The Sun.
London, England, 1855-02-06 00:00:00

THE EARL OF ELGIN AT DUNFERMLINE.

The Earl of Elgin, late Governor-General of Canada,
was entertained at a public dinner in the Music Hall,
Dunfermline, on Friday last, by between 300 and 400
gentlemen. The company chiefly consisted of the landed
proprietors and tenants of the western districts of Fife,
and the burgesses of Dunfermline. Provost ROBERTSON,
who presided, proposed the toast of the evening.
The Earl of ELGIN, in reply, said—Mr. Provost and
Gentlemen,—l am at a loss to find words to express my
sense of the cordiality of this welcome. I have met with
much kindness in other places--I have met with kind
receptions even beyond the precincts of the British em-
pire—and I should be ungrateful, indeed, if I were to
forget the reception which I met with at the hinds of
our excellent cousin, Jonathan. (Laughter.) But, gen-
tlemen, I must say that I feel at this moment that, after
all, " there is no place like home." (Applause.) I appre-
ciate this welcome all the more highly that it is not a
political manifestation—that it is not tendered by men
who have any pasty objects to serve in bringing me for-
ward, but that it is the genuine expression of the kind
feelings of regard for me of my neighbours in this dis-
trict. (Cheers.) I don't think that a more conclusive
proof of the unpartisan character of this meeting could
possibly have been given than has been afforded in the
1 toast which was drunk immediately before that whioh
you are now doing such honour to, for we have been
drinking the health of her Majesty's Ministers, without
having the slightest conception who these ministers are.
(Laughter and cheers.) Gentlemen, I believe that the
manner in which that toast was received is a true indi-
cation of what the sentiments of the people of this coun-
try are at the present moment. I believe that the people
of this country are ready to give a fair and candid support
to any administration that our gracious Sovereign may
select, if they show themselves competent to deal with our
great national difficulties, and resolved to set aside every
party and personal consideration that could stand in the
way of their dealing properly with these difficulties ; and,
gentlemen, I believe that the feeling of this country, too,
is, that they will, irrespective of partyconsiderations, turn
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gallant friend, in returning thanks for the navy, said he
believed our men were dying to "get at them." I be-
lieve the same thing may be said of the army ; and we
must have an administration that will give them the
means of "getting at them." (Cheers.) lam confident
that I speak the feelings of the great majority of the
people of this country, when I say that such an admi-
nistration—l do not care from what party it may be
formed—when it is formed, will have the support and
oßeing
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(Applause.) We are not
g
e s p country.otiei
Powers of the world suppose
that energy, and constancy, and steadiness of govern-
meat are a monopoly in their hands, and that, under our
constitutional system, we cannot carry oat war with
this
ehids
effect. (Hear, hear.) But to go back to my own case
—for this has been a digressiea—slight as my former
services have been, I nay venture to hope that my future
services may justify your present kindness; and, gentle-
men, I think I may find some ground for that hope in
the reflection that, after all, the duties in which I have
been engaged may not, perhaps,. prove to have been al-
together an unsuitable preparative, or an unfitting pre-
lude to the duties which I may be called upon to render
here. (Applause.) It is very true, gentlemen, that I
have been engaged in what is technically termed the fo-
reign service pf the Crown, a service which, to the eyes
of many, seems to imply a career in which one is apt to
engender habits of thought and tastes, and political as-
sociations, which are alien to the tastes, habits,
and
as-
sociations of the people of this country. Bat
you must
allow me to remind you that the foreign service in which
I have been engaged is a foreign service only in a
restricted, and limited, and quahied sense of the term.
It is a foreign service if you look to the map, but it
is a domestic service if you look to what is of more
importance —if you look to the People. It is a
foreign service if you consider only the remoteness
of those parts of the world in which it has been my
fortune to be employed ; but it is a domestic ser-
vice if you consider that during the whole of the
period it was with the interests of Englishmen, and
Scotchmen, and Irishmen, and their descendants I had
to deal. (Applause.) And, gentlemen, allow me to say,
that whatever is distinctive in our national character is,
if possible, exhibited even in stronger and bolder relief
in those remote portions of the empire than it even is at
home. In the first place, they are not the least enter-
prising, not the least energetic, not the least pushing of
our fellow-countrymen, who set off to distant lands to
improve their fortunes ; and, in the next place, they
find greater room there for self-development and self-
expansion than they find at home. The noble speaker
proceeded to speak of his experience in Jamaica and
Canada, and illustrated from the facts of his administra-
tion in those colonies the advantage of giving free play
to the self-governing tendencies and abilities of English-
men. Lord Elgin then continued :—I would not wish
to inflict on you a dissertation on colonial politics here—
but, as I have been so long absent from home, and as
you have given me so kind a welcome on my return, I
think I am in duty bound to show you how I have been
engaged daring my abgenee-AA what 04991 I Faye been