The Sun. — London, England, 1837-01-15 00:00:00

Y MOST' EXTUAORDINA RY EXPRE‘2S. SUN OFFICE, SCNDAY .5191?..7.71:7 HALF-PAST Cyr Cr.a:r. GRAND BANQUET SIR ROBERT PEEL AT GLASGOW, FRIDAY, J. 13. Tll2 Xe:tement oceroioned by the arrival of Sir PzEL in Inc Commercial Metropolis of the North, continuei still unabate I—end the town is filling rapidly, notwithstanding_ the severity of the weather, and the very general prevalence of influenza, which, it vas at one time apprehended, would deter many from leaving their homes. The Right Hon. Baronet visited the Royal Exchange yes terday, ‘N here a large crowd asseod for the purpose of ob taining a sight of him. 1/e '.as loudly cheered by his Tory adherents. which had the effect of calling forth a few observa tions, in which he chiefly confined himself to the architectural beauty sl,lendour (:r the edilee in whic!i he was, and the venerable lii.iversity which he had just left—the one famous as a seat learning, and the other illustrative of the great commercial enterprise and skill of the City of Glasgow. The Eight Hon. Baronet left the room amid the renewed cheer.; of those assembled, who caused considerable destruction among the furniture, gas pipes, and glass globes, by unceremoniously suountinT the tables, in their anxiety to obtain a peep at the diitinguishod stranger. THE DINNER, P.GnERT . a 4 pur readers and the public generally are already aware, t oo k place in a pavilion er'cted for filo express purpose, on the east side of Buchanan-street, and the following deFerip tion, whici.. I"' 4'-oPY from the Ghayow lir Talc! of Friday, will afford our reas4er" 64,0ne idea et' the plan upon which it I:as ' been arranged :—" Lakt night we had the pleasure of seeing this magnificent Hat: lighted up, the tables being covered ,ec.o ' and partly victualled for 3, 4-35 in this country, has there Slid with safety, that never bc:, e' ns. We think it may be -sr pe I :aus that of Westminster Feel: seen such a Hall, except per. Abbey, at the Coronation. of the late .7.' ll g' , , As a tempo vary huilditig, however, got up in the course 0.. " vo or vreeks, it is tvithout a parallel in Great Britain—w!'etl . er we coi,sider it in its dimensions, its classical devices, its elcb' -*lnt and well-proportioned parts, the splendour with which it is illuminated, or its conimodiwisness for the purpose intended. The quantity of cloth stuff used by these eminent upholsterers, else Messrs. James Whyte and Son, in covering the roof, the tables, seats, &c., is about eight thousand yards of all de scriptions; and the gas lustres (two of them are exceed ingly beautiful), contain upwards of three thousand burners. The gallery, from which by far the finest view of the Hall is got, is supported by fourteen imitation of sienna-marble columns, with Corinthian capitals-the roof heft- upheld by t -n columns of a similar description, thirty-two feet in height. 'I hi decorative painting has been executed in a very superior mariner by Messrs. Michael Bogle and Co., the great west end being divided into three departments of massive Egyptian pil lars, Painted in relief. In the centre compartment, behind the Bench where Sir Robert Peel and the most distinguished part of the company are to sit, is an immense rock, on which is founded the British Constitution in a pyramidical form, a little timeworn from the blasts it has stood, and on which the words " British Constitution " are emblazoned in gold letters. On the top of this pyramid is seen the base of an obelisk, bearing the inscription of "King," also in gilded letters. In the right compartment is another pyramid, founded also on a rock, on which is the word " Lords " in emblazoned gold letters. The left compartment contains a similar pyramid, with " Com mons." The whole, from its great magnitude, has a very grand and imposing effect. Tfie front of the gallery is painted in panels of crimson and stone-colour styles, which, with the columns in imitation of marble, give the area a chaste and light appearance. The front of the bench is panelled in crim son and yellow mouldings, that stand out in bold relief against the sombre column of the rock behind." About four o'clock the company began to arrive, and not withstanding the vast crouds assembled round the pavilion, the arrangements were such as to afford immediate and easy igress to all. Sir Robert Peel entered the room about a quarter past five, and the vast multitude within the building instantly rose, and received him with loud cheers, clapping of hands, and waving of handkerchiefs, the band striking up, " See the conquering hero comes," There were a few hisses from a remote corner of the gallery, but they were drowned in the louder and more general shout of acclamation with which the Rigid Hon. Baronet was greeted on his entrance. Among the distinguished individuals who were stated to be present were the Duke of Buccleugh, Marquises Twee dale and Lothian, Earls Haddington, Rosslyn, Hardwick, Morton, Eglington, Leven, and Melville ; Lords John Scott, M. P„ Forbes, John Campbell, Elcho, Loughborough, Ram say ; Viscounts Melville, Stourmont, M.P., Kelburn ; Sirs G. Clerk, M.P., H. P. H. Campbell, M. P., A. Campbell, John 31' Kenzie, J. S. Forbes, John Campbell, Bart., W. J. Hooker, William Rae, A. Edmonston, Chas. Hastings, D. Er.kine, R. Arbuthnot; Messrs. E. Tennant, M.P., Cummin Bruce, M. P, W. Forbes, M. P. Hope Johnstone. M. P., Pringle, MP. , G ordon,M. P., W. E. Gladstone, NI. P. , Geu. Arbuthnot, M. P., The Chisholm, M.P., Professors Jeffrey, Meiklehain, Ramsay, Burns, Cheape, Fleming, Badham, Cowper, and Buchanan. The Dean Convener, the Dean of Guild, the Msster of Grey, the Master of Rolls, the Hon. Capt. Cath cart, Baillic Bain, &c., &c., &c. _ . . The Chair was taken by HENRY MONTEITH, of Carstairs, Esq., and on his right sat the distinguished guest of the evening. _ Whe'a the cloth was removed, the Chairman rose and said, he should give them, with all the feelings of loyalty, " The King." Nine times nine. Air—God save the King. The CHAlRMAN—Gentlemen, I give you the highest lady in the land—not higher in rank than she is in virtue.—(Enthu siastic cheers.) " The Queen." Air—" My ain kind derrie, 0," " The Princess Victoria, and the rest' of the Royal Family." ( Nine times nine.) Air-- . ! My love she's but a lassie yet." The CHAIRMAN would nr.w give them, " The British Con stitution, King, Lords and Commons.—( Applause.) Un der that Constitution they had enjoyed peace, happiness, and prosperity, and its emblem was behind them, uuilt upon a rJek.—( Loud cheering.) He hoped that they should leave it to future generations to enjoy it as it had been framed ; and whatever people might say, he trusted that Constitution wculd he preserved and not destroyed.—( Vehement cheering.) "The Army," under whose banners, and by whose achieve ments, the liberties of the country have been preserved and protected against her enemies. Air—" British Grenadiers." Lord FOi.:BES—Being the senior military officer present, the duty of acknowledging this toast has devolved upon me. I therefore thank you in the name of the British Army for the honour you have done us. I believe I may add, that the British army are never more happy than when they have reason to con clude that their conduct either in the field or in quarters, has been such as to render them acceptable to their King and their country.—( Loud cheers. ) The CHAIRMAN —G&ltlemen, the next toast I have to pro p se, to which I am sure you will do all honour—it is those under whose banner we have achieved great things-4 Cheers) —" The Navy of Great Britain, the wooden walls of Old England."--( Great cheering.) Lord HARDWICK rose to return thanks, amid much cheer ing. Not being the senior officer present, I rise, Sir, to re turn thanks fur this toast, the two senior officers sitting at the other end of the table, and I wish I had a spy-glass to see them—(Laughter)—complaining of being unwell, have struck work, and are now on the doctor's list.—( Cheers.) I therefore, the third in rank, am entrusted with the pleasant office of returning thanks for the profession to which I belong. The navy has never been considered a political body ; and I trust, as long as we have meetings of this description, so numerously attended, it will be needless to consider them in any other capacity than a useful body to protect the inte rests of the country against a foreign enemy.—(Great cheer ing.)—l beg most sincerely to return thanks for the honour you have done us. We are attached to the Constitution and the Crown.—(Continued cheers.) Individually and personally we arc attached to the person of our King.— (Great cheering.)—Again, gentlemen, I beg to soy, on behaif of the Navy, that we return you our most hearty thanks for the great honour you have done us—the greatest honour the British Navy could receive.--( Great cheering.) The CHAIRMAN then said—Nly lords and gentlemen, I now rise to propose to you what may with propriety be called the toast of the day.—(Cheers.) —l am sure I am unequal to the task which has been imposed on me, but which I am proud I have been required to perform.