The Sun.
London, England, 1855-06-28 00:00:00

which he now alluded was the crowning evil and the
consummation, and to bring together those two classes
that the association would seek to bridge, over the in-
ter:ening gulf by a strncture founded in justice and com-
mon sense. (Hear.) Setting class against class was the
old cry which had always been advanced against every
attempt no reform abuses. He might illustrate it in the
present instance by the case of a gentleman who found
his house in a state of complete disorder—his servants
inactive to his interests and his wants, giving him stones
when he asked for bread, serpents when he called fish.
—sending dinners to the north when he ordered them
to be sent to the south, and by their wastefulness,
inattention, and negligence, making his house a scene
of scandal and of ruin—and whose house steward,
when told that all these things must be reformed—
that the master would have his interests consulted,
his wants attended to, and that ho would keep no ser-
vants who did not perform their duties—held up his
hands in pious horror, rushed down to the servants' hall
and exclaimed, "Oh, our master is setting class against
class." (Cheers and laughter.) Then with regard to
the third abjection, " that these administrative reform
fellows did not mind their own busbies ;" it was because
they did mind their own business that they were an as-

sociatinn at all. (Cheetv.) He observed by the parlia-
mentary debates—and there was this difference sug-
gested by those debates between the bulls of Spain and
bulls of Nineveh— (a laugh)—that whereas in the Spa-
nish case the bulls rushed at the scarlet, in the Nineveh
1 cc,e the scarlet rushed at the bull—(aughter)—he ob-
served in the parliamentary debates that by a curious
analogy there had been very much of the reproof valiant
and the check quarrelsome lately, showing conclusively,
in Lis mind, the necessity of administrative reform, by
whomsoever and howsoever it might be applied. (Elea;
hear.) He could add two or three instances at tke
least which he knew to be true, but which, he had no
doubt, would be nevertheless contradicted—but that it
would be a cork ot supererogation to do so ; for if the
people at large were not convinced by what had taken
place that a case was made out for administrative -re-
form, they never could be, and never would be con-
vinced. (Hear, hear.) There was, however, one ruling,
indisputable, and well-known story which so well
pointed the moral to the end which the association had
in view, that at the risk of incurring the wrath of St.
Stephen's he would mention it. Ages ago a mode 1
of keeping accounts in the Exchequer by means of
notched sticks was introduced. In the course of time

;he celebrated Cocker was born and died, then Walk]

inghauie, the author of the " Tutor's Assistant," and
a multitude of accountants, actuaries, and mathema-
ticians, who discovered and published means of ac-
count-keeping by ordinary arithmetic, far more ready,
and which, in their every-day transactions everybody
used—but official routine looked upon these notched
sticks as part of the constitution, and the Exche-
quer acieunt still continued to be kept by these willow
tallies.e(A. laugh.) But towards the latter end of the
reign of George 111. it occurred to some innovating and
revolutionary spirit to suggest the abolition of this bar-
barous custom, and immediately all the red tape in all
the public departments turned redder at the idea of so
bold a conception, and it was not until the year 1826
that the custom of keeping these Exchequer accounts by
willow tallies ceased. In 1834 it was found that a large
accumulation of these tallies had grown up in course of
time, and the question arose what was to be done with
these old worm-eaten useless bits of wood They were
housed at Westminster. Common sense would have sug-
gested that they should have been given to some of the
poor miserable people who abounded in that neighbour-
hood for firewood; but official routine could not endure
that, and, accordingly, an order was given that they
should be burned privately. They were burned in a stove
in the House of Lords, but the stove being overgorged and
overheated with them, set fire to the pannelling of the
room, the pannelling set fire to the House of Lords, the
House of Lords set fire to the House of Commons, and
the two houses were reduced to ashes. Architects and
builders were called in to erect new structures, and, al-
though we were now in course of expending our second
million of money on the work, the national pig was not
yet over the style, and the little old woman, Britannia,
was not home to-night. (Cheers and laughter.) He
thought they might reasonably come to the conclusion
that it was through the obstinate 'adherence to the anti-
quated rubbish, that time had outlived and rendered
useless, and which, if given to the winds would have
been harmless, that the destruction of the Houses of
Parliament was to be attributed, and in the same way, if
this antiquated and useless routine in the administra-
tion of the public departments were retained, the result
would be a conflagration somewhere or other. The broad
ground upon which the cause of the association rested
was public progress, and that in the public, as in all
private establishments, merit, without reference to
whether it was democratic or aristocratic, should be
the sole qualification for office. This object they sought
to promote, not by separating classes, but by unit-
ing together large numbers of all conditions of men, to
the end that they might themselves comprehend, and,
comprehending, impress upon others the common danger
and the common duty, and by keeping a vigilant eye
upon the skirmishers thrown out by the generals of
party to harass and confuse, take care that they did
not, in attacking the smaller defaulter, lose sight of tho
greeter. He wished the directors could devise some
means of permitting intelligent working men to join the
Association on easier terms than subscribers of larger
resources. He was anxious to see a larger number of
that body connected with the movement, believing that
it would conduce to the common object, and the common
weal. (Hear, hear.) When Lord Palmerston was
asked for a day for Mr. Layard's motion, his reply was,
"let him find a day for himself." (Hear, and shame.)
- I' the name of all the gods at once,
Upon what meat cloth this our Caesar feed,
That he hath grown so great.
If our chairman (continued Mr. Dickens) will excuse me,
I would take the liberty of reversing the sentiment, and I
would say to the First Lord of the Treasuiy, " It is
your duty, my lord, to leave no man to find a day for
himself. You, who take upon yourself the responsibi-
lity of government—you have aspired to it—who strug-
gled for it—who intrigued for it—and who, having got
it, hold it tooth and nail ; yours is the duty to take care
that no man is left to find A. day for himself in this
country, with its seethings, its disappointments, its hard
working millions, its heavy taxes, its poverty, and its
sufferins, Woe to the day when a man shall have to
find a day fer himself because the head of the govern-
ment has failed in his duty of finding for him a brighter
and a better one, Find you the day, First Lord ; make
the day ; work foe the day beyond your own little time,
my Lord Palmerston, and history may then, but not
otherwise, find a day for you—a day equally associated
with the contentment of the loyal, patient, willing-hearted
tEnr e sgsl i andsh people,
her i ra 11
lined toh fe children."happiness o(fC eurrs . royal
mis)
o

