Vrilniurial.
Lord Lyveden, who, as Mr. Vernon Smith, represented the borough of Northampton for twenty-eight years, was entertained on Thursday week at a banquet given by his late constituents. Earl Spencer pre- sided ; Lord Henley, M.P. Mr. Gilpin, M.P., and several notabilities of the neighbourhood, and all the principal electors, were present. Lord Spencer proposed Lord Lyveden's health, summing up a warm eulogy of his character by saying, My noble friend was never known to break a political promise, nor to forget a personal friend."
In returning ;hanks, Lord Lyveden referred regretfully, but without bitterness to that habit of indiscriminate abuse of political opponents in which the press at the present day too largely indulges. It injures the press itself—which he would always wish to see unshackled ; and it is naturally mischievous in its effects on the mind of public men. He was at first irritated at the abuse, but finally he was amused—(especially when he found one paper calling him "a beardless boy,")—and he soon learned to be indifferent to newspaper abuse. It was not, however, right that public opinion should fall so low that any statesman was forced to be indifferent to it. Lord Lyveden continued: " Lord Derby, on the first outbreak of the Indian mutiny, charged me with ' levity,' and said that' when the first news of the mutiny reached Eng- land, I treated it with too little gravity ; but every Director of the East India Company, and every person of authority on the subject whom I con- sulted, took the same tone, and accordingly I took a bold tone in the House of Commons, and I contend that as the Minister of one of the boldest Sove- reigns who ever sat on the throne of England, I had no right to come to the House of Commons and pretend a fear which none of us ever felt. Lord Derby also attacked me upon an expression I had made use of, that Delhi should be surrounded ; and some four months afterwards the noble Earl, who in the meantime I suppose had been studying the map of India, said Surround Delhi! There's ignorance !' when at the very time I had let- ters from India which informed me that troops were advancing to Delhi on all sides. But the other point upon which he attacked me was so devoid of foundation that I am even now surprised he should have done so. He said that after certain engagements had been made with the Oriental and Penin- sular Company I wrote to know whether they could carry them out. That was disproved over and over again, but Lord Derby never had the manliness to come forward and own that he was mistaken."
Lord Lyveden referred to the terms between him and his con- stituents :—
" My noble friend who has done me the honour to propose this toast, has alluded to our long connexion and the value of it. Our long connexion has been valuable. Why ? Because it has been founded and rested upon mu- tual confidence ; because throughout I have known that when I came back to you, you would look over minor differences and minor defects, and that you would rally round me, because you believed me to be consistent and honest. (Cheers.) On the other hand you knew that in me you had (as has been eloquently said by the reverend gentleman who spoke early this evening) a representative who was glad to express your opinions, but who was determined no longer to express them than they were his own. (Cheers.) Therefore it was that we went on together so well for many years. Upon one great question I remember I differed from you—I mean the ballot, and I made a speech in Parliament adverse to it. Shortly af- terwards I met the then Prime Minister, Lord Melbourne, and he said, tap- ping me on the back, ' Well, Vernon Smith, you have made a devilish good speech, and you will lose a devilish good seat.' (Cheers and laughter.) I said, My Lord, you are perfectly mistaken; I will go down to my con- stituents tomorrow and I will be returned.' I went down, not on the morrow, but a few months afterwards, and I was returned by the same ma- jority as before. (Cheers.) That is what I call the mutual confidence that ought to exist between a Member and his constituents."