—( Hear. )__As regards in accuraey, my mind is relieved, when I consider the subject of the mast I have to propose to you, and that it does not require a long harangue to recommend it to your w arm recept i on. --(Loud cheers. )—Sir Robert Peel has been so long known to you, that the history of the last twenty years may be said to have defined his character, and disnlayed hint to you as a great statesman, a pure patriot, and an honest man, and to rcc -anmend him to you I need say no more than thi,— ( Hear and cheers.) History recommends him to you as a statesman, who has devoted his great talents to the service of his country. —(Loud cheers.) I shall say no more then, but that I am sincerely thankful that to inc has fallen the honour of proposing to you the health of Sir Robert Pecl.—(Loud and continued cheers, which lasted for several minutes.) Sir ROBERT PEEL rose, and the cheering and acclamations were again renewed, and kept up with the greatest enthusiasm for several minutes. He said—Gensleren, I thank yott. thank you from the bottom of my heart, for the kind and affec tionate reception you have given to my name. Excuse me, if for the purpose of returning thanks, I make use of the most imple and familiar phrases. They are imperfect expressions of my feelings, but they are better suited to express them. than the trite, studied, and conaptmentary forms of expression which may be suited for ordinary occasions. What a heart must I have, if I can have witnessed what has passed in Glasgow within t h e la-t live days, without deep emotion ? Unconnected with this country by birth, I.have been placed in competition with a distinguished Scotehman for a high academic distinction. I have been placed in it by a triumphant majority —by the gene rous, the unsought, the unsolicited confidence of the youth of Scotland.—(Loud cheers.) I have seen that choice con firmed by the deliberate judgment of men of maturer age, cntrnged in the pursuits of business and profess . onal (Cheers.) This very day have I received the congratulations, un my appointment, front some of the working classes of this great city—(Applause)--couched in language that would do honour to men of the highest education. I have . seen those feel ings so wide spreading and so intense, that they disdained to be compressed within the limit of any pre-existine edifice, and they called forth from the ground, as by the stroke of an en chanter's wand, this magnificent and unparalleled fabric.— ( Hear, and cheers.) I have been present here—l have heard its'foundations shaken, and its root almost, rent by your en thusiaetic applause ; and do you think I can condescend to look out for ingenious forms of expression for the purpese of giving vent to feelings which almost overpower me ?—( Lcud and continued cheering.) I said that I was unconnected with Scotland by birth—lli hepe I did not say that I was a stranger. No—l am net a stranger.—( Loud applause.) if the long exercise of power in Scotland, if the administration of justice, if intercourse with her civil and religious institutions, and above all, if love for her name, and admiration for her charac ter, and cordial interest in her welfare, entitle a man to repudiate the name of stranger—then I am pot a stranger its Glasgow.—(Cheers.) No, gentlemen. When •my education was completed, I burned with a wish to see Scot land. I came here to this city, and I confess to you, that altheuell the interval is short in the history- of nations, I could not have conceived it possible that in that interval such progress could have been made in the population, in the wealth, and in the prosperity of this magni ficent city—(Great cheering,)—pouring, as it does, into the revenue, in one branch alone, greater treasures than continen tal nations possess for the whole of their expenditure. I came here—l wished to see something of Scotland which I could not have seen from hasty glimpses from the windows of a luxurious post coach. I wanted to see your attitudes and man ners of life, apart from the magnificent and hospitable castles of your Nobility and Gentry.—( Cheer.) Yes, in Glasgow I acquired a faithful steed, and I traversed on horseback, or on foot, almost the whole of the country from this to Inverness.— (Cheers.) Gentlemen, hear with me, excuse me if I indulge in honest exultation---(Cheers)—excuse me if I say in this society of Seotchmen, that I think I have seen more of your native country than some of those whom I am now Address. ing.—(Cheers. ) I have read the map of Scotlandtin the ' scale of nature front the summits of Ben Nevis and Ben Lo mond.—(Loud cheers.) 1 visited that island from which sa vnge clans and roving barbarians derived the benefits of know ledge and ti:e blessings of religion.---( Loud cheers.) Yes, amid the ruins of lona, I abjured that frigid philosophy that would conduct us unmoved over any ground, however di g nified by wisdom, bravery, or virtue — l stood on th e sh o res of Staffs —I have seen the temple not built with human hands—l hew seen the mighty swellings of the ocean—the pulsations of the great Atlantic. I have explored its inmost recesses, and I have heard thcee swellings, nobler than any that ever pealed from human organs. I have lived on the banks of the Spey two autumns, and I want no guide in the mountains and shores ,f Badenoch—( Great cheers)—l could find my way from Corriaricis to Loch Logan.—(Clieere..) I have climbed your nentain sides with no companion but a Highland shepherd. hour have I passed listening to his simple annals, and Many an . e human life. I have learned to admire, by per artless views 0.. - -ed and independent spirit, chastened.by sonal intercourse, a pre. • a Cheer. • I have seen him with intel natural courtesy.—( Chee - • but with no intelligence ligence apparently above his condition, ' nrivations —con but that which taught him patience ceder , toyalty . to fidence in his exertions—and submission to the law • the King.—( Cheers.) And when I have seen that, my e. 7 nest prayer has been, that to his children, and his Pilildren's children might be preserved, that system of education eyhg tl founded moral obligation under the revealed wi l l of God—, (Great cheering.) My earnest wish has been that the circum stances of Scotland, with reference to religious dissent, might long enable them to enjoy that proud, and, I believe, petits- ' liar privilege, of having a system of education enforced by the law, but in connection with the Established Church. (Cheers.) Avid when I joined that man in public worship, 404 heard the sublime truths, and pure doctrines of her common faith enfoined and enforced, according to different rights, think you 'I Lao adverted to distinctions and a point of form ?—(Cheers.) Think you that I have troubled myself with questions of Church discipline, or Church Government ?—( Great cheer ing.) No, but with a wish as cordial and hearty as you can entertain.—(Continued cheering.) I have deprecated the arrival of that day, if ever it should arrive, when men in authority should not be ashamed to support the Na tional Church of Scotland.—(Great cheering.) To extend its ministration, and to advance its good, but do all they can to extend religious intolerance.—( Hear, hear.) Gentlemen, you respond to that statement.—(Loud and continued cheers.) Come then, let us devote ourselves not merely to the purposes of festivity—let:us improve the present opportunity to the public advantage.—( Cheers.) Let us see if we are agreed as to the dangers to which the Constitution is exposed ; then let u; e , if we can join heart and hand in support of the re solution you have adopted.—(Cheers.) Gentlemen, I have been informed that there are many persons here present who entertain a different opinion from -myself with respect to the Reform of the House of Commons.—( Hear.) I sincerely hope that this is the case.—( Cheers.) You may safely think that I am not here going to offend any by reviving battles that have been concluded.—( Cheers.) If we can agree as to pre sent dangers, and unite in principle, I shall not revive the dis sensions that are past, for we might as well in the face of the enemy tight over again the battles of Bannockburn or the Field of Flodden.—(Hear and cheers.) I say i want not to taunt any with reaction or conversion ; but I say this, that if you adhere to the principles which they professed in 1830, this is the place in which they should make their appearance. You consented to the Reform Bill, to which you were ex pressly invited to assent to, in the speech which was delivered by your Sovereign, on condition that you should, in doing so, acknowledge the principles upon which the Constitution was founded. Let there be no mistake on this pint.—(Loud cheers.) I see the necessity for widening the fourJation ore which the defence of the British Constitution, and the religi ous establishment must rest. —( Loud cheers.) I ask, though I have no right to ask, for any confession of error, or even for any change of opinion—all I ask of you is, do adhere to the principles upon which the Reform Bill was advocated; and it you do, then will you combine with me firmly for the defence of the Constitution of the country.—( Continued cheers.) I have now to recommend to you, said his Majesty, the im portant question of Reform to your earnest and most attentive consideration, confident that in any measures you may prepare for its adjustment, you will carefully adhere to the acknowledged principles of the Constitution by which the prerogative of the Crown—the authority of both Houses of Parliament—( Cheers) and the rights and liberties of the people are maintained. Did his Majesty rest satisfied with that? Did he say adopt Re form—apply Reform to the House of Commons—but apply it only upon the acknowledged principles of the Constitution ? He said that—but he said more. He invited you to consent to Reform for certain objects, and amongst those objects expressly was this In recommending Reform to your consideration, it was my dhitet to give additional se curity to the other institutions e'sf c.lr land."