Mr. T. MTIILLAGIIO after paying a high compliment

to Mr. Dickens's speech, observed that monopoly was
growing old, its limbs were tottering, but its clutch was
as firm as ever. Something, in its voice, however, toad
him that it felt its own weakness, and that it was con-
scious of its approaching end. Those who defended
monopoly declared that they themselves were becoming
administrative reformers. He wished he could believe
that statement, but he was compelled to doubt it. (Cheers.)
The efforts of the administrative reformers were directed
not against the poor clerks, but against the heads of the
departments, and the civil staff of the chiefs, which they
thought required reforming. One minister was called
leader of the Lords, and another leader of the Commons,
but he should be glad to know how in the Parliament of
1855 they had proved themselves fit for that office ? Let
them look at the newspaper history of the last five months
in Parliament. Every one agreed as to the importance of
the educational question, however they might differ as to
the details, and they would feel that when Government
brought forward a measure on the subject it should
not be trifled with, and yet they all knew how it
had been treated. The Testamentary Jurisdiction
Rill had also been abandoned, and no one knew what
they intended to do with the law of partnership. The
bills on that subject had been prepared by the authorities
of the Board of Trade, and afforded in themselves a pal-
pable proof of the unfitness of those authorities for their
office. The head of the Board of Trade was a peer of
the realm, and the vice-president a son of Lord Radnor
—both very honourable men in their way, but hardly to
m
be considered as the proper men to preside over the
and afforded a practical illustration of the absur-
y trade and commerce of a great country. (Hear.) The
bill they had prepared was a miserable mockery of legis-
s
ofidaittloi men in a certain position, merely because
they belt:Dge to theprivilegedlongaa they had
en(litoearres (Hear.)
)Tehnet
Ia
truth was, th.j o
them who trifled ..
:th their legislative duties, they would
have a Government tha: did not govern. Lord Palmer-
ston, who had served 40 yeao in the House of Ce.eommone,
knew well how to' bring a majority, so that without
they succeeded in mocEfying the Legislature, there
would be little chance of Modifying the departments.
He had been asked would he poi mere traders into
offices of high trust—would he give them to the men who
had brought the products of all climes to their shores,
and take theta from those who trafficked in the taxes of
the country, and traded in the privileges of the peclole
(Cheers.) Having read ri Votation from Lord Ctren-
ville's correspondence, to show how the Whigs of that
day treated patronage, Mr. M‘Cuflaglt proceeded to
say —lt was urged that they should not disturb domes-
tic questions until the question of the war bad been
settled. But that was no excuse for men wilt, bad
introduced measures since the commencement of the
war, and now abandoned them, nobody could tell why.
(Hear, hear.) Had the foreign policy of the country
been properly conducted, he for one would have given
the ministers plenary absolution for all their sins of
minor degree, but he would ask, in the words of Lord
Lyndhurst, whether the course of our foreign policy
for the last two years and a half had not been
to follow a phantom ship, which led us into quick-
sands and shadows, and finally vanished from our sight.
We had delayed our proceedings, waiting for the co.
operation of the despotic powers. (Question, question.)
It was the question. When the people remonstrated at
the delay, they were told that the administration was
conducted by persons of experience and skill, and that
everything might be safely left in the hands of the Go.
yet Awout,
New) GriadiStOne 1114 boasted _