The Sun.
London, England, 1865-06-12 00:00:00

tion which have been impressed on me as I was on my
way to this hall. On London-bridge it was my misfor-
tune, perhaps in common with others of your guests, to be
blocked up for ten minutes or a quarter of an hour, and I
confess it did appear to me at the time that in another and a
different sense from that you have described all distinc-
tions of political sections disappeared, for certainly in
such a situation there was no one who would not at least
have desired to belong to the party of progress.. (Cheers
and a laugh.) I have been led thus briefly to advert to this
fact by way of offering some apology for having speared in
your hall later than otherwise it would have been my duty
to do. (Cheers.) In drinking to the health of her Ma-
jesty's Ministers you have not only paid a gratifying com-
pliment to a body of men, but you have exemplified a great
political truth—that, independently of the sympathy which
her Majesty's Ministers know that they can find when they
require it in this hall, there is no doubt that those who may
be for the moment the depositaries of the executive power
and responsibility become by that very fact the representa-
tives of ideas that are common to all Englishmen. Through
them is made known to the country, in• a great degree, the
beneficent action of the institutions of this land. Through
them the virtues and wisdom of the Sovereign become
known to those whom she governed. Inthem is personified
to the mind and eye of the people to no small degree the
majesty of that law which the people of this country at
once respect and love ; and in this sense they are the repre-
sentatives and the vehicleslof a truth, which it is, indeed, a
high honour for any set of men to embody. (Cheers.) Sir,
as regards the career of the present Goverment and the
period over which that career has extended, it has now
reached what may almost be called the natural term of the
life of Administrations. (Cheers and a laugh.) We have in
this country a law of septennial Parliaments; we have not
a law of septennial Administrations, and it is by some rare
conjunctions of circumstances when any Government even
approaches that lapse of time. Such, however, has been
the fortune of the Cabinet headed by Lord Palmerston.
(Cheers.) And certainly they have been years in which,
quite apart from the merits of this or thatimeasure, or this
or that set of men, we cannotrefuse to recognize the passing
of much that is of the deepest interest to mankind. We
have, indeed, lived in a period which has been in one sense
a period of disquiet and uneasiness—a period in some por-
tions of the world of terrific struggle ; full, however, of the
most remarkable lessons for our instruction. From these
struggles we have been mercifully spared. We have been
permitted to see our country growing in wealth and strength,
and to see her people advancing not only in the elements
of material power, but likewise in all those higher respects
and relations which go to determine, in the most important
sense, the happiness of a nation. We have seen—it is our
happiness to see from year to year the growth of peace and
concord, the continual extension and invigoration of the
spirit of loyalty among the people, the progressive closer
union of class to class, the gradual disappearance of reli-
gious and sectarian animosity; and, waiting as we do at this
moment the verdict of our countrymen, conveyed through
their authorised representatives, the constituencies of the
country, we have little to hope and little to desire, whether
we continue in office or whether we quit it, but that it may
please the Almighty of His mercy to vouchsafe to this
country a continuance of the blessings which He has been
pleased of late to pour on them, and along with those bless-
ings to give them the one crowning blessing of grateful
hearts to Him, the giver of them all. (Loud and continued
cheering.)
The PR= WARDEN next gave " the House of Lords."
They were honoured by the presence on that occasion of a
distinguished metaber of the Upper House, whom they
were always glad to see among them. He alluded to his
noble and learned friend Lord Brougham (cheers), one of
their senior honorary members, and whose name was never
mentioned, either in this country or abroad, without the
highest respect and honour. (Cheers.) He was glad to
observe that his noble friend was in such excellent health,
and begged to associate his name with the House of Peers.
(Cheers.)
Lord BROUGHAM, who was received with cheers, said,—
I feel always the greatest pleasure in meeting my fellow-
members of this great corporation, to which I have belonged
for nearly half a century—longer, I believe, with one or two
exceptions, than any others now present. It gives me plea-
sure to meet in this hall, not only because I see thrown over
it the banner of my illustrious friend, that great statesman
and warrior, Lord St. Vincent, but because it is the home of
a body of men who have at all times been the devoted
friends of the liberties and rights of the people, the en-
couragers and promoters in all ways of that education
which enables and fits them to enjoy those liberties and to
exercise those rights. (Cheers.) It is a common saying
that there is nothing a man is generally more liberal of, not
to say generous, than other people's money and his own
advice. (A laugh,) Nevertheless, I hardly ever address you
here without tendering advice when I think it my duty
to do so, and without at all considering whether that advice
may be palatable to those who hear it, when I am perfectly
certain that it is sound and ul.rir;lit. Like men, all ParTia-
meats are short-lived, and the present Parliament is on its
deathbed. The time is appointed for it to go to the country
and undergo the process of a general election. Now, what
I do most anxiously wish to express to you in this great
city, and through you to the whole country, is that
you carefully avoid those corrupt practices which
have so injured the character of this country and its
constitution in the opinion of foreign nations. Persons
in other countries where they have a Parliament, but
without our liberties, hearing of thousands and thousands
of pounds being spent at an election, are apt to say, as
I have heard them say, "We are just as well without all
your liberty if it leads to such corruption and demoralisation
of the people." I would further remind you that under an
act which fortunately has passed the Legislature, bribery
has become not so easily accomplished, not so easily con-
cealed, and not so easily or likely to escape detection, now
that parties can be examined in all civil cases, and I wish
the rule could be applied to all criminal cases also. The
acts of allparties, therefore, whether successful or unsuccess-
ful candidates, are sure to be discovered; and in my opinion
the proper punishment for bribery is the treadmill. No-
thing tended to put down slavery so much as the making
of it felony, and that is the proper way of dealing with
bribery at elections. There is one other subject on which
I would say a word or two. If my voice could reach
across the Atlantic it would tell our kinsmen that their
best friends, those who have been their advocates through
good report and through bad report, now pray and beseech
them to use the victory which, by great courage, great per-
severance, and no little military skill, they have gained, in
mercy as yell as in justice—(cheers)—that they should not
stain the scaffold with the blood of their prisoners—
(cheers)—that they should recollect that those prisoners
whom they call rebels were treated by them as warriors
--(cheers)—that truces were made with them, agreements
made with them, submissions received from them, and that
they ought not to think of rendering their cause, which is
now triumphant, hateful, as well as triumphant, by spill-
ing the blood of those captives they have now in their
power. (Loud cheers.) Their Government consists of men
of great ability. Mr. Johnson, the President, has the
merit of having raised himself from the humblest position
in the world, having educated himself, teaching himself to
read and afterwards teaching himself to write, making him-
self, not, indeed, a scholar, like my right hon. friend (Mr.
Gladstone), yet a well-informed man on all ordinary ques-
tions ; and has raised himself step by step to tho highest
position in the country. He is a man personally
fitted to succeed in office that admirable person whose
murder all Europe so sincerely lamented—(cheers)—let it
be seen that he has also succeeded to his merciful and just
disposition. (Cheers.) I say merciful and just; merciful
I as well as just, and just because merciful ; aye, and useful

