The Sun.
London, England, 1828-05-29 00:00:00

'THE PITT CLUB.

, Yesterday, at the City of London Tavern, was
celebrated the anniversary of the Birth of the late
Right Hon. William Pitt About three htindred
Noblemen and, 'Gentlemen, Meiribdre of the Pitt
Club, dined together) dna so highly tiistinguighed a
eintipaily has perhaps never been assembled on a
similar occasion. The entertainment commenced
about seven o'clock. Lord Skelmersdale presided.
Amongst those present were— .
The Duke of Wellington, the Earl of Eldon, Earl
Bathurst, the Marquis of Chandos, np., the Eatl of
Harewood, the Earl of Aberdeen, the Earl of Glasgow,
Lord Kenyon, Lord Rolle, the Right Honourable Henry
Goulburn, M.P., the Right Hon. J. C. Retries, M.P.,
the Right Hon. Sir George Henry Rose, M.P., the Melt
Hon. Sir George Hill, Bart. M.P., the Honourable Lloyd
Kenyon, the Hon. Edward Cast, M.P., the Honourable J.
Townsend, Ar.P., Sir T. S. Geoch, Bart., M.P., Sir
J. D. Astley, Bart., M.P., Sir G. H. Smythe, Batt.,
M.P., Sir Thomas Lethbridge, Bart,' M.P., Sir John
Gibbons, Bart., Sir Thomas Hesketh, Bart.; • Sir R. M.
Vaughan, M.P., Sir James Wimstom, Henry Bankes,
Esq., M.P., J. Taylor, Esq., Alexander Fraser, Esq.,
John Stuart, Esq., Henry Stuart, Esq„ Charles' Kerr,
Esq., Mr. Alderman Farehrotlier, Rev. Dr. Bulwer,
William Grant, Esq., William Higgins, Esq., General
Peachey, M.P., G. H. Sumner, Esq., Thomas Greene,
Esq., M.P., Quintin Dick, Esq., M.P., Thomas Warden,
Esq., M.P., John Capel, Esq., M.P., George Moore,
Esq., M P., Charles Ross, Esq., M.P., Hugh Dick, Esq.,
M.P., Colonel Conyers, Rev. C. Blieke, Admiral Sir E.
Harvey, K.C.8., M.P., Col. Strutt, M.P., Captain G. P.
Rose, M.P., John Innes, Esq., General Scott, David
'Clark, Esq., Lieut.-General Sir M. Nightingale, K.C.8.,
M.P., Colonel Wood, M.P., R. A..Dundas, Esq. M.P.,
Eneas Darkly, Esq., Henry Shank, Esq., John Fairlie,
Esq., William Sawbridge, Esq., John Dodson, Esq.,
D.C.L., W. B. Collender, Esq., Lieutenant-Colonel
Tyrrell, W. R. Cartwright, Esq. M.P., John Round;
Esq., J. A. Houhlon, Esq., R. S. Wells, Esq., Heath-
cote, Esq., Sir Jolan Mortlock, Sir John Chetwpde, Bort.,
Sir George Docket; Bart., Sir Wm. Foullis, Bait., George
Bankes, Esq. M.P., Henry' Winehester, EN., Major
Wood, Rev. Henry Foulis, Rev. C. Tyrrell, Sir John
Tyrrell, Bart., Sir• Robert Gunning, Bart., R.B. Cooper,
Esq. M.P., W. Vaughan, Esq., Colonel Vaughan, R. P.'
Glynn, Esq.

A Military Band 'played at intervals during the
entertainment, and the vocal department was bus-
tained with the usual ability by Messrs. Broadhurst,
Charles Taylor, Hawes, Golden, Leete, and King.
On the removal of the cloth, Lord SICELMERS,-
DALE said, the first toast I shall have to propose is
one which, as good subjects and loyal subjects, I
have no doubt you will receive and drink with those
honours to which it is entitled : " The King."—
Three times three. (Great applause.) Air, " God
save the King."
The CRAIRMAN-4 now beg to give you, with
three times three, the health of " The Duke of
Clarence, and the other Branches of the Royal Fa-
mily." Drank accordingly. Air, " Hail, Star of
Brunswick."

