The Sun.
London, England, 1837-01-16 00:00:00

SPIRITS OF T-1-IE PUBLIC JOURNALS

even the most gifted Pagan, than by the Lord Rector
of the Protestant University of Glasgow on this solemn
occasion. We doubt not that the beneficial influences
of this Conservative Statesman's presence in Scotland
will be both wide and durable. We doubt not that it has al-
ready tended to inspire the Protestant' Church of Scotland
with increased attachment to her English sister, and with, if
possible, an increased repegnance to the pretensions and en-
croachments of that unchristian Popery which abhors them
both. For the mere political consequences of this important
visit, we unfeignedly think less of them, and feel less anxiety
for their manifestation, than for that of those consequences
which affect the Protestantism, or, in other words, the true vi-
tality of the kingdom. At the same time even the political
fruits will be well worth gathering; nor will they be slow to
ripen. Since the above sentences were written, we have received
by express from Glasgow a full report of what took place on
that other great occasion, where Sir Robert Peel was again
the distinguished actor end the honoured guest—me mean the
entertainment provided for the Conservative leader, and the
assemblage of 3,500 gentlemen from all parts of Scotland,
who left their homes to hail and to hear him, and to
seek, in the proceedings of that decisive day, a rule for
the direction of their political conduct throughout the
emergencies which now threaten to disturb our national
peace, and to shake, if not subvert, our institutions. The
speech of the Right Hon. Baronet which we have above re-
ferred to contained a body of solid maxims for the safe and ho-
nourable guidance of the rising generation, in preparing itself
for the general duties of men and citizens hereafter ; it may
be averred with truth, that the second discourse, which ad-
dressed itself to the full-grown manhood of Scotland, might
be quoted as an authority not less enlightened and indis- •
putable, whereby to determine how these ought to act who
are already engaged in the busy scenes of life, who have im-
mediate and rigorous obligations imposed upon them, precious
I advantages and noble rights to protect, a sacred inheritance to
transmit, a holy religion to defend, and a loved posterity to
cherish, to train, and to provide for. Both these efforts of
' the intelligence of Sir Robert Peel arc alike illustrative of his
personal and public character. They are just, sound, clear,
uncompromising, and fraught with high moral feeling. We
know not how or where a snappish interloper on the Sunday
press of yesterday picked up its wretched sneer at the leader of
the Conservatives, as to the presumed "vacillation," "indeci-
sion," or " insincerity" of his speech to the assembled thou-
sands at the Glasgow dinner. Our ample and interesting
report of this day will enable a body of English readers, ten
times the number of his Scottish auditors, to ascertain the piti-
ful falsehood of such an imputation. Never from Sir R. Peel
—never from the lips of any British Statesman, did there
proceed an announcement of political principles more i esolute,
unqualified, and unbending, than those to which the Right
Hon. Baronet pledged himself and the Conservative party in
their ensuing conflict with the Whig-Radical revolutionists.
Apostrophizing the vast assembly in the midst of which he
spoke, the Conservative chieftain thus delivered himself:—
" I do not wish to conciliate your confidence or support, by
hoisting false colours ; I mean to support the national establish-
molts, which connect Protestsntism with the State in these
three countries." No " indecision" here. No hope for the
movement success by intimidating their antagonists—no ten
der of compromise—no meetings half way. He will support
those Establishments in the three countries, which con-
nect the Protestant Religion with the State. Sir Ro-
bert Peel disclaims to tamper with the Popish enemy
in Ireland, or with the voluntary principle anywhere. He will
everywhere support the Protestant Established Church. Why,
this one bold and unflinching declaration is of more solid value
to the Conservative cause, and of more auspicious promise to
the Monarchy, than would be the present acquisition of fifty
votes in the House of Commons, procured by any unseemly
truckling to faction, because this acts at once and permanently
upon the element and raw material of all political power—
upon the national mind and the domestic feelings of the people.
" It is right," subjoins Sir Robert Peel, " to pay that homage
to Christianity, which is implied in a religious establishment ;"
and then the reflecting Statesman goes on to ask, " Is it pos-
sible to be deluded by the analogies which are drawn from
the theories of supply and demand in the articles of consump-
tion and merchandise ? Is it not perfectly clear that the demand
for religious instruction may not only not be in the direct ratio of
its necessity, but absolutely may be in the inverse ratio, and that
those who stand most in need of religious instruction are not
the first but the last who will make a voluntary effort to attain
it." The plain sense—the intuitive truth and force of the
opinion :implied by the above interrogatories, need not be
dwelt upon in a civilized and Christian land. The Ministerial
hypocrites may knowingly and wickedly attempt by insidious
means to shuffle out of them ; the sciolists of the voluntary
principle may, in the desolation of their inward darkness, con-
tinue blind to the radiance of Heaven itself; but those
who feel for the paramount wants of their kind, and who
contemplate as the most dreadful of all objects a human
soul perishing in hopeless exile from its Creator—such
men will stand by the champion of their poor and ignorant
fellow-creatures, and with him will rebuke the yearnings
of licentiousness, of barbarous infidelity, and sordid fac-
tion, in the garb of religious " freedom." Let it be laid
down as a first principle of social policy—and it is that on
which every civilized state but one on earth has acted—that
whether a citizen shall be a moral man or not, is a question
which concerns not himself alone, but the entire community
of which he is a part, and every member of it. It is, we
say, the highest interest of the whole commonwealth, that
its subjects should all know and act upon the difference be-
tween right and wrong, and should be cognizant of their
duties towards each other. It is no less unquestion-
able, that all knowledge of moral obligation has for its
essential basis a knowledge of the law of God; and that
no rectitude of conduct can be relied upon which does not
originate in, and is not upheld by, a course of religious
instruction. It follows, therefore, that the State has a fair
claim to the diffusion of religious truth among its subjects ;
and, by necessary consequence, that she is bound to provide an
easy access to such truth for those of the people who have no
other certain means of approaching it but such as the State
secures to them. This argument, to which an answer has
never been vouchsafed by the clamourers for the voluntary
principle humbug, appears to us at the same time so obvious,
that if it were not necessary in these perilous days to put a
weapon for self-defence in every hand, however feeble, we
ought almost to apologize for adducing it. But the Prostestants
of the British empire, whether of the Episcopal Church or the
Presbyterian Church, or of those classes of religious, not irreli-
gious 'Dissenters, the latter of whom make a mere stalking- horse
of religion for seditious and unlawful purposes, have now the
manly assurance of Sir Robert Peel to rest upon, that Pro-
testantism in one form or other shall continue to be, what for
centuries it has been, part and parcel of the law of this en-
lightened, prosperous, and exalted nation. Here, for " the
present, we pause. The no less firm determination of the
Conservative chief to maintain inviolate the authority and
powers of the Peerage as an inalienable portion of the Mo-
narchy, we shall bring before our readers on some early day.
Ti mes.

-
The grand banquet at Glasgow to Sir Robert Peel seems
to have been a very magnificent 'affair, and the Right Hon.
Baronet deemed it but fair in return to dedicate a considerable
potation of his speech to the praises of Glasgow, and his ad-
nedration of the country and its religious establishment. The
burden of the speech was, however, " Support the House of
Lords." " I avow to you that I mean to support, in its full
integrity, the authority of the House of Lords. I support it
as an essential and indispensable condition of the continued
existence of the mixed form of Government under which we
live—as tantamount to the maintenance of the Banish Consti-
tution." The Right Hon. Baronet is too skilful a tactician
to contend that a House of Lords is justified in placing itself
in collision with the Commons, merely to bring the Govern-
silent to a dead lock. On Saturday the Times asked, " What
ore good measure have 'Ministers even proposed ? or, much
more, what one have they carried through Parliament
in the form in which they proposed it ? Has not
the Government been at a dead lock ever since they came into
alaae?" Sir Robert Peel, on the contrary, appeals to the
tirember of excellent measures which have been carried, as a
proof that the House of Lords have not acted factiously or ca-
priciously. There has been no such thing, according to him,
as the Lords availing themselves of their power to arrest the
progress of improvement—to prevent the people from deriving
from the Reform Bill the results they anticipated from it.
" It is said (he observes) that the House of Lords has
shown a spirit at variance with the spirit of the people, and
that it has obstructed the march of social improvement. I
challenge the oponents of the House of Lords to the proof
of that assertionp. I ask you calmly to review the changes
that have been made in our social system within the period of
seven or ten years preceding ? I ask you to show me, in the
history of this or any other country, an equal number of
changes in our social system—and most extensive changes too
_ay, in double the time? Why, so rapid is the advance, if
you will, of improvement—for I do not want to take the ad-
vantage of a word for the purpose of gaining an advantage in
argurnent—l say so rapid has been the advance of improvement
or change, that we are hardly conscious of the changes that
have actually taken place."
_ Sir Robert then goes over the various measures which the
Peers have passed. The whole of the commercial policy of
the country has been changed—the East India monopoly has
been destroyed—the severity of the criminal code has been
diminished—the civil disabilities of the Catholics have been
removed—the Test and Corporation Acts repealed—the House
of Commons has been reformed—slavery has been abolished—
the -municipal institutions of Great Britain, Scotland as well
as England, have been reformed ; nay, more, contends the
Right Hon. Baronet, the march of improvement has never
"stopped. In the very last session of Parliament the grievances
of the Dissenters with respect to marriages and the registra-
tion of births have been entirely redressed—tithes have been
commuted—the proposition of Ministers with respect to the
taking off the taxes on knowledge has been wholly
aereed to. Sir Robert did not tell his audience that the
Lords, by the confession of members of their own body,
greed to the reform of the Commons and the reform of the
islanicipal Corporations, not because they approved of them, but
because they were afraid of the consequences of refusing them.
lie might as well give a rogue credit for the rapidity of his
?movements on the tread-mill. There can be no question that
?when a nation is determined on any particular point,
:such as the Reform Bill and Municipal Reform, it can
carry it, because all power ultimately rests with the people.
But a Constitution ought to work without the necessity of di-
recting the whole of the national force on any particular part
of the machinery. It is unquestionably true that the Lords
Tnave assented to many important measures, and that though
they evinced every wish to mangle others, yet in the shape in
which they passed they still contained much that was valuable.
Their Lordships, however, refused many measures which they
ought to have passed; and ever since the passing of the Re-
form Bill have plainly shown that, if they conceded any reform
whatever, their will was perfectly guiltless of it. Sir Robert
himself can tell how much his return from Tamworth
and throwing Lord Lyndhurst overboard, contributed
to the passing of the Municipal Reform Bill. That
their Lordships will also pass the Irish Municipal
Reform Bill will hardly, after what has passed, be
deemed a proof of their heartiness in the cause of
Reform. But, after all, Sir Robert seems rather dis-
trustful of this ground of justification of the Peers. He con-
jures up, the Constituent Assembly and the horrors of the
French Revolution ; and he quotes M. de Tocqueville, to
prove that even in the most successful example of democracy,
the United States, there is no liberty for any man who does
not think with the majority. And with respect to the irre-
sponsibility of the House of Lords, are not the constituencies
also irresponsible ?
" The House of Commons is responsible clearly to its con-
stituency—the Ministry is responsible in a different sense to
the House of Commons ; but let me ask, to whom is the con-
atituent body responsible ? You have selected a certain body,
and qualified them for the exercise of great powers. I will
not say a ward on the subject, as finding fault with the devolu-
tion of that power. I will not retract what I said of it before
the step was taken : it has become the law, and I speak of it
with all respect. I state only the fact, that you have invested
some 300,000 or 400,000 men out of the whole classes of
society with great political privileges; and I ask, to whom are
they responsible? They are not selected for any peculiar
quality : you can minister no test by which the fitness of men
to exercise these powers can be ascertained. The possession
of these powers depends partly as hereditury privileges, in the
smile way as the House of Lords, and partly because of the
possession of property. What other security have you for the
faithful discharge of the trust reposed in the constituencies,
but that very security which I urged in the case of the House
of Lords, that they are responsible to God, to their consciences,
and to an enlightened public opinion ?"
'Why should a man take security against himself ? The con-
tstituencies arc, or ought to be, identified in interest with the
whole nation. The property qualification excluded none from
the franchise but such as were supposed from their poverty
And dependent circumstances to be unable to exercise it with
judgment. A nation cannot wrong itself. But the House of
Lords has separate interests of its own. We wish to make
the Lords responsible in some way to the nation, because it
will otherwise seek to promote its own interests at the expense
of the nation. A man may be safely trusted with access to
his own pocket ; but it might not be so safe to allow him un-
disturbed access to the pocket of another person. We cannot
go farther down than constituencies, becanse they are iden-
tified with the nation. You may widen the basis, indeed, and
make suffrage universal. Sir Robert, however, will hardly
contend that this would be an improvement, as it is supposed
'that the existing constituencies include all who can exercise the
suffrage with intelligence. We are quite aware that the Re-
form Bill was not sufficiently extensive in its disfranchise-
atents ; that it admitted many to the suffrage who ought never
to have been allowed to vote, as the tenantry at will, for in-
stance ; that it left voters without sufficient protection in the
exercise of their duty • and it is to these defects that the To-
lies trust for again placing the House of Commons in subjec-
tion to the House of Lords. The independence of the Peers,
for which Sir Robert contends is therefore the dependance of
the House of Commons. The Peers are to be responsible to
e"od alone, and the Commons to be responsible to the Lords.
In short the whole efforts of the Tories are directed to render the
Reform Bill a dead letter by placing the electors under the con-
trol of the Oligarchy. It has been demonstrated that there can-
not be two independent powers in a State, and the Reformers
r°Pose to avoid collision by making both branches of the
egislature' responsible to the nation. The Tories, on the
other hand, wish to destroy the independence of the Commons.
. Those who look for anything like a manifesto in the Glasgow
speech will he disappointed. It contains no indications of
e_o.urse the Tories are to pursue during the approaching session.
r Robert went' to the dinner well stored with extracts from
Pt'each and English writers, and he worked them up into a
viadication of the House of Lords, and an attempt to show
thin democracy was incompatible with a country in the situa-
tion
of England. His speech had more of the character of an
`ssaY than an address at a political banquet. From the ac-
!mints we have received it was by no means one of his most
aneeessful efforts. It was not like the Tamworth address, in-
, ered by the approach of office. As to the other speeches
maAnt affair went off very heavily. The bal.-ject was rich in
erica reel)
y 1 ects but poor' in intellectual.-111orning Chronicle.
ration engthened notice of that great and memorable exhor-
to the academic uth of Glasgow which filled so many
eol
la "Ins of Saturday's Times would be difficult and
.super
unns• It •
eellence is the nature of didactic compositions of high ex-
. less abounding in comprehensive views of life, and in
an :olna,of intellectual exercise and moral conduct, to provide
.the ofre commentary on their own text, and to supersede
to edileet of the critic or the eulogist, by exhausting those topics
Work
l
of
h.either would naturally resort for illustrations of the
exquisitei3
author. The Right Hon. Baronet has fully and
questionsY broughte up all the materials afforded by the various
Peel's hiswteuich he treated of. Had any addition to Sir R.
name aner3' been required, as a source of honour to his
dantly by tha:istracter, it would have been supplied abun-
pregnant soh , inaugural address, of which a refined taste and.
• trinsin wisdom oiarship were but the flowing drapery, while in=
eel, fr
ti"lll4vnilCe period of his leaving Oxford, with a repute-
and eropioa__ d since the days of Canning, has spent his life
speei" of
ti•e_alsis faculties in almost uninterrupted action—in a
and to ineigatnefitted beyond all others to quiken the sagacity,
reinforce the the Purpose,
least qualified
to mature the experience, and to
of all others, arnoollas with regard to matters of practice ; but,
vete the meditatio possibly to expand or ale-
party been by n
, Years
bst•h:Yet, harassed as the Right Hon. Baronet
party struggle, how
nparunrelaxed official drudgery or anxious
out ! There is in tho Pure
and Young in heart does he come
once paternal and unassune of his expressions an authority at
clearness ; throughout thmen4; in his admonitions a truth and
and simplicity, and in the ale inle of his reasonings a breadth
course an unaffected warmihr.t
curse
which give evidence of a ar: and motive of his entire dis-
It'vell as dignity of moral feel-
prospects
which the Constitntiso and uncorrupted mind. The
the youth of all classes in both Britain unfolds to
which it demands no qualities his:itt° of the island, and
great majority of this manly nation, 0:: whieu belong to the
realize, were dwelt
upon by the Right Hon. Baronet in ene,
complete fusion and amalgamation of EnZaging terms. The
siritmen and Scotch-
men was handsomely exemplified by
allusion to the success of Sir John Campbelli!ert Peel, in an
e(th antagonist
.whom he had just defeated at Glasgow) as
Fister, and to his own triumph over that learned nS
English bar-
his native soil. But it was in the peroration
Hon. Bar t' of the Right
one s speech that .the genius of the philoso
Statesman •
displayed itself in a I' Isubordinatetopical
ig only ta
wherein he shone as a true and stedfast Christian. Never be
fore were
the words of Cicero adduced with more consummate
or successful skill to attest the superiority •
and those mot. • of those sanctions
motives which revealed to the
humblest religion offers ic
humblest follower of' Christ over the dreary hopelessness of

