The Sun.
London, England, 1842-12-17 00:00:00

PRESENTATION of the PORTRAIT
OF G. WILBRAHAM, ESQ., TO LADY
ANNE WILBRAHAM. ,

(Abridged from the Chester Chronicle)
Wednesday last was the day appointed for the pre-
sentation of the portrait of George Wilbrahani, Esq.,
late M.P., for South Cheshire, to Lady Anne Wil-
braham. The artist is Sir M. A. Shee, R.A. ;. and
the frame was designed and supplied by. Mr. Hig-
ginson' of Middlewich. The inscription on the frame
is as follows

" To THE LADY ANNE WILDRAHAM.—This portrait
of George Wilbraham, Esq., of Delamere llouse,
is presented by his supporters and friends in the
county of Chester, as a memorial of their gratitude
for the zeal and ability with which he advocated
their interests, and in admiration of the integrity
and manly independence which characterised his
political conduct during the ten years he repre-
sented them in the House of Parliament.—Dec.
14, 1842."

At three o'clock the subscribers and friends pro-
ceeded to the large Assembly-room, where the picture
was placed ; and Lady Anne and Mr. Wilbraham and
Lord Robert Grosvenor were received with loud
cheering. When it had subsided,
Lord ROBERT GROSVENOR said,—Lady Anne Wil •
braham, in the name of the subscribers, admirers of
Mr. Wilbraham's conduct as well in public life during
a lengthened political career, and in the performance
of those less conspicuous, though not less valuable
duties of a Magistrate, neighbour, and friend, the
pleasing duty devolves upon me of presenting this
portrait of Mr. Wilbraham to Voll.—(Cheers.) I
trust you will do us the honour to accept it, and to
preserve it as a testimonial of the estimation in which
Mr. Wilbraham is held, and as a pleasing reminis-
cence, that when he retires from the toils of public
life—an event, I hope, that will be long delayed—
(Cheers)—it may also prove a spur to active exertions
in the same memorable and useful cause, in those
who are destined to succeed him.—(Loud cheers.)
Lady ANNE WILBRAHAM, who was much affected,
in accepting the portrait, said—Lord Robert Grosve-
nor, I have not words in which to express r 1 thanks.
I hope you will believe how truly grateful I feel for
this proof of your regard and approbation of the poli-
tical conduct of Mr. Wilbraham, while he was your
4,representative.—(Cheers.)
Mr. WILBRAHAM then came forward, and was re-
ceived with the most hearty cheering. lie Said he
should be sorry if this presentation passed over with-
out giving him the opportunity of thanking-them for
their kind attendance on this occasion, when this
splendid testimonial was presented to:•his family.
This present to his family was double. acceptable—
first, because the idea had first originated with. the
respectable yeomanry in the neighbourhood of Sand-
bach, and had been carried out by the aid of many
in a more humble station of life, and whose trifling
donations he was more proud of, than if out of their
abundance they had been able to afford larger con-
tributions ;• secondly, because it was presented by a
Nobleman with whom he had always had almost an
entire identity of political sentiment, and who stood
in that room as the representative of a family which
had always known how to combine what is due to its
high rank and station with the rights and liberties of
the humblest individual.— (Loud cheers.) Another
reason came nearer to his heart—because they had
presented the gift to a lady whose kindness and affec-
tion constituted the happiness of his domestic life.—
(Loud cheers)—and who had ever sympathised with
every change in his political fortune.—(Loud cheers.)
DINNER TO MR. WILBRAHAM. •
At five o'clock above two hundred sat down to a
sumptuous dinner at the Royal Hotel Assembly-room.
Lord Robert Grosvenor, M.P., was the President;
and had the able support of the following gentlemen
as Vice-Presidents :—Colonel Tomkinson, Clement
Swettenham, Esq., R. J. Congreve, Esq., J. Skerratt,
Esq., and E. Worthington, Esq. Mr. Wilbraham sat
on the right of Lord Robert Grosvenor, and Lord
Crewe on the left. In the immediate vicinity of the
Chair we observed Sir R. Bulkelcy, M.P., Colonel
Biddulph, Shakespeare Phillips, Esq., E. J. Lloyd,
Esq., G. Wilbraham, jun., Esq., G. Wynch, Esq.,
J. Finchett-Maddock, Esq., Dr. Williamson; R. G.
Temple, Esq., J. Pickford, Esq., &e.
