The Sun.
London, England, 1861-02-28 00:00:00

•
Opposition in this their moment of defeat, as an
agreeable little comfit to Conservatism, whereby it
may console itself as best it may for the rather
bitter pill it was yesterday constrained to swallow,
much doubtless to its disappointment.
It was only the other day that the right hon.
gentleman the Leader of her Majesty's Opposition
humorously suggested in a tone of sardonic irony
that the Great Liberal Party should hold another
meeting in Willis's-rooms, St. James's. Well, the
meeting has been held there according to the right
hon. gentleman's suggestion. In Willis's-room last
evening the Great Liberal Party did there and then
assemble, each member in his political capacity as
one of the units in that large and important aggre-
gate. There—presiding over them— was the
Ministerial head of the Great Liberal Party, the
veteran Premier, Viscount PALMERSTON. There
—as the honoured guest of the evening—was Sir
WILLIAM HATTER, the renowned ex-Whipper-in.
The occasion which had thus brought together
once more in Willis's-room the pick of the Great
Liberal Party may be most aptly and tersely inti-
mated in the words of the inscription upon the
magnificent Testimonial presented to Sir WILLIAM
HATTER by his brother Liberals upon the date of this
henceforth memorable demonstration. This tes-

timonial," says the inscription, " was presented on
the 27th day of February, 1861, to the Right Hon.
WILLIAM GOODENOUGH HATTER, Bart., M.P., by
Viscount PALMERSTON, M.P., on behalf of 365
members of the House of Commons, in remem-
brance of the courtesy, fairness, and efficiency with
which he performed the duties of Political Secre-
tary to the Treasury between the years 1850 and

1859." So that for one entire decade did this model
whip acquit himself of the responsibilities of his de-
licate and onerous position to the entire satisfaction
of the Great Liberal Party, to which during those
ten y ears he did far more than yeoman's service—to
be eventually complimented by 365 members—one
for every day in the twelvemonth ! The duties de-
volving upon the ex-Whipper-in during all that pro-
tracted service of his to his party from 1850 to 1859
inclusively, required, as the noble Chairman at
last night's banquet well observed in the speech in
which he proposed the toast of the evening, " re-
quired rare and distinguished qualities for its
efficient discharge—great courtesy of manner,
great soundness of judgment, great discrimi-
nation in dealing with men, great fidelity
in executing the instructions he might
receive." And of the brilliant success with which
those duties were discharged, the banquet of last
night afforded sufficiently distinct attestation.
That attestation, indeed, was visible yesterday at
Willis's Rooms in various ways—in the ample
gathering of the members of the Great Liberal
Party around the banquet table—in the fact
that the leader of the party, the Chairman of

the night, is still Prime Minister of England—in

the recollection of the recent triumph won by the
Party down at the House of Commons, that victory
fresh from which they had just come in full glow
and glory to this attractive and deeply interesting
party demonstration.

THE CBURCII-RATE DI VISION.

Al, .r......

The importance of this division may be estimated
by the fact that 551 members voted, being just 50
more than voted on the second reading last year.
when there was also a great increase on the pre-
vious votes. It is also 90 more than voted on the
third reading last year. This is exclusive of the list
of pairs, the publication of which will show still
further to what an extent the opinion of the House
of Commons has been elicited upon this subject.
The great efforts made by the Conservative
party are attested by the fact that they brought
up 32 more votes than on the second reading
last year; notwithstanding which, and the loss
of several Liberal voters at recent elections, the
Abolitionists were - abler to nearly double their
majority on the third reading last year.

DEFACING COIN.