In testimony not only of the Magistrates' and Council's admiration of the splendid talents and virtues which uniformly distinguished him as a statesman during a long and consistent career of public exertion, but also of their deep sense of gratitude for his eminent services as First Minister of the Crown, and above all for the great measure of Parliamentary Reform which, while it was of inestimable benefit to the Empire at large, was peculiarly gratifying to the people of Scotland as bestowing upon them a political weight and consideration due to the citizens of a free state.
"When I consider the occasion on which such a meeting has been produced, the numerous and intelligent company which has been assembled, and the place where it is held, in the metropolis of the ancient kingdom of Scotland-which is no less famed for its genuine love of liberty than for its general intelligence, for the cultivation of the arts of peace, for its distinction in literature and science, and above all for that sober, calm and reflective sense which, without abating or cooling the energies of popular feeling, directs in its legitimate course by prudent and by peaceable means to the attainment of useful and legitimate objects-it is further calculated son given to you by my noble to make a deep impression for the reason given to you by my noble friend, that, though assembled here more immediately to do me honour, it is considered as much more valuable as having assembled together here persons actuated by one common feeling of attachment to civil and religious liberty, and to a system of government calculated at once to secure to the people their just rights, and to all branches of the government their necessary authority."