We present our readers this day with the most complete
report which it is in the power of any Journal to furnish of
Sir Robert Peel's speech at the Glasgow dinner on Friday.
Knowing the shuffling Jesuitical character of the Right Hon.
Baronet, and the vague unmeaning generalities in which be is
accustomed to deal, we did not attach much importance to any
thing which was likely to fall from him on the occasion ; but
still we determined to give the earliest, the most ample, and
most accurate report of his speech, which any of our Morning
Contemporaries could by possibility give. We received this
report yesterday morning, twenty minutes before two o'clock,
precisely at the same time as The Sun Newspaper, which
published an ample edition of the speeches at the dinner. Our
Contemporary is justly entitled to great praise for the extra-
ordinary expedition with which it has expressed, and re-ex-
pressed throughout every part of the kingdom, the proceed-
ings at Glasgow. For our own part, we have simply to say,
that we might have accomplished the same matter, had it been
our will or to our benefit. We do not state this in dero-
gation of the merits of our Contemporary, which are too
well known to suffer in public estimation from any thing
which either this or any othcr Journal could, by possi-
bility, say, and which did not need this addition to its
glory ; but simply in justice to ourselves, we deem it proper
to state, that we received our report at the same time, and had
we regarded the speech of Sir Robert of sufficient importance
we might have expressed it through all parts of the country;
but the affair is altogether so vague and general, that we did
not think it worth our while to do more than our Contempo-
raries have done. To expose all the sophistries, inconsisten-
cies, and contradictions of Sir Robert's Address, would re-
quire more space than we can at present devote to it; we
must, therefore, drag from its complicated involutions a few
of the more elaborate casuistries and eloquent fallacies which
compose the tissue and embroidery of this ingenious mesh-
work. In the commencement of his Speech, the Right
Honourable Baronet made slight allusion to the congratu-
lations which he had received from " some" of the work-
ing classes of the city of Glasgow. Over this topic, how-
ever—as it was one which would not bear much misre-
presentation on the spot where the " some" or sum of
the congratulating working classes was known to he very few
—Sir Robert passed with a slight and delicate allusion, and
making some claptrap profession of his sympathy with Scot-
land, deprecated the idea of men in authority ever being
ashamed to support the national Church of Scotland, or to ex-
ert themselves fur the extension of religious toleration. This,
no doubt, sounded well, and would have been an unexception-
able sentiment, but for the definition which Sir Robert after-
wards gave of " religious toleration," by which, as he said " I
meant to support the national establishments which connect
Protestantism with the State in these three countries." This
is certainly rather one-sided toleration, which cannot meet the
approval of men like the Scotch, who, having maintained
with their good broadswords the right of exercising their reli-
gion uncontrolled save by conscience, are not likely to tarnish
their weapons by wielding them in opposition to the extension of
a principle to others whic they have so gloriously achieved for
themselves. While boasting of being an advocate for re-
ligious toleration, Sir Robert denounced the voluntary prin-
ciple, and said':-- "In my opinicn more weak arguments
than those by' which what is called the voluntary sys-
tem is supported, were never presented to the conside-
ration of men interested in the prog,ess of a great nation."
We must leave to Sir Robert the task of reconciling this con-
tradiction between religious toleration and the compulsory sys-
tem. We confess our inability to do so ; but from him, as
one skilled in proving black to be white, and vice co-so, we
may expect a reason for the faith that is in him. Sir Robert
waxed particularly verbose in defence of the Lords, between
whose responsibility and that of the electors of the country
he had the effrontery to draw a parallel. " The Lords," said
he, " aro responsible to God and their conscience, and to
whom, or what else are the electors responsible ?" If Sir
Robert were to exercise one-half the ingenuity to discover
truth that lie does to pervert and mystify it, lie might have
Perceived that the great body of the electors are subject to
the most influential of all responsibility—self-interest--which

THE SUN, LONDON, MONDAY, .JANUARY 16. 1837.

in this respect is identical with the general interests of the
country, whereas the self interest of the Lords is directly op-
posed to the national welfare. The electors represent the
commercial and industrial interests ; what interests, we ask,
do the Lords represent ? The interest of those who
luxuriate on the exertion; of others. Responsible to
God and their conscience! Who would intrust the pro-
tection or guardianship of their interests to others
on such responsibility? In the practice of moral duties the
Peers, as a body, have committed as great and as many dere-
lictions as any other body of men ; yet, in the common affairs
of life, would not a man be laughed at, or pitied as an idiot, who
would propose to confide his affairs and the affairs of his posterity
to the hereditary guardianship of men responsible from genera-
tion to generation only to God and their conscience ? Sir Ro-
bert declined judging a democratic government by that of the
United States, and preferred to exhurnate the horrors perpe-
trated by Robespierre, Danton, and Marat, in the French Re-
volution, and parade them as an example of what should be
:tpected from a democratic government in this country. The
introduction of any discussion respecting the United States in
the present juncture was most injudicious on the part of Sir
Robert—as a country with eight hundred millions of debt can li
derive but little cause of congratulation from a comparison
with one whose annual revenue is more than double its expen-
diture. It needs no logic to deduce a conclusion from such
premises as these—the most obtuse as well as the most subtle
mind must at a glance be impressed with the same convic-
tion. " Do not suppose," said the sophist, "that Robespierre,
ex., were mere lulus naturm, engendered by France alone ;
no, they were the creatures of circumstances, and, depend upon
it, the same results will follow from the same causes." What,
we again ask, were these circumstances and causes? What
but the tyrannical exactions and persecutions of a despotic
system of Government which goaded the French people to
such desperation, that, to themselves at least, they seemed
justified in their severest and most relentless retaliations. 'Such
scenes can never occur in this country, because the aristocracy
have not the power to carry the oppression of the people to
the same extent as was done in France previously to the revo-
lution, and the British people have too just an appreciation of
their own power and self-respect to sully their triumph with
cruelty and blood. If, however, as Sir Robert alleged, the
same results would follow like causes, on whom would the re-
sponsibility rest, on whom but on those who would have forced
the people into the de:irious vindication of outraged rights ?
There are other topics in this motley address which deserve
more prominent notice than could be given at the conclusion
of an article, and therefore we reserve them for future corn-
mentary.—Korning Advertiser.

GRAND BANQUET

TO
SIR ROBERT PEEL AT GLASGOW
FRIDAY, JAN. 13.

(From The Sun of yesterday.)

The excitement occasioned by the arrival of Sir ROBERT
PEEL in the Commercial Metropolis of the North, continues
still unabated—and the town is filling rapidly, notwithstanding
the severity of the weather, and the very general prevalence
of influenza, which, it was at one time appeal:ended, would
deter many from leaving their homes.
The Right ;Hon. Baronet visited the Royal Exchange yes-
terday, where a large crowd assembled for the purpose of ob-
taining a sight of him. He was loudly cheered by his Tory
adherents, which had the effect of calling forth a few observa-
tions, in which he chiefly confined himself to the architectural
beauty and splendour of the edifice in which he was, and the
venerable University which he had just left--the one famous
as a seat of learning, and the other illustrative of the great
commercial enterprise and skill of the City of Glasgow. The
Right Hon. Baronet left the room amid the renewed cheers of
those assembled, who caused considerable destruction among
the furniture, gas pipes, and glass globes, by unceremoniously
mounting the tables, in their anxiety to obtain a peep at the
distinguished stranger.
THE DJNNER,
_ _

The banquet given to Sir Robert Peel at Glasgow, and the
speech delivered on the occasion by the distinguished guest,
would in themselves attract more of the public attention than
any political event which it has for a long period been our duty
to commemorate. But it is still worth while to sharpen the
zest with which our readers will peruse oar report of this re-
markable festival by reminding them of the vaticinations in
which the enemies of Sir Robert Peel,hav9 for many weeks
been indulging upon. this uncomfortable theme. First, the
dinner was to be a failure—poor in numbers, scanty in re-
spectability, weak in influence. Three thousand five hundred
of the most opulent, the most independent, the most in-
telligent men in Glasgow honnured themselves in honour-
ing Sir Robert Peel on Friday. Next, the speech was to be
a failure ; it was to contain much Latin and little politics, much
of academical display, and little of Parliamentary explana-
tion. The speech is before England, before Europe : for
to the remotest corners of Europe will its effect be felt. Can
we say more of it than that it was worthy of the occasion
—worthy of the audience—worthy of the orator? If elo-
quence be, as it has been defined, the best thing, said in the
best season, in the best place, and in the best way, then we do
not know a more deeply or nobly eloquent speech than the
address of Sir Robert Peel to his three thousand entertainers
at Glasgow. Every part of the magnificent oration of the
great statesman would deserve an especial notice from criticism
more elaborate and minute than it is within our province or
within our power to apply. The " simple and familiar phrases"
in which he conveys his sense of a reception that must indeed
have awakened feelings which studied and complimentary
forms of expression would most inadequately have spoken—the
picturesque imagery in which he calls up his old recollections
of Caledonian ground, claiming the sympathies of his hearers
for one who has " read the map of Scotland on the grand
scale of nature, from the summits of Ben Nevis and
Lomond," who hes " looked over the country," and who
has " climbed the mountain sides with no companion but a
Highland shepherd"—the easy and natural transition with
which he passes from the blessings enjoyed by the in•
habitants of the land thus early endeared to him, to the sources
from which those blessings immediately flow—the solemn ear-
nestness of his claim upon the State " for that homage to
Christianity which is rendered to it by our religious establish-
ment"—the unanswerable completeness of his exposure of the
miserable tricksters who arc " ransacking pigeon-holes, and
other depositories of that kind, far plans for a reform of the
House of Lords"—the clear and instructive lessons which he
draws alike from the existing perils of the American Republic,
and from the past convulsions of the French Monarchy—and,
finally, the impressive enthusiasm of the assurance with which
he concludes, that the institutions which we ail love will come.
out of the trials which threaten them " more deeply rooted in
the convictions, in the feelings, and in the affections of a Pro-
testant people"—each of these and of other passages will
have its particular admirers ; and there is no man, not
bitterly jaundiced by the spirit of party, who, regarding the
combined effect of the whole, will not pronounce the composi-
tion a masterpiece alike of the art of the rhetorician and of
the wisdom of the statesman. But, after all, the great interest
attached to Sir Robert Peel's speech arises from the considera-
tion of it as a political manifesto. In this respect it has all
the characteristics of the letter to the electors of Tamworth.

as our readers and the public generally are already aware,
took place in a pavilion erected for the express purpose, on
the cast side of Buchanan-street, and the following descrip-
tion, which we copy from the Glasgow Herald of Friday, will
afford our readers some idea of the plan upon which it has
been arranged :—" Last night we had the pleasure of seeing
this magnificent Hall lighted up, the tables being covered
and partly victualled for 3,435 persons. We think it may be
said with safety, that never before, in this country, has there
been seen such a Hall, except perhaps that of Westminster
Abbey, at the Coronation of the late King. As a tempo-
rary building, however, got up in the course of two or three
weeks, it is without a parallel in Great Britain—whether we
consider it in its dimensions, its classical devices, its elegant
and well-proportioned parts, the splendour with which it is
illuminated, or its commodiousness for the purpose intended.
The quantity of cloth stuff used by these eminent upholsterers,
the Messrs. James Whyte and Son, in covering the roof, the
tables, seats, &c., is about eight thousand yards of all de-
scriptions; and the gas lustres (two of them are exceed-
ingly beautiful), contain upwards of three thousand burners.
The gallery, from which by far the finest view of the
Hall is got, is supported by fourteen imitation of sienna-marble
columns, with Corinthian capitals—the roof beillg upheld by
ten columns of a similar description, thirty-two feet in height.
The decorative painting has been executed in a very superior
manner by Messrs. Michael Bogle and Co., the great west end
being divided into three departments of massive Egyptian pil-
lars, painted in relief. In the centre compartment, behind the
Bench where Sir Robert Peel and the most distinguished part
of the company are to sit, is an immense rock, on which is
founded the British Constitution in a pyramidical form, a little
timeworn from the blasts it has stood, and on which the words
Briti,h Constitution " are emblazoned in gold letters. On
the top of this pyramid is seen the base of an obelisk, bearing
the inscription of " King," also in gilded letters. In the right
compartment is another pyramid, founded also on a rock, on
which is the word " Lords " in emblazoned gold letters. The
left compartment contains a similar pyramid, with " Com-
mons." The whole, from its great magnitude, has a very
grand and imposing effect. The front of the gallery is painted
in panels of crimson and stone-colour styles, which, with the
columns in imitation of marble, give the area a chaste and
light appearance. The front of the bench is panelled in crim-
son and yellow mouldings, that stand out in bold relief against
the sombre column of the rock behind."

About four o'clock the company began to arrive, and not-
withstanding the vast crouds assembled round the pavilion, the
arrangements were such as to afford immediate and easy
ingress to all.

-Sir Robert Peel entered the room about a quarter past five,
and the vast multitude within the building instantly rose, and
received him with loud cheers, clapping of hands, and waving
of handkerchiefs, the band striking up,
" See the conquering hero comes,"
There were a few hisses 'from a remote corner of the
gallery, but they were drowned in the louder and more general
shout of acclamation with which the Right Hon. Baronet
was greeted on his entrance.

Among the distinguished individuals who were stated to be
present were the Duke of Buccleugh, Marquises Twee-
dale and Lothian, Earls Haddington, Rosslyn, Hardwick,
Morton, Eglington, Leven, and Melville ; Lords John Scott,
M. P„ Forbes, John Campbell, Elcho, Loughborough, Ram-
say ; Viscounts Melville, Stourmont, M. P., Kelburn; Sirs G.
Clerk, M.P., H. P. H. Campbell, M. P., A. Campbell, John
M‘Kenzie, J. S. Forbes; John Campbell, Bart., W. J.
Hooker, William Rae, A. Edmonston, Chas. Hastings, D.
Erskine, R. Arbuthnot; Messrs. E. Tennant, M. P., Cummin
Bruce, M. P, W. Forbes, M. P. Hope Johnstone,M. P.; Pringle,
M P., Gordon,lll. P., W. E. Gladstone,M. P., Gen. Arbuthnot,
M. P., The Chisholm, M. P., Professors Jeffrey, Meikleham,
Ramsay, Burns, Cheape, Femieg, Badharn, Cowper, and
Buchanan. The Dean Convener, the Dean of Guild, the
Master of Grey, the Master of Rolls, the Hon. Capt. Cath-
cart, Baillie Bain, &c., &c., &c.
The Chair was taken by HENRY MONTEITII, of Carstairs,
Esq., and on his right sat the distinguished guest of the
evening.

