The Sun.
London, England, 1852-10-14 00:00:00

HOP INTELLIGENCE:

CANTERIAIRY.—The late frequent showers have re-
tarded picking, and somewhat damaged the hops still
on the poles, so far as colour is concerned, but we are
glad to find that the weight is preserved. As picking
has progressed, the crops realized have been found to
exceed anticipations ; and good prices generally hav-
ing been obtained, the growers have reason for great
thankfulness this season. They have been enabled, too,
to pay the pickers better than was at first promised,
which has imparted much satisfaction and happiness
among the poor folks. The duty is still fixed at
250,0001. and upwards. Some planters will scarcely
have finished picking by the end of this week.
MAIDsToNE.----The picking, one of the longest on
record, is now nearly over. It has been much
hindered by the rains and floods. Some hops have
been lost in consequence, as in wet weather there is
ever a great waste. Many of the latter hops are in-
ferior. The colegates have, as usual, held their
colour and their smell. Some of the grape hops have
also kept well ; but, generally, the late hops are black
at the strig, and of bad quality. The duty is still
called 260,0001.
MARDEN.—We have received considerable injury
from the floods and the winds, but we shall still grow
an average of 12 cwt. an acre.

MALLING.—We are picking as fast as the weather
will permit us. Average acreage estimated at 10 cwt.
BOUGHTON AIONCHELSEA.—SO far as we concerned,
there is nothing against u 3 but the weather, which
prevents our getting on with the picking so fast as
we could desire. In many gardens the crop is
very heavy, while in others they come down light.
Duty 260,0001.
SUTTON VALENCE.--We are injured by the wet
weather, but the hops are very good. Average from
11 to 12 cwt.

EAST FARLEIGH.—NearIy finished the picking ;
hops good in quality as well as quantity ; average
acreage 12 cwt. Duty 250,0001,
TENTEBDEN.—The picking around and about is
now nearly brought to a close; in many places they
have already finished; what few are left are going
off very fast, owing principally to the late very heavy
rains with which we have been visited; upon the
whole, however, the crop this year has been excellent
both as to quantity and quality.
GOUDHUEST.—A few planters have made a finish.
Tney have found the produce fully Equal to their
expectations. More will wind up during this week,
but ,there are several plantations in which the poles
will not be pulled until the latter end of next week.
The rain last week inundated the bottoms, driving the
soil from many gardens. _ _

Ss vnivoimseLPicking is very nearly closed in this
neighbourhood. The crop has been excellent, but the
late rains lavo done some injury.

