The Sun.
London, England, 1853-01-06 00:00:00

A SOUTH SEA VOLCANO.

Just as we reached the great plain of the volcano we
approached the southern limit of the wood and, on
turning its corner, Mauna Loa burst upon us in all its
grandeur. The day.was extremely fine, the atmosphere
pure and clear, except a few flying clouds, and this im-
mense dome rose before us from a plain some 20 miles in
breadth. I had not, until then, formed any adequate
idea of its magnitude and height.: The whole dome ap-
peared of a bronze colour, and its uninterrupted, smooth
outline was relieved against the deep blue of a tropical
sky. Masses of clouds were floating around it, throw-
ing their shadows distinctly on its side, to. which they
gave occasional relief and variety. There was a bluish
haze resting on the plain, that apparently gave it great
distance, though this was partially counteracted by the
distinctiveness of the dome. I now, for the first time,
felt the magnitude of the task I had undertaken. S o
striking was the mountain that I was surprised and dis-
appointed when called won by my friend, Dr. Judd, to
look at the volcano of Kilauea; for I saw nothing be-
fore us but a huge pit, black, ill-looking, and totally dif-
ferent from what I had anticipated. There were no jets
of fire, no erruptions of heated stones, no cones, no-
thing but a depression, that; in the midst of the vast
plain by which it is surrounded, appeared small and in-
si.gnificant. We hurried to the edge of the cavity, in
order to get a view of its interior, and as we approached,
vapour issuing from numerous cracks, showed that
we were passing over ground beneath which fire was
raging. The rushing ,of the wind past us was as if it
were drawn inwards to support the combustion of some
mighty conflagration. When the edge is reached, the
extent of the cavity becomes apparent, and its depth be-
comes sensible by comparjson with the figures of some
of our party who had already descended. The vastness
thus made sensible transfixes the mind with astonish-
ment, and every instant the impression of grandeur and
magnitude increases. To give an idea of its capacity,
the city of New York might be placed within it, and
when at its bottom would be hardly noticed, for it is
three and a half miles long, two and a half wide, and a
thousand feet deep. The bottom looks, in the daytime,
like a heap of smouldering ruins. The descent to the
ledge appears to the sight a short and easy task, but it
takes an hour to accomplish. We pitched our tents in
full view of the volcano, and sat on its northern bank
for a long time in silence. We succeeded in reaching
the second ledge, though the way to it is steep, rugged,
and uncertain. At the edge of the pool, or lake of fire,
the light was so strong that it enabled me to read the
smallest print. I was struck with the absence of any
noise, except a low murmuring, like that which is heard
from the boiling of a thick liquid. The lake was ap-
parently rising, and wanted but a few feet of overflowing
its banks. When I began to reflect upon the position
we were in, its insecurity, and the vast and deep fires
beneath, with the high basaltic walls encompassing us on
all sides, I found it difficult to comprehend how such a
reservoir can thus be pent up, and be viewed in such
close proximity without accident or danger. The whole
party was perfectly silent, and the countenance of each
individual expressed the feeling of awe and wonder which
I felt in so great a degree myself, and which the scene
was so well calculated to excite. No one can see all
this, and yet doubt the theory of the igneous fluidity of
the centre of the earth. All combustible causes that we
are acquainted with• are totally inadequate to produce
such an effect. The whole seemed boiling up like a
fountain, differing only in density and colour.—From
United States Exploring Expedition.

RETIRING PENSIONS OF MINISTERS OF STATE.—Con-
siderable curiosity is entertained as to the retiring allow-
ances of Ministers, and very little is generally known
on the subject. The salaries and pensions of the several
Ministers are as follows, viz. :—First Lord of Treasury,
salary 5,0001. with official residence, pension 2,0001. ;
Foreign Secretary, salary 5,0001., pension 2,0001. ; Home
Secretary, salary 5,0001., pension 2,000/. ; Colonial Se-
cretary, salary 5,000/., pension 2,000/. ; Chancellor of
the Exchequer, salary 5,0001. with official residence, pen-
sion 2,0001. ; First Lord of the Admiralty, salary 4,5001.
with official residence, pension 2,0001. ; President of
Board of Control, salary 3,5001., pension 2,0001. ; Pre-
sident of Board of Trade, salary 2,000/., pension 2,0001.;
)[risk Secretary, salary 5,500/., pension 1,400/. ; Secre-
tary-at-War, salary 2,5801., pension 1,400/. ; Joint Se-
cretary of Treasury, salary 2,0001., pension 1,2001. ;
First Secretary of Admiralty, pension 1,2001. ; Vice-
President of Board of Trade, salary 2,0001., pension
1,2001.

