The Sun.
London, England, 1854-09-12 00:00:00

MR. JOSEPH HUME, M.P., IN WIOK.

Mr. Hume arrived in this town on Thursday about
noon, according to appointment, accompajerl by Sir
George Sinclair, Bart., in the carriage of the latter gen.
tleautn, and proceeding to the public buildings went up
to the town and County Hall, where the council had
already assembled to receive theirdistioguished visitors.
There was a litig attendance of councillors ; Provost
Rhind in the chair. A numerous audience filled the
Council-room, and among the gentlemen present were
Sheriff Thomson, Sheriff Russel, Captain Tudor,
Samuel &nit"), Esq., A. H. Rhind, Esq., jun., of Sib-
&c.

Wien Mr. Hume and Sir George entered the Hall,
every one rose and welcomed them with loud cheers.
Mr. Hume and Sir George took their places on the right
and left hand of the Provost respectively.
Alter silence had been restored the Provost rose and
addressed• Mr. Hume, giving him a sincere and cordial
welcome to Wick, expreeeleg the high appreciation enter-
tained by the Council; and by all, for his manly consis-
tency of character, and his persevering advocacy of those
principles for the exposition orwhich he had so long and
energetically laboured. The Protost then, amid much
cheering, presented the hon. gentleman with the burgess
ticket, conferring the freedom of the burgh.
Mr. HOME then rose, and was received with loud and
prolonged applause. After a few preliminary remarks,
and referring to the friendship which had existed be-
tween Sir G. Sinclair and himself for a period of 43
years, Mr. Hume went over a portion of his public
career, alluding to his early life, the death of his father
when he was still a boy, and his being obliged to de-
pend on his own exertions, unassisted, save by his
mother, the widow of a sea captain. He then referred
to education. Before entering Parliament he had been
three years engaged advocating the system of Joseph
Lancaster, of whose committee he formed a member. That
was the time when it was a debateable point whether
it was a good thing or an evil to educate the people. It
was alleged by those in the enjoyment of political power
that, give the people information and the hold over
them would he loosened, and they would become dan-
gerous subjects. But his answer to this was, the people
have rights. Educate them, and they can know and
obtain those rights to which they are entitled. He re-
gretted that any religious difference should interfere
with what should be enjoyed by all, but the time was
not far distant when ignorance, with the crime and vice
which are its consequences, would be greatly modified.
Referring to his general political principles, he re-
marked that on the first great governing principles Sir
George Sinclair and himself were agreed. That
" that was the best Government which produced
the greatest amount of good to the greatest
number" had been a maxim of his (Mr. Hume's)
friend, Mr. Jeremy Bentham ; it had also been his; and
was so still. Alluding to his efforts in the cause of re-
form, and the opposition be had met, he said he had
been charged with a design to pull down King, Lords,
and Commons, in order that he might secure something
for himself in the general scramble.. This had beet'
proved to be wrong, and he w:4l quite right atter all.
lie would have gone farther than the bill of 1832, and
'he hoped in another year to see a large mass added to
the electoral body. In the course of his remarks, Mr.
Hume also mentioned the assistance he had received in
Montrose when the reform excitement was at its height,
by the fact of there being a committee of working men
in favour of the movement. In 1818 ho owed his re-
turn to working men, and by them he had been. en-
abled to keep his place. He went to Middlesex fer
three.years, but he soon returned to his ,old love, with
whom he hoped he should not quarrel, but remain as
long as hi; career continued. He mentioned his lay-
ing open of the public accounts, and lie early
attempt at free trade, in' his demand to throw open
the East India' trade in 1813. Monopoly was now
all peesing away. Referring to reform, he said electors
required to referni theieselvee, and not pester mem-
bers to get places for themselves or their relatives, as
was too often
.attempted. He spoke of his •antagonism
to sinecureships, which were often paiid out of the.
pockee II of the poor man, whose poeerty entitled him to
more protection. In the civil:service; the army, and the
the navy, he had been the means of effecting a
beeeicial change, but his had failed in destroying
sinecuiisin in the Church. But that he hoped
would yet come. He feelingly alluded to Sir Robert
Peel, and tiie recognition by that statesman of
the ,principles of free trade, f,r which Mr. Hume
had contended for years. After some further ob-
servations, lie again thanked the Provost and coun-
cillors for the honour they had conferred on him,
and sat down amid much and warm applause, which was
frequent throughout his address.

