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POLITICAL FOKESHADOWrtfGS . At the great Conservative demonstration on Saturday at Liverpool , more than 600 guests dined _ together , exclusive of spectators of the feast , ,-liie heads of the party were almost all present , including the Earls of Derby , Malmesbury , Eglintoun , Hardwicke and Wilton , the Marquis of Salisbury , Lord Chelmsford * Lord Bavensworth , Lord Kmgsdown , the Bight Hon . B . Disraeli , M . P ., Lord Stanley , M . P ., Lord John Manners , M . P ., the ** 8 ™ **™' Joseph Napier , Lord Skelmersdale , Sir John Pakington , Bart ., M . P ., Sir Hugh Cairns , M . P ., S ^ StafFord Northcote , M . P ., Hon . A Egertqn , M . P ., Sir W . H . GJolliffeBart . M . P . T . B . Horsfall , Esq ., M P ,
. , , Hon . F . Lygon , M . P ., and many other : notabilities . An address was presented to Lord Derby from the citizens of Liverpool , and in the course of the evening the Earl said :- " I have watched with the delpest anxiety , and I have seen with the highest gratification , the gradual progressive improvement in strength , in unity , and in everything which constitutes the political power of the Conservative party for the last fourteen years . I wish to speak in no terms indicative of anything but the highest respect for the distinguished genius , and for the per * of that statesmawho
sonal character great n , m England has lately had to lamentr—the late Sir Robert Peel . But , gentlemen , I am not saying anything disrespectful to the memory of a statesmanwwith ¦ whom I had the honour of many years of personal friendship , and , I believe , reciprocal esteem , if I say that the course which , at the close of 1845 , was taken by the late Sir Bobert Peel , completely and for the moment , shattered the Conservative party in this country . I am now able to state a fact which I believe is not known to half-a-dozen individuals in this country . Upon the failure of
Lord John Russell ' s endeavour to form a government , I wrote confidentially to the most eminent man of the country—to the late Duke of Wellingtonto consultTsiim as to the position of the Conservative party , and the best means of restoring that union -which had been so lamentably dissevered . I received a long letter from the Duke of Wellington—which . I need hardly say that I have kept , and deeply value —in which he explained tome his own positionjand in which he stated that , having accepted ( under the abortive attempt of Lord John Bussell to form a government ) the duties of the neutral position of Gommander-in-Chief of her Majesty ' s forces , he considered that he had for ever broken off his political
connexion with any party . He intimated his concurrence in the opinion which I had ventured to express , that the alienation of the Conservative party from Sir Bobert Peel was not a mere ternpo ^ rary feeling , but that it was impossible that lie should ever again place himself at their head with a prospect of success ; and the DuUe of Wellington , I will not say entreated , but I will say he exhorted me , as a matter of duty to my sovereign and to my country , to assume at once the leadership of that great Conservative party , whose existence , and whose power he deemed to be essential to the "wellbeing of the country and all its institutions , and lie almost implored me , if her Majesty should at any to form administra
time command me to attempt an - tion , not to be discouraged by any difficulties , except those which should absolutely be insuperable , but to sacrifice all other feelings to the desire of serving my sovereign . . ^ Gentlemen , for fourteen years I have endeavoured to act in the spirit of that wise and patriotic advice , coming from that eminent man , and I have been rewarded by seeing the Conservative party , not only in Parliament , increasing in numbers and in uriion , but spreading their'root ? deeply into the feelings and the heart of the country , rind forming , as our opponents are compelled to acknowledge and declare—and in doing so their fears rather magnify the position—that wo are actually at this moment at the head of a parliamentary majority . You will perhaps ask me what is the use which I desire to make of that greatly increased all but
parliamentary strength , and that majority in the House of Commons . I ' erhaps , gentlemen , I shall disappoint the expectations and the desires of some of tho more enthusiastic , and probably of nu » st of the 3 'ounger members of this assembly , when I say that I have no desire for tho immediate overthrow of the present administration . There arc considerations higher than those of party , only so considered —there aro considerations of that whioh ia for the public advantage , for tho advantage of the sovereign , \ , fov the strength of tho country in the eyea of foreign nations , and for the strength of Parliament ! , and the respect due to Parliament in thjs country . All these considerations miljuate against <* succession of ephemeral governments acquiring office by n , bare possible majority , liable ftt ^ Any moment to bo displaced by the caprice of florae few- dozen votes in the House of Commons ,
