The Sun.
London, England, 1861-10-31 00:00:00

two difficulties which I see before me, both of
which, I think, may act prejudicially. The first is a
natural disposition among men who have joined this
force, after attending a certain number of drills,
and undergoing a certain quantity of labour, to con-
sider that their occupations, after all, are such—
their private occupations—that _they, cau hardly
carry on both with credit to themselves. They natu-
rally say to themselves, and justly, " We are not a
truly military nation ; we are engaged in trade, in
manufactures, in agriculture, in commerce, in the
duties of civil life, or as civil officers, and we have
not that time in the 24 hours—which no magic can
lengthen—to do justice to ourselves and attend long
enough and sufficiently to make us as perfect as
regular troops, or as we should like to see ourselves
and others." This is a very natural feeling of vanity,
but it is an entirely mistaken ,one. After the first
year or year aad a half of drip:-and that is over--
they should know sufficient to,form the nucleus of
a body of men who, when the occasion arrives—
which God forbid !-in a month:or six weeks would
make effective soldiers. Let them consider that it is
not necessary to have all the bearing and smartness
of troops of the line ; that they, look equally well,.
and are equally respected, without any ornamental
thing of that sort; and that as soon as they know
the A B C of their company drill they are per-
fectly able then, and would be sure to be able
to act within a month or six weeks of a
given time—and then naturally all their time, would
be given to it, and to learn as much as it is possible
to know, Therefore they should not be discouraged,
and those who are not perfect need not wish to with-
draw from the corps because tilpy do notthink they
could give time to it. If theYNmli learn one-half
the eseroiace if they understand them in their
heads—when the-timetomes they will be able to
proceed rapidly with the remainder. I do not wish-
.
them`to put themselves to personal inconvenience
to attend ~the. drill; they should d& so only when
their bisinpes :permits them. Thit,,is oho danger.
The other is ,an opinion, which is not getieral, but
which 'hay° heard advocated by riOme 'Men, that
the institution of 'the Volunteer force:will enable us
to redo& our 'regular army: Dependilpen it, that is'
a very great mistake. It would be unfair to this
country and terribly-unfair to the Volunteers them-
selves. (Hear, hear.) Take, for example, the habits
of discipline, of life, of the, class of men who form
the Volunteers, and compare them with those habits
and customsoof discipline and of order which regu7,
late the &lye atm. y. It' is imposeible—perfectly.
impossibleuthat you shoUl4;changeluman nature
so completelx. If you could transform them into.,
regular 11.'00:6, Viol subject; them to some such, dis-
cipline as' regular troops we subjected to, yet if
they were pot always under those regulations they
would not Ito. effective as tvregultir army. They
be effective 'as a :supplementary army, relieving ,
they would
would be effective . in: their:own way ;
the troOpi, case of war gr; invasion, in various
toils to which they would otherwiee be exposed ;
and they iwouldlie,?fffctiye, 4oubling and trebling
the amount of 4ttie efficiencyX the 'regular troops
by enabling, them to act- together instead of
employing them in duties which theNolinteers.
are able to 'perform ; bdt to trust the safety of "
the country to &body of MO-whose habits do not
accustom thenllo the sternAiscipline.of the Line
would be O most, dangerous, Ited fatal thing to the
countri itself, -and to the 4 VOlunteers themselves.
(Hear, ;hear, and cheers.) We have' seen what" has

