The Press. — London, England, 1857-01-10 00:00:00

32 With reference to the budget, which is to be pre sented by Count Cavour, for the year 1857, it has been announced that the income of the past year was sufficient to cover the expenses. The Minister of the Interior proposes certain im portant reforms in the Administration; but it is foreseen that great difficulties have to be encoun tered in carrying them into effect. The King of Naples is reported to have pardoned fifty political prisoners. The steam frigate Charles 111., while at anchor in the bay, blew up on the night of the 4th, destroying the lives of forty persons on board. RUSSIA. A letter from St. Petersburg, of the 30th Dec. (Correspondattre Ruttier), says that Persia has applied to the Russian Government to mediate be tween the former and England ; and that Russia has declined to do so, referring the Shah to the friendly offices of the Emperor of the French. The Grand Duke Constantine left St. Petersburg on the Oth,for Kouno, Konigsberg, Berlin, and Han over, en route to Nice. The Russian Government is reported to have de clined to admit consuls into the Black Sea until the departure of the British fleet. AMERICA. Intelligence from America announces the settle ment of the Central American question. The sub • stance of the treaty published in the New Yolk papers of the 21th ult. establishes the boundaries of the Mosquito territory, of Belize, of the disputed territory between Nicaragua and Costa Rica, and also the independence of the Bay Islands. There was no other intelligence of importance. tout ad lagion. Her Majesty the Queen remains at Windsor. The Duchess of Kent, the Duke and Dtiehess of Nemours, the Princes of Leiningen, and the Earl and Countess Granville have visited her Majesty during the week. Viscount Palmerston continues at Broadlands. His Excellency the Ambassador of France left town on Tuesday for Broadlands, on a visit to Viscount and Viscountess Palmerston. Count Kielmansegge, the Hanoverian Minister, left London on Monday on a visit to the Earl and Countess of Jersey, at Middleton-park. The Countess Helene Kielmansegge has left town on a visit to the Earl and Countess Howe, at Gopsall, Leicestershire. The Marquis and Marchioness of Aylesbury have been receiving a family circle at Savernake Lodge, near Marlborough, during the Christmas holidays. The Earl and Countess Craven have been enter taining a distinguished party during the holidays at Ashdown park. The Right Hon. Sir George Grey has returned to town from visiting Eat' Radnor. Miss Nightingale has arrived at her father's resi dence, near Romsey, Hampshire. She dined with Lord and Lady Palmerston, at 13roadlands, yesterday week. Valitttal. THE APPOINTMP:NT OF LORD NAPIER Minister to Washington has been announced this week. THE INCOME TAX. A public meeting of the inhabitants of BRIDGEWATER, convened by the mayor, Mr. J. Ruddock, was held in the Guildhall of that town on Monday. There was a large attendance of the principal merchants and pro fessional men of the place present, as well as the two members for the borough, Colonel Tynte and Mr. Follett. The hon. gentlemen addressed the meeting at some length against the continuance of the present amount of income tax for more than one year after the terms of the treaty of peace had been agreed to, the gallant colonel observing that he did not think Lord Palmerston's Government would do so. After resolutions had been pr,:posed and carried, the fol lowing petition was unanimously agreed to : That your petitioners view the proposal to continue the present property and income tax for more than one year after the terms of the treaty of peace had been agreed to, with considerable dissatisfaction and alarm. That they consider the principle of a tax upon income or profits. as distinct from a tax upon realised property, unjust, arbitrary, and inquisitorial, and in its mode of as sessment derogatory to the freedom of Englishmen ; they therefore pray your honourable House to take the same into your serious consideration, and to adopt measures for the reduction of the tax upon property and the total repeal of the tax upon income from and after the fifth day of April next. At LI:ICI:SM. a public meeting, called by the mayor, was held in the Town-hall on l'uesday even for the purpose of petitioning against the income - , A.ient high rate of Is. 4d. in the pound. THE PRESS. The Town-hall was crowded. The first resolution affirmed that the increase of the tax to Is. 4d., although justifiable and expedient during the war, was unjust and burdensome in time of peace, and that its reduction to 7d. was necessary and expedient. This was moved by Alderman Manning, seconded by Alderman Toiler, and carried unanimously. The second resolution declared the proposed continuance of the increased tax two years after the signing of the treaty of peace to be unjustifiable and contrary to