The Sun.
London, England, 1835-03-30 00:00:00

THE STINIt-LONDON, MONDA,Y, MARCH 30, 1835.

GRAND DINNER TO LORD J. RUs-

SELL.

The long announced dinner to Lord John Russell took place ,
011 Saturday at the Freemasons' Tavern. With a very few
exceptions, the whole of the members who voted in the ma-
jority on the address were present. Lord Morpeth presided.
The following gentlemen acted as stewards :—Sir P. Bel-
to' M.P., Sir J. Byng, M. P. A. Bannerman, Esq., M. P.,
rd Clements, M. P Lord Dalmeny, M.P., W. Dennison,
Ms
l' "LP., Lord Ebrington, M.P., George Grote, Esq.,
Col. Leith Hay, M. P., J. A. Murray, Esq., M.P.', J.
il'Cance, Esq., M. P., The O'Conor Don, M.P., W. Ord,
EN., M. P., Sir J. Wrottesley, M. P.
The cloth having been removed,
• The CHAIRMAN said that, as this was a Parliamentary meet-
ing, it might not be out of place, since the notice paper was
very crowded, to request that they should confine themselves
to the toasts set down in the order of the day ; at all events,
till that was exhausted. His Lordship concluded by giving
" The King," which was drank with three times three."
Queen," was the next toast, and after that " The
rvineess Victoria, and the rest of the Royal Family." The
latter of these toasts was drunk with vehement applause.
the
The Duke of Sussex and the principles which placed
u House of Brunswick on the Throne of England."—
( Applause.)
he CHAIRMAN said that the next toast upon the list carried
with it its own recommendation. It was " The people," for
whose benefit Government was instituted and ought to be exer-
c"'ect•---( Loud cheering.)
" The Navy and Army."
The CHAIRMAN then said, after these tributes of due but
'';'ore ordinary observance, I now arrive at the main and special
object which has brought us this night together. The very
composition of this company indicates with sufficient clearness
leiE;:nsel eq
f that we have not thus met for any mere social or fes-
telr6
• , let me add, trivial purpose ; no, we are assembled here
uence of high political considerations, and in further-
ance f high political results.—( Cheers.) With no further
13,)„-'eue, Job must be so universally anticipated, I turn to
•"ii, 111 Y Lord Russell—( Loud and long continued cheer-
langsser:fl
or your honour we are gathered together; and in convey-
Ite to you the expression of the feeling which pervades this
Y, with the sense of many deficiences, I feel this especial
.ueutty, of not appearing on the one hand purposely to sink
ueln'ath the occasion, and on the other of not trespassing on
that delicacy, which is ever dear to all refined and ingenuous
rinds•—( Cheers.) Your name, my Lord, I need not remind
ithose who hear me, has long been associated with the consti-
tution and rights of our country—( Cheers.) The very blood
illYnur veins has borne its own red witness on the scaffold of
Brrty to the worth and generous patriotism of your ancestors.
ut happily it is not to this alone that the celebrity of your
name is attributable—happily you are known to your countrymen
s Izine to whom the cause of liberty in the present age must
acknowledge deep and lasting obligations ; the wants of the
existing times required happily different fields and different
,odes of patriotic exertion to those which were formerly ne-
cessary, and in these you have shown that you do net stand
(in-
debted to any extrinsic or transmitted recommendations—
'
r'heers). You rest your claims to the respect and admiration
of the people on the unquestionable merits of your own political
( Cheers). Highly versed in all literary and historical
subjects, you have devoted far the chief portion of your time,
ability, and endeavour to those questions which in your own time
have most affected the civil and religious liberty of your country-
theuandof the human race—( Cheers.) We cannot indeed forget
at, in addition to the course you have uniformly taken in
ttier great and vital struggles conjointly with your associates,
t• ova' by yourself that the repeal of the Test and Corpora-
til_c'e Act was moved, and to all intents carried, in the face of
aadverse though conceding Ministry.--( Cheers.) And it
iil4B bY your Lordship again that the Reform Bill itself was
i,troduced.with a clearness, composure, and force commensu-
e4le with the momentous occasion, and exciting alike the
n
'rgetic astonishment at its opponents, and the grateful ac-
h amations of a concurring people.—( Cheers.) Such you
ale been found out of power, such you were found whilst in
tutrs and in selecting you as our organ for the future, we
I'vt our expectations not more from the past than the present.
I(tHear, hear.) All that has taken place since the opening
:f he present Parliament, has essentially deepened the feeling
respect and attachment towards your Lordship, so largely
regained before.—( Cheers. )r Of that fact, the presence
this company, comprising so numerous and so distinguished
a t Portion of the station, the wealth, the talent, and the pa-
triotism of the united representation of the empire, is the most
assured, testimony (Cheers)—and our Lordship, I feel
4-44 red, will not- —deem it less acceptable, because they
(lae not rally round you under any positive compact. or un-
r ally compulsory engagement, but have been
,attracted
a sense of one great common object, and by a swiss
teat' at the present period, in a signal crisis of our coun-
-4.1)0' s f
ortunes,or your Lordship should take your post in the
_r nt the struggle.--( Cheers.) To an assembly thus
saconstituted and thus entreated, I well know it is the desire of
vulei and the hope of others, to impute and to suggest topics
mutual difference. . Without dwelling upon a point which
tr hardly be deemed worthy of notice, I will just remark, tat
Ste very
our opinions, whist of the imputation
it restsmust be upon the
sedpresumed tens-
9 of suppo, are of too
,;I.ut a material to yield to the lure of temptation, to the fa-
of compromise, or even to the force of positive inspira-
t "c•-•-( Great cheering.) I will only add that, careless of any
„rot or reprovals, we are prepared to show, as in fact we do
u Ow this night, that whatever may be our separate opinions
thPoe n matters not at issue. without in any way departing from
fir,ru, we well know how at the approaching juncture, and in
eit, of the foe, to present a close and serried phalanx that
th" he unconqu'erable.—( Continued cheering.) It is under
ese considerations, therefore, combining, I humbly conceive,
ed ancient tics of party alliance and connection, with the fresh
all r of voluntary engagements, that I now call upon you
• at this momentous epoch—at this auspicious hour—to re-
Zlve the name, and to drink with brimming glasses to the
(er,4,l,th) the Sappiness--I say with emphasis, the happiness,-
si;.ers)---and the fame of Lord John Russell.—( Enthu-
' ,:ec cheering.)
•It'lrd JOHN RE ssELt,—Gentlemen, I feel more than ordina-
tblY embarrassed on this occasion—embarrassed, lest I should
th unable to express the deep sense of gratitude I entertain for
e honour you have done me, in drinking, and for the eloquent
tl:ntiments with which my Noble Friend has proposed, the
t which ou have just now so kindly received. I feel the
4-luarrassmi;, t of my situation less, however, than if I were
if sills that I could take this honour entirely to myself—than
in endeavouring to express all that I felt, I were induced to
li°llsider the occasion as one personal to myself, and in my own
14°n°11r• I am quite sure that if I did entertain any such feel-
I should omit to see it in what I really do see in it—an
;settibling of many who meet here for the great and solemn
rl3°B ' of recordin political sentiments which they, in their
etier2ni, aces, believeg to tend to the welfare, the improvement,
u
cheer-
g•) of their country.—( Loud and continued cheer-
thaq Let me say in allusion to one part of my Noble Friend's
atch, that I feel how great an honour it is that I meet here
RUC the real representatives of the people—( Loud and conti-
nued cheers)—that I am not now addressing those who, by
deans of nomination boroughs, or false seats, have procured
31 have now
into the Commons' House of Parliament ; but that
t,i,ve now before me those who represent the virtue and the in-
r, "gene° of the people of the United K ingdom. —( Loud cheers. )
by such an assembly I feel honoured, but, at the
;Irlile time, I feel awed. It has been my fortune, as my Noble
t, '°,l has said, to proposa a measure for the relief of the Pro-
-11.-tant Dissenters from the degrading bonds by which they
tell formerly confined. It has been my fortune to propose a
r, fur the Reform of the representation of this country ; and
aZtnlemen, I may now say, that among all my day-dreams of
tvitc;,_°n, there has been none which, after those connected
t 4; ulelss two subjects, I have cherished so long, or enter-
oir;ed with such perseverance, as the hope that I might one day
....re other be the means of subduing another great grievance
lime:lean the grievance of the abuses of the Church of Ire-
hitie"-{Tremendous cheerirg)—abuses which seem to com-
m the political usurpation of our close boroughs with the
tte:vgious intolerance of our Corporation and Test Acts.—( Re-
sowed cheering). It is my hope, Gentlemen, that on Monday
%art I shall be able to state such a case to the House of Com-
b. 43---to that House of Conurmns nbiai ha* bccticwocrahlea
i„.." special summonsfroin the Crown, and with the threat of
state I ; I say it is my hope that I shall be able to
ti "eh a case as will withstand the attacks of sophistry and the
4ence of declamation, founded upon evidence, the force of
willeht our opponents will be unable to resist.—( Cheers.) We
that
snow them that the time is now come to do justice to
tt,i! Portion of the United Kingdom, and to avert every evil
01101 future days might otherwise bring with them, by
.:Wing that Englishmen and Scotchmen are as ready as
il,linien themselves, to feel that where a wrong is done, it
(Ile business of the Commons of England to set it right.-
4,reat cheering.) Gentlemen, I am glad that we have re-
ot; ved for this occasion the great trial of strength between
those
and our Tory opponents. Not that I think that
tie doctrines which were promulgated so industriously after
kitilliistnissal of the late Ministry, of " measures not men,"
ti„ wait till they have had a fair trial," and " you will find
417, Tories more liberal than the late Ministry"—(cheers and
thi,_4hter)—not -that I think that those doctrines had any
itia,"g" of truth in them, to recommend them ; but because I am
lii;te that if we had succeeded in throwing out the present Mi
beerY at the commencement of the struggle, it would have
....4111 said that there was no difference of principle between us
and at we had availed ourselves merely of a party superiority,
that if the present Ministers had been allowed to continue
they would have shown by the measures they adopted,
wer toe success with which they advocated them, that they
the were
better qualified than any other men to conduct
those affairs of this country.--; Cheers.) I think that all
110 ever entertained such an expectation roust now be
tiers undeceived. and fully impressed with the conviction that
tratie can be no stable, that there can be no useful, adminis-
the " of affairs in this country but by Ministers possessing
Th confidence of the House of Commons.—(Loud cheers.)
I 4t',l3lentlemeil, is the old doctrine of the Constitution, and
tiler 1.1. its accuracy is sufficiently proved by the result ; for
Is scarcely a night on which it is not evident, that if
net-isters had merely that common confidence which a Ministry
tvotitr,cg in popularity possesses, the House of Commons
Merit Se disposed to yield to them, without opposition,
and ures on which in principle they were disposed to agree,
t° Concede such points as could be conceded without
for ii.)ll:otnising the principles which they had prescribed
sent, eir evvri guidance. With such a Ministry as the pre-
pos ithowever, the House of Commons have felt it lin-
os %,...11e to give them credit for any intention to propose,
urine' p` measures, to which they knew, they were in
will :pie hostile.-- ( Cheers.) Gentlemen, I never, for one,
sist3 "sent to believe, that the administration of affairs con-
an ArlelY in Proposing measures for Ireland; the
.spirit. of
that _ministration consists much more in the manner in which
free Administration is conducted--in the tendency either to
ad,,Prineiples, or to slavish principles, which it shows in its
-"ntstration of affairs at home or abroad. Do not tell me,

