There is nothing of material interest to bring to your attention this
week. The mob and riots at Belfast are merely one of many proofs how
little progress has been really made in harmonizing the religious and
political dissensions in Ireland. Amidst the many speculations which
appear in the public journals concerning the causes of the great
emigration to America, I do not recqllect to have seen any reference to
the fact that the Irish Catholic is scarcely regarded as having any
rights which his English brother is not tempted to violate on the
smallest provocation. It is a curious circumstance attending this state
of things, that the very individuals subjected to this species of
persecution at home are the most apt, when transferred to the United
States, to become persecutors of another kind themselves. Thus it is
that the spirit of mobbing and riot which grows out of injustice on this
side of the water is transplanted soon to bear its fruits in the purer
atmosphere on the other.
I transmit herewith a copy of the London Times, containing a report.of
the speech of Lord Palmerston to his constituents at Tiverton. You will
not fail to notice his allusion to the affairs of America, and,
especially, to his expectation of the restoration of peace in a
particular way.
The public expectation of great results from the expedition of General
Early into Maryland and Pennsylvania, which had been raised so far as to
believe the capture of even Pittsburg likely, has once more collapsed,
almost as suddenly as it did last year after the battle of Gettysburg.
The only uneasiness it caused me was the possibility that General Grant
might be diverted from his object for a time. This object having failed,
the question of the end of the struggle is simply dependent on the
perseverance of the people of the Union. This is the point to be
determined at the approaching election. How strong the hopes of those
sympathizing with the rebels in this kingdom are of a voluntary
surrender of the principles involved, including even that of
emancipation, nobody can fail to perceive. One writer has at last got
courage enough to declare what I have always believed to be the general
sentiment, that he has no preferences between the parties. He only
trusts that the snake may be at last cut in two, so that the power of
each to do mischief may be proportionately abridged.
The banquet.
The banquet took place at 5 o’clock, under the presidency of Mr. W.
N. Row, the mayor, who had upon his right Lord Palmerston, Mr. J.
Chichester Nagle, and Mr. J. Worth, and on his left Mr. J.
Sillifant, Mr. F. Hole, the Rev. J. F. Sydenham and Mr. Cartwright.
About 150 sat down to dinner. The usual loyal and constitutional
toasts were given from the chair.
The Rev. J. F. Sydenham, in responding to the toast of the Bishop of
the diocese and the clergy of all denominations, “thanked Lord
Palmerston for the excellent manner in which he had filled up the
unprecedented number of ecclesiastical offices which had recently
fallen to his nomination. Against those appointments a very few of
extreme views had only ventured to feebly remonstrate.
Captain Lane returned thanks for the “Army and Navy, Militia and
Volun teers.”
The chairman then proposed the toast of the evening, “Lord Viscount
Palmerston,” and in terse but forcible terms observed that as a
member he was an honor to the borough, but as a statesman and a
minister not only to the borough, but also to the whole country.
Lord Palmerston, who was received with several rounds of most
tremendous cheering, said: Mr. Mayor and gentlemen, I beg to return
to you my most sincere thanks for the kind manner in which this
toast has been proposed and received, and I can assure you that a
testimony of good-will from the people of Tiverton must always be
most grateful to me. [Cheers.] I feel under most peculiar
obligations to the people of this town. I came here first a
stranger— an entire stranger—-to you, and if, as you did, you
accepted me as your member, it could only be from your thinking that
my conduct in public life had been such as to deserve your
approbation. [Hear.] From time to time it has been a source of great
pride and gratification to me to find on every occasion of my
revisiting this town that the cordiality of my reception may be
accepted as a proof that the good opinion which originally led to
your taking me as your member has not been diminished, but
increased. [Cheers.] I can assure you that I feel a most hearty
pride at being, and I trust continuing to be, your member. [Cheers.]
