The Sun.
London, England, 1865-06-02 00:00:00

a cause of disappointment ? (Loud cheers.) And what is
the meaning of all this ? You see the figures in statistical
tables, but do you reflect upon the deep and pregnant mean-
ing ? They mean this—that so many millioas are added to
the profits upon capital, to the rewards upon skill, to the
payment of honest labour in this country. (Cheers.) They
mean comfort carried into cottages where but for that de-
mand no employment would have been found, and want
would have prevailed. (Cheers.) They mean that when the
great calamity of the American war came upon the world,
and a great gap was occasioned in commerce by the cessation
of the American demand, then the French demand, as if by
some providential design, came into operation, and kept in
action those strong English arms which but for the treaty
would have hung idly by the side. (Loud and long conti-
nued cheering.) And that, forsooth, is disappointment,
that is insignificance, that is the act of a period when there
has been no Government in the country ! (Renewed ap-
plause.) What is Mr. Raikes's idea of the Government of
a country ? What does he think is the business of a
Government ? Does he think it consists in the regulation
of prisons and workhouses, and in the passing and adminis-
tration of criminal laws ? I hold that we are in our best
and in our happiest employment when a fortunate and pro-
vidential combination of circumstances enables us to devise
means for raising the condition and increasing the happi-
ness of the great body of our fellow-countrymen. (Loud
cheers.) Well, gentlemen, I will not trouble you more upon
the subject of the French treaty, but I must say be on
your guard against those who, when they look back over
the legislation of the last thirty-three years, say, "We do
not object to the repeal of the Corn Laws, that was all
very well, but take care of the men who carried the re-
peal of the Corn Laws ; beware of the men who es-
tablished the system of free trade ; beware of the men
who have endeavoured to mitigate and remove religious
disabilities ; beware of the men who have taught the doc-
trine of a liberal extension of the franchise." These are the
modest demands which Mr. Raikes makes upon you, and
for himself he says "he is perfectly willing to consent to
the removal of proved abuses." (Much laughter and cheer-
ing.) Yes, gentlemen, "proved abuses," no doubt; but
who is to prove them, and who are to be the judges of the
proof ? (Renewed laughter.) If Mr. Raikes and his friends
are to be the judges of the proof, then I should like to
know in what manner they would pass judgement on the
proof. (Hear, hear.) If I am to understand how they
would pass judgment upon the proof I must look to their
past acts. And what have they been about ? At the time
when there was no Government in the country, and when
the French treaty was making, what were the Opposition
about ? Why, offering every obstacle to the making of
that treaty which the ingenuity, vigour, and zeal of Par-
liamentary opposition could devise. (Loud cheers.) I
have told you its character—l have told you its results ;
judge of them for yourselves, and judge whether you
ought to give the high honour of the proud duty of repre-
senting Chester into the hands of those who mean to fol-
low the men who resisted the conferring of that benefit
upon the country, or into the hands of those who will sup-
port the party who carried that measure and who do their
best to secure for the country other similar advantages.
(Applause.) Now, gentlemen, I am going to say a few
words that are strictly relevant to this occasion. My son
appears before you as a very young man, and Mr. Fenton
appears before you as a man known and approved by expe-
rience in business. (A Voice—Where does he come from ?)
Where do I come from ? (No, Mr. Fenton.) Oh, I am
known. (Laughter.) I am going to answer, gentlemen,
that I came from London to-day by the 2.45 train.
(Laughter and applause.) But, gentlemen, I wish to state
this case fairly ; for my son is a man necessarily without
experience in what is termed business. Mr. Fenton is a
man of experience in business, and I think that naturally
enough a certain presumption may arise in favour of a man
of experience in business ; but I wish to state to you our
position in House of Commons. The future well-being
of this country depends mainly on the manner in which
the House of Commons is composed. (Hear, hear).
Now, gentlemen, what is parliamentary or political
life ? What is the life of a man in office? It is
a profession, and it is just as much a profession
and a trade as any profession or trade driven in
this city ; and allow me to say that if you intend to
have that profession carried on, experience has proved
that you must have it carried on in the main by men who
have taken to it when they were young. (Applause.) Now,
gentlemen, I will elucidate this, if you please. Suppose there
is any man among you who is a master carpenter or a master
smith, and I was to knock at his door one morning, and say,
" I want you to take me in as a journeyman," he would say
to me, "My good fellow, do you know anything about the
business ?" and I should say, "No ; but I am willing to
learn." He would say, You are a great deal too old ;go
and think of something else." (Laughter.) Now, there are
ample space and occupation in the House of Commons for
what are called men of business—country gentlemen and
magistrates from the rural districts, manufacturers, mer-
chants, shipowners, railway directors, and all other sorts,
generally speaking, from the, towns. What the House of
Commons wants is every possible diversity of elements. You
see a diversity of elements in this very hall—you are not
all absolutely of one mind. In the House of Commons we
want every class, every interest, every faculty and capacity
of mind; but if you want to have the business of the
country carried on you must be content to return to the
House of Commons a certain number of men who are to
make it the profession and occupation of their lives.
