NARRATIVE OF POLITICS.

The account of the Revenue for the Quarter ending
on the 5th instant is the first which exhibits, without
any considerable drawback, the full effect of the recent
remissions of taxes. As those remissions were estimated
altogether at more than two millions, a quarter of that
sum might reasonably be assigned to last Quarter. The
actual result, however, is of a more promising character.
In the Quarter's Customs, as compared with those of the
Quarter ending January 5, 1853, the decrease is not
more than £95,806, though the taxes on tea, sugar,
and several hundred less important articles have been
meanwhile reduced. The Quarter's Excise,
notwithstanding the abolition of the duty on soap, the loss of
which fell very largely on the winter quarter, shows a
decrease of not more than £113,970. The liberal alterations
of the Stamp Duties, and the tedious system of
replacement provided by the Succession Duties,
prepared the public for a greater decrease on this head than
what has actually occurred, viz., £75,101. In Assessed
Taxes again there have been extensive remissions, and
the decrease is only £17,183. In the Property Tax there
is a decrease of £53,530. In the Post-office it is gratifying
to find an increase of £82,000. The total ordinary
revenue exhibits a net decrease of £299,297; which, on
taking into account imprest and other moneys, and the
repayment of advances, is reduced to £293,051. This
decrease is considerably less than was anticipated by the
Chancellor of the Exchequer, on the proposition of his
budget. As the return for the twelvemonth just ended
comprehends three other Quarters, either previous to
the recent reductions, or before they had come into full
play, it exhibits an increase under most heads; on
Customs, £282,841; on Excise, £272,122; and on Stamps,
£213,727. In Assessed Taxes, which have lately been
affected many ways, there is a decrease of £223.975; and
in the Property Tax an increase of £50,559. In the
total ordinary revenue of the whole year the increase is
£702,808, which, by taking into account the very large
increase in the imprest and other moneys and repayment
of advances, becomes a total increase of £1,315,925.
That this annual increase (says the Times) is likely to
be sustained, or can be sustained, so long as the
comparison of year with year is disturbed by large financial
sacrifices, is more than it would be reasonable to expect;
but no one can doubt, from the table before us, that the
public finances, dependent as they are on the prosperity
of the country, are in a very buoyant state.

A great public meeting was held at Sheffield on the
9th, on the subject of the Turkish and Russian question;
the mayor in the chair. Resolutions were voted that it
is the duty of England and France to compel the
Russians to recross the Pruth, and to employ force if
necessary; and a memorial to her Majesty founded upon
them, was adopted by the meeting, with the exception
of a paragraph containing an allusion to certain rumours
relative to Prince Albert, which was rejected.

A similar meeting was held at Chester, on the 11th,
the mayor presiding, at which resolutions were passed
asserting the necessity of expelling the Russians from
the Principalities; and affirming "that it is the duty
and the interest of England to assist the Sultan in
obtaining full justice from Russia, by the strongest
warlike measures, and without delay." It was also
resolved that the resolutions should be embodied in a
memorial and forwarded to Lord Clarendon.

A Reform Meeting was held on the 19th inst. in the
Music Hall, Sheffield, and was attended by the following
members of parliament and influential liberals:—
Viscount Goderich, M.P., Messrs. Cobden, M.P., Bright,
M.P., John Cheetham, M.P., Frank Crossley, M.P.,
L. Heyworth, M.P., Thomas Barnes, M.P., George
Hadfield, M.P., James Pilkington, M.P., Charles Hindley
M.P. and other influential liberals. The Hall was
crowded. Alderman Hoole presided, three resolutions
were voted. The first, moved by Mr. Cobden, and
seconded by Lord Goderich, expressed the satisfaction
with which the meeting regarded the expressed intention
of her Majesty's Ministers to bring forward in the
coming session a measure of parliamentary reform, and
its desire to urge upon the government the propriety
and the duty of placing the representation of the people
in the House of Commons upon such a basis as shall do
equal justice to all interests and classes of the population
of the United Kingdom. The second, moved by Mr.
Cheetham and seconded by Mr. Barnes, was to the
effect that the extension of the franchise, however just
and necessary, will not avail to bring the House of
Commons more into harmony with public opinion,
unless the distribution of the electoral power be greatly
changed, as well by the abolition of all small dependent
or corrupt boroughs and the transference of the members
of such boroughs to new and enlarged constituencies, as
by giving an increased number of representatives to
the large towns and populous districts in the United
Kingdom. The third, moved by Mr. Bright, and
seconded by Mr. Kershaw, urged upon the government
the necessity of affording to the whole electoral body the
shelter and protection of the mode of voting by the
secret ballot.

Mr C. C. Greville, the clerk of the Privy Council, has
addressed a letter to the Times on the subject of the
attacks recently made on Prince Albert in relation to
his royal highness being present at the meetings of the
Privy Council. After quoting the law on the subject, he
states: "The question then reduces itself to this, whether
a person born out of the realm may be made a Privy
Councillor? In the case of Prince Leopold, Eldon was
Chancellor, and Garrow and Shepherd Attorney and
Solicitor General; in that of Prince Albert, Lord
Cottenham was Chancellor, Lord Campbell Attorney,
Lord Truro Solicitor General. With regard to Prince
Albert not having been sworn, the person who made
the remark is no doubt ignorant that members of the
royal family are introduced into the Council, and are not
sworn. I have some doubt whether such has been the
usage with regard to every member of the royal family,
but it certainly has been as to the sons of the Sovereign,
and to her Consort, when a Queen has been on the
throne. The precedents of Prince Leopold (though the
Princess Charlotte was only presumptive heiress), and
of Prince George of Denmark were followed in the
case of Prince Albert, both of whom were introduced,
and took no oaths."

The Annual Meeting of the Lancashire Liberals was
held on the 24th inst. at the Albion Hotel, Manchester.
Mr. George Wilson was in the chair; and there was a
great assemblage, comprising the members for the two
divisions of the county, with their leading friends and
supporters. The subject of discussion was Reform in
Parliament. The proceedings were opened by the