The Sun.
London, England, 1866-10-19 00:00:00

with their powerful neighbour ; there will be no
rivalry and there will be no jealousy ; but extend-
ing, as they will, from the Rocky Mountains to the
Atlantic Ocean, with an unlimited territory, with a
large population, with commercial enterprise, and
with maritime energy, they will constitute no mean
community among the nations of the world. And
so being, they will not only not desire to be them-
selves an independent nation, but they hold it to be
their highest pride and privilege to remain the fore-
, most dependency of the Crpwn of England.
(Cheers.) Gentlemen, I remember that at this
table—l think it was about three years ago—l en-
tertained an opinion that the harvest of that 3 ear
was a good harvest, and I ventured in this hall to
express that opinion ; but I spoke in the presence
of an older and wiser man than myself, my right
hon. friend your county member—(cheers)—and
in following me he said—" It is very presump-
tuous to talk about the produce of the
harvest until the wheat harvest has been
thrashed out." Sir, I submitted to the prudent
caution of my right hon. friend, and I am afraid he
will give me no such caution to-night. I am afraid
he will tell me in despair to say what I like of the
harvest of the present year. But, sir, notwithstand-
ing existing discouragements—notwithstanding the
cattle plague, which, I am happy to say, is begin-
ning to desert our shores, never, I hope, to return—
notwithstanding the panic in the city, I believe it is
now—as it was in the time of the cotton famine in
Manchester—that, such is the elasticity of our re-
sources, and such is the steadiness of our industry,
that no serious alarm need be entertained for the
steadiness of the public revenue, or for the con-
tinued prosperity and employment of the people.
(Hear.) Gentlemen, when supporters of the Go-
vernment that was and of the Government that is
to meet for the enjoyment of social intercourse at
this hospitable bare, it is a rule established by
ancient custom, and sanctioned by the precept of the
Mayor, that we leave behind us at the door all topics
on which there is a recognised difference of opinion.
It will be my duty faithfully to observe the salutary
rule which has been laid down, and I shall therefore
say nothing upon those vexed topics, but shall con-
clude these few observations with the expression of
my sincere and earnest nope that when the time of
action comes round, and we again return to our
Parliamentary duties, we may address ourselves to
questions of that kind in no narrow or party spirit
(cheers)—but in a broad and patriotic spirit, con-
scious of the vast importance of our proceedings to
the future destiny of England, and animated only
by a paramount desire to arrive at conclusions which
may satisfy public expectation and strengthen the
institutions of the country. (Loud cheers.)

Mr. NEATE also returned thanks. After remark-
ing on the difficulty which the present Administra-
-1 tion must have experienced in finding a fit succes-
sor to his right hon. colleague, he referred to the
rumoured visit of several members of the late Go-
vernment to Rome, and observed that the Pope
himself being in a rather embarrassing position the
gathering there would be a somewhat melancholy
one. Perhaps, however, they would derive some
consolation from the sense of mutual misfortunes.
(Laughter.)
The MAYOR proposed " The Health of the County
Members," remarking that when losing a Cabinet
minister in the person of Mr. Cardwell, the city and
county would have been glad had a successor been
found in Mr. Henley.
Mr. HENLEY, who was warmly received, said—
The mayor has been pleased to allude in.terms of
regret to his not having become a member of the
present Government, but he could only tell them
that he thought it was wiser for a man to find out
for himself that he was old than to leave it to others
to find that he was not well able to do his work.
That was his feeling in the matter, and he thought
he was right in acting upon it. It must be a great
gratification to the mayor and to his fellow citizens
to see the general respect in which their municipal
feasts and institutions were held, as proved by the
present gathering. It had not been his luck for
many, he thought he might say for 40 years, to see
all the representatives of the city and county, and
of the boroughs included in it, assembled in that
hall. (Hear, hear.) Our municipal institutions had
been well described as the cradle of our liberties,
and among all the advantages and pleasures they
conferred there was none, he thought, more gene-
rally valued than the festive entertainments which
attended them. (Laughter.) They brought toge-
ther men of all ranks and of all opinions, and that
under circumstances where they learnt to come and
enjoy themselves without raising any questions
which would excite the shadow of discord. This was
a not unimportant lesson, for one of the great secrets
of securing all that was valuable was to respect dif-
ferences of opinion. His hon. friend (Mr. Neate)
had described him as being apt to listen, a quality
which he thought was not a bad one, and perhaps
being rather deaf he appeared the more anxious to
catch everything he could. Indeed, he professed
he had been anxious to catch something that he ex_
pected was going to fall from his hon. friend's lips.
(Laughter.) It was only natural that his right hon.
friend (Mr. Cardwell), with the habitual reticence
which naturally hung about a Cabinet Minister,
should say nothing—(laughter)--but his hon. col-
league told them that the right hon. gentleman was
going Ito Rome, and this made him exceedingly
anxious to know what was to come of it. He did not
know but what they might be getting up an erup-
-1 tion of Vesuvius—(laughter)--or whether his right
hon. friend was going to put the Pope in his pocket--
I (renewed laughter)—or what was going to happen,
li and he thought that perhaps his hon. friend had
been specially instructed to put forward in an in-
direct way something that the right hon. gentleman
would not venture to say himself. (Laughter.) He
had, however, been disappointed. Talking about
'l. tltalyat had
naturally
h
been taking place in that country and in
Germany,
and to which his right hon. friend had
alluded. The Sovereigns who had brought about
and were enjoying the fruits of those changes had a
great and fearful responsibility upon their hands.
(Hear.) They had swept away all old regimes and
all hereditary titles, and they, therefore, could have
no claim to the position they themselves held ex-
cept by securing to the great people over whom they
now ruled those advantages which they put forward
as the ground and reasons that justified them in
the course which they had taken. This was a great
responsibility, and we, as lookers-on, who enjoyed
the institutions for which those peoples yearned, but
which as yet they did not possess in reality, could
only hope that their expectations would be fulfilled,
to their advantage and happiness. Unless this
proved to be the case, a fearful day of reckoning
would certainly come upon the Princes by whom
those great changes had been brought about. He
should not live to see it, but he felt certain that such
a day of reckoning would come unless, as he and all
of them cordially hoped, the just expectations of
those peoples and of Europe were fulfilled, and the
professed end of those changes accomplished.
(Cheers.)
His right hon. friend had said that he
warned him on a former occasion against being too
sanguine with reference to the harvest. He wished
there was occasion for the same warning now, but
he was afraid that the prospect in many parts of Eng-
land was not a hopeful one. In this district, fortu-
nately, a large portion of the harvest was secured
before the weather changed, but there had never-
theless been a great deal much damaged, and there
must be more or less suffering in some quarters, for
even if au increased price reimbursed the pro-
ducers the consumers would suffer in what they
would have to pay. He had always said, and was
ever ready to abide by it, that politics must not be
touched upon on these occasions, but he thought he
mtilight say, without trenching upon that rule, that
the broad
of Parliament must see great
andeimportant changes brought forward—he would
ownalryde x p r
ahis hboopre and
(rt if they were brought for-
in
comprehensive manner to
which his right
friend had alluded, with the
view of satisfying the
justvi_ expectations of the people
and if those measures met in the spirit which
his right hon. friend hadere admirably described,
they might be settled in a
might be bene-
orevil
to
subjects
::y that
eicloanivl:3t,
ficial to the country. (Che
so deep and affecting for good
ers.) They .
extent the whole body of the people-ofothsuis
that we should uever grudge or regret the time that