(Applause.) And, therefore, gentlemen, I do not in
the least feel ashamed of recommending—if, indeed,
it were in my power to recommend to you—the choice
of one whose education has been such as to qualify him
for the discharge of public duty ; whose character has
always deserved my confidence ; whose judgment I know
already, young though he be, to be sound and good—(hear,
hear)—and who, I am confident, will prove to be an honest
and able representative of the people. (Applause.) Now,
gentlemen, I entered this hall, I came to the vicinity of this
hall, at a moment when my son had proceeded far in ad-
dressing you. Perhaps you will be surprised if I tell you
that I am not aware of his precise opinions upon- several
points which are no doubt matters of great interest among
you. I wish to leave them to a free growth in an intelli-
gent mind—(applause)—and I am confident, from what I
know of English constituencies and of the character of my
fellow couutrymen, that you likewise will be disposed to
leave to him some freedom of discussion. (Hear, hear, and
applause.) You may get a cut and dried representative
who will answer political questions as if they were his cate-
chism, and who will go like a parrot wherever you like to
send him, and will say "Aye" or "No," as a parrot might
do. But, gentlemen, if at 24, as Mr. Raikes seems to think
—or at 25, if that be his age—he ought to understand the
whole wide range of English politics and to be a perfect
master of all these subjects, and not only a master of them
for himself, but in a condition to smite every other man
with denunciation, I say this, if a man can get to that at
the age of 24, what a wonderful fellow he will be by the
time he is 50 or 60—(laughter and applause)—and I really
do think that if Mr. Raikes's education advances in future
years at such a rate as he appears to think it has advanced
of late, I will not tell to what enormous dimensions—moral
dimensions, I mean—ho may not swell in future times. But
this is not the lot of ordinary men. Trust is what your
representative must always ask of you; trust is what I
admit your youthful representative must ask of you in a
peculiar degree ; but if you look back over the long line of
statesmen of this country who have ever, on the whole,
been the best leaders of,opinion—if you take Mr. Pitt, Mr.
Fox, Mr. Canning, Lord Macaulay, Lord John Russell,
Lord Palmerston, and many other leaders, an infinite
number of whom I might quote, you will find they are
all of them men who have been elected in early youth
upon the principle of trust—(applause)—and having honest
English minds, and leading their political life in the light
of day, and enjoying from day to day that inestimable pri-
vilege which we do enjoy of the free and unrestrained com-
ments of our countrymen in general, and of the press in
particular, upon all we say or do. Rely upon it, where the
conscience and character are right, the result will be right
too. (Applause.) The mind will open out under the teach-
ing of experience like a flower under the rain and the sun,
and from those whom you have sent to represent you in
youth you will see spring up by degrees the men who are
to make the name of England respected abroad, and to
promote the happiness of the people of England at home.
(Applause.) And now, gentlemen, how much do you sup-
pose has my advice ever been to my son with regard to all
these questions? I have advised him to declare himself
among you an adherent of Liberal principles—not to mea-
sure too nicely and too stingily the application of these
principles, but to take the principles themselves. And what
do I understand by Liberal principles ? I understand in
the main this by Liberal principles—the principle of trust
in the people only relieved by prudence; but by the prin-
ciples of their opponents, I understand mistrust in the
people only relieved by fear. (Applause.) And why, gen-
tlemen, do I make that recommendation ? Because I look
back over the history of the last 50 years—since the peace
of 1815—and mark to myself the change that has taken
piece in the condition of this country. Why, those of us
who are old enough to recollect that period have been wit-
nesses of that change, and all others have the means of
judging of its extent. Let us go back to.that state:of things.
What was then the condition of the masses of the country?
Their food was shortened by unnatural and artificial laws
—(hear, hear)—and those very same laws which made
their food dear and scarce, made scarce also the employ-
ment by means of which their food was to be paid for.
(Rear, hear, and applause.) The consequence of that
was discontent. And how was that discontent met ? By
laws for repressing the press, and for diminishing the
action of personal liberty; and making more severe the
penalties applicable to those who might seem to manifest
discontent. And the consequence was that the great old
venerable monarchy of England—which, as I trust, we
shall band down to our children stronger and healthier
than we received it from our forefathers—(hear, and ap-
plause)—that 30 or 40 years ago the ancient foundations of
that monarchy were sadly weakened in the hearts and
minds of the great masses of the people. What has taken
place since ? A new and a different tone has come over
legislation. Another spirit guides the deliberations of
Parliament. Parliament has striven to heal differences and
controversy, to extend the franchise, to mitigate penal
laws, to improve and enlarge education, to make justice
acceptable and the law respected, and to remove every oc-
casion of collision and conflict between classes. All these
things, and many more, make up in the main the chapter