The Sun.
London, England, 1846-04-23 00:00:00

PRESENTATION OF THE DUN

COMBE TESTIMONIAL
The Honourable Member for Finsbury having fixed Satur
day evening for receiving the above tribute of a people's
gratitude, a deputation from the Central Committee, accom-
panied by Mr. Syme, the secretary, waited upon Mr. Dun-
combe at his chambers in the Albany, and having been
received with his usual kindness,

➢lr. SYME rose and said, Sir,—We have been appointed
by the Testimonial Central Committee to transfer to you the
result of their grateful efforts, and as they have prepared
and furnished us with an address to be presented to you on
this occasion, I think that any preliminary observations of
mine will be quite unnecessary. The very able address was
then read ; the following is the concluding paragraph :
" In conclusion, Sir, we beg to assure you that this testi-
monial is presented by us in the truthful and manly
spirit, so beautifully expressed of ' our own order,' by Robt.
Nicoll :

An offering to the shrine of power
Our hands shall never bring—
A garland on the car of pomp
Our hands shall never fling.
Applauding in the conqueror's path
Our voices tie er shall be ;
But we have hearts to honour those
Who bade the world go free.'"
Mr. DUNCOMBS then said—Mr. Syme and Gentlemen, it
is impossible for me to accept this generous tribute of vour
gratitude without mixed feelings of pride and sorrow. Pride,
that my humble exertions on behalf of my industrious
fellow-countrymen should be deemed worthy of national
approval; and sorrow, that exposure of wrong and asser-
tion of right should be otherwise distinguished than as acts
of justice, which the trustees of the unenfranchised people
are solemnly bound to perform towards those for whom
they hold the trust. Whatever thanks are due to me for
the poor services which entitle me to your gratitude, the
labouring classes fully and honourably participate 5n that
reward, inasmuch as their co-operation cheerfully yielded,
and without which my best exertions would have been vain
and impotent, has at all times and upon all occasions nerved
me for the struggle, and emboldened me to persevere in my
resistance to the aggressions of their oppressors. The in-
trinsic value of your splendid testimonial consists in the
deep and lasting impression which it is calculated to stamp
upon the minds of all thinking men, that Englishmen, who
are grateful for acts of justice, are not likely to violate its
laws, and may be, therefore, safely entrusted with a fair
participation in making and administering them ; and I sin-
cerely trust that the day is not far distant when acts of
simple justice for the labouring classes will constitute the rule
and not the exception of representation ; and none will more
cheerfully hail the happy advent than myself, being con-
vinced that the first step towards the perfect freedom of our
country is, the recognition of the principle that those whose
valour in arms—whose skill in manufactures—whose science
in mechanism—whose calm endurance under great suffering
and privation—whose success in the art of converting our
national resources into wealth, in the enjoyment of which
they have not, in my opinion, their fair and legitimate pro-
portion, may be safely and honourably entrusted with the
power of making laws for the further development of
their national resources, and with the view to their more
equitable distribution. My friends, it is not improbable
that your services may be shortly courted by the two
great parties now contending for political ascendancy, and
when, if still esteemed worthy of your confidence, I
may, as one of your representatives, be called upon
to assume a position without reference to the speculative
interest of either ; and if such course should subject
us to a more severe trial, and a more searching ordeal than
in our previous struggles we have undergone, relying upon
a continuance of your co-operation, be assured I shall not
flinch from my-share of the trouble, the responsibility, or the
danger, which the assertion of your rights and the advocacy
of your cause may impose.—(Cheers.) My friends, while I
deplore the cause you assign for the inability of some of your
order to participate to your flattering offer, I regret that you
should have deemed any explanation necessary to enhance
its value. This emblem of my countrymen's confidence, ge-
nerosity, and gratitude, I recognise as the embodiment of
the feeling of the industrious classes, and a testimonial of
their undivided approval of my conduct ; as such I accept it,
and in accepting it at your bands, the fulness of expression is
inadequate to communicate my thanks to the industrious
donors, and in commemoration of whose confidence I shall
preserve it, treasure it, and esteem it as long as life remains;
and when I am no more, and when it shall have passed into
other hands, I trust that it may inspire its future possessor
with the same pride that I now feel in accepting it, as a
token of my countrymen's confidence, affection, and gene-
rosity.
The duty of the deputation being at an end, they bowed
and retired, highly elated with the pleasant termination of
their grateful labours.

