21 APRIL 1838, Page 3

is country.

The Tories in the Nit 'it of Eligland are ;riving a series of political dinners, at which Sic Foetid- Burdett figure- as the chief attraction. The Baronet is accominewed by Sir George Sinclair, mod Lord Maid- stone; and the principal Tory Iambi and gel riemen hi the vicinity of the places where the 'tempter- are Wit, join the party. The first feast was on Monday, at G.A..; %dole a megnitiveur pavilion, capable of accommodating eleven or twelve hundred persons, was erected for the

occasion. There were galleries for the ladies, flags, banners, Conserva- tive inscriptions on the walls, and bands of music. Lord Wharncliffe, Lord Mexborough, Mr. J. H. Lowther, and Dr. Hook were among the guests ; Mr. William Beckett, of Leeds, in the chair. Sir George Sinclair spoke with " mock humility ; " ascribing the respect paid to himself as the result of veneration for his illustrious friend, Sir

Francis. Lord Wharneliffe especially congratul ated the assembly on the triumphant position now occupied by the Peers ; and intimated his own opinion that the dread of subjecting themselves to the charge of "factious opposition to the Crown," had induced the Conservative ma- jority in the Upper House to be too indulgent towards the Ministry.

Sir Francis Burdett defied all the malice of his a ;Fallouts-

" Having devoted, from his earliest youth, whether with good judgment or not,„eaboisays with honesty, zeal, and enthusiasm, mush of his public life fur

the ion of the real liberties and good of his countrymen, lie never flinched from incurring tisk of any description, but took his stand at all times firmly, and never hesitated to ptit hiniself in the front of the battle, when he tlinught the good of his country at stake. They might very well suppose. then, that the paltry abuse, he would not say of a corrupted, but of a factious press—the miserable calumnies, the mere ill-conditioned suggestions of those who had no knowledge at all on the matter—had but little effect upon him. They influenced his mind not in the smallest dsgree, but ' passed by him as the idle wiud which he regarded not.'

What was the position of Ministers in the House of Commons?— " They indeed sat on the Treasury bench, and received the salaries of office ;

but any measure they brought forward *as always a complete abortion until it lewd passed through the plastic hand of Sir Robert Peel ; Who really administered the affairs of the country. A very honourable thing, no doubt, to be able to boast of! but lie, nevertheless, very much doubted its policy. He would rather

m i allow them to entangle the selves n mischief, than help then' out whenever they got into the slough. At the same time, every One 11111St do justice to the highly honourable feelings which actuated the right honourable baronet in the course be pursued."

The next day, Sir Francis was entertained at Salford by a party

estimated at 1700 persons ; for whose accommodation an immense pa- vilion bad been erected. Burdett was again in "high feather," and delivered an abusive but entertaining speech. He referred to the scru- ples of Tory Election Committees, who refused to imitate the example of their opponents, and make it a rule to unseat the Liberals- " Indeed, they had rather evinced an over sensitive feeling, lest by voting in

a particular way, they might, by possibility, expose themselves to the vulgar reproaches of one whose judgment and censure, among all men of fairness and impartiality, would weigh very little indeed—he meant Mr. Daniel O'Connell, the so-called patriot of Ireland—the Liberator of Ireland, as he called himself— the paid patriot. (Loud laughter.) Truly, Ireland must be a strange country ; for who in the world ever beard before of a paid patriot ? Dean Swift, some hundred years ago, or thereabouts, said, that what was true everywhere else was not true to Ireland : and so, in all other countries, a patriot was a person who was conceived to be, and who in fact was, making great Baca ifices for the good of his country—in all other countries, patriots and pay were utterly incompatible— it was impossible for the two to coexist—they were like light and darkness, the presence of the one was the absence of the other ; but out so in Ireland.

What a country ! in which patriotism and pay went baud in hand—where the croon of matrydom might be worn without the thorn, and where the wages of vice 31111 the rewards of virtue might be drawn by the same individual."

The Whigs converted every thing into a job— "It was but a very few years the Whigs had been Reformers ; it was but a very few years since Lord John Russell himself even wrote a book against Re- form. They never took it up until they found it was a way of getting into power, and converting it into a job for niaintaining office. And it did appear to him, looking back to all the past, that the great national object of a reform in the Legislature of the country had been considered by the Whigs in a party view, and turned into a complete job, so as to secure to their rump that interest in the country which would maintain them and their descendants for a long time in power, to dispose of the wealth and patronage of the state. The Re- vising Barristers, too, were a complete job, in order to provide for a few needy stipporters. They were wholly incompetent to decide on the right to vote ; and the proof of it was that their decisions were altogether contradictory. Another NVhig job—for he could not look upon it as a piece of policy adopted with a view to the interests of the country—another job was thew sending out Lord D m urha to Canada. What in the world could e do in Canada? While Sir John Colborne and Sir Francis Head, men of experience and great admi- nistrative ability, who had saved the Canadas in spite of the Whigs, were over- looked or recalled, Lord Durham was despatched with a sort of Eastern mag- nificence, to a quarter of the globe where of all others it must be most eta of place ; the only cause being, as he believed, that the Whigs apprehended the auccuvenienee of keeping him at home."

Lord Maidstone delighted the party with abuse of O'Connell— Iii the House of Commons, Mr. O'Connell's ungentlemanly language had become habitual, and his lies also; and he would tell him so to his face, only he had put himself out of the pale of a gentleman. O'Connell never met a question fairly ; he went off to the right baud or to the left; he went off with Will you do justice to Ireland ?' But really, it was impossible to meet him fairly on any question ; for of all the buffoons he ever saw in a public assembly be was the greatest. He beat Astley's all to nothing. He only hoped that some of them might live to see the end of his political career; and he trusted that there were better things in store for England to do."

