The Sun.
London, England, 1857-01-05 00:00:00

LOND€N, MONDAY EVENING, JANUARY i 867.

THE INCOME TAX AGITATION.

On Saturday a meeting of the vestry of St. IVlaryle-
bone was held at the Court-house ; J. A. Nicholay,
Beg., churchwarden, in the chair.
Mr. TAVERNER, in a short speech, moved the following
resolution :—" That the vestry petition parliament, and
adopt such other measures as they may consider neces-,
sary for the repeal of the acts of parliament which
increased the property and income tax from 7d. to is. 4d.
in the pound, and for obtaining a more equitable assess-
ment of the tax upon tradesmen and professions, or a
total repeal of the same, and to appoint a committee to
co-operate with other metropolitan parishes, for the
purpose of obtaining the object in view.
Mr. SIMCOCK seconded the resolution.
Mr. BRIDGMAN objected to the vestry being made an
arena for the discussion of political subjects, as they
had been elected to carry out mere parochial and local
matters.

Mr. W. WILLIAMS, M.P., said he did not so much
object to the property tax, but he considered the
tax on income a most shameful proceeding. Whilst
he was in favour of the vestry aiding the movement for
getting rid of the income tax, he would at the same
time urge them, as he had recently done a large public
meeting- of his own constituents, not to be content with
the mere repeal of the-e taxes, but also to keep a watch-
ful eye over the Government expenditure, and insist on
the same economy being now renewer? which had begun
to exist shortly before the late war broke out. (Hear,
hear.) If this were done, in a short time they might
expect a reduction of taxation.
Mr. JACOB BELL said that the income tax was of that
most unjust and oppressive character that it was utterly
impossible that it could find any defenders. He hoped
that the people of Marylebone would be fully alive to
the sutject, and that when the public meeting was held
the demonstration would be an unmistakeable one.

The resolution, on being put, was carried unanimously.
Mr. TAVERNER then moved that the following gentle.
men be appointed as the committee to co-operate wit h
other metropolitan parishes, and to draw up a petition
to Parliament, and present -the same for approval at the"
next vestry, viz., Mr. Jacob Bell, Mr. Taverner, Mr.
Soden, Dr. Russell, Mr. D'lffanger, jun., Mr. Gliddon,
Mr. Freetb, Mr. Head, Mr. Simcock, and Mr. Wing-
field.
The resoulution was carried.

A meeting was held o❑ Friday at the Corn Exchange,
Stowmarket, Suffolk, to protest against the present
income tax. The Rev. C. Hill presided, and stated that
Mr. H. S. Waddington, M.P. for West Suffolk, who
was unable to be present, bad offered to present any
petition which the meeting might adopt. Resolutions
against the tax were agreed to, and also a petition to
Parliament. Capt. Bennett. the other M.P. for West
Suffolk, expressed his zeadinesa to support the petition,
and stated that, from what bad fallen from Admiral
Berkeley, at Gloucester, he did not believe the Go-
vernment intended to continue the present tax.

At a public meeting of the inhabitants of Abingdon,
held in the Shire Hall, which was attended by the
Mayor (in the chair) and a large number of direct tax-
payers, the following resolution relative to the income
tax was carried unanimously. The resolution, which
was proposed by Mr. Stacey and seconded by Mr.
Dickey, is as follows : " That the present enormous
charge of sixteenpence in the pound on incomes and pro-
perty is, from the mode of assessment, most oppressive
and unjust, and as the understanding at the time of pass-
ing the acts of Parliament by which the tax was increased
was, that they were to continue one year after the ter-
mination of the war, and no longer, the meeting is of
opinion that those acts of Parliament ought to be repealed
from and after the sth day of April next." Mr. J. Kent
proposed, " That the meeting adopt a petition against
the tax to the House of Commons, and that Major Reed
be requested to present and support the same." This
resolution was carried.

SOUTHAMPTON ELECTION.

SOUTHA MPTON, SATURDAY.

