The Express.
London, England, 1853-09-30 00:00:00

NIL GLADSTONE AT INVERNESS.

G:alstone arrived here ►burtly after five, sail was
received at th,. Vai.ell 111101 by &deputation of the magi.-
tr.a. * &nil Towa
C who aceompani. d hint ,hence to
tb• ,o,arc.nouo.. The hair t•uildiu,t was cr 'rained in ivi ry
e. prtstut was & vorsiderab:e number
of:rlica, Mr. ,uu entering along with V.*
was received with fowl applause.
The Provos., on rising, introduced Mr. Gladstone to the
guestay, aril Mated t).e purpose fur which they bad
rsquestiag tlie tows c:crk to read the address
which had been prepared.

GLADitToVe row to respond. He spike u follows :
yr. Pr •y Duties, Tows Cosset Brother Burgesses,
& d Glentlosten,—lt ii with great and lively satis-
faction thsa I bu 4 myself curet:lo4l)y pita toan council, not
b„:., without the approbation of the communiry ?boy
represent—(elssers)--o• the list of burgesses of t►is
ancient burtb—e burgh which occupies, and I I ope =ay
c view h, oe. ell, a distinguishe.l place in the history
of Se-itlasJ. There ere various causes, iiinte inde-
pceJ,•at of ley owe tcrri•e, to whidt I may owe tais
honour. I think it nit unlikely that the eon-

nes: in of my family with this district of the country—
& cnouesion which I slia3 ever most fondly cherish
and row:mixt—may have sorgi.eted to you the conference
of :Ws thstinction, to whieh I could oth'rw Sc present but a
slender 63:111. I :16.11 it a ot.nware that in
.other respects,
also. I daire adrownge and reap honour from the 41110 -
C:36.1.111 which it has been n.y ii,ood fortune to form. Ido
cot f 4httt that I am iu the service of the crown
swab many distinguish-1 statesmen of great ability, en-
d.:ic•. I Or:ratter, awl low; experience of public life, who
may have been known iu other Cons and under other Cll-
- by varying party designations, but who, whoa a
crisis arrived in the history of the country on the great
iluestion of commercial legislation, cast rail every
per-
soaal consiiiersti,n, forgot every personal distinction,
and asked themselves al•.no in what manner can we beet

serve the crown ■nd the eemstry ? (Cheers.) With
these lei,e and eminent man, united un that ground
sad for such an object, it has been my happy lot to be
associated. I have derived profit from their profound
expanse., I have sheered the honours awarled to their
estate:is led character, sled by their advice and support I
have been , nableil—if there be spy benetit to be drawn
from the financial labours of last session—to comps'
what could not otherwise have been minimal. (Cheers.)
At any rate, sod to whatever cause I may be indebted for
the tribesee, I receive it with delight, and my satisfaction
Isenhanced by the manner in which it has been conveyed.
I am n.uch grstifi.•d by the assurance you have given me
as to the manner in which the proposal was received by
the Tuwa Cuenca, and I am ea.' to K. by this crowded
hod that their sentiments ere shared in and confirmed
by the community—that this is not an affair of a party
er a clan, but has its origin is a spontate use and gene.
ral sentiment pervading the inase of the people. It was
t lir any mere party porpoise that Lord Aberdeen
acetred the post which he now holds, or that Lord
John Russell—who himatlf had held the (Ace of Prime
Iler..ster with honour and distincuon—consented to join
him; and I flatter myself that their views for the pro-
motion of the general welfare will meet a yet wider tippet-
cistiote, sucessful though they have bees already in
securing a large measure of support from the representa-
tives of the people in pirliament—a support ratified by
such manifestations on the part of the people themselves

