The Sun.
London, England, 1866-07-12 00:00:00

DROIT W ICH.

The election for this borough, consequent on the
appointment of Sir J. Pakington as First Lord of
the Admiralty, took place yesterday. There was
no opposition to Sir John's re-election, and the pro-
ceedings were conducted very quietly.
After the reading of the writ the mayor made the
usual affirmation—he being a member of the Society
of Friends--and called upon the electors to nomi-
nate their member.

Mr. E. BEARCROFT, of Mere Hall, then proposed
he re-election of the Right Hon. Sir J. S. Paking-

Mr. J. H. BRADLEY seconded the nomination.
No other candidate appearing, the mayor declared
Sir John Pakington to be duly elected. (Cheers.)
Sir J. S. PAKINGTON said this was the tenth occa-
sion on which they had done him the honour of elect-
ing him without a contest to the House of Commons,
and those 10 elections had extended over a period
of almost 30 years. He found it impossible to ex-
press his deep sense of gratitude for the kindness,
the respect, and the good feeling with which he had
been constantly received during that period, not only
by men of all classes, but of every political opinion,
in the borough. He much missed those social ga-
therings which formerly accompanied elections, but
he had been advised that in the face of recent acts
of Parliament he could not entertain his friends as
he desired. There was no act of Parliament, how-
ever, to prevent his helping the poor, and he proposed
to place £5O in the hands of the mayor, to expend
it for the benefit of the poor of all parties andcreeds
in the borough. (Cheers.) In allusion to the rumour
that he was about to be raised to the peerage, Sir
John begged to state distinctly that not only was
there no foundation, but that there had been no
foundation for the report. He was by no means in-
sensible of the honour of the peerage, but they had
all a right to indulge in their own personal views,
and he begged distinctly to state that he had not, and
never had, the least desire to be raised to the peerage.
He was perfectly contented with the position in life
which he occupied, and he desired for the remainder
of his life to enjoy nothing more than the support of
the constituency of the borough of Droitwich.
(Cheers.) He acknowledged the kind feeling which
had been shown in the language of the address issued
by their neighbour, Mr. Corbett, who being under
the impression that he (Sir J. Pakington) was going
to the House of Lords, had offered himself as a can-
didate contingent on his retirement. Turning next
to the high and laborious office which he had now
the honour to fill, he must say that he had
undertaken that office with a very deep sense
of its extreme importance and responsibility ;
and his sense of its importance and responsibility
was not diminished by the fact that he had had some
experience in it already. Ile had had the honour of
holding the office for a year and a half; and he could
say that it was a time of great anxiety, responsi-
bility, and laborious exertion. He undertook the
office with great diffidence, because at the time when
he held the office before, and still more so now, the
navy of England—that great power to which they
all looked with so much pride—was and is in a state
of transition_a state of transition which made any
decision of the minister at the head of the department
a matter of great consequence and responsibility. In
1859, when he was at the head of this department
of the Government, he ordered the construction of
two great iron-clad ships of war, the Warrior and
the Black Prince. He ordered their construction,
knowing at the time that they could not be built
under the enormous expense of between £300,000
and £400,000 for each ship. He much doubted
whether there was anv single naval officer in her
Majesty's service who felt with any degree of cer-
tainty as to the result of that experiment, and they
might judge therefore of the degree of anxiety and
responsibility -which he felt when he found it his
duty to give the order, and with which he watched
the progress of the experiment. That experiment
they now knew had proved a successful one. The
question at the time was whether they could clothe
ships with a weight of 1,200 tons of iron armour, and

