The Sun.
London, England, 1863-01-03 00:00:00

CONSERVATISM IN SOUTH DEVON,

On Thursday evening a number of Conserva-
tives of the South of Devon, met at Newton Abbot,
for the purpose of celebrating by a dinner the for-
mation of a Conservative Association in connexion
with one that has been in existence for two or three
years at Torquay. Mr. Disraeli, who is sojourning
in the latter town, it was expected by some people
would have been present, but he did not make his
appearance. There was, however, a large and in-
fluential gathering of Devonshire Conservatives,
and considerable enthusiasm prevailed during the
after-dinner proceedings. Lord Courtenay presided,
and his lordship was supported by his father, the
Earl of Devon, by Lord Churston (who has been
the chief promoter of these local Conservative Asso-
ciations), and by Sir S. H. Northcote, M.P,, Sir L.
Palk, M.P., the Hon. F. Pellew, Mr. Kekewich,
M.P., and Mr, Baldwin Fulford. The usual loyal
toasts were warmly drunk, and the Earl of Devon
responded to the toast of " The House of Lords."
In responding to the toast of " The Conservative
Members of the House of Commons,"
Sir S. NORTIICOTE said that the organisation and
un weary ingefforts of the Conservative party during
the last 30 years had been attended with the most
gratifying results to their cause. About 30 years
ago, when the Conservative members in the
House
of Commons were in a contemptible minority, men
of intelligence, ability, experience, and courage
came forward with moderate but firm counsels, and
called upon the people throughout the land to sup-
port them in the stand they were about to make,
and to fight the battle of the constitution in the re-
gistration courts. They had, in fighting inch by
inch, maintained and strengthened their position in
Parliament, and had by degrees commanded, first
respect and then the admiration both of the coun-
try and their opponents in Parliament. If they
looked back to the period he had referred to and
considered what the prospect of this country then
was, and if they compared it with the present pro-
spects of the country, they would be led to think
how much they had to be grateful for, what it was
for which they were indebted to the Conservative
party of the last 30 years. He dilated upon these
things the more because many of their detractors
and calumniators wished to take a narrow view and
to fix attention upon the attitude which the Con-
servative party had assumed at particular moments
and upon particular questions. (Hear.) They must
look at the question broadly, and see what it had
done during the interval which had elapsed since
the passing of the Reform Bill. To the Conserva-
tive party they were indebted for the fact that they
had now a constitutional and ancient monarchy, and
that they did not live either under a republic or a
despotism ; that they had a House of Lords respected
and independent; that they had a House of Com-
mons such as, he would not say was ideally perfect,
but such as fairly represented all classes—(applause)
—that they had a pure and Established Protestant
Church, which was at once established and regu-
lated by the law, and yet was not a slave or tool
of the State; and that they had countless other
blessings which he would not undertake to enume-
rate, because they all could do that for themselves.
(Applause.) All this they owed to the gallant stand
made by the Conservative party at that time and
the way in which their exertions had been backed
up by the people throughout the length and breadth
of the land. (Applause.) lie looked back with
pride to the conduct of the Opposition since they
last quitted office. He did not need to say much
upon that point, because most emphatically the
country had shown that it was with them. (Cheers.)
Wherever an election had occurred, in which there
had been anything like a fair field, the result of the
election had been in their favour. (Hear.) And he
trusted they had not gone to the end of the win-
nings yet. (Applause.) Upon this subject he must
not say much ; but, looking around him, he saw that
they had the materials with which to win many a
good battle. If they wanted to know what the Con-
servative party was,and what it was doing his advice
was they should go and see it at work. Very kind
reports were got up by their adversaries, who
wished to show that they were a defeated party, or
an effete party, or a party that did not know its own
mind, or a mere faction that was struggling to get
from the benches of the Opposition to the benches
of the Ministry. He said, in reply to these state-
ments, " Come and look at the party yourselves, and
see us under fair circumstances, when we are at our
work," not some night when they were discussing
some miserable question or some minor Ministerial
delinquency—(a laugh)—or the detail of some
question which nobody could understand; but some
day, in the broad light of a Wednesday morning,
when the gentlemen below the gangway were lead-
ing some onslaught on the Church or upon some
vital part of the Constitution, and when the noble
gentlemen upon the Treasury Bench were taking
counsel with each other, putting the thing first in
one light and then in another, backwards and for-
wards, and showing plainly not only that they dis-
liked the bill which they were supporting, but that
they were straining their ingenuity for expedients
to make it at all palatable to themselves and the
country. (Laughter and applause.) If they would
come and see the party at such times they would
find it united to a man upon any great principle.
(Hear, hear.) He asserted that there had been a
marked disposition on the part of the country since
1859 to give to the Conservative party its confidence
and support. (Loud applause.) He appealed to
the great change which had come over the House
of Commons—and in this his hon. friends Sir Law-
rence Palk and Mr. Kekewich would bear him out
—the great change which had conic over the spirit
of the Hous© of Commons upon questions with re-
gard to which some years ago they had almost ac-
knowledged themselves beaten. (Hear.) He might
select, particularly, the question of church rates,
not because it was the only one, by any means, but
because it was a striking instance of the way in
which the party had rallied after an apparent
defeat. Some years ago the vote upon church rates
had been 60 or 70 against the party, but, by un-
wearying effort, they had fought these majorities
down to a minority. There were other questions
which illustrated the same change. They had fought
gallantly, and they had gone far to establish their
right position in the House of Commons. (Hear.)
it could not be expected that all these questions
Would be settled at once; and ho did not say that
chureh rates was a question upon which no legisla.
tion would be necessary. It involved great consi-
derations!, and many thought it was necessary to
make some further arrangement with regard to it.
Ile dared say that might be so intime ; but it would
be most disastrous to settle it at a time when the
majority was pledged to destroy the Church. (Loud
applause.) His advice was that they should not be
in a hurry with such questions; let them get a ma-
jority first, and then that majority would deal with
this and other questions in the true Conservative
spirit of encreavouring to amend what required
amendment. He had already appealed to two tests
to prove the change which had taken place in the
country with regard to the position of the Conser-
vative party—first, the expression of feeling in the
country at large ; and, second, the change
which
had taken place in the spirit of the party in the
House of Commons. There was one more test to
which he would appeal—it was the attitude which
the Government itself took with reference to these
questions now, when they saw how strong the Con-
servative, were. (Hear, hear.) It would be remem-
bered that Government had come into Parlia-
ment with a majority, which majority had placed
them in office and given them the regulation
and the direction of the affairs of the country.
But, if the Government had undertaken the direc-
tion of the affairs of the country, it must be ad-
mitted that they had found it upon many ques-
tions ft very ea,v teak; for they had contrived
to get through by shifting the responsibility
upon the Conservative party, and b,9 following the
lead of that party. (Laughter and applause.)
Lord Palmerston was constantly taunted by his
own supporters with being a Conservative in dis-
guise, and with being always ready to do the bid-
ding of the Conservative Opposition.
(Laughter.)
Some Conservatives, too, asserted that they could
not have a better Conservative in office, and they
asked why the Conservatives should desire
anchr.nge. He confessed that he was not quite
so
great a believer in Lord Palmereton's Conservatiera

