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

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 languag,t-;4ur ancestors
are not precisely the same, but the intlividuals who
frr,,nred our form of government, who framed the vonsti-
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,
arid 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
alnong 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.) lam 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 honcturable result, (Loud
cheers.) We hive 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 have 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 bas 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,
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. Ido 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, M. o-e 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 &me 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 brotherbood, 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-

Eying 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 &)mplirdeilt which you. have paid persOfially 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 count;g 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) round 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 habits, 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