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    assumption of office , we did not , as a party , nor did any individual , acknowledged as a leader of that party , brin ° " forward one single motion in which Protectionist m easures were in t he slightest degree involved . Row then can it he said that we came in upon the principles ofProtection ? I deny it . " Modest W . B . speaks by the card ! He reminds his audience that Lord Derby , though in favour of a small fixed duty on corn , had determined to abide by the verdict of the country : —

    " That verdict has been taken . By the office , if I may call it so , or rather by the situation which I filled so long for that party , I am , alas ! too well acquainted with the lists , majorities and minorities , of the House of C ommons , not to be able , in taking up a list of the Parliament which has just been returned , to perceive that there is a decided majority of members in the Lower House inimical to the feeling and the measure of protection to agriculture . If I differ , as I certainly do , from the wisdom and justice of their views , yet , notwithstanding-, I must acknowledge that I myself , and those ivlio think ivith me , are in a minority ; and I ask , is it wise and prudent , when you see yoa are in that minority , to force forward a question which can but involve those whose interests you wish to the utmost of

    your power and at every risk to uphold ?" These experiences of the man who rose to be Secretary-at-War , from the " office , or rather the situation , " of Tory whipper-in , are at least conclusive . All that he can promise the owners and occupiers of the land , in the shape of Derby ism , is to defend the Monarchy and the Protestant institutions , to show a determined front to Sir James G-raham and the Manchester school , and to resist the encroachments of Lord John Uussell and the—Perth school of democracy , we suppose . A few sentences , in which the vernacular is severely punished , a hurlyburl y of confused tropes in allusion to Sir Robert Peel ' s Currency Acts , those " strong stimulants" to tlie moneyed power , make up the sum of this

    harangue . W . B . is evidently familiar with the subject ; of " strong stimulants . " Mark the splendour and havoc of his peroration . Speaking of the Currency Acts : —¦ " I wish not to injure other men ' s property ; but if strong stimulants are not allowed for flie landed classes , 1 say that they should have been stopped to the moneyed power ( cheers ) . The Government which is now in power will , I trust , in a short time mature those measures ( to which I am not admitted ) which

    may rectify that class legislation , for such I maintain those laws are ( hear ) . They may remedy it , and I trust they will . They may bring forward measures of greater justice to all classes . They may , and I trust they will , bring forward those which will be particularly adapted to the relief of the most distressed portion of the empire ( cheers ) . I trust in the integrity of the head of that Government ; I trust implicitly in tlie talents of many members of it ; but great as those tali'iits may be , I fearlessly and honestly trust in that conscientious belief which a Government called to

    power iu the manner they were , -and assuming office as Ihey did , must feel and will feel , in all that they carry <> "t ( clieors ) . " With W . B . a concluding words we arc not disposed to quarrel , ft is certainly not easy to see how the Tory Ministry will deserve the " gratitude of , tfI dashes" by triumphantly throwing their own party overboard ; but when tlie speaker '• '"sis th ; , | , " if they fail , they will return to their pnviilo stations with characters

    undiniinished' " n'lit . atioMK untarnished — and , above all , with coikScienceH free ! from the infamous remembrance ° l Inlying undertaken offices which they were uu-< iWe to fuliil , tvm \ having given pledges , which I , hoy liavo not redeemed , " wo can . only add , we trust lll ( ' . y may- — 11 » ( , Hooucr the better ; ' and we heartily '"iinncinl | , | , ( . lnsl , words to 1 , 110 memories of their « iill (> rii | ir <' . | i (>| i | , H- 'We do not here notice more P' ^ jiciilaHy Major Hereford ' s second speech , in w j » iHi ho makes ' another desperate ed ' orl , to clear " « elr | V ()| U U , ( , cluu-jru of insulting tlie people , j " »< vnnts his rage at the obloquy mid ( instigation '"< ' lias ivc , mV ( m | from Sir James Graharh and the M'nyhui d hronie / e .

