The Sun.
London, England, 1835-04-27 00:00:00

( Prom the Manchester Guardian of Saturday. )
Our late Right Hon. Representative, whose acceptance of
office and of a seat in the Cabinet cause for a time the vaca-
tion of his scat in the House of Commons, arrived in this
town on Wednesday evening, and took up his quarters with
J. C. Dyer, Esq., having also, however, we believe, apart-
ments at the York Hotel, King-street. On Thursday evening
he met a number of his friends and supporters, members of
the General and District Election Committees, and others, in
theer
naccompanied occasion. _1; r,
hTyril oeArnni
the large room at Hayward's Hotel, Bridge-street, which was
sen entered
sthherereo-ofomuratmhsidfisltleloludonch
ark Philips„
Esq., the other representative of the borough,
wood, Esq., J. C. Dyer, Esq., and other gentlemen._—Mr.
Philips was also greeted with cheers.—Mr. Dyer, having been
called to the chair, introduced Mr. Thomson to the meeting,_
After the three times three hearty cheers with which thenriOne
Gentleman, was welcomed had subsided, he proceeded (0
address the meeting, not, he said, as the representative of
Manchester, but as one hoping to receive et the hands of ins
Lite constituents their approval of his past conduct, and ready
to render them an account of the naanuer in. -which the-
trust they had imposed upon him had been disehargen.
Three months ago they had entrusted to him the task of
defending their interests in the people's House of Par-
liament. He had done so to the best en his ability; and
whilst on the one side he had beCnk perfectly willing to
concur with those who might Wish to wait in eepect- • etion, that any good could eonin from the Administration which was in power when he was-lest elected, so on the other be had
been determined to scan, their acts most critically, and to yield
in no jot one single Pam of the principles upon which the elec-
tors of Manchester, had returned lihn as their representative.
(Cheers.) Mrs Thomson continued—" Gentlemen, that ad-
ministration, 'even upon the admission of the statesman who
was at tlwahead of it, had a-fair trial. No hasty vote of want o$
.confidence ; no hasty denial of a hearing; no anticipatory re-
jection on account of personal or political character, attendetl
that government. They were heard in the Speech -of his
Majesty; they were heard in the measures which they pro-
posed; they were heard on the great principle Ilion which
their fete was at last decided; and upon every oettasion the re-
preseetatives of the people, acting with a vinwh
interest, disagreed with them, and the rest s'n e public
was con to tsummated as you are all aware.
_Cheers. The- e may have been those
who thoinelit that greater expedition,would have been adrisa
We, that a stand ought to harp green made against them at
once; there may have been 'those who thought that at once
the confidence or the '7on-confidence of the representatives of
the
the people should tave been declared; but whatever may be
fault or tile advantage of the tactics, there is no man, I be-
lieve,
.en':ertaining the opinions which I do, and agreeing with
.
me principle, who does not.
.rejoice..that that trim was given
'them,'that before the' country they should have proved them-
seines wanting, and that our triumph was greater, because
it was achieved neither by impatience -nor haste. That ad-
ministration thought- that one, a Tory in principle, a Tory by
practice, was the fittest man to hold the highest station among*
the Commons of England. We thought differently. We
selected a gentleman "known if possible yet more by his ad-
mirable private life than than by his public station ; we selected
one with those gentlemanly manners, with whose urbanity,
with whose every qualification to discharge his duties, no
man could be less satisfied than .he would be, or rather
than the people of England would be, with the soundness
and the constitutional nature of his public and avowed nrin-
ciples. The selection ','nen of Mr. Abercromby was the
first blow given t. the Tory Administration. No attempt
at an express-%„ of want of confidence followed that vote.
A furtitnr trial was given. The • adiress hinge I vaguely
at measures on which I believe in my conscience, the
people of this country required positive assurances ; the
Commons of England again thought it their duty to turn
vagueness into more certain language, and to pledge the
House of Commons to carry out measures of more efficient
reform. The Government were again forced to concede upon
that question ; yet no vote of want of confidence- followed.
A fur ther trial was yet given. The people of this country
demand, and with justice, that if the avenues of learning
and of distinction are to be closed at Cambridge and Oxford-,
at least there should be some place at which the body of dis-
• senters, although they do'not profess the doctrines of the
Church of England, should be rccived Oh a footing of equality,
and be enabled to take their start fairly and freely with
those who do.—(Cheers.) The .Administration was of a dif-
ferent opinion upon this great question of principle. A majo-
rity of 110 was the convincing answer which the House of
Commons gave to them. Again no vote of want of confidence
followed that reply. Further time was given. At last came
the all important question in the present state of this coun-
try, the question of how Ireland should be governed--( Hear,
hear)—the question of whether you would preserve in all its
blemishes, and in all its faults, the vicious establishment (in
its present state) of the Church of Ireland; .or whether, by
applying the pruning knife, where pruning-• was wanted__
whether, by remedying defects which are not defended even
by its supporters—whether, by appropriating that which is
not only not required, but which is positively injurious to the
Establishment in question, you should endeavour, at one
and the same time, to preserve property which, is national,
and to convert it from mischievous to beneficial purposes_
( Loud and continued cheering)—or whether, on the other
hand, you are to allow it to remain in all its all its faulty con-
stitution, in all its unholy splendour (for I can call it nought
else) ; bringing itself down by its own weight, and not only
defeating the purpose for which it was intended, but actually
bringing into disrepute and_ into discredit the very ends for •
which it was instituted, and which every man must have at
heart. • Upon that question, again, the sense of the Commons
of England was three times declared; the result was the re-
signation of that Government in which we put no confidence,
but which we were willing at the same time to allow to pro-
ceed, as far as it was willing, on the other hand, to adopt
the principles and to act upon the policy which, in
opinion, are for the good of the people of England. SuOir.
