The Sun.
London, England, 1822-08-30 00:00:00

FRIDAY, AUGUST 30, 1822.

can say that there is not a single interest, belonging to this town,
which has not had, when required, the share of my active at-
tentioft n and which has not, and ever will have, a share in my
most intense and anxious good-will.
" Gentlemen, you embodied yourselves at a time when the
country was in great difficulties, both at home and abroad.—
The councils to which we gave our cordial support have glori-
ously surmounted the external difficulties; and surmounted
them not as those who were then opposed to us recommea led
—by compromise, by trucking, or by a mere accidental, laftity
escape; but by perseverance, by steadiness, by confidence in
oursels es in our country and our cause, by a triumph with6ut
example, as our exertions were without precedent or parallel.
" Ur. fortunately, great efforts are not to be made without
great sa•erifices ; and as the overstrained exertion of the politi-
cal, as well as of the physical body, produces lassitude and
exhaustion unfortunately the conclUsion. of our dangers from
without ,vacs followed by internal dangers, which, if it was not
more diffi cult to overcome, it was equally more painful to com-
bat. In combating such demo-ere, we were animated by none
of the feelings which sustained us during the conflict with the
foreign foe;—we felt, that we were at war with those who
ought to li ave been our fellows in sentiment as in country ; and
our triumph was painful in its execution, though just and.
merciful in its purpose. Long may those over whom it was
achieved share, in peace and tranquillity, the benefit of its
achievement !
" I would fain hope, indeed, Gentlemen, that we have no
more such struggles, no more such triumphs to apprehend.
Looking abroad through Europe, I see no near prospect of a
call upon this country for any foreign eicertion. At home, I
do not disguise from myself that I see great difficulties and
great distress; but I see those difficulties and that distress in
quarters where education and intelligence may be expected to
counteract intemperance of feeling, to correct prejudice, and to
discountenance faction. The suffering was, erewhile, in those
classes of society with whom suffering naturally begets impa-
tience and absorbs reflection, aid delivers over the sufferer, in
pardonable and pitiable delusion, a prey to every designing
demagogue, who points out resistance as a remedy. It exists
now, I am grieved to acknowledge, inhigher classes of society,
not less entitled to sympathy, no less objects of compassion,
and, where practicable, of relief; but who know that their
safety, as well as their prosperity, is bound up with the peace
of the kingdom; and who, when they are satisfied that the
privatiOns which they now endure are such as neither laws nor
Governments can cure, will be cautious not to lend their au-
thority to' any schemes, which, under pretence of alleviating
present and partial evils, may lead to the disturbance of their
country. lam confident, that having, during a great struggle
of so many years, preached patience,to the humbler classes of
the community, the higher will not now desert their duty, by
refusing, in their turn; to practise the same degree of patience
which has been generally displayed by those beneath them.
" For, Gentlemen, apart froth the interests of separate
classes, we have all a common interest in the conservation of
that order of things which is the security of the whole. We must
feel, 1 am sure, and none feel more than those whom I am ad-
dressing, that it would be a peevish and unthinking spirit,
which, under the irritation of a temporary inconvenience, should
quarrel, not with'the immediate sources of immediate suffining,
but with all that surrounds them, with all that is contemporary
with them, with passive circumstances as well as with active
causes ; as a child, in its anger, beats the ground because for a
moment it has fallen. To maintain to,our native land that
supremacy which it has long exercised, we must look to the
maintenance of its institutions ; and if, in a moment of uncom-
fortable pressure, we lay hold, in anger, On those established
institutions, and shake them to ruin, we may be perfectly sure,
that, while we procure no remedy for the evil that assails us,
we shall take from our posterity, probably from ourselves, the
means of safety as well as the hope of reparation.
" But, Gentlemen, enough of general reflection. In my de-
sire to avoid the temptation of
_egotism in what I address to
you, I have wandered from my immediate purpose.
" Gentlemen, 1 owe it to you, in common with all my con-4
stituents, to state the grounds on which I am about to separate
from you. I have never (I call past events to bear me witness),
I have never sought or accepted office, except on principles of
honour. I have never hesitated to relinquish it, when I have
thought that either public duty or individual honour required
its relinquishment. In 1812, when a private individual, and
