The Sun.
London, England, 1835-10-05 00:00:00

The dinner of the farmers and agriculturists of the county
of Buckingham, annually held in October, took place on
Saturday last at the George Inn, Aylesbury.
Mr. Horwood, one of the largest and oldest farmers of
the county, taok the chair. On his right sat the Marquis
of Chandos and several clerical gentlemen, and on. his left
many of the leading agriculturists of Buckinghamshire.
The cloth having been removed,
The CHAIRMAN proposed " The King -and Constitution."
—(Drunk with great enthusiasm.)
The next toast was " The Queen," which was pledged
with similar honours.
The CHAIRMAN then said, that wishing to keep the
Royal Family together as closely as he could, he
would propose " The Princess Victoria, and the rest of the
Royal Family."—(Drunk amid loud and protracted cheer-
ing.)
The CHAIRMAN then said—Gentlemen, I hope you will
do justice to your own feelings, and drink upstanding, with
steady hands, warm hearts, and brimming glasses, " The
health of the Marquis of Chandos." (The toast was drunk
with tremendous cheering, and cries of " one cheer more.")
The Marquis of CHANnos, who was received with the
ldiniest and most general cheers, said—Mr. Horwood and
Gentlemen, I find myself called upon to state to you my
opinion on what has occurred, since we last met, upon the
question of agriculture. lam happy to state to you, that
I see that union among the agriculturists is proceeding,
and that I have more particularly remarked it during the
last six weeks ; it. is only by uniting in a constitutional way
that the farmers can obtain relief ; they must unite as loyal
men and address themselves to the Legislature and call upon it
to redress their grievances, to represent them to their Sove-
reign, and to cause some relief to be given to them. When
I advise you to do this, and to take this course, I must tell
you that you and your interests are looked upon by the
Sovereign with the greatest anxiety ; they are looked upon
with the anxiety of a farmer. His Majesty is himself a
farmer, and lie frequently is employed in-looking over the
farmers at Windsor. During the last Session I had the
honour of having an interview with his Majesty, and his
Majesty expressed his opinion on the question of agricultural
distress, and stated how anxious he was for its prosperity.—
(Cheers.) Now that I have stated the opinions of my
Sovereign with respect to the agriculturists, 1 may, perhaps,
be asked why I had not succeeded better, and why I had
not obtained the means of relieving their distress. Though
I have been defeated, as I was, in obtaining one great and
important object, and though I give perfect credit to those
persons who differ from me in opinion on that point, I mean
the question of the malt-tax, I beg to say that I never
will give up .my opinion on that question, nor in following
that course which I think best to be pursued to pro-mote
the interests of the farmers of England.—(Loud cheers.)
Though I have been defeated by a great majority, that ma-
jority shall not prevent me from still working out your in-
terests in some other way. I thought that the repeal of the
malt-tax would be a great relief to the farmer, and still think
so, and I bitterly lament that I did not succeed in the ob-
ject, and that I was disappointed in the support of those
gentlemen in whom I placed confidence.—(Hear, hear.)
You all must see that the partieS now opposed .to each
other are composed of individuals possessing the greatest
intellectual vigour, and that in point of activity those
parties are pretty nearly equal—(Hear)—but that is no
reason why we should give way in our opinions to the party
most clamorous for change; and I say that if we adapt them
to suit the views of the party, I do not know what is to be-
come of the British empire, or where, in case of-such an event,
the British farmer is to be found.—(Hear.) .When I see one
House of Parliament censured, and even sentenced to de-
struction, because it does not agree in-opinion entirely with
the other, I think that is a course contrary to the principle
of the constitution, and by adopting which the Legislature
could never insure confidence or respect from the people.
Are we to change The House of Lords ? Are we to make
them dependent on the Commons? Are we to deprive them
of liberty of thought, of action, and of speech.—(Hear,
hear.) It must be the wish of every disinterested man to
see both Houses, of Lords and Commons, independent, and
free froth. all external influence and intimidation ; and I hope
I shall never see the principle sanctioned, that the Lords
must be deprived of their independence if they do not agree
Ala n~ s in opinion with the Commons cf England,—( Hear.)