The angry spirit in which the election contest has been
carried on here is beginning to display itself in acts of
personal violence. On Saturday the magistrates were
engaged in adjedicating a case between two officials of
the corporation, one of them of high rank. Both had
quarrelled so violently in the public street about the elec-
tion that one sought to bind the other to keep the peace.
The justice room was crowded with political partisans,
who made the place an election arena. Mr. Falvey, tie
stamp distributor, is still suspended from exercising his
functions. The Biard of Inland Revenue are acting
under an Act of Parliament, which prohibits its officers
from persuading any one to give, or dissuading any one
from giving, his vote at an election in word, message, or
writing. The penalty for so doing is 1001. and disquali•
fication from serving her Majesty. In 1852 and in 1853
Mr. Falvey was solicited by Sir Alexander Cockburn to
speak in his behalf just previous to the elections in three
years. and he was solicited ' also a short time since by
Mr. Edwin James, the barrister, 'to speak in his
favour. But those 'eminent lawyers were of opinion
that a person in the civil sgrvico could speak at
such times, because the constitution recognised
no election,. going on until a writ was issued,
nor were there any candidates or voters known in law
before there was a vacancy in Parliament. As soon as
a writ was issued and a nomination took place, then
employes in the civil service were muzzled, and soldiers
were confined to their barracks. The men who professed
to be candidates before an election were regarded simply
as persons bidding for popular applause. Mr. Falvey,
as a personal friend of Mr. Andrews, has been chiefly
engaged in defending the personal honour and consist-
ency of that gentleman, which have been assailed by his
former political friends in the warfare consequent on the
disruption of the Liberal party. Mr. Weguclin, who
throughout the contest has acted in the most kind and
courteous manner to all parties, is much mortified that
Mr. Falvey has incurred the displeasure of the board
whose servant he was.

Mr. Andrews professes to be not at all dismayed at
the unfavourable opinion of his Parliamentary qualifica-
tion entertained by Lord Palmerston. He says
that, when he ceased to be a journeyman, a similar
opinion of his capabilities for a master coachbuilder
was expressed by his brother tradesmen ; and he
says also that he is rather glad titan otherwise that
his lordship has sided with Mr. Weguelin, because
he shall now have the honour of beating the Pre-
mier and the Governor of the Bank of England. He is
throwing his whole energy into the contest, canvassing
by day and addressing the electors at night. He has
scarcely an organised committee, and has no recognised
legal adviser. The workmen canvass one another for
him at meal times and after they leave work. The
stato of the constituency is that it is impossible to
say who is likely to gel; in at present. The writ, it is
expected, will be issued the 4th of next month. Oa
Monday next there is to be a meeting of the friends of
Mr. Andrews, when the name of the person who in-
fermed against Mr. Falvey to the Board of Inland Re-
venue is to be proclaimed. The whole town is on the
tiptoe for this revelation, Twenty years ago a South.
ampton Custom-house official voted for a member of
Parliament, and was dismissed, but he and his family
were provided for by the political party whose cause ha
served. All persons will rejoice when the election is
over. The injury it has caused is incalculable. Friend-
ships have been destroyed, and business has been
neglected. The contest, when concluded, will have
lasted upwards of three months. Mr. James was driven
from the town solely from the impossibility of devoting
the time to canvassing, and Mr. Weguelin is put to the
greatest inconvenience from having to be so much in
S Jutham pton.

CORN MEASURES-IMPORTANT MEET-
ING AT GLOUCESTER.

GLOUCESTER, SATURDAY.

One of the largest meetings of farmers, millers, land-
lords, and corn merchants, that has been held here for a
long time, took place, at the Bell Hotel, this day, the
object being to establish an uniform system of buying
and selling corn, the want of which is a great inconveni-
ence to the corn trade throughout the country. Tho
chair was taken, by J. C. Hayward, Esq., chairman of
the County Quarter Sessions, and a practical agricul-
turists.

