Northern Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1859-08-18 00:00:00

should attempt to convert the inventions and discoveries
of our day to such purposes ;_ if he should attempt to
convert the steam-boat, and telegraph, and railroad,
merely for purposes of warlike ambition, why he
would say then that it would have the prayers and
aspirations of 19-20ths of all the honest and industrious
men of Europe, in favour of his dethronement and
downfall ; and, where such a majority proclaimed its
views, sooner or later, and not very late, they wsnld
make this power felt, and such an individual mis-
. - 4h. character of the age in which he lived, would
he -

ins own person ,he precept " that he who
word shall perish by the sword." (Applause.)
ne was going to have the pleasure of saying a
few words to them to-morrow, he would not trespass on
their time longer ; but he found that he was expected

ow, as

to say something on an incident that occurred
some little time ago. It seemed to be thought that,
even at this distant time, it was becoming in him
to say a few words on the subject. He should have
thought it presumptuous to have said anything upon it

to any one else ; but if it was the wish.of
on the platform he must obey it

their chiefs

cries of "go on.") He need not
his arrival in England, where he found himself then
their representative, he received a communication from
Lord Palmerston, and also another from Lord John
Russell, and in Lord Palmerston's letter he was kind
enough to urge many reasons, kindly and frankly ex-
pressed, why he should accept a seat in the Cabinet as
President of the Board of Trade. 'Well, he would not
affect any indifference on the question, but he would at
once say that, if he was fit for any office in the Cabinet,
he was peculiarly fitted for the Board of Trade.
(Hear.) Indeed, if other circumstances had not
interfered, his presence in the Cabinet would have
been putting a square peg into a square hole. (Loud
laughter.) But his reasons, if they would have them,
for declining to accept the honour which was offered to
him—an honour, he begged to assure them, which
he did not regard with indifference, which was a
matter peculiar to him, if he had been an ambitious
character ; for probably, taking it for all in all, it
would have been the first instance in which a man.
sprung from amongst them, had had offered to him a seat
in the Cabinet. It was, therefore, not a matter
of indifference to him. But in that case he felt that it
was a matter calling for his conscientious action. Well, he
went to London • and before calling on any one, or see-
ing any one else, he thought it the best to call
otherw h a t
upon Lord Palmerston, and express to him his views
on the matter, and he might tell them, as frankly as he
easeislatihlisantanodf
told Lord Palmerston; what those views were. He
stated his case to him. He said, "I have been, for
inH
be
r these
of words,yyears,
rs, whlem
veryt his
enten
ut
course,neotarrl calculated
ee
dendetito produce
years,priest s
feotdhr to
oapsheynaisucut
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ti
we
I believe to be wrong foreign policy, for I think it
d
views .had been. He stated to him that he might be
mistaken, for that when a man pursued a certain
likely took an exaggerated view ; but he put it to
Lord Palmerston, and he now put it to them, whether,
having recovered their opinion, it was becoming in him
to step from the deck of an American steamer, and hav-
ing now been offered a post of honour, whether it was
consistent for him to imagine, or at once to discover
that he had altered those opinions—whether it was
right or not to take such a course, he candidly confessed
that it was inconsistent with his own self-respect.
(Cheers.) Now, lie did not wish to take more merit
on this question than he deserved, neither did he
wish to say anything more about his own abnegation
in the matter. He told the gentlemen at Liverpool
when he met them there that it was a question
concerning himself alone, and which he only could
decide, and that he now told them. He told
them that it was his own conviction, and that he
was bound to be faithful to those convictions, and
especially was he bound to be so, when his lordship's