Some suggestive remarks on bribery followed. He showed that as Northampton had been "purified," so might Gloucester and other places. His first election cost him 40001.; his last election 3001. only ; he pre- ferred improvement in this way by moral means to the adoption of the ballot. Lord Lyveden continued :—
" There is also another question on which some of my friends do not think me quite forward enough-1 mean the question of Church-rates. Now on that subject I always stepped before my party. When first my noble friend's uncle, Lord Althorpe, brought forward his scheme for the commutation of Church-rates, it was rejected by Churchmen and Dissenters. I soon saw that compromise was out of the question ; therefore I early put myself for- ward to be the advocate of Sir William Clay's measure for the abolition of Church-rates. When Lord John Russell, in 1852, offered me the Secretary- ship of War, I made it a condition of my acceptance that I might vote as I pleased upon Church-rates; and I made it a similar condition when offered by Lord Palmerston the Presidency of the Indian Board. And as I pleased to vote upon Church-rates I have always voted. ("Hear, hear !") I sup- pose it was for that reason that the House of Lords, the moment I entered it, put me upon a Committee upon Church-rates. In the same manner on the question of Reform, I voted in favour of Mr. Locke King's motion in 1850. It was by my vote that Lord John Russell resigned the next day. These are simply a few facts to show which way the wind blew with me, that I was always advancing in that direction, though I might not be will- ing to go at the pace at which many of my friends would wish me. You have found in me I hope an honest, and I am sure a hard-working repre- sentative. (Cheers.) I cannot remember the hour which I have stolen from your service either for the pursuit of pleasure, or for the support of health. I know I have not always gone at the pace at which some of you would have wished to urge me, but I am sure I have never swerved from the path which we all of us agreed to pursue. I repeat, in the words of my addresses to you, that I may have often disappointed you, but I have never deceived you. Gentlemen, I own the obligations are greater. Pecuniary obligations I owe you none. I have been in the receipt of public salaries, but I doubt if they have more than repaid me. I have been entrusted with enormous patronage, but neither kith nor kin of mine have ever derived permanent benefit from it. In the Indian Government I appointed judges from the source from which I heard fewest had been appointed—the Irish bar. I appointed to one of the highest offices that could be given away Sir George Clarke, a gentleman of Tory family, but an Indian governor—an office that I might have given to a relation of my own. I gave away cadet- ships to the school in which I was educated, and with the greatest satisfac- tion I gave seven or eight to the sons of those unfortunate men who have been murdered in the East. I may, therefore, fairly say that the patronage entrusted to me was devoted to the public service."
At the Elvaston Castle rent-day dinner, the Earl of Harrington diver- sified family and local politics by an attack on Mr. Bright-
" He is a great patriot, a famed orator, a rigid economist, a friend of peace and of disarmaments, to reach his ends. His reform of Parliament, and his further views are of such an ultra-democratic character that, if acted on, they would lead first to a republic, when Mr. Bright would be obliged to moderate his extreme notions, and red republicans would riot over his Quakerish views and establish their wild liberty, which would, as in every country in Europe, be followed by despotism ; or, as in France, by universal suffrage and the bayonet. Then again his disarmaments would be an invitation to the great military Powers of the Continent, to France, Germany, and Russia, with their 2,000,000 of highly disciplined and brave men, to invade our empire of the seas. Remember, too, that Napoleon is making friends, and by degrees is robbing us of our allies. Our constitu- tion is based on a rock that has stood the storms of ages. It has saved us from revolutions and invasions, and those ills which the Continent has suffered. There have been in our days two systems of politics—the Ma- chiavellian of Prince Metternich, and the ultra-democratic system of Mr. John Bright. The Prince Metternich I knew well, and, like Mr. Bright, he was a man replete with virtuous intentions. His ultra-monarchical system drew men into republicanism, and after fifty years of trial has broken down, and, thank God, Italy triumphs. Mr. John Bright's system, too, has been tried in France by men of great talent and virtue, and all over the Continent, where it has led to hopeless despotism ; in fact, neither Prince Metternich nor Mr. John Bright is a sound statesman."
At a meeting of an agricultural association at Huntingdon, on Monday, General Peel returned thanks for the Army and Navy, and referred to the national defences. He hoped that the means which the late Go vernment bad undertaken for the security of the nation were now carried out by their successors. He could not shut his eyes to the fact that steam has greatly changed the position of this country. We must be prepared for sudden attempts to land large bodies of troops, and that preparation must consist in maintaining the fleet in such a state as to be perfectly able to cope with any fleet that may be opposed to us. We must also depend upon those volunteers whose zeal and exertions in their drill are beyond all praise. He would urge every county to foster the voluntary spirit. If all necessary steps were taken we need have no fear of an invasion. Next to the efficiency of the army, its cost is the most important consideration. This he knew was large ; but when we are asked what we have got to show for our money, it must be remembered that we have an empire on which the sun never sets; that we have pos- sessions and colonies in every part of the globe, and that ships and troops are required to protect them. No person could have entered into the Army estimates with a greater determination to cut them down to the lowest possible point consistently with their perfect efficiency than he , but he rose from their consideration with the most perfect conviction that instead of asking too much from the House of Commons he could have spent a good deal more with advantage to the country. In conclusion General Peel alluded to a speech made by Mr. Bright, in which he states that Parliament had little or no control over money spent by the Horse Guards. This is not so. Parliament has the power of controlling in the most minute way the expenditure of the Horse Guards. If Parliament does not exercise scrutiny and control, it was the fault of Parliament it- self, and not of the Horse Guards.