The Hon. J. R. Ingersoll, who succeeds Mr. Abbott
Lawrence, as American Minister to the British Court,
was entertained at a splendid banquet on Monday even-
ing, given by the American Chamber of Commerce, at
the Adelphi Hotel, Liverpool. Sixty gentlemen, in-
cluding the Earls of Derby and Sefton, sat down to
dinner, the chair being occupied by Mr. Eyre Evans.
After the usual loyal toasts had been given,
The CHAIRMAN proposed " The health of the Presi-
dent of the United States." (Cheers.)
The Hon. J. R. INGERSOLL briefly returned thanks.
The CHAIRMAN said he had now arrived at what, in
banquet phraseology, was called the toast of the even-
ing. It was, " The health of his Excellency the Hon.
Mr. R. Ingersoll, ambassador from the United States to
the Court of St. James's." (Vehement cheering.)

The toast was drunk with loud applause.
The Hon. Mr. INGERSOLL, in responding to the toast,
spoke nearly as follows :—Mr, President, my lords and
gentlemen, a public compliment in England is altogether
welcome. It is especially so in Liverpool, because it
sounds like home, and comes near to the heart of an
American. (Hear, hear.) I accepted it with the utmost
gratitude—l receive it on behalf of my country, and I
return it cordially in behalf of that country and of my
very humble self. We are in the midst of Liverpool.
Our hosts are the American Chamber of Commerce of
Liverpool ; their guests are distinguished noblemen,
officers, military and civil, and other e'tilightened gentle-
men. Both are representatives of a social, a political,
and a commercial principle—they grow out of the close
intercourse of two great nations. (Applause.) Wherever
Liverpool has led the way towards the existence of a
general feeling which I must say I have had the happi-
ness to meet in this country wherever I have had the
happiness to be, of kindness and goodwill towards my
country, and Liverpool has 'a right to lead in almost
everything—it is equally to be rejoiced at, for the cause
and effect. If, however, it has happened that the
sentiment throughout the country and the sentiment in
Liverpool are each but the echo of the other, it amounts
to the same thing, and both are welcome. Liverpool might
be called, it would not be doing injustice to the other
places which might put in claims for it, the Queen of the
Ocean, entitled to wear the crown, entitled to wield the
trident of Neptune, not as the sceptre of war, but as an
emblem and instrument of marine power of peace and
harmony. (Loud applause.) The great metropolis of
the country, which for ages has stood unrivalled in her
relations, might put in her claims. Our own city of
New York, which stands with her long arms stretched
out to reach towards Liverpool, might also advance some
claim to a similar position. But Liverpool has done
much towards such a result. Here she stands upon the
very edge of English ground, with her magnificent docks
pushed into the very waters of the ocean, ready to send
out her freights, with the course of every descending
sun, to the now not distant land, and to receive appro-
priate returns. But Liverpool is not merely a place
which commerce departs and to which commerce re-
turns. Her inhabitants are in the habit of calling her a
seaport, with great modesty, as if the seaport were the
great characteristic that belonged to her. It is true that
she is a noble seaport—that she has done everything al-
most which can be conceived, is doing it as its popula-
tion advances and its wealth increases, for the purpose
of making this, her seaport, if not the first, as near
as may be the very first, in the world. (Loud applause.)
