The Press.
London, England, 1858-11-13 00:00:00

THE PRESS, NOVEMBER 13,1858.

with will cheers. The French Ambassador also
received a cordial welcome.
among those present were, the Earl of Derby, the
Lard Chancellor, the Earl of.
.Malmesbury, Lord
Colchester, the Earl of Hardwicke, the Earl of Car-
Baryon, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, General
Peel, Mr. Secretary Walpole, Mr. Henley, Lord
Stanley, Sir E. B. Lytton, Sir J. Pakington, Lord J.
Mr, Lord Luvaine, Mr. G. A. Hamilton, M.P.,
mr, Hardy, M P., the Marquis of Salisbury, Lord
Brougham, Lord J. Russell, the Bishop of London,
Lord Chief Justice Campbell, Lord Chief Baron
Pollock, Baron Bramwell, Baron Watson, Lord
Justice Turner, Mr. Justice Crowder, Mr. Justice
Erie, Mr. Justice Byles, Vice-Chancellor Kindersley,
Sir Robert Carden, M.P., the Duke de Malakoff, the
Swedish Minister, the Danish Minister, the Vene•
znelan Minister, the Haytian Charge d'Affaires,
Toossoun Pacha, Viscount Raynham, M.P., Mr.
Roebuck, M.P., Sir H. Bethell, M.P., Mr. S. Warren,
M.P., Mr. Monckton Milnes, M.P., Messrs. Whit-
more, M.P., White, M.P., Malins, M.P.,Tite, M.P.,
ileadlam, M.P., Nicoll, M.P. Bass, .P., Joseph
Ewart, M.P. J. S. Wortley, M.P., and Sir Culling
Eardley. The entire number of guests present
exceeded 1,000.
The loving cup having circulated,
The LORD MAYOR rose and proposed, in succession,
"The Health of her Majesty the Queen," The
Prince Consort, the Prince of Wales, and the rest of
the Royal Family," which were duly honoured by the
company.
The Loan MAYOR then proposed " The Army and
Navy," coupling with the former service the name of
Major-General Peel, and with the latter the name of
Sir J. Pakington.
General PEEL, in responding, said he looked upon
the toast as a proof that the country was satisfied
with the services of the army ; and then proceeded
to state that no less than 93,000 of her Majesty's
troops were now in India ; he thought no doubt could
be entertained that the rebellion must soon be
extinguished. Before sitting down he might
announce that the army had that day received an
addition, which he was sure would be hailed with
gratification, not only by every officer in the service,
bat by every Englishman. In that night's Gazette
her Majesty announced that she had appointed his
Royal Highness the Prince of Wales a colonel in
her service. They had now, therefore, another
Royal Prince in the army ; and he must express his
deep regret at the unavoidable absence of his Royal
Highness the Commander-in-Chief (the Duke of
Cambridge), for he might say, without any flattery,
that they were indebted to his Royal Highness for
the present discipline of the army, which had never
been excelled at any period.
Sir J. Pleteorom returned thanks for the com-
pliment paid to the navy, and referring to the
statement which had been made by the Secretary of
State for War, he added that it had been a source of
high gratification to the navy that a member of the
Royal Family was now enrolled in that profession.
The right hon. Bart. proceeded to say that for him-
self he might be allowed to say that he felt deeply
the responsibility of the position he held, and be
might add that his colleagues concurred with him
in the conviction that one of the first duties of the
Administration of this country was to take cars that
the efficiency of the navy of ingland should be
maintained. He believed if there was one point
upon which Englishmen of all parties and of all
stations were unanimous, it was that our naval
strength was essential to our national power. And
nowhere he believed was that feeling more strongly
entertained than in that great centre of our national
commerce in which they were assembled. The
merchant ships of England covered every sea.
Within the last few weeks fresh fields of enterprize
had been opened to their commerce, and he hoped
they would never forget that this gigantic world wide
circulation ebbed and flowed from the little heart of
England. If anything were to arrest that stream, no
language could describe the ruin and disaster that
must result. England, if she was to be prosperous,
if she was to be peaceful, must maintain her naval
strength ; and in these days, when the steam-engine
was essential to every man-of-war, and when the size
of our ships, and the power of their armaments, were
constantly increasing, be trusted the country would
remember that our naval efficiency could not be
.maintained without a large expenditure. The public
bad a right to expect that this great department
should be managed with all practicable economy ; but
they must also expect, and he hoped they would
demand, that, whatever might be the necessary
expense, the Government should keep the navy in a
state of vigorous efficiency, and maintain with firm
resolve the supremacy of England upon the seas.
The health of the Foreign Ministers having been
given by the LORD MAYOR,
The Duke de MALAKOFF responded, and in the
course of his remarks thus alluded to the alliance
between England and France
He had the fullest confidence in the profound wisdom of
hu 6°Y•reign, and in his determination, consistently with

the dignity of his Crown and the preservation of his
honour, to do all in his power to prevent those conflicts
which might trouble the tranquillity of the world. It was
the sincere and earnest desire of the Emperor to strengthen
the friendly alliance between France and England—a work
to the accomplishment of which all his own personal
exertions, as the representative of his Majesty, were also
strenuously directed.
The health of the Lord Chancellor was then given,
with the usual honours, and bristly responded to by
Lord CHELMSFORD after which

