The Sun.
London, England, 1835-01-14 00:00:00

LORD JOHN RUSSELL.

We have for the last day or two proposed to give the follow-
ing extract from the speech of Lord John RuSsell, at the din-
ner given to Mr. Divett, as reported in that most excellent
paper, the Western Times. After proceeding in a fine strain
of sarcasm on the conduct of the Tories, and pointing out this
difference between the support given to the late and to the
present Administration, viz., that the support given to the
former was given for the sake of measures, and to the latter
for the sake of the men, his Lordship said, in reference to the
delicate position in which the late Cabinet was placed—" I
can only say that I found nothing more difficult, and which at
the same time required more nice exercise of judgment, than
the endeavour to be sufficiently forward without being too pre-
cipitate, and to be cautious without being timid.—( Reiterated
cheers.) Gentlemen, what that exact time was, or whether
we were sufficiently fortunate, and skilful, and judicious to fix
upon it or not, I will not pretend to determine; but /will say this,
that the cause why we left the King's councils was not because we
were too timid, not because w© were not sufficiently fortyal d, but it
rested wholly and solely upon this, that we did propose to carry
too precisely into effect the principles upon which we took
oifice."—( Loud cheers.) I know not what the line may
be which th.: new Government may pursue ; it may be, that
we are to have the old practices, from seeing the persons 7,:n0
are there, the old measures, and the old principl:,s, which
many people thought were totally obsolete, If that is the
case, we have no hope that it can sue,;:eed; on the contrary,
it may be thought they are only giving as a taste of the
spectacle which has been b;ought out at one of the theatres
this Christmas, a rrtzre 'pantomime of " King Arthur and
the Knights of the Round Table"—( Cheers and laugh-
ter)—and that one of the transformations of that pan-
tomime is to be the transformation of the Carlton Con-
servative Club into a Grand National Political Union.—
( Cheers.) Gentlemen, it is impossible for me to say, at
this moment, which of the two lines are to be taken. I
shall look with the greatest distrust at either line—( Hear,
hear 1 and cheers,)--because I shall think that one is an open
defiance of liberty and justice, and the ether I shall believe, as
other men will believe (that men who have passed twenty or
thirty years of their lives in asserting principles, cannot aban-
don those principles which they have always professed), and
that they mean to do by sap that which they cannot do by as-
sault.—(Tremendous cheering.) Gentlemen, I must confess
there are many reasons why one cannot be sorry at the change
—among others I am certainly very much satisfied to see the
general satisfaction which has been shovtn to the Reform Bill,
for it was my fate, for near eighteen months, to stand nearly
alone, and to listen to a nauseous length to the denunciations
of these men, of the utter ruin which would fall on every class
of the community through the Reform Bill.—( Cheers and
laughter. ) There was not a clause in the Bill but what was
to be fatal to the Monarchy, subversive of the Church, and de-
structive of our ancient institutions ; and if the Monarchy
lasted three years it would indeed be a miracle.--( Hear, hear. )
Now I find these very people have condescended so as to ac-
knowledge it the law of the land—so as to acknowledge that
the constitution can do perfectly well, and even flourish under
it ; and that even a suggestion was made, in some of the
Ministerial newspapers, that the speeches which Lord Althorp
and myself made in defending the Bill should be condensed
and printed, in a cheap form, in order that the new Ministry
and the new Reformers should have an opportunity of study-
ing them.—( Cheers, and great laughter. )