HINCKFORD AGRICULTURAL CLUB.
POLICY OF THE GOVERNMENT.
CASTLE HEDINGRASI, OCT. 10.— Yesterday the
annual meeting and dinner of the members of this
Conservative club took place at the hotel in this
village. The leading members mustered in consider-
able strength, and great anxiety was evinced with
respect to the forthcoming Ministerial policy.
At the dinner Mr. W. Saville Onley presided, and
was supported by the Right Hon. IV. Beresford, M.P.,
Mr. C. Du Cane, M.P., Mr. Miller, M.P., Captain
Bullock, Mr. Vicars (brother-in-law to Lady Ray-
leigh), the Rev. John Cox, &c.
The customary toasts of patriotism and loyalty
having been duly honoured.
Mr. Vecans proposed "The Health of her Ma-
jesty's Ministers."
The toast was drunk with all the honours.
The Right Hon. W. BERESFORD rose to respond,
and was greeted with enthusiastic applause. He
spoke nearly as follows :—Mr. Chairman and Gentle-
men, The toast of " Her Majesty's Ministers"
sounds somewhat extraordinary to the ears of C astle Ele-
dingham meeting. I have attended this meeting now
for several years, but this is the first time I ever heard
it proposed.—(A laugh.) If it has been delayed for
a long period, however, I must say that the enthu-
siasm with which it has been drunk on the present
occasion ought sufficiently to satisfy us of the kindly
feeling which the members of the Hinckford Agri-
cultural and Conservative Club have towards a Go-
vernment which, though lately installed in office, has
long been a friend to the agricultural interest, and
allied in its feelings and sympathies to the people of
Essex.—(Cheers.) I wish that the task of returning
thanks for this toast had fallen into the hands of one
more capable of responding to it from his position in
the Ministry, or who might feel that he was less
maligned than I have been, and that he might return
thanks for the Government without drawing upon
his head, from some hostile journal, words o f obloquy,
because thanks were returned by my lips. The
Government, you may depend upon it, are desirous,
in every situation, and in the position which eachin-
dividual occupies, to do their duty by the country,
which has called them by its " general voice," I say,
to displace a Government which was universally un-
popular, because inefficient, and to take the reins of that
Government into their own hands, although those hands
were fresh and unused to such a task.—(Cheers.) That
Government, you may depend upon it, will try to do
their best, and I think if you look at the short period
during which they have held the reins of office, you
will find that they have not flinched during that short
period from doing their best to improve, at the same
ti▪
me that they have maintained, the ancient institu-
ti▪
ons of the country.--(Cheers). That Government
has not drawn back from effectual, efficient, and true
reforms where they were necessary. They will continue
to exercise that just discretion in pursuing reforms
where they
are necessary, but they will stand by the
constitution,and will maintain the institutions of the
country, be they civil, military, or Protestant, with
a fervour and a determination which I trust the people
of England will respond to by their approbation and
support.—(Hear, hear.) It has been said, and I say
untruly said, that her Majesty's Government came
into office upon the principles of protection, and that,
having comein upon those principles they have adopted
the tenets of their adversaries, and have seized hold of
and are ready to carry out all the dogmas of free trade.
I deny that position ix lobo. I know no reason that
any man has to say that the Government are Free-
traders
come
of
Protection.
in in the
a
traders ; andl deny the other position also, that they
degree s
trauguepthing
thefer princi-
plesu s
t easy, but it is not the less true.—(Bear, hear.) There
were causes which operated and produced it ; but
for one whole year preceding our assumption of office,
we did not as a party, not did any individual—
acknowledged as a leader of that party—bring for-
ward one single motion in which Protectionist mea-
sures were in the. slightest degree involved. How,
then, can it be said that we came._inujupeaorn, princi-
pleshtheeer.)lnthe
of
year P r oltBesc nte?r
itE
verydeny
short period, we were
called itroto. B i
that Lord John Russell was
beaten in his own House of Commons upon a ques-
tion
ofontthoatfo?rm Government, and what was the
cause Whys
hy,
of Parliamentary Reform—beaten by his own
friends, and resigned the reins of office. Well, we
plated—were accused that we