The LORD MAYeR proposed the health of her
Majesty's Ministers.
The Earl of DERBY, in rising to acknowledge the
toast, was received with loud and enthusiastic cheers.
After a few preliminary remarks expressive of the
pleasure he felt in attending such an assembly, and
his regret that at this season there were few of our
public men who are able to pay that tribute of
respect which is justly due to the Chief Magistrate
of London, proceeded to say :
My Lord Mayor, on such occasions as the present there
is nothing, in the ordinary sense of the word, of a political
character ; there is nothing, I mean, of a party character ;
all party considerations and all opinions upon political
questions are here lost in a most useful and salutary
oblivion. These meetings are, as it were, the type and
evidence of that harmony which has always, thank God,
subsisted between the various classed of those who, each
in their separate departments, are labouring for the pubic
service. They give an opportunity of testifying, on the
one side and on the other, that mutual respect which
Englishmen always feel for the persons and situations
of those who to the best of their abilities are discharging 1
public duties in the service of their country. (Hear,
hear.) We, my Lord Mayor, on these occasions accept
the honour of an invitation not only as a mark of our
personal respest for the individual who presides over the
affairs of this metropolis, but as showing the veneration
in which we hold the high functions which you are now
called upon to discharge. (Cheers.) You honour us with
an invitation to this banqnet and you confer upon us the
compliment which I am now acknowledging, not for
any personal merits of our own, but because by the
favour of our Sovereign we are engaged in the perform-
ance of arduous duties which require the devotion of
every faculty of our minds, and the service of every
hour of our time. (Hear.) It may be permitted to me,
holding the situation which I do, and having the deep
interest which I must have in the welfare of that country
the administration of whose affairs is, in great measure,
confided to my charge, with feelings of thankfulness
and gratification to compare the state of the kingdom at
this moment with that which unfortunately prevailed
last year, when, my Lord Mayor, your predecessor as-
sumed the office which you now so worthily fill. It is
not necessary for die, in order to heighten the picture,
to draw a contrast between the then situation and the
present, or to remind you of that condition of gloom,
distress, and difficulty which extended over the whole of
the commercial world, of which some here no doubt had
painful experience, and from which few indeed of those
extensively engaged in mercantile affairs can have
escaped altogether unscathed. (Hear, hear.` Nor is it
necessary for me to remind you of the apprehensions, the
doubts, and the anxieties which existed with regard to that
formidable revolt by which our Indian empire was et
that time shaken to its foundation. But, my Lord
Mayor, a brighter picture is now before us. I rejoice
to think that there are all the indications in the country
of returning prosperity. We have been blessed by
Almighty Providence with a harvest of more than
usual abundance, which, in the eolith of this kingdom
at least, has been collected under circumstances of
unparalleled succees and good fortune. We have a
revenue which fatly equals the anecipations of ray right
hon. friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer. Money is
abundant. Trade and commerce are slowly, but, I hope,
surely reviving from the panic and distress of the past un-
happy year. Labour is amply remunerated; there is
abundant employment for it, and, as a proof that the fact
is so, I am able to state that, whereas between September
of last year and March of the present year there was a
fearful augmentation in the rate and extent of pauperism,
not only has that augmentation altogether disappeared,
but the amount of pauperism in the last week of September
just past was considerably below that of the corresponding
week of September of the previous year. Such, my Lord
Major, is our situation at home. Now let us cast our
ayes abroad, and I rejoice to say—and I say it with most
entire confidence—that we have every reason to feel
entire reliance upon the preservation to the world at largo
of the inestimable blessings of peace. (Cheers.) I do not
say that complications may not arise, or that differences
may not present themselves between different countries ;
but this I do say—and I say it with the confidence that I
am speaking nothing but the bare truth—that all the
great powers of Europe are fully convinced, if not of the
sinfulness of war, at all events of the necessary evils
attendant upon a state of war, and that the valuable labours
of diplomacy are directed— and never were they employed
with more success and with more zeal than at the present
time—to smooth difficulties, to remove obstacles, and to
find in every difference which may occur between various
powers a peaceable rather than a hostile solution.
(Cheers.) Turning nest to the great empire of India, if
I cannot say that the hostilities—or rather the bloodshed
—which are going on there have altogether ceased, I hope
I may congratulate the country on the fact that, in the
main, the organized rebellion is put down. For months
—perhaps for years to come—there will possibly be bands
of marauders, partly from desperation, partly from inclina-
tion, harassing our troops, and disturbing the peace of the

