rbe Vrobintts.
The sixth annual meeting of the Conservative Association of Buck- ingham and the neighbouring districts took place on Tuesday ; when about four hundred gentlemen and yeomen sat down to dinner. The Duke of Buckingham took the chair : and he was supported by Sir J. Chetwode, M.P., the Earl of Orkney, the Honourable Captain W. Fitz- maarice, M.P., Sir Thomas Fremantle, M.P., and the Honourable C. S. Murray, M.P. After some of the routine toasts had been drunk, the proposing of "The Bishop and Clergy of the Diocese" gave Dr. Marsham an opportunity of attacking an opposite party : "He was sorry to say there had risen in the country since he had last addressed them an association of men calling themselves the Anti-Corn-law League, and he thought it was incumbent on every gentleman in the county to raise his voice against the vilification which the League had been throwing on the agriculturists of Buckinghamshire "-
It was known to them all that the agriculturists, not of this county, but of the kingdom, had passed through the present year in their usual peace and quietness, as loyal servants of the Queen and supporters and friends of the constitution. They had submitted that year to a good deal : they had sub- mitted to an alteration in the Corn-laws, to an alteration in the Tariff; and they had courted—for he might boldly say the word—they had courted the Income-tax; and they had done so because they thought it was absolutely necessary for the maintenance of the finances and credit of this country. Why, then, should they be charged, as they were, as a narrowminded, bigoted, and leaden set of persons—as merely subjects or retainers of the Duke of Buck- ingham.
After some generalizing remarks on the League, Dr. Marsham com- bated the argument that England cannot produce corn sufficient for its population— They said that the utmost that the kingdom produced was 16,000,000 quarters of corn annually ; and that, as the population amounted to 26,000,000, and as it was necessary that every man should have a quarter of corn to live upon, they inferred that 10,000,000 people were starving. But this was not the case : they had forgotten that 5,000,000 lived on oatmeal, and more than 5,000,000 rejoiced in potatoes. Pat these together, and it would be found, communibus annis, one year with another, the kingdom did in fact support its population.
The Doctor repeated several standing arguments against free trade, avowing that he did not like the maxim "to buy in the cheapest market and sell in the dearest market."
Sir Thomas Fremantle having returned thanks for the usual compli- ment to Ministers, Mr. Dayrell proposed "The Conservative Members of both Houses of Parliament "; with some remarks on the late mea- sures of Government, lest his silence should be construed to be a tacit approval of such measures— When lately a change had taken place in the Administration of this coun- try—when the present Government, backed by the powerful aid of the Con- servatism of the county of Buckingham, thrust out the late Administration and seized the reins, was there one of those now present who did not look upon the Conservative Government as the great support of the agricultural interest ? He would firmly assert that there was not one. It was not more than twelve months since, in that very hall, that the names of her Majesty's Ministers were received with the loudest applause, since the mention of the name of Sir Robert Peel drew forth loud and long-protracted cheers. Indeed, had Sir Robert Peel been present on the occasion to which he referred, be must have felt highly gratified at (be reception he met with. How great a contrast there was today ! How had the names of her Majesty's Ministers been received there today ? (Several voices—" Well received," followed by partial cheering.) He could assure them he did not wish to dwell upon so painful a subject, and he would not pursue further his remarks on this branch of the question. He was ready to consign the past to oblivion; but pray let them take care to secure some guarantee for the future.
