The Sun.
London, England, 1864-09-22 00:00:00

which we are particularly connected—l mean the agricul-
tural interest, on all its various classes of proprietors and
cultivators of the soil, and of the labouring classes
connected with it. Gentlemen. I am not disposed to think,
although we hear of the great fortunes which are made by
some, and the great prospects of prosperity which are open
to others, that on the whole we have no great cause of com-
plaint. It is very true that a proprietor of the land does not
get 20 per cent. for his money. (Laughter, and hear, hear.)
In that remark I am sure every one present will agree. (A
Voice—We should be satisfied with five.) I don't know
that any one has ever indulged the dream of getting 190,
which I observed the other day was announced to have
been distributed as a dividend by a society of apparently

meat eminence and promise. (Laughter.) It was said in
days of old that if a man invested his property in land he
ought to be sat-kfl xl with obtaining as good an interest as
if he invested it in Consols, I doubt very much whether
any landed proprietor can accomplish that. Doubtless, if a
man buys a single farm he may by good fortune obtain a
good return. But a man who has a large estate does not
obtain a large return, and he does not seek to obtain it, be-
cause he is remunerated in a different manner and by dif-
ferent means. He is the possessor of property which by the
constitution of this country is invested with the perform-
ance of public duties, and does not look for those returns
which other sources of investmeut provide. But although
a landed proprietor may not obtain the greater return which
proprietors of other capital obtain, he must remember this,
that he possesses a property which has this peculiarity—
that it is always increasing in value, and that its increase
of value does not really depend upon the rate of interest it
produces. This is kvery remarkable, but undeniable cir •
cumstance. (Hear, hear.) In a country of advancing
prosperity, increasing population, and increasing wealth the
landowner possesses a property of which there is only a
limited portion, and however slight may be the return
which he obtains for the investment, still, from the popu-
larity of the property, from the manner in which our social
system has invested it with the performance of public du-
ties, and the consequent respect and honour, it is a pro-
perty always increasing in value ; and if that be so,
the owner of such property has no right to complain. Let
us look for a moment to the condition of the occupancy of
soil. It is said that the farmers are never content. Well, I
have lived a good deal among farmers. They are my beat
friends. They are very content with me, and I cannot agree
to that position. But it is said that the farmer pursues a
calling subject to great vicissitudes. Now, the vicissitudes
of nature must be viewed on a very great scale. You must
not decide by the experience of one or two years, and it has
always been my opinion that there is a profundity in the
dispensations of Providence which we cannot always solve,
and I do not believe that those vicissitudes of which we
sometimes complain may not produce effects of a very bene•
cial character, But this I would impress upon the farmer,
that although he in his calling is subject to the vicissitudes
of climate, he is not subject to vicissitudes of another cha-
racter—namely, that of fashion. The farmer follows a call-
ing which never becomes obsolete. He may cultivate the
soil which his father cultivated before him, and if he likes
he knows his son may follow him in the same calling. (A
Voice—Not always.) 'Whereas it is a fact that of all
"flashy businesses" we hear of, wholesale or retail, who
advertise their goods and their pursuits, and who are said
to be realising large profits and great fortunes, none of
these businesses are of a permanent character. You would
be quite surprised if you had had, as I have had, the duty
to ir quire into the average duration of many of these pros-
perous businesses, which while they flourish fill the ear of
the public—you will be surprised to learn how slight is
their duration, Tweleve or 13 years is the average duration
of those businesses, which, when I hear of the rapid for-
tunes they are making, I naturally connect it with some
period which applies to our own calling, which has existed
for generations. The farmer must remember that it is his
peculiar privilege to follow a calling that never goes out of
fashion, and that if in businesses that are followed by more
rapid results whores man turns his capital five or six times
a year, the farmer only turns his once. The farmer nay, in
one respect, be compared to public singers. We hearofpublic
singers being paid large sums every night, but they sing for
only a short time, and the farmer should recollect that he is
pursuing a calling which, as I have before said, never goes
out of fashion, and that is an element of great happiness to
a man, and gives him great confidence. The farmer must
not only remember that, but he must remember this also,
that the objects which he produces have increased in variety
and in number, and he therefore has new sources of profit,
and will have, no doubt, still further sources of profit,
There is another point ou which, from what I have seen to-
day. I cannot help touching, and that is a l roduction which
of late has very much interested farmers, and that is wool.
That now is one of the most important features in our agri-
cultural life, and is a course of very great profit to those
who cultivate the soil. I cannot help being surprised that
in this county, especially in South Bucks, with which I am
more intimately acquainted, our fl ckmasters continue only
to breed flocks which produce short wool. The great pr,•zos
are given for long wool, and I cannot understand why we
continue to produce merely short wool in the county of
Buckinghans.[.l should suppose it would•have been easy to
cross with some of the Glocestershire and Leicestershire
breed, and to produce a very choice long wool, with some of
the advantageous characteristics of all this short wool, and
when I look to the relative prices of long and short wool, I