Mr. HAYWARD, in opening the proceedings, stated
that much inconvenience had been experienced by the
want of an uniform system of sale of corn by weight ;
and it was thought that as the new Gloucester Corn Ex-
change was opened that day, it was a fit opportunity to
come to some resolution on the subject. A body of
millers had previOusly met, and came to the resolution
to buy by weight 62Ibs. per bushel. This was the rate
at which corn was sold in Birmingham, Liverpool, Here-
ford, and numerous other markets, but the weight varied
all over the country ; and in Gloucester English wheat
was sold generally by the 601b5,, and foreign per 62Ibs.
He thought on inquiry that the weight of the Glouces-
tLrshire-grown wheat generally averaged 601bs. per
bushel, and that it would be well to adopt that as the
standard weight in the Gloucester market.
A discussion followed, several of the corn merchants
and millers opposing a motion for establishing 601bs. as
the weight, and advocating 62!bs. as far more convenient
to them as sellers and importers, while it was contended
that it would not affect the farmers, as, from a letter
read to the meeting by Mr. Long from Mr. Millick, it
appeared that when wheat was sold at 62Ibs. cr 701bs.
to the bushel, it was reduced to bushels at 601b5., for
the purpose of the averages.
Mr. SHARP stated the variations in the custom at dif-
n62olbbsi.aswould in
dif-
ferent market towns throughout the country, and he had
favboeurmoefsteiteheenrvmeeiilleenrt to or farmer,
H
er, buet that the
that all parties were unanimous in preferring weight to
measure.
The resolution adopting 601bs. as the standard weight
was ultimately agreed to.

_
We are informed that a company is in the course of
formation for the employment of 40 fore and aft schooners
for the Atlantic whale fishery. Two-thirds of the capital
is already premised.

THE DEPARTED YEAR.

(Front the Examiner.)

Expired, precisely at midnight, on the night of last
Wednesday, at the advanced and extraordinary age of
366 days, the profligate old year 1856. We want the
pen that wrote the epitaph on Colonel Chartres to do
justice to the memory of one of the most unprincipled
years the o'asequies of which we ever assisted in cele-
brating. He was an annus mirabilis of commercial
immorality, and, for confounding right and wrong and
mum and tuunt, had as good a claim to the title of the
" Year of Confusion" as his ancestor 46 8.C., whose
irregularities were rather Ceesar's than his own, and were
atoned for by the reform they introduced into the calen-
dar.

If 1856 had any religion, it was the religion of the
dirtiest of divinities, who never before counted such a
host of enthusiastic rogues in his service. The year was
" littered under Mercury," like Autolycus ; but the
Autolyci who distinguished themselves were ambitious
knaves, far above " the snapping up of unconsidered
trifles." They snapped up fortunes as common pick-
pockets snap up handkerchiefs, planned their robberies
over champagne, and executed them in curricles and
tandems. Such was the astonishing Sadleir ; such the
dashing Robson and refined Redpath ; such was Sir
Dean Paul, whose house of business was both " house
of prayer and den of thieves ;" such was the Gordons
and Cummings ; such the worshipful company of the
Royal British Bank—giants of fraud, titanic swindlers,
men with maws for widows' houses, and who devoured
the portions of orphans like ogres in pantomimes.
It is dactilt to find a week among' the la,t 52 not
infamously distinguished by some huge commercial de-
falcation, some daring embezzlement, some bankruptcy,
some atrocious breach of trust, some huge shape or
or another of avarice and rapacity—senators, bankers,
doctors, clerks, servants, alternately figuring in the
drama of crime, occasionally diversfied with an appall-
ing suicide on Hampstead-heath, or a frightful deed of
blood like that still mooking justice in Dublin.
As a politician the past year resembled the noble lord
at the head of the Government, inAeineinore framed-for

