The Sun.
London, England, 1835-10-22 00:00:00

[Abridged frOM ilea ifidifibiTiii! Adtu rase,' of Tuesday.]
MEETING OP CITY MAXTORS.
-Yesterday a meeting of the Edinburgh electors was held
in the Wateriod-rOoroi called by Sir John Campbell, the
isltternevGerieral for trigieticli as one of their representa-
tives. DY it,ird o'clo'ck, the appointed hour of meeting, the
large room was fieSii* filled, and afterwards became com-
pletely crowded. Sir John tsl;atopbell entered the apart-
ment along with the Lord Provost mid Sir Thomas Dick
Lauder, folio Wed by Bellies Thomson, Donaldson, and
M'Laren, the Solicitor-Oeneral (Mr. Cuningliam), Mr.
Andrew Rutherford, Mr. Graliam Dalyell, Mr. Robert
Thomson and Mr. James Crawford, advocates, Mr. Forre:A
of Comiston, &c. On the motion of Mr. Rutherford, the
Lord Provost was called to preside.
done him the
His LORDSHIP said, the electors having
honour to place him in the Chair, had afforded him the
proud opportunity of presenting to their notice the Right
Hon. Sir John Campbell. his Majesty's Attorney-General,
whom they had the second time elected to represent the
City of Edinburgh in Parliament. He could not sit down
without bearing his personal testimony to the unwearied
exertions of Sir John Campbell, which he had witnessed
during a period of nine weeks, when many Bills for the in-
terest of the city were under his consideration, and other
Bills against its interests were brought *forward. In for-
warding these for the interests of the inhabitants, Sir John
was indefatigable.
Sir JOHN CAMPBELL then rose, and after the cheers with
which he was received had subsided, proceeded to address
the meeting. Gentlemen, said he, I must begin with cor-
recting a mistake of your worthy and respectable Chief
Magistrate. I have been elected by you, not twice, as he
has just stated, but three times—(Cheers)--and the third
time in a manner more gratifying than ever happened to any
Mernbet of the Commons House of Parliament. You
elected me in my absence, and in the most distinct terms
intimated that it wadnot necessary for me to appear before
you to solicit
was
Lordnot
andt h e
act of a Cornish burgh,it was
ceay.ing.t.3ltietenttnleamnednaitethnfis,
itsi„.
tlleassteprn,natanndernentsurannitngatfhea
Peerseiveni'toll'ousand
te franchise
electors, who showed that they were worthy of :..!
ncOmnsutfteueonfcy' of
bestowed upon them.—(Cheers.) Gentlemen, I trust ;'Oll
have seen no reason to regret the choice you then made.
I have always studied to act upon those principles which
first recommended me to your choice. Gentlemen, lam
connected With a Government, of which I am proud to be a
Member ; but the sentiments I utter are only those of an
individual ; and you must net stippose that the Govern-
ment can be implicated by any words which may fall
from me. Gentlemen, in former times the AttotnerGeneral
was selected by the Ministry of the day, and by him put into
some rotten borough ; and he lied, therefore, no character be-
fore the public, except as an organ of die Government by
whom he was selected. But different times note exist. I
am the Attorney-General of the Crown ; but I have alto the
honour of being your representative in Parliament ; and 1
' will venture to say, that the one office is in the most perfect
harmony with the other.—(Cheers.) You will not now sus-
pect me of flattery when I say, that I believe myself to be
the Representative of the most intellectual, the most
independent, and the mnst patriotic constituency in the
British Empire—(Cheers)—and I never yet found
that my duties as your representative and as a servant of
the Crown in the least degree conflicted ; and while I be-
long to the Government, such shall be my conduct that
that event can never arise.—(Cheers.) Gentlemen, when
I last appeared before you, it was in consequence of what
is called a coup d'etat, by which the Tories got into power,
and Sir Robert Peel and the Duke of Wellington seized
the helm of affairs. Gentlemen, I (lid not hesitate a mo-
ment as to the line of conduct I should pursue. Of Sir
Robert Peel I have never spoken either in public or private
except with respect. He has many valuable qualities ; and
I say that Scotland is indebted to him and to his conduct
while Secretary for the home Department. I will do Sir
Robert Peel the justice to say that several of the most able
and independent judges on the Scottish Bench were ap-
pointed by him. And in dispensing the Church patronage
of the Crown, lie did what he could to select individuals
most acceptable to parishes, and most qualified to do the
duties of the office. But Sir Robert Peel, as Prime Mi-
nister of the country I shall always strenuously oppose.—
(Cheers.) As an honest man he must adhere to his prin-
ciples, and by those he can only be an occasional conformist,
—he can only submit to reform as little as possible ; and
only for the purpose of preventing what he considers a
greater evil—the establishment of a more liberal Govern-
ment.--(Cheers.) That policy I foresaw he would pursue,
and that policy he did pursue. Though he had the Duke of