—when called on to formaa
Government,
wecouldaemwe i
noteruecalledp on
uhea upon the
hceonttoere principles of
r
a Government because Lord
John Russell was unable to manage his own party, or
to stand in his own Parliament. We failed in that
object, and Lord John Russell returned and resumed
the reins of power, and they remained a feeble,
o Protection.
ectin which t
n w
no,
wretched, tottering Adednistration,:until he got rid,
by I think unfair and underhand means, and in an
ignoble manner, of the mainstay and great sustain-
ing power of his Government. He cast over that
most talented man Lord Palmerston--he cast over
the man who still shed a lustre over his feeble Admi-
nistration, and he found that he had cast off his own
right hand when he dared to go into the battle with-
out his armour.—(Cheers.) He found, when he
brought forward his Militia Bill, that the only man
who could have directed it and carriedit for him was
against him, and Lord J. Russell was turned out
again upon the Militia till. Will any man of com-
mon sense then say, when we came.i▪ n at that moment
and formed a Government, that we did so on Pro-
tectionist principles ? The word " Protection" was
never mentioned except incidentally once, and then it
was not received. I say then that when we came in
in last February or March, we came as a Govern-
ment taking up the reins that bad been thrown down
without cause or justice. We came in at the
command of her Majesty to support her in her
just prerogative, and not to allow the official bu-
siness of the country to be thrown into the hands
of Sir James Graham and his Irish associates, or of
Mr. Cobden and the Manchester school.—(Cheers.)
Therefore I say we honestly and truly may declare
that the first proposition which was advanced is un-
founded and unjust. We did not come in upon Pro-
tectionist principles, or upon a Protectionist motion,
but we came in to do the duty of the country at the
bidding of the Sovereign ; and while that Sovereign
and the country uphold us, we are determined to
fulfil those duties; and the country, I believe, is fully
satisfied with the manner in which they have been
performed up to the present moment.—(Hear, hear.)
Whether or not free-trade princi▪
ples have been
adopted no man can really state, except by looking
back at what has already occurred in Parliament. It
is impossible for any men connected as we are with
the great agricultural party, not to see that while
great, and, I honestly declare it, considerable advan-
tages have flowed from the adoption of free trade to
many other interests in the country, yet that these
evils which I and others predicted have resulted to
the most important class of the country, viz., the
agricultural class.—(Hear.) It is impossible to deny
that that class has been suffering, since the measure
of free trade was adopted, in a degree very nearly,
if not fully equal to all that we predicted ; and that,
too, in spite of all the noble and disinterested efforts
of the owners and occupiers of the land to maintain
thei▪ r position by their own exertions, and to endeavour
by every way to meet the evils which resulted from
that measure. That the effects of that measure and
the disastrous results of recent legislation might be
most easily, most efficaciously, and with the least
chance of great injury to other interests, be remedied
by the adoption of a moderate fixed duty on corn,
which would at once be a means of revenue to the
country, and of a slight protection to the native
grower, who has a right at least to a fair equality
with the foreigner in his ()ern market, is an opinion
which I have ever stated, and one which I honestly
and fairly declare I still adhere to. That was the
opinion of the Prime Minister, as we all know, in the
commencement of the present year; that it continued
to be his opinion even late in the present session we
can know from his having openly and honestly de•
dared it in the House of Lords.—(flear, hear.) Bat
Lord Derby did proclaim to the country that, as a
general election was at hand, he thought it was
more fair, under all the circumstances under which
he was called to the adminieration of public affairs,
to leave the decision of that point to the
constituencies of the country, and to promise to abide
by the verdict which those constituencies should re-
turn upon tnat subject. That verdict has been token.
By the office—if I may call it so—or rather by the
situation which I filled so long for that party—l am
too well acquainted with the lists, majorities and;

