The Sun.
London, England, 1839-10-18 00:00:00

.
"1"11- 1414' SUN, LONDON, FiiIDAY, OCTOIP4'II 18 "-19

in his character, it was his impartiality. He had oh-
taioed the respect amid esteem' of all those with whom
he had abted, and ijOOe Were more aMe to judge of the
qualifications of a gentleman than those who wee in tinily
connection with him. Are the people then, he would ask,
ready to admit such a principle as this?—" I admit your
talent; elidraeter, slid qUalifis.catPm for office/ bat then you
are aCatholie,and thirst therefore go ahoiit iciut:builnW?"
The next gentle4teti be would all to was Mr. Sheil.
rcti Otte Who had nOi effiortniiity of listening to
Mr. Sheil; as he had; eould do justice th# talent
displaYed by him and he would ask, is he, because he
is a Catholic, to be excliided from all the councils of the
country?—("No, no.") Now, gd further back, to the good
old Tory 'Times, in the days of George the, Third,
when Mr. Gibbon sat as bee of the Board of Trade—
will any one say that the principlei were different ?
But then, they say, that is a different case ; he was
only an infidel. We have no objection to your putting
in men of no religion at all, but we cannot think it
right to put in a Catholic ; as if the fact of a
Catholic being in the Board would upset sugar, cotton,
hemp, and other et cetera.—(Cheers.) But there is
one more gentleman to notice, if I were not trespassing

on your time too much—Mr. Wyse. Only notice the
extreme absurdity of the opposition : Mr. More
O'Ferrall has been sitting as a member of the Treasury
for some time past, and not a word was said against it,
but last year he is removed from the Treasury to the
Admiralty, where he is likely not to do harm,
as he will not have one word to say. He mentioned
this to show that it was on purpose to raise the old cry
of "No Popery"—( Hear, hear)—of all others the most
mischievous and silly that can be. raised. But having
changed the laws, and thereby removed the disabilities,
they now attempt to keep the Roman Catholics out of
office by prescription, as it were. In words we admit we
passed the law, but then we never intended to
have it carried into effect. The question is of deep
importance to the people of this country ; they must
either attempt to repeal those laws (if they dare), or
they must do that which he thought they were willing
to do—carry the Bill into effect ; they must give
it support not only in word but in practice. The
Right Hon. Gentleman then entered into an able de-
fence of the Government of Llrd Norrnanby in Ireland, in
the course of which he was repeatedly and enthusiastically
cheered. He described his Lordship as having ensured
the affections of the people of Ireland, as he was re-
spected by them all. He then said, having detained you
so long, you must allow me to return my sincere thanks
for the handsome manner in which you have received the
toast. I see around me the well known faces of true
and honest Reformers, and recognise the voices of
my continued supporters ; still I would not take to myslf
too much. The Liberal cause has succeeded ad-
mirably in your hands, and if I feel pleasure more
than ever, it is because you have been so suc-
cessful, and I have been the favoured agent. lam
indeed the creature of your own making, it is
by your favour that I have the situation 1 now hold. It
is from you I have imbibed the seeds, and have been
able to fight so successfully.—(The Hon. Gentleman
sat down amidst immense cheering.)
The CHAIRMAN then proposed the health of Sir G.
T. Staunton, Bart., one of the representatives of the bo-
rough of Portsmouth.
Sir G. STAUNTON rose, and said he experienced the
most gratifying thoughts, which he had not words to ex-
press, for the manner in which he had been received.
This was the first time he had had an opportunity
of addressing anything like a large meeting, since th
memorable day, when, unsolicited— entirely unsolicited
on his part—they sent for him to stand as one of the re-
presentatives of the borough of Portsmouth. They
had, without reserve, and without any exertions of his
own, placed unbounded confidence in him, by voting
him a Member. He was not at all anxious to hold
office—(Hear)—he had not that inducement before
him, which his Right Hon. Colleague had ; he bad held
office, and he might say held high office, abroad. The
only ambition he now had, was that he might be allowed
a seat in the House of Parliament ; and as a country
gentleman he desired no greater reward for what labours
he might bestow in doing his duty in Parliament, (which
he hoped always to do), than to be able to travel into
the country to meet such a number of his constituents
as he had the pleasure then of seeing before him. By
returning a Cabinet Minister for the Borough, they had
done themselves great credit, and had also strengthened
the hands of Government.--( Hear, and cheers.) He
had no doubt they would see there was an additional
assurance of the fidelity of the Ministry, when they
saw his Hon. Colleague joining his fate with theirs. He
considered the practice of representatives meeting their
constituents, and giving them an outline of their con-
duct during the Session of Parliament, a very whole-
some one, and i,vereit not for occupying their time on
the present occasion he would be very willing to enter into
some review of his past conduct. He felt a little check
in doing so when he considered the particular object of
their meeting together. He could not help saying it
was a good practice, and to show that he was the genuine
representative of his constituents, he wished to
touch upon two points, and would therefore solicit
their indulgence for a short time. He then
touched upon public education, and stated that he
had the good fortune to be present at every division on
Colonial Slavery.' He also stated that on every occa-
sion he had given his support in favour of Ireland. He
had also interested himself in the Church-rate question.
He was satisfied that the Church-rates, as at present
instituted, are injurious both to the giver and receiver.

