The Sun.
London, England, 1846-12-10 00:00:00

STEYNING CATTLE SHOW.

STEYNING, MONDAY NIGHT.—The annual meeting of
the West Sussex Agricultural Association was held here
to-day. The show of cattle took place in the marning.
The general quality of the stock was much superior to
that exhibited on former occasions. Among the stock
which excited the most attention were some beasts bred

by Mr. Gates, of Steyning, and Mr. Coppard, of Hor-
sham; a heifer, bred by Mr. Gates; a Sussex steer,
under three years old, bred by Mr. Marshall, of Hurst
Pierpoint; a pen of sheep belonging to Mr. Apperton,
which gained the first prize in that class; and a pen of
sheep, exhibited as extra stock, bred by Mr. Dennet, of
Woodmancote.
The dinner was given at the White Horse Tavern.
The Duke of Richmond presided, and among the most
distinguished guests were Lord Edward Howard, Mr.. C.
Goring, M.P., Major Beresford, M.P., Major Sandham,
the Earl of March, M.P., and Sir H. Goring. About 100

persons sat down to dinner.
After the cloth was withdrawn, the healths of " The
Queen" and " The Queen Dowager, Prince Albert, and
the rest of the Royal Family," were given by the chair-
man, and received with great enthusiasm.
The CHAIRMAN said, he had now to ask them to drink
the health of a nobleman who had for some time resided
in that county, whose ancestors had long possessed pro-
perty in the district, who had subscribed most liberally
to the funds of this association, and who, but for the
fatigue he had undergone during the last ten days,
would have occupied the chair on this occasion. He
begged to give " The Health of the Duke of Norfolk,
Earl Marshal."

The toast was drunk with three times three, and loud
cheering.
Lord EDWARD HOWARD, in returning thanks, ex-
pressed his regret that the Duke of Norfolk was unable
to attend this meeting. The visit with which her Ma-

jesty and Prince Albe'rt had been graciously pleased to
honour his noble father at Arundel Castle had entailed
upon him considerable fatigue in making the necessary
arrangements for the reception of his Royal visitors, and
for paying them the respect due to their rank and station;
and it was merely owing to this circumstance that he
was prevented from being present on this occasion.
The CHAIRMAN then gave the health of the county
members, observing that he hoped March intended to do
his duty, and if he did not he trusted they would turn
him out.—(" Hear, hear," and laughter.)
The Earl of MARCH, who wus loudly cheered, said
that he hoped, so long as he deserved to be their repre-
sentative, they would allow him to enjoy that honour ;
but, if he failed to keep the bargain he had made with
them, the Chairman had very properly advised them to
kick him out.—(Laughter.) He (the Earl of March)
was quite willing to abide such a test.—(Cheers.) He
must say that he considered meetings of this kind were
most advantageous, not only to the landlord, to the
tenant, and to the labourer, but to the country in gene-
ral, which in a great measure owed its pre-eminence to
them. People might laugh at associations for the im-
provement of stock and say they were of no use, but he
considered that persons who held such opinions were
among the greatest idiots that this country could pro-
duce.—(Hear, hear, and a laugh.) He maintained that
one great advantage of these meetings, even if they were
attended by no other, was that of bringing landlords and
`tenants more closely together, and thereby preserving
those links in society which were the mainstay of the
British constitution. He pledged himself that, when
they were dissatisfied with his conduct, he would make
his bow to them and retire ; but he had now only to
thank them for the honour they had done him, and to
wish them all prosperity and happiness.
The Noble CHAIRMAN then read the prizes awarded
by the judges, varying from 81. to U., for various de-
scriptions of stock.
The CHAIRMAN then gave "The health of the
Borough Members, and the Members for the Rape of
Bramber." He regretted to say that Sir C. Burrell,
who had come down to attend this meeting, was pre-
vented from being present by severe indisposition. They
could not forget, however, that the Hon. Baronet had
for a long period represented the Rape of Bramber, and
that he had been most zealous in his endeavours for the
improvement of agriculture in this part of the country.
—(Hear, hear.) They knew him to be an upright
and an honest man.—(Cheers.) He (the Chairman) did
not think he could be charged with any political feeling
in asking them to drink this toast; but he might be al-
lowed to say that those Members of Parliament who did
their duty by maintaining those principles which they
avowed when elected had a strong claim upon their re-
spect. (The toast was drunk with loud cheering.)
Mr. GORING, M.P., returned thanks for his colleague
and himself. As he had the pleasure of being per-
sonally acquainted with but a small number of the
gentlemen present, he could not but attribute
the kind manner in which they had received
his health to the fact that he had not betrayed the con-
fidence they placed in him when they returned him
as their representative.—(Hear, and cheers.) He
had broken none of the pledges he gave at the hustings,
but ht had endeavoured to the best of his ability to sup.
port the interests of the British farmer and labourer.—
(Cheers.) He might observe, that the advantage of
box feeding was now, he believed, admitted ; and his
bailiff had informed him that he (Mr. Goring) 'saved 31.
in every 101. by using linseed pudding instead of oil cake.
He concluded by proposing " The health of the Noble
Chairman."—(Loud cheering.)
The Duke of RICHMOND, in acknowledging the toast,
said that he had great satisfaction in attending meetings
of this description, because he was convinced they had
had the effect of producing an essential improvement in
the agriculture of the country. When he considered the
exertions of the landlords and farmers of this country to
improve agriculture, and to raise the condition of their
labourers, he thought that, in attending such meetings
as this, he was only performing the duty of his station.

