The Sun.
London, England, 1841-07-29 00:00:00

TIRE SUN, LONDON, THURSDAY", JULY 29, )841.

of that sum. All I ask of you is, that when you see these
paragraphs you will let no consideration induce you to
retaliate.—(Hear, hear.) Now, Gentlemen, I will read to
you another paragraph—it is headed " The Queen and
Sir Robert Peel"—it comes from the Globe again, the
organ of her Majesty's Government.—(Loud laughter.)
" On dit, that the Queen has heard of the vain boastings
of Sir Robert Peel, that if he again came into power he
would make her a Tory (or a Conservative, as he said) in
six weeks, and that consequently the Right Hon. Baronet
is more disliked. than ever at head-quarters." Now,
gentlemen, observe it is not confidently asserted, it is
only " reported," that the Queen had heard the vain
boast, but there is no doubt at all about my having used
the expression. The correspondent says " a Tory" (or
Conservative, as he says). Now when a person is so par-
ticular who can doubt his veracity ? Gentlemen, I trust
that I need hardly say to you that the whole of this pa-
ragraph is a mere miserable fabrication. Need I say.
that I never made this indecent boast ? I refer to these
things without anger or irritation—quite the reverse.
Gentlemen, if it were possible to suppose that her Ma-
jesty could look :at these fabrications, which are evi-
dently intended to injure me in her Majesty's opinion, I
very much doubt, not unly whether her Majesty would
attach any credit to thern,liut more than that, whether
there would not be excited feelings of indignation at the
presumptuous familiarity which undertakes to answer
for the private feelings of her Majesty.—(lmmense
cheering.) I must say that if any one thing can be
more unwarrantable than another in the conduct
of a portion of the public press, it is their
attempt to
.represent her Majesty, not as what she is
in truth and in fact, the beloved Sovereign of a whole
people, but as the partisan of a party in the State.
Gentlemen, I do not think I should have been induced to
say a word to you on the subject of party interests, and
have been content to acquiesce in a suspension of hos-
tilities, considering the near approach of the period when
the combatants must meet face to face, if I had not re-
cently seen a Public manifesto put forth by Lord John
Russell, the leader of the House Of Commons, which,
from the tone it assumes towards the opponents of the
Government, relieves you from any scruples on that
head, and imposes on me the necessity of making a very
few remarks. This manifesto professes to take a review
of the present state of affairs, or rather of past events ;
and it recites, with the utmost satisfaction, the victories
that have been achieved by her Majesty's present ad-
visers. Gentlemen, this paper also talks of the dexterity
which the. opponents of Government have shown in
inventing facts ; but I must say that, whatever dexterity
we may have shown in inventing facts, the dexterity of
the 'Noble lord in "foigetting them far surpasses us.
It is surprising that her Majesty's Government, having
held the reins of power for six years, possessing, as is
the constant boast, the entire confidence of their Sove-
reign, seeing the use, the improper use, that has been
made by some candidates of the name of their Sovereign
—it was only yesterday that I saw inscribed .on the
banner of the Hon. Mr. Petre, "Vote for Petre, the
Queen's candidate"—l say it is surprising that, notwith-
standing this, and the appeal to the female portion of
the population, with reference to cheap sugar, and the
cry of the big loaf to the labouring classes, the consti-
tuency and the people have ratified the decision of the
late House of Commons, namely, that. her Majesty's
present advisers did not possess the confidence of the
House of Commons, and that their retention of office
under such circumstances was at variance with the
spirit of the constitution. It has not been the Chandos
clause that has produced this result. The counties,
it is true, may have declared themselves against the
present Government, and it may be said that some of
the counties which are more intimately connected with
the agricultural interests have manifested their zeal
against Government on account of the danger with which
those interests were threatened ; but it was not the
Chandos clause that returned two Members for -the eity
of London—it was not the Chandos clause that for -the
first time since the Reform Bill returned a Member-for
the city of Westminster—nor was it the Chandos clause
that wrested one seat from the opposite party in the great
manufacturing community of Leeds. It was alsh'sonie-
thing more than the Chandos clause that returned two
Members in Hull and two ill the city of Dublin, twci for
Belfast, and two for 'Liverpool.- —(Cheers.) It was
not the Chandos clause that returned four Members for
the great county of Lancaster, and frightened any Min-
isterial candidate from opposing Lord Stanley, Lord F.
Egerton, Mr. Wilson Patten, or Mr. Wilbraham. It was
not the Chandos clause that returned two Members for
that district of immense importance, as connected with
the vital manufacturing interests of the country, the West
Riding of Yorkshire—(Loud cheers)—which has dis-
possessed from his seat in Parliament a nobleman who,
from his abilities, combined with his virtues, it is impos-
sible to mention without respect. I allude to Lord Mor-
peth. No, gentlemen, there must have been some other
cause which has led to this expression of public opinion
other than the influence of landlords over tenants.—
(Hear, hear.) The counties, no doubt, have made re-
turns in an increased number unfavourable to the Go-
vernment ; but if you look to the towns and boroughs
containing populations exceeding ten thousand inhabit-
ants, even where they have little or no connexion with
the agricultural interest, the cry of cheap bread and
cheap sugar has totally failed.—(Loud cheers.) The re-
turns for those places have been more unfavourable to
Ministers than they were in the last Parliament.—(Hear.)
