Northern Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1857-07-09 00:00:00

THE DAY'S NEWS.

In the House of Commons last night, the
Thames Conservany Bill was passed by 172 votes
to seventy•eight. Sir J. Graham was the leading
opposition spirit, on account of the composition
of the Conservancy Board. On the Chancellor of
the Exchequer bringing up papers by command
of her M-Ijestv, asking for one million strerling for
the Persian and Chinese wars, one-half for each,
he moved that the papers be referred to the Com-
mittee of Supply. Mr Roebuck stigmatised the
conduct of the government in entering upon,
carrying on, and concluding a war, without
giving the House of Commons any oppor-
tunity of discussing the policy of the proceed-
ing. It was unconstitutional, and it was the first
time since 1640, that such a course had been taken
by the Government. Same conversation ensued,
in which the regularity of the motion made by the
Chancellor of the Exchequer was questioned, but
the Speaker deciding that the Chancellor conformed
to the usages of the House, the subject dropped.
The Chancellor of the Exchequer obtained leave to
bring in a resolution to continue the tea and sugar
duties, as fixed last year. The House then went
into committee on the Industrial Schools Bill.
Clause nine gave rise to some discussion, on
Mr. Bowyer moving that `. The managers
of the Industrial Schools should keep a book
having the denominations of the children entered
in it, and that that book should be open to the
inspectio❑ of ministers of all persuasions, that they
might, at fitting times, have access to the children,
for the purpose of giving instruction to them,
according to the creeds which they or their parents
professed." The amendment was, however, with-
drawn. A division took place on clause thirteen.
It provides that children shall be detained in the
schools until the age of fifteen. Mr. Barrow moved
that the age be lowered to twelve ; but the amend-
ment was lost, there being only fifty-nine for, while
there were 169 against. The same gentleman
moved that parents of children should not be
called upon to contribute to the support of their
children after they had attained the age of twelve
years; but this was also unsuccessful, the votes
being seventy eight for, and 16l against. The bill,
after being amended in clauses five and seven, was
ordered to be reported.
Mr. Neate, the member for Oxford, has been
unseated. In the House of Commons, last even-
ing, the Chairman of the Oxford Election Com-
mittee reported that Mr. Neate was not duly
elected, he having been guilty of bribery by his
agents. We suppose that the Right Hen. Edward
Cardwell will step into the vacant seat.

The Town Council held its adjourned meeting
yesterday. The proceedings of the Finance Com-
mittee were confirmed. They included a recom-
mendation that an assistant be granted to the
Recorder. Mr. Alderman Holme stated that
although there were seven sessions held in
Liverpool during the year, the number of prisoners
at each session was rapidly increasing, and each
session occupied, on the average, ten days. It
was desirable that they should not occupy more
than a week at a time, and that this might be
carried into effect, it would be necessasy for the
Recorder to have an assistant. Such assistance
would cost the township £lB3 15s. per annum
As intimated, the recommendation was agreed
to. The report of the Special Committee on
the subject of the lighting. &c., of the borough
was laid before the Council. The Com-
mittee, owing to the enormous expenditure
required, do not recommend any change in the
plar•ing of the lamps in the borough, but suggest
some alteration in those of the outskirts. No
alteration is recommended respecting the lighting
of courts and alleys. The Committee consider
the scheme of fountains, in connexion with the
large lamps, both practicable and desirable. Mr.
Brancker, in moving the confirmation of the report,
stated that, if the suggestions of the lighting
inspectors had heen carried out, it would involve
an outlay of £25,000 the first year, and £14,000
per annum afterwards. A lengthened conversation
occurred upon Mr. Alderman Dover's moving the
confirmation of the proceedings of the Health
Committee. The scheme respecting the erection
of Public Offices in Dale-street is already in the
possession of our readers. Mr. Picton was of
opinion that the Council ought to have more infor-
mation furnished them before coming to a discus-
sion on such an important question. Mr. Alderman
Dover did not think that it would be to the public
advantage to divulge anything additional to that
already known, respecting the intentions of the
Committee on this subject. The sum of £27,000
was all that would be required from the rat-payers.
This sum would be borrowed, and paid off in
nine years, by a borough rate of id in the
pound. Mr. Piston was not content, and
moved the postponement of the scheme
for the present, which Mr. Fernihough
seconded. Mr. James Holme entered into explana-
tions showing the desirability of carrying out the
committee's plans. Mr. J. R. Jeffery was much
opposed to the scheme, one of his reasons being
that the property of Lord Dceby, and that of Mr.
Cross, of Shaw-hall, would be much benefitted
thereby. Some further conversation ensued, and
ultimately the Committee's proceedings were con-
firmed by a vote of 21 to 20. The treatment by the
government of Mr. Newlands, and other sanitary
officers of Liverpool, who proceeded to the Crimea,
was brought under the notice of the Council, but
nothing came of it further than the subject
being referred back to the Health Committee.
Mr. Woodruff read a return in reference
to the supply of water. From this return, it
appears that the total supply of water for the last
four weeks was 293 million gallons against 177
million gallons in the corresponding period of last
year. The proportion of Rivington water and well
water is nearly about equal. It was stated that

the complaints -of want of water the last month
were 112 less than in the same month of last year.
Mr. Brown, M P., is getting disgusted at the
lethargy exhibited by the Liverpool Town Council
respecting the Public Library and Museum. A
letter was read from that gentleman, asking the
Mayor what new obstacle had got in the way. Mr
Picton defended the Library and Museum Com-
mittee, and laid all the blame on the shoulders
of the Council at large, who had had the plans put
into his hands. And he had been so busily en-
gaged with important matters, that he bad not had a
moment's time to devote to the subject. Finally,
the letter of Mr. Brown was referred to the com-
mittee, and the subject dropped.
Last evening, the Hon. Neal Dow, of Maine
Liquor Law celebrity, attracted a meeting of the
United Kingdom Alliance, for the suppression of
the Liquor Traffic, held at the Concert Hall, Lord
Nelson-street. The hon. gentleman, with great
power and ability, advocated the cause of forced
temperance. A full report of his speech will be
found in another column.

