The Northern Daily Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1856-10-30 00:00:00

BANQUET AT ROTTERDAM.

Rotterdam was the scene of the third day's festivities, and
her wealthy merchants and esteemed burgomaster seemed
determined not to be outdone in the race of splendid hospi-
tality by the previous displays. The entertainments were
given in the new and very extensive hall of the Yacht Club,
which was most tastefully decorated—the flags of Holland,
Prussia, and England being displayed all round the enclo-
sure. When the numerous guests—comprising a host of
Prussian dignitaries and of the notabilities of Amsterdam,
including all the government ministers and the burgomaster
of that city—had arrived, the company sat down, to the
number of upwards of three hundred, to a most sumptuous
repast. The Burgomaster of Rotterdan, Mr. Hoffmann,
was in the chair, having near him the Prussian minister and
officials, and the Dutch ministers of the home, foreign, and
finance departments, and opposite to him, at short intervals,
were planed Mr. Hesleden, president of the board of
directors, Mr. Holland, the chairman of the Eng -
lish board, and several of the English commissioners .
After the preliminary toasts of the King of Prussia and
the King of Holland, given respectively by the Burgomaster
of Rotterdam and the Prussian Minister, had been duly re-
ceived and applauded, the Minister of Finance rose and
addressed the meeting in a most complimentary speech, en-
larging on the merits of the English shareholders. His
Excellency, who spoke in English, in order that our coun-
trymen present might more fully appreciate his remarks,
concluded an eloquent speech by giving her Majesty the
Queen of England, observing, at the same time, his gratifica-
tion at seeing so many of the principal English shareholders
present on this occasion, and among them Mr. Holland, the
head of the English Commissioners, and the President of the
Chamber of Commerce of Liverpool. The cheers which
fnllnweri this toast were of rho nincif.lnsfeningMud, and
showed that Rotterdam feeling responded most warmly in
sympathy with its English allies. When a lull in the en-
thusiastic outburst had been obtained,
Mr. Holland rose and said, " M. le Ministre and gentle-
men, on behalf of myself and colleagues here present, I beg
to tender our most grateful acknowledgments for the very
complimentary manner in which you have introduced the
name of her most gracious Majesty the Queen of England,
as connected with the accomplishment of this great under-
taking, which we are now met to celebrate. It is unneces-
sary for me to say to your Excellency and this vast assembly
that I feel assured they are right in assuming that whatever
tends to promote commercial intercourse between her
country and the rest of Europe, and thus conduce to the
progress of civilisation and a communion of feeling through-
out the world, cannot fail to be an object of interest to our
gracious sovereign. But, on the present occasion, I doubt
not that when the knowledge of the tribute which has so
gracefully been paid to her by your Excellency, and so
warmly responded to by this assembly, reaches her, and that
she is made aware of the prominent part which Englishmen
have borne in this great undertaking, she will feel a special
interest, not only from the fact of her subjects (my coun-
trymen) being thus honourably associated with it, but from
the additional circumstance that in thus binding together
the three great countries of Germany, Holland, and Eng-
land, by another chain, which your Excellency has so
happily termed, not an iron, but a golden one, they are
further cementing the relations of England with countries,
one of which has already claims upon her feelings, arising
from domestic ties of an endearing kind, and the other bye
historical sympathies and associations. Your Excellency
has been pleased to eulogise the conduct of the shareholders
of the Dutch Rhenish Company. On behalf of those share-
holders, of whom I feel some pardonable pride in saying
that nine-tenths are my fellow-countrymen, I have, on the
part of my colleagues now present and myself, to offer you
our warm acknowledgments. Permit me, at the same time,
to remind your Excellency and this great meeting of the
many difficulties with which those shareholders have had to
cantend, and the manner in which they have overcome
them. First, they were met by the obstacles which nature
carryinghas interposed in a railway across your country ;
but that difficulty was solved from the moment that a gen-
tleman whose name is a guarantee for whatever he under-
