The Express.
London, England, 1851-09-25 00:00:00

LONDON, THURSDAY EVENING, a

ROYAL RER'TS AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY.

Yesterday, the anniversary of this society was
celebrated at Hertford. The ordinary competition for prizes
took place in a field outside the town, and shortly afterwards
a dinner was given at the Town-hall, at which Sir E. L. B.
Lcrrox presided- In proposing health and prosperity to
the Hertfordshire Agricultural Association, _ _

The CHAIRMAN said it was now six years since lie had
the honour to occupy that chair, and to propose to them that
toast which it was now his pleasing duty to submit to their
approbation. Many he now saw had not been present upon
that occasion, and many who were there that day he missed
from that aasembly. Looking acmes the hall, he fur his
part missed one who had before engaged their favour by his
spirited specimens of stock, and who had graced their meet-
lag by the original and manly bearing of their true En-
glish blood. But he was then vice-chairman and hie absence
was well supplied by tho gentleman on his right, and he
trusted that that absence would be compensated for by his
return ; for as they always welcomed back the birds who
left them in autumn to return in spring, so he trusted they
should find him returning to his own agricultural pursuits
and hail his return as a token that lighter days are ono,
11,11111 dawning on the farmer. Connected with this subject
was the recollection of one whose exertions had always been
directed to the improvement of his neighbourhood—one
who could return to them no more, but who had left
behind him the memory of his virtues and the example of
his useful and beneficent life (Cheers.) It seemed to
hies as natural that their first duty, meeting after
tbe Amen of one who had done so much to promises
the oriselture of the county. gp€l.. what was beat
sousest kbutio

sensuous between landlord end tenant,
s▪
hould be to pay • tribute of respect to the remains of the
late Lord Deere. (Cheers.) He knew of nothing that
so encouraged the young in their career of honour-
able exertion and the cultivation of kindly sympa-
thies, and nothing that so consoled the old wheu they looked
huh on the sacrifices for others which they had made) u
Ihsit they should on all suitable occasions find that they had
• Maim upon the affectionate memory of good men.
(Cheers.) He was sensible of the manner in which they
had received that reference to departed worth, and be
trusted that the feeling elicited might be so represented by
the gentlemen of the press, for it was not to be measured
by applause, that it would convey to the family of
him whom they deplored—convey to his respected and
popular representative, and to his noble and distinguished
widow—that consolation which was ever duo to those who
had sustained • mighty loss. Turning now from these
melancholy subjects to more congenial ones, let him speak
of what occurred to him when he inspected that rival ex-
hibition at the Crystal Palace, for most of them had had
occasion to be delighted when they saw all the products
of lsbour and the doctrines of improvement brought into
one place, the result of emulation, excited by competition
and skill, rewarded by honourable prizes, he asked him-
self if there was anything already in our national customs
which, though on • smaller scale, had objects simi-
lar to that great experiment. If, for instance,
oar manufacturers, merchants, and traders had been in
the habit of making some annual exhibition of their
products and recompensing by prizes their must successful
rivals and competitors. But not among the manufacturers
were instances like these to be found. Suddenly, however,
he bethought him of the farmers and agriculturists whom
it had been the fashion to say were working iu ignorance,
and were averse t 3 competition and enterprise; and
straightway he remembered that in every shire and county
the agriculturist did assemble, produce specimens of their
skill, and reward from their own resources those who, by the
improvement of their land and of their stock, added new
inducements to industry and new wealth to nations. Thus
it was that they, the owners and occupiers of the soil,
who had set that example not before followed by the
fabrication of silk and cotton, had given an annual
exhihnien of their skill, and had stimulated competition,
from which they had never shrunk, provided it had been
established on equal terms. It was nearly a century since
agricultural societies had been established in these kingdoms,
and during that period energy and enterprise had not bees
wanting to the Bri,ish farmer; and this was proved by two
facts. In the first place it was stated by Mr. Porter in his
work on the progress of nations, that in the year MI.
10,000 acres of land supported 3.800 inhabitants, and OM
now owing to their improvements in agriculture the mum
number of acres supported 6,000. Secondly, it was
stated by that celebrated political economist, Mr.
M'Culloch, that during the last eighty years •
sums of more than sixty-four million a year had
been added to the agricultural produce of Great
Britain. With confidence then he appealed to :the
representatives of all parties, and asked them whether
those two facts were not sufficient to show that the British
farmer had done his part towards maintaining the national
character fur spirit, and enterprise, and progress, and whe-
ther the welfare of the whole community were not insepa-
rably connected, who were able to add that vast amount
annually to the wealth of the nation ? (Cheers.) After
. . -

