The Sun.
London, England, 1834-09-18 00:00:00

draw aside the veil that we may see the Lords as they
are. He enumerated at the meeting the various bene-
ficial measures which had been safely conducted
through Parliament since the passing_of the Reform
Bill, and so far refuted the accusation that the Re-
formed Parliament had done little for the improvement
of the country. But he drew at the same time a pic-
ture of the Tories calculated to chase from our minds
the idea that beneficial measures are the necessary
fruits of the Parliament as now constituted :
" Though they (the Tories) are not unfriendly to improve-
ment, the improvement which they would accomplish is so far
off, that neither their eyes, nor the eyes of their children,
can ever hope to see it. Reform, indeed, is always on their
lips ; but, as was once said at a meeting in this town
their verb " Reform" assumes a shape unknown to the gram-
marians, for it is an imperfect verb which has only got a future
tense.--( Cheers and laughter.) They say that all things
ought to be done gradually and slowly ; and to make sure of
it, they move in such a way and at such a pace that even the
minutest eye cannot discern that they change place at all:
(Laughter.) There is one kind of movement, however, which
they do not dislike any how. They are ready to move into
mischief, and to advance—backwards—( A laugh.) * 'w
Languap of the most frightful and, I may say, the most in-
credible kind, has been used by those who call themselves the
friends of order, the haters of anarchy, the abhorrers of change,
and who cry out revolution when any Bill is introduced into
Parliament to correct any abuse, however flagrant, and how-
ever generally recognised. These men, who seem so anxious
to testify their abhorrence of change, their hatred of anarchy,
and their love of order, only testAing their lust of power and
pelf—that power and that pelf which this faction has already
lost in Ireland, and which its brethren in England will not be
satisfied until they have made a blood-thirsty attempt to regain
—( Cheers)—the power they mean is the power of misgovern-
ing the King's subjects for their own profit."—( Cheers. )
Now that faction, harbouring these blood-thirsty

views, is the majority of Peers which threw out the
Irish Tithe Bill, in order to produce disturbances in
Ireland 'which might in time involve England also in
strife. Yet a House of Lords of this character—for
the majority determines the character of the body, and
no man would think of taking the character of the
House of Commons from the Tory minority—at one
time described as invincibly ignorant, at another as
longing to shed innocent blood—is declared by his
Lordship notwithstanding (though perhaps he means a
properly modified House of Lords, in which case we
may not object to his views) a necessary correction of
the Lower House, and indispensable to the due work-
ing of the Constitution. -Alluding to those Re-
formers' "who would travel to the object which they
have in view, but are in such a hurry to get at the
goal tbree marches before him, that they will not wait
to see whether the linch-pin is in the wheel—who
would hurry their vessel into the wished-for harbour
by the nearest and nob by the regularly-frequented
channel, without inquiry whether there is a compass
on board," Lord Brougham observed that all their
care was about the look and appearance of the edifice
they would build, and it was possible that some fine
morning it might tumble about their ears. Lord
Durham, conceiving these thrusts made at himself,
made the following impressive answer :
" Now I frankly confess that I am one of those persons
who see with regret every hour which passes over the exist-
ence of recognized and unreformed abuses.--(lmmense
cheering.) I am, however, perfectly willing to accept the cor-
rection of them as deliberately as our rulers, and my Noble
Friend among them, can wish; but on one condition, and
on on one condition alone—that every measure should be pro
posed in conformity with those principles for which we all
contend.—(Cheers.) I object to the compromise of opinions,
not to the deliberation of what they should be.—( Cheers.) I
object to the clipping, and paring, and mutilating which must
inevitably follow any attempt to conciliate enemies who are
not to be conciliated—(cheers)—and who thus obtain.an ad-
vantage, by pointing out the inconsistencies of which you are
guilty in abandoning your friends and your principles, and at-
tribute the discontent felt on this score to the decay or dearth
of liberal principles.—( Cheers.) Against such policy, I, for
one, enter my protest, as pregnant with mischief—as creating
discontent where enthusiasm would otherwise exist—as ex.:
citing vague hopes in the bosoms of our adversaries which
can never be realized, and as placing weapons in the hands of
those who use them to the destruction of our best interests.
—( Cheers.) With this candid explanation, with this free
exposition of my principles, which I have never concealed in
any position in which I have been placed, I am ready to grant
the utmost extent of deliberation to my Noble and 'Learned
Friend which he has called for this night, and which,- when
given under such conditions, will calm the discontent which
has recently prevailed.--(Cheers.)"
With all our esteem for Lord Brougham, end feel-
ing as warmly as can be felt the great value of the ser-
vices he has rendered to his country by his indefa-
tigable exertions to promote all kinds of improvement
—and believing that he is as intent as ever (more in-
tent than any other public man) in fulfilling the task
of rendering his country better when he shall leave it
than it was when he found it--we have never been
blind to the defect pointed out, and that somewhat un-
sparingly, by Lord Durham. The tiger is not to be
coaxed into an abstinence from blood—and powerful
as Lord Brougham is in the arts of persuasion, he
would as soon persuade "Master Barnardine to come
down and be hanged," as persuade the Tories by kind-
ness and concession to relax in their hostility to the
people. We cannot close these observations without
noticing the tribute paid by Mr. Abercrombie to
Francis Jeffrey, to whose labours Scotland and the
empire at large are so much indebted.—Morn. Chron.
The great dinner at Edinburgh in honour of Earl
Grey, about which all the Whig geese in Great Bri-

