LORD BROUGHAM AT EDINBURGH.
A great banquet was given by the citizens of Edinburgh to Lord Brougham, in their Music Hall, on Wednesday evening. Sir John Melville, the Lord Provost, occupied the chair, and among the guests were the Duke of Argyll, Earl Rosslyn, the Earl of Kintore, Sir John M'Neil, Lord Neaves, and many others. The toast of her Majesty's Ministers was replied to by the Duke of Argyll.
The Lord Provost then proposed the health of Henry Lord Brougham, who had exhibited to the world the unexampled combination in one in- dividual of the talents and gifts of the orator, statesman, lawyer, man of science and of letters.
Lord Brougham replied at considerable length, glancing over the field of his own life and of European politics. Even the passage on France is too long for our preoccupied space ; but some passages will show its spirit and purport :—
" Every comfort which a nation can desire is theirs. Glory is theirs, even of the kind which erring mortals prize. But the same Tempter, ever rest- less, envies their innocence and their gains, and he must needs address him- self to the weaker portion of them, because that portion is the less likely to resist. Again he must tempt them, but this time it is not with an apple, but with the laurel. Will our neighbours listen to the Tempter ? 1 am sure the rational and respectable part of them—the great bulk of the people —will turn with indignation from his words, and will not give ear. When he spreads his murky wings, and takes his inauspicious flight across the Channel, he will not conic in a warlike garb, but as a well-conducted coun- sellor of gain and of trade. He will say, The first of all objects is gain. National independence may be a very good thing in its way, but it may cost too dear. You cannot be much worse off, happen what will.' But I believe the meanest-spirited individual in the whole British Empire to whom he addresses those infernal words will answer, Avaunt, Satan !' and refuse to listen to hint for another word. But he is of infinite resources and tries an-
other tack. What are you afraid of ? Why should you spend so much of your substance in making preparations for your defence ? These prepara- tions arc costly and they are useless.' I fear some of you may listen to that. But the great body of the people of this country must feel that there is but one safety for this country, and that is to be prepared by sea and by laud, in every way in which an attack is possible, however unlikely such attack may be, and prepared in such a way as to make it utterly impossible not only that the attack should succeed, but that it should be even attempted."
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