Star. — London, England, 1820-03-02 00:00:00

ST. DAVIJYS DAY. Yesterday being the 105th Anniversary oldie Most Bailout ahle and Loyal Society of Ancient Britons, the Children of the Welch Charity, estiNished under the patronage of his MA.msry, walked in proce,sion froiu the School-house, Gray's Inn-lane-road, to the P..trish Church of St. Ma:tin in the Fields. The neat. cleanly appearance of 'the boys and girls, and their healthful faces, produced in the spectators sentimer.ts truly lionmrable to the Noble _Patrons and distin -gaished Supporters of the Institution. The girls, instead M . their ribands, wore crape, neatly placed over the bonnet, and tied under the chin. Feveral of the young,t went in coaches, to avoid the pressure in the streets. AU the children wore h!eks, handsomely trimmed with silver, and the motto " L:h Dien." A nunwrous and respectable congregation occu pied the body and galleries of the Church. The Ser vice was read in the Ancient British language, by the 11ev. "F. AL BAN, Vicar of Limn:frith) ' Denbighshire, Chaplain to. the Society. &fore the Service, the Children sung the foltk.wing Hymn: flow many kindred st.vls are fled 'cc the vast rsgtons of the dead; !sleet from this day the fk•eting sun 'fbro his last yearly course has run! We yet survive'.—but who cast :ay, (`r" thro' this yar, or month, or day, '• f wilt retain this vital breath:" Thus far, at least, in league with Death ! 11:.t breath is thine, eternal COD, thine to fix my soul's abode It holds its life frcm thee alene, f).i r.irth, or in the world. unknown ! "1"0 time our spirits we resign : ?fake them and own them still as thine; S shall they smile, secure from fear, Thu' drath sbould blight the rising year!! The effect was beyond description: the tears of Sensibility could not be suppressed. " Gloria Putrid" Iva, chanted between the reading Psalms, and other Hymns sung after the second Lesson, and before the S.2rmon. A most eloquent and appropriate Set mon was delivered by the Right lion. and Right Rev. Father in GOD, WILLIAM, Bishop of LONDON. At the conclusion of the Service, tl:e children proceeded to Carlton Palace, and made a demonstration indi cative of their loyalty and love for the Sovereign, who last year ssas their grand Patron, as Mince of Wales. having visited the residence of Sir C. Nlon- RAN, in Pall-mall, and others, according to custom, they proceeded to the Freemaons'Tavern,where they took refreshments, and returned to the School. The Noblemen and Gentlemen celebrated the Fes tiral at the same Tavern, in the most joyous style.— About seven hundred persons we: e present. Lord CRARLES STEWART, in the absonce of the Marquis of BUTT, was in the Chair. After the cloth was re moved, and the usual toasts were given, the company were entertained with some excellent catches and glees, 6tc. The .children were then introduced by the Stewards, and paraded round the room ; after sthich, the collections for the day were announced. At Church, 1230 13s.—at Dinner, £309 IN.—and the Annual Contributions and other Donations bent, making together £l3ll 13s. his Majesty's subscrip tion being 4.400. Lord JAMES STEWART, the Chairman, then read the following letter, which he stated his Majesty had been,pleased to order to be transmitted to the Society : " Sir Benjamin Bloomfield has it in command to signify to the Honourable and Loyal Satiety of Ancient Britons, that the king, maintaining the same protecting disposition towards that National Institution which his AlajesLy tutertained as Prince of Wales, is graciously pleased to authorize, that the Society 4p continue to preserve and bear the same insignia upon their banners and other emblems, as have heretofore been borne; and his 3lajesty is pleased to express his cordial wishes for the permanent prosperity of so beneficebt an Institution; and has honoured Sir 11. Bloomfield with his commands to transmit 4400 in aid of the funds of the Establishment. '• To Edmunds, Esq. Treasurerto the Hon. and Loyal Society of Ancient Britons." Thunders of applause followed the reading of the letter. The Chairman then read the answer of the venerable Treasurer, who has for fifty-two years sup perted the Institution with purse and person. The company afterwards enjo) ed themselves till a late hour, with that zest which harmony inspires, and depar.ed with a spirit of complacency and self— batisfaction, which pure benevolence never fails to iuq:ire in the minds of its votaries. LORD ERSKL\E. SPLECII OF LORD ERSKINE AT TILE DINNER GIVEN TO HIS