—(Loud cheers and applause.) He was willing to
join with all staunch Reformers in their endeavours to

get them removed. He then delivered his opinions on
the Education Scheme, and expressed himself as an
advocate for having it placed under the management
of the Clergy.—(Cries of " No, no.") He had great
respect'for the opinions of the meeting ; but he must beg
to differ from them in that respect. He was devotedly
attached to the Church of England, of which he was
a member, and he would defend her in every way in
his power, but he would not exalt her at the sacrifice
of any other interest. It would be grievous to say the
Dissenter should not receive the same privileges as others.
He gave Government great credit for bringing forward
the question, but he could not approve of their having a
Cabinet Board to take charge of the education of the
people. He considered it should be a Board to consist
of great and learned men—not a Board which we know
from woful experience may be Liberal and Whig to-day
and Tory to-morrow. He had great confidence in his
Right Honourable Colleague, who, he thought, had
quite enough on his shoulders, but he should not
have equal confidence in the gentlemen who would
fill the situation, if by any accident. the Tories
should come into power. It should be a Board
composed of learned and liberal men, not actuated by
any political feeling. He then said he had been charged
with having deceived his constituents when he met them
last in that room, upon the subject of the Ballot, but he
must certainly deny having done so. He had said he
should see if the Billet was likely to remedy the evils
complained of, and if so, he would certainly support it,
but he reserved to himself the right of conscientiously
considering the question. The people had a right to
expect a remedy, He intended to go into Parliament free
and unfettered, and he still expected to be so. He had
given the subject every consideration in his power, and he
had come to the conclusion that the experiment of the
Ballot ought to be tried.—(lmmense cheering.) He ex-
pressed himself as having given a notice in Parliament
on the subject, when he expected the Whigs Woeld sup,
port him. He had not, he said, the egeegiona,felly to
encounter both Whigs and Tories in ahelLHouse. He.
knew the Tories to a man detested to abbortelnee
plan. He never would, he said, 'give a .votn. thht he-
could not afterwards lay his head on his billow and say
was, an honest vote ; he would not give one vote for the
sake of popularity, nor for what he considered toba the'
highest honour, viz. to be returned again; ,as their
presentative in Parliament. It s had been-said that he
had broken faith with his constituents. ,He would ask,
whether he had so done ?—(Cries NO, no.") •
The CHAIRMAN then gave " Civil and. Religions Li
berty all over the world."
Mr. BEST, of Body-green, then came forward to ac-
knowledge the toast, and said he felt it a great honour
to be so called on, not being in any way connected with
the borough. In his opinion, he said, religious and civil
liberty meant equality in religion—he spared the word
toleration. He then made some very apposite re-
marks respecting the toleration to Catholics, to which
body he belonged, and concluded a very interesting
speech by thanking the meeting for the manner in
which they had received him, and thanks to Mr. Baring
for his support, as a Catholic, and for the manner in
which he had been pieased to carry out his principles.
Mr. M. SOLOMON then returned thanks on behalf of
himself and others belonging to the same persuasion.
The difference, he said, between the Catholics and the
Jews was, that the former had their grievances re-
, moved, but the latter were still looking for redress. He
considered it was useless for the Government to point
out the way for other countries, when they did not move
one step towards the improvements themselves,
The Rev. J. E. GOOD, of Gosport, said,—have been made by
Mr. Pre-
sident, I cannot allow the toast wghaicnh
ohbasservjautsitonbeeonr
l and religious liberty
and cannot be too
ittdsieutohn
etkiwnitonoaapdpl
dacesicntseai
odabniwl
preceding
away yorsi
pgwtehhi
attokhsoeoefru.
sta.
whichl ol f fmcereivii nn
sacredly guarded, nor too much extolled. Belonging,
as I do, to the body of Protestant Dissenters, it would
be unworthy the situation I hold among them were I
not to advocate this great princi_le.
V Barren as the
late Session of Parliament has been supposed to be in
good works, yet it is matter of satisfaction that it af-
firmed this principle in the matter of the grant for pub-
lic education. True, the such of 30,000/. was small,
and can do little to raise the people of this country
to the level of many of the nations of Europe in the
scale of general education—yet it is satisfactory to.
every friend of truth and justice, that in despite
of the strenuous • efforts made to prevent it, the
right of every religious denomination to have the
superintendence of its own children has been fully re-
cognised and admitted. T, therefore, approve of the
conduct of the Hon. Baronet, Sir George Staunton, in
reference to his much-canvassed vote on this occasion.
I felt, it is true, a momentary surprise when I read in