The Sun.
London, England, 1860-11-30 00:00:00

RUGBY AND D UNCB URCH GONSER•
V4TIVE ASSOCIATION.

RUGBY, THURSDAY NIGHT.
The annual meeting of this association took place
to-day. The objects it professes to have in view
are," the promotion of pure breeds, exhibiting cattle
in a store state, and also for encouraging the feed-
ing of them at a mature age." But the words
" Conservative Association,"conspicuously displayed
on the front page of the catalogue, betrays its real
purpose, which is also pretty well understood in
the district.
The " show" was small, but considered an average
one.

The dinner took place at the Eagle Hotel—
advertised to be precisely at half-past two o'clock,
it was past five before the cloth was removed.
Rather less than 100 persons, chiefly the farmers
of the district, sat down. The Earl of Dalkeith
presided, and among those by whom he was sur-
rounded were Lord Ingestre, M.P., Mr. Spoimer,
M.P., Mr. Newdegate, M.P., the Hon. Colonel
Scott, Mr. C. M. Caldecott, of Rugby Grange, &c.
The usual loyal toasts were duly honoured.
Mr. C. M. CALDECOTT gave "The health of the
new President, the Earl of Dalkeith."
The Earl of DALKEITII briefly returned thanks,
assuring the company of the warm interest he took
in the success of the association. As to the benefits
arising from these associations, there could be no
doubt whatever. One improvement which he had
noticed that day consisted in the arrangements for
housing the cattle; he believed the good effects of
this would be seen at subsequent shows. The noble
earl concluded by toasting "The County 'Members."
That they enjoyed the confidence of their consti-
tuents there could be no doubt whatever, and he
congratulated the county on having two such men
to represent them.
The toast was drunk with much applause, fol-
lowed by the chorus, " They are jolly good fellows,"
Lord Ingestre acting as fugleman.
Mr. NEWDEGATE first returned thanks. He said
their kindness was a proof that he had not been
altogether unsuccessful in his endeavours to
prove grateful for the long-continued honour they
had conferred upon him in allowing him so long
to remain their representative. He thanked the
noble chairman for the kindness with which he had
proposed the health of himself and his hon. col-
league. It was a great honour to him, standing
there as a member of the House of Commons, to find
that another member of that house should think fit
to speak as the chairman had done of his services.
He, the noble chairman, had a higher sphere before
him, and in fulfilling his duties as he had done so
admirably in the House of Commons, he was pre-
paring himself to become a member of the Senate
of the United Kingdom, a body of which every
Englishman feels proud ; for the conduct of that
illustrious assembly, the House of Lords, never
stood higher than at the present time. That house
had not yielded to the clamour of the House of
Commons, but had shown this session, when the
House of Commons, lending too facile an ear to the
eloquence of Mr. Gladstone, refused to pass one of
the most dangerous financial schemes, and the House
of Peers had resumed their ancient right; and had
let the people of this country have the full benefit
of knowing that the laws of this country, though
they are passed by the advice it may be primarily
of the House of Commons, yet it is with the consent
of the Lords spiritual and temporal. They had
taken a great part, a great step, in the history of
this country in these eventful times ; but they had
done that which they were justified in doing, in
consequence of the dangers which the reckless
policy of the Government had brought upon them,
and the country was grateful. Mr. Bright thought
he had made a great hit in his reform agitation
when he wished to persuade his neighbours that the
Peers should be treated as nonentities. He said
the Peers represented the land; but what would
Mr. Bright say when the representatives of the
majority of the people—their peers—refused to con-
sent to a scheme of representation ? Mr. Bright was
very discontented with the state of education. He
(Mr. Newdegate) did not know whether those pre-
sent had read his letters to the people of Rother-
ham, or his speeches at Wakefield, but Mr. Bright
said that the most highly educated classes were the
most ignorant of political economy, and that the
labouring classes shared the ignorance of their
more educated neighbours. He (Mr. Newdegate)
asked them whether it was not possible that the
ignorance might be with the speaker. Such a thing
might never cross the imagination of Mr. Bright,
but still it was an inference from his own assertion.
He believed the fact to be this, that Mr. Bright
was alarmed at the state of feeling which his own
doctrine and the examples of the school to which
he belonged had produced among the productive
classes. In the manufacturing districts, he says,
are combined to obtain a higher rate of wages for
their labour all the school for which Mr. Bright is
the organ ; having inculcated for 20 years the ex-
clusive dogma of political economy—buying in the
cheapest, and selling in the dearest market. How,
then, can he turn round and complain if be sees
people acting on the dogma he has enforced P He
also says that there are co übinations of employers
as well as employed. We know that is true; it
was by the combination of employers that the
whole system of this country has been destroyed
It is unreasonable to expect that the employers
should regulate the rate of wages unless they can
regulate the prices. Well, he need not tell them.
that it was by the operation of that which was
called the Anti-Corn Law, or the Financial Reform
Association, as it was called at another time, or the
operations of the Peace Society, which brought
about the Russian war, that the State was fairly
driven from the ground of regulating prices in
accordance with that which they believed to be
the requirements of the population. These combi-
nations had an effect on prices ; if they wanted an ,
illustration, look at the distressed condition of the
riband weavers at Coventry. He had an address
from a meeting at which he was present, in which
it was stated that 50,000 persons were so destitute
that their destitution could not be met by the
charitable exertions of their neighbours, and almost
overpowered the means the Poor Law placed at
their disposal. He appealed to the sympathy of his
countrymen for aid to meet the exigencies which
had been produced by a policy which Mr. Milner
Gibson said had been carried out for the interest
of the community, but, as it appeared, without
regard to these suffering classes. (Hear.) There
was a cold flippancy in the manner in which he
(Mr. Gibson) said free trade must not be interrupted
by considerations for the interest of the riband
weavers. He also expressed a hope, though the new
policy had prostrated them, that they would find
that their trade was placed upon a sound basis.
That was like knocking a man down, and, when he
was fiat, saying that he had a sound basis. Mr.
Bright at Wakefield went on to say, after having
striven for years to set class against class, that he
hoped the course he had adopted would justify the
work of God. Did he believe that internecine strife
was that which the merciful Creator desired should
prevail among the nations of the earth ? Was that
his meaning ? If not, why did he appeal in justifica-
tion to the Divine Author of all mercies as an autho-
rity P He appealed to them, and the country at
large, for sympathy on behalf of those suffering
men in Coventry whose interests had been sacri-
ficed to the interests of the State and the community
at large. They surely should be considered not less
than the men who had been wounded in a general
engagement, and the public should come and give
their active sympathy to mitigate the evil. (Cheers.)
It was said that the state of things which had
existed in this district for some months was not
solely 0.. t
solely to be attributed to the French treaty. n_
would admit that the season which had just passed
was against the producers of these articles of indus-
try ; but the manufacturers of L
commenced operations, and were onceohad again
morewere inin
full
work, while the looms of Switzerlandy
operation, and in the United States the trade was
brisk for all articles of this manufacture; but in
England the trade remained paralysed. This could
h
not be attributed to the state of affairs on the Con-
tinent, or to the changes
of fashion, or to the e s
unfa-
vourable season, for it these were the causes why
should they not also have operated in Lyons and
other places ? however, from
disregarding distress, arose
disregarding the wise reservation of Sir Robert
Peel in the adoption of the French treaty. That
wise statesman reserved from 10 to 15 per cent.
upon all articles, which with other contingences,
was equivalent to a protection of about 30 per
cent. upon labour. Mr. Gladstone, casting aside
that Act, struck
down at once the whole duty upon
imports, at a time when nobody complained of the
prices or the quality. of these articles of luxury. It
had been said that it was not a prosperous trade,
but within his (Mr. Newdegate s) own knowledge
there were men who, within the last 15 years, were
simply nothing but weavers, who had accumulated
£30,000, most of which had been expended in im-
proved machinery. He also knew that the export
trade was greatly increasing; and he knew another
fact, of which all present were cognizant, the abodes
of the working population during that period had
been much improved, and many large factories had
been erected; and their wives and daughters knew
also that such had been the application and skill of
the artisans that the ribands of Coventry coped at
the Great Exhibition with those of France. There
was, then, nothing in the condition of this trade
that could justify such a sacrifice as £300,000 when
we wanted it ourselves during a period of difficulty.
The sacrifice was made to conciliate another country,
and he therefore appealed for aid to remove the
misery which this policy had caused among our
operatives at home. The hon. gentleman
tinned h
trust you will not think I eifir cos
detained
Tea too long upon this subject with such a masa of