its foreign than its domestic politics. the year 1856 was
too busy abroad to find time for doing much that was
useful or creditable at home. The deceased, in truth, was
an old hypocrite, and made his warlike operations and
diplomatic manoeuvres a pretext for not doing what he
wanted the honest disposition to do. The war and peace
served his turn equally well. Sword in hand how could
he take up the business of legislation ? And when he
dropped the sword for the olive-branch he found an ex-
cuie in the latter also for doing nothing—the domestic
employment that he loved. In short, as a Parliamentary
character, he bore a striking likeness to more members
of the 'hon. house than we care to name--he was a
mighty talker and a small doer.
This character was by none supported better than by
the Mntropolitan Board of Works, which entered into
it with, spirit. To talk being the special gift of the board,
the Government judiciously left them nothing else to do,
appointing a commission to drain the metropolis, while
the board will continue to discuss the question.
Turning to another department, the Horse Guards,
we have only to censure it for being out of the fashion
of the.day. The Duke of Cambridge did something,
and did it energetically and well. His Royal Highness
put down practical joking in the only practical way, and
introduced improvements into the system of staff ap-
peintineuts, most valuable in .themselves, and to be
received as pledges of further reforms in our long-
neglected and misruled army.
• The military humbug of the year - was the Chelsea
Commission ; its history belongs to the chapter of the
year's bubbles, including the board we have just men-
tioned, the ticket-of-leave system, the Russian Railway
Company, Sir Charles Napier's fame as an admiral, and
Mr. Disraeli's character as a statesman.
Abroad the year was not idle; but It achieved nothing
very dazzling. We finished au ill-managed war in a
hurry, and we patched up an unintelligible peace with
the greatest deliberation ; the year involved us in a
variety of diplomatic embarrassments from which it did
not live to extricate us ; the present Conferences ale the
old bungler's bequest to 1857, and whether they may
not prove a damnosa h,ereditas it will take a new year
to disclose. Then he made us a little ridiculous, it can-
not be denied, in Italy, withdrawing cur ambassador
from Naples, for what reason it is impossible to say,
unless it was because the Americans dismissed our
Charge d'Affaires from Washiugton. • The old year was
very much what the Romans called an arddio, or mis-
chievous busybody ; and if he claimed the merit of de-
livering us from a great war he left us a pair of ugly
little ones in its place, one in Persia about a lady (the
eldest cause of rupture between Europe and Asia), and
the other. in China for a point of etiquette, our admiral
insisting on paying Governor Yeh a visit, and blowing
down the walls of Canton to force a passage to his Excel-
lency's drawing-room. It was one of the eccentricities of
the subject of this obituary record that he was much more
polite to his enemies than his friends; he was all cour-
iesy and tenderness to Russia, but he buffeted the
Chinese con amore, doing his celestial allies more
damago with his artillery in a, single day than Sir Charles
Napier, with-his magnificent Bali ic fleet, did to the Czar

. _
in a whole campaign.
On the continent the proceedings of the past 12 months
in high places were for the most part no more to be com-
mended than our domestic doi gs. Some of the great
Powers behaved very badly; there was even some likeness
between their Royal misdemeanours and those of vulgar
and ignoble criminals. The designs of Prussia against
Switzerland bore a strong resemblance to the offence of
robbery with violence. Her conduct with respect to Neu-
chatel was just as if a highwayman were to commence
operations by picking a quarrel with a traveller, to have
a pretext for knocking him down, and effecting his
other purposes. France seemed for a moment inclined to
aid and abet Prussia, but France did nothing so ill during
the last 12 months as the attack she made on the English
press, which was like a case of garotting, to strangle
freedom of discussion here as it has long since been
strangled in Paris. We must say, however, of the French
Emperor personally that he was the only man in Europe
who, in 1856, behaved too well, having incurred a public
remon stemma or scolding from one of his owu Ministers for
carrying his princely virtues to a vicious excess. The mis-
deeds of Russia have been more in the line of swindling,
or something between that crime and the less dignified
one of petty larceny. However, the hue and cry was
raised in time; and, though she has not been sent to
her own Siberia, as she well deserved, she has at least
been compelled to drop her booty. We sincerely pity
the Turks with such dishonest next-door neighbours,
The normal state of Turkey has been that of Notting-
hill, and her friends in the Congress of Paris proved
themselves about as vigilant anti effective as the police
of London. •As to Austria, her conduct has been
rather shabby than wicked. West could be shabbier
than to force herself on the hospitality of the Venetians,
who never invited her, and woo made no secret of pre-
ferring her room to her company ? The man who
spunges for a dinner ought at least to be an agreeable
fellow, not personally offensive to his reluctant host on
other grounds as well as the social intrusion.
We have by no means exhausted our accusations,
but let us be just before we commit our old ae.quaint-
ance to the tomb of history and " dark backward and
abysm of time." He was not without his good points.
He was not tho monster " nulla virtute redemptunz"
—he left us richer than he found us, notwithstanding
the enormous expenses of the war ; he re-estab-
lished our relations of friendship and fraternity
with the United States ; he deserves the praise of
having commenced the laying down of the electric wire
to connect the old world with the new in the bonds
of a magical intimacy ; he did a great deal, to his
immortal 4 honour, to smooth down the chief difficul-
ties which have hitherto intercepted the blessings of
education from the bulk of the people ; and he took a
highly popular course towards the close of his days in
lifting up his voice against the income tax, which was
in him a most disinterested proceeding, as it was not
in the nature of things that he could live to benefit by
the reduction.

