The Sun.
London, England, 1837-10-09 00:00:00

DONCASTER REFORM DINNER.

(Abridged from the Second Edition of the Doncaster
Gazette.)

This day (Friday) the dinner to celebrate the return of
the Right Hon. Lord Morpeth and Sir George Strickland,
Bart., took place at the New Concert-room, High-street.
On no former occasion of a similar nature was there shown
by the friends of Reform a more anxious desire to be pre-
sent than that which was evinced with respect to this din-
ner. The presence of the Earl Fitzwilliam contributed
much to deepen this anxiety. All the tickets were disposed
of ; and had the room been calculated to accommodate a
larger number, many more would have been sold. The
time appointed for the dinner was four o'clock ; and
about that hour, the bells ringing a merry peal, the
Committee and a large number of their friends assembled
at the Mansion-house, and from thence proceeded in a
body to the Concert Room. The chair at the end of the
centre table (appropriated for the principal speakers) was
taken by the father of Reform in the West Riding, Sir
Francis Lindley Wood, Bart., of Hickleton, amid loud
cheering ; and the company, consisting of upwards of one
hundred and eighty, immediately seated themselves at the
respective tables, which presented a rich profusion of
viands of every description, with wines of the most choice
vintages, provided by Mr. Brooke, of the Old Angel Hotel,
Mr. T. B. Mason acted as vice-president. At the heads
of the other four tables were Mr. C. White, Mr. Alderman
Torr, Mr. Beckitt, and Mr. J. Pearson. On the right of
the Chairman were Earl Fitzwilliam, J. Parker, Esq., M.P.,
Hon. G. W. Fitzwilliam, W. Bettye Wrightson, Esq., M.P.,
Alderman Tnttie (of Leeds), G. C. Yarborough, Esq.,
C. Jackson, Esq., Dr. F. Branson, and G. C. Walker, Esq.
The Chairman was supported on the left by Lord Howard,
Lord Milton, M.P., E. Baines, Esq., M.P., J. Walbanke
Childers, Esq., M.P., W. Walker, Esq., T. Wrightson,
Esq.,
,J. H. Gossip, Esq., Pilkington, Esq., and J. Shep-
pard, Esq.
After the usual loyal toasts,

