The Sun.
London, England, 1832-12-24 00:00:00

TRIUMPH OF REFORM.

On Saturday a very numerous and highly re).pcctalilc
party of gentlemen dined together at the London Tavern.
to celebrate the Triumph of Reform, and the return of
Mr. Grote as one of the City Representatives. Nearly
three hundred gentlemen were assembled on the ()cession.
The dinner and wines did ample honour to the high repu-
tation for sumptuous hospitality which the City of London
claims. Nothing was wanting to render the entertain-
ment in every respect suitable to the interesting occasion,
and to the distinguished character of the eminent indivi-
dual in whose honour principally it was given. At •
lower end of the room was a splendid illumination, whi,
exhibited in brilliant lamps these words—" To Grot.
the 8412."

Mr. WARBURTON presided. On his right was Mr.
Grote, on his left Mr. flume.

The first toast the CHAIRMAN gave was, of course,
" The King ;" in proposing which he said, that as loyal
subjects they would cordially receive the toast be was
about to offer to them at any time, and under any circum-
stances; but with how much greater satisfaction must
they receive such a toast when they remembered the deep
debt of gratitude which the people of England owed to
their most gracious and paternal Monarch for the great
boon he conferred upon them, in calling to his Councils
men pledged to the measure of Reform ; for the firmness
be di-played during the deliberations of Parliament upon
that all-important Bill, and the regard for the true in-
terests of his people which he manifested in giving to that
salutary change his hearty consent.—(Applause.)

Toast drunk with the usual honours.
The next toast was the " Queen, and the rest of the
R val Family."

The CHAIRMAN—If we are accustomed to do festive
honours to the Chief AI tgistrate, and if upon the present
occasion, we have done those honours in a manner peculiar
to the deep sense of gratitude with which recent events
could not fail to have inspired us, it becomes our duty not
to forget those to whom Reform was granted, and who
received it in so admirable a spirit. With scarcely an
exception there had not been disorders anywhere occa-
sioned by the Reform Bill. The people had shown that
they were in all parts of the country, and in every sense
of the word, the friends of good order and the supporters
of good government. He, therefore, proposed that they
should drink " the health of the People," with full
honours.—(Great applause.)
Toast drunk accordingly. _ _ _

'The CITAIRMAN-Thetoast which he had now to pro-
pose was one which he was sure would he received by the
company in a manner every way worthy of its high de
serts. That toast is no less than " the health of the
Hon. Gentleman" who then sat beside him, and whom
they had returned as one of the representatives of the
City of London, and whose election they had that day
assembled to commemorate. When be considered the cha-
racter of the Gentleman whom the City of London had
elected, and when he remembered at the same time the
character of that body by whom he had been elected, he
confessed himself at a loss to say which had reason for the
indulgence of the most pride, the gentleman who had thus
been so honourably chosen, or those by whom such a
man was returned. He then dwelt upon the high repu-
tation which Mr. Grote had attained at an early age—
how he had combatted successfully with Sir James
Mackintosh's articles in the Edinburgh Review—ar-
ticles from which the Tories drew most of their argu
meets, with which they opposed the Reform Bill. He
next proceeded to eulogise Mr. Grote as a scholar who
had pursued with distinguished success researches into
t ;reek history—into the history of that nation which was
the source of European civilization—that nation which
produe, d the downfall of those principles upon which
Eastern countries were governed, and established forms of
government independent of the sway of the despot and
the priest—that country in which philosophy was first ap
plied to morals and to government.—(Great applause.)
He next called their attention to Mr. Grote's extensive
acquaintance with trade, referring particularly to his evi-
dence before the Committee on the Bank Charter. He
concluded by giving, with all the honours, "the health of
George Grote, E.q."—(Enthusiastic applause attended
the drinking of this toast, and at the same moment, a
ritrtain which had previously concealed the illuminated
letters at the lower end of the room which are above-
mentioned, was removed. _ _