It is, however, devoutly to be wished that the pre.

, . .
sent may be a year of better manners and conditions,
profiting by his predecessor's errors, and departing
from his evil ways. Let 1857 put his own house in
order, and be will have enough to do ; let aim keep
from bludgeoning, garott-
his bands more rigidly from picking and stealing,
abstain a little from forging checks and coupons, from
'n
short, from Sadleir and
plorgu
Robson, from Palmer and Marley, and all their works.
,Bsaiendachidouasnedbresatrkyicnhgn—inei
Moreover, while distinguishing mere nicely between
meum and tuuna in private dealings, let 1857 discrimi-
nate better also in public transactions between friend
and foe. Parcere superbis et debellare subjectos is a bad
reading of a noble text, and a policy utterly unworthy
of England. We trust the maxim has not been so re-
versed in China.

OCCULTATION OF JUPITER.--The occultation of the
planet Jupiter on Friday evening was observed at the
Liverpool Observatory. At the immersion the four satel-
lites and the planet were all seen to disappear behind
the moon. Clouds came over immediately after immer-
sion of the fourth or preceding satellite, but they
speedily passed away, and the immersion of the remain
ing three satellites and Jupiter was also observed. At
their immersion the satellites became fainter for three or
four second, and then suddenly disappeared. The time
of entire obscuration was 50 minutes 58 seconds. The
most remarkable fact was that no distortion of the
image of Jupiter was noticed, contrary to almost all
past experience.
FREEDOM OF HAMILTON TO DR. LWINGSTON.— On
Friday afternoon the freedom of the burgh of Hamilton
was presented to the Rev. Dr. Livingston, the African
traveller, whose birthplace (at Blantyre) is within two
miles of Hamilton. The ceremony took place in the
County Hall, Hamilton, in presence of the Provost, Ma-
gistrates, and Town Council of Hamilton, and a select
party of gentlemen from the town and neighbourhood ;
Robert Henderson, Esq., Provost of the burgh, in the
chair. The Provost, with a very few complirneotary
sentences, presented the burgess ticket, enveloped an
elegant morocco case. Dr. Livingston, in reply, eh er
returning thanks, gave an interesting account of some L't
his adventures in Africa. In the evening a soiree was
held in the large upper room of the County Buildings ;
Theme Anderson, Esq., banker, occupied the chair.—
Scotsman.

AMERICA.

LIVERPOOL, JAN. 4.
The Royal mail steamship Africa has arrived,
with advices from New York to the 24th Dec. and
50,0001. in specie on freight.,
The Canada, hence, arrived at Halifax on the
233 Dec.
On the 25th Dec., at 6 p.m., the Africa passed a
large steamer bound westward, and on the follow-
ing day the screw steamship Edinburgh, from Glas-
gow for New York.
In Congress the discussion on the President's
Message had been continued and adjourned. The
application to the President by the gentlemen con-
nected with the Atlantic telegraph to solicit his
patronage to the scheme had been crowned with
success.

The President hadlissued an order for the arrest
of Cornelius K. Garrison, Charles Morgan, and
General William Walker, to answer the Accessory
Transit Company in a plea of trespass for convert-
ing and disposing of the goods and chattels of the
company to the value of $1,000,000, and also a
further sum of $1,000,000 damages for interrupting
their business. There had' been a large , meeting
in New York for the purpose of devising the proper
manner and seeking the means to spud material aid
to Walker.
The Gerald, remarking on it, says :

