The Press.
London, England, 1853-11-05 00:00:00

THE PRESS.

JUSTICE TO SCOTLAND.
THE recently-formed " National Association for the
Vindication of Scottish Rights" held a monster meet
lug in the Edinburgh Music-hall on Wednesday last.
A distinguished company of noblemen and gentlemen
appeared on the platform, and the general
'limbered more than ...!,()00, being all that the room
could hold, several hundreds more being unable to
find clammy. Alitong the oeeupants of the platform
were the Earl of Eglinton ; the Earl of Buchan;
Lord bray of Kinfamis; the Lord Provost of Edin-
burgh ; Sir I (ugh I Butte Campbell, Mut ; Sir Archi-
bald Alistin, Bart.; Sir JAWS Walker Drummond,
Bart.; Admiral Sir Charles Napier; Professor Ay-
'tm ; Mr. Ilugh Scott of bale; the Lord Provost of
Perth ; Pro‘o,4 Philip of Leith ; Provost More and
Treasurer Boughend of Ibidilington; the Provosts of
Musselburgh, Linlithgow, and Elgin ; !ladies Alor-
rison and Fyfe of Edinburgh; and Bailie tiourlay,

wasgow.
Apohtgics for absence were reetived from the
Earls of Errol, Caithness, and lnuitlonald ; Lords '
lie►rirdale, Coehraue, Colville of Coleus, and Eli
bank ; Sir J . S. Forbes, sir J. MI. Cowan,
11.1), anti Mr. Baird, M.P.
The Eat 1 of EtiI,INTON openod the proeetslings in
a speech which he devoted, as he remarked, to
.4 laying before the publie the motives by which the
originators of the association had Levu actuated, and
removing the aspersions which had been east upon
it." Beginning by an emphatic denial of any wish
to weaken the bond of tun which united Scotland
with England, his lordship declared that their only
purpose was to obtain the recognition of rights and
privileges justly appertaining to the former country,
but now either left carelessly in abeyanee or unfairly
denied. lie then appealed to the principle of na
tionality, which he found thoroughly acknowledged
in the original compact concluded at tho Union.
That compact they desired to carry out fully and im

partially :
" It is by carrying out the principles by which that treaty
was concluded, by dispensing equal justice Iwtween the
two 'tans sus, that you will make find unison more firm anal
more implant% It is by flostAsing and not repressing the
spirit of nationality that you can make a minim great,
1111114:11CIN Ms, 111141 Ke11.41141111111. You 'nay make a Scolollll/111
discontented. but you will 1111141' make 11,111111 a l'.1101:4411111411.
ond roihanyed cheering.) I know the penalties
which we have to pay, and which we are ready to pay, fir
the blessings of union. 1 know that the Sovereign must,
for the most part, hold her j'esnument Court in the metro-
polis of great Britain ; uud where the Court is, thither
will follow the rielt, the titled, and the powerful. I know
that, for the sake of the tranquillity sot' the United King-
dom, we must tsar without repining the loss of our Parlia-
ment; but Ido 114/t knew why centralisat' Attalla be
carried beyond the limits which are necessary to carry out
the meaning of that meaty."
The noble earl then contrasted the amount of
public expenditure in offices anal works allotted to the
two countries respectively :
" Why are all the offices and %soon's which we require
for the management of Scotch affairs to be removed to
England and placed in English hands ? (Hear, hvir.)
We do not complain that a portion of the imperial revenue,
to which WO so largely contribute, is VIIICII4IIII in the
maintenance mid !inprovement of the royal palaces in
London, or in waking Windsor a lit residence fur the
beloved Sovereign of this mighty empire. (Appiwase.)
We do not grudge England her palaces and parka—her
national galleries, her umseumis, her arsenala, her harbours
of refuge ; but we du point with, 1 think, feelings of just
indignation to the reveise of the picture hen •; to the
neglect of our royal palaces, to the destruction of our
royal parks, to the abrence of all assistance to our national
schemer, and to the neglect of our nation's' feeling's. We
have no Windsor, no Buckingham Palace, no St. James's,
no Kensington, no Hampton Carat—we !we only poor
old Holyrood—t applause )—peor old Ilsolyrood, with her
falling galleries, her roofless chapel, aid her wasted park.
I believe that the whole expenditure on the birthplace of
Mary, and the last residence of our gallant James Iwfure
he went to the fatal field of Flodden, has nut surpassed
; and, if I am nut greatly unmake'', W. was the
amount of money laid out on it during the lust year.
(Mires.) We have no Hyde Park ; nd the Oros' l'ark,
St. James's Park, Richmond, and Winadsor ate all provided
in rich abundance fur our 111111111Orn brethren; and now
Nietenia and Battersea are added with unsparing 111111nwst
winiggard hard, while the royal garden of Holyrooll Is let
to a market-gardener. (Hisses.) ilutadred4 of thousands
have been laid out in England in national g illerien, in
museums, and in arsenals, while I CllllllOl taw my tuenwry
with anything being given to any public inatituf in
Scotland. except, I believe, 'tome HOWL to the building
on the Mental, which must have been done in some
moment when the Clauweller of the Exchequer for the
time being was asleep, and Mr. Bruthertoit's motion fur
adjournment disregarded. (Laughter. ) The winds' blow sat
hard on the Scottish shores, awl the eastern roast is as
bleak as any that the mariner has to contend with, and the
Scottish sailor's liter is as dear to his family awl to his
country as that of any other—(applintge)—but we have no
Hover. 110 11111-Wll'll, no Portsmouth, nu Jersey, no Italy-
head. There is not a harbour of refuge from Wick to
Berwick. I 11i55,..)"
He proceeded to glance at the expenditure for
educational purposes :
" Education is at present, I believe I may say, on the
increase over the world; but in Scotland, as far as any

