Lord Wharneliffe and a party of Tories belonging to the
West Riding of Yorkshire dined together at Penistone yesterday week. Lord Wharncliffe was the chief orator of the company ; and we make a few extracts from his speech, as we find it reported in the Sheffield Mercury. His Lordship said that they were assembled to support the institutions of the country- " The question at stake is no less than this—shall the constitution of this country, consisting of King, Lords, and Commons, be transmitted to our children as it descended to us ? or shall it not ? Upon you, gentlemen, and those in your condition in life, mainly depends, in point of fact, the solution of that great question. And whatever exertions we may make who move in a higher station of society, still on your individual exertions must depend the successful retaining of the long--cherished and venerable institutions of this country. Gentlemen, this is the first political meeting which has occurred in this Riding since I bad the honour of representing the county in Parliament, setting aside, of course, those iucidental upon elections. In 1826, it pleased the King to call me to the House of Peers ; and since that event happened, I have not, to my knowledge, ever addressed a political meeting in this county, for no meeting which I could by possibility attend has taken place in this Riding within that period. Gentlemen, nine years have passed since that time, and nine most eventful years : forgive sue if I call to your recollection events which have taken place during that nine years ; they have been such as to afford an important lesson to every member of the Conservative party ; yet they have been such as not only to afford a /essou but lessons to that parry; and I con- sider it worth while to pause and reflect for a moment upon the conduct which that party have pursued. Notwithstanding the opinions of those before whom I am now speaking, I shall take leave to say that I fear great fault lies at the door of many of our own party. I am not here to flatter you; I am here to tell you the truth; and I consider that I should not do my duty to you, or to my country, were I not to allude to the mistakes which that party have made. Gentlemen, in 1826, that party to which you and I have the honour to belong, were dominant in this country. They had conducted the Government through the most successful war which this or any other country bad perhaps ever been engaged in, and which raised Great Britain to a pitch of glory which perha;•., neither this nation nor any other in the world ever before attained : but duriss the nine years to which I have alluded, all that has been forgotten; and t:re question now is as to the existence of the constitution itself. After LI id Liverpool was removed by death from the head of the Government, he was succeeded by Mr. Canning; a person of whom I need not speak, for I am unable to bestow upon him that paramount praise to which his elo- quence and talents entitle bin; and I may also add, that he was a per- sonal friend of my own. And now, gentlemen, let me state, that the first mistake which our party made, was an suffering themselves to be divided On the course of policy pursued by that eloquent and devoted statesman, who was most sincerely attached to all the institutions of his country. His Administration was succeeded by the Government at the head of which the Duke of Wellington was placed, and its opinions on certain points differed from those of a great part of the country. Catholic Emancipation was a measure which he considered it to be his duty to carry ; and he proposed it, acting up to the belief that nothing short of civil war would ensue if that question was not conceded. He resolved upon this important step, after long consultation and mature deliberation ; and the result was, that a part of the Cs:irises:moves, who had till that time supported him, withdrew that support from his Government, and it existed for a few months on the strength of those who continued to support it."