G-od help this country, I say, if ever the day shall arrive-
when one party is to be deprived of libcrey speczi: ar-
tion if it disagrees with another.—(Cheers.) You all have
beard of the instance of the Long Parliament, which was
the most -depotic that ever ruled; and which under pre-
tence of independence, and the cloak of liberty, harrassed
the country, and kept its people under the most arbi-
trary rule ; such, I conclude, is the expectation of some people
again. But as a country gentleman, and as a farmer, I hope
to see still maintained in the country what I think best for
the interests of the people at large, and what will secure to
them the blessings of a good government—l mean, the
Constitution of King, Lords, and Commons.—(Cheers.)
You will all remember what has happened since I last ad-
dressed you in this room, and how entirely the political state
of the country ist.changed. The Government no longer
exists which was then formed, and another has got into its
place, which place it has obtained, and preserves, by a ma-
jority of 35.—(Hear, hear.) That was a majority on the
vote with respect to the appropriation of the revenues of the
Irish Church ; it was that vote that caused Sir Robert Peel
to leave office. There were afterwards many other di-
visions, the result of which proved that that majority had
not increased, and I think therefore that I am right when I
say that the present Government exists only by a majority
of 35.—(Hear, heir.) One other person, more able than
I am to enter into such a statement, has shown that that
majority was not composed of English representatives.—
(Hear, hear.) In alluding to this circumstance, let me
not be considered as wishing to hurt the feelings of any
one, but I cannot help remarking how singular it is
that the Government should be supported by a ma-
jority of representatives obtained for it by the in-
fluence of one individual, who hai greater power than
any other man in his own country, and who is en-
deavouring here to obtain more than any man exer pos-
sessed before him.—(Hear, hear.) It is impossible-for the
country to be governed well under such circumstances, and
from what I have heard lately I do look forward with a
hope that we shall have a change ere long for the better.
—(Hear, hear.) I trust that we shall have men who are
not looking after office for the sake of office only, but men
who desire to come into power in order to serve their
nouutry, and not for the sake of any emolument or power
that being in office confers.—( Hear, hear.) I believe there
are many persons in the present Government who ;do not
know how the country, particularly the agricultural portion
of it, is situated, and consider that the present distress of
the farmer is merely superficial.—(Hear, hear.) Though
the Government of which Sir Robert Peel was the head
differed from me on the one question of the malt duty, I
regret most deeply that he should have been obliged. to quit
office. I regret it, for I saw that Sir Robert Peel was de-
termined to govern this country on true English principles,
and not upon ultra ones. I saw that he rheant to go on with
those proper reforms called for by the times, and that
he did not wish to rush headlong into measures out
of which he could not see his way, merely for the
sake of obtaining popularity or suptSort.—(Hear, hear.)
I hope, however, I shall soon see a Government formed of
which the right hon. baronet will again be at the head, and
that he will have to help him such men as Sir James
Graham, and Lord Stanley—(Cheers.) Before I conclude
I cannot help going back and adverting to an extraordinary
statement I have lately seen in the newspapers. This
statement is co4ained in a public document, and is signed
by Sir Henry 'Yarnell and others, and those gentlemen state
it to be their opinion that one half of the duty on malt can
be taken off. It is an extraordinary circumstance, but a
gratifying one, to see persons connected with the Govern-
ment making such a recommendation, and it therefore now
appears that they must give me credit for being actuated by
honest motives in all that I have hitherto said and done
upon the subject of the tax.—(Hear.) The Noble Mar-
quis resumed his seat amidst the loudest cheering%
Song—" Old England for aver shall weather the storm."
The CHAIRMAN immediately rose and said—True, Eng-
land shall weather the storm though clouds now hang over
her, and though she was constantly assailed in every way,
and now in a new way—viz. through the House of Lords,
and that too by means of an individual who was bound by
no promise, by no oath, and who was always skulking from
his assertions.—(Cheers.) But the yeomanry of Bucks
would support the House of Lords in spite of the threats
of the unprincipled person he had just alluded to. The
House of Lords in former times had striven in the cause of
the people, and the people ought now to stand by the
Lords. The toast he would propose was " The House of
Lords, and the Peers of Great Britain."—(The toast was
drunk with most rapturous cheering, amidst the loudest
cries of " One cheer more.")
The Marquis of CHANDOS said—Gentlemen, with per-
mission of the Chair, I will propose to you a toast which I
am sure all present will drink with great satisfaction, for it