SCOTLAND.
Mr. Macaulay made his long-looked-for public appearance at Edin- burtch on Tuesday afternoon ; and addressed his constituents. The Mu- sic-gall, the scene of the meeting, was densely packed ; some three hundred ladies were lodged in the orchestra ; and on the platform were, Mr. Tufnell M.P., Sir William Gibson Craig, Mr. Charles Cowan M.P., Mr. Fergus M.P., Mr. Moncreiff M.P., Mr. Archibald Hastie M.P., and Mr. Edward Horsman. These gentlemen accompanied Mr. Mac- aulay; whose entrance was greeted with universal shouts of applause. Mr. Macaulay looked pale and thin,, and the marks of recent suffering were still visible.
Appointed by acclamation, on the motion of Sir W. G. Craig, Mr. Adam Black, the chairman of Mr. Macaulay's election committee, took the chair; and in a speech, short but to the point, he introduced the great orator to the meeting. When Mr. Macaulay rose to his feet, a storm of cheers convulsed the vast assemblage for several minutes; and he whom they greeted was so much affected, that he could not for a little time control his feelings so far as to speak : but he thanked them from his heart for the kind recep- tion, saying, " It has almost overcome me."
Beginning by an expression of thanks for the honour conferred on him,— an honour which only a free people could bestow,—he launched out into the natural theme of the changes which five years have made. "And here we have met again in kindness, after long separation. It is more than five years since I stood in this very place." There are few circles on which those rive years have not set their mark. Those have been taken away who can never be replaced. Even there he missed one honourable man, who in evil times adhered with almost solitary fidelity to the cause of freedom. " I should indeed be most ungrateful if I could forget Sir James Gibson Craig ; his public-spirit, his judicious counsel, and his fatherly kindness to myself." And Lord Jeffrey !—" he too is gone ; but the remembrance of him is one of the many ties which bind me to the city he loved, and with which his fame is inseparably connected." In Parliament he would look in vain for vir- tues he loved and abilities he admired. " How many engaging qualities, how many fair hopes, are buried in the grave of poor Charles Buller!' Others also had gone to whom he was honestly opposed, but of whom be could not think without grieving. " Such were two eminent men whom I left at the height, the one of civil and the other of military fame—the one the oracle of the House of Commons, the other the oracle of the House of Lords." " One brought to a triumphant close the most formidable conflict in which this country was ever engaged against a foreign enemy ; and the other, at the sacrifice—the immense sacrifice—of personal feeling and personal am- bition, freed us from an odious monopoly, which could not have existed many years longer without producing most fearful intestine discords." " I shalt hardly know the House of Commons without Sir Robert Peel. His figure is now before me ; all the tones of his voice are in my ears ; and the pain with which I think I shall never hear them again, would be em- bittered by the recollection of some sharp encounters which took place between us, were it not that at the last there was an entire and cor- dial reconciliation, and that only a very few days before his death I had the pleasure of receiving from him marks of kindness and esteem of which I shall always cherish the recollection." (Cheers.)
The face of Europe also had been changed. Never have there been five years more fertile in great events, or events which left behind them a more awful lesson. " We have lived many lives in that time. The revolutions of ages have been compressed into a few months." Few imagined what wild passions, what wilder theories, fermented under the outward show of trap.
quillity of the Continent. An obstinate resistance to a reasonable reform, prolonged but one day beyond the time, gave the signal of the explosion ; and in an instant of time, from the borders of Russia to the Atlantic Ocean, everything was thrown into confusion and terror." The greatest capitals of Europe were streaming with blood. "The house of Orleans fled from France; the Pope fled from Rome. The Emperor of Austria was not safe at Vienna. There were popular institutions in Florence, popular institutions at Naples. One Democratic Convention sat at Berlin ; another Democratic Convention sat at Frankfort." The most honest friends of reform began to doubt and despair of the prospects of mankind. All sorts of animosity broke forth to- gether with political animosity. "In truth, for myself, I stood aghast ; and though naturally of a sanguine disposition, and disposed to look with hope at the progress of mankind, I did for one moment doubt whether the course of mankind was not to be turned back, and whether we were not doomed to pass in our generation from the civilization of the nineteenth century to the barbarism of the fifth." Adam Smith and Gibbon said there never would again be an overwhelming of civilization by barbarism : but it had not oc- curred to them that civilization itself might engender the barbarians who should destroy it ; that in the heart of great capitals " vice and ignorance might produce a race of Huns fiercer than those who marched under Attila, and Vandals more bent on destruction than those who followed Genseric." Such was the danger' it passed by, and civilization was saved ; but at what a price ! "Through all that vast region where little more than four years ago we looked in vain for any stable authority we now look in vain for any trace of constitutional freedom."