suffering in this neighbourhood. Ido net know
you wish your representative to ignore it . When
your agriculture suffered in 1849 and 18430 under
the repeal of the Corn Laws you urged me to
represent your interests. Would you have me be
silent now when your neighbours are cast down by
the same policy ? I know you would not. As
Conservatives you will not adopt either the policy
or the temper of the policy of the Cobden-Bright
school. Yon Rill not say that, because thes a men
were deluded by the men who sold you, you will,
therefore, withhold your sympathy from them in
the time of danger. You will not, in the spirit
of hounding on class against class, in the spirit of
internecine malice, turn against these men and
say " You shared in the abolition of Protection
14 years ago, so suffer now. We will not help
you That is not according to the spirit of true
Conservatism. The meaning of true Conservatism
is to preserve good feeling between class and class.
It may be the spirit of revolutionism to stir up class
against class ; but it is not the spirit of a constitu-
tional Conservative. His object is to thrive, but
not against his neighbours. His sympathy is ever
hearty, and I am sure that you will extend a help-
ing hand to those who so eminently want it. I see
that I have been accused of wasting the time of the
Howe of Commons. Mr. Bass, the member for
Derby, and Mr. Norris, have included me in the
category of the great talkers of the house, and, by
way of proof, one said that I had risen in my place
103 times during the last session. Now I have not
had an opportunity of looking to the papers, and
if I had, as I have had something to do with statis-
tics, and think I could show how eminently defec-
tive statistics may be when viewed without due
consideration of the circumstances to which they
relate, you would not have expected me, When I
clearly foresaw the suffering which is now so rife
over so great a portion of my constituency, that I
could sit dumb and silent in my place. I was almost
alone. The members for Coventry, Mr. Ellice and
Sir Poseph Paxton, having honestly tried what
negotiations might do with Mr. Gladstone—a very
hopeless task—succumbed for the convenience of
their party. My hon. colleague being absent front
the house by reason of domestic affliction, I was left
alone. I honestly confess—and I think you will
support me in the opinion—that it was time to
try, by a vigorous rally of the Conservative party,
if we could not stay the mischief at least to expose
it in the House of Commons, and, if possible, to
provide some remedy for - the evil. But that was
not the cause of my rising so frequently. There
were two bills introduced into the house, which
were supported by two factions. In accordance
with the principles you sent me to represent I felt
it my duty to oppose the one and to seek to
remodel the other. I am said to be an unsuc-
cessful politician, but I succeeded in three of my
objects. I exposed the factions which promoted
these bills ; I succeeded in stifling the Professional
Oaths Bill; I succeeded, with the aid of Mr. Selwyn,
Mr. Macaulay, and Mr. Henley, and the high
authorities who sat around me on the Conservative
side of the House of Commons, in procuring that
the Roman Catholic Charities Bill should be so
remodelled that, instead of establishing Cardinal
Wiseman's usurped tyranny in this country over a
large amount of its real property,. and over the
whole of the community of ourMornan Catholic
fellow-subjects ; that, instead of allowing, contrary
to the old constitutional 1 aws of this country, .cases
relating to property in England to be drawn for
decision at Rome, that the Roman Catholics should
have access to the courts of this country, and should
feel that though England is a Protestant State, she
will do justice to her Roman Catholic subjects. But,
how was it, my lord, that I have had occasion to
rise so often ; why was it that I termed the pro-
ceedings on these two bills fictions ? The Profes-
sional Oaths Bill made this proposition, which I
think you will be astonished at :—lt proposed that
no lawyer should take the oath of allegiance on
being admitted to the bar. Now you know that
our friends the lawyers arc the advisers of the
people. You would, lam sure, go to a lawyer if
you wanted to solve a question of difficulty in con-
stitutional law.