as some persons appeared to be—(hear, hear)—but
I he was a believer in Lord Palmerston's s,gacity.
(Laughter and applause.) He knew that if to a
great extent the Premier tried to calm or moderate
the impetuosity of some of his follower and pos-
sibly of some of his colleagues, and if I e appeared
disposed to adopt prudent and Conservative mea-
sures, it was owing in a great degree to those 300
gentlemen whom he had the advantage of contem-
plating on the benches of the Opposition. (Cheers.)
In conclusion the hon. baronet expressed a hope
that this relation between the Conservative party
and the country might continue. (Applause.)
Captain CAREW proposed the health of the two
Members for the South of Devon, and the toast was
drunk with applause.
Sir. L. PALK, ALP., in responding,
alluded to an
address which Mr_ Coleridge, Q-C., had issued to
the electors of Exeter, is which the hon. and
learned gentleman said, "I desire to identify my-
self with, and to advance by all honourable means
in my power, the great Liberal party in this
country." Those he (Sir Lawrence) admitted at
once were Liberal principles—(a laugh)—but the
Conservative principle happened to be based on this
rule—It is not for party, it is not for ourselves, but
that we may benefit and do our best for the whole
community. (Hear, hear, and applause.) He
believed that he might appeal to the conduct
of the Conservative party during the last session
as a proof that they would bear all things
so long as the best interests of the country were not
damaged. (Hear, hear.) They permitted a Govern•
ment without a majority in the House of Commons,
without the confidence of the country at large, to
meddle with the finances of the country, to pass
laws of questionable utility, to alter and change its
foreign policy—they permitted it to do all this, and
it WIS only when they thought the interests of the
country were in danger that they met together and
put a bar on its proceedings. (Hear.) During the
whole session of Parliament there was no factious
movement attempted. They did this because they
felt th t the time had not come when the Conser-
vative party could rise from that mass of obloquy
which had been showered upon it by a venal press
—a press supported by the Government whom they
had written into power. The Conservatives felt
that it was necessary that the country at large
should know their friendship and motives. He
(the hon. baronet) thought they had to thank Lord
Derby, Mr. Disraeli, and Sir S. Northcote, the
great leaders of their party—(applause)—for the
very judicious eour:_,e which was adopted, for he
believed it had laid the foundation for a triumph
of the Conservative party at no very distant
period.
Mr. KEKEIVICH, M.P., also responded, and made
some humorous remarks on the state of parties in
the House of Commons. It was thought by many
that the two parties were in the position of two
hostile armies arrayed on each side of the house.
This was not the case ; they had a great many
elements in those parties. They had Liberal-Con-
servatives, Conservative-Liberals, Whigs, Tories,
and, he thought, he heard some person remark,
although he scarcely believed it, that therb was a
party in the House of Commons which they called
the Tory-Radical party. (Laughter.) He was
not a Liberal-Conservative. (Hear, hear.) He
thought it was a distinction without a diffe-
rence. (Hear, hear.) He was not a Conservative-
Liberal, because he felt that was neither one thing
nor the other. (Hear, hear.) It was very much
like that kind of creature they had heard of lately
in a very humorous play, in which a certain noble
lord said, " I hate a fellow who does not know his
own mind." But he hoped he was a true, honest,
and faithful Conservative—an advocate for safe,
steady, sure progress, as opposed to rash inventions
and chimerical changes. (Cheers.)
The " Health of Lord Churston, and the Conser-
vative Association of Torquay," was next proposed
by the chairman.
Lord CHUASTON responded, and strongly advo-
cated the formation of local associations for the sup-
port of Conservatism.
Several other toasts of a local and complimentary
character were then given, and the company sepa-
rated.

