The Sun.
London, England, 1859-10-31 00:00:00

GREAT CONSERVATIVE DEMONSTRA-
TION AT LIVERPOOL

On Saturday evening the Conservatives of Liverpool en-
tertained the Earl of Derby and his colleagues in the late
Ministry at a dinner in the Philharmonic-hall. Covers
Were laid for about 600 persons, and every seat was occu-
pied. The boxes and the orchestra were filled with ladies,
While the upper galleries were crowded to excess by those
Who had been unable to obtain seats at the dinner tables.
The hall was brilliantly illuminated, and when thronged
With the company presented an extremely gay and ani-
mated spectacle. Mr. Francis Shand, president of the
Liverpool Constitutional Association, occupied the chair,
and was supported right and left by nearly all the members
of the Derby Administration. In the body of the hall we
Observed several' Conservative members of the House of
Commons, but the great majority of the company, of course,
consisted of the most influential adherents of the same
political party residing in Liverpool and its neighbourhood.
Previous to the commencement of the dinner the follow-
ing address from the Conservatives of Liverpool was pre-
sented to Lord Derby, enclosed in an elegant casket of silver,
Ornamented with gold moulding :
"We, the undersigned inhabitants of the borough of
Liverpool, desire to approach your lordship with profound
sentiments of respect and gratitude for the services you have
so loyally rendered to the Crown and country during a
period of unexampled difficulty, and to congratulate your
lordship on the distinguished honour with which her Ma-
jesty, by investing you with the Order of the Garter, has
this day graced your retirement from office. The crisis at
which your lordship was called upon to assume the duties of
the Premiership was one of deep anxiety. There was then,
both in France and England, a feeling of irritated na-
tionality, which threatened to sever the friendship so ne-
cessary to their mutual prosperity. The slightest error
in diplomacy might have kindled among noble and gene-
rous allies the feuds and enmities of ancient days. Your
firmness and prudence were found equal to the occa-
sion. By your wise councils the jealous susceptibilities
of both countries were honourably satisfied. The despatches
on foreign affairs, recently published, prove the earnest and
wise endeavours of your Government to maintain the peace
of the world, while they show how sincere were your efforts
to promote real freedom in Italy. We recognise in these
despatches not only the greatest talent, but a firm and dig-
nified spirit, and a sound English feeling. Your country
gratefully acknowledges that at this trying period, when
great nations have been stirred by passions which threaten
the peace of the whole world, your Government has avoided
all entangling alliances, has maintained the strictest neu-
trality, and has placed the defences of England on the basis
of powerful security. History will regard your Adminis-
tration as a bright page in our country's annals ; for therein
is written India pacified,' Our army victorious,' Our
_navy unprecedentedly powerful ' The difficulties of your
position were increased by the necessity of acting with an.
adverse House of Commons, and thus many of your legisla-
tive measures, though based on justice and calculatd to
meet the wants of the country, were met by opposing majo-
rities. It is painful to reflect that party spirit overrules
every motive of action among unpatriotic legislators, and
that from the subdivisions of political parties the Queen's
Government is dependent for the success of measures on the
caprices of small, intriguing, and restless sections—them-
selves irresponsible, and, therefore, indifferent to conse-
quences. By a combination of these sections the country
has been deprived of your lordship's services, but happily
not before your measures had proved the policy of your
Government to have been based on constitutional progress
And the advancement of material prosperity. We are, Bcc.,
" (Signed by 7,090 Conservatives of Liverpool.)
" June 28, 1859."
The Earl of DERBY replied to the address in the follow-
ing terms :—Gentlemen, I need hardly say that I receive
with the liveliest sentiments of gratitude the high compli-
ment which you have been, pleased to pay me in person on
the part of so large and so respectable a portion of the in-
habitants of this great commercial town, by an address so
kind and flattering in its terms as that which has just been
made. I thank you most gratefully for your approval of
the policy which, in concert with my colleagues, we felt it
our duty to pursue when in the Ministry. , I thank you for
your congratulations upon the mark of distinction with
which it pleased my gracious mistress and Sovereign to
attest her gracious approval and acceptance of the imper-
fect services which I was able to render to the country.
