The Press. — London, England, 1858-05-29 00:00:00

DINNER TO MR. C. G. DUPRE, M.P., AND MR. DISRAELI, M.P., AT SLOUGH. Os Wednesday last the Conservative electors of the southern part of the county of Buckingham enter tained their representatives, Mr. C. G. Dupre, and Mr. Disraeli, at dinner in the Rval Hotel Gardens, Slough. At four o'clock about 500 gentlemen sat down to dinner, Colonel Howard Vyse in the chair. Among those right and left of the chair were the Duke of Buckingham, the Earl or Orkney, Colonel P. Williams, M.P., Colonel Knox, M.P., Mr. Bernard, M.P., Mr. Vansittart, M.P., General Hall, M.P., Viscount Curzon, M.P., Colonel Fane, General His. ginson, Ste. After dinner, The CHAIRMAN gave in succession, " The Queen," " The Prince Consort and the Rest of the Royal Family," "The Army and Navy." Mr. ATKINS proposed '• The House of Lords," coupled with the name of the Duke of Buckingham, which was drunk with great applause. The Duke of BUCKINGHAM, in acknowledging the toast, said he felt confident that so long as the House of Peers existed it would ever be found fore most in supporting the Crown and the best Interests of the people. He could assure them he had a heart to feel deeply the compliment which they had paid to him personally, and lie never could forget the kindness which for a period of forty years lie had received from all classes ill the county of Buck ingham. Trusting that as their old friend he might not. entirely be forgotten, lie could only repeat, in conclusion, that he would never forget them or the kindness they had shown him. The CHAIRMAN, in proposing the health of the members for the county, Mr. Dupre and Mr. Disraeli, congra:ulated the electors of Buckinghamshire, which had always been a Conservative county, upon one of their representatives having achieved, for himself the honour of a position, and that by no means an unimnortant position, in a Conservative Government. He could not but congratulate the people of Bucks and of England that they again had a Conservative Government. Ile had the greatest pleasure in proposing the healtlis of their " Con servative County Members." Mr. DUPRE, in returning thank, said that he could not help considering the large meeting of that day as a triumph of C mservatism, anti he believed that the people of England generally would support any Government which would fairly carry out the principles of Conservatism. The late Government were turned out of office by a national outburst of feeling on the part of the people cgainst having their laws altered at the instigation of a foreign power, or the refuge which this country afforded to all exiles i iterfered with. The present Government, during Vie short time they had been in office, had deserved well of the country—in the first plaza for preserving Rideable relations with France, and in the next place for their conduct in the case of the two engi. neers. The lion. gentleman concluded by thanking Vie company, in the name of his right hon. col league and himself, fur the honour they had done him. The CHAIRMAN then rose to propose the health of "Her Majesty's Ministers." He stated that, in his opinion, Conservatism consisted in administering the affairs of the country in a manner which should eon duce, not to the benefit or welfare of one class, but of every class of the community ; and secondly, in pausing before laying a rough hand upon institutions which once were the envy and admiration of all. He could congratulate the country upon now having a Government whic'i, in its foreign relations, would not cringe to the stroog and bully the weak, but would act with firmness and a t t h e same tune w i t h prudence. He believed that a Conservative Govern ment would command and would obtain the support of the country; and he trusted that his right hon. friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer would, as far his position would allow him to do so, state the views and policy of the Government. The hon. gen tleman concluded by proposing the health of " Her Majesty's Ministers." The toast was received with great cordiality. The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER on rising was received with loud cheers. On the cheers sub siding, he said : Gentlemen, though your kind invitation to meet von here to-day was offered to my colleague and myself before I was qualified to return thanks for the toast which has just been given, I can assure you that I am gratified that this unexpected opportunity is afforded me of expressing the hope tut Ido not mishit -mil , t the reception you have accorded me into the liclief th it Its fir as you can form an opinion yon are not dissatisfied with the conduct of her Majesty's Ministers during their brief tenure of office. (Cheers.) I may be permitt•d on this occasion— the first, I believe, that any Minister of the Crown has bad of meeting a large body of his fellow-subjects since the present Government came into office—of recalling to yoq for $ moment the circumstances wider which we Ili. THE PRESS, MAY 29, 1858. acceded to office. (Hear, hear.) You will perhaps remember that a Government supposed to be omnipotent suddenly fell to pieces with a collapse altogether unprece dented. ( A laugh.) Yon will perhaps recollect that her Majesty, in the exercise of her constitutional prerogative, in these circumstances applied to my noble friend the present Prime Minister of Euglan 1, and requested him to undertake the great responsibility of directing public affairs. You will, perhaps, recollect that, with a frankness which belongs to him, Lord Derby, not eagerly grasping at office—( Hear, hear)—represented to the Queen, as it be came him to do, the position of himself and his friends in the House of Commons, communicating to her Majesty that in that powerful rissembly he could nut, from the extraordinary circumstances in which the present Parlia ment was ele-ted, answer fur receiving support to his Government from a party touch exceeding one-third of the nurniiett that formed the house. (Hear, hear.) Then, though he expressed his readiness under all circumstances