be Country.

A meeting of the gentry and yeomanry resident in the Eastern divi- sion of Cornwall was held at Liskeard on Thursday week, for tire purpose of petitioning Parliament to pass a measure for the commuta- tion of Tithes. The Chairman, Mr. George Call, stated the object of the meeting, and severely animadverted on the Bishop of Exeter's recent pamphlet on the subject of tithes. The following petition we then moved and seconded.

"Whereas the distress of the agricultural interest is arrived at an alarming condition, occasioned by the heavy burdens imposed on it particularly that of tithes, which are oppressive in their nature, and unjust in their exaction.

We therefore pray your Honourable flouse will be yleased to repeal the present laws relating to tithes ; and in lieu thereof impose a air commutation in money, according to the clear present annual value of the land, to be redeemable at the option of the payer ; and that the Ecclesiastical Courts may no longer have jurisdiction is respect to tithes."

Mr. Nettle opposed the petition, and offered an amended one ; which is-as carried by it majority of about twenty. It prayed the Legislature to fix the rate of commutation at one-tenth of the rent.

A letter was then read from Mr. Charles Buller, whose engagements in town prevented his attendance at the meeting. Mr. Buller expressed his disapprobation of the rate of commutation which had been agreed upon at the Devonshire meeting, and which he had reason to believe would be proposed at the meeting about to take place at Liskeard. He had no superstitious reverence for what are called the rights of the Church.

" An imaginary body has no rights; what is called the property of the Church is the property of the State. Tithes and and other Church properly are nothing but a portion of the national funds appropriated by the State to the payment of a certain class of he functionaries; and the State might, if it thought good, without any injustice, divert these funds from their present destination, and apply them to any other public &entre. The right for which I combat is not that of the Chinch, but that of the Nation al large. If the Church were abolished, the Nation would have the tithes at its disposal, to apply to the relief of its burdens: if the Church subsisted, and tithes were abolished, the Nation must take on itself the support of the Church in addition to its present burdens. Tithes, then, are a large national income; and why is this income to be abao dulled for the benefit of those who have no more claim to it than the rest of the corn. munity ? Of the landlords, whores property the tithes never were—who bought their estates, buying and paling for only nine-tenths of their produce, and to whom the remission of the tithe, or any portion of it, would be a pure gratuity ?" If we have any- thing to eve away, the laWloids merely are not the persons who are in the greatest need of charity." As long as the present Corn-laws existed, a remission of tithe would be simply an addition to rent. " Abolish tithes or reduce them, and rents will rise to the flill extent of the reduction. And all the gain will go into theyocket of the landlord. The proposed plan is palpably IL gwat reduction of the tithe. Varying as the tithe is, thew is no claim of which the amount iN more clearly fixed by law. The titheowner'e claim in to a tenth of the whole produce : he may go into the field and the farmyard and take the tenth sheaf and the tenth beast. There is no denying that this is a claim of the tenth of the annual pro. :Wee. Irotead of this, it is proposed to give him a tenth of the rent. Now it is gene- rally supposed, t hat on the average of lands in this country.. the rent annelids to a third uif the %hole annual produce; so that it ha proposed to commute a claim to one tenth of the whole for a drat to one tenth of the third—to give a thirtieth as an equivalent for th-1 tenth."

Such a proposal was subversive of the rights of the lay impropria- toN ; and Ivould not, if adopted, be a great relief in every instance. Where the landlord exacted a very heavy rent, the tithe would be pro- portionally heavy also. Where the rent was very low, and on poor lands, the tithe would be almost annihilated. He was ready to sun ort any satisfactory plan of commutation or composition.

But (the letter continued) it is but fair to add that I despair of any tomb being pro, Joel. I despair °frivol:citing the extravagant expectations of mauy of the agreadtu- rkts e it Ii the inflexible pertinacity of the Chureli and Aiistueraey. And, alsAY ‘.11. thaik it would be most unwise in the agriculturists to look at the question of tithes as Gil i,. ilated qui glom They will ere long be called on to make great concessions. Let them not lose thts opportunity of stipulating for advantages whielt shall Ibutuerbalance these concessions. Their object should be the absolute extimition ut tithes and other hardens on agriculture, in exchange for the present systent of protection ; provision being, made tot a full compensation to he granted by the nation to the proprietors of tit leis, and the future maintenance of the parochial clergy."

With respect to the Corn-laws, a change would soon be brought about.

" No change, we are assured. will be proposed by his Majesty's Ministers in the on- saiug session ; Ind we may be equally sure that some alteration will la proposed by the Members of the large towns—that such alteration a ill be sup/lotted hy a large mi- nority itu the I louse of Commons, and that probably a majority of the Ilonse will show itself inclined to effect the alteration at a future period ; and that great eftbrts to the stone end will be made throughout the country by associations. ',Odic meetings, and 11si most influentill public papers. In the course of a very few sessions, the alteration will be effected. The Ministry, even if conscientiously and unanimously friendly to th., present Corn-laws—the agriculturists throughout the country, even it' united in re• siiiii'. the change, could not succeed. rite agitation of the question, even ss It de tin- t tweessfah will seriously injure the lauded interest."