Gentlemen, you have not, in your address, overrated the
difficulties and the anxieties of the period at which we
accepted ciao. But you have greatly overrated the
personal credit and the personal merit which was indi-
vidual to myself in grappling with those circumstances.
If our army during that period met withunparalleled success
it is to the unparalleled exertions and valour of the troops,
and to the ability of the commanders, and not to the Go-
vernment at home, that the series of unheard-of victories
was due. And we, again, claim no further credit for our-
selves than thot of having exerted ourselves to the best of
our ability to reinforce and support those gallant men in the
arduous struggle in which they were engaged. If, again,
you consider that these documents which have been lately
published evince an animus and intention of the foreign
policy of the country such as to merit the approval be-
stowed upon them, the principal merit is not due to me,
but is due to my noble friend standing near me, who filled
the office of Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs ; to his
prudence, his calmness, his untiring industry, his patient
attention to business, joined with an earnest determination
to pursue the right course, and steadfastly to follow it out
through all difficulties—to him, and not to me, is due the
chief merit of the foreign policy of the country. Again, if
our naval recourses have been meetly extended during the
period at which I was at the head of the Administration,
so, again, I can only claim the merit of having concurred
with and supported the generous exertions of my right
honourable friend who filled the office of First Lord of
the Admiralty, by whose efforts I am happy to say the navy
was placed upon a footing very far superior to that whichit
was in when we entered office. (Hear. hear.) Gentlemen,
with regard to the pacification of India, that pacification
was due, in the first instance, as I have said before to the
valour and heroism of our-troops, and the only merit I can
claim, with the concurrence of the then Secretary of State
for India, is having united in recommending to the Cabinet,
by whom it was at once unanimously adopted, the generous
and humane system which, as the closing scene, crowned by
a general and almost universal amnesty the successes which
had been gained by, our victorious armies. Gentlemen, if in-
elividually I can claim anything, it is only for having been
dble to select and bring around me colleagues by whose assist-
ance my labours were lightened, and who in their several de-
partmente proved themselves not unworthy of the confidence
which individually I reposed in there. (Hear, hear.)
Gentlemen, I concur entirely in the view you take of the
unfortunate state of parties in the house of Commons at
the present moment, and of the mischief which must arise
to the country if no one party has such a preponderating
majority as to carry on uninterruptedly the business of the
country. (Hear, hear.) It is a serious injury to the
public interests—a serious injury to the interests of
the Crown, if every party should be so weak as to be
liable at any time to be overthrown by the combina-
tion of other and inferior sections. Itis to the Conser-
vatives of England that we must look to remedy this state
of affairs. (Cheers.) It is to their continued exertions, by
rousing themselves from the apathy in which they have
been too long sunk, and continuing the success which they
have to some extent obtained, that we are to look for the
permanent maintenance of the Conservative principles
which I believe to be essential to the best interests of
this country. (Cheers.) Gentlemen, I shall have, in
the course of the evening, through your kindness, another
Opportunity of addressing you more at large upon public
affairs. I trust, therefore, you will excuse me if I now limit
Myself to expressing my grateful sense of the kindness with
which you have received me, and of the splendid present
with which you have aucompanied that address—a present
which, valuable as it is as a work of art, is still more valu-
able from the circumstances which attend its presentation.
It will be considered by me as one of the most treasured and
valued memorials of my house, and I trust many genera-
tions may look with satisfaction and with honest pride upon
the mark of honour which one of their predecessors has re-
ceived from the great and important community of Liver-
pool. (Loud applause.)
Shortly after 6 o'clock-the dinner, which consisted for the
most pdrt of cold viands, took place ; and after the custo-
mary loyal toasts,
The CHAIRMAN rose, and proposed "The Army and
Navy," which toast was enthusiastically received by the
company.
The Earl of HARDWICKE, in the absence of General
Peel, replied on behalf of both services. He said—Not
many years ago the toast of the army and navy was gene-
rally considered a merely formal one, and it may undoubt-
edly be regarded as a misfortune that, in consequence of the
warlike spirit which pervades Europe, military affairs oc-
cupy the minds of men in the present day to a much greater
extent than they did in the happy period which elapsed
between the battle of Waterloo and the outbreak of the late
war with Russia. That was a period of peace, when the
angel of peace spread her wings over Europe, and when
the toast of the army and navy was received as a matter of
mere formality. A great change has since occurred, and
the tendency to armaments of a warlike character has led
the people of this country to consider the toast of
a less formal character than -before. With respect
to the army, I ani sure the military officers I see near me
will permit me to make use of the same language that is
always used in reference to their profession—namely, that
whenever it is called upon to perform any public duty, it
does what it is told to do ; and, when it is ordered on the

•
fiald of battle to stand in one place, it never goes away.
