B W I WmWiH WWBBBaWtg* L^ I «-«;*«» aiatttcU Hmnetattg ffiibtarg JIttfaia, ^tm latb BOUGHT WITH THE INCOME OF THE SAGE ENDOWMENT FUND THE GIFT OF HENRY W. SAGE 1691 The date shows when this volume was taken. Dk ccroy the call the librarian. To renev this book cwy the call No. and give to 'le Ub ..'. town. HOME USE RULES All books subiect to recall All borrowers must regis- ter in the library to borrow books lor.home use. All books must be re- turned at end of college year for inspection and repairs. Limited books must be returned within the . four week limit and not renewed. Students must return all books before leaving town. Officers should arrange for the return of books wanted during their absence fron* Volumes of periodicals. , and of pamphlets are heldl in the library as much as . possible. For special pur- poses they are given out for a limited time. Borrowers should not use their library privileges for ' the benefit of other persons.' <; BookSj of special value "and gift books, when the giver wishes it, are not allowed to circulate. Readers are asked to re-*'.. port all cases of books mark^^ br mutilated. Do not delace books by marks and writing. DA 951.D85"" ""'™^*''l' Library Cornell University Library The original of tiiis book is in tine Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924028144941 X / Jh^^^>^ ^^ SPEECHES AND ADDRESSES EIGHT HONOUEABLE FEEDEEICK TEMPLE, EAEL OF DUFFEEIN, K.P., G.C.M.G., K.C.B., F.E.S. EDITED By henry MILTON, OF THE MIDDLB TEMPLE, BABBISTBB- AT-IiAW. LONDON: JOHN MUBEAY, ALBEMAELE STREET. 1882. Lb LONDOX:^ PRINTKn DY WllJ-rAM CLOWES AXP SONS, LIJIITF.D,' STA5IF0RD STREET AND CHARING CROSS. PBEFACE. The SpeecTies contained in this volume were delivered at various times during a period of more than thirty years, and they embrace subjects of very diverse character. The Editor has had no choice but to arrange them in chronological order. Of the Political Speeches, most interest will probably attach to those dealing with the Irish Land Question. As a large Irish landowner. Lord Dufferin found himself, at an early age, face to face with the many difficulties incident to the tenure of land in Ireland, and he has spared no pains to make himself acquainted with the subject in all its bearings. He is well known as an earnest and thoughtful speaker and writer on the systems of land tenure in Ireland, and the Editor has felt himself justified in devoting a considerable space to a subject of such especial interest at the present day. The Speeches on the Repeal of the Paper Duties and on the Grievances of the East India Company's Officers are included, as relating to matters of much importance and of general interest. As examples of Speeches on Literary and Artistic subjects, those on Charles Dickens, Sib Walter Scott, and the Comedie Fran^aise may be mentioned ; IV PBEFAGE. while the claims of Philanthropy are enforced by the Speeches on the Education of the Deaf and Dumb, on the Humane Society, and on the Hospital for Sick Children. But it is to the Speeches delivered by Lord DuPFERiN, when Governor G-eneral of Canada, that the Editor desires to call especial attention. The effect they produced, in England as well as in Canada, at the time of their delivery is not yet forgotten. It is, perhaps, not too much to say that Lord Dupferin was the first to point out to the Canadians the limitless resources and countless treasures of their own land. And it may be that Canada herself was ignorant of the vast stores of loyalty and devotion to the Mother Country latent in the breasts of her people, of all nationalities and of all classes, until they manifested themselves in loud-echoing answer to the Speeches of Lord Dufferin. H. M. Temple. 1882. TABLE OF CONTENTS. PAGE I. Improving Landlords OF Ireland. Dec. 30. 1847 .. 1 II. Leasing Powers (Ireland) Bill and the Landlord AND Tenant (Ireland) Bill. Feb. 28. 1854 6 III. The Education of the Deaf and Dumb. Dec. 27. 1855 20 IV. Paper Duty Eepeal Bill. May 21. 1860 .. .. 24 V. The Address in the House op Lords. Feb. 6. 1862 28 VI. Annual Meeting of the Eotal Humane Society. Junes. 1864 36 VII. Tenants' Dinner at Clandeboye. April 20. 1865 38 VIII. Grievances of the East India Company's Officers. May 15. 1865 49 IX. State OF Ireland. March 16. 1866 60 X. Hospital for Sick Children. Feb. 27. 1867 .. 75 XI. Established Church (Ireland) Bill. June 26. 1868 79 XII. Banquet given at Liverpool to Charles Dickens. AprillO. 1869 86 XIII. Peace Preservation (Ireland) Bill. March 29. 1870 91 XIV. Irish Land Bill. June 14. 1870 102 VI TABLE OF CONTENTS. P&GK XV. Banquet given to the Comi^die FRANfAisE. July 28. 1871 129 XVI. Scott Centenary Banquet, Belfast. August 15. 1871 133 XVII. Appointment as Governok (General of Canada. June 11. 1872 139 XVIII. Unveiling of a Statue at Montreal of Her Majesty. Nov. 21. 1872 146 XIX. Halifax Club Banquet, Halifax, Nova Scotia. Augusts. 1873 149 XX. Eeply to the Address of the Six Nations. August 25. 1874 154 XXI. Toronto Club Banquet, Toronto. Sept. 2. 1874 159 XXII. Eeply to the Address of the Mayor and Corporation of Brockville, Ontario. Sept. 7. 1874 168 XXIII. Canada Club Banquet, London. July 8. 1875 170 XXIV. Banquet given by the Citizens of Quebec. June 21. 1876 177 XXV. Government House, Victoria, British Columbia. Sept. 20. 1876 184 XXVI. National Club Banquet, Toronto. Jan. 12. 1877 212 XXVII. Toronto Club Banquet, Toronto. Jan. 15. 1877 216 XXVIII. Eeply to the Address of the Mennonite Settlers. August 21. 1877 228 XXIX. Eeply to the Address of the Icelandic Settlers. Sept. 15. 1877 226 XXX. Breakfast at the City Hall, Winnipeg. Sept. 29. 1877 231 XXXI. American Geographical Society, New York. January 31. 1878 244 TABLE OF CONTENTS. VH FAQE XXXII. Greek Speech at McGill Collese, Montreal. Feb. 13. 1878 247 XXXIII. Windsor Hotel Banquet, Montreal. Feb. 14. 1878 250 XXXIV. Eeply to the Joint Address of the Two Houses OF THE Canadian Parliament. April 16. 1878 256 XXXV. Banquet given by the Officers of the Montreal Brigade. May 24. 1878 259 XXXVI. Eeplt to the Address of the Mayor and Corporation of Granby. August 20. 1878 .. 265 XXXVII. Eeply to the Address of the Municipal Corp- orations of Ontario. Sept. 5. 1878 .. .. 270 XXXVIII. Eeply to the Address of the Irish Protestant Benevolent Society, Toronto. Sept. 26. 1878 275 XXXIX. Opening of the Exhibition of the Agricultural AND Arts Association of Canada. Sept. 24. 1878 278 XL. Ontario Society of Artists. Ontario. Sept. 28. 1878 288 XLI. Speech at Laval University, Quebec. Sept. 11. 1878 290 XLII. Banquet in Ulster Hall, Belfast. Nov. 26. 1878 293 XLIIL Eeform Club Banquet. Feb. 22. 1879 .. .. 301 SPEECHES AND ADDEESSES. I. SPEECH AT THE DINNER GIVEN TO MR. JOHN H. HOWE, LORD DUFPERIN'S AGENT. NEWTONARDS. DECEMBER 30. 1847. In reply to the toast of " Lord Dufferin and the improving landlords of Ireland," Lord Duffebin said : — Of course, gentle- men, in rising to return thanks for the manner in which my health and the toast with which it is connected have been received, I cannot but feel it to be a mere matter of courtesy, that I stand to-night the representative of that unfortunate class, " the improving landlords of Ireland "; but, as it has been your pleasure to put my name into such excellent company, I will do my best, for the present to thank you, and hereafter to win myself an acknowledged place among those worthy gentlemen. As the temporary representative, then, of the improving landlords of Ireland, I thank you heartily for the good-will which you have expressed towards them. Greatly, I assure you, do they, at this time, need such notes of sympathy and encouragement ; for never were a class of men placed in such embarrassing circumstances. An Irish landlord is unlike any other landlord under the sun. He lives in a peculiar atmosphere of his own ; the daily conditions of his life, and the occasional conditions of his death, are totally dissimilar to those of other men. He is a complete genus of himself — an erratic body in the social system. (Laughter.) He may be described as an individual who does not get rent— as a well- dressed gentleman who may be shot with impunity, the ki 2 SPEECHES AND ADDRESSES. legitimate target of the immediate neighbourhood — a super- ficial index, by which to mark the geographical direction of the under-current of assassination— a cause of bewilderment to Coroners, and of vague verdicts to distracted Juries — a subject for newspaper paragraphs, and a startling text for leading articles. (Laughter.) Such are the popular phenomena of Irish landlordhood. And, after all, this picture is not far amiss. We know that there is in Ireland a certain area within which all the relations of life are topsy-turvy ; where the bands of order are broken, and men live — aye, and die too — in a manner as contrary to the laws of nature as to those of ordinary society. In times of profound peace, when the rest of the world's inhabit- ants are actively prosecuting the pursuits of civilisation — when religion is triumphant, and every man's ten fingers are busily employed in procuring food, necessaries, and comforts — when all over the face of Europe there can scarcely be heard the faintest muttering of discord — when records of assassination are read with wonder, as vestiges of a barbarism long since extinct — from Ireland alone there is still borne on the wind the sputtering of musketry, and, in our lanes, and streets, and alleys, there yet re-echoes the dropping fire of the peasant sharp-shooters. The astonished nations prick up their ears, and ask : " What is the matter ? who are the objects of this unmerciful pelting ?" The answer is, " The improving land- lords of Ireland." And at this intelligence, the improving landlords of other countries shrug their shoulders, and thank their stars that they are not Irish landlords — that they have not been sent to be the pioneers of improvement — to stand, each in the midst of his estate, the solitary object of unmerited execration, the isolated outpost of resisted civilisation ; a de- fenceless man, in the midst of a hostile population. Such, gentlemen, is no exaggerated description of the difficulties under which improving landlords labour in many portions of this island. They come to their property with the best inten- tions ; with an earnest desire to do good ; with a belief that the case is not hopeless — that Ireland may yet be made a nation ; that the peasantry, though deluded and prejudiced against IRISH LANDLORDS. 3 them, are a noble and warm-hearted race. (Cheers.) They come, determined to prove practically to the peasantry that they sympathise with their misfortunes, and look with sorrow on their present degradation. They come prepared to live among them ; and they look forward with pleasure to a life of intimate and mutual intercourse : and mayhap they sanguinely picture to themselves the results of their intended improvements — the pleasant cottages, the neat villages, the well-tilled fields, and the so-much-longed-for peace and quiet ; when, suddenly, their benignant imaginations are laid prostrate; their enthusiasm is chilled by the startling appearance on the breakfast-table of some Terry-Alt communications, playfully illustrated by funeral decorations — a warning, to which the gradual disappear- ance of their neighbours has given an undeniable authority. What is a man to do amid such circumstances ? To run away ? No ; certainly not. Let him do as Sir Richard O'Donel has just done. He summoned his tenantry, and plainly told them that he had been, for the last nineteen years, hard at work for their improvement, and that they should not frighten him away. (Cheers.) However much they threatened him he would be their friend in spite of themselves : he was determined to live among them, and he was not afraid to die among them. That I consider to be a most noble example — a better proof of sincere love for his country than the one given by the unhappy gentleman who promised to seek an imaginary death on the floor of the House of Commons. It is by following Sir Eichard's example that the landlords of the South will, at last, convince their tenantry that they are their real friends. It is by such conduct that they will win them back from ceaseless agitation to industry and prosperity. (Hear, hear.) The present emergency requires great temper, courage, and deter- mination. The landlords will now have an opportunity of showing that, like noble and brave men, they both forgive and pity the would-be exterminators, and that intimidation will neither scare them from their duty nor tempt them to retaliate. Now is the time for them to show that, although the national character has been blurred and blotted, and its once famous glory sullied by base deeds, they still have faith B 2 4 SPEECHES AND ADDRESSES. in the goodness of Irish hearts ; and that, because they know them to be deluded, and astray— more sinned against than sinning — more demoralised by designing man, than naturally evil — they will stick to them to the last, in spite of all cruelty and treachery ; in spite of threatenings and warnings — of Eockite notices, and Molly Maguire's death-warrants, and all the infamous machinery of intimidation. Gentlemen, it is by such means alone that the alienated affections of the peasantry can be won back again to their legitimate objects ; it is by such means that they will be disenchanted of their insane expectations, and taught to consider industry the only founda- tion of prosperity. The great object for all landlords, whether they live in the North or South, is to attain the confidence of their tenantry. (Cheers.) That, I confess, is what I am de- sirous to bring about, as far as I individually am concerned. I wish my tenantry to believe that I am anxious for their im- provement ; and not only so, but that I know how to promote it. I consider that, as a landlord, I have two duties to perform — a duty to them, and a duty to the State. By the first, I am bound to watch over their interests — to encourage their own endeavours — to cherish and foster the industrious and energetic ; while, by the second, I am compelled to ensure, that the natural capabilities of the soil are taken advantage of to the fullest extent. In furtherance of my views, I count greatly upon the assistance of the gentleman you are entertaining to-night. (Cheers.) I believe there is no one who better knows what tenants can and cannot do, or is more able to appreciate their best interests. It is upon his experience that I rely for protection against unreasonable demands, as well as for guidance in just concessions ; and I would have my tenantry know that they will find me as inflexible in resisting the first, as I promise to be indulgent in granting the last. An agent, indeed, acts a most delicate part in our social system. Next to his wife, the agent is the most important choice a land- lord has to make. (A laugh.) Gentlemen, I think that, to use the words of a worthy friend, " Though I have chosen young. I am sure I have chosen well." If a landlord is, as somebody has said, the father of his tenantry, an agent is certainly their IRELAND'S FUTURE. 5 uurse (laughter) ; and finding myself at so early an age the father of so numerous a family, I might well feel embarrassed, unless I could place great confidence in the nursing properties of your worthy guest ; and I have no hesitation in saying — and I do not care who contradicts me — that I think it would be almost a pity to shoot that gentleman. (Eenewed laughter.) Gentlemen, I believe that Ireland's fortunes are not irre- trievable — I believe that patient industry must, in the end drive far away the almost universal wretchedness prevailing. I will not believe that God's good providence would for ever doom any land to such unvarying misfortune; and I am convinced that He has circumscribed the limits of a nation's poverty far within the verge of starvation. I will not believe, while the gallant fleets of the world's nations sail bravely on, that Ireland alone must drift an unsightly wreck upon the waters. I will not believe, while from every other ship is borne to our ears the crew's cheery cry of encouragement, that the harsh notes of contention and mutiny must be our only answering call ; nor that we are for ever to exist a monu- ment of national listlessness — a blot on the face of Europe ; nor that, while the morning sun first fringes with light the shores of the New World, his lingering rays must, to all eternity, light up such a scene of desolation on the confines of the Old. (Loud applause.) II. SPEECH IN THE HOUSE OF LOBDS IN SUPPOET OP THE SECOND READING OF THE LEASING POWERS (IRELAND) BILL, AND THE LANDLORD AND TENANT (IRELAND) BILL. FEBRUARY 28. 1854. ' The Earl of Donoughmore moved the second reading of these Bills. Lord Monteagle, the Duke of Newcastle, Lord Oamphell, the Earl of Clan- carty, and the Earl of Desart having spoken, Lord Dufpeein said : — I am quite ready, my Lords, to give my consent to the second reading of these Bills, upon the understanding that they are to be referred to the considera- tion of a select committee. I believe that the time is come when it is desirable that we should enter upon a revision of the whole body of laws by which the relationship of land- lord and tenant in Ireland is regulated. It is out of the question that we should any longer transact our affairs in the unbusiness-like and slipshod manner in which both landlord and tenant have been in the habit of indulging ; it is absolutely necessary that a distinct understanding should be come to with respect to the rights of each, and that the nature of their connec- tion should no longer be enveloped in that haze of uncertainty which has hitherto been the cause of so much mismanagement and contention. I believe that these Bills are, in the main, good Bills ; that they contain many excellent provisions ; and that in their operation they will be beneficial to the country. But, my Lords, I must venture to remind the House of one most important consideration. Before any attempt is made to introduce a sounder system of management with regard to the land in Ireland, an important preliminary step is absolutely necessary. It is necessary, my Lords, that we should arrive at a settlement with regard to the past ; unless a satisfactory DEFECTS OF THE PROPOSED ME ABUSES. 7 settlement is arrived at with regard to the past, all our attempts to introduce an improvement for the future will, I fear, be greatly impeded. Now, my Lords, I am sorry to be obliged to say that a great deficiency is to be found in this respect in the scheme of the noble Earl (the Earl of Donoughmore). The great difficulty lies in the past ; but with that difficulty the noble Earl has but imperfectly attempted to grapple. I consider it to be a great subject for regret that the noble Earl — so well qualified by his ability and by the attention he has paid to these subjects — has not endeavoured to deal with this difficulty in a more explicit manner. There is, indeed, in his Landlord and Tenant Bill a retrospective clause ; but I fear its operation will not be very effectual. In principle it accords too much, while practically it accords too little to the tenant. In prin- ciple it asserts that all improvements, executed by the tenant, are to be considered the property of the tenant ; and that it shall be competent for him, at the expiration of his occupancy, to demand their value from his landlord, thus contradicting that most indisputable of all dogmas, that a tenant's interest in his improvements, whatever may be their nature, must necessarily lapse with the effluxion of time ; that at the expiration of an occupancy of thirty years, a tenant cannot have the same claim to compensation as at the expiration of an occupancy of three years ; while by leaving to the tenant, in case his landlord should not elect to purchase these im- provements, no other alternative than to pull his house down, and carry away the loose stones in his pocket, the concession made to the tenant, at the commencement of the clause, is virtually emasculated. My Lords, I feel that an apology is almost due from me to the House for venturing to express a decided opinion upon one of the most difficult questions ever submitted to your Lordships' consideration ; but it is impossible for any one connected with Ireland, let his ability be what it may, not to have acquired some information on this subject; it is impossible for any one who has passed three or four years of his life amid the endless embarrassments attending the management of 8 SPEECHES AND ADDRESSES. Irish property, not to perceive that at present the relationship of landlord and tenant in that country is almost of a barbarous character, and not to desire that their connection should assume a more satisfactory aspect. In these circumstances, I trust that I may claim your Lord- ships' indulgence for a few moments, while I endeavour to point out where the difficulty really lies, and what it is that principally impedes the introduction of a sounder management of landed property. As most of your Lordships are aware, the majority of Ireland's misfortunes may be traced to the fact that a prolific people have been confined within an island, upon the produce of whose soil alone the inhabitants depended for sub- sistence. In a country without manufactures, without com- merce, without emigration, and without a poor-law, if you cut away the land from beneath a peasant's feet, his next step must be into the limbo of beggardom. To each man the possession of a patch of land is absolutely necessary for his existence. Out of this miserable peculiarity arose two great evils, to which most of the crimes and misfortunes of Ireland may be traced. The first of these was a competition for land so intense as to make the land-owners absolute lords of the market, and to leave to the occupiers no alternative but to submit to whatever conditions the former chose to exact. My Lords, I believe in no free country has the produce of the soil ever been so unequally divided. I do not mean to say that the money-rent has been higher in Ireland than in England ; I believe it has not been nearly so high, because the gross produce bas been comparatively less ; but of that gross produce a much larger share was obtained by the Irish than by the English landlords. The other great evil consequent upon the habit of the Irish people to depend upon the soil alone for subsistence, and the natural corollary to an intense passion for the acquisition of land, was the subdivision of the land into very small portions. Now, my Lords, it is unnecessary to enumerate all the bad consequences which may be directly deduced from this sub- division of land. To one of them alone need I call your attention. OONSEQUENOES OF SUBDIVISION. 9 On an estate applotted out to a number of small farmers, it was impossible to follow the English system, and for the land- lord to put upon the farm the more enduring improvements, and it would have been madness to make the attempt. It would have been ruinous for the landlord to erect on every ten or fifteen acres of his property a separate farming establish- ment, where on every 500 acres one such establishment would have been amply sufficient for all agricultural purposes. Con- sequently it became a pretty general custom in Ireland for the tenant, at his own expense, to erect those buildings, and to execute those improvements, which are elsewhere provided by the capital of the landlord. This, my Lords — and to this point I wish particularly to draw your Lordships' attention — manifestly created in the tenant a more permanent interest in his holding than if he had executed only such improvements as in their very nature were calculated to make a profitable return within a more limited period. For your Lordships will readily understand, that while a tenant, at the expiration of a tenancy of fourteen years, may have amply compensated himself out of the land for money sunk in draining or manuring, he can hardly be supposed to have been recompensed for the money he may have sunk in building his house or farm- offices. Thus, my Lords, when a tenant is prematurely compelled to surrender possession of his farm, upon which he may have, but five or six years before, erected such permanent improvements as the foregoing, no reasonable man can blame him for considering himself equitably entitled to some compensation on behalf of the buildings he cannot carry away on his back with him. And, my Lords, above all things it must be remembered that, in the first place, it was often by the advice and with the strenuous encouragement of his landlord, that he was induced to erect these buildings ; and that, in the next place, from the method in which the management of estates was conducted in Ireland, upon some of which the tenants were kept under a permanent notice to quit, served annually, as well as from the strict nature of entails, it was, in nine cases out of ten, impossible for him to get any lease at all by way of protection ; while, in fact, no ordinary lease, nothing but a long lease, one which ap- 10 SPEECHES AND ADDBESSES. preached to the nature of a building-lease, would have been sufficient to afford him protection. As I perceive by what has fallen from noble Lords during the course of this debate, that this admission on my part, that the tenants have had the imprudence to erect buildings on their farms with- out previously insisting upon making a bargain with their landlords, and protecting themselves by a contract, will be sufficient, in the opinion of many persons, to vitiate at once all their claim for compensation, I may as well say a few words with regard to that point. No one is more ready than myself to admit, as one of the most sacred elements of good government, the principle that matters of private contract ought not to be subjected to legis- lative interference ; that when a man makes a bad bargain, the law should not step in to release him from it ; and that, with- out let or favour, each man must be allowed to do the best he can for himself. My Lords, I know no commercial doctrine more essential ; but, my Lords, I confess that I am not one of those prepared, with stony inflexibility, to apply every abstract principle I may hold, to the affairs of men. I believe more mischief has been occasioned by a pedantic and prudish passion for the universal application of abstract principles, than even by an occasional lax observance of them. Our English constitution works better than any other in the world, and yet I scarcely suppose another exists so logically inexact, so full of inconsistencies. The imperfections of human nature oblige us to be inconsistent ; and it is because I consider the soundness of such a principle so perfectly unassailable, that I do not fear the consequence of a precedent in an opposite sense. Moreover, my Lords, I would urge, in reply to what has been said with regard to the indefensible nature of all claims not supported by previous contract, that the very term contract implies the mutual independence of the con- tracting parties ; and yet no one, I should think, would be bold enough to assert that the Irish tenants of former days were in an independent position ; between them and their landlords a bargain, in the English sense, a contract, a stipulation, was out of the question. Such a matter was not ULSTER TENANT-MIGHT. 11 mentioned ; it was unknown to the practice of the country ; the one did not propose, but dictated terms ; the other did not accept, but submitted to them. And therefore, my Lords, I trust, that because " it is not in the bond," your Lordships will not refuse to entertain the possibility of reasons existing which may justify a departure from such a principle on a particular occasion. But, my Lords, it is not even upon these groimds alone that I rest my case ; I can go further. I am prepared to prove, that although in individual agreements there was no express stipulation respecting this class of improvements, a tacit understanding existed between the landlord and the tenant, whereby the latter felt assured, when embarking in these expenses, that, although protected by no lease, his tenancy would be sufficiently prolonged to enable him to reap the benefit of his investments ; and that even where, as in the North of Ireland, a different mode of dealing with the difficulty was adopted, a certain custom did, and does, prevail, which, bad as I consider it in some respects, had, at least, this ad- vantage, that the out-going tenant's claim to compensation for improvements of a certain character was recognised, and that, independently of his lease, or of any express stipulation whatever, on removal from his farm, he was not compelled to leave behind him that portion of his capital from which he had not had time to obtain a full return. My Lords, I allude to what is called the custom of the Tenant-Eight of Ulster. Now, my Lords, as I fear the nature of this custom is most imperfectly understood — as it has been made the subject of very gross misrepresentations — as upon those misrepresenta- tions very mischievous and absurd pretensions have been founded, perhaps I may be allowed to attempt to describe to the House its real character. The custom of Tenant-Eight in Ulster is that custom under which, at the termination of his occupancy, the out-going tenant was in the habit of selling to the in-coming tenant what was called " his interest in the farm " — that is, those permanent improvements which the one had effected, without 12 SPEECHES AND ADDRESSES. having had time to repay himself for his outlay, and into the enjoyment of which the other was about to enter. The price was determined by competition, or private agreement, or by the arbitration of the landlord or his agent. My Lords, I know no better way of further illustrating the nature of the transaction, than by comparing it to a system which will be familiar to those of your Lordships who have had the good fortune to be members of either University. Your Lordships will doubtless remember how every freshman, on entering into the possession of his rooms, had to pay to the late occupant, in consideration of the furniture to which he succeeded, a certain sum, technically denominated " thirds." Those " thirds " were analogous to the sums paid by the in-coming tenant to his predecessor, under the custom of Tenant-Eight. Though what I have stated is an exact description of the custom, I do not mean to say that its philosophical theory was everywhere thus understood. The custom itself was a remedy arrived at, as it were, by the "instinct" of the people, to obviate the inconvenience entailed by the practice of the tenant putting upon the farm both classes of improve- ments — those immediately reproductive, such as draining or manuring, and those requiring a longer term of occupancy to become remunerative, such as houses, offices, or roads — the " vis medicatrix naturae" as it were, which arose as the antidote to the original vice of a system of small farms and impov- erished landlords. Moreover, a relic of barbarism, called the "good-will," the privilege of peaceable succession, was also occasionally understood to be conveyed with the land by the departing occupant, in consideration of the sum his successor then paid, and thus further obscured the meaning of the trans- action. Now, my Lords, I am prepared to say, that if this machinery could have been properly worked, it would not have been altogether a bad means of helping out the defective system I have alluded to. If the price thus paid had really borne any relation to the value received, if the improvements left on the farm by the one had been always fair value for the. sum paid by the other, no great harm could have been done ; EFFECTS OF COMPETITION FOR LAND. 13 but, unfortunately, a disturbing force here intervened, sufficient to entirely vitiate the original operation. I have already alluded to the intense competition for land in Ireland, and shown how completely it placed the tenant at the mercy of his landlord ; how, in fact, what were known as rack-rents were the result. But it is a great mistake to suppose that this system of rack-renting was universally prevalent in Ireland. In some places, indeed, it was only too prevalent ; and the landlords of to-day are still reaping the whirlwind their fathers sowed. But in the north, from various causes sufficiently obvious, into which I need not now enter, a system of extortionate rents was never intro- duced. It was very rarely that the rent demanded was equal to the competition price. As in a court of justice, when the accused has no defender, the judge himself becomes his counsel, so the Ulster landlords thought it their duty and interest to protect the tenants against themselves, and instead of fixing the rent at what the tenant proposed to give, they cut it down to what the land could fairly pay. But, my Lords, unhappily, partly in consequence of the vicious system by which the relations of landlord and tenant in L-eland were regulated, partly in consequence of the want of foresight of former generations, the benefit which the landlords of Ulster were thus anxious to provide for their tenants has been only partially secured ; for that passion for the acquisition of land, that extravagant competition which was its result — curbed in one direction by the moderation of the landlords — worked out for themselves a new channel, through which they could rush to the utmost limits of indulgence. When the offer of an enormous rent upon the part of a tenant anxious to obtain a farm, was not found sufficient to secure from the landlord the preference over the other applic- ants, the payment to the out-going tenant of an exorbitant sum, nominally in consideration of his improvements, was found more successful. The mischief resulting from the in- troduction of such an exaggeration of value was not immed- iately apparent. The landlord did not like to stand in his old tenant's way, when thus making a good bargain ; it 14 SPEECHES AND ADDRESSES. reconciled the out-going man to the removal from his farm (always such a difficulty in the path of the landlord in Ireland), while, above all, the larger the sum thus offered, the more ample became the fund out of which the landlord was able to repay himself the whole of the arrears, which his agent's mismanagement, or neglect, had suffered to accumulate on the farm during the late tenant's occupancy. Thus, an out- going tenant, on the termination of his occupancy, may have been fairly entitled to the sum of £50, in consideration of some farm-ofSce he had lately built — the arrears, however, due by him to the office amount to £100— the in-coming tenant has been mad enough to offer £150 for the farm, and the landlord approves of the bargain, inasmuch as he intercepts £100 of the purchase-money as due to himself for arrears, while £50 still remains to satisfy the ejected occupier, and divert his mind from all thoughts of exacting summary vengeance upon his landlord for turning him out upon the world. Thus, in a short time, partly in consequence of the strong desire for the acquisition of land on the part of the tenant — partly, in consequence of the short-sighted policy on the part of the landlord, the sum received by the out-going tenant from his successor lost all proportion to the real value of the improvements, for which it was supposed to be the equivalent. The theory of the transaction was lost sight of, and nothing re- mained but the custom, under ^\ hich it was even considered, in some parts of the country, that the tenant had a right to sell his interest in his holding to the highest bidder ; and that it was an infraction of the custom of Tenant-Eight for the landlord to attempt to modify the competition or exercise any choice among the competitors for his own land. Now, my Lords, having paid great attention to the subject — having studied its working painfully and earnestly for some years — I have no hesitation in saying, that a more unbusiness- like or mischievous system, both as regards the landlord and as regards the tenant, could not have been invented. All the benefit arising from the moderation on the part of the landlord was entirely counteracted ; the margin of profit he had been EVILS OF THE CUSTOM. 15 desirous to leave to the tenant was completely swallowed up — his very indulgence and kindness aggravated the mischief, for it made men more desirous to become " his " tenants, and stimu- lated competition — his very virtues thus becoming an element of value as against himself — while he found that, notwithstanding all his endeavours to let the land at a fair rate, every tenant on his estate was paying, one way or another, a most exorbitant rack-rent. For, my Lords, I think your Lordships will easily perceive, that if on his entry into a farm, for which he is charged a fair rent, a tenant has to spend, we will say, five, eight, or ten pounds an acre besides in purchase-money (and such, my Lords, to this day is no uncommon price paid for the mere occupation of land on which the improvements are almost worthless), he is but paying beforehand so many years' purchase of the difference between a fair rent and a rack-rent. Moreover, my Lords, it must be particularly remembered, that in order to pay this enormous sum, amounting sometimes to from £200 to £500, the tenant has to go to the money-lender and borrow at the rate of ten, nay twenty per cent. ; and thus he enters upon the prosecution of his enterprise, not only destitute of capital, but saddled with a debt, the interest of which he has to provide every year with more unfailing exactitude than his rent. But, as was to be supposed, my Lords, this system, so vicious in principle, so ruinous in practice, has on the first emergency completely broken down. The potato-failure came in 1846 ; and in exactly the same manner as the proprietor of an incum- bered estate found the narrow margin of his income, which remained after the annual charges had been paid, suddenly diappear beneath the pressure of the times, so did the unfor- tunate tenant-farmer of Ulster discover, when too late, that it was no longer possible for him to pay from the margin left, after the landlord's rent had been deducted, the interest of the debt, which he had contracted at the commencement of his occupation. Such, then, my Lords, is the famous custom of the Ulster Tenant-Eight. I have dwelt at some length upon it, as I was anxious to confute the misrepresentations of which it has been 16 SPEECHES AND ADDRESSES. the subject, and to show how untenable are the pretensions which have sometimes been founded on it. But, my Lords, at the same time, bad and unfortunate as the results of such a practice may be, I am sure your Lordships will perceive that the difficulty for which the custom of Tenant-Eight was a clumsy and ineffective remedy, still exists, not only in Ulster, but all over Ireland; and we must remember, my Lords, that it is not for a mere province, but for the whole island, that we have to legislate, and that the very fact of a necessity having arisen for revising the body of laws by which the relationship of landlord and tenant is regu- lated compels us the more strongly to deal with this difficulty, and to recognise this element in the case. For, my Lords, the actual state of things is simply this : within the last few years, many of the occupiers of land in Ireland have spent large sums in executing improvements of a permanent character on their farms, on the strength — not of a contract, into which no opportunities were given them to enter — but of a custom established and observed with the consent of the landlord, or on the faith of that semi-feudal feeling, which, till the famine swept away the old world, made each re- spectable tenant feel sure that he would be allowed to remain in the uninterrupted enjoyment of his land, and the improve- ments he had introduced upon it, until he should have had opportunities of reaping a profit from his investments. The question, then, that I would venture to submit to your Lordships is simply this : ought not, in these circumstances, something to be done to secure to the out-going tenant the repayment of so much of his money sunk in the improve- ments of his farm, as the value of those improvements may justify, the return which he may already have obtained from them during his occupancy being fully allowed for ? How otherwise, my Lords, can we hope to remedy the present dis- jointed system ? Shall the landlord, as in England, be called upon to make the improvements? My Lords, unless each proprietor has a million of money, and a heart of stone— unless he is content to make his estate a tabula rasa— unless he has the courage to reduce the number of his tenants from two NEED OF LEGISLATION. 17 thousand to two hundred, the English system could not be introduced during the next half century into Ireland ; and I confess I am not an admirer of that spirit of improvement not unknown to history — " Solitudinern faciunt, pacem appellant." By legalising the custom of Tenant-Eight ?— I think I have said sufficient to show how impracticable would be that remedy. By leaving things as they are, and trusting to the good feeling of the landlords to leave the tenants in the uninter- rupted enjoyment of their improvements, and to see that justice is obtained on the expiration of their tenancy ? My Lords, I am perfectly aware that such an alternative would be the one most congenial to this House; your Lordships, judging by your own feelings, by your own sense of honour, reflecting on what is your own practice on such occasions, will have difficulty in conceiving the possibility of such injustice being perpetrated as that against which I believe it is necessary to guard. But, my Lords, your Lord- ships are not the only proprietors in Ireland ; there are men possessing property in Ireland, in whose honour, in whose sense of justice, in whose compassion I, for one, have no confidence whatever. Because your Lordships are disposed to do justice, and more than justice, to your tenantry, it is no proof that others are not capable of performing acts of baseness, which this House may, perhaps, conceive to be incredible. Moreover, my Lords, in matters of business, it is best for all parties that as little as possible should be left to what is called good feeling. A statesman should take it for granted, in regulating the relations of persons having con- flicting interests, that each man is likely to insist upon what- ever he is legally entitled to, without too conscientious a consideration of the equitable claims of others ; and, therefore, in my opinion, it is best for all parties that the tenant should have some more tangible security than an indefinite custom, or a tacit and too easily violated understanding. My Lords, during the course of this debate, frequent allusion has been made to the state of transition in which Ireland now finds herself; this state of transition has been adduced as a 18 SPEECHES AND ADDRESSES, reason why we should not interfere. My Lords, I would insist upon the fact of our being in a transitory state as one of the most urgent reasons which render interference absolutely necessary. A great change is taking place in the proprietary of Ireland ; and though an understanding did once exist between the landlord and his tenant, this understanding is no longer sufficient to afford to the tenant the required security. Old families are disappearing — new men have purchased their estates, men of business-like habits and advanced views respecting the management of property, who look, as they ought to look, to making their estates pay. Pharaohs are everywhere rising up who know not Joseph — who cannot be expected to consider themselves bound by such tacit and unusual understandings — who naturally will consider no claims but those guaranteed by parchment and enforced by law, and who must be expected at once to deal summarily with all interests and claims, in support of which the tenant can only plead an ill-defined, ill-understood custom, or the careless good-natured assurances given by one, who was some time, indeed, his landlord, but has since become a ruined outcast on the face of the earth. The argument, then, which I venture to urge in support of the tenant's claim for legislative interference is simply this : from circumstances, over which the tenantry of Ireland had no control, and for which they were not responsible, it became necessary for them to execute improvements on their farms of a permanent character, without being able previously to protect themselves by any adequate contract. To a certain extent, however, a degree of security, almost tantamount to that guaranteed by a contract, was afforded to them by an understanding, or custom, which, though differing in its modus operandi in different parts of Ireland, was, nevertheless, in one shape or another, almost universally prevalent. Latterly, however, in consequence of the great revolution, and the breaking up of the old state of things which has taken place, these semi-feudal and ill-defined understandings, which once existed between a former race of landlords and their tenants, are no longer found to give the necessary REMEDIES PROPOSED. 19 security, and the tenantry are, therefore, anxious to substitute for an equitable right under an uncertain custom, a legal right under a definite law. In order to meet this case, then, my Lords, I have ventured to lay upon the table of this House a Bill, whose operation is solely confined to the past — whose sole object is to effect a settlement with regard to the past, in order to pave the way for the introduction of a sounder system for the future. The only sure foundation upon which the relationship of landlord and tenant ought to depend, is the foundation of contract, and, therefore, the character of this bill is simply retrospective ; it recognises as a principle, that with the effluxion of time the tenant's interest in his improvements does necessarily lapse ; and that the duration of the term over which a claim for com- pensation may run should vary with the class of improvements for which compensation is claimed. I feel that I ought to apologise to your Lordships for occupying your attention at so great length, but I am sure this House will look with indulgence upon what has been an attempt to fulfil that which I considered a duty. c 2 ( 20 ) III. SPEECH AT THE ANNUAL MEETING OF THE BELFAST SOCIETY FOR PROMOTING THE EDUCATION OF THE DEAF AND DUMB. DECEMBER 27. 1855. LoED DuPFEEiN Said : — As several gentlemen will have the honour of addressing you on this occasion, I feel it not neces- sary that I should detain you long with the remarks I have to make. But, as it is customary for those who occupy the chair on such occasions as the present to say a few words in opening the proceedings, I trust you will allow me to trespass upon your attention for a few moments. We are assembled together to-day for the purpose of promoting an institution which has been established in the hope of alleviating one of the greatest afflictions beneath which mankind can labour. In looking forth upon the world, and considering the calamities by which the human race is afflicted, I think we are more disheartened by the multiplicity of their forms than even by their amount. Pain, sorrow, and disease — poverty and hunger — sin and foUy — all contribute to swell the catalogue of human affliction, and for each and every one of them a separate remedy is required. Before we have succeeded in mitigating one description of evil, the ravages of another demand our attention. Like mariners speeding across a tempestuous ocean, we have no sooner set ourselves to the task of stopping one leak than the springing of a fresh one almost tempts us to give over altogether. Indeed, there is nothing that mankind has been so slow to learn as their power of remedying mischief. Sources of misery which, if not entirely subdued, have, at all events, been immensely abated, were for long years suffered to overflow the earth without an attempt being made to assuage them; evils which the benevolent devotion of one sina-le lifetime has completely cured, were suffered to afflict whole THE DEAF AND DUMB. 21 generations for centuries. How short a time it is since Howard proved that prisons need not be Pandemoniums — Mrs. Fry, that felons might reform— Lord Shaftesbury, that the poor of a great city need not herd together like the very lowest animals— Sir Humphry Davy, that those who labour in mines need not be blown up. I fear that the particular form of affliction for the alleviation of which this institution is established, has not proved an exception to the rule. For centuries a deprivation of the sense of hearing, and, con- sequently, of speech, has been thought incurable, and numbers of deaf and dumb people have lived their lonely life in this world, and descended silently to the tomb, insensible to our pity, incapable of giving utterance to their complaints, without a religion to console them. In fact, if we except one case selected as a miracle by Bede, it is not until the middle of the sixteenth century that any record is preserved of an attempt being made to educate deaf and dumb persons. We find it stated that Pedro de Ponce, a Spanish Benedictine monk who died in 1584, succeeded in teaching two brothers and a sister of the Constable of Castile, who were deaf and dumb from birth, to read and write ; and Sir Kenelm Digby brought to England an account of a similar cure performed upon another brother of the Constable of Castile, and for the truth of his account vouches no less an authority than that of King Charles I., who, on his visit to the Court of Spain, when Prince of Wales, " was very curious to observe and enquire into the utmost of it."* Ever since that time it has been considered perfectly feasible to restore, in a great measure, the lost senses. In this country, on the continent of Europe, and in America, institutions have been organised for the purpose — and talents like those of Dr. Kitto and M. Massieu have burst their fetters and risen far above the ordinary level of human intelligence — thanks to the exertions of those who have devoted themselves to this work. I believe it is calculated that there are 17,000 deaf and dumb persons in this kingdom. The British army that, sixteen months ago, left our shores to withstand the tide * See ' Philooophus ; or, the Deafe and Dumbe Man's Friend.' By I. B. (Jolin Bulwer), sirnamed the Chirosopher. London. 1648. Pp. 55 et seq. 22 SPEECHES AND ADDRESSES. of Eussian aggression in Asia, is considerably outnumbered by that silent multitude. Undoubtedly, then, it is our duty, if we wish to imitate Him who did all things well, who made the deaf to hear and the dumb to speak — to use our endeavours to redeem some of these thousands from their intolerable isolation. No physical impossibility prevents us. It has been found by experience that the deaf and dumb can be taught to speak in two languages — the language of signs, and the language, not of the voice, but of the lips. Of these, the language of signs is sufficiently obvious. Many nations who are remarkable for their volubility make use of gesticulations to increase their powers of expression ; some from indolence, like the Turks, indulge in them to gratify their passion for taciturnity, while the North American Indians are compelled to eke out, by a conventional system of signs, the extreme poverty of their language. Indeed it is a remarkable fact, that many of those seemingly arbitrary modes of expression which have been instinctively adopted by the inmates of some deaf and dumb asylums, are found to be in use among the North American Indians. By both the idea of truth is symbolised by the forefinger stretched out, and passed forward from the mouth in a perfectly straight line ; while a lie is signified by two fingers, joined together at the mouth, and then separating obliquely as they leave it. So, again, drinking is represented by the hand clenched in a cup shape, and raised to the mouth ; while if the idea of water is to be conveyed, instead of stopping at the mouth, the hand is raised above it. The signs for theft, exchange, fish, be quiet, snake, are also the same in both cases ; fool is typified by pointing the finger to the forehead, and whirling the hand round twice or thrice over the head. But I believe it is generally considered by those who have studied the subject, that the system of articulation with the lips, which enables a deaf and dumb person to maintain a dialogue, by watching the words shaped, as it were, by the lips of his interlocutor, is the one most preferred in this country. In the meantime our course is very clear — to give to those who have devoted themselves to the study of the subject, the THE DEAF AND DUMB. 23 means of putting into practice whatever remedies their wisdom has discovered, by which so sore a deprivation of the senses can be alleviated. Occasionally we read in the papers of some poor workmen upon whom, when engaged at the bottom of a well or pit, the sides have fallen in and buried them in the ruins. For days, perhaps, they remain imprisoned in the bowels of the earth, incapable even of crying out for assistance, while their friends and companions painfully, bit by bit, remove the superincumbent mass. At last, however, the sound of assistance reaches their ears, the prospect of relief stimulates their energies, they themselves endeavour to aid in the operation, working upwards, while those above work downwards, until light appears, the opening grows wider, and at last, partly by their own exertion, partly by the help of others, they are extricated from their horrible prison-house. So is it with the deaf and dumb. They are shut up in silence, isolated from the rest of the world, incapable of crying for assistance, and, worst of all, but too conscious of the horror of their situation ; at last it dawns upon them that their case is not hopeless, that endeavours are being made to help them ; they catch faint cries of encouragement — they hear the deadened blow of the pickaxe — their own intelligence begins to stir — to grope about the walls of its dungeon, to tear eagerly at the over-arching impediments. Gradually, slowly, one by one, the obstacles give way — a communication is established with the upper air — words of gratitude and encouragement are interchanged — the work of liberation progresses — is accom- plished ; at the same instant, the light of day and the light of eternity burst upon them ; and at last, though perhaps still bearing the traces of their late imprisonment, they stand at large upon the earth — men restored to the companionship of their fellow-men — souls admitted into communion with their Creator. ( 24 ) IV. SPEECH IN THE HOUSE OF LORDS IN SUPPORT OF THE SECOND READING OF THE PAPER DUTY REPEAL BILL. MAY 21. 1860. Earl Granville moved that the Bill be read a second time. Lord Lyndhurst having spoken, Lord Monteagle moved that the Bill be read a second time that day six months. LoKD DuFFEBiN Said : — My Lords, having formerly had the honour of being connected with the Government, but being now released from the obligations which that relationship is supposed to entail, I might take the opportunity of criticising the present measure, and emphasizing that criticism by a hostile vote. But I confess that after anxious inquiry and due deliberation, I have come to the conclusion that it will be my duty on the present occasion to give to Her Majesty's Government my most hearty and conscientious support. I cannot help thinking that this is a case in which it is very much to be deprecated that your Lordships should refuse to give your assent to the measiu'e which has been placed upon your Lordships' table. This, I think, will be admitted to be no ordinary occasion. The interests involved in this discussion are, at all events as far as your Lordships are concerned, of far greater importance than many of those with which you are generally called upon to deal. The interests at stake, I may be permitted to consider, are more important than the integrity of a budget, the reputation of a minister, or even the existence of a Government. The issue of to-night's discussion involves the reputation of your Lordships' House for wisdom and moderation, and willingness to act in accordance with the spirit of the constitution. The noble Baron (Lord Monteagle) has criticised with great PAPER DUTIES. 25 severity the financial measures of the Government. Of course whatever falls from him is worthy of your Lordships' attentive consideration, and it would be very presumptuous on my part to attempt to follow the noble Baron into that part of the subject. I could not speak on it with anything like authority, and I am not ashamed to confess that I do not feel competent to deal with it. But there is another part of the subject to which, with your Lordships' indulgence, I would venture to refer for a few moments — I mean, the constitutional aspect of the question. I confess it is most painful to me to find myself compelled to place any opinion of mine in opposition to that announced by a noble and learned Lord (Lord Lyndhurst), for whose ability, character, and experience, it is no exaggeration to say that I entertain the profoundest veneration. I feel, my Lords, that I am but like David against Groliath, with this unfortunate difference, that I cannot presume to have a divine mission. But, after all, every educated gentleman must have given some attention to the constitutional history of his country, and it is almost impossible for any individual, however humble, not to have formed some very decided opinion on many con- stitutional points involved in this discussion. With due deference to the noble and learned Lord opposite, I must say it seems to me one of the plainest doctrines enunciated by the constitutional history of the country that when the Crown applies to Parliament for the supplies to meet the necessary expenditure of the year, it is not for your Lordships to under- take the delicate, difficult, and invidious task of determining how and in what manner the necessary taxes of the year may be best adjusted so as to bear with the least severity on the shoulders of the people. It is the people of this country who themselves have the right of determining how those burdens may be most conveniently adjusted. My Lords, I should be very sorry to deny for one instant your right to deal with any Bill, of whatever kind, to which your assent is asked. The very fact of your assent being required is a sufficient proof of your power of rejection, and I can quite conceive that the occasion may arise when it would be your duty to exercise that power. I do not mean to 26 8PEE0EE8 AND ADDRESSES. say, my Lords, that any amount of popular clamour ought for a single moment to be urged as a ground for dissuading you from exercising those powers with which, in accordance with the principles of the constitution, you are invested. I cannot, however, but think that we should be acting contrary to usage and to the spirit of the constitution in resorting to the extreme exercise of any one of those powers except upon the most urgent and solemn occasions. The noble and learned Lord opposite, as well as the noble Baron who moved the amend- ment, insisted with much earnestness on certain precedents, which they quoted in support of their views in this discussion, but with all deference I doubt very much whether there has been a single instance in which a financial scheme initiated in the House of Commons has been interfered with in this House, except on political or economical considerations, with which we are not in the present instance called upon to deal. The noble Baron who moved the amendment laid great stress on the loss to which the revenue would be subjected if the excise duty on paper were repealed, and even went so far as to capitalise its amount. Now I cannot help thinking, with all due deference to the authority of the noble Baron, that to found any argument on the capitalisation of the tax is most unjustifiable. A tax which has been condemned by a resolu- tion of the House of Commons is like a tree scathed by lightning, which, though it still lives, puts forth only a sickly vegetation ; but a tax upon which execution has been actually done is like the same tree cut off close to the ground, all efforts to restore it to vitality, or to cover it with foliage or fruit, are vain. There is one other point which I would urge upon your Lordships' attention on the present occasion. During the last few years, it seems to me, a great change has taken place in public opinion. Sensible people have been revolted by the misrepresentation and exaggeration of men whose strong pre- judices tend to render their great talents of less use to their country than would otherwise be the case. These persons have, by means of misrepresentation and the use of exaggerated language, sought to wean public opinion from looking with PAPEB DUTIES. 21 favour upon your Lordships' House, but I firmly believe that the only efi'ect of the exaggerated language held in regard to your Lordships' House has been to induce the people of this country to regard with greater affection and respect the time- honoured institutions of the realm, and I am persuaded that if your Lordships wish to confirm those opinions which have always existed, and which have lately gained more strength, you will, by meeting violence with moderation, by acting on the present occasion with dignity and in accordance with the spirit of the constitution, justify the expectations of the people, and give another proof of the claim of your Lordships' House to the consideration and confidence of the country. ( 28 ) SPEECH IN THE HOUSE OF LORDS ON MOVINO THE ADDRESS TO HER MAJESTY IN ANSWER TO HER MAJESTY'S MOST GRACIOUS SPEECH FROM THE THRONE. FEBRUARY 6. 1862. LoED DuFFEEiN Said : — My Lords, in rising to perform the duty which has devolved upon me, I feel that scarcely ever has any member of your Lordships' House been called upon to address you amid more solemn or more trying circum- stances ; and most painfully am I aware how great is my need of your Lordships' patience and indulgence. My Lords, for nearly a quarter of a century it has been the invariable privi- lege of those who have successively found themselves in the position I occupy to-night to direct your attention to topics of a pleasing, hopeful, or triumphant character — to a gratify- ing retrospect, or a promising future — to projects of law calcul- ated still further to promote the rapidly increasing prosperity of the country — to treaties of amity and commerce with foreign nations — at the worst, to difficulties surmounted or disasters successfully retrieved — to foreign wars gloriously conducted and victoriously concluded. But, my Lords, to-night a very diiferent task awaits me. For the first time since Her Majesty commenced a reign of unexampled prosperity, we have been overtaken by a calamity fraught with consequences which no man can yet calculate — unexpected — irremediable — opening up alike to Sovereign and to people an endless vista of sorrow and regret. Amid such circumstances even the most practised speaker in your Lordships' House might well shrink from the responsibility of intruding the inadequate expression of his individual feelings on a grief which must have endowed the heart of every one who hears me with an eloquence far greater than any he can command. If, however, my Lords, there is THE DEATH OF PRINCE ALBERT. 