The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1860-07-24 00:00:00

DINNER TO HER MAJESTY'S
MINISTERS.

On Wednesday night the Lord Mayor and Lady
Mayoress entertained Her Majesty's Ministers and a
ilistinguished cona;aany at the Mansion-lama:iv. The
Egyptian Hall preseuted a brilliant eivetaele on the
oeceeion. Besides the leading members of the Cabinet,
the list of gneets included the foreign Minister, reidetit
at our Court, and many of the repreecutetivee of other
States now attending the leternational Statistical
Congress aesembled in the metropolis.
The Lord Mayor, in proposing "The Health of Her
Majesty's Ministers." referred to the arduous nature of
their duties, parliamentary and oeiciel. His own
I ibours as chief magistrate of the city were at times
severe, but they bore no comparison with those imposed
on the Prime Minister and ills colleagues.
The toast was drunk amid loud applause.
Lord Palmerston, who was received with cheers, said,
—My Lord Mayor. ladies, and gentlemen, I beg, on nay
own behalf and that of any colleagues, to return you
our moot cordial anal grateful thanks for the kind
manner in which the Lord Mayor has proposed and you
have received the tenet of our health'. My Lord
Mayor, you have been pleased to draw • comperieon
between the daily labour/a we have to perform and those
which fall to your own loc. It would be difficult, I
think, to say which of the twn, the Lord Mayor or Iler
Majeety's Ministers, during their respective mayoralities
(laughter) lead the most laborite:ea lives. But when the
Lord Mayor adverts to the noxious influences which
our avocations may have on our health, I beg leave to
~ay there might be a course of life suggested to me by
the enterta. int now before us which might lw still
aware deleterious ; and that would be, if every day of the
week, every week of the month, and every th of
the year, me were to indulge in the same spletelad and
luxurious repasts as that of which we hove just partaken.
i Laughter, aid " lia ar, hear.-) It is the abstinence
which we are compelled to practiw which enables us to
get through our work. (.% laugh.) I can assure you. latiee
and gentlemen, it meet always afford to those who are
charged with the responsible duty of conducting the
affeirs of this country the greatest satiefaetioe to with-
draw themselves from the labourr, turmoil, and contests
pulitical life to enjoy the sog•ial and epleselial hospi•
edits- of the chief magistrete of this great city. (Ilear,
hear.) It must always be a pleasure to find ourselves in
the greatest commercial centre of the greateet commer-
ei nation in the world. and I trust that in addreesing
this assembly we may take some credit for having in the
course of the preeent Session been able to devise anal
execute several esicaeures which we hope will greatly
eaentribute to the commercial pros;•erity of the country.
(('heers.) It has sometimes been the faffiiiin tossy that
commerce enervates the mind of a nation ; that it
iestroye the namely vigour to be found in natiimnii not
c ~,,, niercial. The history of the world is full of exampling
which de -trete the fallacy of that 01 anal if
any further proof to the contrary were wanting, that
lowa was eupplied iii the preeent year, when we saw
130,000 of the youth if this nation, tof them engaged
in commercial pursuits, all of them employed in the
viva avocet of life, submitting to privations and
labours to which their previous habits hail not accuat ~,,, cal
them, and devoting all the energies with which nature
has endowed them to the defence of their native land.
(Cheers.) I think, ladies awl gentlemen, that this is the
noblest spectimle ever exhibited in any nati ~,, of the
world. (Hear, hear.) Precedents are not want-
ing, where nations, when danger inaminently
threatens, when the enemy is knocking at
their gates, have risen like one man, and, tearing
tteinselvee sway from everything that constitute
the pleasures, enjoyments, and bueiness of civil life, have
prepared Li shed their blood in tin! defence of their
country. But this is not an instance of that kind. It
is said that the lion of the forest entails danger front afar,
and prepares for resistance ; and eo it has been with the
youth of England. An instinctive feeling has poaseseed
them that circumstances might arise which would
allow that the means of defence previously existing were
perhaps not equal to time emergency. anal with a spirit
al t prophetic—though I trust the prophecy may
not be accomplished in an evil sense--they have proved
their manly energy by arraying themselves in the
number% I have already stated, which, if there were
need, could be doubled, treblml, or even quadrupled.
(Cheers.) It is an old saying that to preserve peace
you should be prepared for war. Now, that is both
true anal untrue. It is untrue if it be meant that a
nation assuming an aggressive attitude elioulil create
larger military anil naval entalelesliments than are
Jae:votary for its defence, wool which, being evidently
intended for encroachment on its neighbours, excite sus-
picion, clistne4. and alarm. Instead of affording •
severity for peace, they are more likely to be • provo-
cation to war. But fir different is it when a nation acts
as we are doing, mid coetenta itself with rveiseesing
such an army and making such prepar•tions as are
necessary for !Ungar defeuce, abjuring, taut only by
loy its cohdaxt, all agreaseve designs un others.
I may that such 'trepanations for a contest purely
olefensive constitutes the beat guarantee for ivace. I
t rug we shall long continue to enjoy that security, and
be in a eitaetion to declare that peace sse will have;
Westgate he who attacks will rue the day when Ile made
the attempt. (Loud cheers.) What I have now said I
lope will he taken in its proper WISC. Mid viewed MI a
c (diluent to that noble body of Volunteers, who, I
maintain, may Ise reganled as moist active and valuable
mac inborn of the Peace Society. (Laughter and cheers.)
The noble lord concluded by again returning his ac-
knowledgements for the honour dune to Her Majesty's
Ministers,