" It is a singular evidence of the tone and tendency of
popular opinion among the better classes of society here
that several of the most fashionable and leading hotels
should have come publicly forward with contributions'.
The St. Nicholas Hotel sends 100 barrels of bread, the
Metropolitan Hotel, 5,0001 b. of bacon, and the guests
of several other popular houses send in contributions of
money. There is another contribution that has rather
ominous look-1,000 rifles."
At the earnest request of Walker's discarded
envoy, Goicouria, Mr. Roberts, of the United
States' Steamship Company, had consented to let
one of his steamers call at Greytown, to relieve
those misguided Fillibusters who were in a starv-
ing condition.
At New York, while lying at the pier, the steam
ship Knoxville, of the Savannah line, had been
destroyed by fire.
Some fishermen engaged on the western edge of
the Grand Bank, about 50 miles from land, had
hooked some wreck, which is supposed to be the
American mail steamer Arctic, which sank in 1854.
It is stated that it will be several weeks before the
Adriatic is ready for sea.
The New York and Liverpool packet ship New
York went ashore on the night of the 19th, two
miles from Basnegat inlet. Next morning the
second mate and six men succeeded in landing with
a rope in one of the ship's boats; the passengers
were afterwards landed in safety. The captain
(M‘Kinnon) was brutally ill-used and seriously in-
jured by seven of his crew, while endeavouring to
suppress insubordination. He snapped a pistol at
one man ; it missed fire, and he was knocked down,
and but for the mate, who stood over him, would
have been murdered. The mate also was in great
danger, but one of the mutineers took his part.
Next day the man was killed by his comrades.
For four days and nights the emigrants, 300 in
number, remained without shelter or food of any
kind on the bleak coast. In the same gale the brig
Tasso, of St. John's, Newfoundland, was wrecked.
Four of her crew and two men who had gone of
from the beach were drowned attempting to get
ashore. .

The negro insurrection excitement had not ceased.
A despatch from Louisville of Dec. 20 says :

" The Russellville Herald of Wednesday last says that
the negro insurrection excitement exists in the neigh-
bourhood of Volney and Gordonsville. A number of
negroes had been arrested ; a negro at one of the iron
works in Tennessee said ho knew all about the plot, but
would die before he would tell. He thereupon received
750 lashes, from which he died. At Cadiz, Trig county,
Kentucky, a free negro was hung after being tried by a
Vigilance Committee. There are a number more in
gaol, some of whom will be hung. Judge Clok has
called a meeting of the C )urt for Christmas-day. Ex-
citemeet runs very high."
Havannah advices are to the 15th Dec. The
stock of sugar on hand was 65,000 boxes, and at
Matanzas 3,000 boxes ; molasses contracts made
freely at 72 to 8 rials per keg of 54 gallons for
clayed ; muscovado molasses, 8h to 9k ditto.
In the New York money market the demand
continued active and the supply adequate at 9 to
10 per cent. for first class 30 to 60 days' paper, 12
to 15 per cent. for second class.
In exchange the demand for remittances was
very-limited, and continental lower. Bills on Lon-
don at 8a to 9 per cent. pm. ; Paris, 5.20 to 5.214 ;
Hamburg, 36$ to 365. Stock transactions were
limited and the market steady. Railroad bonds
firm, but inactive. The cotton market was about
one-eighth of a cent. better, owing to the advices
from the south of a probable short crop, and a
very general belief that the yield would not exceed
3,000,000 bales ; the market closed firm. In the
flour market the Canada's advices had added to the
dulness. Canada in moderate supply, at from $6
40c. to $7 70c. for superfine to best extra; southern
in good request for export, and buoyant. Red and
white wheat firmer, on account of scarcity; the home
prices had a restricting tendency. Pork irregular ;
ness a shade better, price lower, stock moderate.
Beef in better demand, partly speculative, and
prices slightly higher ; stock moderate, and holders
indifferent about seling. Lard be to ic lower.
Cheese firmer. Prime north country crude turpen-
tine held at $3 50c, and Ilmington sold at $3 43c.
Spirits of turpentine much firmer ; 43c. cash had
been refused, and sales made at a higher rate.
White resin scarce, and wanted at full prices. Salt
in bulk dull. Freights firmer to this port, and the
business moderate, at 54d to 64d for corn and wheat,
is 9d for flour, and id to 5-32 d for cotton ; to Lon-
don, 2s 2d for flour, and 3s to 4s for pork.
NEW ORLEANS, Dec. 22.
Good demand for cotton ; market firm.
MOBILE, Dec. 19.
Middling, 111 to In.