The Sun.
London, England, 1835-11-12 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, THURSDAY, NOVEMTIER 12, 18:

speeches they had heard from the .Noble Lerd (Russell)
who had last addressed them, it was not his intention to
trespass on their time for many moments. He should first
of all thank them most sincerely for the manner in which
his health had been proposed and received ; and in the se-
cond place, he should endeavour to express the gratification
he had derived from the invitation he had received to time
there that day—(Cheers)—upon an occasion which had
given him the opportunity of witnessing a tribute justly paid
by one of' the first and most opulent cities in the empire, to
their Noble guest Lord John Russell—(Loud cheers)—
who as a Minister and servant of the Crown, had
always discharged his duty to the Crown in .the most
prompt, fearless, and. bold manner.—(Great cheering.)
The desire that he entertained to witness the payment
of that tribute, had made him extremely anxious to be
present on that occasion ; but his anxiety had been. ren-
dered tenfold greater, by the opportunity which it would
afford him, individually, of expressing that which he had
often expressed before, but which he now again reiterated,
and which he never yet had felt regret at having expressed,
and that was his unshaken confidence in the present Go-
vernment, of which the Noble Lord was so distinguished
a Member, and his determination to support it to the best
of his power and ability.—(Great cheering.) He knew it
had been contended by many that the Members of the
House of Lords, from the nature of that assembly, were
not bound either to give an account of their votes, or to
explain the motives which bad influenced their votes. He
(Lord Segrave) disagreed from that doctrine.—(Cheers.)
If the King held his crown for the benefit of his people,
which in this country he undoubtedly did--(Cheers)—and
if the King was responsible for his acts, which, through
his Ministers, the King of this country undoubtedly was—
(Cheers)—he (Lord Segrave) held it to be the greatest
absurdity that could be uttered, to say that the House of
Lords should assume to itself an irresponsibility not claimed
by the first man in the realm.—(Great cheering.) There-
fore he had always been anxious—fearlessly anxious to
meet the body of the people—to lay his public conduct
before them, and to prove, that though be did not derive
his legislative power immediately from them, yet that he
considered it as a sacred deposit. to be used ;only for thepublic
good.—(Cheering:) On his first entrance into pub-
lic life, he had invariably supported, both in and out of Par-
liament, that line of politics which 'had been termed the libe-
ral line ; and ever since the formation of the Administration
of Earl Grey, and in the subsequent Administra:ion of Lord
Melbourne—during the five years that he had sat in Parlia-
ment (and he had been a constant attendant in his place)—
he had never differed on the principle of any one measure
brought forward by those Administrations—(Cheers)—on
one only had he differed from them upon the details of a
particular measure. On that occasion he did not mean to
say that he was right, for he was the last man in the world
to claim to himself an infallibility of judgment ; but he
thought he was right, ha believed he was right, and with
such a conviction upon his mind, he did not hesitate to
express his dissent.—(Cheers.) And now he would ask of
every man who heard him—of every Liberal Reformer in
the room-.—but most confidently of the Noble Lord (Lord
J. Russell) near him, whether he (Lord J. Russell) did not
think himself, and the Government to which he belonged,
stronger in the support of those men who, after weighing
scrupulously, and conscientiously examining, every measure
to the best of their abilities, came to the conclusion that ,be
and his colleagues were the fittest men in the kingdom to
be entrusted with the reins of Government ?—(Cheers.)
And he asked the Noble Lord with the greatest confidence,
whether the rare and accidental circumstance of differing on
some particulars points of detail was not more than counter-
balanced by the support which they usually afforded—a
support beginning first in scrupulous examination, and end-
ing in the conviction that to him and his colleagues the
confidence of the whole nation must justly be given ?
(Cheers.) He knew very well that the attention of the
whole kingdom, and of all men's minds, was now fixed
with a great deal of attention and anxiety upon the future
course of proceeding to be adopted in the House of Lords.
—(He r, bear.) He knew perfectly well that the great
majority of the nation looked to the Lords with anxiety for
the support of those measures of reform which the spirit of
the times, as well as the increased knowledge of the age,
rendered absolutely necessary : while, at the same time, it
was impossible to conceal from themselves that there was
another body, not, perhaps, so numerically strong, who
were equally anxious that the Lords should, with hereditary
dignity—with stiff hereditary prejudice—stick to all here-
ditary and acknowledged abuses.—(Laughter and cheers.)