—( Cheers.) Now, Gentlemen, if these were your cineiples—if you sup ported earnestly and conscientiously Reforni to ths-Pouse of Commons, because you believed that you were res...`ting ati.4n croachment which had been made upon the very represei;!ation of your country—( Cheers)—if you thought that Reform was in conformity,with the acknowledged principles of the Consti tution—if you believe] with Lord Grey, that by making the Reform larger and more extensive you would discountenance other extravagant propositions endangering the Constitution, I not only say you may be here without hearing from me one word that could pain your feelings, but I say upon you and not upon me is it incumbent to vindicate your rights and not mine—the stigma of being inconsistent with the safety of the British Constitu tion.—( Cheers.) I have endeavoured to extract what was good—and mitigate as much evil as I could. But, I say, if you adhere to your principles, you ought not to leave to me, and those who act with me, the defence of the Reform Bill. You naturally say, that although you are determined to resist further changes which endanger the Constittition, yet you adhere to your opinions, that the progress of improvement ought not to be suspended—that abuses ought to be removed. You avow, no doubt, your hostility to corruption, and you have ever disavowed it. Corruption!—Why, what has this meeting to benefit by corruption? Not one possible thing. This . meeting has met for on e o bj ec t—t o mar k its esteem.. for me, and to extract a public good from it, by spreading the spirit which animates us.--( Cheers.) I ask what benefit could you —the greater part of you, active and industrious citizens of Glasgow—derive from corruption. Perhaps you think my situation different from yours ; and that, although it would be difficult to prove that it would benefit you, cor ruption to me, as a public man, would be of great ad vantage. I should like, however, to ask what benefit corruption would give me compared with this meeting.— ( Tremendous cheering.) I should like to know if moral in fluence, as a public man, is my object, by which I should bene fit most, by adding 50 Commissions to the Commissions already issued ; or by saying 3,500 men met me in Glasgow. We reconciled, we forget our bygone differences, but we were determined to unite in defence of our national establish ments and our national religion.—(Long continued cheering. ) I don't want that the machine of Government should stand still; and I join with you cordially in wishing to see it pro gressing in the discharge of its important action, beating with healthful and regular pulses, animating industry, encouraging production, rewarding toil, and purifying wherever there is stagnation ; but let me tell you, that in the social, as in the material machine, with which you are so well acquainted, the movements cannot be regular unless the founda tions are stable and secure.—( Tremendous cheering.) If in the case of a steam engine, a mail who knows nothing cf its construction—one man may bore . a hole in the cylinder, another may tinker the boiler—and another, who sees some horizontal movement which he does not understand—they may call this reform—they may ask for a progressive movement— but will thie give it them?—(Tremendous cheering.) Now, gentlemen, the time I am entitled to trespass upon vou is but short—( Loud cries of " No")—I must not trespass too much upon your indulgence.—( Cheers.) Let us come to the main point.—( Loud cheers.) Ido not wish to conciliate your con fidence or support by wearing false colours.--(Loud cheers.) I mean to support the national establishments which connect Protestantism with the State in these three countries.—(Tre mendous cheering, all the company rising.) Nothing could be so unseemly—after the reception I hare met with, nothing could be so unseemly—in me, than to say one word of—(We missed the word)—with regard to those who differ from me in their religious opinions.—( Cheers. ) I will say, with respect to the chief sect or this country, that the country owes to it great obligations for the efforts they have made in the common cause of promoting sound principles of religion.—( Laud cheers.) But it is perfectly consistent with that respect and these obli gations, if I declare that, in my opinion, more weak arguments than those by which what is called the Voluntary Sys tem is supported, were never presented to the consideration of men interested in the progress of a great nation. Ido feel, and I trust you feel the same, that it is right that the State should pay that homage to Christianity which is implied in a religious establishment. Is it possible that any person could be delud e d b y t h e ana l og i es a dd resse d by those who say that the supply of religion will always be equal to the demand ? Is it n o t perfectly clear that the demand for religious instruc tion may not only not be in the direct ratio of its necessity, but absolutely in an inverse ratio ?—( Loud cheers.) Will those who stand most in need k of religious instruction bo the first, and not th e l ast , to n th d e i rfministerand do tryis tot to conciliate e towards religion—who is to h az voluntary efforts ? I say that authority—who is to rebuke i that man ought not to be the censor over vice—that depend upon the precarious bounty of those whom he ie to counsel, to edinenish, and to instruct.—(Cheers.) I infer from the declaration of your opinion upon that point your mind is made up.—( Cheeis.) It is not a question of forming de novo a new establishment ; the question is, will you adhere to that which you find established by the law, which has been guaranteed to you by the most solemn national com pact ?—(Clicers.) Then, again, I avow to you that I mean to support, in its .full integrity, the authority of the House of Lords—( Tremendous cheering, ehich lasted for several mi nutes)—ae an essential, indispensable condition of the continued existence of the mixed form of Government under which we live, as tantamount to the maintenance of the British Constitution.—(Great cheering.) I mean to censider every plausible proposition that may be made, not directly assailing that iateegrity, hut tee:el tly to undermine it.—( Hear.) I mean to consider them, not upon their abstract merits, but the ultimate tendency they may have to undermine the House of Lords, and destroy the British Constitution.— (Great cheering.) Do you concur also with me in that ex. pression ?—( Great cheers.) If you do, it is a timely declara tion of it.—(Cheers.) The hour has arrived when, if those are our feelings, we must be prepared to act upon them.— ( Tremendous cheers.) Do notlet us content ourselves with the vehemence of our enthusiasm.—( Cheers.) We have poli tical privileges given to us, and do not know for what it is we hold them, unless we are determined to exercise them.— (Cheere.) And if ynur sense of the danger is that which I apprehend it is from your declaration, and if your union of sentiment with me is that which I think it is, and which I collect it to be—l say, that having these privileges and rights, if you do not exert them, you will be in the situation of the man who in the face of the common enemy, having a sword, refused to draw it.—( Great cheering.) I speak of the civil sword only —( Hear. hear.) The exercise of civil privi liges is estimable, as instructing us to maintain and to defend our own opinions.—( Cheers.) But it is time that we should resort to the peaceful exercise of these privileges.—( Hear.) I possess a privilege—that of addresaing you here.—( Cheers.) And I shall now set you an example in the exercise of it.— ( Hear.) Don't think that I came here only to gratify my per sonal vanity, although as far as that vanity is concerned its gratification has been most complete.—( Hear.) I say that I came here, believing that by my communion with you I might be able to strengthen the means of defence for the Con stitution, and I forgot the distance—l forgot the winter, for feeling it to be right, in the performance of a public duty, I did so.—(Cheers.)—l say, then, 'tis time—the . time is come for us to stand forward in the exercise of the privilege to which I have alluded ; for I have read speeehes lately which have been delivered by those whose special duty, in my opinion, it is to defend the Constitution in all its integrity ; I have read speeches, however, delivered by them, of such a nature, as makes me unwilling to trust its defence to their exertions.—( Hear and cheers. )—I have read the speeches of great legal authorities, and I find that they have not yet made up their minds to the reform of the House of Lords.—(Hear and. laughter.) I am sorry for it—(Hear) —they say they fear that it is coming, but they have not yet seen the plan of operating?. —( Hear and laughter.) They are hard at work, however, rat„ teking pigeon-holes and depositories, for plans for a reform of the I-louse of Lords.—( Hear.) The chief objection is, however, that no plan has yet been drawn out right,ese( Hear,) Oh ! what miserable trifling.