LORDSHIP 'AT EDINBUIIGH, ON THE 21ST ULT. GENTLE:dEN—I cannot sufficiently express my sense of the kind and partial Address of my lion. Friend, your Chairman, and at the flattering man ner in which you have been pleased to receive it, with the whole scene around me, makes it difficult to collect my thoughts. I an► sure I shall find full credit with all who are here so kindly pre sent, fur the sensations which this Meeting have created, and which really quite oppress me. lam entitled to credit for them, because, upon such an oi:casiun, they must be common alike to all men. They have been to admirably described by a great living net of Scotland, that 1 shall borrow from him to expre,s what now passes within me: Lti cadies tbcre a man with soul so dead, Who never tu himz,cll has said, is my own, my native land? Whose LArt has nu er within him burn'el, When home his footsteps he has tuned, from wandering on a tureizu strand? If breathes there such," &c. • . Gentlemen—Nothing can be happier than this abrupt unexpected question, asked only to introduce the poetical fiction which follows it, in an imaginary etpartme from this universal human characteristic. The accomplished author %yell knew that there was no such Scotchman ; no, 1 verily believe there is no such man, the GREAT AUTHOR of our nature having implanted in us all an instinctive love of our coun try. It is this which makes the heart throb and vi• Irate, when the eye meals even the inanimate scenes of cur earliest youth. A waste covered with heath or broom, varied perhaps by nolligher a vegetation than a 1::n• trees half dead \rah age, which are yet reniemhered, v. ill aect the imagination of eceuv human being, and fill him w ith a fir higher delight t: an ihe nio,t sph.ndid scenery velticlk nature ever produced. Lis on this account that, whet I shall visit St. Andrev.'s, the spot to which my excellent P arents retired for so many years, to perform the priest sacked duty to their childicn, I shall feel more .~~~..-~ ~ -i than I cawespress. The lifeless, unadorned street in which a traveller would read his book as he drove !broil:4h it, will electrify me at every step. I shall gaze on.the old plastered church-wall (if it he yet standing), where I used to toil At fives, when I was a boy. with more pleasure than St.. Peter's at Rome could bestow. Gentlemen, these sensations are uni versal, and they illustrate tlle DiVINE PROVIDENCE in the economy of the world. Some parts of it are I covered with never-fading fruits and flowers, whilst others are stationed where vegetation sickens, and human life almost goes out. Some are distinguished by the most inviting advantages, others by the most discouragingimpediments to comfort ; but the instinc tive love of country gives equal lu tre and enjoy ment to them all. Without this, inde d, these would be no such thing as a people, and we shouid be still roaming about, as in the earliest times, in quest of new habitations, without any attraction to our own: but Goo has benevolently ordered it otherwise, and, however men may be driven to seek their fortunes, or even their bread, in the most distant Countries, they still return when they can to their own, and with a propensity sometimes amounting even to disease. This useful, this virtuous attachment, for which Scot land has ever been proverbially and fondly preemi nent, is the foundation-stone of all nations, on which, by a kind of universal freemasonry, if I may so ex-, r:ess myself, it builds up individuals into a state, ce ments theratogether, and endears them to one another. • —lt is the true, or rather the only soutce of coil rage, or patriotism, and of every public virtue. Our Officers by sea and land, who have commanded, and our sailors and soldiers who have obeyed them, in the storm and fury of so many battles, could only have stood collected in their stations, or firm at their guns, and in their ranks, by the fund remembrance cf their countries, from the sense of what their coun trymen exile, ted from them, and the honours that might attend them on their return. What else couid have sustained our brave, our immortal Highlanders, in the squares they lately formed against cavalry, clothed in steel, and artillery, im• pelled on them by the swiftest hor.s s'? What but the sensations which I have in vain endeavoured to describe ? No doubt, the Duke cf Wellington thought of Ireland at Waterloo ; and Lord Nelson, when in sight of the superior fleets of reance and Spain, at Trafalgar, knowing, from long experience, the hearts 1 of his seamen, sent round to every ship, along with the signal for battle—" England expects that every man will do his duty !