still leave them fit for service at sea. These doubts
had been successfully solved, and these ships had
become powerful men of war. France, too, had
been engaged in similar experiments, and seven
years having passed away England had now, by the
active exertions of his (Sir J. Pakington's) imme-
diate predecessors, became in possession of a power-
ful fleet of these armour-clad ships, and not only
England, but every maritime Power of Europe and
the United States were in possession of fleets of
armour-clad men of war. But although this was the
case, still our navy was, as he had already said,
more than ever in a state of transition. It was
still uncertain what ought to be the size of the
ship ; it was still uncertain what ought to be the
strength of her armour plates, and also whether the
arms of such ships should be placed in turrets or
used in the old-fashioned way of broadsides. These
were questions which required the anxious conside-
ration of the great department to which he had just
succeeded, and he spoke the language of his heart
when he said that he undertook the office with great
diffidence and anxiety. But it was not only our
ships, for our guns were also equally in a state of
transition. When he left the administration in
1859 the most powerful gun in use was the 68-
pounder. Four years had passed away, and now
England was in possession of a considerable number
of 300-pounders, and it was believed that guns of
600 pounds would be available in turret ships. Per-
haps there might be a limit to the weight of guns
on ships, but in regard to shore batteries those
who had studied the question could see hardly
any limit to the power and magnitude of guns
that might be safely used. They would see that
England had under these circumstances entered
upon a most costly race, but it was a race in which
England could not afford to be beaten, and it was
a race which at all hazards England must win. He
hoped this country would never see an Administra-
tion that would dare to allow the naval power and
supremacy of England to be diminished or im-
paired ; and he thought it due to them thus to state
the opinions on which he should conduct the duties
of the arduous office which had been entrusted to his
care. (Hear.) It was hardly necessary to detain
them at any length in referring to the circumstances
which had led to a change of Government. It was
nearly a year to the very day since he stood before
them for election. At the general election the Con-
servative party had been sanguine that they should
have gained a considerable number of seats and
thus be placed in a majority ; but it so happened
that, instead of gaining, they had lost a consider-
able number of seats. (Laughter.) It was not for
him to have expected that the majority of the Libe-.
ral party should in twelve months have vanished
into thin air ; but it sometimes happened that the
heir of a most healthy man might suddenly find
himself possessed of the property of that healthy
man who had taken it into his head to commit sui-
cide. In his opinion the course taken by the Libe-
ral Government had simply amounted to political
suicide. He believed that it was the wish of all
parties, and of the country generally, that this
troublesome question of Reform should be settled,
and he believed there was no one, either in or out
of Parliament, that was not willing to support a fair
and moderate measure in order to get the question
settled, having a due regard on the one hand to
the rights of the people, and on the other hand to
the maintenance of a due balance of power. There
were three conditions to the success of a measure
of Parliamentary Reform—first, that the measure
should be deliberately prepared ; secondly, that it
should be perfect in itself ; and thirdly, that it should
carry on the face of it proof that it had been con-
ceived in a patriotic spirit. Now, in his (Sir J.
Pakington's) opinion, the measure brought forward
by the late Government failed in all these conditions.
Instead of having been deliberately prepared, it had
been hastily and precipitately prepared ; instead of
being perfect in itself, it was incomplete and care-
lessly done ; and instead of carrying on the face of
it proof that it had been concocted in a patriotic
spirit, it was impossible to resist the Conclusion that
her Majesty's Government had prepared the mea-
sure, in a large degree at least, with the object of
getting a little fleeting popularity for itself. The
result was that the House of Commons showed their
disapprobation of the measure, and at last the Go-
vernment was defeated on a point which they con-
ceived essential, and the task now devolved on the
party of which he had the honour to be one of as-
suming the reins of Government. They (the present
Government) desired to approach the question of
reform in a temperate and fair spirit. They were
not unwilling to consent to a considerable extension
of the franchise ; but, on the other hand, they were
not prepared to make the Government of England
democratic. He might say, as the Earl of Derby
had said in the House of Lords the other night, that
under the circumstances of the case, and being as
yet scarcely in possession of their offices, they must
reserve to themselves a complete discretion in regard
to the time and manner when and in what they
thought their duty to deal with the important ques-
tion of reform. They trusted to the good feeling
of Parliament and the public. Their offices had
been thrust on them. They did not expect it ; they
had not courted it. If the late Government had only
played their cards with good sense it would have
been impossible for the Conservatives to have
taken their places. There were two points on
which he must confess the new Government
had great advantages. First, that there was every
reason to hope that after a very short and san-
guinary campaign the war which a few week ago
threatened to disturb the peace of Europe was now
virtua!ly over. He thought they had reason to hope
now, that by the mediation of neutral cowers,
including England, they should see not only a re-
storation of peace, but the removal of the causes of
dissension in Europe. The other point on which
they were fortunate was, that he was sanguine
enough to believe that we had no cause for anxiety
from any part of the great American continent.
They had all observed the struggle that had been
caused in Canada by the wicked irruption of Fenians
from the United States, and they must all have
observed the noble spirit with which our Canadian
fellow-subjects rose in arms, and how the volunteers
drove back the invaders; and while they felt pride
in those acts of their fellow-citizens, they must
frankly acknowledge the honourable, loyal, and
faithful spirit in which the Government of the
United States assisted us. (Applause.) He hoped
and believed that such honourable and loyal con.
duct on their part would have the effect of cement.

ing and rendering permanent that nod feeling
which ought to exist between the two Governments.
(Hear, hear.) He begged to thank them for the
patience with which in that sultry atmosphere they
had listened to his remarks. The new Government
which had just entered office must be judged by the
measures which they introduced. He was sanguine
enough to hope and believe that their measures
would be such as would deserve the confidence of

the country ; and whatever might be their tenure of

office he hoped and trusted that, when the time for
their retirement arrived, they would leave office
with this feeling on the part of the people of Eug-

land, that there was no reason for regretting the
hour when power had been placed in their hands.

In conclusion, the right hon. baronet referred to
some remarks about the scarcity of foxes at West-
wood, and said that on that subject he was one of
the best-abused men in the country. He was for-

merly a foxhunter himself, but latterly had discon-

tinued following the hounds ; but he had always
given orders to his keepers to protect foxes, not-
withstanding the fact that, when the hounds came
to Westwood, the huntsman could not find the
^" varmint" at home.

Thanks to the Mayor closed the proceedings.

GUILDFORD.

The nomination took place yesterday to fill

the vacancy in the representation of this borough
occasioned by the acceptance by Mr. Bovill of the
office of Solicitor-General under Lord Derby's
Government.

Great excitement prevailed, but no serious breach
of the peace occurred.

The usual formalities having been gone through,
the Solicitor-General was nominated by Mr. Elkins
and seconded by Mr. Hoyden.

Mr. Brookes nominated and Mr. Billings se-
conded Mr. Long.

The candidates then severally addressed the elec.