(Cheers.) It is a remarkable feature in the British soldier
that retreat is the last thing which ever enters his head.
(Cheers.) In turning to my own profession, you will per-
mit me to say that I do not forget that I address gentlemen
of that great emporium of trade, the town of Liverpool,
connected so nearly and deeply with the maritime interests
of this country that I can appeal to them with confidence
for the assistance which they are always swilling to give
towards the support of the dearest and most important
branch of the public service. (Hear, hear.) I know, in
addressing myself to the men of Liverpool, and on receiv-
ing from them an expression of goodwill towards the pro-
, fession that I have the honour to represent, that an earnest
desire exists that they may be enabled to give every sup-
pert in their power to the arms of the country whenever the
necessity for it may arise. Ilear, hear.) Gentlemen, I
feel sure that upon this occasion you will be desirous that I
should curtail anything I have to• say upon this interesting
subject. But at the same time you will forgive me it I, as
a seaman, say I am confident that at all times the naval pro-
fession will render those services to the country which it has
ever shown the power and ability to do. 'We have recently,
I regret to say, had to lament that which is very seldom
known or very seldom heard of—a defeat. But that defeat
by no means need detract in any way from the character of
the service, for in that action there was the greatest display
-of courage and the most devoted chivalry. I know of no
other case where the commander-in-
chief of an expedition
against an
enemy suffered no less than three vessels to be
sunk under his feet, until wounded he retired, unable any
longer to perform the active duties of his position. (Cheers)
There was an exhibition of glorious chivalry, of high
honourable bearing, of daring and resistless courage, which
was only imitated by the officers andmen,wahtott,taptinth,
buteir
devotion, sacrificed their lives in a worthless
While we rejoi t a force which was not. to. be put down by the
eceona-t
teagnialpntsible means brought against it.
the magnificent display of that useless courage we at o
the
"sane time ought, as a public duty, to speak of and mildly t
represent the cause of that failurel
be senviddetnhte
teoxetveneryt of
manthe.
loss. The cause of the failure
We have been so accustomed to consider
greatest ease,
sethaats.
enemies that were to be beaten with the _
although the enemy
a defeat was never dreamt of; and, that he
was strongly posted, it VMS Witaraily CO=ol

could be defeated. I am not =fend at it, and I can hardly
blame it, because our successes had been so easy on all
former occasions that we were led 'to believe that victory
was inevitable ; but a defeat caused by a want of respect
for your enemies is not likely to happen again. The loss
was occasioned, in my opinion, by another mistake, and by
one which the public can mildly correct, by noticing it in
meetings of this kind and by pressing it upon the Govern-
ment. It has been the practice in the naval profession—a
practice full of use—that on no occasion of flotilla and boat
service should the commander-in-chief or the admiral him-
self take the lead, and expose himself in an action of that
description. It is manifest that the moment an individual
who commands a detachment of that sort involves himself
in it his personal honour becomes immediately concerned.
Captain Tatnall, the chivalrous American captain who wit-
nessed the whole of those operations, said, in the letter
to his Government, "In fifteen minutes I saw
they were beaten and there was not the slightest
shadow or chance of success." If our gallant
and chivalrous admiral had consented to continue
his flag flying on board the Miranda, and had seat his se-
cond in command to take charge of the flotilla that was sent
against the batteries—if he had brought his eye close enough
to observe the engagement, he would have recalled his flo-
tilla at the time Capt. Tatnall saw it was useless to fight
any longer,—all the loss would have been saved to the Bri-
tish people, and so many hearts would not have had to
grieve over the deaths caused by continuing too long an
action which was utterly lost at the beginning. I say, then,
the old practice of our profession ought to be followed, and
the commander-in-chief has no right to enter into actions
of that sort, but should be prepared to direct them and not
risk his personal honour, which compels him to fight out
an engagement to the last. I shall make no other remark
on the engagement on the Peiho because I am quite igno-
rant of the ground, and am not acquainted with the nature
of the defences against which the flotilla was engaged, nor
shall I venture to enter on the question of policy ; all I
shall say on that part of the subject is that I dislike the
policy which has brought us into constant war with the
Chinese from the date of the giving up the charter of the
East India Company down to the present time. (Cheers.)