Wellington for his colleague, it was impossible that his
Government should not suffer the opposition of all liberal
men. No man can speak of the Duke of Wellington but
with admiration and gratitude. As a military man, he is
illustrious among the nations—(Cheers)—and he has done
signal service to this country. But, gentlemen, the Duke
of Wellington never showed his wisdom more than in de-
clarit, that he was utterly incapable of being Prime Minis-
ter of this country.—(Cheers and laughter.) He does not
understand the public mind of this country. He is under
the grossest delusion regarding the sentiments which are
felt on political subjects. When he declared that the rotten
burgh system was the most perfect which human ingenuity
or human wisdom could have conceived or devised, I think
he believed that the public sentiment responded to this de-
claration. But with his military habits—with his associa-
tions—with his prejudices—with his principles—and with
his ignorance, I must say, of the principles of a free and
liberal Government, I say he must be ever utterly incapable
of being a Minister of the country—(Cheering)—and all
attempts to restore him to it shall have my most strenuous
opposition. For to what a state did he reduce this country
by his, I must call it, misgovernment ? When he first
seized the helm, nothing but disconsent reigned through
the country—insurrectionary movements in many parts
of it—and misery and suffering.—(Cheers.) In the far-
ther parts of the island incendiary fires were blazing in
every quarter, many counties were in all but open insur-
rection against the Government. I say these were the
effects of misgovernment ; and into that situation the
country would ere long have been again plunged, if the
Tory rule had power. I could not hesitate, therefore, as
to the conduct I was to adopt. Gentlemen, the first great
object for which I laboured after I left you in the summer,
was as to who should be Speaker of the Reformed House
of Commons ; and I glory to say, that I laboured day and
night in order that we should not again have a Tory Chair-
man in that House.—(Cheers.) I will frankly say, that I
think it was a blunder in Lord Grey's Government in the
first Reformed Parliament, that Sir Charles Manners Sutton
should have been re-elected to the situation. In the Re-
formed House of Commons I was anxious to see a Reform
Chairman ; I therefore determined that so far as in me lay
that the blunder should not be repeated ; and of all the
SRligelailt'-elr-loase.J latlrtie.
Members sent into the House at the last general election I
thea
ines
Abercromby.
could find no one so eminently qualified for the office of
colleaguebrerwomhoblyn._yo(tct
illataevrse).giAvenninmreeg,
nus struggle never took place than there did on that occa-
sion. The Tories thought they had every advantage, and
indeed some of our friends had been induced to give a
pledge to Sir C. M. Sutton, before they knew that a
liberal candidate was to be started, The Tories were con-
fident to the last ; they even offered bets of two to one in
favour of their candidate ; and I am glad that their pockets
were pretty freely drained upon the occasion.—(Laughter.)
Even when the .division came, those Tories who were not
in the gecret'were still confident when they beard 306 an-
nounced as the number of votes in favour of their candidate.
The other side came to be counted, and when the Tellers
gave out 301, 2,3, 4,5, and 6, the faces of the Tories had
got very long-316 Members voted for Mr. Abercromby,
and he was in consequence placed in the Chair.—(Loud
cheers.) The liberal cause then triumphed ; and it had
been well if Sir Robert Peel, seeing the House of Commons
and the people against him, had then made his graceful bon
and retreated.—(Laughter.). Gentlemen, the Lord Pro-
vost has truly stated the remelt why Mr. Abercromby does
not now appear before you ; and I am confident that all of
you respect the feelings by which he is actuated. Gentle-
men, he is as true as steel ; and although Chairman of the
House of Commons—yet, when out of that Chair, his wis-
dom and counsels were always ready for the interest of his
constituents ; and I am sure you love and honour him the
more for the services he is performing to his country gene-
rally.—(Cheers.)
Gentlemen, I will venture to say, that
in regard to the duties of Speaker, these have not in the
present generation have been performed in so exem-
plary a manner as by your Representative.--(Cheers.)
Sir John then alluded to the next struggle they had regard-
ing the address in answer to the King's speech, which they
carried by a considerably larger majority than the question
of
the Speaker.—(A voice cried out, "No ! you had only
seven.) I beg to say (said Sir John) that we hat: a majo-
rity which ought to have told the M. •it full
Minister that was
it raw.—(Cheering and laughter,) time
for him to w' hd
. . present Government reproached for going
on with
is the Win
majorities of 35 ? Here was Sir RobertP 1 '
with a minority Peel going on
of 35—with a majority of 35 against him—