629

assistance from the Imperial Government goes, it ha been
for many years positivs•ty discouraged. In the Unit unities
Of England there have been during the past halfcentury
litany 1.1-olvssiitsliits of immense amount (sinned ; while
in Scotland, with, I believe, the small exception of the
'Medical School, there has lowed none."
'!'hence his lordship passed on to the subject of
parliamentary representation :
Can anything be conceited more unequal their our re-
presentation as ssimistred with that of Englinl? England,
with her popidat ttttt Is,osinitio, Iles 4911 members, while
Scotland, with her population of 3.1.100,t)00, has but :s:t
members. We hate small Isotinglis in England sending
twit ineintionitO %hale nub and populous come
ties in Scotland have only one. In I aiglauJ there are
twenty small laininglis which rend forty cepresenuitiver,
while tilasgow, With a conatituency of lit,initt, only sends
two. l'iliveniities of t Wont, Cambridge, and 1 Milian
send each two repmeentatives, *lnk the I. nit emotes of
Edinburgh, Glasgow, Aberdeen, and St. Andrew's remain
tinnipresetitssl I hate heard it )441—* Yes, lout you are a
province ; you ar an integral partof the Lune,' Kingdom:
nut Wr reply—' 100 do not treat ur as it we were a pro)
%ince. Trent liet as you treat SIIITt.y and Middle/wit ; give
its the proportion of members which Iltivonshire and Siop•
shire have, and then INV Whether Scottish interrlltst Mid
Scottish will be disregarded.' It it to nquedy this
ineqoality, Mild to put All Chit to this that this as.
sovietism has been formed. t .I)llliinse.
Deprecating all ridicule upon a subject whielt,lixilied
Moon as a mailer of honourable feeling, could not be
deemed trivial, Lord Eglintout expressed his din
content with the interior position assigned to the
royal arnis of Scotland, declaring that he would
never submit without rettionstranco to such ilegratta.
lion of their national einblent. lie concluded by ad-
verting to another topic of more practical conse-
quence, namely, the national goveniment
" It is really almost incredible that we should hare In long
submitted to the anomalous and &dimwit irresponsible 'amens)
mein of the Lunt Advoitati.)—t near, hoer )--11U doubt a man
almost invariably of high talent and great profensitund
ability, but ill-paid and overworked—with his own profess
niiiiild hllallleaa W ittle.tlil in the Cabinet, seldom
even in the Privy t 'ltimeil—elianging even oftener than the
ministers miller whom he aerves—ready enough, no doubt,
to take ',mist, for any measures which may be popular, but
totally irresponaible when the unrMlures are of a oontrary
tendrney. We want • great saver of State who shall be
responsible for the goveniment of Scotland.— Omit up•
phrase )—who will not allow Scold' lousiness to be neglected
Anil olielved, and tinned over to anybody who may happen
to take all Ilitilt•st in it. The hut etusis of England are
well eared for. They limy their !Tinto Ministers, their
Lord Presidents, their Home Seeretarier, their Weird of
Tisile, their Lords of the 'll' memory, the Colonies, the
Army, the Navy, the Post.iittles); and 1.101 that very im-
portant branch of the service the Itischy of Lancaster has
generally a representative in the Cabinet. ( Laughter.)
Ireland has her entire separate Government. Scotland alone
is left is the tender mercies ola lawyer, who iillookiUg far snore
to his prilfesitionnl prosiwcts, and, perhaps, to theupper seats
tit' the bench , than for making for himself *great political cha-
racter. It is impossible to conceive that the country should
have gone on so long, allowing ourselves to be govenied in this
anonodims, irrespinsible, and most unsatisfactory manner
ac, /Intel—and I do hold thnt the first step of this
association —whale% er else may follow—should be to lay
before her !klalesty, before Parliament, and liefore our own
representatives in both I louses of Parlimment the necessity
of this change. Ipplassee. ► I have joined this amnesia•
non because I aus opposed to the spirit of centralistatiou,
which lots been carried too far for the good of (hips
country, and twosome 1 believe it, my heart Scotland has
been trusted with unfairness and neglect. I believe that
this movement will be sticcessfnl, beefiest.) it is based on
justice, and because it will be earned on with eartnestsiesi,
but with nioderat• . loud aroma.% )"
The noble earl then moved rho following reaoln.
tion