    "' i l , t , he hnro of o / n . agricultural 'Iliad in , wo " mi "" ' : 1 ' »< 'i ' n < 'd to confess , " William , the '"''^( JliirioHUH ' orMiwt . Somerset . " Let Brain" •| ' « boast its W . R . ; Worcester , its R . ushouf , ; VV ; "'Wi ,. | f ) j | H Nowdegato ; Lincoln , its Sibthorp , «'< " ' pin our faith on William Miles , lie is our I"'' I > ' <> l . ee | , ionist , if be will allow us to cleave h . m , " ¦ lo llmr fl >«< - » ' • n <> of 'hose dull and coarse old comedies of olm ) lt or Morton- without regretting that

    Miles should have preferred the political stagft To be sure , his stage is East Somerset , and a finer set of bumpkins never acted up to a provincial " star" than the believers in Miles , who range the fat pastures from Bath to Wells . How shall we attempt to convince our readers , who may have only seen Miles , the heavy armoured , in the House of Commons , that he , too , is a shepherd of his people , and a king of men—in

    Boeotian valleys . In the Commons , Miles has been accepted as a type of the country party ; for , although one of a comparatively recent territorial aristocracy , and not having come over with the IsTorman , he looks and dresses the part to admiration : naive , hearty , frank , and sturdy bonhomie of exterior ; a business-like activity of local usefulness ; an imperviousness to ridicule ; a bold and fearless blundering amid the mazes of statistics , mark the model countv

    member . Miles , too , has been great on " grease , and even had the honour to be impaled by Peel , in a discussion on imported lard—a subject on which the hero of East Somerset was wont to become almost eloquent : car il a du lard , cet homme , as was once maliciously remarked of an actor , more fat than facetious . Well , he has lately been figuring to advantage at a dinner in the sleepy old . cathedral city of Wells—just the city to bury Protection in with all solemnity . In fact , Mr . William Miles qualified as undertaker on the present occasion .

    The entertainment is described as a " Conservative" dinner , whatever that may mean : it was given in honour of Mr . Tudway , " the recently elected member" for Wells , and was attended , it seems , by a very goodly company of local magnates , including the venerable Dean , a host of clergy , " unhappily Protectionists , " as Samuel Oson would say , and a few score of county gentry . The principal performers were

    no less than three members for the county , two from the Eastern , and one from the Western division , A Mr . H . Bernard " occupied the chair . " Let Us pause , for a moment , to remark that the dinner of these men , who came to celebrate the triumph of agricultural distress , comprised " all the delicacies of the season , " including , as we shall see , three converted Protectionists . The " blue banners used at the late

    elections" decorated the walls . " We noticed , " says the local reporter , " Tudway and Independence" What could be more promising ? The Chairman , in proposing Her Majesty ' s Ministers , struck bravely- out on a sea of metaphors , as thus : —¦ " He had no fear that if iu the coming campaign her Majesty ' s Ministers had a fair stage and no favour , they would be able to guide , the vessel of the state through all the troubled seas of political agitation , and at last bring her safely into port . ' "' ( Cheers . ) This is pretty well for a , start , and suggests tlie " stroixr stimulants" of William JJeresford .

    JJufc in rounding oil' the final . sentence , the speaker lost sight of agricultural distress : " Under their guidance , " he had no doubt , " the farmers would continue in a , condition of prosperity . " William Miles responded to this toast , and lost no time in getting fit " our glorious Constitution ; is compared with those of foreign countries , " — -a rather hackneyed subject , to which even the strangest syntax cannot- lend the grace of novelty . Then growing oracular , as ho had a perfect right , to do in such a , company , he dashed oil' in a few rapid strokes al , Lord Derby , the I louse of Lords , and the new Mouse of Commons .

    "They had , there-fore , at , the head of the Government a peer who would not only carry out , as far us lie could , his o / tui principles , hut what , be conceived to be the . principles <>( ' the constitution . ( dicers . ) The Administration , of which Lord Derby was the head , was not , as had been falsely stilted , retrospective ; it was conservative , and progressive . It ill became him lo enter into any speculations respecting the measures of this Adniini . sf ration . It would speak out in its own good time , iiiid enable the country to form a proper judgment of it- ( Cheers . ) With respect , to the House

    of Lords he need scarcely speak ; they hud regularl y nud nobly done their duty , and , for the truth of Unit , they might , looli al their proceedings for the lust ii 5 years , when they would see at , once I hut , although the House of Lords might be slow in taking initiative progressive movements , yet , when the peoplo of this great country spoke their minds upon any great public question , the House of Lords cordially responded to them , and where such measures were calculated for the promot , ion of the public good , il , became an echo to their viowh . Of tho prcacnt iloimo of ( Jonnuona ho could