takes—l allude to Mr. Brassey—contracted to do it. Then
came the financial difficulties, which had long been felt by
the company, and which required the most energetic efforts
on the part of the shareholders ; and here I rejoice in having
the opportunity of thus publicly testifying to your Excel-
lency, on the part of the shareholders, our appreciation of
the friendly and fostering spirit shown by the government
of the Netherlands to aid in overcoming these financial
obstacles, and the very liberal feeling they have always
displayed towards the company. Let it be borne in
mind, too, that during these difficulties public opinion in
Holland was sceptical as to the beneficial results for the
shareholders. Old associations and habits looked on the
waters of the Rhine as the natural highway to Central
Europe. That opinion yet lingers in Holland. It has
already been practically solved in our country, and we are
convinced that in these days economy of time, beyond every
other consideration, is the essential element of commerce ;
indeed, I may say, that it has already been proved so here,
for since the introdution of railways in Belgium, has not
Antwerp been enabled to seize upon a great part of your
former transit trade, and to carry it by her railways to
Cologne ? From that moment your position at Rotterdam,
as naturally commanding by means of the Rhine, the great
transit trade to the centre of Germany was lost—your large
colonial products alone remained to you. But Rotterdam
can now resume the leading position she formerly held and
regain the trade for which her port so admirably qualifies
her. This happy union of English and Dutch
capital and energy must doubtless soon produce
a marked effect on the pr greys of Rotterdam ;
and it is highly gratifying for us, the English now present.
and will be to the shareholders, to feel that the interests of
those shareholders, and of the communities of Rotterdam
and h msterdam, are thus so closely identified ; and there
cannot be a doubt that, under such auspices as we see
around us, and in close connection with such a powerfsl
ally as the Cologne Minden Company, the shareholders will
be remunerated for all their sacifices. I beg, therefore, to
conclude by again acknowledging the grateful sense we
entertain of the very handsome manner in which your
Excellency has expressed yourself, and to propose " Pros-
perity to the town of Rotterdam." The assembly evinced
their sympathy by cheers, and various other toasts and senti-
ments enlivened the progress of the entertainment, and
those of the gusts who chose adjourned to the ball-room,
where dancing was kept up until a late hour.
Thus terminated the three ',days' festivities which inau-
gurated the opening of the Dutch Rhenish Railway,
conducted on a scale of expenditure and magnificence
unparalleled in railway annals. Two great communities,
long isolated from each other, though such near neighbours,
have thus been brought into intimate union ; and if the
warmth and cordiality of feeling displayed on the occasion
be any criterion, the shareholders may safely look forward
to the realisation of their moat sanguine calculations
Among the English guests present were the Chairmen of
the Eastern Counties and Eastern Union Railways. These
gentlemen bad crossed over from Harwich in the Aquila

steamer, to judge for themselves of the facilities offered by
this new route between Harwich and the continent. Their
advent was hailed with delight, and several of the English
shareholders, including the commissaries, availed themselves
of the friendly offer of these gentlemen, and returned with
them the next day to Harwich, ' They thus ascertained that
with suitable boats the passage from Rotterdam to Harwich
could be done in about nine hours and a half ; or, adding
two hours and a half from Harwich to London, twelve hours
between London and Rotterdam. Comparing this with
the time now occupied by steamers from London to Rotter-
dam or Antwerp, which is about twenty-two hours, the
route by Harwich must eventually take the lead, while
the direct and expeditious transist from Rotterdam to
Cologne, in about eight hours, must give this route a
decided preference for the traveller over the circuitous
one by Belgium or Calais. The visitors in the Aquila,
most of them from Liverpool, and unacquainted with
Harwich, were struck with the immense capabilities of
its harbour ; and all agreed that the shareholders, both of
the Eastern Counties and Dutch Rhenish Railways, would
find it their interest to turn such great natural advantages to
account.