—( Hear, hear.) But th©y may Spare themselves the waste of' time—let them take the first of those which have been proposed—let them substitute for the House of Lords a Council of Ancients, or c pencil of Five Hundred—or let them substitute a new body, pl i efbled by the Peers, or by the heads of families— (Laughter)—mifet tesieee give the House of Lords a suspen sive veto.—( Cheers eusl lOgiftes', ) Let them, in fact, take one or the other of these, the effect 111 he the same.— (Cheers.) Why, 4 0 yen believe that you can WPM the oak of the forest, which haa gem a thousand generations (Loud cheers.) Do you believe y4ll Go uproot the noble productions from which the hatchments and the ePhievements of a tho4saild illustrious names are suspended ?—(Qheers,) But rely OP i tear Phange won't be to the institutions of the United States, Neyer believe, elthough they may be shows erieg down prosperity and happiness An the p eo p le of that country (and 1 heists they are), never believe that shell will oc cur. Recollect the physiaa ajfferences that exist between them. This is a country of ancient feeliege and associations; and do not believe that you can transfer to it the 4spgblim institutions of Aineeieg. Do you think that we would snbmit without a struggle tss the tyeeeey which may . ensue ? We hate the tyranny of a single ele'spet-I. s we hap pherchical tyranny, but the tyranny of the majority has no greater fees9rsteecla.: tion. We shall not fellete 'the example of t he msnerity iu the United States.—(Hear, hese, Bear,) We are a cOnn try of old associations—(hear)—every castle and fiVflry 414 will remind us of the institutions under which we lived. 'rho days of auld langsyne" will dwell upon our memories—(Tre mendeus cheers)—and they wonld male us most impatient and ungovernable subjects of a:despotie eenntey.,_-.‘ TAO pheers,) If you choose to run the risk of that experiretent, have before your eyes the example of another country. If you will abolish hareattill 4.4l2oeity—if you will make a permanent dern9PFatiF assembly, then prepare yourselves, not for the institutions of the United States, but for 04 terrible and fiery ordeal through which France has passed.—ketseeee.) If you choose to abolish the House of Lords.-..de abolish it. If you think that a second Consulting Chamber ought not to eiipos.e itself to the will of the people, abolish it at once..-.-(f ear.) Do not let us beAu a pretended second Chamber; infinitely better will it be to eeie ati epee to the trial of having only one Chamber, than to drrstvssytts!lflttence and prerogatives, and leave it the empty name.—(Clecees,) Yeet are told that these neeasures are indispensable—the deetrueteen of the Pil9YeirEe tablishmant as being in its present state ineoesietent with the rights of she people, the Reform of the House of Lords, and the Vote by ftajj4,—(Hear, hear, hear, and cheers.) When you have destroyed the flow of Lords what form of Government will you substitutes You hove the eonstituent body, which is responsible at present to nobo,dy hnt nnhlie opinion; but the proposition now made would have the effect of rendering that body altogether irresponsible, because it would exete,:es its privileges by ballot. I wiil venture to say that this country evflj pot submit to such a domination. — ( Applause.) Here is a body of four or five hundred thousand men, selected for no other qualificatiets thett property exer eisieg those privileges in a secret irresponsible Mannop t and I ask, is it possible to suppose that the people of this country would ever tolereve eeleh an exercise of perteetls irresponsible power, when you have proved thet perfectly independent body, the constituent assembly, what security will you have for the proper exereiae of its powers any more than Nue*? po you hope to see its deliberations conducted by better or wiser piety than they had in France ? I have quoted from the United State, and I shall now quote from another country. These manner. - ra n ife and it is better to treat them in a serious hear, hear.) It is better to discuss than attack a p elitical antagonist behind his back, or reciprocate ...41ouri &ries of bear.) Gentlemen, showered upon me. w hich in my absence has been • te the vnlger since I set out on my travelsfrom . gtafferdehire to this place, having brought with me some ::?enoil newspapers ] j lately read an address from one of the present Ministers o f the K1144' of the French, a man who is called kern his retirement to fill a high office in the Councils of his Majesty. It wa s an address delivered when he was receiving the reward of lite rat ure, being appointed a member of the French Academy. I rtift4ll M. Guizot, member of Public Instruction in France, and th i s i s the account lie gives of the results of the meeting of the Con stituent Assembly of France—a purely democratic body eons posed of most enlightened men, and men desirous of every reform. The Right Hon. Baronet hese read the address of M. Guizot of the 27th December last, and proceeded t --Are you quite sure that if you constitute an unchecked domoeratle assembly, above all responsibility, that they will exercise it with prudence and moderation ? Men who have actually received advice to call for one candidate outside the hustings, but to ' neve their vote in the balloting box for another ?—( Cheers.) Are you sure that you have any guarantee that those results that followed in France will not follow here? The inference is that they will. This new government will meet with a re_ sistanee; we will not be content to submit, and then will come the dreadful reaction. Don't believe that such mis creants as Robespierre, Mcrat and Denton were mere lusus nature' engendered in France alone. No—they were the creatures of circumstances arising from the subversion of all the institutions which have been long established, and the prescriptive authorities which had been so long obeyed. De pend upon it, that with the same causes the same results will inevitably follow. You will have power to correspond from time proper authorities—you will have in every village a miscreant establishing the most cruel and grinding tyranny, by calling himself the people.—(Great cheering.) Now, gentlemen, I have given you a testimony to the French, and to the American Constitutions, and I must need bring no tes timony to the beauty and results of the British Constitution' —(Cheers.) Your own experience —your own affections supply them ; but that a link shall not be wanting, I shall supply you with a testimony to the British Constitution—from whence shall I draw it?—lf from any ancient institutions, you might justly say the time has gone by when opinions like those availed. If I draw it from any living authority, and main taining Conservative opinions, not you, but others, might scout it.—( Hear.) Bat I shall give you the opinions of one of our present Ministers, who is high in the councils of his Sovereign, and you can contrast with M. Guizot's picture of France the picture of England, drawn by a Reformer, and a Minister of the King of England. You will at once admit that this is a disinterested authority, indisputable and uppreju diced. These sentiments were uttered, not in the heat of de bate, but a deliberate publication, by no less an authority than Lord John Russell.—(Tbe Right Hon. Baronet then read an extract from a publication of Lord John Russell, in which the blessings and beauties of the British Consitution were expatiated on in a highly eulogistic manner. The reci tal was received with loud and lung continued cheering.) s I will tell you those gentlemen have no o b j ecti ons to the pri vileges of the monarchy, as long a they can be made u se f u l instruments in the hands of the democracy,—( Cheers. ) Th e House of Peers, it is said. are not responsible. I have heard this before. I replied That certainly the Peers were not res ponsible in the sense in which the house of Commons is res ponsible, but that I did think that in their responsibility to God, to their own consciences, and to enlightened public opi nion, that the people had a guarantee for the faithful perform ance of their duty.—( Loud cheers.) But what I said in my place met with a different reception from that which it has met from you.—( Cheers.) Now, Gentlemen, if that be the fatal objectien to the ho use o f L or ds, that they are not res. ponsible to the whole mass o f t h e p eo ple, let me ask if there is no other body invested with privileges who are in the same sense irresponsible also? The house of Commons is respon sible clearly to their constituents—the Ministry is responsible in a different sense from the House of Peers—but let me ask to whom is the constituent body responsible ?—( Loud cheers.) You have selected a certain body as qualified for the exercise of great power. I will not say a word on the subject of this power. There has been a settlement, the effect of which has been to invest some 300,000 or 400,000 men out of the whole classes of society, with great political privileges s and I ask of whom are these responsible? They are not selected—it was impossible to select them—they exercise the elective franchise partly as an hereditary right, and partly because of the pos session of property.—( Hear, hear.) Wliat other security have you for the faithful discharge of the trust reposed in the constituency, but that very security which I urged in the case of the House of Lords, that they are re sponsible to God, to their consciences, and to an enlightened public opinion, —(Cheers. ) But then it is said that the House of Lords, and this is the main point. Let us meet it fairly, and consider it- fairly. It is said that the House of Lords Las shown a spirit at valiance with the spirit of the people, and that it has obstructed the march of social im provement. I challenge the opponents of the House of Lords to the proof.