It is plain, energetic, uncompromising. But it is so in a yet
greater degree than the Tamworth address. In 134 parties
were hardly in conflict upon any particular question ; Lord
John Russell had not moved the appropriation clause; Sir
John Campbell had not denounced the H, use of Lords; Lord
Melbourne had not been accused of a predilection for the bal-
lot. In 1834, therefore, the address of Sir Robert Peel to
the electors of Tamworth contained little more than an
exposition—a most clear and satisfactory one—of the ge-
neral tenor of his opinions. In 1837 parties are en-
gaged in the closest strife upon the most important prin-
ciples ! the abrogation of the hereditary privileges of
the House of Lords—•the annihilation of the revenues
'and the dignities of the Established Church. In 1837,
therefore, the speech of Sir Robect Peel to the mer-
chants of Glasgow contains a distinct, manly, intelligible
avowal of his purpose on all those vital questions. With ad-
mirable judgment, and with a good taste which combines a
perfect indulgence for his opponent's opinion with a con-
scientious adherence to his own, he calls on the many Re-
formers whom he sees assembled around him to forget
past dissensions, if upon present dangers they are ageeed ;
and to prove, by the cordiality of their future Conserva-
tism, that in their support of the Reform of 1831,• they de-
signed, with their gracious Sovereign, " to give additional
security to the settled institutions of the State." He then
proceeds to declare, in emphatic terms, his determination
upon the mighty topics on which the fate of this nation de-
pends. " I mean," says Sir Robert Peel, "to support
the National Establishments which connect Protestant-
ism with the State in these three countries:" Here then
is a question. on which Sir Robert Peel proelaims that there
can be no approach to an agreement between him and the
supporters of the Government. Again, " I mean," says Sir
Robert Peel, " to support in its full integrity the authority of
the House of Lords. I mean to consider every plan that may
be proposed, as introduced—not directly and openly, but co-
vertly—with the view of undermining that branch of the Le-
gislature. I mean, I repeat, to consider every such proposi-
tion, not on its abstract isolated merits, but as tending ulti-
mately to sap the foundations of the House of Lords, and
thereby to destroy the British Constitution." Here, then,
is another question upon which the difference between
Sir Robert Peel and the supporters of the Government
is irreconcilable. We speak of the supporters of the
the Government; for the Government itself liss no voice, no
vitality, upon these momentoui themes. The Home Secretary
may be content to take but a surplus front the Established
Church—the Attorney-General may be willing to wait a while
for a moderate Peerage Reform. But there is the issue which
is to be tried. Are you for an Established Church, or a volun•
tary system? Are you for a mixed Government, or for a pure
Democracy? Are you, in short, with Sir Robert Peel, or with
Mr. O'Connell? We trust this splendid oration will be circu-
lated in every form in which the Press can clothe it through
every town and hamlet in the kingdom. It should be in the
castle of every peer ; it should be in the cottage of every pea-
sant : for peer and peasant are alike interested in the mainte-
nance of the political and the religious institutions it so admir-
ably defends.—Morning Post.

Dorchester House is to undergo some embellishment
previous to the return of the Marquis of Hertford from Italy.
Sir F. PoNsoNBY.—It is with feelings of the deep-
est regret that we announce the death of Major-General
Sir Frederick Cavendish Ponsonby. He died suddenly at
Merwell-green, near Basingstoke, on Thum:lay night, when
on his way to London. Sir Frederick Ponsonby was the
second son of the Earl of Besborough, and brother of
Viscount Duncannon, and was in the 54th year of his age.

THE DUKE OF SUSSEX.—On Sunday afternoon
(the Bth inst.) his Royal Highness the Duke or Sussex was
subjected to an alarming accident on his way to Colonel
Wildman's, at Newstead Abbey ; the carriage was either
drawn off the road, or was driven on a post, at Pelham, near
Newark, and was overturned, the panel driven in, and his
Royal Highness severely stunned by the shock. The axle
was forced out, so that three of the horses were set at
liberty. We sincerely hope no ill effects will result from
the serious danger.

Sir Thomas Cartwright, Minister to the Diet at
Frankfort, arrived in Dover-street ou Saturday from
Brighton.
Lord Cranstoun arrived at the Clarendon on Satur-
day from Sandrh Park, Devonshire.

Colonel Fox has left town to join Lady Mary at
Paris.

The Speaker of the House of Commons and his
Lady are expected to arrive on Friday next from Stubbing
Court, near Chesterfield. The Right Honourable Gentle-
man will again occupy Mr. Clifton's house on Carlton-
terrace.

The Duke of Palmella gave a sumptuous dinner on
Saturday evening, at the Clarendon, to the Baron Mon-
corvo and a distinguished party of sixteen.

The Earl and Countess de Grey and Captain and
Lady Mary Vyner have arrived at St. James's-square
from West Park for the season.

When the cloth was removed, the Chairman rose and said,
he should give them, with all the feelings of loyalty, " The
King." Nine times nine. Air—God save the King.
The CHAlRMAN—Gentlemen, I give you the highest lady in
the land—not higher in rank than she is in virtue.--(Enthu-
siastic cheers.) " The Queen." Air—" My ain kind
dearie, 0,7

" The Princess Victoria, and the rest of the Royal Family."
(Nine times nine.) Air--" My love she's but a lassie yet."
The CHAIRMAN would now give them, " The British Con-
stitution, King, Lords, and Commons.—( Applause.) Un-
der that Constitution they had enjoyed peace, happiness, and
prosperity, and its emblem was behind them, built upon
a rock.—( Loud cheering.) He hoped that they should
leave it to future generations to enjoy it as it had been framed ;
and whatever people might say, he trusted that Constitution
would be preserved and not destroyed.—( Vehement cheering.)
" The Army," under whose banners, and by whose achieve-
ments, the liberties of the country have been preserved and
protected against her enemies. Air—" British Grenadiers."
Lord FORBES—Being the senior military officer present, the
duty of acknowledging this toast has devolved upon me. I
therefore thank you in the name of the British Army for the
honour you have done us. I believe I may add, that the British
army are never more happy than when they have reason to con-
clude that their conduct either in the field or in quarters, has
been such as to render them acceptable to their King and
their country. —( Loud cheers.)
The CHAHIMAN —Gentlemen, the next toast I have to pro-
pose, to which I am sure you will do all honour—it is those
under whose banner we hare achieved great things—( Cheers)
—" The Navy of Great Britain, the wooden walls of Old
England."--z( Great cheering.)
Lord FIaIDWICK rose to return thanks, amid much cheer-
ing. Not being the senior officer present, I rise, Sir, to re-
turn thanks for this toast, the two senior officers sitting at the
other end of the table, and I wish I had a spy-glass to see
them—( Laughter)—complaining of being unwell, have
struck work, and are now on the doctor's list.—( Cheers.) I
therefore, the third in rank, am entrusted with the pleasant
office of returning thanks for the profession to which I belong.
The navy has nbver been considered a political body; and I
trust, as long as we have meetings of this description,
so numerously attended, it will be needless to consider them
in any other capacity than a useful body to protect the inte-
rests of the country against a foreign enemy.—( Great cheer-
ing.)—l beg most sincerely to return thanks for the honour
you have done us. We are attached to the Constitution
and the Crown.—(Continued cheers.) Individually and
personally we are attached to the person of our King.—
( Great cheering. )—Again, gentlemen, I be; to say, on behalf
of the Navy, that we return you our most 'hearty thanks for
the great honour you have done us—the greatest honour` the
British Navy could receive.—(Great cheering.)
The CHAIRMAN then said—My lords and gentlemen, I now
rise to propose to you what may with propriety be called the
toast of the day.—(Cheers.)—l am sure I am unequal to the
task which has been imposed on me, but which I am proud
I have been required to perform.—( !fear. )—As regards in-
accuracy, my mind is relieved, when I consider the subject of
the toast I have to propose to you, and that it does not require
a lone. harangue to recommend it to your warm reception.
—(Loud cheers.)—Sir Robert Peel has been so long known
to you, that the history of the last twenty years may be
said to have defined his character, and displayed him
to you as a great statesman, a pure patriot, and an honest man,
and to recommend him to you I need say no more than this.—
( Hear and cheers.) History recommends him to you as a
statesman, who has devoted his great talents to the service of
his country.—( Loud cheers.) I shall say no more then, but
that I am sincerely thankful that to me has fallen the honour
of proposing to you the health of Sir Robert Peel.—( Loud
and continued cheers, which lasted for several minutes.)
Sir ROBERT PEEL rose, and the cheering and acclamations
were again renewed, and kept up with the greatest enthusiasm
for several minutes. He said—Gentlemen, I thank you, I
thank you from the bottom of my heart, for the kind and affec-
tionate reception you have given to my name. Excuse me, if
for the purpose of returning thanks, I make use of the most
simple and familiar phrases. They arc imperfect expressions of
my feelings, but they are better suited to express them, than
the trite, studied, and complimentary forms of expression which
may be suited for ordinary occasions. What a heart must I have,
if I can have witnessed what has passed in Glasgow within
the last five days, without deep emotion ? Unconnected with
this country by birth, I have been placed in competition with
a distinguished Scotchman for a high academic distinction. I
have been placed in it by a triumphant majority—by the gene-
rous, the unsought, the unsolicited confidence of the youth of
Scotland.—(Loud cheers.) I have seen that choice con-
firmed by the deliberate judgment of men of maturer age,
ene-aged in the pursuits of business and professional life._
(Cheers. ) This very day have I received the congratulations,
on my appointment, from some of the working classes of this
great city —( Applause)—couched in language that would do
honour to men of the highest education. I have seen those feel-
ings so wide spreading and so intense, that they disdained to be
compressed within the limit of any pre-existing edifice, and
they called forth from the ground, as by the stroke of an en-
chanter's wand, this magnificent and unparalleled fabric.—
( Hear, and cheers.) I have been present here—l have heard
its foundations shaken, and its roof almost rent by your en-
thusiastic applause ; and do you think I can condescend to
look out for ingenious forms of expression for the purpose of
giving vent to feelings which almost overpower me ?—( Loud
and continued cheering.) I said that I was unconnected with