29 anything that can mitigate the painful anxiety of my situa- tion, it is the conviction that, however inefScient — however wanting to the occasion — may be the terms in which you are urged to join in the proposed sentences of cqndolence with Her Majesty, the appeal must in its very nature command such an unanimity of earnest, heartfelt acquiescence, as to leave the manner in which it may be placed before you a matter of indifference. My Lords, this is not the occasion for, nor am I the proper person to deliver, an encomium on the Prince whom we have lost. "When a whole nation has lifted up its voice in lamen- tation, the feeble note of praise which may fall from any individual tongue must necessarily be lost in the expression of the general sorrow ; but, my Lords, superfluous as any artificial panegyric has now become, right and fitting is it that the public grief which first found vent in the visible shudder which shook every congregation assembled in this metropolis when his well-known name was omitted from the accustomed prayer — -which, gathering volume and intensity as reflection gave us the measure of our loss, swept towards the Throne in one vast wave of passionate sympathy, and is even still reiterated from every distant shore that owns alleg- iance to the British Crown, — right and fitting is it that such a manifestation of a nation's sorrow as this should find its final embodiment and crowning consummation in a solemn expres- sion of their feelings by both Houses of the British Legis- lature. Never before, my Lords, has the heart of England been so greatly stirred, and never yet has such signal homage been more spontaneously rendered to unpretending intrinsic worth. Monarchs, heroes, patriots have perished from among us, and have been attended to the grave by the respect and veneration of a grateful people. But here was one who was neither king, warrior, nor legislator — occupying a position in its very nature incompatible with all personal pre-eminence — alike debarred the achievement of military renown and political distinction, secluded within the precincts of what might easily have become a negative existence — neither able to confer those favours which purchase popularity nor possess- 30 SPEECHES AND ADDSESSES. ing in any peculiar degree the trick of manner which seduces it— who, nevertheless, succeeded in winning for himself an amount of consideration and coniidence such as the most dis- tinguished or the most successful of mankind have seldom attained. By what combination of qualities, a stranger and an alien — exercising no definite political functions — ever verging on the peril of a false position — his -daily life exposed to ceaseless observation — shut out from the encouragement afforded by the sympathy of intimate friendship, the support of partisans, the good fellowship of society — how such an one acquired so remarkable a hold on the affection of a jealous insular people might well excite the astonishment of any one acquainted with the temper and the peculiarities of the British nation. Yet, my Lords, after all, how simple and obvious is the secret of the dominion he acquired ! If, my Lords, the death of Prince Albert has turned England into a land of mourning ; if each one of us is conscious of having lost that calm feeling of satisfaction and security which has gradually been interwoven with the existence of the nation from the day he first took his stand beside the Throne ; if it seems as though the sun of our prosperity were darkened, and a pillar of our state had fallen ; it is because in him we have lost that which has never failed to acquire the unlimited confidence and enthusiastic veneration of Englishmen — a man who, in every contingency of life, in the presence of bewildering temptations, in the midst of luxury and splendour, in good report and in evil report, in despite of the allurements of vanity, of selfish- ness, and ambition, trod day by day and hour by hour, patiently, humbly, faithfully, the uninviting path of duty. My Lords, great must that people ever become whose highest notion of human excellence is the fulfilment of duty ; and happy may that man be considered who has been able to realise their ideal ! Of the various achievements of Prince Albert's career I need not remind your Lordships. We can, most of us, remember the day when he first came among us, and every subsequent chapter of his blameless life has been open to our inspection. We all know with what prudence he proceeded to exercise the functions of his elevated but difficult THE NATION'S LOSS. 31 station, and with what simplicity of purpose he accepted the position marked out for him hy the Constitution. Noble Lords on either side of the House can describe the impartiality of the welcome he extended to all the Parliamentary advisers of the Crown. Those who have had the honour of enjoying personal intercourse with him can speak not only to the grasp of his remarkable intellect, and the inexhaustible store of his acquirements, but still more to the modesty, the gentleness, and chivalrous purity of a disposition which invested the Court over which he presided with an atmosphere of refine- ment and tranquil happiness such as, probably, had never before been found in a Royal home ; while his various speeches, replete with liberal wisdom — the enlightened influence he exercised over our arts and manufactures — and, above all, the triumphant establishment of the Exhibitions of 1851 and 1862, will bear witness to that practical sagacity which, in spite of the apparent inaction to which he was condemned, could call into existence an unimagined field for the exercise of his untiring energy. And yet, my Lords, it is not so much for what he did, as for what he was, that the memory of Prince Albert will be honoured and revered among us, though, pro- bably, all that he has been to England no one will ever rightly know. As I have already had occasion to remark, the exigencies of his position required him to shun all preten- sion to personal distinction. Politically speaking, the Prince Consort was ignored by the Constitution —an ever-watchful, though affectionate, jealousy, on the part of the people, guarded the pre-eminence of the Crown. How loyally and faithfully the Queen's first subject respected this feeling we are all aware ; yet who shall ever know the nobler loyalty, the still more loving fidelity with which the husband shared the burdens, alleviated the cares, and guided the counsels of the wife? Some there are among us, indeed, who have had opportunities of forming a just idea of the extent to which this country has profited by the sagacity of Her Majesty's most trusted counsellor ; but it will not be until this generation has passed away, and those materials see the light from which alone true history can be written, that the 32 SPEECHES AND ADDRESSES. people of England will be able justly to appreciate the real extent of their obligations to one of the wisest and most in- fluential statesmen that ever controlled the destinies of the nation. But, my Lords, deserving of admiration as were the qualities I have enumerated, it is by ties of a tenderer nature that he has most endeared himself to our affection. Good, wise, accomplished, useful as he was, little would all these engaging characteristics have availed him, unless, before and above all else, he had proved himself worthy of that precious trust which two-and-twenty years ago the people of England confided to his honour, when they gave into his keeping the domestic happiness of their youthful Queen. How faithfully he has fulfilled that trust, how tenderly he has loved, guarded, cherished, honoured the bride of his youth, the companion of his manhood, is known in all its fulness to one alone ; yet, so bright has shone the flame of that wedded love, so hallowing has been its influence, that even its reflected light has gladdened and purified many a humble household, and at this moment there is not a woman in Great Britain who will not mournfully acknowledge that as in life he made our Queen the proudest and the happiest, so in death he has left her the most afSicted lady in her kingdom. Well may we then hesitate, my Lords, before we draw near, even with words of condolence to that widowed Throne, wrapped as it is in the awful majesty of grief; yet if there is one thing on earth which might bring — I will not say consolation, but some soothing of her grief, to our affticted Sovereign, it would be the consciousness of that universal love and sympathy with which the heart of England is at this moment full to bursting. Great as has been the afi"ection always felt for her by her subjects, the feeling has now attained an intensity difficult to imagine. Death and sorrow have broken down the conventional barriers that have hitherto awed into silence the expression of her people's love ; — it is not a Monarch in a palace that they now see, but a stricken Woman in a desolate home ; and public meetings, and addresses of condolence, and marble memorials utterly fail to interpret the unspeakable yearning with which the entire nation would fain gather her ENGLAND'S SYMPATHY. 33 to its bosom, and, if it were possible, for ever shelter her from all the ills and sorrows of this storm-shaken world. Surely, next to the compassion of God must be such love from such a people ! To give expression to these sentiments, as far as the forms of State will permit, will, I am certain, be the heartfelt desire of your Lordships' House ; and never, not even when in some day of battle and defeat your Lordships' ancestors made a rampart of their lives round the person of their king, will the Peers of England have gathered round the Throne in a spirit of more genuine devotion ; and heartily, I am sure, my Lords, will you join me in praying that the same inscrutable Providence which has visited our Queen and country with so great a calamity will give to her and us patience to bow before the dread decree ; and that the Father of the fatherless and the Comforter of the afflicted will, in His own good time, afford to our beloved Sovereign such a measure of consolation as is to be found in the love of her lost husband's children, in the veneration of his memory, in the fulfilment of his wishes, and in the imitation of his bright example. Such a wish can be embodied in no nobler words than those furnished by the great poet of our age : — " May all love, His love, unseen but felt, o'ershadow thee, The love of all thy sons encompass thee, The love of all thy daughters cherish thee, The love of all thy people comfort thee, Till God's love set thee at his side again." And now, my Lords, glad should I be might my task of sorrowful reminiscence be here concluded; but on such an occasion it is impossible not to remember that since we were last assembled the service of two other trusted and faithful counsellors has been lost to the Crown and to the State — the one a member of your Lordships' House, cut off in the prime of his manhood and in the midst of one of the most brilliant careers that ever flattered the ambition of an English statesman — the other a member of the other House of Parliament, after a long life of such uninterrupted labour and unselfish devotion to the business of the country as have seldom characterised the most indefatigable public servant. 34 8PEE0EEB AND ADDBE88E8. My Lords, it is not my intention to enumerate the claims upon our gratitude possessed by those two departed statesmen ; but, in taking count of the losses sustained by Parliament during the last recess, it is impossible not to pause an instant beside the vacant places of Lord Herbert and Sir James Graham. Each has gone to his account, and each has died, falling where he fought, as best befitted the noble birth and . knightly lineage of each. My Lords, whenever in her hour of need England shall marshal her armies for the vindication of her honour, or the protection of her territories, the name of him who laboured so assiduously for the improvement of the sanitary condition of the soldier at a time when peace was devastating our barracks in more fatal proportion than war our camps, will never lack its appointed meed of praise. And when the day shall come for the impartial pen of history to blazon those few names to whom alone it is given to be recognised by posterity as the leading spirits of a bygone age, the trusted friend, the laborious coadjutor, the sagacious colleague of Lord Aberdeen, and of Sir Eobert Peel, shall as surely find his just measure of renown. But, my Lords, it was neither in the hope of winning guerdon nor renown that the Prince whom we mourn and the statesmen whom we have lost preferred the path of painful, self-denying duty to the life of luxury and ease that lay within their reach. They obeyed a nobler instinct; they were led by the light of a higher revelation ; they cast their bread upon the waters in the faith of an unknown return. " Omnia fui, nihil expedit," sighed one of the greatest of Roman emperors as he lay upon his death-bed at York ; yet, when a moment afterwards, the captain of his guard came to him for the watchword of the night, with his dying breath he gave it, " Laboremus." So is it, my Lords, with us ; we labour, and others enter into the fruit of our labours ; we dig the foundation, and others build, and others again raise the superstructure ; and one by one the faithful workmen, their spell of toil accomplished, descend, it may be, into oblivion and an unhonoured grave— but higher, brighter, fairer, rises the fabric of our social polity ; broader and more beautiful spread out on every side the sacred realms LABOBEMUS. 35 of civilisation ; further and further back retire the dark tides of ignorance, misery, crime — nay, even of disease and death itself— until to the eye of the enthusiastic speculator on the destinies of the human race it might almost seem as if in the course of ages it may be granted to the intellectual energy and moral development of mankind to reconquer a lost Paradise and reconstruct the shattered harmony of creation ! In what degree it may be granted to this country to work out such a destiny none can tell ; but, though heavy be the shadow cast across the land by the loss of the good and great, most eloquently do their lives remind us that our watchword in the darkness still should be " Laboremus ! " D 2 ( 36 ) VI. SPEECH AT THE ANNUAL MEETING OP THE ROYAL HUMANE SOCIETY. JUNE 3. 1864. LoED DuFPEEiN Said : — The time has now arrived for me to propose to you the toast of the evening, " Prosperity to the Eoyal Humane Society," but in doing so I must confess to a good deal of embarrassment. On most occasions of this sort any one whose duty it is to enlarge on the claims of the particular institution or society he may happen momentarily to represent is sustained and inspired by the consciousness that he can afford information or suggest considerations to which it will be useful to give publicity and prominence ; but in recording the beneficent operations of this society, what am I to say that is not already known and testified to by hundreds upon hundreds of grateful hearts in every quarter of the globe, wherever waters sleep, or rivers run, or ocean penetrates? Nearly a century has elapsed since you first entered into this conflict with the powers of the grave, and dared to dispute with " the angel of death " the spoils he had already counted as his own. Each successive year has enabled you to inscribe fresh victories on your rolls. Nor need you dread, like Orpheus, to look back with pride and fondness on the triumphs you have achieved. Others undoubtedly have been engaged in analogous efforts. The advance of science, the spread of civilisation, have done much to preserve the world from the inroads of disease ; the citadel of human life is better guarded than formerly; but the utmost that either science or civilisation dare pretend to is an attitude of defence. To you alone has it been given to carry the war into the enemy's country and annex a province of his empire — to penetrate beyond the mysterious frontier which separates time THE ROYAL HUMANE SOCIETY. 37 from eternity, and restore to the kindly light of day and the pleasant love of friends those who have already tasted of the bitterness of death, whose eyes have peered into the dim border-land beyond the grave, whose feet have wended one stage on that journey not to be retravelled by mortal man. Yet great, and almost awful, as are these results, not only are they obtained by the simplest means, but the humblest and least masterful amongst us can be a sharer in them. Thanks to your admirable organisation, the veriest child, the feeblest woman who is enrolled as your supporter, each one of us assembled here to-night can claim a power to which the most favoured of Jehovah's prophets or Christ's apostles scarce aspired; nay, dare even use the words of one greater than prophet or apostle, and say to the disconsolate : " Thy brother shall rise again," and to the mourners : " Why make ye this ado and weep; she is not dead, but sleepeth." Let us drink, then, "To the prosperity of the Eoyal Humane Society." May the sphere of its usefulness be more widely extended every year, and its beneficent ministrations perpetuated through all time, until at length the day arrives when the cry of the castaway shall no longer rise from the bosom of the deep, and human hearts shall cease to buffet with the billows of adversity — when we shall have reached the shining strand beyond the silent river, and become citizens of that country whose only waters are the waters of life, and where, as we are expressly told, there shall be no more sea. ( 38 ) VII. SPEECH AT A TENANTS' DINNER AT CLANDEBOYE. APRIL 20. 1865. LoKD DuFFEHiN Said : — It is but too generally imagined, gentlemen, that in this country a less cordial understanding exists between the landlords and their tenantry than in other parts of the United Kingdom. I consider that to be altogether an erroneous impression. Whatever may be the case in particular districts, I believe that, generally speaking, not only in Ulster, but elsewhere in Ireland, the most friendly under- standing exists between the owners and the cultivators of the soil. If anything were wanted to prove this to be the case so far as our part of the country is concerned, it would be furnished by the demonstration of good-will towards me which you have contrived to give without allowing me to discover who are the particular individuals to whom I am indebted.* Nay, gentlemen, I will even go a step further, and I will venture to say that there is not a landlord in this country with whose joys and sorrows his tenantry would not show a similar amount of kindly sympathy whenever a fitting opportunity might arise ; and if anything could enhance our satisfaction at such a state of things, it would be the reflection that these genial tokens of good-will emanate from a race of men so incapable of servility as the tenant farmers of the " Black North " — for it proves that the intimate relations which subsist between the cultivators and the owners of the soil are established on a sound and healthy basis, and that in regulating the vital interests which subsist between them, the tenants are able to place as much reliance on the fair dealing and forbearance of * This refers to the bonfires and illuminations with which the whole country side was illuminated on the occasion of Lord Dufierin's marriage. TENANT-RIGHT AN INSUFFIOIENT SECURITY. 39 their landlords as the landlords can on the integrity, the industry, and the fidelity- to their engagements of the tenantry ; for it is only out of mutual esteem, respect, and confidence, that feelings like those to which we each have such pleasure in giving expression can arise. At the same time, gentlemen, I must not forget to state that, satisfactory as I consider our relations in all essential particulars, I am by no means sure that the details of the system we have adopted for carrying on our business might not be improved. Nay, I might even permit myseK to say, that if we met each other when transacting our business less as friends and more as men of the world, it might in the end result in our mutual benefit ; for, gentlemen, if I have a fault to find with you it is this — that in making your arrangements for the cultivation of your farms, you are disposed to place yourselves too much in your landlord's power, and to trust, I will not say to an unmerited, but certainly to an imprudent extent to his sense of justice. It is true there is the custom of Tenant-Eight, and most glad and thankful am I that the landlords of Ulster, by their unvarying practice of respecting the equitable claims of their tenants, even though unsupported by law, have contributed to the establishment of such a custom ; but after all, ready as I have been to accept the custom of Tenant- Right as an expedient for the present situation of affairs, it must always be considered an insufficient security to the tenant in comparison with that status which the law would give him if only he would take the precaution of making his bargain before he paid his money. As, however, I am afraid it is hopeless to attempt to impress you with a proper appreciation of this fact, and as many of you are irretrievably committed to the old system by the expenditure you have already made, I will content myself at present by submitting to you a few suggestions, by the adoption of which it seems to me your own position will be improved, and our mutual concerns proceed on a more business-like footing. In order, however, that you may better understand my meaning, I must be allowed to state in a few words what I apprehend to be the circumstances out of which the present 40 SPEEOEES AND ADDRESSES. rather complicated relations between the landlords and tenants of Ulster have arisen. It is a well-known fact that in former days — that is, some 250 years ago — the then proprietors of the soil, whose object it was to induce their fellow-countrymen to come over from Scotland to cultivate their almost unpopulated estates, were in the habit of letting off large areas, often comprising several hundred acres, at low rents, and under very long leases, con- taining improvement clauses according to the usual Scotch system. This system continued down to the beginning of this century. But in process of time, after the unoccupied lands were filled up, and when the sons and daughters of the original tenants began to multiply and replenish the earth — a good old habit, which I am happy to say their descendants still retain — each of these farms came to be subdivided amongst the younger members of the family, until at last the landlord on re-entering upon the management of his property at the expiration of the lease, found himself confronted by sometimes a dozen tenants, where his grandfather or great-grandfather had only inducted one. Here, then, began the first difficulty in the management of Irish property. But unfortunately here it did not end. In all probability every one of this dozen sub- tenants (of course I am putting the case generally, and am not talking of my own estate, where a different system prevailed) was surrounded by half-a-dozen stalwart sons, whose only notion of existence was to follow their father's plough so long as he lived, and to subdivide his holding when he died. Indeed, what other prospect lay before them ? Trade there was none. Manufactures there were none. Emigration there was not yet. The potato field bounded their moral horizon, and the strength and energy and intelligence which under happier auspices might have been applied to so much better purpose, were ignobly cramped within the four corners of a ten-acre farm. In the meantime the position of the landlord was scarcely more advantageous. Though no longer protected by a lease, the patriarchal colony I have described had struck such root into his estate, the evil days of the potato disease were so ORIGIN OF TENANT-RIOET. 41 distant, that he had neither inclination nor motive for interfering. The only stipulation, which came to be accepted by mutual consent as the obvious consequence of such a state of things, was that the tenant, who had already built his house before the ancient lease had expired, should keep it in repair, and if he needed more accommodation, should himself construct it, the landlord supplying stones, slates and timber, as the case might be. Hence arose the next peculiarity of the system now too largely prevailing in this country, namely, the custom for the tenant and not the landlord to make the permanent improvements ; for it must be apparent to every one that, were he as rich as Croesus, no landlord could have afforded to erect a separate dwelling-house and farm steading on every five, ten, or even twenty acres of his estate. Consequently but two alternatives lay before him, either to abolish all small holdings, and having squared up the land into small farms with buildings exactly proportioned to the requirements of the area to be cultivated, to let them to men of capital — which would have been an inhuman proceeding — or to acquiesce in the state of things actually existing until the progressive prosperity of the country, and the partial absorption of its agricultural population by more lucrative pursuits than ten-acre farming, should give him an opportunity of doing with advantage what it is most desirable he should do, namely, to make all the permanent improvements himself. From the moment, however, that the latter alternative is accepted, I mean that of allowing the tenant to erect the buildings, it becomes evident that the tenant's interest in his farm extends beyond that of an ordinary tenant under an agricultural lease, inasmuch as the twenty-one or even thirteen years which are found sufficient to enable a Scotch or English tenant to obtain an ample return for his expenditure in labour and draining are not sufficient to remunerate an Irish tenant for his outlay on a house and steading, unless indeed the rent of the farm should be expressly lowered out of regard to such a circumstance. On the other hand, as the landlord, in right of his proprietorship, is entitled to any advantage which may arise out of the incidental development of the latent properties 42 SPEECEEB AND ADDBES8ES. of the soil, or from an increase of prices, an improved means of transport, or other causes affecting the value of the land, it would be equally out of the question for him to apply a building lease to an agricultural tenure. Out of these conflicting considerations, therefore, has arisen the expedient generally known as the custom of Tenant-Eight, under which, whenever a tenant is required, or desires, to vacate his farm, he is supposed to receive from the in-coming tenant such a sum of money as may fairly represent the value of his various improvements, such as houses, buildings, or drainage, due regard being had to the duration of his expired occupancy. And, gentlemen, I must say, considering the difEiculties of the situation, I hardly think a more convenient device could have been invented for meeting them. A fair rent being put upon a farm by the landlord, what could appear more reasonable than to allow the in-coming tenant to decide what he would give for the farm-buildings and other improvements into the possession of which he was about to enter ? Unfortunately, however, the same vicious element which originally infected the Irish land system made itself felt at this stage of the proceedings, and in a great measure destroyed the legitimacy of the operation ; for the desire to obtain land at any cost having year by year augmented with the increase of a population, for whose energies no other outlet was apparent, the sums offered by competing candidates for the possession of a farm soon lost all relation whatever to the real value of the improvements they were supposed to represent, and, when unchecked by the judicious interference of an agent, sometimes nearly equalled the value of the fee simple of the land. Now, independently of its justice or propriety, a little reflection will convince you that a system conducted on such principles must result in ruin and disaster to all concerned. Who were the men who offered these large prices ? Were they men of capital, possessors of such sums of ready money as to justify them in indulging in any luxury they took a fancy to ? Was there anything peculiarly precious in what they desired to acquire ? Were the stables, the byres, the dwellings, of a superior description ? No ! on the contrary, so little is or was ABUSE OF THE CUSTOM. 43 this the case, that it may be stated almost as an axiom that the more inadequate the size of the farm the more ruinous the farm buildings, and the less affluent the man himself, the more reckless would be the offer he had made. In fact, gentlemen, what can be expected from a method of proceeding which not only drains a man of his last penny, but actually saddles him with debt, at the very moment when he is required to embark in a very considerable amount of expen- diture, if he has the slightest expectation of rendering his enterprise successful ? Again, how distressing and disheartening to any landlord whose ambition it is to leave his tenantry at his death in a better condition than that in which he found them, must be the spectacle of such a suicidal and deteriorating practice. Himself content to let his land at a far lower rate than the rack-rent, or competition price, in order that, by leaving them a more ample margin, his tenantry may live better, dress better, educate their children better, and rise in the social scale, he is forced to see his own moderation entirely neutralised by a surreptitious sale of nominal improvements, which abstracts from the pocket of his future tenant twenty years' purchase of the difference between the fair rent which he is content to take and the exorbitant rent he might have had from any one of a dozen people, had he been so minded. Nay, more ; even his very virtues — his liberality, his reductions, his good faith, the money he has spent in schools and cottages, and, above all, his low rents — tend to enhance the price against him; for the more considerate a landlord, and the easier his terms, the greater is the eagerness to live under him, and conse- quently the higher the Tenant-Right on his estate. Gentlemen, I have heard of a lady's virtue being a marketable commodity, but I am inclined to believe the reputation for kindness and fair dealing of many an Ulster landlord is a far more frequent, though hardly a more legitimate object of barter. From most of the evils of this system, however, I have done my best to protect you. In accordance with the practice of those who had gone before me, directly I came of age, while on the one hand I hastened to acknowledge the claim of the 44 8PEE0EE8 AND ADDBES8E8. tenant to fair compensation for his hona fide and unexhausted improTements, and would have been glad to see them recog- nised by law ; on the other I steadfastly set my face against the enormous sums which, in their recklessness and folly, many men were ready to give for farms, not only without any buildings upon them, but whose fields were in the worst and most exhausted condition. Having reduced my rents, and being myself ready to forego the advantage to be derived from the morbid craving for land which then existed, I was careful that my efforts for your benefit should not be neutralised by an illegitimate enhancement of Tenant-Eight prices. Disdaining to accept a competition rent which, as you very well know, would have added perhaps five-and-twenty per cent, to my rent roll, I felt at liberty to discourage the application of com- petition prices as applied to farm purchases. By continuing to insist, moreover, that no new tenant should be introduced on to the estate to the exclusion of those whose fathers had already held land under my ancestors for so many genera- tions, by giving the preference to a tenant adjoining the vacant farm, by instructing my agent to value the premises, and estimate the claims of the out-going tenant as against his successor, and by myself paying the sum thus assessed as com- pensation for improvements, and not charging it, or charging only a portion of it, to the new tenant, I have succeeded in providing most of you with a large quantity of additional land, which is every day becoming more essential to the success of agricultural operations, without your having to incur the expense to which you would have been put if I had not taken these precautions. Being convinced that land is worth no more than a fair rent, it has been, and will be, my constant object to let you have it on these terms. But, gentlemen, beneficial as these regulations have un- doubtedly been to you, their application has been a source of such anxiety and labour to myself, or rather to my agent, that I am very much inclined to make you a proposal which you will probably consider advantageous to yourselves, and which will relieve my office of a class of duties and responsibilities which do not properly belong to it. As I have already men- PROPOSALS FOB AN INDEPENDENT VALUATION. 45 tioned, whenever a tenant wishes to surrender his holding, and any one of my adjoining tenants is anxious to become his successor, I send my agent to the spot to value the improve- ments on the farm, and to see that justice is done between the two men ; that is to say, that the money the in-coming tenant proposes to pay is no more than commensurate with the value he is about to receive in the shape of houses in good repair, drains in working order, unexhausted manure, and good fences ; and I believe that the bargains carried into effect under his auspices have given general satisfaction. But at the same time it must be admitted that it would be more convenient that this duty of arbitration, if I may so style it, should be conducted by some other person than my agent — as, indeed, becomes even more apparent when occasions arise on which I myself under- take to compensate the out-going tenant for his improve- ments, for then, as it were, I am compelled to be judge in my own cause, a necessity which invariably results in the tenant getting a better bargain than he is entitled to, for I find that my agent is always disposed to be harder upon me than upon my tenant. In order to place these transactions on a more business-like basis, I would propose to you that we should refer all questions of this nature to some professional gentleman of recognised experience and ability, in whose judgment and impartiality you could place as much confidence as I myseK. Probably among the officers employed as valuators under the Encumbered Estates Court, some such person could easily be found, and, supposing always he be a man of recognised ability in his pro- fession, I should be quite content to leave the choice of the individual to yourselves. Twice a year, then, at those seasons when farms are wont to change hands in this country, this person would come down and repair to the several farms on which the improvements would have to be valued. He would go into each case on its individual merits. He would see with his own eyes what had been done by the out-going tenant ; he would examine his drains and his buildings ; he would hear the evidence of the neighbours as to the old fences which had been removed and the new ones erected ; he would sniff at the 46 SPEECHES AND ADDRESSES. manure heap, and test the condition of the soil ; in fact, he woidd possess himself of every item of the claim that, whether in reason or otherwise, could be brought forward by the tenant. On the other hand, the landlord would be represented by his agent, who would be able to urge whatever circumstances might be adduced as a set-off to the amount demanded by way of compensation, in which counter-claim would of course be included contributions in the shape of money or materials, express easements of the rent, length of occupation, or de- teriorations and waste. It is impossible not to believe that by such a process a settlement satisfactory to all parties would be arrived at. The principles on which the valuation is to be founded, I am willing to make as liberal as you can desire. Houses and farm- buildings shall be estimated at their actual value, without reference to the term of years that they have been occupied, always provided that they are suitable for the agricultural purposes to which they are supposed to be devoted. The same rule shall apply to gates, hurdles, machinery, and iron fences. Draining, standing crops, and manure shall be dealt with under the same rules as have been adopted in England and Scotland; in fact, my only desire is to carry out the principle of giving tG the out-going tenant the fairest possible compensation for his hona fide unexhausted improvements. Such, gentlemen, is the proposal I have to make to you. I believe it wUl be for your advantage to accept it, for although undoubtedly our relations will still be regulated, as far as these transactions are concerned, only by good faith and a mutual understanding, the machinery thus introduced will give an additional guarantee that your interests will be impartially attended to. Were it in my power, I would willingly convert the equitable obligations I thus recognise into legal claims, but the more I have considered the matter, the more convinced I am that legislative interference, though beneficial to good landlords, would take away from the tenant more than it accorded him. I have a right to pronounce an opinion on the point, for I have myself been the author of a Tenant-Eight Bill, and, to use an expression of St. Paul's, I am sure you will find DANQEBS OF TENANT-BIOET. 47 yourselves better " under grace than under the law." Never- theless, a Committee has been appointed by the House of Commons for the reconsideration of the question, and perhaps their labours may throw some light upon the subject. At all events, I am glad the matter will again be gone into; for the more searching the inquiry, the more business-like the investigation, the more fatal will it be to all unreal, exaggerated, shadowy pretensions, and the more beneficial will it prove to those whom it is the interest of every landlord in Ireland to cherish and protect — the tenantry who desire to make sub- stantial and tona fide improvements. In conclusion, gentlemen, I would again entreat you to do your best to discourage your neighbours, and those over whom you exercise any influence, from giving such unreasonable sums as are stiU offered for land in the most unimproved condition. You are all of you anxious to increase the size of your holdings, for it is very evident that the days of ten-acre farms are numbered, and therefore it is your interest to main- tain a reasonable market. Prices are still low, labour is daily becoming scarcer; it requires the utmost vigilance and industry for a man to farm even fifty or sixty acres with profit. The population is gradually awakening to the fact that there is something better for them to do in this world than share with their brothers a patch of their father's potato- ground ; and as an inevitable consequence of this more healthy feeling, it will gradually come to be understood that land is only worth the rent plus the real value of the farm-buildings upon it ; and these reckless purchasers of what they falsely call Tenant-Eight will find, when it is too late, that they have loaded themselves with debt, and expended the savings of years in the acquisition of that which possesses only an evanescent and factitious value. Far better would it have been for them if — instead of cUnging so tenaciously to the soil (which being limited in extent, can only be advantageously cultivated by a limited number), and, what is worse, cramping and confining the energies of their children within the limits of the same narrow and ungainful servitude — they had man- fully looked necessity in the face, and sought in other occupa- 48 BPEEOEES AND ADDRESSES. tions a healthier and more remunerative field for the exercise of their intelligence and energies. Gentlemen, it is undoubtedly a sad thing to watch the stream of noble-hearted, free, and energetic men, year by year flowing from the shores of Ireland to seek a better future on more abundant soils. But, gentlemen, I confess a still sadder, and to my mind a more terrible, spectacle presents itself whenever I see a patient, industrious tenant, hopelessly struggling on year after year, encumbered with debt contracted in order to purchase the Tenant-Right of a farm too small for remunerative cultivation, and surrounded by promising boys and girls whom his necessities confine to the drudgery of field-labour, and whose minds are gradually becoming spell-bound by the same unhealthy craving after a patch of land which originally tempted their father to his ruin. Such a sight, I say, is to my mind the more painful of the two, for whereas in the one case we can picture to ourselves the emancipated emigrant manfully working his way in the world, until at last his efforts are crowned with affluence and success, in the other we can only look forward to the gradual but sure approach of still more bitter disappointment, and a deepening degradation in each succeeding generation. ( 49 ) VIII. SPEECH IN THE HOUSE OP LORDS IN REPLY TO THE SPEECH OF THE EARL OP DONOUGHMORE CALLING ATTENTION TO THE GRIEVANCES OF THE OFFICERS OF THE LATE EAST INDIA COMPANY'S ARMY. MAY 15. 1865. My Loeds, — Before attempting to reply to the strictures passed by the noble Earl upon the military arrangements of the Secretary of State for India, I am most anxious to bespeak your Lordships' indulgence and forbearance, not only because this is the first occasion on which I have to address your Lordships in an official capacity,* but more especially because the subject with which I have to deal is one of so complicated a nature, one so encumbered with minute but important details, that the most practised speaker in your Lordships' House might well fail to render it either clear or interesting. Nevertheless, I am very glad that the com- plaints of the ofScers of the late East India Company's Army have been brought to your Lordships' notice. It is always most desirable, whenever any class of her Majesty's subjects consider themselves aggrieved, that the earliest opportunity should be afforded them of having their case examined, in order either that their grievances may be redressed, or in the event of their complaints being pronounced unfounded, that they should have the consolation of knowing that the most ample justice has been done them by so impartial an assembly as your Lordships' House. Further, my Lords, I am particu- larly glad that your Lordships have been given an opportunity of intervening on the present occasion, inasmuch as the singular want of interest in the various questions raised by the petitions * Lord Dufferin was at this time Under Secretary of State for India. E 50 SPEECHES AND ADDBESSES. of these Indian officers shown in another place (though followed by a division favourable to the complainants) will probably be regarded with as little satisfaction by the officers themselves as it has been, I believe, by the public at large. I must in the first place congratulate the Indian officers on securing so able an advocate as the noble Earl. The noble Earl is himself a soldier, and has served with distinction in the East, and he is always listened to with deserved attention by your Lordships. Although, however, I am unfortunately unable to agree with the view he has adopted, I am ready to welcome him as a most useful auxiliary in my endeavour to place your Lordships in possession of the facts of the controversy. For, my Lords, I can assure the House that I have no desire by any special pleading to make out a case against the clients of the noble Earl. On the contrary, I shall best discharge my duty to your Lordships and to the department with which I am connected by endeavouring simply to place the House in possession of the materials necessary to form a just opinion ; for I feel assured that if I can succeed in placing before your Lordships in a clear and lucid manner the exact circum- stances of the case, the difficulties with which the Secretary of State for India has had to deal, the mode in which those difficulties have been met, and the way in which the officers who now complain have been affected by the arrangements of Sir Charles Wood, your Lordships will not only consider that these complaints either have never had any cause for existence, or have been completely rectified, but that as far as regards their pay, pensions, and allowances, the position of these officers is far better than it was before these changes took place. The noble Earl prefaced his remarks by presenting a petition to your Lordships, but as the allegations contained in it are but the stereotyped complaints which have been promulgated in the various manifestoes issued by the very energetic com- mittee sitting in London, I think it will be better that instead of referring to individual cases I should endeavour to meet the noble Earl upon those wider grounds he has himself selected. In order to do so with advantage, it is necessary that I should TWO DIFFICULT PROBLEMS. 51 recall to your Lordships' recollection the circumstances out of which these changes have arisen. In 1857, as your Lordships are aware, occurred the greatest military convulsion of our century — the mutiny of the native army of India. As soon as the crisis was past, and we again found ourselves masters of the situation, the first question which occurred to every one was, how is the repetition of so terrible a calamity to be prevented? With the unanimous consent of every authority, both in this country and in India, it was agreed that the very first precaution to be taken was the reduction and reconstruction of the Sepoy army. A year later the annexation of the Empire of India to the Crown of Great Britain was determined upon, and then followed, as a consequence of this last arrangement, the amalgamation of the European portion of the Company's army with that of her Majesty. The Secretary of State for India then found himself charged with the execution of two of the most difficult operations that can be well imagined. I call them two operations, my Lords, for although they were so closely con- nected and followed in such quick succession, — the reduction and reconstruction of the native army, and the amalgamation of the Indo-European army with the army of the Queen, were entirely distinct events depending on different considerations, the one being a military necessity consequent on the mutiny, the other a matter of political and administrative convenience. Now all the grievances alleged by these officers have arisen out of the first of these operations, namely, the reduction and reconstruction of the native aimy ; the amalgamation having been effected by the simple process of voluntary enlistment of the officers and men of the local European army into the Queen's service. For the purposes of the present discussion, therefore, it will be sufficient to confine our attention to the method by which the reduction and reconstruction of the native Sepoy army were effected. At the outbreak of the mutiny the troops of the Company consisted of about 165,000 men, but before the year had elapsed and the mutiny had been suppressed, sixty-two out of the seventy-four Bengal native regiments had disappeared. The reduction of the rank E 2 52 SPEECHES AND ADDBESSES. and file of the native army presented, therefore, no great difficulties ; but the reconstruction and reorganisation of the 135,000 men whom it was determined to retain was a more difficult and delicate task, inasmuch as all the officers of the disbanded regiments, though they were no longer available for regimental duties, still survived in their respective cadres, and in any plan for the future it would be necessary to secure to these officers all the advantages of pay, pension, promotion and allowances, which they would have enjoyed if their vanished regiments had remained intact. In fact the problem submitted to Sir Charles Wood's ingenuity was not rmlike the old puzzle which requires you, with only twelve beds at your disposal, to accommodate thirteen nuns with a bed apiece. Though compelled by an imperious necessity to maintain an army only half the size of that which formerly existed, the Secretary of State for India was expected to provide all the officers of that former army with the same advantages of pay and promotion as if no reduction had taken place. In short, he found himself with twice as many colonels on his hands as there were regiments, while an analogous disproportion of officers to men extended itself to every other grade in the service. But the difficulties of the Secretary of State did not end here ; not only had he to take into account the interests and prospects of those officers, but he was also bound to consider, perhaps even with equal solicitude, the efficiency of his future army. Now in the opinion of all military men in India it had been always thought that the practice of detaching regimental officers for a lengthened period for staff and civil employment had a very bad effect. Under this system it was possible for an officer to spend almost the whole of his military career in India in civil or political employment. By many persons the total want of authority and influence over their men, exhibited by a great number of regimental officers at the outbreak of the mutiny, was attributed to this circum- stance, and long before the mutiny, one of the earliest im- provements suggested by military men in India was the abolition of this practice, and the substitution of some other NECESSITY FOB A STAFF COBPS 53 method by which the Government of India might supply itself with staff officers whom it could detach upon this description of service. Again, it was urged, with equal persistence, by persons of very great authority in India and at home, that the regimental ' organisation of the regular army should be entirely abandoned, and that the battalions of the reconstructed- force should be placed on the same footing as those irregular regiments which had done us such excellent service at the very moment when the regular system was breaking down. I am well aware, from some observations which fell from a noble Earl not now present (the Earl of EUenborough), that a difference of opinion may exist as to the policy of introducing the irregular system into the Indian army, but as the present discussion merely concerns the grievances of the Indian officers, and it is not a question as to how an army may be best con- stituted, I shall not attempt to go into that point, but shall content myself with citing such great authorities as Lord Clyde, Lord Elphinstone, Lord Dalhousie, and Sir John Lawrence, all of whom were in favour of the irregular system. I have mentioned these two circumstances in order to show how it came about that the establishment of a Staff Corps was an absolute necessity at this juncture, because it was only by dependence upon such a corps that it would be possible for the Indian Government to detach ofScers for civil or political employment, or to select officers who, from their peculiar attainments and ability, were proper persons to appoint to the irregular regiments about to be constructed. The institution of a Staff Corps having thus become an absolute necessity, the question then arose, whence was it to be recruited? Although at the moment a sufficient supply of efficient officers might be obtained from the local army, it was evident that in the future the strength of the Staff Corps would depend on officers of the Queen's army volunteering to join its ranks. But in order to induce officers of the Queen's army to volunteer into its ranks, and thus accept all the disadvantages of an Indian career, it became necessary to frame such regulations with regard to pay, pro- 54 SPEECHES AND ADDRESSES. motion, and the general status of officers in the Staff Corps, as would render that corps sufficiently attractive. Thus not only the establishment of a Staff Corps, but its internal economy, its pay, promotion, and general arrangements, were dictated to Sir Charles Wood by what I may call Imperial considerations, and it only remained for him to revert to the position of those officers of the local army whom it was undesirable or impossible to transfer to the Staff Corps or to the new irregular regiments, and to consider what further arrangements would be necessary in order to reconcile their personal interests with the exigencies of the public service for which he had thus provided. Your Lordships know what would have happened to such officers in England. They would have been placed on half- pay, as, at the end of the war in 1815, were officers who had fought in all the battles of Europe. But as it was desirable to retain the Indian officers in the enjoyment of all their former privileges as regarded pay and promotion, it was determined to deal with them exactly as if they had been still doing duty with their men. Having thus secured the two principal objects in view, namely, the reduction and reconstruction of the Indian army, and the preservation of the status and advantages of the local army. Sir Charles Wood proceeded to cope with those minor difficulties of detail, which still interfered with the working of his plan. These minor difficulties arose out of two circum- stances — the first was the fact that, one-half of the regiments of the Sepoy army having been abolished, it would be neces- sary to extinguish half the commands and emoluments which belonged to it; for it was perfectly impossible that the Government of India should be compelled or in any way bound to continue to all eternity twice as many colonelcies as the service really required. Now the only way by which such a reduction could in ordinary circumstances have been effected would be by leaving unfilled the vacancies which from time to time would occur by the deaths of existing officers. But inasmuch as this mode of procedure would at once stop pro- motion throughout the entire local army. Sir Charles Wood INCREASED FLOW OF PROMOTION. 55 determined to buy out such a number of the old Indian officers as would enable him not only to extinguish the supernumerary colonelcies, but to give such an accelerated rate of promotion to the whole army as would place the remaining officers on a better footing than before these changes. Accordingly — and I call particular attention to this point — no less a sum than £64,560 per annum was devoted to this purpose, in ad- dition to the pensions, amounting to upwards of £100,000 per annum, to which those officers would be, in ordinary circum- stances, entitled. About 300 officers, of whom ninety-eight were lieutenant-colonels, availed themselves of this opportunity. By not promoting any in the room of the first half of these lieutenant-colonelcies, but by giving promotion in the room of the other half, and to 400 other officers besides. Sir Charles Wood contrived not only to make the necessary reductions but also to communicate such an accelerated rate of promotion in the entire army that, whereas formerly it took on an average forty-five years for an officer to become a colonel, it would now take in all probability only thirty-nine ; and whereas it used to take six years for an officer to pass through the grade of major, he might now do so in two years and a half, or at most in three years ; yet, my Lords, one of the chief complaints of the Indian officers is that Sir Charles Wood did not grant promotion in the room of the first half of the batch of lieutenant- colonels whom he had bought out for the express purpose of effecting a reduction ! The next subordinate difficulty, for so it may be termed, in the application of the new regulations arose out of the circum- stance that whereas in the Staff Corps promotion did not necessarily depend upon length of service, in the local army it still continued, as formerly, to be regulated by seniority, and to depend on casualties. Accordingly, it sometimes happened that an officer transferred to the Staff Corps attained his promotion more rapidly than an officer who had been senior to him, and who had remained in the regiment to which they both belonged. That was undoubtedly very much to be deprecated, and would amount 'to a practical grievance. But no sooner was this grievance brought to the notice of the 56 8PEE0EES AND ADDBESSES. Secretary of State for India than he at once issued a brevet whereby he extended promotion to all the officers of the local army, upon exactly the same terms as to the officers of the Staff Corps, namely, by the application of a similar scale to both. Well, as the noble Earl has stated, that is one of the chief grievances alleged by the petitioners. These officers complain that their rank being only brevet rank carries no pay with it, while the staff officers, having substantive rank, receive pay in consequence. The answer to that is, that officers in the Staff Corps under the old system were always rewarded with special pay for special services ; and, although I am not a military man, yet I believe it is admitted by the profession at large that it would form no just ground of complaint on the part of any officers, if other officers dis- charging other duties are somewhat better situated in respect of pay than themselves. It should also be remembered that whereas the officers of the Staff Corps receive no batta, the officers of the local army receive full batta. By that means the inequality complained of is in a considerable degree redressed. The noble Earl has spoken of the parable of the sower, perhaps a closer analogy is to be found in the parable of the labourers who complained that they received no more than the penny for which they had engaged to serve. Such, my Lords, are the principal features of the changes which have been introduced into the military organisation of the Indian army by the Secretary of State. But perhaps it would be well that I should communicate to the House the mode in which these changes have affected the officers with respect to whom they have been devised. The old Indian army consisted of about 4000 regimental officers, of whom 1300 volunteered into her Majesty's army, another 1300 volun- teered into the Staff Corps, and are enjoying all the advantages of that corps. Some 300 more are actually employed on staff duty, and therefore have no reason to complain, and 300 have retired with a bonus greatly exceeding that to which they would otherwise have been entitled. Of the whole 4000, therefore, 3200 have been provided for in a manner which, so to speak, has been selected by themselves. Then there are UNFOUNDED COMPLAINTS. 57 450 officers still in the Madras army ; for I should mention that no change whatever has been introduced into that army, and therefore its officers can have no cause for complaint. Consequently there remain only 375 officers of the local army unemployed, who, though unavailable for regimental duties, are still retained on the cadres of their respective regiments, and receive pay and promotion in the favourable circumstances I have mentioned. I should have been very glad to have here concluded my statement, but in order that the noble Earl may not accuse me of any want of respect to the persons whom he represents, I will venture to say a few words on the subject of the petitions which the noble Earl has presented. I might certainly have declined to do so, for the simple reason that the principal grievances alleged in the petitions presented by the noble Earl have been submitted to the consideration of the Commission of which Lord EUenborough was a member, and have been pro- nounced by that Commission to be unfounded. The first of those grievances consisted in this, that Sir Charles Wood has retained in the cadres of their respective regiments the names of those officers who have been transferred to the Staff Corps. My Lords, I have explained to your Lordships how it was to benefit the officers of the old local army that two armies have been permitted to co-exist in India, the one upon paper — the old Sepoy army with 165 regiments, and the corresponding number of officers with no men — and the other, the actual army, consisting of the new irregular regiments and the Staff Corps. I have also endeavoured to explain that the only reason why that paper army is retained is that we may be able to extend to the officers enrolled in it all the privileges to which they would have been entitled had the whole rank and file of their regiments remained in existence. I venture to ask how these officers can complain of the system which has been adopted. If your Lordships examine the system which these officers wish to substitute, you will find that its adoption would give rise to a far greater amount of injustice and supersession than that of which they so bitterly complain. Take the case of two regiments. It would be quite possible (and, indeed, it has 58 SPEEOEEB AND ADBEEB8ES. occurred) that in one of these regiments half-a-dozen senior officers should be transferred to the Staff Corps, while in the other not one should be transferred. If the Government had adopted the suggestion that has been made, and had promoted the junior officers to the vacancies thus created, when the time came for them to take their line step they would have altogether superseded the greater portion of the officers of the other regiment, many of whom perhaps had entered the service of the Company before the others were born. More- over, if you turn to the precedents of the East India Company, you will find that in an analogous case, after the Cabul disaster, when certain regiments had lost the greater number of their officers, the Company, in order to retard the promotion of junior officers, actually interpolated other officers over their heads. Surely, if the East India Company were justified in taking so extreme a. measure, no blame can attach to the Secretary of State for India when, for the purpose of fairly regulating promotion throughout the entire army, he retains in the cadres of the regiments the names of officers who have been transferred to the Staff Corps. Another point is that under the old system there was no Staff Corps, yet from most of the regiments a great number of officers were invariably detached on staff employment. Their names were borne on the strength of their regiments, and they as effectually stopped promotion as if the present Staff Corps had then existed. Another grievance alleged by the noble Earl has regard to the Eegimental Bonus Fund. It was the habit in many of the Indian regiments, although not in all, for the juniors of the regiment, when promotion appeared to languish, to stimulate the retirement of the senior officers by endeavouring to make up a purse for them. But promotion in the Staff Corps now depends, not on casualties, but on length of service, and it is no longer an object for officers of the Staff Corps to subscribe to these bonus funds. Consequently the value of the bonus funds has diminished, and by a kind of reflex argument the Secretary of State for India is blamed for the result, as being the author of the Staff Corps. It should, however, be remem- bered that these bonus transactions were entirely of a private ADVANTAGES UNDER NEW REGULATIONS. 59 nature, and they have been pronounced, in the most specific terms, by our Courts of law to be totally illegal. The practice has never been recognised by the military authorities, although it has undoubtedly been winked at. Moreover, every time a young oiBcer put his hand into his pocket he obtained fair value, in the shape of promotion, for what he had given, and nothing could be more unfair than to call upon the taxpayer of India to make up the loss incurred on these irregular speculations. It is, I can assure your Lordships, a most difficult and ungracious task that I have had to discharge, because nothing can be said in support of the debt of gratitude that we owe these Indian officers that I do not agree with. But as I am convinced that, on the whole, the balance of advantage in the late changes in the organisation of the Indian army has resulted to a considerable extent in favour of the officers, no other course was open to me but that which I have adopted. As it is the intention of the Government to recommend the issuing of a Royal Commission to inquire how far the recom- mendations of the former Commission have been carried into effect, it would be only a waste of your Lordships' time to trespass further upon your attention, and I will therefore conclude by reminding your Lordships that the advantages accruing to officers of the local army under Sir Charles Wood's regulations may be briefly stated in the following terms. In the first place, there has been granted to them, in addition to everything they previously possessed, an annual sum of a quarter of a million of money. Secondly. In consequence of a grant of £64,560 a year, forty- nine officers, whose promotion would otherwise have depended on casualties, have received immediate promotion to the rank of lieutenant-colonel, while 400 other officers, majors, captains, and lieutenants, have received corresponding advancement. Thirdly. A lieutenant-colonelcy will probably now be reached in thirty instead of thirty -four years, and a colonelcy in thirty- nine instead of forty-five years, while the grade of major will probably be passed in half the former time. ( 60 ) IX. SPEECH IN THE HOUSE OP LORDS IN OPPOSITION TO EAEL GREY'S MOTION FOR A COMMITTEE TO CONSIDER THE STATE OP IRELAND. MARCH 16. 1866. Earl Grey moved "That the House will on Tuesday next resolve itself into a Committee of the whole House to consider the state of Ireland." LoED DuFPEEiN Said : — My Lords, I ought perhaps to make some apology for addressing your Lordships at this period of the evening, when so many other noble lords are anxious to offer some remarks on the important topics which have been brought under the notice of your Lordships by the speech of the noble Earl (Earl Grey). I thought, however, that it might not be displeasing to this House, and not inconvenient for the purpose of the impending division, that some one who, like myself, is not identified with any political party or religious sect in Ireland, but whose material interests are connected with the prosperity of that country, should submit to your Lordships such facts and considerations in connection with the present condition of Ireland as his own personal experience and obser- vation have taught him. And in endeavouring to discharge this duty I can assure your Lordships that my sole aim and anxiety will be to put the House in possession of what I believe to be the actual and simple truth, without any endeavour to exaggerate or distort it. In the first place, I beg leave, both as a peer of Ireland and as a member of your Lordships' House, to tender my most hearty thanks to the noble Earl for having given us this oppor- tunity of discussing the state of Ireland. When it has become necessary to apply to that country such a severe measure of re- pression as the suspension of the Habeas Corpus Act, it is right OBJECTION a TO THE MOTION. 