The Sun.
London, England, 1863-10-22 00:00:00

Warehousemen and Clerks' Schools,

The annual dinner on behalf of these schools took
place last night in the London Tavern.
Mr. Cobden, 111. P,, presided, and was supported
right and left by Mr. William Leaf, Mr. Samuel
Morley,:Mr. J. R. Jeffrey, of Liverpool; Mr. J. W.
Maclure, of Manchester; Mr. John Dillon, Mr. J.
P. Foster, Mr. J. Sargood, Mr. Walford Greatorex,
Mr. R. Slater, Mr. George Lawrence, and other
gentlemen. The institution has been established
eight years, during which time 110 children have
been received, and there are now in the schools 62
children-47 boys and 15 girls—who are clothed
maintained, and educated, free of all charge.
In proposing the toast of " The Queen" the
CHAIRMAN said it was a sound maxim in this con-
stitutional monarchy thatlthe Sovereign could do no
wrong, but that was a maxim which applied only to
-the Sovereign in a political dense, for it was impos-
sible in a country like this, where habits and man-
ners descended so much from one class to another,
that the highest personage in the realm should fail
to exercise, for good or evil, a great influence on the
character of society. There could be no doubt that
the illustrious lady now on the throne had for the
last 26 years, by her exalted example, by her per-
sonal and domestic virtues, favourably influenced
the character of this and future ages. Nay, more, she
had given stability to the throne itself, for she had
rendered impossible for the future that which was
witnessed in the not very remote past, when the
persons highest in rank and birth were among the
lowest in the scale of morality—a monstrous com-
bination, the recurrence of which would be the only
way in which the monarchical institutions could be
jeopardised in this country.
The toast was drunk with great enthusiasm.
Mr. COBDEN, in submitting the next toast—
The Prince of Wales, the Princess of Wales, and
the remaining Branches of the Royal Family"—
said that when we felt more than ordinarily inte-
rested in the career of the young we naturally
turned with curiosity to the parental advantages
which they might have enjoyed. If we were to
survey our annals from the Norman Conquest to the
present reign we should not, perhaps, find an in-
stance in which the throne of these realms had been
surrounded by so pure and elevated an
as that which had pervaded the Courtatmos of Queen
phere
Victoria. The late lamented Prince Consort was
not only a man of high character
and careful edu-
cation,
talents ; he
cation, he also possessed great
had rare judgment and rare
sagacity, and if it had
been possible for him to have
placed himself in the foremost
rank of our public men. Besides the advantage of
u
having been brought TlPnder the eye of such a
father, the Heir Apparent had the great blessing of
being united to a princess who, since her arrival in
England, had not only delighted us all with her
grace and beauty,
but
favourable
had won our hearts by her
With such auguries every
amiability.
one naturally felt confident that the Prince of
as their warm supporter and
Wales, to
whom,
patron, the warehousemen and clerks' schools owed
sub
s
t
a
nt
i
a
l
benefits, was destined to run a career of
,exalted happiness and usefulness.
The toast was received with all the honours.
Mr. COBDEN then proposed " The Army, Navy,
and Valunteers," and his remarks were loudly
cheered. He observed that in the course of his
travels abroad he had found that our pretensions
to superiority in some things were contested, and
in others conceded. For example, the French
would not allow that we were superior to them either
in politeness or taste ; the Prussians would not ad-
mit that we were their equals in education, while
the Spaniards claimed supremacy over us in tempe-
rance. Bat there was one attribute of Englishmen
with respect to which he had never heard any peo-
ple in any part of the world pretend to superiority
ever us, and that was courage—courage, he meant,
supplemented with those most formidable qualities,
tenacity of purpose and manly endurance. As the
verdict of mankind had declared that we had no
superior in those qualities, it would be a sheer
waste of time if we were to dwell upon them our-
selves. He was not sure, indeed, that it would be
good taste to do so; and it was certainly altogether
unnecessary, because henceforth the contests of na-
tions would depend less and less upon mere brute
force. We lived in a scientific age—an age when
science assisted us to travel, to send our messages,
to manufacture our goods, and to cultivate our soil.
In future, battles would be fought and woo by
el-
aid of science, and hence it was necessary that
the
sides courage we should have at our cow:nal
best resources of our mechanical and ehethwalta
could be
He was not going to say y
controverted, because ho heltrittthoinbge bad taste, and
oitory principles,
not in accordance with approved :3a
enba Hume-
le
to talk upon any difficult or at:struae
o„fp wanted quiet arid
diately after dinner, when Pe
freedom from strong emotions,
but he had a theory
repelled shortly to the men
which he should like to p
of business whom he aN‘r around him. lie had
always entertained the opinion that the Govern-
ment should their business
carry on very much as
merchants and capitalists carriedtheirs,
:n on
our large
words,, that when they wanted
in other ivanything
should go into the market and b
they buy it rather
than attempt to make it for themselves. It was