The Sun.
London, England, 1828-05-30 00:00:00

PURITY OF ELECTION.

On Wednesday the electors of Aylesbury cele-
brated the anniversary of the election of Lord Nugent
on independent principles, by a dinner, which took
place in the County Hall at Aylesbury, and was
very respectably attended. The banners were the
same which had been displayed on previous occa-
sions of the same nature, with the exception of one
which was new, and bore the following inscription :
" Reform of Parliament, Freedom to the slave, and
to all British subjects the privileges of the Consti-
tution."
The CHAIR was taken by Mr. WING, to whose
right and left sat Lord Nugent, Sir F. Burdett, Mr.
A. Dawson, M.P., Mr. Bickford, M.P., Sir R. Wil-
liams, Bart., M.P., Mr. P. Thomson, M.P., Mr.
Canning (cif Foxcote), the Rev. Mr. Atthow, &s'.
The number of electors present was upwards of 170.
After dinner, the following toasts were proposed
from the chair, and drank with the usual forms:—
c' The King, and may ;me never forget ;his Awn decla-
ration, that the Crown is brief tin trust for the benett of the
people."
" The people, the only source of legitimate powt r."
" Prosperity and a free choice to Aylesbury."
The Rev. Mr. Arritow proposed the health of
Lord Nugent, which was drank with three times
three, and continued applause.
Lord NUGENT would not attempt to express what
he felt at the manner in which his constituents had
drank his health. They would have known him
long and well to very little purpose, if they ex-
pected any particular declarations from him on that
head. On many accounts he might with the great-
est truth declare, that this was the proudest anni-
versary meeting which the electors of Aylesbury had
witnessed. He said it was their proudest anniver-
sary, and he wished he could also say it was the
happiest ; hut he felt a weight at his heart when he
looked at the chair (however ably occupied), and
remembered whom they had lost since their last
meeting. (Hear.) Heaven knew he believed there
was not a public principle on which poor Sir George
Lee and himself differed; yet he (Sir G. Lee) was
even more unwearied, unchanged, and steady in his
private friendship, than in the support whisch he gave
to his political conduct. His voice, which they
would never listen to again, was never heard in that
place but breathing the accents of kindness, charity,
and benevolence,—never but to counsel peace where
peace was attainable, or encleavourinr, to smooth
asperities when they arose in minds less gracious
than his. (Great applause.) He would not dwell
longer on a subject so very painful to his feelings.
He considered, as he bad before observed, that this
day was the proudest anniversary of the triumph of
the electors of Aylesbury. Sine.? they had last met,
great events had occurred. When they assembled!
twelve months ago, he certainly expected, and the
country had a right to expect, important results from
the Ministry then existing. The character of the
individuals who formed that Administration, and cer-
tainly not less that of the men who opposed it, en-'
titled the people of England to expect considerable
benefit from it. The master mind which framed
that Government was now no more ; and though he
believed there was riot a man breathing who felt on
many great subjects, and for many years, more de-
kidedly or diametrically opposed to bir. Canning
than he hat:, yet when he looked at the peaky of his
latter year,--at the pressing events and circum.
stances of the times, and the line of conduct which
he tad pursued respocting them,--every feeling of
public hostility (and he never entertaineranny other)
was sunk a thousand fathom deep, and adoa:ration
supplied their place.--(Appiause.)-1-le recollekAA
that, from the moment when Mr. Canning eman-
cipated himself from the thraldom of the party which
was unworthy of his talents,--from the crirent he
raised himself to.a situation in which he could wed
the power aiid energies of the country, he instantly
employed that power, and those energies. for the
purpose of brooking the foreign ,eonfederacyl'l which
England was shackled, and setting her once more
upon that
high ground which she ought always to
have maintained. He found England a second or
third rate power, reduced so by the iniquity
.of his
predecessor, and he restored her to the rank of ale .
first, (Applause.) When, too, he remembered thatin
the 04irst year of his administration, Air. Cawing •
endeavout:ed to extend the blessing of
political
liberty to b0t.21 hemispheres of the world, he envied
not the head ot• the heart of the man who could
withhold his regret, for Mr. Canning 's untimely
death. (Hear, hear.) With respect to the present
Administration, he had little, ..t.-nr in fact nothing, to
he did not
say, and for the best of all possiblerea:s"s.'
,4, `rs were
happen to know who the present Almost.. •
(Laughter and applause.) He was not in the sePt7"
He did not know, nor, lie believed, did any one else,
W ho wa, at the bead of the Government. Speaking as
a person who did not affect to see far below the

