The Sun.
London, England, 1831-11-18 00:00:00

TO LORD LANSDOWNE.

On Wednesday, the 16th, a darner was given, at
the Bear Inn, Devizes, by the Reformers of Wilt-
shire, to the Marquis of Lansdowne, Lord Lieu-
tenant of the county, as a mark of the estimation in
which they hold his Lordship's character and ser-
vices, and especially as a testimony of the public
gratitude for the course the Noble Marquis has pur-
sued with respect to the great measure of Reform.
The Sheriff of the county (PAUL COBB METHUEN,
Esq ) presided on the occasion, assisted by Mr.
Locke and Mr. Phipps, and the dinner was served
up at about half-past five o'clock. Though the as-
sembly was very numerous (the whole of the tickets
issued having been disposed of), the arrangements
were so good as to obviate the slightest confusion.
The party included most of the leading persons of
the country. Among those present were—Lord
Andover, Sir Thomas Fellowes, the County Mem-
bers (Sir John Astley and Mr. Benett), Sir A.
Mallets, Colonel Houlton, Major Olivier, Captains
Taylor and Fielding, R N., Mr. Long, and Mr. W.
Long, Mr. Thomas Moore, the distinguished poet,
Mr. Talbot, of Laycock-abbey, Mr. P. Scrope, &c.
After the removal of the cloth, Non nohis Domine,
was sung by Messrs. Garbutt, Rowle, and Loader,
of Bath, who, with Mr. Waulds, of the Bristol
Theatre, contributed to the hilarity of the meeting
by singing various appropriate songs and glees in the
course of the evening.
The CHAIRMAN then rose for the purpose of pro.
posing the toast which claimed precedence of all
othera—" The health of the patriotic Sovereign of
Britain."—(Cheers.) The time might formerly
have been when there would have been greater
difficulty in putting such a toast,—when it might
have required the aid of a more pompous intro-
duction ; but it was now only necessary to pro-
nounce the name of William IV.—of William, the
Reformer's choice—(Cheers)—to inspire feelings in
every breast that made it an easy duty for any
speaker to call attention to it. The concessions to
the cause of liberty obtained from other monarchs,
had sprung as much from their fear as their good-
will; but our present Monarch had granted Reform
as a spontaneous boon.—(Cheers.) It was impos-
sible not to feel grateful for his paternal kindness,
and they were bound to support him as he had sup-
ported his people. He was persuaded that if the
Monarchy of England were to become elective to-
morrow, William IV. would be chosen to fill the
Throne by the unanimous voice of the nation.—
(Cheers.) The Chairman then gave " The King,"
which was drunk with the greatest enthusiasm.
Song—" When Britons on our sea-girt shore."
Toast—" The Queen and Royal Family."
Song—" Love gently whispers while she sleeps."
The CHAIRMAN would next propose the health
of an illustrious individual, who was an honour to
the ration—who had invariably stood up for the
rights and liberties of the people. It was almost
unnecessary for him to name " his Royal Highness
the Duke of Seseex," who might be justly styled
the Prince of Befoimers.—(Applause.)
The health of his Royal Highness was warmly
pledg ed.