61 and fitting that we should as soon as may be enter upon an examination of the relations subsisting between the two countries, and that we should, however disheartening the task may be, take down the volume of Ireland's wrongs, which it was hoped had been closed for ever by the remedies which past Parliaments have provided, and go again, item by item, line by line, through the whole of that sorrowful account. But while I approve the course adopted by the noble Earl so far as it enables your Lordships to consider the condition of Ireland, it will nevertheless be my duty to ask your Lordships to nega- tive the motion upon two grounds. The first objection to the motion is on the ground of form. I believe it would be most inconvenient if the House were called upon, whether it went into committee or not, to pronounce an opinion upon resolu- tions with which it has not had an opportunity of making itself acq[uainted. It appears to me that in the course which the noble Earl has pursued in making his speech and reading his resolutions, he has adopted the practice of the American duellist, who, first concealing a twelve-barrelled pistol about his person, engages his antagonist in conversation, and then discharges the weapon at him through his pocket.* But I also object to the motion because I believe it is founded on the altogether erroneous assumption that the evils, the discontent, and the disaffection which, it cannot be denied, exist to a certain extent in Ireland, are the results of legisla- tion. In reality, however, they neither result from legislation, nor can they be removed by any abnormal or exceptional legis- lation at the present moment. I do not for one moment mean to say that there are no remedial measures which can be applied to Ireland. Indeed I should be sorry to make such an observation in regard to England or to any other prosperous country, but what I do say is that the subjects which are put forward as grounds of complaint by the promoters of the Fenian movement, and by the promoters of that wider sphere of discontent which also exists, though I believe it to be * Earl Grey had read to the House twelve resolutions which he intended to move in the event of his proposal for a Committee of the whole House being adopted 62 SPEECHES AND ADDRESSES. extremely attenuated, are not the result of any legislation or of any want of legislation, but are to be traced, in the first place, to a traditional hostility to this country engendered by evils long since abolished ; secondly, to certain peculiarities in the national character ; and thirdly, to the operation of natural laws which neither the ingenuity of statesmen nor the legisla- tive omnipotence of Parliament can pretend to control. Now in order to ascertain how far this view of the case is correct, I would ask your Lordships to consider what are the things of which complaint is made by those who represent themselves as champions either of the Fenian movement or of the national party in Ireland. As far as I have studied the manifestoes issued by the leaders of the Fenian movement or their followers, I have only discovered three subjects of complaint that come within the competence of Parliament. The first of these is that which enlists the sympathy of the noble Earl — namely, the exist- ence of the Established Church in Ireland; the second is the absence of security to the tenant for compensation for improvements ; and the third the extensive emigration. I ask your Lordships to examine the three counts of the indictment preferred against the Imperial Government. The first inquiry is as to whether the disafiection now exist- ing in Ireland can be referred to any one of them, and the next is whether any change that we could make would have the effect of extinguishing that disaffection. Now the noble Earl has made a very vigorous and a very formidable attack upon the Established Church in Ireland, and I do not appear here as an advocate or apologist of the Established Church system in Ireland. With a great deal that has fallen from the noble Earl I am disposed to agree, but I say that the presence of the Established Church in Ireland has not anything to do with the present disaffection. If the revenues of that Esta- blishment were transferred by a prospective measure to take effect at the death of the present incumbents, I do not believe that would keep a single man from crossing the Atlantic or prevent the casting of a single Fenian bullet. The designs of the Fenians are directed as much against the moral supremacy DEMAND FOR TENANT-RIGHT. 63 of the Catholic priesthood as against the material emoluments of the Established Church. Persons connected with the Fenian movement have been heard to express regret at the passing of the Emancipation Act on the ground that it kept men from their ranks who would otherwise have joined them. I am ready to acknowledge the anomalies of the Established Church in Ireland, and I am ready to argue the matter in the abstract on general grounds of policy ; but, considering the humble position which I occupy in the Government, I think it will be more becoming in me not to follow the noble Earl through such details or to trouble the House with any lengthened statement of my private opinion on the subject. I think that it will be more convenient that I should at once proceed to the subject which other persons have considered to be a more essential element of Irish discontent — namely, Tenant-Right. My Lords, I admit at once that the inquiry how far the uneasiness which undoubtedly exists in the minds of the occu- pants of land is to be identified with the Fenian movement is a more difficult investigation than that connected with the Church ; but nevertheless I am convinced that I shall be able to show your Lordships that the agrarian revolution which the Fenians have in view is a thing entirely distinct from the extravagant pretensions advanced by persons who put them- selves forward as the advocates of the tenants in Ireland ; because while the small farmers are generally loyal and are interested in the security of land, their farmsteads and their cattle would be the first sacrifices to a successful Fenian insur- rection. I do not propose this evening to enter into a minute investigation of the nature of the transactions between land- lord and tenant in Ireland. I may, however, observe that as estates in Ireland are much subdivided, it is very difficult for a landlord, dealing with a number of tenants who do not occupy more than thirty acres and some whose holdings are as small as five acres, to find the necessary buildings and farm accommodation for all his tenants. Moreover, it has become evident of late years that these small patches of ground cannot be cultivated with advantage, and consequently the landlord is reluctant to build four or five farmhouses where, if the farms 64 SPEECHES AND ADDRESSES. were of proper size, one would suffice. The result is that it has become a frequent practice for the tenant to make the improve- ments himself, but I think it right to say that this rule is not without exceptions. Since 1847 no less a sum than £1,800,000 has been expended by the Irish landlords in the improvement of their properties, and of that amount no less than £75,000 has been expended on farm buildings and £4,500 on the erection of cottages. But, notwithstanding this, it must be admitted that improvement by the tenant is the rule ; and I must say that the Irish tenant without a lease is in a much less favourable position than a Scotch or an English tenant. But in consequence of circumstances to which I have referred, the Irish farmer is placed at a further disadvantage owing to the unwillingness of some landlords to grant leases. I think they are wrong. On the other hand, the Irish peasant has such a desire for the possession of land that the small farmer cannot be induced to pass from the condition of an im- poverished tenant to that of an independent labourer. He will make any promise and endure any privations to acquire the possession of land. I can understand that in countries where side by side with the small holdings of the peasants there are other means of absorbing the extra labour of the peasantry, and where thus there are means of preventing the continual subdivision of those small holdings, small farms may be found to answer ; but I am glad to have this oppor- tunity of expressing my conviction that this system has been the curse of Ireland. In illustration of some of its evil effects I may observe that the small farmers, not being in a position to pay for labourers, are forced to take their children away from school at the very time when they ought to be receiving such an education as would enable them to earn their own livelihood. As long as their father is alive these children live in a worse position than that of any labourer, and when he aies their sole ambition is to divide his farm in small patches among them. From this state of things has sprung up that unfortunate competition for land to which we owe the unpro- tected position of the tenant. As long as the old management of the estates prevailed the evils of the system did not display TEE BiaET OF DISTRAINT. 65 themselves so strikingly, but when under the operation of the Encumbered Estates Act the old tenants were brought into contact with men of more business-like habits who had bought the property to make money of it, these tenants became more sensible of their position ; and hence the demand for Tenant- Eight. But there can be no greater mistake than to confound this appeal for what the tenants suppose to be their rights with the proposal of the Fenians for a re-distribution of land in Ireland. In fact, my Lords, it stands to reason j that those very persons who are anxious for parliamentary in- terference on the ground that they are about to lay-out con- siderable sums of money on their farms, would be.the very last to jeopardize those important interests by embarking in so dangerous an enterprise as the Fenian insurrection. If it were necessary I could prove to your Lor dshipa that, although the adoption of some of the amendments in the law suggested by the more enthusiastic friends of therfarmer might ultimately prove beneficial, yet their immediate effect would be to stimu- late discontent rather than to /extinguish it. Take, for instance, a very favourite iinprovement suggested in the North, and which, I admit,/ might be ultimately beneficial — I mean the taking away^.from. the . landlord of the . right of distraint. Suppose thatis^ieh %.■ >tfhange in the law was seen to be impending, what would be the immediate conse- quence ? On every estate in Ireland where a heavy weight of arrears exists, no matter how indulgent the landlord, he would at once, to protect his own interests, call in those arrears ; and however satisfactory to the philosopher and the philanthropist such a clearing up of old scores would be, it is very doubtful whether you could persuade the unfor- tunate tenant who suddenly found himself overtaken by an unexpected demand for payment to the landlord of all that is due to Mm, that the legislation productive of such a demand is of the beneficent character which it is represented to be. In fact, the misfortune of the state of Ireland is this, that for a series of years the fabric of society has rested on a wrong 66 SPEECHES AND ADDRESSES. foundation. In consequence of what I shall call a dispensation of Providence, the reconstruction of that fabric has in some degree become necessary, but a state of transition is in every community a state of suffering to a great number of individuals affected by it. When introducing, improvements which are likely to place the machinery of society on a better footing hereafter, whilst stimulating the progress of transition you are very apt to increase the actual amount of discontent. Of one thing I am perfectly certain, that no portion of the present disaffection in Ireland can be traced to neglect on the part of the Government in introducing laws for the improvement of the relations of landlord and tenant ; although I may take this opportunity of asserting that it would be very possible to improve the law, and to render it, what it now is not, as liberal as the law of landlord and tenant in either of the sister kingdoms. Now, my Lords, it only remains for me to notice the third ground of complaint cast in the teeth of the Imperial Govern- ment, and insisted on with considerable force by the noble Earl, namely, the excessive emigration from Ireland which has taken place during the last twenty years. It has been said by a very eminent person in another place, that deep-seated indeed must be the evils of any country from whose shores so vast a proportion of the population is compelled to flee. With t^at observation I entirely and cordially agree. But the question is, are these evils the result of legislation, or are they due to causes entirely beyond the power of any Act of Parlia- ment to deal with ? Let us consider calmly and dispassionately the nature of this emigration. In the first place, I must be permitted to correct three prevalent misconceptions, namely, that emigration only commenced after the potato failure ; that it was principally confined to the Celtic portion of the popula- tion ; and that it was mainly stimulated by evictions carried out by the landowners. The fact is that in the ten years previous to 1841 more than half a million of persons quitted the shores of Ireland, and on a comparison founded on the denominational census of 1834 and 1861 it will be found that although over the whole of Ireland the decrease among THE "GOOD OLD DAYS." 67 the Celtic portion of the population may have been in a more rapid ratio, yet that in the purely agricultural districts the Protestant and the Eoman Catholic emigration was nearly identical. How very little influence upon the emigration from Ireland is to be attributed to evictions by the landlords will be seen when I mention to your Lordships that on an average the number of evictions during the past few years has been from 600 to 700 annually, while the number of emigrants has been from 80,000 to 110,000. And that some such change was necessary is amply proved from the following simple fact, which is one of the most significant that ever came under my notice, and which is vouched for on the conjoint authority of Arch- bishop Whately, Archbishop Murray, and Mr. More OTerrall. In 1831 it appears that five persons were engaged in the cultivation of the soil of Ireland on the same quantity of land as was cultivated by two persons in Great Britain, and that at the same time the total agricultural produce of Great Britain was exactly four times the total of the agricultural produce of Ireland. The fact is that the whole fabric of the State at that time was based on one of the most unsubstantial and insecure foundations on which any country ever existed. From the landlord in his mansion to the peasant in his cabin, every one was in great measure dependent upon the potato. Undoubtedly every man in those days was happy enough, and I believe that they are still looked back to as " the good old days before the potato famine." It is quite true that the poorest peasant could always find a patch of mountain where he could grow his favourite vegetable; there were always stones and mud at hand out of which to construct a cabin ; there was always a bog from which to cut turf; there was always a handsome girl to make him the father of twelve children in about a dozen years, and there was always the pig to pay the rent. Potatoes, pigs, and children were propagated in a highly agreeable and free-hearted manner. But, my Lords, will anybody tell me that this species of existence is one to be regretted, or re-established if that were possible ? Will any F 2 68 8PEEGEES AND ADDBE8SE8. one say that the thousands and thousands of energetic, indus- trious men who are now pushing their way in the world on the other side of the Atlantic have not been benefited by the change imposed upon them, not through any interference on the part of Parliament, but by a most merciful interposition of Divine Providence ? It is quite true that to the people them- selves the crisis of transition was a period of great discomfort and great physical suffering. Naturally they resented the change ; they felt aggrieved at being compelled to leave the fields and glens endeared to them by so many happy memories. But the change once made, that they neither regretted it nor failed to benefit by it is proved by one of the most touching facts to be found in the history of any nation. Within sixteen years from the commencement of this emigration, the people who had quitted their native shores almost in the guise of paupers, had actually remitted no less a sum than £12,000,000 for the purpose of enabling their friends and relations to share the happier prospects which were being opened up to them in their new country, whose wonderful fertility and scanty popu- lation at once stimulated their industry and rewarded their labour. These remittances of money, it is needless to add, were long anterior to any suggestion of Fenianism. There cannot be a greater mistake than to imagine that emigration is anything but a benefit to those that go and to those that stay. If we compare the density of its population with that of other nations, we find that Ireland is still more densely populated than any other European country. In every square mile in Ireland there are 181 persons, in France 177, in Prussia 171, in Austria 148, in Scotland 101, and in Spain 90. Unhappily the resources of Ireland, mineral, manufacturing, or natural, are not in proportion to its population. At this moment there are in that country no more than 815,000 persons engaged in the pursuits of commerce or manufacture, while in England 5,500,000 are absorbed by these industries. On the other hand, there are probably 300,000 families, or 1,000,000 persons, dependent on the land in Ireland in excess of those needed for its proper cultivation. Although some exception may be taken to these figures, THE TIMIDITY OF WEALTH. 69 which I have taken from the census tables of 1861, yet the great fact still remains unqualified, that a large proportion of the people of Ireland are hanging on, as it were, to the skirts of society, and standing aloof from the disciplined ranks of labour. But, my Lords, perhaps it may be objected that if we were to develop the resources of Ireland, we should find occupation for all these millions. That is an observation to the force of which I at once bow. I believe Ireland is capable of sustaining a far larger population than it has yet borne ; I believe there are a hundred fountains of wealth still to be unsealed in Ireland ; but what I say, my Lords, is this, for Heaven's sake do not keep thousands and thousands of indus- trious able-bodied men in a degraded state of idleness until we shall have discovered the secret for unlocking those fountains of wealth, and for attracting the necessary capital to work them. Of those who speak of developing the resources of Ireland I would ask, how can you expect that the resources of any country can be developed as long as a state of insecurity prevails in the country ? Thousands of years ago Aristophanes observed that Plutus was a most timorous deity*, and depend upon it that Plutus is much too wise to trust himself in a Fenian agitation. Now, my Lords, in connection with this part of my subject, it so happens that certain facts have come to my personal knowledge, and I think it desirable that not only your Lord- ships, but also the public at large, should be made acquainted with them. To those who have been carefully watching the progress of Ireland during the last three years, I do not know that any symptom is so encouraging and hopeful as the evident desire which began to operate a short time ago among English capitalists to invest their money in Ireland. I observed in the summer of last year that an English company which had been formed for the purpose of spending a million and a half of money in building speculations in Ireland, had commenced * XPE. "AXij^es; S SeiXdraTc Travrcov Sai/Aovcov. v. 123. XPE. Ntj tov a"' a.)iXai, Koi Xiyovcri irai'Tes o)S SaXoraTOV tcrff h nXoST09. ■^- 202. Aristophanes. — Plutus. 70 8PEECEES AND ADDRESSES. operations by purchasing land within three miles of where I live. But the Fenian agitation declared itself, and, rather than continue their enterprise, the promoters of the speculation sacrificed the capital which they had already invested and disappeared out of the country. Another case is that of a gentleman who, having made his fortune in Manchester, left England for Drogheda, the birthplace of his ancestors, and from a feeling of benevolence towards his fellow-countrymen, established a large cotton manufactory. In consequence of the cheapness of labour, and the advantages offered by the waters of the Boyne for the manufacture of cotton, he was able to prosecute the industry with success, and last summer half- a-dozen of his friends in Manchester went over to Ireland, from no motive of benevolence, but simply from a desire to share in the profits of what they hoped would be similarly successful ventures, but Fenianism broke out and they have abandoned their intentions. Then, too, the tourists who visit Ireland during the summer were a very large source of revenue to many of the towns and villages in the South of Ireland. The number of visitors to Killamey alone amounted to 500, representing an expenditure of several thousands of pounds a week, but imme- diately the Fenian agitation occurred the whole of them left. I myself met them returning from Dublin in a panic, and after September not a dozen visitors showed themselves in the place. I could, my Lords, multiply instances such as these to show the way in which capital was turned aside as it was in the very act of flowing into the country. And, my Lords, I have no hesitation in saying, notwithstanding the statement made by the noble Earl, that at that time Ireland was in a very prosperous position. And at this moment I declare Ireland to be in a very prosperous position. The noble Earl unfortunately took it for granted that we should be ready to accede to his statement when he spoke to us of what he called " the admitted decline of Irish prosperity." I will not trouble your Lordships with too many statistics, but I will mention a few facts which I have culled from authentic returns. In 1865 the cattle of Ireland was valued at two millions of money above the valua- tion of the previous year, and the value of live stock at this IRISH PROSPERITY. 71 moment is £26,000,000 in excess of what it was in 1841. Then if we turn to other agricultural statistics, we find that during the last year 125,000 additional acres of land were brought under pasturage, and since 1841, 200,000 acres of waste land have been reclaimed. Again, 233,000 acres were under flax last year, which is an advance of as much as 63 per cent, on the area of cultivation of flax in 1861. Then with regard to- wages. The noble Earl stated that the Irish labourer was underpaid, but in my own county an Irish labourer can always earn Is. 2d. to Is. ^d. a day ; in harvest time he gets not less than 2s. a day. A railway labourer earns from 10s. to 12s. a week, while the carpenter, mason, and skilled workmen generally make from £1 to £2 a week. And Judge Longfield, who I believe will be accepted as a person capable of forming a correct judgment upon these matters, states that the actual rise of wages in Ireland has amounted to 80 per cent, within the last twenty years. Again, if we refer to the Poor Law Eeturns as another test of the con- dition of the country, we shall find that in 1865, 34,224 fewer persons were in receipt of relief than in 1863. If we turn to the Police Eeturn, we find the diminution of crime has been absolutely marvellous. The cases have been reduced from 10,000 in 1850 to 4,600 cases in 1864. Then if we go to the deposit banks, we find that there has been an increase in the amount of deposits from £4,000,000 in 1863 to £11,000,000 in 1865, and at this moment they stand £1,000,000 in excess of the largest sum deposited at any time during the last twenty years. If we look to our manufactories, we find that the power looms in the North of Ireland have been actually doubled within the last five years, the exports of Belfast have doubled within one year, and, although I quote from memory, I think I am justified in saying that the actual wealth of Ireland at the present time is £52,000,000 in excess of what it was in 1841. These facts, I think, show plainly enough that Ireland is far from retrograding; but I have something even more surprising to relate. Whilst the agricultural wealth of Ireland has been steadily increasing, that of Great Britain has remained nearly stationary ; and, in fact, between ' the years 1815 and 72 SPEECHES AND ADDBESSES. 1856 the annual wealth of Great Britain derived from land and agriculture was diminished by nealry £900,000.* It may perhaps be asked, to what is the present disaffection in Ireland attributed, if it is not to be accounted for by the existence of the Established Church, or by the alleged unsatis- factory condition of the land question. I believe that this question can be easily answered. Let us see for a moment what have been the invariable characteristics which have signalised the periods of disaffection in Ireland. In every case demonstrations of a rebellious character in Ireland have been propagated from without. In 1798 the rising in Ireland followed upon the French Kevolution. In 1848, too, the events in Ireland were the consequence of European disturb- ances, and the abortive attempts of 1866 may be traced even more clearly to foreign influence. It may, with great justice, be demanded why the Irish people are always so willing to lend themselves to the wiles of these alien sedition-mongers ; but that question, too, is easily answered. I must, however, first deny that the Irish people generally are disaffected. I beKeve that as a whole the Irish nation is essentially loyal and contented, but there does undoubtedly exist among the lowest class of the Irish people a traditional hostility to this country, a feeling engendered, no doubt, by the evil treatment that Ireland has met with at the hands of England during past centuries, a feeling which it is of course absurd to expect will disappear at once. Nothing, moreover, is more remarkable than the loyal and enthusiastic devotion which pervades the minds • Net amount of the Property and Income of Great Britain derived from Land and Agriculture, liable to Assessment for Taxation in tlie years 1815 and 1856. 1815, 1866. Land : — Land ■* Tithes I Manors! ' Fines j Farmers' profits . Total . 21,762.280 Land : — Land \ Tithes Manors Fines Fisheries Farmers' profits Total.. 38,163,935 24,224,443 62,388,378 THE REAL CAUSE OF DISAFEEOTION. 73 of the Irish people towards what they regard as a national cause. I would only remind your Lordships, as an instance of the attachment of the Irish peasant to what he considers his faction or party, of the feud which existed between two villages — I do not for the moment remember their names — in which the respective parties were dignified by the appellations of the " two year olds " and the " three year olds." These factions availed themselves of every opportunity they could find to break their adversaries' heads, and to commit upon one another every kind of cruelty, and all on account of a dissension, the cause of which had been completely forgotten in the lapse of time. When, therefore, a large number of adventurers spread them- selves over the country, opening the beerhouses and scattering handfuls of silver in all directions, telling a poor and excitable population that an American fleet is on its way to Bantry Bay for the purpose of bestowing upon each of the enraptured listeners a smart house and property, it is not to be wondered at that they have been to some extent successful, although it is satisfactory to notice that the victims of these delusions are confined to the most ignorant of the masses. Your Lordships will observe that each successive attempt at revolution in Ireland has been weaker than its predecessors. In 1798 many members of the higher ranks of society in Ireland were in- volved in the rising ; in 1848 the attempt only reached the level of the middle classes, and now in 1866 the movement is confined to the lowest and the most ignorant portion of the people. The disaffection which at present exists in Ireland cannot, I believe, be removed by any exceptional legislation which you may attempt. That disaifection is entirely uncon- nected with the Irish Established Church, and has nothing to do with the landlord and tenant question. It is, moreover, entirely unshared by those who have anything to lose, or by any religious community who recognise the first principles of morality. It has been propagated by filibustering hordes among the ignorant and uneducated class of the people, whose material comfort and social status have unfortunately been compromised by the changes which have taken place in Ireland since 1846. Although, my Lords, I have endeavoured to prove that the present disaffection in Ireland is not attributable to any want 74 SPEECHES AND ADDRESSES. of proper legislation, and that it is not to be removed by special enactments, I am anxious to guard myself from the imputation of believing that no legislation is required for Ireland. On the contrary, I believe that much remains to be done, and when the suitable time arrives your Lordships will, I doubt not, give your best attention to any remedial measures that may be proposed. Still less am I disposed to think that nothing can be done by the moral influence of those who are connected with Ireland by the ties of property. It is to them indeed that we have to look for assistance in our attempts to effect the regeneration of that country, and it appears to me that those who derive a large portion of their revenue from Ireland incur a very grave responsibility if they confine their interest in their fellow-countrymen and their tenants to ascer- taining the colour of their money. It is not, however, only the benevolence or the generosity of the landed proprietors of Ireland that can effect a change in the feelings of the people. What they demand is your sympathy, the actual presence of yourselves, your wives, and your daughters moving among them in their villages, active in the promotion of works of charity, thus convincing the people that you regard them as your fellow-countrymen and Ireland as your country. I do not, however, wish to exaggerate these influences. I believe it would be as wrong to place our hopes for the future prosperity of Ireland upon the exertions and influence of individual landlords as it would be to expect Ireland to be regenerated by exceptional Parliamentary legislation. It is on higher, wider, and more powerful agencies that we must fix our hopes, and those agencies have already commenced their operations in the more equal distribution of the population in the fields of labour and employment. In the meantime no other course is open to us but to pursue that policy so happily inaugurated by the present Lord Lieutenant of Ireland*, and with a tem- perate, firm, and irresistible hand to protect the industry, the property, and the education of the country against the evil designs of the unprincipled adventurers by whom they are assailed, and to save, as far as possible, the dupes of those adventurers from the consequences of their folly. ' The Earl of Carlisle. ( 75 ) X. SPEECH AT THE ANNIVERSARY FESTIVAL OP THE HOSPITAL FOR SICK CHILDREN, GREAT ORMOND STREET, LONDON. WILLIS'S ROOMS. FEBRUARY 27. 1867. LoED DUPPEEIN said : — Ladies and Gentlemen, it is now my duty to propose the toast of the evening, " Prosperity to the Hospital for Sick Children and health to its little in- mates." Gentlemen, it has often been my duty to plead for one or other of the noble charities of London, but I can truly say that I never felt more devoted to my task than I do to- night. If there is one sentiment more universal than another throughout the range of animate nature it is the feeling of tenderness and compassion for the young, an instinct inherent in the most savage beasts and the lowest types of animal creation. Everywhere childhood is regarded as a privileged period, of which happiness should be the indefeasible posses- sion. Even those more subtle laws which regulate our spiritual existence seem to recognise this principle, and for that short time which is so aptly called the age of innocence the inexor- able pressure of our moral responsibilities is suspended, and the distressing sense of a neglected duty and of an unfulfilled ideal scarcely penetrates our intelligence. Free and careless we wander up and down a transient Eden, while the glad voice of nature without bids us rejoice, and within the sanction of an untroubled conscience re-echoes the loving invitation. But, ladies and gentlemen, though this as a general rule may be the case, the experience of those acquainted with this great metropolis affords a different picture. Here at the very centre and core of European civilisation premature decrepitude and precocious depravity too often poison the very springs of existence. Bad food, bad air, bad compa-nionship, the want of 76 SPEECHES AND ADBBESSES. proper nursing, the total absence of proper education, render hundreds and thousands of miserable young creatures ignorant of what it is to be well and of what it is to be innocent. To such happiness is a term as incomprehensible as virtue ; in- dustry, and I might add honesty, is almost a physical impos- sibility ; while the irritation and the mental depravity which are too often developed by disease only invest with a still more sinister character the unbridled passions and the wayward instincts of youth. I believe, gentlemen, it is calculated that at this very moment upwards of 150,000 young boys and girls are growing up around us entirely destitute of any education whatever ; while of the total mortality of the metropolis one- half consists of those who die under the age of ten, and one- fourth of those who never reach the age of two. It is to mitigate this intolerable evil that this institution has been established ; and when we consider how many inducements of selfish interest as well as of humanity urge us to abate this horrible state of things, it is scarcely to be understood that a want of funds or a want of proper support should confine your exertions within limits so utterly inadequate to the proper and legitimate sphere of your operations. For, ladies and gentlemen, it is to be remembered that there are four distinct benefits that such an institution as this is calculated to confer upon the community at large. In the first place, there is the absolute good which you do to the little children whom your ministrations may save from death, or from a life-long depravity and a state of de- pendence that might almost be considered worse than death. Then there is the admirable opportunity which might be afforded by your institution if it were more extensive to those young women who wish to fit themselves for service in the nurseries of the upper classes. Thirdly, you supply to the medical profession facilities which I believe they can nowhere else obtain for studying infantile disorders, and, what is per- haps of equal or greater importance, for becoming acquainted with the earliest stages of disease. And, lastly, there is the moral training and religious education that you inculcate in those who pass through your hands at an age when the human THE HOSPITAL FOR 8I0K CHILDREN. 77 mind is most susceptible of good imi)ressions, and amid cir- cumstances the best calculated to render such impressions enduring. Ladies and gentlemen, it would be simply a waste of your time were I to dwell on the various considera- tions suggested by this brief enumeration of your functions. To rescue childhood from sickness and suffering, to recall the vanished roses to its cheeks and the laughter to its eyes, is a task so congenial even to selfish natures that no words of mine are needed to render it attractive to hearts like yours. Neither, in the presence of so many mothers, and, probably, of so many fathers, need I expatiate upon the benefits to be derived from a proper training of nurses, or upon the absol- ute necessity of placing at the disposal of science every means within our power to abate the nuisance and the scandal of this enormous infantile mortality. With regard to the last benefit to which I have ventured to allude as resulting from your efforts, I wish to say one brief word. Perhaps of the many social problems of the day which suggest themselves to our consideration and demand a more satisfactory solution than as yet we have been able to afford them, there is none more fraught with anxiety than the condition of those vast masses of our labouring population congregated around the great centres of industrial enterprise. It is in vain to conceal from ourselves the fact. Interwoven and intertwined with the delicate, highly- educated, highly-polished fabric of our social system, minister- ing to its wants, developed by its exigencies, there runs a coarser fibre, an element of population as capable of high aspirations and of upright purposes as any other section of the community, but from the pressure of adverse circumstances debarred from partaking of those advantages of education and religious and moral training which are within the reach of their more fortunate fellow-countrymen. I am afraid that it is unhappily only too apparent that these two constituent por- tions of the nation are increasing in a different ratio, and that the disproportion existing between them is daily becoming greater and greater in the wrong direction, so that at last it may perhaps prove very difScult to combine in harmonious union elements which have become so discordant. Now, ladies 78 SPEECHES AND ADDBESSES. and gentlemen, I certainly believe that it would be very unwise for us to throw aside any chance that presents itself of obviating so disastrous a contingency. And I am perfectly convinced that if your institution were expanded to its legiti- mate limits, if similar institutions were established in different parts of this metropolis, if other institutions of a similar kind affiliated to your own were introduced into the large manufac- turing towns of England, and I will add of Ireland, we should have discovered one of the most effectual instruments for gain- ing the confidence and the affection of those classes whom it is so difficult to reach ; and that many a darkened home to which even the missionary or the Scripture-reader cannot now find admittance might be enlightened by some little apostle whom you would send there as a messenger of peace and benevolence, and who would form a bond of union between those two classes who at present know so little of each other. Ladies and gentlemen, I only wish that I could have pleaded the cause of my suffering little clients with greater eloquence and in a more persuasive manner, but I can hardly believe that persuasion is necessary upon the present occasion. At all events, if any one has need to be persuaded, I ask him to wander forth for awhile amid the crowded alleys and the narrow lanes pent up behind the thoroughfares of this great metro- polis, and as his eye falls upon each little emaciated and wizened face that he meets on his road, let him remember that high above the reek and turmoil of our earthly habitations its serene and angelic counterpart shines radiant and watchful in the presence of our Great All-Father. ( 79 ) XI. SPEECH IN THE HOUSE OF LORDS IN SUPPORT OP THE SECOND EEADINa OF THE ESTABLISHED CHURCH (IRELAND) BILL. JUNE 26. 1868. On June 25th Earl Granville moved that the Bill he read a second time. Earl Grey moved that the Bill he read a second time that day six months. The Earl of Malmeshiiry, the Earl of Clarendon, the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Earl of Derby, Earl Russell, the Earl of Kimberley, and the Bishop of London having spoken, the debate was adjourned to June 26th. On June 26th the adjourned debate was resumed by the Earl of Carnarvon. Lord Redesdale and the Duke of Marlborough having spoken, LoKD DuFPEKiN Said : — My Lords, I assure your Lordships that I shall not trespass long upon your attention. So many opinions have been expressed, and the question is one which, after all, must be determined by such simple con- siderations, that 1 should have been willing to confine my share in to-night's proceedings to a silent vote. But, con- nected as I am with Ireland, and with the most Protestant province in Ireland, and yielding as I do to no one in alfectionate devotion to that institution whose welfare is sup- posed to be at stake, and whose doom we are told will be pronounced if you give a second reading to this Bill, I am anxious to state in a few brief sentences why it is that, with a perfectly clear conscience and unfaltering judgment, I am prepared to adopt a method of procedure with reference to the Established Church of Ireland which has been vigorously deprecated by so many distinguished persons in this House and elsewhere. In confining my observations to a simple statement of the reasons which have induced me as an Irish Churchman to form the opinions at which I have arrived, it will not be necessary for me to enter the wider field of argument which has been the scene of conflict between most 80 SPEECHES AND ADDRESSES. of those who have preceded me in this debate. Of course, I aii.> perfectly aware that a question of this kind must, in a great measure, be determined by those larger considerations of statesmanship and policy by which the internal organisation of a great Empire is regulated. I am duly sensible of the weight and cogency of these considerations ; and I subscribe to the admirable exposition of them made by those noble Lords who have spoken on this side of the House, and especially to each and every word used by the noble Earl who moved the second reading of this Bill, in a speech which, though it may be presumptuous in me to make such an observation, I think is one of the noblest speeches I have ever had the pleasure of listening to. But, though I perfectly agree with the noble Earl in every argument which he em- ployed, it is not my intention to reiterate those arguments, or attempt to dwell upon them. Although cordially adopting the aspirations of the great Liberal party in this country — aspirations which, notwithstanding all that has been said to the contrary, they have never ceased to entertain — to take the first opportunity of introducing into Ireland perfect religious equality, it is not as a partisan, as an adherent of any political party, or as a politician that I venture to assert an opinion on this question. I shall leave it to my noble friends on this Bench, to whose minds the responsibility of administration may have brought even more vividly than to my own the dangers and mischiefs arising out of the present connection between Church and State in Ireland, to prefer the statesman's view of the question. They have told you already, and pro- bably you will be told again, that history affords no precedent, that reason suggests no justification for a Government like ours — a Government which boasts of being founded on a recognition of popular rights — making a nation, or such a majority of it as is entitled to be so called — a nation co-equal with Great Britain and sharing with her a sovereignty extend- ing over great part of the habitable globe — that there is no precedent in history for making such a nation the victim of an ecclesiastical system which usurps the power, the revenues, and the prestige of the State for the sake of introducing into TEE miSE ESTABLI8EED OEUROE. 81 every corner of Ireland a privileged corporation connected in the minds of seven-eighths of the inhabitants with bitter memories of religious persecution and civil tyranny. I am aware that this account of the aspect in which the Established Church in Ireland is regarded by the people at large will be denied, and that the picture I have drawn will be called exaggerated. Well, in that case, I can only appeal to my own experience. We have heard from the noble Duke who has just sat down (the Duke of Marlborough) that the Esta- blished Church in Ireland is the real representative of the ancient Church of that country ; that it is the Protestant landlords who pay the tithes. Again, we are told that we are to accept the greater wealth and the high social status of the Protestant community as making it the real representative of the nation, and that the numerical disproportion which exists between the adherents of the two religious communions in Ireland is to be overridden and reversed by the greater numerical strength of Protestantism as compared with Eoman Catholicism over the whole United Kingdom. It is not my intention to dwell at any length on such processes of reasoning as these. I merely notice them in order to deny, first, the accuracy of the facts on which some of them are founded ; and, next, the justice of the conclusions that are drawn, from them. I will submit to the House that view of the case of the Irish Church which presents itself to my own understanding as a zealous and faithful adherent of her communion, jealous of her honour, anxious to extend her influence and enlarge her boundary, and above all things desirous that in the sight of all men she should be blameless and free from stain. I hold that a Christian Church is bound in its corporate capacity to represent and exemplify those virtues and characteristics which are professed by its individual members, and which it has been constituted to promote. If we try to ascertain what position the early Christian Church assumed with respect to those who were not of her communion, what do we find ? Humility, self- sacrifice, the abjuration of worldly honours, wealth, and enjoyments on the part of its champions. Do we find that such was originally the position assumed by the representatives 82 SPEECHES AND ADDRESSES. of the Established Church in Ireland? Do we not see in Ireland a haughty priesthood identified in social interests with a military aristocracy, grasping with unrelenting tenacity all the social dignity, the civil pre-eminence, and those material advantages which the secular authority — always ready to gratify its spiritual associate — had to bestow, and presenting even now, although these bitterer characteristics have since then disappeared, if not in the person, at all events in the office of every one of its ministers, an epitomised repre- sentation of an obnoxious domination? It may be denied that its connection with the State has made the mission of the Protestant Church of Ireland as obnoxious to the people as I have ventured to assert. This, of course, must always remain a matter of opinion. But there is one fact to which I can appeal of a very pregnant character. Not very long ago there were evident symptoms of public opinion in England tending to the proposal of some kind of com- position between the State and the Roman Catholic clergy of Ireland. Well, how did the Roman Catholic hierarchy encounter those preliminary advances ? Why, by refusing in the most complete and positive terms to accept any com- position from the State, or to avail themselves in any manner of State assistance. Why did that hierarchy discourage and repudiate an arrangement with England to which they assent in almost every other country ? Simply because they felt that if they entered into such a transaction, and con- nected themselves in any such manner with the State, they would be likely to lose their influence with their flocks, and that, instead of being regarded, as they now are, as the cham- pions and the fathers of their congregations, they would incur the danger of being looked upon as the mere creatures and agents of the Government. But if ever there was a priesthood that was identified with its people in sentiment and in race — inseparably united to them by a traditional veneration, on the one hand, and by centuries of devotion to their interests on the other — it is the Roman Catholic hierarchy and priest- hood of Ireland. Well, if they in their wisdom and their knowledge of the nature of the Irish people think that they TEE IEI8E ESTABLmEEB OEUBOE. 83 could not afford to incur the taint of such a connection with the GrOTernment, how is it possible to suppose that we can afford to do so with impunity ? But the noble Duke has told us that the Established Church in Ireland must not be re- garded as a Missionary Church, and that we must not consider its spiritual responsibilities to extend to the Eoman Catholic population. Well, if this be the doctrine which is upheld, then at once, cadit queestio, you are not the National Church of the country ; you have no right to expend the national revenue, no right to assume territorial titles, no right to clothe yourselves with that dignity . and prestige which are only legitimate as the reflecfcioii bf a national communion. But I deny that this view of the question can be sustained. As the ministers of the Irish Established Church are Christian minis- ters, their mission extends to all. If there is no immediate opportunity of establishing pastoral relations with those among whom they dwell, they are bound to adopt such a position and assume such an attitude towards them as is most likely to conciliate their affection and goodwill. And this cannot be done until the Protestant Church ceases to be identified in the minds of a large portion of the population with a sinister and obnoxious institution, and with principles hostile, in their opinion, not only to their religion, but to their civil rights. But it is not only the odium and discredit attaching to the Irish Established Church which causes me as a member of her communion constant shame and regret. I do not wish at all, my Lords, to exaggerate the state of the case. I do not wish to assert that all the disaffection and discontent which exist in Ireland are to be attributed to the presence of the Established Church. With Fenianism I never have thought the existence of that Church had any immediate connection. But I entirely agree with the noble Earl who brought in this Bill, and with the late Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, in thinking — which is quite a different matter — that the attention of this country and the conscience of England with respect to this question were much stimulated, if not altogether awakened, by the fact of Fenianism. The growing amenities of religious opinion in Ireland even among enthusiastic Protestants, the purity and G 2 84 SPEECHES AND ADDRESSES. kindliness of the Protestant clergy, and, I will venture to add, the feeling entertained by the Protestant laity towards their Roman Catholic fellow-countrymen, have reduced to a minimum the natural irritation and discontent which the presence of such an institution must necessarily create ; but, making every possible concession in this direction, looking at the case from the calmest point of view, I think it must be admitted that the Established Church can only be regarded by every educated Irishman as a relic of a hateful history and as a symbol of an unjust domination ; while by the less educated the undue pre- tensions and prerogatives of that Church must be taken as a reflection on their own faith and their own clergy. Now, if this be the case, can it be a matter of surprise that there should exist ill-blood and discontent, and that the Government which persists in maintaining such a state of things should be viewed with dislike? There is nothing, we know, which a man so keenly resents as a reflection upon his religion or its ministers, and it is vain to tell the Roman Catholic community that the status of the Protestant Church is no reflection upon their own communion. In the first place, it is not true to say so, and in the next place they see and feel every day that the contrary is the fact. In every parish in the kingdom the Protestant church and clergyman stand out lustrous and resplendent in the full sunshine of Government patronage and recognition, while the CathoKc chapel and priest are relegated to the cold shade of official disregard. Every time a Roman Catholic ecclesiastic is compelled to veil his dignity and surrender his precedence in the presence of the Protestant ecclesiastic, the whole Catholic community feel as a nation would feel whose self-love had been wounded by some disrespect off'ered to the person of its ambassador. But if what is called the sentimental aspect of the grievance is calculated to provoke so much irrita- tion and discontent, what may be expected when the additional grievance of iniquitous taxation gives a point to the injustice ? No matter how ingeniously the question may be argued, the upshot of the arrangement is simply this : — I, the Protestant, who am in no degree entitled to a greater share in the benefits of the commonwealth than my Roman Catholic fellow-country- TEE IRISH ESTABLISHED CHUEOH. 85 man, who equally with myself contributes to its defence and support, find religious requirements supplied to me in great splendour and profusion, free of all expense, while he is com- pelled to pay for them out of his own pocket. Now, we know that nothing excites so much indignation, even when unaccom- panied by any of those external circumstances which are calcu- lated to render it more obnoxious, as unjust taxation, but, in addition to this, the wrong here complained of in every parish carries the mind back to a yet greater wrong committed in the past, by the light of which the present injury is interpreted, and which invests it with an obnoxious and pernicious meaning which otherwise might not attach to it ; it is a wrong endured, not by the wealthy and powerful, but by the struggling and indigent ; it perpetuates memories of discord ; it separates class from class ; it infuses a bitter venom into all political contro- versy ; it surges up on every occasion when the hearts of the whole nation should be knitted together in the closest sym- pathy, for no State ceremony can take place without the whole Catholic community being reminded of Protestant ascendancy ; and even the Heir to the Throne cannot pay a visit to his Sovereign's subjects without the obtrusive status accorded to the Established Church becoming a stumbling block and an offence to thousands upon thousands of men on whose industry we have to depend for the prosperity and future welfare of the realm, and to whose valour we must look for its defence. We have thus a combination of circumstances so intolerable in themselves, so dangerous to the State, so discreditable to Parliament, so humiliating to the religious communion to which I belong, so full of shame and mortification to me as a fellow-citizen of my Eoman Catholic fellow-countrymen, that I for one, have long determined, despite every contingency, even despite the conviction of the noble Duke opposite that if we yield to the popular demands on this question we shall have to deprive the present Irish proprietors of their estates, to take the first opportunity of doing my best to get rid of so great a reproach. For this reason I shall vote for the second reading of this Bill. ( 86 ) XII. SPEECH AT THE BANQUET GIVEN TO CHARLES DICKENS AT ST. GEORGE'S HALL, LIVERPOOL. APRIL 10. 1869. LOED DuFFEEiN Said: — Mr. Mayor, as you haye laid your commands upon me to undertake one of the most important functions connected with this night's entertainment, I feel of course that no alternative is left me but implicit obedience to your commands. At the same time, before engaging in my most agreeable but most responsible duty, I cannot help desiring to throw myself upon the indulgence of this brilliant assembly. I am well aware that there are many — very many — persons in this room who from their eminence in literature as well as from their natural gifts of eloquence are far more fitted than myself to do honour to your guest, to express in adequate language the estimation in which he is held by all classes of his countrymen, and above all to convey to him individually the intense pride and satisfac- tion with which you, his entertainers, welcome him to your board to-night. (Applause.) But, Mr. Mayor, as a feeling of loyalty to your liege Lady and Sovereign the Duchess of Lancaster has induced you to postpone these higher claims to those founded on my official connection with this locality as her Chancellor, I hesitate no longer, but turn at once to you, my lords, ladies, and gentlemen, and call upon you to fill a bumper toast to the guest of the evening, Mr. Dickens. (Applause.) Ladies and gentlemen, the enthusiastic reception you have given to that toast would almost imply that any further obser- vations of my own in regard to it would be superfluous. But I feel that I should be imperfectly discharging the duties I have undertaken did I not endeavour to gather up and CHABLES DICKENS. 87 harmonise in a few articulate words that dithyramb of applause with which you have expressed your approval of the toast I have just given. And it is here that the difficulty of my task begins. It has been the privilege of Mr. Dickens's genius not only to traverse all the more obvious fields of sentiment and of passion, which are the acknowledged domain of the poet and the metaphysician, but he has been constantly extending the range of our individual sympathies, and revealing to us both in ourselves and in each other depths of feeling which but for the influence of his art might long have slept in barren list- lessness within our souls. (Hear, hear.) I feel that it would require all Mr. Dickens's delicate power of discrimination to enumerate and define the various elements of grateful emotion which are stirring the hearts of those assembled in this hall to-night to do him honour. (Cheers.) But I have incidentally alluded to two special respects in which every one of us will, I think, acknowledge that he has been made the richer through the prodigality of Mr. Dickens's genius. I said that he has quickened the power and extended the range of our natural susceptibilities, and created fresh bonds of sympathy between ourselves and our fellow-men. Now, Sir, I cannot but think that the man who enables me to see more of the hidden beauty which still lurks about this world of ours, or helps me to enter more fully and more heartily into com- munion with the thoughts, the feelings, and the wishes of my fellow-men, confers upon me a greater benefit than if he endowed me with a sixth sense or added to the span of my existence. (Loud cheers.) Mr. Mayor, I see that we are to-night honoured with the presence of ladies, and I will venture to appeal to them in support of the first part of my proposition. If any human sentiment may be supposed to be above the illustrative art of the poet or the stimulus of analy- tical portraiture, it is the love of a mother for her child. But is there a mother here present who will not readily acknow- ledge that her appreciative affections have been intensified, and that her insight into her offspring's thoughts and feeling has been rendered more acute, and that her baby-world has been adorned and illuminated by the magical charm with 88 SPEECHES AND ADDRESSES. which child-life has been invested in the stories of Little Nell, Paul Dombey, and Tiny Tim V (Cheers.) Again, ladies and gentlemen, in this work-a-day world of ours, with its colourless surroundings, its laborious routine, and the depressing monotony with which civilisation tends to stamp the surface of existence, what is our great danger ? Is it not this, that we should regard life only as it presents itself to us in its outer, superficial aspect, and that we should think of men and women in their impassive conventional rigidity, and judge of the molten metal by the corrugated film which has gathered over it, instead of by the bright and brilliant current that glows beneath, until at last we refuse to recognise heroism or moral beauty except when it is lifted up beyond the sphere of every-day life or surrounded by majestic material associations ? (Cheers.) Previous writers have felt this danger so acutely that they have taken refuge either in an Olympus of fiction, peopled by heroes and heroines compacted of the most ethereal materials, or in scenes of idyllic nonsense equally unsubstantial. Mr. Dickens, how- ever, has had the courage to confront the enigma, and he has shown us how the alchemy of genius can convert the com- monest paths of life, the most commonplace and vulgar regions of society, into a perfect kingdom of romance. (Applause.) Under his larger-hearted leadership we have come to regard the love affairs of Mr. Swiveller and his Marchioness with greater interest than any elevated ideals of high life, and to look upon the little round figure of Mr. Pickwick with the same loving reverence which we bestow upon the most chivalrous paladin of antiquity. (Applause.) And Mr. Dickens has conferred a further benefit upon us. He has taught rich and poor, the educated and the simple, to recognise their common humanity, not merely in the characteristics of their physical nature, but in their susceptibility to those higher and purer influences which constitute the poetry of life. (Applause.) Well may the masses of his countrymen be grateful to Mr. Dickens for the noble and beautiful irradiation which he has poured down upon their daily lives. (Hear, hear.) Philosophers tell us that the light and heat emitted from the fuel we burn upon our earth are but the re- CEABLES DICKENS. 89 distribution, of the sunshine which in former ages was absorbed by that primaeval vegetation which now lies garnered in our coalfields. In the same manner Mr. Dickens has spread abroad his genial influence through the land, it has been absorbed and assimilated in the hearts of his fellow-countrymen, and now, I imagine, there is not a house in England but has been rendered brighter and more gladsome by the reproduction and redistrib- ution of that domestic affection which has been the main purport of his teaching. (Applause.) For, ladies and gentle- men, remember that Mr. Dickens has not only made us wiser and better, more loving and more human, but he has taught us the duty of gaiety and the religion of mirth ; and yet the lambent play of his wit, bis humour, and his fancy has only revealed more distinctly the depths of passion in our nature, as the laughter of the sea along its thousand shining shores is but an expression of the immeasurable forces which lie dormant in its bosom. (Applause.) It is for these reasons, I imagine, that there have been created those relations between Mr. Dickens and his countrymen which are so distinct from those usually existing between an author and his readers. We are all of us glad to make the acquaintance of distin- guished men from curiosity, from the profit and amusement to be derived from their conversation, from a thousand motives ; but after perusing one of Mr. Dickens's volumes, we feel a yearning for his personal friendship. (Applause.) He has so penetrated our souls with the inspirations of his genius that he has established between us and him something of a dom- estic tie, and we are anxious to grant the freedom of our hearts to him who has added a tenfold grace to our social intercourse. (Applause.) This feeling is universal among Mr. Dickens's countrymen, and he has been good enough of late to gratify it, at much inconvenience to himself, by his public readings in many towns of Great Britain and Ireland. And this desire for his acquaintance is not confined to this king- dom. He has been compelled to yield to similar solicitations addressed to him from across the Atlantic, and this suggests to me another consideration which I must allude to before I sit down. It is impossible to forecast the destinies of the human 90 SPEEGHES AND ADDRE88ES. race, but there are some conjectures which may be hazarded without presumption, and perhaps one of them is that in God's good providence it is intended that a large portion of the habit- able globe should pass imder the domination of an English- speaking people. (Applause.) From this very port there have sailed forth, year after year and generation after generation, thousands upon thousands, to extend the bounds of our empire, to people with our colour and our kindred another hemisphere. But what has happened before may happen again. That empire may suffer disruption, as other empires have done. Our children may become our rivals and perhaps our enemies ; but whatever the convulsions which our dominion may be destined to undergo, there is one empire which will never suffer disruption, there is one allegiance which will never be abjured, there is one despotism which will never provoke revolt, and these are the sway and the supremacy which Mr. Dickens's writings are destined to exercise over every English- speaking community, whether they be inhabitants of an American Eepublic, of an African or Indian Colony, or of a future Australasian Empire. (Loud cheers.) ( 91 ) XIII. SPEECH IN THE HOUSE OP LORDS ON MOVING THE SECOND BEADING OP THE PEACE PRESERVATION (IRELAND) BILL. MARCH 29. 