The Right Hon. Earl FITZWILLTAM rose, and was re-
ceived with loud- and prolonged cheering. When the mani-
festations of approbation with which the Noble Earl was
received had subsided, his Lordship said—Sir Francis
Lindley Wood and Gentlemen, I shall beg to call upon you
to drink the healths of those two gentleman whom you have
selected to represent you in Parliament—Lord Morpeth
and Sir George Strickland.—(Loud and vehement cheer-
ing.) And when I recollect that both of them have been at
all times the firmest friends of civil and religious liberty—
that the one, remaining simply a Member of Parliament,
and acting merely in his legislative capacity, has, I am
confident, acted in such a manner as to merit the ap-
probation and to call forth the applause of all those
whom I am now addressing—while the other was called,
not, I will say, by the favour of his Sovereign—because
I would not represent the representative of this great
community in any light as a Court favourite—(Hear,
hear, and loud cheers)—but called by the distinguishing
approbation of the Crown, to carry into effect, as a mem-
ber of the legislative government, those principles on which
he had previously acted in his legislative capacity, and I
am sure that all of you will be of opinion that it is no de-
gradation of his situation as a representative of a great
community to accept office under the Crown, when the
merit of that office depends upon his filling it to the satis-
faction or those by whom it is conferred.—( Hear, hear.)
Times, indeed, there have been, when the holding of office
has been considered—and perhaps to a certain degree not
unjustly considered—as almost inconsistent with the rc-
presentaaion of a great popular community. But I would
observe that, under the present constitutional Parliament,
in which every man is more or less, according to the extent
of the different electoral bodies concerned, it is very diffe-
rent. Under the present circumstances it is impossible but
that the Crown should select from those who have been
elected from the people ; and I say, that it reflects the more
honour upon the Crown, and will be attended with more ad-
vantage to the people, when those so selected are chosen
from among those who have the greatest number of consti-
tuents. I have stated it in Northamptonshire, and I will state
it here in Doncaster, that the reform in the administration
of the Poor-laws is the act which of all others reflects the
greatest credit upon the wisdom of Parliament, and upon
the perseverance and determination of those Ministers who
proposed it in Parliament.—(Loud cheering.) Now, let us
not be undecided on this subject. I admire that law not
upon the wretched ground that it had a tendency to save
our money. Gracious heaven ! is there any man who can
conceive it possible that the Parliament which passed that
law had such an object solely in view. No, I think that if
that law has diminished the poor-rates, that is the very
smallest benefit conferred upon the country. It is not that
they have diminished the poor-rates, and thereby, as has
been basely insinuated, enabled the landed gentry in the
same degree to raise their rents—no, that is a paltry, a
miserable ground. But I admire that law because it has
made the idle industrious, it has converted the wretched
pensioner upon the public into an industrious maintainer of
himself and his family.—(Loud cheers.) I speak as
in a
witness upon this subject. I have seen this law adminis-
tered, and have been engaged while in the country the
administration of it. I may perhaps not have se
in n
it In
the streets of Doncaster ; but when I have seen it the.
streets of Peterborough, previous to the existence of
that law, filled with idle and unemployed labourers,
and when I see that that law has acted as a talis-
man, there being since its passing. scarcely an idle per-
son in the neighbourhood, it isimpossible not to see
the effect produced by it. 1 will not ascribe the benefit
of this law to what is called the workhouse task. 1 ani
far from saying that the application of the workhouse may
in a certain degree act, but I do not believe that that is the
real mode in which it has operated so largely to the benefit
of the country. But we have a board, popularly elected
and numerously attended, and every man who comes before
it is exposed to the examination of and cross-examination
of twenty or thirty gentlemen capable of putting those
questions which are calculated to elicit the truth, instead of,
s under the old uthnioistration, the law o( the pauper