The reverend gentleman who returned thanks for the clergy did me the
honor to allude to matters which are the personal acts of the
minister who fills the office that I do—I mean the choice of the
persons who are to fill the high dignities of the church. Well, I am
glad that the selections which I have thought it to be my duty to
make have met with general approval. I hold the task of making those
selections to be one of the most important duties
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that can devolve upon the person who
holds the office which I have the honor to fill, because there are
many things which depend upon a good choice: these are, in the first
place, the moral and religious training of the country, of those who
are members of the church of which these persons are chosen to be
high dignitaries; but there is a further bearing on a good selection
in these cases, because in a free country like this, where every man
is entitled to hold his own opinions, where men are accustomed to
investigate the grounds of the opinions which they entertain or
which they may intend to adopt, there must necessarily be great
differences on religious subjects. No doubt we might all wish that
the whole nation could be of one creed. That is impossible in a free
country; but what can be done and what ought to be done is, that
those who hold high office, and those who are at the head of the
established church, should by their bearing towards those who differ
from them in religious opinions mitigate those acerbities which are,
perhaps, inherent in the diversities of opinion on so important a
matter, both here and hereafter; that they should, by their manner
and bearing towards those of different opinion, render those
differences as little perceptible as possible, and endeavor to
inculcate that charity which is the basis of our common religion. I
trust and believe that the choice which it has been my lot to make
has been made in this direction, and that those who have been
elevated to fill high positions in the established church will by
their bearing towards different communities continue to prove that,
although each may be sincere in holding opinions at variance one
with another, they will, nevertheless, all feel that there are
common feelings, common interests, and common obligations which
pervade the mass, and that those feelings, interests, and
obligations ought not to be embittered by any asperities between
different sects. [Cheers.] We have most unhappily seen very recently
proofs that in the sister kingdom those differences of religion have
led to most disastrous and lamentable outbreaks; but let us not
ascribe those events entirely to difference of religious opinion;
they are rather connected with long-established feuds, and should be
looked upon rather as political demonstrations than as uncharitable
feelings in regard to the religions of the two parties who come in
contact. [Hear, hear.] Notice was also taken of the circumstance
that it has fallen to the lot of the government of which I am a
member to preserve to this country the blessings of peace. Now,
gentlemen, no doubt the preservation of peace, with honor, with
consistency, with the interests and dignity of the country, with its
interest at home and its dignity and reputation abroad, the
preservation of peace upon such conditions is the primary duty of
any administration that may be charged with the conduct of national
affairs. [Hear.] I do not think it desirable that we should be of
that section, which I believe really does not now exist, although it
is a byword sometimes used, I do not think it desirable that we
should be of the peace-at-any-price party. I do not believe that
those who are commonly de-signated by that name are. at heart
insensible to the honor and interest of the country. [Cheers.] There
may be differences of opinion as to the magnitude of the case, as to
the validity of the reasons which may induce the country to draw the
sword; but I am persuaded that there is no Englishman who would not,
if he thought the interests and honor and dignity of the country
were at stake, join in its defence by whatever means, personal or
otherwise, which he might be able to command. [Cheers.] There have
been, indeed, of late years, during the five years which I have been
in office, several cases which might have led this country into war.
We might have embarked in war, and with great acquiescence in
popular feeling, for the rescue of the Poles. Well, we deplore their
unhappy fate; we endeavored to enlist in their cause the moral and
political action of all the different powers of Europe, and we did
so; but they unfortunately failed, and perhaps it was in the nature
of things that our efforts should not succeed. But, however the
enthusiasm of a large portion of the community might have urged us
to take more active measures, we did not think—and I
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believe the majority of the country is
of opinion that we thought right—we did not think that was an
occasion on which it would be justifiable to call on the people of
England to make those exertions and sacrifices which such a war
would have called for. Then there was the American civil war. There
is much diversity of opinion as to the merits of the contending
parties. Some are for the north on the ground of their hatred of
slavery; some are for the south on the ground of their love of
freedom and independence. We might have been involved one way or the
other; if we had listened to many of those who urged different
courses of action, we might have been involved in the quarrel; but I
believe the country is glad we have abstained from taking that
course. [Cheers.] We could have had nothing to gain, and we should
only have added thousands of our own sons to the hecatomb of victims
which that calamitous and bloody, slaughtering war has sacrificed.
[Cheers.] We may hope that time and reflection—and recent advices
from America show some favorable symptoms —we may hope that time and
reflection, and the fact of the immense losses which have been
sustained, and the slight hopes of success which appear on the part
of the north—we may hope that many months will not elapse before
some progress will be made towards healing that tremendous breach
which now exists. [Cheers.] But of this I am convinced, that if we
had yielded to those who, from the purest motives and from a sincere
conviction, urged us to interfere to offer our mediation to endeavor
to reconcile the quarrel between the parties before matters were
ripe for our adjustment, we should not only have failed in
accomplishing that object, but we should have embittered the
feelings between that country and this, and have rendered the future
establishment of good relations between us and them less easy and
more difficult. [Hear.] Therefore I think our neutrality was wise,
and I am sure that it is appreciated by the country at large.
[Cheers.]
