The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1838-04-20 00:00:00

ANNIVERSARY DINNER OF THE MANCHESTER
OPERATIVE CONSERVATIVE ASSOCIATIQN.

On Wednesday last this Association held its third Anniver-
sary in the large rontn at the Corn Exchange. Though

dinner of great magnitude, it was not to compare either in
magnificence, or in the number of its guests, with the dinner
at Salford; of the preceding evening. The large. room, capable
of seating. 1,000 persons, was very neatly ornamented with
blue and white calico. At the upper end was an elevated table,
at which sat the invited *pests. From this were nine cross
tables, the whole length of the room, each capable of admitting
about 70 people, which, with some short cross tables; made ac-
commodation for 800 persons, exclusive of the guests, which
number of tickets, we underitand, were sold. Mr. John Rid-
ley, the president of the association, occupied the chair, and
on his right and left sat the Marquis of Salisbury. Lord Maid-
stone, Sir Francis Burdett, Sir George Sinclair,. Wm. Garnett
Esq., the Rev. Oswald Serjeant, M.A. F.C.C., &c. &c., and
other gentlemen of distinction. Over the chairman's head was
hung a portrait of the Duke of York. (t either side of the
chairman's table were the splendid, flags of the South Lanca-
shire Conservative Association, and. the Ashton-under-Line
Conservative Association. It ou nd the room' were hung flags,
bearing various inscrifitions, as " Lord Maidstone, the de-
fender of honour and justice," " The Duke of Wellington, the
preserver of Europe;" " When. bad men
.combine, good men
must unite ;" "W. E. Gladstone;" " Mtinchester Operative
Conservative Association, established 1835;" Queen and Con-
stitution ;'' " A Conservative founds-his principles on his duty
to his neighbour, his country, and ' the King;" "With Peel
for our pilot' we'll weather the storm," and a number of other
flags. On the arrival of the distinguished guests, they were
each enthusiastically received.
The dinner, which was provided by Mr. Rutter, of the Prim-
rose Tavern, was plain and substantial.' A most excellent
company of glee singers were in attendance: As soon as the
dolt' La l 'been removed, " Nun Nobis Domine" was sung by

the company' standing. .
The CHA LIMAN. then briefly proposed the first toast, " The
health of the Duchess of Lancaster 47 with three times three.
Anthenr—" God save the Queen,' which was enthusiastically
sung. " The Queen Dowager and the rest of the Royal
Family,"' with three times three cheers.—Glee—" Hail Star of
Brunswick." " Our glorious Constitution in Church and
State, awl may they never be severed," with three times three
enthusiastic cheers. •' The Army and,Navv," with three times
three.' The' Chairman announced, that at six o'clock that
evening he 'had received a note from Sir George Murray,
stating, that-lie was so indisposed from an attack of influenza,
that he was unable to attend their festival that evening; conse-
quently they should be deprived of the power of his eloquence.
The CHAIRMAN said the next toast he had to propose was,
" The Warden and Fellows of Manchester," a more worthy
body of men could not exist. They were men who had ever
supported the conservative cause, and were ever ready to co-
operate and assist in any work which tended to the welfare of
their fellow men. (Cheers.) The toast was 'teen with three
times three. •
The Rev. OSWALD SERJEANT, one of the fellows, rose to
respond to the toast. He said, on behalf of the wardens and
clergy of Manchester, he begged leave to offer them his un-
feigned thanks for the truly gratifying mark of their esteem
• they had just received. Their favourable reception of their
names formed, he assured them, a most gratifying contrast to
those prevalent and malicious attacks upon their motives,
character, and conduct, with which modern times had rendered
them, together with the rest of their brethren, painfully
familiar. (Cheers.) It encouraged them to bear up with be-
coming fortitude, under the now admitted principle, of no en-
couragement to the protestant church and clergy—(hear and
cheers)—which he was sorry to say actuated. the sworn pro-
tectors of their rights and privileges. (Great cheering.) They
were not to b- encouraged, because they were opposed to cer-
tain schemes of the government. And why were they opposed
to these schemes? but because they regarded them as fraught
with consequences most detrimental to the -interests and in-
tegrity, and the stability of that venerable establishment which
they were solemnly engaged to defend, and whose welfare they
belteved to be essential'to the welfare of the community. (Loud
cheers.) The
sclergy of the Established Church were by no
means the advocates for the • continuance of any recognised
ahuses—(hear, hear)—they wouhl gl'Adly hail such improve-