After the usual loyal toasts,
The CHAIRMAN, in proposing - the, Army and
Navy," could not permit the occasion,to pass without
alluding to the splendid achievements of our arms in
the East, where our gallant army and navy had nobly
shed a lustre on their country. He wished to couple
with the toast a mighty name belonging to no party,
because it was the property of every party and also
the property of the country—the Duke of Wellington
—(Loud cheers)--a warrior who, though he acted
with a party, had show
its trammels. shown himself incapable of wearing

soldiers be."
Glee—" How merrily we live who
The Noble CHAIRMAN would congratulate the
meeting on the progress of the principles held by his
honourable friend and themselves during the last year.
—(Loud cheers.) Notwithstanding
the untoward
events of last election, there was no abatement of the
zeal of their friends,
and he had letters from Lord
n, r. J. Mostyn, Sir J. Broughton, m E J Stanley, Mr.
Lloyd Mostyn, and many other gentlemen of influ-
ence in the county, some of whom were absent from
domestic affliction, some from business, and other
previous engagements, but all of them declaring their
unabated confidence in Mr. Wilbraham, and the
great principles he has always honestly, supported.—
(Cheers.) And not only that, but their determina-
tion to support him if he thought proper to come
forward at next election.—(Greatwas no need of special pleading in this case. There
were no unredeemed pledges
thbeaapcpcloauusnet.e)d there
(Great cheering.) There were no unhappy confes-
sionsre
of proressed "farmers' friends" to be apologised
His friend was not loud in pro-
misef for.—(Laughter.) r. —a(nLd a u g
silenthte i. )
perform..
to
--(Cheers.) He had not to
apologise to his supporters for having permitted him-
self to be dragged through the mud.—(Cheers and
laughter.) lie would be ashamed of himself were he
to have to find excuses for such conduct. During a
Parliamentary career of many years he had pursued
a conscientious, a consistent, and to crown all, a
manly course, which entitled him to the entire confi-
dence of his constituents and the country.—(Loud
cheers) He had three times—he might say four
times, in the course of eight or nine years, stood for-
ward to give the electors the opportunity of recording
their adherence to the great principles held by
his friend, and by this great and respect-
able assembly.—(Loud cheers.) These principles
were imperishable, because they were founded
on truth and justice—(Cheers)—and if they had re-
cently been only partially developed, it had been be-
cause they had been fostered by unwilling hands. Who
could have predicted last year, with the loss of candi-
date
of the
cn
after
can do achieveddr bya wa
at. el , suchnd
a great moral triumph as
had been forcing
Peel to the abandon-
mentthe adoption of his new
leunclhdd be
epeoxseed exceeding
sliding scale ? The subject was extremely tempting,
a
enter upon it, but he
feltnd
thath e
washe v
the limits of a chair-
man's duties, and would therefore leave it to his Hon.
Friend. He would now beg to propose the health of
m
George Wilbraham, Esq. The toast was given with
loud-long-continued, and frequently renewed applause
Mr. WI naAnAm on rising was received with pro-
longed cheering. He said, the events of that day, a
day 'memorable to him, had made so strong an impres-
sion on his mind, had so thoroughly absorbed all his
thought and feelings, that he might well stand excused,
if in answer to this last compliment he merely expressed
his grateful thanks for the high honour ; but when he
recollected the relative position in 'which he had so
long stood with respect to the representation of this
county, he felt that he should not be doing justice to
his own feelings if he did not revert to some of the
topics of the day. They had lost the services of a
Ministry which had at one time, and most justly, en-
joyed the full confidence of the country on account of
its principles, and attachment to civil and religious
liberty ; but which had given way to the expressed
voice of the country ; why, he would not say—whe-
ther for any fault of its own, or for any mismanage-
ment, or from a versatility of disposition in the peo-
ple, who having obtained great and important mea-
sures from one party, were now anxious to get all
they could from another. He had given the late Mi-
nistry his confidence, not because he thought it always
right, for he had often expressed by his votes his dis-
sent from its measures ; but because he had the fullest
reliance on its principles, and knowing the honourable
public character of the men composing it—(Hear,
hear)—and also knowing the public character of the
men opposing it, he did not think it was likely to be
succeeded by a Government willing or capable of
rendering greater services to the country.—(Hear.)
