The Sun.
London, England, 1834-10-31 00:00:00

thing—(Cheers)—and if at length our remonstrances have
been made knOwn, it was because we feared that our silence
would be misconstrued and perverted.—(Cheers.) Another
charge that has been brought against us is, that we wished
for crude and undigested measures. Such a desire only
exists in the imagination of the orator.—(Cheers.) Why
should we wish for crude and undigested measures ? First
of all we want measures—next we want measures fully con-
sidered, and not subject to mutilation and compromise, the
ill effects of which I pointed out at another meeting.—
(Cheers.) And here let me observe, that when I alluded
to the subject of compromise, I meant compromise with
an enemy, not that fair concession which may and must
occasionally take place with a friend.—(Cheers.) There
is no real Reformer but will yield his opinion on minor
points to those who are actuated by the same principles
with himself ; but what I object to is the system of
mutilating and compromising to gain an enemy who can-
not be conciliated.—(Cheers.) I have already alluded to
the difficulties in which- the Government has
.been placed,
and in which it gained the unflinching support of the
House of Commons. There is, however, one diffi-
culty which I have not yet seen pointed out, and which is at
the same time so peculiar that I must be permitted to call
your attention to it. We have a liberal Administration, pro-
fessing liberal principles, supported by an immense liberal
majority in the House of Commons, and that majority returned
by a liberal constituency ; and yet, with a Government so con-
stituted, so maintained, and so supported, we have Ministers
surrounded in every department by Tory subalterns. The
patronage of the army and the church is still exercised by
Tories for the benefit of Tories.—( Cheers.) All appoint-
ments by bishops, judges, magistrates, lord lieutenants, are
Tory.—( Cheers.) The diplomacy of the country is composed
of nearly the same persons as it was in the time of my Lord
Liverpool, and is entirely Tory.—( Cheers.) In short, all
the inferior instruments through which the liberal measures of
a liberal Government are to be accomplished are anti-liberal.
( Cheers.) How then is it possible that such a system can
work harmoniously and beneficially to the best interests of the
country ?—( Hear, hear.) Far rather would I have a Tory
Government acting with Tory agents, for then we should have
our enemies before our faces, and not behind our backs, than
a liberal Government, checked, thwarted, and undermined by
what ought to be its main sources of efficiency.—( Cheers. )
Am I not right then in saying that this is one of the chief
difficulties by which the Government is surrounded? On
whom, then, ought Ministers to rely? On the House of
Commons, which has always stood by them—on the liberal
constituency, which has returned that House of Commons—
and, above all, on the people at large, who have, before now,
carried them triumphantly through all their difficulties.—
( Cheers.) And it is with a full conviction of the necessity of
this reliance, and further, with a full conviction of the grati-
tude which we owe to those who stood forward in support of
the cause of their country, and who vindicated the safety of li-
berty, that I now come to the consideration of the toast which
has been assigned to me, and which I now hold in my hands.
I am required by the stewards to propose a sentiment, in which
I most cordially concur, and if I have not come to it before, if
I have detained you longer than was fitting—( Loud cries of
No')—it was because I felt that I was bound to explain, and
I trust that the explanation has been satisfactory—( Cheers)—
how matters really stood, and to prove that you were justified
in honouring me as you have honoured me to-day.—( Cheers.)
I have explained the opinions which I entertain on all great
public questions, and thanking you for the kind reception you
have given me, and feeling the utmost satisfaction in your con-
currence in my view of public affairs, I now request you to
drink this sentiment, which I adopt most gratefully,—' May
the recollection of the glorious struggle for Reform during the
last half century ever animate Britons in the demand for, and
in the maintenance of, their Rights.' "—(Great cheering.)
The CHAIRMAN said, that after the very brilliant and argu-
mentative speech which they had just heard delivered by their
Noble Guest, he could not well expect to claim their attention.
At the same time, in proposing the toast which he was now
about to give, he would take the liberty to offer to their consi-
deration one or two observations. He conceived that he would
not be considered as taxing their patience too much in doing
so, when they were aware that the toast he rose to propose
was " Earl Grey and the Reform Act."—( Cheers.) The
Noble Lord, their Noble Guest, had told them that day, that
he claimed no merit to himself for the Reform Bill ; that the
merit of it belonged neither to him, nor to any other individual,
but that the whole merit of that Act was to be attributed to
Earl Grey.—( Hear, hear.) Now, however they might differ
from Earl Grey on some points, yet, when they considered
that it was to that Noble Lord they were indebted for the Re-
form Act, a measure that placed the country in a situation to
obtain all that it wanted, he was sure that they would agree
with him in thinking that they owed a debt of gratitude to Earl
Grey which they could scarcely ever repay.—( Cheers.) He
would just advert to one or two points in regard to the admi-
nistration of that Noble Lord. That it achieved a great
victory for the country in carrying the Reform Bill, all
would admit. That after the passing of the Reform Bill
it stood upon the clear principle that the Government
should not be, as formerly, one of influence and cor-
ruption, but a Government of principle, would be as readily
granted. He was not, besides, blind to the difficulties
which that Government had to contend against. _Their
Noble Guest had just alluded to some of thein,-and un-
fortunately those to which he had referred existed in
as much strength to-day as they did three years ago.—
( Hear, hear.) It always appeared to him that one great
difficulty pervaded the proceedings of that Government—
namely, an indecision as to coming to the point with their
adversaries.—(Hear, hear. ) --Ario-the-r great and self-created
difficulty of that Government was, that they compromised with
their enemies, knowing, as they must, all the time, that the
greatest possible compromises they could make with such a
view would not advance them a single step, or gain for them
the slightest real support in such quarters.—( Cheers.)
