Zbe Vrobincts.
.The annual exhibition of the East Suffolk Agricultural Association took place at Saxmundham on the 12th instant. The Earl of Strad. broke, President of the Association, Lord Huntingfield, Lord Henniker, Sir Joshua Rowley, and Sir Charles Broke Yore, were the principal persons present. Praise of the Corn-laws, with determination to uphold them, formed a principal topic in the speeches delivered after dinner,
Lord Stradbroke affirmed that the condition of the labouring classes in Suffolk had been improved by the rise in the price of corn. He said--; The labourers of this county, in knowledge and good conduct, were inferior to none. They had constant applications for their services in distant counties,
and this lie attributed in a great measure to the protection they received from
their masters; for it was notorious, and beyond cavil, or the possibility 'of doubt, that in this county. they received a better remuneration by way ofivages for their employment than in almost any other agricultural district in England. for increase which had taken place in their wages, from 8s. to 12s. during the last four or five years, might he fairly attributed in some respect, indeed in a
great respect, to the increased and now remunerative prices the fitoners received /hp their corn ; but he must be allowed to say that the improved system of em- ployment which had taken place during that time, if carried out on the fullest principle and to the broadest extent, must end by finding employment for the poor of this country, either upon their native soil, or, for the surplus population, hi the extensive field of the Colonies of this country.
Lord Henniker hoped that prices might continue remunerative to the farmer, notwithstanding certain threats—. He hoped he was not trespassing on ground on which he ought not place himself; but he could not refrain from expressing a hope that our Corn-laws would be maintained. (Loud cheering. A voice, "flush, hush ! ") Ile would not dwell on this topic ; but, after what had passed, he could not resist saying thus much, as he felt it to be his duty in some measure, that he should, on sitieli an occasion as this, express that opinion which he believed repre- sented the opinions of the county for which lie had the honour of having a seat in Parliament.
Sir Charles Were followed Lord Henniker— With regard to the subject which the noble lord had touched upon very lightly, but on which lie had felt himself called to speak, from the situation ho held owing to the favour conferred upon hint by his constituents, he pronounced his feelings to be in perfect concurrence with his own—he meant with respect to the maintenance of the present Corn-laws. He was quite sure, (coin all the attention he had paid to the subject, we could have had no better test of the value of those laws, than those offered in the course of the several months which arc passed, and in the prices obtained for corn minder the present law, to assume us that the Corn-laws had worked extremely well for the papaw for which they were intended. (Cheers.) He sincerely hoped, that many who had enter- tained doubts on the question were at this time beginning to see that those laws were really beneficial; and he trusted, therefore, that whenever the ques- tion was again discussed, they would meet with fewer enemies to the Corn-laws than before. (Loud cheers.) Between three and four hundred of the most influential and wealthy landowners of Buckinghamshire dined together at Beaconsfield on Tuesday ; the Duke of Buckingham in the chair. The occasion of the meeting was to distribute prizes awarded by the 13nekinghtuushire Agricultural Association. • After this business was finished, the Duke of Buckingham proposed " Prosperity to the Royal Bucks Agricultural Association, and God speed the Plough." He congratulated the com- pany on the success which had attended their efforts to protect the agricultural interest— The object in founding that Associatioa was, that the interests of the timer and those employed by him might be protected ; and he trusted that the steps which had been adopted by him, and in which he had been joined by 1,300 or 1,400 other farmers in the district, no nian present had any cause to regret: on the contrary, he felt assured, that from the rapid increase in the number of persons who had joined the efforts of the Association to adopt unanimity in maintaining its objects, there could be but one opinion entertained with regard to it, and that accession, instead of secession, must be expected. The objects of the Association had on many occasions been misrepresented ; it lied been endeavoured by some to mystify their.intentions, and to represent them in a different light from that in which they really stood : but he, as au individual who had always steadily supported the interests of the farmer, then stated that they had no object but to protect the property of the agriculturists and those connected with agricultural pursuits, and to secure their weltiwe ; and they might believe him, that if they had not at that time put themselves in the at- titude of defence for those interests, and maintained that attitude since with the utmost vigour, he should not on the present occasion have had the pleasure of seeing around him so many happy faces. Time produce of the land, which was the seeing of the farmer, would have liven wrested from him, and the foreigner would have been introduced into our market to supply his place with the public. Ile bad long been acquainted with time nature of the farmer's pros- pects, and had always afforded them his best and most strenuous support. It required the farmer to obtain a fair price for the produce of his land to enable him to pay the labourer; but if he should be deprived of receiving such remu- neration, what happened to the labourer ? Ruin and distress. So long as it farmer was allowed a proper reward for his industry, so long was he able to pay high and proper wages to his assistants.
He did not speak favourably of the result of the harvest in Bucks— Amidst so much on which lie could conenratulge those assembled, lie had one great cause for regret—that the harvest did not realize the expectations of many of his friends in the county. Although be was perfectly aware that a great quantity of wheat had been saved, yet much damage had arisen from the late inclement weather ; yet he could not but hope, when all was made up, that no considerable deficiency would be fund to hare been sustained.
The other speeches were in no respect remarkable.
At Collumpton, on Wednesday, the Devonshire Conservatives had a grand dinner. There was a procession of eighty carriages and six Hundred horsemen, with large numbers on foot, banners, flags, and music. The four Members for the County were present ; and so far as show went, it was a very splendid affair : the speeches, however, were tissues of commonplace abuse of the Whigs, and laudation of Tory patriots. The Duke of Somerset is now using his best influence to obtain the reelection of his son-in-law, Mr. Blount, for Totnes, -where there was a double, and consequently a void, return last election.—Westerit Lumi- nary.
Previous page