ment in the church as might be safely and honestly carried
into effect, with the single view to an increase of its efficiency
—( hear, hear)—but they must entirely deprecate any reckless
and intemperate changes. They must, if they have any regard
for their own character, not meddle with those who were
given to such changes as would endanger the existence of the
church, and would tend to the confiscation of church' property,
and alter that to the unscrupulous approp•riaittn of every Other
species of property. (Cheers.) lie trusted he should not for-
feit their approbation, if he ventured to declare, in the name of
the clergy, that they were not prepared to relinquish the defence
of their church, neither to leave it to the tender mercies of whig
legislation—(loud and enthusiastic cheering)—to secure the
encouraging smiles of a government forgetful of duty, but tena-
cious of office,—(cheers)—willing to receive their confidence—
he would not say with the intention, but, considering the means
which they exercised, proceeding from their tortuous course—
with the moral certainty of betraying it. (Cheers.) He was
fully sensible that the clergy incurred the censure of some by
taking part in the proceedings of meetings like the present; but
were they therefore blameable? • (Loud cries of "no.") Were
they not, he would ask, solemnly bound to inculcate the great
d,ity of fearing God and honouring the Queen? (Great cheer-
ing.) And on seeing when that sacred duty was. widely and
utrhlushingly violated, were they justly blameable for making
c eximon cause with their brother operatives—(loud cries of
"No")—who were willing, he believed, if need were, to spend
and be spent in defence of the altar and the throne? (Loud
cheers.) He could have wished that the necessities of the tortes
had not required. the clergy to step, even for a brief sea Sou, from
the'quiet and unobtrusive pursuits of their ordinary ministerial
administrations; but it did appear to him, that the interests of
their revered establishments, at that critical juncture, would
not he consulted by timid coMproinises—(cheers)—or by un-.
hallowed concessions, but by a manly indePendent discharge
of their official duties, and by a fearless, yet temperate, defence
of their • acknowledged rights and privileges. (Cheers.) He
would fain hope that the cloud which had so tong dimmed their
ecclesiastical horizon, was how gradually passing away. He
would fain believe that they had already irraved the most inju-
rious storms of popular delusion ; that men were beginning to
take a dispassionate arid impartial estimate of the value of the
church establishment. (Hear, hear.) Judging by what he
saw around him, 'he-thought he' should not be chargeable with
any overweening presumption if. he ventured to entertain the,
eonviction„that the great majority of thinking.people of Eng-
land might yet, under God's blessing, return to their first love,
and might again. resolve, at the hazard of life and fortune, to
fulfil the sacred duty they owed to themselves,to their children,
to generations yet unknown, for the memory of past services to
maintain and inviolate the church of their forefathers. (Enthu-
siastic and prolonged cheering.) He would not longer detain
their. - (Loud cries of "go on.") Whatever might be the ulti-
mate destiny of the Church of England, he trusted that her
bishops and clergy would not disappoint the expectations of her
friends in any conflict she might yet be doomed to undergo.
(Hear. hear ) . He trusted they might. steadily pursue their
career of duty, whether for honour or diShonour, through evil
report or good report, regardless of she taunts of their enemies,
and dispersing the base rewards that might he held out to cleri-
cal apostacy. They would at least be stimulated and supported
in such a course by the glorious example of their predecessors
in days gone by—of those truly, Christian men who broke the
iron grasp of papal tyranny—(cheers)—and sowed the first
.seeds of civil and religious freedom only to water them with
their, blood. (Cheers.) Of others, who, at a subsequent pe rind,
withstood the tyranny of the second James, when both parlia-
ment and people had submitted to his tyrannical mandates; and
thus stood unprotected that glorious constitution under whose
wings they were now „protected—no thanks to the whigs.
(Cheers.) They would be further-stimulated to pursue the on-
ward path of duty from the recollection that their conduct was
constantly watched by unrelenting adversaries, eager to. take
advantage of any oversight ; by the affection . and anxiety of
friends such as he then saw arourid. bins ; and above all, from
the all-seeing eye of that God who alone could direct a favour-
able issue. iu the contest in which they were then engaged.