The CHAIRMAN--The period of two-and-twenty
years which has elapsed since the death of Mr. Pitt
has been one of the most eventful that history re-
cords ; but to dwell upon that period, in addressing a
company, every one of whom must be as well acquaint-
ed with them as I am, would, I should conceive, be ex-
tremely ill-judged. It is well known to all of you,
Gentlemen, that Mr. Pitt was called to the Coun-
cils of his King at a very early period of life, and
that while maturing a plan for• putting the finances
of this country upon a footing that could not
have failed ultimately to raise it to the highest pin-
nacle of greatness at home and abroad, a war broke.
out between us and France. It is not for me to de-
tail to you the circumstances of that war. Mr. Pitt
was then Prime Minister, and I need scarcely re-
mind yen that he had no trifling difficulties to con-
tend with, and that he did contend against them
with signal success. At the time he assumed the
direction of his Majesty's Councils, he found the
army in a state of disorganization. Ido net mean
that disorganization which proceeds from any want
of personal courage—for the bravery of British
soldiers is what no man in his•senses will be dis-
posed to doubt; but, I say, that in all the arrange-
ments which tend to render a national army formi-
dable to the enemies of its country, he found it de-
plorably inefficient.. ,With these difficulties he strug-
gled, and finally, by his efforts, they were overcome,
until at length the army corning into the hands of
his late Royal Highness the Duke of York—(Great
applause)—it was brought into a state fit to be
commanded by the greatest Captain of the age—the
Noble Duke who now sits near me.—(Continued ap-
plause.)—Mr. Pitt had not the good fortune to live
long enough to witness the effects of his own exer-
tions; he died the victim of ill-health brought on by the
mortification he sustained at seeing the weak and
faithless conduct of our Allies. He had not, I say,
the good fortune to witness the results which ensued
upon the wisdom of his councils; and the blow which
the country sustained at his death, was followed up
not long after, by the serious illness of his late most
Gracious Majesty George 111. Happily the mantle
of that Monarch fell upon his son the Prince Regent,
and he, with a knowledge of human nature that was
most striking, and with that true love of his country,
of which there could not at any time be the slightest
doubt—(Applause)—with that acuteness of intel-
lect, for which all who ever approached him must
have strongly felt—chose Lord Liverpool for his
Prime Minister, and intrusted a high command in
his army to the Duke of Wellington. (Applause.)
Under such auspices, it was impossible but that the
affairs of the nation should prosper, and they did
prosper accordingly. The fame and success of our
army, it was well known, went on increasing. No
one who remembers the Peninsular war, but also
remembers how victorious were our arms in every
general action, until their- triumph was consummated
in the field of Wateimo. (Applause.) You must
feel, Gentlemen, that I have great difficulty and
reluctance in touching upon these subjects in the
presence ci one who took so distinguished a part in
the e.ecurrences to which I allude; but he has so
distinguished himself, and it is his own acts by
which the eulogium which I am pronouncing are
brought upon him. Ido not step out of my way.for
the purpose, and it is therefore no fault of mine.
I feel, gentlemen, that I should depart from the line
which my duty prescribes were I to occupy any
more of your attention with truths so obvious arid
so generally admitted, that it would be almost idle,
under any circumstances, to attempt to enforce them
—still more idle and impertinent would it be, under
cireurnstanees like the present, when the fact of your
• presence here amounts to the full admission of them
and affords their best confirmation. -I now propose
to you " the Memory of the late Right Hon. Wm.
Pitt—three times three."--(Great applause.)
The next toast was, " The Navy and Army of the
United Kingdom—three times three."
The CHAIRMAN then proposed " The House of
Brunswick, and may they never forget the principles
which placed them upon the Throne of these
Realms. Upon which great applause ensued.
When it had nearly subsided,- Lord Eldon cried,
,g Once more," and the cheers were enthusiastically
renewed.