Look to the characters of the present men in power.
The Duke of Wellington, the ornament of that or any
other Administration : be and all other public men
must always look with respect on his services, whe-
ther as a warrior, a diplomatist, or
sin the civil charac-
-1 ter of statesman, he was at all times manly and
straightforward.—(Hear.) To Sir It. Peel he was
at all times willing to concede all those high qualifi-
cations for public life his friends so liberally gave him
credit for : he was a man cognisant of the business of
office ; industrious, indefatigable, and versed in the
practical part of the business of Government, and
clever in debate. He would not throw a shadow of
imputation upon his character; but if they were to
look for that high character for consistency—for
those high and consistent qualifications which ought
to be the characteristics of a British statesman, they
might indeed look—but they looked in vain.—(Hear.)
At a former period of his political life, he remembered
him being, in an adjoining county, feasted and compli-
mented by the exclusive party, and being also the
idol of the clergy and of all those who resisted to the
Utmost all concessions to the Roman Catholics, or the
Dissenters; yet within three months of the time,
when an oak had been planted with,inuch display, as
an emblem of the radical firmness of his principles in
resisting civil and religious freedom to his equally
loyal fellow-subjects, and before that tree could bud

forth its shoots, he astounded his party by bringing
into Parliament a measure, with all the weight of the
Government of which he was a member, giving
greater concessions than -had even been imagined, or
proposed by Fox.—(Hear.) He did not say Sir R.
Peel was wrong ; for on that occasion he gave him his
warmest support. He did not blame him, he again
said ; but where was that great principle of con-
sistency they had a right to expect from statesmen?—
(Hear.) Let them look to what had been done in
the last session of Parliament.—(Hear.) The ma-
jority had been sent, in order to keep every thing in
Church nd State as it existed. They recollected
the declarations against change which were
made on the hustings, and the principles upon which
the present Government was raised to power. What
had passed induced them to suppose that their views,
like the Delphic oracle, might he read another way.
With respect to corn the antagonist party railed not
only against a fixed duty, but against any, even the
slightest change being made in the law as it then ex-
isted.—(Hear.) The first thing the Government did
was to throw the existing Corn-laws overboard.—
(Hear.) He did not say that the Government was
wronm ; but again he asked, where was that high
principle for consistency which alone can be the
ground and justification for confidence in statesmen ?
—(Hear.) Would any man at that board or else-
where tell him that Sir R. Peel, supported as he was
by a monopolist majority, and placed in power on
monopolist principles—would any man tell him that
he would not go down to Parliament in Fe-
bruary next with measures for a further ex-
tension of free trade ?—(Hear.) Those could hardly
answer for him who had witnessed the see-sawing of
the last session ; at one time relying for support upon
some of the most ultra free-traders, and at another,
when he saw the danger of being out-voted, falling
back upon his own party.—(Hear.) Of other gentle-
men, members of the present Administration, he spoke
with reluctance. He had known them as the greatest
advocates of the principles they now most virulently
opposed.—(Hear.) He did not blame a man for
Changing his way of thinking upon any great point
of national policy. He might possibly have learned
by experience that his former, opinions had been
hastily formed, and his conclusions practically wrong.
But he who from disappointed hopes, from personal
resentment, Or from the meaner motive of acquiring
place or Flower, deserts the political friends to whom
he had always been attached, and transfers his alle-
giance to what he had always been in active oppo-
sition, might well expect that the world would
note the change with incredulity and derision ;
nor could he have the right to complain.—(Hear.)
