The Sun.
London, England, 1835-02-27 00:00:00

Nene/ nis party ready to stretch forth their hands to ao.
.date and to augment the terrors of the blow.—( Hear. )
when these things were considered, how could any Hon. and
liberal Member be accused of inconsistencv in refusing to give
the Government their support He (Mr. G.) seas astonished to
hear the Hon. Member who had just sat down, assail his
side of the House with a cry of factious opposition. He would
appeal to the House and the country whether anything ever
had more the appearance of faction than the dismissal
of the late Administration—(llear, hear)--or the attempt of
those men who firmly refused to reform and hnprove the State,
now to become Reformers for the purpose of keeping their
places ?—(Cheers.) He would take upon himself To say that
unpopular& ; the Conservatives were during the last Parliament,
the dissolution would tend to make them doubly so.-_( Hear. )
He could assure his Majesty's Government that the people
of Scotland were not to be deceived by that part of the
King's Speech which stated that such measures would be
taken as should give to the poorer classes of that part of
the United Kingdom greater opportunity of religious worship.
Under the pretext of affording spiritual instruction to the poor
of Scotland, the object was to swell the already enormous
amount of the revenues of the dominant sect in that country.
He was not surprised that such language should be put into
the King's Speech, when he was
aware of the tone that
that had been for so long a period adopted by the High
Church party. In the calculation lately made for further
church accommodation, the principle laid down was that
the number of Dissenters should be left out as an element in
the calculation. Ile knew not on what grounds that
had been done, unless he would give it the charitable con-
struction of a clergyman of the Scotch Metropolis, that all
Dissenters were unbelievers and apostates.—( Hear, and a
laugh.) In that metropolis a cry had been raised, that
more churches should be built, at a time when it
was notorious that in the Established Churches between
five and six thousand seats were unoccupied, and yet with that
fact so ostentatiously before them, five new churches were now
about to be built.—( Hear, hear, hear.) The object it was; said was to promote the religious instruction of the poor;
but he could assure them that this was not, re-
quired, for the dissenters were the religious instructors
of the poor, In that eity to which he had alluded, while the •
dissenting Owes. of worship were filled, whether from
the inatitention of ministers, or from what tause he knew
not, the Established clergymen were r-eaching to unoccu-
pied seats.- 4 Hear,) The parao-saph 'in the King's Speech
rrstg,l4 seam at Erst right -t-0 apply only to Scotland, but he
called upon the Elutl'a.:',l and Irish Members to look to them-
selves, and he asked them if they were prepared to
Vote a sum out of the consolidated fund to increase
the wealth and interest of one peculiar sect in Sootland
without in any way advancing the interests of religion ?
( Hear,. hear.) Were they prepared for the progressive in-
crease of the already enormously endowed Church of Eng-
land ?—( Cheers.) No doubt an excuse would be found for such
a proceeding by that intelligent Church Commission, the mere
mention of which was enough to convince every intelligent
man in the empire that nothing like an of Church Re-
form was to be obtained, or was intended, by his Majesty's
present Government--( Hear, hear). On account of that
proposition in his Majesty's speech (were it not on no other
account) and in consequence of the disapprobation which pre-
vailed very generally throughout the country at the whole
tenor of the conduct of that party, he ( Mr. Gillen).now came
forward to support the amendment rather than the address, at_
though he must observe'that there was part of that amendment
which he did not entirely approve of.
Major BRUCE rose and said he could assure the House
that it had not been his intenfion to trespass on their pa-
tience by taking part in this debate, if it had not been for the
observations which hatle.fallen from his Hon. Friend. The
Hon. Gentleman commenced by stating, that the ins-
si°rit' .of tho people of Scotland was not in favour of the
change which had taken place in the councils of his Ma-
jesty—that
the majority of the people of Scotland were averse
to the Government of the Right Hon. Baronet. Now, he
contended that, relying on the abilities of the Right Hon.
Baronet, and relying on the talents of the Right Hon. Ba-
ronet's colleagues, the people of Scotland were anxious
to give them a fair trial.—( Loud and continued cheering
from tho Ministerial Benches.) He was sure that his
lion. Friend would not deny him' the justice of the remark.
that there was in Seotlnnd a great diversity of opinion on this
subject. In that part of the country with which he
was more immediately connected, the great proportion,
he was convinced, was not against the change, There
might be some of the Honourable Gentlemen's consti-
tuency who were against it, but there were others, and these
he considered by far the largest proportion in point of num-
bers, who were not only favourable to the present Ministry, but
actually thankful for the change. He could appeal in
support of his argument to the great constituency of
Edinburgh, and to the still greater csanstituency of Glasgow,
with a variety of other places, where it was well blown that
a great majority of the people were satisfied with it.—( Cries
of " Oh, oh," and cheers. ).But if the Hon. Member disputes
the assertion with regard to members in these large towns, what
will he say of the counties of Scotland? He would refer him •to the present state of the representation, or he would even go
back to those counties which have returned Members favour-
able to the late Administration itself. What was the case with
regard to the county of Haddington ?—( Cheers from the Minis-
terial side of the House.) The Honourable Member was re-
turned by a very narrow majority. What was the case with
regard to Perth—(continued cheers from the opposition)—
there, perhaps he might in some measure }awe failed, though
a very large number of that constitertency he knew was fa-
vourable to the present administration.—( Hear.) But let
him ask what was the case with the county of Inverness, a
district of Scotland with which he vas more immediately con-
nected ? Why, his Hon. Friend was returned by a majority
majority of only seven, and it was well known to the Right Hon.