even supposing to be the case for a moment, that because a
Minister, at home, proposed one or two useful measures to the
House of Commons, it would be therefore advantageous that
be should remain in power, while his agents abroad are
doing every thing they can to put down liberty, awl to
prompte despotism.--(Lengthened cheering.) Who can
believe that the Ministers wha were so anxious for the
success of Don Miguel in Portugal, are changed at heart,
or that if it were not for the immediate fear of the
House of Commons, they would nit even now be taking
steps which would tend to the promotion of bad govern-
ment, and the suppression of good ? And gentlemen,
at home is it nothing that there should be in various
parts of the country—is it nothing that there should be in
Ireland—men who are disposed to promote the ends of one
exclusive faction, who will advocate and support intolerance,
who will aid the cause of religious and political intolerance by
every act and . deed of their lives ?—( Deafening cheers.)
These, gentlemen, are great and weighty considerations, even
supposing that the measures the present Ministry proposed,
were measures which the House of Commons would think fit
to accept. It has been shown, however, already, that upon
several of those measures the House of Commons differ de-
cidedly from the present Ministry. In the case fiat we have
here to-night, even on the question of granting the power of
making Masters of Arts to the London University ; even on
that, these Tory Ministers are so bigotted to the old mono-
poly, and the ancient system, that they could not even con-
cede even this small privilege.-----( Loud cheers.) Clinging, it
would seem, clinging with a desperate fondness to abuses and
monopolies, as Ovid describes Niobe clinging to the last of
her children—