AFFAIRS OF THE RIVE PLATE.
The following documents relative to the affairs of the
River Plate have been published. The first is a transla-
tion of a paper which was delivered, unofficially and
confidentially, by the Argentine Government to the
French Chargid'Affaires, the Baron de Mareuil, con-
taining the several bases, upon a recognition of which
the Argentine Government was willing to enter into ne-
gotiations with the mediating Ministers for the entire
and final pacification of the countries lying on both sides
of the river. The other document is a letter from Lord
Ponsonby, the British Ministerin the River Plate in 1828,
in which he distinctly refused to give the guarantee of
the British Government for the fulfilment of the treaty
of that year between Buenos Ayres and Brazil.
We subjoin the documents ;---
"Translation of a document delivered confidentially by
the Argentine Government to the French Chargé
d'Affaires, Baron de Mareuil, indicating cases for the
resumption of negotiations for the pacification of the
River Plate :
"1. That the negotiation should be opened in a
proper and ho•aourable manner by their Excellencies the
; Ministers of France and England with his Excellency
' the legal president of the Oriental Republic of the Ura-
guay, Brigadier Don Manuel Oribe ; and that the Ar-
gentine Government, in consideration of the events
which have taken place, should participate and concur in
upon in consequence of such
' negotiation.
"2. be agreed
That bis Excellency the legal President of the
Oriental Republic, Brigadier Don Manuel Oribe, to whom
the direction of the war in the Oriental Republic be-
longs, should. determine concerning any proposition re-
lating to a suespension of hostilities.
" 3. That on the re-establishment of the legal Govern-
ment in Morite Video, as already effected throughout
the rest of wire Oriental territory, in such way and on
such conditions as might be resolved upon by his Excel-
lency the leg A President of the Oriental Republic, the
foreigners w'io had taken up arms in that city should
lay them does vn, delivering them up to the established
Government ; the English and French troops should be
re-embarked ; Colonia should be evacuated, as should
also any other point of the coast of the Oriental Re-
public of the Uruguay, or of the Argentine Republic,
which might have been taken possession of by the
British and French forces ; and that the auxiliary Ar-
gentine divisions should return to the territory of the
Confederation.
owssiahrin.leomid_iu_cr,ihi
" 4. That the vessels belonging to the Confederation
should be restored to the Argentine government, in the
port of Buenos Ayres, in the same state in which they
were taken on the Zed of August, by the French and
British squadrons ; that as soon as this had taken place,
, the Argentine fl tg should be saluted by both squadrons
I with 21 guns each, anal that the Argentine squadron
she uld return the salute with 21 guns likewise for each.
" 5. That the island of Martin Garcia should be re-
st, ired to the Aieeentine Government in the same rate in
w hich it was taken.
" 6. That the declaration of blockade and the ports
and coasts of the province of Buenos Ayres by the Mi-
nistere of England and France, dated 18th of September
last; should be revoked.
" 7. That the merchant vessels under the Argentine
flag, with their cargoes, which might have been taken or
detained by the French or English naval forces, should
be restored.
the
tion of the rivers Parana and Uruguay, which flow
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through the territory of the Confederation, and belong
to its dominion, all the vesselsjunder the English and
French flag, which might have penetrated into the,afore-
said rivers should immediately retire.
"9. That, as the belligerent rights of the Argentine
Government had been disavowed by the refusal of the
commanders of the British and French squadrons off
Monte Video to recognise the absolute blockade of that
port and of Maldonado, declared by the Argentine Go-
vernment, of which perfect rights it is in possession
withh the same plenitude as any other independent state;
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the
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tel disavowal was not to be eonstrued as a legitimate
precedent.
" 10. That the Argentine Government, whilst deter-
not not to deviate from the policy of non-interven-
ie the internal affairs of the Oriental republic,
dared expressly that neither this convention, nor any
de-
other which might be agreed upon for the sake of avert-
ing the serious complications which events had produced,
iatsnypt:laityical principles, de-
the rights which
btelong to the Argentine Confederation with reference
o the Oriental republic, arising out of the convention of
peace with the empire of Brazil, celebrated in the year
1828. That said convention remained in full force.
" 11. That, in the same manner, the Argentine Go-
vernment declared that in any convention, whether the
present or any other, which might be entered into with
reference to late events, it did not recognise any. title, in
any case, either in France or in England, to interfere
in the affairs of the two republics of the River Plate.
and that the said Governments of France and England
vere not to consider themselves as possessing any right;
in virtue f said cony • profess to constitute
conventions, to
themselves
' ty and independ-
guarantes of the sovereign ence ef the two republics of the Plate.
" 12. That for the sake of avoiding in future com-
plications prejudicial to .
the Argentine republic, and to
the commerce of neutrals, anypolitical intimation, or
expressio4 Of its Wishes, which ogle; mg= Mien With
glihEil dist:eccinal conformity