There were portions, too, of that Administration, that in
themselves constituted substantial difficulties in the way
of its effecting useful and general reforms, and whose
separation from it well deserved to be a source of public con-
fidence and congratulation. He did not, of course, allude to
Earl Grey, but he alluded to those late members of the Ae-
ministration who had been happily relieved of their public
duties—( A laugh)—who always had the profession of reform
and of liberal principles on their lips, but who, when the time
came for action, at once declared themselves the advocates of
Tory principles.—(Hear.) The Government had a happy
riddance of such men.---( Cheers.) Another difficulty that
had attended Earl Grey's Administration was, that having
carried the Reform Act, and having been, in fact, carried into
power on the shoulders of the people, it appeared always to
dread the confidence of the people.—( Hear, hear.) Now, if \a.
Government will but repose trust and confidence in a liberal
and enlightened people, it will be respected by them, and
no difficulties or dangers of any kind will stand in its way.—
( Cheers.) He hoped and trusted that the late infusion of
liberal principles into the Cabinet, would justify the reformers
in looking forward to better days.--( Cheers.) The new
members of the Cabinet were imbued with thoroughly liberal
principles, and he hoped that they would see the fruits of their
accession to office before many months had elapsed. He agreed
with his Noble Friend, that the sure way to make the repre-
sentatives of the people do their duty was for their constituents
to look after them.—( Hear, hear.) He would now give them
Earl Grey and the Reform Act."—( Great applause.)
Mr. Coals DUNLOP, who acted as croupier, proposed the
next toast, " The Repeal of the Septennial Act," but owing
to the distance from which he spoke little of what he said
reached us. He contended that the Reform Bill should be
only regarded as a means to an end—as the means for obtain-
ing. all those various measures of reform and improvement that
the wants of the country demanded. There were many re-
forms which the people called for, and which they must have.
They wanted a free trade in corn.--( Cheers.) They wanted
a reform of the abuses in the Church.—(Cheers.) They
wanted a commutation of taxes, and an adaptation of them to
the means of those who paid them. A reform too, in the
House of Lords must come soon.—( Great cheering.) He had
mentioned to them some out of the long catalogue of reforms
that still remained to be accomplished. A Noble and Learned
Lord who had lately been making a progress through Scot-
land, had talked much and often of what had been done in
the last and in the preceding Session of Parliament, and
that Learned Individual, in fact, seemed to intimate, that
because so much, according to his account had been done in
the two former Sessions, little remained to be done now—
(Laughter, and cries of " Hear.") Though the Parliament,
since it had been reformed, had done a good deal of worth, a
great deal more remained for it to get through.—( Cheers.)
If the Lord Chancellor had said that the House of Commons
had already done too much, then, indeed, they could under-
stand what he meant. He (Mr. Dunlop) was afraid that he
could not understand that noble Lord's words, except upon
this principle, that he had made up his mind that as little Re-
form should be granted as possible, and that even not until the
most distant possible period.—(Loud and general cries of
" Hear, hear.") They were assembled that day to express
their gratitude to the noble Earl ( Durham) for his eminent
services in the cause of the people.—( Cheers.) They were
more especially met together to convey the testimony of their
approbation to him for the great principle that he had publicly
declared, at the dinner at Edinburgh, that not a single hour
passes over his head without regret, that prolongs the existence
of recognized and unreformed abuses.—( Cheers. ) They
were assembled there, that day, to thank the noble Earl for
the assertion of that principle. It was vain and idle for the
Lord Chancellor to pretend that the former Sessions of Par-
liament had done enough. The Government had wasted the
time of the House of Commons, without doing that which the
wants and necessities of the people reqnired.—( Loud cheers.)
Now the true way o make the Government do its duty was to
repeal the Septennial Act.—( Cheers.) It was in vain to expect
the Government to do its duty unless it was made dependent
upon the representatives of the people ; and it was vain to ex-
pect that they would do their duty if they did not consult the
wishes and interests of their constituents, and the only mode to
secure that consisted in having Parliaments holden at short in-

tervals.
The toast was drank with great applause.
Mr, Douai,As (who, owing to the same cause, namely, the
distance from which he spoke at the lower end of the room,
was also indistinctly heard where we sat) proposed the next
toast,—" The Liberty of the Press." In doing so the Learned
Gentleman expatiated at some length, and in very eloquent
terms, upon the mighty influence exercised, and the immense
good effected by that powerful instrument of human enlighten.
ment and improvement. The liberty c the press, he ob-
served, vic,;; tile best safeguard for the liberties of the people.
In the evil days of boroughmongering domination, the Go-
vernment, in order, if possible, to keep down the just discon-
tents of the people, laid cruel laws upon the press, and the
money of the people was squandered in hiring literary prosti-
tutes to reirile and defame those men who had the talent and
courage to assail the fasthesses of corruvtion.---cCheers.?