He would now take the opportunity of stating his
opinions first, on;the'Corn-law ; next, on the Tariff;
and thirdly, on the Income-tax. He was not one of
those who thought that the stagnation of trade and
the existing distress were traceable to the Corn-laws
only ; he thought other causes had been in operation,
such'as the state of the American markets and the finan-
cial derangements of that country ; another cause was,
the competition of foreign countries. Only two years
since a motion had been made in Parliament by Mr.
Villiers, for inquiry into the state of the manufactur-
ing districts, and how the existing distress had been
influenced by our commercial legislation, having a
direct reference to the Corn-laws. He voted for that
motion.—(Hear.) From that moment he knew his
fate was sealed—for it was represented to the. farmers,
that because he had voted for that inquiry, he was
their enemy, and that vote was made the pretence
for organising an effective opposition to him. But of
all the votes he had given that was the one he had the
least repented.—(Loud cheers.) With respect to the
Corn-laws he had come to this conclusion, that to
make the trade in corn safe, for honest and prudent
men to engage in with confidence, the means of
easier and more extensive exchanges, that the food
of man should no longer be the subject of gam-
bling and speculation—that this is the first, distinct,
intelligible measure a statesman should now propose.
—(Loud cheers.) But in itself this would. not be
sufficient to place our manufacturing system in a
perfectly satisfactory state. He had told them he
did not ascribe the whole evils that now affected our
manufactures and commerce to the Corn-law; but
he would not hesitate to repeal that law, the prin-
ciple of which was the sliding scale—(Loud and con-
tinued cries of "Hear. hear")—as a necessary mea-
sure towards effecting the salvation of the country.
He said that, as a country gentleman, connected
with land, all his property being in land, and all his
prejudices iu favour of land. He had always been
the advocate of, and contended for a fixed duty; but
he would rather the law was repealed without a
fixed duty, than the present abominable, oppressive,
and tyrannical system should continue.—(Loud
cheers.) tWith respect to the Tariff, it was a mixture
of. good and evil; excellent in theory, but bad in
practice.—(llear, hear.) The speech of Sir Robert
Peel, in introducing this measure, had abounded
with excellent declarations of ultra-Liberal policy ;
but it had been well said, that the assertion
of great. principles had been followed by a
little measure.—(Hear, hear.) The measure ex-
cluded two of the most important articles of
consumption, affecting the comforts of the la-
bouring classes—corn and sugar. It had done nothing
for commerce; six hostile tariffs had been provoked
in one short. year.—(Hear.) With respect to the In-
come-tax,'he consideredlit unprecedented under the
circumstances, uncalled for, and tyrannical.—(Loud
cheers.) Any man who, even in theory, approved of
such a tax as this, was prepared to support a despotic
Government.—(Hear.) The feelings and prejudices
of Englishmen were decidedly contrary to it.—(Hear.)
It would be a waste of time to show how it operated
—how the professional man, whose income was de•
rived from his daily labour, had to pay as much as
he (Mr. W.) who had an income from land worth 30
years' purchase. But one argument that was much
resorted to, was that it did not affect the poor. That
might be true as respected the immediate operation ;
but no tax could more materially touch them by an
indirect process.—(Bear.) The wages of labour
were upheld and paid by the profits of capital; but
if the last were reduced by the Income-tax, it W2S
clear that the means of employment were diminished.
They were told that this tax was to last only three
rears. lie was incredulous on that point.—(Hear.)
"'hat was, a question, however, to be decided by Par-
liament—or rather, by Peel, for he was the Govern-
ment, the Parliament, and the State. But had they
confidence in the declarations ofia Minister of Finance?'
Age, Odell gave few advantages, at least brought ex-
periencfg. aHe .wps old enough to recollect this tax
being iaPotdlo.79Bt at the time when we had a re-
bellion ti Irel444,Mutiny tiethe Nore, and when an
04. • 6 • • , • -
army J-f) ;9qoafti"4i-On- the coast of France threat-
ened to tant;ilailf,il;,tilliit,i7, 'lie people under these
circumi ac:63 to an Income-tax,
and it 0004d:until the 'Peace- Of Amiens in 1801. It
was theh prOpoied to, renew it as a peace tax ; but Mr.
