The Sun.
London, England, 1865-09-22 00:00:00

Mr. Disraeli, M. P., at Aylesbury.

AYLESBURY, Thursday.

The annual dinner of the-members and friends of

- the. Royal and Central Bucks Agricultural Associa-
tion took place yesterday afternoon at the George
Hotel. The Right Hon. B. Disraeli presided, and
among the' guestiwere—Mr. S. G. Smith, M.P.,
for the borough ; the Venerable Archdeacon Bicker-
steth, Mr. T. Fremantle, Mr. P. Dauncy, Mr.
Acton Tindall, Mr. J. Treadwell, Capt. Selfe, Mr.
W. Lowndes, Mr. W. T. Morris, Mr. G. M. Allen-
der, Mr. Fell, Mr. J. Hale, Mr. G. A. Lepper, &c.
After the usual loyal toasts had been proposed
and duly honoured,
The CHAIRMAN said—lt now becomes ray duty
very shortly to call your attention to the circum-
stances under which we meet to-day, and the causes
of our assembling. We have always held these
meetings of the Royal Buckingham and Central
Association after the harvest, and I think very
wisely. At that moment the termination of great
anxieties has arrived, and we are able to form some
opinion as to our position. I know that the
result of a harvest is a subject upon which a man
must be influenced by considerable moral courage
to offer an opinion before an assembly of Bucking-
hamshire farmers. At the same time I believe I
may venture to say—l may venture to congratu-
late you upon a fair harvest this year. (Cries of
" Hear, hear," " No, no," and cheers.) Gentlemen,
I must say that I consider this an epithet which on
the whole may describe the harvest throughout the
country ; but if I were to mention, generally speak-
ing, a locality in which a warmer epithet might be
used, and instead of a " fair harvest" say a good
harvest, I should say that is the case in the happy
and favoured county in which we live. (Cheers.)
Remember this, that throughout the greater part of
the county—l admit there are exceptions--but
throughout the greater part of the county you
stacked the wheat before the weather broke. (Hear,
hear," and " No, no.") Generally speaking, in that
part of the county in which I reside we had the
satisfaction of stacking our wheat before the
weather broke. (Hear, hear.) I admit that the
brightness of our barley was tarnished by the gusts
and showers. That was a misfortune. But it is
an ill wind—you know the rest—(laughter)—and
the gusts and showers-that tarnished the brightness
of the barley renovated and recovered, and did more
than that in some instances to the root crops.
(Cheers.) And therefore I think we may find some
consolation and compensation in that circumstance.
Remember our root crops last year, and remember,
when you were speculating in this room and other
rooms in the county upon the price of meat in con-
sequence of the want of food and fodefer that would
occur, I ventured then to warn you, -or rather I in-
timated—for I never presume to warn—that nothing
was so unwise as to draw your conclusions from a
contracted area of observation, and that I had
reason to hope that the root crop of England
generally was not like that of the county of
Buckingham. That expression produced at the
time considerable dissent, and some expressions of
incredulity such as those we have heard
this evening. (Laughter and " Hear, hear.")
But what was the result? The result was that
which you all know—that throughout the north of
England the root crops, while our fields were almost
blasted, were exuberant and productive ; and when
you come to the great result—the price of meat—
you find it was not affected in the degree in which it
was supposed it would be affected, estimating the
condition of the county of Buckingham. (Hear.)
Having just arrived from the north, I can give you
some news from that part of the country which may
be considered important. Within the last few weeks
I have passed over the breadth of the county of
Durham, through almost the whole of the North
Riding of Yorkshire, and over a great portion of the
county of Westmoreland. Those districts, last year
so distinguished by the exuberant condition of the
root crops, are now in a state much more resembling
that of the county of Buckingham last year ; and
therefore, when I hear of calculations made from the
mistake of drawing conclusions from too limited an
area—as I did the other day in a neighbouring county

-- mum, wiTula l.rc 11;0, tIV r,..
from the exuberance of the root crops, I beg to in-
form you that in the north of England, where such
a considerable effect was last year produced on the
price of meat from that cause, the reverse is now
the case, and you may now sincerely congratulate
yourselves on your own position. (Cheers.) And I
say that, although the harvest of England is a fair
harvest, the harvest of Buckinghamshire has been a
good harvest. (Hear, hear.) But I admit that at
this moment the agricultural mind, especially in this
county, is not merely thoughtful of the result of the
condition of the crops. We are in a state which na-
turally occasions the utmost anxiety to all men, not
merely connected with agriculture, but to all the
inhabitants of this country, from that mysterious
plague which has appeared, and which has produced
such disastrous results, and may occasion conse-
quences of the most fearful character. (Hear, hear.)
I will not trouble you with any speculation as to
the origin of the cattle pest. I believe that in this
county—and I say it with pride—we have men as
competent to give an opinion on the subject as any
men in her Majesty's dominions. But it is a
subject on which all must speak with great distrust
and diffidence. Her Majesty's Government have
made up their minds that it has not been imported,
and they have framed a great many measures by
which they hope the evil may be averted or, at least,
palliated ; and although it may not be difficult to
criticise sonic things that have been done or said, I
must say that on their part there has been a sincere
desire to do their duty, and that they are prepared
to propose all such measures as may be considered
necessary for the occasion. (Hear, hear, and No,
no.) I admit that there are some measures which
mightbe proposed which have not yet been proposed,
but there may be differences of opinion on that head.
There are a considerable body of men speculating
on the calamities of the country, and who are
tempted by low prices to buy tainted animals and
circulate this fatal disorder. I should like to see
such conduct on the part of such individuals ac-
knowledged by the law as offences against the realm,
and made subject to a penalty. (Cheers.) But it
is not in the power of the Government—of the
Privy Council—to act in such a direction at present.
They can only act in deference to the powers which
Parliament has granted them, and it is a grave ques-
tion whether a Minister is to call Parliament toge-
ther to attain such an object and would be justified
in so doing. On the whole, I think there is an in-
clination on the part of the Government to meet the
evil, and it is our duty to support them as much as
we can, and where they are wanting to supply the
deficiency. (hear, hear.) I have watched the con-
duct of the county of Buckingham with feelings of
great anxiety, but also of justifiable pride. The
manner in which the farmers
of this county
came forward at the beginning, showing their
organising power, their capacity of self-govern-
tone to the general conduct of
ment, giving a
the country, was highly to their praise and
honour. There was no want of sympathy or feeling
on my part as to the course which ought to be taken
by the proprietors of the soil. I thought from the
beginning that there ought to have been a county
meeting at which the proprietors of the soil should
have announced that they were prepared to acknow-

ledge that the visitation was not a local but a na-
tional calamity, and I have no reason to believe that
that feeling was not shared by others. But the time

was pressing, the farmers were detennined to act,

and they did so with great judgment and discretion.
(I fear, hear.) They formed local societies, and it
was obvious that it was totally impossible to follow
them rip, if the disease did not enter the county, by
anything like a county movement with any effect. If
that great calamity occurs—if the pest does enter the
county and ravage our herds, I will be the first to
sign a requisition to the High Sheriff to call a meet-
ing, in order that the whole county may take such
steps as they think will enable them to bear their

share in the visitation, which must be looked upon as
a national calamity, and not as a local visitation.
(Hear, hear.) The result of the cattle pest has been
this—it has shorn the exhibition to-day of some of its
greatest ornaments. I cannot entertain a doubt as to
the wisdom and discretion of the committee in declar-
Lz, that the exhibition of Lome(' cattle ahould uot talic