The Sun.
London, England, 1838-12-26 00:00:00

PUBLIC DINNER AND TESTIMO-
NIAL TO THE HON. FOX MAULE, M.P., -&c.

(From the Second Edition of the Perthshire Advertiser.)
The public dinner, to which the Liberal Electors and in-
habitants of this county some time since invited the Hon.
Fox Maule, for the purpose of presenting him with a testi-
monial of their gratitude for his patriotic exertions in the
cause of Reform generally, and particularly for his efforts iri
promoting the triumph of Liberal principles in this counrry,
took place on Wednesday in the County Hail, Perth. Up-
wards
of 500 were present. The testimonial consists of a
magnificent candelabrum, executed in the first style of art,
and which cost nearly 400 guineas. From some unforeseen
occurrence, the testimonial, though despatched from Lon-
don, did not arrive in time to be presented, but the Com-
mittee meet to-day to make arrangements for this purpose.
Shortly after four o'clock the Chairman, George Stewart,
Esq., Grandtully, accompanied by Mr. Maule and other
distinguished individuals, entered the hall, and were received
with the most deafening plaudits. The Marquis of Breadal-
bane was repeatedly cheered. The Chairman was sup-
ported on the right by the distinguished and honoured guest,
Mr. Maule, Lord Kinnaird, the Solicitor-General of Scot-
land, Mr. Dunlop of Clober, Captain Speirs of Elderslie,
Major Elliott of Braco Castle, William Dundas, Esq., of
Ochtertyre ; and on the left by the Marquis of Breadal-
bane, the Hon. Colonel Abercromby, M.P. ; Sir Thomas
Dick Lauder, Bart. ; Sir David Brewster, the Rev. Mr.
Honey of Inchture, Professor Gillespie of St. Andrews,
&c. &c.
The Croupiers were :—John Binny, Esq., of Forneth ;
the Lord Provost of Perth, Captain Houston Stewart, of
Tire Gart ; Captain Aytoun of Glendovan, J. M. Nairne,
Esq., of Dunsinane, and Thomas Ritchie, Esq., of Hill of
Ruthven ; around whom we observed a great number of
the leading supporters of the Reform cause in the county.
A blessing was asked by the Rev. Mr. Honey, and
thanks were returned by the Rev. Mr. Brown.
After the cloth was removed, and the usual toasts given,
The CHAIRMAN rose and said—Gentlemen, It is now
my duty to propose to you the toast of the evening—" The
health of our honoured and distinguished guest, Mr. Fox
Maule.—(Prodigious cheering, which lasted several mi-
nutes.) There have been four contests for the representa-
tion of this county since the Reform Bill passed, and every
one of you can bear witness to the zeal, and the activity,
and the efficient service he rendered to the cause of Re-
form.—(Protracted cheering.) There is one very remark-
able circumstance connected with the election of 1835,
when Reform triumphed in the person of Mr. Maule. For
the first time, I believe, in the history of this country, a
Cabinet Minister was turned out of his offic6, by his being
refused a seat in the Commons House of Parliament.—
(Cheers.) For this we were certainly indebted to the
exertions of Mr. Mimic ; and I believe there is no one
here who will not warmly express his attachment to en in-
dividual who, while he enjoyed the best wishes of his
friends, excited even the eetaem of those politically his ene-
mies.—(On the conclusion of Mr. Stewart's address, the
meeting rose simultaneously, and continued cheering for
several minutes.)
Mr. Fox MAUI.E, who, on rising, was received with en-
thusiastic cheers, spoke as follows :—Mr. Chairman and
Gentlemen, The present moment leads my mind naturally
back to the many years now, not only of my political life,
but of happy and social enjoyment, which I have spent
amongst you, When I first came among you it was for
the purpose of pitching my camp among what I believed
to be your quiet and happy glens, but little I thought that
the few short years which I spent there were to be the pre-
lude of a much busier, but, I trust, not less useful time
spent in the service of my country.—(Great cheering.)
