NARRATIVE OF POLITICS.

Lord John Russell had a Great Public Reception at
Greenock on the 19th. The freedom of the town
having been presented to him, he delivered an address,
in acknowledgment of the compliment, which has excited
much public attention as indicating the views of the
government on some important points of foreign and
domestic policy. The following are some of the most
remarkable passages:—"I cannot but look back to that
time to congratulate you, and to congratulate myself,
that times are so greatly altered. Your Provost has
alluded to institutions in other countries which have
failed—to liberties which have flourished for a time, and
have decayed without bringing their fruits to maturity;
but the difference between those countries and this is,
that there is such a temperate enjoyment of freedom,
such forbearance in pushing rights to extremity, such a
well-considered appreciation of the value of liberty, that
institutions derive all their force and all their grandeur
from the character of the people among whom they are
introduced. It is thus that if I have at any time been
enabled to add to the privileges, to add to the power of
the people, I have felt at the time, and I have had
confirmed by experience, a sense that I was adding at the
same time to the strength and security of the throne.
I am sure, gentlemen, that such will continue to be the
case, and that while you value and esteem those privileges
which you enjoy, and those privileges which you may
hereafter obtain, you will at the same time consider that
it is by the temperate use of liberty that all these
privileges can be best maintained to a remote posterity.
With regard to the future, although I may take but for
a short time any further part in the deliberations of
Parliament, I trust that, much which excited party
feeling and heated discussion having passed away—
much that was matter of doubt having been settled—I
trust, with regard to future measures, that there will be,
if not an absence of party—because I do not expect that
at any time there will be an absence of party in this
country, or that there will be any time when an honest
difference of opinion should not be expressed—but I
hope that there may be such agreement that the course
of legislation may be still further conducive to the happiness
of the people at large. And let me say, however
important the questions discussed in past years,—and it
would be difficult, perhaps, to find a time in the history
of any country when so many measures of importance
have been obtained without convulsions and without
revolutions as have been obtained and established in this
country since the year 1833,—I say, while that has been
the case, there still remains much for the consideration,
not only of all statesmen, but of all men who are lovers
of humanity and of justice, and who have a regard for
the welfare of their countrymen. It is thus with regard
to legislation as the poet describes it with regard to the
traveller in a mountain country; although you seem to
have mounted an ascent, there are still farther ascents
before you—

       'Hills upon hills, and Alps on Alps arise.'

There is no time—I contemplate no time—when there
will not be much for an enlightened and benevolent
legislature to discuss, to arrange, and to establish.
Unfortunately the very increase of civilisation—the very
gathering together of populations which are the proofs
of industry, of commerce, of flourishing manufactures
and increased trade—these things bring with them
attendant evils; and while we are occupied, while
benevolent men are occupied, in extending to remote
regions the light of Christianity, there are too many,
almost at our own doors, who from the imperfection and
deficiency of education on the one hand, and from the
crowded and ill-ventilated dwellings they inhabit on the
other hand, are almost as much deprived of the means
of obtaining religious knowledge and moral instruction
as the heathen in the most distant lands which our
devoted missionaries have visited, and where they have
been ready to sacrifice their lives for the promotion of
Divine truth." He enlarged upon the natural differences
between the actions, in these cases, of a despotism and a
constitutional government. "Our very freedom stands
in the way of many regulations which of themselves are
beneficial. While in a foreign country where a despotic
rule prevails, you will find that there is an obligation to
provide for good ventilation, for order, for the
maintenance of measures of police, of that which contributes
to the health of the population in a city, our people—
naturally, I must say, and I find no fault with such
jealousy—object to the interference of any central
authority; and when the matter is left to their own
government, do not always provide for themselves those
measures they should provide for the good of the people.
Where you should interfere in such cases, and, if you
interfere, what should be the limit of your interference?
—how far can you limit the freedom of the people in
this respect?—how far should legislation be introduced
in this matter?—these are important questions, which
the Legislature should consider. Then with regard to
education, what vast matters are open upon which men
of the greatest intellect have already given their opinions
to the world! Can we rely on the voluntary efforts of
individuals to provide sufficient education for the people
at large, or should you interfere, as the Governments of
America have interfered, in order to provide education?
If you do interfere, how far should you insist that it
should be a religious education?—can you, on the other
hand, provide secular education, and leave the ministers
of religion to give religious instruction? I only glance
at these questions, in order to show that there are
mighty matters still for the consideration of legislators
and statesmen; and I pray to God that they may be
resolved in a manner befitting the intelligence, befitting
the dignity, and befitting the spirit of an enlightened
and Christian people." With more emphasis, and the
marked sympathy of his audience, he referred to foreign
affairs. "And now let me say, that while these matters of
internal legislation are of the utmost importance—while
they must occupy from time to time the minds and the time
of those who are called to represent you in the Commons
House of Parliament—while there are other questions
of internal legislation, likewise of vast importance, upon
which I already for my part have given my opinion,
further measures ought to be adopted,—it is likewise to
be considered, and I trust we shall none of us forget it,
that this country holds an important position among the
nations of the world; that not once, but many times,
she has stood forward to resist oppression, to maintain
the independence of weaker nations, to preserve to the
general family of nations that freedom, that power
of governing themselves, of which others have sought
to deprive them. I trust that character will not be