The Press. — London, England, 1858-09-25 00:00:00

918 tion, and not in his Ministerial or Representative capacity. It is well known that one of the standing rules of the society, and one which has never been infringed since its reorganization in 1838, is that the introduction of political topics at its meetings is strictly excluded. It could not therefore be ex pec ted that the Chancellor of the Exchequer would avail himself of such an opportunity " to give a declaration of his political opinions, and also to foresha low coming measures." There is no pretence whatever, therefore, for the supposition founded upon this error, and so eagerly disseminated by the Globe, that Mr. Disraeli was absent from any desire to evade ex pected or promised explanations of position or of policy. THE PRESS, SEPTEMBER 25, 1858. THE CHINESE TREATY. THE summary of the main stipulations of the late Treaty with China, given in the North China Herald, and generally reproduced by our morning contemp o raries, is, we have reason to believe, substantially correct. It does not contain, however, the provision for the indemnity to be paid by the Chinese Govern ment, inasmuch as that is secured by a separate arti cle, and is not contained in the treaty itself. The amount to be paid is fired at two millions of taels, between 600,0001. and 700,0001. This is to he paid as an indemnity for the losses entailed on British subjects by the hostilities at Canton, together with a like sum of two million taels on account of the war expenses. Until this sum is paid in full, the British troops will continue in occupation of Canton. Under ordinary circumstances it is not the custom, for obvious reasons, to make public the contents of a treaty until the exchange of ratifications. By one of the articles already published it is provided that the ratifications of the Chinese Treaty shall be ex• changed within one year from the date of signature. In point of fact this act will probably take place early in the ensuing summer, and until then none of the provisions can come into force. It is therefore needless to say that in the case of the present treaty no such reserve as that usually maintained can be practised, or that no unnecessary delay will be per mitted to occur in placing before those interested in the subject the most minute details of this important document. As soon as the Royal sanction has been obtained it is probable that the text of the treaty, of which the substance is already informally known, will be authoritatively published. MR. NEWDEGATE, MP., AT THE LICENSED VICTUALLERS' AS• SOCIATION AT COVENTRY. Tux annual meeting of the Licensed Victuallers' Association of Coventry was held on Monday evening, in St. Mary's.hall, when Mr. Newdegate, M.P., presided, and a numerous and respectable company, including several of the Town-council, the President and Vice• President of the association, and most of the influential members sat down to an excellent dinner. In addition to the members of the Coventry Association, deputations from the Licensed Victuallers" Association of Birmingham and Leicester attended the meeting. The CHAIRMAN, in proposing the health of the Queen, observed that he had heard it said, and had seen it reported, that elsewhere some other toast had taken the precedence of the "Queen." He hoped that, knowing as they did tbat her Majesty was the first Sovereign in the world and the first lady in the land, they would never, as far as they could influence any one, permit any toast to be proposed in their houses or at their festive meetings before that of the Queen, and that if their guests persisted in doing so they would charge them double, and give them nothing but salt fish for dinner. (Laughter and cheers.) The other loyal and patriotic toasts having been given, Mr. WILMOT gave "The Health of the Members for the county of Warwick" (cheers), observing that no one could have conducted themselves in a more consistent or exemplary manner than had done both their hon. chairman and his colleague, Mr. Spooner. They had faithfully discharged their duties, and he believed that in every vote they had given they had been actuated by the purest and most honourable motives. (Cheers.) Mr. NEWDEGATE, M.P., in returning thanks, said :—Gentlemen, I thank you for the honour you have done me as one of your members, and I will take the liberty of saying here that I do not believe there are any two members representing any con- stituency who have been more devoted to fulfilling their duties than my justly valued colleague and myself. (Cheers.) I have ever sought, and ever shall seek, to he the honest representative of your opinions. (Cheers.) I have never failed to let you know the course which my own feelings and opinions prompted me to pursue, and how I hoped to serve you, and how I deemed it would be my duty as your representative to conduct myself in the House of Commons. I trust I have not disappointed you. If you are changed, well and good, change me ; but if you are content with the honest services of two men closely identified with you by local interests, and, I trust, by political opinion—if you are content with two men who have shown how much they appreciate the honour of representing you, how willing they are to do their duty, then I can tell you that as I have represented you for fourteen years, during which many changes have taken place, and during that long period I have been actuated by the principles which I originally entertained, so I shall continue to maintain those principles, knowing, as I do, that T am sincere in upholding them. (Cheers.) I believe it is only by a firm adherence to those principles upon which the Constitution of England is founded that you can pre serve intact the inestimable blessings of that freedom which it is your privilege to possess. (Cheers.) B e assured that if we wish the country to continue in a course of progress—and I say "progress " advisedly —such a wish will be best accomplished by con tinning within the limits of those principles the practice of which has raised this country to its present state of proud pre.eminence. When others tell you that a Conservative has no right to speak of progres:, pay no attention to them. For myself, I wish for progress. I desire to see all classes of the community advance ; but I desire to see them advance within the limits of principles which consti tute safety; and if there is any difference of opinion between myself and others upon this question of pro. greys it amounts to this, that I prefer to see the engine of the State driven carefully and safely along the rails, while I entertain a strong doubt whether the Liberals, as they are termed, would not either shunt us into a dangerous siding or land us at the wrong platform. (Laughter.) It is with an experience of fourteen years that I speak, during the whole of which time I have had the honour of repre. senting, and during by far the greater part of that time of representing in conjunction with my hon. colleague, the Northern Division of Warwickshire. I shall still endeavour to serve you, while at the same time I maintain those principles which have so long actuated me in my public conduct. If you are not changed I am not, although I am prepared to make due allowance for the changes of circumstances which have taken place of late years. As