The Sun.
London, England, 1865-09-15 00:00:00

The Chancellor of the Exchequer at
Hawarden.

On Wednesday the residents at Hawarden and
district entertained the Chancellor of the Exche-
quer, Mr. W. H. Gladstone, M.P., Sir S. Glynne,
and others at a banquet. An address complimenting
Mr. W. IL Gladstone on his return for Chester was
presented to him.
Mr. W. H. GLADSTONE, M.P., in reply, said—lt
becomes my pleasing duty to offer you my grateful
thanks both for the address which has been presented
to me and for the kind manner in which my health
has been proposed and received by you. The ap-
plause I receive with unqualified satisfaction, but
with regard to the address I must speak with some
reserve, because I cannot help feeling some doubt as
to the realisation of the bright anticipations which
it expresses. In that address you have been kind
enough to congratulate me upon getting into Par-
liament so early in life. lam deeply sensible of
the great good fortune I have enjoyed in that re-
spect. From that very fact I may say that dur-
ing the election I had to undergo a considerable
amount of what may be called very innocent
chaff. (Laughter.) During my almost daily visits
into Chester my eyes were usually greeted each
morning with some new placard on the walls, em-
bodying, with some variation of form, the witti-
cisms of our opponents, and the main idea that ran
through them all was that I ought to be regarded
in the light of a very small child. (Laughter.)
Undoubtedly, Parliamentary life is to be regarded
as a profession, in which it is necessary to serve an
apprenticeship, just as is done in any other profes-
sion. (Hear, hear.) I believe the day is gone by,
never to return, for the nation to witness such a
phenomenon as that of a Prime Minister only 23
years old, which I believe was the age of Mr. Pitt
when he became supreme in the Government. At
present a different humour seems to exist, and we
behold a Prime Minister upwards of fourscore years.
It is not my intention to dwell at all upon the vic-
tory won by the Liberals at the election at Chester.
No doubt my success was particularly gratifying to
me, and the more so because it was necessary to go
through a considerable amount of hard and irksome
work to achieve it. (Hear.) But this is not a
political meeting ; its object is one which soars far
above politics. (Hear.) It is in part to eat a good
dinner—(laughter)—and that part of the proceed-
ings we have, I believe, accomplished in a very
satisfactory manner. (Renewed laughter.) On that
point wonderful unanimity seems to prevail in this
assembly, though I am quite sure that it is im-
possible all who are gathered together now can
entertain the same political sentiments. (Hear,
hear, and laughter.) Having expressed his un-
willingness to introduce any subject of contro-
versy, Mr. Gladstone made a few remarks upon
the present position of parties, which he thought
were in a state of extreme confusion, and the
line between which was so fine that it was
sometimes difficult to tell from the declaration of
the candidate on the hustings whether he was
a Liberal or a Conservative ; he then briefly touched
upon the cordial feeling subsisting between England
and France, as evidenced recently in the friendly
visitations by the fleets of the two countries ; and,
in conclusion, made a few more personal remarks.
The chairman had expressed a hope, he said, and
the same hope is expressed in the address presented
to me, that I may follow in the footsteps of my
illustrious father. (Hear, hear.) With regard to
that, I certainly feel convinced that I could not have
'a loftier or higher aim before me, but I must also
add that I think there are many things less difficult
in respect of which a man might be excused if he
desponded or even despaired of attaining them.
(Hear, hear.) Whatever may be my course in life,
I shall at any rate hope never to forsake the path of
integrity and of uprightness. (Cheers.) 1 trust
never to give you, gentlemen, any cause to repent
that you did honour to me on this occasion—an oc-
casion of which I assure you that I feel proud, and
the recollection of which I shall feel glad to cherish.
(Loud cheers.)
The healths of Sir Stephen Glynne and the Rev.
11. Glynne having been cordially drunk, Mr. J.
BANKES, who avowed himself a Conservative, pro-
posed " The health of the Chancellor of the Exche-
quer," which met with a most enthusiastic reception.
The CHANCELLOR of the Exc HEUER, whose rising
was the signal for renewed applause, returned thanks
in the following terms :—Mr.Chairman,Mr.Bankes,
and ladies and gentlemen, I am deeply indebted to
you all for the kind manner in which you have been
pleased to receive this toast, and I am particularly
indebted to my hon. friend who was so good as to
propose it, not only for the indulgent, and more
than indulgent, manner for which he 11718 pleased to
speak of myself, but, above all, in that truly Eng-
lish frankness with which he has declared the
footing on which he appears among us to-day. My
honourable friend has said that this is a meeting
from which politics are excluded, and I must con-
fess that I think it is very good there should be
such meetings. (Hear, hear.) We have lately had a
general election ; we have lately been fighting one
with another. Now the rule of Englishmen is when
they work to work, when they play to play, when
they fight to fight, and when they have done fighting
to shake hands. (Cheers and laughter.) lam there-
fore very glad that my hon. friend and others who I
may not be precisely united with myself in political
sentiments are so good as to appear among usto-day,
and I trust that no word which may be spoken in
this room will cause a moment's pain or give rise to
a disagreeable reflection in their minds. (Cheers.)
And this is not on the mere negative principle of
abstinence from wounding others. There is a broader
principle involved. It is the thought that along with
all our grounds of difference as members of parties
we have great agreements which we possess as Eng-
lishmen. (Cheers.) We are alike in valuing the
Constitution under which we live ; we are alike in
loving the Queen ; we are alike in revering thelaws ;
we are alike in wishing to preserve and hand down
to our children in still greater efficiency the institu-
tions under which we live. (Loud cheers.) More-
over, I will say that in my opinion every intelligent
member of a political party knows perfectly well that
he is indebted not only to the members of his own

_
party, but also to the members of the other party.
(Rear, hear.) There is no doubt that now and then
they give you a 'very ugly knock--(a laugh)--but we
must look at something more than that, and I say
that the existence of one party in this country is
just as essential as the existence of another.
(near, hear, and cheers.) I know very well that
the great bulk of the gentlemen I look in the
face in the Rouse of Commons have just the same
earnest, devoted desire to promote the interests
of the country as I trust I have myself, and as
I am certain those among whom I have the
pleasure to sit possess.
ut, at the same time, you
may depend upon it that if we were
you
all oce side, we
should go wrong. (A laugh
u must have a
weight in each scale, or one will go up and the other
will go down. It is very well to talk of the confi-
dence of the people--and I wish always te, possess
the confidence of the people—but, notwithstanding,
it is a very good thing to have somebody to look
sharp after you. (A laugh.) If you have the best
stablishment it
possible set of workmen in any e ,

does not show any want of confidence in them if
you say you must have a foreman, somebody to see
that they do their duty ; and whatever the Oppo-
sition may be, whatever the Government maybe, it

is the business of the Opposition to see that the
Government do their duty, and to find fault with
them when they do not. (Hear, hear.) I admit
that in moments of debate, when it is hot and keen,
we do not bear this thought in mind so much per-
haps as we ought to do—yet at meetings of this
kind we look at the matter from a more philosophi-
cal point of view, and looking at it from that phi-
losophical stand point, I do not hesitate to say that
each party is indebted to the animadversions and
criticisms of the other. (Hear.) To pass on, this is
an occasion on which I won't quite say we who are
growing old get young again but it is an occasion
on which our memory goes back to old times. The
Rector, in reply to your having drunk his health, has
told you that when he was an undergraduate at
Oxford he was for a. short period in Parliament,
and that, exercising the privilege which then at-
lached to members" of Parliament, he wrote franks.
can add any testimony in corroboration of the
Rector's sts4 ement, for I remember that, being an