When I first came the name of Reform had already been
uttered in the south, and had been re-echoed from the
north ; and during the first year of my residence amongst
you that Bill, which gave rise and gave birth to the present
constituency of the country, became the law. Through the
tenantcy which I held I was entitled to vote, and I found
myself for the first time exercising my franchise as an en-
franchised voter in this county, and for the first time I came
forward to take a part in politics, principally from my de-
cided conviction that the time had come—nay, that it had
been too long delayed, when rights should be conceded to
the people, which they knew only by name, and not by pos-
session. But, above all, I was induced to come forward
and take a part in the politics of this county, because I saw
already springing up an unfair opposition on the part of our
opponents.—( Hear, hear.) I had reason to see that my
Noble Friend, who first stepped forward as a Liberal—
(Great cheering for the Marquis of Breadalbane)—was
doomed to receive not only a strenuous opposition—for if
it had been merely strenuous it would have been quite fair
—but that he was doomed to receive an opposition aided
by every circumstance which could be brought to secure
the end for which it originated.—(Loud and continued
cheering, and cries of Hear hear.") I then thought it
my duty to tender my services as one of his committee, and
since that period, when he so triumphantly carried the
county—(Hear, hear)—l have been embarked in your ser-
vice, and I will never desert it.—(Great cheering.) Gen-
tlemen, the consideration of this fact brings me down to the
period of the last election in this county. It is true that, not-
withstanding all our exertions, we did not succeed in carry-
ing the victory as heretofore, but when I trace the causes to
which our defeat is to be attributed, though I deeply regret
the separation which exists among us still, since we did not
condescend to employ the means our adversaries used, I
cannot but look on our defeat as far better than their vic-
tory.—(Cheers.) When I reflect on the intimidation which
was used, not only by landlords, but by every engine a land-
lord could set to work, and if that is doubted, I know that
there are some in this room who were even turned from
their farms because of their right of voting freely and inde-
pendently—they resorted to bribery ; and they resorted to
the system of making fictitious votes, which the Reformers
in this county have always despised, as unbecoming the
principles and spirit of the Reform Act.--(Cheers.) To
those machinations of our enemies you may trace the defe it
which has taken place in this county ; and although by
those unfair means the cause of Reform may be at this mo-
ment in abeyance, it is neither under a cloud nor extin-
guished. It has been the endeavour of our adversaries, the
Tories, to foment differences between the Government and
the Reformers of the country ; and upon that principle they
leave certainly, in some instances, succeeded in alienating
from the Government the affections of those who will see
when it is too late that they arc deceived by men of the
moment, who, when they have deceived them, and used
them to accomplish their purposes, will not scruple to desert
them. The Tories have accused the Government of many
things, in which they hope to succeed in getting Reformers
who are interested in maintaining the honour of their coun-
try to join them. They have told you tales of wars which
the country is unprepared to meet—of treaties which the
Government have neglected to enter into for the benefit of
the country. But, fortunately, since Parliament has been
prorogued, we have seen what truth there is in those ru-
mours—we have seen what reality there is in the neglect
of treaties that ought to have been entered into. They
have tald you that tire Government have neglected the
great national arm of the country, arid that it was now in a
condition unfit to repel a foreign foe—nay, that it was unfit
even for the purpose of protecting our own argosies on
those seas where England has hitherto ruled the unrivalled
mistress. The Tories, when they disseminate a story of
this kind should look back to their own acts to see what
they themselves did when they were in power. Now, I
only beg to refer you to the close of Sir Robert Peel's short
administration, when, I presume to get some applause for an
appearance of economy, that administration was the first to
strike a blow at the efficiency of our navy—to which navy
Lord Melbourne's government since that day have added
5,000 men, in direct opposition to a vote proposed by our
economical friend, Mr. Hume.—(Cries of " Hear.") So
much
then for the invention of the Tories, that the Go-
vernmeet neglected to attend to the efficiency of the navy.
Now with regard to the neglect of treaties to which I have
just alluded, in what respect have the Government been
neglectful ? I need only refer you to what has become
matter of public history—a treaty entered into with Turkey,
a reciprocal treaty for the advancement of commerce, and
to another with Austria for the same purpose. These trea-
ties must bind us in a firmer commercial connection with
Europe than this country was ever bound before, and their
advantages moat he apparent to all who have an interest
in the extension of our cpromerce. True it is that reform
ho.s not marched onward with that progressive step which
some would have wished ; and who are to blame for that ?
Is it owing to the Government, supported by a small ma-
jerity of twenty or thirty, and having to oppose,
daily, a factious opposition to all reform on the part of the
Tories f or is it a section of the country, who never liked the
ethe
to
name or act of reform, have done all they could to defeat
the progress of reform? The Tories were not slow in turn-
ing this state of the public mind to their purposes ; and
they availed themselves of the deep-seated feelings of some
gwohostielalllfeadrththeern. iseAlyletsholutzelhorimt
merasy, andnot whaveolyme
wereaffected
ct willinged
in-
terests of this part of the cow-10y, you are all aware that an
opposition has been got up against the Government, on the
hostility that exists in England against the Act passed by
the Whigs for the amendment of the Poor-laws.—
( Hear, hear.) Against that Act is arrayed a class of men
with whose doctrines I would he sorry to be associated._
( Loud and poptinued cheers.) These men were iteteany
aided and assisted by- the Tories at the last general election;
and the Tories availed them:4ves of the opposition to the
NOV Poor-law Act to secure the realm Pf Members to the
,110i4se of Cemmons of their own opinions.—(Beer, hear)
I trust, there is /1 i; L'Pe person, from the south to the north
of Scotland, who will diew the slightest concurrence in the
wild and revolutionary doctrines of rhp Phartists.—(Great
cheering.) I was in hopes that, whilst thlioe men were
allowed to meet and to discuss their opinions in pelilip
without interruption, the, would haVe been content to