Mr. GROTE said he was sure they would readily be-
lieve him when he told them, that upon an occasion like
that, and circumstanced as he then was, he could not find
wools to express the feelings which then swelled in his
bosom. Sitting as he did at that delightful and heart-
stirring banquet, which he had been called upon to par-
,,,,,a -e a, a„,,saild
Lty,:g.p,ritl4l7oota,...)l.6taionnosi wwahsictahesseut
cahe
itecasiott iatery
worn the language of gratitude threadbare. It would ill
become him, as indeed it was inconsistent with his incli-
nation, to seek for any embellishments of diction ; all he
could say was, he thanked them from the bottom of his
heart —(Cheers.) That was the first time he had had
the pleasure of meeting any body of his constituents since
he had been installed in the high and honourable situation
of their representative—since he had been pliced in that
elevated position by the approbation of so large a body of
his fellow-citizens; that was the first time he had had the
pleasure of meeting them as their Member, anti, empha-
tically, he was their Member. To those who had in the
first instance espoused his cause he must say lie owed a deep
debt of gratitude, and one which never could be effaced from
his recollection. At the same he felt that when chosen to
represent the city of London by the high-minded men
who bad given him their disinterested suffrages, be
was not called upon specially to sit as the deputy of any
particular part of the nation, but as the representative of
the community at large. Whatever there was of triumph
in the result of the election, it belonged as much to them
as it did to him—or rather, he should sly, it belonged
more to them than to him ; and he felt too that that tri-
umph did not alone consist in the numbers by whom he
had been supported, but it was to be found in the energy,
the exertion, the zeal, the devotion, the singleness of pur-
pose, the capacity for system and organ,zation which had
operated with such distinguished success during the labours
of his committee. It was well known that in election
committees the great difficulty was to secure system and
combined exertion, fur every one, though actuated by the
best motives, was anxious to serve in his own way ; and
hence a fertile source of strife and jealousy, and therefore
of disunion and weakness. It was with pride and pleasure,
then, he recollected that in his committee there was nothing
of the sort—all was order, and method, and energy ; each
member of that committee entered at once upon the walk
which it was most useful he should pursue, and the un-
paralleled success which attended their effarts was the re-
sult. It was evident that nothing but a high degree of
intelligence and virtue could have produced such effects.
Though many on his committee were practised ve-
terans in the business of electioneering, yet a large
piopoition of them were unacquainted with even the
worthy and unexceptionable part of those means by which
elections were generally carried in this country ;
they were likewise strangers to those miserable tricks
the; were frequently resorted to—those stratagems and
„ctifie,—those subtle practices and sleight-of-hand so fre-
quent in other places. To such he was proud to say his
committee would not condescend ; they were
honest men and pursued an object by honest means,
The late election load drawn forth from the quiet
of private life many men, who came forward, not
because they sought the glare and bustle of publicity,
but because they felt that now, in a Reformed Par.
liament, there was a great object at stake ; and they
brought to the contest all the virtuous restraints, all the
strictness of principle, and all the delicacy of feeling which
marked their conduct in ordinary life; and hence it was,
that in the whole of their proceedings there was nothina
respecting which they need feel otherwise than perfectly
ready to court exposure. It was gratifying to him, fur-
ther, to remember that the late contest had given rise to
none of those angry feelings, those bitter reprisals, that not
&infrequently made their appearance in other plaaes, where
the most injurious falsehoods were circulated concerning
the most anetitoritnis snen—and falsehoods, too, which
affected private and domestic life—that went to rip up
esaaae solemn and secret thoughts, which should he revealed
to nuta.e. but the all-seeing eye of omnipotence.—(Cheers.)
But art.4aes of that pitiful kind had been defeated, and he
sincerely trust.ed that such would cart he their fate. It
was ta-tla infinite Measure he reflected upon the fact, that
their proceedings had oat been tainted by any a the
vices which had degraded the contests of other plaee.a.
They had no inflammatory or ttelatlve placards—they bad
no secret schemes to accomplish—theae ;Yes no underhand
whispering, nothing but downright, straight-forward, and
nbove-board proceedings from eotamencendent to conelu-
s-on. A victory so gained was at once delightful and ho-
nourable. He then proceeded to state the principles "Pon
which he prop,,seal to regulate-his conduct in Parliament,
all of which are already sufficiently before the public. He
aepudiated in the strongest terms the idea that people were
to go into Parliament without any fixed principles at all,
and expect to pick up principles on the floor of the House
4 gkof `oromovs It was absurd to suppose that people were
—a-14• WA i -House undecided. until the very moment of
41
takil
Arc
„<,9111, tjafr -,F- Self, he went in a thorough Reformer, but
taa,af;sy
..,.kpa - a other an ignorant nor an inconsiderate
~..,Taja.llitititall)l3b ruled his opinions with great care—
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