These two parties were looking with great anxiety to the
events of the next Session of Parliament. For his own
part, he confessed he had very little doubt as to the result,
because, although the obstacles and difficulties thrown in
the vire of wholesome and necessary reforms, might for a
time be numerous and great, still it was his firm belief that
the House of Lords would ultimately sec the necessity of
acting more in conformity with the general feeling of the
country.—(Cheers.) With these observations, he begged
leave to return thanks for the compliment which had been"
paid him ; and, by the permission of the Chairman, to pro-
pose " Prosperity to the city of Bristol."—(Cheers.)
The CHAIRMAN next proposed, " The health 4)f Lord
Ebrington, and the Independent and Patriotic Majority of
the House of Commons, which had re-instated the Reform
Ministry:'—(Long-continued cheering)
Lord EBILINGTON returned thanks, but in a tone of voice
which was only occasionally audible to those who were any
distance removed from him. It was with great difficulty
that our reporter was enabled to gather up the following
fragments of a speech, which occupied some time in the
delivery. The Noble Lord commenced by stating that
he was unable adequately to express his high sense of
the honour conferred upon him. An honour conferred
by such an assembly must necessarily be regarded As great
and valuable ; but in this instance it was rendered in-
finitely more valuable to him, from the peculiar occasion
upon which it was bestowed. He wished he could per-
suade himself that he was more deserving of all that had
been so kindly said of him in far too flattering terms by their
excellent Chairman—(No, no, and cheers)—but if there
were any merit of having been an humble labourer in the
great cause of which his Noble Friend (Lord J. Russell)
had been so distinguished and successful an advocate—if
there were any merit in having given to that Noble
Lord a constant and zealous support ie those great
measures of amelioration and improvement which, under his
guidance, had happily been so far advanced—to that extent,
certainly, he (Lord Ebrington) might lay claim to the
encomiums which had been passed upon him. Beyond
that, he felt that eulogy was undeserved. With respect
to the peculiar occasion on which their Chairman had
alluded to what he was pleased to call the valuable
service which he (Lord Ebrington) had performed, he
begged to observe, that upon that occasion it was only
his good fortune to do that which would have been far bet-
ter and more ably done by numbers of those who did him
the honour of voting with him ; and if he had any merit
in the course be then took, it was simply this—that he be-
lieved a Parliament more freely chosen than any that had
gone before it would, not turn its back on .the interests of
the people, and that the people would not, upon such an
occasion, turn their backs upon themselves, or upon the
Ministers who had truly and honestly supported all the best
interests of the kingdomej--(Cheers.) That was the sum
total of all the merit due to him upon the occasion—
(Cheers)—and if by the course he adopted he succee,ded in
retaining the Liberal Administration in the situation to
which they were so justly entitled, he felt himself more than
amply repaid for any exertion he might have made.—
(Cheers.) When he did himself the honour of accepting
the invitation to dine with them. that day, he certainly did
so under, tae expectation of deriving great gratification ; but
he must say that his expectations had been very far ex--
ceeded by what Ito had witnessed in the course.of the day.
—(Cheers.) He had heard, with an entire concurrence in
the sentiments expressed in it, the able and eloquent address
which had been presented to his Noble Friend. He had
heard his Noble Friend's reply, and he had heard with
no less satisfaction all that had been addressed to them in so
masterly a manner by the Noble Lord (Segrave) who sat
on the left of' the Chairman. He believed that that purtion
of the House of Lords which clung to old and hereditary
abuses constituted but a very small minority of that assem-
bly, and he felt satisfied, in common with the Noble Lord
(Segrave), that they would not obstinately resist what they
saw the people, from a sense of right, calmly determined to
obtain.—(Cheers.) He thought that the conduCt of the
Lords, with respect to the Corporation Reform Bill, af-
forded a proof that that spirit had already obtained amongst
them. He believed that they at first mistook what was the
real drift of the measure—that they totally miscalculated
the opinions and feelings of the people of England, and
that it was in consequence of that error, in the first instance,
that they were led into a strong opposition to it. But in
the course of their discussion upon the subject they saw their
error, and although they undoubtedly, in his opinion, ren-
dered the Bill less perfect than it was when it was carried up
to them, still they returned it to the House of Commons
unimpaired in all its main and principal provisions.—(hear,
hear.) if, upon other measures, they took a different and
more erroneous course, it must be recollected that the opi-
nions of the House of Commons had been very much divided
upon the subjects to which those measures related. Upon
the subject of the Irish Church Bill, for instance, not only
were the opinions of the House of Commons much di-
vided, but it appeared that very serious differences of opi-
nion existed amongst the people, not only of the country
to which the measure was to be applied, but .even to Eng-
land itself. He sincerely hoped that as the Church of Ire-
land became better and more intimately known in this
country, the prejudices which existed against its reform
would pass away.—(Cheers.) But, unfortunate as he con-
sidered the course taken by the House of Lords in the last
Session of Parliament, he still thought that, upon the sub-
ject of the Irish Church, there was a sufficient difference
of opinion amongst the people in this country to give them

a reason to believe that the public mind was most fully
made up upon it. He believed, therefore, that if the
people of this country, without resorting to hostile threats,or
agitating any of those great organic changes which, unless
productive of certain and positive good, were always to be
considered as fraught with some danger—if the people, ab-
staining from this, will take the opportunities which the
Constitution affords of making their opinions known with
respect to the House of Lords, he was convinced 'that
thosuopinions, as soon as the Lords were satisfied that they
expressed the general sense of the community, would not
be regarded with indifference or apathy by that branch of
the Legislature.—(Hear, hear.) He called upon those
whom he addressed, therefore, to stand by the Constitution
—not to have recourse to any great organic changes until
they found that. the Constitution as it then stood no longer
worked well—no longer tended to promote the happiness
and prosperity of the kingdom.—(Cheers.)