' surface of things, he might say that the country
found it difficult to repose confidence in mem who
had no confidence in themselves, or in agreeing with
men who could. not agree with each other.—
(Cheers.)—How could it be expected that people
would place confidence in men who unanimously
opposed the repeal of the Test and Corporation Acts
in the House of Commons ; but who, when com-
pelled by the rising public spirit of the country, sup-
ported the repeal of them ..with equal unanimity in
the other House of Parliament?—(Great applause.)
—lt appeared impossible to agree with men who
upon the East Retford question voted, one half of
them one way, and the other half another, having
broken faith with their colleagues. The point to
which he ha,l last alluded reminded him that a great
and glorious triumph had been gained this year—a
triumph which had added another ray of glory to
the brilliant halo which had for centuries surrounded
the immortal name of Russell.--(Applause.)—The
Test aml:Corporation Acts had been repealed—those
beautiful tO bulwarks" *as they were called by per-
sons who were actuated by a Very different spirit
front that which animated the Rev.. Gent. who that

evening honoured the Meeting with his presence.
If the Protestant Dissenters felt that they owed any
gfriatitude to the principle which had emancipated
t em, let them not waste their time in empty thanks
to those who had fought the great battle, but let
them endeavour to apply the principle which had
procured their ameliorated condition to working out
the emancipation of others. He supported the Ca-
tholic claims, because he considered them founded
on truth, and clear demonstrable and unquestionable
justice. Moreover, he gave his aid to the cause, be-
cause he conceived the settlement of the Catholic
question to be essential to public security. It was
inevitable, that sooner.or later the question would
work its way and be carried. The first gun that
was fired under the English flag would be the signal
for doing justice to Q,000,000 of people.—(Ap-
plause.) The petitions against religious liberty were
not agreed:to 'at public meetings. Last year a public
meeting was convened for that purpose in. that
county. He had the happiness of attending it, and
could witness that the persons composing it did not
separate until they had voted that Magna Charta
was a Protestant statute, and that Alfred the Great
was a Protestant Sovereign of the Church of Eng-
land as by law established. (Laughter.) It was
fortunate that when men met for the purpose of
sanctioning injustice, they could not separate with-
out recording a little of their own absurdity: It
had been said that the Dissenters were. disposed
basely to crave for liberty for themselves, and to
deny it to others. He believed that to be a ca-
lumny against the Dissenters. When, again, it was
asserted that the Catholic cause was unpopular with

the people generally, he replied that he did not be-
lieve it. The Noble Lord concluded by proposing
" A full, fair, and free representation of the people
of England in the Commons House of Parliament."
(Cheers.)
Lord NUGENT then proposed the health of the
Chairman, who, he said, had kindly consented to
take the Chair in the absence of that valued friend
of liberty, Mr. John Smith, who was suffering under
illness.

The CHAIRMAN briefly returned thanks, and pro-
posed " The health of Mr. Rickford," which was
received with very great applause.

Mr. RlcKFoßD.reitirnetitlanks.

The next toast was, " Sir F. Burdett, and the
Electors of Westminster, who first set the example
to England of free and pure election." It was drank
with great approbation.