Addington, now Lord Sidmouth, said that as the war
was at an end, he could not, as an honest man, propose
that it should be continued, and it was consequently
repealed. War broke out again, and the tax was re-
imposed, and continued till peace was again established
by the valour of British arms.—(Cries of " Hear,
hear.") In 1816 Mr. Vansittart, the Finance Mi-
nister, proposed that that which was put on as a war
tax should be renewed as a peace-tax under certain
modifications ; under the plausible pretext of the
enormous expenses incurred at its close. He men-
tioned these things in order to show the little reliance
that can be placed in the declaration of finance mi-
nance ministers, when they are permitted to put a tax
On. His great objection to this tax, was that it was
arbitrary and inquisitorial.—(Hear.) He would read
.them the words or a celebrated man, once the pride
of his country, whose words were as manna—and
who was looked upon as the champion and defender
of the rights and liberties of the people—he meant
Lord Brougham. In 1822 speaking of the Income-
tax hesaid

—"Let the peOple profit by the experience of former
years. L
Income-tax
e-tae them
xt recollectiladbeeniiltr theodu manner inced,thealm 01Nhit.ch theimper-
ceptible
‘bhyadwhevicelni.
wait
11113,a,dbgercoomwne.upi.
deatndthtohsee
curse
Nwhich
e iets
who had groaned under that pernicious impost, be-
ware, now that they had got rid of it, how they
opened a door to its return. Let them judge if the
Chancellor of the Exchequer once gets his foot upon
that chosen ground, if he would abandon it, till he
drained it of their last shilling. if they had looked to
the returns of what the landed interest had paid, and
considered the many burdens with which they were
at present oppressed, it would be evident that such a
tax, however modified, would not be endured."— Times,
Feb. 18, 1822.
These were the opinions of Henry Brougham—
whether they were the opinions of the ox-Chancel-
lor, he would not venture to say.—(Hear.) lf he
saw good Aneasures from any quarter, he was not
so much bound up with party as to reject them,
because he did not or could not trust the men
proposing them.—(Flear, hear.) He would hail
any prospect of relief, come from where it might.
But look at every interest. Where were there the
least signs of that improvement, which Was pro-
mised to be the immediate results of Sir It. Peel's ac-
cession to power ? He would ask the landlords if their
rents were better paid—or did their mines, minerals,
and other property yield a better return? Can the
farmer better meet his engagements than two years
ago? Look at the state of the labouring population,
many of whz,ni were happy to obtain a place of mere
shelter. Were these the signs of returning prosper •
rity ? Had anything in reality been done for the coun-
try, or was there anything to hope for from the late
measures?—(Hear, hear.) But he did not despond.
He knew the great enterprise of Englishmen, and that,
with but little to encourage them, they would resort
to great activity. The manufacturing classes ought to
have the earnest attention of the Government; and he
should have thought that the great insurrection of the
present year, would have stimulated the Government
to pay more attention to their embarrassments. But
he might be permitted to ask in what respect was this

Government superior to the last in preserving the
peace of the country ? Some years since, at Bir.sning-
ham, the mob had possession of the town for four
hours, and some houses were burnt. They all recyl-
lected the inignant language of the Duke of Welling-
ton, who said that in all the course of bis campaigns
he never knew so much desolation caused in so short
a time. How different the feeling, when he looked at:
what occurred under his own administration,—(Hear.)
The mob had dominance--not four hours, but four-
teen days, and hundreds and thousands of marauders
were dispersed through the country levying cAntribu-
tions : our armies in France and Spain had never
more complete military occupation of a country
than these mobs had.—(Hear, hear.) The Govern-
meat was unequal to the protection of life, libertry
or property.—(Hear, hear.) It was to the mode-
ration of the people themselves that we were in-
debted fur our preservation ; and he gave great credit
to the military in disdaining to stain their swords with
the blood of their fellow subjects—they did not renew
the scene of Peterloo—not wanting the battle in the
town, or out of the town—(Hear)—and it was due to
their humanity that a stop was put to the g,reateit
servile insurrection since the days of Wat Tyler and
Jack Cade, without extensive bloodshed.—(Hear.)