1870. LoED DuFFEEiN Said : — My Lords, it is with feelings of the deepest regret, I may almost say of humiliation, that I rise to ask your Lordships to giye a second reading to this Bill. No member of a Liberal Government — I think I may venture to add, no member of any Government — could recommend such a measure to your Lordships without feelings of repugnance, and any one connected with Ireland must of course do so with still deeper feelings of mortification and disappointment. Notwithstanding, however, the ungratefulness of the task — notwithstanding how opposed it may be to those principles by which we desire to regulate the administration of affairs in Ireland — it is my duty to tell your Lordships that it is in the firm and unwavering conviction of the necessities of the case that Her Majesty's Government have come to Parliament for the purpose of asking it to grant them the larger powers provided under this Bill, without which they have convinced themselves the Executive in Ireland cannot be expected to remain responsible for the maintenance of peace and order, and the preservation of life and property in that country. But however deep may be their own conviction on that point, it would not, I think, be right for me to call on your Lordships to accede to their request unless I were prepared to show, in the clearest and most distinct manner, the exigencies of the situation, and to satisfy your Lordships that nothing short of the powers that are. asked for will be sufficient to enable them to check the outbreak of crime that has of late attracted so much attention. It is not my intention in the discharge of 92 SPEECHES AND ADDRESSES. this ungrateful task to harass the feelings of the House by any- minute description of the murders and other agrarian crimes with which the newspapers have for some time past teemed. In the first place I believe many of those accounts have been exaggerated, and in the next place I am certain that any sensational description of such occurrences would not be likely to affect the calm and deliberate opinion of your Lordships. Nor do I propose to enter into any comparison of the pre- sent aspect of crime in Ireland with those which may have been presented at former periods in the history of that un- happy country. Such comparisons, as far as they enable us to detect and remove the causes and conditions which have produced or stimulated these periodical outbursts, should not, indeed, be neglected ; but it is scarcely the province of those whose duty it is to repress and check this state of things to occupy the attention of the House with what, after all, must be conjectural and theoretical disquisitions upon that part of the subject. My duty, I apprehend, will be best discharged by simply bringing before your Lordships' notice such facts as will be sufficient to satisfy you that there unhappily prevails in parts of Ireland, to use the calmest and most moderate language, a condition of affairs which no civilised Government could be expected to tolerate, which is quite incompatible with the maintenance of social order, which surrounds with an atmosphere of terror the daily transactions of life, and which, unless soon checked, will eventually tend to demoralise and degrade the moral sense and conscience of the community. My Lords, the state of things which I have thus imperfectly described seems to be produced by a threefold agency : in the first place by what I may call a semi-organised system of assassination, in the next place by a widespread and increasing network of intimidation, and lastly by the continual and daily outbursts of anonymous literature, which, by the violence and I might almost say, the atrocity of its language, and its suggestions, has identified itself only too unmistakably with the criminal proceedings to which I have referred. Such being the condition of things, in consideration of which Her Majesty's Government have come to Parliament for larger THE STATE OF IRELAND. 93 powers, my best course will be to put your Lordships in possession of a complete summary which I haye extracted from returns which have been placed on the table, furnished by the police of Ireland, as the readiest means of convincing your Lordships of the perfect accuracy of the picture I have presented to you. Your Lordships will find from those returns that during the course of a single year, irrespective of crimes of other descriptions, there have been eight cases of agrarian murder, or if we include, which it may be proper to do, in this category the murder of Mr. Anketell, the number will be nine. There have been 16 cases of firing at the person, and, of course, those who thus contemplate the destruction of their fellow-creatures are not less guilty than if they had succeeded in their designs. There have been six cases of firing into dwellings, which is also a very grave offence, and on some occasions has been attended with the death of the individual aimed at. There have been 26 cases of aggravated assault, and 171 cases of administering unlawful oaths. These oaths, it should be remembered, are usually administered under penalty of instant death to those who refuse to take them, and your Lordships will well understand that this species of crime is productive of great terror to the inhabitants. There have in addition been 480 cases of threatening letters. In the majority of these it may very well be hoped that the writers have had no immediate intention of putting their threats into execution, but when it is known that very many of these threats are extremely practical in their character, and are carried out with great severity, the recipients of such com- munications naturally regard them with alarm. There have been also six attacks upon houses. These figures amount to a total of 713 agrarian offences in a single year. But the Government have been furnished with returns which bring us down to the end of last month, and to the numbers I have already enumerated 391 additional offences have to be added for January, and 303 for February, varying in their nature in the same manner as in the preceding period. In these last returns there appears a feature to which I think it advisable to direct your Lordships' attention, inasmuch as it 94 SPEECHES AND ADDBESSES. not only implies a very disturbed state of the country, but also discloses a new and dangerous form of intimidation and outrage. In January there were 124 cases of levying contrib- utions, and I presume that these do not partake of the character of highway robbery or ordinary depredations of that nature, but have a special agrarian character. Last month there were 32 cases of that description. If, therefore, we take the short period of 14 months we find there have been 10 cases of murder, 18 of firing at the person, 16 of firing into dwellings, 34 of aggravated assault, 397 of administering unlawful oaths, 694 of sending threatening letters, 43 of other modes of intimidation, and 157 of levying contributions, making a total of 1369. Now, though I do not intend to direct your Lordships' attention very specifically to many of the cases, I think it is incumbent upon me, however painful it may be, to call your attention to one or two which illustrate the nature of the crimes committed, and the effect which they are likely to have on public opinion and on the sense of security in the community. Here is a case which wUl give a fair notion of the terrible burden of intimidation under which some parts of Ireland are labouring : — " Thomas Eeilly, police pensioner and farmer, was returning home on a dray at 9.30 p.m., when two men came from behind a ditch, attacked him as he sat on the dray, and heat him on the head with a bar of iron or some heavy bludgeon : his skull was fractured in two places. Thomas Eeilly, the owner of the car, made no attempt to save him, but went to a house, reported the case, and then proceeded to the police barracks and informed the party there. He and four others were arrested, but discharged, as no evidence could be procured against them, owing to the terrorism that existed ; it was with the greatest difBculty any one could be induced to give any information whatever upon the matter." Then we have the case of James Hunter, an extensive farmer, who was shot dead a short distance from his house. Nine men were arrested, but discharged for want of evidence. The return states that the exertions and efforts of the police were counteracted and defeated by the sympathy of the lower orders with the assassin. As I happened shortly afterwards to be in the locality, I was in some degree enabled to judge of the difficulties with which they had to contend. There is also AN INCENDIARY PRESS. 95 the case of John Walsh, who was shot when returning from market at Tuam. Three men were with him on the car. Two of them, who were his relatives, got off and walked home, yet no evidence could be obtained. Then, again, on the 20th of October, William O'Brien, farmer and land agent, was mur- dered when returning home from Mohill, the supposed motive for the crime being that he had been for some time on bad terms with the tenants of his cousin, whose land agent he was, on account of having proceeded against some of them for the non-payment of rent. I should weary your Lordships were I to continue to quote cases of a similar nature, and it is the more unnecessary that I should do so as your Lordships are in possession of these returns, in which the distinct occasion and circumstances attending each particular crime are given. Although, however, I may pass from the subject of the prevalence of agrarian and homicidal crimes, I think it is necessary that I should offer an illustration of my meaning in saying that a portion of the press in Ireland has unfortunately from time to time used language calculated to bring about criminal proceedings. Two extracts will, I think be sufficient to show the truth of this part of my statement. In a paper called the Irishman, for the 19th of June, 1869, the following passage will be found : — "We had thought that the execution of ejecting landlords and agents. was not only one of the ways, but the only possible way, for staying this intolerable oppression. We had thought — and have long ago written and printed the sentiment — that, as there is no law in Ireland for peasants, but all the laws are against them, they must take the law into their own hands or die ; and further, that the people of Tipperary (Dr. Leahy's flock) had not slain half enough of the exterminating landlords and their agents." Now, it is quite true, and of course it is right that I should mention the fact, that this passage was quoted from an American paper ; but, as has been very properly laid down by an Irish judge, it does not matter whether a paragraph is original or is extracted, the effect on the population is the same, and the proprietors and publishers of the paper in which it is found must of course be held responsible for any consequences which may follow. The next extract is 96 SPEEOBES AND ADDRESSES. from the same paper, and appeared on the 23rd of October, 1869 :— " On Hanging Bad Landlords. — Some philanthropist has said that the worst use to which you can put a man is to hang him. Sujjpose we concede the point so far as a 'man ' is concerned, would it hold true for a wild beast — even though in human form ? Certainly not. The worst thing you can do with him is to let him alone. By letting him alone you make no use of him ; by hanging him you at least make some use of him. This is the use to which a Kilkenny ' Voice ' would put bad landlords." The article goes on in the same strain, but I have merely referred to it for the purpose of justifying the language I hare been forced to use, and I am unwilling to disgust your Lord- ships by any further quotations from it. Such is a very brief but, as I trust it will be deemed, sufficient exposition of the condition of affairs in Ireland with regard to agrarian and other crimes, and the question your Lordships have to ask yourselves is simply this, whether or no you are prepared to allow innocent men and women — for I am sorry to say even women have occasionally been the objects of these outrages — to be destroyed, as is often the case, in open day, sometimes even in the presence of numerous spectators, and occasionally amid circumstances of exceptional cruelty. It is quite true that in the discharge of their duty brave men will always be ready to face death, but the fear of assassination shakes the strongest nerves, and poisons the peace of the most innocent beings ; yet for some time past in Ireland hundreds of men who never inflicted an injury on a human creature, have every morning gone to their duties with the secret consciousness lurking in their minds that they may never again see wife, child, or home. Already in eight cases these unhappy pre- sentiments have been cruelly realised, and in as many as sixteen were only falsified by the merciful interposition of Providence, while on the minds of upwards of 600 or 700 persons such forebodings have been impressed with an excep- tional intensity by various forms of intimidation to which they have been subjected. These, my Lords, are the conditions, and this is the nature of the crimes with which we have to deal, and it is now my duty to describe the mode in which the PROPOSED MEASURES OF REPRESSION. 97 present Bill attempts to provide for their repression. It will not, I apprehend, be necessary to go into great detail, but your Lordships will think I have suflSciently done my duty if I glance rapidly over its principal provisions. It is divided into three parts. The first part is confined to amending the Peace Preservation Act, and deals principally with the carrying of arms and the sale of gunpowder. Persons having game licenses must henceforth also obtain licenses to carry arms, and a special licence will in all cases be required for revolvers. The punishment for a breach of this part of the Bill, at present confined to one year's imprisonment without hard labour, is now changed to two years, with hard labour. Power is also taken to institute searches at night for arms in the houses of persons suspected of concealing them. The sale of arms and . gunpowder is forbidden in proclaimed districts to any but licensed dealers or persons licensed to carry arms, and persons selling gunpowder must also take out a licence, and must furnish the chief police-officer of the district with monthly returns of their stock and sales, and the names of the persons to whom they have sold it. There is likewise an important provision enabling a magistrate, even though no person may be charged before him, to summon witnesses who may be unwilling to appear, and who if they refuse to give evidence will be subject to such a punishment as the interests of justice may require. That is an important provision of the Bill, for your Lordships are aware that a great deal of difficulty exists in obtaining evidence, and there have been frequent cases where to the absolute knowledge of the police certain persons have been present at an outrage who, when summoned to give evidence, have persistently denied that fact. There is also power to search for threatening letters. The second part of the Bill relates to special proclamations, and is directed against those more lawless proceedings which consist in visit- ing houses at night for the purpose of carrying away arms by force, and in marching in military array. It empowers any magistrate in a district specially proclaimed to arrest persons out at night under suspicious circumstances. It enables the Lord H 98 SPEECHES AND ADDRESSES. Lieutenant to order public-houses to be closed at sunset or any later hour. It also gives power to justices at petty sessions, in conjunction with the stipendiary magistrate, to deal summarily with persons charged with drilling, menacing, and any offences known as Whiteboy offences. There is likewise an important provision by which the venue of a trial may be changed by order of the Court of Queen's Bench in Ireland at the instance of the Attorney-Greneral, without proof of special circumstances. The third part of the Bill is one of considerable importance, and one to which your Lordships will probably be disposed to pay exceptional attention. It is that part of the measure in which the Press is dealt with. The Lord Lieutenant, after due warning, will have power to seize any newspaper, machinery, or plant, or the copies of newspapers published out of Ireland containing seditious or treasonable matters. The warning notice is to be served on the proprietor of the newspaper or his servants where possible, but where this cannot be effected, then the notice may be posted on a con- spicuous part of the premises. Notice in the Dublin Gazette is to be conclusive evidence of the facts and circumstances authorising the issue of the notice, and of the sufficiency of the service. The Lord Lieutenant will also have power to issue warrants to search for and seize newspapers, printing presses, types, and other plant. It is, however, to be noted that in case of the exercise of these powers unjustifiably, the proprietor of the newspaper will have a remedy by instituting proceedings against the Grovernment. Lastly, the grand jury may award compensation to any person injured, or to the per- sonal representative of any murdered man, whether injured directly or in consequence of appearing as a witness, police officer, or magistrate. Such compensation is to be levied on the county at large or the barony in which the offence has been committed, at the discretion of the grand jury, and the decision of the judge of assize, who may be appealed to from the decision of the grand jury, is to be final. Such is the machinery of the Bill, and such are the means by which Her Majesty's Government hope to be enabled to repress the crimes and outrages which have of late been a scandal to the COEEOION TEE LAST RESOURCE. 99 country, and I think your Lordships will see that although they are very carefully hedged and guarded, these powers are likely to prove sufficiently ample for the purpose. With respect to the clauses affecting the Press, which your Lord- ships will scan with great jealousy, T think it will be found that every precaution is taken to preserve the Press from any undue or arbitrary interference on the part of the Government, and that it is only in the event of its abjuring its legitimate functions and proving false to its honourable mission that it can come under the provisions of the Bill. Of course, at this stage it is impossible for me to judge what reception your Lordships may be inclined to give to the Bill, but there is one class of objection to which I wish to put in an anticipative plea, and that is that a measure of this kind ought to have been introduced at an earlier period of the Session. Now, I am quite ready to admit that the exact moment at which such exceptional powers should be asked for by a constitutional Government is one of the gravest, one of the most important, and one of the most difficult questions which can be submitted to the consideration of statesmen ; and I am inclined to think that if the exact date had to be determined by a ballot of this House, probably every noble Lord would name a different day as the exact moment at which the critical period had arrived. Whatever difference of opinion, however, there might be on that point, your Lordships, I think, would all agree that such a step should only be taken as the last extremity, after every other expedient had failed, and that there could hardly be a graver blunder than to attempt to introduce such a measure before the conscience and conviction of the nation at large had been satisfied as to its necessity. In conclusion, I would merely add a simple but earnest entreaty to those of my fellow-countrymen in Ireland who are in any way in a position to exercise influence through the Press, to use their best endeavours to forward the objects of the Bill. It entirely rests with themselves whether or no H 2 100 SPEECHES AND ADDRESSES. it shall remain an innocuous form of words on the statute-book, or whether it shall be converted into a very effectual and active instrument of repression. If they will abstain from exciting an ignorant peasantry to deeds of violence and out- rage, they will find themselves removed from the operation of the Bill, and I cannot but think that what has of late been going on around them ought to convince them of the grave responsibility which rests upon them. For, however we may differ as to the cause or nature of the discontent in Ireland, one thing is plain, that those who perpetrate crimes and out- rages have been in great measure encouraged by the violent, and I fear I must add bloodthirsty, language adopted by the Press, and occasionally by orators, who palliate murder and suggest assassination as a means of redressing grievances of a particular description. And as surely as such a principle is appealed to in respect of one particular description of crime so surely will it be indiscriminately resorted to on the slightest provocation, and on every occasion when the passions of ignorant men are excited. Murders in Ireland have now ceased to be solely attributable to disputes arising from agrarian misunderstandings or quarrels, and landlords have become a minority of the victims. If ever there was a time when these appeals to violence and physical force were un- justifiable and unnecessary, it is the present. For a year and a half the attention of the country has been almost entirely occupied with the consideration of the grievances of Ireland. Her electoral system has been reorganised on the widest and most popular basis. Her constituencies have returned to Parliament men of such ability and eloquence as have been able to command to an exceptional degree the respectful attention of the House of Commons, and a Liberal Govern- ment is in power pledged, by the most repeated and direct assurances, to redress every grievance and examine every complaint which the utmost ingenuity can discover. If, there- fore, having the most ample constitutional opportunities of advocating their opinions and views, no matter how extravagant they may be, these persons will persist in stimulating an ignorant and susceptible population to outrage and crime, on LOYALTY OF THE NATION AT LARGE. 101 them, and not on the Government, the responsibility will rest if exceptional legislation such as is contained in this Bill is rendered necessary ; and I cannot but appeal to the people of Ireland to judge between the Government and these persons in this matter, for I believe that, notwithstanding the dis- couraging circumstances by which we are surrounded, the great majority of the nation are still unaffectedly loyal to the cause of law and order. ( 102 ) XIV. SPEECH IN THE HOUSE OF LORDS IN SUPPORT OF THE SECOND READINa OP THE IRISH LAND BILL. JUNE 14. 1870. Earl Granville moved that tlie Bill be read a second time. The Duke of Richmond and Earl Russell having spoken, Lord Oranmore and Browne moved that the Bill be read a second time that day six months. Lord Lurgan and Viscount Lifford having spoken, LoED DuFFEKiN Said : — My Lords, although every noble Lord who has risen to address your Lordships in reference to the momentous subject now under your consideration has felt it necessary to preface his remarks by an appeal to your indulg- ence, I am sure it will be readily understood that there is no one on the present occasion who has greater need to throw himself upon the kind feeling of the House, than myself. For, my Lords, independently of the inherent difficulties incident to the discussion of so complicated a measure, I am stiU further embarrassed by circumstances of a personal nature. On the one hand, as a subordinate member of Her Majesty's Goverimient,* I am under an obligation to approach the ques- tion with the utmost caution and reserve, to abstain from making any damaging admissions, and to limit my advocacy of the Bill to the regulation cut and thrust of a trusty man-at- arms; while, upon- the other hand, I feel that as the only occupant of the Treasury Bench in this House whose entire property is situate in Ireland, as well as from the fact that I have already taken part in many of the controversies on the Irish Land Question, it would be impossible for me to engage in this discussion either with self-respect, or with the hope of being able to submit any useful considerations to your Lord- * Lord Duifcrin was at this time Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster. THE IRISH LAND QUESTION. 103 ships, unless I did so with the most unfettered and indepen- dent freedom of expression. In this dilemma it is the latter course I propose to follow — it is the only one consistent with my personal honour — and I am sure it is the one which my colleagues behind me, as well as the distinguished chief to whom I owe allegiance, would wish me to pursue. In the ob- servations therefore which I am about to make, I hope your Lordships will remember that it is not merely a Government ofScial who is addressing you, but a large Irish proprietor, one who is nothing else but an Irish proprietor, who does not own an acre of land elsewhere, the whole of whose material in- terests as well as those of his children, depend upon the proper solution of this question, and who falls behind no one in this House in his jealous appreciation of the rights of pro- perty, and in his determination to maintain them. If, then, my Lords, with these convictions and predilections, and with a distinct apprehension of 'the gravity of all the issues raised by such legislation, I rise in my place in Parliament, and in the most earnest and anxious language I can command, entreat of your Lordships not only to give a second reading to this Bill, but to pass it without material alteration, the House may be sure that I do so, neither subdued by the prestige of a powerful minister, — nor engulphed in a blind flux of liberal sentiment, — nor intimidated by that formidable agitation across the water to which murder and outrage have lent such a sinister character — but because I believe the main provisions of the Bill to be just and equitable in themselves, compatible with a fair interpretation of the rights of property, and likely to prove conducive to the general benefit of the agricultural ittterest in Ireland. Now, my Lords, in corroboration of — I will not say the sincerity — for I do not think the sincerity of any avowal I may make will be called in question, — but of the deliberation with which these opinions have been formed, I will appeal to the views I have ventured to submit to your Lordships and the public during the last few years. And perhaps the retrospect is all the more necessary, from the fact that having at one time felt it my duty to bring into chief prominence the tenant's 104 8PEECEE8 AND ADDRESSES. view of the case, when Parliament and the public were alike deaf to his representations, and at another and later period, when agitation had given birth to extravagant pretensions on his part, having set myself to vindicate the equitable rights of the landlord, I have suffered the fate of all those who en- deavour to walk between extremes, and have been sometimes equally misapprehended by both parties to the controversy. My Lords, I will first inquire what are the leading and characteristic innovations which are introduced into the rela- tionship of a landlord and his tenant by this Bill. They may be very briefly enumerated. There is the retrospective right of the tenant to all his existing improvements, and the change in the presumption of the law as to all future improvements. There is the legal validity of Custom, whether in Ulster or elsewhere, wherever, in fact, it actually exists. There is the right of compensation on eviction attributed to every tenant- at-will ; and there are Mr. Bright's clauses for lending money to tenants for the purchase of the fee simple of their holdings. "Well, my Lords, seventeen years ago, when such views were not so fashionable as they are now, I laid upon the table of your Lordships' House a Bill, by which the Irish tenant would have been invested with a retrospective right to his improve- ments, under conditions, and within limits almost identical with those adopted in this Bill, and I enforced my proposal on the ground that the small Irish tenant could hardly be re- garded as an agent capable of free contract, and that, however right it might be to hold to the principles of free contract as a rule, it would be folly and childishness in practical legislation to ignore patent facts, out of a prudish deference to logical symmetry. Again, at the same time and in the same speech, when pointing out the mischiefs incident to the abuse of the Tenant-Right custom, I was careful to call your Lordships' attention to its beneficial effects as a substitute for a more business-like system, and in the absence of more suitable tenures ; while at a subsequent period, before a Committee of the other House, I stated, whilst criticising the economical results of the custom, that wherever it existed as a recognised practice, with the express or implied sanction of the land- FOBMES. EXPRESSIONS OF HIS VIEWS. 105 lord, it would be the height of injustice to violate or ignore it. Still further to illustrate what my opinions have always been as to the position and claims of a tenant-at-will, I will ask permission to read to your Lordships an extract from a pamphlet published in 1866, that is to say, at a time when neither the Liberal party in this country, nor even the extreme Tenant-Right party in Ireland had ventured to put forward such a pretension on his behalf, in which, after arguing that a fair lease should extinguish all claims against a landlord, except such as might survive on account of permanent improvements, I went on to plead that : " In tlie case of a tenant-at-will who is suddenly required to surrender his farm, a further consideration comes into play, viz., the inconvenience and loss occasioned by the unexpected interruption to his industry. ... It is evident he has an equitable claim to compensation on account of the disturb- ance introduced into his calcuUtions." * To such a paragraph as this, standing as it does in the midst of a widely circulated pamphlet, in which the very words " compensation for loss on disturbance," now adopted in the Bill, are the terms made use of, I do not think I need add much to justify myself in supporting this part of the measure. Lastly, with respect to Mr. Bright's proposals, — in another pamphlet published in 1867, although I certainly per- mitted myself to point out the obvious objections to them in the crude and unqualified shape in which they had been originally suggested by that right honourable gentleman, I was careful to conclude my criticism by stating "that I heartily sympathised with Mr. Bright in his desire to see a yeoman class established in Ireland, that to many individual cases the objections I had indicated would not apply, and that although I might have misgivings as to the result of the ex- periment on so extensive a scale as that proposed, should he succeed in persuading the British taxpayer to come into his views, I for one would offer no objections." f * Contributions to an Inquiry into the State of Ireland. London. 1866. P. 192. t Irish Emigration and the Tenure of Land in Ireland. London. 1867. Pp. 21,0 et seq. 106 SPEECHES AND ADDRESSES. My Lords, I feel that I owe an apology to your Lordships for occupying your time with so unimportant a topic as the vindication of my own consistency, but I can assure the House that it is not from any vain or egotistical desire of proving myself either more liberal or more prescient than the rest of the world, but I have been challenged on the point by a noble Lord opposite, and being anxious to use every endeavour to induce your Lordships to pass this Bill, I feel that any recom- mendation I might make to that effect would very properly have but little weight with your Lordships if it were supposed that any of its main provisions were out of harmony with my previously expressed opinions. But, my Lords, of course it may be said that the fact of having held certain opinions, for however long a time, is no evidence that such opinions are either sound or reason- able ; and therefore in a few brief sentences, I propose to submit to your Lordships the grounds on which I think these may be sustained. In embarking, however, on this part of the discussion, I do not think it will be necessary to linger long over those parts of the Bill which, important or momentous though they be, have ceased to be the points round which the main controversy is likely to turn. For instance, everybody is, I imagine, pretty well reconciled to accepting the principle of retrospective compensation with regard to existing improvements actually executed by the tenant, and in respect of which he has received no consideration in money or money's worth, whether that money's worth be represented by length of tenure, low rents, or otherwise. The barest equity requires this concession to be made, and I do not imagine that any of your Lordships would gainsay it. Neither do I appre- hend that serious objection will be taken to changing the pre- sumption of the law in respect to the authorship of improve- ments, whether in the past or future. No vital principle affecting the rights of property is concerned in this change, and it cannot be disputed that the law is not only free, but is bound as far as possible to assimilate presumption with fact. Now, there is no one in your Lordships' House who has contended more earnestly than myself against the assumption. PRESUMPTION A8 TO A UTH0B8HIP OF IMPROVEMENTS. 107 which has been so sedulously propagated, to the effect that the landlords of Ireland have contributed only in an insignificant degree to the improvement of their properties. Such a state- ment as this is a cruel and outrageous calumny. In no country in Europe, I believe, have such exertions been made or so much time, labour, anxiety, and money been expended in the amelioration of the agricultural status of the country and of the peasantry as in many parts of Ireland during the last thirty years. This is a fact which, I am happy to say, is at last receiving public recognition. But whilst making every allowance on this score which truth may demand, it must still be admitted that from the peculiar circumstances of the country, a great proportion of what in England are called " Landlords' " improvements, such as buildings, in Ireland have been, and in a multitude of instances will continue to be, executed by the tenant. This being so, my Lords, I, for one, have always been strongly of opinion that in Ireland, both in respect of the past and the future, the presumption of law should harmonise as closely as possible — I will not say with fact — but with probability. In saying this, however, I do not refuse to recognise the propriety of applying this rule with a more inflexible rigidity to the future than to the past. When once the bias of the law has been pronounced upon such a point, as often as fact is contrary to presumption, it is competent for the party interested to preserve a record suffi- cient to disprove the presumption. But as far as the past is concerned, inasmuch as the law itself threw the owner off his guard, and no landlord ever dreamed, when he built a cottage or sank a drain, of calling upon sun, moon, and stars to witness his achievements, it is but just that the term within which his retrospective liabilities are to be resuscitated, should be of such a reasonable duration as to deliver him from fictitious claims, and to place the means of evidence within his reach ; while, above all, ample latitude should be left to the Court, in the absence of strict technical proof, to make an award according to its own convictions in the matter. Again, with respect to the clauses which enable the Irish tenant to purchase the fee simple of his farm with money 108 SPEECHES AND ADDRESSES. borrowed from the State, — although many of your Lordships may entertain doubts as to the result of the experiment if indis- criminately tried in every part of Ireland, you would probably not be inclined, as a body, to intercept the intended bounty vouchsafed by the other House to a portion of the Irish people- For my own part, although I admit that the original scheme was open to grave objection, its application under the present Bill has been so jealously hedged, guarded, and qualified, and so many precautions have been taken to confine its operation to those persons who are least likely to put the advantage it offers to an evil use, that the chances of its possible mis- carriage have been reduced to a minimum. Of course, the great danger to be dreaded is the anomaly of the State lapsing into the position of a landlord to the Irish people ; but, inas- much as a considerable amount of the purchase-money must, as a preliminary, be found by the tenant, the area over which the scheme can apply will be proportionately reduced. None but responsible persons can become applicants for the boon, — and their obligation to the State will be a constantly diminish- ing quantity, representing, even at its outset, an annual pay- ment amply covered by the letting value of the farm, so that the State will stand to the tenant, not in the position of a landlord, but of a mortgagee or rent-charger, which, of course, is a much less obnoxious relationship. A far greater danger is lest these petty proprietors should subdivide and sublet their plots of land, over which they will be eventually entitled to exercise unrestricted control, and no one who knows Ireland can say that this is not a probable contingency. On the other hand we must remember two things — in the first place, that the nature of the arrangement contemplated extends, by a process of natural selection, these opportunities only to those who have already proved themselves provident and indus- trious ; that already — at least this is true in respect of this class of persons in the north of Ireland — the more intelligent members of the farming class have awakened to the folly of subdividing holdings already too contracted, instead of en- couraging their children to adopt other pursuits ; that a period of thirty-five years must still intervene before a single acre of TEE DANQER OF SUBDIVISION. 109 the land thus dealt with can be severed from the farm within which it is now incorporated ; and that there is a fair ground for hope that the sound opinion already beginning to spread amid the farming class in Ireland in reference to this vital subject will before then have taken deeper root, and that by the time these inchoate purchasers have become owners in full of their several holdings, a strong feeling in favour of primogeniture will have been created in the mind of Mr. Bright's peasant proprietary. Whether or no this whole- some feeling on the subject eventually recommends itself to the good sense of the Irish people, will in a great measure depend upon the favour with which it is regarded by the Roman Catholic Clergy. If it is their desire to foster a pros- perous and well-to-do community, to discourage improvident marriages, and to create a wealthy and independent middle class, it is very evident that their influence will be thrown into the scale of economical progress ; if, on the contrary, they should consider their own position more likely to be sustained, and the revenues of their Church more readily provided, by a rapid expansion of population and the multitudinous contributions of penurious millions, the danger arising from this portion of the Bill will be considerable. Notwithstanding, however, the ominous recommendation of some of the Irish Catholic Bishops that every tenant under the present Bill should be allowed to subdivide his farm ad libitum, I cannot but hope that the dictates of common sense and common humanity, in connec- tion with this subject, will eventually be permitted to prevail, and should this prove to be the case considerable advantages may be expected to flow from these clauses. But, my Lords, passing from the subsidiary and less vital provisions of the Bill, I would ask leave to address to your Lordships a few further observations with respect to those far more important sections of the measure, in regard to which alone, I apprehend, will any serious issue be joined ; namely, the legalization of Ulster Tenant-Right and of Custom gene- rally and the recognition of the claim of the tenant-at-will to damages on eviction. Now, my Lords, I have been repre- sented, at all events in Ireland, as the unfaltering and irrecon- no SPEECHES AND ADDRESSES. cilable enemy of Tenant-Right, and I am free to confess, that I have taken considerable pains, from time to time, to point out to the public, to the people of Ireland, and to my own tenants, the many mischiefs which have arisen out of the extravagant and unrestricted development of Tenant-Eight, and, what is more, so far from having modified any of these opinions, I adhere to them with a firmer conviction than ever. But what are these opinions ? Are they a blind unqualified condemnation of a practice of which several high authorities, and many landlords approve ? Far from it ! Whatever criticisms I have passed upon Tenant-Right, however severe, have been at any rate discriminating. In 1849, after enume- rating the many disadvantages attending on the Custom, I said before a Committee of the other House, and I still say, " I think that the existence of Tenant-Eight has upon the whole been a benefit to the North of Ireland, though in another sense it has not been a benefit." And again, in reply to the question : " In that sense it cannot be considered of use or benefit to the nation at large?" I replied : " No, not in that sense ; but, upon the other hand (because I do not wish to run the custom down unduly), inasmuch as a, very large proportion of the tenants who have entered into the occupation of their farms remain from generation to generation in those farms, the knowledge that, if they are removed, a custom exists under which, in some shape or other, they will obtain a fair compensation for their expenditure, has undoubtedly stimulated the industry of the population of the North of Ireland to an enormous extent, and has given them a delight and an interest in their occupations, which is very rarely to be met with iu any other part of the world with which I am acquainted." So that it will be seen that while denouncing the abuses of Tenant-Eight, I have all along been very sensibly to the respects in which its operations may have been fairly considered beneficial. But still I do not deny that, in the main, and with the qualifications I have enumerated, I look upon an unre- stricted Tenant-Eight with disfavour, while so far from thinking that the prosperity of Ulster is to be attributed to Tenant-Eight, I am quite convinced that the reason why the UL8TER AND ABERDEENSBIRE. Ill agricultural status of Ulster, under conditions equally favour- able to its development in respect of climate and soil, the energy and thrift of its inhabitants, and the proximity of manufacturing industries, is inferior to the agricultural status, we will say of Aberdeenshire, — is because under the Tenant- Right Customs of the Province, the tenantry of Ulster have been weighted with an initial tax, or rather a differential duty (which the admirers of the custom take a pride in estimating at £20,000,000 sterling), from which their fellow- tenants in the Scotch county have been exempt. It is true, on the one hand, a portion of this sum represents probably an encroachment on the accruing rise of rent due to the landlord, which the out-going tenant has discounted and appropriated, and, on the other hand, it may be said that in return for their expenditure the tenants of Ulster have obtained an exceptional security of tenure ; but the first is a characteristic of Tenant- Right which your Lordships will probably not regard with admiration ; while those who know the good relations which exist between the Ulster tenants and their landlords must acknowledge that, without paying a halfpenny, had they only seriously chosen to demand it, the tenants might have had a far more definite and satisfactory security, both for their improve- ments and in respect of their occupancy, than a shadowy and disputable custom, under which, even after it has received legal validity, they will only be able to recover the capat mortuum of the capital thus unprofltably locked up in the land. In Scotland a man gets a farm on a good long lease, and at a fair rent for nothing, and if he happens to have a spare £500 over and above what is necessary for the cultiv- ation of his farm, he invests it in such a manner as to double its amount, within the specified period. An Ulster tenant, on the contrary, enters on the farm at as smart a rent, — for the friends of the custom contend that Tenant-Right, instead of prejudicing, enhances the landlord's rent, — in which opinion I do not agree, — without a lease, and pays away the £500 to some one who probably goes off with it to America, leaving him with no better prospect of recovering his money, when he in turn quits his holding, either for his own convenience or 112 SPEECHES AND -ADDRESSES. under the compulsion of his landlord, than the chances of the Tenant-Eight market, which in proportion as farmers get wiser will probably be a falling one. But it will be said — if you think so badly of the Tenant- Eight custom, how can you be a party to its legalisation? Well, for the same reason that I would sentence the murderer of an illegitimate infant to be hanged. I do not approve of adultery ; but the creature is there, and being there, is entitled to the protection of the law. Tenant-Eight exists. Its presence is acknowledged, though in a somewhat sheepish way, as is usual on such occasions, by one thoughtless author of its being — the landlord — and it has been nursed into a monstrous sturdy bantling by the partner of his folly, who not unnaturally appeals to the parish, or rather to your Lordships, in vindication of her rights. If this is so, and the admissions made by Ulster landlords, as to the pretty general existence of such a custom in that Province, in another place, have been too definite and frank to be ignored or repudiated in your Lordships' House, the abstract merits of Tenant-Eight, or indeed whether its incidents should receive legal recognition or not, are scarcely debatable subjects. But that point being conceded, there does arise a very formidable query, namely, whether or no its recognition should be accompanied by any description or definition of what it is. After due consideration Her Majesty's Government have declined and the other House of Parliament has declined to define Tenant-Eight. In this reticence they appear to me to have exercised a wise discretion. If I were to be called upon to define the custom of Tenant-Eight I should describe it as a privilege acquired by certain tenants-at-will in Ulster and elsewhere to sell their interest in their farms, whether that interest represents improvements or any other marketable incident of occupation, under the same conditions as those under which they purchased it. But, my Lords, though this definition is sufficiently wide to embrace most of the customs of Ulster, it would be a very unsafe phrase to introduce into an Act of Parliament. Many of the tenants contend that the Ulster Custom confers upon them an unrestricted and uncon- THE ULSTER TENANT-RIGHT. 113 ditioned right of selling their farms to the highest bidder, and inasmuch as this right is incompatible with the landlord's right to a competitive increment of rent, they claim that his rent should be restricted by a Government valuation. They found this pretension on historical grounds. They say that when King James originated the Plantation of Ulster he introduced certain fiduciary covenants into his grants, under which the landlords of the day were constituted as mere rent- chargers, while a permanency of occupation was secured to their tenants, and that the present Tenant-Eight of Ulster is a modified representation of these relationships. Now it is quite true that in some of the grants made by James an ■ obligation was imposed upon the grantees to issue leases to their tenants, .with which conditions many of the " Under- takers," as they were called, failed to comply; but in my opinion it is idle to refer the custom of Tenant-Right to such an origin. It is only in a certain proportion of the Jacobean grants that any such conditions were introduced. The oblig- ation imposed did not imply fixity of tenure at a given rent, but terminable leaseholds, on the expiration of which perfect freedom of contract was intended to supervene. On many properties these conditions were complied with, as will be seen by a reference to Pynnar's survey. Pynnar was a G-overnment official sent over in 1619 for the express purpose of ascertaining how far King James's injunctions had been obeyed. He examined a great number of properties, and from his report it would appear, that although, in frequent instances, many of the " Undertakers " had failed to grant leases, and were maintaining their tenants as " Irish tenants," that is as tenants-at-will, — in direct contravention of the terms of their grant, yet that nearly two thousand families had been established on the soil, either as freeholders or as lessees for lives or years, in various parts of the six Ulster counties. Pynnar then proceeds to describe the conduct of various individuals in this respect. For instance, on Sir W. Cole's portion of 1000 acres, he notes that two families had been established as freeholders, seven on leases for lives,, and eleven on leases for years ; as the farms thus allocated consisted of I 114 SPEECHES AND ADDRESSES. from 50 to 150 acres, it is evident that a considerable portion of the estate thus granted must have been leased off. Again, Sir E. Hamilton is described as having divided his lands among three freeholders and eleven leaseholders. The Earl of Abercorn located on 2000 acres, fourteen families on sixty- one years' leases, and six on freehold tenures : Sir G. Hamil- ton did the same. In Armagh, Mr. W. Brownlow introduced on his 2500 acres upwards of fifty leaseholders and five free- holders. The Goldsmiths' Company seem to have behaved in an equally liberal manner. Many of the London companies, however, are denounced by Pynnar for their neglect of duty in this respect. On the Grocers' estates, for instance, he reports that all the houses were built by the tenants, but no leases had been granted : on the Ironmongers' property there were only agreements for leases, and these but for thirty -one years. The Goldsmiths, on the other hand, had duly planted twenty-four leaseholders and six freeholders on their property ; and so he goes on noting with perfect impartiality the names of those who had and of those who had not complied with King James's behest. From the foregoing entries we see that inasmuch as upon numerous estates the conditions of the grant were complied with, it is useless to argue that the Tenant-Eight claimed by the present occupants of such estates was granted as a com- pensation or consideration for their infraction. It seems to me that the tenantry of Ulster could not commit a greater mistake in their own interests than to found their claims upon so unsubstantial a basis. If a tenant in my own county were to appeal to the Jacobean grants as the origin of his claim, how would he be met ? If he held land in one end of the county — by being told that the townland upon which his farm was situated was never dealt with by King James at all, the ancestors of its present owner having bought it of an Anglo-Norman or Celtic proprietor, with whose property King James never meddled. If in another district, that being Bishop's land, its tenures had enjoyed a similar immunity. If in a third that, though it was indeed included in King James's settlement, instead of there being a single fiduciary condition in the THE ULSTER TENANT-BIGHT. 115 grant on which he relied, he would find himself confronted by a clause under which the landlord was expressly empowered to let his land on any terms he might desire, whether on leases for lives, or years, or at will. But, my Lords, although I am myself convinced that the historic origin of Tenant- Eight is entirely imaginary and fictitious, it would be out of the question for Parliament to base its conclusions upon mine or any other man's assertions upon such a subject ; and, inasmuch as the tenant's claim may be considerably affected by the proof or disproof of the theory, it will be necessary that the whole subject should be judicially investigated ; but of course an antiquarian inquiry of this kind can only be con- ducted by competent tribunals, furnished with the proper appliances for arriving at the truth. Again, there are other, and, as I think, wiser and better informed champions of the tenant's cause who, discarding altogether as useless and irrelevant these references to old- world arrangements, — between which and the present time a deluge of multifarious occurrences has intervened, — content themselves with pointing to the fact that, no matter how it may have arisen, a practice does very extensively prevail in most parts of Ulster, under which the existing tenant has paid a sum of money to his predecessor with the knowledge of the landlord, in the expectation that, when in turn he may have occasion to surrender his holding, he shall be permitted to dispose of his interest in it under similar conditions. Now, my Lords, wherever such practices as these prevail, it does seem to me that it is right and proper the law should give them due validity. When a landlord has allowed or encouraged a tenant-at-will, that is to say a man with no " occupation " right beyond the current year, to assign that right for a sum of money, altogether out of proportion to the nominal con- sideration, thus transferred, he does ipso facto, and according to the fair and equitable construction of his intentions, give the purchaser to understand that he has acquired by his ex- penditure something more valuable and more enduring than a yearly tenancy ; but when this connivance and complicity of the landlord is still further emphasised by his appropriation of I 2 116 SPEECHES AND ADDRESSES. the whole or a part of the money which changes hands, the claim created against him becomes Indisputable, and the barest morality requires its recognition. But, though it may be easy enough to lay down a broad principle of this kind, it will be found that in its application a thousand disputable issues will be raised, both in respect of matters of fact and in respect of the inferences to be drawn from such facts. There are indeed some persons who believe that the custom of Tenant-Eight was a kind of heaven-sent and ready-made dispensation which descended upon Ulster as the manna through the encampment of the Israelites, or the dew upon the fleece of Gideon, covering that favoured province with the sudden and exact precision with which the crust covers a tart ; but there are others who contend that there are many parts of Ulster where no such custom exists, and that even in those districts where it has crystallised into the most distinct and positive shapes, its nature, its character, the rights and privi- leges which it secures to the tenant, and consequently its money value, are modified in a hundred different ways. As far as my own opinion is concerned, I believe Tenant- Eight— so far as it represents anything beyond compensation for improve- ments — to be of comparatively recent origin. It has probably grown up within the present century. It is the expression of a certain force. That force is competition. In the South the competition for land produced by the rapid increase in popul- ation gave birth to the middleman, who renting land at a fair rent let it to sub-tenants at a rack-rent. The large grass farms of the South, combined with other circumstances, favoured this comminution of tenancies. In the North, which is an arable district, and where the farms are consequently smaller, the same facilities for sub-letting did not prevail ; but though the Ulster tenant had not the opportunity enjoyed by his southern compatriot of peopling his farm with a multitude of sub-tenants, and converting himself into a petty landlord and squireen, he was in quite as favourable a situation to profit by the change in the circumstances of the country. He held his land at a lower figure than the enhanced rents outsiders had become willing to give, and consequently he had an oppor- ORIGIN OF ULSTER TENANT-RIGHT. Ill tunity of assigning his tenement for a valuable consideration ; that is to say, holding land at 20s. an acre which in the meantime had become worth 30s. an acre in the open market, he was able, if he chose, to pocket a sum of money which represented in the lump the accumulated difference between those two amounts. As long as the tenant held a lease — and I am inclined to think that up to within the last fifty or sixty years leases were the rule in Ulster — this transaction was a perfectly legitimate one. The tenant possessed a definite legal interest, which had grown to be of a very valuable character, and of which, unless specially debarred by covenant, he had the legal right to dispose. Nor did the practice create, in these circumstances, anything approaching to a custom that clashed with the landlord's interests. The in-coming tenant knew perfectly well what he was doing, that he was acquiring only a definite and terminable interest, and that his right of occupation would disappear with the expiration of his tenure. A single illustration will enforce this conclusion. A lease- holder became bankrupt : quite independently of the landlord's wishes the law required the sale of the lease for the benefit of the creditors. The in-coming tenant paid money for the valuable consideration represented by the lease, and the desti- nation of that money, whether paid in satisfaction of the landlord's claim for rent, or in liquidation of any other of his predecessor's debts, was a matter with which he had no concern ; but when in process of time, as I regret to say has been the case, the system of leasing fell into desuetude, and tenancies at will came to be bought and sold as if they implied valuable and continued rights of occupation — at the same time that the increasing pressure of population, and the force of competition, forced up the letting value of land to a higher figure and at a more rapid rate than considerate landlords were willing to adopt,— a state of confusion, of conflicting claims, and of disputable issues supervened, which nothing but a strong sense of equity on the part of the landlords, and great moderation and good feeling on the part of the tenants, has prevented from culminating in constant quarrels between the owners and the occupiers of the soil in Ulster. Even as it 118 SPEECHES AND ADDRESSES. is, and notwithstanding the ties of traditional good feeling which hare boimd these two classes together, I feel convinced that the vaunted custom of Ulster Tenant-Right, has on the one hand subjected the rights of the landlord to undue encroachments, and on the other has left the equitable interests of the tenant open to hardly less formidable chances of invasion. So rapidly, in fact, were these mischiefs coming to a head, that even if an Irish Land question had not incidentally forced Parliament to deal with the Ulster Tenant-Eight, it would by itself have required special legislation. But, my Lords, be that as it may, I think I have said enough to show that, even on the theory we have been con- sidering, the claims preferred under the head of Custom in various parts of the north of Ireland, will have to be con- sidered and estimated according to the circumstances and facts affecting jiot only every particular estate, but every par- ticular farm on the same estate. Five years ago I may have let a portion of land, hitherto in my own occupation, to a tenant for a specified term ; or my predecessor, thirty years ago, may have granted a lease to a man who never paid a farthing to the out-going tenant, or I may have purchased the Tenant-Right of a farm on which the custom was acknowledged. On another townland, an unrestricted Tenant-Eight has pre- vailed for years ; the tenants may have been told they were free to sell their farms at whatever price they could get in the market. On an adjoining townland these sales may have taken place under certain specified and long-established restrictions, both in regard to the choice of the in-coming tenant, and in respect of the price he was to pay ; while perhaps on a fourth property the term Tenant-Right in the apprehension both of tenant and landlord may have meant nothing more than compen- sation for improvements ; and in some instances, though these I imagine will prove to be very rare, the continual main- tenance of the leasehold system, or other circumstances, may have excluded altogether the notion of vague and merely "customary" arrangements. Such being the Protean character of these Tenant-Right practices, it is very evident that the nature, or rather the jjecuniary value of any rights claimed NO DEFINITION OF TENANT- BIOHT POSSIBLE. 119 under them can only be determined by the most minute and searching investigation, by such evidence as to facts as will require legal acumen to appreciate, and above all by a full consideration of such pleas as the tenants can urge in support of what may, perhaps, often prove a well-founded allegation, namely, that practices which had already acquired the solidity of custom have been arbitrarily interfered with and restricted to their prejudice by innovations on the part of the landlord. In these circumstances I am strongly of opinion that it would be simply impossible for Parliament to define Tenant-Eight, However undesirable it may be to throw upon the Courts of Justice what are akin to legislative functions, no other alterna- tive is open. The tenantry of the north of Ireland say that such and such valuable privileges have, as a matter of fact and as can be proved by evidence, been conceded to them by the landlords. The landlords themselves admit, and many of them boast, indeed, that these assertions are true, but neither landlord nor tenant can agree exactly in a description or definition of what they mean. The whole subject is an incom- prehensible puzzle to the intelligence of the British Parlia- ment. The notion of a commercial value attaching to land, independent of and in addition to the landlord's rent and the farmer's profit, is to them an incomprehensible enigma. They have a vague but just instinct that this strange birth is not a thing it would be either politic to propagate or just to ignore : they therefore say that what exists in fact shall exist in law, but the proof of its existence must precede its legal recognition. The same considerations which have led the Government on the one hand to legalise the Ulster Custom, and on the other to leave its definition to the Courts, appear to me to justify their method of dealing with Custom in other parts of Ireland wherever such Custom may be found. I consider myself that it has been all along a mistake to allude to Tenant-Eight as a purely Ulster Custom. Although, from the peculiar circum- stances I have referred to, it has acquired a more general recognition in Ulster than elsewhere, it exists in other parts of Ireland in even a more concrete form than in many parts of 120 SPEECHES AND ABDEESSES. Ulster ; and wherever it is found, in its main characteristics it is absolutely identical with the Ulster Custom. In fact, it is plain that wherever there is intense competition for land, the opportunity of obtaining a rack-rent will exist, whether in the North or South ; and that, if through the negligence of the landlord, or from his short-sighted desire to recover arrears of rent, he allows a tenant-at-will to sell to his successor this marginal value, — which a wise owner maintains as a reserve fund on which the actual tenant should always be able to fall back in case of an emergency, — there you have at once the Ulster Tenant-Eight in full force, and of course where this is the case, as we have already concluded, it becomes entitled to legal validity. But, my Lords, passing from the consideration of the mode in which the Bill deals with what, after all, are exceptional interests ; interests which have been incidentally created, and are claimed but by a minority of the population, we have still to consider the provisions which have been framed for the protection of the great mass of the tenantry of Ireland, namely, those embodied in Section 3. Now, my Lords, it would be useless to deny that in these provisions resides the active prin- ciple of the Bill, — the characteristics which distinguish it from our ordinary legislation, — the innovations which, to the appre- hension of some, constitute its danger, and in the expectation of others contain a panacea for the ills of Ireland. The legal recognition of customs, the right of a tenant to compensation for his improvements, alterations in the presumption of law, — all these are phases of legislation, which not only carry with them the manifest sanctions of equity, but are justified by the analogy of existing laws. But the arbitrary creation in favour of the mere tenant, that is to say of the man who yesterday might have had no connection with the land, who might have dropped upon it from America or the moon, who has hired it at nn advantageous rent, who has never spent a halfpenny upon it, who is occupying a house built, and fields put into a state of perfect cultivation by the landlord — the creation, I say, in favour of such a personage as this of an irradicable claim against that landlord, amounting to one-fourth or one-fifth of COMPENSATION FOR DISTURBANCE. 