The Press.
London, England, 1857-10-10 00:00:00

AGRICULTURAL MEETINGS.

THE annual meeting of the Winckford :Agricultural
Association was held at Castle I-I sa liti4liain on
Tuesday last. After the usual distribution of prizes,
the lealiny gentlemen dined together at the Bell
'lnn, Mr. 0. S. Oxley presiding. After the usual
loyal toasts ha•l been drunk, the health of the
members for North Essex was proposed by Mr.
Ashurst Majendie.

The Right Hon. W. BERESFORD, who rose first, after
acknowledging his desire to perform his duties as a
Conservative honestly, faithfully, and zealously, re-
ferred to the subject of the Indian mutiny, and
expressed a strong opinion in favour of " retributive
justice " upon the rebe:s in India. He thought
Delhi " should be burned with fire and razed to the
ground," and adduced many examples from Holy
Writ in favour of this course :

In his opinion it was nothing bat mawkish sentiments•
lily to tali( of sparing the polluted places. Although he
confessed he wits in favour of destroying Delhi and the
other places in which these atrocities were committed, and
although he would punish with death who had com-
mitted these hideous crimes, not sparing one, still he
agreed to this extent with those who talked of mercy, that as
the mutinies were not general, and a great portion of India
was unainted with crime, he would not extend the measure
of justice to all parts and all people.

The right hon. member regretted the recent reduc-
tion of the army, and expressed an opinion that
Lord Palmerston " had done all in his power to meet
the Indian emergency," in tact " had done his best,"
and that he deserved support. In conclusion, the
right hon. member expressed that he should not be
considered a " turncoat " if he supported Lord
Palmerston.

Mr. DU CANE, M.P., in the course of his remarks
upon his political stewardship, said he could claim
little political capital in a session so barren of legisla-
tive results. Referring at once to Lord Palmerston's
Conservative tendencies and Conservative affections,
Mr. Du Cane observed that as it is "in the affairs
of every-day )ife, so it is not, the less true of political
alliances, that noscitur a sociis is a safe and a sound
maxim ":

In all bodies (says Mr. titirke) those who will lead must
also in a considerable degree follow; they must conform
their propositions to the taste, talent, and disposition of
those whom they seek to conduct.

The hon. member then alluded to the question of
Reform :

In the absence of any definite measure on this head, it
is not, of course, for me to bind myself by any hasty or
ill advised pledge. There is an old and simple proverb
which says " First catch your hare," and so I say, first
show me your measure of Reform, and then I will give my
candid opinion as to its merits. ( Hear.) But this decla-
ration I will plainly make, that any measure of representa-
tive reform to which I will give my support must be some-
thing widely dift'erent from the last abortive creation of the
ever fertile brain of my Lord John Russell, the levelling
tendencies of which were but flimsily veiled by the
specious drapery of a minority clause. (Cheers.) It
must be ,Aoineth n g widely remote from that mischievous
proposition of Mr. Locke King's, to extend the county
franchise to the 101. householder, and thereby convert
the whole county electoral system of England into one
vast and uniform borough representation. (Cheers.)
Now, a uniform suffrage is to my mind, after all, but
another term for the government of a country by a single
class, and the lower you extend the suffrage on the principle
of uniformity, so sure will you find the governing class in
that which is just above its lowest level. If there is one
error more glaringly apparent than another in the con-
struction of the Reform Bill of 18*2, it is the fact that it
has given an undue pre-eminence in the representation to
that very class., the 101. householder, to the diminution of
the legitimate influence of the landed interest, and the
almost entire exclusion of the elements of intelligence
and education. Let us hope that in any measure of
Reform they may bring forward the Government will seek
to amend rather than extend the errors of the bill of
1832, and that they will bear in mind that which is the