tak'eu place in America. Those men who fell at
the battle of Manassas Irk at dun were
doubtless as brave as ourselves, or any others de-
scended from our race; but from the inferior qua-
lity of the officers—volunteer officers who had not
been in military command opposed to those who
had—and the experience of the troops themselves,
when brought to face dangers to which they were
unaccustomed, and led by persons not accustomed
to lead regular troops, they sustained a disastrous
defeats We, as Volunteers, must, therefore, consi-
der ourselves as supplementary to the regular army.
(Hear, hear.) Year after year we should improve
and be a nucleus, increased in‘size, and vigour, an*
strength whenever required; but it would be the
greatest mistake, either from economical principles
or believing that volunteer forces are equivalent to
regular troops, to take upon ourselves to reduce the
army even in a small degree in consequence of the
Volunteer movement; in fact, we should bo destroy-
ing what we have done. (Cheers.) We consider
ourselves an independent portion of the army.
When we enlisted our idea was, not that we should
enlist as soldiers, and that so many soldiers should
be dismissed in consequence ; but we enlisted to
assist those soldiers, and to be a reserve to de-
fend the country if attacked. (Hear, hear.) Re-
collect what this country is. Its safety depends
upon its navy, because, although an island is the
strongest of all countries so long as its navy main-
tains its supremacy at sea, if it has no navy it is the
weakest of all countries. Take Austria. Sur-
rounded by neutral territories she may have friendly
neighbours. But in England, an island, if you have
no navy, a powerful military monarchy that pos-
sesses a navy—l will at once say France—(hear)—
could land soldiers at different points ; and, as we
have no neutral territory around us, and our
" friendly neighbour" would have ceased to exist,
we cannot number too Many men to defend the in-
terior of this country. Our army could not pos-
sibly do it. One hundred thousand regular men
could not defend the coast if the French had the
superiority at sea ; but if we had a volunteer force
of 150,000 or 200,000 men to assist that army, added
to all the strength and vigour and advantage with
which all soldiers fight upon their own ground, if
the navy were overpowered we should still be able
to defend our land. (Cheers.) What I have said is
no conceit of my own, and no dream. England,
800 years ago, was conquered, and by men who
came from France. But what was the cause ? In
those days it had no navy; it had a brave king and
a very brave army, but that army, four days before
the battle of Hastings, fought a desperate battle
against the Danes on the eastern coast. King
Harold conquered the Danish army, and slew the
Danish king and his valiant brother. But in conse-
quence of that battle it was that with a broken army
he had to meet the Norman William on the coast of
Sussex; and that proves that without a navy this
island may be attacked, at one and the same time, at
more than one point, and that it requires more than
one army to defend our shores, even if we did not
lose our supremacy at sea. (Cheers.) Let nothing,
then, discourage our keeping up the volun-
teer force, our keeping up their drill; above all,
do not, if you ever entertained it, foster the delusion

that, brave as you are, patriotic as you are, you can
act alone and without the assistance of the regular
force; but consider yourselves supplementary to
that regular force, and be ever ready to double its
exertions and its usefulness. (Immense applause.)
Capt. TANNER responded, and, after some others,
Mr, W. TICE proposed "The House of Peers—

the highest Assembly of Englishmen and of the
Assemblies of the World." This toast was enthu-
siastically received.
The Earl of MALMESBURY—GentIemen, I think

that you will be tired of seeing me so often on my
legs. It is not my fault this time ; it is that of my
old friend Mr. Tice, who has most kindly proposed
my health in connexion with that of the most
ancient and great institution—the greatest, perhaps,
that there is in this country. He has described its
nature and its character in very simple, but very
eloquent language, and to that language I can add
nothing that would give it force. He has said with
very great truth that the persons who compose that
body of men—the greatest legislative assembly, I
believe, in the world—have advantages which others
do not possess. They have, or they ought to have,
an impartial, a liberal, and a distinguished educa-
tion ; ;they have, generally, much time upon their
hands to attend to their parliamentary duties, those
duties not falling upyn them with that =UMW