Gentleman that there were a vast number of persons walking about the streets sufficient to have turned that election, if
they had not been deterred from voting on that occa-
sion by the other party.—(Cries of " Oh, oh.") He
stated that which he knew—(cheers)—and he begged.
moreover to state that there were other persons posses-
sing Conservative opinions, who, if they had come up to the
record their votes, would have placed the Conservative can-
didate at the head of the poll.---(" Oh, oh," mingled with
cheers, from the Ministerial benches.) In the county of
ROSS, was the majority so great for him to say that
there was no opinion hostile to the late Government ?
Why, it was a fact, well known to Honourable Gentlemen,
that a great majority of the wealth and talent of that dis-
trict was against the return of the Honourable Gentleman.
What was the result of the other Scotch County elections ?
Was themetropolitan county to be reckoned as nothing ? Were
Stirling, Roxburgh—(cheers from the Opposition) and Selkirk
to be counted as nothing ? All those facts proved the narrow
majorities by which the Scotch Members on the opposite side
had been returned, and he could assure the liouse that
there was a growing conviction in Seotlaral that the Go-
vernment, whether Whig or Tory, he cared not
which
(Loud cheers from the Opposition side)—eould only
be safely and beneficially conducted upon those principles
announced by the Right Hon. Baronet in corroboration of the
statements in the King's speech.—( Oh, oh.) The Member for
Falkirk took an exception to one part of the Speech,
which be thanked the Government for advising, for that
clause recommended a more efficient provision for the
religious instruction of the people, which at present
was vet), inadequate, especially in Scotland.---,(-Hear, hear.)
The principles, the sound Conservative princisples of the party
to which he was attached, involved a ti:eterrnination to sup-
port and give extensien .-to that connexion which exists be-
tween Chur`...t and State—( Cheers from the Oppositionby )—,
ulf,cti the true interests of religion would be promoted.
'iYere he to consider religion only in reference to time and
man's mortality, and if- he did not consider it as in- yoking all the interests of man in time and eternity,
but also as connected with the security of the poor
man's rights, and the safety of the rich,- he should
still hail with great satisfaction the announcement
in his Majesty's Speech that the Government intend to
direct its attention to that subject. That was the true con-
servative principles by which his party were. bound together,
and it was not like the rope of sand which was depended upon
by those on the opposite side.--( Hear, and laughter from the
Opposition.)
Mr. FOX MAULE would not go through all the circum-
locutions of the funeral oration the Hon. Member had been
pleased to pronounce over Scotland, or the phillippic he
had uttered against the side of the House on which he
stood. He, as the Representative of a very large county,
which belonged almost entirely to those who had receiv-
ed their elective franchise through the Reform Bill, could
eon tradict the statement of the Hon. Gentleman, that the ma-
jority of the wealth of Scotland regretted the formation of the
Melbourne Administration.
Major BRUCE explained. He said the majority, though
not expressing any positive objection to the late Ministry,
was not averse to the present.
Mr. MAULE then resumed. This constituency had,
according to the Hen. Gentleman, given majorities of a small
number in favour of the Reformers, but what was thb case
with regard to himself? Why even that Hon. Gentleman, who
now sat on the other side, had been sent in only by a ma-
jority of four!—( Hear, hear).--and the Hon. Gentleman was
the only one from the boroughs of Scotland who sat on
that side.--(llear, hear.) With regard to the counties,
he was afraid that, in some instances, the constituencies had
been obliged to exercise their conscientious feelings rather at
the risk of their temporal interests. The landed property of Scot
land was, he admitted, adverse to his standing there--( Cheers
from the Ministerial side).—but his constituency, who were
bold and patriotic enough, when they could not find a represen-
tative among themselves who would serve their interests, sought
one where they could find him, and returned him independent.
It was not his intention to detain the House by follow..
inn the Honourable Gentleman through all his statements,
but this he (Mr. Maule) would maintain, that the ma-
jority of the property of Scotland was not in favour
of the present Government, but were decidedly friendly
to popular rights. He had not the discourtesy to deny the
Hon. Gentleman's statement in tote—he would like to see the
proofs of the accuracy of the statement, but he defied him to
produce them.--( Cheers from the Opposition.) The Hon.
Gentleman (Mr. B.) had referred to that part of the King's
speech which contained allusions to the established church of
Scotland. Now he (Mr. F.) would simply make one observe- •
tion on this subject, and that before his voice would be given
for the appropriation of any grant from the public revenues for
the building of ecclesiastical edifices, they would first fill the
churches they had, before they built others. As lt_yeg as those
they had were empty, they had no necessity for others.
He would not occupy the attention of the House any longer
than merely to state, what indeed vas hardly necessary for
him, that under the circumstance, in which he was placed, be •
could repose no confidence
the present Administration.
—( Cries of 4, Hear, ) But the opposition which he gave
was riat a factious ortrosition, as he understood what was meant
by the words fivftions opposition, namely, a vexatious, frivolous