The CHAIRMAN begged now to call attention to a
toast in which they were all much interested, and
which he was sure would awaken the most grateful
feelings of every pet son present. He a as about to
propose the health of their distinguished guest, the
Lord Lieutenant of the county.—(Cheers.) Were
the Noble Marquis not present among them, he
• (the Chairman) should experience less difficulty in
designating hi- character, which he must be per-
mitted to say, shed lustre on his class, and added
dignity to the high station which he occupied,—
(Applause,) That Noble Lord, from his earliest
fouth—from his very entrance into political He—
wes never known to adopt a line of conduct evi-
dencing a disposition to court the sunshine of Royal
favour, or to intrigue for patronage or place. He
had devoted his great talents to the extension of
his country's liberty, and to the general benefit of
mankind.—(Applause.) If they turned to his
speeches in the House of Lords, they would show
that be possessed all the qualities that contribute
to form a great man ; if they looked to his bearing
in a private elation, they would see it marked by
urbanity arid kindness--by every thing that could
make the humblest of the people feel easy in corn-
enunicatieg with him.--(Applause.) At a period
-so critical as the present, when they heard the most
virulent abuse circulated against men in power, it
muet be a sufficient guarantee to them of the ground-
leesriess of the charges, when they saw their Lord
Lieutenant, and a Member of the Government, thus
assailed;--(Cheers.) The character of the Noble
Marquis gave the lie at once to the assertions of the
Anti-Reformers ---(eiepplause.) With respect to
the conduct of the ;Noble Marquis in his own county,
they all knew that in any matter of business no one
could be easier of access, arid more willing to pay
attention to the humblest applicant. At present the
advantages they derived from having such a Lord
Lieutenant were inestimable. He trusted that they
should not again e ;these the distressing scenes of
last year, and if there could he any security against
their recurrence, it might be held to be in the cha-
racter of their Lord Lieutenant, for the only sub-
stantial security consisted in the mutual good feeling
of all ranks of society ; and how was that feeling
more effectually promoted than by the conduct dis-
played, in his various social relations, !),), the leading
Nobleman of the county?—(Applause.) He did
not wish to trespass upon the patience of the meet-
ing.; but he could not think he had discharged his
duty to the meeting and the county, if he did not
assure :heir Noble guest of the high respect and
esteem they entertained for his character, and the
gratitude universally felt for his public services and
private worth.
The health of the Noble Marquis was drunk with
the evarmest demonstrations of regard.
The Marquis of Leeespoweie, in rising on an oc-
casion so gratifying to him, must certainly say that
his first object was to assure the meeting of his
most sincere arid heartfelt pleasure for the honour
they had conferred an him by their invitation, and
for the favour shown to his name at the suggestion
of his worthy and excellent friend, who so efficiently
iiiead the office of High Shenk. for the county; but
although his first object in addressing them was un-
doubtedly the wish to convey all expression of his
emotions Arising from a deep sense of their kindness,
still he must acknowledge that it would be peat af-
fectation in him to countenance the supposition that
they expected biro to confine himself to the simple
expression of his feeilings,or that he himself content-
plated a restriction of the #eind. However deeply he
.might feel on any other accesisen; or at any other
time, this proof of confidence As ,r.e*3.pg to him per-
sonally, it impressed him doubly est ,ebtee filaments
from the particular circumstances and reente with
which he was connected.—(Hear, hear.) Nost
deeply s;tl he feel it as a member of his Majesty's
Government'a Government engaged in conducting
the progress or brie of the roast arduous and momen-
tous measures ever attempted to be carried into
effect by arty Admieistretion—a measeee evhich they
had no other motive in otekinating and supp,orting
but the desire to benefit the people, and which the)
confidence of the people could aloese kpable them to'
bring to a triumphant conclusion. Those who had
watched the progress of the public trend of late years
;nest have been sensible, that Thera existed a growing
op;; ieM which indicated, he would Dot say the expe-
diency, but the necessity °fa Reform in the representa-
tion of the people.—(iheers.) That growing
opinion became consolidated at the time of the ac
cession of the P -
resent Ministers to power, arid they
had deemed it right to ollect its scattered rays land
one mic ht burn with the safe and
one focus, that g
stead), light calculated to guide the community to a
baeeen of safety. Ministers were conscious, in com-
Anon Wait Al! friends el the cause, that its weakness
.ey in the great variety of opinions respecting the
retest remedy far admitted abuses. The diversity
of scatiment which naturally prevailed upon this
I,oint, made it just as impossible to advise a measure
V relief that would eseeet the yield nr very party,

as it would for mechanical ingenuity to fashion a
coat that would adapt itself to the shape of every
man. They felt that the only chance of introducing
a measure of Reform with success lay in their be-
ing able to take a common ground on which all
Reformers might consistently stand together; and
which, whether the peculiar object of each were or
were not attained in its full extent, would at least
be productive of a great good to all.—(Applause.)