Meanwhile, we had been safe. "The madness of 1848 did not subvert our throne ; the reaction which has followed did not touch our liberties." We owed this to our constitution, the work of many generations of great men. Let us profit by the lesson we have received ; let us prize, let us amend and purify, but not destroy our constitution. Let us shun extremes. "If we love civil and religious freedom, let us in every day of danger uphold law and order. If we are zealous for law and order, let us prize as the best security of that law and order civil and religious freedom." We escaped because we stood by our Government; we stood by it, because we knew that just demands were not in- flexibly resisted, but conceded to public opinion. And preeminent among those pacific victories, which carried us through the year of counter-revolutions, he would place the great commercial reform of 1846, the work of Sir Robert Peel, and the Reform Bill of 1832, which was brought in by Lord John Rus- sell. Though he did not apprehend any direct attack upon commercial free- dom from the present Ministers, he could draw no inference of the Minis- terial intentions from the Ministerial speeches : they contradicted themselves. "I would engage to produce, selected from their speeches, passages which should prove them to be Free-traders, and other passages which should prove them to be Protectionists. But, in truth, the only inference that can really be drawn from any such passages is as to the question whether the persons who made the speeches were addressing a town constituency or an agricul- tural one. I left London in the heat of the elections—for I was forced to leave London for Bristol—I left behind me a Tory candidate for Westmin- ster and a Tory candidate for Middlesex, proclaiming themselves Free- traders. All along my journey through Berkshire and Wiltshire, I heard nothing but the cry of Derby and Protection ; but when I got to Bristol, it was Lord Derby and Free-trade again." On one side of Lincoln Wash, Lord Stanley held language universally understood to indicate that the Govern- ment of his father had altogether abandoned Protection. But he was ad- dressing a town. On the other side the Wash, Mr. Christopher, when ha- ranguing the farmers of Lincolnshire, said he would stand by Lord Derby, because he knew Lord Derby will stand by Protection. This line was taken up by the less distinguished adherents of the party. The Leicestershire candidate said, "I will stick to Mr. Christopher" ,• in East Surrey, which is a town constituency, the Tory candidate said, "Never mind Mr. Christo- pher ; I swear by Lord Stanley." Different members of the party even changed sides and professions if they passed from a town to a country con- stituency, or from the country to the town. Take for example Lord Maid- stone. He was at one time one of the most vehement Protectionists in Eng- land ; and he put forth a small volume entitled Free-trade Hexameters. Of the poetical merits of Lord Maidstone's hexameters he would not presume to speak. " But of the political merits of Lord Maidstone's hexameters I can speak with confidence; and it is impossible to conceive a fiercer or more bitter attack—ae,cording to the measure of power of the assailant—than that which he made on Sir Robert Peel's Free-trade policy. On the other hand, Sir Fitzroy Kelly, who is now Solicitor-General, and who was Solicitor- General under Sir Robert Peel, and voted for all Sir Robert Peel's Free-trade mea- sures, and doubtless from a regard to the public interest, which would have suffered greatly by the retirement of so able a lawyer from the service of the Crown, he did not think it necessary to lay down his office even when Sir Robert Peel brought in his measure for free trade in corn. But, unfortu- nately, Lord Maidstone became a candidate for the city of Westminster, and Sir Fitzroy Kelly went to stand for an agricultural county ; so, instantly, Lord Maidstone forgets his verse, and Sir Fitzroy Kelly forgets his votes. Lord Maidstone declares himself a convert to the opinions of Sir Robert Peel; and Sir Robert Peel's own Solicitor-General stands up and makes a speech, apparently composed out of Lord Maidstone's hexameters, against free trade. It is therefore, gentlemen, utterly impossible for me to pretend to foresee, from the language held by the members of the Government and their ad- herents, what their conduct will be on the subject of Protection. Neverthe- less, I think that I can confidently say that the great reform effected by Sir Robert Peel is perfectly safe." The law which repealed the Corn-laws is now on a firmer foundation than when it passed. Free-traders are stronger in reason ; for prophecy has become history—the salutary effects of free trade cannot be disputed. They are stronger in numbers ; for the labouring men, no longer misled by dema- gogues, are now its supporters. Strong in reason and numbers, we need ap- prehend no direct attack on the principles of Sir Robert Peel's reform. But vigilance is necessary, in order that no change of taxation may show undue favour to any class. As to ParliamentaryReform, "I think that the time is now near when that question will require the gravest consideration—when it will be neces- sary to reconsider the reform of 1832, and to amend it, temperately and cau- tiously, but in a large and liberal spirit." But it must be done by Govern- ment; and from the present Ministers nothing good can be expected. He did not know what to expect from them ; but there is " the gravest reason for apprehending that they may at one time resist the moat just demands, and at another time, from the merest caprice, propose the wildest innovation." Mr. Macaulay here made merry at the expense of Mr. Walpole, by dissecting his famous proposition for a Militia franchise. He had charged Lord John Russell at Midhurst with reopening the question of Reform, and treat- lag the question with a disregard of the precepts of prudence. " I was perfectly thunderstruck when I read his speech ; for I recollected that the most violent and Democratic change in our representative system that ever was proposed within the memory of the oldest man had been pro- posed but a few weeks before by this same Mr. Walpole, as the organ of the present Government. Do you remember the history of the Militia Bill ?" (Laughter.) How had Mr. Walpole acted ? " At the end of a night, in the easiest way possible, without the smallest notice, he proposed a clause to the tail of the Militia Bill, to the effect that every man who served