The Sun.
London, England, 1860-09-15 00:00:00

language, all the antiquated notions and timidities

of the noble idlers.

Wednesda.y's work seems to have suited Lord
STANLEY as. well as most which he undertakes. It is

not often that he ventures upon sentiment, but we
find him alluiling to his father, whom he repre-
sented in the followigig terms :—" The noble lord
in the chair has said something of his public life.

I think I know enough of his feelings to be able to
assure you that no renown or popularity that can
be acquired in political life—no official rank or
distinction, no matter how high it may be—no
mark of Royal favour or Parliamentary confidence,

can be to him half so gratifying, or touch his feel-
ings half so nearly, as a simple expression of
kindness and goodwill from those neighbours and
friends with whom ho is personally acquainted,
who know his private life, and among whom his
lot is cast in this county of Lancashire—with
whom our families have been for so many gene-

rations connected." A just representation, indeed
of what an English nobleman ought to be, and one
which, were it as universally true as it easily
might, we may remind Lord DERBY would, even
with a largely extended, and really free suffrage,
ensure the eldest sons of Peers a place in the House
of Commons whenever they were really fit
for it. No people more readily worship
their aristocracy than Englishmen. And the
former may easily enjoy a better than feudal in-
fluence, by the means which win the attachment
of honest, but intelligent free men. A nobleman
who values his neighbour's esteem, and who counts
all around his mansion and estates his neighbours,
may be a lord among them in something more than
name, and by some tenure of their affections better
than the miserable substitute for it acquired through
a land-agent, a steward, or a lawyer.
Advertibg to the Chairman's remarks on the
Knowsley Review, he gracefully observed :—" I
don't know whether many of those whom I have
the pleasure to address were present then ; if
they were I hope they enjoyed the sight. But of
this I am sure, that no one in the vast conemse
there assembled could have enjoyed it half so much
as he by whose invitation some 150,000 of his
neighbours came to pay him the compliment of a
visit at home." On the subjeCt of Volunteers, such
a ♦oluntary as Lord STANLEY might be expected
to feel no little interest, and he strongly expressed,
therefore, his hope that they would become one of
the permanent institutions of the country. " I
believe," he said, " it has done more than any in-
crease of the regular army possibly could have done
to elevate the position of England among the
nations of Europe; and I think so for this
reason, that it has shown to every foreign
population and every foreign prince that in
this country, however it may be elsewhere,
the' Government and the nation are one,
and that whoever contests with England will have
to combat not merely with the Government, not
merely with the army, but with the united nation
in arms. It is a purely defensive movement ; it
has in it nothing of aggression, it can cause no fear
and no joalousy to any foreign country."
" However it may be elsewhere ! " Yes,
indeed—only think of regiments of volunteers a
short time ago in Naples—think of them now in
the Papal dominions, such as yet remain to his
Holiness Inzperatoris gratin'—think of volunteer
regiments in Venetia, in Hungary, in Bohemia,
think of them in half the States of Germany—
think of them even in Paris and France itself !
Verity the Continental despots must be conscious
of the difference between lands which have
liberties to defend, and those in which armies
are partly pretorians of whom Empire
must be purchased and held, and partly im-
plements of annexation to tickle the vanity of a
people who have no liberties to love and be proud
of. One little piece of practical advice Lord
STANLEY dropped, in which we most heartily con-
cur—that as Reviews and similar demonstrations
cannot be very frequent, the shooting matches, such
as were inaugurated on Wimbledon-common, will
be introduced into every county in England—" I
hope that they will take their place amongst our
national amusements, for they are an amusement as
well as a kind of military discipline ; and I hope to
see them adopted in every county, and if that is
the case I am sure Lancashire will not be behind-
hand."

Of course, agriculture could not be forgotten at
an agricultural meeting. And we suppose we
must argree with Lord STANLEY, that such meet-
ings are specially useful for farmers, who are not
packed closely together like townspeople, and who
therefore are too "apt to think there is no place like
home, and that there is no farm like his ; that there
are no crops and cattle like his, and that he has not
much to learn from his neighboUrs. Now, if any
Lancashire man has an illusion like that, it is an
illusion which a walk over this showyard is very
likely to dispel; and if a man is sharp and has his
wits about him—and for my part I know very few
Lancashire men who are otherwise—if he has his
wits about him he can hardly help getting
hold of some ideas which are worth taking
home and working out ; he can hardly help
going back and knowing more of his business
than when he came." His lordship, however, seems
to overlook that grand resort and school of farmers
—the market. The yearly meeting is of course,
however, a vastly larger school.
Lord STANLEY also pointed to the "spirit of
healthy emulation, rivalry, and competition," which
these meetings create, and which is " the very life
and soul of business." He honestly adverted to the
glaring deficiencies, now fast passing away, of
Lancashire farming :—" If you speak of manufac-
tures, there is no man all over the world who will
not admit that Lancashire stands without a rival ;
if you talk about agriculture (you see I don't mean
to flatter you), although Lancashire holds a fair and
satisfactory position amongst English counties, still
it does not hold an equally pre-eminent and un-
rivalled position; but I, for one, shall not be satisfied
till it does. We live in times when farming is
likely to go through a revolution greater than any
which the world has hitherto seen. The old time-
honoured implements with which men have tilled
the soil and gathered in its produce since civilised
society began, are, one by one, being super-
seded in favaur of new and modern inventions."
And so his Lordship concluded, pointing out
what farmers ought to aim at, and what
even farmers who could not afford the costly ma-
chines and experiments he had adverted to, could
yet accomplish. " But there are some things which
I believe every farmer who is worth his salt can
have, whether he is a large or small farmer, and
these are—straight fences, clean crops, thorough
draining, aril plenty of manure. And, I take it, if
a man has these four things upon , his him he will
be able, for the present at least, to hold his own
against any competition, native or foreign, with
which he is likely to have a struggle." 'Ye have
only to wish the farmers of England spirit and
energy to follow, universally, the advice of Lord
STANLEY, and they would certainly have but little
need for importations of food. England, if she used
all the manure of her towns, and carried agricul
tural reform into her more backward districts,
might, we verily believe, be herself an exporting
ceuntry,