The Sun.
London, England, 1859-12-12 00:00:00

LORD VALLETORT, 111. P., AND MR.
KENDALL, M.P., ON GENERAL POLITICS.

At the Callington agricultural meeting on Thurs-
day, under the chairmanship of E. Collins, Esq., in
responding to the toast, " The Health of the Earl of
Mount-Edgcumbe, the Patron of the Society."
The Viscount VALLETORT said, although his
father was confined to his bed by severe illness, he
took a deep interest in all that tended to the interest
of the neighbourhood and the country ; in proof of
which he would refer to a letter to which reference
had been made, in which his father called upon
everyone to consider whether it was not their boun-
den duty in that neighbourhood to take part in the
formation of a volunteer corps. Some time ago there
was an idea that peace would never again be broken
among the civilised nations of Europe, that if a dis-
turbance did break out it would be amongst bar-
barous tribes; that idea had at once dispelled by
what had taken place in Italy, though he hoped in
the end that outbreak might work for the benefit of
that country; it, however, proved that the idea that
European peace was never to be again broken was
utterly fallacious. The Emperor of France had
stated his intentions towards England to be peace-
able. If such was the. case, forming those corps
would be the way to maintain peace ; but if his
intentions should not be peaceable, and the energy
with which they Were building transports in all the
French ports to an extent never before known did
not give them altogether an assurance of peace.
then they ought to be prepared for every emer-
gency. According to the best opinions of those
eminently qualified to judge, this country was open
to attack at many points, and no place, perhaps
was more assailable than Plymouth. France had
the power, and many Frenchmen had the will to
assail them if the Emperor led them on, and ought
England to be so unprepared as to be at the will of
one despotic man ? They ought to make invasion
impracticable by putting the country into a proper
state of defence, and how could they do that better
than by forming volunteer corps. (Cheers.) It
had been proposed in the Southern Division of
East Cornwall to have an artillery corps of 100
men, but he was in London at the time, and from
some cause or other the project failed, Probably
people had not made up their minds on the matter;
but volunteer corps have been formed from Scot-
land to the Land's End, and they could not do
better than follow the example. Some might pre-
fer artillery, but if they could not obtain that they
should certainly have rifle corps. Perhaps some
parties were slow in coming forward, as they would
have to go a considerable distance to drill, but that
difficulty might be overcome by increasing the
number of drill sergeants. Another reason was
that it could not be expected in many cases that
parties could provide their own equipments, but he
thought they might soon get funds to purchase
equipments for those who could not provide them
for themselves. Government had already given
half the rifles, and would probably, as soon as they
had them give the remainder. Other parties thought
that when the emergency arose then they would
rise and meet it ; but that was an absurdity, for it
was useless for any man to think of practising as a
soldier who had not been properly trained thereto.
By being thus prepared they would prevent all
those miseries and disastrous events which always
resulted from war. They might say if they raised a
corps of 100 men that that would not be much for
the safety of the country ; but if every locality said
the same what would become of the country if inva-
sion should take place ? He thought, moreover, this
matter involved the honour and credit of the agri-
culturists themselves. Every other class almost had
outstripped the agriculturists of that neigbourhood
in this respect. He somewhat regretted the circum-
stances, as heretofore the yeomanry had been the
chief strength of the county, and whose power had
proved irresistible in time of danger.
In replying to the " Health of the County
Members,"
N. KENDALL, Esq., thanked the meeting on behalf
of Mr. Roberts and himself for the honour which
had been done them. The last speaker said that
they always knew where to find their representa-
tives. That might be very true, but as regarded
politics he found it,hard to say, where he bad been
for the last five or six months. Free discussion was
the order of the day in that place, and therefore it
was that he rejoiced to be among them. At a recent
meeting in another locality he had been called to
order for touching so closely on politics : on that
occasion he wished himself at Callington. (Cheers.)
He was at Callington today, and he should do what
he always had done—give his opinion on the pre-
sent state of politics in the House of Commons. As
he had long since felt that he belonged to no party,
he had the less difficulty in being perfectly unre-
served in the matter. They must not, however, think
by that that he was not in heart as at first—a strong
Conservative ; but, as he understood, there were
now no Conservative leaders. Sir Robert Peel built
up a strong and admirable Conservative party with
the greatest possible care, but he destroyed that
party, and now confidence in party had been lost.
There had been time to train up another party, but
men seemed to have forsaken their principles for
the love of power, and because of that love they had
seen what had taken place so detrimental to the
interests of the country, and had it not been for the
independent men in the House of Commons—who
seek for no power, who stood forth free and united to
destroy the machinations of party—matters might
have been still worse. He would for a moment turn
to foreign politics;, and perhaps there never was a
time when so many topics engaged the minds of
men. There were the India, China, and Italian ques-
tions, and a little matter over in America ; and men
seemed divided in opinion on almost every topic,
But there was one subject in which all felt great
anxiety. Who did not put the question, " How do
we stand with France ?" Did they think the Prime
Minister of England, the acknowledged best dip-
lomatist in the country, or Lord Cowley, had the
slightest idea of their position with Franco He