The Press.
London, England, 1856-11-15 00:00:00

THE PRESS.

A fourth spades of offences, more immediately against God
and religion, is that of blasphemy against the Almighty by deny-
ing his being a Providence, or by contumelious reproaches o f
our Saviour Christ. Whither also may be referred all protaue
scoffing of the Holy Scripture or of enforcing it to contempt or
ridicule. These are offences punishable at common law by
fine and imprisonment, or other infamous corporal punishment.
And he concludes this paragraph with a short sentence,
which should be written in letters of gold and imprinted
upon the hearts and memories of all those who now hear
me, " for," says Sir William Blackstone, " Christianity is
part of tho laws of England."

The noble lord then concluded his address with au
eloquent appeal in support of the truth and inesti
mable value of revealed religion.
The lion. G. H. LIDDELL, M.P., afterwards
addressed the assembly upon the direct and indirect
advantages of literary institutions. They were the
means of affording innocent recreation to the people,
of fostering a desire for instruction, of extending
information on all sides, and by imbuing fathers with
a taste for literature and knowledge would certainly
go far to abolish that indifference for education so
remarkable among the parents of poor children.
The hon. gentleman then alluded to the various in-
centives for reading ; public or political excitement
such as the late war, social distresses such as the
cholera, should stimulate the labouring population
to acquire information upon those special points.
But was there no other incentive to reading?—

Everything that passes around you, everything that you
meet with in your walk, is a stimulus to read. The very
roll of the tide, the fall of the leaf in autumn, the growth
of the grass in spring, the roar of the tempest, or the
starry firmament, each and every one of these things is a
subject in itself. I say do you understand these things?
1)o you know their causes? Do you know their changes ?
If you do not, don't tell me that you lack a stimulus to
read. Each of them I have said is a study in itself, and
they are studies that will amuse you, that will instruct you,
acd that will elevate you. They will am'ise you because
there is no source of amusement so various, so constant,
and at the same time so enjoyable, because the contempla-
tion and study of nature form an enjoyment that never
palls upon the mind. They will instruct you, because the
great object both of science and of philosophy is to apply
to our use and to economise the powers and products of
the elements; and they will elevate yon, because they will
draw your minds to Him who is the author and creator of
man and of nature. These are common things that occur
every day, but they are studies which will occupy a lifetime.

AN OPPRESSIVE IMPOSITION OF INCOME TAX gave
rise to an influential meeting in Gloucester, at the
Shire-ball, last week, to memorialise the Lords of the
Treasury on the subject. Tne chair was taken by
the mayor, and there were seven hundred or eight
hundred persons present. Letters were read from
the local income-tax commissioners, disclaiming any
knowledge of the surcharges, which it appears had
been made by the surveyor alone. Mr. Samuel
Bowly, a member of the Society of Friends, moved
That this meeting is of opinion that the mode of levying
the income tax is unfair, vexatious, and oppressive, and
that it is highly impolitic to add to its vexatious charac►er
by unreasonable and indiscriminate surcharges, thereby
creating a necessity for almost universal appeals, and
causing to the aggrieved parties the utmost annoyance and
much loss of time.
Mr. Bowly related his own experience of the manner
in which he had been surcharged. He had on a
former occasion appealed, and got his surcharge
reduced, but he bad again had a surcharge of some
501. or 601. He therefore refused to make any return
at all, and so rendered himself liable to a penalty of
501. He had no notion of being thus treated—in
fact, called a liar; and he could not as an English-
man submit to it without raising his voice against it.
Mr. Buckland, in seconding the motion, spoke of the
injustice of requiring people to expose their private
atlairs. As to the allegation that the disclosures
made were kept secret, he alluded to an instance where
a shopkeeper had bought 3 cwt. of old income-tax
returns fur waste paper. Mr. Nicks, timber mer-
chant, stated that he had had his income assessed at
thousands instead of hundreds—the surveyor had
added a "0" to his return. Other resolutions were
proposed, and a memorial to the Lords of the Trea-
sury embodying them was adopted.

M. KOSSUTH delivered on Tuesday evening, at the
Free-trade Hall, Manchester, the first of his three
promised lectures upon the oppressed nationalities.
The subject of this first lecture was announced to be
that of the position and prospects of the Italian
people, and the foreign policy of Great Britain. M.
Kossuth, who was enthusiastically received by an
audience of some three or four thousand persons,
said that the present commotion in Italy was not one
of those movements which, arising from mere mis-
government, from incidental sufferings, or other
particular causes of excitement, might b put an end
to by timely concession, by ameliorations, or possibly
by temporising. On the contrary, it arose distinctly
from the sentiment of nationality. It was a struggle
for very life, and its essence was a determined hatred
of foreign dominion. Statesmen who did not com-
prehend the movement had acted the part of mere
misericordiam friars or political Mrs. Partingtons,
and they had proposed concessions as a remedy, but

