THE CONSERVATIVE DEMONSTRATION.

The great banquet to Lord Derby and his late colleagues, projected hy the Liverpool Conservatives, took place on Saturday, in the Philhar- monic Hall. Some six hundred gentlemen of Liverpool and its neigh- bourhood assembled at the banquet table, and all the members of the late Government were present except General Peel. Before the dinner an address, signed by seven thousand Conservatives, and enclosed in " an elegant casket of silver," was •presented to Lord Derby. It was drawn up in language of unsparing eulogy, and dated the 28th of June, so that it had been well kept in hand waiting for an auspicious moment. To this Lord Derby answered by expressing leis gratitude, modestly putting by the profferred eulogy, and transferring it to his colleagues, mentioning especially Lord Malmesbury and Sir John Pa.kington, and claiming for himself only the merit of selecting col- leagues who lightened his labours and proved not unworthy of his con- fidence. As to parties, he agreed with his eulogists that great mischief must arise if no one party has a majority sufficient to carry on uninter- ruptedly the business of the country. " It is a serious injury to the.public interests—a serious injury to the in- terests of the Crown—if every party should be so weak as to be liable at any time to be overthrown by the combination of other and inferior sections. It is to the Conservatives of England that we must look to remedy this state of affairs. It is to their continued exertions, by rousing themselves from the apathy in which they have been too long sunk, and continuing the suc- cess which they have to some extent obtained, that we are to look for the permanent maintenance of the Conservative principles which I believe to he essential to the best interests of this country." (Cheers.) The after-dinner speech of Lord Derby was much more elaborate. It followed the remarks made by Lord llardwicke, in answer to the toast of " The Army and Navy,"—the chief point of which was a criticism on the conduct of commanders-in-chief who, like Admiral Hope, lead attacks instead, of watching their course. If Admiral Hope had com- manded instead of fighting, he would have recalled the ships as soon as he saw that it would be of no use to -fight any longer—that is, after the first fifteen minutes of action.

Lord Derby replied to the toast in his own honour. The opening sen- tences were devoted -to a warm expression of thanks for the compliment paid to himself and his late colleagues by the " splendid assembly" he :saw before him in the " great commercial metropolis," where not only his public but his private life from his earliest boyhood has been open to their criticism. It was not as individuals that himself or his colleagues were received.-

" You have received us as a bodily impersonation of those Conservative principles which you all cherish in your hearts. It is true, gentlemen, we o not meet upon the present occasion for the purpose of celebrating the full and entire triumph of these principles. They have been overborne by the decision of the present Parliament, but we do meet here—and this I take to be the real meaning of your invitation to me—to testify and declare our ad- herence to theprinciples and doctrines of true Conservatism. (Cheers.) I do not mean of Conservatism falsely so called, which would obstruct all use- ful changes, but I speak of that Conservatism which is not obstructive, but which is the best promoter of safe and gradual social improvements—of that Conservatism which, strenuously adhering to the old machinery of the con- stitution, adapts from time to time the various parts of its mechanism to the real acquirements and capacities of the age in which we live—of that Con- servatism which would give to all orders and degrees of men within these realms their due weight, authority, and preponderance—of that Conserva- tism which loves the interests of the people at large, but will not be led away by the noisy denunciations of violent and blustering demagogues either to shrink at the voice of menace or timidly to concede rights and privileges to large bodies of men for the purpose of obtaining some amount of tempo- rary popularity, when in our hearts we believe that the concession of those very coveted boons would be injurious rather than beneficial to the classes whom it is sought to benefit. Such, gentlemen, is the Conservatism to which you pledge yourselves by your attendance this day. Such is the principle which I have ever-advocated, upon which I have ever-endeavoured to act, and you are here this day-not only to testify your adoption of it, but to declare that you will shake off for the future that apathy which has too long characterized your proceedings—that not by mere acclamations or by enthusiasm, however great, but by sober, steadyiand-united aetion, you will -evoke the spirit of Conservatism which has hitherto been allowed to lie latent in the country." (Cheers.) They have gained a great victory in the county by returning-two Conservatives; they should do more, and return two in Liverpool itself. For fourteen years the Conservatives have made great progress in unity and-strength. Having told how the party wet, in 1845, shattered for the moment by Sir Robert Peel, Lord Derby told his audience how he had on that occasion contfidentiallysonsulted the late Duke of Wellington on the beet means of restoring the unity eo lamentably de-