calling upon the overseer, and demanding whatever pension
he might think proper, and who had nothing, by the
bye, Lot his own moderation and delicacy to confine him,
ometmes demanding 10s. 15s. or 205.; and courageous
ndeel was that overseer who could refuse him the sum
demanded. If the overseer was so courageous, why he
was dragged like a criminal before the nearest justice (or
perhaps not the next justice, because he might be a per son
who would look into the affair), but he was dragged to such
justice as the pauper pleased, and such justice, knowing
nothing of the matter, and could not by pos:iiiiity
inquire into it, perhaps being a hunter for popularity,
would call upon the overseer to make good to the
pauper whatever pension he might in his conscience
think proper to demand.--(Loud and continued cheering.)
This is, it appears to me, the true secret of the talismanic
effect which the new Poor Law has produced in the south
and midland parts of England ; and I trust that the time
may come—l know not what may be in contemplation by
the executive government—butso perfect does appear to me
the working of this system, that I trust that other branches
of the local administration will be placed uuder the control
of those or of ana'ogous boards.—( Hear, hear, and cheers.
I will say (and I do not speak individually) that if the local
administration of a country is that of local despotism, it is
almost impossible but that the general government of the
country should in time partake of the principles which
govern its local administration.—(Loud cheers.) And
because I wish to see the general government of the. country
carriedsOn upon popular principles, and in a popular way ;
and I wish to see all the local administrations of the country
governed upon popular principles, because I am quite sure
that if the whole system of our government, general and
local, do not coincide, and are not fixed upon the same prin-
ciples, the government is in a false position, and there is no
security for the permanency of even our best national insti-
tutions.—(Cheers.) I beg to prepose to you the health of
Lord Alorpeth and Sir George Strickland.--(Loud and
prolonged cheering succeeded this speech.)
J. W. CHILDERS, Mei. M.P., was received with loud
cheers. He said—l certainly consider that our present
Ministers have redeemed most nobly the pledges they made
when they first assumed' the reins of Government, the
pledges contained in that memorable expression of peace,
retrenchment, and reform.—(Cheers.) For we now tied
ourselves, after the lapse of six years, at peace with all the
world, and in prosperity throughout the country. Tile Mi•
nistry of Lord Melbourne has, we all know, had great dif-
ficulties to encounter ; but I must claim for them this
praise, that having marked out the line they intended to
pursue—having for years advocated their principles, they
have not now hesitated to bring those principles into action
—they have not hesitated, at the risk of all difficulties, to
bring them to bear ; and they have, on the other hand,
firmly refused to go beyond them. This, then, is the praise
I venture to claim for the Melbourne Administration. Her
Majesty's Government requires an enlarged support. There
is no doubt that it is in a position to require support from
all Reformers throughout the country. There is no
doubt that the power. of the Tories is great, and, I
am afraid to say, may be increasing ; but I will not detail
the reasons why they have so much increased—only
telling you that I ht,lieve their power in the House of
Commons rests upon the basis of delusion. I believe
that the Tory power exists upon a delusion—a deluson
which one single month of Tory rule would put an end to.
—(Loud cheers.) I believe the principles on which so
great a number of Tories was sent to Parliament are in no
wise shared by the men who must he the Administration of
this country, if Tory Administration there should be. I
believe Sir Robert Peel, the only one worthy to be named
among them, shares not the delusion which has sent the
Tory minority to the House of Commons. lam firmly of
this opinion from what we have seen before ; for when Sir
Robert Peel passed the Catholic Emancipation Bill, did
the Tories support him in that ? Did those people who
now send Tories to the House of Commons support him in
that ? I remember being in a commercial town at that
time, when Sir Robert Peel had just taken a house there
for his residence, and I can assimilate their remarks respect-
ing him to nothing more than the call now about Mr.
J'Connell. They spoke about Sir Robert Peel then as
they now speak of Mr. O'Connell, and threatened to drive
him out of that part of the country. And that feeling
would be again manifested should the Tories return to
power. Again he would be the unpopular character he
was then, and probably he would come to you for sup-
port in the measures he might bring forward. I be-
lieve it was a sayine.. of Lord Lyndhurst, when
Sir Robert Peel issued his manifesto two years ago,
alluding to a number of promises contained therein, but
which were always closed with a salvo which brought them
to nothing—" why, Peel, your manifesto appears as if the
first part of each paragraph was penned at Brookes's (the
Whig Club-house) and the remainder at the Carlton(Con-
servative) Club-house. In every paragraph you begin ad-
mirably, as if going to grant all, but at the end there is
some little item by which it is clear you mean to give no-
thing at all."—(Lourtcheers.) That is the way in which
the country is treated by the Tories when they arc in power.
I feel, gentlemen, convinced in my own mind, that the prin-
ciples we advocate must progress, although they may be
checked for a time. I now feel uo doubt that Ireland will
receive that boon to which she is entitled—viz., the same
description of Municipal Government as this country. And
what is the paltry defence? Why, that the Chnrch might
be endangered—a mere defence which will be thrown over,
and which the Duke of Wellington has in effect already
done. In conclusion, let me recommend you to leave no
stone unturned for the support of her Majesty's Govern-
ment.—(Cheers.) The West Riding has done its duty ;
and, in conclusion, I beg to propose ‘. Lord Melbourne
and her Majesty's Ministers, with three times three."—
( Loud cheers.)
JOHN PARKER, Esq., M.P. for Sheffield rose amidst loud
cheering, and spoke to the following effect :—I have no
hesitation in saying, that inasmuch as the greatest portion
of the charges amongst us depends upon the conduct of the
Government with respect to Ireland, I always, in address-
ing the people of Yorkshire, go into that question at once,
and say that upon no other ground the Irish policy of Lord
Melbourne's Ministry alone will entitle it to the support of
every friend of liberty, and you are in fact only fighting
your own battles on Irish ground.-4Lolid -cheers.) Why
is there a single man wlso'serinay considers the subject,
can believe that the inhabitants of Dublin are as not fit to
choose an alderman as the people of Doncaster? Is there
anybody who doubts that an Irish municipality, when pro-
perly constituted, is just as able to choose a town-clerk as
the municipality within this borough.—(Hear, hear, and
cheers.) It really does seem to me the gravest accusation
against the people of Ireland, to suppose them incapable of
exercising their rights. But the Tories are firm in their
endeavours to make the people believe that Irishmen are not
fit to sit in Parliament. Gentlemen, in every respect the
Irish arc equal to Englishmen, and arc entitled to the same
respect as fellow-citizens. I think we may appeal safely to the
good sense of Englishmen, favourable to Lord Melbourne's
Government for giving to Ireland their full rights. That
Government has said that they shall enjoy equal rights
with their fellow subjects, and that Government never yet
has surrended to fear what they have refused' to reason.—
(Vehement cheering.)
Mr. Alderman TOTTIE, of Leeds, proposed " the health
of the Liberal Peers," enumerating among others the names
of the Dake of Norfolk, the Duke of Devonshire, Earl
Fitzwilliato, Lord Scarborough, &c., and eulogising them
for their public and private irtues.
Lord IIowARD role amidst loud cheering. Being a
member of the Norfolk family, he rose to return thanks on
behalf of his relative and the Liberal Peers. In alluding to
the Reform of the Peerage, of which much had lately been
said, he did not agree with such reforms, beli,:ving that a
change of sentiment in the Commons, which was indeed
now taking place, would have the effect of changing the
views and motives of the House of Peers. If Liberal mea-
sures continued to be enforced in the House of Commons