(Hear. hear.) He begged leave to thank them for the honour
they had done the warden and clergy, and to drink their very
good healths.' The reverend gentleman sat down amidst most
enthusiastic cheering.
The CusramaN next proposed." the Duke of Wellington,
the preserver of Europe," with three times three, enthusiastic
cheers, -and one cheer more.
Sir Fes Nets BuRDETT rose, and was received with tremend-
ous cheering. He said—Gentlemen, I waited what I consider-
ed to be a reasonable time, under the expectation, that,, in all
'probability, there would be some gallant son of the army or
navy, whose health we have just drunk—some compliment
worthy of the Duke of Wellington, of which all his army was
wurtby, from the drum-boy to the general commanding the re-
giinents, with whom thegreat genjus'of that great man, not only
the greatest man of this great country, but the greatest man of
the age in which we live,•—might possibly have been here, and
might have had the satisfaction of gratifying his own feelings
in drinking this sentiment with respect to the Duke of Welling.-
ton, which we all equally feel, although we are nut all equally
capable tif appreciating. It 'appears to me, that I see such a
body of. Englishmen before me, exhibiting such true English
spirit and feeling as I have had-the satisfaction of seeing on no
public occasion • and L should not think that I did my duty as an
Englishman; if I did permit this toast to pass without such little
remark as the occasion of the moment might inspire me with.
{Cheers.) True, the task in one respect, is not difficult, since
we have only to express our common feelings on the subject.
At the same time; it is an insurmountable difficulty-if anything
is to be expected from any man which can add to the honour, of
the Doke. of Wellington (Cheers.) However, it happens,
that the great merits of the Duke of Wellington at the few ex-
hibitions of those great qualities with which he has been endow-
ed and displayed, and •with a devotion to his country so disin-
terested and so pure, that I will challenge all history to produce
a man, (let it even be. in the ancient times, or the much-vaunted
time of Greece .and Roman virtue, or in the no less truly de-
serving times of our own historical accounts,) that 1 defy the
world to produce, ancient or modern, so st raight forward, single-
minded, disinterested-a patriot, great in inteNect, as well as
clear in mind, exhibiting such disinterested qualities of firm-
ness as well as honesty of purpose., (Cheers.) -At the same
time this has been done with a degree of unpresurning modesty,
that one scarcely knows how to conceive possible, with the ne-
cessary consciousness of the immense powers, moral and intel-
lectual, which he must have-felt himself to have possessed, and
which no difficulties or dangers for an instant ever altered or''
embarraSsed. (Cheers.) But so it is, that the Duke of Wel-
lington seems to have been almost the only being living that
was not aware of his own transcendent merits. (Cheers.) For-
tunately and happily from the zeal and attachment of an officer,
Colonel Gurwond, who had done himself almost as much honour
as it is possible for man to derive, by the able instinct. and in-
dustry he has displayed in collecting Those. invaluable docuthents
that are called, " The despatches of the Duke of Wellington,"
and which embody for the instruction of all men that are called.
upon, and are destined-to serve their country not only such ex-
amples of wisdom and conduct, but of • pure disinterestedness,
regardlessnesa of himself, • and devotion' to, the service of his
country, that; in my mind-Places bins transcendently above all
the great men of whom history gives us any 'record.—(Cheers.)
Gentlemen, that book ought to be made a book to be studied
by you in all the schools in England; for it is worth all the
classics. I- wish extremely it may become a classic in- the
schools of those youth who .are destined to serve their country.
They have only to -study it well, to turn over its pages by day,
and:to meditate:by night, to see traced before them the true
path of glory, and the-true means 'of: serving their country.