forming de novo a neew establishment; the question is, wilt
yeti adhere to that which you find established by the law, which
has been guaranteed to you by the most solemn national com-
pact ?—(Cheers.) Then, again, I avow to you that I mean to '
supple, in its full integrity. the authority of the House of
Lord;—(Tremendous cheering, which Weed for several ral
nutes )—as an essential, indiaperraable condition of
contin led existence of the mia ed form of Government
under` which we live, as tantamount to the -maintenance
of the British Censtitution.—(Great cheering.) I nisan to
consider every plausible proposition that may be enrele, not
directly assailing that integrity, but covertly to undermine
it.—( Hear.) I mean to consider them, not upon their abetract
merits, but the ultimate tendency they may have to undermine
the Hous! of Lords, and destroy the British Constitution.--
(Great cheering.) Do you concur also with me in that en-
pression ?—( Great cheers.) If you do, it is a timely declara-
tion of it.—(Cheers.) The hour has arrived when, if those:
are our feelings, we must be prepared to act upon them.—
(Tremendous cheers.) Do not let us content ourselves with
the vehemence of our enthusiasm.—(Cheers.) We have poli-
tical privileges given to us, and do not know for what it is we
hold them, unless we are determined to exercise them.—
, (Cheers.) And if your sense of the daneer is that which
apprehend it is from your declaration, and if your union of
sentiment with me is that which I think it is, and
.which
I collect it to be—l say, that having these privileges and
rights, if you do not exert them, You will be in the situation of
the man who in the face of the common enemy, having a
sword, refused to draw it.—( Great cheering.) I speak of the
civil sword only.—(Hear, hear.) The exercise of civil privi-
liges is estimable, as instructing us to maintain and to defend
our own opinions.—(Cheers.) But it is time that we should
resort to the peaceful exercise of these privileges.--( Hear. )
I possess a privilege—that of addressing you here.—( Cheers.)
And I shall now set you an example in the exercise of it.—
( Hear.) Don't think that I came here only to gratify my per-
sonal vanity, althotigh as far as that vanity is coecerned its
eratification has been most complete.—(Herr.) I say that I
carte here, believing that by my communion with you I
might be able to strengthen the means of defence for the Con-
stitution, And I forgot the distance—l forgot the winter, for
feeling it ess be right, in the performance of a public duty, I
did to.—(Cheers.)—l say, then, 'tis time—thilthne is come
for us to stand !orward in the exercise of the privilege to
which I have allusled ; for I have read speeches lately which
have been delivered by those whose special duty, in my
opinion, it is to &fen: the Constitution in all its integrity ;
I have read speeches, ho;vever, delivered by them, of such
a nature, as makes me unwilling to trust its defence to their
exertions.—(Hear and cheers. )--I hove read the speeches of
great legal authorities, and I find that they have mat yet made
up their minds to the reform of the Horse of Loross.—( Hear
and laughter.) I am sorry for it—(Hear)—they say they
fear that it is coming, but they have not yet seen the plan of
operation.—( Hear and laughter.) They are hard at work,
however, ransacking pigeon-holes and depositories, fur plans
for a reform of the House of Lords.—(Hear.) The chief
objection is, however, that no plan has yet been drawn out-
right.—(Hear.) Oh ! what miserable trifling.—( Hear, hear.)
But they may spare themselves the waste of time—let them
take the first of those which have been proposed—let theta
substitute for the House of Lords a Council of Ancients, or
a Council of Five Hundred—or let them substitute a new
body, elected by the Peers, or by the heads of families—
(Laughter)—or let 'hem give the House of Lords a suspen-
sive veto.—(Cheers and laughter.) Let them, in fact, take
ono or the other of these, the effect will be the same.—
(Checeas) Why, do you believe that you can uproot the oak
of the forest, which has seen e thousand generations?—
(Loud cheers.) Do you believe you can uproot the noble
productions from which the hatchments and the achievements
of a thousand illustrious names are st:spended ?—(Cheers.)
But rely on it our change won't be to the institutions of the
United States. Never believe, although they may be show-
ering down prosperity and haespiness on the people of that
country (and I hope they are), never believe that such will oc-
cur. Recollect the physical differences that e. xist between
them. This is a country of ancient .eeelings and e ssocuttions;
and do not believe that you can transfsr to it the }:epublican
institutions of America. Do you thinie that we woutel submit
without a struggle to the tyranny which :nay ensue ? W t bate
the tyranny of a single despot—we hate cligarchical tyranny,
but the tyranny of the majority has no gesater recommenda-
tion. We shall not follow the example .of the minority in
the United States.—(Hear, hear, hear.) We are a coun-
try of old associations—(hear)—every castle and every field
will remind us of the institutions under which we lived.. " The
days of auld langsync" will dwell upon our memosles—(Tre-
mendous cheers )—and they would make us most imp.atient and
ungovernable subjects of a despotic country.—(Loud cheers.)]
If you choose to run the risk of that experiment, he-ye before:
your eyes the example of another country. If you wii3 abolish
hereditary authority —if you will make a permanent democratic
assembly, then prepare yourselves, not for the institutions of
the United States, but for that terrible and fiery ordeal through
which France has passed.—( Cheers.) If you choose to
abolish the 'louse of Lords--do abolish it. If you think that;
a second Consulting Chamlx r ought not to oppose itself toe
the will of the people, abolish it at once.—( Hear.) Do suit
let us have a pretended second chamber; infiaitely baiter
will it be to come at once to the teial of having only cnice
Chamber, than to destroy its influence And prerogatives, an&
leave it the empty name.—(Cheers:) You are told that theses
measures arc indispensable—the destruction of the ChurcleEse
tablishment as being in its present state inconsistent with the
rights of the people, the Reform of the House of Lorris,
and the Vote by Ballot.—( Hear, hear, hear, and clieers.)'
When you have destroyed the House of Lords what form of
Government will you substitute? You have the constituent
body, which is responsible at present to nobody but public
opinion ; but the proposition now made would have the effect
of rendering that body altogether irresponsible, because It.
would exere.se its privileges by ballot. I will venture to say
that this country will not submit to such a domination.—
( Applause.) Here is a body of four or five hundred thousand
men, selected for no other qualification than property exer-
cising those privileges in a secret irresponsible manner; and IL
ask, is it possible to suppose that the people of this country-
would ever tolerate such an exercise of perfectly irresponsible
power, when you have proved that perfectly independent body,
the constituent assembly, what security will you have for the
proper exercise of its powers any more than France ? Do you
hope to sec its deliberations conducted by better or wiser men
than they had in France ? I hare quoted from the United
States, and I shall now quote from another country. Thcset
are grave subjects, and it is better to treat them in a serious,
manner.—(hear, hear, hear.) It is better to discuss
than - attack a political antagonist behind his back,
or reciprocate the vulgar abuse which in my absence has been
showered upon me.—(Loud cries of hear.) Gentlemen,
since I set out on my travels from Staffordshire to this place,
liming brought with me some French newspapers, I lately
read an address from one of the present Ministers of the King
of the French, a man who is called from his retirement be fill
a high office in the Councils of his Majesty. It was an addecss
delivered when he was receiving the reward of literature, being
appointed a member of the French Academy. I mean M.
Guizot, member of Public Instruction in France, and this is
the account he gives of the results of the meeting of the Con-
stituent Assembly of France—a purely democratic body com-
posed of most enlightened men, and men desirous of every
reform. The Right Hon. Baronet here read the address of
M. Guizot of the 27th December last, and proceeded :—Are
you quite sure that if you constitute an unchecked democratic
assembly, above all responsibility, that they will exercise it with
prudence and moderation ? Men who have actually received
advice to call for one candidate outside the hustings, but to
give their vote in the balloting box for another ?—(Cheers.)
Are you sure that you have any guarantee that those results that
followed in France will not follow here? The inference is
that they will. This new government will meet with a re-
sistance ; we will not be content to submit, and then will
come the dreadful reaction. Don't believe that such mis-
creants as Robespierre, Mcrat and Denton were mere lusus
naturce engendered in France alone. No—they were the
creatures of circumstances arising frpm the subversion of all
the institutions which have been long established, and the
prescriptive authorities which had been so long obeyed. De-
pend upon it, that with the same causes the same results
will inevitably follow. You will have power to correspond
from the proper authorities—you will have in every village a
miscreant establishing the most cruel and grinding tyranny,
by calling himself the people.—(Great cheering.) Now,
gentlemen, I have given you a testimony to the French, and
to the American Constitutions, and I must need bring no tes-
timony to the beauty and results of the British Constitution'.
Cheers.) Your own experience—your own affections
supply them ; but that a link shall not be wanting, I shall
supply you with a testimony to the British Constitution—from
whence shall I draw it?—lf from any ancient institutions, you
might justly sky the time has gone by when opinions like hose
availed. If I draw it from any living authority, and main-
taining Conservative opinions, not you, but others, 'night
scout it.—( Hear.) But I shall give you the opinions of one
of our present Ministers, who is high in the councils of his
Sovereign, and you can contrast with M. Guizoes picture of
France the picture of England, drawn by a Reformer, and a
Minister of the King of England. You will at once admit
that this is a disinterested authority, indisputable and unpreju-
diced. These sentiments were uuered, not in the beat of de-
bate, but a deliberate publication, by do less.an authority than
Lord John Russell.—(The Right Hon. Baronet then read au
extract from a publication of Lord John Russell, in which
the blessings and beauties of the British Consitution were
expatiated on in a highly eulogistic manner. The reci-
tal was received with loud an long continued cheering.)
I will tell you those gentlemen have no objections to the pri-
vileges of the monarchy, as long as they can be made useful
instruments in the hands of the democracy.—(Cheers.) The
House of Peers, it is said, are not responsible. I hare heard
this before. I replied that certainly the Peers were not res-
ponsible in the sense in which the House of Commons is res-
ponsible, but that I did think that in their responsibility to
GO, to their own consciences, and to enlightened public opi-
nion, that the people had a guarantee for the faithful perform-
ance of their duty.__( Loud cheers.) But what I said in my
place met with a different reception from that which it has
met from you.—(Cheers.) Now, Gentlemen, if that be the
fatal objection to the House of Lords, that they are not res-
ponsible to the whole mass of the people, let me ask if there is
no other body invested with: privileges who arc in the same
sense irresponsible also? The House Of Commons is respon-
sible clearly to their constituents—the Ministry is responsible
in different sense from the House of Peers—but let me ask
to, whom is the constituent body responsible ?—( Loud cheers.)
You have selected a certain body as qualified for the exercise
of great power. I will not say a word on the subject of this
power. There has been a settlement, the effect of which has
been to invest some 300,000 or 400,000 men out of the whole
classes of secicty, with great political privileges ; and I ask of
whom are these responsible ? They arc not selected—it was
impossible to select them—they exercise the elective franchise
partly as an hereditary right, and partly because of the pos-
session of property.—( Hear, hear.) What other security

, Scotland by birth—l hope I did not say that I was a stranger.
No—l am not a stranger.—(Loud applause.) If the long
exercise of power in Scotland, if the administration of justice,
if intercourse with her civil and religious institutions, and above
all, if love for her name, and admiration for her charac-
ter; and cordial interest in her welfare, ettitle a man
to repudiate the name of stranger, then lam not a stranger
in Glasgow. --. (Cheers.) No, gentlemen, when my
education was completed, I burned with a wish to see Scot-
land. I came here to this city, and I confess to you,
that although the interval is short in the history of
nations, I could not have conceived it possible that
in that interval such progress could have been made in the
population, in the wealth, and in the prosperity of this magni-
ficent city—(Great cheering)—pouring, as it does, into the
revenue, in one branch alone, greater treasures than continen-
tal nations possess for the whole of their expenditure. I came
here--I wished to see something of Scotland which I could
not have seen from hasty. glimpses from the windows of a
luxurious post coach. I wanted to see your attitudes and man-
ners of life, apart from the magnificent and hospitable castles
of your Nobility and Gentry.—(Cheers.) Yes, in Glasgow
I hired a faithful steed, and I traversed on horseback, or on
foot, almost the whole of the country from this to Inverness.—
(Cheers.) Gentleinen, bear with me, excuse me if I indulge
in honest exultation---(Cheers)—excuse me if I say in this
society of Scotchmen, Liat I think I have seen more of your
native country than some of those whom I am now address-
ing.—(Cheers.) I have read the map of Scotland in the
scale of nature from the summits of Ben Nevis and Ben Lo-
mond.—(Loud cheers.) I visited that island from which sa-
vage clans and roving barbarians derived the benefits of know-
ledge and the blessings of religion.—( Loud cheers.) Yes,
amid the ruins of lona, I abjured that frigid philosophy that
would conduct us unmoved over any ground, however dignified
by wisdom, bravery, or virtue—l stood on the shores of Stan
—I have seen the temple not built with human hands--I
have seen the mighty swellings of the ocean—the pulsations of
the great Atlantic. I have explored its Inmost recesses, and I
have heard those swellings, nobler than any that ever pealed
from human organs. I have lived on the banks of the Spey
two autumns, and I want no guide in the mountains and shores
of Badenoch—( Great cheers)—l could find my way from
Corriarich to Loch Logan.—(Cheers.) I have climbed your
mountain sides with no companion but a Highland shepherd.
Many an hour have I passed listening to Isis simple annals, and
artless views of human life. I have learned to admire, by per-
sonal intercourse, a proud and independent spirit, chastened by
a natural courtesy.—( Cheers.) I have seen him with intel-
ligence apparently above his condition, but with no intelligence
but that which taught him patience under his privations—con-
fidence in his exertions—and submission to the law—loyalty to
the King.—(Cheers.) And when I have seen that, my ear-
nest prayer has been, that to his children, and his children's
children might be preserved, that system of education which
founded moral obligation upon the revealed will of God.—
(Great cheering.) My earnest wish has been that the circum-
stances of Scotland, with reference to religious dissent, might
long enable them to enjoy that proud, and, I believe, pecu-
liar privilege, of having a system of education enforced by the
law, but in connection with the Established Chureln (Cheers. )
And when I joined that man in public worship, and heard the
sublime truths, and pure doctrines of our common faith enjoined
and enforced, according to different rites, think you I have
adverted to distinctions and a point of form ?—( Cheers.)
Think you that I have troubled myself with questions of
Church discipline, or Church Government Great cheer-
ing.) No, but with a wish as cordial and hearty as you
can entertain.—( Continued cheering.) I have deprecated
the arrival of that day, if ever it should arrive, when men in
authority should not be ashamed to support the Na-
tional Church of Scotland—(Great cheering)—to extend
its ministration, and to advance its good, but do all they can
to extend its religious influence.—( Hear, hear.) Gentlemen,
you respond to that statement.—( Loud and continued cheers.)
Come then, let us devote ourselves not merely to the purposes
of festivity—let us improve the present opportunity to the
public advantage.—( Cheers.) Let us see if we are agreed
as to the dangers to which the Constitution is exposed ; then
let us see, if we can join heart and hand in support of the re-
solution you have adopted.—(Cheers.) Gentlemen, I have
been informed that there are many persons here present who
entertain a different opinion from myself with respect to the
Reform of the House of Commons.—( Hear.) I sincerely
hope that this is the case.—( Cheers.) You may safely think
that I am not here going to offend any by reviving battles that
have been concluded.—( Cheers.) If we can agree as to pre-
sent dangers, and unite in principle, I shall not revive the dis-
sensions that are past, for we might as well in the face of the
enemy fight over again the battles of Bannockburn or the
Field of Flodden.—( Hear and cheers.) I say I want not to
taunt any with reaction or conversion ; but I say this, that if
you adhere to the principles which they professed in 1830,
this is the place in which they should make their appearance.
You consented to the Reform Bill, to which you were ex-
pressly invited to assent to, in the speech which was delivered
by your Sovereign, on condition that you should, in doing so,
acknowledge the principles upon which the Constitution was
founded. Let there be no mistake on this point.—( Loud
cheers.) I see the necessity for widening the foundation on
which the defence of the British Constitution, and the religi-
ous establishment must rest.—( Loud cheers.) I ask, though
I have no right to ask, for any confession of error, or even for
any change of opinion—all I ask of you is, do adhere to the
principles upon which the Reform Bill was advocated; and if
you do, then will you combine with me firmly for the defence
of the Constitution of the country.—( Continued cheers.)
I have now to recommend to you, said his Majesty, the im-
portant question of Reform to your earnest and most attentive
consideration, confident that in any measures you may prepare
for its adjustment, you will carefully adhere to the actkowledged
principles of the Constitution by which the prerogative of the
Crown—the authority of bath Houses of Parliament—( Cheers)
and the rights and liberties of the people are maintained. Did
his Majesty rest satisfied with that? Did he say adopt Re-
form—apply Reform to the House of Commons—but apply it
only upon the acknowledged principles of the Constitution ?
He said that—but he said more. He invited you to consent
to Reform for certain objects, and amongst those objects
expressly was this :—" In recommending Reform to your
consideration, it was my object to give additional se-
curity to the other institutions of our land."—(Cheers.)
Now, Gentlemen, if these were your principles—if you sup-
ported earnestly and conscientiously Reform in the House of
Commons, because you believed that you were resisting an en-
croachment which had been made upon the very representation
of your country-4 Cheers)—if you thought that Reform was
in conformity with the acknowledged principles of the Consti-
tution—if you believed with Lord Grey, that by making the
Reform larger and more extensive you would discountenance
other extravagant propositians endangering the Constitution, I
not only say you may be here without hearing from me one word
that could pain your feelings,but I sey upon you and not upon me
is it incumbent to vindicate your rights. and not mine—the stigma
of being inconsistent with the safety of the British Constitu-
tion.—( Cheers.) I have endeavoured to extract what wee
good—and mitigate as much evil as I could. But, I say, if
you adhere to your principles, you ought not to leave to me,
arid those who act with me, the defence of the Reform Bill.
You naturally say, that although you are determined to resist
further changes which endanger the Constitution, yet you
adhere to your opinions, that the progress of improvement
ought not to be suspended—that abuses ought to be removed.
You avow, no doubt, your hostility to corruption, and you have
ever disavowed it. Corruption !—Whys what has this meeting
to benefit by corruption ? Not one possible thing. This
meeting has met for one object—to mark its esteem for me,
and to extract a public good from it, by spreading the spirit
which animates us.—(Cheers.) I ask what benefit could you
—the greater part of you, active and industrious citizens of
Glasgow—derive from corruption. Perhaps you think my
situation different from yours ; and that, although it
would be difficult to prove that it would benefit you, cor-
ruption to me, as a public man, would be of great ad-
vantage. I should like, however, to ask what benefit
corruption would give me compared with this meeting.—
( Tremendous cheering.) I should like to know if moral in-
fluence, as a public man, is my object, by which I should bene-
fit most, by adding 50 Commissions to the Commissions
already issued ; or by saying 3,500 men met me in Glasgow.
We reconciled, we forget our bygone differences, but we
were determined to'unite in defence of our national establish-
ments and our national religion.—( Long continued cheering.)
I don't want that the machine of Government should stand
still; and I join with you cordially in wishing to see it pro-
gressing in the discharge of its important action, beating with
healthful and regular pulses, animating industry, encouraging
production, rewarding toil, and purifying wherever there is
stagnation ; but let me tell you, that in the social, as in the
material machine, with which you are so well acquainted,
the movements cannot be regular unless the founda-
tions are stable and secure.—(Tremendous cheering.)
If in the case of a steam engine, a man Vfho knows nothing cf
its construction—one man may bore a hole in the cylinder,
another may tinker the boiler—and another, who sees some
horizontal movement which he does not understand—they may
call this reform—they may ask for a progressive movement—
but will this give it them ?—(Tremendous cheering.) Now,
gentlemen, the time I am entitled to trespass upon you is but
short—( Loud cries of " No")—I must not trespass too much
upon your indulgence.—( Cheers.) Let us come to the main
point.—( Loud cheers.) Ido not wish to conciliate your con-
fidence or support by wearing false colours.—( Loud cheers.)
I mean to support the national establishments which connect
Protestantism with the State in these three countries.—(Tre-
mendous cheering, all the company rising.) Nothing could be so
unseemly— after the reception I have met with, nothing could
be so unseemly—in me, than to say one word of—( We missed
the word)—with regard to those who differ from me in their
religious opinions.—( Cheers.) I will say, with respect to the
chief sect of this country, that the country owes to it great
obligations for the efforts they have made in the common cause
of promoting sound principles of religion.—( Loud cheers. )
But it is perfectlyb consistent with that respect and these obli-
gations, if I declare that, in my opinion, more weak arguments
than those by which what is called the Voluntary Sys-
tem is supported, were never presented to the consideration of
men interested in the progress of a great nation. Ido feel,
and I trust you feel the same, that it is right that the State
should pay that homage to Christianity which is implied in a
religious establishment. Is it possible that any person could
be deluded by the analogies addressed by those who say that
the supply of religion will always be equal to the demand?
Is it not perfectly clear that the demand for religious instruc-
tion may not only not be in the direct ratio of its necessity,
but absolutely in an inverse ratio ?—( Loud cheers.) Will
those who stand most in need of religious instruction be the
first, and not the last, to make voluntary efforts? I say that
the minister who is to speak with authority—who is to rebuke
indifference and try to conciliate towards religion—who is to
be the censor over vice—that that man ought not to
depend upon the precarious bounty of those whom he
is to counsel, to admonish, and to instruct.—( Cheers.) I
infer from the declaration of your opinion upon that point
,your mind is made up.—c Cheers.) It is not a question of