—( Loud cheers.) I ask you calmly to review the changes that have been made in our social system within a period of seven or ten years preceding. I ask you to show me, in the history of this, or any other country, an equal num ber of changes in our social system—and more extensive changes, aye, in double the time. Why, so rapid is the advance of—l will call them improvements—l do not want to take the advantage of a word for the purpose of gaining an advantage in argument—l say, so rapid has been the ad vance of improvement, or change, that we are hardly conscious of the changes that have actually taken place.--( Cheers.) We go with the speed of a rail-road, and cannot mark the distance from the objects we have passed.—(Cheers.) Within this period has not the whole of our commercial policy been changed ? I am not saying whether these changes are good or not—l only refer to the many extensive changes that have been made, without referen ce t o th e resu lt, or probable result, of them.--( Cheers.) My argument is, that the House of Lords have not manifested that disposition to obstruct local impro:ement charged against them. I say, that within this period the whole of the commercial policy of the country has been changed. Our intercourse with our colonies in the West Indies, and with the East, has been put on a wholly different footing—the monopoly has been destroyed, and the privilege of a free and unrestricted intercourse granted.-- (Cheers.) The whole of the criminal laws has been revised, and the severity of the criminal code has been diminished. Can any one deny time facts ?—(Cheers. )—the civil disa bilities have been removed from the Roman Catholics—the Test and Corporation Acts have been repealed—a Reform of the House of Commons has taken place—Slavery has been abolished—(Cheers)—the Municipal Institutions of Great Britain have been reformed, of Scotland as well as England Can these facts be denied? But has this march of improvement met with a rapid stop ? No, in the last Session of Parliament the law on the subject of the grievances of the Dissenters with respect to the Marriage Ceremony and the Registration of Births has been entirely altered, and complete relief has been given. The tithes of England have been commuted, and put on a different footing ; and that measure, which was supposed to be pregnant with inestimable advantages, the taking off the restric tions upon knowledge—has been removed—at least the propo sition made by his Majesty's Ministers was wholly agreed to. Now, if within the period of seven or eight years, changes have been made by constitutional means, with the consent of the House of Lords, to the extent I have mentioned, will you tell me how it can be said that the progress of improvement has been suppressed ?—(Cheers. ) The House of Lords have in some of these cases advanced before public opinion— in others, they felt a strong, and at first indispensable objec tion; in others, they have amended the measures and modified them.—(Cheers.) If they have done these—if they have receded from their own opinions, and weighed the advantage of the appeal from public opinion—can you give me a stronger proof of the propriety with which they have exercised the power placed in them. Gentlemen, I know the House of Lords have done something to provoke hostility. I know they did refuse to place implicit confidence in the combination of public men who have only one bond of connection, which was, the spoliation of the Irish Churches.—(Great cheering.) They. did refuse to place implicit confidence in the party and if yen remember the character which was given of these parties by pooh other, I think you will hardly blame the House of Lords for what they did.—(Cheers.) One party said the other were base and bloody Whigs, and the other party returned the compliment by saying they were fomenters of sedition for interested purposes.—(Cheers.) If each party thus deno minate each other, can you be surprised that the House of Lords acted as it did ?—( Hear.) But when yea add to this, the manner in which His Me e ieety aeldeees.ed that ae- Sen,L4Y; under the 44?1C0 3 41 . 0 h 9 Whigs, is it esteeiehing with this ringing in their ears that they $ 1 1441.1 have adopted the course they did ?—(Cheers.—,Well, the 'House of Lords did rpfese tg eenet;en the measure for the appropriation of the reverteee of the Irish Church, not on account of the earn ie coesideretioe, bet gn the greeed that the overt wee not one gf detail, but nrineiple i they tee it afraid if they sanctioned the prinPiPle, that a neinciple 'woeld be introduced that would be I'4o to the existence of the establishment.—(Cheers.,) Can 'yet} doubt, if you reed the public eee t eeee l iers, the ' l ords had ceqsqtpd ineee l dection of What principle with the avowal . new made pf the intention t o recinive the destruction of all estebliehmente a§ W i t i l4i—iseit you believe she House of Lotele teRl4l4 have done its duty if they had ii d 9po 4 i t ? }thy when the measure was brought forward its chief stipportee declared that it was a he4vy hleiv—(Phieers.) —and a subject of great dieeetetegemeet,e( Cheers)-- e and if the House of Lords found their arms would be paralysed if they lent themselves to strike the blow, do you think they were to farm itt doing What they did ?—(great cheering.) -Gen tlemen, if there are silty of yon here who bey° doulate as to the advantage of the forM of cievernment under which you live, as compared with the form of Government of other countries, 1 would earnestly advise you before you permit that doubt to be confirmed or acted upon, to read the testimony yc,o have 0 the PW l 4lO9l} of 9t1491' FO4CltriPti•( Hear, hear. : and clwet's,) wegicl at:.g.4dviie you maturely to Consider, whether you can • have thet iPret of government which you see estahlished in other countries.-.( Cheers.) 1 will take the case of the most successful establishment of a Democratic government, the United States of America. No man wishes meets pordially than ! 4q properity to that great 4t4p. No men wishes ft more wealth or *illness, and so far from viewin g its progresswith enmity, I re j o i ce at its success.--(Lard cheering.) But I ask you, in the first - 141413 P, dg you believe that the con dition of th e U n i te d 4tates America is better than our criNn? —( Hear.) I ask you to consult any privete individual who has travelled in America_.] do not ask you to refer to English man who have travelled there, for they may probably be pre.. judiced--but take the opinion of any well-educated, native of the United Btatetr, who it a man retino.d feeling and of information, and ask him what he thinks of the condi tion of society in the old country ; and if his advice be taken— I would not ask him to advocate the abandonment of republi canism 4, our !pop qt . tcovernmeot —ha will, f 4irl sere, tell you the truth, and will strongly dissnecle you from the experi ment of improving the Constitution, if it is meant, in so doing, to intreduee jute it a more democratic principle.-,-( Hear, and elteers.) (lontlempq, let me advise, before you attempt such an e;periment, your . lerusal,if you have not already read it— of a work written iv a very able and intelligent native of France, who has made the eesplitiee pf the United states the peculiar object of his study.—( Hear.) Bead what he says—. ho iq the strenuous advocate of popular principles, in their eeterode4 seese. 1< 41144 a to Mr Tocqueville. His feelings are with the present dynasty of France, and he thinks the democratic principle in some clegree neeeesary ; but he takes an impartial view of its effects, and thus, in Atneriea, he gives this account of the results of republican institutions, —( Hear.) He says— " That ho has known no country in which there is so little in dependence of feeling or of mind, or so little freedom of dis- • ewsion, as in America, In America the majority raises bar riers to liberty of opinion, and an author within these barriers may write as he pleases i but he will severely repent it if he step beyond them. In a democracy, like a republic, the autho rity of the majority is so absolute, that a man must give up his rights as a Pitl7Pa l and abjure his qualifications as a human be ing, if he strays from the track pointed out by Hear, hear.) If` ever," proceeds this French author, " the institutions of America are destroyed, it will be attributable to the tyrannical exercise of authority by the majority, which will urge the mi. parity to desperation and physical force ; and thus anarchy will be the result which democracy has brought about." He then (proceeded Sir 14. Peel) quotes the opinion of Jefferson, whom he says lie considers a decided advocate of democratic princi ples. He said—" That the executive power was not the most prominent object of his solicitude; it is the tyranny of the Le gisletere which is most to be feared."—( Cheers, and hear, hear.) I now a§k . you if you would wish to change the condition of society in this aoLlntry with that which exists in the United States—if it were in youi' power, or the means of doing so were at your command? I ask you, I say, to read this book, and to converse with intelligent Americans, before you attempt to change the condition of society in this country for that existing in America.