On that consideration had Ministers produced the
measure of Reform brought forward in the last Ses-
sion of Parliament, and on that consideration they
would again produce a measure not less efficient
than the former.—(Cheers.) In framing that mea-
sure they had in view throughout to graft it on the
ancient existing institutions of the country—institu-
tions which it was a gross libel on the national
character to affirm that they were of a narrow,
contracted, resisting, or repulsive tendency, they
being, in fact, calculated, beyond those of any other
land, to incorporate, all the wealth, talent, and
industry that gathered round them in the lapse of
time, and from the addition of which they derived
additional strength. He (Lord Lansdowne) was no
friend to what were called new constitutions, has-
tily adopted without knowledge of the effect they
were likely to have. His experience was not the
longest, but he had seen many of these constitu-
tions brought forth, live for a brief space, then decay
and perish, because they were not deeply rooted in
the habits, feelings, and opinions of the people for
whom they were constructed. They exhibited a
promise of vitality, while the fever of excitement in
which they originated continued; but when the un-
natural stimulus passed away, they, as it were, col-
lapsed, and made way for an influence more malig-
nant. They were as meteoric vapours arising from
accidental combinations, bewildering the sight and
captivating the imagination, but rapidly failing, and
sinking into the darkness from which they came.
This was not the description of light which his Ma-
jesty's Ministers wished to see illuminating this
country. On the contrary, they wished to work on
the broad and safe light of day, which enabled them
to discern all objects, and allowed them to be de-
ceived by none.—(Applause.) Thus actuated, they
had framed a measure carefully grounded on the
existing institutions, seeking honestly and zealously
to purge them of the abuses which had accumulated
round them, and giving the possession of political
privileges to as great an extent as was consistent
with the safety of the State. He was aware that
much of these institutions, or rather the abuses in-
cidental to them, was connected with the interests
of individuals ; nay, more, was connected in many
cases with habits and feelings, the origin of which
he could not blame, however he might condemn
their result. For instance, in the nomination of re-
presentatives by individuals, while he condemned
the principle, still he was ready to admit that
this accidental influence had been occasionally
possessed by persons of all political parties,
who endeavoured to exercise it for a beneficial
end. But this, when it did occur, was only a
chance, and it was not upon chance that he
wished to repose the security of this empire.—
(Hear.) Adverting to this subject reminded him
of a remarkable incident that happened many years
hack, when one of the most gifted women of the
age—Madame de Stael—went to Russia on a visit
to the Emperor Alexander. At the interview be-
tween these personages, among his first words the
Emperor said—" Madam, you are coming to a
country without a constitution." To this she re-
plied, " I am coming to a country where you are
yourself a constitution." The Emperor then re-
joined—" Ah ! Mackin, I am but a lucky acci-
dent." The same remark would apply to the ex-
amples cited in favour of nomination boroughs.
They might lie the medium of introducing men of
honour into Parliament, but there was no security
that men of honour would be brought in.—(Cheers.)
Government, therefore, felt that the destruction of
the whole of this class of boroughs was indispensa-
bly requisite in the measure of lust session, and they
feel that it will be indispensably requisite in the
measure to be submitted to Parliament. He did
not wish to infringe too far upon the time of the
meeting, but he might be permitted to state, that
whilst Ministers, in their strenuous ende.ivours to
tiring the measure of Reform safe into port, were
placed in a situation of difficulty, those whom he
then addressed, with the sentiments they held arid
the station they filled, were also in a position not
without difficulty. While they exercised the influ-
ence that belonged to them in their several circles,
in steadily upholding the feeling by which the prin-
ciple of the great measure of Reform was sustained
and supported, it was incumbent on them, at the
same time, to moderate its action, and direct it to a
safe and salutary purpose. He was not speaking his
own opinions merely, nor only the decided convic-
tion of his colleagues, but the opinion of the gracious
master he had the honour to serve, in declaring that
nothing could so effectually work against the measure
of Reform, or his wishes, as any thing resembling a
threat to carry by force or by intimidation that,
which, if carried, ought to be the deliberate result
of reason arid conviction.—(Hear.) There was no
need to press this opinion on those by whom he (the
Noble Marquis) was surrounded, but they might le
called upon to impress upon the minds of others,
that the great object of Reform was the attainment
of good government, and that the aim of good go-
vernment was to give security to property and en-
sure freedom of action. Those who abetted the
approach to violence were the real enemies of Re-
form. He trusted the people would see that the
Reform they sought, if it were to prove permanent,
could alone be founded on fell di-cussion, and pro-
found conviction: —(Hear.) So prepared—so con-
sidered—and so attained, he was sanguine enough
to hope that it would be the means of preserving to
distant ages, unpolluted and unimpaired, the sacred
elements of that Constitution under which they had
all experienced so much happiness.—(Cheers.) The
Noble Marquis repeated his deep sense of the honour
paid by the meeting to himself, of the justice which
they had done to the motives of Ministers, and the
betiets't they had conferred on the cause of Reform,
and concludeel by proposing the health of theeiligh
Sheriff, whose exertions to preserve the peace of
the county were deserving pf the highest praise:
that peace he trusted would not be disterbed in the
year .oie which they were about to enter, but that
through the ;loyalty of the people, the great measure
would pass unalloied by any circumstances of pas-
sion or confusion, whieh would only impede the
march of that which they all wiehed to see proceed-
ing with regularity and steadiness.—(Cheers.)
