The Cambrian News and Merionethshire Standard

ADDRESS BY MR. STANLEY LEIGHTON, M.P. On Friday evening, November 29, Mr. Stanley Leigh- ton, M.P., gave his annual address to the members and friends of the Oswestry Conservative Association at the Victoria Rooms. There was a large attendance, the room being nearly full. The chair was taken by Mr. Edward Shaw. On the platform were also Mr. Dumville Lees, Woodhill, Mr. J. Clarke, Brookhouse, Mr. W. Fletcher Rogers, Mr. Edward Williams, Mr. Stephen Donne, and Mr. Langford. The CHAIRMAN, who was received with cheers, in open- ing the proceedings, said that many of them were doubt- less aware that that was the third annual meeting of the Oswestry Conservative Association. The object of the Society had been to place before its members from time to time the leading subjects engaging the attention of the political world for instance, such subjects as Disestab- lishment, the County Franchise, and that very stock sub- ject of their friend", the Liberals, Tory extravagance. In the first year of the Society's existence they had several meetings for discussion, but somehow or other during the last year very little had been done. He supposed that they fell back upon their own strength, and troubled themselves very little about it. This year they proposed resuming the discussions. For instance, a member would be asked to read a paper, and then those present would be invited to make comments upon it. It was of very little use for the older members to take much active part in the discussions. Their day had gone by. He could assure them that he would very much ntther sit on the front benches, and be pumped into than be on the platform. What they wanted to do was to try and bring to the front a little of the young blood. There were lots of young Conservatives in Oswestry, and he saw lots tnere before him. They were met with the excuse I'm too nervous." I have not a sufficiently good memory," and so on. These excuses reminded him of when he was a youngster. He recollected that he used to do a little singing in those days and when he was called upon to sing in the social circle his heart used very often to leap up into his mouth. However, he used to make the attempt. The first verse was very badly done, the second was a little better, and by the time he arrived at the third veise his singing so improved that he fancied to himself, if there had been another verse how well he could have done it. (Cheers and laughter.) There was one thing ha must confess, that they, the Con- servatives of Oswestry, were rather short of. They were not as well off as their Liberal friends in speaking power. It was therefore very desirable that they should train some of their younger members for that purpose, so that they might be able, those of them who were artisans, when they were in their workroom, or when they were conversing with their friends, to discuss such subjects as he had enumerated, and to give very good reasons for their Con- aerratisrn, so that instead of being silent Conservatives they might, upon public occasions like the present, be prepared to get up and discuss thoroughly the political topics of the day. They had IM a visit paid them lately which had been construed by some as a very ominous visit. A very distinguished gen- tleman had recently visited that neighbourhood and also M, that town. He (the Chairman) was exceedingly pleased to see him looking so well, for, however much they might differ from the views aud sentiments of Mr. John Bright —(cheers)—it was a name that always inspired respect- ^renewed cheers)—because it was the name of a man who had always been consistent. Some people seemed to think that his recent visit to that neighbourhood had a vast deal of isigniticance in it. They knew very well that the heads of the great Liberal party were consulted on all occasions, and upon every possible subject, from spirit rappiug down to the best way of making a glass of egg flip (laughter) and therefore it was not at all unlikely that it should have been supposed by some that the visit of Mr. Bright might have had something to do with some arrange- ment about the representation of North Shropshire. Well, if the Liberal party had really decided upon Major Barnes as their candidate they (the Conservatives) would all feel that they had a gentleman for their opponent- (hear, hear)—a man who was held by them in very high respect. But they were all satisfied, he thought, with their two present members. In Lord Newport they had a nobleman of high principle and great business capabili- ties-a. man with plenty of work in him—(hear, hear) —and as to their friend, Mr. Stanley Leighton— (loud cheers) they all knew him, and he need, therefore, say very little about him. If they had had Lord Newport in that neighbourhood he durstsay they would make as much use of him as they did of thtir friend, Mr. Leighton. (Hear, hear.) They would re- member that Mr. Leighton was at one time considerably patted en the back by their Liberal friends, and he be- lieved they thought they had about eight parts out of ten of him. (Laughter.) But Mr. Stanley Leighton had always—and they must admire him for it-stuck to his principles. (Cheers.) Although kind and considerate to all parties, he had never swerved one iota from his prin- ciples either during