The CHAIRMAN next proposed ' the health of the High
Sheriff fez: the county," which was received with great ap-
plause, and the toast was acknowledged in appropriate terms
by Sir Robert Gerard.
- The CHAIRMAN then rose to propose the toast of the
evening. He said,—My Lords and Gentlemen,—When I
look around this magnificent assembly and consider the
cause of its meeting I find that words are quite inadequate
to introduce to you the toast which it is my highest honour
and my best privilege to have at the present moment to pro-
pose—namely, " the health of the Right Hon. the Earl of
Derby"—(great cheering)—our great Conservative leader.
(Great cheering.) lam sure there is not one here who for-
gets the period of difficulty and anxiety at which the noble
earl was called upon by his Queen and country to take
charge of the destinies of England—(cheers)—or who does
not feel the greatest amount of respect and gratitude for
the skill and prudence with which he conducted public
affairs. (Cheers.) But I regret that party spirit so over-
rules every impulse of generous sentiment that the success
which ought to have won for his lordship a triumph has
only been the cause, as in the case of Aristides for his jus-
tice, of his being deprived of power. (Cheers.) I know not
whether I ought to express a desire for his restoration to
office, because we have never seen him appealed to but in
cases of great difficulty, and then he has been treated with
gross ingratitude. lam confident, however, that he will
fill the highest post in this country when its safety requires
him to do so, and content myself withthe assurance that in
a period of anxiety we may again have the service of a
Derby Administration. (Loud cheers.)
The Earl of DERBY, on rising to acknowledge the toast,
was received with enthusiasm and prolonged cheering. He
said—Words would wholly fail me were I to attempt the
hopeless task of expressing in adequate terms the sentiments
of deep gratification, I think I may venture to say of justi-
fiable pride, with which I rise to acknowledge the splendid
compliment which you have paid to me and to my late col-
leagues in office by your attendance this day, and by the
overwhelming reception which you have given to the toast
proposed by your worthy chairman. Next to the conscious-
ness in a man's own breast of having endeavoured faithfully
to discharge those duties and those obligations which his
station in life imposes upon him, the highest reward to
which a public man can look is the expression of the feelings
of bodies of his fellow countrymen such as that which I
have now the honour of addressing, proving to him 'that
his efforts have not been wholly thrown away, and that
he has acquired some claim and some title to their
past approval and to their future confidence. (Cheers )
If any circumstance could heighten the value of such a
compliment as that which you have been pleased to pay to
me this day, it would be that I receive this honour in the
centre of the great commercial metropolis of the country,
and in my own native county, where not only my public
but my private life from my earliest boyhood is open to the
criticism of all whom I see before me. (Cheers.) One
other gratifying circumstance I must mention—viz., that
in inviting me to this magnificent banquet you have asso-
ciated me with the great body of those colleagues in the late
Government by whose invaluable assistance and by whose
.cordial co-operation a load of responsibility was lightened
to me which no single human being could have borne, with
whom I may say I never had a subject of difference or of
controversy (cheers), and who carried on with me the diffi-
cult and, sometimes, the anxious affairs of this great coun-
try with that spirit of union which is the best security for
the harmonious working of an Administration. (Continued
cheering.) But, gentlemen, deep as are my feelings of
personal gratification at this mark of your esteem and con-
fidence, they sink into nothing as compared with the poli-
tical importance which upon public grounds I attach to this
splendid assembly. lam willing to believe that all whom
I have now the honour of addressing are actuated by kindly
personal feelings towards myself, but it is not as an indivi-
vidual that you have received me, or asindividuals that you
have received my late colleagues. You have received us as
a bodily impersonation of those Conservative principles
which you all cherish in your hearts. (Cheers.) It is true,
gentlemen, we do not meet upon the present occasion for the
purpose of celebrating the full and entire triumph of those
principles. They have been overborne by the decision of the
present, Parliament, but we do meet here—and this I take
to be the real meaning of your invitation to me—
to testify and declare our adherence to the, principles
and doctrines of true Conservatism. (Cheers.) Ido not
mean of Conservatism falsely so-called, which would ob-
struct all useful changes, but I speak of that Conservatism
which is not obstructive, but which is the best promoter of
safe and gradual social improvements—of that Conserva-
tism which: strenuously adhering to the old machinery of