Unam, minirnamque, relinque,
De multis minimam posco, clamavit, et unam.
Even the removal of the smallest, the least, the slightest
abuse, when the time really comes for tearing it away from
them, is like parting with their heart's blood. They cannot
yield up abuses and live—they cannot make up their minds to
part with one.—( Cheers.) Gentlemen, I have now only to
express again the gratitude I owe you. I know not how, in
adequate terms, to convey to you my sense of the honour'you
have done me by asking me to meet you here to-day, or of the
honour you have done me in selecting me for your leader in
the House of Commons. If I could have believed there was
any other course open to us, better calculated to advance the
great cause in which we are all engaged, I should have been
most happy to have adopted it. If I want other qualifications
for the leader of such a body—if I have many imperfections
and want many requisites for the important task, I will at
least add this—that whenever any occasion arises, that when-
ever any opportunity presents itself, on which by retiring from
that station I can promote the great cause of reform, and of
civil and religious liberty, to which I have ever been at
heart attached—you may depend upon it no personal va-
nity, no irr tated feeling on my part, will prevent my re-
tiring at once and doing all that I can, to promote that
great cause, as the humblest individual amongst its advocates.
—( Protracted cheering.) I beg now to propose " the health
of your Chairman." After what has already fallen from him,
it is not for me to enter into any description of his character,
or into any eulogium on his merits. We all knew him in the
House of Commons ; we all know how firmly he adheres to
his principles, and you all know with what talent and ability
he advances and defends them. I beg to propose " The -
health of your Chairman," my Noble Friend, Lord Morpeth.
The toast was received with groat applause.
The CHAIRMAN had little need to tell the company with
what feelings he must have received a distinction so proposed
and so confrred. One thing only on that occasion did he fear
for, and that was the want of adequate ability on his part,
among so many better qualified, to fill the post that had been
assigned to him. It would be sufficient for him to state that,
when the proposal was made to him, he did not think it proper
to bandy any compliments in the matter, but at once respect-
fully accepted the office, determined to endeavour to do his
best.—( Cheers.) And it certainly gave him great pleasure
that he had thus been enabled to enact a more congenial part
towards his Noble Friend (Lend . John Russell), who sat
beside him, than was formerly done by an unworthy name-
sake of his (one Lord Howard, of Escrick), towards his
Noble Friend's illustrious ancestors.—(Cheers.) One of the
duties of the chair was, not unnecessarily to consume the
time of the company upon matters which la ere unworthy
of engrossing it. He, therefore, begged leave at once
to transfer the attention of the company to a name which
would well command their immediate notice. It was the
name of a statesman who, whether as a Commoner or a Peer
as the leader of the Opposition, or the head of an Administra-
tion—in eager youth, in mature manhood, and in undegene-
rate age, had lived. struggled, and governed, with continued
and undeviating zeal for the happiness and welfare of his coun-
trymen—( Cheers.) Upon any chances of his still remaining
career it was not for him ( Lord Morpeth) then to speculate,
but sure be was that when it came to its close—which let them
hope the Supreme Bounty might long delay for them—over a
more consistent or eminent course no political retrospect would
ever be invited to dwell—(Cheers.) " Such," continued his
Lordship, "as his country has known him and prized him for
half a century, I present him to you, among those who now
remain, the earliest supporter of the reform of the representa-
tion of the people in Parliament, of which he has lived to be
the successful achiever.—( Cheers.) True to the people, and
trusted by the Crown—with a mind lofty as his own bearing
or his own eloquence, yet gentle (as all the satisfied relations
of his life attest)—such a mind as antiquity might image, and
posterity must revere—l give you the health of Earl Grey."—
( Enthusiastic cheers. )
Mr. DENISON next rose—No Gentleman whom he had the
honour of addressing could feel more fdrcibly than he did the
comparison that must be drawn between him and his two
Noble and eloquent Friends, whose speeches had just been
listened to with so much pleasure ; nor could any one feel
more strongly than himself how totally inadequate he was to
do justice to the toast that had been placed in his hands. The
only return he could make to his Noble Friend in the Chair
for the confidence he had reposed in him, would be to intrude
but for the briefest possible space upon the conviviality of the
meeting.—( Hear, hear.) The toast with which he had the
honour of being entrusted was the " Health of Lord Mel-
bourne and his Majesty's late Ministers."—( Loud and long-
continued cheering.) As that Ministry was dismissed rather
abruptly, and without that fair trial which their successors
now so loudly called for, he hoped he should be considered in
order when he connected the Ministry of Lord Melbourne with
that of Earl Grey, especially when he saw his Noble Friend at
the upper table who was associated with the former Ministry,
and who, as regarded the latter, if not in the temple, was at
least in the porch, where he was ever found a firm and steady
supporter. In his ( Mr. Denison) humble but honest opi-
uion the Ministry of Lord Melbourne would firmly and
nobly have carried into effect all those improvements both in
Church and State which were left undone by Earl Grey.—
( Cheers. ) Here he might conclude, but he thought it would
be ungrateful if he did not state a few facts respecting the dif-
ficulties that both Administrations had to contend against.
They were both opposed by a great majority in the House of
Lords, and one was opposed by a powerful and not very scru-
pulous party in the House of Commons, and by a great body of
the magistracy, of the squirearchy, and of the clergy through-
out the country.--( Cheers. ) Under such circumstances they
had nothing to depend upon but the purity of their views, the
honesty of their intentions, the integrity of their measures, and
the support of that large and virtuous body comprised in the
middle classes of society—(Cheers)—with whom he believed
a great part of the virtue and intelligence of the country
resided. He had , already declared that he would not un-
necessarily trespass upon the time of the company for a
single moment, but as this was the first public dinner at
which they had been assembled together, he thought be
might be permitted to cast back a hasty glance at the
measures carried by the liberal Governments of Earl
Grey aad Lord Melbourne during the four years that
those noblemen were in office.—( Hear, hear, hear.)
Among the many other benefits that their judicious policy
had conferred upon the country, he found the second great
Magna Charta—the Reform Bill —( Cheers)—the reduction
of 5,000,0001. out of 18,000,0001. of the expenditure of the
~
nation, beginning with' their own salaries—(Cheers)—the
reform of-the Scotch corporations—( Cheers)---a proposition to
reform the Irish Church, which, unhappily, was frustrated in
another place, though ten Bishops voted in its favour—
(Cheers),-the renewal, upon widely different terms, of the
East India charter ; the opening of the East India trade • the
abolition of slavery in the British colonies—(Cheers)—Aich
every humane man and honest heart must rejoice in, whatever
the pecuniary cost to this country might have been—( Hear)—
the settlement of that great and complicated question—the
charter of the Bank of England, which his Hon. Friend on
his left ( Mr. Pattison) well knew to be a subject of no or-
dinary difficulty—( Hear, hear)—the introduction of various
highly necessary and highly beneficial reforms in the courts of
law ; and finally, the amendment of the Poor-laws, the opera-
tion of which, for many years past, had been demoralizing to
the poor and pauperizing to the rich.—( Hear, hear.) When
all this was recollected, he thought that every one who
heard him would agree with him, that the country owed a
debt of deep gratitude to the Members of the two last
Administrations.—( Cheers.) But above this, they had
left a lesson to their successors, be they whom they might
—that they could only hope to govern by treading in their
footsteps, and following their examples—( Hear, hear)—by
reforming all those abuses which time, the great innovator,
had planted upon the constitution—by sweeping away all those
cobwebs that neglect had suffered to gather in the sacred
edifice, and by endeavouring to guide the veseel of the state in
a spirit of liberality commensurate with the increasing know-
ledge of the people.—( Cheers.) Intreating the pardon of the
company for the length at which he had trespassed upon their
time, he would conclude by requesting them to fill a bumper to
the health happiness and prosperity of Lord Melbourne and
his Majesty's laze Ministers.—( Continued cheers.)
Mr. CHARLES GRANT rose to return thanks. Amidst the
many of his colleages who were far more adequate to express
their sentiments in reference to the toast that had just been
drunk it had fallen to his lot to offer to the company the ac-
knowledgments of the Members of the late Government for the
manner in which the proposition of his Hon. Friend (Mr. De-
nison) had been received. The task, indeed, in one respect,
was grateful and honourable ; but the very circumstances
which made it grateful and honourable made it also difficult
for him to convey to the company all that he felt, and all
that he was certain was felt by those with whom he bad the
honour of being associated.—( Hear, hear, hear.) If the
were true that to express the gratitude of one individual was
difficult, what must it be for him who had no less than the
gratitude of fifteen persons to express—(laughter and cheers)
—and what further must be the difficulty of his position,
when he had to express by his single voice the eloquent
feelings of those by whom he was surrounded, and whose
eloquence was not unknown to any of those whom be had
then the honour to address.__( Cheers.) He begged the
company, however, to accept from him an assurance of the
deep gratitude that was felt by him, by his colleagues who
were present, and by those also who were absent, for the
honour that had been conferred on them—an honour that by