The Earl of Orkney, who declared in the words of a song just sang, that he was "royally fresh," and glad to meet them, reported the effect of the Ministerial measures in Scotland-
" One third of the agricultural property of Scotland was gone to the winds. The effect of free trade would be to throw all the 'poor' land out of cultiva- tion. Speaking of Scotland, he could say that land which was now growing a very decent quantity of corn would, if those principles were carried out, only grow a decent quantity of grouse. (Laughter.) If we drew our supplies from
abroad, and threw our own land out of cultivation, this country would before three years were over become a province of France or Russia." Returning thanks for the health of " the Members for the County," Mr. C. S. Murray deprecated too hasty a judgment of the Ministerial measures; while Captain Fitzmaurice argued against free trade as in- applicable to free countries ; and he proposed another coarse-
" I will conclude with the only practical remedy that I see for a portion of our evils: and I am the more induced to think seriously over it when we con- sider the very small space which our sea-girt island occupies on the surface of the globe, its superabundant population, and when we have the appalling fact staring us in the face that 5,000 fresh human beings are daily added to the list of its inhabitants. The source I look to is emigration patronized by the Go- vernment, on a very different plan and scale to what it is at this moment. What made Rome ?—her colonies; not that little boot-shaped peninsula jutting out into the Mediterranean ; and so will the colonies of England be a high source of wealth and power, if she but foster them with care and attention. As a proof, I will mention Australia alone, where, in proportion to their popula- tion, they consume eleven to one more of the produce of Great Britain than any other nation of Europe, or even America. This cuts two ways : the country is relieved from a being it cannot support, while he, in return, con- sumes part of the manufacturers' produce." The attacks on the measures of Ministers drew forth Sir Thomas Fremantle ; who declared that some of the observations were totally at variance with the fact— He was not going to enter into any argument on these points ; but when his noble friend (Lord Orkney) said that one-third of the property in Scotland was already confiscated, and that if we went on as we were now going on, we should be a province of France, he thought his noble friend had verified the statement with which he had begun his speech, and that, to quote the words of the song, he was "royally fresh." (Cheers, and roars of laughter.) The noble Lord had made an excellent speech, but there was a freshness and vigour about it which Sir Thomas thought that in his more sober moments he would not have indulged. (Continued 'laughter.) Next he attacked the two County Members— The last speakers, by adverting to the measures passed in the course of last year with respect to Corn and the Tariff, seemed to lay it down as a matter of course, that the depreciation of prices in the agricultural districts was attri- butable to the measures adopted in the last Parliament. They had not sup- ported that:position by any argument ; and, as their political economy savoured of after-dinner eloquence, he would merely say, that the measures adopted with respect to the Corn-law and the Tariff had not produced that deprecia- tion of prices. An honourable friend of, his had supplied an explanation of the depreciation of prices, for he had referred to the:distress in the manufacturing dis- tricts. If the manufacturing interest had been languishing for the last twelve months, and if the artisans had been turned out from their work for a considerable time, was it extraordinary, that when the extent of consumption had been thereby diminished, the agriculturist was not able to get so good prices as heretofore ? In considering this subject, the state of the revenue might be re- ferred to. Be lamented that the Customs and the Excise had fallen off; but was not that circumstance an indication of a want of power on the part of the people to purchase or consume ? Was it to be wondered at that the people were unable to purchase corn when they were unable to purchase sugar and other articles ?
They must recollect that they had met there to promote Conserva- tive principles ; and they must not suppose, because they had driven one Government out of office, and placed another in, that they had ob- tained all their objects— There were still remaining assailants of the constitution of this country. There was still opposition to the House of Lords, the Established Church, and the great institutions which it was their pride and honour to protect. The Anti-Corn-law League still made their attacks against any protection for corn. They were all aware of the extent to which blasphemous and irreligious publi- cations prevailed in the country ; and it was to be regretted that the manufac- turing districts had not means for providing for the moral and religious educa- tion of the people. All these things showed that many objects remained yet to be attained. He had heard with satisfaction the observations of the Rev. Mr. Coker, who had intimated his conviction that the Government would use their best efforts to ameliorate the condition of the people. The Government had now a better opportunity of effecting this object, for they had succeeded in getting rid of many external difficulties with which their path had been beset. They must not forget, however, that it was the aid of Providence that had relieved them from these difficulties. When they considered the difficulties which had existed in India—when they considered the hostilities in China, the issue of which was at one time doubtful—when they considered the late state of our relations with America, and the fact of Canada being in a state of rebellion—they could not be too thankful to Providence that all those difficul- ties had been got over, and that now universal peace prevailed. He was not now alleging that the beneficial change in the state of affairs which had taken place was the act of the present Government; he was not discussing the ques- tion in such a party sense, but he was speaking of it as the act of Providence ; and he rejoiced that the Government would now have a better opportunity of attending to the internal amelioration of the country.