After some further observations Mr. W. rebutted the
charge that the state of the country had been de-
scribed in terms of exaggeration. What was the
case ? The masters say that in consequence of re-
stricted commerce, they are obliged to lower wages
and press upon the poor men, or to throw up the
means of employment altogether. It was the duty of
the Government to strike at the root of the evil, and
by decisive legislation effect that change in our com-
merce, without which neither the condition of the peo-
ple nor the circumstances of the country could be raised.
On this point he would venture to make a prophecy
—that within a short space of time, the Corn-laws
would be repealed. They saw signs of this every day :
many who had supported those laws, and who observed
the signs of the times, admitted those laws were
doomed ; and, preferring place and power to being
consistent, they were prepared to repeal them.—
(Hear.) The Corn-laws will be repealed.in all their
obnoxious principles, and by Sir R. Peel; and he, as
on other occasions, will have the support of the
Liberals, who have always shown, with respect to
great principles, that they do not mind the man, so
that they can get the measures.—(Loud cries of
Hear, hear.) And Sir R. Peel in repealing the Corn-
laws, will have the support of the great body of
those country gentlemen who swore on the hustings
never to allow any Minister to touch the Corn-law,
Whig or Tory.—(Hear.) They have already violated
that declaration.— (Hear, hear.) They have done
much to save their favourite Minister. Let
them do more to save their country.—(Loud cheers.)
Mr. W. then briefly touched upon the foreign policy,
and demonstrated that though the present Govern-
ment had reviled the policy of their predecessors, yet
that they had been contented, now that they had suc-
ceeded to office, humbly and servilely to adopt it.
With respect to Lord Ashburton's treaty, it was all
surrender—surrender—surrender—(Hear)—and he
was afraid it was pregnant with great evils, and would
ultimately produce great misfortunes, and also that
war, its professed object was to avoid.—(Hear.) Mr.
W. next alluded to the attempts of Sir It. Peel in the
last session to deprive the people of • their right of
petition in the case of the Income-tax, as showing the
true feeling of Toryism as respects popular rights.
He next touched upon the recent appointments of
borough Magistrates, as reminding him of the dark
deeds of the reign of Charles 11. He mentioned in
contrast the conduct of Lord Grey's Government, of
which Sir J. Graham was a member, who, though the
great bulk of the Magistrates were Tory, had dis-
dained to swamp them by wholesale creations.—
(Hear.) He did not thus insult the County Ma-
gistracy. But now Sir J. Graham unblushingly
avowed that his object was to degrade the Liberal
Magistrates; and he designated the act as most
abominable and unconstitutional.—(Hear.) This
was the conduct of a man who once called himself a
Whig; and who would tell them, if they wished.
him, that though he had abandoned his party, he
had not deserted his principles.—(Great cheering.
Mr. W. thus continued—lie was not satisfied with
the present state of the law affecting representation.
There were grievous faults in the practice, as many
of the county electors were made to regard the vote
as their landlords, and many of the town constituen-
cies sold their franchise.—(Ylear.) He would mate-
rially extend the franchise—so that all classes com-
petent to its judicious and independent exercise should
enjoy it.—(Hear.) But though he thus declared him-
self a progressive and constitutional Reformer, yet he
was not prepared to adopt the crude theories of those
whose ultra views were put forth as the only panacea
for all the ills of our social and political state.—
(Hear.) If he could think that the points of the
Charter would ameliorate the condition of society,
and do away with the existing evils, then he
might view that measure with favour ; but it
was because he thought to the contrary—and that
those who were most warm and earnest, and most
honest in supporting that measure, would be the
greatest sufferers—he meant the operative classes
themselves ; because he believed that it would lower
down this great country to the very dust, and destroy
the people themselves, he had always opposed, and
always should oppose, views which he honestly re-
garded as chimerical and delusive.—(Cheers.) What
confidence could the varied interests of this country
place in a Chartist Government ? What confidence
'could foreign Powers place in it ?—(Hear.) If a
Parliament was constituted on the principles of the
Charter, the want of confidence would ruin all inter-
ests, and fall most heavily upon those who are the
dependent classes—(Hear)—and commerce would
necessarily be kept unsettled, and without the
slightest chance of being legislated for, so as to give
prosperity to . the people.—(Hear.) One of the re-
sults of these extreme views would be to do away with
the national debt; and he might be permitted to say,
that it would be equally honest to do away with all
debts whatever, and individual liabilities.— (Hear.)