The health of the High Sheriff was then given
with three times three.
The CHAIRMAN said he never rose to address any
meeting of a public or social character with the same
feeling of inadequacy to do justice to his impressions
under which he then laboured. Such a compliment
must have been gratifying to him under any circum-
stances, but how much was its value enhanced from
the peedi:tioo through which it had been conveyed,
arid the cordiality #,nell which it had been received I
That was not a fitting arcaa fgr the display of
egotism, hut he thought he ought not; t?eest satis-
fied at a meeting held to celebrate the greet cause of
keir hearts, without explaining the Gorse he ba4
pursoe? with regard to Reform. On his first iatroe
duction to dee ,county, as a candidate for its repre-
-entation, he wits the humble instrument in the
rounds of the freeholders to ye!i:;ve Wiltshire from a
state oolitical thraldom, us abject that. 11of the
-e
elo-est boro;;1, in the kingdom.—(Cheers.
vsas proud to avow A!.,.'e gratitude due to his friend
Mrs leienett, for tine 'servicee he had at that period
rendered tee him and to the county; when broke
forth the first dey-dawn of that light Wij,...1..! Si' S
now leradiatkng every and village. Sent to
the House f Commons by Ci.:c free voice‘of the
people, he emceed it pledged to eo party. He
soon found that it we impossible for any honest
man to :late very frequently with the Ministersof
the day, and he should net shave ventured to appear
in the presence of the assembly where he stood, if
he had not endeavoured to urrest and expose their
leeersleey and wapteful expenditure.,-(.A,pplanee.)

He recollected that he was assailed with copious
abuse by the writers in the Government prints of the
period, especially by that enlightened sample of all
printers' devils,theßight Hon. John Wilson Croker.
—(Laughter.) He had not looked at Reform then as
he did now. At that time be erred in attempting
to destroy the many-headed monster of corruption by
insulated blows, and he regretted that Sir Francis
Burdett was not present among them, that he (Mr.
Methuen) might offer a late acknowledgment of the
superior wisdom of his views. But the same reason
which led him to go no further then, would lead
him to go no further now—namely, the voice of the
people of England. No man could do less than vote
for the Bill of his Majesty's Government, and he
would say that it was the duty of every loyal subject
to stand by Ministers at this important moment.—
(Cheers.) He was glad to see that their county,
always remarkable for loyalty, was so decided in sup.
porting the present Government. If a few of their
neighbours, whom they valued in other respects,
held aloof from the pride of early habit, or a regard
to a decent consistency, there were hopes that they
might yet join their standard. lie should advise
them, however, to hasten their steps, as he should be
sorry to see them reduced to the shabby minority
which he was convinced their side would soon ex-
hibit; for ere long there would not be in Wiltshire
as many Anti-Reformers as would fill the blacking.
van of the Hon. Member for Preston.—( Laughter.)
He would now propose a toast, to which, after the
satisfactory speech of the Noble Marquis, it would
be presumption in him to affix any lengthened pre-
face. He would give" Success to Reform,the safety_
valve of the Constitution." The toast was received
with four times four.