The present Government have difficulties to contend with , in the position of what is called the Italian question , in -which I hope and trust they will be steady in their purpose not to entangle themselves in the negotiations of any congress ^ They have difficulties in China ; they have difficulties upon the coast of Africa , seriously threatening us , unless a decided tone be taken , and unless this country is disposed to maintain rights which are absolutely essential to our welfare . They are threatened with difficulties in the North Pacific , where our Transatlantic brethren , if I may use the familiar expression , appear to be " trying it on . " They are threatened with difficulties in various quarters , but
they are not difficulties which may not be surmounted by a mixture of firmness , of good temper , but at the same time of a determination to maintain the rights and the honour of this country . They have , on the other hand , great advantages in their favour ; 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 have the consciousness that within the last—I will not say how many —but within the last certain number of rnonths , the military and the naval resources of this country have been greatly improved ; that if the national defences are not altogether what we desire them to
Gentlemen , permit me to say that upon this subject the eulogiums which have been passed upon me on the one side , and the calumnies— -for they are little Jess—with which I have been assailed upon the other , are equally void of foundation . He then , stated the facts of the murder on his Doon estate and added I have never condescended before to reply to any of the anonymous attacks which have been made upon me , and I shall never condescend to reply to any of them again . I have stated to you these plain facts , and I say this , that in my judgment it ia
the duty of a landlord , if he has reason to believe that the people on his property are conniving at the suppression of evidence and the concealment of facts with regard to a brutal murder , not , as has been said , to punish the innocent for the guilty , to pass sentence upon men who have not been found guilty—but I say it , is the duty of a landlord to say , * You and I—you standing under a grave suspicion , and I being responsible for the interest and happi- ' ness of the district—you and I shall not hereafter stand in the relation of landlord ahd tenant . "
On the subject of the entente cordiale , Lord Malmesbtjby said :- —It so happened that it was my fortune in early life , and even before he was an exile in this country , to be . intimately acquainted with Louis Napoleon ; and I assure you that I really , deeply , and completely appreciated , from the moment I first knew him , his great qualities and abilities ; and there are men now w'ho can bear witness to my having publicly and constantly stated what I do here of those abilities and qualities when very few Englishmen were acquainted with or had an opportunity , like myself of judging . of them . And it will be a satisfaction to you to hear what it is right , for the sake of truth , I should
be , that our great fortifications of Gibraltar and of Malta have received from the labours of the late Government an amount of reinforcement which has placed them in a far better position of defence than they had been in for the last twenty years , and they know that they preside over the destinies of a country , the population of which are keenly alive to the necessity of maintaining the national protection in which the military ardour has been again awakened ; in which private and personal efforts will not be spared for the vindication of their country s honour . Above all , gentlemen , the present Government have this great advantage over their predecessors , that they will riot have to contend
say , that whenever I had any conversation with the prince upon political matters , long ago , and since , and even the very last time I had the honour of any communication with his Majesty , . he always held the same language , and always expressed his belief that it is not only the best policy of France itself , but his earnest personal wish to maintain a cordial alliance with this land . That is a fact which ought to be pondered upon by the statesmen of this country . The Bight Hon . B . Disraeli , like Lord Derby , congratulated their followers upon their strength and importance , which he said had been steadily increasing during the ten years that he had been the Conservative leaderin the Commons . Referring to the
with an opposition which will descend to any factious combinations from men of opposing principles for the purpose of ejecting them from office , without respect to the consideration of the honour of the country , or the probability of their being enabled permanently to maintain their position . It may be that the present Government may fall by their own internal dissensions—but among the members of the Government , and among those who support them , there-are men who in their hearts are as sincerely Conservative as those whom I have the honour to address—there are others who most unwillingly follow a power which they feel to be too strong for them ; and there is another party ,
