THE LORD Maxon.—His Lordship was presented on Tuesday to the
Lord Chancellor; when the Recorder, who has a singular affection for Sir John Key, thought proper, instead of the ordinary form of words used on such occasions, to make rather a lengthy speech. The Recorder is a man who will not let slip an opportunity of pressing his opinions. Whether he meant to inform Lord Brougham or the Lord Mayor, or to enhance the public opinion of the orthodoxy of Mr. Recorder Knowlys, we do not know, but we suspect that the last motive had its share in his declamation touching the present " awful times, when the principles of insubordination and of resistance to the established regulations for se- curing the tranquillity of the social system, are constantly inculcated by the disaffected, when the enemies of the social compact are wickedly en- gaged in destroying the mansions and the properties of his Majesty's subjects, and when other symptoms of an alarming nature manifest themselves !" The Lord Chancellor's answer to this display of oratory was limited to the courteous announcement of his Majesty's approbation of the choice of the citizens of London; in which capacity, and in no other, the King recognizes the Chief Magistrate. On Wednesday, the Lord Mayor went in procession to Westminster Hall, according to annual custom. The procession, contrary to what has been practised for two or three years past, took the water at London Bridge, and returned by Blackfriars. It was neither numerous nor splendid. The Goldsmiths' Company pouted at the triumph of the Livery, and refused to join it, because of the brief notice —as if the 9th of November had happened earlier in the year than it used to do. Sir John Key is unfortunate in processions; the Recorder only joined him at Westminster Bridge.
In the evening, the annual dinner and ball was given with great splendour at the Guildhall. Covers were laid for 1,300 individuals. The
whole of the. Ministers who happened to be in town were present, es, cept the Home Secretary, who suffered from a bad cold. Earl Grey is in the country. The speech of the Lord Mayor, in proposing the health of Lord Brougham and his noble colleagues, is on the eulogistic side of justice, but it is on the side of justice notwithstanding. His Lordship said—" It was now scarcely twelve months since his Majesty's present Ministers had entered upon the discharge of the arduous and important
duties that devolved upon the deeply-responsible stations which they. filled ; and it must be in the recollection of all, that the greatest possible
difficulties surrounded them at the time when they were called upon to. take office. At that period, the people of England entertained the highest expectations of the distinguished individuals who then assumed the reins of government ; but, high as those expec- tations undoubtedly were, he was satisfied that he only spoke the sense of the nation at large when he said, that they had been fully realized. Witnessing, as they did, the constant anxiety which had been manifested by his Majesty's present Ministers, ever since their accession to power, to meet the wishes of the people,—the uniform desire which they had always exhibited to promote the happiness of the cona- try,—the patriotic resolution which they had throughout evinced to shape their conduct in accordance with the feelings and the anxious ex- pectations of the people at large, and the firm determination which they had at the same time manifested to repress factious and lawless vielence, and to preserve the peace and tranquillity of the country,—it was quite unnecessary for him to insist upon the great merits of the illustrious individuals who were intrusted at this moment with the government of. this country. Of this he felt certain, that by the continuance of his Majesty's present Ministers in office, ihe peace of this country could be alone secured, and its happiness and prosperity best promoted ; and he was equally sure that he spoke the sense, not only of that assembly, but of the people at large, when he stated, that the retirement of the present Ministers from the councils of their Sovereign would be justly regarded as a national calamity. It was a difficult, and it might seem, in some degree, an invidious task, to single out from amongst so many. illustrious persons, one individual to whom he should call the attention of that assembly ; but, when he recollected that he was honoured that day by the company of a noble and learned Lord who was not less dis- tinguished for the brilliancy and splendour of his talents than for the high-mindedness and patriotism of his public principles, he confessed that he would be doing injustice to his own feelings if he did not seize that. opportunity to express the high respect which he entertained, and he was sure he only echoed the sentiments of the country at large in doing so, towards the Lord High" Chancellor of England. They had all wit- ,,nessed the honourable and brilliant public career of that noble and dis- tinguished individual ; they had been all led to form the highest expece. tenons of that noble Lord in the arduous and responsible station which. he at present occupied ; but high as were those expectations, lie would venture to say, that the expectations of the warmest friends and admirers of that noble Lord had been fully realized, and that the wishes of his enemies had been completely disappointed. He was certain that the present company and that the country at large would unite with him in hoping that the noble and learned Lord might long continue to hold that situation which he had hitherto filled so much to the honour and ad- vantage of the country, and to the satisfaction of the public. He felt assured that it was the wish, not only of the City of London, but of the country at large, that the present Ministry should long continue in office. Such was the desire of the People, because they felt that the prosperity of the country depended on the continuance of the present Government; and he was sure that if, owing to any factious opposition, or to any other untoward circumstance, the present Ministers should retire from office, the country would be thereby greatly injured—that the people would be universally disappointed—and that nothing would ever satisfy them but the reinstatement of such honest Ministers in that station which they had filled with so much honour to themselves, and such ad- vantage to the country." The health of the Marquis of Lansdowne, as President of the Council, and of Lord John Russell, were also drunk ; and lastly, that of Sir Francis Burdett. Sir Francis's reply, as untrammelled by official mysti- fication, is worth recording. He said, " he had, as far as in him lay, urged the wisdom and justice of the People's reposing a just share of confidence in his Majesty's present Ministers—Ministers who had ac- cepted office in a most critical situation of affairs, and who had succeeded in restoring peace and internal content by their manly declaration to stand or fall by theirmeasure of Parliamentary Reform. Let the country
give these honest Ministers but fair play, and he was satisfied that, ere long, a full and satisfactory plan of Reform—including the total destruc- tion of the Boroughmongering system, which had so long oppressed the energies of this great country—would become part and parcel of the law of the land. All that was wanting on the part of the People, was just confidence and patience, and a firm determination that while they as- serted their own constitutional rights in a constitutional way, they would be no less inflexible in the preservation of social order, and in their hos-
tility towards those who would make the name of Reform a cloak to their selfish designs of personal aggrandizement at the expense of the interest of the community at large. '
" Soon after," says the chronicler, " the company retired to the
ball- rooms, where dancing was kept up till a late hour, with all the spirit cha- racteristic of mayoralty festivities:' What that spirit may be, we have never had an opportunity of personally examining, but we have no doubt it is a spirit of honest social mirth, as superior to the nimini-pimini spirit of Almack's as a jolly juicy sirloin is to a fricasee of frogs' -quarters,
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