The Sun.
London, England, 1835-01-26 00:00:00

and progressive improvement. An Administration which has
been falsely assailed by an assertion that during its short reign
it had done nothing ! Do you deem the extension of the elec-
tive franchise which enabled me to address you as my brother
electors from these hustings, as nothing ? Is it nothing to
have maintained peace, considering the state of the powers of
Europe, at its accession to the Government of this country ?
And to have established a friendly intercourse, in defence of
the liberties of Europe, with that great power which was wont
to be styled our natural enemy : Is it nothing to have reduced
taxation by so many millions, and to have checked the distri-
bution of sinecure olces and unmerited pensions ? Is the re-
moval of that foul stain on our national character, Negro Sla-
very, to be held as nothing ? And is that great measure which
was accomplished under the more immediate conduct of Mr.
Grant, the opening of a free trade to our vast empire in Asia
nothing ? This measure, while it was opposed by those who
have a dread of all improvement, as destructive of the vested
interests of the East India Company, was under the auspices
of my Right Hon. Friend carried through with firmness and de-
cision to the satisfaction of the country ; and how did it affect
the vested rights of the Company ? Why, by raising the value
of its stock from 220 to 260. —( Cheers). Such are the
pledges on which I would rely for further progressive and
well-digested improvements in our civil and ecclesiastical esta-
blishments, at the hands of such a Government. As a parti-
cipator in such measures my Right Hon. Friend cannot have
forfeited your confidence. You have now to decide between
him and his opponent, who rests his claim to your support on
his adhesion to Conservative principles—principles on which
the electors of Great Britain and Ireland, are now in a voice
of thunder recording their sentiments.—( Cheers.) „While I
have to regret the defection of some whom I was wont to rely
on as embarked in the same cause, and must deprecate the
means which, in some instances, have been resorted to restrain
others from acting up to their declared and conscientious
principles on this occasion, 1 can with confidence appeal to the
great body of the electors to vindicate the independence of
this county, by reinstating Mr. Grant as our representative,
and I know that they will manfully respond to the call.—
( Cheers. )
Mr. FRASER, of Lovat, said he had much pleasure in second-
ing the nomination of Mr. Grant, whose high talents and cha-
racter, and tried merits would, he hoped, render him tri-
umphant, and place again in his hands the important trust he
was so well qualified to fulfil.
CHISHOLM, of Chisholm, came forward to nominate
Macleod, but the clamour and hisses• with which he was as-
sailed prevented the Hon. Gentleman from proceeding. At
the intercession of Ballindalloch, silence was partially restored,
but throughout the whole of his speech Chisholm was very
imperfectly heard. He said the nominator of the Right Hon.
Candidate had, among other claims, urged that of his being a
Member of the late Reformed Government.—( Great uproar. )
He told them again that it was a revolutionary and not a re-
forming Government. He hoped the electors would not be
led away by high sounding but empty declamation, but exercise
their understandings. Who was the author of the great
measure to which reference had been made, the emancipa-
tion of the negroes ? Why, Lord Stanley, who had se-
ceded from the late Administration, because of the revolu-
tionary character of their measures. The new Government
would proceed in calm and temperate reform—( Cries of " Very
temperate").---and so long as they acted up to the principles
laid dowa in Sir Robert Peel's letter to his constituents at
Tamworth, he was empowered to say that they would have the
Support of Macleod. Macleod had commissioned him to apo-
logize to the meeting for his absence on this occasion, which
VMS caused solely by severe illness. Chisholm, then, amidst
frequent interruptions, asked if the claims of the Right Hon.
Gentleman were founded on his having been ten times returned
for the county, and a Member of five or six different Adminis-
trations ? Could they deny the fact he had stated ? If the
Right Hon. C. Grant was defeated, much as he ( Chisholm)
might regret the personal disappointment of the Right Hon.
Gentleman, he hoped he would retire into the walks of private
life, which he should never have quitted, and which he was so
well qualified to adorn. There he could cultivate those private
studies and pursuits, in which even those who admired his
splendid eloquence scarcely knew how much the Right Hon.
Gentleman was calculated to excel.

CLUNY MACPHERSON said he much pleasure in seconding
the nomination made by his friend Chisholm. Macleod was
well qualified to represent the county, being the head of an an-
cient family, chief to a numerous clan, a large proprietor, and
possessed of local knowledge as the productions and capabili-
ties of the country. He was an excellent man of business,
and deeply interested in the welfare of the county, as well as
that of the country at large. Some disturbance occurring,
Cluny said—" Brother Electors, hear me for one minute. If
you elect Macleod you will have the satisfaction of returning
a man of sound constitutional principles, which, at the present
crisis is a matter of vital importance. I hope you will soon
have the pleasure of cheering Macleod as your Member."—
( Some person called out " Give us a Gaelic song, Cluny."—
Cluny good-humouredly quoted some words of Gaelic, which
were responded to by the crowd in the same language, amidst
much laughter. )
The Right Hon. CHARLES GRANT then stood forward, and
was received with immense applause, waving of hats, and other
demobstrations of respect and regard. He spoke in sub-
stance as follows :—Gentlemen, I return you my sincere
thanks for the flattering reception which you have given me.
I have to express my thanks to the honourable friends who
proposed and seconded my nomination. I regret the cause of
the absence of my [lon. Opponent, and I have to thank the
Chisholm for the terms of personal courtesy in which he ex-
pressed himself towards me. It is not, however, without
grief and surprise that I find him in the position he now occu-
pies, as it is only two years since he performed the same duty
to me that he now does to my opponent.
The CinsuoLikt here dissented. . .