his canvass or since. England at the present time was passing under a wave of depression. There was iao doubt that the great manufac- turing and agricultural districts were in a very bad state. Very little work was going on, and he was afraid they had a very gloomy Christmas before them. Still, with all that depression, there appeared to be plenty of strikes. This was a very extraordinary and unfortunate state of things, and he would counsel Conservative and other working men whenever they possibly could to try and arrange 4itfmmces between them and their employers by arbitra- tion or other means, rather than go on strike. (Cheers.) There was no doubt that a great deal of bad feeling had been engendered in this country by strikes. How- ever triumphant a strike might be at the time, it always ultimately brought distress and ruin in its train. Every- body could see this besides those persons who got their liv- ing by creating agitation. He wished, therefore, in the strongest possible manner, to urge upon working men the importance of settling in an amicable spirit all differences arising between themselves and their employers. We should have no good times in this country—they might take it for granted, until capital and labour were brought together. Whatever people might say to the contrary, their interests were identical. At the present time we were passing through a crisis. Things had reached what he might call an artificial state before the present depres- sion. Prices were high, and there was no reason in any- thing. Three or four years ago the only thing they could do was to give an order, and they never enquired about the price. It was simply, Can you send so many goods by such a time ?" The consequence had been over-produc- tion, which had produced a reaction, and prices had fallen. We were unquestionably passing through a very extraordinary crisis. (Hear, hear.) The agricultural interest was not exempt from it. There was not the slight- est doubt that owing to the importation of foreign pro- duce, particularly from America, agricultural produce was deteriorating very much in value in that locality, but he felt confident that the landlords of this country wou.d come forward as they always had done, and meet their tenants in a fair and friendly spirit. (Cheers.) He had detained them quite long enough, but there was one other subject to which he would for a moment refer. The Afghan war seemed to, be in everybody's mouth at the present time. He had not paid a great deal of attention to it himself until quite recently, but he thought that, judging from the State papers which had just been placed before the country, anybody would see at once that the Afghans must be brought to know that England was still England —(cheers)—and that we were not as they had (ftin been led to suppose, isolated. It was said before the Berlin Treaty that England was isolated. He should like to know in what way we were isolated. Who were the chief movers in the Berlin Treaty? Was it not the Govern- ment of this country? Who were regarded with more honour and respect than our plenipotentiaries? (Cheers.) Let them not believe a word about the isolation of England, although since the Berlin Treaty the assertion had again been brought forward that we had no friends. There was one thing they might depend upon, that as long as the present Government were in power, there would be no isolation of England. (Loud cheers.) He would now call upon Mr. Stanley Leighton to address them. Mr. STANLEY LEIGHTON, who was received with loud and prolonged cheers, said—Mr. Shaw and gentlemen of the Oswestry Constitutional Association, and gentlemen who do not belong to that Association, but who are kind enough this evening to lend us their ears to hear what we have to say for ourselves, and perhaps to give us the benefit of a little kindly criticism, which I say, without any satire, is of the greatest advantage to us all. Gentle- men who belong to the one or to the other class, allow me this evening to make no distinction in my address, but to address you all as gentlemen of Oswestry. (Cheers.) I will endeavour, in the remarks which I have to make to you, if possible, not to try your patience intolerably, but, gentlemen, you know that the doors will not be bolted, and so when your patience is exhausted you will be able to leave your seats, and to leave me empty benches, which I have no deubt will give me a most uninterrupted hearing. (Cheers and laughter.) At least, gentlemen, that privilege will apply to all who are in the body of the Hall. I am afraid that those who have been kind enough to give me the countenance of their support on the platform will feel that good manners will make it necessary for them to hear me out to the end. (Laughter.) The hon. gentleman, in continuing, said that their Constitutional Association of Oswestry belonged to an aggregation of similar societies which extended all over the country. Their home was local, but their aspirations were national. The bond of their union was such that personal and local individualities were encouraged rather than discountenanced. Their fellowship was based upon a community of feeling, and not upon an unconditional sur- render of the right of private judgment. They held fast by a general agreement of sentiment, while they admitted