•' Tu bring this nearer .home to us, must not Lord Duncan have thought of Scot land, when it depended upon the wind whether it • should bring his defeat or his glory into Yarmouth or Leith Roads ? He thought, no doubt, of his son, who sits on my right, and that his fame would place him its the high ranks of his country. Gentlemen—l would not have tired you with these remarks, but that they apply, most forcibly and di rectly, to the kind, to the never-to-be-forgotten re ception with is hich you are now honouring me.— How, indeed, can I adequately express my thanks ? They who knew me in my youth are, for the most part, fallen into the grave ; and I could have had no attentions here, except in the few remaining friendly relationships of blood and kindred, and the notice taken of all strangers in this hospitable city, but for that noble principle, illustrated by yourselves to-day, which consummates the fabric of civil society ; that bond of union, from similar opinions - between men of the same country, in what is best to advance its pros perity. GOD forbid that we should, therefore, be cold to those who differ from us, or that we should suffer political opinions in any manner to disturb private life, so as to render its intercourses less pleasant or friendly ! But there is, at the same time, a sound political principle in the closer union of those who have long thought and acted with one another, but which excludes not at all the most unqualified regard for those of the most opposite sentiments. We ought to respect men of all opinions, who honestly entertain them. The more, nevertheless, that this tie of similar opinions is considered, the more satisfae tory it will appear. Many dangerous temptations surround public men to resist improvements, and to' support those, against their consciences, who are the fountains of reward : and it is, therefore, in my opi oion, one of the wisest of social combinations, above all in a free country, to adhere to and favour one another in proportion as, with just allowance for rea sonable differences of opinion, they have adopted and stood fast by the same system of political govern ment. To this sound principle, illustrated, as I have just remarked, by your friendly consideration, I owe the honour of this day. Though coming so lately oat of one of your London packets, in Leith roads, scarcely recognizing, when 1 came upon the deck, either Inchkenh or Arthur's -seat, after more than halla century's absence, and coming thence to this New City, not one stone of which stood upon another when I left Old Edinburgh, which gave me birth, I yet found myself suddenly in the midst •of this numerous assembly of honourable, learned, pub lic-spirited, honest men, receiving me in a manner which I cannot but feel to be very far beyond my merits, thus enjoying much more than any distinc_ tion which the longest residence amongst you could hive entitled me to expect. There is but one thing only, for which, GOD knows, I can take any kind of credit to myself. If 1 had been so unfortunate as to have looked only to the most probable and shortest road to eminence—if 1 had thereby attained it at'an earlier period, and had enjoyed it to this hour with corresponding wealth, instead of being, as I am, a mere private man—if this had happened to me, by a departure from all the principles which, whether . right or wrong, I was known notoriously to entertain through a long► life, I might have found here the cold.distinction of a higher elevation, but could never hare looktd you, toy countrymen, in the face as I now do ;—nor would you have given me the occasion which fills me this moment with so much satisfaction and delight. , Gentlemen—When you have done me so mach ho nour and kindness, and have taken notice of my past public life with such partial and flattering approba• (ion, I think myself bound to say to you shortly what my opinions are, as they apply to the present moment, one of the most critical that has ever ex isted in this country. It is a period of great and widely extended suffering, attended, in my opinion, with much less than a proportional degree of discon tent ; and, without now adverting to the causes, which 1 shall notice presently, I consider that the only remedy for this dissatisfaction, in• our justly fatnedsnonarchy, above nll, as the world advances 1 in light and knowled is a real substant i al Rem