    only say that , although it contained many men of transcendent abilities , yet it contained men representing every shade of political opinion , and some time must necessarily elapse before a sound judgment could be given on all their political views /' The good Dean acknowledged the Church in a few words , redolent of pigtailsrand Hessians , but unmistakeably sincere . The toast of the evening was , of course , Mr . Tudway ;' but the toa 3 t of the Members , which again called up Mr . Miles , is what we have to deal with now . He thought Lord Derby had a better chance now than four

    months ago , because he would be allowed to promulgate his views . Mr . Miles says nothing of the Duke ' s funeral . Having glanced at Lord John Russell ' s Perth speech , he assured his hearers that they " were as well able to judge on the probable course of events as himself . J 8 ut one thine / was certain , thai there could he no more cry at all iipo 7 i the question of the re-imposition of the corn-laws : that was for ever settled , and , those who zoere oppressed , or toho zoere injured by the weight of taxation , would have to looJc to other measures than the re-imposition of the corn-laws ,

    for justice to be done to them . A . t the same time , he continued—though what necessary simultaneity there is between the abandonment of Protection and the Established Church in Ireland , we fail to perceive— "in the sister country there is a faction , " &c . &c . ; and he went on to denounce the Irish Brigade , by a bold diversion from the grievances of the farmers ; perorating with a second allusion to Lord John Ilussell , in extenuation of that noble Lord's Perth democracy ; for " he had never heard that Lord John Sussell was a democrat . "

    The other two members , Mr . Gore Langton and Mr . I-Cnatchbull , shone as minor constellations , and spake few words . The former promising to be as serviceable as possible " not only to the country at large , but also to the county in particular ; " a strange inversion of the climax : and the latter neophyte—so far as report informs usalmost contenting himself with the Lord Burleiglx business , and " shaking his head" in assent .

    We have been thus particular in describing this county " Conservative" dinner , not only as a fair sample of all similar entertainments , but as a marked specimen of the miserable delusion to which the occupiers have been " sold" by the " owners" of land . " W ^ e have watched the doings in East Somerset , narrowly , since the elections . That whole county is represented exclusively by men who once told the farmers that Lord Derby ' s Government meant Protection . It was for this all-sufficient reason that even some of the

    more intelligent of the farmers scoured the county for Tory votes as for a matter of life and death—for this flint all the scandals of coercion and intimidation we exposed last July , were perpetrated : that surly landlordism leagued its forces .- that stewards swaggered and stormed : that small country surgeons forsook their patients , and went electioneering mad : that obscure betting men , who study" Knff" in retirement , fought for . Derby , whom they worship much as a , certain class of the old Pagan populations worshipped Mercury : that , in a word , all the abominations of last Julv were committed . l or tho farmers , it . was an honest and a hearty contest fought in good faith—fhctj believed in their " friends . "

    Arthur IlaHam Elton , the Libernl-Cionservafive , who had the courage to avow himself in July what Mr . l \ l iles phjiidn guilty to in October ; tho man who refused to delude the simple selfishness of these traditional grumblers ; who told them that Protection never could be , and never ought lo he , restored ; who ( old them that ho was for moving on , noi . standing still , or going back ; he , the country gentleman , who bad I , he heart to bo honest , and the intellect , to be wise , and the soul to be sincere in his professions , was the calumniated and rejected "destructive , " " leagued with revolutionists , " " paid by Manchester , " " a , dangerous innovator . "

    I lktfth *< fc d « fa ¦ * t . t'l . ih .. A- * m _ . kh . t «_ ¦ - _ V * I > , k 1 1 ¦ 1 I ¦ 1 t fl ft II P ™ llf -k l | ) t / h There are some farmers who still say , " wea . ro thrown over , it is true , but we would rat her have our friends in power than our enemies . " Hetfcer , t bat is to say , a , treacherous frit mm I than an open ndversai-y . ' . liiil what right have they to call enemies men who never betrayed them ; men . who always told them thai , the question of Protection was solely and wholly < ' « , <| iieslion of rent between the landlord and the tenant ; and that the occupier of land him nothing to gain by Htnrving his fellow-creatures to make high rents easy to tho owner r Whnt do LUc Jb'tirmor ' s friends saV

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    October 16 , 1852 . ] THE LEADER . 991

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Oct. 16, 1852, page 991, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1956/page/11/