Mr. C. M. CALDECOTT—Aad pay Gs. Bd. for it.
Mr. NEWDEGATE —And willingly. (14aughter.)
Because they are the recognised constitutional
teachers of the people, and they surely ought to be
allowed to acknowledge their allegiance to this
Constitution which it is their duty to defend.
(Hear.) Is it not becoming that they should give a
guarantee for the doctrines they inculcate ? Surely
it is, and the opinions of the great majority of the
legal profession were strongly in favour of the oaths
being continued as they are. The bill to repeal
them was in the hands of Sir Francis Goldsmid, the
Jewish member for Reading, and Mr. Ewart. They
became alarmed at the prospect of discussion, and
postponed the bill till late in the session, trusting
that they might find an opportunity of passing it
late at night, the house becoming day after day
more exhausted. Night after night, and week
after week, as my honourable-colleague knows,
I had to remain with some ten or twenty mem-
bers I could collect to protest against this bill.
It is thus that jobs and bad legislation are thrust
through the House of Commons, but I am happy to
say that at last Lord Palmerston awoke and the

bill was withdrawn,—a civil expression for being
kicked out of the house. Again, I felt that th©

forms of the house needed alteration, and I proposed
that no new debate should be commenced after one

o'clock in the afternoon.

I have seen the house

continually legislating when thoroughly exhausted.
I have seen the Speaker almost dropping from his
chair. The House of Commons, though it did not
sanction my proposal, agreed to consider it in com-
mittee next session. Now, to my great surprise,
Mr. W. Ewart, one of the gentlemen who had been
most active in abusing the forms of the house, has
followed up my motion by one of his own, and on
the principle of " the greater the sinner the greater
the saint," has been paraded through the newspapers
as the man who would reform the practice of the
House of Commons. (Laughter.)
Mr. SPOONER also briefly returned thanks. At the
present time we were in a most peculiar position ; let
them look at the position of England ; look at that of
Europe ? was there one among them who did not
believe that it was the duty of England to maintain
our national independence and our national
character s We ought to keep ourselves perfectly
free ; and of all things it ought to be the duty of
members in the next session of Parliament to
endeavour to relieve as much as possible that labo-
rious class of our fellow-countrymen upon whom
the national taxation pressed most heavily.