oountry ; bat, I repeat, the organized rebellion is at an end,
and after the season which has interfered with our
military operations has terminated, I doubt not that the
energy and the abilities of Lord Clyde, supported as he
has been by large reinforcementsfrom this country, aided
by the discretion and judgment of the Governor-General,
and also, I may, perhaps, venture to express a hope, by
the gracious message of peace and mercy which her
litsjestj was advised to send out upon her accession to
her Indian empire—a message to all classes of those wbo
returned to their allegiance—l trust that all these com-
bined will shortly restore not only the sunremacy of our
power, bat tranquillity and contentment to our extensive
possessions in Hindostan. If we go further eastward,
rejoice to think tha: the negotiations which have been
carried on, and the measures which have been taken,
by her Majesty in conjunction with her august ally the
Emperor of the French, have led to a conclusion of those
somewhat anomalous hostilities, of the commencement

and the origin of which I will say nothing, but of which I
rejoice to be able to say that, without further bloodshed,
they have now been terminated, and that by a peace not
less honourable to this country than I am persuaded it
will be advantageous to the interests of commerce and
civilisation generally. I should do gross injustice to one
of the most deserving public servants I know if I did not
take this, the earliest public opportunity I have had, of
declaring that for the success of these negotiations Ens.
land is deeply indebted to the ability, the tact, the deter-
mination, and the perseveran:e of her Majesty's Plenipo-
tentiary, the Earl of Elgin. (Cheers.) By that
distinguished nobleman a further and most unexpected
extension of our commercial relations has been negotiated
with the hitherto secluded, but not unimportant, empire
of Japan. (Cheers.) I believe that that treaty, if properly
made use of, will tend greatly to extend the commercial
interests of this country ; but I trust that, speaking in the
midst of this great commercial metropolis, 1 shall not be
thought presumptuous or impertinent if I venture to say
that the advantages to be derived by this country will
greatly depend upon the good judgment, the peaceable
demeanour, and the orderly conduct of the agents of those
whose commercial enterprise may lead them to embark
in speculations in that distant land. It is of the first im-
portance—and I trust you will forgive mo for saying so—
that those who go out there as the pioneers of British
commerce should be more careful than I am afraid our
countrymen have sometimes shown themselves to be not
to wound prejudices, to ridicule or to trample upon cus-
toms which appear strange to them, but the violation of
which cannot but produce unfavourable impressions of
foreigners upon the minds of natives with whom they ale
only beginning to trade. I have drawn a picture—not I
am sure an exaggerated or a too flattering one—of the
state of our affairs both abroad and at home. Do I claim
credit on that account for her Majesty's present advisers
I do no such thing. Much of what I have said arises from
causes wholly beyond their control. I speak not for the
glorification of the Government of which I am a member,
but as an Englishman to an assembly of Englishmen to
whom the welfare and prosperity of their common country
cannot, to any one of them, be an object of indifference.
(Hear, hear.) I have stated that I entertain the most
cordial and confident belie in the preservation of the
peace of Europe, and in the presence of some of those
who worthily represent their respective Sovereigns in
this country I trust I shall be allowed to express the
ground, and I may add the policy, upon which, as tar
as this country is concerned, I rest my confident hope
that peace will not be disturbed. My belief is that the
policy ou the part of this country which is best calculated
to maintain the peace of the world is, in the first place,
a firm but temperate maintenance of oar own rights ; in
the next place, a studious and careful recognition of, and
respect for, the rights of others, together with an anxious
desire not to interfere unnecessarily with the internal
affairs of other States ' • and also a determination not
willingly to give or to take offence; a determination, if
offence unhappily arise, to have reference to the principle
which, to its endless honour, was embodied in the proto—
cols of the Conference of Paris, viz., to resort in the first
instance not to hostilities but to the good offices and the
mediation of some friendly power. Last of all, my Lord
Mayor, I hold, as the cardinal point of all our foreign
policy, the firm and unflinching adherence, in spirit;
as well as in the letter, to every treaty obligation into
which this country may have entered. These are the

principles on which her Majesty's present Government
desire to act ; and these are the principles which I should
be indeed deeply grieved and mortified if, whenever we
have to account to Parliament for any part of our conduct,
we should not be able to show that we have steadily adhered
to and ioflexibly maintained. The result of these prii -
ciples is this—that we are at this moment upon the most
friendly terms with all the great powers of the world,
without exception; and more especial; I venture to say—
corroborating that which has already fallen from my
gallsnt and illustrious friend the noble marshal who so
worthily represents the Emperor of the French—that
although it is absurd to suppose that between any two
countries there can be on all subjects perfect and entire
identity of feelings, yet that never was there a moment
in the history of the two nations when their relations
stood upon a more perfectly friendly footing, or when
on the one side and on the other there was a more earnest
desire, consistently with the honour of both countries,
to maintain that alliance which has so long subsisted
for their mutual happiness, or a more firm and thorough
conviction that its maintenance is an incalculable ad-
vantage not only to the two powers themselves, but to
the interests of the world at large. In speaking of her
Majesty's present Government, my Lord Mayor, you
have been kind enough to give ua a species of pro-
gramme for the coming session. That programme .is
somewhat extensive, but you have omitted to show us
in what manner and by what assistance we may be
enabled to carry the whole of it into effect. (A laugh.)
I cannot help thinking that the advice so kindly tendered