121 the fee simple value of the soil, is an exercise of power so extraordinary and apparently so unjust, so directly at variance with the acknowledged rights of property, that in calling upon your Lordships to sanction it both the Government and their supporters are, I admit, bound to show in the clearest manner, what are the principles they appeal to for its justification. Well, my Lords, unpromising as the attempt may appear, I think it will be possible to satisfy your Lordships that the proposal is compatible with the ordinary principles of equity, is in harmony with previous legislation, and in no real way hostile to a fair interpretation of the rights of property. But, my Lords, before stating the considerations which have recom- mended this view to my mind, I wish first of all to repudiate all complicity with those advocates of the tenant's cause who, though they have arrived at the same conclusions as myself, found their case on assumptions and on deductions with which I have no sympathy. First of all, then, I discard, as alto- gether monstrous and untenable, any claim preferred on behalf of the tenant to any partnership or proprietory interest in the soil on the ground of ancient Irish habits, or tribal laws and customs, or on the strength of ethnological characteristics, or prescriptive rights of occupation, or any other of the fantastic apologies which have been invented for the purpose of glos- sing over the real character of the more violent proposals for the settlement of the land question which have been advocated from time to time during the last twelve months. If legis- lation of the kind we recommend is to receive the approval of a British Parliament, it must be on far more truthful and substantial grounds than these. As an inevitable incident to this discussion, men of acuteness and impartiality have been induced to examine the truth of these elaborate excuses, to which years of uncontradicted currency have given an undue authority. What has been the result ? Why, at the first touch of critical research their absurdity has become apparent. Un- happily, exceptional circumstances have rendered the growth of such fanciful theories peculiarly exuberant in Ireland. One of the consequences of the long leases of the last generation was to fix in the mind of the ultimate representative of the original 122 SPEECHEa AND ADDRESSES. lessee, as well as in the minds of his derivative tenants, who were perpaps unborn when the lease was granted, habits of thought and ways of viewing his relationship to his holding, which made it dilBcult for him to understand the terminable nature of his interest in it ; and, in a lawless and uneducated population, these feelings find expression in claims incompatible with all rights of ownership, claims often vindicated by deeds of violence and bloodshed. But, my Lords, I for one will never agree myself, or try to persuade your Lordships, to sanction the unjust claims of one class, or to sacrifice the legitimate interests of another, merely because successive Governments have been impotent to make the laws obeyed, to protect life, or prevent the demoralization of the popular conscience. And, my Lords, I abandon these lines of defence all the more readily, because it appears to me that a very simple consideration and a very explicit argument are sufficent to justify to the utmost the principle in the Bill which we are considering. What is the spectacle presented to us by Ireland ? It is that of millions of persons, whose only dependence and whose chief occupation is agriculture, for the most part cultivating their lands — that is, sinking their past, their present, and their future— upon yearly tenancies ! But what is a yearly tenancy ? Why it is an impossible tenure — a tenure which, if its terms were to be literally interpreted, no Christian man would offer, and none but a madman would accept. In fact, my Lords, it is not a tenure which practically can be said to exist. No human being, whether landlord or tenant, on entering into such a bargain in respect of an agricultural holding — I except of course special and specific cases — ever dreams that the term of occupation is to terminate within the year specified. In the apprehension of both parties a reasonable period is intended. In no other expectation would a furrow be turned or a seed sown,— for it is evident that in proportion as agriculture has developed into an elaborate art, and its processes have come to extend over a cycle of several seasons, the unit of time re- quired to complete a single agricultural operation has grown to be of several years' duration. But the law of England already recognises the principle that the man who sows shall COMPENSATION FOB DISTURBANCE. 123 reap ; consequently, the same analogy by which the law now converts a tenancy-at-will into a longer term, namely, a tenancy from year to year, would amply justify its taking a step further in the same direction, and in declaring every unexpired tenure to be one commensurate with one or other of the approved agricultural courses. But further, independently of the actual capital invested by the farmer in the soil, in respect of which we all acknowledge he has a right to be recouped, there are other elements of value which he incorporates with his enter- prise, namely, his skill, his energy, his industry, his previous training, not to mention the sacrifice of 'other opportunities of pushing his way in the world. This composite expenditure gives birth to expectations not only of remuneration but of profit. Unfortunately, however, agricultural returns are slow, and profits require a considerable lapse of time for their accumulation. The exact interval necessary will vary in accordance with a hundred different circumstances, and almost every country in the world has a different customary term. In Belgium it is from 3 to 9 years, in Scotland from 13 to 19. In England from 12 to 21. In Ireland from 21 to 31. The equity of these arrangements is so self-evident that they are generally observed without the compulsion of a legal contract, and there is no human being with a sense of justice or humanity in his composition who, in ordinary circumstances, after having in- vited another to occupy his land and irretrievably to commit his future destinies to the soil, in the prospect of being per- mitted a considerable term of occupation, would take advant- age of a legal subtlety to divorce him from his enterprise and to confound his legitimate expectations. But, my Lords, although these honourable considerations regulate the relation- ship of landlords and tenants both in England and in Ireland, there exist in Ireland peculiar circumstances which occasionally interrupt their operation. In innumerable instances the tenantry of Ireland have not been inducted into their farms by the present owners. It was in many instances to a totally different class of tenantry that the land was let. The present tenantry of Ireland, in many places, are a deposit of the middleman ; consequently the sense of obligation in the mind of the land- 124 SPEECHES AND ADDRESSES. lord towards persons who have frequently been intruded upon his property, in the teeth of covenants to the contrary, is less keen than it otherwise might have been. At the same time a revolution has occurred in Irish agriculture. The undue culti- vation of the potato, which was formerly its keystone, though still clung to by the least provident portion of the population, is regarded by the owners of property with suspicion and alarm. The catastrophe of 1846 has taught them that millions of infinitesimal holdings sustained by this treacherous root serve only as an ambush for famine to their occupants, and for ruin to themselves. Consequently a desire has arisen, by en- larging, as opportunity offers, the holdings of the peasantry, to render agriculture in Ireland a less precarious pursuit. These attempts, though necessitated by the circumstances of the case and undertaken with the most benevolent intentions, have naturally been unpopular with many classes of the community, and for the last thirty years the landlords of Ireland have been denounced with the most persistent pertinacity as ex- terminators and tyrants. That on the whole the improvement of our agricultural system has been conducted with caution and humanity cannot be disputed. Consolidation of farms can hardly have been excessive in a country where are still 300,000 holdings below fifteen acres, 136,000 below thirty, and only 86,000 above fifty acres. But however gross and exag- gerated these accusations may be, and however well-intentioned the landlords may have been in their endeavours to guard against the recurrence of the calamity of 1846, it is un- doubtedly the fact, that there is a tendency in the minds of some owners of property in Ireland to regard the smaller tenancies with too great impatience. In some cases changes which ought to have been left to time and opportunity have been harshly accelerated, — in others, clearances have been effected on a scale which has shocked the public conscience, and a system which has been justly enough stigmatised as one of arbitrary eviction, has been too frequently resorted to. These occasional acts of harshness, reminding them too forcibly of their own dependent position, have naturally alarmed that vast proportion of the agricultural population, whose sole PROVISIONS OF THE BILL. 125 security for their most vital interests was the will, nay, the whim of their landlords. They have accordingly called upon Parliament to intervene, and Her Majesty's Government, with the consent and with the approval of the popular branch of the legislature, now asks your Lordships to impose upon all such landlords in Ireland as have chosen, or shall choose, to leave their tenantry liable to a sudden and unexpected eviction, the obligation of com- pensating the person with whom it may be their interest or pleasure thus to deal, for the loss he is likely to sustain in the sudden interruption of his enterprise, and for his disappoint- ment in his expectation of those profits which would have accrued to him had he been permitted to conduct it to its legitimate termination. In assessing the amount of this loss it is, of course, necessary to adopt an arbitrary scale, but inasmuch as profits are always considered to be proportionate to rent, it is very evident that the compensation to be awarded must of necessity be a certain number of years' purchase of rent. In my own opinion I do not think that the figures adopted by the Government, subject, as they will be, to modifi- cation at the discretion of the Court according to the circum- stances of each case, are open to objection. I imagine they very fairly represent the limits within which it has been the habit of most of your Lordships to compensate your out-going tenants in similar circumstances, and I sincerely trust that whatever this House will do to the rest of the Bill, it will not attempt to reduce their amount. But, my Lords, it may be objected, that although the arrangements proposed are such as in equity ought to be observed, it does not therefore follow that they should be ren- dered matters of legal obligation, and that legislation in this sense is a violation of that freedom of contract which is one of the most vital and valuable characteristics which can attach to property. My Lords, there is no one in your Lordships' House more alive than myself to the necessity of preserving the right of contract as free and unfettered as is possible ; nor am I one of those who would venture to argue that the restraint of con- tract may not prove a modification, and a very considerable 126 SPEECHES AND ADDBE8SES. modification, both of the nature and of the value of property. So keenly am I sensible of this fact, that had this Bill been uniTersally applicable to the whole of the landed property in Ireland, I should not have been able to support it; but it seems to me that one of the chief characteristics of this measure is that it recognises in the fullest manner that freedom of contract should be the rule, and any interference with it the exception. The question therefore reduces itself to the simple issue whether in view of the defenceless position of a par- ticular class, and of their incapacity from peculiar circum- stances to make a bargain for themselves, the State should be entitled to intervene and make the bargain for them. My Lords, I admit that this is a very anxious and delicate ques- tion. It is a principle of legislation very open to-abuse, and liable to be converted into a dangerous precedent; but it appears to me that for the sake of obtaining a practical good, and of preventing a manifest injustice, such considerations should not be invested with exaggerated importance, and that one of the essential attributes of English statesmanship has always been to determine questions of this kind without too pedantic a regard to logical theory. Many years ago I argued in your Lordships' House that the Irish tenant, being in too dependent a position to make a bargain for himself, was entitled to have his concerns regulated by the interposition of Parliament. To that opinion I still adhere, and, believing, as I do, that on the whole the conditions imposed by this Bill in behaK of the smaller tenants of Ireland are equitable and just, I for one do not shrink from admitting the right of Parliament to introduce them as a compulsory term, into what in every other respect will be a perfectly free contract. And, my Lords, in reference to this part of the subject I would ask your Lordships to remember that although this Bill, by a remark- able ingenuity of conception, does do the most ample and consummate justice to the tenant, it avoids every one of those abuses and violent restrictions upon the freedom of the land- lord which have characterised almost every other proposal of the same sort. In the first place it leaves him in the com- plete possession of his property. Unless by his own act he BEaAED PAID TO TEE EIGHTS OF PBOPERTY. 127 will not be precluded from resuming any portion of it at his pleasure. No obligation is imposed upon him even to grant a lease, nor is any attempt made by the State to dictate to him the terms, whether as regards time or money, on which he is to let his land. The tenant is not empowered, as was the case in almost all prerious projects, to compel him either to make or to pay for any improvements which are not con- ducive to his interest. All that the landlord is required to do is to act towards those who have undertaken to cultivate his land in a way in which every man with any honour and self-respect would be prepared to do without the compulsion of this Bill. My Lords, I have now gone through, at what I am afraid you will have considered a wearisome length, the leading pro- visions of the Bill, and I have stated the grounds on which, in my opinion, each provision can be justified. I have done so, not because similar considerations are not likely to have occurred to your Lordships, but because I desired to dis- tinguish in the most express manner my reasons for supporting the Bill from those, as it appears to me, dangerous and unsound theories by which many persons have endeavoured to influence our legislation. I have discarded altogether from my vocabulary the phrases with which we have lately been so familiar, about tenants by status and tenants by contract, about occupancy rights, the Brehon laws and the Jacobean grants, and I have based my advocacy of it on prin- ciples already known to English law and familiar to our practice. With respect to the chief and vital characteristic of the Bill, namely, that compensation be awarded to the tenant-at-will on eviction, I have argued that it is an equitable obligation in itself, and that being an equitable obligation, the State, as it has already done in the analogous case of women and children employed in factories, has the right to impose it on behalf of those who are not in a position them- selves to stipulate for its observance. My Lords, in considering whether the recognition of such a principle is consistent with the rights of property, I admit that you are bound to exercise a most jealous scrutiny, a scrutiny which shall not 128 SPEECHES AND ADDRESSES. only have regard to what is now enacted, but to the con- sequences to which such an admission may hereafter lead, and I further admit that you are the more bound to do so, from the fact that the guardianship of property is one of the special functions of this House. Some people are wont to make a mock at what they are pleased to denounce as the selfish instincts of property. I believe, my Lords, that those instincts are among the most useful and virtuous which have been implanted in the human breast. They are the instincts from which have sprung order, law, civilisation, and every blessing and amenity that preserves, supports, or adorns the life of man > to outrage those instincts is to commit one of the worst of crimes in respect of the present, and one of the most disastrous blunders as regards the future. The three possessions human beings most prize are liberty, property, and life, but they will ever be ready to sacrifice the last in defence of either of the others. But, my Lords, these considerations should not deter your Lordships, but rather should impel the House patiently to distinguish between reasonable and unreasonable interpretations of proprietorial rights ; and, inasmuch as you are known to be the justest, the most independent, as well as the wealthiest body in the world, to allow plain common sense and considerations of practical equity to override mere logical and theoretical objections in your distribution of justice to those two great classes, the landlords and tenants of Ireland, who by mutual consent have agreed to submit their differences to your august jurisdiction. C 129 ) XV. SPEECH AS CHAIRMAN OP THE BANQUET GIVEN TO THE MEMBERS OP THE COM^DIE PRANQAISE. CRYSTAL PALACE. JULY 28. 1871. MiLOEDs ET Messieurs : En me presentant devant vous dans la circonstanee actuelle, j'avoue que je suis sous I'influence de sentiments opposes : d'une part, c'est pour moi une grande satisfaction que de pouvoir joindre mes hommages a ceux que rend I'Angleterre aux Mattres de la scene franjaise qui sont aujourd'hui nos botes; d'un autre cote, je sens quelle acca- blante responsabilite pese sur moi ; car, messieurs, I'assemblee distinguee qui m'entoure, et au nom de laquelle il m'est donne de prendre la parole, n'est pas de ces reunions produites par la simple courtoisie on par la bienveillance ; c'est un resume de cette societe d'elite qui represente, au plus haut degre, le mouvement et les aspirations de notre vie intellectuelle. Aussi qu'on ne s'etonne pas de voir ici tant de representants de cette societe, sous les formes les plus rariees et les plus distinguees. La scene, en effet, n'est autre chose qu'un reflet du monde entier — un miroir eternel sur lequel les generations passageres de I'humanite ont laisse I'empreinte inalterable de leurs faiblesses et de leurs passions — miroir dans lequel chacun, s'il ne se reconnait pas lui-ineme, reconnait au moins son voisin. C'est done pour rendre bommage a la Hierarchie gardienne de ce panorame de la vie, a cette societe d'artistes dont toute I'Europe reconnait et apprecie I'autorite legitime, que ses admirateurs insulaires se pressent aujourd'hui, plus nombreux que jamais, sous cette voute de cristal. Que de pensees diverses nous assiegent, quelle variete de sentiments je devrais exprimer comme President de la brillante assemblee qui m'environne. Peut-etre n'y a-t-il parmi nous qu'une K 130 SPEECHES AND ADDRESSES. seule personne qui eut pu s'en acquitter dignement. C'est rhomme qui, orateur, poete, homme d'Etat, philosophe, et auteur dramatique, par runiversalite comme par la superiorite de son genie soutiendrait aisement ce fardeau,* et je regrette profonde- ment que sa sante ne le permet pas de se charger de cette tache si lourde pour mes faibles forces. Cette tache, telle que je la comprends, consisterait dans I'expression, non seulement au nom de cette nombreuse assemblee, mais encore au nom de centaines d'autres admirateurs que des necessites imperieuses ont empeche de se joindre a nous, de la satisfaction et du vrai plaisir que nous procure la presence de nos botes sur le sol de I'Angleterre. Get hommage nous devons le leur rendre a un triple point de vue. D'abord, nous reconnaissons en eux les descendants de ce brillant cortege d'artistes dont le talent a fait les delices de plusieurs generations de leurs concitoyens, les dignes successeurs des Baron, des Le Kain, des PreviUe, des Clairon, des Lecouvreur, des Dugazon, des Talma, ces modeles d'autrefois. Nous saluons en eux les depositaires et les conservateurs de ces grandes traditions de leur art, qid ont maintenu si haut la renommee de la scene franpaise. Arant tout, nous saluons en eux les interpretes fideles de ce grand genie classique qui a cree tant de types immortels et qui a enrichi sa langue de ces traits d'esprit qui sont devenus I'beritage de I'Europe. Mais ce n'est pas seulement a ce point de vue que nous leur devons notre affectueuse estime. lis ont a notre sympatbie d'autres droits qui doivent nous penetrer da vantage. Un jour d'adversite a surpris la France. Un temps d'epreuves a surgi sur elle, ou les arts et les agre- ments de la vie se sont eclipses et ont disparu avant la force materielle. Mais, malgre les preoccupations absorbantes de la guerre contre I'etranger, malgre le tumulte des troubles de I'interieur, la Societe de la Comedie Franpaise est restee fidele a elle-meme, comme a sa mission. Inspires non par I'espoir egoiste d'une prosaique speculation, mais par le noble desir de r6tablir les interets compromis de leurs associes, nos botes d'aujourd'bui sont venus dans notre pays dans rintention de faire remonter, par leurs travaux personnels, au niveau ■* The late Lord Lvtton. LA COMEDIE FBANGAISE. 131 ordinaire, les fonds preleves tous les ans par les anciens membres de la societe ages ou infirmes, et qui, sans le concours desinteresse de leurs coUegues, seraient infailliblement exposes aux privations et meme a la misere. Milords et messieurs, e'est un fait qu'on a souvent remarque, que, au milieu des nombreux changements des institutions politiques et sociales de la France, la Comedie Franpaise, cette gracieuse personification de la force intellectuelle, a toujours survecu a la chute des dynasties, des constitutions et des trones. Ce n'est pas I'instant de s'apesantir sur ce sujet, mais nous nous rappelons les principes solides sur lesquels fut assise cette institution par son immortel fondateur, c'est-a-dire, les principes de la cooperation dans le sens le plus reel, veritable Eepublique dans laquelle I'aristocratie du talent tient le rang qui lui est du et ou la suprematie du genie exerce un ascendant indisputable. C'est quand nous voyons, comme aujourd'hui, les membres de cette societe faire preuve de la plus grande abnegation et du devouement le plus absolu dans I'interet de leur communaute, que nous pouvons aisement decouvrir les causes de cette stabilite exceptionnelle. Peut- etre, milords et messieurs, devrais-je terminer ici ce tribut d'admiration, pour lequel je voudrais trouver des expressions moins imparfaites, envers I'illustre societe que nous fetons ce matin. Cependant, il me reste encore un devoir a remplir. Jusqu'ici je vous ai parle au nom du sentiment public, si Men represente dans cette enceinte. Mais il y a parmi nous une classe d'hommes toute particuliere, et dont je veux traduire, autant que cela m'est possible, les sentiments de bonne con- fraternite. Je veux parler des principaux representants de I'art dramatique de notre pays. Pas un d'entre eux n'a manque de temoigner I'admiration la plus vive a ceux que, grace a une profonde connaissance de leur profession, ils ont pu apprecier a leur juste valeur. Ce qui distingue le veritable talent, c'est de savoir toujours reconnaitre le merite d'autrui, et nous vous rappelons que Garrick s'est fait un honneur d'aller visiter Le Kain et Preville, comme plus tard Kemble est alle visiter Talma, et qu'aujourd'hui Macready est un des promoteurs de la solennite qui nous rassemble. Nous pouvons K 2 132 SPEEQEES AND ADDRESSES. nous glorifier de cette noble emulation ou Ton a vu rivaliser, sous les formes les plus variees de leur superiorite reciproque, la scene franpaise et la scene anglaise dans la personne de leurs plus dignes representants. C'est done, autant au nom des artistes dramatiques de toutes classes qu'au nom de ceux presents ou absents pour qui tos merveilleuses facultes ont ete une source inalterable de jouissances, que je vous prie d'agreer nos bommages de bienvenue. Et en vous les adressant, messieurs, je suis beureux d'y joindre I'expression d'un entbousiasme egal pour les belles et eminentes personnes qui Tous secondent et vous egalent en talent. Oui, leurs accents pleins de charmes, leurs mouvements empreints de grace, leur diction irreprocbable, leur puissance surprenante a rendre la passion, resteront a jamais graves dans la memoire de ceux qu'elles ont tenus comme encbaines a leurs pieds. Vous emporterez en France nos voeux les plus sinceres, nos plus ardentes felicitations. Et qu'il me soit permis d'exprimer en outre un desir, celui de vous voir renouveler a Londres des brillantes series de representations. Puissiez-vous faire ainsi revivre cbez nous, a travers la succession des ages, les beautes immortelles de MoUere, de Eacine et de ComeLlle. N'oublions pas que, dans ces migrations et ces excursions triompbales, vous suivez I'exemple de I'initiateur du drame primitif en Grece : " Dicitur et plaustris vexisse poemata Thespis." Milords et messieurs, je porte un toast a tous les membres de la Comedie Franjaise et je demande a y associer tout particulierement le nom de Monsieur Got — de Monsieur Got, I'inimitable acteur, I'artiste plein d'erudition, en meme temps que le parfait bomme du monde. ( 133 ) XVI. SPEECH AS CHAIRMAN OF THE SCOTT CENTENARY BANQUET. BELFAST. AUGUST 15. 1871. Lord Duffeein, in proposing "The memory of Sir Walter Scott," said : — Ladies and Gentlemen, although it has fre- quently been my duty to preside at meetings organised in the interests of literature, I confess that hitherto such celebrations have generally been connected with literature militant ; and my chief duty as chairman has consisted in advocating the claims of struggling authorship, rather than in marshalling a votive procession to the shrine of genius in excelsis. If, there- fore, in proposing to you the toast of the evening — the toast of the eternal memory of Sir Walter Scott — I am not able adequately to express the sentiments of those whose thoughts and feelings I am commissioned to present, I must ask your forgiveness on the plea that obvious reasons connect my sym- pathies with the many who strive rather than with the few who attain. Even were it otherwise — even were this chair to-night occupied by the worthiest representative of the living gener- ation of literary men — even he might find it difficult to translate into articulate language the passion of admiration, pride, and gratitude, which is surging up on every side around me at the mention of his name whose pen has bequeathed us a body of imaginative literature, in prose and verse, such as never yet emanated from a single brain, nor is possessed by any other nation in the world. (Cheers.) To attempt to analyse, to cata- logue, to describe the multiform aspects of Sir Walter Scott's genius would be a useless task. Nor is this the occasion for de- livering a literary essay. However comprehensive might be the enumeration, there is scarcely one of my hearers who would not feel how cold and bald and vapid were the attempt to depict 134 SPEECHES AND ADDRESSES. in words those magical processes by which the author of the Waverley noyels has woven into our memories, nay even into our very existence, a series of romantic visions, representative of so many different eras and different countries ; enriched by such subtle and picturesque portraiture, sparkling with wit and humour, fraught with antiquarian lore, and steeped in a golden atmosphere of poetic description whose lustrous halo time itself shall never quench. (Cheers.) For the creations of genius are immortal ; they soar supreme, detached from space and time ; and, happen what may to the fair fabric of modem civilisation, amid all chance and change, the beauteous array of breathing men and women with which Walter Scott has peopled the realm of fiction shall never fade from out their sphere. Fresher interests, newer ambitions, alien in- spirations may take possession of mankind, the social system of to-day may be smitten into something utterly diverse and strange. The centre of gravity of modem thought may be transferred to another hemisphere, but secure, above all ephemeral mutations, will rise the deathless scenes evolved at the touch of his mystic wand. Men may come and men may go, the glory of states and continents may decay, but the festive wassail in Branxholm Hall will never falter. (Applause.) No check will stay the shining flow of Surrey's chivalry across the Till. Bruce's reeling bark will still defy the storms and tides of Artornish. No sum of years will dim the brightness of Di Vernon's eyes, or quench the martial fervour of Dundee, or bow the pride of Eavenswood. Wamba wiU still jest and offer his fool's neck to save his Master Cedric. Dominie Sampson will still shout " Prodigious ! " over his folios, and Dugald Dalgetty rejoice in his reminiscences of Gustavus, while the stately processions of gallant knights and fair ladies, and God- fearing Covenanters, and reckless cavaliers, of lusty yeomen, and leal Highlandmen and sonsie peasant lasses, will preserve intact through countless generations the memory of what may then have come to be an obsolete society and the ancient types of a transmuted race. (Cheers.) When Thucydides sat down to write his history, with prophetic pride he called it a " /crrifia e? del," an " eternal possession," and so it has proved itself to silt WALTER SCOTT. 135 be ; but as the superincumbent air condenses and compresses the underlying strata of which our atmosphere is composed, so, 'pari passu with the expansion of time, do the cycles of bygone history shrink and narrow down beneath the mass of added matter, until we find the achievements of a dynasty despatched in a paragraph, or the incidents of a century in a single sen- tence. But the airy creations of fancy are subject to no such dis- figuring abridgment. If they live at all, they survive intact ; and, like those vestiges of ancient vegetation which are found imbedded in the fragments of a ruined world, they display, in all their pristine integrity, each delicate line and filament which composed the tracery of their exquisite structure. (Applause.) Turning, however, from a consideration of the enduring character of Scott's creations — a quality possessed by so small a proportion of the productions of the human intellect, and of which this centenary celebration is a foretaste and the earliest assurance — I would wish to say a few words on the remarkable influence his works have exercised, not merely on the general literature of his age — for upon so trite a topic it would be superfluous to enlarge — but more especially on the national character of his countrymen. There is no doubt that until his marvellous genius adorned and dignified with the lustre of picturesque description and the glamour of poetical illustration the harsh elements of Scotch history and the rude characteristics of primitive Scottish life, the estimation in which Scotland and Scotchmen were held by the rest of their countrymen and by Europe was very different from what it is at present. When the founders of the Highland Agricultural Society sought to render their newly-invented motto, " OUm marte nunc arte" into the vernacular, a shallow critic suggested as a translation, " Once robbers ; now thieves " ; and he probably thought this calumnious sarcasm characteristic of their history; while, from the passing allusions contained in the authors of the last century, it is evident that neither the Highland nor the Low- land districts in the country were then invested with those romantic associations which now haunt every vale, and hill, and river in that lovely land. (Hear.) But as the alchemy of sun- shine can transmute the rugged front of some weather-worn 136 SPEECHES AND ADDRESSES. cliff to a bastion of gold, or the storm-rent clouds of evening to crimson fretwork, so the marvellous genius of Scott converted the stern materials with which he had to deal into a series of representations which exhibited, indeed, the perfervidum in- genium Scotorum in all its native energy, but mellowed by the atmosphere of chivalrous romance which he threw around its wilder achievements (Applause). Could the border rievers, the Highland cateran, the ruthless barons and the rugged clansmen, whose feats of dering-do form the staple of his tales, have witnessed their own resurrection in his pages, the interpretation he put upon their questionable careers would probably occur to them as a gratifying but surprising revel- ation. And yet, perhaps, the point of view from which his gifted temperament enabled Sir Walter Scott to regard the rude annals of the past might be nearer to the truth than that which the modesty of his models would have permitted them to assume ; for, if only our dulled perception were capable of a similar insight, there is no doubt that to each of us the drama of his earthly existence, no matter how monotonous or matter-of-fact its avocations, would appear as fraught with marvel and romance, as any poet's dream or idealist's conception. For neither the occasions nor the oblig- ations of chivalry can ever pass away ; and even in this dull, colourless, work-a-day world of ours, are there not Castles of Indolence to be stormed, fair imprisoned Virtues to be liber- ated, dragons of Vice to be overcome, and many a knightly quest of high emprise to be attempted in the interests of our fellow-creatures ? Be that, however, as it may, there is one peculiarity connected with Scott's faculty of romance which should not pass unnoticed, and that is the unfailing vein of home-spun common sense and reverence for Nature which restrains and keeps within well-ordered bounds the most ex- uberant flights of his imagination. No matter how heroic the mould of his creations, they are invariably human beings ; when he seeks to produce an ideal, it is not by eliminating its mortal attributes, but by showing of how much perfection those mortal attributes are capable. (Applause). I have thus ventured to dwell on what Scott has done for the national repute of IRELAND'S NEED OF A " VATE8 SAOEB." 137 Scotland for a particular reason. It has always appeared to me that, if only there should arise among ourselTes a mind as powerful and genial, as penetrated by loye for his native land as Scott's, with a capacity to display in the same ennobling way the thousand romantic incidents of which the soil of Ireland has been the theatre, and of portraying in a befitting manner the host of characters of which we have a right to be proud, that then many of the distressing elements which now discolour and disturb the current of Irish sentiment would disappear. We are naturally an imaginative and sensitive people, with an almost passionate longing for sympathy and consideration, and yet, owing I believe in a great measure to a want of a " vates sacer" we are the only nation in Europe without either a history or a school of historical romance. Yet the materials for a whole history and its attendant litera- ture, sparkling with picturesque incident and heroic achieve- ment, and illuminated by the record of such deeds of valour, patriotism, and self-devotion as no country in the world could boast, lie scattered up and down our libraries in the greatest profusion. Were these once exhumed, and the innumerable dramatic situations they contain displayed under such genial and impartial auspices as those to which the past of Scotland owes so much of its celebrity, that restless, uneasy longing for a more gratifying retrospect which we now experience would find in them its legitimate satisfaction, and with a calmer spirit we might proceed to tread that career of industrial and material prosperity which lies before us. (Applause.) Having thus made a few brief allusions to some of Scott's qualities as an author, I would wish, before I sit down, to say one word as to his life. The story of that life I need not repeat. It is known to all; its bright commencement, its meridian splendour, its unhappy close ; and yet, perhaps, in its chief disaster will be found Scott's greatest glory and our most useful lesson. (Hear, hear.) Imbued, as he was, from childhood with the spirit of ballad poetry, with a love of feudal magnificence and the pomp of chivalry, it is evident that he had determined, almost from the outset of his career, or at least as soon as his genius gave him the means of doing so, to erect the material 138 SPEECHES AND ADDRESSES. substance of one of those stately baronial visions in which his soul delighted. And who cannot enter with him into his project ? Sprung from the princely stock of Buccleuch, with every dale and hill around him eloquent with the prowess of the old-world Paladins of his blood, penetrated with all that was most noble in the spirit of ancient chivalry, who that knows the end does not watch with yearning tearful sympathies the slow laborious realisation of his conception, as on the one hand the mocking sunshine gilds the new crowned towers of Abbotsford, while on the other are gathering the leaden clouds which carry in their bosom destruction to them and to their founder ; and yet, when all is over, the vision shattered, the hearth desolate, what figure of romance rises before us in greater grandeur, with a more stately bearing, more leal and chivalrous, than his whose sense of honour disdained all compromise and composition, and who gave his brain, his health, his life in pawn to the task-masters, rather than that a single creditor should lose a penny by the generous confidence he had placed in others. (Applause.) Ladies and gentlemen, I have now discharged my task, how inadequately and imperfectly none knows better than myself. I have but touched the subject, as the hand of an infant might try to grasp a globe, turning it this way and that. But I have felt that upon such an occasion as the present, there would be something of desecration in seeking to dissect too intimately those thoughts and feelings which animate us all. Each one of us is aware how much of all that is loftiest in his aspirations and chivalrous in his character is owing to Walter Scott, and, having led you a few brief steps towards his shrine, I think it better to content myself with allowing each one of you to worship there with the more perfect reverence of his own individual admiration, (Loud cheers). ( 139 ) XVII. SPEECH AT THE BANQUET IN ULSTER HALL, BELFAST, GIVEN TO LORD DUPPBRIN ON HIS APPOINTMENT AS GOVERNOR-GENERAL OP CANADA. JUNE 11. 1872. In responding to the toast of his health, Loed Duffeein said : — Mr. Mayor, my Lords, Ladies and Gentlemen, I am sure it will be easily understood that, to any one in my situation to-night, it must be difficult to find words either simple enough or strong enough to express his thanks. Those whom I see around me are representatives of all that is most distinguished in the social, mercantile, political and profes- sional world of Ulster and the North. They are, therefore, the very men whose good opinion it has always been my chief ambition to acquire. Amongst them are included not only my personal friends and political associates, but numbers to whom it has been my misfortune to find myself opposed on many momentous public questions, and on whose indulgence and sympathy, therefore, I have no claim, beyond what their native generosity of feeling must supply. Yet all have been pleased to join together to-night in a demonstration of personal kindness and goodwill towards Lady Dufferin and myself, so cordial and so unanimous, so diverse in the quarters whence it proceeds, and so magnificent in its outward characteristics, as may well render the object of it speechless from surprise and gratitude. (Loud cheers.) Yet, ladies and gentlemen, however unequal I may be to making you understand all that I feel at this moment, there is one assurance I must hasten to give you, and that is, that I fully comprehend that it is not to anything that I have done, or have been, or am, that I owe this supreme honour; but that I am indebted for it to that instinctive feeling of sympathy which all Irish hearts show 140 SPEECHES AND ADDRESSES. towards those who, in the discharge of anxious public duties, are called upon to leave their home and native land. (Applause.) You, Mr. Mayor, have indeed been good enough to lay some stress on my humble efforts to promote the welfare of this town and neighbourhood (hear, hear) ; but, although I am conscious that the desire to serve my country has never ceased to be the great passion of my Ufe, a sense of how little I have been able to do towards so great an end has not failed to supply me with a store of humiliating re- flections. In one respect alone is my conscience at ease, and that is in the knowledge that from my earliest entry into public life, neither from fear nor favour, neither from a love of applause nor from a dread of running counter to any dominant tide of popular sentiment, have I ever been turned aside from advocating what I believed to be fair, and just, and right. (Great cheering.) As a consequence, I have found myself opposed in turn to many of the phases of political thought and feeling which have prevailed in this country. Probably there are many gentlemen in this room — I trust no lady — to whom at one time or another my words and conduct may have been displeasing, but I hope I may regard their presence here to-night as an assurance that in the warmest moments of controversy, no matter how strong my personal convictions, I have never failed to pay to my temporary oppo- nents that respect and deference which was due to their high character, their conscientious motives, and their intellectual eminence. (Applause.) On the other hand, I trust I may take this opportunity of assuring those of my entertainers with whom I have been politically allied that I retain a no less grateful appreciation of the confidence with which they have honoured me, of the encouragement with which they have greeted my humble efforts on their behalf, and of the genial and affectionate cordiality which has invested our political intercourse with the attributes of personal friendship. (Cheers.) Ladies and gentlemen, Constitutional Government must necessarily be carried on by party. Allegiance to one's party is the first obligation on every honourable man. (Hear, hear.) Party warfare is as necessary to our political existence ENGLAND'S TRUST IN HER REPRESENTATIVES. 141 as are those conflicting forces which hold the physical world in equilibrium, and refresh and purify the face of nature. But if there is one respect in which public life in this country has the advantage over public life among other nations, it is that our statesmen, in respecting themselves, have learned to respect each other (hear, hear) ; it is that each section of the community, in advocating its own opinions or interests, is content to do so with sobriety and moderation, and that a mutual spirit of forbearance leads to the settlement of the most burning questions under conditions in which both sides can eventually acquiesce; it is that political controversy seldom degenerates into personal rancour; that when once Her Majesty has been pleased to invest one of her subjects with representative authority, whether as a judge, an ambas- sador, or a viceroy, no matter what may have been the vehemence of his political antecedents, his countrymen of all classes and parties are content to regard him henceforth as their common servant, champion, and representative (hear, hear) ; as emancipated from all taint of political partizanship, and as actuated by a simple desire to serve the nation at large. (Cheers.) It is this generosity of sentiment on the part of the British people which seems to have acted like an inspiration on the minds of those great men whose services abroad have added so many glorious pages to our history. It has purified their natures, elevated their aspirations, in- vigorated their intellects, until, as in the case of Lord Canning (cheers). Lord Elgin (cheers), and our late lamented countryman. Lord Mayo (loud cheers), their reputations have expanded beyond the anticipations of their warmest friends, and in dying they have left behind them almost heroic memories. (Loud cheers.) And how could this be otherwise ? As the ship he sails in slowly moves away from the familiar shore ; as the well-known features of the landscape, the bright villas, the pointed spires, the pleasant woods, the torrent beds that scar the mountain side, gradually melt down into a single tint, till only the broad outline of his native coast attracts his gaze, something of an analogous process operates within his mind ; and, as he considers his mission and 142 SPEECHES AND ADDRESSES. his destiny, the landmarks of home politics grow faint, the rugged controversies which divide opinion become indistinct, the antagonisms of party strife recede into the distance, while their place is occupied by the aspect of an united nation, which has confided its interests and its honour to his keeping, and by the image of the beloved Mistress he represents and serves, (Loud cheers.) It is thoughts like these — it is the conscious- ness that he carries with him the confidence of his country- men, the good wishes of his friends, the favour of his Queen, that compels a man to forget himself, his selfish interests and feelings, and makes him wholly his country's ; which gives him courage to incur responsibility, to sustain odium, to confront danger, to sacrifice health, and, if need be, life itself, at the simple call of duty. (Cheers.) Ladies and gentlemen, as far as such inspiriting auspices as these can ensure success, few will have left their native shores amid more encouraging circumstances than myself. (Hear, hear.) I only wish I could feel that the friendly anticipations you have expressed were more certain to be realised. But, after all, perhaps a deep and almost oppressive sense of the responsibility of one's position, a humble hope to be enabled, in spite of one's de- ficiencies, to do one's duty, a due appreciation of the honour of one's post, are a better preparation for a future career than a more confident and self-satisfied frame of mind. (Cheers.) At all events, there is one function of my great office which will prove a labour of love, and to the discharge of which I know I shall not be unequal— that which will consist in pre- senting myself to our fellow-subjects across the Atlantic as the embodiment and representative of that kind feeling (hear, hear), of that deep sympathy, of that ceaseless and inde- structible pride and affection with which all classes and all parties in this country regard the inhabitants of our great Dominion. (Cheers.) Ladies and gentlemen, you are of course aware that the Government of Canada is strictly constitu- tional ; that it reflects, in all respects, the institutions of this country ; and that this resemblance is maintained, not merely by the outward form of its machinery, but, what is of far greater importance, by that spirit of dignified moderation CANADA AND TEE UNITED STATES. 143 and sagacious statesmanship which inspires the conduct of those distinguished men who have successfully administered her affairs and directed the councils of her legislature. (Cheers.) Why, the mere creation of the Dominion, the union of the Provinces, the concentration of power in the hands of a Supreme Parliament, whose jurisdiction now extends from ocean to ocean, is itself a proof of the patriotism, of the ability, and of the organising power of the Canadian people. (Hear, hear.) It is not to be supposed but that many local interests, pre- judices, and traditions must have imagined themselves com- promised by the absorption of the Local Legislatures into the bosom of the mightier body ; but not only have the wisest counsels on the subject been permitted to prevail, and all minor jealousies been obliterated, but even those who most vehemently opposed the arrangement, when once the contro- versy was concluded, have acquiesced in the settlement, and with a loyal and generous patriotism have done their very best to render nugatory their own misgivings, and to make the system they at one time found it necessary to oppose, work to the best possible advantage. (Cheers). Who can now doubt the constructive power, the statesmanlike instincts, the vitality, or the future of a community whose Parliament and whose statesmen can already boast of such notable achieve- ments in the art of government? (Hear, hear.) But, ladies and gentlemen, to be the interpreter of the goodwill of the people of Great Britain towards the inhabitants of Canada is not the only congenial duty imposed upon me by my office. There is another of an analogous kind which it will give me hardly less pleasure to discharge. Side by side with the dominion of Canada, along a frontier of more than 2,000 miles, extends the territory of a kindred race (cheers), who are working out their great destiny under institutions which, though differing in some of their outward aspects from our own, have been elaborated under the inspiration of that same love of freedom, that reverence for law, that sober, prac- tical statesmanship, that capacity of self-discipline which characterise the English-speaking race. As the chief of the Executive of Canada, as the representative of the British 144 SPEECHES AND ADDRESSES. Crown, as the serYant and spokesman of the British people, it will be my agreeable duty to exhibit on all occasions whatever of hospitality, courtesy, and friendliness to the citizens of the United States may most accurately exhibit the genuine sym- pathy felt by this country for America, which, in spite of any momentary and superficial disputes which may trouble the outward surface of their amity, descends too deeply down into the hearts of both peoples ever to be really shaken or disturbed. (Loud cheers.) It has been my good fortune to know a great number of distinguished Americans. Some of my dearest friends are natives of the States, and not the least of the pleasant anticipations which await me is the prospect of acquiring a better knowledge and becoming more intimately acquainted with the social and political organisation of that great and prosperous nation. (Loud cheers.) But of course the most constant and absorbing duty of every one connected with the Government ^of Canada, and one not less agreeable than those to wkich I have alluded, will be that of developing the latent wealth and the enormous material resources of the vast territory comprised within my new juris- diction. Few people in this country have any notion how blessed by nature is the Canadian soil. (Hear, hear.) The beauty, majesty, and material importance of the Gulf of the St. Lawrence is indeed the theme of every traveller, while the stupendous chain of lakes to which it is the outlet is well known to afford a system of inland navigation such as is to be found in no other part of the habitable globe. The inex- haustible harvest of its seas annually gathered by its hardy maritime population, the innumerable treasures of its forests, are known to all ; but what is not so generally understood is that beyond the present inhabited regions of the country — beyond the towns, the lakes, the woods — there stretches out an enormous breadth of rich alluvial soil comprising an area of thousands of square miles, so level, so fertile, so ripe for cultivation, so profusely watered and intersected by enormous navigable rivers, with so exceptionally mild a climate, as to be destined at no distant time to be occupied by millions of our prosperous fellow-subjects, and to become a central granary for THE PR08PE0T8 OF O AN AD A. 145 the adjoining continents. (Cheers.) Such a scene as this may well fire the most sluggish imagination, nor can there be conceived a greater privilege than to be permitted to watch over the development of an industry and civilisation fraught with such universal advantage to the human race. In fact, ladies and gentlemen, it may be doubted whether the inhabitants of the Dominion themselves are as yet fully awake to the magnificent destiny in store for them, or have altogether realised the pro- mise of their young and hardy nationality. Like a virgin goddess in a primseval world, Canada still walks in uncon- scious beauty among her golden woods and by the margin of her trackless streams, catching but broken glances of her radiant majesty as mirrored on their surface, and scarcely recks as yet of the glories awaiting her in the Olympus of nations. (Loud cheers.) ( 146 ) XVUI. SPEECH AT THE PRESENTATION OP THE STATUE OF QUEEN VIOTOBIA TO THE CITY OF MONTREAL. NOVEMBER 21. 1872. LoED DuFFEEiN Said : — Gentlemen, it is with a degree of pleasure difficult to express that I find myself engaged in the discharge of a duty so appropriate to my office, and so congenial to my feelings, as that imposed upon me to-day. Among the many circumstances which have made me feel at what a fortunate epoch I have arrived in Canada, by no means the least agreeable is the fact that there has been reserved to me this opportunity of taking part in a ceremony which evinces, in so marked a manner, the unfailing loyalty and affection entertained by the citizens of this large prosperous and wealthy town towards the person and throne of our Sovereign. (Cheers.) It is, therefore, with the most heart- felt satisfaction that I undertake the function now allotted to me, and that 1 become the momentary depositary of this unique and precious gift with which you, gentlemen, are desirous to grace your city, and which you now commission me to hand over, as a perpetual ornament, to the inhabitants of Montreal and to their children for ever. And I must say it is to no mean heritage that these future generations will fall heirs, for, thanks to the magic power of the sculptor, long after we and those who have known and honoured Queen Victoria have passed away, there will remain to them, untouched by time, this breathing representation of that open and intelligent regard, that sweet womanly grace and imperial majesty of aspect, which in her lifetime combined to render the presence of the Queen of England more august than that of any con- temporary monarch. (Loud applause.) It is to you, then, QUEEN VICTORIA. 147 citizens of Montreal, that I now turn ; it is into your hands that I now place this sacred deposit ; it is on you that I lay the charge of guarding for yourselves and those who come after you this fair image of your Queen, this gracious impersonation of the Majesty of Britain, this stately type and pledge of our Imperial unity, this crowned and sceptred symbol of those glorious institutions which we have found so conducive to the maintenance of individual liberty and constitutional freedom. (Great cheering.) Gentlemen, it was my good fortune in early life to serve near the person of our Sovereign. At that time no domestic calamity had thrown its ineffaceable shadow across the threshold of her home. I was then a spectator of her daily life, its pure joys, its refined and noble occupationsj its duties never neglected, but their burden shared by the tenderest of husbands and most sagacious of friends. It was then that I learned the secret of that hold Her Majesty possesses over the hearts of her subjects in every part of her extensive empire ; and when in later days death had for ever shattered the bright visions of her early happiness, and left her to discharge alone and unaided, during long years of widowhood, in the isolation of an empty palace, the weighty functions of her royal station, renewed opportunities were afforded me of observing with what patience, patriotism, and devotion to the public service, her brave and noble nature bore each burden and discharged each task. From dissipation, gaieties, the distraction of society, the widowed Sovereign may have shrunk, from duty never. (Loud cheers.) When, therefore, you cast your eyes up to this work of art, let the image of the woman, as well as of the Queen, be enshrined in your recollections, and let each citizen remem- ber that in Her whose sculptured lineaments he now regards he has an example of prosperity borne with meekness, of adversity borne with patience, of the path of duty unfalter- ingly followed, and of a blamelessuess of existence which has been a source of pride to every English heart, and whose pure and radiant influence has shed its holy light on a thousand thousand British homes. Above all, let each Canadian patriot remember, as he contemplates with pride the ever-brighteniug L 2 148 SPEECHES AND ADDBE8SES. destinies of his native country, let your children and your children's children remember, as, generation after generation, this great Dominion gathers strength and power, that it was under the auspices and the government of Her whose statue I now confide to your keeping, that these mighty provinces were confederated into a still mightier State, and the founda- tions laid of that broad Dominion which, I trust, is destined to prove the brightest ornament and the most powerful adjunct of the Empire of Britain. (Great applause.) Gentlemen, I thank you again for the opportunity you have given me of taking part in these proceedings, and for those kind expres- sions which you have addressed to me personally. I feel I can make no better return than by saying that, in the discharge of my ofBce in this country, it is my desire and hope to follow, at however humble a distance, the example of that beloved Sovereign, who during a long reign has faithfully trod in the paths of the British Constitution, and has never once failed in Her duty to Her Crown, Her iVTinisters, Her Parliament, or Her People. (Prolonged cheers.) ( 149 ) XiX. SPEECH AT THE BANQUET AT THE HALIFAX CLUB, HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA.* AUGUST 8. 1873. In reply to the toast of the health of the Earl and Countess of Dufferin, Lord Duffeein said : — Gentlemen, if anything were wanting to enhance the honour done me, it would be found in the eloquent and most kind and considerate terms in which the health of the Countess of Dufferin and myself has been pro- posed by the Chief Justice. When I first arrived amongst you I was of course a stranger to all but a very few, and although, with her traditional loyalty, your city was prepared to pay every proper mark of respect to the Eepresentative of Her Majesty, you have made us feel that, as our acqtiaintance improved, a sentiment of personal kindness and good-will has begun to mingle in daily increasing proportions with the official hospitalities with which we have been overwhelmed. (Cheers.) Of course these indications of your friendliness and indulgence are very gratifying to my feelings, nor can you be surprised that I should reciprocate your good-will in even a still warmer manner. I shall ever look back to my visit here as a most pleasurable reminiscence. Independently of the advantages I have enjoyed of becoming acquainted with the material aspects and characteristics of the chief city of one of the most im- portant provinces of the Dominion, I have been able to make the personal acquaintance of almost all your eminent citizens, your politicians, your clergy, your judges, and the heads of * At this time what is known as the Canadian Pacific Railway Scandal was causing great excitement throughout the Dominion. The supposed views, sympathies, and intentions of the Governor General were made the subject not merely of conjecture, hut of assertion and comment in the rival newspapers. Lord Dufferin took this, the earliest possible opportunity of deprecating the introduction of his name into the controversy. 150 SPEECHEa AND ADDRESSES. those various interests and professions which maintain the intellectual vitality and minister to the commercial prosperity of this the capital of Eastern North America. As a con- sequence, I feel that henceforth I shall be able to examine with a warmer sympathy and a far more intelligent appreciation than heretofore, such problems affecting your welfare as may from time to time be submitted to the consideration of my Government at Ottawa. And here, gentlemen, I should be disposed to conclude this imperfect expression of my thanks, were I not desirous of conveying to my friend the Chief Justice the great gratifica- tion I have derived from the remarks which have dropped from him in regard to my official position as Governor General of this great Dominion. Gentlemen, I am well aware that this is, as it were, a domestic festival, and that nothing could be more inopportune than the slightest allusion to any political topic ; but I may be permitted to say, in reference to what has fallen from the Chief Justice, that, if there is one obligation whose importance I appreciate more than another, as attaching to the functions of my office, it is the absolute and paramount duty, not merely of maintaining an outward attitude of perfect impartiality towards the various parties into which the political world of Canada, as of the mother country, is divided, but still more of preserving that subtle and inward balance of sympathy, judgment, and opinion that should elevate the representative of your Sovereign above the faintest suspicion of having any other desire, aim, or ambition than to follow the example of his Eoyal mistress in the relations which she has constantly maintained towards her ministers, her parliament, and her people (great cheering), to remember every hour of the day that he has but one duty and but one office, to administer his government in the interests of the whole Canadian people, and of the dominion at large. (Loud cheers.) Of course, gentlemen, having been but one brief year in the country my character and my sentiments in these respects can scarcely be known, and there is always a danger during the fervour of those political controversies — which seem to be conducted by the Press of Canada with peculiar animation ■TBE DUTY OF A GOVERNOB OENEBAL. 151 (laughter) — of unauthorised references being made to the GoTernor-Greneral's supposed sentiments, opinions, and inten- tions, which would convey to the uninstructed reader a very erroneotis impression of the conduct and the attitude of the chief of the State. Gentlemen, I do not make this remark by way of complaint. If there is any person in Canada who has been kindly and considerately dealt with by the Press, to whom the Press of every political complexion has shown indulgence and good- will, it is myself ; and it is a most natural, and by no means an uncomplimentary circumstance, that the organs of different shades of opinion should persuade themselves that the G-overnor General must necessarily be of their way of thinking and see through their spectacles ; but what I wish to say once for all, and I do not care how widely this remark is disseminated, is this, that there is no human being who is authorised to make any statement or suggestion as to what my opinions or senti- ments may be in respect of any political topic, or who has ever been in a position, or is likely to be in a position, to make anything approaching to a conjecture upon points of this description. It is my object and my desire to inform my mind upon every subject affecting the interests of the country by conversation and by discussion with any one who can afford me instruction or information, and it would be very unfortunate for me if this freedom of intercourse with all classes and parties in Canada, from which I derive so much benefit and pleasure, should be trammelled by the dread lest this casual intercourse should become the foundation for inference, com- ment, or conjecture in the Press. No, gentlemen, I understand my duty too well ever to allow my judgment or my sympathies to be surprised into political partizanship. My one thought and desire is the welfare of Canada as a whole ; to maintain her honour, to promote her prosperity, to do my duty by her and her entire people, is the sole object of my ambition. When I converse with your public men, it scarcely ever occurs to me to remember to what political party they belong. I only see in them persons devoting themselves, each according to his lights, to the service of his country. My only guiding star in 152 SPEEGEES AND ADDRE88E8. the conduct and maintenance of my official relations with your public men is the Parliament of Canada (cheers) ; in fact, I suppose I am the only person in the Dominion whose faith in the wisdom and in the infallibility of Parliament is never shaken. (Great laughter.) Each of you, gentlemen, only believes in Parliament so long as Parliament votes according to his wishes and convictions : I, gentlemen, believe in Parliament, no matter which way it votes (laughter), and to those men alone whom the absolute will of the Confederated Parliament of the Dominion may assign to me as my re- sponsible advisers can I give my confidence. (Cheers.) Whether they are the heads of this party or of that must be a matter of indifference to the Governor General. So long as they are maintained by Parliament in their positions, so long is he bound to give them his unreserved confidence, to defer to their advice, and loyally to assist them with his counsels. Whenever in the vicissitudes of party warfare they are replaced by others, he welcomes their successors with an equally open and loyal regard. Such private friendships as he may have formed he will have a right to retain. (Hear, hear.) As a reasonable being he cannot help having convictions upon the merits of different policies. But these considerations are abstract, speculative, devoid of practical effect on his official relations. As the head of a Constitutional State, as engaged in the administration of Parliamentary Government, he has no political friends — still less need he have political enemies (great cheering) ; the possession of either — nay, even to be suspected of possessing either — destroys his usefulness. Some- times, of course, no matter how disconnected his personality may be from what is taking place, his name will get dragged into some controversy, and he may suddenly find himself the subject of criticism by the Press of whatever party may be for the moment out of humour ; but in these circumstances he must console himself with the reflection that these spas- modic castigations are as transitory and innocuous as the discipline applied to their idol by the worshippers of Mumbo Jumbo (laughter) when their harvests are short, or a murrain visits their flocks. For, gentlemen, of this I am certain, that, THE DUTY OF A QOVEBNOR GENERAL. 