the necessity and indeed the propriety of immense varieties of opinion. (Cheers.) In many a hard fought fight the English people had won their claim to religious and political and personal freedom. It would indeed be a melancholy spectacle to see them in their days of full- blown liberty forge for themselves new chains under the pretence of party-organizations, so framed as to prevent them from exercising an unfettered judgment in all things. (Loud cheers.) Thankful was he that that Association, of which he had the honour to be an officer, had in its code of rules no principle of such a character. Those Consti- tutional Associations had their origin, like their volunteer army in defence and not in aggression. They were insti- tuted in th" very name of liberty to safeguard a Constitu- tion which they valued above all price. (Cheers.) They were greatly extended, after Lord Beaconsfield succeeded in passing the last Reform Bill, which enlarged to so great a degree the privilege of voting, and they were intended as one among other methods of giving an opportunity to the most humble elector in the increased constituencies of taking some part and exercising some influence in the re- presentation. (Cheers). It had never escaped the observa- tion of the thoughtful that there was a tendency in popular and democratic institutions full of danger to their successful working. It was the danger of over-organiza- tion, of drilling and regulating to such an extent that the individual was absolutely absorbed in the system. De Tocqueville long ago had pointed out this peril to the democracy of America. He had foretold that it would result in a dead level among public men. Intelligent Americans were at that moment deploring the fulfilment of his prophecy, and complained that public life in their country did not show its due proportion of originality, ability, and high-mindedness. In the self-governing colonies of England there was an inclination towards the same state. Akin to the unfortunate creation of a dead level in representation, and the consequent loss of public haracter in public men, was the evil habit of dividing Lliticians into distinct and irreconcilable parties. In Mice the Legitimist and the Imperialist and the Re- pn^jican would hold no converse together. To a limited ex jit similar bitter divisions separated American ^eE>crats from American Republicans. That injurious oieth, Gf conducting the public affairs of a country ertheless certain specious advantages from a purely party 0f view. It made the leader of the P.arty, » the moment predominant, almost a dictator, sn tf nthe same time made him rather its delegated rWn,v^rthan the personal expres sion of the voice of wstem di.1 and so ifc unfortunately happened that the those whoseot Ineet with its fullest condemnation from fled throucV^uence> a^ready great, seemed to be magni- them whethv> operation. (Cheers.) He would ask ^;HVi--it. hey in England were perfectly free from those c Swhich he had ventured to make on the working of popular institutions abroad ? Might not a candid foreigner suggest that if we had not reached the dead level yet we seemed sometimes to be dangerously near it, and justify his remark by pointing to the number of distinguished public men on both sides who had been driven from one seat to another, and by reason of their eminence had had oftenest to fight for their political existence. Lord Beaconsfield had been engaged in seven contested elections Mr. Gladstone in quite as many. It had been said that if the University of London had not been specially made for Mr. Lowe he would have had to submit to political ostracism. Sir Cornewall Lewis, Lord Palmerston, the late Sir Robert Peel, Mr. Bright, and the late Mr. John Stuart Mill, were each of them examples of the same thing. But as they well knew, each of them, with the exception of Mr. Mill, had eventually weathered the storm, and was proof that, if difficult, it was not impossible for such men hitherto to hold their own in England. (Loud cheery). But a new development of one-sided organisation had lately been announced by the extreme section of that party which professed to be forward in maintaining popular doctrines. That new development was known by the name of the Birmingham caucus system, because in Birmingham it had been enforced in its utmost rigour. But it had received encouragement in certain very high quarters elsewhere, and as he believed it threatened, if in itself successful, or if initiated by themselves, the very existence of popular institutions, he should take that opportunity of saying what he thought of it. (Hear, hear.) He would briefly describe the mode of procedure under it. Certain managers in London, who did not appear before the public, settled upon a political pro- gramme certain local managers who were selected on the strictest party lines, then constituted themselves into a bqard of examiners, and the gentlemen who desired to be candidates were ordered to send in their names to them. and their qualifications. The examination certainly de- manded neither much preparation nor intelligence, because an absolute acquiescence in the test questions was the first thing required-any hesitation or suspicion of hesita- tion on that point was fatal. The preliminary exam- ination over, the irresponsible caucus, with