sentation of the People. , L believe in my conscience,.l that a Representative Government, like the Inagnet ; in nature, is the pole of the civilized world ; and , that Monarchy, above all other firms,, is best suited i for its perfection ; and I am sure •that this country will never again feel throughout, what I most ar deal,: wish to see, .a jusr and affectionate cdnfidence in Parliament, until it takes this momentous subject into its most serious consideration. It I bettered that a liberal and extensive enlargement of the elective franchise would disturb the balances of our excellent Constitution ; if I conceived, that whilst it destroyed undue influence it would abridge the just' power and authority of the Executive Government in the hands cf the Crown, or the independence and dignity of the aristocratic balance in the House of Lords, against popular encroachments, I would, for the sake of the People, whose happiness and safety are the only ob jects of all government, most ardently' oppose any change in the Representation ; but I am confident, that so far from any such results, it would invigorate and secure them. Government has too long been carried on by a preposterous and dangerous combi nation of powers, which were provided by the Con. stitution to be honest balances to .me another. No thing, surely, can be so stupidly disgusting as to be constantly told of the responsibility of Ministers as the safeguard of our Constitution. How are they re sponsible? In all my time, and I believe I am one of the oldest among you, have they ever done one re sponi,ible act? Is not the whole Executive Govern ment carried on in Parliament? -Is not every thing carried on there, and stamped with its authority, previous to any one act of State? How then can Ministers be responsible? Can Parliament impeach them for carrying their own Acts into execution ? Would any man now venture to pledge his honour, that he believed we should have lost America, if Mi• sisters had begun and carried on that war uptai their own re ponsihifity, with a real and substantial Repre sentation of the People ? Could the immortal ora tions of Burke have been heard in-vain by such an Assembly ? But many of these were spoken to al most empty benches : and I am old enough to re member, though not as a Member of Parliament, bein almost trodden down by those who had not hear them, and who were rushing down from above, gorged with beef-steaks, to vote away the dependen cies and the money of there country. The same may be said of the war with Fiance. Could an inde pendent Parliament have been made to begin and persevere in such a contest, against a People almost , expiring in the pangs of Revolution, and who, if left .to themselves, could never have overrun- Europe as they did ? I rejoice to think that the French are now within their own bounds, and settling inta a balanced Government. The present King of France has con ducted himself with great wisdom, and I trust that he will encourage, with' all his power, the elective franchise in its real and effective character, because the People will then 'support their Representatives, and they will support his Throne I but if it is cur tailed and tampered with, to make the Deputies a more manageable body, it does not require the se cond sight -of a Scotchman to foresee what will be come of France. The Princes of Germany are in the same situation. Their Thrones may be established for ever, if they do not overturn them by breakin faith with their People. As to that * • • Ferdinand, who seems only to exist to render Mo. narchy, the best of all Gorernments, at once contemp tible and odious, what would the • a • be at? So little has he to fear from public liberty, that it cannot be sufficiently roused by his unparalleled baseness. If he had stuck by the Cortes, he would have saved his empire in South America; and if he established it even now, the danger in Spain would be, that the People would still be not sufficiently free, having been brutified so long by the despotism to which they have submitted. Gentlemen—The most important topic is yet be hind, on which I ought not to be silent. We live in difficult times. What then is our duty u...ler' them, and how are the people (by which I mean the • multitude in its most universal description) to have the best and the neatest prospect of bringing back the country to that state of plenty if possible, and to that contented confidence, which is inseparable from a well-administered Government? Nothing can ac complish this, nor, in