the spirit of the Act of Parliament. Mr. Coun cillor Moxon and Mr. Councillor Hurdy were the mover and seconder of the resolution. A third reso lution, proposing that a petition to the Legislature be prepared embodying the above resolutions, and declaring that, if the income tax be continued beyond 1860, the assessment of it ought to be based on more just and equitable principles, was moved by T. Ma caulay, Esq., and seconded by Mr. It. Augrave. Sir Joshua Wahnsley, M.l'., said he was not without hope that the income tax in its present shape would not again form part of the budget of the Chancellor of the Exchequer. lie was not aware of any other country to which so unequal a system of taxation pre vailed. Sir Archibald Alison, in his "History of Europe," pertinently remarked A greater error in finance could not have been corn nntted than the introduction of an income tax without any graduation but that arising from the amount of revenue. In this short but pithy sentence he embodied the whole gist of the question. Something had been urged as to the property and income tax being a war tax. In his opinion all taxes were for the protection of life and property, and the only distinction he could draw was which was the most equitable for all purposes. lf, however, it were specially a war tax, it ought to be retained until those oppressive burdens incurred by war were removed, and we were more free to struggle in the race of competition, now so severe, with other nations. To the eight hundred millions left as a legacy we had recently added forty millions more. It was due to all classes that there should be a more equitable mode of taxation. At FROME list week a meeting of the inhabitants was held in the Assembly-room at the George Hotel, Donald Nicoll, Esq., in the chair, when resolutions were passed unanimously declaring the existing tax of 16d. in the pound to be enormous in amount, offensively inquisitorial, by its inequality unjust, and that its continuance beyond the sth of April next would not only be oppressive but a violation of the spirit of the act consented to by Parliament and the people of this country in the belief that the impost would not be continued more than one year after time termination of the war with Russia. Also that to tax precarious and permanent incomes alike is mani festly unjust, and that a petition be presented to the House of Commons in accordance with the foregoing resolutions. The meeting was addressed by Messrs. Coombs, Chapman, Beal, Rev. S. Manning, Morris, Rev. E. Edwards Holroyd, and others, and after a vote of thanks to the chairman the meeting was dis solved. At CAMBRIDGE a large meeting of the inhabitants was held on Wednesday afternoon, at the Town hall, the mayor in the chair, for the purpose of petitioning Parliament for the reduction of the income tax from 16d. to its original amount of 7d. in the pound, from and after the month of April next. The speakers manifested great unanimity in their desire to be re lieved of the burden, and a petition embodying the opinions of the meeting received immediate signature. A preliminary meeting was also Feld at ELY, on Tuesday evening, for the same object, at which re solutions of a similar nature were unanimously passed, and another meeting convened for the formal adoption of a petition founded thereon. A numerous meeting of the inhabitants of Sr. MARY, Ismsoros, was held on Wednesday evening at the Myddleton hall, Upper-street, at which reso lutions were passed for the immediate reduction of the income tax to 7d. in the pound, and for the exo- neration of all incomes under 150/. per annum, and a petition to Parliament praying for the above objects was forthwith adopted. At a meeting of the inhabitants of BARNSLEY, on Monday evening, to adopt measures for the remission of the income tax, the following resolution was carried unanimously:— That the income tax is unjust in its application, oppres• sire in its execution, and off•nsive in its inquisitorial system. That while the nation generally seemed cheerfnlly to submit to an increased tax in support of the war its continuance after the termination of hostilities cannot but be rzgnriled as a breach of gond faith and in the opinion of this meeting the tax, from the present state of the reve nue of the country, might be dispensed with altogether. It was Rix() resolved to get up petitions against the tax. Mr. H. K. SEYMER, M.P., writes to the Sherborne Journal in reference to some observations made by a local paper : I have accepted " an appointment under Government" in the same sense us Mr. Walpole and Mr. Henley, members SATIJitDAY, of Lord Derby's Cabinet, have accepted appointments under the Government. lam an unpaid commissioner for the purpose of " inquiring into the most effectual means of distributing the sewage of towns, and of applying it to bene ficial and profitable uses." 1 have yet to learn that a m ember of Parliament who gratuitously devotes his services to the investigation of a complicated question, interesting alike to town and country, forfeits thereby the goodwill and confidence of his constituents. i can assure your readers that my "Government appointment" will net affect my political conduct—of this they will be able to judge when. Parliament meets. tai . at its pre'set;t 6lution (L'Ontriligtnte. AYLESBURY.