astro "I received a long letter from the Duke of Wellington, which I

n hardly say I have kept and deeply value, in which he explained-to -me that, having accepted, under the abortive attempt of Lord John Russell, to form a Government, the duties of the neutral position of Commander-in- Chief, he considered be had for ever broken off his political connexion with any party. He intimated, however, his concurrence in the opinion which I had ventured to express that-the alienation of the Conservative party from Sir Robert Peel was not a mere temporary feeling, but that it was impos- sible he should ever again place 'himself at their head with any prospect of success, and theDuke of Wdllington, I will not say entreated, but exhorted me, as a matter of duty to my Sovereign and to my country, to throw aside all doubts and all hesitations, and to assume at once the leadership of that great Conservative party whose existence and whose power he deemed to be essential to the well-being of the country in all its institutions, and he ad- vised me if her Majesty should at any time lay her commands upon me to attempt to form an administration not 'to be ihaeoaraged by any difficulty, except such as might be absolutely insuperable, but to-sacrifice every other feeling to a desire of serving -my Sovereign and my country. Gentlemen, for fourteen years I have endeavoured to act -in the spirit of that wise and patriotic advice, coming from so eininenta-man,and I have been rewarded by seeing the Conservative party'fixing their roots in the feelings and hearts of the country, and, as our opponents are compelled to acknowledge, though in doing so their fears rather magnify our strength, forming at the present moment an absolute majority in Parliament." (Charm) • What use would Lord Derby make of his increased Parliamentary /strength?

"Perhaps I shall disappoint the expectations and wishes of some of the more enthusiastic, and probably of most of the younger members of this assembly, when .I say that I have no-desire forthe.immediate overthrow of the present Administration. I should hold the same language which I now do even if a momentary party advantage might be so gained, but there are considerations higher than those of party, which have still greater weight with me—considerations of what is for the benefit of my Sovereign, for the reputation of the country in the eyes of foreign nations, and for the respect due to Parliament itself. All those considerations militate against a suo- cession of ephemeral Governments, acquiringoffice bya bare majority, liable at any moment to be displaced by the caprice of some half-doxen votes in the House of Commons, and exposing the Crown and the-country .to a perpetual change of persons and of principles, -which renders all steady legislation im- possible, and which, weakening their internal strength and their external power, paralyzes the hands of those to whom the duties-of administration may for the moment be intrusted. Moreover, gentlemen, it appears to me that the policy which is dictated by a due consideration of the interests of the country at large is also recommended by theintereste, well-considered, of the party to which .I have the honour to belong. It cannot be for-the ad- vantage of that party that for the third time itehould beprematurely called upon to form a Government without sufficient strength to maintaiu itself -against All attacks and :against all combination. What is aegainedis.the

determination of the country itself, or at all events, of the Conservative strength of the country, to prepare for future events. Let every man °in- sider that he has a duty to perform and a cause to sustain. Remember that by the combination of small efforts great results are produced, and do-not compel me, or any one who may represent the Conservative party, to accept office when I can not be confident of holdingit, at least so long as 1 honestly endeavour to discharge the duty which I owe to my Sovereign and my country." (Cheers.)

Lord Derby described the difficulties of the present Government

"I believe that in some respects -the difficulties and anxieties of the pee- sent Government are fully as great as those to which we were exposed. I know nothing beyond what I learn from the public organs of intelligence ;

but I am much mistaken if our foreign relations at the present moment are upon as satisfactory a footing, or are as generally amicable, as they were a few months ago. The present Government have difficulties to contend with in what is commonly called the Italian question, with respect to which I hope and trust they will be steady in their purpose not to entangle them-

selves in the negotiations of any Congress that meg be proposed. They have difficulties in China. They. have difficulties upon the Coast of

Africa--difficulties which may seriously threaten us unless a decided one be taken, and unless this country is disposed to maintain rights which are absolutely essential to its welfare. They have difficulties in the North Pacific, where our Transatlantic brethren appear, if I may use a familiar expression, to be 'trying it on.' They are contend- ing with difficulties in various quarters, but they are not difficulties which

may not be surmounted by a mixture of firmness and good temper, and at the same time by a determination to maintain the rights and the honour of England." (Cheers.) And also the advantages in the favour of Ministers.