Sir G. SINCI:AIR followed, and in an eloquent speech
went over some of the remarkable events of Mr. Hume's
life, the general respect which he had acquired, and also
mentioned his amiable qualifications in private and
family relations. Sir George was repeatedly and loudly
applaut'ed.

The PROVOST thereafter declared the meeting at an
end.

The magistrates and a few of the gentlemen present
at the meeting afterwards had luncheon in Provost
Rhind's house.

SHIPPING, INTELLIGENCE.

CUSTOM-HO—USE, SXPT. 11.
ENTERED INWARDS.—The Vesta from Rotterdam ; Wil-
liam Jolliffe, Calais ; Diana, Amsterdam ; Alar, Dunkirk ;
City of Rotterdam, Dunkirk ; Lion, Harlingen ; Hanover,
Rotterdam; Giro.ff,, ditto; Stadt Dordrecht, Dordt ;
Alma, Buenos Ayres; Freya, New Orleans; Concordia,
Rotterdam ; Vrovr Rohia, Archangel ; Jouge Heritnann,
Christiania; -Olivia,.Callao ; Candidate, Hamburgh ; Ella,
Archangel; Cumberland, River de Loup; Moselle, Ham-
burgh; Leo, Guernsey ; Arthur, Quebec ; Equivalent
Leghorn; Antoinette. Shediae; Meteor, Cape of Good
Hupp ; Ili2a, Mazagan; Agenoria, Honduras ; City of
Paris, Boulogne ; Ocean, Havre ; John Wood, Shanghai ;
Fyiloord, Rotterdam. ; Swift, Guernsey; Ravensbource,
Antwerp ; Hongen, Marianople and Genoa ; Elizabeth,
Memel; Aurora, Jamaica.

ENTERED OUTWARDS FOR LOADING.—The Stad Der
Brecht for Dordt ; Seine, Boulogne; Vesta, Rotterdam ;
William Jolliffe, Calais ; Alar, Dankirk ; City of Rotter-
dam, Dunkirk ; Concordia, Rotterdam ; Anna, Konigs-
burgh ; Candidate, Hamburgh ; Agenoria, Dunkirk ;
Daring, Valencia ; Helen Stewart, Launceston ; Lizzie
Nisbitt, Constantinople ; Lady Wharncliffe, Sydney ;
Meteor, Cape of Good Hope ; Mary of Goole, Dunkirk ;
Marchioness of Salisbury, Geelong ; Thor, Christiania ;
Neptune, Havre; Sarah, Jersey; Fyenoord, Rotterdam ;
Haabet, Copenhagen; Ravensbourne, Antwerp ; Sandford,
Demerara or Calcutta; P. R. Hazeltine, Philadelphia.
CLEARED OUT WITH CARGO.--The Lord Harding() for
Bombay; Janet Willis, Port Philip; Leander, Ghent;
Gesina, Konigsburgh; Eliza, Barbadoes ; David, Caen ;
Caroline, Aarhuus • Maria, Hamburgh and Harburgh ;
Mary, Dunkirk; Flora, Stettin ; Johanna Maria, Varel ;
Sandford, Demerara and Calcutta ; Anna Catherine, Stock-
holin ; Josine, .Harburgh ; Sir John Campbell, Port
Philip; Trafalgar, Madras; Ann Jewitt, Dunkirk; De-
vonshire, St. Kitt's and St. Lucia ; Rhone, Antwerp ;
Lechanger, Shanghai; City of Boulogne, Boulogne.