SCOTLAND.
A public dinner was given to the Earl of Dalhousie, in the Edinburgh Music Hall, on Tuesday, to pay him a farewell compliment on his leaving this country as Governor-General of India. The hall was splen- didly adorned for the occasion; a military band performed music in the intervals of the speaking; and a gallery was filled with a brilliant com- pany of ladies. The chair was taken by the Duke of Buccleuch. More than four hundred gentlemen sat down to table; among them the Duke of Argyle, Lord Elibank, Lord Dunfermline, Lord Dalmeny, the Earl of Morton, Lord Kinnaird, the Earl of Rosebery, the Earl of Devon, Lord Colville of Culross, the Lord Advocate, the Lord Justice General, Mr. Maconochie of Meadowbank, the Dean of Faculty, the Lord Provost, Mr. Fox Mania, M.P., Sir George Clerk; M.P., Mr. W. Gibson Craig, M.P., Mr. Charles Cowan, M.P., Sir John Hope, M.P., Sir George Warrender, Sir James Forrest, and a number of gentlemen of influence, without any dis- tinction of party. Although the subject of the speeches was chiefly per- sonal, they also possessed a good deal of public interest. The Duke of Buccleuch said, in proposing Lord Dalhousie's health—
High opinions were entertained of him. He trusted his career would be sue- cessful. He was confident it would be marked by great ability. If talent and human assiduity could achieve success, there was nothing to fear. Others who had gone before his noble friend in the government of India had to meet nut only the difficulties connected with its civil administration, they had also to face for- midable foes; they had mighty battles to fight, and often small means at their command. But he trusted that, by the sagacity, prudence, and perseverance of him who immediately preceded his noble friend, the foundation had been laid of a lasting peace in India. Though, perhaps, it were presumptuous to expect from the mixture of materials of which our empire in the East is composed, that there would be no cause to have recourse to arms, not for aggression, but for the pro tection of the many and the punishment oethose who would overpower the weak, yet be trusted those occasions would be few. Be trusted his noble friend would cultivate the arts of peace, and promote those great social improvements which, notwithstanding all that had already been effected, were still so much required in India; and that, after spending the time it was usually expected a Governor- General should remain in that country, he would return unimpaired in health and strength by the arduous duties that might fall upon him, taxing alike both the body and the mind,—to be received by his old friends whom he had left behind, but whose hearts he carried with him; and that hereafter his name would be banded down to posterity with reverence, as one of the great benefactors of that empire he was commissioned to rule. The Doke proposed the health of his noble friend with the sincere prayer that Almighty God would bless him in his future career.
The Earl of Dalhousie returned thanks with great cordiality of feeling and a modest plainness of language. He glanced back to the beginning of his political career-
" As it is in the city of Edinburgh you are met now, so it was in the city of Edinburgh that I first entered on my public life. It is not so long ago but the youngest of you may remember that it was in the city of Edinburgh that my friends opened my political career. Not to flatter you, 1 cannot in my conscience say that you proved the tenderest of masters. (Cheers and laughter.) I must acknowledge, that fairly spread as that cradle was, you rocked it somewhat roughly; although at the time, believe me, gentlemen, you never did any man a better turn. I recollect when an old East Lothian voter, at whose door I stopped one morning—and a cold bitter morning it was—when setting out to canvass that county, said to me, 'A stoat heart, my Lord, to a steep brae.' (Laughter.) If at any time of my career I have shown a stout heart, it was you of the city of Edinburgh—you who cordially supported me, and you also who cordially opposed me—who first taught me how to make use of that stoutness. I indeed believe that if you had accepted me without a contest as your representative, I would in all probability have turned out a spoiled child, and fit to be trained for nothing but a carpet knight. (Great laughter and applause.) Your treatment of me was, however, widely different; for you began by giving me an undeniable and i unmistakeable thrashing, and by giving me the wholesome advice as soon as I could to thrash somebody else. (Renewed laughter.) You sent ino into the world hardy and rough, and ready to fight anybody, until 1 find myself in the position in which 1 am now proud to stand. I have never ceased to acknowledge, and I will never cease to do so, that whatever may have been my success in public life, the foundation of that success was truly and deeply laid in the con- tested election for the city of Edinburgh." In warmly acknowledging the honour conferred upon him by his appoint- went, Lord Dalhousie stated some circumstances connected with his se- lection for o ce- " I regard it with pride and with deep gratitude, that the Company who ad- minister the affairs of that mighty empire should, utterly unsolicited by me, and, with but two or three exceptions, personally unacquainted with me, have done me the honour to have selected me to the first office in that wondrous empire over which they rule. And I am even the more proud that the relation which has been made should have received the assent of the Crown by the advice of the leaders of that political party in the state to which I have always been opposed. You will all remember that the answer which the Duke of Wellington gave when about to be appointed to an inferior command was, that he had eaten the King's salt, and that he would serve the King in whatever capacity he might be invited to do so. I am prepared to act upon that maxim. I have always held, that every public man who has once served the Crown is bound in duty not to withhold at a future time his services, when invited on public grounds to do so without sacrifice to the political opinions which he has maintained, and which he still maintains as sound and true in his estimation. Twice since their accession to power have the present confidential advisers of the Crown invited me to give my advice, cooperation, and aid to her Majesty's Government—once as a member of the Administration, and once in another capacity. Twice have these offers been made to me, and twice have they been declined; and if the offer of the assent of the Crown to the ap- pointment made by the Court of Directors of the East India Company had been accompanied by the condition that I should give them political support, or should even observe political neutrality, I should have felt it my duty once again to have declined. (Great applause.) I am sure that there is not a gentleman who sits at