" They preside over the destinies of a nation which never at any time was so abounding in material resources, in wealth and in prosperity, as it is at

the present moment. They preside over a nation in which oommerce is

flourishing and active almost beyond precedent, and at the same time, as I believe, free from all undue speculation. They preside over a country in which labour is abundantly employed, and the population is Fenerally con-

tented. They have the consciousness that within a certain number of months—I shall not say how many—the military and naval resources of the

country have been greatly improved, and that, if our national defences are not altogether what we would desire them to be, our great fortifications of Gibraltar and Malta have received from the labours of the late Government an amount of reinforcements which has placed them in a far better position of defence than they have enjoyed for the last twenty years. Moreover, they know they preside over a country the population of which are again alive to the necessity of maintaining adequate defensive armamenta, in

which our military ardour has been again awakened, and in which private and personal efforts will not be spared for the vindication of the national

honour. Of one thing, at least, they may feel assured, that, while the country and while Parliament will not readily forgive a Ministry which hastily embroik us in an unnecessary war, they will, without regard of party or any other eensideration, bring forward the whole weight of public opinion in support of any Minister who shall steadily resist, from whatever quarter it Emir proceed, any attack upon the independence, the honour, or the interests of the country. Above all, gentlemen, the present Govern- ment had this great advantage over their predecessors, that they will.not have to contend with an Opposition :which will descend to any factious

combination, nor need they fear that we shall seek to eject them from office without regard to the interests of the country or to the probability of being able to succeed them." (Cheers.)

Lord Derby charitably hoped that they might make up their dif- ferences, and bring in a measure of Parliamentary reform which the great body of the Conservatives can honestly support. The question should not lie left in suspense but be.speedily end finally settled. Vin- dicating his own bill, he said that the principle of uniformity of suffrage having been repudiated, he supposed that some reduction would be made in the borough franchise, and he could not say that no such reduction could be made without danger, but he did say that it would be accessary

to exercise the greatest caution, and minutely calculate the political effects of any extension of the suffrage. The Conservative party are not jealous of the working glasses, but they doubt whether it would be ad- visable-to give them a preponderating power.

At the close of his speech, Lord Derby denied that.he had entered into any alliance with the Roman Catholics, but he was happy "to say that with regard to the great body of the intelligent Roman •Catholics of this country I have for some time past observed a growing tendency to alienate themselves from the so-called Liberal party, and to unite them- selves with those who are their natural allies, the Conservatives."

"I have Roman Catholic tenants, I lave Roman Catholic labourers in my employment, and I should be ashamed of myself if there could be de-

tected the slightest difference between my treatment of them and that of those of my own persuasion. I go further—I say that I cordially and ear- nestly sympathized and concurred with the endeavours which were made, so much, to his own credit, by my gallant friend General Peel to afford to

our Roman Catholic soldiers greater opportunities than they had previously enjoyed for exercising the rights of their religion. But, gentlemen, I think

I may appeal to the whole course of a somewhat long political life, whether,

though always ready to maintain the principles of entire toleration and re- ligious liberty, I am a man who would ever voluntarily -yield to any of the

encroachments of the Roman Catholic Church as a political body, whether

I would sacrifice one jot or iota of the rights and privileges of that church to which I myself belong, whether I would diminish its means of public

usefulness, or whether I would depreciate it as a great :portion of our.po- litical institutions by lowering its position or lessening its influence in the country. To that church I have always been sincerely. attached ; for that

church I have made many sacrifices ; for that church, even against the opinion of its members, I have introduced measures the value of which has been subsequently acknowledged.; and you may depend upon it that there

are few things dearer to my heart—few principles which I am more deter- mined to uphold—than the maintenance of the dignity, the rights, and the

privileges of the Established Church of these realms, (Cheers.)

The speech of. Lord Malmeshury was mainly on foreign policy, es• pecially on the value of the French alliance. Of the Emperor he said:- " It so happened that it was my fortune in early life to be intimately ac- quainted with that Prince even before he was an exile in this country, and

I assure you that I deeply and completely appreciated, from 'the moment I first knew him -his great qualities and abilities, and there are many now who can bear Witness of :my having constantlyand publicly stated what I thought of those abilities and qualities, when-very few Englishmen had the same opportunity of forming a lodgment on the subject like myself. It will be satisfactory to you, and right for the sake of truth, that, speaking on this occasion of that Prince, I should say that wheneveri had conversa- tions with him on political matters long ago, and since, and even to the last time that I had the honour of any conversation with his Majesty, he has always held the -same oureanee,,axpressing his belief net only t.W it

was the best policy for France itself, but that his earnest personal wish was to maintain a cordial alliance with this country." (Cheers.) He thinks we may have a cordial alliance without always following France.

" It is not to the interest of our alliance with France that we should go hand in hand, arm in arm, foot by foot with her, because if by any chance it should not be seen by the world at any time that we werejoining France in that intimate manner, the suspicion is immediately raised that our cor- dial alliance has ceased. I maintain that the policy of England is entirely different on many points from that of France. The writers in the French press taunt us now with having lost our former power, with being isolated from the other nations of Europe, and taking up the position of a second- rate Power, because we do not interfere with the affairs of Italy. I accept that word isolation in its original sense, from its Latin derivation, and I say that on our geographical isolation frequently depend our isolation from fo- reign politics and our safety also."