and at all hazards to undertake the responsibility, he re spectfully counselled her Majesty to pause and well con sider the great contingencies at issue, and not hastily call on him to undertake the charge which she had so graciously offered to intrust to him. ( Hear, hear.) I say, therefore, there was no unseemly eagerness for office on our part. ( Hear, hear.) I may remind you that her Majesty availed herself of the opportunity thus afforded her by Lord Derby. Her Majesty graciously condescended to reconsider the circumstances of the time and of the State, and it was only after that second consideration that the Queen expressed her conviction that it was the duty of Lord Derby to under take the trust, however difficult it might be. ( Hear, hear./ From that expression of her Majesty Lord Derby did not shrink, and he took upon himself, with all its difficulties, the office of Prime Minister of this country. (Cheers.) The heritage of difficulties to which he succeeded was not a slight one, and it would have been no easy matter to have encountered those difficulties even if we had been sup ported by an overwhelming majority of the House of Commons. ( Hear, hear.) It is well now for us to think lightly of the perils we have passed through--even to forget them ; but when I tell you and tell you seriously that the question of peace or war when we acceded to effice was not a question of weeks or days, but of hours, I am sure you will remember that peace has been preserved, while the honour of the country has been vindicated. (Cheers.) Let me also remind you that at that very moment two of your fellow-subjects were lingering, and had long lingered, in a foreign dungeon, and that the effort"; of a Government which boasted of being irresistible in its domestic strecgth and iu its foreign policy had not succeeded in relieving the misery of their position, or in vindicating the honour of their country. ( Hear, hear.) lint in a few weeks—l might almost say in a few days—the Government of Lord Derby, with all these difficulties to encounter, and with its unquestionable want of strength in the popular house of the Constitution, di I succeed in freeing these two neglected and suffering Englishmen—(cheers)—brought them back in triumph to that country which had so lung felt indig nation inexpressible at their unmerited sufferings and shame for the weakness of that Government whi(i ha-I permitted them so long to endure it. (Great the-ring.) I think, therefore, I may also refer to that circumstance as one to which the Government of Lord Derby, so often described as a weak Government, may look back with pride and satisfaction. (Cheers.) Then let me remind you that during all this neriod, while we had to maintain and establish peace with France—while we were vindicating the honour of England and the rights and privileges of all that dwell on its soil—while we were freeing from a foreign dungeon our suffering fellow-countrymen, the arts of faction were pursuing us on every side. (Cheers.) A war between Naples and Sardinia—which would have been a war that would have set the whole world in flame,t —was nearly precipitated in order to inconvenience and, perhaps, upset a Government which was the choice, after due reflection, of the Queen of this country, and which was honoured by her confidence not formally, but sincerely and cordially, because they were the only !lefty who would come forward and incur the responsibility of carrying on the Government. (Cheers.) The foreign difficulties were not the only ones to which in these difficult circumstances we succeeded. The finances of the country were in a position of the most extreme dif ficulty; and—what was still worse—they were imagined by the country generally to he in a position even more embar rassing than they really were. The tendency of that feeling greatly increased the difficulty of dealing with the subject, because it induced depression and even panic in the public mind, and acted in a most injurious manner on the com mercial enterprise of the country. (Hear, hear.) These financial difficulties were looked forward to by our oppo nents, equally with those we encountered in our foreign affairs, as the means by which it was hoped our failure might be accomplished. (Hear, hear.) It does not be come me to refer to the measures by which these financial difficulties were encountered, but I may be permitted to make this single observation, that it was my duty, as the Minister of Finance iu the Government of Lord Derby— in the midst of this hostile House of Commons. and facing a band of opponents such as few have had to encounter — to propose measures to meet the emergency which had the singular and unprecedented fortune of being passed with general acclamation. (Cheers.) But our difficulties were not limited merely to the extreme danger of our foreign affairs, when the question of peace or war was hourly be fore us; they were not limited to the deficit in our finances, which can be only counted by ; we hail before us the state of India. and had to consider and determine on the policy on which the weal or woe of that great peninsula depended, and with which the renown and the power of England were so intimately connected. ( Cheers.) it is unnecessary to refer to what has taken place within the last twelve months in India. The great events that have taken place there are graven on every man's heart and convictions. They were accompanied with circumstances of such harrowing interest that there is no man, whatever his condition may be—whether he fill the highest place in the peerage, or follow the plough and gain the price our agricultural meetings—who is not c ogn i zant of allat and principal details and features of those g r e at eienta, the who does not feel fur many of the startling incidents that occurred in the course cl the se transacti ( Hear, hear.) But we had to decide—for it was the turning-point of our Indian empire —the cha racter of the policy which ought to be purs ue d ; w h ether t should he a policy of unmitigated vengeance, or w h et h er i the time had arrived when