It is at present, I believe, the largest for exporting com-
merce. But independent of all that, Liverpool does
herself great injustice if she does not pride herself upon
her domestic and internal arrangements. (Hear.) The
seaport is but the gate to a magnificent town—it is the
opening to the hospitality, and wealth, and all the
elegancies of polished lira . Your architecture is as
chased as your public institutions areliberal and charita-
ble. (Applause.) Your docks, which I have had the
honour to visit to-day under the best of auspices, that of
the Mayor of Liverpool—(applause),—are amongst the
most magnificent works that can be conceived ; but if I
were to specify an object which struck me this morning
as especially entitled to the respect and consideration of
a stranger, it would be that public library, where young
mlri ;Were drawn. off Imp: thAtatorts otvice from the
tendency to dissipation, from possible evil company, by
their minds with every sort of proper amuse-
ment and instruction. (Applause.) A tribute of this
kind is due for the hospitality received and the kindness
manifested ; but it is not exactly what I want to bring to
the consideration of this company, that is, that in Liver-
pool there is the best opportunity of cultivating that kind
of good feeling already referred to, -which begins in the
spirit mentioned by the chairman, and may, perhaps,
terminate in the same Anglo-Saxon feeling which one
day, in defence of constitutional liberty, may call us,
shoulder to shoulder, in the defence of our common and
equal rights—(applause);—it is, that the stranger, com-
ing from my native land, reaches first the port of Liver-
pool, derives his first impressions here—makes his first ac-
quaintances here. Before he passes on to the green fields,
and fine pasturages, and the robust population, and the
ability, and wisdom, and patriotism which he will find
in the interior, he has seen all that is wise, benevolent,
and charitable in Liverpool ;—it is that at last, after
paying his visit to this blissful and blessed land, he re-
turns to his own country through the town ofLiverpool, and
carries with him those last impressions, which are likely
to be the strongest, to his own country, to his own
friends, to his own family, and to his own people. (Ap-
plause.) Mr. President, it is the circumstance of form-
ing associations such as that to which I have alluded,
and of giving them force and influence during our con-
tinuance in this country, which give'rise to the occasions
which have taken place,
some of late, some of weeks,
months, or years ago, which I will call for a moment
to the attention of all who listen to me, which have been
reciprocated, and with a zeal
and feeling which I trust
never will be forgotten, either on the part of those who
receive or communicate them
• On the 19th of June last,
in the river Congo, on the coast of Africa, an American
brig ran aground. She was beset by about 3,000 savages,
who with their hideous yells, armed with muskets,
sabres, and bayonets, and fortified with ropes and
ladders, were about ascending the vessel ; and when
every individual on board would have been massacred,
her Majesty s brig Dolphin, commanded by Lieut, Wood,
'
came first to the rescue of this vessel. He sent a can-
nonade on board, threw shell among the approaching
savages, which burst and dispersed them. He was fol-
lowed by the Firefly, Commander Seymour, who gave like
aid, and, with the assistance of these two vessels, 3,000
savages were dispersed, the American -brig got off, and,
as the captain acknowledges, every one would have
beentimely assistance, she was
able
I have, since I have been
to destroyed,resume her but
voyage, this
in England, communicated these facts to the Foreign
Department, with the thanks of the President of the
United States. This is one side of the picture ;in Liver-
pool you have recently been made acquainted with ano-
ther. As the American mail steamer, the Pacific, was
making her voyage from New York to Liverpool, she
took
a at passage, and encountered a
quite helpless, loaded with
no danger of sinking, but in
danger of going to pieces. The sea was so rough that it
timber,
vessel
a nsdesomewhat
therefore
inwaterlogged,
was impossible at the moment to send a boat to her, and
it is likely those individuals would have perished-16
Britons—but they were in the presence of Americans,
who stood near, if necessary, to sacrifice their lives in
the attempt at succour. They remained six hours in the
neighbourhood of the vessel ; found it then possible to
send a safety boat down ; arrived at the James Stephens ;
Britons,lw6homour fellow-citizens were
hned
them all, and brought them
who were on their
delightedv sheoy a tgoe o
tko t onGo l
assist—restored
sgo boardv_ at
re
in
safety
h friendlyr? --- e possible these cir-
cumstances,rotherly as they un-
doubtedly are—may be aided most materially by cir-
cumstances of intervening interest which undoubtedly
e Now,
as theyit isa v 7
exist between the two countries ; and it is proper, there-
fore, that these circumstances of interest which exist
between brothers and friends, more than strangers,
should also be noticed. It is within the recollection of
some individuals now living that the first parcel of cot-
ton from America was brought, I believe, into this port.