Lord Chelmsford came next, with a brief sketch of his own feelings on taking office, and his satisfaction at having earned the approval of a generous public. Then came the turn of Mr. Disraeli. He, too, treated of himself. Begging them to excuse him from attempting to foresee the course which would be adopted by " my eminent successor," he reminded

his hearers how it had been his lot—" the lot of no other man "—to be suddenly and unexpectedly called on to conduct the affairs of the House of Commons ' - how none could be more sensible of his inefficiency than himself; and how he undertook the office because he felt that he should have counsel and advice of their principal guest.

" It was under these circumstances, and with these advantages, that I undertook to conduct the affairs of the Conservative party in the House of Commons now ten years ago. They have been ten years of great difficulty, and permit me to add of great exertion ; but, gentlemen, though I know that, as far as I myself individually am concerned, much may have been done which ought not to have been done and much may have been omitted which ought to have been accomplished, I think I may be allowed, when I con- sider what was the position of the Conservative party, as far as the House of Commons is concerned, ten years ago, to say, whether I look at its numbers, its intelligence, its influence in the country, or its power in debate, its po- sition at this moment need not shrink from any comparison with what it was at that previous period. Therefore I trust that even under my humble

resdance it has not suffered in public estimation or lost in public position. Cheers.) . . . . It has been our wish to put an end to that which I may cribe as 'the monopoly of Liberalism '—(loud cheers)—which in our opinion has exercised a very pernicious influence on the course of public proceedings and on the character of public men. Now, for more than a quarter of a century, by this theory of a monopoly of Liberalism, half the public men in England have been held up as individuals incapable and un- qualified to attempt any measures which might improve the institutions or administration of the country ; while, on the other band, the other half were, in order to sustain this monopoly, perpetually pledging themselves to changes and alterations injudicious in almost every case, and in many utterly impracticable, and when they were in power they expended all their resources in inventing evasions by which they might extricate themselves from the fulfilment of their previous promises. Now, I believe, and all my colleagues believe, that that state of affairs was a principal cause of that in- gneer-ity-iii public life which of late years has so frequently been attributed

` to the conduct of public men ; but I believe that that is now completely ter- minated. I believe we have brought about a healthy state of political parties. Men will now be judged of by the policy which they recommend, and the measures they bring forward, not by traditions, which are generally false—not by promises, which are seldom fulfilled." (Great cheering.) Then followed an enunciation of Mr. Disraeli's favourite doctrine of the necessity for government by party, and for the constant activity of the Conservative party in Parliament. " I say this in vindication of the character of our Parliamentary govern- ment, and in proof of the necessity of political parties, not in the view of differing from the tone adopted and the counsel offered to you today by your distinguished guest, the chief of the Conservative party, under whom I have laboured in terms of confidence and trust which probably were never ex- ceeded before between two public men." It is not Mr. Disraeli's custom to scatter ambiguous voices in the market place ; but he would be blind to the signs of the times, he would be " treating them with haughty negligence" if he did not recognize " the anxiety of a great people." There are moments when the Conservative party must support a Government composed of its rivals. He knew not whether any foreign potentate cherishes designs against England ; but " if there be any foreign Government or foreign potentate who, in the supposed distractions and political dissensions of our form of government, believes that he has found elements on which he may calculate for pursuing with success any scheme of aggressive or of violent ambition, then I can assure that Government and that ruler that they mistake the character and the genius of the English people and the English Constitution. (Prolonged cheering.) And if they count on our dissensions, and on the noble rivalries of our public life as the means for the successful prosecution of those de- signs, they will count on them to their confusion. They will find, if ever the time should come when the independence of this country or the empire of our Sovereign should indeed be menaced, that the Sovereign of these realms rules over a devoted people and a united Parliament.' (Great cheering.) The other speakers were Lord Eglinton, Sir John Pakington, and Lord Stanley. The late Lord-Lieutenant dwelt with emphasis on the vast improvements effected in Ireland ; and on the return of 68 Conser- vatives out of the 105 Irish representatives ; he wished he could say the same of Scotland, and drew comfort from the return of a Tory for Ayrshire. Sir John Pakington glorified the exertions of the late Go- vernment to augment the Navy, and expressed a strong opinion that the decision of the House of Commons against Lord Derby was " factious and unfair," and not sanctioned by the enlightened opinion of the people of the country.

Lord Stanley. spoke of the progress of Conservative feeling, and ex- pressed a sanguine opinion upon our political and financial prospects in India.

It was near midnight when the company broke up, after this long ban- quet on Conservative speeches.