The CHAIRMAN said, that after the last toast he
deemed it necessary to propose the health of the
great and illustrious man by whom the measure of
Reform had been recommended to his Majesty, and
proposed by the Parliament,—one who had devoted
to the cause of liberty the strength of his youth arid
the wisdom of his maturer years—Lord Grey. The

manner in which the Noble Earl's administration
had been calumniated was, to borrow the memo-
rable phrase applied to the importunity of Lt-.‘rd
Londonderry, " too bad."—.(Laughter.) Nobody
who had ever attended to Parliamentary proceed-
ings could really believe that Earl Grey sought
office instead of office seeking him. The gross fa-
brications on this subject were the last kick of the
boroughmongering faction. He (the Chairman)
was no party man, but he did not think it possible
for any set of men going out of office to act so in-
famously by the King, so infamously by the country,
and so disgracefully by themselves, as a part of
the late Administration had done. Suppose a gen-
tleman found fault with his steward, and appointed
a person to supersede him, what would be the opi-
nion of the discarded servant if he did all in his
power to injure and annoy his employer by impeding
his business and mystifying his accounts? Would
they not pronounce the man a rascal' After insti-
tuting the parallel, he would leave them to say what
they pleased about the late Government.—(Cheers.)
Earl Grey's health was drunk with loud and
reiterated marks of applause.
The health of the Lord Chancellor, proposed after
a highly complimentary speech from the Chair, was
drunk with similar cordiality; as were the health. of
Lord Althorp and Lord John Russell.
The CHAIRMAN, in proposing the health of his
Majesty's Ministers collectively, adverted to the
state of the country at the time when they entered
upon office, and observed that they had done as
much as any Government could be expected to per-
form. He believed that, in spite of the frantic de-
clamation of the Anti-Reformers, they would redeem
the country from the boroughmongering curse—
that abomination which made desolate. Under no
circumstances would the people submit to return
under the tyranny to which they were obliged to
bend for years. " His Majesty's Ministers—three
times three."—(Cheers.)
The next toast was—" The Members for the
county."

Mr. BENETT rose to return thanks. The sub-
ject of Reform had been lightly touched upon, and
he would touch it but lightly. The measure had
been once defeated, if defeat it could be called ;
but the same honest men were pledged to bring for-
ward another measure of equal efficiency, and with
ten times a greater prospect of success. If the Bill
had not been thrown our, it would have been emas-
culated in its progress, which would not now be
the case. He would only urge on the people to he
patient—to support the Government, and leave
Ministers to take a clear course, unembarrassed by
directions, in the full confidence that they would
obtain for freedom another and another triumph.—
(Applause.) He would not despair if the measure
were again defeated, unless Ministers deserted their
duty by deserting the people. The mode by which
they might attempt to effect their object might nor
succeed, but there was another mode through which
they might succeed, although he trusted it would
not he requisite to resort to it. They had been well.
advised to look to the maintenance of the peace of
the country, and to repress popular impatience, which
was the only thing they had to fear, and which
was displayed even by thinking men. He did
not speak thus from any coolness to a measure
in obtaining which he was prepared to fall if neces-
sary, but he wished to obtain it by the support of
reason and public opinion, and not by teferenre to
mob-violence. Mob tyranny was the worst of all,
and they split among themselves; and if the Tories
returned to power, what Reform could they hope
for then ? He knew that persons were striving to
excite the people, by representing the measure of
Reform as inefficient, and stating that from a Tory
Administration they would receive universal suf-
frage. He was satisfied that if the Tories gained
the ascendancy, they would coerce the country by
the sword. After drilling the mob into soldiers,
they would silence the just demands of the com-
munity by the force of the bayonet. He was firmly
persuaded that certain people in this country wished
to agitate the population of the manufacturing dis-
tricts, for the purpose of destroying the prospects
of R-form. The thinking men all over the king-
dom were Reformers. Let them not, therefore,
become disunited,—let them not embarrass the
question,—let not any man call upon the Govern-
ment to create Peers, but all join in granting to the
Administration that complete confidence so essential
to enable Ministers to effect their object. Let
them grant this confidence to Government, and if
a failure was the consequence, then was their time
to take the lead, and he would be ready to join
them in taking it. The sentiments emanating from
the present meeting,—sentiments which he knew
would be faithfully reported,—were honourable to
the county in the centre of which they were as-
sembled. For himself he begged to declare, than
if they thought proper to send him to the House of
Commons, he would continue to serve them faith-
fully until the question of Reform was carried.
S'r J. ASTLEY coincided in the sentiments of his
friend and colleague, and returned thanks for the ho-
nour paid him by the meeting.
" Lady Lansdowne, and the Ladies of Wiltshire."
Lord LANSDOWNE returned thanks.