closed doors, proceeded to decide upon the candidate for the constituency. No one was to be al- lowed hereafter, where that system was in force, to ap- pear before the electors until he had passed through that humiliating ordeal. Having first abandoned his private judgment, in other words, his mind, to the caucus, the un- fortunate candidate would then be ordered to efface his own personality and to present himself before the world, not as a man face to face with men, but as the reflection of the caucus. Such was the system which was being proclaimed far and wide over England, and they could not take up a newspaper without reading that the Liberal "five hundred" here, or the Liberal "three hundred there, had nominated, and intended in due course to bring to light, some Mr. Tom Noddy as a member of Parliament. If such a system were to succeed it would disfranchise the popular con- stituencies lately enfranchised, it would reduce them to the status of the nomination boroughs of old time, it would turn representatives into delegates, and the House of Commons itself into a Court of Record. (Cheers.) Such he believed to be a faithful description of the Bir mingham system. He would call to their minds the effect of its actual operation. They knew that the right lion. W. E. Forster was one of the members for Bradford; they knew that he had been a Cabinet Minister, and that he was a leader of the Liberal party. A branch of the Birmingham caucus having constituted itself as an authority in Bradford, speaking through the mouth of a Mr. Illingworth, of whom nobody had ever heard, summoned MrForster before them, and desired him to promise that he would not again seek re-election for his native town, which he bad continuously represented for eighteen years, until he had first submitted himself to the chance of being nominated by Mr. Illingworth and his caucus. Mr. Forster, according to their programme was no longer to represent whatever was intellectual and independent and of good report in Brad- ford, he was in future to represent nothing but Mr. Illingworth and his associated political midwives. (Laughter.) Such was the indignity sought to be imposed upon one of its leaders by the tail of the party which he led. The character of their public men, on whichever side the House they sat, was dear to Englishmen, and insults of- fered to them were injurious to and should be resented by their countrymen. (Loud cheers.) Mr. Forsterhad resisted the proposal. It would be seen hereafter with what success. But if thus it was for the future to fare with the great men, what means of existence could the little men hope for, except- ing under terms of slavish submission. (Cheers.) It was a matter of deep satisfaction to him that he belonged to a party, and that he was a member of an association, whose free English soirit prompted them to depend upon men, and to abhor tests. (Cheers.) He should like to point out to them, by the narration of a personal incident, how violent was the rancour which party spirit awakened, and how much it required to be kept within bounds. It was a trivial incident which he was going to relate, and one which only affected manners, but they would recollect the proverb, manners maketh man," and manners were the proverb, manners maketh man," and manners were n sometimes a surer index to the feelings than speeches or votes. It happened in the House of Commons under his own observation. They knew, perhaps, that in the House of Commons there were many more members than seats, so that in a crowded house a number of members were obliged to stand. In consequence of this circumstance a privilege had grown up which attached to a few particular members, and to them was granted by the courtesy of their colleagues a right to special seats, which any one who happened to occupy instantly vacated on the appearance of the privileged member. Mr. Henley, while he was in the House, Mr. Spencer Walpole, Mr. Newdegate, Mr. Fawcett, and Mr. Roebuck, were the privileged members. In the frequently recurring discussions on the foreign policy during the last session, many of the Liberals held aloof, but some, thinking it inconsistent with their duty to be either absent or silent, used to deprecate the course pursued by their own party. Amongst those who declined to take a silent part was an old man whose presence in the House for nearly half a century had given him the privilege of a particular seat. No sooner, however, had he made a speech in condemna- tion of some motion proceeding from his own side the House than that privilege of years was disregarded. It. was Roebuck who was the victim of that discourtesy per- petrated in the presence of the whole House, and they witnessed the unedifying spectacle of a man well stricken in years, and dark of sight, almost feeling his way about a crowded House, refused, amidst indignant cries of shame," his right to his accustomed seat, and at last finding a refuge by some one, on the opposite side to his own, rising and making way for him. He related that anecdote because it indicated how high political rancour could rise, when it induced gentlemen to do an ungentle- manly act, and they could understand how fatal a blow was aimed at the individual responsibility of the repre- sentatives of the people when the excuse publicly made for it