The Sun.
London, England, 1855-04-10 00:00:00

CIVIC BANQUET TO S.R.H. THE DUKE

OF CAMBRIDGE.

A grand banquet was given at the Mansion-house last
night to his Royal Highness the Duke of Cambridge, to
which a very large number of the leading members of
the aristocracy and persons connected with the commer-
cial interests of the City were invited.

A guard of honour, formed of the Light and Grena-
dier Companies of the Royal London Militia, under the
command of Captains Brook and Grant, was drawn up
in front of the mansion, to receive the gallant and
illustrious duke. Among the company present we
noticed their Excellencies the Turkish Minister, the
Swedish Minister, the American Minister, the Danish
Minister, the Brazilian Minister the Hanseatic
States States Minister, the Right Honourable the Chancel-
lor of the Exchequer, the Bishop of Oxford, the Vis-
count de Chaubannes, the Hon. J. Leslie Melville,
.ce
the
Hon. Arthur Kinnaird, tha Hon. Major Fitmaur
Sir F. Baring, Bart., M.P., Sir George Hamilton
'
Seymour, Sir W. Gore Onsley, Lieut.-Gen.
Sir
G. Pol-
lock, Sir Edward Ryan, Sir Geo. Lee, Mr. J. Master-
man, M.P., Mr. Bass, ALP., Col. French, M P Mr.
Lindsay, M.P. Mr. Norman Macdonald, Col. Sykes,
Lieut.-Col. Lieut.-Colonel Tyrwhitt, Lieut.-Col.
M'Caul, Captain gatton, Captain Hibbert, Captain
Brooke, Captain Grant, Aldermen Farebrother, Wilson,
Duke, Sir
Sir James George Car-
roll,Humphery MagnaY,
' Musgrove, Challis, Sidney, Salomons,
Sir John
Finnis, Sir Robert Walter Carden, Wire, Cubitt, M.P.,
Mr. Alderman and Sheriff Muggeridge, Mr. and Mrs.
Sheriff Crossley, and numerous members of the Court of
Common Council.
It being a " full dress" banquet, the numerous mili-
tary and militia uniforms, and the gay dresses of the
ladies, of whom there was a considerable number pre-
sent, gave a brilliant appearance to the Egyptian-hall.
The tables were decorated with large quantities of plate
and works of art, and flags and banners were gracefully
arranged at each extremity of the hall.
The cloth having been removed,
The LORD MAYOR proposed the health of her Majesty
and of Prince Albert, the Prince of Wales, and the rest
of the Royal Family. The toast having been warmly
and enthusiastically responded to,
The LORD MAYOR next gave "The health of his Royal
Highness the Duke of Cambridge," and in doing so
stated that he felt so small amount of pride and gratifi-
cation in having upon his right hand a prince of the
royal blood—(cheers)—an illustrious prince, who in all
the duties of life had performed his part in accordance
with the example left by his ancestors, and in a manner
which reflected the highest credit even upon his dig-
nified position. (Loud cheers.) He had acted with
that noble valour which was to be expected from
one through whose veins courageous blood ran high,
arid with an indomitable courage which would pre-
serve his name upon the brightest page of our history,
and hand it down to the glory of posterity.
(Cheers.) In the name of the company present he
greeted his Royal Highness upon his safe return to his
country, after having performed deeds of noble daring, of
indomitable perseverance, and of forbearance, which had
won the admiration of the whole civilised world. Beyond
all this, he welcomed his illustrions guest as one who was
emphatically "The soldier's friend"—one who was not
content to remain in his tent, but who took part in the
battle, and who, after the combat had ceased, tenderly
looked after the comforts of his men. (Cheers.) His
country owed much to the good example in this respect
set by his Royal Highness, and he rejoiced in having
that opportunity of giving expression to the humble feel-
ings of respect and admiration which he entertained for
his illustrious guest. In addition to his military renown
his Royal Highness was cheerfully engaged in following
out that course of charity and benevolence in which his
late honoured and lamented father was so conspicuously
employed, and the various charitable institutions of the
country possessed in him a warm and devoted friend.
(Loud cheers.) His lordship concluded by proposing
the health of his Royal Highness.
The toast having been drunk with the greatest entbu-
irasm,
The Duke of CAMBRIDGE, in returning thanks, said—
It is at all times to me a source of the greatest pleasure
and satisfaction to have the honour of paying my respects
to the chief magistrate of this great City in his splendid
and hospitable hall, but upon no occasion has that plea-
sure been greater than the present, when, under God's
protection, I am enabled again after a lapse of some time
to address so distinguished a company as that now as-
sembled together. The enthusiastic manner in which I
have been received, as well during the time when his
lordship was proposing my health as out of doors while
on my way to this building, produces in me feelings of
the deepest gratitude. (Cheers.) Since I last had the
honour of addressing the citizens of London I have wit-
nessed many varied scenes, some of them of great excite-
ment, of great satisfaction, and of great applause ; others
of a more painful and heartrending character. I can as-
sure you that after all these feelings, agreeable, honour-
able, and distressing, there is nothing which can be a
greater reward to myself, and to those who have been
engagei with me in these great undertakings, than upon
our return to receive the 'hearty welcome and kind con-
sideration of the citizens of London and of the general
population of this great country. (Cheers.) If we have
obtained that kind of feeling which I venture to think,
from the kind manner in which I have been received, I
have obtained, I can assure you that it is a satisfactory
reward for all we have gone through. (Cheers.) But
when I find myself placed in this honourable, and I
may truly say proud position, I ask myself the question,
" What have I done to obtain this proud position I" As
for myself, I have done nothing more than my duty.
(Cheers.) But I feel this, that I have had the honour
and satisfaction of being placed at the head of troops
who have nobly and gallantly performed their duty.
(Cheers.) A general placed in high command has, in-