their conduct for the future, he hoped they would emtintv-
to deserve.—( Hear, hear.) In the presence of his colleagues
of the House of Commons he would not allude to them ;
but he must be permitted to say, that those of the other
House of Parliament whom the company had just been pleased
to consider as worthy of being included in the toast were well
worthy of an honour conferred upon them by such an assembly
as that present. Need he mention to them the name of
Lord Melbourne ? It had been recorded by an eloquent
friend of his whose classical and brilliant pen had lent fresh
point and vigour to the agitating subject of politics, depicted
to the life the follies and foibles of fashionable society, and by
a magic touch restored the ruins of Pompeii.--(Great cheer-
ing.) Need he mention to them the name of Lord Lans-
downe, a Nobleman not less distinguished in political than in
private life ; not less admired in public fer his consistency and
strict integrity than revered at home for the practice of every
domestic virtue.—( Cheers.) Need he mention. to them the
name of Lord Althorp ?—( Great cheering.) He should
have said Lord Spencer, but he felt that all whom he ad-
dressed, respected, reverenced, and admired him as Lord Al-
thorp_( Cheers)—and whenever that nu& was mentioned,
where would they find a stronger claim upon their applause
for openness of manner, sustained honesty and integrity in
public life, and noble magnanimity at momentous and critical
periods?—(Cheers.) Need he mention the name of the
Noble Lord the late Home Secretary—a name dear to every
part of the kingdom, but especially to the most interesting part
of it, Ireland ? To him (Mr. Grant) it was a proud gratification
to think that he had been associated with such men—not only
those that he had mentioned, but all connected with the Go-
vernment for the last four years—a period during which there
had passed more measures affecting deeply the interests
of the country, domestic and foreign, than perhaps were ever
before crowded within the same brief space of time.—( Cheers.)
As his Hon. Friend (Mr. Denison) had so lately and so elo-
quently adverted to many of those measures, he (Mr. Grant)
should content himself with enumerating only a few—negro
emancipation, the amendment of the poor laws, the various
alterations with respect to our Western and Eastern depend-
encies, but above all, the great measure of Parliamentary Re-
form, which might be regarded as the foundation of their
assembling there that day.—( Cheers.) That was a measure
which had improved the interests and changed the corrupt
character of the- representation of the country; it was de-
manded by the people—it was yielded to the people's de-
mand—it resulted froth various causes—from the progress of
knowledge—from the enlargement of science—from the efforts
of distinguished men in Parliament, and of none in a more
particular manner than those of the Noble Lord whom
they hailed as their guest on that occasion.—(Cheers.)
And here he must be permitted to advert to that good
and venerable man—to that distinguished statesman, who
in early youth commenced his political career with what
at that time was deemed a romantic dream, but who yet
had lived to see the dream of his youth fulfilled.—
( Cheers.) The Reform Bill, which was the result of the
increasing knowledge of the country, had stamped the cha-
racter of the age for generations yet to come.—( Hear.) It
had given a new tone to politics and to public men—it pre-
cluded all hope of a return to the old system—it guaranteed
for the future the voluntary or forced adherence 'of every go
vernment to liberal principles.—( Cheers.) He rejoiced that
that distinguished company had been pleased to offer so marked
a tribute of the respect and approbation of the late Govern-
ment ; but, in doing so, he believed they were only acting in
the spirit of the Reform Bill—in the spirit of that great mea-
sure they were prepared to act ; and whatever the separate
opinions of many upon minor points of policy might be, of
this he felt certain, that all in that great assembly were pre-
pared for ever to maintain the principle of reform, and by
every means in their power, actuated by the same common
feeling, to advocate and support it, as long as they retained a
scat in Parliament —( Cheers.) His Noble Friend ( Lord
John Russell) had adverted to the great question now pending
—he ( Mr. Grant) felt, that whatever their separate opinions
upon minor points connected with Ireland might be, upon the
subject of the abuse to which his Noble Friend had directed
their attention, all were prepared to follow his footsteo.
( Cheers.) This they would do, relying on the justice of their
cause, and acting in the•spirit of the Reform Bill. The Right
lion. Gentleman concluded by.repeating his gratitude for the
honour conferred upon him and his colleagues in the late Go-
vernment.

The CHAIRMAN rose and said, that in closing, as he feared
they would think it high time for him to do, his own trespasses
on their kindness and forbearance, he would beg to submit to
them the name of an individual, who, although he was in-
cluded in the toast last drank, he was emboldened, by the re.:
ception they had given to the incidental mention of his name,
to think they would deem not unworthy of a second and a
special commemoration. The name of the leader of the
House of Commons, during the ascendency of a Liberal
Government, was not wholly out of place on such an occasion;
altered circumstances had altered his station and changed his
title, but those who had been associated with him in political
life, witnessed his exertions, admired his virtues, and beheld
the general respect and esteem in which he was held, still
loved to recall their old leader to their memory bythe name
of Lord Althorp.—(Enthusiastic cheering.) To those who
were without that experience, he could only say that the Re-
form Act, under which they now held their seats in the House
of Commons, was probably indebted for its final success to the
indefatigable industry and still more invincible temper of that
Noble Lord, whom no exertions in his country's behalf
fatigued, and whom no excess of hostility embittered. Private
events seemed for a while to have withdrawn that Noble Lord
from the turmoil of public affairs to the peace and tranquillity
of private life. He (14:-.:rd Morpeth) believed that his Noble
Friend would like nothing better than the

" Latis otia, fundis
Speluncm, vivique lacus, et frigida Tempe,
Mugitusque bourn, mollesque sub arbore somni

Non absunt."
(Cheers and laughter.) Yet, in the hope that the day was
not far distant which would restore him to active co-operation
with his former colleagues, and to the possession of the confi-
dence and esteem of his country, he begged to propose to thern
the health of Earl Spencer.--( Great cheering.)
The toast was received and drunk with the utmost en-
thusiasm.

Mr. O'CoNrieu having been called upon by the Chairman,
presented himself for the purpose of proposing the next toast.
The Honourable and Learned Gentleman was received with
lengthened cheering, and the warmest demonstrations of ap-
plause. When silence was restored he said : . My Lord, I
heartily—l cordially—respond to that call. Indeed I will
say unaffectedly, that I never knew an hour of such happiness
in my life as I have enjoyed to-night. We have spent a de-
lightful evening—an evening whose delights arise from a recol-
lection of the past—of the many past—evenings connected
with our meeting here. It is rendered still more delightful by
th t generous sympathy which the independent represen-
tatives of England, Scotland, and Ireland, exhibit in the
public cause, uiving our unpurchaseable voices in the sup-
port of the leader whom we have this night installed with
a confidence free from suspicion upon our part, as it is in-
capable of deception on his—( Loud cheers)—and ren-
dered more exquisite in its delights still, by the anticipation of
that approaching futurity which, before another week has gone
over our heads, will realize, I trust, the commencement of a
new era--the era of continuing and peaceful amelioration of
the institutions of England ; of the quiet amelioration of the
institutions of Scotland ; and commencing the improvement
—because commencing to act upon kindly feelings, and upon
the sacred principles of liberty and freedom—of Ireland,—
( Cheers.) Glorying in these thoughts—obtruding them per-
haps upon the meeting, though unconnected with the toast I
have been called upon to speak to—idle rumour has attributed
to me the intention of going over to France to defend a coun-
tryman of mine, the victim of some ungenerous tyranny in
France. Although I would not shrink from the task of vin-
dicating the unfortunate wherever I find them, I feel that it
would be almost hypocrisy in me to treat the people of Scotland as
my clients. That portion of the United Kingdom has sent to this
country more than one statesman, wise in the Cabinet and honest in
Council ; she has sent to this country so many gallant soldiers who
have distinguished themselves in the fields of fight all over the world
—so many able advocates, whose fame has extended not only be-
yond the confines of their own country, but beyond the limits
of the British empire—so many wise gentlemen, and sagacious
mercantile .men, much more qualified than I am to speak her
gratitude, that I would willingly leave the task to them. Qualified
as I am, however, I will not shrink from the duty. I delight in
the measure of Reform Scotland has gained ; she earned it well ;
she deserved it : she never acquiesced in religious tyranny, nor did
she allow the despotism of a foreign creed to trample upon her sons
with impunity.—(Loud cheers.) She was part of the weakness of
Britain until Britain did the Scotch conscience justice; an entire
freedom of conscience was established, not only in name and poli-
tical advantage, but in practical provision for the clergy and Church
of Scotland. She well deserved that liberty she I hen obtained,
and the British Parliament gave her an ample and excellent
measure of Reform. Her constituency was less than 1,100 before
the Reform Bill-1,100 not real votes—not men representing the
property of Scotland, or Scottish interests—hut representing a
fictitious class, and feudal titles. You have changed those 1,100
fictitious votes into upwards of 70,000 real ones.—(Loud cheers. )
But above all, you have given her a Corporate Reform.—(Cheers.)
There used to be the wretched, miserable monopoly of thirty-three
individuals regulating all the Corporations of Edinburgh. You
have destroyed that monopoly, and given those institutions
the right of choosing their own Magistrates, and selecting their
own Representatives.—( Loud cheers.) And well have they
vindicated their authority to make such a selection ! They have
chosen for one of their representatives the leader of your English
bar ; they have chosen for their other representative him - whom
the Colanons of England, in spite of faction, have sent respect-
fully to his Majesty as the first Commoner in the first City of Eng-
land.—( Vehement cheering.) Neither is there any sentiment of
of regret, much less of resentment, on the part of that country—
the land of my birth—to which, great as are my esteem and respect
for Scotland, I am bound by ties of a more endearing and lasting
nature. She does not participate in the advantages Scotland has
gained. Well, if we have not got all we want yet—why there is
the more left for us yet to obtain.—(Cheers and laughter.) What
I, feel the greatest pride in reflecting upon is this—that, in the con-
test for Scottish liberty, the honest representatives of Ireland were
not backward—that we brought you more than one majority—that
our Members converted that, which would have been a defeat, into
more than one victory.—(Cheers.) It is a consolation to know that
this happened ; and when I toast the Reformers of Scotland, I know
that I speak of men who, valuing liberty themselves, know how to
bestow it generously upon others.—( Loud cheers.) You won the
hearts of the Seatish people, by showing them you had confidence
in them. That which succeeded there—it's no secret—will sic,
teed elsewhere ; and as it has been foetid, by seven hundred years'
experience, that chains of adamant cannot bind to you the people
of Ireland—for its links are still broken, its bonds are yet insecure
—believe me, the silken thread of conciliation will twine aroerue
you—the hearts of these in whom power has never been able to
extinguish the love of freedom—from whose breasts violence and
coercion have never obliterated a deep sense of the necessity of po-
litical equality.—(Deafening cheers.) We are beginning a new
era, I hope—the era of a fair trial—not the mockery of that trial
which men, convicted by their own confession of every species of
delinquency, talked of. Talked of, for what? To gain time—
not for a trial, but for a triumph over the people of this empire.—
(Prolonged cheering.) Believing and hoping that that era is ap-
I proaching—hailing with gratitude the sentiments I have heard ex-

