The Sun.
London, England, 1863-02-12 00:00:00

Mr. Mason, the Commissioner from the
American Confederate States.

Last evening this gentleman made a speech in
public, at a banquet at the Mansion-house, in rete-

rence to the existing relations between the Confe-

derate States of America—of which he is here the

accredited representative, and the Riglish G.,vern-
ment, by whom he is es yet unrecognised. He was
a guest, with Lord Alfred Churchill, M.P., Lord
George Lennox, M.P., Lord Colville, Gen. Sir G.
Pollock, Mr. Halliburton, M.P., Mr. J. C. Ewart,
M.P., The O'Connor Don, M.P., Col. French, M.P.,
Alderman Salomons, M.P., and Mr. Kennard,
M,P., among others, at a dinner at which the Lord
Mayor and the Lady Mayoress entertained the
aldermen and the members of the Court of Common
Council for the wards of Castle Baynard, Cheap,
Coleman-street, Cord wainers, Cornhill, Cripple-

gate (within and without), Dowgate, and Farring-
dun-within. The company, about 250 in number,
included besides his Excellency Rear-Admiral Doa
Juan de Dios and Captain Blanco, of the Spanish
navy; Gen. Sir A. S. Waugh, Admiral Stopford,
Gen. Brooke Taylor, Col. Sargent, C. 8., Col. Lind-
say, Col. Aldworth, Alderman Sir R. W. Carden,
Alderman Carter, Alderman Phillips, Alderman
Allen, Alderman Gibbons, Alderman and Sheriff
Lawrence, M. Sheriff Jones, Mr. Pope, the Mayor
of Quebec, and the clergy of the several wards. The
banquet was served in the Egyptian-hail.

Towards the close of the entertainment the LORD
MAYOR proposed the toast of " The Visitors," re-
ferring particularly to the presence of the Mayor of
Quebec and Mr. Mason. The mention of the latter
gentleman's name elicited loud cheers. His Lord-
ship proceeded to say, alluding to Mr. Mason, that
although he could not greet that gentleman as a
recognised plenipotentiary to this country he was
perfectly justified, by virtue of his position as chief
magistrate of the city of London, in offering to
him, and to all gentlemen who came to this country
OD any important public business, a hearty welcome
in his official residence. They, as citizens of Lon-
don, deeply deplore the disastrous war which was
being waged on the American continent, and longed,
in common with the rest of their countrymen and
of the civilised world, to see it brought to some
satisfactory termination. He gave " The Visitors,"
coupling with the toast the name of the Mayor of
Quebec.
Mr. POPE, the Mayor, btefiy acknowledged the
compliment in an animated speech, in which he
dwelt on the strong attachment of the North
American colonists to the mother country, adding
that they regarded it as their highest privilege that
they were fellow-subjects with the people of Eng-

land of the sane Sovereign.
Mr. MASON, responding to an urgent invitation
of the company, presented himself to speak, and
was received with enthusiastic cheers. He said,—
My Lord Mayor, my Lady Mayoress, my lords,
ladies and gentlemen, but that I feel deeply the
obligations I ant under to the honoured chief
magistrate of this city for permission to be present
to-night I should feel strongly disposed to pick a
quarrel. His lordship has not chosen to remember
that here, in England, I am not considered of full
age ; that lam yet in my minority. The Govern-
ment of England—we all know, honoured from
ages, and always a wise Government in its genera-
tion—has declared that the country which I repre-
sent beyond that broad water has not yet attained
years of discretion, and is not yet capable of ma-
naging its own affairs. (A laugh.) I say, there-
fore, that but for really being overwhelmed by the
kind and generous manner in which I have been
received by this honoured company, and in the pre-
sence of your chief magistrate, I should have been
disposed to say, in the language of a poet :
" You would scarce expect cue of my age
To speak in public on the stage."
My Lord Mayor, I am a strange' in London—or,
rather, I was a stranger ; but I have learnt since
I came to London that none of English blood from
my own Southern land are strangers among you.
(Cheers.) I speak this from my heart--(cheers)
for 1 have been by every circle in England and by
every class of society a welcomed and an honoured
guest. (Cheers.) I return my sincere thanks to
you for the kindness with which you have listened
to a stranger. The day will come—(great cheering)
—it is not far off—when the relationship betw'cil
that Government which is now it: its infant fortane
and yours will be one of close and intimate alliance'
(Renewed cheers.) I say this more especially as
regards the city of London, which is ti2e great mar-
ket for the world. My country is the unrivalled
producer of the great staples of the world, and I say
the relations—commercial, doubtless political, cer-
tainly social—between my honoured countrymen
and the people of London will before long be of the
most intimate character. (Cheers.)