to themselves as well as merciful and just ; for it is only by
pursuing such a course that they will prove themselves
equal to the crisis of their country's fate, and perform that
work which now remains for them to do in restoring har-
mony and union in that great continent. (Cheers.) I hope
these words will reach the other side of the Atlantic, which
they may rely on it, speak the sense of all England and of
all Europe on this great and important question. (Cheers.)
The PRIME WARDEN nex gave "the House of Commons, '
associating the toast with the name of Mr. Crawford, one of
the members for the City of London, to whose services they
were all so deeply indebted, and for whom he was quite
sure he need not bespeak a most cordial reception.
The toast was drunk with loud cheers. _ _

Mr. CRAWFORD—I consider it a great honour that I should
be called upon to respond to the toast of "the House of
Commons" in such a distinguished company as I see be-
fore me this evening. It is an honour which I cannot but
attribute to the laudable anxiety of the Prime Warden to
show, even in me, its humble representative, the respect ho
feels for that ancient city, within whose walls the sumptu-
ous hospitalities of the Fishmongers' Company are dispensed.
I venture to think that the presen.t House of Commons de-
serves well of the country ; and if proof-of the fact were
wanted, it would be found in this, that it has survived to
nearly the latest period of its legal existence. It could only
have survived so long by fairly representing the feelings of
the country, as well as its wants; and hence the occasion
has not sooner arisen for Parliament to be dissolved and for
the country to express an opinion on its conduct. (Cheers.)
The Chancellor of the Exchequer.has referred to the deli-
verance which her Majesty's Ministers await at the hands
of the country, and it would ill become me to refer to the
deliverance which the members individually have also to
anticipate. But I may be permitted to say that if there is
any gentleman here present who is so ambitious as to de
sire to represent the city of London in the House of Com-
mons, I would advise him to reflect that all is not gold that
glitters ; that the fruits most pleasant to the eye are not
always most pleasant to the taste ; that a man who enters the
House of Commons has many cares to sustain, many duties
to discharge. I would have a man to consider well his own
domestic comforts, which he must forego, and leave the re-