pressed on the great subject which the Noble Lord has announced
for the ensuing meeting—knowing how much hangs on the wings of
that measure—knawing how impossible it is that this great coun-
try can have that united stre igth it ought to have, and is capable
of having, until that measure is set at rest, as I trust it will be, b.y
the wisdom of Scottish and English Reformers—l appeal with
,confidence to the assistance of the former ; and, in that confidence,
I call upon you to fill a high bumper to the toast of " The Refor-
mers of Scotland."—(Loud and continued cheering.)
The toast having been drunk w,th great applause.
Mr. Fox MAULE rose and said:—My Lord Morpeth and Gen-
tlemen, I deeply feel the honour which has been conferred upon
me to-day—the honour of being called upon to take a part in a
meeting so distinguished as the present, and to propose a toast of.'
so leading.and important a character as that which has been intrus-
ted to nay-charge. My Lord; before proceeding to that task I
trust'l may be permitted, in-the name of the Reformers of Scot-
land, to return to Mr. O'Connell our most sincere thanks for the
kindly manner in which he has proposed our healths to thii com-
pany, and for the warm welcome which you haie given to the men-
tion of our names. The Howourable and Learned Gentleman has
said that he has no occasion to be the advocate of Scotland, for
Scotland already bends beneath a heavy weight of gratitude for the.
:boons that have been conferred upon her. How difficult,
then, must it be for me, inadequate as I am to the task, to become
the advocate of Ireland, who still is denied those boons and re-
fused that measure of justice which the Reformers of Scotland .
consider her equally entitled to?—( Cheers.) Who that has looked
into the history of Ireland, has not felt grief- for the injuries and
unjustifiable persecutions under which she has for ages laboured ?
And who that has heard the sentiments expressed by our Noble
Guest this day. can fail to have hailed with the pleasure and satis-
faction which are predominant in all our breasts, but must be more
deeply seated in the breasts of Irishmen, that dawn of liberty—that
dawn of just rights and privileges, which is already appearing
in the political horizon ?—( Loud cheers.) The Noble Lord has
alluded to an occasion of paramount importance: on that day, the
Reformers of Scotland—returned to Parliament, I must say, very
much owing to the exertions of Irish Members in former Parlia-
ments—will not be found wanting at their posts ; and, unlike the
ddys of former Parliaments, we shall find that the majority of Scotch
Members in the House of Commons is reversed, and that they will
be found voting for liberal measures and liberal enactments, and not
always accommodating themselves to the Ministers of the day.—
(Great cheering.) I will not intrude further upon the company at
this moment, feeling that lam not entitled so to do. I shall beg
to propose to you, Gentlemen, the toast of " The Reformers of Ire-
land ;" and I call upon you to remember what the Reformers of
Ireland have done in gaining—you will excuse me if I give my own
country the precedence—in gaining for Scotland her elective fran-
chise and borough reform, and for England the speedy prospect of
her borough reform.—( Cheers.) I call upon you to recollect, when
you are drinking the toast, that Ireland requires much at.your
hands ; I feel assured, by the sentiments I have heard expressed
this evening, that her just and proper demands will not be refused.
—(Cheers.) The toast was drunk with loud acclamations.
Lord EBILINGTON—If the toast which he was about to have the
honour to propose required argument or eloquence to entitle it to
the acceptance of-the company, he should certainly have wished—
more especially after the eloquent manner in which they had been
addressed by those who had preceded him—that the toast'had been
committed to some one better qualified to do justice to its immense
importance. But the abuses of the Church of Ireland—( Cheers)
—were too notorious ; the necessity of fully and efficiently reform-
ing them too deeply impressed, not merely upon the liberal and en-
lightened assembly whom he had then the honour to address, but
upon the minds of the millions whom they represented, and whose
sentiments, he was sure, were in unison with their own, from one
end of the empire to the other, to induce him for a moment to
suppose that any thing that he could say could add to the claims
which the toast he was about to propose had upon their cordial ac-
ceptance--( Hear, hear)—more especially as the subject to which it
referred had already been touched upon, slightly he owned, but
still with the eloquence that belonged to him, by the Hon. and
Learned Gentleman the Member for Dublin, as well as by the Noble
Lord who, he trusted, was destined, in a few days, to carry success-
fully into effect a motion for the reform of the Irish Church—
(Cheers)—and thus to add another to the many triumphs he had
already achieved in the cause of civil and religious liberty. In
proposing the toast of " An effectual reform in the Church of Ire-
land, and a more beneficial appropriation of, its surplus revenues"—
(Cheers)—in proposing that toast, he begged for himself to say,
that he yielded not one jot of the respect and devoted attachment
which he had always entertained for the Church with which he
was connected, nor did he abandon any portion of the anxious
desire which he had ever felt that in any reform of the Church
Establishment in Ireland, the spiritual wants of the members of
that Church should be better provided for than they were at pre-
sent, with all the revenue that the Church possessed.--( Hear,
hear). He never could reconcile to his own mind what the pre-
sent state of the Establishment seemed to presume, that the advan-
tage or usefulness of a Church depended upon its wealth.—( Hear,
hear) ; and what was infinitely more important, he never could re-
concile to himself that the interests of religion, for the promotion of
which all church establishments were supposed to be maintained,
could be advanced in Ireland by a state of things which insulted the
feelings of the conscientious Catholic, and shocked and disgusted
the decent Protestant—(Cheers), and which, by the means by
which an immense portion of the revenues of the Church was col-
lected, lighted up the flame of religious discord until it raged in all
the horrors of civil warfare.--(Hear, hear). He was, and always
had been, of opinion that the revenues of the Church were the
property of the State.—(Cheers.) He was . bound at the same
time to say, that he should regret to see those revenues which, by
the piety of their ancestors, were destined for pious and religious
uses, devoted entirely to secular purposes. He, therefore, trusted
that the surplus revenue of the Church of Ireland would be devoted
to- purposes of charity and education. —( Hear, hear.) ' Ireland,
beyond all other countries, presented the most ample field for the
appropriation of any surplus revenue. With these sentiments, he
begged leave to propose—" A thorough Reform in the Church
Establishment of Ireland, and a more beneficial appropriation of its
surplus revenue."---( Cheers. )
The toast having been drunk with great enthusiasm, the Chair-
man .called upon
Mr. GROTE.—In obedience to the summons with which your
Lordship honours me, I rise to propose a toast, yielding not in in-
terest or importance even to the very interesting toast which
has just been drunk. I propose, that we should drink " Corpo-
ration Reform in England and Ireland."—(Cheers.) Amidst
the many amendments of which the two countries stand in need,
there is . none of more vital or immediate importanmethan
the consideration of their municipal corporations.—( Hear, hear. )
Whether we consider the influence of these bodies upon the per-
sonal well-being and comfort of the respective districts in which
they are placed—whether we consider their influence upon the local
administration of 'justice, or the still more important influence,
perhaps, which they possess in the general constitution of our re-
presentative system in Parliament,—in all these points of view, the
good constitution of our municipal corporations is a matter of su-
perlatiie and immense moment.--(Hear, hear.) It would be was-
ting the time of an enlightened assembly like the present to enlarge
upon the actual state of the municipal corporations in the two
countries. They rather appear like a heap of absurd and incon-
gruous anomalies, than the deliberate arrangements of a conside-
rate and intelligent people.:—( Hear, hear.) Blind and ill-con-
sidered customs, oftentimes the relics of past and extinct forms,
have been allowed to flourish without interruption and without
correction; and with these has been blended what is still worse—
the usurpation of a local oligarchy, perverting to its own use the
empty terms and obsolete ceremonies of freedom.—(Cheers.) In
the greater number of our municipal corporations, narrow, self-
elected authorities have drawn to themselves the entire control of
affairs. The citizens funds, the local funds, have been adminis-
tered by these authorities, and not unfrequently have been applied
to useless, or indirect, or jobbing purposes.—t Hear, hear, hear.)
Inch pendently of this, the influence conveyed into the representa-
tive system of the State has been one of the most pernicious and
unfavourable kind to all descriptions of liberal measures. Abuses
of this description, pervading as they do so large a portion of the
soil of England and Ireland, call aloud for an immediate remedy.—
(Cheers.) There cannot be a nobler task for any Government to
undertake than the consideration of these degenerate establishments;
there cannot be a nobler task than that of purifying the fountain of
local justice, and of assuring the citizen that the Magistrate who
immediately comes in contact with his person and property shall
act, not in accordance with the dictates of his own selfish feelings,
for his own exclusive good, but for the general interest of that
body for the protection of whose welfare he was alone appointed to
his office—( Hear)—to restore the principle of popular election to
all our muhicipal institutions from which it ought never to have
been taken, and to assimilate our corporate system to the spirit of
the present age.—(Cheers.) These achievements, I say, are wor-
thy of the best and most intelligent heads which this country can
boast.—( Hear, hear.) In all times, and in all companies, it would
have been my delight to propose such a toast as the present ; but
I feel peculiar pleasure in doing it in the present company, and
on the present occasion, and in connecting the toast with the
name and with the Ministry of the Noble Lord in whose house
we are this day met.---(Cries of "Hear, hear.") I cannot but
recollect that the Reform Bill proposed by the Noble Lord first
broke down the abuse of self-election in the representative system ;
and I cannot but recollect as still more immediately bearing upon
the present question, the noble and magnificent present, in the
way of Municipal reform, which the Ministry of 1833 bestowed
upon Scotland.—(Cheers.) May they be equally liberal and
equally successful when they undertake the reform of the English
municipal corporations.--( Renewed cheering.) It would be pre-
sumptuous in me to add my humble voice to the many deierved
eulogies which have been bestowed upon the Noble Lord in the
course of this evening ; but I am sure he will not value the testi-
mony coming from me the less, because it proceeds from one who
does not exactly, in every respect, coincide in the line of policy
which he professes.—(Cheers.) If I, as an humble individual,
may be permitted to express a prayer for the future, it would be
that the course of policy, and the measures proposed by the Noble
Lord, may be of that mild and liberal cast which at once shall have
the effect of silencing differences such as mine, and of uniting all,
heart and hand, as we were united during the ever memorable
period of the passing of the Reform Bill.—(Loud cheers.) I con-
clude by proposing " Corporation Reform in England and Ireland."
The toast was drunk with cheers.