—( Hear, and cheers.) There are other blessings of life besides cheap n ews p a p ers ._ (Cheers and laugter.) Look, then, to the habits, to the state religious feeling, in the American States —compare their customs with the refinement and the civilization in this country, and do not permit yourselves to be duped by artful sophistry to run the hazard of such a change,—( Hear, and cheers, ) Do you think you can uproot it—dig a trench around it— sever its thousand minute fibres and ramifications ? The growth of centuries, incorporated with the mass around it, and with the aid of piles and buttresses and machinery, and the suggestions of legal officers, do you think that you can transplant it, and bid it defy the force of the storm ? No ; the first blast of popular passion that sweeps along the level of democracy, will bring it to the ground ; and miserable will be the consolation we shall have—that the advisers of that change, and the architects of that ruin, will probably be the first to be overwhelmed. I do not ask you to come to this conclusion, by a mere appeal to hereditary prejudices, and affections with regard to utility. It might have been enough, in other times, to allege that this was the Constitution under 1 which we lived—that this was the Constitution we in. heritcd from our forefathers, and which we wished to have landed down to our posterity.—(Great cheering.) Or we might give as our reasons fur entertaining that wish, that upon the who c the condition of society in which we live, will bear a contrast with any other society, by whatever form of Government it may be guided. I do'nt ask you to rest your defence and affection for the British Constitution merely upon these points, but I ask you to examine the rhetoric and argu ments upon which the Reform of the House of Lords is urged. It is said that their privileges are hereditary. Why, for the functions they arc called upon to discharge they should Ett. because it gives them a character of stability which they would not possess if subservient to the influence of popular feelings. Cheers,) Unless, therefore, you prefer a democracy to the present mixed form of Government under which you live, the hereditary Peerage cannot be done away with,—( Loud and continued applause.) You might as well say that the majestic breakwater, whose foundations are as stable as the lofty mountain, could possess its present utility while it floated upon the surface of that element of controul, as that the House of Lords, as at present constituted, should be abolished.— ( Loud cheers.) And when I hear as an argument against a hereditary peerage such reasons as that men are not hereditary tailors, or hereditary carpenters, and there fore there should b 9 no hereditary Peers—when : for such ar guments as this, we are called upon to abolish the HORSO of Lords, how long, I would ask, will the argument of a heredi tary monarchy prevail ?--(Tremendous cheering.) But since this was written, all these reforms have taken place. If, from the changes that have taken place, there has not been a corre sponding improvement, ought it not to be a reason for us to pause before we carry on innovations on the organic principle ? (Loud cheers.) What answer is there to this argument ? None. The improvements in p u bli c mora l s depend! on the civil and religious institutions which distil them, and this testi mony-this true and disinterested testimony, let us take Lord Jehu Russell's advice, and determine to cline closer to our native land.-( Cheers.) Now, Gentlemen, I have made a long encroachment.-( Cries of no, no.) I have never desponded when lighting your battles. -( Tremendous cheering, the whole company rising.) I never have desponded-I knew that the time would come, after the first intoxication which naturally accompanies mighty changes. I knew that the time would come when the old, the ancient part of England and Scotland would rally round their institutions.-(Tremendous cheering. ) If I did net despond then, have I not a right to feel confi dence in returning shortly to take part in defendi'ig those in stitutions.-(Great cheering. ) The vibrations that accom pany changes are now beginning to settle quietly-the influence, the disturbing influence of foreign events, is gra dually lessening--the dazzling illusions of glorious days are beginning to :permit us to see.-( Loud and long-continued cheering.) The convictions-the feelings -the affections of the people are gravitating towards the old customs in which their betters were reared. The same respect for property, the same attachment for long established institutions-(Tremen dous cheering)-Yes, from these walls a spirit shall go forth-( Great cheering)-that shall survive when this edifice shall be an unsubstantial pageant ; it shall survive, uniting, as in remembrance of this night, and spreading its influence into every part of the kingdom, cheering the desponding, encoura ging the timid ; it shall " ho forth exulting in," but not abus ing its strength; it shall go forth in remembrance that in the days of prosperity we did not forget the vows we made, and the pledge which we gave in the time of our despondency ; it shall go forth uniting us all in our disposition to redress grievances., ourdisposition to improve and resolution to amend, depend gon that spirit which is the chief defence of nations-it shall go forth and prove that our ancient institutions shall survive,- (Great cheering.) By th em t h e prou d ki ng of Briteto shall stand-he shall stand doubly proud of his kindred end coeval peers, protecting the rich from spoliatior t , eed the poor from oppression. No tawdry emblem of revolution shall ever flaunt over the ruins of our ancient institetions.-( Tremendous Cheer ing.) That "flag which Ii heaved a thousand years the battle and the breeze" shall still float over them, and that faith of our old national establishment-that faith shall survive with those establishments. Those establishments which we ail love, sworn to protect,-and to which the nationet honour is wedded, as an essential part of the great national compact, shall survive, and our religion shall survive in she diffusion of sound know ledge ; and tried as we may be by the storms of adversity, we shall come out of the trial rooted deeper in the convictions, in the feelings, and in the affections, of a Protestant people.-. (The Right Hon. Baronet sat down amidst the most enthu siastic applause, which lasted some time.) As soon as the cheering had subsided, Mr. ROBERT FINDLAY next rose And said.-The t oas t g i ven me to propose is " Th e Churchc sootland"—(Cheers)—an Establishment endeared to my countrymen by the purity of its doctrine, the onaesuming character of its ceremonial, and the fidelity with which its Ministers discharge their important duties,_(Cheers.) Its history, too, from the era of the Rbformation, is deeply intOOsestMte, from the perils and vicis situdes it had to eneeenttee-ehut more particularly during the half century peseeding the Revoluti on . Th e infatuated at tempt Of Phalle*, in 1648, to force th e E p i scopa l Serv i ce Book the Scottish pulµits (an attempt intimately connected with the history of Glasgow at that time), was not only signally defeated, but con fi rmed the dislike of the people to Episcopacy, by leading them to regard it as a badge of oppression--( Hear, and cheers) -und when the country sought refuge in the Restoretion front the tur bulence of the Commonwealth, and the military despotism of the Protectorate, the peinssea of the house of Stuart, who successively filled 0,0 throne, wholly forfeited the contidence of the preiShyterians of Scotland, by their unprineipled vio lation Of the most solemn covenants-theie tyranny and op preesion-their devotion to the (thoech of Rome, and their unheard-of degradation in hessosoing the pensioners of Veseace, the better to trample sot those liberties they had sworn to preserve, teed 4o betray the cause of the refomation in Eu rope, of which this country was the btilwark.-(Hear.)--To foam a correct judgment of the otig4t of the persecutions which followed tht Restoratior e , it must be borne in mind, that Charles It, threw to the winds the solemn covenant to which ho and the whole kingdom of Scotland had swowi in i'oour Prelayterian Church, and that the ceeert party illeinteioed the doctrines of Divine right and peeeive obedience as avtioles both of their religious eelsl political creeds, be sides assimilating their profeseSosia on other objectionalelo points to the despot cud toopish predilections of the Monarch. Henc:, whese ?,trades, by a series of the most dreadful perse e.ntionse Attempted to force Episcopacy upon Scotland, our an ceetote were fully justified in the ecnclusien that the question at issue was not merely whether the pure doctrines of the Re formation should he taught them under the Episcopal or Pres byterian form of Church Government, but wheilisse, under the mask of Episcopacy, the real object csf . theie oppressors was not to restore the errors and eaereeettosta of the Church of Rome--( Cheers)-and Popeey they held in mortal detestation, as idolatr oee eopee4itiosse, as a prostration of the in telloots ties Wills end the actions of man to the dictates of c;afty . and doroinering priesthood, wh,o, ea may suit their views of temporal agsgrAnclisteueseit, can, according to circumstances, convqk t t he:4r votaries into the abject slaves of the sceptered deepest, or the willing instruments for evil, et . fife Arebitioese, selfish, and rapacious demagogue. tit the esomerone population of Ireland, invoiced in this worse than Cimmerian darkness, be treated with the utmost kindness by a paternal and firm Government, and let every thing practicable be done to enlighten their minds and im prove their social eonclition e -but, as we value the cause of civil Uherty and religious truth, never let us consent, upon a rneee numerical calculation, to make Popery the dominant reli gion, and to extinguish the , means of extending the light of the Reformation s CA which al one we can rely far elevat i ng them in the ceale of moral and respons ibl e b eings.