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

-egir play,—so
4 thing

tol, I can only say they shall have
far I can answer. (Cheers.) But it is on,
for a man to go into a deliberative assemblage ah-
say such a port has such advantages, and another.
for him to say such a port will have them. (Hoar.)
In the one case you are in 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 wig 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
opinions about riflemen, those of general officers and
others. I take those opinions euin grano sails. 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 lay, 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.) r say, moreover,
that if the Government devote £40,000 a year to
the Yeomanry Cavalry, at least the same sum of
£lO,OOO 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 clowned,
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." .(tfear, 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 sonie 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.

The Dolphin Society assembled for the first time
at the Vietoria-rooms, under the presidency of Mr.
P. F. Aiken, of Stuckey's Banking Company.
Another novelty was the admission of ladies after
the dinner.

In the course of the evening " The health of the
Duke of Beaufort," as Lord High Steward of Bris-
tol, was given in highly eulogistic terms by the
_chairman.
His Grace the Duke of BEAUFORT said, it was
with no ordinary feelings he rose to return thanks
for the very kind and enthusiastic way in which
they had received the toast so kindly proposed by
the President. He hoped they would believe him
when he said that he was very proud of the position
he held as Lord High Steward of the city of Bristol.
He saw around him many of those gentlemen who
did him the honour to elect him as High Steward,
and he was perfectly aware that he owed the dis-
tinction to no merits of his own, but that it was
entirely from regard to those who had gone before
him that he was called upon to serve the office.
(Hear, hear.) All he hoped was, that when he
departed he should leave as good a name behind
him as those who had gone before him. (Cheers.)
Were they to bring a stranger into the city of
Bristol that day and take him round to the dif-
ferent dinners, he mould be much astonished to see
so many people, all differing in their ways and
opinions, joining to celebrate the memory and to
emulate in a small way by their charities the ex-
ample that had been previously set them by the
great Edward Colston. (Cheers.) He supposed
that in consequence of the position he held iu this
city (in connection with which he was presumed not
to vaeddle with politics), as Lord High Steward, he
had received invitations from each of the three so-
cieties to dine with them that night. - (Laughter.)
Now, considering his antecedents, he thought he
had made the right choice—(cheers)—but if he had
any doubt on his mind, the reception which -they
had been pleased to give to • the learned gentleman
(Sir F. W. Slade) quite sufficiently oonvinced him
that he had not got into the wrong box. (Cheers.)
It was a gratifying thing to see so large a gather-
ing met to celebrate that anniversary, and it was
equally gratifying to see so many on, he would
venture to say the side of Conservatism--(cheers)
but he was sorry to say that at this moment the
city was not represented by one member of that
party. (Hear, hear, and cries of "We will be.")
From the strong feeling however shown towards
Conservatism, he did not think it would be very
long before hey had a representative. (Cheers.)
All he hoped was that if the eloquent baronet got
another opportunity, and they exerted themselves
as they had done hitherto, they_ would have a good
prospect of success. (Cheers.) •
The CHAIRMAN gave " The Health of Sir F. W.
Slade, Q.C., the Conservative candidate for Bristol
at the last general election." (Loud applause.)
Sir F. W. SLADE, Bart., Q.C., in responding to
the toast said—How shall I answer such a reception
as warm as it is undeserved ? (No, no!) Do bear
with me a moment ; I have addressed assemblies
in Bristol larger than- this and somewhat more
riotous. (Laughter.) I was about to sarhow shall 'I
find words or language in which to express my
overflow of feeling at what I may justly term an
ovation ? (Cheers.) It is true that on a former occa-
sion when I had the honour of coming forward to
fight your battle we were defeated, but that defeat,
as has been truly said by your President, heralds
a future triumph, and, whether it may be in my
person or the person of a far more worthy candidate
for the honour of representing you in Parliament,
I foresee, as clearly as I see the sun in the heavens
at noonday, that the triumph of the Blue party in
Bristol is inevitable. (Cheers.) Since I met you
last on that celebrated occasion when the poll was
declared on the spot where, the hustings were
erected.—upon that celebrated occasion when the
celebrated bundle of sticks was handed round, and
when, you remember, my right hon. opponent—
who gained his election probably by having re-
course to a similar plan to that adopted with refer-
ence to the hogshead of sugar alluded to by the
President—did not venture to meet the electors
of Bristol on that occasion, as perhaps some of the
sugar was still sticking to his fingers' ends—(hear,
hear, and laughter)—since that time, I say, great
political events have taken place. The party then
in power had been turned out by a narrow ma-
jority, attained by the usual arts had recourse to
by their opponents—enormous lying and enormous
bribery. (Cheers and laughter.) I had, fortu-
nately the duty cast on me of exposing' some of
that lying and some of that bribery. I have not
been idle during the time that has elapsed since
meeting you in the Corn-Exchange. I have ex-
posed much of the system of falsehood and bribery
which characterises the opposite party, and I have 1
at least succeeded in this—l have stripped from them
the mask of purity by which they deluded the
country—(cheers)—?.nd they now stand before the
public, and before the world, and before, I hope
and trust, their own deluded followers in their own
simple nakedness. (Cheers.) Now,
.gentlemen. it
was something to unmask the brothers-m-law of John
Bright; it was something to show that the apostle .
of purity could not get his two brothers-in-law into
Parliament without having recourse to soft sugar.
—(cheers and laughter)—and I think it comes with
an exceedingly awkward ;race from the man who
has the hardihood and the impudence to say that
the aiistccracy of this country arc living on the;
•