the constitution, adaptsfrom time to time the various parts
of its mechanism to the real acquirements and capacities of
the age in which we live—of that Conservatism which
would give to all orders and degrees of men within these
realms their due weight, authority, and preponderance—of
that Conservatism which loves the interests of the people
at large, but will not be led away by the noisy denuncia-
tionseof violent and blustering demagogues either to shrink
at the voice of menace or timidly to concede rights and
privileges to large bodies of men for the purpose of obtain-
ing some amount of temporary popularity, when in our
hearts we believe that the concession of those very coveted
boons would be injurious rather than beneficial to the
classes whom it is sought to benefit. (Cheers.) Such, gen-
tlemen, is the Conservatism to which you pledge yourselves
by your attendance this day. Such is the principle which I
have ever advocated, upon which I havd ever endeavoured
to act, and you are here this day not only to testify your
adoption of it, but to declare that you will shake off for the
future that apathy which has too long characterised your
proceedings—that not by mere acclamations or by enthu-
siasm, however great, but by sober, steady, and united
action, you will evoke t 1 spirit of Conservatism which has
hitherto been allowed to lie latent in the country. (Cheers.)
Already, in spite of great discouragement and great difficul-
ties, you have achieved a gratifying victory in this coun-
ty, but I hold the striking merit of that victory to have
been, not the accession to the House of Commons of my two
hon. friends whom you have succeeded in returning, but
the proof which it afforded to you and to the coun-
try that you do not suspect your own inherent
strength or the root which your principles have in the
hearts of the constituencies at large. (Hear, hear, and
cheers.) lam told that even at the lest-election, when we
won the battle, not only had the registrations been so neg-
lected that several gentlemen who might have very properly
been asked to propose and second the Conservative candi-
dates were found not to have their names upon the regis-
ter, but some of the most devoted friends of the Conserva-
tive cause were in the same strange position. If I might
whisper a secret in the ear of so large ainassombly I might
tell you that previous to the last registration the name of
my respected friend, the chairman of this meeting, }his not
upon the county register. (A laugh.) At length; gentle-
men, you have put you shoulder to the wheel, but your
work is not half done. You have succeeded, it is true, in
returning two members for the southern: division of the
county, and, if I run rightly informed, you have made upon
the present register an advance which renders future suc-
cess a matter of no doubt. (Cheers.) But something yet
remains to be accomplished. I wish to speak with all re-
spect of one of the late members for the county, whose wise
and judicious liberality has endeared him personally to all
the residents of this town, and I desire to speak with no
disrespect of one of the present members for the berong,h of
Liverpool. I know his high character, his business-like
habits, and the esteem in which he is held by those who
are his personal friends, but I say boldly that the political
opinions of Mr. Brown and Mr. Ewart are not those of the
constituencies of South Lancashire and Liverpool—(cheers)
—and that, as South Lancashire will not hereafter be satis-
fied without retaining its two Conservative members, so
Liverpool ought not to be satisfied without obtaining two.
(Great cheering.) Gentlemen, I have watched with the
deepest anxiety and I have seen with the highest grati-
fication the progressive improvement in strength, in
utility, in everything which marks political power, of
the Conservative party during the last fourteen years.
I wish to speak in this assembly, as I have spoken upon all
occasions, in terms of the highest respect for the dis-
tinguished genius and the personal character of that great
statesman whom England has recently had to lament—the
fate Sir Robert Peel. Indeed, if upon any occasion I could
have ala
mw aeyl
asn
cu sh
oeldy,
diotinceerstfaicinl lt dy nho a
st b armret
vae
nmtoe
d te
hn
et
speak of that great man in terms other than those which I
p
cya lwa ui
attendance of his nearest relation—one of my most valued
calleag-ues in the late Government, who gave me most able
and admirable assistance in the management of v. difficult
department—namely, the civil administration of military
affairs. But, gentlemen, lam not saying anything
dis-
respectful to the memory of a statesman with whom I had
tha honour of many years of personal friendship' and I
believe of reciprocal esteem, when I state that the course
which at the dose of 1845 was taken by the late Sir Robert
Peel completely and entirely for the moment shattered the
Conservative party in this country. (Hear, hear.) lam
now-nbont to state a fact which I believe is not known to
half-a-dozen indkviduals. Upon the failure of Lord John
Russell's endeavour to form a Government, I wrote con-
AclpAtialy to the moot omigtegt marl the countril the
_ .

