The Sun.
London, England, 1862-10-03 00:00:00

TIIE .R1G.117 HON. B. _DISBAELI AT
AYLESBURY.

AYLESBURY, THURSDAY.

The dinner of the Royal and Central Bucks
Agricultural Association took place in this town
yesterday.
The Right Hon. B. DISRAELI, M.P., in reply to
the toast of his health, after some prefatory re-
marks in reference to the association and the show
of cattle, &c., observed—lt was said, when prizes
were offered to a labourer for excellence and skill
in his calling, this society had no right to come
forward in so ostentatious a manner to reward his
merit, but that was a matter which ought to be left
to his master and employer. Now that has always
appeared to me to be a most weak and fallacious
argument. (Hear, hear, and cheers.) The other
day, at Buckingham, a peer of the realm gained a
prize for the horned stock he exhibited. 1 do not
suppose that he felt ashamed or degraded because
he obtained five guineas or a silver cup on that
occasion. (Loud cheers.) On the contrary, I
have no doubt that Lord Southampton felt
excessively pleased, and that he received the
intelligence of his success with that justifiable
self-complacency which any man who had suc-
ceeded in any object he had at heart would natu-
rally feel. (Hear, hear, and cheers.)
I myself, last
year, sitting next to my hon. friend Mr. Lowndes,
offered a prize, through his instrumentality, for the
best crop of roots in the Vale of Amersham and the
locality. I am informed that some of the most
eminent farmers in the county have competed for
that prize, and in a few days we shall have the
name of the successful competitor announced.
(Cheers.) I cannot see why, on the same principle,
when holding out emulation to the higher classes
of society in order to stimulate them to increased
excellence, we should shut out all other classes from
the exercise of that principle which is the author of
all that is good in man. (Cheers.) The same prin-
ciple of emulation which makes the peer and large
landed proprietor produce his stock, or the farmer
compete for superior crops, that same principle of
emulation ought to be brought to bear upon the
shepherd and the ploughman, upon the hedger and
the thatcher. (Loud cheers.) They ought to feel,
if they are eminent in their craft or calling, that
they have obtained public appreciation and gained
public approbation. (Hear, hear.) These are two
of the great objections which some twenty years or
more were urged against these societies. Of late
the great objectors have fallen upon one single and
particular reward, which is offered to the agricul-
tural labourer by those associations which at the
same time had aimed at the greater objects in agri-
culture—an extended knowledge of the art of agri-
culture, the improvement of stock, the invention of
machinery, and all those great subjects which engage
us in the science of husbandry. They now object to
one single point upon which they think these socie-
ties may be attacked, and that is the reward which
is offered to those who claim our respect and recog-
nition by their long service. (Hear.) Although
that is a controverted point, it appears to me
that it is one which it is not difficult to decide
upon. What was the origin of these rewards
when they were first instituted ? We had to
act upon a peasantry who, through the maladmi-
nistration of the poor laws, were not in that posi-
tion in which we wished to find the labourers of the
land. We had to create in them a feeling of self-
respect, and to develop a feeling of emulation.
These rewards were devised with a thorough know-
ledge of that class, and were well weighed and
considered. The purpose was excellent. I would
ask you what has been the result ? (Loud cheers.)
Has it not been most favourable ? There is no
doubt that at the present moment these rewards are
eagerly sought after and appreciated by the labourer
of the land. I speak now to practical men, and I
am sure they know this, and will corroborate my
statement. (Hear, hear.) Gentlemen, there is, I
should say, one class of prizes in which I think this
society is somewhat deficient, and which has been
introduced in the South with very great effect, I
mean those prizes which should induce the agricul-
tural labourer to pay greater attention to the condi-
tion of his residence, and of everything that sur-
rounds it. I am myself disposed to offer a prize
with that object next year, because I have seen it
produce most beneficial results in several districts in
the South where a similar prize is awarded. (Cheers.)
The habitation of the labourer of late years has
very much changed. The attention of the landlords

and proprietors has been much directed to this ques.
tion, and there has been an immense improvement
in that respect, so far as the Chilterns are concerned.
But the residences of the poor are not improved
merely by the investment, on the part of the land-
lord, of capital in the construction of better dwel-
lings. If you wish to improve the residences of the
poor, or rather of the labouring class, you must
create in them that, spirit which appreciates the
propriety of a house, and in order to effect that re-
sult you must have recourse to those means by
which you create emulation in Peers of the realm
and Members of Parliament, and large acred squires
and prosperous farmers ; you must appeal to that
spirit of emulation which is the author of all excel-
lence in society. Entertaining these views, with
the permission of the society, I shall be most happy
to give a prize for that purpose next year, (Cheers.)
Gentlemen, there are one or two observations which
1 should wish to make to you upon subjects con-
nected with the condition of your class. In the first
place, I rejoice that I can congratulate you upon a
good harvest. So far as I can form an opinion, the
harvest of this county especially is a good harvest
It is a county which, although not very large, nor
in its geograpaical character very long, in reality
possesses a greater variety of soils, and I might
say a greater variety of climates, than counties
which upon the map appear to be of much greater
magnitude. So far as I can observe, and I have
been about the country lately a good deal, I should
say that the harvest of England, in which we are
all interested, is by no means the bad harvest
which was anticipated in the summer, and the
county of Buckingham may rank in the first class.
(Cheers.) At this moment, touching on the sub-
ject of the comparative prosperity of our fortunes
as the landed interest, I cannot refrain from advert-
ing to one topic to which on another occasion I felt
it my duty to allude, and one which on all occa-
sions at the present time I can scarcely believe any
Englishman can keep silence upon. I refer to the
contrast between the comfort and prosperity we en-
joy, and the condition in which a very large class
of the labourers of England in the northern part of
the kingdom is placed. (Hear, hear.) I would not
for one moment indulge in any very flattering and
fulsome panegyric on the labouring classes of Lan-
cashire, Cheshire, and Yorkshire. The people have
their parasites as well as aristocracies and monar-
chies, and I am not one of them; but it is impossi-
ble for anyone to be insensible to the intelligence
and good sense with which the Working classes of
the North of England have deported them during
this terrible visitation, which has not been brought
upon them by their own folly—which has not been
brought upon them by the inscrutable decrees of
Providence, but by the passions of men. (Hear,
hear, and cheers.) Hitherto they have borne
their sufferings with a manly spirit, and with
a good sense which has not astonished
me, as I am not altogether unacquainted
with that class of our countrymen ; but I cannot
conceal from myself that the gloomy period of the
year is now arriving when that which is now dark
in fortune must become of a still deeper hue, and the
possibility, and more than possibility, is that a more
extensive appeal must be made to their fellow,coun •
trymen to support them than has hitherto been
made to those classes who from their local connexions
and spontaneous charity have already largely son.
tributed towards the relief of their suffering. neigh-
that appeal be made the landed
bours. lam sure it
interests throughout this country will most cordially
re3pond to it, and I am anxious that he county of
Bu c king ham, which has always taken the lead in
public afftirs, should, when that occasion arrives,
not be backward in its contributions. (Hear and
cheers.) I think the opportunity is one that should
not be lost, and at this moment, when we aro hold-
ing a successful meeting of the most
ancient agri-
cultural association, I believe, in this country when
the whole of England is witnessing similar
I)assem -
lies. Which
prove the futility of the attacks tllat ,