Well, then came that unfortunate Danish question, and I am sure every
Englishman who has a heart in his breast and a feeling of justice in
his mind sympathizes with those unfortunate Danes, [cheers, ] and
wishes that this country -could have been able to draw the sword
successfully in their defence, [continued cheers;] but I am
satisfied that those who reflect on the season of the year when that
war broke out, on the means which this country could have applied
for deciding in one sense that issue, I am satisfied that those who
make these reflections will think that we acted wisely in not
embarking in that dispute. [Cheers.] To have sent a fleet in
midwinter to the Baltic every sailor would tell you was an
impossibility, but if it could have gone it would have been attended
by no effectual result. Ships sailing on the sea cannot stop armies
on land, and to have attempted to stop the progress Of an army by
sending a fleet to the Baltic would have been attempting to do that
which it was not possible to accomplish. [Hear, hear.] If England
could have sent an army, and although we all know how admirable that
army is on the peace establishment, we must acknowledge that we have
no means of sending out a force at all equal to cope with the
300,000 or 400,000 men whom the 30,000,000 or 40,000,000 of Germany
could have pitted against us, and that such an attempt would only
have insured a disgraceful discomfiture—not to the army, indeed, but
to the government which sent out an inferior force and expected it
to cope successfully with a force so vastly superior. [Cheers.] We
are, as a nation, I trust, sufficiently strong to defy attack from
any enemy. We have, in round numbers, 300,000 militia and
volunteers, in addition to the regular army, and, as they can be
immediately increased, we have force amply sufficient to defy attack
from whatever quarter it may proceed. [Cheers.] We have a fleet
growing every year, adapting itself to the modern requirements of
naval warfare, and fully adequate for the defence of the country.
Our object is defence, not aggression. [Cheers.] But this state of
things does not allow this country to undertake vast operations
beyond its confines; calling on the nation to make great exertions,
to make
[Page 288]
great sacrifices,
both of men and money, in order to send out an army fit to cope with
the vast establishments maintained by other countries. [Cheers.]
Well, we did not think that the Danish cause would be considered as
sufficiently British, and as sufficiently bearing on the interests
and the security and the honor of England, as to make it justifiable
to ask the country to make those exertions which such a war would
render necessary; and I am sure that the verdict of the country will
be that, in this respect, the government judged rightly. [Cheers.]
But, while we have preserved peace, the nation has been doing its
work too. It is the duty of the government to keep the country at
peace as long as it can do so without sacrificing its honor, its
dignity, or its interests. It is the duty of the people of the
country to prosper its trade, to extend its commerce, to increase
its resources, and to promote its welfare of every sort and kind.
This duty has been nobly performed by the people of this kingdom;
and there never was a period of equal length during which this
country has made such enormous strides in wealth, and in everything
which constitutes the comfort, the happiness, and the welfare of the
nation. [Cheers.] The government can only contribute to these
results by removing obstacles and affording facilities, but it
remains for the people themselves to make those exertions by which
alone these results can be obtained. [Cheers.] Government cannot
interfere with private enterprise. Every now and then we are called
upon to subsidize or assist this or that enterprize; we are told
that a little contribution from the public revenue would set up this
manufacture, would assist another, would give scope to industry, and
would foster a rising commerce; but these things are only done in
countries where the people are paralyzed by despotic power, and
where they require the vivifying and electrical touch of the
government to rouse them to an exertion which is not their natural
condition nor their habitual practice. [Cheers.] In this country
every man is alive, every man knows best how to employ his capital,
how to direct his genius, whatever it may be; whatever line you may
take, whether it be active exertion in distant parts, or the
studious labor of invention at home, or the direction of the
industry of thousands of our manufacturing workmen, in this, country
every man knows best how to contribute to the public wealth and to
his own prosperity and advantage, and all that the government has to
do is to leave things alone, to throw down barriers and
obstructions,where barriers and obstructions are pressed, and to
give that freedom to industry and activity to commerce by which
alone the general welfare of the country can be advanced. [Cheers.]
That has been our task, and I think we have performed that task well
and successfully; and if anybody will take the trouble to look
back—which few men are disposed to do, because they are too busy
looking forward, [“hear,” and cheers]—if any man will look back and
glance at the immense progress which has taken place in this country
during the last thirty years, he will be astonished at the magnitude
of the improvements which have been made, the magnitude of the
obstructions which have been thrown down, the magnitude of the new
doors to industry which have been opened, and the progress which the
country has made in national wealth and the comfort and happiness of
the people. [Cheers.] I need not, indeed, preach these doctrines in
this town, because here they have not only been understood, but
successfully practiced. It is not in Tiverton, where a most thriving
and durable manufacture has been so long. established, that I need
debate on the advantage which genius, industry, enterprise, capital
properly applied and adapted with skill, produce, not only to the
individual who directs the machine, but to the whole community who
are in any way connected with such a system. [Cheers.] The noble
lord, after passing a high eulogium on his lamented colleague, Mr.
Heathcote, concluded by thanking the guests around him for the
manner in which he had been received among his kind friends in
Tiverton, saying that these periodical visits were always marked
with a red letter in his diary. The noble lord resumed his seat amid
loud and prolonged cheering, and the party soon afterwards
separated.