these tables that will not believe me when I say, that I would not consent to sacrifice any of the political principles which I deem to be sound and pure, even though it were to place in my hands, as it was in this case, the administration of an em- pire. I hasten to add, that no condition whatever was annexed to this office. (Great applause.) I am bound to say, and even though I were not bound to say it I would hasten to say it with pleasure and gratitude, that it was impossible for any men to have behaved more frankly, more confidentially, and more honourably towards me, than her Majesty's advisers did throughout all this matter. (Cheers.) When the assurance was given me that the acceptance of this appointment would leave me in entire and unquestioned possession of my own personal independence in reference to party politics—when I was assured, as I was promptly and unre- servedly, that my acceptance of office would establish no party claims upon me— then I felt that I was bound to test the principle which I entertained and had previously enunciated; and I at once resolved to risk the misinterpretation and misconstruction of motives—the risk and possible loss of the confidence of my old political friends; and in addition to this, to sacrifice, as my noble friend has said from the chair, much personal and domestic comfort, and encroachments on my_political position in this country. Even at the sacrifice of every atom of this, I felt that I was bound, as a servant of the Crown, to give my assistance to her Majesty's advisers, when I was asked to do so, and especially when asked in times of difficulty and confusion such as these; and I at once consented to serve the Company who so honourably tendered me this office; and I rejoice to return to the service of a Sovereign whom I served before, and who, in the amplitude of her goodness, had rewarded meso far beyond my deserts. It is hardly necessary for me to add, that when this point had once been secured, and from the moment I assumed the government of India, politics is a question unknown to me: party politics, above all, while I administer the government of that country, have no existence in my mind." (Cheers.) Mr. Fox Menlo returned thanks for " Her Majesty's Ministers," which had been proposed in a friendly way by the Chairman, and well received by the company—
Many of those present differed in opinion from the members of the Government; but he believed there were none present who did not fully sympathize with the Government in the difficult task of carrying on in these times the affairs of the country. Li the arduous duties they were called on to perform when they assumed the reins of government, with the horrors of a famine impending, which the boun- teous hand of Providence had now been pleased to avert, they had received sup- port from men of all parties. He conceived the Government deserved upon this occasion the thanks of all who bore the name of Scotehmen, and who looked at the manner in which they had selected for the public service those whom talents recommended independently of party considerations. He viewed the appointment of his noble friend with the deepest gratification. He was convinced he would do honour to the Government that had appointed him. But this was not the only instance in which, independently of political party convictions, her Majesty's Go- vernment had selected talent for high administration. Whilst they saw his noble friend in the East, they saw another nobleman in the West, not less distinguished for ability, and not more coincident in opinion with her Majesty's Ministers. He need hardly say that Scotland ought to be proud to see the Eastern Empire and the important Western Colonies of this country placed under men, he might al- most say, in the bloom of youth, certainly in the very bloom of manhood—men of old and distinguished families in this country, and men likely not only to con- fer benefits on the lands they ruled, but to gather to themselves and their country imperishable laurels to be entwined in the garland which had already been woven by so many distinguished men who had preceded them in the public service. He trusted with the noble Duke, that her Majesty's Government, in all they were called on to do, would perform their duty in such a manner as to secure the ho- Sour and interests of the empire. (Loud cheers.)
A public meeting was to be held in Peebles yesterday, to take steps for the prevention of fictitious votes in that and others of the Scotch counties. The Witness saysothat the greater portion of the voters expunged from the register held life-rents over properties belonging to the present Member, Lord Traquair, (who had forty-eight votes on one farm yielding 5001. a year,) and other two proprietors, for which the life-renters granted bills not yet paid, for amounts varying from 1501. to 2001. In the cases, some twelve or fourteen, where the rents had been paid, the parties were allowed to remain on the roll. The proceedings of the Registration Court are to be published at length.
The Glasgow authorities have issued a proclamation prohibiting paupers from selling any part of the provisions supplied to them by the parochial boards, and also from buying spirituous liquors. Provision-dealers are cautioned against purchasing from paupers•' and heavy penalties are im- posed on those who are accessory to the placing of undeserving persons on the roll.
Cheap lodging-houses for the poor have been established in Glasgow, with great success; and the number is about to be increased in different parts of the city. In the original establishment beds are furnished for 3d., and breakfast and supper for 2d. From the end of June to the end of August, the inmates have been—males, 2,399; females, 152; married couples, 113; and the numbers are steadily increasing.
The prison assessment for Glasgow is to be reduced this year from 3d. to 2d. in the pound. This reduction is partly owing to the increased re- turns from prison-work, which this year have been augmented to the ex- tent of 3001. A portion of the Caledonian Railway has been completed for traffic; and on Thursday sennight the directors and their friends had trips on the line, as a preparative to its public opening. The completed section extends from Carlisle to Beatock, a distance of some forty miles. In many places the views from the rail are very picturesque. A few miles from Carlisle there was a difficult work to perform—an embankment through Mosaband; and the spongy nature of the soil has been the cause of some delay in opening the railway. There is a station at Gretna. At Springfield a line branches off to Dumfries. The excursion-party proceeded from Carlisle at noon, and reached Beatock in two hours. There was a cold collation at. the station; and the customary speeches were made; but they were brief, for the party set off on the return journey in three quarters of an hour.
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