The Press.
London, England, 1857-11-07 00:00:00

MR. DISRAELI IN BUCKINGHAMSHIRE.
fits Amersham and Chesham Agricultural Associa-
tion held their annual d►nner in the Town-hall of the
former place on Tuesday last. About one hundred
and forty persona engaged in agricultural pursuits,
either as landowners or occupiers, dined on the oc-
casion, including Viscount Curzon, M.P. for South
Leicestershire, who occupied the chair, the Right
Hon. B. Disraeli, M.P., the Hon. and Rev. Wrio-
thesley Russell, Mr. Du Pre, M.P., Mr. C.C. Caven-
dish, M.P., Mr. Bernard, M.P., Mr. Acton Tindal,
the Rev. J. T. Drake, retor of Amersham, Mr. \V.
Lowndes, and a great many more of the neighbouring
clergy. In the early part of the day a ploughing
match had been held, and various prizes distributed
for that and other forming excellences. The day
being fine, the town had a holiday appearance, and
when Mr. Disraeli, who had been invited, arrived in
the afternoon additional interest was given to the
occasion. After dinner,

Mr. DISRAELI was called on to propose the toast of
the evening, and the right hon. gentleman in doing

so said :

I have been unexpectedly called on to propose a toast
which I may fairly style as not the least important that
will be brought to your notice, but it is one which so fully
commends itself to your best consideration that I cannot
snake the fact of my being unprepared an excuse for re-
fusing the duty. 1 now ask you to drink prosperity to this
association. I believe the time is now past—although it
once existed—when it was necessary to vindicate associa-
tions of this kind, or to offer any reasons as an excuse for
establishing them. In this age of progress arid in this age
of association it was at least very wisely comprehended
that the agricultural world should not be torpid, and that
an interest which consists of many classes should take
means that all who compose it may become well acquainted
with each other, and, whenever opportunity arises, assist
each other. Having watched the results of societies like
this for the last twenty years, I think it is no longer a
matter of controversy that the establishment of them was
a wise and prescient undertaking.
Mr. Disraeli then, alluding to the distribution of
prizes on these occasions, remarked :
Nothing can be more miserable than the criticisms
which rewards of this kind have received in the public
newspapers when they ridicule the idea of giving perhaps
50s. for fifty years' faithful servitude. I need not tell you—
and I am ashamed that there should be any of our fellow-
subjects whom it is necessary to tell—that in giving
rewards for excellent moral character we do not pretend
to measure the excellence of the individual by the mere
money value of the prize, but to single him out from the
crowd and show that his services are appreciated by the
community in which he lives. ( Cheers.) If we are always
to estimate public services by the vulgar test of money,
we shall not be able to carry on the public service of the
country. We reward with prizes of blue and red riband
acts of the greatest patriotism and heroism. It is the
associations connected with such public acts which make
the value of the prizes offered to the recipients. A little
while ago we heard of a series of heroic actions on the
part of an individual never, perhaps, equalled in the
histcry of this country, and while his praises are yet on
every lip, a good-service pension of lOW. a year was
bestowed on General Havelock. (Cheers.) No one sup-
posed that this was the measure of the nation's gratitude ;
but this pension, which is much coveted in the army
as a reward of signal services, happened to be available,
and I have no doubt it was received in the spirit in which
it was offered, and has been interpreted throughout the
country in the sante manner. ( Cheers.) Just so, in
the other case, every man feels he is raised in the
public estimation by this public recognition of his ex-
sellent character.
1 believe I can say I dined at the first agricultural dinner
in this county, and to-day lam your guest at Amershain,
so that on this subject I have had some experience. I
have seen how these societies have worked, under great
disadvantages, under every kind of misconception, and
often under defective management, and in my opinion
they have raised the character of all classes of the com-
munity. Ido not limit this to lanse farmers or landowners.
I think every class in the community is more sensible of
its duty, and more assiduous in fulfilling it now than when
these societies were first established. There is the parent
society, which recently held its anniversary at Newport
Pagnell, there is the South Bucks, and there is a younger
society in the middle of the county, the Chiltern Hills
Society, whose meeting T had not the honour of attending,
but, judging from the list of stock exhibited, I should say
that no provincial society in England could compete with
the show of that society. Except the Royal Agricultural
Society of England, there is no society which, so far as my
observation extends, could for a moment compare with it.
And there is your own society, which, though young,
promises to be extremely effective. At the commencement
we were all jealous when new societies sprang up, but it
appears to me that competition has only stimulated to
exertion, whicl. has been of the utmost advantage to the
county of Buckingham.
One thing no one can deny, that a great improvement
has taken place in the agriculture of this county within
the last twenty years, and it is during these years that
these societies and the spirit which animates them have
been most effective. Ido not pretend that it is in conse-
quence of the action of these societiesthat all this improve-
ment has taken place. That improvement is the result of
a spirit of progress which, among other things, has pro-
duced these societies. There was a time when the ogrI"