The CHAIRMAN next proposed, " The Historian of Ire-
land—the Bard of Freedom—Thomas Moore."
This toast 'was received with the most enthusiastic
cheering.
Mr. MoostE begged to express how very deeply he felt
the honour paid him in coupling his name with that of Ire-
land ; and it would seem that the Chairman, in doing so,
had known the nearest way to his heart, and learnt the
chord which there vibrated most strongly and most con-
stantly.—(Cheers.) He himself had been one of the vic-
tims of that system in Ireland which his Noble Friend had
so ably and so eloquently described—he himself was born
one of that proscribed class, whose history would lay a
brand upon the memory of their oppressors, and a brand
upon the systeni which his Noble Friend bad so well pointed
out.—(Cheers.) But he hardly knew whether he regretted
that such had been his destiny, because he verily believed
that.the being born a slave had given him a keener and
sharper relish for the blessings of freedom—(Laughter and
cheers)—and a more extended sympathy with all those,
Whatever their- grade or colour, high or low, black or white,
who were in any part of the world struggling, with even a
glimmering of the value of that for which they sought,
for those rights and privileges of civilized men, without
which civilization itself could not exist.—(Cheers.) But,
with all this value for freedom, he could understand and
allow for those who, like a party in his own country,
viewed with alarm and distrust the great movement
of tho popular mind which was now in progress. He
could allow for that. So far, indeed, from being out
of temper with • the opponents of his political views,
he looked upon them but as assisting parties in the great
principle of action and counter-action which was now going
on, and out of which alone it seemed to be the general and
prevailing opinion the country could look for a safe, well-
sifted, and satisfactory result. He would not compare the
struggles of the two parties to the conflict between light
and darkness,' out of which, 'as the pacts told them, the
beautiful system of nature around them arose ; because
upon his and their opponents he should be obliged to throw
the disagreeable Part of darkness.—(Laughter and cheers.)
Neither would he compare it to the clash of discord pur-
posely thrown into a strain of music, which but helped
along the general flow, -acid by a sudden contrast of rude-
ness enhanced the sweetness of the general concord. He
would not use that illustration, because in the same man-
ner to the Conservative 'performers in the concert-4)
the Tory first :fiddles—(great laughter)—he should be
obliged to attribute those occasional discords which were
sometimes wont to interrupt the harmony of discussion
and legislation. The Tories were ministering, without
themselves being aware of it, to the ultimate triumph of
rational freedom.—(Hear, hear.) -He seriously looked to
the energies of the Tories as well as to their own—to the
power of check as well as impulse—for the establishment
of the due balance in our institutions : for the safe, and
free, and well•working of the political machine, which was
all that any of them, whatever their political opinions,
could desire.' He was going to use another illustration,
but that, too, • might he offensive ; and as that eminent
divine, South, said of his own efforts in the pulpit, " in
order to be pious it is not necessary to be dull," so he (Mr.