- ;••;.t."4:

oortztoffoSroiroaßoosbtermt Poneeinl,a nw
owrlhdo
us ttohoed
yfoers mo
fahniys
late Duke of Wellington, a warm and` cordial' admirer and
i
e
athine
suet I wrote to consult him as to the position of
cyears
en. le_ 'arty, and the best means of restoring
ount rym .
the Conservative p-
sen so lamentably destroyed i I re-
that unity which had Ix. Duke of Wellington, which I
ceived a long letter from the . deeply value, in which he
need hardly say I have kept ana under the aboitive
explained to me that, having accepteu - Government the
attempt of Lord John Russell to form a ea-Chief, he
duties of the neutral position of Commander-- ;;4,eal con-
considered he had for ever broken off 'his poi. ee„
nection with any party. He intimated, howevee.,7
concurrence in the opinion which I had vn t tn'e".
to express that the alienation of the Conservative
party from Sir Robert Peel was not a mere tempo-
rary_d ever
feeling, but that it was impossible he should
.o
again place himself at their head with any prose
ect4of sue-
cess, and the Duke of Wellington, I will not say en. rested,
but exhorted me, as a matter of duty to my Sovereign e. a
to my country, to throw aside all doubts and all hesitations,
and to assume et once the leadership of that great Conser-
vative party whose existence and whose power he deemed
to be essential to the well-being of the country in all its in-
stitutions, and he advised me if her Majesty should at any
time lay her commands upon me to attempt to form an ad-
ministration not to be discouraged by any difficulty, except
such as 'might be absolutely insuperable, but to sacrifice
every other feeling to a desire of serving my Sovereign and
my country. (Cheers.) Gentlemen, for 14 years I have en-
deavoured to act inthe spirit of that wise and patriotic ad -
vice, coming from so eminent a man, and I have been re
warded by seeing the (Conservative party fixing their roots
in the feeelings and hearts of the country, and,. as our op-
ponents are compelled to acknowledge, though in doing so
their fears rather magnify our strength, forming at the
present moment an absolute majority in Parliament.
(Cheers.) It is alsoLadmitted, with a melancholy sense of
the painful contrast between the two sides, that the advan-
tage thus obtained is doubled by the fact hat our majority
is that of a united party. (Cheers and laughter.) Gentle-
men, you may perhaps ask me—and it is a fair question en
the part of those before whom I appear, to justify the course
which I have pursued, and to whom I am prepared to speak
with entire and absolute frankness—what is the use which
I desire to make of that greatly increased Parliamentary
strength, or, as our opponents say, of that majority in the
House of Commons ? Perhaps I shall disappoint the ex-
pectations and wishes of some of the more enthusiastic,
and probably of most of the 'younger members of this as-
sembly, when I say that I have no desire for the imme-
diate overthrow of the present Administration. I should
hold the same language which I now do even if a mo-
mentary advantage might be so gained, but there are
considerations higher than those of party, which
have still greater weight with me—considerations of
what is for the benefit of my Sovereign, for the reputation
of the country in the eyes of foreign nations, and for the
respect due to Parliament itself. All those considerations
militate against a succession of ephemeral Governments,
acquiring office by a bare majority, liable at any moment to
be displaced by the caprice of some half-dozen votes in the
House of Commons, and exposing the crown and the coun-
try to a perpetual change of persons and of principles,
which renders all steady legislation impossible, and which,
weakening their internal strength and their external power,
paralyses the hands of those to whom the duties of adminis-
tration may for the moment be entrusted. (Hear.) More-
over, gentlemen, it appears to me that the policy which is
dictated by a due consideration of the interests of the coun-
try at large is also recommended by the interests, well-
considered, of the party to which I have the honour to be-
long. It cannot be for the advantage of that party that for
the third time it should be prematurely called upon to form
a Government without sufficient strength to maintain itself
against all attacks and against all combinations. (Hear.)