The CHAIRMAN—The manner in which you •re-
ceived the last toast convinces me that neither you,
nor the House of Brunswick, will ever forget the
principles which seated the Illustrious Family upon
the Throne, and therefore I can easily anticipate
with what degree of satisfaction you will receive the
next toast, which it is my duty to propose to you,
namely, " The Protestant Ascendancy." (Drunk
with immense applause.)
The CHAIRMAN—I must now crave your in-
dulgence for a few minutes, while I propose to you
the health of his Majesty's Ministers. At the last
meeting of this Club, the Government of this
country was entrusted to hands, of which the pre-
sent company, I believe, did not altogether approve,
in whom, at least, they did not place implicit faith.
On this subject I wish not to dilate much further,
and I trust you will excuse me, when you recollect
that the then head of that Administration was my
early and private friend, and though my differences
from him on political subjects were strong and de-
cided, they certainly were not of a character to dis-

;

Solve personal friendship. - Under those memo-
Stances, I trust you will feel I am not .called upon to
enter into invidibus coinparigtiog.. I, shall there-
fore pass to triore agreeable topics--the present
cdisstitution of the Ding's Government; a Govern=
riled, I will say, possessing fidt only the coif=
fiflence df this Club, but of the natidil tit large.
When I ded dt its head the Noble Dtike who led thtf
armies of England vlctotiously over a great part of
the Continent, where they met acid Otertarnt some
of the most highly disciplined troops in the Art:kid,
how can I doubt that they possess that confidence
And how can I fur a moment doubt that that confi-
dence is well bestowed, when I see on my right
hand a member of that Government, a Noble Earl
bred up in the school of Pitt, venerating his cha-
racter and inheriting his principles ? Again, can. I
doubt that that confidence is well bestowed, when I
know that there is also included ivitluA the present
Cabinet such a man as the present Secretary of
State for the Home Department—who, I am in.,
strutted to say, Would hate felt great pleasure in
being here on the present occasion, had he not been
unavoidably prevented—one who, young as he is,
has performed many and great public services, and
were they confined to the simplification and conso-
lidation of the criminal law, be would have been
eminently' entitled to the gratitude of his country ?
Also my- belief in the existence and excellent foun-
dation of that confidence Is increased, when I see
at this table the Noble Earl, the Chancellor of the
Duchy of Lancaster—when also, we have such a
Chancellor of the Exchequer—one who, when he
was Minister for Ireland, conciliated that country as
far as it was possible for any person to conciliate it.
There is likewise the Master of the Mint. With
such men, who can doubt its principle, or who is
there can avoid hoping success. The Noble Duke
now placed at its head, has by this time most pro-
bably discovered that peace and quiet are not syno-
nimous terms, but I trust the time is not distant'
when -by his aid, we shall enjoy not only peace
abroad but quiet at home, and 1 sincerely- trust that
he will be enabled to apply the leisure which the,
pacific condition of Europe now permits, to that do-
mestic •pacification of which we are now so much
in want.

The health of his Majesty's Ministers was then
drunk with long and reiterated cheering.
The Duke of WELLINGTON—I beg leave, Gen-
tlemen, on my own behalf, and that of my colleagues,
to return you my most warm and grateful thanks for
the manner in which our names have been received,
and to assure you, gentlemen, that it is our wish, a'
it will be our duty, so,to conduct ourselves as to
merit your approbation. In contemplating the life
of that great man, whose character and fame it is
the business of this day to commemorate, I catinet
but observe, that his principles were the principles
of the Constitution, and that the history of his life,
when examined, proves to be nothing less than the
application of those principles to the interest and
benefit of the country, and that every act of that life
tended to defend the Constitution and the world
from the misery with which at that time it was
threatened and assailed. Then, Gentlemen, with
perfect sincerity I can assure you that it is my inten-
tion, and that of my Noble and Right Honourable
Colleagues, to uphold those principles, and through,
as we trust, their successful operation, to promote
the security, prosperity, and happiness of the country.
Times and circumstances may change, but I trust
at no time, and under no circumstances, will his
Majesty ever be in a situation where he may not
find men from whom he may select servants capable
and willing to imitate that great man whose memory
we are assembled to honour--(Loud applause)—
and though we be now placed in circumstances far
different from those in which he stood, I hope that
my Noble Colleagues and myself may venture to
pursue the course that in similar circumstances he
would have preferred, and to follow those principles
of which he has set us so noble an example. (Long
and continued cheering.)