in the Militia for two years should have a vote in the county. What is the number of those voters who were to be entitled to vote in this way for a county ? The Militia of England is to consist of 80,000, and the term of service is to be five years. In ten yeasts the number will be 160,000 ; in twenty years, 320,000 ; in twenty-five years, 400,000." Probably, making all deductions, there would be 300,000. " That is an immense addition ; and what is the qualification ? Why, the first qualification is youth : they are not to be above a certain age, but the nearer you can get them to eighteen the better. The second qualification is :poverty : they are all to be persons to whom a shilling a day will bean object. The third qualification is ignorance." These are not the qualifications of men whom we want to choose our legislators. "Oh ! but there is another qualification which I had forgot— they must be five feet two. This is a qualification for a county voter. Only think of measuring a man for the franchise ! Well, this comes from a Con- servative Government ; a measure which would swamp all the county con- stituencies in England with people who possess the Derby-Walpole qualifica- tions—that is to say, youth, poverty, ignorance, a roving disposition, and five feet two. (Continued laughter and applause.) Why, what have people who have brought in such a measure as this to talk about—I do not say Lord John Russell's imprudence, but about the imprudence of Ernest Jones and other people who propose universal suffrage ? At all events, they give wealth with poverty, and knowledge with ignorance, and mature age with youth. But to make a qualification compounded of disqualifications is a thing I really do believe was never heard of except in the case of this Conservative reform." Therefore, ho did not know what to expect, judging from the language of Ministers : "but what I do expect is a pertinacious, vehement, provoking oppo- sition to what is most safe and reasonable ; and then that, in some moment of fear or caprice, they will bring in a plan and fling it on the table in a fit of despe- ration or levity—aplan which is enough to loosen the foundations of society. For my own part, I think the question of Parliamentary Reform is one which must soon be taken up ; but it ought to be taken up by the Government; and I hope before long to see in office a Ministry which will take it up in earnest. (Loud cheers.) I dare say you will not suspect me of saying. so from any interested feeling. The truth is, that in no case whatever shall I again be a member of any Ministry - during what may remain of my public life, I shall be the servant of none but you." (Loud and prolonged cheer- ing.) He hoped to see in office a Ministry which would treat the great question as it ought to be treated,—" revise the distribution of power" ; consider whether small constituencies notoriously corrupt ought to con- tinuo to send Members to Parliament ; whether constituent bodies less cor- rupt ought to have an equal share with the West Riding of Yorkshire and twice as great as the county of Perth ; and whether, without the smallest danger to peace, law, and order, it is possible to extend the franchise to classes who do not now possess it. They knew his opinion on universal suf- frage. "We have seen by the clearest of all proofs, that universal suffrage, even united with secret voting, is no security against the establishment of arbitrary power. But, gentlemen, I do look forward, and at no very remote period, to the extension of the franchise, further than I admit I once thought would be safe or practicable." He thought that good times are coming for the labouring classes—not that he expected " Socialism," or any of those other " isms," " for which the plain English word is robbery' "—would prevail; but, he exclaimed, " I do believe and hope that the progress of experimental science, the free in- tercourse of nation with nation, the unrestricted influx of commodities from countries where they are cheap and the unrestricted influx of labour towards -countries where it is dear, will soon produce, and are beginning to produce, a great and most blessed social revolution." Here followed an eloquent pas- sage describing the benefits of emigration ; and showing how science is abridging the distance and diminishing the expense between us and colonial lands ; how the emigrant is not altogether lost, " for under the benignant system of Free-trade he will still remain bound to us by close ties. If he ceases to be a neighbour, he is still a benefactor and a customer. Go where he may, if you will but uphold that system inviolate, it is for us that he is turning the forests into corn-fields on the banks of the Mississippi ; it is for us he is tending his sheep and preparing his fleeces in the heart of Australia ; and in the mean time it is from us he receives the commodities which are produced with vast advantage in an old society, where great masses of capi- tal are accumulated. His candlesticks and his pots and pans come from Bir- mingham, his knives from Sheffield, the light cotton jacket which he wears in summer comes from Manchester, and the good cloth coat which he wears in winter conies from Leeds; and in return he sends us batik what he pro- duces in what was once a wilderness—the good flour out of which is made the large loaf which the Englishman divides among his children." (Loud cheers.) Mr. Macaulay now showed signs of great errhauation • he paused a mo- ment, and then took up the dropped theme of the franchise question,--- saying that it was to be solved not so much by lowering the franchise to the level of the masses, as by the rise of the masses to the level of a "rea- sonable and moderate franchise." He closed by specifying the ballot, (which he supports,) triennial Parliaments, (to which he is opposed,) the University tests, and the Irish religious equality movement, as topics on which he had intended to speak.
"But I feel I cannot well proceed. I have only strength to thank you again, from the very bottom of my heart, for the great honour which you have done me in appointing me, without solicitation, to the distinguished post of one of your representatives. I am proud of our connexion, and I shall try to act in such a manner that you may not be ashamed of it."
Cordial cheers greeted the close of this fine speech ; and thanks having been voted to the Chairman, the meeting separated with cheers for Mr. Macaulay, and for " The History of England."
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