Mr. A. G. Spiers, Member for Paisley, has declined an
invitation to join the Royal Agricultural Association. He assigns his reasons for his refusal, in a published letter to Mr. Montgomery Martin, the Secretary. Mr. Spiers thinks that the object of the Associators is not simply the relief of Agricultural distress, but that they intend to overawe the Government. He also is an avowed opponent of the Corn.laws, (though himself a landowner,) and looks for relief more to the removal of restrictions on trade than to protective duties of any description. A reduction of rents too, he seems to consider as far more likely to aid the farmer, than any combination of landlords for what he suspects are Tory purposes. In conclusion, Mr Spiers warns the Association, that their example may be followed by other classes, and thus one portion of the community be set against the other. Finally, it appears that the application to Mr. Spiers to join a club of Tory landlords was a most unfortunate one.
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