allusion's of a general character to the more esiecial ob-
jects of the day, and of the business of the farmer, in re-
ference, for instance to the use of the drill and dibble, Use
American reaping machine, the growth of fiat and chicory
and the employment of machinery, Sir Edward proceeded
to say, parliament having done so much in the way of par
cept and advice, in sending out lecturers and advising the
tenant farmers, ought now to taketstates on different
invest in them such capital as a farmer might be sum=
to invest, place upon each both • good practical fanner 1
and first-rate scientific chemist, have the accounts methodi-
cally and regularly kept, and open to every person : they
would then get an accurate idea of the precise cost of every
single experiment, and if it should be proved that large
profits might be made at present prices, then they should
have, for the first time, something like an authoritative ex-
perience by which to guide their researches and stimulate
their exertions. It was said that the farmer traded without
sufficient capital ; but why fix this upon agriculturists
alone ? What was England but one vast system of loans
and credit? Was it not upon that system that she
bad extended her empire from an island scarcely
discernible in the map, to a nation on which
the sun never sets ? Was it not by the system of
loans and credit that she had been enabled to meet single-
handed the armies of Napoleon, opposed by the sole ener-
gies of a Wellington and a Nelson ? " Nothing venture,
aotkiag hats," was the maxim of the Anglo-Saxon,
whether be tusk a ism or founded an empire. It was not
the bead et mils bat the race of men, for which he cared.
Si was plead MI leek amend him and to see the faces of
*me who led bemat severe and prelonged hardship with
resolute energy, sad who, whatever they might have
thought of recent legislation (into which it was not per-
mitted him to enter), had maintained unshaken their loyalty
to the institutions of their country, and who, whatever they
might think of the sharp competition with foreigners to
which they had been exposed, had still done their best
like Englishmen. If complaining, still not disheartened
they had- shown the sure energy to struggle and the same
seal to improve. Justice had not been done them,
but when did justice ever fail to men who had the
courage to contest for it, and the wisdom to unite (Cheers.)
He conjured them by all they held dear, by the memory of
those who had preceded them, to hold fast by the common
ties which bound together all the children of the soil. He
had done so in brighter days. Now in darker and more
adverse days he called upon them to act upon the same
principle, and as far as possible to resemble the old English
oak of which they were the emblems, which not only
adorned the soil from which it sprung, but built up the
ships of the merchants, and carried over the seas of the
universe the splendour of our commerce and the renown of
our flag. Believing that they would not disdain the honest
counsel which he had given them, he now, with deep sym-
pathy for their present sufferings, and, believe him, with
sincere hope for their future prosperity, gave them "
perity to the Hertfordshire Agricultural Society."
Other toasts followed, and the proceedings terminated.

FATAL ACCIDENT TO ME. FIELD, OF TIM BANK
or ENOLAND.—Tbis morning, at eight o'clock, Mr. Francis
Field, of the Bank of England. expired in the accident
ward of St. Thomas's hospital, from the effects of the injuries
he had received, on Friday last, by being ran over
by a heavily-laden waggon, in Princes-street, Cornhill.
Mr. ld'Murdo, the eminent surgeon, has been unremitting
in 11,1 attention to the unfortunate gentleman, who was
deeply respected and highly connected. Mr. W. Payne,
the coroner, will hold an inquest on the body to-morrow
)Friday.)
FATAL ACCIDENT WHILE BATRING.—On Mon-
day seven young men went on the Mansion-house Quay
to -bathe, and the whole reached the jetty of the bridge,
where they remained a short time. They then leaped into
the water again and had only been a minute or two in the
water when one of them named John Fox, aged 72, be-
longing to the Butcher Bank, was caught by the eddy
caused by the tide, cried out be was droning, and implored
help. The others, instead of rendering him assistance,
swam to the shore for safety and left him in his perilous
actuation, and after struggling much for some time he was
drowned in the presence of a large number of persons. Six
boats were soon in attendanee with drags, but his body has
not been found.—Neincrufft Guardian.

THE TRIAL OF THE LOCOMOTIVES on the Mont
&emu:tering has terminated. The prize of 20,000 ducats
(237,000 fr.) has been awarded to the Bavaria, a locomotive,
constructed by M. Maffei, of Munich. In informing M.
MAMA of the granting of the prize, the Austrian govern-
ment, in accordance with the conditions laid down, gave him
an order for twenty other locomotives of the same kind.

THE TOTAL CONFLETION OF TUE WORYS OF
SRI Nueva AND Liaollll.AlLwAo waleelebrated,a few days
ago, by a sphoolli harlot glees by the eontreeten, Wawa
%emptied Lorwirasba. About ate hundred sail My poems
were purest, eesietieg of the notabilities of the provialrai
the directors of the repay, Nem& Batas, Oreig, Parry,
Carey, Harrison, and imorwows inineatial shareholders.
This lino will twice beam s Moose moo teas imam and
Psrifis Osisges, es a fa*. of asse Is free bean TM be
I eagle&

RAILWAYS.

THIS DAY.