The Press.
London, England, 1853-11-05 00:00:00

630

plained that the advantages had not been returned
on a fair principle of reciprocity :
" They claimed • reciprocity of rights and privileges.
Now, had they obtained such a reciprocity? Scotland
yielded to the imperial Treasury, after paying all its own
expenses, s,7isi3Of cit. per annum. What hail been done by
the imperial tiovertinietst for the great object of national
defence in Scotland ? l /leer.) The people of England
expected that if a war were to break out they could muster
141%000 armed men. In Ireland there were 22,0110 regular
tremor, and 12,1100 police, admirably equipped, equal to
soldiers of the line, and paid by the Government. What
was the state of matters in Scotland ? Here they had only
two battalions of infantry and one regiment of cavalry,
mustering among them some 1,1400 combatants! In case
of a war breaking out, if a descent were to be made from
Russia, he need not say where the invading force would
coma to in the first instance. Why, they would just come
to the Frith of Forth. If they came there they would find
the harbour of Grantham prepared for them ; and, after
threatening Edinburgh with conflagration and plunder, sod
levying • contribution of I ,ts Ml,l M or %tits s if., they
might march to Glasgow, follow the same course there,
and then return to the Baltic before England got anima-
war ready. While fully admitting the necessity of looking,
in the first instance, and chiefly, to the defence of the cen-
tral parts of the countey,atut of making London,lVoolwich,
Plymouth, Deptford, Chatham, and Portsmouth as secure
as they could possibly be, lie saw no reason why Scotland
should he left utterly defeneeless, without any force what•
ever, either maritime or military, to repel an invasion.
Leaving the question of national defences, he would refer
to the subject of harbour* of refuge. There, too, the
Eimlish took admirable care of themselves. No less a
sum than 2,400,0001. was now in course of being expended
in England in the improvement and extension of harbouni
lif refuge ; while in Scotland there was only one harbour
of refuge from Berwick to the coast of Cdithneas, and that
was the one at Leith. Scotland had 311,000 seamen, and
211,000 vessels annually entered Senn+ ports, their aggre-
gate tonnage amounting to 2,003,i00, All those seamen,
and all this wealth, were exposed to imminent danger be-
elines Scotland had no money voted for harbors of refuge,
the only sum expended on Scotland being 2,21 NW., which
was given to Portpatrick harbour. Let them look to the
matter of police. In Scotland the police was maintained
exclusively at the expense• of the counties and cities, whilst
a parliamentary paper had just appeared which showed
that the police of Ireland wet 1172,000/. per moon, of
which 54:1,001. was NW out of the l•onsolideted Fund of
direst Britain. The sum that was now in course of expen-
diture on the naval establishments in Englund amounted
to 71,10M►1., while not one shilling had been given to Scot-
land."
Sir Archibald then alluded to some local grievances,
relative t o barracks, post offices, and other public
edifices in Edinburgh and thlasgow, rettrging the
eimplaint that Scotsmen on every side contributed
increasingly to the Imperial Exchequer, and yet
were treated with a miserly economy in all that re-
lated to itnperial outgoings.
After a resolution denouncing the ruinous state of
liolyrood Palace, a final resolution was passed by
the'tneeting to this effect :
"That the National Association tor the Vindication of Scottish
nights, whieh devotes itself to the ace plisliment of the objects
embraced in the resolutions adopted by this meeting, is one de-
sarviui tbe cordial support of every true Scotsmen."

SIR C. WOOD AT HALIFAX.
LAST week a Corporation dinner at Halifax was
honoured by the presence of the borough member
and President to the Board of Control. Sir C. Wood
seconlingly took the opportunity to make a long
speech, in which he glanced at the chief topics of
p tblie interest and Ministerial anxiety at the present
moment. lie began by alluding to the personal
features of his subject :
"We took office under peculiar circumstances. We
were called upon to niske great personal sacrifices in order
to effect the junction of two parties who, though animated
by the same principles, had been separated by enema-
stances for years, to the detriment, as I lwlieve, of the
service of this country. Yet it was not without pain that
thew *walker were made. Still I may, I believe, say for
every one of my colleagues, as well as for myself, that we
were actuated by one feeling only : that we would do that
which wo believed to be—tvaly as we thought, mistakenly
as others may think —for the benefit of the country. We
have been rewarded for our sacrifices by a large amount
of support in a House of commons elected under the
auspice's of our opponents; and our conduct has been sp.
proved by that l'arhinneut and the country. (ApplauAe.)"
Going over the at and of the past session, and re-
peating the often-heard explanations, congratulations,
and boasts respecting free trine, taxation, India,
Sir C. Wood at length consented to forego any further
detail of parliamentary debates, remarking "that they
had much to get through that evening." lie went
on to relate what everbotly knew regarding the
Russo-Turkish dispute. After mentioning the sue.
cesaive attempts at negotiation in which the Govern-
ment had participated, be proceeded :
" I grieve to say that these efforts have not been success•
ful, aad that the l'orte has made a declaration of war,
which, however much I may regret, one can hardly feel
surprised at, for the Sultan has shown an amount of for.
bearance which entitles him to our admiration and sym-
pathy. (Wear, hear,' wed arpbsior.) lint there is such a
thing as a state of uncertainty which may even be more
injurious and galling than the evil of war ; therefore I am
shot surprised, though grieved, that the Forte has taken a
step which is alpinist thy 441.1411 Of its Wet friends. But