my opini.:,n, approach to it, without a firm and energetic, but at the same time a well-considered and sober-minded union of all classes and degrees, in all parts of the United King dom, rising imperceptibly and calmly as the tide of the ocean ; and believe me, as irresistibly, if govern ing themselves by the long and tried principles of the as the laws of Nature govern the other, they shall not pass beyond the bounds by' • which British liberty was happily established, and which, if not departed from, will ever secure us from sanguinary revolution. This does by no means exclude the Reform of Parliament, in whatever ex tent it may be deemed most beneficial, nor any other fit reformation ; because, as Lord Chatham well •ob served, regarding America, we 'might as well think of rocking a grown man in the cradle of an infant, as to put aside the necessary changes which time Lyn .perioasly calls for in all human affairs. But this can never be accomplished by tumultuous combinations, however honestly intended. Gentlemen—There is no possible chance of any kind of reformation whilst these irregular courses are pursued, because of the strength they are sure to throw into the hands of a Government already too strong, from the present formation of the House of Commons, for a Constitutional administration ot our affairs. Those ill-advised proceedings alarm the timid, and furnish a happy pretext to corrupt tims, servers, to propagate alarms throughout the country —alarms which have been too long the certain re cruits, and the infallible resources, by which our public councils have been over and over again prop-' ped up, when they seemed to be completely at a stand, and, without which, they must have been contented at least to govern us by .the ancient laws, and to have long ago considered in Parliainent the subject of such Reforms as the calm, good sense of the country might have presented for consideration. It would •not be fit for me to enter into particular., here; but this I believe I mv,say, without impro priety, on thi subject of Reform, that objecting as I firmly do to Annual Parliaments and Universal Suf frage, or to any other species of election, when claimed as a right, except that unquestionable right - i , . -.- • to the AEIT Goteetstneat which iissprescriptibly exists in the breasts of every community, whateter may be the • real or supposed history of any country; it will be well for reformers and for reformation, if the pub lic settiment and the opinion of Pashament shall be ready to go as far as 1 shall be ready to follow them. The General Election is now at hand, and I wish the People may shew that they are worthy of a llefosni of Parliament, and of an extensive enlargement of I the elective franchise, by the honest use of what they have. In Scotland yen can do nothing, unless yon can work a miracle, by suddenly changing the opi nions of the few that have the appointment of the Members of Parliament. To call them Electors, in the popular sense of the word, v.ould •be absurd. In England it is different; and defective as the right of election is, it might go a great way, if people, in this great crisis of their country, would only condescend: for for once, to be honest. Gentlemen, I have trespassed on your time too long, but I cannot conclude with- - ont assuring you, that however I may be thought td have neglected my country - by so long an absence, I I have ever been sincerely attached to it. Though appreciate the Union of the United Kingdoms as a areat blessing to both, and wish prejudices of every description to be forgotten, yet I hope always to see Scotland continue to be separate and independent, with her own religious establishment, and her own laws, customs, and manners. I am happy, however, to see the Trial by Jury in civil cases established in this land, and to•find it under the auspices c.f so old and so affectionate a 'friend. It is not because the Trial by Jury is esta blished in England that. it deserved adoption and en couragement here, but because of its own intrinsic excellence and wisdom : and I rejoice to witness the ability, the skill, and the prudence, with which the I Lord Chief Commissioner, and the Learned Judges his associates, are bringing it to bear in the happiest and most useful manner, witlieut at all disturbing, whitst it so essentially and so manifestly improves, the ancient administration of justice. To reduce to writing, at an enoiroous expense, the most ordinary and fugitive transactions of common life, only to fall