The Sun.
London, England, 1835-02-07 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, SATURDAY, FEBRUARY' 7, 1835

since they might 'have been given by those men in the
plenitude of their power years before ; but then they re-
sisted them, and, in doing so, failed to prevent the crowd of
evils that had happened .since.—(Hear, hear.) He was
not one of those who wished to destroy the institutions of
the country ; but it was no secret that great obstacles
were thrown in the, way of improvement by the House of
Lords.---(Hear, hear.) He had heard it said that" any
man who spoke against the House of Lords was an enemy
to the constitution.--( No, no, and laughter.) He believed
that by steady perseverance in putting forward those
measures which the people desired, they would see the
other branch of the Legislature better understanding the I
wishes of the people, and working with them, and giving
proof of common good will towards amelioration. He
might be accused of pursuing in the next Parliament a dif-
ferent line of conduct from what he had already done, but
the difference might be accounted for from the fact that in
the late Government he had confidence, in the present he
had none.—(Hear, hear.) He concluded by hoping that
they would always do justice to the claims of that Govern-
ment which knew and attended to the wants of the people,
and distinguished it from the Government who could never
discriminate those wants, except when they were coupled
with power and place.—( Hear, and cheers.)
Mr. FRANCIS BARING presented himself next, and was
most warmly cheered. He said, the successful battle they
had fought was not for him but for freedom, and for prin-
ciples they had laboured for long before. However, in
saying this, let them not suppose that he felt ungrateful for
their conduct towards him personally. The battle was of
double interest ; they had pitted against one another the
representative of the new Government, and the representa-
tive of the late Government. They knew him personally
as one who had supported reform for four years, and on the
other hand they had a Lord of the Admiralty sent down to
them by Sir Robert Peel with that Right Hon. Baronet's
address in his hand. For in no place was the question more
fully tried, whether the electors had confidence in the
present Administration, or whether they had none.—
(Hear, hear.) They had fairly answered the challenge
of the Monarch ; he wished to know their opi-
nion, and they had given it.--(Loud cheers.) They
had shown whether, as he had often heard in the House of
Commons, they were fickle and inconstant, like children
crying for the bauble of reform, and when they got it fro-
wardly throwing it away.—(Cheers and laughter.) They
had answered that assertion. They had also - fought a
private battle of no little importance to themselves, for
they had shown whether they had anything to do with
their own election, or whether the Admiralty was to choose
for them. The Admiralty wished to have Sir J. Beres-
ford as the man of their choice at Chatham, his friend Mr.
Dawson for Devonport, Sir G. Cockburn for Plymouth,
and Sir C. Rowley for Portsmouth. He would prophecy
that whatever hereafter happened—that whatever Go-
vernment existed—the result of the present contest
would give them a lesson to deal with the electors of
Portsmouth in a different way from that which they had
hitherto done.---( Hear, bear.) His Honourable Col-
league had alluded to the course of conduct he meant to
pursue in the ensuing parliament. Their united address
to the electors, if any faith could be put in their ho-
nour, would explain what that conduct was to be. He
thought it fair, as he had heard a great deal about
giving the prerogative of the Crown a fair trial, and
much of such catc-penny words, to say something on the
subject. He had a great and perfect respect for the pre-
rogative of his Majesty in making choice of his own ad-
visers, but he believed at the same time that the people
had a right to express their opinion against that choice.—
(Cheers.) Whatever the newspapers might say, he be-
lieved the people of this country were anxious to preserve
the prerogative of the Crown, though he did not think that
the Right Honourable Baronet, by claiming time for the
preparation of his measures, would find gentlemen shrink-
ing from their opposition to him. He agreed with Sir R.
Peel that the people were attached to the prerogative of the
Crown, respecting its choice of Ministry, from a feeling of
loyalty, and from a feeling that the Crown in its choice
would consult the best interests of the people. If the peo-
ple had nothing to do with the choice of Ministers, why
dissolve Parliament and appeal to them ? What had the
Melbourne Administration done that an appeal should be
made to them, or was it that the present Government had
done anything that called for a dissolution of Parliament ?
He would leave them to judge.—(Cheers.) A good ground
of dissolution was to try the last Government. Well, the
question had been tried throughout the country—(Cheers)
—and was he to be told that lie was to conceal from the
Crown what was his own opinion, and that of the country—
was he to be told that -it was against its prerogative to
state to the Crown the truth ? He had heard a great
deal, too, about giving Ministers a fair trial. Many might
recollect what was said in an old pamphlet by Burke, who
stated, " That he never heard any one say, give a fair trial
to a Minister, unless he was predetermined to approve of
every act of that Minister."—(Hear, hear.) He was
much inclined to agree with Mr. Burke. Sir Robert Peel
often talked of the vagueness of Reformers ; now, he should
like to know the precise meaning of the words " fair trial."