The CHAIRMAN said that the toast he had next to
propose to them was one to which the speech they
had just heard from the Noble Duke was an admir-
able preface. The toast was—" May the principles
of Pitt always animate the councils of Great Eli-
tain."—Drunk with the usual honours and much
applause.
The CHAlRMAN—Gentlemen, the next toast is
one which you will think standing, but in silence.
It is—" The memory of his late Royal Highness the
Duke of York."—Drunk accordingly.

The CHAIRMAN—The task which I have now to
perform is one most grateful to my feelings—it is
to propose the health of an early Friend to the Pitt
Club—one to whom it is under many obligations--
one to whom the country at large is under many
obligations, as well for his conduct as a Peer, and a.•
a Member of his Majesty's Government, as for the
exercise of his talents and learning as a Judge in the
Court of Chancery. (Applause.) I now propose to
you the health of the Earl of Eldon.--Drank with
three times three.

Lord ELDON—I really, my Lords and Gentle-
men, feel extremely embarrassed in attempting to
give adequate expression to the feelings which have
been excited in my breast by the very gracious man-
ner in which you have been pleased to receive the
mention of my name. I was an early Member of
this Club, and as long as life is spared to. me I shall
feel it my duty to attend its meetings. For twenty-
two years have I been a member. I have been so
for various reasons. First, I recollected the per-
sonal gratitude excited in my breast by the kindness
of that great man, whose fame and principles it is
our object to perpetuate. I attended these meetings
not only because I thought it my duty as an indivi-
dual, but because I thought it a duty imposed on
me as a member of that great society on which Mr.
Pitt had conferred such lasting benefits. I attended
them also for another reason: I conceive that meet-
ings of this kind are of great public benefit; for not
only do they keep alive certain political principles,
but they transmit the sentiments of the generation
which is passing away to that which is rising into
existence. They excite in young men a feeling of
sympathy with their seniors, and impart to youth
somewhat of the experience of age. Can any man
whose heart beats with attachment to his country,
attend a meeting such as this, without being con-
scious that generous and really patriotic sentiments
find their best organ and depository in an Associa-
tion such as the present ? It is upon principles such
as these that I solemnly declare my intention, so
long as God gives me life and strength, never to be
absent from your meetings. Having now said all,
and perhaps more than was sufficient, respecting
myself, I will try to make a single observation or
two respecting the illustrious individual whose me-
mory we are assembled to honour. No man had a
more intimate acquaintance . with his political senti-
ments than I had. And I should be wanting in
truth, did I not assure you that one great difficulty
which he always bad to contend with, was, to con-
vince himself that he was bound in duty to put those
restrictions upon civil liberty, by which alone that
liberty could be saved, in the times when he lived.
There was one great principle of the English Con-
stitution which this nation had the good sense to
submit to, but that was one which he had the utmost
reluctance in proposing to Parliament, namely, the
suspension of our liberties for a time, in order that we
might keep them forever. I now speak to many indivi-
duals who are hardly old enough to remember of
their own knowledge, the occurrences which took
the
order fulness
that
place in this country, and in Europe generally, from
1788 to 1798. And I consider it 4, great misfor-
elir'n. I❑ doing
misfor-
tune that they are not sufficiently remembered. It
present company,
was in that period that he and the other friends of
civil and religious liberty took upon themselves,
through evil and good report, the heavy responsi-
atotbhhtfi 1
this,
s this
ft,
ry
se
eomdpf
toeei
freedom
mesa
whichppi
of
fhn ndt
dei
ae
bi
ygt
ot forrspht
rcaeot
assures
country
nsr. belt rr;
preserved
brief
enjoys,fre
ove r e reio%
solelyinfluenced
by considerations of duty; and that had similar oc-
casions arisen in after times, we should have fear-
lessly pursued a similar course. During that great
struggle I professed myself, as I do now, to be

