The Sun.
London, England, 1841-07-30 00:00:00

SIR R. PEEL'S DINNER AT

TAMWORTH.
On Wednesday evening the constituents of Sir R. Peel
met the Right Hon. Baronet at dinner by invitation, at
the Town Hall, Tamworth.
The large room of the Town Hall was tastefully de-
corated. At the top were the Royal arms, and the sides
were ornamented with banners in purple and amber. At
the bottom were to be seen two handsome silk banners,
which had been the colours of a local volunteer regiment
at the time of Buonaparte's threatened invasion. The
room was lighted with wax chandeliers, and everything
that could contribute to the enjoyment of the guests was
cared for by Mr. Hill, Sir Robert Peel's steward. At
the top was a cross table, at which the Right lion.
Baronet presided, surrounded by the most distinguished
of the guests, and down the entire length ran three other•
tables, accommodating from 180 to 200 of the electors of
Tamworth. The dinner and wines were excellent, and
the dessert, which was principally from the gardens' of
Edmund Peel, Esq., was worthy of the horticultural
fame of that gentleman, and did infinite credit to the
exertions of Mr. Tew, the gardener at Bonehill. The
melons and strawberries in particular were objects of
universal admiration.

At the Right Hon. Baronet's table we observed C. R.
Colvile, Esq., M.P., W. S. Dugdale, Esq., M.P., Rev.
G. Inge, Colonel Dickenson,' H. I. Pye, Esq. (late High
Sheriff of the county), the Town Clerk, Right lion. W.
Yates Peel, S. IL Wolferston, Esq., Captain Dyott, C. B.
Adderley, Esq., M.P., G. Chetwynd, Esq., Bolton Peel,
Esq., T. S. Hamel, Esq., and Major Bamford. -
There were also present Joseph Gray, Bramhall,
F. E. Bramhall, C. Harding, J. Wright, H. Stokes, John
Harding, and William Stokes, Esqrs. ; Reverends C.
Thompson and H. Woolley, &c.
After the cloth had been removed, and grace was said,
Sir ROBERT PEEL rose, and proposed The health of
her ,Most.cirAgious Mgeaty....the Queen."=-(Cheers.) I
am confident (added the Right Hon. Gentleman) that you
will receive that toast with every demonstration of loy-
alty and of attachment to the person of her Majesty.—
(Loud cheers.) Her Majesty's health was drank stand-
ing, and with three times three.
The Right HOB.BARONET then proposed " The health
of the illustrious and accomplished consort of her Ma-
jesty, Prince Albert"—(Loud cheers)—and I can, I
think, with perfect truth, add t hat the uniform conduct
of his Royal Highness has. realised the most sanguine
expeetations.(Cheers.) lam sure that, on the part of
this company, I may express the most heartfelt prayer
that every blessing may attend the union of her Majesty
and Prince Albert—(Cheers)—that they may see a long
line of descendants, and that the throne of these realms
may long continue in that illustrious family. The toast
was Received with prolonged cheers.
The CHAIRMAN said—Gentlemen, with your permis-
sion I will now propose to you the health of an illustri-
ous lady, who is respected for her high rank, and beloved
as an example of every virtue, " Queen Adelaide and the
rest of the Royal Family." (Drunk with three times
three and loud applause.)
The Right Hon. BARONET next proposed, with three
times three, the health of the Duke of Wellington.

The next toast was the " Army and Navy."
Capt. DYOTT (late candidate for Litchfield) retured
thanks. • -

