The Sun.
London, England, 1858-11-23 00:00:00

MR. E. P. BOUVEBIE, M. P., AT
KILMARNOCK.

•
(Abridged from the Glasgow Mail.)
- -.On Thursday. the Right Hon. E. P. Bouverie,
MY. for the Kilmarnock district of burghs, ad-
dressed a numerous meetinglmarnock. of h constituents in
the George Inn-hall, Kiis
Mr.- BouvEßlE—ln the last 18 months three
events have occurred in this country, all of very
great magnitude and importance. I refer first of
all to the revolt in India—in that immense posses-
sion of ours on the other side of the globe, and of
which we have since seen the origin, and,
I would
hope, have seen nearly the close. The
butsecond
event, not, perhaps, equal in importance,
great importance to the people of this country, and
to a commercial and manufacturing community
such as you are, is the commercial crisis, which
occurred about 12 months age), almost unexampled
in-; is severity, and fatal in many cases in its con-
sequences. The third event, more particularly of
a political character, affecting the interests and
opinions of the constituencies of this country, is
the change of Ministry. which occurred at the
beginning of the past session of Parliament. Now,
first of all, with regard to the revolt in India. I
do not purpose at all to attempt to awaken in your
breasts those feelings of horror and distress which
were excited in this country 12 months ago by the
accounts received from week to week of the atroci-
ties committed upon our unoffending countrymen
and countrywomen in India. There has been a
tendency; of reaction in respect of those t
leading
atrocities
visible in the public mind latterly, almos
people to disbelieve that such thingsve coul
doubt,
d have
taken place at that time. Now, I ha no
with regard to these narrations, and which curdled
our blood, that exaggerations and misrepresenta-
tions were used ; but still I do believe that there
was a sub-stratum of fact and truthed in many b-
of
. those dreadfulfitories -which fully justifi the pu
lie feeling which arose at that time with reference
to those events. But lam not going to enter into
that topic. The great dramatist has put the wostilrds
into the mouth of a very wicked woman, but l
it was wise philosophy. that Lady Macbeth ad-
. ministered to her. murderous husband when he
began to lament over the cruel and murderous deeds
he had dmie :
" Things without remedy should be without regard ;
What is done is done.'
Therefore I don't propose to enter into that branch
of the subject. Let us hope that these awful deeds,
in respect of which many a heart is still bleeding,
and many a home still desolate—that these things
will be forgotten, and, as much as we can, buried
in oblivion. But there are things connected with
these events which, I trust, never will be forgotten
by the people of this country. I trust the daunt-
less courage which our countrymen exhibited, the
heroic resolution which they showed in. the most
trying circumstances at that time, in that country,
will never be forgotten by ourselves or our descen-
dants ; and let me assure you that, as far as I can
judge, I believe no brighter page will ever be f
in the history of this country than the account of
the way.in'-which that handful of our fellow-coun-
trymen in that eountry, taken by surprise, scattered
throughout an enormous territory, not only faced
the tide of revolt, but drove it back and suppressed
it, showed, in the capture of Delhi and in the de-
• fence of Lucknow, that no odds were too great nor
' disadvantages of position too numerous to over-
whelm their dauntless resolution, or to destroy that
British vigour and energy that were exhibited
there upon a stage, I trust, to all the world for all
time. (Loud cheers.) All sorts of causes have
been given as the reason why that great revolt sud-
denly broke out. lam not going to enter into a
discussion now as to these causes—this is not
the time and place for such a discussion—but I will
say this, that it appears to me, as a plain man, that
we sufficiently account for that event when we
reflect that we had in that country an enormous
' mercenary army, whose .sole allegiance to us was
based upon ' their belief in our power ; and When
that army., which we had petted and pampered—
an army which, I believe, had grievances which
had not been redressed, and whose allegiance was
based upon the fact that they believed we had the
power, at any time, to repress any outbreak
that might burst forth. Well, our might in India
rested upon our European troops—upon those of
our countrymen who were out there—and whose
invincible courage displayed itself recently in so
unmistakable a way. These troops were few ,as
compared with•our large mercenary army. That
mercenary army believed and felt that our power
vas gone—their allegiance hung by the slightest
thiead—ind, on the first temptation offered, they
revolted against our authority. In point of fact,
we discovered, what seas known before by many,
that we were sitting upon a barrel of gunpowder,
and the wonder is that the spark which ignited it
had
.not blown us up long before. I trust we shall
gather wisdom from the experience we have had,
and not have a recurrence of such an awful event
again. The practical result of our proceedings in
Parliament is, that we have spent a great portion
of time during last session in considering how India
was to be best governed. That is a problem of the
greatest difficulty, which scarcely admits, in the
circumstances, of a satisfactory solution. What
have been the appliances we have had hitherto to
control and govern 'this vast extent of territory ?