153 although he may sometimes err in his judgment, or fail in serving you as effectually as he might desire, a Viceroy who honestly seeks to do his duty, to whom the interests of Canada are as precious and her honour as dear as his own, who steers, unmoved, an even course, indifferent to praise or blame, between the political contentions of the day, can never appeal in vain to the confidence and generosity of the Canadian people. (Great cheering.) ( 154 ) XX. SPEECH AT THE INDIAN RESERVE, TUSCARORA, IN REPLY TO THE ADDRESS OF THE SIX NATIONS. AUGUST 25. 1874. Lord Duffeein said : — Chiefs, Councilmen, and young men of the Six Nations, I desire to express to you the pleasure which I derive from my visit to your settlement, and from the eloquent addresses with which I have been honoured. I have looked forward to this expedition with great impatience, for you must understand that it is no idle curiosity which brings me hither, but that when the Governor General and the representative of your Great Mother comes among you it is a genuine sign of the interest which the Imperial Govern- ment and the Government of Canada take in your welfare, and of their desire to show that your interests and your happiness are as much a matter of solicitude to them as are those of the rest of your fellow-citizens. Neither must you suppose that I am ignorant of those claims upon the gratitude and affection of the English nation which you possess. I am well aware that in ancient times, when there was war between the early French colonizers of Canada and the early English colonists of the lower States, you were always a friendly people to the English Crown, and that in later days, when differences arose between our ancestors and the ancestors of the present inhabit- ants of the United States — differences which I am glad to say have long since been buried in oblivion by both parties — it was on the bravery in arms and on the fidelity of your grandfathers that the Crown of England then relied. The memory of these transactions, I can assure you, shall never be allowed to pass away, and although you have ceased to be the warlike allies of Great Britain, we are still proud to hail you as its pacific and contented subjects. You could not have a greater proof that CANADA AND EEB INDIAN SUBJECTS. 155 the memories of the ancient ties which bound the Six Nations and the English people together have not been forgotten than the fact that one of the principal towns in Ontario has been called after the Chieftain Tyendinaga, of whom you are so justly proud, or than the manner in which those treaties and reserva- tions which were made in consideration of your forefathers' services, have been observed and maintained. There is no part of your address which has given me greater pleasure than that in which you acknowledge that the British Crown has kept faith with its Indian subjects, and that you and all the members of the Six Nations have confidence in the word of the British Government. Although the days are happily past in which we needed your assistance on the battle- field, you must not suppose that we do not count with equal anxiety upon your assistance in those peaceful efforts to which the people of Canada are now devoted, or that we fail to value you as faithful and industrious coadjutors in the task we have undertaken of building up the Dominion of Canada into a prosperous, rich, and contented nation. During my recent visit to the westward I came in contact with other tribes of Indians, unfortunately, less happily circumstanced than your- selves, inasmuch as, inhabiting a more distant region than you, they have not had an opportunity of acquiring those habits of civilisation which you have so readily adopted, and of which the beneficent effects are apparent in the comparison of the scene before me with the appearance presented by those Indian tribes to whom I refer. For although, like yourselves, they are animated with loyal feelings towards your Great Mother, and are firmly attached to the Government of the British Crown, they were in every way inferior to you in physical appearance, in their habits of life, and in their material comforts. It is to be hoped that in the course of time a more settled mode of existence will gradually be extended among all the Indian subjects of the Canadian Government, but at the same time I wish it to be understood that it is by no means the desire of the Government unduly to press upon its Indian subjects a premature or violent change in their established habits. To have done this would have been, in my opinion, a great 156 SPEECHES AND ADDHESSES. mistake. I believe that one chief reason why the GoTernment of Canada has been so pre-eminently successful in maintaining the happiest and most affectionate relations with the various Indian nations with whom it has had to deal, has been that it has recognised the right of those people to live according to their own notions of what is fittest for their happiness, and most suitable to the peculiar circumstances in which they are placed. I am glad to think that in doing so they have already begun to reap the fruits of their forbearance and good sense, and that from ocean to ocean, amidst every tribe of Indians, the name of Canada is synonymous with humanity, with good faith, and with benevolent treatment. I am very pleased to see amongst those who have assembled to welcome me many members of your families arrayed in the ancient dress of the Indian nationality, for I should be far from wishing to discourage your taking a just and patriotic pride in those characteristics of your past history which, being innocent in themselves, will serve to remind you of your forefathers, and of the antecedents of your various tribes, and will add colour and interest to your existence as a distinct nationality, so happily incorporated with the British Empire. We see that those of French, English, Irish, and Scotch origin who have settled in Canada, however closely united they may be in their present interests, and in a common patriotism to the land of their adoption, still rejoice in those innocent celebrations which recall the memories of the various sources from which their parentage is derived, and I trust that the Indian subjects of Her Majesty will always take a similar pride in preserving intact, from generation to generation, the distinctive attributes of their national circumstances. And now I trust you will forgive me if, standing in the relation to you of the representative of your Great Mother, I venture to utter a few words of advice. In the first place, let me entreat you, with all the earnestness I can, to devote all the energies which you possess to the improvement of your agri- culture. Of course I am well aware that a nation of hunters cannot be expected, even in one or two generations, so com- pletely to change those habits which are engraven into their INDIAN LOYALTY. 157 very nature as to rise to a level with other communities who have followed the occupation of agriculture for thousands of years. Still you must remember that, making every allowance which can justly be demanded in your behalf on that score, there is room for still further improvements, and in the course of the next generation the G-overnment of the country and your fellow-subjects will expect that you will compete with them on more equal terms than you are able to do at present in all those arts of peace, whether of agriculture or of mechanics, which it is necessary to cultivate for your own support, and in the interests of your common country. In the next place — and now I am addressing myself to the young men of the nation, because I feel that it is scarcely necessary that I should give such a recommendation to their fathers — let me recommend you to avoid all excess in intoxicating liquors as if they were so much poison, as if it were the destruction of the happiness of your homes, of your health, of your energy, of everything which you ought to hold dear, as honourable and right-minded men. It only remains for me to thank you for the kindly welcome you have given me, for the pains you have taken to make my visit agreeable, for the evidences which you have exhibited of your loyalty to your Great Mother, and for your friendly feelings towards myself and the Countess of Dufferin. On entering the Indian Eeserve, we passed through an arch which was beautifully constructed and decorated with appropriate emblems. On our passage through your domain we encountered Indian bands of music, all of them playing the hymn in honour of the Queen. On arriving at your Council House our path to the dais was strewn with flowers, and we found ourselves accommodated in that traditional arbour in which from time immemorial the Indian tribes have been accustomed to greet their guests. In return, let me assure you that so long as I administer the government of this country every Indian subject, no matter what his tribe, what his nation, or what his religion, will find in me a faithful friend and sure protector, and that in under- taking this office I am but representing the wishes of the 158 SPEECHES AND ADDRESSES. Local Canadian G-overnment, and following the instructions of the Imperial authorities. The people of Canada and the people of Britain will not cease to recognise the obligations which have been imposed upon them by the hand of Providence towards their Indian fellow-subjects, and never shall the word of Britain, once pledged, be broken, but from one end of the Dominion to the other every Indian subject shall be made to feel that he enjoys the rights of a freeman, and that he can with confidence appeal to the British Crown for protection. ( 159 ) XXI. SPEECH AT THE BANQUET AT THE TORONTO CLUB, TORONTO, ON HIS RETURN PROM A TOUR THROUGH WESTERN CANADA. SEPTEMBER 2. 1874. In reply to the toast of his health, Loed Dufferin said : — Mr. Cameron and Gentlemen, I cannot but consider it a very happy circumstance that one of the most gratifying progresses ever made by a representative of the Queen through any portion of the British Empire should find its appropriate close in this cordial and splendid reception, at the hands of a Society of gentlemen which, though non-political in its corporate character, is so thoroughly representative of all that is most distinguished in the various schools of political thought in Canada. It is but a few short weeks since I left Toronto, and yet I question whether many born Canadians have ever seen or learned more of the western half of the Dominion than I have during that brief period. Memory itself scarcely suffices to reflect the shifting vision of mountain, wood and water, inland seas and silver rolling rivers, golden corn-lands and busy prosperous towns, through which we have held our way ; but though the mind's eye fail ever again to readjust the dazzling panorama, as long as life endures not a single echo of the universal greeting with which we have been welcomed will be hushed within our hearts. Yet, deeply as I am sensible of the personal kindnesses of which I have been the recipient, proud as I feel of the honour done to my office, moved as I have been by the devoted affection shown for our Queen and for our common country, no one is more aware than myself of the imperfect return I have made to the generous enthusiasm which has been evoked. If, then, gentlemen, I now fail to respond in suitable terms to the toast you have 160 8PEECHE8 AND ADDRESSES. drunk, if in my hurried replies to the innumerable addresses with which I have been honoured, an occasional indiscreet or ill-considered phrase should have escaped my lips, I know that your kindness will supply my shortcomings — that naught will be set down in malice — and that an indulgent construction will be put upon my hasty sentences. But, gentlemen, though the language of gratitude may fail, the theme itself supplies me with that of congratulation, for never has the head of any Government passed through a land so replete with contentment in the present, so pregnant with promise in the future. From the northern forest border- lands, whose primaeval recesses are being pierced and indented by the rough and ready cultivation of the free-grant settler, to the trim enclosures and wheat-laden townships that smile along the lakes, — from the orchards of Niagara to the hunting-grounds of Nepigon, — in the wigwam of the Indian, in the homestead of the farmer, in the workshop of the artisan, in the office of his employer, everywhere have I learned that the people are satisfied (cheers) — satisfied with their own individual prospects, and with the prospects of their country (cheers) — satisfied with their Government, and with the institutions under which they prosper (applause) — satisfied to be the subjects of the Queen (tremendous applause) — satisfied to be members of the British Empire. (Eenewed applause.) Indeed I cannot help thinking that, quite apart from the advantages to myself, my yearly journeys through the Provinces will have been of public benefit, as exemplifying with what spontaneous, unconcerted unanimity of language the entire Dominion has declared its faith in itself, in its destiny, in its connection with the Mother Country, and in the well-ordered freedom of a constitutional Monarchy. (Applause.) And, gentlemen, it is this very com- bination of sentiments which appears to me so wholesome and satisfactory. Words cannot express the pride I feel as an Englishman in the loyalty of Canada to England. Neverthe- less, I should be the first to deplore this feeling if it rendered Canada disloyal to herself, if it dwarfed or smothered Canadian patriotism, or generated a sickly spirit of dependence. Such, however, is far from being the case. The legislation of your CANADIAN LOYALTY. 161 Parliament, the attitude of your statesmen, the language of your Press sufficiently show how firmly and intelligently you are prepared to accept and apply the almost unlimited legis- lative faculties with which you have been endowed — while the daily growing disposition to extinguish sectional jealousies and to ignore an obsolete provincialism, proves how strongly the young heart of your confederated commonwealth has begun to throb with the consciousness of its nationalised existence. (Great cheering.) At this moment not a shilling of British money finds its way to Canada, the interference of the Home Government with the domestic affairs of the Dominion has ceased, while the Imperial relations between the two countries are regulated by a spirit of such mutual deference, forbearance and moderation, as reflects the greatest credit on the statesmen of both. Yet, so far from this gift of autonomy having brought about any divergence of aim or aspiration on either side, every reader of our annals must be aware that the sentiments of Canada towards Great Britain are infinitely more friendly now than in those earlier days when the political intercourse of the two countries was disturbed and complicated by an excessive and untoward tutelage ; that never was Canada more united than at present in sympathy of purpose and unity of interest with the Mother Country, more at one with her in social habits and tone of thought, more proud of her claim to share in the heritage of England's past, more ready to accept whatever obligations may be imposed upon her by her partnership in the future fortimes of the Empire. (Loud applause.) Again, nothing in my recent journey has been more striking, nothing has been more affecting, than the passionate loyalty everywhere evinced towards the person and the throne of Queen Victoria. (Great cheering.) Wherever I have gone, in the crowded cities, in the remote hamlet, the affection of the people for their Sovereign has been blazoned forth against the summer sky by every device which art could fashion or ingenuity invent. Even in the wilds and deserts of the land, the most secluded and untutored settler would hoist some cloth or rag above his shanty, and startle the solitudes of the forest M 162 SPEECHES AND ADDRESSES. with a shot from his rusty firelock and a lusty cheer from himself and his children in glad allegiance to his country's Queen. Even the Indian in his forest, or on his reserve, would marshal forth his picturesque symbols of fidelity in grateful recognition of a Government that never broke a treaty or falsified its plighted word to the red man (great applause), or failed to evince for the ancient children of the soil a wise and conscientious solicitude. Yet, touching as were the exhibitions of so much generous feeling, I could scarcely have found pleasure in them had they merely been the expressions of a traditional habit or of a conventional sentimentality. No, gentlemen, they sprang from a far more genuine and vital source. The Canadians are loyal to Queen Victoria, in the first place because they honour and love her for her personal qualities (cheers)— for her life-long devotion to her duties — for her faithful observance of all the obligations of a constitutional monarch (cheers) ; and, in the next place, they revere her as the symbol and representative of as glorious a national life, of as satisfactory a form of Grovemment as any country in the world can point to — a national life illustrious through a thousand years with the achievements of patriots, statesmen, warriors, and scholars — a form of Government which more perfectly than any other combines the element of stability with a complete recognition of popular rights, and insures by its social accessories, so far as is compatible with the im- perfections of human nature, a lofty standard of obligation and simplicity of manners in the classes that regulate the general tone of our civil intercourse. On my way across the lakes I called in at the city of Chicago — a city which has risen more splendid than ever from her ashes — and at Detroit, the home of one of the most prosperous and intelligent communities on this continent. At both these places I was received with the utmost kindness and courtesy by the civil authorities and by the citizens themselves, who vied with each other in making me feel with how friendly an interest that great and generous people, who have advanced the United States to so splendid a position in the family of nations, regard their Canadian neighbours; but, though disposed to watch A BEPABTEE. 163 with genuine admiration and sympathy the development of our Dominion into a great power, our friends across the line are wont, as you know, to amuse their lighter moments with the " large utterances of the early gods." (Laughter.) More than once I was addressed with the playful suggestion that Canada should unite her fortunes with those of the Great Republic. To these invitations I invariably replied by acquainting them that in Canada we were essentially a democratic people (great laughter) ; that nothing would con- tent us unless the popular will could exercise an immediate and complete control over the Executive of the country ; that the Ministers who conducted the Government were but a Committee of Parliament, which was itself an emanation from the constituencies (loud applause), and that no Canadian would be able to breathe freely if he thought that the persons administering the affairs of his country were removed beyond the supervision and contact of our legislative assemblies. (Cheers and laughter.) And, gentlemen, in this extemporised repartee of mine — there will be found, I think, a germ of sound philosophy. In fact, it appears to me that even from the point of view of the most enthusiastic advocate of popular rights, the Government of Canada is nearly perfect ; for while you are free from those historical complications which some- times clog the free running of our parliamentary machinery at home, while you possess every popular guarantee and privilege that reason can demand — you have an additional element of elasticity introduced into your system in the person of the Governor General; for, as I have had occasion to remark elsewhere, in most forms of Government, should a mis- understanding occur between the head of the State and the representatives of the people, a deadlock might ensue of a very grave character, inasmuch as there would be no power of appeal to a third party — and deadlocks are the dangers of all constitutional systems — whereas in Canada, should the Governor General and his Legislature unhappily disagree, the misunderstanding is referred to England as " amicus curiae," whose only object, of course, is to give free play to your parliamentary institutions, whose intervention can be relied M 2 164 SPEECHES AND ADDRESSES. upon as impartial and benevolent, and who would immediately replace an erring or impracticable Yiceroy^ — for sucb things can be — by another ofScer more competent to his duties, without the slightest hitch or disturbance having been occasioned in the orderly march of your affairs. If then the Canadian people are loyal to the Crown, it is with a reasoning loyalty. (Applause.) It is because they are able to appreciate the advantage of having inherited a constitutional system so workable, so well balanced, and so peculiarly adapted to their own especial wants. If to these constitutional advantages we add the blessing of a judiciary not chosen by a capricious method of popular election, but selected for their ability and professional standing by responsible Ministers, and alike in- dependent of popular favour and political influences ; a civil service whose rights of permanency both the great political parties of the country have agreed to recognise (applause) — and consequently a civil service free from partizanship, and disposed to make the service of the State rather than that of party their chief object ; an electoral system purged of cor- ruption by the joint action of the ballot and the newly- constituted courts for the trial of bribery (applause) ; a popu- lation hardy, thrifty, and industrious, simple in their manners, sober in mind. God-fearing in their lives ; and lastly, an almost unlimited breadth of territory, replete with agricultural and mineral resources, it may be fairly said that Canada sets forth upon her enviable career under as safe, sound, and solid auspices as any State whose bark has been committed to the stream of Time. (Great cheering.) The only thing still wanted is to man the ship with a more numerous crew. From the extraordinary number of babies I have seen at every window and at every cottage door (laughter and cheers), native energy and talent appears to be rapidly supplying this defect (laughter) ; still it is a branch of industry in which the home manufacturer has no occasion to dread foreign competition (great laughter) — and Canadians can well afford to share their fair inheritance with the straitened sons of toil at home. When crossing the Atlantic to take up the Government of this country, I found myself the fellow-passenger of several hundred HANDS WANTED TO MAN TEE SHIP. 165 emigrants. As soon as they had. recovered from the effect of sea-sickness, the captain of the ship assembled these persons in the hold, and invited the Canadian gentlemen on board to give them any information in regard to their adopted country which might seem useful. Some of the emigrants began asking questions, and one man prefaced his remarks by saying that " he had the misfortune of having too many children." Being called upon in my turn to address the company, I alluded to this phrase, which had grated harshly on my ears, and remarked that perhaps no better idea could be given of the differences between the old country and their new home than by the fact that whereas in England a struggling man might be overweighted in the battle of life by a numerous family, in the land to which they were going a man could scarcely have too many children. (Cheers and laughter.) Upon which I was greeted with an approving thump on the back by a stalwart young emigrant, who cried out, "Eight you are, Sir, that's what I've been telling Emily." (Great laughter.) Indeed, for many years past, I have been a strong advocate of emigration in the interests of the British population. I believe that emigration is a benefit both to those that go and to those that remain, at the same time that it is the most effectual and legitimate weapon with which labour can contend with capital. I have written a book upon the subject,* and have been very much scolded for wishing to depopulate my native country ; but however strong an advocate of emigration from the English standpoint, I am of course a thousandfold more interested in the subject as the head of the Canadian Government. (Applause.) Of course I am not in a position to say, nor is it desirable that I should take the responsibility of saying anything on this occasion which should expose me here- after to the reproach of having drawn a false picture or given delusive information in regard to the prospects and opportunities afforded by Canada to the intending settler. The subject is so serious a one, so much depends upon the individual training, capacity, health, conduct, and antecedents of each several emigrant, that no one without an intimate and special know- • ' Irish Bmi"-ration aad the Tenure of Land in Ireland.' London. 1867. 166 SPEECHES AND ADDBESSES. ledge of the subject would be justified in pronouncing authori- tatively on its details; but this at all events I may say, wherever I have gone I have found numberless persons who came to Canada without anything, and have since risen to competence and wealth (applause), that I have met no one who did not gladly acknowledge himself better off than on his first arrival, and that amongst thousands of persons with whom I have been brought into contact, no matter what their race or nationality, none seemed ever to regret that they had come here. (Continued cheering.) This fact par- ticularly struck me on entering the log huts of the settlers in the more distant regions of the country. Undoubtedly their hardships had been very great, the difficulties of climate and locality frequently discouraging, their personal privations most severe ; but the language of all was identical, evincing without exception pride in the past, content with the present, hope in the future ; while, combined with the satis- faction each man felt in his own success and the improved prospects of his family, there shoue another and a nobler feeling, namely, the delight inspired by the consciousness of being a co-efficient unit in a visibly prosperous community, to whose prosperity he was himself contributing. Of course these people could never have attained the position in which I found them without very great exertions. Probably the agricultural labourer who comes to this country from Norfolk or Dorset- shire will have to work a great deal harder than ever he worked in his life before, but if his work is harder he will find a sweetener to his toil of which he could never have dreamed in the old country, namely, the prospect of independence, of a roof over his head for which he shall pay no rent, and of ripen- ing cornfields round his homestead which own no master but himself. Let a man be sober, healthy, and industrious ; let him come out at a proper time of the year, let him be content with small beginnings, and not afraid of hard work, and I can scarcely conceive how he should fail in his career. (Great cheering.) Gentlemen, I have been tempted by the interest of the subject to trespass far too long, I fear, upon your indulgence, but I felt that perhaps I could not make a more CANADA S GREAT WORK. 167 appropriate return for the honour you have done me than by frankly mentioning to you the impression left upon my mind during my recent journeys. It now only remains for me to thank you again most heartily for your kindness, and to assure you that every fresh mark of confidence which I receive from any section of the Canadian people only makes me more determined to strain every nerve in their service, and to do my best to contribute towards the great work upon which you are now engaged, namely, that of building up on this side of the Atlantic a prosperous, loyal, and powerful associate of the British Empire. (Continued cheering.) ( 168 ) XXII. SPEECH IN EEPLY TO THE ADDEESS OF THE MAYOR AND OOEPOEATION OP BEOCKVILLE, ONTAEIO. SEPTEMBEE 7. 1874. LoBD DuFFEBiN Said : — Mr. Mayor and Gentlemen, it is with regret I find my holidays drawing to a close, and that a termination is about to be put to the pleasant and instructive personal intercourse I have had with such large numbers of the Canadian people. I shall, however, carry the pleasantest memories with me into retirement. During the six weeks my tour has occupied, I have received something like one hundred and twenty addresses, every one of which breathed a spirit of contentment, loyalty, and kindness. In fact from first to last no harsh, desponding, or discordant note has marred the jubilant congratulations of the nation. And the demonstra- tions with which we have been honoured have not been con- fined to mere vocal greetings. It would be impossible to describe the beauty or the variety of the triumphal emblems which have glittered on either hand along our way. In addition to the graceful and picturesque decorations of ever- greens, flags, tapestry, and the prismatic canopies of colour from window to window with which the towns were gay, we have passed under a number of most ingenious and suggestive arches. There was an arch of cheeses (laughter), an arch of salt, an arch of wheels, an arch of hardware, stoves, and pots and pans (great laughter), an arch of sofas, chairs and house- hold furniture (laughter), an arch of ladders, laden with firemen in their picturesque costumes, an arch of carriages (laughter), an aich of boats, a Tree Trade arch, a Protec- tionists' arch, an arch of children, and last of all an arch — no, not an arch — but rather a celestial rainbow of lovely young AN IMPROMPTU ILLUMINATION. 169 ladies ! (Great laughter and applause.) Indeed the heavens themselves dropped fatness, for not unfrequently a magic cheese or other comestible would descend into our carriage. As for the Countess of Dufferin, she has been nearly smothered beneath the nosegays which rained down upon her, for our path has been strewed with flowers. One town, not content with fulfilling its splendid programme of procession, fireworks, and illuminations, concluded its reception by the impromptu conflagration of half a street, and when the next morning I thought it my duty to condole with the authorities on their misfortune, both the owner of the property and the Mayor assured me, with the very heroism of politeness, that the accident would produce a great improvement in the appear- ance of the place. (Great laughter.) Gentlemen, I must now bid you good-bye, and through you I desire to say good-bye to all my other entertainers throughout the Province. I have been most deeply affected by their kindness, for while I am well aware that the honours of which I have been the recipient have been addressed, not to me, the indi- vidual, but to my office, it would be affectation were I to ignore the fact that a strain of personal good-will has been allowed to mingle with the welcome accorded by the people of Ontario to the Representative of their Queen. I only wish I could have made a more fit return to the demonstrations with which I have been honoured. Happily the circumstances of the country have justified me in using the language of honest and hearty congratulation, and if I have done wrong in some- times venturing on a purely festive occasion a gentle note of warning, or hint of advice, I trust that my desire to render practical service to the country will be my excuse for any inopportune digressions of this nature. (Cheers.) ( 170 ) XXIII. SPEECH AT THE BANQUET GIVEN BY THE CANADA CLUB AT THE ALBION TAVEEN, LONDON.* JULY 8. 1875. In reply to the toast of his health Loed Duffeein said : — In rising to return thanks for the honour which has been done me by this splendid entertainment, and for the kind and cordial manner in which this toast has been received, I hope it will be understood that, deeply as I feel the compliment thus paid to me, my personal gratitude and satisfaction are absorbed and lost in the prouder consciousness that the brilliant assembly of distinguished men I see around me are met, not so much for the purpose of extending a welcome to a mere individual like myself, but that they have been brought together by the desire to pay a tribute of respect to the great Dominion over which I have the honour to preside, and to testify their sympathy with that noble community, their kinsmen and fellow-citizens, who on the other side of the Atlantic are engaged in building up a nationality cognate to their own, instinct with the same high spirit of constitutional freedom, and determined to prove itself a powerful and worthy member of the British Empire. (Cheers.) My lords and gentlemen, it is this consideration which gives importance and significance to the demonstration of to-night, and to proceed- ings which will be scanned and discussed with unspeakable pride and pleasure by thousands of your fellow-subjects in their distant Canadian home ; for if there is one predilection more marked than another in the Canadian people — if there is one passion, if I may so call it, which predominates over every other feeling in their breasts, if there is one especial * Lord Duffei-in left Canada on May 11th, 1875, on a visit to England and Ireland. His Excellency returned to Ottawa on October 23rd, 1875. Canada's relations with England. 171 message which a person in my situation is bound to transmit from them to you, it is this — that they desire to maintain intact and unimpaired their connection with this country ; that they cherish an ineradicable conviction of the pre-eminent value of the political system under which they live, and that they are determined to preserve pure and uncontaminated all the traditional characteristics of England's prosperous polity. (Cheers.) It would be impossible to overstate the universality, the force, the depth of this sentiment; and proud am I to think that an assemblage so representative of the public opinion of this country has met together to reciprocate it and to do it justice. But, my lords and gentlemen, I should be conveying to you a very wrong impression if I led you to understand that the enthusiastic loyalty of the Canadian people to the Crown and person of our gracious Sovereign, their tender and almost yearning love for the Mother Country, the desire to claim their part in the future fortunes of the British Empire, and to sustain all the obligations such a position may imply, were born of any weak or unworthy spirit of dependence. So far from that being the case, no characteristic of the national feeling is more strongly marked than the exuberant con- fidence in their ability to shape their own destinies to the appointed issues; their jealous pride of the legislative autonomy with which they have been endowed, and their patriotic and personal devotion to the land within whose ample bosom they have been nurtiired, and which they justly regard as more largely dowered with all that can endear a country to its sons than any other in the world. (Cheers.) And I assure you this intense affection for " this Canada of ours," as they lovingly call her, can surprise no one who has traversed her picturesque and fertile territories, where mountain, plain, valley, river, lake and forest, prairie and table-land, alter- nately invite, by their extraordinary magnificence and extent, the wonder and the admiration of the traveller. And yet, how- ever captivating may be the sights of beauty thus prepared by the hands of Nature, they are infinitely enhanced by the contemplation of all that man is doing to turn to the best advantage the gifts thus placed within his reach. In every 172 SPEECHES AND ADDRESSES. direction we see human industry and human energy digging deep the foundations, spreading out the lines, and marking the inviolable boundaries upon and within which one of the most intelligent and happiest of offsets of the English race is destined to develop into a proud and great nation. The very atmosphere seems impregnated with the exhilarating spirit of enterprise, contentment and hope. The sights and sounds which caressed the senses of the Trojan wanderer in Dido's Carthage are repeated and multiplfed in a thousand different localities in Canada, where flourishing cities, towns and villages are rising in every direction with the rapidity of a fairy tale. And better still, pari passu with the development of these material evidences of wealth and happiness, is to be observed the growth of political wisdom, experience, and ability, per- fectly capable of coping with the various difficult problems which from time to time are presented in a countiy where conditions foreign to European experience, and complications arising out of ethnological and geographical circumstances are constantly requiring the application and intervention of a statesmanship of the highest order. And here, perhaps, I may be permitted to refer to the extraordinary ability and intelli- gence with which the French portion of her Majesty's subjects in Canada join with their British fellow-countrymen in working and developing the constitutional privileges with which, thanks to the initiative they took, their country has been endowed. Our French fellow-countrymen are, in fact, more parliamentary than the English themselves, and in the various fortunes of the colony there have never been wanting J'rench statesmen of eminence to claim an equal share with their British colleagues in shaping the history of the Dominion. Whatever may be the case elsewhere, in Canada, at all events, the French race has learnt the golden rule of moderation, and the necessity of arriving at practical results by the occasional sacrifice of logical symmetry, and the settlement of disputes in the spirit of generous compromise. (Cheers.) The fruit of this happy state of things is observable in the fact that nowhere do those differences of opinion, -which divide the religious world of every country, separate the Canadian nation either into VALUE OF AN OPPOSITION. 173 religious or ethnological factions. Eeligion and race are, of course, observable forces within our body politic ; but as far as I have remarked the divisions of party are perpendicular rather than horizontal, and in a country or borough election, as often as not. Catholic will be found voting against Catholic, Orangeman against Orangeman, Frenchman against French- man, and, what will perhaps cause less surprise. Irishman against Irishman. In fact, it is made a matter of complaint by many persons that the considerations which regulate and determine the allegiance of the people to their several political leaders have become eifete and meaningless traditions, not representative of any living or vital policy which distinguishes the administrative programme of the one party from that of the other. If this is so, it is perhaps to be accounted for by the fact that our political system is so free from those com- plications which attach themselves to an older civilisation; we are so little harassed by embarrassments contracted in the past ; each individual enjoys such ample space within which to exercise his energies and develop his idiosyncrasies ; there is so little friction among either the units or the classes which compose our community ; and the machinery of G-overnment works in so free an atmosphere, that the development of our policy is more akin to natural growth than artificial training, and affords, consequently, fewer opportunities for the exhib- ition of conflicting political theories than is the case elsewhere. Still, I must confess, as the constitutional head of the State, and dependent, consequently, for my guidance upon the advice of Parliamentary chiefs, I should feel extremely uneasy unless I knew their conduct was carefully watched by a well-organised, well-disciplined, and, if I may so call it, professional oppos- ition. (Hear, hear.) Nor am I ever more likely to be able to give 'my entire confidence to my Ministers than when I find their conduct and measures have been able to stand the test of an incisive criticism applied by their political competitors for office. A Grovernor General is bound, of course, to regard his Ministers as true metal, but he is never better able to do so than when they come well refined out of the Parliamentary fire ; and, my lords and gentlemen, this is doubly the case when 174 SPEECHES AND ADDRESSES. one is able to feel — and I am liappy to say I have always been able to feel — the most unlimited confidence in the integrity and wisdom of the Parliament of the country whose affairs 1 administer. As long as one can feel certain that not only the material interests, but, what is of more importance, the honour and reputation of the country can be safely trusted to its Parliament, there is no situation in the world happier than that of a constitutional ruler. No Eastern despot or European autocrat can feel anything approaching to the satisfaction with which he watches the march of those events upon the happy and fortunate issue of which so much of his own peace and reputation must depend. And I am certain there have never been any individuals who have had greater cause and oppor- tunities for appreciating these characteristics of a popular assembly than those persons who, like my predecessors and myself, have had the good fortune to preside over the free Dominion of Canada. And, my lords and gentlemen, these circumstances to which I have briefly alluded are, I am happy to say, continually receiving a more marked recognition at the hands, not merely of the people of this country, but, what is even of greater importance, at those of the inhabitants of the United States. Nothing, in fact, can be more friendly than the relations and feelings that prevail between the Canadian people and their neighbours across the frontier. Whatever may have been the case in former times, every thoughtful citizen of the United States is now convinced that the fate of Canada has been unalterably fixed and determined, and that she is destined to move in her own separate and individual orbit. So far from regarding this with jealousy, the public of the United States contemplates with a generous enthusiasm the daily progress of Canada's prosperous career. In fact, they are wise enough to understand that it is infinitely to the advantage of the human race that the depressing monotony of political thought on the American continent should be varied and enlivened by the development of a political system akin to, yet diverse from their own, productive of a friendly emulation, and offering many points of contrast and com- parison, which they already begin to feel they can study with advantage. HIS AFFECTION FOE CANADA. 175 My lords and gentlemen, I have to apologise for having detained you at so great a length, but before I sit down I cannot help expressing my deep obligation to the gentleman who proposed my health, for the kindly and friendly terms in which he has been good enough to allude to me as an indiv- idual. In reply I can only assure him that the recognition thus accorded to my humble efforts to do my duty will prove a fresh incitement to me to continue in the course which has merited his approval. I have no higher ambition than that of being able faithfully to serve my Sovereign in the high station in which she has placed me, worthily to maintain in her beautiful Dominion the honour and the dignity of her Crown, to imitate as closely as may be her noble example in the discharge of my Viceregal duties, and to obtain the con- fidence of the Canadian people by my devotion to their service, and by the impartial exercise of those constitutional functions which attach to my high office. If to love a country with one's whole heart, to feel that in each one of its inhabitants he possesses a personal friend, to believe in its future as implicitly as any one of its most sanguine sons, to take a pride in every- thing which belongs to it — its scenery, its climate, its physical and moral characteristics, the idiosyncrasies of its people, nay their very sports and pastimes — be any test of loyalty to its interests, then I feel my devotion to Canada can never be called in question. (Cheers.) My only regret is that my ability and talents are not commensurate with the desire by which I am possessed of rendering it effectual service. Happily, however, its present condition, the fortunate consummation of all those aspirations which under the auspices of one of my predecessors* have been crowned by Confederation, and the satisfactory impulse given to its young life by the wise admin- istration of another,t have brought about so halcyon an epoch as to have rendered it a comparatively easy task for a successor of less eminence and experience than theirs to carry on the task which they so happily inaugurated. If, therefore, at the end of the next three years I shall be able to complete my term amid the same happy circumstances which have hitherto * Viscount Monok. t Lord Lisgar. 176 8PEE0EE8 AND ADDRESSES. characterised its duration; if I can carry with me home to England the consciousness that the people of Canada regard me as having been a faithful, loving, and a devoted servant to the Dominion ; if, at the same time, I am fortunate enough to have merited the approval of my Sovereign and countrymen at home, I shall consider that few public servants have ever reaped so honourable and so dearly prized a reward. (Loud cheers.) ( 177 ) XXIV. SPEECH AT THE BANQUET GIVEN BY THE CITIZENS OF QUEBEC IN THE MDSIC HALL, QUEBEC. JUNE 21. 1876. In reply to the toast of his health, Lokd Dufpeein said : — Mr. Mayor, your Honour, and Gentlemen, I can assure you that it is with feelings of no ordinary emotion that I find myself called upon to address a public audience in the ancient capital of Canada, for I cannot help remembering under what various conditions, in how many vital emergencies, at what supreme epochs in its history, during the last three hundred years, my predecessors have had occasion to harangue the citizens of Quebec. In a thousand vicissitudes of fortune, in perpetual alternations of triumph and despondency, when hordes of savages were lurking round your palisades, when famine had prostrated your strength, and the unaccustomed rigours of an Arctic winter had benumbed your faculties, when novel forms of pestilence devastated your homes, crown- ing your clergy and your sisterhoods with the aureole of martyrdom, when foreign leaguers assaulted your indepen- dence, and hostile cannon threatened your battlements. Viceroy after Viceroy has appealed to your patience, your fortitude, your charity, your patriotism, and never once, whether in good fortune or ill fortune, has the appeal been made in vain. (Great applause.) Happily, however, those days of dramatic oratory are over. From the rock on which your city stands, once isolated by an interminable ocean of primaeval forest, and a waste of barbarism, there now on every side stretches out to the horizon a perfectly ideal prospect of agricultural wealth and beauty, while your political dominion, at one time reaching no further than the range of your primitive artillery, now requires two oceans to confine it. As a consequence of this extraordi- N 178 SPEECHES AND ADDRESSES. nary growth the personal and autocratic administration of the Eegal Eepresentatives in this country has been superseded by the infinitely safer, more effective, and less obnoxious regimen of Parliamentary Government. (Applause.) But though re- lieved of the wider responsibilities which weighed so heavily upon the earlier occupants of the office, and brought them into such close, though not always harmonious intimacy with the community they ruled, the Governor Generals of to-day find themselves all the better able to cultivate those friendly social relations with the inhabitants of the country which it is one of their chief duties to maintain, and of which this splendid banquet is a most gratifying exhibition. And proud am I to think that the admiration I have always felt for the beauty of your town, which in my opinion is rivalled by that of only two other capitals in the world, and the deep sense I entertain of the singular kindness and affection evinced towards me by your citizens, have evoked so flattering a recognition as that which is being extended to me at this moment. I only wish I could make an adequate return for so much good-will, but there is one thing at all events which I can do — I can seize this opportunity of expressing my heartiest and warmest sympathies with the efforts which you, Mr. Mayor, and your enlightened townsmen are making to do justice to the glorious inheritance you have received from those who have gone before you, by devoting your energies to the moral improvement, the commercial development, and the external embellishment of this renowned and ancient city. It is with especial pleasure I have learned that there is now every prospect of your being able to accomplish the scheme which has been set on foot for the preservation and beautifying of your fortifications, combining, as it does, a due regard for the requirements of your increasing traffic, by the enlargement and multiplication of your thoroughfares, with the careful protection from the hands of the Vandal of those glorious bastions which girdle the town, and which are dignified by so many interesting historical associations. There was a time when, through ignorance and a gross indifference to the past, the precious relics of antiquity were lightly regarded, and in QUEBEC. 179 many cases irreparably injured, but the resentment, the con- tempt, and the objurgations with which the authors of such devastations have since been visited by their indignant descendants evince how completely the world has awakened to the obligation of preserving with a pious solicitude the records of a bygone age. But if this obligation is imperative on the other side of the Atlantic, where the vestiges not only of mediaeval art, but even of classic times, are to be found in considerable profusion, how much more is it incumbent upon us to maintain intact the one city on this continent which preserves the romantic characteristics of its early origin — a city the picturesqueness of whose architecture and war-scathed environments presents a spectacle unlike any other which is to be found between Cape Horn and the North Pole. (Applause.) G-entlemen of the Town Council, you must remember that you hold Quebec not merely as the delegates of its citizens, not merely even in the interest of the people of Canada, but as trustees on behalf of civilisation and of the inhabitants of the whole American continent, by whom the ruin and degradation of its antique battlements would be rfegarded as an irreparable outrage and a common loss. But, gentlemen, happily there is no danger of the perpetration of any such suicidal destruction. Far from lending a traitorous hand to assist the ravages of time, you are making preparations to still further exalt and adorn your crown of towers, and sure am I that in after ages, when a maturer civilisation shall have still further changed the face of Canada into one which it may at present be beyond our imagination to conceive, your descendants of that day will regard with feelings of everlasting gratitude those wise aediles who handed down to them intact so precious a memorial of their country's past, a memorial which each lapsing century will invest with an ever-deepening glow of interest. And, gentlemen, you must not suppose that the laudable efforts you are making have escaped the observation of our fellow-countrymen at home. No sooner was it known in England that a scheme had been inaugurated for the embellishment of the fortifications of Quebec, than the Secre- tarv of State for War, as the official representative and N 2 180 SPEECHES AND ADDRESSES. spokesman of the military sympathies of the Empire, an- nounced to me his intention of testifying his own admiration, and the admiration of the soldier world of Great Britain at what we were about to do, by asking the Imperial House of Commons — who responded with acclamation to the proposal — to vote a sum of money to be expended in the decoration of some point along your walls in such a manner as might serve to connect it with the joint memory of those two illustrious heroes, Wolfe and Montcalm (great applause), whose deeds of valour and whose noble deaths in the service of their respective countries would have been alone sufficient to immortalise the fair fortress for whose sake they contended, and whose outworks they watered with their blood. But, gentlemen, the news of your praiseworthy exertions has moved the heart and sympathies of even a greater personage than the Secretary of State for War. The Queen of England herself, who takes as much pride and interest in all that is doing in her distant colonies as she does in what happens within a stone's throw of her palace, has been graciously pleased to command me to take an early oppor- tunity — and what better opportunity could I take than the present — of conveying to you, Mr. Mayor, and to those who are associated with you in this creditable enterprise, and to the citizens of Quebec, whose patriotism has authorised you to engage in it, her warm approval of the project which has been set on foot, and her hearty sympathy with the enlightened sentiments which have inspired it. Furthermore she has expressed a desire to be associated personally with the work by presenting her good city of Quebec with one of the new gateways with which your enceinte is to be pierced, for the erection of which Her Majesty has been good enough to forward to me a handsome subscription (tremendous applause, the whole company rising and cheering for some minutes), and which she desires may be named after her father, the late Duke of Kent, who for so many years lived amongst you, and who to his dying day retained so lively a recollection of the kindness and courtesy with which he was treated. Mr. Mayor and gentlemen, this would not be the place to enter into any discussion of the details of the projected im- AN IRISH C0N8ERVATIVM. 181 provements, or of the mode by which they are to be carried out. But there is one leading principle which I trust may be kept in view, namely, to arrange that there should be one continuous uninterrupted pathway for pedestrians along the entire circuit of the ramparts starting westward from Durham Terrace, round the base of the Citadel, and so by the Esplanade, the Artillery Barracks, Palace Gate, the Grand Battery, past the present Parliament Buildings, across Mountain Street, back to Durham Terrace again. If this is accomplished, you will possess a walk which for its convenience, for its freedom from noise, danger, and interruption, — for the variety and beauty of its points of view, and for its historical and civic interest, will be absolutely unequalled. I am happy to think that the inexhaustible store of cut stone, of which the obsolete and superfluous outworks beyond the walls are composed, will supply cheap, handy, and ample materials for the repair of the dilapidated portions of the bastions, and for the construction of the contemplated gateways. But in resorting to these materials I hope you will avoid the error committed by the zealous but not very en- lightened agent of a friend of mine in Ireland. Upon the estate of this nobleman there stood an ancient tower, the relic of a castle which in ruder ages his ancestors had inhabited. Finding that mischievous children, cattle, tourists, donkeys (laughter), and other trespassers of that sort were forestalling the depredations of time, he instructed his man of business to protect the ruin with a wall, and left for England. On returning he took an early opportunity of visiting the spot, to see whether, as his agent had already assured him, his orders had been properly executed. Judge of his dismay when he found indeed a beautiful new wall, six feet high, running round the site of the old castle, but the castle itself levelled to the ground. (Great laughter.) The econo- mical agent had pulled down the tower in order to build the wall with the stones of which it was composed. (Ee- newed laughter.) But, gentlemen, I must detain you no longer, and yet before I sit down there is one observation I cannot help desiring to make. I cannot help wishing to express the extreme satis- 182 SPEECHES AND ADDRESSES. faction which I experience in obserring with what alacrity and self-abnegation the chief citizens of Quebec, gentlemen whose private occupations and engagements must be extremely absorbing, are content to sacrifice their domestic leisure, and the interests of their private business in order to give their time and attention to the public service, and the direction and management of your municipal affairs. (Cheers.) And in paying this well-deserved compliment to those whom I am immediately addressing, I am happy to think that I can extend it with equal justice to the municipalities of Canada at large. (Cheers.) Gentlemen, I take it that there is no more healthy sign of national life than this, or rather that there would be no more fatal indication of an unpatriotic, selfish, and despicable spirit, than were what are called the business-men of the country, that is to say, those persons who, by their education, character, habits, and intelligence, are best fitted to serve her, being tempted by an over- absorption in their private business, to abstain from all contact with public affairs, and from a due participation in the onerous and honourable strife of municipal or parlia- mentary politics. Were such a defection on the part of the most intelligent, energetic, and high-principled men of the country to prevail, the consequence would be that the direction of its affairs would fall into the hands of corrupt adventurers and trading politicians, and that the moral tone of the nation as a nation would deteriorate throughout every stratum of society ; and what, I ask, is the worth of the largest fortune in the world, of the most luxurious mansion, of all the refinements and amenities of civilisation, if we cannot be proud of the country in which we enjoy them (loud applause), if we are compelled to blush for the infamy of our rulers, if we cannot claim part in the progress and history of our country, if our hearts do not throb in unison with the vital pulse of the national existence, if we merely cling to it as parasites cling to a growth of rotten vegetation. (Applause.) Of course I do not mean to imply that we should all insist on being Prime Ministers, Secretaries of State, or Mayors, or Members of Parliament, or Town Councillors. (Laughter.) TEE DUTIES OF A CITIZEN. 183 Such aspirations in all would be neither useful nor desir- able. A large proportion of the energies of the community must be always employed in building up its mercantile, manufacturing and agricultural status, and in its learned professions, but I venture to think that no one, especially in a young country, no matter what his occupation, should consider himself justified in dissociating himself altogether from all contact with political affairs. The busiest of us can examine, analyse, and judge; we can all canvass, vote, protest, and contend for our opinion ; we can all feel that we are active members of a young commonwealth, whose future prospects and prosperity depend upon the degree of patriotism, self-sacrifice, and devotion with which we apply our energies in our several stations to her material, moral and political development. The principle, I am happy to think, has been duly appreciated by my fellow-subjects on this side of the Atlantic, and it gives me the greatest pleasure to think that here, as at home, due honour and recognition is accorded to those who, like you, Mr. Mayor, like you, gentlemen, who surround me, like the two Prime Ministers, and the members of the two Governments with which I have been associated since 1 came into the country, have sacrificed many an oppor- tunity of increasing their private fortunes, and of enhancing the worldly position of their families in order that they may render more faithful and undivided service to their beloved Canada, and the Empire of which she is the fairest offshoot. (Great cheering.) ( 184 ) XXV. SPEECH AT GOVERNMENT HOUSE, VICTORIA, BRITISH COLUMBIA. SEPTEMBER 20. 1876. LoED DuTFEEiN Said : — Grentlemen, I am very glad to have an opportunity before quitting British Columbia of thanking you, and through you the citizens of Victoria, not only for the general kindness and courtesy I have met with during my residence among you, but especially for the invitation to the banquet with which you proposed to honour me. I regret that my engagements did not permit me to accept this additional proof of your hospitality. Perhaps, however, gentlemen, I may be permitted to take advantage of this occasion to express to you the satisfaction and enjoyment I have derived from my recent progress through such portions of British Columbia as I have been able to reach within the short period at my disposal. I am well aware that I have visited but a small proportion of your domains, and that there are many im- portant centres of population from which I have been kept aloof. Most especially have I to regret my inability to reach Cariboo, the chief theatre of your mining industry, and the home of a community with whose feelings, wishes, and senti- ments it would have been very advantageous for me to have become personally acquainted. Still, by dint of considerable exertion, I have traversed the entire coast of British Columbia, from its southern extremity to Alaska. I have penetrated to the head of Bute Inlet. I have examined the Seymour Narrows, and the other channels which intervene between the head of Bute Inlet and Vancouver Island. I have looked into the mouth of Dean's Canal, and passed across the entrance to Gardiner's Channel. I have visited Mr. Duncan's wonderful settlement at Metlahketlah, and the interesting Methodist BRITISH COLUMBIA. 185 mission at Fort Simpson, and have thus been enabled to realise what scenes of primitive peace and innocence, of idyllic beauty and material comfort, can be presented by ' the stalwart men and comely maidens of an Indian com- munity under the wise administration of a judicious and devoted Christian missionary. I have passed across the in- tervening Sound to Queen Charlotte Island and to Skidegate, and studied with wonder the strange characteristics of a Hydah village with its forest of heraldic pillars. I have been presented with the sinister opportunity of descending upon a tribe of our Pagan savages in the very midst of their drunken orgies and barbarous rites, and after various other explorations I have had the privilege of visiting the Eoyal city of New Westminster. Taking from that spot a new departure, we proceeded up the valley of the Eraser, where the river has cloven its way through the granite ridges and bulwarks of the Cascade Range, and along a road of such admirable construc- tion, considering the engineering difficulties of the line and the modest resources of the colony when it was built, as does the greatest credit to the able administrator who directed its execution. Passing thence into the open valleys and over the rounded eminences beyond, we had an opportunity of appre- ciating the pastoral resources and agricultural capabilities of what is known as the bunch-grass country. Wherever we went we found the same kindness, the same loyalty, the same honest pride in their country and institutions, which characterise the English race throughout the world, while Her Majesty's Indian subjects on their spirited horses, which the ladies of their families seem to bestride with as much ease and grace as their husbands or brothers, notwithstanding the embarrassment of one baby on the pommel and another on the crupper, met us everywhere in large numbers, and testified in their untutored fashion their genuine devotion to their white mother. Having journeyed into the interior as far as Kam- loops, and admired from a lofty eminence in its neighbour- hood what seemed an almost interminable prospect of grazing lands and valleys susceptible of cultivation, we were forced with much reluctance to turn our faces homewards to Victoria. 