minorities of the Commons, not to be able in taking
up a list of the Parliament which has just been re-
turned to perceive that there is a decided majority of
Members in the Lower House inimical to the feeling
and measure of protection to agriculture. If I differ,
as I certainly do, from the wisdom and justice of
their views, yet, notwithstanding, I must acknowledge
that I myself and those who think with me are in a
minority, and I ask—is it wise and prudent, when
you see you are in that minority, to force forward a
question which can but involve those whose interests
you wish to the utmost of your power, and at every
fair risk, to uphold—is it wise, I say, to force that for-
ward when you can gain no advantage by it, but will
bring considerable evil—heavy blows and great dis-
couragement upon other interests which you also are at-
tached to They say—it is a Scriptural phrase—that it
is useless "to kick against the pricks ;" and I firmly
believe that in this instance, if we were to stir this
question, and moot it in an unfortunate moment, we
should only throw further back the interests of those
for whom we would make any sacrifice. There are
other interests in the country, some of them nearly as
high, others higher still, which would be endangered
if we were to moot the question of protection when we
cannot attain it. Are we to run the risk of sacrific-
ing the Protestant institutions of the country by
bringing, in Sir James Graham and his Irish bri•
gade ?—(No, no.) Are we to run the risk of bring-
ing the Monarchy itself in peril, by bringing in Lord
John Russell and the democratic principles which you
have beard alluded to ?—(No, no.) These are ques-
tions which every honest agriculturist is bound to ask
himself; and having done so, he should pause before
he forces his representatives, however willing they are
to act, into a battle which could bring him no good,
and where his retreat might be most difficult to cover.
The adverse journals—those journals which for years
have advocated the principles of the Manchester
School, which have derided all the evils of the agricul-
turists, and which have mocked the distress of the
farmers—have lately, I perceive, been holding out a
desperate bait to a distressed farmer to turn in pi-
teous clamour against his own friends. It is hardly
to be supposed that those free-trade journals have
adopted that line because they are repentant, or feel
any real good will to those whose miseries they
mocked. I believe myself that what they wish to
do is, to raise the ire of the farmer, and to persuade
him that those who are really his best friends are not
so true to his interests as they profess to be, in order
that he may turn round upon those friends and put
them in that awkward and disadvantageous position
that they may not be able to hold the reins of office,
and so let in the very men who have hitherto been
the greatest enemies of the agricultural interest, and
who have injured them deeply, would, if they were
returned to office, only be adding insult to their in-
juries. Depend upon it the resumption of power by
the Whig party, backed as it must be by the assistance
and addition of the members of the Manchester school,
will be but a signal for more heavy blows and greater
discouragement to the owners and occupiers of land.
Be not deceived farmers—be not led astray
by the false lulls of traitorous friends ; but remember
that there are vet in store more and more evils to ba
pulled from the Pandora box of Whig misrule, if you
bring back to power Lord J. Russell and the family
clique we have displaced. Lord John Russell has
been lately on a tour of agitation—he has been sound-
ing the tocsin against us in the north—he has been
bidding high for every assistance that he can get to
turn us out on the re-assembling of Parliament. The
democratic principle, we know, is one which may
bring fearful results in its train. It is one which,
out of power,' the Wbigs are ever ready to take up;
but certainly I must say that when they are in
strength and power they eschew it as much as any set
of Tories ever did, and are as aristocratic and domi-
neering a sat as ever held office. But that democratic
influence, if promulgated by them in opposition,
however aristocratic their tendencies may be, when
they come back to power will be too strong for them ;
and the men who out of the House adopt such doc-
trines, and praise and bolster up such influences,
must succumb to their force when they come into
power.—(Cheers.) They cannot dam up the cur-
rent which they themselves have let loose, and they
themselves will be smothered and annihilated in the
force of the torrent.—(Hear, hear.) Lord John
Russell, at Perth, also stated that the agricultural in-
terest had for years been kept alive by the use of
strong stimulants. If, by strong stimulants he means
those laws which were repealed by the Free-traders
in 1846, then let Lord John Russell and those that
support him remember this, that at that period there
other laws in force which I consider to be strong
stimulants, and which the Free-trade party did not
when in power also repeal. If protection laws were
strong stimulants to the agricultural interest, what, I
ask, was the effect of the money laws, which Sir R.
Peel brought in in 1819, with regard to the Monied
power ?—(Cheers.) They, I consider, were strong
stimulants. They were stimulants without which
the monied power never could have domineered as it
has done over the agricultural and landed power.
They were stimulants which Lord J. Russell was
fully aware of; and holding power as he did for six
years, from 1846 to 1852, he still left them upon the
statute book, in disparagement and in the face of his
own statement at Perth, that strong stimulants are
not the line of policy which he could praise or adopt.
I believe they are strong stimulants.—(Hear, hear.)
I wish not to injure other men's property, but if
strong stimulants are not allowed for the landed
classes, I say they should have been stopped to the
monied power. The Government which is now in
power will, I trust, in a short time mature those
measures (to which I am not admitted) which may
rectify that class legislation, for such I maintain
those laws are.—(Hear, hear.) They may remedy it,
and I trust they will. Th 337 may bring forward mea-
sures of greater justice to all classes. They may, and
I trust they will, bring forward those which will be
particularly adapted to tee relief of the most dis-
tressed portion of the empire.—(Cheers.) I trust in
the integrity of the head of that Government. I
trust implicitly in the talents of many members of
it ; but, great as those talents may be, I fearlessly
and honestly trust in that conscientious belief which
a Government called to power in the manner they
were, and assuming office as they did, must feel, and
will feel, in all that they carry out.—(Cheers.)—lf
they proceed, they will deserve the gratitude of all
classes; and if they fail, I trust they will return to
their private stations with characters undiminished,
with reputations untarnished, and, above all, with
consciences free from the infamous remembrance of
baying undertaken offices which they were unable to
fulfil, and having given pledges which they have not
redeemed.
—(rho Right Hon. Gentleman resumed his
seat amidst vociferous applause.)
The CUAIRMAN then gave " Prosperity to the
Hinckford Agricultural and Conservative Club."
Tne Rev. J. Cox acknowledged the toast, and en-
tered into a lengthened detail of the circumstances
connected with the election for North Essex.