Why, there have been something like 900 paid civil
servants', and something like 30,000 European
troops, officered by about 5,000 or 6,000 European
officers. These are the whole appliances we have
• had to govern that country, and it would have been
impossible to have done it with the success which
we have hitherto done without the immense moral
superiority which our habits, character, and reli-
gion give us over the races in India. That supe-
riority we still possess •, but it is obvious from the
result of the mutiny, that for the present at least
we must have a larger European Power than
hitherto to control that people. Our occupa-
tion of India must be simply a military one. I
believe at present there is something like 100,000
of our troops in India. The ordinary calculation
with reference to the waste of European troops in
India I believe is annually that 10 per cent.
are disabled by death, disease, or age ; therefore,
it is easy to calculate that to keep up an army of
100,000 men—setting apart all questions of re-
placing old regiments by fresh ones—we must be
constantly sending, every year, a supply of 10,000
soldiers, which our people, I think, will not be
prepared to do. On that ground, apart from the
consideration of the climate, I do not think we can
contemplate retaining our possession of that vast
dominion for an indefinite time. There is one ques-
tion connected with this subject which I wish to
say a fele words upon. We must, if we are to re-
tain our empire even now, respect the religion, pre-
judicies, superstitions, and feelings of the inhabi-
tants. I pass now to the second topic upon which
I purposed to address you—the commercial crisis
which twelve months ago happened throughout
Scotland and England. Now, you know the evil
effects of such an event—how, all of a sudden, trade
is at a standstill, the public works are closed, and
your men are standing idle in the market-place,
seeking employment but finding none; how there
is a lack of employment for those who are able and
willing to work ; how no man whose capital is
sunk in trade is certain that he ,may not be a beg-
gar the next hour or day. You know these are
the Circumstances which attend upon those tom-
, mercial storms, and which it appears, from modern
experience, occur every ten or twelve years. Now,
this question of commercial vii is ti connected with
a subject about which mole nonsense has been writ-
ten and spoken, and a greater amount of practical
blundering committed, than on any subject that has
ever occupied the attention of the Legislature—l
mean the currency- question or the laws that relate
to money, which is the ordinary medium of ex-
chanrre in this country, and the standard of value.
No Aubt it is an intricate and. complicated ques-
tion. Now, I do not think it is in the power
of Government to prevent the recurrence of such
disasters,
and certainly it was not the way to
accomplish this
schemesby putting restrictions on banks.
Of course; if bankers act recklessly, locking up their
money inthat do not pay, then, 'of
course, like all other imprudent people, they must
suffer, and their shareholders
be brought to ruin.
You have seen an example ofthis in Glasgow ; but
no direct laws could make
the cmanagers of such a
bank prudent in their advances tocommercialcon-
cerns ; so that it ie inevitable, when a commercial
storm comes, that disastrous events must:follow.
(Hear, hear) Now„ c, holdin these views—not new
on my part--I shalr resist any proposal made t
put further restrictions upon the banking opera-
tionso
of this country. (Cheers.) I believe it was a
great evil, the restriction of 1845. (Cheers.) I
now proceed to the third subject—the channT of
Government. When Lord Derby and his friends
assumed the reins of power, the aifficulty arose a
mi-
that,
there was a Government in power with only
nority of the House of Commons at its back. Now,
the practical working of our constitution is this :
We have a Minister and his colleagues who exer-
cise the executive authority of the Crown, who
conduct the ordinary administrative business ofa
the
country ; we have a House of Commons, an d
House of Peers, which fills up all great public lip-
pointments--which exercises, in fact, all the prer is
o-
gatives of the Crown in name of the Crown, and
backed by a majority of the House of Commons.
