The Sun.
London, England, 1860-11-02 00:00:00

depend that we shall not ask either from Mr. Taylor or Mr.
Cubitt a certificate for a single iota beyond the cubic con-
tents of the work done. AU this means, gentlemen, that
large works of this kind are not done by legerdemain, bit
are only brought about by downright straightforward .deal-
ing: We as contractors can no more afford to place our
good names in jeopardy than you can the funds which you
invest for your children in the future. If we did anything
wrong we should peril our good name for straightforward
dealing, and what, let me ask you, is fortune obtained in any
other way ? (Cheers.) Before closing I must say I think
you are much indebted to Mr. Ilolroyd, your secretary, fur
this Metropolitan Extension. I threw cold water on it at
first, but he went to Mr. Newman and Messrs. Freshfield
(and no more able men he could have gone to), and 'sided
by the talents of Mr. Burke, than which none could be
better for the purpose, they succeeded in obtaining from a
perfectly fair committee privileges which must soon make
the London, Chatham, and Dover one of the most success-
ful railwayo yet made. (Mean) And why ? Because there
is no metropolitan railway of this extent which touches so
many important points of traffic. Take the line from Vic-
toria Station to Wandsworth-road, Camberwell-green, the
Elephant and Castle, Blackfriars, Denmark• hill, Crystal
Palace, and so on, and I ask you whether the undertaking
is not obviously self-sustaining ? (Cheers.) Why, gen-
tlemen, 15 miles of such a line for traffic was never yet
known. (Hear.) I have gone through the estimates of Mr.
Cubitt and Mr. Turner with my partners, and I believe
that you will have the line executed for the amount stated.
We thank our friends for the faith they have in us, but we
ask not their faith or their good opinion except upon the
basis of that confidence which Englishmen should always
show towards one another—a confidence founded upon an
open, upright course of dealing, aided by an extensive
knowledge of the world. I trust, gentlemen, that the time
is not far distant when we shall have to meet you here
again to celebrate the inauguration of the Metropolitan
Extension, and I have only to thank you for my partners
and myself for the honour you have done us. (Cheers.)
Song---" Ye Bayliffo's Daughter of Islington." Miss
Banks.

The LORD MAYOR then proposed "The House of Com.
mons."

Mr. R. W. CRAWFORD, M.P., said he supposed he had
been selected to respond to the toast because amongst others
present he represented that great city which would be
chiefly affected by the London, Chatham, and Dover Rail-
way. He had not the honour to be a member of the com-
mittee when it sat in the House of Commons, but he had
watched the proceedings with great interest, and could tes-
tify to the great energy and industry of his friend Mr.
Burke and other legal gentlemen he saw present. Ho
hoped the puhlic would long continue to respect the City
.of London for the services it had rendered to the commu-
nity, and show that they did not consider it the much de-
spised body which in some quarters it was assumed to be.
The CHAIRMAN then propOsed " The Health of the Lord
Mayor, and Prosperity to the City of London." He thought
the best way to promote the welfare and comfort of the City
was to relieve its thoroughfares of some of the traffic by
railways. (Hear, hear.) He believed his friend Mr. C.
Pearson never proposed a wiser measure than his plan for
connecting the great railways, and he hoped to have the
pleasure of seeing the undertaking prosper.
The toast of " The City of London" was acknowledged
in handsome terms by the Lord Mayor.
" The Bar of England," coupled with the name of Mr.
Burke," was proposed by Lord Harris, and responded to by
Mr. Burke.
" The Great Western and Great Northern," coupled with
the names of Lord Shelburne and Mr. Parker, was then
drunk.

Lord SHELBURNE responded.
The healths of the Secretary, Mr. Holroyd, and the en-
gineers, Mr. Cubitt and Mr. Turner, were then drank and
duly acknowledged.
The concluding toast, " The Ladies of En gland," was
responded to by Sir C. P. Roney, after which the company
broke up at about eleven o'clock.

The duties of toastmaster were very efficiently performed
by Mr. Harker, and the splendid dinner was provided by
Mr. Strange, the well-known palace purveyor.

THE .RIGHT HalV. E. P, BOUVE.RIB

ON PUBLIC AFPAIRS.