It was impossible to travel even-a
few miles in the country
without observing the great exertions made be the
farmers to improve their property. He was glad to see
that the landowners and occupiers iu this neigh-
bourhood were well aware of the great advan-
tages of thorough draining, and he hoped they would
act upon the advice he would venture very humbly to give
them,—to take advantage of the grant which had re-
cently been made from the public funds to assist them
in carrying out these improvements and that, before
long, there would not be an acre of land in the country
liable to be damaged by floods. He would also strongly
recommend the landowners and tenantry of the county
to avail themselves of the improvements which had been
made in scientific agriculture. He did not think the
agriculturists were open to the charge of bigoted hos-
tility to all change, though they might entertain some
little suspicion and doubt as to the practicability of all the
new theories submitted for their consideration. He
considered that any new experiments should be tried, in
the first instance, by the landowner, and then, if they
failed, the landowner alone would be the eufferer, while,
if they succeeded, both the tenant and the owner must
eventually be benefited ; for he maintained that if his
tenant was making a large sum of money he (the
Chairman) would certainly get some of it into his own
pocket. (" Hear," and a laugh,) They must not mis-
understand him. He did not think it right that the
landowners should screw down their tenantry, and he
believed his conduct in that country and elsewhere would
relieve him from the suspicion of entertaining such
an opinion.—(Hear, hear.) What he meant was that,
if these experiments succeeded, the tenant's position
would be improved, and benefit would eventually accrue
to the landlord. He had ever felt that a prosperous
tenantry was one of the greatest boons a landlord could
enjoy ; and they might be assured that in promoting the
interests of their tenantry they were advancing their
own, for he did not think any political economist would
maintain that the interests of landlord and tenant could
be divided.—(Hear, hear.) They must allow him to
add that his exertions, humble and inefficient as he felt
them to be, would never be wanting to promote the im-
provement of agriculture, to secure the welfare of the
tenantry, and to ameliorate the condition of the agricul-
tural labourer—nay, of labourers of all classes.—(Cheers.)
The CHAIRMAN then gave " The Successful Candi-
dates ;" " The Magistrates and County Gentlemen of the
western division of Sussex ;" " The Unsuccessful Can-
didates ;" "The Judges and Stewards ;" and " The
Arundel and Bramber Corps of Yeomanry."
The Noble CHAIRMAN said, the next toast he had to
give was, " The Prosperity of the Labouring Classes of
the Empire," and he did not mean to confine that toast
to the agricultural labourers, but to include in it all
classes of the labouring population throughout the
kingdom.—(Hear, hear.) He denied that there could
be any distinction between the interests of the farmer
and those of the manufacturer, and he therefore asked
them to drink to the welfare and prosperity of labourers,
whether agricultural or manufacturing. lie trusted
6 their employers, be they lilt} ufacturers Q farmers,