weight—that oppressive and fatiguing weight—
which falls upon members of the House of Com-
mons, and, perhaps, sometimes weakens their
energies and their talents: They have the ad-
vantage, besides all this, of hearing subjects dis-
cussed not for the first time—of receiving subjects`
from the other House after they have been well
battered, as it were, and sifted in the other House
of Parliament. They are, therefore, never taken
by surprise—they have ample means of considering
a subject when its shadow has been thrown before
their doors, and they must be men of little ability if
they do not receive those subjects and consider them
with clearness and a judicial spirit. (Hear, hear.)
These are advantages, and I am bound to say,.
although I have the honour to be a member of that
body; that I believe they have made the best use of
thoie advantages, and that every subject that (lees
come before the House of Lords is discussed in the
calmest and best possible spirit, with all the good
humour and good language and all thogood.breed-
ing, as Mr. Tice has said, which so ornaments a
discussion in a legislative assembly. I should be
sorry indeed if the "roughness" of which he speaks
should be worn off in the other House of Parlia-
ment. (Hear.) It is good for this country that the
voice of the people, rough and rude as it may be,
should have an exponent and be heard in its, proper
place ; • and if disagreeable truths, and disagreeable
assertions untrue, were not allowed to be uttered in
the House of Commons, we should.hear much more
of them in the streets than we do now. (Loud
eheeri.) It is, therefore, most desirable that in the
House of Cominons the nature of the people should
be expounded. The House of Lords, an hereditary
body, is an. assembly of a different kinit—an
assembly, it has been unjustly said, of men wishing
to control the liberties of thesubjecti.; bat 'eves-beta
be' ungrateful.to our ancestors if we did not teeol-'
led that it was in the House of Lords that the first
liberty Of England dawned, and that it was from
the baions of England they received the charter of
their lifierties. (Cheers.) It is not agreeable to
goad' of these honours which are but an aceidenfor
hat it ,is impossible not to 'feel justly, proudt
of 'belonging to a body and an order of men who
have formed a part of the greatness of England's
career for so many centuries. The noblest spirits
have been proud to be in that House ;., the noblest
spirits have aspired to gain that h6nonr ; and who
Shalt forget the chivalrous heart of Nelson, when,
boarding the Spanish ship, he shouted, "A peerage'
or Westminster Abbey !" (Cheers.) You have been
good enough to drink my health,. • thank yeti
again and again for the kindness :with .which you,
always receive me at this table, I, consider that.
although I am a member of the Reuse of Lords,
although I ant not legally responsible to any consti-
tuency in this country, I am responsible te'God, to
my conscience, and to the whole nation for the votes
, which I.giVe in that assembly. It is a duty of great
importance and responsibility which I have received
with my birth; I have tried to carry it out as well
as humanliature will enable me to do ; and depend
upon it tilitt no vote of mine given in that House
for or aga%st any measure proposed in it is given
unless I anti perfectly convinced that at the moment.
I am acting rightly to my fellow-countrymen. (The
noble eari,resumed his seat amid loud cheers.)

THE .EARL OF CARLISLE 4ND, THE

BISHOP OF OXFORD. •

YORK, WEDNESDAY.

This afternoon an influential meeting, in aid of
the Yorkshire School for the Blind, was held in the
Festival Concert-room in this city, under the presi-
dency of his Grace the Archbishop of York. There
were also present his Excellency the Earl of Carlisle,
K.G., Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland, the Bishop of
Oxford, Viscount Falkland, the Right Hon. T. S.
Estcourt, M.P., Mr. R. Monekton Milnes, M.P., Sir
J. B. Johnstone, M.P., the Hon. E. Lascelles, M.P.,
the Hon. and Rev. the Dean of York, Canon Vernon
Harcourt, the Rev. W. Wilberforce, Mr. Childers,
Mr. G. Leeman, Lord Mayor of York, lc. Lord
Brougham, who was prevented by indipositk'i from
being present, addressed a note to the Archbishop,
in which he stated, "1 need hardly say how I
lament my inability to go to York. The subject is
most interesting. Indeed the name of the school
commands my most fixed regard. It remains ever
in my bosom one in which veneration and love strive
for the mastery."
The Yorkshire School for the blind was founded
in 1833 as a memorial to Mr. Wilberforce, but the
subscriptions having recently fallen off it has been
found necessary to defray the current expenses
from the capital fund. The present meeting was
convened by his Grace the Archbishop with the
object of providing for past deficiencies and of se-
curing the future prosperity of the institution.
The Archbishop of Yoßx, in opening the proceed-
ings, expressed his deep regret at the absence of
Lord Brougham. He believed, however, that the
disappointment the noble and learned lord felt was
at least as great as the disappointment they felt at
his absence, for the lapse of time had not diminished
the veneration and affection the noble lord felt for
the name of Wilberforce, and had not lessened his
desire to do honour to the memory of one with whom
he had been associated for many years in carrying
on that noble enterprise of giving freedom to the
African race. (Cheers.) He would not dwell at any
length on the object of the meeting,.which was to
place the Yorkshire School for the Blind, founded
in honour of the late Mr. Wilberforce, on a more
advantageous footing, to increase its finances and
general usefulness. He thought that to a consider-
able extent it was a reflection upon Yorkshire that
while in the whole of the county they simply con-
tributed £250 a year towards their institution for
the blind, in the single town of Liverpool alone
£650 should be raised. With regard to the future
usefulness of the institution, he might state that it
was proposed to set up workshops, and to provide
the necessary appliances for giving employment to
the adults who left the institution, so as to enable
them to gain an honest livelihood hereafter.
The Earl of CARLISLE then moved the first reso-
lution :—" That subscriptions be entered into and
promoted throughout the county for the purposes
of opening the doors of the Wilberforce School to
the many blind persons needing instruction who
are as yet excluded from it, and for facilitating the
efforts of the blind and skilled adults to obtain a
livelihood." The noble earl said—ln bringing this
resolution under your notice, I may premise that I
am not quite sure that I should be willing to exa-
mine closely whether a mixed feeling has not
brought me here to-day—the claims of positive ab-
stract duty on the one hand, and the claims
of memory and association on the other. I
hope, however, in the short time during which I
shall presume to occupy the attention of this meet-
ing, to show that on both these accounts there were
very good grounds for coming. I will begin with
the claims of memory. The meeting at which I last
assisted on this subject and in this place, which
was the meeting also which originated the Wilber-
force School for the Blind, and which took place now
28 years ago, is still at this moment most present
to my eyes. In the chair sat one whom it was my
good fortune to call my kinsman—the Archbishop
of the day—Archbishop Harcourt, whom your Grace
so worthily replaces, and in whom there was very
much which your Grace's own character vividly
recalls. On the right hand of the chair, in the
place I now occupy, stood the then Lord Chancellor
of England, Henry Lord Brougham, who, after a
life of unequalled energy, was then in the highest
position which he as a British subject could attain,
and who, if it had not been for what I trust is a
mere passing indisposition, would have been here
to-day to re-awaken the echoes with his eloquence,
and to rekindle the glow of that ardent philan-
thropy which glows as warmly at the age of 80 as
it did in the hundred fights of the Forum and the
Senate. (Cheers.) On that day there was announced
to us the munificent liberality of Lords Fitzwilliam j