-( Cheers.) How different from this w as t h e treatment of Scotland 1 Fines and imprisonments, ceatilscations and proscriptions, torture and death, were inflicted at the arbitrary will of a merciless and tirutal soldiery for what were termed " eccle eiestieal offbnces," and the simple worship of our fathers, banished frequently even from the domestic hearth, " under the penalty of death," had to seek refuge in lonely caves and taeuntain solitudes, while, by a refinement in cruelty, ell who intercommuned with the proeoribed were subjected to similar punishment.-(Heer.) That-under such oppression, the breathings of the victims should partake at times more of the curses against the Amalekites of old, than of Christian meekness, and that in some instances the chastened judgment of the present day may not harmonize with the opinions of the persecuted, is not to bo wondered at.--( Hear.) But it be comes us to remember that a period of persecution is a period of high excitement, and we cannot but feel that their heroic endurance and undaunted resolution, like our native oak, which defies the buffetings of the storm, and clines the more closely to the rock, the more the winds of Heaven beat against it, were moans under Providence for the accomplish moot of a mighty end.-( Cheers.) The rock on which they rested for support was the Word of God, not to keep it a sealed book from the people, but to unfold its pages, that therein they might learn the rules of their faith and practice-the object for which they suffered and bled was to maintain the cause of civil liberty, and the rights of private judgment in matters of religion.--( Cheers.) " Truly they were more noble than those of Thessalonica, in that they searched the Scriptures daily, whether these things were so." After the signal defeat of Argyll and Monmouth, Charles's successor, James, thought it no longer necessary to preserve the mask of attachment to the Church of England, and, by en open attack on its privileges, proved to that powerful .body that it was only the last victim to be sacrificed. Then Eng land arose in her might; and, under the guidance of the il lustrious William, (who se .statue adorns the Cross of Glas gow, in memorial of the principles of our fathers, and of his triumphs), and inscribing upon her banners " the Protestant religion and the liberties of England," she forced James to abdicate that throne which his ancestors had occupied for countless generations -and consummated that Revolution in 1688 which forms the brightest era in the history of British liberty-and consequent upon which the es tablishment of the Church of Scotland on its present basis was finally consolidated.-( Cheers.) Since that period, although clouds and darkness have sometimes loured, we have enjoyed a larger measure of greatness and glory, of wealth and do mestic peace and happiness, and of every thing which can adorn civilized society, than ever fell to the lot of any nation ; and since that memorable epoch, likewise, the Churches of England and Scotland, agreeing in creed though differing in form, have entered noon the Christian rivalship, which, accord ing to its opportunities, should most effectually extend the bles sings of pure religion, no t only at home but wherever th e fl ag of England has waved, or , the enterprising sons of Britain have penetrated.-(Cheers.) It was the pious wish of George the d a y might come whet, every subject i n hi s dominions o t n h s a t the might be able to read his Bible ;-and I cannot omit to mention that centuries ago the Parochial School system of Scotland in connection with the Reformed Faith, and under the s uperintendence of its Ministers, was established -thus even in that early and rude age laying the foundation of a system which has rendered Scotland so distinguished,- ( Cheers.) One word as to Patronage and I have done-not with the view of expressing any opinion en that mu c h ag i tated question 7, but to state, that whether p a t ronage i s exercised by t h e G ro wn or the private patron, by the few or by the many, or through all these channels as hitherto, the benefits to the country and to the cause of religion must be in prop ort i on to the purity of its administration. And it must be a gratifying and a lofty reflection to the illustrious statesman whom we this day " delight to honour," that while lie guided the Councils of his Sovereign on this important subject, the voice of faction itself never dared to utter a breath to bedim the purity and discrimination of its exercise.- (Cheers.) Along with " The Church of Scotland," P"- resit ree to coenoet the health of a olorgyman-( Cheers) who, since he and I commenced our career of life together at our ancient University, has devoted his eminent talenta and his professional and literary labours to the promotion of the sacred cause to whipli ,p Wits set apart-aed in particular to the ditr iis i oq of the benefits of knowledge and the blessinp of re li g ion among the Highlands and Islands of Seollend-e -cneero_eround which is shed that sacred halo which en circles within the heart of every good man the image of his native land--,(Oheers)--,who, among their countless glens and mountains, is welcomed as the harbinger of glad tidings -s an d is known and beloved by all-who, in spite of the chilling in difference of men in high places, has lately presented their kindred tribes in Ireland with a metrical version, in their na tive dialect ; of those songs 0110 sung on the Hill of Zioll a tAck4 who now deservedly holds the highest office hi that Church which he is one of the brightest ornaments—need I name Dr. Norman M‘Leed ?—(The toast was received with the most tremendous cheerintr.-) The Rev. Dr. 111‘Lroo said—Arr. Chairman and Gentle. men, I have the honour of returning thanks for the toast which has now been given, and truly I consider it not only a high honour, but a very high privilege to do so ; for although I never felt my pow ers ef intellect (such as th e y are ) more dis projesrtioned to the feelings of intense enthusiasm, to which, in common with every individual here present, I have been ex ciasd by the ceeasion , sied proceedi ngs o f t hi s auspic i ous even. inn; still I have no hesitation in casting myself upon your indulgence.—(Cheers.) I d o so unreservedly, with the con fidence of one who is assured that numerous, or rather innu merable, as this company, to me at least, appears, they arcs nevertheless animated by one spirit, united by one common bond of principle—a principle of sacred and devoted at tachment to the time-hallowed anti glorious institutions tat our country—( Haar cud renewed cheering) —and assembled to express their enthusiastiac admiration of the public and private character of that most gifted defender of their prin ciples, the enlightened Statesman now at your right hand, and whom we are all equally proud, and equally rejoiced to see this night in the city of our habitation. ..___ (Tremendous cheering.)—Mr. Chiarman, in my own name, in the name of my brethren here p'resent, and in name of the Church of; Scotland, I beg leave to acknowledge the honour done us,tr i assigning to this toast so early and so prominent a plieee in the arrangements for the evening. Wc are thankful 'for the hi l c io h w th b e ee t b o v f , , n ar r ,d ece fo il r ed th . e tiiisustioasutsie, very honourabl e and gratifying terms in svP.eli the C";nesee of It It n oas s t po h k a e s n ISZntniaerndinhaws• Sir, a rich s:.tisfaction kin'', v, that we enjoy the appro bation and support 0,1 suer a meeting as is now congregated in this noble Ksitior,.. While such a burst of feeling, and, that from susql a • meeting as this, accompanies the announce inent this ';hunch of Scotland, I feel persuaded that , ‘s. protection of her great Head, she has nothing to f e ar .. —(Great applause.) lam well aware, that by our ap pearance here this evening, my Brethren and I will draw down upon ourselves the indignant censure of a certain portion of the community, or at least that of their organs of the public press—those most watchful superintendents and most liberal reporters of clerical conduct. It ie a very favourite maxim of their liberalism (and I marvel not, for it admirably suits their purposes), that religion has nothing to do with politics, a.nd that clergymen are not entitled to hold political opinions, s.,r, at all events, if any of them should be so unfortunate as tcs h ave imbibed political opinions, from the limited and exchasive na ture of their education, left so far behind in the morel of Intel lect ; or from a perusal of those trashy but most 'mischievous publications of the Conservative Press—such 3s " Blackwood's Magazine," or the "Quarterlyßeview," or that demented paper called the "Times," or the Glasgow Herald," the " Courier" or " Constitutional" —(Laughter) —still that it is their duty scrupulously to avoid an expression of their opinions, and that. under no circumstances whatever is it allowable for them to use the power of persuasion which Providence has given to them, or that society may accord to them, for the maintenance of those principles which they in their conscience consider essential to the very existence of social order.