The Sun.
London, England, 1844-08-24 00:00:00

of defrauding the revenue by forging stamps—a
most fraudulent felony—and yet these men ware
only condemned to banish themselves from Scot-
land, and in a short time received a free pardon.
The sentence pronounced on Muir so astor;shed the
jury, that they met immediately after leaving the
court, and unanimously resolved to state to the judges
their opinion, that it was greatly beyond the crime of
which they had found him guilty; but some hot-
headed zealot having sent a letter to Mr. Gilbert
Innes, the chancellor of the jury, threatening him
with assassination for having concurred in the verdict,
it was impossible for the jury to proceed further. Of
this I was informed at the time by a near relation,
who was one of the jury, and a man of the most per-
fect truthfulness and character.—(Hear, hear.) The
extreme severity of the sentences made the deepest im-
pression on the public mind—induced a scrutiny
into the forms, proceedings, and powers of the Court
of Justiciary, and established a deep-rooted con-
viction of the necessity of genuine reform ; and
this has been attended with the happiest effects.—
(Cheers.) At the time of these trials every jury was
packed. The sheriff returned what persons he thought
proper as jurymen. The presiding judge selected
at his pleasure those who were to try the case. No
peremptory challenge of jurymen was permitted.
The Court of Justiciary had the power to sentence
every person, convicted of sedition, to any punish-
ment short of death. The Legislature has now done
away these vices of the system, under which the
martyrs were tried. Juries cannot cannot now be
packed. The presiding judge cannot select the
jurymen who are to try the case. Peremptory
challenge of jurymen is permitted. The Court of
Justiciary cannot inflict a heavier punishment for
ssdition than six months' imprisonment. And the
Legislature has determined that reforin' to the
strenuous advocacy of which the martyrs fell victims,
is the law of the land.—(Cheers.) It is thus esta-
blished, that no such trials as those in which our
friends suffered, can take place. Acts of similar
character, but greatly more offensive than those
they committed, are every day committed with
impunity. The liberty and rights of the
subject are now secured on a basis in-
finitely stronger than before, and every-
thing that has since taken place, proves the general
conviction that the sentences pronounced against them
were unjust, and the punishment inflicted most cruel
and indefensible.—(Great cheering.) We have now
determined to erect a monument in this city, which
shall proclaim to the world our conviction of these
truths—that we entertain profound respect for the
memories of the martyrs—and gratitude for the
benefits their patriotic zeal and sufferings have secured
to the country; and particularly shall proclaim our
anxious desire to impress upon all judges and. jury-
men,ac t ifthatthey
if theywish regard their
wo
beoraetshpes
respected,
dt,haourdc h
thea-
people to be satisfied with it, they will never allow
themselves to be swayed by fanciful theories of ex-
pediency, or of a supposed necessity of acting on a
" wholesome vigour beyond the law," but that in the
exercise of the sacred duties committed to them, they
will be guided by the law, and by nothing but the
law.—(Great cheering.)
The CHAIRMAN next gave " The Memory of Charles
James Fox." Every one who knew the services that
illustrious statesman had given to the liberties of the
people—all he did was for their interest. He (Sir
J. Craig) did not, however, propose his health on
account of his general exertions, but because of his
kind and strenuous exertions in support of those
martyrs which they were met, to commemorate.
The CHAIRMAN said—l have now to propose to
you the health of our guest, Mr. Hume.—(Great
cheering.) All men know the public service he has
rendered to the country during a long parliamentary
career—that he, while others waste the valuable
time of the House of Commons with declamatory
harangues, spoken to no purpose, exerted himself most
laboriously, and at a time when no man would have
undertaken it—in the system of finance. No man
who knows anything of the state of the country in
those days can be ignorant of the great and important
services which he rendered, and which far exceeded
those of any other Member of the House of Commons.
—(Cheers.) I cannot doubt but he has been the
saviour of millions to this country, and that had his
exertions been countenanced as they ought, it would
have greatly increased the number of those millions.
I do not on the present occasion confine his services
to what he did in that respect; it is particularly on
account of his having been the instigator of the
monuments which are in the course of being erected
here and in London.—(Cheers.) And in acknow-
ledgment of which, I think, one cannot do better than
now pass a resolution similar to what we passed at
the first meeting for the erection of the monument—
" Thanks to the originator of the movement for
erecting monuments to the martyrs in the cause of
parliamentary reform."—(Loud cheers.)
Mr. Hume, on rising to return thanks, was re-
ceived with loud cheers. He said—l can assure you
that I feel strongly the compliment you have now
paid me, but I feel it the more in as far as it marks a