That book should be inscribed with the memento to youth—
" From henceforward learn that virtue through labour, is the
road to honour:to-true patriotism, to the good of your country,
to.everlasting, renown."; I could tow avoid obtruding myself
for sonic little time. I have only the satisfaction, the-proud sa-
tisfaction to. feel,' what..you, as a satople:erfall
(cheers)—all those chords that have been touched upon, and

which I trust will it) tissolahly noire Its altogether in
,every rank
and degree in defence ;.t• that great country which the Duke of
Weliingtf,it lois 'served. and to render immortal that establish-
trent in cuorrh and constitution, which his effirts have pre.erv-
e.i t,i is. The honourable baronet sat down amidst the most
rapturous cheering.' •-
The CHAIRMAN said, the next toast on his list was " Lord
Lyndhurst and the douse of Peers." The toast was given with
three times three.
The Marquis of SALisßUi:y rose to respond to the toast, and
was relived with much cheering. 'He -should—humble indi-
vidual as he was in that house, the name of which they had just
received with so much enthusiasm, he telt great difficulty in pro-
perly returning them his thanks for the honour they had done
him. He most sincerely wished that the toast had-fallen into
abler hands. ("No.") It was some consolation to bon to
think that he was addressing an assembly, who by their pre-
sence there that night, and by the manner in which they had
received that toast, at once denied the calumnies which had.
been heaped on that body of men of whom he formed so insigni-
ficant a part. They had been accused of beinssutterly unworthy
of the age in .which they lived—of being utterly opposed to all
improvement—of having separated themselves front the rest or
the country; and they had been threatened in po measured
terms of being deprived of their hereditary privileges. If those
hereditary privileges which they enjoyed, were nut exercised to
the best of their judgement for the benefit of their country, they
should deserve to be deprived of them. (Cheers.) And let it
be recollected that they were utterly powerless unlesS supported
by the people. - (Continued cheerio;;.) It was --true that thev
had the power for a•titne, to suspend any measure which they
inightdeein injurious to the country; exercised it and should
continue to exercise it. (GheersS) They would believe hint
that if there had been on any occasion errors-in their conduct,
they had been errors of judgement, and not errors of the heart.
Their interests were intimately connected with the interests 'of
the rest of their fellow subjects; , their habits were the same:.
they enjoyed the souse blessings as did their fellow subjects, and
probably, if by some distinguished Merits of their ancestors they
had been raised to the proud situation which they held, that
situation, thank God, in this country was open to every man let
hint but be distinguished; in whatever career of life he was, he
would surely rise and receive that !need of honour which he de-
served. ((Cheers;) It was not 'for him to make comparisons;
but he did sincerely believe that they had neither deserved the
aspersions that had been cast upon them. 'nor had they by ahv
part of the thinking people of England been deetned guilty of
the faults imputed to them. They. trusted 'were looked-
upon with confidence, and he hoped in general—he might say
almost uaiversally they represented the feelings of the
thinking part of the population of England perhaps better
than some of those who were mistermed their represent,' •
tives. (Loud cheering.) He passed' no imputations upon
any • one, but it was a notorious fact that if the -voice of the
majority of the representatives, of that part at least of
the united kingdom, were attended to, their institutions would'
not be threatened with the (Joiter which now overhangs them,
It was notorious that even in the present oarliainent there
existed such a majority of the English members favourable to
all just reforms, but at the same adverse'. to all innovations upon'
the constitution, that. they should•not now be compelled by the.
exertions which he was happy to see those around-him-use to
defend themselves from the dangers which beset them, if it de-
pended on the English members alone to preserve that-copsti-
t'ution inviolate. (Cheers.) He had said, that that majority
existed only with the people .uf.England: why did it not exist
elsewhere? Not be believed because the feeling in the sister
kingdom amongst those persons whose good opinion it must be
desirable to have—woo 'were the fittest judges of what was fitted
for the country whose interests connected it with the British
empire—not that their feeling as a nation differed from that of
England, but because they lived under a state of intimidation
which deprived them of the power of choosing their representa-
tives, which the people of England still happily enjoy. They
were the abject slaves of a facttion that run not only their
country but also the 1-tiuistry and government of this country to
a road of ruin. (Cries of shame.') And why had they that
power? Because that government had been sufficiently profli-
gate to throw its weight, and the power and authority entrusted
to it to preserve the peace, in favour of the friends of anarchy
and confusion. (Cheers.) If it were necessary to give in-
stances of the state of intimidation in the sister kingdom, he.