--- ------ . . .
as that of which I have now the honour to be the object.
(Cheers.) Allusion is ma le to two principal subjects in
your address—the two stihjecs which perhaps press most
urgently on public notice at the present moment—the C3lll-
- legislation, which will for ever render memorable
the last ten years, and a reference to foreign politics and
govere=.ents. With regard to the subject of commercial
ligi.latiam, I have already said that I stand here to-day
reaping where others have gown. I had indeed the honour
to be associated with tls late Sir Robert Peel is
the earner stages by which the principles of that legials-,
bon which is now more fully recognised were introduced i 1
and to my dying day it will be a source of s &staters+ es
me that, from the tormatiou of his government onwards,
I was honoured to bear. if an humble, still a laborious peek
in eyeing effect to thfse improvcrtieuts and alterations et
our commercial and tiscal laws which have shed upon tke
country richer and more numerous blessings than even the
anticipations of the most sanguine dared have looked for.
(Cheers) During 5 or 6 years past we have been congests.
Litine ours. Ives on the enjoy silent of them amid cheapoms
and abundance, though we m.y have felt that a time would
come when, from a pressure upon the means of subsistence,
the people would have less facility in obtaining access to
them. And how marked is the testimony to the wisdom of
meat Pgslation in the spirit whfeh new prevails. do back
to other times and we find that when corn was dear the
natural anxiety and los; &times of the people vented itself
in violations of law, in riot, and in bloodshed; and even in
other countries this continues still to be the case. Ouly • few
days ago,l read of the governors of two Italian towns losing
their lives as • sacrifice to the impatience of the popula- 1
tiou arising from such a cause. Thus it ever has been
where man steps in to correct Providential arrangements,
and where the pressure of scarcity is aggravated by unwise
laws. But see the contrast here ! Not in this quarter, but
in other quarters of the country, therein a deficient harvest,
and the demand for corn to France has effected our mar-
kets; but not through all England or &wised is there
heard a murmur of impatience or discontent, for the people
rest satisfied that if there be a dispensation of scarcity it
comes from that Providence whose it is to dispense the mea-
sures both of abundance and want, they know that human
legislation has done all that it can to effect free scope to the
energy and industry of man, and hence there is everywhere
that tracquillity, contentmen , and self-reliance which we
should most desire to prevail. (Cheers,) Your Provost
has sail that we have not met here to celebrate a party
triumph. There was a time when the question of protective'
duties was made one of party struggle and conflict. There
was • time, even after the victory had been achieved, when
a large party adopted " Protection" as their motto and ice-
scribed it on their banners. But those times are gees by,
the force of truth has won its way, and I scarcely believe
tly-t after the evidence which the lapse of time liaa 11411..
mutated, there exieu any longer a section of the cosamenity
who, if they had the power, would wish to step book se
alter or modify • system of legislation so
(Cheers.) What was:once but an opinion of phalluses",
in their closets, spread from one class to another, asespied
the minds of statesmen, obtained the voice of parliemeat,
took the torts of law, is now the filed policy
and reigns enthroned of
in the sanction and Itejaillei
country. (Loud cheers.) And let me add the ettpree-
Mon of an anticipatory hope that the sad of lee
has not yet bees reached. The example of is
of mighty faros. Her example bee had mach to do is
persuading the other nations of Europe that in • Pr
strictive comnserciel code there wee some fancied seer*
of national wealth and prosperity. But the deinelien
once rejected by us, it will not be long issintaiminl by
them; the emphatic testimony to the advent.gm ce hire
commerce which the triumphant results of • hal mid s-
owing application of its principles Ms =l.l
42:lebied
work its way among the intelligent el the
producing a similar development ty sad
among them; mutual intercourse be siremsmillaulti
the benefits which come in the train ef increased eausamesi-
cation and augmented wealth will thus be muldpikidii
great social and moral aims which we desire to see premesed
will be helped onwards, the tendency to international *fie
end war will be repressed ; and if we do not thus males
all the blessings which Christianity promisee to waking.
many of these evils which must seriously hinder their ed.
vane* will be taken out of the way. (Loud cheers.) Taw
address also adverts to my humble efforts in behalf of *ewe
whoa I belie.e to be oppressed in another country. It
must be painful to us, natives of Great Britain—eitixess of
• country when the principles of liberty and obedience
to law are both held in deter red veneration—of • country
where the meet elteOliTO changes are brought about
by legal and rational means—it must be paints'
for us to look abroad over the Continent and see how little
progress the nations of Europe have made in the path of
temperate and rational freedom. There is one year which
I fear most be marked as very disastrous in their annals—
I mean the revolutionary year of 1348—for while certainly
there was much which deserved to be swept away, the
effect was to provoke a terrible malice. to diminish the
hope of rational freedom, to exasperate the spirit:of despot-'
ism where it existed, to develop extreme opinions, and to
diminish the prospect of gradual and temperate advance to
that system of constitutional government—the results of
which we so happily enjoy. In the country where it was
my fortune to reside at the period to which allusion has
been made, I perceived that great sufferings were inflicted
on large numbers in consequence of this reactionary spirit—
• spirit, the natural effect of whose manifestations
is certainly to provoke popular resistance, and to
engender many terrible evils. I do entertain an
earnest hope for the improvement of Italy ; and.
ISO far as the present government is concerned,
1 am sure it will be their endeavour to promote that object
—not in the spirit of reckless propagandism, which would
raise op the national spirit against us, but by sash • wise
and temperate policy as will secure our moral HAMM& AI
present we cannot speak w.th satisfaction of foreign
You well know that causes are operative which treeresl
the peace of Europe. I trust you also know, and are well
persuaded, that the most anxious efforts of the British go-
vernment have been directed towards the maintenance of
general peace, and the protection of those who want
strength to protect themselves. (Cheers.) NO assurance
from me to this effect us wanted, for the temper and attitude
of the people have shown how thoughtfully they confide in
their rulers, and hew anxious they ere for the maintenance
of peace combined with honour. The time is happily past
when an ignorant eagerness for war could take possession of
moves of the community, we do not fail to profit by the ler
sons of history, though after 40 yeah of peace, when most of us
have grown up without any actual experience of the evils of a
mated war, we may be apt to forget their number and magni-
tude. The heavy burdens which war entail, on posterity is the
least of its evils : it as the effosion of human blood, the dis•
solution of domestic ties, the letting loose of a moral scourge
over a country which ought to be thought ot, and which
impose an absolute obligation on governments and states-