Henry Bliss, Esq., Q C., has been appointed
Attorney-General of the County Palatine of Lan-
caster, in the place of J. L. Knowles, Esq., Q.C.,
resigned.

A grand review and field-day took place at
Aldershott yesterday. The Queen, accompanied
by various distinguished personages, was in
attendance. The number of troops on the ground
was somewhere about 11,000

The French supplementary elections seem to be
not more favourable in the departments, to the
Government, than they were at Paris. At Angers
the democratic candidate has beaten the govern-
ment candidate, by three votes to one. The sus-
pension of the AssenVilee Nationale for an article
du the elections is, we presume, an evidence of
how bitterly the government feels its defeat.
The Spanish Cortes have voted, by a large
majority, a press law, which will put an end to
the liberty, and, still more, to the commercial
success of journalism in Spain.
The news from Constantinople is gloomy. Once
more have the four powers, Russia, France, Prussia,
and Sardinia, protested against the acts of the
Moldavian Kamaikan. This time they declare the
Sultan the responsible party. The latest of the
Bank schemes, that of M. Baltazzi, is meeting with
no more favour than the rest.

Private letters from Genoa and Leghorn give
fresh details of the late Mazzini outbreak. Miss
Jessie Meriton White, who has been lending her
influence and personal efforts to that arch-con-
spirator, has been expelled from Genoa, according
to the Courriere Mercantile of that town. Fresh
discoveries of muskets and munitions have been
made in Genoa, as likewise large quantities of
mining powder, evidently intended for blowing up
public buildings. The preliminary examination of
the prisoners has commenced. They are 52 in num-
ber, of whom 32 are from Genoa and the neigh-
bourhood, 19 from other States of Italy, including
seven Lombardo-Venetians, and one Frenchman.
The prisoners belong almost exclusively to the
lower classes ; forty-two are workmen, tailors,
shoemakers, &c., two are servants, two aro stu-
dents, three are clerks, two are " rentiers," and
one is a journalist. The Cagliari steamer, which
was captured by two Neapolitan frigates, after
having been deserted by the insurgents, has
been taken into Gaeta. Nothing has been heard
of the column of insurgents which landed at
Saprie, and was said to have been driven into the
mountains.

As far as the decisions of the Election Com-
mittees of the House of Commons have been
declared, they do not afford much encourage-
ment that the late Act of Parliament will afford
increased facilities for unseating members of
Parliament, who have obtained seats by means
quite inconsistent with those rules which
regulate and enforce the morals of the people.
Up to the present time, every attempt to
unseat members has proved a failure, and the
enforcement of the provisions of the Corrupt
Practices Bill has been entirely " Quixotic."
Petition after petition has been dismissed, with
a verdict in favour of the sitting member; and
although the public generally, are led to believe
that the Act of Parliament regulating the
election of a member of Parliament gave
increased facilities for the presentation and
prosecution of petitions, what has taken place
this session shows the utter delusion of such an
idea, and demonstrates that the morality and
justice of Parliament, with respect to electioneer-
ing corruptions, was seldom so lax as when the
law has assumed what was regarded a stern,
a decisive, and a wholesome degree of vigour.
Peculiar circumstances connected with contested
elections render the administration of election
law different from almost every other depart-
ment of our jurisprudence. Moreover, the very
framers of the law, which aims at putting an end
to bribery, corruption, and intimidation, are
judges who carry out the law, and, in more
instances than one, are the parties who have
been charged with a breach of its provisions.
We have long thought that a Committee of the
House of Commons is the most undesirable
tribunal which could possibly exist for trying
the merits of an election petition. One of our
Scottish cotemporaries wisely remarks in stating
that “the legislature that makes the law against
bribery, intimidation, and other improper
practices, is also the judges that executes the
law, and may even be said, in most cases, to be
the accused party upon whom the law is admi-
nistered;" and continues our sagacious cotem-
porary, "It is held to be quite monstrous,
by writers on constitutional principles, to
allow judges to make laws, or law-
makers to sit on the judicial bench ; but
one has only to imagine the class of persons whu
are usually brought into the dock, on criminal
charges of one kind or another, having the power
not only to make the laws by which they are
tried, but to pass sentences on themselves, in
order to perceive what a strange place is an
Election Committee of the House of Commons.
These considerations at once suggest the idea
that, considering the constitution of human
nature, nothing is more likely than that Parlia-
ment, for the purpose of appearing true, just,
and moral, particularly as regards corruption
and intimidation at elections, should enter-
tain petitions, and wade through the Committee's
evidence, when it had made up its mind to give
a decision in favour of the sitting member.
To illustrate our position, we have only to
refer to one petition—that from Rochdale.
Bribery, we know, is that which the House itself
visits with the most complete indignation, and
repudiates in the most emphatic manner. Hon.
gentlemen would not buy votes as they do a