union with that opinion which I have all along en-
tertained. When I see so many men with whom I
have had little or no intercourse concurring in an
opinion which I singly and at first entertained and
ventured to express, I cannot but feel myself flat-
tered at having that opinion, isolated and uncon-
nected with party as it originally was, reciprocated by
tphleotsee present, and
dntha(tc the efforts
sy which I so early
made should at this time of day meet with your co-
stated well the case of these unfortunate men, and stated
facts which bring together certain links which ap-
peared to have been lost. It is with peculiar pleasure
that I have the honour of onyourouirnyCitahtailornman h
this
occasion. occasion. It will be
recollectedof the
inhabitants that,
of more
this thany
twenty years ago, I was favoured with the opi-
nion of a large majority
in favour of the efforts I had made in the public
cause.—(Cheers.) It is with great satisfaction that I
look back to the period that intervened since that
time, and challenge any one to say where I for a
moment in my life did anything which showed a
retrograde movement.—(Cheers.) The zeal with
which I was influenced may have perhaps overborne
prudence on some occasions, but never in all my
attempts have I had any other object in view save the
general
doubt
are
the
prudence,eeowuhntorybl.—asi3onlecountry.—(Great
t c
were not acquainted with the extent n of tm
theey opinions
daily came before Ille•—(Cheers.) No man who has
not had the opportunities which I have had, and who
has availed himself thereof, can form an esti-
mate of the misery
and wretchedness which is pro-
duced by misgovernment. It is upon these principles
aloof I have stood ; and independent of party, yet in
strict accordance with
selfish motives—sett' aside•
principle—putting down all
mg all party spirit—and
looking alone to those great principles which lead to
the happiness of the whole people —(Cheers.) Your
Chairman has alluded to
and pence, is the' thae-ramm-tiotute.nrt of finance.
finaonrce.
thoseT in
The
great evil of government is finance. Pounds, shil-
lings,office— p
it is the whole source of misgovernment and
us
ai
bs
peoplete h, e
t he
objectthatba basest
oe
has
tasofrendered c
iobtainingti citizens.—(Hear,
e n
sb. y
—the
taxes( imaea the
u eh
other-
wiseear
pro-
perty e.
softi htelt is by minute attention'to the motives of individuals,
this harsh though
it we are induced to form opinion,
ae
it may be to the persons themselves. It is the result of
experience, and I have no hesitation in saying, that
could I place those h w ose character I have
often impugned in a situation
where they
would not be so influenced, I can have no
doubt their opinions would have been in accordance
with my own. But it is pounds, shillings, and pence,
which induces them to obtain the
power of taxing the
people,:and which constitutes the evil and great mis-
chief existing at the present day. If that is the
fundamental error of the present day, you need not
wonder though the reformers of earlier times resolved
to strike at the root of the evil. These are the •
prin-
ciples which induced me to attack the stronghold of
Toryism—the stronghold of corruption—and to en-
deavour to turn off the streams from the pockets of
those who were solely taken up about what they could
obtain, regardless of the evils which they entailed. I
concur with Lord Brougham, that we are driven to a
course of action by conscientious motives which we
cannot control, and happy is the man who in his exer-
tions looks straightforward to one great object—
that wl i;11 hills to the maintenance of the rights of
the people. If I have a merit, it is of having,
whether under Whig or Tory ruler, taken that
course which I thought likely to result in those
beneficial objects which I always advocated and
desired. This may be all very selfish, and so it is.
I have no hesitation in saying, that in acting thus I
pleased myself.—(Great laughter.) All calumny has
been fruitless in attempting to divert me from my
aim, though I have been frequently set up as the
target which all parties assailed. Notwithstanding, I
did all in my power to stop those rills which flowed
into the pockets of the sinecurists ; and es I meddled
with a nest of hornets, I could not but expect they
would assail me about the ears; and I may add,
that, whether in the civil service, or the Church, or
both, I always found ample field for reform.—
(Cheers.) But my opponents did not hate me as
Joseph Hume, but as a reformer.—(Hear.) I shall '
say nothing more of finance except mention the fact,
that seven millions of the public money is to this
day detained by the heads of several departments to
pay themselves, bending over the balance to Govern-
ment instead of detailing the various payments by
which that balance is made out. The Hon. Gentle-
man, after some further remarks, concluded by giving,
" Peace with France, America, and all the World."
Mr. MONTGOMERY BELL gave " The present
Judges of our Supreme Courts."
The Caoupieu proposed the health of the Chair-
man, which was briefly acknowledged by Sir James
Gibson Craig.
Among the other toasts which followed, were the
" Health of Earl Grey," by Mr. Muir--" The Lord

Provost and Magistrates," by Mr. John Richardson,
W.S.—and " The City Members," by Mr. Macfarlan.
The company broke up shortly after eight o'clock.