was that no one had a right to utter a Ministerial speech from an Opposition bench. (Cheers.) Was it not enough that ithe House of Commons was necessarily rather sharply divided between the two parties ? Was it absolutely a necessity that the whole country should be drilled into two opposing armies, mo ving at the word of command? Politician as he was himself, and pleased as he was to find an interest in politics more and more diffused, still he did not hesitate to say that it was a happy thing for England that all her sons were not, strictly speaking, party men. They owed something to the non-combatants. They softened their differences. That blending of sympathies between men who did not always act together gave solidity and consistency to the national policy. (Loud cheers.) And indeed it was only by casting a calm retrospect over the Government of England during the last half-dozen minis- tries that they could understand how steady had been its administration how free from sudden change and con- vulsion. The same charge had been over and over again brought by each side against the other. Each had been accused of doing in office exactly what their predecessors intended to have done if they had remained in office. A Liberal Opposition enabled'the Conservative Government of the late Sir Robert Peel to carry out its fiscal policy. The Liberal Ministry of Lord Palmerston was kept in office by the acquiescent good will of the Conservatives. And the reason was not difficult to trace. Every Ministry had hitherto endeavoured to adapt its administration, not so much to the extreme views of its own partizans as to the sober judgment of the whole country. (Loud cheers.) That consistency, or rather he should say that nationality of England's policy had never he believed been exempli- fied in a more remarkable degree than during the last three years in the crisis of the Turkish, Russian, and Indian affairs. (Cheers.) Never, he believed, had there been a truer unity of purpose amongst Englishmen of very opposite schools of thought a unity infinitely greater than they might suppose to exist, if they only listened to the brilliant speech and the biting epigram which the most conspicuous of the political combatants supplied for the amusement of the great ring of spectators, who ap- plauded a well-aimed thrust with the same zest with which they cheered a scientific party. (Cheers and laughter.) But some of them in that roam were watching every move in the stupendous Eastern struggle, with a sense of in- tense responsibility. (Cheers). Let them try for a moment to shut their ears to the din of the wordy battle which sur- rounded them; let them look at the facts in the face and take no heed of the politicians. (Cheers). It was no new trouble which was agitating the East and the West, nor had it come suddenly and without warning upon the men of that generation. Its bearings and its merits were not to be gauged by a reference merely to the speeches and the acts of the last two years. (Hear, hear). For more than a century Russia had been advancing upon Constanti- nople. Peter the Great captured Asoph from the Turks, and the advance of Russia had never ceased since his time. The Turkish territories in old days lay far to the north of the Euxine, right in the very heart of Russia, as she then was, and were watered by the great rivers which fell into that sea. The plan of the Russians was to advance from river to river, and at the end of every war to make the last the boundary of their dominions, securing all that lay behind it. Thus the Empress Catherine made the Dneiper her frontier and built a naval arsenal at Cherson, and on the western gate of the city she carved the words This is the road to Constantinople." Those best ac- quainted with Russian schemes of ambition knew well enough that Russia regarded Constantinople not so much as a means of making her a Mediterranean or European power as of developing her influence in Asia. (Hear, hear.) When he was in the East ten years ago, he read a series of letters published in the Moscow Gazette. Those letters explained with such remarkable plainness the purposes of Russia, that he had made extracts from them, and he thought that they might be interested in hearing some of them read. The Moscow Gazette was the semi-official organ of the Russian Government, and the letters were signed by a very weil-known and highly-trusted servant of the Government, General Fadeyef. They were therefore of the very highest authority. He believed they contained in the shortest possible compass a most complete and authentic account of Russian intentions. He had often thought that a too inconsiderate judgment had been passed in England on the truthfulness of the Russians. For his part, he never could believe that all Russians were liars, for never had a people acted more openly or written more plainly. (Laughter and cheers.) The first extract would explain what Russia's position was during the Crimean war During the Crimean war when universal attention was exclusively directed to Sebastopol, the iRussian Government maintained in the Caucasus an army of 250,000 men; when the whole Crimean army fell short of the number of the allies, she did not think of withdrawing one soldier from Asia, but even constantly increased their number. National honour