The Sun.
London, England, 1822-12-31 00:00:00

TENTH ANNIVERSARY OF THE LIVERPOOL
CONCENTRIC SOCIETY.

[Abridged from the Liverpool Mercury.j

On Monday (23d inst.) the tenth anniversary
dinner of this Society took place at the Castle-Inn, Clayton-
square. The Rev. Wm. Shepherd presided with the ability,
humour, and amenity of manners for which he is so highly
distinguished. The dinner and wines gave general satisfac-
tion. The following are amongst the toasts which were given
from the Chair, with appropriate and introductory remarks,
which added greatly to their effect :
" The King, and may his memory be refreshed with regard
to the principles which seated his family on the throne."
" The Constitution, the whole Constitution, and nothing but
the Constitution."
" The Memory of the late Queen Caroline"—(drank in
solemn silence.)
" The People, the only source of legitimate power."
" Mr. Hume."
" Mr. Brougham."
" The Chairman of the Society, the Rev. W. Shepherd."
" Dr. Parr."
' Mr. SHEPHERD, on his health being given by the Vice-
Chairman, said Mr. Vice-President and Gentlemen, for the
honour which ; ,u have just conferred on me, I beg you to
accept the returr of my warmest and most cordial thanks.
Permit me also t express the particular pleasure which I feel
in meeting you on the present occasion. You may, perhaps,
remember n- ,r dictating, from the couch of sickness, a pastoral
letter to you, in which I commented upon certain political
doctrines which had, a little time before, been promulgated by
that Hon. Gentleman, the Member for the venal and rotten
borough of Woodstock. Upon the proceedings of that indi-
vidual, gentlemen, it behoves us to keep a vigilant eye, espe-
cially since he has had the assurance to declare that he aspires
to the representation of the borough of Liverpool. lam sure,
gentlemen, that you will agree with me in opinion, that should
he attain this end, the town of Liverpool will be eternally dis-
graced. Born in a country which knows nothing of political
freedom ; which never participates in what Mr. Canning has
elegantly called 4 the wholesome agitation of a contested elec-
tion,' his bosom is a stranger to those generous sentiments
which spring up in the bosom which is warmed with the love
of liberty. In his parliamentary career he has uniformly
evinced himself the obedient humble servant to the Minister.
He has set his face most pertinaciously against every proposal
for retrenchment. He has constantly voted in support of every
kind of extravagance. Of course fie is the inveterate enemy
of the cause of reform. In his hostility to that cause he is
tortuous and insidious: He is never abashed ; he never ac-
knowledges a defeat ; and for what he may want in talent he
makes up by perseverance.
4 Destroy his web of sophistry—in vain ;
" The creature's at his dirty work again."
But, Gentlemen, this star of dim and malit,enant aspect has,
lately, in our hemisphere, been lost in the blaze of a more
brilliant luminary Mr. Canning, has, a little time ago, visit-
ed Liverpool, for the purpose of taking leave of his friends,
previously to the execution of that sentence of transportation
which had been passed upon him by his Sovereign. And here,
gentlemen, let us pause for a few moments, to reflect upon
the political history of this splendid political adventurer.—
Gentlemen, the orators of ancient Rome, in asserting the
claims of their respective clients to stations of high military
command, amongst other topics; were wont to dwell upon
their fortune. 'And, gentlemen; most assuredly, Mr. Can-
ning may be pronounced to be fortune Alba. Entering upon
public life with no advantages of birth, and utterly desti-
tute of property, he seems, to a common observer' to have
risen to the highest offices of the State by dint of excellent
talents, nurtured by the sound education of an English gentle-
man. But, upon a more near inspection, I believe that
it will be found Mr. Canning is indebted for his advancement,
riot merely to his talents and his acquirements, but still more to
his little scrupulosity, and to his extraordinary good luck.—
Gentlemen, the little scrupulosity of Mr. Canning is evinced by
his early and decided dereliction of the liberal principles which
he entertained in early youth, to become, in our political sys-
tem, the obsequious satellite of Mr. Pitt. It was, in after time,
further evinced by his low intrigue against his colleague Lord
Cas+l,-:eagh, whose dismissal he for weeks carried in his
whilst he was daily meeting him at the Council Board,
:!• confidential and apparently friendly consultation upon the
interests of his country, of Europe, and of the world at
large. It was still more scandalously manifested, when,
wearied of being olit of office, be stooped to ?accept a subor-
dinate situation, the situation of a jobbing ambassador to the
man in the moon, under the orders of the very individual
whom he had posted and condemned as an imbecile and in-
capable Minister. Such was the conduct of the man who lately
boasted in this town that he had never retired /win or accept-
ed office, but upon principles of honour. Gentlemen, what high
tone of feeling did Mr. Canning evince in the case of our much
lamented Queen ? Why, at the time when the utmost energies
of every man in the kingdom were roused into exertion on the
one side or on the other of that great question, he meanly slunk
from the arena. He retired to France, and left " the life,
grace, and ornament of society" to be worried to death by her
unrelenting persecutors. His reluctance to accept this office,
Mr. Canning acknowledged in the speech which is called after
his name ; and, as to the reason which he assigned for accepting
it—namely, obedience to the commands of his Sovereign—be-
lieve ,me, Gentlemen, it is mere verbiage ; for it is a matter of
public notoriety, that, instead of sending him to India, his Most
Gracious Majesty would have been extremely happy to send
him to Botany Bay. Finally, Gentlemen, of the facility with
which Mr. Canning can shape his principles to circumstances,
we have a notable proof in his throwing overboard the Catho-
lic cause. He well knows, that the Catl- ilics of Ireland will
be contented with nothing short of a grand and comprehen-
sive scheme, which may admit them to the full benefits of the
Constitution. Of the policy of granting their claims in this
respect, Mr. Canning has hitherto been the advocate : but,
from his late speech at the Lyceum, we are given to understand
that he is its advocate no longer. I may mention, as an in-
stance of the singular good luck of Mr. Canning, his narrow
escape from sharing in the shipwreck of Lord Grey's adminis-
tration, for his admission into which, negotiations were fast
maturing at the very time when Lord Grey was suddenly driven
from office. Nor was lie less fortunate in escaping the mortal
aim of Lord Castlereagh. But the crowing instance of his good
fortune is the circumstance of that wretched man's raising his
desperate hand against his own life, whereby he opened a way
for the accession of his rival to power. On that event, Gentle-
men, it was amusing to watch the mananivres of Mr. Canning.
—On the demise of his Lordship, Mr. Canning seems to have
looked upon the ocean with an absolute hydrophobia. He went
from place to place, putting in motion all the strings and wires
of intrigue. He came to Liverpool ' • and, in a speech at the
Lyceum, he as barefaced) y advertised for office, as any butler
or cook ever advertised for a situation. How lie lingered in
leave-taking ! like the thief, whose demeanour under the
gallows-tree is described by Mat Prior, lie
"Now, fitted the halter—now, traversed the cart ;
" And often took leave, but was loth to depart."
In his Lyceum speech, he directed against the cause of reform
all the small shot of his wit, and all the artillery of his argu-
ment. But I may be permitted to speak of so great a man, in
my humble opinion his wit. was extremely heavy and his ar
gument very light. It has been asserted in the douse of Com