am surprised that we still go on adhering to the system o
merely breeding downs and producing short wool. I men.
tioned this fact to a friend of mine, a neighbour, who has a
considerable flock. He perfectly agreed with me, and thought
we ought to cross the Downs with the Cotswold. But he
said "the great price of wool has been occasioned entirely
by the American war, and I have just read in the newspapers
that there is going to be peace." He asked my advice on the
subject. Now. I don't like giving advice, because it is an un-
necessary responsibility under any circumstances—(laugh-
tor), but I could not help saying that I did not entirely agree
with him that the high price of wool was mainly occasioned
by the civil war in America. The tendency of latehe
been that all articles of raw material, particularly wool,e
have been rising in price, and when I leokatthe fact that
of Yorkshire, mixed fabrics, that make the industry are be-
coming more popular in the market, it is clear that wool is
an article of raw produce for which there is a greater de-
mand, and if there had been no civil war you would have
had a high price for wool, and it would have been
wool. (Hear, hear.) With regard to the the best
civil war in
America I would rather not say much. But wen it broke
out I was dining at a table of a similar character—l think
in Buckingham. Great anxiety was manifested to know
what would happen in America, and I took the opportunity
of saying—being obliged to give my opinion, that.that war
would be a very long war. The general idea was that it
would be a very short war, and the American Minister of
State announced it a war of 90 days. I ventured to say that
it would be a long war, because the causes of that war had
been for a long time in preparation. I therefore did not
believe that it would be a short war, and the causes of that
war are causes that do not lead to short wars. The eman-
cipation of race, the creation or the defence of national in-
dependence, or the maintenance of a great empire—when
causes of this kind lead people to enter into war they must
not be confounded with those comparatively small causes
which have brought about the generality of European wars
in modern times. (Hear, hear.) When nations go to war to
what they call rectify a frontier, or employ a army, these
are causes necessarily of a brief duration,because their fron-
tier is rectified or not, and the army which wants to be em-
ployed has either a sufficient number shot or promoted,and
peace naturally takesplace. But the issues in the American
war are vast and profound, and it is not to be supposed
when men enter into struggles of that kind, they will
throw them aside like children tired of anew toy. I, therefore,
have great hesitation in believing—l cannot bring myself
to believe that we are so near peace in America as is sup-
posed. The fact is that there are occasions when the des-
tinies of nations demand wars, when war is the only solu-
tion of difficulties which perplex the ordinary means of
human wit, and the struggle in America is a war of this
kind. I do not look upon the peace demonstrations that
we have:read in the newspapers, although some have accepted
them as proofs that we are nearer a settlement, as anything
than mere electioneering devices, and therefore, to bring the
point to a practical issue, the result of my speculation is that
I shall eress my Downs with Cotswolds, and I do think that
it is a deficiency on the part of the farmers of Bucks—
although I trust that I shall not be offending some of my
constituents—in adhering so closely to the old system of
merely breeding Downs. There is another class of agricul-
ture on which I should like to say a few words, and I will
tell you my views on the subject, and that is with respect
to the condition of the labourer. I think the condition of
the agricultural labourer is ono which requires and deserves
great public consideration. I am not entering at all into the
question of the remuneration which ho receives. The wages
of the agricultural labourer, like every other class of la-
bourers, are totally independent of legislation. The mo.-e we
interfere on such subjects, the more injury we should do
them. But it is a subject of congratulation to us that ther9
is in the county of Buckingham and has been for many
years past a tendency to an increase of the wages of the agri.
cultural labourer. (Hear.) I should say this is the case
generally throughout the country, but it is so most decidedly
in South Buckinghamshire. But although we do not wish
to interfere with the wages of the agricultural labourer,
there is a portion of his lifo which requires our attention,
and that is the habitation which he occupies. This is nut
the first time by many that I have ventured to refer to the
subject, and a year or two ago, when I announced that we
had no thatched cottages in South Buckinghamshire, one
of my bast friends thought I was casting some reflection on
North Buckinghamshire, and vindicated thatched cottag€a
I consider it of the utmost importance that agricultural
labourers ehould he well lienE•c4. (Hew.) Jr. opinior,
it is more important than a question of food or rltimeut.
I believe we all eat quite enough and many of us drink a
great deal too much, but this I will venturo to any, that