TBE BANQUET.

The banquet in the evening tOa place in the large
Waterloo-room, which was by eight o'clock com-
pletely fille3. Mr. Hume did not arrive till after
the proceedings were begun, having been detained at
the dinner. Mr. Dunlop, of Brockloch, wes, on the
motion of Dr. Purdie, called to the chair.

The' CHAIRMAN referred to the proceedings of the
day, and congratulated the meeting, that in this city
of palaces and monuments, they had now laid the
foundation of one monument, on whose pedestal
would be inscribed the motto of liberty, to mark
the progress which the principles of freedom were
acquiring as time went on. The act of justice
which had been that day done to the memory
of these early reformers -showed unequivocally
the determination of the present race of re-
formers not to allow the expression of their politi-
cal opinions to be put down by legal flaws and
forms, and to maintain and enforce with boldness the
principles held by the martyrs of the last century.—
(Cheers.) The Chairman went over some of the more
marked and expressive sentiments and prophetic
enunciations of the political martyrs—sentiments
which, so far from being the evidence of a criminal
disobedience to the law, were now believed in almost
universally by the people of this country. Posterity,
in fact, had given its verdict in favour of these princi-
ples, and they would maintain and defend these prin-
ciples even if another Braxfield should arise; although
he felt assured that Scotland would never again be
subject to the dictation of such a character.—(Cheers.)
The Rev. W. MARSHALL proposed the first senti-
ment—" The people, the sole element of national
greatness, and the only legitimate source of political
power."
The CHAIRMAN then introduced Mr. Hume, as the
long-tried and persevering champion of economy and
popular rights.
Mr. HOME was received with loud and continued
expressions of applause, and after briefly addressing
the meeting, proposed, as a sentiment, Honour to
the memory of Muir, Palmer, Gerrald, Skirving,
Margarot, &c., and their compatriots.
Mr. SKIRVING, Of Kirkaldy, (the son of one of the
martyrs) then addressed the meeting, whom he
thanked for the interest they had shown in the cause
of the reform struggle of 1793 and 1794, and for
their kind expressions towards those who had suffered
in connexion with it. Upwards of fifty years have now
elapsed since the reformers in this country associated
under the name of the " Friends of the People"—and
if we examine attentively the principles of these early
reformers, and take into view the history of reform
since these societies were suppressed by an arbitrary
power, we shall find that these associations, claiming
as the citizens of a free country individually—a voice
in the choice of their representatives—and the annual
exercise of that right showed that they formed just
ideas of representations, as that alone by which their
country could enjoy that political regeneration of
which they found her so much in need. And what
is the reason that we at this day, notwithstanding
the strength of the reformers' ranks, appear so far
from obtaining a free and full representation simply be-
cause as a body we have no fixed principle respecting
the extent to which the principle of representation ought
to be applied in order to secure effectually the liberty
of the subject on this point. At the period of which
I am now speaking I was a young man, indeed a
mere boy, but I have a distinct recollection of many
of those who distinguished themselves in the cause of
reform. And it has often struck me, in taking
a view of the characters of the leaders of that move-
ment, that perhaps on no occasion was there
ever such a number of men eminent alike for
their moral and religious worth, united for the attain-
ment of a popular right, all of them, with few exoep-
tions, being men who enjoyed the confidence of their fel-
low-citizens, being selected by them to manage their
affairs both of a religious and civil description. And
with regard to those whom you have this day pro-
nounced worthy to have their deeds commemorated by
a public monument, I would just remark, that their
political career affords the most incontestible proofs of
the purity of their motives, disinterested patriotism,
and unfeigned love of liberty. May the generous ef-
forts of the reformers of the present day to perpetuate
their sense of their worth, prove a stimulus to the pa-
triot, and a terror to the oppressor.—(Cheers.)
The Rev. Dr. RITCHIE spoke at some length to the
next sentiment, " Success to the principles for which
the martyrs suffered," and was followed by Mr.
Somers and Mr. C. G. Scott.

The Rev. P. BREWSTER, in a long speech, moved a
vote of thanks to Mr. Hume, and the other projectors
and contributors to the monument.

A vote of thanks having been moved to the Chair-
man, the meeting separated at half-past eleven o'clock.

SLAVERY.

