The Sun.
London, England, 1864-09-23 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS,

TIMES.—Among the multifarious duties of an
English Statesman, none are generally discharged
with a worse grace than those which he undertakes
when he endeavours to speak on the pursuits and
avocation of his constituents. Unmeaning comp!i-
ments on their superior knowledge, trite and trivial
remarks, lame attempts at dragging in poli:.ics at
the very moment that he disc aims them, areartie the
ordinary staple of this kind of rhetoric. As parties
become more evenly balanced, and the interest of
the mere politics of faction diminishes, the number
of annual meetings from which political subjects
are excluded iecreases. We have, in this country,
pretty well settled all questions relating to govern.
ment, at, least for the present, and matters non-
political aro taking the foremost place in the minds
of the people. The privilege which Englishmen
enjoy almost alone among the nations of Europe--
the assembling in public meeting to discuss pub io
.iffairs—is almost falling into disuse for w•vnt of
subjects on which to cllffir, and the extra-Parlia
meutary speaking of the day turns more and more
upon questions of science and experience, as applied
to those arts by which human life is supported and
rendered tolerable. Observing this tendency, Mr.
Disraeli, no careless spectator of the progned ress
his
of
events or the spirit of the times, has tur
attention to agriculture, and delivered a speech at
the annual meeting of the Royal and Central Busks
Agricultural Association which, in tone and man-
ner,ws aaspprelaciend,enhteaforrtys,imanildar
mleprleei,t Eta -6
tion s. may
His
se rt vo en
ea
beseemed a county member addressing an audience
of fax and the matter seems to have received
from him at least as much consideration as he gene-
rally bestows upon topics of even greater import.
(ince. He has been for thirty years a constant
attendant on the Royal Buckingham Agricultural
Association. He claims for such associations pri-
ority in point of time over the exhibitions
of menu+
facturing skill and industry which have attracted
to themselves so much larger a share of public
tion. He thinks any means by whi h h c t e great body
of the increasing population of this country can be
brought together must be for the public advantage,
He is favourable to associations philosophical, to
associations archaeological, to excursion trains, and
to harvest homes, A touch of Young England seems
to have come over him, and his
tendencies seem to
carry him a good way in the same direction as one
of Mr. Kingsley's heroes. He is good
exuberant in
fellowship and kind feeling to all men and to all
things—he aspires to replace the sulky England of
his boyhood to the merry England of times g
ene
by. It is impossible, he thinks, for people to learn
too much. There is nothing narrow or exclusive in
his philanthropy—knowledge, enjoyment, and
liberty are the patrimony of all, and all have an
equal right to enjoy it. Coming to particulars, Mr.
Disraeli congratulates his audience on what was at
one time rather a ticklish subject—a good har
The wheat is excellent, and if the causes which
give the wheat so excellent a grain have a little in-
terfered with the root crops—if we cannot this year
produce those colossal globes that win prizes at
agricultural meetings, we shall still have a juicy
and succulent root. and one which will be a great
favourite with stock. The main advantage of a good
harvest is that it saves us from exporting twenty
millions of gold to buy grain—that is, it prevents
temporary derangement in the distribution of the
precious metals. We venture to think that this view
hardly does justice to the real merits of the case.
The disadvantage of a bad harvest is that it is an
enormous waste of capital. The harvest of the year
ought to replace the capital employed in producing
it, with a reasonable profit for the time which it has
lain unproductive. A good harvest does replace this
capital, and a bad one does not ; a good harvest im-
plies an increase, and a bad one a decrease iu the
capital of the agriculturist,things far more import ant
to the welfare of the country than the importations
or exportations of the precious metals. Passing from
the harvest, Mr Disraeli comments on the low in-
terest which is yielded by investments in land,
that
but
points out, what is most unquestionably true,
this law interest is in some degree compensated by
the steady rise in the value of land itself—a value
independent in a great measure of the rate of inte-
rest yielded. Having consoled the landowner, Mr
Disraeli had his crumb of comfort to offer to the far-
mer. His occupation has its drawbacks, but his is
no fancy business. There is always a demand for
his wares ; beef and mutton, bread and ce,
go out of fashion. If man was born to labour, he
was also born to eat, and there is as little chance of
his giving up one practice as the other. Mr Dis-
raeli passes to what he conceives to a peculiar weak-
ness of the Buckinghamshire farmer. The wool he
grows is too short. He proposes himself to cross his
flock with the Cotswold sheep, and if it is urged
that by doing so be will risk a loss from the pro-
bable fall iu the price of wool, this omniscient mem-
ber has considered that point also. and sees no rea-
son to think that wool will fall at all. In the first
place, be thinks wool has risen from other causes
than the stoppage of the cotton crop of America, and
secondly, he has no confidence in the restoration of
peace. All that is said on that subject he views as so
much electioneering talk, and inclines to think that
the war has yet a long time to run ; therefore he con.
eludes that long wool will pay, and goes in for it
accordingly. We do not think Cincinnati's himself or
Cato the Elder could have more happily blended
things political with things agricultural. The last
topic of this speech is incomparably the most impor-
tant. Emboldened probably by his long services and
personal popularity, Mr Disraeli ventures to call
the attention of the Buckinghamshire landlords to