The Sun.
London, England, 1835-04-28 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, TUESDAY, APRIL 28, 1835.

—(Loud cheers.) There is another great matter of satisfac-
tion upon which I cannot help remarking, and it is this—when
I first had the honour of addressing you, four or five years ago,
I called to your notice the high talents, the immovable integ-
rity and consistency of Earl Grey..--(Hear, hear.) And what
must be my feelings now, when I can state, that after the late
Tory Administration had been tried, and when the voice of
the House of Commons had proclaimed that England could
not be properly governed by Tories—what must be my satis-
faction to find that when, in consequence of this they re-
signed their offices, that the first person consulted by the
King as to who should be his future counsellors, was, and
lam proud to state it, Earl Grey—(cheers)—and, al-
though that nobleman was not young enough to sustain the
fatigues of office, yet the character and sentiments of Lord
Melbourne, who holds the first place in the Administration,
are in union with those of Earl Grey and the people of Eng-
land—( Renewed cheers)—and I do not hesitate to say that he
will use every means in his power, with the assistance of the
people, to bring forward such measures as will be satisfactory,
and conducive to the general interests.—( Cheers.) Ido not
deny that he will have to encounter much opposition to his
efforts, for his opponents are a strong party, and have made up
their minds to " die hard."—(Cheers and laughter.) Yes,
they will die as hard as they can ; but unless they make up
their minds to become Reformers not only in words but in
deeds, die they must.—(Loud and repeated cheers.) A great
cry has been raised that the Church is in danger.—(Great
laughter.) Now I have no hesitation in asserting that there is
no better Churchman in the country than myself; I come not
to destroy but to repair, in order that the Establishment may
last for ever—( Loud cheers)—and though I may be called a
Destructive by the Tory party, yet I am proud of the distinc-
tion ; because I am conscious that I work in the cause of right
and on the side of the people.—( Continued cheers.) The
great question which was the subject of discussion in Parlia-
ment lately, and which caused the change of the Administra-
tion, was the Reform of the Irish Church ; but the subject is
too deep and extensive to be discussed by me now from this
place. I wish, however, to assure you that that question had
no tendency whatever to pull down the Church, but, on the
contrary, to do what was just and right—to educate the people
—and we should not feel towards Catholics any hostile senti-
ments because they are so. I say that we should always
endeavour to do as we would be done by.—(Great applause. )
My conduct has always been straight-forward, and I shall per-
severe in that course, looking neither to the right nor to the
left ; and with regard to the present Administration, if the
people of England support it as they should, nothing can
avail to disturb it.---(Loud cheers.)
The MAYOR then asked if any other gentleman wished to
address the meeting ? No person, however, offering himself,
the Mayor declared the business to be concluded.
Sir Thomas Troubridge and a large party of his friends
dined at five o'clock at the Fleur-de-lis Tavern, where his
health was honoured with enthusiastic cheering.

in the House, and if they elected the Learned Gentleman
they would then have forty-six.—( Hear, hear, and laughter.)
After attacking Mr. Disney for taking great credit to himself
as being a friend to the Church, when it was notorious that he
was supported by her avowed as well as her concealed enemies,
the Honourable Member concluded an unimportant speech
amidst considerable confusion.

After a few words in explanation from DISNEY,
Mr. BRAMFIL put several questions to Mr. Elwes, which that
gentleman declined to answer ; and upon a show of hands, the
High Sheriff declared the election to have fallen upon Mr.
Elwes, whereupon Mr. Lenuard demanded a poll on behalf of
his friend, Mr. Disney, which was fixed to take place at nine
o'clock on Thursday morning. A vote of thanks having been
given to the High Sheriff for his impartial conduct in the chair,
the meeting separated.

WOLVERHAMPTON.

DINNER TO MESSRS. THORNELEY AND VIL-

LIERS.