He considered the withdrawal by a portion of the Tories of their
support of the Duke of Wellington a fittal error. Those persons ought to have known that the next Government would bring forward the question of Parliamentary Reform, and that the Peers would be obliged to accede to it. Lord Wharncliffe then detailed the well-. known circumstances which ended in the passing of the Reform stet. The working of that Act was now apparent- " There can be no doubt the present House of Commons is, in one sense, what some may call an image of the People. But ought it not, if it worked well, to reflect and represent the wealth and intelligence of the country ? Whether it dues or does not answer this purpose, I shall leave for others to say ; but I must confess that it does not appear to me that the House elf Commons is now looked upon with that degree of respect which I could wish it to be, and which, in point of fact, it ought to be. The wealth and intelligence of London is not represented; neither is the wealth and intelligence of great parties of this country. Demagogues and flatterers of the People have pushed measures for- ward, and are, in puha of fact, the rulers of the House and the rulers of the Government. Gentlemen, I beg of you to look at the city of London, where four Members are returned, and see if they represent the wealth and intelligence of that city. Look at the Metropolitan districts, and see if the Members there sent represent the wealth and intelligence of those districts. Is it not a mockery to say that they are represented ? Gentlemen, having alluded to the [louse of Commons, we now come to the house of Lords and its conduct. What is the duty of the House of Lords in this country, as a body ? I appre- hend it is to watch over the proceedings of the Commons and of the Crow sr— to stand between the two—to resist oppression en the one hand and tyranny on the other. Gentlemen, on this point I have always endeavoured to do my duty in the House of Lords to the best of my abilities. At the end of the last ses- sion of Parliament, the King recommended us to go into our several counties and instil into the minds of the people the principle of obedience to the laws, and to promote temperate' reform, as the greatest safeguards of our institutions. Gentlemen, I am ready to obey the King—to preach oberliznce to the laws; and therefore I say that temperate refocus I am desirous of seeing take place in in every department and institution of the state." This is the only speech reported ; but it is said that several other Tory harangues w re delivered in the course of the evening. The members of the East Worcestershire Conservative Association dined together at Droitwich, on Wednesday; Mr. J. S. Pakington in the chair. Mr. Hawkes, M. P. for Dudley, and Mr. Berneby, M. P. for Droitwich, were among the company. The other " persons of dis- tinction" are not known out of their own neighbourhood. The names of twelve clergymen, one Colonehone Major,and three Captains, are men- tioned. Mr. Pakington proposed Mr. Barneby's health, in a laudatory speech, and Mr. Barneby did the same kind office for Mr. Pakington. The health of Sir Robert Peel, and his speedy return to office, was drunk with uproarious delight. The Chairman admitted, that what was now "transpiring in the Registration Courts" rendered it absolutely neces- sary for the Tories he exceedingly active. At the meeting of the Committee of the South Lancashire Associa- tion, on Thursday week, ninety new members were admitted. The Conservative hall is now nearly finished, and will be elegantly fitted up for the annual dinner, on the 15th ; on which occasion it is expected. that at least one thousand members of the Association will be present, nearly seven hundred tickets having been already disposed of. Lord Francis Egerton will preside, and several distinguished noblemen and gentleinen of this and the neighbouring county are expected to be present.—Manchester Courier.
A Conservative Society was commenced at Coventry in January 1834, when it numbered 40 members. It has now 200 on the books of the parent society, and several branches make an aggregate of between 700 and SOO members.
The supporters of the Conservative cause at Ipswich gave a dinner yesterday week to John Chevalier Cobbold, Esq., and Henry Gallant Bristo, Esq., the late Bailiffs of that town, on the occasion of their retire- ment from office. Colonel Fairman, being in the town, was invited to join the party. In returning thanks for the very cordial reception given to his health, the gallant Colonel stated that he bad commenced actions against the Speaker of the House of Commons, his Sergeant-at- Artns, and the Stlect Committee ; and the announcement was received with loud cheers and repeated cries of " Bravo !" He was determined, he ob- served, to try the legality of the proceedings of the House towards himself, and to take the verdict of a British Jury. (Repeated cries If " Bravo !") When he resisted the persecution of the House of Com- mons, he was not actuated by any factions motives : he was tto dema- gogue—patriotic motives only had influenced him. If such practices as these were to proceed, if it were admitted that the House of Com- mons might order the production of all papers, communication by letter must be contracted, and eventually terminate.—Morning Post. [The "gallant Colonel," whose regiment it would sorely puzzle his Tory friends to name, had better let the matter rest ; or he will get deeper into the mire. Every one knows that the House of Commons only sought to get hold of the documents relating to the Orange Institution —not, as he would insinuate, to inspect Fairman's private papers.]
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