it was his opinion that the Lords would see the..pecessity
of yielding to them as the decisive voice of the country.
In support of this he begged to call attention to the
events of the last few years. He alluded to the passing
of the Catholic Relief Bill, which had been so strongly op-
posed in the Lords at a former period, and to the
expression of the Duke of Wellington at the close Of the last
session with rasoect to Irish Corporations, when he assured
Lord Melbourne that if they met in the next Parliament in
the situations in which they were then placed, he should
feel it his duty to assist his Lordship in .carrying such a
Bill. He thought this was a proof that their Tory oppo-
nents were rather tired of their opposition, that they felt
they could not go on for ever opposing every measure which
came recommended by a Liberal Government, and he
hoped to see them give way, hit by bit, until eventually
they would suffer all the good Bills to pass the Comtnons
without offering any undue oppositinn.-L-(Cheers.) A
Tory majority in the Peers, they must remember, had been
created by the disgraceful Ilse of power in Tory Adminis-
trations. And though he 'should be sorry to have recour=e
to a similar abuse by a Liberal Government, he still hoped
that by sued a Government retraining in power kr years
to come, they would follow up Such reforms as would show
to the Lords that a factious opposition would be of no
effect, and that their present' majority would by the force of
public opinion, be turned into a minority, so that a Liberal
tnajor;ty should no long or bx! looked upon as a sort of
wonder.—(Loud cheers.)
The CHAIRMAN said& had now to fulfil a duty he need
hardly say of a most agreeable nature, that of proposing the
'lcahn of his neighbour. Earl Fitzwilliam.—(Loud cheers.)
Earl FITZWILLIAM rose amidst loud cheering. He
could not help adverting to one topic, which had be 4 n
already very happily alluded to and discussed by his noble
friend, Lord Howard—be alluded to tha House of Peers.
He would not enter at present upon any thing regarding
the constitution (rt.-that legislative a;sembly, but he could
not help thinking with his noble friend that even the

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