'What is required is the determination of the country itself,
or, at all events, of the conservative strength of the coun-
try, to prepare for future events. Let every man consider
that he has a duty to perform and a cause to sustain. Re-
member that by the combination of small efforts great re-
sults are produced, and do not compel me or any one who
may represent the conservative party to accept office when
I can not be confident of holding it, at least so long as I
honestly endeavour to discharge the duty which I owe to
my Sovereign and my country. (Cheers.) Gentlemen,
your worthy chairman has spoken of the period of difficulty
and of anxiety at which we acceded to office. I believe
that In some respects the difficulties and anxieties of the
present Government are fully as great as those to which
we were exposed. I know nothing beyond what I learn
from the public organs of intelligence; but I am much
mistaken if our foreign relations at the present moment
are upon as satisfactory a footing, or are as generally
amicable. as they were a few months ago. The pre-
sent Government have difficulties to contend with in what
is cemmonly called the Italian question, with respect to
which I hope and trust they will be steady in their purpose
not to entangle themselves in the negotiations of any con-
gress that may be proposed. (Cheers.) They have difficul-
ties in China. They have difficulties upon the Coast of
Africa—difficulties which may seriously threaten us unless
a decided tone be taken, and unless this country is disposed
to maintain rights which are absolutely essential to its wel-
fare. They have difficulties in the Nerth Pacific, where our
Transatlantic brethren appear, if I may use a familiar ex-
pression, to be " trying it on." (A laugh.) They are con-
tending with difficulties in various quarters, but they are
net difficulties which may not be surmounted by a mixture
of firmness and good temper, and at the same time by a de-
termination to maintain the rights and the honour of Eng-
land. (Cheers.) Ministers have, on the other hand, great
advantages in their favour. They preside over the destinies
of a nation which never at any time was so abounding in
material resources, in wealth and in prosperity, as it is at
the present moment. They preside over a nation in which
commerce is flourishing and active almost beyond precedent,
and at the same time, as I believe, free from all undue spe-
culation. They preside over a country in which labour is
abundantly employed, and the population is generally con-
tented. They have the consciousness that within a certain
number of months—l shall not say how many—the military
and naval resources of the country have been greatly im-
proiel, ani that,:if our national defences are not altogether
what we would desire them to be, our great fortifications of
Gibraltar and Malta have received from the labours of the
late Government an amount of-reinforcements which has
placed thorn in a far better position of defence than they
have enjoyed for the last 20 years. Moreover, they know
they preside over a country the population of which are
again alive to the necessity of maintaining adequate defen-
sive armaments, in which our military ardour has been
again awakened, and in which private and personal efforts
will not be spared for the vindication of the national
honour. Of one thing, at least, they may feel assured, that
while the country and while Parliament will not readily
forgive a Ministry which hastily embroils us in an unne-
cessary war, they will, without regard to party or any othar
-consideration, bring forward the whole weight of public
opinion in support of any Minister:who shall steadily resist,
from whatever quarter it may proceed, any attack upon the
independence, the honour, or the interests of the country.
(Cheers.) Above all, gentlemen, the present Government
had this great advantage over their predecessors, that they
will not have to contend with an Opposition which will de-
scend to any factious combination, nor need they fear that
we shall seek to eject them from ce without regard to the
interests of the country or to the probability of being able to
succeed them. (Cheers.) It may be that the present Go-
vernment may fall by their own internal dissensions. In-
deed, looking to the composition of that Government, I can
feel no great confidence that such may not unhappily be the
case (a laugh) ; but honestly and sincerely I say that I de-
sire that their differences may be made up. (Hear, hear.)