tain have been making, for the last month or two, a
greater noise than sufficed the geese of Rome for the
salvation of the Capitol, has at length been eaten, and,
at least such is our charitable hope, well digested.
It was attended by one, and, so far as we know, only
one, remarkable circumstance. The viands were con-
sumed by the promiscuous assembly of eaters before
the hero of the day, his distinguished companions, or
even the Chairman had appeared at the table. In the
annals of political feasting we do not recollect any si-
milar occurrence, and we cannot by any means bring
ourselves to believe that it was without meaning. The
modern Athenians can scarcely be supposed so rude
and uncivilised as to be incapable of the ordinary de-
cencies of the table ; and some of our contemporaries
have therefore inferred, we think with some degree of
rashness, from this extraordinary precipitation, that the
company assembled at the Whig feast were a set com-
posed of the most voracious, the most vulgar, and
the least decent of the inhabitants of Edinburgh.
There is plausibility in this reasoning ; but we own
it does not entirely satisfy us. The lowest of the low
in Scotland, although they might not willingly wait,
at dinner time, the arrival of Lord Grey, or Lord
Brougham, or Lord Durham, or Lord Rosebery,
would not, we believe, unless they had meant some-
thing by it more than the mere satisfaction of their
hunger, have fallen to, as they did, without waiting
for grace. There must have been more in the trans-
action than meets the eye. This premature consump-
tion of edibles must be typical. We can never believe
that the people of the modern Athens would thus have
violated all decorum and all decency for the sake merely
of ham and fillets of veal and sirloins of beef. The
semblance of voracity in this instance must needs have
been intended as the vehicle of some moral, or sarcas-
tic, or complimentary allusion. The knives and forks
spoke no doubt a language eloquent, though for a mo-
ment obscure. The clatterings of the plates were as
significant as the mutterings of an oracle. An in-
terpreter only is wanted to elucidate the mystery, and to
extract from the strange proceeding the encomiums or
the satire, the admonitions or the rebuke, with which

it is unquestionably pregnant. We are bold enough
to think that we can unravel the mysterious intima-
tions which the hasty and irregular devouring of the
feast intended to be given to Earl Grey in the northern
capital was meant to convey. The good people of
Edinburgh might naturally think that nothing could
be so complimentary or agreeable to Earl Grey, and
the other distinguished Whigs who came to share his
honours and illustrate his fame, as that unequivocal
manifestation of sympathy which they afforded when
they showed their eager, impatient, and insatiable ap-
petite for the loaves and fishes. When the whole
affair is properly considered, it will appear that the
good folks of Edinburgh could not have done less than
they did, unless they had meant by their conduct to
convey a direct rebuke to the distinguished Whigs
at the cross table, and that they really practised the
duty of hospitality in the most delicate and refined
degree that can possibly be imagined, by leaving their
eminent guests nothing to eat. We can easily ima-
gine the satisfaction and delight with which Earl
Grey, Lord Brougham, and the rest of the Whig
leaders, while they were waiting in an anti-chamber
the moment of their grand entree, heard of the pro-
ceedings at that moment going on in the dinner-room.
It was the best practical proof that could have been

