Vraniutial.
The Free-Trade Hall at Manchester was the scene of a great neutrality meeting on Tuesday. Mr. George Wilson occupied the chair, the chief spokesman was M. Louis Kossuth ; but Mr. Bazley and Mr. George Hadfield, also took part in the business. M. Kossuth expressed his views at some length. He said the meeting would be great encouragement to his countrymen who might soon have to unfurl the banner of inde- pendence— Francis Joseph, the murderer, the lawless usurper of Hungary, has just now a great war on his hands. That war commenced in Italy : but it would be impossible so to circumscribe it that it should not extend to other portions of the Austrian dominions; because, if Austria had but a conflict bounded by a certain line, and her antagonists would not follow her retreat- ing army, or would not take her power in flank and rear, the war could never be brought to an end ; and no result would there be, except a wanton effusion of blood. Therefore the audience would agree with him that it was natural he should look upon this war as one which was likely to place the emancipation of his own country even within the reach of the determination of his nation. The Royal proclamation of strict and impartial neutrality is so far as words went, a wise and patriotic determination. He defied any man to point out any present moral or material profit, or the prospect of any fu- ture compensation which England could derive from plunging into the hor- rors and calamities of war on the present occasion. And the declaration of the Government has besides, this merit—that it is unique so far as it goes, as a constitutional tribute ' bute paid to the will of the nation. Nevertheless the expression of opinion must be still more explicit, because mighty influences were at work for getting England into entangling. alliances, which if not prevented, would inevitably drift the country into war, and for pur- poses, too, which, while they had nothing in common with the national interests, were of a character utterly repugnant to English feelings. He referred to the exertions to man the navy and raise volunteers as evidences of an intention to take sides with hateful, priest-ridden Austria. The Orion had been anchored at Genoa in a manner to impede the French trans- ports ; the Conqueror had refused to salute the Tuscan flag ; the English Government had demanded that the Dalmatian coast should be neutral, and they had demanded this in order to isolate Hungary from the war. He is sure that the people of England are opposed to the wickedness of aiding in the preservation of Austria, and so of stifling the aspirations of freedom and murdering the innocent life of oppressed nationalities. Therefore the people must speak out ; for the danger would oome when the war extended—as ex- tend it must—to other portions of the Austrian dominions. It was ex- tremely important to make it understood that the people of England would be as unwilling to pay one subsidy or to shed one drop of blood for the pre- servation of Austria in the Adriatic, or on the line of the Danube or that of the 'fheiss, as it would be for her preservation along the Po. He did not ask England to fight for Italy or for Hungary ; he only asked England to keep out of harm and not to fight for the enemy of Italy, of Hungary, and of mankind generally. It was said that the question was simply of the ex- change of one taskmaster for another. Suppose it were so. The greater the reason for England to stand aloof. M. Kossuth is of opinion that Napo- leon III, will he led by his interests to refrain from a career of conquest, and that the same interests will lead him to respect the cause of nationalities.
The resolutions adopted condemned Ow past wars of England, and de- clared for strict neutrality " whether the war be or be not confined to the Italian Peninsula."
Several meetings on the same subject have been held in other towns, but they do not look so far into the future as the Manchester men.
The Oldham people gave a dinner to Mr. W. J. Fox, their favourite representative, and to the Liberal but unsuccessful candidate, Mr. Hib- bert. After dinner, Mr. Fox made a speech, in the course of which he touched on foreign affairs.
"The treaties of 1815 ; what are they ? A pack of parchments, which a set of men, met together without any delegation from any nation whatso- ever, employed themselves in framing, laying out countries here and coun- tries there, with all their inhabitants, as if they had been so many flocks of sheep or bales of cotton ; and they call that the great settlement of Europe ! Who has respected that settlement ? Nobody that could help it. Belgium did not, as soon as Belgium eould assert its independence as a state. Aus- tria has not respected them ; Austria has concluded a series of treaties with the Italian States, binding down Naples and Modena, and Tuscany, and Parma—and would, if it could, have bound down Piedmont to obey its own dictates, and govern with the same tyrannical and barbarian authority as it does its own subjects. All this requires watchfulness. It requires the voice of the people to keep the Government steady, to insure that the neutrality is a real neutrality, and not a masked way of helping the despotisms of Eu- rope. Let us look close to that. Let us watch every step—or rather, 1 say, let us discard the men who, so far as it goes, tend to actual and absolute neutrality by 'their evident bias towards Austrian despotism." (Loud ap- plause.)
The East Surrey Agricultural Association met at Croydon, on Thursday, for sheep-shearing and exhibition of stock. At a dinner in the afternoon Mr. Locke King and Mr. Aleock made speeches ; the latter expatiating on rifle corps, the former on the transfer of land. A meeting at Liverpool has adopted a memorial to the Queen proposing an extension of the sphere of election of ministers and officers of state charged with the affairs of the government of the country. Mr. Robert- son Gladstone is shocked at the monopoly of power in the hands of the aristocracy.
The era of free-trade ought to have practically deposed them from power, to be succeeded by the middle classes, who earned the money which consti- tuted the resources of the nation. The middle classes ran all the risks, and there was no just reason why they should any longer be debarred from the enjoyment of privileges to which they were entitled. 31r. Lawrence Heyworth argued that the commercial classes should have a representative at the head of the Government, as it was the COM.. meree of the country which had made it so powerful. Mr. J. B. Aspinal is of opinion that in matters of war or peace England is as despotically governed as any continental nation.
The ship-builders on the Wear have received notice from their work- men that it is their intention to strike for an advance of wages. The men have at present 248. per week, and demand 30a.
John Jones, clerk of Mr. Masefield, at Ledbury, has been taken into cus- tody by the order of the magistrates, on a charge of murdering Mrs. Baker the office-keeper.
A warrant has been issued by the Leeds borough magistrates for the ap- prehension of Mr. George Terry, tinner, the Grand Master of the Grand United Order of Oddfellows. He is reported to have absconded, and hie defalcations are said to amount to no less than 4000/. The money appears to have passed through his hands partly in his official character, but chiefly in connexion with a loan society belonging to the same order of Odd- fellows.
Mr. William Herbert, ex-Sheriff of Oxford, a tradesman of that town and also a suburban farmer, died by his own hand on Monday. He shot him- self in the kitchen of his farmhouse, oppressed with an insane belief that he was insolvent, and proof against his solicitor's assertions to the contrary,. Married but one year and a half, he leaves a window and one child. A.. jury found a verdict of "Temporary Insanity."
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