It took some time before the people believed that it had
been grown in America. The little parcel has since
grown to 3,000,000 bales a year. England received two-
thirds of
consumesofthisqua thentit y,or 2,000,000 bales, and our own
country rest.
This is one bond of union.
(Applause.) We have 19,000 vessels engaged in the
traffic between the two countries, amounting to about
3,000,000 of tonnage--by which vessels, which are the
transporters
species
of commerce between the
one a bridge is almost built uouutry of
and
the o every s
thr
be-
tween one country and the other, and we are as near as
it is possible to be, notwithstanding that the Atlantic
rolls between us. (Applause.) But there are other
sources of interested intercourse. You are capitalists—
we men of enterprise. Your capital, the accumulation
sometimes of generations of hereditary wealth, some-
times of prudent economy, sometimes of laboured indus-
try, seeks investment on the other side of the Atlantic ;
our enterprise seeks capital here, and the one and the
other are thus a mutual assistance and advantage, and
which tend to foster the best of goodwill. These are
some of the circumstances which couple us together ;
but there are other circumstances—more important
ties— •

" Which round the heat t are worm',
And cannot, will not be undone."

Our daughters are married to your sons—our sons are
married to your daughters. A constant communica-
tion between these countries of affection, blood, and
marriage subsists, and thus the ties are rendered almost
sacred—(applause)—to break them would be like intro-
ducing commotion, disturbance, and civil war the
worst of wars, into either of our countries, on the one

side or other of the Atlantic. Now, with all these in-
ducements and reasons for harmony and goodwill, is it
possible that there should subsist anything but that sort
of good feeling between us ? We are derived from the
' same race, and speak the same language ; our ancestors
are not precisely the same, but the individuals who
framed our form of government, who framed the consti-
tution of the United States, as it has stood from that
hour to this without alteration, were at one time Bri-
tish subjects,"and became only by the separation of two
great countries citizens of another empire. They gave
to our constitution and laws a system, an order, derived
from Great Britain, which had grown up in Great Bri-
tain during the course of centuries, which had its force,
and has now its permanence, from the stability it ac-
quired here. (Applause.) If there were advantages
when a united government, there came other advan-
tages as independent governments afterwards, in the
immense government which • subsists in trade, and the
mutual improvements which we derive from each other—
in even the occasional interpositions of forgotten language
among you which you considered obsolete, but we have
preserved, and sometimes phrases which you thought extra-
ordinary at first but were afterwards kind enough to adopt
(laughter)—thus mutually to reciprocate kindnesses of all
sorts, even in those respects which perphaps were least
expected from the other side of the Atlantic. (Loud
applause.) But it has been expected upon this occasion
that some little allusion should be made, and I know I
can without impropriety, to circumstances which tran-
spired, in which a point was made of departure from
that good-will which has so long subsisted, and which I
trust may subsist for ever. (Loud applause.) I am not
going to discuss any subject that is or may be at issue
between the two countries. I know of no issue that can
be between these two countries that can lead to other-
wise than the most pacific and honourable result. (Loud
cheers.) We have ;seen on, both sides of the Atlantic
notice taken of some little matters of dispute which did
occur a few months since—we have seen it noticed in
the House of Peers of Great Britain—we leave seen it
noticed in the House of Commons of Great Britain—we
have seen it referred to in the very Message of the Pre-
sident, and all with feelings of that sort which cannot
possibly lead to anything but the most agreeable and
harmonious result. But why should it have been
for a moment that there should have been feelings
either of or even something worse than ill.
will—tendencies to hostility between us ? (Hear, hear.)