offered them that the society in which they were about
to mix was of a temper and disposition entirely con-
genial with their own. It was a delightful demonstra-
tion that the orgies to be celebrated forthwith would
not be profaned by the presence of any Tory inter-
lopers. A more lively prefiguration could not have
been devised of the rapturous applause with which
Earl Grey, Mr. Edward Ellice, and the rest were
to be fed in default of a dinner. As applied
to the majority of the distinguished guests the
compliment thus paid may be pronounced as
perfect as it is possible for anything to be in this
world. There would have been still more zest about
the thing, no doubt, had Lord Plunket and some half
dozen of his Irish Hannibals been present. And the
allegorical representation of Whiggery in office might
perhaps have borne a higher finish had some dozen or
two of hungry Scotchmen privately withdrawn from
the general and open table a few couples of poultry or
game for their private enjoyment behind a screen. We
can scarcely believe that this latter very obvious ar-
rangement escaped the acute persons who seem to
have managed the allegorical part of the affair, since
the parallel conduct of Lord Durham in relation to the
emoluments of the Privy Seal must still be fresh in their
recollection. In relation to this part of the proceed-
ings, there is probably some imperfection in the report.
With respect to the speeches delivered after this
dinner little need be said. Earl grey, as usual,
praised the Reform Bill. Lord Brouham, as usual,
praised himself and the King. The assembly ex-
pected very good speeches, and they were entertained
with speeches the best of which did not soar above
mediocrity. This was quite right and fair. The good
folks at the lower end of the room had illustrated the
spirit of Whiggery by the eager avidity with which
each man had seized whatever he could lay hold of ;
and it was fit and proper that in their turn the gentle-
men at the upper table should exemplify it still fur-
ther by inflicting a disappointment upon their fol-
lowers, and withholding that mental feast the expectation
of which had drawn the assembly together. The
leaders, especially Lord Grey and Lord Brougham,
spoke like men fettered by the apprehension that
they' could not speak freely without the danger
of a collision with each other. Between Lord
Brougham and Lord Durham, however, there
was a direct collision of sentiment. The Noble
and Learned Lord expressed his readiness to go as far
on the road of Reform as anybody could desire (com-
prehending, of course, the overthrow of the Church
and other projected changes of the Constitution) ; but
he was not willing to go as fast as some Reformers
appeared to wish. For this tardiness of temper the
amiable Lord Durham undertook to reprove the lag-
gard Chancellor. He regretted every day that passed
leaving any imaginable form unaccomplished. It
is something new to hear Lord Brougham thus snubbed
by the retired Lord Privy Seal. We recollect the time
when Mr. Lambton would as soon have thought of
throwing himself down the deepest shaft of his own
coalmines as of placing his opinion upon any subject
in opposition to that of Henry Brougham. But the
case is now quite altered. The Durham coalowner
reproves and chastises Lord Chancellor Brougham for
his errors, real and supposed, just as if they were equal
men, and equally qualified to express an opinion. This
little incident may, perhaps, be sufficient to satisfy
Lord Brougham how much his unmerited and misused
exaltation has really degraded and enfeebled him.—
Morning Post.