Lord DALMENY observed that there was an old, trite, and very
excellent proverb, that brevity was the soul of wit. He could as-
sure them that he never was more deeply impressed with a sense of
its wisdom and truth than at that moment. If, therefore, the wit
lay at the other end of the table, he should take care that the bre-
vity fell to his portion,—( Hear, and a laugh.) In offering to their
notice the toast that had been committed to his care—" Liberal and
pacific foreign policy"—he trusted he might be allowed to express
his joy, and to congratulate the country on the old system of ani-
mosity and hostility having become obselete—on the ancient preju-
dices which taught every nation to look with an eye of envy on
its neighbour, being abandoned—and on this country having set an
example of her disposition to cultivate the relations of peace with
all her neighbours, and at the same time to promote the growth
of constitutional freedom, and universal prosperity, by the advance-
ment of trade and commerce.—(Cheers.) He congratulated Great
Britain also on other grounds. He had observed that all free coun-
tries sought her friendship from admiration of her policy, while
despots had carefully suppressed their own, from a fear of the in-
fluence of British principles.— (Cheers.) He would take that opz
portunity of offering his humble tribute of praise to his Noble
Friend, the late Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs (Lord
Palmerston), for the principles on which he had invariably acted.
—(Continued cheers.) For that Noble Lord's political conduct
he entertained the most sincere respect: it must be remembered
that it was under his auspices that a liberal system of foreign po-
licy was first successfully adopted; that it was under his guidance
that the impulse was first given to its motion ; that he first acted in
accordance with its spirit, and that to his vigilance, to his counsel, and
to his dexterity, not only were they indebted for the preservation of
peace, but also for the adjustment of most difficult and complicated
questions, without injury to the honour, security, or welfare, of
this great empire.—(Cheers.) What was chiefly remarkable at
the present time was, that those very men who had opposed him
most indefatigably—those assailants who had resorted to every
species of - warfare and to positive calumny—those very gentlemen,
since their accession to power, had most marvellously fallen into the
tenor of his measured, and most singularly adopted the tone of his
policy.—(Cheers and laughter.) But, alas ! about a fortnight
ago, the individuals now in power began to feel rather uncomfort-
ti le their liberal principles ; visions of their ancient leagues
with the old despotic thrones floated before their eyes; they felt a