Moore) must remember that " in order to be patriotic it is
not .necessary to be uncivil."—(Laughter and cheers.) It
was possible, as they had shown that night, to talk of the
popular cause, without having their attention strongly
directed to a certain high and privileged few, upon whom
the eves of the whole community were at this moment
rather inauspiciously fixed. Whatever might be the general
opinion of the particular privileges and peculiar position of
that 'body, no one would deny that, from the noble manner
in which many had acted, they not only became but adorned
their high station. Upon that point he conceived there
could not be two opinions. He would venture •to state
without taking the liberty of mentioning the name of the
individual, the opinion of a distinguished American upon
that' point--a Radical leader in his own country, who visited
England some years ago. Adverting, in conversation with
that gentleman, to an incident which had lately happened
which proved, as he (Mr. Moore) thought, the political
influence of rank and station in England, the American
said, " Undoubtedly if there be anything that rank and
station cannot do in Englend, I have not yet found it out ;
but I will say for the distinguished class we have been speak-
ing of, that in taste, in intelligence, and in all the graces •
of social life, I have observed that the higher one rises in
society, the purer is the atmosphere." In concurring, as
he (Mr. Moore) most cordially did, in that sentiment, lie
expressed the pleasure it gave him at bearing such an Opi-
nion from one from whom he should have so little xpec te d
it ; observing, at the same time, that if it had come from one
who, like himself, had sprung up from a very humble level,
it would be viewed with jealousy .and suspicion ; but that
coming from- a stranger and a Republican, whose prejudices
were all enlisted on the other side, the opinion must ne-
cessarily be regarded as trust-worthy and true. He (Mr.
Moore) was well prepared of the sort of ridicule with which
the sentiments he had expressed would be received. He
could, indeed, almost anticipate the manner in which he
should be described in taking the nobility under his protec-
tion ; something in the manner, he supposed, of the well-
known dandy, who, on receiving some slight from the heir-
apparent to the throne, threatened to cut the Prince and
bring the King into fashion—(Laughter and cheers)—so
it would be said that he (Mr. Moore) had cut the mobi-
lity, and was endeavouring to bring the nobility into
fashion.—(Loud cheers and laughter.) But notwith-
standing the shining qualities of the distinguished. class
of which he had been speaking—notwithstanding so
many of them reflected far more lustre upon their station
than any they could derive from it—and in illustration of
that truth he need not go further than the noble Russell
who was then sitting amongst them—(Great cheering)—
whatever utility, as well as ornament, might exist in such
an order in the Statenotwithstanding all that, if it should
prove upon deliberate trial that the machinery of popular
representation as newly constructed was likely to be re-
tarded or stopped in its free working by an irresponsible
body, then he must say the question would arise whether
there was anything so sacred in the legislation or institu-;
tions of the past, as to entitle them to interfere with the
pressing calls of the present, or the brightening prospects of
the future ?—(Cheers.) Still .more he would say, that if
from any vice inherent in the constitution, which he, for
one, was not prepared to adMit, or from any fatal obstinacy
of which a particular class were composed, it should ap-
pear that the privileges of the favoured few were incom-
patible with the just rights and privileges of the many, then
would the serious question arise, what should be done with
the encumbering branches, which, though beautiful in them-
selves, endangered: the vitality of the parent stem.
At the conclusion of Mr. Moore's speech, which was very
indistinctly heard, Lord John Russell and the rest of the
distinguished gueStS retired ; and shortly afterwards the
whole party broke up. •

REFORM DINNER at CANTERBURY

On Tuesday afternoon the Reformers of Canterbury gave
a dinner to Lord Albert Conyngham, one of their Mem-
bers, at the Lion Inn. Considerable excitement pre-
vailed in the town, in consequence of the opposite party
having got up a counter dinner to Mr. Lushington on
the same clay. About 150. sat down. to dinner ; several
gentlemen dined in another room, and joined the main
company after dinner, and many were unable to procure
any accommodation at all. Mr. Alderman Brent presided.
After the cloth was removed, and the usual toasts were
given,
The CHAIRMAN proposed " The People, the only legi-
timate source of power." After which he said,.that on the
last anniversary of this celebration, the present Ministry
had, by a resort to one of those desperate measures which,
if often resorted to,-would endanger the stability of the in-
.stitutions of the country, been abruptly removed from their
offices, which they filled with so much credit to themselves
and satisfaction to the country. They were succeeded by
the late Ministry, the Would-be Reformers, amongst whom
Sir Robert Peel' was most conspicuoui. A Ministry so ini-
mical to the interests of the people was, however, too much
for the people to bear. The Reformers were roused. Not-
withstanding the ternpOrary advantages' which, in some
places, the superior preparation of the Tories gave to them,
the Liberal - party succeeded in returning a majority of re-
presentatives determined to support the true interests of the
people ; and it was to the votes of those representatives that
he now owed the gratification of being enabled to propose
to them, " The health of his Majesty's Ministers."—(Drank
with the greatest enthusiasm.)
Mr. FLINT proposed " Civil and Religious Liberty all
over the World," in connexion with which he begged to
give " The health of the Duke of Sussex, the tried eham-
pion of both;'—(Drank with three times three.)
The CitantmAN. then gave, " The health of their much
respected Member and guest, Lord Albert Conyngham."
Lord A. CONYNGHAM rose to return thanks. Although
connected by marriage with the' late Speaker, he was proud.
.to say that he voted against his re-election, and was happy.