n• nee
'lave you for the faithful discharge of the trust reposed
in .the constituency, but that- very security which I
urged in the case of the House of Lords, Viet they are re-
sponsible to God, to their consciences, and to an enlightened
public opinion.—(Cheers.) But then it is said that the
'House of Lords, and this is the main point. Let us meet it
fairly, and consider it fairly. It is said that the House of
Lords has shown a spirit at variance with the spirit of the
people, and that it has obstructed the march of social im-
provement. I challenge the.opponents of the House of Lords
to the' proof.—( Loud cheers.) I ask you calmly to review
the changes that have been made in our social system within a
- period of seven or ten years preceding. I ask you to show
me, in the history of this, or any other country, an equal num-
ber of changes in our social system—and more extensive
changes, aye, in double the time. Why, so rapid is the advance
°Lei will call them improvements—l do not want to take
the advantage of a word for the purpose of gaining
an advantage in argument—l say, so rapid has been the sad-
vance of improvement, or change, that we are hardly conscious
of the changes that have actually taken place.--(Cheers.)
We go with the speed of a rail-road, and cannot mark the
distance from the objects we have passed.—(Cheers.) Within
this period has not the whole of our commercial policy been
changed ? I am not saying whether these changes are good
or aot—l only refer to the many extensive changes that have
been made, without reference to the result, or proable result,
of them.—( Cheers.) My argument is, that the House of
Lords have not manifested that disposition to obstruct local
improvement charged against them. I say, that within this
period the whole of the commercial policy of the country has
been changed. Our intercourse with our colonies in the West
Indies, and with the East, Las been put .on a wholly
different footing—the monopoly has been destroyed, and the
privilege of a free and unrestricted intercourse granted.—
( Cheers.) The whole of the criminal laws has been revised,
and the severity of the criminal code has been diminished.
Can any one deny these facts?—(Cheers.)—the civil disa-
bilities have been removed from the Roman Catholics—the
Test and Corporation Acts have been repealed—a Reform of
the House of Commons has taken place—Slavery has been
abolished—( Cheers)—the Municipal Institutions of Great
Britain have been reformed, of Scotland as well AS England
Can these facts be denied? But has this march of improvement
met with a rapid stop? No, in the last Session of Parliament
the law on the subject of the grievances of the Dissenters with
respect to the Marriage Ceremony and the Registration of
Births has been entirely altered, and complete relief has been
given. The tithes of England have been commuted, and put on
a different footing ; and that measure, which was supposed to be
pregnant with inestimable advantages, the taking off the restric-
tions upon knowledge—has been removed—at least the propo-
sition made by his Majesty's Ministers was wholly agreed to.
Now, if within the period of seven or eight years, changes
have been made by constitutional means, with the consent of
the House of Lords, to the extent I have mentioned, will you
tell me how it can be said that the progress of improvement
has been suppressed?—.(Cheers.) The House of Lords
have in some of these cases advanced before public opinion—
in others, they felt a strong, and at first insuperable objec-
tion ; in others, they have amended the measures nod modified
thein.—( Cheers.) If they have done these—if they have
receded from their own opinions, and weighed the advantage
of the appeal from public opinion—can you gire me a stronger
proof of the propriety with which they have exercised the power
placed in them. Gentlemen, I know the House of Lords
have done something to provoke hostility. I know they did
refuse to place implicit confidence in the combination of public
men who have only one bond of connection, which was, the
spoliation of the Irish Churches.—( Great cheering.) They
did refuse to place implicit confidence in the party ; and if you
remember the character which was given of these parties by
each other, I think you will hardly blame the House of Lords
for what they did.—( Cheers.) One party said the other
wore base and bloody Whigs, and the other party returned the
compliment by saying they were fomenters of sedition for
interested purposes.—(Cheers.) If each party thus deno-
minate each other, can you be surprised that the House
of Lords acted as it did?—( Hear.) But when you add
to this, the manner in which His Majesty addressed that as-
sembly, uuder:the sanction of the Whigs, is it astonishing with
this ringing in their ears that they should have adopted the
course they did ?—(Cheers. )—Well, the House of Lords did
refuse to sanction the measure for the appropriation of the
revenues of the Irish Church, not on account of the sum in
consideration, but on the ground that the object was not one
of detail, but principle : they were afraid if they sanctioned
the principle, that a principle would be introduced that would
he fatal to the existence of the establishment.—( Cheers.)
Can you doubt, if you read the public newspapers, if the
Lords had consented to the introduction of that principle
with the avowal now made of the intention to require the
destruction of all establishments as unjust—can you believe
the House of Lords would have done its duty if they had
adopted it? Why when the measure was brought forward its
chief supporter declared that it was a heavy blow—(Cheers)
—and a subject of great discouragement—( Cheers)—and if
the House of Lords found their arms would be paralysed if
they lent themselves to strike the blow, do you think they were
to blame in doing what they did?—(Great cheering.) Gen-
tlemen, if there are any of you here who have doutts as to the
advantage of the form of Government under which you live,
as compared with the form of Government of other countries,
I would earnestly advise you before you permit that doubt to
be confirmed or acted upon, to read the testimony you have of
the condition of other countries.—( Hear, bear, and cheers.)
I would also advise you maturely to consider, whether you can
have that form of government which you see established in
other countries.—( Cheers.) I wijl take the case of the most
successful establishment of a Democratic government, the
United States of America. No man wishes more cordially
than Ido prosperity to that great States No man wishes it
more wealth or happiness, and so far from viewing its progress
with enmity , I rejoice at its success.—( Loud cheering.)
tile, I ask you. in the first place, do you believe that the con-
dition of the United States of America is better than cur own ?
Hear.) I ask you to consult any private individual who
has travelled in America—l do not ask you to refer to English-
men who have travelled there, for they may probably be pro •
judieed—but take the opinion of any well-educated, intelligent
native of the United States, who is a man of refined feeling
• and of information, and ask him what he thinks of the condi-
tiun of society in the old country ; and if his aelvice be taken—
I would not ask him to advocate the abandonment of republi-
canism for our mode of government—he will, I am sure, tell
you the truth, and will strongly- dissuade you from the experi-
meet of improving the Constitution, if it is meant, in so doing,
to introduce into it a more democratic principle.—( floor, and
'beers.) Gentlemen, let me• advise, before you attempt such
an experiment, your perusal—if you have not already read it—
of a work written by a very able and intelligent native of
France, who has made the condition of the United States the
peculiar object of his study.—( Hear.) Read what he says—
he is the strenuous advocate of popular principles, in their
extended sense. I allude to M. Tocqueville. His feelings are
with the present dynasty of France, and he thinks the democratic
principle in some degree necessary ; but he takes an impartial
'view of its effects, and thus, in America, he gives this account
of the results of republican institutions. —( Hear.) He says—
" That he has known no country in which there is so little in-
dependence of feeling or of mind, or so little freedom of dis-
cussion, as in America. In America the majority raises bar-
riers to liberty of opinion, and an author within these barriers
may write as lie pleases; but he will severely repent. it if he
step beyond them. In a democracy, like a republic, the autho-
rity of the majority is so absolute, that a man must give up his
rights as a citizen, and abjure his qualifications as a human be-
ing, if he strays from the track pointed out by it.—( Hear, hear.)
It ever," proceeds this French author, "the institutions of
America are destrey.ed, it will be attributable to the tyrannical
exercise of authority by the majority, which will urge the mi.
nority to desperation and physical force ; and thus.anarchy will
be the result which democracy has brought about." He then
(proceeded Sir R. Peel) quotes the opinion of Jefferson, whom
he says he considers a decided advocate of democratic princi-
ples. He said—" That the executive power was not the most
prominent object of his solicitude; it is the tyranny of the Le-
gislature which is most to be feared."—(Cheers, and hear,
hear.) I now ask you if you would wish to change the
condition of society in this country with that which exists in
the United States—if it were in your power, or the means of
doing so were at your command? I ask you, I say, to read
this book, and to converse with intelligent Americans, before
you attempt to change the condition of society in this country
for that existing in America.—( Hear, and cheers.) There
are other blessings of life besides cheap newspapers.—
( Cheers and laughter.) Look, then, to the habits, to the
state religious feeling, in the American States—compare their
customs with the refinement and the civilization in this country,
and do not permit yourselves to be duped by artful sophistry
to run the hazard of such a change.—(Hear, and cheers.)
Do you think you can uproot it—dig a trench around it—
sever its thousand minute fibres and ramifications? The
growth of centuries, incorporated with the mass around it,
and with the aid of piles and buttresses and machinery, and
the suggestions of legal officers, do you think that you can
transplant it, and bid it defy the force of the storm ? No.;
the first blast of popular passion that sweeps along the level
of democracy, will bring it to the ground ' • and miserable will
be the consolation we shall have—that the advisers of that
change, and the architects of that. ruin, will probably be the
first to be overwhelmed. - I do not ask you to come to this
conclusion, by a- were appeal to hereditary prejudices, and
affections with regard to utility. It might have been enough,
in other times, to allegeethat this was the Constitution under
which we lived—that this was the Constitution we in-
herited from our forefathers, and which we wished to have
handed down to our posterity.—(Great cheering.) Or we
might give as our reasons for entertaining that wish, 'that
upon the who e the condition of society in which we live,
will boar a contrast with any other iociety, by whatever form
of Government it may be guided. I dolit ask you to rest your
defence and affection for the British Constitution merely upon
these points, but I ask you to examine the rhetoric and argu-
ments upon which the Reform of the House of Lords is urged.
It is said that their privileges are hereditary.
W for the
functions they are called upon to discharge they should be so,
because it gives them a character of stability which they would
Dot possess if subservient to the influence of popular feelings.
) Unless, therefore, you prefer a democracy to
the present mixed form of Government under which you live,
the hereditary Peerage cannot be done away with.—(Loud
and continued applause.) You might as well say that the
majestic breakwater, whose foundations arc as stable as the
lofty mountain, could possess its present utility while it floated
upon the surface of the element it controuls, as that the House
of Lords, as at present constituted, should be abolished.—
( Loud cheers.) And when I hear as an argument
against a hereditary peerage such reasons as that men
are not hereditary tailors, or hereditary carpenters, and there-
fore there should be no hereditary Peers—when, for such ar-
guments as this, we are called upon to abolish the House of
Lords, how long, I would ask, will the argument of a heredi-
tary monarchy prevail ?—( Tremendous cheering.) But since

