The Press. — London, England, 1856-10-11 00:00:00

OCTOBER 11, 1856. organising and restoring to power the Conser. vatives:-- No one could deny that within the last two years the sttitnde assumed by that party had been such as to re dound to their lasting credit. Though they were them selves the victims of a factious combination, yet at a time when they might have repaid like with like they chose for themselves a nobler part; and, while the issue of the w. r was still doubtful and the least opposition might have dis placed the Ministry, they threw party considerations en tirely aside, and forwarded all such measures as were framed in a patriotic spirit for the maintenance of the honour of the country. The danger arising from war was now happily at an end, and they had need once more of that independent, energetic, and able assertion of princi ple which had ever constituted the leading feature of the Conservatives of England. They had been told by those with whom, no doubt, the wish was father to the thought, th a t the D oe of party had passed, that in fact it no longer existed, and even its spirit was dead. But he would say that it but slumbered for awhile—the vital spark was not extinct, but would again spring into activity. They needed a Minister who would reorganise the Conservative party, and, with the confidence of the country and the support of the majority of the House of Commons, under take the administrative business of the empire, reform the public service, develop the colonial interest, promote the cause ut industry, and take in hand with patient labour those measures of social and administrative reform which the voice of the country and the spirit of the age de mended. They required a Minister who would do this and something more, one who would stand by the Queen and constitution, who would protect the Protestant institu tions of Church and State, maintain intact civil and reli gious liberty and the Christian character of the Legisla ture. Above all, they required that the national Church should be protected from aggression and spoliation. The time was not far distant when the people of England would arise as a man and demand such a Minister, and he was confident that they would find him, not among the all-talented but all-unprincipled members of the coalition, or the mediocrity of the Whig party, but where they bad sought and before found a pilot to weather the storm—in the ranks and among the leaders of a firm, united, Con servative party MAJOR BERESFORD, whose health was most warmly received, next rose, and reviewed the leading political questions of the day. %On that of Church-rates, he had no particular desire to insist on the maintenance of the present form, but he should always support them until a fair and just equivalent was offered : f, by a trivial alteration, such as by placing them upon tke landlord instead of the tenant, as has been done with respect to the Irish Church, the grievance could be remo died. I should be delighted to see it done to morrow; but, with regard to the maintenance of the institution itself I acknowledge myself a strong Conservative—a Tory if you like ; and I must say that the conduct of the Prime Minister in dealing with Ws question has lowered him more in my opinion than any other occurrence. Against the admission of Jews to Parliament he would vote as long as he lived. With regard to agricultural statistics, the measure proposed last sessiun was most objectionable and unjust. His own opinion was : That, if a true and just system of agricultural statistics could be obtained and published annually, without prying into a man's private affairs, I am quite confident that the persons who would derive the greatest advantages from such a system would be the cultivators of the soil them selves. The thing has been tried already, and has suc ceeded to a certain extent ; for, of all the people who have endeavoured to obtain a system of agricultural statistics the Scotch have been most successful, and no man in this room can doubt that our Scotch farmers will look after their own interests quite as sharply as any agriculturist in Essex or Suffolk ; and they do not hesitate to declare that they reap a benefit from agricultural statistics. I think, therefore, that, if they could be obtained in Eng land with more satisfaction to the agriculturist, they would probably be advantageous; but if in your endeavour to obtain them you are obliged to enter into all the private affairs of a man, inquire what capital he embarked, what was the amount of his stock, what his returns, and what his expectations—an investigation so inquisitorial, and which would not be thought of with respect to any other profession, would not fail to become a most intolerable nuisance. The question would be brought before Parliament neat seAsion, and the Conservative members must take care to have it referred to a select committee which would take upon it the opinion of practical ag ri cult uri ts . He now came to the question of Maynooth, and after what had taken place last year it was not un natural to him to refer to it, and the necessity for doing so was greatly increased by the tone taken during this summer by one of the journals profess ing to be a Conservative journal, to speak the senti ments of the Conservative party, and known to be con• siderably under the guidance of some of its leaders : The organ I particularly allude to is the newspaper called THE PR ESS . Th a t is a journal now established rather more than three years, and is, I must say, conducted with a great deal of talent and ability ; but