and influence were alone at stake at Sebastopol. In the Caucasus, however, the issue at stake was nothing more nor less than existence. In 1855 if the allies had detached from this force of 200,000 men idly stationed on the ruins of Sebastopol, a small body to co-operate with Omar Pasha in Circassia, the result of the war would not have been subject to a moment's doubt. The Russians could not concentrate their forces and the Caucasus would have been irretrievably lost to Russia. Why the allies did not send reinforcements to Omar Pasha is now well known. England wished in the spring to transfer military operations to the Caucasus. France, however, having effected the purpose she had in view, determined to end the struggle and conclude peace. To this circumstance alone is Russia indebted for the preservation of the Caucasus." General Fadeyef having thus pointed out the paramount importance which Russia attached to the maintenance of an army of 250,000 men on the frontiers of Asiatic Turkey, he next described the area marked out for its future opera- tions. The immediate strategic theatre of the army of the Cau- casus accessible to its utmost limits in time of war extojidp along the whole Western half of the Asiatic continent to the Bosphorus, to the Isthmus of uez, to the Persian Gulf, and to the Himalayas. Of course the Russian supremacy in the Caspian will only be secured when all political rivalry in Persia is overcome, and when that country has become so subject to Russian influence that there will be no difference between Persian and Russian coasts. Within the limits of the ancient realm of Jenghis Khan, that is to say throughout the whole of Asiatic Turkey, Persia, Turkestan, Afghanistan, and Northern China, no European in- fluence which might eventually be converted into actual domina- tion should be suffered to exist. The very foundation of Russian policy is to admit of no arbi- trary limits being assigned to her extension in the East." Thus would the Muscovite monopolize the Asiatic, continent. And such was the notice he had given to i England and the world. (Hear, hear.) And yet there was no wildness in those candid statements; the General knew exactly what he was writing about, and did not over- state the programme of his Government. Letthemlisteiii to the next extract, which was the anticipation of a since accomplished fact- The possession of the Caucasus secures Russia from a direct attempt from Europe, but she may be outflanked by a move- ment from Persi:t, Bokhara, and Khiva." Since those words were written Khiva had been annexed, Bokhara had been reduced, and Persia was the head quarters at that very moment of a diplomatic intrigue. ( He should only read one more extract, which disclosed the methods of Russian diplomacy in the East with a plainness of speech and a disregard for the hypocrisy of what people called keeping up appearances, which would have done credit to Machiavelli himself. It is altogether impossible to preserve by diplomatic means the balance of European influence over Eastern Governments, who set: their policy to the highest bidder. In order to produce an impression, it is necessary to stand over them with a drawn sword or a bag of gold. The matter resolves itself into a ques- tion of protectorate by one powerful European State or another, and admits of no other issue." He had preferred to use Russian quotations to explain his own belief with regard to Russia's intentions in the East, because he wished to place on record before them his own ideasof Russian truthfulness. (Laughter and cheers.) All the ti.ne during which the policy described in those extracts had been perse veringly pursued. Turkey had been growing weaker and weaker. At one moment the argument from the drawn sword was applied to her, at another the argu- ment from the bag of gold; till at length a Russian army crossed the Pruth, and a Russian army advanced upon Kars, and Turkey in Europe and Turkey in Asia, for the tenth time were invaded. (Hear, hear.) By some in England, but not by many, the disinterestedness of Russia in putting two huge armies into the field was instantly applauded. To such persons it appeared quite clear that the subject populations, the Mohammedans, and the Christians, were all safe in her guardianship, and they kept on assuring their countrymen that, as soon as the necessary reforms were accomplished, Russia would retire from the scene with the well-earned gratitude, and with the thanks of Europe. To such simple-minded men only had the treaty of San Stefano been amatter of surprise. Some of them, since they had learnt the terms of the treaty, had not ceased to rub their green spectacles; others had re- moved them altogether, preferring to see things as best they could with their own English eyes; whilst a few amongst them, who were afflicted with total blindness, had incessantly endeavoured to conceal their want of vision from their neighbours by shouting at the top of their voices into their ears all sorts of things which had never happened. (Laughter and cheers). But there were others amongst them, who were the Gallios of their days, who cared for none of those things, who thought that Constantinople might fall into Russian hands without injurious consequences to the world and to England. Those men were willing to admit that