The Sun.
London, England, 1834-06-19 00:00:00

PUBLIC MEETING AT EDINBURGH.

MR. ABERCROMBIE AND THE ELECTORS.
(From the third edition of the Caledonian Mercury,

of Monday. )

_
This day, at two o'clock, Mr. Abercrombie met a
large body of the constituency—indeed, as many as
could find standing places in the large Waterloo
Room—from the door of which we know that some
hundreds went away disappointed of admission.
Mr. Abercrombie was introduced to the electors by
the Solicitor-General, Sir Thomas Dick Lauder,' Sir
J. Gibson Craig, Bailie Thomson, Professor
Messrs. Boyd Greenshields, Cuninghame, Skene,
Maitland, &c., advocates, and a number of other gen-
tlemen, and was received by the large assembly with
the most enthusiastic cheers.
On the motion of Mr. Cuninghame,
Bailie THOMSON was called to the chair, and after
returning thanks for the honour conferred upon him,
which he imputed more to the adventitious circum-
stance of his being a Bailie than to any merit in him-
self, introduced the hon. candidate to the meeting in a
very few pertinent and judicious remarks on his past
conduct, and in answer to the objections which had
been urged against the citizens of Edinburgh
choosing for their representative a member of his Ma-
jesty's government.
Mr. ABERCROMBIE then rose, and was received with
tremendous shouts of applause. lie said, Gentlemen,
I acknowledge with feelings of gratitude and of pride
the reception I have now met with from you my con-
stituents. I receive it as an indication that my past
conduct has received your approbation, and I hail it as
an anticipation. of the result of the coming election.
(Great cheering.) I wish I had the power to express
as strongly as I feel the gratitude which I entertain
towards those who have on the present occasion con-
strued so favourably my past conduct. When I last
had the honour of addressing you from this place, it
was on the occasion when you were about to exercise
for the first time the franchise given to you, by elect-
ing a member to represent you in Parliament. As a
candidate for your favour and support, I felt it my
first duty to lay plainly and simply before you the
tendency and character of the political sentiments
which had theretofore governed my conduct, and
which I entertained at that time. It was my duty
so to do, to enable you to decide how far it was safe
and prudent in you to confer upon me the honour of
representing you in Parliament, in conjunction with
my late esteemed colleague. ( Cheers.) I now
present myself before you when we are approach-
ing the end of the second session of the first Re..
formed Parliament. In the course of that ses-
sion, questions the most various, the most important,
and most deeply affecting the great interests of the
established institutions of the country, have been agi-
tated and discussed in Parliament. Upon all these,
or upon most of these great and important questions,
I believe my votes are well known to you. ( Cheers. )
You are diligent and close observers of the proceed-
ings of Parliament, and I have no doubt you have care-
fully watched the conduct of its members, more espe-
cially of those to whom you had intrusted the repre-
sentation of this great city. I have endeavoured, so
far as my poor ability enabled me, to apply practically
to those questions before Parliament the principles
which I explained and professed in this room and in
other parts of the city. (Cheers.) I gave no pledges,
it is true, but I gave you the strongest reasons, and
the strongest grounds, for forming an estimation of the
nature and character of the opinions I entertained ;
and I hope you have found, on reflection, that in the
main I have acted upon my professions (Great cheer-
ing)—that I have not shrunk from the performance of
any duty incumbent upon me to perform as your re-
presentative—that I have faithfully and industriously
endeavoured to promote the local interests, and to
carry into effect the wishes of my constituents, in
as far as the most reasonable among you could desire
—and that to all classes and conditions of men in this
city, I have given attention and impartiality, and, as
far as depended upon me, eval justice to all. I ant
well aware, that in the multiplicity of other engage-
ment, and owing to the fatigue and exertion of this
session of parliament, I may have failed in answering
all who have addressed me. If I have done so, it was
inadvertently ; and I hope they will believe me, when
I assure them, that nothing was farther from my in-
teution, and that it arose from no deficiency of respect
for them. (Great cheering.) To the non-electors, I
hope I may say, that I have at all times received wil-
lingly any communication with which they have fa-
voured me, and on those occasions where I could
possibly do so, I was ready to promote their views ;
and when my judgment told me I could not, I firmly