it now and then takes upon itself to speak to the Conservative party in rather dictatorial terms ; and for the last few months it has presumed to censure and assail every man who ven tured to oppose the permanent endowment of Maynooth, and to vituperate in no measured terms every attempt to disturb or alter that endowment. It hsa exercised its in genuity, which is pretty considerable, to give to Popery THE PRESS.' permanently that advantage conferred upon it by Sir R. Peel in 184,5. Now, be thought that this policy of blinking princi ples and making concessions, with a view of concili ating the Irish party in the House of Commons, bad not succeeded, and a great many of the Administra tions which tried it had had very short lives, and, he was afraid, not very merry ones : Blinking principles with a view to conciliate Irish members is very much like trying to catch old birds with chaff; and although I am not on very intimate terms with my countrymen in the House of Commons, yet I know them sufficiently well to say that they are very shrewd fellows. Those Irish Pspists have more principle than they give them credit for, and heartily despise those that think to purchase them by its sacrifice. There was another subject upon which he wished to say a few words in connection with Maynooth : We have lately heard it stated that our party is getting low—some even gn the length of saying that the Conser vative party is defunct—and that we have no definite fixed principles upon which a party can be kept together. lam not going at the present time to enter into any discussion upon that point, but I know that as far as I am myself concerned I am as true a Conservative now as I ever was in my life. But I must say it is not extraordinary that such an opinion should gain ground when you see the leaders of our party repudiating so vital a question as the repeal of the endowment of Maynooth. But they may depend upon this that the feeling of all truehearted Eng• lish Protestants are as strong upon this question as they ever were or ever will be. They object to giving their money in support of that of which they do not approve, and they are determined, at all events, that the whole question shall be dispassionately inquired into and placed upon a proper and satisfactory footing. He would not be sorry if this inquiry resulted in the total repeal of the measure. He would not go " short of that." However the gallant major con eluded his speech with a satisfactory admission : But at the same time I don'tpretend to say that the repeal of the Maynooth endowment can of itself be made the basis of a political party cry. Lord HADLEIGH next proposed " Agriculture and Commerce," to which Mr. HAMILTON replied, and defended Mr. Stafford for the opinion he expressed last week at Northampton in favour of the peasantry. Reverting to the state of the Conservative party, he thought it was a pity that that body, otherwise so compact, should be split into sects by religious dif ferences, for he did not believe that if they could be led to concentrate their action, the present Govern ment of the Whigs could stand a day before them. Various other toasts followed, and the company did not separate until a late hour. tout ant fastlion. Her Majesty will leave Balmoral on the 15th in stant, and arrive at Windsor Castle on the 17th. The Duchess of Kent passed through Aberdeen on Wednesday, on her way south. His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales, in the course of his tour through the West of England, has explored North Devon, visiting Lynton, Ilfracombe, the Valley of Rocks, Barnstaple, and other places. The Prince arrived in Exeter on Tuesday, leaving for London the same evening. Their Royal Highnesses the Duchess of Cambridge and the Princess Maty are expected to arrive in town, to day from Germany. The Duke and Duchess of Northumberland remove to Stanwick-park, Yorkshire, from Alnwick Castle, Northumberland, at the close of the month. The Duke of Devonshire is expected to leave Lismore Castle, Ireland, at the end of the ensuing week. The Marquis and Marchioness of Salisbury are entertaining a select circle at Hatfield•house, Herts. Marriages between Captain the Hon. Frederick Fitzclarence and the Hon. Miss Sidney, sister of Lord De Lisle and Dudley ; between Lady Charlotte Scott, eldest daughter of the late Earl of Eldon, and her cousin, Mr. R. Surtees Batikes ; between the Hon. William Hobart, son of the Earl of Buckingham• shire, and Miss Ramsay, daughter of the late Sir W. Ramsay, Bart., and niece to Lord Panmure ; between Colonel Caulfield, M.P., and Miss Somer ville; and the Hon. H. M.Monckton and Miss White, daughter of Sir J. W. White, Bart., are announced as probable to take place before the end of the present month. Volitttal. PARLIAMENT was further prorogued on Tuesday last until Thursday, the 13th day of November next. The Right Hon. the Lord Chancellor, the Right Hon. the Earl of Clarendon, and the Earl of Harrowby, were present. LORD PANMURE'S SPF.ECH at a tenantry dinner at Edzell, briefly noticed in our second edition last week, we now give at greater length. In reply to his 967 1 health, proposed by Major Mackay, the Minister at War gave a sketch of his political career, alluding to the present position of Lord John Russell, to the past military administration of the Duke of New castle, and to the causes of his (Lord Pantnure's) return to political life after voluntary retirement:— For the last three or four and twenty years I have been very much engaged in the political conduct of affairs in this country. After the