one of your repre sentatives in Parliament for North Warwickshire I return you my most hearty thanks for the honour you have done me upon the present occasion. (Cheers.) Mr. TAUNTON then proposed the "Health of the Members for the City." The CHAIRMAN, having in the absence of the two hon. members said a few words in reply to the toast, proposed " The Mayor and Magistrates of the City of Coventry." He said he was one of those who had ever been opposed to the system of centralization which was at one time so strenuously advocated. Experience had proved to him the great advantages of local government as opposed to centralization. Freedom was a plant which, to exist, must be che rished ; it was not a matter of accident, it came not to any country by chance ; hut every country which would enjoy it must persevere in those means of in dependence which were represented in this toast. If they did not maintain the system of local self government, he was afraid that their national repre sentative system would be of little use, the adminis tration of justice would not be pure, and they would not have the inestimable blessing of being their own governors in those matters which concerned most intimately their own hearts and homes; for upon self government, in great measure, depended that social freedom which was dearer to them and more useful than the more specious kind of liberty granted in the mere possession of representative institutions. They had seen representative political institutions perverted elsev here ; then let them never give up their old Saxon constitution ; let them keep their power at home, close in their hands ; let it be con scientiously exercised, and England would still be free among the nations of the world, an example of that order, happiness, security, and true liberty, which characterize the organization for the good government of a great, a wise, and an enlightened community. (Cheers.\ - . Mr. J. N. CLARKE, in proposing the health of Mr. Newdegate, said that, irrespective of his political services, he had always shown himself a good neigh bour and faithful friend in all social relations of life. The CEIAIRMAN briefly returned thanks, and after• wards proposed " Success to the Association," which was drunk with cheers; and several other toasts having been given of a local character, the meeting separated. MR. HENLEY AND HIS CRI ----7---71 TICS. THE annual meeting of the Watlingtongiven t e r the F ver a e r d m n e e r s s d ' ayA,smsore.ialitioungu wHaseinteldrsiaeyt that prsidin g. (D ion) place on At the dinner, which took place on the same day, The Health of the County Members " was chair. Right Hon. J. W. HENLEY, President of the Board of Trade, responded, and in the course of w speech principally confined t o l oca l matters he said :—" I believe I should not say a word on politics. It i s generally supposed that nothing of the sort is said here. I have been as close as I could at the various meetings, and said very little; but, fortunately, that very littl e I h ave sa i d has happened to attract some attention, and I cannot complain of the very kind manner in which the press generally have attended so humble a person as myself. I thought it a very modest proposition to say,that the Government meant to try to do something in the way of amendment and reform; but some parties have taken an exception even to the propost. tion that we should try to do something. Whether we shall succeed or not we cannot say till the time come. Be that as it may, I have been set on my head and my heels, and turned upside down and downside up, and inside out, one way and another; but the end of it all was only to discover a fact, which I suppose everybody who knows me at all knew before. They say " Hang it, he is only a Tory." 1 don't suppose anybody in the country who knows anything about me supposed I was anything else. But that is all, after all the twisting and turning, that people have arrived at. 1 don't complain, because I never expected to be considered anything else. One matter, however, a little surprised me. That is, they say because I am a Tory I was net'. rally satisfied with the old system of rotten borough representation. I beg leave to deny that sort of im peachment. I never was satisfied with it, and I defy any man to bring forward any expression of mine that ever showed my satisfaction with it. It is not because I did not like that that I was to like the way in which it was sought to be amended. That is the only matter I complain of. I don't call it a misre presentation, because it is not likely so bumble an individual as myself, who, at the time re• ferred to, took no prominent part in public matters, could be misrepresented, as no one on the press could know whether I was alive or dead. But I deny the conclusion that because I have been slimy life a Tory I was on that account satisfied with the state of things existing before 1832. My hon. friend would pull me down as quiA ly as possible if I were to go into anything like politics. This is not the I I can, with the assistance of my own sense of wha t placein p u b fo l i r c t o h r e a m p . r i v A a l t i e t s h t w a t t n e w l n s h s a w l y l al is, Wa h y a s t , as w h f e at is right, do the best I can ; and if a man tries to do what he can, in a high or low station, I believe be will satisfy his own conscience and the public. If cannotgiveitup do amy ltogether." Loud to my own satisfaction I shall Loud cheers followed the speech of the right hon. gentleman. MR. J. BRIGHT, M.P., ON EMIGRATION. IN a letter addressed by Mr. Bright in reply to a circular requesting him to attend a meeting of the Glasgow Council of Trades Delegates on the subject of emigration, the hon. gentleman makes the follow • ing remarks :—" I have read your resolutions, and I am not surprised that great numbers of the working men are anxious to emigrate. If I wereyounger, andia their position, I should strain every nerve to enable me to find a home in the United States or in one of the British colonies. I do not think you are quite correct in the assertions of the resolutions. Generally the waste lands in the colonies belong to the colonies. Canada belongs to the people of Canada, and Australia to the people of Australia, and I think any other arrangement would work badly. Any inter ference by the Home Government would do mischief, and would certainly bleed disputes between it and the Colonial Governments and populations. Again, I do not know that it is the " bounden duty" of the Government to adopt measures to enable a portion of our copulation to emigrate, for if suc h a duty is laid upon it, I know not where it must end. Every man who thinks he can improve his position abroad may ask to be sent abroad, and, all men having on equal claim upon the Goverment, the difficulty Essl become, and soon would become, insurmountable. I do not believe that it is the duty of the Government to provide means of emigration for the people, and there fore I could not support the main point in your reso!u. tw i o. What I have long told the working men s this • Here you have no political power, for the arrange ments of the Reform Bill purposely excluded you. Here you are mixed up with h e wretched contiiion of European politics, and your sweat is paw ned by the crimes of past generations. So thoroughly