The Sun.
London, England, 1868-01-02 00:00:00

MR. CARDWELL AT OXFORD.

The anniversary dinner of the Ancient Order of Druids
took place yesterday afternoon, in the Town Hall.
Mr. Calcutt presided, and amongst the guests were the
Right Hon. E. Cardwell, M.P., and Mr. Neate, M.P.
Mr. CAntwELL, in responding to the toast of his health,
said : The year that has just closed will ever be remembered
as memorable in the history of our legislation. It has
terminated a long-continued conflict, and it has established
a platform for future legislation. You are perfectly
aware that if I could have had my way Reform would
have been adopted earlier, and would have been more
gradually pursued. lam not about to revive any of the
controversies to which this question has given rise. They
will best be disposed of by the dispassionate judgment
of the country, and by the calm and impartial verdict
of history. At the commencement of the past year
some of us were strong Conservatives, some of us were
advanced Reformers, some of us were moderate Liberals,
and amongst that number I have always included myself ;
but there was amongst us at that time a party whose
existence was unknown to us, and no wonder, for it was
unknown to themselves. (Laughter.) I mean a body of
gentlemen who were undergoing what the surgeons
call a capital operation, but they were undergoing it
under the influence of chloroform, and when it was over
they found that they had lost the limb on which they had
been accustomed 10 rely, and that they had not expe-
rienced any pain or even consciousness. (Laughter and
cheers.) When Benedick avowed that he would die a
bachelor, he never supposed he should live till he was
married—(laughter)—and when they avowed their oppo-
sition to all measures of organic reform, they were ex-
'pected to be rejoicing in the consummation of the wisest
measure of Reform that ever had been proposed to the
British Parliament. (Cheers.) It is a good Englishman's
rule to finish any work in which he is engaged ; and, although
we have settled the borough franchise, there still remain
some things to be considered in the approaching session.
You are aware that the Boundary Commissioners have
been amongst you, and that we shall have to deal with
their report and their proposals. In some cases the ques-
tion will arise as to where the line shall he drawn, and I
have no doubt the matter will be settled without much
difficulty. But there is one question to which lam
anxious your attention should be drawn, because it is
scarcely of less importance than that of the franchise.
We shall have to provide additional seats for the northern
part of this kingdom, Scotland, not merely because
of its wealth and intelligence, but because the pro.
'portion of its population, of its wealth, of its con-
tribution to the public burdens, has a right to an
increase in the number of its members ; and the im-
portant question will arise how this increase is to be
provided for. In the come of the last session I and
others endeavoured to obtain the withdrawal from ten
small villages in the southern and western parts of the
kingdom of the right of returning members to Parlia-
ment ; and I think it is a point of considerable importance
that when the fitting opportunity arise, the House of
Commons should proceed in the old constitutional manner
of Reform in withdrawing members from those small
villages which have no just claim to return members to
the British House of Commons. (Cheers.) When we
have finished the question of Reform, the next question
that engages our attention is that of Ireland. Arid I will
frst say a word with respect to that wicked conspiracy,
Fe:iianism. It can have no other effect than tb
strengthen our determination to manifest our personal
devotion to the sovereign who so frankly and so justly
relies upon the loyalty of her subjects, and to evoke a
determined resolution to support the officers of the Crown
in maintaining the supremacy of the law. (Loud cheers.)
But let not the feelings which such unhallowed conspira-
cies excite at all affect the views with which we address
our minds to the consideration of that which is right and
just towards our fellow-countrymen in Ireland. Let us
address ourselves to those great questions in a manner
worthy of the loyal Irish people, and in a manner worthy
of ourselves. (Hear, hear.) With regard to one of these
questions—the land question—l am the last of all
men to speak in the tone of presumptuousness and
confidence. It fell to my lot a few years ago to intro•
dun and carry a measure which I fondly hoped
would have been useful and a settlement of the question.
But after the experience of several years I find that the
measure has been inoperative. A commission has recently
been issued to examine into the revenues of the Church
of Ireland, intended, as I believe, to deal with the ques-
tion of the redistribution of the funds of the Church.

I do not wish to disguise from you my opinion that
that is spermaceti to an inward wound. (" Hear," and
laughter.) It will not go to the root of the evil. It
will not touch the root of the disease unless some settle-
ment of the ecclesiastical affairs of Ireland deals not
only with the Protestant Church of Ireland, but also
on equal and just terms with the Presbyterians in the
North, and with that large Roman Catholic population
which constitutes a great part of that country. I fully
acknowledge the difficulties which surround us in deal-
ing with this question, but I feel also their urgency and
importance ; and when we reflect that a little more than a
century ago—at the time of .the Scotch rebellion in 1745—
how great a danger and how great a difficulty Scotland then
was to the Throne and to the Parliament of the kingdom,
let us hope that we in our day may be able to do as our
forefathers did in their generation, and that as they
have rendered Scotland one of the most prosperous,
one of the most happy and loyal portions of the kingdom,
so it may yet be in store for us and for our children to
see a course of measures pursued in respect to Ireland
which may have the same beneficial results. (Cheers.)
With respect to English questions, that which mostpresses
for solution is the question of education. I hope at the
hands of the Government the question will receive en-
couragement, and I know that, with the assistance of
Mr. Bruce, we shall have the opportunity of promoting
the end in view. I hope the time is not far distant
when education may be carried home so as to be avail-
able at the door of, every cottage in the kingdom, and
that no child who is born a subject of the Queen shall
be denied the blessings of a good and a liberal education.
(Cheers.) We know that the religious difficulty is the
chief obstacle in the way of those who are anxious to pro-
mote education. But I can tell you a little anecdote which
happened to myself. I had the good fortune to visit a
large school under the control of the Irish Commissioner
in Belfast. The children were being examined separately
in the distinctive doctrines of our creed, and it appeared
to me that their learning in the evidences of Christianity
and in the distinctive doctrinei of our Church was superior
to those given to boys like me when we were educated in
the great schools of this country. (Hear, hear.) I had
an opportunity on the same day of being present
when the Presbyterian and Roman Catholic children ware
examined, not as to distinctive but as to secular education.
and it appeared to me to comprise so much that was
moral and Christian within it, that I should have been
happy if I could have supposed that the children in our
towns were receiving anything like an education of that kind.
(Hear, hear.) It appears to me that, with a little earnest
ness and the exercise of common sense, we might accom
plish great results with regard to the education of the
rising generation in this country. •