Wednesday beheld Sir Francis and his fellow travellers, Sir George Sinclair and Lord Maidstone reinforced by the Marquis of Salisbury, at a grand entertainment in Manchester, given at the Corn Exchange, by 700 "operative Conservatives." The health of the Duke of Wel- lington elicited a most outrageous panegyric on the Duke from Sir Francis Burdett. The toast of "Lord Lyndhurst and the House of Peers" was responded to by the Marquis of Salisbury, (whose name ought, in common courtesy, to have been included). The Marquis dwelt on the surpassing virtue and patriotism of the Lords, as con. trasted with the contemptible character of the House of Commons. " When a person" said the brilliant Peer, "lost respect for himself, people generally ceased to respect him ; and that was the case with the House of Commons." Sir George Sinclair took some pains to show that men obtained the character of Reformers upon the credit of gene- ral professions, to which no definite meaning was attached— "For instance, some came and said All we want is good government.' Well, his sumer to that was, 'Pray who wants bad government?' But what did they meau by good government?' for it might be applied by different persons to very different things. The Emperor of Russia would say it was • good government' to be despotic and to destroy the nationality of the Poles. In America they would say, • Good governmeat consists in giving the highest degree of licentiousness to the White, and the most degrading selairv Black.' He too was for good gaonvdergimenutwansso were e thweasy. fop er: government of King, Lords, government; and though be was a Presbyterian, and gloried ;al nected with the Church of Scotland, he might venture to say, dear Church was to him, it was not dearer than the Church of England. It 3 "a liti!tetrhiereLhe !smoke eon. was another general ter—' I am for education.' Who was a si tion? Who would stand forward and say that 'ignorance is bliss 1'44' heard such a sentiment advanced in an enliAtened assembly. ET'al they divine what they meant by education? If they spoke the truth tI; would tell them, 'Any thing but the one thing needful; any thing gospel ;' to know the science of mineralogy, or if they pleased all but to leave them to pick up religion where they could. Then there Win third generality for education connected with Christianity.' That wwin something • but push a little further. What did they mean by anity ?' They would then be a little puzzled, and would say it was not liken!to be so particular masking questions. But if they would tell hurt what a" meant by education,' he would tell them what he meant. Re meantby education,' education conducted upon the principles of the Estahlidis Church—not upon the Christianity of the Papist, debased by flinch that ass human, and not the Christianity of the Socinians, bereft of every thing tilt was divine. Well, this would never do. Perhaps his friends would say, .1 am always for the greatest happiness to the greatest number." They all wi'iled all mankind to be as happy as possible, there was no doubt. But there weretisse who were not at that meeting who were very sorry they were there. Min they began to ask in what that • happiness ' was to consist, they would find it very different indeed. They must tell them what the Conservatives thoughtit consisted in—to cultivate the glory of God in the highest, and on mit peace and good-will towards men. Well, let them try another of dieser* ralities—his friends the Ministers came forward and said, ' We are all trw Reformers.' Now, was there any man there who was not a true Reform& Ile never heard a man say he was an advocate for the continuation of slow But the question was, what constituted reform."

Sir Francis Burdett paraded his attachment to Church, in a eento of commonplace phrases. He became rather more lively when he go! ,st tile eternal subject of " Mr. Daniel O'Connell" and the Mien; but his Manchester speech was inferior in every respect to his effusion at Leeds and Salford. The old gentleman, in fact, seems to hire broken down with over-work. The manner in which Sir George Sat. chair plasters Sir Francis with his flattery, and Sir Francis returns the compliment to the Caithness Baronet, day after day, is quite nauseous

A party of two hundred Tories, including Lords Mahon, Ingestrie, Grimston, and Alford, dined together at Hertford on Wednesday; 11r.

J. M. Carter in the chair. Lord Mahon was the principal spinet. He confessed his inability to give a favourable account of the progreu of business in Parliament- " Gentlemen, in referring to the half or two-thirds of this sessioa trluch is passed, it would be gratifying to me, if in my power, to give you an account of some great measure we have achieved. But, gentlemen, notwithstanding the length of our sitting—notwithstanding the four or five months which hem passed, and we are expected to give some account of what we have Imo, I en only give the answer of the Speaker of the House to Queen Elizabeth, oho, when asked to do the same, said—' Seven weeks have passed, please your Ma- jesty.' Your Chairman, in the kind manner in which be has propel my health, said, and justly, that! was always ready to support every measure of pot. tical improvement. But I must say and protest, that opportunities have not been lavishly given to us. You must remember, gentlemen, that at present we are in a minority as far as regards the House of Comniona; but I say, though in the minority, we have the power to prevent evil, not to effect good. I mon, it is in our power to prevent bad measures from passing."

He did not anticipate a speedy return of the Conservatives to power— "At present we must not anticipate an early change in the Administration. I do not think you will find any division in the Ministerial ranks. The Rail. cats will not desert them ; they will be content to act as hewers of wood and drawers of water ; ' they may sometimes threaten, but, like Bob Artesia the Rivals, their resolution always issues out at their fingers' ends. I hos ao wish for their support—will never be influenced by what the Radicals may say, for upon a division they will be found swelling the ranks of the Maness I therefore think the Ministers are likely to continue in a little longer. Afar all, we must admit, it is better for them to continue in office than take 011101 to expel them not consistent with the high character that governs our piny. Your position is not a bad one, for we can prevent any measure twin eaciag; we have a large minority in the House of Commons, and a large majority a the House of Lords. Let Ministers propose what they please, I will tell thrs, they will not pass a single measure without the consent of the Comsat:re party—without the approbation of our leaders. We find many who Una asp ported them now opposing them ; and let a general election come when it we shall attain a majority. '