The annual dinner of the IIinkworth Conservative and Agricultural Club given on Saturday, at Castle Heddingham near Sudbury, gave oc- casion for several Conservative speeches. Mr. Ashurst Majendie and Mr. William Beresford, the Member for North Essex, replied to the toast of their healths at considerable length. Mr. Majendie thought that the Conservative party, though it no longer rules the country, is still the most powerful party in England. He severely censured the political conduct of Mr. Bright. Referring to the Reform Bill of the late Government, Mr. Beresford said he was not enamoured of that bill, but, believing it to be susceptible of improvement, he had voted against Lord John Russell's resolution, from a conviction that its object was simply that of driving out Lord Derby's Administration.
Mr. M. D. Hill, the Recorder of Birmingham, opened the sessions at that town on Monday, with an address to the Grand Jury. He could congratulate them on a diminution of crime in that neighbourhood.
" But, gentlemen, we must distinguish between the diminution of con- victions and the diminution of crime. I wish to guard your minds against the common fallacy of confounding the numbers of convictions with those of offences committed. Convictions are only of offences detected and brought to justice, and it may happen that in one place you may find the convictions increase by the zeal and activity of the police, or by additions to their num- bers, when that very increase of convictions causes a decrease of crime."
In seeking for the causes of the decrease of crime, Mr. Hill wished to guard against a common error,—that of supposing crime to be neces- sarily caused by increased prosperity. A sudden accession of prosperity to the working classes will often have the effect of producing intempe- rance, and will thus lead to offences of the worst kind. lie believed that to reformatory schools, among other things, we owe the decrease of crime. It may be asked how it is that when the numbers in all the reformatory schools put together are comparatively small-2000, perhaps, will include the whole—how it is that so great an effect should have been produced ? Mr. Barwick Baker, of Gloucester, attributes the effectiveness of reformatory schools to the taking away the leaders of crime, engaging them in schools, and thereby putting a stop to the spread of contagion. The Recorder did not see, however, how this could have affected adults. He thought much good had been done by the disuse of short imprisonments. These he thought were attended with the worst effects, and he believed the maudlin sentiment which induced the shorten- ing of imprisonments would now be regarded in its true light.
At the Worcestershire Quarter Sessions on Monday the subject of the management of reformatories for juvenile criminals was discussed on a motion by the Reverend J. Pearson, who desired to sec a more uniform system of management adopted, and stated that for want of this the re- sults were not so satisfactory as would otherwise be the case. Lord Ward (who has established a reformatory for boys at his own cost at Woodbury Hill, in the county of Worcester) declared his willingness to increase the accommodation for boys if it were required at his reforma- tory, and to establish also a girls reformatory if the magistrates of the county could show him any want of such an institution. He proceeded to discuss the cause of the present position of matters as between the promoters of the reformatories and the Government, which he held to lie in that system of compromise which characterized our modern system of legislation. The Government merely gave aid to the exertions of private individuals, instead of placing a measure before the country enabling them to do for juvenile criminals what it did for adults. Sir John Pak- ington allowed that the law is in a very anomalous state as regarded the government of reformatories. Power is given to send to them offenders of a certain age, but the law does not require them to receive the offenders so sent. Every reformatory has the power of exercising its own discretion as to the admission or refusal of an inmate, and this discretion has been repeatedly exercised. This ano- malous and unsatisfactory state of things exists solely because the Govern- ment and the Legislature have allowed its existence, merely because the re- formatory system is an experiment, though a great, interesting, and im- portant one. It was to be hoped that Government would ere long, whether they were memorialised or not, take care that these institutions were put in a more satisfactory and definite shape than they were at present.
No action was taken by resolution upon the subject.
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