The Sun.
London, England, 1836-11-29 00:00:00

TEWKESBURY REFORM DINNER

We have already briefly alluded to a grand dinner given
on Friday, the 18th inst., by the Reformers of the Bo-
rough of Tewkesbury, to their excellent Representative,
Charles Banbury Tracey, Esq. We now lay before our
readers a more full Report of the proceedings on that inte-

resting occasion.
The dinner took place at the Town Hall, and the com-
pany consisted of nearly '2OO most respectable individuals.
The office of Chairman was very efficiently sustained by
General Sir John Wright Guise, Bart., and that of Vice-
Chairman by Charles E. Hanford, Esq., and the whole pro-
ceedings passed off with the utmost hilarity and enthusiastic

unanimity of feeling.
After the cloth had been removed, and the usual loyal
toasts proposed.
The CHAIRMAN begged to propose the health of " Lord
Segraye, the Lord Lieutenant of the county of Gloucester,
with three times three." 'The toast was received with en-

thusiastic cheering.
Lord SEGRAVE said, as allusion had been made to his
support of the present Administration, he could not refrain
from saying a few words relating to the principles of that
Administration, especially as the period was fast approach-
ing when every Member of both Houses of Parliament
must return to his public duties.—(Hear.) He believed
that all those whom he saw in that room—all whom he
had the honour of addressing, had placed their confidence
in the present Administration.—(Cheering.) Unquestion-
ably there were, as there always would be among truly
honest men, differences of opinion in matters of detail—
differences of opinion as to the expediency
.of completing
certain measures, or as to the necessity of bringing forward
such measurrs at all ; but he repeated that he believed he
was right in the assumption that every one there, and the
great body of Liberals throughout the kingdom, looked up
to Lord Melbourne's Government with confidence and re-
spect, and would consider it the greatest calamity which
could befal this country were that Ministry to be driven
from its post and succeeded by a Tory Administration.—
(Cheers.) And yet, he was sorry to say that not only
was there a possibility, but he might even add a probabi-
lity that such might be the case : ay, and that if such
should happen, the fault would, to a certain extent, rest
with the Liberals themselves.—(Hear, hear.) They were
all perfectly aware of the activity of the Tories, of their
union, and of the various inducements they held out to
persuade persons to join their ranks. It was the duty of
the Liberals, then, to meet the activity of their opponents
with similar activity and constant watchfulness, and to
imitate their union upon all essential points ; but
the mischief of it was that this was not the cas(
and that the want of union encouraged the hopes 0,
their opponents, and induced them to enter into plots
and machinations to widen differences of minor im-
portance, to make the great body of the Liberals appear
divided, and thus to diminish their unanimity and strength
upon matters of greater magnitude. It was by machinations
of this kind that the hopes of the Liberals had on many
past occasions been blasted and entirely neutralized. That
want of union the Tories were never infested with ; it was
an evil that never visited their camp ; but they knew too
well how to take advantage of it when it attacked others.—
(Hear, bear.) At this very moment there were a number
of persons with professions of ultra-liberalism upon their
lips, who, there could not be a doubt of it, had been seduced
by the Tories to carry on their game by sowing dissensions
in the ranks of the Reformers.—(Hear, hear.) He would
ask them, as plain sensible men, whether it was possible to
account upon any other supposition for the course these
persons were constantly pursuing, both by their speeches
and their writings, in abusing, vilifying, and loading with
opprobrium, not only the present Liberal Administration
itself, both collectively and individually, but also the Mem-
bers who gave it their support, and the constituencies who
had been the means of returning those Members to Par-
liament. Now, this must mean something or nothing ;
the men who did this were no fools, and it must be con-
sidered either that all they wrote, or said, or did, was mere
waste of words and time, or was intended to lead to some
practical result ; and he would now ask what this result could
possibly be ? Supposing, by dint of their writings and
speakings they should succeed in driving the present Ad-
ministration from office, and in depriving of their seats
those Members who gave it their support, what, we would
ask, would be the necessary and only consequence ? He
spoke with the greatest respect for the ultra-Liberals and
the honesty of their opinions, and he was quite ready to
acknowledge the great advantage any Administration ob-
tained from their support ; but had it been supposed
for one moment possible that an Administration could
be formed. exclusively from that body ? If that were the
case, and it was not denied, and if these persons succeeded
in creating a division between the ultra-Liberals and the
Whigs at a time when the Tories were in a minority
of only about thirty in the House of Commons, and
when they had a majority of three to one in the House
of Lords, the result of that division (and the persons
who were endeavouring- to promote it knew it full well)
must be to reinstate the Tories in power, and their mis-
rule over the country might last perhaps for another thirty
years.—(Hear, hear.) He believed no one would ques-
tion the ultraliberalism of Mr. O'Connell. His powerful
mind grasped at once with the dangers that beset the coun-
try ; he could see the folly of, and the terrible conse-
quences that must ensue, from a misunderstanding between
his party and the old constitutional Whigs ; and he was
too grateful for the practical benefits Ireland had already
received at the hands of the present Administration, and
too honestly attached to the liberties of his own land, and
those of the empire in general, not to do all in his power to
prevent such a misunderstanding.—(Cheers.) Mr. O'Con-
nell said be was happy to-operate, with those who would go
three-fourths of the way with him ; who would pay him,
according to his own language, fifteen shillings in the pound ;
and he referred with confidence to those men from whom his
countrymen, in common with the rest of Majsty's subjects,
had already received. some of the best and most practical
benefits ever obtained.—(Cheers.) He (Lord Segrave)
trusted that when Parliament met, in the coarse of two
months, the Liberals of every denomination would be united
in the support of Lord Melbourne's Administration, for the
sake of what he knew to be the real and permanent good of
the country, and of all interested in its welfare, from even
the House of Lords itself to the lowest class of the public.
--(Cheers.) As for himself, he had nothing in the world
to seek, nothing to ask for, and if be consulted his own
convenience and feeling, lie should retire at once into
private life, and take no part whatever in the busy scene of
politics. But he felt bound by deep interest in the welfare
of those around him—he felt that for a man in his situation
it would be traitorous, dishonest, and disgraceful not to
lend his hand to the plough as long as his humble efforts
could be of any service to his countrymen.—(Cheers.)
He
supported the present Administration because lie firmly
believed it to be actuated by those principles necessary for
.
the wants, the wishes, and the intelligence of country
—because he believed its stability to be as essential to the
true dignity and security of the Throne as it was condu-
cive to the happiness and good government of the people.
—(Cheers.) He would not trespass on their time any
longer than to congratulate them on the appearance of his
friend on the right, the Hon. Member for Tewkesbury.—
(Cheers.) In that Gentleman, as the guardian of their
public and private interests, he was glad that they placed
their unabated confidence. He was sure that they would
never have cause to repent of it. For their sake, and for
the sake of the Honourable Member himself, he hoped the
connection between them would be continued for years and
years to come.—(Cheers.)
The CHAIRMAN next proposed " The health of the
Hon. Member for Tewkesbury, with three times three, and
as many more as they pleased." The toast elicited several
rounds
of enthusiastic applause.
Mr. TRACEY defied any Tory in the kingdom to give one
reason why the confidence of the country should be with-
drawn from the Administration, and placed in the good
faith of their rivals ? What had the Tories done that the
confidence of the country should be placed in them ? Was
it for their wasteful profligacy exercised over a series of