The debt was a sacred charge incurred to save the
State and our liberties; and its spoliation ought not
to be countenanced.—(Cheers.) There were many
other topics upon which he might have addressed
them, but time would not permit. " I deny not that
I have been a party man ; but a most disinterested
one ; and I defy any one in this company, or in any
other, to say that I ever sacrificed my principles to
any party. I could not be so blind as not to foresee
the issue of the late contest; for when a large Whig
interest joined the Tories and threw themselves into
the arms of their former opponents, it was in vain to
expect that I, who had no numerous squadrons of
mounted tenantry to follow me, who trusted wholly
to the independent voices of the people, could con-
tend against such an array with any chance of suc-
cess.—(Hear, hear.) I however fought the battle to
satisfy my 'riends, and, if I fell, 1 fell in a good
cause, and I preferred falling as I did, in company
with a Morpeth, than to retain the most perma-
nent seat in Parliament by the sacrifice and abandon-
ment of any of those great principles which first re-
commended me to your notice—(Loud cheering.)
He had now endeavoured to explain what the prin-
ciples were on which he had been guided, and he had
also in reverting to the measures of the present day,
shown what his decision would have been had he been
in Parliament; and he ,appealed for their verdict, but
that verdict had been given before he had pleaded his
cause.—(Hear.) He thanked them for the patience
with which they had listened to him— aud also for
the active services they had rendered in the hour of
conflict—and he promised them, that on any occasion
when his services might be required, he would lose
no opportunity of supporting and vindicating their
rights.—(Loud cheers.)
given, after which the
Many other toasts were then
company separated at a late hour.

GREAT LEA---GUEFuND.SO,OOOI.—A cheering in-
stance of the growing zeal for the success of the fund
occurred in Little Bolton the other day. The Com-
mittee appointed to canvass Eastward, called in one
instance, upon an old schoolmaster, who stated that
his receipts had fallen off, during the last few years,
more than twenty shillings a week, and he was sorry
he really had no money to give them. But, turning
to his wife, he said, " Kitty, go up stairs (into such
a drawer) and bring down the old Queen Anne's
crown piece, which was thy brother's." The old
lady trotted up stairs, and speedily returned with the
coin in question, which she handed over most cheer-
fully, although she said it had been in the family up-
wards of forty years. The old couple made the col-
lectors heartily welcome to it, bade them " God
speed" in their benevolent work, and they went on
their way deeply struck with this noble trait of self-
denial and unassuming zeal, which puts to utter shame
the comparatively paltry contributions of more pre-
tending repealers.—Bolton Free Press.
The late favourable summer season, which has not
been equalled for many years, was so productive to
the Watermen's steam-boats on the river, and the
number of passengers carried so far exceeded that of
all former years, that at their recent annual meeting,
it was stated that the net profit for the past year
would enable them to declare a dividend of 15 per
cent. ; hut as they intended to build additional boats
to meet the increasing traffic on the river, it was
agreed upon to declare a dividend of 10 per cent., to
be paid forthwith, to lay by a reserved fund of 1,0001.,
and to present a donation of 50 guineas to the Wa-
termen and Lightermen's Almshouses, making in all
100 guineas which they have presented to that ex-
cellent institution. A very handsome iron steam-
boat, to be called -Waterman No. 8, is now ready for
launching at Messrs. Ditchburn and Mare's factory at
Blackwall. She is to be fitted up with two engines of
16-horse power each, with machinery and boilers on
an improved system by Messrs. Penn and Son, of
Greenwich, who have been so successful in fitting up
the numerous river steamers. The Watermen
steamers 9 and 10 are building, and will be ready in
t a few weeks. The same Company intend building
eight other steam-boats.