_lingering reg-ei for the days of yore, and selected a Noble Lord r s
as an expiat iry offering to the shades of their ov;n departed policy,
and as an offering with which to soothe the wrath of the Autocrat
of all the Russian.--(Loud cheers.) He believed the victim Was led
nothing loth to the altar ; but fortunately he was rescued from his
fate, and saved, however unwillingly, from too prominent a noto-
riety.—(Cheers and a laugh.) To leave the field of metaphor, he
must express his opinion that, considering the delicate nature of
our foreign relations—considering the nice situation of our foreign
affairs, of all the absurd and preposterous ideas that ever entered
the head of any Minister, none was ever so extravagant, so wild, so
repugnant to common sense, or so opposed to common reason, as
the selection of the Noble Lord to whom he alluded as Ambassador
to the Court of Russia.--( Great cheering.) Hewould not detain
them any longer; he felt that while he was talking of foreign po-
licy, gentlemen must he rather thinking at that time of night of
home affairs.—( Laughter. ) Therefore, and as they were on the
verge of the Sabbath, with the fear of Sir Andrew Agnew before
his eyes, lie would content himself by proposing the toast which
had been entrusted to him, hoping that anew era was at length ap-
proaching, and that all the nations of the earth would soon be joined
in one bond of harmonious and enlightened confederacy, where the
only rivalry would be emulation, and the only distinction intelli-
gence and virtue.—(Loud cheers.)
The toast was drunk with great applause.
Lord KERRY, in proposing a toast connected with the cause of
education, observed that the subject must always be associated with
the name of one who, when a leading and highly-distinguished
Member of that House of Commons to which they all now be-
longed, and long before it reached its present height, had advocated
its claims upon the consideration of the country, and fought the
battles of reform not only against the influence of the party then in
power, but also against the prejudices and opinions of many from
whose minds those prejudices had since gradually but certainly dis-
appeared.--(Hear, hear.) He hoped that the time was not far
distant when a system of real education might be established in the
country on such a broad and permanent basis as would give satis-
faction to all classes of the community. He begged to propose
" The cause of National Education on broad and comprehensive
principles, and its early-tried and consistent advocate, Lord
Brougham."

Lord MILTON rose to propose the next toast. If his Hon.
Friend the Member for Surrey (Mr. Denison), at an early hour of
the evening, felt it necessary to claim the indulgence of the assem-
bly, how much more necessary must it be for him (Lord Milton,)
after a still further display of eloquence, to throw himself upon
their kindness and indulgence.—(Hear, hear.) Certainly he
should much regret that the toast which he should have the honour
of proposing had been placed in such hands as his if he had not
the pleasure of reflecting that the sentiment embodied in it would
so meet with the cordial acceptance of the company, that, what-
ever the demerits or deficiencies of him who proposed it, the merit
of the toast, itself would be more than sufficient to command atten-
tion and respect.—( Hear, hear.) Perhaps their regret might in
some degree be called forth, that several of those who mainly con-
tributed to the success of the great measure which was the subject
of the toast he was about to give, were not able to participate in
the festivity of that evening, when he mentioned that he was
going to propose the measure which terminated in the extinction
of
,filavery—(Loud cheers)—which provided that within the
space of a few years, not only no slave set foot upon, the
soil of Great Britain, but that no slave should set foot on any
part of the British possessions; when he mentioned that subject,
there would naturally be associated with it, in the minds of all, the
name of one who proposed the resolution to the House of Commons
upon which the measure of emancipation was founded, and to whom
was intrusted the charge of carrying that great measure through.
How much, then, must they lament that he who could refer to
those things, and of them as those
" Quseque ipse miserrima vidi
Et 'quorum pars magna fui !"
Perhaps even those tinder his banner, whatever their confidence at
the present moment might be, might not be so sure of their game
as they fancied. But still he could not help thinking, that every
one must regret that even for a moment the Noble Lord and his
associates were parted from them. He would not allude to this
subject any further. He felt he was trespassing at too great
length ; and the very fact of his having been received so kindly
ought to remind him how careful he ought to be not to intrude un-
necessarily upon the patience of his considerate hearers. He would
therefore conclude by proposing " The great measure for the abo-
lition of colonial slavery, and the spread of its beneficial example
over the whole surface of the globe."—(Cheers.)
The toast haying been drunk,
The CIIAIR3IAN said he began to be afraid that his Hon. Friend
the Member the Salford (Mr. Brotherton) would move an ad-
journment—(Laughter)—and under that feeling he thought they
could not better close the proceedings of that most harmonious and
successful meeting—( Cheers )—from which, he trusted, they should
transfer to another place the same spirit both of energy and of
concord,—than by giving a toast which he knew would be accept-
able to the feelings of all who sat beneath that roof, as it was con-
genial with every sentiment that had been expressed upon that
memorable occasion—he begged to propose " The cause of civil
and religious liberty all over the world."—_(Cheers.)
The toast was drank with loud acclamations.

As the company were departing, Lord DUDLEY STUART rose
and claimed the privilege of proposing a toast. After descanting
at some length on the tyranny that had oppressed the Poles, his
Lordship concluded by proposing " The restoration of Poland"—
( Cheers. )

This toast having been drank, the company immediately sepa-
ated. It was considerably past eleven o'clock.

LONDON & GRAVESEND RAIL WAY.

PUBLIC MEETING AT WOOLWICH.

Pursuant to public notice, a meeting of the inhabitants of Wool-
wich, Charlton, Plumstead, and Erith, took place on• Wednesday
evening, at the British and Foreign School-rG.trn, for the purpose
of taking into consi&ration the proposed line of rail-road front Lon-
don to Gravesend, &c. with a view of ascertaining thebenefits to be
derived from the Fame passing through the above places. The room
was crowded to excess.