men to avoid it at the cost of any sacrifice short of duty and
honour. This is the principle which has guided the govern-
went tnreughnut the i.. iotiation of the last few months ;
and by tnis rule they would still act, knowing that it was
with indivn'uals as with nations—that a war might be very
popular at its commencement which would he very hateful
at its ease, j ist as there were few people who entered
on a yearral rats than breve and selt-r,liant, hut 'I
who miglt not
.11k..• it mach ere all 11.1• aster. Mr.
0114.10,., thee, r. meriting that the ihsdes of evening
which were closing 'pond them, coneeyed a warning
to be brief, proceeded to refer to the future—alluding es.
pecially to the great chant, c which has of late come over
the spirit end temper of pas 'les. At the sacrifice of much
personal feeling, in %Matted of the mice terms of political
consistency, unsay useful mekfures hail been carried
through, with the farther effector completely disorganising
old party connexions. The House of Commons was not
now divided into two compact fortes, opposing each other
on every trivial point; the broad c in..ra3ts of party had
been obliterated, and members of the legsAatore elerejaid
were their own fees fin and were actuated 1 a a greater ea:
tent by their honest convictions. This is it "il was real
prowess—it was a result which augured w ell for the
triumph of reason and justice. It was a cons.Nuence of
this state of matters that the present admit. -istration
had received so large an amount of what is termed
" independent aupp..rt," From its character any.' ex-
perience it was peculiarly bound to go on con
ods-
eting favour of that kind ; and the best way' to
ac omplish such an object was neither, on the one hang%
to hug past abuses wider the pretence of maintaining our
in,titutions ; o. r, on the other, recklessly to urge a de-
mend at variance with the essential characteristics of our I

institutions. lan also was the true way to obtain the con-
fidence and support of the people at large, whom it was
alike vein and undoirable to attempt to g..sern on the prin-
ciple of a blind sup,rstition. He thought he might safely
promise this would b, the course the government would
our ue. For him'elf, he would yield obedience to no other
principle. The risVa boo. gentlemaoc••o.ludcd by repeat•
log his thanks foe the compliment bestowed on bi2l. At
the close he was rapturously applauded ; and after three
cheers had been given for him, with the addition of one
for the Provos:, the meeting separated shortly after six
o'clock.