the changes that have taken place, there has not been a corre-
sponding improvement, ought it not to be a reason for us to
pause before we carry on innovations on the organic principle ?
(Loud cheers.) What answer is there to this argument ?
None. The improvements in public morals depend on the
civil and religious institutions which distil them, and this testi-
mony—this true and disinterested testimony, let us take Lora
John Russell's advice, and determine to cling closer to our
native land.—( Cheers.) Now, Gentlemen, I have made e.long
encroachment.—( Cries of no, no.) I have never
,dessponded
when fighting your bat tles.—( Tremendous cheering, the whole
company rising.) I never have desponded—l knew that the
time would come, after the first intoxication which naturally
accompanies mighty changes. I knew that the time would
come when the old, the ancient par',; of England and Scotland
would rally round their institutiones.—(Tremendous cheering.)
If I did not despond then, have. I not a right to feel confi-
dence in returning shortly to tante
stitutions.—( Great cheering. part in defending those in-
-1 The vibrations that accom-
pany changes are now leteginning to settle quietly—the
influence, the disturbing influence of foreign events, is gra-
dually lessening—the dna:ling illusions of glorious days are
beginning to :permit us to see.—( Loud and long-continued
cheering.) The convictions—the feelings—the affections
of the people are gravitating towards the old customs in which
their betters were reared. The same respect for property, the
same attachment for long established institutions—(Tremen-
dous cheering)—Yes, from these walls a spirit shall go
forth—(Great cheering)—that shall survive when this edifice
shall be an uneubscantial pageant ; it shall survive, uniting, as
in remembrance of this night, and spreading its influence into
every part of the kingdom, cheering the desponding, encoura-
ging the timid ; it shall " go forth exulting in," but not abus-
inge
its strength ; it shall go forth in remembrance that in the
days of prosperity we did not forget the vows we made, and the
pledge which we gave in the time of our despondency ; it shall
go forth uniting us all in our disposition to redress grievances,
our disposition to improve and resolution to amend, depending on
that spirit which is the chief defence of nations—it shall go
forth and prove that our ancient institutions shall survive.—
(Great cheering.) By them the proud king of Britain shall
stand—he shall stand doubly proud of his kindred and coeval
peers, protecting the rich from spoliation, and the poor from
oppression. No tawdry emblem of revolution shall ever flaunt
over the ruins of our ancient institutions.—( Tremendous cheer-
ing.) That "flag which has braved a thousand years the battle
and the breeze" shall still float over them, and that faith of our
old national establishment—that faith shall survive with those
establishments. Those establishments which we all love,
sworn to protect, and to which the national honour is wedded,
as an essential part of the great national compact, shall survive,
and our religion shall survive in the diffusion of sound know-
ledge ; and tried as we may be by the storms of adversity, we
shall come out of the trial rooted deeper in the convictions, in
the feelings, and in the affections, of a Protestant people.—
(The Right Hon. Baronet sat down amidst the most enthu-
siastic applause, which lasted some time.)
As soon as the cheering had subsided,
Mr. ROiltRT FINDLA Y next rose and said —The toast given
me to propose is " The Church of Scotland"—( Cheers)—an
Establishment endeared to my countrymen by the purity of its
.doctrine, the unassuming character of its ceremonial, and the
fidelity with which its Ministers discharge their important
duties.—( Cheers.) Its history, too, from the era_ of the
Reformation, is deeply interesting, from the perils and vicis-
situdes it had to encounter—but more particularly during the
half century preceding the Revolution. The infatuated at-
tempt of Charles, in 1638, to force the Episcopal Service Book
into the Scottish pulpits (an attempt intimately connected
with the history of Glasgow at that time), was not only
signally defeated, but confirmed the dislike of the people
to Episcopacy, by leading them to regard it as a
badge of oppression--( Hear, and cheers) ;—and when
the country sought refuge in the Restoration from the min
bulence of the Commonwealth, and the military despotism of
the Protectorate, the princes of the house of Stuart, who
successively filled the throne, wholly forfeited the confidence
of tile preebyterians of Scotland, by their unprincipled vio-
lation of the most solemn covenants—their tyranny and op-
pression—their devotion to the Church of Rome, and their
unheard-9f degradation in becoming the pensioners of France,
the better to trample on those liberties they had sworn to
preserve, and to betray the cause of the reformation in Eu-
rope, of which this country was the bulwark.—(Hear.)—To
form a correct judgment of the origin of the persecutions
which followed the Restoration, it must be borne in mind,
that Charles 11. threw to the winds the solemn covenant to
which he arid the whole kingdom of Scotland had sworn in
favour of the Prebytcrian Church, and that the court party
maintained the doctrines of Divine right and passive obedience
as articles both of their religious and political creed ; be-
sides assimilating their professions on other objectionable
points to the despotic and Popish predilections of the Monarch.
Hence, when Charles, by a series of the most dreadful perse-
cutions, attempted to force Episcopacy upon Scotland, our an-
cestors were fully justified in the conclusion that the question
at issue was not merely whether the pure doctrines of the Re-
formation should be taught them under the Episcopal or Pres-
byterian form of Church Government, but whether, under the
mask of Episcopacy, the real object of their oppressors was
not to restore the errors and corruptions of the Church of
Rome—( Cheers)—and Popery they held in mortal detestation,
as idolatrous and superstitious, as a prostration of the in-
-1 tellect, the will, and the actions of man to the dictates of
a crafty and dominering priesthood, who, as may suit
their views of temporal aggrandisement, can, according
to circumstances, convert their votaries into the abject
slaves cf the sceptered despot, or the willing instruments
for evil iof the ambitious, selfish, and rapacious demagogue.
Let the numerous population of Ireland, involved in this
worse than Cimmerian darkness, be treated with the utmost
kindness by a paternal and firm Government, and let every
thing practicable be done to enlighten their minds and im-
prove their social condition—but, as we value the cause of
civil liberty and religious truth, never let us consent, upon a
mere numerical calculation, to make Popery the dominant reli-
gion, and to extinguish the means of extending the light of
the Reformation, on which alone we can rely for elevating
them in the scale of moral and responsible beings.—(Cheers.)
How different from this was the treatment of Scotland I
Fines and • imprisonments, confiscations and proscriptions,
torture and death, were inflicted at the arbitrary will of a
merciless and brutal soldiery for what were termed " eccle-
siastical offences," and the simple worship of our fathers,
banished frequently even from the domestic hearth, " under
the penalty of death," had to seek refuge in lonely
eaves and mountain solitudes, while, by a refinement in cruelty,
all who intercommuned with the proscribed were subjected to
similar punishment.—( Hear.) That under such oppression,
the breathings of the victims should partake at times more of
the curses against the Amalekites of old, than of Christian
meekness, and that in some instances the chastened judgment
of the present day may not harmonize with the opinions of the
persecuted, is not to be wondered at.—(Hear.) But it be-
come; us to remember that a period of persecution is a period
of high excitement, and we
.cennot but feel that their heroic
endurance and undaunted resolution, like our native oak,
which defier; the buffetings of the storm, and clings the snore
closely to the rock, the more the winds of Heaven beat
against it, were means under Pros idence for the accomplish-
ment of a mighty end.—( Cheers.) The rack on which
they rested for support was the Word of God, not to
keep it a sealed book from the people, but to unfold its
pages, that therein they might learn the rules of their
faith and practice—the object for which they suffered and bled
was to maintain the cause of civil liberty, and the rights of
private judgment in matters of religion.—( Cheers.) " Truly
they were more noble than those of Thessalonica, in that they
searched the Scriptures daily, whether these things were so."
After the signal defeat of Argyll and Monmouth, Charles's
successor, James, thought it no longer necessary to preserve
the mask of attachment to the Church of England, and, by an
open attack on its privileges, proved to that powerful body
that it was only the last victim to be sacrificed. Then Eng-
land arose in her might ; and, under the guidance of the il-
lustrious William, (whose statue adorns the Cross of Glas-
gow, in memorial of the principles of our fathers, and
of his triumphs), and inscribing upon her banners " the
Protestant religion and the liberties of England," she
forced James to abdicate that throne which his ancestors
had occupied for countless generations—and consummated
that Revolution in 1688 which forms the brightest era in the
history of British liberty--and consequent upon which the es-
tablishment of the Church of Scotland on its present basis was
finally consolidated.—( Cheers.) Since that period, although
clouds and darkness have sometimes loured, we have enjoyed
a larger measure of greatness and glory, of wealth and
,do-
mestic peace and happiness, and of every thing which can
adorn civilized society, than ever fell to the lot of any nation ;
and since that memorable epoch, likewise, the Churches of
England and Scotland, agreeing in creed though differing in
form, have entered upon the Christian rivaiship, which, accord-
ing to its opportunities, should most effectually extend the bles-
sings of pure religion, not only at home but wherever the flag
of England has waved, or the enterprising sons of Britain have
penetrated.—( Cheers.) It was the pious wish of George the
Third that the day might come when every subject in his
dominions might be able to read his Bible ;--and I cannot
omit to mention that centuries ago the Parochial School
system of Scotland in connection with the Reformed Faith,
and under the superintendence of its Ministers, was established
—thus even in that early and rude age laying the foundation
of a system which has rendered Scotland so distinguished.—
(Cheers.) One word as to Patronage and I have done—not
with the view of expressing any opinion on that much agitated
question ; but to state, that whether patronage is exercised by
the Crown or the private patron, by the few or by the many,
or through all these channels as hitherto, the benefits to the
country and to the cause of religion must be in proportion to
the purity of its administration. And it must be a gratifying
and a lofty reflection to the illustrious statesman whom we
this day " delight to honour," that while he guided the
Councils of his Sovereign on this important subject, the
voice of faction itself never dared to utter a breath to
bedim the purity and discrimination of its exercise.—
(Cheers.) Along with " The Church of Scotland," per
mit me to connect the health of a clergyman—(Cheers) -.
who, since he and I commenced our career of life together
at our ancient University, has devoted his eminent talents and
his professional and literary labours to the promotion of the
sacred cause to which he was set apart—and in particular to
the diffusion of the benefits of knowledge and the blessings of
religion among the Highlands and Islands of Scotland—
Cheers)—around which is shed that sacred halo which en-.
is
known
circles within the heart of every good man the image of his
among their countless glens and
mountains,ainsdwbeellcoovmededbyaasltl—hewhhaorbiinngsepritoef
ogflatdhteidcihniglisin—gainnd.
cof men in high places, lately e
in-
difference presented their
kindred tribes in Ireland with a metrical version, in their na-
tive dialect, of' those songs once sung on the Hill of Zion, and
who now deservedly holds the highest office in that Church of
which he is one of the brightest ornaments--need I name Dr.
Norman M'Leod?—(The toast was received with the moat
....arrtemnrint. r410.14110_ 1

