The Sun.
London, England, 1855-06-14 00:00:00

LONDON, THURSDAY, JUNE 14, 1855.

There was a " bumper " at " Old Drury " last
night ! A brilliant and imposing spectacle was
about to be presented, which attracted a crowded
audience, and caused every portion of its spacious
area to be fully occupied. It was. the appear-
ance of a body of honest and patriotic men, tho-
roughly resolved to abate the great practical nui-
sance of the day, to cleanse tha Augean stable of
the public offices, and to remove one of the foulest
blots on the national escutcheon. There was an
unflinching determination to hunt up and un-
sparingly expose all existing abuses ; to fix the
responsibility on the right shoulders, and not to
be contented, when a grievance was with difficulty
detected, with the vicious sacrifice of a mere
subordinate, a humble clerk, who was put for-
ward as a scape-geat, but to trace the evil to its
source, and inflict punishment on the real delin-
quent—although at the very head of the de-
partment, and, as a matter of course, a near
connexion of the ruling families, with the
divine ichor of the RUSSELLS, the GREYS,
the GOWERS, or the HOWARDS enriching his veins
or those of his aristocratic spouse—in retributive
justice, as well as in other respects, determined to
have " the right men in the right places." Such
was the object for which the meeting was con-
vened, and nobly was the invitation responded to.
The scene resembled that presented in the palmy
days of " The League," when not only every ora-
tor, but every auditor, was animated by the pros-
pect of speedy success, and each man spoke and
felt as if the triumph had already been secured.
The same auspicious auguries of approaching
triumph which in the previous instance were so
completely verified were last night also perceptible.
The champions had already gained the outworks.
The Mamelon Vert, and the Malakhoff of official
incompetence and corruption, and the very citadel
and stronghold of "jobbery," lay at their
mercy. Its fall could not long be deferred
if the assailants were only true to them-
selves, and did not relax in their exertions
until not a single stone remained on another of
the fortress, until its very foundations were razed,
and no vestige suffered to remain of " the stand-
ing reproach to England."
SAmuELMonLmr—the faithful, consistent, inde-
fatigable SAisceELMonLEY—took the chair, and ex-
plained the objects of the meeting. To him, as to
GEORGE WILSON in the struggle against the ini-
quitous bread-tax, the post of honour was unani-
mously assigned. His labours will not, we con-
fidently anticipate, be so long protracted as that
of his veteran predecessor in the great cause of
against " the few," the
" the many" people against
the jobbers. We trust that health and strength
may be spared to him to witness for many years
the happy results of his labours, and the blessings
which have thereby fallen on the working classes
—the bees who produce honey in the national
hive to be no longer consumed by useless drones,
and to whom the distich—

"Sic vos non vobis niellificatis apes"
will no longer be applicable.
Mr. LAYARD spoke well and impressively. He
had the best encouragement for a speaker—an
attentive and sympathising, and, still better, an
appreciating, audience. No wonder that he threw
his whole heart and soul into the admirable speech