It consisted of certain colonial assertions and rights,
those rights being at one time in common between the two
countries, and being precisely the same as were secured
by the treaty of 1765., and continued till war broke out
between the two countries. When a treaty took place,
and it was only in after years that these difficulties
occurred, which I trust will be reconciled, because on
all occasions when these subjects have been alluded to,
other subjects have been introduced, which will make it
one of mutual benefit in the result. What is the reason
that when we are settling this matter of a mere fishery,
a much broader view cannot be taken of the whole sub-
ject than has been in England and America ? Why
should not a commercial treaty be founded upon it which
should be beneficial to both countries, and especially
those colonies more immediately interested in regard to
the fisheries ? (Applause.) Besides, it is all but impos-
sible to suppose that these colonies will not be greatly
the gainers by a commercial intercourse in which they
will participate more largely than anybody else—not
having in themselves the materials of manufacture, grain,
breadstuffs, on the one hand, wnile they have the timber,
1 the coal, and the fish, if you please, on the other. But
why is it, when these fisheries are not themselves multi-
plied to an extent almost to infinitude ; for I think we
are told by writers many years ago, and still there are
sometimes millions of acres of fish below the surface of
the waters ready to be taken by those near them, whether
near to the land or distant from it ? It is well known that
a singular fish of a particular breed—the female cod, lays
between three and four millions of its offspring at the
same time. There was a period when our writers wrote
largely upon this subject--some 38 years ago, when the
fisheries were considered more important round the island
of Great Britain than the colonies. Both, however, are,
important, and both, I trust, will find a result in har-
mony, peace, and goodwill, such as subsists between the
two countries. I do not intend to occupy more of your
time, having spoken more than I ought perhaps already
—(no, no)—but I recollect that Liverpool was the abode
of one who has done as much for the elevation of the
public mind, by his introduction to us of the commercial
men of other countries, as any man who ever lived—
William Roscoe—who, by giving you the lives of such
men as Lorenzo di Medici, made you acquainted, made
us acquainted (for English literature is just as familiar
in the United States as in Great Britain)—made us
acquainted- with those merchants of Florence who did
such honour to their country by their hospitality and
commercial enterprise. I think we are 'told that that
very Lorenzo, whose life is given to the world, had no
monument in Florenee. But his monument is composed
in the English literature which Roscoe gave to the world,
which all of us have read and admired. It has been said
by the chairman that we speak one language. A tie
can scarcely be more extended than this by the social in-
tercourse which we happen to have--by facilities in the
course of business—by all that makes us the same except
the distance of place—by the frame of our Governments,
founded alike on constitutional freedom, one undivided
people. I trust, in sentiment and heart, we shall con-
tinue so to the end of time ; and whenever circumstances
shall render it necessary for one to come to the assistance
and relief of the other—as we have done in those in-
stances upon the ocean at the savage banks of Congo—
as we have seen them illustrated wherever occasion
called them forth, shall see them illustrated to the end
of time—when you, and I, and all, will rejoice .in one
flesh, one brotherhood, and one friendship between Great
Britain and the United States of America. (Applause.)
The CHAIRMAN then rose to propose " The Health of
the Right Hon. the Earl of Derby," a toast which was
received with immense applause. In proposing the
toast the chairman alluded to the transcendant oratory
of the noble lord—to the high offices he had held in
this country—and also to the fact that Lord Derby had
visited the United States many years ago in order to
make himself acquainted with the people and with the
government of that country.
The Earl of DERBY, in responding, said—Mr. Pre-
sident and Gentlemen, the kindness of the reception
which, not for the first time, I have received this even-
ing in this town, proves to me, in a manner most grati-
fying to my feelings, that a public man, however he
may agree with or differ from those with whom he is
associated, may assume, may retain, and may retire, or
perhaps be expelled from office—(laughter)—without
forfeiting in the slightest degree the personal respect and
the personal good feeling of his fellow-countrymen,
who, whatever may be the soundness of his views, he
has endeavoured anxiously and diligently to serve.