told them the truth. ( Cheers.) Ido not know that it
is fit or necessary that I should refer to the various in-
stances where I have endeavoured practically to apply
the principles I professed to the questions before par_
liament, for I do venture to entertain the hope that your
minds are pretty well made up upon that. I hasten to
that part of my address, which it is my duty to make you,
and with regard to which it is of importance that I should
be explicit, and that I should enter into some de-
tail—and upon which I have no doubt you are most
anxious to hear me. I mean with respect to the
grounds upon which I have thought it my duty to
change my condition and my position towards you by
accepting office. (Cheers.) It is not unusual, gen-
tlemen, for those who stand in such situations, to enter
into some explanation regarding their regrets, their
doubts, their deficiencies, and their scruples. Gentle-
men, I throw such considerations overboard (Long
and continued cheering), and I beg to say, plainly
and distinctly, that in accepting office I have thought
it right--that I have thought it my duty to do so
(Cheers), and I hope you will believe that if I had
not thought it my duty, I would not have aceepteti,
office. (Cheers.) But I feel it my duty to enter into
some explanations, as plain and candidly as I can, ci'
the moving considerations with me when called upon
to make a decision as to whether I would accept office,
and thereby vacate my seat and appeal to you once
more for support and confidence. I hope I shall be
able to satisfy you, as I certainly have satisfied my
own mind, that in the course I have pursued I have
endeavoured to perform a duty which I myself
think right, and which I was induced to believe
you would approve. (Cheers.) Gentlemen, when men
are about to change their condition they generally
first consider what they are to relinquish by doing so.
In that view I have a good deal to relinquish. I had
a place in Parliament to which I was sent by this
most numerous, respectable, and most enlightened
constituency, in the free exercise of their will and
pleasure—l was as independent as man could be—l
acknowledged no other dependence but that legiti-
mate, useful, and honourable dependence which it Aas
the object of the Reform Bill to create and establish
between constituents and their representatives, (Loud
cheers.) That was the condition on which I held
myself returned to Parliament, and on that view I
have hitherto acted during these two sessions. No-
thing was more easy or agreeable than to have re-
mained in the position I was before; for I felt from
some experience, unless I was greatly deceived, that
while obeying the impulse of my own will and incli
nation as I did, I had the consolation to know, that I
was giving expression to the opinions of the great
majority of my constituents. I felt that in the votes
I gave I was carrying along with me the sympathy
and approbation of you and your fellow electors.
(Cheers.) I was enabled in this situation to sustain
with ease, and without exertion, my independence as
a member of Parliament, in an occupation which
habit and long experience had rendered agreeable
to me, and I was not willing nor ready to retire.
Gentlemen, you are all aware, that the adrnie;.stra-
tion recently sustained a loss by the secession of some
able and honourable men, in consear_tnee of a difeeD.
ence which had arisen between them and their col-
leagues on one essential point. That these gentle-
ment were actuated by the purest dictates of honour
were
re,l was
and conscience in so seceding from the government, I
never for a moment questioned ; and my conviction
that they are honourable men loaves not a doubt in my
it when
w was
sttahtee yd
to
tne at
h associated
a mind, that wi shall still find them giving their able and
effective support to all those generaleieom circumstances,
principlesaneswhich
ap-
plied they
maintainedto, and former colleagues. In
these
friendwith of their
the
government, that my consenting to co-operate with
and assist
them in the duties, would be useful not only
to them, bill to the public service. (Loud cheering, )
Genticmen, in these circumstances, it remained with
Ale te decide whether I would refuse to do that
which, however it might affect myself, was stated by
my friends in the government would be useful both to
them and to the public. Upon consideration I felt, that
as I knew the members of his Majesty's government
to be men of honour, whatever might be the conse-
quences to myself, I ought to accept of office- along,
with them. I did accept; and I hope that you,
my constituents, think that I did right in so
doing. (Great cheering.) Gentlemen, lam aware,
and I am sure so are you, that in this malicious and
\\ icked world, the acceptance of office by any man is
frequently insinuated to spring from some sinister or