" 'the Army."
" The i.:navy."
The ..CIVVET4A:"; lied great :I?leasure in proposing
the health of an individual long 45noWn to them—
universally admired and respected, and poasesSO of:
genius which diffused the lustre of his name over
the world—Mr. Thomas Moore.--(Cheers.)—
Thoui;li ha was proud to say that he had been ho-
noure'd with lr °ore's friendship for above thirty
years, still he did riot propcsp his health on the score
of private intimacy, but as a roan whD we an ho-
epur to his country and his age, acid who was,above
all, the pcct of liberty, and the consistent advocate
of the rights of fits noive land. " Mr. Moore, with
three times three."
11100 RE felt peculiarly gratified by the kind
manlier in which his friend, the Chairman, had asso-
ciated his name with Ireland. Nothing, indeed,
could imr art to him lidelier emotions of pleasure
titan connectiny his 'name' with' the country of hie

birth. He had intended to content himself with
simply expressing his thanks for the honour they
had conferred upon him, and should, perhaps, have
done so, had not that been the first time it had
fallen to his lot to meet an assembly of his friends
and neighbours since the great question of Re-
form had come to be agitated,—a question which
was not only arraying, on the one side or the
other, for or against, all the thinking spirits of
our proud empire, but whose progress Europe itself
was at that moment watching with equally divided
sympathies. All those who wished to keep the
human mind, if not in darkness, at least in that pe-
numbral " bit-by-bit" light, such as came dimly from
' the distant wisdom of their ancestors—all those were
now looking on with trembling solicitude lest the
dreaded illumination should spread—lest the Tory
propagators of their dark heresy in this country
should he defeated, and the important truth evinced,
that England, free England, might with safety be
made free.—( Cheers.) While thus the sticklers for
antiquated abuses,—'he worshippers of the rust of
time,—were holding their distempered watch, with
no less anxiety was every lover of rational freedom
throughout Europe looking to the Commons of Eng-
land for a lesson in the art of moderate and cons,i •
tutional self-enfranchisement, for an example of a great
countryrighting its political position, without any risk
of losing its balance in the effort, and giving a warn-
ing to bad masters of the people, without converting
the people into worse masters themselves.—(Cheers.)
To both these classes of observers he (Mr. Moore)
would proclaim, that of the ultimate success of their
present struggle for freedom there was now not the
slightest doubt; that there yet might be interrup-
tions and delays, rendering their progress to the goal
less smooth, but none that could render their arrival
at it less certain.—(Applause.) It only remained,
then, for the people,—and when he said the
people, he meant that great mass of intelligent
persons of all ranks and stations who constituted the
mental power of this country, and who would, he
trusted, ever guide and modulate the physical power.
He referred to the Noble Lords opposite, no less
than his humbly-born self, both in their distinct
spheres equally forming a part of that social system
in whose movements all were alike interested,
and through which a light of freedom was about to
be diffused, of which they would all alike participate.
It only remained, he repeated, for the people to show
themselves, by their moderation and self-command,
worthy of the inestimable boon which was now all
but within their grasp, and of which nothing could
impede or delay their attainment save their grasping
at too much.—(Applause.) " The principle of de-
mocracy," said Montesquieu, and by no one was
the principle of democracy ever placed higher, seeing
that he assumed virtue as its basis—" the principle
of democracy is become corrupted, not only when
the spirit of equality is lost sight of, but also when
a spirit of extreme equality prevails." So thought
the sagacious 'Montesquieu ; but there was an-
other authority still more to the point, and to which
they would doubtless listen with fonder reverence—
that of Mr. Fox. In the introductory chapter of
his Historical Fragment, after giving it as his opi-
nion that the growing diffusion of knowledge
through all the grades of British society must lead
an observer to anticipate momentous revolutions,
and that the House of Commons would, he con-
ceived, be the instrument by which those changes
would be accomplished, he proceeded in these re-
markable words :—" How will the House of Com-
mons conduct itself? .Will it content itself with
its regular share of legislative power, or will
it boldly (perhaps rashly) pretend to power com-
mensurate with the natural rights of the re-
presentatives of the people ? If it should do so,
will it not be obliged to support its claims by
