Mersey Dockland, Harbour Board,,in,respect of
their. Docks and other Property belonging- to, them, in
the Parish of Liverpeel,, and certain other• Townships
and Places ; and also, to, extinguish the partial exemption
of the Mayor, Aldermen, and Burgesses of the Borough
of Liverpool from rateability to the relief-of the Poor and
for• other purposes."' That the said add largely
to, the dock dues trim], the shipping frequenting the port
and docks of Liverpool, and also add to. the charges
upon the goody imported into and exported from the port
of Liverpool. That any addition to. the charges upon
shipping and goods will materially and, most injuriously
affect the prosperity of the port WU], town of Liverpool,
and is moreover opposed to and, at variance with the
principles, which the recent Legislation of this country
has laid down. That the docks of Liverpool are not the
property of a private corporation but of a public trust,
and the entire revenues thereof are applied solely towards
the maintenance of such docks, and the payment of the
interest upon borrowed money with which they have been
constructed. Your petitioners therefore humbly pray
your Honourable House that the said hill may be
rejected upon the second reading thereof, and your
Petitioners will over pray, &c.