The Sun.
London, England, 1837-01-09 00:00:00

S

/es: _
GREAT PUBLIC DINNER AT "0-TAcett:4"
GOW TO JAMES OSWALD, ESQ., rVi:
Aar ";..3
On Thursday, the sth curt., upwards of four v., .
gentlemen of the first respectability in Gie..sgnw and 411nYilS"‘
mediate neighbourhood, entertained their mach-respected
representative, Mr. Oswald, to a Public Dinner,in the Ton-
tine Exchange Rooms, the use of which had bt. en .hand-
somely given by the Proprietors and Subscribers for the oc-
casion. Lord William Bentinck, the other representative,
.had, of course, also been asked to dine when in Glasgow
lately, but the state of his Lordship's health prevented Lim
reom accepting the intended honour. By the hour appointed
flee the dinner (five o'clock), the company had all ta•ken
their :daces, and in a few minutes thereafter, the Chairm an,
Sir Join) Maxwell, of Pollock, Bart., accompanied by Mr.
Oswald, Mr. 3illon, M.P., and a number of other distin-
guished individuals; entered the _HA amidst the loudest:
cheers of the company. Mr. A. G. Spiers, of Culcreuch,
late M.P. for Paisley, with Mr. John Dennistoun (brother
to the patriotic Member for Dumbartonshire), and Mr.
Walter Buchanan, eminent merchants, acted as Croupiers.
Professor Milne acted as Chaplain. After all the aesual
standing toasts, " The King," " The Queen," and " The
Princess Victoria," which were drunk with great applause,
Sir JOHN MAXWELL gave the next toast of " The People,
the only legitimate source of power." It was the healths
of themselves of course, and they would drink it as they
pleased. He had ordered a bumper, however, to the toast„
and he hoped they would take it off.—(Great applause.)
Tune—" The Triumph."
The CHAIRMAN next gave " Lord Melbourne and his
Majesty's Ministers. May their conduct realize the just
expectations of the people."
The CHAIRMAN craved a most particular bumper. The
toast which stood next on the list that evening, was the
health of that.distinguished gentleman on his right hand,
Mr. Oswald.—(lmmense cheering.) Tune—" There's nae
luck about the house."
Mr. OSWALD was received with tremendous cheoring,
which lasted for some minutes. On silence being restored,
ho said be had so often received from them so much kind-
ness, partiality, and indulgence, that he could not now find
words to express his feeixgs ; but they would believe him
sincere rviiNl he said that be felt grateful for the honours
they had generously conferred upon him. He could not
say more than that from the boi!um of his heart he thanked
them. They were all aware that he was not capable of
making what was usually called a speech, and were he to
attempt it he would only fatigue them, with but adding any
thing either to their gratification or instructioih He, there-
fore, would not attempt what was called a speed:, but on
the present occasion he might be expected to make' a few
observations on the prospects of the Reform cause of this
moment.—(Cheers.) When they did him the honour of
electing him as one of their representatives, he regarded it
as one of the highest honours they could confer upon any
individual ; and now, after four years' service in Parlia-
ment, he was well aware that he had to crave their in-
dulgence—perhaps he might say their forgiveness—for many
defects in his conduct ; but if he had deviated from any rule
which they might have laid down as the Tight one, or in any
way not acted up to his professions, they would, he trusted,
impute it, not to dishonesty on his part, but to an error of
judgment.—(Cheering.) The question before them, in the
mean time was, " what are the prospects of Reformers ?"
And here he would begin with what,had now become a very
fashionable term with their opponents—re-action.—( Hear.)