That is the modern theory and practice of our con-
stitution, which has been found to work advanta-
geously for the interests of the country. But a
change has now taken place. The Ministry we
have got now are not backed by a majority of the
House of Commons; and Lord Derby and his col-
leagues started with diffikulties. How have they

attempted to ge t o ver 'the difficulties ? By giving
way in defence of their own previous opinions and
all their own p rincirAec3—giving way, when they
thought they i vere going to be defeated, to the
Liberal majorit; f of the House of Commons, not by
leading the mi. joiity of the body in the course
which they con sidered advantageous to the public
interest, but in following the Liberal majority con-
trary to their o w n feelings and opinions for the sake
of avoiding def Now, gentlemen, is that a course
of conduct de- ery inF the confidence of Parliament
owner
r
of the constituo Imes of this country ? I
have no confide t ice whatever in Lord Derby and
his Administrai ion ; first of all, because of his
avowed politica 1. opinions ; and secondly, because
of the party b 3 • -whom he has always been sup-
ported. They : ire the Tory or Conservative party,
and he the lead er. For the last quarter of a cen-
tury he and hiE ; friends have always stood in oppo-
sition against anything like advancement, or pro-
gress, or improl -ement, or reform, in this country.
Therefore, I st t 7, they are not deserving of your
support or mint s. But they have endeavoured to
obtain the minx )rt of the Liberals in Parliament,
and some acts Iv hich they have spent their lives in
resisting when I )roposee from the other side have
now been agreed I to. The speaker then instanced
the admission c )f the Jews into parliament, and
proceeded :—Lot al Derby seemed to be rather like
a coquette with• two lovers on either side, ogling
the one, and pressing the foot of the other under
the table, and t Tying to persuade both that he is
all in favour of their views. (Laughter.) Lord
Derby, tried to satisfy his own friends that he was
a good Conservative, and on the other side, press-
ing the foot of the Liberal party, persuaded them
he wanted progress, *improvement, and reform,
calling them to with ess what he would do if they
would stay and. assia him. He was endeavouring
to balance himself on a tight rope, from which he
was sure to get a fall. He (Mr. Bouverie) had a
perfect convict ion that Lord Derby and his friends,
however much they yielded to the Liberal majority
in the House of Commons at present, would, if a
chance were to turn out, be as vehement Tories as
they were More. (Loud applause.) The hon.
gentleman theii drew attention to the all-engrossing
subject of Parliamentary Reform. He did not
think that either himself or his constituents needed
to be convinced of the expedience of Parliamentary
Reform ; they had all been of that opinion for a
long time. Now, one important and main part of
any future Reform Bill must be an extension
of the franchise. (Cheers.) No bill without in-
cluding that would deserve the name of reform ;
for they all knew that there were large classes of
people in this country who were quite competent
to use the suffrage, and who ought to have it.
(Cheers.) If Lord Derby proposed a measure that
would enfranchise these masses, he would have his
hearty support (applause)—for he was very
strongly in favour of granting political liberty to
all classes. But he was against settling the matter
entirely by population. Tie did not know that it
would be for the advantage of the kingdom if Lon-
don, with its population equal to that of Scotland,
returned as many members as the latter did; nor
did he think that it would be advantageous to the
Kilmarnock burghs if Glasgow, with her 400,000
inhabitants, were permitted to represent her pecu-
liar habits and pursuits and feelings by ten times
as many as themselves. Then, let them look at the
allotment of representatives to Ireland, the country
that gives the smallest number of members to popu-
lation. Now, if.they had recourse to population
for deciding the number of members, they must at
once grant 50 additional to Ireland. He respected
the Irish members, but he did not know nor did he
think they were prepared to say that the Irish
element should be increased so much. (Hear.)
Several questions were then put to Mr. Bouverie,
and answers having been given to them,
The CHAIR\iAN proposed a vote of thanks to Mr.
Bauverie.fer his able address, and for his great
trouble and kindness in representing them so long.
(Applause.)
Mr. BOUVERIE having acknowledged the com-
pliment, a vote of thanks was, on the motion of
Pr and DONALD, passed to the chairman, and the
meeting separated.

POLICE I.