The Sun.
London, England, 1832-01-26 00:00:00

ether name, was known in every part of his own country,
and in almost every foreign clime. Sir Walter Scott's
novels had conferred almost endless delight on every class
of readers, and the charms of his poetry have been sur-
passed by nothing but the charms of his own prose.—
(Cheers.) To him belonged true inspiration. His works
were read and admired wherever the English language was
known, and possessing a pure and bright genius, he was cer-
tainly entitled to be considered as one of the most extraor-
dinary living characters of the whole universe.—(Cheers.)
He was bound to say that he felt himself quite unequal to
describe the merits of that extraordinary man's writings.
His wonderfully graphic powers—his mind filled with
various stores of harmony--his clear perception of the
beauties of nature —his great descr7ptive powers,
enabled him to bring before the reader the most perfect
images of past ages, and even to brine departed ages to his
very threshold.--(Cheers.) Everything in the author's
enriched mind was made also the property of the reader.
He was distinguished above all preceding writers in one
branch of literature. His fame had gone beyond all former
examples, and in the Scotch novels, without one meretri-
cious ornament, without the help of any miracles, or even
any of the ordinary machinery for exciting interest. Owing
to his vivid description of the character of his heroes, he
had constructed a work of prodigious amusement, and im-
perishable renown. In all his various writings, there was
not " one line, which, dying, he would wish to iilot."—
(Cheers.) He knew that there were dear relatives of Sir
Walter Scott present, who would convey to him the manner
in which his name was pronounced and receivrd in that
assembly.—(Cheers.) For his own pert, he only shared
the general admiration, and he was bound to say, that he
had received his share in that delight which Sir Walter
Scott had distributed over the world. HP9 efforts had ex-
tended more than those of any other man the knowledge of
the language of Scotland and the literary fame of that
country, and neither would ever be forgotten. Her fields
and her rocks had been made familiar to the whole world
by the writings of Burns, Hoge, and Scott, and while he
felt proud to belong to the same country with them, he
would for ever cherish the fame of that land to which th, y
all belonged.—(Cheers.) There was a dear relative of Sir
Walter Scott present, who would convey to him the senti-
ments of the company. Delicacy forbade him to say more
of that gentleman ; but as the biographer of Robin
Burn.; as the man who had done justice to the inspired
poet, and defended his character, he had felt ashamed of
the aspersions on that character, and never felt satisfied
till he am from the pen of the gentleman he alluded to
the eloquent and discriminating " Life of Burns." It
was his fate to receive that book when he was in India,
about eighteen months ago, and it was his happiness to be
the first to place that book in the hands of the old friend
of Burns, Mr.'Grey, who was now no more ; and when
he did place it in his hands that gentleman read it, and
shed tears of joy to find that Burns had obtained so ab;e
a biographer. Mr. Grey was delighted to find that justice
was at length done to the friend he had always loved, and
cherished, and honoured.—(Cheers.) Of Mr. Grey he
might say, that he was a man distinguished for a pure love
of truth, and a sacred regard for the duties of his profes-
sion. He had himself been most useful in India—had
made great exertions to correct the practice of infanticide ;
and if ever there was a roan who could effect anything by
dint of reason against so unhallowed a practice, that man
was Mr. Grey. He would not trespass further, but call
on the company to drink the heath of " Sir Walter Scott,
with three times three."—(Much cheering, waving of
pocket-handkerchiefs, and other marks of enthusiastic ap-
probation.)
Mr. LOCKHAILT, as the relative of Sir Walter Scott,
and as having been so pointedly alluded to by the Chair-
man, could not do otherwise than make an effort, he might
say, be guilty of the temerity, of endeavouring to do jus-
tice to his own feelings. When he looked at the company
around him, and remembered some of the many circum-
stances and persons associated in his mind with the name
of Burns, it was impossible for him to be silent. It was
a great satisfaction to him to hear the observations of one
of the oldest and most illustrious of Sir Walter Scott's
friends on that occasion, as Sir Walter Scott h id then the
honour of having his merit publicly acknowledged by the
most eminent of his predecessors, and the most illustrious
of his contemporaries. On one particular occasion, he
knew that Robert Burns had discerned the merit of Wal-
ter Scott, and recorded his opinion of it. Immediatly after
Burns had left the country, and come to Edinburgh, he had
met Walter Scott ; it was at the first dinner at which
Burns was present at the venerable Dr. Adam Ferguson's :
Sir Walter Scott said something—what it wee his mo-
desty had concealed, which made Burns observe, " that
was a remarkable young man."— (Loud cheers.)
He had heard that from Sir Walter Scott himself, who
was in his 17th year, when Burns made this observation,
and it ever afterwards dwelt on his memory. If Sir
Walter Scott had lifted himself up, he had not been slow
to discern merit in others. Turning from Robert Burns
to the Ettrick Shepherd, who had proved himself worthy
of his predecessor, he would say that he wished Burns had
found such a friend as Mr. Hogg had found in Sir Walter
Scott, when Sir Walter Scott first began to collect old
Scottish ballads, to form his " Border 'Minstrelsy," which
had first fixed his own fame, and had added celebrity to
the poetry of Scotland, producing a work which might be
well called National ; and when he had set out in search
of these ballads, he was surprised to find in one of the most
retired spots of Scotland, a man who knew more ballads
than halt the old women of Scotland, and was at the same
time one of the ► est poets he had ever met with—that man
was Hogg.—(Cheers.) He was a poet lying by the hill
side, attending his sheep, and storing his mind with all
the traditional tabs of his country. From an early age,
too, he had gazed with delight on all the glories of crea-
tion. At that time, which was thirty-five years ago,
James Hogg was a simple shepherd ; he could read, but
he was twenty years of age before lie could read, and he
could then write ; and with a pen as he sat watching his
sheep he hail copied Burns, and by that learnt to rhyme.
From that time a strong and ardent friendship had sub-
sisted between Sir Walter Scott and the Ettrick Shep-
herd, Mr. Lockhart, at the conclusion of his speech,
which was most imperfectly understood even by those
close to him, eulogised the characters of Mr. Hogg and
of Sir 'Walter Scott. Mr. Hogg, he said, had been once
met at a Ducal table, and was asked if he was ever there
before? " I have drive❑ my bullocks here," was the
answer, " to go to market, but I never was in the house
before."—(Cheers.) He also expressed his satisfaction at
seeing in the Chair one of the most illustrious of his
countrymen.—(Hear.)
Song—" John Anderson my Jo."
Lord PORCIIESTER then, after a brief speech, in which
he warmly euloeised Sir John Malcolin, proposed " The
health of the Chairman." Drunk with great applause.
The CHAIRMAN briefly returned thanks.
The CHAIRMAN then gave the " Health of Lord Por-
cheater," and the Noble Lord returned thanks in a speech
of considerable length, but the noise hat at this period of
the entertainment risen to an unexampled height, and it
became impossible to hear the terms in which he expressed
his gratitude to the company—at least he was perfectly
inaudible in that part of the room where the reporters were
placed.