Among the members of the Government, and. still more
among those who support them, there are men who in their
hearts are as sincerely Conservative as any of those whom
I now have the honour of addressing ; there are others who
most unwillingly submit to a power which they feel to be
too strong for them; while a third section, though the
loudest in clamouring for certain measures, and ready to
place themselves at the head of a movement which they feel
unable to resist, would, I believe, deplore and deprecate the
success of their own schemes. (Cheers.) Gentlemen, the
present is not a fitting opportunity for entering upon the
consideration of individual questions; but I can say in all
sincerity of heart that' I earnestly desire that the present
Government may be enabled to bring forward such a measure
of Parliamentary reform as may be honestly supported by
the great body of Conservatives. I think it is of the highest
importance that this question should be finally and speedily
settled ; and if the Government of which I was a member
undertook to attempt a settlement of it, we did so not
because we admitted a bill was called for by imperative ne-
cessity, but because it had been repeatedly promised in
speeches from the Throne and in declarations of Ministers,
and because we felt it was of the most vital consequence
that a question of so much importance should not be left in
suspense. We therefore honestly and fairly introduced a
measure which we thought might conciliate the support of
all moderate men. You all know how it was dealt with: I
do not intend to enter now into a defence of that measure.
We certainly considered that an extension of the franchise
founded upon the principle of uniformity between counties
and boroughs was likely, as it largely increased the consti-
tuencies, to satisfy the claims of justice, and at the same
time hold out the best hope, I will not say of a final, but, at
least of a durable settlement of the question ; but the House
of Commons repudiated that principle,_ and I presume that
whatever measure may be introduced by the present Go-
vernment will contaiu some exiension of the borough fran-
chise. I inn not prepared to saelhat no such reduction may
be attempted without danger, but I de say that it is neces-
sary, before adopting such a measure, to exercise the greatest
caution, and to enter into the most minute calculations as to
the practical effects of whatever extension of the franchise
may be so proposed. , Lara not jealous—the Conservative
party are not jealous—of the working classes. I desire to
see their interests fully and fairly represented, but I confess
that, looking to the revelations at Gloucester, Wakefield,
and other places I doubt whether any Brest reduction of
the franchise would not tend largely to extend that corrup-
tion which is the bane of our electoral system, while, if I
look to the manner in which even the most intelligent work-
men have been misled by false and delusive advisers, I think
it is at least a stibject for serious consideration how far, in
the interests of the lower classes themselves, it would be de-
sirable to give a preponderating power to men who, if legis-
lation were thrown into their hands, would probably intro-
duce and pass measures which would be absolutely fatal to
themselves. (Cheers.) I say, therefore, that while the
Reform Bill introduced by the present Government shall
meet with no factious opposition from the Conservative party,
I hold it to be the duty of any Ministry who are responsible
to their sovereign and their country not to be led away by
mere popular clamour upon a subject which may be of such
vital importance, but seriously to consider the effect of their
proposed legislation
on ; and God grant that the present Go-
vernment may have wisdom and prudence enough to intro.
duce such a measure as may pass with the approbation of a
united Parliament. (Cheers.) Before I sit down I desire to
say, a few words upon a subject of some delicacy, because
the greatest possible misrepresentations have been made
with respect to it. Among other inventions which were cir-
culated to calumniate the policy`of the late Government and
to produce prejudice against us was one that we had entered
into a corrupt alliance with the Roman Catholic body of
this country for the purpose of obtaining their support by
concessions dangerous to Protestant Interests. I need not
say, gentlemen, that that imputation was as baseless as ono
to which I have seen great currency given, viz., that I had
countersigned a paper containing stipulations with regard
to a reform bill, upon the faith of which I was to obtain the
support bf.certain Liberal members. All I can say is, that,
until I said that matter dealt with a few days ago in the
newspaper,' not only I had never countersigned but I had
neither seen nor heard of such a document-(cheers) ; and
upon writing to the gentleman whose reported speech had
given rise to this imputation, he most candidly and hon-
ourably assured me that his language had been wholly
misrepresented', adding that such a document indeed had
been signed by himself and others, and had been intended'
to be presented to, and by them expected to be signed b
Lord Derby. (Cheers and laughter.) To revert to
topic to which I wished to call your attention, I am happy
to say that with regard to the groat body of the intelligent
Roman Catholics *1 this country I have for some time past
observed a g.rowing tendency to alienate themselves from
the so-called Liberal party, and to unite themselves with
those who are their natural allies, the Conservatives. I
have many pereoeal friends Among the Roman Catholics;
among others I may mention my hon. friend the high
sheriff of this county, than whom no stancher Conservative
sits at this table and whose reception to-night satisfied me