Our readers will be highly gratified by the report,
which occupies a large portion of our space, of the
magnificent banquet given at Edinburgh, on Monday,
to Earl_ Grey. No public triumph which was ever
conferred at any period of history on the most cele-
brated heroes or statesmen, can be considered a
prouder testimonial to surpassing merit or pre-emi-
nent worth, than was this tribute to the illustrious
Nobleman to whom it was devoted, and to that great
measure of Reform which has for ever stamped and
dignified his honourably consistent political life. Our
.space so largely occupied to-day will not permit us to
indulge in any lengthened commentary ; but we cannot
close our present brief remarks without adverting to
the adroit and masterly inference which Earl Grey
drew from the marked expression of opinion thus col-
lected from the entire northern division of this great
empire, to the effect, that the Tory argument of a re-
action is utterly without foundation. The reception of
Lord Brougham is an equally irresistible argument
in reply to his relentless and unfair maligners.
His speech will be perused with deep interest,
It is eharacterised alternately by that eloquent energy,
that happy illustration, and that withering sar-
casm, which has distinguished the most cele-
brated of the oratorical efforts of this extra-
ordinary individual. But it is also characterised
by another feature, which is of profounder importance,
and which will be hailed with undissembled joy by the
whole country, namely—that his Lordship, like his
colleague, Mr. P. Thomson, frankly and explicitly
scouts the absurd idea of " final measures ;" he for-
mally declares that he will go forward with the move-
ment, in other words, with the great march of improve-
ment ; and that, although he will not allow himself to
be dangerously hurried forward by the ultra-Radicals,
yet he spurns and ridicules the snail's pace which the
Tories would designate as an advance, and rejects with
scorn the drag-chain which they would permanently
impose on the wheels of the nation's progress, in every
straightforward road of social, moral, and political re-
form.—Morning Advertiser.
Lord Grey has nobly earned his honours—honoUrs
which are deposited where they will lose none of their
brightness—in a nation's gratitude.. His fame lives
and will long live in the hearts of Englishmen. His
monument •is based on the rights of his countrymen.
No statesman ever withdrew from power leaving such
a general sentiment of reverence behind him, for even
those who found fault with his policy do honour to
the loftiness of his mind, and his very enemies feel too
late that it will be long before they.meet so fair a foe.
The chivalry of the political world seems indeed to
end with Lord Grey. He could be stern, but he was
never unsparing ; and he appeared to strike for his
cause, and not in resentment to the antagonist who
stood between him and his great object. His prowess
was always crested with dignity. He took no unwor-
thy advantages, and however great was the force which
he put fOrth in debate, he left an impression that
he had exercised as much forbearance as power.
To humble and mortify, to picque and abash,
were none of his objects. His mind ranged far above
the petty vanities and the petty personalities. If he
overthrew an adversary, it was for some better purpose
than to exult in his own superiority. In the acknow-
ledgment of the honours paid him at Edinburgh we
see the lofty character which made those honours due.
In Earl Grey's speech there is none of " the pride
which apes humility." He returned the compliment
to himself with no such bad compliment to his enter-
tainers as referring the tribute of respect to any but
the real cause. He did not tell them that it was
because he had been the chief Minister of their ex-
cellent King, that they gave him so honourable a
reception, but because he was identified with the
cause which sheds glory on crowns—the cause of
the people—the interests of those for whom Kings
reign and have their homage. Earl Grey did
not say, you confer on me these honours merely
because you see in me one who has presided
in the King's councils, and enjoyed his favour'
and confidence ; but in effect he said, you con-
fer on me these honours, because you see in me the re-
presentative of the principle of reformation. He
makes himself the symbol of his cause. He says, you
honour me because you love the cause, and with the

cause so dear to the people he binds up the praise of
the Sovereign. He deals in none of the lip-homage
loyalty which signi&s nothing, because it says so
much. He does not talk of our King as any courtier
would talk of any King, worst or best alike, but he
speaks of King William as an honest subject may be
proud to speak of him. Lord Grey turns his popular
honours as he has turned his powers to the public
cause. He saw in the assembly before him, not a

crowd come to gaze at a man who had been the most
distinguished servant of a deservedly popular Monarch,
but a mighty living testimony refuting the idle asser-
tion that .a reaction in the opinion of the country has
taken place, and that the tide is ebbing to Toryism,
and leaving dry the great channels in which reforma-