THE WAR IN AMERICA.

(From the Times' Correspondent.)
NEW YORK, DEC. 20.

It is positively asserted from Washington, and
fully believed in this city, that Mr. Seward has
resigned the office of Secietary of State, and that
the resignation will be accepted. The event excites
no surprise. The faction of the ultra Abolitionists
and Exterminators, to whose distrust and dislike
General M'Clellan fell the first victim, de
termined long ago that Mr. Seward should
be the second. They appear to have succeeded
in their object. He was too much of a Con-
servative on the subject of slavery to suit their
views, and too greatly impressed with the spectacle of
the power, resources, energy, and obstinacy of the
South to work willingly with a party that preached
servile war and extermination as the best or
only means of building up a free and United Re-
public. It is true that his animus against Great
Britain and his inclination to pick a quarrel with
that country, if by so doing he could help to restore
or mend the broken fabric of the Union, with more
chances of success than domestic means allowed,
recommended him to the tender consideration of
the dominant party, but was not of itself sufr cien t
to counterbalance his other defects and offences
against the Republicans. Virtually he has gone
over to the Democrats, and as a quasi Democrat he
will probably figure in public life for the future,
should he be permitted to serve the Republic in
any capacity.

This resignation, if truly reported, is the first
fruits of the disastrous battle of Fredericksburg.
Another result which every one anticipated has
not occurred. General M'Clellan has not been sent
for. The statement was so confidently made on
the night before and the morning of the departure
of the last steamer that it was difficult to avoid
giving it credence. People of good position in the
world said they had seen the telegram that sum-
moned him to Washington ; others declared that the
General had himself told them of the fact ; while a
third section of imaginative romancists had with
their own eyes beheld him at the railway station
with his travelling valise in his hand. But all these
statements were pure ir.ventions, and up to this
moment General APUleilan has received no intima-
tion whatever from Mr. Lincoln, or the War-office,
that
his services will be required. The univer- j
satility of the belief that the Army of the Potomac
had been again entrusted to his leadership is, how-
ever, a striking proof of the confidence which his
name inspires ; and although it is now generally
known that all the announcements made upon the
subject were false, people obstinately continue to
iassert that the rumours had no other error than
prematurity, and that Gen. M'Clellan will and.
must be sent for, to restore confidence to the dis-
pirited army and the still more greatly dispirited
and desponding. country.
However this may be, the fact remains that no
confidence is felt in any one else. The people are
thoroughly sick and disgusted,but,b
eingavery
slow, cautious, law-abiding, and patient community,
and by no means the impulsive mob which it was
once the fashion In Europe to consider them, they
have not boiled over with imlignation at the useless
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and
Stanton, the signs and portents are that he himself
the
will be called to a strict and immediate
aeount.
The statement, is that General Halleck,
who never fought a battle, positively " forgot" atno
order the pontoons which he had promised General
Burnside to despatch after him, so that he might
cross the Rappahannock without delay, and
thut the plan of campaign thus unfortunately, if
not criminally inaugurated, was sketched by him-
self, in concert with the President and Mr. Stanton,
and dictated to General Burnside, who disapproved
it, but agreed to do his best to carry it out. Why
General Burnside, under such circumstances, did
not throw up his command is a mystery. Hitherto
it has been the custom to speak of Mr. Lincoln
with respect, as an honest man who meant well..