we should attempt t o re b uild our great empire in the East on principles of a very different character, and leading, as we believ e d, t o a very different result. (Great cheering.) Was it to be military t r al o ii p it ka e i tr a iyg n a 00 ef t . c h ifil a ep t ra e ti v io e ani r s e m : 3t i t t . es e fi r s e du d ebei tat enormousoccupation by an army four times greeter in am oun t t h a n att‘anx,tyastaitrotmnta,y by ob a f e Europeans from this country, and by a perpetual exhaustion of our resources? (Cheers.) Or were we to recognize that vengean ce had doneits duty? Were we to recognize that the time had arrived, or was fast arriving, when, upon the fall of the rebellious capital, we ought to announce to the inhabitants of India the principle on which we propose to recon struct our empire,—a principle that we believed must con tribute to their happiness and to the welfare and power and glory of this country? (Great cheering.) Was it always to be massacre and confiscation? (Cheers.) Or, on the other hand, was it to be discriminating am nesty ? (Cheers.) Was it to be respect for private pro perty, toleration for religion, and a due and decent regard for the manners and customs of the people? (Cheers.) Were we or were we nut to distinguish the great body of the millions—who after all are her Majesty's subjects in India—from those military and treacherous rebels who have received or will receive their due weed of reward? Renewed cheering ) 'These are the three great subjects, gentlemen, which have occupied our counciis and which have demanded our management since we came into office :—Foreign affairs, that involved the question of peace or war ; financial arrangements, that involved the question of millions of a deficieitcy awl a reduction of taxation; and the principles upon which a great empire should be reconstructed in India—( cheers )—three great subjects, gentlemen, and we have been in office three months! ( Renewed cheering.) And yet we are told that we are a weak Government and have done nothing! (Cheers.) Why, we have vindicated the honour of England; we have pre served peace ; we :lave freed from imprisonment our lie fering countrymen ; we have met an immense deficiency, and at the same thus reduced taxation; and we have laid down principles for the reconstruction of our Indian em pire which England approve* and Europe admires, aud which, if acted on, will maintain the greatness and glory of our country. ( Loud cheers.) Gentlemen, we have hail to perform this difficult task tinder unprecedented difficulties. I am bound to declare, especially after some observations that have been made to-day, that I for one — and from my position I may be considered a candid and impartial judge—have no reason to complain of the pie sent Howse of Commons. (Hear, hear.) Considering that it was elected under the auspices of our rivals, con sidering that it was supposed to possess an overwhelming majority against us when we a‘suitied the reins of office, 1 ant hound to say that the Government have received from the House of Ccminons, as a body, a generous courtesy, and that, on more than one occasion, the sense and spirit of the House of Commons have baffled the unceasing intrigues and the restless machinations by which, from the first moment of our entering office, the Government of the Queen has been assailed. (Cheers.) And, geutle men, this leads me to the very key of the position. There exists at this moment in England that which has not existed since the days of Charles 11. There is in Eng land at this moment a cabal—(cheers;—a cabal which has no other object but to upset the Government of the Queen, and to obtain their ends in a manner the most reckless but the most determined. ( Renewed cheers.) Now, this c 'hal consists of some scheming English politicians aud some foreign intriguers. ( Hear.) They possess resources of all kinds, and in considerable amount, and they are reckless in the mode in which they dispose of tnem. ( Hear, hear.) Their social influences are consi derable, and they are perverted without the slightes t re morse to obtain their political ends. (Cheers.) They possess great sources of political information, especially with regard to foreign affairs, obtained iu a manner nut very constitutional. ( Cheers.) They have succeeded in doing that which no cabal in modern times, I son proud to say, has yet succeeded in accomplishing; they have in a great degree corrupted the once pure and independent press of England. ( Loud cheers.) Innocent people in the country —( laughter )—who look to the leading articles in the news papers for advice and direction—who look to what are called leading organs t o be the guardians of their privileges and the directors of their political consciences—(laughte r) —are not the least aware, because this sort of knowledge travels slowly, that leadnig organs now are place-hunters of the cabal—( cheers and laughter)—and that the once stern guardians of popular rights simper in the enervating armosphero of gilded mamma. (Cheers and laughter.) Yes, gentlemen, it is too true that the shepherds who were ooce the guardians of the flock are now in league with the wolves—( laughter )—aul therefore it is, that though we have been only three months in office, though during that space we have vindicated your honour, maintained the peac e of Europe, which was in manifest peril, rescued oar f. countrymen from a 'reign dungeon, made up a great laid defi ciency in your finances, and yet reduced tax ation, and a deep foundation for your tuture empire in the hast—inoo oent people in the country who read leading organs believe we area Government that do nothing ; that we are a weak Government, and not entitled to the confidence of wbacurt country. (Cheers and laughter) But , gentlemen, r would happen if the calail were successful ? You know ou policy, and you can judge of it by its frui ts. Let the cabal be successful, and in foreign affairs you would have.. truckling foreign policy, while in hom e affairs) otl..wi have gradually established 14 strong and strict centre lized l!