Mr. GRANT resumed—At least I was then honoured with
his support, and on a prior occasion he nominated me. I re-
gret that he should have seen reason to change his sentiments,
and still more that he should have felt himself under the over-
whelming necessity of coming forward so prominently, and not
contenting himself with a silent vote. To his observa-
tions I shall advert presently, but I can assuse him, that
nothing that has passed, or is tpassing, can make me en-
tertain feelings of personal unkindness towards him. I shall
continue to regard his course in life with unabated and affec-
tionate interest.—[Mr. Grant was one of the guardians of
Chisholm.] I still hope the time may arrive when he will
find that he has done me injustice, and I may yet perhaps have
the advantage and pleasure of his support on a future occasion.
To his opposition and advice, I hope the electors, by their
conduct will give a complete negative. The present, as Bal-
lindalloch properly remarked, is a crisis which calls for the
independent exercise of the elective franchise. I claim your
suffrages as a Member of the late Government, whether called
reforming or revolutionary, which has not forfeited the con-
fidence of the nation. You are aware, that that Government
on entering on office professed to aim at three objects—peace,
retrenchment, and reform. On the last occasion I addressed
you, I adverted to the state of the country, both at home and
abroad, on their entering into office. Throughout England there
prevailed a gloomy discontent, arising from the rejection of,the
wishes of the people. Half the country was subjeet to nightly
incendiarism, and the public mind in such a state as to ex-
cite serious apprehension of an approaching convulsion.
Abroad, in all parts of Europe in which liberal and enligh-
tened principles had found access, there was an agitation and
dread of impending dangers, arising from the conviction that
England, the queen of nations and possessor of constitutional
freedom, had leagued herself with military despots. It was at
that time that a member of the present government de-
clared in the House of Commons that no administration could
preserve peace in Europe for six months. What was the state
of things when the late government was removed from office ?
There was a general repose and tranquillity. All the great
interests of the country, with one memorable exception to
which I shall allude, were in a state of prosperity ; the people
contented, confiding in the good intentions of government,
and calmly expecting future improvement and advancement.
What was the state of things abroad ? There, too, an improved
spirit the result of this circumstance, that England had taken
her proper station in the van of the free nations of Europe.
The designs of those States that were hostile to freedom were
thwarted ; France in a state of amity, the independence of Bel-
gium established on such a basis as no, future government of
this country will, I trust, attempt to move ; and the cause
of constitutional principles secured in Portugal and Spaiii.
With respect to retrenchment, it was said that the preceding
government had proceeded as far as was possible in the prose-
cution of that object ; and I must do them the justice to admit
that they had done a great deal. The late government, how-
ever, did more. Their first act was to reduce their own sala-
ries ; they then proceeded to reductions in all the departments
of the State, and out of an expenditure of 500,0001. annually in
all the government offices, at home and abroad, they effected a
saving of 200,0001. In the annual expenditure of the army
and navy, ordnance, and miscellaneous services, they saved
four on eighteen millions. The taxation, which was said to be
reduced to the lowest extent, was still farther reduced by Lord
Althorp the sum of five millions and a half. Then we come
to reform. I ask you, if the late government did not fulfil
its promise to the country? The principle of the late
government, was to correct every abuse before it became
intolerable. I know it is the opinion of some gentle-
men that it is the wiser course to resist every demand
for improvement, and this is called Conservatism.—( Hear.)
We hear of Conservatives and Destructives. The true
Conservative principle is wise and seasonable improve-
ment. The true Destructive principle is resistance to all im-
provement, till you become the victims of innovation. It is
easy for a statesman to fold his arms, and say—" I take my
my stand upon the institutions of the country—l will admit of
no alteration." But all is change around'him—nature changes,
the seasons change, time and circumstances change, mind and
manners change, the relations of states, the interests and obli-
gations of nations, the wants and feelings, and habits of man-
kind—.all change. Yet the stat esman resists l—( Cheers. )
In the meantime the waters gather around him, the storm beats
over his head, and he is engulphed in the abyss which his
folly had dug under his feet.—( Continued cheers.) The true
sagacity of the statesman is to observe the nature and course of
coming events ; to calculate their dimensions by the shadows
they cast before ; to observe what the progress of society and
the variation of circumstances may require ; and thus, in some
sew, to mould the future to his purposes ; to determine the
coarse of e.Tent,s, and to control what appears to be uncontrol-
lable. This I call the trite pon.servatiye principles—this was
--tnelplo
_of ttio late Oeyernmeni.,(He4r, hear, and
-‘•-• four years of their pSieSiioll of office,
• -I tticaSUrfiS cirri c} lntp

the
cheering.) In
there was a greater number u.
operation, more calculated to promote the prosperiv
the empire, and the happiness of the human species,
than it fell to the lot of any other Government to accomplish.
They were enabled also to guard those measures from excess,
and to limit them within the bounds which their judgment
prescribed. I shall not advert to all the acts of the late Go,
vernment, but merely direct your attention to a few of the
principal. One of the last of their measures was one of the