deed, an easy task when he is supported, as I have been,
by officers and soldiers such as those of the first division
and the other divisions of the British army with which
I have been connected. So long as that intrepid feel-
ing, that indomitable courage exists in our army, which.
thank God, I am happy to say does exist from the
highest to the lowest, so long may we rest assured that
the honour of this country will be safely kept. (Cheers.)
I have also had the satisfaction of being associated with
allies with whom I am proud to have acted. I have great
pleasure in seeing present a gallant admiral 'of the
French navy, and of assuring this company in his pre-
sence that it has been to me a source of the highest satis-
faction to have been associated with the French army in
the East. That great alliance which has now,' thank
God, been cemented, and which, I trust, will increase in
firmness from day to day, will, I believe, receive a new
strength from the speedy arrival in this country of that
great and illustrious man, the Emperor, who now rules
over the Frenchmation. (Loud cheers.) May our alli-
ance with France long continue, may the presence of his
!snsperial Majesty give a fresh impulse to it, and may
it cause its influence to be felt all over the world.
(Cheers.) lam sure that lam speaking the senti•
bunts of your lordship and of the company when I say
that we shall welcome the Emperor of the French on
his arrival with that cordiality and warmth which will
gratify him, and produce the best results all over
the world. (Cheers.) In conclusion, I beg to express
to your lordship, as well myl own behalf as for those
brave and gallant men wl'lnoel
lead, with whom I feel complethealyveidh eandt
itaheed
,h oninyo ukind
o
expressions of esteem and
regard for the manner in
which the toast has been proposed and received. • (Con-
tinued cheere.)
The LORD MAYOR next proposedtihe toast of "The
. erranic
Sir
United Fleets and Armies of Great Er
coupling with the toast the names of Itie nGde France,"
uta.
G. Pollock, Admiral Ryder Burton, and Admiral Vis-
count de Chabannes, of the French navy
Admiral DE CHABANNES, who replied' to the
English, said—l beg leave, my lord, to return
toast
i you yn
most hearty thanks for the toast which has been proposed
by your lordship, and for the kind mention which hasr been
made of me by his Royal Highness upon your right. lle
did so both in his own name and in the name of the French
Davy and of the French army, and felt most happy te have
this opportunity of expressing the cordial and bro-
therly feeling which the French army and nary enter-
tained towards England, the English army, and the
English navy. (Cheers.) These feelings of brotherhood
bad been produced by common action, by common dan-
gers, by mutual assistance, by mutual esteem, and Isy
great hardships shared together. (Cheers.) These
feelings had laid, he frosted, a solid foundation for an
enduring nnion between the two countries. He believed
it would be a solid foundation, for it had been cemented
in our blood, and, like Roman cement, would endure for
ever. (Loud cheers.) His Royal Highness
hadinti-
mated that great evils and calamitieshardebsueeltnschoandnehceteend
with the war ; but one of its greatest
of
fance each and
country,
Etnryg:
the placing side by side the
1421 and uniting the navya flags
n(1
F
and making the officers, soldiers, and sailors friends and
brothers. (Cheers.) He trusted that this feeling of
fr'endlY brotherhood would long continue for the benefit
of the two co •
untries' and for the security of the peace of
the world. (ChneraeleW
Lieut.-Ge C.-. PoLLOCK
briefly returned thanks
for the army, -
Admiral
Reptile
Bu roe in return' 'ng thanks for the
navy. expressed 11'
laet year the Britil: ye
an opportunity et h fleet in had not had
regret that in the month of August
thaed they met
the Black Sea
ineleiting with the Russian navy, for he
felt convinced that,
have elapsed before
strayed or the greater paerr tny', fleet bad been either de-
. six hours wou:d not
navy. Had such a result of
it
in
P"s;ession of theßritish
have been no necessity for
tableeen achieved there would
now discu,slng the questionf
a. Congress of Vienna to be
Russian power in the Black ;)e the preponderance of the
propose The LORD MAYOR next (Cheers.)
"Majesty's Ministers."" The heath of her
The CHANCELLOR of the Exciamoe
thanks, said that his Royal IT in rein•
ighnees •rning
which he had addressed to the com ~t in the remarks
upon the support which a general at theelYie' had
ad enlarged
derived from the confidence of the trop of an army under his en rn
'nand. A similar support, though different in some ;
spects, was derived by her Majesty's Ministers fromtrhe
consciousness that they enjoyed the confidence of the
great community of the country, such as that which was
then represented in that hall—a community celebiated
for their antiquity and wealth and power, and thus con-
felling upon those on whom the responsibility of public
affairs' is thrown the means of conducting those affairs to
a successfid termination. It was only by well-earned
confidence that it was possible for her Majesty's Minis-
ters to succeed in the difficult task which was imposed
upon,them.Vith respect to himself, he might state
Ilfat, lupe office whiSh he had the honour to bold, he
lefts tb as he did that portion of the metro-
polis which `vas more immediately connected with its
figs& and itelonetary affairs, that confidence could only
tie ear kiwi by iblitating the example of those eminent per.
-,.aosi Who had preceded hini in the office which beheld,
--by 51i exact" maintenance of CT the arrangements of
Government, and thus upholding that public credit'upon '
which the safety and honour of this country to so