(Applause.) Gentlemen, I assure you that I deeply
feel the compliment which you have paid personally to
myself, and also to that body of which I am a humble
member, and over which I do not pretend to exercise
one-tenth part of the influence ascribed to me by my
hon. friend the president this evening. Gentlemen,
with regard to myself, I can only say that I feel
deeply grateful for this high mark of your con-
fidence and your regard, that I shall endeavour,
on every occasion, whether in public or private life,
so to conduct myself, as, whether you agree with
or differ from me in political matters, you shall never
have reason to condemn or to censure the conduct I
shall pursue as a private person. (Applause.) Now,
gentlemen, perhaps I may be permitted to say a few
words upon the subject of that body with which you
have identified me this evening, the body of which I
have the honour of being an unworthy member—to
say a few words upon that body, which is, I conceive,
an important and essential part of the monarchical con-
stitution of this country. And I say it rather, because
I say it in presence of an honourable gentleman with
whom I am proud to acknowledge the friendly relations
which subsist between ourselves—l hope I may say, and
I am sure I may say between our countries—with whose
institutions that body would be highly incongruous, and
in whose institutions accordingly it finds no place. And
yet, gentlemen, in that country, in that great republic—
in that rising and rapidly-increasing empire as we may
call it, but an empire without an emperor—(hear)--in
that growing, that immense republic, we find that the
wisdom and the foresight of the great and illustrious
founders of that constitution (and greater and wiser
men have seldom appeared upon the public stage of
history) found it incumbent, even in the first flush of
the triumph of popular feeling, to interpose some bar-
rier between immediate legislation and the direct re-
flection of the popular will. True it is, they had not,
and if they had, it would have been wholly inconsistent
with their institutions, a hereditary chamber ; but
they supplied in a different manner, wisely adapt-
ing it to their own institutions and system, a barrier
interposing between the direct representative institu-
tion and the legislation of the country, founded upon
the elective principle wisely adapted to their own in-
stitutions—founded, although upon the elective prin-
ciple, yet with a different basis, and representing a
different class of interests ; and it is singular enough
that the two great countries—now, I may say, almost
the only homes and refuge of liberty throughout the
world—these grest countries under which, with diver-
sities of institutions and diVersities of habi€s, there
exists at the same time a great uniformity of principle,
and a great similarity and identity of laws, as of lan-
guage—that these two great countries should have
formed their constitutions, starting from precisely oppo-
site points of view. In this country the rights of the
people, and the liberties of the people, have been of
slow and tardy growth. We started from the other end
of the scale, with almost unlimited monarchical power,
and aristocratic and feudal power of almost boundless
extent. By slow degrees the rights of the people, as the
enlightenment of the country proceeded, have made
their way and acquired their due preponderance ; and
they have attained in this country that state in which I
will venture to say that, not excepting the great re-
public of the United States, there is no country in which
a larger measure of rational liberty is enjoyed
than that
of which I have the honour of being a native. (Applause.)
We have reduced in this country the power of the
Crown and the power of the nobles to an amount which

deprives the one and the other of all 'offensive power,
of all offensive privilege—(hear, bear)—and leaves
them only so much influence as to steady and balance
the machine of the constitution, and prevent the rapid
and constant fluctuations that might arise from the
unchecked exercise of the immediate popular will.
(Loud applause.) Now, starting from the other and
opposite point, let us look to the great example of the
republic of the United States ; injustice—l do not hesi-
tate to use the word—le to resistance ; resistance led
~jiti
to revolution • revolution 1 to the full enjoyment and
full success of populay, rinciple and popular rights ;
and yet in the very flush of triumph and success, when
some excesses might have been pardoned, in indulging
a spirit so congenial to the feelings of the country, and
which had acquired so great a triumph, the far-seeing
statesman of that day foresaw it would be necessary, to
a certain extent, to check the predominance of that
purely popular influence, and to interpose—not, indeed,
that they borrowed from the mother country—but in-
terpose some check which would tend as a balance to
the constitution and as a counterpoise and equivalent to
the House of Lords in the mother country, as far as
such an equivalent can counterpoise. Gentlemen, much
no doubt may be said against the doctrine of hereditary
succession, and more especially hereditary legislation.