How long were they to wait ? Were they to wait until
after the New Church Commissioners had given in their
report (a new commission after the Duke of Wellington's
abuse of commissions I) before they determined on support-
ing or not the new Government ? If such were the trial
expected, it would be a long one, as long as one in Chan-
eery.—(A laugh.) Suppose it should happen that the King
was badly advised, that he should apply to a party hostile
to the institutions of the country, to which he (Mr.
Baring) was warmly attached, would it be his duty to wait
until that party had by subordinate measures, and by filling
every minor situation with his creatures, was prepared to
take his spring ? If such a thing should happen, how was
it to be met constitutionally ? Why, to say at once that
he meant to place himself in a state of uncompromising
hostility against such a party.—(Cheers.) He was putting
a supposititious case, an extreme one, no doubt ; but it was
for the sake of argument, and of trying the strength of his
adversaries' position. If a party with revolutionary designs
should be placed at the head of the Government, he would
at the first moment place himself in opposition to that
Minister ; and he should be very much surprised if he had
not Sir R. Peel sitting by his side.—( Hear, hear.) Sup-
posing he should see that Sir Robert Peel—to use the
words of a Right Hon. Friend—had constructed a Govern-
ment of the very worst materials, and if he felt that such
a Government could not consult the good of the country,
was he to be considered factious towards the Crown in
opposing such a Government ?—(No.) A fair trial, in-
deed ! What trial had been given to Lord Melbourne's
Government ? Why, such an argument was completely
untenable ; and one Minister, says one Noble Lord (Lord
Stormont) in his wisdom, had said at a dinner at Hamp-
stead that it was un-English not to give a Minister a fair
trial. His Noble Friend near him (Lord Palmerston)
was taunted in different ways relative to his dismissal
from his Majesty's councils, but his Noble Friend's mouth
was sealed, and the country did not as yet fairly know
why the late Government had been changed. There was
one observation which he could not suffer to pass un-
noticed. Sir Robert Peel, speaking of the body of Re-
formers, turned round, and in an expression of triumph
said, " Why, I have done more in the cause of improve-
ment than nine-tenths of those who call themselves Re-
formers."—(Laughter.) He would not quarrel with any
Minister who looked back with self-complacency on his acts,
nor would the sneers of Sir Robert Peel make him refuse
the Right Hon. Baronet his meed of praise. But when he
saw Sir Robert Peel attacking nine-tenths of the Reformers,
and saying that he had done more than they, he would ask,
where would be his love of reform, if nine-tenths of the Re-
formers were substracted ?—(Cheers.) He, as one of the
nine-tenths, would not turn to the right-about ; he would
remain steady, and say that if he received from Sir Robert
Peel reform in the corporations, in the Church, in the tithe
system, and relief for the Dissenters, they would have to
thank themselves—those useless nine-tenths--without
whose effectual struggles Sir Robert Peel would never have
thought of reform.—(Hear, hear.) He had said thus much
on this point, because he could not leave so unjust a sar-
casm on the people of England to pass unnoticed. The
Hon. Member concluded by offering them his most cordial
thanks for the assistance and personal kindness he had re-
ceived at their hands during the last election.—(Cheers.)
The CHAIRMAN then gave " The late Members for the
Southern Division of the County." This toast was drunk
with three times three.

Lord PALMERSTON rose to return thanks, and was re-
ceived with tremendous cheering. The Noble Lord said
that both the Chairman and all the gentlemen present
would believe him when he said that he found the greatest
difficulty to adequately express the gratitude he felt, not
only for the kind manner in which they had received the
toast, but also for the distinguished honour they had done
him in inviting him to be present on that glorious occasion,
and also fbr the many other obligations he had received
from the inhabitants of that town. But he was so accus-
tomed to receive kindness from the hands of the people of
Portsmouth, that that practice'had not only made the task
of returning thanks light, but agreeable. He could not
conceal it, but there was one word in the last toast which
he could have well wished omitted. He should have wished
that the Chairman, in proposing his health and that of Sir
George Staunton, could have proposed it, not as the late,
but simply as the members for South Hampshire.—(Cheers
and laughter.) It would be the grossest affectation on his
part, and unworthy the support of the inhabitants of the
Southern Division of the county, if he did not say that the
necessity which compelled the Chairman to insert in the toast
the word " late," was to him a matter of the deepest mor-
tification.—(Cries of " It shan't be so the next time.")