inertly the humble dise4fe of that great Man
though in common with him and others of my sone-
rion, I was exposed during the period of which t
speak, to every species of abuse. But; I trust film.
those. civil and religious, rights which we were then
Instrumental in sustaining, may flour.ish so long
this martin, exists'. In the observations which I
have now submitted to you, you will perceive I have
bee' merely applying• myself to the past sittiation
of the country. But to speak more immediately of
its present situution, I would say that, never did any
&lan more eordially join than I do, in an earnest hope,
that fliffigs are now settled upon a satisfactory basis,,
that confident:it and hope will be restored to every
friend of the Constitution, that all will yet be right,
and Great Britain becaue what she ought to be.
The Noble Earl here' sat ;lown amid loud cheers,
which had accompanied the who'?-e of his speech.
The CHAIRMAN then proposed the health of a dis-
tinguished member of 'the Club, the 'Dulse of Wel-
lington.—Drunk with three times three, wl!lh great
applause.
The Duke of WEELINGTON—In offering to you;
my warmest thanks for the highly gratifying manner
in which you have been pleased to receive the toast
lust proposed by my• Noble Friend, I assure yOu I
have felt highly honoured by the favourable reception
which has at all times awaited me in this Club ; and
I can follow up the promise of frequent attendance
made by another Noble Friend on my left, by saying
that I shall have great pleasure in being present at
your meetings as frequently as my other avociitions
will permit. I now beg leave to call your attention
to a point on which I expect the fullest Sympathy
throughout the meeting. I allude to the obligations
we are under to the Noble Lord who has so ably
presided over the present entertainment—who has
conducted himself in that chair with so much talent,
and who has evinced through a long political coif, se
unshaken attachment to the principles of Pitt. It
now only remain!, fOr me to propose the health of our
worthy President.
Drank with three times three.
Lord SRELMERSDALE was unable to express the
feelings of gratitude with which he was impressed,
for the flattering manner in which his health had been
proposed by. his Noble Friend, and received by the
company: His Noble Friend had done him but
justice in saying, that he had long been attached to
the principles of the late Mr. Pitt. He had now
been thirty-three years in public lire. At the outset
he admired the principles of Mr, Pitt; he adopted
them, and he had never yet dissented or flinched from
them. In fact, for the want of a better phrase, he
was an old Tory—(Loud cheering.) His father was
a Tory before him, and he held his princis as it
were hereditarily. Let him, however, guard hitz,self
against being misunderstood when he used the ex-
pression old Tory. He was not a primitive Tory,
and he knew not that he could better explain himself
than by having recourse to a definition given by a
late Learned Gentleman who was some authority in
such matters. The late Dr. Shipley on being asked
what was a Tory, tZ.'plied that he was a moderate
Whig,
o
Whig of 1688—(Hear, ii7)—but en being asked
utterly"tha impossible stwa a m
modern n
to say
mltaato Whig
that it was
were.—(A
laugh, and hear.) But let him be a Tory o:f a whig,
or whatever he might, he returned them his ,•.ineeie
thanks, and begged to propose to them as a toasi!--
The health of the Earl of Harewood.—(Cheers.)
The Earl of HAnEwoon returned many thanks
for the manner in which his health had been re-
ceived. The last time he had the pleasure of ad-
dressing them, it was observed that he must be a,
very fastidious man indeed, who could not find
among the then Administration a peron in whom
he could safely place confidence, and yet he !lelieved
that the Club was fastidious enough not to place
great confidence in that Government. And he
thought that circumstances which had since occur-
red fay warranted the sentiments then entertained*.
As to the present Administration, lie would say but
one word. He looked with great confidence to the
enlightened views and straight forward dealing of
the Noble Duke at its head. -He would say, as his
own private opinion, that he considered that distin-
guished individual placed in circumstances of great
difficulty. lint he sincerely trusted, that an efficient
and united AdministratiOn would, crown his efforts
for the publiegood.
The next toast was; " The Duke of Athol and
the Pitt Club of Scotland."
The Earl of GLASGOW returned thanks.
The next toast was, " Lord Kenyon and the Pitt
Club of Wales."