Sir F. BURDETT rose amidst acclamations which
for a few seconds prevented him from addressing the
assembly. He had presented himself to the meeting
in order • to prOpose a toast, which fortunately was
of a nature which rendered it unnecessary for him to
introduce it by an address of any length. The toast
was this :—" The memory of John Hampden." It
was impossible to add anything to a toast like that.
The history of Hampden must ever be present to
the minds of his countrymen. A great historian,

though he believed not the most accurate, who wrote
of those times, Lord Clarendon, shortly but well de-
scribed the character of Hampden in these words :
--a, The Name of John Hampden is great and con-
spicuous—no addition can be made to it without
taking front that reverence and respect which the
pronouncing of it simply and unadorned with title
ever inspires." The historian further said,—" he
was a man who had a head to conceive, a heart to try,
it hand to execute any purpose." Clarendon, they
knew, was a courtly historian, and if he had added
on. word pore to his description, the portrait of
Hampden woulsi, he thought, have been complete.
He should Piave said, not "any purpose," but, "any
noble purpose."--(Applause.) He believed that
that great man was susceptible of fear of only one •
kind—the fear of doing injustice.—(Applause.) He
now begged to thank the meeting for the compliment
they had paid him.—(Cheers.) A feeling of inde-
pendence seemed now to be awakened amongst elec-
tors generally, and he trusted they would exert
themselves to secure their object. The Hon. Bart.
concluded with proposing the "Committee who
cond wted Lord Nug,mt's election," which was drank.
Mr. GIBBS returned thanks? and took occasion to
propose the health of " Lady Nugent," which was
drank with gutbusiasm.
Lord NuGF:yr thanked the company for the com-
pliment which they paid his lady. He had, he
said, found her in their neighbourhood, where she
had long resided, and knew Low to appreciate the
kindness which they showed to her husband.

Mr. CANNING (of Foxcote) rose to propose a
toast; but before doing so, he begged to be allowed
to avail himself of that opportunity, to express to
his Lordship, and the other Members of Parliament
present, the grateful thanks of a British Catholic,
for their attempts to remove from the body to which
he belonged, the• ;pains and disabilities which, in
consequence of what beeopsidered unjust laws, were
imposed on thero,—(AppJaPse,)'Some persons
professed to be ignorant of what the Catholics' be-
ef was, and had called upon them to ,declare their
religious lenetg. The Catholic bishops had made and
published a stoement of what their belief was, and
to that 'they refereed as proving that they supported
no 'doctrine hostile to the allegiance due to the
C;own or to the Civil InAtit,ations of the country.
To frte truth of that deelaratiQ the Catholics
offered to pLedge their character and their oaths.
But it was said, .they were not bound by tivir
It was singular, however, that the oaths of
Catholics were taken in all the occurrences of life.
Persons did not hesitate to .truct their fortunes and
their lives to them as ,ittrora. They Were permitted
to sit upon and decide tithe causes ,without any oh-
iection from Reverend Gentlemen whaze Ot,erests
Were inv9.lved in them, and who were always suf-
ficiently alive ,tothose interests.—(Cheers.)—Those
who imputed to tip. Catholics that they
sameawere not
bound by their oaths, -knew
their conscientious regard for
as theot
barrier between them and the possessi,tiiw,the time
only
_on
of
that
power.
Were it for that, Catholics might to-rilorrow
walk into Parliamept, be eligible- to fill all die
offices of state. AnozhsT objection raised against
_te_r
the Catholics was, that t I
.:•,eligion was inimical
to civil liberty. If be thought th 4 were so, he
would say immediaely `` perish every idea o;
But the objc:lionwas entirely ground-,
less.—(Applause.)—lt vas said that it was danger-
ous to trust Catholics with politic:A Po'Wer. Ireland
furnished a praotical pi-kW to the,contrary,CGr there
the great body of the peopie, who were Catholics,
possessed the important privilege of ieturning
hers to Parliament —a privilege which they had'
nobly ,exercised on the last general election.'
With respect to the question of parliamentary re-
form, which had already beet) so ably discussed, lie
would merely declare, that 11.9. 114c1 ever beets the
firm and steady friend of that pleasure. If there
existed no other argument in favour of reform, the
proceedings that had taken place with respect to
East Retford would be a conclusive one. A more
gr;;.ss and scandalous job than the withholding of the
eleefiVo fi-ioclite from a great town like Birming-
ham, and 44,,,,4.,Ffr; it into the hands of three or four