TC

The Rev. Dr. Melseon said—Mr. Chairman and Gentle- 1 triumphs, and who has fought the battles of its conservation
men, I have the honour of returning thanks for the toast which in the day of its greatest perils.—( Cheers.) It is all well for
has now been given, and truly I consider it not only a bigh those who differ from us on the great points now at issue, to
honour, but a very high privilege to do so ; for although I say that they love the British Constitution just as much as we
never felt my powers of intellect (such as they are) more dis- do. They talk of adherence to Constitutional principles I
vroportioned to the feelings of intense enthusiasm, to which, when there is not one article in all the diversified rights and
in common with every individual here present, I have been ex- interests combined in that noble Constitution which is not
cited by the occasion and proceedings of this auspicious even- threatened by some one of themselves with change— yes,
ing ; still I have no hesitation in casting myself upon your with organic change.—( Hear, hear, and cheering.) Is
indulgence.—(Cheers.) Ido so unreservedly, with the con- not the very name of the party, Movement ? Is not their
fidence of one who is assured that numerous, or rather innu- watch-word, Forward; and, the chorus of the wild Irish
merable, as this company, to me at least, appears, they are cry of their leader, dismemberment of the empire ; degra-
nevertheless animated by one spirit, united by one common dation of the hereditary Peerage ; and prostration of the
bond of principle—a principle of sacred and devoted at- Protestant Establishment ?—( Applause.) It may be asked,
tachment to the time-hallowed and glorious institutions of what is all this to me ? Has any organic change been
1 our country--( Hear and renewed cheering)—and assembled threatened regarding. the Church to which you belong ? No,
to express their enthusiastiac admiration of the public and Sir. True it is, that no ominous voice from high quarters
private character of that most gifted defender of their prin- has called upon us yet to " put our house in order ;" but some
ciples, the enlightened Statesman now at your right hand, and of us come from a land of mists, where, if many a tale be true,
whom we arc all equally proud, and equally rejoiced to see "coming events cast their shadows before"—we come from a
this night in the city of our habitation. (Tremendous land of mountain and of storm, where we look to signs and
cheering.)—Mr. Chiarman, in my own name, in the name of prognostics. I have seen the adventurous and experienced
my brethren here present, and in name of the Church of boatman, as he saw a cloud no bigger than a man's hand ap-
Scotland, I beg leave to acknowledge the honour done us in pear in the heaven, and beginning to spread—l have seen him
assigning to this toast so early and so prominent a place in seek the shore to secure his bark. I have seen the shep-
the arrangements for the evening. We are thankful for the herd look to his heath-covered cottage as he listened to
very honourable and gratifying terms in which the Church of an ominous roar corning at a distance over the blue face
Scotland has now been spoken of, and for the enthusiastic of the still untroubled ocean; and when the storm was
manner in which the toast has been received. It is to us, seen gathering around our mountains, and about to
Sir, a rich satisfaction to know, that we enjoy the appro- burst on their lefty summits, the inhabitants of our silent valleys
bation and support of such a meeting as is now congregated begin to look to themselves.—( Cheers.) We dare not diary-
in this noble pavilion. While such a burst of feeling, and gard the signs of the times. We dare not disregard the blow
that from such a meeting as this, accompanies the announce- that is aimed at our sister establishment. Common prudence
meat of the Church of Scotland, • I feel persuaded that teaches us to consider the two Establishments as standing on
under the protection of her great Head, she has nothing to the same ground. The spirit of the age, which is putting the
fear.—( Great applause.) I am well aware, that by our ap- question of Establishments into agitation in one country, is
pearance here this evening, my Brethren and I will draw down only waiting to see its success, to prosecute the same object in
upon ourselves the indignant censure of a certain portion of ours.—( Cheers.) The deep murmur of the appropriation
the community, or at least that of their organs of the public clause has reached the remotest manse in our land. We are
press—those most watchful superintendents and most liberal confident, that if ever the lofty towers of our Sister Establish-
reporters of clerical conduct. It is a eery favourite maxim of merit are demolished, the security in which our more humble
their liberalism (and I marvel not, for it admirably suits their edifices rest can no longer be considered secure. I never saw
purposes), that religion has nothing to do with politics, and a mountain oak laid prostrate by the storm, but many a lowly
that clergymen are net entitled to hold political opinions, or, at and lovely shrub was crushed by the fall.—( Cheers.) Sir,
all events, if any of them should be so unfortunate as to have it is not for me to eulogise the political character of our
imbibed political opinions, from the limited and exclusive na- distinguished guest, or the measures of his late administration
ture of their education, left so far behind in the march of intel- —but I trust that, as a minister of the Church of Scotland, I
lect ; or from a perusal of those trashy but most mischievous may be permitted simply to refer to his first and last act, when
publications of the Conservative Press—such as " Blackwood's at the head of his Majesty's Government during his late ad-
Magazine," or the "Quarterlyßeview," or that demented paper ministration. lam not aware that any mention was ever made
called the " Times,"eor the " Glasgow Herald," the " Courier" of our National Church in the Speech from the Throne since
or " Constitutional"—( Laughter)—still that it is their duty our union with England, until the opening of the present Par-
scrupulously to avoid an expression of their opinion's, and, that liament. Can we forget the joy and gratitude which filled the
under no circumstances whatever is it allowable for them to hearts of all who loved our Zion when his Majesty then, not
use the power of persuasion which Providence has given to only declared the deep interest he felt in our Church, but also
them, or that society may accord to them, for the maintenance the intention of his Government to enlarge our means of use.
of those principles which they in their conscience consider fulness, and thus give to the Church of Scotland all that she
essential to the very existence of social order.—( Cheers.) wanted-a-the power of keeping pace with the increasing popu-
Such, Sir, is the morbid anxiety of those liberal censors for lesion of our land ; and now that the illustrious individual who
the unobtrusive harmlessness of Clerical character, that I was then the constitutional adviser of his Majesty is here pre-
suspect they could wish that sent—(Hear, hear, hear)—ho who had the courage and the
" Far in a wild, unknown to public view, exalted wisdom to propose so patriotic a measure, not
From youth to age tee reverend hermits grew." because the people clamoured for it ; but because the
(Laughter and applause.) Such is their exquisite tenderness people required it—is it not my duty, as it is my happi-
for the spirituality of our office, and their dread of the secu- ness, in returning thanks for the Church of Scotland, to tender to
larieing influence of endowments and public countenance, that him our humble meed of grateful respect?—(Applause.) But
I doubt, if ever their spirit of liberalism became dominant in gratifying as this first act of his Administration was, as a ,token for
the land, we shall soon realise in our own experience all the good to our land, Ido confess that I at least in his last act, in the
romantic and innocent simplicity of the Hermit's life :-- cause of his retirement from office, find a something which just as
" The moss our bed, olr cave the humble cell, powerfully calls forth my admiration. The point on which he de-
Our food the fruit our drink the crystal well." clared he would stand or fall, was the integrity of the Established
, ry
But, Mr. Chairman, I shall never subscribe to the maxim Church of Ireland—(Loud cheers)—that grand_ bulwarko ofro pre-eminent
that religion has nothing to do with politics. What, testantismrtno in
Othnatthuinshappyt land. This
all
opponents
artisnwt oerfopur
united ; but
Sir, I subscribe to a maxim which, in my opinion, goes to
overtnrn the only secure basis on which the edifice of pourable'soonerm a h
aoen
ffi.
,yielde,
andto sripieocthiinroadminetaosUprert,vhaetel;!tZfengneAd
And
ais
mhiagyhlainidothbo:
social order rests I Political relations are those in which permitted, even in his presence, to say that on the occasion
the most fearful and sweeping desolations may be coin- of his doing so he secured for himself a name and an honour as
mitted ; and, therefore, they are those of all others in great, if not greater, than any measure ever carried through by the
which every reflecting man will most imperiously feel his most triumphant majority was capable of bestowing. And now,
responsibility to the highest of all tribunals. I believe that Mr. Chairman, much cause have Ito apologise for this lengthened
an irrelgious and depraved population, however otherwise en- address. I fear, Sir,t_ I have abused your kind indulgence,hai and
trespassed greatlyhelpaamtiennocte oaffratthdefocromthpeargh.
lightened, is the teeming source of all moral and political onthat
Scot-
disorder ; and if not controlled by the only power that can do of I.
soenotly
land. That ark Of our national security shall swim Tuorrcw:thars don the
so, must at all times lead to sweeping anarchy and national tide of time in spite of winds and storms. There still remains an
overthrow.—( Cheers.) Our ancestors seemed to have under- unconquerable spirit of Christianity in our land, arid a deep-rooted
stood this, for I find that religion has been interwoven with the attachment ox the part of Scotland's best and steadiest population to
British Constitution from its earliest days. I find that our our Church and her admirable parochial machinery. The moral
Government, our laws, our schools our universities—all our weight of the country is ours, and that shall be seen if ever an attempt
institutions have been based, every one of them, on religious be made to interfere with our system. Whether that attempt
Protestant principle; and in this fact, Sir, we find the secret is likely soon to be made or not, is not for me to ray—l have
of all her strength and all her greatness—( Great applause)— my fears—l could state the grounds of them—Sed eirithius aurem
hence that moral power by which Britain, though but a vellit et admonuit. Our Church is the Church of the people—
speck on the face of the waters, has swayed the des- (Cheers ;—and if she had a principle of supply,, she would empha-
tically be the Church of the poor.
—(Enthusiastic
of the civilized world. She was a Christian nation— ----(Enthusiastic cheers.) No
doubt the population have far out-grown her means; hut she is
(Loud cheers)—she was a Protestant nation—religion making a noble struggle.—( Cheers.) Awakened by circumstances
was upheld, fostered, and established.--(Long and con- intended for her destruction, but overruled for her good, she is
tinned cheering.) Hence she has enjoyed more rational putting forth her own peculiar energies.—(Applause.) She has
liberty, civil and religious, than any country which has ever appealed to her sons and daughters, and nobly has that appeal been
existed—she has risen to wealth and power unparalleled—she responded to.—(Cheers.) One hundred and fifty additional
has won to herself a name of mightiest renown, her fleets are Churches—one hundred and fifty thousand pounds, by private sub-
on every sea, her fame on every shore; and in despite of the scription, to build them—and affording additional accommodation
grumbling discontent of some of her spoiled children at home, for two hundred and forty thousand of our outcast population—and
and the jealousy of her rivals abroad, she still sits, as for all that within little more than two years, affords no unequivocal
centuries she has done, the very Queen among the nations. demenstiation of the number and attachment of her friends—
( Loud and continued cheers.) There is another mazim of
(Continued cheering)—while it furnishes as conclusive evi-
dence, oneshould suppose, as the report of a Parliamentary
liberalism, arising out of the former' to which also !decline Commission,,
for the deplorable extent of that national exigency
to subscribe, viz., that clergyman have no right to hold, far which could call forth such munificent support. Let the Church
less to express, political opinions. This maxim has been brought of Scotland have fair play—let her parochial system be carried out
forward very frequently of late in all its forms, and for obvious in all its designs—let her be put in a capacity of meeting the in-
purposes ; changes have been rung upon it, but they have not creased demand of the inc.-ea&ng population, and she shall continue
weighed one feather on my judgment. Are, we really, Sir, to sit a tower of strength, and a monument of glory—and long after the
down, to fold our hands and seal our lips, and assume the attitude vain theories of the passing day are committed to oblivion, this
and appearance of perfect indifference when we see the dear- " burningbush shall continue to burn."—(Loud cheering,) Yes,
Sir, I doubt pot our Church e
hills and vallies shall
of our nativeexist for
land all the bles-
est and most revered institutions of our country assailed ?
(Cheers.) No, Sir, we are the citizens of a free country •
sinages of pure Christianity—all all t thef
sCoounnsrvatitveiotivsirtueaeodf
we possess social and political influence in common with
Pee—of
others ; this is a talent committed to xi., and like every other, true losalty—aeyr ' Sir that tnht;enlmo •altthat can alonepa patriotism,
dmep'ended
it involves responsibility. That responsibility I feel, and be. upon—lhc:lofty 'loyalty of they man who honours his King,
cause I feel it, lam here.—( Applause.) The day in which because he fears his (rod.—(Prolonged applause.)
we live, calls not only for uncompromising principle, but also Sir D. K. SANDFORD—It would require all the varied and ad-
for a manly avowal of it.—( Cheers.) This splendid festival mirable powers of our distinguished guest himself, to do full jus-
at which we this evening appear, is a festival dedicated to tice to the toast I have the honour to propose. I venture to ap-
principle.—( Renewed applause.) I view it in a higher and preach it—and the great topics that surround it—only in the =-
holier light than a mere display of political partizanship. The fidence that every deficiency on my part will be covered by the ar-
Cam e a hich ban calla I for this. manifestatioei is not exclusively dour with which you will second an attempt to express our rave-
that o: thi: ioliticiari, nor of the man cf property. It is the rence for a grand element of the Constitution, and our determination
common interest of every man in Britain, be his station in to
thoeledr,.) any
is
aaztaar dt,i
int hoc
winhdoenpetnhdoefinetee of i
tt eo
fHtFoautseeol
ofnaLords.
life or his profession what it may ; and of none is it, in my k
threatened some quarters, and the very ideaoyf that independence
opinion, more decidedly the cause than that of the Minis- is scouted and ridiculed in others, that the thinking people of
tern of the Protestant Established Chtirches.—( Loud this country are required to come forth with an expression
cheering.) The path of duty appeared to me abundantly of their unshaken resolution to maintain them. We admire that
plain-1 love peace as much as any man can ; but I love treat] institution, because it opens up an avenue to great and permanent
more—and at a moment when the destinies of our country distinction for every species of exalted merit. We admire that in-
seem to be vibrating in the balance, and when on the vigor- stitution, because we like to see a Nelson and a Wellesley—ap
ous, decided exercise of sound Constitutional principle, hu- Erskine and an Ellenborough—a Scarlett and a Copley, raised by
manly speaking, it rests what scale shall preponderate, that their own genius to rankvejth the proud en.
wi!t'tnaxusisatnmerac..Y ; and bra-
which is big with our weal, or that which is heavy with our coningce for future . ages the path of . .o. itio.n.—( Loud
know, by
admire and we will maintain that institution, because
woe, nothing (ordering, even in appearance, upon neutrality D
we by old experience, that it supplies the firmest barrier
will do—l consider not only the principle involving the exist-
ence of our national Establishment, but those all important against despotic oppression on the ens hand, and democratic inno-
vation on the other. And yet for the last two years the revolutionary
interests of religion of which we aro the eninedians, and the party—ignorant of theory and blind to fact—dead to the singular ad-
very best interests of our fellow creatures throughout the vantages ofour political condition—not caring for the recorded senti-
British dominions to be so essentially connected with those meats of the deepest reasoners in every age—not deigning to cast an
great political measures which hang at present in the ba- eye on the real aspect of other countries in both hemispheres—
lance of debate; but while I make all due allowances for scorning glorious recollections and ungrateful for signal services—
those who think and act otherwise, and cannot but respect have been concentrating all their powers of declamation against
the conscientious and delicate scruples of some of my that very branch of our institutions to which, above all others, we
brethren who are not here, yet lat least, feeling as I do, owe the high standing of ournatiothal character,amlthe stabilaityo.uof t
fore
would deem it a dereliction of the duty, I owe to the con- orur national
ee
with Their a
pretend pi picturegeonts have
the Peeegraoglie e as the
victions of my own conscience, to my country and to my chief place to place_
of - their political show-box—and never, seemingly,
Church, were Ito absent myself from this meeting, and being is the demagogue more happy in the strokes of his audacious pencil,
present and privileged to address you, if I did not honestly than when he is touching up this visionary likeness, to excite the
and fearlessly express my sentiments as a true Churchman and scorn and hatred of the people.—(Loud cheers.) Gentlemen,
a Leal-hearted Conservative.—( Cheers.) When we hear it the demagogue does draw an ugly picture of hereditary no-
proclaimed from high places, even by those who are at the_ . bility—but it is because he dips into his own heart for the
head of our nation's councils, that there is no substantial diffe- colours.—( Hear. ) He knows that were he endowed with political
rence betwixt one creed and another—that Protestant and immunities, he would abuse them—that raise him to rank and
Popish creeds are essentially the same ; when we hear melt-
dignity, he would trample on those beneath him—that were
he invested with hereditary claims, he would never seek to
sores proposed, aud urged forward with all the power of Go-
strengthen them by personal merit. I throw back upon his hands
.vernment—measures which the head of that very Govern- a portrait of which he himself is the original. I will not exchange
ment declares "must prove a very severe blow to the Pro- my substantial blessings for his paper constitutions—and I will not
testant faith," which he professes to regret, but which he tells shut my eyes to the lessons of history because he calls it an old
us cannot be avoided ; while such- language is held, and such Almanac.—(Loud cheers.) lam not going to rake just now amid
measures are proposed—measures which we honestly believe. the ashes of the distant past ; nor to disturb the venerable dead or
to be palpably calculated to papalize Ireland and crush the Magna Charta; but there are two ereat poiuts in cur political his-
Protestant faith in that unhappy land—and when we hear it tory—a period when the independent functions of the Peerage were
declared by their confidential supporters, that Ireland can suspended, and another period at which the nation learnt to esti-
never be tranquillised till the Episcopal Church is put down, mate their true value—which force themselves at this moment
is it for the ministers of Protestant Establishments to remain on my memory.—(Hear.) I want to remind those aspiring
silent ?—( Loud cheers.) Would Knoxs would Melville—
those great and true Reformers of Scotland—those dauntless politicians whof ath this
other House of Parliament, that
experiment has been tried already in our annals, and that its results
friends of civil and religious liberty—would they have done so are written in ineffaceable characters,—(Cheers.) There was
—would they have kept aloof ? No, Sir, these were men of such a thing as the long Parliament, and in its day it was some-
lofty bearing and fearless courage ; in defence of the truth they what addicted to sharp practice ; every child knows that the House
4withstood persecution, and in the presence of princes and no- of Commons in that Parliament voted the Upper House to be a
es, and all the people, they spoke out on matters of civil 'useless and dangerous nuisance—and every child knows too that
politics ; and, thank heaven, they did so—for, by the boldness the same House of Commons abolished the Monarchy—and then
of their eloquence, and fearless maintenance of Protestant prin- came " Take away that bauble," and their own door was shut in
ciple, they reared those towers of strength and beauty under their faces by a usurprng soldier.—( Loud cheers.)--There has
been too in our annals such a thing as a revolution—glorious revo-
the shade of wpehaeiche._ouiLceouudnetrhyeebrassoforThceenctuhreiereshr.eefstesdeoitn. lution was the good old Whig name for it, and the good old Whig
land, Mr. Chairman, has never been accused of meddling laid. Gentlemen,
security and doctrine was to hold that by it the firm foundation of our liberties were
or a Tory ran
much with politics. Reposing on the soundness of her sten- memory of that
it is not for this company to shrink from the
revolution, nor from the principles that justified it,
dards—the excellency of her discipline—the character of her but I appeal upon this topic from the old Whigs to the new. I tell
nnstehtleueßeitblyleTotnhteheenirtiraeffeßetiibolne the new Whigs of to-day, who are driving at a new revolution on
co
resident and working Clergy—on
education of the opposite principles, that if ever the country had reason to be grate-
wfrhomeththere
astrwifehiogf party-politics, ful for an independent peerage in the frame work of its government,
indifferent,
gratitude—she
as
she
well steed
might, aloof
it was precisely at that e,noch when she threw off the yoke of an ar-
nistry ruled the nation. Under all administrations she was bitrary prince, and established on a solid basis her civil and religious
against liberties. Who was it that bearded the Popish tyrant ? Who was
equally secure. No wild crusade had commenced
it that forced him from a throne which he disgraced ? Have we
all venerated institutions ; but a great change has passed ,
forgotten that when the Commons succumbed—when they had
over our social state •• Tempera mutantur, et nos mute- seat a member of their own body to the 'rower for disputing an il-
mur in illis." Politics are now forced upon us. Inter- legal stretch of the prerogative—it was the Peers, and headed' by a
ferenco in civil politics is now a Christian duty.—(Loud spiritual Peer, who stood forward to protect the majesty of law?—
cheers.) It is not the success of a party which is at stake. (Great cheering.) Have we forgotten that when the Protestant
The question now is not one of individual men or measures— Deliverer was to be welcomed to England, it.was again the Peers—
it is a question of deeper and wider character, viz., Shall the and again headed by a spiritual Peer—that hailed him to our shores?
institutions of our country be conserved or not ? Shall the But says the new Whig—the real renegade from Whig principles
BritishnConstitution be maintained in its integrity ? This —Let's quit the useless part for what pays. better—the present for
Pavilion contains within its capacious and noble circle men of the future. l You people of these realms—you oppressed andd suf-
feringvarious shades of political opinion ; but they are all associated
dation—peile up people—unconscious as you seem of your misery and egra-
he call of a pure, patriotic, disinterested ma-
by this common feeling, that the British Constitution, as a • •t in the lof
joie y ouse Commons, to put down your hereditary en-
whole—our unrivalled Constitution of Church and State—our
slavers, your Egyptian task-masters, the House of Peers—or what
Constitution of King, Lords, amd Commons—is still the do you think will follow ? Not your political disfranchisement—
noblest and best which human wisdom has ever devised— not the corruption, of your laws—not the accumulation of fresh
that it should be conserved, and that it shall be con- pecuniary burdens—but, my Lord Melbourne and Lord .1. Russell
served in all its integrity.—(Great cheering.) On the may possibly be forced to gratify the King by going out, and those
cards of admission to this splendid Pavilion, the watch. very inferior and insignificant statesmen—Sir R. Peel and the Duke
word of the company was engravers, and not there only, of Wellington, Lord Stanley and Sir James Graham—may come
for it is engraver on all our hearts. (Cheers.) We have in.--hheeaeris:dl
tThtlire's a catastrophe to guard
all to theinpsrtelsent ma-
but one, and that one is Ate British Constitution.---(lmmense woolorit of its re res
p oentaeticovesurrybeanntlemen, whatever the majority
cheering.)—This is our standard ; around it we rally, and to jri the House of Commo •at
ns may present be, lam not going to
do honour to one of its most gifted standard-bearers arc we . utter one syllable in disparagement of that assembly. Reeling as it
this night assembled—(Cheers)—that Constitutional states- is under the inevitable shock of a great change, it enshrines nape-
' 'dories in the day of its proudest rishable principles of liberty and order.—(Cheers.) Crowded as

:xhibited its g.