The next toast was the " Health of Lord Mahon," who
expressed himself deeply grateful for the honour conferred
upon him—the more especially did he feel grateful to
them, when he remembered how mill were his claims to
so distinguished a mark of public approbation.
When " The health of Sir George Murray" was drunk,
as it was with much applause, and associated, as the
Chairman chscribed it, with the military glories of the
country, and the name of the greatest military Comrn4nder
of the age, he (Sir G. Murray) returned thanks in terms
strongly expressive of the high sense which he entertained
of the honour thus conferred upon him. He need not say
how fully he felt that his association with the name of
that great Commander and with the military glories of his
companions in arms constituted the only claim which he
could have to the approbation of his fellow-countrymen ;
but he felt at the same time that no association could be
more glorious than that which connected his name with
that of one, who was not more eminent for his brilliant
achievements in war, than for the manly and straight for-
ward course which he always pursued in the business of
Peaceful life. No man had ever drunk more deeply of the
cup of fame with less intoxication. The Gallant Officer,
after disci iiming any title to the honour conferred upon
him in respect of any military achievements, observed
that he could not hut derive from his connection with mi-
litary men a deep sense of the debt of gratitude which
they owed to poetry—the vehicle through which their
success was handed down to a remote posterity.

The toast-master announced a song iron Mr. Shep-
herd.--( A great laugh.)
Mr. Hogg sung " Robin awa."
The health of Sir Peter Laurie was given from the
Chair, and drunk with applause.
Lord Brougham's health was given and drunk with
immense cheering.
Captain BASIL HALL'S health was drunk with applause.
He propose the health of Sir George Warrender and the
Scotch Members of Parliament. Sir George's merits came
home to tLe bellies of all who had the honour of dining
with him ; he gave the best dinners in London.
TheitoAst was chunk amidst roars of laughter.
Sir GEoacE WAIMENDIIII. returned thanks; his friend
had proposed the toast in a manner pain ul to him.
Other toasts were afterwards given, and the festivity of
the ',evening main►ained to a late hour..--long past mid,

LONDON,
THURSDAY EVENING. JANUARY 26, 1832.

The delay in the ratification of the Belgian
reaty has excited, both here and abroad, an
alarm of war, which there were certainly some
reasons at first for thinking not wholly ground-
less, but which has subsequently, in a great de-
gree, vanished, owing not so much to any re-
newed confidence in the integrity of purpose of
the Northern Powers, but from there being many
considerations tending to induce them to post-
pone, at least, the warlike designs which many
attribute to them. It may be useful to advert
bt iefly to these considerations, which certainly
bear upon the probability of a ratification of the
Protocols, though they may not be of so much
weight in regard to the prospect of the perma-
nent tranquillity of Europe.
Ever since the French revolution the policy (3,1
Prussia, in reference to the joint views of her-
self and the other great Powers, has been de-
cidedly pacific—that is to say, the Prussian Go-
vernment has entertained a great dread of any-
thing like immediate hostilities with the west of
Europe. The internal state of the Prussian
dominions is reported to be such that any
such crisis as a general war would very
much endanger the existing order of things
in Prussia. The people, by means of the
meetings of Provincial States, which assemble
in debate, and express tolerably free opi-
nions upon political events, are gradually ap-
proaching that point, at which the grant of a
Constitution will become indispensable. The
Prussian army is composed of men who are,
perhaps, better educated than any other army in
Europe, and, of course, participate in some
degree in the feelings of their fellow-citizens.
A crusade against constitutional France would
.
be any thing but popular among the subjects of
Prussia, and it is said the Government dreads
anything like an intermixture of Prussian troops
with the French or Belgians. In short, his
Prussian MAJESTY has quite enough to attend
to, in the maintenance of an arbitrary system at
home, which has derived an increase of odium
from his late treacherous conduct towards Po-
land, to render him disinclined to encounter
new difficulties and dangers in a general war. It
is, moreover, well known in diplomatic circles,
that the tenour of Prussian policy has, for some
time, been such as to obtain for it more credit
for pacific intentions than has been attributed to
certain other great Powers.
The impediments to war, of a financial
nature,
apply not only to Prussia, but to
Russia and Austria with great foi•ce. In
the anticipated hostilities there would be none
of that English gold forthcoming which, in the last