Yet let me be permitted to refer to a word or two which
fell from the President on this occasion. He has quoted
one instance in which the example of the father is not
wholly lost on the son ; and some seven or eight and
twenty years ago, I was led—a much younger man—to
visit that republic which he has likened to an infant

Hercules. So my son, inheriting his father's desire,
has visited that matured republic—there seen the
rapidity of the growth of the institutions, and
the moral and material prosperity of the country,
and been able to estimate how rapid and great
is the • growth of a country whose institutions
are deeply interwoven in - the hearts and affections
of the people of that country. (Great applause.)
Gentlemen, no doubt, against hereditary legislation
much may be said—much that is very plausible, and
much that is very sound ; and far from me be it to say
that all the members of that house to which I have the
honour to belong are perfect models of legislators—
(laughter)—or have made ample use of all the advan-
tages they possess. Yet I will venture to say that there
are advantages in that hereditary legislation of the
House of Lords, which are not to be overlooked in an
old country like this, and which form an important ele-
ment and link in our free monarchical constitution.
Gentlemen, it is something, perhaps, that the certainty,
in the course of human events, of being called upon to
perform the duties of legislation encourages the eldest
sons of peers, at an early period of life, to devote them-
selves to public service, and instead of wasting their
time in idleness and folly, to apply themselves to the
public interests, make themselves masters of public af-
fairs, and to enter life not as members of an exclusive
body, but applying to the favour of the people for seats
in the popular House of Representatives. (Applause.)
There they learn their habits of business—there they
learn self-sacrifice and devotion of their time and labour
to the public service; and when, in the course of nature,
they succeed to the Upper House, they bring with them
those habits of business, those habits of labour, but
still more those sympathies and those affections, as
directed towards the interests of the public and com-
monalty of the country, that they could hardly learn
in any other school so well as in a popular assem-
bly, elected by a popular franchise. Gentlemen,
I may also venture to say there is another advantage.
As we all know, the next object to the acquisition of a
position and a place in society is the power in this coun-
try of transmitting that power and place to those who
are to follow ; and depend upon it, in stimulating to
great exertion and calling forth noble enterprise by it in
the ranks of the army, and the law, of commerce, or of
professions, be it known to all the motive is not a small
one, which looks not only to securing present and per-
sonal advantage for oneself, but for transmitting to our
posterity the permanent advantages derived from that
position, and something perhaps from the name of those
who have gone before them. (Applause.) Now, gentle-
men, allow me to ask, is the House of Lords in this
country, what in some other countries it may be, an ex-
clusive branch between which and the rest of the com-
munity there is an impassable gulf. There are countries
in which noblemen and the commonalty are so far sepa-
rated that from generation to generation they are within
the same country, but not connected together—in diffe-
rent societies, and incapable of passing the barrier which
subsists between them. Happily, far different is the
case with us. The House of Lords in this country is
constantly receiving fresh reinforcements and influence
from the popular element, constantly receiving rein-
forcements of new blood, while, on the other hand,
in the second generation at all events, the younger sons
of the peerage are merged in the commonalty, and be-
come a portion of the general masts of the community
without any separating barrier. Gentlemen, I think
I could hardly take a stronger instance of the
manner in which these 'reinforcements of the House
of Lords take place than those which have occurred in
the last ten months—in three cases, the only three in
which I have had the honour of advising the Crown to
grant a peerage. These three cases are drawn from
three different professions. One was a noble and gallant
officer, connected originally with a distinguished family,
but still more distinguished for having been many years
the right-handed counsellor of that distinguished and
lamented man this country has lately lost. In the chief
command of the army he had attained a military name,
and his services were well known to every military offi-
cer, and his conduct in that position was well and highly
appreciated. (Applause.) The second was a gentleman
of a family of recent origin, but whose services in the
diplomatic career have reflected even additional lustre
upon that great name which you in this town had many
years ago the honour and privilege of calling youlown
representative, bearing the name of Canning. (Hear.)