Mr. W. S. DCGDALE, M.P. for North Warwickshire,
said it was with feelings of the greatest pride and plea-
sure that he proposed the health of their Right lion.
Friend and Host, Sir Robert Peel.—(Tremendous cheer-
ing.) In. the case of their Right Hon. Friend they
were enabled- to judge of the future by the past.—(Loud
cheers.) They had seen him in his public capacity, oc-
cupying stations of the highest importance in the coun-
cils of the nation.—(Cheers.) They had seen him for a
short time, he was sorry to say, occupying the post of
Prime Minister of this country—(Cheers)—and for
nine years, ever since the passing of the Reform Bill,
filling, in the most distinguished manner, the situation
of leader of the great Conservative party in the House of
Commons. That Conservative party, they were well
aware at the passing of the Reform Bill, numbered but a
very few ,Members—(Hear)—and their opponents ima-
gined at that time that they could easily annihilate the
Conservative party of this country. But they had seen that
party growing from very small to very extensive mag-
nitude under the protecting care of their Right Honour-
able Host.—(lmmense cheering.) It appeared to him
(Mr. Dagdale), that the conduct of his Right Honour-
able Friend in his political tactics assimilated, in a great
degree, to the conduct of the Noble Duke in his Penin-
sular campaigns.—s(Cheers.) Their Right lion. Friend
commenced as commander of a very small company.—
(Cheers.) He entrenched him Self, however, in the sines
of the British Constitution.—(Cheers.) That small
company by degrees increased under his fostering care.
—(Cheers.) He sallied forth from his outposts, gained
victory after" victory, and at last attacked the enemy
with his whole line—(Cheers)—as did the Duke of Wel-
lington at the close of the battle of Waterloo, mid brought
forward his resolution of a want of confidence in her Ma-
iesty's
Ministers—carried th at resol u tion, saying w ithLord
,Stanley, "Up guards and at'em"—(Cheers)—and not one
single guard was absent from his post.—(Prolonged ap •
plause.) He carried that resolution by the majority, a
glorious one, though small, of an unit, and compelled the
Government to resort to a dissolution of Parliament.—
(Cheers)—and they had now seen, from the result of that
; dissolution, what the sense of the people of this country
really was. They were well aware that the faction, as
Lord J. Russell had called them, now numbered a ma-
jority of 80 or 90 in the House of Commons.--(Hear,
hear.) His Right Hon. Friend would shortly, by the
voices of an united people, be placed at the head of the
councils of her Majesty. They had all confidence in his
Right Hon. Friend. Above all they had confidence in
his sound Conservative principles.—(Hear, hear.) By
those principles would he be guided in his Government,
and by those would stand or fall.—(Hear, hear.) His
Right Hon. Friend had stated on their hustings that he
was determined to maintain the institutions of the coun-
try, both in Church and State, on their ancient and much
venerated foundations.—(Hear, hear.) Mr. Dugdale
concluded by proposing the health of their Chairman,
Sir Robert Peel.—(Tremendous cheering.)
Sir R. PEEL then rose amidst applause. As this is the
first occasion on which we have met since the late elec-
tion, I am bound to express my acknowledgments to you
for that proof of your renewed confidence in my return,
and I hope to promote to the utmost of my power your
local and peculiar interests, and to uphold those political
principles which I expressed to you when I sought for
the honour of your suffrages.—(Hear.) Gentlemen, I do
intend to uphold those political principles.—(Loud
cheers.) I think it hardly necessary, after the active
part which I have taken in public affairs—after having
been called upon not to vote, but to deliver an opi-
nion on almost every public question which has been
submitted to Parliament for many years past—it
can hardly be necessary for me to state to you what
are my political principles, and what are my views
of the great questions which are likely to occupy
public attention.—(Hear, hear.) Gentlemen, when I
was called to office by the favour of my Sovereign, I did
convey to the inhabitantants of Tamworth ray general
views with respect to . the principles on which public
affairs ought to be conducted.—(Hear, hear.) Gentle-
men, it is true that at a more recent period in the last
year, when a resolution was proposed, implying a want
of confidence in the present Administration, I did also
state what were my views with respect, not only to the
general principles on which the administration of affairs
should be conducted, but with respect to almost every
public measure to which attention was then directed.
And, Gentlemen, on a review of the declarations which I
made in 1835, and on a review of the opinions which I
expressed with regard to particular measures in 1840,
I have nothing now to retract. I entertain the opinions
which I then professed, and it is my intention, whether
in a private or in an official capacity, to act upon
those declarations. Gentlemen, I shall not presume,
whatever may be the speculations as to the majority
which the Conservative party may exhibit on the meet-
ing of Parliament, I shall not presume in what manner
her Majesty may think fit to exercise her prerogative.—
(Hear.) I retain my opinion that no Government in
this country ought to continue in, the administration of
the public affairs unless it possesses the confidence of
Parliament. But, while I respect that constitutional
principle, I hold in equal respect the prerogative of the
Crown ; and it is not for any individual to presume in
what manner that. prerogative may be exercised.—(llcar,
hear.) Gentlemen, I am constantly asked what it is I
mean to propose supposing I am called to the adminis-
tration of affairs? Gentlemen, I will answer that question
when I am placed in that position.—(Cheers.) My advice
for the present is, dismiss those who are at present in
office. They have not the confidence—they had not the
confidence of Parliament, and they have not the confi-
dence of the people. Change your physician, the patient
has not confidence in him. They found her in health,
and they left her in sickness ; and then they say to me,
what do you prescribe ? But I'll wait till lam regularly
called in.—(Laughter.) Gentlemen, I see around me
some of my attached friends of the medical profession,
and I appeal to them whether they do not cordially con-
cur with me that it is not fit that any man should offer the
prescription whilst another administers the physic. No,
gentlemen, he would be acting the part of an irregular prac-
titioner—the part of a quack doctor, and not of a profes-
sional man, who should profess that he had some invaluable
nostrum which, without being consulted by the patient,
or allowed to feel his pulse, would prove a perfect re-
medy for whatever disease he might labour uncles.—
(Hear, hear.) I therefore, Gentlemen, must continue
steadily to refuse to offer my advice until I have access
to the patient, and all those advantages of consults-
'
tion, without which no proper advice can be given.
I really believe I do more than any political
physician ever did by referring to the prescriptions
which I offered in 1835 and in 1840, and by saying
that I see no reason to alter them. Now, Gentlemen,
I am almost surprised to find myself here, for it I
could have believed the newspapers—the organs of her
Majesty's Government, I should find myself on the Con-
tinent, having taken refuge in a foreign country on ac-
count of the embarrassments in which I am involved
from the number of applications which Ireceive, or per-
haps it may be on account of the desperate condition in
which I find public affairs. I need hardly etellil you, for
y
I o -I believe, give no credit to the assertion, that I have
riot4-ti '
the slightest intention of visiting the Continent, but
that I do intend on the 19th August to be present in my
place in Parliament, personally to witness the result of the
appeal which has been made to the people of this country.
—(Hear.) Now, Gentlemen, this and other paragraphs
I which I Teal in the Newspapers, I do assure you that