On Monday evening, Mr. Bouverie addressed the electors
of Kilmarnock in the George Inn Hall ; Provost •Finnie in
the chair. There was a large attendance.
After a few remarks from the Chairman,
Mr. BOUVERIE said it was 18 months ago since he had
the pleasure of addressing the electors. It was on the
occasion of the general election, and he was not now
going to open up matters which probably had more
or less become matters of history. The interest in
them had comparatively ceased, and therefore it was not
needful he should detain them on this point. The im-
mediate result of the general election was a change of
the Government of this country. The country was asked
to pronounce as to the merits of the administration
which then conducted the domestic and foreign affairs
of the United Kingdom. The administration of public
affairs was transferred from the hands of Lord Derby and
what is called the Conservative, party, into the hands of
Lord Palmerston and Lord John Russell, and what is
known as the Liberal party. He was one of those who
considered that a government of the Conservative party was
well nigh impossible in these days and in our country (A
Voice—" Not in this country.") They dared not administer
the affairs of the country on their ancient principles, and they
could not long administer the affairs of the country on the
principles of their opponents; and he thought this much
could be gathered at any rate from the experiment that
had been made on two occasions during thelast few years—
in 1852 and again in 1858—namely, that it was practically
at variance with the great mass of the people of the coun-
try that a Tory administration should conduct their affairs
at home and abroad. They bad heard something of late,
and he had heard something said in other places, of a Con-
servative reaction in the minds of the people of this country.
He did not believe in anything of the kind. It appeared to
him to be an entire delusion to imagine that there was any-
thing of the kind in the sense in which the words were used.
If it was meant that there was a strong tendency on the
part of the people of this country to go back to Tory tradi-
tions, and to confide in Tory principles, as the sound ones
on which the affairs of this country should be conducted,
the notion of a Conservative reaction was altogether a de-
lusion and hallucination. But if it was meant by a Con-
servative reaction that the changes which had taken place
during the last generation had conduced so much to the
welfare, the prosperity, and advantage of this country
that they were disposed to be more satisfied with their con-
dition, that they were more contented and more prosperous
than they were 30 years ago, and were therefore to that
extent less disposed to change, then a Conservative reac-
tion was in that sense a necessary consequence of all the
improvement and advancement which had taken place during
the period to which he had referred. (Applause.) It stood
to reason. Suppose an impossible case, and just for the sake
of argument—suppose that all our institutions and laws were
of such a kind that it would be impossible to devise any
improvement in them—that as far as the welfare and pros-
perity of all portions of the community depended upon laws
and law-making at all, the utmost welfare and prosperity
had been attained—if such a state of things could be ima-
gined—and if all classes were contented, prosperous, and
well-to-do, why then everybody would be disposed to have
no change upon such a satisfactory state of things, and thee
they would be thoroughly Conservative in every respect.
But it was because there was always some further good to
be obtained, some improvement to be effected in the •march
and progress of time, that the Liberal party and Liberal
politics in this country were the proper ones by end upon
which the administration of the countryshould be conducted;
and so it was too, he believed, that the bulk of the intelligent
and thinking portion of the community believed that the
affairs of this country should be conducted. Now, with
reference to the Government which succeeded Lord Derby,
composed of some of the most distinguished statesmen of
the day, he had thought it his duty to give it his:independent,
and unwavering, and unhesitating support. It was part of
the cant of the present day to say that party was at an end,
and that the state of things was greatly improved compared
with the times when party feeling ran high. He admitted
that party distinctions were not quite so broadly marked as
used to be, and it would be an evil day for a country governed
like ours—and it would be the commencement of bad times

if they were to see party combinations and party divisions
thoroughly disappear from the frame of Government. There
was a time in the history of this country, and not many
years ago, when there was an attempt to govern the country
irrespective of party, by personal influences, by combining
men of different shades of opinion, of different views and
principles. In the first 20 years of the reign of Geo. 111.
—lOO years ago—such an attempt was made, and the result
was most disastrous for the Government of the country. A
feeble Government, a factious populace, eluded laws, luxu-
rious nobles—these were the result, and he believed the expe-
rience which was reaped at that time of the disadvantages of
that attempt would recur again if an attempt were made in
this country to govern without reference to party combi
nations. (Applause.) To travel out of the sphere of gene-
ral politics, he might remark that they had seen in the last
18 months events take place on the Continent of Europe of
the utmost and grandest importance to the civilised world.
There could have been no change in the state of Europe
contemplated by any statesman of greater importance than
the fact that the whole of the people of the great southern
peninsula of Italy should be united under one sovereign,
should be an independent people, having free institutions,
and prepared to enjoy the blessings which the people of
this country believed were sure, sooner or later, to flow
from the enjoyment of those blessings. (Cheers.) If
this state of thisngs in that country but a few months ago
was compared with what it was now, the change almost
startled one. The Governments of the country, with the
exception of the corner of Italy where nestled the free insti-
tutions which were now spreading, or were likely to spread
throughout the peninsula—with the exception of Piedmont,
the governments of thecountry were simply and purely go-
vernments of force. They were not governments conducted
for the interests of the people over whom they presided
they were governments of brute force ; and the people in
those different countries were kept down by the iron hand,
by the inquisition of secret police, by a tyranny which, in
lOW parts 9f it, almost surpassed cenoeptioA, After refer-