— Captain C. J. 13. Hamilton, a nephew of the Baroness Wenman, who formerly re presented this borough in Parliament, has issued an address to his former constituents, in the course of which ho says : In consequence of Sir Richard Ilethell having been named Attorney-General for England, a vacancy has oc• curred in the representation tin- Aylesbury; and as many of my friends are under• the impression that I shall eelicit the suffrages of the electors on the first occasion that pre sents itself, I think it right at once to slate that it is not my intention or desire to oppose the re•election of the Attorney-General; but, at the next general election, should my friends and former constituents still think me worthy of their confidence, and will permit me to come forward on independent principles, I shall most assuredly give them and every elector of Aylesbury an opportunity of re• cording their votes. GREENWICII.—GeneraI Codrington, on Monday, made his first public appearance at Greenwich, and delivered an address, in which he announced him self a Liberal, and expressed strong opinions in favour of civil and religious liberty, the admission of Jews to Parliament, the settlement of the church rate question upon the broad principle that the tax should be borne only by those who belonged to the Church of England communion. With respect to the income tax, the gallant general, amid much up roar, observed : He could not help thinking that the Government ought not, and would not, unless under some extreme exigency which the war might have left behind in the shape of un discharged obligations, take advantage of the interval of the twenty-eight days between the conclusion and the rati fication of the treaty of peace to hold the income tax over na for another year. With respect to the ballot, he was utterly opposed to such a measure. After some questioning on this point, General Codrington, in answer to a man who spoke from the body of the ball, said he was decidedly not prepared to abolish flogging in the army. To an interrogatory from the same person as to whether the general would extend flogging to officers in the army, which caused some amusement, Sir William said he would decidedly not do so, and for this reason, that the people to deserve flogging as officers were not in the army. At the conclusion of the meeting, and after the departure of Sir William Codrington and his friends on the platform, Mr. Tassell proposed a resolution pledging the meet. jug to support no candidate but an advocate of the vote by ballot, and the motion was adopted unani mously amidst loud cheering. General Codrington also addressed the electors at Greenwich on Wed nesday night at a large public meeting, recapitulating the political opinions he expressed at Deptford. In reply to various questions, General Codrington said he would not vote for the unconditional removal of the income tax ; he would not abolish purchase in the army ; and, finally, lie would not support the ballot. General Codrington attended another meeting on Thursday evening, and was submitted to a most severe cross-questioning. After the general's depar ture, resolutions were passed only to return a mem ber favourable to the ballot. PONTEFRACT.—A requisition numerously signed was presented on Monday last to William Wood, Esq., of Monktiill house, near Pontefract, calling upon that gentleman to allow himself to be put in nomination for the borough of Pontefract, upon the next vacancy that may occur. Mr. Wood has accepted the invitation. NEWPORT.—AIr. Seely addressed a crowded meet ing of electors last week, and announcea his opinion in favour of a large extension of the suffrage, the vote by ballot, and the opening of the Crystal Palace, British Museum, and the National G a lle r y, on the Sunday to th e labouring classes. On Mon day evening, at the same place, the electors were addressed by Mr. A. W. Kinglake, another candidate whose opinions coincided with those of Mr. Seely on the ballot, and the extension of the suffrage, but he refused to pledge himself on any one point. On the Sunday question he expressed views adverse to those expressed by Mr. Seely. Another barrister, Mr. William Major Cooke, has offered himself on Liberal principles. Mr. Cooke called a public meeting on Thursday, for the purpose of laying his claims before the electors. Sourusturrox.—Mr. Falvey, the suspended South ampton stamp distributor, has received communica tions from some of the most emineut members of the