The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1846-09-29 00:00:00

Leaving due to the treasurer

£2B 12 5

At the dinner upwards of three hundred sit down,
which was considered a much better attendance than that

of last year. The tables were literally supplied with
every thing that could contribute to-the enjoyment of the
company. The chair was occupied by Lord Stanley, and
at the principal table were the following gentlemen
amongst others :—John Ireland Blackburne, Esq ; the
Hon. Edward Stanley, son of the chairman ; H.

Lltledale, Esq. ; Robert Neilson, Esq. ; Weld Blundell,
Esq. ; Richard Blundell, Esq. ; Sir R. Brooke, Bart. ;
Mr. Alderman Griffith ; Mr. Alderman JatrlFS Lawrence,

Richard Brook, Esq. ; Hardman Earle, Esq. ; William
Eccles, Esq. ; William Grierson, Esq. ; Captain Mor-
gan; Bartholomew Bretberton, Esq.; Gilbert Greenhall,
Esq: ;
_William Rawson, Esq.; William Heyes, Esq. ;

Philip Whiteway, Esq.
The cloth was drawn at a quarter after six o,clock, and
after the u=ual loyal toasts,

Lord STANLEY then rose, amidst loud cheers, to pro-
pose the principal toast of the evening. The noble lord
spoke nearly as follows :—Gentlemen, it now becomes my
duty to propose to you a bumper toast. I propose to you
to drink prosperity to that society whose anniversary you
are now met to celebrate, and whose progress, from very
small beginnings and by very gradual steps, to its present
advanced stage of prosperity, I have had the satisfaction

of witnessing through the period of sixteen years, during
which I have had the honour of filling this chair as presi:

dent. (Hear, hear, and applause.) I bad hoped, when I

addressed you last year, that before this time we might

have effected a com-bina.tion with another and a sister so

ciety in this county, by which the means of usefulness of
both, by which the sphere of emulation of both—which is
the means of usefulness—might have been considerably

extended. Th•tt arrangement has not been brought to a
conclusion. Unforeseen impediments have, for the pre-

sent, prevented it. But I trust that it is for the present
only, and that before another year has expired, those dif-
ficulties may be surmounted which have hitherto pre-
vented the union of the Liverpool and Manchester Agri-
cultural Societies_ --(Cheara.) Gentlemen, I address you
at a period of no small difficulty to me in my present po-
sition, and of no small anxiety to the agricultural in'er-
ests of the country generally. (Hear.) I address you at
a period when it has been thought right by parliament to
withdraw that legislative protection—or at least to make
provisions by which that legislative protection shall shortly
be withdrawn—which the agricultural interests of this
country have hitherto enjoyed. And I address you also
at a period when it has pleased Providence to vi it this
country and the greater part of the civilized mild, with a
mysterious visitation, in the almost entire failure of a crop
essential to the maintenance and support of the poorest
portion of the community. (Hear.) But gentlemen,
these are topics upon which, here, I can hardly dwell. I
cannot speak to you of the measures which it has pleased
parliament to adopt, for several reasons. First, that it is
a wise and judicious rule of this society. that it should
exclude from its discussions everything that can lead to
political dissension, or political differences of opinion ;
next, that it is yet doubtful, and it remains to be proved,
whether the change which parliament has decreed is a
change which will be sanctioned and made perpetual by the
feelings and opinions of the community at large. Thirdly,
the operation of the measure has not yet come into effect—
(hear)—for 1 need not tell those that I am addressing,
that, at this time, and for the next two or three years,
there still remains a du'y of 10s. per quarter upon the in-
troduction of foreign wheat ; lastly, I will not speak upon
this topic, because whatever may be, even ultimately, the
operation of this legislative measure, its even partial ope-
ration has been, in a great degree, counteracted and im-
peded by other and temporary causes. The enormous,—
I will not say the exaggerated, I will not say the danger-
ously large, but I will say the unprecedentedly large—
amount which is now being invested in various spe-
culations, and In various works, tending unnaturally
to raisa tee price of labour, and, consequently, unna-
turally to increase the demand for provisions, at the
time when that very visitation of Providence to which
I have referred, presses upon this courery and upon
the continent. Therefore, even were I not precluded
as I am, from dwelling upon this topic, and upon
the legislative measures which have been passed, by the
rules of this society, 1 should be precluded by a conside-
ration that the effect of those legislative measures—if le-
gislative measures they are ultimately to be—must stand
the test of time. This, alone, I will say, that, having ex-
pressed in another place, where it was my bounden duty
to express it. my opinion, unhesitatingly and unreserv-
edly, upon the policy of those measures, the wisdom and
the soundness of that opinion remains yet to be tested by
time—(hear)—and no man will rejoice more than I shall,
if the apprehensions I entertain should be found to be un-
founded or exaggerated. (Elear, hear.) Nay, more, gen-
tlemen. No man in his sphere and position shall do
more, by increased exertions, to render those apprehen-
sions less founded than I believe them to be. (Hear,
hear.) I also must abstain from offering to you, gentlemen,
any observations upon the almost general, I may say the
universal, failure of the potato crop—a failure so universal,
not only in this country, but in every part of these united
kingdoms, that in passing, about ten days ago, through
the city of Edinburgh, I was assured there had not been
exhibited for sale in the market of Edinburgh, a potato
for at least ten days or a fortnight. (Hear.) I shall not
dilate upon this topic, for the best of all possible reasons,
because 1 know nothing about it. (Hear, and a laugb.)
I believe if all the most learned men in Europe were to
make an honest confession, the result would be that they
know no more about it than I profess to know. (Hear,
hear.) They know it is general—they know that it is
fatal, most dangerous in its tendency, and most lament-
able in its effects. But as to its cause and origin—as to
the mode of preventing or palliating the evil, there are
many different opinions; but none of them have stood
the test of experience, and none of them can be pro-
nounced upon with the smallest degree of certainty.
(Hear.) Gentlemen, I do venture to hope, notwith-
standing, from indications which came in a remarkable
manner under my own cognizance, some three or four
years ago, when I had the honour of holding the office of
Colonial Secretary, that this visitation will not be conti-
nuous. (Hear,hear.) I was applied to at that time from
the distant island of St. Helena to consult well-skilled
persons in London as to a mysterious disease which bad
broken out three years ago. I say nothing of the uni-
versal prevalence of disease in the potatoes. I believe—
and I trust the fact is so—that the disease does not owe
its origin to any permanent failure of, or deficiency in,
the root itself, but to some extraordinary atmospherical
influences, and that as it has been the will of Providence
to afflict us with this visitation, so we may look forward
with an humble confidence to the withdrawal of the visita-
tion by the act of the same Providence, against which, it
at present appears, no human skill or foresight can guard.
I am the more led to entertain this conclusion, because I
feel that those among us who are practical farmers will
see, in the course of the present year. whether i; be from
atmospherical influences or not, that other crops are
similarly affected, though not to the same extent es the
potato crop. I regret to say, in this county, and I hear
in other districts. the turnip crop is also, to a great ex-
tent, a failure. „Even in the gardens (I do not know whe-
ther any of you will have remarked it) there is an extra-
ordinary disease, similar to that in the potato, exhibited
upon a small scale in the celery beds, the leaves being
spotted, black, and withered, and the plant itself rotting
in the same manner as in crops of potatoes and turnips.
I do not pretend to offer you any observations upon
either of these two topics,. which yet are matters of the
deepest interest to those who, like many of you, are en-
gaged as practical farmers in cultivation. I rather turn