The Sun.
London, England, 1866-10-25 00:00:00

Dinner of the Liberal Pai ty in Guildford.

The Liberal party in Guildford entertained, on
Tuesday evening, at a public dinner, Mr. G. M. E.
Onslow, one of the members for the borough; and
they also availed themselves of the opportunity
afforded by the banquet of presenting a handsome
piece of plate to Mr. 11. L. Long, for the general
services he had rendered to their cause, and more
especially for his contesting the representation of the
constituency with Sir W. Bovill on the occasion of
the re-election of the hon. and learned gentleman
after his appointment to the office of Solicitor-Gene-
ral. The dinner, which took place in the Public Hall
of Guildford, was regarded by its promoters as a
great party demOnstration, and it was attended by a
number of members of Parliament as well as of other
gentlemen connected not only with the borough and
its neighbourhood, but with several distant portions
of the county.
The chair was taken by Mr. D. Macdonald, J.P.,
near whom were seated Mr. Onslow and Mr. Long,
the guests of the evening, Lord Monson, Mr. J. B.
Carter, M.P., Mr. R. Young, M.P., Mr. J. White,
M.P., Mr. H. Berkeley, M.P., Sir P. O'Brien, M.P.,
Mr. J. R. Mills, M.P., Capt. Stacpole, M.P., Mr.
C. Buxton, M.P., Admiral Erskine, M.P., Hon. J.
P. Monson, Col. Onslow, Mr. T. Pagan, J.P., Mr.
A. Adams, J.P., Mr. J. Topham, J.P., the Rev. C.
Lushington. The general company consisted of up-
wards of 300 gentlemen, who were all, we under-
stood, with hardly an exception, electors of the
borough.
A number of ladies were accommodated with seats
in a gallery at the extremity of the hall ; and the
band of the 2d Surrey Royal Militia were in at-
tendance, and played several airs throughout the
evening, by the permission of Earl Lovelace, the
lord lieutenant of the county.
At the conclusion of the dinner,

The CHAIRMAN proposeal "The Queen, the Prince
of Wales, and the rest of the Royal family ;" and
the toast was loyally honoured by the cnmpany.
The CHAIRMAN next gave "The Army, the Navy,
and the Volunteers," coupling with these different
branches the names of Colonel Onslow, Admiral
Erskine, M.P., and Lord Monson. (Cheers.)
Colonel ONsLow having briefly acknowledged the
compliment on behalf of the army,
Admiral ERSKINE responded in the name of the
navy, and took occasion to dispute the accuracy of
the statement which was made in some quarters,
that the late Board of Admiralty had neglected to
take the measures necessary for the purpose of se-
curing the efficiency of that great branch of our
national defences. lie contended that the large
additions which they had made to the number of our
men-of-war offered a sufficient refutation to that
allegation. (Hear, hear.)
Lord MONSON replied on the part of the Volun-
teers, and observed that the members of that force
in the county of Surrey were in every way equal
to their comrades and companions in any other
district of the county. (Hear, hear.)

The CHAIRMAN then proposed " The Bishop and
Clergy of the Diocesd, and the Ministers of all De-
nominations." (Cheers.)
The Rev. C. LUSHINGTON, M.A., and the Rev.
J. lIART, a dissenting minister, responded to the
toast.

Mr. D. M. STEVENS proposed, " the House of
Lords, strengthened by and recruited from the In-
tellect, the Industry, and the Gallantry of the
People." He believed that since the days of John
Lackland and of Magna Charta, the House of Lords
had been in the main true to the great principles of
the constitution, and had not only stood by the
Crown, but had maintained the just rights of the
people. (Cheers.) That house was of the people
and from the people, and it served, with its special
privileges, as an incentive and a reward for all noble
deeds and great public services. (Cheers.)
Lord MONSON, in responding to the toast, said he
regretted to find that the practice of bestowing life
peerages had not been introduced into the working
of our constitution. Ile could not help thinking
the country had lost a good deal by the exclusion
from the great council of the nation of many gen-
tlemen who would willingly have accepted the posi-
tion of life members of the peerage. (Hear, hear.)
Mr. W. Pococx, in giving " The House of Com-
mons, reformed and rendered a faithful reflex of the
entire nation," said that the House of Commons
was our tower of strength, the palladium of our
rights, the guardian of our liberties, the defence
of all our institutions, civil, religious, and political ;
and it only required reform and regeneration to
render it a perfect reflex of the wants and wishes of
the nation. (Cheers.)
Mr. B. CARTER, M.P. for Winchester, in replying
to the compliment, said, in reference to the ques-
tion of reform, that whatever might be the expe-
diency of such a measure, he did not think we now
required to pnll the whole of our representative ma-
chine to pieces as we had done in the year 1832,
and absolutely to reconstitute it, in order that it
might work well. They all wished for some amount
of reform, but it was not necessary that they should
destroy our present institution in order to secure
them any more than it was necessary in order to
obtain " roast pig" to burn down the house after
the Chinese manner, as described by Charles Lamb.
(Cheers.) For his part, he was prepared in that
case to improve the kitchen range, but he was not
therefore prepared to burn down the whole man-
sion. (Cheers.)
Mr. T. J. PAGAN proposed " The Lord Lieute-
nant and the Magistrates of the County," and Mr.
H. L. LANG briefly acknowledged the compliment.
Mr. T. A. SEAWELL gave the health of
" The
County Members," coupled with the name
of Mr.
Charles Buxton, one of the members for
Last Sur-
rey. (Cheers.)
Mr. C. BUXTON then rose and addressed the corn-
pany as follows :—I am glad that an opportunity
has been given for the capital of such an important
county as Surrey to express its adhesion to those
Liberal principles which
hfearor
.) theO momrinciples,
ent are
suffering defeat. (Her, ur p
I say, are for the moment suffering defeat. The
Conservatives are in the flush of victory. And
yet, perhaps, even now, in the day of their triumph,
them may feel some re-
the thinking men among