theory that to one party is confined all liberality in politics , he said : —It has been our wish to put an end to that which I may describe as the monopoly of liberalism which , in our opinion , has exercised a very pernicious influence upon the course of public proceedings , and upon the character of public men . Now for more than a quarter of a century , by this theory of a nionoply of liberalism , one half the public men of England have been held up as individuals who -were incapable and unqualified for attempting any measure which might improve the institutions or the administration of the country ; halfin order to
I verily believe , who are the loudest in clamouring for those measures , and setting themselves at the head of that motion which they feel themselves unable to resist , but who would deeply and sincerely deprecate the very success of their own schemes of legislation . On the question of reform , his lordship said—I am not jealous , the Conservatives are not jealous of the interest of the lower and of the working classes . I desire to see their interests fully and fairly represented ; but I confess to "you , if I look to the revelations of Gloucester and Wakefield , and of other places , I doubt whether any great extension of the constituency would not tend largely to extend that corruption , which is the bane of our electoral which
while , on the other hand , the other , sustain this monopoly , were perpetually pledging themselves to changes and alterations , injudicious almost in every case . in many utterly impracticable ; and who , when they were in power , expended all their resources in inventing evasions by which they might extricate themselves from their previous pledges . Now , I believe , and I am sure that all my colleagues believe , that that state of affairs was the principal cause of that insincerity in public me which has of late years been so frequently attributed to the conduct of public men ; but that X bo Ueve has now completely terminated . I believe that we
system . And if I look to the manner in even the most intelligent of the workmen in some of the labouring classes have been misled by false and delusive advisers , I think it is at least a subject for serious consideration how far , in the interest of those classes themselves , it would be desirable to give a preponderating power to the voices of those largely numerically superior who , pursuing what they vainly believe to be their own interests , would , in point of fact , if legislation depended upon their voices , probably introduce measures which would be absolutely suicidal and fatal to their own interests . A reform bill , however , if introduced by the present Government , shall meet with no factious Conservative opposition . After denying the alleged corrupt compact between the late Government and the Catholics ,
have brought about a healthy state of political parties . Men will now be decided upon by the policy which they recommend and tho measures wliioli they bring forward , not by traditions which uro gonerally falset not by promises which arc seldom miniiea . I maintain that it ia an error , a pornicious error , to associate the existence in England of great parliamentary parties solely vith thc . oxistcnco of groat political questions . Groat political questions should bo wrc , ana which salutarya
and nlso the statement that his party had offered certain concessions to some LiberaL ' rocnibers on tho reform question , his lordship added—Whabyou have to do is to determine that there shall bo a Conservative government in this country , and to act upon that principle in such a manner as , by your own endeavours and by your own exertions , to render that possiblo which , without those exertions and without those efforts , will be wholly hopeless—tho permanence of Conservative principles in the government of this country . Later in the evening Lord Dioiuiy took tho oppor-q tunlty of making a , statement on the subject of the evictions of his Irish tenantry . Ho said i— "I have been charged as a general exterminator , as an oppressor of the people , and as a tyrant landlord , because I have used every moans In my powor to bring to justice tho authors of a vile and brutal murder .
will bo rare , in communities enjoy so political state as , on tho whole , , England has so long enjoyed . The duties of an opposition are not Wflo confined to emergencies ; there aro duties wiucn ought to be constantly fulfilled ; . tlioro aro duties of vigilance and of criticism , On one of tno most interesting topics of tho "day tho right J on . gentleman remarked :-- ! havo over boon tho supportor of a poacoful polioy . I have ever bollovoa that peace might bo maintained with a good » ncior wit nines
standing u our , anu man «« " ,, i inns upon their conduct not in a suspicious or «» 8 * ° » spirit , but that wo should give to their conduct , ana allow to their proceedings , a IHir nnd ovon u tfoneroua interpretation . J should , indood , bo blind to to signs of the timos , I should be insensible- to tno feelings that are universally expressed , i bIiouiu «« treating it with , I think , a haughty nogligonoo , I J did not recognise what js tho nnxloty oi n groat people . I know not whether it bo true or not tnat
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1216 THE LEADER . [ No . 502 . Nov . 5 , 1859 .
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Nov. 5, 1859, page 1216, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2319/page/4/
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