Captain FEAD, who was unanimously called to the Chair, briefly
stated the objects of the meeting, aud introduced Mr. Green, the
Secretary to the Company, who attended for tl:e purpose of giving
any explanation that might be required.
Mr. GREEN then came forward, and was received with loud ap-
plause. After some preliminary observations, lie observed that he
would do his best to explain the merits and advantages of rail-roads
generally' which were not so well understood as could be wished,
and which were not only locally but publicly beneficial. Their
primary utility was, of course, rapidity of communication, which
was in a tenfold degree superior to the means of ordinary convey-
ance. Another advantage was, that a rail-road increased the value
of local property. He was aware of the indisposition which occa-
sionally existed in the minds of landholders and others to have
their property disturbed, as a rail-road necessarily, intruded on
private and vested rights ; yet, in all instances of the kind, it was
provided that an equivalent remuneration for such partial injuries
should be allowed, and guaranteed by the highly honourable men
who conducted the companies in the most ample and liberal man-
ner. In instances, whereby it could be shown that by intruding
on a part of any property the whole might be damaged, the value
of the whole was allowed, as in the case of a field, a house, or gar-
den. Mr. Green then adverted to the increased value which was
giver' to land, in itself really valueless ; as a flint field, which, by
either a canal or common turnpike road passing through it, became
valuable for building, &c. ; and on the same principle, the advan-
tages of a rail-road were equally evident. Woolwich, in the pre-
sent instance, would be made a station ; and the increased inter-
course, both from and to London and Gravesend, which must
naturally accrue from the circumstance, would to the place
and neighbourhood be incredibly advantageous ; there being a t
present no direct road eastward, the access to the Dover road
being through narrow lanes of mire, &c. Mr. Green then ad-
verted to the advantages derivable, in a parochial point of
view, from the rail-road's contiguity, every IL of its value
being assessed to the poor, &c. of the parish through which
it passed ; and that as, during the progress of the under-
taking, work would be provided for the present unemployed
labourer, considerable relief to the immediate districts would be
given. The calculated time to and from London would be about
twenty minutes each way, without stoppages ; and he argued that
from this facility of communication, an increase of visitors to view
the natural and artificial beauties of the spot, as well as a vast ad-
dition to its residents, would inevitably be the consequence. Mr.
Green then referred to the Liverpool and Manchester rail-road, as
an example worthy to be followed throughout the United King-
dom, and asked, " Would the County of Kent, the Garden of Eng-
land, which was the great thoroughfare to and from the whole
continent of Europe, refuse the advantages of rail-roads ?" After
answering sonic of the minor objeciions to rail-roads, Mr. G. ob-
served, that Colonel Landmann, (on whom he passed a warm en-
logium for his eminent talents), the engineer to the company, was
expected, and would give any further explanations to the meeting.
In answer to questions for information as to the estimated
.profits
to be derivable to those interested in the undertaking, as an invest-
ment for capital, Mr. Green read and commented on the various
sources of profit mentioned in the Prospectus recently issued by the
directors, and which, to give satisfaction to the meeting generally,
he particularly dwelt on the articles—fish, vegetables, and fruits,
which from their perishable nature required to be supplied to the
consumers as speedily as possible, to preserve their freshness, and
which could not be effected in so complete a manner by any other
means as through the medium of rail-way carriage ; and hence he
inferred the revenue derivable from these articles alone would be
considerably above that estimated in the prospectus.
Colonel LA NDMA 141 i, who had arrived, was then introduced to
the meeting by the Chairman, and was most favourably received.
He entered into an explanation of the manner in which it was in-
tended to carry on the proposed railroad, which would cut Wool.
wich completely into two parts—convenient bridges, arches, para-
pets, &c., where necessary, would be erected to keep the commu-
nication perfectly free and open. The railway would cross the
streets at right angles, or nearly so. There would be several stop-
ping places for the taking up and setting_ down of passengers, the
same as other carriages, one of which would be near Green End,
on the new road, and another near the Ship Tavern. He agreed,
that where the introduction of a railway was calculated to injure a
town its inhabitants ought to rise up in arms to oppose it; but, if
advantageous, of course he expected their support. His business
was to state its advantages, and not its disadvantages. After
referring to the fact, that three-fourths of the eels sent to the
London market, by water, died on passing Gravesend ; and
that no salmon were at, present found in the Thames, aris-
ing from the impure state of the water, occasioned by the
various sewers, was-works, &c., inconveniences which would
be obviated by the proposed improved. mode of carriage ;
the Colonel, ;n answer to questions put to him, further
added, that the intended railroad would, as we understood
the Colonel, enter from Lower Charlton, cross Prospect-
row, Samuel-street, Harrington's-buildings, Coleman-street,
Mary-street, Charles-street, William-street, Thomas-street, Green
End, and the New Road, to Plumstead. The probable expense
for passengers would be not more than Is., but might be 9d. to and
from London. The scale for the carriage of goods would vary ac-
cording to their class of value.—(Muclilaughter was here excited
by an individual asking "whether there would be turnpikes on the
rail-road, and whether he could carry his goods in his cart as on
the highway ?") The question whether there would be a common
road at the side, as in the Greenwich rail-way, had not been
agitated.
Mr. GAREN was then requested to read the names of the Di-
rectors, which having done, he explained that the Gravesend rail-
road, though a continuation of the Greenwich rail-road, was
managed by a distinct Company.
Mr. DELL then moved a resolution, expressive of the approbation
of the meeting of the intended line of road ; which was seconded
by Mr. LONGER.
J. Iseicsosi, Esq., of Blackheath, rose to oppose it. He observed
that he thought before passing such a resolution a little caution was
necessary. They had heard a great deal of the advantages ; but
none of the disadvantages of the proposed measure. He would ask
them what benefit it could be to Woolwich to have it cut into two
parts? Then they were to have a dell cut out of it thirty-eight feet
in depth. He objected to the passing of the resolution, as being
too precipitate a proceeding, as he felt assured that the persons
whom he had the pleasure to address, were not sufficiently ac-
quainted with the details of the measure to warrant their giving so
hasty an opinion on its merits or demerits. He (Mr. J.) was not
opposed to rail-roads generally ; but in the present instance he
thought it would be a better proceeding to adjourn, and wait until

the Bill now before Parliament was printed, when having the• facts
before them, they would be enabled tc defermtne. with more afety,
whether or not this measure ♦cas deserving their approbation. ha
therefore would, with the permission of the meeting, move an
amendment to that effect.
The CIfAIRMAN objected, as he did not consider Mr. Jackson
an inhabitant of Woolwich, &c., and to them only was the adver-
tisement addressed.

Mr. JACKSON replied that he was rated on the parish books of
Charlton, and he contended that. as such he had a r►ght to attend.
After a short discussion on this pint, the objection being waived,
Air. BURT asked if Mr. Jackson had not moved a resolution at a
late meeting at Greenwich, to oppose the rail-road going further
than Greenwich?

•
Mr. JAexsoN explained—That what he had done at the meet-
ing in question, was precisely the same as what he now recom-
mended. There the vestry-clerk had been appointed to watch over
the proceedings of the Company, and report accordingly.
Mr. DELL was in favour of the original resolution, as he consi-
dered that'much good might be done to the town, from the increase
of v:sitors which so great a thoroughfare would create, and who were
now entirely ignorant of those attractions which Vl'oolwich and its
neighbourhood contained— viz., the Arsenal, the Repository,
Shooter's-hill, &c. &c.
The CHAIRMAN observed that it behoved the friends of Wool-
wich to see what could be done for it. It was as bad off as it
could possibly be at present, and no alteration could make it worse.
He had tco many kind recollections of the place, not to wish it
every poss b:e benefit. . . .

. -
Mr. BUTLER, after a few preliminary remarks, alluded to e
fact that the several places in the intermediate vicinity of the Man-
chester and. Liverpool Rail-road had suffered from that measure, as
instead of individuals enjoying themselves for recreation, health,
&c. as before, they now preferred going the whole distance. He
had yet also to learn what advantage was to be derived from the
rapid conveyance of fresh fish. It might apply to London, but not to
M oolwich. He was decidedly for an adjournment. After some further
discussion, in which the manner of calling the meeting without
consulting the parish authorities was complained of,
Mr. BURT explained and said that he took all the blame on him-
self, if any, for calling the present meeting. He had heard that if
the Railway did not go through Woolwich, it would through El-
them, and he had also heard that petitions were getting up in
Greenwich to oppose its going further than that place. As none
of the parish functionaries appeared inclined to take the matter up,
he suggested the present mode to the surveyor of the roads, as
one calculated to assist in arriving at the merits and demerits of
the question. With regard to the cutting of the dell through
the town, he did not see its inconvenience. He agreed with
the worthy chairman, that the town could not be in a worse state
than it was, and the question was whether, if the railroad passed
through, there would not be more trade created. It was evident
that the nobility and others who now went by the Dover-road, and
who were ignorant of Woolwich would become acquainted with it.
The railroad had received the sanction of the Duke of Richmond,
when Postmaster-General, and was originally set on foot under his
auspices. Theyw ere aware of the intention-of its being finally carried
to Dover, and he had been informed that Rochester, Chatham, &e.,
were desirous that. it should pass through them without touching
Gravesend. If the nobility stopped here, money would circulate.
He begged them to look at the various wharfs, warehouses, &c.
unoccupied. It was probable • that they might also have a pier
which would enable people to land from London and return by the
road in the evening, and referred them to what the people of Dept-
ford were doing to raise themselves into prosperity. He had no
objection to adjourn, but thought a specific time should be men-
tioned for again meeting.
Mr. NoREs considered that the meeting ought to be much
obliged to the worthy magistrate Mr. Jackson (who as a rate
payer, was entitled to be present) for his advice on the present oc-
casion. He himself would also caution the meeting against so rea-
dily jumping at conclusions. He begged also to correct Mr. Burt
in his assertion that the local authorities had been supine or indif-
ferent to the proposed measure. The company had communicated
with them previously, and they had referred to him (Mr. Nokes)
for the purpose of examining the Bill, after which it was their in-
tention to call a public meeting. After some further discussion a
resolution was proposed and carried that the meeting should ad-
journ, in order to give time for a perusal of the Bill which Mr.
Green said would probably be ready in a week, and giving power
to the Chairman in conjunction with the parish authorities, to call
another public meeting at as early a period as possible.
Thanks having been given to the Chairman, the meeting se-
parated.