"That the 'freely of Union between scothunt and England
recognises tie• ainoentecy, anthem the hadaviduality, and pro-
vides 1'or• the preacrvetem of the uatioind leas and Institution*
heulhaid ; that any attempt to subvert or place timer. Welkin-
num; under EnFlialt coot:N.l, under the pretence of a eetoraliolng
teoisotuy, would deprive Scetlatid of the benefit if weal action,
would Ito Injurious to her welfare, and an Infraction of the true
Writ In which that treaty was concluded."
Tito next resolution, which was proposed by the
Lunt Provost of Edinburgh, rim as follows :
"'That this meeting cuentidera It nee eeeee y, fur thee hetter
ad eeeeee titration of the public Imithiers of this part of tha
united 6u.gdotn, and for *vetoing to Neonated the vraetleal
bencilie of a tooted I.cidelattire, that the office of Secretory of
Mate fur Scotland he restored, with all the rights and pissitegas
formerly appertattomi thereto; awl Oda meeting in% ties the
eunu.•tla of cities mid burgh. of Keynoted to petition her Majesty
to this effect."
A third resolution, declaring
"'flat the repreatintatiees returned by Scotland to
the bluer•
of Coll 11111 l tos are not iu the relative pr..porthiti of her people,
ur
the amount of her revenue, a■ compared with thine of England;
and that thin meeting I. of °pintoes that, In order to gave the
soles ut S.•otarrd tta dual weight ut l'arltatueut, that atinutom
'should ittercioied to its fair proportion,"
was moved by Belli° Gourley, of tilasgow.
The succeeding resolution, enforcing the claim of
Scotland to a pmportional %hare in the money ex-
pended by the Treasury for important local and
national purposes, was moved in an eloquent speech
by Sir Mu UIIIAI.n AtisoN. After enumerating the
benefits which Scotsmen individually and Scotland as
a country bad conferred on Brest Britain, he cola