andFeversham, and on that day, too, we hailed the
first earlypromise of a dawn too soon witbdrawafrom
us in the first public essay of the young Lord Milton.
And I, at least, cannot forgot that here, too, sat my
own honoured father. These several 'distinguished
persons cirire brought here by a wish certainly to
provide for the necessities of the blind poor, hut
also by an especial desire to connect that work of
lmerey with the memory of one just taken away
from that scene he had so long conspicuously occa-
pied—whom Yorkshire had long regarded as her
foremost ornament, England as her purest patriot,
and, not unduly to limit the range of his influence
and his fame—the world as its best benefactor—of
William Wilberforce, whose son is here to-day to
represent him in the tones of his melodious voice
and in the fervour of his benevolent heart. (Loud
cheers.) So much for the claims of memory and asso-
ciation in connexion with this institution. In
to the claims of present positive duty, I thankfully
feel that very little need be said by me, both because

the matter is so Obvious in itself, and bieaueeit turns

so much upon figures and statistics which haie al-
ready been placed very amply before us. Into that
dominion, therefore, I do not propose to enter, but I
will put it to you all whether this is a matter in
which Yorkshiremen ought to be content to be so far
behind. (qear; bear.) His Grace has very forcibly
reminded you that in this respect, in connection
with your blind poor, the whole county of York-
shire does infinitely less than the one Lancashire
town of Liverpool. (Hear, hear.) Well- may our
pale .rose -blush at the comparison. 2 (Hear, hear.)
With respect to the adult poor, I believe the county
does absolutely nothing, and I need not tell you
how much ds'a class they are entitled to considera-
tion and contusion; Taught lat:enangh by edti;
ci nind trefallreto—be aware of the- duty and

