The Sun.
London, England, 1863-08-31 00:00:00

1..-..1 .... ~..,

circ nix ,s to ,nce for him, no doubt of it, but it was in
no war whatever a discreditable circumstance.
Per lon' Ally, indeed, ever since then, he appears
to b ave comported himself in a manner
befi
,ng one who has occupied the position osten-
sibly of a gentleman of honour and education, and
more even than that, as the sequel of his career has
shot rn, one of refined taste and of lavish hospita-
lity. . As a reason for declining to make good the
am( ;tint claimed under the insurance, the case for
the defendants broke down altogether. Stilt
ru )re conspicuous was the collapse of the
vidence brought together by. them with
t view to its leading eventually to the
conviction of the plaintiff for arson. So
soon as their last witness had left the box after
cross-examination, it became apparent that they
bad, as the familiar phrase is, not a leg to stand
upon. Painful though the whole of this investiga-
tion cannot, by possibility, but have been to Mr.
WOOLLEY, to the insurance company itself it can-
not but be very seriously damaging.

Lord STANLEY'S speech at the Royal North Lan-
cashire Agricultural Association is well worthy of
perusal. He laid great stress on the state of agri-
cultural improvement in this country, that being
one of the objects with which the society had to deal.
An interesting circumstance was referred to, in the
fact of Sir R. PEEL having written a letter thirteen
years ago, in which he alluded to the then condition
of Lancashire. He said that there were good roads,
good markets, and a moist climate, which remained
" undrained:, badly fenced, and wretchedly farmed."
Then, said Lord STANLEY, " I ask anyone to com-
pare the Lancashire of 1850 with that of 1863."
His lords'n ip truly stated that the progress made in
those eventful years was greater than in the fifty
preceding ones ; afterwards, referring to the society,
he said that twenty years ago it wasatalgolanwlde,veinl,
but now iet had kept pace with any in England,
regard to• improvements, at the same time due re-
gard hail not been paid to agricultural improve.
ments. Putting his words into the form of exem-
plificatica, he said that, looking to the country as it
was, and considering the " simple and elementary
processes of agricultural improvements, large fields,
straight fences, and deep drains,"•there was, per-
haps, not one-half of the country in the state in
which it ought to be, and in which, in all proba-
bility,
in the next generation it would be.
Lord STANLEY'S speeches are always pre-
eminently practical, and to the point; he never
flatters or exaggerates, but seeks to point out the
deficiencies, and flaws in a system, as well as
parading the merits of the case. This style of speak-
ing may not be so pleasing, but it is more salutary
certainly, and the hearers of such harangues may
afterwards look back with satisfaction, and acknow-
ledge the benefits they have derived therefrom,
which might not have accrued from more brilliant
discourses, and more exciting studies. Lord
STANLEY referred to his own personal experience
in the Tylde district. He said that when he
went there he was much pleased with the
general appearance of the place. There were
hardworking tenant-farmers whose families had
lived there from time immemorial. In a social
sense nothing could be better. There were the evi-
dences of hard work, independence, and comfort.
But viewed as an agriculturist would regard it, the
spot was very different. There was water standing
open the ground after bat a little rain, and rushes
so luxuriant that one might have fancied them to
be the staple produce of the soil. Worse than this,
there were large tracts of land going to waste be-
cause the owners and occupiers could not agree
among themselves and unite to drain the ground
in a proper manner.
,Lord STANLEY proved the
truth of a homely adage, bat a very true one, re-
garding the great importance of the master's eye
being upon the work, by stating that the "most un-
satisfactory of all the estates be saw were those
that belonged to the Duchy of Lancaster, and they
were under the direct control of the Crown." As
may be supposed there was laughter at this remark,
which seemed designed to show that there was no
royal road to agriculture, bridging all difficulties
and subduing obstacles, but that the common law
held good in the highest as well as the lowest pro-
perties. There is an anecdote extant which is
doubtless founded upon truth, that tells of a noble-
man who took great interest in rural matters, and
complained to a farmer on his estate that he could
not get such produce from the soil as his humbler
neighbours did. The tenant exclaimed, " True ;
but the difference consists in one word, my lord.
You say Go,' and I say Come.'" Of course this
rule would apply to any arduous undertaking.
It is always of essential consequence that
those who take an immediate interest in the
conduct of an affair, should have a ruling voice in
its concerns. Lord STANLEY went on to point out
another deficiency in the outward cultivation of
liancashire. There were many landlords who de-
rived benefit from the products beneath the soil, and
were therefore indifferent as to the progress of agri-
culture. They were very naturally tempted by
the profits, forgetting the difference that existed
between manufacturing and agricultural risks. The
old system of giving life leases also militated
greatly against this, produced great injury, drained
resources, and turned the relation of landlord and
tenant into a sort of "gambling speculation." Th,

speaker nest summed up the difficulties of their

position as regarded cultivation. The climate was
less genial, and the soil required a good deal of

labour to work it, but on the other side they had

abundance of labour to come to their assistance ;

their population was very rapidly increasing.

Taking all things together, then, the bad did not

seem to preponderate over the good. Lord STANLEY
forcibly expressed his meaning by stating that it

was not climate that made the difference in the

producing power of one country over another, but

human industry, skill, and energy.

"Naples is a

wilderness ; the lowlands of Scotland are a garden."

This sentiment elicited loud cheers from the

audience, Lord STANLEY concluded his impressive

speech by stating that he had confidence in Lan-

cashire men, and he looked forward to the day
when various improvements should have taken

place. He adverted to the question of the employ-

went of machinery, and remarked that the next

great step would create a revolution in English
agriculture, namely, ploughing by steam. Refer-

ring to the adoption of these novel modes of pro-
cedure by the farmers, he advised them to go with
the spirit of the times, and not oppose useless and
unavailing objections. " All I say is, this is a
question which cannot be evaded. Sooner or later
it will force itself upon you. At all times and in
all trades; the competition between mechanism and
hand labour has been too unequal to be sustained,
and these farmers will be the wiser who observe
w a
happened in other departments of in-
dustry,hrea t not
ha
whos
to h e takel warning in time, and who take
car© left behind in the race."

Circumstances invest the proceedings of the ca_
nadians with an unusual degree of interest, and a
good many English readers will turn with some
curiosity to the report of the address with which
the tiovernor-General opened the no .v Parliament.
The speech, in accordance with that policy by which
the constitutions of our colonies a mado to re-