The Lord Mayor next gave "The Health of the Corps
Diplomstblide," which wee received with much

Excellency Count Von Iternsterff, the Prussian
Minister, rrturne.ll thanks.
The Lord Mayor then proposed "The House of

TI. Lord Chancellor, in responding. said the nation
waa imiented to the barons for Mogen Charter and
other of its most cherished liberties. The House of
Lords was • rallying point for public opinion. If at
sny time it foNot it duty to the ...mammy, it ought
to be reminded of it. He it/ AY confident that it would
ever listen to the deliberately elms...sod voice of the
nation, and be guided by the dictated of political news,.
'its. (Hear. lie•r.)

- - -
The lord Mayor then gave the " HOURS of COM.
MIII//l," mewling the toast with the name of Lord John
Russell. (Cheers.)
Loril J. Russell, in responding, said that the House
.4 Coninions was an ancient body which had at all times
defended the liberties of the country. The amioration
of the city of London was also an ancient institution
which hail never failed to defend those liberties.
(clieem.) There wa,, therefore. great synipathy
between these two bodies, and he hoped that in any
measure which the House of ( olu,mi,mos 11110III.VII with
regard to the corporation of the metropolis the eel.. ices
which it had rendered in the put would not be over
looked. (Cheers.) It had been his fate to be charged
with the conduct of the foreign affsirs of this country.
and he trusted that iii no instance had he tarnished the
honour or impaired the interests of Great Britain in the
course he had pursued. (Hear, hear.) It was our duty
in the first place, no doubt, to maintain that honour and
promote those interests, but in doing so we were bound
also to remember our duty to others, and to end*
to being about such an agreement and eysneathy between
nations as would advance the great cause of
CiVII aud religious liberty threadless:, lb@ world.
(Cheers.)
The Lord Mayor proposed "The Foreign Dolloton to

the International stet
which was rte
tisical Go'
kind with loud cheers.
M. Mursere Legoyt. the delegate front France, ex-
pressed hie n appreciation, and that of his colleagues,
of the distinguished honour paid to them by the Lord
egress," .
Mayor. in inviting them to that inn:l2l6cent banquet.
It would be both his duty and his privilege to report to
the Government which had done him the honour of
delegating him to that oongres, the profound KroopaillY
which had been evinced towards him and his asaociates
in that great city. It afforded a fresh proof of the cor-
dial esteem with which Prance was regarded in this
country, an esteem which be ventured to say France
most sincerely reciprocated. ((loan.)
"This Health of the Lady Mayoress" was then given
by Lord Palmerston, and after a few complimentat7
toasts, the company separated.

VISIT OF THE QUEEN TO THE srEAN YACHT