How, let me ask, is this to be accounted for ? It is be-
cause the constituencies of this empire, representing as
they do, the people of this empire—have no confidence in
her Majesty's Government.—(Cheers.) They have had
the good sense to review the whole course of the Govern-
ment, from the commencement of its power to its close=
from the Appropriation Clause, which excluded me from
office, to that vote which was carried at my instance, and
which declared that her Maesty's Government did not
possess ithe confidence of this country.—(Great cheer-
ing.) It was not the mere policy that the people con-
demned—it was not the question relating to corn ; but
the people of England were of opinion that no Govern-
ment of this country ought to retain power without the
confidence of the nation—(Cheers)—that to do so was
an injury to the representative principle, and a violation
of all constitutional doctrine—(Cheers)—and the result
has been a decided declaration on the part of the con-
stituencies, in conformity with the vote of the late House
of Commons, that the present Government is not entitled
to the public confidence.—(Loud cheers.) And, gentle-
men, if you will review the course of the Government and
remember the expression put into the mouth of the Sove-
reign in the year 1834, in which the King, at the instance ,
of the Government, made use of the following words
" I have seen with feelings of deep regret and indig-
nation the continuance of attempts to excite the people
of Ireland to demand a repeal of the Legislative Union.
This bond of the national strength and safety I have de-
clared my fixed and unalterable resolution, under the
blessing of Divine Providence, to maintain inviolate by
all the means in any power. To the practices which
have been used to produce disaffection in the State, and
mutual distrust and animosity between the people of the
two countries, is chiefly to be attributed the spirit of in-
subordination which, though for the present. in a great
degree controlled by the power of the law, has been but
too perceptible in many instances."
If you recollect these words, which were used by.the So-
vereign at the advice of Lord Melbourne, and concurred in
by Lord Palmerston and Lord J. Russell, you will not fail
also to recollect that, in 1834, a compact was formed with
those who were the chief advocates of repeal—(Hear)—
and that a resolution was come to implying that no set-
tlement of the Irish Church question should be adopted
which did not embody an appropriation of part of the
revenues of the Church to the promotion of secular pur-
poses. The constituencies of the country have recol-
lected this compact. They also recollected the case of
Jamaica, where the Government brought in a Bill to
abolish the constitution of that important colony. They
recollected that they were thwarted in that attempt by
the opponents of that Government. They recollected
that the Ministers stated that the authority of the
Government would be injured if that opposition should
prevail. It did prevail, and the Government retired under
the vote, and with the admission that they did not
possess the confidence of the House of Commons.
(Great cheering.) The people have seen them, for two
years, retain office without power, and after a series of
concessions alike injurious to the characters of public
men and to the interests of the country ; and it has been
a review of these acts, coupled with the declaration of
the Government themselves as to their loss of the confi-
dence of Parliament, and the evils that must arise •in the
administration of public affairs from that want—it has
been, I repeat, a; review of this conduct on the part of
her Majesty's Government, which has induced the con-
stituencies of this country to vindicate the constitutional
principle, and by their united voice to affirm the resolu-
tion to which the House of Commons so recently came.
Gentlemen, this vindication of constitutional principle
is due to the constituency of this empire. They de-
served the credit, for they gained the victory by
their unparalled exertions. It has not been gained
by the manoeuvres of the leaders .of party—it has
not been gained by factious combinations with men
of opposite opionions.—(Cries of " Hear, hear.") . The
Government has made an appeal to the country with the
most favourable circumstances under which an appeal
could be made ; the country
.has responded to it, and de-
clared, notwithstanding the introduction of plausible and
popular measures, that the Government does not possess
its confidence.—(Loud cheers.) It is impossible to esti-
mate too highly the exertions which have been made
throughout the country. They have been made by unob-
trusive individuals, even unknown to public rumour, who
have sought no advantage for themselves, but who have
been prompted by public principle to the sacrifice of ease'
and of everything most calculated to make life happy.—
(Hear, hear.) I will venture to say, that there are
thousands and tens of thousands of instances in which
single individuals have made more exertions during
the late election than candidates used to make before—
(Hear)—and Gentlemen, it is perfectly notorious to every '
person who has been conversant with the election of this
said country, and to those Gentlemen, and to the constitu-
encies at large, these public acknowledgmenis are due.
All that I hope is that they will not repose upon their
victory, and that it will only animate them to continued
m
that the battle of
the constitution must be fought in the Registration
Courts.—(Hear.) And I am sure the victory which
bheliinecve reiatsehdas exertions.
been proved vedltoibde b
true,efor, Gentlemen, and
I
has been achieved must be secured in the Registration
Courts also. I do hope the Conservative party in
this country will continue to secure for themselves,
by all fair and all legitimate means, and by no other
whatever, the possession of that power and influence in
the State which their wealth, their intelligence, their re-
spectability, and their character fully entitle them to
exercise.—(Hear, hear.) I hope they will carefully con-
sider every franchise to which the law entitles: them, and
secure for themselves the exercise of it, whether in
municipal elections, in county elections, or in borough
elections. Gentlemen, this being merely a convivial
meeting, I fear I have trespassed longer than I ought to
have done upon your attention. Gentlemen, with the
toast I shall conclude my address • and I bog
,you to fill
your highest bumpers to the " Vrosperity .of the town
and neighbourhood of Tamworth." •