The Sun.
London, England, 1837-01-13 00:00:00

DINNER AT KIDDERMINSTER TO
LG. R. PHILIPS, ESQ., M.P.

(Abridged from an express edition of the Ten Hours'
Messenger and Gazette.)
Friday, G. R. Philips, Esq., Member for the borough of
Kidderminster, was entertained at dinner by his constituents.
The President was supported on his right by G. R. Philips,
Esq., M.P., and on his left by Arthur Skey, Esq., of Spring
Grove ; George Talbot, jun., Esq., Vice-President.
After the usual loyal toasts, the CHAIRMAN said he had
to propose a toast which he hoped those assembled would
do justice to, inasmuch as he knew, by their measures, that
they intended to do justice by them—it was
" His Majesty's Ministers."--(Three times three and
cheers.)
The CHAIRMAN again rose and said, he had now to re-
mind them of the purpose for which they had assembled to-
gether—it was to prove themselves true supporters and
friends of Mr. Philips. In proposing his health, he pro-
posed the health of a gentleman who was well known to
them all—a gentleman who was firm and unshaken in his
principles, and who, by his conduct and votes in Parliament,
had proved himself to be truly devoted to the welfare of his
constituents, and the happiness of his country.—(Cheering.)
Should a dissolution of Parliament take place in the course
of the present year, he trusted they would be all found at
their posts, and prove themselves .as truly and firmly his
friends and supporters as they had that day.—(Renewed
applause.) The Chairman concluded by proposing, in a
bumper toast, with three times three—" The health of Mr.
Philips, their worthy and independent Member."—(This
toast was drunk with enthusiastic cheering, which lasted
some time.)
Mr. PHILIPS rose, amidst renewed cheering, to return
thanks. He commenced by saying that, returned as he had
been, by their kindness and confidence, as their indepen-
dent and unshackled and unpledged representative—( Hear,
hear)—it became his duty—and in every species of inter-
course with his constituents his pleasure and his duty had
gone together—it became, he said, his duty, at stated pe-
riods, to come before them and state the political course
which, as their representative, he had pursued, and the rea-
sons which had actuated him in pursuing that course.
He would, then, at once proceed to tell them, fairly and
candidly, that in his public duty he had thought it right to
give a generous, zealous, and consistent suppport to his
Majesty's Government—(Cheers)—and if there was any
truth in what poets had sung and moralists declared, that
the middle course between two extremes—that that golden
mean was the path of safety and good sense—(Hear, hear)
—that path his Majesty's Ministers had taken.—(Loud
applause.) But it happened, by a singular coincidence,
that for this course they had been loaded with abuse
by the two extreme parties in the State. They were vi-
tuperated by one party as destructives, who were run-
aing on a course which must end in the subversion of
property, order, and every thing that was dear to them,
while by the other party they were designated as a milk-
and-water Government, that had done, and intended to do
—nothing. Now he_(Mr. Philips) was bound in justice to
declare his belief that they had pursued that course in the
midst of great difficulties which was the best possible one
they could have adopted.—(Hear, hear.) He thought the
Tories had failed in making out any case of destruction
against his Majesty's Government.—(Cheers.) Nor did
he think that the party opposed to them on the other side
had better foundation for the charges which they had
brought against them. What, for instance, did they think
of the Dissenters' Bills ?—how many governments after
governments had tried, and tried in vain, to bring forward
anything like a measure which could give satisfaction.
What, again, did they think of the Tithe Bill—a measure
which would put an end to those discords and bickerings
which had too long, unhappily, existed between the clergy-
man and his flock ? Who could say, in doing this, that
the Government had done nothing? The Government
would have done more, but they must recollect that they
were not omnipotent. It was very well for one party to say,
why don't you do this, and why don't you do that ? But it
was one thing to propose a measure, and another thing to
carry it.—( Hear)—and it was against wisdom and common
sense for any government to bring forward measures in which
they must meet with perpetual discomfiture.—( Cheers.) But
yet his Majesty's Government had tried measures, and he
might instance as one the Irish Municipal Corporations
Bill, which, he was sorry to say, with a degree of folly
and baseness which he could not comprehend, the House
of Lords had thought proper to throw out. That mea-
sure would, however, be again brought forward this year,
and would be carried.—( Hear, hear.) He felt a confidence
amounting to a moral certainty, that the House of Lords
would be compelled to pass that measure—(Loud cheers)—
but, let him add, that the passing of that Bill would create a
very different sentiment to what it would have done last
year; v
it will now be considered as an act of justice unwor-
thily retarded—it would have been felt as an act of kind-
ness conferred.—(Applause.) There was another question
to which he also referred with feelings of sincere sorrow—it
was the question of the Irish tithes—( Hear, hear)—and here
again, for the third time, the hopes and sincere wishes for
the well-being of the Protestant Establishment of Ireland.