The proceedings of the Glasgow Emancipation
Society, which held its annual meeting on the Ist of
August, bring out one or two points of considerable
interest.

We notice with some surprise that, after the strong
measure taken by this Society in relation to the re-
ception by the deputation of the Free Church in the
United States of slaveholder's money, the Committee
should have selected one of this very deputation,
whose conduct they so justly (as we think) disap-
proved (the Rev. Dr. Burns, of Paisley), to move the
adoption of their report. They pave the way for his
acceptance of this post, however, by a modification of
their report on the one hand, and by giving him free-
dom of speech on the other ; so that we have at length
a public defence, by a member of the deputation, of
the course which was pursued. That portion of Dr.
Burns's address which related to this subject we have
given entire, and our readers will be able to estimate
its worth. For ourselves, we remark principally the
Doctor's acknowledgment that neither himself nor his
companion, Dr. Cunninghame, was prepared for so
complete an identification of the churches with slavery
as in some instances they found ; and that, if the Free
Church were to send another deputation, they might
find it necessary to pursue a different course. It ap-
pears that a letter has been written by the Rev. Henry,
as Moderator of the Assembly of the Free Church,
intimating that the matter had been found surrounded
with difficulties, and that it had been referred to a
Committee. We trust that the Committee will act a
wise and salutary part.
At the same meeting the fact transpired to the pub-
lic that, on board one of the vessels of the British and
North American Mail Steam Packet Company, in
July last, a gentleman of colour was excluded from
the use of the saloon during the voyage, having paid
the full fare. It is certainly no enviable notoriety
that the Acadia and Captain Judkins have obtained
for themselves, by being the first to introduce into
English ships this piece of American insolence and
inhumanity. We are glad to find that a remon-
strance, signed by twenty-one saloon passengers on
board the Acadia, has been sent to the Directors of
the Company ; and we trust they will have good
sense and good feeling enough to put an immediate
step to so un-English, un-christian, and revolting a
practice. _

- A third point of much interest in the meeting we
are referring to, was the reference made by Mr.
George Thompson to the law for the abolition of
slavery in British India. He said he was not aware
that any slaves had actually acquired their freedom
under that law, and that measures ought to be taken
by abolition societies to induce the Government to
adopt measures for making it more fully known. We
entirely sympathise with Mr. Thompson's feelings on
this subject. The Committee of the British and Foreign
Anti-Slavery Society, in their deep anxiety in rela-
tion to it, have, on two occasions, sent out letters of
inquiry to their correspondents in India, soliciting
information ; and, from intelligence they have re-
ceived, they have reason to fear that the fact is, as
Mr. Thompson states it. It is clearly the duty of
' the Goverment, to cause this important law to be
translated into the vernacular languages of India,
and to be widely diffused among the population.
And, if some measures of this kind be not promptly
and effectually taken, it will be the duty of Anti-
slavery Societies to make representations by which
attention may be drawn to the subject. The British
people can never be satisfied that a law which they
hailed with so much delight should remain a dead
letter.—Anti-slavery Reporter.

THE CURE OF DISEASES THE
ONLY REMEDY for QUACKERY.
Let doctors treat diseases as they ought to be
treated, they will then cure their patients, and thus
put an end to all quackery. Medicine is a simple
science, which should, and can,
.be understood by all
persons. If Nature's laws are opposed (which it is
submitted they are, under the organic theory of the
faculty) all the learning and research in the world
will not enable doctors to cure diseases. So long as
poisons * are used as medicines, and useless visits
made upon the sick, the science of medicine will not
cease from being (what it ought never to have de-
scended to), viz., a trade! ! !
Issued by the British College of Heath, New-road,
London, for and on behalf of the body of Hygeists.
* Poisons have been introduced as medicines, in order
that the public should not attempt to cure their owu
diseases.

We are enabled to state that Messrs. Cobden,
Bright, and other members of the Anti-Corn-law League
intend visiting Plymouth in the course of a few vveeke.
—Plymouth Journal.
GORDON CASTLE.—The Duke and Duchess of
Richmond are at present entertaining a large circle of
friends at this magnificent seat, where his Grace has
just arrived from his shooting quarters. The following
are among those who are partaking of his Grace's hos-
pitality. The Earl of Uxbridge and the Ladies Con-
stance and Eleonora Paget, the Earl of March, Lord
and Lady Templemore, Colonel Rotton, Mr. Cox, Mr.
Roby. Mr. Russell, Mr. Ricardo, &c. The family circle
includes the Ladies Caroline, Augusta, and Cecelia
Gordon Lennox, and Lords George, henry, and Alex-
ander Lennox.