•tlie.dignity exertion—able in a great measure ti
kiliecome profitable to themselves and to the commi-i)
pity at large, yet unable, lity•the obvious circum-
stanees of the, case, to meet the wholly sound and
eellig• part °Obi) Community on 'an equal footing,.
thig only can 'accomplished by special appliances,
•by associated labour, by such machinery of work-
rooms and workshops as it is now proposed to este.
blish. (Hear.) We have the best reasons for thinking
that, ,with these appliances, the labour of the skilled
• adult might he made.wholly self-supporting. I will
here only say, in passing, that however large—as
farie•lhope they will be—the additions may be, in
contletinence of the division of the pecuniary re-
sources of the institution, I trust that enlargement
.will not induce any who are .concerned in its man-
agement 4o,dispense.wjth the utmost available eco-
inorey. (Chgecis.) 4 have asked you whether in
this matter :Yorlishire ought to lag behind, for you
surely cannot doubt that the .blind poor are proper
Objects to call forth Your best and tenderest sympa-
thies. Why are they among us ? You have hears
of the frightful' number of those who are afflicted
with this gretib calamity. Yon know from the
highest of. all seurces that it is not to be attri-
buted
,to
,sin or to their parents', and,
while 'we may reverently hope that the same
Almighty being who has visited them with
this immense privation has also in his unstinted
abundance immense resources also of compensa-
tion for them, .arid that, although they may not
gaze upon the :variegated face of nature, some-
times, perhaps, -.their ear Joey be tuned to a
more exquisite, sense of melody, and the fresh
breeze of Heaven may play upon their cheeks
with a purer and more thrilling touch ; though they
cannot distinguish the gorgeous hues of sunrise and
sunset, yet soinetiMes to them may be given a more
unclouded sunshine of the soul. (Loud cheers.)
Though, saddest •of all, they may not watch the
lineaments of the human countenance, yet they may
have a fuller consciousness of a deeper and richer
emphasis in the accents of friendship and of love.
(Cheers.) 'While we hope, I say, that there may be
much of this compensatory process vouchsafed to
them, yet in their presence among us, to limit the
case to ourselves, there can be no mistake. They are
here as the most prominent and expressive objects to
Calf iciith our sympathy, our tenderness, our active
and Christian aid—:(hear, hear)—and though like the
Divine Master we profess to serve, we cannot by a
word of power, or by a gesture of command, call the
light of day to visit their sightless orbs, yet we
shall most really imitate and adopt His example if
we do our utmost to surround these orphans of the
senses with all the alleviations, the comforts, and the
compensations which their case admits of, and thus
endeavour in some degree to make our bounty keep
pace with their bereavement. (Loud cheers.)
Mr. R. MONCKTON MILNES, M.P., in seconding

the resolution, called upon the meeting to subscribe
liberally to the funds of the institution, in the name
of the great man in whose honour it had been
founded. They should remember that it was that
man who, perhaps, more than all living men did
most to raise the veil of that greatest of moral
blindnesses which ever fell upon civil society—the
curse of slavery. The removal of that curse from
this country at the present moment we ought to feel
most deeply when we saw that in the hands of a
jealous God the miseries of it were perpetuated from
generation to generation. The blood now being shed

in torrents on the other side of the Atlantic was a
monument of the evils of slavery and those misfor-

tunes from which the benevolence of Mr. Wilber-
force had freed the future of his native land. (Loud
cheers.)
The resolution was unanimously adopted.
The Bishop of OXFORD moved the next resolution

—" That a memorial be drawn up which shall urge
upon the Government the justice and expediency of
extending to the blind the same public privileges
and benefactions in regard to instruction, moral and
industrial, which are enjoyed by that part of the
population which less requires such assistance, and
that a committee be requested to present the me-
morial to the proper authorities." He thought a
very short argument would suffice to convince the
meeting of the expediency of adopting that memo-
rial—for this reason, that before they could gain
their object they would have to convince one far
more difficult to convince upon this subject than
that meeting—namely, the Chancellor of her Ma-
jesty's Exchequer. They all knew enough of Chan-
cellors of the Exchequer, and their grip upon what
they had, and their very great reluctance to add to
the drains upon it, to move them to feel that they
must act together, as one man, as Yorkshire was wont
to do when it meant to carry its will, in order to ob-
tain from the Government the recognition of their
claims to right and justice. In his opinion, they
had a claim capable of being stated so simply that
the mere stating of it would carry a conviction
of its own righeousness. The principle upon which
this country helped through its Executive Govern-
ment the education of any of its members he took to
be this—that there were persons who could
not be educated—educated as the common weal as
well as the private weal of the individual required
they should be educated—unless some help was
given to the local, particular, or private means by
which that education was provided. There was no
such thing intended in the Government grant as an
eleemosynary education, but it was something given
to those who were doing the most in order to aid
them in doing more. In this way it was believed
that no money laid out by this country could be
laid out to a greater advantage than when it was
laid out in giving that sound, religious, moral, and
industrial education to the working classes which
would enable them to maintain themselves, and,
instead of being a drain upon the resources of the
country, become new ministers of the increasing
wealth of the country. (Cheers.) This, they would
perceive, was but a cold view of the case; but it
was the true view they must take. They must not,
in addressing the Government upon the subject,
suffer themselves to be carried away by any sym-
pathy for the unfortunate ; but they must show
that the claim they put forward came distinctly
under the head and under the principle of those