much which Turkey had done was wrong, and that much that Russia had done was very wrong indeed, but that England's duty in the matter was merely to read moral lectures to all who ap- peared to be in need of them prefacing the lectures with a notice that in no case would her arguments be sup- ported by force of arms. Lord Derby and, perhaps, Mr. Bright, were the most distinguished examples of that class of statesmen. Their policy was to his mind perfectly intelligible, nor was it without a certain cold grandeur and a certain basis of shrewd com- mon sense. Its exact limits and consequences were never definitely put before the country. It was a policy as distinct as possibly could be from the interter- ing fussiness which would meddle and threaten, and yet shrank from an undivided responsibility and was always waiting to see what others would do, but it had few sup- porters in England. Next he would take upon himself to say what he thought the great majority of Englishmen, as represented in Parliament, as represented in the intel- lectual world, as represented in the mercantile world, as represented by the public opinion of the Civil Service of India, as represented by the people in their multitudinous gatherings throughout the country, had consistently thought from the beginning to the present stage of the crisis. They had thought first that the wellbeing of the Christian populations, of the Mohammedan people of Europe and of Asia, coincided in preventing Russia from realising her old scheme of conquest, and that for such an object, war was jiistifiable-(cheers)-and .1 secondly they thought that whether they stood alone, or were backed by the armed hosts of Austria and France, it was our duty to use arguments, and if necessary to use the supreme argument of the sword, for the sake of enfranchising the subject populations of the East, of consolidating together those whose affinities of race and religion made them fit to be united,for the sake of maintaining the reformation of Turkey for the sake of preserving the integrity of their communi. cations with India, and guarding against all future menace to their North-Western frontier; for the sake of crea ing a strong and, with its new strength, a well-governed Asia Minor. (Loud cheering.) For such a cause they had already drawn the sword (loud cheers) English blood had already been spilt for one of the causes he had named and he believed that no Ministry, by whatever name its chief might be known amongst them, was possible in England, that would evade the responsibilities or escape from the conse- quences which that inevitable war entailed. (Loud cheers). He had given them as well as he could some of the reasons which made him believe that there was greater unanimity in England than was sometimes supposed with regard to to the policy in which the country was definitely em- barked. He had described to them something of what was conveyed by the terms representation and misrepresenta- tion. He had endeavoured to speak without exaggeration. The tone of exaggeration common amongst them was bad, but it lost some of its evil consequences if they could dis- count it-if they were able to deduct mentally a certain something from the epithets and glowing periods of those whose "too impetuous wrath transports them thus beyond the bounds of reason." They must endeavour to gain for themselves, and to encourage in others, the difficult habit of forming a sober, a fearless, and an independent judg- ment. (Loud cheers.) Mr. WHITFIED said he had been suddenly asked by Mr. Martin, the Secretary of the Association-and he con- sented with a great deal of pleasure-to move a vote of thanks to their worthy friend and representative for the very interesting and instructive address he had delivered that evening. (Cheers.) The silence which prevailed in the room during its delivery proved how great was the interest it excited. He had, therefore, very great pleasure in moving a vote of thanks to Mr. Stanley Leighton. Mr. PENNINGTON seconded the vote of thanks, which was carried by acclamation. Mr. STANLEY LEIGHTON, in responding, said—Mr. Chairman and gentlemen, accept my thanks for your kindness in acknowledging the little speech I have made. I hope I have not tired you. These subjects, although so full of interest, are not always subjects which can be spoken of in anything like a sensational tone. I have tried to avoid that. I do believe that it is most necessary that one and all of us should take an interest in present politics, and a dispassionate view of the great public questions of the day. I can only say that in any way in which I can assist you and others, either as your neighbour at Sweeney or your representative for North Shropshire, I am always willing to be at your com- mand and service. (Cheers.) Mr. FLETCHER ROGERS proposed, and Mr. DUMVILLE LEES seconded, a vote thanks to the Chairman, which was heartily and unanimously adopted. The CHAIRMAN said he thanked them for their kind ex- pression of feeling towards himself. He was very pleased to see so large a gathering of Conservatives there, and also a sprinkling of their Liberal friends—(cheers)—and he hoped they would seriously lay to heart what Mr. Stanley Leighton had stated that evening, so that it would have a beneficial effect upon them. (Cheers and laughter.)