186 SPEECHES AND ADDRESSES. And now that I am back, it may perhaps interest you to learn what are the impressions I have derived during my journey. Well, I may frankly tell you that I think British Columbia a glorious province, a province which Canada should be proud to possess, and whose association with the Dominion she ought to regard as the crowning triumph of federation. Such a spectacle as its coast line presents is not to be paralleled by any country in the world. Day after day, for a whole week, in a vessel of nearly 2,000 tons, we threaded a labyrinth of watery lanes and reaches that wound endlessly in and out of a network of islands, promontories, and peninsulas for thousands of miles, unrufiBed by the slightest swell from the adjoining ocean, and presenting at every turn an ever-shifting combina- tion of rock, verdure, forest, glacier, and snow-capped mountains of unrivalled grandeur and beauty. When it is remembered that this wonderful system of navigation, equally well adapted to the largest line of battle ship and the frailest canoe, fringes the entire seaboard of your province, and communicates at points sometimes more than a hundred miles from the coast with a multitude of valleys stretching eastward into the interior, at the same time that it is furnished with innumerable harbours on either hand, one is lost in admiration at the facilities for intercommunication which are thus provided for the future inhabitants of this region. It is true that at the present moment they lie unused except by the Indian fisher- man and villager, but the day will surely come when the rapidly diminishing stores of pine upon the Continent will be still further exhausted, and when the nations of Europe, as well as of America, will be obliged to resort to British Columbia for a material of which you will by that time be the principal depositary. Already from an adjoining port on the mainland a large trade is being done in lumber with Great Britain, Europe, and South America, and I venture to think that ere long the ports of the United States will perforce be thrown open to your traffic. I had the pleasure of witnessing the overthrow by the axes of your woodmen of one of your forest giants, that towered to the height of 250 feet above our heads, and whose rings bore witness that it dated its birth from the TEE NATURAL WEALTH OF BRITISH COLUMBIA. 187 reign of the Fourth Edward; and where he grew, and for thousands of miles along the coast beyond him, millions of his contemporaries are awaiting the same fate. With such facili- ties of access as I have described to the very heart and centre of your forest lands, where almost every tree can be rolled from the spot upon which it grows to the ship which is to transfer it to its destination, it would be difficult to over-estimate the opportunities of industrial development. But I have learnt a further lesson. I have had opportunities of inspecting some of the spots where your mineral wealth is stored, and here again the ocean stands your friend, the mouths of the coal-pits I have visited almost opening into the hulls of the vessels that are to convey their contents across the ocean. When it is further remembered that inexhaustible supplies of iron ore are found in juxtaposition with your coal, no one can blame you for regarding the beautiful island on which you live as having been especially favoured by Providence in the distribution of these natural gifts. But still more precious minerals than either coal or iron enhance the value of your possessions. As we skirted the banks of the Fraser we were met at every turn by evidences of its extraordinary supplies of fish, but scarcely less frequent were the signs afforded us of the golden treasures it rolls down, nor need any traveller think it strange to see the Indian fisherman hauling out a salmon on to the sands whence the miner beside him is sifting the golden ore. But the signs of mineral wealth which have attracted my attention are as nothing, I understand, to what is exhibited in Cariboo, Cassiar, and along the valley of the Stickeen, and most grieved am I to think that I have not had time to testify by my presence amongst them to the sympathy I feel with the adventurous prospector and the miner in their arduous enter- prises. I had also the satisfaction of having pointed out to me places where lodes of silver only await greater facilities of access to be worked with profit and advantage. But perhaps the greatest surprise in store for us was the discovery, on our exit from the pass through the Cascade Eange, of the noble expanse of pastoral lands and the long vistas of fertile valleys which opened out on every side as we advanced through the 188 SPEECHES AND ADDRESSES. country, and which, as I could see with my own eyes, from various heights we traversed, extended in rounded upland slopes or in gentle depressions for hundreds of miles to the foot of the Eocky Mountains, proving that the mountain ranges which frown along your coast no more accurately indicate the nature of the territory they guard than does the wall of break- ing surf that roars along a tropic beach presage the softly undulating sea that glitters in the sun beyond. But you will very likely ask me, of what service to you are these resources which I describe, if they and you are to remain locked up in a distant and at present inaccessible corner of the Dominion, cut off by a trackless waste of inter- vening territory from all intercourse, whether of a social or of a commercial character, with those with whom you are politically united. Well, gentlemen, I can only answer : of compara- tively little use, or, at all events, of far less profit than they would immediately become were the railway, upon whose construction you naturally counted when you entered into Confederation, once completed. But here I feel I am touching upon dangerous ground. You are well aware that from the first moment I set foot in the province I was careful to inform every one who approached me that I came here as the Governor General of Canada, and the representative of Her Majesty, exactly in the same way as I had passed through other provinces of the Dominion, in order to make acquaintance with the people, their wants, wishes, and aspirations, and to learn as much as I could in regard to the physical features, capabilities, and resources of the province; that I had not come on a diplomatic mission, or as a messenger, or charged with any announcement either from the Imperial or from the Dominion Government. This statement I beg now most distinctly to repeat. Nor should it be imagined that I have come either to persuade or to coax you into any line of action which you may not consider conducive to your own interests, or to make any new promises on behalf of my Government, or to renew any old ones ; least of all have I a design to force upon you any further modification of those arrangements which were arrived at in 1874 between the Provincial and the THE PROVINCE AND THE DOMINION. 189 Dominion Governments under the auspices of Lord Carnarvon. Should any business of this kind have to be perfected, it will be done in the usual constitutional manner through the Secretary of State. But though I have thought it well thus unmistakably and effectually to guard against my journey to the province being misinterpreted, there is, I admit, one mission with which I am charged, a mission that is strictly within my functions to fulfil, namely, the mission of testifying by my presence amongst you, and by my patient and respectful attention to everything which may be said to me, that the Government and the entire people of Canada, without distinc- tion of party, are most sincerely desirous of cultivating with you those friendly and affectionate relations, upon the exist- ence of which must depend the future harmony and solidity of our common Dominion. Gentlemen, this mission I think you will admit I have done my best to fulfil. I think you will bear me witness that I have been inaccessible to no one, that I have shown neither impatience nor indifference during the conversations I have had with you, and that it would have been impossible for any one to have exhibited more anxiety thoroughly to understand your views. I think it will be further admitted that I have done this, without in the slightest degree seeking to disturb or em- barrass the march of your domestic politics. I have treated the existing ministers as it became me to treat the responsible advisers of the Crown in this province, and I have shown that deference to their opponents which is always due to Her Majesty's loyal opposition. Nay, further, I think it must have been observed that I have betrayed no disposition either to create or to foment in what might be termed, though most incorrectly, the interest of .Canada, any discord or contrariety of interest between the mainland of British Columbia and Vancouver's Island. Such a mode of procedure would have been most unworthy, for no true friend of the Dominion would be capable of any other object or desire than to give universal satisfaction to the province as a whole. A settle- ment of the pending controversy would indeed be most lamely concluded if it left either of the sections, into which your 190 SFEECEE8 AND ADDRESSES. community is geographically divided, unsatisfied. Let me then assure- you, on the part of the Canadian Government and on the part of the Canadian people at large, that there is nothing they desire more earnestly or more fervently than to know and feel that you are one with them in heart, thought, and feeling. Canada would indeed be dead to the most seK- evident considerations of self-interest, and to the first instincts of national pride, if she did not regard with satisfaction her connection with a province so richly endowed by nature, inhabited by a community so replete with British loyalty and pluck, while it afforded her the means of extending her con- fines and the outlets of her commerce to the wide Pacific and to the countries beyond. It is true, circumstances have arisen to create an unfriendly and hostile feeling in your minds against Canada. You consider yourselves injured, and you certainly have been disappointed. Far be it from me to belittle your grievances, or to speak slightingly of your com- plaints. Happily my independent position relieves me from the necessity of engaging with you in any irritating discussion upon the various points which are in controversy between this province and the Dominion G-overnment. On the contrary, I am ready to make several admissions. I do not suppose that in any part of Canada it will be denied that you have been subjected both to anxiety and uncertainty on points which were of vital importance to you. From first to last, since the idea of a Pacific Eailway was originated, things, to use a homely phrase, have gone " contrairy " with it, and with every- body connected with it, and you, in common with others, have suffered in many ways. But though, happily, it is no part of my duty to pronounce judgment in these matters, or to approve, or blame, or criticise the conduct of any one concerned, I think that I can render both Canada and British Columbia some service by speaking to certain facts which have taken place within my own immediate cognisance, and by thus removing from your minds certain wrong impressions which have undoubtedly taken deep root there. Now, gentlemen, in discharging this task, I may almost call it this duty, I am sure my observations will be received THE CANADIAN PACIFIC RAILWAY. 191 by those I see around me in a candid and loyal spirit, and that the heat and passions which have been engendered by these imhappy differences will not prove an impediment to a calm consideration of what I am about to say, more especially as it will be my endeavour to avoid wounding any susceptibilities, or forcing upon your attention views or opinions which may be ungrateful to you. Of course, I well understand that the gravamen of the charge against the Canadian Government is that it has failed to fulfil its treaty engagements. Those engagements were embodied in a solemn agreement which was ratified by the respective legislatures of the contracting parties, who were at the time perfectly independent of each other, and I admit they thus acquired all the characteristics of an inter- national treaty. The terms of that treaty were (to omit the minor items) that Canada undertook to secure, within two years from the date of Union, the simultaneous commence- ment at either end of a railway which was to connect the sea- board of British Columbia with the railway system of the Dominion, and that such railway should be completed within ten years from the date jof Union in 1871. We are now in 1876, five years have elapsed, and the work of construction even at one end can be said to have only just begun. Un- doubtedly, in these circumstances, every one must allow that Canada has failed to fulfil her treaty obligations towards this province, but unfortunately Canada has been accused not only of failing to accomplish her undertakings, but of what is a very different thing — a wilful breach of faith in having neglected to do so. Well, let us consider for a moment whether this very serious assertion is true. What was the state of things when the bargain was made ? At that time everything in Canada was prosperous, her finances were flourishing, the dis- covery of the great North West had, so to speak, inflamed her imagination, above all things, railway enterprise in the United States, and generally on this Continent, was being developed to an astounding extent. One trans-continental railway had been successfully executed, and several others on the same gigantic scale were being projected : it had come to be con- sidered that a railway could be flung across the Rocky 192 SPEECHES AND ADDRESSES. Mountains as readily as across a hay-field, and the observations of those who passed from New York to San Francisco did not suggest any extraordinary obstacles to undertakings of this description. Unfortunately, one element in the calculation was left entirely out of account, and that was the comparative ignorance which prevailed in regard to the mountain ranges and the mountain passes which intervened between the Hudson Bay Company's possessions and our western coast. In the United States, for years and years, troops of emigrants had passed westward to Salt Lake City, to Sacramento, and to the Golden Gate ; every track and trail through the mountains was wayworn and well known ; the location of a line in that neighbourhood was predetermined by the experience of persons already well acquainted with the locality. But in our case the trans-continental passes were sparse and unfrequented, and from an engineering point of view may be said to have been absolutely unknown. It was in these circumstances that Canada undertook to commence her Pacific railway in two years, and to finish it in ten. In doing this she undoubtedly pledged herself to that which was a physical impossibility, for the moment the engineers peered over the Eocky Mountains into your province, they saw at once that before any one passage through the devious range before them could be pro- nounced the best, an amount of preliminary surveying would have to be undertaken which it would require several years to complete. Now, there is a legal motto which says, "Nemo tenetur ad impossibile," and I would submit to you that in the circumstances I have mentioned, however great the default of Canada, she need not necessarily have been guilty of any wilful breach of faith. I myself am quite convinced that when Canada ratified this bargain with you she acted in perfect good faith, and fully believed that she would accomplish her promise, if not within ten years, at all events within such a sufficiently reasonable period as would satisfy your require- ments. The mistake she made was in being too sanguine in her calculations ; but remember, a portion of the blame for concluding a bargain impossible of accomplishment cannot be confined to one only of the parties to it. The mountains which THE PACIFIC RAILWAY. 193 have proved our stumbling-block were your mountains and in your territory, and however deeply an impartial observer might sympathise with you in the miscarriage of the two " time " terms of the compact, one of which — namely, the commencement of the line in two years from 1871 — has failed, and the other, of which — namely, its completion in ten — must fail, it is im- possible to forget that you yourselves are by no means without responsibility for such a result. It is quite true that, in what I must admit to be a most generous spirit, you intimated in various ways that you did not desire to hold Canada too strictly to the letter of her engagements as to time. Your expectations in this respect were stated by your late Lieutenant-G-overnor, Mr. Trutch, very fairly and explicitly, though a very unfair use has been made of his words, and I have no doubt that if unforeseen circumstances had not intervened you would have exhibited as much patience as could have been expected of you. But a serious crisis supervened in the political career of Canada. Sir John Macdonald resigned office,and Mr. Mackenzie acceded to power, and to all the responsibilities incurred by Canada towards you and your province. Now it is asserted, and I imagine with truth, that Mr. Mackenzie and his political friends had always been opposed to many portions of Canada's bargain with British Columbia. It therefore came to be con- sidered in this province that the new Government was an enemy to the Pacific Railway. But I believe this to be a complete misapprehension. I believe the Pacific Railway has no better friend in Canada than Mr. Mackenzie, and that he was only opposed to the "time" terms in the bargain, because he believed them impossible of accomplishment, and that a conscientious endeavour to fulfil them would unnecessarily and ruinously increase the financial expenditure of the country, and in both these opinions Mr. Mackenzie was undoubtedly right. With the experienca we now possess — and of course it is easy to be wise after the event — no one would dream of saying that the railway could have been surveyed, located, and built within the period named, or that any company who might undertake to build the line within that period would not have required double and treble the bonus that would 194 SPEECHES AND ADDRESSES. have been sufficient had the construction been arranged for at a more leisurely rate ; but surely it woujd be both ungenerous and unreasonable for British Columbia to entertain any hostile feelings towards Mr. Mackenzie on this account, nor is he to be blamed, in my opinion, if on entering office in so unexpected a manner he took time to consider the course which he should pursue in dealing with a question of such great importance. His position was undoubtedly a very embarrassing one. His GoTernment had inherited responsibilities which he knew, and which the country had come to know, could not be dis- charged. Already British Columbia had commenced to cry out for the fulfilment of the bargain, and that at the very time that Canada had come to the conclusion that the relaxation of some of its conditions was necessary. Out of such a condition of affairs it was almost inevitable that there should arise in the first place delay — for all changes of government necessarily check the progress of public business — and in the next place, friction, controversy, collision between the province and the Dominion. Happily it is not necessary that I should follow the course of that quarrel or discuss the various points that were then contested. You cannot expect me to make any admissions in respect to the course my Ministers have thought it right to pursue, nor would it be gracious upon my part to criticise the action of your pro- vince during this painful period. Out of the altercation which then ensued there issued, under the auspices of Lord Carnarvon, a settlement ; and when an agreement has been arrived at, the sooner the incidents connected with the conflict which preceded it are forgotten, the better. Here then, we have arrived at a new era ; the former laches of Canada, if any such there had been, are condoned, and the two time terms of the treaty are relaxed on the one part, while on the other certain specific obligations are superadded to the main article in the original bargain ; that is to say — again omitting minor items — the province agreed to the Pacific Eailway being completed in sixteen years from 1874, and to its being begun "as soon as the surveys shall have been completed," instead of at a fixed date, while the Dominion Government undertook to construct THE CARNARVON TERMS. 195 at once a railway from Esquimalt to Nanaimo, to hurry for- ward the surveys with the utmost possible despatch, and as soon as construction should have begun, to spend two millions a year in the prosecution of the work. I find that in this part of the world these arrangements have come to be known as the " Carnarvon Terms." It is a very convenient designation, and I am quite content to adopt it on one condition, namely, that Lord Carnarvon is not to be saddled with any original responsibility in regard to any of these terms but one. The main body of the terms are Mr. Mackenzie's. All that Lord Carnarvon did was to suggest that the proposed expenditure should be two millions a year instead of one million and a half, and that a time limit should be added. But as you are well aware, this last condition was necessarily implied in the preceding one relating to the annual expenditure — for, once committed to that expenditure, Canada in self-defence would be obliged to hasten the completion of the line in order to render repro- ductive the capital she sank. It is, therefore, but just to Lord Carnarvon that he should be absolved from the responsibility of having been in any way the inventor of what are known as the Carnarvon Terms. Lord Carnarvon merely did what every arbitrator would do in the circumstances ; he found the parties already agreed in respect to the principal items of the bargain, and was consequently relieved from pronouncing on their in- trinsic merits, and he proceeded at once to suggest the further concession which would be necessary to bring the province into final accord with her opponent. In pursuance of this agreement the Canadian Grovernment organised a series of surveying parties upon a most extensive and costly scale. In fact during the last two years two millions of money have been expended upon these operations alone. The chief engineer himself has told me that Mr. Mackenzie had given him carte Uanahe in the matter, so anxious was he to have the route determined without delay, and that the mountains were already full of as many theodolites and surveyors as they could hold. I am aware that it is asserted — indeed, as much has been said to me since I came here — that these surveys were merely multiplied in order to furnish an excuse for further delays. o 2 196 SPEECHES AND ADDRESSES. Well, that is a hard saying. But upon this point I can speak from my own personal knowledge, and I am sure that what I say on this head will be accepted as the absolute truth. During the whole of the period under review I was in constant personal communication with Mr. Fleming, and was kept acquainted by that gentleman with everything that was being done. I knew the position of every surveying party in the area under examination. Now Mr. Fleming is a gentleman in whose integrity and in whose professional ability every one I address has the most perfect confidence. Mr. Fleming was the respons- ible engineer who planned those surveys and determined the lines along which they were to be carried, and over and over again Mr. Fleming has explained to me how unexpected were the difficulties he had to encounter, how repeatedly after following hopefully a particular route his engineers found themselves stopped by an impassable wall of mountain, and how trail after trail had to be examined and abandoned before he had hit on anything like a practicable route. Even now, after all that has been done, a glance at the map will show you how devious and erratic is the line which appears to afford the only tolerable exit from the laby- rinthine ranges of the Cascade mountains. Notwithstanding, therefore, what has been bruited abroad in the sense to which I have alluded, I am sure it will be admitted, nay, I know it is admitted, that as far as the prosecution of the surveys is concerned Canada has used due diligence — yes, more than due diligence — in her desire to comply with that section of the Carnarvon Terms. You must remember that it is a matter of the greatest moment, involving the success of the entire scheme, and calculated permanently to affect the future destiny of the people of Canada, that a right decision should be arrived at in regard to the location of the western portion of the line, and a minister would be a traitor to a most sacred trust if he allowed himself to be teazed, intimidated, or cajoled into any precipitate decision on such a momentous point until every possible route had been duly examined. When I left Ottawa the engineers seemed disposed to report that the ultimate choice would lie between one of two routes, both starting from Fort George, TEE ALTERNATIVE ROUTES. 197 namely, that which leads to the head of Dean's Canal and that which terminates in Bute Inlet. Of these two, the line to Dean's Canal is the shorter by some forty miles, and would be considerably the cheaper by reason of its easier grades ; the ultimate exit of this channel to the sea is also more direct than the tortuous navigation out of Bute Inlet ; but Mr. Mackenzie added — though you must not take what I am now going to say as a definite conclusion on his part, or an authoritative communication on mine — that provided the dif- ference in expense was not so great as to forbid it, he would desire to adopt what might be the less advantageous route from the Dominion point of view, in order to follow that line which would most aptly meet the requirements of the province. Without pronouncing an opinion on the merits of either of the routes, which it is no part of my business to do, I may ventui-e to say that in this principle I think Mr. Mackenzie is right, and that it would be wise and generous of Canada to consult the local interests of British Columbia by bringing the line and its terminus within reach of existing settlements if it can be done without any undue sacrifice of public money. From a recent article in the Toronto Globe it would seem as though the Bute Inlet line had finally found favour with the G-overnment, — though I myself have no information on the point — and I am happy to see from the statistics furnished by that journal that not only has the entire line to the Pacific been at last surveyed, located, graded, and its profile taken, but that the calculated expenses of construction, though very great, and to be incurred only after careful consideration, are far less than were anti- cipated. Well, gentlemen, should the indications we have received of the intentions of the Government prove correct, you are very much to be congratulated, for I am well aware that the line to Bute Inlet is the one which you have always favoured, and I should hope that now at least you will be satisfied that the Canadian Government has strained every nerve, as it undertook to do, to fulfil to the letter its first and principal obligation under the Carnarvon Terms, by prosecuting with the utmost despatch the surveys of the line to the Pacific coast. I only wish that Waddington Harbour, at the head of 198 SPEECHES AND ADDRESSES. the Inlet, were a better port, I confess to having but a very poor opinion of it, and certainly the acquaintance I have made with Seymour Narrows and the intervening channels, which will have to be bridged or ferried, did not lead me to think them very favourable to either operation. Well, then, we now come to the Esquimalt and Nanaimo Railway. I am well aware of the very great importance you attach to this work, and of course I am perfectly ready to admit that its immediate execution was promised to you in the most definite and absolute manner under Lord Carnarvon's arbitration. I am not, therefore, surprised at the irritation and excitement occasioned in this city by the non-fulfilment of this item in the agreement— nay, I wish to go further ; I think it extremely natural that the miscarriage of this part of the bargain should have provoked very strenuous language, and deeply embittered feelings ; nor am I surprised that you should, in your vexation, put a very injurious construction on the conduct of those who had undertaken to realise your hopes ; but still I know that I am addressing high-minded and reasonable men, and moreover that you are perfectly convinced that I would sooner cut off my right hand than utter a single word that I do not know to be an absolute truth. Two years have passed since the Canadian Govern- ment undertook the construction of the Esquimalt and Nanaimo Railway, and the Nanaimo and Esquimalt Railway is not even commenced, and what is more, there does not at present seem the remotest prospect of its being commenced. What, then, is the history of the case, and who is answerable for your disappointment ? I know you consider that it is Mr. Mackenzie. I am not here to defend Mr. Mackenzie, his policy, his proceedings, or his utterances. I hope this will be clearly understood. In anything I have hitherto said I have done nothing of this sort, nor do I intend to do so. I have merely stated to you certain matters with which I thought it well for you to be acquainted, because they have been mis- apprehended, and what I now tell you are also matters of fact within my own cognizance, and which have no relation to Mr. Mackenzie as the head of a political party, and I tell them THE NANAIMO AND ESQUIMALT RAILWAY. 199 to you not only in your own interest, but in the interest of public morality and English honour. In accordance with his engagements to you in relation to the Nanaimo and Esquimalt Eailway, Mr. Mackenzie introduced, so soon as it was possible, a Bill into the Canadian House of Commons, the clauses of which were admitted by your representatives in Parliament to discharge fully his obligations to yourselves and to Lord Carnarvon in respect of that undertaking, and he carried it through the Lower House by a large majority. I have reason to think that many of his supporters voted for the Bill with very great misgivings both as to the policy of the measure and the intrinsic merits of the railway ; but their leader had pledged himself to exercise his parliamentary influence to pass it, and they very properly carried it through for him. It went up to the Senate, and was thrown out by that body by a majority of two. Well, I have learnt with regret that there is a very widespread conviction in this community that Mr. Mackenzie had surreptitiously procured the defeat of his own measure in the Upper House. Had Mr. Mackenzie dealt so treacherously by Lord Carnarvon, by the representative of his Sovereign in this country, or by you, he would have been guilty of a most atrocious act, of which I trust no public man in Canada or in any other British colony could be capable. I tell you in the most emphatic terms, and I pledge my own honour on the point, that Mr. Mackenzie was hot guilty of any such base and deceitful conduct — had I thought him guilty of it either he would have ceased to be Prime Minister, or I should have left the country. But the very contrary was the fact. While these events were passing I was in constant personal communication with Mr. Mackenzie. I naturally watched the progress of the Bill with the greatest anxiety, because I was aware of the eagerness with which the Act was desired in Victoria, and because I had long felt the deepest sympathy with you in the succession of disappointments to which by the force of circumstances you had been exposed. When the Bill had passed the House of Commons by a large majority with the assent of the leader of the Opposition, I, in common with every one else, concluded it was safe, and the 200 SPEECHES AND ADDRESSES. adverse vote of the Senate took me as much by surprise as it did you and the rest of the world. I saw Mr. Mackenzie the next day, and I have seldom seen a man more annoyed or disconcerted than he was ; indeed, he was driven at that inter- view to protest, with more warmth than he had ever before used, against the decision of the English Grovernmeut, which had, on the opinion of the law officers of the Crown, refused to allow him to add to the members of the Senate after Prince Edward Island had entered the Confederation. " Had I been permitted," he said to me, " to exercise my rights in that respect this would not have happened, but how can these mis- chances be prevented in a body, the majority of which, having been nominated by my political opponent, are naturally hostile to me ? " Now, gentlemen, your acquaintance with Parlia- mentary G-overnment must tell you that this last observation of Mr. Mackenzie's was a perfectly just one. My attention has been drawn to the fact that two of Mr. Mackenzie's party supported his Conservative opponents in the rejection of the bill ; but surely you do not imagine that a Prime Minister can deal with his supporters in the Senate as if they were a regiment of soldiers. In the House of Commons he has a better chance of maintaining party discipline, for the con- stituencies are very apt to resent any insubordination on the part of their members towards the leader of their choice. But a senator is equally independent of the Crown, the minister, or the people, and as in the House of Lords at home, so in the Second Chamber in Canada, gentlemen will run from time to time on the wrong side of the post. But it has been observed — granting that the two members in question did not vote as they did at Mr. Mackenzie's instigation —he has exhibited his perfidy in not sending in his resignation as soon as the Senate had pronounced against the Bill. Now, gentlemen, you cannot expect me to discuss Mr. Mackenzie's conduct in that respect. It would be very improper for me to do so ; but though I cannot discuss Mr. Mackenzie's conduct, I am perfectly at liberty to tell you what I myself should have done had Mr. Mackenzie tendered to me his resignation. I should have told him that in my opinion such a course was quite unjus- TEE NANAIMO AND ESQUIMALT RAILWAY. 201 tifiajble, that as the House of Commons was then constituted I saw no prospect of the Queen's Government being advan- tageously carried on except under his leadership, and that were he to resign at that time the greatest inconvenience and detriment would ensue to the public service. That is what I should have said to Mr. Mackenzie in the event contem- plated, and I have no doubt that the Parliament and the people of Canada would have confirmed my decision. But it has been furthermore urged that Mr. Mackenzie ought to have reintroduced the Bill. Well, that is again a point I cannot discuss, but I may tell you this, that if Mr. Mackenzie had done so, I very much doubt that he would have succeeded in carrying it a second time even in the House of Commons. The fact is that Canada at large, whether rightly or wrongly I do not say, has unmistakably shown its approval of the vote of the Senate. An opinion has come to prevail from one end of the Dominion to the other — an opinion which I find is acquiesced in by a considerable proportion of the inhabitants of British Columbia — that the Nanaimo and Esquimalt Railway cannot stand upon its own merits, and that its construction as a Government enterprise would be, at all events at present, a useless expenditure of the public money. Now, again, let me assure you that I am not presuming to convey to you any opinion of my own on this much contested point. Even did I entertain any misgivings on the subject, it would be very ungracious for me to parade them in your presence, and on such an occasion. I am merely communicating to you my conjecture why it is that Mr. Mackenzie has shown no signs of his intention to reintroduce the ISTanaimo and Esquimalt Eailway Bill into Parliament, namely, because he knew he had no chance of getting it passed. Well, then, gentlemen, of whom and of what have you to complain ? Well, you have every right from your point of view to complain of the Canadian Senate. You have a right to say that after the Government of the day had promised that a measure, upon which a majority of the inhabitants of an important province had set their hearts, should be passed, it was ill-advised and unhandsome of that body not to confirm 202 SPEECHES AND ADDBESSES. the natural expectation which had been thus engendered in your breasts, especially when that work was itself offered as a solatium to you for a previous injury. I fully admit that it is a very grave step for either House of the Legislature, and particularly for that which is not the popular branch, to dis- avow any agreement into which the Executive may have entered, except under a very absolute sense of public duty. Mind, I am not saying that this is not such a case ; but I say that you have got a perfect right, from your own point of view, not so to regard it. But, gentlemen, that is all. You have got no right to go beyond that. You have got no right to describe yourselves as a second time the victims of a broken agreement. As I have shown you, the persons who had entered into an engagement in regard to this railway with you and Lord Carnarvon have done their very best to discharge their obligation. But the Senate, who counteracted their in- tention, had given no preliminary promises whatever, either to you or to the Secretary of State. They rejected the Bill in the legitimate exercise of their constitutional functions ; and there is nothing more to be said on this head, so far as that body is concerned, either by you or Lord Carnarvon, for I need not assure you that there is not the slightest chance that any Secretary of State in Downing Street would attempt anything so unconstitutional — so likely to kindle a flame throughout the whole Dominion, as to coerce the free action of her Legislature. But there is one thing I admit the action of the Senate has done : it has revived in their integrity those original treaty obligations on the strength of which you were induced to enter Confederation, and it has re-imposed upon Mr. Mac- kenzie and his Government the obligation of offering you an equivalent for that stipulation in the Carnarvon Terms which he has not been able to make good. Now, from the very strong language which has been used in regard to the conduct of Mr. Mackenzie, a bystander would be led to imagine that so soon as his KaUway Bill had miscarried, he cynically refused to take any further action in the matter. Had my Govern- ment done so they would have exposed themselves to the severest reprehension, and such conduct would have been both TERMS OFFERED BY THE GOVERNMENT. 203 faithless to you and disrespectful to Lord Carnarvon ; but so far from having acted in this manner Mr. Mackenzie has oflfered you a very considerable grant of money in considera- tion of your disappointment. Now, here again, I will not touch upon the irritating controversies which have circled round this particular step in these transactions. I am well aware that you consider this offer to have been made under conditions of which you have reason to complain. If this has been the case it is most unfortunate, but still, whatever may have been the sinister incidents connected with the past, the one solid fact remains that the Canadian Government has offered you $750,000 in lieu of the railway. This sum has been represented to me as totally inadequate, and as very far short of an equivalent. It may be so, or it may not be so. Neither upon that point will I offer an opinion, but still I may mention to you the principle upon which that sum has been arrived at. Under the Nanaimo and Esquimalt Eailway Bill, whose rejection by the Senate we have been considering, Canada was to contribute a bonus of $10,000 a mile. The total length of the line is about 75 miles, consequently the $750,000 is nothing more nor less than this very bonus con- verted into a lump sum. Now, since I have come here it has been represented to me by the friends of the railway that it is a line which is capable of standing on its own merits, and that a company had been almost induced to take it up some time ago as an unsubsidized enterprise. Nay, only yesterday the local paper, which is the most strenuous champion for the line, asserted that it could be built for $2,000,000 ; that the lands— which, with the $750,000 were to be replaced by Mr. Mac- kenzie at your disposal — were worth several millions more, and that the railway itself would prove a most paying concern. If this is so, and what better authority can I refer to, is it not obvious that the bonus proposal of the Dominion Government assumes at least the semblance of a fair offer, and even if you did not consider it absolutely up to the mark, it should not have been denounced in the very strong language which has been used ? However, I do not wish to discuss the point whether the $750,000 was a sufficient offer or not. I certainly 204 SPEECHES AND ADDRESSES. am not empowered to hold out to you any hope of an advance. All that I would venture to submit is that Mr. Mackenzie, having been thwarted in his lona fide endeavour to fulfil this special item in the Carnarvon Terms, has adopted the only course left to him in proposing to discharge his obligations by a money payment. I confess I should have thought this would be the most natural solution of the problem, and that the payment of a sum of money equivalent to the measure of Mr. Mackenzie's original obligation, to be expended under whatever conditions would be most immediately advantageous to the province, and idtimately beneficial to the Dominion, would not have been an unnatural remedy for the misadventure which has stultified this special stipulation in regard to the Nanaimo and Esquimalt Railway ; but, of course, of these matters you yourselves are the best judges, and I certainly have not the slightest desire to suggest to you any course which you may think contrary to your interests. My only object in touching upon them at all is to disabuse your minds of the idea that there has been any intention upon the part of Mr. Mackenzie, his Grovernment, or of Canada, to break their faith with you. Every single item of the Carnarvon Terms is at this moment in the course of fulfilment. At enormous expense the surveys have been pressed forward to completion, the fifty millions of land and the thirty millions of money to be provided by Canada are ready, the profiles of the main line have been taken out, and the most elaborate information has been sent over to Europe in regard to every section of country through which it passes ; several thousand miles of the stipulated telegraph have been laid down ; and now that the western terminus seems to have been determined, though upon this point I have myself no information, tenders will, I imagine, be called for immediately. Whatever further steps may be necessary to float the undertaking as a com- mercial enterprise will be adopted, and the promised waggon road will necessarily follow fari -passu with construction. Well, gentlemen, how will you then stand? You will have got your line to Bute Inlet. Now I will communicate to you a conclusion I have arrived at from my visit to that AN IMPOSSIBLE THREAT. 205 locality. If the Pacific Kailway once comes to Bute Inlet it cannot stop there. It may pause there for a considerable time, until Canadian trans-Pacific traffic with Australia, China, and Japan shall have begun to expand; but such a traffic once set going, Wellington Harbour will no longer serve as a terminal port — in fact it is no harbour at all, and scarcely an anchorage — the railway must be prolonged to Esquimalt, that is, if the engineers pronounce the opera- tion feasible, and if Canada shall in the meantime have acquired the additional financial stability which will justify her undertaking what in any circumstances must prove one of the most gigantic achievements the world has ever wit- nessed. In that case, of course, the Nanaimo Eailway springs into existence of its own accord, and you will then be in possession both of your money compensation and of the thing for which it was paid, and with this result I do not think you should be ill-satisfied. But should the contrary be the case, the prospect is indeed a gloomy one ; should hasty counsels and the exhibition of an impracticable spirit throw these arrangements into confusion, interrupt or change our present railway programme, and necessitate any re-arrangement of your political relations, I fear Victoria would be the chief sufferer. I scarcely like to allude to such a contingency, nor, gentlemen, are my observations directed immediately to you, for I know very well that neither do those whom I am address- ing, nor do the great majority of the inhabitants of Vancouver's Island or of Victoria, participate in the views to which I am about to refer; but still a certain number of your fellow- citizens — gentlemen with whom I have had a great deal of pleasant and interesting conversation, and who have shown to me personally the greatest kindness and courtesy — have sought to impress me with the belief that if the Legislature of Canada is not compelled by some means or other, which, however, they do not specify, to make forthwith these 75 miles of railway, they will be strong enough, in the face of Mr. Mac- kenzie's offer of a money equivalent, to take British Columbia out of the Confederation. Well, they certainly will not be able to do that. I am now in a position to judge for myself 206 SPEECHES AND ADDRESSES. as to what are the real sentiments of the comnmnity. I will even presume to say that I know immeasurably more about it than these gentlemen themselves. When once the main line of the Pacific Eailway is under way, the whole population of the mainland will be perfectly contented with the present situation of affairs, and will never dream of detaching their fortunes from those of Her Majesty's great Dominion. Nay, I do not believe that these gentlemen would be able to persuade even their fellow-citizens of the Island of Vancouver to so violent a course. But granting for the moment that their influence should prevail, what would be the result ? British Columbia would still be part and parcel of Canada. The great work of Con- federation would not be perceptibly affected. But the pro- posed line of the Pacific Railway might possibly be deflected south. New Westminster would certainly become the capital of the province, the Dominion would naturally use its best endeavours to build it up into a flourishing and prosperous city. It would be the seat of Government and the home of justice, as well as the chief social centre on the Pacific coast. Burrard Inlet would become a great commercial port, and the miners of Cariboo, with their stores of gold dust, would spend their festive and open-handed winters there. Great Britain would of course retain Esquimalt as a naval station on this coast, as she has retained Halifax as a naval station on the other, and inasmuch as a constituency of some 1,500 persons would not be able to supply the material for a Parliamentary Government, Vancouver and its inhabitants, who are now influential by reason of their intelligence rather than their numbers, would be ruled as Jamaica, Malta, Gibral- tar, Heligoland, and Ascension are ruled, through the instru- mentality of some naval or other officer. Nanaimo would become the principal town of the island, and Victoria would lapse for many a long year into the condition of a village, until the development of your coal-fields and the growth of a healthier sentiment had prepared the way for its re-incorpora- tion with the rest of the province ; at least, that is the horo- scope I should draw for it in the contingency contemplated A FEDERALIST BY PROFESSION, 207 by these gentlemen. But God forbid that any such prophecy should be realised. I believe the gentlemen I have referred to are the very last who would desire to see the fulfilment of their menaces, and I hope they will forgive me if I am not intimidated by their formidable representations. When some pertinacious philosopher insisted on assailing the late King of the Belgians with a rhapsody on the beauties of a Eepublican Government, His Majesty replied : " You forget, sir, I am a Eoyalist by profession." Well, a Governor General is a Fede- ralist by profession, and you might as well expect the Sultan of Turkey to throw up his cap for the Commune, as the Viceroy of Canada to entertain a suggestion for the disintegration of the Dominion. I hope, therefore, they will not bear me any ill-will for having declined to bow my head beneath their " Separation " arch.* It was a very good-humoured, and cer- tainly not a disloyal, bit of " bounce,'' which they had prepared for me. I suppose they wished me to know they were the " arch " enemies of Canada. Well, I have made them an arch reply. But, gentlemen, of course I am not serious in discussing such a contingency as that to which I have referred. Your numerical weakness as a community is your real strength, for it is a consideration which appeals to every generous heart. Far be the day, when on any acre of soil above which floats the flag of England, mere material power, or brute political pre- ponderance, shall be permitted to decide such a controversy as that which we are discussing. It is to men like yourselves who, with unquailing fortitude and heroic energy, have planted the laws and liberties, and the blessed influence of English homes amidst the wilds and rocks and desert plains of savage lands, that England owes the enhancement of her prestige, the diffusion of her tongue, the increase of her commerce, and her ever- widening renown ; and woe betide the Government or * On one of the arches ei'ected in Victoria on the entry of the Governor General into that city was displayed the motto " Carnarvon or Separation.'' Lord Dufferin said he woiild pass under the arch if the architects would change a single letter in its motto, viz. the S. into an E, I'hey declined, and the procession took another route. 208 SPEECHES AND ADDBE8SE8. the statesmen who, because its inhabitants are few in number and politically of smaU account, should disregard the wishes or carelessly dismiss the representations, however bluff, bois- terous, or downright, of the feeblest of her distant colonies. No, gentlemen, neither England nor Canada would be content or happy in any settlement that was not arrived at with your own hearty approval and consent, and equally satisfactory to every section of your province ; but we appeal to your modera- tion and practical good sense to assist us in resolving the present difficulty. The genius of the English race has ever been too robust and sensible to admit the existence of an irreconcilable element in its midst. It is only among weak and hysterical populations that such a growth can flourish. However hard the blows given and taken during the contest, Britishers always find a means of making up the quarrel, and such I trust will be the case on the present occasion. My functions as a constitutional ruler are simply to superintend the working of the political machine, not to intermeddle with its action. I trust that I have observed that rule on the present occasion, and that although I have addressed you at considerable length I have not said a word which it has not been strictly within my province to say, nor have I intruded on those domains which are reserved for the action of my responsible advisers. As I warned you would be the case, I have made no announcement, I have made no promise, I have hazarded no opinion upon any of the administrative questions now occupying the joint attention of yourselves and the Dominion. I have only en- deavoured to correct some misapprehensions by which you have been possessed in regard to matters of historical fact, and I have testified to the kind feeling entertained for you by your fellow-subjects in Canada, and to the desire of my Government for the re-establishment of the friendliest and kindliest relations between you and themselves, and I trust that I may carry away with me the conviction that from henceforth a less angry and irritated feeling towards Canada will have been inaugurated than has hitherto subsisted. Of my own earnest desire to do everything I can, and to forward vour views so far as they may be founded in justice and THE INDIAN TITLE. 209 reason, I need not speak. My presence here, and the way in which I have spent my time, will have convinced you of what has been the object nearest my heart. I cannot say how glad I am to have come, or how much I have profited by my visit, and I assure you none of the representations with which I have been favoured will escape my memory or fail to be duly submitted in the proper quarter. And now, gentlemen, I niiust bid you good-bye, but before doing so there is one other topic upon which I am desirous of touching. From my first arrival in Canada I have been very much occupied with the condition of the Indian popu- lation in this province. You must remember that the Indian population are not represented in Parliament, and, conse- quently, that the Governor General is bound to watch over their welfare with especial solicitude. Now we must all admit that the condition of the Indian question in British Columbia is not satisfactory. '. Most unfortunately, as I think, there has been an initial error ever since Sir James Douglass quitted office, in the Government of British Columbia neglecting to recognise what is known . as the Indian title. In Canada this has always been done : no Gdvernment, whether pro- vincial or central, has failed to acknowledge that the ori- ginal title to the land existed in the Indian tribes and the communities that hunted or wandered over them. Before we touch an acre we make a treaty with the chiefs representing the bands we are dealing with, and having agreed upon and paid the stipulated price, oftentimes arrived at after a great, deal of haggling and difficulty, we enter into possession, but not until then do we consider that we are entitled to deal with a single acre. The result has been that in Canada our Indians are contented, well affected to the white man, and amenable to the laws and Government. At this very moment the Lieutenant Governor of Manitoba has gone on a distant expedition in order to make a treaty with the tribes to the northward of the Saskatchewan. Last year he made two treaties with the Crees and Chippeways, next year it has been arranged that he should make a treaty with the Blackfeet, and when this is done the British Crown will have acquired a title to every 210 SPEECHES AND ADDRESSES. acre that lies between Lake Superior and the top of the Kocky Mountains. But in British Columbia — except in a few places where, under the jurisdiction of the Hudson Bay Company or under the auspices of Sir James Douglass, a similar practice has been adopted — the Provincial Goyemment has always assumed that the fee simple in, as well as the sovereignty over the land, resided in the Queen. Acting upon this principle they have granted extensive grazing leases, and otherwise so dealt with various sections of the country as greatly to restrict or interfere with the prescriptive rights of the Queen's Indian subjects. As a consequence, there has come to exist an unsatisfactory feeling amongst the Indian population. Inti- mations of this reached me at Ottawa two or three years ago, and since I have come into the province my misgivings on the subject have been confirmed. Now, I consider that our Indian fellow-subjects are entitled to exactly the same civil rights under the law as are possessed by the white population, and that if an Indian can prove a prescriptive right of way to a fishing station, or a right of any other kind, that that right should no more be ignored than if it were the case of a white man. I am well aware that among the coast Indians the land question does not present the same characteristics as in other parts of Canada, or as it does in the grass countries of the interior of this province ; but I have also been able to under- stand that in these latter districts it may be even more necessary to deal justly and liberally with the Indian in regard to his land rights than on the prairies of the North- West. I am very happy that the British Columbian Government have recognised the necessity of assisting the Dominion Government in ameliorating the present condition of affairs in this respect, and that it has agreed to the creation of a joint commission for the purpose of putting the interests of the Indian population on a more satisfactory footing. Of course, in what I have said I do not mean that in our desire to be humane and to act justly, we should do anything unreason- able or Quixotic, or that rights already acquired by white men should be inconsiderately invaded or recalled, but I would venture to put the Government of British Columbia on its guard against the fatal eventualities which might arise BY — BAIL. 211 should a sense of injustice provoke the Indian population to violence or into a collision with our scattered settlers. Pro- bably there has gone forth amongst them very incorrect and exaggerated information of the warlike achievements of their brethren in Dakotah, and their uneducated minds are in- capable of calculating chances. Of course, there is no danger of any serious or permanent revolt, but it must be remembered that even an accidental collision in which blood was shed, might have a most disastrous effect upon our present satisfac- tory relations with the warlike tribes in the North-West, whose amity and adhesion to our system of government is so essential to the progress of the Pacific Eailway ; and I make this appeal, as I may call it, with all the more earnestness since I have convinced myself of the degree to which, if pro- perly dealt with, the Indian population might be made to contribute to the development of the wealth and resources of the province. I have now seen them in all phases of their existence, from the haK-naked savage in a red blanket, perched like a bird of prey upon a rock, trying to catch his miserable dinner of fish, to the neat Indian maidens in Mr. Duncan's school at Metlahketlah, as modest and as well-dressed as any clergyman's daughter in an English parish, and to the shrewd horse-riding Siwash of the Thompson Valley, with his racers in training for the Ashcroft Stakes, and as proud of his stack- yard and turnip-field as a British squire. In his first condition it is evident he is scarcely a producer or a consumer ; in his second, he is eminently both, and in proportion as he can be raised to the higher level of civilisation will he contribute to the vital energies of the province. What you want are not resources, but human beings to develop them and consume them. Kaise your 30,000 Indians to the level which Mr. Duncan has taught us is possible, and consider what an enormous amount of vital power you will have added to your present strength. But I must not keep you longer. I thank you most heartily for your patience and attention. Most earnestly do I desire the accomplishment of all your aspirations, and if ever I have the good fortune to come to British Columbia again, I hope it may be by — rail. p 2 ( 212 ) XXVI. SPEECH AT THE BANQUET AT THE NATIONAL C[.UB, TORONTO. JANUARY 12. 1877. In answer to the toast of his health, Lord Duffeein said : — Gentlemen, I assure you it is with feelings of the deepest gratitude that I rise to acknowledge the kind and cordial manner in which you have been good enough to drink my health. Such tokens of confidence and kind feelings as those which you have just exhibited are a most welcome encouragement to any one in my situation, for they give me the assurance that I have not failed in that which is one of the dearest and most anxious desires of my heart, namely, to secure the good-will and attachment of those I have been commissioned by my Sovereign to serve. Precluded, as the representative of the Crown necessarily is by the very essence of his duty, from the slightest appearance of a desii-e or design to place himseK in sympathy with any phase of political enthusiasm, or with the special predilections of any section of the commimity, however numerous or well-inspired ; reduced as his functions are to those rather of a negative than of a positive character, and, unsensational as is the routine of his ordinary duties, there necessarily remain but very few points at which he can come into anything like intimate or harmon- ious contact with those to the promotion of whose interests, happiness and welfare the energies of his life are directed. In these circumstances his pleasure and his pride are all the greater when he finds that his silent, obscure, and unostent- atious efforts to do his duty and to benefit the country with which he is connected have attracted the notice or commendation of those whose esteem it is his ambition to win and preserve. His principal achievements consist QBITS. 213 rather in preventing mischief than in accomplishing any substantial good ; and, even in regard to his public speeches, which more than anything else communicate some little substance to his shadowy individuality, the best part of them — to adopt the privilege of my country — are those which have been left out. (Laughter.) In fact, the head of the State in a constitutional regime is the depositary of what, though undoubtedly a very great, is altogether a latent power, a power which, under the auspices of wise parlia- mentary statesmanship, is never suffered to become active, and his ordinary duties are very similar to those of the humble functionary we see superintending the working of some com- plicated mass of steam-driven machinery. (Laughter.) This personage merely walks about with a little tin vessel of oil in his hand, and he pours in a drop here and a drop there, as occasion or the creaking of a joint may require, while his utmost vigilance is directed to no higher aim than the preservation of his wheels and cogs from the intrusion of dust, grits,* or other foreign bodies. (Great laughter.) There, gentlemen, what was I saying ? See how easily an unguarded tongue can slip into an ambiguous expression — an expression which I need not assure you is on this occasion entirely innocent of all political significance. But I must say that, far from having cause to complain of my humble efforts not having been duly appre- ciated, I am only too sensible that your kindness, and the generous instincts of the people of Canada to take the will for the deed, have created for me an amount of good-will and ap- proval far beyond my deserts, of which such entertainments as the present, and the pleasant things said at them are the agreeable exhibition. Any one would indeed be dead to every sentiment of gratitude if such tokens of confidence did not arouse in his heart a still more earnest desire to do his duty, and to strain every nerve in the service of those who are so ready to condone his shortcomings and to reward his exertions. (Loud applause.) And, gentlemen, here I must be permitted to say that I con- sider it no small part of my good fortune that my connection * The local name of a political party. 214 SPEECHES AND ADDRESSES. with Canada has occurred at a moment when, probably, she is in the act of making one of the greatest strides towards the establishment of her prestige, stability, and importance ever recorded in her history. (Cheers.) Even a casual observer cannot have failed to mark the decisive manner in which Canada is gradually asserting her position as one of the most important communities in the civilised world. (Great applause.) This has had a very visible effect upon the public opinion both of England and of the United States. In spite of the pre-occupation with their own affairs natural to all countries, Canada has on several occasions not merely attracted the sympathies but compelled the admiration and attention of the thinking men of both countries. Her school systems, her federal arrangements, her municipal institutions, her maritime regulatiohs, have repeatedly been cited in recent years by English statesmen of authority and distinction as worthy of imitation. (Cheers.) As for the United States, although they may be too proud to own it, there is not a citizen of the neighbouring republic who does not envy the smooth and harmonious working of our well-balanced and happily-adjusted institutions. Of one thing I am quite sure, that there is not an American politician between the Atlantic and the Pacific who would not at the present moment be content to give half his fortune to possess that most service- able and useful thing, a Governor General.* (Great laughter.) Indeed the acquisition by the United States of so valuable a personage has of late come to appear of such prime necessity, and would prove such an obvious mode of solving their per- sonal difficulties, and of remedying the defects of their govern- mental machine, that I have been extremely nervous (laughter) about passing so near the border as I had to do on my way hither. There is no knowing what might happen in the case of people in such a stress of temptation. (Renewed laughter.) Eaids have been prompted by love as well as hate. In fact the tame ceremonies of modern marriage are the survival of the far more spirited principle of capture by * A serious political crisis was then prevailing in the United States in reference to the validity of General Hayes's election to the Presidential chair. A TERRIBLE TEMPTATION. 