passing of the Reform Bill, when you were enfranchised, and when I was enfranchised my self for the first time, circumstances threw me into the melee of politics, and in 11435, under the auspices of a man whom I will always look up to with the greatest respect and affection—f mean Lord John Russell—a man who has elevated the liberties of his country to a higher point than any man living—l entered public life first as his Under- Secretary of State. Under such a muter, gentlemen, it was my good fortune to learn nothing but lessons of con stitutional liberty, and to the lessons then learned, and the friendships then formed with that noble lord, I trace my subsequent success in political life ; and for any little credit I may have earned I look to him as the principal author of it—the person to whom lam indebted for it. 1 rejoice that this public opportunity occurs to me for making this heartfelt tribute to my noble friend, because at this moment it is the fashion to look upon him with something like a cold eye, and turn upon him something like a cold shoulder; but I believe the public good sense will soon see the injustice done him, and that the noble lord's name will yet be connected with the public liberties and public duties of his country. Gentlemen, from one step of politics to another I have gone, filling various offices ; and I thought that upon the retirement of Lord John Russell's Ministry, my political career was drawn to a close—l mean my public career in politics, because I bold that every man in my position ought never to lose sight of the politics of his country, although he may not be officially connected with those who administer them. But when my noble friend, Lord Pal merston, took office I was invited to accept the office of Secretary of State for War. I accepted that office with hesitation, because I had no wish, for my own part, to re turn to public life. Other duties had occurred to call me to reside upon my own property, and I was then looking forward rather to the study of the interests of my tenants, than to the study of the public interests of the nation. But I was assured by my noble friend, Lord Palmerston, that it was his opinion that the experience which I had had of the administration of military affairs, not simply from having passed an apprenticeship in early life in the army, in that gallant regiment of which my gallant friend, Major Mackay, was a member, but from having been six years connected with the administration of the civil affairs of the army formerly—Lord Palmerston stated it to me as his opinion that that experience would be of benefit to him in his Government, and that I might devote the knowledge I bed then acquired profitably to the army and to the public. In these circumstances I did not hesitate to accept the office tendered to me, and I will say this, that from the moment I accepted that office up to the present instant I have enjoyed not only the full confidence of my noble friend at the head of the Government, but such able assistance from him as has enabled me to conduct the affairs of that office with satisfaction to my own conscience ; and, feeling that satisfaction in my own conscience, I am enabled to hold light the opinions of those who have not been backward in decrying the exertions which I have had the satisfaction to make. My gallant friend Majcr Mackay has laid too much stress upon the benefit which has resulted from any admi nistration of mine. I have on many occasions disclaimed any special credit for restoring the army from the state into which it had fallen to the state in which it left the Crinu a. I have said often, and I repeat it now, when I succeeded to the administration of the affairs of war the barometer was then steadily on the rise, and many of the plans which had been laid, and the steps which had been taken by my friend and predecessor, I had only to work out as he had left them, and little to add in order to bring them to a fortunate maturity. I believe if the Duke of Newcastle had remained in office—if that clamour, for I must call it clamour, which drove him from the reins of the office in which I succeeded him, had not occurred, he would have succeeded as well as I have done in bringing the army round from the state into which it had unfortunately fallen to the state of discipline and of improvement in every way in which it left the shores of the Crimea. Lord Panmure then briefly alluded to the changes he had effected in the moral condition of the soldier, to the increased political power dissemi nated among the people, and concluded his speech with a defence of the new Police Act against the charge of centralisation preferred by Mr. Baxter, M.P. Mn. ERNEST JONES held a politico-musical soiree at St. Martin's-hall, on Tuesday evening. Between two and three hundred persons only assembled, and shortly after eight p.m. Mr. Ernest Jones appeared on the platform, accompanied by seven or eight ladies and gentlemen, who turned out to be singers and musicians. Mr. Jones then stated that he was about, for the first time, to attempt to blend dry political discussion with a musical entertainment, hoping that by these means he should attract many persons on whose minds he was desirous of engrafting essential political knowledge. The first part of a vocal concert was then proceeded with, embracing several well-known songs, glees, and madrigals, and among them the " Marseillaise," which the audience failed to recognise. The programme included two " odes " written by Mr. Jones—the first the "Song of the Lower Classes," a lugubrious ditty ; and the