asleep over them when on paper or parchment, in stead of bringing witnesses face to face for their im mediate determination, was an obvious imperfection, but which, like all others of a long standing, could only be corrected by cautious but liberal experi ments, sure in the end to be successful, when the benefits were practically felt. Gentlemen—l must now take my leave of you, as no words can express tie giatisude I 11.. el to all of you. There.are two •generations of my family present ; and I mist that, when I can no loi:ger re member this day, a period which cannot be distant, they, and all who shall ever be descended from me, will bold it in perpetual remembrance. [This speech was often interrupted by long conti nued cheering, and his Lord-hip sat down amidst bursts ofapplau,e.] Blrtyns. Monday, at Reading, the Ley of Lieutenant-C k.lonel myss, of a son and heir. At Rossvilie Lodge, county of Rescormnon, the Ludy of Captain Lyncl:, of the Enniskitlens, of a Lately, the Ludy of Sir .1. J. Burgoyne, Strabur.e, of a son. In Rutland-square, Dublin, the Countess of Yol:hlow, of 4 daughter Feb. 2G, at Knowlton Court, the Lady of Captain d'Acth, R.N. of a daughter. Feb. 27, at Canterbury, the wife of Capt. N. James C. Dunn, R.N. of a son. Lately, in Mountjoy-place, Dublin, the Lady of Colonel Owen, of a son. M ARRIED. Thursdty, Captain and Adjutant Hansbrow, of the Sel Royal Lancashire Militia, to Jane, second daughter of Mr. Robert Wilkinson, of the Fleece Ina„ Preston. At Wate.tford, George Ingham, Rsq. Captain TL N. to Sara youngest daughter of Shedwell, Esq. of Loughrea. Lately, SatEuel Thorpe, Esq. Captain in the . - .l9th Regiment, to Lucia, eldest daughter of the Rev. Henry Pasley, Rector of liallyhean. Lately, at Conmel. Assistant... Surgeon roster, of the sth Dragoon Guards, to Martha, youngest daughter of the late Surgeon Bacou. Nov. 17, at St. Helena, Richard Gethin, Esq. Capt. of the 2011 a Regiment of Foot, to Jane, thud daughter , of Lieutenant-Co lonel South, of the same Regiment. Lately, the Rev. M. J. Shaw, to Sarah Frances second daughter of the tato William Patterson, Esq. of Loadunderry. D1.F.:1). Feb. 21, at Swingfield Minn's, near Folkestone, Mr. John Cow, farmer, at the advanced age of 99 years. Lately, at Rome, sister Fortunes Gioncarelli, of the Tjrsti— line Ordat, in the 109th year of her ag.., and the 7lth of bet re.itlince in the Convent. Sept. 18, near Aidel:lad, on the route from Nagpore to Hy— drabad, Major P. G. 131.tir, of the Artillery. He was cut or by the fatal epidemic. Sunday neon ght, at St. John's, Wakefield, Catherine, relict of the late Benjamin %Val:1%711;14 M.D. formerly of Richmond Ilia, near Sheffield. Dec. 2, at Rio Janeiro, aged 19, Bird S. T. Mjnkhousr, third and last suiviving, son cf the Rev. Richard Alunkhouse. D.D. late Vicar of Wakefield. Feb. 3, at Irvine, the Rev. James llroderson, I .Veinister of Lately, at Drunthuoy, in !retard, Mr. Henry llamilton, at the aevaneed age of U)4. Until within these two last years be had the use of all his faculties. • Lately, at Louth. a'ed 97, Mr. Edward llyth, for ma -.7 years a very eminent grazier and dealer in stock, and au sive wool-merchant, of which artie.e he has been known to chase 100,000 todit ie one-year. Monday se'nnight, Mr. S. ihoadhent, of Washer-14n", ve-t Halifax : he was on his journey to Ilowcrth, ween he tir-Ty..c,l sown in kingerius-lane, near the former place, in a fit, and expired instautly. Monday last, without a struggle, in the Council Cittiuber 'et the Hall, in the 'Market, Norwich, Thomas Beek, F.a 1. ac. d 52. He was elected Sheriff of that City in IMF.? ; _Ude /tun cf the Great Ward of Mancroft in 1808; served the office of Mayor in 1809, and was lately appointed one of the Deputy— Lieutenants for the County of Norfolk. COAL MARKET, Masco I. Ships at Mark's. Ships Sold. Prize. 4, Neweastie 3i 3114 91 to 441 la 1 Sunderland 1 • s 4;(.1 to CPR It 0 Cinders 0 COs Od CCs t) SUO.IIL The Average Price of Seg: , r, from the Remrns made io Gazette, in the week ending :he .•25d of Feb. Ig2o, is 3.55. 51.!. per cwt. MAILS TIM DAYet Der. Dublin • 2 0 j Waterford 3 1 Guerriserand Jersey 1 0 ; Holland 0 0 Flanders 0 0 Jamaica 0 0 111 G H-WATERat LONDON BRIDG - F. TO-MORROW. Nit ruing - . . 40 minuze4 4fter 3, Aftrrneen - '2 --.-• - --- 4 - - . ----,- --...1-__...--7a• LONDON : Printed and punished by Levu 140:1, Pitkett - Piacv, Temple-Dar --004.4),111r.- . A "F. twli. o 1 o 1 O 1 , Lishnu France flanthurgb .Gottenburgh 0 2 111a!ta 0 0 New-York 0 0 '~T