military force; and how long will such a force be
under its controul ? How long will it be before it
follows the usual course of all armies, and ranges it-
self under a single master ? Will this master"—
but it was useless to follow the illustrious writer into
those further and fated gradations which all could an-
ticipate, and by which, indeed, history showed that
the extreme of liberty had ever led to that of servi-
tude, and the stormy sway of the many subsided into
the monotonous despotism of one. He would che-
rish the hope,—for he was as little disposed to flat-
ter the people as he had ever been to flatter their
corrupt rulers, regal or lordly,—then, that as the
people of England came into possession of their full
heritage of freedom, they would exhibit a readier
disposition than heretofore to share that matchless
blessing with others.—(Applause.) It was but too
true, as the enemies of the popular voice asserted,
though it came with an ill grace from those whose
discreditable influence was at the root of the wrong
—it was, indeed, true, that when the infant liberties
of America and of France were to be strangled in
their cradles, the people of England showed them-
selves bu' too ready to put their hands to the unholy
work. Nor could he forget that, had it depended
upon the people of England—he himself—one of
millions as deserving he would say to be free as they
were—would have stood before them in the same
chains he wore when he and they first met—
chains of which he feared the mark was too recent,
and he too old, to be expected to outlive their recut-
lecsion. He would, notwithstanding, answer for his
countrymen, that they would exult in the forthcom-
ing restoration of Englishmen to their rights, even
apart from the hope of being gainers by it themselves.
(Cheers.) But they would be gainers; it was im-
possible that it should prove otherwise. England—
regenerated England—would no longer, as hitherto,
shine forth, imperfectly shorn of her best beams—a
sort of half-moon of freedom, with one segment of
her orb shrouded in gloom ; nor could he help feel-
ing confidence that, under the auspices of men like
his Noble Friend whom they were that day met to
' honour—one whose manly, expansive, and benevo-
lent spirit had no dearer ambit•on than that of see-
g his fellow men intelligent and happy—he could
not doubt that, under such auspices, full justice
might yet be done to his country ; and it might be
teovoe,nb
ehliosnlgo tt
ot oa bnea t
obe to ay,
nlo
ffrseem,
(lice dheieed, I,
rs.)
The following toasts were drank in succession :
" The Royal Yeomanry Cavalry of the county of
Wilts"—" The Healths of the Lads of Suffolk and
Radnor, arid Lord Andover"—" Vie Magistrates
of the county"—" Prosperity to the Town of De-
vizes"—" Civil and Religious Liberty"—" The
Stewards, who had conducted the arrangements so
satisfactorily."
The vocalists in attendance then sang " God save
the King." Most of the company joined in the na-
tional anthem, at the termination of which the
Marquis of Lansdowne took leave of the meeting,
which broke up immediately afterwards, at ten o'clock

Who but must remember with what delight
he has dwelt upon the strange scenes, the wild adventures,
but, above all, upon the new race of beings, described in
the pages of COOK, or VANCOUVER ? Who but has pe-
rused with avidity the details connected with newly dis-
covered islands in that ocean happily called the Pacific?
The singular manners and customs of the natives—their
amazement on beholding their unknown visiters—the in-
tercourse between men so essentially different from one
another, and which frequently led to the most deadly
hostilities--must recur to the mind of every well-informed
person. Captain BEccifEv's delightful narrative has been
succeeded by Mr. STEWART'S Account of his Visit to the
South Seas, which conveys the most recent picture of a
portion of the globe in every point of view interesting.
The estimation in which the author was held by the chiefs
and natives of the various islands, has enabled him to
descri4e sceroes Ircin which other travellers had been uni-
formly exclude 4;
A few days since, whilst LCIII4 fishermen
were sailing up the Lynn channel, they caught a very
singular fish, about three feet and a half long and one foot
and a half wide: It possesses a very unusual form com-
pared with any of the finny tribe ever seen there. There
is neither symmetry not beauty attached to it, and from
its peculiar appearance there is every reason to believe it
is nk an inhabitant of these coasts. It is as broad at the
tail as at the head, 'and has several large fins. The under
part is soft, but the back i§ of a cru§ted nature, and
sparkles like silver: hence many sailors have designated
it the sun-fish or silver-tish. These, however, are only
vague descriptions, and naturalists differ much as to its
name and even
rveciee,.....Slarnford 4fe teq,