and the peace and prosperity of that country, had been
again disappointed.—(Hear, hear.) The golden opportu-
nity, it was true, had passed by—but yet he did not de-
spond ; and he still hoped, by wisdom and concession, and
a better feeling in a quarter where that feeling should have
long ago existed—(Hear, hear)—that this great question
would be finally settled—to the peace, and satisfaction, and
happiness of Ireland, and the security of the Protestant
Church.—(Great cheering.) But the gentlemen who as-
sailed the Government, said that the Government was under
the controul of Mr. O'Connell—(Laughter)—who seemed
really a bugbear conjured up to frighten the whole island
out of its propriety.—(Laughter.) The assertion was, he
believed, made by some honest men, who believed it
true—by some weak men, who feared it to be true—but,
he must say, also by a great body of designing men, who
knew it to be false.—(Cheers.) He (Mr. Philips) never
was, and did not appear there that night as the panegy-
rist of Mr. O'Connell ; he spoke of him there, as he
would in any other place, fairly and candidly ; and he
would be sorry to say behind his back, what he would not
say before his face—(Hear)—but he said of Mr. O'Con-
nell that he did dissent from many of his extreme opinions,
and deprecated the violence of his language ; yet he would
do him the justice to say that he felt deeply grateful to him
for the support he had given to his Majesty's Ministers.
But on what grounds was his support given ? He said,
openly and fairly, " I don't think the Government go far
enough—l don't think the Government go quick enough ;
my opinions go a great deal farther and quicker than
theirs ; but, at the same time, they are the first Go-
vernment that have evinced a kindly feeling, and shown a
disposition to do justice to Ireland.—( Hear, and cheers.)
It is the first Government that has legislated for the happiness
of Ireland—it is the first Government that has distributed its
patronage without distinction of sects and creeds, looking
merely to the qualifications of candidates as the test r.f their
fitness for office—they have sent us a Viceroy who has given
joy and hope to our hearts—they have placed Roman Ca-
tholics on an equality with their Protestant fellow-subjects
—they have placed them in some of the most honour-
able and responsible offices of the land—they had given
us a Roman Catholic Solicitor-General and Attorney-
General, and a Catholic Judge ;" and he (Mr. P.) would
say, right well had the Government been rewarded for
their appointments, for a better Attorney-General than
Mr. Sergeant O'Loughlen had never sat in the House of
Commons ; and if he only carried that tone of consistency
and conciliation which he had shown in Parliament to the
Bench, his appointment would be hailed as a God-send to
both Catholic and Protestants in Ireland.—(Loud cheer-
ing.) Mr. O'Connell says, " the ‘Catholics are kindly
treated—their feelings are conciliated—their priesthood is
not vilified—their religion is not derided," and these were
feelings that came home to the heart of every man in Ire-
land ; and on these grounds he felt, as compared with any
Government that had preceded them, or could be put in
their place, that they were kindly disposed to every Catholic
and Protestant in Ireland, and that it was a Government
which could never declare that the Irish people were aliens
in language and in blood.—( Loud cheering.) This, then,
was the compact that bound Mr. O'Connell to the present
Government ; and, he would ask, was it a disgraceful com-
pact?—(No, no.) Wes. it not, on the contrary, an honest
and consistent support*, Aye, and he would say, a support
that Sir Robert Peel, either in office or out of office, would
be but too happy to accept.—(Laughter and cheers.)
He (MK Philips) would state his opinions candidly and
fairly, whatever those opinions might be, even at the
risk of displeasing them ; for he always found that a
straightforward course was the best. —(" 'Tis so.")
He would allude first to the question of church rates—
( Hear)—and as a sincere friend to the well-being of the
Established Church, he did sec with great sorrow the state
of feeling throughout the country upon the subject. It
became a question of political squabble at church-rate
meetings, disgraceful, and completely rousing feelings of
disgust among all the well-wishers of the Establishment.—
' (Hear.) The question must shortly come before Parlia-
ment, and before the plans of Government were stated
there, he did not wish to enter on the question of the way
or the mode in which it should be done. There were feel-
ings and prejudices to be consulted on both sides, but he
hoped that a safe and satisfactory course might be taken,
for if it was not a satisfactory arrangement it could not be
a fixed one. If, in addition to the settlement of the great
question of tithes, his Majesty's Ministers could bring to a
satisfactory issue that smaller but not less irritating one of
church-rates, he would say, that they would then have
done more for the benefit and permanence and stability of
the Establishment than any Government that had ever
existed.—(Loud cheers.) There was another question to
which he had casually alluded—he meant the state of the
House of Lords.—(Hear, hear.) He must fairly say,