The third was a gentleman whose parents were of the
very humblest class,
,whose parents had no higher rank
than small shopkeepers in a little country town, who
started in public life with no advantages beyond those
of his own ability and his own energy ; and yet, by
his own labour and his own talents, without any adven-
tituous advantages, passing through all the higher
ranks of that laborious and learned profession to
which he had devoted himself. It will ever be a
satisfaction to me that I advised the Crown to call
to the House of Lords, as Lord High Chancellor of
England, the son of a small tradesman of Lewes,
who has illustrated- his own name and character as Sir
Edward Sugden ; and who has reflected, I will venture
to say, still higher honour by the name of Lord St. Leo-
nards. (Cheers.) Gentlemen, I can hardly give, I think,
three stronger instances to show that while, according
to the working of our Constitution, a seat in the Lords
is an object of just and laudable ambition, how far that
distinction is constantly open to every rank and class,
and how, by the instance of three different professions,
the only three in last year raised to that rank is afford-
ed the opportunity of showing the favour of the Sove-
reign conferred upon individuals possessing high and me-
ritorious claims in those professions. (Applause.) Gen-
tlemen, I trust you will forgive me for having said these
few words upon the subject of that House ; but, before
I sit down, I hope you will allow me, upon my own part,
upon the part of the Government to which I have lately
had the honour of belonging to, and also, I will venture
to say, upon the part of the present Government, and of
every Government which can exist in this country, to
express how strongly I feel, and how strongly I am sure
they will all feel, satisfaction at that friendly feeling
which upon this and upon every occasion has been mani-
fested and proved to exist between this great country
and hardly less country, the residence of our brethren of
the United States. (Hear, hear, and loud applause.)
Sir, it affords me particular pleasure to have this op-
portunity of testifying, under the presidency of one
to whom the commerce of Liverpool is greatly in-
debted for the efforts he has made to increase its accom-
modation and facilities—(hear)—to meet upon this occa-
sion the distinguished representative from the United
States—(applause)—with the representailve of that great
country, with whom we have so many ties, of laws, of
language, and of liberty, with which it is of the utmost
importance to the interest of the whole world that we
should maintain the friendly relations which happily
subsist at this moment, and to have an opportunity of
assuring him that whatever ministry may hold the reins
of government, they, unless wholly blind to the interest
of their own country, as well as the world at large, can
have no other object than cultivating the friendship of
the United States. (Loud applause.) My honourable
friend, if I may so be allowed to call him, the minister
near me, has adverted to some differences which have
arisen between us, and some points which have led to
controversy and remark ; I will not, of course, upon
such an occasion as this, enter upon a discussion of the
merits of that question, but of which I feel convinced
of
may
rya
that the best mode of settling the differences.,
m whichod e
arise between this country and the United States es e-
cially—but I will say also, this and any other eountr
is a frank and moderate communication
representa-
we
vheirl e
aaff
rtda me e
el concessionea ti any
views and claims, temperately put forward and
steadily enforced upon the part of the
ae t
ra
tives of those nations. (Applause.) At tdam
ismurpeor•Lfntthiris,ghttheat
neither of the parties, even that to whom it f
is m nade or
that which makes it, so on the other hand the friendship
of nations is best maintainedb calm and temperate
believe Ao be their rights ;
and assertionon
thoef
othert hat whichhand
bthyeya
moderate and liberal view
of those which are the rights and privileges of others.
And let me mention, rights
especially with regard to the
United States, there is on their part all that plain
straightforward habit, honesty, and fair dealing, derived,
s
I will venture to
say, from their English ancestors, which
will never induce them
country
tothink the worse of a 'British
minister who steadily m ainta.
s thatan dwhaitethhheeeacmonecetiivmees
to be the interest of his
does not desire to push those interests beyond the limits
of friendship and good feeling which the two countries
mutually demand. (Applause.) Gentlemen, I have no
fear of any question, of any differences arising between
the United States and this country. We have too many
ties to bind us together. We have the ties of comm on
language—the ties of common laws in many respect s
we have the ties of common liberty—we have the tieswe
of rapidly extending and increasing commerce
feeling
have also ties, I am sure, of personali
to bind us together ; and my firm beliefo
~
_s
opinion, that
if questions arise in which differences ot