The Sun.
London, England, 1866-11-29 00:00:00

onservative

.on in Essex.

The Maldon Conservative Club celebrated its
anniversary dinner on Tuesday night, under the
presidency of Mr. C. Du Cane, M.P., one of the
junior Lords of the Admiralty. On the right and
left of the chairman sat Mr. G. M. W. Sandford,
M.P., and Mr. R. A. Earle, M.P., and there was
also present Lord Eustace Cecil, M.P. for South
Essex.

After the usual loyal toasts,
The CHAIRMAN gave " The Army, Navy, Militia,
and Volunteers." (Cheers.) The hon. gentleman
said there never was a time in the history of this
country when the maintenance of an efficient army
and navy was of such vital importance to its internal
prosperity, and when a deeper responsibility rested
upon those who presided over our military and naval
administration. As far as the army was concerned,
he thought that the name of General Peel was one
which inspired confidence throughout the country ;
and speaking for the Board of Admiralty, of which
he (Mr. Du Cane) had the honour to be a humble
member, he could only say that that board was
deeply impressed with a sense of the responsibility
which devolved upon it. (Hear, hear.)
Capt. ISHERWOOD responded for the army, and
Lieutenant HUMPHREYS for the volunteers.

The CHAIRMAN, in giving the " Conservative
Members for Maldon, Mr. Sandford and Mr. Earle,"
said that although the political future was shrouded
to a certain extent in uncertainty be could not help
thinking that the events of last session, and the lan-
guage held on certain platforms during the past au-
tumn, had done much to strengthen that dislike for
organic constitutional changes which had mainly
led to the instalment of the Conservatives in office.
(Hear, hear.)
Mr. SANDFORD, M.P., in responding, said he did
not know what course her Majesty's Government
might pursue upon the question of reform, although
there were two oracles present from whom some-
thing might perhaps be extracted—(laughter)—but
he could not help pointing out that in all previous
reform bills some injustice had been meted out to
Maldon. Maldon, with its 900 electors, was placed
in schedule D as if it were a town with a population
of some 6,000 or 7,000 persons; but one-half the
electors of Maldon were derived from 42 square miles
of country round the town, and surely some allow-
ance ought to be made for the population of these
42 square miles. If that population were taken into
account the borough of Maldon would figure with
between 11,000 and 12,000 attached to it ; at all
events, it would be iu such a position that it would
certainly not be touched by any reform bill. (Hear.)
He did not wish now to go into any subject of
grouping. He retained his original objection to
any grouping, because he was sufficiently selfish not
to wish to have any further trouble or expense en-
tailed upon him—(laughter)—but in the interests
of his constituents he was not sure whether a fair
system of grouping would not have at least one ad-
vantage. If the electors of Maldon were grouped
with some other place so as to make up a constitu-
ency of at least 10,000 or 15,000, instead of being shut
out on any future reform bill, they would be placed
in a position to last certainly as long as the British
constitution. When he spoke of the principle of
grouping he limited himself to existing constituen-
cies, because then, at all events, it was known
who your bedfellows were to be—(laughter)—
and respect was shown to prescriptive rights
and traditional interests. There was another
system of grouping which found favour with cer-
tain parties, and which consisted in tacking on to
Mallon places like Coggeshall and Braintree. Such
a system might suit the parties to whom he had re-
ferred, but he did not think it would suit those pre-
sent—and if such a system were proposed he should
give it, from whatever quarter it might come, the
most determined opposition. (Hear.) He had a
word to add upon the subject of our foreign rela-
tions. We possessed no official information upon
the subject, but what he had read in the public
journals as to theitone of a recent despatch from Mr.
Seward had given him pain. He found that, refer-
ring to certain Fenians condemned in Canada, and
taken red-handed in as piratical an invasion of a
peaceful country as history ever recorded, Mr .
Seward, iu language of menace and defiance, de-
manded a commutation of their sentence, and he
was sorry toadd that rumour said that her Majesty's
Government were inclined to comply with the re-
quesc. Far be it from him (Mr. Sandford) to dis-
pute the possession by her Majesty of the attributes
of clemency and mercy, which were amongst the
highest as they were amongst the most sacred of the
prerogatives of Majesty ; but they were prerogatives
which should be exercised by our sovereign of her own
free will, and not at the dictation of the Minister of
a foreign power. (hear, hear.) Ho sincerely
trusted that her Majesty's responsible advisers had
given no such counsel to her Majesty as rumour
attributed to them upon the present occasion.
He thought he might venture to add that the
practice in the Cabinet of one whom above all
he respected—he meant Lord Cranborne—was a
pledge and a guarantee of a contrary policy ;
and he confidently hoped and relied that
when the papers relating to the subject were placed
upon the table of the house a very different complexion
-would be given to the whole transaction. If, on the
other hand, it should appear that the honour of Eng-
land had been tarnished, and that humiliating
con-
cessions
bad been made at the dictation of a minister
of a foreign state, then so far as his humble vote was
concerned, if he was called upon to choose between
the cries of party
and the cries of patriotismi;
nor would
neither hesitate nor palter in his choice,
he allow even his desire to retain a Conservative
Government in office to weigh for a single instant
in the balance against the honour and dignity of his
country. (Cheers.)
Mr. EARLE, M.P., also replied. When he heard
the question of Parliamentary reform discussed he
owned that he felt much more anxious to ascertain
what would be the probable effects of Parliamentary
reform, than inquisitive as to the particular year in
which a reform bill might be carried. It appeared
to him that in all the discussions which arose upon
that subject there was, sometimes upon one side and
sometimes upon the other, a certain amount of ex-
aggeration. In the case of a reformed Parliament,
he believed the direction given to its first efforts
would mainly depend upon the individual influences
to which it might be subjected, just as in the case of
a ship its course depended upon the man at the helm.
In discussing the question of reform he had no doubt
that the members of the club would endeavour,
while seeking perhaps for greater vigour, still to
preserve the stability which they now enjoyed. If
they discussed the question with that view, be
thought they would agree with him that it must be
considered in a very different spirit from that in
which it had been treated on certain platforms since
the prorogation of Parliament. He hoped that in
dealing with this great question we should combine
vigour with stability, and that we should not be in-
duced to take a ticket in the lottery of revolution
unless we saw our way clearly to drawing a prize.
(Cheers.)

Mr. W. M. TUFFNELL proposed the " Conserva-
tive Members present."
Lord B. CECIL, M.P., acknowledged the compli-
ment, and,me in
sai.du, speaking of the reform question,
there had been enough of abuse
an •
vitu although
peration in the deliberations of the Re-
form League, he was afraid that there had
been very little commont sense or wisdom in
their councils. All vials of the great agita-
tor's wrath had been poured out upon the de-
voted heads, not only of thoeikt3ertviative party, but
of every respectable
person C
The great Birmingham prophet had,le community.
c
of old, been taken by the League,Reform not
like the seer
from mountain to mountain, but from town to town;
(Lord 11
but instead of cursing his enemies he
Cecil) ventured to say that in the opinion of every
unprejudiced person he had seven times blessed
them. (Laughter.) A little incident took place inthe
House of Commons last year which excited some
attention at the time. The hon. member for North
Warwick called Mr. Whalley a Jesuit in disguise,
for the manner in which he advocated Protestant
interests in Parliament. (Laughter.) Well, when
he (Lord E. Cecil) remembered the speeches of a
certain other great personage he wondered that some
rather suspicious member of the Reform League did