need only refer them to the horrible cruelties practised against
those individuals who had dared to snake that independent ex-
ercise of the vote which they were entrusted with. He wald
allude to the fact, horrible on the minds of any Englishmair,•of
two individuals,' Mr. M‘Kenzie and another, returning from
voting for an adverse faction, tieing bound and left in a secluded
spot to die the most horrible death, that of starvation. He felt
that he had already detained them too lung, and ought to apo-
logize to them, but he coudnot refrain from saying a few words
as to the effect of this unnatural coalition between the govern-
ment and .a faction anxious to overthrow the monarchy (hear.)
lie could nut but allude so the effect it had on the house or
their representatives. Every institution had been assailed in
its turn. A ministry who compromised the best interests of the
country for the sake of the preservation of an office which they
degraded—(laughter)—had in almost all instances given what
the popish faction were supposed to consider, and which he (the
Marquis of Salisbury) stated that they did consider, as an instal-
ment. The faction stated openly that they would drive home
the wedge of which the point had been inserted. This was_init
the oulv effect that would be produced. He regretted that tlia
effect on the majority or the House of Coinmons had -been in a
peat measure to.ditniuish their respect for themselves. Itle re-
gretted much to find that they no tpnger entertained that high
feeling which would make them consider the imputatiohof per-
jury in the exercise of their legal duties, a reproach. They had
on the present occasion the presence, of a Young, nebleinan—
(tremendous cheering)—who had distinguisbedbiniself by the
stand against the vitupetatien with which the house suffered
itself to be overwhelmed. He had. beep successful in bringing
that man to be reprimanded by the house for the language he
had used against it. He was. told • that that yoong nobleman
would emulate the good qualities of his father. Unfortunately
'he coutse he had phrsued had not on all occasions been fol.
lowed.uo. The House of Commons had submitted to the
tation that their deeisious were grounded on perjury. They
okuulidi
oa
respect
sfepeelc,
tt that a a persontvl
hi.s h lost
lu reehs eecgt
refottleiClimtosse•Sity;
onathuestrsauslv
was the course that the present House of Commons was follow-
ing. (Hear, hear, hear.) This was one of the most awful
signs of the times, when the guardians of public. .liberty
Lost the respect of those who, entrusted their liberties to their
care. He feared that the- libel ty which they enjoyed was in
very great danger; -and he very much feared that if this system
of disregarding the imputations that were cast upon them were
suffered to cotkl.inue that shortly they ,would: cease to regard
that body—thr great bulwark of English liberty—as worthy of
their confidence., (Cheers.) This was a point in which -the
lords could do nothing. They. might stop malicious measuree,
and might give an onpottunity of appealing to them whether
they had been right ui wrong ; but this was the people's bast e,
and they must fight it. He did assure them that it was with the
greatest pleasure that he saw that night an assembly composed
like that determined to withstand the attempt that was made
against their constitution ; and he could only say, on the pal t of
the'-house, on whose part he was then addressing them. that be
was convinced that nothing would be wanting on their part.
But the House 'of Lords looked to the people to do their duty
(cheers.;) and whenever it became their duty again to choose
their representatives, let them chOose then such as to put down
that faction which, he contended. had brought the dangers upon
the country which now attacked it. He must apologise for
having detained them 'so long, and 'begged to drink all their
good healths. (Cheers.)
The CHAIRMAN said the next toast he had to propose he was
sure they would all drink with enthusiasm. He would give
them " Sir Robert Peel and the Conservative Members of the
House of Commons." (Great cheering.) •
Sir GEORGE SINCLAIR rose to respond to the toast, and was
received with great cheering. He said his venerable friend Sir
Francis Burdett, Lord Maidstone, and himself had, in the
course of the last few days been going what might he called
the northern circuit. (A laugh.). They had been to Leeds, to
Salford, and to Manchester; they had appeared before remota,
gated multitudes of their respected and respectable fellow-
countrymen, and had considered them in the light of SO many
grand juries, whotrad been considering and meditating on the
charges of apostacy and truth, giving assumptions which had
been brought against them by the factious; and they had the
happiness to believe that these grand juries had thrown. out the
bills, and that a verdict of acquittal stood against them—that,
they did not accuse them of a departure front Initiciple,beetitiie
they had ceased to support those men who had abandoned those
principles which they (Sir F. Burdett, Lord Maidstone, and
himself) maintained. It was impossible to exhibit and difficult

to ackniavledge in adequate terns the enthusiastic reception
which his revered and noble friends had ever received, and
for which they felt the deepest gratitude. He remembered it
was said in a German tale, which had struck him for its ab-
surdity. ".A sudden thought strikes me—let us form an eternal
friendship;" yet, in the places they had visited, this, though
absurd, was absolutely realised in a thousand instalnces, for a
variety of friendships had been cemented in every place they.