On Friday last, the 24th inst., a public dinner was given to
T. Thorneley, Esq. and C. P. Villiers, Esq., to celebrate
their return to Parliament for the borough of Wolverhampton.
Upwards of 100 gentlemen were present. The Rev. W.
Leigh presided, and showed by the liberality of his sentiments
that all the clergy of the Established Church are not allied
with the Tory league in defending abuses and opposing re-
form. Among the many independent and sensible observa-
tions which that gentleman made were the following :
° Their enemies were fond of applying opprobrious epithets to
them. It was certainly hard that they should be called de-
structives because they desired substantial reforms. Was he
to be called an enemy to the church to which he belonged, be-
cause he wished to see a removal of its abuses ?—( Loud
cheers.) It was said the conservatives had intelligence, wealth,
and influence, exclusively on their side. Now, look-
ing at their own county, who had they, he asked,
in the ranks of the reformers 2—( Hear, hear.) There was
first of all the Duke of Sutherland, who was a noble-
man of both wealth and influence ;—was he a destruc-
tive ?—( Laughter and cheers.) Then again there was the
Duke of Cleveland—was he a destructive ? To his (Mr. L's.)
own knowledge this nobleman sacrificed, when the reform bill
was carried, 150,0001., parliamentary influence.—( Hear, hear. )
Next came the Marquis of Anglesea, Lord Littleton, and
Lord Lichfield—were these destructives ? Thank God, they
were in good company at all events.—( Laughter and cheers.)
The healths of the two Members for Wolverhampton,
Messrs. Thorneley and Villiers, were drank with enthusiasm.
Mr. Thorneley said that he and his colleague had voted for'
Mr. Abercromby, the Amendment to the Address, Lord John
Russell's motion, and all the other liberal propositions made
this Session. The resignation of the late Ministry proved
that no administration could now carry on the government
which had not the confidence of the country ; and he trusted
the measures of the new Cabinet would be such as to obtain
for it that indispensable qualification.
We select the following passages from the excellent speech
of Mr. Villiers :—" He voted for the amendment to the ad-
dress, because he was anxious to manifest to the Crown and the
Ministry that the constituency he had the honour to represent
had not changed its opinions since it first exercised the fran-
chise.—( Applause.) He wished to mark their opinion that
there had been no necessity for disturbing the country from a
state of repose to change a Government who were proceeding
in the work of reform in accordance with the wants and wishes
of the country.—( Cheers.) To call this proceeding factious
was indeed the greatest abuse of language. Now, as he un-
derstood the word factious, it was supporting or condemning a
measure for private and party purposes; and what then, he
asked, was the conduct of the opposition upon the Dissenters'
Marriage Bill, brought in by Ministers ? One after the other
they rwc to compliment the Minister on the liberality of the Bill.
—( Hear.) Again, how did the Opposition act on the question
of the malt duty? Did t:1,!:- seize the opportunity of
embarrassing the Minister by staying aw.ry and suffering it to
be carried against him? No, although Sir Rnhcrt Peel de-
clared that if he were left in a minority he would resign on
morrow, they attended in their places and froted against the
motion, believing, as many of them did, and he ( Mr. Villiers)
among the number, that the object in view was merely a party
one, namely, the benefit of the landowners, and not the country
at large—( Hear, hear.) Thus the ministry was saved by the
men who were generally opposed to it—and yet, forsooth, they
were to be taunted by the hirelings of a dying party with fac-
tiousness. * * * An attempt was made to revive the
cry of " No Popery," and " The Church is in danger;" but
the people had heard it so often that they were tired of it, and
the attempt signally failed. The people discovered the fraud, and
that the cry did not mean that religion was endangered, but the
temporalities, which had been artfully tried to be palmed off
for religion itself. He wished that in this respect the Clergy
of the Irish Church, and others interested in its property, had
been aA honest as the Brahmins in India. When they heard
that the Missionaries were coming over, these simple-minded
men, who receive their tithes in rice, called together a council,
and issued an edict to denounce the Missionaries, saying, " We
must not suffer these men to come among us, or they will cer-
tainly upset our rice- pots."—( Shouts of laughter.) Now, when
we heard men get up in the House of Commons to defend the
Irish Church, as they said, he ( Mr. Villiers) could not help
thinking it was not the religion, but the rice-pots, for which
they were fighting."—( Increased laughter.)