gentlemen, are the events which have happened since I la;st
saw you. There remained but the last act and natural con-
sequence of those events. Thanks to the constitution of this
country, no minister can pretend to govern for long except
he has with him the sense of the representatives of the
people at large. It became necessary, then, that another
Government more in accordance • with the views and wisfees
and more consonant to the interests of the pecnle, should
receive his Majesty's sanction. Of that Uovernment I re-
ceived the honour of a eseposal to become a part. If, gentle-
men, I had censailted the cause merely of private ease and
ca.i.fort ; if I had consulted even the advantages belonging,
as far as such advantages can be personal, to the situation
of an independent representative of a great constituency,—i
should not now be here to appeal to you for your suffrages.
Believe me, and I may say, believe one who has tried it.
who has no new experiment to make, who can be led away
by no imaginative ideas of the charms of power, that the la-
bours, the responsibility of office far exceed any possible ad-
vantages which it can give. Believe me, that the independent
representative of Manchester stands personally to his own feel-
ings in a far higher situation than when he is trammelled with
the ties of office. But what I had to consider was this : Shall I
who have been active in endeavouring to persuade others to carry
out those principles upon which I believe that the welfare of my
country depends, shall I who have been instrumental in cre-
ating the state of things which now exists, shall I who have
been an active though an humble instrument in bringing
about the triumph of those principles upon which my con-
stituents returned me, and upon which I have declared to them
that I place the whole value of my political life—shall I now,
shrinking from the responsibility which my acts may have
themselves partly engendered—from the duties which what I
have done ought to impose upon me—shall I now, that the
victory is gained, refuse to undertake the responsibilities which
attach to its results ?—( Loud cheering.) Gentlemen, the
circumstances in which I stand towards you, and here I address
particularly the Committee, render this question one of yet
greater importance. It imposes upon you the trouble, the
fatigue, the self-sacrifice, may I not add, from your public
spirit the great pecuniary sacrifice, of an election, which is no
light matter. I endeavoured to discover the feelings of my
friends upon that subject. I found your opinion to be that
ought not to refuse to share in the labours and responsibilities
of office. - Such being the case, I say I should have been
coward had I shrunk from the task which was imposed upon
me, or refused to give to the Government my humble aid in
the present state of public affairs, whatever might be the con-
sequences to myself or to you. Acting upon those principles
I at once accepted the offer which was made to me ; and I
threw myself upon the good feeling, the political principle.
the kindness and the support of the people of Manchester,
for them to say collectively, as you have stated partially.
whether they approve of that line of conduct or not"—
(Cheers.) Adverting to the approaching election he said—.
" The contest in which you are now engaged is one with.
which, in my mind, all former contests sink ,almost into nos.
thing. You have achieved the triumph which you anxiously
expected. I trust that I, as one of the bOdy of reformers,
have done the duty which You sent us to Parliament to do.
_.(Cheers and cries of " You have.") The fruits of that vic-
tory rest in your hands, and in the hands of those, the seal oe
whose approbation is now called for, to be set upon those
members who, through accepting office, are returned upon
the hands of their constituents. -I am happy to think that out
of a. large body of constituencies—l think there are nearly
four or five-and-twenty scats which have been vacated—there
are not more than a few where the Tories even hope to gain any-
thing. But the less the number, the more concentrated are there
efforts, the more strenuous will be their exertions. Devonshire
and Manchester in the eyes of the Tories are now the fields o
battle-upon which the liberties of the country are to be con .
tended for. To Devonshire you have given an assurance-
upon which, permit me, as myself a witness, here to
congratulate you—which has produced a moral influence,
nut so much by the magnitude of the sum subscribed.
as by the ready spirit which it shows in defence of out
cause, which has carried alarm to the hearts of the Tories.
and which has inspired those of the Reformers with fresh eon.
fidence. That your efforts will be crowned with success,—
that the gallant Reformers of Devonshire, aided by your as.
sistance, will again place in the House of Commons a man whom
I am proud to call, and who I believe every true Reformer wilt,
be proud to call, his leader there, I doubt not. But in Man-
chester another battle remains to be fought. In what a situa-
tion should we, the Reformers of Manchester, stand, if our op
ponents could urge this : " Yes, you conquered us three months
ago. Then public opinion declared in Manchester, in a man
ner not to be misinterpreted, what the principles and the opi-
nions to which it gave expression were. But now, througzi
some change of opinion, through some undiscovered cause
through some inactivity, or, what is worse than inactivity, sore
over-confidence, your cause has gone down, your represen'au.
tive has been lost, your majority has .disappeared."---( Cries of
" N0,.n0 ; never.") I feel that it will not be so. But let nc
Let no man think the vic-
tory secure. Let no —(Cheers.)
upon his °till individual
man feel so but mysclfman
.