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concessions were insufficient to heal the wounds a
Italy. Italy was a nation, and its annals woe en-
graved on the granite of mankind's immortality.
Civilisation, Christianity, the arts and sciences, all
must depart from the earth—the printing-press must
be forgotten and the alphabet perish, and the peoples
of Europe and America must be overwhelmed by
another deluge, before Italy could cease to remember
her history. And the people who had such a history
numbered 94,000,000, all speaking one language, and
inhabiting a country which was fitted by the finger of
the Eternal to be the home of that same nation.
Yet the Italian nation stood degraded, as Prince
Metternich said, a geographical denomination with=
out any national organisations. But until the ques-
tion of Italian regeneration was settled there could
be no chance for Poland or for Hungary, and, in the
words of M:. Roebuck, " Italy, Hungary, and Po-
land " must be the watchword and forerunner of real
freedom and good government in Europe. Italy
desired to be recognised as a nation, and would never
be at rest till the domination of strangers was over-
thrown. Protocols would not drive nut the stranger
from Italy—diplomacy would not effect the indepen-
dence of the Italians—nothing short of a successful
popular rising could achieve their emancipation.
The British people were practical, and if there was
no probability of success for such a rising they would
not be justified, by word or deed, in encouraging
what would under those circumstances be a wanton
and useless effusion of blood. But those who argued
that there was no such prospect were utterly mis-
taken, or they purposely misrepresented all the facts
of the case, both past and present. The lecturer
then proceeded to argue that the prospects of an
Italian movement now were far more favorable than
in 1848. Austria had 50,000 less troops now in Italy
than then—the spell of Austrian unity was broken—
a revolution in Italy would prove strumpet to awaken
France—and if the Italians would only now fight as
they did in '4B they had double the chance 31 suc-
cess. M. Kossuth concluded by declaring that all
he had stated was based upon fact, and by expressing
his conviction that a European crisis was at hand,
which all dissatisfied Hungarian and Italian patriots
would do well to avail themselves of to promote re -
volution, and, through revolution, restore nationality.
On Wednesday M. Kossuth delivered his second
lecture. The subject was the Neapolitan question.
The late interference was solely to prevent danger to
the European despotisms. He contended that British
interests, commercial or otherwise, had no depen-
dence upon continental dynasties ; and if so, why
should our Government stand between continental
despotism and its fate? The meeting was attended
by nearly 4,000 persons.
Two RAILWAY COLLISIONS, one of them attended
with loss of life, occurred on Wednesday on the New-
port and Hereford Railway: The down express from
Hereford, a little past one p.m, on passing round
the curve of the Nantyderry station, ran off the rails
across the up line. At that moment a goods train
on the up line was approaching, a collision ensued,
the express train was literally gutted, and how so
many passengers escaped death is marvellous. Two
gentlemen were killed, and the rest of the passengers
more or less severely injured. The other collision
occurred under curious circumstances. Ten empty
waggons were uncoupled from a goods train at
Pontypool. A strong N. E., wind blowing at the
time, blew them back down a steep descent towards
Newport, and drove them into collision with a pas-
senger train coming up. The waggons were smashed,
but the passenger train escaped without any
injury, and the passengers were only slightly shaken
and braised.

M. SAMUES JOHNSTON, a Liverpool merchant,'died
suddenly in the Exchange on Thursday, while trans-
acting business.
AN EXPLOSION OF A LOCOMOTIVE, a small pilot
engine, took place near Tynemouth on Tuesday on
the Blyth and Tyne Railway. The engine was stand-
ing near the workshops when it exploded. The
fireman was killed on the spot.
AN ENGINE•DRIVER OF A PARLIAMENTARY TRAIN
was killed on the Eastern Counties line about four
miles below Thetford in the Bridgham cutting, on
Sunday evening last, by the tire of the left leading-
wheel of the engine breaking and throwing the
engine and tender off the rails. The carriages
happily met eith no injury. An up goods train,
reaching the spot at the same moment, several
trucks struck the upset engine and were capsized on
the up line. No other lives were lost.. An inquest
was held at Thetford on the 12th, and a verdict of
" Accidental death " returned.

oFfil

A MOST FORTUNATE ESCAPE from apparently cer-
tain death occurred on the railway from Preston and
the Farington station on Tuesday morning. Green ,
a guard, made his way to the roof of a carriage to
secure a tarpaulin, but in the hurry of the
moment ht forgot that the telegraphic wires
A cross the line about that point, and he was dashed
against the wires with so much force that he threw
a complete somersault off the roof of the carriage, and
fell between that and the adjoining one. By the