The Press.
London, England, 1857-05-23 00:00:00

LONDON, SATURDAY, MAY 23, 1857.

achieved. If he had ever been a member for this
county he would have known that it is not difficult
at any time to address a body of men who from their
habits, and the traditions they have inherited from
their forefathers, have always taken an interest in
political questions and in the Government of the
country. (Hear, hear.) Therefore, although I
address you at a moment when public excitement is
not very rife, still, as is my custom—as is always the
custom of your members—l wish to speak to you
with candour and without reserve on subjects of
national interest and importance; and I know that I
shall receive from you that sympathy and attention
which may be expected from a body of gentlemen
who do not, on occasions like the present, look to the
mere claptraps of tavern rhetoric, but require from
their representative a frank and manly declaration
of his opinions on the great topics which interest
them. (Hear, hear.)

When we last met in this room some five years
ago you were suffering from that unrestricted com-
petition to which the industry in which you are all
engaged was, by a great and unexpected commercial
revolution, subjected ; and it was then a great ques-
tion whether you would be able successfully to pus
through that ordeal. Much confidence, in which I
shared, was felt at that time in the energy and skill
of the British farmer; and, speaking now in the
presence of a British—of a Buckinghamshire—farmer
who has reduced the steam-plough to successful
practice—(Hear, hear)—l do not think I was wrong
in the expectations I then entertained from the high
qualities of our cultivators of the soil. But it is not
to revive the controversy between unrestricted com-
petition and protected industry that I have adverted
to this subject. While that great and ever fierce
controversy was going on, a vast revolution was
taking place from natural causes, and, perhaps, by
Providential interposition, which, in fact, battled all
the predictions and all the calculations hazarded on
both sides of the question. What effect the gold
discoveries of California and Australia have bad on
the fortunes of England and of the world is a sub•
ject which engages and perplexes the minds of the
moat eminent men in this country. Yet the question
is one which we must not neglect to consider. I
have no doubt myself that directly, by stimulating
the consuming power of the world and producing new
markets, and more powerfully, though indirectly,
by causing and creating the great works now being
prosecuted in every part of the globe, these dis•

GRATIS.

coveries led to those high prices which ,have for
some years prevailed in all articles, and have tended
to counteract the effect of the legislative changes
which we feared. I don't mean to say that the rail.
roads of England, for example, are owing to the dis•
covery of the precious metals in California and Aus-
tralia ; but the railways of France, Spain, Austria,
and particularly of India, are solely due to that cause.
It may be said, if we attribute such beneficial conse-
quences to the unexpected increase of the capital of
the world, that it is difficult to reconcile such results
with the high rate of interest on capital which now
prevails. Of course, on such a subject all opinions
must be given with due humility, but it is my own
belief that these apparent inconsistencies may be
reconciled. I have no doubt, and never bad any
doubt, that the tendency and ultimate result of the
gold discoveries will be to diminish the rate of inte-
rest on money. At the same time we cannot conceal
from ourselves that the enterprise of the human race
has outrun the increase of capital which has taken
place; and, although by that enterprise a great
stimulus has been imparted to the consuming power
of the country, occasioning the present beneficial
influence on prices, still a high rate of interest for
capital has simultaneously occurred. I have no
doubt, however, that as events proceed we shall find
a natural result ensue, and that while you expe-
rience this advantage from the prices of all the
articles which you produce and consume, you will
also combine with them that much reduced rate of
interest on capital which I think is the inevitable
consequence of those gold discoveries, which are
probably destined to produce a greater effect on the
history of this country and of the world than any.
thing that has happened since the discovery of
America. (Hear, hear.) I have referred to these
points because they have a very material connection
with the position in which you were placed when I
last had the honour of addressing you. Nor can I
conceal it from myself—although, no doubt, there
may be some great strain on the country in the in-
terval—although, no doubt, there is required in
private enterprise great prudence, and in the public
eApendittue great economy—that the position of the
nation in consequence of the recent discoveries of
the precious metals has become one of a sound and
healthy description. I cannot doubt that the ulti-
mate effect of all this must be to increase the
prosperity of this country ; nor do I believe that
either in ancient or modern history there ever was

518

a nation more happily placed than England is at
present, or that had a future to which it might
look forward with so much satisfaction. (Hear,
hear.)

Well, if that be a true and fair view of our situa-
tion, it is certainly very remarkable that this is the
moment in which we hear so much of approaohing
political changes, and that it should be at a time
when the great body of the people are satisfied, con-
tented, and prosperous, that we should hear of great
impending innovations in our political institutions.
(Hear, hear.) It becomeS us at the present moment
well to consider the position that we now occupy,
and what may be the course which it will be our duty
to take should these changes be proposed. (Hear,
hear.) I shall take the liberty, with the utmost
brevity of which the naturo of the case admits, to state
my opinions on this subject. In fact, it would be a
mockery for one who holds the important post of
your representative to meet you here to-day and not
revert to what seems to be the consequence of the
last dissolution of Parliament—namely, that in due
time, and when our rulers think tit, we shall be
called upon to consider great changes in the political
constitution of the country.

With regard to Parliamentary Reform I would
presume to say this—that I have no prejudices in
favour of the existing system, which was brought
into operation in lEal. I believe when that great
change toooklplacs its conception was not altogether
exempt from the spirit of faction. (Hear, hear.)
I have always thought, and always expressed my be.
lief, that when the reform of Parliament was brought
forward In DM it was not framed with a just regard
to the interests of those connected with the property
and the cultivation of the soil. I think also,
although this is a very minor point, that in arranging
the boundaries of boroughs and many other matters
there was all that jobbing, contrivance, and mancouvre
which are, probably, inevitable when such a measure
is prepared by a political party so circumstanced at
the moment of effecting, the change as to be irre-
sponsible. But, though I have held that:opinion, I
have also thought that political change, unless called
for by a political necessity, is, in a country like Eng-
land, a great social evil. (Hear, hear.) And I have
looked always—not, I believe, without reason—to the
remedial agency which would be exercised on some
of the arrangements that might have been very
factiously brought about, by the good sense and com-
mon feeling of Englishmen—influences which would,
in the long run, tend to remove some of the evils
and alleviate some of the injustice which are now
pretty generally acknowledged. to mark the settle-
meat of 1.833. Bat, although I believe there is no
feeling whatever in the country in favour of what is
commonly called Parliamentary Reform ; though I
think:l may say that the Parliamentary Reformers
in the present day are only to be found in Parlia-
ment; yet, when you look to the position of the
question, and find that the Prime Minister has
acknowledged—no matter what may have been the
cause of his decision—that it is his intention next
year to introduce a measure of Parliamentary Re-
form, leaving it probably to public opinion in the in-
terval to give a tone as to what the character of that
measure may be, I think we should be totally negli-
gent of our duty, quite unworthy of the privileges of
Englishmen, if we passed such an occasion in silence,
and did not attempt, by calm consideration and by
investigating the merits of the case, to arrive at some
conclusions that may guide our conduct when we are
called upon to act. (Cheers.)
Now, although for the reasons I have assigned I
am unwilling that the present system should be dis-
turbed, although I think political change the
greatest of all social evils in its consequences,
although I may not be'prepared—and yet it has been
announced in some public journals of the greatest
eminence that I am—with a Reform Bill of my own
—(laughter)—l am not prepared, on the other hand,
to say that if the Minister on his own responsibility
bring forward a measure of that character, I will
not give to it a candid and sincere consideration on
its merits. (Hear, hear.)