iiions and asserted without contradiction, by one who was inti-
mately acquainted with the present system, that "that traffic
in seats in Parliament is as notorious as the sun at noon-day."
And, Gentlemen, does not the Parliament of England con-
stantly legislate upon public notoriety ? When the House of
Commons entertained a Bill for restraining the facility of hold-
ing public meetings, was evidence heard at its bar to prove that
Dr. Watson had mustered his thousands, and Mr. Hunt his
tens of --thousands ? No ; the House of Commons legislat-
ed upon the notoriety of th fact. When a Bill was brought in
to impose further shackles upon the freedom of the press, was
testimony offered that Mr. Hone had published this parody,
or Benbow that caricature? No; notoriety was again the
ground oflegislation. Let Mr. Canning, then, bring his prin-
ciples into full practice. Let him assist, with his eloquence and
his influence, in putting down boroughs, notoriously as venal as
Grampound, and he will go far to satisfy the zealous friends of
Reform. We will hail him as a friend and a brother. We will

admit him as a member of the Concentric Society. But if he de-
cline to do this, he will prove that his professions arc words, and
nothing else. Gentlemen, in his arguments against Reform, Mr.
Canning waged war, and not against us alone, but against
Blackstone, De Lolme, and all the text writers upon the constitu-
tion. He denied the notion that this constitution is a system of
checks and balances. • He spoke with derision of the Veto of
the Crown, and of the right of the Commons to stop the sup-
plies. He went so far as to maintain that a House of Com-
mons, fairly chosen by the people, would be inconsistent with
the existence of the monarchy. What did Mr. Canning mean
by this position ? Did he mean to say that a House of Com-
mons of this description would cripple the Executive in plans
and designs likely to he productive of the public good ? I deny
this position ; and in support of my denial, I appeal to the
United States of North America. There you find a Legislative
body, chosen by almost universal suffrage ; and an Executive
which does not possess a tithe—no, not a hundredth part of the
natural and necessary influence of the Crown of Great Britain ;
and yet that Executive has been strong enough, as we know to
our cost, to repel foreign aggression. It has maintained
against this country two wars, the first of which terminated in
wresting 13 colonies from the Sovereign of Britain ; and
of the, issue of the second of which we have no reason to be
proud. So much for foreign aggression ; and I have yet to learn,
Gentlemen, that the Eiecutive of North America is too feeble
to enforce the adminstration of the laws, 'or to maintain public.