the noble and right honourable individuals
who resigned in 1827 a sacrifice to principle and consistency: what it
really was, it is now not worth while to inquire, since it was anything
than that. It is now too late to rectify the error; all that remains
is to regret most deeply, that, faithfully following those who have so
secretly, suddenly, and unceremoniously deserted us, we were taught to
regard a highly gifted individual, unhappily now no more, as one who
ought not to serve his king and country as the head of the government,
because he was favourable to the measure now so indecently forced upon
the country. I do heartily repent of my share in the too successful
attempt of hunting down so noble a victim; a man whom England and the
world recognise as its ornament, whose eloquence was, at these days at
least, unrivalled, the energies of whose capacious mind, stored with
knowledge and elevated by genius, were devoted to the service of his
country. This was the man with whom the present ministers could not
act, and for a reason which vitiates their present doings. Coupling,
therefore, that transaction with the present, if the annals of our
country furnish so disgraceful a page, I have very imperfectly consulted
them. But peace to his memory! My humble tribute is paid when it can
be no longer heard nor regarded--when it is drowned by the voice of
interested adulation now poured only into the ears of the living. He
fell; but his character is reserved, it rises and triumphs over that of
his surviving,--what shall I call them? Let their own consciences supply
the hiatus." Having paid this eloquent tribute to Mr. Canning, a tribute
as just also as it is eloquent, Mr. Sadler contended that it was the
duty of ministers to have gone to the people, since the invasion of the
constitution, bad in itself and ruinous in its consequences, was beyond
the power of parliament. The people of England, he continued, had not
sent the members of the house of commons for the purpose of throwing
open the doors of that house to the admission of Popery, to the scandal,
disgrace, and danger of the Protestant establishment in church and
state. He added in conclusion:--"Be assured they will resent it deeply
and permanently if we proceed. I know how dear this sacred, this
deserted cause is to the hearts and to the understandings of Englishmen.
The principle may be indeed weak in this house, but abroad it marches in
more than all its wonted might, att