Mr. Buller then argued in favour of a fixed duty on corn, equal to That which for some time the present Corn, laws had actually imposed— or about (is. Rd. per quarter—the amount of the protection to which the farmers of England have so fondly clung. " The amount of duty with which the agricolt mists Facts themselves contented, is no hi her than that which their oppouents admit to lai their right ; mai I otli panics aro equally desirous to substitute a fixed duty for t he present system of fluctuation. But ii Ii if is easy to show the two parties that they ought to beef the same mind. I do not Ilan iir myself that it still be very easy to make them understand each other so well as to liriag them to an amicable settlement or the amount of the fixed duty on foreign corn ; nor will it be much easier to settle the amount of the commutation for tithe. A ',pia rent Iv. however, the one is neat iv equivalent to the ot her. The tax of tithe is gloat the s,tme as the duty on corn. The simplest tousle of settling the matter is by abniishin.• both the burden and the proteetion. To the farmer it is no matter whit her the sauce amount is added to the price of his produce, or taken front the cost of raising it."

This powerful and well-reasoned letter was not read to the meeting until the amendment of Mr. Nattle, to whom the letter was addressed, had been carried. Perhaps its arguments would have turned the slender majority the other way, had they been communicated before. A resolution having been carried, that the petition should be pre- sented by the Members for East Cornwall, Sir IV. Molesworth ad- dressed the meeting, and expressed his belief, that if tithe was abolished, the benefit would be shared in about equal proportions by the public and the landlord. He declined, however, to pledge himself positively to support the prayer of the petition.

Mr. W. S. Trelawney, M. P., advised his constituents to petition for cheap beer, no malt-tax, and a free trade in barley. Bread was already cheap enough. lie would recommend them to unite with separatists of all descriptions, in paying for one religion only—the re.. ligion of their own choice. In these matters he thought that East Cornwall was getting very like Ireland.

The meeting, which was numerously attended, then separated.

On Thursday week, about three hundred of Mr. Richard Fryer's Wolverhampton constituents dined together, for the purpose of testify- ing their approbation of that gentleman's Parliamentary conduct. Mr. Fryer made a speech of some length on the proceedings of Ministers and the House of Commons last session, most of which he heartily dis-

approved of. •

What bad the Reform Ministers done for them ? Their first act was the Irish Coercion Bill—a bill which they themselves described as an unjust, tyrannical, and arbitrary measure. Sir Robert Peel had said it would do no good for Ire- land ; and he believed Sir Robert when he said so. The fact was, it did not do any good for Ireland ; it did not put down the disturbances in that country. The disturbances were not put down until the Government put down the inter- ference of the military and police in the collection of the tithes. This Coercion Bill was the first act of the Ministers ; and he would now ask, was that the legitimate fruit of the Reform Bill ? Well, then, there was what was called the remedial measure. All it gave was a relief from about 60,0001. per annum, Collected under the name of vestry cess. The 147th and main clause of that bill, although carried by the Conunons, was rejected by the Lords ; on which the Ministry, with their usual truckling, said it was not of colAquence. Was this the fruit of the Reform Bill ?

The Slavery Act be characterized as a crude undigested mass of legislation, which never could be carried into effect, though twenty mil- lions had been granted for that purpose. The Factory Bill was another Ministerial measure— The Tories having got into discredit, concocted that bill to regain their .posi- : it had, however' the support of Ministers, and a greater delusion could not be. What was it but delusion, to say a master could afford to give the same wages for eight hours' labour as he could for sixteen hours? This he told them in the House, but no one listened to him. He advised them to take off the duty on the raw material of manufacture, open the ports, and let the people have cheap food, and then there would be no necessity for a Factory Bill.

The Bank Charter Bill was a measure which he equally disapproved of. He concluded with recommending the workmen instead of enter- in F into Trades unions to join with their masters in endeavours to ob- tain a repeal of the Corn-laws.

The health of the Members for Birmingham was drunk, amidst loud cheering ; and a letter from Mr. Scholefield, apologizing for his absence on account of indisposition, was read to the company. Mr. Clement Scholefield returned thanks on behalf of his father, and highly•eulogized the character of Mr. Thomas Attwood. .

On Monday, a public dinner was given by the friends of 1.beral prim- ciples in Wakefield, to their representative, Mr. Daniel Gaskell, in honour of his independent Parliamentary conduct in the last session of Paz- liament. The number of persons who attended was upwards of one hundred and twenty. Several admirers of the Parliamentar; conduct of Mr. Gaskell, from Dewsbury, attended the dinner = and theie weze amongst the company several gentlemen resident at Wakefield and its neighbourhood, who differ with Mr. Gaskell on some of the leadinr political questions of the day, but who wished to show the respect they entertained for his universally acknowledged private worth, by giving their attendance.

The defeated Tories of Huddersfield gave Mr. Sadler a diniar aoN. a piece of plate, on Wednesday week. Several very appropriate specallies were made by that gentleman and his friends on the occasion. The Leeds Tories presented a requisition to Mr. Sadler on Mond la4, to become a candidate for the representation of that borough. Mr. Sadler prudently declined the invitation; and a general meeting of the party was held on Wednesday, to consider what steps should next be taken. At this meeting, after a resolution expressive of regret c.t Mr. Sadler's refusal had been passed, it was resolved, on the motion C1 Mr. Sadler, that Sir John Beckett, whose family, it was said, had rendereil important services to the town of Leeds, should be requested to conse forward as a candidate. In the course of the day, several hulairell signatures were attached to a requisition ; and a deputation set ua te wait on Sir John with the document. His answer was expelled in Leeds this day.