had gone to. 'They read in ancient 'story of a person whose
name was Briareus, who was represented as having one hundred
hands, and if his friend Sir Francis Burdett had had all these
hands he would at least have found ten persons ready to take
each. if he might venture to make another allusion to the
customs of courts of law, he should take the liberty to say that
the kindness they had experienced, which would serve as a kind
of retaining j'ee. ( Hear.) Anxious as they had at all times been
they should now be me, solicitous than ever to devote their
time, either in or out of parliament, to promote the interests
and the trade of the manufacturing and popular classes of this
great country. (Cheers ) It was, iu pis opinion, impossible
to exaggerate the impot lance of such meetings as these, and the
benefit which must accrue from them to theMselves and the
country at large. These meetings had the happy effect of
amalgamating all classes of society with each other, of enabling
them to appreciate each others worth, and of removing each
others prejudices—to tell the rich and the poor that all
,had the
same rights, the same duties—that all had the same interest in
time—that they had all the same prospects of eternity. (Hear.)
And they would allow him to say that this most desirable bond
of union had not been cemented in the degree in which it might
have been wiiheci-, and he felt that the reason why it had not
been so was chiefly to be attributed to the class to which he
.be-
longed. (Hear.). He 'must confess—at least it was his opinion
—that they had been in' the habit of keeping too much aloof,
they had not assumed that position, amongst the operative
classes to which they were entitled, andthe consequence had
been that demagogues and agitators. and persons to whom the
people' would have turned a deaf ear if they bad beeteaddressed
byothers, of a different deseriptiOn, had assumed that-place in
their,, esteem. which they might' have earned, and possessed
themSeives et that confidence which they might •have easily
shared. .(Hear, hear.) lie feared that there were many who
had not done justice to the working classes of the country;
they had not appreciated their merits and their virtues; and he
must say that so tar as they knew, and experience and obser-
vation went, there was ne class so susceptible of good feeling as
the working classes:, none exhibited more of gratitude, none
who more readily appreciated the humblest endeavours to serve
them. Upon theirs' a good word was never lost (hear, hear;)
upon them a kind look was never thrown away, (Loud
;cheers.) lie might here advert to a system which was
very frequently resorted to by their insidious opponents. by
which they often contrived to inveigle and delude the unwary,
who were net aware of their designs—he meant the habit of
using certain general terms to which very different meanings
• might be attached. For instance, some came and said, "all we
want is geed government " Well, his answer was, " Pray,
who wants bad government?" But what din they mean by
" good government ?" for it might be applied by different per.
sons to very different thinks. The Emperor of Russia would
say it was "good government" to be despotic, and destroy the
nationality of the Poles. 'ln America they %Could say "good
government" consists in eiving the highest degree of licentious-
ness to the white; and the most degrading slavery to the black.
(Cheers.). He, too, was for geed government ; so: were they.
He was for the .government of Queen, Lords, and Commons.
(Cheers.) He was for ecclesiastical government ; and, though
he was a Presbyterian, and gloried in being connected with the,
Church of Scotland—(cheers)—he might venture to say, dear
as his own elitireh was to him, it was net dearer than the Chureh
of England. (Continued cheering.). But there wits another
general term—" I ens all for education." Who was against-
education ? Who worth! stand forward and say that
,"ignorance
is bliss ?'' He never heart such' a Sentiment advanced in an
.enlightened assemble. But slid they divine what they meant,
by education? If they spoke the, troth they would tell them,
"-any thing but the one thing needful; any thing but the gos-.
pal ;Z:..,iirssi .Icvo vir: the.arcience of mineralogy, ori.,if they pleased;
all sciences, but to leave them to pick up religion wkere they