. .......--......--......--...------....-------- _
its benches are by many whom nothing but a huge surge of the it would be an excess of courtesy, and an abuse of honour, to call
democratic tide would have wafted to that eminence, there still honourable—and while every scheme of frantic and unprofitable
shines within its walls the supreme intellect of Peel, compelling ho- change is adopted with reckless precipitation, and pursued with blind
mage from all parties—( Cheers.) There are still heard in its debates impetuosity—it will, ere long, be once more the general character
the intrepid eloquence of Stanley and the luminous argument of of Britons, that they fear their God, honour their King, and re-
Graham—and the ruffian spirit of democracy still cowers at the nounce all sympathy with those who are given to change.—( Great
shout of 300 Conservative voices in harmony with leaders like these. applause.)
—(Cheering.) But yet how often in the course of last session— The following toasts were then given :
of which it has not been left for me to furnish tht summary—has " The Duke of Wellington."
every man of constitutional sentiments exclaimed, Thank God we " The Memory of Sir Walter Scott, and may Scotland long
have still a House of Lords l But for them the Protestant inte- maintain its high literary reputation."
rest in Ireland—and how am Ito separate the maintenance of that Mr. JoHN C. Bucneetaet rose and said, Mr. Chairman and
interest, on both sides of the channel, from the very title of the Gentlemen—The toast which I have the honour to propose, is
House of Brunswick to the Throne ?—would have been delivered " The Conservative Constituencies of Ireland, and their Repre-
over, bound hand and foot, to the disposal of a Popish demagogue. sentatires in Parliament ;" and in giving it, Sir, I give you the
But for that independent House, the true and valid tenure of eccle- good and the great of the land.—(Loud applause.) I give you
siastical property would have been gone for ever—the first step, as those who love their own green Isle, and who would uphold the
the history of revolutionary rapine shows, to the invasion of property time-honoured institutions of their country, honoured from their
of all descriptions. —(Cheers. ) But for the independence of that wisdom as well as their antiquity—institutions which they
House our Scottish Colleges, dear to the affections of the people, and their fathers have long been accustomed to consider almost as
and at this moment dearer than ever, would have been torn to sacred as the commandments of their God. I give you those who
pieces by arbitrary bills, or might even yet be plundered and degraded will not bow to the Demon of oppression, that hell-crowned king
by ignoble and iniquitous commissions.—(Cheers.) But for them, Democracy, whose throne is the scaffold, whose sceptre the axe,
an unprincipled Cabinet, that mendicates support from and whose delight is in blood and sawsdust.--( Cheers.) " The
every base and baleful quarter, might even now be riding rough- Conservative Constituencies of Ireland and their Representatives
shod over all that makes this goodly land a blessing and a pride to in Parliament," which was receivectwith great enthusiasm."
its inhabitants. —Cheers. ) Hence, the undissembled rage of Minis- Mr J. EMMER SON TEN NENT, M.P. then rose, and returned.
ters against a body they can neither sway nor daunt, and the sedi- thanks in a speech of considerable length.
tious jargon of their emissaries. And Oh, what an exquisite saga- The following toasts were then given :
city—what a profound insight into the British character it is that " The Conservative Constituents of Ireland and their Represen-
guides these shrewd tacticians in their attacks on the staunchest tatives in Parliament."
bulwarks of our happiness.—(Cheers.) They first assault the " The Earl of Haddington, late Viceroy of Ireland."
Church—and how has she encountered them? She has disproved " The Lord Lieutenant of the County of Lanark."
their facts—laid bare their sophistries—exposed their spirit—and " The Conservative Constituencies of Scotland and their Re.
thus she hands them over to the secular arm, to inflict a signal ven- presentatives in Parliament."
geance at the ensuing general election. Let them read their fate " The Conservative Candidates, and success to the cause of the
in these memorable words, which I hold it no profaneness to quote Constitution at the next General Election."
with such an application—" Whoso falleth on this Rock shall be " Lady Peel."
broken, but on whomsoever it shall fall it shall grind him to powder !" " The Ladies of Glasgow."
(Cheering.) Next, they make an open question of what they call " The Lord Provost, Magistrates, and Council of Glasgow."
peerage bßeform—that is, they leave it, as far as depends upon " May the patriotic of all parties speedily unite in support of
them, the nominal governors of the country,to Revolutionists under the Constitution, and in resisting that inordinate desire for inno-
the title of Reformers. The Peers will not be bullied by us—the ration which threatens to subvert it."
Peers will not be cajoled by us—and therefore, the Peers must be a The Students of Glasgow College who have done themselves
destroyed : Such is the ministerial logic. We don't speak without honour by electing Sir Robert Peel to be their Lord Rector."
authority. We won't suffer Ministers to skulk behind the poor pre- " The Working Classes of the Community."
text of unauthorised rashness on the part of their allies. Their " The Landed Interests and the Tenantry of Scotland."
great peripatetic orator and teacher—" the Master, Guide, Philo- " The Commercial and Manufacturing Interests."
pher, and Friend" of the existing Government—has been here on .4 Mr. GORDON, of Aitkenhead," and thanks to him for the ge-
their behalf. Down came the colossus of the Lichfield-house con- nerous use of his property for the erection of the Pavilion."
spira.cy— " The Croupiers."
" Of Atlantean shoulders, fit to bear " The Dean of Guild and the Merchants' House of Glasgow."
The weight of heaviest Cabinets"— " The Deacon Convener and the Trades' House of Glasgow."
to earn vice-regal courtesies in Dublin Castle, by de- " The Committee of Management."
scribing, as a swinish multitude, the order to which his Noble host " The Operatives of Glasgow, who have honoured themselves, by
has the honour to belong.—(Cheering.) Down he came, commis- the honour they have done to Sir Robert Peel, in presenting hint
sioned to enlighten us—a provincial population—a community of with the Freedom of the City."
shopkeepers--(Laughter)—upon the new Ministerial reading of the " The Deputation which waited on Sir Robert Peel with the in-
British Constitution. We were too deeply sunk in the commercial vitation from the Citizens."
puddle, and too far from the source of political illumination, to read a Mr. Lomond, the Secretary."
it for ourselves !—( Hear.) Gentlemen, the reception which their ~ Mr. Campbell, of Monzie, and the Independent Electors of
great travelling partner—the very head of the Ministerial firm— Argyleshire."
met with amongst us, must have shown the rest of them—even the . " The Operative Conservative Associations of England, and
sleeping partners, if there be any such in the Colonial office—that may their example soon be generally followed throughout Britain."
they had sent their goods to a wrong market. Our perceptions are a David Hamilton, Esq., Architect."
not so blunted by the toils of traffic, nor our minds so destitute of "
light, as to be easily misled on a high constitutional question:— The Colonial Interests."
" The Stewards."
Non obtuse. adeo gestamus pectora Pceni, The company then separated. a
Nec tam aversus equos Tyria sol jungit ab urbe ! .
We have looked at the modest propositions of those Peerage Re-
formers, and find in them only the curious felicity of copying the
worst precedents of the worst times. Let the Lords only be sub-
missive, says one—let them only be content to register the imma-
culate decrees of the House of Commons—or, according to the
latest local version of this theory, let them restrict themselves to
the occasional enjoyment of a suspensive faculty—and nothing se-
rious shall befal them ! So said the Surrey petitioners, as re-
ported by Clarendon, at the blessed epoch of 1641 :—" We shall
be in duty obliged to defend and maintain your Lordships, as far as
you shall be twitted with the Honourable House of Commons in all
their jest and pious proceedings." So that plan, you will therefore
perceive, is not an original one. Let Lords and Commons sit and
vote as a united Chamber, says another I Now, hit not a curious
coincidence, that at the same era of delightful reminiscences
—long before this notable experiment had been practically
illustrated in France—( Hear)—the petition of " many thousands
of poor people in and about the city of London" had prayed the
Commons that those noble worthies of the House of Peers, who
concur with your happy votes, may be earnestly desired to join
with your honourable House, and to sit and vote as one entire
body. So there's another plagiarism. —But it has just struck
some of the more sagacious Ministerialists, that an aggregate of the
two Houses, at this moment, would produce a sweeping majority
against them. " Well, then," says a Noble Lord, whom strange
accidents have jostled into the 'temporary representation of
Glasgow—" Well, then," says Lord William Bentinck, giving
reins to the magnificence of his oriental fancy, and accustomed to
play the potentate on a large scale in Hindostan, and de-
cidedly not consulting his colleague—(Loud cheers)—" let us
call new Peers into existence, to redress the balance of the
old !" But here, too, the Noble Lord has been anticipated.
—(Hear.) To be sure the precedent in this case is neither
very choice nor wholly adequate, for where Lord Oxford, in
the reign of Anneacreated twelve, thank Heaven, in the present
time and temper of the Upper House, Lord Melbourne must
create an hundred.—(Loud cheers.) Gentlemen, we dare him to
de it !—( Continued cheering.) We think we know a Sovereign,
who rather than be an accomplice in such an act of suicide, would
give the standard royal to the winds, and throw himself upon the
affections of his subjects.—(Cheers.) We think we know the un-
ennobled Aristocracy of England too well to fear that tools for such
a stroke of policy could be counted on among them.--( Cheers. )
Let the Premier rain down his coronets as thick as hail, where
V. ill he find heads to bear thern?—(Loud cheers.) It would be
needless and disgusting to ring the changes further on these varie- '
ties of insolent absurdity, all differing in detail, but all agreeing in
practicable wildness and revolutionary principle. I dismiss them
with the contemptuous remark of that eminent authority, Mr.
Fergus O'Connor :—" The Reform of the House of Lords
is a hobby-horse for political buffoonery to ride on—a plan to
draw the attention of the people from practical reforms." From
these practical and practicable reforms, I beg to add, projected, an-
nounced, and began by the Right Hon. Member for Tamworth—
before the selfishness of faction drove him from that position in the
Councils of the King, to which the awakened people of this empire,
if they but support the Peers against their common enemy, will
speedily restore him. The Lords have taken their stand on true
principles—in an unshrinking attitude—ethey have done their duty
to the Constitution and the Laws—and they adjure the people to do
theirs. And 0, if there be any party in the country—if there be
any individuals in this room—who more than others are required to
respond to that appeal, it is precisely that party, and those indivi-
duals, who, when the great question of Reform in the
House of Commons was agitated, were most loud in their
addresses, and petitions to the hereditary legislators did
most carneastly. . then, in every form of supplication and
remonstrance— in the most emphatic language—by the
most impassioned figures—withdraw their opposition to its
settlement. They who were so jealous of aristocratic inter-
ference with the elective principle, how, in the name of
jurice, of honour, and of reason, shall they not be as jealous of
democratic interference with the hereditary principle, as vital an
element—as legitimate an element—and as precious an element in
our balanced Constitution ?—(Cheers. ) I speak of those who
were favourable to Parliamentary Reform, not from motives of po-
litical partizanship, but in the strength of an honest conviction.—
( Hear, hear.) I, for one, cannot understand that convenient poli-
tical morality which has one measure for its own rights, and an-
other for its neighbours. I rejoice to think that there are hun-
dreds here—hundreds of Constitutional Reformers—whose breasts
will echo back these sentiments, and that it is not the least important
feature of this brilliant festival that it celebrates the .union—a
really compact and indissoluble union—between two parties, joining
net in the rage of selfish cupidity for a division of plunder, but
under the sense of a common danger to guard the altar and the
throne.—(Loud cheers.) Look upon the contrast between our
illustrious guest, so supported and surrounded, and the heads of the
motley faction that supplanted him ! They, begirt by bickering
enemies in the guise of fliends—he, winning new adherents from
the ranks of old antagonists—they, the miserable remnant of a
party, from which' all that was highest in talent, and purest in prin-
ciple, has been forced to flee as from a leprosy—he, the rallying
name with all who prefer the true consistency of supporting good
laws to the sordid mock-consistency of following bad leaders !
( Cheers.) Our principle—if I may presume to give a voice to
this great Political Union—is to maintain popular rights, but not at
the expense of sacrificing kingly government—is to do all that may
be necessary for the remedy of unredressed abuses, but to do no
no more—and never, never, under the semblance of Reform, to
sanction Revolution, least of all a Popish Revolution. And, as
the first test of our principle, when the pragmatical economist of
Middlesex, or the lip-valiant repealer of Kilkenny, shall again cry
out for the destruction of the House of Lords, we will again be
ready to toss them back the defiance of 3,000 fearless men. We
will uphold the political authority of that noble order, because we
believe it to be indispensable for the welfare of the people—we will
uphold their personal immunities, because we will not loosen the
foundations of all civil right—we will uphold the dignity and splen.
dour of the Corinthian capital—if that be an image inseparably
connected with this subject—because we know that should it be
overthrown, the rest of the social fabric will totter with the fall,
and the august form of liberty herself be crushed beneath the ruin,
.—(Cheers.) Gentlemen, my toast is,
" The Independence of the House of Lords."
The Duke of Bs:Teak:nag returned thanks.
" Principal Macfarlane and the University of Glasgow."
Principal Macessiteess feared that, in the presence of the
higher officers of the University, it might appear presumptuous in
him to acknowledge the last toast.—(Hear.) Still, as his office
was of a more permanent character than theirs, and the Chairman
had been pleased to mention his name in connection with the Una_
versity of Glasgow, he would not shrink from offering, on the part
of his colleagues, their students, and himself, their cordial and
grateful thanks. Their ancient seminary had undergone many
vicissitudes, and, especially of late, had, in common with all the
institutions of the country, withstood several violent assaults.
(Cheers. ) Still, he trusted that it maintained a position which
promised fair for its permanence and prosperity..—( Renewed
cheers.) In this confidence he was encouraged by knowing
that his learned colleagues laboured with a diligence and
energy not to be surpassed, to deserve, as they must succeed
in doing, to command public esteem and confidence, by witnessing
the increasing resort of young gentlemen, educated previously in
the best seminaries, and of families, for a proof of whose high re-
spectability he had only to look around the company present--
and above all, by the connection it- has lately formed with the
highly-honoured guest of the evening, by the aid of whose
judgment its members may hope to be guided in every measure
of real improvement, and on the support of whose talents and
influence they may rely in resisting every scheme of mischievous
and fantastic innovation.—(Cheers.) He was strengthened in
this hope by the kind feeling expressed by an assembly so nu-
merous and respectable—a kindness to which the University
might lay additional claim, as having been the occasion of bring-
ing them together; and he felt assured, on all these grounds,
that the seminary where Smith, and Reid, and Simson, and
Black, have taught—where Campbell, and Wilson, and Lockhart
were educated—may yet be allowed a fair trial of its capability and
efficiency, in training another generation of scholars and gentle-
men. fie must also request permission to thank them for himself.
He was not vain enough to ascribe the kind reception they had
given him to anything but their knowledge of him as a long-tried
Conservative, and on that account his thanks sprang from a purer
source than any selfish feeling. Not that he was indifferent to
their approbation. His sense was only the, narrower, and also
the deeper, that it implies a pledge of their devoted attachment to
the Civil and Religious Institutions of their country. He believed
1
in his heart that their principles, founded on reason and truth, are
mighty, and must prevail—(great applause) ; that the time is not
far distant when they will resume their accustomed and salutary in-
fluences in the Councils of the Empire, and the minds of the people.
__(Loud cheers.) Instead of looking on with apathy or approba-
tion, while those establishments which have long, and most success-
fully, promoted the fear of God, are vilified and assailed—while the
revered memory of the Sovereign is employed for purposes which

SHIPPING INTELLIGENCE.

VESSELS ENTERED INWARDS AT THE CUS-

TOM-HOUSE, JAN. 14.

The Emilia, Quick, from Seville; the Alert, Layton,
Nantes ; Anna Dorothea, Pitt, Nantes ; Albinia, Kenel, De-
merara ; Caroline, Prime, Petersburgh ; Senora de Paz, De
Silva, Lisbon ; Thalia, Wolverton, Alexandria; Wilton
Castle, Cauney, Jamaica; Lord Goderich, Kent, Quebec;
Brandy Wine Packet, Almond, Charente; Flirt, Dara, Bor-
deaux. _ _ _

ENTERED OUTWARDS FOR LOADING.
The Secret, Gates, for St. Michael's; Mary Ann; Mason,
St. Thomas's; Providence, Wilson, Guernsey; Alkmaar,
Heath, Rotterdam; Vegesack, BalLeber, Bremen; William
Jolliffe, Middleton, Calais; Hindoostan, Redman, Madras;
Orynthia, Lawton, Honduras; Haidee, Kenney, St. Lucia;
Tourist, Whitcombe, Antwerp.
CLEARED OUTWARDS WITH CARGO.
The Lavinia. Broun, for Rio Janeiro; Thetis, Smith,
Sierra Leone ; Vesper, Fraser, Sidney; William Jolliffe,
Middleton, Calais; Tourist, Whitcomb, Antwerp; Alert,
Margall, Calais; King George, Garner, Ostend; Admiral
Moorson, St. Vincent's ; Albertan, Shuttlewortb, Cape of
Good Hope.
CLEARED OUTWARDS IN BALLAST.
The Louisa, Jacobson, for Kiel ; Sprightley, Newton, St-
Michael's ; Elizabeth, Pybees, Surinam; Pomona, Selworth,
Gibraltar.

ARRIVALS AT LIVERPOOL, JAN. 14.
The Lord Ogilvy, Morris, from Alexandria; Annette,
Over, Rotterdam ; Terra Nova, Gallipoli; Robert Morris,
Gay New Orleans.
ENTERED FOR LOADING.

The St. Lucia, Rowling, for Africa; Thomas Parsons,
Tasker, Africa; Ceres, Blomfield, Kingston, &c. ; Creole,
Tracy, New Orleans ; Neerlandsch Frouw, Degroot, Rot-
terdam.