Peers, had r.ever been proposed to Parliament.—
(Loud applause.)—lt was an evident attempt to
augment the power of the oligarchical junta, which
alike infringed the privileges of the Crown and the
liberties of the people.—(Applause.)—The gentle-.
man concluded by proposing as a toast " Lord
land, Lord J. Russell, and Mr. J. Smith, and thanks
to them for their exertions to effect the repeal of the
Test and Corporation Acts."
Lerd NUGENT-then, after a--short but feeling and
appropriate address, proposed " The charitable and
sacred Memory of Sir George Lee," which was
drank in silence.

The Noble Lord then proposed " the Health of
Sirß.Williams, as his oldest friend, and the staunch
and invariable friend of reform and civil and religi-
ons liberty in Parliament."
Sir R. •
WILLIAMS 'shortly returned artiks.
The next toast was, " Mr. P. Thomson and the
Reformers of Dover."
Mr. THOMSON returned thanks.

The CHAIRMAN then proposed " thehealth of Mr.
A. Dawson and prosperity to Ireland," which was
drank with three times three.

Mr. DAwsoN felt proud to have his name associat-
ed with the great object mentioned in the toast. The
prosperity of Ireland depended on the extension to
that country of the principles of civil liberty., Al-
though it might appear but remotely connected with
the immediate object of the meeting, yet as it was
connected with the toast just proposed, he hoped he
might be permitted to argue a little upon the Ca-
tholic Question. That was usually termed Catholic
Emancipation ; but in plain language it substan-
tially amounted to this—ought or ought not the
Legislature of Great Britain, in the present circum-
stances of the empire, to allow of the admissibility
of Catholics into both Houses of Parliament? The
principal objections against it were two-Ist, That
it would endanger the established Protestant Church;
2d, That it would disturb the ascendancy of Pro-
testantism in the Legislature as established at the
Revolution in 1688. With respect to the first
objection, he could see no danger whatever in
the present circumstances of the Government and
of society ; for if the admissibility of Catholics into
both Houses of Parliament could have injured
Protestantism, it would have done so in the first 150
years after the Reformation,during which period from
the reign of Henry VIII., down to the 29th of Charles
11., there was no law to exclude Catholics from
either House. With respect to the second objection,
that it would disturb the Constitution as settled at the
Revolution is true that in the time of Charles 11.,
whose Protestantism was doubtful, and whose heir
presumptive, afterwards James 11., was an avowed
Catholic, it might have been a matter of prudence,
under the then circumstances of the times, and af-
terwards at the Revolution, when the Pretender
was a Catholic, it might have been prudent to ex-
chide- Catholics from Parliament, and establish, net
only a Protestant King, and a Protestant succession,
but a House of Lords and a House of Commons
exclusively Protestant ; yet surely, when the circum-
stances hare long since ceased to exist which ren-
dered such exclusion a measure of political pru-
dence, this exclusion should now cease, and there
can now be no danger to the Constitution, with a
Protestant King and a Protestant succession, with
a House of Lords essentially but not exclusively
Protestant, and a House of Commons, essentially,
but not exclusively Protestant. Do not be fright-
ened with the bugbear of the Pope : his power in
Ireland is merely nominal—he receives no revenue
from it : lie appears, indeed, to appoint the Bishops,
but they are really elected by themselves—they re-
turn him three names, and he must appoint the first
name upon the list ; if he refused, remonstrances
would be made, and he must eventually approve the
first name upon the return. And he begged to re-
mind them, that it was an exclusively Catholic Par-
liament under Alfred appointed the trial by jury; it
as an exclusively Catholic Parliament extorted
Magna Charta from King John, and passed the sta-
tute of provisory against the encroachments of the
See of Rome, in the reign of Edward I. After
some further observations, which were received with
considerable applause, the lion. Member resumed
his seat.—The meeting then broke up.

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