The Press.
London, England, 1857-11-28 00:00:00

THE PRESS, NOVEMBER 28, 1857.

dends—when to all appearances they are doing a large and
profitable business, then is the very time when they are
bringing upon the country distress and ruin.
Turning then to India, Mr. Miller paid a noble
te tribute to the devotedness and daring of the British
troops in India, and recorded his opinion in favour of
some substantial mark of " our affection and grati-
tude " to the commanders to whom we owe so much.
With reference to the future government o: India,
Mr. Miller said :
Gentlemen, with reference to the future government of
India—and that, after all, is the important and practical
question—we must not, I apprehend, shut our eyes to our
own faults and to the horrors which may have been com-
mitted in that fine empire. I blame not the East India
Company ; 1 blame not the Government nor the House of
Commons specially ; for I believe they are all equally liable ,
to the imputation of having neglected the interests of India.
But I Warne the system. I trust that it will be rooted
out; that Government will take up the affairs of India;
and that there will be in the House of Commons a respon-
sible Minister to whom they will be deputed; not an offi-
cial of the Board of Control, or a man in a subordinate
capacity. The time is come when a great change must
take place; and although I should be sorry to commit
myself to any details in reference to the government of
India. I may say that I think the alteration should embrace
a Minister responsible for the interests of India, and with
a place in the House of Commons. There is no country
in the world in which cultivation by irrigation and the
arts of agriculture could be carried on with greater success ;
there is no country in which the productions could be
more important than those of which India is capable. At
the present moment we are suffering from a deficiency of
that most important article of commerce, cotton ; and
India could produce it with European settlers, conveyances
through railways, and means of irrigation. 1 trust the
time is fast approaching when we shall find settled in
India communities encouraging trade, commerce, and
agriculture, and disseminating the Christian religion.
This will give civilisation to India; she will then be able
to protect herself and make her a blessing and a happiness
to this country. (Cheers.)

MR. B. HOPE, M.P., ON THE CONDITION OF
THE RURAL CLASSES.
THE anniversary meeting of the Maidstone Agricul-
tural Association was held on Thursday last. There
was a ploughing match in the morning on the farm
of Mr. Whitehead, of Barnjet. At the conclusion
Mr. Whatman, M.P., addressed a number of farm
servants, including ploughmen, labourers, shepherds,
hop-dryers, etc., and presented them with the prizes
or money-gifts allotted by the committee. A sub-
stantial luncheon was subsequently provided for the
successful competitors.
In the evening the members of the association
dined together at the Star Hotel, Maidstone ; Mr.
Beresford Hope, M.P., in the chair. The hon.
gentleman, iu proposing the toast of the evening,—
" Success to the Maidstone Agricultural Association"
—took occasion to make some observations on the
condition of the labouring poor in the agricultural
districts, and on the relations which exist between
the owners and the tillers of the soil. Mr. Hope
then pointed out the urgent necessity of proper
cottage accommodation for the poor:—
The amount of responsibility that may have rested on
the heads of the landlords of England for neglect of this
is, I sincerely believe and solemnly declare, a thing to
appal us all. Who can tell the wickedness, the unknown
incest, till the book of reckoning is opened, that has re-
sulted from insufficient cottage accommodation, and of
which landlords may be considered in a second degree
guilty—a consideration which is enough to make the blood
chill in the veins of every one of us. With a view of ob-
viating this giant evil, the Labourers' Friend Society has
been instituted, and I had much pleasure in examining
the models of the cottages which this society proposes to
build. I think, however, there ought to be another room.
What is wanted is three bedrooms, with other accommo-
dation sufficient for the necessary household work. Only
one room is set apart for the latter, and as there is no out-
side wash-house, I think it is likely that the third bed-
room will be used as a sitting-room, and the family will as
heretofore " pig together " upstairs. I trust that no friend
of that society will think that I am antagonistic to it or an
illuatured critic, but it is by freely communicating our
views to each other that we may hope to arrive at good ;
and I may say that, perhaps, by introducing iron where
wood is now used, this little difficulty may be amended
without in any material degree enhancing the cost and the
rent of the cottage. Such associations as that must and
will spread throughout the country, for there is a general
feeling that, long as we may have gone ou in au apathetic
and wrung course, from being accustomed to any system—
from a sort of feeling, not blameable in itself, that what
we have been accustomed to is right—when our eyes are
opened to the right course, we will not be niggard or lazy
or stupid in carrying it out.
Mr. Hope, in conclusion, glanced briefly at political
prospects
I cannot and need not make any remarks as to what
will be the behaviour of those who, on the 3rd of December
will assemble at Westminster to deliberate on the best
measures to avert the storm which has for the last few
weeks darkened the horizon. I fully trust and believe
that whatever measures may be taken will be for the best,
and that men of all shades of opinion will look upon this
grave question, not with the eyes of party, but with that
calm, deliberate, and friendly sympathy and confidence
which has always carried us through in great emer-
gencies.

THE Rrotrr HON. GEORGE AUGUSTUS FREDERICK
PERCY SYDNEY Setrrin, seventh Viscount Strangford
in the Irish peerage, died at Bradgate park, the seat
of the Earl of Stamford, near Leicester, on the 23rd
inst., in his fortieth year. The noble lord was son
of the sixth viscount, the translator of " Camoens,"
and many years our ambassador at the Courts of Con-
stantinople, Lisbon, Stockholm, and St. Petersburg.
He was born at Stockholm during his father's em
bassy there, April 16, 1818, and educated at Eton
and at St. John's College, Cambridge, where he
graduated M.A. in 1840. Early in the following year
he was elected M.P. for Canterbury, on a vacancy
occasioned by the acceptance of the Chiltern
Hundreds by Lord A. Conyngham, now Lord Londes-
boroug h, and continued to represent that constituency
down to the dissolution of 1852. During the last few
months of Sir Robert Peel's Administration iu 1846 he
held the post of Under-Secretary of State for Foreign
Affairs. He succeeded to the title and estates as
seventh viscount on his father's death in May, 1855,
but since his accession to the peerage he had taken
no part in public affairs. Lord Strangford was, in
his earlier years, esteemed a man of high promise,
who might reasonably look forward to a distinguished
career. His published work, entitled " Historic
Fancies," will have been read by many of our readers.
He has died at the early age of thirty-nine. About
a month ago his lordship was married to Margaret,
daughter of J. K. Lennox, Esq., now his widow. The
Irish and English peerages have devolved on his
lordship's only surviving brother, the Hon. Percy
Ellen Frederick William Sydney Smythe, born in
1825, who was educated at Merton College, Oxford,
and has held, we believe, one or two diplomatic
appointments.