—(Cheers.) Such, Sir, is the morbid anxiety of those liberal censors far the unobtrusive harmlessness of Clerical character, that suspect they could wish that " Far in a wild, unknown to public view, From youth to age we reverend hermits grew," (Laughter and applause.) Such is their exquisite tenderness for the spirituality of our office, and their dread of the sects larising influence of endowments and public countenance, that I doubt, if ever their spirit of liberalism became dominant in the land, we shell soon realise in our own experience all the romantic and innocent simplicity of the Hermit's life : The moss our best our cave the humble cell, Our food the fruit, our drink the crystal well." But, Mr. Chairman, I shall never subscribe to the maxim that religio s e has nothing to do with politics, What, Sir, I seeseribe to a maxim which, in my opinion, goes to overlain the o n ly secure basis on which the edifice of social order rests f Political relations are those in which the most fearful and sweeping desolations may be com mitted s and, therefore, they are those of all othors in isibisch every reflecting man will most imperiously feel his responsibility to the highest of all tribunals. I believe that an irrelgious and depraved population, however otherwise en lightened, is the teeming source of all moral and political disorder; and if not controlled by the only power that can do so, must at all tim es l ea d t o sweep i ng anarchy and national overthrow.—( Cheers.) Our ancestors seemed to have under stood this, for I find that religion has been interwoven with the British Constitution from its earliest days. I find that our Government, our laws, our schools our universities —all. our institutions have been based, every one of them, on religious Protestant principle; and hi this fact, Sir, we find the secret of all her strength and all her greatness—(Great applause)— hence that moral power by which Britain, though but a speck on the face of the waters, has swayed the des tinies of the civilized world. She was a Christian nation—. (Loud cheers)__she was a Protestant nation religion was upheld, fostered, and established. —(Long and con tinued cheering.) Hence she has enjoyed more rational liberty, civil and religious, than any country which has ever existed—she has risen to wealth and power unparalleled—she has won to herself a name of mightiest renown, her fleets are on every sea, her fame on every shore; and in despite of the grumbling discontent of some of her spoiled children at home, and the jealousy of her rivals abroad, she still sits, as for centuries she has done, the very Queen among the nations. (Loud and continued cheers.) There is another maxim of liberalism, arising out of the former' to which also Idecline to subscribe, viz., that clergyman have no right to hold, far less to express, political opinions. This maxim has been brought forward very frequently of late in all its forms, and for obvious purposes ; changes have been rung upon it, but they have not weighed one feather on my judgment. Are, we really, Sir, to sit down, to fold our hands and seal our lips, and assume the attitude and appearance of perfect indifference when we see the dear est and most revered institutions of our country assailed ? (Cheers.) No, Sir, we are the citizens of a tree country ; I we possess social and political influence in common with others; this is a talent committed to us, and like every other, it involves responsibility. That responsibility I feel, and be.. cause I feel it, lam here.—( Applause.) The day in which we live, calls not only for uncompromising principle, but also for a manly avowal of it.—(Cheers.) This splendid festival at which we this evening appear, is a festival dedicated to principle.—(Renewed applause.) I view it in a higher and holier light than a mere display of political partizanship. The cause which has callel for this manifestatioi ! is not exclusively that of the rolitician, nor of the man of property. It is the common interest of every man in Britaip, be his station in life or his profession what it may ; and of none is it, in my opinion, more decidedly the cause than that of the Minis ters of the Protestant Established Ckurches.—(Lonce cheering.) The path of duty appeared to me abundantly plain._] love peace as much as any man can ; but I love truth more —anti at a moment when the destinies of our country seem to be vibrating in the balance, and when on the vigor ous, decided exercise of sound Constitutional principle, hu manly speaki ng , it rests w h a t sca l e s h a l l preponderate, that which is big with our weals.or that which is heavy with our woe, nothing bordering, even in appearance, upon neutrality will do —I consider not only the principle involving the exist ence of our national Establishment, but those all important interests of religion of which we are the guardians, and the very best interests of our fellow creatures throughout the Bri tish,Tdominions to be so essentially connected with those great political measures which hang at present in the ba lance of debate ; but while I make all due allowances for those who think and act otherwise, and cannot but respect the conscientious and delicate scruples of some of my brethren who are not here, yet I at least, feeling as I do, would deem it a dereliction of the duty I owe to the con victions of my own conscience, to my country and to my Chureh, were I to absent myself from this meeting, and being presen t and privileged to address you, if I did not honestly 'and fea r l ess ly. express m y sen timents as a true Churchman and a le al-hearted Conservative.—( Cheers.) When we hear it proclaimed from high places, even by those who are at the head of our nation's councils, that there is no substantial diffe rence betwixt one -creed and another—that Protestant and Popish creeds aro essentially the same ; when we hear mea- Slices proposed, and urged forward with all the power of Go vernment—measures which the head of that very Govern meet declares "must prove a very severe blow to the Pro testant faith," which he professes to regret, but which he tells us cannot be avoided ; while such language is held, and such measures arc proposed —measures which we honestly believe to be palpably calculated to papalize Ireland and crush the Protestant faith in that unhappy land_and when we hear it declared by their confidential supporters, that Ireland can never be tranquillised till the Episcopal Church is put down, is it for the ministers of Protestant Establishments to remain silent ?—( L ou d c h eers .) Would Knox, would Melville— those great and true Reformers . of Scotland --those da un tl ess friends of civil and religious liberty—would they have done so would aloof No, Sir, these • they have kept a were men of lofty bearing and fearless courage ; in defence of the truth they withstood persecution, and in the presence of princes and no bles, and all the people, they spoke out ou matters of civil Politics ; and, thank heaven, they did so—for, by the boldness of th e e. e l oquence ., a hnosed fearless maintenance of Prot es t ant prin , ciple, they reared t towers of strength and beauty under the shade of which our country has for centuries rested in security and peace.—( Loud cheers.) The Church of Scot land, Mr. Chairman, has never been accused of meddling much with politics. Reposing on the soundness of her stan dards—the excellency of her discipline —the character of her resident a nd working Clergy —on the Bible—the entire Bible education of the people----ssad, consequently, on their affection and gratitude—she stood aloof from the strife of party-polities, indifferent, as she well might, whether a Whig or a Tory voL nistry ruled the nation. Under all administrations she, was equally secure. No wild crosside had commences( against over all ven ourerated nsstatetitutions; but a great change, has pass e d seci i al " but mutants-, et nos in mute- mur -• " Politi cs are now forcesa upon us. illielnter ference its civil ['elides is now b. 's - sKristian duty.—( Loud cheers.) It is not the suersess of a party which is at stake. The question now is not one of individual men or measures-- it is a question of d eeper , and wider character, viz., Shall the institutions of oV.ir country be conserved or not ? Shall the British Constitution be maintained in its integrity? This Pavilion eetitains within its capacious and noble circle men of verities shades of political opinion ; but they arc all associated by this common feeling, that the British Constitution, as a Whole—our unriv a ll e d C ons titution of Ch urc h and State—our Constitution of King, Lards, arnd Commons—is still the noblest and best which human wisdom has ever devised-- that it should be conserved, and that it shall be con served in all its integrity.—( Great cheering.) On the cards of admission to this splendid Pavilion, the watch word of the company was engravers, and not there only, for it is engraven on all our hearts. (Cheers.) We have bye Que a . and that one is the British Constitution. —(lmmense