Though it was impossible for any public man to be foiled as
he was in seeking to obtain a post of honourable ambition
without feeling mortification and pain, still he felt that if
ever defeat was honourable—if ever victor?, virwi. ticitrly

defeat—when he considered the -zeal that had been dis-
played at the election of the Southern division, he felt
prouder at being so defeated, than to be elected in the way
his opponent had been.--(Cheers.) And when, besides
this, he considered the extensive influence that had been
arrayed against him, and all the force of circumstances that
had been opposed to him, and when he saw that every
means were used not only to keep away from the poll elec-
tors who would vote for him, but, he was afraid, to compel
them to go and vote against their own will, then he was
not surprised at the defeat he and his late colleague had
suffered, nor downcast or dispirited at what he was sure
would be the result at another contest.—(Cheers.) For
himself, he felt that when he came two years ago at their
bidding, he entered into an engagement from which he
ought not now to shrink. He would take their support
for better or for worse.—(Cheers.) They had called upon
him to support their cause, and he took it by that they
meant the cause of the people of the country. He would
now state, that as long as they wished to fight that
cause, and as long as they thought him a fit instrument
to fight their battle, he would come forward to do so.—
(Cheers.) As long as they wished he would devote him-
self to their service, fight their contests, share his fortunes
with them, whether in defeat as now, or in triumph here-
after.—(Cheers.)- At present he would rather congratu-
late them on their triumph than revert to circumstances
that must now and then chequer all political warfare.
Though they, the Electors of Portsmouth, had many diffi-
culties to encounter, and the enemy felt confident of suc-
cess, he trusted that their triumph would teach that enemy
to form a better estimate of the people and of the electors of
the country. Part of the House of Commons thought
that the Reformers were revolutionists, and that the Bill of
Reform was nothing less than a revolution in the country.
It was no such thing. There had been revolution in the
country before its passing, and the Reform Bill was not the
cause but the effect of it. Persons of great wealth and
information were debarred from the exercise of political
power. Could any one say that a revolution would not
have taken place at Leeds, Manchester and Birmingham,
which were unrepresented, when stocks and stones, and
mounds, and deserted villiages were sending by dozens
members into Parliament.—(Hear, hear.) There was a
revolution, in order to put the altered state of society
in harmony with the institutions of the country.—
(Hear.) The Reformers, and those who had passed
the Reform Bill, had not created a revolution, but had
put an end to it. It now appeared that the new Admi-
nistration had seen their former errors, and that having
undergone some sudden operation, their eyes were opened,
and they were now Reformers. Not indeed Reformers to
follow in the steps of their predecessors, but to outstrip
them ; and not only to outdo the doings of the late Go-
vernment, but even to. go farther than ever they thought
of. They cry out, " Give us a fair trial, and you will
see what we will accomplish."—(Laughter.) In his opi-
nion that trial was over.--(Cheers.) It was decided by
the elections of the kingdom. They might reckon that the
jury would be assembled in a fortnight ; and he thought
he could anticipate what their verdict would be, and that
judgment would be immediately after pronounced on the
present Government.—(Cheers.) He believed that the
country had taken the Minister at his word, and that, as
the head of the Administration had said, " Give me men,
and not measures," and asked to be judged by the men
in the Administration, and bad, therefore, appealed to
the people without producing any measures, the people
had accepted the appeal.—(Hear, hear.) He would
repeat, that the country had taken the Government
at their word ; and, as he had predicted a disso-
lution of Parliament, so now he would predict that,
when the Parliament elected under the appeal of
the Government assembled in a fortnight, the Representa-
tives of the people would not confide in the men, nor wait
to see their measures.—(Cheers.) He felt that it would
be much for the good of the country that that should be
the result ; for he confessed that he did not expect from
the men now in office such great measures of Reform as
would be acceptable to the country, or for the general in-
terest of the people. He could not believe it, when he
saw who were the supporters of the present men, and how
they behaved themselves throughout the country. He
would ask, if Ministers now turned Reformers, and pro-
posed, on the questions of the Church, tithes, corpora-
tions, and the Dissenters' measures, which they would call
measures of practical Reform, whether the great mass who
now supported the Government, would not turn round
upon them and say, " It was not for this we supported
you—these are the revolutionary measures of your pre-
decessors—we called you in to stop revolution, and not
proceed in its career ?" He would say, then, that it was
impossible for a Government so constituted and sup-
ported, to do what ought to be done, and what would
be satisfactory to the people ; to remove all the griev-
ances that all believed to exist, and to place the institu-
tions of the country in harmony with the spirit of all.
At the same time when Parliament assembled, should the
result not be such as he had stated, he was sure that all
would wish to hear from their Representatives what the
two Hon. Members for that borough had said that even-
ing—namely, that they would not reject measures of prac-
tical and useful improvement, merely because they pro-
ceeded from a party who did not possess their political con-
fidence. He was glad to hear such a declaration from his
Hon. Friends. It was manly and generous ; but, at the
same time, he hoped they would have no opportunity of
putting their good intentions into practice.—(Cheers.) In
the first week after the assembling of Parliament, he trusted
taat such would be the case ; and, after all he had heard
from persons well acquainted with the character, politics,
and opinions of the men lately elected, the appeal to the
country would be made in vain by the present Ministers ;
and the people would show that they had not so soon for-
gotten the principles that made them demand the Reform
Bill, nor prove themselves so fickle as at one time to return
so many Members favourable to Reform, and then, before
those principles were carried into effect, turn round and re-
turn a majority of Members of very different opinions.
" The Health of the late Administration," that of " Mr.
Hector, M.P. for Petersfield," and several other toasts,
were drunk ; after which the company separated.