The Duke of Buckingham returned thanks as Chairman but he said little, except to declare that his own opinions were unchanged, and to call upon Ministers "to stand steady where they are, to maintain the ground on which they are now placed, and not to give way one jot far- ther."
The League had a " demonstration " at Ashton on Monday ; the chief actors on the scene being Mr. Cobden, M.P., Colonel Thompson, Mr. J. Bright, Mr. Thomas Gisborne, Mr. Charles Hindley, M.P., Alderman Brooks, Mr. Brotherton, M.P., Mr. Torrens M'Cullagh, Mr. R. R. Moore. Mr. Hindley appeared as a convert to the views of the League; giving up the fixed duty-
" Their alternative was no longer between a fixed duty and a total repeal; for Sir Robert Peel had declared that those who advocated a fixed duty had the worst of the argument, and that those who voted for the total and immediate repeal had far better ground. Was he then to be turned about from one thing to another—to be sent over from Whigs to Tories, from a repeal to 'a fixed duty—roasted on one side and boiled on the other? Not at all. Moreover, the landowners said they could not do with a fixed duty at all, but they could understand a perfectly free trade. If the farmers and landlords would have nothing to do with a fixed duty, why in the world should he take the trouble to advocate, it when his own constituents would not go along with him in doing so ? "
Mr. Cobden was rather called to account for having spoken too much in favour of Sir Robert Peel, and too much in disfavour of Lord John Russell; and accordingly he said a little the other way,—that Sir Robert Peel, considering his origin and acknowledged capacity, occupies a dis- graceful position as a Minister ; and that between Lord John Russell and Lord Palmerston and the League there is now probably Only the difference of a five or six shilling fixed duty—with a hope that Lord Palmerston may be convinced that each a duty could be dispensed with. The poor-rates in Sunderland are now 17s. in the pound. This fact was communicated in a letter the other day, by a commercial traveller, to a manufacturing firm in this town.—Leicester Chronicle.
A vast mine was sprang at Dove; on Thursday, to blown p the Ronnddown Cliff, which stood next to Shakspere's Cliff; the object being to make a roadway instead of a tunnel, for the South-eastern Railway. Major-General Pasley, Sir John Herschell, and several scien- tific men were present. The quantity of gunpowder used was 18,500 pounds. The feat is described by an eye-witness, in the Morning Chronicle- " The immense cliff intended to be operated upon was studded with spec- tators; and excellent arrangements were made by the Company to avoid acci- dents: a line of demarcation was marked off by signals, and police and mili- tary were stationed along this line, to keep the populace from approaching within it. A mine, consisting of three cells, was planned and formed by Mr. Cubitt, the engineer of the Company, in the base of the cliff, into which the enormous quantity of powder above named was placed; and the ignition of the charges by the voltaic battery was performed by Lieutenant Hutchinson, of the Royal Engineers. Punctual to their arrangements, the miners communi- cated the electric spark to the gunpowder by their connecting-wires, on the signal being given ; the earth trembled under our feet to half-a mile distant ; a stifled report, not loud, but deep, was heard ; the base of the Cliff, ex- tending on either hand to upwards of five hundred feet, was allot as from a cannon, from under the superincumbent mass of chalk seaward; and in a few seconds, not less, we should say, than 1,000,000 tons of chalk were dislodged by the shock, and settled gently down into the sea below. Tremendous cheers followed the blast, and a royal salute was fired. The sight was indeed truly magnificent. It is reckoned the blast will save the Company 1,0001. worth of hand-labour. Not the slightest accident occurred."
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