His Lordship, in returning thanks, said he had
great pleasure in noticing the favourable mention of
the Pitt Club of Wales, the more especially as the,
Principality sent into their body many distinguished
members—Anglesea, Comhermere, and Picton.
The CHAIRMAN then proposed, " The Lauded
and Commercial Interests, and may they be for ever
united."

The Earl of ELIoN—I was a lawyer for many
years, though I have for some time ceased practice.
Still I may venture to give an opinion, that twenty-
two years undisturbed possession constitutes some-
thing like a legal title. Now there is one toast, the
pleasure of giving which has been my exclusive pro-
perty for twenty-two years, and I shall not allow
pTehto uictyorn topa then y Pitt
olen Csluebp
any other person to propose it until you tell me
must not do so. The toast is, " Prosperity and
per
:::ated, after an evening
spent apparently to their entire satisfaction.

ness yesterday at the Foreign-office, Downing:street,
I The Marquis DE PALMELLA transacted (nisi -
In consequence of the expected resignation of
the Aldermanic Gown by Sir R. C. GLYN, Bart., iu the
Ward of Bishopsgate, D. W. ManyEy, Esq. M.P. for
Colchester, has been solicited by the inhabitants of the
Ward to offer himself a Candidate to succeed Sir R. C.
GLYN, should he resign.
THE YORK
.THEATRICAL
York, onTuesday last, the present engagement of Mr. DOWNE.
being nearly expired, the theatres on this circuit, com-
prising York, Hull, Leeds, Wakefield, and Doncaster,
were let for the term of seven years, from the first of July
next.--The candidates who sent in tenders were four in
number. A Mr. CUMMINS, who had bid 1,2801, per
annum, was declared the successful candidate. The lessee'
it is stated, is to deposit 3501. bearing interest,
and to
enter into a bond of 3,0001. with sureties, to pay the !'cutquarterly, to pay a sum for the use. of the scenery, and td
keep the theatres in repair.—The York theatre is subject
'to thirty-three and the Hull to forty-two free acni.siou
tickets, and also to considerable privileges to Mr. Wit
KINSON and his family. A night's clear receipt at York,
it is said, may amount to upwards of 1501. ; at Hull, 24.0/.
at Leeds, 100/. ; at Wakefield, 701. ; and at Doncaster,
110/. The rent lately paid for the theatres in this circuit.
(exclusive of a reat of 100/. per annum, paid to the cot -
poration of Doncaster, for the use of the theatre there) has
been 1280/. per annum.—The bidding of Mr. CUMMINF
was 50/. above the highest of his competitors.—Hull
Packet.
THE WEATHER.--Yesterday forenoon this
y
and continued to do so during the day, and us
somethattorrents,
parts of the suburbs large hailstones fell. Precisely
at welve o'clock, a most vivid flash was instantaneously
tfho ocsevae dt
reb.y a
Tthreemeel
electric
fluidncela theshookic r:
houseei e every house
ltdh-epn
Mr. WoonitousP., a Dissenting l
ace,
utterly demolishing the wooden spout that descended from
the roof beside the kitchen window, broke a few panes of
glass, and providentially did no further injury. The
window consists of a large lead light,'with a casement in
it, which was open at the time. Several of the children
were in the kitchen, and Mrs. W. herself at the table
immediately inside the window, in the act of cleaning
some highly polished tins ! She declares that she saw
" the ball," and that the " sparks.' flew all over the
kitchen among the children ! This must, however, be a
mistake, for a boy engaged at Mr. KELuy's marble works,
about 300 yards off, protests that he must have swallowed,
the ball, from the taste of brimstone in his mouth ; and as
soon as he recovered from the astounding effects f the
shock, he ran off home as fast as his legs could carry him,
and would insist upon having a dose of salts to work off
the thunder ball ! ! All the neighbours agree in saying that
there
that
discharge of cannon,—Ches-
g
asetenoonakepaanniesd
the
estron sulphureous smell like
ter Courant.
wwhiascha