The proceedings terminated with the toasts of " The
Committee" and "The Stewards."

THE CHANCELLOR OF OXFORD

UNIVERSITY.

As we announced yesterday in a convocation
holden at Oxford, on Tuesday, at twelve o'clock, the
Right Hon. thelEarl of Derby was unanimously elected
Chancellor of the University, in the place of his
Grace the late Duke of Wellington. It was feared
up to the last moment that some of those restless
spirits who think everybody and everything in the
world to be wrong except themselves and their own
opinions, would have disturbed the unanimity which
so happily prevailed ; but the scene probably that
presented itself—namely, a Convocation House al-
most entirely filled with Lord Derby's supporters,
prevented the outbreak and consequent disgrace which
the whole University must have shared, had the few
malcontents brought forward another candidate at the
eleventh hour. As it was, the only demonstration
made was a speech of some length by the senior
proctor, who blamed the authorities for fixing so early
a day for the election, and condemned the breathless
haste with which those who happened to be in the
University at the time of the Duke of Wellington's
death had selected a candidate and commenced a
canvass. In short, the recent article in the
Times gave no bad idea of Mr. Lake's' ar-
gument and the cause of his displeasure.
There is a marvellous coincidence in the
proctor and the correspondent of that consistent
journal. The Vice Chancellor deemed it his duty to
say, in a very few words, that so far as the authori-
ties were concerned, they had only obeyed the statutes,
which positively direct a new Chancellor to be chosen
at as early a period as convenient, and followed for-
mer precedents, the dates of which proved that no
undue haste had been shown in fixing the day of
election on this occasion, but rather the contrary.
We may add, that so far as Lord Derby's friends are
implicated in the charge of precipitancy, it will be an
easy task to prove that Mr. Lake's own party, the
supporters of Mr. Gladstone, and the followers—but
no, we will not call names—suffice it to say, that the
opponents of Lord Derby forced his lordship's friends
into the field. The following we believe to be the
truth :—The Duke of Wellington died on the 14th,
the news reached Oxford on the following day, the
15th. On that very day a meeting took place of
the party at Mr. Marriott's rooms in Oriel College
—there were some 23 present. After a little dis-
cussion as to a proper candidate, and after more than
one had bean named, the party presen',; livided, the
majority being for the Duke of Newcastle, Mr. Glad-
stone's friend, and, asit said, political and theological
pupil. They separated, to meet the next morning,
having agreed in the meanwhile to feel the pulse of
the resident members; and they met a second time
accordingly. The Duke of Newcastle was still the
favourite ; and the game seemed tolerably certain,
nay, we believe a gentleman actually offered to go,
and did go, to the Duke, to obtain his Grace's con-
sent 'o be proposed as a candidate. This, our readers
will mark, brings us to the afternoon of the second ,