having recently declined the highest official honours of the
State, I was returned by you to Parliament, after a contest of
unexampled exertion. You were good enough to return me
again, when I became a Member of the Administration. I
have since quitted that Administration, on a question wholly
unconnected with its general course of policy, and without the
smallest diminution of attachment to the public principles
which I have uniformly professed, or the smallest relaxation in
iny.support of them. When called to office, in 1816, I was
called to a department perfectly alien from my oflicial habits,
and with the business of which I had no previous acquaint-
ance; but, in the course of nearly five years' diligent admini-
stration of that department, it has so happened, that I am sup-
posed, by those in whom the law has vested the power of ap-
pointing to the Government of India, to have qualified myself
liar the more immediate direction of that Government, over
the concerns of which it has been my duty to exercise a distant
superintendence.
"Many obvious circumstances, undoubtedly, would have made
it more agreeable to me to have remained in this country.—
( Loud cheers.)—l see arcund me more than one hundred and
sixty motives for having so wished to remain.—(Renewed
cheers.)—But, Gentlemen, I hold that a public man is, unless
he can spew cause of honour or duty to the contrary. bound to
accept a trust which he is selected as competent to administer
for the public interest.
" Gentlemen, those in whom the law, as I haVe said, vests
the power of appointment (subject to the approbation of the
Crown), have done me the ,honour to think that I may be the
humble instrument of conferring some benefit on the popula-
tion of an extensive empire. I fear they over-rate my capa-
city fur the task which they impose upon me, as your kindness
has over-rated my services to you.—(Cries of " No, no !")
But I have not felt myself at liberty to decline a task, at once
so difficult and so honourable ; I must execute it to the best of
my ability. Gentlemen, in leaving your service, it is my pride
to carry with me such testimonies of your satisfaction. I hope
I may, without indecent vanity, add, that in quitting the House
of Commons, it is a consolation to me to quit it not defeated nor
disgraced.—(Cheers.)
" If, Gentlemen, you and I are separated by space, let us
continue united by sentiment and by kindness. J. leave here,
in your keeping, a name, insignifiCant as it belongs to an indi-
vidual, but consecrated by the principles of which you have
made it the symbol. Guard it, not for its own sake, but for the
sake of those its accompaniments. While it may be my lot to
administer a government, of necessity in a great measure dis-
cretionary, I shall reflect that there is, in my own country, a
community in which my name is cherished, as associated with
rational liberty, with the principles of a free government, and
with the institution of a free people. Guard you my memory,
and I will cherish yours- Removed from you by thousands of
miles, it will be a pleasure to me to think, that I am occa-
sionally remembered by you ; and be assured, that, in what-
ever part of the world I may be stationed, the Members of this
Society will have a place in my remembrance and regard.
" Gentlemen, permit me to conclude with proposing, with a
slight variation, your usual standing toast—' Permanency and
Prosperity to this Club.'"
The speech was received throughout with loud applause, and
the Right Hon. Gentleman resumed his seat amidst the cheer-
ing of the company.
Song—Should auld Acquaintance be forgot.—hi r. Gifford.
The CHAIRMAN said, that the next toast he should have the
honour of proposing was one which would, lie had no doubt, be
drank with that attention and respect which the services of
Gcn. Gascoyne deserved. Ile then proposed—
" General Gascoyne, the Colleague of our Right Honourable
Friend."—lt was drank with three times three, and much ap-
plause.

The CHAIRMAN introduced the health of Mr. Huskisson by
observing, that he knew- not that he could pass a higher eulo-
gium upon Mr. Huskisson than to say, that he was the bosom
friend of their Right Hon. Representative, and possessed his
unlimited confidence. For him (the Chairman) to e.ttempt to
eulogise the character of Mr. Huskisson, would therefore be
quite superfluous ; for• they could not have a higher testimony
either to his talents or to his character than the fact he had
just mentioned. He (the Chairman) could not but regret
that,the Right Hotibult.ble Gentleman was not present on that
occasion. nb did hope that the company would have been
favoured with his presence; but indispensable official busi-
ness, he understood, had prevented ,him from c,arrying his in-
tention of being present into effect. The Chairman concluded
by proposing— ,
" The Rightilon. 'William Huskisson, with our sincere re,
Bret that his official duties should have prevented him from par-
ticipating in the festivities of the day."