The Sun.
London, England, 1859-11-16 00:00:00

141E' SeS, LOISboN, WE EVENING, NOVEMBER, 16, 1859.

tol, I eat: dilly say they shall have fair play,—so
far I can answer. (Cheers.) tint it is one thing
for a man to go into a deliberative assemblage and
say such a port has such advantages, and another
for him to say such a port will have them. (Hear.)
In the one case you arein the best possible position,
while in the other you would be in the worst. I
.have endeavoured to lay the case, before you so as
not to be mistaken, and I will undertake that the
claims of Bristol shall have the fullest and fairest
consideration. (Cheers.) 'Gentlemen, on 'Friday
last I arrived in this city purposely-to be present at
a field-day of the Bristol Volunteer Rifle Corps.
this time last year I urged upon the attention of
the gentlemen assembled the necessity there was
for Englishmen being enabled to take care of their
homes and firesides. It appeared to me—who had
been over most parts of Europe, who had seen
a good many armies, and knew the life which
was led by the citizens of- the- different countries
of the Continent—a strange thing, that while we
are the richest nation in the world, with every-
thing desirable to protect, Englishmen should walk
about with their hands in their pockets, perfectly
unconscious of the danger of the position in which
they stood. (Hear.) It appeared to me very desir-
able that Englishmen should be taught the use of
those weapons which are perfectly familiar to all
the nations on the Continent. I was one of the first
of those who advocated the formation of volunteer
forces ; and I do believe, and what I have seen has
strengthened me in that conviction, that with pro-
per drilling, and proper instruction in the use of the
deadly rifle the people of this country will be able,
with a small army, to afford a perfect means of pro-
tection. (Loud cheers.) I have great faith in the Saxon
spirit when once aroused. I have seen a great many
opin ions about riflemen, those of general officers and
others. I fake those opinions cum grano ealis. There
is the opinion of Gen. Hay, which, I think, ought'
to be taken with a certain reservation. Igo the
whole of the way with him as regards the import
ance of rifle drill ; but I believe that the volunteers
of this country, after an effective drill of twelve
months, after being drilled to the use of the rifle for
twelve months I believe then, and in that I differ
from General flay, that they will be able to stand
shoulder to shoulder with the regular army—
(cheers)—and that any who venture on the bayonets
cf these volunteers will find they form a very ugly
hedgehog. (Cheers.) I believe they are.capable
of acting with. ,the regular troops if properly
drilled. I have been one of those who have set my
face against the Yeomanry Cavalry, and have urged
their inefficiency in the House of Commons. I have
roused their anger by doing so, and they have
swarmed and buzzed around me like a roused
nest of hornets. (Laughter.) They are fine fellows,
brave as lions, but they have no drill, and you will
find even now that the volunteers of this city in the
three or four months in which they have been drilled
have had more instruction and more drill than any
member of the Yeomanry Cavalry has in 10 years.
(Cheers and laughter.) The Yeomanry Cavalry
have £BO,OOO a year devoted to them for their out-
fit and other expenses; if that sum is still to be
continued to the Yeomanry Cavalry, then, I say,
that the Infantry Volunteers have a right to the
same consideration. (Cheers.) I say, moreover,
that if' the Government devote £40,000 a year to
the Yeomanry Cavalry, at least the same sum of
£40,000 should go in support of the Infantry Vo-
lunteers. (Cheers.) With such a body of men,
well drilled, we may say with the old poet—

" Let England to herself be true,
And she shall shock the world -in arms."

(Loud cheers.) I am delighted with the movement,
and I shall wind up with the old lines—
"Blest isle, with matchless beauty crowned,
And manly arms to -guard the fair."
. .
(Renewed cheers.) I thank you sincerely for your
attention to me this evening. I have only one
other word to say with respect to my friend Mr.
Langton. (Cheers.) He is exceedingly unwell. I
was with him yesterday, and he said to me, " I
trust to you to fully explain to our friends at the
Anchor that I am really unhappy at not being able
to attend." (Hear, hear.) He is far too unwell to
attend, and it has added much, I believe, to his
sufferings that he cannot be here to-night with me,
shoulder to shoulder. (Loud and prolonged cheer-
ing, which continued for some minutes after the
hon. member had resumed his seat.)
Mr. J. T. Norris, M.P. for Abingdon, ,and Sir
Henry Hoare, Bart., were among the speakers.

(Renewed laughter.) At the last election out of
140 constituencies changing their members the bal-
lot party did not gain one vote in Parliament.
(Cheers.) But the Whigs, smarting as they were
from their defeat, had obtained the triumph they
wished, and the Conservative party were at present
obliged to sit in the cold shade of opposition and
look on at the measures that might be adduced.
The present Administration, however, was com-
posed of all sections of politicians, like a happy
family—(laughter)—to whom united policy was
impossible, and it was also impossible for them to
count on a majority on any important question,
watched as they were on the flanks by the ultra-
Liberals. They might almost be said to be at the
mercy of their united Conservative opponents, but
he for one deprecated constant changes in Govern-
ment, and hoped that forbearance which they re-
fused to show the Conservatives might be shown to
them, so that their bark might be able to float on
the summer sea, but if they became engulfed in the
complicated waves of foreign politics or of Reform,
their fate was certain. (Cheers.) The hon. gentle-
man again thanked the company for the reception
given him, and concluded by proposing "The Com-
mercial Prosperity of Bristol." (Cheers.)