The appearance of Lord Palmerston at the annual meeting of
the Romsey Labourers' Encouragement Association was one of - the most characteristic and interesting of the statesman's minor achievements. At the meeting in the afternoon and at the dinner in the evening the ever young veteran delivered no fewer than six speeches, each one of which might be described as a capital "leading article" on a special subject,—the acknow- ledgment given to labourers in the shape of prizes, never before put in so thoroughly rational and pleasing a light ; the inter- communication between different classes. of society, called forth by the cheers of the labourers for Lady Palmerston ; the duties of " the Army and Navy," with light and pointed glances at the political bearing of the subject ; the function of the Labourers' Encouragement Society, with the function of labour in carrying on that agriculture which is the basis of all wealth, the building of cottages cottages in many instances, as Lord Palmerston shows, actually making the thrift of the estate and the moral condition of the labourers ; and finally " the press," spiritedly and flatteringly ehardeterized, especially in the contrast of its present efficiency with its condition in the time of " a man named Woodfall who used to- publish debates." Lord Palmerston always seems to get at the pith of any question that he chooses to take in hand—whether it is a question of Parliamentary tactics, a question of making himself popular, or a question of restoring a great country like Italy to the political map of Europe.
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