The Press.
London, England, 1856-12-20 00:00:00

Volitlcal.

MR. W. Mtr.Es, M.P., at the annual dinner of the
Clevedon Agricultural Association, on Tuesday,
made a few remarks upon the present state of foreign
affairs

He thought it was for the interest of England to avoid
as much as possible intertneddling with the affairs of con-
tinental nations. If any particular nation wished for
liberty, let them fight to gain it, but let not this country
intermeddle, for if she did it would lead to complications
of which they knew nothing. Whenever England em-
barked in a war she did it heartily, and those who could
recollect the old wars would remember there were such
things as subsidies. If our honour was touched, or our
flag insulted, or our colonial possessions injured, let them
up with their flag and fight it out ; but again he would say,
let us not meddle with the affairs of foreign nations, many
of them, too, small nations with which England had
scarcely any commercial intercourse—nations which were
merely visited by pleasure-seekers, and the scenery of
which might be exceedingly beautiful. but which (lid not in
any way serve to aggrandise England. Let us stick as much
as possible to our alliances, and remember there was one
small State in Italy which came forward to assist us in the
Crimean campaign ; he referred to Sardinia. When Eng
land was in difficulty Sardinia came to her aid, and for a
small nation nobly did she do so, and therefore, if she was
trespassed upon and required aid, England would be bound
to give it ; France, too, would doubtless join, and thus
would that alliance which won for them the blessed fruits
of peace be doubly cemented.

As to home affairs, there was little or nothing to
say :

He never recollected such a lull in home politics. But
what a happy state of things that was. All, whether
Whigs, Tories, or Radical, appeared to be satisfied with
the ease and plenty the country enj wed; and woe to that
man who lightly disturbed this condition of things. The
opinions which he had advocated twentytwo years ago,
when he first advocated them, he advocated still; he was
not a changeling politician, and he had become somewhat
too old now to become an advocate of new doctrines. He
still said,'• Defend your Church, uphold your Queen ; do
reverence to your Constitution, taking care, however, that
when refor►us are necessary to make them; but at the same
time see that you do not, for the sake of gaining credit for
the passing hour, or the advantage of any party, break
that tranquillity which now so happily prevails.

SIR MONTAGU CHOLMELEY, at the Owston agri-
cultural meeting last week, said, in reference to the
income tax :

Be hoped the electoral constituencies would urge upon
her Majesty's Ministry the duty of modifying this
obnoxious tax. The manner in which they bad acted in
respect to this impost had acnrcely been honest. It they
really wanted money they ought to have c.une forward
boldly a:►d said eo ; but, instead of doing this, they had
taken advantage of what he would term a " disingenuous
gc.ibble." They professed that the money was wanted for
the purposes of the war, whereas the war was ended in
February last, and the Uovernment had availed themselves
of the delay which took place in the ratification of the
treaty of peice to impose the extra part of the tax for
two years atter the conclusion of the war instead of one.
The tax pressed hard upon everybody, and be could not
help saying that the manner in which it was levied,
assessing all incomes alike, was essentially objectionable
and unjust.
THE Wart WITH PERSIA wax discussed on Wednes-
day evening at a large meeting of the inhabitants of
Newcastle-upon-Tyne. The Calcutta proclamation
was denounced by all the speakers as an evasion of

SATURDAY,

law, and the following resolution was unanimously
agreed to :

That, in the hopelessness of either prevention or redress
by the Parliament, it is requisite to appeal to the laws
against the subordinate agents executing lawless orders;
and this meeting pledges itself, in ease the expedition
against Persia shall he persevered in, to bring to trial for
their lives, before the Central Criminal Court, certain of
the officers and soldiers engaged therein.
AN ANTI-INCOME-TAX MEETING was held by the
inhabitants of Holborn, on TuPsday evening, at the
Gray's.inn-lane workhouse, and several resolutions
passed for the reduction of the tax to 7d. in the
pound, and the non liability of incomes of 1501.
II year.

AN INFLUENTIAL ANTI-INCOME•TAX MEETING was
held at Birmingham on Thursday. The Mayor pre.
sided. Mr. Mantz, Mr. Scholefield, Mr. Attwood,
and several other gentlemen addressed the meeting
at great length, and the following resolutions were
proposed and carried unanimously :

That the income•tax laws, in their present form, are
unjust, oppressive, and degrading, and ought not to be
tolerated by a free people; and that the people should be
satisfied with nothing less than their total and immediate
repeal.

That this meeting condemns the mode in which the
commissioners fur general purposes under the income tax
laws have too frequently exercised their powers, and de-
clares that the duties of additional commissioners are
such as no British Legislature ought to be allowed to ha-
pose, and no Englishman ought to perform.