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THE FARMER*S MAGAZINE. 



welcomed than it was sure to be now: it was the " Army 

 and Navy," to which he would add "The Volunteers'" 

 (great cheers). He could well remember the time when 

 that toast awoke no enthusiasm, becauss the achievements 

 of the army and navy were almost entire!}' matters of his- 

 tory, or of recollection on the part of those who were ad- 

 vanced in life ; but they were now able to look back on re- 

 cent triumphs, not exceeded by any that were to be found 

 on the page of history. They all had fresh in their me- 

 mories deeds of the most wonderful heroism performed by 

 their own countrymen in opposing vastly superior numbers. 

 When they thought of the struggles of that awful winter in 

 the Crimea, and when, advancing a little further down the 

 stream of time, they recalled the deadly strife that was 

 waged between the representatives of European and Asiatic 

 races on the burning plains of India, and recollected how 

 the "faithful few" manifested, under enormous disadvan- 

 tages, the superiority of the European over the Asiatic, in 

 arms as well as arts, they could hardly find language to ex- 

 press the admiration and gratitude with which their minds 

 were inspired. He need say nothing more about the army 

 of this country. They had now been recently cheered by a 

 sight which was as novel as it was heart-stirring, and which 

 afforded an illustration of the motto recently' adopted, 

 " Defence, not Defiance •," he referred, of course, to the 

 spectacle of 20,000 men, a large proportion of them well- 

 educated, and occupying good positions in life, who appeared 

 before the eyes of their Queen on the previous Saturday 

 (cheers), animated by one sentiment — the love of country ; 

 and showed, by their presence on the peaceful ground of 

 Hyde Park — no Campus Martins, no grand theatre for the 

 movement of masses of soldiers, but the scene of the peace- 

 ful rambles of their fellow-citizens — their readiness to de- 

 fend their country in case their services should be required 

 (much cheering). He would not "paint the lily" by add- 

 ing anything to what he had already said, but would at 

 once propose " The Army, the Nav}', and the V^olunteers." 



Major Parker returned thanks in appropriate terms for 

 the army ; and Lieut. Scott, First Lieutenant of the Lon- 

 don Scottish Volunteers, in acknowledging the last part of 

 the toast, observed that he had, in common with multitudes 

 of his comrades, been under drill for many months, and 

 the satisfaction which they had given to their Queen and 

 fellow-countrymen was an ample reward for all the time and 

 labour that they had bestowed. 



The Chairman, on rising to propose the toast of the even- 

 ing, was most enthusiastically cheered. He said if he had 

 entertained any doubt as to the reception of that toast, those 

 cheers would have dispelled it. He appeared before them 

 only as the deputy of a deputy, and he deeply regretted that 

 the task which had devolved upon him was not in worthier 

 hands. The post which was then filled by himself was to have 

 been occupied, as they were all aware, by one who had long 

 been known in connection with every department of practical 

 agriculture ; he meant his Grace the Duke of Richmond. 

 (Cheers.) He held in his hand a letter from his Grace, in 

 which he mentioned, as the cause of hia absence, what many 

 present must be acquainted with, insomuch as it had for some 

 time prevented him from taking any part in public assemblies, 

 and that explanation fully accounted for his absence that even- 

 ing. Lord Spencer, also, who had kindly promised to fill the 

 place which had been intended for the Duke, was, most unex- 

 pectedly prevented from doing so. Ho?/ was he (the Chair- 

 man) satisfactorily to discharge duties which were assigned to 

 persons whose names were so intimately connected with the 

 WBtory of British agriculture ? All he could do was to endea- 



vour, as the representative of those noblemen, briefly to set 

 forth the claims of the institution which they were that even- 

 ing met to encourage, and, as he trusted, to assist in starting 

 it upon a favourable and useful career. (Cheers.) It could 

 not but have been a matter of surprise to many, considering 

 what advantages were provided by benevolence for those who 

 were decayed or uusuccessful, or those who were left unpro- 

 vided for, in almost every department of trade and commerce, 

 and almost every branch of industry, that the farmer should 

 have been hitherto left out of the great circle of charity, which 

 embraced nearly all other classes of society. (Hear, hear.) 

 And yet to anyone who knew the history and peculiarities of 

 the agricultural bodj' as well as he thought he himself knew 

 them, this might not, after all, appear very astonishing. The 

 practice of agriculture from its very nature involved separation, 

 to a considerable extent, between those who were engaged in 

 it, and among the disadvantages of separation might be men- 

 tioned a want of mutual co-operation and sympathy. AH who 

 were familiar with town life knew how much depended on the 

 influence of association, how greatly an accidental meeting 

 with a friend iu the street affected one's career, and how much 

 the path of life was smoothed and the whole of existence made 

 happier and better through the intercourse of men with their 

 fellow-men residing in the same town. Now advantages of 

 that kiud were to a great extent denied to the agriculturist, 

 and there could not be a better illustration of that than the 

 fact that until recently no attempt was ever made to establish 

 for the benefit of the agricultural body an institution like that 

 which they were met to support. (Hear, hear.) It might, 

 perhaps, be well to consider what were the peculiar elements 

 in the life of the farmer that made him especially liable to 

 failure or misfortune. Of course he was, in common with 

 every other human being, subject to accidents and losses which 

 no human foresight could prevent. But, besides this general 

 liability, there was the fact that land was in this country 

 somewhat peculiarly situated, and that its singular position 

 greatly influenced the destinies of those who devoted their 

 lives to the pursuits of agriculture. In the neighbouring coun. 

 try of France, by one of the laws of the first Napoleon, that 

 land was so divided and cut up into small portions, that agri- 

 culture could hardly be said to have yet assumed in that coun- 

 try its full proportions, or to have had anything like a chancC 

 of being compared favourably with the land of Great Britain. 

 (Hear, hear.) In this country exactly the opposite principle 

 prevailed, and in avoiding one extreme the State had perhaps 

 rushed into the other. (Hear, hear.) Nearly the whole of 

 the soil belonged to a few great proprietors, and to the many 

 other disadvantages to which the tenant farmer was subjected 

 was added that of great uncertainty of tenure. (Hear, hear.) 

 The law of primogeniture tended to keep the land in few 

 hands, and with this was combined the increased difficulty and 

 expense which accompanied the transfer of land from one person 

 to another. He happened to have been present at the meeting 

 at Bradford in October last, where one of the vice-chancellors of 

 England described the enormous delay and expense to which he 

 was himself subjected in attempting to buy a cottage and a bit of 

 land. Such was the state of the law at present, that one of 

 the first jud^^es in the country could not purchase a small 

 property without the expense more than doubling the value 

 of what he wished to acquire possession of ; and if such were 

 the result in the case of such a person, notwithstanding all 

 his knowledge and astuteness, how could a simple farmer ex- 

 pect to fare any better if he attempted to become an owner 

 instead of a mere occupier? (Hear, hear). Lord Macaulay, 

 in his History of England, spoke with deep regret of the 

 gradual dii?ppe«raEce of the Bubstaatia! yeomen of fonne; 