215 which brides in less sophisticated ages were obtained. Who knows to what lengths Mr. Tilden and Mr. Hayes and the millions of their respective adherents now drawn up in hostile array against each other might not be driven in the agony of their present suspense. (Laughter.) A British Governor General ! What a cutting of the Gordian knot ! (Great laughter.) And so near, too : just across the water. A gun- boat and a sergeant's guard, and the thing is done. (Continued laughter.) And then think what they get in him. A person dissociated from all party interests, prejudices, and passions (hear, hear), who can never become stronger than the people's Parliaments or divide the national vote. (Applause.) A re- presentative of all that is august, stable, and sedate, in the Government, the history, and the traditions of the country, incapable of "partisanship, and lifted far above the atmosphere of faction, without adherents to reward or opponents to oust from office, docile to the suggestions of his ministers, and yet securing to the people the certainty of being able to get rid of an Administration, or Parliament, the moment either had forfeited their confidence. Eeally, gentlemen, I think I had better remove nearer to the North Pole (great laughter) ; for I am sure you will believe me, when I say that after having been made to feel for so many years how good and kind are the people of Canada, having had an opportunity of appreciating how high an honour it is to be connected with a Dominion so full of hope, with such a glorious prospect before her (great cheering), I shall never be induced, even under the stress of violence and a threat of being " bull dozed " (much laughter) to sit for one moment longer than I can help in the Presidential chair of the United States. Nay, more, so deeply attached am I to our Canada that the Pashalik of Bulgaria shall not tempt me away (laughter) — even though a full domestic establishment, such as is customary in Eastern countries, were provided for me out of the taxes of the people, and Lady Dufferin gave her consent, which, I consider, is somewhat doubtful. (Laughter and cheers.) ( i^l6 ) XXVII SPEECH AT THE BANQUET AT THE TORONTO CLUB, TORONTO. JANUARY 15. 1877. In reply to the toast of his health, Lobd Duffeein said : — Gentlemen, I have been so frequently called upon during the course of my official career in the Dominion to express my appreciation of the fervent loyalty of the Canadian people to the Throne and Person of Her Majesty, as evidenced by their reception of her representative on such occasions as the present, that I sometimes dread lest my acknowledgments should acquire a stereotyped and commonplace character. But I assure you, however bald and conventional may be the expressions I am forced to use, the feelings which inspire them well from my heart with ever fresh intensity. (Applause.) Love and devotion to the Queen, as the type and living representative of constitutional freedom, of well-ordered Gov- ernment, of a renowned historical past and a hopeful future, are the ruling passion of Englishmen all over the world. (Cheers.) But with this national, normal, and abiding principle, rooted as it is for all time in the hearts of our countrymen, there is intertwined a tenderer sentiment — a sentiment of chivalrous personal devotion towards the sovereign lady who, in her early girlhood, was called upon to preside over the destinies of so vast an Empire, whose chequered life, as maiden, wife, and widow, has been so inti- mately associated with every phase of the private, as well as the public, existence of each one of us, and whose un- ostentatious, patient career of faithfully fulfilled duty and never-failing \\cll-doing immeasiurably enhances the splennour of the crown she wears, and has advanced to a degree impossible to estimate the general welfare of her TORONTO. 217 subjects. (Loud applause.) Such being the justly inspired devotion of the British people to the Throne, it can be well understood that its representative should be sometimes even morbidly anxious that nothing in his conduct or cha- racter, or in the way in which he discharges his delegated functions, should be out of harmony with the relations Queen Victoria has established between herself and her people, not only within the limits of Great Britain, but wherever the English ensign waves — I might even say wherever the English language is spoken. (Cheers.) His pride and pleasure are therefore proportionately greater the oftener he receives at the hands of such a community as that in whose midst I have the happiness to dwell those reassuring evidences of their willingness to extend to him their countenance, encouragement, and support; for he knows that the cheers which greet his ears and the passion of loyalty which surges around him as he passes from province to province and from city to city are both intended and destined to re-echo in the ears and to ripple round the throne of her, the essence of whose happiness is her people's love. (Cheers.) And, gentlemen, if there is anything that could enhance the satisfaction which Her Majesty experiences in the conviction of the place she holds in your affections, it would be the knowledge of the prosperous and satisfactory circumstances amid which you are strengthening the foundations of her Throne and enlarging the borders of her Empire. Of course I am well aware that during the past two or three years the commercial community of Canada have passed through hard and trying times. But when I observe, as I have had an opportunity of doing, the extraordinary development which has taken place in the architectural splendour of Toronto during the interval which has elapsed since my last visit,* I cannot be expected to entertain any misgivings in regard either to your present or to your future. Within this brief period banks, churches, commercial buildings, mansions, whole streets have sprung into existence with the rapidity of magic, while every- thing connected with them and with the city assures me that * In August, 1874. 218 SPEEGEE8 AND ADDRESSES. the progress thus developed is as solid and substantial as it is resplendent. In fact, one of the happinesses of living in a new and teeming country like Canada is the feeling that " the stars in their courses " are fighting for us, and that every season is destined to bring with it the discovery of new resources, and fresh issues to our industries. It has been only during the present year that we have been made aware of the possibility of establishing a branch of trade whose development is destined to do much to increase our wealth, to invigorate our exertions, and, what is best of all, to draw still more tightly together the bonds which unite us to the Mother Country. (Cheers.) I am told upon good authority that the success attending the experiment of importing Canadian beef into the English market has already brought down the price of butchers' meat in Great Britain several cents. Well, gentlemen, what does this imply ? Why that ere long the millions of England will be dependent upon the pastures and farmers of Canada for the chief and most important item of their daily subsistence. For what are the diminutive scraps of grass land in Ireland, or along the foggy coasts of Belgium, in comparison with the illimitable breadths of cattle-pro- ducing territory which spread from here to the Eocky Mountains, whose inexhaustible produce the very inclemency of our climate will assist us in transporting fresh and sweet to Liverpool and Smithfield ? But, gentlemen, it is not merely upon the material progress of the country or of your neigh- bourhood that I desire to congratulate you. Every time that I come to your capital I am more and more agreeably im- pressed with the intellectual vigour and activity of which it is the centre and focus. After all, it is in the towns of a country that ideas are engendered and progress initiated ; and Toronto, with her University, with her Law Courts, with her various religious communities and her learned professions, possesses in an exceptional degree those conditions which are most favourable to the raising up among us of great and able men, and robust and fruitful systems of religious, political, and scientific thought. And here I may express my satisfaction at observing that, amid the sterner, severer, or more practical MANITOBA. 219 pursuits of life, its lighter graces have not been forgotten. I believe Toronto is the only city in Canada, perhaps upon this continent, which boasts a School of Art and an annual Exhi- bition. I have had the privilege of admiring some of the con- tributions which are in preparation for the ensuing year, and I must say that I have been delighted to find how many works of genuine merit it is likely to offer to your inspection. I believe the cultivation of art to be a most essential element in our national life. I have no doubt that a fair proportion of the wealth of the higher classes will be applied to its en- couragement, and I trust that ere long the Government of the country may see its way to the establishment of a National Gallery. (Cheers.) I am also very glad to hear of the steps you are taking to facilitate your communication with the great North- West. No town can have much of a future before it unless it has a rich and extensive territory at its back ; and, thanks to her geographical position, there is no doubt but that, by wise and judicious arrangements, this city will be able to appropriate to herself for commercial purposes a very considerable proportion of the entire region of country lying between the lakes and the Rocky Mountains. Every day the accounts of the fertility of that region are more satisfactory ; and I have been assured by the Count de Turenne, a distinguished friend of mine, who travelled over a considerable proportion of the province of Manitoba last autumn, that the newly-arrived emigrants, with whom he was constantly brought into contact, especially those of foreign origin, universally expressed themselves as perfectly content with their condition and prospects. (Cheers.) This is all the more satisfactory because it is probable that those great streams of emigration from Ireland, which have hitherto con- tributed so much to the development of this continent, will have ceased to flow, and that we shall have to look elsewhere for those we require as partners in the rich heritage placed at our disposal. But there is still one fountain of emigration which has been comparatively untapped, but which, I am con- vinced, might be turned into Canada with the greatest advantage, and that is an emigration from Iceland. Iceland 220 SPEECHES AND ADDRESSES. is a country but very little fitted for human habitation ; in fact, nothing but the indomitable hardihood, industry, and courage of its inhabitants could have enabled its population to bear up against the rigours of its clinjate and the successive cosmic catastrophes by which it has been perpetually overwhelmed. Already several bauds of Icelanders have found their way hither, and I have no doubt that in due time thousands of others might be induced to follow. But it is not only from abroad that an emigration westwards might, I think, be advant- ageously prosecuted. Visiting, as I do every year, the shores of the Lower St. Lawrence, I have often thought to how much better profit the industry and energies of its hardy and indus- trious population might be applied if, instead of breaking their hearts from generation to generation in their endeavours to gain a scanty subsistence from the rugged rocks and sand- choked hollows which they cultivate beneath a sky of de- sperate severity, they could be persuaded to remove to the alluvial soils and more propitious climate of our prairie lands. Were they to do so there is no doubt that for every dollar they succeed in extracting from their Laurentian rocks they would be rewarded, under the more favourable auspices I have indicated, by a five-fold return. (Hear, hear.) However, gentlemen, if I once open the chapter of my specidative ideas for the improvement of Canada I should never stop (applause), for the problems both of political and social science which present themselves for solution on this continent are inconceivably interesting and attract- ive; all the more so because there seems to exist from one end of the continent to the other — and I am not now merely referring to Canada — the happiest capacity for their solution. (Cheers.) If we look across the border, what do we see ? A nation placed in one of the most trying and difScult situations which can be imagined. Two hostile and thoroughly organised camps arrayed against each other in the fiercest crisis of a political contest. Yet, in spite of the enormous personal and public interests at stake, in spite of the natural irritation such a struggle must engender, in spite of the thousand aggravations created by this unparalleled situation THE PBE81BENTIAL CONTEST. 2'21 of suspense, there is exhibited by both sides a patriotic self- restraint, a moderation of language, and a dignified and wise attitude of reserve which is worthy not only of our admira- tion, but of the imitation of the civilised world. (Continued applause.) Of course we know that in a written constitution every possible contingency cannot be foreseen and provided against, and undoubtedly a blot has been hit in the Con- stitution of the United States ; but there is no doubt that a proper remedy will be quickly discovered, and interested as Canada is and always must be in the welfare and pro- sperity of her great neighbour (hear, hear), and friendly^ and affectionate as are the sentiments of the Canadian people towards the inhabitants of the United States, I am sure, gentlemen, I am only expressing the sentiments of all who hear me when I say that, combined with the respect which has been excited in our minds by the patience and fortitude exhibited by the American people in the most trying circum- stances, we experience the most fervent desire, and we enter- tain the most implicit confidence, that they will quickly discover a satisfactory solution for their present difficulties. (Cheers.) In conclusion, gentlemen, allow me to express to you my regret that circumstances preclude me from finding myself more frequently in so pleasant a neighbourhood and under such agreeable auspices ; for, gentlemen, quite apart from the gratification I experience in the kind welcome accorded to Lady Dufferin and myself by the citizens of Toronto, it gives me the greatest pleasure to observe how sound and satisfactory are the relations which exist between the inhabitants of the province and the gentleman who is associated with me and with his colleagues in the other provinces in exercising within the borders of Ontario the representative functions of the Crown. (Cheers.) Perhaps no more convincing proof could be given of the soundness of our polity than the way in which the seven provinces of the Dominion are presided over by their respective Lieutenant Governors. That Canada should be able to furnish an unfailing supply of gentlemen of such high character, of such large political experience, of 222 SPEECHES AND ADDRESSES. such undoubted honour as to command the implicit confidence of their fellow-citizens in their constitutional impartiality and their capacity for government, exhibits in a remarkable degree how large is the fund of able public men upon whose services the country can always count. (Loud applause.) During my residence in Canada I have naturally been thrown into very intimate and confidential relations with every one of these gentlemen as well as with their predecessors ; and I must say that I have never repaired to them for information or advice without being forcibly impressed by their ability, patriotism, and knowledge of affairs. (Cheers.) And depend upon it, it is a matter of the greatest advantage to the community that a class of statesmen exists amongst us, removed by their ofiice from the dominion of party prejudices and passions, and yet as deeply interested and concerned in everything that affects the public welfare as the able men who are occupied in the arena of Parliamentary warfare. When to these political advantages we have added the further satisfaction of seeing the social life of our capital presided over, as it is in this city, with a feminine dignity, grace and refinement which cannot be surpassed (long continued applause), by the ladies who share with the pro- vincial representatives of the Queen the cares and anxieties of their office, we need not fear that monarchical institutions will ever fall into disfavour with the people of Canada. (Great cheering.) ( 223 ) XXVIII. SPEECH IN REPLY TO THE ADDRESS OP THE MENNONITE SETTLERS AT RAT RIVER, MANITOBA. AUGUST 21. 1877.* Lord Ddffeein said :— Fellow-Citizens of the Dominion and Fellow-subjects of Her Majesty, I have come here to-day in the name of the Queen of England to bid you welcome to Canadian soil. With this welcome it is needless to couple the best wishes of the Imperial Government in England or of the Dominion Grovernment at Ottawa, for you are well aware that both have regarded your coming here with unmitigated satisfaction. You have left your own land in obedience to a conscientious scruple, nor are you the first to cross the Atlantic under the pressure of a similar exigency. In doing so you have made great sacrifices, broken with many tender associ- ations, and overthrown the settled purposes of your former peacefully ordered lives; but the very fact of your having manfully faced the uncertainties and risks of so distant an emigration rather than surrender your religious convictions in regard to the unlawfulness of warfare, proves you well worthy of our respect, confidence, and esteem. You have come to a land where you will find the people with whom you are to associate engaged indeed in a great struggle, and contending with foes whom it requires their best energies to encounter. But those foes are not your fellow-men, nor will you be called upon in the struggle to stain your hands with human blood — * These settlers, belonging to the religious sect of Mennonites, had lelt Southern Russia in order to escape military service. The Government of the Dominion gave them free grants of land and lent them money to enable them to build houses. Besides the Rat River settlement there is a large and flourishing Mennonite settlement to the west of Red River, which is known by the name of the Dufferin Reserve. 224 SPEECHES AND ADDRESSES. a task so abhorrent to your religious feelings. The war to which we invite you as recruits and comrades is a war waged against the brute forces of nature; but those forces will welcome our domination, and reward our attack by placing their treasures at our disposal. It is a war of ambition, — for we intend to annex territory, — but neither blazing villages nor devastated fields will mark our ruthless track ; our batt- alions will march across the illimitable plains which stretch before us as sunshine steals athwart the ocean; the rolling prairie will blossom in our wake, and corn and peace and plenty will spring where we have trod. But not only are we ourselves engaged in these beneficent occupations — you will find that the only other nationality with whom we can ever come into contact are occupied with similar peaceable pursuits. They, like us, are engaged in advancing the standards of civilisation westwards, not as rivals, but as allies ; and a community of interests, objects, and aspirations has already begun to cement between the people of the United States and ourselves what I trust is destined to prove an indissoluble affection. If, then, you have come hither to seek for peace — peace at least we can promise you. But it is not merely to the material blessings of our land that I bid you welcome. We desire to share with you on equal terms our constitutional liberties, our municipal privileges, and our domestic freedom ; we invite you to assist us in choosing the members of our Parliament, in shaping our laws, and in moulding our future destinies. There is no right or function which we exercise as free citizens in which we do not desire you to participate, and with this civil freedom we as gladly offer you absolute religious liberty. The forms of worship you have brought with you, you will be able to practise in the most unrestricted manner, and we confidently trust that those blessings which have waited upon your virtuous exertions in your Eussian homes will contimie to attend you here ; for we hear that you are a sober-minded and God-fearing community, and as such you are doubly welcome amongst us. It is with the greatest pleasure I have passed through your villages, and witnessed your comfortable homesteads, bams, and byres, which have THE MENN0NITE8. 225 arisen like magic upon this fertile plain, for they prove that you are expert in agriculture, and possess a high standard of domestic comfort. In the name, then, of Canada and her people, in the name of Queen Victoria and her empire, I again stretch out to you the hand of brotherhood and good fellow- ship, for you are as welcome to our affection as you are to our lands, our liberties, and freedom. In the eye of our law the least among you is the equal of the highest magnate in our land, and the proudest of our citizens may well be content to hail you as his fellow-countryman. You will find Canada a beneficent and loving mother, and under her fostering care I trust your community is destihed to flourish and extend in wealth and numbers through countless generations. In one. word, beneath the flag whose folds now wave above us, you will find protection, peace, civil and religioiis liberty, consti- tutional freedom and equal laws. ( 226 ) XXIX. SPEECH IN REPLY TO THE ADDRESS OP THE ICELANDIC SETTLERS AT GIMLI. SEPTEMBER 15. 1877.* LoHD DuFFEEiN Said: — Men and Women of Iceland, now Citizens of Canada, and Subjects of Her Majesty the Queen, — When it was my good fortune twenty years ago to visit your island, I little thought that the day would come when I should be called upon as the representative of the British Crown to receive you in this country ; but the opportunities I then had of becoming acquainted with your dramatic history and with your picturesque literature, and the kindness I experienced at the hands of your coimtrymen now enable me with the greater cordiality to bid you welcome. I have learned with extreme sorrow of the trials to which you have been exposed so soon after your arrival by the unexpected ravages of a terrible epidemic! Such a visitation was well calculated to damp your spirits and to benumb your energies, aggravating as it did those inevitable hardships which attend the first efforts of all colonists to establish themselves in a new land. The precautions which the Local Government was reluctantly compelled to take to prevent the spreading of the contagion through the province must also have been both galling and disadvantageous, but I trust that the discouragements which attended your advent amongst us have now for ever passed away, and that you are fairly embarked on a career of happi- ness and prosperity. Indeed I understand that there is not one among you who is not perfectly content with his new lot, * The Icelandic settlement, of which Gimli (Elysium) is the capital, is situated at Keewatin on Lake Winnipeg, and comprises some 275,000 acres, t Smallppx. THE ICELANDIC 8ETTLER8. 227 and fully satisfied that the change which has taken place in his destiny is for the better. During a hasty visit like the present I cannot pretend to acquire more than a superficial insight into your condition, but, so far as I have observed, things appear to be going well with you. The homesteads I have visited seem well built and commodious, and are certainly far superior to any of the farmhouses I remember in Iceland ; while the gardens and little clearings which have begun to sm-round them show that you have already tapped an inex- haustible store of wealth in the rich alluvial soil on which we stand. The three arts most necessary to a Canadian colonist are the felling of timber, the ploughing of land, and the construction of highways ; but as in your own country none of you had ever seen a tree, a cornfield, or a road, it was not to be expected that you should immediately exhibit any expertness in these accomplishments; but practice and experience will soon make you masters of all three, for you possess in a high degree those qualities which form the foundation of all superi- ority, namely, intelligence, education, and intellectual activity. In fact I have not entered a single hut or cottage in the set- tlement which did not contain, no matter how bare its walls, or scanty its furniture, a library of twenty or thirty volumes ; and I am informed that there is scarcely a child among you who cannot read and write. Secluded as you have been for hundreds of years from all contact with the civilisation of Europe, you may in many respects be a little rusty and behind the rest of the world ; nor have the conditions under which you used to live at home — where months are spent in the enforced idleness of a sunless winter — accustomed you to those habits of continued and unflagging industry which you will find necessary to your new existence; but in our brighter, drier, and more exhilarating climate you will become animated with fresh vitality, and your continually expanding prosperity will encourage you year by year to still greater exertions. Beneath the genial influences of the fresh young world to which you have come, the dormant capacities of your race, which adverse climatic and geographical conditions may have somewhat stunted and benumbed, will bud and bourgeon forth Q 2 228 SPEEOHES AND ADDRESSES. in all their pristine exuberance, as the germs which have "been for centuries buried within the pyramids and catacombs of Egypt are said to equal in the exuberance and succulence of their growth the corn-seeds of last year's harvest. But as sun and air and light are necessary to produce that miracle, so it will be necessary for you to profit as much as possible by the example and by the intercourse of your more experienced neighbours. I have learned with great satisfaction that numbers of your young women have entered the households of various Canadian families, where they will not only acquire the English language, which it is most desirable you should all know, and which they will be able to teach their brothers and sisters, — and I trust I may add, in course of time, their children — but will also learn those lessons of domestic economy and housewifely neat-handedness which are so necessary to the well-being, health, and cheerfulness of your homes. I am also happy to be able to add that I have received the best accounts from a great number of people of the good conduct, handiness, and docility of these young Ingebors, Eaghnhildas, Thoras, and Gudruns, who I trust will do credit to the epical ancestresses from whom they have inherited their names. Many of the houses I have visited to-day bore evident signs in their airiness, neatness, and well-ordered appearance of possessing a housewife who had already profited from her contact with the outer world. And while I am upon this subject there is one practical hint which I shall venture to make to you. Every single house I visited to-day, many of them being mere temporary huts with at the most two small chambers, was furnished with a large close iron cooking-stove, evidently used not merely for cooking purposes, but also for heating the habitation. I believe that this arrangement is anything but desirable, and that, at all events in those houses where a separate kitchen cannot be obtained, an open fireplace should be introduced. I am quite certain that if I were to come amongst you in winter I should find these stoves in full operation, and every crevice in your shanties sealed up from the outer air. Now you are surrounded by an inexhaustible supply of the best possible fuel, which can be obtained with TEE tCELANDia SETTLERS. 229 comparatively little labour, and consequently economy of coal need not drive you to an excessive use of these unwholesome appliances. Our winter air, though sufiSciently keen, is healthy and bracing, and a most potent incentive to physical exertion ; whereas the mephitic vapours of an overheated, closely- packed chamber paralyse our physical as well as our mental activities. A constitution nursed upon the oxygen of our bright winter atmosphere makes its owner feel as though he could toss about the pine-trees in his glee, whereas to the sluggard simmering over his stove-pipe it is a horror and a nameless hardship to put his nose outside the door. I need not tell you that in a country like this the one virtue pre- eminently necessary to every man is self-reliance, with energy and determination to conquer an independent living for him- self, his wife and children by the unassisted strength of his own right arm. Unless each member of the settlement is possessed and dominated by this feeling, there can be no salvation for any one. But, why need I speak to Icelanders, to you men and women of the grand old Norse race, of the necessity of patience under hardship, courage in the face of danger, dogged determination in the presence of difficulties ? The annals of your country are bright with the records of your forefathers' noble endurance. The sons and daughters of the men and women who crossed the Arctic Ocean in open boats, and preferred to make their homes amid the snows and cinders of a volcano rather than enjoy peace and plenty under the iron sway of a despot, may afford to smile at any one who talks to them of hardship or rough living beneath the pleasant shade of these murmuring branches and beside the laughing ripples of yonder shining lake. The change now taking place in your fortunes is the very opposite of that which befell your forefathers. They fled from their pleasant homes and golden cornfields into a howling wilderness of storm and darkness, ice and lava, but you I am welcoming to the healthiest climate on this continent, and to a soil of unexampled fertility, which a little honest industry on your part will soon turn into a garden of plenty. Nor do we forget that no race has a better 230 SPEECHES AND ADDRESSES. right to come amongst us than yourselves, for it is probably to the hardihood of the Icelandic navigators that the world is indebted for the discovery of this continent. Had not Colum- bus visited your island and discovered in your records a practical and absolute confirmation of his own brilliant specul- ations in regard to the existence of a western land, it is possible he might never have had the enterprise to tempt the unknown Atlantic. Again, then, I welcome you to this country — a country in which you will find yourselves freemen serving no overlord, and being no man's men but your own ; each, master of his own farm, like the Udalmen, and Bonders of old days ; and remember that in coming amongst us, you will find yourselves associated with a race both kindly-hearted and cognate to your own ; nor in becoming Englishmen and subjects of Queen Victoria need you forget your own time- honoured customs or the picturesque annals of your forefathers. On the contrary, I trust you will continue to cherish for all time the heart-stirring literature of your nation, and that from generation to generation your little ones will continue to learn in your ancient Sagas that industry, energy, fortitude, perse- verance, and stubborn endurance have ever been the charac- teristics of the noble Icelandic race. I have pledged my personal credit to my Canadian friends on the successful development of your settlement. My warmest and most afiiectionate sympathies attend you, and I have the greatest confidence that, in spite of your enterprise being conducted amid what, of necessity, are somewhat disadvantageous con- ditions, not only will your future prove bright and prosperous, but that it will be universally acknowledged that a more valuable accession to the intelligence, patriotism, loyalty, industry, and strength of the country has never been intro- duced into the Dominion. ( 231 ) XXX. SPEECH AT THE FAREWELL BREAKFAST AT THE CITY HALL, WINNIPEG. SEPTEMBER 29. 1877. In reply to the toast of his health, Loed Dupfeein said : — Mr. Mayor, your Honour, Ladies and Gentlemen, — In rising to express my acknowledgments to the citizens of Winnipeg for crowning with this noble entertainment the friendly recep- tion I have received throughout the length and breadth of Manitoba, I am painfully oppressed by the consideration of the many respects in which my thanks are due to you, and to so many other persons in the province. From my first landing on your quays until the present moment my progress through the country has been one continual delight, nor has the slightest hitch or incongruous incident marred the satisfaction of my visit. I have to thank you for the hospitalities I have enjoyed at the hands of your individual citizens, as well as of a multitude of independent communities, for the tasteful and ingenious decorations which adorned my route ; for the quarter- mile of evenly-yoked oxen that drew our triumphal car ; for the universal proofs of your loyalty to the Throne and the Mother Country, and for your personal good-will towards Her Majesty's representative. Above all I have to thank you for the evidences produced, on either hand along our march, of your prosperous condition, of your perfect contentment, of your confidence in your future fortunes ; for I need not tell you that to one in my situation, smiling cornfields, cozy homesteads, the joyful faces of prosperous men and women, and the laughter of healthy children, are the best of all triumphal adornments. (Cheers.) But there are other things for which I ought to be obliged to you : the beautiful weather yon have taken the precaution to provide for us 232 SPEECHES AND ADDRESSES. during some six weeks of perpetual camping out, an atten- tion which the unusual phenomenon of a casual waterspout enabled us only the better to appreciate : and lastly, though certainly not least, for not having generated amongst you that fearful entity, " A Pacific Eailway Question," at all events not in those dire and tragic proportions in which I have encoun- tered it elsewhere. (Laughter.) Of course I know a certain phase of the railway question is agitating even this com- munity, but it has assumed the mild character of a domestic, rather than that of an inter-provincial controversy. Two distinguished members, moreover, of my present Government have been lately among you, and have doubtless acquainted themselves with your views and wishes. It is not necessary, therefore, that I should mar the hilarious character of the present festival by any untimely allusions to so grave a matter. Well, then, ladies and gentlemen, what am I to say or do in return for all the pleasure and satisfaction I have received at your hands ? I fear there is very little that I can say, and scarcely anything that I can do, commensTirate with my obligations. Stay : there is one thing, at all events, I think that I have already done, for which I am entitled to claim your thanks. You are doubtless aware that a great political controversy has for some time raged between the two great parties of the State as to which of them is responsible for the visitation of that terror of two continents — the Colorado bug. (Great laughter.) The one side is disposed to assert that if their opponents had never acceded to power the Colorado bug would never have come to Canada. (Laughter.) I have reason to believe, however, though I know not whether any substantial evidence has been adduced in support of their assertion, that my Government deny and repudiate having had any sort of concert or understanding with that irrepress- ible invader. It would be highly unconstitutional for me, who am bound to hold a perfectly impartial balance between the contending parties of the State, to pronounce an opinion upon this momentous question. (Laughter.) But however disputable a point may be the prime and original authorship of the Colorado bug, there is one fact no one will question. MANITOBA, 233 namely, that to the presence of the Governor General in Manitoba is to be attributed the sudden, total, otherwise unaccountable, and I trust permament disappearance, not only from this province, but from the whole North-West, of the infamous and unmentionable " Hopper" (loud laughter), whose annual visitations for the last seventeen years have proved so distressing to the agricultural interests of the entire region. But, apart from being the fortunate instrument of conferring this benefit upon you, I fear the only further return in my power is to assure you of my great sympathy with you in your endeavours to do justice to the material advantages with which your province has been so richly endowed by the hands of Providence. From its geographical position, and its peculiar characteristics, Manitoba may be regarded as the keystone of that mighty arch of sister provinces which spans the continent from the Atlantic to the Pacific. (Great applause.) It was here that Canada, emerging from her woods and forests, first gazed upon her rolling prairies and unexplored North-West, and learned as by an unexpected revelation, that her historical territories of the Canadas, her eastern seaboards of New Brunswick, Labrador, and Nova Scotia, her Laurentian lakes and valleys, corn lands and pastures, though themselves more extensive than half-a-dozen European kingdoms, were but the vestibules and antechambers to that till then undreamed-of Dominion, whose illimitable dimensions alike confound the arithmetic of the surveyor and the verification of the explorer. (Great applause.) It was hence, that counting her past achievements as but the preface and prelude to her future exertions and expanding destinies, she took a fresh departure, received the afflatus of a more Imperial inspiration, and felt herself no longer a mere settler along the banks of a single river, but the owner of half a continent, and in the amplitude of her possession, in the wealth of her resources, in the sinews of her material might, the peer of any power on the earth. (Loud cheers.) In a recent speech the Marquis of Salisbury alluded to the geographical misconceptions often engendered by the small- ness of the maps upon which the figure of the world 234 BPEECEES AND ADDRESSES. is depicted. To this cause is probably to be attributed the inadequate idea, entertained by the best educated persons, of the extent of Her Majesty's North American possessions. Perhaps the best way of correcting such a universal misappre- hension would be by a summary of the rivers which flow through them, for we know that as a poor man cannot afford to live in a big house, so a small country cannot support a big river. Now to an Englishman or a Frenchman the Severn or the Thames, the Seine or the Rhone, would appear consider- able streams ; but in the Ottawa, a mere affluent of the St, Lawrence, an affluent moreover which reaches the main stream six hundred miles from the sea, we have a river nearly five hundred and fifty miles long, and three or four times as big as any of them. But even after having ascended the St. Lawrence itself to Lake Ontario, and pursued it across Lake Huron, and Lake Superior to Thunder Bay, a distance of one thousand five hundred miles, where are we ? In the estimation of the person who has made the journey, at the end of all things (laughter) ; but to us, who know better, scarcely at the com- mencement of the great fluvial systems of the Dominion; for from that spot, that is to say, from Thunder Bay, we are able at once to ship our astonished traveller on to the Kaministiquia, a river of some hundred miles long. Thence, almost in a straight line, we launch him on Lake Sheban- dowan. Rainy Lake and Rainy River — a magnificent stream three hundred yards broad and a couple of hundred miles long — down whose tranquil bosom he floats into the Lake of the Woods, where he finds himself on a sheet of water which, though diminutive as compared with the inland seas he has left behind him, will probably be found sufficiently extensive to render him fearfully sea-sick during his passage across it. (Laughter.) For the last eighty miles of his voyage, however, he will be consoled by sailing through a succession of land-locked channels, the beauty of whose scenery, while it resembles, certainly excels the far-famed Thousand Islands of the St. Lawrence. From this lacustrine paradise of sylvan beauty we are able at once to transfer our friend to the Winnipeg, a river whose existence in the very heart and centre of the Con- A WATER FROLIC. 235 tinent is in itself one of Nature's most delightful miracles, so beautiful and varied are its rocky banks, its tufted islands, so broad, so deep, so fervid is the volume of its waters, so vast the extent of their lake-like expansion, and so tremendous the power of its rapids. At last, let us suppose, we have landed our traveller at the town of Winnipeg, the half-way house of the Continent, the capital of the Prairie province, and I trust the future " umbilicus " of the Dominion. (Great cheering.) Having had so much of water, having now reached the home of the buffalo, he naturally, like the extenuated Falstaff, " babbles of green fields " (laughter), and careers in imagina- tion over the primaeval grasses of the prairie. Not at all. Escorted by Mr. Mayor and the Town Council, we take him down to your quay and ask him which he will ascend first, the Eed Eiver or the Assiniboine : two streams, the one five hundred miles long, the other four hundred and eighty, which so happily mingle their waters within your city limits. After having given him a preliminary canter up these respec- tive rivers, we take him off to Lake Winnipeg, an inland sea three hundred miles long and upwards of sixty broad, during the navigation of which for many a weary hour he will find himself out of sight of land, and probably a good deal more indisposed than ever he was on the Lake of the Woods, or even the Atlantic. (Laughter.) At the north- west angle of Lake Winnipeg he hits upon the mouth of the Saskatchewan, the gateway to the North- West, and the starting point to another one thousand five hundred miles of navigable water, flowing nearly due east and west between its alluvial banks. Having now reached the foot of the Eocky Mountains, our " ancient mariner" (laughter), for by this time he will be quite entitled to such an appellation, knowing that water cannot run up-hill, feels certain his aquatic experiences are concluded. He was never more mistaken. We imme- diately launch him upon the Arthabaska and Mackenzie rivers, and start him on a longer trip than any he has yet undertaken, the navigation of the Mackenzie river alone exceeding two thousand five hundred miles. If he survives this last experi- ence, we wind up his peregrinations by a voyage of one 236 SPEEOEES AND ADDRESSES. thousand four hundred miles down the Fraser river, or, if he prefers it, the Thompson river, to Victoria, in Vancouver ; whence, having previously provided himself with a first-class ticket for that purpose, he will probably prefer getting home via the Canadian Pacific. (Roars of laughter.) Now, in this enumeration, those who are acquainted with the country are aware that, for the sake of brevity, I have omitted thousands of miles of other lakes and rivers, which water various regions of the North- West, the Qu'Appelle river, the Belly river. Lake Manitoba, Lake Winnepegosis, Shoal Lake, and others, along whose interminable banks and shores I might have - dragged and finally exterminated our way-worn guest ; but the sketch I have given is more than sufficient for my purpose; and when it is further remem- bered that most of these streams flow for their entire length through alluvial plains of the richest description, where year after year wheat can be raised without manure, and without sensible diminution in its yield, and where the soil everywhere presents the appearance of a highly cultivated suburban market garden in England, enough has been said to display the agricultural riches of the territories I have referred to and the capabilities they possess of affording happy and prosperous homes to millions of the human race. (Loud applause.) But in contemplating the vistas thus opened to our imagina- tion, we must not forget that there ensues a corresponding expansion of our obligations. For instance, unless great care is taken, we shall find, as we move westwards, that the exigencies of civilisation may clash injuriously with the prejudices and traditional habits of our Indian fellow-subjects. So long as Canada was in the woods the Indian problem was comparatively easy, the progress of settlement was slow enough to give ample time and opportunity for arriving at an amicable and mutually convenient arrangement with each tribe with whom we successively came into contact ; but once out upon the plains, colonization will advance with far more rapid and ungovernable strides, and it cannot fail eventually to interfere with the by no means inexhaustible supply of THE BED MAN. 237 buffalo upon which so many of the Indian tribes are now dependent. Against this contingency it will be our most urgent and imperative duty to take timely precautions by inducing the red man, not by undue pressure, or hasty, or ill-considered interference, but by precept, example, and suasion, by gifts of cattle and other encouragements, to exchange the precarious life of a hunter for that of a pastoral and eventually that of an agricultural people. Happily in no part of Her Majesty's Dominions are the relations existing between the white settler and the original natives and masters of the land so well understood, or so generously and humanely interpreted as in Canada, and, as a consequence, instead of being a cause of anxiety and disturbance, the Indian tribes of the Dominion are regarded as a valuable adjunct to our strength and industry. (Hear, hear.) Wherever I have gone in the province, and since I have been here, I have travelled nearly a thousand miles within your borders, I have found the Indians upon their several reserves, with the exception of a few petty grievances of a local character which they thought themselves justified in preferring, contented and satisfied, upon the most friendly terms with their white neighbours, and implicitly confiding in the good faith and paternal solicitude of the G-overnment. In some districts I have learned with pleasure that the Sioux, who a few years since entered our territory amid such sinister circumstances— I do not of course refer to the recent visit of Sitting Bull and his people, who, however, I believe, are remaining perfectly quiet — are not only peaceable find well-behaved, but have become useful and hardworking labourers and harvestmen; while in the more distant settlements, the less domesticated bands of natives, whether as hunters, voyageurs, guides, or purveyors of our furs and game, prove an advantageous element in the economical structure of the colony. (Applause.) There is no doubt that a great deal of the good feeling thus subsisting between the red men and ourselves is due to the influence and interposition of that invaluable class of men, the half- breed settlers and pioneers of Manitoba (applause), who, com- bining as they do the hardihood, the endurance, and love of 238 SPEECHES AND ADDRESSES. enterprise generated by the strain of Indian blood within their veins, with the civilisation, the instruction, and the intellectual power derived from their fathers, have preached the gospel of peace and good-will and mutual respect, with results beneficent alike to the Indian chieftain in his lodge, and to the British settler in his shanty. (Applause.) They have been the ambassadors between the East and the West, the interpreters of civilisation and its exigencies to the dwellers on the prairie, as well as the exponents to the white man of the consideration justly due to the susceptibilities, the sensitive self-respect, the prejudices, the innate craving for justice of the Indian race. In fact, they have done for the colony what otherwise would have been left unaccomplished, and they have introduced between the white population and the red man a traditional feeling of amity and friendship, which, but for them, it might have been impossible to establish. (Cheers.) Nor can I pass by the humane, kindly, and considerate attention which has ever distinguished the Hudson Bay Company in its dealings with the native popul- ation. (Applause.) But, though giving due credit to these influences amongst the causes which are conducing to produce and preserve this fortunate result, the place of honour must be adjudged to that honourable and generous policy which has been pursued by successive Governments of Canada towards the Indian, and which at this moment is being superintended and carried out with so much tact, discretion, and ability by your present Lieutenant Governor (applause), under which the purchase of the Indian title upon liberal terms is recog- nised as a necessary preliminary to the occupation of a single square yard of native territory. (Cheers.) But our Indian friends and neighbours are by no means the only alien communities in Manitoba which demand the solicitude of the Government and excite our sympathies and curiosity. In close proximity to Winnipeg, two other communities, the Mennonites,* and the Icelanders,! starting from opposite ends of Europe, without concert or com- munication, have sought fresh homes within our territory: * See page 223. t See page 226. THE. MENNONITES AND ICELANDERS. 239 the one of Eussian nationality, though of Glerman race, moved by a desire to escape from the obligations of a law repulsive to their conscience : the other, bred amid the snows and ashes of an Arctic volcano, by the hope of bettering their material condition. Although I have witnessed many sights to cause me pleasure during my various progresses through the Dominion, seldom have I beheld any spectacle more pregnant with prophecy, more fraught with promise of a successful future than the Mennonite Settlement. (Applause.) When I visited these interesting people they had been only two years in the province, and yet in a long ride I took across many miles of prairie, which but yesterday was absolutely bare, desolate and untenanted, the home of the wolf, the badger, and the eagle, I passed village after village, homestead after home- stead, furnished with all the conveniences and incidents of European comfort, and of a scientific agriculture ; while on either side of the road, cornfields ripe for harvest, and pastures populous with herds of cattle stretched away to the horizon. (Great applause.) Even on this continent — the peculiar theatre of rapid change and progress — there has nowhere, I imagine, taken place so marvellous a transformation. And yet when in your name, and in the name of the Queen of England, I bade these people welcome to their new homes, it was not the im- provement in their material fortunes that preoccupied my thoughts. Grlad as I was to have the power of allotting them so ample a portion of our teeming soil — a soil which seems to blossom at a touch (cheers), and which they were culti- vating to such manifest advantage — I felt infinitely prouder in being able to throw over them the aegis of the British Con- stitution (loud cheers), and in bidding them freely share with us our unrivalled political institutions, our untram- melled personal liberty. (Loud cheers.) We ourselves are so accustomed to breathe the atmosphere of freedom that it scarcely occurs to us to consider and appreciate our ad- vantages in this respect. It is only when we are reminded, by such incidents as that to which I refer, of the small extent of the world's surface over which the principles of Parliamentary Government work smoothly and harmoniously, that we are led 240 SPEECHES AND ADDRESSES. to consider the exceptional happiness of our position. Nor was my visit to the Icelandic community less satisfactory than that to our Mennonite fellow-siibjects. From accidental circumstances I was long since led to take an interest in the history and literature of the Scandinavian race, and the kindness I once received at the hands of the Icelandic people in their own island naturally induced me to take a deep interest in the welfare of this new immigration. When we take into account the secluded position of the Icelandic nation for the last thousand years, the unfavourable conditions of their climate and of their geographical situation, it would be un- reasonable to expect that a colony from Iceland should exhibit the same aptitude for agricultural enterprise and settlement as would be possessed by a people fresh from intimate contact with the higher civilisation of Europe. In Iceland there are no trees, no cornfields, no highways. You cannot, therefore, expect an Icelander to exhibit an inspired proficiency in felling timber, ploughing land, or making roads; yet these are the three accomplishments most necessary to a colonist in Canada. But though they start at a disadvantage in these respects, you must not underrate the capacity of your new fellow-countrymen. They are endowed with a great deal of intellectual ability and a quick intelligence. They are well educated. I scarcely entered a hovel at Gimli which did not possess a library. They are well conducted, religious, and peaceable. Above all, they are docile and anxious to learn. Nor, considering the difficulty which prevails in this country in procuring women servants, will the accession of some hundreds of bright, good- humoured, and though perhaps inexperienced, yet willing Icelandic girls, anxious for employment, be found a disadvantage to the resident ladies of the country. Should the dispersion of these young people lead in course of time to the formation of more intimate and more tender ties than those of mere neigh- bourhood between the Canadian population and the Icelandic colony, I am safe in predicting that it will not prove a matter of regret on the one side or the other. (Applause.) And, gentlemen, in reference to this point I cannot help remarking with satisfaction the extent to which a community CANADA AND TEE UNITED STATES. 241 of interests, the sense of being engaged in a common under- taking, the obvious degree in which the prosperity of any- one man is a gain to his neighbours, have amalgamated the various sections of the population of this province, originally so diverse in race, origin, and religion, into a patriotic, closely welded, and united whole. In no part of Canada have I found a better feeling prevailing between all classes and sections of the community. Nor, I am happy to think, is this good fellowship, upon which I have so much cause to congratulate you, confined either within the limits of the province, or even within those of the Dominion. Nothing struck me more on my way through St, Paul, in the United States, than the sympathetic manner in which the in- habitants of that flourishing city alluded to the progress and prospects of Canada and the North- West, and on arriving here I was equally struck by finding even a more exuberant coun- 'terpart of those friendly sentiments. (Great applause.) The reason is not far to seek. Quite independently of the genial intercourse promoted by neighbourhood and the growth of commercial relations, a bond of sympathy between the two populations is created by the consciousness that they are both engaged in an enterprise of world-wide importance ; that they are both organised corps in the ranks of humanity, the wings of a great army marching in line on a level front ; that they are both engaged in advancing the standards of civilisation westwards ; and that for many a year to come they will be associated in the task of converting the breadths of prairie that stretch between them and the setting sun into one vast paradise of international peace, of domestic happiness, and material plenty. (Great cheering.) Between two communities thus occupied it is impossible that amity and loving-kindness should not be begotten. But it will, perhaps, be asked, how can I, who am the natural and official guardian of Canada's virtue, mark with satisfaction such dangerously sentimental proclivities towards her seductive neighbour. I will reply by appealing to those experienced matrons and chaperones I see around me. They will tell you that when a young lady expresses her frank admiration for a man, when she welcomes 242 SPEECHES AND ADDRESSES. his approach with unconstrained pleasure, crosses the room to sit beside him, presses him to join her picnic, praises him to her friends, there is not the slightest fear of her affections having been surreptitiously entrapped by the gay deceiver. (Loud laughter.) On the contrary, it is when she can be scarcely brought to mention his name (loud laughter), when she avoids his society, when she alludes to him with malice and disparagement, that real danger is to be apprehended. (Laughter.) No, no ! Canada both loves and admires the United States, but it is with the friendly, frank affection which a heart-whole stately maiden feels for some big, boisterous, hobbledehoy of a cousin, fresh from school, and elate with animal spirits and good nature. She knows he is stronger and more muscular than herself, has lots of pocket money (laughter), can smoke cigars, and " loaf around " in public places in an ostentatious manner forbidden to the decorum of her own situation. (Laughter.) She admires him for his bigness, strength, and prosperity. She likes to hear of his punching the heads of other boys. (Laughter.) She anticipates and will be proud of his future success in life, and both likes him and laughs at him for his affectionate, loyal, though somewhat patronising friendship for herself. (Great laughter.) But of no nearer connection does she dream, nor does his bulky image for a moment disturb her virginal meditations. (Laughter.) In a world apart, secluded from all extraneous influences, nestling at the feet of her majestic Mother, Canada dreams her dream, and forebodes her destiny — a dream of ever- broadening harvests, multiplying towns and villages, and expanding pastures, of constitutional self-government, and a confederated Empire; of page after page of honourable history, added as her contribution to the annals of the Mother Country and to the glories of the British race ; of a perpetuation for all time upon this continent of that temperate and well-balanced system of Government, which combines in one mighty whole, as the eternal pos- session of all Englishmen, the brilliant history and traditions of the past, with the freest and most untrammelled liberty of action in the future. (Great cheering.) A PROSPEROUS PROSPECT. 243 Ladies and gentlemen, I have now done. I have to thank you for the patience with which you have listened to me, and once again for the many kindnesses you have done Lady Dufferin and myself during our stay among you. Most heartily do I congratulate you upon all that you are doing, and upon the glorious prospect of prosperity which is open- ing out on every side of you. Though elsewhere in the Dominion stagnation of trade and commerce has checked for a year or two the general advance of Canada, here at least you have escaped the effects of such sinister incidents ; for your welfare being based upon the most solid of all foundations, the cultivation of the soil, you are in a position to pursue the even tenour of your way untroubled by those alternations of fortune which disturb the world of trade and manufacture. You have been blessed with an abundant harvest, and soon I trust will a railway come to carry to those who need it the surplus of your produce, now — as my own eyes have witnessed — imprisoned in your storehouses for want of the means of transport. May the expanding finances of the country soon place the Government in a position to gratify your just and natural expectations. (Great cheering.) E 2 ( 244 ) XXXI. SPEECH AT THE MEETING OF THE AMERICAN GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY AT CHICKERING HALL, NEW YORK. JANUARY 31. 1878. Lord Dufferin said : — Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen, In rising to respond to the kind observations which have been made in my regard by your President and the other gentlemen who have addressed you, I am disturbed by con- tending considerations. On the one hand, I feel that I have no right whatever to intervene in the present discussion ; * on the other, I am naturally desirous to express my deep sense of the honour conferred upon me by so friendly a reception. It is true I once sailed towards the north, and got as near the pole as Washington is to Ottawa ; but the voyage was as fruit- less as that of the Peri to the gate of Paradise, and possessed but one feature in common with the expeditions of more serious explorers, namely, that I had to turn back again. (Laughter.) With the exception of ascertaining the temperature of an unfrequented section of the Arctic Ocean, it was barren both of scientific results and of personal adventure. I am, therefore, really no more qualified to pronounce an opinion upon any of the interesting topics which have been discussed to-night than a lifelong inhabitant of the tropics, and consequently I shall abstain from doing so. There is, indeed, one character in which I can claim admission to your halls, namely, that of a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society of England ; for we well know that geographers are brothers all the world over. For the geographer, the political and the ethnological lines of demarcation by which nationalities are divided do not exist. All countries are to him what Italy in former days was once * On a plan for the exploration of the Arctic Ocean. TEE AMERICAN GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY. 245 pronounced to be : " geographical expressions." Tlie only- heroes or potentates on his roll of fame, the only sacred names admitted to his calendar, are those gallant mariners and noble explorers who generation after generation have faced danger, privation and death in the cause of science, and in the hope of bringing to the knowledge of mankind those secret regions of the earth which God has prepared from everlasting for the habitation or advantage of the human race. (Loud applause.) And in no part of the world ought maritime adventure to be held in higher honour than on that continent which is indebted for its original birth, as it were, and its present glorious existence to the heroic daring of the greatest navi- gator that ever trimmed a sail or took a bearing. As a fellow-geographer, therefore, I beg to express to you my warmest sympathies and most respectful admiration. And proud am I to think that the two great Anglo-Saxon powers of the world have been so intimately associated in those Arctic expeditions, which by common consent are justly regarded as the most heroic, if not the most successful, of any which have been undertaken. (Applause.) I can assure you that in Great Britain the names of Kane and Hayes and Hall are as familiar and honoured household words as are those of Franklin and Belcher and McClure in this country ; and never will either the navy, the people, or the Queen of England, forget how the United States recovered, refitted, and returned across the ocean the poor old battered Resolute to the port from which she sailed. Many and strong as are the bonds of sympathy which unite Great Britain to America, none, perhaps, have engendered more affectionate sentiments between the two countries than those derived from our united efforts to penetrate the Arctic regions, and, as I may now add, the recesses of Central Africa. But, after all, I feel I am really here in another capacity. You are aware that when the great sea captain, Christopher Columbus, to whom I have made allusion, returned to the Court of Ferdinand, he brought with him in chains several captive Indian chiefs as proofs of the reality of his achievements and as specimens of the strange nationalities he had discovered. To-night your 246 SPEECHES AND ADDBESSES. discussion has been concerned with those icy regions which lie beneath Arcturus, and reflect the rosy radiance of the Aurora ; and if Chief Justice Daly has now led me captive to your presence, it is only because he wished to parade before your eyes a potentate whose sceptre touches the pole, and who rules over a larger area of snow than any monarch. (Laughter.) In one respect alone does my condition differ from that of the prisoners of Columbus. When presented to the Court of Spain the gentle Isabella commanded their manacles to be struck from off their limbs, but the chains I wear have been forged around my heart by the courtesy, kindness and con- sideration I have received at the hands of the people of the United States, and such fetters even your imperial mandate would be powerless to loose. (Great applause.) ( 247 ) XXXIL SPEECH IN GREEK IN REPLY TO AN ADDRESS IN THE SAME LANGUAGE PRESENTED BY THE GOVERNORS, PRINCIPAL AND FELLOWS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF McGILL COLLEGE, MONTREAL. FEBRUARY 13. 1878. Lord DufFERIN said : — Ta> 'ETrio-Tar??, TOts "Apxova-t., Kal TOW ZiVviBpoi<; ravTr] BaireBw rfj^ aTod<; TrepiiraTOv ttolov- fievoi, dWcoi; re Kal Tdda0ai,, Kal crvv rolv iTTiTTjBevfidTav TrdvTav ')(aXeTrfi elcrohcp, Bvvrjaofieda inaTeveiv Kai OapaaXeco'; to koivov KaTdXei/jreiv. 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