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, M.P., presided, and was supported
right and left by Mr. William Leaf, Mr. Samuel
Morley,;Mr. J. It. Jeffrey, of Liverpool ; Mr. J. W.
Maclure, of Manchester; Mr. John Dillon, Mr. J.
P. Foster, Mr. J. Sargood, Mr. Watford 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 g:rls—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 that;the Sovereign could do no
wrong, but that was a maxim which applied only to
the Sovereign in a political sense, 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 he no doubt that
the illustrious lady now on the throne hod 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
ta the
present reign we should not, perhaps, find
adnb in-
stanceeen in which the throne of these realms h
surrounded by so pure and elevated an atmosphere
as sphere
as that which had pervaded the Court
Victoria. The late lamented Prince Consort
edu-
cation, was
re
not only a man of high character
tand l
lents
cation, he also possessed great
ne uity, ra
and if it had
had rare judgment and rare
sagaentered the political
been possible for him to
hate
eireself in the foremost
arena he would have paced
rank of our public men.
Besides the advantage of
having been brought
under the eye of such a
father, the Heir Apparent had the great blessing of
being united to a
onlyprincess who, since her arrival in
deligbted us all with her
grace and beauty', but ce
England, had not
had won our hearts by her
amiability. with
; h such favourable auguries every
one naturally felt confident that the Prince of
as their warm supporter and
Wales, to whom,
patron, the warehousemen and clerks' schools owed
substantial benefits, was destined to run a career of
exaltedh
happiness and usefulness.
The toast was received with all the honours.
me, COBDEN then proposed " The Army, Navy,
and Volunteers," 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. But there was one attribute of Englishmen
with respect to which ho had never heard any peo-
ple in any part of the world
pretend to superiority
ever us, and that was courage.--cou.rage, 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 I)iose qualities, it would be a sheer
waste of time if we were to dwell upon them our-
selves. no 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 more 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 won by ,thew
aid of science, and hence it was ricer,sary. that
the
sides courage we should have at our COIAII a
best resources of our mechanical and chemical
that could ho
lie was not going to say auythil,i;
badt taste, and
controverted, because he held it to,
bitery principles,
not in accordance with approvri:dtsrifoe
sweet jinni
to talk upon anl, difficult or aer,s.o
wanteril
quiet
aned
diately after dinner, when. pep, 1
but he had a theory
fteedoni fromstrong emotion
ounce shortly to men
R he should like to pro
around
the en
3w. around hull. He had
of business whom he s .
always cntertained the that the Govern.
business vcry much as
on their
meat should carry
our large merchants and capitalists carried on theirs,
in other Niterde that when they wanted anything
they should go into the ID at ke't and buy it rather
than attemmake it 'or V
pt to then, elves. It was