They were every day told that there was a re-action in the
country—such a re-action as would completely, in a short
time, change the Government by putting out the men at
present in power, and consequently, as supposed by many,
change also the principles on which that Government was
Connected. He did not 'know very well in what way this
word " re-action" was defined ; but this he knew, that in
all the addresses, made in all places, by those who styled
themselves Conservatives, but who he took the liberty of
c Bing by their ancient name—Tories—in 1;0 case had any
man belonging to that party lately come forward to seek
,;tie favours of a constituency without, in the very' first pa-
raga'aph of his address endeavouring to prove to them that
he was a reformer.—(Great cheering.) They declared
that the Reform Bill having now passed into a law, they
will yield is it the most implicit obedience—that they re-
joice in it, and that they will do all in their power to sup-
port it.(Laugh,:er.) Now it did not appear to him that
was what he would .call re-action. But, while they pro•
fessed this to be their (kith, he was afraid they had ulterior
objects of a very different .11:.nd in view ; for he found in all
the addresses issued by the Cb.nsetrr‘a•ate‘•ies csoarllTC Conservative
must call them—in all the demonstrations
demonstrations, that had taken place in the country without
one single exception, he had found tn,e persons connected
with them to consist of those who, when d2e Reform Bill was
proposed, opposed its principle, and when passing through
the legislature resisted, with the greatest 'determination,
every clause of value in it from beginning to ei2cl.—(Great
cheering.) He was, therefore, led to believe that when
they professed their attachment to the Reform cause they
had ulterior objects in view, and that, could they get into
power, they would tell the people of this country that the
Reform Bill was a mistake, and the sooner it was done
away with the better.—(Hear, hear, and cheering.) But in
truth what the Tories called re-action was the homage they
paid to the cause of Reform—(Cheers)—an homage which
they rendered with great unwillingness. They were obliged
to yield in some degree to public opinion ; and here he
could say, that, however, in some parts of the country, and
in some constituencies, there might appear to be a difference •
of opinion, he nevertheless felt cure that when this country
was called upon—and it might be so before long—to give
an opinion as to whether it would support those whom it
brought into power, viz., the present Administration,
pledged to Reform, as an Administration who, while they
professed to support Reform, were in their hearts against
it—when that trial came he believed this country would
emphatically say, " We will not permit, in any shape, a
Tory Government—(Great cheering)—we will not allow
a Tory Government to rule over us."—(Cheers.) He
thought, therefore, that this re-action was a matter that
they need not be afraid of. Ile was quite sure that, so
long as the Reform Acts remained in their l: resent force
—so long were the liberties of this country in perfect
security.—(Great cheering.) He had no doubt that great
efforts would' be made, and were even now making, to do
away as much as possible with the effects of those Acts ;
but the good sense of this country would make all these
attempts futile ; and he believed that even if for a time the
couutry were: led away by the professions of those men who
used to be called Tories, it would soon leave them unsup-
ported, anu be no longer misled by their pretensions.—
(Cheers.) At' that Reformers had to do was to remain
firm to their principles ; and they would, before the lapse
of any gnat length of time, find that the country would
give a stronger support that ever to any administration, let
it he composed of whom it might, that went on the prin-
ciples of Reform, and that administration would see that
Reform Act was not to be regarded as a dead letter,—
meant, when framed, to be of no more use that it was
of importance only as the means to a groat end.—(lm-
mense cheerizg.) There was one point which he could
not omit noticing. The Tories were constantly asserting
that they had along with them the great preponderance of
the nobility, of men of large possessions, and a very large
proportion of the intelligence, and almost all the whole
respectability of the eenpire, and with this profession, they
would wish it to be believed, that they would go on increasing
in numbers till they had a majority of the whole community.
But, they would perhaps find, that even with the great pre-
ponderance of the nobility, and with the support of a great
majority of the landed proprietors, they yet did not possess
either so much of the property, intelligence, or respectability
of the country as they imagined.—(Cheers.) There was
one point too on which they committed the greatest possible
mistake. If he pnderstood their profession arights, they
said, that if their plans were followed out, the wealth,
respectability, and intelligence of the nation would be set
against the great mass of the community. Now, if any
plan could b devised more ingcnioas or absurd than an-
other, it was to proceed upon this prinriple. Ile might be
doing them an injustice ; but he would add that if they
pretended in their day to govern the country, the best they
could do to promote that object was to ;show, on all occa-
sions, that they had the happiness and prosperity of all
classes of the community at heart.--(Loud cli!'.ering.) He
would only further state on this sui,ject, that it a7'l not ap-
pear to him that the prospects of Reiarmers were in any
way bad. He remembered the day when sixty Reforiners
could scarcely be mustered to attend a meeting in Glas-
gow ; and lie now found himself addressing a very large
assembly, indeed, of his fellow-citizens, all actors in the
cause.(Clicers.) And so long as the feelings and princi-
ples which actuated that meeting were in existence, the re-
action so much talked of would do them no harm.—
(Cheers.) He would pass over many topics on which he
might feel inclined to address them, as his , sentiments
generally were so well known to them all, ti,et it would
be unnecessary to enter upon them ; but there ;vas one
point the most prominent of all others at the present- mo-
ment, to which he would for a little direct their attention ;
that was, what was to be done to bring the two Houses of
Parliament into unison with each other?—(Cheers.) All
other subjects sunk into insignificance compared with this.
He would be 41 vain and presumptuous man indeed were
he to attempt to bring forward any project for settling
this matter—to solve the problem which was admitted by
every person to be one of the -greatest difficulties. It was
not for him to say what should be done ; but this he would
say, that, situated as the House of Commons now was,
something, must be done to bring into harmony the two
Houses of the Legislature.—(Load cheering.) He did
not know how it was to be effected, but this he knew, that
startle as men might when an organic change was spoken
o 1 it was quite clear that this country could not long go
on without a change.—(Cheers.)• They talked of a crea-
tion of .Peers ; but he never could see how that could be